Иоганн Себастьян Бах

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Иоганн Себастьян Бах
Портрет Баха 1748 года, на котором он держит копию шестичастного канона BWV 1076 .
Рожденный	21 марта 1685 г. (ст. ст.) 31 марта 1685 г. ( 1685-03-31 ) (NS) Eisenach
Died	28 July 1750(1750-07-28) (aged 65) Leipzig
Works	List of compositions
Signature

Иоганн Себастьян Бах (31 марта [ OS 21 марта] 1685 — 28 июля 1750) — немецкий композитор и музыкант периода позднего барокко . Он известен своим плодовитым авторством музыки для различных инструментов и форм, включая оркестровую музыку, такую ​​как Бранденбургские концерты ; сольные инструментальные произведения, такие как сюиты для виолончели , сонаты и партиты для скрипки соло ; клавишные произведения, такие как « Гольдберг-вариации» и «Хорошо темперированный клавир» ; органные произведения, такие как « Хоралы Шублера» , « Токката и фуга ре минор» ; и хоровые произведения, такие как « Страсти по Матфею» и «Месса си минор» . 19-го века Начиная с Возрождения Баха , он обычно считается одним из величайших композиторов в истории западной музыки.

The Bach family already counted several composers when Johann Sebastian was born as the last child of a city musician, Johann Ambrosius, in Eisenach. After being orphaned at the age of 10, he lived for five years with his eldest brother Johann Christoph, after which he continued his musical education in Lüneburg. From 1703 he was back in Thuringia, working as a musician for Protestant churches in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen and, for longer periods, at courts in Weimar, where he expanded his organ repertory, and Köthen, where he was mostly engaged with chamber music. From 1723, he was employed as Thomaskantor (cantor at St Thomas's) in Leipzig. There, he composed music for the principal Lutheran churches of the city and its university's student ensemble Collegium Musicum. From 1726, he published some of his keyboard and organ music. In Leipzig, as had happened during some of his earlier positions, he had difficult relations with his employer. This situation was little remedied when his sovereign, Август III Польский пожаловал ему звание придворного композитора в 1736 году. В последние десятилетия своей жизни он переработал и расширил многие из своих ранних сочинений. Он умер от осложнений после неудачной операции на глазах в 1750 году в возрасте 65 лет.

Bach enriched established German styles through his mastery of counterpoint, harmonic, and motivic organisation, and his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures that he learned from his experiences abroad, particularly in Italy and France. Bach's compositions include hundreds of cantatas, both sacred and secular. He composed Latin church music, Passions, oratorios, and motets. He often adopted Lutheran hymns, not only in his larger vocal works but, for instance, also in his four-part chorales and his sacred songs. He wrote extensively for organ and for other keyboard instruments. He composed concertos, for instance for violin and for harpsichord, and suites, as chamber music as well as for orchestra. Many of his works employ contrapuntal techniques like canon and fugue.

Throughout the 18th century, Bach was primarily valued as an organist, while his keyboard music, such as The Well-Tempered Clavier, was appreciated for its didactic qualities. The 19th century saw the publication of some significant Bach biographies, and by the end of that century, all of his known music had been printed. Dissemination of scholarship on the composer continued through periodicals (and later also websites) exclusively devoted to him and other publications such as the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV, a numbered catalogue of his works) and new critical editions of his compositions. His music was further popularised through a multitude of arrangements, including the Air on the G String and "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", and of recordings, such as three different box sets with complete performances of the composer's oeuvre marking the 250th anniversary of his death.

Life

Childhood (1685–1703)

Johann Ambrosius Bach, 1685, Bach's father. Painting attributed to Johann David Herlicius

Further information: Bach family

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, the capital of the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach, in present-day Germany, on 21 March 1685 O.S. (31 March 1685 N.S.). He was the eighth and youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach, the director of the town musicians, and Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt. His father likely taught him violin and basic music theory. His uncles were all professional musicians whose posts included church organists, court chamber musicians, and composers. One uncle, Johann Christoph Bach, introduced him to the organ, and an older second cousin, Johann Ludwig Bach, was a well-known composer and violinist.

Bach's mother died in 1694, and his father died eight months later. The 10-year-old Bach moved in with his eldest brother, Johann Christoph Bach, the organist at St. Michael's Church in Ohrdruf, Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. There he studied, performed, and copied music, including his own brother's, despite being forbidden to do so because scores were so valuable and private, and blank ledger paper of that type was costly. He received valuable teaching from his brother, who instructed him on the clavichord. Johann Christoph exposed him to the works of great composers of the day, including South Germans such as Johann Caspar Kerll, Johann Jakob Froberger and Johann Pachelbel (under whom Johann Christoph had studied); North Germans; Frenchmen such as Jean-Baptiste Lully, Louis Marchand and Marin Marais; and even the Italian Girolamo Frescobaldi. He learned theology, Latin and Greek at the local gymnasium.

By 3 April 1700, Bach and his school friend Georg Erdmann – who was two years older than Bach – were enrolled in the prestigious St. Michael's School in Lüneburg, some two weeks' travel north of Ohrdruf. Their journey was probably undertaken mostly on foot. His two years there were critical in exposing Bach to a broader range of European culture. In addition to singing in the choir, he played the school's three-manual organ and harpsichords. He also came into contact with sons of aristocrats from northern Germany who had been sent to the nearby Ritter-Academie to prepare for careers in other disciplines.

Weimar, Arnstadt, and Mühlhausen (1703–1708)

The Wender organ Bach played in Arnstadt

In January 1703, shortly after graduating from St. Michael's and being turned down for the post of organist at Sangerhausen, Bach was appointed court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar. His role there is unclear, but it probably included menial, non-musical duties. During his seven-month tenure at Weimar, his reputation as a keyboardist spread so much that he was invited to inspect the new organ and give the inaugural recital at the New Church (now Bach Church) in Arnstadt, located about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southwest of Weimar. On 14 August 1703, he became the organist at the New Church, with light duties, a relatively generous salary, and a new organ tuned in a temperament that allowed music written in a wider range of keys to be played.

Despite strong family connections and a musically enthusiastic employer, tension built up between Bach and the authorities after several years in the post. Bach felt discontented with the calibre of musicians he was collaborating with. He called one of them, Geyersbach, a "Zippel Fagottist" (weenie bassoonist). Late one evening, Geyersbach went after Bach with a stick. Bach filed a complaint against Geyersbach with the authorities. They acquitted Geyersbach with a minor reprimand and ordered Bach to be more moderate regarding the musical qualities he expected from his students. Some months later, Bach upset his employer with a prolonged absence from Arnstadt: after obtaining leave for four weeks, he was absent for around four months in 1705–1706 to take lessons from the organist and composer Johann Adam Reincken and to hear him and Dieterich Buxtehude play in the northern city of Lübeck. The visit to Buxtehude and Reincken involved a 450-kilometre (280 mi) journey each way, reportedly on foot. Buxtehude probably introduced Bach to his friend Reincken so that he could learn from his compositional technique (especially his mastery of the fugue), his organ playing and his skills with improvisation. Bach knew Reincken's music very well; he copied Reincken's monumental An Wasserflüssen Babylon when he was fifteen years old. Bach later wrote several other works on the same theme. When Bach revisited Reincken in 1720 and showed him his improvisatory skills on the organ, Reincken reportedly remarked: "I thought that this art was dead, but I see that it lives in you."

In 1706, Bach applied for a post as organist at the Blasius Church in Mühlhausen. As part of his application, he had a cantata performed on Easter, 24 April 1707, likely an early version of his Christ lag in Todes Banden. A month later, Bach's application was accepted, and he took up the post in July. The position included significantly higher remuneration, improved conditions, and a better choir. Four months after arriving at Mühlhausen, Bach married Maria Barbara Bach, his second cousin. Bach convinced the church and town government at Mühlhausen to fund an expensive renovation of the organ at the Blasius Church. In 1708, Bach wrote Gott ist mein König, a festive cantata for the inauguration of the new council, which was published at the council's expense.

Return to Weimar (1708–1717)

Further information: Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! BWV 172 § Background

Organ of the St. Paul's Church in Leipzig, tested by Bach in 1717

Bach left Mühlhausen in 1708, returning to Weimar this time as organist and from 1714 Konzertmeister (director of music) at the ducal court, where he had an opportunity to work with a large, well-funded contingent of professional musicians. Bach and his wife moved into a house near the ducal palace. Later the same year, their first child, Catharina Dorothea, was born, and Maria Barbara's elder, unmarried sister joined them. She remained to help run the household until she died in 1729. Three sons were also born in Weimar: Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and Johann Gottfried Bernhard. Johann Sebastian and Maria Barbara had three more children--twins born in 1713 and a single birth; none survived until their first birthday.

Bach's time in Weimar began a sustained period of composing keyboard and orchestral works. He attained the proficiency and confidence to extend the prevailing structures and include influences from abroad. He learned to write dramatic openings and employ the dynamic rhythms and harmonic schemes found in the music of Italians such as Vivaldi, Corelli, and Torelli. Bach absorbed these stylistic aspects to a certain extent by transcribing Vivaldi's string and wind concertos for harpsichord and organ; many of these transcribed works are still regularly performed. Bach was particularly attracted to the Italian style, in which one or more solo instruments alternate section-by-section with the full orchestra throughout a movement.

