“Great people in world history. Johann Sebastian Bach - a short biography of the composer Interesting facts about the composer Bach

1.young criminal
Bach's father died suddenly when Johann Sebastian was nine years old, and the boy was raised by his elder brother, organist of the city of Ohrdruf - Johann Christoph Bach.
Christoph had a collection of works by then famous composers: Froberger, Pachelbel, Buxtehude. But his elder brother locked this collection of ‘fashionable’ music in a barred closet so that Johann Sebastian would not be corrupted and did not lose respect for generally accepted musical authorities.
However, at night, young Bach managed to pick up and pull the music collection out of the grate in some clever way ... He secretly copied it for himself, but the difficulty was that it was impossible to get the candles and had to use only the moonlight.
For six months, ten-year-old Johann Sebastian rewrote notes at night, but alas ... When the heroic work was nearing completion, Johann Christoph found his younger brother at the crime scene and took both the original and a copy from the recalcitrant ...
Bach's grief knew no bounds, in tears he cried out:
- If so, I will write such music myself, write even better!
The brother laughed back and said:
- Go to sleep, chatterbox.
But Johann Sebastian did not throw words to the wind and he fulfilled his childish promise ...

2.the secret of the three herrings
Once the young Bach went from Luneburg to Hamburg to listen to the play of the famous organist and composer I.A. Reinken. He was an ordinary schoolboy, with a skinny wallet and a good appetite. In noisy and cheerful Hamburg, money quickly ran out and Johann Sebastian set off on the way back, burdened with new musical impressions and a pitiful handful of small coins.
Somewhere halfway between Hamburg and Luneburg, the music of an empty stomach has already shamelessly drowned out I.A. Reinken. And then there was a tavern on the road. And the smells from there were so delicious, so dizzying. Starving Bach stood in front of this magnificent structure and hopelessly sorted out a trifle. There was not enough money even for the most modest dinner.
Suddenly a window opened and a hand threw several heads of herring into a heap of rubbish. The future genius, without any hesitation, picked up the food that had fallen on him and was going to have a snack. Biting the first herring head, he already imagined how he would get rid of the second, and almost lost a tooth. There was a golden ducat hidden in the herring! The astonished Bach quickly gutted the second head - still golden! And the third head was just as superbly stuffed.
What did Johann Sebastian do? I had a hearty lunch and immediately went to Hamburg to listen to I.A. Reinken.
Well, where did the money come from in the herring heads, so this still no one knows.

3. well, I have nothing to do with it ...
Contemporaries admired Bach's unsurpassed organ playing. However, constantly hearing rave reviews in his address, Bach invariably answered:
- My game does not deserve such lofty attention and praise, my gentlemen! After all, all I need is just to hit the proper keys with my fingers at a certain time - and then the instrument plays itself ...

4. harmony first!
In the knowledge of harmony with Bach, no mortal could compare. Perhaps that is why he absolutely did not tolerate unauthorized chords ... Scraps of a musical phrase tormented the ear of a genius, and, according to contemporaries, there was no more sure way to piss him off. Once Bach entered a society where a very mediocre amateur played music. Seeing the great composer, he was so confused that he jumped up, interrupted the playing and, unfortunately, stopped at a discordant chord. Greeting no one, not paying the slightest attention to the frightened performer, an angry Bach rushed to the instrument ... An angry lion attacking a gladiator, and he would look like a sheep compared to Johann Sebastian. Without even sitting down, he brought the damn chord to the proper cadence. He sighed, straightened his wig and went to greet the owner.

5. and where is the opponent? ..
In 1717 the renowned French organist Marchand came to Dresden. With his game, he turned everyone's heads, even the king-elector. In the opinion of all, Marchand decisively overshadowed all German performers. But the elector was told that the organist Bach lives in Weimar, whose art does not allow any rivalry.
The competition between Marchand and Bach was organized by the Royal Kapellmeister Volumier. On the appointed day, in a large assembly, Marchand played a brilliant French aria, accompanying the melody with numerous decorations and brilliant variations. When Marchand took the last chord, the audience burst into loud applause. After that, they asked to play Bach.
Johann Sebastian suddenly played the same aria that Marchand had just performed. Moreover, despite the fact that he had just heard it for the first time in his life, Bach unmistakably repeated all the variations, one after another, and played with the preservation of all the decorations of the French virtuoso, and then moved on to variations of his own invention, much more elegant, difficult and brilliant ... When he finished and stood up from behind the instrument, there was a deafening thunder of applause, which left no doubt as to who was playing better - a French or a German. However, it was decided that the musicians would converge once more for a musical competition.
But on the appointed evening, Marchand did not appear. Later it turned out that the Frenchman had left the city in the morning, without even making farewell visits, that is, he had simply fled ...

