Bach: a detailed informative biography
巴赫的一生:少年时代（一）
By  Michael and Lawrence Sartorius
王力舟 刘昕 校对
「
艾森纳赫
1685-1695
」
Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21st l685, the son of Johann Ambrosius, court trumpeter for the Duke of Eisenach and director of the musicians of the town of Eisenach in Thuringia. For many years, members of the Bach family throughout Thuringia had held positions such as organists, town instrumentalists, or Cantors, and the family name enjoyed a wide reputation for musical talent.
约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫 出生于1685年三月21日，他是约翰·安普罗修斯的儿子，他的父亲是艾森纳赫公爵的宫廷小号手以及位于图林根州艾森纳赫的音乐家们中的领导者。许多年来，巴赫家族的成员们中担任着风琴演奏者、城镇乐器演奏家、合唱指挥家等职务之人贯穿图林根州，巴赫家族在音乐才能方面享有盛誉。
The family at Eisenach lived in a reasonably spacious home just above the town center, with rooms for apprentice musicians, and a large grain store. (The pleasant and informative "Bach Haus" Museum in Eisenach does not claim to be the original family home). Here young Johann Sebastian Bach was taught by his father to play the violin and the harpsichord. He was also initiated into the art of organ playing by his famous uncle, Johann Christoph Bach, who was then organist at the Georgenkirche in Eisenach. Sebastian was a very willing pupil and soon became extraordinarily proficient with these instruments.
这个定居在艾森纳赫的家族住在一个紧邻市中心的相当宽敞的房子，这里有一些演奏学徒住的房子和一个很大的粮仓。（环境宜人、信息丰富的“Bach Haus”博物馆也同样位于艾森纳赫的，据说并不是巴赫家族的祖宅）在这里年少的巴赫跟随他的父亲学习小提琴和大键琴演奏。他也被叔叔约翰·克里斯朵夫·巴赫启发并投身于管风琴艺术。他的叔叔后来成为了位于艾森纳赫大教堂的一位风琴手。塞巴斯蒂安是一个有着强烈学习愿望的学生，并且他很快就精通了这些乐器。
When he was eight years old he went to the old Latin Grammar School, where Martin Luther had once been a pupil; he was taught reading and writing, Latin grammar, and a great deal of scripture, both in Latin and German. The boys of the school formed the choir of the St. Georgenkirche, which gave Johann Sebastian Bach an opportunity to sing in the regular services, as well as in the nearby villages. He was described as having 'an uncommonly fine treble voice'. The Lutheran spirit would have been strong in Eisenach, for it was in the Wartburg Castle standing high above the town, that Martin Luther, in hiding from his persecutors, translated the New Testament into German.
当巴赫八岁的时候他去了一个古老的拉丁语学校，马丁·路德也曾是这里的学生，巴赫在这里学会了阅读和写作，拉丁语法和大量的拉丁语和德语的圣经内容。学校里的男孩们组成 了St. Georgenkirche唱诗班，这给巴赫提供了一次参加日常宗教活动的机会，有时甚至会到临近的村庄去演出。他被称为有着“不同反响的、美好而高昂的嗓音”的人。路德精神在艾森纳赫盛行，因为这里是瓦尔特堡教堂的所在地，马丁·路德因迫害而隐居，在间把《新约》译成了德语的地方。
Roads were still unpaved in the smaller towns, sewage and refuse disposal poorly organized, and the existence of germs not yet scientifically discovered. Mortality rates were high as a result. At an early age Johann Sebastian Bach lost a sister and later a brother. When he was only nine years old his mother died. Barely nine months later his father also died.
在这个小镇上道路还没有铺砌，污水和垃圾回收组织得很差，科学界也还没发现细菌的存在。这种状况的结果是死亡率很高。在约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫很小的时候，他就失去了一个姐姐，接着又失去了一个哥哥。在他只有九岁的时候他的母亲就去世了。仅仅九个月之后他的父亲也去世了。
Johann Sebastian Bach and one of his brothers, Johann Jakob, were taken into the home of their eldest brother, Johann Christoph (born l671) who had recently married and settled down at Ohrdruf, a small town thirty miles south-east of Eisenach. Johann Christoph, a former pupil of Pachelbel, was now well established as organist of the St. Michaeliskirche, Ohrdruf.
