Musician bites man in Bach’s town

Musician bites man in Bach’s town

News

norman lebrecht

July 05, 2021

Not much has happened in Eisenach since J S Bach left town, so the incident below has created quite a stir.

It is reported that words were exchanged in the town centre between a street musician and a passerby.

Whatever the cause, the pedestrian, 50, threw a punch, knocking the musician, 36, to the ground. The musician responded by sinking his teeth into the assailant’s lower leg.

Both have been charged with assault.

Just a bissl, as they say.

 

Comments

  • Jeff S. says:

    Hi Norman,

    I really appreciate your site. Lots of interesting stuff. But could I ask you why the text appears on the right side of the screen (when using a Mac)? This is not comfortable to read. Just a small comment from Toronto. Thanks!

  • Henry williams says:

    It could happen anywhere. People behave like
    Animals

    • John Borstlap says:

      Indeed. I was once bitten by a harpist, of all people.

      • Jessica says:

        Why not a harpist? They have teeth, no?

        • John Borstlap says:

          One would expect it the least from harpists, given their repertoire, and considering that angels have been instructed to play the harp in Heaven for each other and only the trombones into the direction of the earthlings.

  • Giora says:

    They didn’t probably agree about the tuning of the instrument, whether to use Werkmeiter IV, Vallotti or Kirnberger temperament…

  • fflambeau says:

    No one dare say that classical music (and musicians) have no bite to it.

  • M McAlpine says:

    Bach apparently was not immune from a punch-up

  • Ben G. says:

    It was probably just a dispute over the spelling of a musical ornament known as a “Mordent” (mordant). The musician wanted to win the argument by literally proving his point.

  • Anon says:

    Apparently his Bach was worse than his bite…

  • Bachman says:

    Bach was famously attacked by one of his pupils, a bassoon player named Geyserbach, when he was organist in Arnstadt (a mere 60 km from Eisenach). Bach had insulted his playing in rehearsal, and the short-tempered guy resorted later to attack the young composer with a stick, reportedly saying he had “insulted his bassoon”… Colleagues beware: never insult a bassoon in Saxony.

    • Ashu says:

      [Bach had insulted his playing in rehearsal, and the short-tempered guy resorted later to attack the young composer with a stick, reportedly saying he had “insulted his bassoon”…]

      Well, you’ve missed the punchline, Bach’s retort, which contains a German pun that would get him cancelled today – and potentially still could, dead though he is.

  • Le Křenek du jour says:

    > “Not much has happened in Eisenach since J S Bach left town…”

    Except for Kleinzach!

    « Il était une fois à la cour d’Eisenach
    Un petit avorton qui se nommait Kleinzach!
    Il était coiffé d’un colbac
    Et ses jambes, et ses jambes faisaient clic clac
    Clic clac, clic clac, voilà, voilà Kleinzach! »

  • John Borstlap says:

    There is a long history of biting incidents in Eisenach, which began with JS Bach himself when he bit a fellow student over a dispute about ornamentation. Since the questions about different ornamentation traditions continued to disrupt the calm temperament of the locals, and attempts at suppression were not really effective, up till ca. 1795 the matter kept the town involved in musical developments and unusual quarrelling customs. By the end of the century the classical style did away with ornamentaion anyway, and only then, provincial peace returned, only to be disturbed again around 1835 when a short epidemic of rabies landed on the town – which was initially wrongly assessed as the ornamentation fury of earlier times.

  • Robert J. Scharba says:

    Alas, not all that newsworthy – now if the musician had bitten a dog……

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