Of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), the great ‘cellist Pablo Casals said, “To strip human nature until its divine attributes are made clear, to inform ordinary activities with spiritual fervor, to give wings of eternity to that which is most ephemeral; to make divine things human and human things divine; such is Bach, the greatest and purest moment in music of all time.”
Bach composed three sonatas for gamba (viola da gamba, to give the instrument its proper name) between 1717 and 1723. Accompaniment was originally for clavichord, and today we have a few variants: the G Minor sonata will be played on a cello (violoncello, to give that instrument its full due), with accompaniment on the cabinet organ. The G Major sonata is heard here for flute solo, with both organ and cello providing the continuo (accompaniment with its own harmonies providing a bass line).
The viola da gamba (sometimes referred to as a bass viol) is a six-stringed instrument, popular in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Bowed, like the cello, it is played either between the legs or on them. The four-stringed cello has no problem reproducing the notes Bach wrote originally for the earlier instrument in the works heard today.
If Bach learned from the music and musicians before him, his own works laid the foundation for a great deal of the musical thought ever since, even into our own time. As Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Music stated, “Bach’s compositions mark an epoch. His originality and fecundity of thematic invention are astounding; the mastery of his polyphonic art remains a marvel of the ages. His style is elevated, and of sustained harmony; the momentum of his grand fugues is inexorable as the march of Fate.”
The often-performed six Brandenburg Concertos (as well as concertos for harpsichord and for violin), four suites for orchestra, more than two hundred cantatas, organ pieces numbering over three hundred, and three of the greatest works for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra ever written by anyone (the Mass in B Minor, the Passion According to St. Matthew, and the Passion According to St. John) merely begin to enumerate the number and to suggest the depth Bach’s contribution to the history of Music.
Following the listing of a Bach work, one often finds a number, preceded by one of two designations: BWV; or S. This is somewhat in the category of an opus number, but there is a difference. These numbers are noted by category, not chronology; in fact, they are all over the place in regard to composition dates. The first 216 listings are of all the Bach cantatas; the motets come next; etc. etc.
BWV stands “Bach Werke-Verzeichnis” (“Bach Works Catalogue”, in effect), while S stands for Wolfgang Schmieder, the man who compiled that listing. In both cases, the numbers are the same.
Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) had a special fondness for composing works for two instruments in which one of them is high-voiced, the other low-voiced. One can imagine him writing Assobio a Jato (The Jet Whistle) with a bit of a twinkle in his eye. Composed in 1950, it is really a kind of musical joke. It plays on the natural characteristics of the flute and the ‘cello, and it calls on both the fluidity and virtuosity of the instruments involved.
Villa-Lobos has been described as the one who “transformed the musical life of his native Brazil and put the country on the international musical map.” He was the most well-known Brazilian composer of the 20th Century, and he wrote an enormous amount of music. He thoroughly researched the folk music of his native land and brought Brazilian elements to classical forms. After study in Europe in the late 1920’s, he returned home to find a new nationalist regime in power. He was put in charge of organizing the musical life of Brazil, and he carried out important educational reforms which made him a national hero. When he died, he was accorded a state funeral.
French composer and viol player, Jacques Morel (c1700-1749) studied with Marin Marais, who was a major figure in the French School of bass-viol composers and held the position of Ordinaire de la Musique de la Chambre du Roi throughout the reigns of Louis XIV and Louis XV. Morel’s 1er livre de pièces de violle was dedicated to his esteemed teacher.
Morel’s Chaconne en Trio for flute, bass viol and continuo was written in Paris 1709 and features melodic variations woven over a four-bar bass line. Morel’s compositions exhibit heavy influences from his teacher and often adopts Marais’ notations for bowings and ornamentations.
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