Johann Sebastian Bach | Biography, Music, Death, & Facts

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py-15 text-left"> <em class="material-icons text-gray-400 d-lg-none" data-icon="toc"></em> <a class="font-serif font-weight-bold text-black link-blue" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach">Johann Sebastian Bach</a> </div> <button aria-label="Close" class="js-sections-close-button btn-link btn-sm btn d-lg-none position-absolute top-0 p-10 right-0" > <em class="material-icons font-26" data-icon="close"></em> </button> </div> <div class="section-content pl-10 pr-20 pl-sm-50 pr-sm-60 pl-lg-5 pr-lg-10 pt-10 pt-lg-0 bg-gray-50 clear-catfish-ad"> <div class="toc mb-20"> <div class="font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-15 mb-15 mt-20"> Table of Contents </div> <ul class="list-unstyled my-0" data-level="h1"><li data-target="#ref1"><div class="pl-25"><a class="link-gray-900 w-100" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach">Introduction & Top Questions</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"></div></li><li data-target="#ref12095"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach#ref12095">Life</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref12096"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach#ref12096">Early years</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref12097"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach#ref12097">The Arnstadt period</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref12098"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach#ref12098">The Mühlhausen period</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref12099"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach#ref12099">The Weimar period</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref12100"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach#ref12100">The Köthen period</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref12101"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach#ref12101">Years at Leipzig</a><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref12102"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach#ref12102">Symbolism</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref12103"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach#ref12103">Nonmusical duties</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h3"><li data-target="#ref12104"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach#ref12104">Instrumental works</a></li></ul></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref12105"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach#ref12105">Last years</a></li></ul></div></li><li data-target="#ref12106"><div class="d-flex align-items-center"><button class="h1-link-drawer-button btn btn-xs btn-circle d-flex rounded" type="button" aria-label="Toggle Heading"><em class="material-icons font-18" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></em></button><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach/Reputation-and-influence">Reputation and influence</a></div><div class="ml-40 toc-drawer sub-toc-drawer"><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref12107"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach/Reputation-and-influence#ref12107">Revival of music</a></li></ul><ul class="list-unstyled" data-level="h2"><li data-target="#ref12108"><a class="w-100 link-gray-900" href="/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach/Reputation-and-influence#ref12108">Editions of Bach’s works</a></li></ul></div></li></ul> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach/additional-info">References & Edit History</a> <a class="toc-extra-link link-gray-900" href="/facts/Johann-Sebastian-Bach">Quick Facts & Related Topics</a> </div> <div class="tlr-media-slider pb-10 mb-30"> <a class="section-header link-gray-900 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mb-10 mx-10" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach/images-videos">Images & Videos</a> <div class="slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100 "> <div class="slider-container js-slider-container overflow-hidden d-flex overflow-hidden text-nowrap ml-15"> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/61/114461-050-E9206DB5/Johann-Sebastian-Bach-oil-canvas-Elias-Gottlieb-1746.jpg" data-href="/media/1/47843/148076" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/61/114461-004-55247C77/Johann-Sebastian-Bach-oil-canvas-Elias-Gottlieb-1746.jpg" alt="Johann Sebastian Bach" height="50" /> </a> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/89/190989-050-2AE16312/Johann-Sebastian-Bach.jpg" data-href="/media/1/47843/223290" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/89/190989-004-3D71704C/Johann-Sebastian-Bach.jpg" alt="Bach, Johann Sebastian" height="50" /> </a> <a href="" data-href="/media/1/47843/86194" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <em class="material-icons md-48" data-icon="volume_up"></em> </a> <a href="" data-href="/media/1/47843/86195" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <em class="material-icons md-48" data-icon="volume_up"></em> </a> <a href="" data-href="/media/1/47843/86196" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <em class="material-icons md-48" data-icon="volume_up"></em> </a> <a href="" data-href="/media/1/47843/86213" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <em class="material-icons md-48" data-icon="volume_up"></em> </a> <a href="" data-href="/media/1/47843/86214" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <em class="material-icons md-48" data-icon="volume_up"></em> </a> <a href="" data-href="/media/1/47843/86215" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <em class="material-icons md-48" data-icon="volume_up"></em> </a> <a href="" data-href="/media/1/47843/86210" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <em class="material-icons md-48" data-icon="volume_up"></em> </a> <a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/41/101841-004-48479402/monument-Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Eisenach-Germany.jpg" data-href="/media/1/47843/109718" class="media-overlay-link d-inline-block mr-5"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/41/101841-004-48479402/monument-Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Eisenach-Germany.jpg" alt="Bach, Johann Sebastian" height="50" /> </a> </div> <button disabled class="prev-button js-prev-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-blue " aria-label="Previous"> <span class="material-icons md-24" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_left"></span> </button> <button disabled class="next-button js-next-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-blue " aria-label="Next"> <span class="material-icons md-24" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></span> </button> </div> </div> <div class="mb-30 tlr-student-links"> <div class="text-gray-900 p-5 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-10 mb-10"> For Students </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/summary/Johann-Sebastian-Bach"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/61/114461-050-E9206DB5/Johann-Sebastian-Bach-oil-canvas-Elias-Gottlieb-1746.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Johann Sebastian Bach" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/summary/Johann-Sebastian-Bach" >Johann Sebastian Bach summary</a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mb-30 tlr-related-quizzes"> <div class="text-gray-900 p-5 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-10 mb-10"> Quizzes </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/quiz/the-dating-game-which-came-first"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/254407-131-F27C44C4/ball-of-predictions-and-Rubiks-Cube.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="(Left) Ball of predictions with answers to questions based on the Magic 8 Ball; (right): Rubik's Cube. (toys)" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/quiz/the-dating-game-which-came-first" >The Dating Game: Which Came First?</a> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/quiz/composers-their-music"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/03/136303-131-B005A386/notes-Illustration-classical-music-composer-composition-blog-2009.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Illustration of musical notes. classical music composer composition. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society, music notes" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/quiz/composers-their-music" >Composers & Their Music</a> </div> </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/quiz/almost-forgotten-artists-quiz"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/80/96380-131-DBA491C6/Self-Portrait-canvas-Straw-Hat-Vincent-van-Gogh-1887.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt=""Self-Portrait with Straw Hat (verso: The Potato Peeler)," oil on canvas by Vincent van Gogh, 1887. 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(Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)" width="200" height="200" /> </a> </div> <div class="card-body ilf-content"> <a class="font-weight-semi-bold d-block mb-5 font-16 ilf-title" href="/quiz/quiz-who-composed-it" >Quiz: Who Composed It?</a> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mb-30 tlr-related-questions"> <div class="text-gray-900 p-5 pb-0 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-10 mb-15"> Related Questions </div> <ul> <li class="link-gray-900 mb-15"><a class="" href="/question/What-was-Johann-Sebastian-Bachs-childhood-like">What was Johann Sebastian Bach’s childhood like?</a> </li> </ul> </div> <div class="mb-30 tlr-read-next"> <div class="text-gray-900 p-5 font-serif font-14 font-weight-bold mx-10 mb-10"> Read Next </div> <div class="imagelink-with-image-on-the-side card card-horizontal tlr-img-with-side-link ml-15 link-gray-900 mb-10" > <div class="position-relative card-media" style="flex: 0;"> <a class="ilf-image position-relative" href="/list/6-rediscovered-artists"> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/55/115955-131-8AAC7E2F/Vincent-Van-Gogh-Self-Portrait-Oil-canvas-1887.jpg?w=200&h=200&c=crop" alt="Vincent Van Gogh, Self Portrait. 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Marshall</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Emeritus Professor of Music, Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts. Author of <i>The Compositional Process of J.S. Bach.</i></div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Robert L. Marshall</span>, <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor" href="/contributor/Walter-Emery/855" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">Walter Emery</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 clamp-description text-black">Director, Novello and Company Ltd., London. Specialist on the work of Bach. Author of <i>Bach's Ornaments.</i></div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link gtm-byline font-12 byline-contributor text-decoration-underline"> Walter Emery</span><span class="text-gray-700 mx-5">•</span><a class="see-all border-gray-700 gtm-byline" rel="nofollow" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach/additional-info#contributors">All</a> </div> <div class="font-serif font-12 text-gray-700"> <span class="qa-fact-checked-by">Fact-checked by</span> <div class="editor-popover popover p-0"> <a class="d-block p-20 font-12" href="/editor/The-Editors-of-Encyclopaedia-Britannica/4419" > <div class="editor-title font-16 font-weight-bold">The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</div> <div class="editor-description font-12 font-serif mt-5 text-black">Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors.</div> </a> <div data-popper-arrow></div> </div> <span class="btn btn-link editor-link p-0 qa-byline-link font-12 "> The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica</span></div> <div class="last-updated font-12 font-serif"> <span class="text-gray-700"> Last Updated: <time datetime="2024-11-30T00:00:00CST" >Nov 30, 2024</time> •</span> <a class="byline-edit-history" href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Sebastian-Bach/additional-info#history" rel="nofollow">Article History</a> </div></div> </div> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button d-none d-sm-block js-sections-inline-button module-spacing btn d-lg-none"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <div class="d-flex d-sm-none flex-row"> <button class="d-flex d-lg-none btn btn-outline-blue border rounded-sm shadow-sm mobile-toc-button gtm-mobile-toc-inline-button js-sections-inline-button module-spacing"> <em class="material-icons mr-5 ml-n10 my-n5 md-icon" data-icon="toc"></em> Table of Contents </button> <button class="ai-ask-button btn border-2 ai-ask-button btn border-2 module-spacing btn-sm js-inline-ai-ask-button btn-outline-red-400 border-red-400 p-10 ml-5"> Ask the Chatbot a Question </button> </div> <div class="js-qf-module qf-module px-40 px-sm-20 py-15 mx-auto module-spacing font-14 bg-gray-50 rounded"> <div class="qf-title font-weight-bold font-14 mb-10 text-center"> Quick Facts</div> <div class="facts-list mt-10"> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Born: </dt> <dd>March 21 [March 31, New Style], 1685, <a href="/place/Eisenach">Eisenach</a>, Thuringia, Ernestine Saxon Duchies [Germany]</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Died: </dt> <dd>July 28, 1750, <a href="/place/Leipzig-Germany">Leipzig</a> (aged 65)</dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Notable Works: </dt> <dd><a href="/art/sinfonia-music">sinfonia</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Brandenburg-Concertos">“Brandenburg Concertos”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Christmas-Oratorio-by-Bach">“Christmas Oratorio”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Fugue-in-E-flat-Major">“Fugue in E-flat Major”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/God-Is-My-King">“God Is My King”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Hunt-Cantata">“Hunt Cantata”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Jesu-meine-Freude">“Jesu meine Freude”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Mass-in-B-Minor">“Mass in B Minor”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Passacaglia-and-Fugue-in-C-Minor">“Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/St-John-Passion">“St. John Passion”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/St-Matthew-Passion-BWV-244">“St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244”</a></dd> <dd><a href="/topic/Three-Part-Inventions">“Three-Part Inventions”</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Movement / Style: </dt> <dd><a href="/art/Baroque-music">Baroque music</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> </div> <div class=""> <div class="js-fact mb-10 line-clamp clamp-3"> <dl> <dt>Notable Family Members: </dt> <dd>son <a href="/biography/Johann-Christian-Bach">Johann Christian Bach</a></dd> <dd>son <a href="/biography/Johann-Christoph-Friedrich-Bach">Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach</a></dd> <dd>son <a href="/biography/Wilhelm-Friedemann-Bach">Wilhelm Friedemann Bach</a></dd> <dd>son <a href="/biography/Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach">Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach</a></dd> </dl> <button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-gray-50" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"> <em class="js-content link-blue">(Show more)</em> </button> </div> <div class="text-center"> <a class="btn btn-sm btn-link p-0" href="/facts/Johann-Sebastian-Bach"> See all related content </a> </div> </div> </div> </div><script type="application/ld+json"> { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [ { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>Why is Johann Sebastian Bach important?<\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Johann Sebastian Bach is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. He is celebrated as the creator of many masterpieces of church and instrumental music. His compositions represent the best of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/art\/Baroque-music\">Baroque era<\/a>." } } , { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>What did Johann Sebastian Bach compose?<\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Johann Sebastian Bach composed over 1,000 pieces of music. Some of his most famous work included the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Brandenburg-Concertos\"><em>Brandenburg Concertos<\/em><\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/The-Well-Tempered-Clavier-BWV-846-893\"><em>The Well-Tempered Clavier<\/em><\/a>, and the <em>Mass in B Minor<\/em>." } } , { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>What was Johann Sebastian Bach\u2019s childhood like?<\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Johann Sebastian Bach was born into a musical family. Orphaned before he turned 10 years old, he was looked after by his eldest brother, an organist who gave him his first <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/art\/keyboard-instrument\">keyboard<\/a> lessons. Bach did well at school, and he was selected for a choir of poor boys at the school in Michaelskirche, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Luneburg-Germany\">L\u00FCneburg<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/place\/Germany\">Germany<\/a>." } } , { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>When did Johann Sebastian Bach get married?<\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "On October 17, 1707, Johann Sebastian Bach married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach at Dornheim. After Maria died Bach married Anna Magdalena Wilcken, the daughter of a trumpeter at Weissenfels, on December 3, 1721." } } , { "@type" : "Question", "name" : "<div>What were Johann Sebastian Bach\u2019s children\u2019s names?<\/div><em><\/em>", "acceptedAnswer" : { "@type" : "Answer", "text" : "Johann Sebastian Bach had 20 children, 7 with his first wife and 13 with his second wife. Only 10 of them lived to adulthood. Several of his sons, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Wilhelm-Friedemann-Bach\">Wilhelm Friedemann<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach\">Carl Philipp Emanuel<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Johann-Christian-Bach\">Johann Christian<\/a>, who was called the \u201CEnglish Bach,\u201D were also composers." } } ] } </script> <div class="top-questions qa-accordion d-flex flex-column module-spacing"><div class="font-weight-bold font-14 mb-5"> Top Questions </div><div id="intent-accordion" class="md-intent-accordion"><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="1"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>Why is Johann Sebastian Bach important?</div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>Johann Sebastian Bach is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. He is celebrated as the creator of many masterpieces of church and instrumental music. His compositions represent the best of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Baroque-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Baroque era</a>.</p></div></div></div><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="2"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>What did Johann Sebastian Bach compose?</div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>Johann Sebastian Bach composed over 1,000 pieces of music. Some of his most famous work included the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Brandenburg-Concertos" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Brandenburg Concertos</em></a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Well-Tempered-Clavier-BWV-846-893" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>The Well-Tempered Clavier</em></a>, and the <em>Mass in B Minor</em>.</p></div></div></div><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="3"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>What was Johann Sebastian Bach’s childhood like?</div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>Johann Sebastian Bach was born into a musical family. Orphaned before he turned 10 years old, he was looked after by his eldest brother, an organist who gave him his first <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/keyboard-instrument" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">keyboard</a> lessons. Bach did well at school, and he was selected for a choir of poor boys at the school in Michaelskirche, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Luneburg-Germany" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Lüneburg</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Germany</a>.</p></div></div></div><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="4"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>When did Johann Sebastian Bach get married?</div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>On October 17, 1707, Johann Sebastian Bach married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach at Dornheim. After Maria died Bach married Anna Magdalena Wilcken, the daughter of a trumpeter at Weissenfels, on December 3, 1721.</p></div></div></div><div class="top-question bg-gray-50 rounded" data-value="5"><h3 class="accordion--question font-14 font-weight-normal cursor-pointer rounded"><div class="pe-none d-flex justify-content-between align-items-center"><div>What were Johann Sebastian Bach’s children’s names?</div><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></div></h3><div class="accordion--answer hidden p-15 pt-5 font-16 mb-5"><div class="accordion--answer-copy"><p>Johann Sebastian Bach had 20 children, 7 with his first wife and 13 with his second wife. Only 10 of them lived to adulthood. Several of his sons, including <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wilhelm-Friedemann-Bach" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Wilhelm Friedemann</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Carl Philipp Emanuel</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Christian-Bach" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Johann Christian</a>, who was called the “English Bach,” were also composers.