At Play in the House of the Lord

by Ken Myers

In anticipation of the Mozart bicentennial celebration in 1956, Karl Barth was invited by a Swiss newspaper to write "A Letter of Thanks to Mozart." Initially skeptical of the assignment, Barth obliged the editors with a brief epistle in the spirit of Mozartian playfulness. The correspondence closed with a much-cited speculation: "It may be that when the angels go about their task of praising God, they play only Bach. I am sure, however, that when they are together en famille, they play Mozart and that then too our Lord listens with special pleasure."

The music of Mozart, second only to that of J. S. Bach, has inspired the most enthusiastic recognition of spiritual qualities, although the distinction made in Barth's scenario captures an important difference in the kind of spiritual quality felt in the two composers' repertoires. While the music of each captures a sense of transcendent order, Mozart's work is typically heard in terms of a more domestic, earthly, and human scale. In Mozart's acoustic world, the light triumphs over the darkness with lightness—that is, deftness, not triviality—which makes his musical spaces seem friendlier than those described by Bach. Childlike joy is rarely ascribed to Bach's compositions, as it so often is to Mozart's, though Bach jokes and plays and dances not infrequently. In Mozart, the goodness of Creation is often warmly evoked. Bach seems to suggest the goodness of the Creator himself, at once awful and personal.

THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:

Ken Myers is the host and producer of the Mars Hill Audio Journal. Formerly an arts editor with National Public Radio, he also served as editor of Eternity, the Evangelical monthly magazine, and This World, the quarterly predecessor to First Things. He also serves as music director at All Saints Anglican Church in Ivy, Virginia. He is a contributing editor for Touchstone.

more on music from the online archives

33.3—May/June 2020

Consolation in Death

Bach's Cantata BWV 106, Gottes Zeit ist die allerbesteZeit (God's time is the very best time) by Ken Myers

calling all readers

Please Donate

"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand

"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor

Support Touchstone

• Not a subscriber or wish to renew your subscription? Subscribe to Touchstone today for full online access. Over 30 years of publishing!

personal subscriptions

Purchase Print &
Online Subscription

Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!

RENEW your print/online
subscription

Purchase
Online Subscription

Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives including pdf downloads for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!

RENEW your online subscription

gift subscriptions

GIVE Print &
Online Subscription

Give six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for the reduced rate of $29.95. That's only $2.50 per month!

RENEW your gift subscription

Transactions will be processed on a secure server.

bulk subscriptions

Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.

kindle subscription

OR get a subscription to Touchstone to read on your Kindle for only $1.99 per month! (This option is KINDLE ONLY and does not include either print or online.)

Your subscription goes a long way to ensure that Touchstone is able to continue its mission of publishing quality Christian articles and commentary.