When did Johann Sebastian Bach die? Bach is eternal harmony

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 musical art 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 reflected in the work of the great composers of the 19th century (Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Glinka, Taneyev), and in the works outstanding masters XX 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 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 is the main character and ideal. In this image, the composer saw the personification of the best human qualities: fortitude, loyalty 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 classical 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 the most different genres- organ chorale preludes, cantatas, passions. It is quite natural that P.Kh. has become integral integral part Bach's musical language.

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 values. 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 huge contribution to its development was made by A. Schweitzer, F. Busoni, B. Yavorsky, M. Yudina.

"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

Johann Sebastian Bach, whose biography is still being carefully studied, is included, according to the New York Times, in the top 10 most interesting biographies of composers.

Along with his name are such surnames as Beethoven, Wagner, Schubert, Debussy and others.

Let us also get to know this great musician to understand why his work has become one of the pillars of classical music.

J. S. Bach - German composer and virtuoso

The name Bach is one of the first that comes to mind when listing great composers. Indeed, he was outstanding, as evidenced by more than 1,000 pieces of music that remained after his life.

But we shouldn’t forget about the second Bach – the musician. After all, both of them were true masters of their craft.

In both forms, Bach honed his skills throughout his life. The training did not end with the end of vocal school. It continued throughout my life.

Proof of professionalism, in addition to the surviving musical works, is the impressive career of the musician: from organist in the first position to director of music.

It is all the more surprising to realize that many contemporaries perceived the composer’s musical works negatively. At the same time, the names of musicians popular in those years have practically not survived to this day. Only later did Mozart and Beethoven speak enthusiastically about the composer’s work. From the beginning of the 19th century, the work of the virtuoso musician began to revive thanks to the propaganda of Liszt, Mendelssohn and Schumann.

Now no one doubts the skill and enormous talent of Johann Sebastian. Bach's music is an example classical school. Books are written and films are made about the composer. The details of life are still a subject for research and study.

Brief biography of Bach

The first mention of the Bach family appeared in the 16th century. There were many among them famous musicians. Therefore, little Johann’s choice of profession was expected. By the 18th century, when the composer lived and worked, they knew about 5 generations of the musical family.

Father and mother

Father - Johann Ambrosius Bach was born in 1645 in Erfurt. He had a twin brother, Johann Christoph. Along with most of the representatives of his family, Johann Ambrosius worked as a court musician and music teacher.

Mother - Maria Elisabeth Lemmerhirt was born in 1644. She was also from Erfurt. Maria was the daughter of a city councilor, a respected man in the city. The dowry he left for his daughter was substantial, thanks to which she could live comfortably in marriage.

The parents of the future musician got married in 1668. The couple had eight children.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 31, 1685, becoming youngest child in family. They then lived in the picturesque city of Eisenach with a population of about 6,000 people. Johann's mother and father are Germans, so his son is also German by nationality.

When little Johann was 9 years old, Maria Elisabeth died. A year later, a few months after the second marriage, the father dies.

Childhood

The orphaned 10-year-old boy was taken in by his older brother, Johann Christoph. He worked as a music teacher and church organist.

Johann Christoph taught little Johann to play the clavier and organ. It is the latter that is considered the composer’s favorite instrument.

Little is known about this period of life. The boy studied at a city school, which he graduated at the age of 15, although its graduates were usually young people 2-3 years older. This means we can conclude that school was easy for the boy.

Another fact from the biography is often mentioned. At night, the boy often copied notes of works by other musicians. One day, the elder brother discovered this and strictly forbade him to do this in the future.

Music training

After graduating from school at the age of 15, the future composer entered the St. Michael Vocal School, which was located in the city of Luneburg.

During these years, the biography of Bach, the composer, begins. During his studies from 1700 to 1703, he wrote the first organ music and gained knowledge about modern composers.

During the same period, he traveled for the first time to the cities of Germany. He will continue to have this passion for travel in the future. Moreover, all of them were done for the sake of getting acquainted with the work of other composers.

