On our website you can download a message about Johann Sebastian Bach or read its summary.
It is better to give your preference to the full version of the message, which contains systematic information about the life and work of the composer, given little known facts his biographies, opinions of contemporaries and descendants.
Download the full messageChildhood years
Johann Sebastian Bach(1685 – 1750) was born in the provincial town of Eisenach in Thuringia (Germany). His family gave the world several generations of musicians. The first music lessons were received from his father, a city violinist. His parents died early, and from the age of 9 he lived in the family of his brother, who was an organist, although as a teacher he was pedantic and could not satisfy the needs of his younger brother. Johann Sebastian not only studied music, playing the harpsichord, viola, violin, but sought to get acquainted with the achievements of European music.
Life in the provinces
Germany at that time consisted of many small states. I.S. Bach had to come into close contact with a stagnant, inert environment, where his zeal, talent and creative imagination caused only discontent. This was the case in the princely chapel of Weimar, in the New Church of Arnstadt, in the Church of St. Blaise in Mühlhausen.
Secular service
Having gained experience and having several magnificent church works, Bach again moved in 1708 to Weimar to the local duke. This was the first secular service where he could develop his ideas not only in the field of church genres. Written here Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Passacaglia in C minor, Toccata in C major and famous "Organ book". Becoming vice-kapellmeister (1714), Bach received more freedom for creativity. He composes cantatas based on biblical and choral texts, largely avoiding stereotypes.
New life and creative stage begins in Köthen, where Bach receives the position of conductor. Written here “Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach”, “English Suites”, “Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue”, vocal secular works, etc. Pedagogical works intended for students deserve special mention.
Leipzig period (1723-1750)
In Lepzig I.S. Bach runs a school of singers and works at the Music College. These years created “John Passion”, “Matthew Passion”, “High Mass”, “Christmas Oratorio” etc. Based on the improvisation performed for King Frederick II, Bach creates a grandiose cycle "Musical Offering". The composer performs weekly concerts, writes 150 cantatas and works for clavier and orchestra. In their recent years Throughout his life he has been sick a lot, his eyesight especially suffers: the operation that Bach decided on does not help either. He became blind, but continued to dictate new works.
Personal life
Bach's first wife Maria Barbara, died, leaving 4 small children. With my second wife Anna Magdalena Wilke, a gifted singer who became his faithful companion and assistant, Bach lived until last day. Two sons, Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emmanuel, gained fame as composers.
Posthumous fame
Bach's work was not popular for a long time. His first biography appeared only 52 years after his death. In the 1850s, a systematic study of creativity began, work on collecting and publishing works, determining authorship and clarifying biographical facts. In the twentieth century, many performers began to use the harpsichord instead of the piano, trying to recreate the spirit of Bach's music. There is a “Bach Society”, festivals and competitions are held named after. I.S. Bach, several museums are open.
Major works
In total, Bach owns more than 1000 concertos, claviers, cantatas, oratorios, fugues, symphonies, masses, preludes and other works, including a rich organ heritage, a number of vocal and violin works:
- Well-tempered clavier- a cycle of works, which includes 48 preludes, fugues for clavier, combined into 2 volumes of 24 works
- Musical Offering- cycle of canons, fugues, trio sonatas and other works
- Cantata No. 211, Coffee shop
- Cantata No. 212, Peasant
- Mass in B minor
- Christmas Oratorio
- St. John's Passion
- St. Matthew Passion
- Organ book
35 rebounds, 3 of them this month
Biography
Johann Sebastian Bach is a great German composer of the 18th century. More than two hundred and fifty years have passed since Bach's death, and interest in his music is growing. During his lifetime, the composer did not receive deserved recognition as a writer, but was known as a performer and, especially, as an improviser.Interest in Bach's music arose almost a hundred years after his death: in 1829, under the direction of the German composer Mendelssohn, it was publicly performed greatest work Bach - "St. Matthew Passion". For the first time - in Germany - it was published full meeting Bach's works. And musicians all over the world play Bach’s music, marveling at its beauty and inspiration, skill and perfection. “Not a stream! “The sea should be his name,” said about Bach the great Beethoven.
