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Bach and the Organ: the key to his harmonic genius

2K views 16 replies 11 participants last post by  Vox Gabrieli 
#1 ·
I think that Bach's harmonic genius is attributable to his involvement with the organ. With an organ, he was able to sustain notes and get a good harmonic sense of music which he might not otherwise would have been able to develop so keenly.
 
#2 · (Edited)
Whilst that might be a slight benefit over a regular keyboard instrument of the time - such as Harpischord I think the real key to his genuis of all music knowledge and mastery of all forms - was himself. He was just such a extremely talented and rare person who just excels in absolutely everything - a person like that you only really ever see in history every atleast 200-1000 years, not just in harmony, but also counterpoint to a point that wasn't even human - hadn't even been done before and I dont think he will every get surpassed in that field of music / music theory ever again.

Not to mention his personal life, his parents dieing very early in his life, his Mother and Dad within 2 months of each other, had 20 children of which 13 survived, having to deal with death and loss all his life but still persevered - that is what makes him exceptional not just as a musician, but as a human being.

Anyway I am just ranting and getting off topic now :p
 
#4 ·
I don't think the issue of organ vs. piano is as clear-cut as hearing harmony better on the organ, for example you can make the music more dissonant (not that Bach did) without making it unpleasant because certain notes can function as a sort of anchor to weather the storm. You hear music differently on those instruments, and as a result can/should compose differently. You can get away with a lot of things on the piano you can't on the organ, and the other way around. I probably shouldn't say "get away with", because what you hear and perceive is all there is, doesn't matter what it says on the sheet music.
 
#6 ·
Yes, but strings and choirs have their own way of doing things; that's why Bach used different tempering for playing keyboards with choirs and fretted instruments.

Violin players are known to tailor each different key with minute adjustments. In fact, there are fingering charts for violins which show separate fingerings for sharp and flat keys.

I think the organ allowed Bach to hear intervals better and more consistently, with more control. He was moving towards an equal-tempered tuning, and had developed his own "well" tempered tuning which meant it sounded good in all 12 keys.

It's probably fretted instruments which helped instigate the move towards equal temperament.
 
#11 ·
Here is a clip of Lehman playing the organ in the Bach "well" tempered tuning, now known as the Bach/Lehman tuning.

 
#12 ·
Just out of curiosity when did Bach first start playing the Organ? I know he lived with his brother for sometime and copied music for him and then went to another city to study. But does anyone know exactly when he started to learn the Organ? Maybe I could just google it but the community is highly intelligent so I would rather hear an answer from you guys.
 
#17 ·
When you first put pen on paper to create music, you quickly learn to respect the technical perfection Bach writes in his music.
 
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