Bach Vs Handel Essay

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German organist, composer, and musical scholar of the Baroque period, and is almost universally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. His works, noted for their intellectual depth, technical command, and artistic beauty, have provided inspiration to nearly every musician after him, from Mozart to Schoenberg.

George Frideric Handel was born in Halle, Germany on February 23, 1685. He expressed an interest in music at an early age. While his mother encouraged this love of music, his father, George Handel, was not supportive of him pursuing music as a career, and pushed him towards a career in law. However, when Handel was 9, a duke heard him playing the organ and persuaded his father to let Handel study under Friedrich Zachow (the organist at the Liebfrauenkirche at Halle) who instructed him in the organ as well as composing. Handels’ father died when he was 12, leaving him as the only son of that marriage. This put more responsibility on Handel to maintain his family, but it also relieved most of the objection of his music studies. In

Many musical scholars believe that J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel are the two most important, influential composers of the Baroque period. Both of these men were born in Germany in 1685, and since they came into existence around the same time, they share some similarities. As an introductory statement, Bach and Handel were born into two very different families. Handel did not come from a musical family; his father wanted him to study law. By age nine, his talent was too obvious for his father to ignore and Handel began to study with a local organist and composer. On the contrary, Bach came from a long line of musicians. Bach also had four sons which became gifted composers, in their own right. Bach, like Handel, also started as an organist

When thinking of composers, whose works changed the world of music forever, many names may come to mind. Among those on that list, both Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel are figures whose effect on music has been felt worldwide. Born in the same year, these composers have much in common and many differences that illustrate their importance to their era and music as we see it today. Their individualism and creativity influenced much of their time and together, their works defined the Baroque Period as we know it today.

George Frideric Handel is generally considered the second most important Baroque composer after Bach. Unlike Bach's nearly complete focus on church music in Germany, Handel more openly embraced the French, Italian, and English secular music. Also unlike Bach, Handel did not come from a long line of musicians. When he was born on February 23, 1685, Handel's family had no idea that he would rise to a legendary status in music. Handel's father began to see his son's desire to compose at an early age and violently objected. His mother was responsible for nurturing and continuing his musical education. At the age of seven, Handel was asked to give an organ recital for the Duke of Sachse-Weissenfels. The Duke was very impressed and awarded the family with a generous amount of money. This event persuaded his father to allow Handel to pursue his musical career. When his father died in1697, Handel was freed from his father's will. He studied with numerous organists and gained minor fame.

Both Bach and Handel were composers who were employed within the patronage system. However, there are some differences in the styles of the two men and how they dealt with the patronage system. The purpose of both men’s job was to create music often that would please their patron. There were also benefits that accompanied the patronage system. One advantage of working within the system was the food that it provided. The employees could be positive that they would never go hungry while they were composing music. Another advantage of working within the system was a shelter to live in. Artists were always provided within a home or a room of their own, so they could rest soundly and avoid unpleasant weather.

Bach’s complex compositional style incorporates religious and numerological symbols that fit perfectly together in a puzzle of musical code. Demanding unfaltering facility in dexterity, precise pitch, particularly in the multiple stoppings, as well as sensitivity to implied polyphonic and harmonic textures. These exceptional works may be the closest thing we have to a “perfect” composition, so why is it that musicians have drastically different alterations and interpretations of his works? It is as if quality, intensity, duration, and even pitch are subject to the performer’s adaptation. By mapping out these alterations performers make to Bach’s music, it becomes possible to map out their respective musical personalities.

Handel and Bach are considered two of the greatest composers of all time. However, when comparing the output of these two musicians, the diversity manifest in music in the era when they wrote immediately becomes apparent. Handel, although he used religious subject matter, is usually characterized as fundamentally a 'secular' composer. He composed for the concert hall, not the church, and primarily as a result of royal commissions. His music is strident, powerful, and large in scope. It is designed to entertain, rather than to spur contemplation (The pure power of Handel's 'Hallelujah Chorus', NPR, 2008). Bach, in contrast, often created music designed to be performed in sacred spaces. His music is more fluid and nuanced in style and designed more to spur contemplation and devotion rather than excite people's interest as a piece of entertainment.

Bach’s composition of music while he was in the church was the genres that were most used in a Lutheran church service, “…Bach focused on the genres used in the Lutheran services: chorale settings…toccatas, fantasias, preludes, and fugues…”( Burkholder 438). As seems to be the usual, Bach has known stuff from a very young age, and that’s still the case when it comes to the organ. Bach, from a young age, had a grasp on a pretty large variety of styles of organ music. From Northern Germany to Southern Germany and even Italian and French styles of organ playing. He was well aware of and admired composers such as Böhm, Pachelbel, and Frescobaldi. In fact, during his stay at Arnstadt, he actually walked to and tagged along on postal coaches for roughly 225 miles just to see Buxtehude, a Northern German composer,

Johann Sebastian Bach is known as the most influential organists of all time. More so, he is considered one of the greatest composers in music history. Born into a family of musicians, he was instructed by his father, Johann Ambrosius, who worked as a musician in Eisenach. Bach already had the thriving urge to take on various musical positions. His family of musicians stretches back as far as seven generations. Johann was born on March 31, 1685 in Eisenach, Germany. Some of his best known compositions are “Mass in B minor” and “The Well-Tempered Clavier”.

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German organist and great composer, best known for the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, and The Well-Tempered Clavier. He was born on March 31, 1685, in Eisenach, Germany. He was from a long line of musicians, all 67 men in his family was a musician and 53 of them were named Johann. While Bach’s mother read him Bible stories his father taught him the violin. Both of his parents died before he turned ten and he then went to live with his brother. While living with his brother he learned to play the keyboard and he studied composition on his own.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born March 21, 1685 in the town of Eisenach Germany. Bach was born into a musical family. His father, Joann Ambrosius, was a court trumpeter as well as the director of the musicians of the town of Eisenach. Growing up, Bach learned how to play the violin and harpsichord from his father. He learned to play the organ from his famous uncle, Johann Christoph, who was the organist at the Georgenkirche in Eisenach. He was a willing pupil and soon became skilled in these instruments and many more. Although, instruments weren’t the only thing Bach was skilled in. When Bach was young, he sang in an all boys choir. His voice was once described as “an uncommonly fine treble voice”.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born into a family of musicians. It was only natural for him to pick up an instrument and excel in it. His father taught him how to play the violin and harpsichord at a very young age. All of Bach’s uncles were professional musicians, one of them; Johann Christoph Bach introduced him to the organ. Bach hit a turning point in his life when both of his parents died at the age of ten years old. Bach’s older brother Johann Christoph Bach took him in and immediately expanded his knowledge in the world of music. He taught him how to play the clavichord and exposed him to great composers at the time. At the age of fourteen, Bach and his good friend George Erdmann were awarded a choral scholarship to the prestigious

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21st 1685. He is the son of Johann Ambrosius. For many years, members of the Bach family had held positions such as organists, town instrumentalists, or Cantors.

George Frideric Handel (23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a baroque era composer, with an impressive repertoire of compositions. Handel didn’t grow up in a music rich environment, but in fact, he was forbidden by his father to touch any musical instrument, but found time when everyone else was asleep to play a clavichord he had smuggled to an upstairs room in the house. He grew up in Halle, Germany and at the age of 18, he traveled to Hamburg, and took a job as a violinist in the Hamburg Opera House. He supported himself by giving private lessons, and eventually published his first opera, Almira.