Johann Sebastian Bach
1685-1750 · German (Eisenach/Leipzig) · Baroque
Known for: Supreme master of Baroque music who composed The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, and hundreds of cantatas
Bach was a devout Lutheran, devoted family man (20 children, 10 surviving), and practical working musician who composed for Sunday services and royal courts. His output was staggering in quantity and quality. He walked 250 miles to hear Buxtehude play organ.
He was stubborn and hot-tempered - once jailed for insisting on leaving a post, once drew a sword on a bassoonist. He was relatively obscure after death until Mendelssohn's 1829 revival of the St. Matthew Passion.
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