The Extraordinary Music of Johann Sebastian Bach
Natalie Stewart

Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most famous composers in music history. He wrote more than a thousand pieces of music in his lifetime. You may not realize it, but you’ve probably heard Johann Sebastian’s music. He has written some of the most famous and recognizable classical music of all time.

Johann Sebastian’s father taught his youngest son about music and trained him to play the violin and the harpsichord, a piano-like instrument. Johann Sebastian’s father and uncles were musicians, so perhaps musical greatness was in the younger Bach’s genes. Young Johann had seven older siblings. When Bach’s parents passed away, Johann Sebastian went to live with his older brother, Johann Christoph.

When Johann Sebastian moved in with his brother, his music entered a new chapter. Johann Christoph worked as an organist for a church and school. He taught his younger brother how to play the clavichord, an instrument that resembles an organ. In addition, Johann Sebastian became a member of his school choir and received an education in music. As the younger brother of an organist, Johann Sebastian assisted his brother with composing organ music. He was also able to help his brother maintain and repair his organ. Organs of this time were huge, and because Johann Sebastian was still young and small, he was able to crawl inside and fix the instrument from its intricate interior, tightening bolts and making other adjustments.

While still young, Johann Sebastian applied for a scholarship to a prestigious school far from his home, and he won the scholarship! At his new school, he studied traditional subjects such as reading and writing; Johann Sebastian’s teachers also encouraged him to listen to the music of Germany’s most famous composers as well as performances by Italian and French artists. The exclusive school educated the children of noble families, so Bach befriended many important people that he might not have otherwise met in his small hometown.

In 1700s Europe, if musicians or composers sought work, they contacted the nobility, or members of wealthy upper-class society. Nobles had the money to employ composers and musicians. Beginning in 1703, Bach became court violinist and organist at Weimar, a city in Germany. In this position, Bach played the organ, but he was also expected to compose original pieces. At Weimar, Bach wrote some of his most famous music. He also took this opportunity to assemble classic pieces into a book to help students improve their playing.

Johann Sebastian next accepted employment in Leipzig, a major German city; he kept the position for the rest of his life. Here, Johann Sebastian directed the music at many of the town’s churches. He led the town’s choir and taught its young people music. He was also expected to write special pieces for holidays. One of his compositions was so complicated that every musician in town was required to play the piece! Many pieces he created in his youth remained unfinished, so Johann Sebastian spent these years finishing them; many view this as the most prolific period of his career. Aside from creating music, Johann Sebastian traveled to other courts to hear musicians, and his love of organ construction never waned. Until his death in 1750, even as he lost his sense of sight in his later years, Johann Sebastian Bach kept abreast of new developments in the world of organ building.

After his death, Johann Sebastian’s works were virtually forgotten for about a hundred years; however, when young composer and pianist Felix Mendelssohn performed a concert showcasing Bach’s works, worldwide appreciation of Johann Sebastian resurfaced. Today, musicians still perform Bach’s music. His children kept his compositions safe so people could enjoy them for many years.

Read the passage on the left to answer the following questions:
5)
What evidence does the author provide to demonstrate Bach’s natural musical talent?
A) Bach to his more clever siblings.
B) Bach’s mother sang in the opera.
C) Bach and his older brother were close.
D) Bach’s father and uncles were musicians.
6)
What is the narrator’s main purpose in this passage?
A) to describe how to become a composer
B) to convince the reader to be more musical.
C) to entertain readers with a childhood story
D) to tell the true story of a real person’s life
7)
The organizational structure of this passage is
A) cause-effect.
B) chronological.
C) comparison-contrast.
D) order of importance.