In Weimar, Bach continued to play and compose for the organ and perform concert music with the duke's ensemble. He also began to write the preludes and fugues which were later assembled into his monumental work The Well-Tempered Clavier ("clavier" meaning clavichord or harpsichord), consisting of two books, each containing 24 preludes and fugues in every major and minor key. Bach also started work on the Little Organ Book in Weimar, containing traditional Lutheran chorale tunes set in complex textures. In 1713, Bach was offered a post in Halle when he advised the authorities during a renovation by Christoph Cuntzius of the main organ in the west gallery of the Market Church of Our Dear Lady.

In the spring of 1714, Bach was promoted to Konzertmeister, an honour that entailed performing a church cantata monthly in the castle church. The first three cantatas in the new series Bach composed in Weimar were Himmelskönig, sei willkommen, BWV 182, for Palm Sunday, which coincided with the Annunciation that year; Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12, for Jubilate Sunday; and Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!  BWV 172 for Pentecost. Bach's first Christmas cantata, Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63, premiered in 1714 or 1715.

In 1717, Bach eventually fell out of favour in Weimar and, according to a translation of the court secretary's report, was jailed for almost a month before being unfavourably dismissed: "On November 6, [1717], the quondam [former] concertmaster and organist Bach was confined to the County Judge's place of detention for too stubbornly forcing the issue of his dismissal and finally on December 2 was freed from arrest with notice of his unfavourable discharge."

Köthen (1717–1723)

Bach's autograph of the first movement of the first sonata for solo violin, BWV 1001 Duration: 4 minutes and 32 seconds.4:32

Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, hired Bach to serve as his Kapellmeister (director of music) in 1717. Prince Leopold, himself a musician, appreciated Bach's talents, paid him well and gave him considerable latitude in composing and performing. The prince was a Calvinist and did not use elaborate music in his worship; accordingly, most of Bach's work from this period was secular, including the orchestral suites, cello suites, sonatas and partitas for solo violin, and the Brandenburg Concertos. Bach also composed secular cantatas for the court, such as Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht, BWV 134a.

Despite being born in the same year and only about 130 kilometres (80 mi) apart, Bach and Handel never met. In 1719, Bach made the 35-kilometre (22 mi) journey from Köthen to Halle with the intention of meeting Handel; however, Handel had left the town. In 1730, Bach's oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, travelled to Halle to invite Handel to visit the Bach family in Leipzig, but the visit did not take place.

On 7 July 1720, while Bach was away in Carlsbad with Prince Leopold, Bach's wife, Maria Barbara Bach, suddenly died. The following year, he met Anna Magdalena Wilcke, a young, highly gifted soprano 16 years his junior, who performed at the court in Köthen; they married on 3 December 1721. Together they had 13 children, six of whom survived into adulthood: Gottfried Heinrich; Elisabeth Juliane Friederica (1726–1781); Johann Christoph Friedrich and Johann Christian, who both, especially Johann Christian, became significant musicians; Johanna Carolina (1737–1781); and Regina Susanna (1742–1809).

Leipzig (1723–1750)

In 1723, Bach was appointed Thomaskantor director of church music in Leipzig. He had to direct the St. Thomas School and provide four churches with music, the St. Thomas Church, the St. Nicholas Church, and to a lesser extent, the New Church and St. Peter's Church. This was "the leading cantorate in Protestant Germany", located in the mercantile city in the Electorate of Saxony, which he held for 27 years until his death. During that time he gained further prestige through honorary appointments at the courts of Köthen and Weissenfels, as well as that of the Elector Frederick Augustus (who was also King of Poland) in Dresden. Bach frequently disagreed with his employer, Leipzig's city council, which he regarded as "penny-pinching".

Appointment in Leipzig

St. Thomas Church and School, Leipzig in 1723

Johann Kuhnau had been Thomaskantor in Leipzig from 1701 until his death on 5 June 1722. Bach had visited Leipzig during Kuhnau's tenure: in 1714, he attended the service at the St. Thomas Church on the first Sunday of Advent, and in 1717 he had tested the organ of the St. Paul's Church. In 1716, Bach and Kuhnau had met on the occasion of the testing and inauguration of an organ in Halle.

The position was offered to Bach only after it had been offered first to Georg Philipp Telemann and then to Christoph Graupner, both of whom chose to stay where they were – Telemann in Hamburg and Graupner in Darmstadt – after using the Leipzig offer to negotiate improved conditions of employment.

Bach was required to instruct the students of the Thomasschule in singing and provide church music for the main churches in Leipzig. He was also assigned to teach Latin but was allowed to employ four "prefects" (deputies) to do this instead. The prefects also aided with musical instruction. A cantata was required for the church services on Sundays and additional church holidays during the liturgical year.

Cantata cycle years (1723–1729)

Bach usually led performances of his cantatas, most composed within three years of his relocation to Leipzig. He assumed the office of Thomaskantor on 30 May 1723, presenting the first new cantata, Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75, in the St. Nicholas Church on the first Sunday after Trinity. Bach collected his cantatas in annual cycles. Five are mentioned in obituaries, and three are extant. Of the more than 300 cantatas Bach composed in Leipzig, over 100 have been lost to posterity. Most of these works expound on the Gospel readings prescribed for every Sunday and feast day in the Lutheran year. Bach started a second annual cycle on the first Sunday after the Trinity of 1724 and composed only chorale cantatas, each based on a single church hymn. These include O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 20, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 62, and Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1.

Bach drew the soprano and alto choristers from the school and the tenors and basses from the school and elsewhere in Leipzig. Performing at weddings and funerals provided extra income for these groups; probably for this purpose, and for in-school training, he wrote at least six motets. As part of his regular church work, he performed other composers' motets, which served as formal models for his own.

Bach's predecessor as cantor, Johann Kuhnau, had also been music director for the St. Paul's Church, the church of Leipzig University. But when Bach was installed as cantor in 1723, he was put in charge only of music for festal (church holiday) services at St. Paul's Church; his petition to also provide music for regular Sunday services there (for a corresponding salary increase) went all the way to the Elector but was denied. After this, in 1725, Bach "lost interest" in working even for festal services at St. Paul's Church and decided to appear there only on "special occasions". The St. Paul's Church had a much better and newer (1716) organ than the St. Thomas Church or the St. Nicholas Church. Bach was not required to play any organ in his official duties, but it is believed he liked to play on the St. Paul's Church organ "for his own pleasure".

Café Zimmermann, c. 1720

Bach broadened his composing and performing beyond the liturgy by taking over, in March 1729, the directorship of the Collegium Musicum, a secular performance ensemble started by Telemann. This was one of the dozens of private societies in the major German-speaking cities that were established by musically active university students; these societies had become increasingly important in public musical life and were typically led by the most prominent professionals in a city. In the words of Christoph Wolff, assuming the directorship was a shrewd move that "consolidated Bach's firm grip on Leipzig's principal musical institutions". Every week, the Collegium Musicum would give two-hour performances in winter at the Café Zimmermann, a coffeehouse on Catherine Street off the main market square; and during the summer months in the proprietor's outdoor coffee garden just outside the town walls, near the East Gate. The concerts, all free of charge, ended with Gottfried Zimmermann's death in 1741. Apart from showcasing his earlier orchestral repertoire, such as the Brandenburg Concertos and orchestral suites, many of Bach's newly composed or reworked pieces were performed for these venues, including parts of his Clavier-Übung (Keyboard Practice), his violin and keyboard concertos and the Coffee Cantata.

Middle years of the Leipzig period (1730–1739)

Bach's seal (centre), used throughout his Leipzig years. It contains the superimposed letters J S B in a mirror image topped with a crown. The flanking letters illustrate the arrangement on the seal.

In 1733, Bach composed a Kyrie–Gloria Mass in B minor which he later incorporated in his Mass in B minor. He presented the manuscript to the Elector in an eventually successful bid to persuade the prince to give him the title of Court Composer. He later extended this work into a full mass by adding a Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, the music for which was partly based on his own cantatas and partly original. Bach's appointment as Court Composer was an element of his long-term struggle to achieve greater bargaining power with the Leipzig council. Between 1737 and 1739, Bach's former pupil Carl Gotthelf Gerlach held the directorship of the Collegium Musicum.

In 1735, Bach started preparing his first organ music publication, which was printed as the third Clavier-Übung in 1739. From around that year he started to compile and compose the set of preludes and fugues for harpsichord that would become his second book of The Well-Tempered Clavier. He received the title of "Royal Court Composer" from Augustus III in 1736.

