Robert L. Marshall
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780252041488
- eISBN:
- 9780252050084
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5622/illinois/9780252041488.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter explores the nature of the filial and sibling relationships that prevailed between and among J. S. Bach and his five musical sons: Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann ...
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This chapter explores the nature of the filial and sibling relationships that prevailed between and among J. S. Bach and his five musical sons: Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Gottfried Bernhard, Johann Christoph Friedrich, and Johann Christian. By examining the often unflattering explicit (and implicit) testimony contained in the surviving epistolary and musical sources, the author seeks to understand how these uniquely privileged, and uniquely challenged, musicians came to terms with their paternal legacy and to determine how, and with what degree of success, they sought to emerge from their father’s artistic shadow.Less
This chapter explores the nature of the filial and sibling relationships that prevailed between and among J. S. Bach and his five musical sons: Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Gottfried Bernhard, Johann Christoph Friedrich, and Johann Christian. By examining the often unflattering explicit (and implicit) testimony contained in the surviving epistolary and musical sources, the author seeks to understand how these uniquely privileged, and uniquely challenged, musicians came to terms with their paternal legacy and to determine how, and with what degree of success, they sought to emerge from their father’s artistic shadow.
Jeffrey S. Sposato
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190616953
- eISBN:
- 9780190616984
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190616953.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter is the first of three chapters to look at the relationship between a Thomaskantor, who oversaw the church music, and a Kapellmeister (music director) of the public concerts. Thomaskantor ...
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This chapter is the first of three chapters to look at the relationship between a Thomaskantor, who oversaw the church music, and a Kapellmeister (music director) of the public concerts. Thomaskantor Johann Friedrich Doles and Kapellmeister Johann Adam Hiller are highlighted. The chapter examines developments in church music repertoire under Johann Sebastian Bach; his immediate successor, Gottlob Harrer; and Doles. Hiller began his career in Leipzig as director of the public Grosse Concert in 1743. After directing the Musikübende Gesellschaft and the Gewandhaus orchestra, he became Thomaskantor in 1789. Public concert music under Hiller continued to be heavily influenced by trends in church music. Hiller replaced Doles as Thomaskantor in 1789.Less
This chapter is the first of three chapters to look at the relationship between a Thomaskantor, who oversaw the church music, and a Kapellmeister (music director) of the public concerts. Thomaskantor Johann Friedrich Doles and Kapellmeister Johann Adam Hiller are highlighted. The chapter examines developments in church music repertoire under Johann Sebastian Bach; his immediate successor, Gottlob Harrer; and Doles. Hiller began his career in Leipzig as director of the public Grosse Concert in 1743. After directing the Musikübende Gesellschaft and the Gewandhaus orchestra, he became Thomaskantor in 1789. Public concert music under Hiller continued to be heavily influenced by trends in church music. Hiller replaced Doles as Thomaskantor in 1789.
Joel Lester
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195120974
- eISBN:
- 9780199865406
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195120974.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
The structural and stylistic features of Johann Sebastian Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin, and the history of these works, are the focus of this book. Historical topics include Bach as a ...
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The structural and stylistic features of Johann Sebastian Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin, and the history of these works, are the focus of this book. Historical topics include Bach as a violinist, the autograph score of the work, the published editions, and the history of performance traditions. Eighteenth-century notions of thoroughbass, harmony, keys, counterpoint, cadences, and rhetoric are the basis of Bach's music, from point-to-point musical continuity to the shape of the construction of movements. A general principle underlying all Bach's music is the heightening of activity as musical materials succeed one another and return in more elaborate guises. The solo-violin works are related to Bach's compositions in other genres and differentiated from music by later composers. This leads to thoughts on performing these works so as to bring to life these 18th-century features, while making the music alive in our own time.Less
The structural and stylistic features of Johann Sebastian Bach's sonatas and partitas for solo violin, and the history of these works, are the focus of this book. Historical topics include Bach as a violinist, the autograph score of the work, the published editions, and the history of performance traditions. Eighteenth-century notions of thoroughbass, harmony, keys, counterpoint, cadences, and rhetoric are the basis of Bach's music, from point-to-point musical continuity to the shape of the construction of movements. A general principle underlying all Bach's music is the heightening of activity as musical materials succeed one another and return in more elaborate guises. The solo-violin works are related to Bach's compositions in other genres and differentiated from music by later composers. This leads to thoughts on performing these works so as to bring to life these 18th-century features, while making the music alive in our own time.
