Delphi Masterworks of Johann Sebastian Bach

by Peter Russell

  “Hopes that the organ would have been played by him whom he had put in, in such a manner that no complaint can be made on that point.”

  Nos.

  “Charge him with having made extraordinary variations in the chorales, and with intermixing many strange sounds, so that thereby the congregation were confounded. He must in the future, when he wishes to introduce some tonus peregrinus, continue in it, and not go off too quickly to something else, or, as he had hitherto been in the habit of doing, play a tonum contrarium. And then it is very strange that up to this time he has had no rehearsals, because he will not agree with the scholars. Therefore he is to declare whether he will play both figural and choral music with the scholars, since a capellmeister cannot be kept. If he will not do this, let him say so categorically of his own accord, that a change may be made, and some one who will undertake it can be appointed to the post.”

  Ille.

  “If an honest Director be appointed, he will play again.”

  Resolvitur.

  Explanations Needed

  “He must explain his conduct within eight days. That scholar Rambach (the choir prefect) now appear, and be reproved for the disorders which up to this time have taken place between the scholars and the organist of the New Church.”

  Ille.

  “The organist, Bach, played for too long a time, but after this was notified to him, by the Herr Superintendent, he at once went quite to the opposite extreme and has made it too short.”

  Ille.

  “Accuse him (Rambach) of having gone to a wine-cellar last Sunday during the sermon.”

  Ille.

  “Was very sorry, and it should never happen again, and the clergy have already spoken to him very severely about it. The organist need not complain of him about the conducting, because it was undertaken not by him, but by the youth Schmidt.”

  Nos.

  “He must for the future behave quite differently and better, otherwise the gift which was intended for him would be withheld. If he has anything to remember against the organist, he must bring it forward at the proper place, and not take the law into his own hands, but behave in such a way as to give satisfaction, as he had promised. The servant of the Court is now ordered to tell the Rector to have Rambach imprisoned on four successive days for two hours each day.”

  Bach was always irritable and obstinate, and had completely alienated his choir. He was too much engaged in composition to take any interest in training it, and it was in any case not good enough for him. The Consistory allowed that there were faults on both sides, and hoped that by giving him more time than the eight days he would come to some agreement with the choir: but in vain. For Bach having come fresh from the artistic life of Lübeck found the drudgery of training the rough scholars unbearable. The answer that he was required to give in eight days completely left his mind, and after more than eight months the Consistory again “represented to the organist Bach that he should declare whether, as he has been ordered to do, he will rehearse with the scholars or not; as, if he feels no shame in remaining in the Church and receiving the salary, he must also not be ashamed to ‘make music’ (i.e. rehearse) with the scholars: for it is intended that these should exercise themselves, so that for the future they may have more skill in music.”

  Ille.

  “Will make the declaration on this subject in writing.”

  Ille.

  “Furthermore ask him by what power he has latterly allowed the strange maiden to appear, and to make music in the choir.”

  Ille.

  “Has already spoken about it to Master Uthe.”20

  The “strange maiden” who made music with Bach in private in the church seems to have been his cousin, Maria Barbara, youngest daughter of Michael Bach of Gehren,21 whom he married in the following year. It is not known how the matter ended, but Bach, from this time, began to endeavour to find another post.

  Second appointment

  An important post at St Blasius, Mühlhausen, some 20 miles north of Gotha, fell vacant through the death of Johann Georg Ahle on December 2nd, 1706, and there were many candidates. It seems, from Gerber’s account (vol. ii. p. 764), to have been at first offered to Johann Gottfried Walther of Erfurt, but to have been declined by him;22 and when Bach, whose friction with the Consistory made him anxious to leave Arnstadt, offered himself as a candidate, the Council, after hearing him play, were unanimous in his favour.

  The church of St Blasius is a fine Gothic building, in strong contrast to the homely, towerless New Church at Arnstadt; and the office of organist is proportionately more important. Its present holder is Herr Musikdirector Möller.

  Chapter III

  Bach’s salary — He borrows a cart from the Consistory for his furniture — The agreement is made verbally — Bach’s first marriage — His duties at St Blasius — The festival compositions — Repairs to the organ — Difficulties with the Pietists — He resigns his post — Is appointed chamber-musician at Weimar — His duties there — His relations with Walther — Studies instrumental music — His journeys — His competition with Marchand.

