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When there's a family fugue, keep your temperament in check... and don’t forget to bring a good counterpoint. This week, we’re taking things Bach!
Howdy, howdy, howdy! I’m Solomon Reynolds, and this is: Saturday Morning Car Tunes! This morning… Bach is one of classical music’s most creative geniuses. His music is still inspiring rock bands like Tenacious D and Muse. But to understand just who Bach was, let’s start at the end. According to his obituary, published in Germany in 1754, Johann Sebastian Bach was “the most prodigious organist and keyboard player that there has ever been.” Bach was legendary as both a performer and a composer. This is his famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor.
Bach started his career at the keyboard (like the organ and harpsichord), but he went on to write in almost every kind of music he knew. The more he composed, the more his personality appeared in every note, like in his amazing Passacaglia in C minor.
Bach’s music was full of new ideas; he was like a musical inventor. His Brandenburg Concerto No. 5 was the first keyboard concerto ever written.
Besides performing and composing, Bach was also a famous teacher. The Well-Tempered Clavier, a collection of keyboard preludes and fugues in every musical key, is still used today as an exercise book.
Bach was a master at mixing styles from different countries. After studying Vivaldi’s music, he wrote his Italian Concerto.
Bach’s keyboard music is tough to play because it’s full of melodies stacked on top of each other, called fugues or canons. Pianist Glenn Gould was famous for making each melody stand out, like in his recording of the Goldberg Variations.
Bach spent his life exploring the fugue like a musical puzzle, which led to one of his greatest works: the Art of Fugue.
Bach’s fugues and keyboard works are so cool, even jazz musicians love ‘em. Here’s the Modern Jazz Quartet and the Swingle Singers performing Bach’s Musical Offering.
I’m Solomon Reynolds. I write and produce Saturday Morning Car Tunes, with research assistant Carolina Correa and audio engineer Stephen Page, only on Classical California. Tune in—or out of your car—next Saturday morning!