Malcolm Boyd
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195307719
- eISBN:
- 9780199850785
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307719.003.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter examines the early life of German composer and organist Johann Sebastian Bach during the period from 1685 to 1703. Bach was born on March 21, 1685, was christened later at the front of ...
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This chapter examines the early life of German composer and organist Johann Sebastian Bach during the period from 1685 to 1703. Bach was born on March 21, 1685, was christened later at the front of the historic Georgenkirche. Nothing is known for certain about Bach's early years until 1693, when he was listed in the fifth class of the Lateinschule at Eisenach. He came from a musical family and he was taught and learned how to play the organ, harpsichord, and violin at an early age. By 1703, Bach was employed as court organist at Weimar.Less
This chapter examines the early life of German composer and organist Johann Sebastian Bach during the period from 1685 to 1703. Bach was born on March 21, 1685, was christened later at the front of the historic Georgenkirche. Nothing is known for certain about Bach's early years until 1693, when he was listed in the fifth class of the Lateinschule at Eisenach. He came from a musical family and he was taught and learned how to play the organ, harpsichord, and violin at an early age. By 1703, Bach was employed as court organist at Weimar.
Richard D. P. Jones
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780199696284
- eISBN:
- 9780191761102
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199696284.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This is the second of a two-volume study of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Taking into account the vast increase in our knowledge of the composer due to the Bach scholarship of the last sixty ...
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This is the second of a two-volume study of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Taking into account the vast increase in our knowledge of the composer due to the Bach scholarship of the last sixty years, this book presents a vivid and in some respects radically new picture of his creative development during the Cöthen (1717–23) and Leipzig years (1723–50). The approach is, as far as possible, chronological and analytical. There are many good biographies of Bach but this book provides an in-depth study of his music.Less
This is the second of a two-volume study of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Taking into account the vast increase in our knowledge of the composer due to the Bach scholarship of the last sixty years, this book presents a vivid and in some respects radically new picture of his creative development during the Cöthen (1717–23) and Leipzig years (1723–50). The approach is, as far as possible, chronological and analytical. There are many good biographies of Bach but this book provides an in-depth study of his music.
Jeffrey S. Sposato
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195149746
- eISBN:
- 9780199870783
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149746.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This book examines the relationship of composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47) to his Jewish heritage. Most scholars since World War Two have assumed that Mendelssohn, who was born Jewish but was ...
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This book examines the relationship of composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47) to his Jewish heritage. Most scholars since World War Two have assumed that Mendelssohn, who was born Jewish but was converted to Protestantism at age seven, maintained a strong attachment to Judaism throughout his lifetime. Through a close examination of the libretto drafts of Mendelssohn's oratorios Paulus, Elias, and Christus; his libretto for Adolf Bernhard Marx's oratorio Mose; and his edition of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion, this book provides new answers to the so-called “Mendelssohn Jewish question”. The book demonstrates how Mendelssohn's father, Abraham Mendelssohn, worked to distance the family from its Jewish past, and how Mendelssohn's reputation as a composer of Christian sacred music was threatened by the reverence with which German Jews viewed his family name. In order to prove the sincerity of his Christian faith to both his father and his audiences, Mendelssohn aligned his early sacred works with a 19th-century anti-Semitic musical tradition, and did so more fervently than even his Christian collaborators required. With the death of Mendelssohn's father and the near simultaneous establishment of the composer's career in Leipzig in 1835, however, Mendelssohn's fear of his background began to dissipate, and he began to explore ways in which he could prove the sincerity of his Christian faith without having to disparage publicly his Jewish heritage.Less
This book examines the relationship of composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809–47) to his Jewish heritage. Most scholars since World War Two have assumed that Mendelssohn, who was born Jewish but was converted to Protestantism at age seven, maintained a strong attachment to Judaism throughout his lifetime. Through a close examination of the libretto drafts of Mendelssohn's oratorios Paulus, Elias, and Christus; his libretto for Adolf Bernhard Marx's oratorio Mose; and his edition of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion, this book provides new answers to the so-called “Mendelssohn Jewish question”. The book demonstrates how Mendelssohn's father, Abraham Mendelssohn, worked to distance the family from its Jewish past, and how Mendelssohn's reputation as a composer of Christian sacred music was threatened by the reverence with which German Jews viewed his family name. In order to prove the sincerity of his Christian faith to both his father and his audiences, Mendelssohn aligned his early sacred works with a 19th-century anti-Semitic musical tradition, and did so more fervently than even his Christian collaborators required. With the death of Mendelssohn's father and the near simultaneous establishment of the composer's career in Leipzig in 1835, however, Mendelssohn's fear of his background began to dissipate, and he began to explore ways in which he could prove the sincerity of his Christian faith without having to disparage publicly his Jewish heritage.
