From a blurb for an upcoming public lecture on Bach's cantatas at UC Riverside:
Bach's creative life stretched from the early 1700s till his death in 1750, a time known as the Baroque period in European classical music. Contrary to his somewhat undeserved ultra-religious image, Bach only devoted relatively short periods of this half century to the composition of church music, according to Bach scholar Jan Koster. [emphasis mine] Bach lived in Leipzig, Germany from 1723 until his death in 1750. Bach was a prolific cantata composer, writing more-than 300 cantatas, many in only the first five of years of his time in Leipzig, according to Koster. Many of Bach's cantatas were subsequently lost.Posted by rdhyee at July 13, 2003 05:37 AM