The life and work of Bach

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

From the 19th century to the present day, interest in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach has not subsided. The creativity of an unsurpassed genius is striking in its scale. The greatest composer is known all over the world. His name is known not only by professionals and music lovers, but also by listeners who do not show much interest in "serious" art. On the one hand, Bach's work is a kind of result. The composer relied on the experience of his predecessors. He knew very well the choral polyphony of the Renaissance, German organ music, and the peculiarities of the Italian violin style. He carefully got acquainted with new material, developed and generalized the accumulated experience. On the other hand, Bach was an unsurpassed innovator who managed to open up new prospects for the development of world musical culture. The work of Johann Bach had a strong influence on his followers: Brahms, Beethoven, Wagner, Glinka, Taneyev, Honegger, Shostakovich and many other great composers.

Bach's legacy

He created over 1000 works. The genres to which he addressed were the most diverse. Moreover, there are worksthe scale of which was exceptional for that time. Bach's work can be roughly divided into four main genre groups:

• Organ music.
• Vocal-instrumental.
• Music for various instruments (violin, flute, clavier and others).
• Music for instrumental ensembles.

The works of each of the above groups belong to a certain period. The most outstanding organ compositions were composed in Weimar. The Keten period marks the appearance of a huge number of clavier and orchestral works. In Leipzig, most of the vocal-instrumental songs were written.

Johann Sebastian Bach. Biography and creativity

The future composer was born in 1685 in the small town of Eisenach, into a musical family. For the whole family, this was a traditional profession. Johann's first music teacher was his father. The boy had an excellent voice and sang in the choir. At the age of 9, he turned out to be an orphan. After the death of his parents, he was raised by Johann Christoph (elder brother). At the age of 15, the boy graduated from the Ohrdruf Lyceum with honors and moved to Lüneburg, where he began to sing in the choir of the "chosen". By the age of 17, he learned to play various instruments: viola, harpsichord, organ, violin. Since 1703 he lives in different cities: Arnstadt, Weimar, Mühlhausen. The life and work of Bach during this period were full of certain difficulties. He constantly changes his place of residence, which is connected with the unwillingness to feel dependent on certain employers. He served as a musician(as organist or violinist). Working conditions also did not suit him constantly. At this time, his first compositions for clavier and organ appeared, as well as sacred cantatas.

Weimar period

Since 1708, Bach began to serve as a court organist to the Duke of Weimar. At the same time he works in the chapel as a chamber musician. The life and work of Bach during this period are very fruitful. These are the years of the first composer's maturity. The best organ works appeared. This is:

• Prelude and Fugue c-moll, a-moll.
• Toccata C-dur.
• Passacalia c-moll.
• Toccata and fugue in d-moll.
• "Organ Book".

At the same time, Johann Sebastian is working on compositions in the cantata genre, on arrangements for the clavier of Italian violin concertos. For the first time he turns to the genre of solo violin suite and sonata.

Keten period

Since 1717, the musician settled in Keten. Here he holds a high-ranking position of head of chamber music. He, in fact, is the manager of all musical life at court. But he is not satisfied with a too small town. Bach is keen to move to a larger and more promising city in order to give his children the opportunity to go to university and get a good education. There was no quality organ in Keten, and there was also no choir. Therefore, Bach's clavier creativity develops here. The composer also pays much attention to ensemble music. Works written in Keten:

• 1 volume "HTK".
• English suites.
• Sonatas for violin solo.
• French suites.
• "Brandenburg Concertos" (six pieces).
• "Chromatic fantasy and fugue".

The Leipzig period and the last years of life

Since 1723, the maestro lives in Leipzig, where he directs the choir (occupies the position of cantor) at the school at the Church of St. Thomas in Thomasschul. He takes an active part in the public circle of music lovers. The "college" of the city constantly arranged concerts of secular music. What masterpieces at that time replenished the work of Bach? Briefly, it is worth pointing out the main works of the Leipzig period, which can rightfully be considered the best. This is:

• "Passion according to John".
• Mass h-moll.
• "St. Matthew Passion".
• About 300 cantatas.
• "Christmas Oratorio".

