Biography
Somebody once said with a little twist of words in German: Er soll nicht Bach heissen, er soll Meer genannt werden!
That clearly illustrates his significance as a (Baroque) composer. I myself “knew” Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) from my early years, because his name appeared above many versifications of Psalms and Hymns in the little songbook in the church. 😉 I would occasionally leaf through that booklet because I didn’t understand anything of the sermon. Consequently, every Sunday I would hear a melody attributed to Bach. I also still vividly remember the atmosphere of the St Matthew Passion on Good Friday.
Later, I discovered (amongst others on the guitar) that Bach was not merely the musical flagship of the Reformation, given the enormous collection of secular works to his name.
Bach’s life and work have already been extensively researched, which is why you won’t find the most extensive biography here.
Bach was born in Eisenach in 1685. He came from a very musical family, and it later turned out that his descendants continued that tradition. Bach was orphaned at the age of nine and ended up with his eldest brother, who recognized his talent and arranged his musical education.
A turbulent musical career took him to Arnstadt, Mülhausen, Weimar, Anhalt-Köthen, and Leipzig. During that time, he composed 1,128 works—at least according to the numbering of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV)—covering an incredibly wide spectrum of instruments and ensembles.
Bach was a great proponent of well-tempered tuning, which made it possible to play relatively in tune in all keys. This saved a lot of tuning time in orchestras and increased the flexibility of music-making because it contained a universal system rather than local tuning conventions. In his Wohltemperiertes Klavier, Bach demonstrates this system through compositions for all 24 major and minor keys and also reveals the characteristics of the various keys. Well-tempered tuning has gained great significance in Western music.
Bach’s legacy for guitar includes (transcriptions of) a number of lute works. He probably did not play the lute himself, but knew a number of famous lutenists of his time, including Leopold Sylvius Weiss, so he was familiar with the sound. It is said that Bach composed lute pieces on a keyboard emulation of the lute, the Lautenwerk.
In addition, a large number of guitar transcriptions of other works by Bach were made during this period, for example the Cello Suites.
Bach died in Leipzig in 1750.