Manner of J.S. Bach - Essay Example

J.S. Bach Explain how J.S. Bachs life and music reflect the time in which he lived Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most known music composers of all time. He was born and lived in Germany between 1685 and 1750, a time when Baroque music was widely sang. Baroque music was a kind of music that expressed fundamental order of the universe. Bach was a composer and musician of Baroque music. Therefore, his life reflected the time in which he lived because he composed and sang Baroque music which was the primary type of music at that time. He introduced German style of Baroque music with great skill in harmonic, motivic and counterpoint. He adapted rhythms, textures and forms from abroad. His music was inspired by his artistic beauty, technical command and intellectual depth. Jones (2007) suggests that he was considered as “the original father of harmony”. These traits are important for the Baroque period because they reflected appropriate mechanisms to bring order in the universe. The manner in which Bach’s life reflects the time in which he lived can be seen from the background to which he was born. He was born to a musical family in Saxe-Eisenach on March 21, 1685 to a Johann Ambrosius who was also a successful musician. His father was a trumpeter in the Duke of Eisenach and a music director at Eisenach town in Thuringia (Jones, 2007). Most of Bach’s family members in Thuringia were instrumentalists, organists, and cantors. The family name therefore gained reputation through music. In this regard, Johann Bach’s life as a Baroque musician reflected the time in which he lived when his family was well known for music. The music talent was enjoyed by most members of his family, and they enjoy musical resources and positive attitude towards music. This environment motivated him to live as a talented musician in his father’s hometown of Eisenach. As he grew up as a young boy, everything around him was inspired by music, so he got used to composing and singing music from a young age. He was taught how to play the Violin by his father when he was a young boy. This shaped his career as a musician, and improved his talent significantly. As a young boy, Bach attended the Latin Grammar School where he learned how to read and write. He learned Latin grammar and scriptures in German and Latin. It was at this stage that Bach joined St. Georgenkirche choir together with other pupils from the school with the help of his uncle Christoph Bach, giving him an opportunity to sing in various services and the nearby villages. Christoph Bach described him at this stage with a simple quote: “a very willing pupil with extraordinary proficiency in instruments” (Sartorius and Sartorius, 2014). His life as a young musician reflected the time in which he lived because at that time young boys of his age with talent in music joined the choir and sang in services within the town. At the same time, Bach lived at a time when life in the small town was unfavourable due to unpaved roads, poorly organized sewage system, and presence of germs. The mortality rates of people in the town were very high. Bach lost his mother and father when he was only nine years old. His brother and sister also died when he was a young boy. Bach and his brother Johann Jakob were taken in by their eldest brother Johann Christoph who was already settled at the St. Michaeliskirche. This kind of life reflects the time of his life when life was difficult, but the music played a significant role in the livelihood of people like his brother. Bach worked hard despite all challenges. He said, “I was obliged to work hard; whoever is equally industrious will succeed just as well” (Williams, 2007). In his new school at Gymnasium also opened room for Bach to develop his music career. At Luneburg, poor and talented boys like Bach were sponsored at school. Bach’s soprano voice gave him an opportunity to grow in his music career. His soprano was uncommonly beautiful, and it was very suitable for the type of music played at the time in which he lived. For instance, the choral and orchestral performances of Mentenchor (Mattins Choir) required his soprano voice. However, when his soprano voice disappeared as he grew up, his life made a turn. At that time, violin and organ traditions were significant in the music industry. Being a violist taught by his father and music teachers at school, he got a chance to play the violin in the Orchestra. This was the kind of life at this time – playing violin in the orchestra was common, and Bach’s music life reflected this time. The organ traditions in Hamburg were also part life at that time. Sebastian became a famous and successful organist in choirs. His famous organist uncle Christoph Bach introduced him to organ playing. Sartorius and Sartorius (2014) argue that, “Bach’s two-fold position as an organist to the court and member of the chamber orchestra at Weimar gave him the opportunity to improve”. Therefore, his life and music reflected the organ traditions of the time in which he lived. During this time, musicians at the court also performed household and domestic duties. This helped him to learn a lot and inspired his music writing. This career took him to the