Of the three ancient schools at Leipsic, St Thomas, dating from the thirteenth century under the Augustines, was the oldest and most important. It was endowed with no less than fifty-four scholarships for the encouragement of church music, and its cantor was a person of considerable importance, who ranked next below the Rector and Conrector. These three officials, together with the chief Latin master, were “Superiores,” who kept apart from the “Inferiores” or lower masters. The cantor’s duty was to teach singing for seven hours a week, to take the boys to church on Thursdays at 7 o’clock in the morning, and to give certain Latin lessons. He had also to take his turn with the other Superiores in inspecting and examining the boys for one week in four. The boys lived with them, and the regulations of the school required all to get up at 5 in summer, 6 in winter, to dine at 10, to have supper at 5, to go to bed at 8.

The boys of the Thomas-school had to supply the music every Sunday in four churches, St Thomas, St Nicholas, St Peter and St Matthew; but at St Peter’s only chorales were sung, so that the younger singers sufficed for this duty.

A motet or cantata was performed every Sunday at the Thomas-Church and Nicolai-Church alternately: a custom which still continues; the service is at 9 A.M., and the cantata, which is always accompanied by the town orchestra with the organ, takes somewhat the place of the anthem in an English cathedral. The composition to be performed on each Sunday is now announced in the previous Saturday’s papers.

On great festivals the music was performed in both churches at once, and twice a day. The cantor was responsible for the music at one church, the choir prefect for that at the other.

In order to lighten the work that this must have imposed on the boys, the choir that sang at St Thomas in the morning would sing the same music at St Nicholas in the afternoon; and the cantata which was sung at St Nicholas in the morning would be repeated at St Thomas in the afternoon. The rehearsals took place on Saturday afternoons from about 2.30 to 4.

Wedding and funeral music had also to be supplied by the cantor. Moreover he had not only to choose the music for these occasions, and teach it to the choir, but appear in person to direct it, though he frequently left the last duty to the prefect.

The choristers had to take part in certain processions at Michaelmas, New Year, on St Martin’s and St Gregory’s days: and these performances were conducted by the prefects. For this purpose they were divided into four choirs, but the four choirs had only two or three voices for each part. The cantor had to direct the music in the two other churches, i.e. St John and St Paul, to inspect their organs, and to superintend the town musicians who took part in the church music.

The holidays consisted of one week during each of the fairs,[39] followed by a week of half-holidays. In the summer four weeks of half-holidays. Morning lessons were omitted on Saints’ days, funeral days, and academical speech days. Four whole holidays in the year took place on the “Name days” of the four principal masters.

In Lent no church music was performed, except on the festival of the Annunciation; and on the last three Sundays in Advent there was no church music.

The above list of holidays may seem at first sight ample; but it had this great drawback: the masters were never free, as in English schools, to go away for change of scene. The boys appear to have lived with them throughout the year. It is possible that German boys do not cause so much anxiety to their masters as English boys, and that work was not carried on at such high pressure as nowadays; it is quite certain that no master of an English public school could pursue his work continuously, year after year, as these old Germans seem to have done, without breaking down in health.

The cantor was provided with a residence in the school: the salary was 100 gÜlden (about £13), but the whole income from various sources amounted to about 700 thalers (about £100), together with certain allowances of corn, wine and firewood. A curious custom, though not an uncommon one in those days, was, that certain scholars twice a week went round the town to collect donations for the school; and out of these, 6 pfennige (about three farthings) per week were taken for each scholar and divided between the four upper masters. The moneys collected during the processional singing in the streets, and also the fees paid for funerals and weddings were divided according to certain fixed rules. Bach mentions to Erdmann that when the air of Leipsic is good there are few funerals, and therefore the cantor’s income is smaller. Many efforts were made by the public to evade these taxes, by holding funerals and weddings without music; and there arose a certain feeling of indignation that an important school and church official should partly derive his means of subsistence from money obtained by begging.

Owing to the insufficiency of accommodation the school was a centre of illness, until the building was enlarged.

The Rector, Ernesti, was very old—he was a learned man, but was not able to control either masters or boys. The former quarrelled among themselves, and neglected their duties; the boys were undisciplined, and the many calls on their time for musical performances made their education difficult. When Ernesti was appointed there were one hundred and twenty boys in the lower school; there were now only fifty-three.

The scholarships had plenty of applicants, but the better class of citizens sent their sons to the other schools. The lowest classes of the Thomas School consisted of boys of the worst character, who went about the town barefoot and begging.

