Johann Sebastian Bach
In his day, Johann Sebastian Bach was better known as a virtuoso organist than as a composer. His sacred music, organ and choral works, and other instrumental music had an enthusiasm and seeming freedom that concealed immense rigor. Bach's use of counterpoint was brilliant and innovative, and the immense complexities of his compositional style -- which often included religious and numerological symbols that seem to fit perfectly together in a profound puzzle of special codes -- still amaze musicians today. Many consider him the greatest composer of all time.
Bach was born in Eisenach in 1685. He was taught to play the violin and harpsichord by his father, Johann Ambrosius, a court trumpeter in the service of the Duke of Eisenach. Young Johann was not yet ten when his father died, leaving him orphaned. He was taken in by his recently married oldest brother, Johann Christoph, who lived in Ohrdruf. Because of his excellent singing voice, Bach attained a position at the Michaelis monastery at Lüneberg in 1700. His voice changed a short while later, but he stayed on as an instrumentalist. After taking a short-lived post in Weimar in 1703 as a violinist, Bach became organist at the Neue Kirche in Arnstadt (1703-1707). His relationship with the church council was tenuous as the young musician often shirked his responsibilities, preferring to practice the organ. One account describes a four-month leave granted Bach to travel to Lubeck, where he would familiarize himself with the music of Dietrich Buxtehude. He returned to Arnstadt long after he was expected and much to the dismay of the council. He then briefly served at St. Blasius in Mühlhausen as organist, beginning in June 1707, and married his cousin, Maria Barbara Bach, that fall. Bach composed his famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565) and his first cantatas while in Mühlhausen, but quickly outgrew the musical resources of the town. He next took a post for the Duke of Sachsen-Weimar in 1708, serving as court organist and playing in the orchestra, eventually becoming its leader in 1714. He wrote many organ compositions during this period, including his Orgel-Büchlein, and also began writing the preludes and fugues that would become Das wohltemperierte Klavier (The Well-Tempered Klavier). Owing to politics between the Duke and his officials, Bach left Weimar and secured a post in December 1717 as Kapellmeister at Köthen. In 1720, Bach's wife suddenly died, leaving him with four children (three others had died in infancy). A short while later, he met his second wife, soprano Anna Magdalena Wilcke, whom he married in December 1721. She would bear 13 children, though only five would survive childhood. The six Brandenburg Concertos (BWV 1046-51), among many other secular works, date from his Köthen years. Bach became Kantor of the Thomas School in Leipzig in May 1723 (after the post was turned down by Georg Philipp Telemann) and held the position until his death. It was in Leipzig that he composed the bulk of his religious and secular cantatas. Bach eventually became dissatisfied with this post, not only because of its meager financial rewards, but also because of onerous duties and inadequate facilities. Thus he took on other projects, chief among which was the directorship of the city's Collegium Musicum, an ensemble of professional and amateur musicians who gave weekly concerts, in 1729. He also became music director at the Dresden Court in 1736, in the service of Frederick Augustus II; though his duties were vague and apparently few, they allowed him the freedom to compose what he wanted. Bach began making trips to Berlin in the 1740s, not least because his son Carl Philipp Emanuel served as a court musician there. The Goldberg Variations, one of the few pieces by Bach to be published in his lifetime, appeared in 1741. In May 1747, the composer was warmly received by King Frederick II of Prussia, for whom he wrote the gloriously abstruse Musical Offering (BWV 1079). Among Bach's last works was his 1749 Mass in B minor. Besieged by diabetes, he died on July 28, 1750.
© Robert Cummings /TiVo
Ähnliche Künstler
-
Romantic Dinner Classical Music
Klassik - Erschienen bei Paradise Classical am 28.06.2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
J.S. Bach
Klassik - Erschienen bei ClassicalPirosDigital am 07.10.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Classical Music for the Reader: Christmas Edition
Klassik - Erschienen bei Cobra Entertainment LLC am 16.10.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
-
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048
Klassik - Erschienen bei Bomba-Piter am 31.07.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F Major, BWV 1047
Klassik - Erschienen bei Bomba-Piter am 31.07.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mordecai Shehori Plays Johann Sebastian Bach, Vol. 4
Klassik - Erschienen bei Cembal d'amour CD 179 am 25.04.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The History of Bach (100 Famous Songs)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Dream Collection am 02.06.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Master Series Classic - Johann Sebastian Bach - Brandenburische Konzerte Vol. 2
Hamburg Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester
Klassik - Erschienen bei Piros Comercial Digital am 19.03.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Piano Recital
Klassik - Erschienen bei Blue Griffin Recording, Inc. am 15.12.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach - Jolivet - Martinon - Hindemith: Solo Violin Works
Klassik - Erschienen bei VDE-GALLO am 13.11.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Prelude and Fugue in D Major, BWV. 850
Klassik - Erschienen bei Zocotora Records am 03.11.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Grandes Maestros, Obras Clásicas, Vol. 3
Orquesta Lírica de Barcelona, Hugo Alfven, Josef Hassid
Klassik - Erschienen bei Piros Comercial Digital am 30.09.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Johann Sebastian Bach: Invenciones y Sinfonías
Klassik - Erschienen bei AV360 Music am 26.10.1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Johann Sebastian Bach: Conciertos para Clavicémbalo
Klassik - Erschienen bei AV360 Music am 26.11.1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Spine Chilling Bach
Klassik - Erschienen bei OTG ENTERTAINMENT am 10.09.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach's Zombie Takeover
Klassik - Erschienen bei OTG ENTERTAINMENT am 10.09.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Master Composer (Johann Sebastian Bach Classical Masterpieces)
Klassik - Erschienen bei OTG ENTERTAINMENT am 12.03.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
St. John's Passion
Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Budapest Chamber Chorus
Klassik - Erschienen bei Cobra Entertainment LLC am 14.08.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach To Segovia - [The Dave Cash Collection]
Klassik - Erschienen bei The Dave Cash Collection - OMP am 03.07.2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Orchestres et chœur du Conservatoire de Lausanne: Bach, Perrin, Thury, Cserveny, Gaudibert
Orchestres du Conservatoire de Lausanne, Chœur du Conservatoire de Lausanne, Hervé Klopfenstein
Klassik - Erschienen bei VDE-GALLO am 16.02.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo