Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach – for many humans it means just heavenly music for more than 300 years. Johann Sebastian Bach – and that is to say his life, his family, and his work – that is meanwhile, in the era of the internet 4.0, even much more. Today there is an additional entertaining offer, which is present only for a short time beyond Bach’s music and beyond many Bach biographies. 

Johann Sebastian Bach in the Ulm Minster, Germany.

 

 

In addition … you are always perfect here on my web portal when it’s about the subject of Bach plus entertainment. Of course, you can listen to the most favored Bach Music Works. You get many Bach book recommendations, and you can explore 150 cool Bach postage stamps. There is more: you get not less than eight exciting short biographies with different lengths to read, to listen to, and even to watch. There are the so-called Bach quotes, soon 500 Bach FAQ – many for kids and exciting ones for fans – hundreds of pictures and even a real Bach cartoon film. Beyond that there are my recommendations for more Bach websites, like the one by the Bach Archive in Leipzig, the Bachhouse in Eisenach, the smallest Bach location Dornheim or Bach in Weimar (… where still today a Bach House is missing) and many, many more. There are curiosities, exciting stuff, funny sections, and amazing facts. By the way, in France, they call him Jean-Sébastien Bach, and in the Spanish-speaking world, he is Juan Sebastian Bach. In Albania, they even write “Bah” on a postage stamp, without a “c”; so that it sounds proper when Albanians say “Johann Sebastian Bach.” However, Jean, Juan or just Johann – he is, he was, and he will remain – and that is sure – one of the most significant musicians in the world: Johann Sebastian Bach

 


 

Johann Sebastian Bach – Welcome to the Internet Portal about the Composer 

 

Welcome to the multimedia-based project "Bach on Bach" and the German sister website "Bach ueber Bach." Johann Sebastian Bach and genealogy: Two subjects – not just one. Of course, on my website, it is first all about the most famous family of musicians all over the planet, the Bachs, back then Bache or Baeche today, whatever you like better. In addition, it is of course about the outstanding shining figure in their middle, the Thomaskantor Johann Sebastian Bach. Secondly, everything is about the theme of genealogy. In general plus in particular – of course – it is about the Bach genealogy, about the genealogy of this special family of musicians from Thuringia in Germany. We even help, if you are exploring, whether you are related to Bach.

 

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Johann Sebastian Bach – How and Where Do You Find Everything, when You Return?

 

You probably have experienced it before; you discovered something exciting on a website. Then, when you come back later, it is sort of hidden so well, which you don't find it again. Because the theme of "Johann Sebastian Bach" is complicated anyway, this website does not want to add one more challenge. Therefore, it is actually really easy here: the navigation is to your left, that's as easy, as on almost every website. There are some fifteen chapters, in which you find exactly what is labeled.

 

However, there is one exception: everything that you do not discover in these fifteen chapters is what you will find in the central chapter "Johann Sebastian Bach." It is chapter number three. There are eight short biographies, the Johann Sebastian Bach biography video and the Johann Sebastian Bach "facts." You will find the Bach cities and the Bach places too: five or nine or twelve or thirty-three. Here are all Bach choirs, Bach orchestras, and Bach societies listed, which honor the star musician with his name in their institution's titles. There's a section related to a Bach cartoon, and you will find the so-called "Ursprung" (... created by Johann Sebastian Bach himself). Moreover, you will find the almost only personal, that is to say, private letter, which Johann Sebastian Bach once sent from Leipzig to his friend George Erdmann in Gdansk. Finally, here are listed the most exciting Bach websites in the world, and you will learn why you might be able to sing "Bach". Just B-A-C-H. Of course, you cannot sing Johann Sebastian Bach.


 

My MJSBW: My Manual for Your Johann Sebastian Bach Website

 

This website related to one of the greatest composers and musicians of all time is designed for many who are interested in this phenomenon, "Johann Sebastian Bach," and so my little manual might help right at the perfect time. Also, it finally directs you to the place where you want to get to. Welcome, whether you are a fan of the Thomas Cantor already, or if you love the music of Johann Sebastian Bach meanwhile for years or you just want to learn more about him. In addition, students and kids are very welcome here: especially for you, these pages are designed not only to learn more about the master but also to do so with a lot of fun. Of course, I – as the creator of this website – I am pleased about all who find their way to this portal: via Bach's music or those who have read a biography before and now want to have more fun beyond the book with the theme of Bach. With this "Bach on Bach" project, you can plan trips to "Bach Country," too. This term "Bach Country" indeed is a little casual and if you prefer, I could use the term "Land of the Bache." However, I just find Bach Country much cooler. The "e" is the plural of Bach back then; today it would be the Bachs.

 

For those, who want to "discover" Bach for the first time, it is perfect here, because a selection of his musical works, which you may experience soon on this website, is not a collection of with my taste, but the very objective "mirror" of millions of Google and YouTube results. Are you in the mood to discover one of the Bach Videos or, alternatively – without any narrated text – one of the Bach Music Videos?

 

However, let us get back to my manual for you. Like this third paragraph on page one and the two before, all pages on this website are constructed in the same way. First, there is general information about the theme, a proposal for the perfect reading fun and excitement or how you can make the most of every page. Therefore, this is actually text, which does not match the theme of the page, like this manual is not about Johann Sebastian Bach. To avoid this, so it will not get on your nerves on one page or another, in the upper right corner there often is a shortcut, with which you get to the actual theme of the particular page fast. The text matching to the theme, later, is generally constructed for those with a certain amount of leisure and some time. This is for those who want to have fun being entertained, those who want to take the time looking at the photos and who are excited by the text under the illustrations and such like. The "shortcuts" in the upper right corner and in bold letters are meant for those who are in a hurry on the web. It is for those who like it "to the point," and want it right now. So, now can be the first time for you to decide whether you want to learn more about Johann Sebastian Bach. If so, scroll back up, check the navigation in the middle and help yourself to what you are interested in most.

 

Alternatively, you share my philosophy, and find this nice and want to go on reading what I have to say. Of course, you will have completed the page much later. However, you will know how to speed up at any given point. For some who have found this page, it is like a sort of theme park offer too, so to speak a Johann Sebastian Bach Adventure Park. Here is the Bach website where you will find so many stories about the important stuff. Also, stories related to these stories. If you research into the matter of Johann Sebastian Bach, which is still possible today, then you discover some unbelievable new facts, opposite facts, astounding stuff, funny details and strange information. Here, on "Bach on Bach" you will find the results, the findings, the objections. However, not just these facts, because these discoveries always come with my stories. We developed relationships; we met exciting people, made friendships so that you may discover cousins of Johann Sebastian Bach and their families. It is the hunt for antique engravings and paintings, booklets, and books, postcards, paintings and this and that. We call these trophies "jewels": lovable errors on printings and stamps or we discover notes of Johann Sebastian Bach on stamps to honor the jungle doctor Albert Schweitzer. In addition, we finally found out, that the family of Johann Sebastian Bach is the most notable and largest family of musicians on the planet by far. Bottom-line is that all of our adventures is like finding more pyramids in the desert sand of Gizeh in Egypt – even if the scale of our discoveries was much smaller, and the size of what we found is too. With a smile.

 

Now you have the choice again: either you decide on one of the themes about Johann Sebastian Bach in the navigation to your left and up, or you decide to go on reading here. If you go on reading on this page, you upgrade your pleasant anticipation, read more about the goal of this website and the project and decide to switch to reading about the master, who was ennobled as the greatest composer of all time by the New York Times in the year 2011: Johann Sebastian Bach.

The Bach video comes with the short biography of Johann Sebastian Bach. It is just a quick experience, to learn where the star was once living and acting. A professional is narrating the text; you listen to music of Johann Sebastian Bach and this way it is really entertaining. Also, you "are through" in just nine minutes and have an overview. That is to say about the life of Johann Sebastian Bach.

 

The video comes with the work and music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Thirty-three pieces in just five minutes? That is what we accomplished here easily. However, this "musical introduction" is really collected for kids and visitors, who believed until today, the name of Bach is just related to flowers by Dr. Edward Bach from Great Britain. Real lovers of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach might not listen to these five minutes. You do know what the court composer composed and where you can find it in a brilliant music quality, that is to say on thousands of CDs of world-famous classical orchestras and musicians.


