About

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organist from the late Baroque period of Western classical music.  He composed over 1000 works of secular and sacred music for orchestra, choir, and solo instruments.  During his lifetime he had great fame for his skill as an organist and composer of organ works.  Because he adhered to Baroque forms and had a strong contrapuntal style, rather than embracing the budding Classical style, his compositions were considered old-fashioned during his lifetime.  Only in the 19th century and later was he recognized as a composer and enshrined as one of the greats of the Western tradition.  

The name of the fanlisting - Kapellmeister - is a German word designating a director of music.  It means literally choir or orchestra master.  Bach worked 1717 until 1723 as Kapellmeister for Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cothen.

For more detail about Bach and his life, click here.

selected works on CD

Bach's oeuvre is so large as to be daunting and much of it is available on CD.  I thought I might recommend a few pieces of Bach's excellent work performed by excellent musicians.  Yes, I am listing Cello Suites twice - I can't decide whether I like Rostopovich or Ma's interpretation better. 

As I am a lover of harpsichord music, my personal favorite is Clavierbuchlein fur Anna Magdalena Bach.

  • B Minor Mass - John Eliot Gardner
  • Brandenburg Concertos - Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
  • Cantatas - Joshua Rifkin
  • Cello Suites - Mistislav Rostopovich
  • Cello Suites - Yo-Yo Ma
  • Clavierbuchlein fur Anna Magdalena Bach - Nicholas McGegan, Lorraine Hunt & David Bowles
  • Goldberg Variations - Glenn Gould
  • Orchestral Suites - Sir Neville Marriner
  • Saint Matthew Passion - John Eliot Gardner
  • Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin - Henryk Szeryng
  • Toccata and Fugue, Passacaglia and Fugue - E. Power Biggs
  • Violin Concertos - Arthur Grumiaux, Herman Krebbers, Heinz Holliger
  • The Well-Tempered Clavier - Rosalyn Tureck

What's a fanlisting?

A fanlisting is a place for people to come together and declare their love for something, thereby building the biggest listing of fans of that thing from throughout the world.  No, this is not a mailing list, just a list of fans.  It all started with fans of Buffy and spread out from there.  The HQ for all this fan-love is at TFL and TAFL.