The legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi

The legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi

Introduction

Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Vivaldi were famous and contemporary baroque composers. Vivaldi was an Italian composer, and is more commonly known for impacting the composition style of his contemporary and next generations' composers; particularly Vivaldi's work on concerto have impacted the composition of most of the musicians. Due to the fact that most of the musical composers build on their heritage, Bach (a German composer) took great influence from Vivaldi's work that was seven years senior to him (Cheung, 2008). It is often said that Bach got all the importance in the eyes of historians and musicians because his work was under the impact of great composer Vivaldi. The composing styles of these two are similar in some ways and different in others. However, Bach is considered as the greatest composer (even greater than Vivaldi), because of the fact that historians and researchers have focused more on his work as compared to the senior Vivaldi. This paper compares the composing styles of the two legends.

Social/Economic and Cultural influences

Vivaldi enjoyed an exciting career as a music instructor in an orphanage (Townsend, 2012). He used to develop secular as well as sacred music and taught the children to play violin. The famous composer actually wrote more than 500 concertos, not for getting fame, but just for his students. It becomes clear from the social and economic status of Vivaldi, which made him capable to keep writing the same concerto again and again, in different styles, so that his students may become able to learn the notes. Also, it is a fact that a person learns a lot more while he teaches as compared to when he studies himself. Thus, teaching helped him practice more and hence become one of the best composers in the musical history.

If we look at the life history of Batch, we come to know that during his time, various types of music were in common use, including sacred and secular (Baroque Music, 2013). Therefore, from the very childhood to the college and university life, Bach was under the impact of Vivaldi. Most of the universities in that time had developed their musical schools or societies, which used to sponsor different musical events, nights and other activities. Due to these activities, musical sense of the public, particularly teen agers have largely developed. The impression of Vivaldi is not uncommon for Bach, because nearly all the composers and most of the teen agers were highly influenced by the concertos, suite and sonata of Vivaldi. Bach shifted to Wiemer from Mühlhausen, in the year 1708. He was hired to work at the court of Duke Wilhelm Ernst, for the position of Hoforganist. It was this musical court, where Bach attempted to transcribe the concertos of Vivaldi for the first time. Though, it could not be clearly identified by the historian that why did Bach transcribe to these concertos, the most strong reason is that ...