Johann Sebastian Bach

Here is today’s presentation of Bach.

Born March 21, 1685
in Eisenach, Germany (click for map)
Bachhaus (Bach’s childhood house)

Father: Johann Ambrosius Bach, director of town musicians
Mother: Maria Elizabeth Lämmerhirt

3 siblings, all played instruments
Father taught violin

Childhood & Training

• 40 Bachs involved in music
• Mother died in 1694 (Bach was 9)
• Father died 8 months later
• Extended family stepped in
• Johann Christoph Bach – older brother, took in J.S. Bach, taught him clavichord
• Age 14: scholarship to sing at St. Michael’s School in Lüneberg (2 years)

Appointments

• 1703: Duke Johann von Ernst, Wiemar: first appointment as court musician
• 1706: appointed organist at St. Blasius’s in Mühlhausen
• 1708: returned to Wiemar
• 1717: fell out of favor with the Duke; dismissed

Family Life

• Married Twice:
  • Maria Barbara Bach (1707-1720), 7 children, 4 survived to adulthood
  • Anna Magdalena Wilcke (1721-1750), 13 children, 6 survived to adulthood

Death

• 1749: health declining, lost eyesight
• 1750: eye surgery by surgeon John Taylor
• July 28, 1750, “unhappy consequences of very unsuccessful eye operation”
• Grave unmarked for 150 years

Posthumous Fame

• 1825: Felix Mendelssohn conducted “St. Matthew Passion”, beginning the revival of Bach’s music
• 1894: coffin found, moved to St. John’s Church; building destroyed during WW2
• 1950: remains taken to a grave at Leipzig’s Church of St. Thomas

Bach’s Music

• Religious:
  • 300 cantatas (200 survived)
  • St. John Passion
  • St. Matthew Passion
  • Mass in B Minor
  • Christmas Oratorio
  • Magnificat in D
• Orchestral:
  • 6 Brandenburg Concertos
  • 2 Violin Concertos
  • Concerto for 2 Violins
  • 8 solo Harpsichord Concertos w/Orchestra
  • 2, 3 & 4 Harpsichords w/Orchestra
  • 4 Orchestral “French” Suites
• Chamber:
  • 29 Sonatas for various solo string instruments
  • Organ Works
  • 26 Preludes
  • 150 Choral Settings
  • Clavier (harpsichord) music
  • 24 Preludes & Fugues
  • Goldberg Variations