Johann Sebastian Bach Bach descended from a long line of distinguished musicians, and, after his death, several of his sons achieved musical prominence. He received his first musical training from members of his family, including his father, who was also a musician. He learned a great deal by studying the scores of other composers, assimilating the best musical practices of Germany, Italy, Austria, and France. Early on, he exhibited the work ethic that made him an extremely prolific composer. One story illustrates the extent of his devotion to his craft: at the age of 20, he walked a distance of 200 miles to hear Dietrich Buxtehude, Northern Europe's most renowned organist at the time, play the organ at Lübeck. Throughout his career, …show more content…
He treats the voices of the chorus like instruments, emphasizing music over text. Though the emotional needs of the text are always considered, his choral works lack the theatrical vocals of opera or the madrigal. The word that perhaps best describes all of Bach's music is reverent. His profound sense of duty to his church and his God is apparent in his respectful approach to composition. Most of Bach's choral compositions took the form of the Lutheran cantata, which appeared earlier in Italy, but reached its full potential in Germany. The cantata was a relatively new form that combined biblical text and contemporary poetry. Composers set the text to the chorale melodies of early Lutheran tunes. The chorale melody might be sung by the soprano voice in a hymn-like section of the cantata, also called the chorale. In other movements, the chorale tune might appear as a sort of cantus firmus, a melodic fragment woven into the tapestry of multiple polyphonic lines. These movements would take the form of choral fugues, duets, or arias. The content of the Sunday Mass influenced the composition of the cantata, varying from single movement works, to pieces with multiple movements divided into choruses, instrumental passages, arias, and recitatives. Let's look at the Cantata No.80 Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, for an example of such a multi-movement work. This particular cantata has eight movements: Bach also perfected the Passion, a form
The ideas and beliefs brought forth by the Camerata and many others were whole and acted as a benchmark for moving forward in music, but the ideas of past musical structures had not been forgotten. Polyphony which had seemed to be a key part of the stile antico with its many rules on line and counterpoint made a strong return through the Prelude and Fugue, particularly by Johann Sebastian Bach. J.S. Bach wrote many organ pieces with long and fluid contrapuntal passages still following the ideals set in the prima practica. Many of Bach’s works had outlines brought pieces by such composers as Palestrina who some consider the father of the first practice. Palestrina’s Missa sine nomine gave Bach a strong inspiration for his particularly famous Mass in B Minor. Through this polyphony Bach was able to inspire the Lutheran Church as well as the works of many other composers who would later use his works as basis for their own. Many of the composers who would do this would move out of the Church setting and into private parties and royal houses to entertain, which was not heard of by the earlier predecessors of Polyphony who would have stayed in the churches. These men would have only gone outside of the church if the King or a royal call was offered and would then return to the church for duties.
Two composers about this period are: (Hildegregard of Bingen What's more Leonin-ca. ). - those primary 500 quite some time from claiming this period, those pre-dominate kind of music might have been alluded should as Gregorian chant, a monophonic vocal music that might have been sung Previously, church. Those stayed of the time saw a bit by bit evolving unpredictability in the music from serenade comprising of a absolute melodic line will two part composing called organum, Furthermore At last should polyphonic consecrated (religiously based) compositions known as motets (often setting of prayers) Furthermore massenet (settings for specific writings from the custom move fact Mass). A large portion
Born on March 21st 1685, Bach was the son of Johann Ambrosious, who was the court musician for the Duke of Eisenach. Alongside being a musician for the duke Ambrosious was the director of musicians for the town of Eisenach. The Bach family
“The best feature of these services is the fact that the fine seasonal Latin hymns have remained, although,
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.
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.
