![]() ![]() In short, it can be said that Bach looked inward and Handel outward. Bach used a personal synthesis of the Flemish and Italian styles with German counterpoint, Handel showed a strong early inclination toward the extroverted and dramatic world of Italian opera (Krantz, 2007). Today however, things have changed and Handel's operas are in the repertoire of nearly every great opera-house (Bekker, 1927). The Italian operas which he composed in were considered worthless in the eyes of the critics of that period (Bekker, 1927). His instrumental compositions were not considered serious enough for study. He was primarily a writer of oratorios (Young, 1962). Contrastingly, Handel, the cosmopolitan composer and impresario, was internationally famous in his own lifetime. Whatever the angle of perception, Bach came to be regarded as the great builder of musical form. Some felt that Bach's music was inherently emotional (Bekker, 1927). The romanticists, declared that Bach was the archromanticist, and should be interpreted with the utmost feeling and expression. Later it became apparent that he could not after all be counted simply as a composer of Church music, so he was looked upon as a romantic poet. From this viewpoint, Bach seemed to be principally a servant of the church, a sort of Protestant Palestrina who also wrote secular music. People tended to interpret Bach’s from diverse viewpoints.īach used to be considered a contrapuntist pure and simple, a learned musician who treated music as a sort of mathematics (Bekker, 1927). The later 18th century knew Bach mainly as an instrumental composer who wrote especially for the organ and the piano (Bekker, 1927). He was recognized as a great musician by the world only 75 years after his death. Bach’s work was mostly unrecognized and neglected for many generations till the 19th century. Thomas' Church in Leipzig, and Handel wrote his operas for special performances and strictly to suit the voices of the personnel that happened to be available. "Occasional" or commissioned work used to be the rule.īach wrote his cantatas for the services of St. In those days, music was solely written for the sole purpose of immediate performance, its preservation beyond that moment being a secondary consideration. While Bach's grave was forgotten, Handel, who died nine years later, in 1759, was laid to rest in the English pantheon, Westminster Abbey. The one tragic similarity in their lives is that they both went blind at the end of their lives (Young, 1962). Handel, on the other hand was the man of the world, honored all over Europe. Bach remained within the boundaries of his Saxon fatherland throughout his life and was a good citizen and was the father of twenty children. There was no musical tradition in Handel's family, his father was a prosperous surgeon who intended George Frideric for the Law on the other hand members of the Bach dynasty had been for generations conspicuous in musical affairs in Thuringiaevering. Though they sound like brilliant stars rising at the same time, they charted their different paths in music according to their individual natures. ![]() During his later career he was influenced by Alessandro Stradella, Giacomo Carissimi, Georg Muffatt, Karl Heinrich Graun, Giovanni Clari and others. Handel, under Zachau, made an anthology of excerpts from Froberger, Kerll,Strungck, Johann Krieger. His special interests led to keyboard music, to violin music and to choral music. ![]() Besides Johann Christoph, Bach took as models the Italians, Frescobaldi, Corelli, Vivaldi, Lotti, Caldara, Legrenzi, Marcello and many others. Bach and Handel were studious copyists throughout their lives. Advocates of period performance practice may disagree with me on this, but for me and many others, the old, 'wrong' way of doing things is still very much worth listening to one need not be constrained to choose either one or the other style.Order custom essay A Comparative Study between Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handelīoth Bach and Handel learnt their art by making copies of all the works of acknowledged masters. My selections below try to tread a diplomatically balanced line on this often heated issue. Bach has of course benefitted from these developments as much as any other Baroque composer, in his choral works as much as in his instrumental compositions. Over the last few decades we've seen what can only be termed a revolution in terms of performance practices of Baroque music, with assumptions being overturned by research and radically different soundworlds emerging as a result. A sizeable proportion of his output is sacred in nature, with works ranging from relatively modest motets, to cantatas (more than two hundred in number), to the monumental Passions and Mass in B minor. Johann Sebastian Bach is, for many, the single greatest composer ever to have lived. ![]()
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