Johann Sebastian Bach. Born at 21 March 1685, (Eisenach, Germany) and died 28 July, 1750 (Liepzig, Germany). Johann Bach was one of the many composers in the Baroque period who's extra ordinary talent and attention to structure gave his work that enduring quality.
To call Bach a "Baroque composer", while technically correct, is to do him a disservice. While Bach admired and studied great Baroque composers such as Vivaldi, Pachelbel, Buxtehude, and the Couperins, and his music reveals the forms and figurations characteristic of that era, the scope, depth, and significance of his achievement so transcend that of these other artists that he is more easily compared to Goethe, Michelangelo, Shakespeare, Jesus, Caesar, and the like, the figures whose legacies define Western Civilization.
He wrote vocal music galore, almost all accompanied by small orchestra: 300 Sacred Cantatas of which 200 are known; some secular cantatas, some major, multi-hour works dealing with Christmas and Passiontide (the last week of Jesus' life). Contained within these works are large choral movements, solo arias with a wide variety of obbligato ("lead") instruments in groups and as soli, four-part hymns, dramatic recitatives, and more. Almost all of this vocal music deals with the Christian tradition, and was written for (Lutheran) church services. At least one church today, Boston's Emmanuel Church, the Cantatas are still performed weekly in service as Bach intended.
He wrote copious instrumental music (much of which is thought to have been lost): concerti for violin and orchestra, harpsichord and orchestra, concerti grossi (including the famous "Brandenburg" set), and 6 suites each for solo violin and solo 'cello, (and one for flute) whose incomparable expressivity declaimed in (usually) a single line (only one note at a time) evokes awe in any sensitive soul and tests the emotional and technical resources of the performer to the utmost. His music for lute and transcriptions (some his own transcriptions) of his violin and 'cello music for lute and guitar are a pillar of the classical guitar repertoire.
For harpsichord (or generic keyboard) he wrote the 48 Preludes and Fugues (each) of the Well-Tempered Clavier, a foundation of not only the harpsichord but today the piano repertory, the six each "French" and "English" suites and "Partitas", the Goldberg Variations and dozens of smaller preludes, fugues, toccatas, "inventions", and so on, that are a bedrock layer of not only keyboard study and concert repertoire to this day, but have inspired composers such as Chopin and Scriabin through their panoramic exploration of compositional styles and the human emotional palette.
Bach's solo organ music, several dozen preludes and fugues and chorale-preludes (see below for explanations of these terms) form the basis of the entire organ literature, all organ study, and most organ recitals. The name of J. S. Bach dominates the organ repertoire more than that of Shakespeare rules the stage. The emotional sweep and grandeur of Bach's organ music summarizes all the best of Bach and of the Organ, from lofty cathedrals of sound to the tenderest yearnings of the (religious) heart.
Finally, Bach wrote two works for no particular instrument (although some will argue this point), the Art of (the) Fugue and the Musical Offering (and several smaller single pieces), both intended to illustrate certain compositional techniques "in action", that is, creating beautiful and affecting music of the highest order through their skillful application. What Bach doesn't tell us, though, is that to pull the trick off reliably, you have to be Bach.
Adapted from : Johann Sebastian Bach / alt.music.j-s-bach, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Copyright © Bernard S. Greenberg, January 1996
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