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of MUSIC by
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UNIVERSITY
OF TORONTO
by
Arthur Plettner
and
Isa Mcllwraith
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
HIS WORK AND INFLUENCE ON THE
MUSIC OF GERMANY, 1685-1750
PHILIPP SPITTA
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY
CLARA BELL
AND
J. A. FULLER MAITLAND
IN THREE VOLUMES
VOL. I.
LONDON : NOVELLO AND COMPANY, LIMITED
NEW YORK : THE H. W. GRAY CO., SOLE AGENTS FOR THE U.S.A.
1899
MADE IN ENGLAND
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
FACULTY OF MUSSC
LIBRARY
CONTENTS.
PREFACE 1
TRANSLATORS' POSTSCRIPT ... ... ••• xv
BOOK I.
BACH'S ANCESTORS.
I. — THE BACH FAMILY FROM 1550-1626 i
II.— THE BACKS OF ERFURT 14
III. — HEINRICH BACH AND His SONS ... ... ... ... 27
IV. — JOHANN CHRISTOPH BACH AND JOHANN MICHAEL BACH ... 40
V. — INSTRUMENTAL WORKS OF CHRISTOPH AND MICHAEL BACH 96
VI. — JOHANN CHRISTOPH BACH'S SONS ... ... ... ... 131
VII. — CHRISTOPH BACH AND His SONS 142
BOOK II.
THE CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YEARS OF JOHANN SEBASTIAN
BACH, 1685 TO 1707.
I. — EARLY DAYS. EDUCATION. OHRDRUF AND LUNEBERQ,
1685 TO 1703 ... ... ... ... ... ..J ... 181
II. — LIFE AT WEIMAR AND ARNSTADT, 1703-4. INFLUENCE OF
KUHNAU. WORKS FOR CLAVIER AND ORGAN ... ... 220
III. — VISIT TO LiJBECK. BUXTEHUDE AND HlS STYLE. INFLUENCE
ON BACH, 1704-5 256
IV. — BACH'S RETURN TO ARNSTADT, AND DISPUTE WITH THE
CONSISTORY. His MARRIAGE WITH His COUSIN 311
BOOK III.
THE FIRST TEN YEARS OF BACH*S " MASTERSHIP."
I. — BACH AT MUHLHAUSEN. His RELIGIOUS OPINIONS ... 335
II. — BACH AT WEIMAR. His FRIENDS AND COMPANIONS ... 375
III. — THE WEIMAR PERIOD. ORGAN Music, CONCERTOS, CAN-
TATAS, &c. 392
IV. — CHURCH Music. ANALYSIS OF THE CANTATA FORM ... 466
V. — BACH'S VISITS TO VARIOUS TOWNS. SOME OF His PUPILS 513
VI. — CANTATAS WRITTEN AT WEIMAR TO TEXTS BY FRANCK ... 526
VII. — AT MEININGEN : JOHANN LUDWIG BACH. AT DRESDEN:
ORGAN WORKS OF THE LATER WEIMAR PERIOD 574
APPENDIX (A, TO VOL. I ) 621
A*
PREFACE.
THE work of which this volume is an instalment bears
for its title nothing but the name of the man whose life
and labours form its main subject. And since it is beyond
dispute that no individual character can have full and
complete justice done to it unless all the circumstances
are laid bare under which it was developed, and worked out
its results, this principle must above all be applicable in
the case of a man who forms, as it were, the focal point
towards which all the music of Germany has tended during
the last three centuries, and in which all its different lines
converged to start afresh in a new period, and to diverge
towards new results. To describe all these can indeed
hardly be my present task, all the less because the time is
not yet come for saying the last word as to the profound
influence exercised by Bach, more particularly on the music
of the nineteenth century.
My task is rather to disentangle, in the period that pre-
ceded him, the threads which united in that centre, and to
trace the reasons why it should have been in Bach that they
converged, and in none other; for such a course could not
be avoided by a writer whose purpose it was to give even an
approximate idea of the grandeur of his personality as an
artist. The deeper and more ramified the roots by which he
clung to the soil of German life and nature, the wider was
the extent of ground to be dug over in order to lay them
bare. Hence the reader will find in this book much which
he would hardly seek in a mere " life " of Sebastian Bach,
but which is nevertheless intimately and inseparably con-
nected with him. And thus, I think, its title will be justified
by its contents.
No attempt at such a comprehensive picture has as yet
been made ; but there is no lack of books which have for
their subject-matter the outward events of Bach's life or
certain aspects of his artistic labours. Among these, the
A*
II PREFACE.
most important is the Necrology, which was published four
years only after the master's death in L. Chr. Mizler's
Musikalische Bibliothek, Vol. IV., Part L, pages 158 to 176
(Leipzig, 1754). Its statements would be entitled to our
belief, if only from its having first seen the light at a time
when Bach's memory was still fresh, and in the city where
he had lived and laboured for twenty-seven years ; and this
is confirmed by the fact that it was compiled by Karl
Philipp Emanuel Bach, the composer's second son, and by
Johann Friederich Agricola, one of the most distinguished
of his pupils. It is obvious that they combined for this
work, because Agricola had enjoyed the benefit of Sebastian
Bach's instructions at a time when his son had quitted the
paternal roof, and so had personal knowledge of some cir-
cumstances which Philipp Emanuel Bach had learned only
indirectly. Agricola also contributed to Jakob Adlung's
Musica Mechanica Organcedi (Berlin, 1768) a number of
valuable notes regarding his illustrious teacher. The
simple picture of Bach's life and artistic powers which the
Necrology contains, with a summary review of his compo-
sitions, has been transcribed by almost all the later biogra-
phers— so called. Thus, in the first place, Johann Adam
Hiller, in his Lebensbeschreibungen beruhmter Musikge-
lehrten und Tonkunstler neuerer Zeit, Part I., pages 9 to 29
(Leipzig, 1784). He was followed by Ernst Ludwig Gerber,
Historisch-Biographisches Lexicon der Tonkunstler, Part L,
col. 86 (Leipzig, 1790), who does not seem to have known
whence Hiller had derived his information. Still, even in
Gerber, we here and in other places come upon original
observations worthy of remark, founded on statements sup-
plied by his father, who had been Sebastian Bach's pupil.
A curious production in the way of a biography occurs
in Hirsching, Historisch-literarisches Handbuch beruhmter
und denkwiirdiger Personen, welche im achtzehnte Jahr-
hundert gestorben sind, Vol. L, page 77 (Leipzig, 1794).
Here the dates given in the Necrology are repeated approxi-
mately, and with several errors; then follows a sketch of
Bach's characteristics which is derived from Proben aus
Schubarts Aesthetik der Tonkunst, published by Schubart's
PREFACE. Ill
son in the Deutschen Monatsschrift (Berlin, 1793). This
fantastic work is of course not to be relied on — not even
where some facts seem to shine through of which the
inaccuracy is not immediately obvious. C. A. Siebigke,
Museum beriihmter Tonkunstler, pages 3 to 30 (Breslau,
1801), repeats Gerber and Hiller — that is to say, the Necro-
logy, but adds a few remarks on Bach's style. J. Ch. W.
Kiihnau, Die blinden Tonkunstler (Berlin, 1810), and J. E.
Groszer, Lebensbeschreibung des Kapellmeister Johann
Sebastian Bach (Breslau, 1834), have not even any inde-
pendent musical judgment; and none of these, excepting
Gerber in a few passages, can be said to have made any
researches of their own.
The first advance that was made in the literature of the
subject after Mizler's Necrology is marked by J. N. Forkel's
book, Ueber Johann Sebastian Bach's Leben, Kunst und
Kunstwerke — Fur patriotische Verehrer echter musikalis-
cher Kunst (Leipzig, 1802; a new edition in 1855). Forkel,
the most learned musician of Germany of his time, and a
passionate admirer of Sebastian Bach, had been personally
acquainted with his two eldest sons : he thus became pos-
sessed of valuable materials, which he worked up into his
book. With regard to the facts of Bach's life, even he has
little to add to the contents of the Necrology, though he
enlarges on his characteristics as an organ and clavier
player, as a composer, teacher, and father of a family. Still,
valuable as Forkel's book is as an authority, and little as
we can reproach him with mere fanciful inventions, we must
use him with caution. For instance, he does not sufficiently
distinguish the actual statements and judgments of Bach's
sons from his own opinions, but, on the contrary, has
worked them up together into a continuous narrative, so that
it is often hard to discover the beginning and the end of
those passages which give the book its special value. For-
kel's own judgment, even as regards Bach, is often strangely
narrow. Frequently, no doubt, independent inquiry leads
us to a result which coincides so exactly with Forkel's state-
ment as to leave no doubt as to the value of the source
whence he obtained his fact; but presently, again, we are
IV PREFACE.
startled by some evident inaccuracy, or the discovery that,
under the most favourable interpretation, he has misunder-
stood his authority. Finally, it must be borne in mind that
Bach's sons may themselves have made mistakes. For
these reasons, though we must necessarily refer to this
work at every step, for due security we must accept none
of its assertions without testing them.
On the occasion of the centenary of Bach's death, July 28,
1850, two memorial works appeared. First, Johann Sebas-
tian Bach's Lebensbild — Eine Denkschrift, &c., aus Thiirin-
gen, seinem Vaterlande; Vom Pfarrer Dr. J. K. Schauer
(Jena, 1850). In this is collected all that was then known,
briefly, and for the most part correctly ; it is conscientious
in giving the authorities, and includes a careful list of the
published works of the composer, but betrays no profound
artistic intelligence. The second centenary writer, C. L.
Hilgenfeldt, goes more deeply into his subject, Johann Se-
bastian Bach's Leben, Wirken und Werke — Ein Beitrag
zur Kunstgeschichte des achtzehnten Jahrhunderts (Leipzig,
1850). The book is written with earnest purpose, and is so
far a small advance on Forkel that the author has carefully
collected a number of dates and of criticisms on Bach from
the literature of the last century, and has worked them in
with his picture. He too first gave us some detailed infor-
mation as to Bach's ancestors, and a general review of
Bach's compositions, which deserves credit at any rate on
the score of industry. Historic breadth of view and scientific
method we must not indeed expect to find ; his artistic judg-
ments and his historical purview, like the work generally,
are but shallow and amateurish. However, as the author
himself is modest as to his powers, it would be unfair to
reproach him farther.
Since then a singular literary effort has emanated from
C. H. Bitter, Johann Sebastian Bach (two vols., Berlin,
1865). The author has been swept away by the historic
current of our time, and attempts to wield the paraphernalia
of science, but without being in any way capable of doing
so. However, we must be grateful to him for disinterring
certain archives previously unknown, for such documents,
PfcEFACg. V
like books, have their destinies. Unfortunately they are very
incorrectly reproduced. The author's own attempts at his-
torical inferences and other reflections could have been omitted
with advantage to the author and his book. He has done
better in a later work, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach und
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach und deren Briider (two vols.,
Berlin, 1868). Here, no doubt, the task was an easier one.
From this sketch it is evident that the only authorities
that can be really considered available are the Necrology,
Forkel, and parts of Gerber. To procure new material, next
to an exact comparison of all the writers contemporary with
Bach, a careful search was necessary through all the archives
in which any trace of Bach's life as a citizen and official
personage might occur. Then it was requisite to produce
as clear a picture as possible, not only of the general condi-
tions of the time when he lived, but of the various places
where he resided, with his surroundings and duties ; to trace
all the indications of his wider activity, and follow up the
history of those persons with whom he seemed to have had
any connection. It is quite certain that Bach rarely wrote
letters, most rarely of all to private persons ; hence we can
reckon very little on this most important source of biogra-
phical facts. It has been all the more gratifying to light
upon a few valuable discoveries of this kind. An inestimable
document is a private letter, full of details, addressed from
Leipzig, October 28, 1730, to the friend of his youth, Georg
Erdmann, in Dantzig, which I have been enabled to bring
to light from among the state archives at Moscow, by the
help of my excellent friend, Herr O. von Riesemann of
Reval. Erdmann died, October 4, 1736, as " Hofrath " to
the Russian Empire and Resident at Dantzig. He left a
daughter under age, and her education, with the arrange-
ment of his somewhat disordered affairs, was undertaken by
his sister-in-law, a certain Fraulein von Jannewitz. This
lady writes, on November 9, 1736 : " Some quite old letters,
and papers also, which my late brother-in-law had laid by in
a room apart, even before the bombardment, I laid, as soon
as I remembered them, in a coffer, and sealed it twice with
his seal, which was also used for the other sealing." She
VI iPfcEFACfe.
herself wished to quit Dantzig, and this property was a
burden to her. But among the " quite old letters " was
this one from Sebastian Bach, which consequently travelled
away to Moscow with Erdmann's official papers, and slum-
bered there nearly a century and a half, awaiting its present
resurrection.
Though such autographs as these, of which the discovery
often turns upon a mere happy accident, are extremely rare,
we are better off as regards the autographs of Bach's compo-
sitions. It may indeed be boldly asserted that the greater
number of them still exist, and that a considerable portion
are accessible to all. Nor are they only of inestimable value
to musicians by reason of their contents; under skilful
treatment they yield a mass of biographical data which is
sometimes really astonishing ; and this source would flow
still more readily if the date at which they were written
were not usually wanting. Here a field is opened for
expert criticism to establish some sort of chronology, in
which its utmost skill may be exercised ; for, since Bach's
manuscripts extend over a period of more than forty years, it
would be a by no means impossible task to assign to each
period the handwriting that belongs to it by certain distin-
guishing marks, though in its main features it is curiously
constant. The differences in the pa;ier would assist in this,
and a third factor would be the investigation of the text for
his vocal compositions. The style of the poetry used for
these by Bach is for the most part too undefined for us to
draw any inferences from it, though sometimes it is possible;
but it is a fertile source of information to trace out the
writers and the publication of these texts. It was the
custom of the time to have the words of the hymns sung in
churches printed and distributed to the congregation, that
they might follow them, and this contributes to baffle us and
to conceal, at any rate, the first printing of the hymns. The
various handling which the manuscripts frequently offer to
our investigation I shall not, of course, any farther refer to
in this place.
The publications of the Bach-Gesellschaft (Bach Society of
Germany) have been of immense use in my labours; they
v
now extend through twenty-seven yearly series, and are
based on the best authorities, and give evidence of the
greatest critical care, especially wherever Herr W. Rust has
set his experienced hand. F. C. Griepenkerl and F. A.
Roitzsch have edited, with no less learning and care, the
collected edition of Bach's instrumental works, published by
C. F. Peters of Leipzig ; and A. Dorffel supplemented it in
1867 by an accurate thematic catalogue. Nevertheless, for
the reasons given above, I felt it my duty to examine
every autograph by Bach that I could discover. This, by
degrees, I was able to accomplish with all that are preserved
in public libraries, particularly in the Royal Library at
Berlin. It is, of course, always more difficult to obtain
access to private collections ; however in most cases I have
met with a friendly and liberal help. No doubt there are
still several autographs which, lying perdu in the hands of
unknown owners, for the present defy research — and, in
saying this, I refer particularly to England. When shall
we recover from thence that which is our own — so far, at any
rate, as regards the matter of its contents ?
The mention of Bach's compositions has led us away from
the biographical to the artistic and historical as part of this
work. From the writings of those authors who have already
endeavoured to treat of Bach more or less comprehensively —
Winterfeld, in Vol. III. of his Evangelisches Kirchengesang ;
Mosewius, in his discussion of Bach's Passion Music
according to St. Matthew, and others — I could only use a
few details here and there, for it is very clear that they either
under-estimated, or wholly ignored, precisely that very
impetus which, gathering force during a whole century,
culminated triumphantly in Sebastian Bach. Indeed, it is
always better to see with our own eyes than through those
of others. Besides, all that the seventeenth century produced
in the way of musical forms stands in such close and inti-
mate connection with Bach's art that a somewhat exacter
study of it seemed indispensable. In this, no less than in
considering Bach's own compositions, I have, of course,
attributed the greatest weight to the element of form, in
proportion as an exact scientific estimate of this is more
viii PREFACE.
possible than of the ideal element. Still, I could not regard
myself as justified in altogether neglecting this, and so
leaving undone a part of my task— the production, namely,
of a comprehensive picture of Sebastian Bach and his art.
The musical writer must always find himself here in a pecu-
liarly difficult position. He may lay bare the foundations of a
certain form, point out the modifications which it has under-
gone in special cases under the subjective treatment of the
artist, but still he will not have conveyed to the reader an essen-
tially musical conception, which is the feeling and purport of
the piece. In vocal music the words contribute to bridge
over the gulf; in instrumental music he has the option of
offering to the reader a mere anatomy, or of attempting in a
few words to call up the spirit which alone can give it life
and soul. I have selected the latter method, and must trust
to the chance that what I find and feel in this or that com-
position may be also felt by others. I shall not, I think, be
accused of having treated this part of my work in too subjec-
tive a manner. A homogeneous strain of feeling lies at the
base of all Bach's compositions, permeating them so strongly
that it must be evident to any one who really studies the
master.
Every epoch, every distinct musical form, has its own
character and sentiment ; nay, every kind of instrument is
limited to its own sphere of feeling. Up to this point we
walk securely, but beyond this the ground is shifting, the
eye is dazzled by the play of hues which at every instant are
born and die — none but a poet can find language to convey
the effect. Here, however, I must expressly protect myself
against the misconception that in order thoroughly to enjoy
a work of art it must be possible to transcribe its sentiment
in words. Every instrumental composition — like any other
work of art — must produce its effect by its own means and
by its own nature. I have only attempted to fulfil what I
conceived to be an author's duty.
In order to give a broad historical view of Bach as an
artist, and of his works, it was necessary first to give due
consideration to a circumstance which cannot be a matter
of indifference. The hero of this biography was descended
PREFACE. IX
from a family who had already been musicians for more
than a century ; Bach himself, and his sons, laid stress on
this long artistic pedigree, and we owe our knowledge of it
to the MS. genealogy of the Bach family, which is preserved
in the Royal Library at Berlin. It was obtained from the
property left by G. Polchau, professor of music at Hamburg,
who had it from that left by Forkel, to whom it had been
given by Philipp Emanuel Bach. It contains fifty-three
numbers, in each of which the parentage and birth and death
days of a male member of the Bach family are recorded ;
the first were written by Sebastian Bach himself, according
to his son's statement. By whom the work was continued
we are not told ; still it may be guessed with some degree
of certainty. In the first place it is demonstrable that it
was drawn up in the last months of the year 1735, since
Sebastian's son Johann Christian, who was born September
5, 1735, is mentioned by name under No. 18. Philipp
Emanuel was at that time a student at Frankfort-on-the-
Oder. Besides this, it is clear from certain details that,
with the exception of course of the first number, the
genealogy cannot have been drawn up under the eye of
Sebastian Bach. The date of his eldest brother's death is
wanting, which he must certainly have known ; and, what is
more, in the notice of Sebastian himself a false date is
given (see on this subject Appendix A, No. 9), which relates
to an occurrence so important that Sebastian himself could
hardly have made a mistake in the year. Now this error is
repeated in the Necrology, and we know that the Necrology
was in great part drawn up by Philipp Emanuel Bach.
