As
part of the celebration, Clef Notes will discuss everything related to Bach for
the next 21 days, exploring aspects of the composer’s biography and looking at
some of his most famous works.
Though
today he is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time, Bach was thought
of simply as a church organist and composer during his day, and little of his work was actually published. Bach
tended to compose music to fulfill the desires of his employers: when a church
organist, he wrote organ works; when church music director, he wrote cantatas;
when a court music director, he wrote music to be used as court
entertainment.
The
rest of this week, we will begin our discussion by focusing on the fugue, one
of the main forms used in Bach’s keyboard works. One of Bach’s sons, Carl
Philipp Emanuel, stated that his father tended to compose away from the
keyboard and then once finished, he would play through the work to make sure it
worked. He tended to begin by creating a musical subject that he would then
develop throughout the composition. Not sure what a fugue is or how it works?
Join me next time as I discuss the theory behind the fugue.
