Skip to main content

Exploring the Life and Works of Johann Sebastian Bach

This quiz explores the life, works, and influence of Johann Sebastian Bach, one of the most significant composers in Western music history.

#Johann Sebastian Bach #Classical Music #Music History #Composers #Baroque Music

1 Bach's best-known orchestral works are the ________, so named because he submitted them in the hope of gaining employment from Margrave Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg-Schwedt in 1721; his application was unsuccessful.

2 When was Johann Sebastian Bach born?

3 Free recordings of the Brandenburg Concertos in MP3 and FLAC provided by Czech Radio (see ________)

4 Bach performed a cantata on Sunday at the Thomaskirche, on a theme corresponding to the ________ readings of the week, as determined by the Lutheran Church Year calendar.

5 How is Johann Sebastian Bach described?

6 Bach's job required him to instruct the students of the ________ in singing and to provide weekly music at the two main churches in Leipzig, St. Thomas and St Nicholas.

7 His father taught him to play violin and ________.

8 The most famous examples are the two books of the ________, each of which presents a prelude and fugue in every major and minor key, in which a variety of contrapuntal and fugal techniques are displayed.

9 Several notable composers, including Mozart, Beethoven, Robert Schumann, and ________ began writing in a more contrapuntal style after being introduced to Bach's music.

10 Thomas's Lutheran Church) in ________, as well as Director of Music in the principal churches in the town.

💡 Interesting Facts

  • conductor Fritz Werner and trumpeter Maurice André collaborated on choral works of Bach and on music of Werner himself.
  • in 1725 Bach composed a cantata text written by Salomon Franck in Weimar, Ihr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet, BWV 164, for the 13th Sunday after Trinity.
  • Concert Allegro, the only piano work Edward Elgar composed for concert performance, has been called a "marriage between Bach and Liszt".
  • Lorenz Christoph Mizler founded a musical society whose members included Georg Philipp Telemann, George Frideric Handel, and Johann Sebastian Bach.
  • Johann Christoph Altnickol, Johann Christian Kittel, and Johann Caspar Vogler were all students of Johann Sebastian Bach.
  • music printer Robert Birchall published the first English edition of Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier in 1810.
  • soprano Dorothee Mields sang solo and tutti in five cantatas composed for Pentecost by the prolific Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, a contemporary of Bach.
  • within ten years bass singer Klaus Mertens recorded all vocal works of Johann Sebastian Bach with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra & Choir.
  • the tenor Kurt Huber sang the Evangelist in Bach's Ascension Oratorio Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen, BWV 11, composed for the feast of the Ascension of 275 years ago.
  • the teenage Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar's music collection had a long-term influence on the musical style of Johann Sebastian Bach.
  • the medieval lituus, a musical instrument that hasn't been seen or heard for 300 years and for which Johann Sebastian Bach composed music, has been recreated by a team of scientists from Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
  • Jan Kobow sang the tenor part of Bach's chorale cantata Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, BWV 2, written for the second Sunday after Trinity of 1724, with Philippe Herreweghe.
  • Georg Christoph Biller is the Thomaskantor, the conductor of the Thomanerchor in Leipzig, the 16th successor of Johann Sebastian Bach in this position.
  • Bach marked to repeat the opening chorus of cantata Erschallet, ihr Lieder, erklinget, ihr Saiten! BWV 172 after the final chorale.
  • Bach had an excellent flauto traverso player at hand for Was frag ich nach der Welt, BWV 94, the cantata for the ninth Sunday after Trinity of 1724.
  • Bach composed in Leipzig his cantata Ärgre dich, o Seele, nicht, BWV 186, for the seventh Sunday after Trinity expanding his cantata written in Weimar for Advent.
  • Bach composed Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht, BWV 134a in 1719 as a congratulatory cantata for the court of Anhalt-Köthen.
  • Bach may have reused earlier music for his cantata Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz, BWV 136 for the eighth Sunday after Trinity of 1723.
  • Bach scored a tenor aria for oboe da caccia, recorder and bassoon in his cantata Lobe den Herrn, meine Seele, BWV 69a, for the twelfth Sunday after Trinity.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach wrote around 200 cantatas in German but only one, Gloria in excelsis Deo, BWV 191, in Latin.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach wrote concertos for 1, 2, 3, and even 4 harpsichords.
  • Bach's solo cantata for alto Vergnügte Ruh, beliebte Seelenlust, BWV 170 for the sixth Sunday after Trinity, was recorded by Maureen Forrester, Andreas Scholl and Julia Hamari.
  • Bach used the music of the opening chorus of his Siehe zu, daß deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei, BWV 179, a cantata written for the eleventh Sunday after Trinity, in two masses.
  • Bach arranged the central duet of his chorale cantata Wer nur den lieben Gott läßt walten, BWV 93, written for the fifth Sunday after Trinity, as one of his Schübler Chorales.
    • Previous Quiz Next Quiz

    Related Quizzes

    Significant Events and Figures of 1911

    #1911 #history #events #figures #Nobel Prize #aviation #fire incidents #education #composers

    Significant Events and Personalities of 1956

    #1956 #history #music #aviation #journalism #choreography #baseball #composers

    Exploring Baritone Roles and Composers

    #Baritone #Opera #Composers #Music History #Vocal Performance

    Exploring the Baroque Era: Art, Music, and Literature

    #Baroque #art history #music history #literature #Antonio Vivaldi #J.S. Bach #G.F. Handel #Siglo de Oro

    Exploring the Blues: A Quiz on Its History and Influences

    #Blues #Music History #Cultural Influences #Jazz #Spirituals #Movies

    Exploring the Cello: A Comprehensive Quiz

    #Cello #Music #Instruments #Classical Music #Education

    Exploring Classical Music: A Quiz on Its History and Elements

    #Classical Music #Music History #Musical Instruments #Composers #Music Theory

    Understanding the Role of Composers in Music

    #music #composition #composers #musical roles #jazz #electronic music