Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Germany and came from a family with a long tradition in music. He is a famous German composer.
Biography and Career :
Bach was a great composer of the baroque period. Because his father died he had to work since he had been very young.
Bach played the violin in many German towns, but his dream was to be a great organ-player.
That's why in 1705 he left to Lubeck, to study with Buxtehude.
After finishing studies with Buxtehude, Johann Sebastian Bach was hired as an official organ-player in Duke of Saxony-Weimar's court where he became one of the best. There he experienced many religious styles, which he later improved, and composed his famous works "The Prelude and The Running in do major" and "The Toccata an
d The Running in do minor".
In 1706 he decided to go to Muhlhausen, four months after arriving at Mühlhausen he got married to his second cousin from Arnstadt, Maria Barbara Bach. The family had seven children, four of whom survived to adulthood. Two of them, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, became important composers in the ornate rococo style that followed the baroque.
His next job from 1717 to 1723, as Kapellmeister in prince's Leopold from Cothen court, removed him from religious music. There he had to take care of an orchestra and, because he didn't have an organ, he concentrated on harpsichord and clavichord. During this time he composed many lay works: Orchestral suites, the Six suites for solo cello and the Sonatas and partitas for solo violin.
On the 7th of July 1720, while Bach was abroad with Prince Leopold, a tragedy happened: his wife, Maria Barbara, passed away. Next year, the widower met Anna Magdalena Wilcke, a soprano who performed at the court in Cöthen. They married on the 3rd of December 1721. Despite the age difference, they appeared to have had a happy marriage. Together they had 13 children.
Bach was named Cantor of the Thomasschule in 1723, near to the Thomaskirche (St Thomas's Lutheran Church) in Leipzig, as well as Director of Music in the principal churches in the town. The last one was a job that he would keep for 27 years.
In 1747, Bach went to the court of Frederick II in Potsdam, where the king played a theme for Bach and challenged him to improvise a fugue related to his theme.
On the 28th of July Bach passed away, at the age of 65. During his life he had composed more than one thousand works.
Important Works :
- Mass in A major
- Mass in G minor
- Mass in G major
- Sanctus in C major
- Sanctus in D major
- "The Prelude and The Running in do major"
- "The Toccata and The Running in do minor"
- "Wachtet Auf (No 140)"
- "Ach Got"
- "Mesa in B minor"
- "The Art of Running"
- "The six Branderburgs Concerts"
Quotes :
- "For the glory of the most high God alone,
And for my neighbour to learn from."
- "There's nothing remarkable about it. All one has to do is hit the right keys at the right time and the instrument plays itself. "
Johann Sebastian Bach Image : jenskleemann.de
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