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Declan Decker
Professor Carpenter
AR210
8 November 2016
Artist/Composer Analysis
I have decided to look at the life and legacy of Johann Sebastian Bach because of the
legacy he left. Bach was an amazing artist he played the violin, harpsicord and the organ, he also
was an expert organ crafter. The legacy of Bach is still around today and many of the modern
classical artist often play Bach’s works. The fact that music written three hundred fifty years ago
is still relevant amazes me.
Bach was born in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany, on March 31, 1685. He was born into a
very musical family so it makes sense that he would go into music. When Bach was seven he
started to attend school where he received religious instructions and was taught Latin and many
other subjects. In 1694 Bach lost both of his parents, he then had to go live with his older brother
(who was a church organist in Ohrdruf) until he was fifteen. At the age of fifteen Bach went to
St. Michael’s School it was here that Bach started to play the harpsicord and he continued to play
the violin.
After Bach graduate from school he applied to be the organist at Sangerhausen because
church was very important to everyone and organist were very important but was rejected. He
was then appointed the court musician for Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar where he worked
for seven months. He then worked at St Blasius Church where has served for two years. He

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married his second cousin Maria Barbra Bach. Bach then went to the church and town
government Mühlhausen where he was able to convince the town to renovate the organ at the
Blasius Church.
In 1708 he returned to Weimar as an organist and in 1714 he became the Konzertmeister
where he was able to preform the church canta once a month. It may seem as though Bach had it
all but he did something that made those in Weimar throw him in jail. He was jailed for about a
month and not long after he got out he was hired by Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen to be his
director of music. The prince was a lover of music but he was a Calvinist so Bach was given
freedom to write whatever he wanted but it was never played in Church because it was to
elaborate. Here is where Bach’s first wife died but he then remarried and has thirteen children
with his new wife however, only six of them lived to adulthood.
In 1723 Bach was made the Thomaskantor, Cantor of the Thomasschule at the Thomas
St. Thomas Church in Leipzig where he provided music for four churches. This was the final
place that Bach worked at. It was here in Leipzig that Bach was able to compos some of his most
famous pieces. Bach’s duties at his new job were fairly easy for him because it gave him the
chance to do what he loves all day. Bach’s life stayed relatively the same until 1947 when he
visited King Frederick the Great (of Prussia), the King gave him a melody and challenged that he
couldn't write a fugue to it. The melody the king gave him was basically total gibberish, but Bach
came back a couple of months later having written two Ricercars, ten Canons, and a full trio
Sonata, based on this total nonsense melody, all of which worked brilliantly. Bach then
composed his final big work Mass in B minor before he died.
Bach was an amazing artist who was heavily influenced by religion as we can see from
what he wrote. He is truly one of the greatest artist to ever live.

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Work Cited
“Johann Sebastian Bach” Bio. 2014 Web. November 11, 2016
Posner, Rebecca. " Johann Sebastian Bach." The Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropedia. 15th ed.
1987. Print.