Johann Sebastian Bach lived in Germany between 1685-1750, in the region of Thuringia. He was born in Eisenach. He spent a large portion of his life in three places: Weimar, Cothen, and Leipzig. In Weimar he was employed as a...
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Johann Sebastian Bach lived in Germany between 1685-1750, in the region of Thuringia. He was born in Eisenach. He spent a large portion of his life in three places: Weimar, Cothen, and Leipzig. In Weimar he was employed as a church organist, so he composed many of his organ works during that time. He later moved to Cothen where he directed a court orchestra. Consequently, during this period, he composed much of his chamber music and instrumental music. Finally, Bach spent the last 25 years of his life in Leipzig, where he was music director of the local church. During this time, he composed many of his church cantatas, other religious music including the Mass in B Minor, and his late works, such as the Art of the Fugue. For a great part of his life, Bach composed and performed music for the church. His complete works consist of over 1000 choral and instrumental works, including almost 200 cantatas. His choral works include cantatas, masses, and passions. One of his greatest choral works is the Mass in B Minor, one of the few pieces in which Bach set the Latin mass to music. He composed the Kyrie and Gloria in 1733 and added the other sections, which were mostly revisions of earlier works, in 1748, 2 years before his death. It is a mystery why Bach bothered to complete the mass, knowing it would not be performed in its entirety in Lutheran church services. Bach belonged to a dynasty of musicians. In following inevitable family tradition, he excelled his forebears and contemporaries, although he did not always receive the respect he deserved in his own life-time. He spend his earlier career principally as an organist, latterly at the court of one of the two ruling Grand Dukes of Weimar. In 1717 he moved to Cöthen as Court Kapellmeister to the young Prince Leopold and in 1723 made his final move to Leipzig, where he was employed as Cantor at the Choir School of St. Thomas, with responsibility for music in the five principal city churches. In Leipzig he also eventually took charge of the University Collegium musicum and occupied himself with the collection and publication of many of his earlier compositions. Bach has been generally regarded by subsequent generations as one of the greatest of all composers. Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis numbers, abbreviated to BWV, are generally accepted for convenience and reference.
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