 

The Johann Sebastian Bach Website, That Actually Is a Little Very Different

B-A-C-H: You can actually sing and perform this name on an instrument. However, that is not true anywhere else in the world. It is only true in the German language. Just try that with the name Beethoven or Mendelssohn Bartholdy. However, it works with the last name of Johann Sebastian Bach, although with his first name ... it will not.

 


This website about Johann Sebastian Bach and about the Bach Family of Musicians wants to be a little different to all other websites, which already exist about the composer on the internet here and there. With that in mind, I do not only offer one short biography but several ones; one among them is a short video biography, and one is my ultra-short Bach biography in a coloring book (Caution, that was an advertisement!). You will not find just 5 Johann Sebastian Bach postage stamps, but 150 Bach stamps. Also, there are Bach pictures, Johann Sebastian Bach videos, and Bach music videos as well as Bach quotes and Bach tributes. Of course, you will find Johann Sebastian Bach FAQ about the master and his family. No question, I offer Bach music, and you will learn about the BWV. After reading, you will know the secret behind B-A-C-H. In addition, you will know about the famous letter of Bach to George Erdmann, and who George Erdmann was. We guide your way to the excitement of the Bach House in Eisenach, to the Bach Archive in Leipzig, to the Veit Bach Mill in Wechmar and all Bach monuments worldwide. Bach books will play a significant role on this website: Bach books for every Bach related area: biographies, Bach for children and Bach fiction. Not that we want to introduce all 24,000 books, which were written regarding this theme and had been published later. No, it is entirely around those, which are exciting today as freshly printed copies. In Germany and the German language, these are about 50 to 100 books about the master. Also, believe me, 50 to 100 is enough to produce some kind of confusion. Of course, it does! Therefore, I will also deliver such a service for Bach books in English soon. We found, if you separate those books into sections like Bach biographies, Bach novels, Bach children's books as well as Bach travel guides, that would be a cool idea – and that is what we have done for you on this website.

 

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Johann Sebastian Bach plus angel in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany. Here you see him on an age-old steel engraving. This memorial of Bach is located in Eisenach, to the right of the Bach House and the Bach Museum.

 


 

Music, Work and Life of Composer Johann Sebastian Bach from Thuringia

 

The father of Johann Sebastian Bach: Johann Ambrosius Bach. In the background, you see the Wartburg Castle close to the Bach city of  Eisenach, Thuringia.

 

Everything about Johann Sebastian Bach is complicated. Every subarea is challenging. This project is based on my wish back then, to get an entry into that theme myself. That was in the time when I began to be interested in the composer, the bandleader, the Thomas Cantor, the musician Johann Sebastian Bach from Eisenach. Moreover, in his family. Shortly after that for his work as well, for his music and his life. Therefore, what came out of it? Interest, even better: a significant interest, to share my discoveries with more folks, with my Johann Sebastian Bach website, which you have just discovered. Because I am an entertainment person, of course, this project created my goal to add exciting illustrations to the information, just to lighten the text. Also, what fits better than adding excellent photos of the Bach cities and Bach places, stamps related to the theme of Johann Sebastian Bach and much, much historic and authentic material? Pictures of books, drawings, erasures. Of age-old postcards, and engravings and paintings, which are hundreds of years old. Moreover, what could be so ambitious to be the only ones to arrange the work of Bach? That was the Bach Society, who came into being for that very purpose. Experts still fight today regarding the Bach genealogy. Do you know of a guidepost into the music of Johann Sebastian Bach? How you grapple with Bach, approach him, how you find him? No? I thought so – because if there was such a thing – at least I have not found it. There is so much, which has been discovered regarding Bach already and has again been lost after that. On the other hand, it is just in the process of getting lost again and is waiting for somebody to find it in the endless depths of the internet by accident or by the advice of a competent person. As said before: Johann Sebastian Bach is complicated all around.

 

Johann Sebastian Bach by the weight: The heaviest Bach book weighs 5.5 lbs. The smallest book weighs just 0.13 lbs. The book you see above is not the heaviest nor the lightest of all Johann Sebastian Bach books. However: it is the reddest of all.

 


 

Books about Johann Sebastian Bach

With books about Johann Sebastian Bach you always receive an overwhelming option. Whether that is true in the English language area too, I still have to find out for you.

 

If you are looking for a book about Johann Sebastian Bach, you realize very fast – with such a theme, you have the agony of choice. Because there are not dozens of Bach books, there are hundreds. Well – not all of them are up-to-date. However, in Germany, there are probably 50 to 100 from which you can choose. There is not just one Johann Sebastian Bach biography. No, there are ten or twenty, which you find as a choice. There are historical biographies about Johann Sebastian Bach too and really up-to-date ones. There are well-known authors and less well-known ones. There are Bach books from specialists and scientists and those from newcomers. From real authors and those who are not real authors yet. There are just: Bach books plus more Bach books about this exceptional musician from the city of Eisenach: about Johann Sebastian Bach.

With this Johann Sebastian Bach biography from among the Bach books, you make a perfect choice. Wolff is one of the best Bach authors in the past 250 years – and today he is the Bach specialist worldwide. You can buy this Bach biography of ... where else ... on Amazon.

 

Finally, now – there is a ray of light regarding the "challenge of Bach," because from now on there are my Bach book recommendations for you. I hope you see me smiling! On this Bach website, I collected the very best books regarding the theme of Johann Sebastian Bach. Preselected for you. However, here you will find relatively few publications related to the topic. Some one hundred may be a few more on the German site. Fewer on the English website, but not yet presented. I have searched for them for you from among 24,000 Bach books and some 54,000 publications, which exist on the theme of Bach today.

 

There are three books alone, just around the theme of the genealogy of the Bach Family of Musicians and about Johann Sebastian Bach. Our research regarding the Bach genealogy is based on these three "bibles" (... plus one expertise, not published as a book) – and you will discover the following: we already found genealogical secrets well beyond the content of these books above. However, we do respect these three authors or better scientists very much! Without their expertise and processing, it would have been impossible to expand the collection of data around Johann Sebastian Bach and add more for you.

 

Have we checked on 24,000 books within 53,000 publications about Johann Sebastian Bach for you? No, not really. Did you believe that we did? No, we have checked the Bach books of the last 50 years for you, and we separated the wheat from the tares. No, I am kidding. Again, we did not do such a thing. We have researched those 100 Bach books according to our personal taste. Those, which I do not present here today, are mainly excellent too. How could I decide to call those, which I did not choose tares? They are not! Nevertheless, they are less to my taste ... than those, which I present you on these Bach "book pages" and you don't get a comment on these, not from me: Bach biographies, Bach travel guides, Bach novels, Bach books for children. Also, some Bach books which you almost cannot imagine are related to Johann Sebastian Bach. We will expand this offer in the oncoming years and add new publication about Johann Sebastian Bach for you.

 

24,000 Johann Sebastian Bach books in just 250 years? Sure. Moreover, all of them are perfectly cataloged? Yes, by Yo Tomita, Professor Yo Tomita. You don't know him? Not yet.

 


 

A Funny Maker

 

A funny maker ... that is what I am. That is what they called the great-grandfather of Johann Sebastian Bach. That was Hans, der Spielmann (... the closest translation would be maybe "Hans, the Gleeman"). He was not, what you call a comedian today. That is also not, what I am. There actually is no translation of the word used back then in German to the present day German. Nobody uses the term "funny maker" anymore. Therefore, I was looking for a similar word in English, which actually does not exist. Here, right here on this page of my Johann Sebastian Bach website, I am fooling around every now and then. That is how I am. That is what fun is for me. Also, I wish you to have such fun as well. As we go on with our "manual," hardcore surfers may criticize this mental walking frame – but why are you still here? Seriously: Please forgive me. As said, I am a funny-maker. They called it a joker at the beginning of the last century until today. Today I am, and I remain a Punchinello.

 

Generally, this project is not slapdash, but always "different." It needs, and it wants your time. It wants to be a "Bach Adventure Park." Moreover, it needs your leisure. However, it does not show up in baroque style, even though Johann Sebastian Bach fits so perfectly into this epoch. This Bach project wants to be a little bold. Also cool – and modern. Whether this Johann Sebastian Bach website and my Bach project will meet that goal? We will see.

