Bach's complete biography. Bach's creative legacy

//
Biography of Bach

Composer, organist

• Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685 in Eisenach (Thuringia, Germany).
• Johann Sebastian was born into a family that is considered the largest musical dynasty in Germany. Among the ancestors of Bach, Veit Bach, a baker who played the zither, and Johannes Bach, a city musician in Erfurt, were especially famous. The descendants of the latter became so famous that in some medieval German dialects the surname "Bach" became a household name and received the meaning "city musician".
• Bach's father is Johann Amvroysky, a city musician.
• Johann Sebastian's uncle, Johann Christoph, served as organist in the city. Naturally, the future greatest representative of the dynasty began to study music from a very early age.
• 1693 - Jr. Bach goes to church school. The boy has a good soprano voice and is making progress.
• 1695 - In two years, Johann Sebastian loses both parents. He is taken in by his older brother, who served as a musician in Ordfur.
• 1695 - 1700 - Ohrdruf. Bach goes to school and studies music under the guidance of his brother. At the same time, as a teenager, Johann Bach severely lost his sight - at night, by the light of the moon, he copied notes from his brother.
• The school teacher recommends that Bach go to Lüneburg, in famous school at the church of St. Michael. Johann Sebastian walks 300 kilometers from Central to Northern Germany. In Lüneburg, Bach lives on full board and even receives a small stipend. Master organist Georg Böhm becomes one of the mentors of the future composer in Lünebur.
• 1702 - after leaving school, Bach has the right to go to university, but he cannot afford it, since he needs to earn a living. After spending some time in Lüneburg, future composer goes back to Thuringia. Here he manages to serve as a violinist in the private chapel of Prince Johann Ernest of Saxony. Then Bach stops in Arnstadt, where he spends 4 years.
• 1703 - 1707 - Arnstadt. Bach serves as a church organist, while not ceasing to study the music and performance style of famous musicians of the time.
• 1707 - Bach accepts an invitation to serve in Mühlhausen, as organist in the church of St. Blaise. Here he begins to write cantatas and moonlights as an organ repairman. Bach spends a year in Mühlhausen.
• 1708 Johann Sebastian Bach marries his cousin, also to the orphan Maria Barbara. Maria Barbara gave birth to Bach 7 children, of whom four survived.
• The same year - moving to Weimar. Johann Bach finally stays in the city for a long time, he is the court organist and composer. This time is considered to be the beginning of Bach's creative path as a composer of music. Numerous pieces for organ and harpsichord were written in Weimar.
• 1717 - 1723 - Keten. Bach receives a place as court bandmaster at the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Keten. The duties of Johann Sebastian included: to accompany the singing of the prince (according to contemporaries, who possessed good voice), to accompany him playing the harpsichord and gamba, and also to lead a chapel of 18 musicians. Here he wrote the Well-Tempered Clavier (Volume 1), sonatas and suites for violin and cello solo, six Brandenburg Concertos
• The appearance of Bach in the position of court bandmaster was preceded by an event in Dresden: there was to be a performance of the "world star" of that time, L. Marchand. The musicians met on the eve of the concert, they even managed to play together, after which Marchand left Dresden, unable to withstand the competition and recognizing Bach as a better musician than himself.
• June 1720 - Maria Barbara dies suddenly. Bach becomes a widower.
• 1721 - Johann Bach marries for the second time the daughter of a court musician from Weissenfeld, Anna Magdalene Wilken. She also represents a musical dynasty, possesses beautiful voice and good hearing. Helping her husband, Anna Magdalena rewrote many of his works. The second marriage becomes much more successful for the composer than the first. For the beloved Anna Magdalene, Bach creates the "Notebook for Anna Magdalene Bach". In this marriage, Bach has 13 children, but six of them survive.
• 1722 - tired of secular music, Bach applies for a vacancy in Leipzig as a cantor. A year later, he gets this place.
• 1723 - 1750 - Leipzig.
• 1723 - in Leipzig, the music director of the city and the cantor are waiting for the already famous musician church choir at the school of St. Thomas. It is here that Johann Sebastian begins his work as head of the chorister school. Teaching burdens the composer, taking time away from creativity. In addition, the school of choristers is poorly maintained, the students of Johann Sebastian are constantly hungry and poorly dressed. And about quality singing ability little boys are cared for by the school authorities.
• At the same time, the composer takes active participation in the activities of the "Music College" of Leipzig.
• In Leipzig, three sons of Johann Sebastian Bach are born: Wilhelm Friedemann, Philip Emmanuel, John Christian. All of them were gifted musicians.
• Leipzig period of creativity - Bach writes "Passion according to Matthew", "Passion according to John", "High Mass", "Majestic Oratorio", Mass in B minor, "Christmas Oratorio", etc. The authorities are dissatisfied with the works of Johann Sebastian - they are "not churchly" , they lack proper rigor, but there is an abundance of brilliance of earthly music. Mutual dissatisfaction between the composer and his superiors eventually spills over into an open conflict.
• 1740 - Bach, formally remaining in the service, actually leaves for own creativity. He's writing instrumental music, trying to print some of his work.
• 1747 - a trip to Berlin. Philip Emmanuel, son of Bach, serves under Frederick II. He provides his father with a speech at the royal court. Bach plays for Friedrich and his entourage, improvises on a theme given by the king. Returning to Leipzig, Bach puts this improvisation at the heart of his work "Musical Offering" and dedicates it to Frederick II of Prussia.
• AT last years Bach was seriously ill during his life - eye strain, received in his youth, affected. Shortly before his death, the composer decided on an operation, but after it he only became completely blind. This did not stop the composer - now he dictated his works.
• July 28, 1750 - Johann Sebastian Bach dies.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) - the great German composer, bandmaster, virtuoso organist. More than two centuries have passed since his death, and interest in the written works does not fade away. The New York Times has compiled a ranking of world composers who have created masterpieces that stand above time, and Bach ranks first in this list. His music, as the best that mankind could create, was recorded on the Voyager Golden Record, attached to a spacecraft and launched from Earth into Space in 1977.

