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Johann Sebastian Bach ... Life, Family, Facts, Videos, Music, Genealogy, Memorials, Work, Locations, Bach Short Biography

Johann Sebastian Bach.

Johann Sebastian Bach. Would you like to read the Bach short biography now and find out more about Bach's life? Then click at the end of this paragraph. Or at the bottom of this page. The Bach short biography on video with a length of almost nine minutes can be found nearby. Four inches further down: Bach's life and the story about his family. By the way, the picture above is the Bach memorial in Eisenach. It is one of the oldest monuments dedicated to the master. To the short biography for reading.

Johann Sebastian Bach ... for many people all over the planet, this simply means heavenly music. But there is more about Johann Sebastian Bach: his life, his family, his genealogy. There are also Bach stamps, Bach cities, Bach places and Bach monuments. Enjoy my videos with Bach's music, quotes about Bach from celebrities, FAQ and finally ... also facts and Bach short biographies. This is my international and multilingual section, linked to the new internet portal "Bach über Bach" in German and "Bach on Bach" in English. Its general goal is to spread the knowledge and music of one of the greatest composers of all time even more, even beyond language barriers. This Bach project aims to encourage people all over the world to learn more about this unique composer and musician of the Baroque era – Johann Sebastian Bach – and to pave the way to his music and his life.

This ultra-modern Bach memorial, one of 33 Bach memorials, is located in the northern Bavarian town of Ansbach. However, Bach was never in this beautiful town: The residents simply love the musician.

Three Sections: The Miniature Short Biography Video – The "Bach on Bach" Project – The J.S. Bach Short Biography for Reading

This is my section for you – in your ( ! ) mother language – and there are two website pages. One is "hidden" in the navigation. You can only reach it from the bottom of this page 1 or by clicking at the end of this paragraph. There, you will find the Bach short biography to read. You can also enjoy and watch my video short biography in your own language. It also features Bach's music, but not just his. It is an ultra-short miniature Bach short biography video (... a play on words) with music, professional commentary, film and pictures. It's nine minutes short, and only a paragraph away. Take a look inside. It's worth it. On page 1 – where you are now reading – after the short video biography, you will also find everything "this and that" about the "Bach on Bach" project – my Johann Sebastian Bach adventure – and there is a lot for you to discover. To page 2 (... the Bach short biography to read).

Of crucial importance: There are several links to pages within my project, that is, on this website, that you can experience ( ! ) even without speaking a word of English or German. Bach's music, for example: Just click on a piece of music – you don't need to know the name at all – and then choose a picture theme to decide which photo gallery you want to explore while listening to Bach's music. Here's how: Bach stamps ... You don't need to speak English or German to discover them. And you don't have to be a stamp collector, either. Bach monuments: It's the same situation. The same applies to the pictures of Bach cities and Bach places. Make it an adventure: The whole of page 2 is a short Bach biography about the life of the composer with lots and lots of pictures to enjoy. Click here to get to this page 2, again.

The Bach Short Biography Mini Video

My short biography about Johann Sebastian Bach: life, music, pictures, film, narration. Just nine minutes short. I guess this is the only Bach video short biography in your mother language on the planet.

My Bach Project: Many Topics

On this homepage page you will find - as mentioned - many topics related to Johann Sebastian Bach: monuments, stamps, genealogy, family, music, videos, Bach cities, weird and funny Bach videos and many more topics. To read the short biography, you can click again. At the bottom of this page. Or here.

Bach Monuments, Bach Monuments

The Johann Sebastian Bach memorial in Weimar. Bach lived in this city in Thuringia twice. The first time for only six months, the second time for nine years. There are around 33 Bach monuments in the world. There are no more of any other composer. Discover them all here. 

The Bach memorial in Eisenach. Bach was born in this town. And he lived there for ten years. 

The Bach memorial in Ulm, in Southern Germany. Ulm lies on the Danube. This really impressive Bach memorial is located in  ( ! ) the Ulm Minster.

The "Old" Johann Sebastian Bach Monument in Leipzig. The German composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy financed it with his concerts and a collection.

The ""New" Bach Memorial in Leipzig. Just a little reminder: You can find many more Bach monuments on another page of my website. Please click here.

Johann Sebastian Bach: Facts and Life

Johann Sebastian Bach lived from 1685 to 1750. He became 65 years old. These are the key facts: His father's name was Johann Ambrosius Bach. His mother's name was Maria Elisabeth Lämmerhirt. He was the youngest of eight siblings. Bach was a composer, musician and organ expert. At the age of ten, Bach was orphaned. He moved in with his eldest brother in Ohrdruf. After his school years in Eisenach, Ohrdruf and Lüneburg, he first became an organist, then Kapellmeister and finally music director and Thomaskantor.

He worked for the church, for city administrations and for aristocrats. Bach spent the longest time in Leipzig in Saxony. These are the most important facts in around 100 words. More facts? Today there are nine "real" Bach cities and Bach places. But 33 Bach cities and Bach locations are associated with the name and the Bach family. Today, these Bach sites and Bach cities are tourist destinations for Bach fans from all over the world. You don't need to speak English or German to experience these Bach cities. There are many photos of all the Bach towns and Bach places on my website. There are also my cute Bach places information videos (... with narrated text), which are all between three and five minutes long. Much of the information about the musician's life is only available in German and English. But now and today, my international pages are available in your native language ... also for teachers and music teachers for their students. Here you can find more about Johann Sebastian Bach. Those were just the facts, facts, facts.

