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123-599: The Johann Sebastian Bach Institute (German: Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Institut ) was an institute dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach in Göttingen , Germany. It was founded in 1951 as one of two institutes preparing the New Bach Edition , the second complete edition of the composer's works. The partner organisation was the Leipzig Bach Archive in what was then East Germany on the other side of

246-656: A bassoon usually joins the continuo group. Festive occasions call for richer instrumentation. Some instruments also carry symbolic meaning, such as a trumpet, the royal instrument of the Baroque , for divine majesty and three trumpets for the Trinity . In an aria of BWV 172, addressing the Heiligste Dreifaltigkeit (Most holy Trinity), the bass is accompanied only by three trumpets and timpani. In many arias Bach uses obbligato instruments, which accompany

369-440: A broader range of European culture. In addition to singing in the choir, he played the school's three-manual organ and harpsichords . He also came into contact with sons of aristocrats from northern Germany who had been sent to the nearby Ritter-Academie to prepare for careers in other disciplines. In January 1703, shortly after graduating from St. Michael's and being turned down for the post of organist at Sangerhausen , Bach

492-645: A cantata text started with an Old Testament quotation related to the readings, and reflected both the Epistle and the Gospel, as in the exemplary Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes , BWV 76 . Most of the solo movements are based on poetry of contemporary writers, such as court poet Salomon Franck in Weimar or Georg Christian Lehms or Picander in Leipzig, with whom Bach collaborated. The final words were usually

615-486: A cantata, BWV 191 from his 1733 Kyrie-Gloria Mass for the Dresden court in the mid-1740s, Bach expanded that setting into his Mass in B minor in the last years of his life. The complete mass was not performed during his lifetime. It is considered among the greatest choral works in history. In January 1749, Bach's daughter Elisabeth Juliane Friederica married his pupil Johann Christoph Altnickol . Bach's health

738-560: A charlatan and believed to have blinded hundreds of people. Bach died on 28 July 1750 from complications due to the unsuccessful treatment. An inventory drawn up a few months after Bach's death shows that his estate included five harpsichords , two lute-harpsichords , three violins , three violas , two cellos , a viola da gamba , a lute , a spinet , and 52 "sacred books", including works by Martin Luther and Josephus . C.P.E. Bach saw to it that The Art of Fugue , though unfinished,

861-626: A church cantata monthly in the castle church. The first three cantatas in the new series Bach composed in Weimar were Himmelskönig, sei willkommen , BWV 182 , for Palm Sunday , which coincided with the Annunciation that year; Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen , BWV 12 , for Jubilate Sunday ; and Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!   BWV 172 for Pentecost . Bach's first Christmas cantata, Christen, ätzet diesen Tag , BWV 63 , premiered in 1714 or 1715. In 1717, Bach fell out of favour in Weimar and, according to

984-495: A composition. He chose his Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her" , and a portrait painted by Elias Gottlob Haussmann that featured Bach's Canon triplex á 6 Voc . In May 1747, Bach visited the court of King Frederick II of Prussia in Potsdam . The king played a theme for Bach and challenged him to improvise a fugue based on it. Bach obliged, playing a three-part fugue on one of Frederick's fortepianos ,

1107-457: A festive cantata for the inauguration of the new council , which was published at the council's expense. Bach left Mühlhausen in 1708, returning to Weimar this time as organist and from 1714 Konzertmeister (director of music) at the ducal court, where he could work with a large, well-funded contingent of professional musicians. Bach and his wife moved into a house near the ducal palace. Later that year, their first child, Catharina Dorothea,

1230-501: A four-part choir, but he also wrote solo cantatas (i.e. for one soloist singer) and dialogue cantatas for two singers. The words of Bach's cantatas, almost always entirely in German, consist mostly of 18th-century poetry, Lutheran hymns and dicta . Hymns were mostly set to their Lutheran chorale tune. His chorale cantata cycle contains at least 40 chorale cantatas , each of these entirely based on text and tune of such hymn. Although

1353-475: A four-part setting only in the closing chorale, which may have been sung by the soloists. In an early cantata, Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! BWV 172 , Bach marked a repeat of the opening chorus after the chorale. The chorale can be as simple as a traditional four-part setting, or be accompanied by an obbligato instrument, or be accompanied by the instruments of the opening chorus or even expanded by interludes based on its themes, or have

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1476-608: A large extent he defined it. Fugues are as characteristic of Bach's style as, for instance, sonata form is of the composers of the Classical period . These strictly contrapuntal compositions, and most of Bach's music in general, are characterised by distinct melodic lines for each voice, where the chords formed by the notes sounding at a given point follow the rules of four-part harmony. Johann Nikolaus Forkel , Bach's first biographer, gives this description of this feature of Bach's music, which sets it apart from most other music: If

1599-545: A movement from a partita for violin, in ceaseless motion, was arranged as an orchestral sinfonia with the organ as solo instrument for the wedding cantata 120a and again in Cantata 29 , for which the organ was accompanied by a full orchestra dominated by trumpets. Not only a single movement but a complete cantata was reworked from the Shepherd cantata Entfliehet, verschwindet, entweichet, ihr Sorgen , BWV 249a , to become

1722-608: A much better and newer (1716) organ than the St. Thomas Church or the St. Nicholas Church. Bach was not required to play any organ in his official duties, but it is believed he liked to play on the St. Paul's Church organ for his own pleasure. Bach broadened his composing and performing beyond the liturgy by taking over, in March 1729, the directorship of the Collegium Musicum , a secular performance ensemble Telemann started. This

1845-501: A musician, Leopold appreciated Bach's talents, paid him well, and gave him considerable latitude in composing and performing. Leopold was a Calvinist and did not use elaborate music in his worship; accordingly, most of Bach's work from this period is secular, including the orchestral suites , cello suites , sonatas and partitas for solo violin , and the Brandenburg Concertos . Bach also composed secular cantatas for

