Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was not the first famous or well-regarded composer in European history, but many nevertheless see his body of work as the source from which all subsequent Western music flows. For most of his creative life, he served as cantor of St. Thomas Church at Leipzig, from which prestigious post he composed a huge volume of sacred and secular music, much of it for keyboard, though he composed notable oratorios as well. His reputation waned during his lifetime and remained mostly kept alive by other composers until the emerging field of musicology re-examined his work in the late 19th century. In its complexity, rigor, invention, and beauty, his work stands as an apex of musical architecture.

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