Johann Sebastian Bach

1685 AD to 1750 AD

Introduction

The great composer Johann ·Johann Sebastian Bach is the pioneer who successfully integrated the musical styles of different nations in Western Europe into one. He has gathered the essence of traditional music from Italy, France and Germany, making the music perfect and perfect. Bach himself was not famous during his lifetime and was largely forgotten fifty years after his death. But his fame has grown steadily over the past century and a half, and today he is generally regarded as one of the two or three greatest composers of all time and space, and some consider him the greatest of them all.

“I really can’t think of anyone else whose music can be so all-encompassing and move me so profoundly. To put it in a less precise way, in addition to skill and talent, his music is due to some more meaningful elements. It would be more valuable if I played Tchaikovsky's sensual melodies every day." - Glenn Gould, "On John Sebastian." ˙Bach》

Bach was born on March 21, 1685 in Eisenach in what is today the Dulingen Forest in central Germany. Although this is a small town, its citizens love music. It is said that the words "Music always shines in our town" are engraved on the city's ancient city gate. And medieval minstrels, often holding harps, sang poems and held singing competitions here. Wagner once wrote the famous opera "Don Hauser" based on this. Martin Luther, the sixteenth-century religious reformer, also translated the Bible into German here. The Bach family is an authentic musical family. His family had been famous in the music industry many years before his death. His father was an excellent violinist, two of his grandfather's brothers were gifted composers, and several of his uncles and sisters were respected musicians.

For the young Bach, who had extremely high musical talent, he was very lucky to grow up in such a family. However, the god of fate wanted to find some trouble: he lost his mother when he was 9 years old, and his mother died when he was 10 years old. Father, I have to rely on my eldest brother to continue raising me.

Although there are a lot of music materials stored at home, his bossy brother just doesn't allow him to read and study, no matter how hard he pleads, it doesn't help. Little Bach had no choice but to take advantage of his brother's absence from home and his deep sleep late at night to secretly copy down his beloved music scores one by one under the moonlight. This lasted for half a year, which greatly damaged his eyesight. He spent his later years suffering from blindness until his death.

A child who is only 10 years old and has lost his parents actually asks for valuable knowledge from his family in this way. How sad and respectable! Strangely, such a noble and persistent pursuit could not move his brother - when he discovered his brother's secret, Li was furious and not only ruthlessly confiscated all Bach's hard work, but also severely punished him, No self-reflection or compassion.

When Bach was 15 years old, he finally left home alone and embarked on the road of independent life. With his beautiful singing voice and excellent playing skills on the harpsichord, violin, and organ, he was admitted to the choir attached to the Michaelis Church in Lüneburg, and at the same time entered the theological school. The library here has a rich collection of classical music works. Bach dived into it, like a huge sponge, fully absorbing and integrating the artistic achievements of various European schools, broadening his musical horizons. In order to practice the piano, he often stayed up all night and stayed up all night. Every holiday, he would walk dozens of miles to Hamburg to listen to performances by famous musicians.

Looking back at Bach's growth path, we can find that he consulted many famous musicians, but never received long-term guidance from a formal teacher. Because of this, he is like a hard-working bee, looking for and sucking nutrients everywhere, and does not hesitate to work hard. Later, when someone asked him how his art reached such a perfect state, he replied simply and seriously: If anyone works hard like me, he will reach the same state.

Bach lost his mother at the age of nine and became an orphan at the age of ten. Because of his beautiful voice and financial constraints, he received a scholarship to attend St. Michael's School in Lüneburg when he was a teenager. He graduated from the Saint-Michel School in 1702 and became a violinist in a chamber orchestra the following year. Over the next twenty years he worked in many professions.

During his lifetime, Bach was primarily known as an outstanding organist, although he was also a composer, teacher, and orchestra conductor. In 1723, when Bach was thirty-eight years old, he began to serve as cantor of the choir at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, a role he held for the remaining twenty-seven years of his life.

