Johann Sebastian Bach - booksnow.scholarsportal.info

236 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.public with twent3^-four sonatas in allthe major and minorkeys. He seems to have sent a copy to Bach ; at any rate,he wrote him a letter in which he extolled the Germancomposers as superior to all others, appealing to Lotti forevidence since he, though esteeming his own countrymenfor their talents, did not value them as composers, but wasof opinion that the real composers were Germans. We ^^^ alsolearn—though not, it is true, from a perfectly trustworthyauthority—that Bach was on intimate terms with a nobleand wealthy family of Livland, with whose eldest son (whohad studied in Leipzig) Emanuel Bach was to make ajourney through France, Italy, and England ; this plan,however, came to nothing, in consequence of Emanuel'sappointment by the Crown Prince of Prussia.^^^ In Bach'slater life he was also on friendly terms with a Count vonWürben, whose son seems to have studied in Leipzig in1747.'''We must mention a few of the musicians who visitedLeipzig to see Bach, Franz Benda, a Bohemian by birth,made acquaintance with him in 1734, on his way fromBerlin to Bayreuth. Johann Christian Hertel, of Swabia,who at Weimar, in 1726, had taken part in the mourningceremonial music which Duke Ernst August had hadperformed on the death of his wife, took the route throughLeipzig to Dresden, visited Bach and persuaded him to playto him.*^^ Johann Francisci, of Neusohl, in Upper Hungary,came to Leipzig, 1725, at the time of the Easter Fair, " andwas so happy as to make the acquaintance of the famousCapellmeister Bach, and to derive benefit from his skill.^^^Balthasar Reimann, an admirable organist ofHirschberg inSchleswig, whose praises were often sung by his fellow452 Mizler, Mus. Bib., Vol. L, Part IV., p. 83.«3 Rochlitz, Für Freunde der Tonkunst, Vol. IV., p. 185 (third edition).Rochlitz obtained his information from Doles, Emanuel Bach's friend. Wasnot this noble family that of Baron von Kayserling?*54 In the collection of autographs belonging to Herr Ott-Usteri, of Zürich,there was in 1S69 a receipt, dated Leipzig, Dec. 5, 1747, and signed yoh.Sebast. Bach, for the sum of i rthlr., 8 groschen, paid by the " Herr Grav vonWerben " [sic) for some work for the clavier, the title of which is illegible.1^5 Hiller, Lebensbeschreibungen, pp, 44 and 156.*^8 Mattheson, Ehrenpforte, p. 79.