None of Johann Sebastian Bach's works were published during his lifetime.

He declined Johann
Matheson's invitation to write an autobiographical sketch for inclusion in the Ehrenpforte. There is little
biographical material in compositions published during his lifetime, the dedication of Frederick the
Great's Musical Quotations being a minor exception. There are, however, several composer letters in
which he provides autobiographical information, including a letter he wrote to Georg Erdmann in 1730
and a letter he attached to the score of the Dresden court exhibition in 1733. [2] Other contemporary
sources are archival reports, for example resolutions city council of Leipzig.[3]

Contemporary publications such as Johann Matteson's Beschützte Orchester, Johann Adolf Scheibe's
Critischer Musicus, and Lorenz Christoph Mitzler's Musikalische Bibliothek write about Bach's music
rather than his life.[4][5][6] Bach's entry in Johann Gottfried Walter's 1732 Lexicon is a rare exception in
providing biographical information about the composer.