After exiting the Bach Museum, I glanced up at the Bach statue lit up warmly in twilight for a little while and got drawn into the St. Thomas Church.

This is where J.S. Bach served as a Kapellmeister (choirmaster and music director) for 27 years from 1723.

He composed a new cantata for the St. Thomas choristers every week, that accounted for as many as over 1,000 cantatas during his tenure at this church. The St. Thomas Boys Choir was then called, "the Bach choir" as a nickname.

Bach’s remains had been buried under the cemetery of the Johanniskirche in Leipzig since his death on July 28, 1750. But his remains and their whereabouts were actually unknown.

In 1894, Wilhem His, the anatomy professor at Leipzig University identified Bach's remains among disinterred bones.

His bones were transferred here at the Thomaskirche from the Johanniskirche on December 4, 1943, and celebrating 200th anniversary of his death, his remains have been buried here with a bronze cover since July 28, 1950.

I picked and lit one of those candles there, and sat by the candles for a while.

In recent years, I’ve seen the articles on several news media, but Germany’s oldest boy choir is now facing a challenge to recruit new choir members. Just like most other countries, fewer boys in Germany are interested in classical music in the age of digital streaming for pop music and viral videos. The choir has been sending talent scouts to kindergartens and elementary schools to acquire any potential chorister.

I do hope that they will manage to carry on their tradition and legacy for years and years to come.