Malcolm Boyd
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195307719
- eISBN:
- 9780199850785
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307719.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter examines Johann Sebastian Bach's travels to Arnstadt and Muhlhausen during the period from 1703 to 1708. In Arnstadt, Bach worked as organist of the town's third church and he was even ...
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This chapter examines Johann Sebastian Bach's travels to Arnstadt and Muhlhausen during the period from 1703 to 1708. In Arnstadt, Bach worked as organist of the town's third church and he was even selected to test the church's new organ in 1703. In 1706, Bach came to Muhlhausen to compete for the post of chief organist for the church of Blasiuskirche. In June 1707, he was accepted for the post and given a salary of 85 gulden. He later requested his dismissal from the Arnstadt consistory. Once established in Muhlhausen, Bach pursued and eventually married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach.Less
This chapter examines Johann Sebastian Bach's travels to Arnstadt and Muhlhausen during the period from 1703 to 1708. In Arnstadt, Bach worked as organist of the town's third church and he was even selected to test the church's new organ in 1703. In 1706, Bach came to Muhlhausen to compete for the post of chief organist for the church of Blasiuskirche. In June 1707, he was accepted for the post and given a salary of 85 gulden. He later requested his dismissal from the Arnstadt consistory. Once established in Muhlhausen, Bach pursued and eventually married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach.
Steven Zohn
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195169775
- eISBN:
- 9780199865536
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195169775.003.0005
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter explores the musical and aesthetic implications of Johann Sebastian Bach’s previously unrecognized borrowing from a movement by Telemann. To wit, the middle movement of Bach’s F-minor ...
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This chapter explores the musical and aesthetic implications of Johann Sebastian Bach’s previously unrecognized borrowing from a movement by Telemann. To wit, the middle movement of Bach’s F-minor harpsichord concerto BWV 1056, justly celebrated as one of the composer’s “most memorable, singable melodies”, is substantially based upon the first movement of Telemann’s concerto for solo oboe or flute and strings, 51:G2. Unlike many intertextual correspondences that are perhaps too readily presumed to be borrowings, this one goes well beyond the sharing of common melodic and harmonic formulae to suggest a conscious modeling process.Less
This chapter explores the musical and aesthetic implications of Johann Sebastian Bach’s previously unrecognized borrowing from a movement by Telemann. To wit, the middle movement of Bach’s F-minor harpsichord concerto BWV 1056, justly celebrated as one of the composer’s “most memorable, singable melodies”, is substantially based upon the first movement of Telemann’s concerto for solo oboe or flute and strings, 51:G2. Unlike many intertextual correspondences that are perhaps too readily presumed to be borrowings, this one goes well beyond the sharing of common melodic and harmonic formulae to suggest a conscious modeling process.
Bruce Haynes
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195337259
- eISBN:
- 9780199864225
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195337259.003.0007
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
Johann Sebastian Bach gave the hautboy more solos in his vocal works than any other instrument. There are 216 surviving obbligatos for treble hautboy, hautbois d'amour, and oboe da caccia. Solos for ...
