What works did Bach write in ketene? Weimar again. Bach at a secular service. Introduction to world musical art. Leipzig period and last years of life

3. Cantatas of the Weimar period: new poetry, new forms and images

Service and house arrest in Weimar

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the great Johann Sebastian Bach we know took shape and was finally formed in Weimar, where he served from 1708 to 1717. This was Bach's second stop on his turbulent youth life path in Weimar. The first was very short, but here he settled for a long time and performed various duties.

First of all, these were the duties of the court organist, and most of the time he devoted himself to these duties, and apparently composed mainly organ music. But on March 2, 1714, he was also appointed concertmaster of the court musical ensemble, the court chapel. Since then his responsibilities have expanded. In particular, he had to compose church cantatas virtually once a month. In addition, Bach hoped that with the death of the elderly Kapellmeister Drese, he would receive his post.

Drese died on December 1, 1716, but Bach did not receive the desired post. The post was inherited by the son of the deceased, a musician, of course, of a level completely incomparable with Bach, but such are the craft traditions in Germany. There, positions were very often inherited. And after that, Bach went into an open scandal, a quarrel with Wilhelm Ernst, the Weimar ruler, and even - this story is known - at the end of 1717, before he was released, he was put under house arrest for almost a month. This is the picture of life and life background Bach's work in the field of cantatas.

Collaboration with Solomon Frank

The cantatas have been preserved, about some of them we know what days, what holidays of the church year they were dedicated to. There is no information about some, there are only guesses. Of course, most of these cantatas were written to texts by a local poet with whom Bach collaborated, Solomon Frank. He was already an old man, however, and a long-liver - he lived until 1725, when Bach was no longer in Weimar, and he was born in 1659. It was talented poet, and researchers of Bach’s work, especially those who understand the German language well, the Germans themselves, sometimes even say that he was the most talented librettist with whom Bach collaborated. Today we will not talk about cantatas based on his texts; we will devote a separate lecture to them.

I will only note that for all, perhaps, the talent of the images and for all the musicality of the poetry, which really distinguish Solomon Frank’s libretto, he was not an innovator as such in the field of forms of church poetry. Here he rather followed the reform of Erdmann Neumeister, which we talked about in the previous lecture. But I followed creatively. He did have cantatas that followed some of the standards developed by Neumeister. These are, for example, cantatas consisting almost entirely of arias and recitatives. Or just the whole thing, like Neumeister, say, in his first cantata cycles. He then created cantatas incorporating biblical sayings and chorales, and this corresponded to the third and fourth Neumeister cycles, his later poetry.

Frank also had very early cantatas, which were similar to Neumeister’s, but generally represented something special - they did not have recitatives. Let's say, the first cantata that Bach composed as accompanist, it happened on March 25, 1714, it was the holiday of Palm Sunday, which then coincided with the Annunciation, this sometimes happens. Bach's 182nd cantata - there are simply no [poetic] recitatives as such, it is still transitional, as they sometimes say - an archaic type of reformed cantata. In short, Bach dealt with a variety of standards of poetic libretto and tried a variety of musical forms. And it turned out very interesting.

Georg Christian Lems

Today we will not be talking about Frank’s cantatas, as I already noted, but about cantatas based on texts by two other librettists to whom Bach turned. This is Georg Christian Lems, the court librarian in Darmstadt, a very talented young man who died untimely of tuberculosis at the age of 33, in 1717. His collection of librettos for church cantatas of 1711, “The Divine Sacrifice,” served as the basis for Bach’s two cantatas written in Weimar, and he subsequently returned to this poetry in Leipzig, in 1725-26. It's obvious that he really appreciated her. And perhaps, even if Solomon Frank had not been in Weimar, he would have continued to write on the poems of this Darmstadt poet, who, I believe, is very underestimated by researchers of Bach’s work. Well, and then we will also talk about cantatas written to Neumeister’s texts, because Neumeister is also judged differently. Sometimes they deny him real poetic talent. In my opinion, everything is not so simple here.

Cantata BWV 54 – all about the fight against sin

So, the first cantata that we will talk about today is Bach’s 54th cantata, possibly written back in 1713. Those. before Bach began to regularly write church cantatas and coincide them with the holidays of the church year. A cantata that calls us to confront sin, to fight sin. And, in fact, the libretto seems absolutely wonderful to me, because it describes this tense relationship between a Christian and sin in all its subtleties, details, with many biblical allusions, but without any dependence on one biblical source. And everything that a Christian should know and think about sin is probably said here. Moreover, this cantata speaks primarily about the personal feelings of a Christian, about his inner life as a struggle with sin, and at the same time we understand that this sin is some kind of universal phenomenon, that it is a consequence of original sin, what is behind sin the devil stands. This wonderful text is created by Lems, and it is a short text - just two arias connected by recitative. Even once scientists thought that maybe this was an incomplete libretto, but now there is no doubt that this is exactly how Lems intended it and Bach wrote it all this way.

Per ogni tempo

This is a work that Bach obviously intended for any holiday of the church year, for any occasion. Per ogni tempo, as they said then. This means that there is no special day, no special occasion, that only on this day a Christian should reflect on his sinfulness and his relationship with evil.

This seems important to me, because, indeed, all sorts of guesses are being made about when all this could have happened. One of the assumptions is that this could sound on the third Sunday of Lent, Sunday Oculi, as the Protestants themselves call it, because on this day the psalm verse of the entrance hymn, the introit, is borrowed from our 24th (or 25th according to Protestant numbering) psalm : “My eyes are always on the Lord, for he brings my feet out of the snare.” This day, specifically dedicated to repentance, thematically, of course, seems to fit this text. But it is not at all necessary what it should have sounded like then. It would have been very beautiful that the day before his appointment as accompanist, Bach had already created and performed this cantata. But apparently this was not the case.

There are some other holidays that emphasize the moment of repentance and the fight against evil, and there are different assumptions about when this could have been created. But in the end it's not that important. But the universal meaning of the cantata, of course, is much more important for us. And Bach creates extremely bright music, permeated with both imagery and internal tension. And we can say that the whole horror of evil, as an individual person experiences it, moreover, not external evil, but the evil with which he deals within himself, is, of course, very strongly emphasized here.

BWV 54: first aria

And first of all, of course, the first aria from this cantata went down in history, became very famous and much performed. In this lecture, as, in fact, in most others, I will use the wonderful translations of Father Pyotr Meshcherinov. Well, maybe by making some small adjustments to suit your taste. “Fight sin, otherwise its poison will poison you.” Here is the first part of this aria. Arias, as we noted, are usually written in three-part form, and the third part completely reproduces the first. According to the old tradition, such arias are called “aria da capo”, i.e. “repeat from the beginning”, from the head – capo. And all this begins in major, but Bach superimposes extremely intense harmony, extremely intense consonance on pure major from the very beginning. This is the painful and painful effect that arises. This tension has its own sweetness, its own horror, its own pain, and the severity of confrontation. And besides, there is a feeling that it takes a long time to resist. This is a constant internal effort, a constant internal struggle. All these feelings and thoughts are directly expressed in music.

“And let not Satan deceive you” is the beginning of the second, middle section, which, in fact, talks about deadly curse, which is acquired by the one who exposes himself to sin and combines with Satan. It’s also quite gloomy, and we notice some darkening of the color towards the minor, as usually happens in the middle parts of major arias. And this is such a vivid image, which, of course, is remembered and which musically expresses, perhaps, the entire relationship of a person with sin. We will now hear this first small fragment.

As you noticed, the cantata is solo. Solo cantata for viola, which is also typical, because there is no need for a choir here. Here we are talking specifically about a person, about his personal feelings. This is real contemporary Bach poetry, the beginning of the 18th century, when personal life, personal piety, personal reflections on death, the resurrection, and the inheritance of the Kingdom of God come to the fore in spiritual life. And although, of course, the conciliar principle, the church principle remains, the emphasis turns out to be very significant.

BWV 54: recitative

And in the recitative that follows the aria, in fact, everything is explained. The recitative is performed in the best traditions of Protestant sermons. It is about how attractive sin is from the outside and how terrible and destructive it is from the inside. This all fits, of course, into the old Baroque tradition - memento mori, remember death - when various poets, not only Protestant, but also Catholic, loved to show how behind the external shine of the sinful world lies death, emptiness and nothingness.

And here are amazing harmonies, departures into very distant, absolutely amazing-sounding tonalities... After all, in Bach’s time, not all tonalities were equally used. And distant tonalities, i.e. those that are recorded with a large number key signs, flats or sharps, sounded very strange, unusual simply in terms of the tuning of that time, which differed from the modern one very significantly. This sound had its own strangeness and its own coloring. And Bach, in fact, leads us through this image of embellishment, the elegance of sin to the fact that behind it only a coffin and a shadow are hidden.

