Bach's main achievements in his life: First, he liberated music from the position of religious accessories and made it popular. Music does not always praise God, but also ordinary life. Secondly, he developed polyphonic music into tonic music, which greatly enriched the expressive force of music. Thirdly, he established the principle of twelve equal laws of keyboard instruments. Fourthly, apart from vocal music, Bach laid the style foundation for almost all works of modern western music. Therefore, Bach was called "the father of western music" by the late Buddha.
Bach's music works can be said to be overwhelming, and he pushed polyphony to a perfect peak that no one can surpass in later generations. The beauty of Bach's music is reflected in two aspects: on the one hand, it is strict and balanced beauty, mainly reflected in its perfect application of form, and the understanding of this aspect should be combined with relevant formalism knowledge; On the other hand, it is a profound lyrical beauty, which you can easily understand as long as you listen attentively. Which of his unaccompanied violins, the law of averages, Brandenburg and Gothenburg is not full of incomparable affection? Many of Bach's music is full of meditation, and of course there are also many energetic and exciting people. His works are of various genres, including six Bob Ladenburg Concertos and four Orchestral Suites. The organ is his strong point, and there are countless works. We are familiar with Tokata and fugue in D minor, Passacaglia in C minor, etc. Other keyboards are the well-known Average Law, goldberg variations, English Suite, and. Ancient Suite >; And so on, the violins include unaccompanied violin suites and sonatas, many violin concertos, and many <; Violin sonata (with accompaniment) > Cello suites and Sonata, etc. The music of Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-175) is an important pillar of European music halls. For the music of the whole Baroque period, Bach's musical achievements can be said to be the dome on this hall; For the subsequent development of European music, although Bach did not have a real influence until the 19th century, once this influence was generated, 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 "apocalyptic" 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 experience the deep 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 thoroughly understand the essence of Bach's music ...
In the era when Bach lived, Germany was in a state of political separation and economic backwardness, and its culture and art were bleak. Foreign cultures, such as France, Italy and English, 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 been reduced to a very humble position. " Under such circumstances, 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 Bach can be traced back to several generations, and their occupations are all music occupations that form guilds. According to family tradition, they belong to a special social class such as musicians. In the Lord's court, Bach's social status is servant, and he is listed on the same list as the cook. He doesn't have the social status of a freelance musician, and his works can't directly become the source of his economic income, but belong to the lords. Even if he became the court musician of Thomas, it was difficult for him to maintain his life in Leipzig, and he had no legacy after his death, unlike Beethoven who left stocks after his death. His works were rarely performed at that time except in the church, and he was unknown for a long time after his death.
Many of his works are written for the rulers and eulogize them, but he is not satisfied with his humiliating position and present situation, so he constantly changes his benefactor and seeks a place 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 conflicts 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 173, and also composed music for the court. Since then, he has written many famous works. Tokata in D minor, written in 174, has some power, as if speaking in a very powerful language. In the middle, he used many MINUS seven chords brilliantly, which was as powerful as a gale. In the past, some people thought it was his later work. Just because he took the woman who later became his wife to sing in church, he resigned automatically after being listed as a crime by the city Council.
in p>178, he worked as an organist in Weimar court. 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 for improvisation. Although the Frenchman ran away, he became a good example for German musicians and foreigners to win the first competition.
in p>1717, Bach was the music director of Quetta Palace for the first time in his life. Because the Duke of Quetta is very fond of music, he even spent one-thirtieth of the state expenditure as a fund to form an 18-member band. Bach served in Quetta Court for six years, and all his important instrumental music creations were completed during this period. The Brandenburg Concerto, which he dedicated to the Marquis of Brandenburg, is full of life breath and also has a proud and gorgeous aristocratic character. In addition, he also wrote Fantasia and fugue for chromatic scale, three sonatas for solo violin, and three Partita. In addition, in 1721, Bach wrote orchestral suites in C major and D minor and French suites. In 1722, he wrote the first episode of piano music with equal rhythm, and in 1723, he wrote two and three creative songs, and so on. The creation of this period is considered to have broad and bold ideas and technical techniques.