After graduating from vocal school, the young man could have entered the university, but the need to earn a living forced him to abandon this opportunity.

Service

After completing his studies, J. S. Bach received the position of musician at the court of Duke Ernst. He was only a performer, playing the violin. Their musical compositions I haven't started writing yet.

However, dissatisfied with the job, after a few months he decides to change it and becomes the organist of the Church of St. Boniface in Arndstadt. During these years, the composer created many works, mainly for organ. That is, for the first time in the service I had the opportunity to be not only a performer, but also a composer.

Bach received a high salary, but after 3 years he decided to move due to tense relations with the authorities. Problems arose due to the fact that the musician was absent for a long time due to a trip to Lubeck. According to available information, he was released to this German city for 1 month, and he returned only after 4. In addition, the community expressed complaints about his ability to lead the choir. All this together prompted the musician to change jobs.

In 1707, the musician moved to Mülhusen, where he continued to work. In the Church of St. Blaise he had a higher salary. Relations with the authorities were going well. The city authorities were satisfied with the activities of the new employee.

However, a year later Bach moved again to Weimar. In this city he received a more prestigious position as a concert organizer. The 9 years spent in Weimar became a fruitful period for the virtuoso; here he wrote dozens of works. For example, he composed “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” for organ.

Personal life

Before moving to Weimar, in 1707, Bach married his cousin Maria Barbara. During their 13 years of marriage, they had seven children, three of whom died in infancy.

After 13 years of marriage, his wife died, and the composer married again 17 months later. This time Anna Magdalena Wilke became his wife.

She was a talented singer and subsequently sang in the choir led by her husband. They had 13 children.

Two sons from his first marriage - Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emmanuel - became famous composers, continuing the musical dynasty.

Creative path

Since 1717 he has worked for the Duke of Anhalt-Köthen as a bandmaster. Over the next 6 years, numerous suites were written. The Bradenburg Concertos also belong to this period. If we evaluate the direction as a whole creative activity composer, it is worth noting that during this period he wrote mainly secular works.

In 1723, Bach became a cantor (that is, organist and choir conductor), as well as a teacher of music and Latin at the Church of St. Thomas. For this reason he moves to Leipzig again. In the same year, the work “St. John’s Passion” was performed for the first time, thanks to which he received a high position.

The composer wrote both secular and sacred music. He performed classical sacred works in a new way.

The Coffee Cantata, the Mass in B minor and many other works were composed.

If we briefly characterize the work of the musical virtuoso, it is impossible to do without mentioning Bach’s polyphony. This concept in music was known before him, but it was during the composer’s life that people began to talk about free-style polyphony.

In general, polyphony means polyphony. In music, two equal voices sound simultaneously, and not just melody and accompaniment. The musician’s skill is evidenced by the fact that his works are still used by student musicians to study.

Last years of life and death

During the last 5 years of his life, the virtuoso rapidly lost his sight. To continue composing, he had to dictate music.

There were also problems with public opinion. Contemporaries did not appreciate Bach's music and considered it outdated. This was due to the flourishing of classicism that began during that period.

In 1747, three years before his death, the cycle “Music of the Offering” was created. It was written after the composer visited the court of Frederick II, King of Prussia. This music was intended for him.

The last work of the outstanding musician, “The Art of Fugue,” consisted of 14 fugues and 4 canons. But he didn’t have time to finish it. His sons did this for him after his death. Some interesting moments

1. from the life and work of the composer, musician and virtuoso:
2. After studying the family history, 56 musicians were found among the virtuoso’s relatives.
3. The musician’s surname is translated from German as “stream”.
4. Having heard a piece once, the composer could repeat it without error, which he did repeatedly.
5. Throughout his life, the musician moved eight times.
6. Thanks to Bach, women were allowed to sing in church choirs. His second wife became the first chorus member.
7. IN He wrote more than 1000 works throughout his life, so he is rightfully considered the most “prolific” author. last years
8. During his life, the composer was almost blind, and eye surgeries did not help. Composer's grave for a long time
9. was left without a tombstone.
10. Until now, not all biographical facts are known, some of them are not confirmed by documents. Therefore, the study of his life continues. In the musician’s homeland, two museums dedicated to him were opened. In 1907, a museum was opened in Eisenach, and in 1985 in Leipzig. By the way, the first museum houses lifetime portrait musicians, made in pastel, about which long years

nothing was known.