Bach's ancestors have long been famous for their musicality. It is known that the composer’s great-great-grandfather, a baker by profession, played the zither. Flutists, trumpeters, organists, and violinists came from the Bach family. Eventually, every musician in Germany began to be called Bach and every Bach a musician.
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685 in the small German town of Eisenach. He received his first violin skills from his father, a violinist and city musician. The boy had an excellent voice (soprano) and sang in the city school choir. Nobody doubted him future profession: little Bach was supposed to become a musician. The nine-year-old child was left an orphan. His elder brother, who served as a church organist in the city of Ohrdruf, became his teacher. The brother sent the boy to the gymnasium and continued to teach music. But he was an insensitive musician. Classes were monotonous and boring. For an inquisitive ten-year-old boy, it was painful. Therefore, he strived for self-education. Having learned that his brother kept a notebook with works of famous composers in a locked closet, the boy secretly took out this notebook at night and copied notes in the moonlight. This tedious work lasted for six months and severely damaged the future composer’s vision. And imagine the child’s disappointment when his brother caught him one day doing this and took away the already copied notes.
At the age of fifteen, Johann Sebastian decided to start independent life and moved to Luneburg. In 1703, he graduated from high school and received the right to enter the university. But Bach did not have to use this right, since he needed to earn a living.
During his life, Bach moved from city to city several times, changing his place of work. Almost every time the reason turned out to be the same - unsatisfactory working conditions, a humiliating, dependent position. But no matter how unfavorable the situation was, the desire for new knowledge and improvement never left him. With tireless energy he constantly studied the music of not only German, but also Italian and French composers. Bach never missed a chance to get to know him personally. outstanding musicians, study the manner of their execution. One day, having no money for the trip, young Bach went to another city on foot to listen to the famous organist Buxtehude play.
The composer also unswervingly defended his attitude to creativity, his views on music. Contrary to the admiration of court society for foreign music, Bach studied with special love and widely used German folk songs and dances in his works. Having an excellent knowledge of the music of composers from other countries, he did not blindly imitate them. Extensive and deep knowledge helped him improve and polish his compositional skills.
Sebastian Bach's talent was not limited to this area. He was the best organ and harpsichord player among his contemporaries. And if Bach did not receive recognition as a composer during his lifetime, his skill in improvisations at the organ was unsurpassed. Even his rivals were forced to admit this.
They say that Bach was invited to Dresden to participate in a competition with the then famous French organist and harpsichordist Louis Marchand. The day before, a preliminary acquaintance of the musicians took place, both of them played the harpsichord. That same night, Marchand hastily left, thereby recognizing Bach's undeniable superiority. Another time, in the city of Kassel, Bach amazed his listeners by performing a solo on the organ pedal. Such success did not go to Bach’s head; he always remained a very modest and hardworking person. When asked how he achieved such perfection, the composer replied: “I had to study hard, whoever is just as diligent will achieve the same.”
From 1708 Bach settled in Weimar. Here he served as court musician and city organist. During the Weimar period, the composer created his best organ works. Among them are the famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor, the famous Passacaglia in C minor. These works are significant and deep in content, grandiose in scale.
In 1717, Bach and his family moved to Köthen. There was no organ at the court of the Prince of Köthen, where he was invited. Bach wrote mainly keyboard and orchestral music. The composer's duties included leading a small orchestra, accompanying the prince's singing and entertaining him by playing the harpsichord. Coping with his responsibilities without difficulty, Bach devoted all his free time to creativity. The works for clavier created at this time represent the second peak in his work after organ works. In Köthen, two- and three-voice inventions were written (Bach called three-voice inventions “sinphonies”). The composer intended these plays for classes with his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann. Pedagogical goals also guided Bach when creating the “French” and “English” suites. In Köthen, Bach also completed 24 preludes and fugues, which made up the first volume a lot of work entitled "The Well-Tempered Clavier". During the same period, the famous “Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue” in D minor was written.
Nowadays, Bach's inventions and suites have become mandatory pieces in programs music schools, and the preludes and fugues of “The Well-Tempered Clavier” - in schools and conservatories. Intended by the composer for pedagogical purposes, these works are also of interest to mature musicians. Therefore, Bach’s pieces for the clavier, from the relatively easy inventions to the most complex “Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue,” can be heard at concerts and on the radio performed by the best pianists in the world.
