their personality, what is their lifestyle, etc
LIFE
Johann Sebastian Bach, (born March 21, 1685, Eisenach, Thuringia, Ernestine Saxon Duchies—died July
28, 1750, Leipzig), German composer. Born to a musical family, he became a superbly well-rounded
musician; from 1700 he held positions as singer, violinist, and organist. His first major appointment, in
1708, was as organist at the ducal court at Weimar. This was followed by a six-year stay (1717–23) as
kapellmeister at the princely court of Köthen, which was in turn followed by his appointment as cantor
at the great church of St. Thomas in Leipzig, where he would remain for the rest of his life. Imbued with
the northern German contrapuntal style (see counterpoint) from early childhood, he encountered the
lively Italian style, especially in the works of Antonio Vivaldi, about 1710, and much of his music
embodies an immensely convincing melding of the two styles. At St. Thomas he wrote more than 200
church cantatas. His orchestral works include the six Brandenburg Concertos, four orchestral suites, and
many harpsichord concertos, a genre he invented. His solo keyboard works include the great didactic set
The Well-Tempered Clavier (1722 and 1742), the superb Goldberg Variations (1742), the massive but
unfinished Art of the Fugue (1749), numerous suites, and many organ preludes and fugues. His surviving
choral works include (in addition to the sacred cantatas) more than 30 secular cantatas, two
monumental Passions, and the Mass in B Minor. His works, never widely known in his lifetime, went into
near-total eclipse after his death, and only in the early 19th century were they revived, to enormous
acclaim. He was perhaps the most accomplished organist and harpsichordist of his time. Today Bach is
regarded as the greatest composer of the Baroque era, and, by many, as the greatest composer of all
[Link] Eliot Gardiner a famous author who wrote about Back discovered that Bach was filled with
contradictions. He had anger management issues, and yet he had the capacity for tenderness.
Handel was the son of a barber-surgeon. He showed a marked gift for music and became a pupil in Halle
of the composer Friedrich W. Zachow, learning the principles of keyboard performance and composition
from him. His father died when Handel was 11, but his education had been provided for, and in 1702 he
enrolled as a law student at the University of Halle. He also became organist of the Reformed (Calvinist)
Cathedral in Halle, but he served for only one year before going north to Hamburg, where greater
opportunities awaited him. In Hamburg, Handel joined the violin section of the opera orchestra. He also
took over some of the duties of harpsichordist, and early in 1705 he presided over the premiere in
Hamburg of his first opera, Almira. introduction. George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel born Georg
Friedrich Händel (5 March 1685–14 April 1759) was a German-born, British Baroque composer who
spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems and
organ concertos.
He also took over some of the duties of harpsichordist, and early in 1705 he presided over the premiere
in Hamburg of his first opera, Almira. introduction. George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel born Georg
Friedrich Händel (5 March 1685–14 April 1759) was a German-born, British Baroque composer who
spent the bulk of his career in London, becoming well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems and
organ concertos.
In England, Handel was accorded the status of a classic composer even in his own lifetime, and he is
perhaps unique among musicians in never having suffered any diminution of his reputation there since.
MUSIC
Johann Sebastian Bach composed over 1,000 pieces of music. Some of his most famous work included
the Brandenburg Concertos, The Well-Tempered Clavier, and the Mass in B Minor
MUSIC
The first basis of Handel’s style was the north German music of his childhood, but it was soon
completely overlaid by the Italian style that he acquired in early adulthood during his travels in Italy. The
influences of Arcangelo Corelli and Alessandro Scarlatti can be detected in his work to the end of his
long life, and the French style of Jean-Baptiste Lully and, later, that of the English composer Henry
Purcell are also evident. There is a robustness in Handel’s later music that gives it a very English quality.
Above all, his music is eminently vocal. Handel’s directness of manner makes him one of the great
masters of choral music His choruses have a power and effectiveness that have never been surpassed,
and his writing for them is remarkable for the manner in which he interweaves massive but simple
harmonic passages with contrapuntal sections of great ingenuity, the whole most effectively illustrating
the text. His writing for the solo voice is outstanding in its suitability for the medium and its unerring
melodic line.
he adapted some of his earlier concerti as harpsichord concerti, thus becoming one of the first
composers—if not the very first—of concerti for keyboard instrument and orchestra, just as he was one
of the first to use the harpsichordist’s right hand as a true melodic part in chamber music. These are just
two of several respects in which the basically conservative and traditional Bach was a significant
innovator as well.
About 1733 Bach began to produce cantatas in honour of the elector of Saxony and his family, evidently
with a view to the court appointment he secured in 1736; many of these secular movements were
adapted to sacred words and reused in the Christmas Oratorio
