>Biographies of famous people

Brief biography of Johann Bach

Bach Johann Sebastian - an outstanding composer who wrote more than one thousand pieces of music; talented teacher and virtuoso organist; master of the genre of polyphony. The future musician was born in Eisenach on March 31, 1685. His ancestors belonged to the category of professional musicians, so his early predisposition to music did not surprise anyone. The composer's father was the organizer of secular and church concerts. Bach was the youngest of eight children in the family.

Orphaned at an early age, the boy was given to be raised by his uncle, who worked as a professional organist. He easily entered the gymnasium, while simultaneously learning to play the clavier and organ. At the age of 15, Johann entered the Lüneburg vocal school, where he began his musical career. During the years of study, he visited Lübeck, Celle, Hamburg to get acquainted with the work of famous musicians of that period. From 1703 he worked as a court violinist, then as an organist. Many works were created during the period of work at the court of the Duke of Weimar.

It was then that J.S. Bach wrote dozens of spiritual cantatas for the clavier, a number of chorale preludes, an organ toccata and other significant works. In Weimar he had two sons. In all, he and his wife Maria Barbara had six sons, three of whom did not survive. There he met famous violinist I. P. von Westhof. Carried away by the musical trends of other countries, he became acquainted with the work of Vivaldi and Corelli. By 1717, he was already an outstanding organist, with whom no one undertook to compete.

Soon he went to the service of the Duke of Anhalt-Köthen, who highly appreciated his talent. In the next six years he lost his wife and wrote many orchestral and clavier suites. After the death of Maria Barbara, he remarried a famous singer, with whom they had 13 more children. For the last twenty-seven years, the musician has lived in Leipzig, where he first worked as an ordinary music teacher, and then was awarded the position of music director. At the end of the 1740s. his eyesight was rapidly deteriorating. Despite this, he created a new cycle of musical plays.

Died great composer in July 1750 and was buried in the courtyard of St. John's Church. He entered the history of musical culture forever as one of the titans who created immortal masterpieces and creators of his philosophical thought in music.

EXAM WORK ON MUSICAL LITERATURE TOPIC:

WORKS OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

Completed by: Akimova Anastasia Yurievna

Head: Khmelenko Inna Dmitrievna

1998 - 1999 academic year year.

G. Surgut

1. Childhood and youth. Initial period creative formation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 -

2. Family. Childhood. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 -

3. The beginning of the creative path. Lüneburg. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

4. Weimar, Arnstadt, Mühlhausen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4 -

5. Weimar again. Bach in secular service. Introduction to world musical art. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 -

6. Bach performer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 -

7. Köthen. Creation of fundamental compositions of secular chamber music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 -

8. Departure from Köthen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 -

9. Leipzig period. School of St. Thomas. Bach-cantor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9 -

10. Artistic and creative activity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10 -

11. Children of Johann Sebastian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .eleven -

12. Bach the teacher. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 -

13. Latest works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12 -

14. Characteristics of creativity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13 -

15. Analysis of musical works. Keyboard creativity. . . . . . .15 -

16. Well-Tempered Clavier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 -

17. Prelude and Fugue in C Minor from the first volume of The Well-Tempered Clavier. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 -

18. Major works. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20 -

19. List of used literature. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21-

Life path.

Childhood and youthful years. The initial period of creative formation.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 31, 1685 in Eisenach, a small provincial town in Thuringia, in one of the most beautiful German regions, in places that have long been associated with music. The birthplace of Luther, the arena of the revolutionary activity of Thomas Müntzer, Thuringia has never been the center of the most fierce battles of the rebellious peasants and plebeians with the feudal lords. After the Thirty Years' War, devastated and impoverished, it turned into a deaf and sleepy province. And yet, echoes and memories of glorious events long past, undoubtedly lived among the people. But it took a lot of time and a powerful genius for the resurrected images of the past, as well as visions of the distant future, to find artistic embodiment in the art of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Family, childhood.

Johann Sebastian has always been proud to belong to a famous musical family. The musicians were his grandfather, great-grandfather, father, father's brothers, their children, as well as Johann Sebastian's brothers. His own sons later became outstanding musicians. During the 17th and 18th centuries, so many organists, composers, violinists, flutists, bandmasters, trumpeters from the Bach family settled in Thuringia that the word "Bach" itself was almost synonymous with the word "musician". None of this tribe of musicians achieved either fame or loud fame, although the Bach family chronicle lists more than fifty persons who influenced the development of German music.

From generation to generation, skills and craftsmanship were passed on, creative forces were strengthened, and, finally, in the great representative of this dynasty of musicians, Johann Sebastian, they reached their highest peak.