6.healthy air of Leipzig
Serving as cantor in the church of St. Thomas, Bach received additional income from the performance of church services (weddings and funerals), which were well paid by the parishioners. Once, when all the citizens of the city were in full health for a long time and did not want to die, and consequently, Bach's income became scanty, his wife complained to him that soon they would have money in their house not only for stew, but also for bread ... Johann Sebastian spread his hands:
- My dear, the healthy air of Leipzig is to blame, that's why the dead are not enough, and I, alive, have nothing to live on ...

7.Bah is angry
Despite all the boundless kindness and innocence, Bach was sometimes grumpy and quick-tempered. Once at a rehearsal, the second organist of St. Thomas, while playing, made a small mistake ... Getting angry and not finding at hand anything to play into the inept musician, Bach, in irritation, tore off his wig and threw it at the organist.
- You should wear your boots, not play the organ! - shouted Johann Sebastian.

8.the prodigal son and music
It is not clear why, but Bach loved to fall asleep to music.
In the evening, when he went to bed, his three sons took turns playing the harpsichord for him. Such compulsory activities were very annoying to the children, and the melodic father's snoring was the sweetest sound for them. They noticed that the fastest way he fell asleep while playing Christian. Lucky! Having quickly put his father to sleep, he broke free.
Once it was Emmanuel's turn. He hated these evening exercises and, as soon as he heard the long-awaited whistle, immediately ran away from the harpsichord, stopping the playing right on an unresolved chord. Already immersed in a sweet slumber, Bach instantly woke up. Dissonance tortured his hearing! Dissonance was killing his sleep. At first, he thought the baby had gone to urinate and would be back soon. It was not so. Emmanuel did not return!
Bach tossed and turned in a warm bed for a long time, then with one jerk threw off the blanket, in the pitch darkness, bumping into furniture and stuffing bumps, made his way to the instrument and resolved the chord.
A minute later, the composer was sleeping peacefully.

9.joker
Bach liked to dress up as a poor school teacher and appear in this form in some provincial church. There he asked the church organist for permission to play the organ. Having received this, the great organist sat down at the instrument and ... Those present in the church were so amazed by the magnificence and power of his playing that some, believing that an ordinary person could not play so beautifully, ran away in fright ... They thought that they had looked into their church ... the devil in disguise.

10.dynasty
All Bachs were musicians, except for the 'founder' of the dynasty, Veit Bach, who lived in the 16th century, who was a baker and kept a mill. However, the legend says that he also played beautifully on some kind of stringed instrument resembling a guitar, and was very fond of music.
Father, uncle, grandfather, great-grandfather, brothers, all the numerous sons, grandson and great-grandson of Johann Sebastian Bach were some organist, some a church cantor, some a bandmaster or accompanist in various cities of Germany ...
Bach himself, at the end of his life, said:
- All my music belongs to God, and all my abilities are intended for Him.

11.bach and the apprentice
Once Johann Sebastian Bach played one of his preludes in the presence of his students. One of the students began to admire the maestro's playing, but Bach interrupted him:
"There is nothing surprising! You just need to know which keys and when to press, and the organ will do the rest ”.

Johann Sebastian Bach is a German composer and musician of the Baroque era, who collected and combined in his work the traditions and the most significant achievements of European musical art, and also enriched all this with the virtuoso use of counterpoint and a subtle sense of perfect harmony. Bach is the greatest classic who left a huge legacy that became the golden fund of world culture. He is a versatile musician who has embraced almost all known genres in his work. Creating immortal masterpieces, he transformed each beat of his compositions into small pieces, then combining them into priceless creations of exceptional beauty and expressiveness, perfect in form, which vividly reflected the diverse spiritual world of man.

A short biography of Johann Sebastian Bach and many interesting facts about the composer can be found on our page.

Bach biography

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in the German town of Eisenach in the fifth generation of a family of musicians on March 21, 1685. It should be noted that musical dynasties were quite widespread at that time in Germany, and talented parents strove to develop the corresponding talents in their children. The boy's father, Johann Ambrosius, was the organist in the Eisenach church and the court accompanist. Obviously, it was he who gave the first lessons in the game on violin and harpsichord little son.