All reform which might result in curtailing his salary was opposed by Ernesti, and the cantor seconded his opposition. Things therefore grew worse and worse till his death in 1729. In 1730 the superintendent reported that the school had run wild, and that there were so few scholars that it was proposed to close the lower classes altogether. As to the singing, it must have been very bad. The slow processions in the worst of weather, the running up long flights of stairs to sing before the doors of the higher “flats” ruined the voices. Kuhnau complained in 1717 that the trebles lost their voices before they had learned to use them. In addition to this, they were undisciplined and often feeble and miserable from illness, so that they did not offer an attractive material for the cantor to work upon.

Kuhnau worked his hardest to remedy this state of things, but without avail. In reply to his very reasonable request that at least two trebles should be set apart for church music only, and not allowed to run about the streets and attend funerals for money, the Council took no further steps than to allow 4 gÜlden for this purpose, and that two boys should be released from the winter processions.

When from 1693 to 1729 a house in the BrÜhl, one of the chief streets of Leipsic, was used for the performance of operas during the fairs, much damage was done to the musical tendencies of the inhabitants of Leipsic. The students of the University, who had formerly taken an important part in the performance of the church cantatas, now left Kuhnau (after he had been at the trouble of training them), and joined the chorus of the opera. The trouble was most acute when Telemann was organist of the Church of St Matthew. He had been a student in the University, had composed an opera, and had formed a musical society amongst the students. Looking upon him as one of themselves, they entirely left Kuhnau, who had to supply the music for the churches as best he could. A new and operatic style of music came into vogue under Telemann at St Matthew’s Church, which became very popular; and his musical society became the most important in Leipsic. There were sixty members, who practised twice a week from 8 to 10 in the evening, and their performances, which took place during fair time, became important. This “Musical Union” practised in the coffee-houses, and members of the public were admitted; its meetings had none of the formality of school practice, but were cheerful and attractive. Some of its better instrumentalists obtained engagements in good bands, as at Dresden, Darmstadt, WolfenbÜttel and Hamburg.

Telemann’s post, when he left, was successively occupied by good musicians, and the union and opera were kept up; the cantor had, in consequence, a hard time of it. At festivals and fairs, when he was naturally anxious to do well before the public, he had nothing to rely on but a few inefficient town musicians and unruly schoolboys.

The organ at the Thomas Church was “belaboured first by one, then by another pair of unwashed hands,” the director of the music being either unable to play it, or absent. Kuhnau begged that a regular organist should be appointed, but he begged in vain. The Council, like everyone else, were more interested in the attractions of the opera than in the serious music of the two important churches.

At last even the boys took to the opera. Those who had any voices got engaged by an impresario, ran away from school, and returned only to appear in the theatre during fair time, thus exciting the admiration and envy of their former school-fellows. The music at the Thomas School had reached its lowest ebb at the time of Kuhnau’s death.

Kuhnau, the cantor of this School of St Thomas at Leipsic, died on June 5, 1722. Six candidates applied for the post—Fasch, a former pupil of Kuhnau, and now capellmeister to the Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst; Rolle, musical director at Magdeburg, and formerly organist of Quedlinburg; Telemann, who had composed cantatas for St Thomas’ Church, and operas for the Leipsic theatre, cantor at Hamburg; G. F. Kauffmann, a pupil of Buttstedt, and organist of Merseburg; Graupner, capellmeister of Darmstadt; and Schott, the organist of St Matthew’s Church at Leipsic.

Telemann was elected, and arrangements were made for his installation, when he wrote from Hamburg that he would not accept the office. The Council were therefore, much against their will, obliged to elect another, and their choice fell on Graupner, who had been nine years a boy in the Thomas School, and was a pupil of Kuhnau. He was considered one of the best composers for the harpsichord of the day. He was backed by strong recommendations and testimonials from Heinichen, the capellmeister of Dresden, but the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt refusing to part with him, he was forced to retire.

At the end of 1722 Bach, after long and anxious deliberation, offered himself for the appointment.

He did not wish to leave his comfortable post at CÖthen, and moreover the position of cantor was somewhat less dignified than the office of capellmeister. On the other hand, the education of his sons could be better carried out at Leipsic, and the marriage of the Prince had to some extent put him out of favour. After some three months’ hesitation, acting on the advice of friends, he went to Leipsic and performed his test piece, “Jesus nahm zu sich die ZwÖlfe” (Peters, 1290), on February 7, 1723.

