The Weimar period in Bach's work. Weimar again. Bach at a secular service. Introduction to world musical art. Works for clavier

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From the 19th century to the present day, interest in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach has not subsided. The creativity of an unsurpassed genius amazes with its scale. 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 result. The composer relied on the experience of his predecessors. He knew perfectly well the choral polyphony of the Renaissance, German organ music, and the peculiarities of the Italian violin style. He carefully studied new material, developed and generalized his accumulated experience. On the other hand, Bach was an unsurpassed innovator who managed to open up new perspectives for the development of world musical culture. The work of Johann Bach had a strong influence on his followers: Brahms, Beethoven, Wagner, Glinka, Taneyev, Honegger, Shostakovich and many other great composers.

Bach's creative heritage

He created over 1000 works. The genres he addressed were very diverse. Moreover, there are works whose scale was exceptional for that time. Bach's work can be divided into four main genre groups:

• Organ music.
• Vocal-instrumental.
• Music for various instruments (violin, flute, clavier and others).
• Music for instrumental ensembles.

The works of each of the above groups belong to a specific period. The most outstanding organ compositions were composed in Weimar. The Keten period marks the appearance of a huge number of keyboard and orchestral works. Most of the vocal and instrumental songs were written in Leipzig.

Johann Sebastian Bach. Biography and creativity

The future composer was born in 1685 in the small town of Eisenach, into a musical family. For the whole family it was a traditional profession. Johann's first music teacher was his father. The boy had an excellent voice and sang in the choir. At the age of 9 he became an orphan. After the death of his parents, he was raised by Johann Christoph (elder brother). At the age of 15, the boy graduated from the Ohrdruf Lyceum with honors and moved to Lüneburg, where he began singing in the choir of the “chosen ones”. By the age of 17, he learned to play various harpsichords, organs, and violins. Since 1703 he has lived in different cities: Arnstadt, Weimar, Mühlhausen. Bach's life and work during this period were full of certain difficulties. He constantly changes his place of residence, which is due to his reluctance to feel dependent on certain employers. He served as a musician (as an organist or violinist). Working conditions also constantly dissatisfied him. At this time, his first compositions for clavier and organ, as well as spiritual cantatas, appeared.

Weimar period

In 1708, Bach began serving as court organist for the Duke of Weimar. At the same time, he works in the chapel as a chamber musician. Bach's life and work during this period were very fruitful. These are the years of first composer maturity. The best organ works appeared. This:

• Prelude and Fugue in C minor, A minor.
• Toccata C major.
• Passacaglia c-moll.
• Toccata and fugue in d minor.
• "Organ book".

At the same time, Johann Sebastian is working on works in the cantata genre, on transcriptions of Italian violin concertos for the clavier. For the first time he turns to the genre of solo violin suite and sonata.

Keten period

Since 1717, the musician settled in Köthen. Here he holds a high-ranking position as director of chamber music. He, in fact, is the manager of all musical life at court. But he is not happy with the town being too small. Bach is eager to move to a larger, more promising city to give his children the opportunity to go to university and get a good education. There was no high-quality organ in Köthen, and there was also no choir. Therefore, Bach’s keyboard creativity develops here. The composer also pays a lot of attention to ensemble music. Works written in Köthen:

• Volume 1 "HTK".
• English Suites.
• Sonatas for solo violin.
• "Brandenburg Concertos" (six pieces).

Leipzig period and last years of life

Since 1723, the maestro has lived in Leipzig, where he leads the choir (holds the position of cantor) at the school at the Church of St. Thomas in Thomaschul. Takes an active part in a public circle of music lovers. The city's "collegium" constantly organized secular music concerts. What masterpieces were added to Bach’s work at that time? It is worth briefly indicating the main works of the Leipzig period, which can rightfully be considered the best. This:

• "St. John's Passion".
• Mass h-minor.
• "Matthew Passion"
• About 300 cantatas.
• "Christmas Oratorio".

In the last years of his life, the composer focused on musical compositions. Writes:

• Volume 2 "HTK".
• Italian concert.
• Partitas.
• "The Art of Fugue".
• Aria with various variations.
• Organ Mass.
• "Musical Offering"

After an unsuccessful operation, Bach went blind, but did not stop composing music until his death.

Style characteristics

Bach's creative style was formed on the basis of various musical schools and genres. Johann Sebastian organically wove the best harmonies into his works. In order to understand the musical language of the Italians, he rewrote their works. His creations were rich in the texts, rhythms and forms of French and Italian music, North German contrapuntal style, as well as Lutheran liturgy. The synthesis of various styles and genres was harmoniously combined with the deep poignancy of human experiences. His musical thought stood out for its special uniqueness, universality and a certain cosmic quality. Bach's work belongs to a style that is firmly established in the art of music. This is the classicism of the high baroque era. Bach's musical style is characterized by mastery of an extraordinary melodic structure, where the main idea dominates the music. Thanks to the mastery of counterpoint techniques, several melodies can interact simultaneously. was a true master of polyphony. He had a penchant for improvisation and brilliant virtuosity.