The inference is obvious. When Philipp Emanuel subse-
quently sent a copy of the genealogy to Forkel, he added
a variety of explanatory notes to extend and improve it ;
but copies had already become distributed among the Bach
family, particularly in the line which in the second half
of the seventeenth century had settled in Franconia. A
copy of it was in the possession of Johann Lorenz Bach,
a cousin of Philipp Emanuel ; and his great-grandson,
Johann Georg Wilhelm Ferrich, minister of Seidmannsdorf,
near Coburg, to whom it descended in due course, allowed
X PREFACE.
it to be published in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung,
Vol. XLV., Nos. 30 and 31. He erroneously supposed that
Lorenz Bach himself had drawn it up, but a comparison
makes it evident that it is only a copy. The trifles which
are wanting in the Ferrich genealogy are partly unintentional
oversights, and partly wholly unimportant ; some, too, are
easily accounted for by the illegibility of the original MS.
On the other hand it has a series of additions, such as the
dates of Sebastian Bach's appointment to be " court com-
poser " to the King of Poland (1736), and of his death, with
fuller notices of the Bachs of Schweinfurt and Ohrdruf. In
No. 18, also, the date " 1735 " is added later, apparently
because the copyist observed that this date was essential for
determining and verifying several others, while at first he
had omitted it as not coinciding with the date at which he
made his transcript. At any rate these additions must
have been made before 1773, the year of Lorenz Bach's
death, since it is not mentioned ; nay, more, we know that
the MS. from which Lorenz Bach copied was not the
original that had belonged to Philipp Emanuel Bach, but
only a copy from that. This copy also has been preserved,
though only in a fragment, beginning with No. 25 ; this is
now in the possession of Fraulein Emmert, of Schweinfurt,
who is connected with a lateral branch of the Franconian
Bachs, and who was so obliging as to send it for my
inspection. From No. 41 in that copy it is plain that it
was made before 1743, and might therefore have had some
more information than Philipp Emanuel's. Still more in-
teresting is it to note that in No. 39, where Johann Elias
Bach is the subject of the notice, the words "p. t. Cantor in
Schweinfurth " are omitted, and instead of them we find
" Born at Schweinfurth, February 12, 1705, at three in the
morning. — Studios Theol." This Johann Elias Bach was
studying theology in Leipzig during the summer-time of
1759, as is proved by the register of the university, and
during that time became personally acquainted with Sebas-
tian Bach. From the exactitude of the date of his birth, as
given in the Emmert genealogy, as well as from the insertion
between Nos. 39 and 40 of his younger brother, Johann
PREFACE. XI
Heinrich Bach — who, it is expressly stated, died very young,
and who therefore cannot have been known to a very
extensive circle — we may conclude with certainty that these
details proceed from some member of the Franconian Bach
family; from a near relative of Elias Bach, if not from
himself. Other additions, again, indicate that it was written
under the direct supervision of Sebastian Bach ; not indeed
the Emmert genealogy, which, as has been said, begins with
No. 25, but the additions to the Ferrich genealogy, which is
well-preserved. We inferred, from the omission in the
original genealogy of the dates of birth and death of
Sebastian's eldest brother, that it cannot have been drawn
up under his eye ; but the Ferrich genealogy has both (No.
22). Now if we suppose that this was transcribed from the
copy, it seems to me the probability is as great as possible
that Elias Bach was the writer of that copy, and in further
corroboration of this view we have the minute details as to
his father, Valentin Bach (No. 26) ; thus the Emmert
genealogy would have been written between 1739 and 1743,
and subsequently, after it had received further additions,
the Ferrich copy must have been made from it. This copy
has one trifling omission in No. 43, but it is unimportant,
and may have been either intentional or accidental.
Besides these genealogies, the Bachs also preserved the
family pedigree. One such family tree was in the possession
of Philipp Emanuel Bach, who gave it, with the genealogy,
to Forkel ; it has disappeared, but a trace of its existence
remains in the Beschreibung der Konigl. Ungarischen
Hauptstadt Pressburg, a work published in that city in 1784,
by Job. Mathias Korabinsky; in this there is a little pedigree
with numbered shields and a list appended, containing the
names of sixty-four male Bachs ; and on page no the
author remarks that it is the family tree of the famous
" Herr Capellmeister Bach, of Hamburg." Its insertion in
this work is due to the fact that the Bachs were supposed
to be a Hungarian family. Another pedigree was in the
possession of Sebastian Bach's pupil, Johann Christian
Kittel, Organist of Erfurt ; it was published, with ex-
planatory notes, by Christian Friedrich Mich^elis, in the
XI 1 PREFACE.
Allgemeinen Musik Zeitung, Vol. XXV., No. 12 : where it
is now is unknown. Fraulein Emmert, of Schweinfurt, has
a genuine original pedigree ; it is very carefully drawn and
written, and splendidly coloured. From its general plan it
must have been drawn up between 1750 and 1760; some
supplementary notes have been added by another hand, and
in different ink. A still living descendant of the family,
Herr Bach, of Eisenach, has exerted himself to have it
carried down to the present time.
All these materials have been a valuable contribution to
the history of Sebastian Bach's ancestors. The next thing
was to reinvestigate all the authorities from which they
had been derived, to test the data they afforded — and there
was much to rectify — and to exhaust them further; in short,
to acquire new materials : for if this biography is to be of
any value it must be by working up the more important
personages to the most vivid individuality possible, and by
giving them for a background as definite a sketch as may be
of the times and conditions in which they lived: I have done
my best to extract what the materials at hand would afford.
In this part of my labours I am especially indebted to my
friend, now already dead, Professor Th. Irmisch, late of
Sondershausen, who was at all times ready to assist me
with his exact knowledge of the history of manners in
Thuringia ; and I must acknowedge this all the more
emphatically because such assistance is less conspicuous in
prominent matters than in various suggestions and small
information of which the value is hardly perceptible,
excepting to the person who has benefited by them. The
history of Bach's ancestors has involved me in some places
in a considerable number of genealogical details, and while
I beg the reader not to regard them as mere useless details,
I do so with a lurking hope that the request may be un-
necessary. It is evident that, in composing a " picture,"
a bare enumeration of the unusually numerous members
of the Bach family is insufficient ; the reader must see them,
live with them in the deepest strata of their evolution, and
if any should think this dry and uninteresting, it must be
remembered that though the beauty of a tree lies in its
PREFACE. Xlll
trunk, branches, leaves, and fruit, the condition of this
growth resides in strong and healthy roots. The genea-
logical matter is therefore worked up into the picture on a
definite plan.
As regards the general arrangement of the work, it has
been my endeavour to produce a coherent picture, equally
elaborated throughout ; all that did not directly contribute
to this had to be eliminated. This gave rise to two
appendices: the one for strictly critical discussions, and
the other for quotations of some extent from authorities,
and for certain explanations which the plan I had laid down
excluded from the body of the book. But it need not there-
fore be thought arbitrary when some short critical views are
introduced into the context, for there are matters which are
so closely interwoven with the tissue of a biographical or
historical narrative that it is impossible to avoid discussing
them without neglecting at the same time a number of
things which it is highly desirable, if not absolutely indispen-
sable, to mention. Then, again, is it by mere accident that
in so many questions connected with Bach's life we find our-
selves thrown back on circumstantial evidence ? It seems
to me that a reflection of the man's own nature falls across
our investigations — of his quiet, modest, and reserved life,
absorbed in the contemplation of the ideal of his art. Much
in my picture is taken directly from the authorities them-
selves ; this, however, could hardly ever be done without
remodelling and smoothing it, so far as to make it homo-
geneous with the rest. Documentary precision had in these
cases to be sacrificed to the requirements of style ; however,
the characteristics of an antique and original writer need
not be thereby effaced. A single unusual expression is often
enough to give its tone, nay, even an antiquated form of
spelling; it rests with the author to use his tact, and hit
the precise limits. The only exception I have made is in
the case of documents by Bach himself,1 or such as refer
to his words. When printed works of any rarity are quoted,
1 For these the curious reader must be referred to the original German of
this work (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hartel).
xiV PREFACE.
their titles, with the dates, are given in full, in the foot-notes
to each chapter; these also contain references to authorities,
and such short observations as were unsuited to find a place
in an appendix, and which, to have any value, were necessary
adjuncts to the text.
The letters B.-G. refer to the publications of the Bach-
Gesellschaft ; P. to the Peters Edition.2
The book did not all appear at once in its original German
dress. The first volume was published in the spring of 1873,
the second in the winter of 1879-80. In the interval I was
enabled to obtain some fresh materials for the subjects
treated in the first volume, as well as to correct certain
errors that had crept in. All that I then added as a supple-
ment to the second volume is, in this English edition,
worked up into the text. On the other hand, it appeared
possible and desirable to effect an abridgment in one or two
places. With regard even to the second volume, though so
short a time has elapsed since it came out, I have learnt the
truth of the proverb, dies diem docet; and the reader who
realises the extent of the materials dealt with, and the
purely accidental way in which a new discovery is often
made, will not be surprised at this. Of course, in this
edition, I have availed myself for the second volume also
of all the additional information I have acquired. In its
English form, therefore, it may be regarded, not merely as a
translation, but as a revised and improved edition, and I
send it forth with a sincere desire that it may contribute
over an ever-widening circle to the knowledge and compre-
hension of one of the grandest spirits of any time or nation.
PHILIPP SPITTA.
BERLIN, SUMMER OF 1880.
2 The arrangement of this edition is exceedingly confused, there being two
different sets of references, one in use abroad, and one for the corresponding
English edition, published by Augener and Co. The former, the old method
of arrangement, is referred to by the words "Serie" and "Cahier" (as, for
instance, •' Ser. V., Cah. I." or " S. V., C. I."), and the latter method by the
simple number in brackets. In almost every case both references will be
found.
TRANSLATOR'S POSTSCRIPT.
A FEW words of explanation seem desirable on one or two
JL\ points connected with the translation of this book.
In the first place as to the word Clavier, which has been
left untranslated because, at different dates, it has not had
precisely the same meaning. It is a general term for all
instruments of the pianoforte kind, such as clavichord,
harpsichord, spinet, or pianoforte ; in its other meaning of
the keyboard of an organ it is of course rendered by Manual.
Christian names have not been altered into their common
English forms, excepting the familiar ones of royal per-
sonages. German titles of musical officials also remain
untranslated, the most important being Kapellmeister, the
official conductor of an orchestra with a fixed salary, as, for
instance, the conductor of the opera ; and Concertmeister, the
leader of the first violins, when that also is an official post.
For the explanation of technical terms the reader is
referred to Stainer and Barrett's " Dictionary of Musical
Terms," or to Grove's "Dictionary of Music and Musicians ";
for that of the German terminology of the organ to " The
Organ : its History and Construction," by Rimbault and
Hopkins.
In rendering the texts of cantatas, &c., rhyme has
occasionally been sacrificed to sense and rhythm, as these
seemed essential to explain the motive and raison d'etre of
the music. When the words are given in conjunction with
their musical setting, they have been left untranslated,
except in cases where the meaning has an important bearing
on the music, or on the subject in hand. Quotations have
been made from translations published in England with the
music, where such existed. Texts from the Bible are given
in the Bible words.
The German edition of this work is supplied with copious
references to the archives and parish registers of German
xvi TRANSLATOR'S POSTSCRIPT.
towns.1 These have not, for the most part, been copied for
the English reader, since any one desiring to consult such
recondite authorities will no doubt study the original work.
Here and there the authority for important facts has been
given, and every reference to a book is reproduced.
A list is given of those works of which copies are to be
found in the Britisli Museum.
1 Those of Sondershausen, Eisenach, Arnstadt, Weimar, Erfurt, Hamburg,
Muhlhuusen, and many others.
BOOK I.
BACH'S ANCESTORS.
I.
THE BACH FAMILY FROM 1550-1626.
THE family of which Johann Sebastian Bach was a
descendant was purely and thoroughly German, and
can be traced to its home in Thuringia even before the time
of the Reformation. The same constancy which led its
members, throughout the seventeenth and during part of
the eighteenth centuries, to the pursuit of music, kept it
settled in one place of residence for two centuries and a
half, multiplying and ramifying, and appearing at length as
an essential element in the popular characteristics of the
place. It clung with no less tenacity to certain Christian
names, and, by a singular coincidence, the first of the family
concerning whom we have been able to procure any informa-
tion bore the name which was commonest among all that
occur, and which was owned also by our great master.
This earliest representative is Hans Bach of Grafenrode,
a village lying about two miles south-west of Arnstadt. In
the beginning of the sixteenth century Grafenrode was subject
to the Counts of Schwarzburg, but apparently it belonged
to the princely Counts of Henneberg, and was held by the
Count of Schwarzburg only under a mortgage. The great
lords of Thuringia at that time often found themselves in need
of money, and would pawn villages or whole districts like
mere household chattels. Hans Bach, whom we must
picture to ourselves as a mere simple peasant, appears to
have laboured with his fellow-villagers — among whom was
one named Abendroth — in the neighbouringmines of Ilmenau,
2 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
of which the management was at that time taken possession
of by Erfurt. Well-to-do citizens of Erfurt took up a tem-
porary residence, no doubt, for this purpose in Ilmenau, and
one of these may have been Hans Schuler — whether this
Hans Schuler was or was not identical with Johannes
Schiller, a tetrach of the council of Erfurt in the years
1502-3 and 1506. At any rate this Schuler was the cause
of an action being brought against Bach — on what ground is
unknown — before the spiritual court of the archbishopric of
Mainz, and he was taken into custody with the above-named
Abendroth. Not only did Erfurt belong to the diocese of
Mainz, but the Archbishop had long had property of his
own in the city, and constantly aimed at increasing his
influence there. The prisoners endeavoured to obtain their
freedom through the mediation of Giinther dem Bremer,
at that time Count of Schwarzburg, who seems, however,
to have interceded for his subjects without any particular
success. A letter has been preserved which he wrote, in
February, 1509, after many vain efforts, to Canon Sommering,
in Erfurt, declaring that he would have the matter decided
according to the strictest form of law, in his own supreme
court, if Bach and Abendroth were not set at liberty, and
this letter is the authority for our narrative of the transac-
tion.1 The name of Bach is to be found among the inhabi-
tants of Grafenrode throughout the sixteenth and seven-
teenth centuries, and in the year 1676 one Johannes Bach
was diaconus in Ilmenau itself.2
Now, quitting Arnstadt and going a good mile to the
north-east, we find ourselves in the village of Rockhausen.
Here dwelt in the second half of the sixteenth century
Wolf Bach, a peasant of considerable wealth. When he
died he left the life-interest of his entire property to his
wife Anna, by whom he had eleven children. In the
1 See Appendix, B. No. I.
* Archives at Sondershausen. One Bernhard Bach, schoolmaster in
Schleusingen, was one of those who signed the Concordienbuch — t.*., the
volume containing the laws and tenets of the Reformed Church of Luther,
before 1580 (Concordia e Joh. Muelleri manuscripto edita a Phillipo Muellero.
Lips, et Jenae, 1705, p. 889). This place is beyond the district in which the
Bachs dwelt.
BACH'S ANCESTORS. 3
year 1624 she was " a woman of great age," and desired to
divide the property among her surviving children. We hear
of a farm, four good fields and thirty-two smaller ones, valued
altogether at 925 florins, a very considerable estate at that
time ; at any rate the most considerable of the place, and
this in itself would indicate a long settlement there. The
children — of whom three sons are named, Nikol, Martin, and
Erhart, and one married daughter — were tolerably advanced
in life. Erhart had been for some years away from home and
was already past fifty, and Nikol in the year 1625 married for
the third time. He, even before the division of his father's
estate, had a handsome property, and it is quite certain that
he was the only representative of the family remaining in
Rockhausen. In consequence of his second marriage he was
involved in all sorts of disputes over money matters ; a state-
ment drawn up in his own hand on this occasion has been
preserved, from which it would appear that he was not
unfamiliar with the use of the pen. By the first decade of
the eighteenth century there would seem to have been no
member of the Bach family left in Rockhausen.
Not far from Rockhausen, in a westerly direction, lies
Molsdorf, where also a family of Bachs, with numerous
branches, had its residence throughout the seventeenth
century. The earliest and most important of the parish
registers was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War; those
that remain go back only to the year 1644. According to
them the eldest of the Bach family living there — his name
again was Hans — was born in 1606. But one Andreas Bach,
whose widow died March 21, 1650, must certainly have gone
back to the former century. Ernst and Georg Bach may
have been his sons ; the latter was born in 1624. Above
twenty members of the Molsdorf family are mentioned within
a period of scarcely seventy years ; the men bearing the
names of Johann, Andreas, Georg, Ernst, Hemrich, Christian,
Jakob, and Paul, all of which, excepting the last, were con-
stantly repeated in the line whence Sebastian Bach descended,
while the female names varied much. Other authorities also
mention one Nikol Bach of Molsdorf, who entered the Swedish
army, and who was buried June 23, 1646, at Arnstadt, having
B 2
4 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
" been stabbed in a drunken riot on grounds of his own pro-
voking."
Also, we can hardly be mistaken in supposing that Johann
Bach, " musician to General Vrangel," was a native of this
place, a man famous as an " ingenious musician," but of
whom we only know that he was already dead in 1655, leaving
a daughter.8 He, then, was the first musician of the Molsdorf
line. The above-mentioned Georg Bach had by his wife
Maria (May 23, 1655) a son Jakob, who became a corporal in
a regiment of cuirassiers under the Elector of Saxony, and
was the father of a long line. This branch quitted Molsdorf
at the beginning of the eighteenth century, to settle farther
north at Bindersleben, near Erfurt, where it still exists, after
having produced several admirable musicians, of whom
Johann Christoph (1782-1846) seems to have been the
most remarkable ; he, though a simple farmer, enjoyed a
great reputation in his time as organist and composer in
Thuringia.
For a third time we must turn to the south-west, where
we shall find, near Gotha, the home of Sebastian Bach's
direct ancestry. The exact connection between this branch
and those before mentioned is not ascertainable; but it is in
the highest degree improbable that there should be no con-
nection whatever between two families of the same name,
having, too, many Christian names in common, and dwelling
near to each other within a comparatively small circuit.
