Johann Sebastian Bach biography. Biography of Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach
Years of life: 1685-1750

Bach was a genius of such magnitude that even today it seems to be an unsurpassed, exceptional phenomenon. His work is truly inexhaustible: after the "discovery" of Bach's music in the 19th century, interest in it has steadily increased, Bach's works are gaining an audience even among listeners who usually do not show interest in "serious" art.

Bach's work, on the one hand, was a kind of summing up. In his music, the composer relied on everything that had been achieved and discovered in the art of music. before him. Bach had an excellent knowledge of German organ music, choral polyphony, and the peculiarities of the German and Italian violin style. He not only met, but also copied the works of contemporary French harpsichordists (primarily Couperin), Italian violinists (Corelli, Vivaldi), and major representatives of Italian opera. Possessing an amazing receptivity to everything new, Bach developed and generalized the accumulated creative experience.

At the same time, he was a brilliant innovator who opened up for the development of world musical culture new perspectives. His powerful influence was also reflected in the work of the great composers of the 19th century (Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Glinka, Taneyev), and in the works of outstanding masters of the 20th century (Shostakovich, Honegger).

Bach's creative heritage is almost boundless, it includes more than 1000 works of various genres, and among them there are those whose scale is exceptional for their time (MP). Bach's works can be divided into three main genre groups:

• vocal and instrumental music;
• organ music,
• music for other instruments (clavier, violin, flute, etc.) and instrumental ensembles (including orchestral).

The works of each group are mainly associated with a certain period of Bach's creative biography. The most significant organ works were created in Weimar, clavier and orchestral works mainly belong to the Köthen period, vocal and instrumental compositions were mostly written in Leipzig.

The main genres in which Bach worked are traditional: these are masses and passions, cantatas and oratorios, choral arrangements, preludes and fugues, dance suites and concertos. Inheriting these genres from his predecessors, Bach gave them a scope that they did not know before. He updated them with new means of expression, enriched them with features borrowed from other genres of musical creativity. A striking example is . Created for the clavier, it includes the expressive qualities of large organ improvisations, as well as dramatic recitations of theatrical origin.

Bach's creativity, for all its universality and inclusiveness, "bypassed" one of the leading genres of its time - opera. At the same time, little distinguishes some of Bach's secular cantatas from the comedic interlude, which was already being reborn at that time in Italy in opera-buffa. The composer often called them, like the first Italian operas, "dramas on music." It can be said that such works by Bach as "Coffee", "Peasant" cantatas, solved as witty genre scenes from everyday life, anticipated the German Singspiel.

Circle of images and ideological content

The figurative content of Bach's music is boundless in its breadth. The majestic and the simple are equally accessible to him. Bach's art contains both deep grief, and simple-minded humor, the sharpest drama and philosophical reflection. Like Handel, Bach reflected the essential aspects of his era - the first half of the 18th century, but others - not effective heroism, but the religious and philosophical problems put forward by the Reformation. In his music, he reflects on the most important, eternal issues of human life - about the purpose of a person, about his moral duty, about life and death. These reflections are most often connected with religious themes, because Bach served in the church almost all his life, wrote a huge part of the music for the church, he himself was a deeply religious person, who knew the Holy Scripture perfectly. He observed church holidays, fasted, confessed, and a few days before his death he took communion. The Bible in two languages ​​- German and Latin - was his reference book.

Bach's Jesus Christ is the main character and ideal. In this image, the composer saw the personification of the best human qualities: fortitude, fidelity to the chosen path, purity of thoughts. The most sacred thing in the history of Christ for Bach is Golgotha ​​and the cross, the sacrificial feat of Jesus for the salvation of mankind. This theme, being the most important in Bach's work, receives ethical, moral interpretation.

Musical symbolism

The complex world of Bach's works is revealed through the musical symbolism that has developed in line with the Baroque aesthetics. By Bach's contemporaries, his music, including instrumental, "pure", was perceived as understandable speech due to the presence of stable melodic turns in it, expressing certain concepts, emotions, ideas. By analogy with classical oratory, these sound formulas are called musical rhetorical figures. Some rhetorical figures were pictorial in nature (for example, anabasis - ascent, catabasis - descent, circulatio - rotation, fuga - running, tirata - arrow); others imitated the intonations of human speech (exclamatio - exclamation - ascending sixth); still others conveyed an affect (suspiratio - a sigh, passus duriusculus - a chromatic move used to express grief, suffering).

Thanks to stable semantics, musical figures have turned into "signs", emblems of certain feelings and concepts. For example, descending melodies (catadasis) were used to symbolize sadness, dying, and laying in a coffin; ascending scales expressed the symbolism of the resurrection, etc.

Symbolic motifs are present in all of Bach's compositions, and these are not only musical and rhetorical figures. Melodies often appear in symbolic meaning protestant chant, their cuts.

Bach was associated with the Protestant chorale throughout his life - both by religion and by occupation as a church musician. He constantly worked with the chorale in a variety of genres - organ choral preludes, cantatas, passions. It is quite natural that P.Kh. became an integral part of Bach's musical language.

Chorals were sung by the entire Protestant community; they entered the spiritual world of a person as a natural, necessary element of the worldview. Choral melodies and the religious content associated with them were known to everyone, so the people of Bach's time easily had associations with the meaning of the chorale, with a specific event in Holy Scripture. Penetrating all the work of Bach, the melodies of P.Kh. fill his music, including instrumental, with a spiritual program that clarifies the content.

Symbols are also stable sound combinations that have constant meanings. One of Bach's most important symbols - cross symbol, consisting of four differently directed notes. If you graphically connect the first with the third, and the second with the fourth, a cross pattern is formed. (It is curious that the surname BACH, when transcribed into musical notes, forms the same pattern. Probably, the composer perceived this as a kind of finger of fate).

Finally, there are numerous connections between Bach's cantata-oratorio (i.e., textual) compositions and his instrumental music. Based on all the above connections and analysis of various rhetorical figures, a Bach's musical symbol system. A. Schweitzer, F. Busoni, B. Yavorsky, M. Yudina made a huge contribution to its development.

"Second birth"

Bach's brilliant work was not truly appreciated by his contemporaries. Enjoying fame as an organist, he did not attract due attention as a composer during his lifetime. Not a single serious work was written about his work, only an insignificant part of the works was published. After Bach's death, his manuscripts gathered dust in the archives, many were irretrievably lost, and the composer's name was forgotten.

Genuine interest in Bach arose only in the 19th century. It was started by F. Mendelssohn, who accidentally found the notes of the Passion according to Matthew in the library. Under his direction this work was performed in Leipzig. Most listeners, literally shocked by the music, have never heard the name of the author. This was the second birth of Bach.

On the occasion of the centenary of his death (1850), a Bach society, which aimed to publish all the surviving manuscripts of the composer in the form of a complete collection of works (46 volumes).

Several of Bach's sons became prominent musicians: Philipp Emmanuel, Wilhelm Friedemann (Dresden), Johann Christoph (Bückenburg), Johann Christian (the youngest, "London" Bach).

