Did Bach write for the piano? No. Was he aware? Yes. Was his piano like a modern piano? No, Not at all. It was so different we don't call it a piano nowadays.
Well, I argue that he did write for the fortepiano. It's true that the fortepiano was still a long way from the piano we know today, but it does allow the player to add much more dynamism to the music compared to a harpsichord, exactly what one would do on the modern piano. With the same logic, also Mozart and Van Beethoven didn't write for the modern piano.
Please never stoppig to do these videos. You are doing something that will last many and many years and a lot of people will be benefit from your amazing Work Really thanks for what you do, It's unique in the world.
I don't know whether my videos are unique, but I'm trying my best to create something that people might find interesting to watch. Thank you very much!
Your videos ARE unique. But regardless of that fact, they are also incredibly important. There is a big lack of public entertainment about Bach. If any filmmakers are watching this comment, TAKE NOTES! No pun intended!@@BachTheAnimatedSeries
last line gave me straight up chills lol. thanks for the very informative video yet again, and keep up the great work :). prelude in g sharp minor is one of my favorites from the second book
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries Didn't mean it as a correction, especially since these designations are informal. I was unaware of Bach's input to the development of the piano. I'd always heard he tried it and didn't like it.
@@fyfyi6053I thought the same and only enjoyed the likes of Chopin, rach, ravel etc but after playing and listening to more Bach I honestly am starting to really enjoy his music
I must to coment again. Man, what you do is like the BACH HIMSELF IS TALKING TO ME. The felling about this is so good that i have no words to please you. Bach is imortal because people like you make his move live than never. Thanks, obrigado. (from Brazil)
It can even work flipping it ‘upside down’ (Prelude 1 C major Bk 1) - a compositional trick Bach frequently employed (albeit only phrases) as well as reversing. Anyway, worth listening to the re-written Prelude (puts it into minor key) - the chordal progressions sound very contemporary and weirdly beautiful
Bach's music is so expressive that the notion he would deny it to be played on the Piano is unfathomable. Bach is known to have transcribed some of his compositions for different instruments himself. I play the Bach solo Violin Partitas and Sonatas, the solo Cello Suites, and the Lute Suites on Classical Guitar. I really don't think he'd mind.
I like mentioning the Schubler chorales to the anti-transcription crowd (as there is a sizeable crowd of organists opposed to playing transcriptions on the organ).
40 years ago I started learning classical guitar.That introduced me to the works of Bach and started a love of Baroque music in general,and a life long obsession with pipe organs. I think Bach would have loved the modern classical guitar for his music as much as the Baroque lute.Same with piano. Also,thank you so much for the series. I recently found this channel,and am at episode 17. It's wonderful to see on screen what was only previously visions in my mind from stories I've read,or heard from documentaries.
This is a piece of art! Thank you so much for bringing such useful content in a so entertaining form to watch! Keep going, you're going to get noticed soon
Very interesting. Always found this attitude of "doing this thing in music the right way!" weird. For me, music is all about bringing something unique to the table, changing things, without forgetting their origins, of course. Thank you for this.
This is great, so nice to see. I'm total Bach-head and for a long time I've playing Bach and had this idea that Bach was a lot more flexible and would have loved to see and hear the new technology of keyboards. Don't get me wrong, I love Bach on original instruments but I also like hear and play Bach with some modern influences and sounds. I have a project I'm working on called The Oddly Bach project in which I arrange Bach on different instruments and sometimes in arrange Bach into odd meters. I've been working on some Well-Tempered Clavier and arrangements. I've recorded one so far a Prelude that I change from 8/8 to 7/8 played with a Rhodes piano sound (on my youtube channel if you're interested).
What you say is very true, but I disagree on one small thing: the fortepiano and the piano are not the same instrument. It's suffered an important evolution to even say that the fortepiano would be considered as the modern piano's grandfather. My point is that the modern pianists should take interest in playing baroque music with instruments that already existed at the time (not literally). Most of the pianists (even the top ones like András Schiff or Glen Gould) play Bach's pieces with a romantic approach. That, in my opinion, is exactly what shouldn't be done, because it doesn't respect the historicist interpretation. Baroque music is very free and it has lots different ways to be played. Please respect it, as it has been the hard work of historicist researchers to rediscover the beautiful techniques of this musical era.
Yes, you are quite right about the fortepiano of course, and the same could be said about Mozart or Van Beethoven who didn't know the modern piano either. I agree about Schiff but not Gould, ar least not the later Gould. According to me it's a mistake to play baroque music too technically, almost like a computer. Bach's music is perhaps the most emotionally rich but unfortunately all too often musicians see him as a speed contest, whereas his music is meant to stir the soul within.
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries I don't think baroque is technical. I myself have played the harpsichord for the last 9 years and my experience has taught me that baroque is very flexible, I would even say that it's more flexible than most of the musical genres and eras. Frescobaldi's toccatas require flexibility, as well as Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre's or Louis Couperin's non mesurée preludes... Baroque is certainly very rich in variety and this is exactly why it should be respected. Musicians can choose lots of baroque ways to play music and still be playing historically.
@guillermogonzalezgarcia5068 I don't agree. No modern player is 'themself' historical. You are alive, and Bach is dead, and out of copyright! Play it any damn way you want to, and stop pretending that it's historically correct!
@@Michael_Arnold The same way harpsichordists don't play Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Ravel and other later composer's music because the instrument itself doesn't have the sound and technical requirements that the piano has, the modern piano doesn't have the sound and musical aims of the baroque music. I don't restrict baroque music to pianists, by all means, let pianists get to know the beauty of this style, but my message is about the awareness of the historicist school.
Thanks for another great video! There is no music more versatile than that of Bach, yet some so called "purists" are still trying to put him into a box. We know he was always interested in the latest tech. Not only would he love our modern piano, he would also appreciate Wendy Carlos style performances on moog synthesizers.
I think that if Johan Sebastian Bach could somehow travel to the future (be it the 19th century, or the present day), he would never be capable of ignoring the marvel of musical technology that is the modern piano, nor the advances of music that came with it. A lot of his keyboard pieces are also just that, keyboard pieces. They can be played on a spinet, an organ, or a synth. I don’t see any reason not to play his keyboard music, and in general, medieval, renaissance and baroque keyboard music, on the modern king of keyboard instruments, the piano. P.S. I also think that historically informed performance on period instruments should have their place because they’re amazing!
Very interesting episode. It certainly makes a lot of sense. Your playing is beautiful. I believe that , a thoughtful and emotional performance can be played on any instrument… if the player is a sensitive soul and respects the composer.
Another engaging and very interesting video, Peter. Having never played a real harpsichord, only my old synthesizer, I'm sometimes in two minds as to which I prefer. At the end of the day the piano wins, but depending on my mood and the piece being played, the harpsichord comes a very close second. Loved Fantasia, very well played, thanks for sharing. 👏👏
Thank you very much, John! I'm exactly like you and often I prefer the harpsichord as well, though when I'm truly honest, most of the time the piano wins because I feel that I can put more of my soul into it. Thank you once more! 😊
As I always say to those who says Bach cannot be played on the piano using pedals. “Please, don’t use any dynamics either” - as you can’t do that on most harpsichords. Bach’s music is so beautiful and we should do it as beautiful as we can with the means we have.
