Johann Sebastian Bach

Hello, my name is Johann Sebastian Bach, and music has been the heart of my life since the very beginning. I was born on March 31st, 1685, in a German town called Eisenach. In my family, being a musician was as common as having brown hair. My father, uncles, and cousins were all talented musicians, and it was my father who first taught me how to play the violin. Music was all around me. Sadly, when I was only ten years old, a great sadness came into my life when both of my parents passed away. I then went to live with my older brother, Johann Christoph, who was a wonderful organist. He introduced me to the magnificent church organ, and I fell in love with its powerful, room-filling sound. He taught me how to play it, and I spent countless hours practicing.

As a young man, I knew my life would be dedicated to music. I took jobs in different towns, playing the organ and writing my own musical pieces. In 1708, I began an exciting job working for a duke in a city called Weimar. He loved my music very much, which encouraged me to compose many new pieces for the organ and for church services. A few years later, in 1717, I moved to the town of Köthen to work for a prince who loved music that wasn't for church. This was a fun new challenge for me. It gave me the chance to write exciting pieces for orchestras and small groups of instruments. Some of my most famous works, like the 'Brandenburg Concertos,' were written during this happy and creative time. I also started my own family with my first wife, Maria Barbara. We had several children together, but I was heartbroken when she passed away in 1720.

In 1723, my journey took me to the big city of Leipzig for the most important job of my entire life. I became the music director for the city’s main churches, which was a very busy and demanding position. I had to write new music for services almost every week. But it was also a happy time for my family. In 1721, I had married a wonderful singer named Anna Magdalena. Together, we had a big, busy, and very musical home filled with our children. Many of my sons, like Carl Philipp Emanuel and Wilhelm Friedemann, followed in my footsteps and grew up to be famous composers, too. My life in Leipzig was filled with music from morning until night. I composed some of my greatest works there, including the 'St. Matthew Passion,' a long and beautiful piece of music that tells a very important story. I was a composer, a conductor, a performer, and a teacher all at once.

I continued composing for my entire life, as music was my greatest passion. As I grew older, my eyesight began to fail, which made the difficult work of writing and reading music even harder. I lived to be 65 years old, and my time on Earth ended in the year 1750. For many years after I was gone, most people forgot about my music. But then, almost 80 years later, a young composer named Felix Mendelssohn held a special concert of my 'St. Matthew Passion,' and the world fell in love with my work all over again. Today, my music is played by orchestras, choirs, and musicians all over the world, and I am remembered as one of the greatest composers who ever lived. I hope my music fills you with wonder and joy.