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 1717, Bach was appointed Kapellmeister at Köthen but was refused permission to leave Weimar. He was eventually allowed to leave but only after being held prisoner by the duke for almost a month. Bach's new employer, Prince Leopold, was a talented musician who loved and understood the art. Since the court was Calvinist, Bach had no chapel duties and instead concentrated on composition. In this period he wrote his violin concertos and the six Brandenburg Concertos, as well as numerous sonatas, suites and keyboard works (p. 164, Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Vol. 1)

In January 1703, shortly after graduating from St. Michael's and being turned down for the post of organist at Sangerhausen, Bach was appointed court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar. His role there is unclear, but it probably included menial, non-musical duties, which is not something that was easy to swallow for a musician of Bach's caliber. There were rumors that he would speak very negatively about the choir, especially the vocalists who were singing. Saying that they were not good in the

In addition, Bach was a virtuoso on the organ. He also served as an organ consultant, and composer of organ works, like toccatas, chorale preludes, and fugues. He had a reputation for having great creativity, and he was able to integrate many national styles into his works. Many of his works are said to have North German influences that were taught to Bach by Georg Bröhm. Bach also copied the works of many French and Italian composers in order to decipher their compositional languages. Later on, he arranged several violin concertos by Vivaldi for organ. Most experts of musical composition believe that the years, between 1708 and 1714, were his most productive. Within this period, he composed several preludes, fugues, and toccatas. During this span, Bach wrote the Little Organ Book, Orgelbüchlein. This book remains an unfinished collection of forty-nine short chorale preludes.

Johann Sebastian Bach, born in the year 1685, was a German born composer, virtuoso organist and keyboard player, a

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.

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 ,

Johann Sebastian Bach was a composer born on March 21, 1685 in Germany during the Baroque period. The Baroque period was a time during history when a certain style of European architecture, music, and art flourished there. Music during that specific time were often focused on lower and higher tones. Bach was able to play the organ, violin, viola, and harpsichord. As a result, he is considered one of the greatest composers of Western history, especially back in his day. Bach was influenced by his family of many musicians. For example, his father Johann Ambrosius Bach taught him how to play the violin and harpsichord, while his uncle had taught him to play the organ.

When Bach was only nine years old, both of his parents died; thus, he moved with his brother and learned about music with him at Ohrdruf. Bach stayed with his brother until he decided to travel northern Germany on his own. Bach’s first job was as a musician at the court of Duke Johann Ernst in Weimar in 1703, had a wide variety of jobs there because of his versatile skills. Many of Bach’s early careers include moving from church to church composing or performing music for the mass, so he was soon recognized by nobles and aristocrats for his talent. The Duke Wilhelm Ernst in Weimar hired Bach, and Bach created some of his most famous works there, such as “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor” and “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.” Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen hired Bach as well. With Leopold’s support, Bach wrote pieces for solo instruments, specifically for the violin. He also wrote keyboard practices to help his students learn techniques for playing

In 1700, his brother couldn’t house him anymore, and that was when Bach decided to move far away to attend the Latin School in Lüneburg. Because of his talent in singing, he was recommended for a Freistelle at the school, meaning free tuition, room and board. At this point, Bach was a competent instrumentalist. He learnt how to play the violin from his father, choral singing from school, and keyboard instruments from his older brother. He was hungry to improve and gain knowledge. Hence, even though forbidden, he would secretly copy music under the moonlight for months so that he could have a copy of his own for studying and practicing. By this age, other musical prodigies had already composed their own works. For example, Beethoven composed his rondo when he was fifteen years old. From just this incident, we can tell how dedicated and music hungry he was even as a young child. Bach was more famous as an organist than a composer during his lifetime. He had been interested in the organ for a long time, especially during his stay with his older brother in Ohrdruf. He was only allowed to listen and observe. But he always knew

By 1695, Johann had lost both his parents, which is the reason he was living and learning with his brother, Johann Christoph. Even back then Johann was so good at music he landed a spot in the poor boys choir at his school. He later stayed at Lüneburg and studied the in the library with their then up-to-date music selections. It was while he was there that he met the organist Georg Böhm, and that is when he was first introduced to the French repertoire, and by 1702 he was already a fairly good organist. There were a few months lost when it comes to what Bach had done, but in March 4, 1703, he was hired by Johann Ernst to be in the orchestra. There he stayed until August 1703, when he was given the job of organist. If that wasn’t impressive enough, all of this was done before he was eighteen years old. (Johann Sebastian

Bach’s reputation was growing. He was a great performer. Another job he had was as an organist at the New Church in Arnstadt. His main contributions was as a musical instruction and performer of religious music for church services. At times Bach could be a conceited man. He didn’t cooperate well with his students. Church officials had reprimanded him for not rehearsing them often. While on leave from the church for a couple of weeks. Bach went to Lubeck to visit famed Dietrich Buxtehude. However, he extended his visit for seven months. Eventually, no one heard from him and that didn’t help the situation he was in. Awoken with joy, Bach received a new position as an organist in Muhlhausen at the Church of St. Blaise. The joy quickly ended with his new job because the pastor of the church wasn’t in favor of Bach’s playing style. His musical style during this time was bursting with complex arrangements incorporating different lines of melody. Like most church music in this period, the pastor preferred the music to be simple and delicate. Two of his famous pieces during this time is the “Acut Tragicus”.

In 1706 Bach decided that he wanted to further his career in music and made the first change by leaving his organ playing position at the church and took upon a new position in Munhlhausen at the St. Blasius as an organist there (Johann Sebastian BACH). This change was for the best because the church was larger and located in a city that was important to the north. A few months after being an organist at the St. Blasius church he married his second cousin Maria Barbara Bach. After a year of Bach being a organist for St. Blasius, he was offered a better position in Weimar. Bach took the offer with pride and became their new court organist and concertmaster at the ducal court. Johann and Maria Bach decided to start their family, after their first born child, Marias unwed sister moved into their home to help with raising their children. Maria and Johann Bach had a total of seven children. The gifted musically talented family continued as two of Bach children, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach became vital composers following the baroque period.

When Bach was eight years old he went to the old Latin Grammar School. He was taught reading and writing, Latin grammar, and a great deal of scripture, both in Latin and German. The boys in the school formed the choir of the St. Georgenkirche. This also gave Bach an opportunity to sing in the regular services, as well as in the nearby villages. He has an uncommonly fine treble voice.

Before looking more closely at the composers’ works, they must be placed in their proper historical contexts. Bach was a great composer of the