described the event. Last Saturday at noon, four carts laden with goods and chattels belonging to the former Kapellmeister to the Court of K then arrived in Leipzig and at two in the afternoon, he and his family arrived in two coaches and moved into their newly decorated lodgings in the school building. (internet) Bach did not have a good start in Leipzig. The home they lived in was not as nice as you would think it would be. They only had sixty boarders at the school, and most of those were poor and staying there on a charitable basis. The students were supposed to make up the choirs for the churches in at least four of the surrounding cities. They also sang at funerals and in the city streets for alms. Bach did not like the structured life that he was forced to lead there, and soon friction occurred between Bach and the town council. On a few occasions Bach left to visit his son in Potsdam. Upon returning he would find the council quite upset with him, but would refuse to explain himself. He almost quit, but a close friend persuaded him not to. Bach got into some trouble while he was at Leipzig. He went on many out of town trips and left one of his students in charge each time. When the school board got upset and asked him about it he refused to justify himself. He would have been thrown out except for the help of a friend who had ties and had some strings pulled to keep Bach employed. After this friend left Bach quit. Bach composed many of his pieces for the specific groups that were to perform them. Thus he did a lot of chorale pieces when he worked at the school in Leipzig. He also did many organ pieces for himself to perform at the church in Arnstadt. In his later years he composed many violin pieces for himself and vocal pieces for his second wife, Anna Magdalena. He composed a piece for King Fredrich the Great of Prussia, with a flute solo for Fredrich. Bach always had a reason for composing the pieces he did. He always had a p...