Biography of Bach

YEARS	LIFE	CREATION
	Was born in Eisenach in the family of a hereditary musician. This profession was traditional for the entire Bach family: almost all of its representatives were musicians for several centuries. Johann Sebastian's first musical mentor was his father. In addition, having a beautiful voice, he sang in the choir.
At 9 years old	He remained an orphan and was taken into the family of his older brother, Johann Christoph, who served as an organist in Ohrdrufe.
	At the age of 15, he graduated from Ordruf Lyceum with honors and moved to Lüneburg, where he entered the choir of "chosen singers" (in Michaelschule). By the age of 17, he owned the harpsichord, violin, viola, and organ.
	Over the next few years, he changes his place of residence several times, serving as a musician (violinist, organist) in small German cities: Weimar (1703), Arnstadt (1704), Mühlhausen(1707). The reason for moving each time is the same - dissatisfaction with working conditions, a dependent position.	The first compositions appear - for organ, clavier ("Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother"), the first spiritual cantatas.
	WEIMAR PERIOD Entered the service of the Duke of Weimar as court organist and chamber musician in the chapel.	The years of Bach's first maturity as a composer were very creatively fruitful. The culmination in organ creativity has been reached - all the best that Bach created for this instrument has appeared: Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, Prelude and Fugue in C Minor, Toccata in C Major, Passacaglia in C Minor, as well as the famous "Organ Book" In parallel with organ works, he works on the genre of cantata, on arrangements for the clavier of Italian violin concertos (most of all by Vivaldi). The Weimar years are also characterized by the first appeal to the genre of solo violin sonata and suite.
	KETHEN PERIOD He becomes the "director of chamber music", that is, the head of the entire court musical life at the court of the Köthen prince. In an effort to give his sons a university education, he tries to move to a large city.	Since there was no good organ and choir in Köthen, he focused on clavier (Volume I of the "HTK", Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, French and English Suites) and ensemble music (6 "Brandenburg" concertos, sonatas for solo violin).
	LEIPZIG PERIOD Becomes a cantor (choir leader) in Thomasshul - a school at the church of St. Thomas. In addition to the huge creative work and service in the church school, he took an active part in the activities of the "Music College" of the city. It was a society of music lovers, which organized concerts of secular music for the inhabitants of the city.	The time of the highest flowering of Bach's genius. The best works for choir and orchestra were created: the Mass in B minor, the Passion for John and the Passion for Matthew, the Christmas Oratorio, most of the cantatas (about 300 - in the first three years). In the last decade, Bach has focused most of all on music free from any applied purpose. Such are the II volume of "HTK" (1744), as well as the partitas, "Italian Concerto. Organ Mass, Aria with Various Variations” (after Bach's death they were called Goldberg's).
	Recent years have been marred by eye disease. After an unsuccessful operation, he went blind, but continued to compose.	Two polyphonic cycles - "Art of the Fugue" and "Musical Offering".

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Biography

Johann Sebastian Bach is a great German composer of the 18th century. More than two hundred and fifty years have passed since the death of Bach, and interest in his music is growing. During his lifetime, the composer did not receive the deserved recognition as a writer, but was known as a performer and, especially, as an improviser.

Interest in Bach's music arose almost a hundred years after his death: in 1829, under the baton of the German composer Mendelssohn, Bach's greatest work, The Matthew Passion, was publicly performed. For the first time - in Germany - the complete collection of Bach's works was published. And musicians all over the world play Bach's music, marveling at its beauty and inspiration, mastery and perfection. "Not a stream! “The sea must be his name,” said the great Beethoven about Bach.

Bach's ancestors have long been famous for their musicality. It is known that the composer's great-great-grandfather, a baker by profession, played the zither. Flutists, trumpeters, organists, violinists came out of the Bach family. In the end, every musician in Germany began to be called Bach and every Bach a musician.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685 in the small German town of Eisenach. He received his first violin skills from his father, a violinist and city musician. The boy had an excellent voice (soprano) and sang in the choir of the city school. No one doubted his future profession: little Bach was to become a musician. For nine years, the child was left an orphan. His elder brother, who served as a church organist in the city of Ohrdruf, became his tutor. The brother assigned the boy to the gymnasium and continued to teach music. But he was an insensitive musician. Classes were monotonous and boring. For an inquisitive ten-year-old boy, this was excruciating. Therefore, he strove for self-education. Having learned that his brother kept a notebook with works of famous composers in a locked closet, the boy secretly took out this notebook at night and copied notes in the moonlight. This tedious work lasted six months, it severely damaged the vision of the future composer. And what was the grief of the child when his brother caught him one day doing this and took away the already transcribed notes.

