BACH, JOHANN SEBASTIAN, a most original and learned composer of music, was born at Eisenach, March 21, 1685, and died at Leipzig, July 30, 1750. His works were very numerous, but many of them have been lost, and many others still remain in manuscript; although, fortunately, a number of his best works have been printed. His published works alone prove his powers of invention and construction to have been prodigious. His compositions consist chiefly of sacred music, and pieces for the organ and harpsichord. He composed no dramatic music. Many persons believe that Gluck was the first great German composer of recitatives; but this error is made evident by Bach's Grosse Passionsmusik, published in score, at Berlin, in 1830. In knowledge of instrumentation and instrumental effects, he was far in advance of his contemporaries. As a fugue writer and an extempore composer, he was unequalled; while as an organ and harpsichord player he had no rival but Handel. What he wrote was to please himself and not the public, whose favour he never courted. He was twice married, and had eleven sons and nine daughters. All his sons became professional musicians, but only three or four of them distinguished themselves as composers. (G. F. G.)