I don't know about better, but one composer who Bach respected enough to copy out his music was Nicolas Grigny. Possibly Johann Adam Reincken made an even greater impression, judging by the number of his works that Bach arranged. I guess these people are "nearly forgotten"

Georg Bohm too.

 

Anything that's really really good gets played. There are too many record companies looking for new saleable stuff and two many radio hours to fill for masterpieces to remain unknown for long. The best we can hope for is the revival of good-but-not-great pieces that have fallen by the wayside for various reasons. If there were someone out there producing music as good as Bach's or Mozart's we would have long known about it. Except for Havergal Brian.

 

In a letter to J.N. Forkel, C.P.E. Bach mentions several composers his father "esteemed highly". Among the lesser known are Johann Joseph Fux, Antonio Caldara, Reinhard Keiser, Carl Heinrich Graun, Johann Gottlieb Graun, Jan Dismas Zelenka, and Franz Benda.

 

Opera composers. Interesting.

 

Bach appeared to have an acute underestimation of his genius. None of his contemporaries apart from Handel came within reach of him

 

It is difficult to imagine that Bach, who did not write any operas himself, was a great opera-fan.

 

you do understand that J.S Bach wrote music as a job. The jobs he held did not put on operas, so he never wrote any because that wasnt his job.

I know this idea of doing what you are hired to do is hard to understand for people today, but that is probably why he never wrote any operas

...just sayin'

 

A great fan, no. There is no evidence for that. But it's known that he took an interest in Dresden opera performances (see Spitta, vol. 2, page 337 ) even if the glitter and glamour of opera may have been somewhat contrary to his natural disposition. Forkel quotes a letter Bach wrote to his son Friedemann asking if they could go to Dresden again to hear the beautiful arias.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Keiser "In an obituary, his colleague Mattheson described him as "the greatest opera composer in the world"."

['Handel, the Man and His Music', Keates, Page 16]

 

^ a review of Keiser's "Croesus":

135. Croesus (Keiser)

The adventurous opera lover should seek out the buried treasures of Croesus.

operascribe.com

ACT II, Scene 1, Ritornello

ACT II, Scene 1, "Kleine Vöglein, die ihr springet"

 

No one is greater than J.S. Bach. Aside from being one of the greatest musical minds in history he could play all the instruments, sing all the parts, was a genius before the term was known, saw things in his mind's eye before the idea was conceived, had a volcanic temperament, bore 20-odd children and wore out two wives, and once spent a night in jail over a musical dispute.

Vivaldi wrote more concertos than him, Buxtehude as much or more organ music, Handel more oratorios, and Telemann may have been more imaginative but no one equaled him.

If you're looking for someone like him with talent not so well known try Johann Georg Pisendel. Here's a good starter CD with three pieces by him and one from Telemann.

 

You do understand that J.S Bach wrote music as a job. The jobs he held did not put on operas, so he never wrote any because that wasnt his job.

Bach thought opera beneath him and silly. Italian opera, such as those written by Handel before converting to oratorios, were the style of the day.

Bach wrote cantatas as a condition of employment but hardly everything. For example he wrote the Brandenburg concertos for the margrave of Brandenburg, the well-tempered clavier for his son's practice, the Passions out of his heart, the Notebook for Anna Magdalena, his second wife, for her to use on keyboard and as a singer. He never saw the passions performed during his life. Mendelssohn finally staged the St. Matthew Passion in an abridged form a century after Bach died.

 

You do understand that J.S Bach wrote music as a job. The jobs he held did not put on operas, so he never wrote any because that wasnt his job.

Bach thought opera beneath him and silly. Italian opera, such as those written by Handel before converting to oratorios, were the style of the day.

Bach wrote cantatas as a condition of employment but hardly everything. For example he wrote the Brandenburg concertos for the margrave of Brandenburg, the well-tempered clavier for his son's practice, the Passions out of his heart, the Notebook for Anna Magdalena, his second wife, for her to use on keyboard and as a singer. He never saw the passions performed during his life. Mendelssohn finally staged the St. Matthew Passion in an abridged form a century after Bach died.

The Passion of St.John was premiered in 1724 by him, albeit in a different version than often heard now; the St.Matthew was performed in 1729, 1736, 1742 and probably in 1727.

Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_John_Passion

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Matthew_Passion

The 5 (?) passions composed:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passions_(Bach)

 

The poetic/musical style of German opera was taken up by composers and applied to other genres, particularly concerted church music. This transfer of style was rejected by most of the clergy, as is seen in Kuhnau’s employment contract of 1701: he was obliged to compose music for the worship service that did not sound like opera. The same passage is found in Bach’s contract. It was retained because one councilman would vote for Bach to become the Thomaskantor only if he agreed to “write compositions that were not theatrical.” Nevertheless, in Bach’s total output, including of course the late works, there are elements of the “theatralischer Stil”. The secular cantatas of the late 1720s and 1730s are essentially oriented toward the opera styles of the day: the homage cantatas appear to resemble opera seria, while the cantatas with middleclass subjects seem to resemble opera buffa or intermezzos.

 

This book is interesting - it may have been you who put me on to it in fact

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bachs-Operas-Soul-Listeners-Unlocking/dp/1538135566