A delightful episode, dealing with a polemic topic, progressives vs purists, and i love the final conclusión. Thank You Peter for revealing information about the G sharp minor prelude, i wonder if the same indications on the Italian Concerto refer to the piano forte rather than harpsichord manuals. Beautiful Playing of the C minor fantasia, what a joy this channel is !. Perhaps (just a personal intuition) , during the Baroque, music was so much more about ideas and it´s architecture and proportions, so the instrument was just an available medium. Later on as music and art evolved towards the individual, it became more intertwined with the instrument , in a way that, for instance, a successful translation of Chopin to the Harpsichord would be very unlikely . Bach Music can weather temperaments, bad instruments, even sloppy performances or weird tempos , and still retain it´s value, Even on 8bit it´s still Bach, That´s a miracle. May be the.problem is not so much the modern piano, but all the idiomatic weight that romantic music brought to it, and how to go back to the purity of ideas when performing Bach on it. I´m sure that he would have loved the possibilities and dynamics of today´s instruments seeking out even farther. Cheers & immense thank You for Your wonderful work.
Thank you very much, Sergio, for your wonderful comments. I think that you've expressed this matter so much better than I have in the video. Absolutely spot on! Well said!
Thanks Peter , as much the series is often in black and grey shades, what you created brings a lot of light to a world increasingly devoid of humanity and empathy and appreciation of spiritual matters. Big fan. cheers
I've heard pieces of music by JS Bach played on a Moog Synthesizer, and I have to admit that the Moog Synthesizer actually enhanced his music rather than took anything away from it, I think Bach himself would most likely have been intrigued by the sonic and musical capabilities of the Moog Synthesizer.
@BachTheAnimatedSeries I agree, you can hear it in his compositions, he most likely absorbed a lot of musical influences during his travels, I can sometimes hear influences from Italian composers in his compositions, unless my ears are lying to me.
I believe harpsichord is generally the go to and a better examples for most of his works and I do much prefer harpsichord to piano but just conveniently I was just playing out of the well tempered clavier and das orgelbüchlein on my midi organ and I set it to piano and played the works again after strictly playing harpsichord and organ and something just felt right for once. I really don't care for the piano much but I'm just very picky which pianos I like but I realized just how much more emotion can be expressed on the piano in different ways and it took me back. Bach would probably have enjoyed music on the modern piano and I really think I understand it now.
Thank you for your kind comments. You actually nailed it in the sense that it doesn't really matter which instrument you use because Bach will always sound great. Cheers!
I love that final piece (BWV 921), quite obscure. I played it on harpsichord for a school competition many years ago. I always thought this was early Bach and I don't know much about it, I'd heard there was no autograph score of this but I may be mistaken. I'm curious to know if there is one and when it is dated. It definitely works well on both piano and harpsichord and I still play it (on piano...wish I owned a harpsichord!)
Thank you very much! Yes, it's a rather early piece, early Weimar period if I'm not mistaking. I don't know about the manuscript but you could try and search the Berlin Staatsbibliotheke (sorry... I'm having a bit of a hectic evening). It's indeed a rather dark piece and the chord progressions are just amazing. I'm sure that you enjoyed playing it on your harpsichord as much as I did on my electronic piano. Cheers! 😊
Never been too much into animation, not even when I was a child, but this series is one of the rare exception (and cannot be but as such). I'm one of those which thinks Bach or any other Baroque composer sound better on harpsichord, and given the choice I exclusively listen to them played on it or the organ, but I also am unbothered by people playing them on piano.
His music can absolutely be played on the piano, but the question is why would we play it on a piano? It’s not pianistic, definetely not as pianistic as 19th and 20th century music, we could also say it sounds way better on instruments of his period like harpsichord (especially the dances).
Well, that's a matter of opinion. Personally I think that his music sounds better on the piano as you can more easily express emotions with it. But the point is that Bach will always be Bach and his music sounds great on any instrument. That's something that can't be said of every composer.
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries I agree that Bach’s is a great composer but the reason his music can be played on other instruments is mainly one being that he played on instruments that don’t have as many sound capabilities as the piano. For instance if we take any baroque work for the keyboard and we play it on piano, that will also work very well because of the same reason, the harpsichord’s sound can be imitated on a piano. The same cannot be said the other way around, the piano has sounds that simply cannot be reproduced on other instruments, especially baroque ones, if we take romantic and impressionistic composers we can’t just transpose their music as they are onto another instrument, that just won’t work, that’s the reason why piano music is almost always transcribed for orchestra. That doesn’t make a composer better or worse, it’s just difference in the instruments. That being said Bach can sound very good on the piano I didn’t mean it that way! I just think that the piano can go way beyond the baroque sound! Lastly, if you read this all xd, I really enjoyed your video, keep making them as they’re very interesting!! Cheers.
Thanks so much! This reinforces the conclusion I’ve been drawing for myself. The piano is what most other keyboard instruments aspired to become, in a manner of speaking. Makes me wish it had been developed just a little earlier, so that Bach himself could have heard more of his own music played on this vastly improved instrument.
Yes, I'm sure Bach would have loved our modern piano, though he probably already knew that his fortepiano would one day evolve into what we have today. Like someone else said here, one of the miracles about Bach's music (and Baroque in general) is that it sounds wonderful on any instrument. Thank you for your kind words!
Wonderful ! I have not finished your Bach series yet as I like to take my time with them, but I must confess I could not hold myself of watching this recent video. Look at the cast shadows you have depicted in Bach's face and body! It is truly enjoyable to look at those transitions of gray, I even found myself kind of hypnotized by the artwork and not being able to focus on what was being said at the moment, and so I had to re-watch it. I believe I could sound like if I am "gushing", and I really hope it is not overbearing, but this is truly outstanding and I do not know how could I remain quiet; plus your playing is beautiful! I would like to know something, though. What is your overall sincere opinion on the Vienna Imperial VST? Thank you Mr. Fielding-Bach.
Hello Alan and thank you for your kind words! Don't worry about the "gushing", you've made my day. 😊 I'm also happy that you like my new drawing style... as you can see throughout the series, I had to start from being a complete ignorant of animation to where I am now and every new episode taught me new things (and 24 will hopefully be better still). Now about the Imperial, it sounds awesome but... there is a drawback, i.e. that it requires 300GB of hard drive space and it has to be on a fast SSD, otherwise you'll get cracks and glitches during playback. I didn't have the space on my SSD so I had to park it on my secondary (normal) HD and so it turned out to be unusable for live playing. So for the time being I've settled for their (free!) "soft" Imperial which only requires a few GB and which sounds wonderful nonetheless, as you can hear.
Thank you! I was tempted to download the free version too, but ..., whenever it is about free things I need to establish firm boundaries of frugality-there is something new and interesting to download every now and then and only so much memory available .At least now I know it is worth the space. And yes, your artwork has grown so drastically along the series! Thank you for your love towards art, it inspires many of us in following our passions, I assure you🌏
Excellent take on Sebastian Bach👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏….you‘re quite right…in his last 15 years of his life he was acquainted with versions of Fortepiano and he composed many manuscripts for this instrument in mind.
