The London Bach Society was founded in 1946 by Paul Steinitz who, at that time, was organist of St Peter's Church, Dulwich Common.
It was obvious to Steinitz that such huge choirs could not achieve the clarity required nor balance appropriately with the small orchestras of period instruments the composer would have used.
This amateur choir was trained to a high standard, and for the next two decades was the backbone of the Society, not only performing the vocal works by Bach but also those of his contemporaries including Handel and Telemann, and early Baroque composers such as Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672).
With other groups like London Sinfonietta and the Nash Ensemble emerging that were better equipped to promote New Music, Dr. Steinitz felt able to focus his full attention on the completion of the Bach cantata cycle now into its third decade.
However, there was one final commission, funded by the Arts Council, from Christopher Brown, to write a cantata as part of Paul Steinitz's 75th birthday series in 1984.
In 1989, a year after Steinitz's death, the decision was taken to disband the amateur choir and to continue in the way that Steinitz had already begun as early as 1976 in the BBC recording studio: a gradual reduction of the choral forces for Bach's vocal works to lead eventually to employing very small groups of professional singers, and with boys’ voices where possible - the latter first revealed with the participation in a BBC recording of cantatas by Salisbury Cathedral Choir in 1979.
These would provide the appropriate vocal forces to balance with small groups of period instruments and be both a natural progression and an expression of the Society's underlying musical principles.
Building on Steinitz' musical legacy, the events and programmes attempt to place Bach's works in context with his life and times, complemented by those of his antecedents and contemporaries.
In 2010 the Society launched a new long-term development plan to locate to a central headquarters from which to operate, house its considerable Library and Archive and promote some new activities.
Memberships have ceased to be offered since 2013 when further step-changes in fund-raising were implemented that created a new donor scheme - Bach Friends - and widened the range of sources to tap for financial support as the funding market itself continued to evolve.