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Info: Biography, Pictures, Discography of all CDs & DVDs |
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| For other uses, see Bach (disambiguation).The Art of Fugue; the Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo; the Cello Suites; more than 200 surviving cantatas; and a similar number of organ works, including the celebrated Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.Orchestral and chamber music
3.Performances
5 Legacy
6 Media
7 References
7.He was the youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach, an organist at St.His uncles were all professional musicians, whose posts ranged from church organists and court chamber musicians to composers.Bach was proud of his family's musical achievements, and around 1735 he drafted a genealogy, "Origin of the musical Bach family", printed in translation in The Bach Reader (ISBN 0393002594).Bach's mother died in 1694, and his father eight months later.The young Bach probably witnessed and assisted in the maintenance of the organ music.Bach's obituary indicates that he copied music out of Johann Christoph's scores, but his brother had apparently forbidden him to do so, possibly because scores were valuable and private commodities at the time.At the age of 14, Bach, along with his older school friend George Erdmann, was awarded a choral scholarship to study at the prestigious St.Bach would have visited Johanniskirche (Church of St.Toccata and Fugue in D minor.Through contact with these musicians, Bach probably gained access to the largest and finest instruments he had played thus far.In January 1703, shortly after graduating, Bach took up a post as a court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst in Weimar, a large town in Thuringia.Weimar, his reputation as a keyboard player spread.Weimar at the edge of the great forest.Arnstadt, Maria Barbara Bach.Rococo style that followed the Baroque.However, that same year, Bach was offered a better position in Weimar.Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.Bach inducted himself into these stylistic aspects largely by transcribing for harpsichord and organ the ensemble concertos of Vivaldi; these works are still concert favourites.During his tenure at Weimar, Bach started work on The little organ book for his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann; this contains traditional Lutheran chorales (hymn tunes), set in complex textures to assist the training of organists.Anna Magdalena Bach, composed in 1722 for his second wife.Bach began once again to search out a more stable job that was conducive to his musical interests.Bach to serve as his Kapellmeister (director of music).On July 7, 1720, while Bach was abroad with Prince Leopold, tragedy struck: his wife, Maria Barbara, the mother of his first 7 children, died suddenly.Bach was the nominee of the monarchists, in particular of the Mayor at the time, Gottlieb Lange, a lawyer who had earlier served in the Dresden court.Estate faction was granted control of the School, and Bach was required to make a number of compromises with respect to his working conditions.Estate faction, which saw him as a schoolmaster and wanted to reduce the emphasis on elaborate music in both the School and the Churches.Bach and his family with a smaller income and a good apartment at one end of the school building, which was renovated at great expense in 1732.Thomasschule in singing, and to provide weekly music at the two main churches in Leipzig, St Thomas's and St Nicholas's.His post also obliged him to teach Latin, but he was allowed to employ a deputy to do this instead.In an astonishing burst of creativity, he wrote up to five annual cantata cycles during his first six years in Leipzig (two of which have apparently been lost).Ruft uns die Stimme and Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, as inspiration.Bach's seal, used throughout his Leipzig years.It contains the letters J S B superimposed over their mirror image topped with a crown.Church, Bach probably sat at the harpsichord or stood in front of the choir on the lower gallery at the west end, his back to the congregation and the altar at the east end.Bach drew the soprano and alto choristers from the School, and the tenors and basses from the School and elsewhere in Leipzig.The audio excerpt is from the opening of Singet dem Herrn (Sing to the Lord), showing the rich, energetic textures that Bach could produce with two choirs, each in four parts.In March 1729, he took over the directorship of the Collegium Musicum, a secular performance ensemble that had been started in 1701 by his old friend, the composer Georg Philipp Telemann.Coffeehouse on Catherine Street, just off the main market square.Between 1737 and 1739, Bach's former pupil Carl Gotthelf Gerlach took over the directorship of the Collegium Musicum.In 1747, Bach went to the court of Frederick II of Prussia in Potsdam, where the king played a theme for Bach and challenged him to improvise a fugue based on his theme.The Art of Fugue, published posthumously but probably written years