Johann Sebastian Bach: Baroque Composer

J. S. Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany, March 21, 1685. Bach’s uncles were all professional musicians ranging from church organists and court chamber musicians to composers. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was the town piper in Eisenach, a post that entailed organizing all the secular music in town as well as participating in church music at the direction

When given the task of writing a biography on Johann Sebastian Bach, there are roughly nine periods in his life that can be discussed in detail. Beginning in Eisenach with his birth, moving to Ohrdruf after his parent’s death, deciding to pursue choral studies in Luneburg, his first stay in Weimar while awaiting the organ to be built in Arnstadt, moving to Arnstadt and beginning services for the town at age 18, auditioning for the organist position in Muhlhausen, returning to Weimar to continue working as a member of the chamber orchestra and as Organist of the Court in Weimar, leaving Weimar to become the Chapel master in Cothen, and finally residing in Leipzig where he eventually passed away at age 65.

The fugue is often regarded as a genre defined by strict procedural guidelines. It is notable that three historically important composers, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), Georg Friedrich Handel (1685-1759), and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), all employed a closely related fugue subject in three different works. An analysis of each of these works individually, and a comparison of these works collectively reveal numerous latent and salient features, and a reflection of the composers’ style within these works. Analyses also provide an outlook into the fluidity in certain aspects and rigidity in others of the form itself, reflected historically. The three composers analyzed fall closely together in history. J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel were contemporaries, whereas Mozart was born six years after Bach’s death and three years before Handel’s death. Analytically, the angularity of these similar fugue subjects presupposes a treatment regardless of the composer. Because of the shared intervallic content among the subjects of these fugues, despite being written by several different composers, a surprising number of similarities arise. Therefore, it is reasonable to assert that compositional choices made in the construction of the fugue subjects limit the number of results possible.

Born in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany. He had a respected musical extraction and took on various organist positions during the early 18th century, producing famous compositions like Fugue in D major. Currently, he is well-none as one of the greatest Western composers of all time. His started his music career at the age eighteen after his parent had passed away. His father had taught him to play the violin and the harpsichord. “The Fugue has its subject announced in the alto, answered in the tenor, followed by the bass in the pedals and finally the soprano and continuing on an impressive scale to conclude with a sustained upper note, followed by a final tonic pedal below.” (Johann Sebastian Bach Preludes and Fugues ,

Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany in 1685, to a family of musicians. In 1965, Bach became an orphan at nine years old when his parents died one after another. Along with his older brother Jacob, Bach went to

Johann Sebastian Bach was born into a family of musicians. It was only natural for him to pick up an instrument and excel in it. His father taught him how to play the violin and harpsichord at a very young age. All of Bach’s uncles were professional musicians, one of them; Johann Christoph Bach introduced him to the organ. Bach hit a turning point in his life when both of his parents died at the age of ten years old. Bach’s older brother Johann Christoph Bach took him in and immediately expanded his knowledge in the world of music. He taught him how to play the clavichord and exposed him to great composers at the time. At the age of fourteen, Bach and his good friend George Erdmann were awarded a choral scholarship to the prestigious

Not much is known about Bach’s private life however, they were able to gather information and put it together based on official documents (Marshall, 99). Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685 in Eisenach into a musical family. Bach learned to play the organ, harpsichord, and violin from an early age. He was given a very religious education at St. Michael School in Germany. Therefore, as a composer, he saw everything as an act of prayer. Bach composed “Passions” which were sacred works based on the bible. In 1703, he worked as a court musician, which allowed him to compose various church cantatas. During his time there he wrote one of his famous pieces the “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor”. It became very popular and was featured in the Disney’s animated film “Fantasia”. Bach was appointed the director of music for the four main churches in Leipzig, Germany. His music was so great that he performed for various different kings and royal people. By 1740, Bach was having problems with his eyesight, but still

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21st 1685. He is the son of Johann Ambrosius. For many years, members of the Bach family had held positions such as organists, town instrumentalists, or Cantors.

Johann Sebastian Bach is probably a familiar name to some people. He has music that is still being played today. So you know what that means, that means that he was great. This great was born on March 31st in the year of 1685 in Eisenach, Saxe­Eisenach. He was born into a musical family, which explains why he was so gifted at composing music. It was basically in his blood. His dad was the conductor of the local choir, and all of his uncles were professional singers. He learned to play the violin and the harpsichord from his dad when he was little.

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, said to be one of the best organists of his time (Baroque Music). He was born in March 1685 in Eisenach, Thuringia as the youngest of eight children. His father Johann Ambrosius was also a musician and a court trumpeter for the Duke of Eisenach, and Director of the musicians in Eisenach (Baroque Music). Bach came from a family with a music talent, with his family members having held positions as organists, Cantors, instrumentalists in Thuringia.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born to a musical family in the Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach in 1685. The youngest of eight children, he received a classical education from an early age as well as being taught the violin and music theory by his father. Bach was a devout Lutheran who composed many sacred works for the church including masterpiece, The St. Matthew Passion (Sherrane, 2015, para. 4). As a composer, Bach enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organization, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France

Bach was born in Germany in March 31, 1685 and sadly died July 28, 1750. At a young age he had mastered the organ and violin and was a great singer. His parents died when he was only 10 but his older brother took him. Bach secured his first position in the choir of St. Michael's School in Luneburg. In 1706 he had married his cousin Maria Barbara. She had died after their seventh child in 1720. Within in 2 months he had remarried and had six more children. Then he had died too but her daughter Anna Magdalena Bach would prove to be an exceptional companion and helpmate to the composer family.

Carl Philips Emmanuel Bach was a German Classic Era composer, son of J S Bach. He drew most of his stylistic influences from those of his father, as well as his godfather, Georg Philipp Teleman. Bach had a deep interest in the written arts, which caused him to derive much of his inspirations from poets, playwrights, and philosophers. As CPE Bach aged, he grew in popularity. By the latter half of the 18th century, his notoriety had surpassed even that of his father.

Bach’s fame continued to increase until both his keyboard and vocal work were known throughout Europe. Approximately two hundred books were written about him in the 19th century, a very large number for any posthumous compsoer. A major biography was published by Philipp Spitta in 1873 (Domling : The Bach Tradition of the 19th and 20th Centuries,” in Johann Sebastian Bach: Life Times and Influence, 161) as well as a complete edition of his works published in 1900 that took fifty years to complete (Dents Arnold, “Bach,”New Oxford Companion to Music, 1983 ed.) . The performance of the St. Matthew passion in Paris in 1885 and of the B minor mass in Rome in 1889 were milestones in the international recognition of Bach (Schweltzer, J.S Bach, 259). Bach societies appeared throughout Europe in the second half of the century to perform his music(J.S Bach, “Great Composers 1300-1900,

Dieterich Buxtehude was born in 1637, Helsingborg Sweden. He was a Danish-German composer and organist during the Baroque period. He mostly composed instrumental and vocal idioms. A quick fun fact is that he influenced some of Johann Sebastian Bach’s composed music. Buxtehude was also considered as “the man the man who inspired and led the famous Johann Sebastian Bach.”. Dieterich Buxtehude is remembered as one of the finest and most important composers in Germany from the mid-Baroque period. The music that he composed had a seasonal and religious feel to it. You might of heard of Prelude in F Major and Cantata BuxWV 104, these very famous songs were composed by him. Aside with composing, he was also a fabulous organist. Dieterich Buxtehude