JS Bach: German composer was also director, teacher and organ specialist

JS Bach, a photo by briangonzalez on Flickr.

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organist who wrote sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments, says Wikipedia.

He enriched the prevailing Baroque style with contrapuntal technique, control of harmonic organisation, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms and textures from Italy and France.

Revered for their technical command and artistic beauty, Bach's works include the Brandenburg concertos, the Goldberg Variations, the Partitas, the Well-Tempered Clavier, the Mass in B Minor, the St. Matthew Passion, the St. John Passion, the Magnificat, The Musical Offering, The Art of Fugue, the English and French Suites, the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin, the Cello Suites, more than 200 surviving cantatas, and a similar number of organ works, including the celebrated Toccata and Fugue in D minor and Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor.

Bach was born in Eisenach, Central Germany, into a very musical family. He held several musical posts across Germany: he served as Kapellmeister (director of music) to Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, Cantor of Thomasschule in Leipzig, and Royal Court Composer to August III.