1968-488: A new cantata every week , although some of these cantatas were adapted (at least in part) from work he had composed before his Leipzig era. Works from three annual cycles of cantatas for the liturgical calendar have survived. These relate to the readings prescribed by the Lutheran liturgy for the specific occasion. The last known cantata was composed in 1745 . In addition to the church cantatas composed for occasions of

2091-479: A new type of instrument at the time. Upon his return to Leipzig he composed a set of fugues and canons and a trio sonata based on the Thema Regium ("king's theme"). Within a few weeks this music was published as The Musical Offering and dedicated to Frederick. The Schübler Chorales , a set of six chorale preludes transcribed from cantata movements Bach had written two decades earlier, were published within

2214-616: A part of Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen , BWV 12 , for the Crucifixus of the Credo . Bach's oratorios can be considered as expanded cantatas. They were also meant to be performed during church services. Distinct from the cantatas, a narrator, the Evangelist , tells a story in the exact Bible wording, while soloists and the choir have "roles" such as Mary or "the shepherds", in addition to reflective chorales or arias commenting on

2337-704: A prelude and fugue in every major and minor key, displaying a dizzying variety of structural, contrapuntal and fugal techniques. Four-part harmony predates Bach, but he lived during a time when modal music in Western tradition was largely supplanted by the tonal system . In this system a piece of music progresses from one chord to the next according to certain rules, with each chord characterised by four notes. The principles of four-part harmony are found not only in Bach's four-part choral music; he also prescribes it for instance in figured bass accompaniment. The new system

2460-699: A prolonged absence from Arnstadt: after obtaining leave for four weeks, he was absent for around four months in 1705–1706 to take lessons from the organist and composer Johann Adam Reincken and to hear him and Dieterich Buxtehude play in the northern city of Lübeck . The visit to Buxtehude and Reincken involved a 450-kilometre (280 mi) journey each way, reportedly on foot. Buxtehude probably introduced Bach to his friend Reincken so that he could learn from his compositional technique (especially his mastery of fugue ), his organ playing and his skills with improvisation. Bach knew Reincken's music very well; he copied Reincken's monumental An Wasserflüssen Babylon when he

2583-688: A regular monthly basis started with his promotion to Konzertmeister in March 1714. His goal was to compose a complete set of cantatas for the liturgical year within four years. The cantatas 54 and 199 were performed within the cycle but possibly composed earlier. Bach worked in Köthen from 1717 to 1723, where he composed for example the Brandenburg Concertos . He had no responsibility for church music, but his employer Prince Leopold did commission secular cantatas. Later in Leipzig, he derived several church cantatas from congratulatory cantatas, such as Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen, BWV 66 , for Easter from

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2706-767: A related psalm from the Old Testament , Part I reflects the Gospel and Part II the Epistle . Bach did not follow any strict scheme but composed as he wanted to express the words. A few cantatas are opened by an instrumental piece before the first chorus, such as the Sinfonia of Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir , BWV 29 . A solo movement begins Gott, man lobet dich in der Stille , BWV 120 , because its first words speak of silence. Many cantatas composed in Weimar are set like chamber music, mostly for soloists, with

2829-563: A solo singer ( Solokantate ), as Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen , BWV 51 , for soprano, sometimes concluded by a chorale, as in Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen , BWV 56 , for bass. Some cantatas are structured as a dialogue, mostly for Jesus and the Soul (bass and soprano), set like miniature operas. Bach titled them for example Concerto in Dialogo , concerto in dialogue. An early example

2952-523: A soloist) with the orchestra in instrumental cantata movements, a decade before Handel published his first organ concertos. Apart from the 5th Brandenburg Concerto and the Triple Concerto , which already had harpsichord soloists in the 1720s, Bach wrote and arranged his harpsichord concertos in the 1730s, and in his sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord neither instrument plays a continuo part: they are treated as equal soloists, far beyond

3075-498: A stanza from a chorale . Bach's Chorale cantatas are based exclusively on one chorale, for example the early Christ lag in Todes Banden , BWV 4 , and most cantatas of his second annual cycle in Leipzig. The German text may pose difficulties in translation and comprehension. Sometimes caused by archaic language, these issues are also a result of the different social context of modern artists and listeners, who do not share

3198-548: A sustained period of composing keyboard and orchestral works. He attained the proficiency and confidence to extend the prevailing structures and include influences from abroad. He learned to write dramatic openings and employ the dynamic rhythms and harmonic schemes found in the music of Italians such as Vivaldi , Corelli , and Torelli . Bach absorbed these stylistic aspects to a certain extent by transcribing Vivaldi's string and wind concertos for harpsichord and organ; many of these transcribed works are still regularly performed. Bach

3321-642: A third of the cantatas. Between 1958 and 1987, the London Bach Society , conducted by Paul Steinitz performed all the extant church and secular cantatas, 208 separate works, in various venues, mostly in the Church of St Bartholomew-the-Great , London. Diethard Hellmann called the Kantorei (chorale) of the Christuskirche , Bachchor Mainz , in 1965 and produced more than 100 cantatas on

3444-573: A translation of the court secretary's report, was jailed for almost a month before being unfavorably dismissed: "On November 6, [1717,] the quondam [former] concertmaster and organist Bach was confined to the County Judge's place of detention for too stubbornly forcing the issue of his dismissal and finally on December 2 was freed from arrest with notice of his unfavorable discharge." Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen , hired Bach to serve as his Kapellmeister (director of music) in 1717. Himself

3567-631: A week before he began his cantorate. Bach started it on the first Sunday after Trinity of 1723 and wrote a first annual cycle. Bach's major works such as the Passions and the Mass in B minor are inserted in the listing for comparison. After Trinity of 1724 he started a second annual cycle of mainly chorale cantatas . The chorale was typically the chorale prescribed for that week ( Hauptlied or Wochenlied ). These cantatas were performed even after his death, according to Christoph Wolff probably because

3690-655: A weekly basis with the Südwestrundfunk . Fritz Werner started recording with the Heinrich-Schütz-Chor Heilbronn and the Pforzheim Chamber Orchestra a series that they called Les Grandes Cantates de J.S. Bach . The Thomanerchor has sung a weekly cantata during the evening service Motette on Saturday. The cantatas are also regularly performed on Sundays at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church , New York City, under

