The Mathematical Genius of Bach
The Spitalfields Mathematical Society was a club for working men which met in taverns around Christ Church from 1717 to give “the public at large an opportunity of increasing their knowledge, on terms so easy, as to be within the reach of every individual, who has a taste to cultivate, or curiosity to gratify.” It thrived for over a century before merging into the Royal Astronomical Society in the 1840s, educating “many weavers, and the rest were typically brewers, braziers, bakers, bricklayers”.
Although the professions of our local community have since changed, we’re all about educating and inspiring so are drawing on this ethos to present Professor James Sparks from the University of Oxford talking about the mathematical genius of Bach, illustrated through a performance of the Goldberg Variations, with accompanying interactive maths puzzles for the audience.