peak of his music career as an organist and composer of Baroque music, and he became one of the most known organists throughout Germany. He inspired other young organists, teaching organ pupils and testing many organs in various towns. Bach’s Baroque music career was also influenced by Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen. Leopold gave him the position of Capellmaster, the highest rank for musicians in the Baroque age. There was no church music in Cothen at that time because the Prince was a son of a Calvinist, and Calvinists were antagonistic to the Lutheran liturgy. According to Sartorius and Sartorius (2014), “The prince enjoyed cheerful and cultivated style of music composed of secular instrumental music and cantatas with the latest fashion. Price Leopold had travelled to England, Holland and Italy, so he brought new styles fashions of music to Germany. Bach adopted such styles and introduced them through the Baroque music in the entire Germany. During his time with the prince, one of the most important influences upon Bach’s musical development was the dance music as mentioned by Staufer, “Bach has complete embrace of dance music, perhaps the most important influence on his mature style other than his adoption of Vivaldi’s music in Weimar.” The Baroque music influenced Bach’s life significantly. The word Baroque originated from the Italian word “barocco”, meaning bizarre. The word was used to describe the highly decorated religious and public buildings of 17th and 18th century in Germany, Italy and Austria (Eidam, 2001). What influenced Baroque music in Germany were mainly the church and the state. Each state in Germany had its own court with court musicians. These courts were the main inspirational places for Bath’s music. Bach was part of court musicians in many states including Weimar, Cothen and Leipzig. Fortunes of composers rose or fell depending on the status accorded to his music at the court. Bach’s music was highly accorded in every court he went to, so his fortunes rose significantly. The church also influenced Bach’s music at Leipzig where acted as a cantor of St. Thomas’ Church. The success of Baroque music at that time was also influenced by the different styles and forms through which they were played. J.S. Bach was an expert in those forms and styles. Inspired by his family history of great Baroque music, Bach composed and performed a lot of music in courts and churches in Germany. Most of his family members served as court or church musicians, teachers and instrumentalists. He was able to draw freely and widely on developments taking place in several parts of the western world in order to compose widely accepted Baroque music. In fact, his son Carl Phillip Emanuel commented that, “no musician of any consequence visiting Leipzig would fail to call upon my father”. This famous not only shows the growth and development of Bach in Baroque music, but also shows the inspiration and influence he had on his children. Working in a high rank in Barogue music at Leizpig, Bach was a great influence to many people from Germany and abroad. Many visiting musicians would come to his apartment and make music with him using all kinds of instruments depending on the occasion. On his death, Bach left a lasting legacy. He had brought baroque music to the peak of its development. He introduced the equal temperament style of playing the keyboard that enabled all keys to be played equally and modulation of the keys. The keys were inspired by the keys of French organ music. Howell Jr. (1958) says, “The French keys as rudimentary as they may seem in the earlier compositions, show development towards modern keys.” Bach also left many collections of chorale variations, canons, preludes, sonatas and concertos. By the time of his death, he had produced 200 cantatas. From the success of Bach’s music career as a composer and an instrumentalist, it is clear that various factors influenced his music. His life and music reflected the time in which he lived in many ways. First, he was a member of a family of musicians who worked in courts and churches and musicians and instrumentalists. He also worked as an instrumentalist and musicians in several courts and churches, reflecting the situation of life in his family at that time. The Baroque period was also characterized great developments of music in Germany. Bach’s role as Baroque music composer and singer reflected the development of Baroque music in Germany. Through his Baroque music and teachings, Bach influenced his children, his music pupils and his visitors from Germany and abroad. References list Eidam, K. (2001). The True Life of Johann Sebastian Bach. New York: Basic Books. Howell, Jr., A.C. French Baroque Organ Music and the Eight Church Tones. Journal of the American Musicological Society, 11(2), 106-118. Jones, R. (2007). The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach. Oxford: Oxford University Press Sartorius, M. and Sartorius, L. (2014). Johann Sebastian Bach: a detailed informative biography. The Baroque Music Library, http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxjsbach.html. Williams, P. (2007). J. S. Bach: A Life in Music. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Read More