Johann Sebastian Bach
Biography
Johann Sebastian Bach, born in Eisenach on 21 March 1685, served Weimar twice: half a year in 1703 as a lackey and court musician, and from 1708 to 1717 as court organist of the palace chapel, from 2 March 1714 also as Konzertmeister with a church cantata due every four weeks. The Weimar decade produced about thirty cantatas, early versions of the Brandenburg Concertos, much of his organ music and the Orgelbüchlein; his first six children were born at Markt 16, Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel among them. When he pressed to leave for Köthen, Duke Wilhelm Ernst had him held in the palace for close to four weeks and dismissed him on 2 December 1717 in disgrace. Leipzig followed in 1723, and he died there on 28 July 1750.
Eisenach, 1685: a musicians' family in Thuringia
Bach was born in Eisenach on 21 March 1685 and baptised two days later in the town's Georgenkirche. His parents died early, and he grew up in Ohrdruf with his elder brother Johann Christoph, an organist; in 1700 he went to Lüneburg as a pupil of the Michaeliskloster. The family had supplied Thuringia's towns and courts with musicians for generations, and the road he took — Eisenach, Ohrdruf, Lüneburg, then the organ lofts of Arnstadt and Mühlhausen — never left that world.
1703–1708: Weimar the first time, Arnstadt, Mühlhausen
In the spring of 1703, aged eighteen, he was engaged as lackey and court musician in the private chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III at Weimar's Rotes Schloss; the same year he became organist of the Neue Kirche in Arnstadt, and from there organist in Mühlhausen. In June 1708 he came back to Weimar to try the newly renovated organ of the palace chapel and played before Duke Wilhelm Ernst; in July 1708 he took up the post of court organist and chamber musician. This time he stayed nine years.
1708–1717: court organist in the Himmelsburg
His instrument stood in the palace chapel, a tall, narrow room at the town end of the Wilhelmsburg that the court called the Himmelsburg — the castle of heaven — finished in 1630. These were, in the words of the Neue Deutsche Biographie, the years of his first mastery, with organ music at the centre of his writing alongside the church cantatas. The room is gone: the fire of 6 May 1774 burnt the Wilhelmsburg down to its tower and gatehouse, and no palace chapel was built again, so the Weimar cantatas were first heard in a space that survives only in drawings and documents.
Markt 16: a household on the market square, 1710 and 1714
The Bachs lived at Markt 16, on the square the town still uses for its weekly market, and their first six children were born there. Wilhelm Friedemann, born on 22 November 1710 and baptised two days later, and Carl Philipp Emanuel, born on 8 March 1714 with Georg Philipp Telemann among his godparents, both grew into composers of the next generation, which makes an ordinary Weimar address the birthplace of a good part of German music after Bach.
2 March 1714: Konzertmeister, with a cantata every four weeks
After he had declined a call to the Marktkirche in Halle, the court made him Konzertmeister on 2 March 1714. The new office carried the duty to compose a church cantata for the Sunday every four weeks, and the Weimar cantatas — about thirty — grew out of that rhythm. Early versions of the Brandenburg Concertos and much of the organ music belong to the same years, and so does the Orgelbüchlein: a ninety-page book laid out for 164 chorale preludes, of which he wrote 46, most of them between 1712 and 1717.
November–December 1717: four weeks under arrest, then Köthen and Leipzig
By 1717 he had an offer from Köthen and pressed for his release. On 6 November 1717 Duke Wilhelm Ernst had him taken into custody for his "halsstarrige Bezeugung" — obstinate conduct — and held for close to four weeks in the palace's Bastille; on 2 December 1717 he was released from custody and from the duke's service "mit angezeigter Ungnade", with disfavour formally noted. He went to Köthen as Hofkapellmeister, and in 1723, after the death of Johann Kuhnau, became cantor of the Thomasschule and director of music in Leipzig. He died in Leipzig on 28 July 1750 and was buried on 31 July at the south wall of the Johanniskirche.
Bach's places today: Weimar, and the Bachhaus in Eisenach since 1907
In Weimar the Thüringer Bachwochen name the places of his that survive: the Herderkirche with its font and Cranach altar, the Jakobskirche, and the palace, whose Bastille carries a plaque about the imprisonment; a bronze bust of 1995 stands opposite the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt. In Eisenach the Neue Bachgesellschaft opened the Bachhaus in 1907 as the first Bach museum, with the charge to collect and keep everything that concerns Bach and his life's work; every hour it gives a short concert on five baroque keyboard instruments.
Questions visitors ask
- What did Bach do in Weimar?
- He was court organist and chamber musician of the ducal court from 1708 to 1717, playing the organ of the palace chapel known as the Himmelsburg, and from 2 March 1714 also Konzertmeister, with the duty to compose a church cantata every four weeks. In 1703 he had already spent half a year at Weimar as a lackey and court musician.
- When did Bach live in Weimar?
- Twice: for half a year in 1703, and from July 1708 until his dismissal on 2 December 1717 — nine years.
- Where did Bach live in Weimar?
- At Markt 16 on the market square. His first six children were born there, among them Wilhelm Friedemann on 22 November 1710 and Carl Philipp Emanuel on 8 March 1714.
- Which of Bach's works were written in Weimar?
- About thirty church cantatas, early versions of the Brandenburg Concertos, much of his organ music and the Orgelbüchlein, whose 46 chorale preludes were written mostly between 1712 and 1717.
- Why was Bach imprisoned in Weimar?
- He pressed to be released from the duke's service for the post of Hofkapellmeister in Köthen. Duke Wilhelm Ernst had him arrested on 6 November 1717 for obstinate conduct and held for close to four weeks before dismissing him on 2 December 1717 in disgrace.
- Where can visitors follow Bach today?
- In Weimar at the Herderkirche, the Jakobskirche and the palace with its plaque on the Bastille, plus the bust opposite the Hochschule für Musik; in Eisenach at the Bachhaus, Frauenplan 21, the first Bach museum, open daily from 10 to 18 with an hourly concert on baroque keyboard instruments.
Notable Works & Achievements
Orgelbüchlein (Little Organ Book)
Weimar cantatas
Early versions of the Brandenburg Concertos
St Matthew Passion
Mass in B minor
Cello Suites
Connected Places in Weimar
Burgplatz 4, 99423 Weimar
He played the Himmelsburg, the chapel of the Wilhelmsburg, from 1708 to 1717, and was held four weeks in the palace's Bastille in 1717.
Frauenplan 21, 99817 Eisenach
Untermarkt, 99974 Mühlhausen
Bach was organist here from 1707 to 1708, composed the inauguration cantata Gott ist mein König for the town council in February 1708, and designed the organ's specification.
Am Rollplatz 4, 99423 Weimar
The Thuringian Bach festival names this church among the Weimar places of his that can be visited.
Markt, 99423 Weimar
The Bach family lived at Markt 16 during the Weimar years; their first six children were born on this square.
Historical Context
Court organist here from 1708, Konzertmeister from 1714, imprisoned in the castle's Bastille and released on 2 December 1717.
The century and a half between two castle fires is the Weimar nobody puts on a poster, and it is the one that made the town musical. It opens with a burnt-out castle in 1618 and closes with another one in 1774 — and in between, in a chapel that no longer exists, Johann Sebastian Bach wrote most of his organ music.
Read more about this period →Quick Facts
1685
1750
German
On stage
On stage
Schauspiel
His music is in the programme, played in the town where he spent nine years as court organist and concertmaster.
Kirchenmusik · Johann Sebastian Bach
He wrote it in Leipzig, long after Weimar — but the choir performing it is the town's Bach choir, in the parish church of the town where he spent nine years at the court.
Events
Events
Sunday evenings through the summer, 18:00–19:00
The same programme puts Bach's cantatas back into cantata services, and the Bachchor Weimar is one of the house ensembles: the town he served as court organist still performs him liturgically rather than only in concert.
Historical figures
Historical figures
1662–1728 • duke • patron
His court organist from 1708 to 1717 — and his prisoner for four weeks in 1717, released "mit angezeigter Ungnade".
In Weimar's history
In Weimar's history
The court organist asked to leave, and the duke had him locked up for four weeks before letting him go in disgrace.
The prisoner: his Weimar decade ended here, and he left for Cöthen.
The Baroque residence burned down to its tower and gatehouse, and the room Bach had played in was gone for good.
The chapel he played from 1708 to 1717 burned with the palace and was never rebuilt.