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My Family Could Use the Work

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Genius was not enough. Johann Sebastian Bach also needed respect and money and he wasn’t getting enough of either.

As director of the St. Thomas school in Leipzig he answered to the town council and the town council had little appreciation for Bach’s music. The money wasn’t quite what it was cracked up to be either, and on October 28th, 1730, Bach wrote to an influential friend in Danzig enumerating the faults with his job and hoping to find a new one:

“Number one: I find that the position here is not nearly as remunerative as it was supposed to be. Two: Many of the fringe benefits have eluded me. Three: It’s very expensive here. Four: the supervisors are hard to please and don’t particularly care about music.

“So I have to put up with constant annoyances, envy and harassment and it seems that I must, with your gracious help, look for my fortune somewhere else. If by chance you know of or hear of any secure position for an old and steadfast servant where you are, if you would be so gracious as to provide me with a recommendation, I would do my very best to justify your gracious testimonial and involvement.

“My current position brings in about 700 thalers, and when there are more funerals than usual the bonuses increase too. On the other hand, when the air is healthy, they decrease and during this last year my usual bonuses for burials dropped by more than a hundred thalers.

“In Thuringia I can make 400 thalers go further than twice as many around here can can do because of the extremely high cost of living.

“All of my children are born musicians and I can assure you that I can already form ensembles with my own family since my wife sings a very pretty soprano and my eldest daughter also joins in not badly.”

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Despite his efforts, Bach remained in Liepzig.