This was the first attempt at a full length biography of Bach and a critical apreciation of his work as composer and performer. Translated by Walter Emery in 1941-1942 with introductory notes and two appendices, but not published in his lifetime. Walter Emery, musicologist, specialised in the works J.S. Bach.

This manuscript is Walter Emery's own English translation of Bach's obituary notice, written jointly by C.P.E. Bach and J.F. Agricola, originally published in Mizler's Neu Eroffnete Musikalischer Bibliothek, volume 4, part 1 in Leipzig 1754. Also included are two short biographical excerpts on Bach: J.G. Walther's Musikalisches Lexicon (1732) and the Genealogy which Bach himself compiled in c.1735.