Johann Sebastian Bach

Several terms redirect here. For other uses, seeBach (disambiguation)andJohann Sebastian Bach (disambiguation).

Johann Sebastian Bach(31 March [O.S.21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the lateBaroque period.He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including orchestral music such as theBrandenburg Concertos;solo instrumental works such as thecello suitesandsonatas and partitas for solo violin;keyboard works such as theGoldberg VariationsandThe Well-Tempered Clavier;organ works such as theSchubler Choralesand theToccata and Fugue in D minor;and choral works such as theSt Matthew Passionand theMass in B minor.Since the 19th centuryBach Revival,he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.

Johann Sebastian Bach
1748 portrait of Bach, showing him holding a copy of the six-partcanonBWV 1076
Born	21 March 1685(O.S.) 31 March 1685(1685-03-31)(N.S.) Eisenach
Died	28 July 1750(1750-07-28)(aged 65) Leipzig
Works	List of compositions
Relatives	Bach family
Signature

TheBach familyalready counted several composers when Johann Sebastian was born as the last child of a city musician,Johann Ambrosius,inEisenach.After being orphaned at the age of 10, he lived for five years with his eldest brother,Johann Christoph,after which he continued his musical education inLüneburg.In 1703 he returned toThuringia,working as a musician forProtestantchurches inArnstadtandMühlhausenand, for longer periods, at courts inWeimar,where he expanded hisorganrepertory, andKöthen,where he was mostly engaged withchamber music.In 1723, he was hired asThomaskantor(cantoratSt Thomas's) inLeipzig.There, he composed music for the principalLutheranchurches of the city and its university's student ensembleCollegium Musicum.In 1726,he began publishinghiskeyboardand organ music. In Leipzig, as had happened during some of his earlier positions, he had difficult relations with his employer. This situation was somewhat remedied when his sovereign,Augustus III of Poland,granted him the title of court composer in 1736. In the last decades of his life, Bach reworked and extended many of his earlier compositions. He died of complications after a botched eye surgery in 1750 at the age of 65.

Bach enriched established German styles through his mastery ofcounterpoint,harmonicandmotivicorganisation,and his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France.His compositionsincludehundreds of cantatas,bothsacredandsecular.Hecomposed Latin church music,Passions,oratorios,andmotets.He often adoptedLutheran hymns,not only in his larger vocal works but, for instance, also inhis four-part choralesandhis sacred songs.Bach wrote extensivelyfor organandfor other keyboard instruments.Hecomposed concertos,for instancefor violinandfor harpsichord,andsuites,as chamber musicas well asfor orchestra.Many of his works employcontrapuntal techniques likecanonandfugue.

In the 18th century, Bach was primarily valued as anorganist,while his keyboard music, such asThe Well-Tempered Clavier,was appreciated for its didactic qualities. The 19th century saw the publication of some significantBach biographies,and by the end of that century, all of his known music had been printed. Dissemination of scholarship on the composer continued through periodicals (and later also websites) exclusively devoted to him and other publications such as theBach-Werke-Verzeichnis(BWV, a numbered catalogue of his works) and new critical editions of his compositions. His music was further popularised through a multitudeof arrangements,including theAir on the G Stringand "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring",and of recordings, such as three different box sets with complete performances of his oeuvre marking the 250th anniversary of his death.

Life

Childhood (1685–1703)

Johann Ambrosius Bach,1685, Bach's father. Painting attributed toJohann David Herlicius

Further information:Bach family

Johann Sebastian Bachwas born inEisenach,the capital of theduchy of Saxe-Eisenach,in present-day Germany, on 21 March 1685O.S.(31 March 1685N.S.). He was the eighth and youngest child ofJohann Ambrosius Bach,the director of the town musicians, andMaria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt.His father likely taught himviolinand basicmusic theory.His uncles were all professional musicians who worked as church organists, court chamber musicians, and composers.One uncle,Johann Christoph Bach,introduced him to theorgan,and an older second cousin,Johann Ludwig Bach,was a well-known composer and violinist.

Bach's mother died in 1694, and his father died eight months later.The 10-year-old Bach moved in with his eldest brother,Johann Christoph Bach,the organist atSt. Michael's ChurchinOhrdruf,Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.There he studied, performed, and copied music, including his brother's, despite being forbidden to do so because scores were so valuable and private and blank ledger paper was costly.He received valuable teaching from his brother, who instructed him on theclavichord.Johann Christoph exposed him to the works of great composers of the day, including South Germans such asJohann Caspar Kerll,Johann Jakob Froberger,andJohann Pachelbel(under whom Johann Christoph had studied); North Germans;Frenchmen such asJean-Baptiste Lully,Louis Marchand,andMarin Marais;and the ItalianGirolamo Frescobaldi.He learnedtheology,LatinandGreekat the localgymnasium.

By 3 April 1700, Bach and his school friend Georg Erdmann—who was two years older than Bach—studied atSt. Michael's School inLüneburg,some two weeks' travel north of Ohrdruf.Their journey was probably undertaken mostly on foot.His two years there were critical in exposing Bach to a broader range of European culture. In addition to singing in the choir, he played the school's three-manual organ andharpsichords.He also came into contact with sons of aristocrats from northern Germany who had been sent to the nearbyRitter-Academieto prepare for careers in other disciplines.

Weimar, Arnstadt, and Mühlhausen (1703–1708)

TheWenderorgan Bach played in Arnstadt

In January 1703, shortly after graduating from St. Michael's and being turned down for the post of organist atSangerhausen,Bach was appointed court musician in the chapel of DukeJohann Ernst IIIinWeimar.His role there is unclear, but it probably included menial, non-musical duties. During his seven-month tenure at Weimar, his reputation as a keyboardist spread so widely that he was invited to inspect the new organ and give the inaugural recital at the New Church (nowBach Church) inArnstadt,about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southwest of Weimar.On 14 August 1703, he became the organist at the New Church,with light duties, a relatively generous salary, and a new organ tuned in a temperament that allowed music written in a wider range of keys to be played.

Despite strong family connections and a musically enthusiastic employer, tension built up between Bach and the authorities after several years in the post. Bach felt discontented by the calibre of musicians he was collaborating with. He called one of them, Geyersbach, a "Zippel Fagottist" (weeniebassoonist). Late one evening, Geyersbach went after Bach with a stick. Bach filed a complaint against Geyersbach with the authorities. They acquitted Geyersbach with a minor reprimand and ordered Bach to be more moderate about the musical qualities he expected from his students. Some months later, Bach upset his employer with a prolonged absence from Arnstadt: after obtaining leave for four weeks, he was absent for around four months in 1705–1706 to take lessons from the organist and composerJohann Adam Reinckenand to hear him andDieterich Buxtehudeplay in the northern city ofLübeck.The visit to Buxtehude and Reincken involved a 450-kilometre (280 mi) journey each way, reportedly on foot.Buxtehude probably introduced Bach to his friend Reincken so that he could learn from his compositional technique (especially his mastery offugue), his organ playing and his skills with improvisation. Bach knew Reincken's music very well; he copied Reincken's monumentalAn Wasserflüssen Babylonwhen he was 15 years old. Bach later wrote several other works on the same theme. When Bach revisited Reincken in 1720 and showed him his improvisatory skills on the organ, Reincken reportedly remarked: "I thought that this art was dead, but I see that it lives in you."

In 1706, Bach applied for a post as organist at theBlasius ChurchinMühlhausen.As part of his application, he had acantataperformed on Easter, 24 April 1707, likely an early version of hisChrist lag in Todes Banden.Bach's application was accepted a month later, and he took up the post in July.The position included significantly higher remuneration, improved conditions, and a better choir. Four months after arriving at Mühlhausen, Bach marriedMaria Barbara Bach,his second cousin. Bach convinced the church and town government at Mühlhausen to fund an expensive renovation of the organ at the Blasius Church. In 1708, Bach wroteGott ist mein König,a festivecantata for the inauguration of the new council,which was published at the council's expense.

Return to Weimar (1708–1717)

Further information:Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! BWV 172 § Background

Organ of theSt. Paul's Church in Leipzig,tested by Bach in 1717

Bach left Mühlhausen in 1708, returning to Weimar this time as organist and from 1714Konzertmeister(director of music) at the ducal court, where he could work with a large, well-funded contingent of professional musicians.Bach and his wife moved into a house near the ducal palace.Later that year, their first child, Catharina Dorothea, was born, and Maria Barbara's elder, unmarried sister joined them. She remained to help run the household until she died in 1729. Three sons were also born in Weimar:Wilhelm Friedemann,Carl Philipp Emanuel,andJohann Gottfried Bernhard.Johann Sebastian and Maria Barbara had three more children—twins born in 1713 and a single birth; none survived past their first birthday.

Bach's time in Weimar began a sustained period of composing keyboard and orchestral works. He attained the proficiency and confidence to extend the prevailing structures and include influences from abroad. He learned to write dramatic openings and employ the dynamic rhythms and harmonic schemes found in the music of Italians such asVivaldi,Corelli,andTorelli.Bach absorbed these stylistic aspects to a certain extent by transcribing Vivaldi's string and wind concertos for harpsichord and organ; many of these transcribed works are still regularly performed. Bach was particularly attracted to the Italian style, in which one or more solo instruments alternate section-by-section with the full orchestra throughout amovement.

In Weimar, Bach continued to play and compose for the organ and perform concert music with the duke's ensemble.He also began to write thepreludesandfuguesthat were later assembled into his monumental workThe Well-Tempered Clavier( "clavier" meaning clavichord or harpsichord),consisting of two books,each containing 24 preludes and fugues in everymajorandminorkey. In Weimar Bach also started work on theLittle Organ Book,containing traditionalLutheran choraletunes set in complex textures. In 1713, Bach was offered a post inHallewhen he advised the authorities during a renovation by Christoph Cuntzius of the main organ in the west gallery of theMarket Church of Our Dear Lady.

In the spring of 1714, Bach was promoted toKonzertmeister,an honour that entailed performing a church cantata monthly in the castle church.The first three cantatas in the new series Bach composed in Weimar wereHimmelskönig, sei willkommen,BWV 182,forPalm Sunday,which coincided with theAnnunciationthat year;Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen,BWV 12,forJubilate Sunday;andErschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!BWV 172forPentecost.Bach's first Christmas cantata,Christen, ätzet diesen Tag,BWV 63,premiered in 1714 or 1715.

In 1717, Bach fell out of favour in Weimar and, according to a translation of the court secretary's report, was jailed for almost a month before being unfavorably dismissed: "On November 6, [1717,] the quondam [former] concertmaster and organist Bach was confined to the County Judge's place of detention for too stubbornly forcing the issue of his dismissal and finally on December 2 was freed from arrest with notice of his unfavorable discharge."

Köthen (1717–1723)

Bach's autograph of the first movement of thefirst sonata for solo violin, BWV 1001

Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen,hired Bach to serve as hisKapellmeister(director of music) in 1717. Himself a musician, Leopold appreciated Bach's talents, paid him well, and gave him considerable latitude in composing and performing. Leopold was aCalvinistand did not use elaborate music in his worship; accordingly, most of Bach's work from this period is secular,including theorchestral suites,cello suites,sonatas and partitas for solo violin,and theBrandenburg Concertos.Bach also composed secular cantatas for the court, such asDie Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht,BWV 134a.

Despite being born in the same year and only about 130 kilometres (80 mi) apart, Bach andHandelnever met. In 1719, Bach made the 35-kilometre (22 mi) journey fromKöthentoHallewith the intention to meet Handel, but Handel had left town.In 1730, Bach's oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, travelled to Halle to invite Handel to visit the Bach family in Leipzig, but the visit did not take place.

On 7 July 1720, while Bach was away inCarlsbadwith Leopold, his wife,Maria Barbara Bach,suddenly died.The next year, he metAnna Magdalena Wilcke,a young, gifted soprano 16 years his junior, who performed at the court in Köthen; they married on 3 December 1721.Together they had 13 children, six of whom survived into adulthood:Gottfried Heinrich;Elisabeth Juliane Friederica (1726–1781);Johann Christoph FriedrichandJohann Christian,who both, especially Johann Christian, became significant musicians; Johanna Carolina (1737–1781); and Regina Susanna (1742–1809).

Leipzig (1723–1750)

In 1723, Bach was appointedThomaskantordirector of church music in Leipzig. He had to direct theSt. Thomas Schooland provide four churches with music, theSt. Thomas Church,theSt. Nicholas Church,and to a lesser extent, theNew ChurchandSt. Peter's Church.This was "the leading cantorate in Protestant Germany",located in the mercantile city in theElectorate of Saxony,which he held for 27 years, until his death. During that time he gained further prestige through honorary appointments at the courts of Köthen and Weissenfels, as well as that of the ElectorFrederick Augustus(who was alsoKing of Poland) inDresden.Bach frequently disagreed with his employer, Leipzig's city council, which he regarded as "penny-pinching".

Appointment in Leipzig

St. Thomas ChurchandSchool,Leipzigin 1723

Johann Kuhnauhad been Thomaskantor in Leipzig from 1701 until his death on 5 June 1722. Bach had visited Leipzig during Kuhnau's tenure: in 1714, he attended the service at the St. Thomas Church on the first Sunday of Advent,and in 1717 he had tested the organ of theSt. Paul's Church.In 1716, Bach and Kuhnau met on the occasion of the testing and inauguration of an organ in Halle.

The position was offered to Bach only after it had been offered toGeorg Philipp Telemannand then toChristoph Graupner,both of whom chose to stay where they were—Telemann in Hamburg and Graupner in Darmstadt—after using the Leipzig offer to negotiate better terms of employment.

Bach was required to instruct theThomasschulestudents in singing and provide church music for the main churches in Leipzig. He was also assigned to teachLatinbut was allowed to employ four "prefects" (deputies) to do this instead. The prefects also aided with musical instruction.A cantata was required for the church services on Sundays and additional church holidays during theliturgical year.

Cantata cycle years (1723–1729)

Bach usually led performances of hiscantatas,most composed within three years of his relocation to Leipzig. He assumed the office of Thomaskantor on 30 May 1723, presenting the first new cantata,Die Elenden sollen essen,BWV 75,in the St. Nicholas Church on the first Sunday afterTrinity.Bach collected his cantatas in annual cycles. Five are mentioned in obituaries, and three are extant.Of the more than 300 cantatas he composed in Leipzig, over 100 have been lost to posterity.Most of these works expound on the Gospel readings prescribed for every Sunday and feast day in the Lutheran year. Bach started a second annual cycle on the first Sunday after the Trinity of 1724 and composed onlychorale cantatas,each based on a single church hymn. These includeO Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort,BWV 20,Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme,BWV 140,Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,BWV 62,andWie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern,BWV 1.

Bach drew the soprano and alto choristers from the school and the tenors and basses from the school and elsewhere in Leipzig. Performing at weddings and funerals provided extra income for these groups; probably for this purpose, and for in-school training, he wrote at least sixmotets.As part of his regular church work, he performed other composers' motets, which served as formal models for his own.

Bach's predecessor as cantor, Johann Kuhnau, had also been music director for the St. Paul's Church, the church ofLeipzig University.But when Bach was installed as cantor in 1723, he was put in charge only of music for festal (church holiday) services at St. Paul's Church; his petition to also provide music for regular Sunday services there (for a corresponding salary increase) went all the way to the Elector but was denied. In 1725, Bach "lost interest" in working even for festal services at St. Paul's Church and decided to appear there only on "special occasions".The St. Paul's Church had a much better and newer (1716) organ than the St. Thomas Church or the St. Nicholas Church.Bach was not required to play any organ in his official duties, but it is believed he liked to play on the St. Paul's Church organ for his own pleasure.

Café Zimmermann,c. 1720

Bach broadened his composing and performing beyond the liturgy by taking over, in March 1729, the directorship of theCollegium Musicum,a secular performance ensemble Telemann started. This was one of the dozens of private societies in the major German-speaking cities established by musically active university students; they had become increasingly important in public musical life and were typically led by the most prominent professionals in a city. In the words ofChristoph Wolff,assuming the directorship was a shrewd move that "consolidated Bach's firm grip on Leipzig's principal musical institutions".Every week, theCollegium Musicumgave two-hour performances, in winter at theCafé Zimmermann,a coffeehouse on Catherine Street off the main market square, and in summer in the proprietor's outdoor coffee garden just outside the town walls, near the East Gate. The concerts, all free of charge, ended with Gottfried Zimmermann's death in 1741. Apart from showcasing his earlier orchestral repertoire, such as theBrandenburg Concertosand orchestral suites, many of Bach's newly composed or reworked pieces were performed for these venues, including parts of hisClavier-Übung(Keyboard Practice), his violin andkeyboard concertos,and theCoffee Cantata.

Middle years of the Leipzig period (1730–1739)

Bach's seal (centre), used throughout his Leipzig years. It contains the superimposed lettersJ S Bin a mirror image topped with a crown. The flanking letters illustrate the arrangement on the seal.