Being a piano player, I've always taken to Bach on the piano. The piano allows so much expression. Would Bach sneer at dynamics applied to his fugues, for instance? I don't know, but my hunch is Bach would just love the piano for all his non-organ keyboard works.
Really? That I didn't know about, but after looking it up on Google I found this: music.stackexchange.com/questions/64418/bachs-keyboard-concertos-on-fortepiano It appears that Bach was even more tied to the early fortepiano than I thought. Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention!
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries I had read a bit of that paper whose link is in that page. That's where I got that info. But the person on the page may be right.
In Bach's organ music, you can find indications for "piano" and "forte" dynamics too. The method for executing these indications on the organ is by switching keyboards or registrations, and for the harpsichord it is the same. Since this was the way to execute these indications, every keyboardist, including the juniors, had to be very accustomed to switching keyboards quickly, especially if they were organists like Bach. Regarding the prelude you mentioned, it is unlikely that Bach wrote those indications with the piano in mind
Well, I tend to disagree with you here for the reasons I stated, especially the fact that Bach only used these annotations in his later works. About the organ, usually the music permitted enough interval to switch manuals or change registrations, but with BWV887 this isn't the case.
Thats a bit of a stretch, the only organ piece where Bach indicates manual changes by piano and forte is the Prelude and Fugue in E flat major BWV552. So it's not his organ music in general but just one composition
@@BachTheAnimatedSeriesThe time interval is not important for a keyboard shift which happens in a split second or is created by a finger bridge; there's no evidence that these marks refer to a hammerklavier.
As far as I know, Bach also rarely put these indications in his organ works and there the change usually occurs when a new voice is added, leaving enough time to change manual or register. Also in this case the jump's usually done with only one hand, or the pedals keep playing so there's continuity. In this particular keyboard prelude, on the other hand, the jump should be made with both hands simultaneously whilst playing fast 16th notes. Also a finger bridge is impossible here. I'd like to see someone try...
Unless the composer likely wrote music specifically with an keyboard instrument's given tone as a final goal, I'd say, give the composer a little credit, if Bach had a modern grand piano, he'd love to have the extra creative and expressive flexibility of the instrument to play any of his music. Artists don't generally like to constrain their creativity artificially to a specifically limited tool if a better one is available. Because I also studied voice, I hear many vocal passages on the keyboard when I play certain pieces because I can. Bach could do infinitely more with his musical mind and I assume he was not dreaming in harpsichord sounds and then going to the orchestra to mimic that. No, he dreamed in orchestral sound, and used his everyday keyboard instrument wherever he was working to hammer out (haha) his orchestral ideas. A modern piano would let him work out/express those richer inner musical ideas much more than a crummy plucked harpischord. Music at the level of Bach's mind is a lot less about instruments and much more about the perfected modulation of human emotive aesthetic response.
@@ThiloAbend I rebuild them and design novel harpsichord and virginal jack solutions, plus I play both. I also studied several orchestral instruments and voice (classical) but spent most of my training as a performer in classical piano, which I also repair, as well as tuning to modern temperaments to explore new possibilities in resonance. I may have mis-communicated above, some including myself really appreciate the sound of plucked keyboard instruments, my grand piano will never produce the kind of aesthetic experience that a harpsichord with a period traverso 'en duet' can - it's sublime. But, it's not as robust as the modern piano musically. Sometimes I wish it were, and play harpsichord samples on an electric piano in order to gain significant velocity control. But digitized sound is such a rude surrogate on so many levels...
The first and foremost problem isn’t the pianoforte as an instrument but the „normal tuning“ for this instrument, i.e. the equal temperament, especially for his compositions for a well tempered (not equal tempered!) keyboard…
You know, when I published this video I was so angry at myself for not having Bach saying that it doesn't matter which instrument you use to play his music, but to please respect his temperament and his (432Hz) tuning. 😊 But as you may have noticed, I used it for the recordings on my electronic piano. Modern technology to the rescue. 😉
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries There are so many Bach recordings with 432 concert pitch, but unfortunately I cannot find any relations to Bach in the relevant literature regarding a preferred pitch, pls see for example www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Esoteric-Keyboard-Temperaments.pdf or www.bachdiskographie.de/stim/stim_einfuehrung.html
I'm here "by chance" and it's really superb..too bad there isn't a "French" translation, because my English is not very good..But I suppose that would require too much work..Have a nice day and thank you..Michel-Henri
Salut Michel-Henri! Je suis désolé mais mon Français n'est pas assez bien pour faire des sous-titres aussi en ta langue. Mais YT fournit des sous-titres en tous les langues et, de ce que j'ai vu, ils ne sont pas mals. Merci infiniment pour tes commentaires! 😊
True, but then you should also stop playing Mozart or Van Beethoven on a modern piano. I just wanted to show that things aren't as black and white and that Bach was definitely aware of this "new" instrument.
@@BachTheAnimatedSeriesyes! And that's exactly what I was doing. I quit the modern piano and startet to play every composer on the instruments they knew. And it was a mindblowing and live changibg experience, because every note just startet to make sense and every aspect of the piece came to life without any compromise. The modern piano isnot at all able to show this, because it sounds allways the same. And more importantly, it sounds the same in every register today. It's boring. Older pianos and harpsichords of course have been built with the principles of a different color in every register and that's why the works are composed like they are. Someone who plays Beethoven only on the modern piano will never solve the mystery of his way of composing.
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This is great, though I think it would benefit from a bit of background music
Yes, I was actually thinking about it, but in the past I got comments telling me that the background music was too distracting. 🙄
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@@BachTheAnimatedSeries oh? Yeah, I guess it’s possible that something very noticeable could take away some attention from the viewer… Perhaps something very quiet or a bit “farther away” (some IR reverb could do it)? Great job in any case, what a great series!
Consider me a Bach purist. Music he wrote for the harpsichord should be played on the harpsichord just as Mozart's clarinet concerto shouldn't be played with a saxophone.
Which piece did Bach "specifically" write for the harpsichord? The titles of his keyboard works all say "Klavier" ("keyboard"), meaning that they were intended for every keyboard instrument. It wasn't until the classical era that music pieces were dedicated to one specific instrument. Bach himself played the clavicord most of the time. A piece of evidence about the pianoforte that was brought to my attention yesterday, was a flyer that announced a Bach concert at Zimmermann's coffee house in 1733, stating that Bach would play an instrument "previously unheard of".
At the risk of coming off as obtuse, did not Bach write his violin concertos for the violin? Did he perform it on an organ? It's my understanding what was so unique about the piano forte is it hammered the string instead of plucking it. It seems to me the term Klavier, the German word for keyboard, was a generic term for the standard keyboards of the day in the mind of Bach; is this not true? Was the piano forte in his day the only klavier that did not use a plectrum?
