Johann Sebastian

Bach
(16851750)
Born in Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany, on
March 21, 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach came
from a family of musicians, stretching back
several generations. His father, Johann
Ambrosius, worked as the town musician in
Eisenach, and it is believed that he taught young
Johann to play the violin.At the age of 7, Bach
went to school where he received religious
instruction and studied Latin and other subjects.
His Lutheran faith would influence his later
musical works. By the time he turned 10, Bach
found himself an orphan after the death of both
of his parents. His older brother Johann
Christoph, a church organist in Ohrdruf, took him in. Johann Christoph provided some
further musical instruction for his younger brother and enrolled him in a local school.
Bach stayed with his brother's family until he was 15.Bach had a beautiful soprano
singing voice, which helped him land a place at a school in Lneburg. Sometime after his
arrival, his voice changed and Bach switched to playing the violin and the harpsichord.
Bach was greatly influenced by a local organist named George Bhm. In 1703, he landed
his first job as a musician at the court of Duke Johann Ernst in Weimar.
There he was a jack-of-all-trades, serving as a violinist at times and filling in for the
official organist in other moments.In 1707, Bach was glad to leave Arnstadt for an
organist position at the Church of St. Blaise in Mhlhausen. This move, however, did not
turn out as well as he had planned. Bach's musical style clashed with the church's pastor.
Bach created complex arrangements and had a fondness for weaving together different
melodic lines.
His pastor believed that church music needed to be simple. One of Bach's most famous
works from this time is the cantata "Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit," also known as
"Actus Tragicus."Little personal correspondence has survived to provide a full picture of
Bach as a person. But the records do shed some light on his character. Bach was devoted
to his family. In 1706, he married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach. The couple had seven
children together, some of whom died as infants. Maria died in 1720 while Bach was
traveling with Prince Leopold. The following year, Bach married asinger named Anna
Magdalena Wlcken. They had thirteen children, more than half of them died as children

George Handel
(16851759)
Baroque composer George Handel was born
February 23, 1685, in Halle, Germany. In 1704
Handel made his debut as an opera composer
with Almira. He produced several operas with
the Royal Academy of Music before forming
the New Royal Academy of Music in 1727.
When Italian operas fell out of fashion, he
started composing oratorios, including Messiah.
George Handel died April 14, 1759, in London,
England.
When Handel was seven years old, he had the
opportunity to play the organ for the dukes
court in Weissenfels. It was there that Handel
met composer and organist Friedrich Wilhelm
Zachow. Zachow was impressed with
Handels potential, and invited Handel to
become his pupil. Under the tutelage of Zachow, Handel mastered composing for the
organ, the oboe and the violin alike by the time he was 10 years old. From the age of 11
to the time he was 16 or 17 years old, Handel composed church cantatas and chamber
music that, being written for a small audience, failed to garner much attention and have
since been lost to time.
In 1704 Handel made his debut as an opera composer, writing his very first opera,
<em>Almira</em>. The opera was successful and achieved a 20-performance run. After
composing several more successful operas, in 1706 Handel decided to try his hand in
Italy. While in Italy, Handel composed the operas Rodrigo and Agrippina, which were
produced in 1701 and 1709 respectively. He also managed to write more than a few
dramatic chamber works during his trip to Italy.
in the spring of 1737, Handel had a stroke that impaired the movement of his right hand.
His fans worried that he would never compose again. But after only six weeks of
recuperation in Aix-la-Chapelle, Handel was fully recovered. He went back to London
and not only returned to composing, but made a comeback at playing the organ as well.
On April 14, 1759, George Handel died in bed at his rented house at 25 Brook
Street, in the Mayfair district of London. The Baroque composer and organist was
74 years old.Handel was known for being a generous man, even in death. His will
divided his assets among his servants and several charities, including the
Foundling Hospital. He even donated the money to pay for his own funeral so
that none of his loved ones would bear the financial burden.

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

(1525-1594)
Giovanni Palestrina was born on 3rd February
1525 in Palestrina, near Rome. He went to
Rome in 1537. There is only scanty
information available about his early life and
many of them are assumptions. One
assumption is that he was assigned to sell his
family farm products on the streets of Rome
and used to sing songs while he walked
around the streets. Once, while Palestrina was
doing so, the choir master of Santa Maria
heard his song and, impressed with the boys
vocal talents, started training him in music.
Later, Palestrina appointed chorister at the
Santa Maria Maggiore basilica. Another belief
was that he received his musical training from
Claude Goudimel. However, this argument is now turned down because recent scholars
researching Goudimal discovered that he had never been to Rome. Some others believe
that Palestrina could also have been trained by Jacques Arcadlet and famous French
musicians Robin Mallapart and Firmin Lebel were his fellows there. He remained in
Rome during most of his career.
Palestrina worked as an organist in St. Agapito, the principal church in his home town,
from 1544 to 1551. He became maestro di cappella in St. Peters papal choir. It was
around this time that he published his first book of Masses which won great appreciation,
notably from Pope Julius III. The Pope was so deeply impressed with Palestrinas skills
that he offered him the position of music director of the Julian Chapel. Palestrinas book
on Masses was the first ever book in his native, written on this subject.
Palestrina became the director of other chapels and churches in Rome and the most
notable one among them is the position with St. John Lateran (he took up a post which
was previously assigned to Lassus) from 1555-1560. He was not happy with his food and
accommodation facilities offered for his choir boys and left the job. He then joined Santa
Maria Maggiore in 1561. He was also appointed as music director in a newly formed
seminary in 1566 but, with a salary lesser than what he received from Maria Maggiore.
The only attractive part of this offer was that his sons were enrolled at the institution. He
left this job after some time and then joined Cardinal Ippolito d'Este II as music director.
He remained there for 4 years after which he returned to St. Peters and spent his
remaining life there.
Palestrina died in 1594 in Rome as a result of acute pleurisy. He was buried in Romeon
the same day of his death. He was given his last salutation with a five-part psalm.