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With the advent of Bach, music was no
longer the dry mathematical study
that it had been during the later middle ages, for in his hands it
became imbued with true feeling. Descended from a famous family of
musicians, he was born at the little German town of Eisenach, in 1685.
Receiving his early education at Ohrdruf, he showed himself endowed
with
unusual genius.
Forced to make his
way when fifteen years old, he
supported himself in the Convent School of St.
Michael's, at Luneburg,
by means of his musical talents. After a short term as court musician
at
Weimar, he became organist of the New Church at Arnstadt, and here he
met the woman who was to be his first wife. Almost the earliest mention
of her is made in a report of the consistory, criticizing the young
organist for certain breaches of discipline. From this report, it
appears that he had asked for four weeks' leave for study, and had
stayed away four months; he had played interludes that the reverend
board considered too long and too intricate; and, on being reproved, he
had made them too short; and once, during the sermon, he had gone forth
and spent these stolen moments in a wine-cellar. The final charge asks
by what authority he has latterly allowed a strange maiden to appear,
and to make music in the choir. This "strange maiden," who made music
with Bach in the solitude of the empty church, was none other than his
cousin, Maria Barbara. A year later (1707) he married her, and took her
to Mühlhausen, where he had found a less troublesome post as
organist in
the Church of St. Blasius.
The domestic life of Bach and his wife
was a pattern for married couples
of all time. All his friends unite in
calling him an especially
excellent "Haus-Vater," a term of commendation applied to those men who
remember their duty to their own families, and do not sacrifice
domestic
happiness to fame and fortune. Personally he was pleasant to every one,
mere acquaintances as well as intimate friends, and his house was
always
the centre of a lively gathering. With his wife, he took sedulous care
of the education of his children, of whom there were no less than six
at
her early death in 1720.
Bach was not the man to remain long a
widower, and in the next year the
bereaved composer's fancy lightly turned to thoughts of a second
marriage. His choice fell upon Anna Magdalena Wulken, a Cöthen
court
singer of twenty-one years, and the happy consummation occurred on
December 3d. She was a good musician, and did much to enliven the
domestic circle by her beautiful soprano voice. Not content with merely
taking part in her husband's works, she learned from him to play the
clavier and read figured bass, and rendered him valuable aid by copying
music for him.
Soon after the marriage, Bach and his
wife started a manuscript music
book, entitled "Clavier Büchlein von Anna Magdalena Bach, Anno
1720." On
the first page was written a playful denunciation of the melancholy and
hostility to art that were so often
inculcated by the Calvinism of that
time. This book and another of the kind, which followed it five years
later, are both preserved in the Royal Berlin Library. In them are a
series of clavier pieces, by Bach, Gerhard, and others; a number of
hymns and sacred songs; one of several humourous song's, describing the
reflections of a smoker; and still others, apparently addressed to his
wife, and giving fresh proofs of his devotion to her. Her portrait was
painted by Cristofori, but disappeared after being in the possession of
one of the sons.
As a result of his second marriage, Bach
was blessed with thirteen more
children, six sons and seven daughters. All his children loved him, and
his kindness and sincerity enabled him to retain their respect as well
as their affection. In all his activity he was never too busy to save
some time for the family circle, where, in later life, he would take
the
viola part in the concerted music that cheered his domestic hearth. It
is sad to think of the poor wife's fate in contrast with so much family
happiness. After Bach's death, in 1750, she struggled bravely to
support
her children, but became gradually poorer, and was forced to end her
days in an almshouse, and be buried in a pauper's grave.
None of the sons of Bach inherited the commanding genius of their
father, although four of them showed talent above the average of
musicians of their day, and one of them distinguished himself and
exercised an important influence upon the subsequent course of
pianoforte music.
The most gifted of Bach's sons was Wilhelm
Friedmann, the eldest (1710-1784), who was especially educated by his
father for a musician. He turned out badly, however, his enormous
talents not being able to save him from the natural consequences of a
dissolute life. He died in Berlin in the greatest degradation and
want. This Bach wrote comparatively few compositions, owing to his
invincible repugnance to the labor of putting them upon paper; he was
famous as an improviser, and certain pieces of his in the Berlin
library are considered to manifest musical gifts of a high order.
Johann Christian (1735-1782), the eleventh son, known as the Milanese
or London Bach, devoted himself to the lighter forms of music, and
after having served some years as organist of the cathedral at Milan,
and having distinguished himself by certain operas successfully
produced in Italy, he removed to London, where he led an easy and
enjoyable life. He was an elegant and fluent
writer for the
pianoforte.
The one son of Bach who is commonly regarded as having
left a mark upon the later course of music was Carl Philip Emanuel
(1714-1788), the third son, commonly known as the Berlin or Hamburg
Bach. His father intended him for a philosopher, and had him educated
accordingly in the Leipsic and Frankfort universities, but his love
for music and the thorough grounding in it he had at home eventually
determined him in this direction. While in the Frankfort University he
conducted a singing society, which naturally led to his exercising
himself in composition. He gave up law for
music, and going
to Berlin he obtained an appointment as "Kammer-musiker" to Frederick
the Great, his especial business being that of accompanying the king
in his flute concertos. The seven years' war having put an end to
these duties, he migrated to Hamburg, where he held honorable
appointments as organist and conductor until his death. He wrote in a
tasteful and free, but somewhat superficial, style; and while his
compositions bear favorable comparison with those of other musicians
of his time, they are by no means of a commanding nature like those of
his father. [W. S.
B. Mathews]
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