I listened to all* of Bach

This year I set a goal to listen to all the works of Bach. I’m happy to report that I have now listened to all 1080 works in the original BWV (Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis) catalogue. This is not “all” the works of Bach (hence the asterisk in the post title) because he wrote pieces that are now lost. There are some fragments and such in higher BWV numbers (and some of the 1080 turn out to be spurious too!) BUT I’m going to say that this goal is met. I listened to the last works last week (some vocal works in the 500s, just because of the way I did the project) and so this project I started on January 1st is now done.

I truly loved this project. I enjoyed it in a way that I have to say I didn’t love my Jane Austen project (sorry!) or even Shakespeare. Bach is truly my favorite composer, and it isn’t even close. Also, the way I did this project felt different than my past reading ones. Because I was listening to Bach, it massively upgraded the sound track of my life. I was sitting in my office reading Shakespeare but I was listening to Bach while shuttling my kids around or running errands. The opportunity for improvement in this time was just much greater!

I definitely feel more familiar with Bach’s work as a result of this (of course). From my years in choirs I was familiar with some of those masterworks (like the Christmas Oratorio, or the B-Minor Mass) but less so with his instrumental works. I think there are lots of ways one could construct this project, but since I listened to the major vocal works after listening to 200+ church cantatas, I learned more of Bach’s themes that he would re-use, and some of his favorite ways of composing multi-part vocal pieces. I was also reminded of some of the pieces I’d heard before but enjoyed getting to hear again (like the Brandenburg Concertos).

I have also found myself feeling grateful for the internet! When I started exploring how I would do this project last fall, I wasn’t entirely sure how I would find all of Bach’s work to listen to. I’d found a boxed CD set that one of the classical publishers put out there back in the day, so that was my back-up, and I sort of assumed I’d find performances of the major works on Apple music. But then I realized that the best source for performances was YouTube AND that the Netherlands Bach Society had done a project called “All of Bach.” I am not sure if they actually hit all of Bach, but they’d done enough of the more obscure works that I was only really hunting around for a few.

I’ll now spend the last weeks of the year revisiting favorites. Specifically, I’m listening to the B-Minor Mass on repeat as I’m planning to perform it with a local choir in late December. I’ll listen to the Christmas Oratorio too, just to celebrate the season. And I’ll try to figure out what project I’m undertaking next year. I’m not sure what I’ll come up with that will be as exciting to me as Bach, but I’ve got time to figure this out.