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{{Short description|German composer (1685–1750)}}
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{{Redirect|Bach|other uses|Bach (disambiguation)|and|Johann Sebastian Bach (disambiguation)}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2012}}
{{Infobox classical composer
| name = Johann Sebastian Bach
| image = Johann Sebastian Bach.jpg
| caption = 1748 portrait of Bach holding a copy<br /> of the [[Canon (music)|canon]] BWV 1076{{sfn|Wolff|Emery|2001|loc="10. Iconography"}}
| birth_date = 21 March 1685 [[Old Style and New Style dates|(O.S.)]]<br />{{birth-date|31 March 1685}} [[Old Style and New Style dates|(N.S.)]]
| birth_place = [[Eisenach]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1750|7|28|1685|3|31|df=y}} <!-- 31 March, new style date -->
| occupations = {{hlist|[[Thomaskantor]]|composer|violinist|keyboard player|organ expert|school director|conductor}}
| death_place = [[Leipzig]]
| notable_family = [[Bach family]]
| signature = Johann Sebastian Bach signature.svg
| signature_size = 180px
| works = [[List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach|List of compositions]]
}}
'''Johann Sebastian Bach'''{{refn|German pronunciation: {{IPA|de|ˈjoːhan zeˈbasti̯a(ː)n ˈbax||De-Johann Sebastian Bach.ogg}}. The surname is pronounced {{IPAc-en|b|ɑː|x}} {{respell|BAHKH}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Bach, Johann Sebastian |publisher=[[Lexico]] |url=https://www.lexico.com/definition/bach_johann_sebastian |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511060103/http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/bach-johann-sebastian |archive-date=11 May 2016 |access-date=3 May 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Bach |publisher=[[Dictionary.com]] |url=http://www.dictionary.com/browse/johann-sebastian-bach |access-date=3 May 2016 |archive-date=26 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326122332/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/johann-sebastian-bach |url-status=dead }}</ref> or {{IPAc-en|b|ɑː|k}} {{respell|BAHK}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bach |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bach#biographicalDictionary |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250430074415/https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bach#biographicalDictionary |archive-date=30 April 2025 |access-date=20 August 2025 |website=[[Merriam-Webster|Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary]] |publisher=Merriam-Webster}}</ref> in English.|group=n}} ({{OldStyleDate|31 March|1685|21 March}} – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late [[Baroque music|Baroque period]]. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the orchestral ''[[Brandenburg Concertos]]''; solo instrumental works such as the [[Cello Suites (Bach)|cello suites]] and [[Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (Bach)|sonatas and partitas for solo violin]]; keyboard works such as the ''[[Goldberg Variations]]'' and ''[[The Well-Tempered Clavier]]''; organ works such as the ''{{lang|de|[[Schübler Chorales]]}}'' and the [[Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565|Toccata and Fugue in D minor]]; and choral works such as the ''[[St Matthew Passion]]'' and the [[Mass in B minor]]. Since the 19th-century [[Reception of Johann Sebastian Bach's music|Bach Revival]], he has been widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.
The [[Bach family]] had already produced several composers when Johann Sebastian was born as the last child of a city musician, [[Johann Ambrosius Bach|Johann Ambrosius]], in [[Eisenach]]. After being orphaned at age 10, he lived for five years with his eldest brother, [[Johann Christoph Bach (organist at Ohrdruf)|Johann Christoph]], then continued his musical education in [[Lüneburg]]. In 1703 he returned to [[Thuringia]], working as a musician for [[Protestant]] churches in [[Arnstadt]] and [[Mühlhausen]]. Around that time he also visited for longer periods the courts in [[Saxe-Weimar|Weimar]], where he expanded his [[Pipe organ|organ]] repertory, and the [[Reformed Christianity|reformed]] court at [[Anhalt-Köthen|Köthen]], where he was mostly engaged with [[chamber music]]. By 1723 he was hired as [[Thomaskantor]] ([[Cantor (Christianity)|cantor]] with related duties at [[St. Thomas School, Leipzig|St Thomas School]]) in [[Leipzig]]. There he composed music for the principal [[Lutheran]] churches of the city and [[Leipzig University]]'s student ensemble, [[Collegium Musicum]]. In 1726 he began [[List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach printed during his lifetime|publishing]] his organ and other keyboard music. In Leipzig, as had happened during some of his earlier positions, he had difficult relations with his employer. This situation was somewhat remedied when his sovereign, [[Augustus III of Poland]], granted him the title of court composer of the Elector of Saxony in 1736. In the last decades of his life, Bach reworked and extended many of his earlier compositions. He died due to complications following eye surgery in 1750 at the age of 65. Four of his twenty children, [[Wilhelm Friedemann Bach|Wilhelm Friedemann]], [[Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach|Carl Philipp Emanuel]], [[Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach|Johann Christoph Friedrich]], and [[Johann Christian Bach|Johann Christian]], became composers.
Bach enriched established German styles through his mastery of [[counterpoint]], [[Harmony|harmonic]] and [[Motif (music)|motivic]] organisation, and his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly Italy and France. [[List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach|His compositions]] include [[Bach cantata|hundreds of cantatas]], both [[Church cantata (Bach)|sacred]] and [[List of secular cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach|secular]]. He composed [[Bach's church music in Latin|Latin church music]], [[Passions (Bach)|Passions]], [[List of masses, passions and oratorios by Johann Sebastian Bach#Oratorios and associated cantatas|oratorios]], and [[List of motets by Johann Sebastian Bach|motets]]. He adopted [[Lutheran hymn]]s, not only in his larger vocal works but also in such works as [[List of chorale harmonisations by Johann Sebastian Bach|his four-part chorales]] and [[List of songs and arias by Johann Sebastian Bach|his sacred songs]]. Bach wrote extensively [[List of organ compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach|for organ]] and [[List of keyboard and lute compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach|other keyboard instruments]]. He [[List of concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach|composed concertos]], for instance [[List of orchestral works by Johann Sebastian Bach#Violin concertos (BWV 1041–1043)|for violin]] and [[Keyboard concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach|for harpsichord]], and [[Suite (Bach)|suites]], [[List of chamber music works by Johann Sebastian Bach|as chamber music]] as well as [[Orchestral suites (Bach)|for orchestra]]. [[List of fugal works by Johann Sebastian Bach|Many of his works use contrapuntal techniques]] like [[Canon (music)|canon]] and [[fugue]].
Several decades after the end of his life, in the 18th century, Bach was still primarily known as an [[organist]]. By 2013, more than 150 recordings had been made of his ''The Well-Tempered Clavier''. Several [[Biographies of Johann Sebastian Bach|biographies of Bach]] were published in the 19th century, and by the end of that century all of his known music had been printed.<ref name="McKay" /> Dissemination of Bach scholarship continued through periodicals (and later also websites) devoted to him, other publications such as the ''[[Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis]]'' (BWV, a numbered catalogue of his works), and new critical editions of his compositions. His music was further popularised by a [[List of transcriptions of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach|multitude of arrangements]], including the "[[Air on the G String]]" and "[[Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring]]", and recordings, among them three different box sets of performances of his complete ''oeuvre'' marking the 250th anniversary of his death.
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==Early life, marriages, and education==
===Early life===
[[File:Johann Ambrosius Bach.jpg|thumb|[[Johann Ambrosius Bach]], 1685, Bach's father. Painting attributed to {{ill|Johann David Herlicius|de}}{{sfn|Wolff|2000|p=15}}]]
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in [[Eisenach]], the capital of the [[Saxe-Eisenach|duchy of Saxe-Eisenach]], in present-day Germany, on 21 March 1685 [[Old Style and New Style dates|O.S.]]{{sfn|Geck|2006|p=36}}{{sfn|Wolff|2000|pp=15–16}}{{refn|Bach's birthdate—21 March 1685—is according to the [[Julian calendar]] ([[Old Style and New Style dates|Old Style; O.S.]]), used in German regions at the time of his birth. From 18 February 1700 onwards, Protestant Germany introduced the [[Gregorian calendar]], under which Bach's birthdate would be 31 March 1685 ([[Old Style and New Style dates|New Style; N.S.]]).{{sfn|Wolff|2000|p=525}}|group=n}} He was the eighth and youngest child of [[Johann Ambrosius Bach]], the director of the town musicians, and [[Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt|Maria Elisabeth]] {{nee|Lämmerhirt}}, daughter of a town councillor.{{sfn|Boyd|1999|pp=5–6}}{{sfn|Wolff|2000|p=5}}{{sfn|Williams|2016|p=13}} The [[Bach family]], traditionally traced to the patriarch [[Veit Bach|Vitus "Veit" Bach]] ({{died in|1619}}), produced three to four generations of musicians in the [[Thuringia]] region, whose insular cultural climate fostered conservative musicianship, with external influences arriving mainly via the courts.{{sfn|Boyd|1999|pp=3–4}} Nothing is definitively known about Bach's early years before 1693; his [[musical education]] in particular is highly conjectural.{{sfn|Boyd|1999|pp=5–6}} His family, particularly the uncles, were all professional musicians who worked as church organists, court chamber musicians, and composers.{{sfn|Wolff|Emery|Wollny|Leisinger|2018|loc=II. List of all family members alphabetically by first name}} Bach's father presumably taught him the [[violin]], Ambrosius' own primary instrument, along with basic [[music theory]] principles.{{sfn|Boyd|1999|p=6}}{{sfn|Wolff|Emery|2001}} One uncle, [[Johann Christoph Bach (musician at Arnstadt)|Johann Christoph Bach]] (1645–1693) may have introduced him to the [[organ (music)|organ]], though this is debated since the uncle may not have been close to the immediate family.{{sfn|Boyd|1999|p=6}}{{sfn|Wolff|Emery|2001}}
Bach's mother died in 1694, and his father eight months later in February 1695.{{sfn|Miles|1962|pp=86–87}} The 10-year-old Bach moved in with his eldest brother, [[Johann Christoph Bach (organist at Ohrdruf)|Johann Christoph Bach]] (1671–1721), the organist at [[Michaeliskirche (Ohrdruf)|St Michael's Church]] in [[Ohrdruf]], [[Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg]].{{sfn|Boyd|1999|pp=7–8}} There he studied, performed, and copied music, including his brother's, despite being forbidden to do so because scores were so valuable and private and ledger paper was costly.{{sfn|David|Mendel|Wolff|1998|p=299}}{{sfn|Wolff|2000|p=45}} From his brother he also received instruction on the [[clavichord]]. Johann Christoph exposed him to the works of composers of the day, including South Germans such as [[Johann Caspar Kerll]], [[Johann Jakob Froberger]], and [[Johann Pachelbel]] (under whom Johann Christoph had studied); North Germans such as [[Georg Böhm]], [[Johann Reincken]] and [[Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns]] from Hamburg, and [[Dieterich Buxtehude]];{{sfn|Wolff|2000|pp=19, 46}} Frenchmen such as [[Jean-Baptiste Lully]], [[Louis Marchand]], and [[Marin Marais]];{{sfn|Wolff|2000|p=73}} and the Italian [[Girolamo Frescobaldi]].{{sfn|Wolff|2000|p=170}} He learned [[theology]], [[Latin]], and [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] at the local [[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]].{{sfn|Spitta|1899a|pp=186–187}}<!--To DO: remove Spitta, add [[Lateinschule]] link and refs {{sfn|Boyd|1999|pp=5–8}}{{sfn|Geck|2006|p=38}}-->
By 3 April 1700 Bach and his school friend Georg Erdmann—who was two years older—began studies at [[St. Michaelis, Lüneburg|St Michael]]'s School in [[Lüneburg]], two weeks' travel north of Ohrdruf.{{sfn|Wolff|2000|pp=41–43}}<ref name="EidamChI">{{harvnb|Eidam|2001|loc=Ch. I}}</ref> Their journey was probably undertaken mostly on foot.<ref name="EidamChI" /> He sang in the choir and had opportunities to pursue his interest in instrumental music:<ref name="Baroquenet">{{cite web|url=http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxjsbach.html|title=Johann Sebastian Bach: A Detailed Informative Biography|work=The Baroque Music Site|access-date=19 February 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120220080633/http://www.baroquemusic.org/bqxjsbach.html|archive-date=20 February 2012}}</ref> recently, evidence has come to light that he received organ lessons.<ref name="Associated Press">{{Cite press release |title=Researchers Find Bach's Oldest Manuscripts |date=2006 |url=http://www.today.com/id/14602322/ns/today-today_entertainment/t/researchers-find-bachs-oldest-manuscripts/#.VD0HXPldWgc }}</ref> He also came into contact with sons of aristocrats from northern Germany who had been sent to the nearby ''Ritter-Academie'' to prepare for careers in other disciplines.{{sfn|Wolff|2000|pp=55–56}}
===
Four months after arriving at Mühlhausen in 1707, Bach married [[Maria Barbara Bach]], his second cousin.<ref name=Baroquenet /> Later that year their first child, Catharina Dorothea, was born, and Maria Barbara's elder, unmarried sister joined them. She remained to help run the household until she died in 1729. Three sons were also born: [[Wilhelm Friedemann Bach|Wilhelm Friedemann]], [[Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach|Carl Philipp Emanuel]], and [[Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach|Johann Gottfried Bernhard]]. All became musicians, and the first two composers. Johann Sebastian and Maria Barbara had seven children. Their twins born in 1713 died within a year, and their last son, Leopold, also died within a year of his birth.{{sfn|Forkel|1920|loc=[https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastian01terrgoog#page/n358/mode/1up Table VII, p. 309]}} On 7 July 1720, while Bach was away in [[Karlovy Vary|Carlsbad]] with Prince Leopold, Maria Barbara suddenly died.{{sfn|Spitta|1899b|p=11}} The next year, he met [[Anna Magdalena Bach|Anna Magdalena Wilcke]], a gifted [[soprano]] 16 years his junior, while she was performing at the court in Köthen; they married on 3 December 1721.{{sfn|Geiringer|1966|p=50}} Together they had 13 children, six of whom survived into adulthood: [[Gottfried Heinrich Bach|Gottfried Heinrich]]; Elisabeth Juliane Friederica (1726–1781); [[Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach|Johann Christoph Friedrich]] and [[Johann Christian Bach|Johann Christian]], who both became musicians; Johanna Carolina (1737–1781); and Regina Susanna (1742–1809).{{sfn|Wolff|1983|pp=98, 111}}
==Career==
===Weimar, Arnstadt, and Mühlhausen (1703–1708)===
[[File:Arnstadt Bachkirche Wender-Orgel.jpg|thumb|Current version of the [[Johann Friedrich Wender|Wender]] organ in the Bach Church, Arnstadt.]]
