Semester Project Music 1010Carolyn Jolley

Johann Sebastian Bach

Born March, 21 1685Died, July 28 1750

Regarded as the Greatest Composer of all Time

Eisenach: 1685-1695• Born March, 21st 1685 the son of Johann Ambrosius the court

trumpeter for the duke of Eisenach• His mother died when he was nine• Nine months later his father died too• Johann and one of his brothers were taken to their eldest

brother Johann Christoph who raised them

Ohrdruf: 1695-1700• Johann Sebastian settled down happily in his brother’s

household• Johann Christoph was an excellent teacher and Johann

Sebastian began studying the harpsichord and organ under his brother quickly mastering all the pieces he had been given

• Johann Sebastian attended grammar school at Ohrdruf where he studied Latin, Greek, and theology

Ohrdruf: 1695-1700 (cont.)• Johann Sebastian’s excellent soprano voice found him a

position in the choir of the wealthy Michaelis monastery at Luneburg

• In Spring of 1700 Johann Sebastian set out with his school friend Georg Erdmann on the journey of a hundred and eighty miles north to Luneburg

Luneburg: 1700-1702• Johann Sebastian was well received because of his

uncommonly beautiful soprano voice and was immediately appointed to a select body of singers who formed the Mettenchor (Mattins Choir)

• Because of his performances with the choir he was freely aloud to study the fine library of music works in the grammar school which included some of the best German church music

Luneburg: 1700-1702 (cont.)• The growing lad soon lost his soprano voice but was able to

make himself useful as a violinist in the orchestra• During this period he met Georg Bohm organist of the

Johanniskirche at Luneburg he was a friend of the Bach family in Ohrdruf, he introduced Johann to the great organ traditions of Hamburg to which he made many pillgrimages on foot

Luneburg: 1700-1702 (cont.)• Johann also came under the influence of French instrumental

music when he played the Court of Celle, 50 miles south of Luneburg

• When Johann was almost eighteen he decided he would try to find employment as an organist in his native Thuringia he felt he had a good chance of getting the post in the new church of Arnstadt as an organist, so in 1702 he left Luneburg and returned South

Weimar: 1703• While awaiting for the organ to be built in Arnstadt, Sebastian

was offered and accepted a position as a violinist in a small chamber orchestra of Duke Johann Ernst the younger brother of Duke Weimar. This would expose him to Italian instrumental music and have him as acting as deputy to the aging Court organist.

• His stay here would be short, but he would return later

Arnstadt: 1703-0707• In July 1703 the Arnstadt Town Council invited young Bach to

try the newly finished organ in the New Church. He so impressed the people of Arnstadt they immediately offered him a position with most favorable terms.

• In 1705 the Church Council granted Bach leave to visit Lubeck to hear the great organist Dietrich Buxtehude. He was so impressed with his performances and so fascinated by his concerts, and by his discussions on the arts with great master that he remained in Lubeck over Christmas until the following February.

Arnstadt: 1703-1707 (cont.)• Johann returned to Arnstadt three months later and

immediately implemented his new playing. The strange sounds during the services confused the Council but they were lenient on Johann due to his skilled playing.

• This was not the end of conflict. When Bach found a clause in his contract and refused to work when he had been paired up to train the undisciplined boys choir and for entertaining a strange damsel, which was probably his cousin Maria Barbara who he would later marry.

Arnstadt: 1703-1707 (cont.)• What had started out to be very promising in Arnstadt turned

into conflict and disputes. Bach no doubt decided it would be better to look for somewhere new.

• At the end of 1706 he heard the organist in a town called Muhlhausen had died. He applied for the post auditioning at the cathedral type church St. Blasius on Easter Sunday 1707, he was accepted again on favorable terms. So in June 1707 he returned the keys to the Arnstadt Council and left quietly.

Muhlhausen: 1707-1708• Bach arrived at Muhlhausen to take up his post as of organist.

The towns recent devastation by fire left little choices for suitable living arrangements and he was forced to pay higher rents.

• Shortly after his arrival he brought his cousin Maria Barbara from Arnstandt and October 17, 1707 he married her at the small church in Dornheim.

Muhlhausen: 1707-1708 (cont.)• Bach had high ideals for the church music of Germany and so

he sat out to make a large collection of the best German music available, including some of his own and began training the choir and a newly created orchestra.