before Bach's death, is unfinished.The 1750 "Volbach Portrait" may show Bach in the last months of his life.Bach became increasingly blind, and the celebrated British ophthalmologist John Taylor (who had operated unsuccessfully on Handel) operated on Bach while visiting Leipzig in 1750.Bach died on 28 July, 1750 at the age of 65.At Leipzig, Bach seems to have maintained active relationships with several members of the faculty of the university.Leipzig, made several trips to Germany, but Bach was unable to meet him, a fact that Bach appears to have deeply regretted.Please help improve this article by adding reliable references.South German, North German, Italian and French music, and his apparent devotion to the Lutheran liturgy.Buxtehudian model of improvisatory preludes and counterpoint of limited complexity.Italian music became available to the Weimar court orchestra, was a turning point.There are several more specific features of Bach's style.At the same time, Bach, unlike later composers, left the instrumentation of major works including The Art of Fugue and The Musical Offering open.Bach's deep knowledge of and interest in the liturgy led to his developing intricate relationships between music and linguistic text.This was evident from the smallest to the largest levels of his compositional technique.His natural inclination may have been to reinvigorate existing forms, rather than to discard them and pursue more dramatic musical innovations.The most obvious was his successful striving to become the leading virtuoso and improviser of the day on the organ.Many of his keyboard preludes are vehicles for a free improvisatory virtuosity in the German tradition, although their internal organisation became increasingly more cogent as he matured.Bach himself may have been the first to play the rapid solo violin passages.Family
See also: Bach family
Bach married his second cousin Maria Barbara Bach in 1707.Maria died in 1720, and Bach married Anna Magdalena Wilcke in 1721.BWV numbers, an initialism for Bach Werke Verzeichnis (Bach Works Catalogue).In compiling the catalogue, Schmieder largely followed the Bach Gesellschaft Ausgabe, a comprehensive edition of the composer's works that was produced between 1850 and 1905.For a list of works catalogued by BWV number, see List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach.Organ works
Bach was best known during his lifetime as an organist, organ consultant, and composer of organ works in both the traditional German free genres such as preludes, fantasias, and toccatas, and stricter forms such as chorale preludes and fugues.He established a reputation at a young age for his great creativity and ability to integrate foreign styles into his organ works.Around this time, Bach copied the works of numerous French and Italian composers to gain insights into their compositional languages, and later arranged violin concertos by Vivaldi and others for organ and harpsichord."Little organ book"), an unfinished collection of 45 short chorale preludes that demonstrate compositional techniques in the setting of chorale tunes.III of 1739, and the "Great eighteen" chorales, revised late in his life) were all composed after this time.Bach was extensively engaged later in his life in consulting on organ projects, testing newly built organs, and dedicating organs in afternoon recitals.Bach wrote many works for the harpsichord, some of which may also have been played on the clavichord.The pieces were intended by Bach for instructional purposes.There are nine canons within the 30 variations, one placed every three variations between variations 3 and 27.Orchestral and chamber music
Bach wrote music for single instruments, duets and small ensembles.Bach also composed a suite and several other works for solo lute.The most significant examples of the latter are contained in The Art of Fugue and The Musical Offering.In addition to concertos, Bach also wrote four orchestral suites, a series of stylised dances for orchestra, each preceded by a French overture.Vocal and choral works
Bach performed a cantata on Sunday at the Thomaskirche, on a theme corresponding to the lectionary readings of the week, as determined by the Lutheran Church Year calendar.In total he wrote more than 300 sacred cantatas, of which only about 195 survive.The best known of these cantatas are BWV 4 ("Christ lag in Todesbanden"), BWV 80 ("Ein' feste Burg"), BWV 140 ("Wachet auf") and BWV 147 ("Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben").In addition, Bach wrote a number of secular cantatas, usually for civic events such as council inaugurations.These also include wedding cantatas, the Wedding Quodlibet, the Peasant Cantata and the Coffee Cantata, which concerns a girl whose father will not let her marry until she gives up her addiction to that extremely popular drink.St Nicholas' Churches in alternate years, the Christmas Oratorio (a set of six cantatas for use in the Liturgical season of Christmas).Easter Oratorio compare to large, elaborated cantatas, of a lesser extent than the Passions and the Christmas Oratorio.Bach's other large