Bach V.S. Mozart Essay, Research Paper

Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are perhaps the two most well-know composers of classical music in the world. These two composers have most assuredly earned their recognition, as geniuses of the magnitude that makes one’s work truly immortal. J.S. Bach’s work became well-known to Mozart during the span of the latter composer’s career. Mozart was profoundly influenced by Bach’s work, more so than by any other composer. It was Mozart that spent more time engrossed within the music of Bach then any other composer of his era (Kirkendale 64). Mozart appreciated something in Bach’s music; some intrinsic quality which raised it above all other music.

Warren Kirkendale and Robert L. Marshall have both constructed articles dealing with the profound impact J.S. Bach had on Mozart. Marshall’s, “Bach and Mozart: Styles of Musical Genius,” gives a view into the way Mozart came across Bach’s music and the overall impact it had on the young composer. In Kirkendale’s, “More Slow Introductions by Mozart to Fugues of J.S. Bach?,” the focus is narrowed. Kirkkendale deals specifically with a couple sets of fugues Mozart composed in the Bachian style. Through comparing the purposes of each composer’s work, their motivation, and the manner that Mozart dealt with, used, and learned from Bach’s work, one can further appreciate the gift that each man so obviously possessed.

In both the work of Bach and of Mozart the gift for music, the deeper understanding of every component element of composition, is quite apparent. The purpose for creating these works is strikingly different, however, as were the men. Every single work Bach composed, no matter how simple or intricate, was for the glory of God. Each of Bach’s cantata autographs end with “Soli Deo Gloria.” “To God alone be the glory” (qtd. in Marshall 22). To this end, Bach viewed teaching through his music as a vital part of his fellowship with God, an essential element of his work (Marshall 19). On the title page of the Well-Tempered Clavier Bach writes, “for the Use and Profit of the of the Musical Youth Desirous of Learning” (qtd. in Marshall 19). God had given him a gift, and it was Bach’s responsibility, his divine calling, to share it with the world and his pupils through his compositions. Bach was not overly concerned with impressing men. In fact pragmatically, a great number of pieces which Bach wrote were never intended to be performed publicly, at least in full (Marshall 22). He had a far more ambitious goal, to make music suitable for God.

While J.S. Bach was primarily concerned with the ecclesiastical purpose of his work, Mozart was inclined to please his audience. Mozart held that music must be pleasing to the listeners (Marshall 20). Though brought up Roman Catholic, and maintaining ties to the church though adulthood, Mozart was not focused on God to the extent that Bach was. Mozart felt an allegiance to himself and to his audience; to no one else. It was perhaps because of this that Mozart had such an aversion to teaching (Marshall 19-20). Mozart himself stated that teaching went against the nature of his genius (it is quite obvious Mozart was a great deal less humble than Bach) (Marshall 20). Mozart strove for an effect, an impact he could have on his audience. He often proclaimed how he did not concern himself with how he was perceived, though in reality he was rather an egomaniac who could not stand to be criticized regarding his work.

This raises the question of how Mozart, immensely different than Bach, could be so significantly influenced by Bach; and then perhaps more importantly what effect this influence had. W.A. Mozart was first substantially exposed to the music of J.S. Bach in April of 1782, a year after settling in Vienna (Kirkendale 43). It was Baron Gottfried van Swieten, an extremely influential Viennese music patron, who brought Bach’s “Lutheran music” to the predominantly, and officially, Roman Catholic domain of Vienna (Kirkkendale 443-44). Van Swieten was exposed to, and subsequently became enchanted with, Baroque music while living in England for a stint. Soon after returning to Vienna in the early 1780s van Swieten began holding musical gatherings of musicians. W.A. Mozart was a regular attendee at these sessions, as were other notable performers and composers of the time, among them, Ludwig van Beethoven. Mozart quickly fell in love with the music of Bach, because of its incredible energy and the music’s testing of boundaries. Mozart wrote on more than one occasion to his father, who was perhaps the most dominating force throughout at least the early portion of Mozart’s life. In those letters Mozart expounds the greatness of Bach’s work, especially the fugues, and his immense joy at being able to perform in the sessions (Kirkendale 44, Marshall 16). In fact, Mozart’s wife, Constanze, also was so enamored with Bach’s fugues that she would scarcely listen to anything else (Marshall 16).

In part because of his own love of Bach, and in no small part because of Constanze’s, Mozart engaged himself in writing a series of fugues based on those of Bach’s Well-tempered Clavier. Sometime shortly after his first few sessions with van Swieten, Mozart composed at least five four-part fugues arranged for a string quartet (Kirkendale 44). It was the subject of debate whether or not W.A. Mozart wrote these five fugues, though today that issue has largely been put to rest (Marshall 17). This debate was fueled in part because fugues were generally written in sets of six. What is more, there are no slow introductions to the fugues as Mozart placed in his next set of fugues based on the style of Bach (Kirkendale 58). That next group of six three-part fugues followed the traditional form, with introductions, and were written sometime during 1782 (Marshall 17). Within that same year, Mozart had mastered the polyphonic idiom of Bach to the point which he could incorporate it into the finale of his String Quartet in G, K. 387, composed in December of 1782. It was this hybrid of the sonata-fugue that marks a significant high point of mature “high classic” works (Marshall 17).

Vienna, during 1782, was not Mozart’s only substantial experience and use of Bach’s music. Exactly seven years later, in 1789, Mozart came across Bach’s work again, while visiting Leipzig to perform on the organ of Thomaskirche (Marshall 18). After a performance of a portion of Bach’s work by the choir, Mozart is purported to have stood up and shouted, “Now, there is something we can learn from!” (qtd. in Marshall 18). Because of his obvious love for these new choral forms of Bach’s music, Mozart, upon learning that the school where Bach had been cantor maintained a complete collection of Bach’s motets, was quite thrilled. He then sat himself down, doing nothing else until he had looked over every piece that was available (Marshall 18). It was most likely due to this experience that Bach’s influence is so heavily evident in Mozart’s unfinished Requiem. Bach’s influence is not, however, limited within Mozart’s late vocal music to Requiem. It is especially evident in Scene 28 (armed men) , of the Act 2 finale in Die Zauberfl?te (Marshall 18). In fact, the music is not only written in the Bach style choral prelude, but goes so far as to use a Lutheran choral tune, Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein. This section was based almost entirely on Bach’s Cantata No. 2 based on that same chorale. Cantata No. 2 was in the collection in which Mozart so diligently studied while in Leipzig (Marshall 18-19).

It seems a good deal of Mozart’s skill was gleaned from sessions he spent immersing himself in the work of Johann Sebastian Bach. Had it not been for exposure to Bach, Mozart would likely not have mastered the fugue and started the peculiar, yet beautiful, cross of the fugue and sonata. Mozart’s late vocal music would not have possessed the same eclectic stylistic forms. It becomes obvious that Mozart, the composer, definitely built on certain aspects of Bach’s style. Mozart did this in a way that only one musical genius can do with the work of another. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart fully understood, appreciated, and incorporated into his own work, the music of Bach.