Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) German

Johann Sebastian Bach was the greatest composer of the Baroque era and is considered one of the greatest composers of all time.

1.  Bach's instrumental compositions consist of works for organ, harpsichord, and solo lute, violin, 

     cello, lute and viola da gamba, chamber and orchestra music.  Although the piano was invented 

     when Bach was a teenager, it never became a reliable instrument until he was very old.

2.  Bach's vocal compositions consist of masses, magnificats, passions, oratorios, cantatas, motets,

     hymns and chorales, arias and songs.  Bach wrote no operas.  


Among the most important aspects of Bach's music were the following:

1.  Bach took counterpoint far beyond any other composer.   The complex criss-crossing of 

     simultaneous melody lines is best heard in his fugues but can also be heard in numerous other 

     works such as the Brandenburg Concertos.  ("What is counterpoint" - 4:40)

2.  Bach, more than the other Baroque composers, employed modulations (changes of key) in his 

     music to increase the dynamic qualities.  The Well Tempered Clavier was the culmination of 

     such efforts.  (a 12 minute talk on modulation)

3.  Bach made use of unsettling dissonances far beyond any Baroque composer.  It allowed him to 

     inject unpleasant feelings of terror, confusion, pain, etc in his listeners.  He was often admonished 

     for using "strange tones" by his employers.  Dissonance would be very common in 20th century 

     classical music. (1 1/2 minute example) 

4.  Bach was the first major composer to give lead and improvisational roles to the traditionally 

     basso continuo instruments (organ and harpsichord) in orchestral music giving them a status 

     equal to the violin.  This preceded Handel's organ concertos by two decades.

5.  In instrumentation, Bach wrote some of the most technically demanding works for keyboards 

     and lead violin and cello.  He was also instrumental in bringing flute, oboes, and the new clarinet 

     into lead roles to challenge the traditional use of strings.

6.  In organizational complexity of the music, Bach again exceeds every Baroque composer.   For 

     example, the organizational complexities of his Mass in B Minor far surpass those of 

     Handel's Messiah.

Places Bach lived

The Bach Family Tree

            Johann Sebastian Bach was born into a musical family in Eisenach, Germany on March 31, 

      1685.  Both of his parents died by his 10th birthday and he was raised for the next five years by 

      his older brother, Johann Christian, an organist who instructed Bach in harpsichord and the works 

      of various composers and organists like Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583 - 1643), Johann Pachelbel 

      (1653 - 1706), and Diederich Buxtehude (1637? - 1707).  Bach gained prominence as an organist 

      by his early twenties but ran afoul of his employers by berating a student and by extending a four 

      week leave into four months when he walked 280 miles to visit Buxtehude in Lübeck.

            After living briefly in several cities, Bach settled in Wiemar from 1708 - 1717 where he and 

      his first wife, Maria Barbara Bach (1684 - 1720) had seven children.  Three died in infancy.  Two 

      of the boys, Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel became accomplished composers.

            Maria Barbara wife died in 1720 and he married soprano Anna Magdalena Wilcke the following 

       year, fathering 13 more children, six of them reached adulthood.  Two sons from this marriage, 

       J.C.F. Bach and Johann Christian Bach, became important composers.

             While in Weimar, Bach's composing career developed significantly.   At age 28, he embraced 

       the drama in the instrumental musical structures of Italians Corelli and Vivaldi, especially the 

       dramatic openings.  He also wrote his first great cantatas and began work on the first book of 

       the Well-Tempered Clavier, a set of 24 preludes and fugues that explore harmonies in all 12 

       major and 12 minor keys.  But once again Bach ran afoul of the Duke who employed him, and

       and was jailed for a month and then dismissed for insubordination.

             Bach found employment for a prince in Köthen.    The prince was Calvinist, disliked ornate 

      religious music, so Bach concentrated on his secular cantatas and his instrumental works.  It was 

      here that Bach wrote the Brandenburg Concertos.

             In 1723 Bach, then 38, moved to Leipzig where he lived the final 27 years of his life.  He was 

      appointed the cantor at St. Thomas Church and supplied the music for three other churches.

St. Thomas' Church, Leipzig

             In Leipzig Bach earned further fame and responsibilities.  He composed hundreds of sacred 

       cantatas and some of his most profound works like Art of the Fugue, the St. Mathew and St. John 

       Passions, and the Mass in B minor which he finished one year before his death in 1750.  Bach had 

       been going blind for several years and died after an unsuccessful eye operation.  He is interred 

       at the St. Thomas Church.