Do you have a routine?

The other day, it had been a while since I was on Facebook, I decided to see if I had missed anything.  I didn’t scroll for long before something caught my attention. Well, I did it again, I went down the rabbit hole to verify if it was true.  I confirmed it, but could not find the post to share. It was something I have either forgotten or have not heard before – a common practice that Johann Sebastian Bach did while writing his music!

Johann Sebastian Bach ^[1]  (31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period and is still one of the greatest classical composers of all time.  If you look at his original manuscripts you will find the letters “JJ” at the beginning and “SDG” at the end of the piece.

“JJ” is an abbreviation in Latin that means “Jesu Java“. The English translation is “Jesus, help me“. This was at the beginning of many of his manuscripts.  I found it fascinating that he would note this as he started his works!

Then, when he finished the composition, he would write “SDG”, which stood for “Soli Deo Gloria“.  This seems to be a common practice with other composers as well. He was thanking God for helping him complete his work. In English, this means: “To God Alone [be] the Glory“! 

His 1st piece in 1705 used this.  Then a break, but in 1724 he started using JJ and SDG almost always. It could have been on more but some were torn or destroyed over time.  If you want to dive into the details, I found this site that has listed his works along with references to these markings:   Bach Cantatas Website.

How do you start and end your day? What do you do to remind you about your relationship with God? Or your need for His guidance? 275 years after J. S. Bach’s death we are still encouraged by his routine…

Credit to The Jesus Resolution, by Casandra Martin, where I found the earliest  information about this on her post JJ – SDG.