Johann Sebastian Bach:

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CHAPTER 40

• Johann Sebastian Bach
• Vocal Music in Leipzig

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• Bach moved to Leipzig in 1723 where he remained
  until his death in 1750. There he assumed the
  position of cantor (director of church music) at
  St. Thomas Church. Among his duties, those of
  organist, music teacher, and musical director in
  four churches in the city.

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• In Leipzig, Bach set about composing a cycle of
  cantatas for the entire church year. In a few
  years he composed five such cycles, nearly 300
  cantatas in total (only two hundred survive
  today).
• A cantata was the musical highpoint of the Sunday
  Mass. Following the reading of the Gospel, the
  cantata served as a musical elaboration upon the
  scriptural theme.

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• The typical structure of choral melodies is AAB.
  In the case of the choral Wachtet auf, the
  musical structure consists of seven phrases
  unfolding in a pattern AAB, specifically A
  (1,2,3), A (1,2,3), B (4,5,6,7).

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• Choral cantata a sacred vocal genre that employs
  the text and melody of a preexisting Lutheran
  choral in all or several of its movements. In
  Bachs choral cantata Wachtet auf, ruft uns die
  Stimme (BWV 140), the choral tune appears in the
  first, fourth and seventh movement.

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• Violino Piccolo a small violin usually tuned a
  minor third higher than the normal violin.
• Accompanied recitative unlike simple recitative,
  a piece for voice and continuo accompaniment,
  accompanied recitative includes obbligato
  accompaniement parts for the orchestra.
• Colla parte literally with the part, a
  technique in which all instrumental parts double
  the vocal lines.
• Passion a musical depiction of Christs
  crucefixion as recorded in the Gospels,
  traditionally performed on Good Friday. Bach
  composed five passions, but only two survive the
  St. John Passion and the St. Matthew Passion.

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• Collegium musicum an association of musicians,
  usually university students, gathered to play the
  latest music. Bach assumed the directorship of
  the Leipzig Collegium Musicum in 1729, and with
  it he had the opportunity to compose and perform
  orchestral music.

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• Goldberg Variations Bachs virtuosic set of
  thirty variations for keyboard, based on simple
  air that precedes and follows them.
• Musical Offering Bachs collection of one trio
  sonata, two fugues, and ten puzzle canons, based
  on a melody composed by King Frederick the Great
  of Prussia.
• The Art of Fugue Bachs collection of fuges and
  canons, all derived from the same subject (Bachs
  own) and all apparently intended for keyboard.
• B-Minor Mass Bachs last composition, a complete
  setting of the Ordinary of the Catholic Mass.
  While Bach had composed the Kyrie and the Gloria
  years earlier, in 1748 Bach composed the Credo,
  Sanctus, and Agnus dei, in part borrowing from
  earlier compositions of his.