Johann Sebastian Bach’s Popularity Throughout Time

Throughout Bach’s life he was trained in music and studied hard to compose his own style of music. He was also a German composer of the Baroque era. When he died in 1750 his works were glossed over and not well recognized. No one was interested in hearing his pieces anymore, they were thought to be old school. It wasn’t until the 18th century before other composers gave Bach’s music a chance and brought his pieces back with some arrangements. He has not stopped growing since then and his most of his pieces are well known today like Bach’s Air Suite No. 3.

Bach was born in 1685 in Eisenach, in the Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach. He came from a family of musicians. His father was the director of their town of musicians and was a violinist. Bach’s father was probably the one who taught him to play the violin and harpsichord. When Bach was 10 years old he was orphaned and his brother raised him. Bach’s brother was the one who then taught him how to play the clavichord and also exposed him to contemporary music. Bach attended St. Michael’s School in Luneburg for two years for a musical education. He was passionate about music and studied it for a long time. He wanted to understand music on a deeper level. He was inspired by many different composers when writing his pieces and showed it through many of the pieces he composed. After graduating from St. Michael’s School, he became the music director and an educator at the Lutheran churches in Thomasschule. He took common Lutheran church melodies and would add his own style to them to write full pieces. Bach composed concertos, suites, recitatives, da capo arias and other forms of pieces as well. Though he wrote many pieces, not many people performed them because his music was not easily available or easily played on all instruments. His hard work was in vain after he died when his works were decreasing in relevance.

After Bach’s death in 1750 his popularity decreased. His pieces were seen as old fashioned and his family was not a big help in preserving his works either. When Haydn and Mozart were taking over with their new style not many people wanted to hear Bach’s music. He started to become known more for being an organ player and an instructor. Most of his saved works were the ones written for the organ and the harpsichord. As time went on his pieces became limited to his keyboard music only. Religious views also began to change so most of Bach’s church cantatas were quickly becoming less popular, even in the churches. It wasn’t until Mendelssohn’s revival of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in 1829, that we see that Bach was able to be played on more instruments and can be performed in a new style. Contemporary musicians then began to recognize Bach’s contemporary styles and perform his works.

In the 19th century Bach started to become well known and his reputation began to increase. Biographies about Bach were being published and more people were interested in his life and how he wrote his pieces. After Mendelssohn’s revival of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion many other musicians performed the piece. This gained the piece traction and it spread all over the country. There was also a religious revival around this time and Bach’s church cantatas made a comeback. Bach’s music can be seen in the religious revival in England as well at this time. By the end of the 19th century Bach’s instrumentals and vocal music became more recognized and popular. This started the path that would eventually earn him the name the “father” of Western music.

Bach’s popularity kept increasing going into the 20th century as well. Other composers took Bach’s pieces and gave them a modern spin. This century was also when classical performers started to lean towards instruments of the baroque era instead of using the performance style and instruments of the previous romantic era. Bach was well known by now for his Baroque style music and his style was quickly adopted by current composers and musicians of the 20th century.

By present day, Bach gained a lot of popularity since his death. Between the 19th and 21st centuries Bach’s motifs spread all over the world, including the West. Today Bach’s pieces are commonly performed and are available online. Through the internet, Bach’s music is spread even further and can influence musicians and composers all over the world. You can call out a Bach piece from a simple motif now because of how well known they are. If it wasn’t for Bach’s increase in his reputation due to Mendelssohn in the 19th century then he may have just been written in history as a music teacher and an organ player. His pieces show a different writing style that people are interested in repeating. Bach’s motifs are catchy and you can’t mistake them for being anything other than Bach’s style.