And at the end he simply moves from recitative to what was then called “arioso”, i.e. into such a very melodious recitative, and says that sin is the apple of Sodom. “The Apple of Sodom” was also a very ancient poetic image. And whoever combines with him will not achieve the Kingdom of God. These are the only lines that directly intersect with the reading of Ephesians, which is heard on Oculi Sunday. This may be the only reference that connects the libretto with this particular Sunday.

And then they also talk about sin, which is like a sharp sword, cutting both soul and body. And here everything reaches its culmination.

BWV 54: second aria

And now we will listen to the beginning of the third number - the second, final aria from this cantata. This aria is written very interestingly. This is a real fugue, a real polyphony. There are four voices, violins, violas, viola as the voice that sings, and continuo. The three upper melodic voices enter, imitating, repeating the same melody.

Moreover, this third aria speaks of the fight against sin, and moreover, of the fight as an act of the will, first of all. A person must gather all his will, oppose sin and defeat it. And we can say that this victory is achieved in the aria. Here, it should be noted, decisive, above all strong-willed opening theme, in which, however, there are creeping intonations and chromaticisms that also remind one of the devil. Music is always very meaningful, multifaceted, and this is the wonderful property of music, that it can convey several layers of meaning at once.

And here is a very important quote, the most obvious and, perhaps, the most main quote, which Lems uses: “Whoever commits a sin is of the devil, for the devil gives birth to sin.” We are talking about the First Apostolic Letter of the Evangelist John, where there are such words. And then we are talking about the fact that true prayer is capable of driving away the hordes of sin, which will immediately and immediately move away from a person.

In the middle section, Bach uses a thin musical painting depicts this removal and disappearance of the hordes of Satan. And indeed, there is this feeling that evil is retreating. But some real triumph with the singing of “hallelujah”, “amen”, “victory”, which indeed often occurs in both Bach and other Protestant authors, does not arise here. Those. Rather, the impression arises that the man seemed to have fought off the devilish hordes with difficulty. And although this is a victory, it is a temporary victory, and not such a victory that you drive them away once and then you live happily ever after, having calmed down. There is no such inner peace, only a temporary victory. Those. the third part does not contradict the first: on the one hand, there is a constant and intense effort of struggle against the devil’s machinations and sin, and on the other hand, there is an effort of will, an act of will, a clash, struggle, victory, but a victory that is temporary and does not give the final liberation, does not allow you to completely relax.

This is the special inner life of a Christian who knows no peace, for whom all internal experiences and all internal processes are in one way or another acts of conscience, because we are, of course, talking about conscience as the most important Christian category - this is what Bach’s cantata is about, and she is one of a kind, she is wonderful. It is short, it is comprehensive, and it is not tied, this seems to me very important, specifically to the time of year. Bach was never like this before professionally, according to his post, was a church composer, and he could simply speak out on some very important Christian topic.

Cantata BWV 61 for the first Sunday of Advent

And the second cantata, which we will talk about today, also dates back to 1714, only to its very end. In the church calendar, this is already the beginning of the next church year, because it is a cantata for the first Sunday of Advent, i.e. on the first Sunday of Nativity Lent. This is a cantata that Bach wrote while already in the service, and wrote as a result of simply fulfilling his duties.

The cantata is based on the texts of Erdmann Neumeister, one of the few Bach cantatas based on the texts of this key author for the history of church poetry of the early 18th century in Germany. Perhaps Bach simply did not have a text by Solomon Frank at that moment that would be suitable for of this holiday, there is such an assumption. He turned to Neumeister. And here it is very interesting to see whether Neumeister really was such a dry and devoid of imagination poet as he is often imagined. And they explain that perhaps this is why Bach turned to his work so rarely and with such reservations.

Here it should be noted that, of course, Neumeister is really a Protestant pastor, a representative of the strictly orthodox movement in Lutheranism of his time, a principled opponent of Pietism, and for him the theological rigor of images and the ecclesiastical character of poetry are extremely important things. Therefore, perhaps one should not expect any very vivid images from his poetry. But nevertheless, it was not by chance that he introduced the fashion for the Italian style of church poetry, because he also wanted some theatricalization and modernization of the church music of his time. And the 61st cantata is indicative of how Bach literally takes this theatricalization out of Neumeister’s poetry.