From the biography of Bach, we learn that at the age of 10 the boy lost his parents, but did not remain homeless, because he was the eighth and youngest child in the family. The little orphan was taken care of by the respected organist of Ohrdruf, Johann Christoph Bach, Johann Sebastian's older brother. Among his other students, Johann Christoph taught his brother to play the clavier, but the strict teacher reliably hid the manuscripts of modern composers under lock and key, so as not to spoil the taste of the young performers. However, the castle did not prevent little Bach from getting acquainted with forbidden works.

Luneburg

At the age of 15, Bach entered the prestigious Lüneburg School of Church Singers, which was located at the church of St. Michael, and at the same time, thanks to his beautiful voice, young Bach was able to earn some money in the church choir. In addition, in Luneburg, the young man met Georg Boehm, a famous organist, communication with whom influenced the early work of the composer. He also traveled to Hamburg several times to listen to the play of the largest representative of the German organ school A. Reinken. The first works of Bach for clavier and organ belong to the same period. After successfully graduating from school, Johann Sebastian receives the right to enter the university, but due to a lack of funds, he did not have the opportunity to continue his education.

Weimar and Arnstadt

Johann began his career in Weimar, where he was admitted to the court chapel of Duke Johann Ernst of Saxony as a violinist. However, this did not last long, since such work did not satisfy the creative impulses of the young musician. Bach in 1703, without hesitation, agrees to move to the city of Arnstadt, where in the church of St. Boniface was initially offered the post of organ superintendent, and then the post of organist. A decent salary, work only three days a week, a good modernized instrument tuned according to the latest system, all this created conditions for expanding the creative possibilities of the musician not only as a performer, but also as a composer.

During this period he created a large number of organ works, as well as capriccios, cantatas and suites. Here Johann becomes a real organ expert and a brilliant virtuoso, whose playing caused unrestrained delight among the audience. It was in Arnstadt that his gift of improvisation was revealed, which the church leadership did not like very much. Bach always strived for excellence and did not miss the opportunity to meet famous musicians, for example, organist Dietrich Buxtehude, who served in Lübeck. Having received a four-week vacation, Bach went to listen to the great musician, whose playing so impressed Johann that he, forgetting about his duties, stayed in Lubeck for four months. Upon his return to Arndstadt, the indignant leadership arranged for Bach a humiliating trial, after which he had to leave the city and look for a new job.

Mühlhausen

The next city on Bach's life was Mühlhausen. Here in 1706 he won the competition for the position of organist in the church of St. Blasia. He was received with a good salary, but also with a certain condition: the musical accompaniment of the chorales should be strict, without any kind of "decoration". The city authorities further respected the new organist: they approved the plan for the reconstruction of the church organ, and also paid a good reward for the festive cantata “The Lord is my King” composed by Bach, which was dedicated to the inauguration ceremony of the new consul. Staying in Mühlhausen in the life of Bach was marked by a happy event: he married his beloved cousin Maria Barbara, who later gave him seven children.

Weimar

In 1708 Duke Ernst of Saxe-Weimar heard the magnificent performance of the Mühlhausen organist. Impressed by what he had heard, the noble nobleman immediately offered Bach the posts of court musician and city organist with a salary much higher than the previous one. Johann Sebastian began the Weimar period, which is characterized as one of the most fruitful in the composer's creative life. At this time, he created a large number of compositions for clavier and organ, including a collection of choral preludes, Passacaglia c-moll, the famous Toccata and fugue in d-moll "," Fantasy and Fugue in C-dur "and many other great works. It should also be noted that the composition of more than two dozen spiritual cantatas belongs to this period. Such efficiency in Bach's composing work was associated with his appointment in 1714 as vice-conductor, whose duties included regular monthly updating of church music.

At the same time, Johann Sebastian's contemporaries were more fascinated by his performing arts, and he constantly heard replicas of admiration for his performance. The fame of Bach as a virtuoso musician quickly spread not only across Weimar, but also beyond its borders. Once the Dresden Royal Kapellmeister invited him to compete against the famous French musician L. Marchand. However, the musical competition did not work out, since the Frenchman, having heard Bach play at the preliminary audition, secretly left Dresden without warning. In 1717, the Weimar period in Bach's life came to an end. Johann Sebastian dreamed of getting the position of Kapellmeister, but when this position became vacant, the Duke offered him to another, very young and inexperienced musician. Bach, considering this an insult, asked for his immediate resignation, and for this he was arrested for four weeks.

