Sehr geehrter Herr Witte, Ihre höchst interessanten Beiträge rund um das Schaffen Bachs sind nicht nur außerordentlich informativ, sondern spannend wie ein Thriller. Ich hoffe, Sie bekommen die verdiente Anerkennung und sage siebenstellige Zugriffszahlen voraus ;) Herzlichen Dank für Ihre überaus wertvolle Arbeit!
I attended a lecture by Robert Levin once. In the lecture, Levin spoke of how he studied the color of ink in Mozart's scores. From this, he was able to deduce that Mozart wrote three piano concertos at the same time.
Nice, I will search for those scores and see if I can find that. I once attended a Levin concert, his improvisations in classical style based on themes from the audience made a crushing impression on me.
You tell such wonderful stories through your paleographical analysis of Bach's scores. Thank you for breathing new life into these often battered pages!
I love the word paleographic, I didn't know that word existed. I looked it up and found some great literature about the scientific boundaries and caution that should be involved. A good lesson not to be too certain about what can be seen. Thanks for your words!
It's an amazing insight that bach composes the top voice first, at least in some cases. He might not have been as figured bass oriented as we think. The foundation sometimes is the melody
Yes, it is very interesting to see the sequence and a difficult task to understand it properly. My assessment is that the subject already contains a lot of potential when it comes to its effect and that Bach quickly picked out the most special ones to twist.
This is extraordinary. My house is full of Bach's music - who's house isn't? I am also an Artist/illustrator and have recently begun making my own ink. So, when a video about the ink Bach used appears . . . ! This was a wonderful way to begin my day. ❤️ Best wishes from Vermont 🍁
What a wonderfully interesting/educational video, providing yet another level of enjoyment of the works of the great master. Thank you for sharing this with us.
This is the second of these programs I have watched. Both were fascinating. It is seriously valuable work and I am glad the decision was made to share it. You actually get a sense of Bach’s physical presence. Superb.
Thank you, yes, making the same gestures is like restoring a library of movements, a tactile theatrical sensation that goes beyond strictly scientific observations.
i learned Bachs sonata no. 1 for solo violin in high school, and then 20 yrs later, i wrote out the score based on the autograph manuscript. it revealed so much in the score I didnt appreciate in the engraved version. takes time but highly recommend the exercise! your video takes this to another dimension
The dotted note of a higher value such as a dotted 1/8th followed by a 16th was understood from French harpsichord music to be played as a prolonged double dotted 1/8th or longer and the 1/16th note shortened. The instance of the 16th note instead of 1/8 not cited was understood as having a preceding 1/16 note rest. I might point other 17th-18th century performance practices, short hand as to writing an ornament in a motive which in reoccurring occurrence also understood to be played, or adding a trill in an ending cadence although not written was obligatory in performance.
What a wonderful video. I have started ink calligraphy as a hobbie and this gives le even more respect for Bach's music. Imagine living in that time and not being allowed to make a single mistake. You could, but corrections will be a high price to pay.
I hope that the videos are an inspiration to continue working with calligraphy yourself. Errors are indeed an issue, in one of the upcoming videos about a fugue I will go into it in more detail.
