Composer Profile - Activefolio

54 Chapter 5
Comparison of Bach and Handel
Both were born in the same area of Germany in the same year, grew to prominence in the
music world, yet never met.
Bach Handel
Lived in the same area all his life. Cosmopolitan; traveled widely.
Composed in all genres except opera. Made much of his living composing
operas.
Composed for his conscience. Composed for his audience.
Married twice: twenty children. Never married.
Genius at all forms in which he composed. True genius rests in vocal composition.
Middle class level at best. Moved in wealthy circles; at times,
wealthy.
Both great composers ended their lives blind, and both used the same oculist.
Baroque Keyboard Forms: Prelude, Toccata, and Fugue
If Johann Sebastian Bach had not been such an incredible keyboard player, we would
probably have never been treated to the virtuoso works that he produced as a composer.
History has revealed however, that there was simply nothing he tried that he could not
master, either as a composer or as a performer. Bach was the last word in the polyphonic
keyboard music of the Baroque.
The toccata is a virtuoso, free-form keyboard form, which seems to have as its
mission simply to show off the skills of the performer. Most toccatas have no clearly
defined meter, but seem to have powerful chords that alternate with virtuosic, fast running
passages. The result was that the effect of a toccata was spontaneous, almost like a
vocal recitative. Though many composers used the toccata extensively, especially the
great German organist Dietrich Buxtehude, the toccatas of Johann Sebastian Bach are
by far the most familiar.
The prelude, as the name suggests, is a musical piece that is designed to precede
another piece. In the Baroque period preludes were invariably short, usually with regular
meter but sometimes more free, and were usually followed by a fugue or other
polyphonic form. The term prelude has been used throughout musical history, and by
the nineteenth century lost most of its meaning as an introductory piece due to its use in
naming many styles of short keyboard pieces.
The most advanced polyphonic form of the Baroque period was the fugue, and its
supreme master was Johann Sebastian Bach. A fugue is a work built around one thematic
idea, called a subject. The subject is presented as a single melodic line, which in
turn is replayed in many other lines. When played on a keyboard, the effect is similar to
threads being woven together into a fabric. This “fabric” can be extremely dense, complex,
and of course difficult to perform. Usually, after the original exposition of the
subject and the imitative entrances of the other voices, the fugue will go through alternating
periods of relative calm (episodes) and extremely complex imitative polyphony
(stretti). The study and practice of polyphony in Baroque music is called counterpoint,
and involves the skill of harmonizing note against note, while maintaining the integrity
of each melodic line. Nobody was better at counterpoint than Bach, and when he died,
the Baroque practice of fugal writing essentially died with him.