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"It was as a performer that Bach was perhaps best-known in his day. He was a master of the keyboard instruments of his day, particularly the Organ, Harpsichord and Clavichord. When the "well-tempered" method of tuning was adopted for the early stringed keyboard instruments, Bach was inspired to compose his 48 preludes and fugues (now usually played on the modern piano). He was a prolific composer of keyboard works for these instruments, of suites and other works for orchestras and cantatas and other works for singers. Although he occasionally traveled to entertain and meet other musicians, much of his life was spent heading up a cottage industry creating works required for various occasions as demanded by his employment at the time.
As per the baroque style, much of his music is contrapuntal in nature meaning that several independent voices are used to weave a tapestry of sound. The king of this polyphonic style is the fugue where rules dictate a certain structure to the interaction of the voices, yet the skill is within these confines to exhibit creative invention. In some ways this theme of freedom within an ordered world mirrors Bach's lifestyle, and he himself became the supreme master of the fugue. His final work, called the Art of Fugue, demonstrating how he could construct a wide variety of fugues with different numbers of voices from a single musical idea.
The 6 Brandenberg concertos are of a form known as "concerti grossi" which is something a little more unified than a suite, and later to evolve into the symphony, concerto and other works based on sonata form. These concertos are fairly early works in Bach's career yet they exhibit much invention in the use of different instrumental colours. Here is an interesting video made by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra which is an excellent introduction to these wonderful concertos. Among many now famous works, there are his Mass in B minor, the St. John and St. Matthew Passions, the Christmas Oratorio, the Goldberg variations, the Italian concerto (for solo keyboard), Preludes and Fugues for Clavier, and Preludes and Fugues or Toccatas and Fugues for Organ."
-via mfiles.co.uk