Final years and death (1740–1750)

From 1740 to 1748 Bach copied, transcribed, expanded or programmed music in an older polyphonic style (stile antico) by, among others, Palestrina (BNB I/P/2), Kerll (BWV 241), Torri (BWV Anh. 30), Bassani (BWV 1081), Gasparini (Missa Canonica) and Caldara (BWV 1082). Bach's own style shifted in the last decade of his life, showing an increased integration of polyphonic structures and canons and other elements of the stile antico. His fourth and last Clavier-Übung volume, the Goldberg Variations, for two-manual harpsichord, contained nine canons and was published in 1741. Throughout this period, Bach also continued to adopt music of contemporaries such as Handel (BNB I/K/2) and Stölzel (BWV 200), and gave many of his own earlier compositions, such as the St Matthew and St John Passions and the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes, their final revisions. He also programmed and adapted music by composers of a younger generation, including Pergolesi (BWV 1083) and his own students such as Goldberg (BNB I/G/2).

In 1746 Bach was preparing to enter Lorenz Christoph Mizler's Society of Musical Sciences. In order to be admitted Bach had to submit a composition, for which he chose his Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her", and a portrait, which was painted by Elias Gottlob Haussmann and featured Bach's Canon triplex á 6 Voc. In May 1747, Bach visited the court of King Frederick II of Prussia in Potsdam. The king played a theme for Bach and challenged him to improvise a fugue based on his theme. Bach obliged, playing a three-part fugue on one of Frederick's fortepianos by Gottfried Silbermann, which was a new type of instrument at the time. Upon his return to Leipzig he composed a set of fugues and canons, and a trio sonata, based on the Thema Regium (theme of the king). Within a few weeks this music was published as The Musical Offering and dedicated to Frederick. The Schübler Chorales, a set of six chorale preludes transcribed from cantata movements Bach had composed some two decades earlier, were published within a year. Around the same time, the set of five canonic variations which Bach had submitted when entering Mizler's society in 1747 were also printed.

Two large-scale compositions occupied a central place in Bach's last years. From around 1742, he wrote and revised the various canons and fugues of The Art of Fugue, which he continued to prepare for publication until shortly before his death. After extracting a cantata, BWV 191 from his 1733 Kyrie-Gloria Mass for the Dresden court in the mid-1740s, Bach expanded that setting into his Mass in B minor in the last years of his life. Although the complete mass was never performed during the composer's lifetime, it is considered among the greatest choral works in history.

In January 1749, Bach's daughter Elisabeth Juliane Friederica married his pupil Johann Christoph Altnickol. Bach's health was declining. On 2 June, Heinrich von Brühl wrote to one of the Leipzig burgomasters to request that his music director, Johann Gottlob Harrer, fill the Thomaskantor and Director musices posts "upon the eventual ... decease of Mr. Bach". Becoming blind, Bach underwent eye surgery, in March 1750 and again in April, by the British eye surgeon John Taylor, a man widely understood today as a charlatan and believed to have blinded hundreds of people. Bach died on 28 July 1750 from complications due to the unsuccessful treatment.

An inventory drawn up a few months after Bach's death shows that his estate included five harpsichords, two lute-harpsichords, three violins, three violas, two cellos, a viola da gamba, a lute and a spinet, along with 52 "sacred books", including works by Martin Luther and Josephus. The composer's son Carl Philipp Emanuel saw to it that The Art of Fugue, although still unfinished, was published in 1751. Together with one of the composer's former students, Johann Friedrich Agricola, the son also wrote the obituary ("Nekrolog"), which was published in Mizler's Musikalische Bibliothek, a periodical journal produced by the Society of Musical Sciences, in 1754.

Musical style

A handwritten note by Bach in his copy of the Calov Bible. The note next to 2 Chronicles 5:13 reads: "NB Bey einer andächtigen Musiq ist allezeit Gott mit seiner Gnaden Gegenwart" (N(ota) B(ene) In a music of worship God is always present with his grace).

See also: List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach

From an early age, Bach studied the works of his musical contemporaries of the Baroque period and those of prior generations, and those influences were reflected in his music. Like his contemporaries Handel, Telemann and Vivaldi, Bach composed concertos, suites, recitatives, da capo arias, and four-part choral music and employed basso continuo. Bach's music was harmonically more innovative than his peer composers, employing surprisingly dissonant chords and progressions, often with extensive exploration of harmonic possibilities within one piece.

The hundreds of sacred works Bach created are usually seen as manifesting not just his craft but also a truly devout relationship with God. He had taught Luther's Small Catechism as the Thomaskantor in Leipzig, and some of his pieces represent it. The Lutheran chorale was the basis of much of his work. In elaborating these hymns into his chorale preludes, he wrote more cogent and tightly integrated works than most, even when they were massive and lengthy. The large-scale structure of every major Bach sacred vocal work is evidence of subtle, elaborate planning to create a religiously and musically powerful expression. For example, the St Matthew Passion, like other works of its kind, illustrated the Passion with Bible text reflected in recitatives, arias, choruses, and chorales, but in crafting this work, Bach created an overall experience that has been found over the intervening centuries to be both musically thrilling and spiritually profound.

Bach published or carefully compiled in manuscript many collections of pieces that explored the range of artistic and technical possibilities inherent in almost every genre of his time except opera. For example, The Well-Tempered Clavier comprises two books, each of which presents a prelude and fugue in every major and minor key, displaying a dizzying variety of structural, contrapuntal and fugal techniques.

Four-part harmony

"O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden": the four-part chorale setting as included in the St. Matthew Passion

Four-part harmonies predate Bach, but he lived during a time when modal music in Western tradition was largely supplanted in favour of the tonal system. In this system a piece of music progresses from one chord to the next according to certain rules, each chord being characterised by four notes. The principles of four-part harmony are found not only in Bach's four-part choral music: he also prescribes it for instance for the figured bass accompaniment. The new system was at the core of Bach's style, and his compositions are to a large extent considered as laying down the rules for the evolving scheme that would dominate musical expression in the next centuries. Some examples of this characteristic of Bach's style and its influence:

• When in the 1740s Bach staged his arrangement of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater, he upgraded the viola part (which in the original composition plays in unison with the bass part) to fill out the harmony, thus adapting the composition to his four-part harmony style.
• When starting in the 19th century in Russia, there was a discussion about the authenticity of four-part court chant settings compared to earlier Russian traditions, Bach's four-part chorale settings, such as those ending his Chorale cantatas, were considered as foreign-influenced models. Such influence was deemed unavoidable, however.

Bach's insistence on the tonal system and contribution to shaping it did not imply he was less at ease with the older modal system and the genres associated with it: more than his contemporaries (who had "moved on" to the tonal system without much exception), Bach often returned to the then-antiquated modi and genres. His Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, emulating the chromatic fantasia genre as used by earlier composers such as Dowland and Sweelinck in D dorian mode (comparable to D minor in the tonal system), is an example of this.

Modulation

Modulation, or changing key in the course of a piece, is another style characteristic where Bach goes beyond what was usual in his time. Baroque instruments vastly limited modulation possibilities: keyboard instruments, prior to a workable system of temperament, limited the keys that could be modulated to, and wind instruments, especially brass instruments such as trumpets and horns, about a century before they were fitted with valves, were tied to the key of their tuning. Bach pushed the limits: he added "strange tones" in his organ playing, confusing the singers, according to an indictment he had to face in Arnstadt, and Louis Marchand, another early experimenter with modulation, seems to have avoided confrontation with Bach because the latter went further than anyone had done before. In the "Suscepit Israel" of his 1723 Magnificat, he had the trumpets in E-flat play a melody in the enharmonic scale of C minor.

The major development taking place in Bach's time, and to which he contributed in no small way, was a temperament for keyboard instruments that allowed their use in all available keys (12 major and 12 minor) and also modulation without retuning. His Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother, a very early work, showed a gusto for modulation, unlike any contemporary work this composition has been compared to, but the full expansion came with the Well-Tempered Clavier, using all keys, which Bach apparently had been developing since around 1720, the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach being one of its earliest examples.

Ornamentation

Bach's guide on ornaments as contained in the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach

Aria of the Goldberg Variations, showing Bach's use of ornamentsDuration: 5 minutes and 2 seconds.5:02

The second page of the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach is an ornament notation and performance guide that Bach wrote for his eldest son, who was nine years old at the time. Bach was generally quite specific on ornamentation in his compositions (where in his time, much of the ornamentation was not written out by composers but rather considered a liberty of the performer), and his ornamentation was often quite elaborate. For instance, the "Aria" of the Goldberg Variations has rich ornamentation in nearly every measure. Bach's dealing with ornamentation can also be seen in a keyboard arrangement he made of Marcello's Oboe Concerto: he added explicit ornamentation, which some centuries later is played by oboists when performing the concerto.

Although Bach did not write any operas, he was not averse to the genre or its ornamented vocal style. In church music, Italian composers had imitated the operatic vocal style in genres such as the Neapolitan mass. In Protestant surroundings, there was more reluctance to adopt such a style for liturgical music. For instance, Kuhnau, Bach's predecessor in Leipzig, had notoriously shunned opera and Italian virtuoso vocal music. Bach was less moved. One of the comments after a performance of his St Matthew Passion was that it all sounded much like opera.

