Delphi Masterworks of Johann Sebastian Bach
Page 18
I fain would do justice to the sublime genius of this prince of musicians, German and foreign! Short of being such a man as he was, dwarfing all other musicians from the height of his superiority, I can conceive no greater distinction than the power to comprehend and interpret him to others.12 The ability to do so must at least connote a temperament not wholly alien from his own. It may even hint the flattering prospect that, if circumstances had opened up the same career, similar results might have been forthcoming. I am not presumptuous to suggest such a result in my own case. On the contrary I am convinced that there are no words adequate to express the thoughts Bach’s transcendent genius stirs one to utter. The more intimately we are acquainted with it the greater must be our admiration. Our utmost eulogy, our deepest expressions of homage, must seem little more than well-meant prattle. No one who is familiar with the work of other centuries will contradict or hold my statement exaggerated, that Bach cannot be named except in tones of rapture, and even of devout awe, by those who have learnt to know him. We may discover and lay bare the secrets of his technique. But his power to inspire into it the breath of genius, the perfection of life and charm that moves us so powerfully, even in his slightest works, must always remain extraordinary and insoluble.
I do not choose to compare Bach with other artists. Whoever is interested to measure him with Handel will find a just and balanced estimate of their relative merits, written by one fully informed for the task, in the first number of the eighty-first volume of the Universal German Library, pages 295-303.13
So far as it is not derived from the short article in Mizler’s Library already mentioned,14 I am indebted for my information to the two eldest sons of Bach himself.15 Not only was I personally acquainted with them, but I corresponded regularly for many years with both,16 particularly Carl Philipp Emmanuel. The world knows them as great artists. But probably it is not aware that to the last moment of their lives they spoke of their father’s genius with enthusiastic admiration.17 From my early youth I have been inspired by an appreciation no less deep than theirs. It was a frequent theme of conversation and correspondence between us.
Thus, having been in a position to inform myself on all matters relating to Bach’s life, genius, and work, I may fairly hold myself competent to communicate to the public what I have learnt and to offer useful reflections upon it. I take advantage of my opportunity the more readily because it permits me to draw attention to an enterprise18 that promises to provide a worthy monument to German art, a gallery of most instructive models to the sincere artist, and to afford music lovers an inexhaustible source of sublimest pleasure.
CHAPTER I. THE FAMILY OF BACH
If there is such a thing as inherited aptitude for art it certainly showed itself in the family of Bach. For six successive generations scarcely two or three of its members are found whom nature had not endowed with remarkable musical talent, and who did not make music their profession.19
Veit Bach,20 ancestor of this famous family, gained a livelihood as a baker at Pressburg in Hungary. When the religious troubles of the sixteenth century broke out he was driven to seek another place of abode, and having got together as much of his small property as he could, retired with it to Thuringia, hoping to find peace and security there. He settled at Wechmar, a village near Gotha,21 where he continued to ply his trade as a baker and miller.22 In his leisure hours he was wont to amuse himself with the lute,23 playing it amid the noise and clatter of the mill. His taste for music descended to his two sons24 and their children, and in time the Bachs grew to be a very numerous family of professional musicians, Cantors, Organists, and Town Musicians,25 throughout Thuringia.
Not all the Bachs, however, were great musicians. But every generation boasted some of them who were more than usually distinguished. In the first quarter of the seventeenth century three of Veit Bach’s grandchildren showed such exceptional talent that the Count of Schwarzburg-Arnstadt thought it worth while to send them at his expense to Italy, then the chief school of music, to perfect themselves in the art.26
We do not know whether they rewarded the expectations of their patron, for none of their works has survived. The fourth generation27 of the family produced musicians of exceptional distinction, and several of their compositions, thanks to Johann Sebastian Bach’s regard for them, have come down to us. The most notable of these Bachs are:
1.
Johann Christoph Bach, Court and Town Organist at Eisenach.28 He was particularly happy in his beautiful melodies and in setting words to music. In the Archives of the Bachs,29 which was in Carl Philipp Emmanuel’s possession at Hamburg, there is a Motet by Johann Christoph in which he boldly uses the augmented sixth, a proceeding considered extremely daring in his day.30 He was also an uncommon master of harmony, as may be inferred from a Cantata composed by him for Michaelmas, to the words “Es erhub sich ein Streit,” etc., which has twenty-two obbligato parts in correct harmony.31 Yet another proof of his rare skill is in the alleged fact that he never played the Organ or Clavier in less than five parts.32 Carl Philipp Emmanuel had a particularly warm regard for him.33 I remember the old man playing some of his compositions to me on the Clavier at Hamburg, and how quizzically he looked at me when one of these daring passages occurred.34
2.
Johann Michael Bach, Organist and Town Clerk at Gehren.35 He was the younger brother of Johann Christoph, and like him, a particularly good composer. The Archives already mentioned36 contain several of his Motets, including one for eight voices in double chorus,37 and many compositions for Church use.
3.
