Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt (24 February 1644,

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

– 1 May 1694,

Eisenach Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situat ...

) was the mother of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

. She was a daughter of Valentin Lämmerhirt (or Lemmerhirt, 1605–1665), a

furrier Fur clothing is clothing made from the preserved skins of mammals. Fur is one of the oldest forms of clothing, and is thought to have been widely used by people for at least 120,000 years. The term 'fur' is often used to refer to a specific i ...

and coachman in Erfurt. On 8 April 1668, she married her friend since childhood,

Johann Ambrosius Bach Johann Ambrosius Bach (22 February 1645 – ) was a German musician, father to Johann Sebastian Bach. Life Johann Ambrosius Bach was born in Erfurt, Germany, the son of musician Christoph Bach (1613–1661). He was the twin brother of Joh ...

. The couple left Erfurt in 1671 and settled in Eisenach, where in 1685 their eighth son, Johann Sebastian Bach, was born. Her half-sister Martha Dorothea was the mother of composer and

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons, and is divided into two separate academic disciplines. It is the art of compiling dictionaries. * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionaries. * Theoretica ...

Johann Gottfried Walther Johann Gottfried Walther (18 September 1684 – 23 March 1748) was a German music theorist, organist, composer, and lexicographer of the Baroque era. Walther was born at Erfurt. Not only was his life almost exactly contemporaneous to that ...

, who became a friend of Johann Sebastian.

Notes

Further reading