Todays piano didn't exist in Beethoven's life let alone Bach's. I've heard recordings of some of Beethoven's piano sonatas and symphonies performed on the instruments of His day 50 years post Bach; Its clear to me why many had trouble with LvB's music at the time. The instruments of the day simply couldn't handle well what LvB expected. It seems to me the problem with Bach on a modern piano is it has far more expressive capabilities than a piano forte had in 1733. Do you have such recordings? That is the version you should have used not on a modern piano. This is the opposite problem of LvB whose music was fully realized with modern instruments. It's not that I am so arrogant to forbid anyone playing inventions on a modern piano as much as it sounds to me natural on a harpsichord. Also lets not forget why he write well tempered... that was the tuning system of the day. Could Bach have even imagined an equal tempured system? If no, then he couldn't so on a modern piano. I'm not such a purist that I demand to listen to all baroque well tempered.
Bach actually made several transcriptions of his and other works for other instruments. Of course it's difficult to play e.g. Bach's sonatas for violin on another instrument because that instrument should have at least the same range and capabilities as the violin. But a keyboard remains a keyboard. I actually have listened to Bach being played on a Silbermann fortepiano and I think it sounds great. As I'm sure that Bach would have loved the sound of his music on our modern piano. About temperament, you're mixing things up. Any keyboard instrument can be tuned anyway you like. As it turns out, when I play Bach, I always tune my electronic piano to Just Temperament and... to 432Hz. Didn't you notice? 😉
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries You make valid points and have given me much to consider. I did not realize you had tuned this recording differently. I did listen again... it does seem bright to my ears. I have been taught that we've lost these aural distinctions as a result of equal temperament; it never occurred to me that I could train my ears to embrace the differences. I was taught if I could go back in time and hear Bach himself play, it'd sound out of tune. Is there a recording of the pianoforte piece you mentioned? I was also taught Bach didn't think much of the fortepiano and lost a longtime friendship over it. Regardless, I admire your work here immensely.
I'm sorry, but if I had given Bach a German accent, all of the other characters in the series would've had to have a similar accent as well. This would have made it less understandable...
Bach wrote beautiful music. At the time, the harpichord ŵas the most popular instrument. Bach wanted to sell music? So why not appeal to the widest potential buyers.
Bach couldn't really sell his music. In Weimar and Köthen he was in the service of a patron and he had to write exclusively for them. Then in Leipzig he had to write for the church, though later in his life he tried to break free from his obligations. Unfortunately he only managed to have a few of his works printed. 😥
There is absolutely no objective reason why a performer MUST keep to the composer's initial "intention" when playing his music. The significance of the dispute around this question is similar to the one about how one should make the sign of the cross - left side first (the Catholics) or right side first (the Orthodox). Enough with it already! In all ages, purists and proponents of the "sole authorized" way of doing things, "by official appointment" if possible, were a royal pain in the whazoo and an impediment to creativity. It it is no different in this case. Whether Bach "meant" for his music to be played on this keyboard instrument or another (there is even evidence that some of his famous keyboard concertos were initially written for a string instrument) is a secondary issue at best, one I wouldn't waste any time on. The brilliance of Bach's music is such that it can be played on any instrument, including a plastic recorder.
honestly? most keyboardists just have a cheap/mid-priced digital keyboard. if i told a bach purist i wanted to learn and play a bach piece, what the hell would they say? "no"? i hardly believe id be told "lol lmao go buy a harpsichord, or are you too poor? lolol" or something even remotely close..
Well, I don't think they would be so disdainful, they just believe that a musical piece should - in theory - be played on the instrument that the composer intended. I only have an electronic keyboard, but playing Bach brings me peace of mind nonetheless. I suppose that you and most other people feel the same. 😊
It is an insult to Bach that his music would not sound "beautiful" with a musical instrument other than the one for which it was written. Modern sequencers, such as the Moog synthesizer, emphasize the abstract character that an acoustic instrument distracts from.
I fully agree. And for which instrument was it written anyway? Bach wrote "Klavier" ("keyboard") and he himself played the clavicord most of the time because his house was already noisy enough without the loud sound of a harpsichord.
This was very interesting!!! I personally would choose the harpsichord over the piano any day because it just sounds wayyy better to me but I think Bach’s keyboard pieces on the piano sound just as well as if they were played on a harpsichord or a clavichord!! Thanks for another amazing video
Thank you very much! Yes, it all boils down to personal taste and fortunately there are so many recordings on so many different instruments to choose from. But Bach will always be Bach. 😊
@@sh1r013He said that about Silbermann's first attempt, like I said in the video that Bach wasn't impressed at first, but later his opinion would definitely change.
Yes, I know. But if I had given Bach a German accent, all of the other characters in the series would've had to have a similar accent as well. This would have made it less understandable and perhaps also a bit pedantic. But if you watch ep. 17 I'm sure you'll be happy. 😊
Did Bach write for the piano? No. Was he aware? Yes. Was his piano like a modern piano? No, Not at all. It was so different we don't call it a piano nowadays.
Well, I argue that he did write for the fortepiano. It's true that the fortepiano was still a long way from the piano we know today, but it does allow the player to add much more dynamism to the music compared to a harpsichord, exactly what one would do on the modern piano. With the same logic, also Mozart and Van Beethoven didn't write for the modern piano.
@@BachTheAnimatedSeriestrue! They didn't that's why Beethoven sounds much better on the fortepiano
Please never stoppig to do these videos. You are doing something that will last many and many years and a lot of people will be benefit from your amazing Work
Really thanks for what you do, It's unique in the world.
I don't know whether my videos are unique, but I'm trying my best to create something that people might find interesting to watch. Thank you very much!
Your videos ARE unique. But regardless of that fact, they are also incredibly important. There is a big lack of public entertainment about Bach. If any filmmakers are watching this comment, TAKE NOTES! No pun intended!@@BachTheAnimatedSeries
last line gave me straight up chills lol. thanks for the very informative video yet again, and keep up the great work :). prelude in g sharp minor is one of my favorites from the second book
Yes, I sort of hoped that that line had this effect. 🤣 That prelude is so exciting, pure Jazz if you ask me. Thank you very much!
Me too. The last line combined with BWV 921 just gives me the chills. This channel is a gem.
The piano has been called _The Crown Prince_ of instruments, but the organ is _The King_
I stand corrected! 😊
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries Didn't mean it as a correction, especially since these designations are informal. I was unaware of Bach's input to the development of the piano. I'd always heard he tried it and didn't like it.
And the harpsichord is the queen ❤
I believe Bach couldn't care less which instruments we use. His music works with any arrangement!
Very true! 😊
as a sax player who plays a lot of Bach, I 100% agree
lol The most overrated composer of all time. Doesn't matter what instrument you play Bach on cause it always sounds just as boring and uninteresting.
@@tylersakow8587 Try finding a composer that's less repetitive. A composer who wrote music for larger orchestras also wouldn't hurt.
@@fyfyi6053I thought the same and only enjoyed the likes of Chopin, rach, ravel etc but after playing and listening to more Bach I honestly am starting to really enjoy his music
I must to coment again. Man, what you do is like the BACH HIMSELF IS TALKING TO ME. The felling about this is so good that i have no words to please you.
Bach is imortal because people like you make his move live than never.
