To put it another way: To write a good melody is not easy. To write two or more good melodies that combine together vertically and maintain their independence is daunting.
Bach used the technique of counterpoint in every genre he wrote for: keyboard music, chamber music, orchestral, choral, and even his works for solo string instruments.
A number of years ago, while I was studying in Boston, I was talking with a composer friend of mine. We got onto the subject of Bach and the amazing structure of his compositions, and his unsurpassed mastery of counterpoint.
My friend, who at the time was a teaching assistant and now is a professor, observed, “It’s as if Bach discovered a cave full of perfect crystals, and brought them all out for the rest of us to look at them.”
Anyone who has studied Bach even a little bit knows intuitively that his imaginative description is right on the mark.
Bach’s Influence on Later Generations
In spite of the height and beauty of Bach’s achievements as the master of Baroque music, his compositions were soon forgotten by the next generation. In the Rococo period and early Classical period, counterpoint was abandoned in favor of a simpler approach of melody with harmonic accompaniment.
It was not until Haydn and Mozart were well into their careers that they rediscovered Bach’s music. They must have been astounded.
Suddenly these great composers were experimenting with the possibilities of introducing counterpoint into their compositions. You first find them trying contrapuntal passages in their chamber music, which was where they normally experimented with new ideas before using these ideas in their symphonies and bigger works.
One brilliant example is the finale of Mozart’s Jupiter symphony, with its wonderful play of counterpoint with many voices and different subjects.
