connection with this family there is no certainty—was Johann David of Stargard in Pomerania, who printed a book of chants in 1831.—G. A. M.
Bach, Johann Sebastian, the great musician, not only the most distinguished of his remarkable family, but one of the most illustrious men in the history of the art, was born at Eisenach on the 21st of March, 1685, and died at Leipzig on the 30th of July, 1750. His father, Johann Ambrosius, was one of twin brothers, who were so much alike in person and voice that their wives could only know one from the other by their dress; their temper, their constitution, their talent, and their music were alike; when one was sick the other was ill, and their death took place very nearly at the same time. This occurred when Sebastian was but ten years old, whose elder brother, Johann Christoph, took him under his protection, and taught him the principles of the art for which his family was famous, and in which himself was destined to become pre-eminently distinguished. It is not to be supposed, however, that in the household of his father, a musician, he had not made the early familiarity with music, without which even his marvellous organization could not have been developed. His own ardent love of his pursuit, and his brother's want of sympathy with this, are equally proved by an anecdote of his desire to study some of the compositions of the most profound writers of the day, and his being forbidden the use of a volume which contained them. He procured the book, however, by stealth, and copied the valued pieces, which, as he was obliged to do in secret, he could only write on moonlight nights, and thus spent six months upon the task. He had scarcely finished his labour, when his brother discovered the transcript and took it from him, and he did not regain it until shortly afterwards the death of Christoph left the boy again without a protector. In this destitute condition he went with a schoolfellow to Luneburg, and obtained there an engagement as treble singer in the choir of St. Michael's school, which he kept till his voice broke. With enthusiasm that no difficulties could check, he walked several times to Hamburg to hear the performances of Reinken the famous organist, and also to Zell to witness those of the prince's band, losing no opportunity that could afford him gratification from or improvement in his beloved art. When he was eighteen, he was engaged to play the violin in the band of the duke of Weimar, and it was probably then that he became acquainted with the concertos of Vivaldi, to which he always attributed his ideas of the principles of musical construction that he subsequently developed to such completeness as makes his works a model of form for all time. Especially devoted to the organ as an instrument, and anxious for the field in which to exercise his wonderful powers of invention, he gladly quitted the duke's service in the following year, to accept the office of organist at Arnstadt, in which, for the first time, he had an opportunity to prove his remarkable ability. While in this situation he made several art-pilgrimages, for the sake of hearing any player from whose experiences he might derive any improvement. In particular, he once walked to Lubeck, where the celebrated Buxtehude was organist of St. Mary's church, with whose playing and composition he was so delighted that he prolonged his stay for three months. In 1707 he was appointed organist of the church of St. Blasius at Mühlhausen, in which place we may suppose he married his relative, the daughter of Johann Michael Bach of Gehren, by whom he had seven children. The year following he returned to Weimar, no more in the subordinate capacity of an orchestra player, but in the important character of organist. His reputation as an executant, as a composer, and as an extemporist, began now to spread itself all over Germany, and his unremitting study gave ever further justification to the high esteem in which he was held. In 1717 Prince Leopold of Anhalt Köthen, a great lover of music, observing and appreciating the rare talent of Bach, offered him the office of master of his chapel and director of his concerts, which, as giving him still greater opportunity than he had yet enjoyed, he gladly accepted. On the death of Zachau, the master of Handel, Bach was invited to succeed him as organist at Halle, and went there to prove his fitness for the appointment; but, for some unknown reason, the post was given to Kirchhoff, a pupil of the former organist. About this time Marchand, a French player, was exciting great admiration in the court of Dresden; and it was proposed that Bach should make a trial of skill with him, to prove the superiority of French or German art. Accordingly Bach went to Dresden, and having heard his rival, and so satisfied himself that he was worthy to compete with him, sent him a most courteous challenge, which Marchand accepted. On the appointed day Bach appeared before the elector and his retinue; but Marchand, after he had been long waited for, was ascertained to have suddenly quitted the city, and thus left the field to his opponent, who made such a performance as satisfied all present of his incomparable ability. In 1722 he revisited Hamburg, for the purpose of again hearing the veteran Reinken, then nearly a hundred years old. It was not as a mere listener that he now met the master; he was on this occasion to prove himself a noble successor to the old man's reputation, which he did by extemporizing at great length, and with such effect as only his wonderful genius could produce, on one of the Lutheran chorals, or tunes, when Reinken exclaimed, "I thought this art would die with me; but here I find it has a more able representative." In this year Bach's first publication appeared; for, although from a very early period he had with ceaseless assiduity studied and practised composition, and thus developed the style entirely his own, it was not until his thirty-eighth year that one of his works was printed. This may have been because of the less frequency of publication at that time than at present; because he never wrote anything for popularity, and so there could not have been a general demand for his music; and because it was his habit so carefully to perfectionize what he wrote by correction and recorrection, that he must have been reluctant to let a work pass through the press, as this would be an obstacle to further improvement. Even this first publication, the first part of "Das Wohltemperirte Clavier," known in England as the "Forty-eight Preludes and Fugues" (the latter half of which was written some years later,) which was reprinted three times during his life, underwent very important modifications in each successive edition. With reference to this work it is appropriate to state, that Bach liked especially to play upon the clavichord, "a portable keyed instrument of small power, which, unlike the harpsichord, yielded more or less tone according to the force used by the player;" and that, disregarding the custom which had prevailed until his day, of writing in a few keys only, and tuning keyed instruments so as to render these nearly perfect at the expense of the rest, he used to tune this with equal temperament, a task he never would trust to another, and which he accomplished with singular rapidity. It is also to be remarked, that he was the first who used the thumb and the fourth finger in fingering on the pianoforte key-board; and his preludes and fugues in each of the twelve major and twelve minor keys, exemplify as well his method of tuning as his system of fingering. In 1723, the most important event in his career, his appointment to the organ of St. Thomas' school in Leipzig, obliged him to resign his engagement with Prince Leopold, who, however, remained his warm friend till he died, when Bach wrote a funeral cantata for his obsequies. In his new situation, the master, now generally acknowledged as such, had a larger field of action than he had yet enjoyed. His playing became more and more famous, and he had constant opportunity for the production of important works.
His income was soon increased by his additional appointment as composer to the duke of Weissenfels; he had many pupils for composition and for playing; he was frequently engaged to judge new organs, and to elect organists, and he now published numerous works. Many as were these sources of income, the expenses of his numerous family, and his hospitality to the artists from all countries who visited him, necessitated frugality in his household; but though he might, had he travelled as a player, have gained riches and honours wherever he went, since there was no one who could equal him as an executant, he preferred the simple life with its simple means, which enabled him to labour uninterruptedly in his art, and to win the personal regard of all who had occasion to meet him. His playing on his favourite clavichord was remarkable for the beauty of his touch, and the depth of his expression; his playing on the organ was widely distinguished from this, as were his compositions for the one from those for the other, by the breadth and grandeur characteristic of this comprehensive instrument; and he had a peculiar felicity in the choice and combination of the stops, which gave an entirely unique effect to his performance. He now wrote the greater part of his enormous number of church compositions, including most of his motets and church cantatas, and his services for every Sunday and festival day for five years, for the use of his choir. Though he never wrote what we now would esteem as light music, he was not without relish for the