The Opera is described as the relationship between words and music. Opera is dramatic staged secular vocal work with orchestral accompaniment .Consisting of alternating recitatives, arias, and chorus numbers. Soloists, solo ensembles, choruses, dancing, dramatic action, costumes, staging are all components of opera. It was important because it added interest in dramas and music and it created interest is homophonic texture. Cantata was another important Baroque style. Cantata extended solo or choral work. It was created for Lutheran worship service. Cantatas include harmonized chorales, polyphonic choruses, arias, recitatives, solo ensembles, and instrumental accompaniment. Oratorio is dramatic work for chorus, solo voices, and orchestra. It is similar to cantata except it is longer and to a larger scale. Most were based on biblical texts to teach and entertain. Chamber music works for solo instruments performing together in small ensembles. Trio Sonatas were important chamber music pieces during the Baroque Period. Church sonatas would be performed in church. Chamber sonatas were meant for concert performance. Finally, orchestra varied in size and instrumentation. This style was favored by royalty and wealthy families. Most court orchestra were made up only bowed stringed instruments although woodwinds and others were gradually
When I was little, I used to always want to go out and visit Marineland. At the tender age of 5 I was mesmerized Free Willy, the kid’s film about an orca who is freed into the wild by a little boy. I was amazed by the creature on the screen every time I watched the film, it never got old. Of course at my age I did not quite understand why Willy had to be freed from the seemingly nice pool he was allowed to be living in. It was what made me want to visit Marineland to see one of these guys up close. I visited for the first time when I was about 10, and I do not remember everything but what I do remember is that I was more enticed with the rides and the gift shop than I was with their orcas. I used to question why, but now I get it. The orca we saw was underwhelming, because of the sheer sadness it emanated from the other side of the glass where it swam around in its small living area. It was not Willy, the fun orca from my childhood. It was the stark reality of a combination of solitude and mistreatment. I learned recently that the orca in Free Willy was released from captivity 9 years after the film came out in 1993, and it died in the wild after only a year because it was too dependant on us. We are the ones that created this mess. This mess of literal killer whales, of poor living conditions of these animals, the way we have ripped them from their natural habitat and put them up for show. SeaWorld plays a big role in this business. And SeaWorld, like all
The oratorio and cantata of the eighteenth century were both linked, unlike opera, to religious themes. Although intended for very different uses and circumstances of performance, all three genres contained musical commalities. Not surprisingly, the three genres would
The main issue within the article is about language, which is a "culture trait." A "culture trait" is described as learned beliefs, values, traditions, symbols or meanings that are passed from one generation to another within a specific community. (Francis, January 18, 2017) The French language within Quebec has been a cornerstone in regards to preserving the francophone culture. By speaking in French, Trudeau acknowledges the importance in preserving French in Quebec and Canada's official bilingualism. But by disregarding the use of English during the town hall, Trudeau made himself sound like a hypocrite. Since the adoption of Canada's Official Languages Act, there has been a struggle to maintain happiness between anglophones and
In 1706 Bach decided that he wanted to further his career in music and made the first change by leaving his organ playing position at the church and took upon a new position in Munhlhausen at the St. Blasius as an organist there (Johann Sebastian BACH). This change was for the best because the church was larger and located in a city that was important to the north. A few months after being an organist at the St. Blasius church he married his second cousin Maria Barbara Bach. After a year of Bach being a organist for St. Blasius, he was offered a better position in Weimar. Bach took the offer with pride and became their new court organist and concertmaster at the ducal court. Johann and Maria Bach decided to start their family, after their first born child, Marias unwed sister moved into their home to help with raising their children. Maria and Johann Bach had a total of seven children. The gifted musically talented family continued as two of Bach children, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach became vital composers following the baroque period.
When Bach was eight years old he went to the old Latin Grammar School. He was taught reading and writing, Latin grammar, and a great deal of scripture, both in Latin and German. The boys in the school formed the choir of the St. Georgenkirche. This also gave Bach an opportunity to sing in the regular services, as well as in the nearby villages. He has an uncommonly fine treble voice.
The cantata was typically sung in a church service, and could be a single movement or multiple movements. Cantatas were sung by a soloist orchestra, like the Italian opera: “Cantatas were used to denote small and large scale works, ranging from a solo singer with basso continuo to a large ensemble of soloists, chorus, and instruments.”2 Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre was a composer who published a group of sacred cantatas, one titled Judith: “Judith is performed largely by one singer with basso continuo. A violin joins in for instrumental sections called symphonies and as part of an accompanied recitative.”2 The cantatas of the Lutheran church were much more sacred than Italian cantatas. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote most cantatas for the Lutheran church. The texts of Bach’s cantatas included biblical passages, a chorale text, and poetic interpretation. Bach explored a variety of instrumental and vocal elements in his cantatas: “Bach’s cantatas embody many different forms and traditions, including motet-like movements for chorus, chorale harmonization, virtuosic solos and duets, with additional solo
Many scholars deem the Lutheran Chorale as “one of the most thrilling chapter in the history of the Reformation”(H.G. Haile Luther; An experiment in Biography H.G. Haile,Author 1980;Doubleday & Company Inc Garden City New York ). Luther greatly appreciated older German hymns from the Middle ages, as can be seen through his works. Luther would find poets to write new hymns in what he deemed as a “proper devotional style”. Luther would often paraphrase Psalms in his hymns. In 1523 several of his hymns and those of his friends were printed and distributed in individual leaflets or broadsheets.
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)