Continuo instruments solos

In concerted playing in Bach's time, the basso continuo, consisting of instruments such as organ, viola da gamba or harpsichord, usually had the role of accompaniment, providing the harmonic and rhythmic foundation of a piece. From the late 1720s, Bach had the organ play concertante (i.e. as a soloist) with the orchestra in instrumental cantata movements, a decade before Handel published his first organ concertos. Apart from the 5th Brandenburg Concerto and the Triple Concerto, which already had harpsichord soloists in the 1720s, Bach wrote and arranged his harpsichord concertos in the 1730s, and in his sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord neither instrument plays a continuo part: they are treated as equal soloists, far beyond the figured bass. In this sense, Bach played a key role in the development of genres such as the keyboard concerto.

Instrumentation

Bach wrote virtuoso music for specific instruments as well as music independent of instrumentation. For instance, the sonatas and partitas for solo violin are considered the pinnacle of what has been written for this instrument, only within reach of accomplished players. The music fits the instrument, pushing it to the full scale of its possibilities and requiring the virtuosity of the player but without bravura. Notwithstanding that the music and the instrument seem inseparable, Bach made transcriptions for other instruments of some pieces of this collection. Similarly, for the cello suites, the virtuoso music seems tailored for the instrument, the best of what is offered for it, yet Bach made an arrangement for lute of one of these suites. The same applies to much of his most virtuoso keyboard music. Bach exploited the capabilities of an instrument to the fullest while keeping the core of such music independent of the instrument on which it is performed.

In this sense, it is no surprise that Bach's music is easily and often performed on instruments it was not necessarily written for, that it is transcribed so often, and that his melodies turn up in unexpected places such as jazz music. Apart from this, Bach left several compositions without specified instrumentation: the canons BWV 1072–1078 fall in that category, as well as the bulk of the Musical Offering and the Art of Fugue.

Counterpoint

See also: List of fugal works by Johann Sebastian Bach

Another characteristic of Bach's style is his extensive use of counterpoint, as opposed to the homophony used in his four-part Chorale settings, for example. Bach's canons, and especially his fugues, are the most characteristic of this style, which he did not invent but contributed to so fundamentally that he defined it to a large extent. Fugues are as characteristic to Bach's style as, for instance, the Sonata form is characteristic to the composers of the Classical period.

These strictly contrapuntal compositions, and most of Bach's music in general, are characterised by distinct melodic lines for each of the voices, where the chords formed by the notes sounding at a given point follow the rules of four-part harmony. Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Bach's first biographer, gives this description of this feature of Bach's music, which sets it apart from most other music:

If the language of music is merely the utterance of a melodic line, a simple sequence of musical notes, it can justly be accused of poverty. The addition of a Bass puts it upon a harmonic foundation and clarifies it but defines rather than gives it added richness. A melody so accompanied—even though all the notes are not those of the true Bass—or treated with simple embellishments in the upper parts or with simple chords used to be called "homophony". But it is a very different thing when two melodies are so interwoven that they converse together like two persons upon a footing of pleasant equality. In the first case, the accompaniment is subordinate and serves merely to support the first or principal part. In the second case, the two parts are not similarly related. New melodic combinations spring from their interweaving, out of which new forms of musical expression emerge. Suppose more parts are interwoven in the same free and independent manner. In that case, the apparatus of language is correspondingly enlarged and becomes practically inexhaustible if, in addition, varieties of form and rhythm are introduced. Hence, harmony becomes no longer a mere accompaniment of melody but rather a potent agency for augmenting the richness and expressiveness of musical conversation. To serve that end, a simple accompaniment will not suffice. True harmony is the interweaving of several melodies, which emerge now in the upper, now in the middle, and now in the lower parts.

From 1720, when he was thirty-five until he died in 1750, Bach's harmony consists of this melodic interweaving of independent melodies, so perfect in their union that each part seems to constitute the true melody. Herein, Bach excels all the composers in the world. At least, I have found no one to equal him in music known to me. Even in his four-part writing, we can, not infrequently, leave out the upper and lower parts and still find the middle parts harmonious and agreeable.

Structure and lyrics

Bach devoted more attention than his contemporaries to the structure of his compositions. This can be seen in minor adjustments he made when adapting someone else's composition, such as his earliest version of the "Keiser" St Mark Passion, where he enhances scene transitions, and in the architecture of his own compositions such as his Magnificat and Leipzig Passions. In the last years of his life, Bach revised several of his prior compositions. Often, recasting such previously composed music in an enhanced structure was the most visible change, as in the Mass in B minor. Bach's known preoccupation with structure led (peaking around the 1970s) to various numerological analyses of his compositions, although many such over-interpretations were later rejected, especially when wandering off into symbolism-ridden hermeneutics.

The librettos, or lyrics, of his vocal compositions played an essential role for Bach. He sought collaboration with various text authors for his cantatas and major vocal compositions, possibly writing or adapting such texts himself to make them fit the structure of the composition he was designing when he could not rely on the talents of other text authors. His collaboration with Picander for the St Matthew Passion libretto is best known. However, there was a similar process in achieving a multi-layered structure for his St John Passion libretto a few years earlier.

Compositions

See also: List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach

In 1950, Wolfgang Schmieder published a thematic catalogue of Bach's compositions called the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (Bach Works Catalogue). Schmieder largely followed the Bach-Gesellschaft-Ausgabe, a comprehensive edition of the composer's works that was produced between 1850 and 1900. The first edition of the catalogue listed 1,080 surviving compositions indisputably composed by Bach.

BWV Range	Compositions
BWV 1–224	Cantatas
BWV 225–231	Motets
BWV 232–243	Liturgical compositions in Latin
BWV 244–249	Passions and oratorios
BWV 250–438	Four-part chorales
BWV 439–524	Small vocal works
BWV 525–771	Organ compositions
BWV 772–994	Other keyboard works
BWV 995–1000	Lute compositions
BWV 1001–1040	Other chamber music
BWV 1041–1071	Orchestral music
BWV 1072–1078	Canons
BWV 1079–1080	Late contrapuntal works

BWV 1081–1126 were added to the catalogue in the second half of the 20th century, and BWV 1127 and higher are 21st-century additions.

Passions and oratorios

Bach's autograph of the recitative with the gospel text of Christ's death from St Matthew Passion (Matthew 27:45–47a)

See also: List of masses, passions and oratorios by Johann Sebastian Bach § Passions and oratorios

Bach composed Passions for Good Friday services and oratorios such as the Christmas Oratorio, which is a set of six cantatas for use in the liturgical season of Christmas. Shorter oratorios include the Easter Oratorio and the Ascension Oratorio. With its double choir and orchestra, the St Matthew Passion is one of Bach's most extended works. The St John Passion was the first passion Bach composed during his tenure as Thomaskantor in Leipzig.

Cantatas

See also: Bach cantata and List of Bach cantatas

According to his obituary, Bach would have composed five year-cycles of sacred cantatas and additional church cantatas for weddings and funerals. Approximately 200 of these sacred works are extant, an estimated two-thirds of the total number of church cantatas he composed. The Bach Digital website lists 50 known secular cantatas by the composer, about half of which are extant or largely reconstructable.

Church cantatas

See also: Church cantata (Bach)

Bach's cantatas vary greatly in form and instrumentation. Many consist of a large opening chorus followed by one or more recitative-aria pairs for soloists (or duets) and a concluding chorale. The melody of the concluding chorale often appears as a cantus firmus in the opening movement.

Bach's earliest cantatas date from his years in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen. The earliest surviving work in the genre is Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich, BWV 150. Overall, the extant early works show remarkable mastery and skill. Many feature an instrumental opening which displays effective use of the limited instrumental forces available to Bach, whether it be in the subdued combination of two recorders and two violas de gamba for BWV 106, or the independent bassoon in BWV 196. Bach's compositional skills also manifest through his daring harmonies and advanced, unprecedented chord progressions. According to Christoph Wolff, Bach's early cantatas are impressive evidence of how the modest means at his disposal did not restrain the composer in the slightest, and they compare favourably with compositions by the most talented composers from the beginning of the 18th century, such as Krieger, Kuhnau or Zachow.

After taking up his office as Thomaskantor in late May 1723, Bach performed a cantata each Sunday and feast day, corresponding to the lectionary readings of the week. His first cantata cycle ran from the first Sunday after Trinity of 1723 to Trinity Sunday the next year. For instance, the Visitation cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147, containing the chorale that is known in English as "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", belongs to this first cycle. The cantata cycle of his second year in Leipzig is called the chorale cantata cycle as it consists mainly of works in the chorale cantata format. His third cantata cycle was developed over several years, followed by the Picander cycle of 1728–29.

Later church cantatas include the chorale cantatas Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80 (final version) and Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140. Only the first three Leipzig cycles are more or less completely extant. Apart from his own work, Bach also performed cantatas by Telemann and by his distant relative Johann Ludwig Bach.

Secular cantatas

See also: List of secular cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach also wrote secular cantatas, for instance for members of the royal Polish and prince-electoral Saxonian families (e.g. Trauer-Ode), or other public or private occasions (e.g. Hunting Cantata). The text of these cantatas was occasionally in dialect (e.g. Peasant Cantata) or Italian (e.g. Amore traditore). Many of the secular cantatas were lost, but for some of them, the text and occasion are known. For instance, when Picander later published their librettos (e.g. BWV Anh. 11–12).

