Delphi Masterworks of Johann Sebastian Bach

by Peter Russell

  In fugue he was especially careful about the part writing — no voice must merely fill in the harmony, or break off before it had finished what it had to say. He looked upon his voices as persons, who conversed together as in private society, in which it would be unseemly for anyone to disturb the conversation either by uninteresting remarks, or by not finishing his sentences. On the other hand, he allowed his pupils as much freedom as possible with regard to intervals. They might try any experiments they liked as long as no damage was done to the purity of the harmony, or the inward meaning of the movement. He tried all possible experiments himself, and was glad to see his pupils do so. The whole of his system is to be found in Kirnberger’s “Kunst des reinen Satzes” (Art of pure writing).72

  Pupils

  Among his pupils were his sons, of whom an account has already been given. The others were the following: — Johann Caspar Vogler, who began studying under him at Arnstadt and Weimar, and, according to Bach’s own showing, was a very fine organist. He became organist and Burgomaster at Weimar.

  Gottfried August Homilius, subsequently music director of the three chief churches at Dresden, and cantor of the Kreuzschule. He was also of considerable reputation as an organist and church composer. Died 1785.

  Christoph Transchel, who died in 1800 at Dresden, was an esteemed teacher and clavier player. He was the owner of a considerable musical library.

  Johann Ludwig Krebs eventually became Court organist and music director at Altenburg, where he died in 1803. He was a very good organist and composer. Bach’s pun, “Ich habe in meinem Bache nur einen Krebs gefangen,” “I have only caught one Crab in my stream,” was intended to show the esteem in which he held him.73

  J. G. Goldberg of Königsberg was declared by Bach to be one of his best pupils on the clavier and organ.

  Altnikol, his son-in-law, a fine organ player, and organist at Naumburg. He helped his father-in-law considerably during his blindness.

  John Philipp Kirnberger, born 1721, died at Berlin in 1783, was Court musician to Princess Amelia of Prussia, and celebrated as a theorist and composer.

  Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720-1774) became composer to the Prussian Court. He was more known by his theoretical works than his compositions.

  Johann Christian Kittel, who was organist at Erfurt and died in 1809, was a thorough harmonist, a clever and learned organist, an able composer, and a good teacher.

  Johann Schneider, Court organist and first violinist at Saalfeld, and afterwards organist of the Nicolai Church at Leipsic. He was also a pupil of Graun.

  Johann Martin Schubart (1690-1721) was Bach’s first pupil; he became organist at Weimar, but died early.

  A pupil named Voigt is mentioned by Emmanuel Bach as having come to his father after he (Emmanuel) had left the house. Perhaps he is the author of a “Conversation between an organist and his deputy about music,” mentioned by Walther.

  Gotthilf Ziegler, organist and music director at St Ulrich, Halle, was a renowned teacher, composer and writer.

  Ernst Bach, his cousin, was Capellmeister at Eisenach, having first studied law, and become a barrister. He was also a composer and organist.

  J. H. Müthel, organist in Riga, a good performer and composer. Gerber gives a long account of him, and Burney praises his playing and compositions.74

  Bach’s music in England

  We have seen that the first attempt to publish the Wohltemperirte Clavier was made in London. England was early in its recognition of the composer, chiefly through the efforts of Samuel Wesley (1766-1837) who, becoming acquainted with his works, eagerly propagated a knowledge of them. Wesley’s edition of the Wohltemperirte Clavier was published in conjunction with C. F. Horn in 1810; and through his influence, Forkel’s “Life” of Bach was translated and published in 1820. He became famous for his performances of Bach’s organ fugues, or as they were called in those days “pedal fugues,” and perhaps the name of his third son, Samuel Sebastian, may have some connection with his admiration for Sebastian Bach.

  In 1849 the English Bach Society was founded, having as its objects the collection of the compositions and the performance of the works of J. S. Bach. It gave the first performance of the “Matthew Passion” in England at Hanover Square Rooms in 1854 under Sterndale Bennett. After a few more performances the society was dissolved in 1870, and its library given to the Royal Academy of Music.

