Bach and The Well-Tempered Clavier

the Bach family provided generations of musicians to Northern Germany, but the best-known and most-respected family member was Johann Sebastian. The life and music of Johann Sebastian bach (1685-1750) born in Eisenach, Germany music was the family profession for five generations orphaned at age ten, musical training continued by oldest brother, Johann Christoph academic studies included Latin, Greek, theology sang in choirs, became accomplished violinist and virtuoso organist trained in instrument building and repair Early Career: Arnstadt, Mulhausen married Maria Barbara Bach (distant cousin) shortly after arriving in Mulhausen. Two of their children, Carl Philipp Emanuel and Wilhelm friedemann, became successful musicians Weimar: court organist and chamber musician to the Duke of Weimar. accepted a salary advance for a new position at Cothen; this angered the Duke of Weimar, which resulted in a month in jail. Cothen: sudden death of Maria Barbara married Anna Magdalena Wilcke, a court singer; their sons, Johann Christian and Johann Christoph, became successful musicians. Leipzig important large scale works written in this period: Goldberg Variations, Art of Fugue frequently traveled to test new keyboard instruments died july 28, likely cause was a stroke Musical Style and contributions": composed works in virtually every genre of his day, except opera as a devout Lutheran, Bach dedicated all his works "to the glory of god" Stretto: from the Italian stringere, meaning 'to tighten' tierce de Picardie: a work in a minor key ends in the tonic major (raised 3rd) 'Well-tempered" refers to the newly invented tuning system for keyboard instruments that allows for pieces to be written in any key. "Clavier" is the German word for any keyboard instrument other than organ. two books. Each book contains twenty-four preludes and fugues, Both books begin with preludes and fugues in c major and c minor then move up chromatically be semitone, ending with b major and b minor. toccata: a very fast keybaord work demonstrating a virtuosic, improvisatory character. This dazzling, virtuosic organ toccata is among Bach's best-known works: How here's tid bits of info from another book: Johann Sebastian Bach's Resume: best known for embracing the equal temperament s ystem and writing fugues. he married his cousing when he was 22.Bach became known as an organ virtuoso However, Bach could not leave the employ of the Duke unless he was dismissed. Bach did eventually quit, and was put in jail for a month due to his disrespectful behaviour. In Anhalt-cothen, Bach's career prospered under the patronage of Prince Leopold of Cothen. The prince favoured chamber music which Bach wrote, along with keyboard music. Bach's first wife died so he eventually remarried to the singer Anna Magdalena. In total, Bach had 20 children, 10 of whom survived to adulthood. Bach stayed for the longest time in the city of Leipzig, from 1724 until his death in 1750. He also became known as the greatest organist in Germany. Bach also wrote poetry. His eyesight failed him in the last year of his life, and then Bach had a stroke, but continued dictating right until the end. Bach wrote for every genre of his era except for opera. Bach's works were not published until after his death and were therefore not heard except for the original audiences, and Bach did not travel like Handel, spreading his music throughout Europe. Frederic Chopin admired Bach above all others and knew the 48 preludes and fugues by heart. Almost all of Bach's vocal music deals with the Christian tradition and were written for lutheran church services. Bach wrote 48 preludes and fugues in the two well-tempered clavier books. Bach wrote two books: Art of the fugue and The musical offering homophony is a single melody with chords He enjoyed writing complex polyphonic, contrapuntal works such as fugues. He did not develop any new genres and he wrote no operas The books were not published during his lifetime, that took another 51 years and the efforts of his sons. Each book consists of 24 preludes and fugues, one prelude and one fugue for each of the twelve major and minor keys. It was a common Baroque trait to end a minor key work in the tonic major. fugues generally have three to five independent melodic lines. Bach was particularly gifted at the art of counterpoint, that is, the musical ability to say two things at once and still be understood. Did you know? J.S.Bach often entered into contests where he would be given a subject with which to spontaneously improvise a fugue on the organ or harpsichord. The fugues in Bach's two volumes of the Well-Tempered Clavier each begin with a subject, which is a short melodic idea played in only one voice. Some subjects are a few notes, others are four or five bars long. The second statement of the opening subject is known as the answer- it is generally in the dominant key and is played by another voice. If the theme is altered slightly in the answer, then it is said to be a tonal answer. if it is entirely unaltered, it is a real answer. there may also be countersubject playing ( a secondary theme which accompnies various entries of the subject and /or answer. the form of a fugue can vary, but a typical fugue has an exposition, development, and coda. The exposition is the beginning of the fugue. The subject (or answer) must appear in all voices An episode is a connective passage or area of relaxation between subject entrances Diminution is when the subject may appear in shorter time values (usually by half), and augmentation is the opposite.