The life of Johann Sebastian Bach: He loved his family, and he had 20 children with two wives.

More about the life of Johann Sebastian Bach? He was, is and will remain the best organ player in the world and for all time. Are you an organ fan, or would you like to find out more about this musical instrument? There is the most exciting website in the world: "Die Orgelseite.de". There you will find fantastic photos of over 6,300 organs, many of which are baroque-style organs. And you can hear how they sound. Click here to get there.

The life of Johann Sebastian Bach: He lived and worked in Leipzig for 27 years. And ... no ... in the picture above, the two people sitting on the right are not Johann Sebastian and his second wife Anna Magdalena.

She is not  ( ! ) Maria Barbara Bach.

There is no picture of Maria Barbara, Bach's first wife. And there is also no picture of Anna Magdalena, his second wife. That is definitely true. I did a lot of research and finally met the expert on the subject of "Anna Magdalena Bach". He is absolutely certain that there is not a single picture of either woman. What's more, the experts in Leipzig and I are in agreement. So Wikipedia is wrong about the ugly silhouette that is supposed to depict Maria Barbara.

Who is this lady, if not Maria Barbara?

Very funny indeed: In many publications, including Wikipedia in some countries, articles about Anna Magdalena Bach are illustrated with a picture of Barbara of Portugal and Queen of Spain. Take a look at the many images on Google (... images) yourself. Then click on a picture and read the text on the website. Above is a second picture of Barbara of Portugal and Queen of Spain. Because both ladies in the golden frames above are the same ( ! ) noblewoman. To these pictures? Click here.

Johann Sebastian Bach in Books

Did you know that? There are around 78,000 publications and books on the subject of Bach. And there are some 700 biographies about him. On average, at least one new biography about the life of the famous composer is published every year. In addition to these biographies, there are also many short biographies about Johann Sebastian Bach. On this Bach portal alone, there are around 50 short biographies in 20 languages. As videos and to read.

Attention, Advertising: The author of this Bach website, that is me, has also written a book about Bach. A real Bach biography, but for children. For children between the ages of five and eight. End of Advertisement. Of course, there are also many books on the subject of "Bach and music". However, these books are mostly in German or English. On "Bach on Bach" you can read about the bibliography on the Bach family of musicians and Johann Sebastian Bach. Until 2012, Professor Yo Tomita in Belfast/Ireland researched and organized everything. From 2012, the Bach Archive in Leipzig took over this "job". Please click here.

Professor Yo Tomita during an interview.

With a smile: another "annoying tiny reminder": On page 2 of my little service for you – also in your native language – you will find an illustrated short biography for you to read. Also here you get another link to this kind of Bach short biography from me. Please note, however, that you cannot reach this page 2 via the navigation. So if you come back tomorrow, next week or in a year's time and can't find this page 2, go to page 1 first. To the short biography to read.

A very historic book about Johann Sebastian Bach. It is an age-old biography about Bach. Attention, attention, here begins the advertisement again, below it continues ...

The book on the left is definitely new. It was published in 2017. A jewel of a read. But it's in English. Unfortunately, I also had to pass on the right-hand side after I couldn't find various Bach biographies in the respective native language. From a certain desire to read, in some languages you simply have to continue with an English book. Basically, you can say: The closer you get to Germany, the more likely you are to find a biography in that language: French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish ... all no challenge. But Hindi, Korean, Hebrew or Japanese? With my internet access to the respective markets, I'm also overwhelmed. I have tried hard. My recommendation for a really intensive introduction to Bach's life? The Bach biography by Bach super expert Prof. Christoph Wolff. It probably also exists in most translations. But ... it is a very demanding read. I started reading it three times ... and failed again and again very quickly three times. Amazon or your local bookshop are now the right places to go!

Dr. Albert Schweitzer ... many of us know about his incredible work in the African jungle. But did you know that he was also a musicologist and wrote one of the most successful biographies about Bach? He wrote this biography above in 1908, and you can still buy it hot off the press.

You can buy the book in the row above the last picture (... "The Little Bach Book") on my book recommendation page "in the neighborhood". It's only available in English, but if you speak a little English, it's well worth it. But why is this advertising? Because we get a tiny commission from a very well-known major German music retailer if you buy this book through the link here. That's why the text color here is blue, the caption above is not in italics and the following link is black. By the way: "The Little Bach Book" – written by our friend David Gordon – is a real gem. It is not a biography, but it tells more than excitingly and likeably what everyday life was like when Bach lived. The whole reading experience is always linked to the super composer. I found the Bach biography, top right, for you on Amazon. I had a look at the offer on Amazon and of course there are not as many books as there are for German readers. But since there are always new ones and the page here is not too cluttered, I will send you – with your click – to Amazon and you can discover more books there. Another option would be to choose an English biography. By the way: We do not receive any commission from Amazon. Get to my book offer.

Hard to believe: This little Bach biography is not even the tiniest Bach biography. The ad ends here.

One more biography about Johann Sebastian Bach. Age-old. With glued in pictures in it. Plus, there is a manual to "sew it on your own". Honestly.

