In the
month of October, 1671, Johann Ambrosius Bach, a skilled violinist and
trumpeter left the town of Erfurt, where he had been serving as a town musician
and made his way to Eisenach with his wife Maria Elisabeth and newborn Johann
Christoph (born 1671). Arriving in Eisenach he received appointments as the
director of town music (Hausmann) and as court trumpeter. At the time the
organist at the Church of St George, and harpsichordist in the court orchestra
(kapelle) of Duke Johann Georg I of Saxony – Eisenach was also a member of the
Bach family, cousin to Ambrosius, Johann Christoph Bach. His eighth and last
child, Johann Sebastian was born in
Eisenach on 21 March 1685. The birth house of the most famous product of the
Bach music family no longer exists today; but is believed to have been on the
Fleischgasse (now called Lutherstrasse 35) by most scholars. On the 23rd
of March 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach was baptized in St Georges Church.
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St Georges church
(left) is to the south of the ‘Mittwochmarkt’ or Wednesday market (the
foreground of the the picture is the square) and is believed to have been
founded by Louis III, in 1181. It is also believed that Landgrave Louis IV of
Thuringia, was knighted and also married to Elizabeth, a Hungarian princess in
this Church. It was Elizabeth who founded a hospital in the town and also
encouraged the settlement of friars from the Order of St Francis. She is also
famous for her part in the legend of the roses. After her death in 1231 she was
canonized St Elizabeth in 1235. The original church had been largely taken down
in 1515 and rebuilt. Martin Luther during his initial years as a student in
Eisenach (1498 – 1501) is believed to have sung as part of the Church choir,
before the reconstruction. Later he delivered sermons on the 9th and
10th of April 1521 in the newly renovated church as he travelled
through Eisenach enroute to the famous Diet of Worms. In 1561, St George church
was consecrated a Protestant church and the neo -Baroque tower seen today was
built in 1901. This tower rises to 62 meters above the ancient ducal vault
which to this day hold the magnificent coffins of the Dukes of Eisenach.
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| The original stone font in which Johann Sebastian Bach was baptized lies within the heavily refurbished church. |
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Of
the original organ built by Georg Christoph Stertzing, in its day, the largest
in Thuringia, the outer case survives to this day
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Around the age of
five or six the young JS Bach, began his early learning; reading, writing,
religion etc. From 1692 to 1695 (the year of his fathers death) he was enrolled
as a student in the St. George’s Latin School. The death of his father, a year
after that of his mother in 1694 left him as orphan, and in 1995 Johann
Sebastian and his brother Johann Jacob moved from Eisenach to Ohrdruf to live
in the household of their eldest brother Johann Christoph and his wife.
Bach is believed
never to revisited Eisenach except once in September 1732, when he commissioned
Antonio Cristofori (1701-37); court painter and cellist in Eisenach, for a
portrait of his second wife Anna Magdalena.
When the I visited
St George’s Church one brisk winter morning in February 2020; the church was silent.
Reverently walking to the old stone font and contemplating the baptism on the
23rd March 1685, of the baby JS Bach, who would give to us such
compositions of genius as the St Matthew’s Passion, the Goldberg variations,
the six cello suites, the well tempered clavier and the Anna Magdalena notebook
to name just a few of his incredible output was a awe-inspiring moment. It was
possible to use a modern camera to make a perfect image in a few seconds, as
seen in the picture above; but only something, however flawed in execution, but
rendered by hand, a labour of love, could capture the true essence of that
magical moment. One could not but help make a quick rendering of this
remarkable piece of stonework, in itself just that – a piece of beautiful
stonework; but through its connection to that day back in 1685 a manifestation
of divinity itself, in all its serenity and silent majesty, and we trust that
the reader will take a moment to contemplate this humble offering below.