</p></div></div></div><button class="show-more-button js-toggle-top-questions btn btn-unstyled font-14 d-flex pr-10 rounded-sm"><em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_more"></em></button></div></div><div class="bg-gray-50 p-15 rounded module-spacing recent-news d-flex flex-column float-false"> <div> <h2 class="font-weight-bold font-14 m-0 d-inline"> News <span class="text-gray-600">•</span> </h2> <div class="recent-news-item first-recent-news-item d-inline"> <a class="font-14 gtm-ap-news-link" href="/news/47843/9046bc439d97989d3e0df48a178b7f2d" rel="nofollow">From Bach to Beyonce, why a church orchestra aims to lift up young musicians of color</a> <span class="font-14 text-gray-600"> <span>•</span> Nov. 30, 2024, 8:39 AM ET (AP) </span> </div> </div> <div class="rest-of-recent-news-items"> <button class="js-toggle-recent-news d-flex btn btn-unstyled font-14 pr-10 rounded-sm mt-10" aria-label="Toggle additional news items"> Show less <em class="material-icons" data-icon="expand_less"></em> </button> </div> </div><span class="marker before-article"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref1"><span class="marker PREMOD1 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><strong><span id="ref358755"></span>Johann Sebastian Bach</strong> (born March 21 [March 31, New Style], 1685, Eisenach, Thuringia, Ernestine Saxon Duchies [Germany]—died July 28, 1750, Leipzig) composer of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Baroque-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Baroque era</a>, the most celebrated member of a large family of north German musicians. Although he was admired by his <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="contemporaries" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/contemporaries" data-type="EB">contemporaries</a> primarily as an outstanding harpsichordist, organist, and expert on organ building, Bach is now generally regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time and is celebrated as the creator of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Brandenburg-Concertos" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Brandenburg Concertos</em></a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Well-Tempered-Clavier-BWV-846-893" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>The Well-Tempered Clavier</em></a>, the <em>Mass in B Minor</em>, and numerous other masterpieces of church and instrumental music. Appearing at a propitious moment in the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Western-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">history of music</a>, Bach was able to survey and bring together the principal styles, forms, and national traditions that had developed during preceding generations and, by virtue of his synthesis, enrich them all.</p><span class="marker MOD1 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD2 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">He was a member of a remarkable family of musicians who were proud of their achievements, and about 1735 he <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="drafted" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/drafted" data-type="EB">drafted</a> a genealogy, <em><span id="ref358756"></span>Ursprung der musicalisch-Bachischen Familie</em> (“Origin of the Musical Bach Family”), in which he traced his ancestry back to his great-great-grandfather Veit Bach, a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Lutheranism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Lutheran</a> baker (or miller) who late in the 16th century was driven from <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Hungary" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hungary</a> to Wechmar in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Thuringia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Thuringia</a>, a historic region of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Germany" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Germany</a>, by religious persecution and died in 1619. There were Bachs in the area before then, and it may be that, when Veit moved to Wechmar, he was returning to his birthplace. He used to take his <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/cittern" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">cittern</a> to the mill and play it while the mill was grinding. Johann Sebastian remarked, “A pretty noise they must have made together! However, he learnt to keep time, and this apparently was the beginning of music in our family.”</p><span class="marker MOD2 mod-inline"></span><span class="marker PREMOD3 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Until the birth of Johann Sebastian, his was the least distinguished branch of the family; some of its members, such as Johann Christoph and Johann Ludwig, had been <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="competent" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/competent" data-type="EB">competent</a> practical musicians but not composers. In later days the most important musicians in the family were Johann Sebastian’s sons—<a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wilhelm-Friedemann-Bach" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Wilhelm Friedemann</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Carl Philipp Emanuel</a>, and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Christian-Bach" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Johann Christian</a> (the “English Bach”).</p><span class="marker MOD3 mod-inline"></span></section> <span class="marker h2"></span><section data-level="1" id="ref12095"><h2 class="h1">Life</h2> <section data-level="2" id="ref12096"><h2 class="h2">Early years</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD4 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">J.S. Bach was the youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach and Elisabeth Lämmerhirt. Ambrosius was a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/stringed-instrument" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">string</a> player, employed by the town council and the ducal court of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Eisenach" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Eisenach</a>. Johann Sebastian started school in 1692 or 1693 and did well in spite of frequent absences. Of his musical education at this time, nothing definite is known; however, he may have picked up the rudiments of string playing from his father, and no doubt he attended the Georgenkirche, where Johann Christoph Bach was organist until 1703.</p><span class="marker MOD4 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD5 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">By 1695 both his parents were dead, and he was looked after by his eldest brother, also named Johann Christoph (1671–1721), organist at Ohrdruf. This Christoph had been a pupil of the influential <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/keyboard-instrument" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">keyboard</a> composer <span id="ref358757"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Pachelbel" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Johann Pachelbel</a>, and he apparently gave Johann Sebastian his first formal keyboard lessons. The young Bach again did well at school, and in 1700 his voice secured him a place in a select choir of poor boys at the school at Michaelskirche, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Luneburg-Germany" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Lüneburg</a>.</p><a class="link-module shadow-sm d-block qa-quiz-module" href="/quiz/the-dating-game-which-came-first" data-link-module-iframe-link=""> <img loading="lazy" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/07/254407-131-F27C44C4/ball-of-predictions-and-Rubiks-Cube.jpg" alt="(Left) Ball of predictions with answers to questions based on the Magic 8 Ball; (right): Rubik's Cube. (toys)" class="rounded-sm mr-15" width="70" /> <div class="line-clamp clamp-5"> <div class="module-title bg-green">Britannica Quiz</div> <div class="font-weight-semi-bold mt-5">The Dating Game: Which Came First?</div> </div> </a><span class="marker MOD5 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD6 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">His voice must have broken soon after this, but he remained at Lüneburg for a time, making himself generally useful. No doubt he studied in the school library, which had a large and up-to-date collection of church music; he probably heard <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georg-Bohm" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Georg Böhm</a>, organist of the Johanniskirche; and he visited <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Hamburg-Germany" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hamburg</a> to hear the renowned organist and composer Johann Adam Reinken at the Katharinenkirche, contriving also to hear the French orchestra maintained by the duke of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Celle" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Celle</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD6 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD7 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">He seems to have returned to Thuringia in the late summer of 1702. By this time he was already a reasonably proficient organist. His experience at Lüneburg, if not at Ohrdruf, had turned him away from the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="secular" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secular" data-type="MW">secular</a> string-playing tradition of his immediate ancestors; thenceforth he was chiefly, though not exclusively, a composer and performer of keyboard and sacred music. The next few months are wrapped in mystery, but by March 4, 1703, he was a member of the orchestra employed by Johann Ernst, duke of Weimar (and brother of Wilhelm Ernst, whose service Bach entered in 1708). This post was a mere stopgap; he probably already had his eye on the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/organ-musical-instrument" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">organ</a> then being built at the Neue Kirche (New Church) in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Arnstadt" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Arnstadt</a>, for, when it was finished, he helped to test it, and in August 1703 he was appointed organist—all this at age 18. Arnstadt documents imply that he had been court organist at Weimar; this is incredible, though it is likely enough that he had occasionally played there.</p><div class="module-spacing"> <DIV class="marketing-INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION marketing-content" data-marketing-id="INLINE_SUBSCRIPTION"><style> .student-promo-banner-wrapper { container-type: inline-size; margin-bottom: 15px; } @container (min-width: 475px) { .student-promo-banner { flex-direction: row; } .student-promo-banner-img-wrapper { margin-bottom: 0; margin-right: 10px; justify-content: flex-start; } .student-promo-banner-text-wrapper { text-align: left; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; } .student-promo-banner-button-wrapper { margin-right: 0; } }</style> <div class="student-promo-banner-wrapper"> <div class="student-promo-banner d-flex flex-column align-items-center bg-blue rounded p-20"> <div class="student-promo-banner-img-wrapper mb-20 mr-0 d-flex justify-content-center"> <img class="rounded" style="max-width: 100px; min-width: 80px" src="https://cdn.britannica.com/marketing/BlueThistle.webp" /> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-text-wrapper ml-0 mb-10 text-center text-white"> <div class="h2 mb-10">Get Unlimited Access</div> <div class="h4 font-weight-semi-bold">Try Britannica Premium for free and discover more.