3813-418: A year. Around the same time, the set of five canonic variations Bach had submitted when entering Mizler's society in 1747 were also printed. Two large-scale compositions occupied a central place in Bach's last years. Beginning around 1742, he wrote and revised the various canons and fugues of The Art of Fugue , which he continued to prepare for publication until shortly before his death. After extracting

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3936-530: Is Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn , BWV 152 (1714). He composed four such works in his third annual cycle, Selig ist der Mann , BWV 57 (1725), Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen , BWV 32 , Ich geh und suche mit Verlangen , BWV 49 (both 1726), and Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid , BWV 58 (1727). Within the Lutheran liturgy, certain readings from the Bible were prescribed for every event during

4059-461: Is a very different thing when two melodies are so interwoven that they converse together like two persons upon a footing of pleasant equality. In the first case, the accompaniment is subordinate and serves merely to support the first or principal part. In the second case, the two parts are not similarly related. New melodic combinations spring from their interweaving, out of which new forms of musical expression emerge. Suppose more parts are interwoven in

4182-540: Is harmonically more innovative than his peers', employing surprisingly dissonant chords and progressions, often extensively exploring harmonic possibilities within one piece. Bach's hundreds of sacred works are usually seen as manifesting not just his craft but also a deep faith in God. He had taught Luther's Small Catechism as the Thomaskantor in Leipzig, and some of his pieces represent it. The Lutheran chorale

4305-459: Is still played. Although Bach wrote no operas, he was not averse to the genre or its ornamented vocal style. In church music, Italian composers had imitated the operatic vocal style in genres such as the Neapolitan mass . In Protestant surroundings, there was more reluctance to adopt such a style for liturgical music. Kuhnau had notoriously shunned opera and Italian virtuoso vocal music. Bach

4428-518: Is the interweaving of several melodies, which emerge now in the upper, now in the middle, and now in the lower parts. From 1720, when he was thirty-five until he died in 1750, Bach's harmony consists of this melodic interweaving of independent melodies, so perfect in their union that each part seems to constitute the true melody. Herein, Bach excels all the composers in the world. At least, I have found no one to equal him in music known to me. Even in his four-part writing, we can, not infrequently, leave out

4551-441: Is unclear for which occasion they were composed, and whether they were intended to be added to the cycle: After Trinity of 1725 Bach began a third annual cycle, but with less consistency. The first cantata is written for the ninth Sunday after Trinity, but the following year he added a substantial work for the first Sunday after Trinity. The cycle extends over several years, although the cantatas from 1727 have been termed as "between

4674-473: Is well known is an advocate of this approach, although it has yet to be followed through in a complete set of cantatas. Nonetheless, Bach would have had more singers available at Leipzig , for example, while the space in the court chapel in Weimar was limited. One size of choir probably does not fit all the cantatas. The orchestra that Bach used is based on string instruments ( violin , viola ) and basso continuo , typically played by cello , violone (at

4797-547: The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV, a numbered catalogue of his works) and new critical editions of his compositions. His music was further popularised through a multitude of arrangements , including the Air on the G String and " Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring ", and of recordings, such as three different box sets with complete performances of his oeuvre marking the 250th anniversary of his death. Johann Sebastian Bach

4920-571: The Easter Oratorio . Bach used parody to be able to deliver cantatas for Christmas, Easter and Pentecost, which were each celebrated for a period of three days. His Easter cantata Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiß , BWV 134 , is a parody of six of eight movements of the cantata for New Year's Day , Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht , BWV 134a . Six movements of his congratulatory cantata Durchlauchtster Leopold , BWV 173a , form

5043-579: The Little Organ Book , containing traditional Lutheran chorale tunes set in complex textures. In 1713, Bach was offered a post in Halle when he advised the authorities during a renovation by Christoph Cuntzius of the main organ in the west gallery of the Market Church of Our Dear Lady . In the spring of 1714, Bach was promoted to Konzertmeister , an honour that entailed performing

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5166-755: The Schubler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor ; and choral works such as the St ;Matthew Passion and the Mass in B ;minor . Since the 19th century Bach Revival , he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. The Bach family already counted several composers when Johann Sebastian was born as the last child of a city musician, Johann Ambrosius , in Eisenach . After being orphaned at

5289-567: The organ , and an older second cousin, Johann Ludwig Bach , was a well-known composer and violinist. Bach's mother died in 1694, and his father died eight months later. The 10-year-old Bach moved in with his eldest brother, Johann Christoph Bach , the organist at St. Michael's Church in Ohrdruf , Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg . There he studied, performed, and copied music, including his brother's, despite being forbidden to do so because scores were so valuable and private and blank ledger paper

5412-593: The Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV), Wolfgang Schmieder assigned them each a number within groups: 1–200 (sacred cantatas), 201–216 (secular cantatas), and 217–224 (cantatas of doubtful authorship). Since Schmieder's designation, several of the cantatas he thought authentic have been redesignated as "spurious." However, the spurious cantatas retain their BWV numbers. The List of Bach cantatas is organized by BWV number but sortable by other criteria. A typical Bach cantata of his first year in Leipzig follows

5535-540: The Brandenburg Concertos and orchestral suites, many of Bach's newly composed or reworked pieces were performed for these venues, including parts of his Clavier-Übung ( Keyboard Practice ), his violin and keyboard concertos , and the Coffee Cantata . In 1733, Bach composed a Kyrie–Gloria Mass in B minor that he later incorporated in his Mass in B minor. He presented the manuscript to

5658-523: The Collegium Musicum gave two-hour performances, in winter at the Café Zimmermann , a coffeehouse on Catherine Street off the main market square, and in summer in the proprietor's outdoor coffee garden just outside the town walls, near the East Gate. The concerts, all free of charge, ended with Gottfried Zimmermann's death in 1741. Apart from showcasing his earlier orchestral repertoire, such as

