Bio- Johann Sebastian Bach
Document Sample
i .it
! i.,,r
:. JohannSebastian
BaCh
Johann SebastianBach has done ever,vthingcompletely,
he wasa man through and through.
(17971828)
Fn$z Scsusrnr
f-or man\ mu.ic-lo\er5. th. nru'rr into a long dr-nastvofThuringian
H
I ol J.S. Bachfulfil' a prolound organists ancl composcrs l.ho n'orked
spiritual necd: it has a timeless, as church organists and choir-masters,
other rvorldlv qualitr- *'hich could municipal musicians, and at the manv
only come f'rom a composcr l'ho small princelv or ducal courts
felt himself close to God. Just uhich llourished in the region
as Bach's birthplace rras olcr- Bach's father, Ambrosius, u as
shadou-ed bv the Wartburg hinse lf cmploved as a musician
mountain, toppcd bv the br- the tol n council of
fbrtrcss in $-hich Martin Eisenach, u'hcrc Johann
Luther hammered out the Sebastianu-as born on
lirndamental principles of 21 \larch 1685.
Protcstant theologr-, so his life .\fier losing both parents br
v.as dominated bv his dc\otion the age of ten, Bach rvas sent
to the Luthcran liith, and to li\ e at Ohrdruf ri'ith his
his music u.as declicatedto married clder brother, Johann
its servicc. Christoph, uho uas organist
there. It seems likclv that Johann
Early years Christoph helped t'ith his r,oung
Unlike manv of his more brother's musical training, but once
cosmopolitan contcmporaries, Bach
Johann Sebastianreached the age of
spent his entire carccr in Ciermanv I J, there s as no longer roon fbr him
m o 5 t l \ i n t h t c c n l r a l r e g i o n so l in thc Ohrdruf houschold, and he
Thuringia ancl Saxonv. He l-as born obtained a fiee place at St Michael's
lBOt F: Johdnn
Sebastian BacA.
-fout,rears beJort
his dearh, in a
painting h; E. G
Haussmonn.
I roon in
Bach's
probable
canL dln tng
,1BotE: The house xhere Bach is heliered to hare been born in the aonLemPofaLI
llitteryasse in Eisenach,Thuringia, nor a Bach nuseum. intlruments.
LEIT:A view oJ
Eisenach,with the
Wattburg Castle on
the h;ll behind.
ntGnr: Thomaskirche
in Leipzig, whete
Bach was an orgailst
and choir maste4
and wherc he was
subsequently intetted.
School in Liineburg, 320km (200 miles) 1705 6 he made his legendary Barbara Bach. But although his
away in north Germany. There hc pilgrimage (allegedly on foot) to personal life had scttlcd down, Bach
benefited from a solid musical Liibeck,420km (260 miles) to the quicklv became dissatisfied with
education and sang in the choir, but north, to hear the celebrated orgmist conditions at Miillhausen, and in 1708
his formal education came to an cnd Dietrich Butehude. he mor.ed again, this timc to the ducal
in 1702. After his return to Arnstadt, Bach's court at Weimar.
relationship u'ith the church council
Arnstadt and Miihlhausen deteriorated (hc had a stubborn and at
At the age of 17, Bach returncd to times arrogant streak, u'hich caused
his native Thuringia to look lbr a job. p r o b l e m ' u i r h a l l h i . e m p l o y e r . ' ,r n d Life and works
After a temporary spell as a violinist in the summer of 1707 he left to take
at thc Weimar ducal court, he u.as u p a n e s p o s l a s o r g a n i s ta t t h -
NAltoNALt'tv: Gcrman
appointed organist at the New imperial frcc city of Mtihlhausen, some
BonN: Eisenach,1685;
Church in Arnstadt, not fir fiom 58km (36 miles) to the north-west.
otro: Leipzig, 1750
Wcimar. There he started to compose His salary was norv such that he felt
i n e a r n c s t ,a n d i n t l e u i n l e r o [ able to marry his second cousin, Maria S p e r t e L t s r c r N R t s : S a c r c dm u s i .
for thc Germm Protestant
liturgy, especially cantatas,
instrumental and kevboard musrc.
MAJOR woRKS: Brundenbury
(1721)r + orchcstral
Concertos
suitcs; 7 harpsichord concertos;
3 r'iolin concertos Goldherg
llariations (1 7 22) ; The Well
Clavier(1122 ++);
Tbmpered
oler 200 cantatas; St John Passion
(1723); ,SrMatthew Pasion (.17291
Cirrstaos Oratorio(1734); ltalian
Concerto(.1735); The Musical
Ollering (1747); Mass in B minor
(1749); TheAtr oJ Fugue(17501.
tlolE: Bdch diecting a concert in 17 11 at the Court Chapel inllteimar, u'here he worked
fron 1708 until 1717.
