Sheet Music of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750

Sheet Music and Program Notes

Bach was a German composer of the Baroque period. He regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time. He was orphaned at the age of 10 and lived with his brother for five years.

Bach worked as a Kapellmeister from 1717 to 1723 and became the court composer for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen. He died of complications after eye surgery in 1750.

Bach's compositions include hundreds of cantatas, sacred and secular, oratios, motets, Brandenburg Concertos, violin concertos, chamber and orchestral music. He wrote a very large number of works for keyboard, organ and vocal music. He often based his works on Lutheran Hymns. He wrote extensively for organ and for other keyboard instruments.

Bach's Well Tempered Clavier is regarded as one of the most important works in history. He wrote preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys demonstrating an instrument with tempered tuning could play in any musical key. With other tuning systems, instruments often had to be tuned differently for each key to obtain the best performance.

Bach was born into a musical family in Eisenach, Germany. His father was a violinist and his mother was a singer. Bach showed an early aptitude for music, and he began studying the violin and harpsichord at a young age. He also received a strong education in theology and law.

In 1703, Bach was appointed organist at the Church of Saint Michael in Lübeck. This was a prestigious position, and it allowed Bach to develop his skills as a composer and performer. He also had the opportunity to study with some of the leading composers of the day, including Georg Böhm and Dieterich Buxtehude.