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: Naive
Catalog: 30530
Release Date: 11/15/2011
Number of Discs: 6
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach,
Benedetto Marcello,
Antonio Vivaldi,
Alessandro Marcello
Performer:
Rinaldo Alessandrini,
Riccardo Minasi,
Luca Peverini,
Antonio De Secondi
...
Conductor:
Rinaldo Alessandrini
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Concerto Italiano
Recommendation
Label: Newton Classics
Catalog: 8802075
Release Date: 07/26/2011
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Maurice Bourgue,
Hĺkan Hardenberger,
Irena Grafenauer,
Simon Preston
Conductor:
Peter Schreier
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra
Label: Archiv Produktion (Dg)
Catalog: 001538502
Release Date: 04/19/2011
Number of Discs: 8
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Trevor Pinnock,
Lisa Beznosiuk,
Simon Standage,
Rachel Beckett
...
Conductor:
Trevor Pinnock
Orchestra/Ensemble:
English Concert
Recommendation
Label: Berlin Classics
Catalog: 300113
Release Date: 01/11/2011
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Friedrich Kircheis,
Eckart Haupt,
Roland Straumer,
Uta Hoffmann
...
Conductor:
Ludwig Güttler
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Virtuosi Saxoniae
Label: Warner Classics
Catalog: 57496
Release Date: 06/29/2010
Number of Discs: 3
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Richard Boothby,
Peter Kooy,
Christoph Prégardien,
Catherine Patriasz
...
Conductor:
Sir Philip Ledger,
Wolfgang Gönnenwein,
Andrew Parrott,
Philippe Herreweghe
...
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Consortium Musicum,
Taverner Players,
La Petite Bande
...
Label: Emi Classics
Catalog: 49806
Release Date: 02/11/2010
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Paul Goodwin,
David Staff,
John Holloway
Conductor:
Andrew Parrott
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Taverner Players
Recommendation
Label: Deutsche Grammophon
Catalog: 001347009
Release Date: 10/27/2009
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
Peter Schreier,
Robert Holl,
Janet Perry
Conductor:
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Vienna Concentus Musicus
Label: L'oiseau Lyre
Catalog: 443267
Release Date: 06/05/2009
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Thomas Augustine Arne,
Georg Philipp Telemann,
Jean-Féry Rebel,
George Frideric Handel
...
Performer:
Stephen Preston,
Clare Shanks,
Monica Huggett,
Christopher Hogwood
...
Conductor:
Christopher Hogwood
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Academy of Ancient Music,
Winchester College Chapel Choir,
Winchester Cathedral Choir
Label: Hänssler Classic
Catalog: 98537
Release Date: 04/14/2009
Number of Discs: 5
Composer:
Antonio Vivaldi,
Georg Philipp Telemann,
Johann Sebastian Bach,
George Frideric Handel
...
Performer:
Kathleen Lenski,
Dmitri Sitkovetsky,
Ivan Moravec
Conductor:
Sir Charles Mackerras,
Sir Neville Marriner,
Helmuth Rilling
Orchestra/Ensemble:
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra,
Stuttgart Bach Collegium,
English Chamber Orchestra
...
Label: L'oiseau Lyre
Catalog: 440675
Release Date: 03/17/2009
Number of Discs: 2
Composer:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Performer:
David Roblou,
Daniel Yeadon,
David Watkin,
Richard Tunnicliffe
...
Conductor:
Philip Pickett
Orchestra/Ensemble:
New London Consort