The Early Eighteenth

Century in Germany: Bach

Key Terms & Concepts

Lutheran church cantata
Lutheran chorale
Ritornello
Recitative
Recitativo secco
Recitativo accompagnato
Da capo aria
Cantus firmus

German Composers of the Late

Baroque
In the 18th Century, German-speaking composers
became prominent in Europe for the first time
Among the most outstanding: Telemann, Handel, the
Bach family, Haydn, and Mozart

Many German aristocrats performed and composed

music
Frederick the Great performed on the flute
Anna Amalia (Duchess of Saxe-Weimar) was a
keyboard player, patron of music, & composer
(including 2 singspiels)

In Britain (ruled by Hanover dynasty), public

performances sustained music-making as aristocratic
patronage declined

German Composers of the Late

Baroque
German-speaking lands
were divided into several
different countries
Austria, Saxony, and
Brandenburg-Prussia
were the largest, with
many smaller
independent states
Many of the most
powerful rulers, like
Frederick II (the Great)
of Prussia, employed
large numbers of
musicians

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

The historical view of
Bach differs from
estimation of him during
his lifetime
He was known as an
organist and a composer
of learned works, but little
of his music was
published or circulated
Contemporary critics
found his music oldfashioned; Telemann was
much more famous than
Bach

J.S.Bach in 1748 by Haussmann

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

The historical view of
Bach differs from
estimation of him during
his lifetime
a revival of his music
occurred in early 19th
century Germany
Now, he is seen as one of
the greatest of all
composers

He wrote in all major

styles and genres,
except opera

J.S.Bach in 1748 by Haussmann

J.S.Bach
He was born in Eisenach, into a large family of
musicians; he learned violin from his father
He later lived with, and studied organ with, his
brother (a student of Buxtehude)
He went to school at Lneburg
There he met the organist Georg Bhm
He encountered the French repertoire and
performance style

He married twice
Maria Barbara Bach, 1707-1720 (7 children)
Anna Magdalena Bach, 1721 (13 children)

J.S.Bach
Career moves:
Arnstadt (1703-17),
Mhlhausen (1707-08),
Weimar (1709-14):
organist; composed mostly
organ music
Weimar (1714-17): He
became concertmaster
and wrote sacred cantatas
Cthen (1717-23):
became court music
director
Leipzig (1723-50):
director of music at the
Thomaskirche & its school

Bachs Works
Bach wrote many works for organ while in
Arnstadt, Mhlhausen, and Weimar
He wrote many instrumental ensemble
works and keyboard works while in Cthen
He wrote about 500 Lutheran church
cantatas and several motets, as well as
five Passions (oratorios based on the
Gospel accounts of Good Friday) and
other sacred works

Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,

BWV 62
Composed 1724 for the first Sunday in
Advent
Words and music both based on a Lutheran
chorale hymn
Middle movements use poetic paraphrases
of the hymns middle stanzas, by an
unknown librettist
Title: Now come, Savior of the heathens

Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,

BWV 62
Six movements:
I . Opening, chorus and orchestra
II. Tenor Aria (da capo)
III. Bass Recitative (secco)
IV. Bass Aria (da capo)
V. Accompanied Recitative for Soprano &
Alto
VI. Closing chorale setting (hymnlike)

Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,

BWV 62
Chorale Stanzas

Movement &
Voices

Movement Type

Key

I.

Chorale motet /
concerto

B minor

2-3

II. Tenor Soloist

Da capo aria with

orchestra

G major

4-5

III. Bass Soloist

Recitative with
continuo

Modulating

IV. Bass Soloist

Da capo aria,
continuo w/ unison
orchestra

D major

5. Soprano & Alto

Soloists

Accompanied
recitative

Modulating

6. Chorus

Chorale
harmonization

B minor

Chorus

Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,

BWV 62
Opening chorus: based on chorale melody,
features a mixture of concerto form and
chorale motet
Opening ritornello features the chorale melody
in the bass
In place of episodes, the chorus sings in
polyphony, with the soprano singing the chorale
in cantus firmus style

Four solo movements in middle: set sacred

texts in operatic idioms

Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,

BWV 62 (Recording on Blackboard)
Movement 1:
Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland
Now come, Savior of the heathens,
Der Jungfrauen Kind erkannt,
Child, known to be born of the virgin
Des sich wundert alle Welt:
At which all the world marvelled
Gott solch Geburt ihm bestellt.
That God such a birth for him ordained.

No. 4, Aria: Streite, siege, starker Held!

(Recording on Blackboard)

Streite, siege, starker Held!

Struggle, triumph, mighty hero!
Sei vor uns im Fleische krftig!
Be strong for us in the flesh.
Sei geschftig,
Be active,
Das Vermgen in uns Schwachen
That the abilities of us weak creatures
Stark zu machen!
Will be made strong!