Some of the surviving secular cantatas have a plot involving mythological figures of Greek antiquity (e.g. Der Streit zwischen Phoebus und Pan), and others were almost miniature buffo operas (e.g. Coffee Cantata). Although Bach never expressed any interest in opera, his secular cantatas, or drammi per musica, would have allowed Leipzig audiences, deprived of opera since 1720, to experience musical performances comparable to the royal opera in Dresden. These were not "poor or makeshift substitutes for real opera" but spectacles displaying "full mastery of the dramatic genre and the proper pacing of the dialogues."

A cappella music

Bach's a cappella music includes motets and chorale harmonisations.

Motets

Main article: Motets (Bach)

Bach's motets (BWV 225–231) are pieces on sacred themes for choir and continuo, with instruments playing colla parte. Several of them were composed for funerals. The six motets definitely composed by Bach are Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf, Jesu, meine Freude, Fürchte dich nicht, Komm, Jesu, komm, and Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden. The motet Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren (BWV 231) is part of the composite motet Jauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt (BWV Anh. 160), other parts of which may be based on work by Telemann.

Chorale harmonisations

See also: List of chorale harmonisations by Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach wrote hundreds of four-part harmonisations of Lutheran chorales.

Church music in Latin

See also: Bach's church music in Latin

Bach's church music in Latin includes the Magnificat, four Kyrie–Gloria Masses, and the Mass in B minor.

Magnificat

See also: Magnificat (Bach)

The first version of Bach's Magnificat dates from 1723, but the work is best known in its D major version of 1733.

Mass in B minor

See also: Mass in B minor

In 1733, Bach composed a Kyrie–Gloria Mass for the Dresden court. Near the end of his life, around 1748–1749, he expanded this composition into the large-scale Mass in B minor. The work was never performed in full during Bach's lifetime.

Keyboard music

Bach wrote for organ and for stringed keyboard instruments such as harpsichord, clavichord and lute-harpsichord.

Organ works

See also: List of organ compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach was best known during his lifetime as an organist, organ consultant, and composer of organ works in both the traditional German free genres (such as preludes, fantasias, and toccatas) and stricter forms (such as chorale preludes and fugues). At a young age, he established a reputation for creativity and the ability to integrate foreign styles into his organ works. A decidedly North German influence was exerted by Georg Böhm, with whom Bach came into contact in Lüneburg, and Dieterich Buxtehude, whom the young organist visited in Lübeck in 1704 on an extended leave of absence from his job in Arnstadt. Around this time, Bach copied the works of numerous French and Italian composers to gain insights into their compositional languages and later arranged violin concertos by Vivaldi and others for organ and harpsichord. During his most productive period (1708–1714), he composed about a dozen pairs of preludes and fugues, five toccatas and fugues, and the Orgelbüchlein or "Little Organ Book", an unfinished collection of 46 short chorale preludes that demonstrate compositional techniques in the setting of chorale tunes. After leaving Weimar, Bach wrote less for organ, although some of his best-known works (the six Organ Sonatas, the German Organ Mass in Clavier-Übung III from 1739, and the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes, revised late in his life) were composed after leaving Weimar. Later in his life, Bach extensively consulted on organ projects, tested new organs, and dedicated playing organs to afternoon recitals. The Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her" and the Schübler Chorales are organ works Bach published in the last years of his life.

Harpsichord and other stringed keyboard instruments

The Art of Fugue (title page) – performed by Mehmet Okonsar on organ and harpsichord

Duration: 39 minutes and 53 seconds.39:53

Nos. 1–12

Duration: 31 minutes and 2 seconds.31:02

Nos. 13–20

See also: List of solo keyboard compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach wrote many works for harpsichord, some of which may also have been played on the clavichord or lute-harpsichord. Some of his more significant works, such as Clavier-Übung II and IV, are intended for a harpsichord with two manuals: performing them on a keyboard instrument with a single manual (like a piano) may present technical difficulties for the crossing of hands.

• The Well-Tempered Clavier, Books 1 and 2 (BWV 846–893). Each book consists of a prelude and fugue in each of the 24 major and minor keys, in chromatic order from C major to B minor (thus, the whole collection is often referred to as "the 48"). "Well-tempered" in the title refers to the temperament (system of tuning); many temperaments before Bach's time were not flexible enough to allow compositions to utilise more than just a few keys.
• The Inventions and Sinfonias (BWV 772–801). These short two- and three-part contrapuntal works are arranged in the same chromatic order as The Well-Tempered Clavier, omitting certain rarer keys. Bach intended these pieces for instructional purposes.
• Three collections of dance suites: the English Suites (BWV 806–811), French Suites (BWV 812–817), and Partitas for keyboard (Clavier-Übung I, BWV 825–830). Each collection contains six suites built on the standard model (allemande–courante–sarabande–(optional movement)–gigue). The English Suites closely follow the traditional model, adding a prelude before the allemande and including a single movement between the sarabande and gigue. The French Suites omit preludes but have multiple movements between the sarabande and gigue. The partitas expand the model further with elaborate introductory movements and miscellaneous movements between the basic elements of the model.
• The Goldberg Variations (BWV 988), an aria with 30 variations. The collection has a complex and unconventional structure: the variations build on the bass line of the aria rather than its melody, and musical canons are interpolated according to a grand plan. There are nine canons within the 30 variations; every third variation is a canon. These variations move in order from canon at unison to canon at the ninth. The first eight are in pairs (unison and octave, second and seventh, third and sixth, fourth and fifth). The ninth canon stands on its own due to compositional dissimilarities. The final variation, instead of being the expected canon at the tenth, is a quodlibet.
• Miscellaneous pieces such as the Overture in the French Style (French Overture, BWV 831) and the Italian Concerto (BWV 971) (published together as Clavier-Übung II), and the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue (BWV 903).

Among Bach's lesser known keyboard works are seven toccatas (BWV 910–916), four duets (BWV 802–805), sonatas for keyboard (BWV 963–967), the Six Little Preludes (BWV 933–938), and the Aria variata alla maniera italiana (BWV 989).

Orchestral and chamber music

See also: List of chamber music works by Johann Sebastian Bach and List of orchestral works by Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach wrote for single instruments, duets, and small ensembles. Many of his solo works, such as the six sonatas and partitas for violin (BWV 1001–1006) and the six cello suites (BWV 1007–1012), are widely considered to be among the most profound in the repertoire. He wrote sonatas for a solo instrument such as the viola de gamba accompanied by harpsichord or continuo, as well as trio sonatas (two instruments and continuo).

The Musical Offering and The Art of Fugue are late contrapuntal works containing pieces for unspecified or combinations of instruments.

Violin concertos

Surviving works in the concerto form include two violin concertos (BWV 1041 in A minor and BWV 1042 in E major) and a concerto for two violins in D minor, BWV 1043, often referred to as Bach's "double concerto".

Brandenburg Concertos

Further information: Brandenburg Concertos

Bach's best-known orchestral works are the Brandenburg Concertos, so named because he submitted them in the hope of gaining employment from Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt in 1721; his application was unsuccessful. These works are examples of the concerto grosso genre.

Keyboard concertos

Further information: Keyboard concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach composed and transcribed concertos for one to four harpsichords. Many of the harpsichord concertos were not original works, but arrangements of his concertos for other instruments are now lost. Several violin, oboe, and flute concertos have been reconstructed from these.

Orchestral suites

Main article: Orchestral suites (Bach)

In addition to concertos, Bach wrote four orchestral suites, each suite being a series of stylised dances for orchestra, preceded by a French overture.

Copies, arrangements and uncertain attributions

See also: BWV Anh. and List of transcriptions of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach

In his early youth, Bach copied pieces by other composers to learn from them. Later, he copied and arranged music for performance or as study material for his pupils. Some of these pieces, like "Bist du bei mir" (copied not by Bach but by Anna Magdalena), became famous before being dissociated with Bach. Bach copied and arranged Italian masters such as Vivaldi (e.g. BWV 1065), Pergolesi (BWV 1083) and Palestrina (Missa Sine nomine), French masters such as François Couperin (BWV Anh. 183), and, closer to home, various German masters including Telemann (e.g. BWV 824=TWV 32:14) and Handel (arias from Brockes Passion), and music from members of his own family. He also often copied and arranged his own music (e.g. movements from cantatas for his short masses BWV 233–236), as his music was likewise copied and arranged by others. Some of these arrangements, like the late 19th-century "Air on the G String", helped to popularise Bach's music.

Sometimes, "who copied whom" is not clear. For instance, Forkel mentions a Mass for double chorus among the works composed by Bach. The work was published and performed in the early 19th century. Although a score partially in Bach's handwriting exists, the work was later considered spurious. In 1950, the design of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis was to keep such works out of the main catalogue: if there was a strong association with Bach they could be listed in its appendix (German: Anhang, abbreviated as Anh.). Thus, for instance, the aforementioned Mass for double chorus became BWV Anh. 167. But this was far from the end of the attribution issues. For instance, Schlage doch, gewünschte Stunde, BWV 53, was later attributed to Melchior Hoffmann. For other works, Bach's authorship was put in doubt without a generally accepted answer to the question of whether or not he composed it: the best-known organ composition in the BWV catalogue, the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, was indicated as one of these uncertain works in the late 20th century.

