8 SEBASTIAN BACH AND HIS WORKS. 



ioumey on foot to Lubeck to hear the organist of St. Mary's Church 

 in that city, with whose compositions he was already acquainted. 

 For almost a quarter of a year he remained a secret hearer of this 

 organist, and then returned to Arnstadt with an increased stock of 

 knowledge. 



The efforts of his zeal and unwearied diligence were followed by 

 their appropriate reward. He received, in rapid succession, several 

 oiFers of places as organist, and in 1707 he accepted that of St. Bla- 

 sius, at jVIiihlhauscn. A year, however, after he had done so, mak- 

 ing a journey to Weimar to perform before the reigning duke, his 

 execution on the organ was so highly approved of that he was of- 

 fered, and accepted, the place of court organist. The extended 

 sphere of action, with regard to his art, in which he here moved, 

 impelled him to exert himself to the utmost ; and it was probably 

 during this period that he made himself the unrivalled performer 

 he was universally allowed to be. He had still further occasion to 

 improve himself when his prince, in 17175 appointed him director 

 of the concerts, in which office he was expected to compose and 

 perform pieces of sacred music. 



Bach was now thirty-two years of age ; he had made such good 

 use of his time, had studied, composed, and played so much, and by 

 unremitting diligence had acquired such a mastery over every prin- 

 ciple of his art, that he stood, like a giant, able to trample all 

 around him into dust. He had long been regarded, not by amateurs 

 only, but by judges of the art, with wonder and admiration, when, 

 in the year 1717? ^I- Marchand, who had attained considerable 

 celebrity in France as a performer on the clavichord and organ, 

 came to Dresden, where he played before the king with such success 

 that a large salary was offered him if he would engage in his ma- 

 jesty's service. Volumier, at that time director of the concerts in 

 Dresden, knowing Bach's superiority, in all respects, over the 

 Frenchman, wished to procure a public contest between them, in 

 order to give his prince and the inhabitants of Dresden an opportu- 

 nity of judging of their respective merits. With the consent of the 

 king, accordingly, u message was dispatched to Sebastian Bach, at 

 Weimar, inviting him to this trial of skill : he accepted the invita- 

 tion, and immediately set out on his journey. On his arrival in 

 Dresden, Volumier procured him an opportunity of hearing Mar- 

 chand play unobserved by the latter ; and Bach, nowise discouraged 

 by what he had heard, sent to the French artist a polite note, for- 

 mally inviting him to the trial of their powers ; offering to play 

 without preparation whatever the other might please to set before 



