# If Bach wrote an opera ...



## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

...*it would have sounded like __________.*

A fun and irreverent game, because I have not posted in a while, and I thought it would not only spur some interesting comments, but also act as a potential jumping point for those looking for a new piece, or composer, etc. So, the question:

*Had [COMPOSER] written a [GENRE/FORM of PIECE], it would probably have sounded like [COMPOSITION].*

_[insert your option]_

As a preemptive retort, this is merely for fun. So, please, save the "nothing would actually sound like _THIS COMPOSER_ writing _THIS TYPE OF PIECE_ because s/he is too unique" business. We got it. We understand.

This is just for fun (and aid).


----------



## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

He did write secular cantatas, short of length (as if that really mattered), they are a mini-opera with recitative and da-capo arias sung in Baroque opera fashion. It is the closest we get to a full scale opera. Make no mistake, the score is very operatic in the way the recitative, arias and tension are built. There is nothing religious at all about these secular catantas telling mythical stories, which many Baroque operas did anyway.

BWV 201 and BWV 213 are best examples.


----------



## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

As I was listening to *Britten's *_Quartettino_, I could not help but hear something of *Mahler *in there. Maybe the ninths, or the layering, or something.

And I was starting to wonder that had *Mahler written a (standard four/five movement) quartet* -- surely difficult for him and his compositional style and tendency, particularly in the early 20th Century, let us say -- it would sound something near to this, maybe. It, Mahler's quartet, would surely have been strange and totally _not_ over-powering and dynamic and intensely passionate yet delicate, as are many of his symphonies and songs.

That is, that quartet would be quite the incredible thing: jagged and somewhat stripped of its intense layering that we are so accustom to, that whatever he wrote, even if genuine Mahler, would surely sound bizarre and complex and far more intricate than what we end up hearing out of the orchestral tones.

Schoenberg's early quartets are a fantastic pick, obviously, but I think *Britten's *_Quartettino_ is an interesting comp. Check it out people.


----------



## Avey (Mar 5, 2013)

Oh, but like talking opera, I hear *Korngold's *_Die Tote Stadt_ -- and, gosh, talk about Mahler writing an opera. That thing has Herr Mahler written all over it.

...and _Violanta_ is not far from that either.


----------



## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

I do have to think about this one, nice question and O.P though.


----------



## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

If Debussy had written a violin concerto, it might have sounded like Respighi's Concerto Gregoriano. (In other words, Respighi shamelessly copied Debussy's style! )


----------