work, the Mass in B minor, was assembled by Bach near the end of his life, mostly from pieces composed earlier (such as cantata BWV 191 and BWV 12).Bach's copy of a two volume Bible commentary by the orthodox Lutheran theologian, Abraham Calov, was discovered in the 1950s in a barn in Minnesota, purchased apparently in Germany as part of a "job lot" of old books and brought to America by an immigrant.It contains his markings of texts for his cantatas and notes.Bach Bible was prepared by Robin Leaver, titled J.Bach performers may pursue either of two traditions: authentic performance practice, utilising historical techniques, or alternatively the use of modern instruments and playing techniques, with a tendency towards larger ensembles.Brahms, and even Bach's most ambitious choral works, such as his Mass in B minor and Passions, are composed for relatively modest forces.Some of Bach's important chamber music does not indicate instrumentation, which gives greater latitude for variety of ensemble."Easy listening" realisations of Bach's music and its use in advertising also contributed greatly to Bach's popularisation in the second half of the twentieth century.Jazz musicians have also adopted Bach's music, with Jacques Loussier, Ian Anderson, Uri Caine and the Modern Jazz Quartet among those creating jazz versions of Bach works.Two other children, Wilhelm Friedmann and Johann Christoph Friedrich, were also composers.During this time, his works for keyboard were those most appreciated and composers ever since have acknowledged his mastery of the genre.Forgetting everything else, he did not stand up again until he had looked through all the music of Sebastian Bach".Tempered Clavier as a child and later calling Bach the "Urvater der Harmonie" ("Original father of Harmony") and, in a pun on the literal meaning of Bach's name, "nicht Bach, sondern Meer" ("not a brook, but a sea").Before performing a concert, Chopin used to lock himself away and play Bach's music.Several notable composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and Mendelssohn began writing in a more contrapuntal style after being introduced to Bach's music.Today the "Bach style" continues to influence musical composition, from hymns and religious works to pop and rock.Goethe became acquainted with Bach's works relatively late in life, through a series of performances of keyboard and choral works at Bad Berka in 1814 and 1815; in a letter of 1827 he compared the experience of listening to Bach's music to "eternal harmony in dialogue with itself".But it was Felix Mendelssohn who did the most to revive Bach's reputation with his 1829 Berlin performance of the St Matthew Passion.Hegel, who attended the performance, later called Bach a "grand, truly Protestant, robust and, so to speak, erudite genius which we have only recently learned again to appreciate at its full value".Scientist and author Lewis Thomas once suggested how the people of Earth should communicate with the universe: "I would vote for Bach, all of Bach, streamed out into space, over and over again.We can tell the harder truths later.""B") or using contrapuntal derivatives.Liszt, for example, wrote a praeludium and fugue on this BACH motif (existing in versions both for organ and piano).Bach himself set the precedent for this musical acronym, most notably in Contrapunctus XIV from the Art of Fugue.Whereas Bach also conceived this cruciform melody (among other similar ones) as a sign of devotion to Christ and his cross, later composers have employed the BACH motif in homage to the composer himself.Some of the greatest composers since Bach have written works which explicitly pay homage to him.Stephen Sondheim once claimed he listened to no one else except Bach.Bach is the most represented artist on the Voyager Golden Record, a phonograph record included in two Voyager missions.Bach's compositions comprise three of the 27 recordings chosen.Many early examples of synthesised music played on the Commodore 64 home computer's SID chip were realisations of Bach's contrapuntal works.Although Bach fathered twenty children, only seven survived infancy.Stauffer, George, and Ernest May.The New Grove Bach Family.The True Life of Johann Sebastian Bach.John Hargraves, translator (2006).Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life and Work.Bach, the art of MC Escher and other sources.Macmillan, 1950, 1955, 1962, 1966).Bach's life and music.Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician.Retrieved April 27, 2005."Bach's maternal uncle, died at Erfurt, bequeathing to his nephew a sum of 50 gulden.Bach to propose and subsequently to marry his second cousin from Arnstadt, Maria Barbara Bach...The wedding took place on October 17 in the village church at Dornheim, near Arnstadt."Siegele U, '"Bach and the domestic politics of electoral Saxony" in Butt J, pp.Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician.The Inscrutable Volbach Portrait.The Face of Bach.Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician.Death notice from the Spenersche Zeitung, quoted in The Bach Reader p."Johann Sebastian Bach's Strokes" (PDF)."The pathography of Bach's family".Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician."Has Bach Surviving Descendants?".Britannica article Bach, Johann Sebastian.Bach, on occasion of BBC Radio 3's complete airing of Bach's works in December 2005