Köthen

According to the biography of Bach, in 1717 he left Weimar to get a job in Köthen as a court bandmaster with Prince Anhalt of Köthen. In Köthen, Bach was to write worldly music, because, as a result of reforms, no music was performed in the church, except for the singing of psalms. Here Bach occupied an exceptional position: as a court conductor he was well paid, the prince treated him like a friend, and the composer repaid for this with excellent compositions. In Köthen, the musician had many students, and for their training he compiled “ Well-Tempered Clavier". These are 48 preludes and fugues that made Bach famous as a master of clavier music. When the prince got married, the young princess showed dislike for both Bach and his music. Johann Sebastian had to look for another job.

Leipzig

In Leipzig, where Bach moved in 1723, he reached the top of his career ladder: he was appointed cantor in the church of St. Thomas and Music Director of all churches in the city. Bach was involved in teaching and training performers of church choirs, selecting music, organizing and conducting concerts in the main temples of the city. Heading the Collegium of Music since 1729, Bach began to arrange 8 two-hour secular music concerts a month in a certain Zimmermann's coffee shop, adapted for the performance of the orchestra. Having been appointed to the position of court composer, Bach handed over the leadership of the Musical College to his former student Karl Gerlach in 1737. In recent years, Bach often reworked his early works. In 1749 he completed the High Mass in B minor, some parts of which were written by him 25 years ago. The composer died in 1750 while working on The Art of the Fugue.

Interesting facts about Bach

• Bach was an acknowledged organ specialist. He was invited to test and tune instruments in various temples in Weimar, where he lived for quite some time. Each time he amazed clients with amazing improvisations that he played to hear how the instrument in need of his work sounds.
• Johann was bored during the service to perform monotonous chorales, and he, not holding back his creative impulse, impromptuly inserted his small decorating variations into the established church music, which caused great dissatisfaction with his superiors.
• Better known for his religious works, Bach also excelled in composing secular music, as evidenced by his Coffee Cantata. Bach presented this humorous piece as a small comic opera. Originally titled Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht (Shut up, stop chatting), it describes the lyric hero's addiction to coffee, and it is no coincidence that this cantata was first performed at the Leipzig Coffee House.
• At the age of 18, Bach really wanted to get a job as organist in Lübeck, which at that time belonged to the famous Dietrich Buxtehude. Another contender for this place was G. Handel... The main condition for occupying this position was marriage to one of Buxtehude's daughters, but neither Bach nor Handel dared to sacrifice themselves in this way.
• Johann Sebastian Bach liked to dress up as a poor teacher and, in this form, to visit small churches, where he asked the local organist to play a little on the organ. Some parishioners, hearing an unusually beautiful performance for them, left the service in fear, thinking that the devil himself had appeared in their church in the form of a strange man.

• The Russian envoy to Saxony, Hermann von Keyserling, asked Bach to write a piece to which he could quickly fall asleep. This is how the Goldberg Variations appeared, for which the composer received a golden cube filled with a hundred louis. These variations are still one of the best "sleeping pills".
• Johann Sebastian was known to his contemporaries not only as an outstanding composer and virtuoso performer, but also as a person with a very difficult character, intolerant of the mistakes of others. There is a known case when the bassoonist, publicly insulted by Bach for his imperfect performance, attacked Johann. A real duel took place, since both were armed with daggers.
• Fond of numerology, Bach liked to weave the numbers 14 and 41 into his musical works, because these numbers corresponded to the first letters of the composer's name. By the way, Bach also liked to play up his surname in his compositions: the notation of the word “Bach” forms a cross pattern. It is this symbol that is most important for Bach, who considers it not accidental similar coincidences.

