Bach in Black

Yes, I totally did just combine Bach and ACDC... What is this world coming to?

Bach has been my favorite composer for as long as I can remember. So it has been extremely fun to see the Bach sites here in Eisenach, Mühlhausen, and Leipzig.

 

In Eisenach we toured his birth house. When mom and dad came to Germany five years ago they didn't get to see the museum. But this time we did and it was well worth our time.

This is a plaque in the church where he was baptized, only a few blocks away from the Birth house.

One room was dedicated to Bach's settings and variations of Luther hymns. You could listen to an orchestra and/or choir perform the piece while reading about the hymn, a backstory on why Luther wrote it, and how Bach wrote his setting. Interesting fact 1: Bach and Luther went to the same Latin school in Eisenach.

At the birth house there was also a live music performance every hour which we got to attend. The man played on two organs and three harpsichords, and explained something to the group which we couldn't understand because everything he said was in German. I picked up a little, but not enough to really tell you anything. :) Interesting fact 3: services in Bach's day started at 7:00 and went on for three to four hours.

When we were in Mühlhausen we got to see a church were Bach was organist for a year. Like there is often is here, there was a statue outside of Bach that we posed with. Interesting fact 2: Bach was put in jail for four weeks for, and I quote, "Obstinacy"

 

In Leipzig we went to another Bach museum, once again one that mom and dad had never been to. It was also very good, we got to see a bunch of instruments from his day and the organ console from the church in Leipzig where he held the position of organist for over 20 years. Interesting fact 4: Bach wrote a new cantata every week for the upcoming Sunday. Feast days got especially elaborate ones and his St. Matthew's Passion has over 60 pieces, all of which would have been played on Good Friday.

At both museums we got to see books from his huge theological library. We got to see a few of his bibles and even some Luther books that he owned. It was also neat to read that one of his bibles, called the Cavlov bible, is owned by the St. Louis Seminary.

Stained glass windows in St. Thomaskirche of Bach and Luther respectively.

We also got to see St. Thomaskirche, where he was cantor. The organ he played on no longer exists and the console is in the museum, but it was still very neat to see the church where he played organ and where some of his most famous pieces were first played. It is also where he was buried.

 

And in case you're wondering, there weren't pictures allowed in the museums so that's why there aren't any from the museums in this post.

Hannah