Baby Fozzie "wearing" a Bach bust (middle) on Muppet Babies.
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist during the Baroque period.
Covers[]
- Rowlf the Dog plays Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" on The Muppet Show in the UK spot for episode 514.
- A season one film insert on Sesame Street uses his composition "Gavotte," as performed by the Swingle Singers, during a film about cleaning. (First: Episode 0001)
- A Sesame Street film about rain (First: Episode 0149) uses the Largo movement from Bach's "Concerto for Harpsichord in f minor, BWV 1056."
- The opening section of "Toccata and Fugue in D minor" is used over exterior shots of Count von Count's castle in a season 30 sketch. That composition was also used in the Countdown to Halloween stage show, and The Count plays a brief portion of the composition on his pipe organ in Trick or Treat with Sesame Street.
- When Zoe learns about the Lamberena with Lorena and Lorna Feijóo, the first piece of music played when the twin sisters start to dance is Bach's Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major, BWV 1006, Preludio. (First: Episode 4186)
- Yo-Yo Ma appears by himself in the yard and plays the first Minuet from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007. (First: Episode 2210)
- Bear listens to the "Air" movement of Bach's "Orchestral Suite No. 3" on the radio in the Bear in the Big Blue House episode "Music to My Ears."
- A snippet of the "Toccata and Fugue" is heard during "Life Hereafter" in Muppets Haunted Mansion.
- In Elmo's World: Water, when Dorothy imagines Elmo as a scuba diver, Bach's "Musette in D Major" plays.
References[]
- A 1982 Hallmark card features Fozzie asking Kermit, "Know why vampires aren't allowed to play classical music?" He answers, "Because their 'Bach' is worse than their bite!"
- In the Muppet Babies episode "Close Encounters of the Frog Kind" during the song "Practice Makes Perfect," Baby Piggy sings about "Beethoven, Brahms, and Bach," with Baby Scooter, Baby Gonzo, and Baby Fozzie popping up, "wearing" the composers' busts as their heads.
- The theme song for the Sesame Street segment "Alphabet Chat" features the alphabet sung to Bach's Fugue No. 2 in c minor, BWV 847 from The Well-Tempered Klavier.
- In a Pretty Great Performances segment, James Galway and the All-Animal Music Chamber Ensemble perform a tune by Johann Sebastian Fox, a spoof of Bach.
- Itzyuck Perlmud and Oscar the Grouch play the sixth movement of the "Partita for Solo Violin No. 1 in B Minor" from a recording by Itzhak Perlman in Sesame Street Episode 2627.
- "Minuet in G major" was believed to be a Bach composition until the 1970s when musicologist Hans-Joachim Schulze established it was actually written by Christian Petzold. The piece continues to be misattributed to Bach, including a 1992 sketch in which Prairie Dawn and Elmo play it as a duet. Gordon also acknowledges Bach as composer when he performs the tune on the flute in Episode 3803.
- Grouch composer "Johann Sebastian Blech" is referenced in a segment with Itzhak Perlman at Grouch Symphony Hall (First: Episode 1658).
- Renata Scotty lists "Johanne Sebastian Bark" as one of the many dog-related composers she has performed operas by in Sesame Street Episode 3518.
- In Elmo's Musical Monsterpiece, the game "Pop Goes the Honker" is set in a classroom. On the wall are Muppet caricature portraits of Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Wagner, and Bach.