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Johann Sebastian Bach gave the hautboy more solos in his vocal works than any other instrument. There are 216 surviving obbligatos for treble hautboy, hautbois d'amour, and oboe da caccia. Solos for violin, the nearest contender, number ninety-two; for traverso, twenty-nine. Chamber music is a different story, where it seems some works have been lost. In any case, it is clear that the hautboy was one of the most important elements in Bach's instrumentarium. If the hautboy was important to Bach, the converse is also true. The hautboy's repertoire includes more solos by Bach than by any other composer. It hardly needs to be said that this music is of consistently high quality, making it the largest single body of important compositions for the instrument that survives. This chapter looks at the use of hautboys at Weimar, Cöthen, and Leipzig, Germany; Bach's musical relationship with hautboy player Caspar Gleditsch; larger sizes of hautboy; special problems involving pitch; and the lost hautboy repertoire.Less
Johann Sebastian Bach gave the hautboy more solos in his vocal works than any other instrument. There are 216 surviving obbligatos for treble hautboy, hautbois d'amour, and oboe da caccia. Solos for violin, the nearest contender, number ninety-two; for traverso, twenty-nine. Chamber music is a different story, where it seems some works have been lost. In any case, it is clear that the hautboy was one of the most important elements in Bach's instrumentarium. If the hautboy was important to Bach, the converse is also true. The hautboy's repertoire includes more solos by Bach than by any other composer. It hardly needs to be said that this music is of consistently high quality, making it the largest single body of important compositions for the instrument that survives. This chapter looks at the use of hautboys at Weimar, Cöthen, and Leipzig, Germany; Bach's musical relationship with hautboy player Caspar Gleditsch; larger sizes of hautboy; special problems involving pitch; and the lost hautboy repertoire.
Robin A. Leaver
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040191
- eISBN:
- 9780252098413
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040191.003.0002
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
This chapter examines a collection of Bach chorale harmonizations copied in Dresden sometime during the 1730s, with the goal of clarifying both its likely provenance and purpose. “Sebastian Bach’s ...
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This chapter examines a collection of Bach chorale harmonizations copied in Dresden sometime during the 1730s, with the goal of clarifying both its likely provenance and purpose. “Sebastian Bach’s Choral-Buch” is a collection of chorales—melodies with figured bass, intended to accompany singing—given in a sequence similar to that found in many hymnals. The mid-eighteenth-century manuscript was purchased from Hans P. Kraus, Vienna, in September 1936 by the Sibley Library at the Eastman School of Music. This chapter first describes the Sibley Choralbuch before reviewing its provenance and content. It then considers the manuscript’s significance as a possible source of evidence for the practices of the circle of organists who studied with Johann Sebastian Bach in the 1730s and 1740s. It argues that Choralbuch served as a workbook for learning how to create four-part settings but had a double usefulness: Bach could assign particular chorale melodies for the pupil to work on as test pieces, while the anthology could serve to accompany chorale singing at services.Less
This chapter examines a collection of Bach chorale harmonizations copied in Dresden sometime during the 1730s, with the goal of clarifying both its likely provenance and purpose. “Sebastian Bach’s Choral-Buch” is a collection of chorales—melodies with figured bass, intended to accompany singing—given in a sequence similar to that found in many hymnals. The mid-eighteenth-century manuscript was purchased from Hans P. Kraus, Vienna, in September 1936 by the Sibley Library at the Eastman School of Music. This chapter first describes the Sibley Choralbuch before reviewing its provenance and content. It then considers the manuscript’s significance as a possible source of evidence for the practices of the circle of organists who studied with Johann Sebastian Bach in the 1730s and 1740s. It argues that Choralbuch served as a workbook for learning how to create four-part settings but had a double usefulness: Bach could assign particular chorale melodies for the pupil to work on as test pieces, while the anthology could serve to accompany chorale singing at services.
George B. Stauffer
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252040191
- eISBN:
- 9780252098413
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252040191.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, Theory, Analysis, Composition
This chapter examines various independent trio movements that Johann Sebastian Bach either composed or transcribed, probably prior to the composition of the Six Sonatas for organ. The Six Trio ...