5781-697: The Iron Curtain from Göttingen. The new edition met rigorous scientific requirements and at the same time served musical practice. The institute ended its activities in 2006 and the final volume of the New Bach Edition set appeared the following year. However, the Bach Archive Leipzig remains active and has issued revisions of some single volumes. Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [ O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750)

5904-599: The Passion with Bible text reflected in recitatives, arias, choruses, and chorales, but in crafting this work, Bach created an overall experience that has been found over the intervening centuries to be both musically thrilling and spiritually profound. Bach published or carefully compiled in manuscript many collections of pieces that explored the range of artistic and technical possibilities inherent in almost every genre of his time except opera . For example, The Well-Tempered Clavier comprises two books, each of which presents

6027-583: The St Matthew and St John Passions and the Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes , their final revisions. He also programmed and adapted music by composers of a younger generation, including Pergolesi ( BWV 1083 ), and his own students, such as Goldberg ( BNB I/G/2 ). In 1746 Bach was preparing to enter Lorenz Christoph Mizler 's Society of Musical Sciences  [ de ] . To be admitted, he had to submit

6150-506: The church year ; specifically, it was expected that an Epistel from an Epistle and Evangelium from a Gospel would be read. Music was expected for all Sundays and holidays except the quiet times ( tempus clausum ) of Advent and Lent ; the cantatas were supposed to reflect the readings. Many opening movements are based on quotations from the Bible, such as Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen , BWV 65 , from Isaiah 60:6 . Ideally,

6273-436: The liturgical year . Bach usually led performances of his cantatas , most composed within three years of his relocation to Leipzig. He assumed the office of Thomaskantor on 30 May 1723, presenting the first new cantata, Die Elenden sollen essen , BWV 75 , in the St. Nicholas Church on the first Sunday after Trinity . Bach collected his cantatas in annual cycles. Five are mentioned in obituaries, and three are extant. Of

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6396-477: The 18th century, Bach was primarily valued as an organist , while his keyboard music, such as The Well-Tempered Clavier , was appreciated for its didactic qualities. The 19th century saw the publication of some significant Bach biographies , and by the end of that century, all of his known music had been printed. Dissemination of scholarship on the composer continued through periodicals (and later also websites) exclusively devoted to him and other publications such as

6519-781: The Bach family in Leipzig, but the visit did not take place. On 7 July 1720, while Bach was away in Carlsbad with Leopold, his wife, Maria Barbara Bach , suddenly died. The next year, he met Anna Magdalena Wilcke , a young, gifted soprano 16 years his junior, who performed at the court in Köthen; they married on 3 December 1721. Together they had 13 children, six of whom survived into adulthood: Gottfried Heinrich ; Elisabeth Juliane Friederica (1726–1781); Johann Christoph Friedrich and Johann Christian , who both, especially Johann Christian, became significant musicians; Johanna Carolina (1737–1781); and Regina Susanna (1742–1809). In 1723, Bach

6642-538: The Elector in a successful bid to persuade the prince to give him the title of Court Composer. He later extended this work into a full mass by adding a Credo , Sanctus , and Agnus Dei , the music for which was partly based on his own cantatas and partly original. Bach's appointment as Court Composer was an element of his long-term struggle to achieve greater bargaining power with the Leipzig council. Between 1737 and 1739, Bach's former pupil Carl Gotthelf Gerlach held

6765-413: The German term Bachkantate (Bach cantata) became very familiar, Bach himself rarely used the title Cantata in his manuscripts. In Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen , BWV 56 , he wrote Cantata à Voce Sola e Stromenti ( Cantata for solo voice and instruments ). Another cantata in which Bach used that term is Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke , BWV 84 . Typically, he began a heading with

6888-540: The Italian Girolamo Frescobaldi . He learned theology , Latin and Greek at the local gymnasium . By 3 April 1700, Bach and his school friend Georg Erdmann—who was two years older than Bach—studied at St. Michael 's School in Lüneburg , some two weeks' travel north of Ohrdruf. Their journey was probably undertaken mostly on foot. His two years there were critical in exposing Bach to

7011-509: The Leipzig offer to negotiate better terms of employment. Bach was required to instruct the Thomasschule students in singing and provide church music for the main churches in Leipzig. He was also assigned to teach Latin but was allowed to employ four "prefects" (deputies) to do this instead. The prefects also aided with musical instruction. A cantata was required for the church services on Sundays and additional church holidays during

7134-525: The St. Paul's Church, the church of Leipzig University . But when Bach was installed as cantor in 1723, he was put in charge only of music for festal (church holiday) services at St. Paul's Church; his petition to also provide music for regular Sunday services there (for a corresponding salary increase) went all the way to the Elector but was denied. In 1725, Bach "lost interest" in working even for festal services at St. Paul's Church and decided to appear there only on "special occasions". The St. Paul's Church had

7257-451: The abbreviation J.J. ( Jesu juva , "Jesus, help"), followed by the name of the celebration, the beginning of the words and the instrumentation, for example in Gloria in excelsis Deo , BWV 191 . Bach often signed his cantatas with SDG, short for Soli Deo Gloria ("glory to the only God" / "glory to God alone"). Bach often wrote a title page for the autograph score and copies of

7380-431: The absence of clear documentary evidence, there are different options as to how many singers to deploy per part in choral sections. This is reflected in the recordings discussed below. Ton Koopman , for example, is a conductor who has recorded a complete set of the cantatas and who favours a choir with four singers per part. On the other hand, some modern performances and recordings use one voice per part . Joshua Rifkin

7503-532: The age of 10, he lived for five years with his eldest brother, Johann Christoph , after which he continued his musical education in Lüneburg . In 1703 he returned to Thuringia , working as a musician for Protestant churches in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen and, for longer periods, at courts in Weimar , where he expanded his organ repertory, and Köthen , where he was mostly engaged with chamber music . In 1723, he

