Sybil Deucher

Sebastian Bach, the Boy from Thuringia Sybil Deucher

This is the first complete life of Bach ever written for children. Every important incident is mentioned and every detail of the story is true. It is filled with vivid descriptions of Bach's childhood: how he sat up many nights and copied music by the light of the moon, and how he walked two hundred miles to a choir school at Lüneburg. Then his adult life: how he helped his wife Magdalena put the twenty children to bed every night; how he spread brown bread with honey for them to eat every afternoon; and how he taught them all to sing and play different musical instruments. The music reproduced here represents all of the different kinds of music that Bach ever wrote. A child can never really know music unless he knows Bach, for his contribution is the foundation and structural basis of all music. But it is more the human side of this book that will make it live, for in it the great master breathes. All who read it will know him...not only as a musical genius, but also as an eager child, an affectionate father, and a lovable human being.