J.Bach's works, online radio and video.Out of Copyright Editions
Free Scores by Johann Sebastian Bach at the International Music Score Library Project.Johann Sebastian Bach free scores in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
Free scores by Johann Sebastian Bach in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
Works by Johann Sebastian Bach at Project Gutenberg
Web Site in Korean dedicated to J.Classical MIDI Connection (to be listened only)
Johann Sebastian Bach discography at MusicBrainz
MP3s and videos of Bach arrangements for electric bass by Dave Grossman
Works by J.Oldest collegiate Bach Festival in the United States
Bach Festival Swidnitz, (Poland) Take place annually in July.Add the button to your Google Toolbar to access these directly...OPERATIONS AS SOON AS PRACTICABLE.Luke's Lutheran Church, Washington; R.Prelude in Eb, BWV552 (St.Prelude and Fugue in Eb, BWV552 (St.Canto fermo in Canone a 2 Clav.Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier.Bach, CPE Bach, G.Polonaise in F, BWV App.Ich habe genug' (aria from Cantata No.BWV1065 (based on Vivaldi, Op.Live: World Trade Center Memorial Concert; Sebastian Chamber Players) (T.Air (on the G string) (arr.Air (on the G String) (arr.Please let us know the BWV catalog number for any entry without one.The Classical Archives features public domain
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Firstinstrument.His heart remained in music, leaving an engineering career for an uncertain future in music.Europe, adopting the stage name of Vincent Bach while in England.The first Bach ads appeared in The Metronome during the early 1920s.However, a strong demand remained for Bach instruments and mouthpieces due to their superior design, high quality, and prompt service.Steinway Musical Instruments, Inc.Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21st l685, the son of Johann Ambrosius, court trumpeter for the Duke of Eisenach and director of the musicians of the town of Eisenach in Thuringia.For many years, members of the Bach family throughout Thuringia had held positions such as organists, town instrumentalists, or Cantors, and the family name enjoyed a wide reputation for musical talent.The pleasant and informative "Bach Haus" Museum in Eisenach does not claim to be the original family home).He was also initiated into the art of organ playing by his famous uncle, Johann Christoph Bach, who was then organist at the Georgenkirche in Eisenach.Sebastian was a very willing pupil and soon became extraordinarily proficient with these instruments.The boys of the school formed the choir of the St.Mortality rates were high as a result.Johann Sebastian at once settled down happily in this household studying the organ and harpsichord with great interest under his brother, and he quickly mastered all the pieces he had been given.He also encouraged him to study composition and set Sebastian to copying music by German organist composers such as Jakob Froberger, Johann Caspar Kerll and Pachelbel.He made excellent progress in Latin, Greek and theology, and had reached the top form at a very early age.Cantor, Elias Herda, had a high opinion of Johann Sebastian's voice and musical capabilities.Doubtless the two boys would have been given free food and accommodation in the many monasteries along the route.The growing lad soon lost his soprano voice, but was able to make himself useful as a violinist in the orchestra, and as an accompanist at the harpsichord during choir rehearsals.Jan Adams Reinken in Hamburg, and was a friend of the Bach family in Ohrdruf.Here at Weimar he now came into contact with Italian instrumental music, and acted as deputy to the aging Court Organist, Effler, an old friend of the Bach family, thus having a chance to keep his organ playing in practice.In July 1703 the Arnstadt Town Council invited young Bach to try out the newly finished organ in the 'New Church', so called as it had been almost totally rebuilt having been seriously damaged by fire.Though the present organ is not "Bach's", the original manuals, stops and pedals of Bach's organ are displayed in the Palm Haus Museum of this quiet historic little town, where the house in which Bach lodged can also be seen.Bach did not attempt to justify himself before what must have seemed to him a group of narrow minded and conservative old gentlemen; yet the Council, knowing how skilled his playing was, decided to treat their young and impetuous organist with leniency.However, new conflicts soon arose when Bach, citing a clause in his contract, refused to work any longer with the undisciplined boys' choir which he had been required to train for the sake of Council economy.The young lady was probably his cousin, Maria Barbara, whom he was later to marry.Thus, what had been an exciting and promising start at Arnstadt, had now turned into