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7626-420: The birthday cantata Der Himmel dacht auf Anhalts Ruhm und Glück, BWV 66a . Even after he moved to Leipzig he retained his title of Fürstlich Köthenischer Kapellmeister (that is director of music to the court at Köthen). He continued to compose for the court until Leopold's funeral in 1729. There is evidence that he reused musical material from works that he premiered in Leipzig in the 1720s, for example

7749-545: The canons BWV 1072–1078 are in that category, as is the bulk of the Musical Offering and the Art of Fugue . Another characteristic of Bach's style is his extensive use of counterpoint , as opposed to the homophony used in his four-part chorale settings, for example. Bach's canons, and especially his fugues, are the most characteristic of this style, which he did not invent but contributed to so fundamentally that to

7872-490: The cantata for Pentecost Monday of 1724, Erhöhtes Fleisch und Blut , BWV 173 , while a seventh movement was made part of the cantata for Pentecost Tuesday of 1725, Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen , BWV 175 . Bach's four short masses are parodies of cantata movements; he used several movements of Siehe zu, daß deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei , BWV 179 , for two of them. When he compiled his Mass in B minor , he again used many cantata movements, such as

7995-435: The cantatas Die Elenden sollen essen , BWV 75 , and Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes , BWV 76 , both in two parts, to be performed before and after the sermon ( post orationem ) and during communion ( sub communione ). Each part is a sequence of an opening movement, five movements with alternating recitatives and arias, and a chorale. In an exemplary way both cantatas cover the prescribed readings: starting with

8118-589: The cantatas fell into obscurity even more than his oratorios. There is some evidence for the chorale cantatas being performed at Leipzig after Bach's death, but the cantatas were little known until a society called the Bach-Gesellschaft began to publish the composer's complete works starting in 1851. Only one of the cantatas, Gott ist mein König , BWV 71 , had been published during Bach's lifetime. The cantata Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern , BWV1 ,

8241-419: The course of a piece, is another style characteristic where Bach goes beyond the norm in his time. Baroque instruments vastly limited modulation possibilities: keyboard instruments, before a workable system of temperament , limited the keys that could be modulated to, and wind instruments, especially brass instruments such as trumpets and horns , about a century before they were fitted with valves, were tied to

8364-425: The court, such as Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht , BWV 134a . Despite being born in the same year and only about 130 kilometres (80 mi) apart, Bach and Handel never met. In 1719, Bach made the 35-kilometre (22 mi) journey from Köthen to Halle with the intention to meet Handel, but Handel had left town. In 1730, Bach's oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, travelled to Halle to invite Handel to visit

8487-542: The courts of Köthen and Weissenfels, as well as that of the Elector Frederick Augustus (who was also King of Poland ) in Dresden . Bach frequently disagreed with his employer, Leipzig's city council, which he regarded as "penny-pinching". Johann Kuhnau had been Thomaskantor in Leipzig from 1701 until his death on 5 June 1722. Bach had visited Leipzig during Kuhnau's tenure: in 1714, he attended

8610-760: The decades after the Second World War. In the early 1950s Fritz Lehmann recorded several cantatas with the Berliner Motettenchor and the Berlin Philharmonic . From 1953, Max Thurn conducted for the broadcaster NDR a series of Bach cantatas, with members of the NDR Chor and members of the NDR Sinfonieorchester . Karl Richter called his choir programmatically Münchener Bach-Chor in 1954 and recorded about

8733-849: The directorship of the Collegium Musicum. In 1735, Bach started preparing his first organ music publication, which was printed as the third Clavier-Übung in 1739. From around that year he started to compile and compose the set of preludes and fugues for harpsichord that became the second book of The Well-Tempered Clavier . He received the title of "Royal Court Composer" from Augustus III in 1736. From 1740 to 1748 Bach copied, transcribed, expanded or programmed music in an older polyphonic style ( stile antico ) by, among others, Palestrina ( BNB I/P/2 ), Kerll ( BWV 241 ), Torri ( BWV Anh. 30 ), Bassani ( BWV 1081 ), Gasparini ( Missa Canonica ), and Caldara ( BWV 1082 ). Bach's style shifted in

8856-418: The figured bass. In this way, Bach played a key role in the development of genres such as the keyboard concerto. Bach wrote virtuoso music for specific instruments as well as music independent of instrumentation. For instance, the sonatas and partitas for solo violin are considered the pinnacle of what has been written for violin, within reach of only accomplished players. The music fits the instrument, using

8979-609: The full expansion came with the Well-Tempered Clavier , using all keys, which Bach apparently had been developing since around 1720, the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach being one of its earliest examples. The second page of the Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach is an ornament notation and performance guide that Bach wrote for his eldest son when he was nine years old. Bach

9102-484: The full gamut of its possibilities and requiring virtuosity but without bravura . Notwithstanding that the music and the instrument seem inseparable, Bach transcribed some pieces in this collection for other instruments. Similarly, the virtuoso cello suites seem tailored to the instrument, the best of what is offered for it, but Bach arranged one of the suites for lute. The same applies to much of his most virtuoso keyboard music. Bach exploited an instrument's capacities to

9225-415: The fullest while keeping the core of the music independent of the instrument on which it is performed. In this sense, it is no surprise that Bach's music is easily and often performed on instruments it was not written for, that it is transcribed so often, and that his melodies turn up in unexpected places, such as jazz music. Apart from this, Bach left several compositions without specified instrumentation:

9348-442: The genres associated with it: more than his contemporaries (who had "moved on" to the tonal system without much exception), Bach often returned to the then-antiquated modes and genres. His Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue , emulating the chromatic fantasia genre used by earlier composers such as Dowland and Sweelinck in D dorian mode (comparable to D minor in the tonal system), is an example. Modulation , or changing key in

9471-482: The homophonic vocal parts embedded in an instrumental concerto as in the familiar Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben , BWV 147 , or have complex vocal parts embedded in the concerto as in Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht , BWV 186 , in a form called Choralphantasie ( chorale fantasia ). In Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland , BWV 61 , for the first Sunday in Advent , the beginning of a new liturgical year, he rendered

