Baroque Symphony

• Minuet in G - Bach
• Johann Sebastian Bach was a famous German composer during the Baroque period. He was born on the thirty-first of March of the year 1685. At the age of 14, Bach was accepted to the prestigious St. Michael’s School in Luneburg, Germany. After graduating, Bach went from being a court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst, to an organist at St. Blasius’s to a court organist in Weimer, where he first had an opportunity to compose his own music. Through his life, Bach composed pieces for the organ and harpsichord, orchestral music, and choral performances. “Minuet in G” was one of the most famous pieces attributed to him, appearing in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, a collection of compositions from himself and others for his second wife.
• Spring - Vivaldi
• Antonio Vivaldi, as opposed to Bach and Pachelbel, was an Italian Baroque composer known for his violin concertos. Vivaldi was born in Venice in the year 1678, learning to play violin from his father at a very early age. It is said that Vivaldi had a form of asthma, one possible reason why many of his compositions were for string instruments, as opposed to wind instruments. Vivaldi After being ordained as a minister at age 25 in 1703, Vivaldi received the nickname of “The Red Priest,” for his hereditary red hair and new status in the Church. “Spring” was one part of Vivaldi’s four-part violin concerto titled “the Four Seasons,” and is broken into three parts based on tempo.
• Canon in D - Pachelbel
• Like Bach, Johann Pachelbel was also a German composer during the Baroque period. Pachelbel, born in the year of 1653 in Nuremburg, was employed as an organist throughout his life at such places as the Saint Stephen Cathedral and Predigerkirche in Erfurt, where he settled for a long time. During his stay at Erfurt was the time when Pachelbel did the majority of his composing, and also when he met and married his two wives. “Canon in D” is notably Pachelbel’s most famous composition and his only canon, but wasn’t published until 1919.
• Fanfare-Rondeau - Jean-Joseph Mouret
• Unlike our previous composers, Jean-Joseph Mouret was an French Baroque composer born in the year of 1682. He was one of the forerunners of the Baroque movement in his country at this time. He was born on April 11th to a wealthy silk merchant who recognized his musical prowess and supported him so that it could blossom. He moved to Paris at the age of 25, and was made a musical superintendent to Anne, Duchess of Maine. Under her employment, Mouret produced operas and was soon promoted to the director of the orchestra of the Opèra in 1714. Fanfare-Rondeau is one of few of his works that are still performed today.