Moreover, we must fix the date of the first common ancestor
in the middle of the fifteenth century, since in the sixteenth
the main stem had already thrown off vigorous branches in
various directions. Even in Wechmar — the ultimate goal of
our wanderings — the Bachs were well settled so early as 1550.
The oldest representative, who also bears the name of Hans,
figures on the Monday before St. Bartholomew's Day in 1561
as one of the guardians of the municipality (Gemeindevormund-
schaft.)* Such an office required a man of ripe age, so we
may refer his birth to about the year 1520. Veit Bach, who
8 Marriage register of Arnstadt.
4 According to the records of the Municipal Acts preserved at Wechmar.
VEIT BACH. 5
is spoken of by Sebastian Bach himself as the forefather of
the family, may be regarded as the son of Hans, and may
have been born between 1550 and 1560 ; apparently he was
not the only one, as will appear from what follows.
He took his Christian name from St. Vitus, the patron
saint of the church at Wechmar,5 thus pointing to an intimate
connection of some duration with the affairs of the place.
He learnt the trade of a baker, quitted his native place, as
his forefather Erhart had quitted Rockhausen, and settled
in some place in Hungary.6 It is well known that the
Lutheran religion met with the earliest acceptance in the
Electorate of Saxony, to which, at the beginning of the
Reformation, Gotha and the neighbourhood belonged ; and
in the same way it spread and blossomed rapidly in Hungary
under the Emperors Ferdinand I. and Maximilian II. The
reaction set in under Rudolph II. (1576-1612) ; the Jesuits
were recalled, and oppressed the Lutherans with increasing
success. Veit did not wait for the events of 1597, when the
influence of the Jesuits became paramount by one of their
order being made Provost of Thurocz. " He journeyed from
thence," as we are told by Sebastian Bach, " after he had
converted his property into money, so far as was possible,
and returned to Germany," and, as we may add, to his native
village in Thuringia, where he found safety for himself and
his creed. Here he seems to have extended his trade as
baker, but certainly not for very long, since by the end of the
sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries the bake-
houses of Wechmar were in other hands. The notice written
by Sebastian Bach describes Veit not properly as a baker but as
a miller ; still these two trades were often combined.7 Being
a true Thuringian he loved and practised instrumental music.
" He has his greatest pleasure," says his great descendant,
4 Bruckner, Kirchen- und Schulenstaat im Herzogthum Gotha. Gotha, 1760.
6 There is no foundation for stating that it was in Presburg. This tradition
probably originated with Korabinsky.
7 The suggestion that the trade of a baker was invented for him, only on
account of his name (Backer-Bach), is disproved by the circumstance that the
vowel in the name was pronounced long, " Baach ", and even frequently written
so in the seventeenth century.
6 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
" in a small cithara8 (Cythringen) t which he even takes into
the mill with him, and plays on it while the mill works.
They must have sounded sweetly together! He must, at
any rate, have learnt time in this way. And this was, as it
were, the beginning of music among his descendants."
However, the art which Veit Bach pursued for pleasure was
already followed as a profession by a contemporary member
of his family, possibly his own brother. Veit died March 8,
1619, and was buried that same day. He probably had
several children, for the large number of male and female
descendants of the Wechmar line can scarcely be all traced
back to the sons of whom the genealogy speaks. This names
two, or more exactly one, since of the other the existence
only is mentioned, while it is silent as to his name. The
one named was of course called Hans, and was the great-
grandfather of Sebastian Bach. We may very properly
suppose that he was born at Wechmar about 1580, since
Veit seems not to have married till after his return from his
sojourn in Hungary. He showed a taste for music, so his
father decided on letting him become a " player " (Spielmanri)
by profession, and placed him at Gotha to learn of the town-
musician (Stadtpfeifer) in that place. He also was a Bach,
by name Caspar, and may have been a younger brother, or
at any rate a near relation of Veit's. He took Hans to live
with him in the tower of the old Guildhall, his official resi-
dence. The sounds of bustle and business came up from
the stalls which occupied the whole of the market-place on
the ground floor, and from the gallery above he and his
assistants must have piped out the chorale at certain hours,
according to long usage.9 His wife's name was Katharina,
and of his children we learn that Melchior was already a
grown-up man in 1624, tnat a daughter, Maria, was born
February 20, 1617, and another son, Nikolaus, December 6,
i6i9.10 After this he moved to Arnstadt, where he died, the
• The old cithara was a guitar-like instrument, distinct from the modern
German zither. The word " Cythringen " is a diminutive,
• Appendix A, No. i.
10 Register of St. Augustine's Church in Gotha.
HANS BACH. 7
first representative of the family in that place; his wife
followed him, July 15, 165 1.11
Hans, " after serving his years of apprenticeship,"
returned to the paternal village, and took to wife Anna
Schmied, the daughter of the innkeeper there. As we very
frequently find in those times that the musicians followed
some trade besides the profession of music, so Hans Bach
commonly practised his craft of carpet-weaving.12 Still
music was his special calling, as is proved by his being
called a Spielmann in the parish register. This led to
his travelling all about Thuringia ; he was often ordered
" to Gotha, Arnstadt, Erfurt, Eisenach, Schmalkalden, and
Suhl, to assist in the town-music of those places." There
his fiddle sounded merrily ; his head was brimful of fun, and
he soon became a most popular personage. It would be
difficult otherwise to account for his attaining the honour
of twice having his portrait taken. Philipp Emanuel Bach
possessed both pictures in his collection of family portraits :
one was a copper-plate engraving, of the year 1617, the
other a woodcut ; in this he was shown playing the violin,
with a big bell on his left shoulder. On the left side was
written a rhyme to this effect : —
Here, you see, fiddling, stands Hans Bach ;
To hear him play would make you laugh :
He plays, you must know, in a way of his own,
And wears a fine beard, by which he is known.13
and under the verse was a scutcheon with a fool's cap.
We shall see presently how this gay temper was transmitted
to one of his children.
11 The register of deaths at Arnstadt states that she was eighty-two and a
half years old. This does not perfectly agree with the former events cited ;
there is probably some clerical error.
12 The genealogy says that he first learnt the baker's trade, and then devoted
himself entirely to music. But a very trustworthy authority is a funeral sermon
on Heinrich Bach, Hans Bach's son (Arnstadt, 1692), in which Hans is called
a musician and carpet-maker of Wechmar.
18 Hier siehst du geigen Hansen Bachen,
Wenn du es horst, so mustu lachen.
Er geigt gleichwohl nach seiner Art
Und tragt einen hubschen Hans Bachens Bart.
8 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Hans did not live to a great age ; he died December 26,
1626, in the year of the plague, which snatched away other
members of his family. When, nine years after, this pesti-
lence raged still more furiously in the village, so that of
the 800 inhabitants 503 died (191 in the month of September
alone), his widow followed (September 18, 1635). Of his
children only those three will occupy our attention in whom
the musical talent of their father reappeared ; but that there
must have been others which were not remembered in the
later genealogies, because they remained simple peasants, is
quite certain. Without pausing over the various females
of whose existence traces still exist, we must devote a few
words to the other sons. It certainly is not easy — often not
possible — to find our way with any certainty through the
mixed crowd which the parish registers reveal to us ; I can
only give so much information as was attainable. The
authority above mentioned only speaks of Johann, the eldest
of the three sons who were musicians ; but besides him we
come across six other individuals, who may be supposed to
have been about the same age, and to have been sons of
Hans Bach, or of his brothers, or of other contemporary
relatives in the same place. First, there is one Hans Bach,
who is often spoken of as junior in contradistinction to Hans
Bach senior, and who thus must have been his son. He
cannot be identical with Johann Bach, since he attended the
Lord's Supper with his wife so early as 1621, while Johann
was not married till 1635 J hence, I consider him to have
been an elder brother, probably the first child of old Hans
Bach, who, according to the simple manners of the time,
married very early.
The son died, still young, November 6, 1636 ; his widow,
Dorothea, survived till May 30, 1678, to the age of seventy-
eight. Of the sons of this marriage nothing is known.
Then there is yet another Hans Bach who seems to have
been somewhat younger, and who married June 17, 1634,
a maiden named Martha. She brought him sons, Abraham,
born March 29, 1645 ; Caspar, born March 9, 1648, who was
subsequently a shepherd at Wechmar ; and a third son, not
named, born March 27, 1656, "who at his birth was scarcely
OTHER MEMBERS OP THE FAMILY. 9
a span long." The third Hans was also a son of the
"player.' 14 Thus there were three brothers of the same
name, and it is characteristic of old Hans, with the bell,
that he should have taken pleasure in this triumvirate of
Hanses.
Then there was Heinrich Bach, of whom we only learn
that two sons were born to him, in 1633 and 1635, both of
whom died January 28, 1638. The youngest of the musical
trio bore the same name ; if he were the brother of the
former Heinrich, the jolly fiddler must have had three sons
named Hans and two named Heinrich.
Next, Georg Bach, born in 1617 ; his first wife, Magdalena,
was born in 1619, and died August 23, 1669. He married
for the second time October 21, 1670; his bride's name was
Anna, and she died in childbirth, February 29, 1672. But
these folks could not live unmarried : he wedded for the third
time November 19, 1672, and died March 22, 1691 ; his wife,
Barbara, followed April 18, 1698. No sons of his are named,
nor do we know whose son he himself was. One Bastian
(or Sebastian) finally is mentioned, of whose existence we
know only by the date of his death, September 3, 1631. He
may have lived to be an old man, and he is the only one of
the family who bore the name of Sebastian before the great
composer.
As has been said, the genealogy mentions another son
of Veit Bach's without giving his name, nor can he be
certainly identified by any other means ; still we learn
from the parish register that there was a contemporary
of Hans Bach, the elder "player," who may have been
his brother. His name was Lips, and he died October 10,
1620 ; a son of the same name fell a victim to the plague,
September 21, 1626. The sons who continued this family
would therefore be wanting in the register. The genealogy
speaks of three, who were sent to Italy by the reigning
Count of Schwarzburg-Arnstadt for the advancement of
their musical education, and of these Jonas, the youngest,
seems to have been blind and the subject of many strange
u See Appendix A, No. a.
10 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
stories.16 On the other hand, it can be proved that a son of
the nameless brother of Hans Bach bore the name of Wendel,
was born in 1619, and subsequently settled at Wolfs-
behringen, a village north-west of Gotha ; he seems to have
been a farmer, and died December 18, 1682. His son Jakob,
probably the only son (born at Wolfsbehringen in 1655), filled
the office of Cantor at Steinbach, and after 1694 at Ruhla,
where he died in I7i8.16 He was the first master of Johann
Theodorich Romhild,17 who was afterwards Capellmeister at
Merseburg, and a composer of some eminence. It is from
him, if the evidence before us is to be trusted, that most of
the musical members of this branch were descended, and the
most remarkable of them undoubtedly was. This was Johann
Ludwig, the son of the Cantor Jakob Bach, who was born in
the year 1677 ; in 1708 he was " Court " Cantor at Meiningen;
but three years after, when he married, he was already capell-
director, and he died in I74I.18 Since Sebastian Bach esta-
blished a personal intercourse with him from Weimar it seems
more appropriate to postpone the discussion of his character-
istics as an artist. The great musical talents of this man
survived in his two sons, Samuel Anton (1713-1781) and
Gottlieb Friedrich (1714-1785), as well as in his grandson
Johann Philipp, Gottlieb's son. All three were at different
times organists at the Ducal Court, and the last-named
belonged to our own time, for he did not die till 1846, in the
ninety-fifth year of his age, and after the death of the last
grandson of the great Sebastian, December 22, 1845. 19 Be-
sides its musical gifts this branch of the family possessed a
talent for painting, which, in Sebastian's line, showed itself
only in one son of Philipp Emanuel's ; and in him it seems
to have been first brought out by the Meiningen cousins, for
they had much intercourse with his paternal home, and
15 Appendix A, No. 3.
18 Appendix A, No. 4.
17 E. L. Gerber, Historisch-Biographisches Lexicon der Tonkiinstler.
Leipzig, 1792. Part II., col. 309. B.M.
M I depend for these details on information kindly given me by Herr Hofrath
Bruckner, as well as on the register at Meiningen.
19 Wilhelm, son of Johann Christoph Friedrich, Conductor at Biickeburg.
Bitter gives the date.
NIKOLAUS EPHRAIM BACH. II
Philipp Emanuel could write in the genealogy, " the son of the
Capellmeister of Meiningen still dwells there as organist and
painter to the Court ; his son is associated with him in both
capacities. Father and son are excellent portrait painters ;
the latter visited me last summer and painted me, and
succeeded admirably."
A brother of Joh. Ludwig's, Nikolaus Ephraim, the third
son of the Cantor Jakob Bach of Ruhla, had already
educated himself regularly as a painter. In 1704 he placed
himself under the tuition of a certain Georg Kessler at
Weimar, who held the office of Court-painter to Duke Johann
Ernst, younger brother of the reigning Duke Wilhelm Ernst.
In 1708 he entered the service of the Abbess Elisabeth
Ernestine Antonia, at Gandersheim, sister to the reigning
Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, and he probably obtained this
appointment, which he continued to hold till his death
(August 12, 1760), through the intervention of his brother
Johann Ludwig. His master, Kessler, testifies of him, in a
document drawn up May 5, 1709, that he had with him
learnt " something admirable in the art of painting." But
what he had to do in the service of the Abbess was by no
means confined to this art alone. We soon learn that
Nikolaus Ephraim was also a practised musician. On
November 30, 1713, he was appointed " lackey " ; however,
in his appointment it is specially stated : " We hereby give
over to him the supervision of our pictures and gallery of
statues . . . withal, he shall be of use in music and in
incidental compositions ; in respect of which we allow him,
by our favour, a yearly salary, from Michaelmas last past, of
twenty thalers, and from the twenty-second of October last
past a weekly allowance of twenty groschen for food, besides
the usual two liveries, travelling coats, and winter-stockings."
Subsequently he became cupbearer, on May 15, 1719,
organist, and "chief butler," and had also to instruct the
"abbey servants" in music and painting; and finally, after
the year 1724, he had the control of the Abbess's accounts.
It was, no doubt, customary at small Courts, where means
were but scanty, to employ one and the same official in
various functions. But such a variety of services as must
12 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
have been fulfilled by Nikolaus Ephraim can rarely have
been loaded on to the shoulders of a single individual ; it is
plain he was a factotum.20 Georg Michael Bach (1703-1771),
the teacher of the eighth class in the Lutheran Town
College at Halle, was also probably a son of the Cantor of
Ruhla ; his son again, Johann Christian (1743-1814), was
music-teacher there, and was called for short " der Clavier
Bach." He was connected with Friedemann Bach, the
eldest son of Sebastian, when the latter was Organist at the
Liebfrauenkirche at Halle, or perhaps indeed when he was
there no longer. For it was from him that he acquired that
" Clavier-Biichlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach" ("A
little harpsichord-book for W. F. B."), which the great
Sebastian wrote at Cothen for his favourite child, in great
part with his own hand, and to which we shall presently
devote our special attention.21
Finally, we have to mention Stephan Bach, who, according
to the genealogy, must have been connected with this line
without its being stated in what way. He was Cantor and
Succentor on the Blasius Foundation at Brunswick, an office
which he assumed in 1690, and held till his death in 1717.
His first wife was Dorothea Schulze, and therefore Andreas
Heinrich Schulze, afterwards the Organist of St. Lambert's
Church at Hildesheim, whose singing-master Stephan
Bach was, must be regarded as a relative of his wife's.22
20 The document presented to Nik. Eph. Bach by Kessler is almost perfect,
and is set forth on two sheets of parchment, of which the back was subse-
quently used for portraits in pastel. They are at present in the possession of
Herr Brackebusch, Cantor of Gandersheim. The rest I have derived from
documents in the archives of Wolfenbiittel, and the church registers of Ganders-
heim. The house, which tradition declares to have been built for Nik. Eph.
Bach, as Organist and Intendant, still exists at Gandersheim. It was at one
time inhabited by the father of Ludwig Spohr ; the accomplished landscape-
gardener Tuch now lives in it.
21 After the death of Johann Christian this book was acquired by Herr
Kotschau, the musical director at Schulpforte, and at his death it passed into
the possession of Herr Krug, Judge of Appeals in Naumburg, to whom I am
indebted for this information. According to the church register of Meiningen
a son of Johann Bach, " Court lackey and hautbois player," was christened
August 13, 1699, and named Johann Christian Carl. This Johann was,
perhaps, a fourth son of Jakob Bach.
22 J. G. Walther, Musicalisches Lexicon. Leipzig, 1732. B.M.
THURINGIA DURING THE THIRTY YEARS* WAR. 13
His eldest son was named Johann Albrecht (born 1703), and
was the child of his second marriage. Anything else that
might be related of him would be merely a history of the
sickness and general misery which this family always had
to contend with. These we shall meet with often enough
when dealing with the direct ancestors of Sebastian Bach,
and we will therefore be silent about them here.23
We have been able to discover the roots of the Bach
family in various places in Thuringia, and have found them
everywhere to be mere village peasants and farmers ; so
truly did Sebastian Bach spring from the very core and
marrow of the German people. And as, before the Thirty
Years' War, the whole population of Germany was well-to-do,
peaceful comfort was not lacking to the peasant farmer of
Thuringia ; to industry and capability he added piety. The
lists of communicants of Wechmar from 1618 to 1623 give
evidence, by their frequent mention of Bachs — male and
female, old and young — that their profession of Protestant-
ism was to them a living and heartfelt religion. It must,
however, be added, that while Wolf Bach, of Rockhausen,
was a freeholder in unusually easy circumstances, a harder
lot seems to have fallen to his relatives in Wechmar. In
the villages and their neighbourhood there were a number of
nobles' estates, and all who depended on them as peasants
(or as villeins, as we might say), had to bear a no small
burden both in service and in kind ; and all the more so
because the owners of these estates — the vassals of the
Count of Gleichen — had frequently to supply a considerable
force of armed men, which, of course, did not benefit those
who were left behind.
The death of Hans Bach (der Spielmann), in 1626, brings
us just to the beginning of the period when Thuringia began
to suffer and bleed under the fearful scourge of war. From the
year 1623, when the troops first were marched across it, every
conceivable horror was wreaked by the wild hordes of war on
23 Register of the Blasius Foundation, Brunswick, and archives of Wolfen-
biittel. Griepenkerl, editor of Bach's instrumental works, attributes the series
of admirable organists who have lived at Brunswick to the influence of Stephan
Bach, as I am kindly informed by Dr. Schiller.
