Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the Baroque era, born in Eisenach in 1685 and active as an organist, cantor and court composer across various German centres in the early 18th century. His compositions, spanning liturgical works, keyboard music, chamber and orchestral pieces, are characterised by intricate counterpoint, dense harmonic organisation and rigorous formal structures, and they played a central role in the development of Western classical music after the Baroque period.
