This is how Bach lost his job.

Imagine wanting to meet someone so badly, that you lose your job because of it.

This is exactly what happened 317 years ago in one of the greatest musical pilgrimages in history, when Bach went to meet his greatly admired master, Dietrich Buxtehude.

Johann Sebastian Bach, the most important composer of all time, was only 20 years old at the time.

He held a position at the Neue Kirche in Arnstadt.

He asked permission from his superiors to leave for 4 weeks.

BUT,

He left for 4 months…

You can imagine his superiors weren’t very excited about it.

To put things in worse perspective, he wasn’t in the best of terms before he left for Lübeck where the almost 70-year-old Buxtehude lived and worked.

And Bach´s recent sword fight with a student didn’t exactly help with his reputation.

You read that correctly. Sword fight.

In any case, Bach was to get a job shortly afterward, in Mulhouse.

With better salary.

And better musicians at his disposal.

And, his time spent with Buxtehude was probably one of the most significant, if not the most significant in his life as a composer.

He greatly improved his craft and gained lifelong inspiration from this early contact with one of the greatest masters in the history of Western music.

A bad outcome for the Neue Kirche in Arnstadt.

A good outcome for the future of music.

Do you want to hear how Bach sounds in the strangest of instruments?

You can do it here now: BACH on BANDONEON.

I wish you a great day!

Yours,

Claudio.

→ BACH on BANDONEON ←