“There must have been a world… before the partita in A minor, but what was that world like? A Europe of empty spaces with no resonance.”

In an abstract and almost surreal set of vignettes The Silence Before Bach betrays the conventional in search of whimsy, playfulness and irony not usually expected in an ode to Johann Sebastian Bach. In the depths of small moments, Spanish filmmaker Pere Portabella ponders not only the silence of a world before Bach, but also the minutes of silence that precede the playing of Bach's music in any form.

From the ravenous stalking of a player piano, a naked cellist, an orchestra performing on a moving train, a harmonica-playing trucker and Bach himself teaching his son to play, everything is underscored by the masterful music that built Europe.