German Composers of the Late Baroque
Composer Biographies
Johann Sebastian Bach
Born: March 21, 1685, Eisenach, Germany
Died: July 28, 1750, Leipzig, Germany
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In his own words....
"Whereas the Honorable and Most Wise Council of this Town of Leipzig have engaged me as Cantor of the St. Thomas School...I shall set the boys a shining example...,serve the school industriously,...bring the music in both the principal churches of this town into good estate,...faithfully instruct the boys not only in vocal but also in instrumental music...arrange the music so that it shall not last too long, and shall...not make an operatic impression, but rather incite the listeners to devotion..treat the boys in a friendly manner and with caution, but, in case they do not wish to obey, chastise them with moderation or report them to the proper place."
German composer and organist. Culminating figure of the German Baroque.
When we say that a composer such as Johann Sebastian Bach was a genius, what are we really saying? It is easy to call someone a genius, but far more difficult to explain what that means. The word itself tends to intimidate us, and we often feel that it is impossible to bridge the gap and find the human side of genius. So we simply call him or her a genius and are done with it.
In the case of Bach, however, his genius is a combination of a number of simpler qualities, all of which point to that human side. First, Bach was a craftsman. He lived in an age in which the composer created works according to the demands of his employer. For Bach, this meant that his various positions demanded different kinds of music. As court organist in Weimar, he produced his most important organ works, and as a composer for the Prince of Anhalt-Cöthen he created music that his patron desired: ensemble music (including the famous Brandenburg Concertos, written for another royal patron, the Margrave of Brandenburg). But his most important and long-term position was as cantor of St. Thomas's Church in Leipzig. Not surprisingly, it is in this period that he wrote the bulk of his great church music. Because of the demands of his various employers, Bach was able to create works in a wide variety of genres, providing a breadth of expression not often seen.
A second quality we find in Bach is that of a student or an emulator. The composer constantly surrounded himself with the music of his contemporaries, and his study of these pieces (often involving re-arranging pieces for different combinations of instruments) provided him an insight into a wide variety of national and personal styles. Throughout his life, he integrated these ideas into his own unique style.
Bach was also a deeply religious man. His personal Bible is filled with annotations and comments, and this depth of feeling finds its way into his sacred music, which often strikes the listener as an intensely personal statement of faith.
Finally, Bach had a passion for completeness. Many of his works seem to be exercises in exploring every conceivable possibility. An example of this is his two collections of preludes and fugues, the Well-Tempered Clavier . In them, Bach explores every possible major and minor key. But it is in his final works that this encyclopedic quality stands out. His Musical Offering is a tour de force of variations and contrapuntal inventions on a theme suggested to him by Frederick the Great. His Mass in B minor is not a liturgical work, but a summation of his sacred style, much of it reworked from earlier pieces. And his Art of Fugue (unfinished at his death) is a compendium of contrapuntal techniques unequaled before or since.
None of these qualities, by themselves, explain Bach's genius. In some aspects, he has no equal, and in all aspects, his music is unique. Taken together, however, they constitute the human elements of that genius. They help us to understand why and how Bach created what he did, and perhaps that is as close as we can come.
Works
- Sacred vocal works, including over 200 church cantatas; 7 motets; Magnificat (1723), St. John Passion (1724), St. Matthew Passion (1727), C hristmas Oratorio (1734), Mass in B minor (1749)
- Secular vocal works, including over 20 cantatas
- Orchestral music, including 4 orchestral suites, 6 Brandenburg Concertos, concertos for 1 and 2 violins, and for 1, 2, 3, and 4 harpsichords
- Chamber music, including 6 sonatas and partitas for unaccompanied violin, 6 sonatas for violin and harpsichord, 6 suites for cello, Musical Offering (1747), flute sonatas, and viola da gamba sonatas
- Keyboard music, including 2 volumes of Das wohltemperirte Clavier ( The Well-Tempered Clavier , 1722, 1742), 6 English Suites (c. 1722), 6 French Suites (c. 1722), Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue (c. 1720), Italian Concerto (1735), Goldberg Variations (1741?1742), and Die Kunst der Fuge ( The Art of Fugue , c. 1745?1750); suites, fugues, capriccios, concertos, inventions, sinfonias
- Organ music, including over 150 chorale preludes, toccatas, fantasias, preludes, fugues, and passacaglias
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Musical Examples
-
Cantata No. 80, First movement
04:51
- Cantata No. 80, Second movement 03:37
- Cantata No. 80, Fifth movement
03:36
- Cantata No. 80, Last movement 01:41
- Contrapunctus I, Art of the Fugue 04:25
- Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, First movement 04:29
- Brandenburg Concerto No. 4, 3rd mvmt 04:37
- Rejouissance, from Orchestral Suite No. 4 02:30
- Toccata and Fugue in D minor 02:57
- Orchestral Suite no. 3, Air 05:23
- Mass in B minor, BWV 232 - Symbolum Niceum: Credo in unum Deum 01:49
- Mass in B minor, BWV 232 - Sanctus 05:17
- Prelude and Fugue No. 24 in B minor, BWV 869 11:36
- Prelude and Fugue No. 2 in C minor, BWV 847 02:57
- Prelude and Fugue No. 8 in E flat minor / D sharp minor, BWV 853 08:25
- Prelude and Fugue No. 21 in B flat major, BWV 866 03:14
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Links
- A General Biography
Biographical article extracted from the Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. Includes discussions of works and some portraits.
