Comparison of Musicians
Ludwig van Beethoven and Johann Sebastian Bach were two of the most brilliant composers in the genre of classical Western music. The nationality of these two musicians is German. Bach was a composer who lived during the Baroque period. On the other hand, Beethoven was a musical genius who lived during the transition period of Classical period to Romantic era. Beethoven came later than Bach or was born 20 years after Bach’s demise. Beethoven looked up to Bach as his inspiration were he adapted the work of Bach entitled “Well-Tempered Clavier” in one of his musical masterpieces, and regards Bach as the original “Father of Harmony” (Burnham and Steinberg 38).
Bach was born on March 21, 1685 and his nationality was German. His parents were Johann Ambrosius Bachand and Maria Elisabeth Lammerhirt and became their youngest child in the family. Bach’s musical roots can be traced from his father, who became the director of the “Stadtpfeifer” or were famous town musicians during their time. At the same time, Bach’s musical inclination can be attributed to his uncles were all musicians during their lifetime.
Beethoven was born on December 16, 1770 and was also born a German as his nationality, just like Bach. Beethoven became the second child of his parents named Johann van Beethoven and Maria Magdalena Keverich. The musical roots of Beethoven can be traced from his grandfather who was also a musician. Beethoven’s grandfather was the musical director or also called the “Kapellmeister” in the court that was called then as the Elector of Cologne. Bach became famous during the Baroque period. On the other hand, Beethoven lived during the time of Classical until the Romantic era (Burnham and Steinberg 38).
Throughout the lives of both Beethoven and Bach, they were stricken with personal disabilities. In the case of Bach, he lost his sense of sight during the latter part of his life. While in the case of Beethoven, he lost his sense of hearing at the age of 26 and had become completely deaf 10 years after. Despite their apparent disabilities, it did not become a hindrance for them to produce the greatest musical masterpieces in the world. Beethoven died in the year 1827, while Bach died earlier or in the year 1750 (Geck 23).
During his lifetime, the musical style of Beethoven can be traced from the musical influences of Mozart and Haydn during the early part of his career. Towards the middle part of his musical life, he infused innovations in his compositions. As the he reached the final stage of his career, his work progressed to contain intellectual depth, reaching highly intense personal expressions about his life as well as integration of formal novelties.
In the case of Beethoven, he did not get married nor had children in his lifetime. While Bach on the other hand, was married first to Maria Barbara Bach who later died in 1720. He remarried in 1721 to Anna Magdalena Wilcke. Bach had seven children with his first wife Maria Barbara, where only four of the children survived until adulthood. In the case of his second wife Anna Magdalena, Bach had thirteen children with her, where only six of among them survived until adulthood (Burnham and Steinberg 39).
The early life of Bach was marked with achievements despite his young age. When he was just 14 years old, he was already bestowed with the award of a choral scholarship which gave him the opportunity to study at the St. Michael's School located in Luneburg, which was only of the most prestigious schools during that time. Later on in his life, Bach was designated to become one of the court musicians in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst (Geck 23). The chapel was located in Weimar, where Bach was assigned to become a keyboard player. The year when he started to create serious organ preludes was in 1703. History showed that in the year 1705, Bach made a personal sacrifice of walking 400 kilometers in order to be able to spend time with one of the greatest German organists named Dieterich Buxtehuden. Mr. Buxtehuden was also known as the father of German organists. Buxtehuden was able to transform himself as the prodigy organist of his generation (Geck 23).
On the other hand, the early life of Beethoven begun after he was named after his grandfather, Lodewijk van Beethoven. His grandfather was a Flemish musician who had made a significant impact in the life of the young Beethoven. When Beethoven was just seven years old, he discovered his passion for music and his remarkable talent to play musical instruments. He lost his mother when he was just an adolescent while his father became an alcoholic. In 1778, at age seven, Beethoven’s father called his son the child prodigy during his very first public performance. The following year, Beethoven was enrolled in the musical school and was taught by Christian Gottlob Neefe, the best court organist in his time (Geck 23). In 1783, Beethoven’s first compositions include the three piano sonatas known as the “Elector” which was part of his dedication to the Elector Maximilian Frederick. It was in the year 1787, when Beethoven studied in Vienna and his teacher was no less than the famous Wolfgang Mozart. In the year 1789, he started to earn a living for his family when he played the musical instrument viola in the court orchestra (Burnham and Steinberg 38).
The musical contribution on Bach starts with keyboard music as his gift. This musical specialty was elevated from keyboard that moved on from continuo to solo instrument during his acclaimed harpsichord concertos to his orchestral works during the years 1708 until 1717 in Weimar. This was the period when his began to compose he dramatic openings by incorporating the works of the talented musicians such as Corelli Torelli and Vivaldi. When he became the musical director for Prince Leopold in the year 1717 to 23, his works include sonatas and partitas using the solo violin as his instrument and also played the six suites for unaccompanied cello. The Art of Fugue was regarded as famous work of Bach that he left unfinished and it is composed of 18 complex fugues and canons that were influenced by a simple theme. This work of Bach has been regarded as the compilation of all polyphonic techniques. His final work was the chorale that was played after the incomplete 14th fugue as the finale of the performances for The Art of Fugue (Geck 23).
In the case of Beethoven, his notable work include the first and second symphonies, the first two piano concertos, six string quartets Opus 18, and piano sonatas and one of which was the renowned Pathetique sonata (Lockwood and Kroll 65) . In the latter part of his career, he produced the String Quartet (Lockwood and Kroll 65).
Bibliography
Burnham, Scott G. and Michael P. Steinberg. Beethoven and His World. New Jersey: Princeton
Geck, Martin. Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life and Work. Florida: Harcourt Books, 2006. Print.
Lockwood, Lewis and Mark Kroll. The Beethoven Violin Sonatas: History, Criticism,
Performance. USA: University of Illinois, 2004. Print.
Morris, Edmund. Beethoven: The Universal Composer. USA: HarperCollins, 2009. Print.