Reception

Main article: Reception of Johann Sebastian Bach's music

The church in Arnstadt where Bach had been the organist from 1703 to 1707. In 1935, the church was renamed "Bachkirche".

Throughout the 18th century, the appreciation of Bach's music was mostly limited to distinguished connoisseurs. The 19th century started with the publication of the first biography of the composer and ended with the completion and publication of all of Bach's known works by the Bach Gesellschaft. Starting with the Bach Revival, he began to be regarded as one of the greatest composers, a reputation he has maintained ever since. The BACH motif, used by the composer in his own compositions, was used in dozens of tributes to the composer from the 19th century to the 21st.

18th century

Painting of Johann Sebastian Bach by 'Gebel', before 1798

In his own time, Bach was highly regarded amongst his colleagues,. However, his reputation outside of this small circle of connoisseurs was due not to his compositions (which had an extremely narrow circulation), but due to his virtuosic abilities. Nevertheless, during his life, Bach received public recognition, such as the title of court composer by Augustus III of Poland and the appreciation he was shown by Frederick the Great and Hermann Karl von Keyserling. Such highly placed appreciation contrasted with the humiliations he had to cope with, for instance, in Leipzig. Also in the contemporary press, Bach had his detractors, such as Johann Adolf Scheibe, suggesting he write less complex music, and his supporters, such as Johann Mattheson and Lorenz Christoph Mizler.

After his death, Bach's reputation as a composer initially declined: his work was regarded as old-fashioned compared to the emerging galant style. He was remembered more as a virtuoso organ player and a teacher. The bulk of the music that had been printed during the composer's lifetime, at least the remembered parts, was for the organ and the harpsichord. Thus, his reputation as a composer was initially mostly limited to his keyboard music, which was relatively limited in its value to music education.

Bach's surviving family members, who inherited a large part of his manuscripts, were not all equally concerned with preserving them, leading to considerable losses. Carl Philipp Emanuel, his second eldest son, was most active in safeguarding his father's legacy: he co-authored his father's obituary, contributed to the publication of his four-part chorales, staged some of his works, and the bulk of previously unpublished works of his father were preserved with his help. Wilhelm Friedemann, the eldest son, performed several of his father's cantatas in Halle but after becoming unemployed sold part of the large collection of his father's works he owned. Several students of the old master, such as his son-in-law Johann Christoph Altnickol, Johann Friedrich Agricola, Johann Kirnberger, and Johann Ludwig Krebs, contributed to the dissemination of his legacy. The early devotees were not all musicians; for example, in Berlin, Daniel Itzig, a high official of Frederick the Great's court, venerated Bach. His eldest daughters took lessons from Kirnberger and their sister Sara from Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, who was in Berlin from 1774 to 1784. Sara Itzig Levy became an avid collector of works by Johann Sebastian Bach and his sons and was a "patron" of CPE Bach.

While in Leipzig, performances of Bach's church music were limited to some of his motets, and under cantor Doles some of his Passions. A new generation of Bach aficionados emerged: they studiously collected and copied his music, including some of his large-scale works such as the Mass in B minor and performed it privately. One such connoisseur was Gottfried van Swieten, a high-ranking Austrian official who was instrumental in passing Bach's legacy on to the composers of the Viennese school. Haydn owned manuscript copies of The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Mass in B minor and was influenced by Bach's music. Mozart owned a copy of one of Bach's motets, transcribed some of his instrumental works (K. 404a, 405), and wrote contrapuntal music influenced by his style. Beethoven played the entire Well-Tempered Clavier by the time he was 11 and described Bach as Urvater der Harmonie (progenitor of harmony).

19th century

See also: Bach Revival and St Matthew Passion § 19th century

Изображение мемориала Баха воздвигнутого Феликсом Мендельсоном в Лейпциге в 1843 году.

In 1802, Johann Nikolaus Forkel published Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work, the first Bach biography, dedicated to van Swieten. In 1805, Abraham Mendelssohn, who had married one of Itzig's granddaughters, bought a substantial collection of Bach manuscripts that had come down from C. P. E. Bach, and donated it to the Berlin Sing-Akademie. The Sing-Akademie occasionally performed Bach's works in public concerts, for instance, his first keyboard concerto, with Sara Itzig Levy at the piano.

В первые десятилетия XIX века выросло число первых публикаций музыки Баха: Брайткопф начал публиковать хоральные прелюдии, Hoffmeister harpsichord music, а « Хорошо темперированный клавир» был напечатан одновременно Симроком (Германия), Нэгели (Швейцария) и Хоффмейстером (Германия и Австрия) в 1801 году. Была также опубликована вокальная музыка: мотеты в 1802 и 1803 годах, за ними последовала ми ♭ мажор версия «Магнификата» , месса Кирие-Глория ля мажор и кантата Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott (BWV 80) . В 1818 году Ганс Георг Нэгели назвал мессу си минор величайшим произведением всех времен. Влияние Баха ощущалось в следующем поколении ранних композиторов-романтиков. Когда сын Авраама Феликс, 13 лет, создал свой первый Магнификат в 1822 году, стало ясно, что он был вдохновлен тогда еще неопубликованной ре мажорной версией Магнификата Баха.

Феликсом Мендельсоном Исполнение в 1829 году «Страстей по Матфею» ускорило возрождение Баха. Премьера « Страстей по Иоанну» состоялась в XIX веке в 1833 году, а первое публичное исполнение мессы си минор последовало в 1844 году. Помимо этих и других публичных выступлений, а также более широкого освещения композитора и его сочинений в печатных СМИ, 1830-е и В 1840-х годах также была опубликована первая публикация более вокальных произведений Баха: шесть кантат, Страсти по Матфею и Месса си минор. Серия органных композиций впервые была опубликована в 1833 году. Шопен начал сочинять свои 24 прелюдии, соч. 28 , вдохновленный « Хорошо темперированным клавиром» , в 1835 году, а Шуман опубликовал «Sechs Fugen über den Namen BACH» в 1845 году. Музыка Баха была транскрибирована и аранжирована в соответствии с современными вкусами и исполнительской практикой такими композиторами, как Карл Фридрих Цельтер , Роберт Франц , и Ференца Листа , или в сочетании с новой музыкой, такой как мелодия Шарля Гуно « Аве Мария ». Брамс , Брукнер и Вагнер были среди композиторов, которые пропагандировали музыку Баха или восторженно писали о ней.

В 1850 году было основано Bach-Gesellschaft (Общество Баха) для популяризации музыки Баха. Во второй половине XIX века Общество издало полное издание произведений композитора. Баха одним из трех четверок назвал В 1854 году Питер Корнелиус , другими четверками были Бетховен и Берлиоз . ( Ганс фон Бюлов заменил Берлиоза Брамсом.) С 1873 по 1880 год Филипп Спитта опубликовал «Иоганна Себастьяна Баха» , стандартный труд о жизни и музыке Баха. На протяжении XIX века о Бахе было издано 200 книг. К концу века в нескольких городах были созданы местные баховские общества, а его музыка исполнялась во всех крупных музыкальных центрах.

В Германии на протяжении всего столетия Бах был связан с националистическими чувствами, а композитор был вписан в религиозное возрождение. В Англии Бах сопровождался возрождением религиозной музыки и музыки барокко. К концу века Бах прочно утвердился как один из величайших композиторов, известный как своей инструментальной, так и вокальной музыкой.

20 век

1908 г. Статуя Баха перед Томаскирхе в Лейпциге.

28 июля 1950 г.: панихида по Баху в Томаскирхе в Лейпциге, к 200-летию со дня смерти композитора.

В течение 20-го века процесс признания музыкальной, а также педагогической ценности некоторых произведений продолжался, как, например, в продвижении сюит для виолончели Пабло Казальса , первого крупного исполнителя, записавшего эти сюиты. ведущие исполнители классической музыки, такие как Виллем Менгельберг , Эдвин Фишер , Жорж Энеску , Герберт фон Караян , Гельмут Вальха , Ванда Ландовска , I Musici , Дитрих Фишер-Дискау . Его музыку записывали

Значительным событием во второй половине 20-го века стала исторически обоснованная практика исполнения : такие предшественники, как Николаус Арнонкур, приобрели известность благодаря своим исполнениям музыки Баха. Его клавишная музыка снова исполнялась на клавесине и других инструментах в стиле барокко, а не на современных фортепиано и романтических органах XIX века. Ансамбли, исполняющие и исполняющие музыку Баха, не только придерживались инструментов и стиля исполнения того времени, но также были уменьшены до размеров групп, которые Бах использовал для своих выступлений. Но это был далеко не единственный способ, благодаря которому музыка Баха вышла на первый план в XX веке: его музыка звучала в различных версиях, начиная от Ферруччо Бузони поздних романтических фортепианных транскрипций и заканчивая оркестровками Леопольда Стоковского , чья интерпретация Токкаты и фуги в Ре минор открыл » Уолта Диснея джазовыми «Фантазию интерпретациями, такими как интерпретации The Swingle Singers из их альбома Jazz Sebastian Bach , и электронными исполнениями, такими как Венди Карлос » «Switched-On Bach и «The Well-Tempered Synthesizer» .

