Johann Sebastian Bach

BACH, Johann Sebastian. b. Eisenach, 21 March 1685; d. Leipzig, 28 July 1750. He was the most important member of a Thuringian family of musicians, whose technical accomplishment as a performer was revered by his contemporaries, and whose genius as a composer was not only recognized during his own time but has significantly influenced the development of Western music. He was born in Eisenach and attended the local Latin school, the same one that Martin Luther* had attended two hundred years before. His father, Ambrosius, was his first teacher, from whom he learned the skills of a string player. On the death of both his parents when he was nine, he went to live with his elder brother,...