Bach’s 27 years in Leipzig were extremely busy – his job as Cantor of St. Thomas’s School entailed many responsibilities, and with a family to support, he took on additional ones.
One of the reasons why Bach had applied for the post of Cantor (Music Director) in Leipzig was that he thought St. Thomas’s School would provide a good education for his sons. By his first wife, Maria Barbara, Bach had fathered 7 children; by his second wife, Anna Magdalena, he would father another 13. His eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, was 12 years old when the Bach family moved to Leipzig, and the second son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, was just nine. Both boys went on to become renowned composers themselves. So did the youngest, Johann Christian, who eventually settled in London.
Making music
Anna Magdalena, Bach’s second wife, was a professional singer, but in Leipzig she confined her talents to domestic music-making with her family. Bach compiled the Clavier-Büchlein, a book of keyboard pieces and songs, for her. It contained music by himself and other composers. While fulfilling his duties at the school, Bach took on additional work to augment his income – the composition of a wedding cantata or a funeral piece brought much-needed extra money to support his growing family.
Career moves
Extra work also yielded professional challenges and satisfaction – as Germany’s most famous organist, he was often invited to test and inaugurate new organs in other cities. The chance to travel was welcomed. And although Leipzig was a prosperous city, Bach sometimes compared it unfavourably with the more sophisticated town of Dresden. It was in the hope of obtaining a post in Dresden that he sent the first two sections (Kyrie and Gloria) of his Mass in B Minor to the new Elector, Augustus, in 1733. Nothing came of his attempt to move to Dresden though he was eventually given the honorary title of court composer.
Failing health
During his last ten years Bach was as busy as ever. He retained his technical interest in organs, performed other composers’ works and carried on creating his own music. His many travels included Potsdam in 1747 to visit his son Carl Philipp Emanuel. There he was welcomed by Frederick the Great, a talented flautist. He presented Bach with a theme of his own composition, which Bach later worked into a piece of chamber music entitled The Musical Offering and presented to the king.