Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach entered the world on the 21st of March 1685 in Eisenach, a town within the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach. He was the eighth child and youngest son of Johann Ambrosius Bach, who served as the director of town musicians. His mother Maria Elisabeth came from a family of town councillors. The Bach family lineage traced back to a patriarch named Vitus Veit Bach who lived three centuries earlier. Three to four generations of musicians emerged from this Thuringia region before Johann Sebastian arrived. These relatives worked as church organists, court chamber musicians, and composers throughout the area. An insular cultural climate surrounded the family, limiting external influences to those arriving via courts. Bach's father taught him violin skills along with basic music theory principles. One uncle may have introduced him to the organ though historians debate their closeness. Bach lost his mother in 1694 and his father eight months later in February 1695.
In January 1703 Bach secured an appointment as court musician for Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar. His role there remained unclear but likely included menial non-musical duties alongside musical ones. A seven-month tenure followed during which his keyboard reputation spread widely enough to invite inspection of new organs. On the 14th of August 1703 he became organist at the New Church in Arnstadt with light duties and generous salary. Tension built between Bach and his employer after several years in that post. He upset his superior by taking a prolonged absence from Arnstadt lasting around four months in 1705, 1706. This trip allowed him to visit Lübeck where he heard Dieterich Buxtehude play. Bach returned to Weimar in 1708 as organist and director of music at the ducal court. In early 1714 he received promotion to court composer. By November 1717 he fell out of favor and was jailed for almost a month before dismissal. The court secretary reported he had been too stubbornly forcing the issue of his discharge. He left Mühlhausen in 1723 to accept the position of Thomaskantor in Leipzig. There he directed church music for twenty-seven years until his death.
Bach composed hundreds of cantatas both sacred and secular throughout his career. Most of these works expounded on Gospel readings prescribed for every Sunday and feast day in the Lutheran year. Five are mentioned in obituaries while three remain extant today. Of the more than 300 cantatas he composed in Leipzig over one hundred have been lost. He started a second annual cycle on the first Sunday after Trinity in 1724 composing only chorale cantatas based on single church hymns. These included works like BWV 77, 84, 89, 95, 96, and 109 which were not all included in the cycle still extant in Leipzig by 1830. Bach also wrote Latin church music including Passions oratorios and motets. His Christmas Oratorio for the 1734, 35 season used existing works such as Christmas cantatas and other church music for all seven occasions. The St Matthew Passion was first performed on Good Friday the 11th of April 1727 though modern research suggests it may have been performed two years earlier. A lost setting called the St Mark Passion appeared in 1731 with libretto by Picander remaining extant. Bach's Mass in B minor remained unperformed during his lifetime yet is considered among the greatest choral works in history.
Four-part harmony formed the core of Bach's style during an era when modal music gave way to tonal systems. Each chord contained four notes progressing from one to another according to specific rules. This principle appeared not only in his four-part choral music but also in figured bass accompaniment prescriptions. Bach pushed limits further than contemporaries by adding strange tones that confused singers according to an indictment he faced in Arnstadt. Modulation allowed him to change keys within a piece despite Baroque instruments vastly limiting possibilities. Keyboard instruments before temperaments limited modulations while wind instruments like trumputs were tied to tuning keys. His Capriccio on departure showed gusto for modulation unlike any contemporary work compared to it. Full expansion came later through The Well-Tempered Clavier using all twelve major and minor keys developed since around 1720. Fugues represented strictly contrapuntal compositions where distinct melodic lines followed four-part harmony rules. These forms opened with subjects sounding successively in each voice before returning to opening key often followed by coda. Forkel described this feature as unique and second to none among similar pieces.
Bach absorbed influences from Italian and French music without ever visiting those countries directly. Court at Weimar showed particular interest in Italian styles especially Antonio Vivaldi's concertos. Bach transcribed six of Vivaldi's concerti for solo keyboard three for organ and one for four harpsichords strings and basso continuo based on RV 580. He borrowed propulsive rhythmic patterns from models attributed to Vivaldi or Marcello brothers. BWV 974 originated before 1711 yet its seven movements did not match Vivaldi's later style perfectly. French composer François Couperin influenced dance-based movements within Bach's keyboard suites. Lully introduced lively ballets of rapid rhythm including gavottes menuets rigaudons and sarabandes used frequently by Bach instead of slow stately movements. Bach studied Corelli's work and based an organ fugue BWV 579 on his Opus 3 of 1689. Handel took Corelli older Opus 6 Concerti Grossi as models rather than Venetian concerto favored by Bach. These adaptations helped shape entire generations of composers including Telemann and himself through shared stylistic elements.
