Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (in German: Johann Sebastian Bach) was a German composer and musician born on March 21, 1685 (March 31 in the Gregorian calendar) in Eisenach in the Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach and who died on July 28, 1750, in Leipzig. He is often nicknamed the “Cantor of Leipzig”.

The most prominent member of a family of musicians, his career unfolded entirely in central Germany, in his native region, initially in the service of small municipalities and politically insignificant princely courts, then for the Leipzig city council, which showed him little regard: thus, he never obtained a position commensurate with the genius that current musicology recognises in him and his importance in the history of Western music, despite the esteem in which some German sovereigns, such as Frederick the Great, held him.

His initial training was provided by his father, Johann Ambrosius Bach. However, due to his father's death, Jean-Sébastien's elder brother, Johann Christoph Bach, continued this apprenticeship, which was also self-taught: Jean-Sébastien, passionate about his art, tirelessly copied and studied the works of his predecessors and contemporaries, developing his compositional science, particularly counterpoint, to a level unknown before him and, since then, never surpassed. Johann Sebastian Bach was a virtuoso on several instruments, the violin and viola, but especially the harpsichord and organ. On these latter two instruments, his exceptional gifts earned the admiration and astonishment of all his listeners; he claimed to play anything at first sight and could improvise a three-voice fugue on the spot. He also had recognised and highly sought-after expertise in instrument making.

At the crossroads of the main European musical traditions (German, French, and Italian), he achieved a highly innovative synthesis for his time. Although he did not create new musical forms, he practised all genres existing in his era, with the exception of opera: in all these fields, his compositions, only about ten of which were printed during his lifetime, show exceptional quality in melodic invention, contrapuntal development, harmonic science, and lyricism.

Bach's music achieved a perfect balance between counterpoint and harmony, before the latter took precedence from the mid-18th century onwards. He was, in particular, the great master of the fugue, the chorale prelude, the sacred cantata, and the suite, which he brought to the highest degree of completion. The primary purpose of his works depended greatly on the positions he held: organ pieces in Arnstadt, Mühlhausen, or Weimar, chamber and orchestral works in Cöthen, and religious works, especially in Leipzig.

Johann Sebastian Bach, from a Lutheran background, was inspired by a deep Christian faith. His contemporaries often considered him an austere musician, too scholarly and less forward-looking [What?] than some of his colleagues. He trained many students and passed on his knowledge to several of his musician sons, for whom he composed a quantity of didactic pieces, yet leaving no writings or treatises. But the end of his life was dedicated to the composition, collection, and fair copying of masterful works or cycles synthesising and concretising his theoretical contribution, constituting a kind of “musical testament”.