In January 1703, shortly after graduating from St. Michael's in 1702 and being turned down for the post of organist at [[Sangerhausen]],{{sfn|Rich|1995|p=27}} Bach was appointed court musician in the chapel of Duke [[Johann Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Weimar|Johann Ernst III]] in [[Weimar]].{{sfn|Boyd|1999|pp=15–16}} His role there is unclear, but it probably included menial, non-musical duties. During his seven-month tenure at Weimar, his reputation as a keyboardist spread so widely that he was invited to inspect the new organ and give the inaugural recital at the New Church (now [[Bach Church, Arnstadt|Bach Church]]) in [[Arnstadt]], about {{convert|30|km|}} southwest of Weimar.{{sfn|Chiapusso|1968|p=62}} On 14 August 1703 he became the organist at the New Church,{{sfn|Wolff|Emery|2001}} with light duties, a relatively generous salary, and a new organ tuned in a temperament that allowed music written in a wider range of keys to be played.{{sfn|Williams|2003a|p=40}}
Despite a musically enthusiastic employer, tension built up between Bach and his employer after several years in the post. For example, Bach upset his employer with a prolonged absence from Arnstadt: after obtaining leave for four weeks, he was absent for around four months in 1705–1706 to take lessons from the organist and composer [[Johann Adam Reincken]] and to hear him and [[Dieterich Buxtehude]] play in the northern city of [[Lübeck]].<ref>Christoph Wolff, ''Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician'' (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2000), 96.</ref> The visit to Buxtehude and Reincken involved a {{convert|450|km|adj=on}} journey each way, reportedly on foot.<ref name="Wolff2000pp83ff">{{harvnb|Wolff| author-link=Christoph Wolff| 2000|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YtJVFiHnepcC&pg=PA83 83ff]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qSXGOoambNcC&pg=PA104|title=Dieterich Buxtehude: Organist in Lübeck|year=2007|edition=2nd|first=Kerala J.|last=Snyder|pages=104–106|publisher=University Rochester Press |isbn=978-1-58046-253-2|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150928212929/https://books.google.com/books?id=qSXGOoambNcC&pg=PA104|archive-date=28 September 2015}}</ref> Buxtehude probably introduced Bach to his friend Reincken so that he could learn from his compositional technique (especially his mastery of [[fugue]]), his organ playing and his skills with improvisation. Bach knew Reincken's music very well; he copied Reincken's monumental ''{{lang|de|[[An Wasserflüssen Babylon (Reincken)|An Wasserflüssen Babylon]]}}'' when he was 15 years old. Bach later wrote several other works on the same theme. When Bach revisited Reincken in 1720 and showed him his improvisatory skills on the organ, Reincken reportedly remarked: "I thought that this art was dead, but I see that it lives in you."<ref>[http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~tas3/reincken.html Sojourn: Jan Adams Reincken] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060522010526/http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~tas3/reincken.html |date=22 May 2006 }}, by Timothy A. Smith</ref>
In 1706 Bach applied for a post as organist at the [[Divi Blasii|Blasius Church]] in [[Mühlhausen]].<ref name="WolffP102">{{harvnb|Wolff|2000|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=YtJVFiHnepcC&pg=PA102 102–104]}}</ref>{{sfn|Williams|2003a|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=wX-rF2_k_S8C&pg=PA38 38–39]}} As part of his application, he had a [[chorale cantata (Bach)|cantata]] performed at [[Easter]], 24 April 1707, that resembles his later {{lang|de|[[Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 4|Christ lag in Todes Banden]]}} BMV 4.<ref>Bach Digital Work {{BDW|0005}} at {{url|www.bach-digital.de}}</ref> Bach's application was accepted a month later, and he took up the post in July.<ref name="WolffP102" /> The position included higher remuneration, improved conditions, and a better choir. Bach persuaded the church and town government at Mühlhausen to fund an expensive renovation of the organ at the Blasius Church. In 1708 Bach wrote {{lang|de|[[Gott ist mein König, BWV 71|Gott ist mein König]]}}, a festive [[Church cantata (Bach)#New council|cantata for the inauguration of the new council]], which was published at the council's expense.<ref name=Baroquenet /><ref name="Isoyama">{{cite web
| last = Isoyama
| first = Tadashi
| url = http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Suzuki-C02c[BIS-CD781].pdf
| title = Cantata No. 71: Gott ist mein König (BWV 71)
| publisher = Bach-Cantatas
| year = 1995
| access-date = 22 March 2016
}}</ref> This was the only extant Bach cantata published in his lifetime.{{sfn|Emans|Hiemke|2015|pp=227–234}}
===Return to Weimar (1708–1717)===
{{Further|Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! BWV 172#Background}}
[[File:Leipzig Paulinerkirche Scheibe-Orgel um 1720.jpg|thumb|upright|Organ of the [[Paulinerkirche, Leipzig|St Paul's Church in Leipzig]], tested by Bach in 1717]]
Bach left Mühlhausen in 1708, returning to Weimar this time as organist and from 1714 {{lang|de|Konzertmeister}} (director of music) at the ducal court, where he could work with a large, well-funded contingent of professional musicians.<ref name=Baroquenet /> Bach and his wife moved into a house near the ducal palace.<ref>{{cite web|title=History of the Bach House|url=http://www.bachhausweimar.de/en/arguments/history-of-the-bach-house/then-and-now.html|website=Bach House Weimar|access-date=10 August 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126011612/http://www.bachhausweimar.de/en/arguments/history-of-the-bach-house/then-and-now.html|archive-date=26 November 2015}}</ref> Bach's time in Weimar began a sustained period of composing keyboard and orchestral works. He attained the proficiency and confidence to extend the prevailing structures and include influences from abroad. He learned to write dramatic openings and employ the dynamic rhythms and harmonic schemes used by Italians such as [[Antonio Vivaldi|Vivaldi]], [[Arcangelo Corelli|Corelli]], and [[Giuseppe Torelli|Torelli]]. Bach absorbed these stylistic aspects to a certain extent by transcribing Vivaldi's string and wind concertos for harpsichord and organ. He was particularly attracted to the Italian style, in which one or more solo instruments alternate section-by-section with the full orchestra throughout a [[Movement (music)|movement]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://trumpet.sdsu.edu/M345/Baroque_Music1.html |title=Baroque Music – Part One |last=Thornburgh |first=Elaine |author-link=Elaine Thornburgh |work=Music in Our World |publisher=San Diego State University |access-date=24 December 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905175129/http://trumpet.sdsu.edu/M345/Baroque_Music1.html |archive-date= 5 September 2015 }}</ref>
In Weimar Bach continued to play and compose for the organ and perform concert music with the duke's ensemble.<ref name=Baroquenet /> He also began to write the [[Prelude (music)|preludes]] and [[fugue]]s that were later assembled into the first volume of ''[[The Well-Tempered Clavier]]'' ("clavier" meaning clavichord or harpsichord),{{sfn|Chiapusso|1968|p=168}} which eventually comprised two volumes written over 20 years,{{sfn|Schweitzer|1923|p=331}} each containing 24 pairings of preludes and fugues in every [[major scale|major]] and [[minor scale|minor]] key. In Weimar, Bach also started work on the ''[[Orgelbüchlein|Little Organ Book]]'', containing traditional [[Lutheran chorale]] tunes set in complex textures. In 1713 Bach was offered a post in [[Halle (Saale)|Halle]] when he advised the authorities during a renovation by Christoph Cuntzius of the main organ in the west gallery of the [[Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen|Market Church of Our Dear Lady]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Koster|first=Jan|title=Weimar (II) 1708–1717|url=http://www.let.rug.nl/Linguistics/diversen/bach/weimar2.html|work=J. S. Bach Archive and Bibliography|access-date=11 April 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140328175204/http://www.let.rug.nl/Linguistics/diversen/bach/weimar2.html|archive-date=28 March 2014}}</ref><ref name="Sadie1998p205">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ip6voIceW0AC&pg=PA205|title=Companion to Baroque Music|year=1998|editor-first=Julie Anne|editor-last=Sadie|editor-link=Julie Anne Sadie|page=205|publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-21414-9|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150514185450/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ip6voIceW0AC&pg=PA205|archive-date=14 May 2015}}</ref>
In early 1714 Bach was promoted to {{lang|de|Konzertmeister}}, an honour that entailed performing a church cantata monthly in the castle church.{{sfn|Wolff|2000|pp=147, 156}} The first three cantatas in the new series Bach composed in Weimar were {{lang|de|[[Himmelskönig, sei willkommen, BWV 182|''Himmelskönig, sei willkommen'', BWV 182]]|italic=unset}}, for [[Palm Sunday]], which coincided with the [[Annunciation]] that year; {{lang|de|[[Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, BWV 12|''Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen'', BWV 12]]|italic=unset}}, for [[Jubilate Sunday]]; and {{lang|de|[[Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! BWV 172|''Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten!'' BWV 172]]|italic=unset}}, for [[Pentecost]].<ref name=Wolff30>{{harvnb|Wolff|1991|p=30}}</ref> Bach's first Christmas cantata, {{lang|de|[[Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63|''Christen, ätzet diesen Tag'', BWV 63]]|italic=unset}}, premiered in 1714 or 1715.<ref>{{cite web|last=Gardiner|first=John Eliot|author-link=John Eliot Gardiner|url=http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Gardiner-P18c%5Bsdg174_gb%5D.pdf|title=Cantatas for Christmas Day: Herderkirche, Weimar|pages=1–2|year=2010|access-date=27 December 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924043302/http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Gardiner-P18c%5Bsdg174_gb%5D.pdf|archive-date=24 September 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Wolff|first=Christoph|author-link=Christoph Wolff|url=http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Koopman-C03-1c%5BErato-3CD%5D.pdf|title=From Konzertmeister to Thomaskantor: Bach's Cantata Production 1713–1723|year=1996|pages=15–16|access-date=27 December 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924043330/http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Koopman-C03-1c%5BErato-3CD%5D.pdf|archive-date=24 September 2015}}</ref> In 1717 Bach fell out of favour in Weimar and, according the court secretary's report, was jailed for almost a month before being unfavourably dismissed: "On November 6, [1717,] the quondam [former] concertmaster and organist Bach was confined to the County Judge's place of detention for too stubbornly forcing the issue of his dismissal and finally on December 2 was freed from arrest with notice of his unfavourable discharge."{{sfn|David|Mendel|Wolff|1998|p=80}}
===Köthen (1717–1723)===
[[File:BWV1001-cropped.jpg|thumb|Bach's autograph of the first movement of the [[BWV 1001|first sonata for solo violin, BWV 1001]] [[File:J. S. Bach – Violin Sonata No.1 in G minor, BWV 1001, I. Adagio.ogg]]]]
[[Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen]], hired Bach to serve as his {{lang|de|[[Kapellmeister]]}} (director of music) in 1717. Himself a musician, Leopold appreciated Bach's talents, paid him well, and gave him considerable latitude in composing and performing. Leopold was a [[Calvinism|Calvinist]] and thus did not use elaborate music in his form of worship, so most of Bach's work from this period is secular,{{sfn|Miles|1962|p=57}} including the [[Orchestral suites (Bach)|orchestral suites]], [[Cello Suites (Bach)|cello suites]], [[Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (Bach)|sonatas and partitas for solo violin]], and the ''[[Brandenburg Concertos]]''.{{sfn|Boyd|1999|p=74}} Bach also composed secular cantatas for the court, such as {{lang|de|[[Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht, BWV 134a|''Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht'', BWV 134a]]|italic=unset}}.{{sfn|Dellal|2018}}
Despite [[George Frideric Handel]] being born in the same year and only about {{convert|130|km|round=5}} apart, Bach never met his celebrated contemporary. In 1719, Bach made the {{convert|35|km|adj=on}} journey from [[Köthen (Anhalt)|Köthen]] to [[Halle (Saale)|Halle]] with the intention to meet Handel, but Handel had left town.{{sfn|Van Til|2007|pp=69, 372}}{{sfn|Dent|2004|p=23}} In 1730, Bach's oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, travelled to Halle to invite Handel to visit the Bach family in Leipzig, but the visit did not take place.{{sfn|Spaeth|1937|p=37}}
===Leipzig (1723–1750)===
Leipzig was "the leading cantorate in Protestant Germany",<ref name=Wolff253>{{harvnb|Wolff|2013|p=253}}</ref> located in the mercantile city in the [[Electorate of Saxony]]. In 1723, Bach was appointed {{lang|de|[[Thomaskantor]]}} (director of church music) in Leipzig. He was responsible for directing the [[St. Thomas School, Leipzig|St Thomas School]] and for providing four churches with music, the [[St. Thomas Church, Leipzig|St Thomas Church]], the [[St. Nicholas Church, Leipzig|St Nicholas Church]], and to a lesser extent, the [[St. Matthew, Leipzig|New Church]] and [[St. Peter, Leipzig|St Peter's Church]].{{sfn|Spitta|1899b|pp=[https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastianb02spituoft#page/192/mode/2up 192–193]}} Bach held the position for 27 years, until his death. During that time, he gained further prestige through honorary appointments at the courts of Köthen and [[Weissenfels]], as well as that of the Elector [[Augustus II the Strong|Frederick Augustus]] (who was also [[King of Poland]]) in [[Dresden]].<ref name=Wolff253/> Bach frequently disagreed with his employer, Leipzig's city council, whom he regarded as "penny-pinching".{{sfn|Wolff|2013|p=345}}
====Appointment in Leipzig====
[[File:Thomaskirche und -schule 1723.jpg|thumb|upright|[[St. Thomas Church, Leipzig|St Thomas Church]] and [[St. Thomas School, Leipzig|School]], [[Leipzig]] in 1723]]
[[Johann Kuhnau]] had been Thomaskantor in Leipzig from 1701 until his death on 5 June 1722. Bach had visited Leipzig during Kuhnau's tenure: in 1714 he attended the service at the St. Thomas Church on the first Sunday of Advent,{{sfn|Spitta|1899b|p=[https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastianb02spituoft#page/265/mode/1up 265]}} and in 1717 he had tested the organ of the [[Paulinerkirche, Leipzig|St. Paul's Church]].{{sfn|Spitta|1899b|p=[https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastianb02spituoft#page/184/mode/1up 184]}} In 1716 Bach and Kuhnau met on the occasion of the testing and inauguration of an organ in Halle.<ref name="Sadie1998p205" /> The position was offered to Bach only after it had been offered to [[Georg Philipp Telemann]] and then [[Christoph Graupner]]—both of whom chose to stay where they were, Telemann in [[Hamburg]] and Graupner in [[Darmstadt]]—after using the Leipzig offer to negotiate better terms of employment.<ref name=BL>{{cite web |title=Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) |publisher=[[British Library]]: Online Gallery |url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/musicmanu/bach/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160129085658/http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/musicmanu/bach/ |archive-date=29 January 2016 |access-date=16 June 2021 }}</ref>{{sfn|Wolff|2013|p=348}} Bach was required to instruct the {{lang|de|Thomasschule}} students in singing and provide music for Leipzig's main churches. He was also assigned to teach Latin, but was allowed to employ four "prefects" (deputies) to do this instead. The prefects also aided with musical instruction.{{sfn|Wolff|2013|p=349}} A cantata was required for the church services on each Sunday and additional church holidays during the [[Church cantata (Bach)|liturgical year]].<ref>[[Alfred Dörffel]]. [[Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe]] Volume 27: ''[[scores:Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe/Thematic Catalogue|Thematisches Verzeichniss der Kirchencantaten No. 1–120]]''. [[Breitkopf & Härtel]], 1878. Introduction, p. VI</ref>
====Cantata cycle years (1723–1729)====
Bach usually led performances of his [[Bach cantata|cantatas]], most composed within three years of his relocation to Leipzig. He assumed the office of Thomaskantor on 30 May 1723, presenting the first new cantata, {{lang|de|[[Die Elenden sollen essen, BWV 75|''Die Elenden sollen essen'', BWV 75]]|italic=unset}}, in the St. Nicholas Church on the first Sunday after [[Trinity Sunday|Trinity]].{{sfn|Dürr|Jones|2006|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=m9JuwslMcq4C&pg=PA384 384]}} Bach collected his cantatas in annual cycles, with the first starting in 1723. Five are mentioned in obituaries, and three are extant.<ref name=Wolff30 /> Of the more than 300 cantatas he composed in Leipzig, over 100 have been lost.<ref name=Wolff5>{{harvnb|Wolff|1997|p=5}}</ref> Most of these works expound on the Gospel readings prescribed for every Sunday and feast day in the Lutheran year. Bach started a second annual cycle on the first Sunday after the Trinity of 1724 and composed only [[Chorale cantata (Bach)|chorale cantatas]], each based on a single church hymn. These include {{lang|de|[[O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort, BWV 20|''O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort'', BWV 20]]|italic=unset}}, {{lang|de|[[Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140|''Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme'', BWV 140]]|italic=unset}}, {{lang|de|[[Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 62|''Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland'', BWV 62]]|italic=unset}}, and {{lang|de|[[Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1|''Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern'', BWV 1]]|italic=unset}}.{{sfn|Wolff|2002}}
Bach drew the soprano and alto choristers from the school and the tenors and basses from the school and elsewhere in Leipzig. Performing at weddings and funerals provided extra income for these groups; probably for this purpose, and for in-school training, he wrote at least six [[motet]]s, such as [[Jesu, meine Freude, BWV 227|BWV 227]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Motets BWV 225–231|url=http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV225-231.htm|work=Bach Cantatas Website|access-date=31 December 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150224194441/http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV225-231.htm|archive-date=24 February 2015}}</ref> As part of his regular church work, he performed other composers' motets, which served as formal models for his own.<ref>{{cite web|title=Works of Other Composers Performed by J.S. Bach|url=http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Other/Work-Perform.htm|work=Bach Cantatas Website|access-date=31 December 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140717213208/http://bach-cantatas.com/Other/Work-Perform.htm|archive-date=17 July 2014}}</ref> Bach's predecessor as cantor, Johann Kuhnau, had also been music director for the Paulinerkirch (St Paul's Church), the church of [[Leipzig University]]. But when Bach was installed as cantor in 1723, he was put in charge only of music for church holiday services at the Paulinerkirch; his request to also provide music for regular Sunday services there for an added fee was denied.
In 1725 Bach "lost interest" in working even for festal services at the Paulinerkirch and decided to appear there only on "special occasions".{{sfn|Boyd|1999|pp=112–113}} The Paulinerkirch had a much better and newer (1716) organ than the St Thomas Church or the St Nicholas Church.{{sfn|Spitta|1899b|pp=288–290}} Bach was not required to play any organ in his official duties, but it is believed he liked to play on the Paulinerkirch organ for his own pleasure.{{sfn|Spitta|1899b|pp=281, 287}} Bach's last newly composed chorale cantata in his second year (his second annual cycle for cantata composition) in Leipzig was {{lang|de|[[Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1|''Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern'', BWV 1]]|italic=unset}}, for the feast of the [[Church cantata (Bach)|Annunciation]] on 25{{nbsp}}March, which fell on Palm Sunday in 1725. Of the chorale cantatas composed before Palm Sunday 1725, only K{{nbsp}}77, 84, 89, 95, 96, and 109 (BWV{{nbsp}}135, 113, 130, 80, 115, and 111) were not included in the [[chorale cantata cycle]] that was still extant in Leipzig in 1830.<ref>[[Alfred Dörffel]]. [[Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe]] Volume 27: ''[[scores:Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe/Thematic Catalogue|Thematisches Verzeichniss der Kirchencantaten No. 1–120]]''. [[Breitkopf & Härtel]], 1878. Introduction, pp. V–IX</ref>
[[File:Zimmermannsches Caffeehaus.jpg|upright=.6|thumb|[[Café Zimmermann]], {{circa|1720}}]]
Bach broadened his composing and performing beyond the liturgy by taking over, in March 1729, the directorship of the [[Collegium Musicum]], a secular performance ensemble Telemann had started. This was one of the dozens of private societies in the major German-speaking cities established by musically active university students; they had become increasingly important in public musical life and were typically led by the most prominent professionals in a city. In the words of [[Christoph Wolff]], assuming the directorship was a shrewd move that "consolidated Bach's firm grip on Leipzig's principal musical institutions".{{sfn|Wolff|2000|p=341}} Every week, the ''Collegium Musicum'' gave two-hour performances, in winter at the [[Café Zimmermann]], a coffeehouse on Catherine Street off the main market square, and in summer in the owner Gottfried Zimmerman's outdoor coffee garden just outside the town walls, near the East Gate. The concerts, all free of charge, ended with Zimmermann's death in 1741. Apart from showcasing his earlier orchestral repertoire, such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos'' and orchestral suites, many of Bach's newly composed or reworked pieces were performed for these venues, including parts of his {{lang|de|[[Clavier-Übung]]}} (''Keyboard Practice''), his violin and [[Keyboard concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach|keyboard concertos]], and the ''[[Coffee Cantata]]''.<ref name=Baroquenet /><ref name=Stauffer>{{harvnb|Stauffer|2008}}</ref>
====Middle years in Leipzig (1730–1739)====
{{further| St Matthew Passion|St John Passion}}
Before starting on the Gospel of Mark after 1730, Bach had composed the St John Passion and the St Matthew Passion; the St Matthew Passion was first performed on Good Friday 11 April 1727.<ref>Robin A. Leaver, "St Matthew Passion" ''Oxford Composer Companions: J. S. Bach'', ed. Malcolm Boyd. Oxford: Oxford University Press (1999): 430. "Until 1975 it was thought that the ''St Matthew Passion'' was originally composed for Good Friday 1729, but modern research strongly suggests that it was performed two years earlier."</ref> The 1731 ''[[St Mark Passion, BWV 247|St Mark Passion]]'' ({{langx|de|Markus-Passion|link=no}}), [[BWV]] 247, is a lost [[Passion (music)|Passion setting]] by Bach, first performed in Leipzig on [[Good Friday]], 23 March 1731. Though Bach's music is lost, the libretto by [[Picander]] is extant, and the work can to some degree be reconstructed from it.<ref name="BDW1680">Work {{BDW|1680}} at [[Bach Digital]] website, 17 October 2015</ref> In 1733 Bach composed a [[Mass for the Dresden court (Bach)|Kyrie–Gloria Mass in B minor]] for the court in Dresden, which had become Catholic, that he later used in his Mass in B minor. He presented the manuscript to the Elector in a successful bid to persuade the prince to give him the title of Court Composer.<ref name="baroquemusic" /> He later extended this work into a full mass by adding a {{lang|la|Credo|italic=unset}}, {{lang|la|Sanctus|italic=unset}}, and {{lang|la|Agnus Dei|italic=unset}}, the music for which was partly based on his own cantatas and partly original. Bach's appointment as Court Composer was part of his long struggle to achieve greater bargaining power with the Leipzig council.
