The most interesting things from Bach’s life – a brief biography for children. Famous quotes by Bach. All the best from Bach's biography and work.

Bach - a brief biography for children

J. S. Bach (1685-1750)- German composer, teacher, organist. During his life he wrote more than a thousand pieces of music.

Brief biography of Bach:

• Born March 31, 1685.
• Place of birth: Eisenach, Germany.
• Died: July 28, 1750.

In Eisenach, the future great composer Johann Sebastian Bach. The boy was gifted with an ear for music, so from childhood, at the behest of his parents, he studied music. The family supported the development of their son in every possible way - the older brother, for example, taught his younger brother to play the organ.

From the age of 15 Bach lived in Lüneburg, where he studied vocals and playing various musical instruments. There, the future star of German classics managed to meet the musical stars of that time - famous composers, whose works Bach looked up to.

At the age of 16, Bach, influenced by the music of his idols, created the first piece of music, which made the boy popular. Since 1700 he created his organ works, taking step by step along the way musical career to independence and glory.

Since 1705, J. Bach has been writing music for the church choir of his city, receiving financial compensation. Gradually, the fame of the gifted young man spread among the nearby towns - more and more people came to Bach’s concerts, eager to hear another brilliant organ work.

In 1708, Bach got a permanent job church bandmaster and composer, increases the circle of professional contacts, gets acquainted with a larger number of talented figures, gathering around him an environment permeated with creative, constructive energy.

Personal life of J. S. Bach

In 1707 the composer married on a second cousin, Maria Barbara. In the same year, Bach changed jobs, moving with his family to Weimar. The marriage turned out to be surprisingly successful in the first years - the wife gave birth to the composer 6 children, three of whom, unfortunately, died in infancy. The children from Bach's first marriage also became musicians.

In 1720 his wife dies. Children needed to be raised, so a year later Bach married again. Bach's second wife was young, never before known to anyone. famous singer, Anna Magdalene Wilhelm, who became the star of the Kapellmeister Choir. Second wife Bahu gave birth to 13 children.

Since 1717, Bach worked and created under the guidance of the Duke of Anhalt-Kethene - normal practice for the 18th-19th centuries. In the period from 1717 to 1725, suites, cello parts, and compositions for orchestra were born.

In 1723, Bach became director of the music school in Leipzig. Until the end of his life, the composer was extremely in demand - spectators and patrons were always pleased with the musical talent of Bach's genius.

Towards the end of his life, Bach gradually lost his sight, so he dictated his last fugues to an assistant. J. S. Bach died on July 28, 1750 in the last city where he worked, in Leipzig.

Bach quotes:

• “Where there is godly music, there is always the gracious presence of God.”
• “The purpose of music is to touch hearts.”

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Johann Sebastian Bach is a German composer and musician of the Baroque era, who collected and combined in his work the traditions and most significant achievements of European musical art, and also enriched all this with the virtuoso use of counterpoint and a subtle sense of perfect harmony. Bach is the greatest classic who left a huge legacy that has become the golden fund of world culture. He is a versatile musician whose work has covered almost all known genres. Creating immortal masterpieces, he turned every beat of his compositions into small works, then combining them into priceless creations of perfect beauty and expressiveness that vividly reflected the diverse spiritual world of man.

Biography

Little Johann Sebastian Bach with his family

Johann Sebastian was born on March 31, 1685 in the German town of Eisenach. In the large Bach family, he was the youngest, eighth child (four of them died in infancy). Since the beginning of the 16th century, their family was famous for its musicality; many of its relatives and ancestors were professionals in music (researchers counted about fifty of them). The composer's great-great-grandfather, Faith Bach, was a baker and an excellent player of the zither (a box-shaped plucked musical instrument).

The boy's father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, played the violin in the Eisenach church and worked as a court accompanist (in this position he organized social concerts). The elder brother, Johann Christoph Bach, served as an organist in the church. From their family came so many trumpeters, organists, violinists and flutists that the surname “Bach” became a common noun, the name given to any more or less worthwhile musician, first in Eisenach, and then throughout Germany.

With such family, it is natural that little Johann Sebastian began to learn music before he learned to speak. He received his first violin lessons from his father and greatly pleased his father with his greed for musical knowledge, diligence and abilities. The boy had an excellent voice (soprano) and, while still very young, was a soloist in the choir of a city school. In his future profession no one doubted that Sebastian was bound to become a musician.

When he was nine years old, his mother Elisabeth Lemmerhirt died. A year later, the father also died, but the child was not left alone; his older brother Johann Christoph took him in with him. He was a sedate and respected musician and teacher in the city of Ohrdruf. Together with his students, Johann Christoph taught his younger brother to play church music on the harpsichord.

However, to young Sebastian these activities seemed monotonous, boring and painful. He began to educate himself, especially when he found out that his older brother had a notebook with works by famous composers in a locked closet. At night, young Bach would go into the closet, take out a notebook and copy out the notes in the moonlight.

From such tiring night work, the young man’s eyesight began to deteriorate. What a shame it was when the older brother discovered Sebastian doing this and took away all the notes.

Music

In 1703, after graduating from the gymnasium in Lüneburg, Johann Bach got a job as a court musician in the chapel of the Weimar Duke Johann Ernst. Bach played the violin for six months and gained his first popularity as a performer. But soon Johann Sebastian got tired of pleasing the ears of gentlemen by playing the violin - he dreamed of developing and opening new horizons in art. Therefore, without hesitation, he agreed to take the vacant position of court organist in the Church of St. Boniface in Arnstadt, which is 200 kilometers from Weimar.

Johann Bach worked three days a week and received a high salary. The church organ, tuned according to the new system, expanded the capabilities of the young performer and composer: in Arnstadt, Bach wrote three dozen organ works, capriccios, cantatas and suites. But tense relations with the authorities pushed Johann Bach to leave the city after three years.

The last straw that outweighed the patience of the church authorities was the long excommunication of the musician from Arnstadt. The inert churchmen, who already disliked the musician for his innovative approach to the performance of cult sacred works, gave Bach a humiliating trial for his trip to Lubeck.

The famous organist Dietrich Buxtehude lived and worked in the city, whose improvisations on the organ Bach dreamed of listening to since childhood. Without money for a carriage, Johann went to Lübeck on foot in the fall of 1705. The master's performance shocked the musician: instead of the allotted month, he stayed in the city for four.

After returning to Arnstadt and arguing with his superiors, Johann Bach left his “hometown” and went to the Thuringian city of Mühlhausen, where he found work as an organist in the Church of St. Blaise.

The city authorities and church authorities favored the talented musician; his earnings turned out to be higher than in Arnstadt. Johann Bach proposed an economical plan for the restoration of the old organ, approved by the authorities, and wrote a festive cantata, “The Lord is My King,” dedicated to the inauguration of the new consul.

But a year later, the wind of wanderings “removed” Johann Sebastian from his place and transferred him to the previously abandoned Weimar. In 1708, Bach took the place of court organist and settled in a house next to the ducal palace.

The “Weimar period” of Johann Bach’s biography turned out to be fruitful: the composer composed dozens of keyboard and orchestral works, became acquainted with the work of Vivaldi and Corelli, and learned to use dynamic rhythms and harmonic patterns. Communication with his employer, Crown Duke Johann Ernst, a composer and musician, influenced Bach’s work. In 1713, the Duke brought from Italy sheet music of musical works by local composers, which opened new horizons in art for Johann Bach.

In Weimar, Johann Bach began work on the “Organ Book,” a collection of choral preludes for the organ, and composed the majestic organ “Toccata and Fugue in D minor,” “Passacaglia in C minor,” and 20 spiritual cantatas.

By the end of his service in Weimar, Johann Sebastian Bach had become a well-known harpsichordist and organist. In 1717, the famous French harpsichordist Louis Marchand arrived in Dresden. Concertmaster Volumier, having heard about Bach's talent, invited the musician to compete with Marchand. But on the day of the competition, Louis fled the city, afraid of failure.

The desire for change called Bach on the road in the fall of 1717. The Duke released his beloved musician “with disgrace.” The organist was hired as bandmaster by Prince Anhalt-Keten, who was well versed in music. But the prince’s commitment to Calvinism did not allow Bach to compose sophisticated music for worship, so Johann Sebastian wrote mainly secular works.

During the Köthen period, Johann Bach composed six suites for cello, the French and English keyboard suites, and three sonatas for violin solos. The famous “Brandenburg Concertos” and a cycle of works, including 48 preludes and fugues, called “The Well-Tempered Clavier” appeared in Köthen. At the same time, Bach wrote two- and three-voice inventions, which he called “symphonies.”

In 1723, Johann Bach took a job as cantor of the St. Thomas choir in the Leipzig church. In the same year, the public heard the composer’s work “St. John’s Passion.” Soon Bach took the position of “musical director” of all the city churches. During the 6 years of the “Leipzig period”, Johann Bach wrote 5 annual cycles of cantatas, two of which are lost.

The city council gave the composer 8 choral performers, but this number was extremely small, so Bach hired up to 20 musicians himself, which caused frequent clashes with the authorities.

In the 1720s, Johann Bach composed mainly cantatas for performance in the churches of Leipzig. Wanting to expand his repertoire, the composer wrote secular works. In the spring of 1729, the musician was appointed head of the College of Music, a secular ensemble founded by Bach's friend Georg Philipp Telemann. The ensemble performed two-hour concerts twice a week for a year at Zimmerman's Coffee House near the market square.

Most of the secular works composed by the composer from 1730 to 1750 were written by Johann Bach to be performed in coffee houses.

These include the humorous “Coffee Cantata”, the comic “Peasant Cantata”, keyboard pieces and concertos for cello and harpsichord. During these years, the famous “Mass in B minor” was written, which is called the best choral work of all time.