In the past I shared my ice cream with her  today I share Johann Sebastian Bach with you. By the way: The girl on the left did not become my wife.

 


 

Genealogy in General – The Genealogy of Johann Sebastian Bach in Particular

 

In the United States of America, many folks are "obsessed" with researching their ancestors. I estimate it is ten to twenty times more than the people in Germany do. Of course, as it seems actually clear where the roots of Germans are: In Germany. In most cases. Alternatively, a little bit to the left or the right. That is not the case on the other side of the Atlantic. You people in the US just want to know where your folks came from.

 

We are infected, my wife and I. By ancestry research. A trend passion and our new leisure time occupation of choice. We were interested in it already two decades ago. However ... you actually have to be "contaminated." Like with a cold, it does not work if there is the "genealogy virus alone." It needs ugly cold and rainy weather as well, so to speak, and then the viruses are green-lighted. What the nasty weather means for a cold, your own age seems to be for ancestry. Age 50 is what professionals tell us – is the age to start researching. Often – it is just one person in a generation or a family. Of course, there are exceptions: some already begin as young folks, just a little later.

 

This is a Bach genealogy too: On the right side is my grandpa, Herbert Bach.

 

For everyone who can imagine himself – after the reading of our adventure with the Bach Family of Musicians and Johann Sebastian Bach – researching his own family, I want to level the ground, so to speak. Not with the depth and expert knowledge like with the theme of Johann Sebastian Bach and his tribe. Nope, it is more like a guided approach for the beginners among you, and an enthusiasm for those who thought about such earlier. However, you never know whether you as an advanced researcher will not find something really new on my pages. Maybe a new way, outside the box, an idea, a different way. However, nothing will work in this chapter without the expertise of professionals, whom I will question of course in the oncoming years.

 

The following paragraph is for my German audience only and tells that if they manage to find just one line into the United States of America, this will be more than rewarding. Then they would experience the same as my wife, and I did. Both of us found ancestors in the U.S. plus relatives. I compare such development to like having found a medieval treasure chest with gold and jewelry. So, why is this true? I tell them to hop to the next picture and go on reading. By the way: you will discover throughout the project, that Renate and I are real America lovers. Starting in early childhood, our love for America was growing each year. America for us is fun and challenging. Meanwhile, we have more friends in the States than in Germany, and my promise is: I will work on my English, as soon as the Johann Sebastian Bach project is sort of accomplished.

 

The Johann Sebastian Bach genealogy in the United States of America: Between New York and Los Angeles not a single photo had been burnt during World War II.

 

Do you remember the factor of folks researching their roots when we compare Germany and the United States? Ten to twenty times. Some ten to twenty times as many folks in the U.S. research their history compared to people in Germany – that is my guess. When so many individuals research so much, they do discover much. In addition, there are many pictures, newspaper articles, and stories. You find tons of age-old letters. However, you cannot compare these discoveries with what you find here in Germany. How do I know? It is like hunting "Ü-Eier." Well, that will become tough to explain. What is an "Ü-Ei" in English? First: The "Ü" stands for "Ueberraschung." Which is a surprise. The "Eier" are eggs. Therefore, these are surprise-eggs, officially Kinder, which is the name of the company and surprise. Kids call them Ü-Ei in German, which is almost neither to explain nor to pronounce. What is an "Ü-Ei"? A surprise-egg (... or Kinder Surprise) is an egg made of chocolate wrapped in the famous orange and white tin foil. The inside of these eggs are hollow, and there is a little toy inside. However, it is true in only every seventh egg. These eggs have existed in Germany for more than two or three decades, and it is a real hype with them. Collectors pay high prices, there are collections and exhibits, and for those who collect them, it is a real adventure to be surprised by the next content. By the way: you may not buy any "Ü-Eggs" in the USA as the law says it's illegal to combine food and toys, as little children might eat the toy and play with the chocolate. Of course, that is not a translation of the German paragraph, but an entire explanation for you people from abroad. It is a strange website – this Johann Sebastian Bach website. It is. I told you so.

 

This is what we experienced and still experience today. For all folks outside the United States: chances are not bad, that you do have roots in America too, as every family tree branches more and more. In addition, in many families, one line has emigrated. One tribe would generate this constellation. If you are from Europe, you might "meet" Native Americans, maybe your grandfather was a brewery owner or another family member, like August Reinhold Bach, had drowned in a ship accident, worse than the Titanic tragedy. You will make acquaintance with fellow researchers. Folks, who are excited by your passion too. You will find relatives in the United States, cousins, and nephews. They might send photos of your relatives and your ancestors. In addition, you will hear stories. Some are many pages long. In these stories, you will read about these Native Americans: real ones! You read about real fortunes, which came into being and were lost again. You will read in the original immigration application of your own great-great-grandfather, you will discover his handwriting, and you learn why authorities had problems with him. My great-great-great-grandpa once showed up drunk at immigration, and it is preserved in his file in writing. All that are not just stories – suddenly it is your own personal history. Just breathtaking.

 


 

The Bach Family of Musicians or Better: The Johann Sebastian Bach Genealogy

 

If you meet himwhile browsing in old books or on the internet or somewhere else; it is Hans Bach, a gleeman. It is not Hans Bach, the Gleeman. For a genealogist, who is researching in the matter of Johann Sebastian Bach this is like the difference between George Bush and George W. Bush. Okay, or like the difference between "day and night."

 

 

The Bache – or better, the genealogy of the Bache: Johann Sebastian Bach, Veit Bach, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, Johann Christian Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach – is a true challenge. After all – is there one Veit Bach – or are there two or even three Veits? Johann Christoph Bach is a name; you do not even need to start googling. Because the most famous Johann Christoph Bach covers his name with all the information and hides all the other 25 Johann Christophs. Hans, a glee man shows up. However, you have to be very smart, to realize he is not Hans the Gleeman. One Hans is a member of the family of musicians. "Hans, a glee man" is not. A glee man, the Gleeman – der Spielmann, ein Spielmann in German. Who warns you, it is not the same person? When the Milan Bach is the London Bach at the same time and when the Berlin Bach is the Hamburg Bach too: then it is just confusing. This is what the Bach genealogy is: Strange. That is to say, Johann Sebastian Bach married a née Bach, for instance. Moreover, generally, all the Bachs seem to have much fun with choosing just one common name for their offspring, as if there were no different names but Johann or Christoph. At least the number of spouses of Johann Sebastian Bach is clearly arranged. There were exactly two, and their names were Maria Barbara Bach, daughter of a cantor with the name of Bach in Gehren and in Köthen, the singer Anna Magdalena Bach. Correct, the last one was the woman with the little notebook. Bach's first spouse is not shown in any picture at all. None at all. In addition, there is just one picture of Bach's second wife, which scientists do not object.

 

The names of all of them? Bach! Johann August Reinhold Bach and his sons. The father Johann August Reinhold died during the sinking of the Empress of Ireland in 1914, on a trip from the United States to Thuringia. Is it all Greek to you? It does not matter – because now you have "Bach on Bach." Here you will discover if you like it, how Johann August Reinhold and our Johann Sebastian Bach were related.

 

Man, mouse and the whole Bach genealogy (... this would be the translation "word by word," as we say it in German. The correct translation for you people is that "the ship sank with all hands"). Anyway ... only a few families lost all their genealogy documents on a cruise. Johann August Reinhold's daughter survived. Johann August Reinhold did not. In addition, his Bach genealogy of this tribe was lost, too. You could not make copies back then. We have a lovely and very close relationship with Johann August Reinhold's descendants today.

 

The Empress of Ireland – painted by Briana Bach-Hertzog, who is living in Virginia, USA today. She painted the portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach for my project too, which decorates page one of this website in the upper left corner. The artistic genes are conserved through the centuries, without any doubt.

 

Sunk on the eve of World War I: The ship and his history. Overshadowed by the beginning of the fights in Europe, almost nobody remembers this catastrophe, when more passengers died than in the sinking of the Titanic. For us, this is a fascinating document on a trip back in time to the era of Johann Sebastian Bach.