Weimar with concertos for violin
In the early 1Sth ccntury (including the f'amous Double
Wcimar was just another Conccrto in D minor),
small, provincial tovn its orchestral suites, sonatas for
periocl of glory s'as to come harpsichord, violin, and flute,
some 80 years later, when the suites for solo cello and
its rcsidents u'ould include the sonatas and partitas for
Goethe, Wicland and Schiller. solo violin. These q'orks
Bach's job s'as as organist at show that Bach had
the ducal chapel in the castle, thoroughly absorbed the
but six of his childrcn Italian style, through
including the future composers intensivc study of works
Wilhelm Friedemmn bv Corelli andVivaldi.
(1710 84) and Carl Philipp
Emmanuel (1714*88) were Remarriage
christened at the City Church In Mav 1720, n'hilc Bach
of St Peter and Paul during was awav at a spa s'ith his
the Wcimar years. employer, Maria Barbara
It was here that Bach began died suddenlv. Bach
composing cantatas in earnest remarried the next year:
for performance at court, and his bride, Anna Magdalena
he also provided instrumental Wilcken (1701 60), proved
music fbr the court orchestra. a great asset to her husband,
His early years at Wcimar both domesticallv and
rvere happy and productive professionallv (the daughter
but, after 171 3, relations u.ith of a musician, she rvas a
his employer, Dukc Wilhelm IBOIE: A romanticized artist's impression oJBach's vrit to singer, harpsichordist and
Ernst, bcgan to deteriorate Fredetick the Great at the palace orf-Sans Souci in Potsdam, music copvist). She inhcrited
and ln 1'111 Bach accepted Moy 1717. Bach's {bur surviving
the job of /(apellneisrer to the court
of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Crithen.
The duke was so reluctant to let him
go that he placed him undcr house
a r r e 5 lf u r J m o n l h . t r e n t u a l l l . i n
Deccmber l'71'l , thc Bach familv
rvas allowed to leave.
Ciithen
W h i l e m o s l o f B a c h ' sc o m p o s i t i o n r
up to 1717 had been organ u'orks and
sacred cantatas, he now. exploited the
instrumental resources available to him
at the Crithen court. Most of his rvork
there was secular, since the Calvinist
Prince Leopold required little sacred
music. Among the works he composed
ABjve: Bach'seldestson,WilhelmFriedemann during this period rverc the six E:
.1BoI The trumpeter Gottfr;ed Reiche
(1710 84), painted around 1760. L;ke hx BrandenburgConcertosfor r arious (1667 1731), who playedthe high clatino
father, he was a composer. instrumcntal combinations, togethcr parts in Bach's worksin Leipzig.
children, to u.hom she added l.orks rrere the Go1,/l'erg
anothcr 1 3, including another ? lbr iationslbr barpsichorrl,
{uture composer, Johann ?!tl allegedly s ritten iirr an
Christian(1735 82), later '9*+)
:4.:. . aristocratic insonrniac; 1)os
' -'1i
known as thc "English Bach", l OpJer(The
nusico-liscbes
., J-*l
since he spent much ol his i, \ r T ' j ' ,llu;ical Ofcrtng, basc-don
carccr thcrc. Shortly after
o-t-I,tu#-;", a fugue subject devised b1
thc-ir narriage Bach bcgan to Frederick thc Grcat rvhcn
corrpile luo Clat'icrhichlein Bach yisitcd him at I'otstlam
(.Lirtle Keyboar<l
/3r,ofts) his
for 6 1717), and thc almost
u if't , $'hich contain, among visionary Kunst Jer Fuge
othcr rvorks, thc I 5 Invt'ntions hu,l; (.The
'lrt ol'Fugue),a coml>lcx
and Sinfirniasand scvcral scrics of canons on rvhich
!' 6Ft
prc-lutlesand fuguc.s,.r'hich Bach norkcd during thc last
rviLh
ut rt- latc-rasscrnble<l v e a r so l ' h i s l i l c , u ' h c n h i s
othcrs as Dostohltemperiertc tBotE: .1 poge-lton thc ndnus.tipr scorcof /SocilrSt Nlatlhcl sight bcgan to fiil. Hc uas
(laricr ('l hc l!'cll 'linrycreJ(lat'icr). perli,rnerlin lcil/ja on (,ood l:riJat in l7)().
