Style in music is an intricate, multilayer and inconstant category (from specific stylistic periods to an individual style of a particular composer). It is self-evident, that no musico-stylistic period has precise and definite time boundaries. Style in music may be demarcated only with difficulties, it is one of the most complicated problems of the history of music; on the other hand, it is one of essential categories of music. We can say that there is no music without a style.

The contribution is a reflection on the “boundaries” of the baroque style in the context of J. S. Bach’s work. The author contemplates whether and how J. S. Bach – the exponent of the late Baroque, i.e. the closing phase of the baroque style – responded to new impulses in the music of the 1720s and 1730s, whether he accepted the period elements of rococo and gallant styles in his music.

Six Brandenburg Concertos BWV 1046–1051 by Johann Sebastian Bach attesting to rich imagination and creative potential of the composer represent the acme of the baroque orchestral literature. In the used musical forces the composer revealed the sense for instruments’ combinations, as well as great knowledge of organology and acoustics, and last but not least also a feeling for introduction of new musical instruments into the period performing practice. Since the renaissance of the Bach’s work in the first third of the 19th century the Brandenburg Concertos arouse the attention of musicologists, who are seeking the answers to questions concerning the chronology, origin, classification, tonal relations, orchestration, composition and mutual relations. The author of the contribution devoted a special attention to the sixth Brandenburg Concerto from the aspect of form and tectonics, as well as performing reflections, with special regard to the non-traditionally conceived accompanying role of viola da gamba.

Perception of J. S. Bach’s work in the Slovak creative ambience persists in various shapes regardless of the genre and generation differentiation. It may be documented by the way of an analytical view into the scores of the Slovak composers as well as on other levels of perception – in didactic plans of music schools, in dramaturgical plans and performing practice of individuals and ensembles, or in sythetically realized musicological reflection. Perhaps most interestingly and most colourfully was this perception reflected in a compositional practice, where Bach’s work played diverse roles: of a model, inspirator, accelerator, transformation and symbol. The conscious attitude towards Bach’s music helped many Slovak composers to overcome the traumas from the period of so-called “normalization” in the 1970s, as well as problems of stylistic self-identification.

One of the representatives of the Slovak music avantgarde generation is a composer Miro Bázlik. His development was very special and different from the one of his contemporaries’. Bázlik identified himself with the generationally pronounced self-confidence of the young composers in the sense of searching for new impulses in the Slovak music at the early 1960s (serial music, aleatory, electroacoustic music or happening), still he has not given up the relations to earlier European tradition and he has not hidden his sincere admiration for the music of J. S. Bach, W. A. Mozart, L. van Beethoven, F. Chopin. Namely in Bach’s music Bázlik has been finding significant impulses. Since his childhood the composer has an incessant contact with the music, which became not only a source of the composer’s reflection, but also the identification basis for performing and interpretation. The emotional relation of Miro Bázlik to Bach tradition represented by thematic shapes, lineary counterpoint and harmonical consonancies is documented by the author of the contribution on analyses of selected works – Canticum 43 (1968), 5 Elegies for Strings (1957), Baroque Suite (1958), cycles Five Songs on Chinese Poetry (1960), oratory The Twelve (1967), String Quartet (1974), Spectra (1970–1974), Epoché for cello and orchestra (1983) and others.

250 Years After was an event reminding the anniversary of death of one of the greatest exponents of the European music culture. It was a part of the 11th international festival Evenings of New Music 2000. The organizers thus opened the space for composers’ initiatives which have been transforming anew the musical heritage of J. S. Bach. So-called recycling of Bach’s creation in compositions of contemporary composers, active participators of the project, became the programmed starting point of the festival.

Also the Russian composer Yevgeny Irshai, living in Banská Bystrica since 1991, accepted the invitation for a cooperation. His initiative resulted into a unique elaboration of Bach’s anagram B-A-C-H into a piece Bach-ach-ch-cha-chaos for violin, viola, cello and piano, premiered in June 2000 in Bratislava by an ensemble Opera Aperta at the festival Evenings of New Music. The article is focusing on Yevgeny Irshai’s creation related to  J. S. Bach’s legacy and offers also a brief analytical view on the abovementioned work of the composer.

The renaissance of Bach’s music, which began from the early 19th century, spread also on the territory of the present Slovakia. The study deals with how the city of Bratislava participated on the history of Bach’s perception in the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, namely in the realm of pianistic art. The reflections concern especially two topical problems: performance of Bach’s piano works at public concerts (and partly also the reflection of the performances in the period press) and use of Bach’s compositions in the tuition of piano playing. On the basis of heuristic research the authors can assert, that the state of performing of J. S. Bach’s piano work in Bratislava was parallel to the European musical development. Significant foreign as well as domestic artistic personalities contributed to popularization of his pieces, and positively influenced the music life in the city. The period articles and reviews evaluated their performing art with great appreciation and respect. The examined sources (programmes and concert reviews) offer a picture revealing that J. S. Bach’s piano work sounded more frequently in various arrangements, and in harmony with the acoustic ideal of romantic sentiment. In summary we may assert, that Bach’s piano creation was domesticated also in the frame of home music-making and chamber music playing.

In tuition of piano playing J. S. Bach’s pieces occupied an important position since the beginning of the 20th century. The first mentions about the stylistic performing of the compositions from the late 19th century point to a development of the musical critique. The presented results of the research of Bach piano music’s perception may be taken as one of the proofs of the fact that Bratislava – and Slovakia, too – was closely tied with developmental trends of European music in every phase of its development.

The compositional work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has acquired a decisive significance in the era of stylistic shaping and forming of musical classicism in Slovakia. It became an important tool moulding the domestic period musical creation, performing practice as well as musical taste not only in a selected circle of noble and bourgeois listeners, but via church productions also among broad folk ranks. In this sense the period Mozart music monuments archived in Slovakia have to be conceived as an inseparable part of the cultural wealth of our nation and simultaneously as a part of musical culture of Europe.

The contribution reflects the aesthetical issue of perception and evaluation of music in the context of perception of W. A. Mozart’s music. “Is Classical music a beautiful game, speech of senses or a message?” Answering the question the author points to obstacles joined with the simplifying alternative procedures of the either–or kind. In the case of such a multivalent phenomenon as music is, any simplifying procedures plainly fail. Therefore Mozart’s music will never be comprehensively and definitively clarified, despite the massive interest from the side of performers, listeners, theoreticians and various interpreters. Fortunately for us and for the future of music-loving generations, to which it will bring delight not only from the new cognition but also from discovering new contexts. The genuine artefact lives for centuries and simultaneously stimulates the origin of new views and interpretations, linked to a perceptive and curious percipient.

The music of J. S. Bach is known for its harmonical beauty. As a cantor, Bach was responsible for the musical arrangement of the liturgy and many of his pieces were composed for this purpose. In church music, a cantata has a unique place because of its significant role: to respond to the central biblical texts read during the ceremony. One of the latest Bach’s cantatas Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme is being analyzed from a theological/biblical point of view.

[The contribution is available only in Slovak language in the printed version of the revue.]