Музыка Баха оказала влияние на другие жанры. Джазовые музыканты переняли музыку Баха: Жак Луссье , Ян Андерсон , Ури Кейн и Modern Jazz Quartet среди тех, кто создал джазовые версии его произведений. Некоторые композиторы 20-го века ссылались на Баха или его музыку, например, Эжен Изаи в «Шести сонатах для скрипки соло» , Дмитрий Шостакович в «24 прелюдиях и фугах» и Эйтор Вилла-Лобос в «Bachianas Brasileiras» . Во всех видах публикаций участвовал Бах: были не только публикации Bach Jahrbuch в Neue Bachgesellschaft, но и различные другие биографии и исследования, в том числе Альберта Швейцера , Чарльза Сэнфорда Терри , Альфреда Дюрра , Кристофа Вольфа . Питер Уильямс , Джон Батт , и первое издание Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis 1950 года ; но и такие книги, как Гёдель, Эшер, Бах, ставят искусство композитора в более широкую перспективу. Музыку Баха широко слушали, исполняли, транслировали, аранжировали, адаптировали и комментировали в 1990-е годы. Примерно в 2000 году, к 250-летию со дня смерти Баха, три звукозаписывающие компании выпустили бокс-сеты с полными записями музыки Баха.

Три произведения Баха включены в « Золотую пластинку «Вояджера» — граммофонную пластинку, содержащую широкий выбор изображений, звуков, языков и музыки Земли, отправленных в космос двумя зондами «Вояджер» . Включенные пьесы Баха включают Первую часть Бранденбургского концерта № 2 (дирижер Карл Рихтер ), «Гавот в рондо» из Партиты для скрипки № 3 (в исполнении Артюра Грумио ), а также Прелюдию и фугу до мажор, № 1 из «Хорошо темперированного клавира» (играет Гленн Гулд ). Дань Баху в 20 веке включает статуи, воздвигнутые в его честь, а также различные вещи, такие как улицы и космические объекты, названные в его честь. множество музыкальных ансамблей, таких как Bach Aria Group , Deutsche Bachsolisten , Bachchor Stuttgart и Bach Collegium Japan Кроме того, имя композитора приняло . Фестивали Баха проводились на нескольких континентах, а такие конкурсы и премии, как Международный конкурс Иоганна Себастьяна Баха и Премия Королевской музыкальной академии именем композитора носили . В то время как к концу 19-го века Бах был вписан в национализм и религиозное возрождение, в конце 20-го века Бах стал предметом секуляризованного искусства как религии ( Kunstreligion ).

21 век

В 21 веке композиции Баха стали доступны в Интернете, например, в рамках проекта International Music Score Library Project . Факсимиле автографов Баха в высоком разрешении стали доступны на веб-сайте Bach Digital . Среди биографов XXI века Кристоф Вольф , Питер Уильямс и Джон Элиот Гардинер .

В 2015 году рукописная личная копия Мессы си минор Баха, хранящаяся в Берлинской государственной библиотеке , была внесена в реестр ЮНЕСКО « Память мира» . программа, направленная на защиту культурно значимых рукописей.

Алекс Росс пишет, что «Бах стал абсолютным мастером своего искусства, не переставая его изучать. до его смерти в 1750 году — это подвиги синтеза, мобилизующие светские средства для достижения духовных целей. Они коренятся в архаических песнопениях, гимнах и хоралах. Они с непревзойденным мастерством чтят схоластическую дисциплину канона и фуги. словесные техники мадригала эпохи Возрождения и оперы в стиле барокко. Они впитывают такие стандартные сцены, как плач, пастораль, колыбельная, ария ярости, буря. Они отсылают к изысканным французским танцам, итальянским песням о любви. полонез их яростное развитие кратких мотивов предвосхищает Бетховена, который в молодости поклонялся Баху, а их самые смелые гармонические приключения — например, потусторонние модуляции в «Конфиторе» си-минорной мессы — предвосхищают даже Вагнера. Шенбергу».

В 2019 году Бах был назван величайшим композитором всех времен по результатам опроса, проведенного среди 174 ныне живущих композиторов.

В литургическом календаре Епископальной церкви Баха ежегодно отмечается праздником 28 июля; в тот же день Календарь Святых некоторых лютеранских церквей , таких как ELCA , вспоминает Баха и Генделя с Генрихом Шютцем .

Место захоронения

Первоначально Бах был похоронен на Старом Иоанновском кладбище в Лейпциге. Его могила оставалась безымянной почти 150 лет, но в 1894 году его останки были обнаружены и перенесены в хранилище церкви Св. Иоанна. Это здание было разрушено бомбардировками союзников во время Второй мировой войны , поэтому в 1950 году останки Баха были перенесены в их нынешнюю могилу в церкви Св. Фомы. Более поздние исследования поставили под сомнение, действительно ли останки в могиле принадлежат Баху.

См. также

• Портреты Иоганна Себастьяна Баха

Ссылки

Цитируемые работы

Биографии

Смотрите также: Биографии Иоганна Себастьяна Баха.

• Бойд, Малькольм (2000). Бах . Оксфорд: Издательство Оксфордского университета. ISBN  978-0-19-514222-8 .
• Дэвид, Ганс Т. [на немецком языке] ; Мендель, Артур ; Вольф, Кристоф (1998). Новый читатель Баха: жизнь Иоганна Себастьяна Баха в письмах и документах . Нью-Йорк: WW Нортон. ISBN  978-0-393-31956-9 . ОСЛК   37801400 .
• Эйдам, Клаус [на немецком языке] (2001). Истинная жизнь Иоганна Себастьяна Баха . Нью-Йорк: Основные книги . ISBN  978-0-465-01861-1 .
• Форкель, Иоганн Николаус (1920). Иоганн Себастьян Бах: его жизнь, искусство и творчество . Перевод Чарльза Сэнфорда Терри . Нью-Йорк; Лондон: Харкорт, Брейс и Хоу; Констебль.
• Гардинер, Джон Элиот (2013). Музыка в небесном замке: Портрет Иоганна Себастьяна Баха . Лондон: Аллен Лейн . ISBN  978-0-7139-9662-3 .
• Гек, Мартин (2003). Бах . Перевод Антеи Белл . Лондон: Издательство Haus . ISBN  978-1-904341-16-1 . Архивировано 24 февраля 2017 года в Wayback Machine.
• Гек, Мартин (2006). Иоганн Себастьян Бах: жизнь и творчество . Орландо: Харкорт . ISBN  978-0-15-100648-9 .
• Гейрингер, Карл (1966). Иоганн Себастьян Бах: Кульминация эпохи . Нью-Йорк: Издательство Оксфордского университета. ISBN  978-0-19-500554-7 .
• Швейцер, Альберт (1911). И. С. Бах . Перевод Эрнеста Ньюмана . Нью-Йорк: Издательство Macmillan . , впервые опубликовано на французском языке в 1905 году и на немецком языке в 1908 году. ( Том 1 , Том 2 )
• Швейцер, Альберт (1923) [1905]. И. С. Бах . Том. 1. Перевод Эрнеста Ньюмана . Нью-Йорк: Издательство Macmillan .
• Спитта, Филипп (1899a). Иоганн Себастьян Бах: его творчество и влияние на музыку Германии, 1685–1750 гг . Том. 1. Перевод Клары Белл ; Дж. А. Фуллер Мейтленд . Лондон: Novello & Co.
• Спитта, Филипп (1899b). Иоганн Себастьян Бах: его творчество и влияние на музыку Германии, 1685–1750 гг . Том. 2. Перевод Клары Белл; Дж. А. Фуллер Мейтленд. Лондон: Novello & Co.
• Спитта, Филипп (1899c). Иоганн Себастьян Бах: его творчество и влияние на музыку Германии, 1685–1750 гг . Том. 3. Перевод Клары Белл; Дж. А. Фуллер Мейтленд. Лондон: Novello & Co.
• Терри, Чарльз Сэнфорд (1928). Бах: Биография . Оксфорд: Издательство Оксфордского университета.
• Уильямс, Питер (2003a). Жизнь Баха . Кембридж: Издательство Кембриджского университета. ISBN  978-0-521-53374-4 .
• Уильямс, Питер (2007). Бах: Жизнь в музыке . Кембридж: Издательство Кембриджского университета. ISBN  978-0-521-87074-0 .
• Уильямс, Питер (2016). Бах: Музыкальная биография . Кембридж: Издательство Кембриджского университета. ISBN  978-1-107-13925-1 .
• Вольф, Кристоф (1991). Бах: Очерки его жизни и музыки . Кембридж, Массачусетс: Издательство Гарвардского университета . ISBN  978-0-674-05926-9 .
• Вольф, Кристоф (2000). Иоганн Себастьян Бах: ученый музыкант . Оксфорд: Издательство Оксфордского университета. ISBN  978-0-19-816534-7 . Второе издание, 2013 г., WW Norton, Нью-Йорк и Лондон, ISBN   978-0-393-32256-9 пбк.
• Вольф, Кристоф; Эмери, Уолтер (20 января 2001 г.). «Бах, Иоганн Себастьян». Grove Music Online (8-е изд.). Издательство Оксфордского университета . doi : 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.6002278195 . ISBN  978-1-56159-263-0 . (требуется подписка или членство в публичной библиотеке Великобритании )

