340th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach!

The date of 21 March is commonly celebrated as the first day of the calendar spring, in schools it is associated with Truant’s Day, and in literary circles – with International Poetry Day. For lovers of baroque music, it is also an important day, because on 21 March one of the most important composers of the era was born – Johann Sebastian Bach. Today marks the 340^th anniversary of the birth of the Leipzig cantor and teacher at the St. Thomas’ School. Wanting to celebrate this occasion, we have planned the publication of the entry Bach, Johann Sebastian by Elżbieta Dziębowska in the online Encyclopaedia of Music.

We currently associate Bach as a brilliant composer of organ and harpsichord pieces (Die Kunst der Fuge, Goldberg Variations, Das wohltemperierte Klavier), as well as countless cantatas and other vocal-instrumental works (passions, Mass in B minor). In his time, the author of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor was known primarily as an excellent organist and a rebellious court conductor and cantor (his relations with his employers in Arnstadt, Leipzig and Weimar were terminated in stormy circumstances; his second stay at the Weimar court even ended with Bach spending several weeks in prison). It was not until the 19^th century that the composer’s work was rediscovered – the performance of the St. Matthew Passion conducted by F. Mendelssohn in Berlin on 11 and 21 March 1829 gained symbolic significance in this respect. Over time, Bach’s works became a test of the skills of subsequent interpreters, and are also the subject of endless analyses by researchers as evidence of their author’s extraordinary artistry.