orms of
expression which the greatest that have followed him have utilized and
extolled.

But, as we have said, the great poet must perceive in things natural, in
the beauty of the universe around him, in the sacred feelings of human
emotion, a sacredness as worthy and as earnest, though less concentrated
in character, as that which exists in the more direct function of
religious worship. To the great poet, however he works, all things are
sacred. He it is who reveals the heaven that lies around us. He opens
the portals of Nature, and we enter in to find strength and consolation.

Bach does all this in the masterly work we are considering. Not to the
Italian, but to the German, did Nature at length disclose her choicest
method of expression, and this because the German had ever lived in
close contact with her. In all Bach's works at this period the work of
emancipation goes forward. Take, for instance, the Brandenburg concertos
leading to the combination of the present orchestra.

But a new sphere of action here again opens to Bach. His master and
friend, the Prince of Koethen, was distracted from the pursuit of music
by his wife's want of interest therein, and so Bach sorrowfully looks
around him for a more congenial appointment. This he found at Leipsic,
in 1723, as cantor to the school of St. Thomas. Leipsic, like Weimar,
was celebrated for its intellectual life; but the various vexations
which the great musician encountered from the action of the authorities
reflects but little credit upon them. Bach's labors here were simply
Titanic. There were four churches at Leipsic, the principal being St.
Nicholas and St. Thomas. Bach seems to have been responsible for the
musical service at each. How innate and healthy was his genius may be
inferred from the fact that for these musical services alone three
hundred eighty cantatas seem to have been composed. Bach entered upon
his labors at Leipsic at the age of thirty-eight, and continued therein
until his death, in 1750. Let us examine briefly the nature of these
labors, and endeavor to glean from them their characteristic principles.

When Bach came to Leipsic he came full of experience and power. As a
youth he had devoted himself to the perfecting of church music.
Untiringly, unceasingly, with steadfast love, he had brought the laws of
counterpoint and fugue to mingle with the grace of melody and the genius
of a noble imagination. At Koethen his poetic and artistic tempe