Johann Sebastian Bach, the greatest member of a large family of distinguished musicians, was born at Eisenach, March 21, 1685. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach was a violinist and organist. He received violin lessons from his father and clavichord lessons from his uncle, Johann Christoph.

His first position was in 1703 as violinist in the orchestra of Prince Johann Ernst at Weimar. In 1717 he entered the service of Leopold, prince of Anhalt-Kothen and he devoted himself to orchestral and chamber music. His first wife died in 1720 and the next year he married Anna Magdalena Wulken, the daughter of a court trumpeter. They had thirteen children, six of whom survived. In his later years, his eyes troubled him seriously and at the end he was totally blind. Bach died July 28, 1750

Bach's Preludes and Fugues are a monument for all time.

• The Ornaments: nothing gives more trouble to editors of BachÕs instrumental music than the question of ornaments since it is hardly ever that two manuscripts are found in exact agreement.
• The English Suites: so called because they were commissioned by a wealthy Englishman.
• The Partitas : first among the four works of Bach which alone were published in his lifetime.
• Toccata in D minor: the oldest of the composerÕs Toccatas, written during the Weimar period, 1709-1717.
• Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue: one of the greatest and most renowned of BachÕs works.
• Fingering: BachÕs polyphonic music requires a peculiar method of fingering if it is to be played with the necessary smoothness, making it essential not only to change the finger on a note that is held down, but to slide the same finger from a black key to the nearest white key above or below.