  In 1875 the “Bach Choir” was formed under the conductorship of Mr Otto Goldschmidt, for the performance of the B minor Mass, which was effected in 1876 at St James’s Hall, and the society was then placed on a permanent footing for the purpose of performing works of Bach and other composers. In 1885 Mr Otto Goldschmidt was succeeded by Professor Villiers Stanford, under whose bâton many of Bach’s important works have been performed.

  Bach is perhaps best known in England at present by his organ works, which are familiar to all competent organists, and his violin solos, which Herr Joachim has done so much to propagate. The Wohltemperirte Clavier is a household word to every earnest musician, and his Passions of St Matthew and St John, besides the Christmas Oratorio and a few cantatas, are frequently performed in London churches.

  Selections from the organ works have been published in England from time to time: by S. Wesley, by Coventry and Hollier (with the pedal part arranged by Dragonetti for double bass), by Best and by Novello with Best as editor. A complete edition is being brought out by Sir F. Bridge and Mr J. Higgs.

  Chapter XI

  The Christmas Oratorio — The Magnificat — The Lost Works — Instrumental Works — Bach’s Playing — The Manieren, or Grace Notes.

  Bach never wrote an oratorio in the sense of a sacred dramatic work to be performed on a stage without action. We have shown that the Passion settings are a portion of the Lutheran Lenten services; and the church cantatas take much the same place as the anthem in the English Cathedral service, with the difference of greater length, orchestral accompaniment, and an opportunity for the congregation to take part in the final chorale.

  Christmas Oratorio

  The so-called Christmas Oratorio, dated 1734, is nothing more than a series of six cantatas, to be sung during the service on six successive days at Christmas time. Each begins with a chorus which is followed by several arias and recitatives, and each ends with a chorale, besides which, chorales are also interspersed in the body of the work. The second cantata opens with a most exquisite symphony, of a pastoral nature something akin to the pastoral symphony in the “Messiah,” but longer, and with the most subtle orchestral effects; especially are the passages for two oboes interchanging with the strings most beautiful; and the chief “motive” of the symphony recurs in the accompaniment of the closing chorale. The character of the choruses is for the most part one of triumphant joyfulness, and the arias have all the tender effects which Bach so well knew how to produce.

  Easter Oratorio

  The Easter Oratorio is a short cantata without a chorale.

  The motets are compositions in several movements for unaccompanied voices, from three to eight in number. The movements are interspersed with chorales harmonised in four parts. The seventh motet, “Ich lasse dich nicht,” though as fine as any, is considered to be almost certainly not by Bach, and is therefore only given as an appendix in vol. 39 of the Bach Gesellschaft edition. The appendix also gives a figured bass and instrumental accompaniment to No. 2. “Der Geist hilft unsrer Schwachheit auf.”

  Motets by Bach and other composers are sung in the Thomas Church at Leipsic, and in the Kreuz-Church at Dresden at vespers on Saturday afternoons.

  Secular Works

  Bach also wrote a few secular vocal works. Among these are several birthday, wedding and funeral cantatas — odes for important personages; some “Dramme per Musica,” two of which, the “Choice of Hercules,” and “Tönet ihr Pauken” are taken bodily from the Christmas Oratorio, other words being adapted to the music; a cantata for the dedication of a new organ at Störmthal, a comic cantata in praise
of coffee. Some of the secular cantatas were composed for the Concert Society which met once a week about 1736 in a coffee-house in the Katharinen-strasse at Leipsic, and of which Bach was the director. Among these was “The strife between Phœbus and Pan.”

  Smaller Masses and Magnificat

  Besides the B minor Mass Bach wrote four “short” masses of much smaller calibre, four “Sanctus,” and a “Magnificat” in D major of great power and beauty. This work appears in two forms, of which one is much finer than the other, and is therefore considered to be the latest. It was the custom to intersperse the singing of the Latin Magnificat with four chorales, but this custom not coinciding with Bach’s sense of the fitness of things, he added the chorales as an appendix to his score.

