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Bach and the High Baroque
Bach and the High Baroque (32 lectures, 45 minutes/lecture) Course No. 720 Taught by Robert Greenberg San Francisco Performances Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley 32 Audio Cds with Course Outline Booklet
24 pages, Audio CD
First published June 8, 13
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151 people want to read
About the author
Robert Greenberg
156 books216 followersRobert M. Greenberg is an American composer, pianist and musicologist. He has composed more than 50 works for a variety of instruments and voices, and has recorded a number of lecture series on music history and music appreciation for The Teaching Company.
Greenberg earned a B.A. in music, magna cum laude, from Princeton University and received a Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, Berkeley. He has served on the faculties of UC Berkeley, Californiz State University, East Bay, and the San Franciso Conservatory of Music, where he was chairman of the Department of Music History and Literature as well as Director of the Adult Extension Division. Dr. Greenberg is currently Music Historian-in-residence with San Francisco Performances.
Greenberg earned a B.A. in music, magna cum laude, from Princeton University and received a Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, Berkeley. He has served on the faculties of UC Berkeley, Californiz State University, East Bay, and the San Franciso Conservatory of Music, where he was chairman of the Department of Music History and Literature as well as Director of the Adult Extension Division. Dr. Greenberg is currently Music Historian-in-residence with San Francisco Performances.
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September 1, 2024
On March 31, 1685, Johann Sebastian Back was born in Eisenach (central Germany) as the youngest of 8 children.
His family already had a number of composing members, his father (who was director of the town musicians even) and some elder siblings amongst them. It likely was his father who taught Bach violin and basic music theory. Bach's uncles were all professional musicians whose posts included church organists, court chamber musicians, and composers. On of these uncles introduced him to the organ.
Sadly, Bach's mother died in 1964 and his father only 8 months later so Bach was orphaned aged only 10. This necessitated him living with his oldest brother for 5 years. During this time, Bach studied, performed, and copied music, including his own brother's, despite being forbidden to do so because scores were very valuable and private back then and blank ledger paper of that type was costly.
In 1700, Bach and a close school friend managed to get enrolled in the prestigious St. Michael's School in Lüneburg (impressively, the school lies about 2 week's travel away from where Bach lived with his oldest brother and he likely journeyed the entire way on foot!). The years at this school were essential because it was there Bach to a broader range of European culture. In addition to singing in the choir, he played the school's three-manual organ and harpsichords. During this period, he also came into contact with sons of aristocrats from northern Germany who had been sent to the nearby Ritter-Academie to prepare for careers in other disciplines (important later).
In January 1703, shortly after graduating from St. Michael's and being turned down for the post of organist at Sangerhausen, Bach was appointed court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar (his role was most likely non-musical in nature). His tenure at Weimar lasted only seven months but that was enough time for his reputation as a keyboardist to spread so much that he was invited to inspect the new organ and give the inaugural recital at the New Church (nowadays named Bach Church) in Arnstadt (about 30km away from Weimar. On 14 August 1703, he became the organist at the New Church.
Despite strong family connections and a musically enthusiastic employer, tension built up between Bach and the authorities after several years in the post. This is sort of a red thread throughout Bach's life as he had trouble with several employers.
In 1706, Bach applied for a post as organist at the Blasius Church in Mühlhausen. For the application process, he performed a cantata on Easter, 24 April 1707. This cantata was likely an early version of his Christ lag in Todes Banden . A month later, Bach's application was accepted and he took up the post in July.
Four months after, he married for the first time (yep, there will be several wives and a host of children).
Bach convinced the church and town government at Mühlhausen to fund an expensive renovation of the organ at the Blasius Church. In 1708, Bach wrote Gott ist mein König , a festive cantata for the inauguration of the new council, which was published at the council's expense even.
Only 2 years into the job, Bach left and returned to Weimar - this time as a organist first and then, as of 1714, as Konzertmeister (director of music) at the ducal court. Later that year, Bach's first child was born. His sister-in-law moved in with them, too, and helped run the household until she died in 1729. In addition to his first child (a daughter), he had three sons with his first wive, all born in Weimar. There were three more children but none of them lived to be older than a year, sadly.
In this period, Bach was heavily influenced by the Italian style and thus famous composers such as Vivaldi, Corelli and Torelli (for example, Bach transcribed Vivaldi's string and wind concertos for harpsichord and organ). He also played music with the duke's ensemble and started writing the preludes and fugues which were later assembled into his monumental work The Well-Tempered Clavier ("clavier", nowadays spelled "Klavier", means clavichord or harpsichord in this case). This latter work comprised of 2 books, each containing a whopping 24 preludes and fugues in every major and minor key.
Once he was Konzertmeister, he also performed a church cantata in the castle church every month. The first three cantatas were Himmelskönig, sei willkommen for Palm Sunday, Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen for Jubilate Sunday and Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! for Pentecost; his first Christmas cantata, Christen, ätzet diesen Tag , premiered in 1714 or 1715. And yes, that means that Bach wrote a lot of "church music". In general, he was a very religious man, very much in love, grateful and happy with God, which is evidenced by how joyful most of his music was.
In 1717, Bach eventually fell out of favour in Weimar. He was even jailed for almost a month! The reason being that he was too stubbornly forcing the issue of his dismissal (he wanted to leave but the court didn't want to let him go).
Not to worry though, because Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen (himself a musician and fan of Bach's), hired him to serve as his Kapellmeister (also director of music, the difference being that there are usually 2 Konzertmeister per orchestra and both are violinists whereas the Kapellmeister is the leader of the choir or overall orchestra) in the same year. Since the prince was a Calvinist and didn't use a lot of music in his worship, Bach's music of this period is much more secular. It was then that Bach composed his orchestral suites, cello suites, sonatas and partitas for solo violin as well as the Brandenburg Concertos, and secular cantatas for the court (such as Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht ).
On 7 July 1720, while Bach was away in Carlsbad with Prince Leopold, Bach's wife suddenly died. Of what, no idea. Only a year later, Bach met a young and highly gifted soprano 16 years his junior, who performed at the court in Köthen, and whom he married on 3 December 1721. Together they had a staggerin 13 children, six of them surviving into adulthood. On these children was Johann Christian, himself a significant musician later.
In 1723, Bach was appointed Thomaskantor (director of the now internationally famous young boys' choir) as well as director of church music in Leipzig. He thus had to direct the St. Thomas School and provide four local churches with music. This was "the leading cantorate in Protestant Germany", which Bach held for 27 years / until his death (despite also being in frequent tiffs with the school / his employer about money).
During this time, Bach gained further prestige through honorary appointments at the courts of Köthen and Weissenfels, as well as that of the Elector Frederick Augustus (who was also King of Poland) in Dresden, who even granted Bach the title of court composer in 1736 (a title Bach had sought in order to gain more bargaining power with the music school's council).
Bach presented his first new cantata, Die Elenden sollen essen , in the St. Nicholas Church on the first Sunday after Trinity in 1723. Of the more than 300 cantatas Bach composed in Leipzig, over 100 have been lost to posterity. I'm not a fan of church music, but that makes me sad. Learning, from this book, how close we came to losing it ALL, I'm am glad to have as much as we have though!
But Bach didn't just sit tight in this position as Thomaskantor. Rather, he drew the soprano and alto choristers from the school, and the tenors and basses from the school and elsewhere in Leipzig, making them perform at weddings and funerals, which provided extra income for them; probably for this purpose, and for in-school training, Bach also wrote at least six motets (a vocal musical composition).
In 1733, Bach composed a Kyrie–Gloria Mass in B minor which he later incorporated in his Mass in B minor. He later extended this work into a full mass by adding a Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, the music for which was partly based on his own cantatas and partly original.
In 1735, Bach started preparing his first organ music publication, which was printed as the third Clavier-Übung in 1739. That year he also started to compile and compose the set of preludes and fugues for harpsichord that would become his second book of "The Well-Tempered Clavier".
From 1740 to 1748 Bach copied, transcribed, expanded or programmed music in an older polyphonic style (stile antico) by a lot of well-known musicians. Bach's own style shifted to show an increased integration of said polyphonic structures and canons and other elements of the "stile antico". The fourth and last volume of the Clavier-Übung contained nine canons and was published in 1741. Throughout this period, Bach also continued to adopt music of contemporaries such as Handel, and gave many of his own earlier compositions their final revisions. He also programmed and adapted music by composers of a younger generation as well as his own students.
Two large-scale compositions occupied a central place in Bach's last years:
1) From around 1742, he wrote and revised the various canons and fugues of The Art of Fugue , which he continued to prepare for publication until shortly before his death.
2) After extracting a cantata from his 1733 Kyrie-Gloria Mass for the Dresden court in the mid-1740s, Bach expanded that setting into his Mass in B minor in the last years of his life. Although the complete mass was never performed during Bach's lifetime, it is considered among the greatest choral works in history.
In 1749, shortly after one of his daughters married one of Bach's former students, he started going blind. He thus underwent eye surgery first in March and then in April of 1750. The so-called doctor was a Brit and apparently a charlatan. Bach died on 28 July 1750 from complications due to the unsuccessful treatment.
My cello teacher once told me that as a cellist, Bach is our god. *lol* While I do like the cello suites as far as I've heard them, and while I agree that all the work published and the perfection he put into his work is awesome, I can unfortunately not 100% agree. There are a few composers whose work I enjoy more (which is not to say that I don't like Bach).
Interestingly, this was also my least favorite of Greenberg's lectures. It was way too detailed in describing what fugues or cantatas or whatever else are, how they work etc. I'm not studying music theory, I wanna learn about Bach and the period he gave distinction to. Again, the lecture itself was brilliant (very detailed, Greenberg definitely knows what he's talking about), but it wasn't enough about Bach as a man (I had to learn almost all of the above through other sources) and too much music theory.
His family already had a number of composing members, his father (who was director of the town musicians even) and some elder siblings amongst them. It likely was his father who taught Bach violin and basic music theory. Bach's uncles were all professional musicians whose posts included church organists, court chamber musicians, and composers. On of these uncles introduced him to the organ.
Sadly, Bach's mother died in 1964 and his father only 8 months later so Bach was orphaned aged only 10. This necessitated him living with his oldest brother for 5 years. During this time, Bach studied, performed, and copied music, including his own brother's, despite being forbidden to do so because scores were very valuable and private back then and blank ledger paper of that type was costly.
In 1700, Bach and a close school friend managed to get enrolled in the prestigious St. Michael's School in Lüneburg (impressively, the school lies about 2 week's travel away from where Bach lived with his oldest brother and he likely journeyed the entire way on foot!). The years at this school were essential because it was there Bach to a broader range of European culture. In addition to singing in the choir, he played the school's three-manual organ and harpsichords. During this period, he also came into contact with sons of aristocrats from northern Germany who had been sent to the nearby Ritter-Academie to prepare for careers in other disciplines (important later).
In January 1703, shortly after graduating from St. Michael's and being turned down for the post of organist at Sangerhausen, Bach was appointed court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar (his role was most likely non-musical in nature). His tenure at Weimar lasted only seven months but that was enough time for his reputation as a keyboardist to spread so much that he was invited to inspect the new organ and give the inaugural recital at the New Church (nowadays named Bach Church) in Arnstadt (about 30km away from Weimar. On 14 August 1703, he became the organist at the New Church.
Despite strong family connections and a musically enthusiastic employer, tension built up between Bach and the authorities after several years in the post. This is sort of a red thread throughout Bach's life as he had trouble with several employers.
In 1706, Bach applied for a post as organist at the Blasius Church in Mühlhausen. For the application process, he performed a cantata on Easter, 24 April 1707. This cantata was likely an early version of his Christ lag in Todes Banden . A month later, Bach's application was accepted and he took up the post in July.
Four months after, he married for the first time (yep, there will be several wives and a host of children).
Bach convinced the church and town government at Mühlhausen to fund an expensive renovation of the organ at the Blasius Church. In 1708, Bach wrote Gott ist mein König , a festive cantata for the inauguration of the new council, which was published at the council's expense even.
Only 2 years into the job, Bach left and returned to Weimar - this time as a organist first and then, as of 1714, as Konzertmeister (director of music) at the ducal court. Later that year, Bach's first child was born. His sister-in-law moved in with them, too, and helped run the household until she died in 1729. In addition to his first child (a daughter), he had three sons with his first wive, all born in Weimar. There were three more children but none of them lived to be older than a year, sadly.
In this period, Bach was heavily influenced by the Italian style and thus famous composers such as Vivaldi, Corelli and Torelli (for example, Bach transcribed Vivaldi's string and wind concertos for harpsichord and organ). He also played music with the duke's ensemble and started writing the preludes and fugues which were later assembled into his monumental work The Well-Tempered Clavier ("clavier", nowadays spelled "Klavier", means clavichord or harpsichord in this case). This latter work comprised of 2 books, each containing a whopping 24 preludes and fugues in every major and minor key.
Once he was Konzertmeister, he also performed a church cantata in the castle church every month. The first three cantatas were Himmelskönig, sei willkommen for Palm Sunday, Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen for Jubilate Sunday and Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! for Pentecost; his first Christmas cantata, Christen, ätzet diesen Tag , premiered in 1714 or 1715. And yes, that means that Bach wrote a lot of "church music". In general, he was a very religious man, very much in love, grateful and happy with God, which is evidenced by how joyful most of his music was.
In 1717, Bach eventually fell out of favour in Weimar. He was even jailed for almost a month! The reason being that he was too stubbornly forcing the issue of his dismissal (he wanted to leave but the court didn't want to let him go).
Not to worry though, because Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen (himself a musician and fan of Bach's), hired him to serve as his Kapellmeister (also director of music, the difference being that there are usually 2 Konzertmeister per orchestra and both are violinists whereas the Kapellmeister is the leader of the choir or overall orchestra) in the same year. Since the prince was a Calvinist and didn't use a lot of music in his worship, Bach's music of this period is much more secular. It was then that Bach composed his orchestral suites, cello suites, sonatas and partitas for solo violin as well as the Brandenburg Concertos, and secular cantatas for the court (such as Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht ).