Thanks, obrigado. (from Brazil)
Thank you very much! Perhaps it's a bit cocky to "pretend" to be the real Bach, though hopefully these videos treat hime with the respect he deserves.
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries hahahhaha no no your work is perfect
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries It's lovely to hear Bach speak with an English accent!
It can even work flipping it ‘upside down’ (Prelude 1 C major Bk 1) - a compositional trick Bach frequently employed (albeit only phrases) as well as reversing. Anyway, worth listening to the re-written Prelude (puts it into minor key) - the chordal progressions sound very contemporary and weirdly beautiful
Yes, amazing, isn't it? It's exactly this almost 20th century feel which made me choose this particular piece. 😊
Bach's music is so expressive that the notion he would deny it to be played on the Piano is unfathomable. Bach is known to have transcribed some of his compositions for different instruments himself. I play the Bach solo Violin Partitas and Sonatas, the solo Cello Suites, and the Lute Suites on Classical Guitar. I really don't think he'd mind.
I wholeheartedly agree! 😊
I like mentioning the Schubler chorales to the anti-transcription crowd (as there is a sizeable crowd of organists opposed to playing transcriptions on the organ).
Extraordinary work!!! Thanks a lot!!
Thank you very much! 😊
Wonderful series! Thanks for making it!
Thank you very much! 😊
40 years ago I started learning classical guitar.That introduced me to the works of Bach and started a love of Baroque music in general,and a life long obsession with pipe organs. I think Bach would have loved the modern classical guitar for his music as much as the Baroque lute.Same with piano.
Also,thank you so much for the series. I recently found this channel,and am at episode 17.
It's wonderful to see on screen what was only previously visions in my mind from stories I've read,or heard from documentaries.
Thank you very much for your kind words and your interesting story. I couldn't agree more. 😊
This is a piece of art! Thank you so much for bringing such useful content in a so entertaining form to watch! Keep going, you're going to get noticed soon
Thank you very much! Well, I'm already more than happy with the response I'm getting now and comments like yours are just the icing on the cake. 😆
Very interesting. Always found this attitude of "doing this thing in music the right way!" weird. For me, music is all about bringing something unique to the table, changing things, without forgetting their origins, of course. Thank you for this.
Thank you very much! 😊
This is great, so nice to see. I'm total Bach-head and for a long time I've playing Bach and had this idea that Bach was a lot more flexible and would have loved to see and hear the new technology of keyboards. Don't get me wrong, I love Bach on original instruments but I also like hear and play Bach with some modern influences and sounds. I have a project I'm working on called The Oddly Bach project in which I arrange Bach on different instruments and sometimes in arrange Bach into odd meters. I've been working on some Well-Tempered Clavier and arrangements. I've recorded one so far a Prelude that I change from 8/8 to 7/8 played with a Rhodes piano sound (on my youtube channel if you're interested).
Thank you very much for your kind comments. I'll surely take a look at your channel, sounds very interesting. 😊
What you say is very true, but I disagree on one small thing: the fortepiano and the piano are not the same instrument. It's suffered an important evolution to even say that the fortepiano would be considered as the modern piano's grandfather. My point is that the modern pianists should take interest in playing baroque music with instruments that already existed at the time (not literally). Most of the pianists (even the top ones like András Schiff or Glen Gould) play Bach's pieces with a romantic approach. That, in my opinion, is exactly what shouldn't be done, because it doesn't respect the historicist interpretation. Baroque music is very free and it has lots different ways to be played. Please respect it, as it has been the hard work of historicist researchers to rediscover the beautiful techniques of this musical era.
Yes, you are quite right about the fortepiano of course, and the same could be said about Mozart or Van Beethoven who didn't know the modern piano either. I agree about Schiff but not Gould, ar least not the later Gould. According to me it's a mistake to play baroque music too technically, almost like a computer. Bach's music is perhaps the most emotionally rich but unfortunately all too often musicians see him as a speed contest, whereas his music is meant to stir the soul within.
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries I don't think baroque is technical. I myself have played the harpsichord for the last 9 years and my experience has taught me that baroque is very flexible, I would even say that it's more flexible than most of the musical genres and eras. Frescobaldi's toccatas require flexibility, as well as Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre's or Louis Couperin's non mesurée preludes...
Baroque is certainly very rich in variety and this is exactly why it should be respected. Musicians can choose lots of baroque ways to play music and still be playing historically.
@guillermogonzalezgarcia5068 I don't agree. No modern player is 'themself' historical.
You are alive, and Bach is dead, and out of copyright! Play it any damn way you want to, and stop pretending that it's historically correct!
@@Michael_Arnold The same way harpsichordists don't play Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Ravel and other later composer's music because the instrument itself doesn't have the sound and technical requirements that the piano has, the modern piano doesn't have the sound and musical aims of the baroque music. I don't restrict baroque music to pianists, by all means, let pianists get to know the beauty of this style, but my message is about the awareness of the historicist school.
@@guillermogonzalezgarcia5068 Vegans and historicists! They always let you know!
[Just teasing😅]
Thanks for another great video! There is no music more versatile than that of Bach, yet some so called "purists" are still trying to put him into a box.
We know he was always interested in the latest tech. Not only would he love our modern piano, he would also appreciate Wendy Carlos style performances
on moog synthesizers.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. Thank you very much for your kind comments. 😊
I think that if Johan Sebastian Bach could somehow travel to the future (be it the 19th century, or the present day), he would never be capable of ignoring the marvel of musical technology that is the modern piano, nor the advances of music that came with it. A lot of his keyboard pieces are also just that, keyboard pieces. They can be played on a spinet, an organ, or a synth. I don’t see any reason not to play his keyboard music, and in general, medieval, renaissance and baroque keyboard music, on the modern king of keyboard instruments, the piano.
P.S. I also think that historically informed performance on period instruments should have their place because they’re amazing!
I couldn't have said it better myself! Thank you! 😊
Another brilliantly engaging video
Thank you very much! 😊
Very interesting episode. It certainly makes a lot of sense. Your playing is beautiful. I believe that , a thoughtful and emotional performance can be played on any instrument… if the player is a sensitive soul and respects the composer.
Your words are full of truth and I thank you very much for the wonderful compliment! 😊
Another engaging and very interesting video, Peter. Having never played a real harpsichord, only my old synthesizer, I'm sometimes in two minds as to which I prefer. At the end of the day the piano wins, but depending on my mood and the piece being played, the harpsichord comes a very close second. Loved Fantasia, very well played, thanks for sharing. 👏👏
Thank you very much, John! I'm exactly like you and often I prefer the harpsichord as well, though when I'm truly honest, most of the time the piano wins because I feel that I can put more of my soul into it. Thank you once more! 😊
that's such a great work, thanks!
Thank you very much!
This is a very valuable presentation, thank you for upload! Anyway, I completely agree with what was said.
Thank you very much! 😊
As I always say to those who says Bach cannot be played on the piano using pedals. “Please, don’t use any dynamics either” - as you can’t do that on most harpsichords. Bach’s music is so beautiful and we should do it as beautiful as we can with the means we have.
Very well said! Thank you! 😊
Of courde you can do dynamics on every harpsichord built on historical priniples. Who says that you can't? A pianist?
fabulous work!