All works by him were combined into a single list - the BWV catalogue. Each essay is assigned a number from 1 to 1127.

The catalog is convenient in that all works are divided by type of work, and not by year of writing.

To count how many suites Bach wrote, just look at their numbering in the catalogue. For example, the French suites are assigned numbers from 812 to 817. This means that a total of 6 suites were written within this cycle. In total, you can count 21 suites and 15 parts of suites.

The most recognizable piece is the Scherzo in B minor from Suite for Flute and String Orchestra No. 2, called “The Joke.” This melody was often used to ring mobile devices, but despite this, unfortunately, not everyone will be able to name its author.

Indeed, the names of many of Bach’s works are not well-known, but their melodies will seem familiar to many. For example, “Brandenburg Concertos”, “Goldberg Variations”, “Toccata and Fugue in D minor”.

Johann Sebastian Bach- German composer, virtuoso organist, music teacher. During his life, Bach wrote more than 1000 works.

Was born March 31, 1685 in the city of Eisenach, where he lived until he was ten years old. Having been orphaned, he moved to Ohrdruf, to live with his older brother Johann Christoph, an organist.

His brother became his first teacher on the clavier and organ. Then Bach went to study at a singing school in the city of Lüneburg. There he gets acquainted with the work of modern musicians and develops comprehensively. During the years 1700-1703, Bach's first organ music was written.

Having completed his studies, Johann Sebastian was sent to Duke Ernst to serve as a musician at court. Then he was invited to be a caretaker in the organ hall of the church in Arnstadt, after which he became an organist. During this time, many works by Bach were written. Later he became an organist in the city of Mühlhausen.

In 1707, Bach married Maria Barbara, his cousin. They subsequently had seven children, three of whom died in childhood. Two of the survivors - Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emmanuel - later became famous composers.

The authorities were pleased with his work, and the composer received a reward for publishing the work. However, Bach again decided to change jobs, this time becoming court organist in Weimar.

Bach's music is filled with the best trends of that time thanks to the teachings of other composers. Bach's next employer, who highly valued his talent, was the Duke of Anhalt-Köthen. During the period from 1717 to 1723, Bach's magnificent suites (for orchestra, cello, clavier) appeared.

In 1720, Bach's wife died, but a year later the composer married again, this time to a singer. The happy family had 13 children. During his stay in Köthen, Bach's Brandenburg Concertos were written.

In 1723, the musician became a teacher at the church, then music director in Leipzig. Johann Sebastian Bach's wide repertoire included secular and wind music. During his life, Johann Sebastian Bach managed to be the head of a music college. Several cycles of the composer Bach used all kinds of instruments ("Musical Offering", "The Art of Fugue").

March 31 is the birthday of the outstanding German composer Johann Sebastian Bach. His musical heritage has entered the golden fund of world culture and is well known to connoisseurs of the classics, but his personal fate is rarely discussed. But Johann Bach was a representative of one of the most “musical” families in history: in total he had There are 56 musicians and composers in the family. Johann Bach himself became father of 20 children!

You can find out what Johann Sebastian Bach might have looked like from our photo review.

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: ARIES

NATIONALITY: GERMAN

MUSICAL STYLE: BAROQUE

ICONIC WORK: THE GOLDBERG VARIATIONS (1741)

WHERE HAVE YOU HEARD THIS MUSIC: IN THE FILM “SILENCE OF THE LAMBS”. WHEN DOCTOR HANNIBAL LECTOR COMMITS TWO BLOODY MURDERS.

