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
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
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