Johann Sebastian Bach, 1685-1750, is considered one of the greatest composers of all time. His music represents a culmination of the Baroque style, bringing perfection to every major genre of the time except opera.
Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany to a family of musicians spanning six generations from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. Johann Ambosius, his father, and elder brother Johann Christoph, provided his primary musical training. Although Bach never left Germany, he studied the music of the foremost composers of Europe by borrowing scores from libraries and copying them.
Bach's parents died when he was nine years old. He finished secondary school with the help of his older brother and by working as a choir boy. While a teenager, Bach rose to the level of a virtuoso on harpsichord and organ. Unable to afford college, he struck out on his own at the age of eighteen.
Bach was a devout Christian and faith permeates his music. He considered himself a craftsman doing his best for the pleasure and edification of his superiors, humanity and glory of God. He made no distinction between secular and sacred music: all were alike in being “to the glory of God.” Even his keyboard compositions were inscribed with “in nomine Jesu” (in the name of Jesus).
"What I have to say about Bach's lifework: Listen, play, love, worship and - shut up!" – Albert Einstein
Above all, Bach was a practical musician and employment dictated much of his composition output. His musical life is divided into four periods.
Out the Gate
In 1703, after graduating from high school, Bach held positions in chapels of nobles and municipal churches in Weimar, Arnstadt and Mühlhausen. His duties revolved around organ playing, quickly advancing his reputation as a performer. The Little Fugue in G Minor BWV 578 was written during this time.
He was AWOL from Arnstadt for months, visiting organist-composer Dieterich Buxtehude in Lübeck. Bach walked there, five hundred-sixty miles round trip (900km). During this time, he married his cousin, Maria Barbara Bach, and between her and his second wife, Anna Magdalena, sired twenty offspring.
Asam Church (c. 1733, Munich) | Painting, sculpture and architecture were integrated into the design of this Baroque era church. | Peter Kun Frary
Weimar
From 1708 to 1717 Bach was court organist for the Duke of Weimar. The duke admired Bach’s playing and encouraged him to compose for the organ. Many of Bach's organ works—prelude and fugues, chorale preludes, toccatas, etc.—date from this time. After the court music director died, Bach expected to take his place. He wasn't selected and, feeling cheated, accepted a job at another royal court. When Bach asked the duke to release him from employment, he was fired and jailed for a month!
Köthen
In 1717 Bach became music director for Prince Leopold of Köthen, a music lover and viola da gamba player, kind employer and friend to Bach. Since Leopold was a Calvinist, music played little part in church services and Bach mainly composed for the prince’s entertainment. Many of his chamber and orchestral suites date from this period, including the Brandenburg Concertos.
Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major BWV 1068 | Autograph manuscript of Air (violin 1) | Leipzig Bach Archive
Suite
Bach wrote numerous suites for both solo instruments and chamber orchestra. A suite is a set of instrumental compositions—mainly dances or dance inspired movements—designed to be played in succession.
Suites typically begin with a non-dance movement such as a prelude or overture. The opening movement is followed by dances in contrasting meters and tempos. There isn't a set number of movements, but four to six are typical.
Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major
The Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major BWV 1068 was written at Köthen just before Bach moved to Leipzig. There are five movements: Overture, Air, Gavotte, Bourrée and Gigue. The Air has gained great popularity apart from the suite and is commonly known as "Air on the G String."
Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major BWV 1068: Air | J.S. Bach (5:19)
Leipzig
Prince Leopold's new wife was not fond of music so Bach's services were rarely needed. Thus, Bach took a job as music director of St. Thomas (S. Thomas Kirche) and the City of Leipzig in 1723. He was responsible for music at four churches, civic ceremonies and teaching music at the school. Most of Bach's sacred works date from this time: Masses, Cantatas, Passions, Magnificats and Oratorios. As kantor, Bach was required to perform a cantata each Sunday and feast day that linked to the lectionary readings of the week.
St. Thomas Church (c. 1700) | Bach wrote most of his sacred music while employed at the St. Thomas Church and school. | Bach-Archiv Leipzig
Cantata
In the Baroque Lutheran Church, the cantata was a multiple movement work with vocal soloists, choir and orchestra. There were usually a half dozen movements consisting of choruses, duets, solos and sometimes instrumental numbers. The lyrics are a mini sermon and usually aligned with the topics or lessons of the church calendar. Bach composed three hundred cantatas but only two hundred survive.
Sleepers Wake
Bach's cantata, Sleepers Wake (Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme), BWV 140 (c. 1731), was written for the 27th Sunday after Trinity. It uses a chorale hymn melody and text, Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (1599) by Philipp Nicolai, to present the reading for the Sunday, the parable of the Ten Virgins from Matthew 25:1-13.
The chorale hymn used in this cantata has three verses with each verse presented in a different cantata movement. The translation of the verse used in Chorale 2 (4th movement):
Zion hears the watchmen singing,
And all her heart with joy is springing,
She wakes, she rises from her gloom;
For her Lord comes down all-glorious,
The strong in grace, in truth victorious,
Her Star is ris’n, her Light is come.
“Now come, Thou worthy Crown,
Lord Jesus, God’s own Son,
Hail! Hosanna!
The joyful call
We answer all
And follow to the nuptial hall.
Using counterpoint, Bach wove a simple hymn into a sophisticated orchestral work, and the results are stunningly beautiful. Formal organization is similar to the first movement of a concerto grosso: orchestra plays a ritornello and the chorale hymn melody is presented like a solo episode with unison tenor soloists. Effectively a duet between orchestra and singers.
"Wachet auf" (Sleepers Awake) Chorale 2 BWV 140 | Johann Sebastian Bach | Start video at 15:19 and end at 19:40. https://artsandculture.google.com/story/6QUhhCfnO_8ZJQ
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Bach Genesis
Weimar
Leipzig
Sleepers Wake
Life and Legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach
