Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/215

 BACH 195 of the Merchants' church of his native city, Eisenach, of a church in Magdeburg, and in 1703 successor of Johann Christoph as court and city organist at the former place. He distinguished himself especially in his choral preludes, and by his overtures in Telemann's style. Xt Johann Sebastian, in some respects the greatest musician that has lived, third ani youngest son of Johann Ambrosius, born at Eisenach, March 21, 1685, one month after the birth of Handel at Halle, died at Leipsic, July 30, 1750. At a very early age he lost his mother, and had hardly completed his 10th year when his father died also. The little or- phan was then placed under the care of his brother Johann Christoph, organist at Ohrdruff. with whom he continued his musical studies and began the practice of keyed instruments the harpsichord and organ. His pupilage here was short, being ended by the death of Chris- toph, which occurred shortly afterward. He then found a place as treble singer in a choir at Luneburg, not many miles from Hamburg, remaining there until his voice changed, with the advantages of an excellent school and the best musical instruction, and in the receipt of a small stipend, yet sufficient for his boyish necessities. His enthusiasm for the organ and his zeal for music in other forms and styles, at this period, are sufficiently attested by his foot journeys to Hamburg to hear Reinke, the great organist, and to Celle to listen to the French band in the service of the prince. With the change in his voice came the loss of his place and the necessity of entering upon a new field. Like Handel, he had studied the violin, and it was now his resource. At the age of 18 he journeyed to Weimar, and entered the service of the court there as violinist. His leisure hours were still devoted to the organ, to coun- terpoint, and composition, and in less than two years, though hardly 20 years of age, he was called to Arnstadt to fill the place of organist, probably in the church where his father's uncle Heinrich had so long officiated. The three years spent in Arnstadt were years of most devoted study, and during that time he devel- oped those powers which afterward placed him above all rivalry. Besides the labor which he devoted to the working out of his own con- ceptions, he let nothing escape him which ap- peared from the pens of Bruhns, Reinke, and Buxtehude. He was so charmed with the works of the last named that he went to Lu- beck to hear him play, and prolonged his visit to a stay of three months, merely to listen to him in the church, for his acquaintance he did not make. In 1707 he accepted a call to Muhl- liausen, and the following year returned to Weimar in the capacity of court organist. En- couraged by the continued applause of the court, ', he exerted himself to the utmost, and his prin- cipal compositions for the organ date during the seven years of his service there. In 1714 he became concert master to the duke, with the additional duty of composing and conducting the , i vocal music of the ducal chapel. Here, doubt- less, began the enormous list of works in every form of sacred music, which, mostly in manu- script, are preserved in the musical libraries I of Berlin, Leipsic, and other cities. Here, too, he had constant practice in writing orchestral works and instrumental chamber music, and fit- ted himself for a larger stage of action. In 1717 Marchand, then at the head of French organ- ists, appeared in Dresden, and charmed King Augustus so greatly by his skill as to receive an offer of a very large salary to enter his ser- vice. Volumier, also a Frenchman, the con- cert master of the king, invited Bach to the capital to a trial of skill with Marchand. The Saxon accepted the invitation, and through the kindness of Volumier had an opportunity of hearing his rival. With the knowledge and consent of Augustus, Bach sent his challenge to the French artist, which was accepted. At the time fixed, Bach appeared at the house of the minister where the contest was to take place. The king and company waited long, but Mar- chand came not. At length came news that he had left the city early that day by extra post. The greatness of the German organist, however, more than made good the loss. Bach returned to Weimar, but soon after accepted the office of kapellmeister to the court at Kothen, where he remained, composing for and directing the or- chestra, till 1723, when the city authorities of Leipsic elected him to the position of musi- cal director and cantor of the Thomas school. At the age of 38, then, Bach, rich in all that study of theory, hearing the best models of his age and country, practice as member and leader of orchestras, and constant exercise in composition for church and concert room, could give him, devoted himself to teaching and to the working out of his lofty conceptions of the musical art. Twenty-seven years he thus lived and labored, surrounded by his pu- pils and his large family of sons, composing music sacred and secular in all the forms then known except the opera and dramatic oratorio, and leaving as the fruits of those years a mass of compositions which, for number, variety, and excellence, form perhaps the most astonish- ing monument of musical genius and learning. Mozart and Handel alone can at all come in competition with him in this regard. Of the few works from his pen which appeared in his lifetime, most are said to have been engraved upon copper by himself with the assistance of his son Friedemann, and this labor, added to his others so numerous, finally cost him his sight. A few years later, at the age of 65, an attack of apoplexy carried him to the tomb. He was twice married, and left 10 sons, all of them fine musicians, and several of them among the very first of that great period in the history of the art of which Mozart, Haydn, and Gluck were the chief ornaments. This great musician had no cause to complain of a want of due apprecia- tion, either as organist or composer. Very soon after his establishment in Leipsic, the duke of