From Bach to Queen?

A question of influence is always, well, questionable. Sometimes there is substantial proof through other primary sources that goes beyond the music that help confirm a question of influence, such as journals, letters, and correspondences. Other times the influence is rather substantial and/or strong enough that one can infer an influence without confirmation through external sources. Then there are times when an influence is detected but a lack of evidence prevents one from knowing for certain. The idea and concept of influence, quotation, modeling, and allusion go back centuries, yet the same questions enter when one questions a work influencing another. "Did A know B, and his/her work, and, if so, how well?" "Would A have heard the work of B, and, if so, how may it have influenced them?" The pinnacle question concerning this post is, "If the quotation is so slight and brief, fleeting, is this really an example of quotation, or merely a coincidence?"

Sometimes when I listen to music I pick up on some similarities I have heard in other works. It may be the melody, the harmony or chord progressions, or even the orchestration. Sometimes the similarities are substantial, and sometimes they are slight and happen in passing. The example for this post concerns the latter. And it is one that spans across centuries and genres.

The band Queen produced hit songs and albums in the 1970s at a time when rock was elevated to such terms as "art rock" and "avant-garde rock." Their 1975 album, A Night at the Opera, the title taken from a Marx Brothers comedy, was very successful and is littered with artistic influences from classical music. This style continued in the band's 1978 album Jazz, and was written by frontman Freddie Mercury. I have picked up on an unlikely source for the antecedent phrase for the opening verse to the song "Bicycle Race" from this album. And the potential influence comes from, of all things, a Bach cantata!

After the four-measure unaccompanied choral introduction to Queen's "Bicycle Race," the first two measures of the opening verse contains the same melodic contour and direction from the opening chorus to J. S. Bach's cantata, Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan, BWV 99 ("What God does is well done"). The example is a mere two measures, which causes me to question whether J. S. Bach is quoted by Freddie Mercury. But the two share such a melodic affinity with each other that I find it interesting. How well did Freddie Mercury know J. S. Bach and his cantatas? I have no idea. Was Freddie Mercury a secret admirer of the music of J. S. Bach? Not sure. I know Freddie Mercury studied art and classical music in his youth. But how much was he exposed to, how much of it did he retain, and did any of it influence the music we know today? Either this is a slight homage (or a wink and a nod) to Bach, or it is a whimsical coincidence. The Bach cantata in question is not even one of his more familiar cantatas to the general public. Here are excerpts from the two to hear for yourself.