  The competition took place at Easter 1707, and terms were arranged a month later. An organist is rarely a highly paid individual: but modern organists may well be astonished at the meagreness of the salary for which the greatest of their predecessors was content to work. The request for the loan of a cart to bring his modest furniture from Arnstadt brings the matter very plainly before us. One sees in Thuringia, even at the present day, the clumsy four-wheel carts which have not varied in shape for centuries, drawn by a cow and a pony, rarely by two horses; and one can easily imagine such a cart conveying the household goods of the young musician across the plain from Arnstadt to Gotha, and from Gotha to Mühlhausen.

  The terms were eighty-five gülden (about £8, 10s.); three malter (twelve bushels) of corn, two cords of wood, six trusses of brushwood; the last in place of some arable land formerly held by the organist. The cost of conveyance to his door was to be borne by the Council. In addition, he was to receive annually three pounds of fish, and he asked that a cart might be lent him for transporting his furniture from Arnstadt, to which request the Council agreed.

  A fire had, a fortnight before, destroyed a large portion of the parish of St Blasius, and when the clerk brought the agreement to the Council to sign, pens and ink were not forthcoming, so that a verbal agreement was made to all the terms.

  The actual appointment took place on June 15th; and a fortnight later he was again in Arnstadt, where he thanked the Council for past favours, announced his resignation, and gave up the key of the organ. A sum of five gülden was due to him as salary, but he requested the Consistory to pay this to his cousin Ernst,23 who had formerly assisted him, but who was now ill and poor.

  Work at Mühlhausen

  His duties at St Blasius were to play the organ on Sundays, saints’ days and festivals. He was anxious to raise the whole of the church music to a higher level, and mentioned this wish to the Council in an address. His predecessor Ahle had left a number of compositions which were frequently performed, but Bach, not being satisfied with them, as quickly as possible made a good collection of music and had it performed, paying for it out of his own pocket. He also made efforts to improve the choir and orchestra.

  He received considerable assistance in these endeavours from his pupil Johann Martin Schubart (who afterwards succeeded him in his post at Weimar), and from his choir leader, Johann Sebastian Koch, afterwards Capellmeister to Count Reuss, and a Bachelor of Theology at Jena University.

  In October 1707, Bach returned to Arnstadt for his wedding, which took place on the 17th of that month, and it is evident that he had parted on good terms with the Consistory, for the prescribed fees were remitted. In September of the same year Tobias Lämmerhirt, of Erfurt, a maternal uncle of Sebastian, had died, and left 50 gülden (about £5) to each of his sister’s children, and this legacy must have been welcome to Sebastian at the time of his wedding.

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nbsp; Among the duties expected of the organist of St Blasius, was the composition of a cantata for the yearly change of Town Council (Rathswahl); and it was customary to have the music printed after the performance, at Mühlhausen.

  The first of the cantatas thus composed by Bach is preserved; it was for the festival of 1708, and was performed in the Church of the Holy Virgin on February 4 of that year. The text is taken from the Old Testament, together with part of a hymn or a chorale, and Bach called it a motet. It was accompanied by three trumpets, drums, two flutes, two oboes, a bassoon and strings, the band being divided into four groups of brass, wood-wind (with cello), reed, and strings. The form is in imitation of some of Buxtehude’s church cantatas.24

  St Blasius Organ

  Bach found the organ of St Blasius in very bad condition. It had not sufficient bellows, and there was insufficient pressure on the bass pipes, owing to there being too small a wind passage. There was no 32 feet stop and the trombone was too weak. Moreover the choir-organ had become useless, as had also several stops in the great.

  Repairs the organ

  He drew up a list of deficiencies which he presented to the Council, and asked for the addition of a “Glockenspiel” or peal of bells, to be acted on by pedals, an invention of his own. The latter addition was at once subscribed for by the parishioners. There was a smaller organ in the church, which he proposed to sell and apply the proceeds to repairing the principal organ. The Council placed the entire management of the matter in his hands, and he obtained an estimate from Wender the organ-builder who agreed to do the work for 230 thalers,25 and to allow 40 thalers for the small organ.