In the last years of his life, the composer focuses on musical compositions. Writes:

• 2 volume "HTK".
• Italian concert.
• Partitas.
• "The Art of the Fugue".
• Aria with various variations.
• Organ Mass.
• "Musical offering".

After an unsuccessful operation, Bach went blind, but did not stop composing music until his death.

Style Feature

Bach's creative style was formed on the basis of variousmusic schools and genres. Johann Sebastian organically wove the best harmonies into his works. In order to understand the musical language of Italian and French composers, he rewrote their compositions. His creations were saturated with texts, rhythms and forms of French and Italian music, North German contrapuntal style, as well as Lutheran liturgy. The synthesis of various styles and genres was harmoniously combined with the deep poignancy of human experiences. His musical thought stood out for its special uniqueness, versatility and a certain cosmic nature. Bach's work belongs to a style that has firmly established itself in the art of music. This is the classicism of the high baroque era. Bach's musical style is characterized by possession of an extraordinary melodic structure, where the main idea dominates the music. Thanks to the mastery of the technique of counterpoint, several melodies can simultaneously interact at once. The German composer was a true master of polyphony. He had a penchant for improvisation and brilliant virtuosity.

Main genres

Bach's work includes various traditional genres. This is:

• Cantatas and oratorios.
• Passions and masses.
• Preludes and fugues.
• Choral arrangements.
• Dance suites and concerts.

Of course, he borrowed the listed genres from his predecessors. However, he gave them the broadest scope. The maestro skillfully updated them with new musical and expressive means, enriched them with features of other genres. The clearest example is Chromatic Fantasyin D Minor". The work was created for the clavier, but contains a dramatic recitation of theatrical origin and the expressive properties of large organ improvisations. It is easy to see that Bach's work "bypassed" the opera, which, by the way, was one of the leading genres of its time. However, it is worth note that many of the composer's secular cantatas are difficult to distinguish from a comedic interlude (at that time in Italy they were reborn as opera buffa). Some of Bach's cantatas, created in the spirit of witty genre scenes, anticipated the German singspiel.

Ideological content and range of images of Johann Sebastian Bach

The composer's work is rich in its figurative content. From the pen of a real master, both extremely simple and extremely majestic creations come out. Bach's art contains both ingenuous humor, and deep sorrow, and philosophical reflection, and the sharpest drama. The brilliant Johann Sebastian in his music displayed such significant aspects of his era as religious and philosophical problems. With the help of the amazing world of sounds, he reflects on the eternal and very important issues of human life:

• On the moral duty of man.
• About his role in this world and purpose.
• About life and death.

These reflections are directly related to religious themes. And this is not surprising. The composer served almost all his life at the church, so he wrote most of the music for her. At the same time, he was a believer, he knewHoly Bible. His reference book was the Bible, written in two languages (Latin and German). He adhered to fasts, confessed, observed church holidays. A few days before his death, he took communion. The main character of the composer is Jesus Christ. In this ideal image, Bach saw the embodiment of the best qualities inherent in a person: purity of thoughts, fortitude, fidelity to the chosen path. The sacrificial feat of Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind was the most intimate for Bach. In the composer's work, this theme was the most important.

Symbols of Bach's works

In the Baroque era, musical symbols appeared. It is through her that the complex and wonderful world of the composer is revealed. Bach's music was perceived by contemporaries as transparent and understandable speech. This was due to the presence in it of stable melodic turns expressing certain emotions and ideas. Such sound formulas are called musical-rhetorical figures. Some conveyed affect, others imitated the intonations of human speech, and others were pictorial in nature. Here are some of them:

• anabasis - ascent;
• circulatio - rotation;
• catabasis - descent;
• exclamatio - exclamation, ascending sixth;
• fuga - running;
• passus duriusculus - a chromatic move used to express suffering or grief;
• suspiratio - sigh;
• tirata - an arrow.