Childhood

Johann Sebastian was born on March 31, 1685 in the German town of Eisenach. AT large family Bach, he was the youngest, eighth child (four of them died in infancy). Their genus has been early XVI century was famous for its musicality, many of his relatives and ancestors were professionals in music (researchers counted about fifty of them). The great-great-grandfather of the composer, Veit Bach, was a baker and played the zither very well (this is such a plucked musical instrument in the form of a box).

The boy's father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, played the violin in the Eisenach Church and worked as a court accompanist (in this position he organized secular concerts). The elder brother, Johann Christoph Bach, served as an organist in the church. So many trumpeters, organists, violinists and flutists came out of their family that the surname "Bach" became a household name, as any more or less worthy musician was called, first in Eisenach, and then throughout Germany.

With such relatives, it is natural that little Johann Sebastian began to study music before he learned to speak. He received his first violin lessons from his father and greatly pleased his parent with his greed for musical knowledge, diligence and abilities. The boy had an excellent voice (soprano) and, while still very young, soloed in the choir of the city school. In his future profession no one doubted that Sebastian was bound to make a musician.

When he was nine years old, his mother Elizabeth Lemmerhirt died. A year later, his father also died, but the child was not left alone, his older brother Johann Christoph took him to him. He was a sedate and respected musician and teacher in Ohrdruf. Together with his students, Johann Christoph taught his younger brother to play church music on the harpsichord.

However, to young Sebastian, these activities seemed monotonous, boring and painful. He began to educate himself, especially when he found out that his older brother had a notebook with works in a closed closet. famous composers. At night, young Bach entered the closet, took out a notebook and copied notes by the light of the moon.

From such a tedious night work The young man's eyesight began to deteriorate. What a shame it was when the elder brother found Sebastian doing such an activity and took away all the records.

Education

In Ohrdruf, young Bach graduated from the gymnasium, where he studied theology, geography, history, physics, and Latin. The school teacher advised him to continue his studies at the famous vocal school at St. Michael's Church in the city of Lüneburg.

When Sebastian was fifteen years old, he decided that he was already quite independent, and went to Lüneburg, walking from Central Germany to the north for almost 300 kilometers. Here he went to school and during three years(from 1700 to 1703) was on full board and even received a small stipend. During his studies, he visited Hamburg, Celle, Lübeck, where he got acquainted with the work contemporary musicians. At the same time, he tried to create his own works for clavier and organ.

After graduating from a vocal school, Sebastian had the right to enter the university, but did not use it, as it was necessary to raise funds for a living.

creative path

Bach went to Thuringia, where he got a job as a court musician in the private chapel of Duke Johann Ernst of Saxony. Within six months he played the violin for gentlemen and gained his first performing popularity. But young musician I wanted to develop, to discover new creative horizons, and not to appease the ears of the rich. He went to Arnstadt, which is 200 kilometers from Weimar, where he began to work as a court organist in the church of St. Boniface. Bach worked only three days a week and at the same time received a fairly high salary.

The church organ was tuned according to the new system, the young composer had a lot of new opportunities, which he took advantage of and wrote about thirty capriccios, suites, cantatas and other organ works. However, after three years, Johann had to leave the city of Arnstadt, as he had tense relations with the authorities. The church authorities did not like his innovative approach to the performance of cult spiritual works. At the same time, the fame of a talented organist spread across Germany faster than the wind, and Bach was offered lucrative positions in many German cities.

In 1707, the composer arrived in Mühlhausen, where he entered the service in the church of St. Blaise. Here he began to earn extra money as an organ repairman and wrote a festive cantata "The Lord is my king."

In 1708 he and his family moved to Weimar, where he stayed for a long time as court composer and organist. It is believed that it was here and during this period that his creative path as a composer of music began.

