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Donald Macleod explores Bach’s role as an employee of the court in Weimar.

Johann Sebastian Bach is often acknowledged as one of the greatest composers of all time and yet, during his lifetime, he was often more famous as an organist. Bach became very much in demand as a performer and a teacher. He was often asked to advise on the design and renovation of expensive church instruments. He composed a great deal of music for organ and was particularly productive during his twenties and early thirties when working at the court in Weimar. All this week Donald Macleod examines Bach’s life and music through the lens of his life-long fascination with the organ, and focusing particularly on his time in Weimar and exploring his role as performer organist, teacher, servant, entrepreneur and composer.

Bach spent much of his early career in service to local aristocrats around central Germany. Musicians were regarded as servants and during Bach’s teens, when he was briefly employed at Weimar, the court accounts describe him as a 'lackey'. Bach returned to Weimar in 1708, as organist to the elder Duke of Saxe-Weimar. There, he spent much time in the Court Chapel, also known as the 'Himmelsburg' or 'Heaven’s Castle', wrestling with the unsatisfactory positioning of the organ relative to the choir. Bach was evidently valued by his employer and promoted to the position of Concertmaster, which gave him more opportunities to compose cantatas. However, Bach increasingly found himself caught in the middle of court disagreements.

Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565
Piet Kee, organ

Concerto for Harpsichord in G minor, BWV 1058
Ton Koopman, harpsichord & director
The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra

Cantata No 162 ‘Ach, ich sehe, itzt, da ich zur Hochzeit gehe’, BWV 162
Yumiko Kurisu, soprano
Yoshikazu Mera, counter-tenor
Makoto Sakurada, tenor
Peter Kooy, bass
Bach Collegium Japan
Masaaki Suzuki, director

Concerto in A minor, BWV 593
Daniel Chorzempa, organ

Produced by Luke Whitlock, for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales