Bach's Violin Concerto in E Major, BWV 1042

While serving as choirmaster to a royal court from 1717 to 1723, German composer Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a number of instrumental works. This excerpt from his Violin Concerto in E Major is one of several concertos written by Bach for stringed instruments and basso continuo, a harmony part, or parts, indicated by shorthand notation and a written bass line.

Bach's Goldberg Variations

Between his move to Leipzig in 1723 and his death in 1750, German baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach composed more than 250 church cantatas and wrote a number of important works for the keyboard. The aria and 30 variations known as the Goldberg Variations constituted a return to an earlier fascination with the clavier and contrapuntal composition. This excerpt from the aria introduces the harmonic structure and bass line on which the variations are based. The Goldberg Variations stand as an extraordinary example of Bach's extraordinary example of Bach's lyrical wit and technical prowess.

Bach's St. Matthew Passion

The culmination of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach's sacred works came with his oratorio St. Matthew Passion, first performed in Leipzig in 1724. Almost every part of this work offers examples of Bach's ability to merge illustrative musical figures with colorful effects. This excerpt from the passage "Wahrlich, dieser ist Gottes Sohn gewesen" (Truly This Was the Son of God) is from one of the most beautiful choral segments in the oratorio.

Bach's Toccata in F

The huge catalogue of organ music by German composer Johann Sebastian Bach includes several pairs of toccatas and fugues. The toccata, such as the one heard here, was a rhapsodic, freeform introduction to the more rigorous and measured fugue. Rooted in improvisation, toccatas were generally fast and designed to show off the player's dexterity.

J.S. Bach's Ein Feste Burg

As part of his duties in the German cities of Weimar and Leipzig, composer Johann Sebastian Bach wrote cantatas, long sectional compositions for soloists, chorus, and orchestra performed in church services. Each cantata is based on a Lutheran hymn tune, which is divided into phrases and distributed throughout the work. The cantatas end with a choral setting of the hymn's final verse, as in this example from A Mighty Fortress is Our God (begun 1715).

Bach's Brandenburg Concertos

As Court Kapellmeister (musical director) to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Kothen from 1717 to 1723, Johann Sebastian Bach completed a set of six concertos known as the Brandenburg Concertos. In this excerpt from the third concerto in the key of G, three groups of three stringed instruments each, with basso continuo (continuous bass harmony; string bass and harpsichord in this instance), are eloquently combined, alternated, and contrasted with one another.

Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

German composer Johann Sebastian Bach was considered by many of his peers to be the supreme master of counterpoint (compositional technique pitting note against note or melody against melody). This quality was expressly illustrated in his fugal compositions. In this excerpt from his famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, written in his early years as a court organist, Bach expands on the toccata (short, intricately articulated keyboard movement) form in an elaborately constructed fugue.