Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach

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Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach (born May 11, 1715 in Weimar ; † May 27, 1739 in Jena ) was a German organist . He was the third son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Maria Barbara Bach .

Life

Zacharias Hildebrandt organ (1728) in Sangerhausen, where Gottfried Bernhard Bach was the organist

Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach attended the St. Thomas School in Leipzig . He received his musical training from his father. After the death of the organist of the Marienkirche in Mühlhausen , Bach prevailed against four competitors in a successful audition and took over the position in 1735/1736. In a letter dated 2 May 1735 Tobias Roth Schier Father Bach had issued his son a positive testimony: "Now that my youngest son Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach zeither then habil gemachet in the music that I certainly consider it as to defray this City organist who has become vacant is perfectly skilled and wealthy. "

After a year and a half in Mühlhausen, Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach was appointed city organist at the Jakobikirche in Sangerhausen on January 14, 1737 , where he was employed for a year in 1737/1738. His father had applied for this position unsuccessfully in 1702 at the age of seventeen. From there, Johann Gottfried disappeared leaving behind some debts. The perplexed magistrate of the city finally asked the father whether he knew the whereabouts of the son. In two letters from May 1738, the dismayed and disappointed father expressed himself and pointed out that he had already paid his son's debts (which probably also caused him to leave the Mühlhausen organist) and had spoken to his conscience:

"With what pain and melancholy this answer, Eu: HochEdlen can judge by themselves as a loving and well-mannered father of the dearest marriage pledger. I have not seen my (unfortunately unsuccessful) son since […] years ago. Eu: HochEdlen is also not ignorant that at that time in front of the same not only paid the table, but also the Mühlhausen bill (so his excerpt presumably caused it at that time), but also left a few Ducats behind to repay some debts, in opinion now each other to seize genus vitae. But I have to hear again with the greatest dismay that he has stepped up here and there, has not changed his way of life in the least, but even abandoned himself and made me not aware of the slightest part of his stay. What more should I say or do? Since no admonition, yes no loving care and assistance at all wants to hand over any more, my Creütz has to be patient ... "

- JS Bach : Letter to the mayor of Sangerhausen, Klemm, May 1738

The letters are among the most personal documents that have come down to us from Johann Sebastian Bach.

Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach went to Jena the following year, where he matriculated as a law student at the university and made contact with his uncle Johann Nikolaus Bach . There he died of a "hot fever" at the age of 24. From him “not a single note has been passed down to posterity”.

See also

literature

  • Heinz Gärtner: Johann Christian Bach. Mozart's friend and teacher. Nymphenburger, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-485-00589-4 .
  • Christoph Wolff : Johann Sebastian Bach. S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-10-092584-X .
  • Ulrich Kahmann: Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. The underrated son. Aisthesis-Verlag, Bielefeld 2010, ISBN 978-3-89528-828-9 .
  • Friedemann Otterbach: Bach - letters from the family of musicians. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1985, ISBN 978-3-596-22147-9 , pp. 123-126; limited preview in Google Book search
  • Georg Thiele: The appointment of Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach to Mühlhausen as organist at Beatae Mariae Virginis. In: Mühlhausen history sheets. Vol. 20, 1920, pp. 50-54 ( digitized version ) .
  • Peter Wollny:  Bach family. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 1 (Aagard - Baez). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1111-X , Sp. 1273-1311 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Peter Wollny:  Bach family. In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 1 (Aagard - Baez). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 1999, ISBN 3-7618-1111-X , Sp. 1273-1311 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
  2. ^ Wolff: Johann Sebastian Bach. 2000, p. 329.
  3. ^ Thiele: The appointment of Johann Gottfried Bernhard Bach to Mühlhausen. 1920, pp. 50–54 ( digitized version ) , accessed on December 16, 2017.
  4. ^ Christoph Wolff, Markus Zepf: The organs of JS Bach. A manual. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2006, ISBN 3-374-02407-6 , pp. 19, 84.
  5. ↑ Otterbach: Bach - letters from the family of musicians. 2016, p. 40 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  6. ^ Wolff: Johann Sebastian Bach. 2000, pp. 73-74, 435.
  7. ↑ Published in the Bach documents vol. 1, no. 42; ISBN 978-3-7618-0025-6 .
  8. ^ Robert L. Marshall: Father and Sons: Confronting a Uniquely Daunting Parental Legacy. In: Mary Oleskiewicz (Ed.): Bach Perspectives II. JS Bach and His Sons. University of Illinois Press, Illinois 2017, ISBN 978-0-252-04148-8 , pp. 1–23, here: p. 13 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  9. ^ Wolff: Johann Sebastian Bach. 2000, pp. 436, 572.
  10. ↑ Quoted from Gärtner: Johann Christian Bach. 1989, p. 35.
personal data
SURNAME Bach, Johann Gottfried Bernhard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German organist
DATE OF BIRTH May 11, 1715
PLACE OF BIRTH Weimar
DATE OF DEATH May 27, 1739
Place of death Jena