</div> </div> <div class="student-promo-banner-button-wrapper d-flex justify-content-center align-items-center ml-auto mr-auto"> <a class="btn btn-m btn-orange" href="https://premium.britannica.com/premium-membership/?utm_source=premium&utm_medium=inline-cta&utm_campaign=black-friday-2024">Subscribe</a> </div> </div> </div> </DIV></div><span class="marker MOD7 mod-inline"></span></section> <section data-level="2" id="ref12097"><h2 class="h2">The Arnstadt period</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD8 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">At Arnstadt, on the northern edge of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Thuringian-Forest" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Thuringian Forest</a>, where he remained until 1707, Bach devoted himself to keyboard music, the organ in particular. While at Lüneburg he had apparently had no opportunity of becoming directly acquainted with the spectacular, <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="flamboyant" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/flamboyant" data-type="MW">flamboyant</a> playing and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="compositions" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compositions" data-type="MW">compositions</a> of <span id="ref358758"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dietrich-Buxtehude" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Dietrich Buxtehude</a>, the most significant exponent of the north German school of organ music. In October 1705 he repaired this gap in his knowledge by obtaining a month’s leave and walking to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Lubeck" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Lübeck</a> (more than 200 miles [300 km]). His visit must have been profitable, for he did not return until about the middle of January 1706. In February his employers complained about his absence and about other things as well: he had harmonized the <span id="ref358759"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/hymn" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">hymn</a> tunes so freely that the congregation could not sing to his accompaniment, and, above all, he had produced no <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/cantata-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">cantatas</a>. Perhaps the real reasons for his neglect were that he was temporarily obsessed with the organ and was on bad terms with the local singers and instrumentalists, who were not under his control and did not come up to his standards. In the summer of 1705 he had made some offensive remark about a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/bassoon" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">bassoon</a> player, which led to an unseemly scuffle in the street. His replies to these complaints were neither satisfactory nor even accommodating; and the fact that he was not dismissed out of hand suggests that his employers were as well aware of his exceptional ability as he was himself and were reluctant to lose him.</p><span class="marker MOD8 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD9 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">During these early years, Bach inherited the musical <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="culture" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture" data-type="MW">culture</a> of the Thuringian area, a thorough familiarity with the traditional forms and hymns (<span id="ref358760"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/chorale" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">chorales</a>) of the orthodox Lutheran service, and, in <span id="ref358761"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/keyboard-instrument" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">keyboard</a> music, perhaps (through his brother, Johann Christoph) a bias toward the formalistic styles of the south. But he also learned eagerly from the northern rhapsodists, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Dietrich-Buxtehude" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Buxtehude</a> above all. By 1708 he had probably learned all that his German predecessors could teach him and arrived at a first synthesis of northern and southern German styles. He had also studied, on his own and during his presumed excursions to Celle, some French organ and instrumental music.</p><span class="marker MOD9 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD10 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Among the few works that can be <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="ascribed" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/ascribed" data-type="EB">ascribed</a> to these early years with anything more than a show of plausibility are the <em>Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo</em> (1704; <em>Capriccio on the Departure of His Most Beloved Brother</em>, BWV 992), the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/chorale-prelude" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">chorale prelude</a> on <em>Wie schön leuchtet</em> (<em>c.</em> 1705; <em>How Brightly Shines</em>, BWV 739), and the fragmentary early version of the organ <em>Prelude and Fugue in G Minor</em> (before 1707, BWV 535a). (The “BWV” numbers provided are the standard catalog numbers of Bach’s works as established in the <em><span id="ref358762"></span>Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis</em>, prepared by the German musicologist Wolfgang Schmieder.)</p><span class="marker MOD10 mod-inline"></span></section> <section data-level="2" id="ref12098"><h2 class="h2">The Mühlhausen period</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD11 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In June 1707 Bach obtained a post at the Blasiuskirche in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Muhlhausen" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Mühlhausen</a> in Thuringia. He moved there soon after and married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach at Dornheim on October 17. At Mühlhausen things seem, for a time, to have gone more smoothly. He produced several church <span id="ref358763"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/cantata-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">cantatas</a> at this time; all of these works are cast in a <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="conservative" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/conservative" data-type="MW">conservative</a> mold, based on biblical and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/chorale" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">chorale</a> texts and displaying no influence of the “modern” Italian operatic forms that were to appear in Bach’s later cantatas. The famous organ <em>Toccata and Fugue in D Minor</em> (BWV 565), written in the rhapsodic northern style, and the <em>Prelude and Fugue in D Major</em> (BWV 532) may also have been composed during the Mühlhausen period, as well as the organ <em>Passacaglia in C Minor</em> (BWV 582), an early example of Bach’s instinct for large-scale organization. Cantata No. 71, <em>Gott ist mein König</em> (<em><span id="ref358764"></span>God Is My King</em>), of February 4, 1708, was printed at the expense of the city council and was the first of Bach’s <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="compositions" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/compositions" data-type="EB">compositions</a> to be published. While at Mühlhausen, Bach copied music to enlarge the choir library, tried to encourage music in the surrounding villages, and was in sufficient favour to be able to interest his employers in a scheme for rebuilding the organ (February 1708). His real reason for resigning on June 25, 1708, is not known. He himself said that his plans for a “well-regulated [concerted] <span id="ref358765"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/liturgical-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">church music</a>” had been hindered by conditions in Mühlhausen and that his salary was inadequate. It is generally supposed that he had become involved in a theological controversy between his own pastor Frohne and Archdeacon Eilmar of the Marienkirche. Certainly, he was friendly with Eilmar, who provided him with <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/libretto" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">librettos</a> and became godfather to Bach’s first child; and it is likely enough that he was not in sympathy with Frohne, who, as a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pietism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Pietist</a>, would have frowned on <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="elaborate" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/elaborate" data-type="EB">elaborate</a> church music. It is just as possible, however, that it was the dismal state of musical life in Mühlhausen that prompted Bach to seek employment elsewhere. At all events, his resignation was accepted, and shortly afterward he moved to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Weimar-Germany" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Weimar</a>, some miles west of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Jena-Germany" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Jena</a> on the Ilm River. He continued nevertheless to be on good terms with Mühlhausen personalities, for he supervised the rebuilding of the organ, is supposed to have inaugurated it on October 31, 1709, and composed a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/cantata-music" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">cantata</a> for February 4, 1709, which was printed but has disappeared.</p><span class="marker MOD11 mod-inline"></span></section> <section data-level="2" id="ref12099"><h2 class="h2">The Weimar period</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD12 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="223290" data-asm-type="image"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media " data-type="image"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/89/190989-050-2AE16312/Johann-Sebastian-Bach.jpg" class="gtm-assembly-link position-relative d-flex align-items-center justify-content-center media-overlay-link card-media" data-href="/media/1/47843/223290"><picture><source media="(min-width: 680px)" srcset="https://cdn.britannica.com/89/190989-050-2AE16312/Johann-Sebastian-Bach.jpg?w=300"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/89/190989-050-2AE16312/Johann-Sebastian-Bach.jpg?w=300" alt="Bach, Johann Sebastian" data-width="1000" data-height="1399" loading="eager"></picture><button class="magnifying-glass btn btn-circle position-absolute shadow btn-white top-10 right-10" aria-label="Zoom in"><em class="material-icons link-blue" data-icon="zoom_in"></em></button></a></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/89/190989-050-2AE16312/Johann-Sebastian-Bach.jpg" data-href="/media/1/47843/223290">Bach, Johann Sebastian</a><span>Johann Sebastian Bach.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">Bach was, from the outset, court organist at Weimar and a member of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/orchestra-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">orchestra</a>. Encouraged by <span id="ref358766"></span>Wilhelm Ernst, he concentrated on the organ during the first few years of his <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="tenure" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tenure" data-type="MW">tenure</a>. From Weimar, Bach occasionally visited Weissenfels; in February 1713 he took part in a court celebration there that included a performance of his first secular cantata, <em>Was mir behagt</em>, also called the <em><span id="ref358767"></span>Hunt Cantata</em> (BWV 208).