Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany, into a large family of musicians. Orphaned at ten, he was raised by his older brother, an organist, and became a fine organist and violinist himself. He held posts as church organist in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen, then as court musician in Weimar and Köthen, where he wrote the Brandenburg Concertos and much music for keyboard and solo instruments. In 1723 he became cantor of St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, responsible for music in the city's main churches and for teaching at the school, and he stayed there for the rest of his life. For Sunday services he wrote hundreds of cantatas, as well as the St. John and St. Matthew Passions, the Mass in B minor and the Christmas Oratorio. He often wrote the letters SDG, for Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone the glory, on his scores. He married twice and had twenty children, several of whom became composers. After his death in 1750 he was little performed until Mendelssohn revived the St. Matthew Passion in 1829.

Faith: Lutheran composer who built many of his greatest works on Luther's chorales. Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica (9th ed.) (via Wikisource)