14 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
this fair spot of German soil, at shorter and shorter intervals.
The villages were plundered and burnt, the fields laid waste,
the men killed, the women ill-treated — even the churches were
not spared. Then came the fearful plagues of 1626 and 1635.
Those who could save their lives out of all this misery fled,
for shelter at least, by preference into the towns, or hid them-
selves in the forests, or like Nikol and Johann Bach of Mols-
dorf, entered the army, no alternative remaining. Thus the
Bachs of Wechmarwere dispersed ; those who remained died
out by degrees, until, at the end of the last century, a man
of the name of Ernst Christian Bach returned there, and
there ended his days (September 29, 1822) as cantor and
schoolmaster.24 Of the three musicians even, the sons of
Hans Bach, not one remained long in his native village.
The time in which they grew up and lived was a time of
terror and bloodshed, a time which deteriorated the gentlest
and best, and wore out the strongest, and which must have
exerted a profound influence on the natures of the three
brothers, according to the natural bent and the special
destiny of each.
II.
THE BACHS OF ERFURT.
JOHANN BACH, the eldest of these three sons, was born at
Wechmar, November 26, 1604. " Now when his father,
Hans Bach," says the genealogy, "travelled to the afore-
named places (see p. 7) and often took him with him, once
on a time the old town-piper of Suhl, named Hoffmann,
persuaded him to give him his son to be taught by him,
which also he did ; and he dwelt there five years as his
apprentice, and two years as his assistant." After this
he seems to have led a roving life in the midst of the ever-
increasing turmoil of war. The genealogy states that he
went from Suhl to Schweinfurt, where he became Organist.
But, in 1628, he already appears in Wechmar as " player "
(Spielmann), and again in the year 1634 ; but he can hardly
'* As I am kindly informed by Dr. Koch.
JOHANN BACH OF ERFURT. ±5
have been settled there, or he would certainly have esta-
blished a household of his own. The way in which he
finally did so leads us to infer a sojourn in Suhl, where
he probably for a time officiated for old Hoffmann, who died
in the thirtieth year of the century. For the esprit de corps
which held the guilds together, and prevailed even in music,
made a young musician choose his bride by preference from
among the daughters of the members of his guild, and thus
frequently marry into the office held by his father-in-law.
Thus Johann Bach, on July 6, 1635, was married to
Barbara Hoffmann,25 " daughter of his dear master," and
wedded her in his native village. In the same year he was
appointed director of the town-musicians at Erfurt.26 This
town, at that time still a free city, could already tell many
a tale of the fortunes of war. After the battle of Breitenfeld,
in 1631, Gustavus Adolphus had withdrawn thither on
September 22, and four days after had left it in the hands of
a garrison, who immediately began a pillage and maltreat-
ment of the inhabitants, which, though directed against the
Catholics only, soon became general. The houses were
broken into and robbed even at night ; not a watchman
dared show himself in the street, and public insecurity rose
to the utmost pitch.27 Subsequently, indeed, some order was
restored, but the heavy taxes and the wild misrule of the
soldiery demoralised the citizens more and more, and not
least, of course, the guild of town-pipers, or more properly
town-musicians, whose principal function it was to perform
the necessary music at public or private entertainments, and
who consequently were the constant witnesses of the
aggravated coarseness of manners from which such occur-
rences were never free. Shortly before Johann Bach
assumed his post, February 27, 1635, it nac* happened
that a citizen, named Hans Rothlander, had taken a
soldier into his house with him out of the street. He
25 Parish register of Wechmar.
26 Raths Musikant, Stadt Musikant, and Stadt Pfeiffer are synonymous, or
nearly so.
87 Falckenstein, Civitatis Erfurtensis HistoriaCritica Et Diplomatica. Erfurt<
1740. II., p. 703. B.M.
l6 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
" persuaded the town-musicians," as we are told by a manu-
script Chronicle of Erfurt, "to play to him to amuse him,
because the master was his godfather — a thing forbidden to
be done. When they were all tolerably drunk the soldier,
who was a cornet from Jena, stretched himself on the bench
and fell asleep. Rothlander's wife roused him, intending to
dance with him. He started from his sleep, crying out,
' What, is the enemy upon us ? ' snatched up the brass
candlestick, and gave the man nearest to him three wounds
in the head and a gash in the cheek, thus extinguishing the
light. Then he seized his sword, and, stabbing backwards,
pierced another through and through ; he clutched a musician
from Schmalkalden, who was a superior player, and stuck
him through the body so that he died twelve hours after, and
was buried in the churchyard of the Kaufmanns-Kirche."'
It is possible that the master of the guild perished in this
scene of butchery, and that Bach took his place.
In the autumn of this year the Peace of Prague seems to
have brought better times to the city ; the Swedish garrison
was withdrawn and an universal peace festival was solemnly
held. But in the following year the Imperialists, the Elector
of Saxony, and the Swedes already had their eye again on
this important centre for military operations. Bach and his
people were ordered up into the towers of the citadel, "there
to keep watch and ward with due gravity and zeal for the
common weal of the city." Casks filled with brushwood and
straw were placed on the exposed places, and the guard was
enjoined to set them on fire as soon as anything suspicious
appeared ; that was to be the signal for the town-pipers to
blow with all their might, so that they might wake all folks
to seize their weapons.29 Notwithstanding, the Swedish Gene-
ral Baner took the town in December after a short siege, and
the Swedes remained in possession of it till the Treaty of
Westphalia, passing their time in skirmishes and surprises in
the surrounding country. After their final expulsion in 1650,
when the calm so earnestly longed for seemed to have beer
18 See, too, Hartung, Hauser-Chronik der Stadt Erfurt, 1861, p. 162.
19 Falckenstein, p. 716.
STATE OF AFFAIRS IN ERFURT. 17
restored, the town-council held a festival of peace and thanks-
giving, lasting a week, and it was a worthy task for the guild
of musicians to contribute their share. We are told that " the
most beautiful concertos and splendid motetts by the most
famous composers — Praetorius, Scheidt, Schiitz, and Ham-
merschmidt — were performed in all the churches." Trumpets
and drums rang out from all the watch and church towers,
which were decorated with white banners and with branches;
troops of children, with garlands ®n their heads and carrying
palm-branches, went to the house of God with songs of praise.
A stage was also erected out of doors and decorated with
birch boughs, and there, besides an actus™ "What is brought
by peace, and war? " was a performance with all manner of
musical instruments by a considerable assembly, for every
one sang in the chorale "of the citizens, now at last re-
leased and breathing out thanksgiving, with trumpets and
drums and joyful firing of guns between whiles." 81
But the burden of war had pressed too heavily on the
hapless community; the town was deeply in debt, the
richest of its patricians were impoverished, and famine and
bitter want, beyond relief, prevailed among the humbler ranks.
Worst of all was the utter exhaustion of all intellectual and
moral energy. The war itself had for the most part been
carried on with a healthy national vigour ; the succeeding
period found a degenerate and effete race. Instead of com-
bining for determined labour they gave themselves up to
thoughtless enjoyment, and, as the disorder of society in-
creased, to a more and more reckless expenditure. At the
same time the influence of an insubordinate populace rose
in a very threatening way. Men of wisdom and insight were
ill-used or expelled from the city, so that in the year 1663 a
citizen could write that the city was now in such a lament-
able plight " as no pen could describe, nor tongue of man
express," and prophecy that Erfurt, like Jerusalem of old,
could not escape destruction.32 At last the Elector of Mainz,
80 Or dramatic performance.
81 Hundorph, Encomium Erffurtinum, 1651.
82 Falckenstein, pp. 911, 915.
l8 JOMANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
in consequence of the suggestions of the municipal autho-
rities, asserted his superior rights, and was supported by the
Emperor. The fanatical obstinacy of the townspeople, who
murdered a client of the Elector's and insulted the Empe-
ror's herald, finally resulted in the forcible overthrow of the
city, which, from 1664, lost its independence of the Electo-
rate of Mainz. From that time began a gradual restoration
of its wealth and well-being, and a re-establishment of order.
Johann Bach spent the larger and rmost important part of
his life in Erfurt. The family he founded multiplied rapidly,
and during a century they filled the office of town-musicians
there so exclusively, that even in the latter half of the
eighteenth century these were known by the name of " the
Bachs," though, in point of fact, no man of that name existed
among them.83 Next to Arnstadt and Eisenach, Erfurt was
one of the principal settlements of the extensive family of
Bachs, whose remarkable feeling of clanship gave rise to
their having certain home-centres, enabling them to work to a
common end. In the briefly sketched outline of the history
of the city during forty years, we may find also that of the
life of the man whose official position brought him constantly
into contact with the unfettered and excited spirit of the
populace. Everything that was astir must have touched
him on all sides, and it must have been a doubly difficult
task to uphold morality, earnestness of purpose, and dignity
in the whirlpool of passion amid which he stood — in
that void and empty turmoil where shouts of revelry and joy
can only have served to stun the ear to the misery they
covered. And the case was the same with all the members
of his family who stood by his side, filling the same func-
tions ; and they too had to sigh in sympathy with others
under the general misery and poverty.
Nor was the private life of Johann Bach unvisited by
misfortune. His first wife gave birth to a dead child, and
died herself immediately after. It was not long before he
married a second wife, Hedwig Lammerhirt, one of a family
88 Adlung, Anleitung zu der musikalischen Gelahrtheit. Erfurt, 1758, p. 689.
Note/.
JOHANN BACH. IQ
which we shall presently meet with again. Death visited
him repeatedly. In 1639 it snatched a son from his home,
probably the first child of the second marriage, and
other children followed in 1648 and 1653. Meanwhile, how-
ever, he never lost the nature that stamped him as a true
Bach. His old teacher and first father-in-law, Hoffmann, the
town-musician of Suhl, was dead, leaving a son under age ;
a year after the mother followed also, and the child was left
an orphan. The brother-in-law came forward immediately,
took the young Christoph Hoffmann to his own home, and
finding that he took pleasure in music and had a talent for it,
he instructed him diligently, and with such success that the
youth soon attracted the attention of a wider circle. This,
too, is a valuable piece of evidence towards an exact estimate
of Bach's own merit and powers. His position, as leader of
the musical body of so important a city, of itself points him
out as a man of distinguished capacity, and the title of " an
illustrious musician " was not denied him even by his con-
temporaries. At that time his brother Christoph Bach, the
grandfather of Sebastian, was in service at the Court of
Weimar. This, if we may venture to piece out and com-
bine the fragmentary information we possess, was the
occasion for bringing out the gifted pupil at that place.
Duke Wilhelm wished to retain him at once for his own band,
and offered his teacher one hundred thalers for the instruc-
tion he had given him. It speaks well again for Johann
Bach and his household that Hoffmann would not consent to
this ; he only agreed to appear in Weimar from time to time
and to co-operate in musical performances ; but he remained
faithful to his brother-in-law for six years as a pupil and for
one year more as assistant, and from what we know seems
to have trained himself to be an admirable musician.84 When
we are told that at Erfurt he made diligent progress in
vocal as well as instrumental music, this chiefly refers only
to that uncultivated and naturalistic singing which had to be
84 J. L. Winter, Leichenpredigt auf Job. Christoph Hoffmann (funeral
sermon), preached November 21, 1686. Schleusingen, Seb. Gobel. Hoffmann
subsequently carried on a business as armourer in his native city, besides his
music, as his father had done before him.
C 2
20 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
learnt as a part of the mechanical training of the musician,
since in the "attendances" (Aufwartungen)85 as they were
called, the performance of songs was not unfrequently
required.86 But for this, such readiness in reading the notes
and certainty of intonation were amply sufficient, as must
follow, almost as a matter of course, on instrumental
practice.
Johann Bach, as organist, was only connected with
church music in a more indirect, though in a no less
essential and important way; he was organist, it would seem,
to the church known as the Prediger-Kirche, and there gave
evidence of various excellence. The emolument attached to
such an office was but small, particularly in his time, and
the salary that was fixed was very often never paid. The
organist and cantor were for the most part dependent on
payments in kind, and often enough these even failed. From
the year 1647, Bach had to demand the annual payment of
a measure37 of grain, and in 1669 he was forced to complain
to the town-council that in twenty-two years it had but
once been handed over to his family.88 He died on
May 13, 1673, in the sixty-ninth year of his age.89 As town-
musician and as organist he united in his own person both
the branches from which, at a subsequent period, the music
of Germany, in the hands of Sebastian Bach, developed its
noblest blossoms — instrumental music for secular purposes
85 Aufwartungen, among the town-musicians, meant attendance at weddings or
other solemnities, in order to make music. Jacobsson, Technolog. Worterbuch,
86 This custom is expressly spoken of in the " Lustigen Cotala " (" Der
wohlgeplagte, doch nicht verzagte, sondern iederzeit lustige Cotala, oder
Musicus instrumentalis^ in einer anmuthigen Geschicht vorgestellet." Frey-
berg, 1690. Reprint, 1713.) (The much tormented, still not dispirited, but at all
times merry Cotala, set forth in a pleasant history.) The author of this work was,
according to Adlung, no less a person than Joh. Kuhnau (Anleitung, p. 196).
He says, p. 118: "The first day of the wedding all went with much credit, and
I got no ill-praise for my singing, for I had with me the very sweetest songs and
airs, as well as the very drollest, which were listened to with extraordinary
amusement and pleasure by the most illustrious gentlemen and the most
worshipful ladies."
»' Matter, equal to four bushels.
58 Protocol of the Council of Erfurt, June 14, i66q.
»• Parish register of the Kaufmanns-Kirche at Erfurt.
THE ERFURT BACKS. 21
and religious music. Though he took no direct part as
cantor in vocal church music, even this derived its chief
power of becoming what it did become under his great
descendant, from the development of the art of organ-playing.
His brothers and most of his children and successors pre-
ferred to cultivate only one or the other of these two
branches (i.e., secular and sacred) until Sebastian once more
mastered the whole domain of music, though, indeed, the
posts he held did not always warrant this combination.
Through a long period of calamity Johann Bach was the
head of the Bach family of musicians. He lived to see it
spread and thrive, and strike deep root beyond Erfurt, in
Arnstadt and Eisenach. Henceforth began a constant and
busy intercourse between these three towns. Where one
prospered he drew others after him, and by intermarriage
and other family ties they further confirmed themselves in
the feeling of a closely knit and patriarchal community of
interests.
Johann Bach's eldest surviving son, Johann Christian,
born August40 2, 1640, studied and worked at first under
the direction of his father, in the " music-union " of Erfurt,
and he then quitted Erfurt for Eisenach, the first of his family
who settled in that place. Here he married, within his
guild, Anna Margaretha Schmidt, the daughter of the town-
musician, August 28, 1665.
The town-council of Erfurt were in no hurry to fill up
his place — he played the viola — their heads were just then
full of other matters. It was not till 1667 that his cousin
Ambrosius was appointed. In the following year, however,
he was again in Erfurt, where his wife presented him with a
son, Johann Jakob,41 who, as he grew up, rejoined his elder
cousin, Ambrosius, the father of Sebastian, at Eisenach,
40 Registers of the Kaufmanns-Kirche. These documents have been the chief
source of the dates that concern the Erfurt branch of the Bachs, and all that
are not noted as derived from other sources are taken from them. However, they
give, not the day of birth, but that of baptism ; but, as a rule, the baptism took
place within two days after birth, and I have adopted this as the basis of all my
calculations.
•* According to the genealogy,
22 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
where Ambrosius had meanwhile become town-musician,
and who died there in 1692, aged 24.** He is called in the
register Hausmanns-Gesell, or musician's assistant, Haus-
mann being the term in general use at that time for a
musician, a player on any instrument.
A second son rose beyond this. Johann Christoph, born
in 1673, became Cantor and Organist at Unter-Zimmern, a
village north-east of Erfurt, where he married, in 1693, Anna
Margaretha Konig, and in 1698 was appointed to the office
of Cantor at Gehren, south of Arnstadt, where his name was
already most honourably known through the worthy Michael
Bach, then lately deceased, one of whose daughters after-
wards became the first wife of Sebastian Bach. He was a
cultivated man, had studied theology, and wrote a beautiful
flowing hand. Nevertheless, he did little credit to his
family. His character was quarrelsome, obstinate, and
haughty, and he displayed it in a way highly disadvan-
tageous to himself, even against his superiors ; this led to
his being long under arrest, and even threatened with
removal by the Consistory of Arnstadt. Much, however, that
was due to him on the part of the authorities had been
neglected. He died there in I727.48 Johann Christian be-
came director of the town-musicians in Erfurt after his
father's death. He soon after lost his first wife, and then
married a widow, Anna Dorothea Peter, June n, 1679, by
whom he had a daughter, Anna Sophia, and a son, Johann
Christian ; the latter was born in 1682, the year of his
father's death.44
48 Parish register of Eisenach.
« Two of his sons lived in Sondershausen, and there kept up their connection
with the main branch of the family, and, on the occasion of children being born,
called upon their cousins of Erfurt and Miihlhausen to act as godfathers (vide
the baptismal register of Trinity Church, March 15, 1719). The elder, Johann
Samuel, born 1694, was in 1720 a schoolmaster at Gundersleben.and died there
in that year. The second, Johann Christian, born 1696, also died young,
according to the genealogy. A son, Johann Giinther, born 1703, was a good
tenor-player, and in 1735 was teacher in the congregation of the Kaufmanns-
Kirche at Erfurt. These dates of birth are from the pedigree belonging to
Fraulein Emmert, of Schweinfurt.
44 According to the genealogy.
JOHANN ^GIDIUS BACH. 23
The place now vacant was filled by Johann Aegidius, the
second surviving son of Johann Bach, born February 9, 1645.
He had already taken his place in the musical guild of the
city, under the direction of his father, for in the autumn of
1671 he had been appointed viola-player in the place of his
cousin Ambrosius. He brought home a bride, June 9,
1674, from Arnstadt, where, at that time, his uncle Heinrich
was held in high esteem as organist : of him we shall soon
speak more fully. But his wife, Susanna Schmidt, was wife's
sister to his brother Johann Christian, and her father must
meanwhile have moved from Eisenach to Arnstadt.45
There is something very patriarchal in this incident of
the younger brother marrying the sister of the elder
brother's wife, and thus walking in this respect in all confi-
dence in the path he had tried ; and similar cases will
come before us again. On this occasion Aegidius figures
as town-musician and organist ; he subsequently filled the
office of Organist in the Church of St. Michael, and in
this double capacity trod exactly in his father's footsteps.
He died at an advanced age in ijij,46 after marrying for the
second time, August 24, 1684, Juditha Katharina Syring.