Johann Bernhard Bach, Musician in the Prince’s Kapelle and Organist at Eisenach.38He is said to have composed remarkably fine Suites, or Overtures, in the French style.39
Besides these three men, the Bachs boasted several able composers in the generations preceding Johann Sebastian,40 men who undoubtedly would have obtained higher positions, wider reputation, and more brilliant fortune if they could have torn themselves from their native Thuringia to display their gifts elsewhere in Germany or abroad. But none of the Bachs seems to have felt an inclination to migrate. Modest in their needs, frugal by nature and training, they were content with little, engrossed in and satisfied by their art, and wholly indifferent to the decorations which great men of that time were wont to bestow on artists as special marks of honour. The fact that others who appreciated them were thus distinguished did not rouse the slightest envy in the Bachs.
The Bachs not only displayed a happy contentedness, indispensable for the cheery enjoyment of life, but exhibited a clannish attachment to each other. They could not all live in the same locality. But it was their habit to meet once a year at a time and place arranged beforehand. These gatherings generally took place at Erfurt, Eisenach, and sometimes at Arnstadt. Even after the family had grown very large, and many of its members had left Thuringia to settle in Upper and Lower Saxony and Franconia, the Bachs continued their annual meetings. On these occasions music was their sole recreation. As those present were either Cantors, Organists, or Town Musicians, employed in the service of the Church and accustomed to preface the day’s work with prayer, their first act was to sing a Hymn. Having fulfilled their religious duty, they spent the rest of the time in frivolous recreations. Best of all they liked to extemporise a chorus out of popular songs, comic or jocular, weaving them into a harmonious whole while declaiming the words of each. They called this hotch-potch a “Quodlibet,” laughed uproariously at it, and roused equally hearty and irrepressible laughter in their audience.41 It is suggested that German Comic Opera has its origin in these trifles. But the “Quodlibet” was a familiar institution in Germany at a much earlier period. I possess a collection of them printed and published at Vienna in 1542.42
But these light-hearted Thuringians, and even those of their family who treated their art more seriously and worthily, would not have escaped oblivion had there not emerged in the fulness of time one whose genius and renown reflected their splendour and brilliancy
on his forbears. This man, the glory of his family, pride of his countrymen, most gifted favourite of the Muse of Music, was Johann Sebastian Bach.
Bach’s Home at Eisenach
CHAPTER II. THE CAREER OF BACH
Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685,43 at Eisenach, where his father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was Court and Town Musician.44 Johann Ambrosius had a twin brother, Johann Christoph, Musician to the Court and Town of Arnstadt,45 who so exactly resembled him that even their wives could distinguish them only by their dress. The twins appear to have been quite remarkable. They were deeply attached, alike in disposition, in voice, and in the style of their music. If one was ill, so was the other. They died within a short time of each other, and were objects of wondering interest to all who knew them.46
In 1695, when Johann Sebastian was not quite ten years old, his father died. He lost his mother at an earlier period.47 So, being left an orphan, he became dependent on his eldest brother, Johann Christoph, Organist at Ohrdruf,48 from whom he received his earliest lessons on the Clavier.49 His inclination and talent for music must already have been pronounced. For his brother no sooner had given him one piece to learn than the boy was demanding another more difficult. The most renowned Clavier composers of that day were Froberger,50 Fischer,51 Johann Caspar Kerl,52 Pachelbel,53 Buxtehude,54 Bruhns,55 and Böhm.56 Johann Christoph possessed a book containing several pieces by these masters, and Bach begged earnestly for it, but without effect. Refusal increasing his determination, he laid his plans to get the book without his brother’s knowledge. It was kept on a book-shelf which had a latticed front. Bach’s hands were small. Inserting them, he got hold of the book, rolled it up, and drew it out. As he was not allowed a candle, he could only copy it on moonlight nights, and it was six months before he finished his heavy task. As soon as it was completed he looked forward to using in secret a treasure won by so much labour. But his brother found the copy and took it from him without pity, nor did Bach recover it until his brother’s death soon after.57
Being once more left destitute,58 Johann Sebastian set out for Lüneburg with one of his Ohrdruf schoolfellows, named Erdmann59 (afterwards Russian Resident at Danzig), and entered the choir of St. Michael’s Convent. His fine treble voice procured him a fair livelihood. But unfortunately he soon lost it and did not at once develop another. 60
Meanwhile his ambition to play the Organ and Clavier remained as keen as ever, and impelled him to hear and practise everything that promised him improvement. For that purpose, while he was at Lüeburg, he several times travelled to Hamburg to hear the famous organist,61 Johann Adam Reinken.62 Often, too, he walked to Celle to hear the Duke’s French band play French music, which was a novelty in those parts.63
The date and circumstances of his removal from Lüneburg to Weimar are not precisely known.64 He certainly became Court Musician there in 1703, when he was just over eighteen years of age.65 But in the following year he gave up the post on his appointment as Organist to the new Church at Arnstadt, probably desiring to develop his taste for the Organ and realising that he would have better opportunities to do so at Arnstadt than at Weimar, where he was engaged simply to play the Violin.66 At Arnstadt he set himself assiduously to study the works of the celebrated organists of the period, so far as his modest means permitted him, and in order to improve himself in composition67 and Organ playing,68 walked the whole way to Lübeck to hear Dietrich Buxtehude, Organist of St. Mary’s Church in that city, with whose compositions he was acquainted already. He remained there about three months,69 listening to the celebrated Organist, but without making himself known to him, and returned to Arnstadt with his experience much increased.
