Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 -1750) Bio and Chronology

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) is my favorite composer. A musical craftsman, he stood apart from his peers of the Baroque era. However, as the Classical period developed, old school Baroque music became dormant. Felix Mendelssohn revived public interest in Bach’s works with the performance in 1829 of The St. Matthew Passion BWV 244.  One hundred years had lapsed since Bach’s sacred oratorio had been heard, igniting a surge of interest in his forgotten manuscripts.

The depth of Bach’s understanding of medieval counterpoint was astonishing. He found ways to adhere to and break counterpoint rules at the same time, creating progressive melodic and harmonic patterns that influenced modern music, including jazz.

Not much is known about this relatively mysterious composer other than Bach was born into a German family of professional musicians. Orphaned early in life, he was trained in music by his older brother. Bach was employed first as an organist, a court composer and later as the musical director for St. Thomas church in Leipzig.

Like most of his compositions, The Well-Tempered Clavier BWV 846-893 was not published during Bach’s lifetime. It consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys and is considered a cornerstone of Western music. Each major and minor key is represented by sets comprised of a free-flowing prelude followed by a tightly knit fugue. The pieces were originally performed on harpsichord.

Prior generations were more tuned into the tonal distinctions among different scales, major and minor keys. Bach focused on bringing out the subtleties and inner beauty of each individual key, developing an unparalleled resonance.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s Partita in B♭ BWV 825-830 was his first published work. It’s amazing that only ten of Bach’s compositions were published during his lifetime out of over 600 volumes of music. A partita is a dance suite made up of individual dance movements in two sections that are repeated. In the Baroque tradition, Bach’s partita consists of six dance pieces - Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Minuet and Gigue.

In each piece, the rhythm patterns establish the identity of the dance. The melodies are decorated elaborately in the French Style.

Bach must have understood the dancer to compose such graceful, symmetrical pieces, which flow together.

An intriguing musical project entailed arranging a new instrumentation for the Partita using MIDI. I performed my new take on Bach, which was well received.

What would Bach think of our MIDI technology? According to the late Rosalyn Tureck from Julliard, who was an authority on Bach, he would have been enthusiastic about changing instrumentations and trying new ideas.

Tureck said,

“One of the great misdirections of our time is to try to tie Bach down to limited sonorities - to one or two sounds - to one or two instruments. Period instruments carry for me no exoticism, no nostalgia. They are part of my spirit and thought…, as well as the Contemporary and what some people call the futuristic sounds of electronic sounds.”

The Aria variata in A minor (“Italian Aria”) BWV 989 was composed between 1713-1714 at Weimar, where Bach served as court organist, harpsichordist and concertmaster. Many of Bach’s compositions for keyboard were written at Weimar. Unlike the standard repertory of preludes, fugues and concertos, the Italian Aria is not so well-known.

Bach’s characteristic writing combines the influences of several national styles. His formal musical training included the analysis of works of German and French composers. Bach’s employer, the Duke of Weimar, brought him a wide range of ‘modern’ Italian repertoire to study and perform. Vivaldi’s harmonic, melodic and technical style greatly influenced Bach’s compositional style.

The Italian Aria is indexed under “Miscellaneous Keyboard Works” in the Bach-Gesselschaft Edition. Nevertheless, the Italian Aria still carries significant weight as an important example of Bach’s assimilation of Italian, French and German styles into his own style. Bach only wrote three compositions of ““theme and variations” out of 600 volumes of music. the ten variation Italian Aria could be a forerunner to the large scale variation masterpiece composed toward the end of his life - the famous Goldberg Variations..

During Bach’s time, the world of music included distinctly different schools of thought. The Italians, French and Germans did not comprehend the music of the respective cultures during the Baroque to the Classical periods. For example, when Mozart sent six quartets to an Italian publisher, they were returned with the comment, “the engraving is full of mistakes.”

In “the Interpretation of Music,” author Thurston Dart describes a renowned Italian composer who attempted to perform a French piece:

“A Famous anecdote about Corelli shows… the division between the French and Italian styles at the time when Handel was in Italy [1706-10]… [While] leading the overture Il Trionfo di Tempo, with Handel playing the continuo… Corelli played listlessly and without fire; eventually Handel could bear it no longer and leaping from his seat, he snatched Corelli’s violin out of his hands… to show him the correct way [to play the piece']… Corelli… excused himself by saying: ‘But my dear Saxon, this music is in the French style, which I do not understand.’”

French music was clearly defined, restrained and dignified, presented to the King’s court. Italian music was inherently expressive, unrestrained and improvisatory, with an emphasis on bel canto, a beautiful singing tone. During the Baroque and the beginning of the Enlightenment eras, hostilities raged between the French and Italian schools, causing political tension between countries and turmoil from within. With the arrival of new Italian artists to France in 1752, critic Herbert Joseph typified the culmination of the artistic battle in “A War at the Opera:”

“Controversy divided the intellectual elite into a “King’s Corner” and a “Queen’s Corner”… the encyclopedists… espousing the Italian cause [had] the most fanatic supporters [including] Jean-Jacques Rousseau. those occupying the “King’s Corner”… paraded their faithfulness to French music and thereby to patriotic values. Neither group was especially distinguished for its knowledge of music.”

Although he never left Germany, Bach was aware of the musical conflicts, yet he was able to integrate the essences of the different styles into his own style. His Italian Aria evokes the beautiful singing quality characterized by the Italian school. The influence of Vivaldi can be discerned from the proportionate, orderly phrasing, concise counterpoint, variation of motives and bright character. In addition, the Italian Aria is reminiscent of a suite of French dances. The French character of the music is found in the contrasting rhythms and tempos of the lilting and ballet-like variations.

Bach had expertise in composing dances in the French style. A series of dance movements organized into a suite was an invention of the German school. Customarily music students are informed they can decipher the French or Italian styles by reading the dance titles at the beginning of each piece. In the Italian Aria, there are no such indications. The “dances” are simply too short; however, specific French dances may be discerned:

French Dances

Var. IV = Bourrée

Var. I and Var. VI = Gavottes

Var. II - Courante

Var. VII - Gigue

Var. III and Var. V = Allemandes

In addition, the Italian and German schools are represented:

Italian (bel canto)

Prelude and Var. X = Aria

German (contrapuntal)

Var. XIII and Var. IX = Polyphony

The Italian Aria assimilates the thematic phrasing of the Italian school and the dance styles of the French with the contrapuntal tradition of the German school

1685-1703. Orphaned at the age of ten, received musical training from his oldest brother. At age 14 Bach attended St. Michael’s School in Lunenberg.

1703-1708. Bach appointed as court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst in Weimar. During his seven-month tenure at Weimar, his reputation spread. He was invited to perform the inaugural recital on the new organ at St. Boniface’s Church in Arnstadt. In 1706 offered a post as organist at St. Blausius’s in Mühlhausen, which he took up the following year.

1708-1717. After less than a year Bach departed Mühlhausen, returning to Weimar as organist and concertmaster of the court. Continued composing keyboard and orchestral works, in which he had attained the technical proficiency and synthesized influences from abroad. Performed on the organ.

1717-1723. Following Weimar, Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen hired Bach to serve as his Kapellmeister (director of music). Bach composed secular cantatas for the court such as the Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht, BWV 134a and Brandenburg Concertos.

1723-1750. In 1723, Appointed Cantor of the Thomasschule at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, as well as Director of Music in the local churches. In 1729, became director of Collegium Musicum, a secular performance ensemble founded by Georg Philipp Telemann. In 1733, Bach composed the Kyrie and Gloria of the Mass in B minor.

1750. July 28, 1750 Bach died at the age of 65.