| Term Paper Title | Johann Sebastian Bach |
| # of Words | 745 |
| # of Pages (250 words per page double spaced) | 2.98 |
Johann Sebastian Bach
Regarded as perhaps the greatest composer of all time,
Bach was known during his lifetime primarily as an
outstanding organ player and technician. The youngest of
eight children born to musical parents, Johann Sebastian
was destined to become a musician. While still young, he
had mastered the organ and violin, and was also an
excellent singer. At the age of ten, both of his parents died
within a year of each other. Young Sebastian was fortunate
to be taken in by an older brother, Johann Christoph, who
most likely continued his musical training. At the age of
fifteen, Bach secured his first position in the choir of St.
Michael's School in Lüneburg. He travelled little, never
leaving Germany once in his life, but held various postitions
during his career in churches and in the service of the courts
throughout the country. In 1703 he went to Arnstadt to
take the position of organist at the St. Boniface Church. It
was during his tenure there that Bach took a month's leave
of absence to make the journey to Lübeck (some 200
miles away, a journey he made on foot) to hear the great
organist Dietrich Buxtehude. One month turned into five,
and Bach was obliged to find a new position at Mülhausen
in 1706. In that year he also married his cousin, Maria
Barbara. Bach remained at Mülhausen for only a year
before taking up a post as organist and concertmaster at
the court of the Duke of Weimar.
In 1717, Bach moved on to another post, this time as
Kapellmeister at the court of Prince Leopold in Cöthen.
During the years Bach was in the service of the courts, he
was obliged to compose a great deal of instrumental music:
hundreds of pieces for solo keyboard, orchestral dance
suites, trio sonatas for various instruments, and concertos
for various instruments and orchestra. Of these, the most
famous are the six concerti grossi composed for the Duke
of Brandenburg in 1721, and the Brandenburg Concerto
no. 3 exemplifies the style of the concerto grosso in which
a small group of instruments (in this case a small ensemble
of strings) is set in concert with an orchestra of strings and
continuo. Of Bach's music for solo instruments, the six
Suites for violoncello and the Sonatas and Partitas for
solo violin are among the greatest for those instruments.
The Violin Partita no. 3 contains an example of a popular
dance form, the gavotte.
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