Dornheim

HIS WEDDING WITH MARIA BARBARA (1707)

On 17 October 1707, a wedding party from Arnstadt set foot for Dornheim, three kilometres away. They ran over stubble fields, holding hands and singing merry songs. The bridal couple were Johann Sebastian Bach and his second cousin Maria Barbara Bach. The friendship of the young Bach with the Dornheim pastor Johann Lorenz Stauber may have been the reason why the couple chose the small village church of St. Bartholomew’s for the happy event. In addition to the entry in the church book, a fragment of the wedding quodlibet has been preserved: cheerful, impromptu music, the lyrics of which are supposed to contain playful references to members and relatives of the Bach family.