Comparing and Contrasting the life and works of Bach and Mozart

by catrin123 (student)

Year 11 Music in Context 12/09/2011

Catrin Thomas

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) was born in Thuringia, Germany, and was a well-known late Baroque composer. He was brought up by his eldest brother from the age of ten, as his parents had both died, and his brother taught him how to play, read, and write music.
Bach was respected as a ‘virtuoso’ organ player, but also wrote magnificent orchestral pieces of music for his patrons. He is now known and appreciated for the emotional depth of his music and writing remarkable concertos and sonatas.
Bach was a very religious man, and is said to have had a close relationship with the Lutheran God, his music was influenced greatly by this. His musical style was also very inspired by Italian music, with dramatic openings, clear melodic contours, greater rhythmic conciseness, and more clearly articulated schemes for modulation. Bach is also known to write ‘tightly woven music of powerful sonority.’
Bach’s style of music is very different to that of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) who was born in Salzburg, Austria. He was considered a musical child prodigy before becoming ‘the most extraordinary musical genius of his time’. Mozart and his sister Nannerl were brought up by their father Leopold, who was also a great musician. He taught his children how to play various keyboard instruments, and the violin, before taking them on a 10 year trip around Europe, exhibiting their talent. Mozart was considered musically mature at an early age and very smart, but could only express himself through music. He was thought throughout his life as impish, childlike, and irrepressibly cheerful, and maintained a staggering amount of inspired composition throughout his short life. Mozart’s music is considered the archetype of the Classical style, with clarity, balance, and transparency, hallmarks of his work. Progressively, Mozart brought back in the contrapuntal complexities of the late Baroque period, but moderated and disciplined by new forms. In this essay, I will be comparing and contrasting the lives of the two most famous composers of their time; Bach and Mozart, on how different their lives were, they’re history, and the eras they lived in, and the contrast in the pieces that they wrote; ‘Symphony No. 40 in G minor’ by Mozart, and ‘Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major’ by Bach.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Johann Sebastian Bach both shared a musical upbringing, where they were taught to play, write, and read music from a very early age. Mozart was the son of a talented musician. His father Leopold was the son of a book binder, and played the organ, violin, and sung, and became a violinist in the Court Orchestra of Sigmund Christoph von Schrattenbach, Prince- Archbishop of Salzburg. Leopold was a devoted teacher to Mozart and educated him ‘beyond that of boys sent to school.’ Leopold also spent a lot of his time teaching Mozart and his sister Anna Maria (Nannerl) how to play the keyboard, and collecting her pieces of music to play. At the age of three, Wolfgang would watch Nannerl having keyboard lessons and would sit at the keyboard playing thirds. When he was four, his father began teaching him a few minutes and pieces, which he apparently played ‘faultlessly, and with great delicacy, and keeping exactly in time’. At five he was already composing little pieces, and performing them to his dad. When Wolfgang was six, Leopold took leave from his post, and took his children on a round of exhibition tours to the courts of Europe, showing off the child prodigy, for ten years. Although Mozart did not have a great family history of musicians, he had his father, who was a very devoted teacher, and strove improve his son’s musical talent, and was always there for him, in his future years as a musician. Bach also had a musical upbringing, but one which was very different to that of Mozart’s. Bach was born into a family that was well established across Thuringia as a musical one, and this gave Bach a head start into his musical career. His father Ambrosius Bach was a musically gifted member of the Bach family. He was court trumpeter and director of music in Eisenach. Bach learnt some musical instruments at an early age, but by the time Bach was 10, both of his parents had died leaving him to live with his eldest brother Christoph, who was an organist of the Michaeliskirche in Ohrdruf. Christoph exerted a profound influence on Bach. He taught him to play keyboard instruments and introduced him to the technique needed in music-copying, and Bach praised him as a ‘profound composer’.
