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Research dossier · People & Ideas

List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach

Wikimedia list of musical works by composer

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 6, 2026
Entity authorityQ375345 ↗
Source-derived summary

Johann Sebastian Bach's vocal music includes cantatas, motets, masses, Magnificats, Passions, oratorios, four-part chorales, songs and arias. His instrumental music includes concertos, suites, sonatas, fugues, and other works for organ, harpsichord, lute, violin, viola da gamba, cello, flute, chamber ensemble, and orchestra.

There are over 1,000 known compositions by Bach. Almost all are listed in the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV), which is the best known and most widely used catalogue of Bach's compositions.

Listing Bach's compositions

Some of the early biographies of Johann Sebastian Bach contain lists of his compositions. For instance, his obituary contains a list of the instrumental compositions printed during the composer's lifetime, followed by an approximate list of his unpublished work. The first separately published biography of the composer, by Johann Nikolaus Forkel, follows the same approach: its ninth chapter first lists printed works (adding four-part chorales which had been published in the second half of the 18th century), followed by a rough overview of the unpublished ones. In the first half of the 19th century more works were published, so the next biographies (Schauer and Hilgenfeldt in 1850) had more elaborate appendices listing printed works, referring to these works by publisher, and the number or page number given to the works in these publications. So, for example, the Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major can be indicated as "C. F. Peters Vol. III No.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach” as wikimedia list of musical works by composer. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewStrongest as a route into the people, institutions and dated events that shaped the subject’s public record. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1850—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where List, compositions and Johann can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as wikimedia list of musical works by composer. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 6, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q375345. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1850.

Critical limits

Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach primary sources, List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach archive and List research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “List of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.