The birthdate of H. H.-J. C. Ach
Note : this text was a spoof, full of in-jokes, I wrote for a classical music forum. ***** Hieronymus Hans-Joachim Christian Ach was born on December 20, 1755, in the Austrian lakeside town of Grossin-Diessensee, to Martha (née Flotow) and Stefan-Friedhelm Ach, one of a long line of cobblers and principal crumhorn in the court orchestra at the local Cardinal-Archbishop’s palace. In February 1762, Stefan-Friedhelm was struck down by scrofula while burnishing his awls in preparation for Fassingschwank. Forced to take in washing, Martha was unable to support the young Hieronymus and apprenticed him to the bellows-keeper of the magnificent new Silbermann instrument at St Peter, Paul & Mary’s Cathedral in nearby Dittersdorf. Ach (?) Hieronymus’ alacrity at pumping the organ brought him, at the age of 12, to the attention of fashionable castrato Michaël Jachssohn, then appearing in Händel’s Ronaldo at the Dittersdorfer Staatsoper under the patronage of the Contessa Rompi-Coglioni, and s...