IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF BACH - PART THE FIRST - EISENACH

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 23^rd of March 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach was baptized in St Georges Church.

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 9^th and 10^th 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.

The original stone font in which Johann Sebastian Bach was baptized lies within the heavily refurbished church.

 

Of the original organ built by Georg Christoph Stertzing, in its day, the largest in Thuringia, the outer case survives to this day

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 23^rd 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.