  The work is for a five part choir, with arias, a duet, and a trio. The trio is a remarkable canon, or rather piece of canonic imitation in the voice parts, to the words “suscepit Israel puerum suum,” to which the strings play an accompaniment, while the oboes play in their highest register the chorale “meine Seel’ erhebt den Herren” (“my soul doth magnify the Lord”). And, as showing Bach’s sense of form, the whole work is welded together by a fresh working of the material of the opening chorus, at the words “sicut erat in principio et nunc.... Amen.” We have remarked on this kind of construction in the second cantata of the Christmas Oratorio,75 and it is not at all infrequent with Bach.

  Except opera and oratorio Bach wrote every kind of work that was known in his day. The Bach Gesellschaft completed the publication of his works in full score in 1898 in some sixty large quarto volumes. Complete editions of the vocal works in pianoforte score and the instrumental in full score have been published by Peters, and by Breitkopf and Härtel of Leipsic, while the editions of selected portions published from time to time since the beginning of the nineteenth century are innumerable.

  But when we say “complete edition” it must be understood as referring only to the works that have been preserved, for a large number seem to have been lost when the great man died: before his property was valued for probate there was an unseemly scramble for his manuscripts among his elder sons.

  The “year courses”

  Mizler, in his “Necrology,” tells us the bare fact that there were five “year courses” of cantatas, i.e. sets of cantatas for each Sunday and holy day throughout the year. The Lutheran ecclesiastical year contains fifty-nine such days (six Sundays in Lent and three in Advent are excluded). The five courses would therefore require no less than 295 cantatas. Of these W. Friedemann took three “year courses,” since he could use them in his post of organist at Halle, but his wretched circumstances forced him afterwards to part with them one by one.

  Forkel only knew of “eight to ten motets for double chorus,” and twenty-one church cantatas, two five-voice masses, a mass for two choirs, of which the first choir is accompanied by strings, the second by wind, a double-chorus Passion with text by Picander (this must be the “Matthew Passion”), a Sanctus, some motets, a single fugue for four voices, and a comic cantata.

  The other two “year courses,” which included about ninety cantatas, and the two known Passions, went to C. P. Emmanuel Bach.

  MSS. of Works

  The MSS. of the larger number of the existing works of Bach are in the Royal Library and in that of the Joachimsthal at Berlin. Many of these are in autograph. The parts are of more value than the scores, since they are not only more carefully copied, but contain the corrections for performance.

  Bach used to wrap up his scores and parts in covers on which the name of the work and title of the composer were fully given, while on the MSS. themselves nothing was given. If the cover were lost, therefore, the composer’s name was lost. Many works by other composers are found in Bach’s handwriting, both score and parts.

  Difficulties in the way of publication

  The Bach Gesellschaft has been at immense pains to search for all that exists of Bach’s compositions. In vol. vi. they give a long account of the difficulties they had to contend with in publishing the B minor Mass; the owner of the autograph score, placing every difficulty in their way, would neither sell it nor lend it to them, and finally tried to dispose of it secretly to some unknown person. They were obliged, therefore, to publish it from such copies as they could collect; but almost immediately after they had done so they obtained access to the precious MS. and were able to publish an appendix, giving whatever variations from their own edition were found there.

  Of Bach’s instrumental compositions the most important are, as we have indicated, those for the organ and other keyed instruments. He has left many orchestral works, but these have not the significance of his organ and clavier music, for the symphony, in the modern sense, was not yet developed.

  Bach’s playing

  His playing is thus described by the poet Schubart:— “J. S. Bach was a genius of the highest order, his soul is so peculiar, so gigantic, that centuries will have to pass before he is reached by anyone. He played the clavier, the flügel, the cymbal with equal creative power, and the organ — who is like him? who will ever equal him? His fist was gigantic; he could, for example, stretch a 12th with the left hand, and perform running passages between with the three inner fingers; he made pedal runs with the greatest possible exactness, he drew the stops so silently that the hearer almost sank under the magic effect; his hand was never weary, and lasted out through a whole day’s organ playing.