约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫和他的一个哥哥约翰·雅科布（Johann Jakob）被带到长兄约翰·克里斯朵夫·巴赫的家里去，克里斯朵夫那时刚结婚不久，也已经在奥尔德鲁夫定居了，奥尔德鲁夫是位于艾森纳赫东南方向三十公里的一个小镇。Johann Christoph是帕赫贝尔的曾经的学生，当时已经被塑造成了一个在奥尔德鲁夫镇圣米迦勒大教堂的优秀管风琴演奏家。
「
奥尔德鲁夫
1695-1700
」
Johann Christoph was an excellent teacher - all of his five sons were to reach positions of some eminence in music, and he was a keen student of the latest keyboard compositions.Johann Sebastian Bach at once settled down happily in this household studying the organ and harpsichord with great interest under his brother, and he quickly mastered all the pieces he had been given.
约翰·克里斯朵夫·巴赫是一个深谙教学之道的老师—他所有的五个儿子都在音乐方面取得了显赫的成就，在创新性的键盘作曲上，他也是一个敏锐的“学生”。约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫立刻在他哥哥那里住了下来，开心地开始了他的家庭式学习，在他哥哥的带领下，他充满热情地开始学习管风琴和羽管键琴，并且很快地掌握了他手中所有的曲子。
 When a new organ was installed at the Ohrdruf church, Christoph allowed his young brother to watch its construction. He also encouraged him to study composition and set Sebastian to copying music by German organist composers such as Jakob Froberger, Johann Caspar Kerll and Pachelbel. An anecdote tells how Christoph punished his young brother when he discovered he had copied a forbidden musical manuscript by moonlight over a period of six months, and confiscated the precious copy.
当一架新的管风琴被安装在奥尔德鲁夫教堂时，克里斯朵夫允许他的年幼的弟弟去观察管风琴的构造。他也鼓励他的弟弟去学习作曲，并让约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫誊写Jakob Froberger, Johann Caspar Kerll and Pachelbel这些德国作曲家的音乐。有一则轶事告诉了我们克里斯朵夫发现他的弟弟借着月光连续六个月抄写被禁的乐谱时，如何惩罚他，以及没收了那些珍贵的乐谱抄本。
During this period Johann Sebastian Bach attended the Gymnasium (grammar school) of Ohrdruf, once a monastic foundation, which had become one of the most progressive schools in Germany. He made excellent progress in Latin, Greek and theology, and had reached the top form at a very early age. The scholars of the Gymnasium, as at Eisenach, were also employed as choir-boys, and their Cantor, Elias Herda, had a high opinion of Johann Sebastian Bach's voice and musical capabilities.
约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫 在奥尔德鲁夫的Gymnasium学院就读。曾是修道院，当时已经变成了德国最先进的学校，上学的时候，他在拉丁文 希腊文 和神学上面都取得了巨大的进步，也已经在很小的年纪进入了很好的状态。该学院的学者们，因为居住在艾森纳赫，也在少年唱诗班工作，而他们的指挥Elias Herda，对 约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫的嗓音和音乐才能有极高的评价。
It was his excellent soprano voice that found Johann Sebastian Bach a position in the choir of the wealthy Michaelis monastery at Lüneburg, which was known to provide a free place for boys who were poor but with musical talent. This was no doubt arranged by Elias Herda who had held a scholarship there himself.
正因约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫如女高音一般完美的嗓音让他在位于吕内堡的富有的圣米迦勒修道院唱诗班占有一席之地，这个修道院由于为那些贫穷却又有着音乐天赋的男孩们提供免费的场地而广为人知。 对自身就曾享受过这种“奖学金”的Elias Herda来说做到这样的善举更是不在话下。
In the Spring of 1700 Johann Sebastian Bach set out with his schoolfriend, Georg Erdmann, who was also joining the choir, on the journey of a hundred and eighty miles north to Lüneburg. It is not known how they traveled; most probably the journey would have been undertaken largely on foot, relieved where possible with a lift on a river barge or farmer's cart.Doubtless the two boys would have been given free food and accommodation in the many monasteries along the route.