Structure of BWV 61

The cantata is very well constructed. It begins and ends with stanzas of church songs. Moreover, if the first stanza is Luther, in fact, his famous song Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, i.e. "Come, Savior of the Gentiles." A wonderful song to which Bach repeatedly turned both in his cantatas and in his chorale preludes.

Here the first stanza, in fact, is presented. Then two pairs follow - recitative-aria, recitative-aria. The first pair is sung entirely by a tenor, the second pair: recitative by bass, aria by soprano. And then not even the last stanza, but the chorus of the last stanza of the song of Philip Nicolai, a later, late 16th-century Lutheran poet, “How brightly the morning star shines.” This is a hymn associated with the period of Advent, and it completes it all.

What's important here? That the first three issues somehow give a rather communal and church picture. Those. here Jesus comes to the Church. The second three numbers, and especially the recitative and aria, talk about how Jesus comes to an individual believer, to a specific person. And it is no coincidence that at the end there is poetry from church tradition a newer, more expressive poem is used - a poem by Philip Nicolai. Everything is very clearly planned. Poetry, indeed, is perhaps devoid of vivid images, but in theological terms everything is very well verified. Bach, in general, does not violate this consistency in any way, but his solution is not obvious and sometimes completely paradoxical. This especially applies to the first issue.

BWV 61: first number – royal procession

Actually, what is it talking about? “Come, Savior of the pagans, // revealed son of the Virgin. // The whole world is amazed at // what kind of Christmas God has prepared for you.” Four lines. And what does Bach do? He creates this choir in instrumental form, traditional instrumental form late XVII– beginning of the 18th centuries.

This is the so-called French overture - a form that developed at the court of Louis XIV, which was associated with the appearance of a noble person, and above all, of course, the “Sun King”. Those. some royalty that's how it comes in. At the same time, the first and third sections are absolutely luxurious. This is truly such a regal procession, with dotted rhythms, with very solemn and at the same time impressive music. And against the background of such music, voices come in one by one, again imitating (this is polyphony in our country), and proclaim the first two lines.

And then the third line, which, in general, does not seem to imply any powerful contrasts. But what are we hearing here? “The whole world is surprised that...” just that. But here, in the tradition of the French overture, the tempo changes to fast, the voices create real polyphony and the affect of joy, of course, enters. This is the joy that covers the whole world when the Savior enters it.

And then the old music returns again, which talks about what a wonderful, amazing Christmas God the Father has prepared for his Son. This royal procession, of course, also refers us to the Lord’s entry into Jerusalem, which, in general, Luther’s hymn does not directly imply. It just allows us to imagine the very image of Jesus - Jesus the king and, above all, Jesus the shepherd.

BWV 61: second and third numbers

Because the following recitative, in fact, talks about how the Savior shows the highest good to humanity, and first of all to the church, and how he brings light to people. Light, of course, is also mentioned in Luther’s hymn. And this light radiates the blessing of the Lord, the Lord blesses everything around, mit vollem Segen. Bach, of course, also sets this recitative to music very expressively. At the end it turns into an arioso, as happens in almost all of Bach’s early cantatas.

And now we will hear the aria that sounds after this. This is a tenor's aria to a very restrained text, completely devoid, it would seem, of such external affects. “Come, O Jesus, come to Your Church and grant us New Year gracious." Accordingly, he must further send his blessing to both the pulpit and the altar. But this was also done very well by Bach. Bach writes quite solemn music here, because here the voice is accompanied by both the violin part and the viola part, they are quite expressive and create the necessary solemnity. It’s as if some majestic personage has appeared and is being greeted in this aria. Those. here it really seems as if a certain first scene continues: a nobleman has arrived, for example, a bishop has come to the temple, and he is greeted there with all due honors. Perhaps there is no special expressiveness here that we would expect from Bach, and Neumeister’s text does not suggest this, but nevertheless the scene turned out to be very impressive, solid and complete.

