Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was the outstanding member of a family of German musicians who during six generations produced a continuous line of composers. His orchestral music includes 29 concertos including the six Brandenburg Concertos, 21 secular cantatas and a vast quantity of music for organ, clavier and stringed instruments.
Bach also produced a great deal of religious music, which include his Mass in B Minor, four smaller masses, a Magnificat, three Passions and 202 church cantatas. A devout member of the Lutheran Church, his sympathies lay in particular with the Pietist movement.
The German composer believed he could best serve his church and the people around him through his music. Bach defined music as "An agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delights of the soul." He inscribed the scores of his religious music with the letters “JJ”, (“Jesus, Juva” meaning “Jesus help”) at the beginning and “SDG” (“Soli Deo Gloria” meaning “to God alone the glory”) at the end.