Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German composer and born to a family of professional musicians. Bach was also a famous organist.
约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫(1685-1750)是一位德国作曲家,出身于一个专业音乐家世家。同时,巴赫也是一位著名的风琴演奏家。
Bach in a Brawl Anecdote

巴赫参与过斗殴事件
As a young teacher he got into trouble with the Arnstady authorities over a public brawl with one of his students. Bach, while walking across the market-place in the company of his cousin, Barbara Catharina, was confronted by J. H. Greyersbach and five fellow students returning from a christening feast. Geyersbach demanded to know why Bach had impugned his abilities as a bassoonist. As tempers rose, he called Bach ‘a dirty dog’ and lashed his face with a stick. Bach drew his sword and only the intervention of another student averted bloodshed.
当他还是个年轻教师的时候,他就和他的一个学生因在公共场合争吵而惹上了阿恩斯塔底当局的麻烦。巴赫和他的表妹芭芭拉·凯瑟里娜一起在市场上散步的时候,遇到了格里斯巴赫(Geyersbach)和五个从基督受难宴会上回来的同学。格里斯巴赫想知道为什么巴赫抨击他作为巴松管演奏家的能力。怒火中烧的他称巴赫为“一只肮脏的狗”,并用棍子抽打他的脸。巴赫拔出了他的剑,另一个巴赫学生出面干预才得以避免了流血事件的发生。
When Bach complained, the Consistory determined that he had been principally at fault for having called Greyersbach ‘a nanny-goat bassoonist’. He was admonished to try and live in peace with his students. Bach’s reaction was to take a prolonged and unauthorized journey to Lubeck, to listen to the organ playing of Buxtehude. 
当巴赫向法官抱怨时,宗教法庭认定,巴赫的主要过错是称格里斯巴赫为“一个母山羊巴松管手”。有人告诫他要努力与学生和睦相处。巴赫的对此事的反应是走过一段漫长而又擅作主张的旅程去吕贝克,去听布鲁斯泰胡德的管风琴演奏。
(From H. T. David and A. Mendel: The Bach Reader. NY, 1945)
Bach the Pap
巴赫爸爸是谁
Johann Sebastian Bach's parents knew that he was special from a very early age. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, had a twin brother who looked so similar that even their wives had difficulty telling them apart. (Even their musical styles were nearly identical.) When Johann Sebastian was born (on March 21, 1685), however, his mother found a way to identify her husband; he was the one the baby called "Papa."
约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫的父母从很小的时候就知道他是个特别的人。他的父亲,约翰安布罗修斯巴赫,有一个双胞胎兄弟谁看起来如此相似,甚至他们的妻子难以区分他们。(就连他们的音乐风格也几乎完全相同。)然而,当约翰·塞巴斯蒂安出生的时候(1685年3月21日),他的母亲找到了辨认她丈夫的方法,就是婴儿巴赫称之为“爸爸”的那个人。
Bach's Ange
巴赫的愤怒
With all Bach’s amiable qualities, he had a warm and hasty temper. On one occasion Gorner, the organist at St Thomas’, who generally played very well, struck a false chord, and Bach flew into such a passion that tore his wig off, and threw it at the unfortunate man’s head, with the thundered exclamation, ‘You ought to have become a cobbler rather than an organist!’


尽管巴赫和蔼可亲,他的脾气却温和而急躁。有一次,通常演奏得很好的圣托马斯的管风琴师戈纳发出了一个错误的和弦,巴赫勃然大怒,扯掉了他的假发,扔向那个不幸的人的头上,大声喊道:“你本该当个鞋匠,而不是风琴师!”
His Music is Terrible
他的音乐糟透了
Johann Sebastian Bach was not without his critics. "All Bach's last movements," Arnold Bax once remarked, "are like the running of a sewing machine."He was so fond of full harmony that, besides a constant and active use of the pedals, he is said to have put down such keys by a stick in his mouth, as neither hands nor feet could reach.
约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫也不是没有被人批评过。阿诺德·巴克斯曾经说过:“巴赫最后的乐章就像缝纫机的运转。”巴赫太过热衷于完全和谐的音乐,因此,除了不断地积极使用踏板外,据说他还把一根棍子叼在嘴里记下那些调子,因为手脚都忙着演奏音乐(手在弹琴,脚在踩踏板)。
The Long Walk Anecdote
漫漫长路中的逸闻趣事 
Though Johann Sebastian Bach was a brilliant organist, his tenure as a Cantor in Leipzig was blemished by his irresponsible behavior. According to contemporary records, he was reproved by the town council for being a "loner," for his arrogant manner, for neglecting his duties (he once walked 230 miles from Arnstadt to Lübeck to hear Dietrich Buxtehude play the organ), for playing strange melodies on the organ during church services, for playing too long and, in defiance, deliberately playing too short. A resolution was once unanimously passed by the Council "to ask Bach by what right he recently caused a strange maiden to be invited into the choir loft, and let her make music there." The capper, however, came when Bach was asked to visit a neighboring town to inspect a new organ. He showed up at the correct hour - four months late!

尽管约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫是一位杰出的风琴手,但他在莱比锡的康托尔任期却因他不负责任的行为而蒙羞。根据当时的记载,他被镇议会指责为“孤独者”,因为他傲慢的态度,忽视自己的职责(他曾经从阿纳斯塔特走了230英里到吕贝克听迪特里希·布鲁斯泰胡德演奏管风琴),还有在教堂礼拜期间在管风琴上演奏奇怪的旋律,演奏时间要么过长要么故意演奏得太短。委员会一致通过了一项决议,来质问巴赫“有什么权利让一个陌生的少女受邀进入唱诗班的阁楼,并让她在那里创作音乐。”不仅如此,有次巴赫被邀请到附近的一个城镇去视察一个新的管风琴乐器时,他答应好要来,可却出现在镇子上的时间却好巧不巧 -- 晚了四个月!

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