Sebastian sat in his arm-chair, with folded arms, dressed ready for church, and followed with his eyes, smiling affectionately, the movements of his son. After a while he said—
“I am glad the Passions Music pleases you so well; I have a work of quite another kind finished, the first idea of which I got from your Fughetten. And you are the first after me that shall see it.”
He went to his desk, opened it, took out a sealed packet and gave it to his son. It bore the inscription—“To my son Friedemann.”
“In case I had died without seeing you again,” observed the old man. “I am rejoiced it has happened otherwise; you may break the seal.”
Friedemann did so, and on opening the package, his eyes fell on that nobly conceived, that admirably executed work, which, from the day of its first appearance to the latest time, has commanded the admiration and reverence of all the initiated—“The Art of Fugues, by Johann Sebastian Bach.”
Friedemann looked over the manuscript with sparkling eyes, and said—“Then I have not lived in vain! my poor attempt has suggested a work which, or I must be deceived, is destined to immortalize the name of its author! Receive my thanks, father; you have given me much to-day!”
“I know, Friedemann, you at least appreciate and honor my design; so that I receive much from you. Such appreciation is most gratifying to us from those we love, and is the highest reward earth can bestow.”
“And you, father, have understood me?”
“Yes—grieve not over the judgment of others; yet while you endeavor to deserve the appreciation, the regard of your equals, labor to instruct those who cannot repay you thus. Will man assume more than higher powers—and only show to the best, that he belongs to the best! Are you skilful and faithful, let your light shine, else you degrade yourself and rebel against the Being who gave you power and inclination to be so.”
Here the chime of the bells, which had ceased for some time, began anew; the door opened, and Madame Bach, her three daughters, the boy Christian, and von Scherbitz, entered, all ready for church. Madame Bach gave her husband a prayer-book and a bunch of flowers; Caroline handed him his hat.