In the first half of the 18th century, Germany was in a state of division between feudal nobles. Each castle had its own princes. Germany, which had a small territory, was actually divided into 352 independent small countries. In order to show off their power and luxury, lords of all sizes usually have opera troupes and palace orchestras. In order to survive, most of the folk artists became musicians and slaves in the palace or the church (Germany at that time regarded musicians as exactly the same servants as handymen, janitors, cooks, etc.) in both the palace and the church. , Bach is naturally unable to escape. Although he moved around and changed working places frequently, he could never get rid of his humble servant status.

Bach never held a high position, but he was always able to support his family. He was far less famous than Mozart and Beethoven (or even Franz Liszt and Frederic Chopin) during his lifetime. Not all of Bach's employers appreciated his talents. The Leipzig church hoped to hire a "first-class musician", but they failed to hire the two candidates they originally identified, so they had no choice but to let Bach serve as the cantor of the choir! But a few years ago, he wanted to resign from his position as organist and first violinist in the Duke of Weimar's court to find a new position. The Duke was so upset about this that he was thrown into prison. Bach spent more than three weeks behind bars before the Duke finally showed mercy and released him.

Lesing, the great German playwright and political commentator, once said: "Even if geniuses are not born into the extremely poor class, they are still born into the very difficult class. God seems to want this It seems that there are more geniuses in one class than in other classes. In Bach's life, poverty and death followed each other like a pair of terrible ghosts. Not only did he never enjoy a wealthy and comfortable life. From the age of 9, he began to feel the gloom of death due to the death of his parents. After he grew up and became a father, he sent 11 of his children to the grave before his eyes (he married twice and had 20 children in his lifetime). children).

When Bach was twenty-one, he married his uncle's second sister. They had seven children together, but his wife died when Bach was thirty-five. The following year he was married again, but instead of helping to raise his first seven children, his second wife gave birth to thirteen more. After Bach's death, he left only nine children, four of whom became truly famous. Musicians. This is indeed a home of musical geniuses!

In his later years, Bach underwent two operations to treat his eyes. As a result, he not only failed to regain his sight, but also suffered from physical collapse. Finally in July 1750 He passed away on January 28.

Bach was a prolific composer. His works include nearly 300 cantatas; a set of 48 poems that make up the "Well-Tempered Clavier". Meters and preludes; at least 140 other preludes; more than 100 other harpsichord pieces; 23 minor concertos; 4 overtures; 33 sonatas; 5 masses; 3 sacred pieces and many other pieces In total, Bach composed more than 800 serious pieces of music. His creation can generally be divided into three main stages - the Weimar era (1708-1717), which can be said to be the stage when his creation reached maturity; the Corden era (1717) -1723), was the peak period of his creation, and many of his outstanding works were completed at this stage; and the Leipzig era (1723-1750) was the period when Bach pushed religious art to the highest level.

Bach was a religious man. He wanted his music to serve the church. Most of his works were religious music. He believed that music was "the harmonious sound of praising God." Praising God is the central content of human life. His music was originally derived from Lutheran hymns called hymns. It can be seen through the melody that the composer combined the popular sounds of the time in his musical form. Not intended to innovate, but to push existing forms to the top

In the half century since his death, Johann Sebastian Bach's music has remained largely unheralded (but worthy). Note that the greatest musicians of the era - Haydn Mozart and Beethoven greatly admired Bach's talent).

New musical styles developed, and Bach's "old" music was temporarily silenced. But after 1800, there was a renewed interest in Bach's music, and from then on his reputation and fame grew day by day. In today's secular age, Bach is far more famous than he was during his lifetime. It is indeed a strange thing that a composer who two hundred years ago was considered old-fashioned in terms of style and themes is widely praised today. What is the reason?

First of all, Bach is generally considered to be the highest-level artist among all famous composers. He was familiar with all the musical forms of his time and could use any of them with ease, reaching the level of proficiency. For example, his artistic proficiency in melodic combination (a method of playing two or more different tunes at the same time) is unprecedented and unprecedented. In addition, his orchestral works are highly logical, varied, with touching themes and rich melodies, for which he is even more praised.

