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Iohann Sebastian Bach biography, Iohann Sebastian Bach discography
The family at Eisenach lived in a reasonably spacious home just above the town center, with rooms for apprentice musicians, and a large grain store.The pleasant and informative "Bach Haus" Museum in Eisenach does not claim to be the original family home).Sebastian was a very willing pupil and soon became extraordinarily proficient with these instruments.The Lutheran spirit would have been strong in Eisenach, for it was in the Wartburg Castle standing high above the town, that Martin Luther, in hiding from his persecutors, translated the New Testament into German.Roads were still unpaved in the smaller towns, sewage and refuse disposal poorly organized, and the existence of germs not yet scientifically discovered.When he was only nine years old his mother died.Barely nine months later his father also died.Johann Christoph, a former pupil of Pachelbel, was now well established as organist of the St.Cantor, Elias Herda, had a high opinion of Johann Sebastian's voice and musical capabilities.Doubtless the two boys would have been given free food and accommodation in the many monasteries along the route.German musical center, he was well received because of his uncommonly beautiful soprano voice, and was immediately appointed to the select body of singers who formed the 'Mettenchor' (Mattins Choir).Jan Adams Reinken in Hamburg, and was a friend of the Bach family in Ohrdruf.Johann Sebastian to the great organ traditions of Hamburg, to which city he made several pilgrimages on foot.He was greatly interested in an organ under construction in the new church of Arnstadt, and as members of his family had been professionally active in the district for generations, he felt he had a good chance of getting the post.Return to top of page
WEIMAR (first term): 1703.While awaiting the completion of the organ at Arnstadt, Sebastian was offered, and accepted the post of violinist in the small chamber orchestra of Duke Johann Ernst, the younger brother of the Duke of Weimar.Though the present organ is not "Bach's", the original manuals, stops and pedals of Bach's organ are displayed in the Palm Haus Museum of this quiet historic little town, where the house in which Bach lodged can also be seen.Buxtehude play, and to attend the famous evening concerts in the Marienkirche when Buxtehude's church cantatas were performed.Christmas until the following February.Bach did not attempt to justify himself before what must have seemed to him a group of narrow minded and conservative old gentlemen; yet the Council, knowing how skilled his playing was, decided to treat their young and impetuous organist with leniency.However, new conflicts soon arose when Bach, citing a clause in his contract, refused to work any longer with the undisciplined boys' choir which he had been required to train for the sake of Council economy.Thus, what had been an exciting and promising start at Arnstadt, had now turned into recriminations and disputes; Bach no doubt decided it would be better to look around for somewhere new.Nevertheless, shortly after his arrival, he brought his cousin Maria Barbara from Arnstadt, and on October 17th 1707 he married her at the small church in the picturesque little village of Dornheim.This success gave Bach the courage to put in a long and detailed report, proposing a complete renovation and improvement of the organ in the St Blasiuskirche.The Council agreed to carry out the renovation and improvements, and Bach was given the task of supervising the work, for not only was he now a brilliant player, he had also become an expert on the construction of organs.This he did, and some time in 1709 he came over to inaugurate its first performance.Weimar was quite a small town with only 5000 inhabitants; yet Bach was to meet some very cultured people here.Weimar, one of the most distinguished and cultured nobles of his time.The Court Orchestra consisted of about 22 players: a compact string ensemble, a bassoon player, 6 or 7 trumpeters and a timpanist.Bach's function in the orchestra was mainly as a violinist, however he also played the harpsichord and occasionally wrote or arranged some of the music.The organ was new and not quite as large as the one at Arnstadt.After a few years, Bach declared that it was inadequate and should be rebuilt.It was in fact rebuilt at great expense according to his plans: proof of the high regard the Court had for his capabilities as organist and expert on organ construction.During this period he wrote profusely