In 1733, Bach composed aKyrie–Gloria Mass in B minorthat he later incorporated in his Mass in B minor. He presented the manuscript to the Elector in a successful bid to persuade the prince to give him the title of Court Composer.He later extended this work into a full mass by adding aCredo,Sanctus,andAgnus Dei,the music for which was partly based on his own cantatas and partly original. Bach's appointment as Court Composer was an element of his long-term struggle to achieve greater bargaining power with the Leipzig council. Between 1737 and 1739, Bach's former pupilCarl Gotthelf Gerlachheld the directorship of the Collegium Musicum.

In 1735, Bach started preparing his first organ music publication, which was printed as thethirdClavier-Übungin 1739.From around that year he started to compile and compose the set of preludes and fugues for harpsichord that became the second book ofThe Well-Tempered Clavier.He received the title of "Royal Court Composer" fromAugustus IIIin 1736.

Final years and death (1740–1750)

From 1740 to 1748 Bach copied, transcribed, expanded or programmed music in an olderpolyphonicstyle (stile antico) by, among others,Palestrina(BNB I/P/2),Kerll(BWV 241),Torri(BWV Anh. 30),Bassani(BWV 1081),Gasparini(Missa Canonica),andCaldara(BWV 1082).Bach's style shifted in the last decade of his life, showing an increased integration of polyphonic structures and canons and other elements of thestile antico.His fourth and lastClavier-Übungvolume, theGoldberg Variationsfor two-manual harpsichord, contained nine canons and was published in 1741.During this period, Bach also continued to adapt music of contemporaries such asHandel(BNB I/K/2)andStölzel(BWV 200),and gave many of his own earlier compositions, such as theSt MatthewandSt JohnPassions and theGreat Eighteen Chorale Preludes,their final revisions. He also programmed and adapted music by composers of a younger generation, includingPergolesi(BWV 1083),and his own students, such asGoldberg(BNB I/G/2).

In 1746 Bach was preparing to enterLorenz Christoph Mizler'sSociety of Musical Sciences.To be admitted, he had to submit a composition. He chose hisCanonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her",and a portrait painted byElias Gottlob Haussmannthat featured Bach'sCanon triplex á 6 Voc.In May 1747, Bach visited the court of KingFrederick II of PrussiainPotsdam.The king played a theme for Bach and challenged him to improvise a fugue based on it. Bach obliged, playing a three-part fugue on one of Frederick'sfortepianos,a new type of instrument at the time. Upon his return to Leipzig he composed a set of fugues and canons and a trio sonata based on theThema Regium( "king's theme" ). Within a few weeks this music was published asThe Musical Offeringand dedicated to Frederick. TheSchübler Chorales,a set of six chorale preludes transcribed from cantata movements Bach had written two decades earlier, were published within a year.Around the same time, the set of five canonic variations Bach had submitted when entering Mizler's society in 1747 were also printed.

Two large-scale compositions occupied a central place in Bach's last years. Beginning around 1742, he wrote and revised the various canons and fugues ofThe Art of Fugue,which he continued to prepare for publication until shortly before his death.After extracting a cantata,BWV 191from his1733 Kyrie-Gloria Mass for the Dresden courtin the mid-1740s, Bach expanded thatsettinginto hisMass in B minorin the last years of his life. The complete mass was not performed during his lifetime. It is considered among the greatest choral works in history.

In January 1749, Bach's daughter Elisabeth Juliane Friederica married his pupilJohann Christoph Altnickol.Bach's health was declining. On 2 June,Heinrich von Brühlwrote to one of the Leipzigburgomastersto request that his music director,Gottlob Harrer,fill theThomaskantorandDirector musicesposts "upon the eventual... decease of Mr. Bach".Becoming blind, Bach underwent eye surgery in March 1750 and again in April by the British eye surgeonJohn Taylor,a man widely understood today as a charlatan and believed to have blinded hundreds of people.Bach died on 28 July 1750 from complications due to the unsuccessful treatment.

An inventory drawn up a few months after Bach's death shows that his estate included fiveharpsichords,twolute-harpsichords,threeviolins,threeviolas,twocellos,aviola da gamba,alute,aspinet,and 52 "sacred books", including works byMartin LutherandJosephus.C.P.E. Bach saw to it thatThe Art of Fugue,though unfinished, was published in 1751.Together with one of J.S. Bach's former students,Johann Friedrich Agricola,C.P.E. Bach also wrote the obituary ( "Nekrolog"), which was published in Mizler'sMusikalische Bibliothek,a periodical journal produced by the Society of Musical Sciences, in 1754.

Musical style

A handwritten note by Bach in his copy of theCalov Bible.The note next to2 Chronicles 5:13reads: "NB Bey einer andächtigen Musiq ist allezeit Gott mit seiner Gnaden Gegenwart" (N(ota) B(ene)In a music of worship God is always present with his grace).

See also:List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach

From an early age, Bach studied the works of his musical contemporaries of the Baroque period and those of earlier generations, and those influences are reflected in his music.Like his contemporaries Handel, Telemann, and Vivaldi, Bach composed concertos, suites, recitatives,da capo arias,and four-part choral music, and employedbasso continuo.His music is harmonically more innovative than his peers', employing surprisinglydissonantchords and progressions, often extensively exploring harmonic possibilities within one piece.

Bach's hundreds of sacred works are usually seen as manifesting not just his craft but also a deep faith in God.He had taughtLuther's Small Catechismas theThomaskantorin Leipzig, and some of his pieces represent it.TheLutheran choralewas the basis of much of his work. In elaborating these hymns into his chorale preludes, he wrote more cogent and tightly integrated works than most, even when they were massive and lengthy.The large-scale structure of every major Bach sacred vocal work is evidence of subtle, elaborate planning to create religiously and musically powerful expression. For example, theSt Matthew Passion,like other works of its kind, illustrated thePassionwith Bible text reflected in recitatives, arias, choruses, and chorales, but in crafting this work, Bach created an overall experience that has been found over the intervening centuries to be both musically thrilling and spiritually profound.

Bach published or carefully compiled in manuscript many collections of pieces that explored the range of artistic and technical possibilities inherent in almost every genre of his time exceptopera.For example,The Well-Tempered Claviercomprises two books, each of which presents a prelude and fugue in every major and minor key, displaying a dizzying variety of structural, contrapuntal and fugal techniques.

Four-part harmony

"O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden":the four-part chorale setting as included in theSt. Matthew Passion

Four-part harmonypredates Bach, but he lived during a time whenmodal musicin Western tradition was largely supplanted by thetonal system.In this system a piece of music progresses from onechordto the next according to certain rules, with each chord characterised by four notes. The principles of four-part harmony are found not only in Bach's four-part choral music; he also prescribes it for instance infigured bassaccompaniment.The new system was at the core of Bach's style, and his compositions are to a large extent considered to have laid down the rules for the evolving scheme that dominated musical expression in the next centuries. Some examples of this characteristic of Bach's style and its influence:

• When in the 1740s Bach stagedhis arrangementofPergolesi'sStabat Mater,he upgraded the viola part (which in the original composition plays in unison with the bass part) to fill in the harmony, thus adapting the composition to four-part harmony.
• When, starting in the 19th century in Russia, there was a discussion about the authenticity of four-part court chant settings compared to earlier Russian traditions,Bach's four-part chorale settings,such as those ending hisChorale cantatas,were considered foreign-influenced models, but such influence was deemed unavoidable.

Bach's insistence on the tonal system and contribution to shaping it did not imply he was less at ease with the older modal system and the genres associated with it: more than his contemporaries (who had "moved on" to the tonal system without much exception), Bach often returned to the then-antiquated modes and genres. HisChromatic Fantasia and Fugue,emulating thechromatic fantasiagenre used by earlier composers such asDowlandandSweelinckin Ddorian mode(comparable toD minorin the tonal system), is an example.

Modulation

Modulation,or changingkeyin the course of a piece, is another style characteristic where Bach goes beyond the norm in his time. Baroque instruments vastly limited modulation possibilities: keyboard instruments, before a workable system oftemperament,limited the keys that could be modulated to, and wind instruments, especially brass instruments such astrumpetsandhorns,about a century before they were fitted with valves, were tied to the key of their tuning. Bach pushed the limits: he added "strange tones" in his organ playing, confusing the singers, according to an indictment he had to face in Arnstadt,andLouis Marchand,another early experimenter with modulation, seems to have avoided confrontation with Bach because the latter went further than anyone had done before.In the "Suscepit Israel" of his 1723Magnificat,he had the trumpets in E-flat play a melody in theenharmonicscale of C minor.

