[Dixielandjazz] Re: Was Bach really Bach?

[LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing]

Bach was of course a master of improv which were called  Inventions.  Using
figured bass left the player the freedom to "compose" the other several
parts within the piece.  The question is did Bach sound like Bach.  Today we
assume, because of all the harmonic rules that were in force at the time
that nothing else could have been done.  We do know from musical history
that when innovators came along there were sometimes riots.  I don't think
we will really ever now if Bach sounded like we suppose Bach sounded like.

I have often compared Dixieland as being a modern from most like Mozart.  I
say that because Mozart used intricate intertwining contrapuntal lines
exactly in the same way that the clarinet plays against the cornet line and
the Trombone is doing something entirely different.  I think that if there
is a modern form that Mozart would like the most it would be Dixieland.

Yes I think if these guys lived today they would be composing music in
contemporary modes but they wouldn't be like the composers we know, they
would be like Elton John or Leonard Bernstein.

So far as Bach's 23 kids.  That was a sanctioned activity in his day.
Obviously he swung in the bedroom but I don't think the church would have
allowed him to deviate on the keyboard.  I say that because I teach music at
a Lutheran school.  I hope I don't offend anyone but their music is the
antithesis of swing.  Extrapolating back I think he (Bach)was pretty
straight at least in public.

Without modern birth control, many of us on this list would also have 23
kids too.

Larry Walton
St. Louis
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Janie McCue Lynch" <janie51 at socal.rr.com>
To: "LARRY'S Signs and Large Format Printing" <sign.guy at charter.net>
Cc: "Dixieland Jazz Mailing List" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2005 4:59 PM
Subject: Swing those songs was NEW TUNES FOR OKOM?


> From Larry:
>
> "Speaking of the masters. I do think they would like the different
> interpretations of their work. To be copied is a form of flattery. The
only
> two that I think that might not like changes were Bach and Beethoven. Bach
> because he came from a very straight laced society and Beethoven because
he
> was generally mad at everything and I really don't think he liked his life
> outside of music much. Mozart on the other hand was I think a lot like
Elton
> John and would have gotten a kick out of it and then suggested changes to
> make it better."
>
> I agree with you about Beethoven and Mozart, Larry, but disagree regarding
> Bach.  Bach did, indeed, live in an externally circumscribed time, but
> remember that he had three wives, with whom he sired twenty six children!
>
> I read a recent article in Piano Today magazine regarding Bach's
Three-Part
> Inventions, in which the author quotes theorist FW Marpurg (1760) in
> discussing Bach's passion for "keeping the materials and their
relationships
> constantly fascinating" when composing so much fugal or canonic music.
> Marpurg notes that "Bach pronounced the works of a fine old contrapuntist
> dry and wooden, because that composer stuck continuously, without any
change
>  to his principal subject; and certain fugues by a more modern
contrapuntist
> pedantic, because he had not shown enough fire in the episodes to
reanimate
> the theme."
>
> I think if JSB could inject such passion into works that were regimented
by
> the era and also by the necessity of his earning a living by pleasing
those
> of that era, that if he were around now he would compose some wonderful
jazz
> and it would definitely swing!  That being impossible, my bet is that he
> would love to hear other takes on his works.
>
> Thank you, Larry, for your always interesting posts!
>
> Jane Lynch
> janie51 at socal.rr.com
>