 

It wants to be exciting – the overall project "Bach on Bach," with all its themes and sections. I want that you do not find much content anywhere else that is why I make it so very different. A real biography about Johann Sebastian Bach – that is what others do better. Here on "Bach on Bach" you get the life of Johann Sebastian Bach differently than in hundreds of publications in the last years: Shorter and a little longer. Yes, plus more flowery as well. With illustrations, of course. Easily digestible. In different lengths, that is special. In addition, illustrated differently. In the Johann Sebastian Bach section and there in the "biography corner," there is a short biography video as well, and you will find the first short biography about Bach from the year 1750, the so-called Bach Necrology, alternatively the Bach Obituary. If you find the German version cool, it is the Bach Nekrolog.

 

Next is the music of Johann Sebastian Bach: 33 of the most favored and most well-known pieces is what I was searching for you, and I decided on those. In addition, you can listen to these works: either to all 33 of them in 333 seconds or three minutes each piece. The "Best of Bach" so to speak – however, it is not my taste, but the taste of the world.

 

On my Johann Sebastian Bach internet portal, there is so much to discover. In addition, it is clearly arranged, your Bach website. However, you will not explore it in ten minutes. That is not my approach. I want to keep you here. Please expect the unusual – but expect it never to be too serious. One restriction: you can expect quality. Everywhere (... one exception: my English grammar): With pictures and images, reproductions, the Bach genealogy section, the research, the editing, the short biographies plus the little videos. I took and still take a lot of time for this – the quality – including optimization in the future as well. For your pleasure – and for mine as well.

 

Whether it is in the USA, in the Netherlands or GermanyBach and music, that fitted for centuries, and that still fits today. It is really exciting how many descendants of the great-great-grandfather of Johann Sebastian Bach, that is to say, Veit Bach, still make music today, how many even make their living with music or are just creative beyond music.

 


 

Johann Sebastian Bach Music (1)

What would a Bach website be without Bach music? In the section "Bach Work + Music," you will not find the most beautiful works of Johann Sebastian Bach, but the most favored and the most well known. According to Google and to YouTube.

 

Johann Sebastian Bach composed a lot. Very much. The master. No question, to perfection. The most popular pieces are – no doubt – the "Well-Tempered Piano," from that work one piece is better known, especially outside Germany, with the title of "Air." Then the "Toccata" of Bach, the "Ave Maria" (... I know!), the "Cantata for the Change of the Town Council," the "Coffee Cantata," the "Farmer's Cantata," but not - the "Beer Cantata." Bach's "Brandenburg Concerts," the "French Suites," the "Christmas Oratorio," the "Easter Oratorio" and so on ... He wrote and composed so much, that Bach music lovers generated a whole Bach Work Catalog, the Bach Werke Verzeichnis, the BWV. This is why the original Bach Society was created, and it was dissolved after that goal was accomplished, according to its statute. That is why the actual NBG is the New Bach Society (Neue Bachgesellschaft, NBG) today. It is, so to speak, the second edition. However, this BWV is not the only catalog of Johann Sebastian Bach's works. Here on "Bach On Bach" you will learn more.

 

Music "not from this world": that is to say the music of the Royal Polish and Electoral-Saxon Court Composer Johann Sebastian Bach.

 


 

Johann Sebastian Bach: The Personality

 

It is said he was complicated. It is said Johann Sebastian Bach once threw his peruke. Seriously: have you never seen the calmest person "explode" one day? And if you put such an "outbreak of violence" of Bach – probably he had no better flying objects at that moment at hand – in relation to his genius, that is to say he had to work with so many students that couldn't even sing one single note, than it's my opinion, just my opinion, that this hint is really inappropriate. If you try to judge Bach's temper with this one isolated story.

 

That is how I judge the analysis of so few known and reported events. Like the story around the unleashed epee of the organist Bach at Arnstadt. Little, very little is known of the private person of Johann Sebastian Bach. Precisely one letter with personal content is what he left for posterity. Exactly: It is the famous letter to his school friend George Erdmann. While you almost know what other artists liked best for dessert, what we do know about Johann Sebastian Bach is almost nothing. The exception is what he wrote in this one mentioned letter. In this letter from Leipzig. In this letter from Johann Sebastian Bach to his school friend George Erdmann.

 

The letter to his school friend George Erdmann – Johann Sebastian Bach had written it here at Leipzig. It is almost the only document in which Bach left something personal to the world – except for his music of course.

 

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Johann Sebastian Bach the Exciting Way: That Is what this Website Wants to Offer

 

This is what this Bach website wants to offer: to highlight everything related to Johann Sebastian Bach, but as well to the Bach Family of Musicians. Also, it wants to do that excitingly. It is more than just a collection of facts; this is what is already exists on paper and the internet. This website wants to do better. Like Johann Sebastian Bach would have probably done, editing the facts. Therefore, they are fun while you approach the person of Bach and his life. That is my actual goal. How you find your way to him and give him a chance, to present his music work, actually does not matter. I am serious, with much respect: offering perfect music, serving godly musical knowledge ... that is what I am not perfect in. I am – as I mentioned – more "at home" in the section of entertainment. For all those serious people, those Bach enthusiasts and those Bach confessors, 53,000 authors and thousands of publisher companies have already been taken care of. I just address the rest of you. Also, this website is for one or another, who finds that a combination is possible. Reference plus "very easy going" at the same time, so to speak.

 

Johann Sebastian Bach in Weimar. The monument is photographed excitingly. Only for that reason, Bach looks so impressive. An interesting question is when there will be a Bach House to honor this world-famous artist in Weimar?

 


 

Johann Sebastian Bach FAQ

 

Johann Sebastian Bach FAQs, or Johann Sebastian Bach FAQ? With an "s" ... or without an "s"? Let us not care. Alternatively, call them Q&A if you like. However, there are 100 exciting questions and 100 correct answers. This is the section for kids, for students, for Bach starters – here you get the answers "to the point": All is related to Johann Sebastian Bach, but also to the Bach Family of Musicians as well.

 

Johann Sebastian Bach FAQs (... or if you like, the plural without an "s" and for that reason, just Johann Sebastian Bach FAQ) is a unique section on this JSB website, which addresses students in particular, but Bach novices as well. Bach FAQ has the perfect answers to the most frequently asked questions related to Johann Sebastian Bach, to the famous Bach sons or those associated with the music of Bach. First, you get a short answer to the point. After that, you will find more and more detailed information related to the question. I put together precisely 100 questions for you and I will provide you with an answer to each of them.

 


 

Johann Sebastian Bach Videos

 

Johann Sebastian Bach videos. All Bach videos are accomplished meanwhile, and with them, you experience the journey of life Johann Sebastian Bach once started some 330 years ago. In combination with the Bach music videos meanwhile, it is a total of some 1,150 of my self-created little shows. Most of them have a length of three to six minutes. Just watch one or two videos, and maybe you will get hungry for more, or maybe – for all? The little works report about the Bach House in Eisenach, a "trip of Johann Sebastian Bach around the world on stamps" and it goes without saying you get really great impressions about all the essential Bach cities and Bach places, just in case you want to visit those places one day in the future.

 

What is necessary to explain? What is – maybe – necessary to tell? Maybe the Bach videos. Those who want to have real fun with this Johann Sebastian Bach website get a tiny "manual" here too. The little shows and the Bach music videos are different. The shows come with narrated text, and they are embedded in music. Mostly they present the Bach cities and the Bach places. You will discover the many domains where Bach lived and worked. However, you will experience those places as well, where Bach lived before he got his first "real" job at Arnstadt. One little Bach show introduces Johann Sebastian Bach on stamps, and there is a short biography. Beyond those nine Bach cities and Bach places, there are several more villages and towns, which are linked to the name of Johann Sebastian Bach directly. Gotha, for instance, is one of the Bach cities and Erfurt too. In a third category, you will find Bach cities and Bach places, in which the Thomas Cantor performed back then: just once or several times. Also, there are locations, where Bach inspected an organ. You will find short narrated videos about Gotha, Erfurt, and Dornheim too.

