William Zeitler » Uncategorized http://www.williamzeitler.com/blog A Heart Aflame in a Miraculous Universe Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:34:34 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 O.C.D. Bach http://www.williamzeitler.com/blog/2011/10/23/o-c-d-bach/ http://www.williamzeitler.com/blog/2011/10/23/o-c-d-bach/#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 02:05:53 +0000 admin http://www.williamzeitler.com/blog/?p=749 The Bach extended family consisted of a dynasty of musicians for eight generations. (The famous J.S. Bach was roughly in the middle.)

Alas, like every family, there are always a few malignant growths on the family tree that all would like to pretend don’t exist. Count Bachula, and P.D.Q. Bach are two, of course. Unfortunately for Lovers of Music everywhere, I’ve unearthed another one this year: O.C.D. Bach. Sadly, O.C.D.Bach died at age 5—some say he was strangled by folks driven mad by his music—which makes his output of almost 20,000 sonatas by the time he was barely out of diapers truly remarkable.

O.C.D. Bach’s music is important in that it anticipated the 20th century ‘minimalists’ such as Phillip Glass by over two centuries.

Here is a ‘late work’  (age 4) by O.C.D.Bach which I unearthed this year. Notice the masterful way he develops the theme in the middle section:

Sonata No. 17265 mp3

Sonata No. 17265 pdf

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