[[File:Bach Seal.svg|thumb|Bach's seal (centre), used throughout his Leipzig years. It contains the superimposed letters ''{{nowrap|J S B}}'' in a mirror image topped with a crown. The flanking letters illustrate the arrangement on the seal.]]
Bach composed his ''[[Christmas Oratorio]]'' for the 1734–35 Christmas season in [[Leipzig]], by using works he had already composed such as the [[Christmas cantata]]s and other church music for all seven occasions of the Christmas season including part of [[Weimar cantata (Bach)#Weimar cycle|his Weimar cantata cycle]] and [[Christen, ätzet diesen Tag, BWV 63|''Christen, ätzet diesen Tag'', BWV 63]].<ref name=BDW79>[[Bach Digital]] Work {{BDW|0079}}</ref> In 1735 Bach started preparing his first organ music publication, which was printed as the third ''{{lang|de|[[Clavier-Übung III|Clavier-Übung]]}}'' in 1739.<ref>[https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00024100 {{nowrap|US-PRu M 3.1. B2 C5. 1739q}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911162156/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00024100 |date=11 September 2017 }} at [[Bach Digital]] website</ref> From around that year he started to compile and compose the set of preludes and fugues for harpsichord that became the second book of ''The Well-Tempered Clavier''.<ref>[https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00003694 {{nowrap|GB-Lbl Add. MS. 35021}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911204325/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00003694 |date=11 September 2017 }} at [[Bach Digital]] website</ref> He received the title of "Royal Court Composer" from [[Augustus III of Poland|Augustus III]] in 1736.<ref name="baroquemusic">{{cite web|title=Bach Mass in B Minor BWV 232|url=http://www.baroquemusic.org/bminormass.html|work=The Baroque Music Site|access-date=21 February 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307222443/http://www.baroquemusic.org/bminormass.html|archive-date=7 March 2012}}</ref>{{sfn|Miles|1962|pp=86–87}} Between 1737 and 1739 Bach's former pupil [[Carl Gotthelf Gerlach]] held the directorship of the Collegium Musicum.<ref name="Grove">{{harvnb|Glöckner|2001}}</ref>
====Final years (1740–1750)====
From 1740 to 1748 Bach copied, transcribed, expanded or programmed music in an older [[polyphony|polyphonic]] style (''[[stile antico]]'') by, among others, [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina|Palestrina]] (<!--°c. 1525-->[[BNB I/P/2]]<!--circa 1742-->),<ref>[https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000660 {{nowrap|D-B Mus. ms. 16714}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911161956/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000660 |date=11 September 2017 }} at [[Bach Digital]] website</ref> [[Johann Caspar Kerll|Kerll]] (<!--°1627-->[[BWV 241]]<!--1747–1748-->),<ref>{{nowrap|D-Cv A.V,1109,(1),}} [https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00002705 1a] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118074821/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00002705 |date=18 November 2016 }} and [https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00002706 1b] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118074830/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00002706 |date=18 November 2016 }} at [[Bach Digital]] website</ref> [[Pietro Torri|Torri]] (<!--°c. 1650-->[[BWV Anh. 30]]<!--circa 1742-->),<ref>[https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00001067 {{nowrap|D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 195}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118074815/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00001067 |date=18 November 2016 }} at [[Bach Digital]] website</ref> [[Giovanni Battista Bassani|Bassani]] (<!--°c. 1650-->[[BWV 1081]]<!--1747–1748-->),<ref>[http://www.bachdigital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00018332 {{nowrap|D-B Mus. ms. 1160}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304072916/http://www.bachdigital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00018332 |date=4 March 2016 }} at [[Bach Digital]] website</ref> [[Francesco Gasparini|Gasparini]] (<!--°1661-->''[[Missa Canonica (Gasparini)|Missa Canonica]]''<!--circa 1740-->),<ref>[https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00022815 {{nowrap|D-WFe 191}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911204322/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00022815 |date=11 September 2017 }} at [[Bach Digital]] website ({{RISM|250000899}})</ref> and [[Antonio Caldara|Caldara]] (<!--°1670-->[[BWV 1082]]<!--early 1740s-->).<ref>{{nowrap|D-Bsa SA 301,}} [https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00002281 Fascicle 1] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118074832/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00002281 |date=18 November 2016 }} and [https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00018891 Fascicle 2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161118074828/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00018891 |date=18 November 2016 }} at [[Bach Digital]] website</ref> Bach's style shifted in the last decade of his life, showing an increased integration of elements of the ''stile antico'', including polyphonic structures and canons.<ref name="LISA">[https://lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/neuaufgefundenes_bach_autograph_in_weissenfels?nav_id=4421 Neuaufgefundenes Bach-Autograph in Weißenfels] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911161832/https://lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/neuaufgefundenes_bach_autograph_in_weissenfels?nav_id=4421 |date=11 September 2017 }} at {{url|lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de}}</ref> His fourth and last ''Clavier-Übung'' volume, the ''[[Goldberg Variations]]'' for two-manual harpsichord, contains nine canons and was published in 1741.<ref>[https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00003647 {{nowrap|F-Pn Ms. 17669}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911162246/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00003647 |date=11 September 2017 }} at [[Bach Digital]] website</ref> During this period, Bach also continued to adapt music of contemporaries such as [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]] (<!--°1685-->[[BNB I/K/2]]<!--1747–1748-->)<ref>[https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000763 {{nowrap|D-B N. Mus. ms. 468}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911162223/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000763 |date=11 September 2017 }} and [https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00004039 {{nowrap|Privatbesitz C. Thiele, BWV deest (NBA Serie II:5)}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911204514/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00004039 |date=11 September 2017 }} at [[Bach Digital]] website</ref> and [[Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel|Stölzel]] (<!--°1690-->[[BWV 200]]<!--circa 1742–1743-->),<ref>[http://www.bachdigital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000756 {{nowrap|D-B N. Mus. ms. 307}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208134212/http://www.bachdigital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000756 |date=8 December 2015 }} at [[Bach Digital]] website</ref> and gave many of his own earlier compositions, such as the ''[[St Matthew Passion|St Matthew]]'' and ''[[St John Passion|St John Passions]]'' and the ''[[Great Eighteen Chorale Preludes]]'',<ref>[https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00001203 {{nowrap|D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 271,}} Fascicle 2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911162108/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00001203 |date=11 September 2017 }} at [[Bach Digital]] website</ref> their final revisions. He also programmed and adapted music by composers of a younger generation, including [[Giovanni Battista Pergolesi|Pergolesi]] (<!--°1710-->[[BWV 1083]]<!--circa 1746-->),<ref>[https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000690 {{nowrap|D-B Mus. ms. 30199,}} Fascicle 14] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911162140/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000690 |date=11 September 2017 }} and [https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000661 {{nowrap|D-B Mus. ms. 17155/16}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911162134/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000661 |date=11 September 2017 }} at [[Bach Digital]] website</ref> and his own students, such as [[Johann Gottlieb Goldberg|Goldberg]] (<!--°1727-->[[BNB I/G/2]]<!--circa 1745–1746-->).<ref>[https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00019289 {{nowrap|D-B Mus. ms. 7918}}] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911204444/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00019289 |date=11 September 2017 }} at [[Bach Digital]] website</ref>
In 1746 Bach was preparing to enter [[Lorenz Christoph Mizler]]'s {{ill|Correspondierende Societät der musicalischen Wissenschaften|de|lt=Society of Musical Sciences}}.<ref>{{Lang|de|Musikalische Bibliothek}}, [https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb10599088?page=411 III.2 [1746], 353] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116112815/http://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb10599088_00411.html |date=16 January 2013 }}, Felbick 2012, 284. In 1746, Mizler announced the membership of three famous members, {{Lang|de|Musikalische Bibliothek}}, [https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/view/bsb10599088?page=415 III.2 [1746], 357] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116112902/http://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/fs1/object/display/bsb10599088_00415.html |date=16 January 2013 }}.</ref> To be admitted, he had to submit a composition. He chose his [[Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch da komm' ich her"]], and a portrait painted by [[Elias Gottlob Haussmann]] that featured Bach's ''[[BWV 1076|Canon triplex á 6 Voc]]''.<ref>''Musikalische Bibliothek'', IV.1 [1754], 108 and Tab. IV, fig. 16 [https://archive.org/stream/MusikalischeBibliothek4.band1754/MizlerMusikalischeBibliothekBd41754#page/n109/mode/2up (''Source online'')]; letter of Mizler to Spieß, 29 June 1748, in: Hans Rudolf Jung and Hans-Eberhard Dentler: ''Briefe von Lorenz Mizler und Zeitgenossen an Meinrad Spieß'', in: ''Studi musicali'' 2003, Nr. 32, 115.</ref> In May 1747, Bach visited the court of King [[Frederick the Great|Frederick II of Prussia]] in [[Potsdam]]. The king played a theme for Bach and challenged him to improvise a fugue based on it. Bach obliged, playing a three-part fugue on one of Frederick's early prototypes of a [[fortepiano]],{{sfn|David|Mendel|Wolff|1998|page=224}} a new type of instrument at the time. Upon his return to Leipzig he composed a set of fugues and canons and a trio sonata based on the ''Thema Regium'' ("King's Theme"). Within a few weeks this music was published as ''[[The Musical Offering]]'' and dedicated to Frederick. The ''[[Schübler Chorales]]'', a set of six chorale preludes transcribed from cantata movements Bach had written two decades earlier, were published within a year.<ref>[https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00004346 US-PRscheide BWV 645–650] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911204617/https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00004346 |date=11 September 2017 }} (original print of the ''Schübler Chorales'' with Bach's handwritten corrections and additions from before August 1748 – description at [[Bach Digital]] website)</ref><ref>Breig, Werner (2010). "[https://www.breitkopf.com/assets/pdf/15009_EB8806_PDF_EB8806_Einl.pdf Introduction] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180222093423/https://www.breitkopf.com/assets/pdf/15009_EB8806_PDF_EB8806_Einl.pdf |date=22 February 2018 }}" (pp. 14, 17–18) in [https://www.breitkopf.com/work/8795/15009 Vol. 6: ''Clavierübung III, Schübler-Chorales, Canonische Veränderungen''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911162246/https://www.breitkopf.com/work/8795/15009 |date=11 September 2017 }} of [https://www.breitkopf.com/work/8795 Johann Sebastian Bach: Complete Organ Works.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150905110155/https://www.breitkopf.com/work/8795 |date=5 September 2015 }} [[Breitkopf & Härtel|Breitkopf]].</ref> Around the same time, the set of five canonic variations Bach had submitted when entering Mizler's society in 1747 were also printed.<ref name="Nekrolog" />
Two large-scale compositions occupied a central place in Bach's last years. Beginning around 1742 he wrote and revised the various canons and fugues of ''[[The Art of Fugue]]'', which he continued to prepare for publication until shortly before his death.<ref>Hans Gunter Hoke: "Neue Studien zur ''Kunst der Fuge'' BWV 1080", in: ''Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft'' 17 (1975), 95–115; Hans-Eberhard Dentler: "Johann Sebastian Bachs ''Kunst der Fuge'' – Ein pythagoreisches Werk und seine Verwirklichung", Mainz 2004; Hans-Eberhard Dentler: "Johann Sebastian Bachs ''Musicalisches Opfer'' – Musik als Abbild der Sphärenharmonie", Mainz 2008.</ref>{{sfn|Chiapusso|1968|p=277}} After extracting a cantata, [[BWV 191]] from his [[Bach's Missa of 1733|1733 Kyrie-Gloria Mass for the Dresden court]] in the mid-1740s, Bach expanded that [[Mass (music)|setting]] into his [[Mass in B minor]] in the last years of his life. The complete mass was not performed during his lifetime. It is considered among the greatest choral works in history.<ref>{{cite conference|title=Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B Minor: The Greatest Artwork of All Times and All People|first=Markus|last=Rathey|event=The Tangeman Lecture|url=http://ism.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Johann%20Sebastian%20Bach.pdf|date=15 July 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715154931/http://ism.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Johann%20Sebastian%20Bach.pdf |archive-date=15 July 2014 }}</ref> In January 1749, with Bach in declining health, his daughter Elisabeth Juliane Friederica married his pupil [[Johann Christoph Altnickol]]. On 2 June [[Heinrich von Brühl]] wrote to one of the Leipzig [[burgomaster]]s to request that his music director, [[Gottlob Harrer]], fill the Thomaskantor and {{lang|la|Director musices}} posts "upon the eventual ... decease of Mr. Bach".<ref>{{harvnb|Wolff|2000|p=442}}, from {{harvnb|David|Mendel|Wolff|1998}}</ref> His eyesight failing, Bach underwent eye surgery in March 1750 and again in April by the British eye surgeon [[John Taylor (oculist)|John Taylor]], a man widely understood today as a charlatan and believed to have blinded hundreds of people.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Zegers|first1=Richard H.C.|title=The Eyes of Johann Sebastian Bach|journal=Archives of Ophthalmology|date=2005|volume=123|issue=10|pages=1427–1430|doi=10.1001/archopht.123.10.1427|pmid=16219736|doi-access=|issn=0003-9950 }}</ref>
==Death and burial==
Bach died on 28 July 1750 from complications due to unsuccessful eye surgery.<ref>{{cite web|last=Hanford|first=Jan|title=J.S. Bach: Timeline of His Life|url=http://www.jsbach.org/timeline.html|work=J.S. Bach Home Page|access-date=8 March 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120226083800/http://www.jsbach.org/timeline.html|archive-date=26 February 2012}}</ref>{{sfn|David|Mendel|Wolff|1998|p=188}}{{sfn|Spitta|1899c|p=[https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastianb03spituoft#page/274/mode/1up 274]}} He was originally buried at Old St John's Cemetery in Leipzig, where his grave went unmarked for nearly 150 years. In 1894 his remains were found and moved to a vault in St John's Church. This building was destroyed by [[Bombing of Leipzig in World War II|Allied bombing during the Second World War]], and in 1950 Bach's remains were taken to their present grave in St Thomas Church.<ref name=Baroquenet /> Later research has called into question whether the remains in the grave are actually Bach's.<ref>{{cite journal| title= Are the Alleged Remains of Johann Sebastian Bach Authentic?| last1= Zegers| first1= Richard H.C.| last2= Maas| first2= Mario| last3= Koopman| first3= A.G.| last4= Maat| first4= George J.R.| author-link3= Ton Koopman| name-list-style= amp| journal= The Medical Journal of Australia| year= 2009| volume= 190| issue= 4| pages= 213–216| url= https://www.mja.com.au/system/files/issues/190_04_160209/zeg10393_fm.pdf| url-status=live| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20131202222952/https://www.mja.com.au/system/files/issues/190_04_160209/zeg10393_fm.pdf| archive-date= 2 December 2013| df= dmy-all| doi= 10.5694/j.1326-5377.2009.tb02354.x| pmid= 19220191| s2cid= 7925258}}</ref>
An inventory drawn up a few months after Bach's death shows that his estate included five [[harpsichord]]s, two [[Lautenwerck|lute-harpsichords]], three [[violin]]s, three [[viola]]s, two [[cello]]s, a [[viol|viola da gamba]], a [[lute]], a [[spinet]], and 52 "sacred books", including works by [[Martin Luther]] and [[Josephus]].{{sfn|David|Mendel|Wolff|1998|pp=191–197}} C. P. E. Bach saw to it that ''The Art of Fugue'', though unfinished, was published in 1751.<ref>{{cite web|title=Did Bach Really Leave ''Art of Fugue'' Unfinished?|url=http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/articles/artoffugue/unfinished.shtml|work=The Art of Fugue|publisher=American Public Media|access-date=28 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208064050/http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/articles/artoffugue/unfinished.shtml|archive-date=8 December 2013}}</ref> Together with one of J. S. Bach's former students, [[Johann Friedrich Agricola]], C. P. E. Bach also wrote the obituary ("[[Bach's Nekrolog|Nekrolog]]"), which was published in Mizler's {{ill|Musikalische Bibliothek|de|lt=''Musikalische Bibliothek''}}, a periodical journal produced by the Society of Musical Sciences, in 1754.<ref name="Nekrolog">{{cite journal|last1=Bach|first1=Carl Philipp Emanuel|last2=Agricola|first2=Johann Friedrich|author-link1=Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach|author-link2=Johann Friedrich Agricola|title=Nekrolog|journal={{ill|Musikalische Bibliothek|de}}|language=de|publisher=Mizlerischer Bücherverlag|volume=IV.1|pages=158–173|year=1754|title-link=Bach's Nekrolog}} Printed in translation in {{harvnb|David|Mendel|Wolff|1998|p=299}}.</ref>
==
{{Lists of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach}}
{{Main|List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach}}
{{See also|Church cantata (Bach)|Bach cantata|List of Bach cantatas}}
===
In addition to his study of German composers and without visiting France or Italy, Bach absorbed influences from French and Italian music. From an early age, Bach studied the works of his musical contemporaries of the Baroque period and those of earlier generations, and those influences are reflected in his music.{{sfn|Wolff|2000|p=166}}
====Italian influences including Weimar concerto transcriptions====
{{main|Weimar concerto transcriptions (Bach)}}
The court at Weimar was particularly interested in Italian music. There have been questions of attribution about some of the music Bach was exposed to there, but [[Antonio Vivaldi]] was certainly an important influence on him. In particular, Bach borrowed the idea of propulsive rhythmic patterns.<ref name="Butler2011">{{harvnb|Butler|2011}}</ref><ref name="Talbot2011RV813" />