Main genres

Bach's work includes various traditional genres. This:

• Cantatas and oratorios.
• Passions and Masses.
• Preludes and Fugues.
• Chorale arrangements.
• Dance suites and concerts.

Of course, he borrowed the listed genres from his predecessors. However, he gave them the broadest scope. The maestro skillfully updated them with new musical and expressive means and enriched them with features of other genres. The clearest example is the "Chromatic Fantasia in D Minor". The work was created for the clavier, but contains dramatic recitation of theatrical origins and the expressive properties of large organ improvisations. It is easy to notice that Bach’s work “bypassed” opera, which, by the way, was one of the leading genres of its time. However, it is worth noting that many of the composer’s secular cantatas are difficult to distinguish from comedic interludes (at this time in Italy they were degenerating into opera buffa). Some of Bach's cantatas, created in the spirit of witty genre scenes, anticipated the German Singspiel.

The ideological content and range 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. Bach's art contains simple-minded humor, deep sorrow, philosophical reflection, and acute drama. The brilliant Johann Sebastian in his music reflected such significant aspects of his era as religious and philosophical problems. With the help of the amazing world of sounds, he reflects on the eternal and very important questions of human life:

• About the moral duty of man.
• About his role in this world and purpose.
• About life and death.

These reflections are directly related to religious topics. And this is not surprising. The composer served the church almost all his life, so he wrote most of the music for it. At the same time, he was a believer and knew the Holy Scriptures. His reference book was the Bible, written in two languages ​​(Latin and German). He kept fasts, went to confession, and observed church holidays. A few days before his death he took communion. The composer's main character is Jesus Christ. In this ideal image, Bach saw the embodiment of the best qualities inherent in man: purity of thoughts, strength of spirit, loyalty to the chosen path. The sacrificial feat of Jesus Christ for the salvation of humanity was the most sacred for Bach. This theme was the most important in the composer’s work.

Symbolism of Bach's works

In the Baroque era, musical symbolism appeared. It is through her that the complex and amazing world of the composer is revealed. Bach's music was perceived by his contemporaries as transparent and understandable speech. This happened 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 of a figurative nature. Here are some of them:

• anabasis - ascent;
• circulatio - rotation;
• catabasis - descent;
• exclamatio - exclamation, ascending sixth;
• fuga - running;
• passus duriusculus - a chromatic move used to express suffering or sorrow;
• suspiratio - sigh;
• tirata - arrow.

Gradually, musical and rhetorical figures become a kind of “signs” of certain concepts and feelings. For example, the descending figure catabasis was often used to convey sadness, melancholy, mourning, death, and the position in the coffin. A gradual upward movement (anabasis) was used to express ascension, high spirits and other moments. Symbolic motifs are observed in all the composer’s works. Bach's work was dominated by Protestant chorale, to which the maestro turned throughout his life. It also has a symbolic meaning. Work with the chorale was carried out in a wide variety of genres - cantatas, passions, preludes. Therefore, it is quite 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, we should note stable combinations of sounds that have constant meanings. The symbol of the cross predominated in Bach's work. It consists of four multi-directional notes. It is noteworthy that if you decipher the composer’s surname (BACH) with notes, the same graphic pattern is formed. B - B flat, A - A, C - C, H - B. Researchers such as F. Busoni, A. Schweitzer, M. Yudina, B. Yavorsky and others made a great contribution to the development of Bach’s musical symbols.

"Second birth"

During his lifetime, 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 huge number of his works, only a few were published. After his death, the composer's name was soon forgotten, and the surviving manuscripts gathered dust in the archives. Perhaps we would never have known anything about this brilliant man. But, fortunately, this did not happen. True interest in Bach arose in the 19th century. One day F. Mendelssohn discovered the notes of the St. Matthew Passion in the library, which interested him very much. Under his direction, this work was successfully performed in Leipzig. Many listeners were delighted with the music of the still little-known author. We can say 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 the found manuscripts of Bach in the form of a complete collection of works. As a result, 46 volumes were collected.

Bach's organ works. Summary

The composer created excellent works for the organ. This instrument is a real force of nature for Bach. Here he was able to liberate his thoughts, feelings and emotions and convey all this to the listener. Hence the enlargement of lines, concertity, virtuosity, and dramatic images. The compositions created for the organ resemble frescoes in painting. Everything in them is presented mainly in close-up. In preludes, toccatas and fantasies, the pathos of musical images in free, improvisational forms is observed. Fugues are characterized by special virtuosity and unusually powerful development. Bach's organ work conveys the high poetry of his lyrics and the grandiose scope of his 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 unfolding of the material is presented in the form of layering of large layers of music, but there is no particular discreteness or breaks. On the contrary, continuity (continuity of movement) prevails. Each phrase follows from the previous one with increasing tension. The climactic moments are constructed in the same way. The emotional upsurge eventually intensifies to its highest point. Bach is the first composer to demonstrate the patterns of symphonic development in large forms of instrumental polyphonic music. Bach's organ work seems to split into two poles. The first is preludes, toccatas, fugues, fantasies (large musical cycles). The second is one-part. They are written mainly in chamber style. They reveal predominantly lyrical images: intimate, mournful and sublimely contemplative. The best works for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach - fugue in D minor, prelude and fugue in A minor and many other works.

