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Bach’s Quest School – finale
Friday 17th December was the last session of Bach's Quest School. We strung up a washing line and hung pieces of paper from it with the names of the towns Bach passed through in our version of his journey (1st image). This was as an aid to creating the...
Der Tanzmeister
von allen gemeinsam geschrieben In der vorletzten Woche haben wir getanzt. Ein Tanzmeister kam zu uns und hat uns gezeigt, wie man zu Bachs Zeiten getanzt hat. Bach hat in Lüneburg vielleicht für den Tanzunterricht gespielt. Damals war die Musik im Tanzunterricht von...
Vorstellung in der Kneipe
Von Mohammed, Yasin, Nael, Emirhan, Abdoul und Osman Heute haben wir Sport gemacht, damit wir fit werden. Danach haben wir die Fuge nachgespielt nur etwas schwieriger als normal. Dann hat uns Fiona Bilder vom Weg nach Braunschweig gezeigt. In Braunschweig ist Bach zu...
Der Weg durch die Berge
von Emirhan, Yasin, Nael und Mohammed. Wir haben heute Sport-Übungen gemacht. Danach haben wir Noten gelesen. Wir haben auch ein Spiel gespielt, wo wir geklatscht haben und singen mussten. Ein Paar Leute mussten eine musikalische Idee weitergeben (das war eine...
Ausflug zu einer Orgel
von Nael, Mohammed, Emirhan und Yasin. Wir sind letzte Woche in die Kirche gegangen in Zollstock. Wir durften uns in der Kirche ein bisschen umschauen. Wir haben Peter kennen gelernt. Peter hat für uns auf der Orgel gespielt, damit wir wissen, wie es sich...
Bachs Weg nach Mühlhausen
von Mohammed, Nael, Yasin und Emirhan Wir haben als erstes Sport gemacht, damit wir fit und wach werden. Wir haben unsere Hände, Arme und Beine ausgeschüttelt. Fiona hat Geige gespielt und wir haben dazu gesummt und den Rhythmus geklatscht. Wir haben Noten lesen...
Musik des Tages – Leben von früher
5.11.2021 Von Nael, Mohammed, Yasin und Emirhan Heute am Anfang haben wir Sport gemacht mit Fiona und Hannes. Wir haben Hannes kennen gelernt. Hannes hat uns gezeigt, wie man Trompete spielt und er hat uns sehr viele Sachen über die Trompete erzählt. Wir haben uns...
Bach’s Quest geht zur Schule
29.10.2021 Beitrag von Yasin, Emirhan, Mohammed und Nael. Heute hat das Musik Projekt angefangen. Wir haben uns erstmal kennen gelernt, dann haben wir etwas Sport gemacht. Alle hatten Namensschilder. Wir haben über Johann Sebastian Bachs Geschichte gesprochen. Er hat...
Acknowledgements & Memorable Moments
Now that this part of Bach's Quest has come to a close, it's time to say a big "thank you" to everyone who helped along the way. - First and foremost, the Culture Ministry in North-Rhine Westphalia, who, with their Corona Grant, afforded me the luxury of being able to...
Finale
Having performed in Lüneburg, all I needed to do was to get home. In the end, this was easier said than done as a strike by the German rail carrier Deutsche Bahn meant going by car to Düsseldorf, and then cycling the last 45km to Köln. The weather was fabulous, and,...
Lüneburg
I don't know from which direction Bach and Erdmann will have approached St Michaelis, their final destination, when they arrived in Luuneburg. It lies at the western edge of the town, and the view in the image above shows one possible approach - a street looking much...
Ebstorf to Lüneburg
The journey from Ebstorf to Lüneburg was short at just 27km and the weather was glorious, making up for the long wet journeys in the days before. Most of the journey is a cycle track alongside the road, which is pleasant if there is little traffic. The last bit goes...
Ebstorf
Whether Bach and his friend Georg Erdmann chose to travel via Celle or via Hankensbüttel, both routes meet in Ebstorf. Ebstorf boasts a convent which was founded in the 12th century, and the buildings you can see in the images date from the 14th century. It is a...
Hankensbüttel
It's not clear which route Bach might have taken from Braunschweig to Ebstorf. One route, the one I chose, follows the old trade route that joined the cities of the Hanseatic League, and passes through Hankensbüttel, which was a convenient place for me to spend the...
Braunschweig
The journey to Braunschweig was very very wet. Braunschweig's old town is quite pretty though, and the sun came out for a bit when I arrived, interspersed with torrential showers (see the second image). The cathedral is beautiful and has a phenomenal acoustic. It was...
Wernigerode
Today was the first day I didn't cycle, and it was great to have a break! This morning I streamed the A minor sonata from St Johannis, which is the oldest church in the city, dating from the 12th century. Bach could certainly have seen it from the outside. Maybe he...
Zorge to Wernigerode
My host in Zorge felt I should take the first 5km of this trip extremely seriously, as apparently they count as the steepest bike climb in the whole of Germany. One part of the climb has an incline of 16%, and I discovered that at about 12% the front wheel of the bike...
Mühlhausen to Zorge
This leg of the journey was incredibly tough. Apparently there were no scenic cycle routes, so most of the time I was on the road, which was tiring because of the traffic. Although on the elevation profile it's the first 15km which look the most daunting - and I did...
Mühlhausen
My second stream was on 23rd August, in the evening of the wet 50km bike ride. This wasn't such a great idea, as it turned out, it's more relaxed if you have a night's rest in between (note to self...) Bach was the organist at Divi Blasii church for a year in 1707, it...
Gotha to Mühlhausen – in the rain
The Komoot app took me on a really lovely journey through fields and far from traffic between Gotha and Mühlhausen. For 2 out of 4 hours it rained, and with a headwind and fairly low temperature of 14 degrees C this was the first test for my cycling gear. Here's a...
Schloss Neideck, Ohrdruf
This morning I played at the service in St Trinitatis. After this and before leaving for Gotha I decided to take a quick look at the castle, Schloss Neideck. The first image shows what I saw as I approached the castle - in the background you can see the tower of St...
Arriving in Ohrdruf
Yesterday my bike and I took a train from Köln to Arnstadt because Ohrdruf doesn't have a station. That meant cycling to Ohrdruf today in order to actually begin Bach's Quest with the live stream tonight and onward journey tomorrow. So in a way it was a bit of a dress...
Hotel zur Goldenen Sonne in Arnstadt
I just spent the night in the Hotel zur Goldenen Sonne and discovered on arrival yesterday that it has existed as a pub or inn since the 15th century and was also a place the Bach family held their famous reunions. Sitting at breakfast this morning I wondered whether...
essential reading
Double Bach here! These two books were where I started my Bach's Quest: Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician by Christoph Wolff, and Music in the Castle of Heaven by John Eliot Gardiner. I was particularly interested in Bach's early years, the kind of...