for the organ, and he was rapidly becoming known throughout the country as one of the greatest German organists.Organ pupils came to him from far and wide, and he was asked to test or dedicate many organs in various towns.His tests were extremely thorough and critical.He used to say for fun 'Above all I must know whether the organ has a good lung', and, pulling out all the stops he produced the largest sound possible, often making the organ builders go pale with fright.Constantin Bellermann describes his playing (during a visit to Kassel) in these words; 'His feet seemed to fly across the pedals as if they were winged, and mighty sounds filled the church'.Mizler's 'Nekrolog' states: 'His fingers were all of equal strength, all equally able to play with the finest precision.He was able to accomplish passages on the pedals with his feet which would have given trouble to the fingers of many a clever player on the keyboard'.However, the conditions and salary were not sufficient for his growing family, so he was obliged to refuse the post.Bach made some very good friends at Weimar, among whom was the eminent philologist and scholar Johann Matthias Gesner, who expressed with great eloquence his admiration for the composer's genius.Consequently musicians of the first household were forbidden to fraternize with those of the second.But the atmosphere was no longer so pleasant.Added to this, the ancient Capellmeister then died, and Bach was passed over for the post in favor of the late Capellmeister's mediocre son.At this, Bach was bitterly disappointed, for he had lately been doing most of the Capellmeister's work, and had confidently expected to be given the post.So he would have been thoroughly familiar with the latest European fashions in music.The young Prince stretched the limited budget of his miniature Court to provide an orchestra of eighteen players, all chosen for their high musical standards from all over the country, some from as far afield as Berlin.Unlike most Princes of his time, he was a player of considerable proficiency on the harpsichord, the violin and the viola da gamba, and contrary to current Court etiquette he played quite freely and informally with his Court musicians, treating them entirely as his equals.To perform these works there were singers under contract from nearby Courts, and one of these, Anna Magdalena, daughter of J.In December 1721, Anna Magdalena and Bach married, she at the age of 20, and he 36.Bach family (though few of them survived through childhood).Bach's wedding, the Prince also married.Erdmann, 'There I had a gracious Prince as master, who knew music as well as he loved it, and I hoped to remain in his service until the end of my life'.So once more, Bach decided to look around for somewhere new.It may perhaps have been these circumstances which led Bach to revive an old invitation to produce what are now known as the Brandenburg Concertos.We know from the opening of this dedication, dated March 24th 1721, that Bach had already met the Margrave of Brandenburg, at which time Bach had been invited to provide some orchestral music.As I had a couple of years ago the pleasure of appearing before Your Royal Highness, by virtue of Your Highness' commands, and as I noticed then that Your Highness took some pleasure in the small talents which Heaven has given me for Music, and as in taking leave of Your Royal Highness, Your Highness deigned to honor me with the command to send Your Highness some pieces of my Composition: I have then in accordance with Your Highness' most gracious orders taken the liberty of rendering my most humble duty to Your Royal Highness with the present Concertos, which I have adapted to several instruments....Bach would permit were he seriously dedicating music to a dignitary, particularly with the hope of prospective employment.Leipzig, with a population of 30.Saxony, the center of the German printing and publishing industries, an important European trading center, and site of a progressive and famous university.It was also one of the foremost centers of German cultural life, with magnificent private dwellings, streets well paved and illuminated at night, a recently opened municipal library, a majestic town hall, and a vibrant social life.One of Leipzig's most important features was its international commerce.Director of Choir and Music in Leipzig.He would have known the town from previous visits, as he had come, for instance, in December 1717 to test the large new organ (53 stops) in the University Church, the Paulinerkirche, just completed by the Leipzig organ builder Johann