Andrew Ellis
MUSI 3510
Goldstein
21 November 2013
Keyboard Suites of Handel and Bach
The period from 1600 to 1750 gave western music some of its most well-known and beloved works. During this time, referred to as the Baroque Period, these pieces were written by some of the most prolific composers of all time. These musicians came from across Europe. Frenchmen, Italians, Englishmen, Germans, and others all made great contributions and advancements toward the development of music as we know it. However two of these men were perhaps the most important of all - George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach.
While both of these men were born in Germany, the details of each of their employment in the musical profession includes vast differences in both the method by which they acquired their influences and the countries in which they held positions. The purpose of this essay is to use the details of each composer's life, prior to composition of the pieces in question, and musical examples from within the composition written from each man to differentiate and highlight specific writing styles and habits. Furthermore, two pieces will be from a genre that both Bach and Handel wrote in fairly extensively, the keyboard suite, will be used as these musical examples. Bach's English Suite No. 4 in F major (BWV 809) and Handel's Keyboard Suite No. 1 in A major (HWV 426) are the works that will be used.

From Bach's Birth to His Time in Cothen
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685 to a family of musicians in Eisenach, Germany. At that time, the Bach family was well-known in their region of East-Central Germany as musicians to the point that their name was nearly synonymous with music. Sebastian's father was named Johann Ambrosius Bach and was the court and town musician in the town of Eisenach. Prior to Sebastian's birth, Ambrosius had been employed in the town of Erfurt. The town of Erfurt certainly had some impact on Sebastian's life, through Ambrosius, and was a rather important place in terms of music. Several great German musicians had called Erfurt home while Ambrosius was there, including another notable Johann: the great Pachelbel. Pachelbel also taught Sebastian's older brother Johann Christoph, with whom Sebastian lived after his parents' deaths in 1695. Erfurt was also where Martin Luther was ordained priest, and the significance of this will be discussed more in depth below. (Williams 5-9)
All of these things must have had a profound effect on Bach's writing, particular his earliest works. However, there is more to add. For instance, the town of Eisenach was once the home of Martin Luther. Luther was also voluntarily imprisoned in the town castle during his time there, where he wrote his famous translation of the New Testament and possibly some of his hymns. Lutheranism and Martin Luther's close association to these two towns must have influenced Bach. He used Luther's hymns as inspiration on occasion in his compositions. (Williams 9)
In May 1694, Bach's mother died, and his father died nine or ten months later in 1695. At which point Sebastian and his elder brother Jacob moved to Ohrdruf to live with their elder brother Christophe. Prior to this, Sebastian had been a choir boy, and upon moving to Ohrdruf, Christophe either began or continued Sebastian's lessons on the keyboard. Sebastian also aided Christophe in his duties as a professional organist, copying music, tuning instruments, and the like. Christophe also passed on an interest in French organ music, which he may have acquired in his lessons with Pachelbel, to his younger brother. It was during Sebastian's time with his brother that he may have taught himself composition and composed his first bits of organ literature. (Williams 8-9)
In 1700, Bach left his brother for the town of Luneburg to attend the school at St. Michael's Church. While he was there, he sang in the choir to pay for his school and board. He also made trips to Hamburg every so often to hear the great organist Johann Adam Reinken. He was also exposed, in Luneburg, to a famous ensemble funded by the Duke of Celle that was comprised of mostly Frenchmen. This was an early form of Bach's exposure to French musical style, and provided him a very authentic example from which to begin his study of French music. Their gavottes and bourees certainly would have provided young Bach a better example of a dance than a local organ could have. (Williams 20-24)
Bach stayed in Luneburg until 1703, at which time he moved to Weimar to take a position as a court musician. This position was rather minor, and after several months he took another position in the town of Arnstadt was a Church organist. During his time here, he took time to hear Buxtehude, and eventually left to take a similar job in the town of Muhlhausen. Here he developed his virtuosic organ abilities. He also wrote many of his early works; primarily consisting of organ pieces for himself to play, and some sacred concertos. (Seaton 230-232)
Bach returned to the court of the duke of Weimar, this time as an organist. In 1714, he was made Konzertmeister, and was in charge of all instrumental court performances. The Weimer court orchestra had access to Italian sonatas and concertos, and Bach studied, copied, and transcribed many of these works - including those of the great Vivaldi. Through this process, Bach widened his musical vocabulary yet again, adding Italian string influences to his works. Afterward, he began to write his own works in Italian style, including cantatas and trio sonatas for the organ. (Seaton 231)
