Johann Sebastian Bach was better known as a virtuoso organist than as a composer in his day. His sacred music, organ and choral works, and other instrumental music had an enthusiasm and seeming freedom that concealed immense rigor. Bach's use of counterpoint was brilliant and innovative, and the immense complexities of his compositional style -- which often included religious and numerological symbols that seem to fit perfectly together in aRead more profound puzzle of special codes -- still amaze musicians today. Many consider him the greatest composer of all time.
Bach was born in Eisenach in 1685. He was taught to play the violin and harpsichord by his father, Johann Ambrosius, a court trumpeter in the service of the Duke of Eisenach. Young Johann was not yet ten when his father died, leaving him orphaned. He was taken in by his recently married oldest brother, Johann Christoph, who lived in Ohrdruf. Because of his excellent singing voice, Bach attained a position at the Michaelis monastery at Lüneberg in 1700. His voice changed a short while later, but he stayed on as an instrumentalist. After taking a short-lived post in Weimar in 1703 as a violinist, Bach became organist at the Neue Kirche in Arnstadt (1703-1707). His relationship with the church council was tenuous as the young musician often shirked his responsibilities, preferring to practice the organ. One account describes a four-month leave granted Bach, to travel to Lubeck where he would familiarize himself with the music of Dietrich Buxtehude. He returned to Arnstadt long after was expected and much to the dismay of the council. He then briefly served at St. Blasius in Mühlhausen as organist, beginning in June 1707, and married his cousin, Maria Barbara Bach, that fall. Bach composed his famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565) and his first cantatas while in Mühlhausen, but quickly outgrew the musical resources of the town. He next took a post for the Duke of Sachsen-Weimar in 1708, serving as court organist and playing in the orchestra, eventually becoming its leader in 1714. He wrote many organ compositions during this period, including his Orgel-Büchlein. Owing to politics between the Duke and his officials, Bach left Weimar and secured a post in December 1717 as Kapellmeister at Cöthen. In 1720, Bach's wife suddenly died, leaving him with four children (three others had died in infancy). A short while later, he met his second wife, soprano Anna Magdalena Wilcke, whom he married in December 1721. She would bear 13 children, though only five would survive childhood. The six Brandenburg Concertos (BWV 1046-51), among many other secular works, date from his Cöthen years. Bach became Kantor of the Thomas School in Leipzig in May 1723 and held the post until his death. It was in Leipzig that he composed the bulk of his religious and secular cantatas. Bach eventually became dissatisfied with this post, not only because of its meager financial rewards, but also because of onerous duties and inadequate facilities. Thus, he took on other projects, chief among which was the directorship of the city's Collegium Musicum, an ensemble of professional and amateur musicians who gave weekly concerts, in 1729. He also became music director at the Dresden Court in 1736, in the service of Frederick Augustus II; though his duties were vague and apparently few, they allowed him freedom to compose what he wanted. Bach began making trips to Berlin in the 1740s, not least because his son Carl Philipp Emanuel served as a court musician there. In May 1747, the composer was warmly received by King Frederick II of Prussia, for whom he wrote the gloriously abstruse Musical Offering (BWV 1079). Among Bach's last works was his 1749 Mass in B minor. Besieged by diabetes, he died on July 28, 1750. Read less
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 29355
Release Date: 09/14/2010
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Aaron Copland,
Samuel Barber
Performer:
Hĺkan Hardenberger,
Eckart Haupt,
Klaus Gerbeth,
Maurice Murphy
...
Conductor:
Peter Schreier,
Michael Tilson Thomas
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 27930
Release Date: 08/24/2010
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Johann Pachelbel,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,
Ludwig van Beethoven
...
Performer:
Sabine Meyer,
Moura Lympany,
Yehudi Menuhin,
Fritz Helmis
...
Conductor:
Sir Neville Marriner,
Hans Vonk,
Alberto Lysy,
Herbert von Karajan
...
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 27937
Release Date: 08/24/2010
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Claude Debussy,
Dmitri Shostakovich,
Camille Saint-Saëns
...
Performer:
Noel Rawsthorne,
David Reichenberg,
Markus Klinko,
Tasmin Little
...
Conductor:
Sir Neville Marriner,
Andrew Parrott,
Reginald Kilbey,
Stephen Cleobury
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Taverner Players,
Nash Ensemble,
Camerata Lysy
...
Label: Musical Concepts
Catalog: 1102
Release Date: 07/13/2010
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
George Frideric Handel,
John Weldon,
Henry Purcell
...
Performer:
Roy Goodman,
Gillian Fisher,
Lisa Beznosiuk,
John Mark Ainsley
...
Conductor:
Robert King
Orchestra/Ensemble:
King's Consort
Label: Naxos
Catalog: 8505086
Release Date: 04/27/2010
Number of Discs: 5
Composer:
Richard Wagner,
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Giovanni Palestrina,
William Byrd
...
Conductor:
José Serebrier
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 95424
Release Date: 02/23/2010
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Philip Pickett,
Catherine Latham,
Iona Brown,
William Bennett
...
Conductor:
Eugen Jochum,
Sir Neville Marriner,
Yehudi Menuhin,
Wolfgang Gönnenwein
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 95429
Release Date: 02/23/2010
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Antonio Vivaldi,
Johann Pachelbel,
George Frideric Handel,
Tomaso Albinoni
...
Performer:
Yehudi Menuhin,
Wayne Marshall,
Gerald Finley,
George Malcolm
...
Conductor:
Sir Neville Marriner,
Sir Charles Mackerras,
Stephen Cleobury,
Sir David Willcocks
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Camerata Lysy,
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields,
Early Music Consort of London
...
Label: Sony
Catalog: 752307
Release Date: 10/27/2009
Number of Discs: 90
Composer:
Sandeep Das,
Traditional,
Kayhan Kalhor,
Zhou Long
...
Performer:
Joseph Gramley,
Kim Dong-Won,
Yo-Yo Ma,
Mark Suter
...
Conductor:
Miguel Harth-Bedoya,
John T. Williams,
Ennio Morricone,
Isaac Stern
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Silk Road Ensemble,
Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
Qi Lin
...
Label: Decca
Catalog: 001313002
Release Date: 08/11/2009
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Pepe Romero,
Heinz Holliger,
György Sebok,
János Starker
...
Conductor:
Heinz Holliger,
Sir Neville Marriner,
Iona Brown,
Arpád Gerecz
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields,
Les Solistes Romands,
English Chamber Orchestra
...
Label: Time/Life Music
Catalog: 24742
Release Date: 06/30/2009
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Jules Massenet,
Ludwig van Beethoven,
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Johann Paul A. Martini
...
Performer:
Keith Harvey,
José Luis Garcia,
Larry Dalton,
Skaila Kanga
...
Conductor:
David Firman,
Franck Pourcel,
Charles Gerhardt,
Eric Hammerstein
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
National Philharmonic Orchestra,
Franck Pourcel Orchestra,
London Philharmonic Orchestra
...
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 64262
Release Date: 06/16/2009
Number of Discs: 6
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
George Frideric Handel,
Claude Debussy,
Camille Saint-Saëns
...
Performer:
Markus Klinko,
Ian Brown,
Christopher van Kampen,
Susan Tomes
...
Conductor:
Sir Neville Marriner,
Reginald Kilbey,
Sir John Barbirolli,
Stephen Cleobury
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Nash Ensemble,
Vienna String Sextet Members,
Ensemble Berlin
...
Label: Eloquence
Catalog: 4800616
Release Date: 06/05/2009
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Felix Mendelssohn,
Franz Xaver Gruber,
Charles Gounod,
Charles Hubert Parry
...
Performer:
Kirsten Flagstad
Conductor:
Sir Adrian Boult
Orchestra/Ensemble:
London Philharmonic Orchestra
Recommendation
Label: Opening Day
Catalog: 9364
Release Date: 05/04/2009
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Scott Joplin,
Claude Debussy,
Luigi Boccherini,
Jacob Gade
...
Performer:
Catherine Wilson,
Marie Berard,
Dorothy Lawson
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Ensemble Vivant
Label: Eloquence
Catalog: 4765888
Release Date: 03/20/2009
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Marisa Robles,
András Schiff,
Salvatore Accardo,
Pepe Romero
...
Conductor:
Raymond Leppard
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Boston Symphony Orchestra,
Academy of St. Martin in the Fields,
New Symphony Orchestra of London
...
Label: Shadow Mountain
Catalog: 5015299
Release Date: 03/03/2009
Number of Discs: 1
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Ales Bartá
Conductor:
Richard Hein
Orchestra/Ensemble:
City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra,
City of Prague Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra,
M. Nostitz Quartet
Label: Herald Records
Catalog: 267
Release Date: 10/13/2008
Composer:
Marc-Antoine Charpentier,
Daniel Danielis,
Antonio Vivaldi,
Henry Purcell
...
Performer:
Robert Weddle
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Maîtrise de Caen Choir