Of his nine children, whose names could be given — five sons
and four daughters— only the former have any interest for
us; of these it would seem only two lived to manhood,
Johann Bernhard and Johann Christoph.47 The former, born
November 23, 1676, filled the office of Organist to the
Kaufmanns-Kirche at Erfurt, and was called from thence
to fill the same post at Magdeburg. This promotion from
out of the family circle, of itself indicates some special
ability, which is confirmed by the fact that, in 1703, he was
accepted as the successor of Johann Christoph Bach, a man
of great mark, who will presently attract our particular
attention, and who, next to Sebastian Bach, was the greatest
musician of the family. Besides his labours as organist, he
45 In the register of Eisenach he is called Christoph, in that of Arnstadt
Christian Schmidt. But there is no doubt of their identity.
46 According to the genealogy.
47 The others were Johann Christoph, born April 2, 1675, who must have died
in infancy ; Johann Caspar, June 7, 1678 ; and Johann Georg, January 6, 1680.
24 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
also acted as private musician (Kammer-Musicus) in the
band of Duke Johann Wilhelm of Sax-Eisenach, just as his
cousin, Sebastian Bach, must have done at the same time,
for a while, in Weimar.48 Here, as was frequently the custom
with organists under the same circumstances, he must have
been cembalist.49 That his merits were duly valued in
Eisenach is proved by the fact that his annual revenue of
sixty thalers — which, though modest enough, was not exces-
sively small for the circumstances of the place and time —
was in 1723 raised to a hundred thalers, and so in fact
almost doubled. He was still receiving this sum in 1741, and
seems to have had it continued to him undiminished till his
death, June n, I749,50 although the band was broken up in
1741, in consequence of the ruling family of Eisenach having
become extinct. Johann Bernhard Bach was not merely a
skilled performer; he was also an esteemed composer.
Four Suites for orchestra remain by him, a few small
pieces for the clavier, and a short series of chorale
arrangements.61 Judging from these he must, as a composer
for the organ, rank with the most able, though not the
most original, of his time ; for he follows closely in the
path of Johann Pachelbel, of whom I shall have occasion
to say more in a later chapter. An arrangement of the
chorale " Du Friedefiirst, Herr Jesu Christ "— " Lord Jesu
Christ, Thou Prince of Peace" — in five partitas, is set in
the mode of chorale-variations, then in universal use ; but
41 According to Walther, who would have received the information from
Bernhard Bach himself.
49 This is expressly stated, for instance, of Vogler, Court Organist in
Weimar, and a former pupil of Sebastian Bach's, in a document Pro Memoria
Ernst Bach, November 21, 1755 (State archives of Weimar).
50 The date of his death is from Adlung, p. 689.
81 I am acquainted with eight. They are scattered among the collections
which the diligent Organist and Lexicographer of Weimar, Johann Gottfried
Walther, made with his own hand. The Royal Library at Berlin contains
three volumes of such collected arrangements ; a fourth is in the Royal Library at
Konigsberg (15,839; catalogue by J. Miiller, No. 499, p. 71). The fifth, and
most complete of all, comprising 365 pages in oblong folio, is in the possession
of Herr Frankenberger, Musical Director at Sondershausen, who kindly per-
mitted me to make unlimited use of it. The orchestral Suites are all in the
Royal Library, Berlin.
WORKS OF JOH. BERNHARD BACH. 25
it includes several elegant passages. The cantus firmus is
treated contrapuntally ; between the separate lines of the
chorale, and at the beginning of the whole, short figures are
introduced, built upon the subjects of the next succeeding
line. The least satisfactory are those in two parts ("Wir
glauben all," "Jesus, Jesus, nichts als Jesus," " Helft mir
Gott's Giite preisen ").62 The counterpoint moves too much
in crude intervals, which are not pleasing. Among the last
four (" Wir glauben all," twice over, " Christ lag in Todes-
banden," " Vom Himmel hoch ") the melody occurs in the
bass, and here especially reminds us of Pachelbel in the
treatment of the counterpoint ; still it does not proceed with-
out some harshness here and there. The most successful
is certainly the "Christmas Hymn" (Weihnachtslied), where
the chorale, which is given to the tenor and cleverly treated
throughout, is accompanied by a flowing and jubilant upper
part. A friend of his son praises his works by saying, " They
may not be difficult, but they are elegant." 58 There is also
another piece of his of the same kind, where a different instru-
ment was introduced, to which the cantus firmus was given
— a method frequently adopted at that time, but which pro-
duced nothing of a superior order.54 But his special talent
for that species of composition is exhibited in the Suites for
orchestra, or, as they were then generally called, from their
opening piece, the " Ouverturen " (overtures). The MSS. in
which they are contained have, at any rate for the most part,
come down to us with perfect certainty from the possession
of Sebastian Bach. He copied the greater portion of the
orchestral parts of three of them with his own hand at Leipzig,
and at the time of his own greatest powers — a sufficient indi-
cation of the value he attached to these compositions. In
the " overtures," the introductory portions of these instru-
sa It has not been thought necessary to give the English of German words set
to music, excepting when the critical analysis of the work has rendered it neces-
sary. The musician can only find the pieces under the indication of the German
words, whether in English or in foreign collections.
5* Adlung, op. cit.
54 E. L. Gerber, Neues historisch-biographisches Lexicon der Tonkiinstler.
Leipzig, 1812. Part I., col. 202. Adlung, op. cit., p. 687.
26 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
mental Suites, Bernhard Bach displays so much force and
fire that they are in no way behind the best operatic over-
tures of that time — for instance, Handel's Overture to Ra-
damisto, or Lotti's to Ascanio — while in spirit and variety
they excel them; and in these qualities he is surpassed only
by Sebastian Bach himself. The best by far of the Suites
is that in G minor, for solo violin, accompanied by first and
second violin, viola, and basso continue. The fugal theme
of the overture —
M=
^4=
SS3^
r
=*=£=
r ^f*
agrees in a remarkable way, and almost exactly, with the
opening of Sebastian Bach's Sonata for the flute in B
minor ;65 it is carried on through 142 bars with a most inge-
nious interweaving of the solo violin. In the succeeding Air
a lovely independent melody is given to the violin, and it
must be allowed that the closing Rondeau has both sense
g£j | r f-g=f=a:g=j=: ' 1 r Cjr r =E^g^=
r=4
^
'* J=f=t
and character. Besides a Loure and a Passepied, this Suite
includes an exquisite Fantasia, worthy indeed of Sebastian
Bach, written in the flowing and skilful style which is
possible only to the highest development of art.56
" B.-G., IX., p. 3. P., Series III., Vol. VI., Son. I.
*» App. B. II.
HEINRICH BACH'S DESCENDANTS. 27
Of Johann Bernhard's younger brother, born August 15,
1685, it need only be said that the direction of the " Baths-
musik " fell into his hands after the death of Aegidius Bach,
and that he still held that office in 1735. 57
We may pass quickly over the two last sons of old Johann
Bach. The third, Johann Jakob, born April 26, 1650,
appears not to have been a musician, and only figures once
(November 5, 1686) in the parish register. The last,
Johann Nikolaus, born i653,58 was, on the contrary, town-
musician, and a very good player on the viol di gamba. He
married Sabina Katharina Burgolt, November 29, 1681, and
when, a year later, August 31, 1682, she bore him a son, he
selected his father's foster son, Johann Christoph Hoffmann,
of Suhl, to be the child's godfather.59 He died of the plague
in the same year,60 and we have now done with the last
offshoot of the lineage of Johann Bach, so far as they play
any part in the histbry of art.
III.
HEINRICH BACH AND HIS SONS.
HEINRICH BACH, Johann's youngest brother, stood in the
most intimate connection with him, and we will next
turn to him and his descendants; the middle brother,
Christoph, will presently lead us in a direct line to
Sebastian Bach himself. Of all Hans Bach's children
Heinrich is the one who inherited, besides his musical gifts,
his father's character, and his gay and innocently jovial
nature. It may, therefore, readily be imagined that he was
a particular favourite with the old man, who had him care-
sy The genealogy mentions three sons of his : Joh. Friedrich, Joh. Aegidius
(both schoolmasters), and Wilhelm Hieronymus. According to the Kittel and
Korabinsky pedigrees, the eldest was born in 1703 (?).
58 According to the genealogy.
59 This son was also named Johann Nikolaus; he became a surgeon, and lived
in Eastern Prussia. In the same neighbourhood, at Insterburg and Marien-
werder, some of the descendants of Johann Ernst Bach, of Eisenach, also
settled.
60 According to the genealogy.
28 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
fully brought up, so far as circumstances permitted, and,
as we are specially informed, in a pious way.61 His first
teacher in instrumental music was, naturally, his father;
and the lad was a diligent scholar in violin-playing. But
already he was more attracted by the mighty tones of the
organ, which, however, he could certainly not have heard
in the church of his native village, since it was not till
i65262 that Wechmar owned a small organ. When Sunday
came round, the boy would not unfrequently run off to
the neighbouring villages — Wandersleben, Miihlberg, per-
haps even to Gotha — to satiate his ear with the sublime
harmonies. He craved opportunities for further culture, and
his eldest brother, Johann, was selected to provide for this.
Where and when he obtained it cannot be ascertained ; but,
remembering what we have learnt concerning Johann's
earlier place of residence, we are guided to Schweinfurt and
Suhl ; and the dates suit very well, too, since Heinrich was
born September 16, 1615, and the years of his musical
apprenticeship must, therefore, have fallen about 1627-
1632. In Schweinfurt the brothers suffered severely from
the war ; the results of the Edict of Restitution drove them
out of the town, and thus they may both have moved to
Suhl about the year 1629. When the elder subsequently
settled in Erfurt, in 1635, Heinrich went with him and
played in the Raths-Guild until, in 1641, he at last was
appointed to the post which was best adapted to his tastes
and his capabilities. He became Organist in Arnstadt, and
held this office above fifty years, till his death, July 10,
I692.68 So soon as he was at home in his new office
he began to think of establishing a household ; and, as he
had all his life long clung to his eldest brother, he now
61 Job. Gottfried Olearius, Leichenrede (funeral sermon) auf Heinrich Bach,
with the usual supplementary notice of his life. Arnstadt, 1692. The amplest
authority as to his life.
62 Bruckner, Kirchen- und Schulenstaat im Herzogthum Gotha. Part III.,
Sec. 9, p. 8.
63 The account here given is an attempt to reconcile and connect several con-
tradictory statements and records. That both the brothers lived for a long
time in Suhl is clear from the marriages they made.
HEINRICH BACH. 2Q
married the younger sister of Johann's first wife. She
was named Eva, and was born in 1616. The marriage
took place in the year after his appointment. He chose
his two brothers to be godfathers to his first son, Johann
Christoph, born December 8, 1642.
It required some courage to marry in those times, not only
because often enough the husband could defend neither him-
self, his wife, nor his child against the insolent violence of an
ungoverned soldiery, but also because it was only too often im-
possible to foresee where the means of subsistence were to
come from. It was not long before the bitterest want knocked
at the door of Heinrich Bach's humble dwelling. It is true
that a salary of fifty-two florins and an allowance for house-
rent of five florins64 were assigned to him, but it was long since
he had been paid. The petty Government itself, which was
also much weakened by the war, had no money, and so could
give none to its officials and employes. At this time the com-
plaints as to arrears of payment were universal. Bach's
predecessor in office, Christoph Klemsee, had once had to
claim for several hundred thalers. Besides, the war-taxes
had to be paid, and if the lowest class of soldiers once fell
upon a man, he was not sure even of the clothes upon his
back.65 Matters must have come to a very bad pass before a
man of no pretensions or rank could make up his mind to
appear before a Count of Schwarzburg as a petitioner on
such grounds. But, in August, 1644, he knew not, as he
says, "by the strange visitation of God," where to find bread
for himself and his young family, seeing that the salary due
to him had not been paid for more than a year, and that
all he had previously received he had had — to use his own
words — "to sue for almost with tears."66 It would be quite
64 That is to say, Meissen gulden = twenty-one gute groschen. That this may
not be thought less than a fair salary, it may be mentioned that the Conrector of
the school at Arnstadt, even in the latter third of the seventeenth century,
received only eighty-one gulden and ten measures of rye.
65 See the graphic picture drawn by Th. Irmisch in Der thuringische
Chronikenschreiber M. Paulus Jovius. Sondershausen, 1870, pp. 30, 31.
66 State Archives of Sondershausen. Documents relating to the school at
Arnstadt. 1616 to 1680.
3O JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
impossible to conceive how he had lived at all up to this
time, unless we suppose that he had owned a small plot of
ground, and by cultivating it had kept himself at least from
starvation. Some amount of agriculture always was, and
still is, carried on by the schoolmasters, cantors, and
organists in Thuringia. In addition to this, there were cer-
tain payments in kind, which, towards the end of the Thirty
Years' War, flowed in all the more abundantly because buyers
were lacking as well as money ; two thirds of the population
had perished. The young Count at once issued a strict
command that Bach was to be helped out of his extreme
need, and that he was to have no further cause of com-
plaint; but the keeper of the funds appropriated to such
purposes tendered his resignation, saying that during the
thirteen years he had held his office he had had to submit to
more disagreeables than the meanest servant. It is easy to
see how great the danger was, in such circumstances, of
falling into a dissolute life; and Bach's predecessor had
set him a bad example in this respect, of a life of im-
morality necessitating the sternest interference of the
authorities.67 It is, therefore, all the more remarkable that
there is not the smallest record or hint of anything that can
cast a shade upon Bach's character. His life seems to have
been of such innocent simplicity that we may contemplate
it with the sincerest pleasure and admiration.
Johann Gottfried Olearius, standing by the grave of Hein-
rich Bach, praised the exemplary piety of his deceased friend
with a full heart, and in words which are far from being a
mere form of amiable rhetoric ; and though we may be
ready to confirm this verdict, so far as it is still possible to
test its justice, its full value will not be plainly evident to a
superficial consideration. The value of such sentiments
differs with the times. There may be conditions under which
it seems to be no particular merit to be called a pious man ;
« Christoph Klemsee had been educated in Italy, and in the year 1613 had
published (Weidner, Jena) a volume of Italian Madrigals for five voices, as I
learn from a communication by Georg Beckers, of Lancy. (Monatshefte fur
Musikgeschichte, IV.)
PIETISM AND MUSIC. $1
but there are times, too, when piety is the only safeguard for
the highest ideal of human blessings, and the sole guarantee
for a sound core of human nature. The German nation was
living through such a period during the last years of the
Thirty Years' War and those which immediately followed on
it. The mass of the people vegetated in dull indifference,
or gave themselves up to a life of coarse and immoral enjoy-
ment ; the few superior souls who had not lost all courage to
live, when a fearful fate had crushed all the real joys of life
around them, fixed their gaze above and beyond the common
desolation, on what they hoped in as eternal and imperishable,
and found comfort and refreshment in the thought that all
the deeds and sufferings of men rest in the hand of God.
Thus they fostered in silence the germ from which Germany,
at its resurrection, was destined to derive new vigour; and
we may here observe how culture proceeds from religion.
The first step to freedom was made in the province of
religious thought by Spener and his followers, and the first
work in which history was scientifically treated grew out of
Pietism. Within scarcely a century music was developed by
religion — since on the ground of pure feeling there were no
external obstacles to be overcome — to a height which afforded
an unerring evidence of the indestructible spirit of the
German nation, and proved, as no other phenomenon ever
has done, the immeasurable depth of its foundations. And as
the bias towards instrumental music, with its transcendental
ideals, is universal and seated in the depths of our very being,
it is quite intelligible why, at that precise time, it was the art
of organ music which first soared up on mighty wings, and
why all that Germany was then able to produce in the direc-
tion of vocal music could only lean on and grow from that.
And those men who, during their whole lives, stood in inti-
mate connection with religion, or who were in the service of
the Church — which amounts to the same thing, so far as
concerns the men whose history specially interests us — we
may regard as enjoying particular advantages. The man
who, filling such a position, cherished in his soul that pre-
cious ideal in all humble and faithful piety, we must, if for
that reason only, designate as a foster-father of culture.
32 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Heinrich Bach was so happy as to have preserved in-
effaceable impressions from his childhood, when his own
predisposition for church music had been strengthened by a
pious education ; and we learn from the words of the funeral
sermon how full of vitality these impressions still remained
even in his later years, for the preacher can have had no
other source of information than the narratives of the old
man himself. We can, therefore, well understand his horror
when he was once summoned before the Consistory,
because, at some small festivity which he had given to the
carpenters after the finishing of some building, he was said
to have laughed and mocked at the " Paternoster." He
swore emphatically, and by God Himself, that he had heard
and known nothing of it ; and, in fact, nothing could have
been farther from him than such blasphemy. It is, too, a
simple but touching trait in his character that he never
omitted to follow a body to the grave, if it were in any way
possible, however poor and mean the social position of the
deceased.68 His nature was friendly and helpful to such a
degree that in all the town there was no one who could
speak of him but as " dear and good." From the great
fame he attained as a musical authority he had to examine
the candidates for places as organist throughout the Count's
little dominions, and to pronounce his judgment on them.
When, in the year 1681, a new organist was to be appointed
to Rockhausen, and the candidate had performed before
him, he pronounced that, so far as his organ-playing was
concerned, he was good enough for the salary. Too good-
natured to hinder the musician — who was probably bad
enough — from obtaining the place, he still could not forbear
from reflecting ironically on the smallness of the pay. From
his own experience he could sing a song of lamentation over
the payments of the Government of Schwarzburg-Arnstadt.
It has already been said that he inherited his father's
cheerful temper, and it was so conspicuous a feature in his
character that a century later Philipp Emanuel Bach was
•• Olearius, op. cit., p. 45.
HEINRICH BACH'S FAMILY. 33
able to speak of his "lively humour."69 Many disasters
befell him in the course of his long life, particularly during
the time of war ; later again, in family matters ; and finally,
in his own health. But he always held his head above
water, looked at the best side of everything, and preserved
his cheerfulness through all misfortunes.
However, fate rewarded this admirable and amiable nature
with blessings such as must, above all others, have brought
happiness into the life of a man of his disposition. During
a married life of more than thirty-seven years, six children
grew up around him, of whom three were sons full of talent,
nay of genius, whose musical education must have been a
joy to him. The eldest son, in all ways the most dis-
tinguished, has been already mentioned (Johann Christoph);
a second, Johannes Matthaus (January 3, 1645), did not
survive his second year. Then followed Johann Michael
(August 9, 1648), and Johann Gunther (July 17, 1653).