  The requirements were: —

  Three new bellows; stronger wind to the four old ones,26 a new 32 feet stop with a separate wind chest for it; renewal of the old bass wind chests; new and larger pipes, with differently arranged mouthpieces for the bass trombone; the addition of the new glockenspiel of twenty-four bells; the trumpet on the great to be removed and a 16 feet bassoon to take its place; the gemshorn to be changed for a viol da gamba of 8 feet; a 3 feet nassat to be put in instead of the quint; revoicing of all the rest of the pipes; sundry alterations in the choir-organ; and a coupler to connect it with the third manual; the tremulant to be put in working order.

  Unfortunately, however, difficulties soon began to arise. He was looked upon as an outsider, for the post had previously always been held by a native; and obstacles which appeared insurmountable soon began to beset him. Religious differences arose between the “Pietists” and the “Old Lutherans,” the former being led by J.A.Frohne, dean of Mühlhausen, and the latter by G.C. Eilmar, archdeacon of the Church of the Blessed Virgin.

  Pietist view of music

  Bach sided with the orthodox Lutherans, and Eilmar was godfather to his first child. The Pietists conceived of art as part of “the world,” and therefore absolutely hostile to a Christian life: it could only be rightly used in religion, and then only in the narrowest possible of “spiritual songs” from which all expression must be excluded. Hence any attempt to introduce higher forms or new ideas must be sinful. It is easily seen, therefore, that Frohne would naturally place what obstacles he could in the way of Bach’s endeavours to raise church music to the highest possible artistic standard. Moreover, the Pietists were opposed to the doctrine of regeneration by baptism, and to the whole of the simple but truly religious views which Bach had inherited from generations of his family, dedicated to the work of the church as organists and cantors. He was no theologian, and was perfectly content with the faith of his fathers.

  The most beautiful and deeply religious of his church cantatas were a sinful abomination in the eyes of the Pietists. What wonder then that he should have found difficulties and obstacles and want of appreciation in carrying out his aims. Even while he was in the midst of the interesting work of repairing his organ, the situation began to become intolerable, and a post at Weimar falling vacant, he took steps to obtain it.

  Resigns his post

  On June 5 he went to Arnstadt for the second wedding of his friend Pastor Stauber, who had performed the service a year before at Bach’s own wedding, and on June 25th 1708 he sent in his resignation to the Council at Mühlhausen, a year after he had received the appointment. He had always been on the best of terms with them, and it is evident, from the tone of his letter of resignation, that he was sorry to leave them. The Council on their side also regretted the step, but granted his dismissal, only requiring that he should supervise the repairs to the organ, which were not completed till 1709.

  Third appointment

  The post at Weimar, which he now obtained, was that of Court-organist and chamber-musician to Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar. Forkel says that he made a journey to Weimar, and so pleased the Duke with his organ-playing, that the post was at once offered to, and accepted by him. “Here,” says Hilgenfeldt, “he devoted himself to acquiring that overwhelming mastery of the organ for which his fame is assured for all time: and he also laid the foundation for his future greatness as a composer.”

  His circumstances were now very favourable. His employer was a man of wide culture and refinement, deeply interested in music and other branches of art, but more particularly in church music. He was religious, and took much interest in religious matters; and in all things he and Bach were in the closest sympathy. Bach’s position at Weimar was much the same as that of Franz Liszt at the same Court in the nineteenth century.27 It is interesting to observe how this small and poor Court for such a long period was famous for its encouragement of art and literature. Bach in the first decades of the eighteenth century, Goethe and Schiller in the last quarter of the eighteenth and first part of the nineteenth, Liszt and Wagner later on, besides many lesser men, received help and encouragement at this remarkable Thuringian “Residenz.”

  Bach, as we have seen, was appointed organist and “Kammermusikus” (chamber-musician) — his salary for the first three years being 156 gülden, 15 groschen (£15, 13s. 3d.), which was always punctually paid, but in 1711, 1713, and 1714 it was considerably increased.

