Johann August Bach (Law Professor, Bach's Pupil)

Born: May 18, 1721 - Hohendorf, near Borna, Saxony, Germany
Died: December 6, 1758 - Leipzig, Saxony, Germany

Johann August Bach was born the son Johann Bach (1685-1749; Pastor in Hohendorf, not related to J.S. Bach) and Anna Dorothea Schumann. He enrolled at the Thomasschule in Leipzig on May 24, 1735; and studied there from 1735¹ or 1734² to 1741. He studied law at Universität Leipzig from 1741, obtaining his Baccalaureus degree in 1744, and his Magister degree in 1745. Although he attended the Thomasschule during J.S. Bach's tenure, it is not known if he actually studied with him. After his studies, he was law Professor in Leipzig from 1750.

In 1752 Johann August Bach became an extraordinary Professor of "Rechtsaltertümer" (legal antiquities) and an assessor at the spiritual consistory. He made a name for himself with his history of Roman law, which, however, did not yet portray the development of internal law. In connection with his other writings, he can be regarded as a forerunner of the historical school. The contributions in the Unpartheyschen Critick über juristische Schriften in- und außerhalb Deutschland (Unparthey Critick on Legal Writings in and Outside Germany) (Volumes 1-6, Leipzig, 1750-1759) were almost all written by him. - He made special contributions to maintaining a good German legal language. - Also worthy of mention as editor of Herausgeber kleiner Schriften von Xenophon and as author of Latin poems.

References: Richter: 172; GND: 100020917

Works

u. a. Divus Traianus, sive de legibus Traiani Imperatoris commentarius, Leipzig 1747;
Hist. Juris-prudentiae Romanae, ebenda 1754 (1822); Opuscula ad historiam et iurisprudentiam spectantia, collegit et praefatus est Ch. A. Klotzius, Halle 1767;
Hrsg. v. B. Brissonius, De formulis et solennibus populi Romani verbis, Leipzig 1754.

Sources:
1. Bernd Koska: Dissertation "Bachs Thomaner als Kantoren in Mitteldeutschland" (Beeskow 2018), Anhang VII.1 Die Alumnen der Thomasschule 1710-1760, English translation by Aryeh Oron (April 2020)
2. Deutsche Biographie Website (Author: Annelore Franke), English translation by Aryeh Oron (April 2020);
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (April 2020)

Links to other Sites

Bach, Johann August (Deutsche Biographie) [German]

Bibliography

Literature 1: ADB I, S. 749f.; Richter 1907, Nr. 172; NDB I, S. 491
Literature 2:
ADB I;
J. A. B., Unpartheysche Critick …, Bd. 7, Leipzig 1759, Vorrede;
Ratsleichenbuch d. St. Leipzig, Bd. 29, 1913, S. 347;
R. Stintzing-E. Landsberg, Gesch. d. Dt. Rechtswiss. III/l, 1898, S. 235 f., III/2, 1910, S. 152 ff.;
R. Grünberg, Sächs. Pfarrerbuch, Bd. 1, 1940, S. 22.

Bach's Pupils: List of Bach's Pupils | Actual and Potential Non-Thomaner Singers and Players who participated in Bach’s Figural Music in Leipzig | Alumni of the Thomasschule in Leipzig during Bach's Tenure | List of Bach's Private Pupils | List of Bach's Copyists
Thomanerchor Leipzig: Short History | Members: 1729 | 1730 | 1731 | 1740-1741 | 1744-1745 | Modern Times
Bach’s Pupils Discussions: Part 1 | Part 2
Articles: Organizional Structure of the Thomasschule in Leipzig | The Rules Established for the Thomasschule by a Noble and Very Wise Leipzig City Council - Printed by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf Leipzig, 1733 | Homage Works for Thomas School Rectors