Johann Chopin And Johann Ambrosius Bach

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.

In addition, Bach was a virtuoso on the organ. He also served as an organ consultant, and composer of organ works, like toccatas, chorale preludes, and fugues. He had a reputation for having great creativity, and he was able to integrate many national styles into his works. Many of his works are said to have North German influences that were taught to Bach by Georg Bröhm. Bach also copied the works of many French and Italian composers in order to decipher their compositional languages. Later on, he arranged several violin concertos by Vivaldi for organ. Most experts of musical composition believe that the years, between 1708 and 1714, were his most productive. Within this period, he composed several preludes, fugues, and toccatas. During this span, Bach wrote the Little Organ Book, Orgelbüchlein. This book remains an unfinished collection of forty-nine short chorale preludes.

Although numerous composers have shown their musicality from different musical periods, only some of the remarkably talented ones are still remembered and honored. Such composers’ compositions are performed all around the world even today. From the Baroque period, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel are the two most renowned composers. Even though both of their compositions are considered to be well written, they have shown completely different musical styles. Bach composed pieces that are extremely complicated and intense, whereas Handel emphasized simplicity and clearness in his work. Since their approaches in composing music completely differ, it is improper to deduce who is better as they both are successful in their own unique ways. However, audiences in the Baroque period had a strong opinion as to who is more successful. Many musical experts from the Baroque period tend to indicate that Bach should have adopted Handel’s musical styles in order for him to be even more acknowledged as a composer.

Bach’s attention was the music in the text. There was singing, the playing of cymbals, harps,

Bach was born into a musical family whose legacy traced back a few generations. Johann Ambrosius, Bach’s father, had a lot to do with his success in the music industry. He was also a musician and therefor took it upon himself to teach Bach how to play the violin and the harpsichord. Needless to say that from an early age, Bach had music imbedded within. Bach was the youngest son of Lutheran parents. His music career began early on his life when he joined the church’s choir and sang. However, Bach had to move to Ohrdruf, Germany when he was left an orphan. It is said that this was when his oldest brother, Johann Christoph Bach, taught him to play the organ and who introduced him to the keyboard instruments. He continued to be part of the church’s choir which ultimately led to him receiving a scholarship for his amazing voice. In this time, fine voices were crucial. Since it’s hard to keep a man’s voice the same forever, Bach had to transfer over to playing the violin; his voice

Bach used all of these skills in his concertos, cantatas, and fugues. A concerto is a musical composition for a solo instrument accompanied by an orchestra. Of all of Bach’s concertos, the “Brandenburg Concertos” are the most famous. These concertos were written for the Margrave of Brandenburg, they were written to be performed with a chamber orchestra. When writing these, Bach was the music director in Cothen under Prince Leopold, and he called the pieces “Six Concerts Avec plusieurs Instruments ("Six Concertos With several Instruments")”, but the biographer Philipp Spitta renamed it to “Brandenburg Concertos.” There are six different concertos in the collection; they showed off the musical talent in the province of Cothen as a result because each concerto required a talented soloist. The “Brandenburg Concertos” were also similar to the concertos of Vivaldi, with the three structures of fast, slow, fast, and a returning theme. Cantatas are pieces of music for vocal parts with instrumental accompaniment of an orchestra, and the cantatas of Bach are some of the best known ones in the world. Bach wrote cantatas throughout his life, but it was not until he moved to Leipzig and worked in the St. Thomas Church, did he meet his challenge of producing cantatas for the church throughout the year. Bach had to create a cantata for every Sunday and feast day in the religious calendar, which was five annually. All of these cantatas were the principal music piece used during service to highlight the passage from the sermon and to help people further comprehend the lesson being taught. There are over 200 different cantatas written by Bach, but his most famous cantata is BWV 147, “Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben.” In addition to cantatas, the fugues of Bach are by far his most famous works. A fugue is a

The hundreds of sacred works he created are usually seen as manifesting not just his craft but a truly devout relationship with God. He had taught Luther's Small Catechism as the Thomaskantor in Leipzig, and some of his pieces represent it. The Lutheran chorale was the basis of much of his work. In elaborating these hymns into his chorale preludes, he wrote tightly integrated works than most, even when they were massive and lengthy. The large-scale structure of every major Bach sacred vocal work is evidence of subtle, elaborate planning to create a religiously and musically powerful expression. For example, the St Matthew Passion, like other works of its kind, illustrated the Passion with Bible text reflected in recitatives, arias, choruses, and chorales; but in crafting this work, Bach created an overall experience that has been found over the centuries since to be both musically thrilling and spiritually

In the spring of 1723, when Bach signed a contract to become the new organist and a teacher at the St. Thomas Church and Thomas School in Leipzig, he was already known more as an organist than a composer. Bach had an extraordinary ability to improvise on the organ and was able to compose various style of music. He wrote educational works for his pupil and his duties were mainly to provide the weekly worships of cantatas. And also, his publication of keyboard pieces had very little to do with his duties. However, his pride as a composer was determined to publish these partitas. He also competed with Johann Kuhnau, who was a well-known composer at Germany at this time.

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 reputation was growing. He was a great performer. Another job he had was as an organist at the New Church in Arnstadt. His main contributions was as a musical instruction and performer of religious music for church services. At times Bach could be a conceited man. He didn’t cooperate well with his students. Church officials had reprimanded him for not rehearsing them often. While on leave from the church for a couple of weeks. Bach went to Lubeck to visit famed Dietrich Buxtehude. However, he extended his visit for seven months. Eventually, no one heard from him and that didn’t help the situation he was in. Awoken with joy, Bach received a new position as an organist in Muhlhausen at the Church of St. Blaise. The joy quickly ended with his new job because the pastor of the church wasn’t in favor of Bach’s playing style. His musical style during this time was bursting with complex arrangements incorporating different lines of melody. Like most church music in this period, the pastor preferred the music to be simple and delicate. Two of his famous pieces during this time is the “Acut Tragicus”.

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 lived in germany with his parents. He didn't play very many instruments all he play is the violin and the harpsichord. Bach had 2 wives the first one was maria barbara bach and the second one was anna magdalena bach. Bach had 20 kids 7 with the first wife 13 with

J. S. Bach began his musical career play the violin and the harpsichord under the instruction of his father Johann Ambrosius. His uncle, Johann Christoph Bach, taught him how to play the organ. Bach was a very willing student and soon became extraordinarily capable with playing these instruments. At a young age, Bach lost a brother and sister in addition to his father and mother at age 9. His eldest brother adopted him while he attended the Gymnasium of Ohrdruf, Germany. When he was 18, he married his cousin, Maria Barbara. In 1707 he became the organist at the Church of Saint Blasius, then going on to become an organist and violinst at the court of Duke Wilhelm Ernst, during which time he wrote around thrity cantatas and other works. He later

By now Bach had high ideals for the church music of Germany. He began organizing the rather poor facilities of Muhlhausen; he started by making a large collection of the best German music available, including some of his own. The first result of these efforts was his cantata ‘Gott ist mein Konig’. This, incidentally, was the only one of Bach’s cantatas to be published during his lifetime. This success gave Bach the hope to put in a long and detailed report, proposing a complete renovation and improvement of the organ. The council agreed to carry the proposals out, and Bach was given the job as supervising the work, for not only now was he a brilliant player, but he became an expert on constructing organs.