For the profession of a musician, already traditional for the male line of the Bach family, Johann Sebastian was prepared from an early age. The boy's first teacher was his father, a violinist and city musician in Eisenach. At school, Johann Sebastian sang in the choir, usually composed of the poorest elementary school students; for a small fee, they performed at various holidays, and at funerals and weddings they sang spiritual chants.

At the age of nine, Johann Sebastian was left an orphan and was taken in by his older brother Johann Christoph. The latter - at one time a student of the largest German organist - composer J. Pachelbel - held the position of organist and school teacher in Ohrdruf. Under the guidance of his brother, Johann Sebastian continued his musical studies. But the ingeniously gifted nature could hardly be content with the pedantic, school-craft lessons of Johann Christoph. He turned out to be a dry, insensitive musician. For an inquisitive, musical boy, this was excruciating. Therefore, as a ten-year-old child, he strove for self-education. Upon learning that his brother had a notebook with works by famous composers in his closet, the boy secretly took out this notebook at night and copied the 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. Here, for the first time, the strengths of Johann Sebastian's character appeared for the first time: perseverance, purposefulness, perseverance in work.

An early desire for personal freedom prompted the fifteen-year-old youth to leave his brother's house and seek the means of an independent existence.

The beginning of the creative path.

Lüneburg.

In 1700, Johann Sebastian moved to the city of Lüneburg.

Here, in Lüneburg, in 1703 Bach finished school; He studied well and received a diploma that gave him the right to enter the university. But he failed to exercise this right. Faced with the need to provide for his own life, Bach had to direct all his attention and strength to the improvement of composing and performing skills - the only real source of existence for him.

The artistic development of Bach was not influenced by the teachers of his childhood. He himself found everywhere and extracted from everywhere the best and necessary for his musical education. The life of musical art in his past and present served him as a composer's school. The study of the richest heritage, the creative comprehension of contemporary music polished and honed Bach's musical thoughts and writing, helped to reveal himself, to realize his creative individuality. Even frequent service changes had their positive aspects, as they made it possible to learn new artistic phenomena. In this regard, Lüneburg, as then Arnstadt or Weimar, are significant stages in the composer's long creative path.

The extensive library of the Lüneburg school contained many manuscript compositions by ancient German and Italian musicians, and Bach immersed himself in their study. Freed from the pedantic guardianship of his older brother, he repeatedly went from Lüneburg to Hamburg to study with the famous organist Reinken while listening. In those years, the Hamburg Opera, led by the Kaiser, was in its prime. It must be assumed that, being there, Bach did not pass by a new art for him. According to Romain Rolland, Kaiser's influence was reflected in some aspects of Bach's musical speech.

In Lüneburg itself, since 1692, at the church of St. John worked one of the famous German composers, Reinken's student Georg Böhm (1661 - 1733). Communication and closeness with a great artist is an equally important factor in the formation of a young musician.

Thus, in an atmosphere of rich and lively traditions, Bach comprehended art and craftsmanship.

With Lüneburg the years of apprenticeship and early youth ended; a new phase began in the laborious life of the composer.

Weimar, Arnstadt, Mühlhausen.

In April 1703, Bach, as a violinist, entered the service of a small princely chapel in Weimar. But he did not stay there long. Not satisfied with his work and dependent position, he willingly accepted an invitation to the post of organist of the New Church in the city of Arnstadt and moved there in 1704.

The service of the organist of the New Church was simple: it required the ability to prelude on the organ, learn cult works with the choir, and accompany the choir during worship. In these modest duties, which any musician-artisan could cope with, Bach brought youthful zeal, creative ardor and imagination, unusual for the official standards of the Protestant church. The courage of musical searches served as the reason for the clash between the composer and his superiors.

In Arnstadt, for the first time, Bach had to deal with inert church officials, with narrow-minded German burghers. His life in this city was immediately complicated by a petty, disgusting war raised by philistinism against a daring genius who disturbed his sleepy peace. Mutual dissatisfaction grew, and with it Bach's cooling off towards his official work. All the more powerful was the need for refreshing new artistic experiences. So the idea arose of traveling to the city of Lübeck, where the famous German composer Dietrich Buxtehude gave concerts on the organ. In the autumn of 1705, taking advantage of the granted leave, Bach, for lack of funds for a carriage, went to Lübeck on foot. Buxtehude's concerts, his work, and the high skill of the performer shocked the young musician. With all his being, he absorbed the dramatically bright, virtuoso art of the greatest master of organ music of that time. Fascinated, he forgot about his official service and instead of the prescribed twenty-eight-day vacation, he stayed in Lübeck for about four months.

In Arnstadt, Bach's return was far from welcome. Using a convenient pretext, the church authorities subjected their organist to a humiliating interrogation, inflicted a formal trial on him with a long list of misconduct: Bach introduces many strange variations into the chorales, mixes many alien sounds into the chorale and thereby confuses the community; earlier, the organist Bach, during his service, was fond of playing the organ and played too long, but now, after the remark made, he fell into the other extreme and began to play too short, etc.

Born (21) March 31, 1685 in the city of Eisenach. In little Bach, a passion for music was originally laid down, because his ancestors were professional musicians.

Music training

At the age of ten, after the death of his parents, Johann Bach was taken in by his brother Johann Christoph. He taught the future composer to play the clavier and organ.

At the age of 15, Bach entered the vocal school named after St. Michael, in the city of Lüneburg. There he gets acquainted with the work of modern musicians, develops comprehensively. During 1700-1703 begins musical biography Johann Sebastian Bach. He wrote the first organ music.

In service

After graduation, Johann Sebastian was sent to Duke Ernst as a musician at the court. Dissatisfaction with a dependent position forces him to change jobs. In 1704, Bach received the post of organist of the New Church in Arndstadt. Summary The article does not make it possible to dwell in detail on the work of the great composer, but it was at this time that he created many talented works. Collaboration with the poet Christian Friedrich Heinrici, court musician Telemachus enriched the music with new motives. In 1707 Bach moved to Mühlhusen, continued to work as a church musician and engage in creativity. The authorities are satisfied with his work, the composer receives a reward.

Personal life

In 1707 Bach married his cousin Maria Barbara. He again decided to change jobs, this time becoming court organist in Weimar. In this city, six children are born in the musician's family. Three died in infancy, and three become well-known musicians in the future.

In 1720, Bach's wife died, but a year later the composer married again, now to famous singer Anna Magdalene Wilhelm. The happy family had 13 children.

Continuation of the creative path

In 1717, Bach entered the service of the Duke of Anhalt - Köthen, who highly appreciated his talent. During the period from 1717 to 1723, Bach's magnificent suites appeared (for orchestra, cello, clavier).

Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, English and French suites were written in Köthen.

In 1723, the musician received the position of cantor and teacher of music and Latin in the Church of St. Thomas, then became musical director in Leipzig. Johann Sebastian Bach's wide repertoire included both secular and brass music. During his life, Johann Sebastian Bach managed to visit the head of the music college. Several cycles of the composer Bach used all kinds of instruments ("Musical Offering", "The Art of the Fugue")

last years of life

IN last years Bach was rapidly losing his sight throughout his life. His music was then considered unfashionable, outdated. Despite this, the composer continued to work. In 1747, he creates a cycle of plays called "Music of the Offering", dedicated to the Prussian King Frederick II. The last work was the collection of works "The Art of the Fugue", which included 14 fugues and 4 canons.

Johann Sebastian Bach died on July 28, 1750 in Leipzig, but his musical legacy remains immortal.

A brief biography of Bach does not give a complete picture of the complex life path composer, about his personality. You can get acquainted with his fate and work in detail by reading the books of Johann Forkel, Robert Franz, Albert Schweitzer.

Johann Sebastian Bach is a German composer and musician of the Baroque era, who collected and combined in his work the traditions and the most significant achievements of European musical art, and also enriched all this with a 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. This is a universal musician, who covered almost all known genres in his work. Creating immortal masterpieces, he turned each measure of his compositions into small works, then combining them into priceless creations of exceptional beauty and expressiveness, perfect in form, which vividly displayed the diverse spiritual world person.

Brief biography of Johann Sebastian Bach and many interesting facts read about the composer on our page.

Brief biography of Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in the German town of Eisenach in the fifth generation of a family of musicians on March 21, 1685. It should be noted that musical dynasties were quite common at that time in Germany, and talented parents sought to develop appropriate talents in their children. The boy's father, Johann Ambrosius, was an organist in the Eisenach church and court accompanist. Obviously, it was he who gave the first lessons in playing the violin And harpsichord little son.


From the biography of Bach, we learn that at the age of 10 the boy lost his parents, but was not left without a roof over his head, because he was the eighth and youngest child in the family. Ohrdruf's respected organist Johann Christoph Bach, Johann Sebastian's older brother, took care of the little orphan. Among his other students, Johann Christoph also taught his brother to play the clavier, but the manuscripts of modern composers were securely hidden by a strict teacher under lock and key so as not to spoil the taste of young performers. However, the castle did not prevent little Bach from getting acquainted with forbidden works.


Lüneburg

At the age of 15, Bach entered the prestigious Lüneburg school of church choristers, which was located at the church of St. Michael, and at the same time, thanks to his beautiful voice, young Bach was able to earn some money in the church choir. In addition, in Lüneburg, the young man met Georg Böhm, a famous organist, communication with whom had an impact on early work composer. He also repeatedly traveled to Hamburg to listen to the play of the largest representative of the German organ school A. Reinken. The first works by Bach for clavier and organ belong to the same period. After successfully completing school, Johann Sebastian receives the right to enter the university, but due to lack of funds, he did not have the opportunity to continue his education.

Weimar and Arnstadt


My labor activity Johann began in Weimar, where he was accepted into the court chapel of Duke Johann Ernst of Saxony as a violinist. However, this did not last long, as such work did not satisfy the creative impulses of the young musician. Bach in 1703, without hesitation, agrees to move to the city of Arnstadt, where he was in the church of St. Boniface was initially offered the post of superintendent of the organ, and later the post of organist. A decent salary, work only three days a week, a good modernized instrument tuned to the latest system, all this created the conditions for expanding the musician's creative possibilities not only as a performer, but also as a composer.

During this period, he created a large number of organ works, as well as capriccios, cantatas and suites. Here Johann becomes a true organ expert and a brilliant virtuoso, whose playing aroused unbridled delight among the listeners. It is in Arnstadt that his gift for improvisation is revealed, which the church leadership did not like very much. Bach always strived for perfection and did not miss the opportunity to get acquainted with famous musicians, for example, with the organist Dietrich Buxtehude, who served in the city of Lübeck. After receiving a four-week vacation, Bach went to listen to the great musician, whose playing impressed Johann so much that, forgetting about his duties, he stayed in Lübeck for four months. Upon returning to Arndstadt, the indignant leadership gave Bach a humiliating trial, after which he had to leave the city and look for a new job.

Mühlhausen

The next city on Bach's life path was Mühlhausen. Here in 1706 he won a competition for the position of organist in the church of St. Vlasia. He was accepted with a good salary, but also with a certain condition: the musical accompaniment of the chorales must be strict, without any kind of "decorations". The city authorities later treated the new organist with respect: they approved the plan for the reconstruction of the church organ, and also paid a good reward for the festive cantata “The Lord is my Tsar” composed by Bach, which was dedicated to the inauguration ceremony of the new consul. Staying in Mühlhausen in Bach's life was marked by a happy event: he married his beloved cousin Maria Barbara, who later gave him seven children.


Weimar


In 1708, Duke Ernst of Saxe-Weimar heard the magnificent game of the Mühlhausen organist. Impressed by what he heard, the noble nobleman immediately offered Bach the positions of court musician and city organist with a salary much higher than before. Johann Sebastian began the Weimar period, which is characterized as one of the most fruitful in creative life composer. At this time, he created a large number of compositions for clavier and organ, including a collection of choral preludes, Passacaglia in c-moll, the famous " Toccata and Fugue in d-moll ”, “Fantasy and Fugue C-dur” and many other great works. It should also be noted that the composition of more than two dozen spiritual cantatas also belongs to this period. Such effectiveness in Bach's composing work was associated with his appointment in 1714 as vice-kapellmeister, whose duties included regular monthly updating of church music.

At the same time, Johann Sebastian's contemporaries were more admired by his performing arts, and he constantly heard remarks of admiration for his game. The fame of Bach as a virtuoso musician quickly spread not only in Weimar, but also beyond. Once the Dresden royal Kapellmeister invited him to compete with the famous French musician L. Marchand. However, the musical competition did not work out, since the Frenchman, having heard Bach play at a preliminary audition, secretly, without warning, left Dresden. In 1717, the Weimar period in Bach's life came to an end. Johann Sebastian dreamed of getting the place of bandmaster, but when this place became vacant, the duke offered him to another, very young and inexperienced musician. Bach, considering this an insult, asked for his immediate resignation, and for this he was arrested for four weeks.


Köthen

According to Bach's biography, in 1717 he left Weimar to get a job in Köthen as a court bandmaster to Prince Leopold Anhalt of Köthen. In Köthen, Bach had to write secular music, since, as a result of the reforms, only psalms were performed in the church. Here Bach occupied an exceptional position: as a court conductor he was well paid, the prince treated him like a friend, and the composer repaid this with excellent compositions. In Köthen, the musician had many students, and for their education he compiled “ Well-Tempered Clavier". These are 48 preludes and fugues that made Bach famous as a master of clavier music. When the prince married, the young princess showed dislike for both Bach and his music. Johann Sebastian had to look for another job.

Leipzig

In Leipzig, where Bach moved in 1723, he reached the top of his career ladder: he was appointed cantor in the church of St. Thomas and musical director of all churches in the city. Bach was engaged in the education and preparation of church choir performers, the selection of music, the organization and holding of concerts in the main temples of the city. Since 1729, heading the College of Music, Bach began to arrange 8 two-hour concerts of secular music a month in a Zimmermann's coffee house, adapted for orchestra performances. Having received an appointment as court composer, Bach handed over the leadership of the College of Music to his former student Karl Gerlach in 1737. In recent years, Bach often reworked his early works. In 1749 he graduated from the High Mass in B minor, some parts of which were written by him 25 years ago. The composer died in 1750 while working on The Art of Fugue.