BWV 61: numbers four and five

And, of course, the second part of the cantata, which talks about the coming of Jesus the man, comes out much more expressive. There is a biblical quotation here, a Spruch, as the Germans used to say, a biblical saying. This cantata already belongs to the type of cantatas that follow exactly the later example of Neumeister’s work; it was published in 1714. Neumeister then worked in Sorau, now Polish Zary. And all this, by the way, was intended for Georg Philipp Telemann, who was then serving at the court in Frankfurt am Main. It was great composer, Bach's friend in those days, godfather his very talented son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Perhaps even thanks to Telemann, Bach learned these very texts.

So, here comes a biblical quote, namely the Revelation of John the Theologian, the famous text: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and he with Me.” And, as a matter of fact, the intonations of the voice, and especially the short, abrupt, pizzica accompaniment chords, precisely depict this very knock. Those. Jesus knocks right on this very heart. This is a recitative quite worthy of the opera stage, it is so internally expressive, although a certain internal restraint still shows that this is not opera, but cantata music, as it should be. You and I, of course, need to hear this moment.

And after this, a soprano aria appears, which is accompanied by one continuo in Bach, but the continuo is quite expressive, so there is still a dialogue between the voice and the instrument. And we are talking here about something about which there was a lot of Lutheran poetry back in the 17th century and which was very often depicted in all sorts of engravings, Lutheran, Jesuit, and whatever else. This is such a very important [motive] for piety, for mysticism even in the 17th century, and then the 18th century inherited it... Well, we are only at the very beginning of the 18th century. An important image of Jesus moving into the human heart. Those. the first part contains a call to the heart to open entirely, to its very depths, and the second says that the Lord settles in the human heart and finds his home in it, despite the fact that man is only dust. The mercy of God is that the Lord is ready to live inside such a human heart.

And Bach makes this aria very contrasting. It changes meter, changes tempo in the middle section, it overshadows the overall major atmosphere with a minor key. But already at the very end of this small middle part - the aria is all small, these are all arias of such a design, designed for some small forms of perception - we already hear repeated mentions of the bliss that a Christian finds, and this bliss again sounds bright.

BWV 61: final chorus

This is where we would have ended everything if not for the problem last issue. Neumeister is often criticized for making the last verse very short. He took only the chorus, Abgesang, from this bar form, which we have already talked about many times, without the first two verses, but only the chorus. And the chorus itself is very short: “Amen! Amen! // Come, beautiful crown of joy, don’t delay, // I’m waiting for you with great impatience.” But this joyful exclamation may, in itself, sound good as poetry, but it was here, shortening the stanza of Nicholas (there are such assumptions), that Neumeister may have meant this joyful impatience that covers a Christian thinking about how very soon, because the Nativity Fast will end, the Lord will appear.

To set it to music, this is, of course, too small a text and too small a number. But Bach makes it so bright, so expressive that with its expressiveness, its extraordinaryness, it partly justifies this brevity. The melody of Philip Nicolai, as expected, is sung by a soprano; this genre is a choral fantasy that was already established in the 17th century. Other voices imitate all this, accompanying this melody with counterpoints and echoes. And the violins play the anniversary over all this, and everything sounds unusually solemn, with exciting, stormy, completely unrestrained joy. And Bach, with this bright musical chord, emphasizes what seems to be a controversial decision for Neumeister, takes it to the limit, and a certain logic of its own is revealed in this.

So it turns out that yes, Neumeister, of course, created some kind of sermon, albeit in theatrical, poetic forms, and Bach actually wrote two vivid scenes, one of which depicts a church holiday, and the other - these stormy and impetuous feelings of a Christian which follows this holiday. Moreover, what is interesting: indeed, some kind of extreme joy and extreme outburst of emotions occurs not in the aria, where we might expect it, but precisely in this wonderful and so irregular final chorus. And this too has the sensitivity of Bach. He senses not only the theatrical potential of the poems assigned to him, but also how to turn something completely unique out of something incorrect, controversial, and ambiguous, something that can only be found in Bach.