At 10:27 we are gifted with sound, and look, of civilization. This video serves the most compelling insights I've ever encountered into-- * Bach's compositional habits, * the brilliance of music notation as a universal language distinct from music as a universal, * the astonishing production, and productivity, of labor-intensive Western polyphonic music, * 18th-century work ethics amongst skilled intellectual workers of Central Europe, * education theory in the Enlightenment, * semiotics and * ink & feather quill as a beloved, pre digital medium. Much as the sound of music is geometric in that the waveforms of its pitch classes are quite predictable and physical ratios-- 2/1 for octaves, 3/2 fifth, etc.--notation can be seen as algebraic ciphers, since an entire set of notes can be transposed, or transferred and reapplied, from one tonal class to 23 others, in Western major/ minor, 12-key tuning, temperament, transposition and tonality sensibilities. The most endearing facet of Bach's notation for me has always been the quirky wavy-ness of his hemi-, demi- & semi-quavers. They can fairly be regarded as lyrical, literal and analog, as much as symbolic abstractions, as our lexicon of music also suggests, because: * music is itself literally undulatory (from Latin "unda," wave) produced by variable sound-waves striking * the "tympani" (also from Latin, for drum; in modern anatomy--ear drums) of * the ears ("pinna," the outer ear, derives from Latin for feather!) and * transformed into pulses of electrical potential to the brain's temporal lobes (from Latin "tempus" for time--half the essential definition of music as "sound through time"). Thus does music wash across an undulating ocean to the distant shores of a shared evolutionary universe in our common cranial concert hall.
J S Bach made his own ink…which is “eating” through the paper…in time the manuscripts will decompose…Also note the word “ClavesBin”, modern Clavecin. the French word for Harpsichord, later J S Bach used the Italian term “Cembalo” for Harpsichord.
Really glad I stumbled upon this channel, matter of fact I recently bought a quill and ink when I was in Venice - speaking of Venice, is there any chance of examining manuscripts by other composers, like Bach’s contemporary Antonio Vivaldi?
I did a big project calligraphing all the manuscripts with music by Michelangelo Galilei - this was a firm base for my educating. For the time being I will mainly focus on Bach. Good luck trying out the quill and ink!
I'm glad I found your channel, it's so interesting. I have a question though: which are the evidence that Bach didn't compose in front of a keyboard? I'm confident that's the case, but I'd like to know what leads to this assumption.
Hello Gustavo, the primary source for information about Bach is the Bach Reader in which all relevant historical sources are included. The forums on the bach-cantatas website offer a generous diversity of interpretations of these sources. Emmanuel is an important source when it comes to composition methods. Of course, compositions have also emerged from improvisation.
Done! I have watched all these videos now, very good! Can I ask a question that came to mind? Do you happen to know if there is a nice instance of the B-A-C-H motive in his own handwriting?
Thanks for watching all the videos - I'll do that sometime to see what I've actually said. In the next video there is a small digression on the name motif, and it will also be a topic in a video about etching technique.
A fountain pen would've been preferable. It requires very little pressure to write and can hold a lot of ink. So can a ballpoint pen, but the pressure needed to force the thick, gummy ink onto the paper is why ballpoint pens give a person writer's cramp. A quill, nib, or fountain pen is much, much easier on the hand. Best wishes from Vermont 🍁
If you investigate on the ink Bach used please play harpsichord or organo compositions for musical soundtrack. Bach wrote for harpsichord and organ. Thank you
Good idea, I'll take it into account in future videos. The next one is about an a cappella piece and then one about a violin fugue, so it will take some time before it is realized. I've had bad experiences with misplaced copyright claims and a basic digital piano reduction seems to reduce that risk. A beautiful piano performance is perfectly acceptable in current performance practice and I may also make use of it, not historically correct but artistically enjoyable.
Bach scores and all copies by students and family are calligraphed with the right hand. This must have something to do with the writing lesson at school in which right-handedness was prescribed and left-handedness was not accepted.
@@peturadunga Yes, I will have to do something about the sound. On my Instagram account @happy.sad.sad.happy.bach you can find videos with real musicians playing from my scores.
Really interesting video, although being as well researched as it is, I expected more historical accuracy by using harpsichord versions of the pieces you put. :/
The achievements attributed to JS Bach can not have been accomplished by anything resembling a human being that we are familiar with. Andras Schiff once commented that if one were merely to write out all of "his" compositions one would not have enough time to do it. "He". was a master composer (beyond our intelliigience), master violinist, master keyboard player, master calligrapher, master organ repairman, Latin teacher, Bible expert, father of 20.... it's a myth. The stories of all these composer giants from centuries past don't comport with reality.
