Item#: 5710

Containment Class: safe

Secondary Class: none

Disruption Class: keneq

Risk Class: warning

SCP-5710

Special Containment Procedures: The property containing SCP-5710-1 is owned by Foundation operatives. The Staff Positions of SCP-5710-1, including the Reverend, Choir Director, Organist, and Congregation President are to be occupied by Foundation personnel.

While not in use by the Foundation, SCP-5710-1 is to be run as a mundane congregation of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod. The staff of SCP-5710-1 is to ensure that no work from the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (Bach Works Catalogue) is performed on SCP-5710 without Foundation approval.

Description: SCP-5710 is a Schnitger pipe organ used by Johann Sebastian Bach before being transported by German immigrants from Pomerania to the United States. SCP-5710-1 is the church constructed by the immigrants in 18██, known as St. John's Lutheran Church in █████████, Wisconsin.

The anomalous properties of SCP-5710 manifest when a composition from the Bach Works Catalogue (BWV) is played to completion within SCP-5710-1. The first person to exit through the main door of the church following completion of the work will enter a temporal-spatial anomaly. They will be displaced in time and space, exiting the church attended by Bach on the Sunday following his final revision to the piece played on SCP-5710. The displaced person will exit the church just following J.S. Bach.

SCP-5710 has been deemed safe and reliable by the Foundation. Its use is necessary for continued interaction with Johann Sebastian Bach. The memetic musical compositions of J.S. Bach are of unusually high caliber. These compositions are stored by the Foundation in the Memetisch-Bach-Werk-Verzeichnis (Memetic Bach Works Catalogue) or MBWV.

Use of SCP-5710 requires either 10 pending composition requests from Level 4 personnel or the consensus of the O5 council. All finished works are to be placed in capsules and hidden in pre-determined locations specified prior to the agent's displacement.

+ Interview 5710-1

- Interview 5710-1

Interviewed: Johann Sebastian Bach

Interviewer: Doctor Semmelman

Foreword: This interview takes place following J.S. Bach being met by Foundation agents and informed of the anomaly centered around him.

<Begin Log, 6/25/17██>

Dr. Semmelman: Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed, and may I say it is a great honor, Mr. Bach.

J.S. Bach: Yes, you all have made that abundantly clear. I'm not certain I quite understand why, but nonetheless I thank you for these revelations. God's universe is truly quite strange.

Dr. Semmelman: Have you given any thought to our offer? A mind like yours is not common, and we know we could put it to use.

J.S. Bach: I have indeed given it more thought. And looking at some of the things you've presented, I believe I'm aware of why you need me.

Dr. Semmelman: You… are?

J.S. Bach: I was looking at the materials you provided to introduce me to your Foundation, and what struck me were the… how did you refer to them? Memetics, was it?

Dr. Semmelman: Yes, our memetic agents. They are quite important to our operations.

J.S. Bach: Yes, yes, yes. However, for something you claim to be of such great import, they seem to me to be quite lacking.

Dr. Semmelman: Lacking?

J.S. Bach: How can you not see what is so plain? It's like you churned them out en masse from a printing press. There is no fine-tuning to them! For God's sake, it's like I'm arguing with Pastor Frohne all over again!

Dr. Semmelman: Could you elaborate on that?

J.S. Bach: You request that I elaborate. But this is, in and of itself, the issue. You hear me speak but do not listen. How can you hope to make powerful Music when you only read the sheets, having no passion for the sound?

Dr. Semmelman: No passion?

J.S. Bach: Simply put - which, by the way, is the problem - your so-called "memetics" are too simple! It's like a sheet of music filled with bars meant for harmonization, yet you've only composed the melody! You see things in black and white, but you don't see all the things that could exist between those bars of black and white. You are dealing with the transfer of information here - information that, by all accounts, has tremendous power! It must travel the bridge of perception, yet you make the bridge out of two wooden planks dropped over a gap! You should be making a bridge of stone!

Dr. Semmelman: Well then, Mr. Bach, could you do better? Could you build us a better bridge with your compositions?

J.S. Bach: I most certainly could. Music is the greatest form of communication. Only the Words of God could ever surpass Music. I will show you.

Dr. Semmelman: Johann Sebastian Bach, welcome to the SCP Foundation.

<End Log>

Closing Statement: Following the interview, J.S. Bach agreed to compose musical memetics for the Foundation. Dr. Semmelman will remain as the designated Foundation liaison in the 18th century and ensure that all Memetic Works of Bach are catalogued and stored for retrieval in the present time.

Memetisch-Bach-Werk-Verzeichnis: The works of the MBWV provide the Foundation with a wide array of useful memetics. The effects of the works only manifest in those who hear the work while it is being played.

MBWV #
Title
Effects
Comments by J.S. Bach

MBWV 31
Ziehet an den Harnisch Gottes
The pain tolerance of those who hear this work is increased. Resistance to pain increases by a factor of 20.
The Foundation asks me to give an advantage to their soldiers. I was inspired by the homily this past Sunday on Ephesians 6:11. Music makes words alive, and thus makes them reality.

MBWV 52
Stille! Stille! Völlige Stille!
A counterprogramming piece to see through memetic censoring
It is almost paradoxical to make music about silence, but memetic composing has taught me that music surpasses far beyond what I once thought. I could spend another five lifetimes sorting out its intricacies.

MBWV 66
Rückzug von hier, die Gefahr lauert
Listeners are forced to retreat away from confidential information.
Memetic Composing has its ups and downs. While it is a great achievement to bring together all that is needed to create such an incredible transfer of information, it also brings sadness that some such compositions, beauteous as they may be, simply force most who hear it to retreat away from it.

MBWV 74
Wischen Sie Den Leeren Schiefer Sauber
99.9% of memetic cognitohazards and their effects are safely removed from any affected personnel. Affected minds are reverted to their state prior to introduction of the cognitohazard.
I can't help but express my disappointment with this work. I've dwelt on it for days and yet I can't quite figure out where its imperfections lie. I know there are some lurking where I cannot see. Yet Doctor Semmelman seems to assure me that the Foundation accepts it as it is. For men of science and the advancement of learning, they seem to be content with mediocrity at times.

MBWV 85
Der Käfig Ist Geschlossen, Die Tür Ist Geschlossen
All affected persons are convinced that any door in front of them is closed, even if it is wide open. Several sites have implemented protocols for this work to be played in the event of a containment breach.
Everyone knows that music can make people feel emotions, but few have discovered what I have, that if it can worm its way into the brain far enough, it can convince people what truth is, no matter what the other senses tell them.

MBWV 99
Die Swarm Absteigt
Listeners perceive enemy forces to be ten times larger than they actually are.
Music has the power to not only play on a man's senses, but also to bombard, attack, and batter them; so much so that the senses can not only be convinced, but forced.

MBWV 101
Friede Sei Mit Euch
Causes increased cooperation among coworkers and the reduction in the rising of disagreements.
Harmonization is most beautiful in music, and it is most beautiful to make music that can manifest its harmonization not only in its sound, but all around it.

MBWV 111
Toccata und Fuge in D-Moll (Wiedergutmachung)
Causes intense paranoia and panic, even in potential predators and stalkers.
An interesting request to reprise an old work, but with what I've learned, I believe it can be redressed for memetic use. Music can evoke every emotion on the spectrum. Dread and fear are not exempted.