1.
Johann Sebastian Bach
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Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. Bachs compositions include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Mass in B minor and his music is revered for its technical command, artistic beauty, and intellectual depth. He is now regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. Bach was born in Eisenach, in the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach and his father Johann Ambrosius Bach was the director of the town musicians, and all of his uncles were professional musicians. His father probably taught him to play the violin and harpsichord, apparently at his own initiative, Bach attended St. Michaels School in Lüneburg for two years. He received the title of Royal Court Composer from Augustus III in 1736, Bachs health and vision declined in 1749, and he died on 28 July 1750. Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, the capital of the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach, in present-day Germany and he was the son of Johann Ambrosius Bach, the director of the town musicians, and Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt. He was the eighth and youngest child of Johann Ambrosius, who taught him violin. His uncles were all musicians, whose posts included church organists, court chamber musicians. One uncle, Johann Christoph Bach, introduced him to the organ, Bachs mother died in 1694, and his father died eight months later. The 10-year-old Bach moved in with his eldest brother, Johann Christoph Bach, there he studied, performed, and copied music, including his own brothers, despite being forbidden to do so because scores were so valuable and private and blank ledger paper of that type was costly. He received valuable teaching from his brother, who instructed him on the clavichord, also during this time he was taught theology, Latin, Greek, French and Italian at the local gymnasium. By 3 April 1700 Bach and his schoolfriend Georg Erdmann–who was two years Bachs elder–were enrolled in the prestigious St. Michaels School in Lüneburg, some two weeks travel north of Ohrdruf and their journey was probably undertaken mostly on foot. His two years there were critical in exposing Bach to a range of European culture. In addition to singing in the choir, he played the Schools three-manual organ and he came into contact with sons of aristocrats from northern Germany, sent to the highly selective school to prepare for careers in other disciplines. While in Lüneburg, Bach had access to St. Johns Church and possibly used the famous organ from 1553. His role there is unclear, but it probably included menial, non-musical duties, despite strong family connections and a musically enthusiastic employer, tension built up between Bach and the authorities after several years in the post. Bach was dissatisfied with the standard of singers in the choir and he called one of them a Zippel Fagottist
2.
Harpsichord
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A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed, Harpsichord designates the whole family of similar plucked keyboard instruments, including the smaller virginals, muselar, and spinet. The harpsichord was used in Renaissance and Baroque music. During the late 18th century, it disappeared from the musical scene with the rise of the piano. In the 20th century, it made a resurgence, being used in historically informed performances of music, in compositions. Harpsichords vary in size and shape, but all have the basic functional arrangement. The player depresses a key that rocks over a pivot in the middle of its length, the other end of the key lifts a jack that holds a small plectrum, which plucks the string. When the player releases the key, the far end returns to its rest position, the plectrum, mounted on a tongue that can swivel backwards away from the string, passes the string without plucking it again. As the key reaches its rest position, a felt damper atop the jack stops the strings vibrations and these basic principles are explained in detail below. The keylever is a pivot, which rocks on a balance pin that passes through a hole drilled through the keylever. The jack is a thin, rectangular piece of wood that sits upright on the end of the keylever, the jacks are held in place by the registers. These are two strips of wood, which run in the gap between pinblock and bellyrail. The registers have rectangular mortises through which the pass as they can move up. The registers hold the jacks in the location needed to pluck the string. In the jack, a plectrum juts out almost horizontally and passes just under the string, historically, plectra were made of bird quill or leather, many modern harpsichords have plastic plectra. When the front of the key is pressed, the back of the key rises, the jack is lifted, the vertical motion of the jack is then stopped by the jackrail, which is covered with soft felt to muffle the impact. When the key is released, the falls back down under its own weight. This is made possible by having the plectrum held in a tongue attached with a pivot and a spring to the body of the jack
3.
