Bach Dies Obscure: A Century Later, Music's Foundation Revealed
He went blind in his final year, from two operations by an English eye surgeon who traveled through Europe and left a trail of blind patients behind him. Johann Sebastian Bach died in Leipzig in July 1750, ten days after the second surgery. His wife found 385 thalers in cash and no will. He left 20 children, thousands of compositions, and a reputation as a solid craftsman — admired locally, largely forgotten elsewhere. Felix Mendelssohn revived the St. Matthew Passion in 1829, eighty years after Bach's death. The rediscovery took another generation to complete.
July 28, 1750
276 years ago
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