  “The comic style was just as familiar to him as the earnest; he was equally a virtuoso and composer. What Newton was as a philosopher Bach was as a musician. He had such a wealth of ideas, that no one except his own great son can come near him; and with all this he combined also the rarest talent for teaching.”

  The Grace notes

  With respect to the Manieren or grace-notes attacked in the “Kritische Musikus” by Scheibe, a friend of Bach’s answered the attack by saying that by means of these signs no performer would now be able to destroy the effect of a piece by applying his own method; those who went wrong would be put in the right way, and the honour of the master would be retained.

  The four chief ornaments are —

  The Vorschlag (appoggiatura)

  It appears more in the parts than in the scores, and seems to have been mostly added after they were written out. When Bach required it to be played slowly he wrote out its exact value in full-sized notes.

  The Trill (tr.) seems to have been put down rather recklessly, perhaps on account of fashion. Thus, the oboe sometimes has trills given it which are quite impossible to perform.

  Each composer had his own method of writing the various signs and there was of course hopeless confusion. There is no doubt that the trill was used to mean three different things, at the choice of the performer: namely, the vibrato of the violin and tremulant of the organ, or a real trill, or simply a tenuto. The sign

  appears to be equivalent to tenuto, thus

  Notes which are neither detached (gestossen) nor slurred, nor held out, must be sustained for half their value, but if the word ten. appears above them they must be given their full value. These notes are generally quavers and crotchets in moderate and slow tempo, and they must not be played weakly, but with a refined and quite gentle touch. Some of the signs can be interpreted by the fact that they are written out in full in the parts. In this way Reitz has shown the Schleifer (Glide)

  to mean

  It was called in French Coulé, sometimes written

  The Pralltriller or half trill

  is lengthened when over long notes. It means no precise number of notes. This is J. S. Bach’s own explanation,

  It will be seen that all four signs mean the same thing, and no turn is to be played as in the shake. According to C. P. Emmanuel Bach it must be so rapid that one does not perceive any loss of time from the principal note.76

  The Mordent

  is to be played

  the lower note being either a semitone, as above, or a tone, as in the little E minor fugue (Pet
ers, 242).

  Chapter XII

  Innovations in the Fingering and Use of Keyed and Stringed Instruments.

  At Weimar Bach had devoted a considerable part of his energies to the clavier, as his official duties demanded. The harpsichord, being deficient in expression and in duration of sound, required rapidity of movement and polyphonic writing to produce its due effects. Bach did what was possible, however, to use the legato style on it, and on the other hand introduced on the organ, as far as it would bear it, the rapid execution peculiar to the harpsichord.

  The fingering of keyed instruments

  Before his period the fingering of keyed instruments had not been reduced to any systematic method. Michael Prætorius in his Syntagma Musicum thinks the matter of no importance, and that if a note was produced clearly and distinctly it was a matter of indifference how it was done.77

  At the beginning of the eighteenth century the necessity of some method seems to have dawned on musicians; up to that time the thumb and little finger had hardly been used, owing to their shortness. In order to play legato on the organ, the middle fingers were made to go under and over each other. Daniel Speer, in 1697, gives the following fingering for the scale of C (for convenience we alter it to English numbering): —

  Mattheson taught —

  J. F. B. C. Majer, a Swabian organist about the same time, taught —

  There is no advance in these fingerings on the book by Ammerbach, published in 1571.

  The right thumb it will be seen was unused, and hung helpless — the fingers being stretched out flat to reach the keys.

  In order to bring the thumb into use, Bach caused the fingers to be curved and to remain over their respective keys, so as to be able to strike them accurately and rapidly. The thumbs had to pass under the fingers, and to take an equal part with them in the playing.