Clavichord
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The clavichord is a European stringed keyboard instrument known from the late Medieval, through the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. Historically, it was used as a practice instrument and as an aid to composition. The clavichord produces sound by striking brass or iron strings with metal blades called tangents. Vibrations are transmitted through the bridge to the soundboard, the name is derived from the Latin word clavis, meaning key and chorda meaning string, especially of a musical instrument. An analogous name is used in other European languages, many languages also have another name derived from Latin manus, meaning hand. Other names refer to the nature of a fully fretted clavichord. Italian also used sordino, a reference to its quiet sound, the clavichord was invented in the early fourteenth century. In 1504, the German poem Der Minne Regeln mentions the terms clavicimbalum and clavichordium, One of the earliest references to the clavichord in England occurs in the privy-purse expenses of Elizabeth of York, queen of Henry VII, in an entry dated August 1502, Item. The same day, Hugh Denys for money by him delivered to a stranger that gave the queen a payre of clavycordes, in crowns form his reward iiii libres. The clavichord was very popular from the 16th century to the 18th century, but mainly flourished in German-speaking lands, Scandinavia, and it had fallen out of use by 1850. In the late 1890s, Arnold Dolmetsch revived clavichord construction and Violet Gordon-Woodhouse, among others, although most of the instruments built before the 1730s were small, the latest instruments were built up to seven feet long with a six octave range. Today clavichords are played primarily by Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical music enthusiasts and they attract many interested buyers, and are manufactured worldwide. There are now numerous clavichord societies around the world, and some 400 recordings of the instrument have made in the past 70 years. Leading modern exponents of the instrument have included Derek Adlam, Christopher Hogwood, Richard Troeger, Thurston Dart, Wim Winters, stevie Wonder uses a Clavinet in many of his songs, such as Superstition and Higher Ground. A Clavinet played through an instrument amplifier with guitar effect pedals is often associated with funky, guy Sigsworth has played clavichord in a modern setting with Björk, notably on the studio recording of All Is Full of Love. Björk also made use of and even played the instrument herself on the song My Juvenile of her 2007 album Volta. Tori Amos uses the instrument on Little Amsterdam from the album Boys for Pele, Amos also featured her use of the Clavinet on her 2004 recording Not David Bowie, released as part of her 2006 box set, A Piano, The Collection. In 1976 Oscar Peterson played songs from Porgy And Bess on the clavichord, keith Jarrett also recorded an album entitled Book of Ways in which he plays a series of clavichord improvisations
4.
Partitas for keyboard (Bach)
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They were, however, among the last of his keyboard suites to be composed, the others being the six English Suites, BWV 806-811 and the six French Suites, BWV 812-817. The six partitas for keyboard are the last set of suites that Bach composed and they were composed between 1725 and 1730 or 1731. As with the French and English Suites, the manuscript of the Partitas is no longer extant. In keeping with a naming tradition that labelled Bachs first set of Suites English and the second French. This title, however, is a convenience, there is nothing particularly German about the Partitas. In comparison with the two sets of suites, the Partitas are by far the most free-ranging in terms of structure. Unlike the English Suites, for example, wherein each opens with a prelude, the Partitas feature a number of different opening styles including an ornamental Overture. The plan was revised to include a total of eight works, six Partitas in Part I. The key sequence continues into Clavier-Übung II with two works, the Italian Concerto, a seventh down, and the French Overture. Thus this sequence of customary tonalities for 18th-century keyboard compositions is complete, klaus Engler, ed.6 Partiten, BWV 825–830, Wiener Urtext Edition, Schott/Universal Edition Schulenberg, David, The Keyboard Music of J. S. Bach, New York and London, Routledge, pp. 321–345, ISBN0415974003 Partitas for keyboard, Scores at the International Music Score Library Project Essay by Yo Tomita on Bachs Partitas
5.
Weimar
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Weimar is a city in the federal state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately 80 kilometres southwest of Leipzig,170 kilometres north of Nuremberg and 170 kilometres west of Dresden. Together with the neighbour-cities Erfurt and Jena it forms the metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants. Weimar is well known because of its cultural heritage and its importance in German history. The city was a point of the German Enlightenment and home of the leading characters of the literary genre of Weimar Classicism. Until 1948, Weimar was the capital of Thuringia, today, many places in the city centre have been designated as UNESCO World Heritage sites and tourism is one of the leading economic sectors of Weimar. Relevant institutions in Weimar are the Bauhaus University, the Liszt School of Music, in 1999, Weimar was the European Capital of Culture. Archaeological finds dating back to the Thuringii epoch show that the Weimar part of the Ilm valley was settled early, the oldest records regarding Weimar date to 899. Its name changed over the centuries from Wimares through Wimari to Wimar and finally Weimar, it is derived from Old High German wīh-, another theory derives the first element from OHG win. The place was the seat of the County of Weimar, first mentioned in 949, in 1062 it was united with the County of Orlamünde to the new County of Weimar-Orlamünde, which existed until the Thuringian Counts War in 1346 and fell to the Wettins afterwards. The Weimar settlement emerged around the wooden castle and two small churches dedicated to St Peter, and to St James. In 1240, the count founded the monastery in Oberweimar. Soon after, the counts of Weimar founded the town, which was an independent parish since 1249, from 1262 the citizens used their own seal. Nevertheless, the influence of the Weimar counts was declining as the influence of the Wettins in Thuringia increased. Hence, the new town was relatively marginal in a regional context. The settlement around St James Church developed into a suburb during the 13th century, after becoming part of the Wettins territory in 1346, urban development improved. The Wettins fostered Weimar by abolishing socage and granting privileges to the citizens, now Weimar became equal to other Wettinian cities like Weißensee and grew during the 15th century, with the establishment of a town hall and the current main church. Weimar acquired woad trade privileges in 1438, the castle and the walls were finished in the 16th century, making Weimar into a full city
6.