In 1717, Bach left Weimar to get a job as a court bandmaster in Köthen with Prince Leopold Anhalt, who appreciated the talent of the composer. The prince paid Bach well, gave him complete freedom of action, but he professed Calvinism in religion, which excluded the use of sophisticated music in worship. Therefore, in Köthen, Bach was mainly engaged in writing secular works:

• suites for orchestra;
• six Brandenburg Concertos;
• French and English suites for clavier;
• Volume 1 of The Well-Tempered Clavier;
• suites for cello solo;
• two-part and three-part inventions;
• sonatas;
• three partitas for solo violin.

In 1723, Sebastian moved to Leipzig, where he got a job in the church of St. Thomas as a choir cantor. Soon he was offered the position of "Music Director" of all Leipzig churches. This period of his creative activity was marked by writing following works:

• "Passion according to Matthew";
• "Christmas Oratorio";
• "Passion according to John";
• Mass in B minor;
• "High Mass";
• "Magnificent Oratorio".

Throughout his life, the composer wrote more than a thousand works.

A family

In the autumn of 1707, Johann married his second cousin Maria Barbara. Only seven children were born in the family, but three of them died in infancy.

Two of those who survived went on to become quite famous in music world people:

• Wilhelm Friedemann, like his father, was an organist and composer, improviser and master of counterpoint.
• Carl Philipp Emmanuel also became a musician, composer, known as the Berlin or Hamburg Bach.

In June 1720, Maria Barbara died suddenly, and Bach was left a widower with four young children.

When the pain of loss subsided a little, Sebastian again thought about a full-fledged family. He did not want to bring a stepmother into the house for his children, but he was already unbearable alone. It was during this period that the singer Anna Magdalena Wilke, the daughter of his old friend, the court musician in Weissenfeld, performed with concerts in Köthen. Young Anna visited Bach several times and played nicely with his children. Sebastian hesitated for a long time, but, in the end, he proposed to her. Despite the sixteen-year age difference, the girl agreed to become the composer's wife.

In 1721, Bach and Anna Magdalena got married. His young wife belonged to a musical dynasty, had an amazing voice and hearing. This marriage became happier for the composer than the first. Kind and accommodating Anna accepted the children as her own, and besides, she was an excellent hostess. In their house now it was always clean and comfortable, tasty, noisy and fun. For his beloved, Johann Sebastian created the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach.

In the evenings, candles were lit in the house, they gathered in the living room, Bach played the violin, and Anna sang. At such moments, crowds of listeners gathered under their windows, who were then allowed into the house to dine with the owners. The Bach family was very generous and hospitable.

In this marriage, thirteen children were born, only six of them survived.

Unfortunately, after the death of Johann, disagreements began between his children. Everyone left, only two youngest daughters remained with Anna Magdalena - Regina Susanna and Johanna Carolina. None of the children provided financial assistance, and the rest of the life of the wife of the great composer spent in complete poverty. After her death, she was even buried in unmarked grave for the poor. Bach's youngest daughter Regina eked out a terrible existence, at the end of her life she was helped by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Last years of life and death

Johann Sebastian lived to be 65 years old. In recent years, his eyesight, spoiled in his youth, has greatly deteriorated. The composer decided to have an operation performed by the British ophthalmologist John Taylor. The doctor's reputation was not good, but Sebastian clung to last hope. However, the surgery was unsuccessful, and Bach became completely blind. At the same time, he did not stop composing, now he dictated his works to his wife or son-in-law.

Ten days before his death, a miracle happened, and Bach regained his sight, as if in order to last time I was able to see the faces of my beloved wife and children, the light of the sun.

On July 28, 1750, the heart of the great musician stopped. He was buried in Leipzig in the church cemetery.

Johann Sebastian Bach is the greatest figure in world culture. The work of a universal musician who lived in the 18th century is genre-wide: the German composer combined and generalized the traditions of the Protestant chant with the traditions music schools Austria, Italy and France.

200 years after the death of the musician and composer, interest in his work and biography has not cooled down, and contemporaries use Bach's works in the 20th century, finding relevance and depth in them. The composer's chorale prelude is heard in Solaris. The music of Johann Bach, as the best creation of mankind, was recorded on the Voyager Golden Record, attached to a spacecraft launched from Earth in 1977. According to The New York Times, Johann Sebastian Bach is the first in the world's top ten composers who have created masterpieces that stand above time.

Childhood and youth

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 31, 1685 in the Thuringian city of Eisenach, located between the hills of the Heinig national park and the Thuringian Forest. The boy became the youngest and eighth child in the family of professional musician Johann Ambrosius Bach.

There are five generations of musicians in the Bach family. The researchers counted fifty relatives of Johann Sebastian, who connected life with music. Among them was the composer's great-great-grandfather Veit Bach, a baker who carried a zither everywhere, a box-shaped plucked musical instrument.

The head of the family, Ambrosius Bach, played the violin in churches and organized secular concerts, so the first music lessons younger son he taught. Johann Bach sang in the choir from an early age and pleased his father with his abilities and greed for musical knowledge.