在1700年的春天，约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫和他在学校的朋友，并且也是唱诗班的成员的乔治·埃德曼一同踏上了去距离吕内堡北边一百八十英里的地方的旅程。他们怎样进行这次旅程是未知；最有可能的还是大部分时间步行，偶尔借驳船载路或在农夫的二轮马车上休息一下。毫无疑问的是，这两个孩子一定在路途中去修道院里领食物、留宿。
「
吕内堡
1700-1702
」
When Johann Sebastian Bachreached this North-German musical center, he was well received because of his uncommonly beautiful soprano voice, and was immediately appointed to the select body of singers who formed the 'Mettenchor' (Mattins Choir). Their obligations to sing were many, and Johann Sebastian Bach thus had a unique chance to participate in choral and orchestral performances on a scale unknown in the poorer Thuringian towns of his homeland. He was also freely permitted to study the fine library of music in the Gymnasium, which included some of the best examples of German church music.
当约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫抵达北德的音乐中心时，他受到了热情地欢迎——因为他非同寻常的美妙的如女高音一般的嗓音。紧接着，他被任命为组成’Mettenchor'（晨祷唱诗班）的天生歌者之一。他们的义务演出场次很多，由此巴赫获得了广泛接触合唱以及管弦乐演出的机会，而这在他更加贫乏的图林根老家是无法想象的。此外，他还获准在学校里的音乐图书馆学习，其中收藏着德国教堂音乐的一些绝佳范例。
The growing lad soon lost his soprano voice, but was able to make himself useful as a violinist in the orchestra, and as an accompanist at the harpsichord during choir rehearsals.
这个渐渐长大的小伙子很快失去了他如女高音一般的嗓音，但他已经有能力成为管弦乐团中一个得力的小提琴手，也可以在唱诗班排练时作为一个大键琴伴奏者。
During this period he was fortunate in meeting Georg Böhm, organist of the Johanniskirche at Lüneburg, who himself had been a pupil of the famous organist Jan Adams Reinken in Hamburg, and was a friend of the Bach family in Ohrdruf. Böhm introduced Johann Sebastian Bach to the great organ traditions of Hamburg, to which city he made several pilgrimages on foot. 
在这期间他很幸运地遇见了乔治·伯姆，这个吕内堡圣约翰大教堂的风琴演奏家，乔治·伯姆曾是汉堡的著名风琴演奏家简·亚当·赖因肯的学生，他同时也是奥尔德鲁夫镇巴赫家族的友人。在这个他步行朝拜过许多次的城市，伯姆向巴赫展示了伟大的汉堡风琴传统。
He also came under the influence of French instrumental music when, through his great proficiency on the violin, he played at the Court of Celle, 50 miles south of Lüneburg. Though distinctly German in its construction and outer appearance, Celle Castle was known as a 'miniature Versailles' for its rich interiors and then-current musical tastes.
在他熟练掌握小提琴演奏的这段时间，他也受到了法国器乐的影响，他在距离吕内堡南边50英里的策勒宫廷演奏。尽管在结构和外观上都是典型的德国风格，策勒城堡却因为它精美的内饰和众所周知的音乐品味被称作微型凡尔赛宫而闻名。
When he was nearly eighteen, Johann Sebastian Bach, considerably enriched by these musical experiences, decided he would try to find employment as an organist in his native Thuringia. He was greatly interested in an organ under construction in the new church of Arnstadt, and as members of his family had been professionally active in the district for generations, he felt he had a good chance of getting the post. So in 1702 he left Lüneburg and returned South.
当他将近十八岁时，约翰·塞巴斯蒂安·巴赫，在这些音乐经历中将自己相当地丰富和充实了起来，他决定去尝试在图林根州当地寻找一份风琴师的工作。他对安斯达特新教堂 里的风琴的构架充满了兴趣，除此之外，他的家族也在那个街区有着世代的专业活动和影响力，他认为自己有一个好的机遇去得到这个职务。因此在1702年他离开了吕内堡 ，回到了南边。（未完待续……）
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