17

Leipzig’s most famous composer

When Johann Sebastian Bach came to Leipzig in the spring of 1723, a period of uncertain waiting lay behind him. What seems unimaginable today: he was not the first choice for the position of cantor at St Thomas. Among the composers considered, Graupner and Fasch were stuck in their employment contracts and Telemann, who had been chosen, was better paid in Hamburg and turned the offer down. Only then did Bach come up for discussion and finally the council accepted him without much enthusiasm.

Today, it is hard to imagine Leipzig without the man from Eisenach. St Thomas Church and its choir, the Bach Museum and Bach Archive, over 150 surviving cantatas, as well as the Passions and the Christmas Oratorio – a success story, one would think. If we could ask him, he would perhaps furrow his brow, because he was not an easy artist to deal with and the terms of his contract were not favourable. (pleasant for him.)
He had to submit to the City Council in all conditions and the church authorities also had the right to object. He wanted to have a say in the selection of boys for St Thomas School and choir, as the pupils often were musically unsuitable.He was turned down on many occasions and the conflicts never ended. When he fell ill and died after 27 years of service, the city didn’t pay much attention.

Nevertheless, there are two Bach memorials in Leipzig today. The older one was donated by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, who brought Bach’s works to a renaissance, and stands near St Thomas Church. The second, on which you can finally see the composer himself, was consecrated in May 1908 and now stands directly in front of St Thomas’s Bach window.
The cantor looks a little dishevelled in his open coat, as if he had been torn from his work. With a roll of music in one hand and the other just removed from the organ, he looks confidently over the city that he has helped to make so famous.