An Orphan and His Brother

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach. He was the youngest child of Johann Ambrosius Bach, the director of the Stadtpfeifer or town musicians. His father taught him to play violin and harpsichord. His uncles were all professional musicians. One uncle, Johann Christoph Bach, was especially famous and introduced him to the art of organ playing.

Bach’s mother died in 1694, and his father eight months later. The 10-year-old orphan moved in with his oldest brother, the organist at the Michaeliskirche in nearby Ohrdruf. There, he copied, studied and performed music, and apparently received valuable teaching from his brother, who instructed him on the clavichord. The young Bach witnessed and assisted in the maintenance of the organ music. Through the process he often woke up in the middle of the night to secretly copy his favorite scores manually. This ultimately affected Bach’s sight when he aged.

After spending four years at his brother’s home, at the age of 14, Bach was awarded a choral scholarship to study at the prestigious St. Michael’s School. His two years there appear to have been critical in exposing him to a wide palette of European culture. In addition to singing in the a cappella choir, he also played the School’s three-manual organ and its harpsichords.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 1:46 pm and is filed under Articles.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.