Johann Sebastian Bach Essay -- essays research papers

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685 in the town of Thuringia, Germany where he was raised and spent most of his life. Due to a shortage of expenses, he was confined to a very limited geographical space, as was his career. This greatly affected his, in that his music was not as widley known as other composers of the time. On traveling he never went farther north than Hamburg or farther south than Carlsbad. To look back on the life of Bach many have referred to him as â€Å"one of the greatest and most productive geniuses in the history of Western music†, particularly of the baroque era.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Born to a family that produced at least 53 prominent musicians within seven generations, Bach received his first musical instrument from his father. Johann studied music with his father until his father’s death in 1695, at which point he moved to Ohrdruf to study with his brother, Johann Christoph. In the early 1700’s Bach began working as a chorister at a church in Luneburg. In 1703, he became a violinist in the chamber orchestra of Prince Johann Ernst of Weimar, but later that year he moved to Arnstadt where he became church organist.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1705, Bach took a one month leave to study with the renowned Danish-born German organist and composer Dietrich Buxtehude who was staying in Lubeck. Later, Buxtehude’s organ music would greatly influence that of Johann Sebastian Bach. Bach’s stay was so rewarding that he overstayed his leave by two months to be greatly criticized for his breach of contract by the church authorities. Fortunately, Bach was too highly respected to be dismissed from his position.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In 1707, Bach married his second cousin, Maria Barbara Bach, he also moved to Mulhausen as organist for a church there, but, 1708 brought him back toWeimer. He came back as an organist and violinist at the court of Duke Wilhelm Ernst, where he stayed for the following nine years to become concertmaster of the court orchestra in 1714. In Weimer he composed about 30 cantatas, including his well-known funeral cantata â€Å"God’s time is the best†, and also wrote organ and harpsichord works. Bach also began traveling throughout Germany as an organ virtuoso and a consultant to organ builders.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  ... ...sical equivalents of verbal ideas, such as an undulating melody to represent the sea, of a canon to describe the Christians following Jesus.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Bach’s ability to assess and exploit the media, styles and genre of his day enabled him to achieve many remarkable transfers of idiom. For instance, he could take an Italian ensemble composition, such as a violin concerto, and transform it into a convincing work for a single instrument, the harpsichord. By devising intricate melodic lines, he could convey the complex texture of a multivoiced fugue on a single-melody instrument , such as the violin or cello.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The controversial rhythms and sparse textures of operatic recitatives can be found in some of his own works for solo keyboard. Technical facility alone of course was not the source of some of Bach’s greatness. It is the expressiveness of his music, particularly as manifested in the vocal works, that conveys his humanity and touches listeners everywhere. That is why Johann Sebastian Bach was considered one of the greatest musical composers, but more specifically one of the greatest baroque composers of all time.