@willshaw .. Please slow down .. master master master .. not human 😮😮😮 don't you DOUBT for a moment of some EXTRA intervention ??? 😢😢 NOBODY RECOGNIZED BACH while he was living , no success no glory no printed scores (few and very poor) 😢😢 then SUDDENLY THE EXPLOSION OF THE CULT OF BACH one hundred years later ??? .. Patronized by MENDELSSOHN and the German KULTURKAMPF ?? 😮😮 BACH IS A GIFT AND A BLESSING FOR ALL HUMANITY.. but many many things remain to be explained , with fairness and honesty 🌺🌺🌺
The question of how long it will take to write out all his scores has been bothering me for a long time, I hope to be able to say something useful about that one day.
@@joostwitte5546 It isn't just how long it takes to write the music that inspired my comment. Your work is fascinating and "Bach" is one of my genuine passions. I just don't accept the bio - it's a mystery to me.
Yes, I make scores in commission! You can contact me by email: the adress is showing at the end of the video (I prefer not to type it here for feeding harvesting spambots).
I’ve never seen a close examination of Bach’s manuscripts before. I sympathize with his scarcity of materials we take for granted.
I would personally like to see videos of a skilled calligrapher and hear what can actually be found in the Bach manuscripts and how they were made.
Sehr geehrter Herr Witte, Ihre höchst interessanten Beiträge rund um das Schaffen Bachs sind nicht nur außerordentlich informativ, sondern spannend wie ein Thriller. Ich hoffe, Sie bekommen die verdiente Anerkennung und sage siebenstellige Zugriffszahlen voraus ;)
Herzlichen Dank für Ihre überaus wertvolle Arbeit!
Vielen Dank für Ihre freundlichen Worte. Ja, es ist sehr aufregend zu erkennen, was es zu sehen gibt und wie es hergestellt wird.
I attended a lecture by Robert Levin once. In the lecture, Levin spoke of how he studied the color of ink in Mozart's scores. From this, he was able to deduce that Mozart wrote three piano concertos at the same time.
Nice, I will search for those scores and see if I can find that. I once attended a Levin concert, his improvisations in classical style based on themes from the audience made a crushing impression on me.
@@joostwitte5546 Me too. He's incredible.
You tell such wonderful stories through your paleographical analysis of Bach's scores. Thank you for breathing new life into these often battered pages!
I love the word paleographic, I didn't know that word existed. I looked it up and found some great literature about the scientific boundaries and caution that should be involved. A good lesson not to be too certain about what can be seen. Thanks for your words!
It's an amazing insight that bach composes the top voice first, at least in some cases. He might not have been as figured bass oriented as we think. The foundation sometimes is the melody
Yes, it is very interesting to see the sequence and a difficult task to understand it properly. My assessment is that the subject already contains a lot of potential when it comes to its effect and that Bach quickly picked out the most special ones to twist.
We have absolutely no idea how he composed. That is my take after a bachelors and 2 masters degrees in Music
I've always considered Bach's manuscripts as works of art. Then you hear the incredible music.... .
Yes, one of the greatest or the greatest composer and calligrapher of all time!
This is extraordinary. My house is full of Bach's music - who's house isn't? I am also an Artist/illustrator and have recently begun making my own ink.
So, when a video about the ink Bach used appears . . . ! This was a wonderful way to begin my day. ❤️
Best wishes from Vermont 🍁
Well good morning! What a nice reaction.
This is so cool. I love to copy scores. It relaxes me.
Such a nice thing to do
What a wonderfully interesting/educational video, providing yet another level of enjoyment of the works of the great master. Thank you for sharing this with us.
That is very motivating to hear!
Спасибо) Очень интересно, я много всего узнал.
Hartelijk dank!
what a masterful video... Dank U voor Uw onderzoek.
Thanks for your rave rating and watching!
This is the second of these programs I have watched. Both were fascinating. It is seriously valuable work and I am glad the decision was made to share it. You actually get a sense of Bach’s physical presence. Superb.