No. 4, Aria: Streite, siege, starker Held!

(Recording on Blackboard)
Ritornello
8
DM

|A
| Ritornello
|
| Stanza 1
|Rit. frag. | Stanza 1 repeat |
|
|9
23 | 23-24
| 25 44
| 44
51 |
| DM
AM | AM AM | AM
DM | DM
DM |

B
Stanza 2
52
61
Bm
Bm

| Da Capo (see below):

|
|
|

1
DM

Ritornello

1
DM

8
DM

| rit. frag.
| 61
| Bm

| stanza 2 repeat
64 | 64
75
Bm| DM
f#m

|A
| Ritornello
||
| Stanza 1
|Rit. frag. | Stanza 1 repeat |
||
|9
23 | 23-24
| 25 44
| 44
51 ||
| DM
AM | AM AM | AM
DM | DM
DM ||

The Early Eighteenth

Century in Germany: Handel

Key Terms & Concepts

English oratorio
Ritornello
Recitative
Recitativo secco
Recitativo
accompagnato
Da capo aria
Castrato (plural: castrati)

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Travelled more than Vivaldi,
Rameau or Bach
Unlike Bach or even Vivaldi,
Handels works were
performed internationally,
continuously, from his lifetime
to today
His operatic style fused
French overtures, Italianate
arias, and German
counterpoint and
orchestration (as Keiser had
already done in Hamburg)

Handel in 1733

Handel
Handel composed in every genre (sacred
anthems, chamber and keyboard music,
orchestral music, etc), but was particularly
known for his operas and English oratorios, a
genre he popularized
He never married; He lived with various patrons
until 1723, when he moved into a house in an
upper-class neighborhood

Handel
He had a bold personality and could be difficult,
but also had a sense of humor
Like Bach, he went blind late in life due to
cataracts

Handel

L:Handel as a boy;
R: Handels Birthplace in Halle, Germany

Handels Life
Born in Halle, Germany to a barber-surgeon of the
royal court
After a year as cathedral organist, he moved to
Hamburg (center of German opera) at 17
Played in opera orchestra; wrote first opera at age 20
Age 21, invited to Italy by Medici family of Florence;
met Corelli and Scarlatti there, became nicknamed il
caro Sassone (The dear Saxon)
Returned briefly to Hanover, Germany before moving
to England in 1710.

Handels Life
Fired from his Hanover job in 1713 while in
England
The Elector of Hanover became King of
England in 1714 and rehired Handel, even
giving him back pay for 1713; Handels Te
Deum was used at King George Is coronation
1718-1728: 60 wealthy gentlemen founded the
Royal Academy of Music for producing Italian
operas; Handel hired as music director, working
with Italian singers (esp. sopranos and castrati)

Castrato
Plural: castrati
Means ???

Handels Life
25 Brook St.,
London: Handels
home from 1723 to
his death in 1759

Queens Theatre at Haymarket,

London

Handels Life
1729: Royal Academy dissolved; Handel and a
partner take it over. Competition with another
company nearly led both to bankruptcy by 1737
1732: Handel begins composing English
Oratorios: unstaged operas, frequently on
sacred subjects, sung in English with significant
choral parts (reflecting the strong English choral
tradition)
Examples: Saul (1739), Messiah (1742)
Presented during Lent, when opera was forbidden
Oratorio became Handels main genre after his
opera theater closed in 1739

Handel
His music was enormously popular in its day:
when his Music for the Royal Fireworks
(1749) was rehearsed, 12,000 people
watched (and clogged the streets of London)
He worked for the public as an
entrepreneurial opera composer, as well as a
commissioned composer for the English court
(he had no official job as a court musician)

(Music for the Royal Fireworks)

Giulio Cesare (1724)

(recording on Blackboard)
One of Handels best operas; written on a subject
from Greco-Roman antiquity (like many operas)
Used both recitativo secco (recitative + basso
continuo) and recitativo accompagnato (recit +
orchestra, more dramatic in sound) mixed with
da capo arias
Scene complexes: recits + arias form a coherent
dramatic whole, not just set pieces (ex/ Act II,
sc. 1-2: note that Cesare interrupts Cleopatras
da capo aria for dramatic purposes)

Giulio Cesare (1724)

(recording on Blackboard)
Today is sung with women sopranos (pants
roles) or countertenors in roles originally held by
castrati
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SjDxv80s8I
(starting with Cesare, Dov, Niren, dov lanima
mia?; total timing: 718): Film version by director
Peter Sellars with Jeffrey Gall as Caesar and Susan
Larson as Cleopatra

Saul (1733)
(recording on Blackboard)
A Biblical oratorio about the first King of
Israel
Note the blend of arias, recitatives and
choruses in a seamless mix of genres
Choruses frequently reflect on the dramatic
narrative (instead of arias which held this role
in opera)