A Mighty Fortress Is Our God by J. S. Bach A Musical Report Essay

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God by J. S. Bach A Musical Report - Essay Example This "â€Å"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God† by J. S. Bach – A Musical Report" essay outlines the work of Johann Sebastian Bach. â€Å"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God† still holds popularity owing to the versatile musician J. S. Bach had become as he traveled frequently to several places, and his encounter of diverse cultures undoubtedly makes a significant impact on the musical artistry that presents the unfading memory of such music from his period. Besides being an organist, he was also recognized for possessing a beautiful soprano voice which, along with his special skills in playing the violin, continuo, and church choir performance, had withstood severe criticisms. His determination to pursue not just a career in music but also create an entire unique world around it as if a wonderful abode for an auditory refuge managed to build for him an enduring impression in which the heart of audience was drawn to a type of music readily capable of engaging human nature with profound sensibility as in the well-crafted â€Å"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.† It would also amount to an inevitable appreciation of Bach regardless of the listener’s background on account of the flexibility his rendition took, for instance, when he came up with a musical composition which was styled in French at Luneberg. Bach’s influence on the baroque style in music is quite signified in the monophonic texture and volume of the hymn shaped out of its initially severe complex rhythmic structure. This piece shaped the baroque society by being the â€Å"Battle Hymn of the Reformation.†... Just as how a harpsichord was intended to establish the identity that is uniquely baroque for musical creations, the organ was similarly used to yield to the common objective of bringing a grotesque form in â€Å"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.† This piece shaped the baroque society by being the â€Å"Battle Hymn of the Reformation,† which even during the early part of the 16th century had been sung upon entry to the Imperial Diet of the Worms when Luther defended his theses and critical beliefs against Catholic misdeeds. In a way, J.S. Bach’s rendition of the hymn (Ein’ Feste Burg ist unser Gott) reflected the erudite traits present in the opposing major religions that were tested in the midst of extravagant progress and by high philosophical intellects within the baroque society after the Age of Enlightenment in Europe. Being a music piece of the period of 1600-1750, Bach’s â€Å"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God† projects an essential attribute o f the baroque style as perceived through its grandiosity, irregularity, and strangeness. Compared to the music of the preceding Renaissance age, baroque music is found to be rich in various textures, levels of intensity, and melodies that seemed to form more embellished or intricate sound. To normal listeners, the characteristics of the original musical pieces of this era appeal to the senses not only emotionally but also experimentally. In either approach, a genius baroque musician had a particular unity of mood, form or style, and selection of instruments. By unity of mood, composers followed a specific kind of affection in generating rhythmic and melodic patterns such as those constituting â€Å"A Mighty Fortress Is Our God† and this affection unified the mood in music,