biography
| name: |
Bach, Johann Sebastian
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1685–1750)
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| biography:
| Composer, one of the world's greatest musicians, born in Eisenach, C Germany. He was orphaned by the age of 10, and brought up by his elder brother, Johann Christoph Bach (1671–1721), organist at Ohrdruf, who taught him the organ and clavier. He attended school in Lüneburg, before in 1703 becoming organist at Arnstadt. He found his duties as choirmaster irksome, and angered the authorities by his innovative chorale accompaniments. In 1707 he married a cousin, Maria Barbara Bach (1684–1720), and left to become organist at Mühlhausen. In 1708 he transferred to the ducal court at Weimar, and in 1711 became Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, where he wrote mainly instrumental music, including the ‘Brandenburg’ Concertos (1721) and The Well-tempered Clavier (1722). Widowed in 1720, and left with four children, he married in 1721 Anna Magdalena Wilcke (1701–60), and had 13 children by her, of whom six survived. In 1723 he was appointed cantor of the Thomasschule in Leipzig, where his works included perhaps c.300 church cantatas, the St Matthew Passion (1727), and the Mass in B Minor. Almost totally blind, he died in Leipzig. One of his main achievements was his remarkable development of polyphony. Known to his contemporaries mainly as an organist, his genius as a composer was not fully recognized until the following century. |
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