The music of johann sebastian bach (1685- 1750) can be said to be an important pillar of the European music hall. For the whole baroque music, Bach's musical achievements can be said to be the dome of this hall; For the subsequent development of European music, although Bach didn't have a real influence until the19th century, once it did, it had a far-reaching impact on the development of European music. Only when Bach has new cultural significance in the new historical and cultural background can his music works have "enlightenment" significance to modern music. For future generations, it is impossible to understand European music without studying Bach; Without in-depth study of Bach's works, it is difficult to become a rigorous and proficient musician; If we can't understand the profound thoughts and feelings contained in Bach's music through its simple form, refined skills and even the "shell" of religious music form, it will be difficult to fully understand the essence of Bach's music. ...
In the era when Bach lived, Germany was in a state of political separatism and economic backwardness, and its culture and art were bleak. France, Italy, Britain and other foreign cultures have an absolute advantage in Germany, while their own national culture is despised. Engels once described, "Since then, sticks and whips have occupied a dominant position in China; Like Germany as a whole, German farmers have fallen to a very humble position. " In this case, the church has naturally become a place where people place their spiritual feelings.
In Thuringia, Germany, "Bach" once became synonymous with musicians. This is because the Bach family can be traced back to several generations, and their profession is the music profession that forms a guild. According to family legends, they belong to a special social class such as musicians. In the Lord's court, Bach's social status is servant, and he and the chef are listed on the same list. He has no social status as a freelance musician, and his works cannot directly become the source of his economic income, but belong to the lords. Even if he became a court musician of Thomas, it was difficult for him to make a living in Leipzig, and there was no legacy after his death, unlike Beethoven's leaving stocks after his death. His works were rarely performed except in churches at that time, and he was unknown for a long time after his death.
Many of his works are written to the rulers and praise them, but he is not satisfied with his humiliating position and present situation, so he constantly changes his benefactors and looks for places where he can give full play to his artistic talents. He even said that he had to live in an environment where people hated and envied him, and he also had contradictions with patrons in the court and church, so he also had an arrogant and stubborn side.
Bach worked as an organist in the church in Arnstadt in 1703, and also composed music for the court. After that, he wrote many famous works. Tokata in D minor, written in 1704, has some power, as if speaking in a very powerful language. He used a lot of negative heptachords in the middle, which was as powerful as a strong wind. Some people used to think it was his later work. Just because he took the woman who later became his wife to sing in church, he was listed as a crime by the city Council and resigned automatically.
From 65438 to 0708, he worked as an organist in Weimar Palace. At this time, although his status was also very low, as an organist, his status and reputation gradually improved. In Dresden, Bach was invited to compare and compete with French musicians in improvisation. Although the Frenchman ran away, he became a good example for German musicians and foreigners to win the first competition.
17 17. Bach was the music director of Kuideng Palace for the first time in his life. Because the Duke of Quetta likes music very much, he even spent one thirtieth of the national expenditure as a fund to form a band of 18 people. Bach served in Quetta court for six years, during which all his important instrumental music creations were completed. The Brandenburg Concerto he dedicated to the Marquis of Brandenburg is full of life and has a proud and gorgeous aristocratic character. In addition, he also wrote chromatic fantasia and fugue, three violin solo sonatas and three Partita. In addition, in 172 1, Bach wrote orchestral suites in C major and D minor and French suites. 1722 wrote the first set of piano music with equal rhythm, 1723 wrote two or three songs and so on. The creation of this period is considered to have broad and bold ideas and technical techniques.
Bach arrived in Leipzig on 1723, a prosperous commercial city. At that time, he was also a free city, so he could not accept Herzogtum Von Sachsen's rule there in the legal system. There, he played a self-made church oratorio, which made the members of the city listen to it, so he got the job of music director of St. Thomas church. In addition, he is the music director of three other churches. During this period, he created many excellent music works for the church, such as the famous Passion of John and Passion of Matthew. In addition, in order to gain the status of court composer, he once wrote a masterpiece "Mass in B minor". This work, like The Passion of John and The Passion of Matthew, is a religious work, but its musical spirit is so broad that it seems to speak to all mankind, which has gone far beyond the limitations of religion.
