Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German organist, composer, and musical scholar of the Baroque period, and is almost universally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. His works, noted for their intellectual depth, technical command, and artistic beauty, have provided inspiration to nearly every musician after him, from Mozart to Schoenberg.

J. S. Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany, March 21, 1685. Bach's uncles were all professional musicians ranging from church organists and court chamber musicians to composers. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was the town piper in Eisenach, a post that entailed organizing all the secular music in town as well as participating in church music at the direction of the church organist (p. 309, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol. 2). Bach was the youngest son of Ambrosius Bach and probably learned the fundamentals of musical theory and how to play the violin from him (p104, The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians).

Bach's mother died when he was still a young boy and his father suddenly passed away when J. S. Bach was 9, at which time he moved in with his older brother Johann Christoph Bach, who was the organist of Ohrdruf, Germany (p105, The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians). While in his brother's house, J. S. Bach continued copying, studying, and playing music. According to one popular legend, late one night, when his brother was asleep, he found a collection of works by Johann Christoph's former mentor, Johann Pachelbel, and began to copy it by the moonlight. This went on every night until Johann Christoph heard his brother playing some of the distinctive tunes from his private library, at which point he demanded to know how Sebastian had come to learn them (www.sfsymphony.org/templates/composer).

It was at Ohrdruf that Bach began to learn about organ building. The Ohrdruf church's instrument was in constant need of minor repairs, and young J. S. Bach was often sent into the belly of the old organ to tighten, adjust, or replace various parts. This hands-on experience with the innards of the instrument provides a good explanation for his unequalled skill at playing the organ (p. 11, Classical Music, the Rough Guide).

From 1700 to 1702 he attended St Michael's School in LÐ"јneburg, where he sang in the church choir. After competing unsuccessfully for an organist's position in Sangerhausen in 1702, he spent the spring and summer of 1703 as violinist at the court of Weimar and then took up the post of organist at the Neukirche in Arnstadt. In June 1707 he moved to St Blasius, MÐ"јhlhausen, and four months later he married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach, with whom he had seven children, including Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel. Bach was appointed organist and chamber musician to the Duke of Saxe-Weimar in 1708, and in the next nine years he composed many of his finest works and became known as a leading organist (p. 315, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol. 2).

In 1717, Bach was appointed Kapellmeister at KÐ"¶then but was refused permission to leave Weimar. He was eventually allowed to leave but only after being held prisoner by the duke for almost a month. Bach's new employer, Prince Leopold, was a talented musician who loved and understood the art. Since the court was Calvinist, Bach had no chapel duties and instead concentrated on composition. In this period he wrote his violin concertos and the six Brandenburg Concertos, as well as numerous sonatas, suites and keyboard works (p. 164, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Vol. 1)

In 1720 Maria Barbara died while Bach was visiting Karlsbad with the prince. In December of the following year, Bach married Anna Magdalena Wilcke, daughter of a court trumpeter at Weissenfels. A week after Bach was married Prince Leopold also married. Unfortunately, the prince's bride lacked interest in the arts which eventually led to a decline in the support given to music at the KÐ"¶then court (p. 11, Classical Music, the Rough Guide). In 1722 Bach decided to leave the KÐ"¶then court and applied for the prestigious post of Director musices at Leipzig and Kantor of the Thomasschule there. In April 1723 after the preferred candidates, Telemann and Graupner had withdrawn; he was offered the post and accepted it (p. 327, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol. 2).

Bach remained as Thomaskantor in Leipzig for the rest of his life as a happy family man and a proud and caring parent. His duties centered on the Sunday and feastday services at the city's two main churches. During his early years in Leipzig he composed enormous quantities of church music, including four or five cantata cycles, the Magnificat and the St John and St Matthew Passions. By this time J. S. Bach was renowned as a virtuoso organist, an expert in organ construction and design, and was constantly being sought after as a teacher (www.sfsymphony.org/templates/composer). From 1726 onwards, his fame as a composer grew tremendously after he began to publish some of his keyboard and organ music (p. 19, Classical Music, the Rough Guide).

After 1729 Bach's interest in composing church music sharply declined, and most of his sacred works after that date including the B minor Mass and the Christmas Oratorio consist mainly of 'parodies'