Literature

  1. Dürr A. The Cantatas of J. S. Bach. With their Librettos in German-English Parallel Text / rev. and transl. by Richard D. P. Jones. N. Y. and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. pp. 13–20, 75–77, 253–255.
  2. Wolff Chr. Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. N. Y.: W. W. Norton, 2001. P. 155–169.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685 in Eisenach. Bach belonged to an extensive German family, the vast majority of whose representatives over the course of three centuries were professional musicians who served in various cities of Germany. He received his primary musical education under the guidance of his father (playing the violin and harpsichord). After the death of his father (his mother had died earlier), he was taken into the family of his older brother Johann Christoph, who served as a church organist at St. Michaeliskirche in Ohrdruf. In 1700-03. Studied at the church choir school in Lüneburg. During his studies, he visited Hamburg, Celle and Lubeck to get acquainted with the work of famous musicians of his time and new French music. Bach's first compositional experiments - works for organ and clavier - date back to the same years. Years of wanderings (1703-08)

After graduation, Bach was busy looking for a job that would provide his daily bread and leave time for creativity. From 1703 to 1708 he served in Weimar, Arnstadt, and Mühlhausen. In 1707 (October 17) he married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach. His creative interests were then focused mainly on music for organ and clavier. The most famous composition of that time is “Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother” (1704) (the departure of Johann Jacob to Sweden).

Weimar period (1708-17)

Having received the position of court musician from the Duke of Weimar in 1708, Bach settled in Weimar, where he spent 9 years. These years became a time of intense creativity, in which the main place belonged to works for the organ, including numerous chorale preludes, organ toccata and fugue in D minor, passacaglia in C minor. The composer wrote music for the clavier and spiritual cantatas (more than 20). Using traditional forms, he brought them to the highest perfection. In Weimar, Bach had sons, future famous composers Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emmanuel.

Service in Köthen (1717-23)

In 1717, Bach accepted an invitation to serve (kapellmeister of the court chapel) of Duke Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen. Life in Köthen was at first the happiest time in the composer’s life: the prince, an enlightened man for his time and a good musician, appreciated Bach and did not interfere with his work, inviting him on his trips. In Köthen, three sonatas and three partitas for solo violin, six suites for solo cello, English and French suites for clavier, and six Brandenburg concertos for orchestra were written. Of particular interest is the collection “The Well-Tempered Clavier” - 24 preludes and fugues, written in all keys and in practice proving the advantages of the tempered musical system, the approval of which was hotly debated. Subsequently, Bach created the second volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier, also consisting of 24 preludes and fugues in all keys. But the cloudless period of Bach's life was cut short in 1720: his wife dies, leaving four young children. In 1721, Bach married Anna Magdalena Wilken for the second time. In 1723, his “Passion according to John” was performed in the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig, and Bach soon received the position of cantor of this church while simultaneously performing the duties of a teacher at the church school (Latin and singing).

In Leipzig (1723-50)

Bach becomes the “musical director” of all the churches in the city, overseeing the personnel of musicians and singers, overseeing their training, assigning works required for performance, and doing much more. Unable to be cunning and skimpy and not being able to perform everything in good faith, the composer repeatedly found himself in conflict situations that darkened his life and distracted him from his work. By that time the artist had reached the heights of his skill and created magnificent examples in various genres. First of all, this is sacred music: cantatas (about two hundred have survived), “Magnificat” (1723), masses (including the immortal “High Mass” in B minor, 1733), “Matthew Passion” (1729), dozens of secular cantatas (among them the comic “Coffee Room” and “Peasant Room”), works for organ, orchestra, harpsichord (among the latter, it is necessary to highlight the cycle “Aria with 30 variations”, the so-called “Goldberg Variations”, 1742). In 1747, Bach created a cycle of plays, “Musical Offerings,” dedicated to the Prussian king Frederick II. The last work was a work called “The Art of Fugue” (1749-50) - 14 fugues and 4 canons on one theme.

The fate of the creative heritage

At the end of the 1740s, Bach's health deteriorated, and he was particularly concerned about the sudden loss of his vision. Two unsuccessful cataract surgeries resulted in complete blindness. Ten days before his death, Bach suddenly regained his sight, but then he suffered a stroke that brought him to his grave. The solemn funeral caused a huge gathering of people from different places. The composer was buried near the Church of St. Thomas, where he served for 27 years. However, later a road was built through the territory of the cemetery, and the grave was lost. It was only in 1894 that Bach’s remains were accidentally found during construction work, and then the reburial took place. The fate of his legacy also turned out to be difficult. During his lifetime, Bach enjoyed fame. However, after the death of the composer, his name and music began to fall into oblivion. Genuine interest in his work arose only in the 1820s, which began with the performance of the St. Matthew Passion in Berlin in 1829 (organized by F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy). In 1850, the Bach Society was created, which sought to identify and publish all the composer’s manuscripts (46 volumes were published over half a century).

