CHAPTER I. THE FAMILY OF BACH

If there is such a thing as inherited aptitude for art it certainly showed itself in the family of Bach. For six successive generations scarcely two or three of its members are found whom nature had not endowed with remarkable musical talent, and who did not make music their profession.[19]

Veit Bach,[20] ancestor of this famous family, [pg 2] gained a livelihood as a baker at Pressburg in Hungary. When the religious troubles of the sixteenth century broke out he was driven to seek another place of abode, and having got together as much of his small property as he could, retired with it to Thuringia, hoping to find peace and security there. He settled at Wechmar, a village near Gotha,[21] where he continued to ply his trade as a baker and miller.[22] In his leisure hours he was wont to amuse himself with the lute,[23] playing it amid the noise and clatter of the mill. His taste for music descended to his two sons[24] and their children, and in time the Bachs grew to be a very numerous family of professional musicians, [pg 3] Cantors, Organists, and Town Musicians,[25] throughout Thuringia.

Not all the Bachs, however, were great musicians. But every generation boasted some of them who were more than usually distinguished. In the first quarter of the seventeenth century three of Veit Bach's grandchildren showed such exceptional talent that the Count of Schwarzburg-Arnstadt thought it worth while to send them at his expense to Italy, then the chief school of music, to perfect themselves in the art.[26]

We do not know whether they rewarded the expectations of their patron, for none of their works has survived. The fourth generation[27] of the family produced musicians of exceptional distinction, [pg 4] and several of their compositions, thanks to Johann Sebastian Bach's regard for them, have come down to us. The most notable of these Bachs are:

1.	Johann Christoph Bach, Court and Town Organist at Eisenach.[28] He was particularly happy in his beautiful melodies and in setting words to music. In the Archives of the Bachs,[29] which was in Carl Philipp Emmanuel's possession at Hamburg, there is a Motet by Johann Christoph in which he boldly uses the augmented sixth, a proceeding considered extremely daring in his day.[30] He was also an uncommon master of harmony, as may be inferred from a Cantata composed by him for Michaelmas, to the words “Es erhub sich ein Streit,” etc., which has twenty-two obbligato parts in correct harmony.[31] Yet another proof of his rare skill is in the alleged fact that he never [pg 5] played the Organ or Clavier in less than five parts.[32] Carl Philipp Emmanuel had a particularly warm regard for him.[33] I remember the old man playing some of his compositions to me on the Clavier at Hamburg, and how quizzically he looked at me when one of these daring passages occurred.[34]
2.	Johann Michael Bach, Organist and Town Clerk at Gehren.[35] He was the younger brother of Johann Christoph, and like him, a particularly good composer. The Archives already mentioned[36] contain several of his Motets, including one for eight voices in double chorus,[37] and many compositions for Church use.
3.	Johann Bernhard Bach, Musician in the Prince's Kapelle and Organist at Eisenach.[38]He is said to have composed remarkably fine Suites, or Overtures, in the French style.[39]

Johann Christoph Bach, Court and Town Organist at Eisenach.[28] He was particularly happy in his beautiful melodies and in setting words to music. In the Archives of the Bachs,[29] which was in Carl Philipp Emmanuel's possession at Hamburg, there is a Motet by Johann Christoph in which he boldly uses the augmented sixth, a proceeding considered extremely daring in his day.[30] He was also an uncommon master of harmony, as may be inferred from a Cantata composed by him for Michaelmas, to the words “Es erhub sich ein Streit,” etc., which has twenty-two obbligato parts in correct harmony.[31] Yet another proof of his rare skill is in the alleged fact that he never [pg 5] played the Organ or Clavier in less than five parts.[32] Carl Philipp Emmanuel had a particularly warm regard for him.[33] I remember the old man playing some of his compositions to me on the Clavier at Hamburg, and how quizzically he looked at me when one of these daring passages occurred.[34]

Johann Michael Bach, Organist and Town Clerk at Gehren.[35] He was the younger brother of Johann Christoph, and like him, a particularly good composer. The Archives already mentioned[36] contain several of his Motets, including one for eight voices in double chorus,[37] and many compositions for Church use.

Johann Bernhard Bach, Musician in the Prince's Kapelle and Organist at Eisenach.[38]He is said to have composed remarkably fine Suites, or Overtures, in the French style.[39]

Besides these three men, the Bachs boasted several able composers in the generations preceding Johann Sebastian,[40] men who undoubtedly would have obtained higher positions, wider reputation, and more brilliant fortune if they could have torn themselves from their native Thuringia to display their gifts elsewhere in Germany or abroad. But none of the Bachs seems to have felt an inclination to migrate. Modest in their needs, frugal by nature and training, they were content with little, engrossed in and satisfied by their art, and wholly indifferent [pg 7] to the decorations which great men of that time were wont to bestow on artists as special marks of honour. The fact that others who appreciated them were thus distinguished did not rouse the slightest envy in the Bachs.

The Bachs not only displayed a happy contentedness, indispensable for the cheery enjoyment of life, but exhibited a clannish attachment to each other. They could not all live in the same locality. But it was their habit to meet once a year at a time and place arranged beforehand. These gatherings generally took place at Erfurt, Eisenach, and sometimes at Arnstadt. Even after the family had grown very large, and many of its members had left Thuringia to settle in Upper and Lower Saxony and Franconia, the Bachs continued their annual meetings. On these occasions music was their sole recreation. As those present were either Cantors, Organists, or Town Musicians, employed in the service of the Church and accustomed to preface the day's work with prayer, their first act was to sing a Hymn. Having fulfilled their religious duty, they spent the rest of the time in frivolous recreations. Best of all they liked to extemporise a chorus out of popular songs, comic or jocular, weaving them into a harmonious whole while declaiming the words of each. They called this hotch-potch a “Quodlibet,” laughed uproariously at it, and roused equally hearty and irrepressible laughter [pg 8] in their audience.[41] It is suggested that German Comic Opera has its origin in these trifles. But the “Quodlibet” was a familiar institution in Germany at a much earlier period. I possess a collection of them printed and published at Vienna in 1542.[42]

But these light-hearted Thuringians, and even those of their family who treated their art more seriously and worthily, would not have escaped oblivion had there not emerged in the fulness of time one whose genius and renown reflected their splendour and brilliancy on his forbears. This man, the glory of his family, pride of his countrymen, most gifted favourite of the Muse of Music, was Johann Sebastian Bach.

Bach's Home at Eisenach