Death (1750) ( the end)

Bach's health may have been in decline in 1749, as on 2 June, Heinrich von Brühl wrote to one of the Leipzig burgomasters to request that his music director, Gottlob Harrer, immediately begin to audition someone to succeed to the Thomascantor and Director musices posts "upon the eventual... decease of Mr. Bach."[10] Bach became increasingly blind, and a celebrated British quack John Taylor (who had operated unsuccessfully on Handel) operated on Bach while visiting Leipzig in 1750. Bach died on 28 July 1750 at the age of 65. A contemporary newspaper reported the cause of death was "from the unhappy consequences of the very unsuccessful eye operation".[11] Some modern historians speculate the cause of death was a stroke complicated by pneumonia.[12][13][14] His estate was valued at 1159 Thalers and included 5 Clavecins, 2 Lute-Harpsichords, 3 violins, 3 violas, 2 cellos, a viola da gamba, a lute and a spinet, 52 "Sacred Books" (many by Martin Luther, Muller and Pfeiffer, also including Josephus' History of the Jews and 9 volumes of Wagner's Leipzig Song Book).[15] During his life he composed more than 1,000 works. At Leipzig, Bach seems to have maintained active relationships with several members of the faculty of the university. He enjoyed a particularly fruitful relationship with the poet Picander. Sebastian and Anna Magdalena welcomed friends, family, and fellow musicians from all over Germany into their home. Court musicians at Dresden and Berlin, and musicians including Georg Philipp Telemann (one of Emanuel's godfathers) made frequent visits to Bach's apartment and may have kept up frequent correspondence with him. Interestingly, George Frideric Handel, who was born in the same year as Bach in Halle, only 50 km from Leipzig, made several trips to Germany, but Bach was unable to meet him—a fact that Bach appears to have deeply regretted.[16]

Notes

1.  Wolff, Christoph (2000). Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. W. W. Norton & Company, 41–43. ISBN 0-393-04825-X.

2.   {{http://www.classical.net /music/comp.lst/buxtehude.php.

3.   Mendel 1999, p. 43

4.  "The Face Of Bach (http://www.npj.com /thefaceofbach/09w624.html) ". Nathan P. Johansen. Retrieved on 2008-05-19.

5.   Mendel 1999, p. 80

6.   Wolff 1983, p. 98, 111

7.   Butt, John (1997-06-28). The Cambridge Companion to Bach. Cambridge University Press, 17–34. ISBN 0521587808.

8.  Wolff, Christoph (2000). Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. W. W. Norton & Company, 341. ISBN 0-393-04825-X.

9. Towe, Teri Noel (2000-08-28). "The Inscrutable Volbach Portrait (http://www.npj.com /thefaceofbach/08w828.html) ". The Face of Bach. Retrieved on 2008-05-20.

10.  Wolff, Christoph (2000). Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. W. W. Norton & Company, 442. ISBN 0-393-04825-X.

11.  Mendel 1999, p. 188

12. Breitenfeld, Tomislav; Solter, Vesna Vargek; Breitenfeld, Darko; Zavoreo, Iris; Demarin, Vida (2006-01-03). "Johann Sebastian Bach's Strokes" (PDF). Acta Clinica Croatica 45 (1). Sisters of Charity Hospital. Retrieved on 2008-05-20. 

13. Baer, Ka. (1956). "Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) in medical history". Bulletin of the Medical Library Association 39 (206). Medical Library Association.

14. Breitenfeld, D.; Thaller, V; Breitenfeld, T; Golik-Gruber, V; Pogorevc, T; Zoričić, Z; Grubišić, F (2000). "The pathography of Bach's family". Alcoholism 36: 161–164. 

15.  Mendel 1999, pp. 191–97

16.  Mendel 1999, p. 407

References

• Mendel, Arthur (1999-10-01), The New Bach Reader, W. W. Norton & Company, ISBN 0393319563.


• Wolff, Christopher (1983), The New Grove: Bach Family, Papermac, ISBN 0333343506.