Composer of the Month: Johann Sebastian Bach (Baroque Period)

It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself. — Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750) was the most celebrated member of a large family of northern German musicians and is considered one of the greatest composers of all time.

Born in Germany, Bach traced his ancestry back to his great-great-grandfather, a miller who used to play his musical instruments in the mill as it was grinding. Bach’s father was the director of the town musicians, and his brother was an organist who first taught Bach how to play the keyboard.

Bach was appointed as organist at various times in churches dotted across German cities, where he was able to refine his keyboard skills and pursue harmonic experiments. Eventually, this led him to the Weimar court, where he took up the duties of first organist and then as concertmaster. He wrote extensively for the organ, drawing on what he had learned from German composers, as well as popular French and Italian styles.

Bach and his first wife had seven children, but only four survived to adulthood. After his wife died suddenly, Bach remarried a gifted soprano singer, with whom he had thirteen children, only six of whom survived to adulthood. Of his surviving ten children, five became musicians and composers.

Bach’s style underwent profound changes over his career. He also held many prestigious musical appointments throughout his life, including to Prince Leopold of Köthen.

The contributions to classical music Bach made were enormous, as was his incredible musicality across so many instrumental forms. Bach was prolific and masterful in every musical form of his time, except opera. He is famous for his powerful oratorios, hundreds of cantatas and chorales, concerti grossi, orchestral and keyboard suites, sonatas, and partitas. In all, he composed over 1,100 pieces of music with a consistent degree of perfection.

Click here to listen to Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3.