Chapter 10: The Late Baroque: Bach

1. Chapter 10: The Late Baroque: Bach

2. Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) • Career: • Weimer (1708-1717), organist • Cöthen (1717-1723), court composer, conductor • Leipzig (1723-1750), cantor • Reputation • Renowned as an organ virtuoso • Most famous for cantatas and fugues • Greatest composer of counterpoint

3. Fugue • A composition with three or more parts, vocal or instrumental • Begins with successive statements of the subject • Continues with alternations of subject and episodes • Subject: Theme; primary musical idea • Exposition: Opening section where each voice presents the subject • Episode: Free sections where the subject is not heard in its entirety

4. Organ Fugue in G Minor (c. 1710) • Written while Bach was court organist and chamber musician for the duke of Weimar • Four voices: soprano, alto, tenor, bass • Subject conveys a sense of gathering momentum • Use of a pedal point: a note, usually in the bass, that is sustained while harmonies change around it

5. Bach’s Orchestral Music • At Cöthen, Bach turned his attention from organ music for the church to instrumental music for the court • Wrote the bulk of his orchestral scores • Prince of Cöthen had assemble an “all-star” orchestra

6. The Brandenburg Concertos (1715-1721) • Presented to prospective employer Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg • Set of concerto grossi • Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 • Concertino of solo violin, flute, harpsichord • Separation between tutti and concerto not so distinct • Ritornello has many characteristics of late Baroque melody • Use of cadenza: a showy passage for soloist alone toward the end of a movement in a concerto • Expanded length

7. The Church Cantata • 1723, Bach assumed the position of cantor of Saint Thomas’s Church and choir school in Leipzig • Job was to organize music for the four principal churches of the city, play organ at weddings and funerals, teach the boys in the choir • Compose new music each Sunday and for religious holidays • Church cantata: Multimovement scared work including arias, ariosos, and recitatives, performed by vocal soloists, chorus, and a small accompanying orchestra • Musical soul of the Lutheran Sunday service • Bach wrote almost 300 cantatas, about 200 survive today • Bach would conduct from the keyboard

8. Wacht auf, ruft uns die Stimme(Awake, A Voice is Calling, 1731) • Written for the Sunday before Advent • Text from the Gospel of Matthew • Based on a traditionalchorale of the Lutheran church • Chorale: A spiritual melody or religious folk song of the Lutheran church • Seven movements

9. Bach’s Later Keyboard Works • The Well-Tempered Clavier (1720-1742) • Reflects newer tuning system in which all half steps were equidistant in pitch • Two sets of 24 Preludes and Fugues, one in each of the 12 major and 12 minor keys • Prelude: A short preparatory piece that sets a mood and serves as a technical warm-up before the fugue • The Art of Fugue (1742-1750) • An encyclopedic treatment of all known contrapuntal procedures • 19 canons and fugues • Final fugue subject derived from his name: Bb-A-C-B • Bach’s final musical work, left incomplete