  The organ of the castle was small, but had a good pedal. There were 9 stops on the Great, 8 on the Choir, and 7 on the Pedal. The pitch was a minor third below the kammerton or ordinary pitch.

  As Kammermusikus Bach played the harpsichord and violin, and afterwards became “Concertmeister” or leader. The number of musicians was about twenty-two, including singers, but the latter could also play some instruments, and many members of the band performed on several. The orchestra would also be occasionally strengthened by the addition of the town musicians. Johann G. Walther was organist of the town church, and a great friendship sprang up between the two men. He was connected with Bach by marriage, his mother being a Lämmerhirt. One of his chorales has been erroneously ascribed to Bach. It is Peters, vol. 245, Book vi., No. 24— “Gott der Vater wohn’ uns bei.”

  Bach stood godfather to Walther’s eldest son, and a friendly rivalry in composition arose between them. Later on, however, some unfortunate disagreement seems to have arisen between the friends, for Walther, in his Lexicon, omits the mention of events and compositions during the nine years’ period at Weimar, which must have been well known to him.

  Sight-Reading Poser

  Forkel tells the following anecdote: — Bach, while still at Weimar, had advanced so far in clavier playing that he said to a friend that he believed he could play anything at first sight. His friend invited him to breakfast in a week’s time, and for a joke placed on the harpsichord a newly composed piece which looked simple enough. While the friend was preparing breakfast in the next room, Bach instinctively began playing what he saw on the harpsichord, but was not able to advance very far. He tried several times, but always with the same result. On joining his friend, he laughingly acknowledged that no one could play everything at first sight, it was not possible.

  Amongst other things Bach began to study Italian instrumental music at Weimar, especially with regard to the forms then i
n use, the concerto, the suite and the sonata. To this period may therefore perhaps be assigned some of the concertos for clavecin and other instruments, the suites for violin, etc., and the sonatas for harpsichord and violin.

  The sonata of this date was usually performed by two violins and a violoncello, with a figured bass part for a harpsichord or organ (e.g. the twelve sonatas of Purcell in Italian style, and the four sets of twelve sonatas each by Corelli op. 1, 2, 3, 4). These sonatas had nothing in common with the modern sonata as begun by Emanuel Bach and perfected by Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.

  Bach has left some examples in the sonatas for two violins and clavier (Peters, 237); for flute, violin, and clavier (Peters, 237): by clavier must be understood here a part for figured bass, which would be played by violincello or double bass and harpsichord. Besides this, he adopted the form for other combinations, such as violin and figured bass, flute and figured bass (Peters, 232 to 235) viola da gamba and figured bass, etc. (Peters, 239).

  Bach and Walther had plenty of encouragement in this kind of music, since the Duke’s nephew Joh. Ernst (who unfortunately died young) had considerable skill on the violin, and also was a fair composer. They vied with one another in arranging Italian concertos for the harpsichord and organ. Sixteen of Vivaldi’s violin concertos were arranged by Bach for the harpsichord (Peters, 217) and three for the organ (Peters, 247).28 Walther arranged thirteen for organ from the works of Torelli, Taglietti, Albinoni, etc., and they are preserved in MS. in the Royal Library at Berlin. The arranging of these concertos led Bach to the use of the new form for clavier compositions, of which the well-known Italian concerto is an example. Is it possible that the friendly rivalry was the commencement of the estrangement with Walther?

  Artistic journeys

  Bach was in the habit of making expeditions to try different organs, or for other musical purposes, and his reputation began to spread through North and Central Germany. He invented a peculiar form of fingering for keyboard instruments in order to increase his facility, and his use of the pedal rose to unheard-of heights. He also became an expert in questions of organ construction, and was often called upon to give his opinion in this respect. He was very ingenious in his use of the stops and of artistic combinations, but, unfortunately, with one small exception, none of his registering has come down to us. He was never in command of a really fine instrument, and the above exception, which consists of the chorale “Ein feste Burg,” Peters, vol. vi., No. 22, seems to have been written for the newly arranged organ at Mühlhausen. It is for three manuals — the left hand has to play on a “fagott,” and over the right hand is written “sesquialtera.” These directions are omitted in Peters’ edition, but are given in Walther’s collection at Königsberg.