Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (also spelled Karl Bach) was a German musician and composer. He was born in 1714 at Weimar and died in 1788. He was the third son of Johann Sebastian Bach and studied law before turning his attention to music and composed cantatas, passions, numerous keyboard and instrumental works. Research Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Johann Christian Bach was a German composer. He was born in 1735 at Leipzig and died in 1782. He was given his first musical training by his father (Johann Sebastian Bach). In 1750, when his father died, he went to Berlin to study with his brother Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. He spent eight years in Italy, from 1754 to 1760 as music director for Count Antonio Litta in Milan and then from 1760 to 1762 as organist at the MilanCathedral. During this period he also studied in Bologna with the Italian composer Giovanni Battista Martini. In 1762 Bach settled in London and soon became music master to the queen. Part of his success was the result of his mastery of the pleasant, tuneful style of Italian opera, which was then fashionable in London. From 1764 until his death he and another German composer living in London, Carl Friedrich Abel produced a series of concerts that were famous because of the composers who wrote for them. One was the seven-year old prodigy Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Bach himself wrote about a dozen operas and many symphonies, concertos, piano pieces, and chamber music. Research Johann Christian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer. He was born in 1685 at Eisenach and died in 1750. Being the son of a musician he was early trained in the art, and soon distinguished himself. In 1703 he was engaged as a player at the court of Weimar, and subsequently he was musical director to the Duke of Anhalt-Kothen, and latterly held an appointment at Leipzig. He paid a visit to Potsdam on the invitation of Frederick the Great. As a player on the harpsichord and organ he had no equal among his contemporaries; but it was not until a century after his death that his greatness as a composer was fully recognized. His compositions breathe an original inspiration, and are largely of the religious kind. They include pieces, vocal and instrumental, for the organ, piano, stringed and keyed instruments; church cantatas, oratorios, masses, passion music, etc. More than fifty musical performers have proceeded from this family. Sebastian himself had eleven sons, all distinguished as musicians. Among his compositions are St Matthew Passion and The Well-Tempered Clavier. Research Johann Sebastian Bach
Tomaso Albinoni was an Italian composer and violinist. He was born in 1671 at Venice and died in 1750. He lived in Venice, where he produced most of his nearly 50 operas. His instrumental works, frequently played by modern chamber musicians, were admired by Johann Sebastian Bach and include trio sonatas, concertos for one and for two oboes, and the 1710 concerto for solo violin. Research Tomaso Albinoni
The allemande is a dance in moderate two-fold time. It was invented by the French during the reign of Louis XIV and is now mostly found in suites of pieces, like those of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Research Allemande
An aria is a musical composition for solo voice with instrumental accompaniment, usually forming part of an opera, oratorio, or cantata. It provides a lyrical pause in the dramatic action, during which a character can comment on some aspect of the drama. Often it is also a difficult piece, designed to display the singer's skill. The aria originated in Italy in the late 16th century as a short solo song, particularly a strophic song. Composers of the early 17th century developed the 'strophic-bass' aria, in which the bass remained constant for each stanza, while the melody was varied. These strophic-bass arias were subsequently adopted by early opera composers such as the Italian Claudio Monteverdi.
Shortly before 1650 a new aria form appeared, which dominated operatic music until about 1750. This was the da capo aria, written in three sections: ABA. To indicate the repeated A section, composers simply wrote the direction da capo after the B section. The da capo aria developed into a long musical structure with the B section usually in a contrasting but related key. An instrumental introduction usually preceded the A section, and an instrumental interlude separated the A and B sections. Many singers took advantage of the repeated A section, using it as a vehicle for virtuosic improvised variations.
Alessandro Scarlatti, helped establish the nearly universal use of the da capo aria. Later the 18th-century German-born composer George Frideric Handel used it extensively in his operas and oratorios, and his contemporary Johann Sebastian Bach used it in his oratorios and cantatas. In the late 18th century, operatic reformers such as the German Christoph Von Gluck, reacting against the da capo aria, employed a variety of aria forms. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and others often used arias with two contrasting sections, and the one-section cavatina also became popular.
The romanticism of the 19th century fostered wide variety in aria forms. In the late 19th century Wilhelm Wagner dispensed with the aria almost completely in his mature works, favouring a continuous span of music rather than a separation of action and lyrical comment. Although many 20th-century opera composers follow Wilhelm Wagner' s example, others use arias of many different formats. Research Aria
In music, an arranger is a person who adapts or assists in orchestrating the music of another composer at the composer's request. The use of an arranger became established in Hollywood; Rachmaninov, George Gershwin, and Leonard Bernstein, among others, composed concert works employing such assistance. Arrangers were also common in jazz: the more notable examples include Gil Evans, who arranged music for Miles Davis and others; and Billy Strayhorn who arranged for Duke Ellington. Composers of unauthorised arrangements include Johann Sebastian Bach (who arranged Vivaldi), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (who arranged Handel's Messiah), and Stravinsky (who arranged Tchaikovsky and Pergolesi). Research Arranger
The bourree is a dance of French or Spanish origin. As a musical form,
bourree is always in alla- breve time, and is frequently found in the works of the older composers such as the suits of Johann Sebastian Bach. Research Bourree
In music, counterpoint is the simultaneous combination of two or more melodies. Although counterpoint is nearly synonymous with polyphony (a musical texture containing two or more melodies simultaneously), the two words differ slightly in common usage. Polyphony refers to textures in general (polyphonicversushomophonic) and to early music (medieval polyphony), whereas counterpoint commonly refers to texture in later music (Johann Sebastian Bach's counterpoint) or to the techniques of composing polyphony (16th century. counterpoint) .
One familiar instance of counterpoint is the round, a simple kind of canon. In a round each part (or voice) has the same melody, but the second and succeeding parts begin one after another, as in 'Row, Row, Row Your Boat.' In a homophonic texture, which has a melody with choralaccompaniment, the listener focuses on the melody in the highest voice; in a round, the listener follows the melodic activity from one voice to another. Research Counterpoint
Abbreviations
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