CPE Bach
Is there really much of anything in this life better than a Handel opera? Regardless, this article pertains to the son of Johann Sebastian Bach, whom was a decent enough bloke that went by the name of Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach (CPE Bach for short). This gentleman was a bridge if you will, as his progressive approach to the Classical form not only waved in the legit Classical era from the previous Baroque style of his very gifted father, but in some respects was even a precursor to the Romantic era bliss of the Classical form that chaps like Beethoven are best known for. CPE was Da Bomb, which is really the most educated way possible of describing all the musical ground of the Classical form that this trailblazer drug his massive buttocks across.
CPE Bach offers something for everyone, regardless of your taste in Classical, excluding perhaps the Renaissance era. Much like his father J. S. Bach, CPE was a master keyboard player. In fact, later in life, he even wrote a book entitled Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments, and needless to say this is probably someone you wouldn't want to encounter in a dark alley at night. There is no question that my main man CPE would quite probably fuck your shit up if you looked at him cross-eyed, oh my brothers, and rather hardcore at that, player! Ha-ha! Deal with it! Anyhow, CPE Bach was no doubt very well schooled in the playing of keyboard instruments, as he learned from the master of Baroque era Classical, his father Johann. I want to present a few quotes for you, and as taken from CPE's Music Theory text. The first of which relates to the supposed purity of clavichords and the like, "The purest of all instruments, for others may be more purely tuned but they cannot be purely played." He is in fact stating that the tonal control of keyboard instrumentation simply cannot be beat, and regardless of the fact that during the time period, the tuning of said instruments was by no means a simple task as would be the case for a viola, for example.
To get the proper tones then, the texture in which one approaches the instrument is also of great importance, and CPE Bach explains as much thusly, "The keys must be gripped firmly and with strength. However, they must not be flogged; but on the other hand there must not be too much restraint." And while CPE Bach was the second eldest son of the Old Master, both he and his slightly older brother Johann Christian Bach were more widely known and successful during the Classical era and certainly more so celebrated during the later Romantic era, although today, it is the Old Master himself that is given the greatest praise for creating a music so intricate and even mathematically dead on, that when most persons hear the name Bach, they no doubt automatically think of J. S. himself. However, while elder brother J. C. Bach was a composer of note, and perhaps most notable today for his friendship and influence on a very young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, it is ultimately CPE Bach who was the more progressive of the two, and in his way, on par with his father. Wolfgang himself later acknowledged CPE's direct influence when he was quoted as saying, " He is the father, we are the children."
Beethoven admitted to owing a great deal of his dramatic keyboard interpretations to CPE Bach's early exploration of Romantic era Classical terrain. Joseph Haydn, whom had a rather great influence on Mozart as well in terms of string quartets of the Classical era, owed a great deal of his own success to the intense study he gave to the works of CPE Bach. When popular Baroque era Italian composer Georg Philipp Telemann died in the late 1760's, his own godson Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach inherited his respectable position in Hamburg as music director to a series of local churches. CPE Bach continually progressed in leaps and bounds both as a composer and keyboard player during this time period, until his own eventual death in 1788. A man once vaguely described as an intense sweaty frog on the harpsichord, thought that music should be a highly personal revelation for the respective listener to indulge in, and often went against the more clinical and arguably emotionally anonymous approach of his father. And when you do hear the best by Wolfgang or Ludwig, do realize that CPE Bach was not too far from their collective minds.
I suggest purchasing the following double-cd collection that is available for under ten dollars:
CPE Bach: Symphonies (Wq 182, 183); Cello Concertos (Wq 170-172) /Bylsma * OAE * Leonhardt
Godspeed, you filthy mongrels.
CPE Bach offers something for everyone, regardless of your taste in Classical, excluding perhaps the Renaissance era. Much like his father J. S. Bach, CPE was a master keyboard player. In fact, later in life, he even wrote a book entitled Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments, and needless to say this is probably someone you wouldn't want to encounter in a dark alley at night. There is no question that my main man CPE would quite probably fuck your shit up if you looked at him cross-eyed, oh my brothers, and rather hardcore at that, player! Ha-ha! Deal with it! Anyhow, CPE Bach was no doubt very well schooled in the playing of keyboard instruments, as he learned from the master of Baroque era Classical, his father Johann. I want to present a few quotes for you, and as taken from CPE's Music Theory text. The first of which relates to the supposed purity of clavichords and the like, "The purest of all instruments, for others may be more purely tuned but they cannot be purely played." He is in fact stating that the tonal control of keyboard instrumentation simply cannot be beat, and regardless of the fact that during the time period, the tuning of said instruments was by no means a simple task as would be the case for a viola, for example.
To get the proper tones then, the texture in which one approaches the instrument is also of great importance, and CPE Bach explains as much thusly, "The keys must be gripped firmly and with strength. However, they must not be flogged; but on the other hand there must not be too much restraint." And while CPE Bach was the second eldest son of the Old Master, both he and his slightly older brother Johann Christian Bach were more widely known and successful during the Classical era and certainly more so celebrated during the later Romantic era, although today, it is the Old Master himself that is given the greatest praise for creating a music so intricate and even mathematically dead on, that when most persons hear the name Bach, they no doubt automatically think of J. S. himself. However, while elder brother J. C. Bach was a composer of note, and perhaps most notable today for his friendship and influence on a very young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, it is ultimately CPE Bach who was the more progressive of the two, and in his way, on par with his father. Wolfgang himself later acknowledged CPE's direct influence when he was quoted as saying, " He is the father, we are the children."
Beethoven admitted to owing a great deal of his dramatic keyboard interpretations to CPE Bach's early exploration of Romantic era Classical terrain. Joseph Haydn, whom had a rather great influence on Mozart as well in terms of string quartets of the Classical era, owed a great deal of his own success to the intense study he gave to the works of CPE Bach. When popular Baroque era Italian composer Georg Philipp Telemann died in the late 1760's, his own godson Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach inherited his respectable position in Hamburg as music director to a series of local churches. CPE Bach continually progressed in leaps and bounds both as a composer and keyboard player during this time period, until his own eventual death in 1788. A man once vaguely described as an intense sweaty frog on the harpsichord, thought that music should be a highly personal revelation for the respective listener to indulge in, and often went against the more clinical and arguably emotionally anonymous approach of his father. And when you do hear the best by Wolfgang or Ludwig, do realize that CPE Bach was not too far from their collective minds.
I suggest purchasing the following double-cd collection that is available for under ten dollars:
CPE Bach: Symphonies (Wq 182, 183); Cello Concertos (Wq 170-172) /Bylsma * OAE * Leonhardt
Godspeed, you filthy mongrels.