Irassion,fir.sr a l m o s t t o t a l l v b l i n < lu h c n h t '
ln 1721 l'rincc l-copoltlol' < l i c t l ,l c l i r r g h i s u i c l o w i n
Anhalt Clilthcn nrarrit'rl his r n c l o r c h c s t r a ,n r o s t l r l r r s c r lo n l e l l clircllnrncial straits.
c o u s i n , a n t l l i l i ' c h a n g e r l i r r c r r r c a b l va 1 knorrn I)lrtcst.rrt choralc tunt's. l l r t h t t i n r c o f l l a c h ' sr l c a t h , n r u s i r r l
t h c L i ) t h c n c o u r l . T h i ' l i ' i r r > l o t Ln c l
s l n a < l < l i t i o n ,. ' p r o t l u c e , l t r r o
h { l s h i o n s l t . r t ' l l s t c h a n g i n g ,a n r l h i s
{t(,l itt ttttt.i, ' i l . r l r r i l r \i(l l ! , t l i r - \ , ' l t l r r l ' . r . - i , ' t r nlus'( \\is pcrct'ivccasnr)ti(luatc(1.
P I i r r , r. . r r , t . I i l r i r r lr(( . l
a n < ll J a < s o o n l c l t o b l i g c r l t , r n r o \ ' ( 'o n
h s 1 o r r ,l c c o r r l i n g t o S t N l a l t h c r . r t t < l I ) t r r i n g h i s l i l c t i m c h c h a < lb , ' t ' n n r o r t '
p r o l > a l r l rr r i t h s o n r c r c g r t t . I n J u n c S t J o h n , t h t \ ' l a s s i n I l n r i r r o r .l i r i ' c c l c l r r . r t c t il s . 1 r o r q a n i s tt h a n a s r
)
I 722 thc post ol Kantor ol thc ( / r n . t r l , r ( r r . l .r r ' . . r t r r l (r)nrl)oscr. LInlil<cNlozarl or l3t't'tltovcn,
' " t l r rr r r r , r j , ' t
'l-horrasschult.
in Lcipzig lrt'ianrc s r t n ' < l r v o r k s , i n t o l h i c h h c p o u r c < la l l t
h c h . r r ll i t t l c p o s t h u r r r o r tis t l l u c n c t u t t l i l
racanl. I'hc t()\\n (r)un(iI \\.1nt('(l t h e r e s o u r t c s o l r r r i a l a n < li n s t r u n r c n t a l r l
Nlcrrlclsso]rn t'rlisirrrcrcrhis t horirl
'li
lcrrann, but hc coultl lrol l)( r( lcas('rl u r i t i n g a r a i l a l r l t t o h i n r . l i r r r a r r l st h t ' r n r s t c r p i c c c si n t h c 1 c ) t hc t ' n 1 u r \ ,a n r l
lionr his job rt I lamburg, anrlso, alicr cncl ol his lilc, scvcral lxrol<sol kt'vkrar,l h i s r v o r l < s r c g i r nt o b c p t ' r { i i r n r t ' r lo n t c
l
n r u c h r l c l i b c r a l i o n ,t h t ' r a 1 > p o i n t r ' < l music lcrt p u b l i s h c < Ib u 1 l l a c h ' sl f , r r r c
, rlorc. Hc is nrxv rcvcrcrlils()rl( r)r trr('
I ] a c h .O n 2 2 M a r l 7 2 l h i m o r c r l i t r l o r , n ) . r i r r , ,1 , , r l . A r n " r r , g 1 . l ; r r r r r r l u r -
l , 1 g r c a t c s to f a l I ( r ) m p ( ) s ( ' r s .
his ne* quartcrs in thc l'honrasschulc,
u h e r c h e s t a l c t l u n L i lh i s d c a t h
27 rcars lattr.
Leipzig
Bacir's rcrrs at Leipzig, l hcrc hc las
recluirccl not onh to teach, l)ut to
supplv rnusiclirr thc tos n's tu o
p r i n i i p a l c h u r c h c s ,S t T h o m a s a n c l
St Nicholas, uere rc-latilt-ll unclcntful,
l r u l r r c r c f u n ( l L t J t L ,l], r r , t i n r o n i o u '
disagri:cmcnts u ith thc council or t'r
pav and conditions. Nonetheless, ther'
uere amazingh li'uitf'ul. One of his
principal jobs u'as to u ritc, rchcarsc
and dircct cantatas for thc Sundav
ser\ iccs at thc tl-o churchcs, ancl his
output includcd around 250 of thcsc
substantial rrorks lbr loict:s, chorus lBot E: .1 ramdntl.izctl I 9th cenrur,rrmpre-r.rior oJ'the Bach linij dt theit narning PrLller\
