What works did Bach write in Weimar? "Weimar period. Leipzig period and last years of life

In 1708, Bach again found himself in Weimar to serve as a gopher organist. His stay here lasted for 10 years. During this time, the composer managed to hold several positions - each had its own nuances of work. (I had to write music for several instruments at once). The composer gained invaluable experience as a composer while he was in Weimar. No wonder it was here that he wrote the best works for the organ.

It is worth adding that Johann Sebastian, even in his youth, established himself as an excellent virtuoso organist. Periodically, he undertook trips for, and these performances helped spread the fame of Bach as an outstanding improviser. In the city of Kassel, for example, such variations were performed using a pedal that the listeners were delighted. According to the information that has reached us, Bach was phenomenal and this fact left all his rivals far behind. He could vary the same theme for 2 hours, all the while doing it in a variety of different ways.

One of the episodes from the composer’s life often mentioned by biographers happened in 1717. Bach received an invitation to perform with Louis Marchand (the famous French virtuoso keyboardist) in the city of Dresden. At the concert, Marchand performed a French song, and for its brilliant performance he received long applause from the audience. Then Johann Sebastian was invited to play the instrument. After a short but masterful prelude, the composer repeated the song that Marchand had played, also applying to it many variations, constructed in a way that had never been heard before. Bach's superiority was obvious and when Johann Sebastian offered his opponent a friendly duel, Marchand, fearing failure, chose to leave Dresden as quickly as possible.

However, no matter how great the superiority of the German composer over others, general position It didn't improve him. In Dresden, one might say, they were amused and let go.

It is noteworthy that Bach never boasted of his successes; moreover, he did not like to remember them. When asked how such a high level of performance was achieved, he answered that everyone could do it by making the same efforts. He was modest and impartial, so he retained a sense of goodwill towards other people - his idol, for example, was Handel. Bach always wanted to meet him and strived for this, but the meeting never took place.

After 10 years in Weimar, Johann Sebastian occupied only the position of assistant bandmaster, despite the fact that he did all the main work. Therefore, when the vacancy of court conductor opened up, Bach had every reason to take it, but the position went not to him, but to the mediocre son of the deceased conductor. This naturally seemed an insult to Johann Sebastian, so he demanded his resignation. The Duke reacted to this very harshly, but in the spirit of princely morals, taking the dissatisfied employee under arrest - supposedly a simple servant dared to question the highest command. So Bach was repaid for his 10 years of service in Weimar with arrest.

Bach's life in Köthen

After Weimar, Bach, together with his wife and children, came to Köthen (this was in 1717). His work here consisted of leading the court orchestra, as well as teaching the Prince of Köthen. The composer could spend the rest of his time writing. Due to the lack of an organ, I had to concentrate in my work on keyboard music.

Over time, Johann Sebastian became increasingly bored in the small provincial town and he was thinking about leaving. But besides boredom, two more circumstances spurred this step - 1720 (wife Maria Barbara died), the desire to give their children a good university education. At first, Bach tried to get a job as an organist in the city of Hamburg at the Church of St. James. He performed in this city during one of his recent artistic trips and greatly delighted everyone with his playing on the organ, including the already elderly Reincken, who was present there. Bach again did not get the desired position; it was given to a man who knew nothing about music, but who contributed a round sum to the church fund. We had to wait some more time before new prospects appeared.

In 1721, the great composer married again. The chosen one's name was Anna Magdalena, she came from a musical family and had a strong voice herself. Thanks to some character traits (gentleness, responsiveness), Anna became a support and support for her husband.

Bach's life in Leipzig

Soon the composer tried to get a job as a cantor in the city of Leipzig. He filed a petition with the magistrate, but they were looking for a more famous musician. The existing candidates refused, so it was decided to accept Bach, and even then on humiliating conditions.

The school of singers, which, thanks to these very conditions, was in the department of Johann Sebastian, was in complete ruin. The choir members were unable to cope with their task; many of them simply did not have the appropriate training, while others were generally unsuitable for singing in the choir. It was the same story with the musicians who played in the orchestra. Johann Sebastian wrote reports to the magistrate, but received no support. It was much easier for the petty-bourgeois aristocrats who headed it to shift all the blame onto the new cantor, which is what they did in their numerous documents. Thus, relations with the authorities did not work out in Leipzig, but Johann Sebastian did not want to move somewhere, since he already had considerable experience in such things.

The only thing that somehow smoothed out the feelings of constant attacks and humiliation from superiors was the composer’s artistic journeys. His incredible skill allowed him to win the sympathy of people, as well as make many new acquaintances, since Bach’s music was highly valued by some of outstanding personalities of that time.

But still, the composer's contribution (the main thing on which the composer spent his time) remained underestimated. Bach's works were not published, as if no one cared about them. It was as if a wall of misunderstanding then grew between the musician and society, leaving Johann Sebastian a lonely artist (it must be said that his wife provided him with great support). And so it was, unfortunately, until the death of the composer.

Bach's latest creations are distinguished by their alien philosophical abstraction real world. In them, he seems to fence himself off from the cruel reality of the world. But this does not detract from the significance of these works, which are deservedly considered the pinnacle of polyphonic art.

On July 28, 1750, Bach passed away. This event did not attract much attention. However, in our time, countless people gather at the place where the remains of the composer are located - all of them are ardent admirers of his work.

Johann Sebastian Bach
Years of life: 1685-1750

Bach was a genius of such magnitude that even today he seems an unsurpassed, exceptional phenomenon. His creativity is truly inexhaustible: after the “discovery” of Bach’s music in XIX century interest in it is steadily increasing, Bach's works are winning an audience even among listeners who usually do not show interest in “serious” art.

Bach's work, on the one hand, was a kind of summing up. In his music, the composer relied on everything that had been achieved and discovered in the art of music before him. Bach had an excellent knowledge of German organ music, choral polyphony, and the peculiarities of German and Italian violin style. He not only became acquainted with, but also copied the works of contemporary French harpsichordists (primarily Couperin), Italian violinists (Corelli, Vivaldi), and major representatives of Italian opera. Possessing an amazing sensitivity to everything new, Bach developed and generalized his accumulated creative experience.

At the same time, he was a brilliant innovator who opened up the development of world musical culture new perspectives. His powerful influence was felt in the works of great composers of the 19th century (Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Glinka, Taneyev), and in the works of outstanding masters of the 20th century (Shostakovich, Honegger).

Bach's creative heritage is almost immense, it includes more than 1000 works of various genres, and among them there are those whose scale is exceptional for their time (MP). Bach's works can be divided into three main genre groups:

vocal and instrumental music;
organ music,
music for other instruments (clavier, violin, flute, etc.) and instrumental ensembles (including orchestral).

The works of each group are mainly associated with a certain period of Bach’s creative biography. The most significant organ works were created in Weimar, keyboard and orchestral works mainly belong to the Köthen period, vocal and instrumental works were mostly written in Leipzig.

The main genres in which Bach worked are traditional: masses and passions, cantatas and oratorios, choral arrangements, preludes and fugues, dance suites and concertos. Having inherited these genres from his predecessors, Bach gave them a scope that they had never known before. He updated them with new means of expression, enriched them with features borrowed from other genres musical creativity. A striking example is. Created for the clavier, it incorporates the expressive properties of large organ improvisations as well as dramatic recitation of theatrical origins.