 

In addition, there are the Bach music videos. First, there are the most well known and most famous of Bach works which you can choose to listen to. Moreover, for the reason you may watch "something" while you listen to this music of Johann Sebastian Bach, I offer you to choose from many, many interesting photo themes. You decide which one is right for you. Alternatively, you listen to the same piece of music again and decide on another photo theme after the first. Important, so important is something that I should already better tell you about here and on the page later again. You first must decide on a piece of music. Click on the title in the red navigation, then decide on the photo theme you want to see. It does not work vice versa because we would have to offer 1,158,921 Bach music videos instead of "just" 1,089. Sorry for your inconvenience.

 

Between the years 1600 and 1800, the name of Bach didn't only stand for the master himself. In these three centuries, the name of Bach was also linked to a whole and a large family of musicians. This family was so much said to deliver a high quality of music like only a few companies managed and still manage this today. Keywords are Caterpillar, Google, and Xerox. In Austria, for instance, you "kaercher" which means you pressure clean something. Actually mostly with one of these yellow machines, which are produced by a German company in Swabia: Kaercher. Back then, it was the Bachs whom communities and churches wanted to hire. Even in a period when almost no Bach ever worked in such a position anymore, they called this group of folks: the Bachs, actually the Bache with an "e" at the end, which was plural of Bach back then. This is one more reason why there are Bach cities and Bach places. However, on this Johann Sebastian Bach website all 33 Bach cities and Bach places are related to the composer, except for a few, which are so heavily related to the Bachs as a family of musicians, that we just cannot skip them. All is somewhat very confusing. However, even with a significant portion of goodwill, some are not Johann Sebastian Bach cities at all – in the sense of this website.

 

Just imagine you like this video. If so you will find many more, which you might not have been aware of without that hint here. The story of Johann Sebastian Bach actually began in Wechmar in Thuringia. In the Bach place of Wechmar or better and German: In the "Bach origin community Wechmar" on the doorstep of Gotha. Johann Sebastian Bach had never been in Wechmar. However, Veit Bach, who isn't missing in any biography, had died here in the year 1619. With mentioning Veit in the "Ursprung," it is for the first time in Wechmar when the name of Bach and a musical skill met in history.

 

Not earlier than in 2014 this video has been accomplished. About Weimar, not to be confused with Wechmar. Here you may watch this show too if you liked the video above. By the way, Johann Sebastian Bach lived and worked twice in Weimar. One was a very short period; one was a very long time.

 

By the way, it is handed down: Johann Sebastian Bach has visited Erfurt at least once for a professional reason. But probably he has been there several more times for family purposes. This miniature portrait of the city of Erfurt was our first accomplished Bach video:  What a city! What a history! In that video, you will meet Bach author Helga Brueck. This video was already accomplished in 2012. It is a pity Mrs. Brueck died much too early in 2013. Here we want to remember her. Without her, we would have never found my roots.

 

However: On "Bach on Bach," there are very different exciting videos too. I researched the internet for you, checking on cool clips regarding the theme of Johann Sebastian Bach or his music. Also, it goes without saying that I would love to hear about more videos out there from you. What you do not find here for a purpose are the typical music videos as they are familiar on YouTube. They are cute, many of them are excellent, some perform Johann Sebastian Bach's music to perfection – but you will find those videos without my help. In my third section of Bach videos, you will find this and that, what matches the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Funny performances, exciting ideas, small takes to smile about, plus Bach videos to just make you shake your head. Well, you probably remember: Really serious these are different places on the internet. Here it has to be ... funny as well.

 

This Bach video related to stamps around the theme of Johann Sebastian Bach is really not designed for stamp collectors. It is designed for those among you, who just want to search for exciting stuff on this Johann Sebastian Bach Adventure Park. Come on, what are you waiting for? Try it. Click on the play button ( > ) now.

 

Are you too impatient now to watch one more Johann Sebastian Bach video? Then scroll down a little. If not, please find a foretaste to a really rewarding tour destination in the matter of Bach: the Bach city of Eisenach.

 

The second category of Bach videos are the Bach music videos. You hear one piece of music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and you watch one theme of pictures of your choice. There are 33 picture themes, and there are 33 music works. So that are how many Bach music videos? Exactly 1,089.

 

Johann Sebastian Bach music videos. You really do have to get used to the fact that I decided not only for themes of pictures, which are related around the composer but more that are not related to the court composer at all. There are German touristic highlights for Bach enthusiasts from abroad; there are picture themes for children, for nature lovers, for USA fans, for Paris enthusiasts and some more exciting subjects. Why don't you try it out?

 


 

Johann Sebastian Bach Stamps

 

Whether it's about Johann Sebastian Bach stamps from the Caribbean...

 

A passion inside a passion – our Bach stamps. Yes, you just can fall in love with these little sticky cutes. And when you discover these small miniature works of art –for the first time somewhere, tiny and diffuse (... for instance on the internet ...), then you will be delighted. However, when you experience a Bach stamp "live" for the first time – so to speak, that is when you hold one in your hands and watch it – then it fascinates you. After that experience, you might go on a hunt for the next Bach stamps. Then you do not just think about how to get them all, but you first think twice how you find out where and how to get a summary – that is to say a summary about all the Bach stamps on Earth, released until the present day. And you approach the philatelists. Because collecting Bach stamps has not been the fascination of collecting stamps in general, not the pure excitement of stamps. In my case, it is ... yes, it's a pleasure that comes with the theme of Bach, actually "department Bach stamps." At the same time, there was my wish to present all those "jewels." That is, to present them all to perfection, so you get excited. Please visit the round about 150 miniature works of art. If you like it, in an unbelievable resolution, size, and sharpness via Flickr.

 

... or Bach stamps from Europe, Africa, South America or like this here, from China: On this Johann Sebastian Bach website you will find all of them. More? You will not find more Bach stamps anywhere. Not on the internet, not in the real world.

 


 

Quotes, Tributes, Poems Related to the Subject of Johann Sebastian Bach

 

Tributes to Bach, respectively Bach quotes (... it depends on which view you see it ...) – here is the tribute of German composer Max Reger: All together in one of the sections. I have prepared some really unique ones for you. It is a total of 66 tributes or quotes related to Johann Sebastian Bach, which are awaiting you. Also, you may read them all better than the one by Max above.

 

Actually, in the Bach tributes section, respectively the quotes section, you will not find the quotes which Johann Sebastian Bach said about others. Here on "Bach on Bach" it is about tributes, that famous or at least known personalities said about the work of the master or about Johann Sebastian Bach. Sayings, wisdom and the mentioned tributes, which then became quotes in a time of 300 years. I collected them from the most different corners of the internet; I archived them, I recycled them with love and tinkered with them for you in a new constellation. Also, you get pictures of the personalities who stated them – the quotes. In addition, for those who will not be happy with the name of the person who adored Johann Sebastian Bach that much, I have added a short biography to let you know a little more about the admirer of Bach. If you can't really get enough, there is a link which makes you an expert if you "click yourself clever." There are some 66 quotes and tributes, but there are not 66 authors, as some of them have stated more than one tribute. One or another tribute did not make it into the collection for several reasons. This page almost never wants to assume the status of completeness. It has to remain entertaining. The last statement is true except for the stamps, the most tributes regarding Bach in a collection, the Bach genealogy, and a few disciplines more. One quote is not permitted to enter the "Bach Hall of Fame." If you are interested in which one that is, feel free to click here – I installed a back button for you there. If you are pleased with Bach tributes, then you will have exceptional fun with these 66 Bach tributes. It is, in my opinion, the most complete collection of tributes to Bach. If you show me a more complete collection – mine will be the most complete again after a couple of days.

Ludwig van Beethoven: His tribute about the life works of Johann Sebastian Bach has even found its way onto a Bach memorial. You will meet both on this Bach website. The tribute – and the Bach memorial.

 


 

My Johann Sebastian Bach Image Archive

 

 

Those who are just in the mood for pictures around Johann Sebastian Bach will be rewarded here. Nowhere else will you find so many different and consequently sharp, high resolution and exciting photos and images around the theme of Bach, like on this Johann Sebastian Bach portal. It starts with the fact that only photos and images, as well as illustrations, are permitted, which are photographed in a high standard or scanned to perfection. So it's not about the completeness of this Bach niche of the internet, not at any price. Only what is beautiful or exciting and high quality is permitted to get in here.

