Birth

 

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685 in Eisenach, Germany.  He was the eighth child of Johann Ambrosius Bach, the director of the town musicians, and Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt.  Both of his parents died when he was 10 so he moved to live with an older brother.  It was this brother that gave him his first training on the keyboard.

 

 

During His Lifetime

 

J.S. Bach came from a long line of musicians; in fact, there were musicians in the Bach family going back seven generations!  Even more amazing was that 74 of his relatives all had the first name Johann or Johanna...weird.  Much of Bach's music was composed to be played in church - the major employer of the day.  He worked in several churches and wrote over 1000 pieces of music during his lifetime.  However, Bach and his music were mainly forgotten after his death until another composer, Mendelssohn, found some of his music in a second hand store.  Fun Fact: In German, the name Bach spells out four musical notes (B —B flat, A—A natural, C—C natural, H—B natural).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Several things happened during Bach's lifetime that you might have heard about before today.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Death

 

Bach gradually lost his eyesight during his final years, and he was totally blind the last year of his life.  In 1750, Bach died at the age of 65 while living in Leipzig, Germany.  He was originally buried at Old St. John's Cemetery in Leipzig and his grave went unmarked for nearly 150 years. In 1894, his remains were located and moved to a vault in St. John's Church. This building was destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II, so in 1950 Bach's remains were taken to their present grave in St. Thomas Church. Later research has called into question whether the remains in the grave are actually those of Bach.

 

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

Type of Music

 

Bach was a composer during the Baroque Period.  He was employed as a church musician for most of his life, which meant he had to constantly compose music for the church services (for choir, organ, harpshichord, and orchestra).  Below is a YouTube video that describes Bach's life and music in more detail.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Most Famous Music

 

Bach's most famous pieces of music are Toccata and Fugue in d minor and Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.  However, he has a couple of other pieces that almost everyone has heard in popular culture: Well-Tempered Clavier and Cello Suite No. 3.

 

 

 

 

Music in Pop Culture

 

Bach's music has been used many, many times in popular culture.  Click Bach's pop art portrait to see video examples.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

 

Listening

 

The videos below are great examples of Bach's most famous music: Toccata and Fugue in d minor,  Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, Well-Tempered Clavier and Cello Suite No. 3.