Scheibe.The Bach family at that time comprised his wife and four children, of eight, nine, twelve and fourteen years of age.May 31, 1723, marked the inaugural ceremony for the new Capellmeister with the customary speeches and anthems, putting an end to six unsettled months for the city in filling the post.These boarders were mainly from deprived backgrounds and were maintained at the school on a charitable basis, and they also occasionally had to sing outdoors at funerals and in the city streets for alms.Pleisse and its idyllic surrounding countryside.The Cantor's duties were to organize the music in the four principal churches of Leipzig, and to form choirs for these churches from the pupils of the Thomasschule.The orchestra used for the cantatas consisted of up to 20 players.Orchester) consisting of four wind players and four string players.Gottfried Reicha among them both as wind and string player, and after 1719 their "senior", that they were players of a high standard.Bach would certainly have taken steps early on to ensure that the instruments used wee in top condition.Hoffmann (Hoffmann's instruments are still in possession of and played in the Thomaskirche today).Thus it may be assumed that Bach could count on a fairly professional orchestra.His sons and pupils would also have participated, together with visiting musicians happy no doubt to have the honor of performing under the direction of the now famous Herr Bach.Bach could make music as and when he liked; here he had to keep strictly to his duties within the organized life of church and school.On Thursdays the Cantor was free, on Friday he taught in the morning.Rehearsals for the Sunday Cantatas took place on Saturday afternoons.The Sunday services began at 7a.Bach to superintend at the four churches, also in one of the ancient hospitals and in a 'house of correction'.Although these services were simple and required only a few hymns, the Cantor had to organize a group of about nine singers to work on a rota system.Apart from this, he had to attend and compose music for funerals and various other occasions.Bach and the authorities arose over this, and it was only after he had appealed to the Elector of Saxony at Dresden that a compromise was reached.That this is in fact the case may be explained by recalling the educational customs of Bach's time.It should also be recalled that any duties enumerated as part of a titular position were to be fulfilled, but not necessarily by the incumbent personally.In the case of more important occasions he would compose the entire cantata himself.One particularly special performance of a work by Bach was recorded in some detail: the cantata known as the Trauerode, BWV 198.In 1697, the Elector Augustus of Saxony assumed the Polish crown, a step that obliged him to adopt the Roman Catholic faith.His wife, Christiane Eberhardine, preferred her Lutheranism to her husband, however, so she renounced the throne and lived apart from him until her death on September 6th, 1727, an event which was deeply mourned in strongly Lutheran Saxony.Two weeks later, one Hans von Kirchbach, a nobleman student at the University of Leipzig, proposed to organize a memorial service in the Paulinerkirche during which he would deliver a valedictory address.Von Kirchbach commissioned a sometime librettist of Bach's, Johann Christoph Gottsched, to write verses for a mourning ode, and Bach to set these verses to music.Bach's protocol senior would ordinarily have supplied the music for a University function of this sort.Kirchbach was required to pay him twelve thalers in compensation.In any case, the score was finished on the15th, just two days before the performance.Queen's emblems stood in the center of the crowded church, and the service began with the ringing of all the bells of the city.Herr Bach in the Italian style.When fuller, more detailed and more recent research is taken into account these records may perhaps give an unbalanced picture of Bach's life there at that time.There is no doubt whatsoever that he was widely respected as a composer, musician, teacher, organist, and specialist in organ construction.Elector of Saxony and King of Poland.This comfortable security of position combined with the fact that Bach had established, during his first six or seven years' tenure, a more than sufficient repertoire of cantatas (it has been suggested that he composed in total some 300), allowed him to widen his musical scope of activity.Gottfried Silbermann, who was also a personal friend of the Bach family and godfather to Carl Philipp Emmanuel.Bach tried again this