The sound of Köthen culminates in J.S. Bach: in his music and in the environment, which favoured its creation. The very young Leopold (1694-1728) began his reign with an edict for confessional tolerance and he paid tribute to the Muses. Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen was a musically educated man who probably recognized the meaning of J.S. Bach immediately. In 1717 he appointed J.S. Bach, then 32 years old, to be the “Anhalt-Köthen Prince's own musical director". Previously, he had raised the number of the court's orchestra to 17 among them excellent “Cammer Musici” of the same orchestra that he had admired as a student of the Knights' Academy in Berlin (and which the King of Prussia had thrown out without a word!).
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