On the retirement of Graupner Bach was chosen, with the proviso that if he could not teach all the Latin required, they would pay a deputy to do it for him. Not wishing to be behind his predecessor Kuhnau, he undertook all the duties, but soon finding the Latin too much of a task, he paid his colleague Pezold 50 thalers per annum to relieve him of this part of his work. He had to sign an agreement to lead a respectable and sober life; to be faithful and diligent in the performance of his duties; to have a proper respect for the Council; not to make the church music too long or too operatic; to instruct the boys in instrumental as well as vocal music; to treat them with humanity; not to send incapable singers to the New Church;[40] not to make any journeys without permission from the Burgomaster; and not to accept any office in the University without leave from the Council.[41]

After signing this agreement, he had to pass an examination as to his religious views, and on the 13th of May 1723, he was confirmed in the appointment: though the installation did not take place till the 31st.

It was very important from Bach’s point of view that he should be in a position to control and regulate all the church music that was performed at Leipsic; and for this purpose he was obliged to take steps to obtain control of the students’ chorus, which now sang in the University Church. The organist there was GÖrner, a conceited and not very competent musician, who had been in the habit of directing the music after Kuhnau’s death.

GÖrner persuaded the authorities that the cantor of St Thomas could not possibly serve St Paul’s[42] as well as St Thomas and St Nicholas; and he therefore continued in his post as musical director to the University.

The music for the University Festivals had, however, been from time immemorial conducted by the cantor; and Bach seems to have gained his way in the matter. The cantor had a special payment for these services; but GÖrner had appropriated part of it. Bach tolerated this for two years, and then addressed a letter to the King of Saxony explaining that he, by right of office, conducted the music, but was only paid half the official salary. The letter was dated September 14, 1725, and on the 17th the Ministry of Dresden wrote to the University requiring them to restore the salary to the petitioner, or to show their reasons for not doing so.

The University wrote justifying themselves, whereupon Bach, suspecting that they had not properly stated the case, petitioned the King to allow him to see a copy of their justification. He wrote a refutation of this, and the business dragged on till May 23, 1726, when a document, which seems to have been in Bach’s favour, was presented to the University, and the matter appears to have ended. He and GÖrner were both employed to compose the music for extra festivals, but Bach the more often.[43]

Though Bach put all his energy into the music at the two chief churches, he took care not to be merely a cantor. He had formerly been, and still held honorary rank as capellmeister; and having a very proper pride in himself and his profession, he now always called himself Director Musices and Cantor. Considerable importance is attached in Germany to such titles as Professor, Doctor, Capellmeister, Musicdirector, etc., which have a recognised order of precedence; and it is significant of the conditions that prevailed between Bach and his church authorities that the latter nearly always persisted in giving him the lower title of cantor.

The first performance of the Matthew Passion music took place in Holy Week of 1729. In his efforts to improve the choir, he had asked the Council to allow nine of the scholarships to be allotted to boys with voices: and he hoped that the magnificent Passion music he had just composed and performed would show them the importance of providing better material; but all was in vain. They took no notice of his request, and showed a complete ignorance of the value of their cantor’s work.

About this time he became conductor of the Musical Union, which had been founded by Telemann, but even here troubles arose. The Union was expected to strengthen the choir at St Thomas’ Church. No money, however, being available to pay the students who took part, they naturally fell off. Yet when the church music deteriorated the Council were the first to blame the cantor.

They now began to observe, or imagine they observed, neglect of duty on his part, and addressed various warnings and admonitions to him. He became defiant and refused to explain, whereupon they said that he was incorrigible. The chief trouble arose over the teaching of Latin. We have already seen that the Council had originally offered to pay a deputy to do this part of the cantor’s work, but that Bach had undertaken the whole. Finding it too irksome, however, he had himself paid Pezold to act as his deputy, but the Council, considering Pezold incompetent, wished to employ one KrÜgel. Instead of settling the matter by insisting on Bach’s doing the work himself, they showed their petulance by bringing charges against him of not having behaved with propriety, of sending a member of the choir into the country without giving notice to the authorities, of going a journey without permission, of neglecting his singing classes, and, in short, of doing nothing properly. At first it was proposed to put him down to one of the lowest classes, next to refuse payment of his salary, and at the same time to admonish him. His doing “nothing” consisted in composing and conducting an enormous number of church cantatas, including the Matthew Passion.

But the Council merely required hack work of him, and no doubt as they paid him to do hack work (which could probably have been equally well done by an inferior musician) they had a right to demand it.

He had, it is true, given over half the singing practices to the choir prefect, but this was only in accordance with long established custom, and no one had previously complained. Moreover the Council themselves had refused Bach’s request for a more efficient choir, and it was only natural that he should not take much interest in the drudgery of teaching an unruly rabble, when he was occupied with work which was to prove so much more important to the world at large.

In the constant state of conflict between masters, boys, Council and Consistory, Bach chose to go his own way. With the Rector, Ernesti, who troubled himself little about the musical arrangements, he had been on excellent terms.

