One often hears in Germany the expressions “Familien-Vater,” “Haus-Vater,” applied as terms of special commendation to public men, in the sense that their private life is of estimable character, that they do their duty well by their families instead of spending their whole energy in accumulating money or fame. To no artist could these terms be more fittingly applied than to the subject of this memoir. We have seen that he was unremitting in his efforts to give his sons and pupils the best possible education, and helped them forward in every way he could when they entered their professions, and how he secretly obtained a post for his son-in-law, Johann Christoph Altnikol, as a kind of wedding-present. Forkel says he was a “vorzÜglich guter (particularly excellent) Haus-Vater, Freund (Friend) und StaatsbÜrger (Citizen). His company was pleasant to everyone, whether a stranger or an intimate, and anyone visiting him was sure of a courteous reception, so that his house was seldom without guests.”

An interesting feature in his private life is his choice of persons to act as god-parents to his children. They were seldom his own relations, but persons of distinction, who might be able to help the children on in their subsequent career. Among them were Bach’s great friend, Prince Leopold of CÖthen, his brother Prince August Ludwig, his sister Princess Elenore, Privy Councillor Von Zanthier, Dr Gilmar, one of the chief men in the church at MÜhlhausen; Gesner, rector of the Thomas School. Though far from seeking wealth, Bach was sufficiently a man of the world to see the value of ensuring a respectable position both for himself and his sons by any legitimate means in his power.

As a choirmaster Bach seems to have been a failure. He was far too irritable to be able to control boys, and the task was evidently extremely distasteful to him. Though he was sympathetic in the extreme with those who were in earnest in matters of art, it is very clear that he had not the tact and patience required for elementary teaching. One can well imagine how the stupidity and incompetence of many of the boys who came under him must have galled his ardent nature; and he was quite unfit to be a schoolmaster. Yet it is evident that he gained the confidence of some boys from the fact of his having trained them to assist him in the orchestra.

Of his own boyhood at LÜneburg a remarkable story is told to the effect that when his voice broke he for some days spoke and sang in octaves. It is of course quite conceivable on acoustical grounds that the first harmonic may have been prominent enough to be heard with the fundamental note; and that he, being a musician, observed a phenomenon which would escape an ordinary boy.

Throughout his life he was ever eager to become acquainted with everything new that was of any value. New organs, new compositions, newly-invented instruments, were all a source of interest to him. Thus, directly Silbermann of Freiburg had made a few of his “fortepianos” in imitation of the new invention of Cristofori, Bach was eager to try them. But the hammerlike blow required was quite foreign to Bach’s method of playing, in which the fingers were always kept as close as possible to the keys; and though he praised the tone, he rather freely condemned the touch. Silbermann was exceedingly angry and would not have anything to do with Bach for a long time; but he, nevertheless, set to work to improve the touch, and after some fifteen years of patient labour succeeded in producing the satisfactory instruments which Bach played on at Potsdam shortly before his death. Hilgenfeldt considers that the general use of the pianoforte took its origin from these perfected instruments.

In the midst of all his occupations Bach found time to conduct public concerts, of which Hilgenfeldt quotes the following advertisement:

Bach was a severe critic of his own works. Hilgenfeldt tells us that many of those which did not come up to his ideal of what they should be were cast aside by him, and that such of his youthful works as he considered worth keeping were constantly improved by him and brought to a higher standard. Thus, the first movement of the third organ sonata, which originally belonged to the Wohltemperirte Clavier, was altered to the extent of having large portions cut out, and others essentially changed and improved, so that phrases of small significance obtained an importance of which no signs appeared in the earlier composition.

He reserved his teaching for those who could really profit by it, and if he found that a pupil had not sufficient talent, he would, with every kindly courtesy, recommend him not to seek his living by music. The result was that a strong feeling for the dignity and value of art was spread by his pupils, who for the most part attained to important positions in their profession. One of his pupils, Doles, whose name had a place of honour in the old Gewandhaus at Leipsic, was Cantor of St Thomas for thirty-four years (after the death of Harrer), and was held in great esteem as a teacher and composer.

Though at no time rich, Bach was never a poor man. The various payments in kind, such as rent-free dwelling, garden produce, etc., were almost sufficient to support him, and to make his salary available for self-improvement, for journeys, and for the education of his children. And that he was able to collect more than eighty theological works, at a time when books were an expensive luxury, and that he could give no less than three clavichords with pedals at once to his son, Joh. Christian, shows that his position was one of comfort.

Though the Council and the Leipsic Chronicle took little notice of his death, it appears that the Society founded by Mizler caused a funeral ode by the then rector, Dr Ventzky, to be set to music and performed; and he seems to have been much mourned outside Leipsic, as the chief support of serious German music.

Not as a composer, but as a performer, however, was he mourned. It was reserved for later generations to fully appreciate what Hilgenfeldt describes as the “spiritual and everlasting” side of his genius. In those days the composer and performer were one and the same person. No one was considered an artist who could only perform, however well, if he could not also compose; and, especially on the organ, good improvisation was considered the chief qualification of a musician. He was expected to be in a position to extemporise at any time and under any conditions a fugue, or a set of variations on any theme given to him; and his ability in this respect was the criterion by which he was judged. It was natural, therefore, that Bach’s fame during his lifetime should rest more on his extempore performances than on his written compositions, which, remaining in manuscript, would probably serve chiefly as models for his pupils to work from.

Four portraits of Bach are known to have been painted. One, which seems to have been the first, is a half length picture showing him in a dress coat of the fifth decade of the eighteenth century. It belonged to Kittel, and was kept by him as a kind of sacred possession, only to be shown on special occasions, or as a reward to a diligent pupil. It was in a massive gold frame, and hung behind a curtain over the harpsichord in Kittel’s study. On his death it came into the possession of the church of which he was organist.

The second was also a half-length, and belonged to his son Carl Philip Emanuel. It was painted by Hausmann.

The third, also by Hausmann, is shown in our frontispiece. It is preserved in the Thomas School, and, according to Becker, was painted on his becoming a member of the Leipsic Musical Society. A fourth, preserved in the Joachimsthal Gymnasium at Berlin, was formerly in the possession of Princess Amalie of Prussia, and seems to have been painted by Geber.

A few good copper engravings were made from the various portraits, and a number of bad lithographs from the engravings. Some successful plaster busts have also been made from the pictures.

Germany is much given to honouring those of her sons who have distinguished themselves in art by erecting memorials to them in public places: but not till nearly one hundred years after his death was such a monument thought of for Bach. In 1840, Mendelssohn gave an organ recital in the Thomas Church, with the object of opening a fund for this purpose with the proceeds, and on April 23, 1843, a medallion by Knauer was solemnly unveiled on the walls of the Thomas Church. The opportunity was taken of performing many of Bach’s compositions; and amongst those present was the last descendant of the great man, with his wife and two daughters. This was William Bach, then 81 years of age, a son of the BÜckeburger Bach.

In 1864 a large new organ was erected in the New Church at Arnstadt “in honour of Johann Sebastian Bach,” containing his portrait over the keyboards: and in 1884 a Bach festival was held at Eisenach on the occasion of the unveiling of a fine bronze statue of the composer in the Market-place.