On 7 July 1720, while Bach was away in Carlsbad with Prince Leopold, Bach's wife suddenly died. Of what, no idea. Only a year later, Bach met a young and highly gifted soprano 16 years his junior, who performed at the court in Köthen, and whom he married on 3 December 1721. Together they had a staggerin 13 children, six of them surviving into adulthood. On these children was Johann Christian, himself a significant musician later.
In 1723, Bach was appointed Thomaskantor (director of the now internationally famous young boys' choir) as well as director of church music in Leipzig. He thus had to direct the St. Thomas School and provide four local churches with music. This was "the leading cantorate in Protestant Germany", which Bach held for 27 years / until his death (despite also being in frequent tiffs with the school / his employer about money).
During this time, Bach gained further prestige through honorary appointments at the courts of Köthen and Weissenfels, as well as that of the Elector Frederick Augustus (who was also King of Poland) in Dresden, who even granted Bach the title of court composer in 1736 (a title Bach had sought in order to gain more bargaining power with the music school's council).
Bach presented his first new cantata, Die Elenden sollen essen , in the St. Nicholas Church on the first Sunday after Trinity in 1723. Of the more than 300 cantatas Bach composed in Leipzig, over 100 have been lost to posterity. I'm not a fan of church music, but that makes me sad. Learning, from this book, how close we came to losing it ALL, I'm am glad to have as much as we have though!
But Bach didn't just sit tight in this position as Thomaskantor. Rather, he drew the soprano and alto choristers from the school, and the tenors and basses from the school and elsewhere in Leipzig, making them perform at weddings and funerals, which provided extra income for them; probably for this purpose, and for in-school training, Bach also wrote at least six motets (a vocal musical composition).
In 1733, Bach composed a Kyrie–Gloria Mass in B minor which he later incorporated in his Mass in B minor. He later extended this work into a full mass by adding a Credo, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei, the music for which was partly based on his own cantatas and partly original.
In 1735, Bach started preparing his first organ music publication, which was printed as the third Clavier-Übung in 1739. That year he also started to compile and compose the set of preludes and fugues for harpsichord that would become his second book of "The Well-Tempered Clavier".
From 1740 to 1748 Bach copied, transcribed, expanded or programmed music in an older polyphonic style (stile antico) by a lot of well-known musicians. Bach's own style shifted to show an increased integration of said polyphonic structures and canons and other elements of the "stile antico". The fourth and last volume of the Clavier-Übung contained nine canons and was published in 1741. Throughout this period, Bach also continued to adopt music of contemporaries such as Handel, and gave many of his own earlier compositions their final revisions. He also programmed and adapted music by composers of a younger generation as well as his own students.
Two large-scale compositions occupied a central place in Bach's last years:
1) From around 1742, he wrote and revised the various canons and fugues of The Art of Fugue , which he continued to prepare for publication until shortly before his death.
2) After extracting a cantata from his 1733 Kyrie-Gloria Mass for the Dresden court in the mid-1740s, Bach expanded that setting into his Mass in B minor in the last years of his life. Although the complete mass was never performed during Bach's lifetime, it is considered among the greatest choral works in history.
In 1749, shortly after one of his daughters married one of Bach's former students, he started going blind. He thus underwent eye surgery first in March and then in April of 1750. The so-called doctor was a Brit and apparently a charlatan. Bach died on 28 July 1750 from complications due to the unsuccessful treatment.
My cello teacher once told me that as a cellist, Bach is our god. *lol* While I do like the cello suites as far as I've heard them, and while I agree that all the work published and the perfection he put into his work is awesome, I can unfortunately not 100% agree. There are a few composers whose work I enjoy more (which is not to say that I don't like Bach).
Interestingly, this was also my least favorite of Greenberg's lectures. It was way too detailed in describing what fugues or cantatas or whatever else are, how they work etc. I'm not studying music theory, I wanna learn about Bach and the period he gave distinction to. Again, the lecture itself was brilliant (very detailed, Greenberg definitely knows what he's talking about), but it wasn't enough about Bach as a man (I had to learn almost all of the above through other sources) and too much music theory.
December 3, 2024
What a treat: One of my very favorite composers, J.S. Bach, as illuminated and explicated by one of my favorite teachers, Professor Robert Greenberg.
Goodreaders, if you're already Bach lovers, wait until you take this course. You learn so much about his life and HOW HARD HE WORKED.
And, if you're like me, you stand to learn a great deal about HOW HIS MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS WORK. And work to this day.
THE SINGLE MOST FASCINATING THING ABOUT THIS COURSE, HOWEVER . . .
That's how little known this brilliant composer was while he lived. It took hundreds of years before he was "discovered" enough to be recognized as one of the greatest of all Western composers.
So much for the idea that the greatest composers go viral immediately! Ridiculous!
Anyway, this course by Robert is such a treat, a FIVE STAR treat.
Goodreaders, if you're already Bach lovers, wait until you take this course. You learn so much about his life and HOW HARD HE WORKED.
And, if you're like me, you stand to learn a great deal about HOW HIS MUSICAL COMPOSITIONS WORK. And work to this day.
THE SINGLE MOST FASCINATING THING ABOUT THIS COURSE, HOWEVER . . .
That's how little known this brilliant composer was while he lived. It took hundreds of years before he was "discovered" enough to be recognized as one of the greatest of all Western composers.
So much for the idea that the greatest composers go viral immediately! Ridiculous!
Anyway, this course by Robert is such a treat, a FIVE STAR treat.
January 18, 2024
So … something that I’m learning more and more, the more I study the history of music, is that in music there are no “thieves”, because everyone steals from everyone. For example, when I realized that the wonderful Paul Simon’s song “American Tune” follows exactly the main melody of Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion, I was ready to call Paul Simon a horrible thief. BUT, lo and behold, it turns out that that divine melody hadn’t even been written by Bach!! And it wasn’t “divine” at all, because it was a popular, non-sacred song, about a guy who likes a girl!!
The Hans Leo Hassler song "O Welt, ich muss dich lassen", written around 1601, has its melody adapted by Bach 5 times in his iconic Passion work from the 1720s. It serves as an important unifying device in the music.
The melody of this German chorale was used by J.S. Bach 5 times in his famous St. Matthew Passion:
1. In the opening chorus as the basis of the chorale fantasia "O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig" ("O Spotless Lamb of God")
2. As the melody of the chorale "Ich will hier bei dir stehen" ("Here would I stand beside thee")
3. As the melody of the chorale "O Welt, sieh hier dein Leben" ("O world, behold thy life")
4. In the chorus "Wer hat dich so geschlagen" ("Who hath thus maltreated thee")
5. In the final chorus "Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder" ("We sit down in tears")”
So Bach used some popular melodies, I think to make it more appealing to the people, and to bring the story of the Passion closer to them.
—
As for this Bach course overall, it’s very good, but unfortunately prof. Richard Greenberg’s personal ideology filters through pretty clearly, and that’s not a good thing.
Greenberg should have limited himself to the technicalities of music, because each time he broke into history, Lutheranism or Christianity, he made so many incorrect statements and he went “full ideologue”, demonstrating his antipathy to religion in general.
