Johann sebastian bach is a pioneering master who successfully integrated the musical styles of different nationalities in Western Europe. He extracted the essence of Italian, French and German traditional music, and his music was wonderful, perfect and flawless. Bach himself was not famous before his death, and he was forgotten by the world fifty years after his death. But in the past century and a half, his fame has been growing. Today, he is generally regarded as one of the two or three greatest composers who transcend time and space, and some people think that he is one of the greatest composers.
"I really can't think of anyone whose music can be so all-encompassing and so deeply touched me. Loosely speaking, apart from skill and talent, his music is more valuable because there are more meaningful things (including humanitarianism). If I play Tchaikovsky's melody that pleases my senses every day, I will get bored. " -glenn gould's "On johann sebastian bach"
Overview of life
Bach was born in Eisenacher, a forest region in Durlingen, central Germany, on March 2 1985. Although this is a small town, its residents love music. It is said that the words "Music always shines on our town" are engraved on the ancient gate of this city. Medieval singers often held harps, where they sang poems and held singing competitions. Wagner once wrote the famous opera Don Hauser. /kloc-Martin Luther, a religious reformer in the 0 th and 6 th centuries, also translated the Bible into German here. Bach's family is an out-and-out musical family, and his family was well-known in the music industry many years before his afterlife. His father is an excellent violinist, his grandfather's two brothers are talented composers, and his uncles and sisters are respected musicians.
For young Bach, he has great musical talent, and he is very lucky to grow up in such a family. But fate insisted on finding some trouble: he lost his mother at the age of 9 and his father at the age of 10, so he had to rely on his eldest brother to continue raising him.
Although there are a lot of music materials at home, his bossy brother just won't allow him to read and study, no matter how he pleads. Bach had to take advantage of his brother's leaving home and going to bed late at night to secretly copy his favorite music in the moonlight. It took half a year to copy it, and his eyesight was greatly damaged. In his later years, he spent painfully in blindness until his death.
How sad and respectable it is for a child who is only 10 years old and has lost his parents to ask his family for valuable knowledge in this way! Strangely, such a noble and persistent pursuit could not impress his brother-when he discovered his brother's secret, he went on the rampage, not only ruthlessly confiscated all Bach's hard work, but also severely punished him, without introspection and compassion.
When Bach 15 years old, he finally left home alone and embarked on the road of independent life. With his beautiful singing voice and excellent playing skills of the clavichord, violin and organ, he was admitted to the choir affiliated to St. Michel's Church in Lombard and also entered the God School. The library here is rich in classical music works, and Bach plunged into it like a huge sponge, fully absorbing and integrating the artistic achievements of various European schools and broadening his musical horizons. In order to practice piano, he often stays up late. Every holiday, he has to walk dozens of miles to Hamburg to listen to famous musicians.
Looking back on Bach's growth path, we can find that he has consulted many famous musicians, but he has never received long-term guidance from a formal teacher. Because of this, he is like an industrious bee, looking for and absorbing nutrition everywhere and doing his best. Later, someone asked him how his art reached such a perfect state. He replied simply and seriously: If someone works as hard as I do, he will reach the same state.
He graduated from St. Michel University in 1702 and became a violinist in an indoor band the following year. In the next twenty years, he did a lot of work. Bach was mainly known as an outstanding organist all his life, although he was also a composer, teacher and conductor. 1723, Bach began to lead the singing class in St. Thomas' church in Leipzig at the age of 38, and it has been a corner of his life for 27 years.
/kloc-in the first half of the 0/8th century, Germany was divided by feudal nobles. Every castle has a vassal, and the narrow territory of Germany is actually divided into 352 independent small countries. In order to show off their power and luxury, lords of all sizes generally have troupes and court bands. In order to survive, most folk artists became musicians and slaves in the court or church (in Germany at that time, musicians were treated as exactly the same slaves as handyman, janitor, chef and so on. ), Bach is doomed. Although he moved from one place to another and frequently changed his workplace, he never got rid of his humble servant status.
Bach never held a high position, but he always brought home the bacon. His fame is far inferior to Mozart and Beethoven (even Franz Liszt and Chopin). Not all Bach's employers can appreciate his talent. Leipzig church wanted to hire a "first-class musician", but they failed to hire the first two candidates, so they had no choice but to let Bach lead the singing class! However, a few years ago, he wanted to resign as an organist and chief violinist in Duke Weimar's court and find another job. The duke was so depressed that he was thrown into prison. Bach spent more than three weeks in prison, and the duke finally showed mercy and released him.
Lessing, a great German playwright and political critic, once said: "Genius is born in a very hard class, even if it is not born in extreme poverty. God seems to imagine that there are more geniuses in this class than in other classes That's true. In Bach's life, poverty and death followed closely like a pair of terrible ghosts. Not only did he never enjoy a rich and comfortable life, but his parents died one after another at the age of 9, and he began to feel depressed. When he grew up, he became a father and sent his children's 1 1 to the grave (he was married twice and * * * gave birth to 20 children).
Bach married his uncle and sister at the age of 2 1. They had seven children, but his wife died when Bach was 35. The next year, he got married again, but his second wife didn't help raise the first seven children, but gave birth to thirteen more. Bach left only nine children after his death, four of whom became truly famous musicians. This is really the house of a musical genius!
Bach had two operations in his later years to cure his eyes. As a result, he not only failed to see the light again, but destroyed his body, and finally passed away on July 28th, 1750.