Qualities Of Benjamin Bach

Bach’s polyphonic music is full of counterpoint, the combining of two or more melodic lines into a meaningful whole. He perfected the art of the fugue, a complex composition usually written for four musical lines. “Bach’s fugues involved incredibly complex melodies that, even though they started at different times, wound up sounding good together.” The one I chose to describe is the first prelude and fugue from Bach’s second book, in the key of C major.

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.

Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the greatest composers in Western musical history. More than 1,000 of his compositions survive. Some examples are the Art of Fugue, Brandenburg Concerti, the Goldberg Variations for Harpsichord, the Mass in B-Minor, the motets, the Easter and Christmas oratorios, Toccata in F Major, French Suite No 5, Fugue in G Major, Fugue in G Minor ("The Great"), St. Matthew Passion, and Jesu Der Du Meine Seele. He came from a family of musicians. There were over 53 musicians in his family over a period of 300 years.<br><br>Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany on March 21, 1685. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was a talented violinist, and taught his son the basic skills for string playing. Another

Bach’s greatest contribution was not his music, but rather the message that whatever we do –

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

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.

This thesis aims to explore the life of Johann Sebastien Bach (1685-1750), and his contribution to European classical music. Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. To this day, he is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest composers and musicians of all time. Bach is known for his talent in playing the organ, and the extreme complexity of his works using counterpoint, motifs and harmony. His catalogue boasts over a thousand pieces, from cantatas, motets, lute pieces, four part chorales, to chamber music, orchestral works and canons.

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.

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,

Oboists, flautists, organists, saxophonists, tubist, and bass trombonists have all played Bach etudes. Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G has been arranged for almost every instrument because musicians want to master the technique and style that is “Bach” (Patterson). His fugues, cantatas, and cello suits are used to train musicians all around the world. The pieces are used to improve ensemble balance, sight reading, rhythm, style, and so much more (Wolff). One of Bach’s most famous pieces, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, is also still widely performed by musician of all ages and skill levels.

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”.

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.

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.

During the later years of his life Bach gradually withdrew inwards, producing some of the most profound statements of the baroque musical form. Bach’s creative energy was conserved for the highest flights of musical expression: the Mass in b