Johann Sebastian Bach Timeline

(March 31, 1685 – July 28, 1750)

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) was a German composer and organist of the Baroque era, widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in Western music history. His masterworks include the Brandenburg Concertos, The Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B minor, and hundreds of cantatas. More Less

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Early Life and Education

Birth of Johann Sebastian Bach in Eisenach

Mar 31, 1685

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Thuringia, into a family with a long musical tradition. He was the youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach, a town musician, and Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt.

Death of Bach's parents

1694 - 1695

Bach's mother died in 1694 and his father died less than a year later, leaving the ten-year-old orphan to move to Ohrdruf to live with his eldest brother, Johann Christoph Bach, an organist who gave him his first formal keyboard instruction.

Studies at St. Michael's School in Lüneburg

1700 - 1702

Bach won a scholarship to St. Michael's School in Lüneburg, where he sang in the choir and was exposed to a rich library of music and the organ culture of northern Germany, influencing his early development as a composer.

Image source: St. Michael's Church, Hamburg

Studies at St. Michael's School in Lüneburg

Journey to visit Buxtehude in Lübeck

Oct 1705 - Feb 1706

Bach walked roughly 250 miles to Lübeck to hear the great organist Dietrich Buxtehude. The visit profoundly influenced his style, but he overstayed his leave by several months, angering his employers in Arnstadt.

Image source: Dieterich Buxtehude

Marriage to Maria Barbara Bach

Oct 17, 1707

Bach married his second cousin Maria Barbara Bach. The couple would have seven children together, including future composers Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach.

Image source: Maria Barbara Bach

Death of Maria Barbara Bach

Jul 1720

While accompanying Prince Leopold on travels, Bach returned home to discover his wife had died suddenly and been buried. He married Anna Magdalena Wilcke, a gifted soprano, the following year; she bore thirteen children and assisted in copying his music.

Eye surgeries by charlatan John Taylor

1750

Suffering from failing eyesight, possibly cataracts, Bach underwent two unsuccessful eye operations by the itinerant oculist John Taylor, who had also treated George Frideric Handel. The procedures worsened his health.

Image source: Johann Sebastian Bach

Death of Bach in Leipzig

Jul 28, 1750

Bach died in Leipzig at age 65 after a stroke, following complications related to his surgeries. He was buried in the churchyard of the Old St. John's Cemetery, and his death marked the end of the High Baroque era.

Major Appointments

First appointment as court musician in Weimar

Jan 1703 - Jun 1703

Bach briefly served as a court musician at the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar, his first professional post, where he performed violin duties before seeking employment elsewhere.

Image source: Weimar

Organist position in Arnstadt

Aug 1703 - Oct 1707

At just 18 years old, Bach became the organist of the New Church in Arnstadt. His ambitious compositions and a notorious four-week leave to visit Dietrich Buxtehude in Lübeck brought him conflict with church authorities.

Image source: Arnstadt

Organist appointment in Mühlhausen

1707 - 1708

Bach took up the post of organist at St. Blasius's Church in Mühlhausen. During this short tenure he composed his earliest major cantatas, including 'Gott ist mein König,' and left after theological disputes between factions in the congregation.

Image source: Mühlhausen

Court organist appointment in Weimar

1708 - 1717

Bach returned to Weimar as court organist for Duke Wilhelm Ernst, later becoming concertmaster. This productive period saw him compose most of his great organ works, including Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565.

Kapellmeister appointment in Köthen

1717 - 1723

Bach became Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen, a Calvinist court that required little sacred music. Free to write instrumental music, he produced many of his finest secular works during this period.

Image source: Köthen

Cantor appointment at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig

May 1723 - 1750

Bach was appointed Thomaskantor in Leipzig, responsible for music at four churches and for teaching at the St. Thomas School. He held this demanding position until his death, creating an enormous body of sacred music.

Image source: St. Thomas Church, Leipzig

Directorship of the Collegium Musicum

1729 - 1737

Bach took over directorship of Leipzig's Collegium Musicum, a student musical society founded by Georg Philipp Telemann, performing regular public concerts at Zimmermann's coffeehouse featuring both new and older works.

