Lecture 16. Baroque Music: The Vocal Music of Johann Sebastian Bach

YaleCourses

7 Dec 201248:37

EducationalLearning

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TLDRThe script provides an overview of Baroque composer J.S. Bach's life, career, and musical repertoire. It examines Bach's biography, discussing his musical lineage and early life. It then analyzes his professional trajectory, focusing on his posts as an organist and composer in towns like Arnstadt, Weimar, Cöthen, and Leipzig. The script also explores Bach's compositional output, including keyboard works, dance suites, concertos, the Brandenburg Concertos, vocal music like the B Minor Mass, and especially his hundreds of religious cantatas written for services during his tenure in Leipzig. The summary conveys key biographical details and analyzes representative musical compositions to characterize Bach's Baroque musical style.

Takeaways

😀 J.S Bach came from a long line of musicians spanning 10 generations
😊 Bach was mostly self-taught by copying and studying music scores of other composers
😯 Bach walked 250 miles to study under a famous organist in Lubeck and back
🤓 Bach was known more as a virtuoso organist rather than a composer in his time
😮 Bach had to generate 25-30 minutes of new music every week as cantor in Leipzig
📝 Bach's large family and students assisted him by hand-copying music scores
🎹 Bach incorporated familiar Lutheran chorale tunes in his vocal works
😴 Bach's music was considered too long, dense and complex by contemporary standards
🎶 Bach ultimately created around 300 multi-movement vocal works called cantatas
💀 Bach was rediscovered as a genius long after his death when later composers started studying and playing his music

Q & A

What was Bach known for during his lifetime?
-During his lifetime, Bach was known primarily as an organ virtuoso and performer rather than a composer.
Why did Bach move to Leipzig in 1723?
-Bach moved to Leipzig in 1723 for two reasons: 1) his family would be provided relatively large living quarters, and 2) Leipzig was a university town, so Bach's sons could get a free education.
What is a cantata and how many did Bach write?
-A cantata is a multi-movement sung religious piece lasting around 25-30 minutes. Bach wrote about 300 cantatas over his career.
What was Bach required to do as part of his job in Leipzig?
-As part of his job, Bach had to organize music for all the Lutheran churches in Leipzig, teach music to choirboys, write a new cantata every week, and get permission to leave town.
What is a chorale tune?
-A chorale tune is a Lutheran hymn melody that the entire congregation was expected to be able to sing.
What is Advent?
-Advent is the four weeks leading up to Christmas.
How did Bach manage to compose a new cantata every week?
-Bach had students and family members, including his wife Anna Magdalena, copy out instrumental and vocal parts, allowing him to focus on composing.
Why did people later dig up Bach's body?
-People dug up Bach's body in 1895 to examine if he had an unusually small brain, fitting a discredited theory of genius at the time. Finding nothing abnormal, they reburied him at the church's high altar.
What is a da capo aria?
-A da capo aria is a ternary form aria with two contrasting sections, the second of which is followed by the instruction 'da capo' (from the beginning) directing the performer to repeat the first section.
How did a typical church service incorporating a Bach cantata proceed?
-The service would open with introductory music and prayers, followed by a scripture reading. Bach's cantata would then be performed, concluding with the entire congregation singing the closing chorale tune.

Outlines

00:00

😃 Overview of Bach's Biography and Legacy as a Musician

Introduces Bach's musical lineage and upbringing. Discusses his reputation as an organ virtuoso, not a composer, and his ambitious nature. Mentions his jobs in Arnstadt, Weimar, Coethen and finally settling in Leipzig due to good job conditions.

05:01

🎹 Bach's Organ Works from His Early Career

References Bach's early organ works like the toccata in D minor. Shows images of the original organ Bach played in Arnstadt and its console. Discusses how organs worked during Bach's time.

10:02

👨‍🎤 Bach's Job Duties as a Music Director in Leipzig

Explains Bach's responsibilities as music director in Leipzig, including instructing choirboys, composing weekly cantatas, and getting approval for leaves. Shows images of Bach's workplace and living quarters in Leipzig, expanded later to accommodate his large family.

