Johann Sebastian Bach Research Paper

This was the perfect situation for young Sebastian and his skill level quickly increased and he then mastered all of the pieces that he had been given with the construction of a new organ in the church, Sebastian was given the task of copying music by German organist composers such as Jakob Froberger, Johann Kerll and Pachelbel. All the while learning organ from his uncle, he also attended the grammar school of Ohrdruf, which was one of the most progressive schools in Germany. Here he quickly reached the top of his class at an early age. A large portion of the scholars from Ohrdruf were employed as members of the choir, where their Cantor Elias Herda, thought highly of Johann Sebastian’s voice and musical abilities. Being that Elias supported Johann’s endeavors, he helped him receive a scholarship to be a choir member at the Michaelis monastery in

Telemann was becoming equally adept both at composing and performing, teaching himself flute, oboe, violin, recorder, double bass, and other instruments. In 1701 he graduated from the Gymnasium and went to Leipzig to become a student at the Leipzig University, where he intended to study law. He ended up becoming a professional musician, regularly composing works for Nikolaikirche and even St. Thomas (Thomaskirche). In 1702 he became director of the municipal opera house Opernhaus auf dem Brühl, and later music director at the Neukirche. Prodigiously productive, Telemann supplied a wealth of new music for Leipzig, including several operas, one of which was his first major opera, Germanicus. However, he became engaged in a conflict with the cantor of the Thomaskirche, Johann Kuhnau. The conflict intensified when Telemann started employing numerous students for his projects, including those who were Kuhnau's, from the

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

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.

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.

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.

A perfect example of this can be seen in Arnstadt. Previous accounts of history claim that Bach was upset with the performance of the church choir for which he played for. He claimed that “the voices could never make the music soar to the sky as it should” (loosely translated). Here Bach realized the high level of music and perfectionism that he wanted. In 1707, at the age of 22, Bach moved on from Arnstadt to another organist job, this time at the St. Blasius Church in Muhlhausen. Once again he did not remain there too long, only a little over a year, when he moved again to Weimar where he accepted the position of head concertmaster and organist in the Ducal Chapel. It was here that Bach settled himself and began to compose the first collection of his finest early works which, included organ pieces and cantatas.

My musical selection was Chaconne from Partita in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by The Eroica Trio. I listened to this piece, lasting fourteen minutes and forty-eight seconds, through the online classical music library. This piece was composed in 1720 during the Baroque Era and exhibits many features characteristic of Baroque music, which will be analyzed later in this paper. This chaconne is considered to be one of the most intense pieces of music Bach ever wrote, according to the La Jolla Music Society. In order to fully understand this piece a variety of information will be presented including a synopsis of Bach’s life, background on the piece, a listening chart for this chaconne, the events occurring in society that impacted music and art in the Baroque Era and an analysis of the composition with reference to typical Baroque musical characteristics.

Before looking more closely at the composers’ works, they must be placed in their proper historical contexts. Bach was a great composer of the

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

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)

St. Michael’s formed a strong foundation for Bach’s music career. The school had an impressive music library which included important manuscripts and prints from a famous seventeenth century cantor, Friedrich Emanuel Praetorius, (Koster). At the school, the students were taught French music and manners, which had a great influence on Bach. In Luneburg he met Georg Bohm, an organist at Johanniskirche and one with the same Thuringia background and who also wrote keyboard music with some French influence in it. Bohm influenced Bach with the French instrumental music. Bach performed at the court of Celle (baroque music). He also had some influence from Johan Adam Reinken, a Dutch, who is also said to have been Bohm’s teacher, from Hamburg, 48 kilometers north of Luneburg. Bach made several trips from Luneburg to Hamburg to learn the organ from Reinken.

In 1829, Mendelssohn conducted and performance the St. Matthew passion in Berlin Singakadamie(The first performance in a hundred year). Fanny Mendelssohn was sang the alto part during performance, they prepared for the concert about this piece into four-hands version to study. Indeed, there was a big successful of the performance and J.S Bach’s name show up into people’s view again. Mendelssohn was continued to performance all-Bach program on the organ to retake the Master’s valued piece into public. He was not only as a person who had promoted the Bach’s art, but also putting the Bach composition way into his own works. He published the Seven Characteristic Pieces op.7 in 1827, which was influenced by J.S. Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier. [9]

The Brandenburg Concertos are a collection of six instrumental works written by Johann Sebastian Bach for Christian Ludwig, the margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Ludwig loved music and Bach would write the pieces for him to gain extra support for his work. All six concertos have something different to offer. No.2 in F has a high trumpet part which is meant to be one of the most difficult pieces. This piece at first has a very fast tempo, which suddenly slows down then builds back up. With Violins and flutes joining and fading away at different times it blends well together giving the sense of decrescendo. It includes solo flute, trumpet, violin, and continuo. The continuo is never omitted, as it gives the harmonic foundation of the entire piece.

Johann Sebastian Bach lived in Leipzig from 1723 until his death in 1750. In Leipzig, he was the music director of the Collegium Musicum, which presented a series of evening concerts that brought visitors and musical talent to the city. An example of the repertoire presented in these concerts would be Bach’s harpsichord concertos, which were arrangements of other concertos for different instruments. According to Pankratz, these concertos (both for the original instrument and harpsichord) were written with didactic purposes, meaning that they were supposed to help the students improve their musical skills. Following Pankratz’s idea of Bach being a music director with instructive goals, this paper suggests that the third movement of the Harpsichord Concerto No.5 in F minor, BWV 1056 by Johann Sebastian Bach is a prime example of his pedagogic influence in Leipzig, represented by the constant interaction between the soloist and the ripieno. This is symbolic of the teacher-student relation Bach had with the students, as he would often be the solo performer in the evening concerts and the students would play the ripieno parts.