J.S. Bach Flute Sonata in B Minor free essay sample

Baroque Flute, the flautists and the music Johann Sebastian Bach O. S. Bach) is no doubt one of the greatest composers of all times. He composed many works for flute including works for solo flute, flute with harpsichord and/or continuo and, two flutes and harpsichord. However, there has been a controversy, over the flute works, whether they were composed solely by the composer, assisted by someone or under the guidance of J. . Bach. In addition, some scholars doubted that some of works are not written for flute and they are actually reinsurance for flute by the composer. Especially, the Sonata in B minor (VOW 1030) raises most number of controversies, The J. S. Bach flute compositions are standard repertoire for the flute even today. As a professional flute player, It Is very important to have comprehensive knowledge on the background of these works because they directly affect the way of interpreting them. By reviewing the development of Baroque flute and analyzing the time period of the compositions would greatly help flutists to have a deeper understanding on these Important repertoire In flute especially the B minor sonata (BOW 1030). The development of the instrument, Baroque flute, plays no doubt very important role on influencing the work written for it. The deference in range, tonality, mechanisms greatly affect the compositions written for It. Unlike other wind instruments, the Baroque flute was developed later than others.Since it is made differently, it is definitely impossible to apply the styles of other instruments on the Baroque flute. Some research suggested that J. S. Bach has little familiarly of the flute and flute players because, although the style of the compositions are similar to the other ices of the composer, the flute works do not show that he understands the characteristic and the quality of the instrument. L And, the lack of knowledge of the flute would probably be because the composer did not listen much works for flute and meet flutists In where he worked.As mentioned above, the development of Baroque Flutes has great impact on how the pieces were written for it. Consequently, it is impossible to overlook this element when doing this research. Flute Is a general term for a large and diverse woodwind Instrumental family of which players blow alarm across the surface of any hollow object o produce sound. The appearance of the instrument, not only in western music, is found all over the globe like did-Uzi in China. 2 In Western music, flute plays an Important role from ancient Greek music to contemporary music nowadays.The design, uses and playing styles keep changing even today. As one of the oldest instruments in Western music, flutes first appear in a picture of a shepherd playing the flute from the sermons of SST Gregory of nature and pastoral life. In Renaissance, flute was one of the instruments in mixed ensemble. More importantly, it played a notable role in sacred concerti or sacred homophones. Johann Hermann Scheme (1586-1630), one of J. S. Bachs predecessors, composed seven ensemble works that featured a transverse flute which is always assigned to the second voice.This tradition went on to the Baroque era and solo flute works became more popular from 1670. There were large changes in its mechanisms. The new instrument is now built in three or four sections instead of one piece; it is modified from a large cylindrical bore to a conical bore in which the diameter of the headpiece Nas greater than the foot piece which improves the tuning of the upper notes; most Importantly, one key was added in the foot piece so there is an extra note which the little finger of the right hand cannot reach originally and it produces the new note d#. These inventions are very important. However, there is a common misunderstand, however, regarding the flute as a single instrument. In fact, it refers to an instrumental family in the Baroque Period. There are, generally speaking, eight different kinds of flutes including concert flute, descant flute and flute dammar. Different kinds of flutes appeared in different pitches. 5 In the music that Bach wrote for flute, he did not, like all the composers at that period of time, specify the type of flute they writing for.In addition, there is a possibility that different flutes were used in different performances. All flutes were Mitten as if they were in the key of D especially in the first quarter of the 18th century. As a result, it is difficult to Judge which flute the composer had in mind from the music. 6 In the Journal J. S. Bachs Compositions for Solo Flute: A Reconsideration of Their Authenticity and Chronology by Robert L. Marshall, he suggests: It is still widely lived that Bach wrote eight works for the solo flute.But the view that has prevailed among Bach specialists for the past fifteen years is that the rather similar Sonatas for flute and harpsichord obbligato in G Minor (BOW 1020) and E Flat Major BIBB 1031) were probably composed by someone else-most likely Carl Philipp Emanuel Bachand that the Sonata in C Major for flute and continuo (BOW 1033) was Mitten by one-or two-of Bachs students (one of them, again, might have been Emanuel Bach), presumably in part under the composers active supervision and Intervention. 7 This suggestion probably comes from the lack of normal musical style in his writing.Moreover, his writing shows no understanding of the qualities of the instrument. However, this argument seems invalid when considering the type of flute Bach was Mitten for. The first flute solo work by Bach, Parfait in a minor (BOW 1013), was Mitten between about 1720 and 1730. He was one of the fir st German composers ho started composing music for solo flute. This may be stimulated by the new four- piece design of the Baroque flute. The instrument has an advanced feature to have n extended foot]mint giving the note c however, Bach did not use this new feature in his B minor flute sonata (BOW 1030).