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Compiled by David Gordon
A well-known factoid about Johann Sebastian Bach is that he and his two wives produced 20 children. And for most people today that's as far as the story goes.
But a stark reality of family life in Bach's time was that parents tended to have lots of children because childhood mortality was so high. In 18th-Century Germany one child in four died during their first year, and nearly half of all children — poor and rich — died before their fifth birthday.
Here is what became of the 20 Bach children:
- ten died in early childhood
- one son died of unknown causes at age 24
- one daughter married a pupil of Bach's
- three daughters remained unmarried and [therefore] died in poverty
- one son was mentally handicapped and required a caretaker
- four sons became successful musicians and composers
(#2, 5, 16, 18)
The four musician sons mostly ignored their widowed mother/stepmother Anna Magadalena, and she died in poverty in 1760, ten years after her husband, and was buried in an unmarked grave.
The numbers 1–20 below indicate the chronological order of the births.
The Children of Johann Sebastian Bach (b.1685-d.1750)
Ten Died as Children
With Maria Barbara Bach
b. October 20, 1684
m. October 17, 1707
d. July 7, 1720 age 35
(Died of unknown causes while Bach was away)
3. Maria Sophia (twin)
Feb 23–March 15, 1713
4. Johann Christoph (twin)
Died at birth Feb 23, 1713
7. Leopold Augustus
Nov 15, 1718–Sep 29, 1719
With Anna Magdalena Wilcke
b September 22, 1701
m. December 3, 1721
d.February 22, 1760 age 58
(Died in poverty ten years after Bach's death)
8. Christiana Sophia Henrietta
Spring 1723–June 29 1726
10. Christian Gottlieb
Apr 14, 1725–Sep 21, 1728
12. Ernestus Andreas
Oct 30–Nov 1, 1727
13. Regina Johanna
Oct 10, 1728–Apr 25, 1733
14. Christiana Benedicta
Jan 1–Jan 4, 1730
15. Christiana Dorothea
Mar 18, 1731–Aug 31, 1732
17. Johann August Abraham
Nov 5–Nov 6, 1733
Ten Lived to Adulthood
With Maria Barbara Bach
1. Catharina Dorothea
Dec 29, 1708–Jan 14, 1774
unmarried, lived her life in the Bach household, died in poverty
2. Wilhelm Friedemann
Nov 22, 1710–Jul 1, 1784
organist/composer
5. Carl Philipp Emanuel
Mar 8, 1714–Dec 14, 1788
composer & kappelmeister, the most reknowned son
6. Johann Gottfried Bernhard
May 11, 1715–May 27, 1739
organist
cause of death unknown
With Anna Magdalena Wilcke
9. Gottfried Heinrich
Feb 27, 1724–Feb 12, 1763
mentally handicapped,
required a caregiver
11. Elisabeth Juliana Friderica
Apr 5, 1726–Aug 24, 1781
known as “Lieschen”
married Bach's pupil,
Johann Christoph Altnikol
16. Johann Christoph Friedrich
Jun 21, 1732–Jan 26, 1795
composer & kappelmeister
18. Johann Christian
Sept 5, 1735–Jan 1, 1782
composer
settled in London where he
briefly gave music lessons
to the young Mozart
19. Johanna Carolina
Oct 30, 1737–Aug 16, 1781
unmarried, died in poverty
20. Regina Susanna
Feb 22, 1742–Dec 14, 1809
unmarried, died in poverty
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Source for childhood mortality statistics at the top of the page:
W. Robert Lee & Peter Marschalck (2002) Infant mortality in Germany
in the 18th and 19th centuries, The History of the Family,
7:4, 501-504, DOI: 10.1016/S1081-602X(02)00122-7
© 2007-2022 David Gordon