Johann Sebastian Bach
V.K. SUBRAMANIAN
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Bach (1685 A.D - 1750 A.D.) believed that music was an expression of divinity.
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Johann Sebastian Bach, the German composer, is considered one of the greatest music composers of all time.
Bach was a contemporary of Handel, but unlike Handel who migrated to England, Bach remained in Germany all his life.
His output was prolific, including more than 200 cantatas or musical narratives of which the most famous are: the Saint John Passion (1723) and the Saint Mathew Passion (1729).
Bach believed that music was an expression of divinity. Music by no other composer is so linked to religion as Bach's. He began most of his scores with JJ (Jesu Juva, Jesus Help) and ended them with SDG (Soli Deo Gloria, To God alone the Glory).
A hard life
Born on March 21, 1685, Bach became an orphan at the age of nine. After working as a chorister at Luneberg, he joined the Weimar Court first as a violinist and later as organist. Gradually he became director of Leipzig's church choirs.
The originality and power of Bach's compositions were recognised only in the 19th century.
While at school at Luneberg, Bach used to walk to Hamburg, a distance of over 30 miles, to listen to a famous organist. One day, returning penniless to Luneberg, he rested outside an inn. Someone threw two herring heads onto the rubbish heap. Searching in the rubbish heap for something to eat, he found two coins, with which he had a meal and "undertook a more comfortable pilgrimage to Hamburg to hear his favourite musician."
Such was his passion for music from a very young age!
This is an extract from the book The Great Ones by V.K.Subramanian, Abhinav Publications,
New Delhi
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