From time to time, I've gone back to highlight the work of composers who have been (un)fairly (depending on your point of view) neglected in this history. Today, I am pausing to recognize the important work of a group of 18th century composers who between, roughly, the 1740s and 1770s were part of the so-called … Continue reading Interlude: Transitional Figures at the Side of the Road
Month: May 2022
Introduction to the Classical Period
It is a gross simplification to say that Bach died, the Baroque Period ended, and the Classical Period was born. Some scholars place the start of the Classical Period some years before the death of Bach; some don’t start it until 1775 or so. For me (and I’d venture for most musicologists), the Classical Period … Continue reading Introduction to the Classical Period
The Baroque Legacy
I love Baroque music. So too do many great musicians of our age. Jimmy Hendrix once talked about being visited by Handel in a dream. (Oh to have been a fly on the wall for that Conversation!) Prog rock artists from ELP to Jethro Tull, Genesis and others take inspiration (and, at times, license) from … Continue reading The Baroque Legacy
A Conversation Without End
Bach is the beginning and end of all music.Max Reger I had no idea of the historical evolution of the civilized world's music and had not realized that all modern music owes everything to Bach.Niccolai Rimsky-Korsakov Bach is a colossus of Rhodes, beneath whom all musicians pass and will continue to pass. Mozart is the … Continue reading A Conversation Without End
Credo in unum Deum
The gnawing fear I have about trying to sum up the life’s work of history’s most important composers is the certainty that I have left something very important out. But, at least with Bach, I have no such concerns because up today is Bach’s titanic Mass in B minor. I am not even going to … Continue reading Credo in unum Deum
A Gertus History of Music 