Bach Essay examples - 550 Words

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was unlike most other composers of his time. â€Å"He wrote music for the glory of God, and to satisfy his own burning curiosity, not for future fame.† During the 1700s, people knew him as a talented musician, not as a composer, as we do today. He never left his country to pursue bigger and better things. Bach was content as long as he could play music. Traditions were very important to him. He wanted to carry on the musical tradition of his family, and never opted to change the traditional ways of composing, as did most composers. Bach’s work is vast and unique. Bach received his first big job at the age of 23. He was a court musician, and wrote many wonderful organ pieces, most of which†¦show more content†¦Around the year 1721, Bach wrote a book of music called the Well-Tempered Clavier, which was composed of 24 exercises. It had a prelude and fugue for every major and minor key. Twenty years later, he produced a s econd volume that was just like the first [in format]. Bach’s polyphonic music is full of counterpoint, the combining of two or more melodic lines into a meaningful whole. He perfected the art of the fugue, a complex composition usually written for four musical lines. â€Å"Bach’s fugues involved incredibly complex melodies that, even though they started at different times, wound up sounding good together.† The one I chose to describe is the first prelude and fugue from Bach’s second book, in the key of C major. This piece includes a harpsichord, an ancestor to the piano. It begins with a pedal note, the low note that keeps ringing while others are played ’around it’. In this case, the pedal note is a low C and lasts for 13 seconds. This gives the song stability, making this piece feel momentous. It’s â€Å"as if Bach were throwing open the big doors to some enormous building.† As the song progresses, you can hear the counterpoint, including low and high notes. Once the prelude ends, there is a pause, and the fugue begins. The fugue begins with the first melody, with no accompaniment. As the first changes, the second melody is added at a slightly higher pitch. Again thisShow MoreRelatedBach s Musical Gifts : Bach Essay888 Words   |  4 Pagesseb. Bach. And indeed, in his case, he was correct, a statement made in regards to Bach’s legendary musical gifts, whether it be his emotionally triggering music that broke all language barriers or his intense passion and drive that inspired Beethoven and Mozart. Born in 1685’s Thuringia, Germany into a family of musicians, Bach was destined to take up instruments a love of music from a very young age. Bach began his musical career playing the violin, but after his parents’ deaths, Bach was sentRead MoreBach Essay717 Words   |  3 PagesBach Born in Eisenach, Germany, on March 21,1685; he was the son of a masterful violinist. Throughout the history of music, many great composers, theorists, and instrumentalists have left indelible marks and influences that people today look back on to admire and aspire to. No exception to this idiom is Johann Sebastian Bach, whose impact on music was unforgettable to say the least. People today look back to his writings and works to both learn and admire. He truly can be considered a musicRead More Bach Essay1348 Words   |  6 Pagesto this idiom is Johann Sebastian Bach, whose impact on music was unforgettable to say the least. People today look back to his writings and works to both learn and admire. He truly can be considered a music history great. Bach, who came from a family of over 53 musicians, was nothing short of a virtuosic instrumentalist as well as a masterful composer. Born in Eisenach, Germany, on March 21, 1685, he was the son of a masterful violinist, Johann Ambrosius Bach, who taught his son the basic skillsRead MoreBach And Baroque Ideas : Johann Sebastian Bach2212 Words   |  9 PagesMUS-M 401 7/2/2015 Bach and Baroque Ideas Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the most important figures in the Baroque era of music. His music was a large part of the Baroque era and contains many musical principles of the time. The question is, what specific ideas did Bach use in his music? Did he use different Baroque techniques based on what he was writing for? And how were these techniques used in his music? In this paper, I will discover what Baroque era techniques Bach used in some of hisRead More Bach Essay2733 Words   |  11 Pages Johanna Sebastian Bach was a composer of the Baroque era, the most celebrated member of a large family of northern German musicians. Although he was admired by his contemporaries primarily as an outstanding harpsichordist, organist, and expert on organ building. Bach is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time and is celebrated as the creator of the Brandenburg Concertos, The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, and numerous other masterpieces of chu rch and instrumentalRead MoreAnalysis Of J. S. Bach Concerto Bach 593 No 3 No 21336 Words   |  6 Pages J. S. Bach Concerto BWV 593 A. Vivaldi Concerto op. 3 no 8, RV 522 Mov I (No description) Allegro Mov II Adagio Larghetto e spiritoso Mov III Allegro Allegro J. S. Bach Concerto BWV 978 A. Vivaldi Concerto op. 3 no 3, RV 565 Mov I Allegro Allegro Mov II Largo Largo Mov III Allegro Allegro J. S. Bach Concerto BWV 106 A. Vivaldi Concerto op. 3 no 10, RV 580 Mov I (No description) Allegro Mov II Largo Largo – Larghetto – Adagio – Largo Mov III Allegro Allegro No 2. the internal structure of theRead MoreBach Fugue Analysis1417 Words   |  6 PagesFor that reason, Bach used a fugue in solo organ pieces and in instrumental works and choral cantatas. This Fugue is the most famous of fugues by any composer. The difficult part to explain is how Bach created the Toccata’s forceful organ effect. When Bach was in Arnstadt when he was younger, the organ ordinarily lacked a 16-foot register on the keyboard; consequently, it sounds an octave lower than the normal 8-foot register. Accordingly, in order to create the effect, Bach used octave doubling;Read MoreBach s Prelude And Fugue1467 Words   |  6 Pagesdisplayed many of the different qualities that Bach employed throughout his career. Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Germany in 1685, where he was trained as an organist and composer during his youth. As a teenager he was enrolled in the prestigious St. Michael’s School in Lunenburg where he studied organ with Georg Bohm. After he graduated, Bach went on to become a court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar. Throughout his early career Bach was celebrated as an organist throughoutRead MoreJohann Sebastian Bach Essay828 Words   |  4 PagesJohann Sebastian Bach was one of the greatest composers in Western musical history. More than 1,000 of his compositions survive. Some examples are the Art of Fugue, Brandenburg Concerti, the Goldberg Variations for Harpsichord, the Mass in B-Minor, the motets, the Easter and Christmas oratorios, Toccata in F Major, French Suite No 5, Fugue in G Major, Fugue in G Minor (The Great), St. Matthew Passion, and Jesu Der Du Meine Seele. He came from a family of musicians. There were over 53 musiciansRead M ore The Joy of Bach Essay1664 Words   |  7 PagesThe Joy of Bach The Baroque period was filled with the new idea that every issue had two sides. Great thinkers and masterminds left behind the idea that the world was either god- influenced or science-influenced. Most people embraced this notion, with the exception of a few. Johann Sebastian Bach was one of these few people. Bach, although the greatest composer of the Baroque period, led a life based on tradition and past influence, which left him virtually ignored for many years