Bach's Nekrolog

Bach's "Nekrolog" appeared in its last installment, Volume 4, Part 1 in 1754, as the third of three obituaries of former members of the Musical Society.

[1][2][3] The "Nekrolog" contains basic data about Bach's family and where he lived, lists compositions, and elaborates a few scenes, notably the young Bach secretly copying a score owned by his eldest brother, the story about a musical competition which Bach "won" by his competitor fleeing the town, and the visit to Frederick the Great in Sanssouci in the later years of his life.

Follows a description of Bach's early youth in Eisenach, the stay with his eldest brother Johann Christoph in Ohrdruf after their parent's death, and the period when he was a student and chorister in Lüneburg (pp. 160–162).

According to the "Nekrolog", Bach went to Lüneburg after his brother's death; however, later research pointed out that Johann Christoph lived at least another 20 years.

The description of Bach's last position as Thomascantor is relatively short, with most attention going to his visit to Potsdam in 1747, and the composer's death in 1750 (pp. 166–167).

First page of Bach's Nekrolog, p. 158 in Mizler's Musikalische Bibliothek , Volume IV Part 1 (1754). In English the full title reads: "(Chapter) VI: Memorial of three deceased members of the Society of Musical Sciences; (section) C: The third and last is the one in organ-playing World-famous Highly-esteemed Mr. Johann Sebastian Bach, Royal-Polish and Prince-electoral Saxonian court composer, and music director in Leipzig."