Bach is a major figure in world musical culture. His work represents one of the peaks of philosophical thought in music. Freely crossing features not only of different genres, but also of national schools, Bach created immortal masterpieces that stand above time. Being the last (along with G. F. Handel) great composer of the Baroque era, Bach at the same time paved the way for the music of modern times.

Among the continuers of Bach's quest are his sons. In total, he had 20 children: seven from his first wife, Maria Barbara Bach (1684 - 1720), and 13 from his second, Anna Magdalena Wilken (1701 - 1760), only nine of them survived their father. Four sons became composers. In addition to those mentioned above - Johann Christian (1735-82), Johann Christoph (1732-95).

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 service with the Duke of Weimar as a court organist and chamber musician in the chapel.

- the years of Bach's first maturity as a composer, very fruitful in creative terms. 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 Köthen lacked a good organ and choir chapel, focused his main attention on the keyboard (I volume of “HTK”, 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 Tomaschul - a school at the Church of St. Thomas.

In addition to his enormous creative work and service in the church school, he took an active part in the activities of the city’s “Music College”. It was a society of music lovers that organized secular music concerts for city residents.

- the time of the highest flowering of Bach's genius.

Were created best works for choir and orchestra: 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”.

The German composer Johann Sebastian Bach created more than 1000 musical works. He lived in the Baroque era and in his work summarized everything that was characteristic of the music of his time. Bach wrote in all genres available in the 18th century, with the exception of opera. Today, the works of this master of polyphony and virtuoso organist are listened to in a variety of situations - they are so diverse. In his music one can find simple-minded humor and deep sorrow, philosophical reflections and acute drama.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685, he was the eighth and most youngest child in the family. The father of the great composer Johann Ambrosius Bach was also a musician: the Bach family has been known for its musicality since the beginning of the 16th century. At that time, music creators enjoyed special honor in Saxony and Thuringia, they were supported by the authorities, aristocrats and representatives of the church.

By the age of 10, Bach lost both his parents, and his older brother, who worked as an organist, took over his upbringing. Johann Sebastian studied at the gymnasium, and at the same time received from his brother the skills of playing the organ and clavier. At the age of 15, Bach entered a vocal school and began writing his first works. After leaving school, he briefly served as a court musician for the Duke of Weimar, and then became an organist in a church in the city of Arnstadt. It was then that the composer wrote a large number of organ works.

Soon, Bach began to have problems with the authorities: he expressed dissatisfaction with the level of training of the singers in the choir, and then went to another city for several months in order to get acquainted with the playing of the authoritative Danish-German organist Dietrich Buxtehude. Bach went to Mühlhausen, where he was invited to the same position - organist in the church. In 1707, the composer married his cousin, who bore him seven children, three of them died in infancy, and two later became famous composers.

Bach worked in Mühlhausen for only a year and moved to Weimar, where he became court organist and concert organizer. By this time he already enjoyed great recognition and received a high salary. It was in Weimar that the composer's talent reached its peak - he spent about 10 years continuously composing works for clavier, organ and orchestra.

By 1717, Bach had achieved all possible heights in Weimar and began to look for another place of work. At first his old employer did not want to let him go, and even put him under arrest for a month. However, Bach soon left him and headed to the city of Köthen. If earlier his music was largely composed for religious services, here, due to the special requirements of the employer, the composer began to write mainly secular works.

In 1720, Bach's wife suddenly died, but a year and a half later he married the young singer again.

In 1723, Johann Sebastian Bach became cantor of the choir at the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig, and then was appointed “musical director” of all churches working in the city. Bach continued to write music until his death - even after losing his sight, he dictated it to his son-in-law. The great composer died in 1750, now his remains rest in the very Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig, where he worked for 27 years.

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Weimar again. Bach at a secular service. Joining the world musical art