recriminations and disputes; Bach no doubt decided it would be better to look around for somewhere new.Maria Barbara came of a branch of the musical Bach family, her father being organist at Gehren.This success gave Bach the courage to put in a long and detailed report, proposing a complete renovation and improvement of the organ in the St Blasiuskirche.The Council agreed to carry out the renovation and improvements, and Bach was given the task of supervising the work, for not only was he now a brilliant player, he had also become an expert on the construction of organs.Bach was apprehensive of the latter's growing influence, in addition to the fact that his immediate superior was a Pietist.However, the situation was concluded quite amicably and Bach was asked that he should continue to supervise the rebuilding of the St Blasiuskirche organ.Weimar was quite a small town with only 5000 inhabitants; yet Bach was to meet some very cultured people here.Bach's function in the orchestra was mainly as a violinist, however he also played the harpsichord and occasionally wrote or arranged some of the music.As was the custom in most 18th century Courts, the musicians also spent some of their time employed in household and domestic duties.In 1714 Bach became the leader of the orchestra, and was now second only to the old and frail Capellmeister Johann Samuel Drese, whose duties he was gradually taking over.As Court Organist, Bach had succeeded Johann Effler, a musician of some standing.The organ was new and not quite as large as the one at Arnstadt.After a few years, Bach declared that it was inadequate and should be rebuilt.Mizler's 'Nekrolog' states: 'His fingers were all of equal strength, all equally able to play with the finest precision.He had invented so comfortable a fingering that he could master the most difficult parts with perfect ease (using 5 fingers instead of the then normal 3).On a visit to Dresden, Bach was invited to compete in a contest with the visiting French organist, Louis Marchand, considered to be one of the best in Europe.But, on the day appointed for the contest, Marchand decided to withdraw discreetly by taking the fastest coach available back to France.And so Bach gave an impressive solo performance before the assembled audience and referees, establishing himself as the finest organist of the day.Bach made some very good friends at Weimar, among whom was the eminent philologist and scholar Johann Matthias Gesner, who expressed with great eloquence his admiration for the composer's genius.Here the interest was in the new Italian style of music which was then becoming the rage of Europe, one of the chief exponents being the Venetian composer Vivaldi.Bach and his cousin Johann Georg Walther transcribed some of the Italian instrumental concertos for keyboard instruments.Bach did his best to ignore what was, after all, merely an extension of a private quarrel.Added to this, the ancient Capellmeister then died, and Bach was passed over for the post in favor of the late Capellmeister's mediocre son.At this, Bach was bitterly disappointed, for he had lately been doing most of the Capellmeister's work, and had confidently expected to be given the post.This infuriated the Duke of Weimar, so that when Bach put in a polite request for his release, he was arrested and put in the local jail.Capellmeister, the highest rank given to a musician during the baroque age.Grand Tour of Europe, first to Holland and England, through Germany to Italy, returning by way of Vienna.Bach's days were completely devoted to music.It was on returning from this second visit that Bach received a serious shock; his wife, Maria Barbara, whom he had left in perfect health three months earlier, had died and been buried in his absence, leaving four motherless children.Bach's attention with her fine soprano voice.In December 1721, Anna Magdalena and Bach married, she at the age of 20, and he 36.Bach family (though few of them survived through childhood).Bach's wedding, the Prince also married.So once more, Bach decided to look around for somewhere new.It may perhaps have been these circumstances which led Bach to revive an old invitation to produce what are now known as the Brandenburg Concertos.We know from the opening of this dedication, dated March 24th 1721, that Bach had already met the Margrave of Brandenburg, at which time Bach had been invited to provide some orchestral music.As I had a couple of years ago the pleasure of appearing before Your Royal Highness, by virtue of Your Highness' commands, and as I noticed then that Your Highness took some pleasure in the small talents which Heaven has given me for Music, and as in taking leave of Your Royal Highness, Your Highness deigned to honor me with the command to send Your Highness some pieces of my Composition: I have then in accordance with Your Highness' most gracious orders taken the liberty of rendering my most humble duty to Your Royal Highness with the present Concertos, which I have adapted to several instruments....There is some internal evidence in the music itself that Bach was intending to visit Berlin in