church music according to his wishes, and contrasts with this the very insufficient sum actually at his command. Since the council did not afford him what he considered necessary, he began to entertain the idea of leaving Leipsic, and on the 28th of October, 1730, he wrote to Erdmann in Dantsic upon the subject. But no action was taken in the matter; Bach remained in Leipsic, and although vexations and annoyances were not wanting in after years, there seems to have been no recurrence of such a crisis. He always lived in friendly relations with the aged rector of the school, Johann Heinrich Ernesti, and found a warm friend and admirer in his successor, the distinguished philologist, Johann Matthias Gesner (1730-1734), whom he had known ever since the Weimar days. With the third incumbent of the office, however, Johann August Ernesti, he fell into a violent controversy, on account of the removal of a chorus prefect. This was fought out with much obstinacy by Bach because he knew he was right in the principal point at issue. He seems, moreover, to have come off victorious after a two years' struggle, but the consequence was an enduring bitterness between cantor and rector, which tended neither to the advantage of the school, nor of its music. But if the drawbacks connected with Bach's stay in Leipsic are undeniable and deserving of the conspicuous mention which they have heretofore received, the question on the other hand might well be raised in what locality of the Germany of that day he could have found a position commensurate with his genius. He was not adapted by nature for a brilliant princely court like that of Dresden; there the opera and Italian singing were all in all; appreciation was lacking both for his organ music and his church cantatas--at the very most he was recognized as a virtuoso. And this would have been equally the case if his compositions had been less profound and earnest. He belonged in a place where he would come into constant communication with the Protestant church, and where, in case of need, he had means at hand for giving expression to his grand ideas. So far as such a place was to be found at all, Leipsic offered him perhaps a better field than any other of the larger German towns, and a wider sphere of action had become imperatively necessary for him, after the limitations imposed upon him at Weimar and Cöthen. The liturgy in the Leipsic churches, which even at the present day is comparatively rich, was then characterized by a fulness and variety scarcely inferior to that of the Catholics, and music was called into requisition in corresponding measure. Here was sufficient encouragement for the development of a many-sided activity. Bach's compositions, to be sure, were far above the comprehension of the Leipsic public. But a traditional respect for church music and their strong love for the Thomas choir furnished him at least with willing ears. As cantor of the institution, too, Bach was incontestably the first