time with the backing of his Dresden patron Count von Keyserlingk.Silbermann organ in the Frauenkirche (tragically destroyed in the Second World War and now being actively rebuilt).It is on record that the Council reprimanded Bach in August 1730 for leaving his teaching duties in the overworked hands of his junior colleague, Petzold; for not properly disciplining his choirs, and for his frequent unauthorized journeys away from Leipzig.Bach did not try to justify himself, which further annoyed the Council, and so they attempted to diminish his income.Erdmann in Danzig, asking him to find him a 'convenient post' where he could escape the 'trouble, envy and persecution' which he had perpetually to face in Leipzig.The city would have lost Bach if his friend Gesner had not intervened on his behalf.The school buildings were reopened on June 5, 1732 with a dedicatory cantata BWV Anhang 18.Bach some hope for a brighter future in the school.Ernesti had entirely new ideas on education: Classics and Theology were out of date, and there must be more stress on subjects that would be useful in secular life.This led to disputes with Bach who particularly wanted more time to train his choirs and musicians.This renewal of the old disputes with the school and church authorities must have been a considerable discouragement for Bach; in any case it is apparent that from then on he appeared less and less eager to provide the Council with church music.Salvation came however in the form of the Collegium Musicum; when Bach became its permanent director in 1729 he began to receive official recognition of the high regard in which he was generally held.It is worth examining the activities of this musical group in some detail as it gives a closeup view of everyday cultural life in the Leipzig of the 1730s.Many of Leipzig's most famous musicians were connected with the students' musical activities (among them several Thomaskantors) and contributed music of the highest quality.University who were eventually to number among the most celebrated composers of their time.After Telemann left Leipzig the leadership of his Collegium was taken by Balthasar Schott, the Neukirche organist.The concerts were given on Zimmermann's premises, probably under his auspices.During the winter, the group played every Friday night, from 6 to 8pm, in Zimmermann's coffee house on the Catherine Strasse, centrally placed close to the Marktplatz.Collegium and other musical guests.It was replaced by an 'even finer instrument' in 1733.The new instrument would certainly have had two, possibly three manuals, and may have been the work of the famous Hamburg builder Hass similar to his 1740 instrument with three manuals and five choirs of strings (2', 4', 8', 8' and 16').The former were the standard performances; the latter were for special celebrations (king's birthdays and the like), and were usually marked by elaborate festive cantatas, with trumpets and drums in full splendor.About the regular concerts we know less; the Leipzig newspapers, in general, only announced the extraordinaire events.Presumably, instrumental music was heard, ranging from clavier solos through sonatas to orchestral works.Occasionally, too, vocal music might be given; such an example is the Coffee Cantata, BWV 211, first presented in 1732.It is also on record that works of Handel, Vivaldi, Telemann, Locatelli, Albinoni and others were performed.The fact is that this was, for much of his later life, his central artistic activity, the church becoming almost peripheral.Bach also enjoyed visits, often with his son Wilhelm Friedemann, to Dresden, where he would meet with friends in the Court Orchestra and perhaps visit the Opera.On one occasion he called upon his patron Count von Keyserlingk, whom he presented with the set of variations now known as the Goldberg variations after the count's harpsichordist.On Bach's arrival, Frederick was about to begin his evening concert, in which he himself played the flute with the orchestra, when he was given the list of people who had arrived at Court.The King owned several of these instruments, located in different rooms.After Bach had played on all the different instruments, moving with the King and musicians from room to room, Bach invited the King to give him a theme on which to improvise; Bach of course rose to the occasion, improvising at length and with amazing skill.Musical Offering' and sent it to the Court with a letter of dedication.On the day following the musical evening, a royal procession made its way around Potsdam, as Bach was invited to play on all the city's organs.Bach's