Bach's work, for all its universality and inclusiveness, “passed by” one of the leading genres of its time - opera. At the same time, there is little that distinguishes some of Bach's secular cantatas from the comedic interlude, which was already being reborn at that time in Italy in opera-buffa. The composer often called them, like the first Italian operas, “dramas on music.” It can be said that such works of Bach as “Coffee” and “Peasant” cantatas, solved as witty genre scenes from everyday life, anticipated the German Singspiel.

Circle of images and ideological content

The figurative content of Bach's music is limitless in its breadth. The majestic and the simple are equally accessible to him. Bach's art contains deep sorrow, simple-minded humor, acute drama and philosophical reflection. Like Handel, Bach reflected the essential aspects of his era - the first half of the XVIII centuries, but others - not effective heroics, but religious and philosophical problems put forward by the Reformation. In his music he reflects on the most important, eternal questions human life- about the purpose of a person, about his moral duty, about life and death. These reflections are most often associated with religious themes, because Bach served in the church almost all his life, wrote a huge part of the music for the church, and was himself a deeply religious person who knew the Holy Scriptures very well. He complied church holidays, fasted, confessed, and took communion a few days before his death. The Bible in two languages - German and Latin - was his reference book.

Bach's Jesus Christ - main character and ideal. In this image the composer saw the personification of the best human qualities: strength of spirit, fidelity to the chosen path, purity of thoughts. The most sacred thing in the history of Christ for Bach is Calvary and the cross, the sacrificial feat of Jesus for the salvation of humanity. This theme, being the most important in Bach's work, receives ethical, moral interpretation.

Musical symbolism

The complex world of Bach's works is revealed through musical symbolism that developed in line with Baroque aesthetics. Bach's contemporaries perceived his music, including instrumental, “pure” music, as understandable speech due to the presence in it of stable melodic turns expressing certain concepts, emotions, and ideas. By analogy with the classic oratory These sound formulas are called musical and rhetorical figures. Some rhetorical figures were of a figurative nature (for example, anabasis - ascent, catabasis - descent, circulatio - rotation, fuga - run, tirata - arrow); others imitated the intonations of human speech (exclamatio - exclamation - ascending sixth); still others conveyed affect (suspiratio - sigh, passus duriusculus - chromatic move used to express grief, suffering).

Thanks to stable semantics, musical figures turned into “signs”, emblems of certain feelings and concepts. For example, descending melodies (catadasis) were used to symbolize sadness, dying, and entombment; ascending scales expressed the symbolism of resurrection, etc.

Symbolic motifs are present in all of Bach’s works, and these are not only musical and rhetorical figures. Melodies often have a symbolic meaning Protestant chorales, their segments.

Bach was associated with the Protestant chorale throughout his life - both by religion and by occupation as a church musician. He constantly worked with the chorale in a variety of genres - organ chorale preludes, cantatas, passions. It is quite natural that P.Kh. has become an integral part musical language Bach.

The chorales were sung by the entire Protestant community; they were part of spiritual world human being as a natural, necessary element of worldview. Chorale melodies and the religious content associated with them were known to everyone, so people of Bach’s time easily formed associations with the meaning of the chorale, with a specific event in the Holy Scriptures. Permeating all of Bach’s work, the melodies of P.H. fill his music, including instrumental music, with a spiritual program that clarifies the content.

Symbols are also stable sound combinations that have constant meanings. One of Bach's most important symbols is cross symbol, consisting of four notes in different directions. If you graphically connect the first with the third, and the second with the fourth, a cross pattern is formed. (It is curious that the surname BACH, when transcribed into music, forms the same pattern. Probably, the composer perceived this as a kind of finger of fate).

Finally, there are numerous connections between Bach’s cantata-oratorio (i.e. textual) works and his instrumental music. Based on all the listed connections and analysis of various rhetorical figures, a Bach's system of musical symbols. A. Schweitzer, F. Busoni, B. Yavorsky, M. Yudina made a huge contribution to its development.

"Second birth"

Bach's brilliant work was not truly appreciated by his contemporaries. While enjoying fame as an organist, during his lifetime he did not attract due attention as a composer. Not a single serious work has been written about his work, only an insignificant part of the works has been published. After Bach's death, his manuscripts gathered dust in the archives, many were irretrievably lost, and the composer's name was forgotten.

Genuine interest in Bach arose only in the 19th century. It was started by F. Mendelssohn, who accidentally found the notes of the “St. Matthew Passion” in the library. Under his direction this work was performed in Leipzig. Most listeners, literally shocked by the music, have never heard the name of the author. This was Bach's second birth.

On the centenary of his death (1850), a Bach Society, which set the goal of publishing all the surviving manuscripts of the composer in the form full meeting works (46 volumes).

Several of Bach's sons became prominent musicians: Philipp Emmanuel, Wilhelm Friedemann (Dresden), Johann Christoph (Bückenburg), Johann Christian (the youngest, "London" Bach).

Biography of Bach

YEARS	LIFE	CREATION
	Born in Eisenach in the family of a hereditary musician. This profession was traditional for the entire Bach family: almost all of its representatives were musicians for several centuries. Johann Sebastian's first musical mentor was his father. In addition, having a wonderful voice, he sang in the choir.
At 9 years old	He remained an orphan and was taken into care by the family of his older brother, Johann Christoph, who served as an organist in Ohrdruf.
	At the age of 15 he graduated with honors from the Ohrdruf Lyceum and moved to Luneburg, where he entered the choir of “selected singers” (at Michaelschule). By the age of 17, he owned the harpsichord, violin, viola, and organ.
	Over the next few years, he changed his place of residence several times, serving as a musician (violinist, organist) in small German cities: Weimar (1703), Arnstadt (1704), Mühlhausen(1707). The reason for moving is the same every time - dissatisfaction with working conditions, dependent position.	The first works appear - for organ, clavier (“Capriccio on the Departure of the Beloved Brother”), the first spiritual cantatas.
	WEIMAR PERIOD He entered the service of the Duke of Weimar as a court organist and chamber musician in the chapel.	The years of Bach's first maturity as a composer were very fruitful creatively. The culmination of organ creativity has been reached - all the best that Bach created for this instrument has appeared: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Prelude and Fugue in A minor, Prelude and Fugue in C minor, Toccata in C major, Passacaglia in C minor, as well as the famous "Organ book". In parallel with organ compositions, he works on the cantata genre, on transcriptions for the clavier of Italian violin concertos (especially Vivaldi). The Weimar years are also characterized by the first turn to the genre of solo violin sonata and suite.
	KETEN PERIOD Becomes a "director" chamber music”, that is, the leader of the entire court musical life at the court of the Köthen prince. In an effort to give his sons a university education, he tries to move to a large city.	Since there was no good organ and choir in Köthen, he focused his attention on the clavier (I volume of the KhTK, Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, French and English Suites) and ensemble music (6 Brandenburg concertos, sonatas for solo violin).
	LEIPZIG PERIOD Becomes a cantor (choir director) at Thomaschul - a school at the Church of St. Thomas. Besides the huge creative work and services in the church school, took an active part in the activities of the “Musical College” of the city. It was a society of music lovers that organized secular music concerts for city residents.	The time of the greatest flowering of Bach's genius. The best works for choir and orchestra were created: Mass in B minor, Passion according to John and Passion according to Matthew, Christmas oratorio, most cantatas (about 300 in the first three years). In the last decade, Bach concentrated most heavily on music free of any applied purpose. These are the II volume of “HTK” (1744), as well as the partitas, “Italian Concerto. Organ Mass, Aria with Various Variations" (after Bach's death called the Goldberg Variations).
	Recent years have been marred by eye disease. After an unsuccessful operation he became blind, but continued to compose.	Two polyphonic cycles - “The Art of Fugue” and “Musical Offering”.

Johann Sebastian Bach is a German composer and musician of the Baroque era, who collected and combined in his work the traditions and most significant achievements of European musical art, and also enriched all this with a masterly use of counterpoint and a subtle sense of perfect harmony. Bach is the greatest classic who left a huge legacy that has become the golden fund of world culture. He is a versatile musician whose work has covered almost all known genres. Creating immortal masterpieces, he turned every beat of his compositions into small works, then combining them into priceless creations of perfect beauty and expressiveness that vividly reflected the diverse spiritual world of man.

A short biography of Johann Sebastian Bach and many interesting facts Read about the composer on our page.

Brief biography of Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in the German town of Eisenach into the fifth generation of a family of musicians on March 21, 1685. It should be noted that musical dynasties were quite common in Germany at that time, and talented parents sought to develop appropriate talents in their children. The boy's father, Johann Ambrosius, was an organist in the church of Eisenach and a court accompanist. It is obvious that it was he who gave the first lessons in playing the violin And harpsichord little son.

From Bach's biography we learn that at the age of 10 the boy lost his parents, but was not left without a roof over his head, because he was the eighth and youngest child in the family. The little orphan was taken care of by Ohrdruf's respected organist Johann Christoph Bach, Johann Sebastian's older brother. Among his other students, Johann Christoph taught his brother to play the clavier, but the manuscripts modern composers the strict teacher kept it securely under lock and key, so as not to spoil the taste of the young performers. However, the castle did not prevent little Bach from getting acquainted with forbidden works.

Luneburg

At the age of 15, Bach entered the prestigious Luneburg School of Church Choristers, which was located at the Church of St. Michael, and at the same time, thanks to his beautiful voice, young Bach was able to earn a little extra money in a church choir. In addition, in Luneburg the young man met Georg Böhm, a famous organist, communication with whom influenced early work composer. And also repeatedly traveled to Hamburg to listen to the play of the largest representative of the German organ school A. Reinken. Bach's first works for clavier and organ date back to the same period. After successfully completing school, Johann Sebastian receives the right to enter the university, but due to lack of funds he was not able to continue his education.

Weimar and Arnstadt

Johann began his career in Weimar, where he was accepted into the court chapel of Duke Johann Ernst of Saxony as a violinist. However, this did not last long, since such work did not satisfy creative impulses young musician. In 1703, Bach, without hesitation, agreed to move to the city of Arnstadt, where he was in the church of St. Boniface was initially offered the position of organ keeper, and then the post of organist. A decent salary, work only three days a week, a good modernized instrument configured with the latest system, all this created the conditions for expansion creative possibilities musician not only as a performer, but also as a composer.

During this period, he created a large number of organ works, as well as capriccios, cantatas and suites. Here Johann becomes a true organ expert and a brilliant virtuoso, whose playing aroused unbridled delight among listeners. It was in Arnstadt that his gift of improvisation was revealed, which the church leadership really did not like. Bach always strived for perfection and did not miss the opportunity to meet famous musicians, for example, with organist Dietrich Buxtehude, who served in Lübeck. Having received a four-week vacation, Bach went to listen to the great musician, whose playing impressed Johann so much that he, forgetting about his duties, stayed in Lübeck for four months. Upon returning to Arndstadt, the indignant management gave Bach a humiliating trial, after which he had to leave the city and look for a new place of work.

Mühlhausen

The next city on Bach's life path was Mühlhausen. Here in 1706 he won a competition for the position of organist in the Church of St. Vlasiya. He was accepted with a good salary, but also with a certain condition: the musical accompaniment of the chorales must be strict, without any kind of “decoration”. The city authorities subsequently treated the new organist with respect: they approved a plan for the reconstruction of the church organ, and also paid a good reward for the festive cantata “The Lord is My King” composed by Bach, which was dedicated to the inauguration ceremony of the new consul. Bach's stay in Mühlhausen was marked by a happy event: he married his beloved cousin Maria Barbara, who later gave him seven children.

Weimar

In 1708, Duke Ernst of Saxe-Weimar heard the magnificent performance of the Mühlhausen organist. Impressed by what he heard, the noble nobleman immediately offered Bach the positions of court musician and city organist with a salary significantly higher than before. Johann Sebastian began Weimar period, which is characterized as one of the most fruitful in the composer’s creative life. At this time, he created a large number of compositions for clavier and organ, including a collection of choral preludes, “Passacaglia in C minor”, the famous “ Toccata and fugue d minor ", "Fantasy and Fugue in C major" and many other great works. It should also be noted that the composition of more than two dozen spiritual cantatas dates back to this period. Such effectiveness in Bach's compositional work was associated with his appointment in 1714 as vice-kapellmeister, whose duties included regular monthly updating of church music.

At the same time, Johann Sebastian's contemporaries were more admired by his performing arts, and he constantly heard remarks of admiration for his playing. The fame of Bach as a virtuoso musician quickly spread not only throughout Weimar, but also beyond its borders. One day the Dresden royal bandmaster invited him to compete with the famous French musician L. Marchand. However, the musical competition did not work out, since the Frenchman, having heard Bach play at the preliminary audition, secretly left Dresden without warning. In 1717, the Weimar period in Bach's life came to an end. Johann Sebastian dreamed of getting the position of conductor, but when this position became vacant, the Duke offered it to another, very young and inexperienced musician. Bach, considering this an insult, asked for his immediate resignation and was arrested for four weeks for this.

Köthen

According to Bach's biography, in 1717 he left Weimar to take a job in Köthen as a court conductor for Prince Leopold of Anhalt of Köthen. In Köthen, Bach had to write secular music, since, as a result of the reforms, only psalms were performed in the church. Here Bach occupied an exceptional position: as a court conductor he was well paid, the prince treated him as a friend, and the composer repaid this beautiful essays. In Köthen the musician had many students, and for their training he compiled “ Well-tempered clavier" These are 48 preludes and fugues that glorified Bach as a master of keyboard music. When the prince married, the young princess showed dislike for both Bach and his music. Johann Sebastian had to look for another job.

