A story is told of how Bach once insulted a student by calling him a "nanny-goat bassoonist".  Later one night, the student attacked Bach with a stick, calling him a "dirty dog".

((Insults were a bit more civilized back in that day, apparently.  Perhaps I should start calling anyone who disagrees with me in a forum a "nanny-goat forumite".  Or perhaps "dirty dog" will suffice.  ))

Bach defended himself by drawing his dagger.

After completing his studies at Lüneberg, and a short tenure as violinist in the court orchestra at Weimar, Bach earned a post as both organist and choir director at the New Church in Arnstadt. During his four years there (1703-1707), his work as a musician was highly respected. As choir director, however, he was known for his short patience with less-than-able students. One evening, as Bach was walking across the marketplace with his cousin Barbara Catharina, a student named Geyersbach jumped up and came at him with a stick, claiming the teacher had insulted him earlier. When Bach denied insulting him, Geyersbach retorted that he had insulted his bassoon, and whoever insults his bassoon, insults him as well. The student then called Bach a dirty dog, or Hundsfott, and struck at him. Bach drew his dagger, and the two wrestled until other students present intervened.

*A court hearing shortly after found that Bach had indeed called Geyersbach a nanny-goat bassoonist, or Zippelfagottist, and he was reprimanded for doing so. A man must live among the imperfect, Bach was told, and the students and teacher must do their best with what they have.

*http://bachfest.uoregon.edu/bachground/bachbits/highlights.shtml

I wonder if Bach maintained a "bewildered white guy" look on his face as this event was transpiring?  I also wonder if his wig fell off of his head during the ensuing struggle?

Bach lived a hard life.  He was never able to fully enjoy fame in his own lifetime, largely thanks to jealousy from his superiors combined with his own sometimes difficult personality.  He also lived in a time when musicians still tended to be regarded by some as being mere servants to the nobility, and not as being worthy of any particular honor in their own right -- a holdover attitude from medieval courts: where the court musician was no different than the butler or the baker to his patron lord.

As for the 3D facial reproduction -- I dunno -- I tend to trust a contemporary eyewitness over a reconstruction done several centuries later.  It would be interesting to test these facial reconstruction experts by giving them the skull of a person of whom we have actual photographs from life, without showing the expert the photographs, and without telling the expert who the person was.  It would be enlightening to see what the reconstruction types could come up with, given that set of factors.

I have heard of at least one case where a murder was solved as the result of a facial reconstruction of the victim, using the victim's skull.  The reconstructed face was displayed on a crime television show, and someone that had known the murdered woman in life recognized the (until then) anonymous victim.

Heh -- it's thanks to Roman artistic realism that we now have an excellent idea of what the ancient Roman emperors actually looked like.  Nero was one seriously ugly man.  I wonder -- if they were able to locate Nero's skull -- if a modern 3D construction would look like his contemporary sculpture?

Something To Do At 3:00AM