In 1717, Bach left Weimar and began service of the prince in the city of Cothen. Prince Leopold was was a Calvinist with a great interest in music. As a result, Bach's duties kept him within the secular realm, rather than the sacred to which he was accustomed. Bach wrote much of his instrumental chamber and orchestral music during this time, including his Brandenburg Concertos and several orchestral suites in the French style. Bach also wrote a great amount of his keyboard music, much of it for the clavier, at this time. This includes the keyboard suite in question here, as well as his Clavier-Buchlein and Well-Tempered Clavier collections. It is important to note that with these pieces, Bach was advocating a change to well-tempered tuning from the common Pythagorean tuning, in order to more effectively (or at all) use all 12 keys and their various modes. (Seaton 232-233)

Handel: Birth to London
Just twenty-six days before that of Bach, George Frideric Handel was born 80 miles away in the town of Halle. His parents were quite different than Bach's, for neither had any association with music - his father was a barber and surgeon, and his mother was the daughter of the local church pastor. Handel's father, Georg Handel, was in no was in no way a lover of music, and he thought of music as anything but a viable profession for young George Frideric. However, when George Frideric was 7 or 8, his father took him to the ducal court at Weissenfels. Here Georg Handel was a retainer, and his other son, George Frideric's half-brother Karl, was a chamber valet. Duke Johann Adolf discovered that the boy had skill on the organ, and George Frideric participated in a small bit of Sunday chapel music. It is unclear where he learned to play, but it is certain that the Duke commanded he be trained in music. (Weinstock 10)
Despite his father's opinions of music, George Frideric was placed under the tutelage of the church organist, Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau, upon their return to Halle. Zachau himself was an accomplished composer and instrumentalist, and he taught George Frideric for three years - which was the entirety of his formal musical education. During this time, he was taught multiple instruments, such as the harpsichord, violin, and oboe. He was also taught the foundations of compositional techniques and counterpoint. George Frideric often wrote pieces for critique from his teacher, though few, if any of these exist today. (Weinstock 11-12)
Despite George Frideric's tutelage and prodigiousness, his father was still determined to see him become a lawyer (as was originally his plan.) However, his father's plan was again nearly thwarted when Zachau (or possibly another individual) took the boy on a trip to Berlin in 1698, presumably to hear some of the secular music that was not present in quality forms in Halle. Soon the Elector Friedrich III of Brandenburg's wife, Sophia Charlotte, discovered his presence there and quickly invited him to play. Soon he was performing at court, and the Elector heard him. Soon a letter was sent to his father back in Halle which said that the Elector wanted to take the boy into his service. The old man, however, wanted no part of it, and he ordered his son to return home. (Weinstock 13-14)
At that time, George Frideric's father was very unwell and was bedridden. Not long after the boy's return from Berlin, Georg Handel died. Afterward, George Frideric continued his studies at the Lutheran school and later at the Latin school, opened a year later. During this time, he continued to write, and gained some popularity within the town of Halle. He attracted the attention of many visitors to the town, most notably that of Georg Philipp Telemann, who quickly became friends with the 15 year old Handel. The two exchanged ideas for quite some time, undoubtedly providing a musical influence for the Handel. He spent most of these years at Halle University, but had fully devoted himself to music. At which time he played with some frequency the organ at the Calvinist Domkirche, and was offiered the position of organist in 1702. This position he held for a year, and during that period he became one of the preeminent organists of the early 18th century. (Weinstock 15-18)
In 1703, Handel arrived in the city of Hamburg, which had established itself, in the century prior, as a commercial and cultural center similar to that of the Italian city of Venice. (Weinstock 19, Seaton 183) Soon after his arrival, Handel gained a position as a second violinist in a local opera orchestra, where he was introduced to the music of Reinhard Keiser. Keiser is considered to be the precusor to Handel in terms of operas. Handel also struck up a friendship with Johann Mattheson, also a very important figure from the period. (Weinstock 20-21)
Over the next year or two, Handel stayed in Hamburg and wrote the first of his operas. In the winter of 1703-1704, he met Giovanni Gastone de' Medici and fell in love with the idea of going to Italy. Later that year, he made his way to Italy, first going to the city of Florence where he visited Ferdinand de' Medici, former patron of Alessandro Scarlatti. It is also possible that Handel was able to meet Scarlatti at this time, the importance of which is that Scarlatti greatly influenced his style and operas. During his time in Italy, Handel progressed from a German style of opera writing to an Italian style, so as to fit the audience that would see them. Handel also collaborated with several Italian librettists on oratorios and serenatas. All of these things greatly affected Handel's writings, and the vocal writing he did at this time can be seen in much of his later compositions. (Weinstock 32-37).