From Köthen in 1723, Bach moved to Leipzig, where he remained until the end of his life. Here he took the position of cantor (choir director) of the singing school at the Church of St. Thomas. Bach was obliged to serve the main churches of the city with the help of the school and be responsible for the condition and quality church music. He had to accept embarrassing conditions for himself. Along with the duties of a teacher, educator and composer, there were also the following instructions: “Do not leave the city without the permission of the burgomaster.” As before, his creative possibilities were limited. Bach had to compose music for the church that would “not be too long, and also ... opera-like, but that would arouse reverence in the listeners.” But Bach, as always, sacrificing a lot, never gave up the main thing - his artistic convictions. Throughout his life, he created works that were amazing in their deep content and inner richness.
It was the same this time. In Leipzig, Bach created his best vocal and instrumental compositions: most of cantatas (in total, Bach wrote about 250 cantatas), “John Passion”, “Matthew Passion”, Mass in B minor. “Passion”, or “passion” according to John and Matthew, is a narrative about the suffering and death of Jesus Christ as described by the evangelists John and Matthew. The Mass is close in content to the Passion. In the past, both the Mass and the Passion were choral hymns in the Catholic Church. For Bach, these works go far beyond the scope of church services. Bach's Mass and Passion are monumental works of a concert nature. They are performed by soloists, choir, orchestra, and organ. In my own way artistic value cantatas, “Passion” and Mass represent the third, highest peak of the composer’s work.
The church authorities were clearly dissatisfied with Bach's music. As in previous years, they found her too bright, colorful, and humane. And indeed, Bach’s music did not respond to, but rather contradicted, the strict church environment, the mood of detachment from everything earthly. Along with major vocal and instrumental works, Bach continued to write music for the clavier. Almost at the same time as the Mass, the famous “Italian Concerto” was written. Bach later completed the second volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier, which included 24 new preludes and fugues.
Besides the huge creative work and services at the church school, Bach took an active part in the activities of the “Music College” of the city. It was a society of music lovers that organized concerts of secular rather than church music for city residents. Bach performed with great success in concerts of the Musical College as a soloist and conductor. Especially for the society's concerts, he wrote many orchestral, keyboard and vocal works secular in nature.
But Bach's main job - the head of a school of singers - brought him nothing but grief and trouble. The funds allocated by the church for the school were negligible, and the singing boys were hungry and poorly dressed. Their level was also low musical abilities. Singers were often recruited without regard for Bach's opinion. The school orchestra was more than modest: four trumpets and four violins!
All requests for help for the school, submitted by Bach to the city authorities, remained unheeded. The cantor had to answer for everything.
The only joy was still creativity and family. The grown-up sons - Wilhelm Friedemann, Philip Emmanuel, Johann Christian - turned out to be talented musicians. During their father's lifetime they became famous composers. Anna Magdalena Bach, the composer's second wife, was distinguished by her great musicality. She had excellent hearing and a beautiful, strong soprano voice. Bach's eldest daughter also sang well. Bach composed vocal and instrumental ensembles for his family.
The last years of the composer's life were overshadowed by a serious eye disease. After an unsuccessful operation, Bach became blind. But even then he continued to compose, dictating his works for recording. Bach's death went almost unnoticed by the music community. They soon forgot about him. The fate of Bach's wife and youngest daughter was sad. Anna Magdalena died ten years later in a house of contempt for the poor. The youngest daughter Regina eked out a miserable existence. In the last years of her difficult life, Beethoven helped her. Bach died on July 28, 1750.
He is one of those rare and wonderful people, who could record the Divine light.
The grandiose maestro Johann Sebastian Bach managed to write more than a thousand works during his long life. Being a devout Protestant, Bach reworked church works into the Baroque style. Many of his masterpieces relate specifically to religious music. His works cover all significant musical genres except opera. The composer from Germany went down in history as a virtuoso, a brilliant teacher, the best bandmaster, and also as a professional organist.
Bach's early years and youth
Johann was last child in the family of Johann Ambrosius Bach and Elisabeth Amber. He was born on March 31st in 1685. The history of this family has always been connected with music and its manifestations. Since the 16th century, many of Bach's relatives were reputed to be quite professional musicians. Johann Sebastian's own father lived in Eisenach, Germany. There he did the work of preparing concerts, as well as playing music for the congregation. At the age of 9, the future virtuoso lost his mother, and soon his father. Bach's older brother Christophe took the boy into his home. The relative who carefully took custody of the orphan also worked as an organist in a neighboring town. There Bach entered the gymnasium, and he also learned to play the organ and his clavier from a relative.
During his studies, Johann became acquainted with the works of southern German performers and studied the music of the German north and the French south. At the age of fifteen, Johann Sebastian moved to live in Lüneburg. Until 1703 he managed to study at St. Michael's school. As a teenager, Bach traveled extensively throughout Germany. I looked at Hamburg, appreciated Celle, as well as the province of Lubeck.
At the religious school, Johann acquired knowledge about the church and religion, the history of many countries and geography, the exact sciences, French, Latin and Italian. IN educational institution Bach interacted with the children of local nobility and musicians.
For a musician, Bach was well educated. He had a qualitative understanding of many secular spheres, was an excellent student, and absorbed knowledge like a sponge.
Master: Life Path
After completing his studies, Bach received a job as a court performer under the patronage of Duke Ernst. After brilliant service, about a year later, Johann was appointed caretaker of the organ in the temple. Thus began his work in Arnstadt. Since Bach's work responsibilities took up 3 days a week, and the instrument in the church was in excellent condition, he had a lot of time to write his own musical creations.
Despite extensive connections and patronage from employers, Johann still had a conflict with the city authorities, as he was saddened by the training of choral performers. In 1705, Johann went to Lubeck for a couple of months to learn to play as masterly as the Danish organist Buxtehude played.
Bach's trick did not go unnoticed. After this, the authorities brought charges against Bach, which consisted of non-standard accompaniment of the choir’s music, which embarrassed the community. Indeed, Johann’s work could not be called purely secular or only religious. His works combined the incongruous, mixing things that in reality were simply impossible to combine.
After this, in 1706, Johann changed his place of service. He moved on to a more prestigious position at St. Blaise Parish. Then he had to move to the small town of Mühlhausen. There, in a new place, Johann Sebastian came to court. He was given a good salary. And the working conditions in the new temple were much better. There, Bach drew up a detailed plan for the restoration of the church organ. The church authorities fully approved the restoration work plan. In 1707, Johann Sebastian proposed to his cousin Maria. Later, 7 children were born into the Bach family, unfortunately, three of them died in infancy.
Fed up with the old way of life, Johann Bach went in search of a different position. The former employer did not want to let Bach go and even tried to arrest him for persistent requests for dismissal, but in 1717 Prince Leopold personally accepted Bach as his bandmaster. Working successfully under the prince, Bach created many new works.
In 1720, on July 7, Johann Sebastian's young wife Maria suddenly died. Strongly experiencing the tragedy, Johann wrote a musical essay, expressing his grief with the help of a partita in D minor for solo violin. This work later became his business card. When Bach's wife died, an elderly relative who lived in the Bach family until the end of her days helped him take care of the children.
After a year of mourning and lamentation for his lost lover, Johann Bach met Anna Wilke. The girl was known as a gifted singer who performed at the duke's court. A year later their wedding took place. In his second marriage, Johann had 13 children. Seven babies died at an early age.
When life's troubles subsided, Bach became the director of the St. Thomas Choir and at the same time a teacher in the church school. Unfortunately, over the years, Johann Bach began to lose his visual acuity, but great composer did not give up and continued to write music, dictating notes to his son-in-law.
In recent years, Bach worked by ear; his later musical innuendos are considered richer and more complex than his earlier works.
Johann Bach passed away on July 28, 1750. The great maestro was buried in the Church of St. John, nearby was the church where he served for 27 years. Then on July 28, 1949, the composer's ashes were transferred to the parish of St. Thomas. The transfer was due to military actions that destroyed his tomb. In 1950, a bronze tombstone was installed on the virtuoso’s grave, and this year was proclaimed the year of the legendary musician.
