A Talented Orphan
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was orphaned at the age of 10 and sent to live with his newly married older brother Johann Christoph, who was a musician. It was there he first developed his musical talents on both organ and harpsichord. By 18, the young prodigy was appointed organist of the Neue Kirche at Arnstadt in Germany. However, the position was not the dream job he might have hoped. The Church authorities were not impressed with his unusual creativity and became even more dissatisfied with the young genius when he took an extended trip to Lubeck to hear the concerts of Buxtehude and stayed away three months longer than he should have.
SEBASTIAN
The early years
Once he left Arnstadt, he worked at St Blasius Church in Muhlhausen until the cathedral elders began to disagree about having organ music during the service. He left to work for the powerful Duke Wilhelm of Weimar for nearly a decade, but when he did not receive the professional advancement he had hoped for, he took a position with the more musical Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen. The Duke was so furious for leaving, he had him arrested and put in prison for a month, but eventually released him to take up his new post as Capellmeister at Prince Leopold's court.
Success and grief at the court of Prince Leopold
It was there that he was able to flourish, producing many works for organ and the keyboard instruments of the time, compiling the first book of his monumental "The Well-Tempered Clavier" and producing the remarkable Brandenburg Concertos. For a time, his life seemed perfect, until his beloved cousin Maria Barbara, whom he had married, suddenly passed away, leaving him a widower with 4 young children, including his two sons who would become famous composers in their own right one day, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.
In 1721, Bach re-married the daughter of a musical colleague, Anna Magdalena Wilcke, who was a fine soprano, as well as good housekeeper and excellent mother. They would have a further thirteen children together, though sadly ten of them would die in infancy.
The move to Leipzig
A week after Bach had remarried, the Prince took a wife, but she resented the time he spent with Bach in musical activities, and Bach saw it was time for he and his growing family to seek better opportunities for themselves. He secured the prestigious post of Thomaskantor at Leipzig, where he would remain for the rest of his life. During the first five years he produced a remarkable number of exceptional works, such as the St John (1724) and St Matthew (1727) Passions, even though he had only the most limited resources. Every time he asked for more money, the Church authorities would actually threaten to reduce his small salary.
The final years
During the final years of his life, his music began to grow more exploratory. Major works produced at this time included the Goldberg Variations, Variations for Organ on Vom Himmel Hoch, and the landmark "The Art of Fugue," which though both unfinished, contain masterpieces of contrapuntal techniques.
He lost his eyesight toward the end of his life, and the cause of death recorded in a contemporary newspaper was that it was the result of an unsuccessful eye operation carried out by the English surgeon John Taylor. His legacy to the musical world in the form of all his works and his several talented children can never be underestimated.
Johan Sebastian Bach: A Brief Biography SEBASTIAN
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