• Thanks to Johann Sebastian Bach, it is not only men who sing in church choirs today. The first woman to sing in the church was the composer's wife Anna Magdalena, who has a beautiful voice.
• In the middle of the 19th century, German musicologists founded the first Bach Society, whose main task was to publish the composer's works. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the society dissolved itself and the entire collection of Bach's works was published only in the second half of the twentieth century on the initiative of the Bach Institute, created in 1950. In the world today, there are a total of two hundred and twenty-two Bach Societies, Bach Orchestras and Bach Choirs.
• Researchers of Bach's work suggest that the great maestro composed 11,200 works, although the legacy known to descendants includes only 1,200 compositions.
• Today there are more than fifty-three thousand books and various publications about Bach in different languages, about seven thousand full biographies of the composer have been published.
• In 1950, W. Schmieder compiled a numbered catalog of Bach's works (BWV - Bach Werke Verzeichnis). This catalog was updated several times as the data on the authorship of certain works was clarified and, in contrast to the traditional chronological principles of classifying the works of other famous composers, this catalog is structured according to the thematic principle. Works with similar numbers belong to the same genre, and were not at all written in the same years.
• Bach's works: "Brandenburg Concerto No. 2", "Gavotte in the form of a rondo" and "HTK" were recorded on the Golden Record and in 1977 launched from Earth attached to the Voyager spacecraft.

• Everyone knows that Beethoven suffered from hearing loss, but few people know that Bach went blind in his declining years. Actually, the unsuccessful eye surgery performed by the charlatan surgeon John Taylor caused the composer's death in 1750.
• Johann Sebastian Bach was buried near the Church of St. Thomas. After some time, a road was laid through the territory of the cemetery and the grave was lost. At the end of the 19th century, during the reconstruction of the church, the remains of the composer were found and reburied. After World War II in 1949, Bach's relics were moved to the church building. However, due to the fact that the grave changed its place several times, skeptics question whether the ashes of Johann Sebastian are in the burial.
• To date, 150 postage stamps dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach have been issued worldwide, 90 of them were published in Germany.
• Johann Sebastian Bach, a great musical genius, is treated with great reverence all over the world, monuments to him have been erected in many countries, only in Germany there are 12 monuments. One of them is located in the town of Dornheim near Arnstadt and is dedicated to the wedding of Johann Sebastian and Maria Barbara.

Family of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian belonged to the largest German musical dynasty, whose pedigree is usually counted from Feith Bach, a simple baker, but very fond of music and perfectly performing folk melodies on his favorite instrument - zither. This passion from the founder of the genus was passed on to his descendants, many of them became professional musicians: composers, cantors, bandmasters, as well as a variety of instrumentalists. They settled not only in Germany, some even went abroad. Over the course of two hundred years, there were so many Bach musicians that any person whose occupation was associated with music began to be called by their name. The most famous ancestors of Johann Sebastian, whose works have come down to us, were: Johannes, Heinrich, Johann Christoph, Johann Bernhard, Johann Michael and Johann Nikolaus. Johann Sebastian's father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was also a musician and served as organist in Eisenach, in the city where Bach was born.

Johann Sebastian himself was the father of a large family: from two wives he had twenty children. The first time he married his beloved cousin Maria Barbara, the daughter of Johann Michael Bach, in 1707. Maria gave birth to Johann Sebastian seven children, three of them died in infancy. Maria herself did not live a long life either, she died at the age of 36, leaving Bach with four young children. Bach was very upset about the loss of his wife, but a year later he again fell in love with the young girl Anna Magdalena Wilken, whom he met at the court of the Duke of Anhalt-Keten and proposed to her. Despite the big difference in age, the girl agreed and it is obvious that this marriage was very successful, since Anna Magdalena gave Bach thirteen children. The girl did an excellent job with the household, was caring for the children, was sincerely happy with her husband's successes and provided great help in her work, rewriting his scores. Family for Bach was a great joy, he devoted a lot of time to raising children, playing music with them and composing special exercises. In the evenings, the family very often put on impromptu concerts that made everyone happy. Bach's children by nature had excellent data, but four of them had exceptional musical talent - these are Johann Christoph Friedrich, Karl Philipp Emanuel, Wilhelm Friedemann and Johann Christian. They, too, became composers and left their mark on the history of music, but none of them could surpass their father either in writing or in the art of performance.

The work of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the most prolific composers, his legacy in the treasury of world musical culture includes about 1200 immortal masterpieces. In the work of Bach, there was only one inspirer - the Creator. Johann Sebastian dedicated almost all of his works to him and at the end of scores he always signed letters that were an abbreviation of the words: "In the name of Jesus", "Jesus help", "Glory to God alone." To create for God was the main goal in the life of the composer, and therefore his musical works absorbed all the wisdom of the "Holy Scripture". Bach was very faithful to his religious outlook and never betrayed him. According to the composer's reasoning, even the smallest instrumental piece should indicate the wisdom of the Creator.

Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his works in virtually all, except for opera, musical genres known at that time. The compiled catalog of his works includes: 247 works for organ, 526 vocal works, 271 works for harpsichord, 19 solo works for various instruments, 31 concertos and suites for orchestra, 24 duets for harpsichord with any other instrument, 7 canons and others works.

Musicians all over the world perform Bach's music and they begin to get acquainted with many of his works from childhood. For example, every little pianist studying at a music school must have in his repertoire pieces from « Music book by Anna Magdalena Bach » ... Then little preludes and fugues are studied, then there are inventions, and ultimately « Well-Tempered Clavier » , but this is already a high school.

The famous works of Johann Sebastian also include “ Passion for Matthew"," Mass in B Minor "," Christmas Oratorio "," St. John Passion "and, undoubtedly," Toccata and Fugue in D minor". And the cantata "The Lord is my King" and at the present time sounds at festive services in churches in different parts of the world.

Despite the twists and turns, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a huge number of amazing compositions. The composer's business was continued by his famous sons, but none of them could surpass their father either in writing or in performing music. The name of the author of passionate and pure, incredibly talented and unforgettable works stands at the top of the world of music, and his recognition as a great composer continues to this day.

Video: watch a film about Johann Sebastian Bach

Dynasty

The Bach dynasty has been known for its creative talents since the beginning of the 16th century.

All Bachs were musicians, except for the founder of the dynasty, Veit Bach, who was a baker and kept the mill. However, the legend says that he also played the zither - a stringed instrument resembling a guitar - and was very fond of music.

Father, uncle, grandfather, great-grandfather, brothers, all the numerous sons, grandson and great-grandson of Johann Sebastian Bach were some organist, some a church cantor, some a bandmaster or accompanist in various cities of Germany ...

Bach himself, at the end of his life, said:
- All my music belongs to God, and all my abilities are for Him..

Young criminal

Bach's father died suddenly when Johann Sebastian was nine years old, and the boy was raised by his elder brother, organist of the city of Ohrdruf - Johann Christoph Bach.

Christoph had a collection of works by then famous composers: Froberger, Pachelbel, Buxtehude. But his elder brother locked this collection of "fashionable" music in a barred cabinet so that Johann Sebastian would not spoil his musical taste and would not lose respect for generally accepted musical authorities.

However, at night, young Johann managed in some clever way to pick up and pull out the music collection from behind the grate ... He secretly copied it for himself, but the whole difficulty was that it was impossible to get the candles and had to use only the moonlight.

For six months, ten-year-old Johann Sebastian rewrote notes at night, but alas ...

When the heroic work was nearing completion, Johann Christoph found his younger brother at the crime scene and took both the original and a copy from the recalcitrant ...

Bach's grief knew no bounds, in tears he cried out:
- If so, I will write such music myself, write even better !
The brother laughed back and said:
- Go to sleep, chatterbox.

But Johann Sebastian did not throw words to the wind and he fulfilled his childish promise ...

The secret of the three herrings

Once the young Bach went from Luneburg to Hamburg to listen to the play of the famous organist and composer I.A. Reinken.

He was an ordinary schoolboy, with a skinny wallet and a good appetite. In noisy and cheerful Hamburg, money quickly ran out and Johann Sebastian set off on the way back, burdened with new musical impressions and a pitiful handful of small coins.

Somewhere halfway between Hamburg and Luneburg, the music of an empty stomach has already shamelessly drowned out I.A. Reinken. And then there was a tavern on the road. And the smells from there were so delicious, so dizzying.
Starving Bach stood in front of this magnificent structure and hopelessly sorted out a trifle. There was not enough money even for the most modest dinner.

Suddenly a window opened and a hand threw several heads of herring into a heap of rubbish. The future genius, without any hesitation, picked up the food that had fallen on him and was going to have a snack. Biting the first herring head, he already imagined how he would get rid of the second, and almost lost a tooth. In the herring was hidden golden ducat ! The astonished Bach quickly gutted the second head - still golden! And the third head was just as superbly stuffed.

What did Johann Sebastian do? I had a hearty lunch and immediately went to Hamburg to listen to I.A. Reinken. Well, where did the money come from in the herring heads, so this still no one knows.

Well, I have nothing to do with it...

