Johann Sebastian Bach
1685-1750

The most prolific Baroque figure, Johann Sebastian Bach, created and improved thousands of works which now mostly distinguish the whole Baroque period. Born in Eisenach, Germany on March 21, 1685, the boy studied stringed instruments with his father until tragedy struck: both of Bach's parents died before he was ten. Following the deaths, his eldest brother, Johann Christoph, took Johann Sebastian into care and gave him lessons on the harpsichord, clavichord, and organ.

His brother taught him well on the organ, as he went on to become a highly regarded virtuoso organist. Strangely enough, Bach was neither rich nor famous during his lifetime. Spending most of his life dedicated to the church and church music, many of his notorious pieces were composed specifically for church services and functions.

Bach was an outstanding student at a fine school in Ohrdruf. There, Johann also became a talented singer, as many church choirs hired him. Later as a young man, Bach taught himself certain styles of composition by copying out by hand the works of previous composers he admired, such as Johann Pachelbel and Antonio Vivaldi. He also frequently made changes he thought would improve the originals.

Bach, and many other composers of his time, were experts at improvisation, composing musical pieces at instantly, on the spot - similar to jazz players today. It was not considered rude to add whatever the player desired into the written context of the composer himself. Thus, early music was very free and flexible to play. Unfortunately, because Bach improvised so much, most of his pieces were not contained on paper. Some people consider that most of Bach's works that are on paper are not worth saving anyway, since music written for one occasion (in Bach's case, church) should be discarded anyhow. But all people have a certain level of curiosity, to hear what Bach had to say with the language of music. More than a thousand of Bach's works have been saved, but it is mind-boggling to think of how many more - and how much greater - his other thousand or so compositions could be.

© 1999 H.Tsai

Some Famous Works:
Partita No.3:
Preludio
Loure
Gavotte en Rondo
Menuet I & II
Bourrée
Gigue

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