J. S. Bach Research Paper

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.

Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565, is a two-part musical composition for organ, written by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750), a German composer, and musician of Baroque period, is known for its magnificent sound, classic, state-of-the-art rhythm having methodological command, with artistic splendor and intellectual gravity. Bach's abilities as an organist were respected throughout Europe during his lifetime but at that time he was not recognized as a great composer until a revival of interest and performances of his music in the first half of the 19thcentury. Nowadays he’s regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. (Blanning, 2008)

In Weimar, he assumed the post of organist and concertmaster in the chapel. He remained in Weimar for nine years, and there he composed his first wave of major works, including organ showpieces and cantatas.<br><br>By this stage in his life, Bach had developed a reputation as a brilliant, yet inflexible, musical talent. His qualities on the organ was unequaled in Europe, in fact, he toured regularly as a solo virtuoso. His growing mastery of compositional forms, like the fugue and the canon, was already attracting interest from the musical establishment - which, in his day, was the Lutheran church. But, like many people of great talent, he was never very good at playing the political game, and consequently suffered drawbacks in his career. He was passed over for a major position, which was Kapellmeister (Chorus Master) of Weimar, in 1716. Partly in reaction to this situation, he left Weimar the following year to take a job as court conductor in Anhalt-Cothen. There, he slowed his writings of church cantatas, and instead concentrated on instrumental music. His time Anhalt-Cothen in period produced, along with other masterpieces, the Brandenburg Concerti.<br><br>While at Cothen, Bach's wife, Maria Barbara, died. Bach remarried soon after to Anna Magdalena and went ahead with his work. He also went ahead in the baby making department, producing 13 children with his new wife - six of which survived

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

Born and raised in Eisenach, Germany John Sebastian Bach has become known as one of the great composers in Western musical history. At the young age of only nine Johns parents tragically died and he was sent to live with his brother Johann Christoph, who was an organist. Being around music because of his brother, John learned how to play the keyboard and studied composition all by himself. He worked as a court composer at Cothen, an organist, and then he worked as a musical director at St. Thomas church located in Leipzig. Where he attended and was very religious. J.S Bach produced hundreds of instrumental works, and he hand wrote hundreds of thousands of pages of sheet music.

Gardiner suggests instead that the absences may have resulted from a negative atmosphere in a school and town filled with “rowdy, subversive, thuggish” boys”. After going under the care of his brother, Johann Christoph Bach, Bach started achieving good grades and high class standing. This period was viewed as a period of academic accomplishment by many. Bach had a beautiful soprano singing voice, which helped him join at a school in Lüneburg. Sometime after his arrival, his voice changed and Bach switched to playing the violin and the harpsichord. He was also greatly influenced by a local organist named George Böhm.  In 1703, he eventually landed his first job as a musician at the court of Duke Johann Ernst in Weimar. No one realized that Bach would later become such an influential musician, not only in the Baroque Era but still influential to this day of

Bach family throughout Thuringia had held positions such as organists, town instrumentalists or cantors, and the family named enjoyed a wide reputation for musical talent. Bach was the youngest out of the 18 kids. At an early age Johann Sebastian Bach lost a sister and later a brother. When he was 9 years old his mother died, barely 9 months later his father died. Johann Sebastian and one of his brothers, Johann Jakob were taken into the home of their great uncle Johann Christoph who had recently married and settled down at Ohrdruf, a small town thirty miles south-east of Eisenach. At the end of 1703, 18 year old Sebastian took up his post at the small town of Amstadt. Bach arrived at Muhlhausen, a small Thuringian town, proud of its ancient foundation and independence to take up the post of organist to the town. Shortly after his arrival, he brought his cousin Maria Barbara Bach from Amstadt, and on October 17th 1707, he married her at the small church in the picturesque little village of Doomheim. Maria Barbara come of a broneh of the musical Bach family, her father being organist at

Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the most important figures in the Baroque era of music. His music was a large part of the Baroque era and contains many musical principles of the time. The question is, what specific ideas did Bach use in his music? Did he use different Baroque techniques based on what he was writing for? And how were these techniques used in his music? In this paper, I will discover what Baroque era techniques Bach used in some of his music, what kind of compositional models Bach used, and how Bach’s Great Eighteen organ chorales were received.

The top job at these various courts was always a conductor, and there was an opening in 1716 at Weimar. But Bach did not get offered the job, so he immediately started looking for another position, ending up at the court of Prince Leopold of Cothen. Bach spent many years in Cothen and created some of his finest music in this period: the Brandenburg Concertos, the violin concertos, and the suites for orchestra and much of the chamber music.

Franz Joseph Haydn and Beethoven were two important musicians influenced by Bach’s music. While unaware of his vocal pieces, they were aware of some keyboards compositions. Haydn owned manuscripts of the Well-tempered Clavier and the B-,imor Mass((Ludwig Fischuer, “Bach’s Posthumous Role in Music History” in Bach Perspectives 3, Ed. Michea lMarlssen, (Lincoln University of Nebraska Press, 1998), 13) and Beethoven called Bach the “Progenitor of Harmony”( Wolff, Bach: Essays on his Life and Music372) planning to write an overture on Bach’s at the end of his life(Schweltzer, J.S Bach 240)). Still, Bach was not seen as a composer, mainly just a teacher( Denis Arnold, Bach, (Ox University {ress, 1984)

As his son, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, recalled about his father, “when he listened to a rich and many-voiced fugue, he could soon say, after the first entries of the subjects, what contrapuntal devices it would be possible to apply, and which of them the composer by rights ought to apply… In counterpoints and fugues no one was as happy as he in all kinds of taste and figuration, and variety of ideas in general.” (C.P.E. Bach, p. 249) This mastery of contrapuntal technique, most commonly associated with Bach’s organ compositions, can be found throughout his canon, even in prélude to his sixth suite, which is perhaps the closest a cello can come to imitating an organ. In parts, the music is almost divided into two parts, much like a left and right hand on a keyboard would be. The effect is that the cello harmonizes with itself, the low notes hitting counterpoints to the high ones to create a sense of homophony. Strategically placed chords only further this effect, making the piece sound simultaneously wild and magnificent. The piece is mostly in a major key, though sections slip into a foreboding, minor key. This extremely advanced use of musical technique sets Bach apart from his predecessors. There is no reasonable way to characterize his work as ancient, and analysis of the music reveals several points of departure from liturgical chant music and medieval

Prince Leopold was the son of a Calvinist, which was the enemy of the Lutherans, so no sacred music was written in Cöthen. However, Bach devoted much of his time to instrumental music. He composed concertos for orchestras, dance suites, and secular sonatas for various instruments. While traveling with the Prince on one of his extensive journeys, Bach’s wife, Maria Barbra had died. Anna Magdalena Wicke, a singer for the court, helped take care of Bach’s children after their mother passed (Wolff). She and Johann Sebastian married in December of 1721. Together, they had thirteen children, so once more, Bach decided to look for another position that would support him and his

Bach was a baroque composer who was known to be an outstanding, virtuoso organist. As a boy he learned to play the harpsichord, clavichord, violin, viola, and organ, and spent a brief time as a vocalist in a monastery. Bach was quickly recognized as a nimble organist, displaying remarkable technical dexterity in both hands and feet. He was soon offered a position as a church organist, and over the course of his career he held this position in many churches. Upon obtaining a position in Leipzig where new music was required for services on a weekly basis, Bach began turning out sacred works and cantatas like an industrial machine. Bach greatly admired and was inspired by Dietrich Buxtehude, who was not only a composer but also one of the greatest organists of the time.

Born in Eisenach on March, 21 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach was the youngest son of Johann Ambrosius Bach and Elizabeth Limmerhirt. His Father was a prominent town musician from a highly respected musical family and at the time of his birth served as the director of municipal music in Eisenach (Williams 9). He got his name Johann from his father’s family as was the tradition and his middle name, Sebastian, was that of his God-father, another musician in Eisenach. Nothing is written or known about his early musical education but, one could assume that he received instruction from his father and various other relatives based on the musical accomplishments of his immediate and extended family.

Johann Sebastien Bach was born in Eisenach, Thuringia, on March 21, 1685 and passed on in Leipzig, Saxony, on July 28, 1750. He is known for his instrumental pieces, for example, the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations, and vocal music, for example, the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the nineteenth century Bach Revival, he has been for the most part viewed as one of the best composers ever