Enjoy this marvelous video from historian and Bach-expert John Eliot Gardiner about J.S. Bach and his very human imperfections.
Bach, the orphan rebel, had a suspicion of authority that ran deep throughout his life, and made him an often domineering and unpleasant person to deal with. Gardiner doesn’t see any contradiction here. “The very fact that this music is so profound and so uplifting and the man is clearly not a saint makes it all the more interesting,” he says.