Johann Sebastian Bach (J.S. Bach) is a famous German musician and is known as: "The Father of Western Music".

Bach (Bach) (1685~1750), one of the greatest German composers, is famous for composing "Brandenburg Concerto", "B Minor Mass", and "Well-Tempered Clavier" ", as well as a large number of church music and instrumental music. He generally studied and brought together the main styles, forms and traditions developed by his predecessors to make them more colorful. His ancestors were all musicians for generations, and his four sons were all composers, making the Bach family quite legendary in the history of German music.

Bach portraits (11 photos) The Bach family is a prosperous musical family. Musicians began to appear in this family from the mid-16th century and lasted until the end of the 19th century. For more than 300 years* **Fifty-two musicians appeared.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s grandfather was a musician, and his father was also a musician. He lived in a good musical environment since he was a child. His brother (Johann Christoph Bach) was also an excellent organist. He studied under Pachelbel, the German music master at the time, and taught music to Bach (calculated, Pachelbel was Bach's master). When Bach was twenty-two years old, he married his cousin Maria Barbara and gave birth to seven children. After Maria's death, Bach married the female singer Anna Magdalena and gave birth to another child. Thirteen children. Ten of Bach's children grew up, many of whom inherited their father's legacy and became very influential musicians. His second son, Carl Philipp E. Bach (C. P. E. Bach), has lived in Hamburg for a long time and is known as "Hamburger Bach" or "Berlin Bach"; his eleventh son, Johann Christian Bach (J. C. Bach), has lived in Hamburg for a long time. In London, they are known as "London Bach". They all have a status in the history of music and have a direct influence on Haydn, Beethoven, etc. Bach created two sets of music manuscripts for his second wife, Anna Magdalena, called "Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach" (Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach), compiled in 1722. and 1725. The latter is larger and more famous, and includes a large number of minuets, overtures, marches, arias, etc. composed by Bach, Bach's family, and other musicians at the time. Johann Sebastian Bach Introduction to Johann Sebastian Bach (1685～1750), a famous German composer, organist and harpsichordist. He has never been abroad in his life, but he is a pioneer in integrating the musical styles of different nations in Western Europe. His eldest brother studied under an Italian teacher, which exposed Bach to the keyboard music styles of Italy and South Germany: in his music creation, he also studied French fortepiano music and Italian string music. It can be said that Bach gathered the essence of traditional music from Italy, France and Germany. His music was exquisite, perfect and seamless, and had a profound impact on the entire German music culture and even the world's music culture for nearly three hundred years. Bach was born in Eisenach, a beautiful town in Thuringia, Germany. Bach lost his mother at the age of nine and became an orphan at the age of ten. Because of his beautiful voice and financial constraints, he received a scholarship to attend St. Michael's School in Lüneburg when he was a teenager. He graduated from the Saint-Michel School in 1702 and became a violinist in a chamber orchestra the following year. Over the next twenty years he worked in many professions. During his lifetime, Bach was primarily known as an outstanding organist, although he was also a composer, teacher, and orchestra conductor. In 1723, when Bach was thirty-eight years old, he began to serve as cantor of the choir at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, a role he held for the remaining twenty-seven years of his life.

Bach was a prolific composer. His works include nearly 300 cantatas; a set of 48 fugues and preludes that make up the Well-Tempered Clavier; at least 140 other preludes; more than 100 other harpsichord pieces; 23 minor concertos; 4 overtures; 33 sonatas; 5 masses; 3 sacred pieces and many other pieces. In total, Bach composed more than 800 serious pieces of music. Bach's works are deep, tragic, broad and intrinsic, full of the atmosphere of real life in Germany in the first half of the 18th century. He composed many large-scale vocal works full of dramatic elements, among which "Matthew Passion" and "Mass in B minor" are the most influential works. In these works, Bach, as a devout Protestant, expressed his pity and sympathy for human disasters and suffering through religious music forms (passions, masses, motets, cantatas, etc.), as well as his hope for a peaceful and happy future. desire. Compared with the works of his predecessors, Bach's works, which are full of religious content and polyphonic musical thinking, reveal people's inner world more broadly, but at the same time, his music has never deviated from the German musical tradition. "The Well-Tempered Clavier" is one of Bach's important legacies in the field of "pure music". As a work with a German spirit, "The Well-Tempered Clavier" embodies that rigorous German thinking.

In addition, Bach's "French Suite", "English Suite" and six "Brandenburg Concertos" and other orchestra works also express the composer's prayer and desire for peace and a better life. These works aroused strong sentiments deep in the hearts of the German people. The main achievements of Bach's life: First, he liberated music from the position of religious attachment. Music not only sings about God, but also about ordinary life. Second, he developed polyphonic music into main-key music, which greatly enriched the expressive power of music. Third, he established the principle of twelve equal temperaments for keyboard instruments. Fourth, in addition to vocal works, Bach laid the stylistic foundation for almost all styles of modern Western music. Therefore, Bach is honored as the "Father of Western Music" by later generations.

In the half century after Johann Sebastian Bach's death, his music was largely ignored (but notably the greatest musician of the era, Haydn) , Mozart and Beethoven greatly appreciated Bach's talent). New musical styles developed, and Bach's "old" music was temporarily silenced. But after 1800, there was a renewed interest in Bach's music, and from then on his reputation and fame grew day by day. In these secular times, Bach is far more famous than he was during his lifetime. A composer who two hundred years ago was considered old-fashioned in both style and subject matter is widely celebrated today.

Bach is the highest-level artist among all famous composers. He was familiar with all the musical forms of his time and could use any of them with ease, reaching the level of proficiency. For example, his artistic proficiency in melodic combination (a method of playing two or more different tunes at the same time) is unprecedented and unprecedented. In addition, his orchestral works are highly logical, varied, with touching themes and rich melodies, for which he is even more praised.

Bach’s music can be said to be an important pillar of the European music palace. For the music of the entire Baroque period, Bach's musical achievements can be said to be the dome that stands on this palace; for the subsequent development of European music, although Bach did not have real influence until the 19th century, Once this influence arose, it had a profound impact on the development of European music. Only when Bach takes on new cultural significance in a new historical and cultural context will his musical works have a "revelation" significance to modern music. For future generations, it is impossible to understand European music without studying Bach; without in-depth study of Bach's works, it is difficult to become a rigorous and proficient musician; if one cannot understand through the simplicity of Bach's music, Form, refined techniques and even the "shell" of religious music form, it is difficult to fully understand the essence of Bach's music when experiencing the deep thoughts and emotions contained in Bach's music.