Listening Through The Dictionary of Composers and Their Music

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Bio

An able musician, violinist, singer, organ player, and obviously composer, Bach got caught in Lutheran politics and spent much of his time bouncing from job to job. Eventually, he latched onto the Court of King Leopold and enjoyed a measure of stability. His first wife died in 1720 and he remarried fairly quickly and ended up with 20 children, 11 of which survived to adulthood. He attempted to meet Handel but it never happened. He settled in the Netherlands for a brief time but went back to Germany because as a Lutheran he didn't want his children in Calvinist schools. His grave was lost for nearly 150 years but was rediscovered in the 1890s.