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This chapter examines various independent trio movements that Johann Sebastian Bach either composed or transcribed, probably prior to the composition of the Six Sonatas for organ. The Six Trio Sonatas for Organ, BWV 525–530, were assembled for the use of Bach’s oldest son, ilhelm Friedemann, to give final polish to his organ technique. This chapter first describes the Six Trio Sonatas before discussing Bach’s miscellaneous free organ trios in more detail. It then considers Bach’s Leipzig workshop and suggests that the miscellaneous organ trios and Six Sonata variants represent a unified repertory arising from a single period of activity in Leipzig: 1725 to 1730 or so. Aside from serving as preparatory exercises for the Six Sonatas, the organ trios were used as display pieces for demonstrating the chamber music registers of the progressive Central German organ, as well as a teaching material for students like Johann Tobias Krebs and Gottfried August Homilius.Less
This chapter examines various independent trio movements that Johann Sebastian Bach either composed or transcribed, probably prior to the composition of the Six Sonatas for organ. The Six Trio Sonatas for Organ, BWV 525–530, were assembled for the use of Bach’s oldest son, ilhelm Friedemann, to give final polish to his organ technique. This chapter first describes the Six Trio Sonatas before discussing Bach’s miscellaneous free organ trios in more detail. It then considers Bach’s Leipzig workshop and suggests that the miscellaneous organ trios and Six Sonata variants represent a unified repertory arising from a single period of activity in Leipzig: 1725 to 1730 or so. Aside from serving as preparatory exercises for the Six Sonatas, the organ trios were used as display pieces for demonstrating the chamber music registers of the progressive Central German organ, as well as a teaching material for students like Johann Tobias Krebs and Gottfried August Homilius.
Jeffrey S. Sposato
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195149746
- eISBN:
- 9780199870783
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195149746.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter explores Felix Mendelssohn's 1829 revival of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion (Matthaus-Passion). Musicologist Michael Marissen has argued that in preparing for the revival, ...
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This chapter explores Felix Mendelssohn's 1829 revival of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion (Matthaus-Passion). Musicologist Michael Marissen has argued that in preparing for the revival, Mendelssohn cut Bach's work to remove anti-Semitic references. It is shown instead that Mendelssohn's cuts were intended to make the work more accessible to a 19th-century audience that was largely unfamiliar with Bach's works. Mendelssohn's cuts were also similar to those of other Christian conductors who performed the work later, suggesting that he did not make his changes out of any lingering affinity for Judaism, or to lessen the work's anti-Semitism. Mendelssohn, in fact, was a close disciple of prominent Protestant theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher, who viewed Judaism as an outdated religion.Less
This chapter explores Felix Mendelssohn's 1829 revival of Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion (Matthaus-Passion). Musicologist Michael Marissen has argued that in preparing for the revival, Mendelssohn cut Bach's work to remove anti-Semitic references. It is shown instead that Mendelssohn's cuts were intended to make the work more accessible to a 19th-century audience that was largely unfamiliar with Bach's works. Mendelssohn's cuts were also similar to those of other Christian conductors who performed the work later, suggesting that he did not make his changes out of any lingering affinity for Judaism, or to lessen the work's anti-Semitism. Mendelssohn, in fact, was a close disciple of prominent Protestant theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher, who viewed Judaism as an outdated religion.
Malcolm Boyd
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195307719
- eISBN:
- 9780199850785
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307719.003.0011
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter examines developments in the musical career of Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig during the period from 1742 to 1750. During this period, Cantatas 34 and 191 were only his contributions ...
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This chapter examines developments in the musical career of Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig during the period from 1742 to 1750. During this period, Cantatas 34 and 191 were only his contributions to the regular church services. This chapter suggests that at this time Bach entered his final phase as a composer, after the publication of the last part of Clavier-Ubung in 1742. After this Bach wrote not for the church nor for a princely court, nor even for the collegium musicum.Less
This chapter examines developments in the musical career of Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig during the period from 1742 to 1750. During this period, Cantatas 34 and 191 were only his contributions to the regular church services. This chapter suggests that at this time Bach entered his final phase as a composer, after the publication of the last part of Clavier-Ubung in 1742. After this Bach wrote not for the church nor for a princely court, nor even for the collegium musicum.
Malcolm Boyd
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195307719
- eISBN:
- 9780199850785
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307719.003.0013
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter examines the musical heritage of Johann Sebastian Bach. It mentions a commentary by a critic who recognized in Bach's music the perfection and culmination of all that his predecessors ...
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This chapter examines the musical heritage of Johann Sebastian Bach. It mentions a commentary by a critic who recognized in Bach's music the perfection and culmination of all that his predecessors had been striving towards. Bach's craftsmanship was universally acknowledged and the pedagogical value of his chorale harmonizations and keyboard fugues were recognized. His compositions are still being listened to and played in churches. But despite this, Bach had very minimal influence on other composers.Less
This chapter examines the musical heritage of Johann Sebastian Bach. It mentions a commentary by a critic who recognized in Bach's music the perfection and culmination of all that his predecessors had been striving towards. Bach's craftsmanship was universally acknowledged and the pedagogical value of his chorale harmonizations and keyboard fugues were recognized. His compositions are still being listened to and played in churches. But despite this, Bach had very minimal influence on other composers.
