Johann Sebastian Bach, Kantor Johann Sebastian Bach (21 March 1685–28 July 1750) is acknowledged as one of the most famous and gifted of all composers past and present in the entire western world. Orphaned at the age of ten, Bach was mostly self-taught in music. His professional life as conductor, performer, composer, teacher and organ consultant began at the age of nineteen in the town of Arnstadt and ended in Leipzig, where for the last twenty-seven years of his life he was responsible for all the music in the city's four Lutheran churches. In addition to his being a superb keyboard artist, the genius and bulk of Bach's vocal and instrumental compositions remain overwhelming. A devout and devoted Lutheran, he is especially honored in Christendom for his lifelong insistence that his music was written primarily for the liturgical life of the church to glorify God and edify his people. [From "Commemorations Biographies," Lutheran Service Book, LCMS Commission on Worship]
July 28
1148 The armies of the Second Crusade besieged Damascus. 1827 Moses Henkel, a Methodist pastor and the only non-Lutheran among the famed Henkel family in early America, died (b. 18 September 1757). 1839 Benjamin Hobson, medical missionary to China, died (b. 2 January 1816, Welford, England). 1847 The Mormon community that followed Brigham Young across the plains chose the site for their future temple on the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The Salt Lake Tabernacle was constructed from 1853 to 1893. 1850 Andrew Baepler, college professor and president, was born at Baltimore, Maryland (d. 10 October 1927). 1881 American Presbyterian theologian J. Gresham Machen was born in Baltimore, Maryland (d. 1 January 1937). 1942 W. M. (William Matthew) Flinders Petrie (b. 3 June 1853), English archaeologist, died. 1986 Paul F. Koenig died in Saint Louis, Missouri (b. 17 February 1889, Seward, Nebraska). He graduated from Concordia Seminary (Saint Louis) in 1914 and served as a pastor at Holy Cross Lutheran Church (Saint Louis). He was a member of the Missouri Synod's Board of Education before becoming president of the Western District. From 1946 to 1950 he was on the synodical Board of Directors and from 1952 to 1959 was on the Western District's Commission on Missions and Church Extension. He retired in 1967.
CHI News and Coming Events
Our Walther Bicentennial Exhibit is now open in the Institute's museum gallery on the campus of Concordia Seminary, Saint Louis (Clayton), Missouri. The exhibit "F. C. D. Wyneken: The Thunder That Follows the Lighting" continues. The exhibit commemorates the 200th anniversary of the birth in 1810 of this pioneer missionary and second president of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. The Institute's collection of Albrecht Dürer woodcuts is also currently on display. A $3.00 per person donation to CHI is suggested to view this exhibit. Be sure to visit the Concordia Historical Institute Museum at the LCMS International Center when you are in the Saint Louis area. Hours are Monday–Friday, 8:15 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Admission is free. The museum is located at the intersection of Lindbergh Boulevard (Kirkwood Road) and Interstate 44. Check out the CHI blog and look for the Concordia Historical Institute group on Facebook. For membership information, go to http://lutheranhistory.org/membership.html . Previous mailings of "Today in History" are archived on the Concordia Historical Institute web site at http://lutheranhistory.org/history/todayinhist.asp . | 
