BaroqueJohann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Germany into a family where nearly everyone was a musician!
Johann Sebastian Bach’s life
The big moments of this life, and what was happening in the world at the same time.
A life at a glance
And after his or her death: 1 landmark in the detailed timeline (1829).
- 1685👶 Birth
Born in Eisenach on 21 March into a large family of musicians
- 1687🌍 Meanwhile
Newton publishes the laws of gravitation
- 1695❤️ Private lifeage 10
Orphaned at 10, taken in by his elder brother in Ohrdruf
- 1700📚 Trainingage 15
Pupil at St Michael’s School in Lüneburg
- 1700🌍 Meanwhile
Bartolomeo Cristofori invents the piano in Florence (c. 1700)
- 1703🎩 Careerage 18
Organist in Arnstadt
- 1705🧳 Journeyage 20
Walks about 400 km to hear the organist Buxtehude in Lübeck
- 1708🎩 Careerage 23
Organist then Konzertmeister at the Weimar court
- 1719🌍 Meanwhile
Defoe publishes Robinson Crusoe
- 1721🎼 Workage 36
Brandenburg Concertos; marries Anna Magdalena
- 1722🎼 Workage 37
The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I
- 1727🎼 Workage 42
St Matthew Passion
- 1750🕯️ Deathage 65
Dies in Leipzig on 28 July
- 1829🏛️ Landmark79 years after death
Mendelssohn revives the St Matthew Passion
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Excerpts of up to 90 seconds, freely licensed recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
Once upon a time…
Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Germany into a family where nearly everyone was a musician! But he lost his parents very young and went to live with his big brother, who taught him the keyboard.
As a young man he walked four hundred kilometres to hear a great organist! He became an extraordinary organist himself.
Bach composed an enormous amount: concertos, pieces for solo cello, a cantata every Sunday for the churches of Leipzig, and even a cantata about coffee, the fashionable drink.
He had twenty children, and several became famous composers. After his death he was a little forgotten, but today he is considered one of the greatest musicians of all time.
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Same era · Baroque
1668 – 1733BaroqueFrançois Couperin
François Couperin was born in Paris into a family where almost everyone played the organ!
1678 – 1741BaroqueAntonio Vivaldi
Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice, the city on the water, almost three hundred and fifty years ago.
1681 – 1767BaroqueGeorg Philipp Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann was born in Germany more than three hundred and forty years ago.
1683 – 1764BaroqueJean-Philippe Rameau
Jean-Philippe Rameau was born in Dijon more than three hundred and forty years ago.
1685 – 1759BaroqueGeorg Friedrich Haendel
George Frideric Handel was born in Germany the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach.
1710 – 1736BaroqueJean-Baptiste Pergolèse
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was born in Italy more than three hundred years ago.