Johannes Bach (1550 or 1580 – 1626) was a German piper and carpet weaver. He was the son of

Veit Bach Vitus "Veit" Bach (around 1550 – 8 March 1619, Wechmar) was a German baker and miller who, according to Johann Sebastian Bach, founded the Bach family, which became one of the most important families in musical history. Life and family Veit' ...

, the founder of the

Bach family The Bach family refers to several notable composers of the Baroque music, baroque and Classical period (music), classical periods of music, the best-known of whom was Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). A family genealogy was drawn up by Johann ...

of musicians. He was the great-grandfather 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 w ...

Life

Johannes was born in Wechmar, Germany, the son of baker and miller

. Johannes did an apprenticeship as a town piper in

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine Wettins from 1640 until the ...

and stayed here for a while as a town piper before he returned to Wechmar. He died of the plague during the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

. Johannes Bach had three sons, Johann Bach, Christoph Bach (

's grandfather) and Heinrich Bach. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote about his great-grandfather in his family chronicle written in 1735:

“Johannes Bach, the previous son, initially took up the Becker profession. But because he had a special affection for music, the Stadtpfeiffer in Gotha took him on as an apprentice. At that time, the old Grimmenstein Castle was still standing, and according to the custom at the time, his master lived at the Thurme Castle. With whom he was still in good condition for some time after the years of apprenticeship had been completed; but after the destruction of the castle (as happened in Anno 15..) and since his father Veit died in the meantime, he went to Wechmar and there Jfr. Anna Schmiedin, an innkeeper's daughter from Wechmar, married and took possession of her father's estate. Since he was here he has often gone to Gotha, Arnstadt, Erffurth, Eisenach, Schmalkalden and Suhl to help the StadtMusicis there been prescribed. Died in 1626 in then rampant contagion time. But his wife lived nine years after his death as a widow, and died in 1635."

According to

Karl Geiringer Karl Geiringer (April 26, 1899 – January 10, 1989)Will Crutchfield, January 12, 1989 Retrieved 2013-08-10. was an Austrian-American musicologist, educator, and biographer of composers. He was educated in Vienna but at the beginning of the Nazi yea ...

, Johannes Bach's teacher in Gotha, who is not mentioned by name in the quote from the family chronicle, was the Gotha town piper at the time, Caspar Bach, a relative (probably an uncle or brother). However, it is questionable whether Johannes Bach really once lived in Grimmenstein Castle, since it was finally demolished in 1567. Geiringer also doubts the statement that Johannes Bach is said to have married Anna Schmied only after the death of his father Veit Bach in Wechmar, since Veit Bach did not die until 1619, but Johannes Bach's eldest son Johann Bach was already born in 1604. Johannes Bach probably returned to Wechmar a long time before his father Veit died. On the other hand, these chronological discrepancies would be resolved according to

Christoph Wolff Christoph Wolff (born 24 May 1940) is a German musicologist. He is best known for his works on the music, life, and period of Johann Sebastian Bach. Christoph Wolff is an emeritus professor of Harvard University, and was part of the faculty sinc ...

's theory, according to which Johannes Bach and his father Veit were each born about a generation earlier than previously thought. Johannes Bach would then have been born around 1550 and could very well have lived at Grimmenstein Castle. His teacher there was not a Bach name bearer, but Matz Zisecke. Wolff also assumes that Veit Bach died before 1577/78, so that Johannes Bach could well have gone to Wechmar only after his father's death. For example, Johannes Bach was mentioned as the owner of a house in Wechmar in 1577, so he had already taken possession of his father's estate by that time. According to this theory, however, he would only have started a family at a relatively old age, since he would have been around 50 when his eldest son was born in 1604. In the death register of Wechmar, Johannes Bach appears in 1626 as "Hanss Bach ein Spielmann". The funeral sermon given by J.G. Olearius in 1692 for Johannes Bach's son Heinrich Bach (1615–1692) shows that Johannes Bach also worked as a carpet weaver.Geiringer: ''Die Musikerfamilie Bach''. 1958, S. 12 f. mit Anm. 1 S. 13.

References

Karl Geiringer : The Bach family of musicians . CH Beck, Munich 1958, p. 12 f. Christoph Wolff et al. : The New Grove Bach Family ( The New Grove Composer Series ). Norton, New York 1997, ISBN 0-393-30088-9 .

External links

History of the Bachs

Johannes Johannes is a Medieval Latin form of the personal name that usually appears as "John" in English language contexts. It is a variant of the Greek and Classical Latin variants (Ιωάννης, ''Ioannes''), itself derived from the Hebrew name '' Yeh ...

Businesspeople from Thuringia German Protestants Year of birth uncertain Date of birth unknown 16th-century births 1626 deaths 16th-century German businesspeople {{Germany-music-bio-stub

Life

See also

References

External links