The major development in Bach's time to which he contributed in no small way was a temperament for keyboard instruments that allowed their use in every key (12 major and 12 minor) and also modulation without retuning. HisCapriccio on the departure of a beloved brother,a very early work, showed a gusto for modulation unlike any contemporary work it has been compared to,but the full expansion came with theWell-Tempered Clavier,using all keys, which Bach apparently had been developing since around 1720, theKlavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bachbeing one of its earliest examples.

Ornamentation

Bach's guide onornamentsas contained in theKlavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach

Aria of theGoldberg Variations,showing Bach's use of ornaments

The second page of theKlavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bachis anornamentnotation and performance guide that Bach wrote for his eldest son when he was nine years old. Bach was generally quite specific on ornamentation in his compositions (in his time, much ornamentation was not written out by composers but rather considered a liberty of the performer),and his ornamentation was often quite elaborate. For instance, the "Aria" of theGoldberg Variationshas rich ornamentation in nearly every measure. Bach's approach to ornamentation can also be seen in a keyboard arrangement he made ofMarcello'sOboe Concerto:he added explicit ornamentation, which centuries later is still played.

Although Bach wrote no operas, he was not averse to the genre or its ornamented vocal style. In church music, Italian composers had imitated the operatic vocal style in genres such as theNeapolitan mass.In Protestant surroundings, there was more reluctance to adopt such a style for liturgical music. Kuhnau had notoriously shunned opera and Italian virtuoso vocal music.Bach was less moved. After a performance of hisSt Matthew Passion,someone said it all sounded much like opera.

Continuo instruments solos

In concerted playing in Bach's time, the basso continuo, consisting of instruments such as organ,viola da gamba,or harpsichord, usually had the role of accompaniment, providing a piece's harmonic and rhythmic foundation. Beginning in the 1720s, Bach had the organ playconcertante(i.e., as a soloist) with the orchestra in instrumental cantata movements,a decade before Handel published his first organ concertos.Apart from the5thBrandenburg Concertoand theTriple Concerto,which already had harpsichord soloists in the 1720s, Bach wrote and arranged his harpsichord concertos in the 1730s,and in his sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord neither instrument plays a continuo part: they are treated as equal soloists, far beyond the figured bass. In this way, Bach played a key role in the development of genres such as the keyboard concerto.

Instrumentation

Bach wrote virtuoso music for specific instruments as well as music independent of instrumentation. For instance, thesonatas and partitas for solo violinare considered the pinnacle of what has been written for violin, within reach of only accomplished players. The music fits the instrument, using the full gamut of its possibilities and requiring virtuosity but withoutbravura.Notwithstanding that the music and the instrument seem inseparable, Bach transcribed some pieces in this collection for other instruments. Similarly, the virtuosocello suitesseem tailored to the instrument, the best of what is offered for it, but Bach arranged one of the suites for lute. The same applies to much of his most virtuoso keyboard music. Bach exploited an instrument's capacities to the fullest while keeping the core of the music independent of the instrument on which it is performed.

In this sense, it is no surprise that Bach's music is easily and often performed on instruments it was not written for, that it istranscribedso often, and that his melodies turn up in unexpected places, such as jazz music. Apart from this, Bach left several compositions without specified instrumentation: the canonsBWV 1072–1078are in that category, as is the bulk of theMusical Offeringand theArt of Fugue.

Counterpoint

See also:List of fugal works by Johann Sebastian Bach

Another characteristic of Bach's style is his extensive use ofcounterpoint,as opposed to thehomophonyused in his four-part chorale settings, for example. Bach's canons, and especially his fugues, are the most characteristic of this style, which he did not invent but contributed to so fundamentally that to a large extent he defined it. Fugues are as characteristic of Bach's style as, for instance,sonata formis of the composers of theClassical period.

These strictly contrapuntal compositions, and most of Bach's music in general, are characterised by distinct melodic lines for each voice, where the chords formed by the notes sounding at a given point follow the rules of four-part harmony.Johann Nikolaus Forkel,Bach's first biographer, gives this description of this feature of Bach's music, which sets it apart from most other music:

If the language of music is merely the utterance of a melodic line, a simple sequence of musical notes, it can justly be accused of poverty. The addition of a Bass puts it upon a harmonic foundation and clarifies it but defines rather than gives it added richness. A melody so accompanied—even though all the notes are not those of the true Bass—or treated with simple embellishments in the upper parts or with simple chords used to be called "homophony". But it is a very different thing when two melodies are so interwoven that they converse together like two persons upon a footing of pleasant equality. In the first case, the accompaniment is subordinate and serves merely to support the first or principal part. In the second case, the two parts are not similarly related. New melodic combinations spring from their interweaving, out of which new forms of musical expression emerge. Suppose more parts are interwoven in the same free and independent manner. In that case, the apparatus of language is correspondingly enlarged and becomes practically inexhaustible if, in addition, varieties of form and rhythm are introduced. Hence, harmony becomes no longer a mere accompaniment of melody but rather a potent agency for augmenting the richness and expressiveness of musical conversation. To serve that end, a simple accompaniment will not suffice. True harmony is the interweaving of several melodies, which emerge now in the upper, now in the middle, and now in the lower parts.

From 1720, when he was thirty-five until he died in 1750, Bach's harmony consists of this melodic interweaving of independent melodies, so perfect in their union that each part seems to constitute the true melody. Herein, Bach excels all the composers in the world. At least, I have found no one to equal him in music known to me. Even in his four-part writing, we can, not infrequently, leave out the upper and lower parts and still find the middle parts harmonious and agreeable.

Structure and lyrics

Bach devoted more attention than his contemporaries to his compositions' structure. This can be seen in minor adjustments he made when adapting someone else's work, such as his earliest version of the"Keiser"St Mark Passion,where he enhances scene transitions,and in the architecture of his own work, such ashis MagnificatandLeipzigPassions.In his last years, Bach revised several of his compositions. Often, recasting such previously composed music in an enhanced structure was the most salient change, as in theMass in B minor.Bach's known preoccupation with structure led (peaking around the 1970s) to various numerological analyses of his compositions, although many of these were later rejected, especially those that wandered into symbolism-ridden hermeneutics.

Thelibrettos,or lyrics, of his vocal compositions played an essential role for Bach. He sought collaboration with various text authors for his cantatas and major vocal compositions, possibly writing or adapting such texts himself to make them fit the structure of the composition when he could not rely on the talents of other text authors. His collaboration withPicanderfor theSt Matthew Passionlibretto is best known, but there was a similar process in achieving a multi-layered structure for hisSt John Passionlibretto a few years earlier.

Compositions

See also:List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach

In 1950,Wolfgang Schmiederpublished athematic catalogueof Bach's compositions called theBach-Werke-Verzeichnis(Bach Works Catalogue).Schmieder largely followed theBach-Gesellschaft-Ausgabe,a comprehensive edition of the composer's works that was produced between 1850 and 1900. The first edition of the catalogue listed 1,080 surviving compositions indisputably composed by Bach.

OriginalBach-Werke-Verzeichnis(Bach Works Catalogue)

BWV Range	Compositions
BWV 1–224	Cantatas
BWV 225–231	Motets
BWV 232–243	Liturgical compositions in Latin
BWV 244–249	Passions and oratorios
BWV 250–438	Four-part chorales
BWV 439–524	Small vocal works
BWV 525–771	Organ compositions
BWV 772–994	Other keyboard works
BWV 995–1000	Lute compositions
BWV 1001–1040	Other chamber music
BWV 1041–1071	Orchestral music
BWV 1072–1078	Canons
BWV 1079–1080	Late contrapuntal works

BWV 1081–1126were added to the catalogue in the second half of the 20th century, andBWV 1127 and higherare 21st-century additions.

Passions and oratorios

Bach's autograph of the recitative with the gospel text of Christ's death fromSt Matthew Passion(Matthew 27:45–47a)

See also:List of masses, passions and oratorios by Johann Sebastian Bach § Passions and oratorios

Bach composedPassionsfor Good Friday services and oratorios such as theChristmas Oratorio,which is a set of six cantatas for use in theliturgical seasonof Christmas.Shorter oratorios include theEaster Oratorioand theAscension Oratorio.With its double choir and orchestra, theSt Matthew Passionis one of Bach's most extended works. TheSt John Passionwas the first passion Bach composed during his tenure as Thomaskantor in Leipzig.

