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Published: June 14th 2017
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Kartoffelhaus
House of Potatoes! Thuringian food is characterized by potatoes and sausage. We ate a great meal here our first night in Eisenach. The main purpose of this part of the trip is to visit the various cities and locations where J.S. Bach lived or worked. As I have mentioned, most of these places are within a relatively small area of Thuringia. Our travel logistics did not allow us to necessarily visit them in chronological order. I will try to give a brief outline for those who are interested.
He was born in Eisenach March 23, 1685. Both of his parents died within months of each other when he ten years old.
He then went to live with his older brother Johann Christoph who was organist at St. Michaels Church in a small town called Ohrdruf. Christoph was a student of Johann Pachelbel. Sebastian certainly got his basic musical training in Eisenach but he really developed his keyboard skills under the tutelage of his brother. The Mikaeliuskirke was destroyed twice by fire in its history and rebuilt. It was ultimately destroyed by Allied bombs in 1945 and has not been rebuilt. Only the church tower remains.
At the age of 15 he and a friend traveled about 200 miles north to the town of Luneburg where he attended St. Michael's School
Spargel
We kept seeing signs referring to Spargel and finally found out it is white asparagus which is a seasonal delicacy in the area and it was in season. Very tasty. on a singing "scholarship". While in Luneburg he was exposed to two of the greatest organists and composers of the time: Johann Adam Reinken in Hamburg and Dietrich Buxtehude in Lubeck.
In 1702 he left Luneburg and took his first job as a "lackey" in the court at Weimar. It was common for court musicians at the time to also serve in other capacities.
He spent only six months at Weimar and in August of 1703 at the age of 18 he took his first "real" job as organist at the New Church in Arnstadt. This was a very prestigious position at the time. It is also where he had one of his most famous incidents. He was granted permission to leave for a month to spend time in Lubeck (probably to study with Buxtehude) but remained absent for four months!
In July 1707, Bach accepts an even more prestigious position as city organist in the town of Muhlausen. By all accounts he was very happy there and was on good terms with the council. They approved a new organ to Bach's specifications.
However, after just a year in Muhlhausen, Bach accepted the position of Court
Bachhaus Museum
This is the best Bach museum we have come across. The building on the left was originally thought to be Bach's birthplace. But, it was later discovered not to be so. It definitely a house from the period. The modern addition was completed in 2007. The museum contains a wonderful collection of original instruments which are demonstrated on the hour. Organist in Weimar where just six years before he had been a lackey. He remained in Weimar for over nine years during which he received several promotions and increases in salary. He probably composemany of his major organ works there.
In December of 1717 Bach accepts the position of Capellmeister in the ducal court at Kothen. Capellmeister means roughly "director of all music" and was the highest level a professional musician could attain at the time. Prince Leopold was very interested in music and funded a first class group of musicians. Bach himself in one of the few letters from him that remain commented that he could "stay in Kothen the rest of his life".
Alas, the musical situation in Kothen deteriorated over time and in May of 1723 Bach took the position of Cantor at St. Thomas church and music director for the entire city of Leipzig. This was certainly a prestigious position and Leipzig was one of the most important cities in Germany at the time. It offered the additional attraction of a major university for Bach's children. Bach remained in Leipzig until his death in 1750.
I will briefly comment on each of these
in future blogs.
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