[2]After the death of his father and mother, Sebastian Bach was adopted by his elder brother, Johann Christoph, the organist and music master at Ohrdruff, who gave him his earliest lessons in singing and piano-playing.
[3]Eisenach, a little town in Thuringia, was the birthplace of Sebastian Bach. It is also famous for the Wartburg, which stands on one of the hills near the town, where Luther lived at one time and translated the Bible into German, and as being the scene of many of the song contests of the Minnesingers.
[4]George Erdmann was a schoolfellow of Sebastian Bach and an excellent musician, though in after life he followed other pursuits.
[5]The Amatis were a world-renowned family of violin-makers living at Cremona, Italy, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The most famous members of the family were Andrea A., died in 1577, the maker of the first Violin; Nicola, 1568-1586; Antonio, 1589-1627, and Niccole, 1596-1684, the last the great violin-makers of the family.
[6]The capital of Lüneburg in the province of Hanover, Prussia.
[7]George Böhm, a countryman of Bach, was born at Goldbach in 1661. He was one of the greatest organists of his time.
[8]Reinken was born at Deventer in 1663 and died as organist of St. Katherine’s Church, in Hamburg, in 1722. He had remarkable talent both as player and composer and was greatly esteemed by Bach.
[9]The term “motet” is applied to church music set to Biblical texts for several voices, of moderate length, and without instrumental accompaniment.
[10]A large and beautiful forest, containing a hunting-castle, within the jurisdiction of Lüneburg.
[11]Veit Bach, the founder of the Bach family, was a baker at Presburg, on the Danube. After leaving Hungary he settled in Wechmar, Thuringia, and carried on his business there. He played the lute and, it is related, was so fond of it that he used to play it while his corn was being ground. His son, Hans, was the first of the Bachs to make music a profession.