Cantatas

See also:Bach cantataandList of Bach cantatas

According to his obituary, Bach would have composedfive year-cycles of sacred cantatasand additional church cantatas for weddings and funerals.Approximately 200 of these sacred works are extant, an estimated two-thirds of the total number of church cantatas he composed.TheBach Digitalwebsite lists 50 known secular cantatas by the composer,about half of which are extant or largely reconstructable.

Church cantatas

See also:Church cantata (Bach)

Bach's cantatas vary greatly in form and instrumentation. Many consist of a large opening chorus followed by one or more recitative-aria pairs for soloists (or duets) and a concluding chorale. The melody of the concluding chorale often appears as acantus firmusin the opening movement.

Bach's earliest cantatasdate from his years in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen. The earliest surviving work in the genre isNach dir, Herr, verlanget mich,BWV 150.Overall, the extant early works show remarkable mastery and skill. Many feature an instrumental opening which displays effective use of the limited instrumental forces available to Bach, whether it be in the subdued combination of two recorders and two violas de gamba forBWV 106,or the independent bassoon inBWV 196.Bach's compositional skills also manifest through his daring harmonies and advanced, unprecedented chord progressions. According toChristoph Wolff,Bach's early cantatas are impressive evidence of how the modest means at his disposal did not restrain the composer in the slightest, and they compare favourably with compositions by the most talented composers from the beginning of the 18th century, such asKrieger,KuhnauorZachow.

After taking up his office asThomaskantorin late May 1723, Bach performed a cantata each Sunday and feast day, corresponding to thelectionaryreadings of the week.His first cantata cycleran from the first Sunday afterTrinityof 1723 to Trinity Sunday the next year. For instance, the Visitation cantataHerz und Mund und Tat und Leben,BWV 147,containing the chorale that is known in English as "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", belongs to this first cycle. The cantata cycle of his second year in Leipzig is called thechorale cantata cycleas it consists mainly of works in thechorale cantataformat.His third cantata cyclewas developed over several years, followed by thePicander cycle of 1728–29.

Later church cantatas include the chorale cantatasEin feste Burg ist unser Gott,BWV 80(final version)andWachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme,BWV 140.Only the first three Leipzig cycles are more or less completely extant. Apart from his own work, Bach also performed cantatas by Telemann and by his distant relativeJohann Ludwig Bach.

Secular cantatas

See also:List of secular cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach also wrote secular cantatas, for instance for members of the royal Polish and prince-electoral Saxonian families (e.g.Trauer-Ode),or other public or private occasions (e.g.Hunting Cantata).The text of these cantatas was occasionally in dialect (e.g.Peasant Cantata)or Italian (e.g.Amore traditore).Many of the secular cantatas were lost, but for some of them, the text and occasion are known. For instance, when Picander later published their librettos (e.g.BWV Anh. 11–12).

Some of the surviving secular cantatas have a plot involving mythological figures of Greek antiquity (e.g.Der Streit zwischen Phoebus und Pan),and others were almost miniaturebuffooperas (e.g.Coffee Cantata).Although Bach never expressed any interest in opera,his secular cantatas, ordrammi per musica,would have allowed Leipzig audiences, deprived of opera since 1720, to experience musical performances comparable to the royal opera in Dresden. These were not "poor or makeshift substitutes for real opera" but spectacles displaying "full mastery of the dramatic genre and the proper pacing of the dialogues."

A cappella music

Bach's a cappella music includes motets and chorale harmonisations.

Motets

Main article:Motets (Bach)

Bach'smotets(BWV 225–231) are pieces on sacred themes for choir and continuo, with instruments playingcolla parte.Several of them were composed for funerals.The six motets definitely composed by Bach areSinget dem Herrn ein neues Lied,Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf,Jesu, meine Freude,Fürchte dich nicht,Komm, Jesu, komm,andLobet den Herrn, alle Heiden.The motetSei Lob und Preis mit Ehren(BWV 231) is part of the composite motetJauchzet dem Herrn, alle Welt(BWV Anh.160), other parts of which may be based on work by Telemann.

Chorale harmonisations

See also:List of chorale harmonisations by Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach wrote hundreds of four-part harmonisations of Lutheran chorales.

Church music in Latin

See also:Bach's church music in Latin

Bach's church music in Latin includes theMagnificat,fourKyrie–Gloria Masses,and theMass in B minor.

Magnificat

See also:Magnificat (Bach)

Thefirst version of Bach's Magnificatdates from 1723, but the work is best known in itsD major versionof 1733.

Mass in B minor

See also:Mass in B minor

In 1733, Bach composed aKyrie–Gloria Mass for the Dresden court.Near the end of his life, around 1748–1749, he expanded this composition into the large-scaleMass in B minor.The work was never performed in full during Bach's lifetime.

Keyboard music

Bach wrote for organ and forstringed keyboard instrumentssuch asharpsichord,clavichordandlute-harpsichord.

Organ works

See also:List of organ compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach was best known during his lifetime as an organist, organ consultant, and composer of organ works in both the traditional German free genres (such aspreludes,fantasias,andtoccatas) and stricter forms (such aschorale preludesand fugues).At a young age, he established a reputation for creativity and the ability to integrate foreign styles into his organ works. A decidedly North German influence was exerted byGeorg Böhm,with whom Bach came into contact in Lüneburg, andDieterich Buxtehude,whom the young organist visited in Lübeck in 1704 on an extended leave of absence from his job in Arnstadt. Around this time, Bach copied the works of numerous French and Italian composers to gain insights into their compositional languages and later arranged violin concertos by Vivaldi and others for organ and harpsichord. During his most productive period (1708–1714), he composed about a dozen pairs of preludes and fugues, five toccatas and fugues, and theOrgelbüchleinor "Little Organ Book", an unfinished collection of 46 short chorale preludes that demonstrate compositional techniques in the setting of chorale tunes. After leaving Weimar, Bach wrote less for organ, although some of his best-known works (the sixOrgan Sonatas,the German Organ Mass inClavier-ÜbungIIIfrom 1739, and theGreat Eighteen Chorale Preludes,revised late in his life) were composed after leaving Weimar. Later in his life, Bach extensively consulted on organ projects, tested new organs, and dedicated playing organs to afternoon recitals.TheCanonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her"and theSchübler Choralesare organ works Bach published in the last years of his life.

Harpsichord and other stringed keyboard instruments

The Art of Fugue(title page) – performed by Mehmet Okonsar on organ and harpsichord

Nos. 1–12

Nos. 13–20

See also:List of solo keyboard compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach wrote many works for harpsichord, some of which may also have been played on the clavichord or lute-harpsichord. Some of his more significant works, such asClavier-ÜbungIIandIV,are intended for a harpsichord with two manuals: performing them on a keyboard instrument with a single manual (like a piano) may present technical difficulties for the crossing of hands.

• The Well-Tempered Clavier,Books 1 and 2 (BWV 846–893). Each book consists of a prelude and fugue in each of the 24 major and minorkeys,in chromatic order from C major to B minor (thus, the whole collection is often referred to as "the 48" ). "Well-tempered" in the title refers to thetemperament(system of tuning); many temperaments before Bach's time were not flexible enough to allow compositions to utilise more than just a few keys.
• TheInventions and Sinfonias(BWV 772–801). These short two- and three-part contrapuntal works are arranged in the same chromatic order asThe Well-Tempered Clavier,omitting certain rarer keys. Bach intended these pieces for instructional purposes.
• Three collections ofdance suites:theEnglish Suites(BWV 806–811),French Suites(BWV 812–817), andPartitas for keyboard(Clavier-Übung I,BWV 825–830). Each collection contains six suites built on the standard model (allemande–courante–sarabande–(optional movement)–gigue). The English Suites closely follow the traditional model, adding a prelude before theallemandeand including a single movement between thesarabandeandgigue.The French Suites omit preludes but have multiple movements between thesarabandeandgigue.The partitas expand the model further with elaborate introductory movements and miscellaneous movements between the basic elements of the model.
• TheGoldberg Variations(BWV 988), an aria with 30variations.The collection has a complex and unconventional structure: the variations build on thebass lineof the aria rather than its melody, and musicalcanonsare interpolated according to a grand plan. There are nine canons within the 30 variations; every third variation is a canon.These variations move in order from canon at unison to canon at the ninth. The first eight are in pairs (unison and octave, second and seventh, third and sixth, fourth and fifth). The ninth canon stands on its own due to compositional dissimilarities. The final variation, instead of being the expected canon at the tenth, is aquodlibet.
• Miscellaneous pieces such as theOverture in the French Style(French Overture,BWV 831) and theItalian Concerto(BWV 971) (published together asClavier-Übung II), and theChromatic Fantasia and Fugue(BWV 903).

