Johann Sebastian Bach
II LIFE
Early LifeArnstadt: 1703-1707Mühlhausen: 1707-1708Weimar: 1708-1717
Köthen: 1717-1723III WORKS Cantatas
Motets Oratorios and PassionsMagnificat and B-Minor Mass
Organ Work
Bach wrote organ music throughout his life. During his years as a church or court organist in Arnstadt, Mühlhausen, and Weimar, he created a dazzling array of free works (pieces not based on a chorale tune) and chorale preludes. The free pieces include the famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV 565, probably written in Arnstadt when Bach was no older than 19; the grandiose Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor, BWV 582, a set of 20 variations on a bass melody borrowed from French composer André Raison; and the dramatic Fantasy and Fugue in G Minor, BWV 542, containing “the very best pedal fugue by this composer” according to an old manuscript copy. The earliest chorale settings include several chorale partitas (see suites), or variations, for organ, probably written under the influence of Böhm, and the Neumeister Chorales. Both may date from Bach’s student years in Lüneburg.
The 46 settings of the Orgelbüchlein, assembled in Weimar, show Bach putting forth the idea of a concise chorale prelude with four fully self-sufficient parts, including one for the feet played on the pedalboard. The clear part-writing in these pieces paved the way for Bach’s mature compositional style, in which every voice plays an important melodic role. In the Orgelbüchlein chorales we also see Bach as a master of expressive interpretation, since in many pieces the music directly reflects the meaning of the text. In Durch Adams Fall (“Through Adam’s Fall”), BWV 637, for instance, the fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden is portrayed through a falling dissonant motive that recurs in the pedal.
In Leipzig, Bach wrote the Six Trio Sonatas (BWV 525-530) for the instruction of his son Wilhelm Friedemann (see Sonata). Here he takes the Italian instrumental trio for two violins and bass and transfers it to the organ, giving one treble part to the right hand, the other treble part to the left hand, and the bass part to the feet. Hands and feet function as equal parts in the Trio Sonatas, so much so that at times the player is required to perform trills and other ornaments with the feet.
In 1739, Bach published the Third Part of the Clavierübung, which contains a large assortment of chorale preludes on the Lutheran Catechism and Kyrie and Gloria, as well as four duets and the famous St. Anne Prelude and Fugue. The collection includes straightforward manual pieces for “music lovers” as well as extremely challenging manual and pedal works for “connoisseurs.” In the late 1740s, Bach also published the Schübler Chorales, a collection of six cantata arias transcribed for organ. The melodic beauty of these arrangements, in which popular hymn tunes of the day sound out above a rich tapestry of counterpoint, make them favorites of listeners and players alike.
Clavier Works
Works for Solo Instruments
Works for Instrumental Ensemble
Musical Offering, Canonic Variations, Art of Fugue
Method of Composing
IV THE REVIVAL OF BACH’S MUSIC
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