 

What photos exactly will you find in the Bach picture archive? For instance photos of the Bach cities and Bach places. Alternatively, many, many photos of the Bach monuments all over the world. When I took these photos myself, especially as this eases the copyright situation dramatically, then you get the Bach memorial from a frog's view, from the right, from the left, once from a very close distance and another from "one-mile distance." Almost always with perfect weather conditions, which is pure sunshine. With only very few compromises. So that everyone realizes, actually you realize, how much fun I had, to find these locations, to experience these places and finally to take photos of these locations. After that, we edited the tons of photos, optimized them and eventually not only used them as illustrations on many, many pages of this website but also collected them for this Bach picture archive. However, there is more in that section, especially for Bach enthusiasts. I won't tell you here. Find it out yourself.

 

Of course, I provide an example. Erfurt is no real "Johann Sebastian Bach city." However, there is no doubt, Erfurt is a Bach city. More than 60 files in the church records of Erfurt are related to the Bach Family of Musicians. Almost everything that is beautiful in Erfurt is what I have taken photos of for you. You can experience the pics in the department "Bach pictures," one at a time. Alternatively, you can decide for the department "Bach + Music" and choose one music piece of the master and then decide for the photo theme of Erfurt by clicking the matching button.

 

 

Practically all "real" Bach cities and Bach places are photographed during perfect weather. With many, many details - all that you can do without an extended vacation and without the knowledge of a local. Many an archway, many a Bach monument and many a detail made a second visit necessary. Because the sunshine came from the wrong direction. Alternatively, bad weather surprised me. You will discover perspectives and get many images of sights, which you probably will not realize, and discover visiting many places a first time in the matter of Bach. You will experience just the result, which you get if someone is not only interested in the passion of Johann Sebastian Bach but likes taking photos as well. However, all photos, which you might find perfect on this website, are placed as well on Flickr: better, sharper, in higher resolution. All surfers with an experience of more than four hours surfing on the web may excuse the following – there is a manual for Flickr as well. Because we want to take care, don't we? Finally, in this chapter of Bach photos: there are always more photos in the Bach picture archive than you think there are. It will be the biggest Bach picture archive in the world soon, and that is not just with "a few more images." It is necessary to find really a lot more pictures.

 

What else do you find there? Historical pictures, for instance. Much of what you might find on the internet here and there in poor quality – plus not in real high definition. Original documents, engravings, Bach portraits, historical sights of the Bach cities and Bach places, postcards, books ... just: more, than you can imagine at this moment. Get there now with a click here.

 

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Music of Bach (2) – You Probably Don't Know it this Way for Sure

 

This website always wants to be a guarantee for surprises ... and that will remain this way into the future. So you might have read in the music chapter 1 above regarding the music of the master already. Here now I present a very uncommon way to learn more about Bach's music and Bach's work. How Johann Sebastian Bach's music sounds, especially the very well-known pieces that is what you already know for sure. However, if you do not sit in a concert hall, you listen to your surround sound system at home, or you have your headphones on now, why don't you offer your eyes in "the next round" something special and interesting to watch? Like standing in front of an Italian ice cream variety, everything is offered here to you on "Bach on Bach" to mix your own ingredients: music and pics. Precisely 33 themes of gorgeous photos and exciting pictures are what we have collected and put together for you. Also, we searched for the 33 most admired music works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Now you may combine every piece of music with every theme of photos. It is actually true: you have the choice of 1,089 music and photo theme video combinations, which you may enjoy one after another.

 


 

Johann Sebastian Bach International

How do you get the idea to offer a Johann Sebastian Bach website in 35 language versions? It is that easy: I just overdo everything. That is true for the foreign language versions too.

 

 

Yes, it is a little challenge, which I had in my head back then. It was the beginning of February 2013. To spread the cultural assets of Johann Sebastian Bach even more and even more dynamically all over the planet, the internet is just perfect. And if there is one last existing hurdle left, it is to communicate the most exciting things about the master in one's own mother language (I know a mother language is always one's own mother language). With much fun learning English and talking English, I know that even with 20 years of experience, I am challenged by English text, by a book or by a movie more than when I experience it in the German language, in my mother language.

 

This is why I hope for help from abroad. I still hope for support from students or from Bach enthusiasts, who are not "just coming along the way." Even before I ever asked, I met first Xi, next Elena, and they translated my Chinese, my Russian and my Ukrainian version to perfection. There are much ambition and time needed, but my concept is entailed. If it works out, what I imagine and how I imagine it, then there will be much Bach knowledge available to learn one day. That is in 35 international languages and maybe beyond. Besides the languages spoken by our neighbors and those in the European Union, there are such challenges left like Hindi, Korean, Vietnamese and Indonesian. When the English website is proofread to perfection, I will ask for the help of students in universities all over the planet.

 

The Chinese version of the "Bach on Bach" project about Johann Sebastian Bach. Like this one, there is a Korean, a Hebrew, an Arabic, an Indonesian and some thirty versions more. Our pride is the Chinese page and the Chinese biography video about Johann Sebastian Bach. Also, there is half the Russian and half the Ukrainian version meanwhile. Do you just want a quick check what these versions look like?

 


 

Famous Composers + Famous Families of Musicians

 

If you want to learn more about the colleagues of "music poet" Johann Sebastian Bach and the most famous families of musicians on Earth, you are perfect here too.

 

 

In my website section "Famous Composers and Families of Musicians"  there is a little additional service regarding the colleagues of Johann Sebastian Bach. On the one hand, there will be a separate little website one day, where you will find information and cool stuff about many, many composers of all epochs. On the other hand, there is a whole chapter about these guys here on "Bach on Bach" which provides you with some general information plus an offer to discover more exciting websites about these musicians. This is what I created for you if you want to cheat on my favorite, Johann Sebastian Bach, just a little. If, for you, not only Johann Sebastian Bach counts, but also more classical composers, and you want to join them now, please just click here.

 

"The Composer" (Der Komponist)  an internet portal for all events around classical music on Earth beyond the theme of Johann Sebastian Bach. That is what I had planned earlier in the overall project. It was one of those ideas, which I did not develop until the end. But a little "piece of art" (... the title page above) coming with it is accomplished.  I do not want to hide it from you. Here, this little artwork will remain into the future. However and that is important: there never was such a magazine.

 


 

33 Bach Cities and Bach Places

 

 

Finally, it is clear. Clarity regarding the question, how many Bach cities and Bach places there are around. Five or eight or nine? Alternatively, are there thirty-three or maybe more? Well, it depends, but we clear that up for you. With a whole page and indeed much exciting information.

 

Back to the locations, which you already may connect to the life of Johann Sebastian Bach. There is one question: did he "act" already at his place of birth? Sure he did because he sang together with his father, Johann Ambrosius Bach. More precisely, he sang to his father's music. Also, both made money that way. So, to the point: he worked, and he was employed in five cities. Four more towns and villages are what you may add as important Johann Sebastian Bach places. That is a total of nine crucial Johann Sebastian Bach locations.

 

Next, there are three more cities and communities, which are absolutely considered Bach cities and Bach places, but they are no real "Johann Sebastian Bach cities" or "Johann Sebastian Bach places." Why that is so, is what you do not find here. However, that much right away: there has been the Bach Family of Musicians as well.

 

Finally, there are many, many cities and communities, in which Johann Sebastian Bach "has just done something." Whether these locations are Bach cities or Bach places just for that reason, we might very much argue about that.

 

Last but not least, there are some few "collections of houses," which had been existing as communities but they are not anymore. There are locations where Johann Sebastian Bach once was, but he didn't perform there, he did not inspect there, and it's the moment, where a little burlesque would start. If you now would like to learn more about these Bach cities and Bach places right away and why you may connect which one with Johann Sebastian Bach, then please click here.

 

Stop, stop: If you make every city, every community and every place, where a famous Bach or one of the less famous Bache of this family of musicians has lived, acted or performed a Bach city, a Bach community, a Bach village or a Bach nest, than many, really many locations would be considered a Bach place, way beyond Bueckeburg, Schweinfurt, Milan and London. But that ... is getting absurd now.

