German composer of the late Baroque. It is impossible to fully absorb how much influence Bach had on listeners, other composers, and classical music history. Mozart and Beethoven, for instance, had great appreciations for his music.
This highly recommended DVD does the impossible in cramming in Bach’s life, music, and influence into an entertaining 1 hr. documentary narrated by Kenneth Branagh. Filmed on location, there are several noteworthy performances and appraisals given by John Eliot Gardiner, Andras Schiff, Jacques Loussier, Ton Koopman, Tini Mathot, Jonathan Miller, Joanna MacGregor, The Monteverdi Choir, and the Thermanerchor of Leipzig. They demonstrate and describe what made Bach unique and great.
Musical highlights include excerpts from “The Well-Tempered Clavier”, “Mass in B Minor”, “The Goldberg Variations”, “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor”, and the “St. Matthew Passion”.
His weekly schedule as choirmaster was amazing: writing a new piece every two days, transcribing it for musicians and choir, and then rehearsing Fridays and Saturdays, performing finished pieces on Sundays.
Ironically, when he died, Bach was remembered as an organist first and foremost (he also played violin and his wife BTW was a notable vocalist); it was only a century later that his reputation as a composer was widely and popularly known.
In terms of output, he wrote 1898 cantatas, 23 secular cantatas, orchestral music, chamber music, works for organ, harpsichord, and clavichord including sonatas, fantasias, preludes, fugues, toccatas, 143 chorale preludes, French suites, English suites, patitas, and an Italian concerto.
Significantly, he expanded the keys that compositions were played in to include preludes and fugues in each of the 24 major and minor keys–something that was previously impossible.
The ultimate 142 CD boxset of Bach’s complete works is a consummation devoutly to be wished for.