The two last were soon accomplished organists, and could,
when necessary, fill their father's place. When Johann
Christoph, the eldest, was called to Eisenach, and when, in
1668, Maria Katharina, the eldest daughter, born March 17,
1651, had married Christoph Herthum, Organist at Ebe-
leben, near Sondershausen, the father would often go to
visit his absent children, and Michael and Gunther had
meanwhile to perform the duties of organist. This arrange-
ment, however, which certainly cannot have involved the
slightest inconvenience, seemed too arbitrary to Count
Ludwig Gunther; and in the year 1670, when the choir
music on Sundays, which had to some extent deteriorated,
was to be improved and raised to a higher level by the
appointment of a special hour for practice every Sunday,
under the direction of the Cantor Heindorff, while Bach was
to play the accompaniment, the Count, in giving him notice,
took the opportunity of forbidding him this independence.
In the year 1672 we meet with a modest petition from the
artist. He had heard that his predecessor had had a few mea-
sures of corn granted to him in addition to his salary; his
69 Postscript to the genealogy.
34 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
own perquisites were very small ; he still felt sound in health,
it was true, but old age was approaching; hence he prayed for
a similar favour. He had served for thirty-one years before
he even thought of claiming what had been freely given
to his unworthy predecessor ; and now that he was a man
fifty-seven years of age, it was, of course, granted to him
also. Then he worked on bravely in his post, and when
occasionally it was too hard for him he was helped by
his youngest son, but, with the consent of the Count,
Michael had meanwhile gone from home.
Ten years later he was an old man, his faithful wife
was dead (May 21, 1679), his limbs were feeble, and
his fingers stiff. He now petitioned (November 9, 1682)
that his son might be appointed his permanent deputy,
for "without vain boasting, he had so learnt his art that
it might be hoped he would serve God and his church
with it, in such wise as that their gracious lordships, high
and low, nay, and the whole community, might approve."
This was granted, and Gunther, happy in his appointment,
three weeks later was married to Anna Margaretha, daughter
of Bur germeister Kriil, of Arnstadt, deceased. But, before
one year, death snatched away the stay of his old father and
the husband of the young wife (April 8, 1683); Bach had
to sit alone again on the organ-bench, and his home was
solitary indeed. However, his son-in-law, Herthum, had
meanwhile come to settle in Arnstadt, and he combined with
his office of "clerk of the kitchen" the duty of serving the
organ at the castle chapel, while Bach, as heretofore,
officiated in the Franciscan Church of the Holy Virgin.
From the year 1683 Herthum took the old man to live with
him entirely in his house, which was situated in the Leng-
witz quarter of the town;70 he performed his duties for
him, at first in part and then entirely, and he and his
children endeavoured to cheer and soothe his last days. For
a time Sebastian Bach's eldest brother, who had come from
'• We know this from a list preserved in the Town Hall of Arnstadt. It
would seem to have been the house numbered 308, which for a long period was
the organists' residence.
HEINRICH BACH'S WORKS. 35
Erfurt, assisted him in this. Ten years more slipped away,
and the old man, now seventy-seven years of age, addressed
his last petition to Count Anton Giinther. He had been
organist for more than fifty years, and was now awaiting a
happy death from God; he had never before preferred any
petition (of this kind) to the Count; it would be a joy and a
consolation to him if only, before his end, his son-in-law was
made secure of succeeding to him in his office. He was
already blind, and his name stands at the foot of the docu-
ment, traced with a trembling hand. But his mind was still
clear and active, and his grandson had to read the Bible
aloud to him. This, his last petition,71 was presented
on January 14, 1692, and granted immediately, and on
July 10 he died. Of all his children only Christoph and
Michael survived ; his two daughters had preceded their
father, but he was followed to the grave by twenty-eight
grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, and the whole
city mourned for him. It will not have escaped the notice
of the attentive reader that, in his petition in 1682, Bach
desires that his art may be placed at the service not of the
Court only, but of the whole community, of rich and poor
alike.
His proper instrument was the organ, and, though he is
here and there called also " town-musician," we learn from his
own statements in writing, as well as from all other sources
of information at our disposal, that the only meaning of this was
that it gave him the right to perform with the guild of town-
musicians, and so opened to him a means of earning some-
thing. As a member of the Count's band he also had some
duties at court, and may, perhaps, have filled the seat at the
Harpsichord. It is not now possible to acquire a more
accurate knowledge of the kind and degree of his accomplish-
ments as a performer, for very little of his composition has
come down to us, and the general admiration of his contem-
poraries finds expression only in generalities. At any rate, he
was certainly one of the most distinguished organists of his
71 This document, as well as the two previously mentioned, is to be found
among the archives of Sondershausen.
D 2
36 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
time. Still he owes his fame, on good authority, to his pro-
ductiveness as a composer. When Olearius, in his funeral
sermon on Heinrich Bach, mentions Chorales, Motetts,
Concertos, Fugues, and Preludes, he includes nearly all the
forms of musical art employed at that time in church music.
In these Bach poured out his fresh, childlike, and mirthful
spirit ; that happy temper which Philipp Emanuel could
praise in his compositions. One of his favourite works was
a composition for church use, founded on the text from
the Psalms, Repleatur os meum laude tua, to which Olearius
referred as he stood by his coffin. When the preacher says
that Bach, in his compositions, "of which the purpose is
never certainly discovered till the end, nevertheless fore-
saw and prepared it from the first," he must be under-
stood to mean generally that the artist was able to work
up his composition on a settled plan towards a definite
end. Still we may also trace here a reference to a richer
development of the details and resources of the art, and of
the expression of the words; elements which had been trans-
planted to Germany from Italy, particularly by Heinrich
Schutz, and left the stamp of their preponderating influence
on the Protestant church music of the whole of the seven-
teenth century. On the other hand, in a piece for the
organ founded on the chorale "Christ lag inTodesbanden,"72
which has been preserved, Bach seems perfectly familiar
with the character and requirements of the old school.
Although worked out for the organ alone, this treatment
of a chorale follows throughout the strict laws of vocal
progression, and it consciously brings into prominence the
most conspicuous features of the Doric mode — intentionally
even, in the last bar but one. It must here be mentioned
that our master had had unusual opportunities for studying
72 First mentioned by A. G. Ritter, Orgelfreund, Vol. VI., No. 14, from a MS.
derived from Suhl, and now in my possession. The piece here, it is true, has
only the initials " H. B.," which may just as well stand for Heinrich Buttstedt
as for Heinrich Bach. In fact, the piece occurs again in a MS. collection of
chorales by J. G. Walther, in the Royal Library at Berlin, under Buttstedt's
name. Still it seems to me to have a certain old-fashioned character, but little
in accordance with that composer's style.
JOH. CHRISTOPH BACH AND JOH. MICHAEL BACH. 37
the old church compositions in Arnstadt, for the church
library there possessed, in a series of folios, compositions by
Orlando Lasso, Philippus de Monte, Alardus Nuceus, and
Franciscus Guerrerus, Liber selectarum of L. Senfl from
the year 1520, and others. These treasures had partly found
their way thither by the gift of Count Gunther der Streitbare,
and they still exist there. On the other hand, there are no
doubt to be found in the choir library of Arnstadt com-
positions of various kinds by Andreas Hammerschmidt,
which show traces of much use — an evidence that at the
same time full justice was done to the then modern tendency.
Heinrich Bach, in the humility of his heart, probably never
thought of publishing his compositions, so we must confine
ourselves almost entirely to guesses as to his artistic method;
these, however, derive confirmation from a glance at that of
his sons, whose principal — perhaps sole — teacher he was,
and whose works have been preserved by a happier fate.
We have only to do with Joh. Christoph and Joh.
Michael, for of Joh. Gunther nothing is known but what
has already been told. The two brothers resembled each
other in character, though not, indeed, in talent. Michael
is described by a contemporary witness as of a quiet and
reserved nature, and his elder brother, though he remained
unknown, alike to his contemporaries and to posterity, in
spite of his noble genius and great artistic skill, entirely
disdained to assert his pre-eminence — nay, was, perhaps, not
fully aware of it himself. What we can relate of the out-
ward circumstances of his life is wonderfully little. It is
highly improbable that he should have sought foreign cen-
tres of culture with a view to his own education ; he could
hardly have attempted it with his own small means, and the
times were not favourable to obtaining any assistance from
the Counts of Schwarzburg. Indeed, at the age of twenty-
three we already find him established in an official position ;
and, finally, his inclinations certainly did not tempt him to
distant journeys. The whole family of the Bachs were full
of a native and pithy originality, and hardly one of the
illustrious musicians it produced, including Sebastian and
his generation, ever visited Italy for the development of his
38 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
talent, or benefited by the instruction of a foreign master.
They strove assiduously and diligently to make themselves con-
stantly acquainted with every new development and tendency
of their art, but they assimilated it and were not absorbed
by it. If among the elder relatives of Johann Christoph Bach
there had been a teacher at all commensurate with his
talents, his education would assuredly have fallen into his
hands; but at that time his father was undoubtedly the
most distinguished of the family, both as organist and com-
poser, and it was to him that his son first owed his knowledge
and direction. He was appointed to be Organist to the
church at Eisenach78 in 1665, and he remained at that post
till the end of his life of more than sixty years. Among the
churches where he had to perform the Services, the most
important was that of St. George, of which, however, the
organ must have been dilapidated, or have become useless
on other grounds, for it had to be replaced four years after
Bach's death by a new one, with four manuals reaching to
the em, pedals up to the ef, and fifty-eight stops.74 Whether,
or when, he was also Court Organist cannot be determined
with certainty; at any rate, this office was filled from
1677 to 1678 by Johann Pachelbel. Bach married on
the Third Sunday after Trinity, 1667, Maria Elisabeth
Wedemann, whose father was town-clerk of Arnstadt.
Seven children were born of this marriage, among whom
four were sons: Johann Nikolaus (October 10, 1669), Job.
Christoph (August 27, 1674), Job. Friedrich, and Job.
Michael.75 From the year 1696 he was allowed to live free
of rent in the Prince's Mint, where seven living rooms on
the ground floor and stabling for two horses were placed at
r» In a funeral sermon on Dorothea Maria Bach, which I shall refer to again,
in the year 1679, he is spoken of as "the well-appointed Organist of all the
churches here in Eisenach."
74 Adlung, Musica mechanica organoedi. Berlin, 1768. Vol. I., pp. 214, 215.
75 Of these four sons named in the genealogy, only the second is to be found
in the Eisenach register. The date of birth of the eldest is from Walther, as
also that of the father's death. The daughters were Marie Sophie (March 24,
1674, most likely 1671), Christine Dorothea (September 20, 1678), Anna Elisa-
beth 'June 4, 1689).
MICHAEL, ORGANIST AT ERFURT. 39
his disposal — a tolerably handsome lodging for his position
and for the time he lived in.76 He died March 31, 1703.
His successor in office was Bernhard Bach, of Erfurt, as has
already been mentioned.77
The early life of his younger brother, Michael, was passed,
we may be sure, exactly like that of the elder ; he enjoyed
the advantage of his father's teaching, and, when he was
qualified, assisted him in his duties. In 1673 the place of
Organist at Gehren, near Arnstadt, became vacant. Johann
Effler, who had been intrusted with it till then— and who
must have been highly efficient, for great efforts were made
to keep him — withdrew in order to take the place of Organist
to the Prediger-Kirche at Erfurt, vacated by the death of
Johann Bach. Michael passed his examination as organist
on October 5, and so satisfied the minister and the town-
commissioners that they expressed their special thanks to
His Highness the Count for providing the community and
the church with a quiet, modest, and experienced artist. At
the same time he was made parish-clerk, and received for
that office a yearly stipend of ten gulden. His whole income
he himself states in 1686 at seventy-two gulden, with eighteen
cords of wood, five measures of corn, nine measures of barley,
with leave to brew three and a half barrels of beer, and a few
other trifles in kind, a piece of pasture land, and free residence.
The house in which he dwelt is still standing, and is the
deacon's residence.78 Besides fulfilling his duties and his
occupations as a composer, he found spare time in which to
76 The bond relating to this, signed by Bach, sealed and dated April 27, 1696,
as well as the only legal document to be found about it, are in the State
archives of Weimar. The octagonal seal has the letters " J. C. B." interlaced.
The Bach family never possessed a common seal. From the time of his resi-
dence at Weimar, Sebastian used a stamp with a rose and crown on it. Stephan
Bach, of Brunswick, had a stork, or crane, looking to the left ; Johann Elias
Bach, of Schweinfurt, a shield with a dove over it, and on the field a post-horn.
77 Walther, in the manuscript appendix to the Lexicon, mentions that a
solemn service was performed in his honour on the verse of Paul Gerhardt.
" The head, the feet, and the hands rejoice that labour is ended." Gerber, who
was in possession of Walther's copy, repeats the statement.
79 In the middle of the last century a large portion of Gehren was destroyed
by fire. All the municipal buildings which were burnt down were registered by
authority; the " City Record Office" was not among the number.
40 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
devote himself to constructing instruments ; in this he was
the precursor and perhaps the instructor of his nephew
Nikolaus. We find him in November, 1686, engaged in
constructing several clavichords for privy-councillor Went-
zing, of Arnstadt,79 and a violin of his making was, at the
beginning of this century, in the possession of the geometri-
cian Schneider, of Gehren ; it was given by him to Albert
Methfessel, who, himself a Thuringian, at that time was
residing at Rudolstadt.80
As his brother Christoph had married the elder daughter
of the town-clerk Wedemann, it was perfectly natural, from
the Bach point of view, that Michael should choose Katha-
rina, the younger. She gave him her hand on the third day
of Christmastide, 1675, and in the course of eighteen years of
married life brought him five daughters, the youngest of
whom became the first wife of Sebastian Bach, and one
son named Gottfried, born March 20, 1690, for whom his
father selected his first cousin, the town-musician Joh.
Christoph Bach, of Arnstadt, to be godfather. But the boy
died in the following year, and the father, too, was snatched
away in the flower of his manhood by an early death, in
May, 1694.
IV.
JOH. CHRISTOPH BACH AND JOH. MICHAEL BACH.
THE devastating war seriously disturbed the Germans in
their prosecution of the new musical tendency, which
first made its appearance in about 1600, as an introduction
from Italy, and which soon found eager adherents and
talented artists to develop it in Germany. Those artists,
indeed, the roots of whose vitality reached back into the
antecedent period, continued to labour during the war ;
nay, even displayed their utmost power in the worst times,
hardly pressed from outside but untouched in their inmost
79 The deeds relating to this are in the archives at Sondershausen.
80 I have this on verbal but quite trustworthy testimony. What became of
this violin after Methfessel's death, in 1869, I do not know.
RESULTS OP THE WAR. 41
soul. Even those who were born within the first decade of
these years of misfortune could derive their mental nourish-
ment from a national vigour which, though severely tested,
was not yet overtaxed ; but during the last fifteen years of
the war, and even for some time after, the German nation
was sunk in profound exhaustion. It had come apparently to
a deadlock, both physical and mental ; and during the whole
period from about 1650 to 1675, in which the young saplings
of that period might have been expected to bear some fruits,
we find throughout the domain of music none but old musi-
cians in any way productive ; no new or fresh growth. It is
not until after this that we are first impressed with the feel-
ing that the art is gradually reviving and going forward
again, seeking and feeling its way.
Johann Christoph and Johann Michael were born in years
falling precisely within this period of depression. But it is
most astonishing and profoundly significant, and character-
istic of their race, that the common signs of the times were
hardly stamped on them at all. They both exhibit a depth
and freshness of resource which make them appear as an
unique phenomenon in their way. That such a complete
insensibility to the influences of the calamities of war, of its
outrages, and of the universal degeneracy, should be possible
to them, necessarily leads us to infer their descent from a
race of the greatest health and vigour, a family of the
soundest morality. These influences must also have un-
failingly supported them as they grew up amid the life of
those days, when every ideal and principle had vanished ;
must have hedged them in with shelter, and have so edu-
cated them that when they were sent forth independently into
the world, any fall from their high moral and artistic standard
was no longer possible. Their portion was a reserved and
contemplative spirit, which kept their ear open to the
deepest stirrings of an unspotted nature, and their eye fixed
on the pure images of an unsullied imagination, and which
left its mark on their musical creations, as it did, later, on
those of Sebastian Bach. Just as Heinrich Bach fostered,
in the simple piety of his childlike soul, a spark of that
mysterious power which was destined to raise up the crushed
42 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
nation to new life, so we may say of these two men, that
that spirit, which in them took the form of art when all
around lay dead and void, was the better self of the German
nation. It is this fact which foreshadows the history of
their works, and which is the real reason why, subsequently,
their compositions were so soon neglected, and those of the
greater of the two forgotten the quickest. While the develop-
ment of art in Germany stood still for a generation, other
nations, and notably Italy, had progressed rapidly, and
reached the summit by so much earlier. The newly invigo-
rated Germans saw, before them and above them, a blos-
soming field of art, which they aspired, with true German
instinct, to make their own and to cultivate for their own
profit. They had lost all direct sympathy with what lay
behind them ; thus they hurried forward after new ideals.
How strange and tragical are the destinies of the world's
history ! In order that the utmost heights of art at that
period might be climbed by two German musicians, their
nation had to lie for a time in a deathlike torpor while other
nations outsoared it, only to place all they had attained at
the disposal of those artists; but they, who held their ground
in the midst of the general decay, who cherished and hid
the precious essence of German national feeling in a pure
vessel — the wheel rolled over them and erased all trace of
them ; nay, and soon no one even asked where they had
been.
But they shall not be forgotten for ever ! It is not only
as being ancestors of Sebastian Bach that they have a signi-
ficance for us ; their personal merit as artists is considerable
enough for them to deserve that we should assign them a
place of honour in the history of art. Neglect has indeed
suffered the greater portion of their works to perish, and this
is especially to be regretted in the case of Michael Bach,
whose strength must have lain principally in instrumental
music ; of all their compositions in this kind only a few
fragments still exist, while those vocal compositions in
which, according to the declaration of the generation which
succeeded him, Joh. Christoph had put forth all his powers,
have been preserved in rather greater number. Still, irrespec-
THE ORIGIN OF ORATORIO. 43
tive of this disproportion of their surviving works, we may un-
hesitatingly attribute the greater talent, from a general point
of view, to the latter. His works are of an importance and
completeness which must appear strange indeed to any one
who has made himself familiar with the uncertain, groping
style of the art of that period, if he has not fully realised the
peculiar position held by this master in his own time. An
unresting industry and great technical skill must, in him,
have been allied to a deep, strong sentiment for music — to a
nature which dwelt in solitude, and independently carried
out the ideals of older artists, undisturbed by the apprecia-
tion or the indifference of the world, and which would
rather deserve to be regarded as the precursor of Handel
than of Sebastian Bach, if a certain vein of fervent tender-
ness did not betray his relationship with the latter.