Thank you very much! 😊
A delightful episode, dealing with a polemic topic, progressives vs purists, and i love the final conclusión.
Thank You Peter for revealing information about the G sharp minor prelude, i wonder if the same indications on the Italian Concerto refer to the piano forte rather than harpsichord manuals. Beautiful Playing of the C minor fantasia, what a joy this channel is !.
Perhaps (just a personal intuition) , during the Baroque, music was so much more about ideas and it´s architecture and proportions, so the instrument was just an available medium. Later on as music and art evolved towards the individual, it became more intertwined with the instrument , in a way that, for instance, a successful translation of Chopin to the Harpsichord would be very unlikely . Bach Music can weather temperaments, bad instruments, even sloppy performances or weird tempos , and still retain it´s value, Even on 8bit it´s still Bach, That´s a miracle. May be the.problem is not so much the modern piano, but all the idiomatic weight that romantic music brought to it, and how to go back to the purity of ideas when performing Bach on it. I´m sure that he would have loved the possibilities and dynamics of today´s instruments seeking out even farther.
Cheers & immense thank You for Your wonderful work.
Thank you very much, Sergio, for your wonderful comments. I think that you've expressed this matter so much better than I have in the video. Absolutely spot on! Well said!
Thanks Peter , as much the series is often in black and grey shades, what you created brings a lot of light to a world increasingly devoid of humanity and empathy and appreciation of spiritual matters. Big fan. cheers
Brilliant video!
Thank you very much! 😊
I've heard pieces of music by JS Bach played on a Moog Synthesizer, and I have to admit that the Moog Synthesizer actually enhanced his music rather than took anything away from it, I think Bach himself would most likely have been intrigued by the sonic and musical capabilities of the Moog Synthesizer.
Bach was very avant-garde and I'm sure he would have embraced new technologies in the same way he did in his day.
@BachTheAnimatedSeries I agree, you can hear it in his compositions, he most likely absorbed a lot of musical influences during his travels, I can sometimes hear influences from Italian composers in his compositions, unless my ears are lying to me.
I believe harpsichord is generally the go to and a better examples for most of his works and I do much prefer harpsichord to piano but just conveniently I was just playing out of the well tempered clavier and das orgelbüchlein on my midi organ and I set it to piano and played the works again after strictly playing harpsichord and organ and something just felt right for once. I really don't care for the piano much but I'm just very picky which pianos I like but I realized just how much more emotion can be expressed on the piano in different ways and it took me back. Bach would probably have enjoyed music on the modern piano and I really think I understand it now.
Thank you for your kind comments. You actually nailed it in the sense that it doesn't really matter which instrument you use because Bach will always sound great. Cheers!
Hats off to your work, always glad to see Master Bach debunking some facts 😁
Thank you very much! 😊
This is great edutainment!
Thank you very much! 😊
I love that final piece (BWV 921), quite obscure. I played it on harpsichord for a school competition many years ago. I always thought this was early Bach and I don't know much about it, I'd heard there was no autograph score of this but I may be mistaken. I'm curious to know if there is one and when it is dated. It definitely works well on both piano and harpsichord and I still play it (on piano...wish I owned a harpsichord!)
Thank you very much! Yes, it's a rather early piece, early Weimar period if I'm not mistaking. I don't know about the manuscript but you could try and search the Berlin Staatsbibliotheke (sorry... I'm having a bit of a hectic evening). It's indeed a rather dark piece and the chord progressions are just amazing. I'm sure that you enjoyed playing it on your harpsichord as much as I did on my electronic piano. Cheers! 😊
Never been too much into animation, not even when I was a child, but this series is one of the rare exception (and cannot be but as such).
I'm one of those which thinks Bach or any other Baroque composer sound better on harpsichord, and given the choice I exclusively listen to them played on it or the organ, but I also am unbothered by people playing them on piano.
Thank you very much for the wonderful compliment! 😊
His music can absolutely be played on the piano, but the question is why would we play it on a piano? It’s not pianistic, definetely not as pianistic as 19th and 20th century music, we could also say it sounds way better on instruments of his period like harpsichord (especially the dances).
Well, that's a matter of opinion. Personally I think that his music sounds better on the piano as you can more easily express emotions with it. But the point is that Bach will always be Bach and his music sounds great on any instrument. That's something that can't be said of every composer.
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries I agree that Bach’s is a great composer but the reason his music can be played on other instruments is mainly one being that he played on instruments that don’t have as many sound capabilities as the piano. For instance if we take any baroque work for the keyboard and we play it on piano, that will also work very well because of the same reason, the harpsichord’s sound can be imitated on a piano. The same cannot be said the other way around, the piano has sounds that simply cannot be reproduced on other instruments, especially baroque ones, if we take romantic and impressionistic composers we can’t just transpose their music as they are onto another instrument, that just won’t work, that’s the reason why piano music is almost always transcribed for orchestra. That doesn’t make a composer better or worse, it’s just difference in the instruments. That being said Bach can sound very good on the piano I didn’t mean it that way! I just think that the piano can go way beyond the baroque sound!
Lastly, if you read this all xd, I really enjoyed your video, keep making them as they’re very interesting!! Cheers.
@@bartoldo5898I've read all of it and I fully agree with you. Thank you! 😊
Thanks so much! This reinforces the conclusion I’ve been drawing for myself. The piano is what most other keyboard instruments aspired to become, in a manner of speaking. Makes me wish it had been developed just a little earlier, so that Bach himself could have heard more of his own music played on this vastly improved instrument.
Yes, I'm sure Bach would have loved our modern piano, though he probably already knew that his fortepiano would one day evolve into what we have today. Like someone else said here, one of the miracles about Bach's music (and Baroque in general) is that it sounds wonderful on any instrument. Thank you for your kind words!
So brilliant as always my friend 😀
Thank you, mate! 😆
wonderful video!
Thank you very much! 😊
This segments are great
Thank you very much! 😊
Wonderful ! I have not finished your Bach series yet as I like to take my time with them, but I must confess I could not hold myself of watching this recent video.
Look at the cast shadows you have depicted in Bach's face and body! It is truly enjoyable to look at those transitions of gray, I even found myself kind of hypnotized by the artwork and not being able to focus on what was being said at the moment, and so I had to re-watch it.
I believe I could sound like if I am "gushing", and I really hope it is not overbearing, but this is truly outstanding and I do not know how could I remain quiet; plus your playing is beautiful!
I would like to know something, though. What is your overall sincere opinion on the Vienna Imperial VST?
Thank you Mr. Fielding-Bach.
Hello Alan and thank you for your kind words! Don't worry about the "gushing", you've made my day. 😊 I'm also happy that you like my new drawing style... as you can see throughout the series, I had to start from being a complete ignorant of animation to where I am now and every new episode taught me new things (and 24 will hopefully be better still). Now about the Imperial, it sounds awesome but... there is a drawback, i.e. that it requires 300GB of hard drive space and it has to be on a fast SSD, otherwise you'll get cracks and glitches during playback. I didn't have the space on my SSD so I had to park it on my secondary (normal) HD and so it turned out to be unusable for live playing. So for the time being I've settled for their (free!) "soft" Imperial which only requires a few GB and which sounds wonderful nonetheless, as you can hear.
