Johann Caspar Kerl, b. 1628; Kapellmeister in Munich, 1656-74; Court Organist at Vienna, 1677-92; d. 1693.
Johann Pachelbel, b. 1653, d. 1706. In 1695 he was Organist of St. Sebald's Church, Nürnberg. His influence upon the organ playing of his generation was enormous. Bach's brother, Johann Christoph, was his pupil.
Dietrich Buxtehude, b. 1637, d. 1707; Organist (1668) of the Marienkirche, Lübeck, and the chief musical influence in North Germany.
Nikolaus Bruhns, b. circ. 1665, d. 1697; a. pupil of Buxtehude; Organist at Husum; the greatest organist of his time after Buxtehude.
Georg Böhm, b. 1661; date of death uncertain (c. 1739); from 1698 Organist of the Johanniskirche, Lüneburg.
In fact, Johann Christoph did not die until 1721, more than twenty years after Sebastian ceased to be under his roof.
The fact that Johann Christoph survived till 1721 disproves Forkel's statement. The youthful Bach, aged fifteen in 1700, no doubt seized the earliest opportunity to relieve his brother of the charge of him. Moreover, Johann Christoph's family was increasing (see Table V.). In spite of the story of Bach's midnight copying, it cannot be questioned that he owed a good deal to his brother, who not only taught him but, presumably, maintained him at the Ohrdruf Lyceum, where Bach acquired a sound education and a considerable knowledge of Latin. See Pirro, pp. 14-16, on Bach's education at Ohrdruf. He left the Lyceum in March 1700.
Georg Erdmann, Bach's fellow-pupil at the Lyceum.
Bach's entry into the choir of St. Michael's Convent, Lüneburg, took place about Easter 1700. The step was taken upon the advice of Elias Herda, Cantor at the Ohrdruf Lyceum, himself a former member of St. Michael's. Bach remained at St. Michael's for three years, till 1703. The choir library was particularly rich in the best church music of the period, both German and Italian. Spitta is of opinion that Bach's talents as a violinist and Clavier player were also laid under contribution. His voice, as Forkel states, soon ceased to be serviceable. His maximum pay was one thaler (three shillings) a month and free commons.
Probably Georg Böhm, who had relations with the Convent choir, inspired Bach to make the pilgrimage. Böhm, then at St. John's, Lüneburg, was a pupil of Reinken of Hamburg. Spitta (i. 196) suggests that Bach's cousin, Johann Ernst (see Table IV.), was at this time completing his musical education at Hamburg, a fact which may have contributed to draw Bach thither. He made more than one visit, on foot, to Hamburg. F. W. Marpurg published, in 1786, the story, which he received from Bach himself, that on one of his journeys from Hamburg, Bach sat down outside an inn and hungrily sniffed the savours from its kitchen. His pockets were empty and there seemed little prospect of a meal, when a window was opened and two herring heads were thrown out. Bach picked them up eagerly, and found in each of them a Danish ducat. Who was his benefactor he never discovered; the gift enabled him to satisfy his hunger and pay another visit to Hamburg.