Bach - Episode 10 

You're very kind, Nickolas! It's comments like yours that keep me going. :-) Thank you very much!

Thank you very much for your kind words, Ana, they mean a lot to me. I hope that you like the rest of the series just as much. 😊

Dear Nicholas, your comment almost made me cry of joy... I'm deeply moved. It's as if all of these years of hard work have suddenly made sense. I thank you with all of my heart.

@@BachTheAnimatedSeries You should be proud of this show. It's really unique and technically impressive. Most animations in the mainstream aren't nearly as complex and intriguing as this.

Thank you very much! When I started with the series, I didn't know anything about animation and I'm not a great artist either. It's a very steep learning curve and I'm trying to improve with every new episode, so your comment means very much to me. Thank you once more! 😊

Thank you very much, Peter! Your comments are always very precious to me. :-)

Thank you very much for your kind words. I do try to add as much detail as possible, though it remains a one-man project so often I have to compromise quality because I simply don't have the time to make everything perfect. You are also absolutely right about the way that music was conducted in those days, and most probably Bach would have played the first violin in that simfonia, but I wanted to depict him as the leader of the orchestra for people who're not so familiar with classical/baroque music. Therefore I hope that you'll forgive me for taking some liberties here or there because the main aim of my work is to make it also interesting for people who don't know Bach yet. :-)

@@BachTheAnimatedSeries You're welcome! This is an even more involved production than a cartoon strip, for one must make a cast, a script, a set, lighting, and costumes, and direct the whole thing. And then, unlike for a cartoon strip, one must also record voices and compose or arrange and perform-record a score, with sound effects--plus animating it! What a lot of work. Plus the research! I wonder how you get the images of the buildings worked in so well. You are right about Bach and the violin, and he also liked to play viola because it put him in the middle of the sounds and he could tune the chords well--so says my copy of the Bach Reader. I think you are right about "liberties." Looking forward to seeing episodes 11, 12 and all the rest!

@@Gonzol7 Yes, it's a lot more work than I anticipated at the beginning. I thought that modern software would make it easy to create characters and animate them, but that was a serious mistake and I still have a lot to learn, though you may have noticed that I'm gradually improving (or at least I hope that I am... :-) ) But Bach's my great passion and when you then get comments like yours... it makes it all worthwhile. Enjoy episode 11 (about one of Bach's most famous moments) and all the rest. If you like, you might also give me a star rating or even write a small review about my series on IMDb... it would mean a lot to me... Thank you!!! www.imdb.com/title/tt15228264/?ref_=tt_ov_inf

@@BachTheAnimatedSeries I think you've made an apt animation choice--after all, 1935 Disney or 1950s Chuck Jones would be a roaring lollapalooza of work. I see one must be a member of IMDb there, but I will be happy to plan to continue commenting on future episodes on RU-vid. Johann Sebastian--as with his namesake, John the Baptist, Bach's assignment was to point to Christ, whose appearances in your series are most apt of all--and done deftly.

@@Gonzol7 Thank you very much... :-)

Thank you for being so kind. Comments like yours give me the courage to continue. 😊

Thank you!!! I'll do my best not to disappoint you then. :-)

Thank you very much for your kind words, though the drawings gradually improve as the series progresses so perhaps it was best that you watched the first episodes on your mobile. 😆 It's a steep learning curve, but with all the support I'm getting from kind people such as you, hopefully one day it'll really become great. Thank you once again!

@@BachTheAnimatedSeries It's exactly what I want it to be right now! I'm an elementary school teacher. The obvious hand-craftsmanship is something I want my students to experience, notice, and appreciate. Too much media is industrial product, making us lose the awareness of the human(s) behind the creation. The visible strokes and the stylized scenery highlight Sebastian and the storyteller as very human. Since you are human, my students and I can admire and aspire towards art as you have.

First of all, thank you very much for your kind words. 😊 I've left the interpretation open because nobody knows exactly what went on with the Duke. We do know that he got married (probably under pressure because it was his duty and because of political reasons) but he soon divorced from her and he led the rest of his life as a recluse in his castle. He was however highly interested in the arts and literature and his policies would become the foundation of Weimar's success as a cultural centre 50 years or so later. He also clinged to Bach and I speculate that the latter must have felt more and more suffocated by it. Another, rather morbid clue is that the same Duke had a violin player hanged because he had tried to leave his court but when Bach did the same he (fortunately) received only a month's prison time. So was he gay? Had the old man developed a crush on the young Bach? We'll never know, but it wouldn't have been a solitary case. Also king Frederick II "the great" was gay and his father had his lover executed and made Frederick watch. Also he lived the rest of his life in solitude.

Well, then you should watch it and let me know if you were right or not. 😊

Thank you very much for your lovely comments! Unfortunately I haven't published the music separately, also because I'm not a great musician. But there are many excellent versions of BWV528 on the internet, for example this one: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xhxrPKW6fk8.html I hope that you'll enjoy it.

Whoa,you saying this performance is YOU,DAMN 🤯🤯🤯 coz I spent 28 Minutes looking for a performance like that it doesn't exist. And Thanks for the link

Víkingur Ólafsson did a piano version of 528 which is sublime, it's on RU-vid. It has a interesting ending where he goes to 64th notes in a wild bit of improv.

Dear Jonathan... your words mean so much to me! Thank you!!! It's comments like yours that keep me going (episode 11 is well on its way now). Cheers! Ps: I've subscribed to your channel as well of course and will check out your "silly animations" :-)

Thank you! 😊

It’s marvellous and deserves much wider appreciation

Sure! It's the Andante from Bach's organ sonata in E minor BWV528. I really love it too. 😊

@@BachTheAnimatedSeries Big thank you for replying so quicky. I’m amazed by how unpopular this series is, excellent job with it.

Thank you, Neil! :-)

@@BachTheAnimatedSeries musescore.com/user/20349356/scores/6418117

I guess you're referring to BWV917, halfway the episode? I prefer to use a piano sound for the keyboard works as it's softer than the harpsichord and less disturbing when you use it as a background for dialogs. Also, but less important, it hints a bit to the fact that Bach made a significant contribution to the development of the fortepiano, though that was much later of course. If you're referring to my playing style, it is my (personal) opinion that Bach is often played too much like a "computer" and definitely too fast, as if Bach were a speed contest. We don't know much about Bach as a person, but he definitely must have been quite emotional and his music is, again to my opinion, perhaps the music that most stirs the heart of the listener. Therefore I cannot imagine that Bach should be played with a fixed tempo and I'm convinced that Bach played in a way that people call "romantic" these days. He made his audiences cry anyway. Also many of the famous Bach performers changed their minds about him during their life, e.g. Gould's '55 recording of the Goldberg Variations, which I personally dislike as too fast and emotionless, against his '81 recording.

@@BachTheAnimatedSeries Well I wrote my comment hearing ultra-vibrato heavy bow Sinfonia from Christ lag in Todesbanden just at the begining of episode

@@BachTheAnimatedSeries I definitely recommend you exploring harpsichord recordings as they tend to be definitely less fixed in tempo than style of Bach performence that pianist developed :))

@@Kam-xm6mm That was recreated with electronic instruments because at the time I was still having a lot more trouble finding orchestras willing to let me use their recordings. Terrible, I know, but it was the best I could do... 😓

@@Kam-xm6mm In episode 21 I'm starting with piano (2-voiced invention in C major) which then transforms into harpsichord as Bach's son Bernhard is trying to play it. 😊