Example Of Baroque Public Relations Essay

It doesn’t matter whether you are an expert of musical art or just an amateur who admires listening to a sacred music, you have to listen to Bach’s compositions as they will never leave you indifferent.
Johann Sebastian Bach’s music has a great impact on music in general. His style is characterized by elegant notes, easy rhythms and comprehensive harmony. His works can serve as a source of inspiration for many other musicians and composers and his dedication to music deserves a great respect (Hoffer, 2010). All his creations are unique and have something that makes them special. But there are several pieces that stand out from Bach’s great catalogue of music. They are The Well-Tempered Clavier, Goldberg Variations and The Brandenburg Concertos.
The Well-Tempered Clavier can be called one of the most significant world’s musical and intellectual treasures. It consists of two volumes and each volume contains twenty four preludes and twenty four fugues in the minor and major keys. The Well-tempered Clavier is characterized by compositional and technical mastership that had never been attained before Bach, not gained after. This mastership manifests not only in his perfect polyphonic structure but also in the presentation and evolution of the material which is full of fancy and intellection. Every piece and movement is completely unique with its unmistakable feature.
Bach played The Well-Tempered Clavier on different keyboard instruments such as organ, clavichord, harpsichord and the experimental forerunner of the piano and the fortepiano and each instrument gives a different perspective on the same piece which makes this music so exceptional.
Bach will be remembered as the first composer who brought an innovation into the whole musical world, this innovation is called “Well-Tempered”-tuning system that allows playing in every minor and major key. Bach’s collection of “keyboard” art became a peak of baroque era and the most miscellaneous forms of the era obtained their final shape in the works of this great composer. However, at the same time Bach steps far beyond this ideally shaped tradition into a new musical prospect, the prospect which will determine the future direction of all music.
Goldberg Variations is a masterpiece of thirty variations created for playing on harpsichord. It looks like a circle, beginning and ending with the Aria. Between those two Aries there are thirty variations arranged in ten groups of three variations. Supported by the same bass line, each variation has the same harmonic structure (Williams, 2001).
Whatever the incentive for creating such a big set of variations was, the composed decided to revise the form which he had not used for some time. He was captivated by the pedagogical benefits as it was the best ways for the composer to demonstrate his compositional mastery and innovative view for keyboard technology.
Goldberg Variations reveal the Baroque perfection in balance and inner coherence, repeating the same harmonic implications in thirty different ways. With this composition, Bach showed what is possible at the keyboard in terms of great mastery, compositional conversance and technical development.
The most significant achievement of Goldberg Variations is an extraordinary complexity and variety of styles and forms examined by the composer within the set of thirty variations. Bach set a challenge for himself and proved that even the most multiplex forms such as fugue and cannon can be realized within the simple harmonic structure.
Once again Bach will be remembered as a person who created the most ambitious and weighty composition that sumps up all the history of Baroque variations making a great contribution to the whole musical culture.
Brandenburg Concertos is the collection of six compositions, which are remarkable for their structure and scoring. The six concertos present a diversity of solo instruments that are used in unexpected combinations. Each of these concerts demands different instruments’ combinations.
The Brandenburg Concertos are written in one of the typical Baroque music genre in which the soloists perform together with the orchestra. They are based on so-called Italian concerto grosso style (Randel, 2003). As this concerto grosso style was already introduced by Italian composers, Bach decided to take new greater heights. He changed the music by expanding the potential of an existing form. He made unusual combinations like insertion of violas and violas da gamba in Concerto No. 6, the use of harpsichord in No. 5 and magnificent violin line in No. 4.that made his concertos exceptional. The Bach’s instrumentations are mixture of solo concerto and group concerto. Its polyphonic complexity of compositional structure makes us feel like we hear something new but at the same time something familiar, creating a charming play of difference and similarity.
If you want to find a gate into the world of delightful Baroque music, you will do nothing better that listen to Brandenburg Concertos.
Bach made a great contribution to the development of the polyphonic style of the Baroque era. He is a large musical conservative, who gained remarkable heights in choral polyphony, in the art of fugue and organ music, as well as in instrumental music and dance forms.
The spirit of the Baroque is filled with a feeling of collectivity and community, which affected to some degree Bach’s compositions. The composer’s life can serve as prototype that all musicians should imitate.

References

Hoffer, C. (2010). Western music listening today (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Schirmer Cengage Learning.
Randel, D. M. (2003). The Harvard dictionary of music. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Williams, P. (2001). Bach, the Goldberg variations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.