Thank you!
I was tempted to download the free version too, but ..., whenever it is about free things I need to establish firm boundaries of frugality-there is something new and interesting to download every now and then and only so much memory available .At least now I know it is worth the space. And yes, your artwork has grown so drastically along the series!
Thank you for your love towards art, it inspires many of us in following our passions, I assure you🌏
This is a piece of art!
Thank you! 😊
Excellent take on Sebastian Bach👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏….you‘re quite right…in his last 15 years of his life he was acquainted with versions of Fortepiano and he composed many manuscripts for this instrument in mind.
Thank you very much! It's a very controversial topic but hopefully this video can be useful in the debate. 😊
Being a piano player, I've always taken to Bach on the piano. The piano allows so much expression. Would Bach sneer at dynamics applied to his fugues, for instance? I don't know, but my hunch is Bach would just love the piano for all his non-organ keyboard works.
I think that you're absolutely right. Thank you for your kind comments. 😊
Thank you
Thank you very much!
Isn't there an announcement for a concert by Bach's collegium musicum where they would perform on the fortepiano for the first time in the town?
Really? That I didn't know about, but after looking it up on Google I found this:
music.stackexchange.com/questions/64418/bachs-keyboard-concertos-on-fortepiano
It appears that Bach was even more tied to the early fortepiano than I thought. Thank you very much for bringing this to my attention!
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries I had read a bit of that paper whose link is in that page. That's where I got that info. But the person on the page may be right.
Wow very well made content👌🏼
Thank you very much! 😊
Thank you! 🤍
You're very welcome! 😊
What's the last piece ending the video?
It's Bach's prelude/fantasia in C minor BWV921. 😉
In Bach's organ music, you can find indications for "piano" and "forte" dynamics too. The method for executing these indications on the organ is by switching keyboards or registrations, and for the harpsichord it is the same. Since this was the way to execute these indications, every keyboardist, including the juniors, had to be very accustomed to switching keyboards quickly, especially if they were organists like Bach. Regarding the prelude you mentioned, it is unlikely that Bach wrote those indications with the piano in mind
Well, I tend to disagree with you here for the reasons I stated, especially the fact that Bach only used these annotations in his later works. About the organ, usually the music permitted enough interval to switch manuals or change registrations, but with BWV887 this isn't the case.
The baroque lute could vary its dynamics unlike harpsichords. So there was a problem that needed solving.
Thats a bit of a stretch, the only organ piece where Bach indicates manual changes by piano and forte is the Prelude and Fugue in E flat major BWV552. So it's not his organ music in general but just one composition
@@BachTheAnimatedSeriesThe time interval is not important for a keyboard shift which happens in a split second or is created by a finger bridge; there's no evidence that these marks refer to a hammerklavier.
As far as I know, Bach also rarely put these indications in his organ works and there the change usually occurs when a new voice is added, leaving enough time to change manual or register. Also in this case the jump's usually done with only one hand, or the pedals keep playing so there's continuity. In this particular keyboard prelude, on the other hand, the jump should be made with both hands simultaneously whilst playing fast 16th notes. Also a finger bridge is impossible here. I'd like to see someone try...
Unless the composer likely wrote music specifically with an keyboard instrument's given tone as a final goal, I'd say, give the composer a little credit, if Bach had a modern grand piano, he'd love to have the extra creative and expressive flexibility of the instrument to play any of his music. Artists don't generally like to constrain their creativity artificially to a specifically limited tool if a better one is available. Because I also studied voice, I hear many vocal passages on the keyboard when I play certain pieces because I can. Bach could do infinitely more with his musical mind and I assume he was not dreaming in harpsichord sounds and then going to the orchestra to mimic that. No, he dreamed in orchestral sound, and used his everyday keyboard instrument wherever he was working to hammer out (haha) his orchestral ideas. A modern piano would let him work out/express those richer inner musical ideas much more than a crummy plucked harpischord. Music at the level of Bach's mind is a lot less about instruments and much more about the perfected modulation of human emotive aesthetic response.
Beautifully said! 👏
You don't know quite much about harpsichords, right?
@@ThiloAbend I rebuild them and design novel harpsichord and virginal jack solutions, plus I play both. I also studied several orchestral instruments and voice (classical) but spent most of my training as a performer in classical piano, which I also repair, as well as tuning to modern temperaments to explore new possibilities in resonance. I may have mis-communicated above, some including myself really appreciate the sound of plucked keyboard instruments, my grand piano will never produce the kind of aesthetic experience that a harpsichord with a period traverso 'en duet' can - it's sublime. But, it's not as robust as the modern piano musically. Sometimes I wish it were, and play harpsichord samples on an electric piano in order to gain significant velocity control. But digitized sound is such a rude surrogate on so many levels...
The first and foremost problem isn’t the pianoforte as an instrument but the „normal tuning“ for this instrument, i.e. the equal temperament, especially for his compositions for a well tempered (not equal tempered!) keyboard…
You know, when I published this video I was so angry at myself for not having Bach saying that it doesn't matter which instrument you use to play his music, but to please respect his temperament and his (432Hz) tuning. 😊 But as you may have noticed, I used it for the recordings on my electronic piano. Modern technology to the rescue. 😉
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries There are so many Bach recordings with 432 concert pitch, but unfortunately I cannot find any relations to Bach in the relevant literature regarding a preferred pitch, pls see for example
www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Esoteric-Keyboard-Temperaments.pdf
or
www.bachdiskographie.de/stim/stim_einfuehrung.html
@@BachTheAnimatedSeriescould you olease give the historical source of Bach using a=432hz, please?
que gran idea tienes al hacer esto
Thank you, I'm doing my best. 😊
The same has been said of Domenico Scarlatti
True!
JSBach das Genie.
Vielen Dank! 😊
I'm here "by chance" and it's really superb..too bad there isn't a "French" translation, because my English is not very good..But I suppose that would require too much work..Have a nice day and thank you..Michel-Henri
Salut Michel-Henri! Je suis désolé mais mon Français n'est pas assez bien pour faire des sous-titres aussi en ta langue. Mais YT fournit des sous-titres en tous les langues et, de ce que j'ai vu, ils ne sont pas mals. Merci infiniment pour tes commentaires! 😊
The early piano-forte's have little to do with the piano as we know it.
True, but then you should also stop playing Mozart or Van Beethoven on a modern piano. I just wanted to show that things aren't as black and white and that Bach was definitely aware of this "new" instrument.
@@BachTheAnimatedSeriesyes! And that's exactly what I was doing. I quit the modern piano and startet to play every composer on the instruments they knew. And it was a mindblowing and live changibg experience, because every note just startet to make sense and every aspect of the piece came to life without any compromise. The modern piano isnot at all able to show this, because it sounds allways the same. And more importantly, it sounds the same in every register today. It's boring. Older pianos and harpsichords of course have been built with the principles of a different color in every register and that's why the works are composed like they are. Someone who plays Beethoven only on the modern piano will never solve the mystery of his way of composing.
