About the artist
Emanuel Melchior was born on September 14, 1988 in Hamburg, Germany. As the only child of a flute player and a harpsichordist, music was part of his everyday impressions.
Even as a toddler, Emanuel listened to his parents’ concerts. When he was around six years old, he received piano lessons from his mother for several years and learned the basics of the keyboard instrument.
As a young man, Emanuel Melchior also discovered playing the organ. His organ teacher introduced him to the instrument and encouraged an interest in it that continues to this day.
Mastering Unique Touch Technique
Later, as an autodidact, he developed his own touch technique and developed his understanding of music. In the recording studio, which he regards as a retreat, he has been recording mainly music from the Baroque period since 2023.
Emanuel Melchior and his wife Harriet
Harriet in front of the Old Bach Memorial
Following Gould’s Footsteps – A Tribute to Wife and Composer
The current Bach album is dedicated to my beloved wife. This recording is also a homage to the greatest composer of all time. Recognition for the gifted Glenn Gould and thanks to my father also resonate in it and form the basic framework and the intention and, in a certain way, a necessity for this project.
The Creative Impuls of Music through the “Inner Eye”
Senses generally receive stimuli from external sources in a multitude of ways, leading to feelings of pleasure.
Sounds are perceived by the ear. Hearing music, usually in the case of euphony, arouses emotions in a living creature.
In the field of music, the doctrine of the affections describes the effect that a sound has on the recipient and as an abstract description itself has a final cause.
Raising awareness of this final cause should be the main objective of a composer.
With his many profound compositions, Johann Sebastian Bach has achieved the ultimate craftsmanship, arousing powerful feelings of awe with his works. A eulogy of the good and of one’s own mind takes place.
From the interpreter’s point of view, there is a “sixth sense” in human consciousness: the inner eye. It helps the person to make decisions and to act or think creatively or rationally. This abstract sense can be seen as the birth of the mind and as instinct.
The iris is an allegory for this “sense” and at the same time serves as a reminder of how Bach suffered with his eyes in his final years.
However, this did not prevent the greatly revered composer from creating additional works, as his inner eye was not impaired.
The same applies to the famous George Frideric Handel, who went blind in 1752. He also continued to compose without his sight and was still playing the organ a week before his death in 1759.
In the final analysis, therefore, the inner eye and the associated ability to create and receive music, the joy, remains.