- The Bach Family
J.S. Bach was part of an incredible musical family that stretched from the sixteenth century to the nineteenth. This site traces the family tree. Part of Timothy Smith's Bach site at Northern Arizona University.
- The J. S. Bach Homepage
A great place to go for further exploration. Contains a biographical section that includes a tourist guide to the cities Bach lived in over the course of his life. There is also an extensive index of Bach's works (cross-indexed by title, BWV number, key, year of composition, category, and instrument), and recommended recordings (also cross-indexed).
- Want Even More? Try Bach Central Station
Links to over 300 different Bach sites from detailed analyses of his music to Bach on the electric guitar. Also links to other classical sites.
George Frideric Handel
Born: February 23, 1685, Halle, Germany
Died: April 14, 1759, London
Return to Just Listen: Era : Composer
English composer, German by birth. Composed in all genres, but primarily remembered for his operas and oratorios.
George Frideric Handel began his life in Germany, the son of a barber-surgeon who wanted him to study law. He died an English citizen, the most renowned musical figure of his day and a national treasure. The career that led him there was, in almost every way, a complete contrast to that of his contemporary and fellow countryman, Johann Sebastian Bach (born less then a month after him). Where Bach composed for the church and for his patrons, Handel composed for the general public. Where Bach was primarily of man of God, Handel was a man of the world. And where Bach was a man who never left his native country, Handel was a world traveler.
Handel showed great musical talent at an early age, and his father allowed him to study with a local organist and composer. At age seventeen, the young Handel went to Hamburg, where he played violin in the opera orchestra. He was soon composing in the Italian style that he heard and played, and his first opera, Almira, was a rousing success. The next three years were spent in Italy, where his operas were extremely popular and where he continued to perfect his operatic style. He returned to Germany in 1710 to take the post of music director for the elector of Hanover, but almost immediately was invited to England to produce his opera Rinaldo. His return to Hanover was short-lived. In 1712 he again asked leave to go to England. His request was granted, but Handel never returned. In an interesting irony, the royal patron he left behind followed him to London in 1714 as the successor to the English throne, where he reigned as George I, the first of the Hanoverian kings. It was for his former employer that Handel wrote his Water Music .
In England, Handel continued to write operas in the serious Italian style, but his position as the leading operatic composer in England was soon challenged, first by the advent of a rival opera company (the Opera of the Nobility) and then by the development of a new and lighter style of the ballad opera. This latter style was begun by John Gay with The Beggar's Opera of 1728. As the popularity of Italian opera faded, Handel turned to another popular genre, the oratorio. Over the course of the next twenty years, he created a series of works that became some of the most popular in all of the Western tradition. Most famous among these was his telling of the life of Jesus, his Messiah (1742), and the "Hallelujah Chorus" from this work is arguably the most immediately recognizable piece of Western classical music.
Handel's output as a composer declined in his later years, but he continued to conduct and perform (he was a brilliant organist). Indeed, it was at the end of a performance of Messiah that he collapsed, dying three days later.
Works
- Operas (over 40), including Almira (1705), Rinaldo (1711), Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar, 1724), and Orlando (1733)
- Oratorios, including Esther (1718), Alexander's Feast (1736), Israel in Egypt (1739), Messiah (1742), Sampson (1743), Belshazzar (1745), Judas Maccabaeus (1747), Solomon (1749), and Jephta (1752); other sacred vocal music, including Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne (c. 1713), Acis and Galatea (masque, 1718), Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (1739), Utrech Te Deum (1713), anthems and Latin church music
- Secular vocal music, including solo and duo cantatas; arias
- Orchestral music, including Water Music (1717) and Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749); concertos for oboe, organ, horn
- Chamber music, including solo and trio sonatas
- Keyboard music, including harpsichord suites, fugues, preludes, airs, and dances.
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Musical Examples
- Messiah, No. I, Overture 03:12
- Messiah, Nos. 14-16, There were shepherds 01:20
- Messiah, No. 17, Glory to God 02:06
- Messiah, No. 18, Rejoice Greatly! 04:57
- Messiah, No. 44, Hallelujah Chorus 03:48
- Mvmt 1, Allegro, from Water Music 02:18
- Alla hornpipe, from Water Music 03:00
- I know that my Redeemer liveth, from Messiah 06:07
- Aria, Molto voglio from Rinaldo 02:57
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Links
- A General Biography
Biographical article extracted from the Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. Includes a small portrait gallery, a bibliography, detailed list of works, and an outline and text for Messiah (with audio clips).
- A Basic Recording Library
From the ClassicalNet site. A listing of recommended recordings of the basic Handel repertoire.
- Handel's House in London
Handel lived in the same house from 1723 until his death (interestingly, two centuries later (in 1969) Jimi Hendrix lived in the house next door for a short period of time). An online guide to the museum.