and devotional hymns on which he had been
nourished from childhood. We have said that Veit Bach was a stanch
Lutheran. From father to son through generations, the Lutheran doctrine,
pure and undefiled, had been handed down, accompanied by the musical
gift, until both, uniting in Sebastian Bach, born at Eisenach in 1685,
served to glorify the Lutheran chorale and the art which perfected it.

Again, the traditions of the great reformer must have been imbibed by
Sebastian Bach from infancy. Surrounding his native town lay a circle of
wooded heights, from one of which arose the Wartburg, that illustrious
shrine of the German nation whither in mediaeval and modern times her
sons have repaired to exhibit and replenish their lamp of genius. There
the minnesingers had gathered in contest a song; thither as a modern
Elijah came the great monk, weary of soul, yet whose immortal genius
unfolded the page of Sacred Writ; and down the wood-clad slope came
issuing the melody of the Hebrew psalmist, translated into German speech
and entering into German hearts, mingled with the narrative of the
Redeemer's passion lit by awful and solemn glory of Eternal Love. Who
shall say that young Bach knew not of these things? Who will contend
that, when his genius matured and ripened, the immortal tones in which
the eternal passion was portrayed owed nothing to this sympathy of
association, this spiritual life with the great reformer born two
centuries before?

Yet once more. The Bach family was full of affection and sympathy one
toward the other. Each year witnessed a reunion of the various members
of the family scattered throughout Thuringia, and each came bearing the
gift of music. As a child among the elders we can imagine how the young
Sebastian revered his uncles, Johann Christopher and Michael Sebastian,
in whom were conserved and developed the Lutheran tonal principles and
traditions; how he somewhat feared the austere character of his elder
brother, Johann Christopher, to whose charge he was intrusted upon the
death of his father.

But we need not imagine how the soul of the young boy was filled with
inexpressible yearning for the art of music. We know that it was so. His
brother, who instructed him, gauged not the nature of the lad. Often and
often did the boy's wistful eyes and loving heart covet the possession
of a manuscript book kept by his brother in strict reserve, containing a
priceless collection of compositions by the great Ge