[203] See Philipp Spitta: Johann Sebastian Bach, vol. i, p. 354.
[204] [Subsequent to the writing of the above, and during the progress of general disinterment incidental to the devotion to other uses of the land occupied by the cemetery, Bach's remains were found and identified by most scientific methods. In August, 1900, took place the official ceremony of reinterment in a stone sarcophagus, contained in a crypt constructed for the purpose at the foot of the chancel steps of the new Johanniskirche (St. John's Church). Upon this occasion the University Gesangverein zu St. Pauli sang. September 2d of the same year, at the close of the weekly "Abend-Motette" (the program on this occasion having been devoted entirely to works of Bach), the solo-quartet of the church sang in the crypt the chorale from the St. Matthew Passion Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden, in the presence of a few other reverent "friends of Bach's music." The following morning the lid of the sarcophagus was permanently closed and sealed.
By its side, enclosed in a similar receptacle, lie the ashes of Gellert, the poet.—Tr.]
[205] A small-sized violin, tuned a fourth higher.