The foundation scholars number fifty-five, by whom the choirs of the four Churches, St. Thomas’, St. Nicolas’, St. Peter’s, and the New Church are provided. For the instrumental accompaniments at least twenty players are required: viz., 2 or 3 first Violins, 2 or 3 second Violins, 4 Violas, 2 Violoncelli, 1 Contrabasso, 2 or more Flutes, 2 or 3 Oboi, 1 or 2 Fagotti, 3 Trombe, 1 Timpani. To fill these places there are eight Town Musicians, and at the moment there are no players available for third Tromba, Timpani, Viola, Violoncello, Contrabasso, third Oboe (or Taille).
To augment the Town Musicians the Cantor has been wont in the past to employ University students and instrumental players in the School. Upon the former “at all times” he relies for Viola, Violoncello, and Contrabasso, and “generally” for the second Violins. But the Council, by its recent resolution, no longer affords the Cantor the means to employ them. To place the scholars in the orchestra weakens the choir, to which they naturally belong.
By presenting to foundation scholarships boys unskilled and ignorant of music, the resources at the Cantor’s disposal are still farther lessened.
Hence, Bach concludes, “in ceasing to receive my perquisites I am deprived of the power of putting the music into a better condition.”
No answer was made to Bach’s memorial, and he contemplated resigning his position. But with the advent of Johann Matthias Gesner as Rector in September 1730 a happier period dawned upon the “incorrigible” Cantor. In 1732 Gesner procured the withdrawal of the Council’s ban on Bach’s perquisites. The fallen fortunes of the School revived, and Bach did not again make an effort to leave Leipzig. In 1736 the grant of the post of Hof-Componist to the Saxon Court gave him at length a title which compelled the deference of his civic masters.
Bach’s early misunderstanding with the University cut him off from association with the most dignified, if not the most important, institution in Leipzig, and deprived him of opportunity to display his genius beyond the radius of his Church duties. The situation changed in 1729, when he became director of the University Society, and he held the post for about ten years. The Society gave weekly concerts on Fridays, from 8 to 10, and an extra concert, during the Fair season, on Thursdays at the same hour. It performed vocal and instrumental music and was the medium through which Bach presented his secular Cantatas, Clavier and Violin Concertos, and Orchestral Suites to the public. The proficiency of his elder sons and pupils, and his wife’s talent as a singer, were a farther source of strength to the Society, whose direction undoubtedly made these years the happiest in Bach’s life. He took his rightful place in the musical life of the city, and relegated to a position of inferiority the smaller fry, such as Görner, who had presumed on Bach’s aloofness from the University and Municipality to insinuate themselves. His increasing reputation as an organist, gained in his annual autumn tours, also enlightened his fellow-townsmen regarding the superlative worth of one whom at the outset they were disposed to treat as a subordinate official.