At the age of 9, Johann Sebastian's mother, Elisabeth Lemmerhirt, died, and a year later the boy became an orphan. Younger brother took care of the eldest - Johann Christoph, church organist and music teacher in the nearby town of Ohrdruf. Christophe sent Sebastian to the gymnasium, where he taught theology, Latin, and history.

The older brother taught the younger to play the clavier and organ, but these lessons were not enough for the inquisitive boy: secretly from Christophe, he took out a notebook with works by famous composers from the closet and rewrote the notes on moonlit nights. But his brother discovered Sebastian in an illegal activity and took away the records.

At the age of 15, Johann Bach became independent: he got a job in Lüneburg and brilliantly graduated from the vocal gymnasium, opening his way to the university. But poverty and the need to earn a living put an end to my studies.

In Lüneburg, curiosity pushed Bach to travel: he visited Hamburg, Celle and Lübeck, where he got acquainted with the work of famous musicians Reinken and Georg Boehm.

Music

In 1703, after graduating from the gymnasium in Lüneburg, Johann Bach got a job as a court musician in the chapel of the Weimar Duke Johann Ernst. Bach played the violin for six months and gained his first popularity as a performer. But soon Johann Sebastian got tired of pleasing the ears of the masters by playing the violin - he dreamed of developing and opening up new horizons in art. Therefore, without hesitation, he agreed to take the vacant position of court organist in the church of St. Boniface in Arnstadt, which is 200 kilometers from Weimar.

Johann Bach worked three days a week and received a high salary. The church organ, tuned according to the new system, expanded the possibilities of the young performer and composer: in Arnstadt, Bach wrote three dozen organ works, capriccios, cantatas and suites. But tense relations with the authorities pushed Johann Bach to leave the city after three years.

The last straw that outweighed the patience of the church authorities was the long excommunication of the musician from Arnstadt. The inert churchmen, who already disliked the musician for his innovative approach to the performance of cult spiritual works, gave Bach a humiliating trial for a trip to Lübeck.

The famous organist Dietrich Buxtehude lived and worked in the city, whose improvisations on the organ Bach dreamed of listening to from childhood. Having no money for a carriage, Johann went to Lübeck on foot in the autumn of 1705. The play of the master shocked the musician: instead of the allotted month, he stayed in the city for four.

After returning to Arnstadt and arguing with his superiors, Johann Bach left his "familiar place" and went to the Thuringian city of Mühlhausen, where he found work as an organist in the church of St. Blaise.

The city authorities and the church authorities favored talented musician, his earnings were higher than in Arnstadt. Johann Bach proposed an economical plan for the restoration of the old organ, approved by the authorities, and wrote a festive cantata "The Lord is my king", dedicated to the inauguration of the new consul.

But a year later, the wind of wandering "removed" Johann Sebastian from his place and transferred him to the previously abandoned Weimar. In 1708, Bach took the place of court organist and settled in a house next to the ducal palace.

The "Weimar period" of the biography of Johann Bach turned out to be fruitful: the composer composed dozens of clavier and orchestral works, got acquainted with the work of Corelli, learned to use dynamic rhythms and harmonic schemes. Communication with the employer - Crown Duke Johann Ernst, a composer and musician, influenced Bach's work. In 1713, the duke brought from Italy the notes of musical works by local composers, which opened up new horizons in art for Johann Bach.

In Weimar, Johann Bach began work on the Organ Booklet, a collection of choral preludes for organ, composed the majestic organ Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Passacaglia in C Minor, and 20 spiritual cantatas.

By the end of his service in Weimar, Johann Sebastian Bach became widely famous master harpsichord and organist. In 1717, the famous French harpsichordist Louis Marchand arrived in Dresden. The concertmaster Volumier, having heard about Bach's talent, invited the musician to compete with Marchand. But on the day of the competition, Louis ran away from the city, afraid of failure.

The desire for change called Bach on the road in the autumn of 1717. The Duke released his beloved musician "with an expression of disgrace." The organist was hired as bandmaster by Prince Anhalt-Ketensky, who was well versed in music. But the prince's commitment to Calvinism did not allow Bach to compose refined music for worship, so Johann Sebastian wrote mainly secular works.

In the "Keten" period, Johann Bach composed six suites for cello, French and English clavier suites, three sonatas for violin solos. The famous "Brandenburg Concertos" and a cycle of works, including 48 preludes and fugues, called "The Well-Tempered Clavier" appeared in Kothen. At the same time, Bach wrote two-part and three-part inventions, which he called "symphonies".

In 1723, Johann Bach took a job as cantor of the choir of St. Thomas in the church of Leipzig. In the same year, the audience heard the composer's work, The Passion According to John. Soon Bach took the position of "music director" of all city churches. For 6 years of the "Leipzig period" Johann Bach wrote 5 annual cycles of cantatas, two of which are lost.

The city council gave the composer 8 choral performers, but this number was extremely small, so Bach hired up to 20 musicians himself, which caused frequent clashes with the authorities.

