Though today one of the greatest names in the history of classical music, Johann Sebastian Bach was more known during his lifetime as a keyboard virtuoso than as a composer. Even before his death, Bach’s highly ornate and contrapuntal style was already being supplanted by the burgeoning Classical style and was viewed as old-fashioned, a relic of the past. Bach’s reputation declined after his death, and with the exception of a handful of pieces, predominantly for the keyboard, and a few admirers, which included both Mozart and Beethoven, Bach’s immense body of work was largely forgotten and unknown. Interest in Bach’s music grew modestly during the first decades of the 19th century, but it was the efforts of Felix Mendelssohn and his 1829 performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion that sparked a fervent revival of his music. During the latter half of the century, the Bach-Gesellschaft was founded to promote Bach’s music and Philipp Spitta penned his extensive biography of the composer’s life.
EARLY LIFE
Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685 in Eisenach into a family with a rich tradition of music. Bach’s father, Johann Ambrosius, was the director of the town musicians and his uncles were all professional musicians as well. His father was most likely responsible for teaching him the violin and harpsichord, while his uncle, Johann Christoph, introduced him to the organ.
Within an eight-month period in 1694, Bach lost both his parents, and at the age of ten was sent to live with his older brother, Johann Christoph, organist at St. Michael’s Church in nearby Ohrdruf. Bach received valuable instruction from his brother and was exposed to the music of the leading composers of the day, including notable South German composers Pachelbel and Froberger, French composers Lully and Marchand, and the Italian clavierist Frescobaldi. Bach diligently studied the numerous scores his brother possessed, even after he was forbidden to do so, painstaking copying them out by hand. Beginning in 1700, Bach attended the prestigious St. Michael’s School in Lüneberg, where he was exposed to an even wider range of European culture. His musical talents won him the attention of Georg Böhm, the organ teacher there and organist at St. John’s Church.
PROGRESS
Following his graduation from St. Michael’s, Bach accepted his first post in 1703 as a court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst in Weimar. Though it's unclear exactly what Bach's duties were in Weimar, his reputation as a keyboardist nevertheless rapidly spread. He was soon invited to Arnstadt to give an inaugural recital on a newly constructed organ at the New Church, and in August of the same year, accepted the position of organist there. His responsibilities were light and his salary generous, allowing him more time to devote to composition. It was from Arnstadt that Bach made his well-known treks (reportedly on foot) to Lübeck, over 250 miles away and much to the ire of his employer, to hear the great organ master Dietrich Buxtehude.
Tensions between Bach and his employer and frustrations over the quality of singers in the choir ultimately drove Bach to seek his fortunes elsewhere. From 1706 to 1708 he served as organist at St. Blasius’s in Mühlhausen, where he also married his first wife Maria Barbara. However, his absence from Weimer was brief. In 1708, he returned, accepting the post of organist and later in 1714 Konzertmeister at the ducal court. With the well-funded musical resources of the court at his disposal, Weimar marked the beginning of a prolific period of composing keyboard and orchestral works. Among these were the preludes and fugues that would later be assembled into the Well-Tempered Clavier, and his duties as Konzertmeister in 1714 required of him a monthly church cantata to be performed in the castle church. Bach, however, once again fell into disfavor with the Weimar court, and after being jailed for nearly a month in 1717, was unfavorably discharged.
Bach next found employment in Köthen, as Kapellmeister at the court of Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen. The prince himself was a musician and highly appreciated Bach's talents. As a Calvinist, the prince did not utilize elaborate music in his worship, leaving Bach generous latitude is composing and performing. Consequently, much of Bach’s music from this time was secular. In July 1720, while traveling with Prince Leopold to Carlsbad, Bach received word that his wife had suddenly died. The following year, he met a talented young soprano, Anna Magdalena Wilcke, who performed at the court at Köthen. They married later that year on December 3.
NOTERIETY
Bach's most prestigious post came in 1723 when he accepted the position of Cantor of Thomasschule in Leipzig. His main duties consisted of training the students of the Thomasschule in singing and to provide weekly music for Leipzig's two main churches—St. Thomas and St. Nicholas—and to a lesser extent the New Church and St. Peter’s Church. As if his prescribed duties were not enough, Bach further took on the directorship of the Collegium Musicum in 1729, a secular ensemble founded by Georg Phillip Telemann in 1701. Over the next two decades, much of Bach’s music was composed for the Collegium Musicum’s biweekly concerts.
In Leipzig, Bach also penned his most expansive compositions. In 1733, he composed a Kyria and Gloria for the Dresden court, which would ultimately become the opening movements of his colossal Mass in B minor. During a visit to the court of Frederick II of Prussia in Potsdam, Bach was challenged by the monarch to improvise a fugue on a theme of the king’s choosing. Bach improvised a three-part fugue for the king, then later presented him with the Musical Offering, a collection of fugues, canons, and a trio based on the same theme. In the same year, Bach composed the Canonic Variations on “Von Himmel hoch da komm’ ich her” for his induction into the Corresponding Society of the Musical Sciences. Lastly, Bach undertook The Art of Fugue. Though left unfinished at death, this remarkable collection of 18 fugues and canons based on a single subject is an unsurpassed pinnacle of contrapuntal art.
Bach’s health began to fail in 1749. His weakening eyesight prompted him to undergo two unsuccessful surgeries to correct his vision. However, the operations ultimately left Bach completely blind and severely affected his health. Bach died on July 28, 1750 at the age of 65.
Notable Works: