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Johann Sebastian Bach
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The first posthumous account of Johann Sebastian Bach's life, with a summary catalog of his works, was put together by his son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and his pupil, J.F. Agricola, soon after J.S. Bach's death and certainly before March of 1751 (published as Nekrolog in 1754). J.N. Forkel planned a detailed biography of Sebastian Bach in the early 1770s and carefully collected first-hand information on the composer, chiefly from his two eldest sons. The book was published in 1802, creating a growing public interest which ultimately led to the mid 19th Century Bach "revival" and to the publication of various collected editions of Bach's works.
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Johann Sebastian Bach was Handel’s greatest contemporary. Curiously enough, they never met nor even corresponded, though more than once they just missed meeting. On one occasion Bach went to Halle, hearing that Handel was there and expecting to greet him, but Handel had left for England an hour or two before his brother composer arrived. The two, Handel and Bach, are often spoken of as if they were a sort of Siamese twins of music. They were both Germans, and they were born within a month of each other. Both, again, were fine organists, both gave great religious works to the world, and both were stricken blind in their later years.
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Soon after marrying Maria, Johann Sebastian Bach became the organist and chamber musician for the Duke of Saxe-Weimar and during the next nine years he became a well known organ player. He eventually changed jobs - his new boss was Prince Leopold who loved Bach's music. In 1720 Maria Barbara died and a year later Bach married Anna Magdalena. She had 13 kids with him. Bach applied for the prestigious job as the music director of the Thomasschule in 1722. A year later, after two other musicians turned down the job, it was given to Bach.
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Johann Sebastian Bach belonged to a dynasty of musicians. In following inevitable family tradition, he excelled his forebears and contemporaries, although he did not always receive the respect he deserved in his own life-time. He spent his earlier career principally as an organist, latterly at the court of one of the two ruling Grand Dukes of Weimar. In 1717 he moved to Cöthen as Court Kapellmeister to the young Prince Leopold and in 1723 made his final move to Leipzig, where he was employed as Cantor at the Choir School of St. Thomas, with responsibility for music in the five principal city churches. In Leipzig he ... eventually took charge of the University Collegium musicum and occupied himself with the collection and publication of many of his earlier compositions. Despite widespread neglect for almost a century after his death Bach is now regarded as one of the greatest of all composers.
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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 relation, the organist at Eisenach's most important church, instructed the young boy on the organ. In 1695 his parents died and he was only 10 years old. He went to go stay with his older brother, Johann Christoph, who was a professional organist at Ohrdruf. Johann Christoph was a professional organist, and continued his younger brother's education on that instrument, as well as on the harpsichord. After several years in this arrangement, Johann Sebastian won a scholarship to study in Luneberg, Northern Germany, and so left his brother's tutelage.
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Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Saxe-Eisenach. He was the youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach, an organist at St. George's Church, and Maria Elisabetha Lämmerhirt Bach. His father taught him to play violin and harpsichord. His uncles were all professional musicians, whose posts ranged from church organists and court chamber musicians to composers. One uncle, Johann Christoph Bach (1645–93), was especially famous and introduced him to the art of organ playing. Bach was proud of his family's musical achievements, and around 1735 he drafted a genealogy, "Origin of the musical Bach family", printed in translation in The Bach Reader (ISBN 0393002594).
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Johann Sebastian Bach