Why is J.S. Bach so important?

By KAREN HERLITZ

WHY IS JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) STILL SO IMPORTANT OVER 270 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH?

While it’s true he composed over 1,000 pieces of music (the sheer volume of his work is quite impressive!) and is considered the “father of Western classical music,” that is not why he is so important. The advancements he made in different musical forms helped foster the transition from the Baroque to Classical period. He was a genius at counterpoint, which is when the melodic lines wind together, creating a complex combination of simultaneous melody and harmony. He is best known for his Brandenburg Concertos, the Well-Tempered Clavier and his Mass in B minor.

About Bach’s Concerto

In 1713 Bach was first introduced to the three-movement concerto from the popular Italian forms that we all know. One of his most significant innovations was his blending of the solo and ritornello lines. In the earlier concerto form, ritornellos were written for the orchestra as connectors or stabilizers to the solo passage. Bach took it and intertwined the ritornello and solo passages between the soloist and orchestra to create a greater sense of drama.

This fall season we have three concerts featuring J.S. Bach, one was in October with Europa Galante, but two more still remain with acclaimed pianist Angela Hewitt with the Orpheus chamber orchestra, as well as the groundbreaking violinist Christian Tetzlaff.

Bach wrote seven complete concerti for one keyboard (BWV 1052–1058) in addition to several for multiple keyboards. With the exception of the 5th Brandenburg Concerto, these concerti are considered to be arrangements made from earlier concertos written by Bach, and mostly, only the harpsichord version has survived.

About Bach’s Solo Violin Sonatas & Partitas

Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin were written around 1703 through 1720 and are a set of six works published over 50 years after his death. These works were mostly ignored until legendary violinist Joseph Joachim started performing them around the turn of the 20th century. Today, they are an essential part of the violin repertoire. The great Johannes Brahms once wrote: “Study Bach, there you will find everything.” He also states that, “The Chaconne is one of the most wonderful, incomprehensible pieces of music. On a single staff, for a small instrument, the man writes a whole world of the deepest thoughts and the most powerful feelings. If I were to imagine how I might have made, conceived the piece, I know for certain that the overwhelming excitement and awe would have driven me mad.”

On December 4, violinist Christian Tetzlaff performs four of these six Bach solo works in Rockport. Tetzlaff is known for bringing a fresh new interpretation to familiar works. His solo recording of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas was praised by The Strad magazine as “an attentive and lively answer to the beauty of Bach’s solos.”

Join us at the Shalin Liu Performance Center to hear some of the world’s greatest interpreters of J.S. Bach, and revel in a composer that is just as exciting today as when he was alive.

From Artistic Director Barry Shiffman on J.S. Bach

Angela Hewitt and Orpheus bring a full program of J.S. Bach’s celebrated keyboard concerti on November 19. After winning the 1985 Toronto International Bach Piano Competition, Angela established herself as an impressive interpreter of the master’s works, which has led her to be considered one of the foremost Bach interpreters of our time. Her award-winning cycle for Hyperion Records of all Bach’s major keyboard works has been described as “one of the record glories of our age” (The Sunday Times). From an interview with The Guardian (2017) while she was on “The Bach Odyssey” performing all the keyboard works of Bach, we learn more about Hewitt’s connection to the composer: Growing up the child of a cathedral organist and a music teacher, she was steeped in his (Bach’s) music. Her parents gave her Bach to learn from the time she started playing piano as a toddler… A student of ballet, as well as music, she even danced to Bach as a teenager. “I’d put on the Brandenburg Concertos in my bedroom and dance around to them. I responded to the rhythm in the music. And I’ve always made a point of bringing that out in the way I play it. I don’t have to think about it, it’s just part of me.”

Growing up, Bach was a constant in my life. Gould’s first recording of the Goldberg variations seldom left the family turntable. My father played it until the grooves were literally worn out. The bar was set high for other performers of Bach to make an impression on me...

The extraordinary Angela Hewitt burst onto the scene winning a one-time International Bach Competition. I was glued to the finals and thrilled when she won. She has become the most celebrated Bach performer since Gould. To finally have her appear at Rockport is a dream fulfilled.

Bach is the perfect amalgam of the intellectual and emotional worlds. There is both clarity and unexplainable beauty and emotion that is without parallel. This season we see Bach through the eyes of several great interpreters with vastly different points of view. It promises to be a season of exceptional discovery at Rockport Music!