Johann Sebastian Bach Essay

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was unlike most other composers of his time. “He wrote music for the glory of God, and to satisfy his own burning curiosity, not for future fame.” During the 1700s, people knew him as a talented musician, not as a composer, as we do today. He never left his country to pursue bigger and better things. Bach was content as long as he could play music. Traditions were very important to him. He wanted to carry on the musical tradition of his family, and never opted to change the traditional ways of composing, as did most composers. Bach’s work is vast and unique.

In June 1707 he moved to St Blasius, Mühlhausen, and four months later he married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach, with whom he had seven children, including Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel. Bach was appointed organist and chamber musician to the Duke of Saxe-Weimar in 1708, and in the next nine years he composed many of his finest works and became known as a leading organist (p. 315, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Vol. 2).

Many musical scholars believe that J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel are the two most important, influential composers of the Baroque period. Both of these men were born in Germany in 1685, and since they came into existence around the same time, they share some similarities. As an introductory statement, Bach and Handel were born into two very different families. Handel did not come from a musical family; his father wanted him to study law. By age nine, his talent was too obvious for his father to ignore and Handel began to study with a local organist and composer. On the contrary, Bach came from a long line of musicians. Bach also had four sons which became gifted composers, in their own right. Bach, like Handel, also started as an organist

The next two years were ones of sufficient production of original pieces for organ by Bach. His talent definitely did not go unnoticed. He was even given a diamond ring by the Crown Prince Fredrick of Sweden when he heard Bach perform. His fame came from his amazing ability to play the organ and not his compositions, yet. A few years later the Prince Leopold of Cothen Germany offered him a position to conduct the court orchestra. Although Bach had to spend a month in jail before starting his job, this opportunity led to the prime years of not only his musical career but also his

He then moved twice the second time to, Weimar where he accepted the position of head concertmaster and organist in the Ducal Chapel. It was here that Bach settled himself and began to compose the first collection of his finest early works, which included organ pieces and cantatas.

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, as the world has come to know was a remarkable person. Terry states Bach’s birth as March 21, 1685 the youngest child from his family born in the baroque era (20). He came from a lineage where many of his relatives were musicians. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach was a town's musician and it is suspected that he is the person whom thought Bach the arts of playing the violin. Bach’s family was of the higher class with good morals and good family traditions. Growing up in a family who very much enjoyed music, gatherings took place annually so that the family could enjoy music festivities together. According to, Terry, Bach’s “home was broken up by his father’s death” and he was sent to live with

Bach descended from a long line of distinguished musicians, and, after his death, several of his sons achieved musical prominence. He received his first musical training from members of his family, including his father, who was also a musician. He learned a great deal by studying the scores of other composers, assimilating the best musical practices of Germany, Italy, Austria, and France. Early on, he exhibited the work ethic that made him an extremely prolific composer. One story illustrates the extent of his devotion to his craft: at the age of 20, he walked a distance of 200 miles to hear Dietrich Buxtehude, Northern Europe's most renowned organist at the time, play the organ at Lübeck.

JS Bach was born to parents Elisabeth Lammerhirt Ambrosius and Johann Ambrosius Bach. He began his schooling career between 1692 and 1693 and still managed to succeed despite his regular absence. Little is known about his musical education at this time, although it is said that he may have picked up how to play strings from his father. Both of Bach’s parents were dead by 1695, resulting in Bach being looked after by Johann Christoph, his eldest brother, who was also responsible for giving Johann Sebastian his first lessons in keyboard. (Emery & Marshall, 2017)

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

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 –1750)-A theorist at heart was one of the most renowned composers of the Baroque Period known for the use of his exquisite and infallible counterpoint method. Famous for his more than 300 cantatas, the Goldberg Variations and two Passions It was recently discovered that Bist du Bei Mir was actually composed by Gottfried Heinrich Stolzel (1685 –1750) even though it stills appears as Bach BWV 508. Stolzel was a prolific composer of the Baroque Period as well, and Bach had great respect for him. Sometimes, Bach would use little excerpts from Solztel’s music as exercises that were used to teach his children. The piece was found in Ana Magdalena Bach’s notebook so it was immediately attributed to her husband; but the

Born in Eisenach on March, 21 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach was the youngest son of Johann Ambrosius Bach and Elizabeth Limmerhirt. His Father was a prominent town musician from a highly respected musical family and at the time of his birth served as the director of municipal music in Eisenach (Williams 9). He got his name Johann from his father’s family as was the tradition and his middle name, Sebastian, was that of his God-father, another musician in Eisenach. Nothing is written or known about his early musical education but, one could assume that he received instruction from his father and various other relatives based on the musical accomplishments of his immediate and extended family.

During the Baroque era, Bach compositions represented unity because he maintained to keep melody through rhythm. Furthermore, Cello Suite No.1 in G major, BWV 1007 has 6 parts. Kouyoumdjian stated, “ Prelude has 3 layers, the bass, then the melody which is the treble and the middle” (Kouyoumdijan commentary). Afterwards, the rest of the composition. When Kouyoumdjian transcribed Violin Sonata No. 2 in A minor, BMV, he used the violin and harpsichord as a source to transcribe the composition for the guitar. Fuga in the composition is an imitation from the previous composition, Andante is the poetic moment and Allegro shows “fiery.”

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

Johann Sebastian Bach lived in Leipzig from 1723 until his death in 1750. In Leipzig, he was the music director of the Collegium Musicum, which presented a series of evening concerts that brought visitors and musical talent to the city. An example of the repertoire presented in these concerts would be Bach’s harpsichord concertos, which were arrangements of other concertos for different instruments. According to Pankratz, these concertos (both for the original instrument and harpsichord) were written with didactic purposes, meaning that they were supposed to help the students improve their musical skills. Following Pankratz’s idea of Bach being a music director with instructive goals, this paper suggests that the third movement of the Harpsichord Concerto No.5 in F minor, BWV 1056 by Johann Sebastian Bach is a prime example of his pedagogic influence in Leipzig, represented by the constant interaction between the soloist and the ripieno. This is symbolic of the teacher-student relation Bach had with the students, as he would often be the solo performer in the evening concerts and the students would play the ripieno parts.