In a sense, Bach's fame depends on his passion. The tragic experience of Jesus expressed by passionate music is not only epic, but also the expression of real life emotions. This kind of religious music shows sad, heavy and depressed feelings. It should be said that only Germans at that time had feelings. This feeling, from what we have heard, is only written by Germans. Of course, because Bach himself is a Protestant, religion is obviously his spiritual sustenance, so it is difficult to separate this emotional expression from some religious feelings. It's just that the religious atmosphere created by Bach in suffering music is not in the general sense, but a religious atmosphere that can experience some social feelings and mentality at that time. Even Bach himself played an emotional role in it. Through his own music expression, he sometimes lyrically depicts the details of Jesus' tragic experience, and sometimes unfolds epic vastness and grandeur. So that the audience in Leipzig complained that the church put on an opera-like work.
In the Passion of Matthew, Bach dramatically opposed two groups of chorus and two groups of orchestral music, and let the theme of hymns float freely on them. This work is also lyrical, and the chorus at the end of the work is very powerful. It uses two choirs and eight voices to describe people's feelings when Jesus was buried. The generous and deep voice is like a vast river bed, on which the melody runs. Keep the feeling of polyphonic music, and the huge chorus is free and broad, full of power:
Even in his instrumental works, such as chromatic fantasia and fugue and toccata fugue in D minor, he can feel a kind of emotional expression that breaks through the shackles and has impact. Among them, Tocata Fogo's melody in D minor is free and bold, with many melody lines and a wide range, which is like the ups and downs of recitation, surging and full of exciting emotions. The fugue of chromatic fantasia is more inward-looking, and it is full of inner depiction and strong expression, rather than superficial splendor.
Because German religion is the soil of German music, and German religious organ music has developed very well in history, Bach still maintains the typicality of polyphonic music and plays a leading role in his creation. This thinking mode of polyphonic music is precisely the thinking mode of polyphonic music based on the development of main melody and harmony music to a considerable extent, which is different from polyphonic music with traces of church mode in the past. Careful analysis shows that there is a clear harmony structure and function. From another point of view, it may be that Bach's comprehensive practice in the field of polyphonic music will eventually develop to a perfect level.
From the melody characteristics of music, imitation is very important because his music is multi-voice. In this way, music continues to interweave and develop, but it lacks the neatness, clear paragraphs and clear structure of the later classical school. This is Bach's characteristic. Obviously, we can't analyze Bach with phrases and paragraphs. In addition, from the development of harmony, the harmony of major and minor functional systems was finally determined and shaped by Bach. Even in the middle of18th century, according to what harmony could achieve at that time, this achievement was attributed to Bach, who was even called "the creator of harmony" by Beethoven.
It was not until 1892 that the young Mendelssohn staged the Passion of Matthew, which had been sleeping for nearly a hundred years, for the first time in Berlin, that Bach's artistic value was more understood. Wagner once said that Bach is a record of the inner spiritual life of the German people in a completely bleak and tragic century. Historically, Protestant hymns occupy a special position in German folk songs. Bach's music combines his works with German national culture through Protestant hymns. It is worth mentioning that Bach wrote many secular oratorios. In his peasant chorus, all his works use folk dance music and popular folk songs. This is an indispensable aspect of understanding Bach. In a sense, in Bach's music, the pulse of the German people is beating, which is the soul of Bach's music.
J.S. Bach is a devout religious person. Most of his music expresses the worship of the Lord, the harmony of the world created by the Lord, and the expression is not emotion but faith. According to J.S. Bach, everything in the world is the creation and gift of God and bathed in the glory of God. Music should praise the harmony created by God and the hope for the light of God in harmony. In J.S. Bach's view, music is a ladder that leads him to heaven and talks with God. Music itself is a miracle of heaven. The way of music is to let people feel the existence of God in a hidden and rational way.
In J.S. Bach's music, apart from organ music, mass music, passionate music and classic songs directly created for religious ceremonies, instrumental music often shows a complex balance relationship through the comparison and change of rhythm. Through this balanced relationship, polyphony, counterpoint and variation can realize a very rich cycle. His music is simple, that is, the most complex, the most basic complex changes of points, lines and surfaces, close to mathematics and logic. Therefore, studying Bach's authority, the famous organist Schwaetzer thinks that Bach's music, like the universe itself, is an incredible ontological phenomenon.