Johann sebastian bach biography pdf free encyclopedia

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l^b t.

work to appear polished:

"O when

incorporated the melody of the chorale

Gottes unschuldig" into the opening chorus

as well as

he wrote out the text of the Gospels sung by the Evangelist and the soloists.

When

the

thirteen pages were

first

several years

them by gluing lengthwise

before his death, he carefully repaired strips to the

damaged

margins, which had apparently become

illegible,

and

rewriting the missing notes.

We thus gain the impression that Bach himself may have already viewed the turies

—

St.

Matthew Passion

as a

work that would

outlast the cen-

likev^se the "great CathoUc" B-Minor Mass, which he was

determined to complete and capture in a score during the of his

life,

a task that cost

him

great effort.

serve the sacred cantatas for the Sundays siastical year,

which he arranged

in

last years

He also took pains to pre-

and

feast days

of the eccle-

annual cycles. If today the

existence of only three complete cycles can be proved, although the

obituary mentions

five,

the natural process by

the explanation

may

involve

more than

just

which things disappear; Bach scholars have

given serious thought, though without resolving the matter, to the possibility that

Bach

actually left only four cycles. Transmission of the Works

25

Whether Bach wrote considerably more can reconstruct today caution.

As

a question that

is

secular cantatas than

we

must be approached with

occasional compositions based

on

texts that could hardly

be used again in other situations, such works had limited usefulness.

The many works

in this category that have disappeared

comparable

essarily represent a

Bach often reused texts or rewrote

of his secular cantatas in other con-

several stages, so

were probably preserved in

at least

most of these compositio

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JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

ALSO BY CHRISTO PH WO LFF BOOKS Der Stile antico in der Musik Johann Sebastian Bachs Bach-Studien: Gesammelte Reden und Aufsätze von Friedrich Smend (ed.) The String Quartets of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven: Studies of the Autograph Manuscripts (ed.) The New Grove Bach Family Bach-Bibliographie: Nachdruck der Verzeichnisse des Schrifttums über Johann Sebastian Bach (ed.) Orgel, Orgelmusik, und Orgelspiel: Festschrift Michael Schneider zum 75. Geburtstag (ed.) Bach Compendium: analytisch-bibliographisches Repertorium der Werke Johann Sebastian Bachs (co-ed.) A Life for New Music: Selected Papers of Paul Fromm (ed.) Johann Sebastian Bachs Spätwerk und dessen Umfeld: Perspektiven und Probleme (ed.) Johann Sebastian Bach und der süddeutsche Raum: Aspekte der Wirkungsgeschichte Bachs (co-ed.) Bach: Essays on His Life and Music Mozart’s Requiem: Historical and Analytical Studies, Documents, Score The World of the Bach Cantatas (ed.) The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents (co-ed.) Driven into Paradise: The Musical Migration from Nazi Germany to the United States (co-ed.) Über Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke: Aspekte musikalischer Biographie (ed.) Die Gegenwart der musikalischen Vergangenheit: Meisterwerke in der Dirigentenwerkstatt (ed.) EDIT IONS OF WORKS BY BACH The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080; Fourteen Canons, BWV 1087; Cantatas BWV 22, 23, 127, 159, and 182; Clavier-Übung, Parts I–IV; Concerto for Two Violins, BWV 1043; Goldberg Variations, BWV 988; Kyrie, BWV 233a; Mass in B minor, BWV 232; A Musical Offering, BWV 1079; Organ Chorales from the Neumeister Collection; Works for Two Harpsichords EDIT IONS OF WORKS BY MOZART Horn Concerto, K. 370b + 371; Piano Concertos (complete); Rondos for Piano and Orchestra, K. 382, 386; Grande sestetto concertante (arrangement of K. 364); Die neugeborne Ros’ entzückt, K. Anh. 11a OT HER EDIT IONS Anguish of H

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"Bach" redirects here. For other uses, see Bach (disambiguation).

Johann Sebastian Bach (pronounced [joˈhan/ˈjoːhan zeˈbastjan ˈbax]) (31 March 1685 [O.S. 21 March] – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and organist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity. Although he introduced no new forms, he enriched the prevailing German style with a robust contrapuntal technique, an unrivalled control of harmonic and motivic organisation in composition for diverse instrumentation, and the adaptation of rhythms and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France.

Revered for their intellectual depth, technical command and artistic beauty, Bach's works include the Brandenburg concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Partitas, the Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion, the Magnificat, The Musical Offering, The Art of Fugue, the English Suites, the French Suites, the Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo, the Cello Suites, more than 200 surviving cantatas, and a similar number of organ works, including the celebrated Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.

While Bach's fame as an organist was great during his lifetime, he was not particularly well-known as a composer. His adherence to Baroque forms and contrapuntal style was considered "old-fashioned" by his contemporaries, especially late in his career when the musical fashion tended towards Rococo and later Classical styles. A revival of interest and performances of his music began early in the 19th century, and he is now widely considered to be one of the greatest composers in the Western tradition.

Childhood (1685–1703)

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Saxe-Eisenach. He was the youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach, t

German composer (1685–1750)

"Bach" redirects here. For other uses, see Bach (disambiguation) and Johann Sebastian Bach (disambiguation).

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the orchestral Brandenburg Concertos; solo instrumental works such as the cello suites and sonatas and partitas for solo violin; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schübler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and choral works such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival, he has been widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.

The Bach family already had several composers when Johann Sebastian was born as the last child of a city musician, Johann Ambrosius, in Eisenach. After being orphaned at age 10, he lived for five years with his eldest brother, Johann Christoph, then continued his musical education in Lüneburg. In 1703 he returned to Thuringia, working as a musician for Protestant churches in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen, and for longer periods at courts in Weimar, where he expanded his organ repertory, and Köthen, where he was mostly engaged with chamber music. In 1723 he was hired as Thomaskantor (cantor at St Thomas's) in Leipzig. There he composed music for the principal Lutheran churches of the city and its university's student ensemble Collegium Musicum. In 1726 he began publishing his keyboard and organ music. In Leipzig, as had happened during some of his earlier positions, he had difficult relations with his employer. This situation was somewhat remedied when his sovereign, Augustus III of Poland, granted him the title of court composer in 1736. In the last