At the age of fifteen, Johann Sebastian decided to start an independent life and moved to Lüneburg. In 1703 he graduated from the gymnasium and received the right to enter the university. But Bach did not have to use this right, since it was necessary to earn a livelihood.

During his life, Bach moved from city to city several times, changing jobs. Almost every time the reason turned out to be the same - unsatisfactory working conditions, a humiliating, dependent position. But no matter how unfavorable the situation, he never left the desire for new knowledge, for improvement. With tireless energy, he constantly studied the music of not only German, but also Italian and French composers. Bach did not miss the opportunity to personally meet outstanding musicians, to study the manner of their performance. Once, having no money for a trip, young Bach went to another city on foot to listen to the famous organist Buxtehude play.

The composer also steadily defended his attitude to creativity, his views on music. Contrary to the admiration of court society for foreign music, Bach studied and widely used German folk songs and dances in his works with special love. Having perfectly known the music of composers from other countries, he did not blindly imitate them. Extensive and deep knowledge helped him improve and polish his composing skills.

Sebastian Bach's talent was not limited to this area. He was the best organ and harpsichord player among his contemporaries. And if, as a composer, Bach did not receive recognition during his lifetime, then in improvisations behind the organ his skill was unsurpassed. This was forced to admit even his rivals.

It is said that Bach was invited to Dresden to take part in a competition with the then famous French organist and harpsichordist Louis Marchand. The day before, a preliminary acquaintance of the musicians took place, both of them played the harpsichord. That same night, Marchand hurriedly left, thus recognizing the undeniable superiority of Bach. On another occasion, in the city of Kassel, Bach amazed his listeners by performing a solo on the organ pedal. Such success did not turn Bach's head; he always remained a very modest and hardworking person. When asked how he achieved such perfection, the composer replied: "I had to work hard, whoever is as hard will achieve the same."

From 1708 Bach settled in Weimar. Here he served as court musician and city organist. During the Weimar period, the composer created his best organ works. Among them are the famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor, the famous Passacaglia in C minor. These works are significant and deep in content, grandiose in their scale.

In 1717 Bach and his family moved to Köthen. At the court of the Prince of Köthen, where he was invited, there was no organ. Bach wrote mainly clavier and orchestral music. The composer's duties included directing a small orchestra, accompanying the prince's singing, and entertaining him by playing the harpsichord. Easily coping with his duties, Bach devoted all his free time to creativity. The works for the clavier created at that time represent the second pinnacle in his work after organ compositions. Two-part and three-part inventions were written in Köthen (Bach called three-part inventions "sinfonias"). The composer intended these pieces to study with his eldest son Wilhelm Friedemann. Pedagogical goals guided Bach in the creation of suites - "French" and "English". In Köthen, Bach also completed 24 preludes and fugues, which made up the first volume of a great work called The Well-Tempered Clavier. In the same period, the famous "Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue" in D minor was also written.

In our time, Bach's inventions and suites have become obligatory pieces in the programs of music schools, and the preludes and fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier - in schools and conservatories. Intended by the composer for a pedagogical purpose, these works are also of interest to a mature musician. Therefore, Bach's pieces for the clavier, starting with relatively easy inventions and ending with the most complex Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, can be heard at concerts and on the radio, performed by the world's best pianists.

From Köthen in 1723, Bach moved to Leipzig, where he remained until the end of his life. Here he took the position of cantor (choir leader) of the singing school at the Church of St. Thomas. Bach was obliged to serve the main churches of the city with the help of the school and be responsible for the state and quality of church music. He had to accept difficult conditions for himself. Along with the duties of a teacher, educator and composer, there were also such instructions: "Do not leave the city without the permission of Mr. Burgomaster." As before, his creative possibilities were limited. Bach had to compose such music for the church that "would not be too long, and also ... opera-like, but that would arouse reverence in the listeners." But Bach, as always, sacrificing a lot, never gave up the main thing - his artistic convictions. Throughout his life, he created works that are striking in their deep content and inner richness.

