munificent offers (but rarely fulfilled) to suffer the burden of his
eccentricities. Frederick was not content with playing the part of
patron, but must himself also be poet, philosopher, painter, and
composer.

On the night of Bach's arrival Frederick was taking part in a concert
at his palace, and, on hearing that the great musician whose name was
in the mouths of all Germany had come, immediately sent for him without
allowing him to don a court dress, interrupting his concert with the
enthusiastic announcement, "Gentlemen, Bach is here." The cordial
hospitality and admiration of Frederick was gratefully acknowledged by
Bach, who dedicated to him a three-part fugue on a theme composed by the
king, known under the name of "A Musical Offering." But he could not be
persuaded to remain long from his Leipsic home.

Shortly before Bach's death, he was seized with blindness, brought on by
incessant labor; and his end was supposed to have been hastened by the
severe inflammation consequent on two operations performed by an English
oculist. He departed this life July 30, 1750, and was buried in St.
John's churchyard, universally mourned by musical Germany, though his
real title to exceptional greatness was not to be read until the next
generation.


III.

Sebastian Bach was not only the descendant of a widely-known musical
family, but was himself the direct ancestor of about sixty of the
best-known organists and church composers of Germany. As a master of
organ-playing, tradition tells us that no one has been his equal, with