For spiritual performance, Bach created the High Mass in B minor and the St. Matthew Passion, receiving from the court the title of Royal Polish and Saxon court composer as a reward for his creativity.

In 1747, Johann Bach visited the court of King Frederick II of Prussia. The nobleman offered the composer musical theme and asked me to write an improvisation. Bach, a master of improvisation, immediately composed a three-part fugue. He soon supplemented it with a cycle of variations on this theme, called it a “Musical Offering” and sent it as a gift to Frederick II.

Another large cycle, called “The Art of Fugue,” was not completed by Johann Bach. The sons published the series after their father's death.

In the last decade, the composer's fame faded: classicism flourished, and contemporaries considered Bach's style old-fashioned. But young composers, brought up on the works of Johann Bach, revered him. The work of the great organist was loved by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.

A surge of interest in the music of Johann Bach and a revival of the composer's fame began in 1829. In March, pianist and composer Felix Mendelssohn organized a concert in Berlin, where the work “St. Matthew Passion” was performed. An unexpectedly loud response followed, and the performance attracted thousands of spectators. Mendelssohn went with concerts to Dresden, Koenigsberg and Frankfurt.

Johann Bach’s work “A Musical Joke” is still one of the favorites of thousands of performers around the world. Playful, melodic, gentle music sounds in different variations, adapted for playing modern instruments.

Western and Russian musicians popularize Bach's music. Vocal ensemble The Swingle Singers released their debut Jazz album Sebastian Bach, who brought the group of eight vocalists world fame and a Grammy Award.

The music of Johann Bach was also arranged by jazz musicians Jacques Lussier and Joel Spiegelman. Russian performer Fyodor Chistyakov tried to pay tribute to the genius.

Personal life

According to a strange pattern, people who are talented in one thing are often deprived by fate of other opportunities and advantages. Therefore, the personal life of celebrities often does not work out in the best possible way, however, Master Bach was lucky - he did not have any problems with this.

Wives and children

Wife Maria Barbara

While working as an organist in the town of Mühlhausen in northern Germany, Johann began to often visit his uncle Michael Bach. There he became friends with his cousin Maria Barbara, with whom he immediately fell in love. The wedding took place in the village of Dornheim on October seventeenth of the seventh year. Little is known about this marriage, but the couple were happy with each other and they gave birth to seven children, of which only four survived.

• Katharina Dorothea.
• Wilhelm Friedemann.
• Carl Philip Emmanuel.
• Gottfried Bernhard.

In 1720, just at the moment when her husband was not at home, Maria died unexpectedly, which he found out about only a couple of weeks later, when he returned. Historians believe that a healthy and strong woman could be killed by an infection or complications during another pregnancy.

Without having to indulge in suffering for long, already in the twenty-first year Johann Sebastian met the young and dazzlingly beautiful Anna Magdalena, the daughter of a trumpeter and a singer with an angelic soprano. At the beginning of December of the same year, the wedding took place. The marriage produced thirteen children, although only six managed to survive.

• Gottfried Heinrich.
• Elisabeth Juliana Frederica.
• Christoph Friedrich.
• Christian.
• Caroline.
• Regina Suzanne.

The marriage was considered quite happy, the wife helped her husband in everything, and when he suddenly began to go blind, she wrote down notes and scores under his dictation. After the death of their father, the children quarreled over the inheritance and went in different directions.

Death of Bach (1750)

In 1749, the composer's health deteriorated. Bach Johann Sebastian, whose biography ends in 1750, suddenly began to lose his sight and turned for help to the English ophthalmologist John Taylor, who performed 2 operations in March-April 1750. However, both were unsuccessful. The composer's vision never returned. On July 28, at the age of 65, Johann Sebastian died. Contemporary newspapers wrote that “death was the result of unsuccessful eye surgery.” Currently, historians consider the cause of the composer’s death to be a stroke complicated by pneumonia.

Carl Philipp Emmanuel, son of Johann Sebastian, and his student Johann Friedrich Agricola wrote an obituary. It was published in 1754 by Lorenz Christoph Mitzler in music magazine. Johann Sebastian Bach, short biography which is presented above, was originally buried in Leipzig, near the Church of St. John. The grave remained untouched for 150 years. Later, in 1894, the remains were transferred to a special repository in the Church of St. John, and in 1950 - to the Church of St. Thomas, where the composer still rests.

Some interesting moments from the life and work of a composer, musician and virtuoso:

1. After studying the family history, 56 musicians were found among the virtuoso’s relatives.
2. The musician’s surname is translated from German as “stream”.
3. Having heard a piece once, the composer could repeat it without error, which he did repeatedly.
4. Throughout his life, the musician moved eight times.
5. Thanks to Bach, women were allowed to sing in church choirs. His second wife became the first chorus member.
6. He wrote more than 1000 works throughout his life, so he is rightfully considered the most “prolific” author.
7. IN last years During his life, the composer was almost blind, and eye surgeries did not help.
8. Composer's grave for a long time was left without a tombstone.
9. Until now, not all biographical facts are known, some of them are not confirmed by documents. Therefore, the study of his life continues.