So it was this time. In Leipzig, Bach created his best vocal and instrumental compositions: most of the cantatas (in total, Bach wrote about 250 cantatas), The Passion According to John, The Passion According to Matthew, Mass in B minor. "Passion", or "passions" according to John and Matthew is a story about the suffering and death of Jesus Christ in the description of the evangelists John and Matthew. The Mass is close in content to the Passion. In the past, both the mass and the "passion" were choral chants in the Catholic Church. In Bach, these works go far beyond the scope of the church service. The Mass and the Passion by Bach are monumental works of a concert character. Soloists, choir, orchestra, organ participate in their performance. In terms of their artistic significance, the cantatas, the Passion and the Mass represent the third and highest pinnacle of the composer's work.

The church authorities were clearly dissatisfied with Bach's music. As in previous years, she was found too bright, colorful, humane. Indeed, Bach's music did not answer, but rather contradicted the strict church atmosphere, the mood of detachment from everything earthly. Along with major vocal and instrumental works, Bach continued to write music for the clavier. Almost at the same time as the Mass, the famous "Italian Concerto" was written. Bach later completed the second volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier, which included 24 new preludes and fugues.

In addition to the huge creative work and service in the church school, Bach took an active part in the activities of the "Music College" of the city. It was a society of music lovers, which arranged concerts of secular, not church music for the inhabitants of the city. With great success, Bach performed in concerts of the "Musical Collegium" as a soloist and conductor. Especially for the concerts of the society, he wrote many orchestral, clavier and vocal works of a secular nature.

But the main work of Bach - the head of the school of choristers - brought him nothing but grief and trouble. The funds allocated by the church for the school were negligible, and the singing boys were starving and poorly dressed. The level of their musical abilities was also low. Singers were often recruited, regardless of the opinion of Bach. The school orchestra was more than modest: four trumpets and four violins!

All petitions for help to the school, submitted by Bach to the city authorities, were ignored. The cantor had to answer for everything.

The only consolation was still creativity, family. The grown sons - Wilhelm Friedemann, Philip Emmanuel, Johann Christian - turned out to be talented musicians. Even during the life of their father, they became famous composers. Anna Magdalena Bach, the second wife of the composer, was distinguished by great musicality. She had an excellent ear and a beautiful, strong soprano voice. The eldest daughter of Bach also sang well. For his family, Bach composed vocal and instrumental ensembles.

The last years of the composer's life were overshadowed by a serious eye disease. After an unsuccessful operation, Bach became blind. But even then he continued to compose, dictating his works for recording. Bach's death remained almost unnoticed by the musical community. He was soon forgotten. The fate of Bach's wife and youngest daughter was sad. Anna Magdalena died ten years later in a house of contempt for the poor. The youngest daughter Regina eked out a beggarly existence. In the last years of her difficult life, Beethoven helped her. Bach died on July 28, 1750.

He is one of those rare and wonderful people who could record the Divine light.

Johann Sebastian Bach is the most remarkable member of the famous Bach musical family and one of the greatest composers of all time. He was born March 31, 1685 in Eisenach and died July 28, 1750 in Leipzig.

Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach. Artist E. G. Haussmann, 1748

Having lost his father, Johann Ambrose Bach (1645 - 1695), at the age of 10, Johann Sebastian was placed in the care of his older brother Johann Christoph, an organist in Ohrdruf (Thuringia), who laid the foundation for his musical studies. After the death of his brother, 14-year-old Johann Sebastian went to Lüneburg, where he entered the gymnasium choir as a treble and received a higher school education. From here he often traveled to Hamburg to get acquainted with the playing of the organist Reinken, as well as Celle, and to listen to the famous court chapel. In 1703 Bach became a violinist at the court chapel in Weimar. In 1704 he became an organist in Arnstadt, from where he traveled to Lübeck in 1705 to listen to and study with the famous organist Buchstegude. In 1707, Johann Sebastian became organist in Mühlhausen, in 1708 he became court organist and chamber musician in Weimar, a position he held until 1717.

Bach. The best works

This year Bach met in Dresden with the famous French pianist Marchand, whom he made such an impression with his playing that he suddenly left, evading the musical competition offered to him. In the same year, Bach became a court conductor at the prince of Anhalt-Köthen, and in 1723 he received the vacant cantor's position at the school of St. Thomas in Leipzig, which he held until his death. In addition to occasional trips to Dresden after his appointment as Saxon-Weissenfell Kapellmeister and a visit to Berlin (1747), where he was honorably received by Frederick the Great, Bach lived in Leipzig in complete seclusion, devoting himself entirely to service, family and students. It was here that his most significant works arose, for the most part (especially spiritual cantatas) due to official duties. In old age, he had the misfortune to go blind.

Johann Sebastian Bach. life and creation

Johann Sebastian Bach was not only a brilliant composer, but also one of the greatest piano and organ performers. Contemporaries most of all admired his last quality, while the full recognition of his outstanding composing activity fell to later generations.

Bach was married twice: first to his cousin Maria Barbara Bach, daughter of Johann Michael Bach, who died in 1720, and then (since 1721) to Anna Magdalene, daughter of chamber musician Wülken in Weissenfels, who outlived her husband. Bach left behind 6 sons and 4 daughters; 5 more sons and 5 daughters died before his death.

Many famous musicians came out of the Bach school. Among them, the first place is occupied by his four sons, who made themselves a significant name in the history of music, or at least occupied an outstanding position in the musical world in their time.

About the works of the composer - see the article Bach's Creativity - Briefly. Biographies of other great musicians - see the block "More on the topic ..." below the text of the article.

The outstanding German composer, organist and harpsichordist Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany. He belonged to an extensive German family, most of whom had been professional musicians in Germany for three centuries. Johann Sebastian received his primary musical education (playing the violin and harpsichord) under the guidance of his father, a court musician.

In 1695, after the death of his father (his mother died earlier), the boy was taken into the family of his elder brother Johann Christoph, who served as a church organist at St. Michaelis Church in Ohrdruf.

In the years 1700-1703, Johann Sebastian studied at the school of church singers in Lüneburg. During his studies, he visited Hamburg, Celle and Lübeck to get acquainted with the work of famous musicians of his time, new French music. In the same years he wrote his first works for organ and clavier.

In 1703, Bach worked in Weimar as a court violinist, in the years 1703-1707 as a church organist in Arnstadt, then from 1707 to 1708 in the Mühlhasen church. His creative interests were then mainly focused on music for organ and clavier.

In 1708-1717, Johann Sebastian Bach served as court musician to the Duke of Weimar in Weimar. During this period, he created numerous choral preludes, an organ toccata and a fugue in D minor, a passacaglia in C minor. The composer wrote music for the clavier, more than 20 spiritual cantatas.

In 1717-1723, Bach served with Leopold, Duke of Anhalt-Köthen, in Köthen. Three sonatas and three partitas for solo violin, six suites for solo cello, English and French suites for clavier, six Brandenburg concertos for orchestra were written here. Of particular interest is the collection "The Well-Tempered Clavier" - 24 preludes and fugues, written in all keys and in practice proving the advantages of the tempered musical system, around the approval of which there were heated debates. Subsequently, Bach created the second volume of the Well-Tempered Clavier, also consisting of 24 preludes and fugues in all keys.

In Köthen, the "Notebook of Anna Magdalena Bach" was started, which includes, along with pieces by various authors, five of the six "French Suites". In the same years, "Little Preludes and Fughettas. English Suites, Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue" and other clavier compositions were created. During this period, the composer wrote a number of secular cantatas, most of them not preserved and received a second life with a new, spiritual text.

In 1723, the performance of his "Passion according to John" (a vocal-dramatic work based on the gospel texts) took place in the church of St. Thomas in Leipzig.

In the same year, Bach received the position of cantor (regent and teacher) in the church of St. Thomas in Leipzig and the school attached to this church.