opening contribution was a set of canonic variations on the Christmas hymn, 'Vom Himmel hoch'.His last great work is the complete summary of all his skill in counterpoint and fugue; methods which he perfected, and beyond which no composer has ever been able to pass.This work is known to us as 'Die Kunst der Fuge' ('The Art of the Fugue', BWV 1080).Bach had overworked in poor light throughout his life, and his eyesight now began to fail him.The Leipzig Council started looking around as early as June 1749 for a successor.On the advice of friends, Bach put himself in the hands of a visiting celebrated English ophthalmic specialist, John Taylor (who also operated on Handel) and who happened to be passing through Leipzig.He had often been asked why he had not exploited this theme before, and had indicated that, despite its thematic possibilities, he would consider it arrogant to do so.Appropriately, perhaps intentionally, it was left unfinished at his death.The last great Triple Fugue of the Art (Contrapunctus XI) may also have been written during his final days.When St John's Church was rebuilt in 1894 a few Leipzig scholars and Bach admirers succeeded in having what were believed to be the composer's bones exhumed.We feel it is more accurate than the more frequently seen work of Elias Haussmann.The
BAROQUE MUSIC HOME PAGE
www.The Baroque Music GuideAll you need for the full enjoymentof baroque music in one handy volume.Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel.Compared to most other major composers, Johann Sebastian Bach's life and career
were confined to a very limited geographical space.Bach, Essays on His Life and Music.The little map on the current page (derived from a Dutch book on Bach: J.It is a clickable map, which means thay you can follow the course
of Johann Sebastian Bach's life by clicking the towns on the map with the mouse
of your computer.Go to the main content for this page.Go to the top of this page.Go to our Ask an IPL Librarian reference service.Go to the accessibility information page for this website.We will reopen the service on Monday, January 5, 2009 at Noon (EST).Regarded as perhaps the greatest composer of all time, Bach was known during his lifetime primarily as an outstanding organ player and technician.The youngest of eight children born to musical parents, Johann Sebastian was destined to become a musician.At the age of ten, both of his parents died within a year of each other.Young Sebastian was fortunate to be taken in by an older brother, Johann Christoph, who most likely continued his musical training.He travelled little, never leaving Germany once in his life, but held various postitions during his career in churches and in the service of the courts throughout the country.In that year he also married his cousin, Maria Barbara.During the years Bach was in the service of the courts, he was obliged to compose a great deal of instrumental music: hundreds of pieces for solo keyboard, orchestral dance suites, trio sonatas for various instruments, and concertos for various instruments and orchestra.Of these, the most famous are the six concerti grossi composed for the Duke of Brandenburg in 1721, and the Brandenburg Concerto no.Maria Barbara died suddenly in 1720, having borne the composer seven children.Within a year Bach remarried.In addition, the couple sired thirteen children.Carl Philipp Emanuel and Johann Christian.He remained in Leipzig for the rest of his life.His health failing, Bach nevertheless continued to compose, dictating his work to a pupil.He finally succombed to a stroke on July 28, 1750.Bach brought to majestic fruition the polyphonic style of the late Renaissance.His adherence to the older forms earned him the nickname "the old wig" by his son, the composer Carl Philip Emanuel Bach, yet his music remained very much alive and was known and studied by the next generation of composers.It was the discovery of the St.With the death of Johann Sebastian Bach in 1750, music scholars conveniently mark the end of the Baroque age in music.College of Information at Florida State University.The Regents of the University of Michigan.Johann Sebastian Bach was born into the
musical family of Bachs in Eisenach in 1685.Johann Sebastian was trained not only as a clavier player, but
on several instruments.From 1693 to 1695 he attended the
Lateinschule in Eisenach.In 1694, when he was nine, his mother
died, and in 1695, his father.Christoph, who was organist in Ohrdruf.Michaeliskloster and was able to get to know the choral
repertoire of the 16th and 17th centuries.Frenchmen, to acquire a thorough grounding in French
