From the 19th century to the present day, interest in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach has not ceased. The creativity of an unsurpassed genius is striking in its scale. The greatest composer is known all over the world. His name is known not only to professionals and music lovers, but also to listeners who do not show much interest in “serious” art. On the one hand, Bach’s work is a certain outcome. The composer relied on the experience of his predecessors. He knew well the Renaissance choral polyphony, German organ music, and features of the Italian violin style. He carefully got acquainted with new material, developed and summarized the accumulated experience. On the other hand, Bach was an unsurpassed innovator who managed to open new perspectives for the development of world musical culture. The work of Johann Bach had a strong impact on his followers: Brahms, Beethoven, Wagner, Glinka, Taneyev, Onegger, Shostakovich and many other great composers.
Bach's creative heritage
He created over 1000 works. The genres to which he addressed were the most diverse. Moreover, there are such compositions, the scale of which was exceptional for that time. Bach's work can be divided into four main genre groups:
- Organ music.
- Vocal-instrumental.
- Music for various instruments (violins, flutes, clavier and others).
- Music for instrumental ensembles.
The works of each of the above groups belong to a certain period. In Weimar, the most outstanding organ compositions were composed. The Ketensky period marks the emergence of a huge number of clavier and orchestral works. In Leipzig, most of the vocal and instrumental are written.
Johann Sebastian Bach. Biography and creativity
The future composer was born in 1685 in the small town of Eisenach, in a musical family. For the whole family, it was a traditional profession. Johann's first music teacher was his father. The boy had a great voice and sang in the choir. At 9, he turned out to be an orphan. After the death of his parents, he was raised by Johann Christoph (older brother). At 15, the boy graduated from the Ordruf Lyceum with honors and moved to Luneburg, where he began to sing in the choir of the “chosen ones”. By the age of 17, he had learned to play various instruments: viola, harpsichord, organ, violin. Since 1703 he lives in different cities: Arnstadt, Weimar, Mühlhausen. Bach's life and work during this period were full of certain difficulties. He is constantly changing his place of residence, which is associated with a reluctance to feel dependent on certain employers. He served as a musician (as an organist or violinist). Working conditions also did not suit him constantly. At this time, his first compositions for clavier and organ, as well as spiritual cantatas, appeared.
Weimar period
Since 1708, Bach began to serve as a court organist for the Duke of Weimar. At the same time, he works as a chamber musician in the chapel. Bach's life and work during this period is very fruitful. These are the years of the first composer maturity. The best organ works have appeared. It:
- Prelude and Fugue c-moll, a-moll.
- Toccata C-dur.
- Passacalia c-moll.
- Toccata and Fugue d-moll.
- "Organ Book".
At the same time, Johann Sebastian works on compositions in the cantata genre, on arrangements for the clavier of Italian violin concerts. For the first time turns to the genre of solo violin suite and sonata.
Ketensky period
Since 1717, the musician settled in Keten. Here he holds a high-ranking position as head of chamber music. He, in fact, is the manager of all musical life at court. But he is not happy with a too small town. Bach wants to move to a larger and more promising city to give his children the opportunity to go to university and get a good education. In Keten there was no high-quality organ; there was also no choral chapel. Therefore, the clavish creativity of Bach develops here. The composer also pays a lot of attention to ensemble music. Artworks written in Kethen:
- 1 volume of "HTK".
- English suites.
- Sonatas for violin solo.
- French suites.
- "Brandenburg concerts" (six pieces).
- "Chromatic fantasy and fugue."
Leipzig period and the last years of life
Since 1723, the maestro has been living in Leipzig, where he leads the choir (occupies the post of cantor) at the school at the Church of St. Thomas in Tomscul. He takes an active part in the public circle of music lovers. The "college" of the city constantly arranged concerts of secular music. What masterpieces at that time replenished the work of Bach? Briefly it is worth indicating the main works of the Leipzig period, which can rightfully be considered the best. It:
- "Passion according to John."
- Mass h-moll.
- "Passion for Matthew."
- About 300 cantatas.
- "Christmas oratorio".
In the last years of his life, the composer focuses on musical compositions. Writes:
- 2 volume of "HTK".