Lute
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The European lute and the modern Near-Eastern oud descend from a common ancestor via diverging evolutionary paths. The lute is used in a variety of instrumental music from the Medieval to the late Baroque eras and was the most important instrument for secular music in the Renaissance. It is also an instrument, especially in vocal works. The player of a lute is called a lutenist, lutanist or lutist, the words lute and oud possibly derive from Arabic al-ʿud. Recent research by Eckhard Neubauer suggests ʿud may in turn be an Arabized version of the Persian name rud and it has equally been suggested the wood in the name may have distinguished the instrument by its wooden soundboard from skin-faced predecessors. Gianfranco Lotti suggests the wood appellation originally carried derogatory connotations because of proscriptions of all music in early Islam. Lutes are made almost entirely of wood, the soundboard is a teardrop-shaped thin flat plate of resonant wood. In all lutes the soundboard has a single decorated sound hole under the strings called the rose. The sound hole is not open, but rather covered with a grille in the form of a vine or a decorative knot. Robert Lundberg, in his book Historical Lute Construction, suggests ancient builders placed bars according to ratios of the scale length. He further suggests the inward bend of the soundboard is an adaptation by ancient builders to afford the lutenists right hand more space between the strings and soundboard. Soundboard thickness varies, but generally hovers between 1.5 and 2 mm, some luthiers tune the belly as they build, removing mass and adapting bracing to produce desirable sonic results. The lute belly is almost never finished, but in cases the luthier may size the top with a very thin coat of shellac or glair to help keep it clean. After joining the top to the sides, a half-binding is usually installed around the edge of the soundboard, the half-binding is approximately half the thickness of the soundboard and is usually made of a contrasting color wood. The rebate for the half-binding must be precise to avoid compromising structural integrity. The back or the shell is assembled from strips of hardwood called ribs. There are braces inside on the soundboard to give it strength, the neck is made of light wood, with a veneer of hardwood to provide durability for the fretboard beneath the strings. Unlike most modern stringed instruments, the fretboard is mounted flush with the top
7.
Glenn Gould
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Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. His playing was distinguished by remarkable technical proficiency and capacity to articulate the polyphonic texture of Bachs music, after his adolescence, Gould rejected most of the standard Romantic piano literature including Liszt, Schumann, and Chopin. Gould was well known for eccentricities, from his unorthodox musical interpretations and mannerisms at the keyboard to aspects of his lifestyle. He stopped giving concerts at the age of 31 to concentrate on studio recording, Gould was the first pianist to record any of Liszts piano transcriptions of Beethovens symphonies. Gould was also known as a writer, composer, conductor and he was a prolific contributor to musical journals, in which he discussed music theory and outlined his musical philosophy. His career as a composer was less distinguished and his output was minimal and many projects were left unfinished. There is evidence that, had he lived beyond 50, he intended to abandon the piano and devote the remainder of his career to conducting, as a broadcaster, Gould was prolific. His output ranged from television and radio broadcasts of performances to musique concrète radio documentaries about life in the Canadian wilderness. Glenn Herbert Gould was born at home in Toronto on 25 September 1932, to Russell Herbert Gold and Florence Emma Gold and his maternal grandfather was a cousin of Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg. Gould had no Jewish ancestry, though he made jokes on the subject, like When people ask me if Im Jewish. Gould grew up in a home at 32 Southwood Drive, Toronto and his childhood home has been named a historic site by the City of Toronto. Goulds interest in music and his talent as a pianist became evident very early, both his parents were musical, and his mother, especially, encouraged the infant Goulds early musical development. Before his birth, his mother planned for him to become a successful musician, as a baby, he reportedly hummed instead of crying and wiggled his fingers as if playing chords, leading his doctor to predict that he would be either a physician or a pianist. By the age of three, Goulds perfect pitch was noticed and he learned to read music before he could read words. When presented with a piano, the young Gould was reported to strike notes and listen to their long decay. Goulds interest in the piano proceeded side by side with an interest in composition and he would play his own little pieces for family, friends, and sometimes large gatherings, including, in 1938, a performance at the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church of one of his own compositions. At the age of six, he was taken for the first time to hear a live performance by a celebrated soloist
8.
