Johann Sebastian Bach was a genius composer. His influence was felt everywhere. But a little over a century and a half ago, his music and reputation suffered from anonymity, practically unknown to all except a few professionals, and both Bach and Felix Mendelssohn’s families. Over the second decade of the 19th century in Berlin, Bach’s sons, along with Sarah Itzig, a talented musician and Mendelssohn’s great aunt, obtained his manuscripts and contracted Bach’s work. Meanwhile, Bella Salomon, Mendelssohn’s grandmother, supported Bach’s work “the story of St. Matthew Passion” in her salon. Around the same time, the famous Carl Friedrich Zelter, a skillful and picky schoolmaster type, entertained Bach privately at his home as an amazing composer.
