Johann or Johannes Bach (26 November 1604 – buried 13 May 1673) was a German
composer
A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music.
Etymology and def ...
and musician of the early
Baroque period
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from the early 17th century until the 1750s. It followed Renaissance art and Mannerism and preceded the Rococo (in ...
. He was the father of the so-called "Erfurt line" of
Bach family
The Bach family is a family of notable composers of the baroque and classical periods of music, the best-known of whom was Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). A family genealogy was drawn up by Johann Sebastian Bach himself in 1735 when he was ...
musicians. His surviving works—two
motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...
s and an
aria
In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...
—make him the first Bach with extant compositions.
Life and career
Born in
Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...
, Johannes was the eldest son of
Johannes Hans Bach and the brother of
Christoph Bach and
Heinrich Bach
Heinrich Bach ( – ) was a German organist, composer, and a member of the Bach family.
Heinrich Bach was born at Wechmar, and is the father of the so-called Arnstadt Line. After the early death of his father, his older brother Johannes Bach con ...
. All three were composers. He spent seven years studying under
Johann Christoph Hoffmann, a ''
stadtpfeifer'' in
Suhl
Suhl () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located SW of Erfurt, NE of Würzburg and N of Nuremberg. With its 37,000 inhabitants, it is the smallest of the six urban districts within Thuringia. Together with its northern neighbour-town Zella ...
. From 1634 he served as organist at St. Johannis church in
Schweinfurt
Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a town#Germany, city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding Schweinfurt (district), district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultur ...
, and was later organist at Suhl.
HOASM
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In 1635 he became town musician and director of the Raths-Musikanten in Erfurt
Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...
, and was organist at the town's '' Predigerkirche'' from 1636. His first wife, Barbara Hoffman (a daughter of his teacher), died half an hour after bearing a stillborn son in 1639. Following this he married Hedwig Lämmerhirt, the daughter of a town councilman in Erfurt. His children from this marriage included Johannes Christian Bach, Johann Aegidius Bach, and Johann Nicolaus Bach
Johann Nicolaus Bach (or Johann Nikolaus Bach) ( – 4 November 1753) was a German composer of the Baroque period.
Johann Nicolaus was the eldest son of Johann Christoph Bach and the second cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach. He was educated ...
.
Bach's works included two motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the preeminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to the Eng ...
s, ''Unser Leben ist ein Schatten'' and ''Sei nun wieder zufrieden'', and an aria
In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...
, ''Weint nicht um meinen Tod''.
See also
* Altbachisches Archiv
, also (ABA, old-Bachian archive), is a collection of 17th-century vocal music, most of which was written by members of the Bach family.
History
Johann Ambrosius Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Sebastian's father, supposedly started to collec ...
* Bach family
The Bach family is a family of notable composers of the baroque and classical periods of music, the best-known of whom was Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). A family genealogy was drawn up by Johann Sebastian Bach himself in 1735 when he was ...
References
Citations
Sources
* Entry for "Johann(es) Bach" under "Bach", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...
'' online.
*
External links
*
1604 births
1673 deaths
17th-century German classical composers
German Baroque composers
German male classical composers
Johannes Bach
Musicians from Erfurt
{{Germany-composer-stub