Interesting facts about Bach

  • Bach was a recognized organ specialist. He was invited to check and tune instruments in various temples in Weimar, where he lived for quite some time. Each time impressing clients with the amazing improvisations he played to hear what the instrument in need of his work sounded like.
  • Johann was bored during the service to perform monotonous chorales, and without restraining his creative impulse, he impromptu inserted his small embellishing variations into the established church music, which caused great displeasure of the authorities.
  • Better known for his religious works, Bach also excelled in composing secular music, as evidenced by his Coffee Cantata. Bach presented this work full of humor as a small comic opera. Originally titled "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht" ("Shut up, stop talking"), it describes the lyrical hero's addiction to coffee, and, not coincidentally, this cantata was first performed in the Leipzig coffee house.
  • At the age of 18, Bach really wanted to get a place as an organist in Lübeck, which at that time belonged to the famous Dietrich Buxtehude. Another contender for this position was G. Handel. The main condition for taking this position was marriage to one of Buxtehude's daughters, but neither Bach nor Handel dared to sacrifice themselves like that.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach really liked to dress up as a poor teacher and in this form visit small churches, where he asked the local organist to play the organ a little. Some parishioners, hearing an unusually beautiful performance for them, frightenedly left the service, thinking that the devil himself appeared in their temple in the form of a strange man.


  • The Russian envoy in Saxony, Hermann von Keyserling, asked Bach to write a piece to which he could quickly fall into a sound sleep. This is how the Goldberg Variations appeared, for which the composer received a golden cube filled with a hundred louis. These variations are still one of the best "sleeping pills" to this day.
  • Johann Sebastian was known to his contemporaries not only as an outstanding composer and virtuoso performer, but also as a man with a very difficult character, intolerant of the mistakes of others. There is a case when a bassoonist, publicly insulted by Bach for an imperfect performance, attacked Johann. A real duel took place, as both were armed with daggers.
  • Bach, who was fond of numerology, liked to weave the numbers 14 and 41 into his musical works, because these numbers corresponded to the first letters of the composer's name. By the way, Bach also liked to play with his surname in his compositions: the musical decoding of the word “Bach” forms a drawing of a cross. It is this symbol that is the most important for Bach, who considers non-random similar coincidences.

  • Thanks to Johann Sebastian Bach, not only men sing in church choirs today. The first woman who sang in the temple was the wife of the composer Anna Magdalena, who has a beautiful voice.
  • In the middle of the 19th century, German musicologists founded the first Bach Society, whose main task was to publish the composer's works. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the society dissolved itself and the complete works of Bach were published only in the second half of the twentieth century at the initiative of the Bach Institute, established in 1950. In the world today there are a total of two hundred and twenty-two Bach societies, Bach orchestras and Bach choirs.
  • Researchers of Bach's work suggest that the great maestro composed 11,200 works, although the legacy known to posterity includes only 1,200 compositions.
  • To date, there are more than fifty-three thousand books and various publications about Bach in different languages, about seven thousand complete biographies composer.
  • In 1950, W. Schmider compiled a numbered catalog of Bach's works (BWV– Bach Werke Verzeichnis). This catalog was updated several times as the data on the authorship of certain works were clarified and, in contrast to the traditional chronological principles for classifying the works of others famous composers, this catalog is built according to the thematic principle. Works with close numbers belong to the same genre, and were not written at all in the same years.
  • Bach's works: "Brandenburg Concerto No. 2", "Gavotte in the form of a rondo" and "HTK" were recorded on the Golden Record and launched from Earth in 1977, attached to the Voyager spacecraft.


  • Everyone knows that Beethoven suffered from hearing loss, but few people know that Bach went blind in his later years. Actually, the unsuccessful operation on the eyes, performed by the charlatan surgeon John Taylor, caused the death of the composer in 1750.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach was buried near the Church of St. Thomas. Some time later, a road was laid through the territory of the cemetery and the grave was lost. At the end of the 19th century, during the reconstruction of the church, the remains of the composer were found and reburied. After World War II, in 1949, Bach's relics were transferred to the church building. However, due to the fact that the grave changed its place several times, skeptics doubt that the ashes of Johann Sebastian are in the burial.
  • To date, 150 postage stamps dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach have been issued worldwide, 90 of them published in Germany.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach, the great musical genius, is treated with great reverence all over the world, monuments to him are erected in many countries, only in Germany there are 12 monuments. One of them is located in Dornheim near Arnstadt and is dedicated to the wedding of Johann Sebastian and Maria Barbara.

Family of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian belonged to the largest German musical dynasty, whose pedigree is usually counted from Veit Bach, a simple baker, but very fond of music and perfectly performing folk melodies on his favorite instrument - the zither. This passion from the founder of the family was passed on to his descendants, many of them became professional musicians: composers, cantors, bandmasters, as well as a variety of instrumentalists. They settled not only in Germany, some even went abroad. Within two hundred years, there were so many Bach musicians that any person whose occupation was connected with music began to be named after them. The most famous ancestors of Johann Sebastian whose works have come down to us were: Johannes, Heinrich, Johann Christoph, Johann Bernhard, Johann Michael and Johann Nikolaus. Johann Sebastian's father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was also a musician and served as organist in Eisenach, the city where Bach was born.


Johann Sebastian himself was the father of a large family: from two wives he had twenty children. He first married his beloved cousin Maria Barbara, daughter of Johann Michael Bach, in 1707. Maria bore Johann Sebastian seven children, three of whom died in infancy. Maria herself also lived not long life, she died at the age of 36, leaving Bach four young children. Bach was very upset by the loss of his wife, but a year later he again fell in love with the young girl Anna Magdalena Wilken, whom he met at the court of the Duke of Anhalt-Keten and proposed to her. Despite the big difference in age, the girl agreed and it is obvious that this marriage was very successful, since Anna Magdalena gave Bach thirteen children. The girl did an excellent job with the housework, cared for the children, sincerely rejoiced at the success of her husband and provided great assistance in the work, rewriting his scores. The family for Bach was a great joy, he devoted a lot of time to raising children, making music with them and composing special exercises. In the evenings, the family very often arranged impromptu concerts, which brought joy to everyone. Bach's children had excellent natural gifts, but four of them had exceptional musical talent - these are Johann Christoph Friedrich, Carl Philipp Emanuel, Wilhelm Friedemann and Johann Christian. They also became composers and left their mark on the history of music, but none of them could surpass their father either in writing or in the art of performing.

Works of Johann Sebastian Bach


Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the most prolific composers, his heritage in the treasury of world musical culture includes about 1200 immortal masterpieces. There was only one inspirer in Bach's work - this is the Creator. Johann Sebastian dedicated almost all his works to him and at the end of the scores he always signed letters that were an abbreviation of the words: “In the name of Jesus”, “Jesus help”, “Glory to God alone”. To create for God was the main goal in the life of the composer, and therefore his musical works absorbed all the wisdom of the "Holy Scripture". Bach was very faithful to his religious outlook and never betrayed it. According to the composer, even the smallest instrumental piece should indicate the wisdom of the Creator.

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his works in virtually all, except opera, known at that time musical genres. The compiled catalog of his works includes: 247 works for organ, 526 vocal works, 271 works for harpsichord, 19 solo works for various instruments, 31 concertos and suites for orchestra, 24 duets for harpsichord with any other instrument, 7 canons and others. works.

Musicians around the world perform Bach's music and begin to get acquainted with many of his works from childhood. For example, every little pianist studying at a music school must have in his repertoire pieces from « Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach » . Then little preludes and fugues are studied, followed by inventions, and finally « Well-Tempered Clavier » but this is high school.

TO famous works Johann Sebastian also include " Matthew Passion”, “Mass in B Minor”, ​​“Christmas Oratorio”, “John Passion” and, undoubtedly, “ Toccata and Fugue in D Minor". And the cantata "The Lord is my King" is still heard at festive services in churches in different parts of the world.

Films about Bach


The great composer, being the largest figure in the world musical culture, has always attracted close attention, therefore, a lot of books have been written on the biography of Bach and about his work, as well as feature and documentary films. There are quite a lot of them, but the most significant of them are:

  • "The Vain Journey of Johann Sebastian Bach to Glory" (1980, East Germany) - a biographical film tells about the difficult fate of the composer, who traveled all his life in search of "his" place in the sun.
  • "Bach: The Fight for Freedom" (1995, Czech Republic, Canada) is a feature film that tells about the intrigues in the palace of the old duke, which began around Bach's rivalry with the best organist of the orchestra.
  • "Dinner with Four Hands" (1999, Russia) is a feature film that shows the meeting of two composers, Handel and Bach, which never took place in reality, but is so desired.
  • "My name is Bach" (2003) - the film takes the audience to 1747, at the time when Johann Sebastian Bach arrived at the court of the Prussian King Frederick II.
  • The Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach (1968) and Johann Bach and Anna Magdalena (2003) - the films show Bach's relationship with his second wife, an able student of her husband.
  • “Anton Ivanovich is angry” is a musical comedy in which there is an episode: Bach appears to the main character in a dream and says that he was terribly bored writing countless choruses, and he always dreamed of writing a cheerful operetta.
  • "Silence before Bach" (2007) is a musical film that helps to immerse yourself in the world of Bach's music, which turned the Europeans' understanding of harmony that existed before him.

