John Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Thuringia. This is the hometown of Martin Luther, the leader of the Religious Reform Movement, and was the center of the peasant uprising led by Thomas Münzer, the leader of the peasant uprising in the 16th century. The people who live in this small town love music so much that it is said that on its ancient gate are inscribed the words "Music always resounds in our town."

Bach came from a well-respected musical family. His great-grandfather, the baker Fett Bach, was a music fan, even when he went to the mill to grind noodles, he brought his beloved zitra (a plucked instrument popular in Deo). His great-grandfather Johannes (circa 1580-1626) was a musician known far and wide. Johannes' eldest son Johannes (1604-1673) was the first composer of the Bach family, and there are still three of his works that vividly reflect the social style of the Thirty Years' War; his second son, Talisdorf (1613-1661), was Bach's grandfather and musician; and his third son, Heinrich, was also a famous musician. Bach's father was a violinist in Eisenach. It is the fifth generation of Bach. Bach's sons are also famous musicians. For two hundred years, the Bach family has appeared one after another, more than fifty musicians, so that the Bach surname has become synonymous with musicians in the local area. The last member of the Bach family died in 1871, and this great lineage came to an end.

This family has lived in the small states gathered in the Lingen Mountains on the central map of Germany all year round, and rarely heard about the outside world. They took music as their profession, and like the habits of blacksmiths, tailors and other industries at that time, they were passed down from generation to generation. Most of them work as church organists, school music teachers and church hymns team leaders. Occupations such as playing players in urban public organizations. Most of the people who interact with this family are artists.

They always hold family gatherings in Thuringia every year. At the party, they have dinner, dance, sing, and discuss work.

Bach was influenced by music from an early age and grew up in a national and mass musical life. At the same time, his father Amprosius Bach taught him music skills. At the age of seven, Bach entered a Latin school attached to a local church and was a student with outstanding academic results. He also joined student hymns, sang religious songs at festivals, and at weddings and funerals to earn money for school fees.

At the age of nine, Bach's parents unfortunately passed away one after another. His long-term adviser, John Khristov (1671 - 1721), took him to the city of Ordruf, where he went to school and learned music from his brother. Not only did he have excellent academic performance, but he also showed outstanding singing skills.

Bach's love of music grew by the day, and he began to be dissatisfied with his brother's craftsman-like teaching. His endless questions also annoyed his brother. It is said that his brother had in his possession the handwritten scores of many works by the most famous German music masters of the time, Han Robert Gehl (1616-1667) and Kyle (1627-1693). Bach Jr. wanted to see these scores several times, but his brother refused. But driven by his strong thirst for knowledge, Bach Jr. quietly got up in the dead of night, took out these scores from the bookcase, and copied them by the moonlight. Just like this, alone, after half a year, he finally finished copying them. One day, after his brother found out about this, he ruthlessly took away these hard-earned scores from the child...

Indomitable character and indomitable spirit. Hard and diligent self-study leads to future success. Bach devoted all his energy to the practice of playing violin, clavichord, and especially the organ. His brother was a disciple of the great German musician Pachbel (1653-1700) at that time. Through his brother, Bach learned Pachbel's style, which had a significant influence on his future creation.

Five years passed in Aldróf. When his brother had a fifth child, Bach, who had long wished for an independent life, left his brother's house; he came to Lüneburg alone. He was only fifteen years old at this time.

Luneiburg is the center of religious singing and music in northern Germany, and the children's choir here is quite excellent. With his wonderful singing voice and dexterous violin, clavichord, and organ playing skills, young Bach was admitted to the "Excellent Singer" choir affiliated to St. Michel's Church in Lunaiburg, and he also studied in the school. Although you can get some meager salaries here, you still have to sing on the streets with your classmates.

The library here contains many works by ancient German and Italian musicians. Bach plunged in and studied these manuscripts with all his heart and soul, which greatly broadened Bach's musical horizons. He also interacted with another famous composer and organist Baum in another church, asked him for advice, and went to Hamburg more than once to listen to the performance of Baum's old teacher and organist master Reinken, and listened to the operas of the German opera composer Kaiser (1674-1739). In order to study French music, he went to the court of Chelle as a temporary musician, thus coming into contact with the string music of the French composer Luli (1632-1687) and listening to many French clavichord music performances.

Bach, like a sponge, tried his best to absorb and integrate the artistic achievements of various schools in Europe at that time, and carried out assiduous research angrily, becoming an outstanding performer, instrumentalist, and composer. Later, when someone asked Bach how art had reached such a perfect state, he replied solemnly and simply, "It is because I have worked hard, and if anyone works hard like me, he will reach the same state."

Bach's musical works are so vast that although most of them have been lost, there are still many, about 500. There are no shortage of prolific composers in the history of music, but until today, there are very few people who can compare with them in the music world. In addition to opera, Bach's composition involves all the musical cuts of the time. Among them, the most vocal works are composed, including more than 300 religious choruses, more than 20 secular choruses, three Passion songs (based on the accounts of the crucifixion of Jesus in the Gospels of the Bible), as well as oratorios (large-scale vocal diversions rich in drama and epic content), Mass (this is a polyphonic style used in Catholicism). ( Among them, "Mass in B minor" is the most famous), hymn (a kind of hymn sung by the church, for the four choruses of mixed sound. After the 16th century, it was changed to instrumental music or oratorio.), etc. Instrumental works include organ music, clavichord music, six Brandenburg Concertos, four orchestral suites, as well as piano concertos for one or more pianos, violin concertos with backing tracks by bands, violin sonatas without backing tracks, cello suites without backing tracks, flute sonatas, etc.

Bach's musical works cover all fields of music at the time except opera (this is completely different from Handel, whose path to success began with opera). Although most of the works have long been lost, more than 500 are still preserved.

Among them, the main representative works include: "Equal-tempered Piano Music Collection"(The Well-Tempered Clavier), The Art of Fugue (The Art of Fugue), Brandenburg Concerto (brandenburg Concertos)6, 2 "Violin Concerto", 6 "Unaccompanied Violin Sonatas and Suite", 6 "Unaccompanied Violin Sonatas and Suite","French Suite","British Suite","Peasant Cantata"(Peasant Cantata),"Coffee Cantata","Matthauspassion","Mass in B Minor", etc.

"Matthew's Passion" Bach

Comments: Music families like Bach are rare in history