In the 1720s, Johann Bach composed mainly cantatas for performance in the churches of Leipzig. Wishing to expand the repertoire, the composer wrote secular works. In the spring of 1729, the musician was appointed head of the College of Music, a secular ensemble founded by Bach's friend Georg Philipp Telemann. The ensemble held two-hour concerts twice a week throughout the year at the Zimmerman Coffee House next to the market square.

Most of the secular works composed by the composer from 1730 to 1750, Johann Bach wrote for performance in a coffee house.

These include the playful "Coffee Cantata", the comic "Peasant Cantata", clavier pieces and concertos for cello and harpsichord. During these years, the famous "Mass in B minor" was written, which is called the best choral work of all time.

For spiritual performance, Bach created the High Mass in B minor and the St. Matthew Passion, receiving from the court as a reward for his work the title of royal Polish and Saxon court composer.

In 1747, Johann Bach visited the court of King Frederick II of Prussia. The grandee offered the composer a musical theme and asked him to write an improvisation. Bach, a master of improvisation, immediately composed a three-voice fugue. Soon he supplemented it with a cycle of variations on this theme, called it "Musical Offering" and sent it as a gift to Frederick II.

Another large cycle, called The Art of the Fugue, Johann Bach did not finish. The sons published the cycle after the death of their father.

In the last decade, the composer's fame has faded: classicism flourished, contemporaries considered Bach's style old-fashioned. But young composers, brought up on the works of Johann Bach, revered him. The work of the great organist was loved and.

The surge of interest in the music of Johann Bach and the revival of the composer's fame began in 1829. In March, pianist and composer Felix Mendelssohn organized a concert in Berlin, where the work "St. Matthew Passion" was performed. An unexpectedly loud resonance followed, the performance gathered thousands of spectators. Mendelssohn went with concerts to Dresden, Konigsberg and Frankfurt.

The work of Johann Bach "Musical Joke" is still one of the favorites for thousands of performers in the world. Fervent, melodic, gentle music sounds in different variations, adapted to playing on modern instruments.

Bach's music is popularized by Western and Russian musicians. Vocal ensemble The Swingle Singers released debut album Jazz Sebastian Bach, which brought the group of eight vocalists worldwide fame and the Grammy Award.

Processed the music of Johann Bach and jazz musicians Jacques Loussier and Joel Spiegelman. I tried to pay tribute to the genius Russian performer.

Personal life

In October 1707, Johann Sebastian Bach married a young cousin from Arnstadt, Maria Barbara. The couple had seven children, but three died in infancy. Three sons - Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emmanuel and Johann Christian - followed in the footsteps of their father and became famous musicians and composers.

In the summer of 1720, when Johann Bach and Prince Anhalt-Ketensky were abroad, Maria Barbara died, leaving four children.

The personal life of the composer improved a year later: at the court of the Duke, Bach met a young beauty and talented singer Anna Magdalena Wilke. Johann married Anna in December 1721. They had 13 children, but 9 outlived their father.

AT old age family for the composer was the only consolation. For his wife and children, Johann Bach composed vocal ensembles, arranged chamber concerts, enjoying the songs of his wife (Anna Bach had a beautiful soprano) and the playing of grown-up sons.

The fate of the wife and youngest daughter of Johann Bach was sad. Anna Magdalena died ten years later in a house of contempt for the poor, and the youngest daughter, Regina, eked out a semi-beggarly existence. In the last years of her life, Ludwig van Beethoven helped the woman.

Death

In the last 5 years, Johann Bach's eyesight has been rapidly deteriorating, but the composer composed music by dictating works to his son-in-law.

In 1750, the British ophthalmologist John Taylor arrived in Leipzig. The doctor's reputation can hardly be called impeccable, but Bach clung to straws and took a chance. After the operation, the vision did not return to the musician. Taylor operated on the composer for the second time, but a short-term return of vision worsened. On July 18, 1750, a stroke occurred, and on July 28, 65-year-old Johann Bach died.

The composer was buried in Leipzig in the church cemetery. The lost grave and remains were found in 1894 and reburied in a stone sarcophagus in the Church of St. John, where the musician served for 27 years. The temple was destroyed by bombing during World War II, but the ashes of Johann Bach were found and moved in 1949, buried at the altar of the Church of St. Thomas.

In 1907, a museum was opened in Eisenach, where the composer was born, and in 1985 a museum appeared in Leipzig.

• Johann Bach's favorite pastime was considered to be visiting provincial churches in the clothes of a poor teacher.
• Thanks to the composer, both men and women sing in church choirs. Johann Bach's wife became the first church chorus girl.
• Johann Bach did not take money for private lessons.
• The surname Bach is translated from German as "stream".

• Johann Bach spent a month in prison for constantly asking for his resignation.
• Georg Friedrich Handel is a contemporary of Bach, but the composers did not meet. The fates of the two musicians are similar: both became blind as a result of an unsuccessful operation performed by the charlatan doctor Taylor.
• A complete catalog of Johann Bach's works published 200 years after his death.
• The German nobleman ordered the composer to write a work, after listening to which he could fall asleep soundly. Johann Bach fulfilled the request: the famous Goldberg variations - and now a good "sleeping pill".

