Johann Sebastian Bach

Classical Music: Composer's Datebook: March 21

"The aim and final end of all music should be none other than the glory of God and the refreshment of the soul." ~ Johann Sebastian Bach

Biography of Baroque German composer JS Bach - his life, works and influence on classical music. A master of counterpoint or contrapuntal technique, his Baroque music is one of the world's most famous.

Johann Sebastian Bach or simply JS Bach (March 21, 1685-July 28, 1750) was a Baroque German Protestant composer, organist, choirmaster, singer and violinist, the most popular of the musical Bach family. He was born on March 21, 1685, in Eisenach, North Germany. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was a court musician.

He was a counterpoint master known for church music famous for St. John Passion that includes the famous "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring,"  and  St. Matthew Passion.





 

Note: This next video has been deleted as embedding is no longer available due to copyright issue.

J.S. Bach: St John Passion, BWV 245 - Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki (HD 1080p)  

Please watch directly at YouTube. Here's the link: YouTube.

Considered one of the greatest composers who ever lived, JS Bach's music is enormous, mainly church music. He is best known as the master of counterpoint, his music epitomizing the Baroque polyphonic style. His works, regarded as the greatest of polyphonic music, include orchestral music, e.g., the six Brandenburg Concertos, Goldberg Variations, and concertos for keyboard instrument and violin, orchestral suites, sonatas for various instruments, and unaccompanied cello music. His fugues, Mass in B minor, two Passions (St. Matthew and St. John), hundreds of cantatas, and other choral music are of equal importance.

J.S. Bach's Magnificat, BWV 243.2, BWV 243. This work is a musical setting of the biblical canticle 'Magnificat'.The term 'Magnificat' (Latin for "My Soul magnifies the Lord" is the hymn of the Virgin Mary (from the Holy Bible Luke 1:46–55), used as a canticle in Christian liturgy, especially at vespers and evensong. In the Byzantine tradition, "the Ode of the Theotokos". It is traditionally incorporated into the liturgical services of the Catholic Church at vespers and of the Eastern Orthodox churches at the morning services. Bach's music is scored for five vocal parts (two sopranos, alto, tenor and bass), and a Baroque orchestra including trumpets and timpani. It is the first major liturgical composition on a Latin text by the composer. (JS Bach Magnificat [Complete Version]. Anna Nesyba - Soprano I, Monteverdichor Würzburg, Monteverdi Ensemble, Matthias Beckert (conductor.)  YouTube, uploaded by Monteverdichor Wuerzburg. Accessed Marh 23, 2020.)  

 

Bach's English Suites.  

 

The English Suites, BWV 806–811, are a set of six suites written by JS Bach for harpsichord (or clavichord) and generally thought to be the earliest of his 19 suites for keyboard, the others being the six French Suites, BWV 812–817, the six Partitas, BWV 825-830 and the Overture in the French style, BWV 831. They probably date from around 1713 or 1714. These six suites for keyboard are thought to be the earliest set that Bach composed aside from several miscellaneous suites written when he was much younger. Bach's English Suites display less affinity with Baroque English keyboard style than do the French Suites to French Baroque keyboard style. It has also been suggested that the name is a tribute to Charles Dieupart, whose fame was greatest in England, and on whose Six Suittes de clavessin Bach's English Suites were in part based.  (Enjoy what I've chosen to feature:  Bach English Suite No 2 in A minor BWV 807 interpreted by pianist András Schiff. YouTube, uploaded by Felices Cantus Bach. Accessed 22 March 2020.)  

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach echoes who he is - as a musician-thinker and as a man - a superb baroque composer famous for counterpoint, physically and emotionally strong, a religious man who dedicated all his works for the greater glory of God, and a family man who enjoyed his family immensely. His music shines with warmth and great confidence.

Johann Sebastian Bach's prolificacy in composition is echoed in the phrase  "nicht Bach aber Meer haben wir" (English: Not a brook but an ocean have we.) 

Recommended Listening:

 

Bach - Harpsichord concerto in F minor BWV 1056 - Henstra | Netherlands Bach Society. YouTube, uploaded by Netherlands Bach Society. Accessed March 21, 2020. 

Janet Baker: Cantata BWV 82 (Ich habe genug) by Bach. YouTube, uploaded by Muzicazaille. Accessed February 28, 2022. Ich habe genug (original: Ich habe genung, English: "I have enough" or "I am content"), BWV 82, is a church cantata by JS Bach. He composed the solo cantata for bass in Leipzig in 1727 for the Feast Mariae Reinigung (Purification of Mary) and first performed it on 2 February 1727. In a version for soprano, BWV 82a, possibly first performed in 1731, the part of the obbligato oboe is replaced by a flute. Part of the music appears in the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach.  At the cantata's centre is a lullaby of consoling sweetness, generosity of spirit and somnolent blessedness, its melody priceless.

Timeline 028: The Life and Times of Johann Sebastian Bach, by James Stewart.  VPR Classical. Accessed March 21, 2016.

Timeline 030: The Bach Children,  by James Stewart. VPR Classical. Accessed March 21, 2016. 

Trivia:

Johann Sebastian Bach has the same birthday as Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky (born 1839), famous for "Pictures at an Exhibition." Mussorgsky was a member of the Russian group of composers who called themselves "The Five"or "The Mighty Handful."

JS Bach married twice and had more than 20 children, although several died in infancy. His music was "rediscovered" in the 19th century with the "Bach revival" promoted by Felix Mendelssohn.


Video Credit:

Bach, Matthäus-Passion BWV 244. Herreweghe. YouTube, uploaded by Netherlands Bach Society. Accessed September 25, 2020.  The St Matthew Passion performed by the Netherlands Bach Society for All of Bach. Since 1870 the Netherlands has had a rich tradition of annual St Matthew Passion performances. The Netherlands Bach Society was formed in 1921, in reaction to the popular performances by Willem Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw Orchestra. The founders believed that the St Matthew should be performed where it belonged – in a church. The annual performance by the Bach Society in Naarden grew to become 'the' Dutch St Matthew Passion. Recorded for the project All of Bach on April 16th and 19th 2014 at the Grote Kerk, Naarden.

 
J.S. Bach: St John Passion, BWV 245 - Bach Collegium Japan, Masaaki Suzuki (HD 1080p). YouTube, uploaded by Ifikratis Vlahos. Accessed March 21, 2017. (Presented by Bach Collegium Japan with Masaaki Suzuki, Conducting. Midori Suzuki, soprano; Robin Blaze, countertenor; Gerd Türk, tenor; Stephan MacLeod, bass baritone; Chiyuki Urano, bass.  Japan, Tokyo, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, 2000.  English subtitles )

J.S. Bach: Magnificat. Anna Nesyba (Soprano I).  Monteverdichor Würzburg.  Monteverdi Ensemble. Matthias Beckert (Conductor).  November 10, 2014, Neubaukirche, Würzburg, Germany.  Uploaded by Monteverdichor Würzburg. Accessed March 31, 2015.



Image Credit:

Johann Sebastian Bach.  Wiki Commons / Public Domain

Resources:

• Chambers Biographical Dictionary, edited by Una McGovern (2002)
  
• Kennedy, Michael, Ed. (1994) Oxford Dictionary of Music. Oxford OUP.   
• Latham, Alison, Ed. (2002) The Oxford companion to Music. Oxford OUP.
• Sadie, Stanley, Ed. (1994). The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. London: Macmillan Publishers. 

(c) March 2012. Updated February 28, 2022. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.