The Learn Tracker
...life-long learning: structured, organized, searchable...
924
Lectures Watched
Since January 1, 2014
Hundreds of free, self-paced university courses available:
my recommendations here
Peruse my collection of 275
influential people of the past.
View My Class Notes via:
Receive My Class Notes via E-Mail:

VIEW ARCHIVE

Contact Me via E-Mail:
edward [at] tanguay.info
Notes on video lecture:
The Bach Family and the International Style of Baroque
Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on January 14, 2017 (go to class or lectures)
Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
city, Art, Germany, Thirty, religious, theory, workman, changes, Italy, Johann, string, melodies, eight, countries, international, compositional, Protestantism, Vivaldi, transferred, Thomasschule, Kapellmeister, Schneider, Händel, Preludes, prolific, Lutheran, propaganda, Verzeichnis, 300, fugue, clavichord, court, composition, Telemann, cappella, Ambrosius, Mathew, father
•
the Baroque period in               
•
delayed behind France and Italy due to the              Years' War (1618-48)
•
a struggle between Catholicism and                           
•
much of the country was destroyed
•
territories were                       
•
land was divided into more than        independent cities and territories
•
late 17th and early 18th century
•
some of Baroque's leading composers came from Germany
•
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
•
George Frideric                        (1685-1759)
•
Georg Philipp                  (1681-1767)
•
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
•
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
•
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
•
musical styles in Germany
•
unlike musicians in            and France, German composers would
•
study, copy, and arrange the music from different                   
•
travel throughout Europe learning and blending different                            styles in new ways
•
this turned the national style of the Baroque to the                            style of the classical period
•
German opera
•
a combination of Italian and French styles
•
opera was popular in Germany
•
the center was Hamburg
•
1678 the first public opera house
•
Reinhard Keiser (1674-1739)
•
the most                  opera composer
•
over 60 operas performed in Hamburg
•
Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783)
•
there were two different styles of church music
•
a                 
•
contrapunctus
•
Palestrina
•
concerted style
•
instrumental accompaniment
•
Bach family
•
                 religion
•
used choral and instrumental
•
choral
•
single line melody set to a Lutheran text
•
four part vocal arrangement of those same                 
•
two kinds of professional musicians in Germany
•
           musicians
•
worked for royalty
•
princes, dukes
•
imitated Louis XIV use of the arts as                     
•
hired court instrumentalists
•
singers and composers
•
not quite as many as the French
•
         musicians
•
included the town piper
•
usually could play many different wind and              instruments
•
would apprentice and take an audition to take the job
•
unless the family was passed down through a family, as was the case for the Bach family
•
controlled music of a city
•
in Lutheran towns, controlled music in the churches
•
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
•
proud of his family's heritage
•
1735: The Origin of the Musical Bach Family
•
tracing the origin of 53 family members
•
Bach learned from his             
•
Bach taught his oldest sons
•
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
•
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (CPE Bach)
•
they taught their youngest brother              Christian Bach (JC Bach)
•
most of the musicians in the Bach family were town pipers, or church musicians
•
Johann                    Bach
•
violinist and trumpet player
•
was in the town council in Eisenach, Germany
•
he had his wife had            children
•
Johann Sebastian was the youngest
•
wife died in 1694 and Johann died in 1695
•
made Johann Sebastian an orphan at the age of 10
•
JS Bach moved in with his cousin Johann Christoph Bach
•
learned to play the                     
•
learned the styles of many countries
•
recognized early as a good musician
•
awarded choir boy scholarship near Hamburg
•
at 18 embarked on career
•
concert meister at the court of Weimar
•
learned about Vivaldi
•
arranged               's concertos for keyboard
•
it's a great way to learn the style of a composer, trying to arrange their music for another instrument
•
1707 married Maria Barbara Bach
•
actually a second cousin
•
had seven children
•
four survived to adulthood
•
1717-23                            at Court of Köthen
•
1720 Maria died
•
1721 met and married Anna Magdelena
•
professional soprano
•
together they raised the children from his first marriage and had 13 children of their own from 1723 to 1742, seven of whom died at a young age
•
didn't write much about himself or music             
•
not much is known about him as a private citizen
•
clearly a                    man
•
Lutheran
•
dedicated his life to serving his religion through his music
•
1723 Cantor of the                          zu Leipzig
•
most prominent and highest paying position
•
remained here until his death in 1750
•
didn't travel much
•
according to his contract, he couldn't leave the city without permission from the mayor
•
held in high esteem
•
but he wasn't concerned with fame or being remembered after his death
•
little of his music was published
•
toward the end of his life, his music was considered old-fashioned
•
as the newer, simpler styles were becoming more popular
•
he didn't perform music by composers who came before him
•
didn't intend for people to play his
•
his music forgotten until Mendelssohn's revival of his St.              passion in 1829 in Berlin
•
Bach's works
•
main job throughout his life was as an organist and composer for churches
•
also taught                       
•
gives us insight into his compositional process
•
encouraged his students to write away from the keyboard
•
think about what you have to say
•
rarely made any significant                to what he wrote
•
didn't consider himself a genius, but rather a capable                simply carrying out his duties
•
but many do recognize Bach as a genius, especially when it comes to counterpoint
•
the study of consonance and dissonance
•
composed in every genre except opera
•
cantatas, oratorios, and passions contained many of the same elements of opera
•
his genius can be seen most clearly in the mastery of the           
•
he had the ability to create themes and motives, even ones that contrast each other on the surface that fit perfectly when played together
•
cataloged in the Bach Werke                        (BWV)
•
compiled in 1950 by Wolfgang                   
•
first section
•
200+ cantatas
•
passions
•
oratorios
•
chorales
•
second section: Keyboard works
•
preludes and fugues for organ
•
inventions (short compositions developing a single theme contrapuntally)
•
48                  and Fugues for the Well-Tempered Clavier
•
Goldberg Variations
•
third section
•
suites for solo cello
•
sonatas and partitas for violin
•
fourth section
•
6 Brandenburg Concertos
•
The        of the Fugue (unfinished)

