Johann Sebastian Bach
Page 75
Oct. 4 St.
Thomas School bids farewell to rector Johannb Matthias Gesner, who becomes founding dean of the Arts and Sciences Faculty of newly established Göttingen University
Nov. 21
Installation of Professor Johann August Ernesti as rector of the St. Thomas School (BWV Anh. 19)
Dec. 25
Christmas Day: performance of first part of Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248I (subsequent parts performed on Dec. 26, Dec. 27, Jan. 1, 1735, Jan. 2, and Jan. 6)
1735
Spring
Publication of part II of the Clavier-Übung
Jun.
Trip to Mühlhausen for more than a week: audition of son Johann Gottfried Bernhard for organist post at St. Mary’s ( Jun. 9), organ examination at St. Mary’s ( Jun. 16)
Sep. 5
Son Johann Christian born; baptized Sep. 7
1736
Mar. 30
Good Friday, at St. Thomas’s: St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 (revised version, using “swallow’s nest” organ for first and last movements of part I)
Jul. 17
Plans to be absent from Leipzig for two weeks (no details known)
Nov. 19
Appointed Royal-Polish and Electoral-Saxon Court Composer
c. Dec.1
In Dresden for several days: organ recital at St. Mary’s (Dec. 1)
1737
Jan. 14
Son Johann Gottfried Bernhard appointed organist at St. Jacobi’s in Sangerhausen
Mar. 4
Resigns temporarily as director of the Collegium Musicum
Apr. 10
Town council decision regarding appointment of prefects
c. May
Trip to Sangerhausen (no details known)
May 14
Learns about Johann Adolph Scheibe’s critique
Sep. 28
In Wiederau: performance of BWV 30a
Oct. 18
Cousin Johann Elias Bach begins service as private secretary to Bach and tutor of his children
Oct. 30
Daughter Johanna Carolina baptized
Dec. 12
The king’s decree in the dispute between Bach and Ernesti
Dec. 16
Organ examination in Weissensee
1738
Jan. 8
Publication of Johann Abraham Birnbaum’s defense against Scheibe’s attack
Spring
C. P. E. Bach appointed harpsichordist of the crown prince, later King Friedrich II of Prussia
May 22
In Dresden for several days
1739
Jan. 28
Son Johann Gottfried Bernhard registers at the University of Jena
Mar. 27
Good Friday: cancellation of Passion performance
May 27
Death of son Johann Gottfried Bernhard (age 24)
Aug. 11
Son Wilhelm Friedemann back home for 4 weeks; concerts with lutenists Silvius Leopold Weiss and Johann Kropffgans of Dresden
Sep. 7
In Altenburg: dedication of organ at the Castle Church
Fall
Michaelmas Fair: publication of part III of the Clavier-Übung
Oct. 2
Resumes directorship of the Collegium Musicum
Nov. 7–14
Trip to Weissenfels with Anna Magdalena (no details known)
1740
Apr. 17
Trip to Halle (no details known)
LEIPZIG (1741–1750)
1741
Aug. 5
Trip to Berlin, for at least one week (no details known)
Fall
Michaelmas Fair(?): publication of part IV of the Clavier-Übung
Nov. 17
Extended trip to Dresden (return on Nov. 17); visit with Count Keyserlingk 1742 Feb. 22 Daughter Regina Susanna baptized
May 13–20
Official state mourning period after the death of Empress Maria Amalia
Aug. 30
In Kleinzschocher: performance of BWV 212
Oct. 31
Johann Elias Bach leaves Leipzig and his post as private secretary to Bach and tutor of his children
1743
Dec. 13
Organ examination at St. John’s in Leipzig
1745
Nov. 30–Dec. 25
Occupation of Leipzig by Prussian troops
1746
Apr. 16
Son Wilhelm Friedemann appointed organist and music director of Our Lady’s (Market) Church in Halle
Aug. 7
Organ examination in Zschortau, near Leipzig
Sep. 24–28
Organ examination in Naumburg, St. Wenceslas’s Church
1747
c. May 7–8
Trip to Potsdam and Berlin: visit with King Friedrich II of Prussia in Potsdam (May 7); organ recital in the Church of the Holy Spirit (May 8); visits new opera house in Berlin
Jun.
Accepts membership in the Society of Musical Science (L. C. Mizler, secretary, present in Leipzig); contributes publication of Canonic Variations, BWV 769
Jul. 7
Dedication of Musical Offering, BWV 1079
Jul. 28
Start of major organ repairs at St. Thomas’s
Sep.
Michaelmas Fair: publication of Musical Offering, BWV 1079
Nov.
