Baroque · 1600–1750
Johann Sebastian Bach
“The Master of Harmony”
An organist from a huge family of musicians whose puzzles in sound became the foundation of Western music.
The Baroque era (1600–1750): Ornate, dramatic music of courts and churches — fugues, concertos and opera are born.
Amazing facts
- The Bach family had so many musicians that in his region 'a Bach' simply meant 'a musician'. He had 20 children, and several became famous composers too.
- As a teenager he once walked about 400 km to hear the great organist Buxtehude play — then overstayed his leave by three months.
- He was once jailed for a month by his employer, the Duke of Weimar, for trying to quit his job.
- He wrote a new cantata almost every week for years in Leipzig — while also teaching Latin and directing choirs.
- In his lifetime he was famous as an organ virtuoso, not a composer. His music was rediscovered when Mendelssohn conducted the St Matthew Passion in 1829.
- He signed many works 'S.D.G.' — Soli Deo Gloria, 'to God alone the glory'.
A few pieces to start with
Cello Suite No. 1 — Prelude
1720
Solo cello
A single cello weaves rolling waves of notes that sound like a whole orchestra. Written at Cöthen, lost in obscurity, and made world-famous by cellist Pablo Casals, who discovered a copy in a second-hand shop aged 13.
Toccata and Fugue in D minor
1708
Organ
Probably the most famous organ piece ever written — its dramatic opening flourish has thundered through countless films.
Brandenburg Concertos
1721
Orchestral
Six concertos sent as a job application to the Margrave of Brandenburg. He never even replied — but they became some of the most loved orchestral music ever.
Life & times — what was happening in the world
1685Born in Eisenach into a family bursting with musicians.
1685An amazing year for music: Handel and Domenico Scarlatti are born within months of Bach.
1695Orphaned at age 10; goes to live with his organist older brother, secretly copying forbidden scores by moonlight.
1705Walks about 400 km to Lübeck to hear the organist Buxtehude — and stays three months longer than allowed.
1707England and Scotland unite to form Great Britain.
1717Becomes Kapellmeister at Cöthen, where he writes the Brandenburg Concertos and Cello Suites.
1721Peter the Great declares the Russian Empire.
1723Moves to Leipzig as cantor of St Thomas Church — his job for the last 27 years of his life.
1735Carl Linnaeus publishes his system for naming all living things.
1742Celsius proposes his temperature scale; Handel's Messiah premieres in Dublin.
1747Visits King Frederick the Great of Prussia and improvises on the king's theme — it becomes The Musical Offering.
1750Dies in Leipzig, leaving The Art of Fugue unfinished.
1750The Industrial Revolution is stirring in Britain as Bach dies — one era ends as another begins.