![]() ![]() ![]() One of the ongoing concerns of Bach scholarship has been the question of what Bach composed prior to, and during, his time at Cothen. Bach subsequently spent six productive years as Kapellmeister at the court of Cothen (1717-23), where his young patron, Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen, a fine musician himself, enthusiastically supported his efforts. His next post as organist was in Muhlhausen (1707-08) after that, he served as court organist and chamber musician (and from 1714 court con-certmaster as well) in Weimar (1708-17). Inspired by what he heard there, he composed some of his greatest pieces for organ (among them the monumental Passacaglia in С minor, BWV 582) during his remaining years in Arnstadt. In 1705 he made a pilgrimage to Liibeck to hear Buxtehude, the greatest organist of the day and a composer whose music was to have a profound effect on his own. After completing his studies in Luneburg he was employed as a "lackey" at the ducal court in Weimar (1703) and as an organist in Arnstadt (1703-07). Along the way he set himself a remarkable series of formal and aesthetic challenges and synthesized a unique personal style.īach received what was for the time a thorough humanistic education. From youth onward he undertook a self-directed and systematic exploration of the major musical genres and styles of his day, focusing first on the keyboard, then on the broader realms of concerted vocal and instrumental music. The most intellectual of his remarkable family- the male descendants of Hans Bach, who had served as professional musicians in Thuringia for three generations prior to his birth-he was not only the greatest composer of the Baroque era but the leading organist of his generation and an accomplished violinist and violist as well. GERMAN COMPOSER AND ORGANIST whose music, in every genre but opera, spectacularly crowned the Baroque era. ![]()
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