person for the first performance of these works.Bach would permit were he seriously dedicating music to a dignitary, particularly with the hope of prospective employment.History shows no record of Bach's having subsequently visited the Margrave at his Brandenburg Court.Moreover the death of Johann Kuhnau, Cantor of the Thomasschule at Leipzig in June 1722 opened the possibility of an appointment for Bach at Leipzig, perhaps more attractive to him than Berlin.This position of Cantor at Leipzig had been favorably described to Bach, and as the town offered the necessary educational facilities for his sons, he applied for the post.The Council, after trying unsuccessfully to get a certain Christoph Graupner, old boy of the Thomasschule and Capellmeister at Darmstadt, eventually settled for Bach as a reasonable alternative.And so Bach left with his family and belongings for Leipzig, where he was to remain for the rest of his life.Leipzig, with a population of 30.One of Leipzig's most important features was its international commerce.Director of Choir and Music in Leipzig.The Bach family at that time comprised his wife and four children, of eight, nine, twelve and fourteen years of age.The school had around 60 boarders, aged between 11 and early 20s, and provided the choirs for at least four city churches.These boarders were mainly from deprived backgrounds and were maintained at the school on a charitable basis, and they also occasionally had to sing outdoors at funerals and in the city streets for alms.Bach's apartment in the school was divided between the ground floor and the next two floors.From the window of his study (Componierstube) on the first upper floor of the Thomasschule, Bach would look out west over the town wall, to a magnificent view of the surrounding gardens, fields and meadows, a view about which Goethe later wrote "When I first saw it, I believed I had come to the Elysian Fields".Pleisse and its idyllic surrounding countryside.Parents were unwilling to send their children to a school where illness amongst the pupils was so prevalent, and consequently, there were only 54 scholars out of a possible 120.The Cantor's duties were to organize the music in the four principal churches of Leipzig, and to form choirs for these churches from the pupils of the Thomasschule.He was also to instruct the more musically talented scholars in instrument playing so that they might be available for the church orchestra, and to teach the pupils Latin (which Bach quickly delegated to a junior colleague).Out of the 54 boys at Bach's disposal for use in the different choirs, he stated, '17 are competent, 20 not yet fully, and 17 incapable'.The best singers were selected to form the choir which sang the Sunday cantata; one week at the Thomaskirche, the other week at the Nikolaikirche.The orchestra used for the cantatas consisted of up to 20 players.Bach would certainly have taken steps early on to ensure that the instruments used wee in top condition.Hoffmann incidentally also built a viola pomposa, a tenor of the violin family, to Bach's orders.Zimmerman's Coffee House and other musical venues would indicate that there were no doubt musicians in the town who could be invited to attend in the gallery for church performances.Thus it may be assumed that Bach could count on a fairly professional orchestra.Bach's many arias featuring oboe obbligato attest to the presence of a good oboist among the town's wind players (possibly Reicha himself?Viola and violin obbligati Bach would normally play himself.The wealth and complexity of instrumentation in Bach's cantatas is evidence itself that musicianship of a high standard was not hard for him to obtain.His sons and pupils would also have participated, together with visiting musicians happy no doubt to have the honor of performing under the direction of the now famous Herr Bach.Bach could make music as and when he liked; here he had to keep strictly to his duties within the organized life of church and school.The Sunday services began at 7a.Bach to superintend at the four churches, also in one of the ancient hospitals and in a 'house of correction'.Apart from this, he had to attend and compose music for funerals and various other occasions.Bach also took a lively interest in the divine services at the University church, the Paulinerkirche.Bach and the authorities arose over this, and it was only after he had appealed to the Elector of Saxony at Dresden that a compromise was reached.Sunday corresponding to the liturgical year.That this is in fact the case may be explained by recalling the educational customs of Bach's time.It should also be recalled that any duties enumerated as part of a titular position were to be fulfilled, but not necessarily by the incumbent personally.Bach's position for example required him to provide instruction in Latin, which he did by delegation.Delegation was an accepted means of fulfilling obligations, and was also seen as means of instructing the more gifted pupils.One particularly special performance of a work by Bach was recorded in some detail: the cantata known as the Trauerode, BWV 