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Sebastian Bach Accomplishments

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Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the greatest composers in the Baroque period, Bach stands tall above many outstanding figures in the Baroque in the history of music. Among his many achievements, the most outstanding one is the “church music.” Bach’s Magnificat, BWV 243 was composed for Christmas evening prayer service. The third movement “Quia respexit” is a prayer called “Mary’s Song of Praise.” Mary’s prayer of thanks to God out of joy when she found out through an angel of the Lord while she was visiting her relative Elizabeth that she had conceived.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy was one of the great composers in the early romantic era. He influenced by Baroque and Classical composers. He became the pioneer for reviving the music of Bach or Handel as well as one of the leading composers. The “Elijah” was the significant contribution to religious music in the 19th century.

Hugo Wolf …show more content…

Ariettes Oubliees is composed of total six pieces of songs extracted from “Romances sansparoles,” “Pasagesbelges,” and “Aquarelles” by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896), who is symbolist poets emphasized on the musical rhythm. Debussy set Paul Verlaine’s poem more than any other poet. When Verlaine wrote these six poems, he had hard time with his wife but had fallen in love with a new lover, Rimbaud; thus the lyrics are about the love affair, his fascination with Rimbaud, and remorse over his wife and his feelings of depression and emptiness after his wife and Rimbaud left him. As he wrote the poems based on his experiences and thoughts of life, the words of the poems are very delicate and sensitive. Debussy added non-harmonic tones, numerous accidental marks, free rhythms, and musical ambiguity and elusiveness to make the most of the poems’ atmosphere and this distinguished his own music styles. These songs are his early master piece, and shows his rich and deep understandings of

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