9594-462: The key of their tuning. Bach pushed the limits: he added "strange tones" in his organ playing, confusing the singers, according to an indictment he had to face in Arnstadt, and Louis Marchand , another early experimenter with modulation, seems to have avoided confrontation with Bach because the latter went further than anyone had done before. In the "Suscepit Israel" of his 1723 Magnificat , he had

9717-599: The keyboard. The choir was the Thomanerchor , which also served the other main churches of Leipzig for which Bach was responsible. Cantatas, under his personal direction, were performed in the Nikolaikirche and in the Thomaskirche, alternating on ordinary Sundays. On high feast days, the same cantata was performed in the morning in one of these churches, in a vespers service in the other. After Bach's death

9840-459: The language of music is merely the utterance of a melodic line, a simple sequence of musical notes, it can justly be accused of poverty. The addition of a Bass puts it upon a harmonic foundation and clarifies it but defines rather than gives it added richness. A melody so accompanied—even though all the notes are not those of the true Bass—or treated with simple embellishments in the upper parts or with simple chords used to be called "homophony". But it

9963-557: The last decade of his life, showing an increased integration of polyphonic structures and canons and other elements of the stile antico . His fourth and last Clavier-Übung volume, the Goldberg Variations for two-manual harpsichord, contained nine canons and was published in 1741. During this period, Bach also continued to adapt music of contemporaries such as Handel ( BNB I/K/2 ) and Stölzel ( BWV 200 ), and gave many of his own earlier compositions, such as

10086-601: The liturgical year , Bach wrote sacred cantatas for functions like weddings or Ratswahl (the inauguration of a new town council). His secular cantatas , around 50 known works, less than half of which surviving with both text and music, were written for academic functions of the University of Leipzig , or anniversaries and entertainment among the nobility and in society, some of them Glückwunschkantaten (congratulatory cantatas) and Huldigungskantaten (homage cantatas). Bach's cantatas usually require four soloists and

10209-691: The more than 300 cantatas he composed in Leipzig, over 100 have been lost to posterity. Most of these works expound on the Gospel readings prescribed for every Sunday and feast day in the Lutheran year. Bach started a second annual cycle on the first Sunday after the Trinity of 1724 and composed only chorale cantatas , each based on a single church hymn. These include O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort , BWV 20 , Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme , BWV 140 , Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland , BWV 62 , and Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern , BWV 1 . Bach drew

10332-530: The opening chorus as a French overture . Typically Bach employs soprano , alto , tenor and bass soloists and a four-part choir, also SATB . He sometimes assigns the voice parts to the dramatic situation, for example soprano for innocence or alto for motherly feelings. The bass is often the vox Christi , the voice of Jesus, when Jesus is quoted directly, as in Es wartet alles auf dich , BWV 187 , or indirectly, as in O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort , BWV 60 . In

10455-458: The organist at the New Church, with light duties, a relatively generous salary, and a new organ tuned in a temperament that allowed music written in a wider range of keys to be played. Despite strong family connections and a musically enthusiastic employer, tension built up between Bach and the authorities after several years in the post. Bach felt discontented by the calibre of musicians he

10578-572: The organist of St. Blasius church ( Divi Blasii ). There is evidence suggesting that he composed a cantata as an audition piece for Mühlhausen, and this may have been Christ lag in Todes Banden , BWV 4 . One or two more surviving cantatas may have been composed while Bach was at his previous post in Arnstadt, for example, Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich , BWV 150 . A couple of the surviving cantatas can be firmly dated to his time in Mühlhausen. For example, Gott ist mein König , BWV 71 ,

10701-403: The original parts. For example, he titled the parts of Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir , BWV 38 , using a mix of languages to describe the occasion, the incipit , the precise scoring and his name: "Dominica 21. post Trinit / Aus tieffer Noth schrey ich zu dir. / â / 4. Voc. / 2. Hautbois. / 2. Violini. / Viola. / 4. Tromboni / e / Continuo. / di / Signore / J.S.Bach". The occasion for which

10824-484: The piece was performed is given first, in Latin: " Dominica 21. post Trinit " (21st Sunday after Trinity Sunday , with Trinit short for Trinitatem). The title follows, given in German in the orthography of Bach's time. The scoring and finally his name appear in a mix of French and Italian, the common languages among musicians at the time, partly abbreviated. Bach wrote more than 200 cantatas, of which many have survived. In

10947-427: The same biblical and theological knowledge and perspectives as Bach or his audience. The following lists of works (some marked as questioned) rely mainly on Alfred Dürr 's Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach. Usually the cantatas appear in the year of their first performance, sometimes also for later performances and then in brackets. Bach moved to Mühlhausen in 1707 when he was 22 to take up an appointment as

11070-441: The same free and independent manner. In that case, the apparatus of language is correspondingly enlarged and becomes practically inexhaustible if, in addition, varieties of form and rhythm are introduced. Hence, harmony becomes no longer a mere accompaniment of melody but rather a potent agency for augmenting the richness and expressiveness of musical conversation. To serve that end, a simple accompaniment will not suffice. True harmony

11193-472: The same octave) and organ . A continuo bass is the rule in Baroque music; its absence is noteworthy and often has a special reason, such as describing fragility. The specific character of a cantata or a single movement is rather defined by wind instruments, such as oboe , oboe da caccia , oboe d'amore , flauto traverso , recorder , trumpet , horn , trombone , and timpani . In movements with winds,

11316-409: The scheme: The opening chorus ( Eingangschor ) is usually a polyphonic setting, with the orchestra presenting the themes or contrasting material first. Most arias follow the form of a da capo aria , repeating the first part after a middle section. The final chorale is typically a homophonic setting of a traditional melody. Bach used an expanded structure to take up his position in Leipzig with

11439-548: The secular cantata Schwingt freudig euch empor , BWV 36.1 , believed to have been composed to honour one of the Bach's academic colleagues in Leipzig, was the basis of a secular cantata with a text in honour of Leopold's second wife. In Leipzig Bach was responsible for the town's church music in the Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche and was head of the Thomasschule . Church cantata performances alternated in

