Brief biography of Baroque composer JS Bach - his life, works and influence on classical music. He was a master of contrapuntal technique.

JS Bach was a Baroque composer, organist, singer and violinist. He was a counterpoint master known for church music. He is famous for St. John Passion (with "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring") and St. Matthew Passion. Bach's music was "rediscovered" in the 19th century with the "Bach revival" promoted by Felix Mendelssohn.

JS Bach came from a distinguished family of musicians and composers, as far back as the 16th century. In his own immediate J.S. Bach family, only few were not musicians. Among his children, more known in the musical circle were: Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel (CPE), Johann Christoph Friederich Bach, and Johann Christian Bach (JC).

Early Life

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German musician born in Eisenach on 21 March 1685. Orphaned at age 10, he lived with his brother Johann Christoph where he had piano and organ lessons. He married twice and had over 20 children, although several died in infancy. After his first wife Maria Barbara died, he re-married, to Anna M. Wulkens, a soprano. She helped him out when his sight failed in later years.

German Protestant Musician

Bach was a devoted German Protestant. His sacred music includes about 200 church cantatas, the Easter and Christmas oratorios, masses and magnificat, canons, chorales, and the two great passions, St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion, the culmination of his work in church choral music.

Orchestral Music

JS Bach's orchestral music includes his 6 Brandenburg Concertos (written in 1721, a group of six works dedicated to Christina Ludwig, the Margrave of Brandenburg), and 4 instrumental suites.

Keyboard Music

His keyboard music for pianoforte and organ, fugues, and choral music are of equal importance to him. They include a collection of 48 preludes and fugues (the Toccata and Fugue in D minor for Organ is the “haunted house” music made famous by the original Phantom of the Opera), and of his organ music the finest examples are the chorale preludes.

Other Compositions

JS Bach also wrote sonatas, partitas, chamber music and songs, and The Italian Concerto, a spectacular work for solo piano or harpsichord, other concertos for keyboard and violin, and the collections of instrumental music in his final years at Leipzig.

Last YearsBach had eye surgery twice in 1749 and became totally blind for a period. Miraculously, his eyesight returned for a while but during the same month, he died of a brain hemorrhage. He died in Leipzig 28 July 1750.

Johann Sebastian Bach composed all kinds of genres in the Baroque music except opera, something he left for his contemporary George Frideric Handel. His work has often been looked up to by younger composers including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. JS Bach may not have revolutionized musical forms but he gave the musical world models with a mastery of counterpoint, a unique brand of creative polyphony as well as intense spirituality: all his works were dedicated ‘To the Greater Glory of God’.

J.S. Bach's Works

• Toccata and Fugue in d Minor, for organ 1705
• Cantata No.208 'Where Sheep May Safely Graze' 1713
• Brandenburg Concertos 1721
• The Well-Tempered Clavier, first book 1722
• St. John Passion; Cantata No.147 (including 'Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring') 1723
• Easter Oratorio, 1725
• St. Matthew Passion, oratorio 1727
• Suite No.3 in D (including 'Air on the G string') 1729
• Magnificat in D major 1731
• Christmas Oratorio 1734
• Italian Concerto 1735
• The Goldberg Variations 1741-42
• The Well-Tempered Clavier, second book 1742
• Musical Offering for Flute and Violin with Continuo 1747
• Mass in B minor 1749

Sources:

Great Composers, Golden Press (1989)

The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan (2000)

The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham (2002)