The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach

The best of all Bach scientists assumes that there were once 11,200 works by Bach. Today, "only" just over 1,100 musical works are known and preserved. Bach's life was music. Make your first acquaintance with the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. On this website. There is a Bach best-of collection: the best-known and most popular pieces of music by him. 33 Bach pieces in 333 seconds. For Bach fans ... so fast ... it's actually too bad.

The collection of Bach's most popular music pieces above ... this is then not a waste of time to listen to if you want to encounter Bach's music for the very first time. My approach: I don't want you to be as frustrated as I was when I bought my first and only "Best of Bach" music CD. It wasn't the best works, but music that this publisher had "bought before" that was "just there". I was so disappointed that I thought I wouldn't want to listen to a single piece by Bach again. I liked two works at the time and three were "okay". But I didn't like more than ten pieces at all. I thought those ten sucked. That was actually what triggered our Bach Mission and my Bach Project.

I offer you an exciting option for exploring the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. You can combine any of 33 pieces of music – now in full length, but a maximum of four to five minutes long – on this website page: After you have decided on a melody. There are 33 music titles. They are the most popular. And I also provide 33 photo themes. That's 1,089 videos with music by Bach. Click on "Bach – Music + Works". There, only there, decide on a musical work first. This is very important. All 33 pieces are listed there in the dark red navigation bar on your left. Click here.

Only then can you choose a photo theme. Photo series are: Bach cities, Bach places, Bach monuments, Bach stamps. But there are even more themes: Cities in Germany, kittens, coffee, young dogs, carnival in Venice and much more. The most important thing of all, once again: First select the music when you get there after you have clicked. Only then should you decide on the theme of the pictures. And you don't have to speak English or German. Keep this 2-step sequence in mind, because everything there is in English. But you don't need to speak English to enjoy my combinations.

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In the Shop of Our Bach Mission, You Can Purchase More Than 100 Music Calendars ...

... and it gets even better: You can get them in two calendar styles. One style is a full-format picture. The calendar on each monthly page is just an artistic part of the work. You can't leave notes in a grid. This is what the publisher offers at the company headquarters and sends to you when you order. Click here for the calendar overview.​

The second option is the calendar style, which is common in the USA and perhaps in other countries. These calendar pages consist of half artwork in the upper part and half a grid in the lower part. With this style, it is possible to enter notes in the grid. This only works with a production partner. Click here to get to the Zazzle store.

There are hundreds of Bach gifts and thousands of music gifts that you can buy in one of the five Bach stores on the internet. We call these five "Bach 4 You" stores our Bach adventure playground for Bach lovers. There really are lots of great ideas. Here you get to all five "Bach 4 You" shops.

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Again Regarding J.S. Bach's Godly Music:  1,089 Cool Music Videos ... Three Examples, if You Don't Want to Click Away Now

The "Festival of Lights". Music of Bach and impressions of the festival in the German capital, Berlin. A Bach music video. The pics are by Gerhard Kaune, husband of my  dear sister Petra.

Music of Johann Sebastian Bach and photos of his native city, Eisenach: a Bach music video.

Music of Bach and pictures of Leipzig: a Bach music video.

The Coolest Secret Tip on This Page

If you are a music lover who is also ( ! ) up for almost any kind of fun, then one page on my website is the "ultimate" offer. It is of course also really cool for young people. There are 55 very special videos about Bach and his music: On this, my site, there are really only great videos, funny videos, exciting and bizarre, weird and strange videos. There are none of the usual clips in which Bach's works are played by soloists, groups and orchestras. No such videos. But here's a serious warning: Overly conservative Bach lovers will not be at all thrilled by at least half of these videos. They'll just shake their heads and leave the page after maybe three or four tries. Important for everyone else: Not the best videos come first in this compilation. In terms of quality, they are "strung together in a completely meaningless way".

Very important: Wait until 45 seconds are over. Then it gets really exciting. And one more hint: We don't know if this ever happened in real life or if it's "fake news". But in either case, what came out of it is a truly impressive artistic work. Incidentally, this is the best proof that you don't have to be able to read a single word in German or English on so many pages of my Johann Sebastian Bach Project. Don't miss 55 strange, weird, quirky, cool and beautiful videos on the subject of Bach. It's really worthwhile. One more important note: This single page can take a long time to load. But, please wait: It's worth the loss of time. Check it out, about 40 of them are without any linguistic challenge. These videos are simply ... top and cool.

The Family of Musicians Around Johann Sebastian Bach: 500 Years of Bache

There are families of musicians. And there are famous families of musicians. A family of musicians should – actually – make music over two, three or more generations. Johann Sebastian Bach is the icon of the most famous family of musicians in the world. More than 200 musicians. In five, seven and nine generations. Some descendants of the progenitor are still alive today: in Germany, the USA and the Netherlands. And many of them are still making music. That is why the Bach family is not only the most famous, but also the largest family of musicians of all time. Are you more interested in famous and great musical families? If so, there is my exciting offer, unfortunately only in German and English. Click here.

On the left, it's me, Peter. Advertisement starts here again: On the right, it's Renate, my wife. She is owner of her Publishing House "Bach 4 You". Advertisement ends here. I am the creative behind my Bach Project. Combined, it's our common Bach Mission. © Norman Schreuer, with many thanks.

The adventure of genealogy ... particularly my Bach genealogy adventure. On the left it is Helga Brück and her book on the Bachs in general and the US Bachs in particular. She has found this branch of the family. I myself spent nine hours googling with the keywords "Bach" and "USA" until I found her. Then a warm friendship developed, and she found the connection between our research and the Bach family of musicians. Sadly, she passed away far too soon, and we miss her to share our genealogical discoveries with her.

Three in my Johann Sebastian Bach Dream Team.

The Bach Genealogy

Are you interested in the Bach genealogy? Then the English or German pages will be a challenge. Click below, and you will be taken to these many entertaining pages on this special Bach topic. The Bach genealogy on this website is the only correct one in the world today. And the largest. Several scientists have been involved over the last 80 years. They have compiled 95 percent of the knowledge. My wife Renate has since continued the existing research of these Bach genealogists. In twelve years, she has found and identified several more Bachs and several additional branches. For example, there is even a second branch in the United States. She has also succeeded in adding further German lines to the family tree. And together we have managed to add many living Bachs to this collection: They found us, not we found them. The internet makes it possible. But of course, we don't reveal these names. After twelve years, I also managed ... that's my hobby within my hobby ... to research the real origins of the Bach family. That's another three generations of Bachs today, when these Bachs were not yet a family of musicians. The youngest member in the genealogy of the Bach family of musicians is just twelve days ( ! ) old at the moment these lines were written. To the extensive Bach genealogy.

With hundreds of hours of effort, I wanted to present a family tree in such a way that you can either have a good overview or, by zooming into a high-resolution graphic, you can see the individual family members. Below you can see what I mean. Unfortunately, I have not been able to accomplish this in twelve years. Because every time I find a family member, I have to move the existing boxes. And it takes soooo much time. So I have failed ... for the time being. Nevertheless, this page of the website is exciting, so I hardly changed anything. In 2024/2025/2026 Renate will set up public access to the Bach genealogy on Ancestry. As soon as there was time for the last, important optimizations. To this particular page.

My result so far, to present the Bach genealogy clearly. You don't have to speak German or English to look at this diagram. It is international. But ... almost embarrassing even for an amateur researcher: The presentation is not yet complete and has not yet been checked in depth. Unfortunately, there are only 24 hours in a day and 52 weeks in a year. That's why other great Bach offers have been created on my Bach websites. Mea culpa, sorry, tut mir leid, please excuse that.

If you find such a treasure in your father's or grandfather's genealogy, it is the basis for what has become the most rewarding part of this hobby.

This means that if you find such a document, you can do what neither your father nor your grandfather could do without the internet: It's your "genealogical green card," so to speak. In the United States of America, there is much more information and many more historical documents and ancient pictures. Also, necrologies were common for many more people than here in Germany, for example. That's because, apart from the Native Americans ... (... in the past), First Nations (... today), all Americans in the USA have very distant roots. In general, they are much more interested in where their families come from.

So ... if you find a single certified member of your family who lives or has lived in the USA, feel like Indiana Jones. Prepare to encounter stories with Native Americans, 15-grave cemeteries in the middle of an agricultural setting, and exciting things like that. You will also discover pictures like the one I found of my great-great-grandfather. Because of the overwhelming resemblance, we even "tinkered" with it (... much further down on this page is this comparison, we call this picture "The Double Lotty"). Also, look forward to reading about one of your relatives who tried to enter the US drunk. Yes, we have such an immigration document on one of our Bachs. You come across stories of brewery owners in your family tree, and you learn about these waves of Germans returning from the US to different countries: They were called waves of repatriation. With my genealogy and ours, it was often like finding Troy a second time and digging it up.

The Bach Genealogy: This is the father of Johann Sebastian Bach ... Johann Ambrosius Bach.

The second famous Bach in the Bach genealogy: the son of Johann Sebastian Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

Not very many scientists have worked on the Bach genealogy. Compared to the number of biographers. For more than 270 years. In addition, the very early Bach genealogy was very controversial for a very long time. After all, it began more than 500 years ago. Even today, the Bach genealogy is still not conclusive – that is 100 percent – complete. This Bach genealogy research is the passion of my wife, Renate.

A jewel coming with the research of the genealogy of the Bach family: the photo of the Bach Band in Rochester, Minnesota, USA.

The Bach genealogy today: just one section of the pedigree of the author of this website. It is a handwritten jewel, created by Helga Brück, who you met earlier on this page.

The town exit sign stands for Veit Bach's departure from Ungerndorf, which also used to be called Ungern, in the very north of Austria. This brings us a full circle to Johann Sebastian Bach's so-called "Origin of the Musical-Bachish Family" ... in which document he mentions this very place.

We have this busybody to thank for a crucial piece of false information, early "fake news". He fantasized about his dream and published this nonsense: The Bachs never lived in or near Preßburg.

The following "fake news" was passed down through generations and by countless Bach biographers right up to the 20th century. It can still be read in many places today: in books, on the internet, in newspaper articles and in magazines. It is based on the fact that Bach's son bent what he had been told by his father. He decided to change the origin from "Ungern" to "Ungarn". Ungarn in German is Hungary. This led to biographers later adopting the mistake. Mr. Korabinszki in Preßburg was finally so happy about this inflection that he researched the city chronicle and found a person with the name "Orban Pach" in Bratislava, today's capital of Slovakia, and the city in Hungary at the time. As this Orban was a baker, Korabinszki decided that this person was Veit Bach. No other records ever produced an entry that matched this adventurous view. So it was pure wishful thinking. Incidentally, not a single researcher in 270 years has found a single entry that could have proven this nonsense. I myself asked a researcher in Bratislava/Preßburg to check this in the Preßburg documents of the time ... and he found ... nothing.

