Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685. He was baptized on March 23, 1685. He died at the age of 65 on July 28, 1750.
His mother died at age 50 when Bach was only 9 years of age. His father died, at the age of 49, when Bach was 10 years old. After his parents died his older brother, Johann Christoph, took him in and taught him music. Bach learned to play the violin and organ and was a soprano in the boy's choir.
When his brother discovered Mr. Bach’s musical talent, and that he had copied some music that he had found, he was very jealous of it and forbade him the privilege of any musical studies. He also confiscated all his brother’s work.
When Bach was 15 his brother died and Bach became the organist for several churches.
In 1703, when Bach was 18, he became a violinist in the private orchestra of the prince of Weimar, but he left to be an organist at Arnstadt within the year.
In 1708, when Bach was 23, he was made court organist and chamber musician at Weimar. He also married Maria Barbara Bach.
In 1714, he was 29 and became concert master at Weimar.
In 1720, he was 35, and his wife died. She had given birth to seven children, of which only three were living. She died shortly after the seventh child was born and while he was away visiting Karlsbad with the prince.
In 1721, he married Anna Magdalena Wulken. A week after Bach married her, the prince married. The prince’s wife did not have any interest in the art of music so the prince had to reduce the support given to Bach and other musicians.
and they had 13 more children, of which they lost four of the six boys.
In 1723, Bach applied for dismissal from the prince, which the prince reluctantly granted, so that he could take over the position of Cantor (music director) of St. Thomas at Leipzig, where he lived for the last 27 years of his life, where he directed the choir school.
Bach wrote many music pieces. He wrote several violin concertos, six Brandenburg concertos, as well as numerous sonatas, suites and keyboard works and several hymns.
Bach wrote St. Matthew’s Passion in 1729.
In his last year Bach’s eyesight began to deteriorate. He had two operations but they did not help.
Bach's compositions were mostly forgotten until a century later, when Mendelssohn reintroduced them and they became world famous.
Some of the hymns he composed were:
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Sources
Bach portrait 4 (Weimar?) http://odur.let.rug.nl/lingiustics/diversen/bach/pictures/bach4.html
Johann Sebastian Bach: a detailed informative biography http://www.islandnet.com/~arton/bqxjsbach.html
J.S. Bach: Timeline of His Life http://www.jsbach.org/timeline.html
Johann Sebastian Bach http://w3.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/bachjs.html
Lagass, L. P., Columbia University. The Columbia encyclopedia 6th ed. (New York: Columbia University Press; 2000)