11562-674: The service at the St. Thomas Church on the first Sunday of Advent, and in 1717 he had tested the organ of the St. Paul's Church . In 1716, Bach and Kuhnau met on the occasion of the testing and inauguration of an organ in Halle. The position was offered to Bach only after it had been offered to Georg Philipp Telemann and then to Christoph Graupner , both of whom chose to stay where they were—Telemann in Hamburg and Graupner in Darmstadt—after using

11685-719: The singer as an equal partner. These instrumental parts are frequently set in virtuoso repetitive patterns called figuration . Instruments include, in addition to the ones mentioned, organ , flauto piccolo ( sopranino recorder ), violino piccolo , viola d'amore , violoncello piccolo (a smaller cello), tromba da tirarsi (slide trumpet) and corno da tirarsi . In his early compositions Bach also used instruments that had become old-fashioned, such as viola da gamba . Alto recorders (flauti dolci) are sometimes used in connection with death and mourning as in Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit , BWV 106 . Some cantatas are composed for

11808-477: The soprano and alto choristers from the school and the tenors and basses from the school and elsewhere in Leipzig. Performing at weddings and funerals provided extra income for these groups; probably for this purpose, and for in-school training, he wrote at least six motets . As part of his regular church work, he performed other composers' motets, which served as formal models for his own. Bach's predecessor as cantor, Johann Kuhnau, had also been music director for

11931-659: The story. The St Matthew Passion and the St John Passion were intended to be performed on Good Friday , before and after the sermon. The six parts of the Christmas Oratorio were intended to be performed on six feast days of the Christmas season, each part composed as a cantata with an opening chorus (except in Part 2) and a closing chorale. Bach composed the cantatas and performed them, conducting from

12054-487: The third and fourth cycles". Cantatas for some occasions are not extant. There is some circumstantial evidence that a complete fourth cycle of Bach cantatas, in scholarship indicated as the Picander cycle , may have existed. Extant cantatas of the fourth cycle: Not belonging to the foregoing: Bach sometimes reused an earlier composition, typically revising and improving it in a process called parody . For example,

12177-1014: The title of court composer in 1736. In the last decades of his life, Bach reworked and extended many of his earlier compositions. He died of complications after a botched eye surgery in 1750 at the age of 65. Bach enriched established German styles through his mastery of counterpoint , harmonic and motivic organisation, and his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France. His compositions include hundreds of cantatas , both sacred and secular . He composed Latin church music , Passions , oratorios , and motets . He often adopted Lutheran hymns , not only in his larger vocal works but, for instance, also in his four-part chorales and his sacred songs . Bach wrote extensively for organ and for other keyboard instruments . He composed concertos , for instance for violin and for harpsichord , and suites , as chamber music as well as for orchestra . Many of his works employ contrapuntal techniques like canon and fugue . In

12300-513: The trumpets in E-flat play a melody in the enharmonic scale of C minor. The major development in Bach's time to which he contributed in no small way was a temperament for keyboard instruments that allowed their use in every key (12 major and 12 minor) and also modulation without retuning. His Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother , a very early work, showed a gusto for modulation unlike any contemporary work it has been compared to, but

12423-526: The two churches for ordinary Sundays and took place in both churches on high holidays such as Christmas , then one in the morning, one in the afternoon, and again alternating for the three days such an occasion was celebrated. Academic functions took place at the Universitätskirche St. Pauli . There is debate whether Bach performed Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten , BWV 59 , there

12546-430: The upper and lower parts and still find the middle parts harmonious and agreeable. Bach cantata Working for Leipzig's Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche , it was part of Bach's job to perform a church cantata every Sunday and holiday , conducting soloists, the Thomanerchor and orchestra as part of the church service. In his first years in Leipzig, starting after Trinity of 1723, Bach regularly composed

12669-412: The well-known hymns were appealing to the audience. The new cantatas Bach composed for Easter of 1725 and afterwards were not chorale cantatas: Two of these, BWV 128 and BWV 68, both starting with a chorale fantasia, are sometimes seen as included in the chorale cantata cycle. Other cantatas by Bach that are usually seen as belonging to the chorale cantata cycle: For four further chorale cantatas it

12792-643: Was 15 years old. Bach later wrote several other works on the same theme. When Bach revisited Reincken in 1720 and showed him his improvisatory skills on the organ, Reincken reportedly remarked: "I thought that this art was dead, but I see that it lives in you." In 1706, Bach applied for a post as organist at the Blasius Church in Mühlhausen . As part of his application, he had a cantata performed on Easter, 24 April 1707, likely an early version of his Christ lag in Todes Banden . Bach's application

12915-410: Was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period . He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including orchestral music such as the Brandenburg Concertos ; solo instrumental works such as the cello suites and sonatas and partitas for solo violin ; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier ; organ works such as

13038-546: Was accepted a month later, and he took up the post in July. The position included significantly higher remuneration, improved conditions, and a better choir. Four months after arriving at Mühlhausen, Bach married Maria Barbara Bach , his second cousin. Bach convinced the church and town government at Mühlhausen to fund an expensive renovation of the organ at the Blasius Church. In 1708, Bach wrote Gott ist mein König ,

13161-690: Was appointed Thomaskantor director of church music in Leipzig. He had to direct the St. Thomas School and provide four churches with music, the St. Thomas Church , the St. Nicholas Church , and to a lesser extent, the New Church and St. Peter's Church . This was "the leading cantorate in Protestant Germany", located in the mercantile city in the Electorate of Saxony , which he held for 27 years, until his death. During that time he gained further prestige through honorary appointments at

13284-471: Was appointed court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar . His role there is unclear, but it probably included menial, non-musical duties. During his seven-month tenure at Weimar, his reputation as a keyboardist spread so widely that he was invited to inspect the new organ and give the inaugural recital at the New Church (now Bach Church ) in Arnstadt , about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southwest of Weimar. On 14 August 1703, he became