From documentaries about the famous composer, it is necessary to note such films as: “Johann Sebastian Bach: life and work, in two parts” (1985, USSR); "Johann Sebastian Bach" (series "German Composers" 2004, Germany); "Johann Sebastian Bach" (series "Famous Composers" 2005, USA); "Johann Sebastian Bach - composer and theologian" (2016, Russia).

The music of Johann Sebastian, filled with philosophical content, and also having a great emotional impact on a person, was often used by directors in the soundtracks for their films, for example:


Music excerpts

Movies

Suite No. 3 for cello

"Payback" (2016)

"Allies" (2016)

Brandenburg Concerto No. 3

Snowden (2016)

"Destruction" (2015)

"Spotlight" (2015)

Jobs: Empire of Seduction (2013)

Partita No. 2 for violin solo

"Anthropoid (2016)

Florence Foster Jenkins (2016)

Goldberg variations

"Altamira" (2016)

"Annie" (2014)

"Hi Carter" (2013)

"Five Dances" (2013)

"Through the Snow" (2013)

"Hannibal Rising"(2007)

"Owl Cry" (2009)

"Sleepless Night" (2011)

"Towards Something Beautiful"(2010)

"Captain Fantastic (2016)

"Passion for John"

"Something Like Hate" (2015)

"Eichmann" (2007)

"Cosmonaut" (2013)

Mass in B minor

"Me and Earl and the Dying Girl" (2015)

"Elena" (2011)

Despite the ups and downs, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a huge number of amazing compositions. The composer's work was continued by his famous sons, but none of them could surpass his father either in writing or in performing music. The name of the author of passionate and pure, incredibly talented and unforgettable works stands at the top of the world of music, and his recognition as a great composer continues to this day.

Video: watch a film about Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) - the great German composer, bandmaster, virtuoso organist. More than two centuries have passed since his death, and interest in the written works does not fade away. The New York Times has compiled a ranking of world composers who have created masterpieces that stand above time, and Bach takes the first place in this list. His music, as the best that mankind could create, was recorded on the Voyager Golden Record, attached to a spacecraft and launched from Earth into Space in 1977.

Childhood

Johann Sebastian was born on March 31, 1685 in the German town of Eisenach. In a 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 his relatives and ancestors were professionals in music (researchers counted about fifty of them). The great-great-grandfather of the composer, Veit Bach, was a baker and played the zither very well (this is such a plucked musical instrument in the form of a box).

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 secular concerts). The elder brother, Johann Christoph Bach, served as an organist in the church. So many trumpeters, organists, violinists and flutists came out of their family that the surname "Bach" became a household name, as any more or less worthy musician was called, first in Eisenach, and then throughout Germany.

With such relatives, it is natural that little Johann Sebastian began to study music before he learned to speak. He received his first violin lessons from his father and greatly pleased his parent with his greed for musical knowledge, diligence and abilities. The boy had an excellent voice (soprano) and, while still very young, soloed in the choir of the city school. No one doubted his future profession; Sebastian must have turned out to be a musician.

When he was nine years old, his mother Elizabeth Lemmerhirt died. A year later, the father also died, but the child was not left alone, his older brother Johann Christoph took him to him. He was a sedate and respected musician and teacher in 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 closed closet. At night, young Bach entered the closet, took out a notebook and copied notes by the light of the moon.

From such a tedious night work, the young man's eyesight began to deteriorate. What a shame it was when the elder brother found Sebastian doing such an activity and took away all the records.

Education

In Ohrdruf, young Bach graduated from the gymnasium, where he studied theology, geography, history, physics, and Latin. The school teacher advised him to continue his studies at the famous vocal school at St. Michael's Church in the city of Lüneburg.

When Sebastian was fifteen years old, he decided that he was already completely independent, and went to Lüneburg, walking from Central Germany to the north for almost 300 kilometers. Here he entered school and for three years (from 1700 to 1703) was on a full board and even received a small scholarship. During his studies, he visited Hamburg, Celle, Lübeck, where he got acquainted with the work of contemporary musicians. At the same time, he tried to create his own works for clavier and organ.

After graduating from a vocal school, Sebastian had the right to enter the university, but did not use it, as it was necessary to raise funds for a living.

creative way

Bach went to Thuringia, where he got a job as a court musician in the private chapel of Duke Johann Ernst of Saxony. Within six months he played the violin for gentlemen and gained his first performing popularity. But the young musician wanted to develop, discover new creative horizons, and not please the ears of the rich. He went to Arnstadt, which is 200 kilometers from Weimar, where he began to work as a court organist in the church of St. Boniface. Bach worked only three days a week and at the same time received a fairly high salary.

The church organ was tuned according to the new system, the young composer had a lot of new opportunities, which he took advantage of and wrote about thirty capriccios, suites, cantatas and other organ works. However, after three years, Johann had to leave the city of Arnstadt, as he had tense relations with the authorities. The church authorities did not like his innovative approach to the performance of cult spiritual works. At the same time, the fame of a talented organist spread across Germany faster than the wind, and Bach was offered lucrative positions in many German cities.

In 1707, the composer arrived in Mühlhausen, where he entered the service in the church of St. Blaise. Here he began to earn extra money as an organ repairman and wrote a festive cantata "The Lord is my king."

In 1708 he and his family moved to Weimar, where he stayed for a long time as court composer and organist. It is believed that it was here and during this period that his creative way as a composer of music.

In 1717, Bach left Weimar to get a job as a court bandmaster in Köthen with Prince Leopold Anhalt, who appreciated the talent of the composer. The prince paid Bach well, gave him complete freedom of action, but he professed Calvinism in religion, which excluded the use of sophisticated music in worship. Therefore, in Köthen, Bach was mainly engaged in writing secular works:

  • suites for orchestra;
  • six Brandenburg Concertos;
  • French and English suites for clavier;
  • Volume 1 of The Well-Tempered Clavier;
  • suites for cello solo;
  • two-part and three-part inventions;
  • sonatas;
  • three partitas for solo violin.

In 1723, Sebastian moved to Leipzig, where he got a job in the church of St. Thomas as a choir cantor. Soon he was offered the position of "Music Director" of all Leipzig churches. This period of his creative activity Notable for writing the following works:

  • "Passion according to Matthew";
  • "Christmas Oratorio";
  • "Passion according to John";
  • Mass in B minor;
  • "High Mass";
  • "Magnificent Oratorio".

Throughout his life, the composer wrote more than a thousand works.

Family

In the autumn of 1707, Johann married his second cousin Maria Barbara. Only seven children were born in the family, but three of them died in infancy.

Two of those who survived went on to become quite famous in music world people:

  • Wilhelm Friedemann, like his father, was an organist and composer, improviser and master of counterpoint.
  • Carl Philipp Emmanuel also became a musician, composer, known as the Berlin or Hamburg Bach.

In June 1720, Maria Barbara died suddenly, and Bach was left a widower with four young children.

When the pain of loss subsided a little, Sebastian again thought about a full-fledged family. He did not want to bring a stepmother into the house for his children, but he was already unbearable alone. It was during this period that the singer Anna Magdalena Wilke, the daughter of his old friend, the court musician in Weissenfeld, performed with concerts in Köthen. Young Anna visited Bach several times and played nicely with his children. Sebastian hesitated for a long time, but, in the end, he proposed to her. Despite the sixteen-year age difference, the girl agreed to become the composer's wife.

In 1721, Bach and Anna Magdalena got married. His young wife belonged to a musical dynasty, had an amazing voice and hearing. This marriage became happier for the composer than the first. Kind and accommodating Anna accepted the children as her own, and besides, she was an excellent hostess. In their house now it was always clean and comfortable, tasty, noisy and fun. For his beloved, Johann Sebastian created the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach.

In the evenings, candles were lit in the house, they gathered in the living room, Bach played the violin, and Anna sang. At such moments, crowds of listeners gathered under their windows, who were then allowed into the house to dine with the owners. The Bach family was very generous and hospitable.

In this marriage, thirteen children were born, only six of them survived.

Unfortunately, after the death of Johann, disagreements began between his children. Everyone left, only two youngest daughters remained with Anna Magdalena - Regina Susanna and Johanna Carolina. financial assistance none of the children provided, and the rest of the life of the wife of the great composer spent in complete poverty. After her death, she was even buried in an unmarked pauper's grave. Bach's youngest daughter Regina eked out a terrible existence, at the end of her life she was helped by Ludwig van Beethoven.

Last years of life and death

Johann Sebastian lived to be 65 years old. In recent years, his eyesight, spoiled in his youth, has greatly deteriorated. The composer decided to have an operation performed by the British ophthalmologist John Taylor. The doctor's reputation was not good, but Sebastian clung to the last hope. However, the surgery was unsuccessful, and Bach became completely blind. At the same time, he did not stop composing, now he dictated his works to his wife or son-in-law.

Ten days before his death, a miracle happened, and Bach regained his sight, as if for the last time he could see the faces of his beloved wife and children, the light of the sun.

On July 28, 1750, the heart of the great musician stopped. He was buried in Leipzig in the church cemetery.