Johann Sebastian Bach Stamps and the Johann Sebastian Bach Stamp Video ... A Rare Way To Present Such "Jewels"

To explore the Bach stamps and many Bach videos on this website, you do not need to be able to speak or understand German or English. Because Bach stamps are international. So to speak. Around 170 Bach stamps have been issued in almost 100 years. Germany has issued the most Bach stamps. Worldwide, there are new ones every year. Most Bach stamps are published in so-called Bach years. On this, my website, you will find them all: These are all the Bach stamps that have ever been printed on earth. And ... important: This site is not intended for stamp collectors. It is for Bach fans. Click here to discover them all.

Johann Sebastian Bach on a stamp from Ireland.

A relatively young Bach stamp from the country of Ivory Coast.

Johann Sebastian Bach on stamps ... the video. Unfortunately, this is only available in German and English. Forever and ever. Watch it anyway.

But there are also my Bach videos, which introduce you to Bach cities and Bach places. With narrated text. Unfortunately, they are also only available in English and German. But they are short, and the music and photos are beautiful. And so you can still experience these German cities and places quite well. Just try it out with one. Here are two examples of such Bach videos. Click on the play button. If you like it, you will get to know all the Bach cities and Bach places.

One of the Bach places: a short video. Too bad that the 16 videos about Bach locations are only available in German and English. 

Dornheim, where Johann Sebastian Bach married Maria Barbara Bach. She was the master's second cousin. With that in mind, it was a "Bach & Bach Marriage".

1,089 Bach Videos: Music, Pictures ... And No Narrated Text at All

You have already read about my Bach videos, which you can combine yourself ... musical work and photo gallery. First ( ! ) select one of Bach's musical works on the corresponding page. This is important. You don't need to know what it is called in your language. Even without knowing the title, it is exciting. Just click at the end of this paragraph. You will find these 33 Bach works in the red navigation bar. Then you have another choice: Select a photo section. There you will not only find pictures on the subject of Bach. There are also beautiful collections of other pictures that have nothing to do with Bach. But with Germany, coffee and doggies like kittens. Below you will find three examples. All Bach music videos (... exactly 1,089) can be found here.

Music by Johann Sebastian Bach, and masks at the Venice Carnival in Italy. This photo theme ... really has nothing to do with Bach.

Music from Bach ... and one of the most well-known German cities abroad. However, it's no Bach city: Rothenburg on the Tauber.

J.S. Bach for Parents, Teachers, Bach Enthusiasts, and for Music School Teachers

This chapter is about Bach for children. A website in our Bach Mission is intended for four groups of people: for Bach lovers, teachers, parents and for children and young persons. It is intended to be fun. It is designed to introduce children to Classical Music. It is a kind of "instruction manual". There you will find Bach's music in compact form: for example, the 33 most popular and well-known pieces in 333 seconds with just one click. It is a child-friendly introduction to Bach. And it is also a first port of call for kids. Unfortunately, this special website of mine is only available in German or English. The title? "Johann Sebastian Bach for children" ... almost ... obviously. Click here to get there.

Johann Sebastian Bach for Children (... the website): For Children it has to be fun, too. Always! © Info.

Children specially played  for my website "Bach on Bach". A short, exciting Bach video was the result. The "Bach Stage" page invites young people to perform for our Bach mission.

For children: the Bach video with Bach music plus kittens. So that kiddos become acquainted with Bach and his music at a very early age.

20 Bach Children ... 5 Musical Sons, 4 of Them Famous Composers

Johann Sebastian Bach was the youngest of eight siblings. However, four siblings died young. Bach himself had 20 children. 7 children with his first wife, 13 children with his second wife. But many of them also died very young.

Child number 2 of the children of Johann Sebastian Bach. It was the first famous Bach son: Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. © A huge thank-you goes to Dr. Jörg Hansen, director of the Bachhaus in Eisenach, for his general support and for his permission to publish these pictures of the Bach sons.

Child number 5 of the children of Johann Sebastian Bach. The second famous Bach son: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.

Number 16 of the children of Johann Sebastian Bach. The third famous Bach son: Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach.

Number 18 of the children of Johann Sebastian Bach. The fourth famous Bach son: Johann Christian Bach. © Info below the first of the previous four pictures.

A Masterpiece of a Bach Lover for (Future) Bach Fans ... And He Doesn't Even Make a Living With This Art: The Cool Bach Cartoon Film of Peter Fielding

What do I mean, in the headline?

Well, I would like to point out that Peter Fielding is not a professional (... like me, as far as my Bach videos are concerned) who lives from what he creates for clients in this way. Based on this knowledge, his now over 20 episodes are stunning masterpieces. Take a look at how he has combined his cartoons with historical images of the Bach locations. Discover how he mixes Bach's music with the stages in Bach's life. This is a fantastic way to meet Bach for the first time, especially for children. Or to learn more about him if you still "only" admire his music. Congratulations Peter, my Bach friend, and I'm already looking forward to every new episode that follows from the beginning of 2024. Another cool video, as a by-product, is his cartoon explanation of the "Well-Tempered Tuning", which is really not easy to explain.

