Originally posted by Peter:
I am only a little way through this fascinating book, but so far the relationship Bach had with his early employers particularly at Weimar is shown to be quite different than that stated - Duke Wilhelm Ernst is revealed as being far from the enlightened character history portrays him.
From the musical point of view, the knowledge Bach had regarding harpsichords and organs is remarkable - he was regarded as an expert in building and tuning them at 18. Then there is his tremendous work on equal tempered tuning which bore fruit with the chromatic fantasy and fugue employing undreamt of modulations simply because before Bach they were not possible.
I am only a little way through this fascinating book, but so far the relationship Bach had with his early employers particularly at Weimar is shown to be quite different than that stated - Duke Wilhelm Ernst is revealed as being far from the enlightened character history portrays him.
From the musical point of view, the knowledge Bach had regarding harpsichords and organs is remarkable - he was regarded as an expert in building and tuning them at 18. Then there is his tremendous work on equal tempered tuning which bore fruit with the chromatic fantasy and fugue employing undreamt of modulations simply because before Bach they were not possible.
Bach to Berlioz, my idea was that he had some grand ideas but the execution is often not the best, some of the noisier numbers especially sound simply uncouth to me - it is not a matter of the music being readily understandable or otherwise on an intellectual level. I could say the same of Wagner.
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"If I were but of noble birth..." - Rod Corkin
[This message has been edited by Rod (edited 02-10-2006).]
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