J. S. Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period. Since the 19th-century Bach Revival, he has been regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. He was born in 1685 in Eisenach, from a family that had been making music for six generations. From his father he learned to play the violin, from his uncle the harpsichord and the organ. For several years he worked as a cantor, a violinist and organist in various places in Germany. In the meantime his wife died; he had seven children; the following year, he married Maddalena Wulgen, and they had 13 children.
In 1723 he moved to Leipzig and became choirmaster at Saint Thomas church school. In the last years of his life he became blind, but continued to compose music. He died in Leipzig in 1750. He studied the music of the Italians: Antonio Vivaldi, for example.
Bach was neglected for a long time, but he was revalued in the nineteenth century thanks to the musician Jakob Mendelssohn. His organ production is about 250 compositions. He also composed 84 choirs. Bach’s compositions include sacred and secular cantatas. He composed Latin church music, Passions, oratorios and motes. He often adapted Lutheran hymns. He wrote for organ and for other keyboard instruments. He composed concertos for violin and for harpsichord, and suites, as chamber music as well as for orchestra. He was considered an “old fashion musician” , for his style. He said: “ I play the notes as they are written, but it is God who makes the music”.
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