Bach By: Monisha Ragland

1. Bach By: Monisha Ragland

2. Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21st l685, the son of Johann Ambrosias, court trumpeter for the Duke of Eisenach and director of the musicians of the town of Eisenach in Thuringia.

3. Bach • Roads were still unpaved in the smaller towns, sewage and refuse disposal poorly organized, and the existence of germs not yet scientifically discovered. • Mortality rates were high as a result. At an early age Johann Sebastian lost a sister and later a brother. When he was only nine years old his mother died. Barely nine months later his father also died.

4. Influencing Others... We might begin debate, then, with the matter of Bach's influence upon composers and composition. For if we were to measure his greatness upon the basis of the number of his compositions, the man would surely be found wanting. .Even those who might deny this, that they have never striven to emulate Bach's technique, might find it more difficult to deny that they have at least striven not to emulate his technique. Thus, positively or negatively, Johann Sebastian has cut a wide swath.

5. ...and Being Influenced But the ocean of Bach could not have streamed over so many if he had not first allowed himself to be illumined by lesser lights than himself (when one's is the brightest, any other's must necessarily be dim). So, Bach acquired a voracious appetite for the music of his contemporaries: Pachelbel,Keiserr, and Frescobaldi .

6. Humility & Hard Work... • It requires more than token humility for one who is good to become better through the self-criticism that attends the study of other artists' works; this was clearly Bach's attitude. "I have worked hard" he said, "anyone who works just as hard will go just as far." Johann Sebastian began this work in 1704 by walking a circuit of more than five hundred miles to hear Buxtehude ’s Abendmusik .

7. Humility & Hard Work... • It requires more than token humility for one who is good to become better through the self-criticism that attends the study of other artists' works; this was clearly Bach's attitude. "I have worked hard" he said, "anyone who works just as hard will go just as far." Johann Sebastian began this work in 1704 by walking a circuit of more than five hundred miles to hear Buxtehude’s.

8. ...or Genius? The greatness of Bach's reputation has less to do, then, with genius--his innate talent--than with the self-discipline that nurtured that talent to its full potential.

9. Bach

10. Bach End • Bach died in 1750 . • He was 64 . • He died from natural causes

11. The End