Dieterich Buxtehude: Johann Sebastian Bach's Composed Music

In 1717, Bach was appointed Kapellmeister at Köthen but was refused permission to leave Weimar. He was eventually allowed to leave but only after being held prisoner by the duke for almost a month. Bach's new employer, Prince Leopold, was a talented musician who loved and understood the art. Since the court was Calvinist, Bach had no chapel duties and instead concentrated on composition. In this period he wrote his violin concertos and the six Brandenburg Concertos, as well as numerous sonatas, suites and keyboard works (p. 164, Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Vol. 1)

When looking throughout the history of music, there is no name with a larger impact than Bach. Writing over 200 pieces throughout his 65 year life. Many people know the names of Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms; but only a select few know the specifics about these land mark composers. “Most would say that Beethoven should have been named called ocean instead of brook” Bach in German. During this papers I will be giving a brief look into the life of one of the most prolific composer that ever lived.

When given the task of writing a biography on Johann Sebastian Bach, there are roughly nine periods in his life that can be discussed in detail. Beginning in Eisenach with his birth, moving to Ohrdruf after his parent’s death, deciding to pursue choral studies in Luneburg, his first stay in Weimar while awaiting the organ to be built in Arnstadt, moving to Arnstadt and beginning services for the town at age 18, auditioning for the organist position in Muhlhausen, returning to Weimar to continue working as a member of the chamber orchestra and as Organist of the Court in Weimar, leaving Weimar to become the Chapel master in Cothen, and finally residing in Leipzig where he eventually passed away at age 65.

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.

Johann Sebastian Bach was a composer born on March 21, 1685 in Germany during the Baroque period. The Baroque period was a time during history when a certain style of European architecture, music, and art flourished there. Music during that specific time were often focused on lower and higher tones. Bach was able to play the organ, violin, viola, and harpsichord. As a result, he is considered one of the greatest composers of Western history, especially back in his day. Bach was influenced by his family of many musicians. For example, his father Johann Ambrosius Bach taught him how to play the violin and harpsichord, while his uncle had taught him to play the organ.

When Bach was only nine years old, both of his parents died; thus, he moved with his brother and learned about music with him at Ohrdruf. Bach stayed with his brother until he decided to travel northern Germany on his own. Bach’s first job was as a musician at the court of Duke Johann Ernst in Weimar in 1703, had a wide variety of jobs there because of his versatile skills. Many of Bach’s early careers include moving from church to church composing or performing music for the mass, so he was soon recognized by nobles and aristocrats for his talent. The Duke Wilhelm Ernst in Weimar hired Bach, and Bach created some of his most famous works there, such as “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” and “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen hired Bach as well. With Leopold’s support, Bach wrote pieces for solo instruments, specifically for the violin. He also wrote keyboard practices to help his students learn techniques for playing

Johann Sebastian Bach was born the 31st of March, 1685 and died the 28 July 1750. He was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organization, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor, two Passions, and over three hundred cantatas of which around two hundred survive. His music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth.

The two composer that I pick are Edgar Varese and Carolina Shaw. I will discuss and describe how their music differs in approach both to each other as well as to Johann Sebastian Bach composers of the past.

Seen today as one of the most influential and inspirational composers Bach’s magnificence and brilliance was not truly recognized until a hundred years after his death. Bach raised the bar for how music was composed and played. He strove for perfection in his pieces. This all started from his childhood upbringing, be it his Lutheran faith or the tragedy that stuck when he was merely ten. These parts of his childhood shaped the master pieces of Bach’s work.

By 1695, Johann had lost both his parents, which is the reason he was living and learning with his brother, Johann Christoph. Even back then Johann was so good at music he landed a spot in the poor boys choir at his school. He later stayed at Lüneburg and studied the in the library with their then up-to-date music selections. It was while he was there that he met the organist Georg Böhm, and that is when he was first introduced to the French repertoire, and by 1702 he was already a fairly good organist. There were a few months lost when it comes to what Bach had done, but in March 4, 1703, he was hired by Johann Ernst to be in the orchestra. There he stayed until August 1703, when he was given the job of organist. If that wasn’t impressive enough, all of this was done before he was eighteen years old. (Johann Sebastian

He began to write preludes for organs but did not cover large- scale organization, when two melodies interact at the same time. A few years after playing for the church, Bach made a visit to Dieterich Buxtehude in Lubeck. This visit reinforced Bach’s style in music with the works he has made.

Johann Bach is a famous violinist and composer he was born on 3/31/1685 in eisenach, germany. He was parented by johann bach was his dad and elizabeth lammerhirt bach.

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.

This is the volume I of the Series II. It includes sixteen sonatas. Only one of them is unaccmpaniment flute sonata, other fifteen pieces are wind and string instruments and basso continuo. Excepts the manuscripts and the scores, this volume also contains three useful sections which are an introduction, Abbreviations, and the critical report. The critical report is located on the page one hundred and twenty-seven to page one hundred and forty-six.

I found it very interesting that Bach died in 1750 since I thought he died much more recently then that. I also didn’t know he wrote church music and that he was very religious. I also never heard of a fugue and found it interesting that it was a polyphonic composition about one subject and I also found it fascinating that each of its four voices starts off higher and then progressively gets lower. I also never heard of George Frideric Handel prior to this class. I found it very intriguing that at twenty-one years old he wrote widely acclaimed operas and that he was Queen Anne favorite composer. I also did not know what an oratorio was and found it interesting to learn that it is a large-scale composition of vocal soloists, chorus and an orchestra.