(1685-1750)

Johann Sebastian Bach is a great German composer of the 18th century. More than two hundred and fifty years have passed since Bach's death, and interest in his music is growing. During his lifetime, the composer did not receive the recognition he deserved.

Interest in Bach's music arose almost a hundred years after his death: in 1829, under the direction of German composer Mendelssohn was publicly performed greatest work Bach - "St. Matthew Passion". For the first time - in Germany - a complete collection of Bach's works was published. And musicians all over the world play Bach’s music, marveling at its beauty and inspiration, skill and perfection. “Not a stream! “The sea should be his name,” the great Beethoven said 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, and violinists came from the Bach family. Eventually, 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 city school choir. No one doubted his future profession: little Bach was to become a musician. The nine-year-old child was left an orphan. His elder brother, who served as a church organist in the city of Ohrdruf, became his teacher. The brother sent the boy to a gymnasium and continued to teach music. But he was an insensitive musician. Classes were monotonous and boring. For an inquisitive ten-year-old boy, it was painful. Therefore, he strived 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 for six months and severely damaged the future composer’s vision. And imagine the child’s disappointment when his brother caught him one day doing this and took away the already copied notes.

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

During his life, Bach moved from city to city several times, changing his place of work. 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 was, the desire for new knowledge and improvement never left him. 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 and study their manner of performance. One day, having no money for the trip, young Bach went to another city on foot to listen to the famous organist Buxtehude play.

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

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

They say that Bach was invited to Dresden to participate 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 hastily left, thereby recognizing Bach's undeniable superiority. Another time, in the city of Kassel, Bach amazed his listeners by performing a solo on the organ pedal. Such success did not go to 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 study hard, whoever is just as diligent 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 scale.

In 1717, Bach and his family moved to Köthen. There was no organ at the court of the Prince of Köthen, where he was invited. Bach wrote mainly keyboard and orchestral music. The composer's duties included leading a small orchestra, accompanying the prince's singing and entertaining him by playing the harpsichord. Coping with his responsibilities without difficulty, Bach devoted all his free time to creativity. The works for clavier created at this time represent the second peak in his work after organ works. In Köthen, two- and three-voice inventions were written (Bach called three-voice inventions “sinphonies”). The composer intended these plays for classes with his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann. Pedagogical goals also guided Bach when creating the “French” and “English” suites. In Köthen, Bach also completed 24 preludes and fugues, which made up the first volume of a large work entitled “The Well-Tempered Clavier.” During the same period, the famous “Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue” in D minor was written.

Nowadays, Bach's inventions and suites have become mandatory pieces in programs music schools, and the preludes and fugues of “The Well-Tempered Clavier” - in schools and conservatories. Intended by the composer for pedagogical purposes, these works are also of interest to a mature musician. Therefore, Bach's pieces for the clavier, from the relatively simple inventions to the most complex "Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue", can be heard at concerts and on the radio performed by the best pianists in the world.

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 director) 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 condition and quality of church music. He had to accept embarrassing conditions for himself. Along with the duties of a teacher, educator and composer, there were also the following instructions: “Do not leave the city without the permission of the burgomaster.” As before, his creative possibilities were limited. Bach had to compose 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 were amazing 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 St. John Passion,” “The St. Matthew Passion,” and the Mass in B minor. “Passion”, or “passions” according to John and Matthew, is a narrative about the suffering and death of Jesus Christ as described by 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 hymns in the Catholic Church. For Bach, these works go far beyond the scope of church services. Bach's Mass and Passion are monumental works of a concert nature. They are performed by soloists, choir, orchestra, and organ. In my own way artistic value cantatas, “Passion” and Mass represent the third, highest peak of the composer’s work.

The church authorities were clearly dissatisfied with Bach's music. As in previous years, they found her too bright, colorful, and humane. And indeed, Bach’s music did not respond to, but rather contradicted, the strict church environment, 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.

Besides the huge creative work and services at 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 that organized concerts of secular rather than church music for city residents. Bach performed with great success in concerts of the Musical College as a soloist and conductor. He wrote many orchestral, clavier and vocal works of a secular nature especially for the society’s concerts. But Bach's main job - the head of a school of singers - brought him nothing but grief and trouble. The funds allocated by the church for the school were negligible, and the singing boys were hungry and poorly dressed. The level of their musical abilities was also low. Singers were often recruited without regard for Bach's opinion. The school orchestra was more than modest: four trumpets and four violins!

All requests for help for the school, submitted by Bach to the city authorities, remained unheeded. The cantor had to answer for everything.

The only joy was still creativity and family. The grown-up sons - Wilhelm Friedemann, Philip Emmanuel, Johann Christian - turned out to be talented musicians. During their father's lifetime they became famous composers. Anna Magdalena Bach, the composer's second wife, was distinguished by her great musicality. She had excellent hearing and a beautiful, strong soprano voice. Bach's eldest daughter also sang well. Bach composed vocal and instrumental ensembles for his family.

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 went almost unnoticed by the music community. They soon forgot about him. The fate of Bach's wife and youngest daughter was sad. Anna Magdalena died ten years later in a poor house. The youngest daughter Regina eked out a miserable existence. In the last years of her difficult life, Beethoven helped her.

Bach Johann Sebastian, whose biography is of interest to many music lovers, became one of the greatest composers in its entire history. In addition, he was a performer, a virtuoso organist, and a talented teacher. In this article we will look at the life of Johann Sebastian Bach and also introduce his work. The composer's works are often performed in concert halls around the world.

Johann Sebastian Bach (March 31 (21 - Old Style) 1685 - July 28, 1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque era. He enriched the musical style created in Germany thanks to his mastery of counterpoint and harmony, and adapted foreign rhythms and forms, borrowed, in particular, from Italy and France. Bach's works are the Goldberg Variations, the Brandenburg Concertos, the Mass in B Minor, more than 300 cantatas, of which 190 have survived, and many other works. His music is considered highly technically sophisticated, filled with artistic beauty and intellectual depth.

Johann Sebastian Bach. short biography

Bach was born in Eisenach into a family of hereditary musicians. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was the founder of the city's music concerts, and all of his uncles were professional performers. The composer's father taught his son to play the violin and harpsichord, and his brother, Johann Christoph, taught him to play the clavichord, and also introduced Johann Sebastian to modern music. Partly on his own initiative, Bach attended the St. Michael's vocal school in Lüneburg for 2 years. After certification, he held several musical positions in Germany, in particular, court musician to Duke Johann Ernst in Weimar, caretaker of the organ in the church of St. Boniface, located in Arnstadt.

In 1749, Bach's eyesight and overall health deteriorated, and he died in 1750, on July 28. Modern historians believe that the cause of his death was a combination of stroke and pneumonia. Johann Sebastian's fame as an excellent organist spread throughout Europe during Bach's lifetime, although he was not yet so popular as a composer. He became famous as a composer a little later, in the first half of the 19th century, when interest in his music was revived. Currently, Bach Johann Sebastian, whose biography is presented in full below, is considered one of the greatest musical creators in history.

Childhood (1685 - 1703)

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach in 1685, on March 21 according to the old style (new style - on the 31st of the same month). He was the son of Johann Ambrosius and Elisabeth Lemmerhirt. The composer became the eighth child in the family (the eldest son was 14 years older than him at the time of Bach’s birth). The future composer's mother died in 1694, and his father eight months later. Bach was 10 years old at that time, and he went to live with Johann Christoph, his older brother (1671 - 1731). There he studied, performed and transcribed music, including his brother's compositions, despite the ban on doing so. From Johann Christoph he adopted a lot of knowledge in the field of music. At the same time, Bach studied theology, Latin, Greek, French, Italian languages at the local high school. As Johann Sebastian Bach later admitted, the classics inspired and amazed him from the very beginning.

Arnstadt, Weimar and Mühlhausen (1703 - 1717)

In 1703, after finishing his studies at St. Michael's School in Lüneburg, the composer was appointed court musician to the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar. During his seven-month stay there, Bach's reputation as an excellent keyboard player was established, and he was invited to a new position as caretaker of the organ at the church of St. Boniface, located in Arnstadt, 30 km southwest of Weimar. Despite good family connections and his own musical enthusiasm, tensions with his superiors arose after several years of service. In 1706, Bach was offered the post of organist at the Church of St. Blaise (Mühlhausen), which he took the following year. The new position paid much higher, included much Better conditions labor, as well as a more professional choir with which Bach had to work. Four months later, Johann Sebastian's wedding to Maria Barbara took place. They had seven children, four of whom lived to adulthood, including Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emmanuel, who later became famous composers.

In 1708, Bach Johann Sebastian, whose biography took a new direction, left Mühlhausen and returned to Weimar, this time as an organist, and from 1714 as a concert organizer, and had the opportunity to work with more professional musicians. In this city, the composer continues to play and compose works for the organ. He also began writing preludes and fugues, which were later included in his monumental work The Well-Tempered Clavier, consisting of two volumes. Each of them includes preludes and fugues written in all possible minor and major keys. Also in Weimar, composer Johann Sebastian Bach began working on the work “Organ Book,” containing Lutheran chorales, a collection of choral preludes for organ. In 1717 he fell out of favor in Weimar, was arrested for almost a month and subsequently removed from office.

Köthen (1717 - 1723)

Leopold (an important person - the Prince of Anhalt-Köthen) offered Bach the job of bandmaster in 1717. Prince Leopold, being a musician himself, admired Johann Sebastian's talent, paid him well and gave him considerable freedom in composition and performance. The prince was a Calvinist, and they do not use complex and refined music in worship, accordingly, the work of Johann Sebastian Bach of that period was secular and included orchestral suites, suites for solo cello, for clavier, as well as the famous “Brandenburg Concertos”. In 1720, on July 7, his wife Maria Barbara, who bore him seven children, dies. The composer meets his second wife the following year. Johann Sebastian Bach, whose works were gradually beginning to gain popularity, married a girl named Anna Magdalena Wilcke, a soprano singer, in 1721, December 3.

Leipzig (1723 - 1750)

In 1723, Bach received a new position, beginning to work as cantor of the St. Thomas Choir. This was a prestigious service in Saxony, which the composer carried out for 27 years, until his death. Bach's duties included teaching students to sing and writing church music for the main churches of Leipzig. Johann Sebastian was also supposed to give Latin lessons, but had the opportunity to hire a special person in his place. During Sunday services, as well as on holidays, cantatas were required for worship in the church, and the composer usually performed his own compositions, most of whom were born in the first 3 years of his stay in Leipzig.

Johann Sebastian Bach, whose classics are now well known to many people, expanded his compositional and performing capabilities in March 1729 by taking over the leadership of the College of Music, a secular assembly under the direction of the composer Georg Philipp Telemann. The college was one of dozens of private societies, popular at that time in large German cities, created on the initiative of students of musical institutions. These associations played an important role in the German musical life, being led for the most part by outstanding specialists. Many of Bach's works from the 1730s-1740s. were written and performed at the College of Music. Johann Sebastian's last major work was “Mass in B Minor” (1748-1749), which was recognized as his most global church work. Although the entire “Mass” was never performed during the author’s lifetime, it is considered one of the composer’s most outstanding creations.

Death of Bach (1750)

In 1749, the composer's health deteriorated. Bach Johann Sebastian, whose biography ends in 1750, suddenly began to lose his sight and turned for help to the English ophthalmologist John Taylor, who performed 2 operations in March-April 1750. However, both were unsuccessful. The composer's vision never returned. On July 28, at the age of 65, Johann Sebastian died. Contemporary newspapers wrote that "death occurred as a result of unsuccessful eye surgery." Currently, historians consider the cause of the composer’s death to be a stroke complicated by pneumonia.

Carl Philipp Emmanuel, son of Johann Sebastian, and his student Johann Friedrich Agricola wrote an obituary. It was published in 1754 by Lorenz Christoph Mizler in a music magazine. Johann Sebastian Bach, whose brief biography is presented above, was originally buried in Leipzig, near the Church of St. John. The grave remained untouched for 150 years. Later, in 1894, the remains were transferred to a special repository in the Church of St. John, and in 1950 - to the Church of St. Thomas, where the composer still rests.

Organ creativity

During his lifetime, Bach was best known as an organist and composer of organ music, which he wrote in all traditional German genres (preludes, fantasies). Johann Sebastian Bach's favorite genres were toccata, fugue, and chorale preludes. His organ creativity is very diverse. At a young age, Johann Sebastian Bach (we have already briefly touched upon his biography) earned a reputation as a highly creative composer, capable of adapting many foreign styles to the requirements of organ music. He was greatly influenced by the traditions of Northern Germany, in particular by Georg Böhm, whom the composer met in Lüneburg, and Dietrich Buxtehude, whom Johann Sebastian visited in 1704 during a long vacation. Around the same time, Bach rewrote the works of many Italian and French composers, and later Vivaldi's violin concertos, in order to breathe life into them. new life already as works for organ performance. During his most productive creative period (from 1708 to 1714), Johann Sebastian Bach wrote fugues and tocattas, several dozen pairs of preludes and fugues, and the “Organ Book,” an unfinished collection of 46 chorale preludes. After leaving Weimar, the composer wrote less organ music, although he created a number of famous works.

Other works for clavier

Bach wrote a lot of music for the harpsichord, some of which can be performed on the clavichord. Many of these works are encyclopedic, incorporating theoretical methods and techniques that Johann Sebastian Bach loved to use. The works (list) are presented below:

• "The Well-Tempered Clavier" is a two-volume work. Each volume contains preludes and fugues in all common 24 major and minor keys, arranged in chromatic order.
• Inventions and overtures. These two- and three-voice works are arranged in the same order as the Well-Tempered Clavier, with the exception of some rare keys. They were created by Bach for educational purposes.
• 3 collections of dance suites, "French Suites", "English Suites" and partitas for clavier.
• "Goldberg Variations".
• Various pieces such as "Overture in French style", "Italian concerto".

