Friedemann was then at Halle.
May 7, 1747, according to Spitta, quoting Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg's Historisch-kritische Beyträge zur Aufnahme der Musik, which appeared in 5 vols. between 1754-1778. On the other hand, Spener, who first records the event, states briefly: “May 11,1747. His Majesty was informed that Kapellmeister Bach had arrived in Potsdam, and that he was in the King's ante-chamber, waiting His Majesty's gracious permission to enter, and hear the music. His Majesty at once commanded that he should be admitted” (Spitta, iii. 231 n.). If the Marpurg and Spener dates are reliable, it looks as though Friedemann's story of his father, travel-stained and weary, being hurried incontinent into the presence of the King is a piece of picturesque embroidery.
Clearly this was a story that Wilhelm Friedemann prided himself on the telling, and Forkel's remark suggests the need for caution in accepting all its details. Frederick's courtesy to Bach, however, tends to discredit the story that ten years earlier (1737) Handel deliberately refused to meet the King at Aix-la-Chapelle owing to the peremptoriness of his summons. Mr. Streatfleld (p. 145) also shows that Frederick was not at Aix until 1741, when Handel was writing the Messiah in London.
Gottfried Silbermann, a pioneer of the modern pianoforte. Bach was already familiar with his Claviers with hammer action, and indeed had offered useful criticism of which Silbermann had taken advantage. See Spitta, ii. 46.
* The pianofortes manufactured by Silbermann, of Freiberg, pleased the King so much, that he resolved to buy them all. He collected fifteen. I hear that they all now stand, unfit for use, in various corners of the Royal Palace. [Robert Eitner, in 1873, found one of the pianos in Frederick the Great's room at Potsdam.]
According to another account, which Spitta (iii. 232) follows, Bach played before a large congregation in the Church of the Holy Spirit, Potsdam. The King does not appear to have been present. The extemporisation of the six-part Fugue took place in Frederick's presence on the evening of that day.
Bach's letter to Frederick accompanying the gift is dated 7th July 1747. He calls it “a musical offering, of which the noblest portion is the work of Your Majesty's illustrious hand.” In addition to Forkel's analysis it contains a Sonata for Flute, Violin, and Clavier, and a canon perpetuus for the same three instruments.
John Taylor (1703-72), oculist to George II. The operation took place in the winter of 1749-50. Taylor is said to have operated on Handel in 1751 (see the article on him in the Dict. Nat. Biography.). Streatfield (Handel, p. 212), however, does not mention Taylor, and his account suggests that Samuel Sharp, of Guy's Hospital, was the operator in Handel's case.
The actual date was July 28, at 8.45 P.M. Bach was working to the very moment of his collapse on July 18. Probably his last work was the Choral Prelude (Novello bk. xvii. 85) on the melody Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein. Facing eternity, he bade his son-in-law, Altnikol, inscribe the movement with the title of the Hymn, Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiemit, whose first stanza filled his mind:
Before Thy throne, my God, I stand,