* The [[Oboe Concerto (Marcello)|model for BWV 974]] has been variously attributed to Vivaldi, [[Benedetto Marcello]], and [[Alessandro Marcello]]. In the second half of the 20th century, the [[oboe concerto]] that was the model for Bach's transcription was attributed to Allesandro Marcello again—as it had been in its 1717 printed edition—through research of scholars such as Eleanor Selfridge-Field.<ref>"Concerto II: del Sig. Alexandro Marcello" in [http://digital.slub-dresden.de/id399161090 ''Concerti a Cinque: Con Violini, Oboè, Violetta, Violoncello e Basso Continuo, Del Signori G. Valentini, A. Vivaldi, T. Albinoni, F. M. Veracini, G. Saint Martin, A. Marcello, G. Rampin, A. Predieri.'' – Volume I.] Amsterdam: Jeanne Roger (Catalogue No. 432), [1717]</ref><ref>D935 and Z799 in {{harvnb|Selfridge-Field|1990}}</ref><ref name="Jones2007p143-144">{{harvnb|Jones|2007|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=zV-8tnO2ca8C&pg=PA143 143–144]}}</ref>
* The model for [[BWV 979]] has been attributed to Vivaldi and to [[Giuseppe Torelli]]. Listed as No. 10 in the ''Anhang'' (Appendix) of the [[Ryom-Verzeichnis]] (RV), it was generally attributed to Torelli. Federico Maria Sardelli argued against the attribution to Torelli, and in favour of an attribution to Vivaldi, in an article published in 2005. Consequently, the concerto was relisted as RV 813. The composition originated before 1711: its seven movements and second viola part are not compatible with Vivaldi's later style.<ref name="Talbot2011RV813">{{harvnb|Talbot|2011|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=lYypmdoyPqYC&pg=PR40 28–29]}} and [https://books.google.com/books?id=lYypmdoyPqYC&pg=PR66 p. 54]</ref><ref name="Schulenberg2013Torelli">{{harvnb|Schulenberg|2013|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=VaYCK7-In9YC&pg=PA132 132-133]}} and footnote 38, [https://books.google.com/books?id=VaYCK7-In9YC&pg=PA462 pp. 462–463]</ref>{{sfn|Schulenberg|2016}}
* No models have been identified for [[BWV 977]], [[BWV 983|983]], and [[BWV 986|986]]. Stylistically BWV 977 is more Italianate than BWV 983 and 986. David Schulenberg supposes an Italian model for BWV 977, and German models for the other two concertos.<ref name="Schulenberg2013T">{{harvnb|Schulenberg|2013|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=VaYCK7-In9YC&pg=PA117 117-1339fn]}}</ref>
Bach realised his other transcriptions of Vivaldi concertos after versions circulating as manuscript. Later versions of some of these were published in his [[La stravaganza|Op. 4]] and [[Twelve Concertos, Op. 7 (Vivaldi)|7]]:
* After Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in B-flat major (later version published as Op. 4 No. 1, RV 383a): Concerto in G major, BWV 980 (harpsichord)<ref name="Butler2011" />
* After Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in G minor, RV 316 (later version published as Op. 4 No. 6, RV 316a): Concerto in G minor, BWV 975 (harpsichord)<ref name="Butler2011" />
* After Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in G major (later version published as Op. 7 No. 8, RV 299): Concerto in G major, BWV 973 (harpsichord)<ref name="Butler2011" />
* After Vivaldi's [[Grosso Mogul|Violin Concerto ''Grosso Mogul'' in D major, RV 208]] (later version published as [[Twelve Concertos, Op. 7 (Vivaldi)|Op. 7]] No. 11, RV 208a): Concerto in C major, BWV 594 (organ)<ref name="Butler2011" />
* After Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in D minor, RV 813 (formerly RV Anh. 10 often attributed to [[Giuseppe Torelli|Torelli]]):<ref name="Talbot2011RV813" /> Concerto in B minor, BWV 979 (harpsichord)
Bach also used the theme of the first movement of the "Spring" concerto from [[The Four Seasons (Vivaldi)|''The Four Seasons'']] for the third movement (''aria'') of his cantata ''{{lang|de|[[Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende? BWV 27]]}}''. Bach was deeply influenced by Vivaldi's concertos and arias (recalled in his ''[[St John Passion]]'', ''[[St Matthew Passion]]'', and [[Bach cantata|cantatas]]). According to Christoph Wolff and Walter Emery, Bach transcribed six of Vivaldi's concerti for solo keyboard, three for organ, and one for four harpsichords, strings, and [[basso continuo]] (BWV 1065) based on Vivaldi's concerto for four violins, two violas, cello, and basso continuo ([[Ryom-Verzeichnis|RV]] 580).{{sfn|Wolff|Emery|2001}}{{sfn|Talbot|Lockey|2020}}
[[Arcangelo Corelli]]'s influence in [[chamber music]] was not confined to his native Italy; his works were key in the development of the music of an entire generation of composers, including Bach, Vivaldi, [[Georg Friedrich Handel]], and [[François Couperin]]. Bach studied Corelli's work and based an organ fugue (BWV 579) on his Opus 3 of 1689. Handel's [[Concerti grossi, Op. 6 (Handel)|Opus 6 ''Concerti Grossi'']] take Corelli's older [[Twelve concerti grossi, Op. 6 (Corelli)|Opus 6 ''Concerti'']] as models, rather than the later three-movement Venetian concerto of Vivaldi favoured by Bach.<ref name=EB1911>{{EB1911|wstitle=Corelli, Arcangelo|volume=7|page=143|inline=1}}</ref>
===
[[Jean-Baptiste Lully]] is credited with the invention in the 1650s of the [[French overture]], a form used extensively in the Baroque and Classical eras, especially by Bach and Handel.<ref>Waterman, George Gow, and James R. Anthony. 2001. "French Overture". ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.</ref> The later French composer [[François Couperin]] has been seen as an influence on the dance-based movements of Bach's keyboard suites.<ref>Lockspeiser, E. “French Influences on Bach.” Music & Letters, vol. 16, no. 4, 1935, pp. 312–20. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/728728. Accessed 6 June 2025.</ref> The influence of Lully's music produced a radical revolution in the style and composition of the [[dance]]s of the French court, which Bach made use of in his music. Instead of the slow and stately movements that had prevailed until Lully began composing, Lully introduced lively [[ballet (music)|ballets]] of rapid [[rhythm]], often based on well-known dance types such as [[gavotte]]s, [[menuet]]s, [[rigaudon]]s, and [[sarabande]]s, forms often used by Bach.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Encyclopædia Britannica|date=1990|publisher=The University of Chicago|___location=Chicago, Illinois|page=445, Volume 10|edition=15th}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Volume 1 |publisher=Garland Encyclopedia of World Music |isbn=9780415994033 |pages=230 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ajMsBgAAQBAJ&q=sarabande+guatemala&pg=PA230|date=2013-01-11 }}</ref>
===Creative range===
[[File:Bach Calov-Bibel 2 Chr 5,13.jpg|thumb|upright|A handwritten note by Bach in his copy of the [[Calov Bible]]. The note next to {{Sourcetext|source=Bible|version=King James|book=2 Chronicles|chapter=5|verse=13}} reads: "NB Bey einer andächtigen Musiq ist allezeit Gott mit seiner Gnaden Gegenwart" ([[Nota bene|{{nobreak|N(ota) B(ene)}}]] In a music of worship God is always present with his grace).]]
{{Main|Baroque music#Style and forms}}
{{Further|List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach printed during his lifetime}}
Bach's creative range and musical style encompassed four-part harmony,{{sfn|Spitta|1899c|loc=[https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastianb03spituoft#page/315/mode/1up vol. 3, appendix XII, p. 315]}} modulation,{{sfn|Eidam|2001|loc=Ch. IV}} ornamentation,{{sfn|Donington|1982|p=91}} use of continuo instruments solos,{{sfn|Schulenberg|2006|pp=1–2}} virtuoso instrumentation,<ref name="Lester">{{harvnb|Lester|1999|pages=3–24}}</ref> counterpoint,{{sfn|Eidam|2001|loc=Ch. XXX}} and a refined attention to structure and lyrics.<ref>Don O. Franklin. [http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/DL/publications/PU00010567.pdf "The Libretto of Bach's John Passion and the Doctrine of Reconciliation: An Historical Perspective", pp. 179–203] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131040840/http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/DL/publications/PU00010567.pdf |date=31 January 2016 }} in ''Proceedings of the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]'' Vol. 143 edited by A. A. Clement, 1995.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Blanning |first=T. C. W. |author-link=T. C. W. Blanning |year=2008 |title=The Triumph of Music: The Rise of Composers, Musicians and Their Art |publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=6RptffQRvEEC&pg=PA272 272] |isbn=978-0-674-03104-3 |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=6RptffQRvEEC}} |quote=And of course the greatest master of harmony and counterpoint of all time was Johann Sebastian Bach, 'the [[Homer]] of music'. }}</ref> Like his contemporaries Handel, Telemann, and Vivaldi, Bach composed concertos, suites, recitatives, [[da capo aria]]s, and four-part choral music, and employed [[basso continuo]]. Most of the prints of Bach's music that appeared during his lifetime were commissioned by the composer.{{sfn|Emans|Hiemke|2015|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=p815CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA227 227]}} His music is harmonically more innovative than his peers', employing surprisingly [[Consonance and dissonance|dissonant]] chords and progressions, often extensively exploring harmonic possibilities within one piece.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) |publisher=[[British Library]] |url=https://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/musicmanu/bach/ |access-date=23 June 2021 |archive-date=2 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802172724/https://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/musicmanu/bach/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Bach's hundreds of sacred works are usually seen as manifesting not just his craft but also a deep faith in God.{{sfn|Herl|2004|p=123}}<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|editor-first=J. A.|editor-last=Fuller Maitland|editor-link=John Alexander Fuller Maitland|title=Johann Sebastian Bach|encyclopedia=[[Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]|volume=1|url=https://archive.org/details/grovesdictionar02boydgoog|year=1911|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]]|page=154}}</ref> His commitment to the Lutheran faith was reflected in his teaching [[Luther's Small Catechism]] as the {{lang|de|Thomaskantor}} in Leipzig, and some of his pieces represent it.{{sfn|Leaver|2007|pp=280, 289–291}} The [[Lutheran chorale]] was the basis of much of his work. In elaborating these hymns into his chorale preludes, he wrote more cogent and tightly integrated works than most, even when they were massive and lengthy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=E |first=Matt |date=2019-01-14 |title=A Beginner's Guide to 4-Part Harmony: Notation, Ranges, Rules & Tips |url=https://www.schoolofcomposition.com/beginners-guide-to-4-part-harmony/#:~:text=So%20what%20is%20four-part,instrument%20or%20anything%20in%20between. |access-date=2024-11-30 |website=School of Composition |language=en-US}}</ref>{{sfn|Marshall and Leaver|2001}} The large-scale structure of every major Bach sacred vocal work is evidence of subtle, elaborate planning to create religiously and musically powerful expression.<ref>{{cite news|last=Huizenga|first=Tom|title=A Visitor's Guide to the St. Matthew Passion|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88203558|work=NPR Music|publisher=[[National Public Radio]]|access-date=25 February 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120227102340/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88203558|archive-date=27 February 2012}}</ref> Bach published or carefully compiled in manuscript many collections of pieces that explored the range of artistic and technical possibilities inherent in almost every genre of his time except [[opera]]. For example, ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'' comprises two books, each of which presents a prelude and fugue in every major and minor key.<ref>{{cite web|last=Traupman-Carr|first=Carol|title=The Well Tempered Clavier BWV 846–869|url=http://bach.org/bach101/instrumental/clavier.html|work=Bach 101|publisher=Bach Choir of Bethlehem|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130702125746/http://bach.org/bach101/instrumental/clavier.html|archive-date=2 July 2013|access-date=23 December 2014}}</ref>
===Compositional style in the High Baroque===
====Four-part harmony====
[[File:Bach Matthäuspassion O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden.jpg|thumb|"[[O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden]]": the four-part chorale setting as included in the ''St Matthew Passion'']]
[[Four-part harmony]] predates Bach, but he lived during a time when [[modal music]] in Western tradition was largely supplanted by the [[tonality|tonal system]]. In this system a piece of music progresses from one [[chord (music)|chord]] to the next according to certain rules, with each chord characterised by four notes. The principles of four-part harmony are found not only in Bach's four-part choral music; he also prescribes it for instance in [[figured bass]] accompaniment.{{sfn|Spitta|1899c|loc=[https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastianb03spituoft#page/315/mode/1up vol. 3, appendix XII, p. 315]}} The new system was at the core of Bach's style. Some examples of this characteristic of Bach's style and its influence:
* When in the 1740s Bach staged [[BWV 1083|his arrangement]] of [[Giovanni Battista Pergolesi|Pergolesi]]'s ''[[Stabat Mater (Pergolesi)|Stabat Mater]]'', he upgraded the viola part (which in the original composition plays in unison with the bass part) to fill in the harmony, thus adapting the composition to four-part harmony.<ref>Clemens Romijn. Liner notes for ''[[Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden, BWV 1083]] (after Pergolesi's Stabat Mater)''. [[Brilliant Classics]], 2000. (2014 reissue: ''J.S. Bach Complete Edition''. [http://www.brilliantclassics.com/media/1119359/94940-JS-Bach-Complete-Edition-Liner-Notes-Sung-Text-download.pdf "Liner notes"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151122020149/http://www.brilliantclassics.com/media/1119359/94940-JS-Bach-Complete-Edition-Liner-Notes-Sung-Text-download.pdf |date=22 November 2015 }} p. 54)</ref>
* When, starting in the 19th century in Russia, there was a discussion about the authenticity of four-part court chant settings compared to earlier Russian traditions, [[List of chorale harmonisations by Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach's four-part chorale settings]], such as those ending his [[Chorale cantata (Bach)|Chorale cantatas]], were considered foreign-influenced models, but such influence was deemed unavoidable.<ref>Jopi Harri. [http://ecmr.fi/Scanned_Books_etc/AnnalesB340Harri.pdf ''St. Petersburg Court Chant and the Tradition of Eastern Slavic Church Singing''.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160220202804/http://ecmr.fi/Scanned_Books_etc/AnnalesB340Harri.pdf |date=20 February 2016 }} Finland: University of Turku (2011), p. 24</ref>
{{listen|type=music|image=none|help=no|header=[[Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue]] BWV 903 performed by [[Kevin MacLeod]] |filename=Chromatic Fantasia (Bach BWV 903).ogg|title=1. Fantasia|description=
|filename2=Chromatic Fuge (Bach BWV 903).ogg|title2=2. Fugue|description2=Bach re-interpreting older genres tied to the modal system
}}
Bach's insistence on the tonal system and contribution to shaping it did not imply he was less at ease with the older modal system and the genres associated with it: more than his contemporaries (who had "moved on" to the tonal system without much exception), he often returned to the then-antiquated modes and genres. His ''[[Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue]]'', emulating the [[chromatic fantasia]] genre used by earlier composers such as [[John Dowland]] and [[Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck]] in D [[Dorian mode]] (comparable to [[D minor]] in the tonal system), is an example. Bach's first biographer, [[Johann Nikolaus Forkel]], wrote of Bach's original approach to this: "I have expended much effort to find another piece of this type by Bach. But it was in vain. This fantasy is unique and has always been second to none."<ref name="Rueger">Cristoph Rueger (ed.): "Johann Sebastian Bach" in ''Harenberg Klaviermusikführer''. Harenberg, Dortmund 1984, {{ISBN|3-611-00679-3}}, pp. 85–86</ref>
===
[[Modulation (music)|Modulation]], or changing [[key (music)|key]] in the course of a piece, is another style characteristic where Bach goes beyond the norm in his time. Baroque instruments vastly limited modulation possibilities: keyboard instruments, before a workable system of [[Musical temperament|temperament]], limited the keys that could be modulated to, and wind instruments, especially brass instruments such as [[natural trumpet|trumpets]] and [[natural horn|horns]], about a century before they were fitted with valves and [[crook (music)|crook]]s, were tied to the key of their tuning. Bach pushed the limits: he added "strange tones" in his organ playing, confusing the singers, according to an indictment he had to face in Arnstadt,{{sfn|Eidam|2001|loc=Ch. IV}} and [[Louis Marchand]], another early experimenter with modulation, seems to have avoided confrontation with Bach because the latter went further than anyone had done before.{{sfn|Eidam|2001|loc=Ch. IX}} In the "[[Magnificat in E-flat major, BWV 243a#10|Suscepit Israel]]" of his 1723 Magnificat, he had the trumpets in E-flat play a melody in the [[enharmonic]] scale of C minor.<ref name="Marshall 1989 3–17">{{cite book|editor-first=Don O.|editor-last=Franklin|first=Robert L.|last=Marshall|title=On the Origin of Bach's ''Magnificat'': A Lutheran Composer's Challenge|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lT09AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA3|volume=Bach Studies|year=1989|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-34105-9|pages=3–17|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429141836/https://books.google.com/books?id=lT09AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA3|archive-date=29 April 2016}}</ref>
The major development in Bach's time to which he contributed in no small way was a temperament for keyboard instruments that allowed their use in every key (12 major and 12 minor) and also modulation without retuning. His ''[[Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother]]'', a very early work, showed a gusto for modulation unlike any contemporary work it has been compared to,{{sfn|Eidam|2001|loc=Ch. III}} but the full expansion came with ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', using all keys, which Bach apparently had been developing since around 1720, the ''{{lang|de|[[Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach]]}}'' being one of its earliest examples.<ref>[http://www.bachdigital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00004312 Klavierbüchlein für W. F. Bach] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151118093144/http://www.bachdigital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00004312 |date=18 November 2015 }} at {{url|www.bachdigital.de}}</ref>
====Ornamentation====
[[File:Bach-ornamentguide.jpg|thumb|Bach's guide on [[ornament (music)|ornaments]] as contained in the ''[[Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach]]'']]
[[File:Goldberg Variations - Aria - 1st edition (BnF).png|thumb|Aria of the ''[[Goldberg Variations]]'', showing Bach's use of ornaments[[File:Bach.Aria.Goldberg-Variationen.WerckmeisterIII.Harpsichord.ogg]]]]
The second page of the ''{{lang|de|Klavierbüchlein für Wilhelm Friedemann Bach}}'' is an [[ornament (music)|ornament]] notation and performance guide that Bach wrote for his then nine-year-old eldest son. Bach was generally quite specific on ornamentation in his compositions (in his time, much ornamentation was not written out by composers but rather considered a liberty of the performer),{{sfn|Donington|1982|p=91}} and his ornamentation was often quite elaborate. For instance, the "Aria" of the ''Goldberg Variations'' has rich ornamentation in nearly every measure. Bach's approach to ornamentation can also be seen in a keyboard arrangement he made of Marcello's [[Oboe Concerto (Marcello)|Oboe Concerto]]: he added explicit ornamentation, which centuries later is still played.<ref>{{cite web |title=Concerto in d Minor |url=https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/bwv/bwv-974 |website=[[Netherlands Bach Society]]}}</ref>