Leipzig

In Leipzig, where Bach moved in 1723, he reached the pinnacle of his career ladder: he was appointed cantor at the Church of St. Thomas and the musical director of all churches in the city. Bach was involved in teaching and preparing performers of church choirs, selecting music, organizing and holding concerts in the main churches of the city. Heading the College of Music from 1729, Bach began to organize 8 two-hour concerts of secular music per month in a coffee house of a certain Zimmermann, adapted for orchestra performances. Having received his appointment as court composer, Bach handed over the leadership of the College of Music to his former student Karl Gerlach in 1737. recent years Bach often reworked his early works. In 1749 he graduated from High Mass in B minor, some parts of which were written by him 25 years ago. The composer died in 1750 while working on The Art of Fugue.

Interesting facts about Bach

Bach was a recognized expert on organs. He was invited to check and tune instruments in various churches in Weimar, where he lived for quite a long time. Every time he amazed his clients with the amazing improvisations that he played to hear how the instrument in need of his work sounded.
Johann was bored with performing monotonous chorales during the service, and without holding back his creative impulse, he impromptu inserted his own small decorative variations into the established church music, which caused great dissatisfaction with his superiors.
Best known for his religious works, Bach also excelled in composing secular music, as evidenced by his “Coffee Cantata.” Bach presented this work, full of humor, as a small comic opera. Originally called "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht" ("Be quiet, stop chatting"), it describes the lyrical hero's addiction to coffee, and, not coincidentally, this cantata was first performed in the Leipzig coffee house.
At the age of 18, Bach really wanted to get the position of organist in Lubeck, which at that time belonged to the famous Dietrich Buxtehude. Another contender for this place was G. Handel. The main condition for occupying this position was marriage to one of Buxtehude’s daughters, but neither Bach nor Handel decided to sacrifice themselves in this way.
Johann Sebastian Bach really enjoyed dressing up as a poor teacher and visiting small churches in this guise, where he asked the local organist to play the organ a little. Some parishioners, hearing the performance, which was unusually beautiful for them, left the service in fear, thinking that what they had in the church was like strange man the devil himself appeared.

The Russian envoy to Saxony, Hermann von Keyserling, asked Bach to write a work to which he could quickly fall asleep. This is how the Goldberg Variations appeared, for which the composer received a gold cube filled with a hundred louis d'or. These variations are still one of the best “sleeping pills”.
Johann Sebastian was known to his contemporaries not only as an outstanding composer and virtuoso performer, but also as a man with a very difficult character, intolerant of the mistakes of others. There is a known case when a bassoonist, publicly insulted by Bach for imperfect performance, attacked Johann. A real duel took place, as both were armed with daggers.
Bach, who was keen on numerology, liked to weave the numbers 14 and 41 into his musical works, because these numbers corresponded to the first letters of the composer’s name. By the way, Bach also liked to use his last name in his compositions: the musical decoding of the word “Bach” forms a drawing of a cross. It is this symbol that is most important for Bach, who believes that similar coincidences.

Thanks to Johann Sebastian Bach, today not only men sing in church choirs. The first woman to sing in the church was the composer’s wife Anna Magdalena, who has a beautiful voice.
In the mid-19th century, German musicologists founded the first Bach Society, whose main task was to publish the composer's works. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the society dissolved itself and the entire collection of Bach’s works was published only in the second half of the twentieth century on the initiative of the Bach Institute, created in 1950. In the world today there are a total of two hundred and twenty-two Bach societies, Bach orchestras and Bach choirs.
Researchers of Bach's work suggest that the great maestro composed 11,200 works, although the legacy known to descendants includes only 1,200 compositions.
Today there are more than fifty-three thousand books and various publications about Bach on different languages, about seven thousand complete biographies of the composer have been published.
In 1950, W. Schmieder compiled a numbered catalog of Bach’s works (BWV – Bach Werke Verzeichnis). This catalog was updated several times as data on the authorship of certain works was clarified and, in contrast to traditional chronological principles for classifying the works of others famous composers, this catalog is built on a thematic basis. Works with similar numbers belong to the same genre, and were not written at all in the same years.
Bach's works Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, Gavotte in Rondo Form and HTC were recorded on the Golden Record and launched from Earth in 1977 attached to the Voyager spacecraft.

Everyone knows that Beethoven suffered from hearing loss, but few people know that Bach became blind in his later years. In fact, an unsuccessful eye operation performed by quack surgeon John Taylor caused the composer’s death in 1750.
Johann Sebastian Bach was buried near the Church of St. Thomas. After some time, a road was built through the cemetery territory and the grave was lost. At the end of the 19th century, during the reconstruction of the church, the composer’s remains were found and reburied. After World War II in 1949, Bach's relics were transferred to the church building. However, due to the fact that the grave changed its location several times, skeptics doubt that the ashes of Johann Sebastian are in the burial.
To date, 150 postage stamps dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach have been issued worldwide, 90 of them were published in Germany.
To Johann Sebastian Bach - the great musical genius, is treated with great reverence throughout the world, monuments to him have been erected in many countries, only in Germany there are 12 monuments. One of them is located in the town of Dornheim near Arnstadt and is dedicated to the wedding of Johann Sebastian and Maria Barbara.

Family of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian belonged to the largest German musical dynasty, the pedigree of which is usually traced back to Veit Bach, a simple baker, but very fond of music and excellently performing folk melodies on his favorite instrument, the zither. This passion was passed on from the founder of the family to his descendants, many of them became professional musicians: composers, cantors, bandmasters, as well as a variety of instrumentalists. They settled not only throughout Germany, some even went abroad. Over the course of two hundred years, there were so many Bach musicians that any person whose occupation was related to music began to be named after them. The most famous ancestors of Johann Sebastian, whose works have come down to us, were: Johannes, Heinrich, Johann Christoph, Johann Bernhard, Johann Michael and Johann Nikolaus. Johann Sebastian's father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was also a musician and served as an organist in Eisenach, the city where Bach was born.

Johann Sebastian himself was the father of a large family: he had twenty children from two wives. He first married his beloved cousin Maria Barbara, daughter of Johann Michael Bach, in 1707. Maria bore Johann Sebastian seven children, three of whom died in infancy. Maria herself also did not live long life, she died at the age of 36, leaving Bach with four young children. Bach took the loss of his wife very hard, but a year later he again fell in love with a young girl, Anna Magdalena Wilken, whom he met at the court of the Duke of Anhalt-Kethen and proposed to her. Despite the large age difference, the girl agreed and it is obvious that this marriage was very successful, since Anna Magdalena gave Bach thirteen children. The girl did an excellent job with the housework, cared for the children, sincerely rejoiced at her husband’s successes and provided great assistance in his work, rewriting his scores. Family was a great joy for Bach; he devoted a lot of time to raising his children, playing music with them and composing special exercises. In the evenings, the family often organized impromptu concerts, which brought joy to everyone. Bach's children had excellent talent by nature, but four of them had exceptional musical talent - Johann Christoph Friedrich, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Wilhelm Friedemann and Johann Christian. They also became composers and left their mark on the history of music, but none of them could surpass their father either in composing or in the art of performance.