WISE WORDS: “THERE IS NOTHING SUPERNATURAL ABOUT THIS. YOU JUST HAVE TO HIT THE RIGHT KEY AT THE RIGHT MOMENT. AND THE INSTRUMENT WILL PLAY EVERYTHING BY ITSELF.”

It is probably not surprising that Johann Sebastian Bach's father was a musician - in small German villages, sons often followed in their fathers' footsteps professionally. However, it is significant that Bach’s grandfather, great-grandfather, numerous uncles, nephews, cousins ​​and second cousins were also musicians. The family held the local one so tightly in its hands music business that when a vacancy arose in the palace orchestra in 1693, they asked not for a violinist or an organist, but “one of the Bachs.”

In turn, Bach identified four sons, a son-in-law and a grandson for the musical part. He also left an absolutely incredible musical legacy for future generations. For many years, Bach wrote a cantata a week - in addition to concertos, canons, sonatas, symphonies, preludes and partitas, which he wrote in his free moments. This man could have composed the Art of Fugue cycle of 15 fugues and four canons purely for the sake of intellectual exercise.

Bach's life was not distinguished by drama and brilliance; he never traveled, did not perform in front of crowds of listeners, he never even left his small homeland in Southern Germany. True, he found time to marry twice and have twenty children, but otherwise his life was filled to overflowing with teaching, conducting and composing.

GREAT IDEA: LET'S CALL HIM JOHAN!

For Johann Sebastian, born in 1685 in the German town of Eisenach, the name Johann was as inevitable as music career. His father, great-grandfather, seven uncles and four of his five brothers bore this name; Let’s not forget sister Johanna and another brother, named, oddly enough, Johannes.

Bach's quiet, prosperous childhood ended in 1694, when his mother, Elizabeth, died suddenly; her father followed her to the grave less than a year later. Sebastian was taken in by his older brother Johann (it goes without saying) Christoph, who lived in the town of Ohrdruf. Johann Christoph was a respected organist who studied with Johann Pachelbel (author of the famous "Canon in D Major").

The relationship between the brothers cannot be called cloudless. Sebastian dreamed of getting to the collection of musical opuses given to Christoph Pachelbel, but his older brother kept these extremely valuable music manuscripts locked in a closet. However, Sebastian figured out how to get to the coveted music: sticking his hand through the lattice door of the cabinet, he pulled out the sheet music. Every night he stole sheet music from his older brother, and then secretly, in the moonlight, he copied them. This went on for about six months, until Christophe realized what was happening and locked the manuscripts more securely. At the same time, he took away copies from Bach.

AN UNHAPPY YOUNG MAN

Bach began his career in 1702, receiving the position of organist in the city of Arnstadt. His duties included conducting the choir and orchestra, many of the performers being older than him - a situation that at times made things very difficult. A certain twenty-three-year-old orchestra member started a fight with Bach in the market square in retaliation for the fact that Bach called him a “goat bassoonist.”

From Arnstadt, Bach went to Mühlhausen, then to Weimar and served everywhere as an organist and conductor. Along the way, he married his second cousin Maria Barbara Bach, with whom he had seven children. And besides, he earned a reputation as a cantankerous prima donna. For example, he pulled out such tricks: he asked for a four-week vacation and did not show up for work for four months, and one day Bach, tearing his wig off his head, threw it at the organist with a cry: “You better wear boots!” When he was offered a prestigious position at the court of the princes of Anhalt-Köthen in 1717, he caused such a scandal in Weimar, demanding immediate dismissal, that offended city officials put him in prison for almost a month. Bach, who never lost heart, took advantage free time to write the first part of The Well-Tempered Clavier.

COUNTERPUNK TO THE EARS

In Köthen, Bach finally came into his own as a composer. His favorite technique was counterpoint, a compositional form that dominated the Baroque era. In counterpoint, not one melodic voice is taken, but two or more, and they sound, sometimes layering on each other, sometimes contrasting one another. (If you've seen the musical " Music Man", you heard the counterpoint. Two songs - “Lida Rose” and “Tell You?” - completely different melodies, but they are sung at the same time.) Counterpoint gave rise to a set of complex compositional rules, as well as strictly defined musical forms. Bach perfected all this, combining mathematical precision with amazing ingenuity.

