Happy Birthday, Johann Sebastian Bach: THIS IS AMAZING

By some estimations, today is Johann Sebastian Bach’s birthday. In honor of this, I’m posting some incredible video of his works, see below. If you think of composers as planets–complete with particular features like oceans and continents and caverns–one might argue that Johann Sebastian Bach represents an entire solar system. Getting to know Bach’s work can be a lifelong endeavor and when you consider that he lived 329 years ago, it’s difficult to overstate his influence on Western culture. As large as he looms over the arts, he was a flesh and blood man with his own share of heartaches:

He was nine years old when he lost both parents. He was twelve when his brother, the person to whom he was closest, died. He didn’t even have the chance to say goodbye to his first wife whom he loved dearly – she died while he was traveling for work. Of his 20 children, he had to bury ten. I find it more interesting to ask how he managed – despite all of this suffering – to create such an extensive oeuvre? – Dr. Peer Abilgaard

Johann Sebastian Bach is known to have inscribed his musical manuscripts with “S. D. G.” “Soli Deo Gloria,” Latin for “To God alone be the glory.”

The following is an extraordinary playlist of Bach’s works by The Scrolling Bach Project or gerubach. Their goal is to create a free online library of Bach’s entire collection of compositions in a scrolling video format. This is truly amazing. At the bottom of the player you can scroll through the various videos.

Because of legal concerns, you may need to click through to Youtube if prompted. However, I’ve noticed if I click the ‘next’ button it will begin to play…

The B Minor Mass. A complete performance on period instruments: