Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March [O.S. 21 March] 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the Brandenburg Concertos; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard works such as the Goldberg Variations and The Well-Tempered Clavier; organ works such as the Schubler Chorales and the Toccata and Fugue in D minor; and vocal music such as the St Matthew Passion and the Mass in B minor. Since the 19th-century Bach revival he has been generally regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music.

The Bach family already counted several composers when Johann Sebastian was born as the last child of a city musician, Johann Ambrosia, in Eisenach. After being orphaned at the age of 10, he lived for five years with his eldest brother Johann Christoph, after which he continued his musical education in Lüneburg. From 1703 he was back in Thuringia, working as a musician for Protestant churches in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen and, for longer stretches of time, at courts in Weimar, where he expanded his organ repertory, and Köthen, where he was mostly engaged with chamber music. From 1723, he was employed as Thomaskantor (cantor at St Thomas's) in Leipzig. There he composed music for the principal Lutheran churches of the city, and for its university's student ensemble Collegium Musicum. From 1726, he published some of his keyboard and organ music. In Leipzig, as had happened during some of his earlier positions, he had difficult relations with his employer, a situation that was little remedied when he was granted the title of court composer by his sovereign, Augustus III of Poland, in 1736. In the last decades of his life, he reworked and extended many of his earlier compositions. He died of complications after eye surgery in 1750 at the age of 65.

Bach enriched established German styles through his mastery of counterpoint, harmonic, and motivic organisation, and his adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France. Bach's compositions include hundreds of cantatas, both sacred and secular. He composed Latin church music, Passions, oratorios, and motets. He often adopted Lutheran hymns, not only in his larger vocal works, but for instance also in his four-part chorales and his sacred songs. He wrote extensively for organ and for other keyboard instruments. He composed concertos, for instance for violin and for harpsichord, and suites, as chamber music as well as for orchestra. Many of his works employ the genres of canon and fugue.

Throughout the 18th century, Bach was primarily valued as an organist, while his keyboard music, such as The Well-Tempered Clavier, was appreciated for its didactic qualities. The 19th century saw the publication of some major Bach biographies, and by the end of that century all of his known music had been printed. Dissemination of scholarship on the composer continued through periodicals (and later also websites) exclusively devoted to him, and other publications such as the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV, a numbered catalogue of his works) and new critical editions of his compositions. His music was further popularised through a multitude of arrangements, including the Air on the G String and "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", and of recordings, such as three different box sets with complete performances of the composer's oeuvre marking the 250th anniversary of his death.

Birth and Death Data: Born March 31, 1685 (Eisenach), Died July 28, 1750 (Leipzig)

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1904 - 1950

Roles Represented in DAHR: composer, arranger

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings (Results 501-525 of 576 records)

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Brunswick 894½bm 12-in. 1928 St. Matthew’s passion Bruno Kittel Choir ; Philharmonic Orchestra of Berlin, The Mixed vocal chorus and soloists, with orchestra composer  
Brunswick 895½bm 12-in. 1928 St. Matthew’s passion Bruno Kittel Choir ; Emmi Leisner ; Lotte Leonard ; Philharmonic Orchestra of Berlin, The Mixed vocal chorus and soloists, with orchestra composer  
Brunswick 896½bm 12-in. 1928 St. Matthew’s passion Bruno Kittel Choir ; Philharmonic Orchestra of Berlin, The Mixed vocal chorus and soloists, with orchestra composer  
Brunswick 1104bi 12-in. 1931 Brandenburg concerto no. 3 Wilhelm Furtwängler ; Philharmonic Orchestra of Berlin, The Orchestra composer  
Brunswick 1105½bi 12-in. 1931 Brandenburg concerto no. 3 Wilhelm Furtwängler ; Philharmonic Orchestra of Berlin, The Orchestra composer  
Brunswick 1106½bi 12-in. 1931 Brandenburg concerto no. 3 Wilhelm Furtwängler ; Philharmonic Orchestra of Berlin, The Orchestra composer  
Brunswick 1784bk 12-in. 1930 Ave Maria Karin Branzell ; Manfred Gurlitt ; Wilhelm Thomas Contralto vocal solo, with orchestra and violin solo composer  
Brunswick [Br (U.K.) cat 20074-b] 12-in. approximately Sept. 1928 My heart ever faithful Master Frederick Firth Male vocal solo, with organ composer  
Edison 944 10-in. Feb. 1912 Ave Maria Marie Rappold Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Edison 1044 10-in. 5/25/1912 Air on the G string Kathleen Parlow Violin solo, with piano composer  
Edison 1260 10-in. between 9/9/1912 and 9/16/1912 Air String quartet (unidentified; Edison Records) String quartet composer  
Edison 1447 10-in. Oct. 1913 Ave Maria! Maria Labia Soprano vocal solo, with orchestra composer  
Edison 2040 10-in. 12/7/1912 Air O. L. Rach Violin solo composer  
Edison 3498 10-in. 1/6/1915 Air Arrigo Serato Violin solo, with piano composer  
Edison 3839 10-in. 6/2/1915 Ave Maria Charlotte Kirwan ; Isidore Moskowitz Soprano vocal solo, with violin and orchestra composer  
Edison 6289 10-in. July 1918 Air for G string Joel Belov ; Robert Gayler Violin solo, witn piano composer  
Edison 7669 10-in. 12/8/1920 Arioso Robert Gayler ; Herman Kolodkin Viola solo, with piano composer  
Edison 11386 10-in. 12/21/1926 Jesus is das schönste Licht Herman Neuman ; Aaltje Noordewier-Reddingius Soprano vocal solo, with piano composer  
Edison 11387 10-in. 12/21/1926 Jesu, Jesu, du bist mein Herman Neuman ; Aaltje Noordewier-Reddingius Soprano vocal solo, with piano composer  
Edison 11388 10-in. 12/21/1926 Mein gläubiges Herze Herman Neuman ; Aaltje Noordewier-Reddingius Soprano vocal solo, with piano composer  
Edison 11390 10-in. 12/22/1926 Komm süsser Tod Herman Neuman ; Aaltje Noordewier-Reddingius Soprano vocal solo, with piano composer  
Gramophone 0L56 10-in. 1/21/1931 Ave Maria (Meditation) Dol Dauber Salon Orchestra Instrumental ensemble composer  
Gramophone CWR289 12-in. 9/3/1926 Ehre sei Gott Georg Schumann ; Sing-Akademie zu Berlin Mixed vocal chorus, with organ composer  
Gramophone CWR290 12-in. 9/3/1926 Fallt mit danken Georg Schumann ; Sing-Akademie zu Berlin Mixed vocal chorus, with organ composer  
Gramophone 0LA1161 10-in. 6/30/1936 Komm', süsser Tod Marian Anderson ; Johann Sebastian Bach ; Kosti Vehanen Contralto vocal solo, with piano composer  
(Results 501-525 of 576 records)

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Bach, Johann Sebastian," accessed March 28, 2024, https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102304.

Bach, Johann Sebastian. (2024). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved March 28, 2024, from https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102304.

"Bach, Johann Sebastian." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2024. Web. 28 March 2024.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/102304

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