Bach's aphorisms

• “To get a good night’s sleep, you should go to bed on a different day than you need to wake up.”
• "Keyboarding is easy: you just need to know which keys to press."
• "The purpose of music is to touch hearts."

Discography

• "Ave Maria"
• "English Suite N3"
• "Brandenburg concert N3"
• "Italian Influence"
• "Concert N5 F-Minor"
• "Concert N1"
• "Concerto for Cello and Orchestra D-Minor"
• "Concerto for flute, cello and harp"
• "Sonata N2"
• "Sonata N4"
• "Sonata N1"
• "Suite N2 B-Minor"
• "Suite N2"
• "Suite for orchestra N3 D-Major"
• "Toccata and Fugue D-Minor"

Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Jóhann Sebástian Bach; March 21, 1685 (old style) Eisenach, Germany - July 28, 1750 (new style) Leipzig, Germany) is a world famous German composer and organist, a representative of the Baroque era. Considered one of the world's greatest composers, his name is regularly mentioned in lists of the most famous composers in the world.

During his life, Bach wrote more than 1000 works. All significant genres of that time are represented in his work, except for opera; he summarized the achievements musical art baroque period. Bach is a master of polyphony. After Bach's death, his music went out of fashion, but in the 19th century, thanks to Mendelssohn, it was rediscovered. His work had a strong influence on the music of subsequent composers, including in the 20th century. Bach's pedagogical works are still used for their intended purpose.

Biography

Childhood

6. I. N. Forkel. About the life, art and works of I.-S. Bach, chapter II

9. Documents of the life and work of I.-S. Bach - entry in the church book, Dornheim

10. Documents of the life and work of I.-S. Bach - Organ Reconstruction Project

12. I. N. Forkel. About the life, art and works of I.-S. Bach, chapter II

15. Documents of the life and work of I.-S. Bach - entry in the church book, Köthen

16. Documents of the life and work of I.-S. Bach - Minutes of the meeting of the magistrate and other documents related to the move to Leipzig

17. Documents of the life and work of I.-S. Bach - Letter to J.-S. Bach to Erdman

19. Documents of the life and work of I.-S. Bach - Report by L. Mitzler about the Collegium Musicum concerts

20. Documents of the life and work of I.-S. Bach - Quellmalz about Bach's operations

21. Documents of the life and work of I.-S. Bach - Inventory of Bach's legacy

24. A. Schweitzer. I.-S. Bach - chapter 14

26. http://www.bremen.de/web/owa/p_anz_presse_mitteilung?pi_mid=76241 (German)

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: ARIES

NATIONALITY: GERMAN

MUSICAL STYLE: BAROQUE

SIGNIFICANT WORK: GOLDBERG VARIATIONS (1741)

WHERE YOU HEAR THIS MUSIC: IN THE MOVIE "SILENCE OF THE LAMBS". WHEN DR. HANNIBAL LECTOR COMMITS TWO BLOODY KILLS.

WISE WORDS: “THIS IS NOTHING SUPERNATURAL. JUST HIT THE RIGHT KEY AT THE RIGHT TIME. AND THE INSTRUMENT WILL PLAY EVERYTHING BY ITSELF.”

It is probably not surprising that Johann Sebastian Bach's father was a musician - in small German villages, sons often followed in the footsteps of their fathers in a professional sense. However, it is significant that Bach's grandfather, great-grandfather, numerous uncles, nephews, cousins ​​and second cousins ​​were also musicians. The family held the local music business that when in 1693 a vacancy appeared in the palace orchestra, they demanded not a violinist or organist, but "one of the Bachs."

In turn, Bach identified four sons, a son-in-law and a grandson from the musical part. He also left future generations with an absolutely incredible musical heritage. For many years Bach wrote one cantata a week - apart from the concertos, canons, sonatas, symphonies, preludes and partitas, which he wrote in his free time. This man could compose the Art of Fugue cycle of 15 fugues and four canons solely for the sake of an intellectual exercise.

Bach's life was not distinguished by drama and brilliance, he never traveled, did not speak to crowds of listeners, he never even left his small homeland in southern Germany. True, he had time to marry twice and have twenty children, but otherwise his life was filled to overflowing with teaching, conducting and composing music.

GREAT IDEA: LET'S CALL HIM JOHANN!

For Johann Sebastian, who was born in 1685 in the German town of Eisenach, the name Johann was as inevitable as musical career. His father, great-grandfather, seven uncles and four of the five brothers bore this name; let's not forget sister Johanna and another brother, named, oddly enough, Johannes.

Bach's quiet, prosperous childhood ended in 1694, when his mother, Elizabeth, died suddenly; her father followed her to the grave less than a year later. Sebastian was taken in by his elder brother Johann (it goes without saying) Christoph, who lived in the town of Ohrdruf. Johann Christoph was a respected organist who studied with Johann Pachelbel (author of the famous "Canon in D").