Malcolm Boyd
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195307719
- eISBN:
- 9780199850785
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307719.003.0003
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter examines developments in the personal life and musical career of Johann Sebastian Bach during the period from 1708 to 1717. Six of the seven of Bach's children were born in Weimar, where ...
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This chapter examines developments in the personal life and musical career of Johann Sebastian Bach during the period from 1708 to 1717. Six of the seven of Bach's children were born in Weimar, where he worked as court organist. Bach later moved to Cothen, and when he saw an opportunity for career advancement he requested Duke Wilhelm for his release. The duke became enraged at Bach's insistence and placed him under arrest and held him prisoner. After this imprisonment the duke granted Bach an ignominious dismissal.Less
This chapter examines developments in the personal life and musical career of Johann Sebastian Bach during the period from 1708 to 1717. Six of the seven of Bach's children were born in Weimar, where he worked as court organist. Bach later moved to Cothen, and when he saw an opportunity for career advancement he requested Duke Wilhelm for his release. The duke became enraged at Bach's insistence and placed him under arrest and held him prisoner. After this imprisonment the duke granted Bach an ignominious dismissal.
Malcolm Boyd
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195307719
- eISBN:
- 9780199850785
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307719.003.0009
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter examines developments in the musical career of Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig during the period from 1730 to 1741. The year 1730 was a crucial one for Bach, which culminated in an ...
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This chapter examines developments in the musical career of Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig during the period from 1730 to 1741. The year 1730 was a crucial one for Bach, which culminated in an appeal for help to Georg Erdmann in Danzig. Most of Bach's problems during this time were related to the conflict between civic and universities, low level of resources available for church music, and the low morale among Thomasschule staff and students.Less
This chapter examines developments in the musical career of Johann Sebastian Bach in Leipzig during the period from 1730 to 1741. The year 1730 was a crucial one for Bach, which culminated in an appeal for help to Georg Erdmann in Danzig. Most of Bach's problems during this time were related to the conflict between civic and universities, low level of resources available for church music, and the low morale among Thomasschule staff and students.
Russell Stinson
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780193862142
- eISBN:
- 9780199853106
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780193862142.001.0001
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This is a book-length study of the Orgelbüchlein, the masterly collection of organ chorales by Johann Sebastian Bach. This “Little Organ Book” is regarded by Bach scholars as one of the composer's ...
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This is a book-length study of the Orgelbüchlein, the masterly collection of organ chorales by Johann Sebastian Bach. This “Little Organ Book” is regarded by Bach scholars as one of the composer's most important achievements and by organ scholars as a milestone in the development of the chorale. The book examines the collection from a range of historical and analytical perspectives in a way that resonates. The book begins with a discussion of Bach's reasons for compiling the collection and his original plans to create a comprehensive set of 164 chorales. The book then examines the composer's compositional process in the collection and considers the music in its historical context with attention to each of the three types of chorale: the melody chorale, the ornamental chorale, and the chorale canon. The book goes on to look at each of the forty-six individual compositions, illuminating the structure of each and tracing the evolution through the set of Bach's concept of chorale. The book concludes with a discussion of the Orgelbüchlein's reception from the 18th century to the present. The appendix includes a complete score of the chorale “Ich ruf zu dir” as arranged by C. P. E. Bach and a list of published transcriptions of the chorales for other instruments.Less
This is a book-length study of the Orgelbüchlein, the masterly collection of organ chorales by Johann Sebastian Bach. This “Little Organ Book” is regarded by Bach scholars as one of the composer's most important achievements and by organ scholars as a milestone in the development of the chorale. The book examines the collection from a range of historical and analytical perspectives in a way that resonates. The book begins with a discussion of Bach's reasons for compiling the collection and his original plans to create a comprehensive set of 164 chorales. The book then examines the composer's compositional process in the collection and considers the music in its historical context with attention to each of the three types of chorale: the melody chorale, the ornamental chorale, and the chorale canon. The book goes on to look at each of the forty-six individual compositions, illuminating the structure of each and tracing the evolution through the set of Bach's concept of chorale. The book concludes with a discussion of the Orgelbüchlein's reception from the 18th century to the present. The appendix includes a complete score of the chorale “Ich ruf zu dir” as arranged by C. P. E. Bach and a list of published transcriptions of the chorales for other instruments.
