Bach Early Years

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I should mention that we have been extremely lucky with weather! Mostly sunny days with daytime temperatures around 70 and cool evenings. We used Eisenach as a base to visit three additional towns:

Ohrdruf is a lovely and quiet town of about 6,200 about 30 miles from Eisenach. As I mentioned, it was here that Bach moved to live with his brother Christoph at the age of ten after the deaths of his parents. Unfortunately, the only thing left from that period which can be linked to Bach is the tower of St. Michael's church where Christoph was organist. The church was destroyed by Allied bombs in 1945 and not rebuilt.

The next chronological stop for Bach was Luneburg about 200 miles north of Eisenach. We will visit this town on our way to Norway.

Arnstadt is a town of about 25,000 about 35 miles from Eisenach. Bach got his first real job here as organist at the "New Church" (Neuekirke) which actually was quite new at the time. It was renamed the "Bach Church" in 1935. The old part of Arnstadt is a typical 17th century town and well maintained. It is a great town to just stroll around.

Muhlhausen has a population of about 33,000 and is about 40 miles from Eisenach. You can already see that Bach's early life was confined to a very small geographic area (with the exception of Luneburg).

Now, on to Leipzig!

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Photos

Tower of St. Michael's Church Ohrdruf
We happened to be there when the bell service person was doing his work and got a lovely and unexpected concert!

The New Church (now Bach Church) Arnstadt
This is one of the least impressive exteriors of any of the churches where Bach worked. Very plain and no tower.

New Church Altar
But the inside is beautiful!

New Church Arnstadt Organ
Of course, I can't resist the organs in these churches. This is obviously not the instrument played by Bach. But when it was last rebuilt it was done in a design typical of the early 18th century. Much of the casework IS original.

Original Organ Console New Church Arnstadt
This is in the Arnstadt Bach museum where all exhibits were only described in Germany! Still interesting.

Dornheim Village Church
Where Bach married Maria Barbara his first wife. Only a few kilometers from Arnstadt from which the wedding party walked.

Dornheim Church Entrance
Dornheim has only a few hundred residents and it was pleasant just to sit in the quiet courtyard.

Bach and Me Again
It seems that every location in Germany that had any connection to J.S. Bach has at least a bust of him.

Bach and Me In Muhlhausen
This is one of the newer statues of Bach which portrays him as a young man. He was only 22 when he became organist here.

Divi Blasius Again
Bach proposed a plan to expand and upgrade the organ here which was accepted by the council.

St Mary's Church (Marienkirke) Muhlhausen
Bach would likely have performed here as well. It was the official church of the town council.