Image source: Collegium Musicum

Visit to Frederick the Great at Potsdam

May 1747

Bach visited the court of King Frederick II of Prussia, where his son C.P.E. Bach served. The king challenged him to improvise a fugue on a given theme, which inspired the Musical Offering, a collection of canons and fugues dedicated to Frederick.

Image source: The Musical Offering

Compositions

Composition of Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565

1708

One of the most famous works in the organ repertoire, the dramatic Toccata and Fugue in D minor was likely composed during Bach's Weimar period and has become emblematic of Baroque organ music.

Image source: Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565

Composition of Orgelbüchlein

1713 - 1717

During the Weimar period Bach compiled the 'Little Organ Book,' a collection of chorale preludes intended as instructional material, showcasing his contrapuntal mastery in miniature form.

Image source: Orgelbüchlein

Completion of Brandenburg Concertos

1721

Bach completed six concertos dedicated to Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt, presenting them in hopes of patronage. Though ignored by the Margrave, they are now considered masterpieces of the concerto grosso form.

Image source: Brandenburg Concertos

Composition of Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I

1722

Bach completed the first book of the Well-Tempered Clavier, containing 24 preludes and fugues in all major and minor keys. The work demonstrated the possibilities of well-tempered tuning and became foundational for keyboard pedagogy.

Image source: The Well-Tempered Clavier

Composition of Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I

Weekly cantata cycle in Leipzig

1723 - 1729

In his first years in Leipzig, Bach composed and performed a cantata nearly every Sunday and feast day, producing over 200 cantatas, including famous works such as 'Christ lag in Todesbanden' and 'Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme.'

Performance of St. John Passion

Apr 7, 1724

Bach premiered the St. John Passion at Good Friday services in Leipzig's St. Nicholas Church, one of his first large-scale sacred works there, setting the Passion narrative from the Gospel of John.

Image source: St John Passion

Composition of St. Matthew Passion

1727

Bach completed the St. Matthew Passion, a monumental oratorio for double choir and orchestra setting the Gospel of Matthew's Passion narrative. It premiered on Good Friday 1727 and is now regarded as one of the supreme achievements of Western music.

Image source: St Matthew Passion

Composition of The Art of Fugue

1740 - 1749

Bach worked during his final decade on The Art of Fugue, an incomplete exploration of contrapuntal possibilities based on a single theme. Left unfinished at his death, it is considered the ultimate summation of fugal art.

Image source: The Art of Fugue

Publication of Goldberg Variations

1741

Bach published the Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, an aria with thirty variations for harpsichord, as the fourth part of his Clavier-Übung series. It remains one of the most celebrated sets of keyboard variations ever written.

Image source: Goldberg Variations

Completion of Mass in B minor

1749

Bach assembled and completed his monumental Mass in B minor near the end of his life, drawing on decades of earlier work. Never performed in full during his lifetime, it is now regarded as one of the greatest choral works ever composed.

Image source: Mass in B minor

Legacy and Influence

Mozart and Beethoven study Bach's music

1782 - 1800

Through publications like the Well-Tempered Clavier, Classical-era masters including Mozart and Beethoven encountered Bach's counterpoint. Beethoven famously called Bach the 'immortal god of harmony.'

Revival performance of St. Matthew Passion conducted by Mendelssohn

Mar 11, 1829

Felix Mendelssohn conducted the Berlin Singakademie in a revival of the St. Matthew Passion, nearly a century after its premiere. The landmark performance sparked a major revival of interest in Bach's music across Europe.

Founding of the Bach Gesellschaft

1850

Fifty years after Bach's death, scholars founded the Bach Society in Leipzig with the goal of publishing his complete works. By 1899 it had issued all known Bach compositions, making his full output widely accessible.

Image source: Bach Gesellschaft

Key Facts

Bach was born on March 31, 1685, in Eisenach, Germany, into a family with a long tradition of musicians.
He worked as an organist, court composer, and Kapellmeister, most notably serving the churches of Leipzig from 1723 until his death.
Bach composed over 1,000 works, including the Brandenburg Concertos, the Mass in B minor, and The Well-Tempered Clavier.
His music was largely forgotten after his death until Felix Mendelssohn famously revived Bach's St. Matthew Passion in 1829.
Bach fathered 20 children, several of whom, including Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Johann Christian Bach, became well-known composers themselves.

Source

This Johann Sebastian Bach timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

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