Thank you, yes, making the same gestures is like restoring a library of movements, a tactile theatrical sensation that goes beyond strictly scientific observations.
Absolutely amazing, beautiful master piece work, thank you for your effort!
Thank you for your kind words!
i learned Bachs sonata no. 1 for solo violin in high school, and then 20 yrs later, i wrote out the score based on the autograph manuscript. it revealed so much in the score I didnt appreciate in the engraved version. takes time but highly recommend the exercise! your video takes this to another dimension
Yes, it is a wonderful experience that you can learn so much from just literally copying!
What a wonderful presentation!
Thanks Daniel, that's great to hear!
The dotted note of a higher value such as a dotted 1/8th followed by a 16th was understood from French harpsichord music to be played as a prolonged double dotted 1/8th or longer and the 1/16th note shortened. The instance of the 16th note instead of 1/8 not cited was understood as having a preceding 1/16 note rest.
I might point other 17th-18th century performance practices, short hand as to writing an ornament in a motive which in reoccurring occurrence also understood to be played, or adding a trill in an ending cadence although not written was obligatory in performance.
I keep learning
the brief excerpts really enhance this wonderful video, thanks
Your encouragement has helped me tremendously, and I can see it working.
What a wonderful video. I have started ink calligraphy as a hobbie and this gives le even more respect for Bach's music. Imagine living in that time and not being allowed to make a single mistake. You could, but corrections will be a high price to pay.
I hope that the videos are an inspiration to continue working with calligraphy yourself. Errors are indeed an issue, in one of the upcoming videos about a fugue I will go into it in more detail.
At 10:27 we are gifted with sound, and look, of civilization.
This video serves the most compelling insights I've ever encountered into--
* Bach's compositional habits,
* the brilliance of music notation as a universal language distinct from music as a universal,
* the astonishing production, and productivity, of labor-intensive Western polyphonic music,
* 18th-century work ethics amongst skilled intellectual workers of Central Europe,
* education theory in the Enlightenment,
* semiotics and
* ink & feather quill as a beloved, pre digital medium.
Much as the sound of music is geometric in that the waveforms of its pitch classes are quite predictable and physical ratios-- 2/1 for octaves, 3/2 fifth, etc.--notation can be seen as algebraic ciphers, since an entire set of notes can be transposed, or transferred and reapplied, from one tonal class to 23 others, in Western major/ minor, 12-key tuning, temperament, transposition and tonality sensibilities.
The most endearing facet of Bach's notation for me has always been the quirky wavy-ness of his hemi-, demi- & semi-quavers. They can fairly be regarded as lyrical, literal and analog, as much as symbolic abstractions, as our lexicon of music also suggests, because:
* music is itself literally undulatory (from Latin "unda," wave) produced by variable sound-waves striking
* the "tympani" (also from Latin, for drum; in modern anatomy--ear drums) of
* the ears ("pinna," the outer ear, derives from Latin for feather!) and
* transformed into pulses of electrical potential to the brain's temporal lobes (from Latin "tempus" for time--half the essential definition of music as "sound through time").
Thus does music wash across an undulating ocean to the distant shores of a shared evolutionary universe in our common cranial concert hall.
Wow! I've read this a few times, what a grand review, thank you so much!
This is fascinating! Thank you so much for sharing!
Thank you, I'm glad you watched.
Nowadays we all type in computer, and we can undo any mistakes easily. I cannot imagine how to write with a quill without altering any notes at all.
An amazing work, thank you for sharing it. I am studying classical harmony so I am really happy in looking how it was done.
Thanks for your kind words and watching!
This was absolutely fascinating! Thank you for sharing your amazing research and analysis.❤
Thank you for all the praise!
Absolutely interesting! Please keep these coming.
Next video will be about a short aria, I am looking forward to finish that video.
