The Bachs and Halle

In December 1713, the Marktkirche chose J.S. Bach as its new organist; in February 1714, he withdrew — the Weimar court raised his salary to keep him, and he stayed where he was. The connection did not end there: in 1716, when the Marktkirche's new organ was completed, he came with Kuhnau and others to inspect it. The father's ties to Halle amount to one election, one refusal, and one inspection.

Thirty years later, the family name truly settled in Halle. In April 1746, the eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, became music director and organist of the Marktkirche, a post he held for eighteen years, until June 1764, and came to be known as “the Bach of Halle.” The great west organ he played was the very Cuntzius organ his father had once inspected — the keys under the son's hands connected to that one appraisal by the father.

That great organ still stands on the west side of the Marktkirche: the case is the original from 1716, the very Cuntzius organ Bach inspected, while the mechanism inside was rebuilt by Schuke in 1984, with about 4,170 pipes. An old case, a new voice — the organ still sounds today.

What the Bachs, father and son, left Halle was one signed inspection and eighteen years of organ music; and this city's worship has outlasted any single name. Today we sing in Chinese in Halle, praising the very God the Bachs once served from the organ bench.