Note 53 — Chapter VIII · The Last of Earth

“In the church which for twenty-seven years Bach’s mighty tones had so often filled, the preacher announced from the pulpit, ‘The very worthy and venerable Herr Johann Sebastian Bach, court composer to His Kingly Majesty of Poland and Elector and Serene Highness of Saxony, chapelmaster to His Highness the Prince of Anhalt-Cöthen, and Cantor to the School of St. Thomas in town, having fallen calmly and blessedly asleep in God, his body has this day, according to Christian usage, been consigned to earth.’ His grave was near the church, but when, within this century, the graveyard was removed farther from the church and the old site opened as a roadway, Bach’s grave, with many others, was obliterated, and it is now no longer possible to determine the spot where his bones were laid to rest.”—Spitta’s “Life of Bach,” Vol. III, p. 275.