Works of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the most prolific composers; his legacy in the treasury of world musical culture includes about 1,200 immortal masterpieces. In Bach's work there was only one inspirer - the Creator. Johann Sebastian dedicated almost all of his works to him and at the end of the scores he always signed letters that were an abbreviation of the words: “In the name of Jesus,” “Help Jesus,” “Glory to God alone.” To create for God was the main goal in the composer’s life, and therefore his musical works absorbed all the wisdom of the “Holy Scripture”. Bach was very faithful to his religious worldview and never betrayed it. According to the composer, even the smallest instrumental piece should point to the wisdom of the Creator.

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his works in virtually all musical genres known at that time, except opera. The compiled catalog of his works includes: 247 works for organ, 526 vocal works, 271 works for harpsichord, 19 solo works for various instruments, 31 concertos and suites for orchestra, 24 duets for harpsichord with any other instrument, 7 canons and other works.

Musicians all over the world perform Bach's music and become familiar with many of his works from childhood. For example, every little pianist, studying at a music school, must have in his repertoire pieces from « Music book by Anna Magdalena Bach » . Then small preludes and fugues are studied, followed by inventions, and finally « Well-tempered clavier » , but this is already high school.

TO famous works Johann Sebastian also include " St. Matthew Passion", "Mass in B Minor", "Christmas Oratorio", "St. John Passion" and, undoubtedly, " Toccata and Fugue in D minor" And the cantata “The Lord is my King” still sounds in holiday services in churches in different corners peace.

Films about Bach

The great composer, being a major figure in world musical culture, has always attracted close attention, which is why many books have been written about Bach’s biography and his work, as well as feature films and documentaries. There are quite a large number of them, but the most significant of them are:

“The Futile Journey of Johann Sebastian Bach to Fame” (1980, GDR) - a biographical film tells about the difficult fate of the composer, who spent his entire life wandering in search of “his” place in the sun.
“Bach: The Fight for Freedom” (1995, Czech Republic, Canada) - feature film, which tells about the intrigues in the palace of the old Duke, which began around the rivalry between Bach and the best organist of the orchestra.
“Dinner for Four Hands” (1999, Russia) is a feature film that shows a meeting of two composers, Handel and Bach, that never took place in reality, but so desired.
“My name is Bach” (2003) - the film takes viewers to 1747, at the time when Johann Sebastian Bach arrived at the court of the Prussian King Frederick II.
"The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach" (1968) and "Johann Bach and Anna Magdalena" (2003) - the films depict Bach's relationship with his second wife, a capable student of her husband.
“Anton Ivanovich is angry” - musical comedy, in which there is an episode: Bach appears to the main character in a dream and says that he was terribly bored writing countless chorales, and he always dreamed of writing a cheerful operetta.
“Silence before Bach” (2007) is a film-musical that helps you immerse yourself in the world of Bach’s music, which upended the Europeans’ idea of harmony that existed before him.

From documentaries about the famous composer, it is necessary to note such films as: “Johann Sebastian Bach: life and work, in two parts” (1985, USSR); “Johann Sebastian Bach” (series “German Composers” 2004, Germany); "Johann Sebastian Bach" (series " Famous composers"2005, USA); “Johann Sebastian Bach – composer and theologian” (2016, Russia).

The music of Johann Sebastian, filled with philosophical content, and also having a great impact on a person emotional impact, directors very often used in the soundtracks of their films, for example:

Excerpts from musical works	Movies
Suite No. 3 for cello	"Reckoning" (2016)
Suite No. 3 for cello	"Allies" (2016)
Brandenburg Concerto No. 3	"Snowden" (2016)
	"Destruction" (2015)
	"Spotlight" (2015)
	"Jobs: Empire of Seduction" (2013)
Partita No. 2 for solo violin	"Anthropoid (2016)
Partita No. 2 for solo violin	"Florence Foster Jenkins" (2016)
Goldberg Variations	"Altamira" (2016)
	"Annie" (2014)
	"Hello Carter" (2013)
	"Five Dances" (2013)
	"Snowpiercer" (2013)
	"Hannibal Rising"(2007)
	"The Cry of an Owl" (2009)
	"Sleepless Night" (2011)
	"To something beautiful"(2010)
	"Captain Fantastic (2016)
"John Passion"	"Something Like Hate" (2015)
	"Eichmann" (2007)
	"Cosmonaut" (2013)
Mass in B minor	"Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" (2015)
Mass in B minor	"Elena" (2011)

Despite the ups and downs, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a huge number of amazing works. The composer's work was continued by his famous sons, but none of them were able to surpass their father either in composing or performing music. The name of the author of passionate and pure, incredibly talented and unforgettable works stands at the top of the world of music, and his recognition as a great composer continues to this day.

Video: watch a film about Johann Sebastian Bach

From the 19th century to the present day, interest in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach has not subsided. The creativity of an unsurpassed genius amazes with its scale. known all over the world. His name is known not only to professionals and music lovers, but also to listeners who do not show much interest in “serious” art. On the one hand, Bach's work is a certain result. The composer relied on the experience of his predecessors. He knew perfectly well the choral polyphony of the Renaissance, German organ music, and the peculiarities of the Italian violin style. He carefully studied new material, developed and generalized his accumulated experience. On the other hand, Bach was an unsurpassed innovator who managed to open up new perspectives for the development of world musical culture. The work of Johann Bach had a strong influence on his followers: Brahms, Beethoven, Wagner, Glinka, Taneyev, Honegger, Shostakovich and many other great composers.

Bach's creative heritage

He created over 1000 works. The genres he addressed were very diverse. Moreover, there are works whose scale was exceptional for that time. Bach's work can be divided into four main genre groups:

Organ music.
Vocal-instrumental.
Music for various instruments (violin, flute, clavier and others).
Music for instrumental ensembles.

The works of each of the above groups belong to a specific period. The most outstanding organ compositions were composed in Weimar. The Keten period marks the appearance of a huge number of keyboard and orchestral works. Most of the vocal and instrumental songs were written in Leipzig.

Johann Sebastian Bach. Biography and creativity

The future composer was born in 1685 in small town Eisenach, in a musical family. For the whole family it was a traditional profession. Johann's first music teacher was his father. The boy had an excellent voice and sang in the choir. At the age of 9 he became an orphan. After the death of his parents, he was raised by Johann Christoph (elder brother). At the age of 15, the boy graduated from the Ohrdruf Lyceum with honors and moved to Lüneburg, where he began singing in the choir of the “chosen ones”. By the age of 17, he learned to play various harpsichords, organs, and violins. Since 1703 he has lived in different cities: Arnstadt, Weimar, Mühlhausen. Bach's life and work during this period were full of certain difficulties. He constantly changes his place of residence, which is due to his reluctance to feel dependent on certain employers. He served as a musician (as an organist or violinist). Working conditions also constantly dissatisfied him. At this time, his first compositions for clavier and organ, as well as spiritual cantatas, appeared.

Weimar period

In 1708, Bach began serving as court organist for the Duke of Weimar. At the same time, he works in the chapel as a chamber musician. Bach's life and work during this period were very fruitful. These are the years of first composer maturity. The best organ works appeared. This:

Prelude and Fugue in C minor, A minor.
Toccata C major.
Passacaglia c-moll.
Toccata and fugue in d minor.
"Organ book".

At the same time, Johann Sebastian is working on works in the cantata genre, on transcriptions of Italian violin concertos for the clavier. For the first time he turns to the genre of solo violin suite and sonata.

