An important post at St Blasius, Mühlhausen, some 20 miles north of Gotha, fell vacant through the death of Johann Georg Ahle on December 2nd, 1706, and there were many candidates. It seems, from Gerber’s account (vol. ii. p. 764), to have been at first offered to Johann Gottfried Walther of Erfurt, but to have been declined by him;[22] and when Bach, whose friction with the Consistory made him anxious to leave Arnstadt, offered himself as a candidate, the Council, after hearing him play, were unanimous in his favour.
The church of St Blasius is a fine Gothic building, in strong contrast to the homely, towerless New Church at Arnstadt; and the office of organist is proportionately more important. Its present holder is Herr Musikdirector Möller.
Chapter III
Bach’s salary—He borrows a cart from the Consistory for his furniture—The agreement is made verbally—Bach’s first marriage—His duties at St Blasius—The festival compositions—Repairs to the organ—Difficulties with the Pietists—He resigns his post—Is appointed chamber-musician at Weimar—His duties there—His relations with Walther—Studies instrumental music—His journeys—His competition with Marchand.
The competition took place at Easter 1707, and terms were arranged a month later. An organist is rarely a highly paid individual: but modern organists may well be astonished at the meagreness of the salary for which the greatest of their predecessors was content to work. The request for the loan of a cart to bring his modest furniture from Arnstadt brings the matter very plainly before us. One sees in Thuringia, even at the present day, the clumsy four-wheel carts which have not varied in shape for centuries, drawn by a cow and a pony, rarely by two horses; and one can easily imagine such a cart conveying the household goods of the young musician across the plain from Arnstadt to Gotha, and from Gotha to Mühlhausen.
The terms were eighty-five gülden (about £8, 10s.); three malter (twelve bushels) of corn, two cords of wood, six trusses of brushwood; the last in place of some arable land formerly held by the organist. The cost of conveyance to his door was to be borne by the Council. In addition, he was to receive annually three pounds of fish, and he asked that a cart might be lent him for transporting his furniture from Arnstadt, to which request the Council agreed.
A fire had, a fortnight before, destroyed a large portion of the parish of St Blasius, and when the clerk brought the agreement to the Council to sign, pens and ink were not forthcoming, so that a verbal agreement was made to all the terms.
The actual appointment took place on June 15th; and a fortnight later he was again in Arnstadt, where he thanked the Council for past favours, announced his resignation, and gave up the key of the organ. A sum of five gülden was due to him as salary, but he requested the Consistory to pay this to his cousin Ernst,[23] who had formerly assisted him, but who was now ill and poor.
Work at Mühlhausen