In Köthen, Bach suffered a severe blow: returning from a short trip, he discovered that his wife had suddenly died in his absence. And again he did not give in to despondency; less than a year later, he was head over heels in love with a soprano named Anna Magdalena Wilke. Having placed her in the court choir and achieved a salary for her that was three times the salary of an orchestra member, Bach married Anna Magdalena. She was seventeen years younger than him. When a budget crisis broke out in the Principality of Anhalt-Köthen, the Bachs decided it was time for them to move on.

PHENOBARBITAL? DIMEDROL? NO, "VARIATIONS"!

They settled in Leipzig, where Bach received a position as cantor in the Church of St. Thomas. Thus began the most fruitful period of his life. He issued a cantata a week - each Sunday had its own special music with vocals - thus creating five full cycles church music. In addition, he wrote the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion, and the Christmas Oratorio.

BACH COMPOSED THE FIRST PART OF THE “WELL TEMPERED CLAVIER” BEHIND BARS.

He received a different kind of order from Count Hermann von Keyserling, who suffered from chronic insomnia. Keyserling wanted his pianist, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who had studied with Bach, to play something for his master at night so that he could fall asleep, and Bach provided his former student with the Goldberg Variations.

A charming story - and most likely completely unreliable. "Variations" was written when Goldberg was only fourteen years old, and besides, the music is hardly relaxing. In all likelihood, Bach intended the work to be used as an exercise in counterpoint, and Goldberg was one of the first to perform it. According to experts, the Goldberg Variations are Bach's greatest masterpiece for keyboards.

DEATH Imaginary and Real

Bach remained in Leipzig until the end of his life, although later years his phenomenal performance has slowed down somewhat. He could not resist quarreling with his superiors - the feud over who should choose hymns for Sunday services lasted three years. In 1749, the Leipzig city council began to select a replacement for him, although Bach was alive and in good health - and very dissatisfied with how impatiently his death was awaited.

By that time, Bach seemed an anachronism, and counterpoint, with its precision and rigor, was considered hopelessly outdated. But the composer stubbornly stuck to his line. In The Art of Fugue he explored the possibilities one and only melodies and even wove himself into this music, composing a theme based on the notes that are designated by the letters that make up his last name - BASN (in German notation, “B” meant B-flat, “A” - A, “C” - C, “H” - B major).

The fugue "VASN" ends abruptly. According to legend, Bach collapsed dead while composing it. The truth is somewhat more complicated. At the end of the 1740s, the composer's eyesight began to deteriorate. In the spring of 1750, he turned to the “reputable ophthalmologist” (or rather, a patented charlatan) Dr. John Taylor, who performed eye operations. With Bach, Taylor achieved the same result as with Handel: a short-term return to one hundred percent vision, and then complete blindness. After the operation, Bach, deprived of all strength, lived for several more months until he was struck by a stroke. On July 28 he died.

NOTES WITH OIL

It seemed that Bach's music was doomed to perish along with its author. During the composer's lifetime, little was published, and the rest was buried deep in church libraries. Bach was saved from oblivion by a gift given to Felix Mendelssohn on his fourteenth birthday - a handwritten copy of the St. Matthew Passion. Mendelssohn's grandmother bought these notes from the composer Karl Friedrich Zelter, who taught young Felix to play the piano. Zelter said that he found this score several years earlier in a cheese shop where they were wrapping butter in it. Many musicologists believe that Zelter lied for the sake of a catchphrase, but in fact he inherited the notes of the “Passion” from one of Bach’s students.