Works for clavier

When writing compositions, Bach relied on the experience of his predecessors. However, here too he proved himself to be an innovator. Bach's keyboard creativity is characterized by scale, exceptional versatility, and a search for expressive means. He was the first composer to appreciate 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, I was guided by the entire world musical culture. Thanks to him, the clavier expanded significantly. He enriches the instrument with new virtuoso techniques and changes the essence of musical images.

Among his works for organ, the following stand out:

• Two-voice and three-voice inventions.
• "English" and "French" suites.
• "Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue".
• "The Well-Tempered Clavier."

Thus, Bach's work 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 become immersed in them, thinking about the deep meaning underlying them. The genres that the maestro addressed throughout his life were very diverse. This is organ music, vocal-instrumental music, music for various instruments (violin, flute, clavier and others) and for instrumental ensembles.

During the Weimar period, Bach brought his art as a performer to the highest degree of perfection, his gift as a composer and improviser reached full maturity and flourishing.

In Weimar, for the first time, Bach managed to establish himself quite firmly and settledly. Having established himself in his new position, and subsequently receiving the title of accompanist of the Duke of Weimar, he spent nine whole years here quite calmly and without any worries and could freely devote all this time to the development of his genius talent and creative activity. In this favorable environment, his talent strengthened and was finally formed, and all the most important works of that first period of his activity, which embraced the decade of 1707-1717, were written here.

In order to characterize at least briefly the significance and artistic merit of the works of this period, let us now say a few words about the most important of them and, first of all, about one of his earliest works, the famous chorale “Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott” (“God is our strong stronghold”) "). This chorale was written for the holiday of the Reformation and performed by the author himself in 1709 in Mühlhausen, where Bach came from Weimar to test the restored organ. According to the most authoritative reviews, this work is already a completely artistic work, both in terms of the immediate impression it makes on a religiously minded listener, and in its technical structure. Experts extol the contrapuntal basis of the chorale, its musical plan, etc., and are amazed at the extraordinary, quite artistic simplicity of its arrangement, and especially at the deep and sincere religious feeling with which it is imbued from beginning to end. It must be said that during the period described, Bach wrote a lot of works of the same type and that chorale as a musical form was generally loved by our composer; the development of the chorale, as well as some other forms of church music, owes its highest and most perfect development to Bach.

This idea should be applied in exactly the same way to another form of church music that has undergone the brilliant development of our composer - the cantata. A very ancient type of music in its type, the spiritual cantata, just like the chorale, seemed to Bach to be a very convenient way of expressing the sublime religious moods that filled him. But from ancient works of this kind the composer borrowed, of course, only the form, containing in it the freshness and charm of the completely original content. The religious coloring of Bach's spiritual cantatas, starting from this early period, is everywhere and always completely individual, reflecting all the main character traits of the author: his warmth, a subtle sense of beauty and deep religious thoughtfulness. As for the technical merits of Bach's works of this kind, it is enough to say that, in terms of the subtlety of development and its “meaningfulness,” this style of Bach is, not without good reason, compared with the style of Beethoven himself.

The period described includes a number of works of this kind, some of which should be considered highly remarkable for their original merits (for example, a cantata on the text of Psalm 130 and some others).

One of the features of Bach’s work in general remains the fact that, without setting himself the external goal of inventing new forms of music, he took ready-made forms, created long before him, and then, with the power of his mighty talent, brought their development to such a final degree of perfection that no one can imagine. it was impossible to even think about it before or after it. It seemed to exhaust all possible content, all the elements of artistic beauty inherent in one form or another. It is reliably known, for example, that many musicians after Bach refused to write in the musical genres in which he wrote, and precisely under the influence of the conviction that after him nothing new and artistic could be created there. From the point of view of these considerations, the view established in the history of music is fully justified, according to which Bach, together with another contemporary musical luminary Handel, is the consummator of the previous art that developed before him, who laid, so to speak, the last stone in the building of old church music. But this view, with no less justification, is usually complemented by another consideration, namely, that, while completing the building of old music, Bach at the same time created the foundation for a luxurious building of new music, developed precisely on those principles that we find in his works, often traditional just by appearance alone. He often developed old forms in completely new ways that were not even considered possible before him. An example of such development can serve, among other things, in his preludes, a number of which were also written during the Weimar era of his life. These preludes, according to the most competent reviews, are decisively different both in character and in musical tasks from the music that existed under the same name before Bach. They are remarkable for the completely new nature of their development... With all that concerns Bach’s preludes themselves, it must be said that during this period they still bear noticeable traces of outside influence, which requires some biographical explanations.

