Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work

Prelude and Fugue in C minor (bk. 2 p. 48) (c. 1704). Do. do. C major (bk. 8 p. 88) (? 1707).(331) Do. do. the “Short,” A minor (bk. 10 p. 208). Fugue in C minor (bk. 12 p. 95)...

92 As at Halle in 1713, Bach does not appear to have gone to Hamburg specially to compete for the post of Organist to the Church of St. James, vacant by the death of Heinrich Fr...

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685,(43) at Eisenach, where his father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was Court and Town Musician.(44) Johann Ambrosius had a twin brother,...

5. Gleichwie die wilden Meeres-Wellen (Cantata 178: Violin or Viola). 6. Greifet zu, fasst das Heil (Cantata 174: Violin or Viola). 7. Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener (Cantat...

40 (Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott), 42 (Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod), 44 (Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein), 54 (Aus der Tiefe ruf ich), 56 (Christ lag in Todesbanden), and the “...

APPENDIX I. CHRONOLOGICAL CATALOGUE OF BACH’S COMPOSITIONS APPENDIX II. THE CHURCH CANTATAS ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY APPENDIX III. THE BACHGESELLSCHAFT EDITIONS OF BACH’S WORKS...

To have produced so many great works in all forms of musical expression Bach necessarily must have been a prolific writer. For if a composer be the greatest genius in the world,...

It not infrequently happens that talented composers and players are incapable of imparting their skill to others. Either they have never troubled to probe the mechanism of their...

As a Clavier player Bach was admired by all who had the good fortune to hear him and was the envy of the virtuosi of his day. His method greatly differed from that of his contem...

Bach’s treatment of harmony and modulation powerfully influenced his melody. The strands of his harmony are really concurrent melodies. They flow easily and expressively, never...

Bach’s first attempts at composition, like all early efforts, were unsatisfactory. Lacking special instruction to direct him towards his goal, he was compelled to do what he cou...

What has been said regarding Bach’s admirable Clavier playing applies generally to his skill as an organist. The Clavier and Organ have points in common, but in style and touch...

Distinguished as a player, composer, and teacher, Bach was also an indulgent father, a good friend, and a loyal citizen. His paternal devotion is shown by his care for his child...

It is surely unnecessary to ask whether that artist is a genius who, in every form of his art, has produced masterpiece after masterpiece, of an originality which sets them abov...

Not all the Bachs, however, were great musicians. But every generation boasted some of them who were more than usually distinguished. In the first quarter of the seventeenth cen...

It has been remarked more than once that Bach, throughout his life, devoted much thought to the improvement of his compositions. I have had frequent occasion to compare the orig...

If there is such a thing as inherited aptitude for art it certainly showed itself in the family of Bach. For six successive generations scarcely two or three of its members are...

Fughetta in C minor (p. 10). Prelude and Fughetta in D minor (p. 40). Prelude and Fughetta in E minor (p. 42). Prelude and Fughetta in A minor (p. 47). Fugue in C major (p. 54)....