Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) was a German composer and organist of the Baroque period, widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music [1]. Working largely within the Lutheran church tradition, he produced a vast body of sacred and instrumental music, including the Mass in B minor, the St Matthew Passion, and the Brandenburg Concertos [2]. Celebrated in his own day chiefly as a keyboard virtuoso, he was later recognized as a supreme master of counterpoint and harmony [1].
Early life and education
Johann Sebastian Bach was born on 21 March 1685 in Eisenach, in the German state of Saxe-Eisenach, into a family that had produced professional musicians for generations [1]. Orphaned before the age of ten, he was raised by his elder brother Johann Christoph, an organist, from whom he received early instruction at the keyboard [1]. As a teenager he attended St. Michael's School in Lüneburg, where he sang in the choir and absorbed a wide range of contemporary music [2].
Career
Bach held a succession of posts across Thuringia and Saxony. He worked as organist at Arnstadt and Mühlhausen before becoming court organist and later concertmaster at the ducal court in Weimar, where he composed much of his organ music [1]. From 1717 he served as Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen, a period that yielded many of his instrumental works [2]. In 1723 he was appointed Thomaskantor in Leipzig, directing music at the city's principal churches and teaching at its Latin school, a demanding position he held until his death [1].
Major works
Bach's output spans nearly every genre of his time except opera. His sacred music includes the St Matthew Passion, the St John Passion, the Mass in B minor, and more than two hundred surviving church cantatas [1]. His instrumental music comprises the Brandenburg Concertos, the two books of The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Goldberg Variations, and the unfinished The Art of Fugue [3]. Renowned in his lifetime above all as an organ virtuoso, he also wrote extensively for that instrument [2].
Later life and legacy
Bach's eyesight failed in his final years, and he died in Leipzig on 28 July 1750 [1]. Several of his sons, among them Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Christian, became prominent composers in their own right [2]. Although his intricate contrapuntal style was considered old-fashioned soon after his death, his reputation revived in the nineteenth century, aided by Felix Mendelssohn's 1829 performance of the St Matthew Passion [3]. His works, catalogued in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV), are now regarded as a foundation of the Western musical tradition [1].
