At the Eisenach “Gymnasium” he learned reading and writing, catechism,
Biblical history, and the Psalms. And when only a little over eight he
was fairly immersed in Latin conjugations and declensions. In Eisenach
was laid the foundation of that learning which distinguished his whole
life, though he never enjoyed the advantage of a college education such
as he afterwards gave his famous sons. Yet his school attendance at
this early stage showed a good deal of irregularity, due, perhaps, to
illness or bereavement. He was only nine when he lost his mother. In a
short time his father married again but his death terminated that union
scarcely four months later.
[Illustration: Bach’s study in Weimar, where many of his greatest
works, including _The Well-Tempered Clavier_, were composed.]
The Eisenach household having broken up, Johann Sebastian was sent in
1695 to the home of his married brother, Johann Christoph, who lived at
Ohrdruf, some thirty miles away. A pupil of the great Johann Pachelbel,
the Ohrdruf Bach functioned as organist at the Church of St. Michael’s.
Johann Christoph, an accomplished musician, lost no time in giving
his young brother his first lessons on the clavier. Presumably he
supplemented them with instruction on the organ. In any case the boy
seems to have had access to a large quantity of good music. He was an
extraordinarily capable student with a voracious appetite for musical
learning and no sooner had he mastered one difficult task than he
plagued his brother for another more difficult still.
At this period occurred that celebrated incident for which Johann
Christoph has been very harshly judged by posterity. A collection of
clavier pieces by masters like Froberger, Kerll, Pachelbel, Böhm and
Buxtehude, lay in a book case with a latticed front. Johann Sebastian’s
pleas to study them met with a stern refusal. So the youngster resorted
to stratagem. By thrusting his hands through the lattice and rolling
up the music he managed to extract it when his brother’s back was
turned. Not being allowed a candle he copied out the various works by
moonlight, a job which occupied him for six months and probably laid
the foundation for those eye troubles which toward the last were to
rob him of his sight. Nor did he enjoy the fruit of his labors. Johann
Christoph found the copy and promptly confiscated it. Before blaming
him, as is usually done, it may be well to reflect that Bach’s brother
was not necessarily moved by an impulse of cruelty but more probably
felt the need of curbing somewhat an audacious and immature young
genius, who threatened to get out of hand.
During the five years he spent in Ohrdruf Bach attended the town school
which enjoyed an unusually high reputation throughout Thuringia. His
studies, naturally, ranged much further afield than at Eisenach and
his scholastic progress appears to have been rapid. His high, clear
voice and instinctive musicianship not only assured him a place (and
rather substantial rewards) in the chorus of the institution but in
proper season gained him the friendly interest of Elias Herder, a
young musician summoned to replace Johann Arnold, a highly unpopular
teacher who had been dismissed as a “pest of the school, a scandal of
the church and a cancer of the community.” Through the good offices
of Herder young Bach found an opportunity to join the select choir
(_Mettenchor_) of St. Michael’s Church in Lüneburg, more than two
hundred miles to the north.