Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Essay - 1100 Words

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) (Essay Sample) Content: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)NameInstitution Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)Johann Sebastian Bach is perhaps the most eminent German composer of the 18th century. The reason for that is that he was the first German composer whose music compositions were played across Europe. Though his work never made him rich, the compositions were considered to have enriched culture and music. In this respect, Bach is the most influential German classical musician and composer. The death of Bachs parents forced him to live with his brother and hence shaped his music career, that is, it brought out his devotion to music. In this case, Bach was born to Johann Ambrosius Bach in 1685 in Germany. For that matter, he was the youngest child in a family that was composed of musicians and boasted of generations of musical talent. As earlier stated, after his parents died in 1695, the 10-year-old Bach went to live with his elder brother. In reference to that, his brother was a musician who had access to a significant amount of music material, but forbade the young Bach from handling any of his collections. For instance, his brothers handwritten music book was kept in a barred cabinet that was only opened when he the brother needed it. Though he was forbidden from accessing the music book, the young Bach would ingeniously slide the book between the cabinet bars and copy it to a new book at night. He continued doing that until he almost completed copying the book. Unfortunately, one day he slept while copying the forbidden book and thus the trick was discovered, which made his brother so furious that he hid both the forbidden book and the copy that Bach had been making. Therefore, Bach exhibited a devotion to music that ignored censure (William, 2007).Though formal education influenced Bachs interest in music, it was experiences gained while working as a musician in different capacities that finally shaped his music career. For that matter, at 15 years, Bach was se nt to school where he joined the schools choir as a boy soprano. When his voice broke and thus could no longer sing soprano, Bach applied himself to playing the violin. In this respect, it was at school that he developed an interest for learning how to play musical instruments, particularly the violin. In this case, Bach became so proficient in playing the violin and organ that at 18 years he was appointed to the position of violinist at Weimar Court. Later, in the same year, St. Boniface Church approached and recruited him to be their violinist. For that matter, it was while he was there that he made his first forays into composing music. Bach held the position for nine years and then moved on to work as a composer for the Duke of Saxe-Weimar in 1709 (Melamed, 2006; Palmer, 2006). Fortunately for Bach, his position as the composer for the Duke of Saxe-Weimar earned him enough money to seriously consider settling down and starting a family. In this case, he wrote organ music, cantat as, and religious music for the duke. In 1717, when he was 32 years, he was hired by Prince Cothen as a court choirmaster. Thus, having accumulated sufficient wealth, he was able to marry his cousin, Maria Bach, with whom he had seven children before she died in 1720. Among his progeny was Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, a composer who rose to prominence in the 18th century. In 1721, Bach married Anna Magdalena Wilcken with whom he had 13 children, thereby bringing the total number of his progeny from the two marriages to 20. In 1723, when he was 38, Bach resigned from his position after the princes wife expressed a need to hear a different style of music. Fortunately, Bach was appointed as a cantor at St. Thomas Church, in addition to being a choirmaster in a private school and church, the same year he resigned his position as Cothens court choirmaster, which ensured he received an income (Williams, 2007). From 1723, Bach led an unhappy life. The reason for that is that the three posit ions that he held choirmaster in two churches and a private school paid poorly. Worse still, he felt that the amateur musicians in the churches and the students poorly performed his compositions. In this case, while he was employed as a court musician, professional musicians had been available to perform his compositions. Despite the discouraging circumstances, Bach maintained his position to allow his children to receive an education in the private school that employed him. Regrettably, Bach suffered from poor eyesight from 1740, thereby compromising his ability to compose and perform music. For that matter, his eyesight deteriorated so fast that surgical attempts to correct the problem failed. Thus, he was restricted to moving within his house and could no longer read music pieces. During the final three years of his life, Bach was completely blind and hence had to be constantly supervised. Eventually, he died in 1750, a blind man of 65 years (Palmer, 2006). Even though Bach i s widely recognized as a composer today, he was an acknowledged organist. In this case, he was proficient in playing several musical instruments including the violin, organ, clavichord, and harpsichord. Unlike his contemporaries, Mozart and B...

Life’s Dilemmas in “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost - 1100 Words

Life's Dilemmas in â€Å"The Road Not Taken† by Robert Frost (Essay Sample) Content: NameInstructorSubjectDateLifes Dilemmas in The Road Not Taken by Robert FrostLife is a dilemma. The decisions that people make are largely a gamble with fate, for they dont understand what possibilities each available option represents. The poem The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost portrays this fact by examining the choices about the unknown that people have to make in their day-to-day lives. The opening lines of the poem makes this point clear:Two roads diverged in a yellow wood/ long I stoodAnd looked down one as far as I could/To where it bent in the undergrowth;Then took the other (lines 1-6). The speakers confession that he took the second path after looking down the first one to where it bent in the undergrowth suggests that he made a decision without knowing what lay beyond the bend. But why did he take the second path without scouting it out? He answer is in the next lines where he says that both roads were similar in every respect: none was more travelled than the other, and in that morning, both were covered equally by untrodden leaves. This information reveals the dilemma facing the speaker. He has no information that he can use to decide on which is the better road to take. This situation of indecision is suggested by the long time he stood at the crossroads contemplating. Regardless, the speaker takes on one road with the self-comforting thought that he had taken the less traveled one, and that he would come back to take the other road another day. This is despite being aware that he may never get that opportunity. In life, there are moments when two opportunities come up at the same time, but only one may be taken. This is the situation that the speaker portrays in his dilemma over which road to choose. The speaker may not choose one road because he knows something about it; his choice is a gamble, for he does not know what lies ahead of the chosen one, or behind the bend of the untaken one. In this way, the poem portrays the realit ies of life; that although people are free to choose, they do not know what exactly they are choosing between. It is important to note that the poem is not really about the road that the speaker took, but the one not taken. Looking into the future, he anticipates a moment when he may regret his decision because he will not know what opportunities he had missed by not taking the road not taken. What opportunities lay hidden behind the bend in the undergrowth? Will he miss better opportunities by not venturing out to find out? These are the questions that places the speaker in a dilemma. At the same time, setting out to find out if the road not taken had better opportunities means he would forego the chance to discover about the other road, the one he eventually took. The lesson here is that life presents individuals with several opportunities, in which one opportunity, the one not taken, will always remain a mystery, and perhaps a source of regret. What if one had gone to law school and not business school? What better opportunities would playing professional football have brought instead of going to college? Could have one had a happier marriage had he married his high school girlfriend and not the one he met after college? How better could it have been if one had divorced and remarried? What about the abortion one secured because otherwise she couldnt have finished college and become a CEO, although the abortion destroyed her womb as a result of which shell never know the happiness of motherhood? Could she do it differently if the clock of time was rewound? In The Road Not Taken, the speaker explores these situations by anticipating a moment when he may regret for not taking the road he looked down up to where it had a bent, but did not take it. The fact that the speaker refused to take this road even without knowing what lay ahead, beyond the bend, suggests that people are confronted with decision-making situations in which they must make a choice even witho ut knowing beforehand what they are choosing between. The alternatives present unknown possibilities, and choosing one means giving up the other and living without knowing what they had given up. The closing lines suggest that the speaker will regret his inability to take both roads and discover the secrets and opportunities they held. He reckons that one day in the future, perhaps in old age, he shall look back and say that:Somewhere ages and ages hence:Two roads diverged in a wood and II took the one less traveled by,And that has made all the difference (17-20).This revelation of his intentions suggests a conspiracy to rewrite history and make a legend out of it. In the initial stanzas he confesses that in that morning, the two roads were exactly similar, none more travelled than the other. However, he plans to c...