Click to listen to Air with variations(14k) by J.S. Bach."The masterpieces of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Mark the high point of baroque music. Bach came from a long line of musicians and passed on this musical heritage; four of his sons were also composers. He was born in Eisenach, Germany, and began his musical career as a church organist and then as court organist and later concertmaster of the court orchestra in Weimar.
"His most lucrative and prestigious post was as court conductor for the prince of Cothen--more important, this was the first position in which he was not involved with church or organ music. For six years (1717-1723) he directed and composed for the prince's small orchestra; the Brandenburg Concertos grew out of this productive period.
"Bach's next position was a cantor (director of music) of St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, with responsibility for the four main municipal churches. Bach remained here for the last twenty-seven years of his life. He rehearsed, conducted, and usually composed an extended work for chorus, soloists, and orchestra for each Sunday and church holiday and was responsible for the musical education of some fifty-five students in the St. Thomas school He also became director of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum, a student organization that gave weekly concerts at a coffeehouse. An eminent teacher of the organ and composition, he gave organ recitals and was often asked to judge the construction of organs. In his last years, his eyesight deteriorated, yet he continued to compose, conduct, and teach, when he died in 1750, he had become completely blind.
"Bach was a deeply religious man--a Lutheran--who wrote the letters J. J. for Jesu Juva (Jesus help) at the beginning of each sacred composition and S. D. G. for Soli Deo Gloria (to God alone the glory) at the end. His love of music was so great that as a young man he would walk up to 30 miles to hear a famous organist. He was married twice and had twenty children, of whom nine survived him and four became well-know musicians.
"Bach was by no means considered the greatest composer of his day, though he was recognized as the most eminent organist, harpiscordist, and improviser (improvisation is the term used for music created at the same time as it is performed). He was little known outside of Germany, and by the time of his maturity, the baroque style had stared to go out of fashion and many people thought his works too heavy, complex, and polyphonic. His music was largely forgotten for years after his death, though a few later composers were aware of his genius; but in 1829 Felix Mendelssohn presented the St Mathews Passion, and Bach's music has been the daily bread of every serious musician since then.
Bach's Music
"Bach created masterpieces in every baroque form except opera. Throughout, he fused technical mastery with emotional depth. The excellence and number of his compositions for orchestra, small groups, and various solo instruments show how prominent instrumental music had become in the baroque period. His vocal music--the bulk of his output--was written mostly for the Lutheran church and was often based on familiar hymns. But his personal style was drawn from Italian concertos and French dance pieces as well as German church music.
"Bach's works are unique in their combination of polyphonic texture and rich harmony and are sued as models by music students today. Baroque music leans toward unity of mood, and this is particularly true of Bach, who liked to elaborate a single musical idea in a piece, creating unity by an insistent rhythmic drive. By his time, there was little difference in style between sacred and secular music; he often created sacred music simple by rearranging secular works, and his church music uses operatic forms like aria and recitative. Sometimes he composed music to demonstrate what could be done with a specific form (his Art of the Fugue, for example) or instrument (for instance, his six suites for solo cello). His Well-Tempered Clavier, a collection of forty-eight preludes and fugues, two in each major and minor key, was composed to explore and demonstrate a system of tuning (the title means, roughly, The Well-Tuned Keyboard Instrument)."
The above is from Music an Appreciation by Roger Kamien, Brief Edition, McGraw Hill Companies, Inc. Pages 97-99.
Bach Central Station Browse a collection of site links that analyze Bach and his music, including MIDI files, newsgroups, bibliographies, images, and video.
Bach, JS - The Home Page Browse or search the complete catalog of Bach's works by BWV number, title, year, key or category. Join the discussion group or read the archive.
The Bach Family Table of Contents Page for history J. S. Bach family and famous musician Bachs.
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