Among Bach's lesser known keyboard works are seventoccatas(BWV 910–916),four duets(BWV 802–805),sonatasfor keyboard (BWV 963–967), theSix Little Preludes(BWV 933–938), and theAria variata alla maniera italiana(BWV 989).

Orchestral and chamber music

See also:List of chamber music works by Johann Sebastian BachandList of orchestral works by Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach wrote for single instruments, duets, and small ensembles. Many of his solo works, such as the sixsonatas and partitas for violin(BWV 1001–1006) and the sixcello suites(BWV 1007–1012), are widely considered to be among the most profound in the repertoire.He wrote sonatas for a solo instrument such as the viola de gamba accompanied by harpsichord or continuo, as well as trio sonatas (two instruments and continuo).

The Musical OfferingandThe Art of Fugueare late contrapuntal works containing pieces for unspecified or combinations of instruments.

Violin concertos

Surviving works in the concerto form include two violin concertos (BWV 1041in A minor andBWV 1042in E major) and a concerto for two violins in D minor,BWV 1043,often referred to as Bach's "double concerto".

Brandenburg Concertos

Further information:Brandenburg Concertos

Bach's best-known orchestral works are theBrandenburg Concertos,so named because he submitted them in the hope of gaining employment fromMargrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedtin 1721; his application was unsuccessful.These works are examples of theconcerto grossogenre.

Keyboard concertos

Further information:Keyboard concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach

Bach composed and transcribed concertos for one to four harpsichords. Many of the harpsichord concertos were not original works, but arrangements of his concertos for other instruments are now lost.Several violin, oboe, and flute concertos have been reconstructed from these.

Orchestral suites

Main article:Orchestral suites (Bach)

In addition to concertos, Bach wrote fourorchestral suites,each suite being a series of stylised dances for orchestra, preceded by aFrench overture.

Copies, arrangements and uncertain attributions

See also:BWV Anh.andList of transcriptions of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach

In his early youth, Bach copied pieces by other composers to learn from them.Later, he copied and arranged music for performance or as study material for his pupils. Some of these pieces, like "Bist du bei mir"(copied not by Bach but by Anna Magdalena), became famous before being dissociated with Bach. Bach copied and arranged Italian masters such as Vivaldi (e.g.BWV 1065),Pergolesi(BWV 1083) andPalestrina(Missa Sine nomine), French masters such asFrançois Couperin(BWV Anh. 183), and, closer to home, various German masters including Telemann (e.g.BWV 824=TWV 32:14) and Handel (arias fromBrockes Passion), and music from members of his own family. He also often copied and arranged his own music (e.g. movements from cantatas for his short massesBWV 233–236), as his music was likewise copied and arranged by others. Some of these arrangements, like the late 19th-century "Air on the G String",helped to popularise Bach's music.

Sometimes, "who copied whom" is not clear. For instance, Forkel mentions a Mass for double chorus among the works composed by Bach. The work was published and performed in the early 19th century. Although a score partially in Bach's handwriting exists, the work was later considered spurious.In 1950, the design of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis was to keep such works out of the main catalogue: if there was a strong association with Bach they could be listed in its appendix (German:Anhang,abbreviated as Anh.). Thus, for instance, the aforementioned Mass for double chorus becameBWV Anh. 167.But this was far from the end of the attribution issues. For instance,Schlage doch, gewünschte Stunde,BWV 53,was later attributed toMelchior Hoffmann.For other works, Bach's authorship was put in doubt without a generally accepted answer to the question of whether or not he composed it: the best-known organ composition in the BWV catalogue, theToccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565,was indicated as one of these uncertain works in the late 20th century.

Reception

Main article:Reception of Johann Sebastian Bach's music

The church in Arnstadt where Bach had been the organist from 1703 to 1707. In 1935, the church was renamed "Bachkirche".

In the 18th century, Bach's music was appreciated mostly by distinguished connoisseurs. The 19th century started with the publication of the first biography of Bach and ended with theBach Gesellschaft's completion and publication of all his known works. Starting with theBach Revival,he began to be regarded as one of the greatest composers, a reputation he has maintained. TheBACH motif,which Bach occasionally used in his compositions, has been used in dozens of tributes to him since the 19th century.

18th century

Painting of Johann Sebastian Bach by 'Gebel', before 1798

In his own time, Bach was highly regarded by his colleagues,but his reputation outside of this small circle of connoisseurs was due not to his compositions (which had an extremely narrow circulation),but to his virtuosic abilities. Nevertheless, during his life, Bach received public recognition, such as the title of court composer byAugustus III of Polandand the appreciation he was shown byFrederick the GreatandHermann Karl von Keyserling.This appreciation contrasted with the humiliations he faced, for instance, in Leipzig.Bach also had detractors in the contemporary press (Johann Adolf Scheibesuggested he write less complex music) and supporters, such asJohann MatthesonandLorenz Christoph Mizler.

After his death, Bach's reputation as a composer initially declined: his work was regarded as old-fashioned compared to the emerginggalantstyle.He was remembered more as a virtuoso organ player and a teacher. The bulk of the musicprinted during his lifetime,at least the remembered parts, was for organ or harpsichord. Thus his reputation as a composer was initially mostly limited to his keyboard music, which was relatively limited in its value to music education.

Bach's surviving family members, who inherited many of his manuscripts, were not all equally concerned with preserving them, leading to considerable losses.Carl Philipp Emanuel,his second-eldest son, was most active in safeguarding his father's legacy: he co-authored his father's obituary, contributed to the publication of his four-part chorales,staged some of his works, and helped preserve the bulk of his previously unpublished work.Wilhelm Friedemann,the eldest son, performed several of his father's cantatas inHalle,but after becoming unemployed sold part of the large collection of his father's works he owned.Severalstudents of the old master,such as his son-in-lawJohann Christoph Altnickol,Johann Friedrich Agricola,Johann Kirnberger,andJohann Ludwig Krebs,contributed to the dissemination of his legacy. The early devotees were not all musicians; for example, in Berlin,Daniel Itzig,a high official of Frederick the Great's court, venerated Bach.His eldest daughters took lessons from Kirnberger and their sister Sara fromWilhelm Friedemann Bach,who was in Berlin from 1774 to 1784.Sara Itzig Levy became an avid collector of work by J.S. Bach and his sons and was a "patron" of C.P.E. Bach.

While Bach was in Leipzig, performances of his church music were limited to some of his motets, and, undercantorDoles,some of hisPassions.A new generation of Bach aficionados emerged who studiously collected and copied his music, including some of his large-scale works such as theMass in B minor,and performed it privately. One wasGottfried van Swieten,a high-ranking Austrian official who was instrumental in passing Bach's legacy on to the composers of theViennese school.Haydnowned manuscript copies ofThe Well-Tempered Clavierand the Mass in B minor and was influenced by Bach's music.Mozartowned a copy of one of Bach's motets,transcribed some of his instrumental works (K. 404a,405),and wrote contrapuntal music influenced by his style.Beethovenplayed the entireWell-Tempered Clavierby the time he was 11 and described Bach asUrvater der Harmonie(progenitor of harmony).

19th century

See also:Bach RevivalandSt Matthew Passion § 19th century

Image of theBach memorialerected by Felix Mendelssohn in Leipzig in 1843

In 1802,Johann Nikolaus ForkelpublishedJohann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work,the first Bach biography, dedicated to van Swieten.In 1805,Abraham Mendelssohn,who had married one of Itzig's granddaughters, bought a substantial collection of Bach manuscripts that had come down from C.P.E. Bach, and donated it to theBerlin Sing-Akademie.The Sing-Akademie occasionally performed Bach's works in public concerts, for instance, hisfirst keyboard concerto,with Sara Itzig Levy at the piano.

The first decades of the 19th century saw an increasing number of first publications of Bach's music: Breitkopf started publishing chorale preludes,Hoffmeister harpsichord music,and theWell-Tempered Clavierwas printed concurrently by Simrock (Germany), Nägeli (Switzerland) and Hoffmeister (Germany and Austria) in 1801.Vocal music was also published: motets in 1802 and 1803, followed by the E♭major version of theMagnificat,theKyrie-Gloria Mass in A major,and the cantataEin feste Burg ist unser Gott(BWV 80).In 1818,Hans Georg Nägelicalled the Mass in B minor the greatest composition ever.Bach's influence was felt in the next generation of early Romantic composers.Abraham's son Felix, aged 13, produced his first Magnificat setting in 1822, and it is clearly inspired by the then-unpublished D major version of Bach's Magnificat.