15:05

🎶 Overview of Baroque Music Attributes Using Bach's Cantatas

Analyzes features of Baroque music like long length, counterpoint, and complex textures using Bach's cantatas. Explains the cantata form and use of chorales. Plays excerpts from Bach's B Minor Mass and a cantata movement.

20:06

👥 Analysis of the Chorale Text and Bach's Musical Depiction

Examines the Advent scripture and chorale text preceding Bach's cantata. Describes Bach's musical representation of the second coming of Christ and believers rushing to meet him.

25:08

🕯️ The Layered Texture and Incorporation of the Chorale Tune

Analyzes the orchestration and walking bass in a famous movement of the cantata. Identifies the three independent strands and discusses Bach's skillful treatment of the chorale tune sung plainly by the male voices.

30:11

🤯 The Laborious Process of Producing Bach's Prodigious Output

Emphasizes the effort required to manually copy out individual parts for each composition every week. Shows images indicating how Bach leveraged his large household to assist with music copying.

35:11

👋 Bach's Death and Enduring Musical Legacy

Notes that Bach was reinterred in a place of honor once later composers recognized his genius. His music plays as the class ends just as cantatas concluded church services.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Baroque music

The type of music from 1600-1750 that Bach composed. It features complex counterpoint, chromaticism, dense textures, and long durations. The professor says Bach's tendency to write very contrapuntal, chromatic, and long music led to restrictions on his compositional style in Leipzig.

💡cantata

A multi-movement vocal composition that was the centerpiece of Lutheran church services. Bach had to produce cantatas weekly in Leipzig, resulting in over 300 cantatas. They featured arias, recitatives, and choruses incorporating chorale tunes.

💡chorale tune

A Lutheran hymn melody that congregations would sing. Bach incorporated these into the choruses of his cantatas, often harmonizing or ornamenting the melody. The professor has the class attempt to sing the chorale tune from Cantata 140.

💡Leipzig

The city where Bach spent the last 27 years of his career directing music for the Lutheran churches. The professor describes Bach's duties and restrictions there as well as his living situation.

💡Lutheran

The Protestant denomination of Bach and his Leipzig employers. Understanding the Lutheran liturgy, theology, and music is essential background for Bach's vocal compositions.

💡Basso continuo

The continuous bass accompaniment featuring multiple bass instruments that was idiomatic to Baroque music. Used in recitatives, arias, and choruses of Bach's cantatas.

💡counterpoint

The interweaving of multiple melodic lines or voices characteristic of Bach's imitative polyphonic style. The dense counterpoint could make his music difficult for congregations to sing.

💡organist

Bach's primary occupation and reputation during his lifetime was as an organ virtuoso, not a composer. The professor plays excerpts of his organ works and describes the Arnstadt organ.

💡Advent

The liturgical season leading up to Christmas when Cantata 140 was intended to be performed. Understanding the gospel and symbolism of Advent provides insight into Bach's musical depiction of Christ's coming.

💡genius

Bach was not appreciated as a genius during his lifetime. The professor notes that we likely fail to recognize geniuses around us now just as Bach's employers did. When later composers revived Bach's music, he was finally hailed as a genius.

Highlights

Bach came from a long line of musicians - 10 generations were musicians

Bach was legendary in his time not as a composer but as a virtuoso organist

Bach taught himself music by copying the works of composers like Corelli and Vivaldi

Bach walked 250 miles to study under a famous organist, demonstrating his devotion to music

Bach was thrown in jail for a month for accepting a new position without his employer's permission, showing musicians' low status

In Leipzig, Bach was responsible for organizing the music at all the Lutheran churches

Bach wrote around 300 cantatas, which are 20-30 minute vocal works on religious texts

The cantata discussed features a chorale tune, which was an old Lutheran hymn melody

Bach had to compose 25-30 minutes of new music every week for church services

Bach's large family and students lived with him and helped copy out parts, since publishing didn't exist

After his death, Bach was moved to the high altar of the church and honored with stained glass windows when later composers recognized his genius

The cantata would end with the whole congregation standing and singing the chorale tune together

Bach wrote very dense, complex, long counterpoint that was sometimes seen as too excessive

Vivaldi wrote fast 3-minute concerto movements while Bach's were 9 minutes - 3 times as long and dense

Bach exhausted himself writing cantatas weekly, doing as much in one piece as others would do in many

Transcripts

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