In 1710, Handel arrived for the first time in London, bringing his vocal music, operas, and sinfonias with him. Apart from a short stint back in Hanover, in Germany, Handel would effectively spend the rest of his life in London. It was there that he would write many of the great works for which he is known. During this time, he wrote many new works in the English language, such as the famous Messiah. He also wrote chamber pieces for various reasons, including his keyboard suites. (Weinstock 63-94)

Musical Examples
To properly display the similarities and differences between a keyboard suite from Handel and a keyboard suite from Bach, Bach's English Suite No. 4 in F major and Handel's Keyboard Suite No. 1 will be examined. First, a short background on each piece will be discussed. Afterwards, similarities between the two will be presented. Last, the main stylistic differences between the two will be given. Throughout, reasoning, if there is any, will be given to explain why a similarity or difference exists.
Bach's English Suite No. 4 in F major is one of six pieces that make up his set of English Suites. The set was written between 1715 and 1720, and was published in 1720. They were written either as piece for Bach himself to perform during his time at Weimar, or were written as teaching pieces after he arrived in Cothen. The former, however, seems to be the more likely of the two. Suite No. 4, in particular, is a seven movement work of counterpoint which includes a prelude and six Baroque dances. (Blom)
Handel's Keyboard Suite No. 1 in A major was one of his "Eight Great Suites" written, like Bach's keyboard suites, for solo keyboard. Mostly likely, it would have been performed on a harpsichord or clavier. Handel wrote the suites during his time in London, and had them published in 1720 in the wake of pirated copies of the manuscript being distributed. He wrote the suites to be used as teaching tools for his students, and he even referred to them by the English term "lessons". Suite No. 1 is a four movement work that is, again, made up of Baroque dances preceded by a prelude. (Hodges)
There is, of course, a multitude of similarities between the two suites. The most obvious of these are simply the things that make them Baroque keyboard suites. They were both written for clavier or harpsichord. Both pieces are contrapuntal throughout. The treatment of ornamentation is quite similar, though there are small differences at times. Both suites use Baroque dances as movements, and begin with a prelude. Furthermore, both suites use the common progression of dance movements - allemande, courante, saraband, gigue - as the basis for order. Handel simply omits the sarabande and adds the prelude, and Bach puts a prelude on the beginning and two menuetts prior to the last movement.
Naturally, having two pieces from composers with such different lives in terms of development as musicians leaves two suites that were written with very different styles. Bach's suite is much more instrumental in style. What this means is that Bach's suite resembles, perhaps, a consort of strings playing different lines to make up the polyphony. Taking only m. 1 of the prelude gives an example of this. It begins with the presentation of the subject, which is a quick scalar pattern with two rounded leaps. This is very reminiscent of a Vivaldi or Scarlatti violin piece. On the other hand, one could also say that it resembles an Baroque-era French clarino trumpet piece. Though, given Bach's experience at Weimar transcribing Vivaldi, using a violin as his influence is much more plausible. Again, at m. 20, the soprano voice engages in increasing downward leaps from the stationary top F. This may as well been taken straight from an Italian violin concerto. We see a similar motive using eight notes yet again in the bass of the second menuett (m. 25).
Conversely, Handel's suite is very much influenced by vocal music. His prelude movement is very much the representative of the soprano aria. The topmost voice has sweeping passages up and down throughout, with the arpeggiatted chords below acting as accompaniment. Moving onto the allemande, we can see an oratorio. It would not be difficult to set words to the parts of this movement and have a chorus sing it. Even the gigue, which is somewhat more technical, still has a much more melodic quality when compared to the squared off, thick quality of Bach's suite. Even Handel's use of ornamentation closely resembles the use of ornamentation in vocal music. When listening to Glenn Gould performances of both pieces and comparing them with "Oh! had I Jubal's lyre" from Handel's Joshua, it is clear the timing and usage of these ornamentations, and even the melodic material, draws influence from the same place as this music. Furthermore, listening to each reveals the Bach's inspiration certainly came from elsewhere.
George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach gave the world some of the greatest and most entertaining musical works of all time. Their keyboard suites have provided a large part of the best literature to intermediate and advanced keyboard students for centuries. While the influences and inspirations that guided them when writing these pieces, as well as their experiences, may have differed greatly, it is clear that both pieces, and both composers, were magnificent works. Moreover, they are culture artifacts that will remain an important part of musical literature throughout history.

Works Cited
Weinstock, Herbert. Handel. New York: Knopf, 1959. Print.
Seaton, Douglass. Ideas and Styles in the Western Musical Tradition. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Pub., 1991. Print.
Williams, Peter. J. S. Bach : A Life in Music. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2012. Print.
Grove, George, and Eric Blom. Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan, 1954. Print. Bach, J.S.
Hodges, Bruce. "Handel Keyboard Suites; Joanne Polk Plays Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel | The Juilliard School." Handel Keyboard Suites; Joanne Polk Plays Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel | The Juilliard School. The Juilliard Journal, Sept. 2010. Web. 20 Nov. 2013.