Story-Lives of Great Musicians | Page 2

SPLENDID FOR AN ORATORIO!' 362
PORTRAITS
BEETHOVEN Frontispiece
BACH 5
HANDEL 39
HAYDN 91
MOZART 153
SCHUBERT 271
MENDELSSOHN 317

BACH

STORY-LIVES OF GREAT MUSICIANS

BACH
'Christoph, I wish you would let me have that book of manuscript
music which you have in your cupboard--the one which contains pieces
by Pachelbel, and Frohberger, and Buxtehude, and ever so many
others--you know which I mean. I will take such care of it if you will
only lend it to me for a little while.'
Christoph was about to leave the room, but he turned sharply to his
little brother as the latter put his request.
'No, Sebastian, I will certainly not lend you the book, and I wonder that
you have the impertinence to ask me such a thing! The idea of your
thinking that you could study such masters as Buxtehude and
Frohberger--a child like you! Get on with what I have set you to learn,
and do not let me hear any more of such fancies!'
With that Christoph shut the door behind him, and Sebastian was left to
ponder sadly upon his elder brother's harshness in refusing to accede to
his simple request. The disappointment was very keen, for little
Sebastian had been longing to get possession of that precious volume.
For several days past he had spent hours in his brother's absence gazing
at its covers through the lattice doors of the cupboard, and feasting his
eyes upon the names of the musicians which were written on the back
in bold letters in Christoph's hand.
[Illustration: 'Gazing at its covers through the lattice doors of the
cupboard.']
What harm could there be in his trying to play the works of those

masters? It seemed so unreasonable to the ten-year-old child, for he
was passionately fond of music, and exceedingly quick at learning; yet
Christoph persistently kept him to simple pieces such as he could
master without the slightest difficulty, and which, therefore, afforded
him no gratification whatever. He longed to be studying more advanced
works, and there were times when this longing seemed
insupportable--when the soul of this earnest child-musician rose in
revolt against the tyrannical treatment of his elder brother. Christoph's
lack of appreciation of Sebastian's capacity and gift for music was,
moreover, so marked as to crush the feelings of love and respect which
otherwise would have found a place in Sebastian's heart for the brother
whom the sad circumstances of his childhood had made his guardian.
[Illustration: BACH. From photo RISCHGITZ.]
Johann Sebastian Bach, as the young musician was named, was an
orphan. Ten years before the period at which our story opens--on
March 21, 1685--he had first seen the light in the long, low-roofed
cottage, which is still standing in the little German town of Eisenach,
nestling at the foot of the wooded heights which form part of the
romantically beautiful district of the Thuringer Wald. It is a country
abounding in legendary lore, which, taking its birth from the recesses
of the interminable forest, and perpetuated in ballad, has for ages found
a home in the sequestered valleys lying locked between the hills. On
one of the latter, overlooking the town, stands the Wartburg, in which
Luther made his home, and where he translated the Bible into the
German tongue.
Sebastian's father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, organist of Eisenach, was
the descendant of a long race of musicians of the name who had
followed music not merely as a means of livelihood, but with the
earnest desire of furthering its artistic aims. For close upon two
hundred years before Sebastian was born the family of Bach had thus
laboured to develop and improve their art in the only direction in which
it was practised in the Germany of those days--namely, as a fitting
accompaniment to the simple, but deeply devotional, services of the
Lutheran Church. So greatly had the influence of this ancient and

closely-united family made itself felt in regard to church music that at
Erfurt, where its members had practised the art for generations, all
musicians were known as 'the Bachs,' although no Bach had actually
resided in the town for many years.
That Sebastian should have shown a fondness for music at a very early
age is not, therefore, to be wondered at; but, beyond learning the violin
from his father, he had not progressed far in his studies when, in his
tenth year, he found himself bereft of both his parents and taken into
the charge of his brother Christoph, who filled the post of organist at
the neighbouring town of Ohrdruff. Christoph, who was fourteen years
older than Sebastian, possessed nothing more than an ordinary amount
of talent for music, and in addition lacked the sense to appreciate the
gift which his little brother at once began to display