Want to bring Johann Sebastian Bach to life in a new and interesting way? Check out Bach's Life in Pictures online.A year later, Bach married Anna Magdalena Wülcken, with whom he had 13 more children!ĭid you enjoy learning more about Johann Sebastian Bach today? Grab a friend or family member to help you check out the following activities: Together, they had seven children before she died in 1720. He married his second cousin Maria Barbara Bach in 1707.
Some of his most famous works include the Brandenburg Concertos, the Well-Tempered Clavier,and Toccata and Fugue in D Minor.īach is also known for being a family man. The Duke eventually had to let him go, but Bach composed 46 pieces of music during his time in prison, many of which are still performed today.Īlthough his music wasn't truly appreciated during his lifetime, Bach is now considered one of history's greatest composers.
When he tried to leave to pursue the new opportunity, the Duke put him in prison for a month. Other Baroque Era composers include Vivaldi and Handel.īach was such a prolific composer that he didn't even let a stint in jail stop him! While working as organist for the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Bach received a job offer with a better salary. In fact, his death in 1750 now marks the end of the Baroque Era. As a result, very little of it was published during Bach's lifetime.įollowing the Renaissance Era and preceding the Classical Era, Bach is now considered the most important composer of the Baroque Era. Unfortunately, most of this music was written to be performed only once. He began to compose original works for all sorts of church services, including pieces for choir, organ, harpsichord, and orchestra. When both his parents died when he was just nine years old, Bach went to live with his older brother, Johann Christoph Bach, who taught him to play the organ.Īs a young man, Bach became a prominent organist, working as a musician for a variety of churches. His father taught him to play the violin and harpsichord. Who are we talking about? None other than Johann Sebastian Bach!īorn in 1685 in Germany, Johann Sebastian Bach came from a musical family. He created over 1,000 pieces of music, but his musical genius was largely unrecognized for over a century after his death. Today's Wonder of the Day features one of the most influential composers of all time. Have you ever tried to write a piece of music? It's not easy! It takes special talent and skill. Rarer still are those people who can go beyond merely playing instruments to writing their own musical compositions. Then there are those rare people who can learn to play multiple instruments like a master. Set any piece of music in front of them, and they can play it. Over time, though, many people learn to play an instrument like a master. It can take a lot of work and hard practice. Of course, learning to play a musical instrument isn't always easy. Whether it's banging on the drums, strumming the strings of a guitar, or tickling the ivories of a piano, it's always fun to coax sounds out of a musical instrument.
SEBASTIAN BACH YOUNG HOW TO
In the 18th and 19th centuries, The History of the Family,ħ:4, 501-504, DOI: 10.Do you know how to play a musical instrument? If you're like most kids, you've probably given a few different instruments a try. Robert Lee & Peter Marschalck (2002) Infant mortality in Germany The David Gordon Studio : Source for childhood mortality statistics in paragraph 2 above: The numbers 1–20 below indicate the chronological order of the births. The four musician sons mostly ignored their widowed mother/stepmother Anna Magadalena, and she died in poverty in 1760, ten years after her husband. four sons became successful musicians and composers one son was mentally handicapped and required a caretaker three daughters remained unmarried and died in poverty one son died of unknown causes as a young adult
Here is what became of the 20 Bach children:
In 18th-Century Germany one child in four died during their first year, and nearly half of all children - poor and rich - died before their fifth birthday. And for most people today that's as far as the story goes.īut a stark reality of family life in Bach's time was that parents tended to have lots of children because childhood mortality was so high. A well-known factoid about Johann Sebastian Bach is that he and his two wives produced 20 children.