Johann Sebastian Bach was born on the 21st of March in 1685 in a town called Eisenach. He was the youngest son of Johann Ambrosius Bach who was a town musician. J. Sebastian Bach probably learned his the basic knowledge of music theory and also to play the violin from his father. When J. Sebastian Bach was ten years old he was orphaned and had to live with his elder brother J. Christopher Bach which was an organist for St. Michaels Church in Ohrdruf. J. Christopher Bach gave his little brother lessons on how to play keyboard helping him to grow further in his knowledge of music. From the years 1700 to 1702 J. Sebastian Bach attended St. Michaels School in Luneburg, at this school he sang in the choir and came into contact with organist and composer Georg Bohm, acquiring a dream to become a composer. After a failed attempt to become an organist at Sangerhausen in the year 1702 he became a violinist at the court of Weimar and then took over ...view middle of the document...
Some of the students that he taught include: his cousins Johann Lorenz and Johann Bernhard and also Johann Tobias Krebs Five years into Bach's appointment, the Duke promoted him to Konzertmeister, nearly doubling his salary as part of a counter offer to retain his services. When he excepted his new title as Konzertmaister he was responsible to new pieces monthly and the only thing that was almost overwhelming was he had to perform only ones that he had composed himself. In the years following he was became father to seven children. In 1717, Bach was appointed as Kapellmeister at Cothen the only problem with that is it wasn't in Weimar and Bach didn't have the ability to leave Weimar because of the Duke. So the only way to leave was to become a prisoner and that's what Bach did for almost a month until he was given permission to leave by the Duke. When Bach arrived to Cothen he had no responsibilities to the chapel so the bulk of his time was spent composing music. In the year 1720 Maria Barbara died while Bach was visiting Karlsbad but, then within the same year he married Anna Magdalena Wilcke. A week later Prince Leopald and his wife's lack in interest to Bach's art lead to less funding. In 1723 he took the post of Director musices at Leipzig and Kantor. This is the place where Bach would spend the rest of his life. He often had conflicts with the authorities although, he was a family man and a proud and caring parent. His fame as a composer gradually spread widely from 1726 and onward. After 1729 Bach's interest in doing only church music had declined and he started to compose pieces such as b Minor Mass and the Christmas Oratorio. For a long while the main parts of his life were given to composing and his family. However the last year of his life Bach's eyesight began to deteriorate and in March and April of 1750 he was twice operated on by the English oculist John Taylor. These operations are said to have brought death to back but, these opnions have never been proven . Bach was a great composer and lived 65 years. For these 65 years he was totally infatuated in music that, was what he ate, slept and, breathed. There may never be a composer that matches up to that of Johann Sebastian Bach.
