Bach, Johann Sebastian

BACH, bɑ̄H, JOHANN SEBASTIAN: Musician; b. at Eisenach Mar. 21, 1685; d. at Leipsic July 28, 1750. He belonged to a family which through several generations had distinguished itself by musical talent; lost his parents early, and had, from his fourteenth year, to provide for his own education. In 1703 he was appointed court-musician in Weimar; and in 1723, already one of the most celebrated musicians of the time, he was made cantor and director of church music at Leipsic. His celebrity during his lifetime he owed mainly to his skill as an organist and pianist; his compositions were not appreciated till a later age. They consist chiefly of church music, oratorios, masses, etc., for organ and orchestra, for instruments as well as for the human voice; after his death the manuscripts were divided among his sons, and remained unnoticed till the time of Mendelssohn. See Music, Sacred.

Bibliography: P. Spitts, Johann Sebastian Bach, 2 vols., Leipsic, 1873–80, Eng. transl., 3 vols., London, 1884–86; C. F. A. Williams, Bach, in Master Musicians series, New York, 1900; H. Barth, Johann Sebastian Bach, ein Lebensbild, Berlin, 1902; A. Pirro, Johann Sebastian Bach, the Organist, and his Works, from the French, New York, 1903; A. Schweitzer, J. S. Bach, le musicien poète, Leipsic, 1905; Philipp Wolfrum, Johann Sebastian Bach, Berlin, 1906.