Roberto Strappafelci wrote:

>Town Council, Leipzig, August 8th, 1750:
>
> "Mr. Bach might have been a great Musicus, but he was not a school
> man; as for Cantor of the Thomas Schule we would have better chosen
> someone suited for both jobs." Christian Ludwig Stieglitz, burgomaster.
>
>When you feel that your local administrators don't do everything possible
>for the music, just relax.  It could go even worse.

I have a fundamental problem with this veneration of Bach where his run-ins
with the Leipzig Town Council were concerned.  Bach indeed was not a school
man.  He looked upon his teaching duties as a burden and a necessary evil
to provide the income he needed to feed his family.  He was ill-tempered
and uncooperative and I am sure that to the typical town council member,
who, after all hired Bach as a civil servant and not as the icon of western
art that he is today, he was a giant pain in the ass.

We have attached this halo to the man's head that does not reflect his
true personality.  Was Bach a great composer? Yes he was.  Did he compose
profound music that is a monument to the human spirit? Yes he did.  He was,
however, notoriously irrascible and was difficult to get along with.  He
saw himself as the artist he was.  Leipzig saw him as the the employee
they hired.  Bach did not meet the job description of the town of Leipzig.
For this I say Deo Gratias!  We cannot, however, condemn his employers as
unreasonable or even unenlightened.  It was their duty to see that the
children of their city got an education and that the churches be provided
with music that was suitable.

Bach did not always live up to these expectations and we can therefore
assume that his bosses would come down on him.  I can relate.  I left a
very lucrative church position for the same reasons that JSB had problems
with the Burghers.  He, however, chose to remain in their employ and take
their money.  He was therefore obligated to perform as they wished,
regardless of his higher calling.

Am I indicating that we would be better off were Bach a good little boy?
No, of course not.  But let us not presume to damn the Leipzigers of Bach's
day for doing what they saw was their elected and civic duty.

Kevin Sutton