198.His wife, Christiane Eberhardine, preferred her Lutheranism to her husband, however, so she renounced the throne and lived apart from him until her death on September 6th, 1727, an event which was deeply mourned in strongly Lutheran Saxony.Two weeks later, one Hans von Kirchbach, a nobleman student at the University of Leipzig, proposed to organize a memorial service in the Paulinerkirche during which he would deliver a valedictory address.Von Kirchbach commissioned a sometime librettist of Bach's, Johann Christoph Gottsched, to write verses for a mourning ode, and Bach to set these verses to music.Bach's protocol senior would ordinarily have supplied the music for a University function of this sort.Kirchbach was required to pay him twelve thalers in compensation.The permission came on October 12th, but Bach must have had Gottsched's text a few days before.Queen's emblems stood in the center of the crowded church, and the service began with the ringing of all the bells of the city.Kirchbach delivered his oration after the second chorus.Herr Bach in the Italian style.Herr Bach conducted the performance from a harpsichord, among the musicians in the gallery.Much is often made in current biographical notes, of Bach's disputes with the Council.When fuller, more detailed and more recent research is taken into account these records may perhaps give an unbalanced picture of Bach's life there at that time.This comfortable security of position combined with the fact that Bach had established, during his first six or seven years' tenure, a more than sufficient repertoire of cantatas (it has been suggested that he composed in total some 300), allowed him to widen his musical scope of activity.In particular, Bach had become famous, not only as an organist and improvisator, but as an expert in organ construction.As a result he was frequently asked to advise on new organ specifications and to test newly completed instruments with a thorough and detailed examination and report, as was the custom of the time.Gottfried Silbermann, who was also a personal friend of the Bach family and godfather to Carl Philipp Emmanuel.Bach may well have played any number of Silbermann's instruments, almost all of which were located in Saxony.Bach tried again this time with the backing of his Dresden patron Count von Keyserlingk.Silbermann organ in the Frauenkirche (tragically destroyed in the Second World War and now being actively rebuilt).It is on record that the Council reprimanded Bach in August 1730 for leaving his teaching duties in the overworked hands of his junior colleague, Petzold; for not properly disciplining his choirs, and for his frequent unauthorized journeys away from Leipzig.Bach did not try to justify himself, which further annoyed the Council, and so they attempted to diminish his income.Erdmann in Danzig, asking him to find him a 'convenient post' where he could escape the 'trouble, envy and persecution' which he had perpetually to face in Leipzig.The city would have lost Bach if his friend Gesner had not intervened on his behalf.Gesner had just taken over the post of headmaster at the Thomasschule after the death in 1729 of the former headmaster, and he used his influence to settle the situation between Bach and the authorities, and to secure him better working conditions.Bach's own accommodations were much improved in the process.The choral forces were much diminished during this period and so Bach produced a number of solo cantatas.Bach some hope for a brighter future in the school.This led to disputes with Bach who particularly wanted more time to train his choirs and musicians.This renewal of the old disputes with the school and church authorities must have been a considerable discouragement for Bach; in any case it is apparent that from then on he appeared less and less eager to provide the Council with church music.Salvation came however in the form of the Collegium Musicum; when Bach became its permanent director in 1729 he began to receive official recognition of the high regard in which he was generally held.One was established in 1702 by the redoubtable Georg Philipp Telemann; the other was begun six years later, by Johann Friedrich Fasch.University and a constant musical rival of Bach's.After Telemann left Leipzig the leadership of his Collegium was taken by Balthasar Schott, the Neukirche organist.Two types of concerts were given: ordinaire and extraordinaire.Bach adapted many of these works into church pieces; the Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248, for example, is made up largely of such adaptations).It was doubtless here that Bach's concerti for one or several harpsichords received their performances, many of these having been adapted from earlier (eg violin) concertos, or from concertos by other composers (eg Vivaldi).The regular concerts were probably free.These concerts were serious events, given outside of the regular coffee shop hours, and were thus not merely an ornament to the usual culinary attractions.The performances of the Collegium were, in fact, hardly different from what we consider to be normal concert