g. Descended from a famous family of
musicians, he was born at the little German town of Eisenach, in 1685.
Receiving his early education at Ohrdruf, he showed himself endowed with
unusual genius. Forced to make his way when fifteen years old, he
supported himself in the Convent School of St. Michael's, at Luneburg,
by means of his musical talents. After a short term as court musician at
Weimar, he became organist of the New Church at Arnstadt, and here he
met the woman who was to be his first wife. Almost the earliest mention
of her is made in a report of the consistory, criticizing the young
organist for certain breaches of discipline. From this report, it
appears that he had asked for four weeks' leave for study, and had
stayed away four months; he had played interludes that the reverend
board considered too long and too intricate; and, on being reproved, he
had made them too short; and once, during the sermon, he had gone forth
and spent these stolen moments in a wine-cellar. The final charge asks
by what authority he has latterly allowed a strange maiden to appear,
and to make music in the choir. This "strange maiden," who made music
with Bach in the solitude of the empty church, was none other than his
cousin, Maria Barbara. A year later (1707) he married her, and took her
to Muehlhausen, where he had found a less troublesome post as organist in
the Church of St. Blasius.

The domestic life of Bach and his wife was a pattern for married couples
of all time. All his friends unite in calling him an especially
excellent "Haus-Vater," a term of commendation applied to those men who
remember their duty to their own families, and do not sacrifice domestic
happiness to fame and fortune. Personally he was pleasant to every one,
mere acquaintances as well as intimate friends, and his house was always
the centre of a lively gathering. With his wife, he took sedulous care
of the education of his children, of whom there were no less than six at
her early death in 1720.

Bach was not the man to remain long a widower, and in the next year the
bereaved composer's fancy lightly turned to thoughts of a second
marriage. His choice fell upon Anna Magdalena Wulken, a Coethen court
singer of twenty-one years, and the happy consummation occurred on
December 3d. She was a good musician, and did much to enliven the
domestic circle by her beautiful soprano voice. Not content with merely
taking part in her husband's works, she learned fro