J. S. Bach: A Life in Music (Vol. 2). The Weimar Years (1708-1717)

Featuring

Maarten Engeltjes
Thomas Hobbs
Edward Grint
Paul Agnew
Miriam Allan
Benjamin Alard

Les Arts Florissants
Johann Sebastian Bach
Georg Philipp Telemann
Johann Michael Bach

Did you know?

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Composer Biography

Johann Sebastian Bach, the composer, had 20 children, but 10 of them died in infancy, reflecting the high infant mortality rate of his era.

Composition History

Bach was instructed to compose one cantata each month from 1714 to assist the ailing Kapellmeister Johann Samuel Drese at the Weimar court.

Compositional Technique

In Weimar, Bach encountered the music of Antonio Vivaldi, whose concertos he transcribed for organ, which permanently transformed his compositional approach by showing him how to conceive temporality in a more abstract way.

Historical Context

Georg Philipp Telemann, a contemporary composer, was godfather to Bach's son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and served as Konzertmeister and Kapellmeister in Bach's hometown of Eisenach.

Compositional Technique

Bach reused the lament movement 'Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen' from Cantata 12, which features a repeating chromatic tetrachord descent, as the 'Crucifixus' in his B Minor Mass decades later.

Composition History

Bach was imprisoned for a month and then dishonorably discharged from his post in Weimar for accepting a new position in Köthen without proper diplomatic procedure.