Maria Barbara Bach

Maria Barbara Bach (20 October 1684, Gehren, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen – 7 July 1720) was the first wife of composer Johann Sebastian Bach. She was also his second cousin, and the daughter of Johann Michael Bach.

Personal life

See also: Bach family

Maria Barbara and Johann Sebastian married during his tenure as organist of St. Blasius Church in Mühlhausen, a position he assumed in midsummer 1707. That August, Bach received an inheritance of 50 gulden (more than half his annual salary) from his maternal uncle, Tobias Lämmerhirt. This facilitated the marriage which occurred on October 17 at Dornheim, a village near Arnstadt, her home town and his previous post.

Even though not much is known about her life or their marriage, it is known that she and Johann Sebastian had a contented marriage.

According to her second surviving son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, her death in 1720 came quickly and unexpectedly: J. S. Bach was accompanying his employer, the Duke of Köthen, as the duke went to take the waters at the Carlsbad spa (the Duke brought his musicians along to provide him with entertainment). When J. S. Bach left Maria Barbara was in normal health; when he returned he learned that she had died and been buried on July 7. The cause of her death is unknown, but speculations include infectious disease or complications from pregnancy.

Maria Barbara bore seven children, three of whom died at an early age:

• Catharina Dorothea (* 28 December 1708; † 14 January 1774).
• Wilhelm Friedemann (* 22 November 1710; † 1 July 1784).
• Johann Christoph (* 23 February 1713; † 23 February 1713).
• Maria Sophia (* 23 February 1713; † 15 March 1713), twin of Johann Christoph.
• Carl Philipp Emanuel (* 8 March 1714; † 14 December 1788).
• Johann Gottfried Bernhard (* 11 May 1715; † 27 May 1739).
• Leopold Augustus (* 15 November 1718 ; † 29 September 1719).

Anna Magdalena Wilcke became Johann's second wife a year and a half after Maria's death, and she took care of Maria's children along with her own.

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Name	Bach, Maria Barbara
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Date of death	7 July 1720
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