CPC guest post: Bach, creative parent
Exploring the family life of one of music's all-time greats
Hello and welcome back to Creative Parenting Club. We hope you’ve had a smooth week.
We’re back today with another guest post from the CPC community: this time from
, a classical violinist and national fatherhood advocate based in the United States.In his spare time, he is writing a book on the family life of one of history’s most famous creative parents: Johann Sebastian Bach. When Alexander recently subscribed to CPC and told us he was writing about the untold family story of an all-time musical legend, we knew we had to put something in the works.
Enjoy this week’s guest post and be sure to subscribe to Alexander’s newsletter
, which is full of beautifully-written articles and updates inspired by his unfolding research.And a reminder that if you have a guest post idea of your own that you’d like to share with the CPC community, we’re open for business! Reply to this email or DM us directly, and let’s start the conversation.
Now, over to Alexander Hettinga.
Johann Sebastian Bach: A Fellow Creative Parent
By of
—
I was a young Suzuki violin student when I first learned that the great composer J.S. Bach had 20 children. I also learned that half died at early ages and that multiple sons became famous composers. But these topics were anecdotal, at best, in everything I learned across my years of studying and performing as a classical musician. Bach’s prolificacy on the home front was the topic of an occasional joke, while the prevailing sentiment in the field was that you had to be willing to sacrifice family to succeed in classical music.
It was only after moving to a more family-friendly career that I looked back and found a strange new level of company with our most revered composer. Playing one of his unaccompanied sonatas one night after my wife and two small children were in bed, I reflected on my journey and wondered how Bach had managed his exceptional creative output with a large family. I also thought of the tragic losses he endured and began to consider how the joys, sorrows, and responsibilities of fatherhood might have factored into the beautiful music he left us.
Exploring these questions has become a personal passion project, getting me up early to research and write before starting my 9-to-5 job each day. I am drafting a book that follows Bach through each season of family life, highlighting missing biographical perspectives and pulling insights for creative parents of today. I recently launched an accompanying Substack and podcast called The Musical Father. Along the way, I have welcomed a third child, furthering my appreciation for Bach’s life and work.
Faithful guide
Bach, who went by his middle name of Sebastian, grew up the youngest of eight children, his father the director of music for the picturesque Thuringian town of Eisenach. His uncles held similar posts, as did his grandfather, great-grandfather, and so on—a history Sebastian carefully preserved. After losing both of his parents before age 10, Sebastian pursued his father’s profession with the guidance of his older brother.
Sebastian started his own family while still getting established in music, moving between positions for churches and ducal courts in his early twenties as he and his wife Maria Barbara welcomed the first of their seven children. Working eventually for a prince in Anhalt-Köthen and writing well-known masterpieces like the Brandenburg Concertos, he was simultaneously investing in the musical education of his children, who heard nothing but the best music in the home.
Sebastian’s next move came after he returned home from a long trip with the prince and found that his dear wife Barbara had died and been buried while he was gone. The couple had brought seven children into the world together and mourned the loss of three together. Sebastian was now left with four between the ages of 11 and 5. He applied for a position at a church and school in Leipzig, using as an example of his teaching potential a book of keyboard pieces he had written for his oldest son Wilhelm Friedemann, retitled “Faithful Guide.” Many have puzzled at his move to St. Thomas Church where he served the rest of his life, but Bach said in a letter to a childhood friend that a top consideration was the educational opportunities it presented for his sons.
It was there in Leipzig that Sebastian wrote his monumental St. Matthew’s Passion, along with hundreds of church cantatas, even as he welcomed thirteen more children with his second wife, Anna Magdalena. Together, they mourned the early loss of six of these children, plus the loss in adulthood of Sebastian’s youngest son from his first marriage. Taking time to line up all of these births and deaths with the music he wrote in various seasons, I am gaining insight into Bach’s emotional life—a famously enigmatic topic for music historians—along with inspiration and practical guidance for my own fatherhood journey.
All we need is a little polyphony
Bach was a master of polyphony: music with several independent voices that combine to produce rich harmony. A helpful concept that has emerged from my study involves seeing my goals for work and family not as a balancing act, but rather as a polyphonic process. This is a powerful concept when weaving together professional, creative, and family life. It also applies to building a unified family that values the unique contributions of each child and parent.
Sebastian was not willing to abandon harmony in pursuit of a solo line, in music or in life. When he wanted to go hear music in another town, he brought his sons with him. When parts needed to be copied for Sunday’s cantata, the family worked as a team to make it happen. The mind-bending cohesion exemplified in the musical textures Bach created was lived out in his ability to integrate the care and education of his children into all of his creative efforts. He was a faithful guide to his children, nurturing them in the process of producing music within and beyond his job.
The more I learn about Bach, the more hope I have personally for my creative endeavors as a family man. But I also see more hope for the future and relevance of the classical music profession, if we can champion the value of parents and families in our organizations and re-establish our concerts as opportunities to enrich the families in our communities. Playing orchestra concerts once or twice per month outside of my 9-to-5 has led to many organic and meaningful conversations with fellow parent-musicians about our polyphonic priorities and pursuits.
Inspiration from history
Past centuries may feel like a strange place to seek answers and inspiration for modern parenting. We can barely keep up with the newest parenting tips and techniques. If the cribs we slept in just 30 years ago are illegal, what atrocities might we find 300 years ago?
From what I have learned so far about Bach, the past may yet prove to be full of excellent examples.
A Harvard professor named Steven Ozment spent his career exploring old family archives to highlight the loving nature of the pre-modern family, despite the prevailing ugly picture painted by an unfortunate group of influential historians before him. Ozment encourages us to find fellowship with parents of the past, writing in the introduction to one of his helpful books on the old European family:
If today is the first day of the rest of one’s life, it is even more the last day to date of the history of human civilization. The centuries that lie behind us are a deep, clinical record of human behavior, while the lessons still to be learned about ourselves from centuries to come exist only in our imaginations. From this perspective, the greater temptation for every generation is not slippage back into the past, but belief that past, present, and future constitute absolutely different periods of time and fundamentally distinct types of humanity. Ancestors presupposes that human life is continuous, integrated from century to century and from generation to generation, and that knowledge of a land or a people’s historical evolution, no matter how near or far back it goes, always helps that land or people make sense of the present-day world.
Being a creative parent may feel like a trailblazing effort. You may have grown up without a father or mother in the home. You may be breaking generational cycles or navigating family structures unlike any you have experienced or seen. You may wonder how parents can possibly face what seem to be unprecedented cultural, economic, and technological changes and challenges.
Whatever your story, I would like to encourage you that you are not alone. Perhaps not all of the answers lie ahead, and perhaps at least a little bit more of the wisdom we all need for today can be found by looking to the past.
An exercise
Big time thanks to Alexander Hettinga for sharing these insights from his research into the family life of a musical legend. For more historical perspectives on creative parenting, check out our most recent Creative Parenting Club essay, written by CPC co-pilot
:
As part of his guest essay, Alexander has also come up with an interesting exercise for anyone interested in seeking inspiration (both on what to do and what not to do) from past generations of creatively-minded parents.
You can find it in the Creative Parenting Club chat, where you’ll also find a cool discussion on solo parenting which has been unfolding this week :-)
That’s all for now! Thanks for reading, have a great weekend, and see you next week.
 | A guest post by
|
A good, thought provoking read, Alexander. I hadn’t given much thought to past musician’s private lives and how they may have influenced their craft. And linking it to your life today - well done. I’m so glad you continue to find ways to use your musical talent and allow music to influence your life. That in and of itself is a gift to your family: seeing you do something you’re so passionate about.