In his teens, after returning from his European travels with his father, Mozart was employed as a court musician by the ruler of Salzburg, Count Colorado. He wrote a lot of music at his time in the Salzburg court, including symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, serenades, and a few minor operas, but found that Count Colorado was very ungenerous with leave, so Mozart decided to look for work elsewhere. At the age of 21, accompanied by his mother (as his father was very controlling and decided that Mozart was too unruly to travel alone), Mozart travelled to Manheim, where he met and fell in love with a 16 year old soprano, Aloysia Weber, who was also from a musical family, but he found no work. So Mozart travelled on to Paris, but there his mother died, and he found himself in debt, so his father ordered him home to Salzburg where there were prospects of work. Unsatisfied with Salzburg, he travelled around Europe finding work, and writing successful pieces of music. Along the way, Mozart met the Weber’s again, but to his disappointment, Aloysia did not want him anymore, and was married to an actor, but in 1782, Mozart married Aloysia’s sister Constanze, with whom he had six, children. Only two of these survived past infancy and only one of these; Franz Xaver made his music career.
In contrast, Bach lived with his brother Christoph until he was 15 and the house was too full, so he left to take up a chorister-scholarship at the Michaelisschule in Lüneberg. Bach sang in the choir at Michaelisschule until his voice broke. He then became an instrumentalist. At school, he heard the organist Georg Böhm play, and also Adam Reincken, another distinguished organist, of the Hamburg Catharinekirche. He was inspired by both of these musicians to improve his organ skills. When he was 17, Bach was on his own, and after a few unsuccessful attempts to find work, he was employed at a minor Weimar court as a musician, but paid very poorly. A year later, he was appointed organist of the new Church in Arnstadt, he stayed here for 3 years, but was criticized because his ‘accompaniments to chorales were too involved for ordinary congregational singing’. In midsummer 1707, Bach left Arnstadt to take up an appointment as organist of the Blasiukirche in Mühlhausen. Although Bach was only here for a year, he was very busy. He wrote his first cantatas here and also married his first wife Maria Barbara Bach here. She was a distant cousin of Bach’s, and like Mozart’s wife, was the child of a musical family. Bach left Mühlhausen in 1708 to take up an appointment at the Court of Weimar. He was the Konzertmeister at Weimar for 9 years, although the first few years had been very creative for Bach, his relationship with the Duke of Weimar became sour for various reasons, so did decided to look elsewhere for work, and an offer soon came from Prince Leopold to be his Kapellmeister. Relations with his new employer were very good as the Prince was a musical young man, and he gave Bach encouragement to write all kinds of instrumental and secular vocal music. Sadly Bach’s last child with his wife died soon after birth. Despite this, Bach was relatively happy and wrote the great sonatas for violin and harpsichord, the unaccompanied solos for violin and cello, and the six concertos, which we know as the ‘Brandenburg Concertos’. Sadly, Bach suffered a setback which was his wife’s death. Also, the remarriage of Prince Leopold to his cousin, who was very jealous of her husband’s former love of music, meant that Bach was clearly angling for offers of employment elsewhere. In 1721, Bach married Anna Magdalena Wilken, who like Bach’s previous wife and Mozart’s wife, was the child of a musical family. She was also, like Bach, the daughter of a ‘chief trumpeter’. After this, Bach spent 27 years as Kantor of the Thomasschule in Leipzig.
After looking at the lives of Bach and Mozart, there are many similarities between the paths the two composers have taken. Firstly, there were both brought up with music in their lives from a young age, although from different sources, and they showed promise musical talent when they were very young. They also both married women who themselves were children of musical families. They both wrote masses of musical works in their lives which were very profound and made them both very famous. There are a lot more differences than they are similarities between the lives of Bach and Mozart. Bach was an orphan from a very early age and didn’t really have anyone looking after him. He learnt to discipline himself into being a great musician. Mozart’s life had been in the devoted but sometimes over controlling hands of his father from an early age, to when his father had died. Leopold made sure his son always had work, and didn’t get distracted from his career. Bach and Mozart’s careers were very different. Mozart travelled all over Europe at an early age with his father, and again with his mother looking for work. He generally struggled to hold down a job, and turned to writing music and operas on his own. He also taught students. This is very different to Bach stayed within his home country, and did not travel around Europe like Mozart. He always had work usually with patrons as Konzertmeisters, Kapellmeister’s, and court musicians. The two composers also had very different education experiences. Bach was probably home-schooled the basics until he was 15 and took up a chorister-scholarship at The Michaelisschule in Lüneberg. In contrast, Mozart was educated very by his father until the education became better than that of a boys school. There are obviously lots of differences and similarities between the lives of Bach and Mozart.

