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Johann Sebastian Bach

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Submitted By emeraldeyes1599
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Kellie Holley
MUS 101 / 01402
February 10, 2013

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach was born March 21, 1685 in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany. He was the youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach and Elisabeth Lämmerhirt. Johann Ambrosius Bach was a string player, employed by the town council and the ducal court of Eisenach. After his parents’ death, he was looked after by his older brother, Johann Christoph, who had been a pupil of Johann Pachelbel. It was from his brother that he received his first formal organ lessons. From 1703 to 1707, Bach was appointed as organist at the Neue Kirche (New Church) in Arnstadt. During this time he composed such works as Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo (1704; Capriccio on the Departure of His Most Beloved Brother), the chorale prelude on Wie schön leuchtet (c. 1705; How Brightly Shines), and the fragmentary early version of the organ Prelude and Fugue in G Minor (before 1707). In 1707 Bach obtained a post at the Blasiuskirche in Mühlhausen in Thuringia. He moved there soon after and married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach on October 17, 1707. At Mühlhausen he produced several church cantatas, all cast in a conservative mold, based on biblical and chorale texts. The famous organ Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and the Prelude and Fugue in D Major may also have been composed during this time, as well as the organ Passacaglia in C Minor. Cantata No. 71, Gott ist mein König (God Is My King), printed around Feb. 4, 1708, was printed at the expense of the city council and was the first of Bach’s compositions to be published. Bach resigned his position on June 25, 1708 and shortly after, he moved to Weimar, where he was court organist and a member of the orchestra. From Weimar, Bach occasionally visited Weissenfels; in February 1713, he took part in a court celebration there that included a

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