Hey guys! Welcome to my first real passion blog post!

 

Even though most of you probably don’t know the difference between Schubert and Schumann (which probably hasn’t impacted your life very much) and may not really care, I’m going to try to educate you about some unknown tidbits of classical music that might just make you a fan.

 

Just so you know, I have been playing piano since age four. My sisters and I all played, but I think I was the one who really connected with classical music. I geeked out, I’ll admit it. I played in recitals and even performed twice at my high school’s graduation ceremonies. I wanted to learn as much as I could, and I still do – exactly my reason for pursuing a music studies minor here at Penn State.

 

Anyways…

 

This is where Arnold Schwarzenegger and composer puns meet: “I’ll be Bach.” I guarantee you rolled your eyes at that one – it’s cheesy, I know. I bet you’re also probably equating Bach with “blechhh, boring!”

 

But did you know that the Johann Sebastian Bach we know and love fathered twenty children (not all of whom survived) with multiple women? This is not to say that he slept around; Bach was devoted to his first wife until her untimely death, then remarried and stayed faithful to his second wife, Anna Magdalena. (Sound vaguely familiar? Yeah, he composed pieces for her in his Notebook for Anna Magdalena.)

 

Bach was a major figure of the Baroque period, the earliest segment of the history of classical music. For most of the Baroque period, pianos as we know them today were not around. The pianoforte, invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori around 1700, did not catch on until the very end of the Baroque period; therefore, Bach wrote most of his keyboard music for harpsichord and organ. Following the Baroque came the Classical period, then the Romantic and Contemporary periods. We’ll get into those later in the blog.

 

Interestingly enough, Bach died largely unknown for his compositions until he was rediscovered years later by Felix Mendelssohn, an early Romantic composer and “ever the Bach fanboy” as WQXR (New York Public Radio) writes. Mendelssohn put on one of the first performances of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor since Bach’s death.

 

Now, you’re probably thinking, Toccata and Fugue? Well, toccata sounds like some sort of fancy pasta. Fugue? Fungi? Who knows? Whether you know these terms or not, you certainly know this famous organ song turned Halloween cliché. It’s featured in the 1930s version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and perhaps most famously, the Phantom of the Opera.

 

While Bach created many masterpieces of church and classical music, like the Brandenburg Concertos, The Goldberg Variations, the Well-Tempered Clavier, and Ave Maria, to name a few, he is more than just a figure behind the music. During his lifetime, Bach was most celebrated as an organist. One of his employers, Duke Wilhelm Ernst, threw him in jail to prevent him from accepting another job!

 

Bach was, at times, quite an arrogant man. According to Classic FM, Bach “challenged fellow harpsichord wizard Louis Marchand to a keyboard duel in 1717. However, lily-livered Marchand proved unworthy of the challenge and fled on the day of the duel.”

 

Almost everyone knows that Beethoven developed hearing issues, but many do not know that Bach had terrible eye problems later in life. Reportedly thanks to a botched eye surgery by an English doctor, Bach died in 1750.

 

Although his music may seem irrelevant today, it is still used in movies and churches around the Western world. Not to end on a cheesy note, but the composer himself is saying “I’m Bach and better than ever, baby” every time his music endures.

 

And here is our musical meme for the week, in honor of Bach:

(From Classic FM’s article on classic music memes)

 

Thanks for reading!

 

For more of Bach’s works, click on the links below:

The full Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (goosebumps guaranteed!)

The Brandenburg Concertos (No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048 is my personal favorite)

Minuet in G from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena (performed by yours truly – please excuse the bumbles and crappy dorm piano):

Video (1)

 

Here are my references:

Bennett, James. “What Makes the Famous Bach Organ Piece Toccata and Fugue So Spooky?” WQXR, New York Public Radio, 17 Oct. 2017, www.wqxr.org/story/what-makes-the-famous-bach-organ-piece-toccata-fugue-so-spooky/.

“Johann Sebastian Bach.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 18 July 2019, www.biography.com/musician/johann-sebastian-bach.

Ross, Daniel. “Bach: Compositions, Children, Biography and More Facts About the Great Composer.” Classic FM, Classic FM, 24 Sept. 2018, www.classicfm.com/composers/bach/guides/bach-facts/.