Felix Mendelssohn's 1829 performance of theSt Matthew Passionprecipitated the Bach Revival. TheSt John Passionsaw its 19th-century premiere in 1833, and the first public performance of the Mass in B minor followed in 1844. Besides these and other public performances and increased coverage of the composer and his compositions in printed media, the 1830s and 1840s also saw the first publication of more Bach vocal works: six cantatas, theSt Matthew Passion,and the Mass in B minor. A series of organ compositions were first published in 1833.Chopinstarted composing his24 Preludes, Op. 28,inspired by theWell-Tempered Clavier,in 1835, andSchumannpublished hisSechs Fugen über den Namen B-A-C-Hin 1845. Bach's music was transcribed and arranged to suit contemporary tastes and performance practice by composers such asCarl Friedrich Zelter,Robert Franz,andFranz Liszt,or combined with new music such as the melody line ofCharles Gounod's "Ave Maria".Brahms,Bruckner,andWagnerwere among the composers who promoted Bach's music or wrote glowingly about it.

In 1850, theBach-Gesellschaft(Bach Society) was founded to promote Bach's music. In the second half of the 19th century, the Society published a comprehensive edition of his works. In 1854, Bach was deemed one of thethree BsbyPeter Cornelius,the others being Beethoven andBerlioz.(Hans von Bülowreplaced Berlioz with Brahms.) From 1873 to 1880,Philipp SpittapublishedJohann Sebastian Bach,the standard work on Bach's life and music.During the 19th century, 200 books were published on Bach. By the end of the century, local Bach societies were established in several cities, and his music had been performed in all major musical centers.

In 19th-century Germany, Bach was coupled with nationalist feeling, and he was inscribed in a religious revival. In England, Bach was coupled with a revival of religious and baroque music. By the end of the century, Bach was firmly established as one of the greatest composers, recognised for both his instrumental and his vocal music.

20th century

1908 Statue of Bach in front of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig

28 July 1950: memorial service for Bach in Leipzig's Thomaskirche, on the 200th anniversary of the composer's death

During the 20th century, the process of recognising the musical as well as thepedagogicvalue of some of the works continued, as in the promotion of thecello suitesbyPablo Casals,the first major performer to record them.Leading performers of classical music such asWillem Mengelberg,Edwin Fischer,Georges Enescu,Herbert von Karajan,Helmut Walcha,Wanda Landowska,I Musici,andDietrich Fischer-Dieskaurecorded his music.

A significant development in the later 20th century washistorically informed performancepractice, with forerunners such asNikolaus Harnoncourtacquiring prominence through their performances of Bach's music. Bach's keyboard music was again performed on theharpsichordand other Baroque instruments rather than on modern pianos and 19th-century romantic organs. Ensembles playing and singing Bach's music not only kept to the instruments and the performance style of his day but were also reduced to the size of the groups Bach used for his performances.But that was not the only way Bach's music came to the forefront in the 20th century: his music was heard in versions ranging fromFerruccio Busoni's late romanticpiano transcriptionsto the orchestrations ofLeopold Stokowski,whose interpretation of theToccata and Fugue in D minoropenedWalt Disney'sFantasia,to jazzy interpretations such as those byThe Swingle Singerson their albumJazz Sebastian Bachandelectronicperformances such asWendy Carlos'sSwitched-On BachandThe Well-Tempered Synthesizer.

Bach's music has influenced other genres.Jazzmusicians have adapted it, withJacques Loussier,Ian Anderson,Uri Caine,and theModern Jazz Quartetamong those creating jazz versions of his works.Several 20th-century composers referred to Bach or his music, for exampleEugène YsaÿeinSix Sonatas for solo violin,Dmitri Shostakovichin24 Preludes and Fugues,andHeitor Villa-LobosinBachianas Brasileiras.All kinds of publications involved Bach: there were theBach Jahrbuchpublications of the Neue Bachgesellschaft and various other biographies and studies by, among others,Albert Schweitzer,Charles Sanford Terry,Alfred Dürr,Christoph Wolff.Peter Williams,andJohn Butt,and the 1950 first edition of theBach-Werke-Verzeichnis.Books such asGödel, Escher, Bachput the composer's art in a wider perspective. Bach's music was extensively listened to, performed, broadcast, arranged, adapted, and commented upon in the 1990s.Around 2000, the 250th anniversary of Bach's death, three record companies issued box sets of recordings of his complete works.

Three works by Bach are featured on theVoyager Golden Record,a gramophone record containing a broad sample of the images, sounds, languages, and music of Earth, sent into space with the twoVoyagerprobes: the first movement ofBrandenburg ConcertoNo. 2(conducted byKarl Richter), the "Gavotte en rondeaux" from thePartita for Violin No. 3(played byArthur Grumiaux), and the Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major fromThe Well-Tempered Clavier(played byGlenn Gould).20th-century tributes to Bach include statues erected in his honour and things such as streets and space objects named after him.A multitude of musical ensembles, such as theBach Aria Group,Deutsche Bachsolisten,Bachchor Stuttgart,andBach Collegium Japantook the composer's name.Bach festivalswere held on several continents, and competitions and prizes such as theInternational Johann Sebastian Bach Competitionand theRoyal Academy of Music Bach Prizewere named after him. While by the end of the 19th century, Bach had been inscribed in nationalism and religious revival, the late 20th century saw Bach as the subject of a secularised art-as-religion (Kunstreligion).

21st century

In the 21st century, Bach's compositions have become available online, for instance at theInternational Music Score Library Project.High-resolution facsimiles of Bach's autographs became available at theBach Digitalwebsite.21st-century biographers includeChristoph Wolff,Peter Williams,andJohn Eliot Gardiner.

In 2015, Bach's handwritten personal copy of the Mass in B minor, held by theBerlin State Library,was added toUNESCO'sMemory of the World Register,a program intended to protect culturally significant manuscripts.

Alex Rosswrites, "Bach became an absolute master of his art by never ceasing to be a student of it. His most exalted sacred works—the two extant Passions, from the seventeen-twenties, and the Mass in B Minor, completed not long before his death in 1750—are feats of synthesis, mobilizing secular devices to spiritual ends. They are rooted in archaic chants, hymns, and chorales. They honor, with consummate skill, the scholastic discipline of canon and fugue. They make expert use of the word-painting techniques of the Renaissance madrigal and Baroque opera. They absorb such stock scenes as the lament, the pastoral, the lullaby, the rage aria, the tempest. They allude to courtly French dances, Italian love songs, [and] the polonaise. Their furious development of brief motifs anticipates Beethoven, who worshipped Bach when he was young. And their most daring harmonic adventures—for example, the otherworldly modulations in the 'Confiteor' of the B-Minor Mass—look ahead to Wagner, even to Schoenberg."

In 2019, Bach was named the greatest composer of all time in a poll of 174 living composers.

Theliturgical calendar of the Episcopal Churchremembers Bach with afeast dayon 28 July;on the same day, theCalendar of Saintsof someLutheran churches,such as theELCA,remembers Bach, Handel, andHeinrich Schütz.

Burial site

Bach was originally buried at Old St. John's Cemetery in Leipzig. His grave went unmarked for nearly 150 years, but in 1894 his remains were found and moved to a vault in St. John's Church. This building was destroyed byAllied bombing during World War II,and in 1950, Bach's remains were taken to their present grave in St. Thomas Church.Later research has called into question whether the remains in the grave are actually Bach's.

