Who Is Johann Sebastian Bach?

One of the most prolific and world renowned composers of his time, during the Baroque era, was Johann Sebastian Bach. The German composer has composed over 1000 known works throughout his musical career which included pieces for organ and over 300 cantatas. Most notably, his works for organ are among his most revered and well known. Bach was known for not just his compositional skills but his performing skills on organ, keyboard, and violin. His use of harmony and contrapuntal techniques paved the way for many composers after him.
Bach’s Birthplace Born on March 21st of 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach became the eighth child of from his father Johann Ambrosius Bach (1645-1695), and his mother, Elisabeth Lämmerhirt (1644-1694). Bach was born in
His mother Elisabeth died in 1694 and his father Johann Ambrosius passed away in 1695. J.S. was only 9 years old when he became an orphan. He then later went to live with his oldest brother Johann Christoph who was a popular organist in the town of Ohrdruf. Since 1690, his brother Johann Christoph had been the residential organist at the Michaeliskirche which is the Saint Michaels church. Christoph had studied under Johann Pachabel, also from Thuringian, who had been very influential in his playing abilities. Christoph, was the reason the Sebastian got his first exposure to keyboard instruments and began giving him lessons. During this time, Bach attended Lyceum, a grammar school in Ohrdruf. He quickly displayed great intellectual qualities by making tremendous progress in learning Latin, Greek and theology. Many of Bach’s teachers noticed his natural talents and potential in his voice and musical capabilities. So much so, that he was given a soprano spot in the choir of wealthy Michaelis Monestary in Lüneburg. The choir was known for giving young boys who live in poverty and could not afford a proper education but have great music potential a place to sing and learn. His teacher, Elias Herda was the one that encouraged Johann Sebastian to pursue this opportunity and give him a place to
This can be attested to his talents and reputation on organ at the time. The new organ featured two manuals and 23 speaking stops. A manual is the actual keyboard itself that is part of the organ while the speaking stops are what causes the organ to produce pitches. Each stop is different lengths so that the longer the pipes are, the lower the pitch is produced while the shorter the pipes are, the higher pitch is produced. Though he got position that he wanted, his time and tenure there did not go as smoothly as he had hoped. He refused to practice with the boy’s choir since it wasn’t his paid job and got into several altercations with performers at the church, one being the bassoon player, Geyserbach, in which they had a physical altercation. In late 1705, Bach took a brief leave of absence for a month to travel to Lübeck to study the music of Dietrich Buxtehude. While spending his time there, he became deeply influenced by Buxtehude’s organ music. Buxtehude was also a well-known composer of many vocal pieces as well. It is said that because of many of notably popular vocal works such as Castrum Doloris, Bach drew great inspiration from Buxtehude when he began composing his early vocal works. After leaving Arnstadt, he had his cousin, Johann Ernst to fill in for him as the resident musician. Eventually, due to controversy within the