The Influence of Johan Sebastian Bach on Classical Music

JS Bach (1685 – 1750), came from a long line of musicians that is thought to date back to a man named Veit Bach. He was JS Bach’s great-great-grandfather who was forced to leave his homeland of Hungary towards the end of the 16th Century and eventually settled in Wechmar in Thuringia, Germany.

Viet Bach was thought to have played an instrument called a cittern whilst working at the mill. From these humble beginnings, the Bach family carved out a foothold in Thuringia where JS Bach was born and raised.

From many accounts JS Bach’s branch of the family had produced competent musicians but no composers of note. This all changed with JS Bach. The death of JS Bach’s parents in 1695 must have been a terrible trauma for JS Bach. Happily, his eldest brother, Johan Christoph Bach took the young man under his wing, tutored him, and supported him.

Early Musical Education and Career Beginnings

As you might well expect, the young Bach made good progress at school with his musical talents emerging as both a keyboard player and singer. It was JS Bach’s voice that secured him a place at the Michaelkirche, in Lüneberg. By the age of eighteen, JS Bach secured an appointment as organist at Neue Kirche in Arnstadt in 1703.

It may be of interest to note that JS Bach was as well-renowned as an expert builder of organs as much as a composer and performer. In his early career, JS Bach made a living as a court musician playing violin, keyboard and organ. His compositional career took quite a period of time to become established but when it did, Bach altered the course of music history.

Bach’s attention to his studies and devotion to playing the organ set him on a path of greatness. This undoubtedly was not his primary focus, but his diligence and determination made him the composer he was. JS Bach did as many great composers do and studied the works of others.

Johan Sebastian Bach’s Influence on Classical Music

In particular, JS Bach seemed drawn to the work of Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707), a Danish composer and organist, whose work made a significant impact on the young JS Bach. Such was the draw of Buxtehude to JS Bach that at the age of nineteen, he took a leave of absence from Arnstadt to walk over a two-hundred mile to Lubeck to hear the master play.

This was one of many journeys JS Bach made to hear and probably be inspired by, the organists of his day. He had a thirst for knowledge and this naturally traveled into his absorption of cultural influences from across Europe, especially France and Italy. Composers like Pachabell, Vivaldi and earlier masters from the Renaissance like Palestrina and Frescobaldi, shaped JS Bach’s compositional style.

What makes JS Bach unique is that he didn’t seek to copy trends or mimic the compositions of other composers, but to assimilate the concepts and conventions, and then develop them according to his own set of creative expectations.

A Self-Taught Genius’s Journey

From JS Bach’s existing letters and notes, we discover not a conventional intellectual, but a man who misspelt words and whose grammar was less than flawless. Even though he received some tuition as a practical musician alongside some compositional instruction, JS Bach was essentially self-taught.

When you examine the colossal outpouring of music and the sheer genius of his work, it’s hard to imagine that this didn’t come as a result of thorough tutoring and guidance over many years. This makes JS Bach’s achievements all the more remarkable and highlights the importance of this composer.

What JS Bach did was devote hundreds of hours of self-study to copying out the scores of established composers. He must have analysed each to inform his composition work and in all probability worked through numerous exercises in style, counterpoint and harmony to allow himself to develop his own style.

Alongside the compositional study was the dedicated study of the organ as well as a plethora of additional instruments. By following the only course available to him JS Bach became the great composer he was. Had he followed another path perhaps he may not have been as significant a musical figure.

Challenges and Multifaceted Responsibilities

It is worth bearing in mind that as JS Bach was putting himself through this arduous course of study many demands were made on his time. In all of his professional posts, JS Bach was under considerable pressure to teach students anything from Latin to music. The expectation to produce a substantial quantity of music for the Church each month must have been a weight to carry.

JS Bach also conducted and managed Court Orchestras, wrote Concertos, Chamber music and a substantial quantity of organ and keyboard music. All of this activity was often set against a backdrop of arguments with his employers, family tragedy, and dealing with difficult musicians who did not meet JS Bach’s high standards.

It seems to me that JS Bach’s enduring influence on Classical music is manyfold . In his compositions, JS Bach brought together the cultures of Italy, France and Germany and fused them into something remarkable and unique.

His mastery of counterpoint is unchallenged as is his absolute control of musical form. JS Bach took the essence of the Baroque from its earliest point through to its pinnacle of perfection.

Bach’s Enduring Legacy and Musical Mastery

Towards the end of his life, as his eyesight was failing, Bach was thought of as someone who was a little out of touch with the new styles and insisted on composing in the old ways. By this time the Art Of Fugue was underway, a compositional masterpiece that almost crowns his monumental achievements.

It captures, I feel, the very spirit of JS Bach at the same time as demonstrating the sheer power and command he had over the contrapuntal music. JS Bach used his name (BACH), as the theme of the final and unfinished fugue, maybe as a final parting gesture to the era and his life.

Further to this, the music of JS Bach touches the soul in a way that I find few other composers of the era do. His unswerving desire to express himself saturates all his output and reaches out to us even now, hundreds of years later.

As an influential trait, I would suggest that it is this that keeps JS Bach in our hearts and minds and has created the most lasting impact on all music that followed.