See also

• Portraits of Johann Sebastian Bach

References

Works cited

Biographies

See also:Biographies of Johann Sebastian Bach

• Boyd, Malcolm (2000).Bach.Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-514222-8.
• David, Hans T.[in German];Mendel, Arthur;Wolff, Christoph(1998).The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents.New York: W. W. Norton.ISBN978-0-393-31956-9.OCLC37801400.
• Eidam, Klaus[in German](2001).The True Life of Johann Sebastian Bach.New York:Basic Books.ISBN978-0-465-01861-1.
• Forkel, Johann Nikolaus(1920).Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work.Translated byCharles Sanford Terry.New York; London: Harcourt, Brace and Howe; Constable.
• Gardiner, John Eliot(2013).Music in the Castle of Heaven: A Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach.London:Allen Lane.ISBN978-0-7139-9662-3.
• Geck, Martin (2003).Bach.Translated byAnthea Bell.London:Haus Publishing.ISBN978-1-904341-16-1.Archived24 February 2017 at theWayback Machine
• Geck, Martin(2006).Johann Sebastian Bach: Life and Work.Orlando:Harcourt.ISBN978-0-15-100648-9.
• Geiringer, Karl(1966).Johann Sebastian Bach: The Culmination of an Era.New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-500554-7.
• Schweitzer, Albert(1911).J. S. Bach.Translated byErnest Newman.New York:Macmillan Publishers.,first published in French in 1905 and in German in 1908.(Vol. 1,Vol. 2)
• Schweitzer, Albert (1923) [1905].J. S. Bach.Vol. 1. Translated byErnest Newman.New York:Macmillan Publishers.
• Spitta, Philipp(1899a).Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany, 1685–1750.Vol. 1. Translated byClara Bell;J. A. Fuller Maitland.London:Novello & Co.
• Spitta, Philipp (1899b).Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany, 1685–1750.Vol. 2. Translated by Clara Bell; J. A. Fuller Maitland. London:Novello & Co.
• Spitta, Philipp (1899c).Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany, 1685–1750.Vol. 3. Translated by Clara Bell; J. A. Fuller Maitland. London:Novello & Co.
• Terry, Charles Sanford(1928).Bach: A Biography.Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Williams, Peter(2003a).The Life of Bach.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-53374-4.
• Williams, Peter (2007).Bach: A Life in Music.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-87074-0.
• Williams, Peter (2016).Bach: A Musical Biography.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-1-107-13925-1.
• Wolff, Christoph(1991).Bach: Essays on his Life and Music.Cambridge, Massachusetts:Harvard University Press.ISBN978-0-674-05926-9.
• Wolff, Christoph (2000).Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician.Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-816534-7.Second edition, 2013, W. W. Norton, New York and London,ISBN978-0-393-32256-9pbk.
• Wolff, Christoph; Emery, Walter (20 January 2001). "Bach, Johann Sebastian".Grove Music Online(8th ed.).Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.6002278195.ISBN978-1-56159-263-0.(subscription orUK public library membershiprequired)

Other

• Applegate, Celia(2005).Bach in Berlin: Nation and Culture in Mendelssohn's revival of the St. Matthew Passion.Ithaca, New York:Cornell University Press.ISBN9780801443893.
• Boyd, Malcolm, ed. (1999).J. S. Bach.Oxford Composer Companions. Oxford University Press.
• Butt, John,ed. (1997).The Cambridge Companion to Bach.Cambridge University Press.ISBN978-0-521-58780-8.
• Chiapusso, Jan(1968).Bach's World.Scarborough, Ontario:Indiana University Press.ISBN978-0-253-10520-2.
• Crist, Stephen A.; Stauff, Derek (2011)."Johann Sebastian Bach".Oxford Bibliographies:Music.Oxford: Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/OBO/9780199757824-0043.(subscription required)
• Dent, Edward Joseph(2004).Handel.R A Kessinger Publishing.ISBN1-4191-2275-4.
• Donington, Robert(1982).Baroque Music: Style and Performance: A Handbook.New York: W. W. Norton.ISBN978-0-393-30052-9.
• Dürr, Alfred(1981).Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach(in German) (4 ed.). Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag.ISBN978-3-423-04080-8.
• Dürr, Alfred;Jones, Richard D. P.(2006),The Cantatas of J.S. Bach,Oxford University Press,ISBN978-0-19-929776-4
• Herl, Joseph (2004).Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism: Choir, Congregation, and Three Centuries of Conflict.Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-515439-9.
• Herz, Gerhard (1985).Essays on J. S. Bach.Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.ISBN978-0-8357-1989-6.
• Jones, Richard(2007).The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach.Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-816440-1.
• Kerst, Friedrich (1904).Beethoven im eigenen Wort(in German). Berlin: Schuster & Loeffler.
• Kupferberg, Herbert (1985).Basically Bach: A 300th Birthday Celebration.New York: McGraw-Hill.ISBN978-0-07-035646-7.
• Leaver, Robin A. (2007).Luther's Liturgical Music.Grand Rapids, Michigan:William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.ISBN978-0-8028-3221-4.
• Lester, Joel (1999).Bach's Works for Solo Violin: Style, Structure, Performance.Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-512097-4.
• Miles, Russell H. (1962).Johann Sebastian Bach: An Introduction to His Life and Works.Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.OCLC600065.
• Morris, Edmund(2005).Beethoven: the Universal Composer.New York: HarperCollins.ISBN978-0-06-075974-2.
• Rich, Alan(1995).Johann Sebastian Bach: Play by Play.San Francisco: HarperCollins.ISBN978-0-06-263547-1.
• Schenk, Erich;Winston, Richard;Winston, Clara(1959).Mozart and His Times.New York: Alfred A. Knopf.OCLC602180.
• Schneider, Max(1907)."Verzeichnis der bis zum Jahre 1851 gedruckten (und der geschrieben im Handel gewesenen) Werke von Johann Sebastian Bach".Bach-Jahrbuch.VII(3).Neue Bachgesellschaft:84–113.
• Schulenberg, David (2006).The Keyboard Music of J. S. Bach.New York: Routledge.ISBN978-0-415-97400-4.
• Spaeth, Sigmund(1937).Stories Behind the World's Great Music.New York: Whittlesey House.
• Stauffer, George B. (2008). "Music for" Cavaliers et Dames ": Bach and the Repertoire of His Collegium Musicum". In Butler, Gregory G.; Stauffer, George B.; Greer, Mary Galton (eds.).About Bach.University of Illinois Press.pp. 135–156.ISBN978-0-252-03344-5.
• Van Til, Marian (2007).George Frideric Handel: A Music Lover's Guide to His Life, His Faith & the Development of Messiah and His Other Oratorios.Youngstown, New York: WordPower Publishing.ISBN978-0-9794785-0-5.
• Williams, Peter(1980),The Organ Music of J. S. Bach, Volume II: BWV 599–771, etc.,Cambridge Studies in Music, Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0-521-31700-9;Williams, Peter (2003b),The Organ Music of J. S. Bach(2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0-521-89115-8
• Wolff, Christoph,ed. (1983).The New Grove Bach Family.London: Macmillan.ISBN978-0-333-34350-0.
• Wolff, Christoph, ed. (1997).The World of the Bach Cantatas: Johann Sebastian Bach's Early Sacred Cantatas.New York: W. W. Norton.ISBN978-0-393-33674-0.
• Wolff, Christoph;Emery, Walter; Wollny, Peter; Leisinger, Ulrich; Roe, Stephen (17 January 2018) [2001]."Bach family".Grove Music Online.Oxford: Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.40023.ISBN978-1-56159-263-0.(subscription orUK public library membershiprequired)

Further reading

See:Crist & Stauff 2011,for an extensive bibliography.

• Baron, Carol K. (2006).Bach's Changing World: Voices in the Community.Rochester, New York:University of Rochester Press.ISBN978-1-58046-190-0.
• Dörffel, Alfred(1882).Thematisches Verzeichnis der Instrumentalwerke von Joh. Seb. Bach(in German). Leipzig:C. F. Peters.N.B.: First published in 1867; superseded, for scholarly purposes, byWolfgang Schmieder's complete thematic catalogue, but useful as a handy reference tool for only the instrumental works of Bach and as a partial alternative to Schmieder's work.
• Hofstadter, Douglas(1999).Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid.New York:Basic Books.ISBN978-0-465-02656-2.
• Leaver, Robin A. (2016),The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach,Routledge,ISBN978-0-367-58143-5
• Pirro, André(2014) [1907].The Aesthetic of Johann Sebastian Bach.Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield.ISBN978-1-4422-3290-7.
• Stauffer, George B.; May, Ernest (1986).J. S. Bach as Organist: His Instruments, Music, and Performance Practices.Bloomington: Indiana University Press.ISBN978-0-253-33181-6.

External links

• "Discovering Bach".BBC Radio 3.
• bach-leipzig websiteof theBach Archive.
• Yo Tomita'sBach Bibliography(23 March 2012),mirror at theRiemenschneider Bach Institute.
• Works by or about Johann Sebastian Bachat theInternet Archive.

Scores

• Johann Sebastian Bachat theMusopenproject.
• Free scores by Johann Sebastian Bachat theInternational Music Score Library Project(IMSLP).
• Music manuscripts and early printsatBach Digitalwebsite.

Recordings

• Johann Sebastian Bach recordingsat theDiscography of American Historical Recordings.
• Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)atMuziekwebwebsite.
• All of Bachwebsite of theNetherlands Bach Society.