Johann Sebastian Bach

Between the 1600s and the 1700s, many would think more of Kings or Queens who ruled their vast kingdoms for years upon years rather than a great composer such as Johann Sebastian Bach, a man who greatly contributed to Germany and many other specific regions of Europe during his life. Born in 1685 Eisenach on March 21, Bach was a member of one of the most excellent musical families of all time as, for over 200 years, the Bach family had birthed some of the most superb composers and performers, many supported by churches, the government, and nobles for their extraordinary works (“Wikipedia”). However, having been orphaned so early on, Bach grew up in the home of his brother, Johann Christoph Bach, in Ohrdruf. During his early life, he attended schools of dance, acted as an organist on many occasions, particularly in Arnstadt, Mьhlhausen, Weimar, as well as a court music director in Cцthen, and, later in his life, in 1723 to be precise, he became the grand choirmaster of St.Thomas in Leipzig for twenty-seven years and oversaw many events of the school, going so far as to divide the students into four individual choirs and recruiting the talents of the city‘s professional musicians and university students (pg 1 - 14, Eidam). He continued as a choirmaster until the end of his days, writing various and exquisite pieces that were preformed in front of many audiences, quite a few of which were preformed by those of the four individual choirs he created while he lead them through each piece (pg 1 - 14, Eidam). Though this may not seem as important as the rulings of Kings and Queens at the time, Bach’s contribution to his homeland of Germany and its people was mostly certainly memorable and worth consideration. In fact, because of his contributions in the form of performances and musical pieces and vocals, he was regarded as one of the greatest composers of his time and, not to mention, one of the greatest composers of all time (“Wikipedia”). By using the style of baroque, a style of music most common to Germany and its culture at that time, and last played by Bach himself, Bach was able to spread his culture through the melody of his works (“Bachcentral: Brief Biography”). He traveled to various countries, cities, and kingdoms such as Italy and France, spreading what of the baroque style he could. Bach introduced the baroque genre of music through choirs, orchestras, and solo instruments and, even, the tunes of organs, such as those he played, and vocals of the grandest voices (Chapters 25 and onward, Eidam). Bach, also, wrote his own sheet music for these events, detailing every last chord or pitch as much as possible to insure a grand performance for whatever audience he’d have and through whatever method that was possible or available to his work at the time (Chapters 25 and onward, Eidam). As baroque had been developed into a pure German style, Bach was able to spread this German-related genre, as said, and, along with it, the culture and artistic advances in the German society, particularly, and obviously, lyrically, vocally, and musically or, in other words, through his lyrics, compositions, instruments, and performances during his lifetime (Chapters 25 and onward, Eidam). His playing of the German baroque style influenced the many areas he visited and played within, thus gaining more supporters of the German style and, soon, more who were aware of the German culture; he was able to spread the German culture and ways to others, allowing them to observe and modernize themselves in a way that applied to the German culture as displayed by Bach (Chapters 25 and onward, Eidam). Despite what minor injuries he suffered during the course of his life, such as a certain psychical impairment in the summer of 1729, being of which that Bach had grown terribly short-sighted, Bach was able to provide his grand interpretation of the German style, being, of course, the baroque genre, and compose many sheets of music and lyrics for all of his performances;