In Christoph, the second of the three sons of Hans Bach, we behold the grandfather of Sebastian. He also was the father of three sons, the eldest of whom has been alluded to as having taken up his residence in Franconia. The other two, Johann Ambrosius and Johann Christoph, were twin brothers and resembled each other, both in appearance and in character, to a degree which excited universal astonishment. Their thoughts and modes of expression were identical; they played the same instrument and in the same style. The sympathy between them is said to have been so close that they shared each other's illnesses, and the elder survived the death of the younger but a short time. Ambrosius Bach was born in Erfurt in 1645, and there passed a portion of his youth, becoming later a member of the public orchestra. In 1671 he removed to Eisenach, where he acted as town-musician, his cousin, Johann Christoph Bach, the before-mentioned important composer, being already established there as organist. Here he died in January, 1694; and the youngest of his eight children, consisting of six sons and two daughters, was to become the man whose genius these lines commemorate. In order to afford a comprehensive view of the connection between the different generations, a genealogical tree of the Bach family is here inserted. VEIT BACH | +---------------------------+-------------------------+ | | HANS BACH (LIPS) BACH | | +--+----------+-----------------------+ | | | | | JOHANN CHRISTOPH HEINRICH WENDEL | | | +----------+-----------+ +-----------+ | | | | | | | GEORG JOH. JOH. JOH. JOH. JACOB CHRISTOPH AMBROSIUS--CHRISTOPH CHRISTOPH MICHAEL | | | +--------------+-------------+ | | | | | JOH. CHRISTOPH JOH. JACOB JOHANN SEBASTIAN JOH. LUDWIG