Bach: Life And Music Essay, Research Paper
April Robinson
Dr. Robbins
Exposition & A ; Report Writing 620:015
21 February 2000
Bach: Life and Music
He was a musical mastermind with 1000s of musical composings written in his life-time.
He spent his life in Germany, chiefly Leipzig, and worked at a school for the metropolis. He is
considered to be one of the greatest musical composers, and composed till the twenty-four hours he died. An
boisterous young person who greatly disliked authorization, he had a strong will and mind of his ain. Well
liked with many friends, yet no 1 truly knew his interior workings, or how he thought. Of the
1000s of musical pieces he composed, few were published in his life. This was a adult male who
composed in great Numberss, had grounds for making so, and lived a instead simple, in-between category
life.
Johann Sebastian Bach ( J.S. ) was born March 21st 1685, in Eisenach, Germany. His
male parent was Johann Ambrosius, a tribunal cornetist for the Duke of Eisenach and the manager of the
instrumentalists of the town of Eisenach. His household had been good known for many coevalss as a
really musically talented household.
He started school when he was eight and when he was nine he was sent to populate with his
older brother. His parents had died after losing two other kids, a boy and a girl. His
brother, Johann Christoph Bach, allow J.S. live with him in Ohrdruf, Germany. Under the instructions
of his brother Bach rapidly mastered the organ and cembalo. During his stay with his
brother, Bach attended school and was encouraged by his older brother to analyze composing.
Soon Bach could no longer remain with his brother, for his brother? s household was acquiring excessively
large. Bach traveled with a school friend, on pes, to a North-German musical centre in Luneberg,
Germany. At this clip J.S. was 15-years-old, and had a beautiful soprano voice which helped
him acquire into the school. It was his fiddle playing, which he developed while at that place, that kept him
at the school after he lost his soprano voice. He stayed in Luneberg until he was about 18.
He was now looking for a occupation. He wanted the station as organist of Arnstadt where a new
organ was being built. After a short period as a fiddler in Weimar he was so offered the
station in Arnstadt. However, jobs arose when Bach composed a piece full of? strange? new
sounds for a church service. The Council decided to be indulgent with him until he refused to work
with the male childs? choir and was found to hold a ailment against him for entertaining a immature
adult female in the organ loft of the church. Thus was the terminal of his first occupation.
He moved on to Muhlhausen and married his cousin Maria Barbara on October 17, 1707.
He got a occupation in Muhlhausen and set to work on the hapless installations he had to work with at that place. His
attempts here brought about his first oratorio Gott ist Mein Konig ( God is My King ) , the lone one of
his oratorios to be published in his life clip. This was thanks to the Council? s desire for promotion
and prestigiousness. A spiritual contention shortly arose and the music in Muhlhausen was in a province of
decay. Bach.was off to happen another occupation.
On June 25, 1708, the Duke of Weimar offered Bach a station among the Duke? s Court
chamber instrumentalists. Bach and his married woman moved to the little town of Weimar. While in Weimar
Bach composed music entirely for the organ, which he played. By 1714 Bach had moved up
in position and was now the leader in the orchestra, 2nd merely to the old Kapellmeister. When
the old Kapellmeister died Bach had hoped to acquire his place, but when he was passed over for
the occupation, he started looking elsewhere for work.
Bach was introduced the Court of Anhalt-Kothen, and so offered him the station of
Kapellmeister, which he accepted. When he put in his petition to go forth the Weimar Court the
Duke of Weimar was so angered that he had Bach put in gaol. He stayed there merely a month,
but while there he composed. He prepared a rhythm of organ chorale preliminaries for a whole twelvemonth,
subsequently published as the Orgelbuchlein.
His maestro at the Court of Anhalt-Kothen was Prince Leopold, a lover of music who had
traveled all over Europe basking the many types of music of that clip. During his clip at
Kothen Bach wrote most of his chamber music: fiddle concertos, sonata, keyboard music. Bach
and the Prince shared a company because of the Prince? s endowments and willingness to handle all
the instrumentalists of his Court every bit. Bach began going with the Prince, but on one of these
trips he returned to happen his married woman had died while he was off. Leaving Bach with four
motherless kids. Bach continued his work with Prince Leopold, composing and executing
oratorios for the Prince? s birthday and the New Year. Two oratorios or Sung play for each
event, one sacred and one layman.
In December 1721, Bach remarried a soprano, Anna Magdalena. She was really sort to
his kids, a good housekeeper, and she took involvement in his work, frequently assisting him by neatly
copying out his manuscripts. They remained married for 28 happy old ages, and had
13 kids. Unfortunately few of their kids lived to go grownups.
A hebdomad after Bach was married his maestro, Prince Leopold besides was married. This
caused a batch of clash in the Court, because the Prince? s new married woman was non every bit interested in music
as the Prince had been. Bach decided to look elsewhere for work once more. This besides had to make
with the concern for his boies? instruction, there being no formal instruction in Kothen. Bach
moved his household to Leipzig.
Bach spent a big portion of his life and calling in Leipzig, Germany. He was at that place from the
age of thirty-eight in 1723, until his decease in 1750, when he was 65 old ages old. He came to
Leipzig to be the new choirmaster or manager of church music, go forthing behind a more esteemed
place as kapellmeister or orchestra leader of Cothen. The grounds for his go forthing were that
J.S. had been told favourably about Leipzig and there would be necessary educational installations for
his boies at that place.
