We didn’t buy tickets for any concerts today and instead decided to visit the city of Mühlhausen, where Bach was organist for only nine months, from 1708-1709. The position was already vacant for six months and it seems the 22 year old Bach was not their first choice, because of his lack of experience. It was during this time that he got married to his second cousin, Maria Barbara. He wrote his first cantata, “Gott ist mein König” which was the only cantata published during his lifetime. Apparently, though, the people of St. Blasius did not appreciate Bach’s music and thought it was too complicated.

It took us three hours to get to Mühlhausen and when we finally got there I was struck by the charm of this medieval city and its many timbered houses.

We had no trouble finding St. Blasius, where they had a statue of the young Bach in front of the church.