taste, which in those parts was something quite new at the time.Weimar, from March to July
1703.Italian style, to which the Weimar
court orchestra began to adapt itself.Vivaldi, from then on remained an essential
element in Bach's style of composition.Wilhelm Zachow, Handel's teacher, as organist of the
Liebfrauenkirche in Halle.There now arose a series of
some thirty cantatas of the modern kind (i.Bach was also busy with keyboard music.Bach, commented: 'I have
seen things by the famous organist of Weimar, Herr Joh.Capellmeister in Weimar on the death of Johann Samuel Drese
(Drese's son received the appointment).Berlin musicians, with which it was
possible to play the finest and most difficult pieces.Bach in the summer of
1720, a few months before his journey to Hamburg.Capellmeister to become a Cantor.His Leipzig post made a twofold claim on him: as
"Cantor zu St.Sunday and church holiday, until he had altogether
five complete yearly runs.Leipzig phase, which was spent entirely
in the sphere of choirschool music.Leipzig Bach, with his distinguished ensemble, was
not left out.With only a short interruption from 1737 to 1739
Bach retained his directorship until the early 1740s.Beside his Leipzig public functions, Bach
turned increasingly to private interests.Mass and Catechism chorales etc.The composer's generally more reflective attitude made itself
decisively felt in the character of most of the later works.In his last years Bach became very weakened
and frail through his eye trouble.Two eye operations, which the English
oculist Taylor performed on Bach early in 1750, went badly.Mini Biography:
Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685, in Eisenach, Thuringia...Trivia:
He had seven children with Maria Barbara, who was also his second cousin;...In B Minor, BWV 1014: I.Ai confini del paradiso (Italy) ...On the Other Side (International: English title: literal title) ...The Edge of Heaven (International: English title) ...Goodbye Me (International: English title) What If God Were the Sun?Smallville Beginnings (USA: rerun title) ...Le origini del male (Italy) ...Harpsichord Concerto in G Minor, BWV.Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj (USA: complete title) ...The Page Turner (USA: festival title) ...The Welts (International: English title) (USA) ...El Crimen Perfecto (The Perfect Crime) (USA) ...Trio Sonata for Organ no.Prelude (From the Unaccompanied Cello Suite No.Das wohltemperirte Clavier, Prelude no.The Triplets of Belleville (International: English title) (USA) ...Drei Freundinnen und ein Liebhaber (Germany: video title) ...Well Tempered Clavier, Book 1: Prelude and Fugue No.From the Unaccompanied Cello Suite No.The Mysterious Yearning Secretive Sad Lonely Troubled Confused Loving Musical Gifted Intelligent Beautiful Tender Sensitive Haunted Passionate Talented Mr.In a Private Garden (USA: cable TV title) ...Cry in the Night (International: English title) Mr.All Things Fair (International: English title) ...Movement from ITALIENISCHES KONZERT BWV.Are You, You Am Me (International: English title) ...Eaten Alive by the Cannibals!Mangiati vivi dai cannibali (Italy) ...Sherlock Holmes and Saucy Jack (USA) ...The Fury of the Wolfman ...Hacedor del miedo, El (Mexico) ...The Swedish Marriage Manual ...Toccata und Fuge D minor, BWV.Sonata in D Minor for violoncello) ...While the City Sleeps Sunset Blvd.Prelude' from UNACCOMPANIED VIOLIN PARTITA NO.Ein Filmbeitrag zum Problem des Weltjudentums (Germany: subtitle) ...Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, BWV.Goldberg Variations Dernier jour, Le (1982) The Mind of Music (1980) The Shared Experience (1977) (TV) Pleita (1976) (TV) ...Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World (International: English title) ...Crying Out Love, in the Centre of the World (Hong Kong: English title: DVD title) ...Shouting Love from the World's Center (International: English title: informal literal title) Missing Peace (2003) (composer: additional music) ...Hail Mary (USA) Albero degli zoccoli, L' (1978) (composer: additional music) (as J.Arbre aux sabots, L' (France) ...The Tree with the Wooden Clogs (UK) Satellites of the Sun (1974) (composer: themes) (as J.Cronaca di Anna Magdalena Bach (Italy) ...Other Works:
Over 200 cantatas, hundreds of organ works, concerti, chamber music, two fully completed Passions, a Mass,etc.You may report errors and omissions on this page to the IMDb database managers.Terms and Privacy Policy under which this service is provided to you.
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