Examination of renovated organ at St. Thomas’s
1748
Sep. 26
Grandson Johann Sebastian Bach, son of C. P. E. Bach, baptized in Berlin (Bach not present)
Dec. 21
Audition of town musicians
1749
Jan. 20
Daughter Elisabeth Juliana Friederica marries Bach’s former student Johann Christoph Altnickol
Apr. 2
Corresponds with Count Questenberg of Moravia
Apr. 4
Last performance of the St. John Passion
Apr.
Conference with organ builder Heinrich Andreas Cuntzius
May 6
Sale of a fortepiano to Count Branitzky of Poland
May 12
Gets involved in the Bidermann affair mid-May Hit by sudden critical illness
Jun. 8
Premature audition of Gottlob Harrer (capellmeister to Count Brühl in Dresden) for the cantorate at St. Thomas’s, at the special request of the Saxon prime minister, takes place in the concert hall “Three Swans”
Oct. 6
Grandson Johann Sebastian Altnickol baptized in Naumburg (Bach not present); buried Dec. 21
Nov. 30
First Sunday in Advent: W. F. Bach performs his cantata Fk 80 in Leipzig
1750
Jan.
Appointment of son Johann Christoph Friedrich as court musician of Count Wilhelm of Schaumburg-Lippe in Bückeburg
Feb. 2
Purification (or Mar. 25, Visitation): C. P. E. Bach performs his Magnificat, Wq 215, in Leipzig
Mar. 28–31
First operation by the London eye surgeon Dr. John Taylor
Apr. 5–8
Second operation by Dr. Taylor
May 4
Arrival of Bach’s last pupil, Johann Gottfried Müthel, in Leipzig
May 17
Whitsunday: Bach’s assistant Johann Adam Franck appointed substitute and eventually interim cantor, through Sept. 1751
Jul. 22
After a stroke, receives last communion at home
Jul. 28
Death (age 65) at “a little after” 8:15 P.M.
Jul. 31
Burial at St. John’s Cemetery
POSTHUMOUS YEARS (1750–1809)
1750
Fall
Johann Christian (age 15) joins the household of his stepbrother C. P. E. Bach in Berlin; Gottfried Heinrich joins the household of his brother-in-law Johann Christoph Altnickol in Naumburg
Aug. 7
Election of Gottlob Harrer as
Thomascantor (other applicants for the position: C. P. E. Bach, A. F. Graun, J. L. Krebs, J. G. Görner, and J. Trier)
Aug. 29
The Leipzig Town Council acquires performing parts of chorale cantata cycle from Anna Magdalena Bach for the use of the St. Thomas cantor
Oct. 2
Installation of Gottlob Harrer as Thomascantor
Nov. 11
Settlement of Bach’s estate at the probate court of Leipzig University
1750–51
Winter
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Johann Friedrich Agricola write Obituary (published 1754)
1751
May
Jubilate (Spring) Fair: publication of The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080
Jun. 1
Subscription announcement for The Art of Fugue
1752
May
Second edition of The Art of Fugue
1755
Jul. 9
Death of Thomascantor Gottlob Harrer
Sep. 29
Commemoration of the 200th anniversary of the Augsburg Religious Peace: performance of BWV 126, conducted by the prefect (probably C. F. Penzel)
Oct. 8
Appointment of Johann Friedrich Doles, cantor at the cathedral in Freiberg (a pupil of Bach’s, 1739–43), as Thomascantor
1760
Feb. 27
Death of Anna Magdalena Bach (age 59); buried Feb 29
1763
Feb. 12
Death of son Gottfried Heinrich (age 39) in Naumburg
1774
Jan. 14
Death of daughter Catharina Dorothea Bach (age 65) in Leipzig
1781
Aug. 18
Death of daughter Johanna Carolina Bach (age 43) in Leipzig
Aug. 24
Death of daughter Elisabeth Juliane Friederica Altnickol (age 55) in Leipzig
1782
Jan. 1
Death of son Johann Christian (age 46) in London
1784
Jul. 1
Death of son Wilhelm Friedemann (age 73) in Berlin
1788
Dec. 14
Death of son Carl Philipp Emanuel (age 74) in Hamburg
1795
Jan. 26
Death of son Johann Christoph Friedrich (age 63) in Bückeburg
1809
Dec. 14
Death of daughter Regina Susanna Bach (age 67) in Leipzig
Appendix 2: Places of Bach’s Activities
Appendix 3: Money and Living Costs in Bach’s Time
MONETARY UNITS
1 pf. (pfennig—copper coin)
=smallest unit
1 gr. (groschen—silver coin)
=12 pf.
1 fl. (gulden, florin, or guilder—silver coin)
=21 gr.
1 tlr. or rtl. (taler or reichstaler—silver coin)
=24 gr. (1 fl. 3 gr.)
1 dukat (gold coin)
=66 gr. (2 rtl. 18 gr.)
1 dukat (adjusted parity)
=72 gr. (3 rtl.)
1 louis d’or (gold coin)
=5 rtl.
COST OF LIVING
Fundamental socioeconomic changes and inflation make it very difficult to compare the value and purchasing power of eighteenth-century currency with that of today’s money. The conversion into a modern decimal currency system is meant to provide merely a general sense of proportions:
1 pfennig
=$ .25
1 taler
=$ 72.00
1 groschen
=$ 3.00
1 dukat
=$198.00
1 gulden
=$ 63.00
1 dukat (adj.)
=$216.00
1 dukat
=$198.00
1 louis d’or
=$360.00
1. Selected cost-of-living figures for early eighteenth-century Leipzig* (in 1721, the taler replaced the guilder as the standard currency denomination in Electoral Saxony):
Household goods
5 pf.
[$ 1.25]
1 quart [Kanne] of milk (1725)
6 pf.
[$ 1.50]
1 quart of beer (1699)
3 gr. 2 pf.
[$ 9.50]
1 quart of ordinary wine
6 gr.
[$18.00]
1 quart of better wine
3 gr. 3 pf.
[$ 9.75]
1 set of 15 [Mandel] eggs (1762) [1 egg =$.65]
*SOURCE: M.J. Elias, Umriss einer Geschichte der Preise und Löhne in Deutschland vom ausgehenden Mittelalter bis zum Beginn des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, vol. 2 (Leiden: Sijthoff, 1940).
4 gr. 9 pf.
[$14.25]
1 tub [4 quarts = Fass] of butter (1710)
1 gr. 2 pf
[$3.50]
1 pound of veal (1699)
1 gr. 3 pf.
[$3.75]
1 pound of beef (1699) or ham (1697)
21 gr. 6 pf.
[$64.50]
1 bushel [Saxon Scheffel =c. 103 liters] of grain (rye)
10 gr.
[$2.50]
1 pound of wax candles (1726)
20 gr. 8 pf.
[$62.00]
1 ream [Ries = 480 sheets] of ordinary paper (1725)
1 tlr. 2 gr. 5 pf.
[$79.25]
1 ream of fine paper (1717)
Wages
6 pf.
[$1.50]
a maid’s (female child) daily pay (1700)
1 gr. 6 pf.
[$4.50]
a maid’s (female adult) daily pay (1699)
6 gr.
[$18.00]
a gravedigger’s pay per grave (1700–8)
7 gr.; 8 gr.
[$21.00; 24.00]
a carpenter’s daily pay: 7 gr. / winter; 8 gr. / summer (1725)
50 rtl.
[$3,600.00]
annual income of a barber (1722–29)
175 rtl.
[$12,600.00]
annual salary of a pastor (1722–29)
2. Selected examples drawn from Bach documents (references are to NBRnumbers):
Salaries, honoraria, fees
400 rtl.
[$28,000]
Bach’s annual salary—without benefits—as capellmeister in Cöthen, 1717 (No. 70)
300 rtl.
[$21,600]
Anna Magdalena Bach’s annual salary as Cöthen court singer, 1722 (No. 87)
100 rtl.
[$7,200]
Bach’s annual fee for private study with him, including room and board, 1712 (No. 312)
50 rtl.
[$3,600]
Bach’s honorarium for a congratulatory cantata, 1736, 1738 (Nos. 172, 201)
22 rtl.
[$1,584]
Bach’s (variable) organ examination fee, 1746 (BDII, no. 548; see also Nos. 73 and 158)
12 rtl.
[$864]
Bach’s (variable) honorarium for a guest performance (church music), 1713, 1717 (Nos. 47, 63; see also No. 116)
6 rtl.
[$432]
Bach’s fee for a keyboard lesson to a nobleman (No. 250)
1 rtl.
[$72]
cantor’s fee for weddings and funerals in Leipzig (Ordnung der Schule zu St. Thomae, Leipzig 1723)
16 gr.
[$48]
travel expenses; per diem for meals [Kostgeld], 1713 (No. 44)
Publications
1 rtl.
[$72]
Musical Offering, 1747 = 3 typeset, 26 engraved pages (No. 248)
2 rtl.
[$144]
Clavier-Übung, Part I, 1731 = 37 engraved pages (BD II, no., 506); J. D. Heinichen, Der General-Baß in der Composition, 1728 = 994 typeset pages (No. 140)