I guess he’s the perfect professor for San Francisco students.
In particular, lectures 4 and 9 are so bad. Specifically, his statement that Bach’s music is the way it is “because Lutheranism had finally liberated music from the shackles of catholicism”, and permitted an interpretation of music as a direct prayer to God, is incorrect.
St. Thomas Aquinas (400 years earlier) saw music in the same exact way, and he even wrote a few eucharistic hymns himself.
In 1310, Dante Alighieri wrote about music in those exact terms (in his Purgatorio).
So, yes, professor Greenberg, Lutheranism was very music-friendly, but no, it did not spiritually “open up” anything for Bach’s music that was not available 200 or even 400 years before.
Especially when you say “I know of no Italian who would say that music is a spiritual act. For Italians, music is hedonistic”. Ugh. What an uniformed, stereotypical thing to say. Btw, I’m Italian, too, and you’re off by a mile.
And please, stop saying that “Bach had been indoctrinated” by Lutheranism. That was his religion, his faith, full stop. Don’t use modern terms that mean “brainwashed” in a negative way (which is exactly what you mean, obviously, in typical San Francisco style).
At the beginning of lecture 13, prof. Greenberg says that today’s educated people are finally smart enough to realize that “truth” is just a subjective construct. There you go, “Relativism 101”… So sad. Too much San Francisco ideology, sorry about my weak stomach, but this way of thinking makes me throw up.
The Hans Leo Hassler song "O Welt, ich muss dich lassen", written around 1601, has its melody adapted by Bach 5 times in his iconic Passion work from the 1720s. It serves as an important unifying device in the music.
The melody of this German chorale was used by J.S. Bach 5 times in his famous St. Matthew Passion:
1. In the opening chorus as the basis of the chorale fantasia "O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig" ("O Spotless Lamb of God")
2. As the melody of the chorale "Ich will hier bei dir stehen" ("Here would I stand beside thee")
3. As the melody of the chorale "O Welt, sieh hier dein Leben" ("O world, behold thy life")
4. In the chorus "Wer hat dich so geschlagen" ("Who hath thus maltreated thee")
5. In the final chorus "Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder" ("We sit down in tears")”
So Bach used some popular melodies, I think to make it more appealing to the people, and to bring the story of the Passion closer to them.
—
As for this Bach course overall, it’s very good, but unfortunately prof. Richard Greenberg’s personal ideology filters through pretty clearly, and that’s not a good thing.
Greenberg should have limited himself to the technicalities of music, because each time he broke into history, Lutheranism or Christianity, he made so many incorrect statements and he went “full ideologue”, demonstrating his antipathy to religion in general.
I guess he’s the perfect professor for San Francisco students.
In particular, lectures 4 and 9 are so bad. Specifically, his statement that Bach’s music is the way it is “because Lutheranism had finally liberated music from the shackles of catholicism”, and permitted an interpretation of music as a direct prayer to God, is incorrect.
St. Thomas Aquinas (400 years earlier) saw music in the same exact way, and he even wrote a few eucharistic hymns himself.
In 1310, Dante Alighieri wrote about music in those exact terms (in his Purgatorio).
So, yes, professor Greenberg, Lutheranism was very music-friendly, but no, it did not spiritually “open up” anything for Bach’s music that was not available 200 or even 400 years before.
Especially when you say “I know of no Italian who would say that music is a spiritual act. For Italians, music is hedonistic”. Ugh. What an uniformed, stereotypical thing to say. Btw, I’m Italian, too, and you’re off by a mile.
And please, stop saying that “Bach had been indoctrinated” by Lutheranism. That was his religion, his faith, full stop. Don’t use modern terms that mean “brainwashed” in a negative way (which is exactly what you mean, obviously, in typical San Francisco style).
At the beginning of lecture 13, prof. Greenberg says that today’s educated people are finally smart enough to realize that “truth” is just a subjective construct. There you go, “Relativism 101”… So sad. Too much San Francisco ideology, sorry about my weak stomach, but this way of thinking makes me throw up.
April 18, 2022
Phew. Had I realized what I was getting into here, I might have been too intimidated to start. This GC, Bach and the High Baroque, is simply amazing. I only decided to listen to it because I thought I should cover "the great composers" in order of their work, and this was the next GC available. As if on a to-do list. Bach was just the next one in line. How naive of me.
This is one of the early Great Courses, back when they truly were college level courses. (Let's be honest: The Great Courses has lightened the content in recent years, probably to appeal to a wider market.)
A little history, a little biography, a little social observation, a bunch of Bach and his contemporaries, and a whole lot of music theory and active listening practice are jam-packed into these lectures. This is not something to be listened to with one ear while multitasking, not if you want to get their full value. I have a feeling young Dr. Greenberg had little patience for the lazy or inattentive student, but he displays infinite patience for explaining -- over and over, if needed -- musical concepts to willing students. The man is a natural teacher. He's become my favorite GC presenter, and I always end up getting far more than my money and time's worth with his material. I also appreciate that the lecture notes he provides are not mere transcripts, but are crammed with additional information, suggestions, and graphics. The lecture notes are especially good with this GC, and came in handy during the intense four-part dissection of the Goldberg Variations.
If there's a Bob Greenberg Fan Club, I want to join.
At nearly 26 hours of listening time, Bach and the High Baroque is an investment to undertake, but so worthwhile. I love when I finish something like this feeling enriched and challenged, and Piano Bob never lets me down there.
This is one of the early Great Courses, back when they truly were college level courses. (Let's be honest: The Great Courses has lightened the content in recent years, probably to appeal to a wider market.)
A little history, a little biography, a little social observation, a bunch of Bach and his contemporaries, and a whole lot of music theory and active listening practice are jam-packed into these lectures. This is not something to be listened to with one ear while multitasking, not if you want to get their full value. I have a feeling young Dr. Greenberg had little patience for the lazy or inattentive student, but he displays infinite patience for explaining -- over and over, if needed -- musical concepts to willing students. The man is a natural teacher. He's become my favorite GC presenter, and I always end up getting far more than my money and time's worth with his material. I also appreciate that the lecture notes he provides are not mere transcripts, but are crammed with additional information, suggestions, and graphics. The lecture notes are especially good with this GC, and came in handy during the intense four-part dissection of the Goldberg Variations.
If there's a Bob Greenberg Fan Club, I want to join.
At nearly 26 hours of listening time, Bach and the High Baroque is an investment to undertake, but so worthwhile. I love when I finish something like this feeling enriched and challenged, and Piano Bob never lets me down there.
January 2, 2015
Greenberg's Teaching Company courses are sparkling gems for the classical music neophyte (and yes, I know that Bach is not technically classical because I also listened to Greenberg's How to Listen to and Understand Great Music). Professor Greenberg's approach is practical -- he really wants to show students how this music functions, and this is not at all easy to do in non-technical terms. But he is for the most part successful because he understands the limitations of his audience. He plays examples, he repeats phrases, he even repeats himself to make important points, but in a way that is never condescending.
