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Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 30 general entries.
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 Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
 Bach
Germany. Bach was born 1685 in Eisenach, which is in Thüringen, Germany.
20. Hard to believe, but that is the truth. With his first wife, Maria Barbara Bach, he had seven children, and his second wife, Anna Madgalena Bach, bore 13 children.
stream. "Not 'Bach'=stream, but 'Sea', should be his name", said Ludwig van Beethoven about Bach, himself being also a great composer.
| When Bach went from one of his working places to another in 1717,
what kind of 'present' did the former employer give him? | Johann Sebastian Bach
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He put him into prison, because he didn't want to let him go.. Bach was in prison from Nov 6th until Dec 2nd; there he wrote his
famous 'Orgelbüchlein', a learning book for the organ.
A multi-movement work predominantly for vocal forces. A cantata is shorter than an oratorio.
More than 200. For a period of several years, Bach produced nearly one cantata every week. It can be stated without fear of contradiction that they constitute the densest production of masterly music of all time.
Leipzig. Though Bach produced some cantatas earlier in his career, the vast majority of them were written while he was Director Musices (Director of Music) in this theocratic Lutheran city.
| Bach was responsible for the music at several churches in that city, but which was by far the most important? | J.S. Bach and his Cantatas
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St. Thomas. St. Thomas, already quite old in the time of Bach, was the largest and most important church in Leipzig. He was also responsible for the music at the churches of St. Nicholas and St. Peter.
| Tunes of German hymns, or chorales, occur not only in four-part settings but in other contexts where they are set against independent instrumental or vocal forces. What is this technique called? | J.S. Bach and his Cantatas
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cantus firmus. The cantus firmus technique dates back to the very earliest days of polyphonic music. In many of Bach's cantatas, the opening chorus includes the chorale melody complete in one voice while the other voices and instruments pursue the main concerted idea of the movement. An obbligato is a solo instrumental line in a vocal movement, a ritornello is the "returning" musical idea that occurs between phrases of a vocal movement, and continuo refers to the harmonic continuity maintained by the constant accompaniment of all movements with organ/harpsichord and cello/double bass.
Instruments were used in the motets only for doubling the voices.. The cantatas were written mostly for Sunday services, while the motets, though also religious in nature, were for special occasions such as important funerals. Because the motets rely on instruments only to double the parts, they are sometimes sung a capella.
| The first complete edition of Bach's works in the 19th century chose what method for numbering the cantatas? | J.S. Bach and his Cantatas
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They were arbitrarily given the first numbers in the edition.. Apparently the editors at the Bach Gesellschaft (Bach Society) who produced the Bach Werk Verzeichniss (BWV--Catalog of the Works of Bach), just grabbed up cantatas in convenient bunches according to the availability of manuscripts. Thus BWV 3 (Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein--Lord God, look down from heaven) was written much later than BWV 4 (Christ lag in Todesbanden--Christ lay in death's bonds). The correct ordering of the cantatas was only undertaken as a scholarly project in the second half of the 20th century.
| Finally, a straightforward question. During which decade were the great majority of Bach's cantatas composed? | J.S. Bach and his Cantatas
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1721-1730. Bach's dates are 1685-1750. In his earlier years, he concentrated on music for the harpsichord, organ, and various instrumental combinations. In his last years, he continued to serve at Leipzig, but devoted his compositional efforts to grand compilations intended for publication, such as the Klavieruebung ("Keyboard Practice," in four parts), The Musical Offering, and the Art of the Fugue.
| Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685 in Eisenach, the capital of the duchy Sachsen-Eisenach (English: Saxe-Eisenach), which actually no longer exists. Which modern German province was Sachsen-Eisenach a part of? | I'll Be Bach!
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Thüringen (Thuringia). Bach was the youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach, who taught him to play harpsichord and violin, and he had many other musical relatives.
| How was Bach related to his first wife, Maria Barbara? | I'll Be Bach!
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They were second cousins.. Bach and Maria had seven children, four of whom survived into adulthood. Of those four, two became important composers, carrying on the family tradition. Bach was not present when Maria died: he was at the Carlsbad spa with Duke Köthen (also known as Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen), his employer, and returned to find his wife had died and been buried.
| Which work of Bach's was his final work, published posthumously, and unfinished? | I'll Be Bach!
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The Art of Fugue . It's actually been determined by handwriting analysis that this work was written in the 1740s, several years before Bach's death in 1750. The first known surviving manuscript actually bears the title "Die Kunst der Fuga", which was added by Bach's son-in-law. The correct German for the title "The Art of Fugue" is actually "Die Kunst der Fuge".
| Bach's second wife was called Anna Magdalena Wilcke, whom he married after his first wife, the mother of his first seven children, died. He and Anna had 13 children together. How many survived into adulthood? | I'll Be Bach!
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six. Yes, this does mean that Bach had 20 children! The 13 children included three Johanns, a Johanna, two Christianas, a Christian, and two Reginas!
His wife Anna was a soprano, and 17 years younger than he was. He married her seventeen months after his first wife died.
No. He did write a cantata about coffee addiction, though! "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht" (Be silent, stop chattering), also known as "The Coffee Cantata", is actually more a comic opera, but is classified as a cantata.
It tells the story of Schlendrian, whose daughter Lieschen is addicted to coffee. He eventually forbids her to marry unless she gives up coffee, but as he is out searching for a husband for her, she tells her suitors that she will only marry them if they allow her to drink coffee!
Baroque. If you know your music style periods well, then you'd realize that Bach died well before the Romantic or Contemporary periods!
The Baroque period lasted approximately from 1600 to 1750. The name comes from the Portuguese "barroco" which means "misshapen pearl". Also, the art form was named before the music style!
| In which town was Bach appointed to the prestigious post of Cantor of Thomasschule, and Director of Music in the churches of the town? | I'll Be Bach!
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Leipzig. Although Bach lived for many years in Weimar, he acquired the post of Cantor in Leipzig, where he spent the remainder of his life. He held the post until he died, 27 years later. This job included teaching the students to sing, and was a very creative time for Bach, in which he wrote 5 annual cantatas in his first 6 years there!
1750. He died in Leipzig. Some historians name the cause of death as stroke complicated by pneumonia, other sources claim the unsuccessful operation was the cause. He leaves no surviving descendants (the last one, his great-granddaughter, died in 1871). But his legacy lives on in his music (and also the Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Straße in Wittenberg, Germany!).
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