Several stories are told of the petty tyranny sought to be exercised over the great man by an ignorant and fussy vestry. Thus, Bach insisted, for sufficient reasons, on his right of choosing the hymns and ignoring those selected by Gaudlitz, the subdean of St Nicholas. Gaudlitz reported him to the Consistory, who sent him a notice that he must have the hymns sung which were chosen by the preacher. He therefore appealed to the Council, showing that it had been the custom for the cantor to select the hymns. This caused a squabble between the Council and the Consistory, but it is not known how the matter ended.

Another instance occurred over the announcement of the performance of a Passion music, for which the Council suddenly discovered that their permission was necessary. The work had been performed several times previously, and the irritating restriction was entirely uncalled for. Bach simply reported to the superintendent of the Consistory that the Council had forbidden the performance; and thus produced another quarrel between the two bodies which was to his advantage.

Bach had not only to organise and train his choir, but to teach some of his pupils to play on instruments, since the town musicians were only seven in number, four wind and three string players. Money was not forthcoming to pay professional musicians, though there were plenty in Leipsic. Bach therefore got hold of the more gifted of his pupils and taught them instruments, and many of them became accomplished artists.

The regulations ordered that two hours of singing practice should be held on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, from 12 to 2; but as this arrangement interfered with the cantor’s dinner hour, his colleagues petitioned that it should be changed. The Council refused to alter the regulation, and in consequence Bach soon began to absent himself.

As the Council could not withhold his salary, they not only confiscated certain fees collected for various outside duties but also contrived that he should obtain no benefit from a legacy left to be divided among the teachers and poorer scholars of the School. Bach was silent for a time, but, when at last forced to speak, he wrote a long letter, showing how absolutely inadequate were the means placed at his disposal: incompetent town players, with mere boys to complete the bands; singers who, not having had time to be trained, were obliged to be admitted to the vacant places before they had any knowledge of music; choirs with only two voices to a part, one of whom would often be, or pretend to be, ill.

Bach’s letter irritated the Council, who, however, let the matter drop after expressing their opinion on it.

The Council acted according to their lights. Though they would not give Bach the means he required for carrying out the music properly, they could understand when an organ required repairing, and voted sums of money from time to time for this purpose, and for the purchase of violins, violas, violoncellos for church use; and they allowed Bach to purchase Bodenschatz’s Florilegium Portense[44] for the use of the scholars. They did not actively hinder Bach’s development, but they had no conception of the greatness of the man they had to do with. They curtailed his income in a moment of anger, but soon afterwards reinstated it.

Bach became thoroughly hurt, and sought for a means of leaving Leipsic. The friend of his boyhood, Erdmann, now held a post at Dantzic, under the Emperor of Russia, and to him Bach applied, in an interesting letter which is still extant.[45] He describes his wish to leave Leipsic under four heads: (1) that the post was by no means so advantageous as he was led to expect; (2) that many of the fees had been stopped; (3) that the place is very dear to live in; (4) that the authorities were strange people, with small love of music, who vexed and persecuted and were jealous of him. Bach asked Erdmann to find him a post at Dantzic, but nothing came of it, for he remained at Leipsic. In spite of the high prices of necessities, he saved enough to leave behind him a well-furnished house, a sum of money and a collection of instruments and books. Like many other good organists he had his rubs with an unthinking vestry, but got over them.

The Rector, Ernesti, died in 1729, and in 1730 Bach’s Weimar friend, Gesner, was appointed: a member of the Council saying that he “hoped that they would fare better in this appointment than they had done in that of the cantor.”[46]

The new rector was in most respects the opposite of Ernesti. He was energetic; had the power of governing, with a special talent for the management of schoolboys. He was a brilliant scholar, and did much to revive the study of Greek as part of a mental and moral training rather than as a mere intellectual gymnastic.

The Council were delighted, and did everything for him. As he was in delicate health they not only had him carried to and from the school in a chair, but remitted his duty of inspecting the school once every three weeks. He smoothed over the disputes among the masters so that they were no longer at enmity among themselves; won the affection of his pupils by his new methods of instruction, his interest in their welfare, and the enforcement of discipline and morality.

The State, he said, had need of every kind of talent: and if he saw boys working at something useful, which was not actually school work, he would encourage them. He also revived the Latin prayers morning and evening, which had been replaced by prayers in the German language.

Between him and Bach there grew up a strong friendship. He helped the music in every way he could: himself applying to the Council for the books, etc., required by Bach.

Gesner did all he could to smooth away Bach’s troubles, and probably the latter was much happier than under the disorder which prevailed while J. H. Ernesti was rector. Moreover, after one more dispute, Bach and the Council at last learned to understand one another, and quarrelled no more.