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Bach was born at the very end of the Baroque era (1600 - 1750), and his music was therefore very influenced by the characteristics of this era. Some of the characteristics of the Baroque era include a connection between music and other art forms such as architecture, and music that is written specifically to accompany a painting. A change in tonality is also a characteristic of the Baroque era which included diatonic harmonies where major and minor replaces 7 modes, increased chromaticism, and well-tempered tuning. One of the most common known characteristics to come from the Baroque era would be basso continuo, which is a kind of continuous accompaniment notated with a new music notation system, , usually for a sustaining bass instrument and a keyboard instrument. The melodies and harmonies from this era were very textured and complex, making pieces harder for musicians to play. The form of music written in the Baroque era had also changed. Forms such as concerto grosso, fugue, oratorio, suite, cantata, and opera were established. Patronage was also a big characteristic of the Baroque era, and this is something that is definitely shown in Bach’s life, as for most of his career he was working for patrons. The orchestration in this era had also slightly changed - string instruments were introduced, along with the harpsichord. Orchestras in the Baroque era had a very small number of players in them.
In the Baroque era, Bach had many great composers to compete with, for example, Vivaldi who composed Four Seasons, and closer to Bach; Handel, who composed pieces such as Hallelujah from ‘the messiah’, and Aria from Radamiso.
The characteristics of the Baroque era share some similarities with the Classical period (1750 - 1830), of which Mozart was born into; however, there are also many differences. Classical music has a lighter, clearer texture than music and is less complex. It is mainly — melody above chordal accompaniment (but is still displayed, especially later in the period). Variety and contrast within a piece became more pronounced than before. Variety of keys, melodies, rhythms and dynamics (using crescendo, diminuendo and sforzando), along with frequent changes of mood and timbre were more common in the Classical period than they had been in the Baroque. Melodies tended to be shorter than those of Baroque music, with clear-cut phrases and clearly marked cadences. The increased in size and range; the continuo fell out of use, and the became a self-contained section. Instruments including the clarinet, the guitar, the harp, and the trombone (sackbut) were introduced. As a solo instrument, the was replaced by the (or ). Importance was given to instrumental music—the main kinds were , trio, , , , and . developed and became the most important form. It was used to build up the first movement of most large-scale works, but also other movements and single pieces (such as ).
In the Classical period, Mozart had many great composers to compete with, such as Haydn who composed Moonlight Sonata, and Schubert who composed Trout Quintet. Both Haydn and Schubert were from Austria just like Mozart. These separate eras have individual characteristics that Bach and Mozart display in their pieces, but also some characteristics that are shared.

We see the difference in the music style of the two composers in their works. I am going to compare and contrast Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, and Mozart’s Symphony No 40 in G minor, and in particular the form, orchestration, and the melody/harmony.
Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.2 in F major was written between 1919 and 1921, when he held a Kapellmeister post in the court of Prince Leopold. The form of this concerto is considered Concerto Grosso, where there is one soloist and ensemble backing. It has three movements (fast, slow, fast), which is based on Vivaldi’s Italian concerto style. Movement 1 is in ritornello form which is where a main theme or subject reoccurs either in whole or part throughout the movement. This is a very popular opening, and can be seen in bars 1-8, 11-12, 15-16, and 19-20. Movement 2 is a minuet with a medium tempo dance in triple meter, and is through composed which means it has no defined structure or any clearly repeated or contrasting sections. Lastly, Movement 3 is quasi-fugue, which is where the piece has 2 or more voices.
Mozart’s Symphony No. 4 in G minor was written in just a few weeks during 1788. The form of this piece is very interesting. It has 4 movements like a symphony should and this contrasts Baroque concerto grosso, however, the first, second, and fourth movement are all in sonata form which is considered unusual. The third movement has the form of minuet and trio which is typical. The sonata movement has three main parts; exposition, development, and recapitulation (and sometimes a coda), and a minuet means a French dance written in triple meter. The first movement is called molto allegro which means very fast. The second movement is called andante which means moderately slow. The third movement is Menuetto:Trio, and is possibly to be played at a medium tempo. The fourth and final movement is called Allegro assai which is very/extremely fast and lively. The different forms of the movements within both Bach and Mozart’s concerto and symphony are very contrasting to each other and are very good examples of the forms that were typical in the baroque and classical eras.
