My second stream was on 23rd August, in the evening of the wet 50km bike ride. This wasn’t such a great idea, as it turned out, it’s more relaxed if you have a night’s rest in between (note to self…)

Bach was the organist at Divi Blasii church for a year in 1707, it was his second job after the position he held in Arnstadt. The original organ in divi Blasii was built by Johann Friedrich Wender, who also built the organ in Arnstadt that Bach was asked to test-run when it was all new. It was this review of Wender’s organ in Arnstadt that got him the job at the Neue Kirche, where he earned significantly more than his predecessor, because they thought he was that good. I suspect that Bach would have met Wender for the first time on his journey to Lüneburg in 1700. This might also explain why the unknown 18-year-old Bach was asked to review the Wender organ in Arnstadt several years later. It was really special to think of Bach sitting at the organ behind me as I played, even with a gap of over 300 years.

Mühlhausen is really pretty and well worth a visit. I definitely hope to go back and spend more time there.