 

There are nine Bach cities and Bach places, which have played an essential role in the life of Johann Sebastian Bach. There he once lived, he worked, and he learned or had at least married.

 


 

Johann Sebastian Bach 4 Ever

 

Once again, back to the subject of books: there are hundreds of books related to Johann Sebastian Bach. For the reason, there is at least one section on my website that helps you really serious, here again, is my hint to the section with all actual books you can buy currently ... for instance in the bookstore of your choice. Are you in the mood to discover these serious Bach books now? Just a click will do.

 


 

Johann Sebastian Bach on Paintings, Drawings, Erasures, and Engravings

 

There is probably no other musician, aside of Johann Sebastian Bach, who is displayed on so many paintings, drawings, engravings, erasures, and scribbles, which show what Bach did not look like. However, one picture, which exists even three times as an original (... actually 2 + 1 for experts), is the exception: It is the painting "Johann Sebastian Bach" by Elias Gottlob Haußmann. How he painted him, is what the Thomas Cantor actually looked like. All the others, for example, the artists Rentsch and Ihle and the many ones later, have painted Bach how they just liked it. Maybe, but only maybe the so-called "old age picture" of Bach shows him realistically too – but it is not certain. Johann Sebastian Bach: Nothing around the master is just smooth. You will meet many, many portraits of the genius on the many hundred pages of this Johann Sebastian Bach website, both historical and modern.

 

Johann Sebastian Bach, what he very probably looked like. This work is painted by Elias Gottlob Haußmann, during Bach's lifetime, probably around 1745.

 


 

What Else Can You Find on the Internet? About this Genius Johann Sebastian Bach from Eisenach in Thuringia

 

What would a Bach website be, if you would not find more recommendations regarding more Bach websites on the internet? It goes without saying, that the important ones are listed below, but you will discover smaller ones as well. Finally – how could that be different – I added some of my further Bach websites ... they are Bach websites with particular Bach themes. It all starts with Wikipedia, for all those, who love it relatively "entertainment free" but to the point. However, this source is what you would have found even without my help. However, leaving it away here ... that would not have worked. One of the best sources is www.bach.de. However, it's in German only. Sorry. But I had to tell you about this particular website, as it's author's name is Peter Bach. So? He is not related. Also, he's a doctor, while I am related to the composer from Thuringia. Of course, I am just kidding, as he worked for his title and I did nothing but genealogy to find out that I am a far related relative. More as a practical joke, you get a link here to a Bach College, actually, it's a German Gymnasium in Southern Germany, namely Mannheim: The Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Gymnasium.

 

Now we are serious again, and there's - as the number one – my own website "Johann Sebastian Bach for Children – Info, Links, Fun" ... it is exciting for kids. It is the perfect amount between information, music, interesting fun to discover about the millennium composer, and it addresses both students and teachers. "Bach in Wechmar" informs, like no other website, precisely about the Bach location, when the name of Bach and the term of music once met for the first time. Now and then some ads point to additional offers, however, it's not in the way like promotion often is placed. This advertisement is promoted by the publishing house of my wife, and there you may discover one Bach highlight or another. However, be aware: even my hint in this last sentence could be considered promotion. Therefore, because you might not have realized that – with a smile, again here – I point to this fact for you.

 

So back to my recommendations, they are spread all over my pages of this Bach website. There is for instance – at position 1 of course – the Bachhaus (Bach House) in Eisenach. Only a few minutes away from the town center. We both, my wife and I are convinced: That is the most exciting, the really very most exciting Bach Institution all over the planet. After that, there is the website of the "Bach Friends in Dornheim" (... it's a pity it's in German only). The residents of this 500 folks village have done an outstanding job by saving the little wedding church, where Johann married his first wife back then. The Bach-Archive in Leipzig in the direct neighborhood of the St. Thomas Church and the new Bach monument is next, and the offer, the website and the events of the New Bach Society are exciting. Of course, you will learn on my website, why it is the New Bachgesellschaft, which is the New Bach Society and not just the Bach Society. The St. Thomas Church (Thomaskirche) has a website worth a visit. Two websites, which I recommend on my German sister page – however, I regret, they are in English only – are a perfect suggestion for you. In English again the J.S. Bach Home Page and finally the internet and Bach portal of our friend Aryeh Oron in Israel with his most gigantic Bach offer in English language on the globe: the Bach Cantatas Website. Sure, you do find Bach videos and more Bach videos on YouTube. All Bach choirs, Bach orchestras and Bach societies in the world is what you find on my internet portal and what if you visit a real cute website johannsebastian.de (... sorry German only)? Let us travel south and explore which websites are there to discover and worth a visit. In Switzerland the Johann Sebastian Bach Forum is exciting (... sorry again, not yet in English), "Bach in Köthen" is entertaining and there is a website with important information about Bach's oldest son, who was born in Weimar: Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. However, it's still in German only, and there will be an English page late in 2018 or early 2019. If you want to learn more about this first of all Bach sons, you better click to FAQ 116 on the German website "Bach ueber Bach" and use "Google Translator," to get a full and most detailed summary regarding on what they have done to this poor Bach son in 300 years. It's an affair of the heart to repair his reputation. Okay now, that should be enough in the discipline "more cool Bach websites."

 

 


 

Johann Sebastian Bach and the Small Green Aliens from Outer Space

 

Do you remember? Do you remember the year 1977? Jimmy Carter was President of the United States of America and NASA, together with the Voyager Golden Record Team, led by Carl Sagan, decided on a selection of pictures and music pieces, which were launched – on a "Golden Record" – in the spacecrafts Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 "direction nowhere." Main issue: out of our solar system. 55 nations narrated a first "Hello," "Grüezi" or just "Howdy." Even in historic Greek, just in case these extraterrestrial recipients of our message would be some 2,000 "years behind," and there is something like an interstellar Greece on an Earth similar planet. Sure, it was not just an ordinary "How are you?" There came many exciting short messages with it. The life term of Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 – of course just estimated – is 500 million years.

 

The attached pictures are fascinating too: They range from "man walks a dog ( ... a "spitz", which is a tiny dog race, is mentioned ... ) on a flower meadow", via an "... on his back lying gator" to a "woman with shopping cart in the supermarket bites in grapes".

 

What about Johann Sebastian Bach? How is all this related to Johann Sebastian Bach? Sure, we humans have sent music as well. What would this Golden Record be without music? 27 music works. From the Old World Europe, from the New World, America, from Asia and Australia. Now, who is first in that collection? It is Johann Sebastian Bach. Because he is one of the first in the alphabet? No, I checked on that for you. If not, there are other reasons. Which work is it? One piece of the "Brandenburg Concerts." Which other classical composer is present? Mozart. Of course. Headword "The Magic Flute." Who else? Beethoven. With his "Fifth Symphony." What rings the bell with the headword Beethoven? He is present two times, a second time at the very end of the list. However...

 

Johann Sebastian Bach wins the competition, which was never advertised, clearly. Also, that is to say secretly and obviously. Because there are two, additional works included from Johann Sebastian Bach: even earlier than the first work of Mozart and Beethoven. It is "Gavotte en Rondeau" of Johann Sebastian Bach. Even before Beethoven shows up on the intergalactic stage, there is a third piece of music for these aliens that is to say just a short piece. One small piece from the "Well-Tempered Clavier."

 

Three times Johann Sebastian Bach, two times Ludwig van Beethoven, one time Mozart. Johann Sebastian Bach on rank 1 + 10 + 17. Ludwig van Beethoven on rank 18 + 27. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on rank 11. However, I have to mention that regarding dramaturgy, the best always comes last, which indeed requires some amount of patience from every extraterrestrial, experiencing the "Golden Record." However, Beethoven wins against Johann Sebastian Bach, if you add up the lengths of the musical offerings and compare that: Johann Sebastian pieces add up to a total of 12 ½ minutes, Beethoven music on the "Golden Record" has a length of 14 minutes. Of course, musicians from far away from the "Land of the Bache" are represented too: Chuck Berry and Louis Armstrong have the privilege.

 

You find this style and content funny? Yes, it is actually sort of. That is how I had fun writing it. Because it's fun for me, you learn much, much more about Johann Sebastian Bach. Also, you do so in a more entertaining way, than anywhere else in the world and on the internet. Is that a deal? Of course, I thought that before. It is just "Johann Sebastian Bach my way" so to speak: based very, very loosely on Frank Sinatra.

