Biography Of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1635 in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany. At a young age, his father, Johann Ambrosius, taught Bach how to play violin, considering he was the town musician in Eisenach. He attended a school with religious instruction and studied Latin. Lutheran faith later influenced his music. After the death of both of his parents, he became an orphan at the age of ten. Luckily he was taken in by his older brother Johann Christoph. Living with his brother, he was enrolled into a local school where he stayed until the age of fifteen. Growing up, he had a “beautiful soprano singing voice.” But it was soon enough that his voice began to change. It was then that he switched to playing violin and the harpsichord. He was
influenced later on by a local organist and he got his first job as a musician in 1703 in the small town of Arnstadt. Unfortunately he did not get along with his students at all and decided amongst himself to not have frequent rehearsals. He consistently got scolded by church officials for this matter. In 1705, he disappeared for a few months, only receiving a few weeks’ leave from the church.
He traveled to Lübeck during this time and there, got an organist position at the church of St. Blaise. He extended his time without letting anyone know. In 1707, Bach left Arnsadt for an organist position at the Church of St. Blaise in Mühlhausen. His musical style crashed with the pastor though. The pastor wanted simple arrangements whereas Bach had a more complex style. After a year, Bach had won the post of organist at the court of the Duke Wilhelm Ernst. It was during this time he wrote one of his most popular pieces for an organ, “Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.” In 1717, Bach had accepted a position with Prince Leopold but Duke Wilhelm Ernst had no interest in releasing Bach. In fact he was imprisoned for several weeks when he tried to leave. Bach was allowed to go to Cöthen in early December. There, he devoted a lot of time to instrumental music, composing many pieces for orchestras, dance suites, and sonatas. In 1721, Price Leopold got married, and his new wife didn’t appreciate the prince’s love for music. Bach soon had to find new work when the prince dissolved his orchestra in
1723. He signed a contract to become the new organist at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. With this new position, he was also required to teach as part of the job. New music was needed for services each week, so he ended up writing cantatas. By 1740, Bach began to struggle with his eyesight, but worked as best he could through it. In 1749, he attempted to fix his sight with a surgery, but came back completely blind. Bach suffered a stroke and died in Leipzig on July 28, 1750.
Bach was an important figure in time, and for many reasons, he matters to us.
Many of his pieces inspired other artists along the others era’s. This only led to inspire others. It’s all one big chain and in my opinion, music wouldn’t be where it’s at today if it weren’t for him. His reputation is still an ongoing process and people all over the world admire his music daily. Being the best composer of the Baroque era, and one of the most important figures in classical music, Bach has earned an incredible reputation for himself. There’s a bunch of things that could define Bach as a person, composer, and/or performer. Music styles are for surely one of them. He enjoyed playing around with different kinds of styles, using counterpoint and fugues quite often. His mood defined him as a person as well. He took his mood and incorporated that into his music. He was able to play out on paper exactly how he was feeling or what he was thinking in that moment. That’s something that’s really hard to do. Bach was known more for his organ skills than his composing skills, so I’d also mention the organ as something that represents him. Only a couple of his works were published during his lifetime and he got many jobs just by being able to play the organ as well as he did. The Church and his religious faith also represent him by a long run. Most of his music, that he composed, was influenced by what he believed in and what he felt. The Church definitely gave him that kind of
power.