Most serious music students find the structural depth and complexity of Bach's works to be infinitely more fascinating than the more accessible works of most other composers. Many people with a casual interest in music think of him as a bastard, but it should be noted that his followers are not a handful of musical luminaries, and his recordings probably sell better than those of any other classical composer except Beethoven. From a long-term perspective, the works of Bach or Beethoven will have far more audiences than the works of a popular "popular" composer, because "popular" is just a flash in the pan and fleeting.

Where should Bach’s status be ranked among classical composers? Bach's composition skills and understanding of music are enough to surpass any musician: Beethoven brings people the anger of God, and Mozart brings people the laughter of God, so their music is more popular among people. Welcome; however, what Bach brought to people was the language of God, which was gorgeous and elegant but not artificial. The composition skills contained in the complex tunes can be found in almost any composer after him. Karajan once said He said: "The first thing every morning is to listen to Bach's music. It's like the clear spring flowing through my soul and helping me correct my hearing." It is true that Bach's music sounds very "unfriendly", but if you If you are a music lover, not listening to Bach's music is like missing out on the entire Baroque.

Bach’s music is just like the person he is, with clear spring-like tones that always express emotions implicitly. When you carefully analyze his musical style, the emotions may have reached the bottom of your heart before you even react. Bach's music creation paved the way for future generations, just like philosophers or mathematicians. When Beethoven heard Bach's music for the first time, he said: "This is not a creek (Bach), this is obviously the sea!"

With another Baroque music master Compared with Handel, they have some similarities, but the path Bach took was obviously much more tortuous. They were born only 26 days apart, and their birth locations were only 150 kilometers apart. Hendler secretly hid in the attic to practice piano by moonlight because his father objected to his music studies, while Bach had to secretly copy under the moonlight because his elder brother refused to give him music scores. They both became representatives of Baroque music, and both became blind in their later years.

Handel is sociable, active, has a wide range of interests in the world around him, and is good at adapting to the environment. Not only was he successful in Italy, but he was also famous and respected in England.

In comparison, Bach was introverted and quiet. He served the church and the court all his life. He never went abroad. He was unknown when he was alive and left quietly when he died. As French music critic Paul Landour said: Bach's "creation purpose was not for future generations, nor even for the Germany of his time. His ambitions did not go beyond the scope of his city or even his church." . Every week he just works for the next Sunday, preparing a new work or revising an old piece; after the work is performed, he puts it back in the bookcase and never examines it. I didn’t even think of saving it for my own use until I published it. There is no such naive conception and implementation of a masterpiece in the world!”

Bach's musical works are all-encompassing, covering all musical fields at that time except opera (this is completely different from Handel, whose road to success started from opera). Although most of the works have been lost for a long time, more than 500 works have been preserved.

The main representative works include: "The Well-Tempered Clavier" (The Well-Tempered Clavier), "The Art of Fugue" (The Art of Fugue), "Brandenburg Concerto" ( Brandenburg Concertos) 6 pieces, two "Little Piano Concertos", 6 "Unaccompanied Violin Sonatas and Suites", 6 "Unaccompanied Cello Sonatas and Suites", "French Suite", "English Suite", "Peasant Concert" "Peasant Cantata", "Coffee Cantata", "Matthaus Passion", "Mass in B Minor", etc.

Bach's greatest achievement in musical art was to push polyphony to an unprecedented height (Handel focused on main-key music). In this territory, it can be said that he has reached proficiency and perfection. Reaching the pinnacle of perfection.

Because of his lofty humanitarian beliefs and unyielding pursuit of a better life, his music is often lively and humane.

When Bach was alive, his works were not understood by people. He had neither a prominent position nor social recognition. It was the great Mozart and Beethoven who first discovered his precious value. They were struck by the depth, perfection and impeccability of Bach's music. When Beethoven saw some of Bach's works for the first time, he couldn't help but exclaimed: "It's not a stream (Bach's name in German means 'brook'), it's the sea!" In 1829, Mendel Song resurrected Bach's "Matthew Passion" in an epoch-making performance in Berlin. Chopin practiced Bach's works before giving his concerts, Liszt transcribed some of Bach's organ works for piano, and Schumann was one of the founders of the Bach Society, an organization responsible for publishing complete versions of the master's works. Huge task.

Today, traveling around the world, Bach’s music can be heard everywhere. Many of these works have long been listed as required textbooks for students in art schools and as entries in major international music competitions. Bach is known as the "unsurpassable master" and even the "father of modern European music".

Chronology of Bach

1685 Birth

Born on March 21 in Eisenach, Thuringia, baptized two days later

1692 7 years old

Started schooling. Although he often missed school, his grades were excellent. During this period, he learned some basic knowledge of playing orchestral instruments from his father and often went to George Church to worship

10 years old in 1695

Both parents died. By aka John. Christoph and Oldruf were raised by the organist's eldest brother. He gave Bach the earliest formal keyboard instrument lesson

1700 15 years old

With his beautiful voice, he was a poor boy in the school affiliated with Michaels Church in Lünburg. Obtained a seat in the choir, changed his voice and learned music knowledge in Lüna Castle.

1702 17 years old

Return to Thuringia. By this time he was already a pretty good organist.

1703 18 years old

In March, he was killed by John, Duke of Weimar. Ernst hired and became a band member. In August, he was hired as the organist of Arnstadt Church.

1705.10-1706.1 20-21 years old

Walked to Lübeck and asked for advice from organ master D. Bergztehude.

1707 22 years old

On October 7, with cousin Maria. Barbara. Bach got married in Dornheim (a consanguineous marriage...)

1708 23 years old

On February 4, published his first work - Cantata NO.71 "God is My King", printed and funded by the city council

1709 24 years old

On October 31, he presided over the inauguration ceremony of the reconstruction of the pipe organ of Brasi Tungsten Church.

1713 28 years old

In February, he attended a palace celebration in Weimar and played the first secular cantata "What Happens to Me" BWV208

Age 29, 1714

In March, he was promoted to band leader, with the responsibility of composing a cantata every month.

1717 32 years old

Resigned from his post in Weimar, applied for the position of music director to Prince Leopold of Ktern, and moved to Ktern.

1720 35 years old

Created "Collection of Keyboard Instruments", several pieces from "French Suite", and "Innovative Songs".

July, Maria. Barbara. Bach died.

1721 36 years old

Completed "Brandenburg Concerto"

1722 37 years old

Completed "Well-Tempered Piano Collection" Volume 1

In 1723, he resigned from Keten and accepted the post of music director of the Leipzig church. In May, performed cantata No. 75 "The Poor Cry for Feeding"

1724 39 years old

Performed "John Passion"

1729 44 years old

Composed "Matthew Passion"

1733 48 years old

Composed "Mass in B minor"

1735 50 years old

"Italian Style Concerto" and "French Overture in B Minor" were published

1736 51 years old

In November, he became the court composer of the Elector of Saxony.

1739 54 years old

He chaired the Leipzig University Music Society. "Organ Mass" is published.

1742 57 years old

Composed "Goldberg Variations" and completed the second volume of "Well-Tempered Clavier".

1746 61 years old

Published "Hubler's Prelude to All praises"

1747 62 years old

In May, went to Potsdam to visit Son Emmanuel, and played for Emperor Frederick the Great. In June, he handed over the manuscript of the Canon Variations based on "From Heaven I Came to Earth" to the "Music Science Society" founded by his student L.C. Mitschler, and it was published immediately

1750

On July 28, after staying in bed for several months, he passed away in Leipzig (8:10 pm to be precise) without completing "The Art of Fugue". The unfinished version of the book was published in 1751