</p><span class="marker MOD12 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD13 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Late in 1713 Bach had the opportunity of succeeding Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow at the Liebfrauenkirche, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Halle" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Halle</a>; but the duke raised his salary, and he stayed on at Weimar. On March 2, 1714, he became concertmaster, with the duty of composing a cantata every month. He became friendly with a relative, <span id="ref358768"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Gottfried-Walther" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Johann Gottfried Walther</a>, a music lexicographer and composer who was organist of the town church, and, like Walther, Bach took part in the musical activities at the Gelbes Schloss (“Yellow Castle”), then occupied by Duke Wilhelm’s two nephews, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ernest-Augustus-elector-of-Hanover" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Ernst August</a> and Johann Ernst, both of whom he taught. The latter was a talented composer who wrote <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/concerto-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">concerti</a> in the Italian manner, some of which Bach arranged for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/keyboard-instrument" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">keyboard instruments</a>; the boy died in 1715, in his 19th year.</p><span class="marker MOD13 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD14 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Unfortunately, Bach’s development cannot be traced in detail during the vital years 1708–14, when his style underwent a profound change. There are too few datable works. From the series of cantatas written in 1714–16, however, it is obvious that he had been decisively influenced by the new styles and forms of the contemporary <span id="ref358769"></span>Italian <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/opera-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">opera</a> and by the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="innovations" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/innovations" data-type="MW">innovations</a> of such Italian <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/concerto-music" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">concerto</a> composers as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antonio-Vivaldi" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Antonio Vivaldi</a>. The results of this encounter can be seen in such cantatas as No. 182, 199, and 61 in 1714, 31 and 161 in 1715, and 70 and 147 in 1716. His favourite forms appropriated from the Italians were those based on refrain (<span id="ref358770"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/ritornello" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">ritornello</a>) or <span id="ref358771"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/da-capo-aria" class="md-crosslink ">da capo</a> schemes in which wholesale repetition—literal or with modifications—of entire sections of a piece permitted him to create <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="coherent" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/coherent" data-type="MW">coherent</a> musical forms with much larger dimensions than had hitherto been possible. These newly acquired techniques henceforth governed a host of Bach’s arias and concerto movements, as well as many of his larger fugues (especially the mature ones for organ), and profoundly affected his treatment of chorales.</p><span class="marker MOD14 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD15 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Among other works almost certainly composed at Weimar are most of the <em>Orgelbüchlein</em> (<em>Little Organ Book</em>), all but the last of the so-called 18 “Great” chorale preludes, the earliest organ trios, and most of the organ <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/prelude-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">preludes</a> and <span id="ref358772"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/fugue" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">fugues</a>. The “Great” <em>Prelude and Fugue in G Major</em> for organ (BWV 541) was finally revised about 1715, and the <em>Toccata and Fugue in F Major</em> (BWV 540) may have been played at Weissenfels.</p><span class="marker MOD15 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD16 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">On December 1, 1716, Johann Samuel Drese, musical director at Weimar, died. He was then succeeded by his son, who was rather a nonentity. Bach presumably resented being thus passed over, and in due course he accepted an appointment as musical director to Prince <span id="ref358773"></span>Leopold of Köthen, which was confirmed in August 1717. Duke Wilhelm, however, refused to accept his resignation—partly, perhaps, because of Bach’s friendship with the duke’s nephews, with whom the duke was on the worst of terms. About September a contest between Bach and the famous French organist <span id="ref358774"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-Marchand" class="md-crosslink ">Louis Marchand</a> was arranged at <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Dresden-Germany" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Dresden</a>. The exact circumstances are not known, but Marchand avoided the contest by leaving Dresden a few hours before it should have taken place. By <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="implication" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/implication" data-type="MW">implication</a>, Bach won. Perhaps this emboldened him to renew his request for permission to leave Weimar; at all events he did so but in such terms that the duke imprisoned him for a month (November 6–December 2). A few days after his release, Bach moved to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Kothen" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Köthen</a>, some 30 miles north of Halle.</p><span class="marker MOD16 mod-inline"></span></section> <section data-level="2" id="ref12100"><h2 class="h2">The Köthen period</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD17 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies multiple medialist slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100" data-type="audio"><div class="slider-container js-slider-container overflow-hidden d-flex"><div class="rw-track d-flex align-items-center"><div class="position-relative rw-slide col-100 px-20 px-40 pt-40"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="86194" data-asm-type="audio"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media border-0" data-type="audio"><div class="position-absolute top-10 left-10 assembly-slide-tag rounded-lg">1 of 3</div><audio src="https://cdn.britannica.com/03/92203-005-0C656FBD/Allegro-JS-Bach-Brandenburg-Concerto-BWV-1046-1949.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" controls=""></audio></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/03/92203-005-0C656FBD/Allegro-JS-Bach-Brandenburg-Concerto-BWV-1046-1949.mp3" data-href="/media/1/47843/86194">Bach, J.S.: <em>Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major</em>, BWV 1046</a><span>First movement, “Allegro,” of J.S. Bach's <em>Brandenburg Concerto No. 1 in F Major</em>, BWV 1046; from a 1949 recording by the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra conducted by Karl Münchinger.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div><div class="position-relative rw-slide col-100 px-20 px-40 pt-40"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="86195" data-asm-type="audio"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media border-0" data-type="audio"><div class="position-absolute top-10 left-10 assembly-slide-tag rounded-lg">2 of 3</div><audio src="https://cdn.britannica.com/02/92202-005-F1040EC2/Allegro-assai-JS-Brandenburg-Concerto-No-2-1949.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" controls=""></audio></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/02/92202-005-F1040EC2/Allegro-assai-JS-Brandenburg-Concerto-No-2-1949.mp3" data-href="/media/1/47843/86195">Bach, J.S.: <em>Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major,</em> BWV 1047</a><span>Third movement, “Allegro assai,” of J.S. Bach's <em>Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major</em>, BWV 1047; from a 1949 recording by the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra conducted by Karl Münchinger.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div><div class="position-relative rw-slide col-100 px-20 px-40 pt-40"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="86196" data-asm-type="audio"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media border-0" data-type="audio"><div class="position-absolute top-10 left-10 assembly-slide-tag rounded-lg">3 of 3</div><audio src="https://cdn.britannica.com/01/92201-005-F24B0B73/Allegro-JS-G-Major-Brandenburg-Concerto-Bach.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" controls=""></audio></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/01/92201-005-F24B0B73/Allegro-JS-G-Major-Brandenburg-Concerto-Bach.mp3" data-href="/media/1/47843/86196">J.S. Bach: <em>Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major</em>, BWV 1048</a><span>The third movement, “Allegro,” of J.S. Bach's <em>Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major</em>, BWV 1048; from a recording by the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra conducted by Karl Münchinger.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div></div><button disabled="true" class="prev-button js-prev-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-lg btn-blue-dark m-20"><span class="material-icons" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_left"></span></button><button disabled="true" class="next-button js-next-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-lg btn-blue-dark m-20"><span class="material-icons" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></span></button></div><p class="topic-paragraph">There, as musical director, he was concerned chiefly with chamber and orchestral music. Even though some of the works may have been composed earlier and revised later, it was at Köthen that the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/sonata" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">sonatas</a> for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/violin" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">violin</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/clavier" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">clavier</a> and for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/viola-musical-instrument" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">viola</a> da gamba and clavier and the works for unaccompanied violin and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/cello" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">cello</a> were put into something like their present form. The <span id="ref358775"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Brandenburg-Concertos" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>Brandenburg Concertos</em></a> were finished by March 24, 1721; in the sixth concerto—so it has been suggested—Bach bore in mind the technical limitations of the prince, who played the gamba. Bach played the viola by choice; he liked to be “in the middle of the harmony.” He also wrote a few <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/cantata-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">cantatas</a> for the prince’s birthday and other such occasions; most of these seem to have survived only in later versions, adapted to more generally useful words. And he found time to compile <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="pedagogical" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pedagogical" data-type="MW">pedagogical</a> keyboard works: the <em>Clavierbüchlein</em> for <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wilhelm-Friedemann-Bach" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">W.F. Bach</a> (begun January 22, 1720), some of the <em>French Suites</em>, the <em>Inventions</em> (1720), and the first book (1722) of <em>Das Wohltemperierte Klavier</em> (<span id="ref358776"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Well-Tempered-Clavier-BWV-846-893" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>The Well-Tempered Clavier</em></a>, eventually consisting of two books, each of 24 preludes and fugues in all keys and known as “the Forty-Eight”). This remarkable collection systematically explores both the potentials of a newly established <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/tuning-and-temperament" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">tuning</a> procedure—which, for the first time in the history of keyboard music, made all the keys equally usable—and the possibilities for musical organization afforded by the system of “functional <span id="ref358777"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/tonality" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">tonality</a>,” a kind of musical <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="syntax" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/syntax" data-type="MW">syntax</a> consolidated in the music of the Italian concerto composers of the preceding generation and a system that was to prevail for the next 200 years. At the same time, <em>The Well-Tempered Clavier</em> is a compendium of the most popular forms and styles of the era: <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/dance" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">dance</a> types, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/aria-solo-song" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">arias</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/motet" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">motets</a>, concerti, etc., presented within the unified aspect of a single compositional technique—the rigorously logical and venerable <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/fugue" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">fugue</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD17 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD18 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Maria Barbara Bach died unexpectedly and was buried on July 7, 1720. About November, Bach visited <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Hamburg-Germany" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Hamburg</a>; his wife’s death may have unsettled him and led him to inquire after a vacant post at the Jacobikirche. Nothing came of this, but he played at the Katharinenkirke in the presence of Reinken. After hearing Bach <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="improvise" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/improvise" data-type="EB">improvise</a> variations on a chorale tune, the old man said, “I thought this art was dead; but I see it still lives in you.”</p><span class="marker MOD18 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD19 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">On December 3, 1721, Bach married Anna Magdalena Wilcken, daughter of a trumpeter at Weissenfels. Apart from his first wife’s death, these first four years at Köthen were probably the happiest of Bach’s life. He was on the best terms with the prince, who was genuinely musical; and in 1730 Bach said that he had expected to end his days there. But the prince married on December 11, 1721, and conditions deteriorated. The princess—described by Bach as “an <em>amusa</em>” (that is to say, opposed to the muses)—required so much of her husband’s attention that Bach began to feel neglected. He also had to think of the education of his elder sons, born in 1710 and 1714, and he probably began to think of moving to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Leipzig-Germany" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Leipzig</a> as soon as the cantorate fell vacant with the death of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Kuhnau" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Johann Kuhnau</a> on June 5, 1722. Bach applied in December, but the post—already turned down by Bach’s friend, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georg-Philipp-Telemann" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Georg Philipp Telemann</a>—was offered to another prominent composer of the day, <span id="ref358778"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Christoph-Graupner" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Christoph Graupner</a>, the musical director at Darmstadt. As the latter was not sure that he would be able to accept, Bach gave a trial performance (Cantata No. 22, <em>Jesu nahm zu sich die Zwölfe</em> [<em>Jesus Called unto Him the Twelve</em>]) on February 7, 1723; and, when Graupner <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="withdrew" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/withdrew" data-type="EB">withdrew</a> (April 9), Bach was so deeply committed to Leipzig that, although the princess had died on April 4, he applied for permission to leave Köthen. This he obtained on April 13, and on May 13 he was sworn in at Leipzig.</p><span class="marker MOD19 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD20 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">He was appointed honorary musical director at Köthen, and both he and Anna were employed there from time to time until the prince died, on November 19, 1728.</p><span class="marker MOD20 mod-inline"></span></section> <section data-level="2" id="ref12101"><h2 class="h2">Years at Leipzig</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD21 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="86213" data-asm-type="audio"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media border-0" data-type="audio"><audio src="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/92195-005-0BE1875F/Lasset-uns-den-nicht-Zerteilen-JS-St-1975.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" controls=""></audio></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/95/92195-005-0BE1875F/Lasset-uns-den-nicht-Zerteilen-JS-St-1975.mp3" data-href="/media/1/47843/86213">Bach, J.S.: <em>St. John Passion,</em> BWV 245</a><span>The aria “Lasset uns den nicht Zerteilen” from J.S. Bach's <em>St. John Passion</em>, BWV 245; from a 1975 recording by the London Studio Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Michel Colombier.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">As director of church music for the city of Leipzig, Bach had to supply performers for four churches. At the Peterskirche the choir merely led the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/hymn" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">hymns</a>. At the Neue Kirche, Nikolaikirche, and Thomaskirche, part singing was required; but Bach himself conducted, and his own church music was performed, only at the last two. His first official performance was on May 30, 1723, the first Sunday after <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Feast-of-the-Holy-Trinity" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Trinity Sunday</a>, with Cantata No. 75, <em>Die Elenden sollen essen</em>. New works produced during this year include many cantatas and the <em>Magnificat</em> in its first version. The first half of 1724 saw the production of the <em>St. John Passion</em>, which was subsequently revised. The total number of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/cantata-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">cantatas</a> produced during this <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="ecclesiastical" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ecclesiastical" data-type="MW">ecclesiastical</a> year was about 62, of which about 39 were new works.</p><span class="marker MOD21 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD22 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">On June 11, 1724, the first Sunday after Trinity, Bach began a fresh annual cycle of cantatas, and within the year he wrote 52 of the so-called chorale cantatas, formerly supposed to have been composed over the nine-year period 1735–44. The “Sanctus” of the <em>Mass in B Minor</em> was produced at <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christmas" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Christmas</a>.</p><span class="marker MOD22 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD23 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">During his first two or three years at Leipzig, Bach produced a large number of new cantatas, sometimes, as research has revealed, at the rate of one a week. This phenomenal pace raises the question of Bach’s approach to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="composition" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/composition" data-type="MW">composition</a>. Bach and his contemporaries, subject to the hectic pace of production, had to invent or discover their ideas quickly and could not rely on the unpredictable arrival of “inspiration.” Nor did the musical conventions and techniques or the generally rationalistic outlook of the time necessitate this reliance, as long as the composer was willing to accept them. The <span id="ref358779"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/Baroque-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Baroque</a> composer who submitted to the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="regimen" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/regimen" data-type="MW">regimen</a> inevitably had to be a traditionalist who willingly embraced the conventions.</p><span class="marker MOD23 mod-inline"></span> <section data-level="3" id="ref12102"><h2 class="h3"><span id="ref358780"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/symbolism" class="md-crosslink ">Symbolism</a></h2> <span class="marker PREMOD24 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">A <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="repertoire" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/repertoire" data-type="MW">repertoire</a> of melody types existed, for example, that was generated by an explicit “doctrine of figures” that created musical equivalents for the figures of speech in the art of <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="rhetoric" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rhetoric" data-type="MW">rhetoric</a>. Closely related to these “figures” are such examples of pictorial symbolism in which the composer writes, say, a rising scale to match words that speak of rising from the dead or a descending chromatic scale (depicting a howl of pain) to sorrowful words. Pictorial symbolism of this kind occurs only in connection with words—in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/vocal-music" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">vocal music</a> and in chorale preludes, where the words of the chorale are in the listener’s mind. There is no point in looking for resurrection <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="motifs" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/motifs" data-type="EB">motifs</a> in <em>The Well-Tempered Clavier</em>. Pictorialism, even when not codified into a doctrine, seems to be a fundamental musical instinct and essentially an expressive device. It can, however, become more abstract, as in the case of number symbolism, a phenomenon observed too often in the works of Bach to be dismissed out of hand.