 

Johann Sebastian Bach (... among other musicians) on his way to E.T. & Co.!

 


 

Johann Sebastian Bach Monuments

 

So? Do you know it? How many Johann Sebastian Bach monuments in the world honor this composer? Anyhow, here on this website you will find them all. Those in Germany, the ones in the United States of America and of course the only one in Shanghai in China. Many, actually almost all of them are what I took photos of for you. In 1,000 variations – well, it might not be that many. I was busy for 45 minutes around the one in Ansbach, Germany. Today I am most excited by the view in Ansbach, where you can read "Bach" in the background. Three Bach monuments are still on my wishlist: all of those are only presentable with a considerable amount of organization. That is Johann Sebastian Bach in Shanghai, JSB in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and finally one monument of Bach in Cleveland, Ohio. These three are still missing. There is one month left until nature is perfect in both the USA and China and I hope to find three supporters until then, who would take photos of these three monuments of Johann Sebastian Bach in a way that I would do it if I were there. Here is a quick detour to the pictures of all the Johann Sebastian Bach monuments.

 

Johann Sebastian Bach in Ansbach, Bavaria, Germany. Exciting: there is no such thing as the word "Bach" on the house in the background. This word actually is Ansbach.

 


 

Bach Choirs, Bach Orchestras and Bach Societies All Over the World

 

Bach choirs, Bach orchestras, Bach societies. Did you know that most of them are in Germany? Sure, you knew that. Did you know there are 90 in Germany? Almost the same number is how many you find in both the United Kingdom and the USA combined.

 

If we add up all choirs, orchestras, and societies, that decorate themselves with his name to honor Johann Sebastian Bach, we get to the number of 222. The most exciting ones? Two institutions in Japan, one in New Zealand and there are two choirs with the name of Johann Sebastian Bach in Johannesburg and Pretoria, both in South Africa. Finally, there is a choir in Taipei. Here you get to all those 222 Bach choirs, and Bach orchestras, and Bach societies with one click.

 


 

Johann Sebastian Bach for All Interested Children on this Planet

 

The goal of this project is to spread the knowledge about the work of Johann Sebastian Bach even more. Also, the invitation to learn more about his life, about the Bach genealogy and to meet the many Bach cities and Bach places, where the master once lived and worked.

 

I believe that there are subjects when it is not that important to be excited. However, it sometimes just is about not spoiling something with the first contact. It is on that goal that my whole project and the website "Bach on Bach" are based on. It definitely wants to be a counterpart to the exquisite, but just different existing projects and websites about the musician.

 

To excite kids and students or to bother the words above again, not to scare them away, that is an ambitious part of the aspect inside my project. To transport highly complicated material excitingly, to edit it and to make it easy consumable: that is what I want with these pages and the whole cross-media project. For that purpose, this website is prepared multi-medially too. It is a website to experience and to discover, maybe it is even a "Johann Sebastian Bach Adventure Park." FAQ bring facts to those who approach other websites this way, too. The "Facts, Facts, Facts" section provides answers "to the point" – however in a different way. Moreover, for those who hate lengthy biographies, there is not just the one short biography, I offer eight ones in various lengths, including a brief video biography. Biographies: short and even shorter. To read, to experience via an interactive back and forth to a version with music or without. Finally, there is the mentioned nine-minute biography video: just to relax and watch.

 

Sure: This paragraph here (... on precisely this page, where you are reading at this very moment) is not optimized for kids. It is written for music teachers, for musicians with children, for schools, for music societies, for parents and grandparents. With fun and while interacting with the audiovisual offerings like videos, music videos, and background music, I want to offer the theme of Johann Sebastian Bach in a pedagogical way; in a way that is only possible with this modern medium. This Johann Sebastian Bach website is supposed to be the opposite of boring ... and that is true especially for kids and students. Some corners of this website have changed already during the evolution process. So the short biographies and in particular the FAQs were developed to be more and more child-friendly. Beyond these 100 FAQ, this platform wants to pick up interested folks on the internet: as the author, I have developed additional very unusual questions, that students or a young person could possibly ask. They are answered here. First, this offer starts with the 100 answers to the 100 most exciting questions. However, that will change chaotically soon – in the sense of the word. While the question "Who is the father of Johann Sebastian Bach?" is a common one, the question "Who painted the most famous picture of Johann Sebastian Bach?" is a less common question. This future area of the FAQ, that is to say starting with FAQ 101 and the following is currently coming into being in summer 2017.

 

A short portion of advertisement is just necessary here and now (... yes, this is no editorial paragraph, it is sort of an ad): There is one specialty which shows up as late as today with this Johann Sebastian Bach project. It is an offer for the very youngest in our society, which you can introduce as late as summer 2017 to the work and life of the Thomas Cantor with a coloring book. In both English and German at a time. Therefore, it's a highly pedagogical value. It's painted by a cousin of Johann Sebastian Bach, Briana Bach-Hertzog. Of course, of a second cousin – but without question, she belongs to the most famous family of musicians all over the world. End of this commercial paragraph.

 

This is an advertisement paragraph too. It is about my book. About Johann Sebastian Bach. Written by me, illustrated by Petra-Ines Kaune and put together by my wife, Renate. The biography of Johann Sebastian Bach for children. During the last many decades, relatively few books for kids have been published about the Thomaskantor. However, none of those really was a biography like mine, that is to say, none of those even came close. My biography about the life of the genius? Two very best friends forever, both cherubs, have common fun around the life and work of the "Royal Polish and Electoral-Saxon Court Composer." They are Veit and Balthazar. Balthazar was educated in how to tell especially exciting stories. Veit is a little cherub who specializes in performing music. In my biography for children about Johann Sebastian Bach, the reader is participating in a few days in the life of both. "Their stage" is both their own two little clouds and the clouds where they have breakfast, lunch and dinner together with the other cherubs. All of it is accompanied by music from Johann Sebastian Bach in the audiobook version. One version is not. That is to say, you may buy it in three versions: One is without music, one is with 18 times music, one version is with 66 times music. Of Johann Sebastian Bach. And me. Not only as a paper book, a real book so to speak, you may like this work as an e-book as well, and this is to say in two formats, one is with illustrations, one is pure text.  Well, this is true after the following pic: The biography about Johann Sebastian Bach for children. And for adults, too. How come? Please click here. Okay here, end of advertisement.

 

Yes, that is what children should look like, who have made acquaintance with the theme of Johann Sebastian Bach or his music.

 


 

Wow, You Are Actually Still Here?

 

Are you still here? I am very pleased. Therefore, I thank you very much for your patience. For your time. I did not take it easy: to either make this introduction short or – as a second option – to write just like I love to write. Finally, I decided for the second option. As you always have the possibility to cancel the rest, take a shortcut or start to explore the page on your own, as it is well arranged. Also, this website is designed to be a Johann Sebastian Bach Adventure Park. However, maybe you are here to let me entertain you in "the matter of the master." Perhaps you like the style, my style of writing. That is why it's not about writing all that in a shorter way. In our current internet era, there is almost no time left for anything, and there is nearly no time left to enjoy something on the internet that you found recently, because you are actually already on the hunt for the next entertainment, which you want to consume as fast as you possibly can. Speaking of that, take yourself some time, when you discover the many Johann Sebastian Bach stamps, take your time when you watch all the Johann Sebastian Bach videos or when you discover all those Bach photos in the Bach image archive. Just for fun, make acquaintance with the Bach FAQ. Alternatively, I invite you as a guest for a short Bach short biography or a more extended Bach short biography. Nowhere else can you get a collection of all current new books on the market: I prepared such for you. The same thing is correct for the genealogy. It's unique in size and correctness in the world. The so-called Bach quodlibet is worth a click. Really. What about the Bach cartoon section? Now – what are you waiting for? Thanks for your attention. Also, as said, thank you for your time.

 

Yours Peter Bach, Jr.

 

Update from June 3rd, 2021

 

A long, long time ago I already had fun living: author Peter Bach, Jr. in an original historic Bavarian costume – the latest chapter in a Bach genealogy.

 

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