Orchestral and chamber music

Johann Sebastian also wrote works for individual instruments, duets and small ensembles. Many of them, such as partitas and sonatas for solo violin, six different suites for solo cello, partita for solo flute, are considered among the most outstanding in the composer's repertoire. Bach Johann Sebastian wrote symphonies, and also created several compositions for solo lute. He also created trio sonatas, solo sonatas for flute and viola da gamba, a large number of ricercars and canons. For example, the cycles “The Art of Fugue”, “Musical Offering”. Bach's most famous orchestral work is the Brandenburg Concertos, so named because Johann Sebastian presented it in hopes of obtaining work from Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Swedish in 1721. His attempt, however, was unsuccessful. The genre of this work is concerto grosso. Other surviving works by Bach for orchestra: 2 violin concertos, a concerto written for two violins (key "D minor"), concertos for clavier and chamber orchestra (from one to four instruments).

Vocal and choral works

• Cantatas. Beginning in 1723, Bach worked in the Church of St. Thomas, and every Sunday, as well as on holidays, he led the performance of cantatas. Although he sometimes staged cantatas by other composers, Johann Sebastian wrote at least 3 cycles of his works in Leipzig, not counting those composed in Weimar and Mühlhausen. In total, more than 300 cantatas devoted to spiritual themes were created, of which approximately 200 have survived.
• Motets. Motets, authored by Johann Sebastian Bach, are works on spiritual themes for choir and basso continuo. Some of them were composed for funeral ceremonies.
• Passions, or passions, oratorios and magnificata. Bach's major works for choir and orchestra are the St. John Passion, the St. Matthew Passion (both written for Good Friday in the churches of St. Thomas and St. Nicholas) and the Christmas Oratorio (a cycle of 6 cantatas intended for the Christmas service ). Shorter works are "Easter Oratorio" and "Magnificat".
• "Mass in B Minor". Bach created his last major work, the Mass in B Minor, between 1748 and 1749. The Mass was never staged in its entirety during the composer's lifetime.

Musical style

Bach's musical style was shaped by his talent for counterpoint, his ability to lead a tune, his flair for improvisation, his interest in the music of Northern and Southern Germany, Italy and France, and his devotion to the Lutheran tradition. Thanks to the fact that Johann Sebastian had access to many instruments and works in his childhood and youth, and thanks to his ever-increasing talent for writing dense music with stunning sonority, the features of Bach's work were filled with eclecticism and energy, in which foreign influences were skillfully combined with already existing advanced German music school. During the Baroque period, many composers composed mainly only frame works, and the performers themselves supplemented them with their own melodic embellishments and developments. This practice varies considerably among European schools. However, Bach composed most or all of his songs himself. melodic lines and details, leaving little room for interpretation. This feature reflects the density of contrapuntal textures to which the composer gravitated, limiting the freedom to spontaneously change musical lines. For some reason, some sources mention the works of other authors, which were allegedly written by Johann Sebastian Bach. "Moonlight Sonata", for example. You and I, of course, remember that Beethoven created this work.

Execution

Modern performers of Bach's works usually follow one of two traditions: the so-called authentic (historically oriented performance) or the modern (using modern instruments, often in large ensembles). In Bach's time, orchestras and choirs were much more modest than they are today, and even his most ambitious works - the passions and the Mass in B minor - were written for far fewer performers. In addition, today you can hear very different versions of the sound of the same music, since in some of Johann Sebastian’s chamber works there was initially no instrumentation at all. Modern "lite" versions of Bach's works have made a great contribution to the popularization of his music in the 20th century. Among them are famous tunes performed by the Swinger Singers and Wendy Carlos' 1968 recording of Switched-On-Bach, using the newly invented synthesizer. Jazz musicians, such as Jacques Loussier, also showed interest in Bach's music. Joel Spiegelman performed an adaptation of his famous “Goldberg Variations”, creating his own work in the New Age style.

Methodological development on the topic: "MUSIC OF THE 18TH CENTURY. WORK OF J. S. BACH."

This development will be useful for teachers of children's music schools, children's art schools, music teachers of secondary schools. The material is intended for children of middle and high school age.
Target: introduce students to the biography and work of J. S. Bach.
Tasks:
Educational:
Introduce the works of I.S. Bach, trace the influence of music on inner world students;
Note the high humanity of music;
Educational:
To develop the emotional sphere of students, sensory hearing, musical memory;
To develop the ability to determine the nature of music, its emotional content;
Educational:

