259. Johann Sebastian Bach: JJ

The Lutheran composer Johann Sebastian Bach often signed his compositions with the initials “JJ” and “SDG.” Today on our journey back through the archives, Dr. Stephen Nichols explains the significance of these letters.

Hi, this is Steve Nichols, host of 5 Minutes in Church History. We've paused releasing new episodes of the podcast, but I've picked out some of my favorite episodes from over the years for you to listen to. We'll be back with new episodes in January 2023. Make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so you don't miss out. I hope you enjoy this episode of 5 Minutes in Church History.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. On this episode, we are talking about JSB, and I imagine some of you know to whom those initials belong. They belong to Johann Sebastian Bach. Usually, we follow up those three initials with another set of initials SDG, Soli Deo Gloria, but in this instance, I want to follow them up with a set of two different initials, JJ, Jesu Juva, Latin for "Jesus help." Sometimes, Bach would just say JH, which would be switching to the German, which also comes off in the English as, "Jesus help." He would put those initials at the beginning of a composition, whether he was writing something for the court, and as he often did, for his friend, Prince Leopold, or he was writing something for the church, he would begin his work by petitioning Christ to help him. And when he was all done, he would add those initials, SDG, for all of his work was done for the glory of God.

Well, let's talk about Bach a little bit. He was born in the town of Eisenach, which has a great Luther connection. Eisenach sits in the valley below the castle of the Wartburg, and that's where Luther was holed up after his time at the Diet of Worms, where he made his famous Here I Stand speech, and Frederick the Wise had him taken before his death sentence could be carried out, and had him holed up in the castle there at the Wartburg, and there, Luther worked through many of crucial writings, especially the text of the German New Testament.

But growing up down in the town below was Bach, and so he literally grew up in the shadow of Martin Luther, and he also very much appreciated Luther. One time, Bach's library had about 80 theological works in it, and for the 1700s, that's not bad, and among those works, a number of them were the works of Luther, and of course, he had Luther's German Bible in his possession.

Well, Bach comes not only under the shadow of Luther. He comes from a family of musicians. In fact, it was sometime near the end of the 16th century that a musician by the name of Veit Bach fled Hungary because of the persecution he was facing there, because of his accepting of the reformation, and because of his affirming of his Lutheran beliefs, he left Hungary and went to the German state of Thuringia. And there, the Bachs flourished, and along comes Johann Sebastian, born on March 21, 1685. And if you're keeping score, that's 202 years after the birth of Luther. Well, with all these musicians and Lutherans in his background, it should come as no surprise to us that Bach would become a Lutheran musician. In fact, he would probably become thee Lutheran musician.

Bach was married twice. His first wife died. Between the two wives, he had 20 children, and nine of those 20 children survived into adulthood. He also, as I mentioned, had a great relationship with Prince Leopold, and composed many pieces for Leopold, and also traveled with Leopold often. There was a time when Prince Leopold got married, and his wife was not quite like Bach's wives. They did not like music, and so Leopold no longer used, needed the services of Bach, and he began looking for work elsewhere.

And it was then, in the 1720s, all the way through 1750, that Bach worked primarily as a cantor at Leipzig. And it's fascinating that he was actually not the primary candidate for that job. He was third in line for the job, and when the other two candidates ahead of him, for whatever reason, couldn't accept the position, a town counselor is on record as saying, "Since the best man cannot be obtained, we will have to resort to a mediocre one." Well, that's Johann Sebastian Bach, who composed his music Jesu Juva, with the help of Jesus, and he composed it Soli Deo Gloria, to the glory of God alone. I'm Steve Nichols. Thanks for joining us for 5 Minutes in Church History.