History 2 quiz 2 (bach)

How did Bach study and learn the art of composition?

Born into music making family, studying Vivaldi

Which Italian composer was important to the development of Bach’s style? (Esp. Concertos)

Vivaldi

Which 3 sons of J.S. Bach had important musical careers?

W.F., C.P.E., J.C.

Which of Bach’s 3 sons had a career in London?

J.C. Bach

Where was Bach employed and what type of music did he focus on at each employment?

Weimar: Organ music

Co..then: secular instrumental music

Leipzig: cantatas

What religion was Bach? Where did he not have to right sacred music and why?

Lutheran, Co..then because they are Calvinist and don’t use music in their services

What are 2 of Bach’s encyclopedic works? What’s the other one that’s really important?

Well-tempered Clavier, B-minor Mass, Orgelbu..chlein

What national style or styles did Bach incorporate in his works?

German, Italian, French

What is a chorale? What religion are they associated with?

Easily singable melody for congregational singing, Lutheranism

Chorale prelude

Organ chorale: harmonization of Lutheran chorale melody for organ

Orgelbu..chlein translation, why is the translation fitting? What is it? Is it complete?

Little organ book, it is small, incomplete collection of organ chorales harmonizing Lutheran chorale melodies

3 purposes of Orgelbu..chlein

Include organ chorales for the entire Lutheran church year

Show the ways an organist might work with traditional Lutheran chorales

Offer practice for organists to develop strong pedal technique

4 types of organ chorales + meanings

Melody chorale: Lutheran chorale in the soprano unaltered

Ornamental chorale: chorale melody in soprano but richly embellished

Chorale canon: entire chorale melody is a strict 2 voice canon

Chorale fantasia: chorale is not presented continuously and is freely broken into fragments and dispersed throughout the 4 voices

What type of Organ Chorale is Dutch Adam’s Fall?

Melody chorale

What type of Organ Chorale is Went wit in hochsten Noten sein?

Ornamental chorale

What type of Organ Chorale is In dulci jubilo?

chorale canon

What type of Organ Chorale is In dir ist Freude?

Chorale fantasia

Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue for Organ in G minor BWV 542 probably originated as a/an ______

Improvisation

What is a fugue usually paired with?

Prelude

What makes a prelude a fantasia? 2 things

Use of chromaticism and dissonances

Why are the Brandenburg concertos called that? What kind of concerti? Are they new? Describe concertino

Because he sent them to the margrave of Brandenburg to try to get a job there. Recycled concerti grossi with each having a unique concertino

How are Bach’s brandenburg concertos different and similar to Vivaldi’s concertos?

Used ritornello form with same structure, same movements, but had unique concertino and used different national styles. Bach’s concertos were also longer and the episodes had thematic material

What is a corno da caccia (translation) and why is its use in Brandenburg concertos no 1 notable? What other notable instrument is used in this concertino?

Hunting horn, it was usually an outdoor practical instrument, violino piccolo

2 word paining instances in Dutch Adam’s fall

Adam’s fall from grace: bass dissonant leaps downward

Snake: snaking motion of inner voices

What extra movement does the first Brandenburg concerto have?

Dance suite, appealed to the taste of the French Margrave of Brandenburg

Where did Bach compose complete cantata cycles? What are these annual cycles called in the Lutheran church year?

Leipzig, Jahrgang

What is a jahrgang?

Annual cycle of cantatas for every Sunday and feast day of the Lutheran church year

What is a cantata? (Purpose, characteristics, movements, intstrumentation)

Sacred work for Lutheran church service, for chorus, instruments, and vocal soloists. Uses da capo aria, Recitativo secco, Recitativo accompagnato, chorale

What is a chorale cantata? (What stanzas included etc)

Cantata centered around a single Lutheran chorale. First and last stanzas are in the soprano of the first and last movements and the middle ones are paraphrased, same movements as opera seria but with chorales

Principal Leipzig church where Bach taught

Church of st. Thomas

What was the collegium musicum? Who founded it in Leipzig?

Organizations of university students who do public concerts. Telemann

Where did the collegium musicum perform?

Outdoor public events

For the collegium musicum, Bach was the first to compose concertos for one or more _____

Harpsichords

Why was a revival of Bach’s music necessary?

His music wasn’t published and was mostly forgotten

How many volumes in the Clavier-Ubung? What were they composed for?

4 volumes, 1 for organ the other 3 for harpsichord

Was any of Bach’s music published?

Yes, well-termpered clavier

What famous Bach work was performed in 1829 as part of the Bach revival? Where and who directed it?

St. Matthew Passion, Berlin, Mendelssohn

Who was the editor of the Bach thematic catalogue? Why is it called a thematic catalogue?

Schmieder. It is organized by genre instead of chronology

What are incipits?

A few measures of the music to indentify it

What does BWV mean?

Bach thematic catalogue

Info in the Bach thematic catalogue for a typical Bach cantata

Incipits, length, sources of text, instrumentation, dates, remarks about aspects in the piece, location in BG and NBA, location and description of manuscripts, bibliography

Why do we need to use BWV numbers instead of opus numbers?

Most of his works weren’t published

What do BG and NBA refer to? When was each? What is the difference in commentary?

1st and 2nd complete editions of all of Bach’s works. BG mid 19th century and NBA mid 20th century. NBA has much more extensive commentary, a whole volume of commentary per volume of music vs a few pages

What is an urtext edition?

Depicts intention of the composer, edited to match composer intention but heavily scrutinized and every edit is mentioned