The Berlin Bach Family

The exhibition, entitled ‘The Berlin Bach Family’, is dedicated to the composer's three visits to Berlin and the members of his family who lived there:

• Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
  
• Wilhelm Friedemann Bach
  
• Johann Christian Bach
  
• Johann Sebastian Bach Jr. (grandson, grew up in Berlin)
  
• Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach (grandson, came to Berlin in 1788 as court music director and piano teacher of Queen Luise)
  

As early as 1742, Johann Sebastian Bach expressed enthusiasm for Berlin: ‘One can profit there much more than in any other place.’

Many of his contemporaries, including colleagues, friends and students, found a professional home in the capital. His son Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was Frederick the Great's court harpsichordist from 1738. His other sons, Wilhelm Friedemann and Johann Christian Bach, also lived in Berlin for a time.

The exhibition shows a variety of historical objects:

• Drawings: works by Johann Sebastian Bach the Younger, including ‘Otaheiti’ (c. 1775).
  
• School notebook: Wilhelm Friedemann Bach's notebook from 1725 with personal scribbles.
  
• Piano method: The teaching method by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, which was reprinted many times.
  
• Grave cross: The original cross by Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach (1845), which was last exhibited in the garden of the Bach House in Eisenach.
  
• Visitors can experience the music of the Berlin Bach family at seven audio stations. In addition, an animated film by the Potsdam-based ‘Buchstabenschubser’ illustrates how the ‘Brandenburg Concertos’ of 1721 may have been intended by Bach as an application for a position in Berlin – but ultimately without success.
  

Cooperation with the Berlin Cathedral
Since 2013, there has been a close partnership between the Bach House Eisenach and the Berlin Cathedral. The spring exhibitions regularly take up topics related to Berlin or present content from Eisenach.