Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his vast collection of orchestral music; instrumental compositions; keyboard works; organ works; and vocal music. Since the 19th-century Bach revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.
The Bach family already counted several composers when Johann Sebastian was born as the last child of a city musician in Eisenach. After being orphaned at the age of 10, he lived for five years with his eldest brother Johann Christoph, after which he continued his musical education in Lüneburg.
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Toccata & Fugue in D Minor
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By April 1700, Bach and his school friend Georg Erdmann were enrolled in the prestigious St. Michael's School in Lüneburg, some two weeks' travel north. It is thought the two boys walked the entire way. Bach’s two years there exposed him to a wider range of European culture. In addition to singing in the choir, he played the school's three-manual organ and harpsichords. He came into contact with sons of aristocrats from northern Germany who were sent to the highly selective school to prepare for careers.
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Gigue from French Suite #1 in D Minor
Toccata, Adagio & Fugue in C Major
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From 1703 he was back in Thuringia, working as a musician for Protestant churches in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen and, at courts in Weimar, where he expanded his organ repertory, and Köthen, where he was engaged with chamber music. From 1723 he was employed as the cantor at St Thomas's in Leipzig. There he composed music for the principal Lutheran churches of the city, and for its university's student ensemble Collegium Musicum.
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The Little Fugue in G Minor
Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor
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Bach held three major jobs in his life: first he worked for a duke, then for a prince, and finally, he became director of music at the St. Thomas Church and School in Leipzig, Germany. Even though his job in Leipzig kept him very busy, Bach found time to conduct a group of musicians who liked to get together to perform at Zimmerman’s, a local coffee house.
From 1726 he published some of his keyboard and organ music. In the last decades of his life he reworked and extended many of his earlier compositions.
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Chaconne in D Minor
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