procedure today.Collegium during its later years.Collegium Musicum was no mere diversion for Bach.Bach also enjoyed visits, often with his son Wilhelm Friedemann, to Dresden, where he would meet with friends in the Court Orchestra and perhaps visit the Opera.In his own much improved apartments of the newly rebuilt Thomasschule Bach would welcome visiting musicians from all over Germany and many other countries.Bach kept six claviers and many other instruments.Berlin who was expecting her second child to his son Carl Phillip Emmanuel, Bach stopped at Potsdam after two weary days of traveling.Here he had been invited to attend at the Royal Palace of King Frederick the Great of Prussia, where his son Carl Phillip Emmanuel was also employed as Court Harpsichordist.On Bach's arrival, Frederick was about to begin his evening concert, in which he himself played the flute with the orchestra, when he was given the list of people who had arrived at Court.Laying down his flute, he said to his orchestra, 'Gentlemen, old Bach is here'.After Bach had played on all the different instruments, moving with the King and musicians from room to room, Bach invited the King to give him a theme on which to improvise; Bach of course rose to the occasion, improvising at length and with amazing skill.Musical Offering' and sent it to the Court with a letter of dedication.On the day following the musical evening, a royal procession made its way around Potsdam, as Bach was invited to play on all the city's organs.Bach then became a member of the Mitzler society, a learned society devoted to the promotion of musical science, whose members were expected on joining to display some token of their learning.Bach's opening contribution was a set of canonic variations on the Christmas hymn, 'Vom Himmel hoch'.In these last years of his life, Bach's creative energy was conserved for the highest flights of musical expression: the Mass in b minor, the Canonic Variations, the Goldberg Variations, and of course the Musical Offering displaying the art of canon.Bach had overworked in poor light throughout his life, and his eyesight now began to fail him.The Leipzig Council started looking around as early as June 1749 for a successor.On the advice of friends, Bach put himself in the hands of a visiting celebrated English ophthalmic specialist, John Taylor (who also operated on Handel) and who happened to be passing through Leipzig.Two cataract operations were performed on his eyes, in March and Apri1 1750, and their weakening effect was aggravated by a following infection which seriously undermined his health.The last great Triple Fugue of the Art (Contrapunctus XI) may also have been written during his final days.Then, on the morning of the 28th of July, 1750, he woke up to find he could bear strong light again, and see quite clearly.That same day he had a stroke, followed by a severe fever.Bach was buried in St John's Cemetery which stood one block outside the town's Grimma Gate in the early morning of July 31, and in the absence of any tombstone his grave was soon forgotten.When St John's Church was rebuilt in 1894 a few Leipzig scholars and Bach admirers succeeded in having what were believed to be the composer's bones exhumed.Partial identification was established by a series of anatomical and other tests.We feel it is more accurate than the more frequently seen work of Elias Haussmann.Mourning Ode for Queen Christiana
illustrated story, full cantata text, and music samples.The
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www.Johann Christoph, organist at St.From 1700 to 1702 he attended St.Reincken at the organ of St.Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel.Rostropovich plays the Prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No.This video will appear on your blog shortly.Thank you for sharing this video!Three years ago I made an incredible discovery .Would you like to comment?Please login to subscribe.Mstislav Rostropovich plays the Prelude from Ba...Mstislav Rostropovich plays the Prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No.Bach Cello Suite No.Zelmer men served in the same regiment, while the boys, too young to be soldiers, played in the band.The military afforded great opportunities for education and travel.Of these, Henri and Alexandre graduated from the Paris conservatory as accomplished clarinetists.Sponsored by HYDAC
Don't miss the Spring Concert's mystical program with its blend of Bach pieces written for Palm Sunday and Easter and a ravishing piece written by the American choral master Morten Lauridsen.The 101st festival will be here before you know it!The theme of the 101st festival, Bach and the Oratorio Tradition, will give the choir's talented members ample opportunity to shine.Visit the performance calendar page for detailed listing of the repertoire, performers, dates and venues for the upcoming season.If you attended the 100th annual Bach festival, we bet you'll agree with the Wall Street Journal's sentiments.Bach Choir of Bethlehem is the oldest Bach choir in America. |
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