</p><span class="marker MOD24 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD25 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph"><span id="ref358781"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/number-symbolism" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Number symbolism</a> is sometimes pictorial; in the <em><span id="ref358782"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/St-Matthew-Passion-BWV-244" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">St. Matthew Passion</a></em> it is reasonable that the question “Lord, is it I?” should be asked 11 times, once by each of the faithful <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="disciples" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disciples" data-type="MW">disciples</a>. But the deliberate search for such symbolism in Bach’s music can be taken too far. Almost any number may be called “symbolic” (3, 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, and 41 are only a few examples); any multiple of such a number is itself symbolic; and the number of sharps in a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/key-signature" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">key signature</a>, notes in a melody, measures in a piece, and so on may all be considered significant. As a result, it is easy to find symbolic numbers anywhere, but ridiculous to suppose that such discoveries invariably have a meaning.</p><span class="marker MOD25 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD26 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Besides the melody types, the Baroque composer also had at his disposal similar <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="stereotypes" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stereotypes" data-type="MW">stereotypes</a> regarding the further elaboration of these themes into complete compositions, so that the arias and choruses of a cantata almost seem to have been spun out “automatically.” One is reminded of Bach’s delightfully innocent remark “I have had to work hard; anyone who works just as hard will get just as far,” with its implication that everything in the “craft” of music is teachable and learnable. The fact that no other composer of the period, with the arguable exception of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Frideric-Handel" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Handel</a>, even remotely approached Bach’s achievement indicates clearly enough that the application of the “mechanical” procedures was not literally “automatic” but was controlled throughout by something else—artistic <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="discrimination" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/discrimination" data-type="MW">discrimination</a>, or <span id="ref358783"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/taste-art" class="md-crosslink ">taste</a>. One of the most respected attributes in the culture of the 18th century, “taste” is an utterly individual <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="compound" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compound" data-type="MW">compound</a> of raw talent, imagination, psychological <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="disposition" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/disposition" data-type="MW">disposition</a>, judgment, skill, and experience. It is unteachable and unlearnable.</p><span class="marker MOD26 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD27 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies multiple medialist slider js-slider position-relative d-inline-flex align-items-center mw-100" data-type="audio"><div class="slider-container js-slider-container overflow-hidden d-flex"><div class="rw-track d-flex align-items-center"><div class="position-relative rw-slide col-100 px-20 px-40 pt-40"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="86214" data-asm-type="audio"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media border-0" data-type="audio"><div class="position-absolute top-10 left-10 assembly-slide-tag rounded-lg">1 of 2</div><audio src="https://cdn.britannica.com/96/92196-005-A30B90F4/mercy-aria-Lord-JS-recording-Kathleen-Ferrier-1946.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" controls=""></audio></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/96/92196-005-A30B90F4/mercy-aria-Lord-JS-recording-Kathleen-Ferrier-1946.mp3" data-href="/media/1/47843/86214">Bach, J.S.: <em>St. Matthew Passion,</em> BWV 244b, “Have mercy, Lord, on me”</a><span>The aria “Have mercy, Lord, on me” from J.S. Bach's <em>St. Matthew Passion</em>, BWV 244b; from a 1946 recording featuring contralto Kathleen Ferrier and the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Malcolm Sargent.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div><div class="position-relative rw-slide col-100 px-20 px-40 pt-40"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="86215" data-asm-type="audio"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media border-0" data-type="audio"><div class="position-absolute top-10 left-10 assembly-slide-tag rounded-lg">2 of 2</div><audio src="https://cdn.britannica.com/97/92197-005-495AC5F0/Mein-Jesu-Nacht-JS-recording-BWV-St-1954.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" controls=""></audio></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/97/92197-005-495AC5F0/Mein-Jesu-Nacht-JS-recording-BWV-St-1954.mp3" data-href="/media/1/47843/86215">Bach, J.S.: <em>St. Matthew Passion,</em> BWV 244b, “Mein Jesu, gute Nacht!”</a><span>The final chorus, “Mein Jesu, gute Nacht!,” from J.S. Bach's <em>St. Matthew Passion</em>, BWV 244b; from a 1954 recording by the Chamber Orchestra and Chorus of the Vienna Academy of Music conducted by Ferdinand Grossmann.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div></div><button disabled="true" class="prev-button js-prev-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-lg btn-blue-dark m-20"><span class="material-icons" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_left"></span></button><button disabled="true" class="next-button js-next-button position-absolute btn btn-circle shadow btn-lg btn-blue-dark m-20"><span class="material-icons" data-icon="keyboard_arrow_right"></span></button></div><p class="topic-paragraph">As a result of his intense activity in cantata production during his first three years in Leipzig, Bach had created a supply of church music to meet his future needs for the regular Sunday and feast day services. After 1726, therefore, he turned his attention to other projects. He did, however, produce the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/St-Matthew-Passion-BWV-244" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>St. Matthew Passion</em></a> in 1729, a work that inaugurated a renewed interest in the mid-1730s for vocal works on a larger scale than the cantata: the now-lost <em>St. Mark Passion</em> (1731), the <em>Christmas Oratorio</em>, BWV 248 (1734), and the <em>Ascension Oratorio</em> (Cantata No. 11, <em>Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen</em>; 1735).</p><span class="marker MOD27 mod-inline"></span></section> <section data-level="3" id="ref12103"><h2 class="h3">Nonmusical duties</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD28 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In addition to his responsibilities as director of church music, Bach also had various nonmusical duties in his <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="capacity" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/capacity" data-type="EB">capacity</a> as the cantor of the school at Thomaskirche. Since he resented these latter obligations, Bach frequently absented himself without leave, playing or examining organs, taking his son Friedemann to hear the “pretty tunes,” as he called them, at the Dresden opera, and fulfilling the duties of the honorary court posts that he contrived to hold all his life. To some extent, no doubt, he accepted engagements because he needed money—he complained in 1730 that his income was less than he had been led to expect (he remarked that there were not enough funerals)—but, obviously, his routine work must have suffered. Friction between Bach and his employers thus developed almost at once. On the one hand, Bach’s initial understanding of the fees and <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="prerogatives" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/prerogatives" data-type="MW">prerogatives</a> <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="accruing" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/accruing" data-type="MW">accruing</a> to his position—particularly regarding his responsibility for musical activities in the University of Leipzig’s Paulinerkirche—differed from that of the town council and the university organist, Johann Gottlieb Görner. On the other hand, Bach remained, in the eyes of his employers, their third (and unenthusiastic) choice for the post, behind Telemann and Graupner. Furthermore, the authorities insisted on admitting unmusical boys to the school, thus making it difficult for Bach to keep his churches supplied with competent singers; they also refused to spend enough money to keep a decent orchestra together.</p><span class="marker MOD28 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD29 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">The resulting ill feeling had become serious by 1730. It was temporarily dispelled by the <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="tact" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/tact" data-type="EB">tact</a> of the new rector, <span id="ref358784"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Matthais-Gesner" class="md-crosslink ">Johann Matthias Gesner</a>, who admired Bach and had known him at Weimar; but Gesner stayed only until 1734 and was succeeded by <span id="ref358785"></span>Johann August Ernesti, a young man with up-to-date ideas on <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/education" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">education</a>, one of which was that <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">music</a> was not one of the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/humanities" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">humanities</a> but a time-wasting sideline. Trouble flared up again in July 1736; it then took the form of a dispute over Bach’s right to appoint prefects and became a public scandal. Fortunately for Bach, he became court composer to the elector of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Saxony-historical-region-duchy-and-kingdom-Europe" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Saxony</a> in November 1736. As such, after some delay, he was able to <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="induce" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/induce" data-type="EB">induce</a> his friends at court to hold an official inquiry, and his dispute with Ernesti was settled in 1738. The exact terms of the settlement are not known, but thereafter Bach did as he liked.</p><span class="marker MOD29 mod-inline"></span></section> <section data-level="3" id="ref12104"><h2 class="h3">Instrumental works</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD30 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In 1726, after he had completed the bulk of his cantata production, Bach began to publish the clavier <em>Partitas</em> singly, with a collected edition in 1731, perhaps with the intention of attracting recognition beyond Leipzig and thus securing a more <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off mw" data-term="amenable" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amenable" data-type="MW">amenable</a> appointment elsewhere. The second part of the <em><span id="ref358786"></span>Clavierübung</em>, containing the <em>Concerto in the Italian Style</em> and the <em>French Overture (Partita) in B Minor</em>, appeared in 1735. The third part, consisting of the <em>Organ Mass</em> with the <em>Prelude and Fugue [“St. Anne”] in E-flat Major</em> (BWV 552), appeared in 1739. From <em>c.</em> 1729 to 1736 Bach was honorary musical director to Weissenfels; and, from 1729 to 1737 and again from 1739 for a year or two, he directed the Leipzig Collegium Musicum. For these concerts, he adapted some of his earlier concerti as <span id="ref358787"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/harpsichord" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">harpsichord</a> concerti, thus becoming one of the first composers—if not the very first—of concerti for keyboard instrument and orchestra, just as he was one of the first to use the harpsichordist’s right hand as a true melodic part in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/chamber-music" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">chamber music</a>. These are just two of several respects in which the basically conservative and traditional Bach was a significant innovator as well.</p><span class="marker MOD30 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD31 mod-inline"></span><div class="assemblies"><div class="w-100"><figure class="md-assembly m-0 mb-md-0 card card-borderless print-false" data-assembly-id="86210" data-asm-type="audio"><div class="md-assembly-wrapper card-media border-0" data-type="audio"><audio src="https://cdn.britannica.com/90/92190-005-DF1A06D2/Aria-JS-Wanda-Landowska-Bach-Goldberg-Variations-1933.mp3" type="audio/mpeg" controls=""></audio></div><figcaption class="card-body"><div class="md-assembly-caption text-muted font-14 font-serif line-clamp"><span><a class="gtm-assembly-link md-assembly-title font-weight-bold d-inline font-sans-serif mr-5 media-overlay-link" href="https://cdn.britannica.com/90/92190-005-DF1A06D2/Aria-JS-Wanda-Landowska-Bach-Goldberg-Variations-1933.mp3" data-href="/media/1/47843/86210">Bach, J.S.: <em>Goldberg Variations</em>, BWV 988</a><span>“Aria” from J.S. Bach's <em>Goldberg Variations</em>, BWV 988; from a 1933 recording by harpsichordist Wanda Landowska.</span><button class="js-more-btn d-none btn btn-unstyled font-12 bg-white js-content" aria-label="Toggle more/less fact data"><span class="link-blue">(more)</span></button></span></div></figcaption></figure></div></div><p class="topic-paragraph">About 1733 Bach began to produce cantatas in honour of the elector of Saxony and his family, evidently with a view to the court appointment he secured in 1736; many of these <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="secular" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/secular" data-type="EB">secular</a> movements were adapted to sacred words and reused in the <em><span id="ref358788"></span>Christmas Oratorio</em>. The “Kyrie” and “Gloria” of the <em><span id="ref358789"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Mass-in-B-Minor" class="md-crosslink ">Mass in B Minor</a></em>, written in 1733, were also dedicated to the elector, but the rest of the <em>Mass</em> was not put together until Bach’s last years. On his visits to Dresden, Bach had won the regard of the Russian envoy, Hermann Karl, Reichsgraf (count) von Keyserlingk, who commissioned the so-called <em>Goldberg Variations</em>; these were published as part four of the <em>Clavierübung</em> in 1741, and Book Two of “the Forty-Eight” seems to have been compiled about the same time. In addition, he wrote a few cantatas, revised some of his Weimar organ works, and published the so-called <em>Schübler Chorale Preludes</em> in or after 1746.</p><span class="marker MOD31 mod-inline"></span></section></section> <section data-level="2" id="ref12105"><h2 class="h2">Last years</h2> <span class="marker PREMOD32 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">In May 1747 he visited his son Emanuel at Potsdam and played before <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Frederick-II-king-of-Prussia" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Frederick II</a> (the Great) of Prussia; in July his improvisations, on a theme proposed by the king, took shape as <em>The Musical Offering</em>. In June 1747 he joined a Society of the Musical Sciences that had been founded by his former pupil Lorenz Christoph Mizler; he presented the canonic variations on the chorale <em>Vom Himmel hoch da komm’ ich her</em> (<em>From Heaven Above to Earth I Come</em>) to the society, in manuscript, and afterward published them.</p><span class="marker MOD32 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD33 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Of Bach’s last illness little is known except that it lasted several months and prevented him from finishing <span id="ref358790"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Art-of-Fugue" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true"><em>The Art of the Fugue</em></a>. His constitution was <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="undermined" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/undermined" data-type="EB">undermined</a> by two unsuccessful eye operations performed by <span id="ref358791"></span>John Taylor, the itinerant English quack who numbered Handel among his other failures; and Bach died on July 28, 1750, at Leipzig. His employers proceeded with relief to appoint a successor; Burgomaster Stieglitz remarked, “The school needs a cantor, not a musical director—though certainly he ought to understand music.” Anna Magdalena was left badly off. For some reason, her stepsons did nothing to help her, and her own sons were too young to do so. She died on February 27, 1760, and was given a pauper’s funeral.</p><span class="marker MOD33 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD34 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Unfinished as it was, <em>The Art of the Fugue</em> was published in 1751. It attracted little attention and was reissued in 1752 with a laudatory preface by <span id="ref358792"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Friedrich-Wilhelm-Marpurg" class="md-crosslink " data-show-preview="true">Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg</a>, a well-known Berlin musician who later became director of the royal lottery. In <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="spite" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/spite" data-type="EB">spite</a> of Marpurg and of some appreciative remarks by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Johann-Mattheson" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">Johann Mattheson</a>, the influential Hamburg critic and composer, only about 30 copies had been sold by 1756, when Emanuel Bach offered the plates for sale. As far as is known, they were sold for scrap.</p><span class="marker MOD34 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD35 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Emanuel Bach and the organist-composer Johann Friedrich Agricola (a pupil of Sebastian’s) wrote an obituary; Mizler added a few closing words and published the result in the journal of his society (1754). There is an English translation of it in <em>The Bach Reader</em>. Though incomplete and inaccurate, the obituary is of very great importance as a firsthand source of information.</p><div class="one-good-fact-module"> </div><span class="marker MOD35 mod-inline"></span> <span class="marker PREMOD36 mod-inline"></span><p class="topic-paragraph">Bach appears to have been a good husband and father. Indeed, he was the father of 20 children, only 10 of whom survived to maturity. There is amusing evidence of a certain thriftiness—a necessary virtue, for he was never more than moderately well off and he delighted in <a class="md-dictionary-link md-dictionary-tt-off eb" data-term="hospitality" href="https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/hospitality" data-type="EB">hospitality</a>. Living as he did at a time when music was beginning to be regarded as no occupation for a gentleman, he occasionally had to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/art/stand-up-comedy" class="md-crosslink autoxref " data-show-preview="true">stand up</a> for his rights both as a man and as a musician; he was then obstinate in the extreme. But no sympathetic employer had any trouble with Bach, and with his professional brethren he was modest and friendly. He was also a good teacher and from his Mühlhausen days onward was never without pupils.</p><span class="marker MOD36 mod-inline"></span></section></section> <span class="marker end-of-content"></span><span class="marker after-article"></span></div> <div id="chatbot-root"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="ai-dialog-placeholder"></div> </div> </div> <aside class="col-md-da-320"></aside> </div> </div> </div> </div> </article></div> </div></div> </div> </main> <div id="md-footer"></div> <noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-5W6NC8" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript> <script type="text/javascript" id="_informizely_script_tag"> var IzWidget = IzWidget || {}; (function (d) { var scriptElement = d.createElement('script'); scriptElement.type = 'text/javascript'; scriptElement.async = true; scriptElement.src = "https://insitez.blob.core.windows.net/site/f780f33e-a610-4ac2-af81-3eb184037547.js"; var node = d.getElementById('_informizely_script_tag'); node.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, node); } )(document); </script>  <script> window.ap3c = window.ap3c || {}; var ap3c = window.ap3c; ap3c.cmd = ap3c.cmd || []; ap3c.cmd.push(function() { ap3c.init('ZO4siT4cLwnykPnzZWJtd3Byb2Q', 'https://engage.email.britannica.com/'); ap3c.track({v: 0}); }); ap3c.activity = function(act) { ap3c.act = (ap3c.act || []); ap3c.act.push(act); }; var s, t; s = document.createElement('script'); s.type = 'text/javascript'; s.src = "https://engage.email.britannica.com/app.js"; t = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; t.parentNode.insertBefore(s, t); </script> <script class="marketing-page-info" type="application/json"> {"pageType":"Topic","templateName":"DESKTOP","pageNumber":1,"pagesTotal":2,"pageId":47843,"pageLength":5024,"initialLoad":true,"lastPageOfScroll":false} </script> <script class="marketing-content-info" type="application/json"> [] </script> <script src="https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/js/libs/jquery-3.5.0.min.js?v=3.130.14"></script> <script type="text/javascript" data-type="Init Mendel Code Splitting"> (function() { $.ajax({ dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: 'https://cdn.britannica.com/mendel-resources/3-130/dist/topic-page.js?v=3.130.14' }); })(); </script> <script class="analytics-metadata" type="application/json"> {"leg":"D","adLeg":"D","userType":"ANONYMOUS","pageType":"Topic","pageSubtype":null,"articleTemplateType":"BIO_PAGINATED","gisted":false,"pageNumber":1,"hasSummarizeButton":false,"hasAskButton":false} </script> <script type="text/javascript"> EBStat={accountId:-1,hostnameOverride:'webstats.eb.com',domain:'www.britannica.com', json:''}; </script> <script type="text/javascript"> ( function() { $.ajax( { dataType: 'script', cache: true, url: '//www.britannica.com/webstats/mendelstats.js?v=1' } ) .done( function() { try {writeStat(null,EBStat);} catch(err){} } ); })(); </script> <div id="bc-fixed-dialogue"></div> </body> </html>

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Johann Sebastian Bach | Biography, Music, Death, & Facts | Britannica