To cultivate students’ interest in the creativity and spiritual heritage of I.S. Bach;
Cultivate sympathy for classical music And musical art;
To cultivate the spiritual and moral qualities of the individual;
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the idea of ​​church music changed. Now composers sought not so much for a person to renounce earthly passions, but rather to reveal the complexity of his spiritual experiences. Works appeared written on religious texts or plots, but not intended for mandatory performance in church. Such works are called spiritual, since the word “spiritual” has a broader meaning than “church”. The main spiritual genres of the 17-18 centuries are cantata and oratorio. These are works for solo singers, choir and orchestra, having dramatic plot.
The importance of secular music increased: it was heard at court, in the salons of aristocrats, and in public theaters. A new type of musical art, opera, emerged.
Instrumental music was also marked by the emergence of new genres, and primarily the instrumental concert. The violin, harpsichord, and organ gradually turned into solo instruments. The music written for them provided an opportunity to show talent not only for the composer, but also for the performer. Virtuosity was valued above all - skill cope with technical difficulties.
Composers of the 17th and 18th centuries usually not only composed music, but also played instruments masterfully and practiced pedagogical activity.
The most famous of them was Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). During his lifetime, Bach was famous as a virtuoso organist and an excellent teacher, but the master’s attitude towards music was too restrained. Bach’s work is so deep and multifaceted that his contemporaries were unable to appreciate it at its true worth. A whole century had to pass before Bach received recognition as a great composer. Musicians all over the world began to play Bach’s music, marveling at its beauty and inspiration, mastery and perfection. “Bach” in German means “stream.” The great Beethoven said this about Bach: “Not a stream! “The sea should be his name.”
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685 in the small German town of Eisenach into a family of hereditary musicians. He received his first skills in playing the violin from his father. Having an excellent voice, Bach sang in the choir of a city school. At the age of 10, he was left an orphan, and his older brother, Johann Christophor, took care of him. The brother sent the boy to a gymnasium and continued to teach music. At the age of 17, Bach already played the organ, violin, viola, and sang in the choir. Subsequently, he served at court and in Protestant churches: he held the position of organist, court accompanist in Weimar, and then bandmaster in Ketten, was a choir conductor, organist and church composer in Leipzig, and gave private lessons.
Bach never left Germany; moreover, he lived mainly not in the capital, but in provincial cities. However, he was familiar with all the significant achievements of the time in music. The composer managed to combine in his work the traditions of the Protestant chorale with the traditions of European music schools.
Bach's works are distinguished by their philosophical depth, concentration of thought, and lack of fussiness. The most important feature of his music is an amazing sense of form. Everything here is extremely precise, balanced and at the same time emotional. Various elements musical language work to create a single image, resulting in harmony of the whole. During his life, the composer wrote more than a thousand vocal, dramatic and instrumental works.
Bach's favorite instrument was the organ. The composer wrote a huge number of works for him. Among them are choral preludes, chorales, fantasies, toccatas, preludes, fugues, sonatas. The organ is one of the most majestic musical instruments. He is like a whole orchestra. This wind keyboard instrument was known among the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. It appeared in Western European countries in the seventh century. At first, the organ accompanied church singing during services. Gradually it turned into a solo instrument.
A modern organ consists of a set of wooden and metal pipes, the number of which reaches several thousand. The organist sits at the so-called playing table. There are several manuals on the table - keyboards for hand playing; At the bottom is a foot pedal keyboard. All organ keys are connected to its pipes. Pressing a key produces a sound of the same pitch and strength. By switching special levers, the sound of the organ can take on the colors of various orchestra instruments. Therefore, playing the organ requires great skill.
Bach created over 150 choral arrangements for the organ. A chorale is an ancient spiritual chant based on German folk melodies. Most often the chorale had four voices. The performance of folk melodies in the church gradually weakened the liveliness and brightness of these melodies. Bach managed to return the choral melodies to their original power of expressiveness.
The chorale prelude in F minor is a short piece of a lyrical nature. The inspired poetic melody of the chorale sounds in the upper voice. Bach seems to entrust it to the oboe. The leisurely, calm movement of the lower voices gives the sound softness and special depth.
(The chorale prelude in F minor sounds

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The Toccata and Fugue in D minor for organ is extremely popular. This work combines inspiration, polyphonic richness and brilliant virtuosity.
(Toccata and Fugue in D minor sounds

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Among Bach's keyboard works there is a huge artistic value represent 48 preludes and fugues, making up two volumes (24 preludes and fugues in each). This work was called “The Well-Tempered Clavier”. With this work, Bach proved that all 24 keys are equal and sound equally good. The prelude and fugue in C minor from the first volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier are quite famous. The prelude is lively and moving, distinguished by a clear and energetic rhythm. The energetic and lively fugue bears a marked resemblance to the prelude.
(The prelude and fugue in C minor from the first volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier sounds

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Bach also wrote orchestral music. He wrote 6 “Brandenburg Concertos”, keyboard and violin concertos, works for violin and cello. In orchestral works, Bach continued the traditions of Vivaldi. Just like the Venetian composer, he sought to combine the rigor of form with the richness of timbres and original combinations of instruments. The “pearl” of his orchestra is the cornet. This is a narrow pipe with a high, piercing sound. The cornet gives the music a festive, rich flavor.
In the last years of his life, the composer almost lost his sight and he was forced to dictate his last works. Bach's death went unnoticed. They soon forgot about him.
Great public interest in Bach's music arose many years after his death. In 1802, a biography of Bach was published, written by Professor I. N. Forkel. And in 1829, under the baton of the German composer Mendelssohn, Bach’s greatest work, the St. Matthew Passion, was publicly performed. For the first time - in Germany - a complete publication of Bach's works is being carried out.