Bach and Handel

The period from 1600 to 1750 gave western music some of its most well-known and beloved works. During this time, referred to as the Baroque Period, these pieces were written by some of the most prolific composers of all time. These musicians came from across Europe. Frenchmen, Italians, Englishmen, Germans, and others all made great contributions and advancements toward the development of music as we know it. However two of these men were perhaps the most important of all - George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach.

While both of these men were born in Germany, the details of each of their employment in the musical profession includes vast differences in both the method by which they acquired their influences and the countries in which they held positions. The purpose of this essay is to use the details of each composer's life, prior to composition of the pieces in question, and musical examples from within the composition written from each man to differentiate and highlight specific writing styles and habits. Furthermore, two pieces will be from a genre that both Bach and Handel wrote in fairly extensively, the keyboard suite, will be used as these musical examples. Bach's English Suite No. 4 in F major (BWV 809) and Handel's Keyboard Suite No. 1 in A major (HWV 426) are the works that will be used.

From Bach's Birth to His Time in Cothen

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685 to a family of musicians in Eisenach, Germany. At that time, the Bach family was well-known in their region of East-Central Germany as musicians to the point that their name was nearly synonymous with music. Sebastian's father was named Johann Ambrosius Bach and was the court and town musician in the town of Eisenach. Prior to Sebastian's birth, Ambrosius had been employed in the town of Erfurt. The town of Erfurt certainly had some impact on Sebastian's life, through Ambrosius, and was a rather important place in terms of music. Several great German musicians had called Erfurt home while Ambrosius was there, including another notable Johann: the great Pachelbel. Pachelbel also taught Sebastian's older brother Johann Christoph, with whom Sebastian lived after his parents' deaths in 1695. Erfurt was also where Martin Luther was ordained priest, and the significance of this will be discussed more in depth below.(Williams 5-9)All these things must have had a profound effect on Bach's writing, particular his earliest works. However, there is more to add. For instance, the town of Eisenach was once the home of Martin Luther. Luther was also voluntarily imprisoned in the town castle during his time there, where he wrote his famous translation of the New Testament and possibly some of his hymns. Lutheranism and Martin Luther's close association to these two towns must have influenced Bach. He used Luther's hymns as inspiration on occasion in his compositions. (Williams 9)In May 1694, Bach's mother died, and his father died nine or ten months later in 1695. At which point Sebastian and his elder brother Jacob moved to Ohrdruf to live with their elder brother Christophe. Prior to this, Sebastian had been a choir boy, and upon moving to Ohrdruf, Christophe either began or continued Sebastian's lessons on the keyboard. Sebastian also aided Christophe in his duties as a professional organist, copying music, tuning instruments, and the like. Christophe also passed on an interest in French organ music, which he may have acquired in his lessons with Pachelbel, to his younger brother.It was during Sebastian's time with his brother that he may have taught himself composition and composed his first bits of organ literature(Williams 8-9). In 1700, Bach left his brother for the town of Luneburg to attend the school at St. Michael's Church. While he was there, he sang in the choir to pay for his school and board. He also made trips to Hamburg every so often to hear the great or ganist Johann Adam Reinken. He was also exposed, in Luneburg, to a famous ensemble funded by the Duke of Celle that was comprised of mostly Frenchmen. This was an early form of Bach's exposure to French musical style, and provided him a very authentic example from which to begin his study of French music. Their gavottes and bourees certainly would have provided young Bach a better example of a dance than a local organ could have.(Williams 20-24)Bach stayed in Luneburg until 1703, at which time he moved to Weimar to take a position as a court musician. This position was rather minor, and after several months he took another position in the town of Arnstadt was a Church organist. During his time here, he took time to hear Buxtehude, and eventually left to take a similar job in the town of Muhlhausen. Here, he developed his virtuosic organ abilities. He also wrote many of his early works; primarily consisting of organ pieces for himself to play, and some sacred concertos. (Seaton 230-232)Bach returned to the court of the duke of Weimar, this time as an organist