Spelling Corrections:

transfered ⇒ transferred
prominant ⇒ prominent

Ideas and Concepts:

18th century baroque discovery via tonight's History of Western Music class: "Johann Adolph Hasse (1699-1783) was a composer, singer and teacher of music who mostly resided in Hamburg. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a considerable quantity of sacred music. Like many of his works, his Oratorio "Sanctus Petrus et Sancta Maria Magdalena" is heart-piercing music, especially the duets. His music, religious or not, can be enjoyed as a respite from Bach's highly disciplined works. In Hasse's works you will find that spark of human adventurism, be it worldly or spiritual, which enables new discoveries."
16th century Christmas music, via tonight's History of Western Music class:

"O Magnum Mysterium is a six-part motet by Giovanni Palestrina, based on the responsorial chant of the same name, and was written for the celebration of Christmas.

The piece is intended to express the joy and awe that was felt by the shepherds as they celebrated and worshiped the Christ-child in the manger on Christmas eve.

The text is in Latin and refers to the Bible's story of Christ in the manger. It was specially chosen as a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ from the Virgin Mary and to illustrate God’s grace and mercy to sinners.

Palestrina wrote this motet during times when complaints were being made about the plainness of religious works, and he wrote it as a response against the complaints, furthering the bounds of complexity by writing the choral composition for six parts."
On the genius of Bach, via tonight's History of Western Music class: "Many recognize Bach as a genius, especially when it comes to counterpoint, i.e. the study of consonance and dissonance. His genius can be seen most clearly in the mastery of the fugue. He had the ability to create themes and motifs, even ones that contrast each other on the surface that fit perfectly when played together. Bach, however, didn't consider himself a genius, but rather a capable workman simply carrying out his duties."
Ancient Musical Notation
Medieval Chant Notation
Polyphony
Ars Nova, New Rhythm in the 14th Century
Musical Terms and Notation
The Baroque Era (1600-1750)
18th Century Baroque Improvisation
The Bach Family and the International Style of Baroque
Bach's Monumental Chaconne
The Classical Era (1750-1815)