Eisenach (1685-1695)

• Protestant curriculum
• upper grades
• early musical training
• an orphan

Ohrdruf (1695-1700)

• a new curriculum
• music at Ohrdruf
• student composition
• an act of kindness

Lüneburg (1700-1703)

• 200 mile trek
• voice changes
• nearby Hamburg
• admired organists
• impressive library
• French influences
• early chorale variations

Weimar I (1703)

• ducal lackey
• temporary arrangement

Arnstadt (1703-1707)

• technical expertise
• duties & salary
• Zippel Fagottist
• overstays his leave
• an offer he could refuse
• reprimanded again
• the stranger maiden
• oldest extant manuscript
• a program work
• stormy relationship

Mühlhausen (1707-1708)

• marriage
• encounter with Pietism
• pietist pastor Frohne
• orthodox pastor Eilmar
• first cantata
• well-appointed church music

Weimar II (1708-1717)

• responsibilities
• new Italianate style
• reacquainted with Walther
• considers position at Halle
• performs at Cassel and Leipzig
• Marchand chickens out
• restless again
• revisits Weimar

Cöthen (1717-1723)

Leipzig (1723-1750)

• responsibilities
• musical resources
• Görner's incompetence
• Ernesti's autocratic ways
• young Scheibe's arrogance
• staying humble

Links: Hanford & Koster Johann Sebastian Bach's Life