Bach, Johann Sebastian, 1685-1750

A German musician of the Baroque era and a prolific composer, Johann Sebastien Bach is one of the greatest composers of all time. He enriched established German styles through his mastery of counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organization, and his adaptation of French and Italian rhythms, forms, and textures. Bach's compositions include hundreds of cantatas, sacred and secular. He composed Latin church music, passions, oratorios, and motets and he adopted Lutheran hymns, not only in his larger vocal works, but also in his four-part chorales and sacred songs. He wrote extensively for organ and for other keyboard instruments and composed concertos for violin and harpsichord and suites as chamber music and for orchestra. Many of his works employ the genres of canon and fugue. Throughout the 18th century Bach was primarily valued as an organist, while his keyboard music, such as The Well-Tempered Clavier, was appreciated for its didactic qualities. A numbered catalogue of his works, the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV) lists more than a thousand works. His instrumental compositions such as the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations and his vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor are among his best-known compositions.