of Saint Michael in Lneburg. In 1703 he became a violinist in the chamber orchestra of Prince Johann Ernst of Weimar, but later that year he moved to Arnstadt, where he became church organist. In October 1705, Bach secured a one-month leave of absence in order to study with the renowned Danish-born German organist and composer Dietrich Buxtehude, who was then in Lbeck and whose organ music greatly influenced Bach's. In 1707 he married his second cousin, Maria Barbara Bach, and went to Mlhausen as organist in the Church of Saint Blasius. He went back to Weimar to spend the next year as organist and violinist at the court of Duke Wilhelm Ernst and remained there for the next nine years, becoming concertmaster of the court orchestra in 1714. Bach moved to Leipzig in 1723 and spent the rest of his life there. Bach found his job as musical director and choirmaster of Saint Thomas's church and church school in Leipzig unsatisfactory in several ways. He had constant disagreements with the town council, and neither the council nor the populace appreciated his musical genius. Bach's sight began to fail in the last year of his life, and he died on July 28, 1750, after undergoing an unsuccessful eye operation. Posthumously, Bach was remembered as an virtuoso organist rather than a composer of great skill and importance, as he was one of the most highly skilled organists who ever lived. A revival of interest in Bachs works came with the admiration of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven and Mendelssohns arrangement for a performance of the Passion of St. Matthew in 1829. Bach was largely self-taught in musical composition. Bach's music is significant because of the high level of intellect in his compositions. Bach was greatly skilled at writing programme music, such as an undulating melody to represent the sea, or a canon to describe the Christians following the teaching of Jesus. Bach was one of the most prolific composers. His music ...