13407-404: Was at the core of Bach's style, and his compositions are to a large extent considered to have laid down the rules for the evolving scheme that dominated musical expression in the next centuries. Some examples of this characteristic of Bach's style and its influence: Bach's insistence on the tonal system and contribution to shaping it did not imply he was less at ease with the older modal system and

13530-512: Was born in Eisenach , the capital of the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach , in present-day Germany, on 21 March 1685 O.S. (31 March 1685 N.S. ). He was the eighth and youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach , the director of the town musicians, and Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt . His father likely taught him violin and basic music theory . His uncles were all professional musicians who worked as church organists, court chamber musicians, and composers. One uncle, Johann Christoph Bach , introduced him to

13653-495: Was born, and Maria Barbara's elder, unmarried sister joined them. She remained to help run the household until she died in 1729. Three sons were also born in Weimar: Wilhelm Friedemann , Carl Philipp Emanuel , and Johann Gottfried Bernhard . Johann Sebastian and Maria Barbara had three more children—twins born in 1713 and a single birth; none survived past their first birthday. Bach's time in Weimar began

13776-420: Was collaborating with. He called one of them, Geyersbach, a "Zippel Fagottist" ( weenie bassoonist ). Late one evening, Geyersbach went after Bach with a stick. Bach filed a complaint against Geyersbach with the authorities. They acquitted Geyersbach with a minor reprimand and ordered Bach to be more moderate about the musical qualities he expected from his students. Some months later, Bach upset his employer with

13899-489: Was composed for the inauguration of the town council in 1708. By Bach's own account, Aus der Tiefen rufe ich, Herr, zu dir , BWV 131 , was also composed at Mühlhausen. Other cantatas are assumed to date from this period: Bach worked in Weimar from 1708. He composed a secular cantata, Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd, BWV 208 , in 1713. The composition of cantatas for the Schlosskirche (court chapel) on

14022-474: Was costly. He received valuable teaching from his brother, who instructed him on the clavichord . Johann Christoph exposed him to the works of great composers of the day, including South Germans such as Johann Caspar Kerll , Johann Jakob Froberger , and Johann Pachelbel (under whom Johann Christoph had studied); North Germans; Frenchmen such as Jean-Baptiste Lully , Louis Marchand , and Marin Marais ; and

14145-506: Was declining. On 2 June, Heinrich von Brühl wrote to one of the Leipzig burgomasters to request that his music director, Gottlob Harrer , fill the Thomaskantor and Director musices posts "upon the eventual ... decease of Mr. Bach". Becoming blind, Bach underwent eye surgery in March 1750 and again in April by the British eye surgeon John Taylor , a man widely understood today as

14268-576: Was generally quite specific on ornamentation in his compositions (in his time, much ornamentation was not written out by composers but rather considered a liberty of the performer), and his ornamentation was often quite elaborate. For instance, the "Aria" of the Goldberg Variations has rich ornamentation in nearly every measure. Bach's approach to ornamentation can also be seen in a keyboard arrangement he made of Marcello 's Oboe Concerto : he added explicit ornamentation, which centuries later

14391-532: Was hired as Thomaskantor ( cantor at St Thomas's ) in Leipzig . There, he composed music for the principal Lutheran churches of the city and its university's student ensemble Collegium Musicum . In 1726, he began publishing his keyboard and organ music. In Leipzig, as had happened during some of his earlier positions, he had difficult relations with his employer. This situation was somewhat remedied when his sovereign, Augustus III of Poland , granted him

14514-409: Was less moved. After a performance of his St Matthew Passion , someone said it all sounded much like opera. In concerted playing in Bach's time, the basso continuo, consisting of instruments such as organ, viola da gamba , or harpsichord, usually had the role of accompaniment, providing a piece's harmonic and rhythmic foundation. Beginning in the 1720s, Bach had the organ play concertante (i.e., as

14637-437: Was one of the dozens of private societies in the major German-speaking cities established by musically active university students; they had become increasingly important in public musical life and were typically led by the most prominent professionals in a city. In the words of Christoph Wolff , assuming the directorship was a shrewd move that "consolidated Bach's firm grip on Leipzig's principal musical institutions". Every week,

14760-650: Was particularly attracted to the Italian style, in which one or more solo instruments alternate section-by-section with the full orchestra throughout a movement . In Weimar, Bach continued to play and compose for the organ and perform concert music with the duke's ensemble. He also began to write the preludes and fugues that were later assembled into his monumental work The Well-Tempered Clavier ("clavier" meaning clavichord or harpsichord), consisting of two books, each containing 24 preludes and fugues in every major and minor key. In Weimar Bach also started work on

14883-788: Was published in 1751. Together with one of J.S. Bach's former students, Johann Friedrich Agricola , C.P.E. Bach also wrote the obituary (" Nekrolog "), which was published in Mizler's Musikalische Bibliothek  [ de ] , a periodical journal produced by the Society of Musical Sciences, in 1754. From an early age, Bach studied the works of his musical contemporaries of the Baroque period and those of earlier generations, and those influences are reflected in his music. Like his contemporaries Handel, Telemann, and Vivaldi, Bach composed concertos, suites, recitatives, da capo arias , and four-part choral music, and employed basso continuo . His music

15006-674: Was selected as the first work to appear in the Bach-Gesellschaft-Ausgabe , the first complete edition. In 1928, The New York Times reported the presentation in Paris of two secular Bach cantatas by opera soprano Marguerite Bériza and her company in staged productions, The Peasant Cantata and The Coffee Cantata . In 1931 a recording was made of a performance of Christ lag in Todes Banden , in Barcelona. The number of performances and recordings increased in

15129-503: Was the basis of much of his work. In elaborating these hymns into his chorale preludes, he wrote more cogent and tightly integrated works than most, even when they were massive and lengthy. The large-scale structure of every major Bach sacred vocal work is evidence of subtle, elaborate planning to create religiously and musically powerful expression. For example, the St Matthew Passion , like other works of its kind, illustrated

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