Renate and I love Peter Fielding's videos. Here is the clip explaining the "Well-Tempered Tuning" as mentioned above. If you dive deeper into the Bach topic, you read or hear about the Well-Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Bach Choirs, Bach Orchestras, Bach Societies ... Worldwide

How many Bach choirs, Bach orchestras and Bach societies are there in the world? The number is 222, exactly. Today ... if you are reading here. This chapter is international. If you understand English or German, these pages are great fun. It all starts with the Bach Choir and Orchestra in Amsterdam in the Netherlands and ends with the Zurich Bach Choir in Switzerland. Do you know of another Bach choir, another Bach orchestra or another Bach society that is not yet on the list? Then please send me an e-mail. One click at the end of the paragraph will take you directly to all these Bach choirs, Bach orchestras and Bach societies. 222 exactly? Yes ... but sometimes there are a few more, sometimes there are a few less. Please click here.

There are 222 Bach societies, Bach choirs and Bach orchestras in the world. I found them all and update the list once in a while. If you miss one, please contact me.

Jean-Sébastien, Juan or Just Johann ... Sebastian ... Bach?

A master, a musician. Almost all over the world it sounds similar when you pronounce his name. But for some, this is a challenge. With the pronunciation. In the United States of America, for example. And in the United Kingdom. There you have to struggle with these four letters. The tongue of these people is not so used to the pronunciation of "Bach", the "ch" at the end of "Bach" is the problem. But even in China, the name sounds the same as in Thuringia, Germany. In France, he was quickly renamed: There he is called Jean-Sébastien Bach. And because they were creative, our valued neighbors in the West, they even put a hyphen between Jean and Sébastien. That's nice. In Spain and Portugal, Johann sometimes becomes "Juan". In Albania, it's something special: There, Bach is simply spelled "Bah". So that it sounds like "Bach" when you read "Bah" there. How clever! In Russia, the Thomas Cantor is spelled "Бах". In Greece, it is "Μπαχ". And you can find out how to write the composer in Chinese, Korean, Hebrew and Hindi by clicking on the respective flag. It is always the first line on this page. However, in some languages the sentence starts on the right-hand side of the page. Click here to go to the page with the flags.

Johann Sebastian Bach in Russian. The picture above is one of the lesser-known portraits of Bach. This ... is not what Bach looked like.

The 320-Year-Long Story of the Bach Seal

The Bach Seal. Did you know, it has a more than 320-year-old history?  Because, the whole chapter about its history is available only in German and English, here's a short story about it.

For more than 260 years, Bach fans, publishers, biography authors, internet editors and Bach institutions all over the world used the Bach seal with the seven prongs in the crown. Even today, the internet, or rather Google Images, still offers this version, although it has been known for almost 20 years now that it is the wrong number of prongs. This "wrong" Bach seal will probably never disappear from Google. In 2009, a Bach expert in Meissen Cathedral saw a box standing there with the lid open. What he saw on the inside of the box lid reminded him of the Bach seal. He contacted a Bach expert in Leipzig, a world authority on Bach. He belongs to the renowned Bach Archive and the New Bach Society. All the experts finally agreed that it was actually a piece of furniture that had been used to store valuable items, a so-called "Putzkiste". "Putz" in the sense of "to dress up".

After more than 260 years, all Bach scientists agreed that it was indeed Bach's property. It was clearly recognizable: There were only five prongs in the crown of Bach's seal. That was the day when the Bach seal got its own history. Two pictures below show today's "Old" or "false" Bach seal.

But there is another story that is breathtaking. A cantor and church music director in Sangerhausen found an incised drawing on a wall in her church in Sangerhausen. It could only be discovered at a certain time of day, when the sun was shining and also only at a certain time of year: It was precisely during this period that the shadows cast made the "work of art" visible. As a Bach lover, she thought it was cool, and it reminded her a lot of the Bach seal. See for yourself whether you feel the same way.

Is it now 270 years or more than 320 years of Bach Seal history? What is it then? In the period after Bach's death, Bach enthusiasts used the now "Old" Bach seal for around 260 years. But its history is older, because it begins with the most recent discovery of its depiction in 1702, when Bach "immortalized" himself in Sangerhausen.

The seal of Johann Sebastian Bach. It's hanging at the Bach Stem House (... Bach-Stammhaus) in Wechmar and will remain there. As the first Bach Seal, it is not considered a mistake, but a first official version for more than 260 years.

Like on these two postage stamps, the seal of Johann Sebastian Bach can be found on thousands of historic books, postage stamps and much more things.

The seal of Johann Sebastian Bach: They "played it safe" at the gate of the Saint Georg's Church at Eisenach, Bach's birthplace: They have left out the crown.  © Christian Hoske.

This is what a Bach lover and Bach expert discovered in the Cathedral of Meißen, which was visible to the public for years, maybe even decades. This box was presented open to collect money for the church. © Thanks to Dr. Markus Zepf (Bach-Archiv, March 2019), who found out about this furniture and photographed it.

The seal of Johann Sebastian Bach. The very first one. © KMD M. Pohl.

