Bach Essay, Research Paper

Throughout the history of music, many great composers, theorists, and

instrumentalists have left indelible marks and influences that people today look

back on to admire and aspire to. No exception to this idiom is Johann Sebastian

Bach, whose impact on music was unforgettable to say the least. People today

look back to his writings and works to both learn and admire. He truly can be

considered a music history great. Bach, who came from a family of over 53

musicians, was nothing short of a virtuosic instrumentalist as well as a

masterful composer. Born in Eisenach, Germany, on March 21, 1685, he was the son

of a masterful violinist, Johann Ambrosius Bach, who taught his son the basic

skills for string playing. Along with this string playing, Bach began to play

the organ which is the instrument he would later on be noted for in history. His

instruction on the organ came from the player at Eisenach’s most important

church. He instructed the young boy rather rigorously until his skills surpassed

anyone?s expectations for someone of such a young age. Bach suffered early

trauma when his parents died in 1695. He went to go live with his older brother,

Johann Christoph, who also was a professional organist at Ohrdruf. He continued

his younger brother’s education on that instrument, as well as introducing him

to the harpsichord. The rigorous training on these instruments combined with

Bach?s masterful skill paid off for him at an early age. After several years

of studying with his older brother, he received a scholarship to study in

Luneberg, Germany, which is located on the northern tip of the country. As a

result, he left his brother?s tutelage and went to go and study there. The

teenage years brought Bach to several parts of Germany where he mainly worked as

an organist in churches, since that was the skill he had perfected the best from

his young training. However, a master of several instruments while still in his

teens, Johann Sebastian first found employment at the age of 18 as a violinist

in a court orchestra in Weimar. Although he did not remain there terribly long,

he was able to make good money playing for the king. He soon after accepted a

position as a church organist in Arnstadt. It was here that Bach would soon

realize his high standards and regards that he had for music. In Arnstadt as

well as in many other places that Bach worked he was notorious for getting into

fights over the quality of music that was being produced. A perfect example of

this can be seen in Arnstadt. Previous accounts of history claim that Bach was

upset with the performance of the church choir for which he played for. He

claimed that ?the voices could never make the music soar to the sky as it

should? (loosely translated). Here Bach realized the high level of music and

perfectionism that he wanted. In 1707, at the age of 22, Bach moved on from

Arnstadt to another organist job, this time at the St. Blasius Church in

Muhlhausen. Once again he did not remain there too long, only a little over a

year, when he moved again to Weimar where he accepted the position of head

concertmaster and organist in the Ducal Chapel. It was here that Bach settled

himself and began to compose the first collection of his finest early works

which, included organ pieces and cantatas. By this time Bach had been married

for several years. He actually became married to his cousin Maria Barbara. They,

for the most part, had a happy marriage. He was happy. By this stage of his life

he had ?composed? for himself a wonderful reputation of being a brilliant

musical talent. Along with that his proficiency on the organ was unequaled in

Europe by this time. In fact, he toured regularly as a solo virtuoso, and his

growing mastery of compositional forms, like the fugue and the canon, were

already attracting interest from the musical establishment, which, in his day,

was the Lutheran church. The church began to look at Bach?s writings and saw

the opportunity to possibly use his music in their masses. Thus was the slow

birth of the German chorale, which Bach later became renowned for. Bach?s

virtuosic career did suffer minor setbacks along the way. He occasionally would

be passed over for deserved positions within the court that he worked. However,

in 1715 when he did not receive a truly desired position of ?Kapellmeister?

(choral master) of Weimer, he was insulted and left the city. He accepted a

position as a court conductor in Cothen, where he began to work on another part

of his musical genre, that of instrumental music. Up until this point, Bach was

mainly writing organ pieces and church cantatas. One of his most famous,

?Wachet auf ruft uns die Stimme,? became well known around the world and is

still looked upon as a classic today. However, when he arrived in Cothen he

began to focus on all other instruments and used his talents as a string player

and knowledge of ?wind & brass? instruments to begin composing

instrumental pieces. It was during his stay here in Cothen that the orchestral

masterpiece known as the ?Brandenburg Concerto? was born. Bach?s tenure in

Cothen lasted approximately seven years. In that time his wife Mara became ill

and died. Although distraught, he soon remarried to Anna Magdalena. It was

during this time that Bach had several children, three in particular would grow

to become talented musicians like their father. Wilhelm Friedmann, C.P.E. Bach,

and J.C. Bach. They to became virtosos of the organ and later the harpsichord,

much like their father was. After Bach left Cothen, he received a prestigious

position as music director at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, Germany. Here

Bach accepted his most demanding position of all. He had the responsibility of

composing cantatas for the St. Thomas and St. Nicholas churches, conducing the

choirs, overseeing the musical activities of numerous municipal churches, and

teaching Latin in the St. Thomas choir school. Although demanding, Bach

persisted and succeeded in Leipzig and continued to write music of various kinds

with a level of craft and emotional profundity that was his alone. Bach remained

at his post in Leipzig until his death in 1750. Although he was blinded by

cataract problems in the early 1740s, he still managed to compose masterful

pieces up until days before his death. His last musical composition that he

crafted happened to be a choral prelude, which was dedicated to his son-in law.

To this day more than 1,000 of Bach?s accomplished compositions survive. Some

of his most famous works include the ?Brandenburg Concerto,? The ?Mass In

B Minor,? ?The Goldberg Variations for Harpsichord,? his vast amount of

toccatas, especially his ?Toccata In F Major,? his collection of variations

on organ preludes captured in the ?Well Tempered Clavier,? his immense

amount of fugues and chorales including his ?Fugue in G minor,? major as

well as his tremendous amount of chorales, and his Christmas and Easter

oratorios, which was another schism in his music genre. Quite frankly, the list

goes on and on and on. Surely, Johann Sebastian Bach never believed that his

success would become so heroic and monumental. However, we today perceive him to

be one of the key individuals to shape the music we listen to. It is no secret

that his writings, especially chorale writings, are used to illustrate the

principles of our functional system of harmony. It is in this example alone that

it can be seen that Bach?s works have not only survived to the point where

they are still heard and listened to, but they also still provide us with

knowledge and understanding from which we can learn and discover music. It is

for these reasons that the life of Johann Sebastian Bach was truly a great one

and it is without any apprehension that he can be considered a musical great.