- Italian concert.
- Partitas.
- "The Art of the Fugue."
- Aria with different variations.
- Organ Mass.
- "Musical offering."
After an unsuccessful operation, Bach became blind, but did not stop composing music until his death.
Style characteristic
Bach's style of creativity was formed on the basis of various music schools and genres. Johann Sebastian organically weaved the best harmonies into his works. In order to understand the musical language of Italian and French composers, he rewrote their compositions. His creations were full of texts, rhythms and forms of French and Italian music, North German counter-punctual style, as well as Lutheran liturgy. The synthesis of various styles and genres was harmoniously combined with the deep penetration of human experiences. His musical thought was distinguished by special uniqueness, versatility and a certain cosmicity. Bach's creativity refers to a style that is firmly established in the musical art. This is the classicism of the high baroque era. Bach's musical style is characterized by possession of an extraordinary melodic system, where the main idea dominates in music. Thanks to the mastery of counterpoint technology, several melodies can simultaneously interact. The German composer was a true master of polyphony. He was characterized by a penchant for improvisation and brilliant virtuosity.
Main genres
Bach's work includes various traditional genres. It:
- Cantatas and oratorios.
- Passions and masses.
- Preludes and Fugues.
- Choral treatments.
- Dance suites and concerts.
Of course, he borrowed the listed genres from his predecessors. However, he gave them the widest scope. The maestro skillfully updated them with new musical expressive means, enriched them with features of other genres. The clearest example is Chromatic Fantasy in D Minor. The work was created for the clavier, but contains a dramatic recitation of theatrical origin and expressive properties of large organ improvisations. It is easy to see that Bach’s work “bypassed” the opera, which, incidentally, was one of the leading genres of its time. However, it is worth paying attention that many secular cantatas of the composer are difficult to distinguish from comedy sideshow (at that time in Italy they degenerated into opera buffa). Some Bach cantatas, created in the spirit of witty genre scenes, anticipated the German singspiel.
The ideological content and circle of images of Johann Sebastian Bach
The composer's work is rich in its figurative content. From the pen of a true master come both extremely simple and extremely majestic creations. The art of Bach contains simple-minded humor, and deep sorrow, and philosophical reflection, and acute drama. The ingenious Johann Sebastian in his music reflected such significant aspects of his era as religious and philosophical problems. With the help of the wonderful world of sounds, he reflects on the eternal and very important issues of human life:
- On the moral duty of man.
- About his role in this world and purpose.
- About life and death.
These thoughts are directly related to religious topics. And this is not surprising. The composer has served at the church almost all his life, which is why he wrote most of the music for her. Along with this, he was a believer, he knew the Holy Scripture. His reference book was a Bible written in two languages (Latin and German). He kept fasting, confessed, observed church holidays. A few days before his death, he received the sacrament. The main character of the composer is Jesus Christ. In this ideal image, Bach saw the embodiment of the best qualities inherent in man: purity of thoughts, fortitude, loyalty to the chosen path. The sacrificial feat of Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind was the most sacred for Bach. In the composer's work, this topic was the most important.
Symbols of Bach
In the Baroque era, musical symbolism appeared. It is through her that the complex and wonderful world of the composer is revealed. Bach's music was perceived by contemporaries as transparent and intelligible speech. This was due to the presence in it of stable melodic turns expressing certain emotions and ideas. Such sound formulas are called musical rhetorical figures. Some conveyed affect, others imitated the intonations of human speech, and others were figurative in nature. Here are some of them:
- anabasis - ascent;
- circulatio - rotation;
- catabasis - descent;
- exclamatio - exclamation, ascendant sixth;
- fuga - running;
- passus duriusculus - the chromatic course used to express suffering or grief;
- suspiratio - sigh;
- tirata - an arrow.
