Johann Christoph Bach (organist at Ohrdruf) Puns

Today marks the 335th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach, without a doubt one of the tallest standing giants on whose shoulders stands a significant portion of our musical canon. What better time than his birthday is there to take a look at his life and his works?

I will leave a short biography below, share some resources, and share some of my favorite pieces of his. I welcome everyone reading to join me below.

Biographical Outline

Bach had a fairly mobile life, and spent short periods in many places. For the sake of brevity, I will gloss over the shorter periods, and focus more on the more significant ones.

1685-1703

• Born in Eisnach, Saxe-Eisenach on March 31, 1685.*
• The Bach family was very musical: his father, many uncles, many cousins, and his siblings were all professional musicians in some sense.
• His mother died in 1694, and his father died shortly thereafter; Sebastian Bach moved in with his older brother, Johann Christoph Bach, who lived in Ohrdruf (1695).
• Enrolled in the St. Michael's School in Lüneburg in 1700. *The calendar at the time would have read March 21, 1750; this is due to difference in the Julian and the Gregorian calendar systems

1703-1723

• After graduating (1703), Bach obtained a position as a musician of Duke Johann Ernst II's court in Weimar; became the organist at the "New Church" (now the "Bach Church") in Arnstadt later that same year. (this post is the setting of two famous stories of Bach: the incident with the "nanny-goat bassoonist", as well as his two week leave to travel in which he walked 280 miles [450 kilometers] both ways on foot to visit Buxtehude [he was absent for 4 months during his "2 week" leave].)
• Spent 2 years in Mühlhausen as organist at the Basius Church (1706-1708); he met and married Maria Barbara Bach four months after his arrival
• Returned to Weimar to become the organist at the Ducal Court (1708-1717): became Director of Music (1714), which entailed a monthly composition of a cantata; spent a considerable amount of time transcribing Italian works during this period; wrote the English Suites during this period; wrote the preliminary works that would become the Well Tempered Clavier during this period.
• Dismissed from his Weimar post in 1717, and even jailed for a day over his stubbornness over the dismissal.
• Hired as Kapellmeister for Leop

It makes sense them being composers and both playing classical string instruments.