So here Greenberg takes on the entirety of Bach's work and his historical context. Yikes. There isn't enough time for him to do all this, which he acknowledges, but he does provide the student with just enough to make a decent start on his or her own. He covers the basic features of baroque music, fugue, chorales and the cantatas, the St. Matthew Passion, and the Goldberg Variations.
Plus Bach biography -- how many people know that Bach did hard time? Well, I don't know how hard it was... he seemed to enjoy it because, according to Greenberg, it gave him some down time for composition.
Once again, hats off to Prof. Greenberg.
So here Greenberg takes on the entirety of Bach's work and his historical context. Yikes. There isn't enough time for him to do all this, which he acknowledges, but he does provide the student with just enough to make a decent start on his or her own. He covers the basic features of baroque music, fugue, chorales and the cantatas, the St. Matthew Passion, and the Goldberg Variations.
Plus Bach biography -- how many people know that Bach did hard time? Well, I don't know how hard it was... he seemed to enjoy it because, according to Greenberg, it gave him some down time for composition.
Once again, hats off to Prof. Greenberg.
January 19, 2016
I am a big fan of Baroque music, which I admire for its sheer energy, its drive (and its relentless basso continuo). As a kid, I took courses on general music theory and history, but I was too young and childish at that age to really savour them. Later, I ended up in a baroque mini-orchestra, playing Vivaldi's Gloria in D Major on a post-baroque instrument.
The object of this review is a lengthy course, covering no less than the whole of Bach's oeuvre and requiring no prior knowledge of music at all. The course argues that whereas Renaissance music (Pergolesi) was structured by voice (and text) with extreme clarity, baroque music moved into the direction of more complex instrumental music. In order to give structure to instrumental (or instrument-centred) Baroque music, Bach and his contemporaries took recourse to well-known dance types. The course details the various dance types that structure much of Bach's work and discusses Bach's usage of the French "Overture", the German "Allemande", the "Courante", the Spanish-origin "Sarabande" and the Britain-based "Gigue". I like it that the professor also discusses some of the research literature on Bach, with a preference for quaint approaches contradicting his own take on Bach.
The audio quality of the recordings is not top-notch, which is a bit of a pity given the subtlety of the materials at hand. Especially some of the examples in the first half of the course really start to sound as if played on one of these mechanical street organs. Just as I was about to give up on this course, wondering why all this information on dance types was needed, the audio fragments suddenly evolved into the grandeur and/or splendour of Bach's better-known pieces (the Passion, the Goldberg Variations). One's understanding of these works is indeed deepened by the pointers to the dance structures underlying them. It is nothing sort of a miracle that Bach was able to produce such heart-felt, gripping music using these very tight and rigid structures. (Bach's backgrounds in protestantism are duly covered).
Some parts of the course are more jocular, such as the discussion of the Kaffee-Kantate. American professors prefer "Erlebnispädagogik", and this course shows how one can make accessible even less-appealing, technical aspects of the topic. There are lively digressions on Bach's complicated work-life-balance, the commercial talents of Vivaldi and his influence on Bach (did you know that Bach borrowed from Vivaldi, just as Vivaldi himself 'plagiarized' his contemporaries)? Stand-alone courses on individual works (especially the Goldberg Variations) are certainly able to go into more depth, but this course is a very worthwile and engaging overview.
I have a penchant for encyclopaedic forms in art, and Bach's music, geared towards exploring and combining every possible form of musical expression, really is a prime example of encyclopaedic (and rhetoric-based) music. This is a top-notch course, delivered with elegance and thought-provoking insights. On the topic, I also recommend Geert Lernout's book https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2.... I am also planning to read Bartel's Musica Poetica https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7... for a more specialized approach.
The object of this review is a lengthy course, covering no less than the whole of Bach's oeuvre and requiring no prior knowledge of music at all. The course argues that whereas Renaissance music (Pergolesi) was structured by voice (and text) with extreme clarity, baroque music moved into the direction of more complex instrumental music. In order to give structure to instrumental (or instrument-centred) Baroque music, Bach and his contemporaries took recourse to well-known dance types. The course details the various dance types that structure much of Bach's work and discusses Bach's usage of the French "Overture", the German "Allemande", the "Courante", the Spanish-origin "Sarabande" and the Britain-based "Gigue". I like it that the professor also discusses some of the research literature on Bach, with a preference for quaint approaches contradicting his own take on Bach.
The audio quality of the recordings is not top-notch, which is a bit of a pity given the subtlety of the materials at hand. Especially some of the examples in the first half of the course really start to sound as if played on one of these mechanical street organs. Just as I was about to give up on this course, wondering why all this information on dance types was needed, the audio fragments suddenly evolved into the grandeur and/or splendour of Bach's better-known pieces (the Passion, the Goldberg Variations). One's understanding of these works is indeed deepened by the pointers to the dance structures underlying them. It is nothing sort of a miracle that Bach was able to produce such heart-felt, gripping music using these very tight and rigid structures. (Bach's backgrounds in protestantism are duly covered).
Some parts of the course are more jocular, such as the discussion of the Kaffee-Kantate. American professors prefer "Erlebnispädagogik", and this course shows how one can make accessible even less-appealing, technical aspects of the topic. There are lively digressions on Bach's complicated work-life-balance, the commercial talents of Vivaldi and his influence on Bach (did you know that Bach borrowed from Vivaldi, just as Vivaldi himself 'plagiarized' his contemporaries)? Stand-alone courses on individual works (especially the Goldberg Variations) are certainly able to go into more depth, but this course is a very worthwile and engaging overview.
I have a penchant for encyclopaedic forms in art, and Bach's music, geared towards exploring and combining every possible form of musical expression, really is a prime example of encyclopaedic (and rhetoric-based) music. This is a top-notch course, delivered with elegance and thought-provoking insights. On the topic, I also recommend Geert Lernout's book https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2.... I am also planning to read Bartel's Musica Poetica https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7... for a more specialized approach.
October 31, 2025
What a joy to listen to! Professor Greenberg’s enthusiasm is remarkably infectious, and while I knew I’d geek out on the material, I geeked out EVEN MORE than I expected. Digging into the musical forms most popular during the Baroque period helped me better appreciate pieces I already loved, and I was introduced to a number of works that I’ve been meaning to learn more about. The historical, political, and broader musical context was also dosed out very nicely. Can’t recommend enough.
NOTE: there’s a decent amount of music theory. That was a huge bonus for me. If that’s not your bag, there might be a lecture or two you want to skip.
NOTE: there’s a decent amount of music theory. That was a huge bonus for me. If that’s not your bag, there might be a lecture or two you want to skip.
May 27, 2020
Another fantastic course by professor Greenberg! I thoroughly enjoyed all of the lectures, and as always, Robert Greenberg is articulate, humorous (in a way that I genuinely appreciate), vastly knowledgable, engaging, and passionate.
This course contains a good mixture of details from Bach’s life, interspersed with many musical examples, and a fairly in-depth discussion of individual works.
Some of Bach’s most monumental works are covered, such as: The St. Mathew Passion (BWV 244), the Goldberg Variations (BWV 988), the Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565), and the Chaconne - from Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor (BWV 1004).
Other Baroque composers are also discussed throughout this course, and many musical examples are played from composers ranging from Handel to Vivaldi.
Finishing this course has solidified my love of Bach’s music, and has deepened my respect for his genius.
Highly recommended!
This course contains a good mixture of details from Bach’s life, interspersed with many musical examples, and a fairly in-depth discussion of individual works.
Some of Bach’s most monumental works are covered, such as: The St. Mathew Passion (BWV 244), the Goldberg Variations (BWV 988), the Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565), and the Chaconne - from Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor (BWV 1004).
Other Baroque composers are also discussed throughout this course, and many musical examples are played from composers ranging from Handel to Vivaldi.
Finishing this course has solidified my love of Bach’s music, and has deepened my respect for his genius.
Highly recommended!
May 21, 2024
Greenberg locates Bach in a baroque age characterized by extravagance and control but also diverse national styles.
July 17, 2017
A pretty interesting combination of Bach biography plus relatively deep analysis of examples of several categories of his work: sacred (Wachet Auf cantata), operatic (Coffee Cantata, St. Matthew's Passion), instrumental (Keyboard Partita #5, Goldberg Variations).
I enjoyed the biographical sections, and the musical analysis for works I enjoyed (Goldberg Variations), but I got a little weary of several hours each on the Coffee Cantata and the St. Matthew Passion, neither of which are favourites.
The lecture claims to be aimed at non-music-theory experts, but I think people without much formal musical background would find those sections even more slow than I did.
The analysis itself is invaluable, and this is one of the few media that could really do this: a book without the recordings really wouldn't suffice, and the time necessary to break down some of these pieces would be too long for someone to sit in front of a YouTube video or even a TV. But still recommended for hardcore Bach fans / music nerds only. Your mileage may vary.
I enjoyed the biographical sections, and the musical analysis for works I enjoyed (Goldberg Variations), but I got a little weary of several hours each on the Coffee Cantata and the St. Matthew Passion, neither of which are favourites.
The lecture claims to be aimed at non-music-theory experts, but I think people without much formal musical background would find those sections even more slow than I did.
The analysis itself is invaluable, and this is one of the few media that could really do this: a book without the recordings really wouldn't suffice, and the time necessary to break down some of these pieces would be too long for someone to sit in front of a YouTube video or even a TV. But still recommended for hardcore Bach fans / music nerds only. Your mileage may vary.
March 4, 2016
My second set of lectures from Dr. G but first exposure to what I guess you'd call "musicology." Despite repeated listening to some of the initial background lectures I'm still a little hazy on "fifths" and "harmonics" and suchlike---but though I can see how some listeners might find his breezy manner annoying I found it possible to get past that and enjoy the way he broke down selected works and showed even ignorant, slow-on-the-uptake me how to hear (some of) what was musically and emotionally going on in them.
I recommend this course to anyone either interested in soaking up musical knowledge in general or gaining a more finely grained appreciation for Bach's musical gifts. Or both.
I recommend this course to anyone either interested in soaking up musical knowledge in general or gaining a more finely grained appreciation for Bach's musical gifts. Or both.
October 7, 2021
This was my second Great Courses lecture series by Robert Greenberg, after listening to The 23 Greatest Solo Piano Works last year, and this was every bit as good as I hoped. Originally recorded in 1995, this lecture series really is a college-level course on Bach and the music of the Baroque period. The audio lectures are accompanied by a 300-page PDF course booklet which includes annotated scores for the excerpts played in the lectures. It is remarkably thorough, yet still only lightly excavates the incredible depths of Bach's music.
I have studied music theory to Grade 8 level and I have played several of Bach's keyboard works, but there is so much in this course that I had never encountered before. I particularly appreciated the examination of what the Baroque period (1600-1750) was all about, coming as it did at the time of the Enlightenment in the wake of the Renaissance, when the order and harmony of the universe was beginning to be studied systematically and the spirit of the age was reflected in art, architecture and music. The contrast of Baroque music with Palestrina's Renaissance-era choral music was quite stark in its use of instrumentation, melody and metre, and I was fascinated to learn of the Lutheran (and therefore Bach's) reverence for the sacredness of music itself, not merely as an accompaniment to prayer but for its own mystical and spiritual character, as previously explored by Pythagoras.
My preconceived biases have generally been negative toward what I considered to be rather vanilla Baroque music, particularly in contrast to the much more interesting and expressive Classical and Romantic music of Mozart and particularly Beethoven. Yet Baroque music was itself considered progressive for its time, with its exuberant instrumentation and vast scope, not constrained by the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church in post-Reformation Europe. In fact, Bach's music is far more complex and layered than that of subsequent eras, as the contrapuntal German style receded in favour of the increasingly popular melody-driven Italian style of the Classical era.
The decline of the Catholic Church’s monopoly on Western music was significant as it enabled music to explore spaces that were previously closed to it, like opera. This development ultimately led to music evolving appreciably in ever-shortening blocks of time, moving through periods we label as Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Revolutionary, Impressionist etc, and splintering into myriad styles in France, Germany and Italy, and later American styles like Jazz and Blues, and today we generally talk about music by the decade - the 80s, 90s, 00s, and so forth.
Bach's fugues are often considered to be a coming-together of mathematics and music, however he did not consider them such, and repudiated any such association of mathematics with his music. He did however have a high regard for numerology and the significance of different numbers, keys, patterns and sequences within his works, which yields ample material for musical analysts to decipher double and triple meanings at every turn, whether or not they were intended.
Bach’s biography was fascinating in several respects: he wasn’t widely regarded as a composer in the musical scene of the time, rather as an outstanding organist; he held a relatively minor position as a cantor and organist in Leipzig for much of his life; he had perhaps the most complete knowledge of all his contemporaries of music and the various trending international styles; he had twenty (!) children, ten of whom survived, and by the time of his death in 1750 even his family considered his music to be of a bygone era.
Another interesting thing I learned about were the cycles of over 300 cantatas that he composed for the weekly Sunday services in the Lutheran church. These were often highly complex, multi-movement works that he would compose in an unfathomably short space of time in order to have the parts copied out and rehearsed by the musicians and choir. Rather tragically for music archivists, he composed primarily for transient occasions with no sense that the music would become part of the Western cultural heritage, so many of the scores are lost, with some suffering the indignity of being used to wrap fish in local shops.
Greenberg covers a lot of ground over the 32 lectures, but perhaps my favourite section was the 4-lecture series on the St Matthew Passion. I had heard of it before and I was familiar with the chorale which is widely used today, particularly in the Catholic churches I attended in America with serious choirs. I hadn’t appreciated the sheer extent of the work however, with a staggering amount of complexity, spiritual symbolism and beauty. I intend to sit down and go through the entire Passion during Lent next year in order to experience the full power of it.
The lecture series lived up to all my expectations and I now have a deeper appreciation for both Bach and Baroque music that will in turn bring me to a better appreciation of subsequent musical styles.