Gradually, musical rhetorical figures become a kind of “signs” of certain concepts and feelings. So, for example, the descending figure of catabasis was often used to convey sadness, sadness, grief, death, position in the coffin. A gradual upward movement (anabasis) was used to express ascension, high spirits, and other things. Symbol motifs are observed in all works of the composer. In Bach's works, the Protestant choral prevailed, to which the maestro addressed throughout his life. It also has a symbolic meaning. Work with the chorale was conducted in a wide variety of genres - cantatas, passions, preludes. Therefore, it is logical that the Protestant chorale is an integral part of Bach's musical language. Among the important symbols found in the music of this artist, one should note steady combinations of sounds that have constant meanings. In the work of Bach the symbol of the cross prevailed. It consists of four multidirectional notes. It is noteworthy that if you decipher the name of the composer (BACH) with notes, then the same graphic pattern is formed. B - B flat, A - la, C - do, H - b. A great contribution to the development of Bach musical symbols was made by such researchers as F. Busoni, A. Schweitzer, M. Yudina, B. Yavorsky and others.
"Second birth"
During his life, the work of Sebastian Bach was not appreciated. Contemporaries knew him more as an organist than a composer. Not a single serious book has been written about him. Of the vast number of his works, only a few have been published. After death, the composer's name was soon forgotten, and the surviving manuscripts were dusted in the archives. Perhaps we would not have learned anything about this brilliant man. But, fortunately, this did not happen. True interest in Bach arose in the 19th century. Once F. Mendelssohn found in the library the notes of “Passion for Matthew”, which he was very interested in. Under his direction, this work was successfully performed in Leipzig. Many listeners were delighted with the music of a still little-known author. It can be said that this was the second birth of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1850 (on the 100th anniversary of the composer's death) the Bach Society was created in Leipzig. The purpose of this organization was to publish all of Bach's manuscripts found in the form of a complete works. As a result, 46 volumes were collected.
Bach organ work. Summary
For the organ, the composer created excellent works. This instrument for Bach is a real element. Here he was able to liberate his thoughts, feelings and emotions and convey all this to the listener. Hence the enlargement of lines, concerto, virtuosity, dramatic images. Compositions created for the organ resemble frescoes in painting. Everything in them is represented mainly by close-ups. In preludes, toccats, and fantasies, the pathos of musical images in free, improvisational forms is observed. Fugues have a special virtuosity and an unusually powerful development. Bach's organ work conveys the high poetry of his lyrics and the grand scope of magnificent improvisations.
Unlike clavier works, organ fugues are much larger in volume and content. The movement of the musical image and its development proceed with increasing activity. The deployment of the material is presented in the form of layering large layers of music, but there is no particular discreteness and breaks. On the contrary, continuity prevails (continuity of movement). Each phrase follows from the previous with increasing stress. The climaxes are also constructed. The emotional upsurge is ultimately amplified to the highest point. Bach is the first composer who showed the patterns of symphonic development in large forms of instrumental polyphonic music. Bach's organ work seems to fall into two poles. The first is foreplay, toccati, fugues, fantasies (large musical cycles). The second is one-part choral preludes. They are written mainly in the chamber plan. They reveal mainly lyrical images: intimate and mournful and sublimely contemplative. The best works for Johann Sebastian Bach's organ are toccata and fugue in D minor, prelude and fugue in A minor and many other compositions.
Compositions for Clavier
When writing compositions, Bach relied on the experience of his predecessors. However, here he proved himself as an innovator. Bach's clavier creativity is characterized by scale, exceptional versatility, and the search for expressive means. He was the first composer to feel the versatility of this instrument. When composing his works, he was not afraid to experiment and implement the most daring ideas and projects. When writing, he was guided by the whole world musical culture. Thanks to him, the artistic means of the clavier have expanded significantly. He enriches the instrument with new virtuoso technique and changes the essence of musical images.
Among his works for the body, the following stand out:
- Two-voice and three-voice inventions.
- "English" and "French" suites.
- "Chromatic fantasy and fugue."
- "Well-tempered clavier."
Thus, Bach’s creativity is striking in its scope. The composer is widely known throughout the world. His works make you think and reflect. Listening to his compositions, you involuntarily plunge into them, reflecting on the deep meaning underlying them. The genres that the maestro addressed throughout his life were the most diverse. This is organ music, vocal and instrumental, music for various instruments (violin, flute, clavier and others) and for instrumental ensembles.