Johann Jakob Froberger
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Johann Jakob Froberger was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. Among the most famous composers of the era, he was influential in developing the form of the suite of dances in his keyboard works. His harpsichord pieces are highly idiomatic and programmatic, only two of Frobergers many compositions were published during his lifetime. Froberger forbade publication of his manuscripts, restricting access to his patrons and friends. After his death the manuscripts went to his patroness Sibylla, Duchess of Württtemberg, Johann Jakob Froberger was baptized on 19 May 1616 in Stuttgart. The exact date of his birth is unknown and his family came from Halle, where his grandfather Simon lived and his father Basilius was born. In 1599 Basilius moved to Stuttgart and became a tenor in the Württemberg court chapel, at some point before 1605 he married Anna Schmid, who came from a Schwabian family living in Stuttgart. By the time Johann Jakob was born, his fathers career was already flourishing, of his eleven children with Anna, four became musicians, and so it is likely that Johann Jakob received his first music lessons from his father. Little is known about his education, though. Basilius Frobergers music library probably also helped in Johann Jakobs education, the Hofkapelle Stuttgart was disbanded in 1634 in the wake of the Protestants defeat in the Battle of Nördlingen. In 1637 Basilius Froberger, his wife and one of his daughters died of plague, Johann Jakob and his brother Isaac sold their fathers music library to the Württemberg court, the same year Johann Jakob became court organist in Vienna, assisting Wolfgang Ebner. In June he was granted a leave and a stipend to go to Rome to study under Frescobaldi, Froberger spent the next three years in Italy and, like many other musicians who went to study there, apparently converted to Catholicism. He returned to Vienna in 1641 and served as organist and chamber musician until the fall of 1645 and it was previously thought that Froberger went to study under Giacomo Carissimi, but recent research shows that he most probably studied with Athanasius Kircher in Rome. If so, Frobergers intention must have been acquiring mastery of composition of the prima pratica. Sometime during 1648–49 Froberger might have met Johann Kaspar Kerll, in 1649 Froberger travelled back to Austria. On his way back he stopped in Florence and Mantua to show the arca musurgica, in September he arrived in Vienna and demonstrated the arca musurgica to the Emperor, an avid amateur musician, he also presented him with Libro Secondo, a collection of his own compositions. Also in September, Froberger played before William Swann, an English diplomat, following the Empress Maria Leopoldines death in August the courts musical activities were suspended. Froberger left the city and travelled widely for the four years, likely entrusted by the Emperor with some extra-musical duties in the fields of diplomacy
9.
Trevor Pinnock
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Trevor David Pinnock CBE is an English harpsichordist and conductor. He is an artistic director of Canadas National Arts Centre Orchestra. Since his resignation from The English Concert in 2003, Pinnock has continued his career as a conductor, appearing with major orchestras and he has also performed and recorded as a harpsichordist in solo and chamber music and conducted and otherwise trained student groups at conservatoires. Trevor Pinnock won a Gramophone Award for his recording of Bachs Brandenburg Concertos with the European Brandenburg Ensemble, Trevor Pinnock was born in Canterbury, where his grandfather had run a Salvation Army band. His father was Kenneth Alfred Thomas Pinnock, a publisher, and his mother, Joyce Edith, in Canterbury, the Pinnock family lived near the pianist Ronald Smith, from whose sister Pinnock had piano lessons. He became a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral when he was seven, attending the school from 1956 to 1961. After receiving instruction in piano and organ, he served as a church organist, by the time he was 15, he began to play the harpsichord. At age 19, he won a Foundation Scholarship to the Royal College of Music to study organ and he also studied harpsichord and his teachers were Ralph Downes and Millicent Silver. A strong early influence was Gustav Leonhardt, though he did not study with him, as a harpsichordist, Pinnock toured Europe with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. While a student at the RCM, he was told by the registrar, John Stainer and he made his London debut at the Royal Festival Hall in 1966 with the Galliard Harpsichord Trio, which he co-founded with Stephen Preston, flute, and Anthony Pleeth, cello. At this stage, they were playing music on modern instruments. His solo harpsichord debut was in 1968 at the Purcell Room in London, Pinnock and Maxim Vengerov toured together in 2000, with Vengerov taking up the baroque violin for the first time and Pinnock taking up the modern grand piano. These concerts consisted of a first half of harpsichord and baroque violin, followed by a half of piano. In November 1972 the Galliard Trio expanded to become The English Concert, the orchestra initially started with seven members but soon grew in size. The decision to move to period performance was taken for a number of reasons, I was thinking about the interesting experiments made by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt, although I knew wed have to experiment in our own way. It was a challenge, playing period instruments wasnt as easy as it is today. Nowadays an extraordinarily high level has been achieved and the upcoming generations dont have any of the problems we pioneers faced. The English Concerts London debut was at the English Bach Festival in 1973, in 1975, Pinnock played the harpsichord in the first ever performance of Rameaus last opera, Les Boréades, under John Eliot Gardiner
