Scan 50
The American history and encyclopedia of music, 1910
7 lines. Read by computer on 7 September 2026. Printed page 28. See the scan on archive.org.
1Bach
2these towns they held their family meetings, when they all gathered and exchanged musical knowledge and gave musical performances. Their thorough musical training was handed down from one to another, the older members teaching the younger and the younger taking up the musical positions as they became vacant, until finally, the town musicians were called, "The Bachs," even if they belonged to an entirely different family. Their most notable characteristics as a family were their great devotion to each other, their intense patriotism and their profound and absorbing love of music. The Bach family became extinct, in 1846, when Wilhelm F. E. Bach died. Hans Bach, "the player," the son of Veit Bach, was the great grandfather of Johann Sebastian, his grandfather being Christoph, town-musician of Erfurt and of Arnstadt, and his father Johann Ambrosius, was also town musician and a violinist of ability.
4Johann Sebastian Bach was born at Eisenach, probably March 21, as he was baptized on March 23. His life as a child was very simple, but from his infancy he was surrounded by a strong musical atmosphere and the most intense German Protestant religious influence, and both of these things had a great effect upon his development and upon his music. He received his first musical instruction, which was on the violin, from his father. When he was ten years old both of his parents died and left him to the care of Johann Christoph, his older brother, who was organist at Ohrdruf and a pupil of Pachelbel. This brother now became Sebastian's teacher, but it was not long until the pupil had absorbed all of the teacher's knowledge and still longed for more, but the brother seems to have discouraged rather than have encouraged this talent. Beside the organ, Sebastian worked upon the clavichord and harpsichord and made most rapid progress, so rapid, in fact, that his brother Christoph has been accused of jealousy, even to the extent of keeping from the boy the fine collection of manuscript organ music, which he owned and which Sebastian longed most ardently to study. So great was the boy's eagerness to possess this music, that he got hold of it by stealth at night and copied it all by moonlight, but only to have it destroyed by his stern elder brother, when discovered. This copying took six months and the strain on his eyes, thus caused, is said to have resulted in the blindness, which came upon him later in life. The amount of good music which he absorbed while doing this work must, however, have had great influence on his musical development. At the age of fifteen, Sebastian, who had a fine voice, obtained a position in the choir of St. Michael's School at Lüneburg, and from this time on depended upon himself and worked out his own salvation in his musical career. During the three years spent here he had opportunity to study, beside vocal music, the organ, the clavichord and the violin and also to hear much good music. While at Lüneburg, he made several journeys on foot to Hamburg to hear the famous organists, Reinken and Vincenz Lubeck, who were playing there. He also frequently visited Celle and became familiar with the French music of that place.
6In 1703, Bach was appointed violinist in the Court Orchestra of Prince Johann Ernst of Weimar, but could have remained only a few months, for, when visiting Arnstadt in the summer of the same year, he was appointed organist of the new church of that place. Bach remained at Arnstadt three years and during that time, having a good organ to play and a choir for which to compose, he produced some works of importance, but had much trouble with the church authorities, who wanted an organist and not a composer. He began at this time some of his church cantatas, which later grew into a long series and also wrote his odd Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother, when his elder brother, Johann Jakob, left to join the Swedish Guard as oboe-player. Each movement of this piece has a descriptive title and it is the only one of all of Bach's works that can be called program music. From Arnstadt, he made his famous journey on foot to Lübeck to hear the organist, Dietrich Buxtehude. He had leave of absence for four weeks, but was so fascinated by the music which he heard that he stayed four months. This, together with the liberties which he took with the service in the way of improvising, brought upon him the severe criticism of the Arnstadt church authorities,
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