Johann Sebastian Bach
T
he
greatest composer of music who has ever lived. Bach did not invent
any new styles of forms of music, but rather perfected every single
one of them which existed in his day. He remains the all-time master
of the fugue, a form which is so difficult to write that even Mozart
and Beethoven, both of whom wrote fugal masterpieces, hated writing
them. Bach, however, improvised fugues for 2 hours at a stretch, and
then wrote them down from memory afterward. Bach wrote universal
masterpieces in every genre, including the 6 finest concerti grossi
ever written, nicknamed the Brandenburg Concerti. He also wrote the
finest single work of sacred music in history, the Mass in b minor,
which has been argued by many musicologsts and composers to be the
single greatest work of music of all time, in any genre, in any
style. Whereas, most composers did not typically relish complexity,
Bach was at home in it. The Sanctus from his b minor Mass is a
6-part chorus, including a 4-voiced fugue. In the annals of fugal
composition, no composer as ever attempted what Bach accomplished,
and he did so without difficulty: his monumental Art of Fugue, which
is a thorough examination of all the methods by which fugues are
written. Using one theme, Bach explains in music all the
possibilities of contrapuntal composition inherent in a single
musical subject: the fugue, the double fugue, the triple fugue, the
quadruple fugue, the stretto fugue, the mirror fugue, canonizing the
fugues, etc. If you were to turn the scores of the two mirror fugues
upside down and play them, they would sound the same. He wrote in
the Baroque style, but his music is as Romantic as anything
Beethoven or Wagner or Schumann ever composed, and films can be set
to it. He is the greatest of all composers, of all time, because of
the intellectual depth of his music, the technical demand, and the
artistic beauty.
PART IV. SELF- STUDY ASSIGNMENTS
Self- study assignment # 1
Watch the feature film “Amadeus” and get ready to take a multiple choice test on it.
Self- study assignment # 2
Present a project on your favourite style of music, composer, musician / band / orchestra, musical instrument(s), international musical competitions winners, etc.
Self- study assignment # 3
Complete the laboratory work tasks on the topic “Man & Music”.
Laboratory work listening tasks
TASK 1
An interview with a Hollywood star
Are these statements about Liza Minnelli, the singer and actor, true or false?
1 She has been married five times.
2 Her recent wedding had no guests.
3 Her mother was Judy Garland.
4 She has had similar health problems to her mother.
5 She was born in England.
2 Listen to part one of the interview (Track 4.5). Correct the false statements in exercise 1. Answer the questions.
1 The song she sings is in three languages.
Do you recognize them? What is a cabaret?
Why does she love London and London audiences?
What does she mean when she says 'It's like a tennis match to sing to people in London'?
How does her voice change when she describes the school she went to?
How does she describe her current state of happiness?
In the second song, what is the thing that can change the world?
Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome
Friend, etranger, stranger,
Glücklich zu sehen, je suis enchantee, happy to see you,
Bleiben, rester, stay...
How the world can change
It can change like that
To the one little word, Married
See a palace rise,
From a two-room flat,
To the one little word, Married