• His efforts paid off for as a result of his work came his cantata ‘Gott ist mein Konig’ (BWV 71)

Muhlhausen: 1707-1708 (cont.)• With the success of his cantata Bach proposed a complete

renovation and improvement of the organ in St Blasiuskirche and the council agreed, but before the organ could be completed a religious controversy arose between the orthodox Lutherans, great lovers of music, and the Pietists, strict puritans who distrusted art music.

• With Muhlhausen in a state of decay, once more Bach looked for more promising possibilities.

Muhlhausen: 1707-1708 (cont.)• Former contacts made in Weimar were now useful; the Duke

of Weimar offered him a post among his court chambers musicians, and on June 25, 17008, Bach sent in his letter of resignation to the authorities at Muhlhausen, he stated he could no longer afford to keep a wife on the small salary agreed to upon his arrival and that he could see no chance of realizing his final goal of creating proper church music to glorify God.

Weimar: 1708-1717

• Weimar was a small town, but had very cultured people especially his employer the Duke of Sachsen-Weimar, one of the most distinguished and cultured nobles of his time.

• As court organist, Bach concluded after a few years that the organ was not quite large enough and so it was rebuilt with Bach overseeing it as he had become an expert in organ construction.

Weimar: 1708-1717 (cont.)• During this time he wrote profusely for the organ and had

become known throughout the country as one of the greatest German organists.

• On a visit to Halle in 1713 he gave a trial cantata(probably BWV 21), he was invited to become the organist in succession to Zachau a well celebrated composer, however conditions and salary for his growing family were not sufficient so he had to refuse the post.

Weimar: 1708-1717 (cont.)• On a visit to Dresden, Bach was invited to compete in a

contest with visiting French organist, Louise Marchand. He was considered one of the best in Europe. On the day of the competition, however, Marchand withdrew from the competition and took a fast coach back to France. Bach gave an impressive solo performance that night and was established the finist organist of the day.

Weimar: 1708-1717 (cont.)• During 1717 a feud broke out between the Duke of Weimar at

the ‘Wilhelmsburg’ household and his nephew. Consequently musicians of the first household were not aloud to fraternize with musicians from the second. Bach tried to ignore the quarrel even though the atmosphere was not quite as pleasant as before. When the Capellmeister then died and Bach was passed up for the post in favor of the Capellmeister’s son, Bach was bitterly disappointed. He had been doing most of the work and confidently expected the position.

Weimar: 1708-1717(cont.)• Through the help of Duke Ernst August, Bach was introduced

to the Court of Anhalt-Cothen, and was offered a position as Capellmeister, which he accepted. This infuriated the Duke of Weimar, and when Bach politely asked for his release he was arrested and put in jail for a month.

• He then was released and was reluctantly given permission to resign his office. During this enforced rest, Bach used his time productively and prepared a cycle of organ chorale preludes for the whole year later published as the ‘Orgelbuchlein’.

Cothen: 1717-1723• Bach arrived at the small Court of Anhalt-Cothen to hold the

position of Capellmeister, the highest rank given to a musician during the baroque age. His master was the young prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen, only 25. The prince himself was familiar with the latest European fashions in music after spending 3 years doing the Grand Tour of Europe.

• The young Prince stretched the limited budget of his miniature Court to provide and eighteen player orchestra.

Cothen:1717-1723 (cont.)• Unlike most Princes of his time Leopold was a player of

considerable proficiency of the harpsichord, violin, and the viola da gamba. Prince Leopold played quite freely and treated his Court musicians as equals. He became very friendly with his new Capellmeister having high regard for him and often turned to him for advice.

Cothen: 1717-1723 (cont.)• Bach’s days were completely devoted to music in this happy

atmosphere at Cothen. During this period he wrote much of his chamber music; violin concertos, sonatas, keyboard music, etc.

• When the prince traveled, Bach and some of the other Court musicians would accompany him on his extensive journeys. Twice they visited Carlsbad in 1718 and in the summer of 1720. It was on returning from his second visit that he returned to receive a serious shock that his wife Maria Barbara whom he had left in perfect health three months earlier had died and been buried in his absence, leaving four motherless children.

Cothen: 1717-1723 (cont.)• Two months later he visited Hamburg and expressed an

interest in the newly vacant post of organist in the Jakobskirche. He left before the audition, presumably because the conditions did not suit him.

• Bach continued his work at Cothen. He was asked to compose and perform cantatas for the prince’s birthday and for the New Year.

Cothen: 1717-1723 (cont.)• To perform for these festivities, the prince would contract

singers from nearby Courts. On one of these Anna Magdalena, daughter of J.C. Wolcke, attracted Bach’s attention with her fine soprano voice.