Malcolm Boyd
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195307719
- eISBN:
- 9780199850785
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195307719.003.0006
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter examines the orchestral, instrumental, and keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The distinction between orchestral and chamber music was not very clear during Bach's time. The public ...
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This chapter examines the orchestral, instrumental, and keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The distinction between orchestral and chamber music was not very clear during Bach's time. The public face of Bach as an orchestral composer can be seen in his four orchestral suits and in secular cantatas he composed during the 1730s. However, most of these compositions were intended for the same kind of music-making as the chamber works.Less
This chapter examines the orchestral, instrumental, and keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The distinction between orchestral and chamber music was not very clear during Bach's time. The public face of Bach as an orchestral composer can be seen in his four orchestral suits and in secular cantatas he composed during the 1730s. However, most of these compositions were intended for the same kind of music-making as the chamber works.
Michael Marissen
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- June 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780190606954
- eISBN:
- 9780190606985
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190606954.003.0008
- Subject:
- Music, History, Western
This chapter argues that even the so-called pure instrumental music of Johann Sebastian Bach can share a great deal with his liturgical vocal music in projecting religiosity. Questions of meaning in ...
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This chapter argues that even the so-called pure instrumental music of Johann Sebastian Bach can share a great deal with his liturgical vocal music in projecting religiosity. Questions of meaning in his secular chamber music need not be deemed somehow fundamentally different from those in his church music. Both types of music warrant being viewed as religious, as opposed to the one being religious and the other secularistic (or, for that matter, to both types being at base no more than aesthetically oriented). This chapter puts forward the view, then, that Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) was not, as is often declared, a pro-Enlightenment homage of “abstract” chamber music (that is, of art for art’s sake), designed to honor its dedicatee, King Frederick the Great of Prussia, but was a carefully scored defense of anti-Enlightenment Lutheranism, designed primarily, as was all of Bach’s music, to honor God.Less
This chapter argues that even the so-called pure instrumental music of Johann Sebastian Bach can share a great deal with his liturgical vocal music in projecting religiosity. Questions of meaning in his secular chamber music need not be deemed somehow fundamentally different from those in his church music. Both types of music warrant being viewed as religious, as opposed to the one being religious and the other secularistic (or, for that matter, to both types being at base no more than aesthetically oriented). This chapter puts forward the view, then, that Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079) was not, as is often declared, a pro-Enlightenment homage of “abstract” chamber music (that is, of art for art’s sake), designed to honor its dedicatee, King Frederick the Great of Prussia, but was a carefully scored defense of anti-Enlightenment Lutheranism, designed primarily, as was all of Bach’s music, to honor God.
Keith Chapin (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- January 2014
- ISBN:
- 9780823251384
- eISBN:
- 9780823253029
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Fordham University Press
- DOI:
- 10.5422/fordham/9780823251384.003.0004
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
The German musicians Johann Sebastian Bach and Johann Mattheson faced off against each other time and again over the course of the early eighteenth century, though they did so each in his own way. ...
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The German musicians Johann Sebastian Bach and Johann Mattheson faced off against each other time and again over the course of the early eighteenth century, though they did so each in his own way. While Mattheson addressed Bach numerous times in various public printed fora, Bach produced music, refusing to exchange the composer's pen for that of the wordsmith. The two can be taken as tokens of two types of musician within the musical community, though the types are hardly mutually exclusive. Professionals focus on their discipline and restrict their words to those that are pragmatically necessary. Humanists link music to the arts and society generally, spinning out words to make their point. Each type has its own characteristic way of speaking of music.Less
The German musicians Johann Sebastian Bach and Johann Mattheson faced off against each other time and again over the course of the early eighteenth century, though they did so each in his own way. While Mattheson addressed Bach numerous times in various public printed fora, Bach produced music, refusing to exchange the composer's pen for that of the wordsmith. The two can be taken as tokens of two types of musician within the musical community, though the types are hardly mutually exclusive. Professionals focus on their discipline and restrict their words to those that are pragmatically necessary. Humanists link music to the arts and society generally, spinning out words to make their point. Each type has its own characteristic way of speaking of music.