The relationship between the brothers cannot be called cloudless. Sebastian dreamed of getting to the collection of musical opuses donated by Christoph Pachelbel, but his older brother kept these extremely valuable music manuscripts locked in a closet. However, Sebastian figured out how to get to the coveted music: sticking his hand through the lattice door of the cabinet, he pulled out the notes. Every night he stole music sheets from his older brother, and then secretly, in the moonlight, copied them. This went on for about six months, until Christoph realized what was going on and locked up the manuscripts more securely. At the same time, he took copies from Bach.

DISTURBING YOUNG MAN

Bach began his career in 1702, having received a position as an organist in the city of Arnstadt. His duties included conducting a choir and an orchestra, with many of the performers older than him, a situation that at times made matters very difficult. A twenty-three-year-old orchestra player started a brawl with Bach in the market square in retaliation for Bach calling him a "goat bassoonist."

From Arnstadt, Bach went to Mühlhausen, then to Weimar, where he served as organist and conductor everywhere. Along the way, he married second cousin Maria Barbara Bach, with whom he had seven children. And besides, he earned a reputation as a quarrelsome prima donna. For example, he threw out such numbers: he asked for a four-week vacation and did not appear at work for four months, and one day Bach, pulling off his wig, threw it at the organist with a cry: “You better sew boots!” When in 1717 he was offered a prestigious position at the court of the princes of Anhalt-Köthen, he made such a scandal in Weimar, demanding immediate dismissal, that offended city officials put him in prison for almost a month. Never discouraged Bach took advantage free time to write the first movement of The Well-Tempered Clavier.

COUNTERPOINT ON THE EARS

In Köthen, Bach finally established himself as a composer. His favorite technique was counterpoint, a compositional form that dominated the Baroque era. In counterpoint, not one melodic voice is taken, but two or more, and they sound, either layering on top of each other, or contrasting one with the other. (If you've seen the musical " Music Man", you heard the counterpoint. Two songs - "Lida Rose" and "Tell you?" - completely different melodies, but they are sung at the same time.) Counterpoint gave rise to a set of complex compositional rules, as well as strictly defined musical forms. Bach perfected all this, combining mathematical precision with amazing ingenuity.

In Köthen, Bach suffered a severe blow: returning from a short trip, he found that in his absence his wife had died suddenly. And again he did not succumb to despondency; less than a year later, he was head over heels in love with a soprano named Anna Magdalene Wilcke. Having attached her to the court choir and having achieved for her a salary that was three times the salary of an orchestra member, Bach married Anna Magdalena. She was seventeen years younger than him. When a budget crisis broke out in the principality of Anhalt-Köthen, the Bachs decided it was time for them to move on.

PHENOBARBITAL? DIMEDROL? NO, "VARIATIONS"!

They settled in Leipzig, where Bach obtained a position as cantor in the church of St. Thomas. Thus began the most fruitful period of his life. He gave out a cantata a week - for each Sunday his own special music with vocals - thus creating five full cycles church music. In addition, he wrote the Matthew Passion, the John Passion, and the Christmas Oratorio.

BACH COMPOSED THE FIRST MOVEMENT OF THE WELL-TEMPERED CLAVIERE BEHIND GRATES.

A different kind of order came to him from Count Hermann von Keyserling, who suffered from chronic insomnia. Keyserling wanted his pianist Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who studied with Bach, to play something for the master at night so that he could fall asleep, and Bach provided the former student with the Goldberg Variations.

A charming story - and, most likely, completely unreliable. "Variations" was written when Goldberg was only fourteen years old, and in addition, this music can hardly be called relaxing. In all likelihood, Bach intended this work to be used as an exercise in counterpoint, and Goldberg was one of the first to perform it. According to connoisseurs, the Goldberg Variations is Bach's greatest masterpiece for keyboards.

DEATH IMAGINARY AND REAL

In Leipzig, Bach remained until the end of his life, although in later years his phenomenal performance slowed down somewhat. He could not resist quarreling with his superiors—the feud over who should choose the hymns for Sunday services lasted three years. In 1749, the city council of Leipzig began to select a replacement for him, although Bach was alive and well - and very unhappy with how eagerly they were waiting for his death.

By that time, Bach seemed an anachronism, and counterpoint, with its precision and rigor, was considered hopelessly outdated. But the composer stubbornly bent his line. In The Art of Fugue, he explored the possibilities of a single melody and even wove himself into this music, composing a theme based on the notes that are indicated by the letters that make up his surname - BASN (in German musical notation, "B" meant B flat , "A" - la, "C" - do, "H" - B major).

The WASN fugue ends abruptly. According to legend, Bach collapsed dead while composing it. The truth is somewhat more complicated. In the late 1740s, the composer's eyesight began to deteriorate. In the spring of 1750, he turned to the "reputed oculist" (or rather, a patented charlatan) Dr. John Taylor, who performed eye operations. With Bach, Taylor achieved the same result as with Handel: a brief return of 100% vision, and then complete blindness. After the operation, Bach, having lost all strength, lived for several more months until he was struck by a stroke. On July 28 he died.

