Johann
Sebastian Bach
1685 - 1750
Johann Sebastian Bach.
Listen to Bach's
Toccata
and Fugue
in D Minor.
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in 1685 and died in 1750 in Germany. He was born into a musical family. All the members of his huge family could play the violin, harpsichord, and organ.
When Bach was ten his father died. He was on his own at the age of 15. He made a living by singing in a choir, working as an accompanist, choir director, organist, and teacher. The music Bach wrote would fill over twenty volumes! Included in this body of work are some of the greatest pieces ever written.
Bach was a master at counterpoint, which is the art of writing two or more musical lines of equal importance. Listen to his Invention No. 8 in F Major to hear two musical lines of equal importance.
Bach had 20 children, and many of them became well known musicians, too. He is the best known composer of the Baroque period and is considered to be one of the most important composers who ever lived.
