bach

A bachelor.

To live alone and keep house as a bachelor.

German composer and organist of the late baroque period. Among the greatest composers in history, he wrote more than 200 cantatas, the Saint Matthew Passion (1729), the Mass in B minor (1733-1738), orchestral works such as the six Brandenburg Concertos, and numerous works for organ, harpsichord, other solo instruments, and chamber ensembles. Four of his children became noted musicians: Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784); Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788), an important figure in the development of the symphony; Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795); and Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782).