I have studied music theory to Grade 8 level and I have played several of Bach's keyboard works, but there is so much in this course that I had never encountered before. I particularly appreciated the examination of what the Baroque period (1600-1750) was all about, coming as it did at the time of the Enlightenment in the wake of the Renaissance, when the order and harmony of the universe was beginning to be studied systematically and the spirit of the age was reflected in art, architecture and music. The contrast of Baroque music with Palestrina's Renaissance-era choral music was quite stark in its use of instrumentation, melody and metre, and I was fascinated to learn of the Lutheran (and therefore Bach's) reverence for the sacredness of music itself, not merely as an accompaniment to prayer but for its own mystical and spiritual character, as previously explored by Pythagoras.
My preconceived biases have generally been negative toward what I considered to be rather vanilla Baroque music, particularly in contrast to the much more interesting and expressive Classical and Romantic music of Mozart and particularly Beethoven. Yet Baroque music was itself considered progressive for its time, with its exuberant instrumentation and vast scope, not constrained by the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church in post-Reformation Europe. In fact, Bach's music is far more complex and layered than that of subsequent eras, as the contrapuntal German style receded in favour of the increasingly popular melody-driven Italian style of the Classical era.
The decline of the Catholic Church’s monopoly on Western music was significant as it enabled music to explore spaces that were previously closed to it, like opera. This development ultimately led to music evolving appreciably in ever-shortening blocks of time, moving through periods we label as Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Revolutionary, Impressionist etc, and splintering into myriad styles in France, Germany and Italy, and later American styles like Jazz and Blues, and today we generally talk about music by the decade - the 80s, 90s, 00s, and so forth.
Bach's fugues are often considered to be a coming-together of mathematics and music, however he did not consider them such, and repudiated any such association of mathematics with his music. He did however have a high regard for numerology and the significance of different numbers, keys, patterns and sequences within his works, which yields ample material for musical analysts to decipher double and triple meanings at every turn, whether or not they were intended.
Bach’s biography was fascinating in several respects: he wasn’t widely regarded as a composer in the musical scene of the time, rather as an outstanding organist; he held a relatively minor position as a cantor and organist in Leipzig for much of his life; he had perhaps the most complete knowledge of all his contemporaries of music and the various trending international styles; he had twenty (!) children, ten of whom survived, and by the time of his death in 1750 even his family considered his music to be of a bygone era.
Another interesting thing I learned about were the cycles of over 300 cantatas that he composed for the weekly Sunday services in the Lutheran church. These were often highly complex, multi-movement works that he would compose in an unfathomably short space of time in order to have the parts copied out and rehearsed by the musicians and choir. Rather tragically for music archivists, he composed primarily for transient occasions with no sense that the music would become part of the Western cultural heritage, so many of the scores are lost, with some suffering the indignity of being used to wrap fish in local shops.
Greenberg covers a lot of ground over the 32 lectures, but perhaps my favourite section was the 4-lecture series on the St Matthew Passion. I had heard of it before and I was familiar with the chorale which is widely used today, particularly in the Catholic churches I attended in America with serious choirs. I hadn’t appreciated the sheer extent of the work however, with a staggering amount of complexity, spiritual symbolism and beauty. I intend to sit down and go through the entire Passion during Lent next year in order to experience the full power of it.
The lecture series lived up to all my expectations and I now have a deeper appreciation for both Bach and Baroque music that will in turn bring me to a better appreciation of subsequent musical styles.
August 30, 2024
Wowsers. So. I'd been joining my buddy reader on a musical journey with Greenberg's wonderful lecture series and I'd been accustomed to 4-5 hours per lecture. A nice bite-sized immersion in musical history.
And then we get to Bach and the High Baroque, assuming we'd get a quick little masterwork on some masterworks.
I immediately had to change my tune -- indeed, all my tunes -- when I realized that this one was a true honker of a lecture cycle. It was only 4-5 times longer than all the rest. And then it slowly dawned on me that Greenberg must have started out with this particular period, even sharpening all his musical keys on Bach's whetstone.
And, indeed, I've never been so steeped in notation as when he showed me Bach's brilliance.
Ok. Back up. I admit I've always been a huge fan of Bach. Give me those concertos any day, or maybe the fugue, or, hell, any piano. It always spoke to me, even sharpened my mind, and I used to muse on how many future artists, even rock-n-roll artists, roll with him. It's just one of those constant idle musings, you know? I and I always enjoyed going back to Bach for the pure pleasure of it.
Fast forward to now. I've never been filled this high to the brim in musical theory, enthusiasm for the Baroque, or amazement at Bach's tonal masterpieces.
And for the future, if any ya'll pick up Greenberg's lectures, just know that this one is a definite outlier. It's great, but wow, it's overflowing, almost too much so, with composition and nitty-gritty. :)
And then we get to Bach and the High Baroque, assuming we'd get a quick little masterwork on some masterworks.
I immediately had to change my tune -- indeed, all my tunes -- when I realized that this one was a true honker of a lecture cycle. It was only 4-5 times longer than all the rest. And then it slowly dawned on me that Greenberg must have started out with this particular period, even sharpening all his musical keys on Bach's whetstone.
And, indeed, I've never been so steeped in notation as when he showed me Bach's brilliance.
Ok. Back up. I admit I've always been a huge fan of Bach. Give me those concertos any day, or maybe the fugue, or, hell, any piano. It always spoke to me, even sharpened my mind, and I used to muse on how many future artists, even rock-n-roll artists, roll with him. It's just one of those constant idle musings, you know? I and I always enjoyed going back to Bach for the pure pleasure of it.
Fast forward to now. I've never been filled this high to the brim in musical theory, enthusiasm for the Baroque, or amazement at Bach's tonal masterpieces.
And for the future, if any ya'll pick up Greenberg's lectures, just know that this one is a definite outlier. It's great, but wow, it's overflowing, almost too much so, with composition and nitty-gritty. :)
December 6, 2023
Tyler Cowen makes the case (here and here) for Bach as strong contender for 'greatest achiever of all time' across any discipline, in terms of something like quality × quantity of output.
Bach's productivity borders on the incomprehensible. More than a thousand works survive, though hundreds more were lost. Week in and week out he would turn around a cantata for the weekend's church service in the space of 2 or 3 days, to give enough time for rehearsals. And for most his working life he was actively raising 20 children.
The most celebrated stuff — Goldberg Variations, Mass in B Minor, St Matthew Passion, Well-Tempered Clavier — just have absolutely no contemporary competition; sometimes technically complex enough to impress on almost mathematical grounds. It isn't Gödel, Escher, Mozart for a reason!
Greenberg is an excellent guide through all of this of course.
Bach's productivity borders on the incomprehensible. More than a thousand works survive, though hundreds more were lost. Week in and week out he would turn around a cantata for the weekend's church service in the space of 2 or 3 days, to give enough time for rehearsals. And for most his working life he was actively raising 20 children.
The most celebrated stuff — Goldberg Variations, Mass in B Minor, St Matthew Passion, Well-Tempered Clavier — just have absolutely no contemporary competition; sometimes technically complex enough to impress on almost mathematical grounds. It isn't Gödel, Escher, Mozart for a reason!
Greenberg is an excellent guide through all of this of course.