NOTES WITH OIL

It seemed that Bach's music was doomed to perish along with its author. During the life of the composer, little was printed, and the rest is deeply buried in church libraries. Bach was saved from oblivion by a gift presented to Felix Mendelssohn on his fourteenth birthday - a handwritten copy of the Matthew Passion. Mendelssohn's grandmother bought these notes from the composer Carl Friedrich Zelter, who taught young Felix to play the piano. Zelter said he had found this score a few years earlier in a cheese shop where butter was wrapped in it. Many musicologists believe that Zelter lied for the sake of a red word, but in fact the notes of the Passion were inherited by him from one of Bach's students.

Be that as it may, the young Mendelssohn was immediately imbued with Bach's work and in 1829, at the age of twenty, managed to organize a performance of the Passion in Berlin. Mendelssohn could not resist the temptation to correct Bach's music: he reduced the duration of the work from three hours to two, replaced the keyboards with an organ, and generally softened the baroque score. Bach would have been upset by the riotous romantic Passions that Mendelssohn presented on stage, but the Berlin public was in rapture. Immediately the hunt for other hidden treasures of Bach began, and since then his music has been a must-have dish in concert halls all over the world. Not bad for a man who has never left his South German province.

BACH IS NOT MUCH

From two wives Bach had a total of twenty children; however, only half of them survived to adulthood. Of the six sons, only one, Gottfried Heinrich, did not professional musician- apparently due to mental retardation.

Another son, Gottfried Bernhard, showed great promise. Bach used his connections to get Gottfried a position as organist at Mühlhausen, but a few months later he returned to Mühlhausen on the ignominious mission of paying off his son's debts. Staying at the second place of work, in Sangerhausen, ended even worse - Gottfried simply disappeared, leaving behind a bunch of debts. whole year his relatives did not receive any news from him, and then they were informed that he had died in Jena, where he had come to enter the law faculty of the university.

Fortunately, the four other sons of Bach did not show any tendency to excesses. Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Johann Christoph Friedrich and Johann Christian all composed music. The works of V.F. and I.K.F. rarely heard today, however, I.K. and C.F.E. during their lifetime they were widely known and considered much more significant composers than their father. Since then, the situation has changed dramatically.

THE BLACK SHEEP IN THE HERD OF BACH?

And last Bach, which is worth mentioning: allegedly the twenty-first offspring of the great composer with the initials P.D.K. Actually P.D.K. - an invention of the musical satirist Peter Schickele; this drawing of Shikele lasts for more than one year, periodically “discovering” hitherto unknown works of P.D.K. and presenting them to the public. The performance, as a rule, is accompanied by a fair dose of musicological abracadabra.

Schikele shares the work of P.D.K. into three periods: "first surge", "immersion" and "repentance". Since P.D.K. much more skillful at stealing music from others than at composing one's own, his works are a medley of the most different styles and genres - baroque counterpoint, romantic melodies, renaissance madrigals, country music and even rap. Among the most popular are "Overture of 1712", "Oedipus the Thing", "Temperamental Clavier" and "Serenade for a whole bunch of brass and percussion".

GOLDBERG BY GOULD

One of the most famous interpreters of Bach in the twentieth century was the Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. Born in 1932 in Toronto, Gould was still early childhood discovered an outstanding musical talent, and at the age of fifteen he was already giving concerts. For two decades concert activity Gould traveled all over North America and Europe, impressing the audience with both his incredible playing technique and his eccentricity. He went on stage wrapped in a hundred clothes - Gould was afraid of drafts. He preferred not to notice the audience, swaying and jumping at the piano, and also humming under his breath, mercilessly out of tune.

Gould complained that he could not sleep in an unfamiliar place, and in 1964 he stopped playing concerts. Many orchestras breathed a sigh of relief. Gould harassed the conductors, insisting on a different, not generally accepted, interpretation of the musical work; he was extremely difficult to please with the piano, and he spent a lot of time adapting his specially designed stool to the instrument. He could also cancel the performance almost on the day of the concert. Entirely switching to work in the studio, Gould began to record Bach's keyboard compositions, including the Goldberg Variations - in two versions. On most recordings, the pianist's "melody" is heard, despite the heroic efforts of the sound engineers to remove this "appendage". But what difference does it make if Gould played Bach like no other, and his fans all over the world proclaimed these recordings the canonical interpretation of Bach's masterpiece.

Gould was a notorious hypochondriac. He once sued Steinway & Sons for their Commercial Director patted the pianist on the shoulder a little more forcefully than he should have. Gould called it an attack and stated that since then he has been suffering from continuous pain in his shoulder and spine. However, the pianist met his fiftieth birthday in amazingly good health. All the greater was the shock in society when, only a few days later, Gould suffered a massive stroke. He did not come out of a coma and died on October 4, 1982. His recordings, in particular both versions of the Goldberg Variations, remain incredibly popular.