Bach's thoroughness and conscientious attitude towards his art were so great that in the matter of creativity he never, even in his youth, relied on the strength of his own talent alone, but on the contrary, he always and most carefully studied the works of others, both old and new. and contemporary music creators. We have already noted this circumstance, mentioning German composers, old and modern Bach - Froberg, Pachelbel, Buxtehude and others. But it was not only German musicians who served as models for his study. In order to thoroughly become acquainted with the best works of Italian music, our composer, while still in Arnstadt, studied and even rewrote with his own hands the works of some famous Italian composers, such as Palestrina, Caldara, Lotti, etc. The study of Italians did not stop subsequently, and Bach worked a lot in Weimar over the works of the famous Venetian composer Vivaldi, whose violin concertos he was reworking for the harpsichord at that time. These studies were then reflected in some of our composer’s works, among other things, in his preludes of this period. However, like the Italian influence, in Bach one can also note traces of the French music of that time, namely in some of the suites he wrote in Weimar, in which we find dances that are undoubtedly French in style and character.

In addition to those listed, many other very remarkable works by Bach also date back to the Weimar period of his life. Among them are very famous, for example, four magnificent fantasies for harpsichord, many fugues - a type of composition that especially glorified Bach - and much more. As a worker, Bach was tireless at all times of his life, and our cursory remarks about his Weimar works give only some general idea of ​​the versatile, deep and fruitful activity that filled his life in the Weimar period, which was not rich in external facts. In fact, no remarkable events happened in his life during all these nine years. The quiet family life, for which all representatives of the Bach family had such a special inclination, the friendly and even relations with the Duke, with whom he got along so well, and the quiet, but so meaningful creative activity completely satisfied the entire make-up of his concentrated nature and all his intellectual needs.

Meanwhile, rumors about his wonderful compositions, without any participation on his part, gradually began to spread beyond the borders of the small Duchy of Saxe-Weimar. However, even greater fame was about his extraordinary skill as a musical performer, especially on the organ. More and more often he began to receive invitations to come to this or that city and let them listen to his amazing music. Germany began to recognize its genius, and his popularity grew.

Everyone was talking about the new musician; in the opinion of everyone, he decisively eclipsed the rest of the performers before him and with him who were in Dresden, and only a few real musicians of the Saxon capital decided to limit the general delight, saying that in Weimar there lives a musician whose art does not allow any rivalry and that if the public If she could compare Marchand's playing with Bach's, she would soon see which side had the advantage. Bach lived in Weimar for about ten years.

The work carried out by Johann Sebastian in Weimar served as an indispensable school of compositional skills. It required the ability to write quickly and easily, in a wide variety of forms and genres, and to apply it to different performing means and capabilities. As an organist, he had to compose for the organ, as a violinist and harpsichordist - write all kinds of pieces for the orchestral chapel; when he was appointed assistant conductor, another duty was added: to present during the year a certain number of cantatas of his own composition in order to perform them in the court church. Thus, in the process of tireless daily practice, masterly flexibility of technique was developed, skill was polished, and always new and urgent tasks stimulated creative ingenuity and initiative. In addition, in Weimar, Bach was in secular service for the first time, and this allowed him to freely experiment in the previously inaccessible area of ​​secular music.

In Weimar, Bach had the opportunity to gain a broad understanding of world musical art. Without leaving the borders of Germany, he was able to comprehend and select for himself the most useful and valuable that the musical culture of Italy and France carried. Bach never stopped learning; even in his declining years, in Leipzig, already a complete artist, he began a special study of Italian vocal literature, copying the works of Palestrina (1315-1594) and other classics of ancient choral art. Bach considered much in French, and especially Italian music, to be a model that should be followed.

Johann Sebastian Bach is a German composer and musician of the Baroque era, who collected and combined in his work the traditions and most significant achievements of European musical art, and also enriched all this with a masterly use of counterpoint and a subtle sense of perfect harmony. Bach is the greatest classic who left a huge legacy that has become the golden fund of world culture. He is a versatile musician whose work has covered almost all known genres. Creating immortal masterpieces, he turned every beat of his compositions into small works, then combining them into priceless creations of perfect beauty and expressiveness that vividly reflected the diverse spiritual world of man.

Read a short biography of Johann Sebastian Bach and many interesting facts about the composer on our page.

Brief biography of Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in the German town of Eisenach into the fifth generation of a family of musicians on March 21, 1685. It should be noted that musical dynasties were quite common in Germany at that time, and talented parents sought to develop appropriate talents in their children. The boy's father, Johann Ambrosius, was an organist in the church of Eisenach and a court accompanist. It is obvious that it was he who gave the first lessons in playing the violin And harpsichord little son.

From Bach's biography we learn that at the age of 10 the boy lost his parents, but was not left without a roof over his head, because he was the eighth and youngest child in the family. The little orphan was taken care of by Ohrdruf's respected organist Johann Christoph Bach, Johann Sebastian's older brother. Among his other students, Johann Christoph taught his brother to play the clavier, but the strict teacher kept the manuscripts of modern composers securely under lock and key, so as not to spoil the taste of the young performers. However, the castle did not prevent little Bach from getting acquainted with forbidden works.

Luneburg

At the age of 15, Bach entered the prestigious Luneburg School of Church Choristers, which was located at the Church of St. Michael, and at the same time, thanks to his beautiful voice, young Bach was able to earn a little extra money in a church choir. In addition, in Luneburg the young man met Georg Böhm, a famous organist, whose communication influenced the early work of the composer. He also traveled to Hamburg several times to listen to the playing of the largest representative of the German organ school, A. Reincken. Bach's first works for clavier and organ date back to the same period. After successfully completing school, Johann Sebastian receives the right to enter the university, but due to lack of funds he was not able to continue his education.

Weimar and Arnstadt

Johann began his career in Weimar, where he was accepted into the court chapel of Duke Johann Ernst of Saxony as a violinist. However, this did not last long, since such work did not satisfy the creative impulses of the young musician. In 1703, Bach, without hesitation, agreed to move to Arnstadt, where he was in the church of St. Boniface was initially offered the position of organ caretaker, and then the post of organist. A decent salary, work only three days a week, a good modernized instrument tuned to the latest system, all this created conditions for expanding the creative capabilities of the musician not only as a performer, but also as a composer.

During this period, he created a large number of organ works, as well as capriccios, cantatas and suites. Here Johann becomes a true organ expert and a brilliant virtuoso, whose playing aroused unbridled delight among listeners. It was in Arnstadt that his gift of improvisation was revealed, which the church leadership really did not like. Bach always strived for perfection and did not miss the opportunity to meet famous musicians, for example, with organist Dietrich Buxtehude, who served in Lübeck. Having received a four-week vacation, Bach went to listen to the great musician, whose playing impressed Johann so much that he, forgetting about his duties, stayed in Lübeck for four months. Upon returning to Arndstadt, the indignant management gave Bach a humiliating trial, after which he had to leave the city and look for a new place of work.

Mühlhausen

The next city on Bach's life path was Mühlhausen. Here in 1706 he won a competition for the position of organist in the Church of St. Vlasiya. He was accepted with a good salary, but also with a certain condition: the musical accompaniment of the chorales must be strict, without any kind of “decoration”. The city authorities subsequently treated the new organist with respect: they approved a plan for the reconstruction of the church organ, and also paid a good reward for the festive cantata “The Lord is My King” composed by Bach, which was dedicated to the inauguration ceremony of the new consul. Bach's stay in Mühlhausen was marked by a happy event: he married his beloved cousin Maria Barbara, who later gave him seven children.

Weimar

In 1708, Duke Ernst of Saxe-Weimar heard the magnificent performance of the Mühlhausen organist. Impressed by what he heard, the noble nobleman immediately offered Bach the positions of court musician and city organist with a salary significantly higher than before. Johann Sebastian began the Weimar period, which is characterized as one of the most fruitful in the composer’s creative life. At this time, he created a large number of compositions for clavier and organ, including a collection of choral preludes, “Passacaglia in c minor”, ​​the famous “ Toccata and fugue d minor ", "Fantasy and Fugue in C major" and many other great works. It should also be noted that the composition of more than two dozen spiritual cantatas dates back to this period. Such effectiveness in Bach's compositional work was associated with his appointment in 1714 as vice-kapellmeister, whose duties included regular monthly updating of church music.

At the same time, Johann Sebastian's contemporaries were more admired by his performing arts, and he constantly heard remarks of admiration for his playing. The fame of Bach as a virtuoso musician quickly spread not only throughout Weimar, but also beyond its borders. One day the Dresden royal bandmaster invited him to compete with the famous French musician L. Marchand. However, the musical competition did not work out, since the Frenchman, having heard Bach play at the preliminary audition, secretly left Dresden without warning. In 1717, the Weimar period in Bach's life came to an end. Johann Sebastian dreamed of getting the position of conductor, but when this position became vacant, the Duke offered it to another, very young and inexperienced musician. Bach, considering this an insult, asked for his immediate resignation and was arrested for four weeks for this.

Köthen

According to Bach's biography, in 1717 he left Weimar to take a job in Köthen as a court conductor for Prince Leopold of Anhalt of Köthen. In Köthen, Bach had to write secular music, since, as a result of the reforms, only psalms were performed in the church. Here Bach occupied an exceptional position: as a court conductor he was well paid, the prince treated him as a friend, and the composer repaid this with excellent works. In Köthen the musician had many students, and for their training he compiled “ Well-tempered clavier" These are 48 preludes and fugues that glorified Bach as a master of keyboard music. When the prince married, the young princess showed dislike for both Bach and his music. Johann Sebastian had to look for another job.

Leipzig

In Leipzig, where Bach moved in 1723, he reached the top of his career ladder: he was appointed cantor at St. Thomas and the musical director of all churches in the city. Bach was involved in teaching and preparing performers of church choirs, selecting music, organizing and holding concerts in the main churches of the city. Heading the College of Music from 1729, Bach began organizing 8 two-hour concerts of secular music per month in a coffee house of a certain Zimmermann, adapted for orchestra performances. Having been appointed court composer, Bach handed over the leadership of the College of Music to his former student Karl Gerlach in 1737. In recent years, Bach frequently revised his earlier works. In 1749 he graduated from High Mass in B minor, some parts of which were written by him 25 years ago. The composer died in 1750 while working on The Art of Fugue.