Другой

• Эпплгейт, Селия (2005). Бах в Берлине: нация и культура в возрождении Мендельсоном «Страстей по Матфею» . Итака, Нью-Йорк: Издательство Корнельского университета . ISBN  9780801443893 .
• Бойд, Малькольм, изд. (1999). И. С. Бах . Оксфордские компаньоны композиторов. Издательство Оксфордского университета.
• Батт, Джон , изд. (1997). Кембриджский компаньон Баха . Издательство Кембриджского университета. ISBN  978-0-521-58780-8 .
• Кьяпуссо, Январь (1968). Мир Баха . Скарборо, Онтарио: Издательство Университета Индианы . ISBN  978-0-253-10520-2 .
• Крист, Стивен А.; Стауфф, Дерек (2011). «Иоганн Себастьян Бах» . Оксфордская библиография : Музыка . Оксфорд: Издательство Оксфордского университета. дои : 10.1093/OBO/9780199757824-0043 . (требуется подписка)
• Дент, Эдвард Джозеф (2004). Гендель . Издательство РА Кессинджер. ISBN  1-4191-2275-4 .
• Донингтон, Роберт (1982). Музыка барокко: Стиль и исполнение: Справочник . Нью-Йорк: WW Нортон. ISBN  978-0-393-30052-9 .
• Дюрр, Альфред (1981). Кантаты Иоганна Себастьяна Баха (на немецком языке) (4-е изд.). Немецкое издательство в мягкой обложке. ISBN  978-3-423-04080-8 .
• Дюрр, Альфред ; Джонс, Ричард Д. П. (2006), Кантаты Дж. С. Баха , Oxford University Press, ISBN  978-0-19-929776-4
• Херл, Джозеф (2004). Культовые войны в раннем лютеранстве: хор, конгрегация и три столетия конфликта . Оксфорд: Издательство Оксфордского университета. ISBN  978-0-19-515439-9 .
• Герц, Герхард (1985). Очерки об И.С. Бахе . Анн-Арбор, Мичиган: Издательство Мичиганского университета. ISBN  978-0-8357-1989-6 .
• Джонс, Ричард (2007). Творческий путь Иоганна Себастьяна Баха . Оксфорд: Издательство Оксфордского университета. ISBN  978-0-19-816440-1 .
• Керст, Фридрих (1904). Бетховен своим словом (на немецком языке). Берлин: Шустер и Леффлер.
• Купферберг, Герберт (1985). В основном Бах: празднование 300-летия со дня рождения . Нью-Йорк: МакГроу-Хилл. ISBN  978-0-07-035646-7 .
• Ливер, Робин А. (2007). Литургическая музыка Лютера . Гранд-Рапидс, Мичиган: Издательство Уильяма Б. Эрдманс . ISBN  978-0-8028-3221-4 .
• Лестер, Джоэл (1999). Сочинения Баха для скрипки соло: стиль, структура, исполнение . Издательство Оксфордского университета. ISBN  978-0-19-512097-4 .
• Майлз, Рассел Х. (1962). Иоганн Себастьян Бах: Введение в его жизнь и творчество . Энглвуд Клиффс, Нью-Джерси: Прентис Холл. OCLC   600065 .
• Моррис, Эдмунд (2005). Бетховен: универсальный композитор . Нью-Йорк: ХарперКоллинз. ISBN  978-0-06-075974-2 .
• Рич, Алан (1995). Иоганн Себастьян Бах: Игра за игрой . Сан-Франциско: ХарперКоллинз. ISBN  978-0-06-263547-1 .
• Шенк, Эрих ; Уинстон, Ричард ; Уинстон, Клара (1959). Моцарт и его время . Нью-Йорк: Альфред А. Кнопф. OCLC   602180 .
• Шнайдер, Макс (1907). «Список произведений Иоганна Себастьяна Баха, напечатанных до 1851 года (и имевшихся в продаже)» . Ежегодник Баха . VII (3). Новое общество Баха : 84–113.
• Шуленберг, Дэвид (2006). Клавишная музыка И.С. Баха . Нью-Йорк: Рутледж. ISBN  978-0-415-97400-4 .
• Шпет, Зигмунд (1937). Истории, стоящие за великой мировой музыкой . Нью-Йорк: Дом Уиттлси.
• Стауффер, Джордж Б. (2008). «Музыка для «Кавалеров и дам»: Бах и репертуар его Collegium Musicum». В Батлере, Грегори Г.; Стауффер, Джордж Б.; Грир, Мэри Гальтон (ред.). О Бахе . Издательство Университета Иллинойса . стр. 135–156. ISBN  978-0-252-03344-5 .
• Ван Тил, Мэриан (2007). Георг Фридрих Гендель: Путеводитель для любителей музыки по его жизни, вере и развитию Мессии и других его ораторий . Янгстаун, Нью-Йорк: Издательство WordPower. ISBN  978-0-9794785-0-5 .
• Уильямс, Питер (1980), Органная музыка Дж. С. Баха, Том II: BWV 599–771 и др. , Кембриджские исследования в области музыки, Cambridge University Press, ISBN  978-0-521-31700-9 ; Уильямс, Питер (2003b), Органная музыка Дж. С. Баха (2-е изд.), Cambridge University Press, ISBN  978-0-521-89115-8
• Вольф, Кристоф , изд. (1983). Семья Нью-Гроув Бахов . Лондон: Макмиллан. ISBN  978-0-333-34350-0 .
• Вольф, Кристоф, изд. (1997). Мир кантат Баха: ранние священные кантаты Иоганна Себастьяна Баха . Нью-Йорк: WW Нортон. ISBN  978-0-393-33674-0 .
• Вольф, Кристоф ; Эмери, Уолтер; Уолни, Питер; Лейзингер, Ульрих; Роу, Стивен (17 января 2018 г.) [2001]. «Семья Бахов» . Гроув Музыка онлайн . Оксфорд: Издательство Оксфордского университета. doi : 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.40023 . ISBN  978-1-56159-263-0 . (требуется подписка или членство в публичной библиотеке Великобритании )

Дальнейшее чтение

: Crist & Stauff 2011 См. обширную библиографию .

• Барон, Кэрол К. (2006). Меняющийся мир Баха: голоса в сообществе . Рочестер, Нью-Йорк: Университет Рочестера Press . ISBN  978-1-58046-190-0 .
• Дёрффель, Альфред (1882). Thematisches Verzeichnis der Instrumentalwerke von Joh. Себ. Бах (на немецком языке). Лейпциг: CF Peters . NB .: Впервые опубликовано в 1867 г.; в научных целях заменен полным тематическим каталогом Вольфганга Шмидера , но полезен как удобный справочный инструмент только для инструментальных произведений Баха и как частичная альтернатива произведениям Шмидера.
• Хофштадтер, Дуглас (1999). Гёдель, Эшер, Бах: Вечная золотая коса . Нью-Йорк: Основные книги . ISBN  978-0-465-02656-2 .
• Ливер, Робин А. (2016), Научный сотрудник Routledge Иоганна Себастьяна Баха , Routledge, ISBN  978-0-367-58143-5
• Пирро, Андре (2014) [1907]. Эстетика Иоганна Себастьяна Баха . Лэнхэм, Мэриленд: Роуман и Литтлфилд. ISBN  978-1-4422-3290-7 .
• Стауффер, Джордж Б.; Мэй, Эрнест (1986). И.С. Бах как органист: его инструменты, музыка и исполнительская практика . Блумингтон: Издательство Университета Индианы. ISBN  978-0-253-33181-6 .

Внешние ссылки

• «Открытие Баха» . Радио Би-би-си 3 .
• bach-leipzig, сайт Баха Архива .
• Йо Томиты Библиография Баха (23 марта 2012 г.) , зеркало в Институте Рименшнейдера Баха .
• Работы Иоганна Себастьяна Баха или о нем в Интернет-архиве .

Результаты

• Иоганн Себастьян Бах в проекте Musopen .
• Бесплатные партитуры Иоганна Себастьяна Баха в рамках Международного проекта библиотеки музыкальных партитур (IMSLP).
• Нотные рукописи и ранние репродукции на сайте Bach Digital .

Записи

• Записи Иоганна Себастьяна Баха в Дискографии американских исторических записей .
• Иоганн Себастьян Бах (1685–1750) на сайте Muziekweb .
• Весь сайт Баха Нидерландского общества Баха .