• In December 1721, Anna Magdalena and Bach married, she was 20, he was 36.

Cohen: 1717-1723 (cont.)• Anna Magdalena was good to Bach’s children and during their

28 years of marriage, she gave him 13 more, even though few of them survived through childhood.

• A week after Bach’s marriage, the Prince also married, but for Bach this would be an unfortunate event because the Prince’s new Bride did not approve of the Prince’s musical activities.

Cothen: 1717-1723 (cont.)• Once more Bach looked around to find somewhere new. He

now had his sons to consider. This may have been what led to revive an old invitation to produce what are now known as the Brandenburg Concertos.

• History shows no record of Bach having visited the Margrave at his Brandenburg Court. There could be many reasons for this, the Margrave was not readily accessible. The death of Johann Kuhnau in June 1722 opened the possibility of an appointment for Bach in berlin at Leipzig.

Cothen: 1717-1723 (cont.)• The merits of various candidates to succeed Kuhnau were

considered and the council nominated Georg Philipp Telemann. However the authorities at Hamburg would not release Telemann. The position was favorably described to Bach, and because the town offered the necessary educational facilities for his sons, he applied for the post.

• The council settled for Bach as an alternative to Cristoph Graupner .

Cothen: 1717-1723 (cont.)• Bach applied for his dismissal at Cohen, and the Prince,

regretfully consented as he did not want to stand in his way.• Bach left with his family and belongings for Leipzig where he

remained for the rest of his life.

Leipzig: 1723-1750• Leipzig had a population of 30,000 and was the second city of

Saxony and the center of the German printing and publishing industries.

• Bach moved to Leipzig on may 22, 1723 where the remaining 27 years of his life was to live and work as Cantor, or Director of the Choir and Music in Leipzig.

• The Cantor’s duties were to organize the music in the four principal churches of Leipzig

Leipzig: 1723-1750 (cont.)• Council reprimanded Bach in 1730 for leaving his teaching

duties in the hands of a junior colleague and for his frequent unauthorized journeys away from Leipzig. Bach did not justify himself which irritated the Council even more.

• Bach wrote to his friend Erdmann in Danzig asking him to find him a more convenient post where he could escape the trouble, envy and persecution.

Leipzig: 1723-1750 (cont.)• The city would have lost Bach if his friend Gesner had not

intervened on his behalf. He had taken over the post of headmaster at the Thomasschule after the death in 1729 of the former headmaster. He used his influence to settle the manner between Bach and the authorities and to get him more accommodating working conditions

Leipzig: 1723-1750 (cont.)• During the latter years of his life Bach gradually withdrew

inward and produced some very profound statements of baroque music, and towards the last years of his life, Bach’s creative energy was conserved for his highest musical expressions: the b minor, the Canonic Variations, the Goldberg Variations, and the ‘Die Kunst der Fuge’ ( The Art of the Fuge BWV 1080)

Leipzig: 1723-1750 (cont.)• Bach had overworked in poor light his whole life and now his

eyesight began to fail him. The council started looking around as early as June 1749 for a successor. On the advice of his friends, Bach turned to celebrated English opthalmic specialist, John Taylor.

• Two cataract operations were performed on his eyes in March and April 1750, and their weakening effect was aggravated by a following infection which seriously undermined his health.

Leipzig: 1723-1750 (cont.)• Bach spent the last months of his life in a darkened room

revising his great chorale fantasias (BWV651-668) with the aid of Altnikol, his pupil and son-in-law. He composed his last chorale fantasia based fittingly on the chorale ‘Before Thy Throne O Lord’

Leipzig: 1723-1750 (cont.)• On the morning of the 28th of July he awoke only to find he

could bear strong light and see quite clearly.• That same day he had a stroke, followed by a severe fever. He

died in the evening after a 09:45 pm in the 65th year of his life.• He was buried in St. John’s Cemetery early in the morning of

July 31st . His grave bears no tombstone and its whereabouts soon forgotten.

Leipzig: 1723-1750 (cont.)• St. John’s was rebuilt in 1894 at which time a few Leipzig

scholars exhumed Bach’s bones and after identifying with anatomical tests laid the bones to rest in a stone sarcophagus next to the poet Gellert in the vaults of Johanniskirche.

• The church was destroyed during WW2. Once more his remains were rescued and in 1949 buried, this time in the altar-room of the Thomaskirche where they remain today.