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Johann Sebastian Bach: Organists
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Johann Christoph could no longer support his brother[2], and Johann Sebastian was awarded a choral scholarship at the age of 14, probably on the recommendation of Elias Herda, the Ohrdruf cantor[3]. He traveled almost 290km, mostly by foot, with his older school friend, Georg Erdmann,[4] to study at the prestigious St Michael’s School in Lüneburg, not far from the largest city in Germany, the northern seaport of Hamburg. In addition to singing in the a cappella choir, it is likely that he played the School’s three-manual organ and its harpsichords. He probably learned French and Italian, and received a thorough grounding in theology, Latin, history, geography and physics. He would have come into contact with sons of noblemen from northern Germany sent to the highly selective school to prepare for careers in diplomacy, government and the military. It is likely that he had significant contact with organists in Lüneburg, in particular Georg Böhm, and visited several of them in Hamburg, such as Reincken and Bruhns.
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Bach's first music lessons were on the violin, with his father as instructor. Having a beautiful soprano voice, he ... sang in the choir at St. George's Church. On May 3, 1694, his mother died; his father remarried 6 months later but died scarcely 2 months after that. The oldest brother, Johann Christoph, assumed the care of the 10-year-old Johann Sebastian. The boy moved to Ohrdruf to live with his brother, organist at St. Michael's Church. From him Johann Sebastian received his first instruction at the harpsichord and perhaps at the organ.
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While awaiting the completion of the organ at Arnstadt, Sebastian was offered, and accepted the post of violinist in the small chamber orchestra of Duke Johann Ernst, the younger brother of the Duke of Weimar. At Lüneburg he had already experienced church choir music, violin, continuo and organ playing, as well as musical composition and performance in the French style. Here at Weimar he now came into contact with Italian instrumental music, and acted as deputy to the aging Court Organist, Effler, an old friend of the Bach family... having a chance to keep his organ playing in practice. His stay here was short, but he was to return later.
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Being a church organist, Johann Christoph continued Bach's musical studies. He taught Bach harmony, composition, harpsichord, and organ. At the age of 15, Bach won a scholarship to a school that trained choir boys. He sang in the choir as a boy soprano, but when his voice changed he became the church violinist. He ... played the organ and composed music for church services.
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After competing unsuccessfully for an organist's post in Sangerhausen in 1702, Bach spent the spring and summer of 1703 as ‘lackey’ and violinist at the court of Weimar and then took up the post of organist at the Neukirche in Arnstadt. In June 1707 he moved to St Blasius, Mühlhausen, and four months later married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach in nearby Domheim. Bach was appointed organist and chamber musician to the Duke of Saxe-Weimar in 1708, and in the next nine years he became known as a leading organist and composed many of his finest works for the instrument. During this time he fathered seven children, including Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel. When, in 1717, Bach was appointed Kapellmeister at Cöthen he was at first refused permission to leave Weimar and was allowed to do so only after being held prisoner by the duke for almost a month.
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In January 1703, shortly after graduating, Bach took up a post as a court musician in the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst in Weimar, a large town in Thuringia. His role there is unclear, but appears to have included menial, non-musical duties. During his seven-month tenure at Weimar, his reputation as a keyboard player spread. He was invited to inspect and give the inaugural recital on the new organ at St Boniface’s Church in Arnstadt. The Bach family had close connections with this oldest town in Thuringia, about 180 km to the southwest of Weimar at the edge of the great forest. In August 1703, he accepted the post of organist at that church, with light duties, a relatively generous salary, and a fine new organ tuned to a modern system that allowed a wide range of keys to be used.
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