In July 1720, on his return from the second visit with Prince Leopold to Carlsbad, he was met with the terrible news that his wife had died, and had been buried on the 7th of that month. She was only thirty-six, and was in good health when he left her. She had borne him seven children, had been the best of companions, and was keenly sympathetic towards her husband’s work.
Visit to Hamburg
He went to Hamburg to perform a new cantata on the text “He that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted,” in November 1720. He found Reinken still playing the organ of St Catherine, though now ninety-seven years old. Reinken, though a very great artist, was vain, and jealous, and it was a question how he would receive Bach. Mattheson, who did not love him, said that he was a “constant admirer of the fair sex, and much addicted to the wine cellar of the Council,” though he admitted that he had no equal on the organ in his own style. Moreover, he kept his instrument in excellent tune, and was always talking of it. When Bach came, an appointment was made, and he played for more than two hours, half an hour of which was occupied in a masterly improvisation on the chorale “By the waters of Babylon,” in motet style. After the performance, at which the chief men of the city were present, Reinken came to him, and saying, “I thought this art was dead, but I perceive that it still lives in you,” invited him to visit him, and treated him with every attention. Reinken’s praise was the more complimentary, because he himself had composed and published a very successful arrangement of the same chorale.[33]
The organ at St Catherine had four manuals and pedal, with an abundance of good reeds, of which Bach was fond (a specification is in Niedt, Mus. Handl. II., p. 176). There was also a posaune, a 32 ft. open diapason, and a mixture of 10 ranks. It dated from the sixteenth century, and had been renovated in 1670 by Besser of Brunswick.[34]
A still larger instrument was that of St James’ Church in the same city, built by Arp Schnitker between 1688 and 1693, containing sixty stops, four manuals and pedal. The organist of this church, H. Friese, had recently died, and Bach, being tempted by the organ, and the prospect of again having an opportunity of composing cantatas, offered himself for the post.
Competes for a post at Hamburg
There were seven other candidates, the two most important being a son of Vincentius Lübeck, and Wiedeburg, capellmeister to the Count of Gera. An examination was fixed for November 28, the examiners being the elders of the church, together with Gerstenbüttel the cantor, Reinken, and two other Hamburg organists, Kniller and Preuss. Wiedeburg, Lübeck and one other candidate retired. The tests were performances of the two chorales “O lux beata Trinitas,” and “Helft mir Gott’s Güte preisen,” and an extemporised fugue on a given theme.
Deceived
Bach could not wait for the examination, since his duties at Cöthen required him to return home. He was, however, excused having to submit to the test, on account of his great reputation, and arranged to announce by letter whether he would accept the post. He wrote in the affirmative, though the contents of his letter are not known. The committee had his letter publicly read, and then elected an entirely unknown man, J. Joachim Heitmann, who had done nothing for the art of music, but who on January 6, 1721, paid to the treasury of the church four thousand marks, which he had promised in the event of his being elected. The committee came to the conclusion that “the sale of a post of organist should not become a custom, since it pertained to the service of God; but if, after election, a person of his own free will should show his gratitude by money payment, the church should not refuse it.”
Neumeister, a famous preacher, who had not been able to prevent this extraordinary transaction, left the committee in anger. Mattheson thus describes the state of public opinion when it became known.[35] “I remember, and no doubt other people still remember likewise, that some years ago a great musician, who since then has, as he deserves, obtained an important appointment as cantor, appeared in a certain town of some size, boldly performed on the largest and finest instruments, and attracted universal admiration by his skill. At the same time, among other inferior players, there offered himself the son of a well-to-do artisan, who could prelude better with thalers than with his fingers, and the office fell to him, as may easily be guessed, although almost everyone was angry about it. It was nigh upon Christmas-tide, and an eloquent preacher, who had not consented to this simony, expounded very beautifully the Gospel concerning the angelic music at the birth of Christ, which very naturally gave him the opportunity of expressing his opinions as to the recent event as regarded the rejected artist, and of ending his discourse with this noteworthy epiphonema: ‘He believed quite certainly that if one of the angels of Bethlehem came from heaven, who played divinely, and desired to be organist of St James’ Church, if he had no money he would have nothing to do but to fly away again.’”