Contemporaries admired Bach's unsurpassed organ playing. However, constantly hearing rave reviews in his address, Bach invariably answered:
- My game does not deserve such sublime attention and praise, my gentlemen! After all, all I need is just to hit the proper keys with my fingers at a certain time - and then the instrument plays itself...

You will learn interesting facts about the life (biography) of the famous composer in this article.

Interesting facts about Johann Sebastian Bach

• Bach wrote more 1000 pieces all existing musical genres with the exception of opera.

Johann lost his parents early... Already at the age of 10, he moved from his native Eisenach to Ohrdruf to his brother, who began to teach him music.

Ever since the 17th century, the joke “Every Bach is a musician, every musician is a Bach” has been circulating in Germany. J.S.Bach himself had 20 children from two marriages... Only seven survived, but they all also became musicians, continuing the family tradition.

It's not clear why, but Bach loved to fall asleep to music.
In the evening, when he went to bed, his three sons took turns playing the harpsichord for him. Such compulsory activities were very annoying for the children.

Bach was a deeply religious person and was for both wives a faithful spouse and an excellent family man.

It was thanks to Bach that female voices sounded in churches: before him, only men were allowed to sing in the choirs. The first woman to sing in the church choir was his wife, Maria Barbara.

The great composer knew how to make good money and was not wasteful. However, there was one thing that Bach always did for free: he never took money for private lessons.

Bach's contemporary was Handel, who lived 50 km from Weimar. Both composers dreamed of meeting each other, but each time they got in the way. The meeting never took place, however, both shortly before his death were operated on by John Taylor, whom many considered a simple charlatan, not a doctor.

There is a legend, not documented, but mentioned by the first biographer of the composer: to hear the famous Dietrich Buxtehud, Bach walked from Arnstadt to Lübeck, the distance between which is 300 km.

Bach liked to dress up as a poor school teacher and appear in this form in some provincial church. There he asked the church organist for permission to play the organ. Having received this, the great organist sat down at the instrument and ... Those present in the church were so amazed by the magnificence and power of his playing that some, believing that an ordinary person could not play so beautifully, ran away in fright ... They thought that they had looked into their church ... the devil in disguise.

Bach was not the only creative person in his family. It is believed that he belonged to the fifth generation of musicians. About 50 of his close relatives were also involved in musical creativity, two of his children were able to become quite famous composers. In total, Bach had twenty children from two marriages (by the way, the musician married his own cousin for the second time and was happy with her for 29 long years). He can rightfully be considered the most prolific composer in the literal and figurative sense of the word. However, only 9 children out of 20 survived their father. Bach himself perfectly played many musical instruments. For example, organ, harpsichord and accordion. Bach had a unique ear. He could perform a piece he had heard once without a single mistake. During his life, he changed his place of residence eight times, moving from city to city. Bach was a genius music teacher who did not charge money for his lessons. His favorite pastime was visiting some small church, where he would come disguised as a poor music teacher. Bach was a believer, often re-read the Bible and regularly went to confession. An interesting fact about Bach is that only thanks to his efforts in churches, in choirs, not only men, but also women can sing (for a long time for Catholics and Protestants this was an unacceptable freeman). By the way, the composer's wife became the first woman chorus. When Bach's chorales were sung in churches, he or one of his sons sat at the organ or harpsichord (he tried to give his children a high-quality musical education). Bach was a very hot-tempered person, often lashing out at his colleagues. He could shout at them, rip notes and break instruments. Bach loved free creativity and once even spent a month in prison for constantly asking to resign. During his long musical career, Bach wrote over 1000 pieces of music, the first of which he created at the age of 15. The composer liked to found various societies (for example, the Bach Society, the College of Musicians). Herring heads were the composer's favorite dish. Once he found real golden ducats inside them. Bach loved to fall asleep to music and generally loved sound and healthy sleep. His favorite saying was: "To get a good night's sleep, you need to go to bed on the wrong day in which you need to wake up." It is known that several clients ordered him compositions, under which it would be good to fall asleep. In the last years of his life, the great composer almost went blind, and although he performed operations more than once, they did not help him. Johann Bach and Friedrich Handel were contemporaries, but during their lifetime these two great composers never met, although they wished to. For a long time, there was no tombstone on the composer's grave. His heirs did not have enough time to arrange it. There is also an opinion that there are no remains of the composer in the grave. Some researchers believe that they have been moved from place to place many times. Bach left a very large legacy (it included money, real estate, a collection of musical instruments, and a collection of unique church books).