Cult art of the virtuoso
Organ music was leading in Bach's works. He wrote 6 trio sonatas for organ, the famous “organ book,” as well as many lesser-known compositions.
Keyboard music is an area that was as interesting to Bach as any other musical styles. It was for playing the clavier that the English suites were created, as well as famous melodies with many variations.
Chamber music for ensembles included musical works for cellos, lute, flute, and, of course, organ. Bach's vocal innuendos were expressed in passions, cantatas and masses.
The phenomenon of the German composer is well revealed in the discipline of Bach Studies. Since his works are so extensive that they are studied separately by musicians from all over the world.
The legendary composer created music not only for secular and religious audiences, he wrote his sonatas and parts for the productive training of young musicians. It was for them that the most complex and most exciting musical creations Bach. After all, among other things, Johann Bach was an excellent teacher.
After the death of his father (his mother had died earlier), he was taken into the family of his older brother Johann Christoph, who served as a church organist at St. Michaeliskirche in Ohrdruf. In 1700-03. Studied at the church choir school in Lüneburg. During his studies, he visited Hamburg, Celle and Lubeck to get acquainted with creativity famous musicians of its time, new French music. Bach's first compositional experiments - works for organ and clavier - date back to the same years.
Years of wanderings (1703-08)
After graduation, Bach was busy looking for a job that would provide his daily bread and leave time for creativity. From 1703 to 1708 he served in Weimar, Arnstadt, and Mühlhausen. In 1707 he married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach. His creative interests were then focused mainly on music for organ and clavier. Famous essay that time - “Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother” (1704).
Weimar period (1708-17)
Having received the position of court musician from the Duke of Weimar in 1708, Bach settled in Weimar, where he spent 9 years. These years became a time of intense creativity, in which the main place belonged to works for the organ, including numerous chorale preludes, organ toccata and fugue in D minor, passacaglia in C minor. The composer wrote music for the clavier and spiritual cantatas (more than 20). Using traditional forms, he brought them to the highest perfection. In Weimar, Bach had sons, future famous composers Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emmanuel.
Service in Köthen (1717-23)
In 1717, Bach accepted an invitation to the service of Duke Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen. Life in Köthen was at first the happiest time in the composer’s life: the prince, an enlightened man for his time and a good musician, appreciated Bach and did not interfere with his work, inviting him on his trips. Three sonatas and three partitas for solo violin, six suites for solo cello, English and French suites for clavier, six Brandenburg concertos for orchestra. Of particular interest is the collection “The Well-Tempered Clavier” - 24 preludes and fugues, written in all keys and in practice proving the advantages of the tempered musical system, the approval of which was hotly debated. Subsequently, Bach created the second volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier, also consisting of 24 preludes and fugues in all keys. But the cloudless period of Bach's life was cut short in 1720: his wife dies, leaving four young children. In 1721, Bach married Anna Magdalena Wilken for the second time. In 1723, his “Passion according to John” was performed in the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig, and Bach soon received the position of cantor of this church while simultaneously performing the duties of a teacher at the church school (Latin and singing).
In Leipzig (1723-50)
Bach becomes the “musical director” of all the churches in the city, overseeing the personnel of musicians and singers, overseeing their training, assigning works required for performance, and doing much more. Unable to be cunning and skimpy and not being able to perform everything in good faith, the composer repeatedly found himself in conflict situations that darkened his life and distracted him from his work. By that time the artist had reached the heights of his skill and created magnificent examples in different genres. First of all, this is sacred music: cantatas (about two hundred have survived), “Magnificat” (1723), masses (including the immortal “High Mass” in B minor, 1733), “Matthew Passion” (1729), dozens of secular cantatas (among them the comic “Coffee Room” and “Peasant Room”), works for organ, orchestra, harpsichord (among the latter, it is necessary to highlight the cycle “Aria with 30 variations”, the so-called “Goldberg Variations”, 1742). In 1747, Bach created a cycle of plays, “Musical Offerings,” dedicated to the Prussian king Frederick II. Last job became a work called “The Art of Fugue” (1749-50) - 14 fugues and 4 canons on one theme.
