Musician Profile: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 31, 1685 and lived until July 28, 1750. He was regarded as a famous German composer and organist with sacred and secular works for orchestra, choir and solo instruments that brought the Baroque period to its ultimate level of maturity. He did not introduce any new forms, but he did enrich the German style of music using a contrapuntal technique. Johann Sebastian Bach produced many works that were revered for their technical command, their intellectual depth and their artistic beauty. Some of his most known works include -

- The Brandenburg concertos
- The Goldberg Variations
- The English Suites
- French Suites
- Partitas
- Well-Tempered Clavier
- The Mass in B Minor
- The St. Matthew Passion
- The St. John Passion
- The Magnificat
- The Musical Offering
- The Art of Fugue
- The Sonatas and Partitas for violin solo
- The Cello Suites
- More than 200 surviving cantatas
- Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

Watch and Listen to Bach's Partitas:

Johann Sebastian Bach received most of his fame as an organist during his lifetime, but while he was alive he was not particularly well known or well regarded as a composer. He gained his notoriety as a composer after his death because his adherence to Baroque forms of music as well as contrapuntal style were considered old fashioned until later in his career and after his death. In the early 19th century interest in his music and performances of his music were revived, and now he is often regarded as one of the greatest composers in all of Western music tradition.

His health fell into decline around 1749. Planning for his decease, as of June 2 of 1749 his musical director Gottlob Harrer began to audition someone to succeed him. He died on July 28, 1750 at the age of 65, and his death was originally attributed to the unhappy consequences of the very unsuccessful eye operation according to a contemporary newspaper at the time. Some modern historians have instead speculated that a stroke complicated by the onset of pneumonia was the real cause of his death, but the truth is still not known to this day. His estate, upon his death, included numerous musical instruments, including cellos, violas, violins, harpsichords, clevecins, lutes, viola da gambas, lute-harpsichords and spinets.

During his life and musical career, Johann Sebastian Bach composed more than 1,000 different works, most of which are still intensely popular today. His music is common for students learning to play many acoustic instruments including piano, stringed instruments like the viola and violin and numerous other instruments as well. His music is also common among composers and in orchestral selections. Although regarded more for his organist career during his lifetime, Johann Sebastian Bach is now better known for his compositions, as a revival of his music in the early half of the 19th century brought renewed interest to his repertoire of music which spans more than 1,000 different acoustic musical pieces.

Originally posted 2008-12-16 05:02:06. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Blog Traffic Exchange Related Posts
  • itzhakperlmanMusician Profile for Itzhak Perlman Who is Itzhak Perlman? Brief Bio: Itzhak Perlman is a classically trained violin virtuoso, a conductor and the principal owner of the Perlman Music foundation. Itzhak Perlman is easily recognized as one of the greatest violinists of all time, and is known for brilliant playing technique, direct musical interpretation......
  • blog traffic exchangeMusician Profile For Mark O'Connor Mark O' Connor was born and brought up in Seattle, Washington. There, while he was growing up and progressing through his teenage years, he entered into and won several national championships on a number of instruments, including but not limited to the fiddle. From 1983, O'Connor moved to Nashville, having......
  • outdoorHow to Care For Acoustic Instruments Caring for your acoustic instruments is not difficult, but it does take a little bit of know how if you want to do it right. There are many consequences of improperly caring for your instrument, most of which can be easily and effectively avoided simply by keeping some basic things......
  • lefthandedGuide to Left Handed Acoustic Guitars One distinctive as well as important group of guitars is the group of left handed guitars. The left handed acoustic guitar is held with the fret board positioned in the right hand, and the guitar player uses his or her left hand to do the picking. The strings of the......
  • violinmBrief History of Violins The violin is the smallest in size of all the stringed instruments. This compact size also gives the violin the highest pitch of the string family of instruments, with the viola and cello both having a lower tone. Almost any musical style can be played on the violin, from classical......
Blog Traffic Exchange Related Websites
  • blog traffic exchangeThe Legacy of Jaco Pastorius - Joe Sinaguglia For over twenty years now, the planet has been without the presence of Jaco Pastorius, the revolutionary electric bass player of the 70s. He was a member of the group Weather Report and later led his own bands. Sadly, the lifestyle caught up to him in 1987. Despite his death,......
  • blog traffic exchangeNeed to Record a Music Demo? - Learn Ten Pitfalls You Must Avoid When Recording Your Music Demo! Recording a music demo is the most vital step in pursuing a record deal. If you want a record deal, you need to really impress the record label and give them something professional, polished, unique and exciting. Finding the right record producer can be a painstaking process, but it's absolutely......
  • blog traffic exchangeMusic Teachers Resources and Tips: the Power of Motivation There are many reasons, issues and circumstances that can be associated with missed music lessons and classes. Though these incidents have been saddening and frustrating to most dedicated music teachers, such really inevitably happen. There is only one key to resolve this conflict: the Power of MOTIVATION. Consequently, various music......
  • blog traffic exchangeReal Grooves and CLASH45 presents Bunka Vibe @ ageHa on Saturday July 4th L&G, Keen to celebrate Canada-Japan musical relations this Canada Day weekend? Well, Rotation is celebrating its 10th anniversary and getting back to its roots by bringing several of its original Canadian artists into a mini festival of sorts here in Tokyo at Ageha.  If you're keen to check it out,......
  • blog traffic exchangeA little cello story When I was in college, the girl across the hall, played the cello in her room. She was very good, and I enjoyed the sound of the cello immensely. Someone else didn't, and she ended up having to practice in a practice room in the dorm. Then she taught herself......
Online Stores If you liked this article, vote for it on del.icio.us and stumbleupon.



Categories:

Acoustic Musical Instruments, Composer, Musician Profile, Organist, Organs



Tags:

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,


0 comments ↓

There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.

Leave a Comment

Enter your email address:


acoustic bass guitar acoustic guitar acoustic guitars acoustic instrument acoustic instruments acoustic music Acoustic Musical Instruments bass instrument blues music bridge classical guitar different styles electric guitar electric guitars fiddles fingerboard finger board fingers fret board guitar strings how to play the guitar index finger intervals jazz music left hand lips little bit mahogany money mouth piece mouthpiece musical instrument musical instruments musician nylon strings peg pitch playing the violin resonator shape stringed instrument stringed instruments styles of music violins woodwind instrument