Life and work of Johann Sebastian Bach

elective monographs
obligatory courses

The course will focus on the life and works of Johann Sebastian Bach, one of the most prominent composer in the history of music. The curriculum will cover his birth in Eisenach, education in central and northern Germany and his subsequent posts in Arnstadt, Weimar, Köthen and Leipzig. The current state of research on the composer’s ties with Poland will also be discussed. First and foremost, however, the course will present the most eminent pieces composed by Bach.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s works have been shown to be closely related to the composer’s post at the time of creation, be it church organist, Kapellmeister or cantor – which is why the course will follow the traditional chronological order. The subsequent stages of development of Bach’s musical language will be discussed against the backdrop of his life, the musical culture of the cities and regions where he stayed, the people he was in touch with, and the formal and informal tasks that were his responsibility to perform. The discussion will start with his birth in Eisenach and education in central and northern Germany as evidenced in written sources and the state of research on the education of musicians around the year 1700. It will then proceed to the particulars of Bach’s work in several towns and the pieces composed during that time, namely:

– Arnstadt and Weimar, as an organist (e.g. choral partitas, Orgelbüchlein, preludes, fantasias, toccatas, fugues, keyboard transcriptions of Italian and Italianate concertos),

– Weimar, as concertmaster (early cantatas),

– Köthen, as Kapellmeister (instrumental music, e.g. Brandenburg Concertos),

– Leipzig, as cantor (five church cantata cycles, passions, oratorios, Clavier-Übung cycle, so called Schübler Chorales and Leipzig Chorales), director of music for the town and leader of collegium musicum (chamber music, secular cantatas),

Bach’s pedagogical works (e.g. inventions and sinfonias, Das wohltemperierte Clavier, Clavierbüchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, trio sonatas) as well as his ties with Poland (e.g. Mass in B minor) will also be given due attention. Last but not least, the course will present Bach’s late, ‘speculative’ style, which does not directly relate to any of his posts and yet is an important part of his heritage.

1. Christoph Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach. Muzyk i uczony, transl. Barbara Świderska, Lokomobila, Warszawa 2011.

2. Das Bach-Handbuch, ed. Reinmar Emans, Sven Hiemke, Klaus Hofmann, vol. 1–7, Laaber Verlag, Laaber 2007–2015.

3. David Schulenberg, The Keyboard Music of J. S. Bach, Routledge, New York – London 2006 [1992].

4. Alfred Dürr, Kantaty Jana Sebastiana Bacha, transl. Andrzej A. Teske, Polihymnia, Lublin 2004.

5. Peter Williams, Bach: The Goldberg Variations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2001.

6. Peter Williams, The Organ Music of J. S. Bach, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2008 [1980–1984].

Additional reading (selected papers and book chapters) will be specified in class. Additional reading for written assignments will be discussed individually.

The student is familiar with the life and works of Johann Sebastian Bach and can analyse his musical pieces correctly.

A written assignment (ca. 5 pages, including bibliography and footnotes) with an analysis of a selected piece by Bach.