Anna Magdalena Bach’s autograph of Menuet in G, 1725

Today is the 330th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Like so many of us, I first encountered his music as a child.  I don’t actually remember the first time I heard it – it might have been at church, it might have been in a piano lesson.  I am pretty certain that the first piece that I became aware of and associated with his name was Menuet in G.  It was only years later that I learned that scholars actually now believe this piece was written by Christian Petzold (1677-1733), but no matter.  Sebastian is still credited as the composer in most piano books one will encounter, and if it was good enough for his children…

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