Notes on German Culture, Prussia...Northern Germany

Johann Sebastian Bach took the liberty of adding a crown to his Monogram

Bach at age 61, by Elias Hausmann

Johann Sebastian Bach personally designed this Monogram, which cleverly consists of his initials JSB, superimposed over their mirror image. He then topped the design with a crown. Bach took the liberty of adding a crown due to his assignments as royal court musician in Leipzig to the Elector and Duke of Saxony, Augustus III, who was also King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania. Even more impressive, he was admired by the most powerful man of the era, Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, for whom he not only performed but also enhanced some of Frederick’s own compositions.

Bust of Johann Sebastian Bach with notes from his 1721 Brandenburg Concertos

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