Johann Sebastian Bach 31 March — 28 July would probably be astounded at his reputation as one of the greatest composers — perhaps the greatest composer — of all time. In his own day, he was famed chiefly for his keyboard skills, and much of his time was spent writing for the churches where he worked. Yet, when it came to the quality of his work, he produced more jewels than Bvlgari. Many Baroque composers wrote dozens, or even hundreds, of concertos but Bach managed to sum up the entire genre with only six, each featuring a different line-up of soloists with a wide range of moods and even structures shocking in an era when concertos were supposed to have three movements: fast-slow-fast.
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Johann Sebastian Bach came from a distinguished musical lineage in Germany. Many in his family were composers and musicians. After his death, his work almost faded into obscurity, but thanks renewed interest during the 19th century, today we remember him as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. According to an early biography of Bach, the Goldberg Variations were composed to help ease the nights of an insomniac Count and were named after harpsichord virtuoso Johann Gottlieb Goldberg who played outside the Count's bedroom at night. Bach's music fell mostly into obscurity following his death.
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Johann Sebastian Bach's music lives on today thanks to his amazing catalogue of concertos, choral, organ and keyboard works - but what happened during his lifetime? Take a look at our top facts about the composer. Born in the same year as his baroque counterpart Handel, Johann Sebastian Bach came into the world on March 21st The image of Bach as a virile family-man is no myth - he managed to sire an astonishing 20 children in his lifetime though they didn't all survive into adulthood. As with many things in Bach's life, family was everything. Musicians in Bach's extended family included court musicians, teachers, composers and church organists, something that young Johann would himself grow into. In his lifetime 65 years , Bach composed an incredible pieces of music. There are a further 23 works which were lost or unfinished.
Johann Sebastian Bach composed cantatas , motets , masses, Magnificats , Passions , oratorios , four-part chorales , songs and arias. His instrumental music includes concertos , suites , sonatas , fugues , and other works for organ , harpsichord, lute , violin, cello, flute, chamber ensemble and orchestra. There are over known compositions by Bach. Nearly all of them are listed in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis BWV , which is the best known and most widely used catalogue of Bach's compositions. Some of the early biographies of Johann Sebastian Bach contain lists of his compositions. For instance, his obituary contains a list of the instrumental compositions printed during the composer's lifetime , followed by an approximate list of his unpublished work. So, for example, the Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major can be indicated as " C. Peters Vol.