Although Bach wrote no operas, he was not averse to the genre or its ornamented vocal style. In church music, Italian composers had imitated the operatic vocal style in genres such as the [[Neapolitan mass]]. In Protestant surroundings, there was more reluctance to adopt such a style for liturgical music. Kuhnau had notoriously shunned opera and Italian virtuoso vocal music.<ref>{{citation| first= Johann |last= Kuhnau| author-link=Johann Kuhnau| title=Der musicalische Quack-Salber|year= 1700}}</ref> Bach was less moved. After a performance of his ''St Matthew Passion'' it was described as sounding like opera.{{sfn|Eidam|2001|loc=Ch. XVIII}}
====Continuo instrument solos====
{{see also|Basso continuo}}
{{further information|List of organ compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach|List of solo keyboard compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach}}
In concerted playing in Bach's time, the basso continuo, consisting of instruments such as [[viola da gamba]] or cello, and harpsichord or organ, usually had the role of accompaniment, providing a piece's harmonic and rhythmic foundation. Beginning in the 1720s Bach had the organ play [[concertante]] (i.e., as a soloist) with the orchestra in instrumental cantata movements,<ref name="Isoir1993">[[André Isoir]] (organ) and Le Parlement de Musique conducted by Martin Gester. ''Johann Sebastian Bach: L'oeuvre pour orgue et orchestre''. [[Calliope (record label)|Calliope]] 1993. Liner notes by [[Gilles Cantagrel]].</ref> a decade before Handel published his [[Organ concertos, Op. 4 (Handel)|first organ concertos]].<ref>[[George Frideric Handel]]. [[scores:6 Organ Concertos, Op.4 (Handel, George Frideric)|6 Organ Concertos, Op. 4]] at [[IMSLP]] website</ref> Apart from the [[Brandenburg Concerto No. 5|fifth ''Brandenburg Concerto'']] and the ''[[BWV 1044|Triple Concerto]]'', which already had harpsichord soloists in the 1720s, Bach wrote and arranged his harpsichord concertos in the 1730s,<ref>[[Peter Wollny]], [http://www.eclassical.com/shop/17115/art33/4951433-c30ca2-3149020218129_01.pdf "Harpsichord Concertos,"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150922030721/http://www.eclassical.com/shop/17115/art33/4951433-c30ca2-3149020218129_01.pdf |date=22 September 2015 }} booklet notes for [[Andreas Staier]]'s 2015 recording of the concertos, Harmonia mundi HMC 902181.82</ref> and in his sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord neither instrument plays a continuo part: they are treated as equal soloists, far beyond the figured bass. In this way, Bach played a key role in the development of genres such as the keyboard concerto.{{sfn|Schulenberg|2006|pp=1–2}}
====Instrumentation====
Bach wrote virtuoso music for specific instruments as well as music independent of instrumentation. For instance, the [[Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (Bach)|sonatas and partitas for solo violin]] are considered among the finest works written for violin, within reach of only accomplished players. The music fits the instrument, using the full gamut of its possibilities and requiring virtuosity but without [[bravura]].<ref name="Lester">{{harvnb|Lester|1999|pages=3–24}}</ref> Notwithstanding that the music and the instrument seem inseparable, Bach transcribed some pieces in this collection for other instruments. For example, Bach transcribed one of the [[Cello Suites (Bach)|cello suites]] for lute.<ref name=BWV995>[http://jsbach.org/bwv995.html BWV995] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090904183639/http://www.jsbach.org/bwv995.html |date=2009-09-04 }} at ''JSBach.org''. Retrieved November 23, 2015.</ref> In this sense, it is no surprise that Bach's music is easily and often performed on instruments it was not written for, that it is [[List of transcriptions of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach|transcribed]] so often, and that his melodies turn up in unexpected places, such as jazz music. Apart from this, Bach left several compositions without specified instrumentation: the canons [[List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach#BWV Chapter 12|BWV 1072–1078]] are in that category, as is the bulk of the ''Musical Offering'' and the ''Art of Fugue''.<ref>{{cite web|title=Did Bach Intend ''Art of Fugue'' to Be Performed?|url=http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/articles/artoffugue/performed.shtml|work=The Art of Fugue|publisher=American Public Media|access-date=28 March 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203045552/http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/articles/artoffugue/performed.shtml|archive-date=3 December 2013}}</ref>
====Counterpoint====
{{Listen
| image = none
| help = no
| header = Analysis of the counterpoint of the chorale prelude ''Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend','' [[BWV 632]] (''[[Orgelbüchlein]]'')
| filename = Anàlisi contrapuntística fragment BWV 632 Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend'.ogv
| alt = BWV 632 (extract)
| title = BWV 632 (extract)
| description = This video shows the intertwining of melodies and motives, including the melody of the chorale "[[Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend]]".[[File:Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend.mid]]
}}
{{listen|type=music|image=none|help=no|header=Sonata No. 3 in G minor for viola da gamba and harpsichord BWV 1029 performed by John Michel
| filename =CELLO_LIVE_PERFORMANCES_JOHN_MICHEL-J_S_Bach_Gamba_Sonata_in_g_1st_mvt.ogg
| title = 1st movement
| description =
| filename2 =CELLO_LIVE_PERFORMANCES_JOHN_MICHEL-J_S_Bach_Gamba_Sonata_in_g_2nd_mvt.ogg
| title2 = 2nd movement
| description2 =
| filename3 =CELLO_LIVE_PERFORMANCES_JOHN_MICHEL-J_S_Bach_Gamba_Sonata_in_g_3rd_mvt.ogg
| title3 = 3rd movement
| description3 =Continuo instruments moving to the front (here performed on cello and piano)
}}
{{listen|type=music|image=none|help=no|header=[[BWV 1052|Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D minor, BWV 1052]] performed by the Fulda Symphonic Orchestra conducted by Simon Schindler with Johannes Volker Schmidt (piano)
| filename = Johann Sebastian Bach - Klavierkonzert d-moll - 1. Allegro.ogg
| title = 1. Allegro
| description =
| filename2 = Johann Sebastian Bach - Klavierkonzert d-moll - 2. Adagio.ogg
| title2 = 2. Adagio
| description2 =
| filename3 = Johann Sebastian Bach - Klavierkonzert d-moll - 3. Allegro.ogg
| title3 = 3. Allegro
| description3 = Keyboard concerto
}}
{{listen|type=music|image=none|help=no|header=[[Concerto for Two Violins (Bach)|Double Violin Concerto in D minor BWV 1043]] performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra with David Perry and Roxana Pavel Goldstein (violins)
|filename=Johann Sebastian Bach - Concerto for Two Violins in D minor - 1. Vivace.ogg
|title=1. Vivace
|description=
|filename2=Johann Sebastian Bach - Concerto for Two Violins in D minor - 2. Largo ma non tanto.ogg
|title2=2. Largo ma non tanto
|description2=
|filename3=Johann Sebastian Bach - Concerto for Two Violins in D minor - 3. Allegro.ogg
|title3=3. Allegro
|description3=A strictly contrapuntal composition (the two violins playing in canon throughout) in the guise of an Italian type of concerto
}}
{{See also|List of fugal works by Johann Sebastian Bach}}
Another characteristic of Bach's style is his extensive use of [[counterpoint]], as opposed to the [[homophony]] used in his four-part chorale settings, for example. Bach's canons, and especially his fugues, are the most characteristic of this style, which he did not invent but contributed to so fundamentally as to influence many followers.<ref name="egg">{{Cite Grove |last=Walker |first=Paul |title=Fugue, §6: Late 18th century}}</ref> Fugues are as characteristic of Bach's style as, for instance, [[sonata form]] is of the composers of the [[Classical period (music)|Classical period]].{{sfn|Eidam|2001|loc=Ch. XXX}}
These strictly contrapuntal compositions, and most of Bach's music in general, are characterised by distinct melodic lines for each voice, where the chords formed by the notes sounding at a given point follow the rules of four-part harmony. Forkel, Bach's first biographer, gives this description of this feature of Bach's music, which sets it apart from most other music:
{{Blockquote|If the language of music is merely the utterance of a melodic line, a simple sequence of musical notes, it can justly be accused of poverty. The addition of a Bass puts it upon a harmonic foundation and clarifies it but defines rather than gives it added richness. A melody so accompanied—even though all the notes are not those of the true Bass—or treated with simple embellishments in the upper parts or with simple chords used to be called "homophony". But it is a very different thing when two melodies are so interwoven that they converse together like two persons upon a footing of pleasant equality/... From 1720, when he was thirty-five until he died in 1750, Bach's harmony consists in this melodic interweaving of independent melodies, so perfect in their union that each part seems to constitute the true melody... Even in his four-part writing, we can, not infrequently, leave out the upper and lower parts and still find the middle parts harmonious and agreeable.{{sfn|Forkel|1920|pp=[https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastianb00forkuoft#page/73/mode/1up 73–74]}}}}
====Structure and lyrics====
Bach devoted more attention than his contemporaries to the structure of his compositions. This can be seen in minor adjustments he made when adapting someone else's work, such as his earliest version of the [[St Mark Passion (attributed to Keiser)|"Keiser" ''St Mark Passion'']], where he enhances scene transitions,<ref>Bach Digital Work {{BDW|1677}} at {{url|www.bachdigital.de}}</ref> and in the architecture of his own work, such as his [[Magnificat in E-flat major, BWV 243a#Scoring and structure|Magnificat]]<ref name="Marshall 1989 3–17"/> and [[Passions (Bach)#Structure|Leipzig Passions]]. In his last years, Bach revised several of his compositions, sometimes by recasting them in an enhanced structure for emphasis, as with, for example, the [[Mass in B minor structure|Mass in B minor]]. Bach's known preoccupation with structure led to various numerological analyses of his compositions. These peaked around the 1970s. Many were later rejected, especially those that wandered into symbolism-ridden [[hermeneutics]].<ref name="Williams1980p217">{{harvnb|Williams|1980|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=JfE6AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA217 217]}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Basso|first=Alberto|title=Frau Musika: La vita e le opere di J. S. Bach|publisher=EDT|year=1979|isbn=978-88-7063-011-4|volume=1|page=493|language=it|author-link=Alberto Basso}}</ref>
The [[libretto]]s, or lyrics, of his vocal compositions played an essential role for Bach. He sought collaboration with various text authors for his cantatas and major vocal compositions, possibly writing or adapting such texts himself to make them fit the structure of the composition when he could not rely on the talents of other text authors. His collaboration with [[Picander]] for the ''St Matthew Passion'' libretto is best known, but there was a similar process in achieving a multi-layered structure for his ''St John Passion'' libretto a few years earlier.<ref>Don O. Franklin. [http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/DL/publications/PU00010567.pdf "The Libretto of Bach's John Passion and the Doctrine of Reconciliation: An Historical Perspective", pp. 179–203] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160131040840/http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/DL/publications/PU00010567.pdf |date=31 January 2016 }} in ''Proceedings of the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]'' Vol. 143 edited by A. A. Clement, 1995.</ref><ref name="Picander1729">{{harvnb|Picander|1729}}</ref>
====Fugue structure====
{{Main|Fugue}}
Among the compositional techniques Bach used, the form of the fugue recurs throughout his lifetime; a ''fugue'' (derives from the Latin with the meaning "flight" or "escape"<ref name = "etymology">"Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2006). {{cite web |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t23.e22155 |title=Oxford Reference Online, subscription access |access-date=2007-03-16}}</ref>) is a [[Counterpoint|contrapuntal]], [[Polyphony|polyphonic]] [[Musical composition|compositional technique]] in two or more [[voice (music)|voices]], built on a [[Subject (music)|subject]] (a musical theme) introduced at the beginning in [[imitation (music)|imitation]] (repetition at different pitches), which recurs frequently throughout the composition. Most fugues open with the subject,<ref>{{harvnb|Gedalge|1964|p=7}}</ref> which then sounds successively in each [[Part (music)|voice]]. When each voice has completed its entry of the subject, the ''exposition'' is complete. This is often followed by a connecting passage, or ''episode'', developed from previously heard material; further "entries" of the subject are then heard in [[Closely related key|related keys]]. Episodes (if applicable) and entries are usually alternated until the final entry of the subject, at which point the music has returned to the opening key, or [[Tonic (music)|tonic]], which is often followed by a [[coda (music)|coda]].<ref name="one">"Fugue", ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music'', fourth edition, ed. [[Michael Kennedy (music critic)|Michael Kennedy]] (Oxford and New York: [[Oxford University Press]], 1996). {{ISBN|0-19-280037-X}} {{cite book |url=http://www.oxfordreference.com/views/ENTRY.html?subview=Main&entry=t76.e3627 |title=Oxford Reference Online, subscription access |isbn=978-0-19-920383-3|access-date=2007-03-16|last1=Kennedy|first1=Michael|last2=Kennedy|first2=Joyce Bourne |year=2007|publisher=Oxford University Press }}</ref><ref name="classic">{{Cite Grove |last=Walker |first=Paul |title=Fugue, §1: A Classic Fugue Analysed}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/fugue |title=Fugue {{!}} music |website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=2019-05-29}}</ref> Bach was well known for his fugues and shaped his own works after those of [[Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck]], [[Johann Jakob Froberger]], [[Johann Pachelbel]], [[Girolamo Frescobaldi]], [[Dieterich Buxtehude]] and others.<ref name="grovemain">{{Cite Grove |last=Walker |first=Paul |title=Fugue}}</ref>
===Copies, arrangements, and uncertain attributions===
{{Listen|type=music|image=none|help=no|header=Some of Bach's most popular melodies are, more often than not, heard in various arrangements:
| filename =Wiki naxos 8.550194 01 13.ogg
| title =''Air on the G String'' (excerpt)
| description ="Air", 2nd movement from [[BWV 1068|Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major, BWV 1068]], performed in an ''[[Air on the G String]]'' adaptation by [[Capella Istropolitana]] conducted by [[Oliver von Dohnányi]] (courtesy of [[Naxos Records|Naxos]])
| filename2 =Sheep May Safely Graze BWV 208.ogg
| title2 ="Sheep May Safely Graze" (instrumental version)
| description2 =The aria "Schafe können sicher weiden" (Sheep May Safely Graze), No. 9 from the ''[[Hunting Cantata]]'', BWV 208: composed for soprano, recorders, and continuo, the music of this movement exists in a variety of instrumental arrangements.
}}
{{See also|BWV Anh.|List of transcriptions of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach}}
In his early youth, Bach copied pieces by other composers to learn from them.{{sfn|Forkel|1920|pp=[https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastian01terrgoog#page/n49/mode/2up 10–11]}} Later, he copied and arranged music for performance or as study material for his pupils. Some of these pieces, like "[[Bist du bei mir]]" (copied not by Bach but by Anna Magdalena), became famous before being associated with Bach. Bach copied and arranged Italian masters such as Vivaldi (e.g. [[BWV 1065]]), [[Giovanni Battista Pergolesi|Pergolesi]] ([[BWV 1083]]) and [[Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina|Palestrina]] ([[scores:Missa Sine nomine (Palestrina, Giovanni Pierluigi da)#Arrangements and Transcriptions|Missa Sine nomine]]), French masters such as [[François Couperin]] ([[Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach#The 1725 notebook|BWV Anh. 183]]), and various German masters, including Telemann (e.g. [[List of solo keyboard compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach#Miscellaneous suites (818–824)|BWV 824]]=[[scores:Suite in A major, TWV 32:14 (Telemann, Georg Philipp)|TWV 32:14]]) and Handel ([[St Mark Passion pastiche#Leipzig 1747–1748 (BC D 5)|arias from ''Brockes Passion'']]), and music by members of his own family. He also often copied and arranged his own music (e.g. movements from cantatas for his short masses [[Kyrie–Gloria masses, BWV 233–236|BWV 233–236]]), as his music was likewise copied and arranged by others. Some of these arrangements, like the late 19th-century "[[Air on the G String]]", helped to popularise Bach's music.<ref>{{IMSLP|work=List of works by August Wilhelmj|cname=Works by August Wilhelmj|descr=list}}</ref><ref name="Victor 64390">{{cite web
|url=https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/200014137/B-13892-Air_for_G_String
|title=Victor matrix B-13892. Air for G string / Jan Kubelík
|website=Discography of American Historical Recordings
|access-date=2020-10-03}} Contains several audio versions of this recording.</ref><ref name="CHARM">{{cite web
|url=https://charm.cch.kcl.ac.uk/discography/search/search_advanced?operatorSel_0=and¶meterSel_0=composer¶meterKey_0=compo_001510¶meterKeyTxt_0=BACH,%20J.S.%20(arr.Wilhelmj)
|title=Search Results for BACH, J.S. (arr.Wilhelmj)
|website=CHARM
|access-date=2020-10-03}}</ref>
The question of "who copied whom" is sometimes unclear. For instance, Forkel mentions a Mass for double chorus among Bach's works. It was published and performed in the early 19th century. Although a score partially in Bach's handwriting exists, the work was later considered spurious.{{sfn|Forkel|1920|pp=[https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastian01terrgoog#page/n187/mode/2up 140–141]}} In 1950, the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis was designed to keep such works out of the main catalogue; if there was a strong association with Bach, they could be listed in its appendix (German: ''Anhang'', abbreviated as Anh.). Thus, for instance, the Mass for double chorus became [[Bach's church music in Latin#Copies|BWV Anh. 167]]. But this was far from the end of the attribution problems. For instance, ''{{lang|de|[[Schlage doch, gewünschte Stunde, BWV 53]]}}'', was later attributed to [[Melchior Hoffmann (composer)|Melchior Hoffmann]]. For other works, Bach's authorship was put in doubt: the best-known organ composition in the BWV catalogue, the [[Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565]], was one of these uncertain works in the late 20th century.<ref>[[Jean-Claude Zehnder|Zehnder, Jean-Claude]] (2011) [https://www.breitkopf.com/work/8795/15014 ''Toccatas and Fugues / Individual Works''.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151123133749/https://www.breitkopf.com/work/8795/15014 |date=23 November 2015 }} Leipzig, [[Breitkopf & Härtel]]. Introduction p. 20.</ref>
==Reception and legacy==
{{Main|Reception of Johann Sebastian Bach's music}}
[[File:Arnstadt Bachkirche außen Chor 03.jpg|thumb|The church in Arnstadt where Bach had been the organist from 1703 to 1707. In 1935, the church was renamed "Bachkirche".]]
