Bach's Nekrolog

Nekrolog is the name with which Johann Sebastian Bach's obituary, which appeared four years after the composer's death, is usually indicated.

The "Nekrolog" appeared in Lorenz Christoph Mizler's Musikalische Bibliothek, a series of publications appearing from 1736 to 1754, reporting on and criticising music. As such it was the organ of Mizler's Musical Society, of which Bach had been a member from 1747. 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. Although no author is indicated in the article, its authors are known to be Carl Philipp Emanuel, Bach's son, and Johann Friedrich Agricola, one of Bach's students.

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. The last pages of the "Nekrolog" contain verse in memory of the composer.

The "Nekrolog" sets out with tracing some of Bach's forefathers, listing previous composers of the Bach family, and elaborating on their work (pp. 158–160).

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 he was a student and chorister in Lüneburg (pp. 160–162).

More than a page is devoted to the episode of the secret copying of his brother's manuscript (pp. 160–161). According to the "Nekrolog" Bach went to Lüneburg after his brother's death, however later research pointed out Johann Christoph lived at least another 20 years.

Next Bach is followed through his first positions as a musician (pp. 162–166). Again there is an anecdote that is elaborated over more than one page: the failed competition with Louis Marchand in Dresden, while the latter had left the town in the early morning of the day when the competition was scheduled (pp. 163–165).

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