The orchestration that Bach used in his Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major is very typical of the late baroque era, and is very different to Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor. A feature of the baroque era is the basso continuo line. This is the foundation of the ensemble and does not stop throughout the entire piece. A characteristic of a concerto is that there is a concertino, which is a group of soloists, and a ripieno which is the accompanying ensemble. The solo instruments in the concertino are a trumpet, flute/recorder, oboe, and violin, and the ripieno instruments are the accompanying violin parts 1 and 2, the viola, the double bass and the ‘Violoncello e Cembalo all’ unisono’- Cello/ Harpsichord. The cello and bases in unison creates a 4 part texture. This concertino and ripieno is played in the first and third movements, and the second movement is just the flute, oboe, violin, and the continuing bass line. In the baroque era, the concertos had very small numbers of players involved, in this piece, there are around 17.
This use of orchestration in Bach’s concerto contrasts the orchestration that Mozart used in his Symphony No. 40 in G minor. Mozart uses one flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinet, a bassoon, 2 horns, strings (Violins 1 and 2, Viola, Cello, and Double bass), and a percussion section, but without a timpani. In this, the trumpet is noticeably missing, which was a very prominent and important part of Bach’s concerto. The string section had become established as the basis of the Classical orchestra, and composers used to like to use the relationship with the strings and wind as an important element. Mozart uses this technique (for example in bar 298). This orchestration gives Mozart a large palette of sound and orchestral colours to work with. In the opening 44 bars only, there are 9 different instrumental combinations. Some of these include strings + flute, clarinets and bassoon in bar 14 and 15, clarinets, bassoons, and strings in bar 22, and lower strings (vla div) in bar 1. This completely contrasts Bach’s use of instruments. In Mozart’s Symphony, there are many ‘performance indicators’ which highlight the increasing precision with which composers expected their works to be played, these include dynamics such as f, p, mf, etc cresc and decresc. In this piece we see how the horns are altered across each movement. Apart from this, every instrument is used in all movements. This is different to Bach’s concerto, where the instrumentation between the first and third movements and the second movement is dramatically different. The different orchestrations of the movements within both Bach and Mozart’s concerto and symphony are very contrasting to each other and are very good examples of the orchestrations that were typical in the baroque and classical eras.
The melody/harmony of Bach’s Brandenburg concerto No. 2 in F major, is shown in the three movements. The first and third is in the key of F major, and the second is in its relative D minor key. This is relatively a common thing to do in the Baroque era. Bach also uses the technique of counterpoint which is common to the Baroque era. This is where there are two or more independent melodies are playing together. This happens many times throughout the piece, for example in bar 50, page 198. In contrast to the early years of the era, the performers do not really embellish Bach’s melody. There are many trills, in movement 2 in particular, and also an improvised right hand of harpsichord, where the harpsichord got left hand music and the right hand got numbers to improvise with, for example on page 208. The use of semiquavers in both main themes creates the feeling of perpetual motion, and gives a busy sound. The trumpet melody is considered the hardest part out of all the parts written in Bach’s six Brandenburg concertos. It is very high and virtuosic, especially in movement 3, which would need to be played by a very talented trumpet player, as notes of the higher register would use quick-changing lip pressure to change the pitch of the instrument as they had no valves.
The melody/ harmony of Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 in G minor involves a very interesting key change, within the 4 movements. Like Bach’s piece, the key changes in the second movement, however, it changes from G minor to E flat major, which is that submediant (the 6th note), not the typical mediant (the 3rd note). The fourth movement contains a remarkable modulating passage, which strongly destabilizes the key, and occurs at the beginning of the development section. Every note of the chromatic scale is played, except a G natural (the key of the piece). The use of counterpoint had changed in Mozart’s symphony from that of Bach’s concerto. Homophony, which is a texture where two or more parts move together on different notes to create chords, is commonly used in this piece. Counterpoint had not completely been taken from the music, but it had stopped being the foundation of a composition. The different melody/harmonies of the movements within both Bach and Mozart’s concerto and symphony are very contrasting to each other and are very good examples of the melodies and harmonies that were typical in the baroque and classical eras.