Heinrich Schiitz, in the third part of his " Symphoniae
sacrae" and Andreas Hammerschmidt, more particularly
in the two parts of his " Musikalischen Gesprache iiber die
Evangelia" (Musical Discourses on the Gospels),81 created
a form which was destined to be of the greatest impor-
tance in the development of the art of that time, and
finally to culminate chiefly in the Handel Oratorio, although
this derived something, too, from the church music of
Sebastian Bach. This musical-poetic treatment of isolated
biblical incidents arose partly from the impetus towards
dramatic forms of art then developing in Italy, with a certain
leaning towards the type of the sacred concerto, as it was
called. % The mode in which the Bible text was treated was
sometimes dramatic, so that the speeches of different per-
sons were distributed to different voices, sometimes choral,
narrative, or devotional. Hammerschmidt, for instance, loved
to introduce verses of Protestant hymns. They wished to
make the incident dealt with as vivid as possible by
the means afforded by music — by expressive declamation
and a characteristic use of the instruments, but, above all,
by a constant effort after forms of composition such as had
some musical analogy with the events treated, both as to
81 About the middle of the seventeenth century.
44 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
general structure and in details of treatment — all combining
to excite the fancy to reproduce a vivid picture. Since it is
not the character of the oratorio to be actually dramatic,
but only to embody, as it were, in a musical form the feelings
to which an event would give rise, we find that it was already
cast by Schiitz and Hammerschmidt in the form which
was brought to perfection by Handel; and the fact that
nearly a century had yet to elapse before this glorious cul-
mination, is owing to the debilitation already mentioned as
having fallen on the German nation in the second half of the
seventeenth century. While at this very time, in Italy, very
important oratorios could be created — as, for instance, the
Santa Francesca Romana, of Allessandri — the above-men-
tioned German masters, as it would seem, found very few
men of talent able to follow with success in the path they
had opened, and those who could, it is very certain,
worked, at the time, for themselves alone. We possess
only one work of this kind even by Johann Christoph Bach,
but this stands up so far above the works of his predecessors
and the surroundings of his time that, of itself, it suffices to
raise the composer to a high rank as an artist. It is a tone-
picture founded on the mystical strife between the Arch-
angel Michael and the Devil : Revelation, xii. 7-12 —
"And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels
fought against the dragon ; and the dragon fought and his
angels, and prevailed not ; neither was their place found any
more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that
old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth
the whole world : he was cast out into the earth, and
his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a voice
saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and
the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ : for
the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused
them before our God day and night. And they overcame
him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their tes-
timony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them."
In order to meet the requirements of this bold and
grandiose description, Bach summoned to his aid means of
ES ERHOB SICH BIN STREIT.
45
effect which must be considered remarkable, and not merely
for the time when he wrote. Two choirs of five parts each,
two violins, four violas, bassoon, four trumpets, drums,
double-bass, and organ were introduced. Solo voices, of
course, there are not, but occasionally the bass part leads
in the chorus. The introduction is a sonata for the instru-
ments without trumpets or drums, which leads by a broadly
conceived succession of chords in common time into an
imitative and more rapid movement in 3-4 time — after a
mode then much in favour, and which reminds us of the
French ouverture. Then all the instruments are silent ; the
two bass parts of the first choir, supported by the organ
alone, then begin in canon the following strain, which is
declamatory rather than melodic : —
Es er - hob sich ein Streit,
es er - hob sich
Es er - hob sich ein Streit,
M r
Streit
im Him - mel, im Him - mel,
- hob sich ein Streit
im Him - mel, im Him - mel,
From the seventeenth bar the drums join in with dull low
crotchet beats on the tonic and dominant. Four bars later
a trumpet sounds as it were a distant battle-call ; a second
answers it, then a third. The turmoil increases ; it is as if
we saw the armed cohorts gathering from all the quarters of
heaven. The fourth trumpet sounds ; and now the two choirs
attack each other, as it were, like hostile armies. The
whole body of the instruments, with the organ, rushes and
roars above them. From the hottest of the fray the trumpet
rings out in tumultuous passages of semiquavers, challenging
46 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
and retiring in a bewildering and unresting double canon.
We can fancy we see the immeasurable vault of heaven
filling with the tumult of battle. A column of sound grows
up, occupying the whole extent of harmonic pitch from CC
to cm, and, except only a quite short passage at the beginning,
remains for not less than sixty bars on the common chord
of C. The contending choirs advance and recede in merely
rhythmical ebb and flow ; on neither side will the harmonic
unity give way. But at last the warlike turmoil subsides,
and the choirs come forth triumphantly on the dominant,
with the words, " And prevailed not." A vigorous and care-
fully constructed fugato for the first choir follows, " Neither
was their place found any more." According to the custom
then in use, and to which Sebastian Bach himself remained
faithful, the violins, by rising independently above the
soprano, extend the structure to seven parts. A motive for
the bass —
und es ward aus - ge - wor - fen der gro - sse Drach.
6 656
continues the description, supported by broad instrumental
harmonies, and soon commands the whole body of the choir
once more, graphically representing in a gradual descent the
overthrow of Satan from Heaven. Then follows a symphony
of victory for all the instruments in a rigid march-rhythm,
and following that comes a new and glorious burst in the
choirs.
Un* icn nfc-re-te ei-ne gro - sse
^^ 6
4— 1 — -L- L- l c
Stim-me, die sprach im Him - mel :
6
6 65
1 •* J J
. J J I 1 J ^-i-^l-JL
"ES ERHOB SICH BIN STREIT."
Violins and Trumpets. _^_^_.^_,
.1 .~b
47
r
*oH« and Tr
Nun
ist das Heil
das . . Reich
r
und
und
Nun
is't' ""das Heil
das . Reich
und
und
Nun
das Heil
Reich
und
und
Nun
und
ist das Heil
das . . . Reich
Nun
und
ist
das
das
Heil
Reich
Nun
und
ist
das
das
Heil
Reich
The master has given to the words " great voice " all
the magnificence of the utmost means afforded by the decla-
matory style, a style which must above all else give free
scope to the musical capabilities of the text itself before it
can venture on any dramatic consideration. The composi-
tion extends after this through several numbers, among which
the passage "And they loved not their lives unto the death "
is particularly striking for its fervent sentiment and charac-
teristic stamp ; and it closes with a joyful song of triumph
for the choirs alternately. It is also distinguished as a work
of the genuine oratorio character by the great repose which
48
JOHANK SEBASTIAN BACH.
I1; r2"i I I*' Trumpets.
prevails throughout the modulations and harmonies, notwith-
standing the picturesque variety and vigour of the scenes it
depicts; it is no unfettered torrent of feeling that finds
utterance, but the sentiment that flows round and about a
fixed subject. Inasmuch as most of the composers of
sacred music at the end of the seventeenth century display
this harmonic simplicity, even in their purely lyrical choral
subjects, they must be regarded, in these, as the precursors of
Handel, while Sebastian Bach acquired his style of choraJ
treatment in a different way, by means, namely, of instru-
mental music. A greater variety of modulation might not,
indeed, have proved a disadvantage to the work under con-
sideration. Though the fertile adaptations of the common
" ES ERHOB SICtt BIN STREIT." 49
^
i
Got - tes sei - nes Chris - tus wor - den.
Got - tes sei - nes Chris - tus wor - den.
i i i i i ij *H
m «j mi & fl _mt fTS ^J .
_, — — j — -i-j 1 — .-i— i \ — ^7~~
Got - tes sei - nes Chris - tus wor - den.
_J , i | , "1
Got * tes sei - nes Chris
chord of C major with the allied harmonies serve the
descriptive purpose, and though a few startling deviations
stand out all the more strongly — as, for instance, the grand
change from C major to the common chord of B flat major, on
the words " And deceiveth the whole world " — " Die ganze
Welt verfiihret" — still the ear craves a flow of harmony of
a deeper and more penetrating character, particularly at the
close, and especially a more vigorous use of the sub-dominant.
But, indeed, the whole scheme of the work would not have
been what it is, had not Bach worked on a very distinct and
clearly indicated model by Hammerschmidt. This com-
poser in his work " Andern Theil geistlicher Gesprache iiber
die Evangelia " (Second part of " Discourses on the Gospels,"
E
50 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Dresden, 1656, No. XXVI.), had set the same text for a choir
in six parts, with trumpets, cornets, and organ, and the idea
of making the battle rage round the long held common chord
of C major owes its invention really to him ; even in the
musical presentment of the Fall from Heaven, and in the
resounding C major of the close, the originality was in the
older master. But the power of invention and the genius
with which Bach clothed the image thus presented to him,
and transformed the meagre cartoon into a grand fresco, show
that he so far transcended his by no means contemptible pre-
decessor, that we could hardly realise it without the circum-
stance of this imitation. We must not enter on the details
of a comparison which would be highly interesting ; still I
may remind the reader how an analogy here suggests
itself between Joh. Christoph Bach and Handel, who in the
same way did not hesitate to work out in the most direct
manner such compositions as took his fancy.82
It was impossible that so important a composition should
fail to make an impression on many sincere artistic natures,
in spite of the small amount of intelligent sympathy which was
shown for Joh. Christoph Bach, alike by his contemporaries
and by posterity. Georg Philipp Telemann evidently became
acquainted with it when, from 1708 to 1711, he was Concert-
meister and Capellmeister88 at Eisenach. He himself attempted
a similar flight, which at any rate dates from that time, for
the festival of St. Michael ; but his talents were ill-adapted
to the sublime, and even in this work he dwells in the region
of commonplace, or forces to caricature the spasmodic
treatment of the voices which characterises his earlier work,
and which is objectionable alike in the separate parts and in
the ensemble of the chorus. But the master met with due
admiration from the next generation of his own family.
Sebastian Bach who, as an artist, was in many ways greatly
indebted to his uncle, held this choral work in high esteem,
82 He made extensive use of a " Magnificat" by Dionigi Erba for " Israel in
Egypt." See Chrysander, Handel, Vol. I., pp. 168-177. B.M. A list of these
plagiarisms may be found in the Dictionary of Music and Musicians — Art.
" Israel in Egypt."
M For explanation of these words see Translators' postscript.
and even had it publicly performed in Leipzig. Indeed,
the stimulus is clearly unmistakable which prompted him to
work out a tone-picture of the same poetical subject, which
forms the beginning of one of his greatest cantatas.84 But the
all-pervading difference of conception is conspicuous even in
this. Sebastian stands supreme on the .ground of pure
music, and though the uncle's work must retire into the
background before the creative genius which speaks in every
note of the nephew's work, still it may hold its place by its
declamatory character. The text, " Nun ist das Heil und
die Kraft," &c., which in Job. Christoph's work forms a part
of the whole, Sebastian has used as the subject of a double
chorus,85 which, of course, admits of no comparison with the
work of the older master, and which is, indeed, incomparable
as its creator was.
Philipp Emanuel Bach, Sebastian's son, also honoured
the " great and impressive composer," as he designates Job.
Christoph.86 It is from him that we learn that at a perform-
ance of this composition by Sebastian Bach at Leipzig,
every one was astonished at the effect.87 This astonishment
would certainly be no less at the present day.
We possess no work of this class by Michael Bach ; still,
a composition of his with an instrumental accompaniment
has been preserved which is purely lyric in style, and hence
may be properly called a sacred cantata.88 It is founded on a
hymn in two verses, " Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ" —
"Ah, stay with us, Lord Jesu Christ," — but no sort of chorale
melody is used in the composition ; on the contrary, the
composer has worked up the separate lines with special
reference to the expression of the words and matter of each.
84 " Es erhub sich ein Streit," B.-G., II., No. 19.
85 B.-G., X., No. 50.
86 Addenda to the Genealogy.
87 In a letter to Forkel, dated from Hamburg, September 20, 1775. It is given
in Bitter's work, Carl. Ph. Em. Bach, Vol. I., p. 343, where there is also an
abridged translation. Ph. Emanuel Bach had preserved the document in his
archives of the family (" Alt-Bachische Archive") a collection of the composi-
tions of the various musicians of the family, before and after Sebastian. It
passed from the collection of G. Polchau into the Royal Library at Berlin.
88 In parts, derived from the Bach archives in the Royal Library at Berlin.
B 2
52 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Without entering on any detailed discussion of the music, it is
easy to see how inadequate this method must be in general.
For this mode of treatment can only be applicable when it
is desired almost exclusively to give expression to a leading
sentiment, which flows like a current through the whole and
penetrates every separate part. This piece is half in motett-
form and half declamatory; the correct form for such themes
had not yet been found, and many a composer was wrecked
in seeking it till Sebastian Bach made the thing clear. In
other respects the composition is full of interesting details
and ingenious ideas ; in these Michael hardly stood behind
his brother, though he did so conspicuously in his feeling
for grand plastic forms. A choir in four parts, two violins,
three violas, bassoon, and organ, are employed, and the key
of G minor is chosen. An introductory sonata of fourteen
bars, in which slow progressions alternate with rapid
figures, has a somewhat incoherent effect. The first line
of the hymn serves as the basis of a structure of sixteen
bars, closing with a fermata ; there is a passionate accent in
the cry, " Ach bleib ! ach bleib !" which predominates as
early as in the third bar, rising to E flat major and A flat
major, then sinking back to G minor, rising again, and
finally ceasing in the relative major. The words " Weil es
nun Abend worden ist " — " For now the evening closes in," —
are sustained on a descending scale-like passage, which seems
to feel its way among the voices, wandering in intermittent
tones, not without some harshness in the harmonies —
well es nun A - bend,
___ , -,. J- . J J J.
weil es nun A - bend, weil es nun
weil es nun A - bend, weil
f J J . J-^— ;_ J_
weil es nun A - bend,
and six bars later it closes with another fermata on the
dominant of G minor.
The soprano now enters with the words " Dein gottlich
Wort das helle Licht"— "The clearest light Thy word
53
divine," — set to an agitated subject rising by degrees; above
it, two violins have an imitative passage, the first violin
rising to the previously unheard-of height of gf|f and atn,
evidently to figure forth the idea of clear, pure light; the
whole choir concludes in a striking manner, "Lass ja bei uns
ausloschen nicht"— " May it in us for ever shine," — and
carries on the same motive for a time with the instruments,
returning at the end to G major. The second verse is
treated in an analogous manner. The alto sings the first
line alone in chromatic passages, which already, at that time,
was a favourite way of expressing pain and sorrow.
ver-(leih)
Sop.
in die-ser letz- ten be-triib-ten Zeit, in die-ser letzten be-triibten Zeit ver-(leih)
6 6 Tenor. , \
6 ft( 5 4 b fc 5 fr 5 l| l£
l~fc= r — t-^-J «J hj
^ i *-*-
- — v& — «-•
Bass.
After two subjects, each closing with a fermata, a freely
treated fugato immediately follows, with this pregnant
theme : —
dass wir dein Wort u. Sa-cra-ment rein be - halt - en bis an un - ser End.
The two upper stringed instruments take part in this in
an independent and skilful way, while in other parts of the
cantata, where the violins have to hold their own above the
voices, they generally behave in a very awkward manner, and
try to avoid a faulty progression of the parts by wonderful
leaps and intervals — a defect to be ascribed less to Michael
Bach himself than to the imperfect technique of his time.
A frequent use of the major sixth imparts to this fugato a
stamp reminding us of the Doric mode, which suits it very
well.
In the treatment of the motett, Michael Bach betrays a
similar uncertainty, but this likewise must be set down to
the account of his time.
The essential stamp and character of the motett are ;
54 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
That it is in several parts, that it admits of no obbligato
instruments, and that its subjects are set to a text of the
Bible or to a verse of a hymn. Hence it follows that the
period of its fullest bloom fell within the first great period of
art, reaching to about the year 1600, when music was
essentially polyphonic, vocal and sacred. Under the suc-
ceeding period of the transformation of the polyphonic
system into the harmonic, and the swift and comprehensive
extension of instrumental music which was inseparable from
that change — under the endeavour after some more passionate
musical expression that should follow the words more exactly,
and the introduction of solo voices, the motett gradually
became the neutral ground where the most dissimilar ten-
dencies thought they might tread unhindered. I am here
speaking more particularly of Germany, where the impulse
communicated by the Protestant Church gave birth to a far
greater abundance of forms than in Italy.
Heinrich Schiitz, in other respects an important repre-
sentative of the new school, had, in his Musicalia ad
Chorum Sacrum, endeavoured to reconcile its requirements
with the principles of the old (compare No. IV., " Verleih
uns Frieden gnadiglich," and No. VII., " Viel werden
kommen von Morgen und Abend "). But it was inevitable
that the intrinsically polyphonic character should be more
and more neglected, that musicians should strive to com-
pensate themselves for what they thus lost in intrinsic
inner fulness by a freer flow of melody, more sprightly
rhythm, and more highly spiced harmonies. To make their
application possible it was necessary to have recourse to the
supporting instruments. Then observation was directed to
the novel effects of the body of sound thus produced, and to
the possibilities of new combinations. Many of the effects
discovered, though purely proper tp instruments, were even
transferred to vocal music. Many motetts of the seventeenth
century are inconceivable without the accompaniment of the
organ or other instruments. This may be seen by the pro-
gression of the bass part, which not unfrequently lies above
the tenor, and would make the harmony quite unrecog-
nisable if it were not supplemented by a sixteen-foot organ
THE MOTETT. 55
bass. It is perceptible, too, in the unchecked introduction of
many harmonic progressions which would be unendurable
in the delicate organism of purely vocal music, but which
escape detection under the rush of the organ and of the
orchestra. And many sudden changes of harmony — e.g.,
that of an eight-part chorus in A major which changes into C
minor without preparation — are impossible to perform with-
out firm points of support. Not unfrequently the accompani-
ment of the organ or of other instruments is indicated by
means of a figured-bass or continue. And even where the
character of a motett seems to demand the unmixed sound
of human voices, it still is easy to perceive that the fancy of the
composer was full of musical forms, which vocal music by its
inherent nature could not represent. The dramatised biblical
scene, which Schutz and Hammerschmidt had introduced,
and the custom of placing side by side, in contrast, verses
of chorales and scriptural passages, in a sacred concerto
or madrigal — of which Hammerschmidt was very fond — were
also a reflection from the motett. A four-part chorus (with-
out soprano) begins with the words from the Revelation,
which are supposed to be said by Christ : " Siehe ich stehe
vor der Thiir und klopfe an ; so jemand meine Stimme horen
wird und die Thiir aufthun, zu dem werde ich eingehen " —
" Behold I stand at the door, and knock," &c. After nine
bars have been sung, the soprano answers with the melody of
the Christmas Hymn, " Vom Himmel hoch " — " From highest
Heaven," — to the words " Bis willkommen, du edler Gast " —
" Be thou welcome," — during which the chorus continues its
summons. The contrapuntal working of a chorale tune on
the organ had also an unmistakable influence on this form ;
nay, it was through this that it gradually came to more artistic
perfection, so that, in fact, a hundred years later, instrumental
music by the use of its own means reintroduced the poly-
phonic structure which had so long been set aside in its
favour.
