Runtime: Approx. 19 minutes

The Baroque period was an era of rapid growth and innovation in both music and other arts. Commonly recognized as 1600 to 1750, the era shepherded music through a journey from relatively simple polyphony into an astonishing array of complex forms, counterpoint, and sophisticated harmony. Many of the techniques that continue to define musical composition today originated in the Baroque period, such as the use of key centers, and many standard forms, like the concerto, came to prominence in this era. Virtuosity, too, found a foothold in the early Baroque period as art became more ornate and expansive. If you’ve ever enjoyed watching Jimmy Page shred a guitar solo or Yuja Wang perfectly execute a cadenza, you must in part thank the Baroque-era composers for producing that practice.

Like any language, Western tonality — the way we choose to divide the octave in the West — has grammatical rules. Over the different musical periods, the rules have shifted just as our language has changed. In English, for example, words cannot simply be arranged in whatever fashion tickles one’s fancy. Rules exist which govern the order that nouns, verbs, and prepositions may be placed. In Western tonal music, similarly complex rules govern how harmonies should be linked and in what order they should occur, and any of the rules we still adhere to in music today were created in the Baroque period. But just as understanding grammatical rules does not grant the ability to write a novel in beautiful prose, understanding the structure of musical language does not a composer make. Maneuvering the rules of tonal harmony into appealing and virtuosic music requires incredible skill.

Arguably no composer was more skilled than Johann Sebastian Bach. Born into a family of musicians, Bach’s early life was deeply colored by tragedy. He was orphaned at the age of nine, and later lost his first wife unexpectedly. Growing up in Protestant Lutheran northern Germany, Bach believed, like Martin Luther, that music was a gift from God and an essential and powerful means of praise.

Whether or not Bach was truly the greatest composer who ever lived, what is certain is that he played a significant and lasting role in the development of Baroque music, and all subsequent Western art music. So important was Bach to music history and development that it is generally accepted that the Baroque musical era ended in 1750, the same year as Bach’s death.

Like many groundbreaking artists, Bach was underappreciated in his lifetime and he never saw much of his music performed. Although his music didn’t enter the popular zeitgeist until long after his death — the now famous Brandenburg Concertos, for example, were discovered in a library nearly 150 years after his death —  he was hugely influential to successive composers such as Beethoven and Mozart.

But what makes Bach so great? His music is bewildering both in its complexity and density as well as its emotional breadth. He was extremely harmonically sophisticated, employing sonorities not commonly seen until nearly the 20th century. He was also a master of counterpoint — the way independent lines play against each other. In chordal harmony, (think voice and piano, for example) a melodic line is colored by accompanying chords. In counterpoint, multiple voices, all melodic themselves, are juxtaposed against each other, resulting in horizontal harmonies. Bach was a master of weaving such voices together, sometimes even hiding additional melodies within the resulting harmonies, and creating intricate musical puzzles that fit together to produce exquisite and highly emotional works. The English author Douglas Adams perhaps put it best when he said “Beethoven tells you what it’s like to be Beethoven and Mozart tells you what it’s like to be human. Bach tells you what it’s like to be the universe.”

Bach was also a remarkable improviser, which may be why many prominent Jazz artists also cite him as a significant influence. Simply put, no other composer before or since has earned the adoration of such a wide range of subsequent artists. He is to hundreds of years of composers what The Beatles were to rock bands, except that Bach’s influence also extends to The Beatles.

Not much is known about the circumstances surrounding the writing of the Brandenburg Concertos. The pieces were composed separately but sent as a collection to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt. While the exact reason behind the musical offering is unconfirmed, historians have guessed that Bach was simply looking for a job and sent along a musical resume.

The instrumentation — solo violin and flute, orchestrated over obbligato harpsichord and strings — may appear odd, but it was typical of the time for a composer to simply write for the musicians who were currently in residence at court. Bach’s deft orchestration highlights the unique characteristics of each instrument and ensures that each voice shines through the dense texture. The three movements follow the typical fast-slow-fast form with the center movement scored for soloists alone.

All the aforementioned qualities of Bach’s writing are on sparkling display in all six of the Brandenburg Concertos, with No. 5 providing a compelling example of both the stunning emotional range and razor-sharp skill that defines his music.

Written by Valerie Sly, 2024