On the left you can see the world-famous Hildebrandt organ. On the right is church music director Martina Pohl. She is clearly a Bach fan, and one day the sun was shining into the church at such an angle that the resulting shadows made various carvings visible. That was the moment when a small work of art caught her attention. After contacting the experts in Leipzig, many of whom are scientists in the field of Bach, they all agreed that this must have been Johann Sebastian Bach in 1702. When he applied for his first position in this very church in Sangerhausen. © KMD M. Pohl.

The final, now appropriate place to rest for eternity: a place of honor in St. Thomas Church.

Bach was initially buried in St. John's Cemetery. In all haste, without any great tribute. And the city of Leipzig had not even provided a gravestone for the star among all musicians. For 27 years, there had been repeated quarrels with the uncomfortable but brilliant Thomas Cantor. Again and again. His grave was near the cemetery wall and very close to St. John's Church, and it was easy to forget what musical genius rested there. That was in 1750.

And Bach was dug up again. This took place in 1950. Construction work was again the reason for this, this time in the vicinity of St. Thomas Church. On this occasion, the year of the 200th anniversary of his death, extensive scientific research was carried out on the body. But then Johann Sebastian Bach was given what is surely his final resting place in St. Thomas Church, very close to the altar.

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Thank You, Christian Hoske: He Is "Our" Ultimately Successful, Cool Genealogist

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And Another Chapter on Bach Genealogy, Both Our “Hobby Within Our Hobby”

This is Veit Bach, who returned to Thuringia from afar. Until 1619, he ground his grain in Wechmar and baked together with his son, Hans the Minstrel (... Hans, der Spielmann). The picture above is of course not authentic. However, it was painted by Bach's second cousin in the ninth generation, Briana Bach-Hertzog.

What a surprise! Renate found this photo on the left in American files. I am the person on the right. When I saw the photo on the left for the first time, I was overwhelmed by the resemblance. So here's what we did. I positioned myself in the same way my great-great-grandfather was photographed.

The camera had to be positioned at the same height and photograph me from the same perspective. It was easy to look just like my great-great-grandfather. I also promise that we didn't photoshop my face. However, we did electronically cut out my relative's suit, shirt and tie and transferred his mustache, which I could have grown in the same way. And now ... take a look at the result. Genealogy becomes a real adventure. Especially ... when the roots lead to the United States of America. And that's exactly what they do, much to our delight. Because we now have a family there that we love and that loves us.

What a find: the council protocols from 1590 to 1592, which prove that Veit Bach fled from "Ungern" and not from "Hungary" (... Ungarn"). Hungary means Hungary. Just Ungern ... such a town, such a village or such a region did not seem to exist. © Michael Lehner.

There is no longer any doubt. Veit Bach in Ungerndorf, close to Hanfthal, close to Laa on the Thaya ... in Austria. © Michael Lehner.

I expect that these four theories, which Wikipedia will surely keep listed forever, will never be replaced by the correct ancestry. However, I myself will no longer try to write for Wikipedia, because in Germany we have these self-appointed "bouncers" and "gatekeepers" when it comes to Wikipedia contributions. I will try to position myself as close to Wiki as possible on Google page 1. In the expectation that someone googling Veit will then see me there and finally my offer calls "Here!". Maybe I'll manage to get myself listed at the bottom under "further reading". One day.

Tadaa ... another tadaa (... he's earned it). This, ladies and gentlemen, is Michael Lehner, local history researcher, genealogist, bandleader, bookstore owner and night watchman in Laa on the Thaya, an hour's drive directly north of Vienna in Austria. He found me on the internet. He found my genealogy pages. He read them. And he read them to the bitter end. Otherwise he wouldn't have found my request to contact me. By the way, of course he is a "night watchman" just for tourists and shows off his beautiful city.

A dreamlike, small city? Of course, it is. The above is the town hall of Laa on the Thaya, a municipality of 6,275 residents.

The problem is – I'll try to describe it in three sentences, which would take many pages in German and English – that Johann Sebastian Bach said his great-great-grandfather came from Ungern. Ungern with an "e". But in the transcript of his collection of musicians in his family, this "e" was no longer recognizable. And so it was assumed, at least by his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, that Bach meant Hungary, which would be "Ungarn" in German. But CPE had bowed the word "Ungern" and so one biographer copied it from the previous one. And to this day, this origin from Hungary is 99 percent widespread.

I mentioned that my hobby inside the Bach hobby was to find out about the father, grandfather and great-grandfather of this Veit Bach, who died in Wechmar, Thuringia, in 1619. It was only after five years of intensive research that I managed to find out that some of the Bachs fled to Bohemia. At least one. This was actually a development that had already been found, but had disappeared again after the 1950s because nobody from the GDR Ministry of Culture at the time wanted to hear anything about it. I "dug up" these research results. I wrote about it, around 2015, on my website and asked people to contact me if they had found my website, the genealogy section, and could then contribute something exciting. This finally happened in 2021, when Michael Lehner sent me an email. Attached was the entry in the council records of Laa on the Thaya, in Austria, very close to the Czech border, perpendicular to Vienna.

The facts finally fit together. Johann Sebastian Bach informed his friend and editor of the Musikalische Enzyklopädie as early as 1732 that Veit came from Ungern with an "e". That is two years earlier than his "Ursprung" (... the Origin of the musical Bachish Family) was written. And he also meant it with an "e". This Veit Bach is now mentioned in the community record from Laa. In the right era, and living in a village called Hanfthal (... Hannifftal). Ungerndorf is only a 30-minute walk away and the people who lived there used to abbreviate Ungerndorf to "Ungern". Again... with an "e".

