Johann Bernhard Bach was a German composer, and second cousin of J. S. Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

. He was born in Erfurt

Erfurt

Erfurt is the capital city of Thuringia and the main city nearest to the geographical centre of Germany, located 100 km SW of Leipzig, 150 km N of Nuremberg and 180 km SE of Hannover. Erfurt Airport can be reached by plane via Munich. It lies in the southern part of the Thuringian...

, and his early musical education was by his father, Johann Aegidus Bach

Johann Aegidus Bach

Johann Aegidus Bach was the father of the composer Johann Bernhard Bach, and organist and municipal orchestra director of Erfurt, Germany. He was Johann Sebastian Bach's uncle and Johannes Bach's son. He was a violist and performer in the Stadtmusikanten Kompagnie in Erfurt...

. He took up his position as organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

ist in Erfurt in 1695, and then took a similar position in Magdeburg

Magdeburg

Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....

. He replaced Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach , the ninth son of Johann Sebastian Bach, sometimes referred to as the "Bückeburg Bach"...

 as organist in Eisenach

Eisenach

Eisenach is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated between the northern foothills of the Thuringian Forest and the Hainich National Park. Its population in 2006 was 43,626.-History:...

, and also as harpsichord

Harpsichord

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

ist in the court orchestra in 1703. Most of his musical output has been lost, but amongst his surviving music there are four orchestral suites. It is known that J.S. Bach had individual parts prepared for performance by his orchestra.

His musical style has been described as being similar to that of Telemann

Georg Philipp Telemann

Georg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually...

.

The surviving orchestral suites (overture

Overture

Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...

s) are as follows:

• Suite No. 1 in G minor
• Suite No. 2 in G major
• Suite No. 3 in E minor
• Suite No. 4 in D major

They are thought to have been written before 1730.

Surviving keyboard music:

In addition to several organ chorales and 2 chaconne

Chaconne

A chaconne ; is a type of musical composition popular in the baroque era when it was much used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line which offered a compositional outline for variation, decoration, figuration and...

s, there are also 2 fugues by J.B. Bach.

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