In the 18th century Bach's music was appreciated mostly by distinguished connoisseurs. The 19th century started with the publication of the first biography of Bach and ended with the [[Bach Gesellschaft]]'s completion and publication of all his known works. Starting with the [[Bach Revival]], he began to be regarded as one of the greatest composers, a reputation he has maintained. The [[BACH motif]], which Bach occasionally used in his compositions, has been used in dozens of tributes to him since the 19th century.<ref>Ulrich Prinz, Joachim Dorfmüller and [[Konrad Küster]] (1985). ''Die Tonfolge B–A–C–H in Kompositionen des 17. bis 20. Jahrhunderts: ein Verzeichnis'', in: ''300 Jahre Sebastian Bach'' (exhibition catalogue), pp. 389–419. {{ISBN|3-7952-0459-3}}</ref>
===18th century===
[[File:17b Bach-Bild von 'Gebel', vor 1798.jpg|thumb|Painting of Johann Sebastian Bach by 'Gebel', before 1798]]
In his own time, Bach was highly regarded by his colleagues,{{sfn|Geck|2003|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=N1zSVDYTCXgC&pg=PA141 141]}} but his reputation outside this small circle of connoisseurs was due not to his compositions (which had an extremely narrow circulation),{{sfn|Wolff|Emery|2001}} but to his virtuosic abilities.<!--Cite to Britannica if we must, but that's not the place I first saw that. So, some digging is in order--> Nevertheless, during his life, Bach received public recognition, such as the title of court composer by [[Augustus III of Poland]] and the appreciation he was shown by [[Frederick the Great]] and [[Hermann Karl von Keyserling]]. This appreciation contrasted with the humiliations he faced, for instance, in Leipzig.<ref>Johann Sebastian Bach. Letter to Augustus III of Poland. 27 July 1733; Quoted in Hans T. David and [[Arthur Mendel]], ''The Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents''. W. W. Norton, 1945, p. 128; Quoted in {{harvnb|David|Mendel|Wolff|1998|p=158}}.</ref> Bach also had detractors in the contemporary press ([[Johann Adolf Scheibe]] suggested he write less complex music) and supporters, such as [[Johann Mattheson]] and [[Lorenz Christoph Mizler]].<ref>[[Johann Adolf Scheibe]]. [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_KVpDAAAAcAAJ#page/n86/mode/1up pp. 46–47] in ''Critischer Musicus'' VI, 14 May 1737. Quoted in {{harvnb|Eidam|2001|loc=Ch. XXII}}.</ref><ref>[[Johann Mattheson]]. [https://archive.org/stream/bub_gb_4CVDAAAAcAAJ#page/n259/mode/1up ''Das Beschützte Orchestre, oder desselben Zweyte Eröffnung'', footnote p. 222] Hamburg: Schiller, 1717.</ref><ref>[[Lorenz Christoph Mizler]]. [https://archive.org/stream/MusikalischeBibliothek1.band1736-38/MizlerMusikalischeBibliothekBd11736-39#page/n314/mode/1up ''Musikalische Bibliothek''. Volume I, Part 4, pp. 61–73.] Leipzig, April 1738. Includes a reprint of Johann Abraham Birnbaum's [http://www.koelnklavier.de/quellen/scheibe-birnb/_index.html ''Unpartheyische Anmerckungen über eine bedenckliche stelle in dem Sechsten stück des Critischen Musicus.''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201213832/http://www.koelnklavier.de/quellen/scheibe-birnb/_index.html |date=1 February 2014 }} published early January of the same year.</ref> After his death, Bach's reputation as a composer initially declined: his work was regarded as old-fashioned compared to the emerging [[Galant music|galant]] style.<ref> Bach was regarded as "passé even in his own lifetime". ({{harvnb|Morris|2005|p=2}})</ref> He was remembered more as a virtuoso organ player and a teacher. The bulk of the music [[List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach printed during his lifetime|printed during his lifetime]] was for organ or harpsichord.{{sfn|Emans|Hiemke|2015|pp=227–234}}
Bach's surviving family members, who inherited many of his manuscripts, were not all equally concerned with preserving them, leading to considerable losses.{{sfn|Wolff|2000|pp=456–461}} [[Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach|Carl Philipp Emanuel]], his second-eldest son, was most active in safeguarding his father's legacy: he co-authored his father's obituary, contributed to the publication of his four-part chorales,{{sfn|Forkel|1920|pp=[https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastian01terrgoog#page/n130/mode/1up 85–86]}} presented some of his works, and helped preserve the bulk of his previously unpublished work.{{sfn|Forkel|1920|pp=[https://archive.org/details/johannsebastian01terrgoog/page/n130 85–86]}}<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalPerson_agent_00001174?lang=en |title=Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel |date=2020-04-06 |website=[[Bach Digital]] |publisher=[[Bach Archive]]; et al. |___location=Leipzig}}</ref> Later, just after the turn of the century in 1805, [[Abraham Mendelssohn]], who had married one of Itzig's granddaughters, bought a substantial collection of Bach manuscripts that had come down from C. P. E. Bach, and donated it to the [[Sing-Akademie zu Berlin|Berlin Sing-Akademie]].{{sfn|Wolff|2005}}
[[Wilhelm Friedemann Bach|Wilhelm Friedemann]], the eldest son, performed several of his father's cantatas in [[Halle (Saale)|Halle]] but, after becoming unemployed, sold part of his large collection of his father's works.<ref>Peter Wollny. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ixadkfy40bwC&pg=PA202 "Chapter Twelve: Wilhelm Friedemann Bach's Halle Performances of Cantatas By His Father", pp. 202–228] in [https://books.google.com/books?id=ixadkfy40bwC ''Bach Studies 2''] edited by Daniel R. Melamed. Cambridge University Press 2006. {{ISBN|978-0-521-02891-2}}</ref>{{sfn|Forkel|1920|p=[https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastian01terrgoog#page/n186/mode/1up 139]}}{{sfn|Wolff|2013|p=459}} Several [[List of students of Johann Sebastian Bach|students of Bach]], such as his son-in-law [[Johann Christoph Altnickol]], [[Johann Friedrich Agricola]], [[Johann Kirnberger]], and [[Johann Ludwig Krebs]], contributed to the dissemination of his legacy. The early devotees were not all musicians; for example, in Berlin, [[Daniel Itzig]], a high official of Frederick the Great's court, venerated Bach.<ref name="Wolff2005">[[Christoph Wolff]]. [http://amacad.org/publications/bulletin/spring2005/wolff.pdf "A Bach Cult in Late-Eighteenth-Century Berlin: Sara Levy's Musical Salon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032959/http://www.amacad.org/publications/bulletin/spring2005/wolff.pdf |date=4 March 2016 }} in ''[[Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences|Bulletin of the American Academy]]''. Spring 2005. pp. 26–31.</ref> His eldest daughters took lessons from Kirnberger and their sister Sara from [[Wilhelm Friedemann Bach]], who was in Berlin from 1774 to 1784.<ref name="Wolff2005"/><ref name=Apple14>{{harvnb|Applegate|2005|p=14}}</ref> [[Sara Levy (née Itzig)|Sara Itzig Levy]] became an avid collector of work by J. S. Bach and his sons and was a patron of C. P. E. Bach.<ref name=Apple14/>
While Bach was in Leipzig, performances of his church music were limited to some of his motets and, under his student cantor [[Johann Friedrich Doles]], some of [[Passions (Bach)|his Passions]].{{sfn|Spitta|1899b|p=[https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastianb02spituoft#page/518/mode/2up 518–519], [https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastianb02spituoft#page/611/mode/1up 611]}} A new generation of Bach aficionados emerged who studiously collected and copied his music, including some of his large-scale works, such as the [[Mass in B minor]], and performed it privately. One was [[Gottfried van Swieten]], a high-ranking Austrian official who was instrumental in passing Bach's legacy on to the composers of the [[First Viennese School|Viennese school]]. [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]] owned manuscript copies of ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'' and the Mass in B minor and was influenced by Bach's music. [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] owned a copy of one of Bach's motets,<ref>[http://www.bachdigital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000066 A-Wgm A 169 b (III 31685)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208153544/http://www.bachdigital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000066 |date=8 December 2015 }} at {{url|www.bachdigital.de}}</ref> transcribed some of his instrumental works (Preludes and Fugues for Violin, Viola and Cello, K. 404a (1782), Fugues for 2 Violins, Viola and Cello, K. 405 (1782)),<ref>{{IMSLP2|work=Preludes and Fugues, K.404a (Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus)|cname=Preludes and Fugues, K.404a}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |publisher=[[Breitkopf & Härtel]] |last=Köchel |first=Ludwig Ritter von |author-link=Ludwig Ritter von Köchel |title=Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichniss sämmtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amade Mozart's |year=1862 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kV4VAAAAYAAJ |oclc=3309798 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160429105456/https://books.google.com/books?id=kV4VAAAAYAAJ |archive-date=29 April 2016 |language=de |url-status=live}}, [https://archive.org/stream/chronologischth01kcgoog#page/n355/mode/2up No. 405, pp. 328–329]</ref> and wrote contrapuntal music influenced by his style.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.schillerinstitut.dk/bach.html|title=Bach, Mozart and the 'Musical Midwife'|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151104145350/http://www.schillerinstitut.dk/bach.html|archive-date=4 November 2015}}</ref><ref name="apbrown">Brown, A. Peter, ''The Symphonic Repertoire'' (Volume 2). Indiana University Press ({{ISBN|978-0-253-33487-9}}), pp. 423–432 (2002).</ref> [[Ludwig van Beethoven]] had learned ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'' in its entirety by the time he was 11 in 1781 and called Bach the {{lang|de|Urvater der Harmonie}} (progenitor of harmony).<ref name="McKay">McKay, Cory. [http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~cmckay/papers/musicology/BachReception.pdf "The Bach Reception in the 18th and 19th century"]</ref><ref name="Schenk1959p101">{{harvnb|Schenk|Winston|Winston|1959|p=452}}</ref><ref>[[Daniel Heartz]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=0wp2CQAAQBAJ&pg=PA678 ''Mozart, Haydn and Early Beethoven: 1781–1802'', p. 678.] W. W. Norton, 2008. {{ISBN|978-0-393-28578-9}}</ref>{{sfn|Kerst|1904|p=101}}<ref>Edward Noel Green. ''Chromatic Completion in the Late Vocal Music of Haydn and Mozart: A Technical, Philosophic, and Historical Study'', p. 273. New York University. {{ISBN|978-0-549-79451-6}}</ref>
===19th century===
{{See also|Bach Revival|St Matthew Passion#19th century}}
[[File:Altes Bachdenkmal (Leipzig) - Holzstich.jpg|thumb|upright|Image of the [[Old Bach Monument]] erected by Felix Mendelssohn in Leipzig in 1843]]
In 1802 [[Johann Nikolaus Forkel]] published ''[[Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work]]'', the first Bach biography, dedicated to van Swieten.{{sfn|Geck|2006|pp=9–10}} In 1805, [[Abraham Mendelssohn]] bought a substantial collection of Bach manuscripts that had come down from C. P. E. Bach, and donated it to the Berlin Sing-Akademie.<ref name="Wolff2005" /> The Sing-Akademie occasionally performed Bach's works in public concerts, for instance, his [[BWV 1052|first keyboard concerto]], with Sara Itzig Levy at the piano.<ref name="Wolff2005" /> Since the 19th-century [[Reception of Johann Sebastian Bach's music|Bach Revival]], he has been widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.{{sfn|Crist|Stauff|2011}}
The first decades of the 19th century saw an increasing number of first publications of Bach's music: [[Breitkopf & Härtel]] started publishing chorale preludes,{{sfn|Schneider|1907|p=[https://archive.org/stream/Bach-jahrbuch03.jg1906/BachJahrbuch1906#page/n99/mode/1up 94]}} Hoffmeister harpsichord music,{{sfn|Schneider|1907|pp=[https://archive.org/stream/Bach-jahrbuch03.jg1906/BachJahrbuch1906#page/n101/mode/1up 96–97]}} and ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'' was printed concurrently by [[N. Simrock]] (Germany), [[Hans Georg Nägeli]] (Switzerland) and [[Franz Anton Hoffmeister]] (Germany and Austria) in 1801.{{sfn|Schneider|1907|p=[https://archive.org/stream/Bach-jahrbuch03.jg1906/BachJahrbuch1906#page/n105/mode/1up 100]}} Vocal music was also published: motets in 1802 and 1803, followed by the [[Magnificat in E-flat major, BWV 243a|E{{flat}} major version of the Magnificat]], the [[BWV 234|Kyrie-Gloria Mass in A major]], and the cantata ''{{lang|de|[[Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80|Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott]]}}'' (BWV 80).{{sfn|Forkel|1920|p=[https://archive.org/stream/johannsebastian01terrgoog#page/n22/mode/1up xvii]}} In 1818 the publisher [[Hans Georg Nägeli]] called the Mass in B minor the greatest composition ever.<ref name="McKay" /> Bach's influence was felt in the next generation of early Romantic composers.<ref name="Schenk1959p101" /> Abraham's son Felix, aged 13, produced his first Magnificat setting in 1822, and it is clearly inspired by the then-unpublished D major version of Bach's Magnificat.<ref>[[Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy]]. Magnificat, MWV A2 edited by Pietro Zappalà. Carus, 1996. Foreword, p. VI</ref>
[[Felix Mendelssohn]]'s 1829 performance of the ''[[St Matthew Passion]]'' precipitated the Bach Revival.{{sfn|Applegate|2005|pp=30–33}} The ''[[St John Passion]]'' saw its 19th-century premiere in 1833, and the first public performance of the Mass in B minor followed in 1844. Besides these and other public performances and increased coverage of the composer and his compositions in printed media, the 1830s and 1840s also saw the first publication of more Bach vocal works: six cantatas, the ''St Matthew Passion'', and the Mass in B minor. A series of organ compositions were first published in 1833.<ref>''Johann Sebastian Bach's noch wenig bekannte Orgelcompositionen (auch am Pianoforte von einem oder zwei Spielern ausführbar)'', three volumes, edited by [[Adolph Bernhard Marx]]. Leipzig: [[Breitkopf & Härtel]], 1833</ref> [[Frédéric Chopin]] started composing his [[24 Preludes, Op. 28 (Chopin)|24 Preludes, Op. 28]], inspired by ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'',<ref name=Taruskin-p333>{{harvnb|Taruskin|2009|p=333}}</ref> in 1835, and [[Robert Schumann]] published his {{ill|Sechs Fugen über den Namen BACH|de|lt=''Sechs Fugen über den Namen BACH''}} in 1845. Bach's music was transcribed and arranged to suit contemporary tastes and performance practice by composers such as [[Carl Friedrich Zelter]], [[Robert Franz]], and [[Franz Liszt]], or combined with new music such as the melody line of [[Charles Gounod]]'s "[[Ave Maria (Bach/Gounod)|Ave Maria]]".<ref name="McKay" />{{sfn|Kupferberg|1985|p=126}}
In 1850 the {{lang|de|[[Bach Gesellschaft|Bach-Gesellschaft]]}} (Bach Society) was founded to promote Bach's music. The Society chose [[Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 1]] as the first composition in the first volume of the [[Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe]] (BGA). [[Robert Schumann]], the publisher of the {{lang|de|[[Neue Zeitschrift für Musik]]}}, Thomaskantor [[Moritz Hauptmann]], and the philologist [[Otto Jahn]] initiated this first complete edition of Bach's works a century after his death.{{sfn|Gardiner|2013|p=256}}{{sfn|Leisinger|1998|p=3}} Its first volume was published in 1851, edited by Hauptmann.<ref>''Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern'', Bach Digital Work {{BDW|0000001}} at {{url|www.bachdigital.de}}</ref> In the second half of the 19th century, the Society published a comprehensive edition of his works. In 1854, Bach was deemed one of the [[Three Bs]] by [[Peter Cornelius]], the others being Beethoven and [[Hector Berlioz]]. ([[Hans von Bülow]] later replaced Berlioz with Brahms.) From 1873 to 1880 [[Philipp Spitta]] published ''[[Spitta's Johann Sebastian Bach|Johann Sebastian Bach]]'', the standard work on Bach's life and music.<ref>Spitta [[#{{harvid|Spitta|1899a}}|1899a]], [[#{{harvid|Spitta|1899b}}|1899b]], [[#{{harvid|Spitta|1899c}}|1899c]] (first publication in German, in two volumes: Leipzig, [[Breitkopf & Härtel]] 1873 and 1880)</ref> During the 19th century, 200 books were published on Bach. By the end of the century, local Bach societies were established in several cities, and his music had been performed in all major musical centres.<ref name="McKay" /> In 19th-century Germany, Bach was coupled with nationalist feeling. In England, Bach was coupled with a revival of religious and Baroque music. By the end of the century, Bach was firmly established as one of the greatest composers, recognised for both his instrumental and his vocal music.<ref name="McKay" />
===20th century===
[[File:Statue of J.S. Bach in Leipzig.jpg|thumb|upright|1908 [[Statue of J. S. Bach|Statue of Bach]] in front of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig]]
[[File:Fotothek df roe-neg 0002806 004 Besucher der Messe in der Thomaskirche zu Ehren Bachs.jpg|thumb|upright|28 July 1950: memorial service for Bach in Leipzig's Thomaskirche, on the 200th anniversary of the composer's death]]
During the 20th century, recognition of the musical and [[Pedagogy|pedagogic]] value of Bach's works continued, as in the promotion of the [[Cello Suites (Bach)|cello suites]] by [[Pablo Casals]], the first major performer to record them.<ref>{{cite news|title=Robert Johnson and Pablo Casals' Game Changers Turn 70|url=https://www.npr.org/2011/11/23/142700464/robert-johnson-and-pablo-casals-game-changers-turn-75|work=NPR Music|publisher=[[National Public Radio]] |access-date=22 February 2012|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224050857/http://www.npr.org/2011/11/23/142700464/robert-johnson-and-pablo-casals-game-changers-turn-75|archive-date=24 February 2012}}</ref> [[Claude Debussy]] called Bach a "benevolent God" "to whom musicians should offer a prayer before setting to work so that they may be preserved from mediocrity."<ref name=Tommasini>{{cite book| last=Tommasini| first=Anthony| author-link=Anthony Tommasini| title=The Indispensable Composers: A Personal Guide| year=2018| page=39}}</ref> [[Glenn Gould]]'s debut [[Bach: The Goldberg Variations (Glenn Gould album)|1955 recording]] of the ''Goldberg Variations'' transformed the work from an obscure piece often considered "esoteric" to part of the standard piano repertoire.<ref name="Gould">
{{cite journal|title=Glenn Gould and the Interpreter's Prerogative|author=Siepmann, Jeremy|journal=The Musical Times|volume=131|issue=1763|date=Jan 1990|pages=25–27|doi=10.2307/965621|publisher=The Musical Times, Vol. 131, No. 1763|jstor=965621}}
</ref> The album had "astonishing" sales for a classical work: it was reported to have sold 40,000 copies by 1960, and had sold more than 100,000 by the time of Gould's death in 1982.<ref>{{harvtxt|Bazzana|2003|p=153}}</ref><ref name="Fleming">
{{cite journal|author=Fleming, Colin|title= Reissues: Glenn Gould – 'A State of Wonder: The Complete Goldberg Variations 1955 & 1981' [review]|journal=Goldmine|volume=29|issue=24|date=November 28, 2003|pages=63}} This article may be found online as {{cite web|url= http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=14121|title= A State of Wonder: The Complete Goldberg Variations 1955 & 1981|author= Fleming, Colin|work= [[All About Jazz]]: Beyond Jazz|date= July 12, 2004}}
</ref> [[Andres Segovia]] left behind a large body of edited works and transcriptions for classical guitar, notably a transcription of the [[Chaconne]] from the [[Partita for Violin No. 2 (Bach)|2nd Partita for Violin (BWV 1004)]].<ref>''Andres Segovia Plays Bach''. Saga Records. 1969. STFID 2160.</ref>
A significant development in the later 20th century was [[historically informed performance]] practice, with forerunners such as [[Nikolaus Harnoncourt]] acquiring prominence through their performances of Bach's music.<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://mq.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/LVIII/3/496 |last=Wolff |first=Christoph | title=Reviews of Records, Johann Sebastian Bach: ''Musikalisches Opfer'' | journal=The Musical Quarterly | volume=58 | issue=3 | pages=496–501 |date=July 1972 | access-date=12 August 2007 | doi = 10.1093/mq/LVIII.3.496 | url-access=subscription }}</ref> Bach's keyboard music was again performed on the [[harpsichord]] and other Baroque instruments rather than on modern pianos and 19th-century romantic organs. Ensembles playing and singing Bach's music not only kept to the instruments and the performance style of his day but were also reduced to the size of the groups Bach used for his performances.<ref>{{cite web|last=McComb|first=Todd M.|title=What is Early Music?–Historically Informed Performance|url=http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/misc/whatis.htm#hip|work=Early Music FAQ|access-date=2 January 2015|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150106133856/http://www.medieval.org/emfaq/misc/whatis.htm#hip|archive-date=6 January 2015}}</ref> But that was not the only way Bach's music came to the forefront in the 20th century: his music was heard in versions ranging from [[Ferruccio Busoni]]'s late-romantic ''[[Bach-Busoni Editions]]'' for piano to the orchestrations of [[Leopold Stokowski]], whose interpretation of the [[Toccata and Fugue in D minor]] opened [[Walt Disney Productions|Disney]]'s [[Fantasia (1940 film)|''Fantasia'']] film.{{sfn|Culhane|1983|p=35}}
Bach's music has influenced other genres. [[Jazz]] musicians have adapted it, with [[Jacques Loussier]],<ref name="Fordham">{{cite news | last = Fordham | first = John | url = https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/mar/07/jacques-loussier-obituary | title = Jacques Loussier Obituary / French Pianist and Composer Who Applied Jazz Improvisation and Swing to Bach's Exquisite symmetries | newspaper = [[The Guardian]] | date = 7 March 2019 | access-date = 7 March 2019 }}</ref> [[Ian Anderson]], [[Uri Caine]], and the [[Modern Jazz Quartet]] among those creating jazz versions of his works.<ref>{{cite web|last=Shipton|first=Alyn|author-link=Alyn Shipton|title=Bach and Jazz|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/bach/bachatozj.shtml|work=A Bach Christmas|publisher=BBC Radio 3|access-date=27 December 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130924034912/http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/bach/bachatozj.shtml|archive-date=24 September 2013}}</ref> Several 20th-century composers referred to Bach or his music, for example [[Eugène Ysaÿe]] in [[Six Sonatas for solo violin (Ysaÿe)|Six Sonatas for solo violin]],<ref>Martens, Frederick H. Violin Mastery – Talks with Master Violinists and /teachers. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, Co., 1919. p.6</ref> [[Dmitri Shostakovich]] in [[24 Preludes and Fugues (Shostakovich)|24 Preludes and Fugues]],<ref>[[#Mazullo|Mazullo]], p. 27</ref> and [[Heitor Villa-Lobos]] in ''[[Bachianas Brasileiras]]'' (tr. ''Bach-inspired Brazilian pieces''). A wide variety of publications involved Bach: there were the ''Bach Jahrbuch'' publications of the {{lang|de|Neue Bachgesellschaft}} and various other biographies and studies by, among others, [[Albert Schweitzer]], [[Charles Sanford Terry (historian)|Charles Sanford Terry]], [[Alfred Dürr]], [[Christoph Wolff]], [[Peter Williams (musicologist)|Peter Williams]], and [[John Butt (musician)|John Butt]],{{refn|See {{harvnb|Schweitzer|1911}} (1905 and 1908 editions; {{harvnb|Terry|1928}};
{{harvnb|Dürr|1981}};
{{harvnb|Dürr|Jones|2006}} (English translation);
{{harvnb|Wolff|1991}};
{{harvnb|Wolff|2000}};
{{harvnb|Williams|1980}};
{{harvnb|Butt|1997}}|group=n}} and the 1950 first edition of the [[Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis]]. Books such as ''[[Gödel, Escher, Bach]]'' put the composer's art in a wider perspective. Bach's music was extensively listened to, performed, broadcast, arranged, adapted, and commented upon in the 1990s.<ref name="KVNM2000">Rokus de Groot (2000). [https://www.jstor.org/stable/939103 "And Nowhere Bach. Bach Reception in a Late Twentieth-Century Dutch Composition by Elmer Schönberger"] pp. 145–158 in ''[[Tijdschrift van de Koninklijke Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis]]'', volume 50, no. 1/2.</ref> Around 2000, the 250th anniversary of Bach's death, three record companies issued box sets of recordings of his complete works.<ref>[http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2001/Dec01/BrilliantBach.htm "Bach Edition"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110120315/http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2001/Dec01/BrilliantBach.htm |date=10 November 2016 }} at {{url|http://www.musicweb-international.com}} 1 December 2001</ref><ref>[[Teldec]]'s 1999 [https://www.amazon.com/Bach-2000-Johann-Sebastian/dp/B00001IV8B Bach 2000 Box set, Limited Edition] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012031531/https://www.amazon.com/Bach-2000-Johann-Sebastian/dp/B00001IV8B |date=12 October 2016 }} at {{url|www.amazon.com}}</ref><ref>[http://www.haenssler-classic.de/en/series-and-editions/johann-sebastian-bach-edition/the-complete-works/the-complete-cd-edition.html Bach-Edition: The Complete Works (172 CDs & CDR)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929224617/http://www.haenssler-classic.de/en/series-and-editions/johann-sebastian-bach-edition/the-complete-works/the-complete-cd-edition.html |date=29 September 2015 }} at the [[Hänssler Classic]] website</ref>
Three works by Bach are featured on the [[Voyager Golden Record]], a gramophone record containing a broad sample of the images, sounds, languages, and music of Earth, sent into space with the two [[Voyager program|Voyager]] probes: the first movement of [[Brandenburg Concertos |''Brandenburg Concerto'' No. 2]] (conducted by [[Karl Richter (conductor)|Karl Richter]]), the "Gavotte en rondeaux" from the [[Partita for Violin No. 3 (Bach)|Partita for Violin No. 3]] (played by [[Arthur Grumiaux]]), and the Prelude and Fugue No. 1 in C major from ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'' (played by Glenn Gould).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/music.html|title=Golden Record: Music from Earth|access-date=26 July 2012|publisher=[[NASA]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130701054325/http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/music.html|archive-date=1 July 2013}}</ref> Twentieth-century tributes to Bach include statues erected in his honour and things such as streets and space objects named after him.<ref>[http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/537 Bach] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023211415/http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/537 |date=23 October 2011 }}, [[United States Geological Survey|USGS]] Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=1814+Bach|title=JPL Small-Body Database Browser|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224022624/http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=1814+Bach|archive-date=24 February 2017}}</ref> A multitude of musical ensembles, such as the [[Bach Aria Group]], {{lang|de|[[Deutsche Bachsolisten]]}}, [[Bachchor Stuttgart]], and [[Bach Collegium Japan]] took the composer's name. [[Bach festival]]s were held on several continents, and competitions and prizes such as the [[International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition]] and the [[Royal Academy of Music Bach Prize]] were named after him. While by the end of the 19th century, Bach had been inscribed in nationalism and religious revival, the late 20th century saw Bach as the subject of a secularised art-as-religion ({{lang|de|[[Kunstreligion]]}}).<ref name="McKay" /><ref name="KVNM2000" />
===21st century===
In the 21st century Bach's compositions have become available online, for instance at the [[International Music Score Library Project]].<ref>[[scores:List of works by Johann Sebastian Bach|List of Works by Johann Sebastian Bach]] and [[scores:Category:Bach, Johann Sebastian|Category:Bach, Johann Sebastian]] at [[IMSLP]] website</ref> High-resolution facsimiles of Bach's autographs became available at the [[Bach Digital]] website.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bach Digital |website=bach-digital.de |publisher=[[Bach Digital]] |url=https://www.bach-digital.de/content/project.xml?XSL.lastPage.SESSION=/content/project.xml |access-date=16 June 2021}}</ref> 21st-century biographers include [[Christoph Wolff]], [[Peter Williams (musicologist)|Peter Williams]], and [[John Eliot Gardiner]].{{refn|See
{{harvnb|Wolff|2000}};
{{harvnb|Williams|2003a}};
{{harvnb|Williams|2007}};
{{harvnb|Williams|2016}};
{{harvnb|Gardiner|2013}}|group=n}} In 2011 [[Anthony Tommasini]], chief classical music critic of ''[[The New York Times]]'', ranked Bach the greatest composer of all time, "for his matchless combination of masterly musical engineering (as one reader put it) and profound expressivity. Since writing about Bach in the first article of this series I have been thinking more about the perception that he was considered old-fashioned in his day. Haydn was 18 when Bach died, in 1750, and Classicism was stirring. Bach was surely aware of the new trends. Yet he reacted by digging deeper into his way of doing things. In his austerely beautiful ''Art of Fugue,'' left incomplete at his death, Bach reduced complex counterpoint to its bare essentials, not even indicating the instrument (or instruments) for which these works were composed... through his chorales alone Bach explored the far reaches of tonal harmony."<ref>{{cite news|last=Tommasini| first=Anthony| author-link=Anthony Tommasini| date=January 21, 2011| title=The Greatest| work=[[The New York Times]]| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/arts/music/23composers.html}}</ref>
[[Alex Ross (music critic)|Alex Ross]] wrote, "Bach became an absolute master of his art by never ceasing to be a student of it. His most exalted sacred works—the two extant Passions, from the seventeen-twenties, and the Mass in B Minor, completed not long before his death in 1750—are feats of synthesis, mobilizing secular devices to spiritual ends. They are rooted in archaic chants, hymns, and chorales. They honour, with consummate skill, the scholastic discipline of canon and fugue... Their furious development of brief motifs anticipates Beethoven, who worshipped Bach when he was young. And their most daring harmonic adventures—for example, the otherworldly modulations in the 'Confiteor' of the B-Minor Mass—look ahead to [[Wagner]], even to [[Schoenberg]]."<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Ross| first=Alex| author-link=Alex Ross| title=Bach's Holy Dread| date=25 December 2016| magazine=[[The New Yorker]]| url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/02/bachs-holy-dread}}</ref> The [[Calendar of saints (Episcopal Church)|liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church]] has a [[feast day]] for Bach on 28 July;<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bEq7DwAAQBAJ |title=Lesser Feasts and Fasts 2018 |date=17 December 2019 |publisher=Church Publishing, Inc. |isbn=978-1-64065-235-4 |language=en}}</ref> on the same day, the [[Calendar of saints (Lutheran)|Calendar of Saints]] of some [[Lutheran church]]es, such as the [[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America|ELCA]], remembers Bach, Handel, and [[Heinrich Schütz]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Church Music Sunday |url=https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/What_is_Church_Music_Sunday.pdf |publisher=[[Evangelical Lutheran Church in America]]|date=2013}}</ref> As of 2013 over 150 recordings have been made of ''The Well-Tempered Clavier''.<ref>Bach Cantatas Website, [http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVD/BWV846-869-Rec8.htm "''Well-Tempered Clavier'' Book 1, BWV 846–869 Recordings – Part 8"]</ref> In 2015 Bach's handwritten personal copy of the Mass in B minor, held by the [[Berlin State Library]], was added to [[UNESCO]]'s [[Memory of the World Programme#Memory of the World Register|Memory of the World Register]].<ref name=unesco>{{cite web
|url= https://en.unesco.org/memoryoftheworld/registry/351
|title= Autograph of h-Moll-Messe (Mass in B minor) by Johann Sebastian Bach
|date= 2015
|website= UNESCO
|access-date= 31 January 2022}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[Portraits of Johann Sebastian Bach]]
==
===
{{Reflist|group=n}}
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}
===
====Biographies====
{{See also|Biographies of Johann Sebastian Bach}}
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book|last1=David|first1=Hans T.|author1-link=:de:Hans Theodor David|last2=Mendel|first2=Arthur|author2-link=Arthur Mendel|last3=Wolff|first3=Christoph|author3-link=Christoph Wolff|year=1998|title=The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=978-0-393-31956-9|oclc=37801400}}
* {{cite book|last=Eidam|first=Klaus|author-link=:de:Klaus Eidam|year=2001|title=The True Life of Johann Sebastian Bach|publisher=[[Basic Books]]|isbn=978-0-465-01861-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Forkel |first=Johann Nikolaus |author-link=Johann Nikolaus Forkel |year=1920 |title=[[Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work]] |translator=Charles Sanford Terry |translator-link=Charles Sanford Terry (historian) |publisher=Harcourt, Brace and Howe; Constable}}
* {{cite book |last=Gardiner |first=John Eliot |author-link=John Eliot Gardiner |year=2013 |title=Music in the Castle of Heaven: A Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach |publisher=[[Allen Lane (imprint)|Allen Lane]] |isbn=978-0-713-99662-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Geck |first=Martin|translator=[[Anthea Bell]] |year=2003 |title=Bach |publisher=[[Haus Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-904341-16-1 |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=N1zSVDYTCXgC}} }} {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170224001736/https://books.google.com/books?id=N1zSVDYTCXgC&pg=PA141|date=24 February 2017}}
* {{cite book |last=Geck |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Geck |year=2006 |title=Johann Sebastian Bach: Life and Work |publisher=[[Harcourt (publisher)|Harcourt]]|isbn=978-0-15-100648-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/johannsebastianb00geck }}
* {{cite book |last=Geiringer |first=Karl |author-link=Karl Geiringer |year=1966 |title=Johann Sebastian Bach: The Culmination of an Era |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-195-00554-7 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/johannsebastianb0000geir }}
* {{cite book |last=Schweitzer |first=Albert |author-link=Albert Schweitzer |translator=[[Ernest Newman]] |year=1911 |title=J. S. Bach |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]] }}, first published in French in 1905 and in German in 1908.([https://archive.org/details/jsbachsc01schwuoft Vol. 1], [https://archive.org/details/jsbachsc02schwuoft Vol. 2])
* {{cite book |last=Schweitzer |first=Albert|translator=[[Ernest Newman]] |year=1923 |orig-year=1905 |title=J. S. Bach |volume=1 |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers]] |url=https://archive.org/details/jsbachsc01schwuoft }}
* {{cite book |last=Spitta |first=Philipp |author-link=Philipp Spitta |translator1=[[Clara Bell]] |translator2=[[J. A. Fuller Maitland]] |year=1899a |title=Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany, 1685–1750 |volume=1 |publisher=[[Novello & Co]] |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=kZM5AAAAIAAJ}} }}
* {{cite book |last=Spitta |first=Philipp|translator1=Clara Bell|translator2=J. A. Fuller Maitland|year=1899b |title=Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany, 1685–1750 |volume=2 |publisher=[[Novello & Co]] |url=https://archive.org/details/johannsebastianb02spituoft }}
* {{cite book |last=Spitta |first=Philipp|translator1=Clara Bell|translator2=J. A. Fuller Maitland|year=1899c |title=Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany, 1685–1750 |volume=3 |publisher=[[Novello & Co]]|url=https://archive.org/details/johannsebastianb03spituoft }}
* {{cite book |last=Terry |first=Charles Sanford |author-link=Charles Sanford Terry (historian) |year=1928 |title=Bach: A Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
* {{cite book |first=Peter |last=Williams |author-link=Peter Williams (musicologist) |year=2003a |title=The Life of Bach |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-53374-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofbach0000will}}
* {{cite book |first=Peter |last=Williams|year=2007 |title=Bach: A Life in Music |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-87074-0 }}
