Trivia

His last name means "brook" in German.

Had 13 children with Anna Magdalena Wilcke; among them, composer Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, born 21 June 1732.

He had seven children with Maria Barbara Bach, who was also his second cousin; among them, composers Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Friedemann Bach.

Great-great-great-grandfather of Richard D. Bach.

Ancestor of Marisa Leonie Bach.

He liked to play the violin and accompany himself with the organ pedal board.

Could play a melody with the thumb and forefinger of one hand and a second, harmonic melody with the ring and little fingers of the same hand at the same time.

Could stretch a 12th on the organ or harpsichord. He could also hold such 12th and play a melody with the three fingers in between.

For nearly 150 years after his death, Bach lay in an unmarked grave at Old St. John's Cemetery in Leipzig. In 1894 his remains were located and reburied in a vault beneath St. John's Church. This building was destroyed by Allied bombing during World War II, and in 1950 Bach was moved to his present resting place inside Leipzig's Church of St. Thomas.

While promoting Le messie sauvage (1972) in America, Ken Russell told the New York Times that he was working on a biopic of Bach: this never came to fruition.