Gradually musical-rhetorical figures become a kind of "signs" of certain concepts and feelings. For example,the descending figure of catabasis was often used to convey sadness, sadness, grief, death, the position in the coffin. Gradual upward movement (anabasis) was used to express ascension, uplifted spirit and other moments. Motives-symbols are observed in all works of the composer. Bach's work was dominated by the Protestant chorale, to which the maestro turned throughout his life. It also has a symbolic meaning. Work with the chorale was carried out in a wide variety of genres - cantatas, passions, preludes. Therefore, it is quite logical that the Protestant chant is an integral part of Bach's musical language. Among the important symbols found in the music of this artist, stable combinations of sounds that have constant meanings should be noted. Bach's work was dominated by the symbol of the cross. It consists of four multidirectional notes. It is noteworthy that if the composer's surname (BACH) is deciphered in notes, then the same graphic pattern is formed. B - si flat, A - la, C - do, H - si. A great contribution to the development of Bach's musical symbols was made by such researchers as F. Busoni, A. Schweitzer, M. Yudina, B. Yavorsky and others.

Rebirth

During his lifetime, the work of Sebastian Bach was not appreciated. Contemporaries knew him more as an organist than a composer. Not a single serious book has been written about him. Of the vast number of his works, only a few were published. After his death, the name of the composer was soon forgotten, and the surviving manuscripts gathered dust in the archives. Perhaps we would be nothing like that anddid not know about this brilliant man. But, fortunately, this did not happen. True interest in Bach arose in the 19th century. Once, F. Mendelssohn found in the library the notes of the Matthew Passion, which interested him very much. Under his direction, this work was successfully performed in Leipzig. Many listeners were delighted with the music of the still little-known author. We can say that this was the second birth of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1850 (on the 100th anniversary of the composer's death) the Bach Society was founded in Leipzig. The purpose of this organization was to publish all Bach's manuscripts found in the form of a complete collection of works. As a result, 46 volumes were collected.

Bach's organ work. Summary

For the organ, the composer created excellent works. This instrument for Bach is a real element. Here he was able to liberate his thoughts, feelings and emotions and convey all this to the listener. Hence the enlargement of the lines, concert quality, virtuosity, dramatic images. The compositions created for the organ are reminiscent of frescoes in painting. Everything in them is presented mainly in close-up. In the preludes, toccatas and fantasies, there is a pathos of musical images in free, improvisational forms. Fugues are characterized by a special virtuosity and unusually powerful development. Bach's organ work conveys the high poetry of his lyrics and the grandiose scope of magnificent improvisations.

Unlike clavier works, organ fugues are much larger in volume and content. The movement of the musical image and its developmentproceed with increasing activity. The unfolding of the material is presented as a layering of large layers of music, but there is no particular discreteness and gaps. On the contrary, continuity (continuity of movement) prevails. Each phrase follows from the previous one with increasing tension. So are the climaxes. Emotional uplift eventually intensifies to the highest point. Bach is the first composer who showed the patterns of symphonic development in major forms of instrumental polyphonic music. Bach's organ work seems to fall into two poles. The first is preludes, toccatas, fugues, fantasies (large musical cycles). The second is one-movement chorale preludes. They are written mainly in the chamber plan. They reveal mainly lyrical images: intimate and mournful and sublimely contemplative. The best works for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach are the toccata and fugue in D minor, the prelude and fugue in A minor and many other compositions.

Works for Clavier

When writing compositions, Bach relied on the experience of his predecessors. However, here, too, he showed himself as an innovator. Bach's clavier creativity is characterized by scale, exceptional versatility, and the search for expressive means. He was the first composer to feel the versatility of this instrument. When composing his works, he was not afraid to experiment and implement the most daring ideas and projects. When writing, he was guided by the entire world musical culture. Thanks to him, the artistic means of the clavier expanded significantly. Heenriches the instrument with new virtuoso technique and changes the essence of musical images.

Among his works for organ stand out:

• Two-part and three-part Inventions.
• "English" and "French" suites.
• "Chromatic fantasy and fugue".
• "The Well-Tempered Clavier".

Thus, Bach's work is striking in its scope. The composer is widely known all over the world. His works make you think and reflect. Listening to his compositions, you involuntarily immerse yourself in them, thinking about the deep meaning underlying them. The genres to which the maestro turned throughout his life were the most diverse. This is organ music, vocal-instrumental, music for various instruments (violin, flute, clavier and others) and for instrumental ensembles.