Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach career blossomed from 1708 onwards when he became the music master at the Weimar Court and came to a brilliant end as the Cantor of Leipzig from 1723 to 1750. Organist, composer and teacher, Bach devoted his life to teaching and composition. All his music aimed to be uplifting. Whether it was pedagogical books for his pupils or cantatas for the faithful, the cantor’s work was the keystone of European musical history.

His rigorous counterpoint, daring harmonies and enchanting ornamental melodies nowadays make Johann Sebastian Bach's work universal. His rhythmic energy is implacable and his sense of dialogue incomparable. Impassioned by Italian eloquence, he wrote a series of concertos and transcriptions. Racked by his Lutheran faith, he gave an essential contribution to sacred music with some of his cantatas or his edifying Mass in B. Played throughout the centuries to follow, Mozart sight-read him, Mendelssohn established him in the Germany of the Romantics, Busoni transcribed him for the piano, Bach still remains a reference. The timeless composer now belongs to the patrimony of humanity.