In 1736, Bach received from the Dresden court the title of Royal Polish and Saxon Electoral Court Composer.

During this period, the composer reached the pinnacle of mastery, creating magnificent examples in various genres - sacred music: cantatas (about 200 survived), "Magnificat" (1723), masses, including the immortal "High Mass" in B minor (1733), "Passion according to Matthew" (1729); dozens of secular cantatas (among them - the comic "Coffee" and "Peasant"); works for organ, orchestra, harpsichord, among the latter - "Aria with 30 variations" ("Goldberg Variations", 1742). In 1747, Bach wrote a cycle of plays "Musical Offerings" dedicated to the Prussian King Frederick II. The last work of the composer was the work "The Art of the Fugue" (1749-1750) - 14 fugues and four canons on one theme.

Johann Sebastian Bach is the largest figure in the world musical culture, his work is one of the pinnacles of philosophical thought in music. Freely crossing the features of not only different genres, but also national schools, Bach created immortal masterpieces that stand above time.

In the late 1740s, Bach's health deteriorated, with a sudden loss of sight particularly worrying. Two unsuccessful cataract surgeries resulted in complete blindness.

He spent the last months of his life in a darkened room, where he composed the last chorale "I stand before Thy throne", dictating it to his son-in-law, the organist Altnikol.

On July 28, 1750, Johann Sebastian Bach died in Leipzig. He was buried in the cemetery near the church of St. John. Due to the lack of a monument, his grave was soon lost. In 1894, the remains were found and reburied in a stone sarcophagus in the church of St. John. After the church was destroyed by bombing during World War II, his ashes were preserved and reburied in 1949 in the altar of St. Thomas Church.

During his lifetime, Johann Sebastian Bach enjoyed fame, but after the death of the composer, his name and music were forgotten. Interest in Bach's work arose only at the end of the 1820s, in 1829 the composer Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy organized a performance of the St. Matthew Passion in Berlin. In 1850, the Bach Society was created, which sought to identify and publish all the composer's manuscripts - 46 volumes were published in half a century.

With the mediation of Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in 1842 in Leipzig, the first monument to Bach was erected in front of the building of the old school at the Church of St. Thomas.

In 1907, the Bach Museum was opened in Eisenach, where the composer was born, in 1985 - in Leipzig, where he died.

Johann Sebastian Bach was married twice. In 1707 he married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach. After her death in 1720, in 1721 the composer married Anna Magdalena Wilcken. Bach had 20 children, but only nine of them survived their father. Four sons became composers - Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784), Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach (1714-1788), Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782), Johann Christoph Bach (1732-1795).

The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources

Johann Sebastian was born into a family that is considered the largest musical dynasty in Germany. Among the ancestors of Bach, Veit Bach, a baker who played the zither, and Johannes Bach, a city musician in Erfurt, were especially famous. The descendants of the latter became so famous that in some medieval German dialects the surname "Bach" became a household name and received the meaning "city musician".

Bach's father is Johann Amvroysky, a city musician.

Johann Sebastian's uncle, Johann Christoph, served as organist in the city. Naturally, the future greatest representative of the dynasty began to study music from a very early age.

1693 - the younger Bach enters a church school. The boy has a good soprano voice and is making progress.

1695 - In two years, Johann Sebastian loses both parents. He is taken in by his older brother, who served as a musician in Ordfur.

1695 - 1700 - Ohrdruf. Bach goes to school and studies music under the guidance of his brother. At the same time, as a teenager, Johann Bach severely lost his sight - at night, by the light of the moon, he copied notes from his brother.

The school teacher recommends that Bach go to Lüneburg, to the famous school at St. Michael's Church. Johann Sebastian walks 300 kilometers from Central to Northern Germany. In Lüneburg, Bach lives on full board and even receives a small stipend. Master organist Georg Böhm becomes one of the mentors of the future composer in Lünebur.