Interesting facts about Bach

• Bach was a recognized expert on organs. He was invited to check and tune instruments in various churches in Weimar, where he lived for quite a long time. Every time he amazed his clients with the amazing improvisations that he played to hear how the instrument in need of his work sounded.
• Johann was bored with performing monotonous chorales during the service, and without holding back his creative impulse, he impromptu inserted his own small decorative variations into the established church music, which caused great dissatisfaction with his superiors.
• Best known for his religious works, Bach also excelled in composing secular music, as evidenced by his “Coffee Cantata.” Bach presented this humorous work as a short comic opera. Originally called "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht" ("Be quiet, stop chatting"), it describes the lyrical hero's addiction to coffee, and, not coincidentally, this cantata was first performed in the Leipzig coffee house.
• At the age of 18, Bach really wanted to get the position of organist in Lubeck, which at that time belonged to the famous Dietrich Buxtehude. Another contender for this place was G. Handel. The main condition for occupying this position was marriage to one of Buxtehude’s daughters, but neither Bach nor Handel decided to sacrifice themselves in this way.
• Johann Sebastian Bach really enjoyed dressing up as a poor teacher and visiting small churches in this guise, where he asked the local organist to play the organ a little. Some parishioners, hearing the performance, which was unusually beautiful for them, left the service in fear, thinking that the devil himself had appeared in their church in the form of a strange man.

• The Russian envoy to Saxony, Hermann von Keyserling, asked Bach to write a work to which he could quickly fall asleep. This is how the Goldberg Variations appeared, for which the composer received a gold cube filled with a hundred louis d'or. These variations are still one of the best “sleeping pills”.
• Johann Sebastian was known to his contemporaries not only as an outstanding composer and virtuoso performer, but also as a man with a very difficult character, intolerant of the mistakes of others. There is a known case when a bassoonist, publicly insulted by Bach for imperfect performance, attacked Johann. A real duel took place, as both were armed with daggers.
• Bach, who was keen on numerology, loved to weave the numbers 14 and 41 into his musical works, because these numbers corresponded to the first letters of the composer’s name. By the way, Bach also liked to use his last name in his compositions: the musical decoding of the word “Bach” forms a drawing of a cross. It is this symbol that is most important for Bach, who believes that similar coincidences.

• Thanks to Johann Sebastian Bach, today not only men sing in church choirs. The first woman to sing in the church was the composer’s wife Anna Magdalena, who has a beautiful voice.
• In the mid-19th century, German musicologists founded the first Bach Society, whose main task was to publish the composer's works. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the society dissolved itself and the entire collection of Bach’s works was published only in the second half of the twentieth century on the initiative of the Bach Institute, created in 1950. In the world today there are a total of two hundred and twenty-two Bach societies, Bach orchestras and Bach choirs.
• Researchers of Bach's work suggest that the great maestro composed 11,200 works, although the legacy known to descendants includes only 1,200 compositions.
• To date, there are more than fifty-three thousand books and various publications about Bach in different languages, and about seven thousand complete biographies of the composer have been published.
• In 1950, W. Schmieder compiled a numbered catalog of Bach’s works (BWV – Bach Werke Verzeichnis). This catalog was updated several times as data on the authorship of certain works was clarified and, in contrast to the traditional chronological principles of classifying the works of other famous composers, this catalog is built on a thematic principle. Works with similar numbers belong to the same genre, and were not written at all in the same years.
• Bach's works Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, Gavotte in Rondo Form and HTC were recorded on the Golden Record and launched from Earth in 1977 attached to the Voyager spacecraft.

• Everyone knows that Beethoven suffered from hearing loss, but few people know that Bach became blind in his later years. In fact, an unsuccessful eye operation performed by quack surgeon John Taylor caused the composer’s death in 1750.
• Johann Sebastian Bach was buried near the Church of St. Thomas. After some time, a road was built through the cemetery territory and the grave was lost. At the end of the 19th century, during the reconstruction of the church, the composer’s remains were found and reburied. After World War II in 1949, Bach's relics were transferred to the church building. However, due to the fact that the grave changed its location several times, skeptics doubt that the ashes of Johann Sebastian are in the burial.
• To date, 150 postage stamps dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach have been issued worldwide, 90 of them were published in Germany.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, a great musical genius, is treated with great reverence throughout the world; monuments to him have been erected in many countries; in Germany alone there are 12 monuments. One of them is located in the town of Dornheim near Arnstadt and is dedicated to the wedding of Johann Sebastian and Maria Barbara.

Family of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian belonged to the largest German musical dynasty, whose pedigree is usually traced back to Veit Bach, a simple baker, but very fond of music and excellently performing folk melodies on his favorite instrument, the zither. This passion was passed on from the founder of the family to his descendants, many of them became professional musicians: composers, cantors, bandmasters, as well as a variety of instrumentalists. They settled not only throughout Germany, some even went abroad. Over the course of two hundred years, there were so many Bach musicians that any person whose occupation was related to music began to be named after them. The most famous ancestors of Johann Sebastian, whose works have come down to us, were: Johannes, Heinrich, Johann Christoph, Johann Bernhard, Johann Michael and Johann Nikolaus. Johann Sebastian's father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was also a musician and served as an organist in Eisenach, the city where Bach was born.

