Johann sebastian bach biography video for students

Johann Sebastian Bach was and is the Baroque period's most notable export. Thanks to early organ lessons, a knack for melody and a timely renaissance, he's still as relevant today as he was at the time, if not more.

Master of the Baroque period, composer of some of the world's best-known music, organ-tinkler extraordinaire and father of 20 children - Johann Sebastian Bach was an impressive man in every sense.

But what was so great about him apart from that? Why was it him and not the various other composers in his family that still enjoys a reputation today? 

St Matthew Passion rediscovered

Well, it could easily have been someone else that enjoyed the notoriety Bach does today.

Presumably, if he still were alive in 1829, he would have to give a gruff 'Danke' to Mendelssohn, who gave Bach's St Matthew Passion its first airing in over 100 years - before then, he was very much out of fashion, a relic. Mendelssohn (and others) helped to give Bach ne