1702 - after leaving school, Bach has the right to go to university, but he cannot afford it, since he needs to earn a living. After spending some time in Lüneburg, the future composer goes back to Thuringia. Here he manages to serve as a violinist in the private chapel of Prince Johann Ernest of Saxony. Then Bach stops in Arnstadt, where he spends 4 years.

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1703 - 1707 - Arnstadt. Bach serves as a church organist, while not ceasing to study the music and performance style of famous musicians of the time.

1707 - Bach accepts an invitation to serve in Mühlhausen, as organist in the church of St. Blaise. Here he begins to write cantatas and moonlights as an organ repairman. Bach spends a year in Mühlhausen.

1708 - Johann Sebastian Bach marries his cousin, also an orphan, Maria Barbara. Maria Barbara gave birth to Bach 7 children, of whom four survived.

The same year - moving to Weimar. Johann Bach finally stays in the city for a long time, he is the court organist and composer. This time is considered to be the beginning of Bach's creative path as a composer of music. Numerous pieces for organ and harpsichord were written in Weimar.

1717 - 1723 - Keten. Bach receives a place as court bandmaster at the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Keten. The duties of Johann Sebastian included: to accompany the prince's singing (according to contemporaries, who had a good voice), to accompany him playing the harpsichord and gamba, and also to lead the chapel of 18 musicians. Here he wrote the Well-Tempered Clavier (Volume 1), sonatas and suites for violin and cello solo, six Brandenburg Concertos

The appearance of Bach in the position of court bandmaster was preceded by an event in Dresden: there was to be a performance of the "world star" of that time, L. Marchand. The musicians met on the eve of the concert, they even managed to play together, after which Marchand left Dresden, unable to withstand the competition and recognizing Bach as a better musician than himself.

June 1720 - Maria Barbara dies suddenly. Bach becomes a widower.

1721 - Johann Bach marries for the second time the daughter of a court musician from Weissenfeld, Anna Magdalene Wilken. She also represents a musical dynasty, has a beautiful voice and good hearing. Helping her husband, Anna Magdalena rewrote many of his works. The second marriage becomes much more successful for the composer than the first. For the beloved Anna Magdalene, Bach creates the "Notebook for Anna Magdalene Bach". In this marriage, Bach has 13 children, but six of them survive.

1722 - tired of secular music, Bach applies for a vacancy in Leipzig as a cantor. A year later, he gets this place.

1723 - 1750 - Leipzig.

1723 - in Leipzig, the music director of the city and the cantor of the church choir at the school of St. Thomas are waiting for the already famous musician. It is here that Johann Sebastian begins his work as head of the chorister school. Teaching burdens the composer, taking time away from creativity. In addition, the school of choristers is poorly maintained, the students of Johann Sebastian are constantly hungry and poorly dressed. And the school authorities care little about the quality of the boys' singing abilities.

At the same time, the composer takes an active part in the activities of the "Music Collegium" of Leipzig.

In Leipzig, three sons of Johann Sebastian Bach are born: Wilhelm Friedemann, Philip Emmanuel, John Christian. All of them were gifted musicians.

Leipzig period of creativity - Bach writes "Passion according to Matthew", "Passion according to John", "High Mass", "Majestic Oratorio", Mass in B minor, "Christmas Oratorio", etc. The authorities are dissatisfied with the works of Johann Sebastian - they are "not churchly" , they lack proper rigor, but there is an abundance of brilliance of earthly music. Mutual dissatisfaction between the composer and his superiors eventually spills over into an open conflict.

1740 - Bach, formally remaining in the service, actually goes into his own work. He writes instrumental music, tries to publish some of his work.

1747 - a trip to Berlin. Philip Emmanuel, son of Bach, serves under Frederick II. He provides his father with a speech at the royal court. Bach plays for Friedrich and his entourage, improvises on a theme given by the king. Returning to Leipzig, Bach puts this improvisation at the heart of his work "Musical Offering" and dedicates it to Frederick II of Prussia.