Bach arrived in Leipzig, a prosperous commercial city, in 1723. At that time, he was also a free city, so he could not accept the rule of Herzogtum Von Sachsen in the legal system. There, he played a self-created cantata of the church, which made the city's members listen to it very much, so he got the job of music director of St. Thomas's church. In addition, he is the music director of three other churches. During this period, he wrote many good music works for the church, such as the famous Passion of John and Passion of Matthew. In addition, in order to get the position of court composer, he once wrote a great work, Mass in B minor. This work, like Passion of John and Passion of Matthew, is a religious work, but its musical spirit is so broad that it seems to speak to all mankind, which has far exceeded the limitations of religion.
In a sense, Bach's fame depends on his suffering. The tragic experience of Jesus expressed by Passion Music is not only epic, but also the expression of real life emotion. This kind of religious music shows sad, heavy and depressed feelings. It should be said that only Germans at that time had feelings. This kind of feeling, from what we can hear, is only written by Germans. Of course, because Bach himself is a Protestant, and religion is obviously his spiritual sustenance, it is difficult to separate this kind of 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 has played an emotional role in it. Through his own musical expression, he sometimes depicts the details of Jesus' tragic experience lyrically, and sometimes unfolds epic vastness and grandeur. So that the audience in Leipzig complained that the church had staged works like opera.
in the Passion of Matthew, Bach used two groups of chorus and two groups of orchestral music to dramatically oppose each other, and let the theme of hymn float freely on them. This work is also very lyrical, and the ending chorus of the work is very powerful. It uses two choirs and eight voices to describe people's feelings when Jesus was buried. The generous low voice is like a vast river bed, on which the melody runs. He keeps the feeling of polyphonic music, while the huge chorus sings freely and widely, full of power:
Even in his instrumental works, such as Fantasia and fugue for chromatic scale and fugue for Tocata in D minor, he can feel an emotional expression that breaks through the shackles and has an impact. Among them, the melody of Tokata Fogo in D minor is free and bold, with a large range of melody lines and a wide range, which is like the ups and downs of recitation, turbulent and full of exciting emotions. The chromatic fantasia fugue is more inclined to the heart, not seeking superficial magnificence, but full of inner depiction and strong performance.
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. However, this thinking mode of polyphonic music is precisely the thinking mode of polyphonic music established on the basis of the development of main melody and harmony music to a considerable level, which is different from the 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 Bach's comprehensive practice in the field of polyphonic music, which will eventually develop to a perfect level.
From the melody characteristics of music, because his music is multi-voice, imitation is important. As a result, the 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 by the middle of the 18th century, on the basis of what harmony could achieve at that time, the achievement was attributed to Bach, who was even called "the creator of harmony" by Beethoven.
It was not until 1892, when the young Mendelssohn first staged the Passion of Matthew, which had been sleeping for nearly a hundred years 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 speaking, the Protestant hymn occupies a special position in German folk songs. Bach's music combines his works with German national culture through Protestant chants. It is worth mentioning that Bach has written many secular cantatas. In his Farmer Cantata, 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, it is the pulse of the German people that beats, which is the soul of Bach's music.
J.S. Bach is a devout religious man. Most of his music is to express 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 it is bathed in the glory of God. What music should praise is 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 make people feel the existence of God in a hidden and rational way.
in p>J.S Bach's music, apart from organ music, mass music, passion music and classic songs, which are directly created for religious ceremonies, instrumental music often shows a complex balanced relationship through the comparison and change of rhythm. Through this balanced relationship, polyphony, counterpoint and change can achieve a very rich cycle. His music is simple, that is, the most complex, and the most basic complex changes of points, lines and surfaces are close to mathematics and logic. Therefore, Schweitzer, a famous organist who studies Bach's authority, thinks that Bach's music is an incredible ontological phenomenon like the universe itself.