About 11 preludes from the W F Bach Note-booklet were revised and used in the WTC PT 1, revised and lengthened, some fugues composed earlier…
Fascinating
Someone should tell Rick Beato about this. This research on this channel is insightful and deep.
Is he also interested in classical music? Sorry I don't know Rick Beato, he seems like a great teacher and storyteller.
@@joostwitte5546he’s interested in every type of music he’s already made videos about Bach and other baroque music
Another brilliant video! Thank you for making these.
Thank you for the appreciation!
what a wonderful video thanks a lot much love from vienna
Thank you for the appreciation, warm greetings from Harlingen
ganz fantastische Arbeit - vielen DANK!!
Das ist gut zu hören!
Uniquely fascinating. Thanks!
Great to hear, thanks for watching!
Such a wonderful video! Prachtig! Thanks for sharing.
Dank je wel Nazli - je bent een geweldig steun en toeverlaat in dit - ons - project!
Graag gedaan Joost! Ik ben echt trots op je.
Well done! Loved watching this.
Thank you David, I'm glad you enjoyed it
Wonderful! Fascinating and fun, thank you!
Thanks for viewing!
I watched all the calligraphy videos in this channel. Its a unique channel. Can u make a video someday in how u make your tools?
Hi Lucas, that's a good idea, I will show the feather collecting and processing in one of the next videos.
seems easier to write notation with a quill than a ballpen or a pencil. if not easier then definitely prettier
Quills are awesome!
Nowadays, a medium italic nib on a fountain pen works well, but can't duplicate the flexibility we see here.
Nice job with these videos. Well done!
Thank you!
Very interesting! Thanks for the video!
Thanks also!
J S Bach made his own ink…which is “eating” through the paper…in time the manuscripts will decompose…Also note the word “ClavesBin”, modern Clavecin. the French word for Harpsichord, later J S Bach used the Italian term “Cembalo” for Harpsichord.
Nice
Fascinating! Thank you.
Thanks for viewing!
WOW. Just simply WOW!
I love being wowed!
Really glad I stumbled upon this channel, matter of fact I recently bought a quill and ink when I was in Venice - speaking of Venice, is there any chance of examining manuscripts by other composers, like Bach’s contemporary Antonio Vivaldi?
I did a big project calligraphing all the manuscripts with music by Michelangelo Galilei - this was a firm base for my educating. For the time being I will mainly focus on Bach. Good luck trying out the quill and ink!
I'm glad I found your channel, it's so interesting. I have a question though: which are the evidence that Bach didn't compose in front of a keyboard? I'm confident that's the case, but I'd like to know what leads to this assumption.
Hello Gustavo, the primary source for information about Bach is the Bach Reader in which all relevant historical sources are included. The forums on the bach-cantatas website offer a generous diversity of interpretations of these sources. Emmanuel is an important source when it comes to composition methods. Of course, compositions have also emerged from improvisation.
He wrote in a letter that only a fool would write music sitting on the piano instead of in silence. Haha
Done! I have watched all these videos now, very good! Can I ask a question that came to mind? Do you happen to know if there is a nice instance of the B-A-C-H motive in his own handwriting?
Thanks for watching all the videos - I'll do that sometime to see what I've actually said. In the next video there is a small digression on the name motif, and it will also be a topic in a video about etching technique.
How interesting!
Thanks, yes I find it an interesting topic myself.
Enjoyed this!
That makes me glad!
Just imagine what Bach could have done if he had a ballpoint pen
Good point!
@@joostwitte5546
Well written.
A fountain pen would've been preferable. It requires very little pressure to write and can hold a lot of ink. So can a ballpoint pen, but the pressure needed to force the thick, gummy ink onto the paper is why ballpoint pens give a person writer's cramp.
A quill, nib, or fountain pen is much, much easier on the hand.
