Editor Nadia Koval
Illustrator Ekaterina Kouznetsova
Proofreader Kevin R. Bathke
© Ekaterina Kouznetsova, illustrations, 2017
ISBN 978-5-4485-9893-7
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
From the Author
My inspiration for this book comes from Alexander Witeschnik’s Musizieren geht übers Probieren, which contains funny stories from the lives of the musicians of the Vienna Philharmonic. I decided to do something similar, but with a broader scope; that is, to collect such material about the most famous composers and performers, while offering further insight. I wanted to compose fascinating and at the same time informative information all within one book. Thus, the reader can have not only information about where and when a certain musician was born, but also learn more about their personality and creativity.
This book is for a wide range of readers. It is not an academic text, so you will not find analyses or criticism of musical works. This book is a kind of a door, through which you will get to know famous musicians via their relationships with the surrounding world and their colleagues. Here you will learn how musicians spoke about one another, whom they loved and whom they disliked, with whom they were friends and with whom they competed. In addition, you will learn how their music is born and the beneficial impact it has on all of us.
Facts on the Greatest Composers
Johann Sebastian Bach
J. S. Bach (1685—1750)
1. Johann Sebastian Bach came into the world on March 21st 1685. He was born in the town of Eisenach, Germany, to Johann Ambrosius Bach and Maria Elisabeth Lammerhirt.
2. Bach was an orphan by the age of 10. His older brother, Johann Christoph, took him in. Like his father, Johann Christoph was a musician and had studied organ with the famed Johann Pachelbel (who composed Canon in D, which you have probably heard at a wedding). Young Johann Sebastian longed to study a score which had been given to his brother by Pachelbel, but J.C. kept the score locked away. At night, J.S. would sneakily uncover the hidden manuscript and copy it by moonlight. He did this for six months before he was caught by J.C., who not only took away the manuscript but also J.S.‘s copy.
3. As a young boy, Bach had a beautiful soprano voice, which helped secure him a spot in the boy’s school in Lüneburg. When his voice changed, he switched his focus to playing violin and harpsichord.
4. In 1705, Bach walked 200 miles from Arnstadt to Lübeck to hear the organist Dietrich Buxtehude. He was only granted four weeks leave from his position as an organist in Arnstadt, but ended up taking off four months without permission.
5. In 1717, Bach accepted a position with Prince Leopold in Cöthen. The Prince was passionate about music and even played the violin. It is no surprise many of Bach’s great instrumental works, including the Brandenburg Concertos and The Well-Tempered Clavier, came out of the period from 1717—1723 when he was working in Cöthen.
6. Prince Leopold dissolved his orchestra in 1723, so Bach had to find a new job. He was hired as the cantor of the Thomas School at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, a position he held until his death. His duties included serving the four churches in Leipzig, directing music for public events, and teaching music at the Thomas School. During this time, he composed a new cantata once a week and ended up completing five full cycles of church music – different vocal music for every Sunday of the year! He also composed the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion, the Christmas Oratorio, the Goldberg Variations, and the Mass in B Minor.
7. Like many composers of his time, Bach wrote in a contrapuntal style; however, his style tended to be denser than his contemporaries and explored more dissonant harmonies. Where performers were often meant to embellish compositions with ornaments, Bach wrote out most of the fine details, leaving little room for interpretation.
8. Bach was the father of twenty children and was married twice. He and his first wife, Maria Barbara, had seven children. He had thirteen children with his second wife, Anna Magdalena. Four children from his first marriage and six from his second marriage survived to adulthood. Of his six sons, only one did not become a professional musician.
9. Bach never left his provincial corner of Germany. When he died, it seemed most of his music died with him. Little had been published during his life. It was not until 1829 when a young Felix Mendelssohn, only 19 years old, arranged for Bach’s St. Matthew Passion to be performed in Berlin. Audiences were blown away and a Bach revival began. Now, he is one of the most celebrated composers in history.
10. In the 1740s, Bach’s eyesight began to fail. In the spring of 1750, Bach had an operation on his eyes by a famous oculist named Dr. John Taylor. The operation restored Bach’s full eyesight for a very short period of time, after which he became totally blind.
On July 28, 1750, Bach suffered a stroke and died.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770—1827)
1. Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in December 1770, but no one is sure of the exact date! He was baptized on December 17th, so he was most likely born the day before.
2. When he was 12, he was already composing pieces with funny names like “Lied an einen Säugling” (Song for an Infant) and, later, “Elegie auf den Tod eines Pudels” (Elegy on the Death of a Poodle). The identity of the lucky poodle remains unknown.
3. On his first visit to Vienna, 17-year-old Beethoven was scheduled to perform for Mozart. The latter was generally unimpressed with other musicians, having been so far ahead of his peers in talent and accomplishments. No one really knows what happened during that fateful meeting, but rumor has it Mozart walked out of the room saying, “Keep your eyes on him – someday he’ll give the world something to talk about.”
4. By 1793, just 22 years of age, Beethoven often played the piano in the salons of the Viennese nobility. He often performed the preludes and fugues from Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier and quickly established himself as a piano virtuoso.
5. Composing anything is a challenge, even for a musical genius. So when you consider Beethoven started to go deaf around 1796, aged just 25, it is a wonder he managed to write any music at all. He communicated using conversation books, asking his friends to write down what they wanted to say so he could respond.
6. After Beethoven had been composing for some years, the piano began to come into its own. Whereas his predecessors had composed for harpsichord, Beethoven decided he would focus his efforts on the instrument for which no one had yet written comprehensive pieces.
7. Despite his increasing deafness, by 1802 Beethoven was almost at breaking point. On a retreat to Heiligenstadt, just outside Vienna, he wrote: “I would have ended my life – it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed to me impossible to leave the world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me.” It is known as the “Heiligenstadt Testament” and was published after his death.
8. One of Beethoven’s great piano works, but he never knew the piece as the Moonlight Sonata. He simply called it Piano Sonata No. 14, and it did not receive its poetic nickname until 1832, five years after Beethoven’s death. German poet Ludwig Rellstab said the first movement sounded like moonlight shining upon Lake Lucerne, and the name stuck.
9. Symphony No. 9 with its choral finale, the Missa Solemnis, late string quartets, and some of his greatest piano music including sonatas