Keten period

Since 1717, the musician settled in Köthen. Here he holds a high-ranking position as director of chamber music. He, in fact, is the manager of all musical life at court. But he is not happy with the town being too small. Bach is eager to move to a larger, more promising city to give his children the opportunity to go to university and get a good education. There was no high-quality organ in Köthen, and there was also no choir. Therefore, Bach’s keyboard creativity develops here. The composer also pays a lot of attention to ensemble music. Works written in Köthen:

Volume 1 "HTK".
English Suites.
Sonatas for solo violin.
"Brandenburg Concertos" (six pieces).

Leipzig period and last years of life

Since 1723, the maestro has lived in Leipzig, where he leads the choir (holds the position of cantor) at the school at the Church of St. Thomas in Thomaschul. Takes an active part in a public circle of music lovers. The city's "collegium" constantly organized secular music concerts. What masterpieces were added to Bach’s work at that time? It is worth briefly indicating the main works of the Leipzig period, which can rightfully be considered the best. This:

"John Passion"
Mass h-minor.
"Matthew Passion"
About 300 cantatas.
"Christmas Oratorio".

In the last years of his life, the composer focused on musical compositions. Writes:

Volume 2 of "HTK".
Italian concert.
Partitas.
"The Art of Fugue".
Aria with various variations.
Organ Mass.
"Musical Offering"

After an unsuccessful operation, Bach went blind, but did not stop composing music until his death.

Style characteristics

Bach's creative style was formed on the basis of various musical schools and genres. Johann Sebastian organically wove the best harmonies into his works. In order to understand the musical language of the Italians, he rewrote their works. His creations were rich in the texts, rhythms and forms of French and Italian music, North German contrapuntal style, as well as Lutheran liturgy. The synthesis of various styles and genres was harmoniously combined with the deep poignancy of human experiences. His musical thought stood out for its special uniqueness, universality and a certain cosmic quality. Bach's work belongs to a style that is firmly established in the art of music. This is the classicism of the high baroque era. For Bach's musical style characterized by mastery of an extraordinary melodic structure, where the music is dominated by main idea. Thanks to the mastery of counterpoint techniques, several melodies can interact simultaneously. was a true master of polyphony. He had a penchant for improvisation and brilliant virtuosity.

Main genres

Bach's work includes various traditional genres. This:

Cantatas and oratorios.
Passions and Masses.
Preludes and Fugues.
Chorale arrangements.
Dance suites and concerts.

Undoubtedly, listed genres he borrowed from his predecessors. However, he gave them the broadest scope. The maestro skillfully updated them with new musical and expressive means and enriched them with features of other genres. The clearest example is the "Chromatic Fantasia in D Minor". The work was created for the clavier, but contains dramatic recitation of theatrical origins and the expressive properties of large organ improvisations. It is easy to notice that Bach’s work “bypassed” opera, which, by the way, was one of the leading genres of its time. However, it is worth noting that many of the composer’s secular cantatas are difficult to distinguish from comedic interludes (at this time in Italy they were degenerating into opera buffa). Some of Bach's cantatas, created in the spirit of witty genre scenes, anticipated the German Singspiel.

The ideological content and range of images of Johann Sebastian Bach

The composer's work is rich in its own way figurative content. From the pen of a true master come both extremely simple and extremely majestic creations. Bach's art contains simple-minded humor, deep sorrow, philosophical reflection, and acute drama. The brilliant Johann Sebastian in his music reflected such significant aspects of his era as religious and philosophical problems. With the help of the amazing world of sounds, he reflects on the eternal and very important questions of human life:

About the moral duty of man.
About his role in this world and purpose.
About life and death.

These reflections are directly related to religious topics. And this is not surprising. The composer served the church almost all his life, so he wrote most of the music for it. At the same time, he was a believer, he knew Scripture. His reference book was the Bible, written in two languages (Latin and German). He kept fasts, went to confession, and observed church holidays. A few days before his death he took communion. The composer's main character is Jesus Christ. In this perfect image Bach saw the embodiment best qualities inherent in man: purity of thoughts, strength of spirit, fidelity to the chosen path. The sacrificial feat of Jesus Christ for the salvation of humanity was the most sacred for Bach. This theme was the most important in the composer's work.

Symbolism of Bach's works

In the Baroque era, musical symbolism appeared. It is through her that the complex and amazing world composer. Bach's music was perceived by his contemporaries as transparent and understandable speech. This happened due to the presence in it of stable melodic turns expressing certain emotions and ideas. Such sound formulas are called musical-rhetorical figures. Some conveyed affect, others imitated the intonations of human speech, and others were of a figurative nature. Here are some of them:

anabasis - ascent;
circulatio - rotation;
catabasis - descent;
exclamatio - exclamation, ascending sixth;
fuga - running;
passus duriusculus - a chromatic move used to express suffering or sorrow;
suspiratio - sigh;
tirata - arrow.

Gradually, musical and rhetorical figures become a kind of “signs” of certain concepts and feelings. For example, the descending figure catabasis was often used to convey sadness, melancholy, mourning, death, and the position in the coffin. A gradual upward movement (anabasis) was used to express ascension, high spirits and other moments. Symbolic motifs are observed in all the composer’s works. Bach's work was dominated by Protestant chorale, to which the maestro turned throughout his life. He also has symbolic meaning. Work with the chorale was carried out in a wide variety of genres - cantatas, passions, preludes. Therefore, it is quite logical that the Protestant chorale is an integral part of Bach’s musical language. Among the important symbols found in the music of this artist, we should note stable combinations of sounds that have constant meanings. The symbol of the cross predominated in Bach's work. It consists of four multi-directional notes. It is noteworthy that if you decipher the composer’s surname (BACH) with notes, you will get the same graphic drawing. B - B flat, A - A, C - C, H - B. Researchers such as F. Busoni, A. Schweitzer, M. Yudina, B. Yavorsky and others made a great contribution to the development of Bach’s musical symbols.

"Second birth"

During his lifetime, the work of Sebastian Bach was not appreciated. Contemporaries knew him more as an organist than a composer. Not a single serious book has been written about him. Of the huge number of his works, only a few were published. After his death, the composer's name was soon forgotten, and the surviving manuscripts gathered dust in the archives. Perhaps we would never have known anything about this brilliant man. But, fortunately, this did not happen. True interest in Bach arose in the 19th century. One day F. Mendelssohn discovered the notes of the St. Matthew Passion in the library, which interested him very much. Under his direction, this work was successfully performed in Leipzig. Many listeners were delighted with the music of the still little-known author. We can say that this was the second birth of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1850 (on the 100th anniversary of the composer's death), the Bach Society was created in Leipzig. The purpose of this organization was to publish all the found manuscripts of Bach in the form of a complete collection of works. As a result, 46 volumes were collected.