The fate of the creative heritage
At the end of the 1740s, Bach's health deteriorated, and he was particularly concerned about the sudden loss of his vision. Two unsuccessful cataract surgeries resulted in complete blindness. Ten days before his death, Bach suddenly regained his sight, but then he suffered a stroke that brought him to his grave. The solemn funeral caused a huge gathering of people from different places. The composer was buried near the Church of St. Thomas, where he served for 27 years. However, later a road was built through the territory of the cemetery, and the grave was lost. It was only in 1894 that Bach’s remains were accidentally found during construction work, and then the reburial took place. The fate of his legacy also turned out to be difficult. During his lifetime, Bach enjoyed fame. However, after the death of the composer, his name and music began to fall into oblivion. Genuine interest in his work arose only in the 1820s, which began with the performance of the St. Matthew Passion in Berlin in 1829 (organized by F. Mendelssohn-Bartholdy). In 1850, the Bach Society was created, which sought to identify and publish all the composer’s manuscripts (46 volumes were published over half a century).
Bach - the largest figure in the world musical culture. His work represents one of the pinnacles of philosophical thought in music. Freely crossing features not only of different genres, but also of national schools, Bach created immortal masterpieces that stand above time. Being the last (along with G. F. Handel) great composer of the Baroque era, Bach at the same time paved the way for the music of modern times.
Among the continuers of Bach's quest are his sons. In total, he had 20 children: seven from his first wife, Maria Barbara Bach (1684 - 1720), and 13 from his second, Anna Magdalena Wilken (1701 - 1760), only nine of them survived their father. Four sons became composers. In addition to those mentioned above - Johann Christian (1735-82), Johann Christoph (1732-95).
The German composer Johann Sebastian Bach created more than 1000 musical works. He lived in the Baroque era and in his work summarized everything that was characteristic of the music of his time. Bach wrote in all genres available in the 18th century, with the exception of opera. Today the works of this master of polyphony and virtuoso organist are listened to in the most different situations- they are so diverse. In his music one can find simple-minded humor and deep sorrow, philosophical reflections and extreme drama.
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685, he was the eighth and most youngest child in the family. The great composer's father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was also a musician: the Bach family has been known for its musicality since the beginning of the 16th century. At that time, music creators enjoyed special honor in Saxony and Thuringia, they were supported by the authorities, aristocrats and representatives of the church.
By the age of 10, Bach lost both his parents, and his older brother, who worked as an organist, took over his upbringing. Johann Sebastian studied at the gymnasium, and at the same time received from his brother the skills of playing the organ and clavier. At the age of 15, Bach entered vocal school and began to write his first works. After leaving school, he briefly served as a court musician for the Duke of Weimar, and then became an organist in a church in the city of Arnstadt. It was then that the composer wrote large number organ works.
Soon, Bach began to have problems with the authorities: he expressed dissatisfaction with the level of training of the singers in the choir, and then went to another city for several months in order to get acquainted with the playing of the authoritative Danish-German organist Dietrich Buxtehude. Bach went to Mühlhausen, where he was invited to the same position - organist in the church. In 1707, the composer married his cousin, who bore him seven children, three of them died in infancy, and two later became famous composers.
Bach worked in Mühlhausen for only a year and moved to Weimar, where he became court organist and concert organizer. By this time he already enjoyed great recognition and received a high salary. It was in Weimar that the composer's talent reached its peak - he spent about 10 years continuously composing works for clavier, organ and orchestra.
By 1717, Bach had achieved all possible heights in Weimar and began to look for another place of work. At first his old employer did not want to let him go, and even put him under arrest for a month. However, Bach soon left him and headed to the city of Köthen. If earlier his music was largely composed for religious services, here, due to the special requirements of the employer, the composer began to write mainly secular works.
In 1720, Bach's wife suddenly died, but after a year and a half he married the young singer again.
In 1723, Johann Sebastian Bach became cantor of the choir at the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig, and then was appointed “musical director” of all churches working in the city. Bach continued to write music until his death - even after losing his sight, he dictated it to his son-in-law. The great composer died in 1750, now his remains rest in the very Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig, where he worked for 27 years.
