Johann Sebastian Bach Research Paper

When looking throughout the history of music, there is no name with a larger impact than Bach. Writing over 200 pieces throughout his 65 year life. Many people know the names of Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms; but only a select few know the specifics about these land mark composers. “Most would say that Beethoven should have been named called ocean instead of brook” Bach in German. During this papers I will be giving a brief look into the life of one of the most prolific composer that ever lived.

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

Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the greatest composers in Western musical history. More than 1,000 of his compositions survive. Some examples are the Art of Fugue, Brandenburg Concerti, the Goldberg Variations for Harpsichord, the Mass in B-Minor, the motets, the Easter and Christmas oratorios, Toccata in F Major, French Suite No 5, Fugue in G Major, Fugue in G Minor ("The Great"), St. Matthew Passion, and Jesu Der Du Meine Seele. He came from a family of musicians. There were over 53 musicians in his family over a period of 300 years.<br><br>Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany on March 21, 1685. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was a talented violinist, and taught his son the basic skills for string playing. Another

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 the spring of 1723, when Bach signed a contract to become the new organist and a teacher at the St. Thomas Church and Thomas School in Leipzig, he was already known more as an organist than a composer. Bach had an extraordinary ability to improvise on the organ and was able to compose various style of music. He wrote educational works for his pupil and his duties were mainly to provide the weekly worships of cantatas. And also, his publication of keyboard pieces had very little to do with his duties. However, his pride as a composer was determined to publish these partitas. He also competed with Johann Kuhnau, who was a well-known composer at Germany at this time.

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

Bach 's time in Weimar was the start of a sustained period of composing keyboard and orchestral works. He attained the proficiency and confidence to extend the prevailing structures and to include influences from abroad. He learned to write dramatic openings and employ the dynamic motor rhythms and harmonic schemes found in the music of Italians such as Vivaldi, Corelli, and Torelli. Bach absorbed these stylistic aspects in part by transcribing Vivaldi 's string and

Now, where else do you start with anyone’s story, the beginning. Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685 in Germany into an extremely large and musically oriented musical family, “The Bachs were,

At age seven, Bach attended school where he gained religious instruction and studied various subjects, such as Latin. However, Bach’s Lutheran faith subjective his work as a musician. By

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.

The only place that appreciated his works was the Lutheran church. Bach’s chorales and cantatas held great admiration in the religious world. A devout Lutheran, Bach remained true to the past musical heritage of his church. For him, the old Lutheran ways were perfect and sacred. This notion comes through in his perfectly arranged church music. The harmonies and melodies are exact matches. There is little room for improvement in Bach’s church compositions.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born into a musically gifted family on March 31, 1685 in Eisenach, Germany. Bach’s father was his first teacher and gave him lessons up until his death. His father passed way in 1685 and he was sent to Ohrdruf, where he lived with his brother Johann Christoph and studied organ. His brother was also a helpful mentor for him growing up. He received his education from various schools in Eisenach, Ohrdruf, and Lüneburg. Bach got married to his cousin Maria Barbara bach in 1706, having seven children with her. Though, not all of the children survived after birth complications. Bach's first musical employment was for the Prince of Weimar in 1707. He left Weimar within a year and traveled to Arnstadt to become an organist. From there he went to Muhlhausen from 1708-1717, where he was employed by Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar, his first employment there was as the court organist.

He was in charge of the musical outputs of the four leading churches as well as the education of music practise and theory (Anhalt). “Bach began, from the moment of his arrival in Leipzig, to take charge of the cantorate in true capellmeisterly fashion.” (Geck and Mann 559). It is clear that when Bach stepped foot in Leipzig, his impact on music would not just benefit the Lutheran church but the society too. The unofficial activities that he undertook in the Collegium Musicum and the service of public performances would forever modify and shape the traditional role of Kantor in the German Lutheran context of the Baroque

The boarding school there had students ages 11-20, that made at least four choirs for the churches of the town. A cantata was required for the church services on Sundays and additional church holidays during the liturgical year. Of the more than three hundred cantatas which Bach composed in Leipzig, over one hundred have been lost. The school choirs performed at weddings and funerals to receive extra income for these groups; it was probably for this purpose, and for in-school training, that he wrote at least six

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.