Johann Sebastian Bach

 “A musical poet for the glory of God”

"It should not be called Bach, but the sea, because of its infinite, inexhaustible wealth of tone combinations and harmonies." - This is what Beethoven, who was himself a great composer, said of Bach.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685 in the city of Eisenach in Thuringia. He had a tough youth and always lived in modest circumstances. But he was extremely industrious and always wanted to learn. When he was orphaned at the age of ten, he was taken in by an older brother who was an organist. Here he once secretly copied notes at night in the gloomy candlelight until his brother noticed and took the notes away from him.

Johann Sebastian Bach (Image: The Path)

Lübeck Marienkirche, Petrikirche (Image: Der Weg - A. Reustle)

Virtuoso organist

At the age of 18, Bach was already an organist in Arnstadt. From here he made a trip on foot to Lübeck, 350 km away, to hear the famous organist Buxtehude there.

In 1708 Bach entered the service of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar as court organist. Here he composed a large part of his organ works (preludes and fugues). Because he was already a famous organ player. A contemporary said of him: " His feet flew over the organ pedals as if they had wings, and like thunder, the sounds roared through the church."

During these years the well-known French organ and harpsichord player Marchand wanted to compete with Bach in Dresden in front of a large audience in harpsichord playing.

But when Bach appeared at the appointed hour, Marchand had left secretly shortly before. He knew that Bach would defeat him.

Concert music in Koethen

In 1717 Bach went to Köthen near Magdeburg. There he became director of the princely court orchestra. The six years here were a very happy time for him, although he lost his first wife by death in Koethen. Here he wrote many suites, sonatas, and concerts for the royal court, including the well-known six “Brandenburg Concertos”.

Thomaskantor in Leipzig

In 1723 Bach became cantor at the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. He was thus responsible for the church music at the Leipzig churches. He often composed a new cantata for church services every Sunday. In the cantatas, the thoughts of the sermon were presented musically. In total, he wrote around 200 church cantatas.

Bach had to practice his cantatas and other pieces of music with the students of the Thomas School every Sunday. He also had to teach Latin to the students. Because the students often sang badly or disobeyed, he often got angry with them. That is why Bach had hard arguments with the City Council of Leipzig about the St. Thomas students and other things. It was only after long struggles that he was able, at least for the most part, to enforce his demands.

St. Matthew Passion

Bach was a devout Christian. He said: “With all music, God should be honored and people should be delighted. If you don't honor God with your music, the music is just a devilish racket and noise. " He often wrote about his compositions “J. i. ”, the Latin abbreviation for“ Jesu Duvall ”=“ Jesus, help ”. And most of his works Bach marked with the letters: SDG = soli Deo Gloria = “God alone the glory!” The great master knew that he could only make good music with the help of Jesus and God.

Along with the Mass in B minor, Bach's greatest work is his St. Matthew Passion.

Thomaskirche Leipzig 

In it, he set the story of Jesus' passion, based on the Gospel of Matthew in the Bible, to music in wonderful music. Quite a few people have come to believe in Jesus and God by hearing the St. Matthew Passion. That is why Bach is also called “the fifth evangelist” alongside the four evangelists in the Bible.

End of life

Three years before Bach's death, the art and music-loving King of Prussia, Frederick the Great, invited him to visit Potsdam. Bach then dedicated the “Musical Sacrifice” to the king. This work and Bach's last unfinished work “The Art of Fugue” are the greatest polyphonic (polyphonic) masterpieces. They are therefore not easy to understand.

Bach had a total of twenty children from his two wives, but only six sons and four daughters grew up. Four of his sons became famous composers themselves.

Shortly before his death in 1750, Bach went blind. As the very last work he dictated to his son-in-law a composition on the hymn “I stand before your throne, God the Father, and humbly plead not to turn away your gracious face from me, a poor sinner.” He knew that now through his death he would go to God, into eternal life with God.

Johann Sebastian Bach was forgotten soon after his death. People wanted to hear simpler and easier music than Bach wrote it. It wasn't until a hundred years later that people began to discover its size. And today his music is played all over the world. For many people, Bach is the greatest of all composers.