Johann Sabastian Bach (March 31, 1685 - July 28, 1750)



       Johann Sabastian Bach was a great composer and a talented musician of the Baroque period (1600 to 1750).
 He composed many pieces such as, "Brandenburg Concertos", "Goldberg Variations", the "Mass in B minor", and others. However, one of his most well known composition is the "Well-Tempered Clavier" composed in 1722.

     Bach played the violin, harpsichord, and the clavichord.  He married a German girl named Maria Barbara from Schwarzburg-Sondershausen,
Germany in 1707. In 1720 Maria unexpectedly died without notice while her husband was on a trip.  She was buried on July 7.  So Bach remarried
in 1721 to Anne Magdalena of  Zeitz, Germany.  He lived a happy life until 1749 when his heath started to go down and he began to loose his sight.
About a year later he died of what the Doctors think was a combination of a stroke and pneumonia.

 

       
 

 

 photo courtesy to www.guascatur.com



The Piano

      I love the piano!  It has always been my favorite instrument and always will!  So, I thought I share a little knowledge on the history of the piano and how its made.




       During the late 1600's to early 1700's, a man by the name of Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the piano. He was an Italian harpsichord maker who photo courtesy to poxteer.com
  worked as the keeper of the instruments for Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany.  Although we know who made the first piano we don't know exactly when he did it.

       Now that you know the history, why was  it made.  Well, Cristofroi wanted an instrument that combined loudness with control, unlike the harpsichord and the clavichord.
 
              So, lets get into the structure.  There are eighty-eight keys on the keyboard, 52 white
keys and 36 black keys. When a key is pressed down a tiny hammer hits the string, causing it to vibrate, which therefore makes a sound.  The looser and bigger the string the lower pitch you will hear.  The tighter and smaller the string the higher pitch you will hear.  At the bottom, is three pedals.  The pedal on the far right is the damper pedal, the pedal in the middle is the sostenuto pedal, and the one to the far left is the soft pedal.  The damper pedal, when held down, dampers or sustains two or more notes together, the sostenuto pedal ,when held down, sustains the note pressed down at the time that the pedal is pressed down, so another note can be played without blending it to the sustaining note, the soft pedal softens or make the sound of a note quieter.


     So, I hope all of you enjoyed my summary on the piano.  I hope this was helpful to you.

~ThePianoPlayer