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Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the greatest composers in

Western musical history. More than 1,000 of his compositions

survive. Some examples are the Art of Fugue, Brandenburg

Concerti, the Goldberg Variations for Harpsichord, the Mass in B-

Minor, the motets, the Easter and Christmas oratorios, Toccata in F

Major, French Suite No 5, Fugue in G Major, Fugue in G Minor

("The Great"), St. Matthew Passion, and Jesu Der Du Meine Seele.

He came from a family of musicians. There were over 53 musicians

in his family over a period of 300 years.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany on

March 21, 1685. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was a

talented violinist, and taught his son the basic skills for string

playing; another relation, the organist at Eisenach's most important

church, instructed the young boy on the organ. In 1695 his parents

died and he was only 10 years old. He went to go stay with his older

brother, Johann Christoph, who was a professional organist at

Ohrdruf. Johann Christoph was a professional organist, and

continued his younger brother's education on that instrument, as

well as on the harpsichord. After several years in this arrangement,

Johann Sebastian won a scholarship to study in Luneberg, Northern

Germany, and so left his brother's tutelage.



A master of several instruments while still in his teens,

Johann Sebastian first found employment at the age of 18 as a

"lackey and violinist" in a court orchestra in Weimar; soon after, he

took the job of organist at a church in Arnstadt. Here, as in later

posts, his perfectionist tendencies and high expectations of other

musicians - for example, the...