November 12, 2024
I want to be clear, I gave this three stars because of my own inability to fully appreciate Baroque music. It has nothing to do with the quality of these lectures, which are first rate. Greenberg is a terrific speaker who really knows his stuff. The shortcomings here are all mine.
I can handle classical music in small doses and in the right circumstances, mood music or maybe the soundtrack of a movie, I just can’t sit and listen to it and think about it in depth. Johann Sebastian Bach was clearly a brilliant musician and composer. I enjoyed many of the samples of his music in these lectures and can definitely appreciate their genius. Being a history buff, I enjoyed the primer on the history of Western music. I guess it was just too much for me, too big a batch of Bach. I had a tough time concentrating.
Despite my difficulty with the depth of the coverage of this particular subject matter, Greenberg did manage to keep my attention for long stretches and that is saying something.
If you are the sort of person who can sit and listen for hours to the music of the High Baroque and enjoy examining it in detail, this will be a five star title for you.
I can handle classical music in small doses and in the right circumstances, mood music or maybe the soundtrack of a movie, I just can’t sit and listen to it and think about it in depth. Johann Sebastian Bach was clearly a brilliant musician and composer. I enjoyed many of the samples of his music in these lectures and can definitely appreciate their genius. Being a history buff, I enjoyed the primer on the history of Western music. I guess it was just too much for me, too big a batch of Bach. I had a tough time concentrating.
Despite my difficulty with the depth of the coverage of this particular subject matter, Greenberg did manage to keep my attention for long stretches and that is saying something.
If you are the sort of person who can sit and listen for hours to the music of the High Baroque and enjoy examining it in detail, this will be a five star title for you.
April 25, 2018
Профессор с большим увлечением рассказывает, но где-то на середине он меня потерял.
В этом не его вина - я абсолютно ничего не смыслю в музыке, так что когда он говорит "тут ожидалась такая нота, а Бах использовал вот такую, как это свежо и смело" я вообще ничего не понимаю и не слышу.
Биография Баха - это было интересно.
Органные фуги в начале лекции - тоже здорово.
А далее профессор подробно разбирает замечательные с его точки зрения произведения, которые для меня звучат как однообразные и скучные песнопения.
В этом не его вина - я абсолютно ничего не смыслю в музыке, так что когда он говорит "тут ожидалась такая нота, а Бах использовал вот такую, как это свежо и смело" я вообще ничего не понимаю и не слышу.
Биография Баха - это было интересно.
Органные фуги в начале лекции - тоже здорово.
А далее профессор подробно разбирает замечательные с его точки зрения произведения, которые для меня звучат как однообразные и скучные песнопения.
April 6, 2020
(NOTE: I'm stingy with stars. For me 2 stars means a good book or a B. 3 stars means a very good book or a B+. 4 stars means an outstanding book or an A {only about 5% of the books I read merit 4 stars}. 5 stars means an all time favorite or an A+ {Only one of 400 or 500 books rates this!).
The great news is that I can listen to a book a day at work. The bad news is that I can’t keep up with decent reviews. So I’m going to give up for now and just rate them. I hope to come back to some of the most significant things I listen to and read them and then post a review.
The great news is that I can listen to a book a day at work. The bad news is that I can’t keep up with decent reviews. So I’m going to give up for now and just rate them. I hope to come back to some of the most significant things I listen to and read them and then post a review.
November 23, 2020
Dr. Robert Greenberg presents The Teaching Company’s audio 1998 course entitled “Bach and High Baroque.” His part 1 course was an exceptional and very fun learning experience for me. I learned not only how Bach composed but I also learned about how he influenced classical music genres through the masterful control of melody-harmony, beat-rhythm, and repetition-interaction. Greenberg helped me better understand the social, spiritual, and creative foundations of classical music. His insights are profound and for me deeply inspiring. (P)
October 7, 2022
If you don't mind classical music, if you like Bach but are not really sure why, and if you have 25h of mostly free time I highly recommend the "Bach and the High Baroque". I love people with a passion and especially people who love to share their passions and by listening to the "Bach and the High Baroque" one has no doubt Robert Greenberg has a deep passion and appreciation for Bach music.
Give it a try, you should know after the first lecture (45 min) if it's something for you or not.
Give it a try, you should know after the first lecture (45 min) if it's something for you or not.
September 28, 2023
An enthralling account of Bach's music in the context of history, philosophy, scientific discovery, and music theory. Deep dives into basso contino (harmonic structure), the Greek/Pythagorean view of music as arithmetic, Lutheranism, humanism, Newtonian thinking, and punct contrapunct all weave nicely to give texture to the individual and his work.
I loved his comparison of Bach and Wagner as each prove or disprove the concept of music as a mirror.
I loved his comparison of Bach and Wagner as each prove or disprove the concept of music as a mirror.
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January 28, 2025This was a wonderful introduction to Bach. Robert Greenberg is an excellent educator who was able to simply explain Bach’s life, his works, and how to appreciate them. These lectures were engaging and illuminating. I did get a little lost in the music theory parts but what I was able to understand has already helped me appreciate Bach’s music. I highly recommend this lecture series for anyone curious about Bach.
June 23, 2023
I've always loved Bach but don't quite know why. This set of lessons broke it down and explain so much intricacies that I've missed before.
On top of the that, professor Greenberg is a very funny lecturer; you get a history lesson on top of music appreciation.
This is the first of many classes on tape I plan to take.
On top of the that, professor Greenberg is a very funny lecturer; you get a history lesson on top of music appreciation.
This is the first of many classes on tape I plan to take.
December 4, 2024
Now included in the Great Courses. Definitely worth the listen if you want to know more about Bach and the high baroque. Having never bothered to research music history I have no comparisons. The lecturer is quite entertaining in his own right. Some references are dated. Includes music exerps that the uninitiated find excruciating...... sigh ..... just can't please everyone.
May 29, 2020
“So we’ve gotta know this stuff! I cannot assume you’re gonna learn this on the streets! If not from me, than from who? In any case, we start on that G sharp,...”
I laughed way too hard for a lecture on fugue technique.
I laughed way too hard for a lecture on fugue technique.
February 12, 2021
A great overview of the works and biography of the Master, J.S. Bach. The series also does a good job at working its way through the musical, and relevant cultural and political, history of the High-Baroque, within which Bach was himself embedded.
January 31, 2024
WOW! That is all I can say. But one expects no less from Dr. Greenberg. His encyclopedia knowledge is fascinating and leavened with humor. This feels like a collage course with historical background and discussion of musical forms and lots of admiration of JSB.
February 2, 2025
Pretty great stuff, and a comprehensive look at Bach's life and music in context.
I was lost about halfway through when the lectures started getting in the musical weeds. Still, a joy to listen to and learn.
I was lost about halfway through when the lectures started getting in the musical weeds. Still, a joy to listen to and learn.
November 26, 2020
This lecture is simply amazing.
March 28, 2021
Wonderful course! This man is articulate, knows his music, and he definitely knows how to teach. Passionate, interesting, and funny, I plan to listen to as many of his courses as I can!
November 2, 2021
The works of a mighty genius are here fascinatingly explicated by a supremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic professor.
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