The House at Eisenach in which J. S. Bach was born
He was born on or about March 31st, 1685[7] at Eisenach in Thuringia, under the shadow of the famous Wartburg. A house still standing in the Frauenplan is pointed out by tradition as his birthplace, and contains a tablet to that effect. He was the youngest son of John Ambrosius Bach, at that time Court and Town musician of Eisenach, a place which had a good reputation for its music.
The lofty artistic and moral standard which permeated the whole of the numerous members of the Bach family seems to have culminated in the subject of this sketch. We have seen that for many generations they had been musicians, and had held the chief posts as organists and town musicians throughout Thuringia; and John Sebastian naturally had no other thought than to follow the family profession. Of the first few years of his life little is known. It is probable that he learned the violin from his father.
Goes to Ohrdruf
In January 1695, when he was not yet ten years old, his father died, and his eldest brother Johann Christoph, who was organist of St Michael’s Church at Ohrdruf and had married, now undertook to provide for him and educate him. Johann Christoph, who had been a pupil of Pachelbel for three years, taught his younger brother the harpsichord. Sebastian soon mastered all the studies and pieces he was given to learn, and began to aspire to higher things.
Boyhood Promise
At Ohrdruf he joined the Lyceum,[8] where he laid the foundation of his general education, in Latin, Greek (from the New Testament), theology, rhetoric and arithmetic. He also took part in the chorus, whose duties were to perform in church on Sundays and festivals, as well as to sing motets at weddings and funerals, and at certain times to sing in the streets.[9] He became one of the principal singers, and had a fixed salary.
St Michael’s Church, Ohrdruf with the Lyceum, now the Burgerschule
Thrown on his own resources