Johann Sebastian himself was the father of a large family: he had twenty children from two wives. He first married his beloved cousin Maria Barbara, daughter of Johann Michael Bach, in 1707. Maria bore Johann Sebastian seven children, three of whom died in infancy. Maria herself also did not live a long life; she died at the age of 36, leaving Bach with four young children. Bach took the loss of his wife very hard, but a year later he again fell in love with a young girl, Anna Magdalena Wilken, whom he met at the court of the Duke of Anhalt-Kethen and proposed to her. Despite the large age difference, the girl agreed and it is obvious that this marriage was very successful, since Anna Magdalena gave Bach thirteen children. The girl did an excellent job with the housework, cared for the children, sincerely rejoiced at her husband’s successes and provided great assistance in his work, rewriting his scores. Family was a great joy for Bach; he devoted a lot of time to raising his children, playing music with them and composing special exercises. In the evenings, the family often organized impromptu concerts, which brought joy to everyone. Bach's children had excellent talent by nature, but four of them had exceptional musical talent - Johann Christoph Friedrich, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Wilhelm Friedemann and Johann Christian. They also became composers and left their mark on the history of music, but none of them could surpass their father either in composing or in the art of performance.

Works of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the most prolific composers; his legacy in the treasury of world musical culture includes about 1,200 immortal masterpieces. In Bach's work there was only one inspirer - the Creator. Johann Sebastian dedicated almost all of his works to him and at the end of the scores he always signed letters that were an abbreviation of the words: “In the name of Jesus,” “Help Jesus,” “Glory to God alone.” To create for God was the main goal in the composer’s life, and therefore his musical works absorbed all the wisdom of the “Holy Scripture”. Bach was very faithful to his religious worldview and never betrayed it. According to the composer, even the smallest instrumental piece should point to the wisdom of the Creator.

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his works in virtually all musical genres known at that time, except opera. The compiled catalog of his works includes: 247 works for organ, 526 vocal works, 271 works for harpsichord, 19 solo works for various instruments, 31 concertos and suites for orchestra, 24 duets for harpsichord with any other instrument, 7 canons and others works.

Musicians all over the world perform Bach's music and become familiar with many of his works from childhood. For example, every little pianist studying at a music school must have in his repertoire pieces from « Music book by Anna Magdalena Bach » . Then small preludes and fugues are studied, followed by inventions, and finally « Well-tempered clavier » , but this is already high school.

Famous works of Johann Sebastian also include “ St. Matthew Passion", "Mass in B Minor", "Christmas Oratorio", "St. John Passion" and, undoubtedly, " Toccata and Fugue in D minor" And the cantata “The Lord is my King” is still heard at festive services in churches in different parts of the world.

Films about Bach

The great composer, being a major figure in world musical culture, has always attracted close attention, which is why many books have been written about Bach’s biography and his work, as well as feature films and documentaries. There are quite a large number of them, but the most significant of them are:

• “The Futile Journey of Johann Sebastian Bach to Fame” (1980, GDR) - a biographical film tells about the difficult fate of the composer, who spent his entire life wandering in search of “his” place in the sun.
• “Bach: The Fight for Freedom” (1995, Czech Republic, Canada) is a feature film that tells the story of the intrigues in the palace of the old Duke, which revolved around Bach’s rivalry with the best organist of the orchestra.
• “Dinner for Four Hands” (1999, Russia) is a feature film that shows a meeting of two composers, Handel and Bach, that never took place in reality, but so desired.
• “My name is Bach” (2003) - the film takes viewers to 1747, at the time when Johann Sebastian Bach arrived at the court of the Prussian King Frederick II.
• "The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach" (1968) and "Johann Bach and Anna Magdalena" (2003) - the films depict Bach's relationship with his second wife, a capable student of her husband.
• “Anton Ivanovich is Angry” is a musical comedy in which there is an episode: Bach appears to the main character in a dream and says that he was terribly bored writing countless chorales, and he always dreamed of writing a cheerful operetta.
• “Silence before Bach” (2007) is a film-musical that helps you immerse yourself in the world of Bach’s music, which upended the Europeans’ idea of ​​harmony that existed before him.

Among the documentaries about the famous composer, it is necessary to note such films as: “Johann Sebastian Bach: life and work, in two parts” (1985, USSR); “Johann Sebastian Bach” (series “German Composers” 2004, Germany); “Johann Sebastian Bach” (series “Famous Composers” 2005, USA); “Johann Sebastian Bach – composer and theologian” (2016, Russia).

The music of Johann Sebastian, filled with philosophical content and also having a great emotional impact on a person, was often used by directors in the soundtracks of their films, for example:

Despite the ups and downs, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a huge number of amazing works. The composer's work was continued by his famous sons, but none of them were able to surpass their father either in composing or performing music. The name of the author of passionate and pure, incredibly talented and unforgettable works stands at the top of the world of music, and his recognition as a great composer continues to this day.

Video: watch a film about Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685 in Eisenach. Bach belonged to an extensive German family, the vast majority of whose representatives over the course of three centuries were professional musicians who served in various cities of Germany. He received his primary musical education under the guidance of his father (playing the violin and harpsichord). After the death of his father (his mother had died earlier), he was taken into the family of his older brother Johann Christoph, who served as a church organist at St. Michaeliskirche in Ohrdruf. In 1700-03. Studied at the church choir school in Lüneburg. During his studies, he visited Hamburg, Celle and Lubeck to get acquainted with the work of famous musicians of his time and new French music. Bach's first compositional experiments - works for organ and clavier - date back to the same years. Years of wanderings (1703-08)

After graduation, Bach was busy looking for a job that would provide his daily bread and leave time for creativity. From 1703 to 1708 he served in Weimar, Arnstadt, and Mühlhausen. In 1707 (October 17) he married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach. His creative interests were then focused mainly on music for organ and clavier. The most famous composition of that time is “Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother” (1704) (the departure of Johann Jacob to Sweden).

Weimar period (1708-17)

Having received the position of court musician from the Duke of Weimar in 1708, Bach settled in Weimar, where he spent 9 years. These years became a time of intense creativity, in which the main place belonged to works for the organ, including numerous chorale preludes, organ toccata and fugue in D minor, passacaglia in C minor. The composer wrote music for the clavier and spiritual cantatas (more than 20). Using traditional forms, he brought them to the highest perfection. In Weimar, Bach had sons, the future famous composers Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emmanuel.

Service in Köthen (1717-23)

In 1717, Bach accepted an invitation to serve (kapellmeister of the court chapel) of Duke Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen. Life in Köthen was at first the happiest time in the composer’s life: the prince, an enlightened man for his time and a good musician, appreciated Bach and did not interfere with his work, inviting him on his trips. In Köthen, three sonatas and three partitas for solo violin, six suites for solo cello, English and French suites for clavier, and six Brandenburg concertos for orchestra were written. Of particular interest is the collection “The Well-Tempered Clavier” - 24 preludes and fugues, written in all keys and in practice proving the advantages of the tempered musical system, the approval of which was hotly debated. Subsequently, Bach created the second volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier, also consisting of 24 preludes and fugues in all keys. But the cloudless period of Bach's life was cut short in 1720: his wife dies, leaving four young children. In 1721, Bach married Anna Magdalena Wilken for the second time. In 1723, his “Passion according to John” was performed in the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig, and Bach soon received the position of cantor of this church while simultaneously performing the duties of a teacher at the church school (Latin and singing).

In Leipzig (1723-50)

Bach becomes the “musical director” of all the churches in the city, overseeing the personnel of musicians and singers, overseeing their training, assigning works required for performance, and doing much more. Unable to be cunning and skimpy and not being able to perform everything in good faith, the composer repeatedly found himself in conflict situations that darkened his life and distracted him from his work. By that time the artist had reached the heights of his skill and created magnificent examples in various genres. First of all, this is sacred music: cantatas (about two hundred have survived), “Magnificat” (1723), masses (including the immortal “High Mass” in B minor, 1733), “Matthew Passion” (1729), dozens of secular cantatas (among them the comic “Coffee Room” and “Peasant Room”), works for organ, orchestra, harpsichord (among the latter, it is necessary to highlight the cycle “Aria with 30 variations”, the so-called “Goldberg Variations”, 1742). In 1747, Bach created a cycle of plays, “Musical Offerings,” dedicated to the Prussian king Frederick II. The last work was a work called “The Art of Fugue” (1749-50) - 14 fugues and 4 canons on one theme.

The fate of the creative heritage

At the end of the 1740s, Bach's health deteriorated, and he was particularly concerned about the sudden loss of his vision. Two unsuccessful cataract surgeries resulted in complete blindness. Ten days before his death, Bach unexpectedly regained his sight, but then he suffered a stroke that brought him to his grave. The solemn funeral caused a huge gathering of people from different places. The composer was buried near the Church of St. Thomas, where he served for 27 years. However, later a road was built through the territory of the cemetery, and the grave was lost. It was only in 1894 that Bach’s remains were accidentally found during construction work, and then the reburial took place. The fate of his legacy also turned out to be difficult. During his lifetime, Bach enjoyed fame. However, after the death of the composer, his name and music began to fall into oblivion. Genuine interest in his work arose only in the 1820s, which began with the performance of the St. Matthew Passion in Berlin in 1829 (organized by F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy). In 1850, the Bach Society was created, which sought to identify and publish all the composer’s manuscripts (46 volumes were published over half a century).

Bach is a major figure in world musical culture. His work represents one of the peaks of philosophical thought in music. Freely crossing features not only of different genres, but also of national schools, Bach created immortal masterpieces that stand above time. Being the last (along with G. F. Handel) great composer of the Baroque era, Bach at the same time paved the way for the music of modern times.

Among the continuers of Bach's quest are his sons. In total, he had 20 children: seven from his first wife, Maria Barbara Bach (1684 - 1720), and 13 from his second, Anna Magdalena Wilken (1701 - 1760), only nine of them survived their father. Four sons became composers. In addition to those mentioned above - Johann Christian (1735-82), Johann Christoph (1732-95).

Biography of Bach