After his death Bach's reputation initially declined as his work seemed old-fashioned compared to emerging galant style. He was remembered more as a virtuoso organ player and teacher than as a composer of complex works. His surviving family members inherited many manuscripts but were not equally concerned with preserving them leading to considerable losses. Carl Philipp Emanuel worked hardest safeguarding legacy while Wilhelm Friedemann sold part of large collection after becoming unemployed. Abraham Mendelssohn bought substantial collection in 1805 donating it to Berlin Sing-Akademie where occasional public concerts occurred. Felix Mendelssohn aged thirteen produced first Magnificat setting in 1822 clearly inspired then-unpublished D major version of Bach's Magnificat. In 1829 Felix Mendelssohn performed the St Matthew Passion precipitating full Bach Revival movement across Europe. The St John Passion saw its nineteenth-century premiere in 1833 while Mass in B minor followed publicly in 1844. By end of century local societies established themselves in several cities performing music in all major centers. Friedrich Nietzsche wrote Erwin Rohde in 1870 expressing immeasurable admiration after hearing St Matthew Passion three times.
In 1850 the Bach Society founded itself to promote his music choosing Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern BWV 1 as first composition volume one. Robert Schumann publisher Thomaskantor Moritz Hauptmann philologist Otto Jahn initiated complete edition published starting 1851 edited by Hauptmann. Second half of nineteenth century brought comprehensive editions while Philipp Spitta published standard work between 1873 and 1880. Two hundred books appeared about Bach during that century alone establishing him firmly among greatest composers recognized for both instrumental vocal music. Glenn Gould debut recording Goldberg Variations transformed obscure piece into standard piano repertoire selling over 100,000 copies by time of death in 1982. Jazz musicians adapted his works creating versions through Jacques Loussier Ian Anderson Uri Caine Modern Jazz Quartet. Claude Debussy called him benevolent God offering prayer before setting to work preserving from mediocrity. Historically informed performance practice emerged with Nikolaus Harnoncourt acquiring prominence playing on harpsichord Baroque instruments reducing ensemble sizes matching original groups. Leopold Stokowski orchestrated Toccata and Fugue opening Disney Fantasia film reaching wider audiences globally.
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Common questions
When and where was Johann Sebastian Bach born?
Johann Sebastian Bach entered the world on the 21st of March 1685 in Eisenach, a town within the duchy of Saxe-Eisenach. He was the eighth child and youngest son of Johann Ambrosius Bach who served as the director of town musicians.
What major musical works did Johann Sebastian Bach compose during his career?
Bach composed hundreds of cantatas both sacred and secular throughout his career with most expounding on Gospel readings prescribed for every Sunday and feast day in the Lutheran year. His Latin church music included Passions oratorios and motets such as the St Matthew Passion first performed on Good Friday the 11th of April 1727.
How did Johann Sebastian Bach influence later composers like Handel and Telemann?
These adaptations helped shape entire generations of composers including Telemann and himself through shared stylistic elements derived from Italian and French music influences. Bach absorbed influences from Italian and French music without ever visiting those countries directly by transcribing concertos and borrowing rhythmic patterns from models attributed to Vivaldi or Marcello brothers.
When did the Bach Revival movement begin after his death?
In 1829 Felix Mendelssohn performed the St Matthew Passion precipitating full Bach Revival movement across Europe. The St John Passion saw its nineteenth-century premiere in 1833 while Mass in B minor followed publicly in 1844.
What specific musical techniques defined Johann Sebastian Bach's compositional style?
Four-part harmony formed the core of Bach's style during an era when modal music gave way to tonal systems with each chord containing four notes progressing from one to another according to specific rules. Fugues represented strictly contrapuntal compositions where distinct melodic lines followed four-part harmony rules opening with subjects sounding successively in each voice before returning to opening key often followed by coda.