Clifford Dean
Dr. Jean Johnson
MUS 101-06011
March 11, 2015
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was born in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany. At the age of seven he went to school where he studied Latin. His Lutheran faith would later influence his musical works. Both of his parents died when he was ten, he stayed with his older brother, Johann Christoph who was a church organist where he received further musical instruction. Bach lived with his brother’s family until he was fifteen. As an adolescent, Bach had a wonderful soprano voice but as he grew older his voice changed and he began playing the violin and harpsichord. In 1703, he got his first job as a musician in the court of Duke Johann Ernst in Weimar. There he served as both a violinist and official organist. Bach devoted much of his time to writing instrumental music, composing concertos for orchestras and sonatas for multiple instruments. He wrote pieces for solo instruments to include some of his finest violin works. Many of his secular pieces reflected great commitment to his faith by writing the initials “I.N.J” In The Name of Jesus on his sheet music. Bach created a series of concertos in tribute to the Duke of Drandenburg in 1721, “The Brandenburg Concertos” which are considered to be his greatest work. Later in his career, Bach gained a new position as the organist and new teacher at both St. Thomas Church and the Thomas School as well. There he began to write cantatas because of the demand needed for music each week. The “Christmas Oratorio” for example is a series of six cantatas that reflect on the holiday. Bach also created musical interpretations of the Bible using choruses, arias and recitatives. These works are considered to be his “Passions” the most famous being “The Passion According to St. Matthew”. During his lifetime Bach was better known as an organist rather than a composer Few of his