His reaching to Leipzig was a major event. There was an article published in one North
German newspaper that described the event. ? Last Saturday at midday, four carts loaded with goods
and movables belonging to the former Kapellmeister to the Court of K so arrived in Leipzig and
at two in the afternoon, he and his household arrived in two managers and moved into their newly
decorated diggingss in the school edifice? . ( cyberspace )
Bach did non hold a good start in Leipzig. The place they lived in was non every bit nice as you
would believe it would be. They merely had sixty lodgers at the school, and most of those were
hapless and remaining at that place on a charitable footing. The pupils were supposed to do up the choirs
for the churches in at least four of the environing metropoliss. They besides sang at funerals and in the
metropolis streets for alms.
Bach did non like the structured life that he was forced to take at that place, and shortly clash
occurred between Bach and the town council. On a few occasions Bach left to see his boy in
Potsdam. Upon returning he would happen the council rather upset with him, but would decline to
explain himself. He about quit, but a close friend persuaded him non to.
Bach got into some problem while he was at Leipzig. He went on many out of town trips
and left one of his pupils in charge each clip. When the school board got disquieted and asked him
about it he refused to warrant himself. He would hold been thrown out except for the aid of a
friend who had ties and had some strings pulled to maintain Bach employed. After this friend left
Bach quit.
Bach composed many of his pieces for the specific groups that were to execute them.
Therefore he did a batch of chorale pieces when he worked at the school in Leipzig. He besides did many
organ pieces for himself to execute at the church in Arnstadt. In his ulterior old ages he composed
many fiddle pieces for himself and vocal pieces for his 2nd married woman, Anna Magdalena. He
composed a piece for King Fredrich the Great of Prussia, with a flute solo for Fredrich. Bach
ever had a ground for composing the pieces he did. He ever had a performing artist or group in
head who he was composing for.
Bach continued this work until 1741, when he went to see his boy once more at the tribunal of
Fredrick the Great, and so returned to Leipzig. For a clip he withdrew into himself and
produced some genuinely profound music of the churrigueresque musical signifier. He shortly joined the Mitzler
society, a society devoted to the publicity of musical scientific discipline.
Even after Bach retired he continued to populate in Leipzig. He did musical plant for the
Mitzler society of which he had been persuaded to fall in. This was when Bach started his work
within the Collegium Musicum, in which he composed music for two types of concerts given in
Leipzig: the ordinaire and extraordinaire. Not much is known about the ordinaire concerts, but
there are many newspaper histories about the extraordinaire concerts. These concerts charged
admittance and sometimes featured distinguished visiting creative persons.
Bach? s eyesight started to badly worsen in the last few old ages of his life. This is
thought to be due to the fact that he spent many darks working on his musical composings by
hapless candle flame. Even after two cataract surgeries his seeing ne’er improved much.
His last piece was? Die Kunst der Fuge? ( ? The Art of the Fugue? ) . After that the
impairment of his seeing inhibited him from composing on his ain any longer. The two
surgeries he had didn? t aid any, they in fact made his eyesight worse and he got an infection
from one of the operations. He spent the last few old ages of his life traveling over his many
composings and honing them with the aid of Altnikol, his son-in-law. He died while in
the center of composing a concluding fugue.
Bach has created a immense battalion of musical composings. It has been said that it
would take one of today? s competent music copyists & # 8211 ; composing continuously & # 8211 ; some forty old ages to
retroflex the 100s of plants and 1000s of manuscript pages which represent the entirety
of Bach? s life-time accomplishments. He created rather a few pieces on a caprice. It is said that many
of Bach? s pieces were demanded, if non forced upon him to compose. The type of music he most
frequently composed was refereed to as Gebrauchsmusik, or? music on demand? . Music was
needed for amusement, at parties, funerals, nuptialss, church services, and many other
occasions.
Bach? s composing procedure was really impressive. If you look through his original transcripts
you will see really small 2nd guesswork in judgement, unlike the craze, battle, and strain that
was evident in Beethoven and Chopin? s works. Even Debussy made the observation: ? We shall
seek in vain for one mistake in gustatory sensation in all that sum of work. ? ( qtd. in Bettmann 40 ) Giving his
feeling that all of Bach? s music is tasteful and non a individual piece is without it? s ain beauty.
Bach was a great composer, although non in the same manner as other composers of his clip.
Bach was a great composer, whose pieces where musically simple yet tended to grok
Bach was a composer, whose pieces where musically simple, yettended to grok great
emotional feeling to the audience, or hearer. Bach may non hold been a originative mastermind, but he
was a great musical mastermind none the less. His pieces ever had a focal point or ground for being
written. He did a batch of fluctuations on other composers? pieces. Bach did compose a few great
fugues and many great oratorios, and his musical abilities were unsurpassable in his clip.
Bach? s composings were written based on the clip in his life and his station at that
clip. He wrote many secular pieces for the church and even a Fugue for person? s decease. Bach
besides tended to larn his different manners of music by copying plants done by other composers such
as Handel. He greatly admired the other composers of his clip. Bach tended to compose his pieces
for a church service or particular event instead than merely because he felt like it. His pieces became
increasingly old fashioned. That was the lone great unfavorable judgment of his musical composings.
Most artistic familiars did non acquire any great acclamation for their plants until after their decease.
Bach on the other manus was critically acclaimed most of his musical calling. He was good known
for his composition capablenesss and his musical playing endowments.
J.S. Bach was a adult male of great musical endowments and composed in mass battalions in order
to carry through the demands of the society around him. He besides enjoyed the work with music and shall be
everlastingly immortalized for his abilities as a composer and a instrumentalist. Bach went beyond the norm
for a composer and made music that could touch a individual? s emotional deepnesss. He was by far one
of the greatest creative persons to hold of all time made music.
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