This is great, though I think it would benefit from a bit of background music
Yes, I was actually thinking about it, but in the past I got comments telling me that the background music was too distracting. 🙄
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries oh? Yeah, I guess it’s possible that something very noticeable could take away some attention from the viewer… Perhaps something very quiet or a bit “farther away” (some IR reverb could do it)? Great job in any case, what a great series!
Consider me a Bach purist. Music he wrote for the harpsichord should be played on the harpsichord just as Mozart's clarinet concerto shouldn't be played with a saxophone.
Which piece did Bach "specifically" write for the harpsichord? The titles of his keyboard works all say "Klavier" ("keyboard"), meaning that they were intended for every keyboard instrument. It wasn't until the classical era that music pieces were dedicated to one specific instrument. Bach himself played the clavicord most of the time. A piece of evidence about the pianoforte that was brought to my attention yesterday, was a flyer that announced a Bach concert at Zimmermann's coffee house in 1733, stating that Bach would play an instrument "previously unheard of".
At the risk of coming off as obtuse, did not Bach write his violin concertos for the violin? Did he perform it on an organ?
It's my understanding what was so unique about the piano forte is it hammered the string instead of plucking it. It seems to me the term Klavier, the German word for keyboard, was a generic term for the standard keyboards of the day in the mind of Bach; is this not true?
Was the piano forte in his day the only klavier that did not use a plectrum?
Todays piano didn't exist in Beethoven's life let alone Bach's. I've heard recordings of some of Beethoven's piano sonatas and symphonies performed on the instruments of His day 50 years post Bach; Its clear to me why many had trouble with LvB's music at the time. The instruments of the day simply couldn't handle well what LvB expected.
It seems to me the problem with Bach on a modern piano is it has far more expressive capabilities than a piano forte had in 1733.
Do you have such recordings? That is the version you should have used not on a modern piano.
This is the opposite problem of LvB whose music was fully realized with modern instruments.
It's not that I am so arrogant to forbid anyone playing inventions on a modern piano as much as it sounds to me natural on a harpsichord.
Also lets not forget why he write well tempered... that was the tuning system of the day. Could Bach have even imagined an equal tempured system? If no, then he couldn't so on a modern piano.
I'm not such a purist that I demand to listen to all baroque well tempered.
Bach actually made several transcriptions of his and other works for other instruments. Of course it's difficult to play e.g. Bach's sonatas for violin on another instrument because that instrument should have at least the same range and capabilities as the violin. But a keyboard remains a keyboard. I actually have listened to Bach being played on a Silbermann fortepiano and I think it sounds great. As I'm sure that Bach would have loved the sound of his music on our modern piano.
About temperament, you're mixing things up. Any keyboard instrument can be tuned anyway you like. As it turns out, when I play Bach, I always tune my electronic piano to Just Temperament and... to 432Hz. Didn't you notice? 😉
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries You make valid points and have given me much to consider.
I did not realize you had tuned this recording differently. I did listen again... it does seem bright to my ears. I have been taught that we've lost these aural distinctions as a result of equal temperament; it never occurred to me that I could train my ears to embrace the differences.
I was taught if I could go back in time and hear Bach himself play, it'd sound out of tune.
Is there a recording of the pianoforte piece you mentioned?
I was also taught Bach didn't think much of the fortepiano and lost a longtime friendship over it.
Regardless, I admire your work here immensely.
English accent for Bach. Yeah that makes sense.
I'm sorry, but if I had given Bach a German accent, all of the other characters in the series would've had to have a similar accent as well. This would have made it less understandable...
Bach wrote beautiful music. At the time, the harpichord ŵas the most popular instrument. Bach wanted to sell music? So
why not appeal to the widest potential buyers.
Bach couldn't really sell his music. In Weimar and Köthen he was in the service of a patron and he had to write exclusively for them. Then in Leipzig he had to write for the church, though later in his life he tried to break free from his obligations. Unfortunately he only managed to have a few of his works printed. 😥
Hi
❤
Thank you! 😊
Elk instrument biedt een ander perspectief op Bach's muziek.
Dat kan omdat deze muziek diepgang heeft.
Helemaal akkoord! 😊
@@BachTheAnimatedSeries 👍
There is absolutely no objective reason why a performer MUST keep to the composer's initial "intention" when playing his music. The significance of the dispute around this question is similar to the one about how one should make the sign of the cross - left side first (the Catholics) or right side first (the Orthodox). Enough with it already! In all ages, purists and proponents of the "sole authorized" way of doing things, "by official appointment" if possible, were a royal pain in the whazoo and an impediment to creativity. It it is no different in this case. Whether Bach "meant" for his music to be played on this keyboard instrument or another (there is even evidence that some of his famous keyboard concertos were initially written for a string instrument) is a secondary issue at best, one I wouldn't waste any time on. The brilliance of Bach's music is such that it can be played on any instrument, including a plastic recorder.
I wholeheartedly agree.
honestly? most keyboardists just have a cheap/mid-priced digital keyboard. if i told a bach purist i wanted to learn and play a bach piece, what the hell would they say? "no"? i hardly believe id be told "lol lmao go buy a harpsichord, or are you too poor? lolol" or something even remotely close..
Well, I don't think they would be so disdainful, they just believe that a musical piece should - in theory - be played on the instrument that the composer intended. I only have an electronic keyboard, but playing Bach brings me peace of mind nonetheless. I suppose that you and most other people feel the same. 😊
It is an insult to Bach that his music would not sound "beautiful" with a musical instrument other than the one for which it was written. Modern sequencers, such as the Moog synthesizer, emphasize the abstract character that an acoustic instrument distracts from.
I fully agree. And for which instrument was it written anyway? Bach wrote "Klavier" ("keyboard") and he himself played the clavicord most of the time because his house was already noisy enough without the loud sound of a harpsichord.
t r u e ❤
Thank you! 😊
This was very interesting!!! I personally would choose the harpsichord over the piano any day because it just sounds wayyy better to me but I think Bach’s keyboard pieces on the piano sound just as well as if they were played on a harpsichord or a clavichord!! Thanks for another amazing video
Thank you very much! Yes, it all boils down to personal taste and fortunately there are so many recordings on so many different instruments to choose from. But Bach will always be Bach. 😊
@@BachTheAnimatedSeriesAgreed!!
bach did not enjoy piano forte, thats why they say that.. but you left that out on purpose xd
Huh? Who said that Bach didn't like the fortepiano? I think that I made a solid case to prove that he actually loved this new instrument. 😉
@@BachTheAnimatedSeriesHe said it himself, said it sounded "weak"
@@sh1r013He said that about Silbermann's first attempt, like I said in the video that Bach wasn't impressed at first, but later his opinion would definitely change.
@@BachTheAnimatedSeriesAh well I wasn't aware that he had ever changed his opinion.
Typical. Bach has an English accent. LOL.
Yes, I know. But if I had given Bach a German accent, all of the other characters in the series would've had to have a similar accent as well. This would have made it less understandable and perhaps also a bit pedantic. But if you watch ep. 17 I'm sure you'll be happy. 😊