Bach's organ works. Summary

The composer created excellent works for the organ. This instrument is for Bach - a real force of nature. Here he was able to liberate his thoughts, feelings and emotions and convey all this to the listener. Hence the enlargement of lines, concertity, virtuosity, and dramatic images. The compositions created for the organ resemble frescoes in painting. Everything in them is presented predominantly close up. In preludes, toccatas and fantasies, the pathos of musical images in free, improvisational forms is observed. Fugues are characterized by special virtuosity and unusually powerful development. Bach's organ work conveys the high poetry of his lyrics and the grandiose scope of his magnificent improvisations.

Unlike clavier works, organ fugues are much larger in volume and content. Movement musical image and its development proceeds with increasing activity. The unfolding of the material is presented in the form of layering of large layers of music, but there is no particular discreteness or breaks. On the contrary, continuity (continuity of movement) prevails. Each phrase follows from the previous one with increasing tension. The climactic moments are constructed in the same way. The emotional upsurge eventually intensifies to its highest point. Bach is the first composer who showed the patterns of symphonic development in large forms instrumental polyphonic music. Bach's organ work seems to split into two poles. The first is preludes, toccatas, fugues, fantasies (large musical cycles). The second is one-part. They are written mainly in chamber style. They reveal predominantly lyrical images: intimate, mournful and sublimely contemplative. The best works for organ by Johann Sebastian Bach - fugue in D minor, prelude and fugue in A minor and many other works.

Works for clavier

When writing compositions, Bach relied on the experience of his predecessors. However, here too he proved himself to be an innovator. Bach's keyboard creativity is characterized by scale, exceptional versatility, and a search for expressive means. He was the first composer to appreciate the versatility of this instrument. When composing his works, he was not afraid to experiment and implement the most daring ideas and projects. When writing, I was guided by the entire world musical culture. Thanks to him, the clavier expanded significantly. He enriches the instrument with new virtuoso techniques and changes the essence of musical images.

Among his works for organ, the following stand out:

Two-voice and three-voice inventions.
"English" and "French" suites.
"Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue".
"The Well-Tempered Clavier."

Thus, Bach's work is striking in its scope. The composer is widely known throughout the world. His works make you think and reflect. Listening to his compositions, you involuntarily become immersed in them, thinking about deep meaning underlying them. The genres that the maestro addressed throughout his life were very diverse. This is organ music, vocal-instrumental music, music for various instruments (violin, flute, clavier and others) and for instrumental ensembles.

IN WEIMAR

Sebastian had a chance to visit the palace of Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar when he served in the Red Castle.

The Duke, already elderly, was considered an enlightened ruler. However, no matter how diligently the officials served, the exactions from their subjects did not allow the duke to equal the rich courts of feudal Germany in philanthropy. He did not invite foreign artists and was proud of his patronage of German artists. It was cheaper. The Duke loved organ music and maintained a small orchestra, obliging the chapel musicians to also perform as singers. According to an old habit, he was not averse to dressing them in the costumes of haiduks and traveling footmen on the days of festivities, and some of the musicians also coped with the duties of cooks. Such arbitrariness did not surprise anyone. And the serving musicians resigned themselves to the whims of their benefactor. The Duke paid them relatively well. Among the musicians there were excellent ones who could play more than one instrument. Kapellmeister Johann Samuel Drese, advanced years, calmly relied on the coherence of his small orchestra of twenty people. The young violinist, harpsichordist and organist who appeared quickly took root in the chapel. The assistant bandmaster, his son, was of little ability, so old Dreze saw in Bach a good help in leading the orchestra.

Almost no information has reached us about the first four years of Sebastian’s life in Weimar. Obviously, apart from a trip to Mühlhausen, he did not leave Weimar during these years. Soon after moving here, at the end of December 1708, Maria Barbara gave birth to a daughter, Katharina Dorothea. The young father, of course, was delighted, but according to the long-standing family tradition of German craftsmen of all workshops, the birth of sons, especially the first-born, aroused true pride in fathers - they were supposed to continue the work of their fathers, the secrets of craftsmanship were passed on to them, be it a family of mechanics, furriers or musicians.

On November 22, 1710, the same event happened in the Bach family: Maria Barbara gave Sebastian her first child, Wilhelm Friedemann. Two years will pass - twins will be born into the family, but they will die in infancy; a year later, in March 1714, another son, Carl Philip Emmanuel, would be born. And a year later, Maria would give birth to a third son, Johann Gottfried Bernard. Sebastian by June 1715 would be sixth himself.

Weimar was the main city of Thuringia, quite lively. But it was not yet the famous Weimar - the city of poetry, the city of Goethe and Schiller, which entered the history of German culture in the era of “Sturm und Drang”. However, the roots of culture in this city have long been strengthened. Mossy tiles on the old houses of Weimar, the Gothic walls of the buildings were remembered even from Luther's times. For Sebastian Bach, Weimar was dear to the memory of Luther, and perhaps also of Heinrich Schutz, whose works he studied in his early youth.

Weimar was destined to become the city of Johann Sebastian Bach. During the hot summer days, the young family of the court musician, along with other townspeople, was seen walking in the forest behind the outpost. How often? The life of the composer-organist appears so intensely fruitful before us that it is difficult even to comprehend with hearing and thought everything created by Sebastian Bach in the Weimar years. Not appreciated by his contemporaries, the works of the young composer, composed precisely in Weimar, are the great, enduring, mature Bach.

Listeners of our time, involved in the world of his organ music, find it difficult to believe at first that most of the concert programs consist of works from the composer’s youth. Concert hall filled with organ sounds; whatever it is subsides critical thought; The hundred-mouthed instrument expounds majestic thoughts that captivate our ears, hearts, and consciousness. Little by little, the imagination inevitably draws the image of “old Bach,” familiar from common portraits, in a wig and a strict camisole; the image of a musician with a difficult life, a father of many children, tired of struggling with the church and burgher-bureaucratic routine, is presented.

Imagine the surprise when, from a notographic reference book, a listener inexperienced in the composer’s biography learns that most of these famous works were created between the ages of 23 and 30!

Bach's musical worldview was perfectly reflected in his organ works. Organ music most closely responded to the philosophical, moral, and poetic aspirations of the time. The organ was an instrument of Bach's thinking, just as the piano was Chopin's, the orchestra was Beethoven's; “Bach thought with an organ” - this phrase appears in many books about Bach, and we will not leave it aside either. But a caveat is needed. Bach composed more works for the clavier during his life than for the organ. He also thought like a keyboard. His genius is so all-encompassing that it is impossible to reduce his musical thinking only or primarily to the art of organ. Bach was an artist and a thinker of polyphony - this is more general characteristics him as a composer and musician. Improving polyphony in all genres of music is his main artistic task.

During the first years of his life in Weimar, Johann Sebastian served as the Duke's organist. That is why the organ then became an instrument of his polyphonic art.

An omnipotent instrument, the organ replaced the composer and performer with an orchestra, clavier and even a choir with solo voices. Hundreds of pipes are combined into groups of registers. Unlike other instruments, the organ has registers that are distinguishable by timbre; The register pipes have the same timbre and different pitches. Tens, hundreds of registers. With its rich sonority and variety of colors, the organ was beyond comparison with other instruments. There were differences between purely organ sounds and voices colored in the timbres of bowed and woodwind instruments: violin, gamba, double bass, oboe, flute, bassoon. Voices were heard that were reminiscent of brass instruments, even percussion, such as the sound of timpani. And the timbres of human voices; The resemblance of a human voice in an organ sound has long been called in Latin: vox humana, another register was called the “angelic voice” - vox angelica.