Be that as it may, young Mendelssohn was immediately inspired by Bach's work and in 1829, at the age of twenty, managed to organize a performance of the Passion in Berlin. Mendelssohn could not resist the temptation to correct Bach's music: he reduced the duration of the work from three hours to two, replaced the keyboard with an organ and generally softened the baroque score. Bach would have been upset by the wildly romantic “Passion” that Mendelssohn presented on stage, but the Berlin audience was in raptures. Immediately the hunt began for other hidden treasures of Bach, and since then his music has been an obligatory dish in concert halls all over the world. Not bad for a man who has never left his southern German province.

THERE ARE NO TOO MUCH BACHES

From two wives Bach had a total of twenty children; however, only half of them survived to adulthood. Of the six sons, only one, Gottfried Heinrich, did not become a professional musician - apparently due to mental retardation.

Another son, Gottfried Bernhard, showed great promise. Bach used his connections to get Gottfried a position as organist in Mühlhausen, but a few months later he returned to Mühlhausen with the shameful mission of paying off his son’s debts. His stay at his second place of work, in Sangerhausen, ended even worse - Gottfried simply disappeared, leaving behind a pile of debts. For a whole year, his relatives did not receive any news from him, and then they were informed that he had died in Jena, where he had come to enroll in the law faculty of the university.

Fortunately, Bach's four other sons did not show any tendency to excesses. Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emmanuel, Johann Christoph Friedrich and Johann Christian all composed music. Works by V.F. and I.K.F. rarely heard today, but I.K. and K.F.E. during their lifetime they were widely known and were considered much more significant composers than their father. Since then the situation has changed dramatically.

BLACK SHEEP IN THE BACH FED?

AND the last Bach, which is worth mentioning: supposedly the twenty-first offspring of the great composer with the initials P.D.K. In fact, P.D.K. - invention of musical satirist Peter Schickele; this joke by Schikele lasts for more than one year, periodically “discovering” hitherto unknown works by P.D.K. and presenting them to the public. The performance is usually accompanied by a hefty dose of musicological gobbledygook.

Schikele shares the work of P.D.K. for three periods: “first surge”, “immersion” and “repentance”. Since P.D.K. He is much more adept at stealing music from others than composing his own; his works are a potpourri of a variety of styles and genres - baroque counterpoint, romantic melodies, Renaissance madrigals, country music and even rap. Among the most popular are “Overture of 1712”, “Oedipus the Creature”, “Temperamental Clavier” and “Serenade for a whole storm of winds and percussion”.

GOLDBERG BY GOULD

One of the most famous interpreters of Bach in the twentieth century was Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. Born in 1932 in Toronto, Gould was still early childhood discovered an outstanding musical talent, and at the age of fifteen he was already performing in concerts. Over two decades of concert activity, Gould traveled all over North America and Europe, amazing the audience with both his incredible playing technique and his eccentricity. He went on stage, wrapped in a hundred clothes - Gould was afraid of drafts. He preferred not to notice the audience; he swayed and jumped at the piano, and also hummed to himself, mercilessly out of tune.

Gould complained that he could not sleep in an unfamiliar place, and in 1964 he stopped giving concerts. Many orchestras breathed a sigh of relief. Gould tormented conductors by insisting on a different, not generally accepted, interpretation piece of music; he found it extremely difficult to please with the piano, and he spent a lot of time adapting his specially designed stool to the instrument. He could also cancel the performance almost on the day of the concert. Having completely switched to work in the studio, Gould began recording Bach's keyboard works, including the Goldberg Variations - in two versions. On most recordings, you can hear the pianist's "tunes", despite the heroic efforts of the sound engineers to remove this "makeweight". But who cares if Gould played Bach like no other, and his fans around the world hailed these recordings as the canonical interpretation of Bach's masterpiece.

Gould was a notorious hypochondriac. He once sued Steinway & Sons because their sales director patted a pianist on the shoulder a little more generously than he should have. Gould called it an attack and said he has suffered continuous pain in his shoulder and spine ever since. However, the pianist celebrated his fiftieth birthday in amazingly good health. The greater the shock in the community when, just a few days later, Gould suffered a massive stroke. He did not recover from his coma and died on October 4, 1982. His recordings, particularly both versions of the Goldberg Variations, remain incredibly popular.