Johann Sebastian Bach was born on 21 March 1685 in Eisenach. A German composer and organist of the Baroque era, Bach worked as a church musician and court composer in Weimar, Köthen and, for the last twenty-seven years of his life, in Leipzig, where he was cantor of the Thomaskirche. His output includes hundreds of church cantatas, the Brandenburg Concertos, the Mass in B minor, the Passions and keyboard works such as The Well-Tempered Clavier. His mastery of counterpoint and harmony brought the Baroque style to its peak. Little known as a composer beyond his own circle at his death, he was revived in the nineteenth century, when Felix Mendelssohn conducted the St Matthew Passion in 1829.
Before and after
- from 25 April 1684 to 26 January 1699Morean War
- October 1684Leibniz publishes the first paper on calculus
- 1685Construction of Ashmolean Museum
- 23 February 1685Birth of George Frideric Handel
- 21 March 1685Birth of Johann Sebastian Bach
- 1 October 1685Birth of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
- 1686Founding of Greenfield
- from 1686 to 1700Third Russo-Turkish War
- 24 May 1686Birth of Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit
More in Art, literature & culture
- c. 1500sMona Lisa
- from 31 October 1517 to 1 January 1648Protestant Reformation
- 31 October 1517Origins of Lutheranism
- 10 November 1517Origins of Protestantism
- 1565Construction of Agra Fort
- from 17th century to 19th centuryAge of Enlightenment
The era
This moment belongs to the Early modern world (1500 CE to 1760 CE), voyages, printing and new ideas. You can also browse everything in the 17th century.