Book review: The Eyes of Bach

The Eyes of Bach

Marc Moskovitz

282PP ISBN 9781038320889

Friesen Press $18.99 

Historical fiction is an interesting genre. It blends generally accepted facts with speculation and imagination along with sometimes close and very free resetting and realignment of what we think we know about the subject. The genre is not limited to books; plays and movies belong to this category, and in music there has probably been none more successful or moving than Amadeus.

It can be tempting to resist such a presentation. ‘No, it didn’t really happen that way,’ we may think. But if it is done well, for maximum enjoyment and appreciation we might as well surrender and accept an alternative to what we think we know. If proponents of multiverses are right, maybe there is another world in which Salieri did commission a Requiem from Mozart and help him finish it!

It was with thoughts like these that I approached reading The Eyes of Bach by Marc Moskovitz. It is a story of J.S. Bach told by a young cellist, Carl Friedrich Barth, who is hired to assist the Master in sorting his many manuscripts. Carl (a real-life historical personage) is understandably in awe of Bach and learns much from him. In this regard I was reminded of the famous biography of the very distinguished 18th-century English man of letters, Samuel Johnson, by James Boswell – although Bach comes off rather more kindly than ‘the Great Cham’!

Central to the story is the serious problem that Bach had with his vision. He reluctantly agrees to undergo surgery and places himself in the hands of one Jon Taylor, a charming scam artist who only makes things worse. The passages about the two surgeries that Bach had are riveting.

As it must to all men, death came to Bach in 1750, and the passages dealing with his demise are moving. At the same time, though, this relates to the most disappointing aspect of the book. Even in this work of historical fiction Bach had little choice about dying. But did Mr Moskovitz have to kill him off on page 120, less than halfway through the book? I must confess that my interest plummeted after that point.

Mr Moskovitz is a professional cellist and many passages give a very plausible impression. But I do wish that he had kept the Master around for a lot longer!

Raphael Klayman