BACH, JOHANN SEBASTIAN (1685-1750)

He was born in Eisenach, Germany, to a family of musicians whose tradition went back several generations and was to continue, through his own sons, for several more. There were more than sixty musical Bach’s before the family died out in the 1800's.

Johann Sebastian was brought up by his musical elder brother after their father died in 1695. The boy studied music passionately, creeping out of bed to copy his brother's collections of music by dim light of the moon. This copying by moonlight ruined his weak eye sight and later led to blindness. But the copying also had other effects. It helped him to absorb the musical style of the Italian and French composers whose works he had heard only infrequently. Later he began to imitate these styles. And later still he evolved his own style from a fusion of the Italian and French styles together with that of his native Germany, with its characteristics love of wind instruments and counter point (two or more melodies played or sung together)

Johann Sebastian's composing life can be divided into three main periods. In the first beginning in 1708 with his appointment as organist at Wiemar and continuing until 1717, he composed much of his great organ music. In the second period from 1717, when he worked as music director at the court in Cothen until 1723, he composed most of his orchestral music, including his Brandenburg concertos, and in the third period from 1723 to his death in 1750, he composed most of his finest choral music and more music for organ, at this time he worked as organist, teacher, and composer for three churches in Leipzig, the main one being St. Thomas's. From this post he wrote his greatest masterpieces the passions according to saints Mathew, Luke and John. The church cantatas and the magnificent B minor mass.