From 2021, it is now clear where the Bachs really come from. Originally from Thuringia. The name of the village is Gräfenroda, which is only mentioned in just one of 700 biographies. First to find the landscape with the name "Ungernland", and then a village with the name "Ungerndorf": for me, that was like finding the famous Amber Room twice. A place and ( ! ) a region that was abbreviated to Ungern on the spot ... how cool is that?

The "Most Bach" for Your Time and Your Money: A Trip To "Bach Country"

Advertising. Again? Seriously? Not really!* One way to explore "Bach Country", as Renate and I somewhat disrespectfully call the "Land of the Bache", is a real musical experience. The tour guides are professional musicians and know the area inside out.

Your trip to the " Land of the Bache": a more than cool find, offer and top tip. It could be your ultimate Bach experience that you will never forget in your life: It's not just any bike tour, it's a real Bach adventure. Be sure to check out the website of these special, highly qualified, musical tour operators and Bach guides: "Bach by Bike"! And ... there is a special page on my German and English project websites. There is a page on " Journey to Bach" which suggests where you can get the most Bach for your time and money. What is that?​

What is that? Well, one example: If you travel to Weimar, you'll find nothing there but the tiny monument. Sure, and the location where Bach once lived. All that's left there is a wall and a memorial plaque. Not very worthwhile in terms of Bach fun. The Bach city of Leipzig, on the other hand: There are two monuments here, including the oldest and the most famous. Then there is the Bach Archive and the Bach Museum of the New Bach Society. There is St. Thomas Church with Bach's tomb and the Bach window. To the left of the huge New Bach Monument is also the Thomas Shop, where you can buy great Bach souvenirs. And there is the Nikolai Church with a bust of Bach behind the entrance.

Even more exciting is a visit to the mother of all Bach cities, Eisenach. First of all, there is the ultimate fun in the ultra-modern Bach Museum on Frauenplan, a square in Eisenach. To the left of the museum is the Bach House, where Bachs once lived. The backyard of the Bach House is a treasure. The third focal point of the trilogy on the Frauenplan is the Bach memorial. It is one of the oldest and one of the most famous. The next stop is St. George's Church, where Johann Sebastian Bach was baptized. You will discover the baptismal font, the authentic one in which Bach was baptized 333 years ago (... that was in 2018). Inside St. George's Church is a third Bach monument, the ugly black one, in my opinion. Next, you can discover the school where both Martin Luther and Johann Sebastian Bach attended school. Memorial plaques remind us of both of them. Finally, you can also find out where Bach was actually born, most probably at Lutherstraße No. 35, a small street between Frauenplan and St. George's Church. And finally, you can see the outside of the house that Johann Ambrosius Bach rented before he bought the house in Lutherstraße. It is exactly opposite the Bach House and residents of both houses looked out into the same back yard.​

I've put together a suggested itinerary, which makes the most sense if you're planning a two, three or four-day vacation in Bach Country. Only Renate and I call the area between Gräfenroda in the South and Köthen and Leipzig, both in the North ... Bach Country. Or the Land of the Bache. But you already knew that. Dresden lies to the east and Mühlhausen to the west. However, three of the Bach locations listed here are "only" Bach locations in categories C and D.

Does that promise a more than cool trip to the Bach city of Eisenach? Yes, it does. On the left, it is the historic Bachhaus (... Bach House). On the right, it is the modern Bach Museum.

Is this Bach monument impressive? No, it is not. Excuse me? The opposite is the case. What's impressive is the photo I took. Not the monument. That ... is tiny in comparison.

* = Better safe than sorry, because you – and of course the lawyers – might consider all blue sections to be commercial. So I have placed a reference to this "advertising": The color and style of the captions are changed, and the links are colored black. Above: This is Johann Sebastian Bach in Weimar. Plan your trip to many of the Bach cities and Bach places in several suggested options. As a guided tour, by bike and on your own with my "The most Bach for your time and money" page: Here's where to go. End of Advertisement.​

Finally, Yes ... There Is Also a Facebook Presence That Is Looking Forward to Your Visit ... But Only With Occasional Posts

Aren't there already more than enough Johann Sebastian Bach websites on Facebook? Yes, you're right. That's why my Facebook presence is only an additional one. It only publishes news about our Bach Mission, and definitely no music or performances that we have found. Not from choirs, nor from orchestras or soloists. We leave that to the music lovers, who practically all know more about Bach's music than either of us.

We would be delighted if you visit us on Facebook. Of course, we would be even happier if you like and share us. Welcome ... there, too.

A final miniature group photo of two family members of this family of musicians.

Together with me and other lovely people who have supported us, we are the members of my "International Bach Dream Team". Get to know all the members there. They are Peter Fielding, Helga Brück, my father, Peter Bach Sr. and Michael Lehner in Austria. There is also Elena from Kiev, Ukraine, Briana Bach-Hertzog, USA and Xi and Jan Liu, one Chinese in Germany and one in China. We would also like to thank Christian Hoske, Gisela Thielicke, Evelin Odrich and Helmuth Karl Abendroth and, of course, Susan Bach-Weaver. Here is the link.

To Page 2: The Bach Short Biography for Reading    

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