In 1708, Bach was again in Weimar at the secular service of the goforganist and court musician of the Duke of Weimar. Bach stayed in Weimar for about ten years. The long stay in the city - the residence of the Duke - was by no means caused by satisfaction with the achieved position. There was essentially no difference between the present and the past. But serious considerations held Bach the musician back. For the first time, the opportunity presented itself to reveal his multifaceted talent in a variety of performing activities, to test it in all directions: organist, musician of the orchestral chapel, in which he had to play the violin and harpsichord, and from 1714 the position of assistant bandmaster was added. In those days, creativity was inseparable from performance, and the work that Johann Sebastian did in Weimar served as an indispensable school of composing skills.
Bach composed a lot for the organ, wrote various kinds of pieces for violin and harpsichord, and as an assistant bandmaster, he had to create a repertoire for the chapel, including cantatas for performance in the court church. All this required the ability to write quickly, in a wide variety of genres and forms, applying to different performing means and possibilities. Huge number everyday practical tasks absorbed maximum time, but also brought invaluable benefits: masterly flexibility of technology was developed, creative ingenuity and initiative developed. For Bach, this was also the first secular service, where it was relatively free to experiment in the previously inaccessible area of ​​secular musical genres.
A very important circumstance was contact with world musical art.
Bach previously knew the music of France and Italy and considered much, especially in Italian music, as a model for himself. But the type of his own works depended to a large extent on the requirements imposed by the type of service. Bach, a church organist, already had considerable experience in composing organ music before Weimar; during the Weimar period he, as an organ composer, achieved creative heights. The best of what Johann Sebastian created for this instrument was written in Weimar: Toccata and Fugue in D minor; Prelude and Fugue in A minor; prelude and fugue in C minor and a whole series other works.
In his organ work, Bach relied on long-established traditions national art, enriched by the activities of the composer’s immediate predecessors - German organists Reincken, Böhm, Pachelbel, Buxtehude. Without betraying the spirit of German music with its inherent philosophy, penchant for self-absorption and contemplation, Bach perfected his art using the examples of Italian masters. From them Bach learned to give his creations artistic completeness, clarity and beauty of form, and flexibility of texture. For Bach, raised on the ascetic sound of the Protestant chorale, brought up in the traditions of national music, largely constrained by the severity of the cult, contact with the sunny art of Italy was extremely beneficial.
Tangible results were brought by a serious study of the violin art of Italy with its brilliant concert style, which naturally combined the most difficult virtuoso technique with the plasticity of expressive cantilena melodies. Johann Sebastian put a lot of work into mastering new genres and creative techniques of Italian virtuosos. To this end, he transcribed Antonio Vivaldi's violin concertos for organ and harpsichord; developed in a number of organ and keyboard fugues thematic material Arcangelo Corelli, Giovanni Legrenzi, Tomasio Albinoni.
The study did not pass without a trace French music, in particular the harpsichord. Already in early years Johann Sebastian was able to appreciate her; the Luneburg collection of works, rewritten by the composer, also contains French harpsichord pieces; "Capriccio on the Departure of My Beloved Brother" reveals the influence of programmatic keyboard music created by French musicians.
In Weimar, a further and more in-depth development of French music takes place. Its characteristic elegance of style, filigree finishing the smallest details and the wealth of pictorial means admired Bach. Bach learned the techniques of clavier writing from the works of French harpsichordists and especially François Couperin.
Simultaneously with his work on the genres of organ and keyboard music, Bach composed cantatas. In addition to spiritual cantatas, the first secular cantata appears, “Only the merry hunt amuses me” (“Was mir behagt ist nur die munter Jagd”). It was written and performed in 1716. Subsequently, Bach repeatedly made changes to it (concerning mainly the verbal text) and adapted it to other official celebrations; eventually the cantata's music entered the sacred repertoire.
The more flexible use of the orchestra in the Weimar cantatas reveals traces of influences, and therefore Johann Sebastian's familiarity with the orchestral music of other countries.
So, creatively, Weimar is an extremely important stage for Bach. In the central, main area of ​​Bach's art, in organ music, the Weimar period is the flowering and complete creative maturity. Bach creates classical creations that have never been surpassed by anyone, surpassing anything that has ever existed for this instrument. For clavier and other types of instrumental, as well as vocal music, the Weimar period is interesting as a period of experiments, searches and remarkable individual discoveries.
At this time, Bach worked, not sparing himself, all night long. And yet there was not enough time. Much of what was conceived or preliminary sketched was realized and acquired its final form later, when, having left Weimar, Bach moved to Köthen.

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 the 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 specific period creative biography Bach. 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 Bach’s works such as the “Coffee Room” and “Peasant” cantatas, designed 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. IN symbolic meaning melodies often appear 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 integral 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 Holy Scripture. 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 system musical symbols Bach. 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 the “director of chamber music,” that is, the head of all 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.

In addition to his enormous creative work and service in the church school, he 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”.