Bach’s zeal and persevering diligence had already drawn attention to him, as is evident from the fact that he received in succession several offers of vacant organistships, one of which, at the Church of St. Blasius, Mühlhausen, he accepted in 1707.70 Barely a year after he entered upon his duties there71 he again visited Weimar and played to the Duke, who was so pleased with his performance that he offered him the post of Court Organist, which he accepted.72 Weimar promised him a particularly agreeable atmosphere in which to cultivate his genius.73 He applied himself closely to his work, and probably at this period achieved the mastery of the Organ that he ever afterwards possessed. At Weimar also he wrote his great compositions for that instrument.74 In 171775 the Duke appointed him Concertmeister, a post which gave him further opportunity to develop his art, since it required him to compose and direct Church music.
It was about this time that Zachau, Handel’s master, died at Halle, where he was Organist.76 Bach, who by now had acquired a great reputation, was invited to succeed him.77 He visited Halle and composed a work as a specimen of his skill But for some reason unknown he did not obtain the post. It was given to a clever pupil of Zachau, named Kirchhoff.78
Johann Sebastian was now thirty-two years old. He had made good use of his opportunities, had studied hard as a player and composer, and by tireless enthusiasm had so completely mastered every branch of his art, that he towered like a giant above his contemporaries. Both amateurs and professional musicians already regarded him with admiration when, in 1717, Marchand, the French virtuoso, a celebrated Clavier and Organ player, visited Dresden. He played before the King-Elector79 and won such approbation that he was offered a large salary to enter His Majesty’s service.80 Marchand’s chief merit was his finished technique. Like Couperin,81 his musical ideas were weak to the point of banality, as we may judge from his compositions.82 Bach was an equally finished player, and so rich in ideas that Marchand’s head would have swollen had he been equally gifted. Volumier, Concertmeister at Dresden,83 was aware of these circumstances, and knowing that the young German had his instrument and his imagination under the fullest control, determined to arrange a contest between the two men in order to give his sovereign the satisfaction of judging their merits. With the King’s approbation, a message was dispatched to Bach at Weimar84 inviting him to a contest with Marchand. Bach accepted the invitation and set out at once on his journey. Upon his arrival at Dresden Volumier procured him an opportunity to hear Marchand secretly. Far from being discouraged by what he heard, Bach wrote a polite note to the French artist challenging him to a trial of skill, and offering to play at sight anything Marchand put before him, provided the Frenchman submitted himself to a similar test. Marchand accepted the challenge, a time and place for the contest were fixed, and the King gave his approval. At the appointed hour a large and distinguished company assembled in the house of Marshal Count Flemming.85 Bach arrived punctually; Marchand did not appear. After considerable delay he was sought at his lodging, when it was discovered, to the astonishment of all, that he had left Dresden that morning without taking leave of anybody. Bach therefore performed alone, and excited the admiration of all who heard him, though Volumier was cheated of his intention to exhibit the inferiority of French to German art. Bach was overwhelmed with congratulations; but the dishonesty of a Court official is said to have intercepted a present of one hundred louis d’or sent to him by the King.86
Bach had not long returned to Weimar when Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, a good judge of music and a first-rate amateur,87 offered him the post of Kapellmeister. He entered at once upon his new office88 and held it for about six years.89 At this period, about 1722,90 he visited Hamburg, played the Organ there, and excited general admiration. The veteran Reinken — he was nearly one hundred years old — was particularly impressed by Bach’s performance. After he had treated the Choral An Wasserflüssen Babylon for half an hour in variation after variation in the true Organ style,91 Reinken paid him the compliment of saying, “I thought this art was dead, but I see that it survives in you.” Reinken had treated the same Choral in a similar manner some years before and had had his work engraved, showing that he thought highly of it. His praise therefore was particularly flattering to Bach.92
On the death of Kuhnau in 172393 Bach was appointed Director of Music an
d Cantor to St. Thomas’ School, Leipzig,94 a position which he occupied until his death. Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen had great regard for him and Bach left his service with regret.95 But he saw the finger of Providence in the event; for the Prince died shortly afterwards.96 The loss of his patron affected him deeply, and moved him to compose a funeral Cantata containing remarkably fine double choruses which he himself conducted at Cöthen.97 While he was at St. Thomas’ he was appointed honorary Kapellmeister to the Duke of Weissenfels98 and, in the following year (1736), received the title of Court Composer to the King-Elector of Poland-Saxony.99 The two compliments are not of great consequence, and the second was to some degree corollary to Bach’s position as Cantor of St. Thomas’ School.100