* {{cite book |first=Peter |last=Williams|year=2016 |title=Bach: A Musical Biography |publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-107-13925-1 }}
* {{cite book |last=Wolff |first=Christoph |author-link=Christoph Wolff |year=1991 |title=Bach: Essays on his Life and Music |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-05926-9 }}
* {{cite book |last=Wolff |first=Christoph|year=2000 |title=Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician |publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-816534-7}} {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Wolff|2013}}|reference=Second edition, 2013, W. W. Norton, New York and London, {{ISBN|978-0-393-32256-9}} pbk.}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Wolff |first1=Christoph |author-link1=Christoph Wolff |last2=Emery |first2=Walter |year=2001 |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |title=Bach, Johann Sebastian |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.6002278195 |isbn=978-1-561-59263-0 |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/display/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-6002278195 }} {{Grove Music subscription}}
{{refend}}
====Other
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book|last=Applegate|first=Celia|author-link=Celia Applegate|title=Bach in Berlin: Nation and Culture in Mendelssohn's revival of the St. Matthew Passion|publisher=[[Cornell University Press]]|year=2005|isbn=978-0-801-44389-3}}
* {{cite book
|last = Bazzana
|first = Kevin
|author-link = Kevin Bazzana
|title = Wondrous Strange: The Life and Art of Glenn Gould
|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Fj_c-WF9sBIC&q=Wondrous%20Strange%3A%20The%20Life%20and%20Art%20of%20Glenn%20Gould&pg=PP5
|publisher = McClelland & Stewart
|___location = Toronto
|year = 2003
|isbn = 978-0-771-01101-6
|oclc = 52286240
}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Boyd|editor-first=Malcolm|series=Oxford Composer Companions|title=J. S. Bach|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1999}}
* {{cite journal |last=Butler |first=H. Joseph |title=Emulation and Inspiration: J. S. Bach's Transcriptions from Vivaldi's ''L'estro armonico'' |journal=The Diapason |date=August 2011 |url=https://www.thediapason.com/sites/diapason/files/webDiap0811p19-21.pdf}}
* {{cite book|title=The Cambridge Companion to Bach|editor-first=John|editor-last=Butt|editor-link=John Butt (musician)|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-58780-8}}
* {{cite book |title=Bach's World |first=Jan |last=Chiapusso |author-link=Jan Chiapusso |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |year=1968 |isbn=978-0-253-10520-2}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Crist |first1=Stephen A. |last2=Stauff |first2=Derek |year=2011 |encyclopedia=[[Oxford Bibliographies Online|Oxford Bibliographies]]: Music |title=Johann Sebastian Bach |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/OBO/9780199757824-0043 |url=https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199757824/obo-9780199757824-0043.xml |url-access=subscription}} {{subscription required}}
* {{Cite book | last = Culhane | first = John| title = Walt Disney's Fantasia |url=https://archive.org/details/waltdisneysfanta00culh/ | publisher = Harry N. Abrams Inc. | year = 1983 | isbn = 978-3-822--80393-6 | url-access=registration}}
* {{cite web
| last = Dellal
| first = Pamela
| author-link = Pamela Dellal
| url = https://www.emmanuelmusic.org/bach-translations/bwv-134a
| title = Bach Cantata Translations – BWV 134a – 'Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht'
| website = [[Emmanuel Music]]
| date = 2018
| access-date = 1 September 2022
}}
* {{cite book |last=Dent |first=Edward Joseph |author-link=Edward Joseph Dent |year=2004 |title=Handel |publisher=R A Kessinger Publishing |isbn=1-4191-2275-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Donington |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Donington |title=Baroque Music: Style and Performance: A Handbook |year=1982 |publisher=W. W. Norton |isbn=978-0-393-30052-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/baroquemusicstyl00robe }}
* {{cite book| last = Dürr| first = Alfred| author-link = Alfred Dürr| title = Die Kantaten von Johann Sebastian Bach| year = 1981
| publisher = Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag| isbn = 978-3-423-04080-8| edition = 4| language = de}}
* {{citation|last1=Dürr |first1=Alfred |last2=Jones|first2= Richard D. P.|author-link=Alfred Dürr |author-link2=Richard D. P. Jones|title=The Cantatas of J.S. Bach|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-199-29776-4}}
* {{citation|last1=Emans |first1=Reinmar |last2=Hiemke |first2=Sven |date=2015 |chapter=Editionen der Werke Johann Sebastian Bachs |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p815CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA227 |editor1-last=Emans |editor1-first=Reinmar |editor2-last=Krämer |editor2-first=Ulrich |title=Musikeditionen im Wandel der Geschichte |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p815CgAAQBAJ |language=de |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |pages=227–260 |isbn=978-3110434354 }}
* {{cite book | first = André | last = Gedalge | author-link=André Gedalge| title = Traité de la fugue |trans-title=Treatise on Fugue | others = trans. A. Levin | ___location = Mattapan | publisher = Gamut Music Company | year = 1964 | orig-year = 1901 | oclc = 917101 }}
* {{cite book |first=Andreas |last=Glöckner |author-link=Andreas Glöckner |chapter=Gerlach, Carl Gotthelf |title=The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians |editor=[[Stanley Sadie]] |publisher=Macmillan |year=2001 |edition=2nd |isbn=978-0-195-17067-2 |url=http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.45067 |url-access=subscription|access-date=2022-01-09 }} {{subscription required}}
* {{cite book|last=Herl|first=Joseph|title=Worship Wars in Early Lutheranism: Choir, Congregation, and Three Centuries of Conflict|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2004 |isbn=978-0-195-15439-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Jones |first=Richard |author-link=Richard D. P. Jones |title=The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach |publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2007 |isbn=978-0-198-16440-1}}
* {{cite book |title=Beethoven im eigenen Wort |last=Kerst |first=Friedrich |language=de |year=1904 |url=https://archive.org/details/beethovenimeige01kersgoog |publisher=Schuster & Loeffler}}
* {{cite book|last=Kupferberg|first=Herbert|title=Basically Bach: A 300th Birthday Celebration|publisher=McGraw-Hill|year=1985|isbn=978-0-070-35646-7|url=https://archive.org/details/basicallybach3000000kupf}}
* {{cite book |title=Luther's Liturgical Music |first=Robin A. |last=Leaver|publisher=[[William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-802-83221-4}}
* {{cite book
| last = Leisinger
| first = Ulrich
| author-link = Ulrich Leisinger
| translator-last = Kosviner
| translator-first = David
| url = https://www.carusmedia.com/images-intern/medien//30/3100100/3100100x.pdf
| title = Johann Sebastian Bach / Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern / How beauteous is the morning star / BWV 1
| publisher = [[Carus-Verlag]]
| ___location = Stuttgart
| date = 1998
| pages = 3–4
| isbn =
}}
* {{cite book|last=Lester|first=Joel|title=Bach's Works for Solo Violin: Style, Structure, Performance|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-195-12097-4|year=1999}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Marshall and Leaver|2001}}|reference=Marshall, Robert L., and Robin A. Leaver. 2001. "Chorale". ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. Macmillan Publishers.}}
* {{Cite book|last=Mazullo|first=Mark|year=2010|title=Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues: Contexts, Style, Performance|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-14943-2|ref=Mazullo}}
* {{cite book|last=Miles|first=Russell H.|title=Johann Sebastian Bach: An Introduction to His Life and Works|publisher=Prentice Hall|year=1962|oclc=600065}}
* {{cite book|last=Morris|first=Edmund|author-link=Edmund Morris (writer)|title=Beethoven: the Universal Composer|year=2005|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=978-0-060-75974-2}}
* {{Cite book|ref={{harvid|Picander|1729}}|author=[[Picander]] (Christian Friedrich Henrici)|title=Ernst-Scherzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte: Anderer Theil|year=1729}} Second edition: 1734.
* {{cite book |last=Rich |first=Alan |author-link=Alan Rich |title=Johann Sebastian Bach: Play by Play |publisher=HarperCollins|year=1995 |isbn=978-0-062-63547-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/johannsebastianb00rich}}
* {{cite book|last1=Schenk|first1=Erich|author1-link=Erich Schenk|last2=Winston|first2=Richard|author2-link=Richard and Clara Winston|last3=Winston|first3=Clara|author3-link=Richard and Clara Winston|title=Mozart and His Times|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|year=1959|oclc=602180}}
* {{cite journal|last=Schneider|first=Max|author-link=Max Schneider (music historian)|year=1907|url=https://archive.org/stream/Bach-jahrbuch03.jg1906/BachJahrbuch1906#page/n89/mode/1up|title=Verzeichnis der bis zum Jahre 1851 gedruckten (und der geschrieben im Handel gewesenen) Werke von Johann Sebastian Bach|pages=84–113|journal=[[Bach-Jahrbuch]]|publisher=[[Neue Bachgesellschaft]]|volume=VII|number=3}}
* {{cite book|last=Schulenberg|first=David|title=The Keyboard Music of J. S. Bach|publisher=Routledge|year=2006|isbn=978-0-415-97400-4}}
* {{citation|first= David|last= Schulenberg|title= The Keyboard Music of J.S. Bach|publisher= Routledge|year= 2013|isbn= 978-1-136-09146-9|pages=117–139}}
* {{citation |last=Schulenberg |first=David |url=http://faculty.wagner.edu/david-schulenberg/files/2016/08/jsbkbupdates_2016a.pdf |title=Updates for ''The Keyboard Music of J. S. Bach'' |date=10 August 2016 |access-date=9 December 2016}}
* {{cite book |last=Selfridge-Field |first=Eleanor |title=The Music of Benedetto and Alessandro Marcello: A Thematic Catalogue with Commentary on the Composers, Repertory, and Sources |publisher=Oxford University Press/Clarendon Press |date=1990 |isbn=978-0-193-16126-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Spaeth|first=Sigmund|author-link=Sigmund Spaeth|title=Stories Behind the World's Great Music|year=1937|url=https://archive.org/details/storiesbehindthe010040mbp|publisher=Whittlesey House}}
* {{cite book|editor1-last=Butler|editor1-first=Gregory G.|editor2-last=Stauffer|editor2-first=George B.|editor3-last=Greer|editor3-first=Mary Galton|title=About Bach| publisher= [[University of Illinois Press]]| year= 2008 | isbn = 978-0-252-03344-5 | author-first=George B.| author-last=Stauffer| chapter = Music for "Cavaliers et Dames": Bach and the Repertoire of His Collegium Musicum| pages = 135–156}}
* {{cite book |last=Talbot |first=Michael |title=The Vivaldi Compendium |publisher=Boydell Press|author-link=Michael Talbot (musicologist) |date=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lYypmdoyPqYC |isbn=9781843836704}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last=Talbot |first=Michael |others=Revised by Nicholas Lockey |editor-first1=Nicholas |editor-last1=Lockey |year=2020 |orig-year=2001 |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |title=Vivaldi, Antonio |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |___location=Oxford |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.40120 |isbn=978-1-561-59263-0 |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040120 |ref={{sfnRef|Talbot|Lockey|2020}} }} {{Grove Music subscription}}
* {{cite book|last=Taruskin|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Taruskin|title=The Oxford History of Western Music: Music in the Nineteenth Century|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D-0VX3ASxm4C&pg=PT333|date=24 June 2009|publisher=Oxford University Press|___location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-199-79602-1|pages=333–338|chapter=The Chopinesque Miniature}}
* {{cite book|last=Van Til|first=Marian|title=George Frideric Handel: A Music Lover's Guide to His Life, His Faith & the Development of Messiah and His Other Oratorios|year=2007|publisher=WordPower Publishing|isbn=978-0-979-47850-5}}
* {{citation|first=Peter|last=Williams|author-link=Peter Williams (musicologist)|title=The Organ Music of J. S. Bach, Volume II: BWV 599–771, etc.|series=Cambridge Studies in Music|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1980|isbn=978-0-521-31700-9}}; {{citation|title=The Organ Music of J. S. Bach|first=Peter|last=Williams|edition=2nd|year=2003b|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-89115-8|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Wolff|editor-first=Christoph|editor-link=Christoph Wolff|year=1983|title=The New Grove Bach Family|publisher=Macmillan|isbn=978-0-333-34350-0}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Wolff|editor-first=Christoph|year=1997|title=The World of the Bach Cantatas: Johann Sebastian Bach's Early Sacred Cantatas|publisher=W. W. Norton|isbn=978-0-393-33674-0}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Wolff |first1=Christoph |author-link1=Christoph Wolff |last2=Emery |first2=Walter |last3=Wollny |first3=Peter |last4=Leisinger |first4=Ulrich |last5=Roe |first5=Stephen |date=17 January 2018 |orig-year=2001 |encyclopedia=[[Grove Music Online]] |title=Bach family |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.40023 |isbn=978-1-561-59263-0 |url-access=subscription |url=https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000040023 }} {{Grove Music subscription}}
* {{cite web
| last = Wolff
| first = Christoph
| author-link = Christoph Wolff
| url = http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/Koopman-C13c%5BAM-3CD%5D.pdf
| title = Chorale Cantatas from the Cycle of the Leipzig Church Cantatas 1724–25
| publisher = Ton Koopman (liner notes on Bach Cantatas website)
| date = 2002
| pages = 8–9
| access-date = 21 November 2011
}}
* {{cite journal
| last1 = Wolff
| first1 = Christoph <!-- | author-link1 = Christoph Wolff -->
| date = Spring 2005
| title = A Bach Cult in Late-Eighteenth-Century Berlin: Sara Levy's Musical Salon
| url = http://amacad.org/publications/bulletin/spring2005/wolff.pdf
| journal = [[Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences|Bulletin of the American Academy]]
| pages = 26–31
| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032959/http://www.amacad.org/publications/bulletin/spring2005/wolff.pdf
| archive-date = 4 March 2016
}}
{{refend}}
==
* See {{harvnb|Crist|Stauff|2011}}, for an extensive bibliography.
* {{cite book |last=Baron |first=Carol K. |title=Bach's Changing World: Voices in the Community|publisher=[[University of Rochester Press]] |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-58046-190-0|ref=none}}
* {{cite book |last=Dörffel |first=Alfred |author-link=Alfred Dörffel |title=Thematisches Verzeichnis der Instrumentalwerke von Joh. Seb. Bach |language=de|publisher=[[Edition Peters|C. F. Peters]] |year=1882 |url=https://archive.org/details/thematischesverz00dr|ref=none}} ''N.B''.: First published in 1867; superseded, for scholarly purposes, by [[Wolfgang Schmieder]]'s complete thematic catalogue, but useful as a handy reference tool for only the instrumental works of Bach and as a partial alternative to Schmieder's work.
* {{cite book|last=Hofstadter|first=Douglas|author-link=Douglas Hofstadter|title=Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid|publisher=[[Basic Books]]|year=1999|isbn=978-0-465-02656-2|title-link=Gödel, Escher, Bach|ref=none}}
* {{citation|last=Leaver|first=Robin A.|title=The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach|year=2016|isbn=978-0-367-58143-5|url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781315452814|publisher=Routledge|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last=Pirro|first=André|author-link=André Pirro|title=The Aesthetic of Johann Sebastian Bach|orig-year=1907|year=2014|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-4422-3290-7|ref=none}}
* {{cite book|last1=Stauffer|first1=George B.|last2=May|first2=Ernest|title=J. S. Bach as Organist: His Instruments, Music, and Performance Practices|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=1986|isbn=978-0-253-33181-6|ref=none}}
==External links==
{{Sister project links|author=yes|wikt=no|b=no|n=no|v=no}}
{{
<!-- only websites or web pages about J. S. Bach in general, with significant coverage exclusively about the composer ("significant" meaning, e.g., an entire substantial biography, a comprehensive bibliography, etc. – if in doubt, discuss on the talk page first). -->
* ''[https://archive.org/details/bach.-a.-passionate.-life Bach: A Passionate Life]''. [[BBC Two]].
* {{BBC composer page|bach|Bach}}
* [https://www.bach-leipzig.de/en/neutral/about-us bach-leipzig website] of the [[Bach Archive]].
* [http://homepages.bw.edu/bachbib/ Yo Tomita's ''Bach Bibliography'' (23 March 2012)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210316150719/http://homepages.bw.edu/bachbib/ |date=16 March 2021 }}, mirror at the [[Riemenschneider Bach Institute]].
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Johann Sebastian Bach}}.
<!-- only non-vendor web pages that link to a complete or near-complete set (i.e., at least some 1100 works) of scores exclusively of compositions by J. S. Bach. -->
* {{Musopen|johann-sebastian-bach}}.
* {{
* [https://www.bach-digital.de/servlets/solr/select?q=%2BobjectType%3A%22source%22+%2Bcategory%3A%22BachDigital_class_00000006%5C%3A0001%22+%2Bmusicrepo_imagesource%3A%22true%22&fl=id%2CreturnId%2CobjectType&sort=musicrepo_sourcesort01+asc&rows=25&version=4.5&mask=search_form_source.xed Music manuscripts and early prints] at [[Bach Digital]] website.
'''Recordings'''
<!-- only non-vendor websites or web pages exclusively devoted to J. S. Bach, and which give direct access to an extensive database of recordings of his works (at least around 500 recordings listed), covering all genres. -->
* [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102304 Johann Sebastian Bach recordings] at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]].
* {{Muziekweb|M00000000271/CLASSICAL/COMPOSER/|Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750)}}.
* [https://www.bachvereniging.nl/en/allofbach All of Bach] website of the [[Netherlands Bach Society]].
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