In Weimar, Bach played the organ of the palace church. It was a strangely-architected church. Tall, three-story, it had a structure in the altar part in the form of an elongated pyramid tapering towards the ceiling. The parishioners, in their good-natured way, called this altar structure “the road to the kingdom of heaven.” The organ of this church, although it had few registers, was an excellent instrument.

Weimar in Bach’s time was not yet the “German Athens,” but it seems that here Sebastian felt less spiritual loneliness than in any other city during all the years of wandering.

Capable musicians served in the chapel.

A distant relative of Sebastian on his mother’s side, his peer, performer, composer, music theorist Johann Walter, lived in Weimar. Subsequently, he will become very famous for his works, in particular the “Musical Lexicon”, where he gives information about several Bachs, of course, and about Johann Sebastian.

A native of Erfurt, Walter was educated at the university there, studying philosophy and law. At the age of eighteen he served as an organist in his hometown. Before he was even twenty, his “Instructions on Composing Music” were published. Gradually preparing his Lexicon, Walter corresponded with music theorists and composers. The erudite young scientist appreciated the virtuoso skill of his relative, it was with him that Sebastian traveled to Mühlhausen, his friend assisted him during his performance and witnessed the artistic success of the organist.

Walter served as a musician in the city church of Weimar; there was an organ with a large number registers than in the palace temple, therefore, perhaps Sebastian practiced on this instrument, and Walter was sometimes the first and only listener to new preludes, fugues, toccatas and fantasies of his friend. The musicians exchanged notes of works by composers from Germany, Italy and others countries were engaged in reworking them, each in his own spirit. It was a fascinating competition in the art of polyphony. Time gave full preference to such works of Bach: his transcriptions of concertos and works of other genres turned out to be richer, more vital. One example: fugue in B minor on the theme. Italian composer, Bach's older contemporary, Corelli (579). It originally had 39 bars. Sebastian developed the theme in his interpretation for organ to 102 bars. Bach wrote keyboard and instrumental-orchestral works. There is information that he created something on the advice of a friend.

Walter surpassed his friend in learning. He used the Weimar library and in the introduction to the “Musical Lexicon” he recalled with gratitude the “information about music and musical figures” that he “could glean from the excellent library of the city of Weimar.” He could share a lot with Bach.

The friends knew each other at home. Sebastian became the godfather of Walter's son. During hours of lively conversations, composers exchanged musical themes, offering each other intricate forms of developing them. It is reliably known that in the summer of 1713 they exchanged “mysterious canons.” Such canons were written down in notes for one voice. The moments and intervals of the entry of other voices had to be guessed by the performers themselves. Even one date has been preserved: Bach brought his ingenious response canon to Walter on August 2.

The friends were making fun of one another. Sebastian amazed everyone with his free sight reading of plays of any difficulty. He was not averse to being proud of this. One day Walter decided to play a prank on Bach. He composed a very complex etude and put the music book on the clavichord. He was expecting a guest today. Sebastian entered the office in a good mood and, out of habit, immediately rushed to the clavichord. Walter, under the pretext of taking care of breakfast, left the room, but began to watch the guest through the crack in the door. He confidently sat down at the instrument to play an unknown piece. The introductory phrases were heard - and then there was a misfire. A new attempt - again embarrassed. Walter saw Sebastian’s long face and nervous hand movements. I couldn’t stand it and burst out laughing outside the door. Bach understood the owner's joke. The cunningly and scientifically invented exercise did not yield to his hands!

Let's name another interlocutor and well-wisher of Bach from the Weimar era - a modest, educated philologist, assistant to the rector of the gymnasium, Johann Matthias Geoner. An ardent lover of music, Gesner often listened to Sebastian's organ and keyboard playing; he admired the young virtuoso with admiration. Let us remember, reader, this name: Gesner.

His school friend Georg Erdmann visited Weimar more than once and visited Sebastian’s family. He willingly sang the arias they had once sung in Ohrdruf and Luneburg. I even remembered the funerals of respectable townspeople, when they, the choir boys, were paid a pittance. Erdman praised Sebastian's artistic mastery of the organ while listening to him play the harpsichord at home. But he himself chose the bureaucratic career. And therefore he willingly turned the conversation about music to a story about the benefits of serving at the courts of other European powers. For example, with the Russian one. Emperor Peter willingly recruits useful and knowledgeable people. He himself, Erdman, would consider it a great success to enter the service of the Russian government: the salary there is incomparably higher than in the German principalities... Sebastian's classmate will achieve his goal, but, alas, his memory will be short, and at a difficult time in Bach's life Erdman will not lend a helping hand to his lyceum comrade... In Weimar they met as friends, although they were alien to Erdmann and Bach’s ardent search in the art of polyphony was incomprehensible. Not strong in verbal reasoning, Bach preferred to express his heartfelt impulses and thoughts addressed to friends in musical notation, in the sounds of an organ or harpsichord. Walter even interrupted his speeches, giving primacy to his friend’s improvisations.

From the book by Schopenhauer author Gulyga Arseniy Vladimirovich

Back in Weimar. Discord with his mother Just when Schopenhauer became a doctor and his first book was published, on October 18, 1813, a battle between Russian, Prussian and Austrian troops took place with Napoleon at Leipzig, killing and maiming at least one hundred thousand people.

From Goethe's book. Life and creativity. T. I. Half of life author Conradi Carl Otto

FIRST DECADE IN WEIMAR

From Goethe's book. His life and literary activity author Kholodkovsky Nikolai Alexandrovich

Plays for the amateur stage in Weimar and Tifurt In his old age, looking back and taking stock, Goethe perceived the first Weimar decade when he reflected on his poetic creativity What a waste of time. Two unequivocal statements on this matter

From Goethe's book. Life and creativity. T. 2. Summary of life author Conradi Carl Otto

A NEW BEGINNING IN AN OLD PLACE. AGAIN IN WEIMAR The result of the Italian trip In the crisis situation that had developed by the autumn of 1786, Goethe found no other way out than to secretly leave for Italy. But on June 18, 1788, he again found himself back where fate had driven him from. Even before the poet

From the author's book

Chapter IV. The first ten years of Goethe's life in Weimar (1775-1786) Weimar court. - Celebrations, fun, “genius.” – A shift towards a more relaxed lifestyle. - Baroness von Stein. - Goethe seeks solitude. – First trip to the Harz. – A trip to Berlin. – State

From the author's book

New in Weimar In November 1802, Heinrich Meyer left Goethe's house on Frauenplan and acquired his own home: the reason for this was his marriage in early 1803 to Louise von Koppenfels. But changes in his personal life did not affect his relationship with Goethe - they are still

From the author's book

Half a century in Weimar Back in the spring of 1824, Goethe consoled himself with the thought of whether to go again - in the summer or autumn - on vacation to Bohemia; in his soul the hope of seeing Ulrike von Levetzow and the whole family again had not yet completely extinguished: “In the meantime, inform me, dear friend, with more, if