Best wishes from Vermont 🍁
If you investigate on the ink Bach used please play harpsichord or organo compositions for musical soundtrack. Bach wrote for harpsichord and organ. Thank you
Good idea, I'll take it into account in future videos. The next one is about an a cappella piece and then one about a violin fugue, so it will take some time before it is realized. I've had bad experiences with misplaced copyright claims and a basic digital piano reduction seems to reduce that risk. A beautiful piano performance is perfectly acceptable in current performance practice and I may also make use of it, not historically correct but artistically enjoyable.
Very very interesting
Nice to hear!
Was fungal spore ink not available, and used, at that time? (Such as made from fungi like the inkcaps.) Or was that more of a British technique?
This is the first time I've heard of this, how surprising!
7:45 lol I can completely relate
Me too
Which books did Bach buy?
Ante Calvinismus, Christen Schule & AntiMelancholicus by August Pfeiffer
Thank you!!!
Glad you watched the video!
thank you so much!
It was fun making this video!
You are very welcome!
Can you tell what hand he used to write based off of this?
I’d imagine it’d be the right because the left would smudge the ink more often.
Bach scores and all copies by students and family are calligraphed with the right hand. This must have something to do with the writing lesson at school in which right-handedness was prescribed and left-handedness was not accepted.
where to get this kind of materials? and how to learn to use them? :/
I will make a video about tools and materials and how to start and practice. Thanks for the question!
@joostwitte5546 BTW... the optics in your videos are excellent. Same can not be said about the audio
@@peturadunga Yes, I will have to do something about the sound. On my Instagram account @happy.sad.sad.happy.bach you can find videos with real musicians playing from my scores.
@@joostwitte5546 I hope you will produce a video with explainations where to get materials, and how to practice this art :)
Really interesting video, although being as well researched as it is, I expected more historical accuracy by using harpsichord versions of the pieces you put. :/
Yes, you are right. I'll try to do something about that. It's quite a lot of signs to hold up at once - but I'll keep it in mind.
@@joostwitte5546 But hey, that's only a minor inconvenience. The effort you put into sharing this knowledge is incredible. Thanks a lot.
The achievements attributed to JS Bach can not have been accomplished by anything resembling a human being that we are familiar with. Andras Schiff once commented that if one were merely to write out all of "his" compositions one would not have enough time to do it. "He". was a master composer (beyond our intelliigience), master violinist, master keyboard player, master calligrapher, master organ repairman, Latin teacher, Bible expert, father of 20.... it's a myth. The stories of all these composer giants from centuries past don't comport with reality.
@willshaw .. Please slow down .. master master master .. not human 😮😮😮 don't you DOUBT for a moment of some EXTRA intervention ??? 😢😢 NOBODY RECOGNIZED BACH while he was living , no success no glory no printed scores (few and very poor) 😢😢 then SUDDENLY THE EXPLOSION OF THE CULT OF BACH one hundred years later ??? .. Patronized by MENDELSSOHN and the German KULTURKAMPF ?? 😮😮 BACH IS A GIFT AND A BLESSING FOR ALL HUMANITY.. but many many things remain to be explained , with fairness and honesty 🌺🌺🌺
The question of how long it will take to write out all his scores has been bothering me for a long time, I hope to be able to say something useful about that one day.
@@joostwitte5546 It isn't just how long it takes to write the music that inspired my comment. Your work is fascinating and "Bach" is one of my genuine passions. I just don't accept the bio - it's a mystery to me.
I thought it was a cup of honey mustard or some type of dipping sauce 😂
I add it to the list:
1. Powdering a wig
2. Frosting a cake
3. A cup of honey mustard
4. Some type of dipping sauce
Why does Bach's handwriting look so much worse than yours? Hahaha
Yes, it sometimes seems like I have mastered it, but in fact I feel like a beginner and amateur when I see his scores.
I would love to own one of your scores imitative of Bach's hand. Do you sell them?
Yes, I make scores in commission! You can contact me by email: the adress is showing at the end of the video (I prefer not to type it here for feeding harvesting spambots).