Bach And Baroque Ideas : Johann Sebastian Bach

The Baroque period was filled with the new idea that every issue had two sides. Great thinkers and masterminds left behind the idea that the world was either god- influenced or science-influenced. Most people embraced this notion, with the exception of a few. Johann Sebastian Bach was one of these few people. Bach, although the greatest composer of the Baroque period, led a life based on tradition and past influence, which left him virtually ignored for many years after his death.

He was in charge of the musical outputs of the four leading churches as well as the education of music practise and theory (Anhalt). “Bach began, from the moment of his arrival in Leipzig, to take charge of the cantorate in true capellmeisterly fashion.” (Geck and Mann 559). It is clear that when Bach stepped foot in Leipzig, his impact on music would not just benefit the Lutheran church but the society too. The unofficial activities that he undertook in the Collegium Musicum and the service of public performances would forever modify and shape the traditional role of Kantor in the German Lutheran context of the Baroque

Johann Sebastian Bach is probably one of the greatest composers of his time, as well as our time. As a boy he had a fantastic soprano singing voice and always took the lead roles in the church and school choirs. He started composing fairly early on in his life and his first main works, including the Preludes and Variations for the organ, were composed between the ages of 17 and 20.

Johann Sebastian Bach is known as one of the greatest German composers of all time. He contributed a lot to the Enlightenment era (1685-1815). His music was used much for religious worship. His work is iconic because he was the “supreme master of counterpoint, allowing him to write music as the musical equivalent of textual ideas” (Bach, Johann Sebastian). He was orphaned at the age of ten and taken in by his brother, Johann Christoph. He took after his brother, and by 15, he was singing in the choir at St. Michaels Church. By 18, he was a violinist in the chamber orchestra of Duke Johann Ernst. He then left that church to be the church organist at Arnstadt instead. There, the church let Bach leave to study with Dietrich Buxtehude, a composer

During the later years of his life Bach gradually withdrew inwards, producing some of the most profound statements of the baroque musical form. Bach’s creative energy was conserved for the highest flights of musical expression: the Mass in b

Despite his genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was not primarily regarded for innovating compositional styles, but rather, his greatest achievements were taking styles to an unattainable level. One case in particular is his mastery of a style developed by a composer he held with the highest regards – Johann Christian Bach. J.C. Bach’s own innovations laid the groundwork for the prodigious Mozart to develop a uniquely distinctive style of composing. Through a glance at the concerto genre of the 18th century, an explanation of J.C. Bach’s own development as a composer, and a comparison of Mozart’s set of three early concertos, K.107 to the corresponding Opus 5 Clavier Sonatas by Johann Christian Bach, a comprehension of how J.C. Bach provided Mozart

Bach left Luneburg in 1702 and had his first employment at Weimar as a violinist which was offered by Duke Johann Ernst of Saxony in his private chapel (Koster, 2011). Apart from this he had an opportunity to learn some Italian music instruments and practice the organ which he did when deputizing for the Court organist, Effler, (Baroque Music). Thus

There is a natural question that almost every single person has wondered on; “Will what I do in my life matter? Do I have an impact beyond my small corner of the universe?” Few ponder that more than Artists, those who create, whatever the medium. Deep down we all want to know that our work has made an impact. If the impact of one’s work is to be measured by both quality and quantity, there are few people in history who have had as great significance as Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach’s works broke numerous compositional limits of the time, and are of such a quality that they are still performed and enjoyed today, two hundred and sixty-three years after his death. In this paper, I will be writing about two main points: the life of Johann Sebastian Bach, and his legacy and lasting impact after his death.

He could use melody to suggest actions and events and dew multiple styles of music from around Europe, including French and Italian. Bach used counterpoint and fugue to create detailed compositions. He was considered the best composer of the Baroque era and is one of the most important people in classical

Bach was born in Germany in March 31, 1685 and sadly died July 28, 1750. At a young age he had mastered the organ and violin and was a great singer. His parents died when he was only 10 but his older brother took him. Bach secured his first position in the choir of St. Michael's School in Luneburg. In 1706 he had married his cousin Maria Barbara. She had died after their seventh child in 1720. Within in 2 months he had remarried and had six more children. Then he had died too but her daughter Anna Magdalena Bach would prove to be an exceptional companion and helpmate to the composer family.

There have been many great composers in music throughout the years but the greatest to me is a man with the name Johann Sebastian Bach. In my opinion, Bach is considered a music history great. He had a huge impact on music being that his music is still admired and listened to today. Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany, on March 21, 1685. Bach was influenced greatly by his father Johann Ambrosius Bach who taught him the violin and all the basic string instruments. Along with the string instruments he learned to play, Bach also learned to play the organ, which later became the instrument he is best known for.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 –1750)-A theorist at heart was one of the most renowned composers of the Baroque Period known for the use of his exquisite and infallible counterpoint method. Famous for his more than 300 cantatas, the Goldberg Variations and two Passions It was recently discovered that Bist du Bei Mir was actually composed by Gottfried Heinrich Stolzel (1685 –1750) even though it stills appears as Bach BWV 508. Stolzel was a prolific composer of the Baroque Period as well, and Bach had great respect for him. Sometimes, Bach would use little excerpts from Solztel’s music as exercises that were used to teach his children. The piece was found in Ana Magdalena Bach’s notebook so it was immediately attributed to her husband; but the

The subject in Contrapunctus is played in the first thirty seconds and is played in D minor. The middle and end of the piece highlight statements of the subject and answer which is the imitation of the voice. The answer is played in A minor and there are additional segments of a fugue that are called episodes and the subject and answer are not included. I had a great experience listening to this piece I felt that Bach wanted the listener to go through a journey as the piece continues. I have listened to a couple of the following fugues and there is more tension that is built up and listening to it I can tell that Bach wanted the person playing and listening to involved and it is great for active performers and for students to learn.

To most Baroque theorists, recitatives were simply a form of sung speech, an "oration in tones" (25). Buelow points out that while Bach is a skilled rhetorician, he is also unusually sensitive to words in his recitative style, finding "such a variety of musical and rhetorical means to express them," an atypical accomplishment for the Baroque period (26). Buelow notes several approaches that Bach takes to express his text as he looks in depth at a specific cantata. Cantata No. 78 reveals similar trends, demonstrating Bach's expressivity through vocal and instrumental

According to Rowell, "Musical composition became much longer, and composer were forced to evolve new means of maintaining unity and continuity over long time spans" during the Baroque period. Therefore, the texture of music became very important. When I look at the musical texutre of the Cantata No. 78 by J. S. Bach, I realized that this piece was unified very well within a movement and as a whole piece by many techniques. Some of those techniques were found in the text, and the others were in the music.