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Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor (for organ, BWV 582)
Johann Sebastian Bach / arr. Nicholas Falcone
Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor BWV 582
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) was an influential German musician and composer of the Baroque period. He was the most significant of numerous Bach family musicians. He is known for instrumental compositions and vocal music.
Johann Sebastian Bach was the eighth and last child of a city musician in Eisenach, Germany. Orphaned at age 10, he pursued a musical career from an early age. He worked as a musician for Protestant churches in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen and, for longer stretches of time, at courts in Weimar, where he expanded his organ repertory, and at Köthen, where he was mostly engaged with chamber music. He was employed as a cantor in Leipzig and composed music for the principal Lutheran churches of the city. He was granted the title of court composer by his sovereign, Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, in 1736.
Bach led a busy life. He composed over a thousand pieces in all, including cantatas, motets, masses, Magnificats, Passions, oratorios, four-part chorales, songs and arias. His instrumental music includes concertos, suites, sonatas, fugues, and other works for organ, harpsichord, lute, violin, cello, flute, chamber ensemble and orchestra. Married twice, he fathered 20 children, 10 of whom survived to adulthood.
Last updated on December 4, 2019 by Palatine Concert Band