While working as organist at the New Church in Arnstadt, Bach was dissatisfied with the quality of the student orchestra. Not one to mince words, he called one student named Geyersbach a "Zippel Fagottist" (weenie bassoon player). A few days later, Geyersbach attacked Bach with a stick. Bach filed a complaint with the authorities, who acquitted Geyersbach with a minor reprimand and ordered Bach to be more moderate regarding the musical qualities he expected from his students.

Although the accuracy of his account has been questioned by some historians, Bach's earliest biographer claimed that the Goldberg Variations were composed to help Count Hermann Karl von Keyserling overcome insomnia. To show his gratitude, the Count is said to have presented Bach with a golden goblet filled with 100 Louis d'or.

Described as a mini comic opera, "Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht" ("Be still, stop chattering") concerns the protagonist's addiction to coffee and was most likely first performed in a Leipzig coffee house.

In May 1747, Bach visited the court of King Frederick II of Prussia. The king played a theme for Bach and challenged him to improvise a fugue based on his theme. Bach obliged, playing a three-part fugue on one of Frederick's fortepianos, which was a new type of instrument at the time. Upon his return to Leipzig, he composed a set of fugues and canons, and a trio sonata, based on the Thema Regium (theme of the king). Within a few weeks this music was published as The Musical Offering and dedicated to Frederick.

The beautiful strains of George Frideric Handel's "Messiah" and Johann Sebastian Bach's "Christmas Oratorio" evoke a very different picture from the dark bond the two composers shared: Each was blinded by botched cataract surgery at the hands of the great charlatan Chevalier Taylor. Handel survived the surgery at least, but a post-operative infection likely killed Bach.

Johann Sebastian Bach had two wives and a total of 20 children. Sadly, only half of those children survived to adulthood. But of those 10, four became notable composers.

Bach composed an incredible 1,128 pieces of music, not counting a further 23 works which were lost or unfinished. His best-known compositions include The Well-Tempered Clavier, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, Air on the G String, the Goldberg Variations, the Brandenburg Concertos, and many more.

The manuscript of the Brandenburg Concertos was nearly lost in World War II while being transported to Prussia for safekeeping. The train came under aerial bombardment, and a librarian escaped from the train to a nearby forest, with the scores hidden under his coat.