But the motett was suited to more complicated dra-
matisation. An anonymous composition for double chorus,
which must be attributed to about the middle of the
seventeenth century, lies before us in manuscript. First,
56 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
the choruses inquire of each other antiphonally in the
words of Sulamith, " Habt ihr nicht gesehen, den meine
Seele liebet ? " — "Saw ye Him, whom my soul loveth?"
Cant, iii., 3. Then the second choir changes to the
chorale, " Hast du denn Jesu dein Angesicht ganzlich ver-
borgen?" — " Hast Thou, O Jesus, Thy countenance utterly
hidden ? " — the first continuing its questions meanwhile and
during the pauses between the lines of the hymn, in which
questioning the second choir joins again, after the conclusion
of the verse. " Da ich ein wenig voriiberkam " — " It was but
a little that I passed from them " — begins the second choir,
and the first, without soprano, repeats it; "Da fand ich!
da fand ich! da fand ich!
den meine Seele liebet ! " the soprano now comes in on
rejoicing intervals ; both choirs quickly seize upon this
exclamation and carry it on to the end in exulting cadence ;
and as if filled with beatific assurance, the second choir
enters once more with the last verse of the chorale, " Fahr
hin, o Erde, du schones, doch schnodes Gebaude, fahr hin,
o Wollust, du siisse, doch zeitliche Freude " — " Farewell,
for ever, oh earth ! for thy joys are but seeming ; farewell
all pleasure — though sweet, thy delights are but dreaming."
The first choir answers, " Ich halt ihn, ich halt ihn und will
ihn nicht lassen ! " — " I held Him, and would not let Him
go," — and thus at last they are united in broadly developed
harmony. Another motett resembles a dramatised church-
cantata of Hammerschmidt's in poetic aim, and partially in
its plan, and may indeed have been suggested by it. It is the
Dialogue between the Angel and the Shepherds on Christmas
night (Hammerschmidt, Musikalische Gesprache, Part I.,
No. 5.) This master makes the angel announce the joyful
event of Christ's birth with the accompaniment of the organ
and two small cornets, which announcement is interrupted
by the chorus of the shepherds with their joyful excla-
mations. Then the shepherds receive the command to go
to Bethlehem, where they arrive and worship the Christ-
ANONYMOUS MOTETTS.
57
child in the words of Luther's Hymn, "Merk auf, mein
Herz, und sieh dort hin" — "Ponder, my heart, and gaze
herein," — interrupted again and again by the arousing
summons of the angel; and they conclude with the hymn
" Ehre sei Gott in der Hohe "— " Glory to God in the
highest." The composer of the motett begins with the
chorus of the astonished shepherds, "Ach Gott, was fur
ein heller Glanz Erschreckt uns arme Hirten ganz" — "O
Lord, a wondrous shining light Fills us poor shepherds
with affright," — and the clear soprano voice of the angel
comes in at intervals with the words "Fiirchtet euch nicht"
— " Be not afraid," — and goes on with the subjoined joyful
cry of the chorus, which reminds us of Hammerschmidt —
Sie - he ich ver - kun - di - ge euch,
sie - - he ich ver
1 — &-^
.. J 1 j
_J J-J-l
f3
1 III
Gro - sse, gro-sse Freu - de
J. j J
i 1 ' /~> try
— "Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy." Angel
and chorus answer one another for a time, and then unite
in a lively fugato, " Die allem Volk widerfahren wird " —
"Which shall be to all people," — until it ends in a 3-4
arioso movement, " Denn euch ist heute der Heiland
geboren " — " For unto you is born this day a Saviour."
That the words of the angel are, in the course of the
movement, unhesitatingly given without any alteration to
the chorus, is suitable to the declamatory style, since all
that is demanded of it is to indicate the event in the
merest outlines, so that the music may go on its own way
without restrictions.89
At last the motett overpowers the chorale in such a way
89 The three motetts quoted as examples are taken from a volume of old
compositions of the kind, which I acquired years ago from a village-cantor of
Thuringia. It contains a great number of good pieces of this kind, of the
end of the seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth centuries, besides much
of a more modern date. Unfortunately the names of the composers are hardly
ever given, so that possibly some of them may be attributed to Michael Bach.
58 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
as to disconnect the individual lines of the melody, distri-
buting and repeating it between the choruses and the solos,
playing round some of the sections in the manner of variations,
or using it for little imitations, and so step by step dissecting
the whole.
Hammerschmidt has treated the last verse of the hymn
"Wie schon leucht'tuns der Morgenstern" — "How brightly
shines the morning star " — in this way for double chorus,
and indeed in an excellent manner in the fourth part of his
Musikalischer Andachten geistlicher Motetten und Con-
certe (G. Beuther, Freiberg, 1646), under No. XXII.; by
the addition of a figured-bass, which strictly follows the lowest
voice, the accompaniment of the organ is expressly allowed.
The first and higher choir begins by delivering the two
first lines in 3-1 time, the second line being already treated
in imitation and prolonged by a bar ; then the other choir,
consisting of the lower voices, takes it up, but extends the
second line by imitations from the original four bars to eight ;
the first line is then thrown from one choir to the other
several times, during which they deviate into other keys;
the second line is repeated, and they unite and con-
clude with the third line in eight parts. The whole first
section is then repeated exactly as it is in the hymn. The
second section begins with the words "Amen, amen!
Komm, du schone Freudenkrone," &c. — "Come, thou
fairest crown of gladness," — in a still richer and more
varied form, flowing on in the last line with massive
grandeur in an artistic and effective eight-part progress,
such as from the middle of the century became rarer in the
German composers.90 If we add, moreover, that the com-
posers sometimes appended a sacred aria for several voices
to the motett as a kind of coda ; nay, that even Hammer-
schmidt once called a collection of songs for one and two
voices, with accompaniment," motetts," our opinion — namely,
•° An attentive examination should be made of the beautiful motett treated in
the same way, for double chorus, in this collection (No. XXL), on the chorale
" Ich hab mein Sach Gott heimgestellt " — "I have consigned my care to
God." Michael Bach also set the last verse of the same hymn at the end of
his motett, " Unser Leben ist ein Schatten "— " Earthly life is but a shadow."
HISTORY OF THE MOTETT. 59
that the motett always admitted of accompaniment — would
seem to be supported by a concurrence of evidence of the
most various kinds. But the form of the motett became
by this means a very uncertain one, and when, at the
beginning of the eighteenth century, the definitions of
Opera, Oratorio, and Sacred Cantata were established,
and the art of organ-playing reached its full development,
it almost entirely lost its distinguishing characteristics.
It carried on an apparent and nominal existence, decked
out by further loans from instrumental music and the
church - cantata, and sometimes wholly coalescing with
the sacred aria. Had the composers understood how to
do anything more with this form, there was special oppor-
tunity for it in Thuringia, where the choirs of proces-
sional singers have shown signs of vitality even in the
present century, and where we might expect to find the
proper refuge of the motett, even when the impertinent
temerity of the musical world presumed to mock at it as a
stage they had left behind.91 It was here also that the
independent songs for two or three solo voices were intro-
duced into the motett. But its time was past. Only
Sebastian Bach could still create anything really original
and powerful in this branch of music, and yet the full
majesty of his motetts can only be appreciated when accom-
panied by instruments, and especially the organ ; without
such an accompaniment, it is only a very admirable per-
formance that can make them appear otherwise than deficient
in style.
Of the motetts of Michael Bach twelve have been col-
lected. Much that was in the possession of his great-
nephew, Philipp Emanuel, consisting of sacred arias, for solo
or for several voices, has not yet come to light again; but, on
the other hand, five pieces have been found which were not
91 F. E. Niedt, Musikalische Handleitung, Part III., edited by Mattheson,
(Hamburg, 1717), p. 34 : "I leave the explanation of the motetts to those
Thuringian peasants who have inherited them from Hammerschmidt's time,
just as the Altenburg peasant girl inherits her boots from her ancestors, or the
Spaniards their short cloaks.'1
60 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
known to Philipp Emanuel.92 Only two of these are without
chorales. The one, " Sei nun wieder zufrieden, meine
Seele " — " Now again be thou joyful, O my spirit," — in A
minor and in common time, is for double chorus with organ
accompaniment,98 and is one of the less successful works of
the composer. A number of clever details cannot blind us
to the planless and restless character of the whole, nor com-
pensate for the monotonousness of a persistent homophony.
Bach has followed his text sentence by sentence. This pro-
ceeding was endurable in the polyphonic style of composition
of previous centuries, when the artistic entwining of inde-
pendent or imitative parts satisfied the demands of art, for
unity in variety, by placing them side by side rather than
one after another. But the more homophonic a compo-
sition is, the more must it satisfy our craving for coherence
and harmony, by symmetry in the length of the phrases and
by attention to the due connection of the keys, particularly
in a work of purely lyrical nature, such as that lying before
us. The incoherence of the structure naturally spoils the
noble and devout fundamental feeling which the composer
evidently wished to give to the whole. Hammerschmidt
succeeded in producing a work much more in accordance
with the rules of art to the same words (Part IV. of his
Musikalischer Andachten, No. 4), of which the end reminds
us of Bach, and which was certainly known to him.
The second, a six-part motett in D major, common time, is
designed for New Year's Day. The manuscript, which has
M These hitherto unrecovered compositions are, according to the catalogue of
the musical legacy of P. E. Bach, in the Royal Library of Berlin, as follows :
" Auf lasst uns den Herrn loben," for alto and four instruments. " Nun ist alles
iiberwunden," an aria for four voices (Arnstadt, 1686). "Weint nicht um meinen
Tod," ao aria for four voices, 1699. " Die Furcht<les Herrn," &c., for nine voices
and five instruments. In the three last the composer is not named, but by the
arrangement of the catalogue they appear to be by Michael Bach. Two other
anonymous compositions will be mentioned below.
93 So it is, at least, in the edition of F. Naue (Neun Motetten fur Singchore
von Johann Christoph Bach und Johann Michael Bach [in three books] ;
Leipzig, Friedr. Hofmeister. Book I., No. 3), according to a version unknown to
:ne. In the archives of the Bach family it was arranged with four accompanying
instruments, supposing it to be identical with an anonymous motett included in
'hat on the same text.
MICHAEL BACH'S MOTETTS.
6l
been preserved, has a notice to the effect that the parts for it
were to be written in E flat major.94 Thence it follows, as
indeed is probable from the character of the piece, that it was
to be accompanied by instruments (probably strings) as well
as by the organ. The pitch of the organ differed from that of
the instruments by a semitone, so that its D was really E flat.
For the chorus it was, of course, a matter of indifference
what the signature of the parts might be, since the pitch
by which the lead was regulated was given by others ; but
this was not the case with the instruments, which, according
to the custom of the time, had to play from the copies of the
singers. The construction of this motett, which sparkles
throughout with festal brightness, is homogeneous. It con-
tains seventy-four bars, and is divided into two prin-
cipal sections, the last of which is repeated, whereby a
feeling of roundness is given. Contrapuntal combinations
are not exhibited here, but a few charming effects of sound
are employed in preference : in the first place, the con-
trast of a bright soprano solo voice, supported only by a
viola, with the full colouring of a deep body of sound, for
four-part chorus ; then an interesting movement of the upper
parts in arpeggio style, of which the full value is brought out
by the conjunction of the strings, while the lower voice pro-
ceeds in a joyful passage of semiquavers.
Lobt ihn mil vol- len, vol - len Cho - ren, mit vol - len, vol • len
Lobt ihn mit vol
len, vol
vol - len Cho - ren. (repeated in a lower position, and then with all the voices.)
^
len Cho - ren.
94 The collection of ninety-three motetts (in score) of the beginning of the last
century, in the Royal Library at Ki/nigsberg (13,661), No. 37. The title says
" In Stimmen ex Dis" (in the parts D sharp), as E flat was still called until the
beginning of this century. Similar notices are also found in other pieces.
62 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
The echo-like alternation of forte and piano introduced at
the close — an effect of very frequent occurrence in the motett
of the time — betrays the influence of the organ-style ; it is
not founded on the nature of the human voice, which is
capable of the greatest variety of gradations of tone.
The ten motetts that are interwoven with chorales are
more developed. First comes a five-part composition with
organ, on the words from Job : " Ich weiss, dass mein
Erloser lebt " — " I know that my Redeemer liveth," — after
which the chorale" Christus der ist mein Leben " — "Christ,
who is my life " — enters in the soprano part.95 For these
ideas Bach had deeply affecting tones at his command. The
four lower voices are alone for the first sixteen bars of the
movement, which consists in all of only forty-one bars (in
G major, common time), the alto, which has the melody,
surprising us by its rapturous intensity of expression, the
free individuality of which is enhanced by the fact that
instead of two phrases of two bars each, which would have
resulted from a naturally simple declamation, here three bars
are contrasted with three bars. The passage to the words
" Und er wird mich hernach aus der Erden wieder aufer-
wecken " — " And He will wake me again from the earth " —
(according to the Lutheran version), ascending and sinking
again with such deep feeling, reminds us of the most beauti-
ful things that ever came from the imagination of Johann
Christoph, his elder brother. At the seventeenth bar the
chorale comes in almost imperceptibly, and moves quietly in
minims above the lower parts, which have more movement,
and which several times, especially in the pauses, soar upwards
with longing to the words " Denselben werde ich mir sehen" —
" Whom I shall see for myself." A certain harmonic com-
bination in great favour with Michael Bach is used here
several times with striking effect, namely, the chord of 4 , the
fourth being suspended and its resolution delayed. It must
be admitted, however, that this work is far from absolute
perfection. The melodic progression which is indispensable
in homophonic writing is wanting in the inner parts;
Naue, B. I., No. 2.
MICHAEL BACH'S MOTETTS. 63
the tenors remind us of the two viola parts in the five-part
disposition of the strings then in vogue, which were only
put there to complete the harmonies. It is very awkward
when a part, in order to avoid a false progression, suddenly
pauses for a whole crotchet-beat, as in bar twenty-three; the
obviousness of its purpose makes it all the worse. Moreover,
it is not without falsities of intervals : the consecutive fifths
in bar thirty-seven, between the bass and second tenor,
may indeed easily be altered, but instances of the same
kind appear too often in the works of others — nay, even of
the most celebrated composers of the time, e.g., Pachelbel
and Erlebach — for us to suppose that it did not come from
the hand of the composer himself.96 One principal reason
for such licences has been given above. The following
generation certainly strove after greater severity ; but in the
development of great vocal and instrumental masses even
Handel and Bach were sometimes self-indulgent.
Another essential deficiency is that the musical contrast
between the four-part chorus set to the Bible words and the
chorale-melody is not preserved enough. Hence, as both fac-
tors are associated, hardly any contrast is discernible but that
between the different rhythms of the two sets of words, which
of course demand different rhythmical treatment; besides,
the lower parts are properly nothing but the meagre har-
monic basis of the chorale. We might almost think that
the artist had cared by preference for the poetic duality,
which certainly can greatly intensify the sentiment even by
the simplest combination, because the individual feeling
kindled by the Bible words flows in unison with the devo-
tional and congregational feeling. But this assumption is
not altogether safe, for though at that time poetic contrasts
were in great favour, it was because the musical technique was
hardly equal to any better solution of such problems. Contra-
puntal dexterity among the Germans in the latter half of the
seventeenth century was on an average very small, and it is
96 Even Heinrich Schiitz did not hesitate sometimes to introduce consecutive
octaves in music for many voices: e.g., the fourth bar of the six-part motett,
" Selig sind die Todten " — " Blest are the departed " Between the second
soprano and second tenor.
64 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
a great mistake to imagine the composers before Bach and
Handel as absorbed in those learned intricacies of art, into
which these two masters were the first to breathe a real
vitality. In this respect they had little to learn from
their predecessors. It was otherwise in Italy, where the
traditions of the great vocal writers of the sixteenth century
had never been cast off, where the transition to the new tone-
system proceeded very gradually, and the requirements of the
church services, as well as the natural bias of the nation,
gave no rest to the incessant elaboration of broad and highly
artistic vocal forms, until after the middle of the eighteenth
century. It was in this that Handel laid the foundations of his
contrapuntal supremacy ; while Bach acquired his through
organ music, which was already perceptibly showing signs of
life, though it was left for him to bring it to full maturity,
and then to transfer it to vocal music blended with instru-
ments. If Johann Christoph Bach has done anything of
great excellence in the form of the chorale-motett, it is, as
we shall soon see, a sign of surpassing talent on the part
of himself alone. Amongst a very complete selection of com-
positions of that style and date, which I have seen, there is
not a single one which surpasses Michael Bach in contra-
puntal treatment, and indeed all the other defects that might
be mentioned do not attach solely to him.
But the striking expression which insures for the last-
named motett its full effect, even in the present day, belongs
to him alone. He was, indeed, not altogether a complete
master, but an artist-soul, full of deep feeling and lofty divi-
nation.97
Greater praise is due to the motett "Das Blut Jesu
Christi, des Sohnes Gottes, machet uns rein von alien
Siinden"— "The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth
us from all sin," — with the chorale verse "Dein Blut der
edle Saft" — "Thy blood, the precious wine," — from Johann
Heermann's hymn, " Wo soil ich fliehen bin," for five
97 C. von Winterfeld thinks he finds an affinity, of which, however, I can dis-
cover no trace, between Michael Bach's motett, " Ich weiss dass mein Erloser
lebt," and a similar one by Melchior Frank. (See Evangelischer Kirchengesang
III., 430.)
MICHAEL BACH'S MOTETTS. 65
voices in F major, common time, containing eighty-three bars
on a similar plan to the foregoing.98 The chorus of the four
lower parts is less syllabic, and richer in counterpoint, and
the separate parts flow more melodiously ; towards the end
we find increasing passion, and a repetition of the two last
lines of the chorale, whereby the whole is satisfactorily
finished and rounded off. The development of subject, which
would give the chorus unity in itself, is very slight, it is true ;
the organism of the whole has not yet risen to full existence.
But the deep feeling of the composition overcomes us with
irresistible power, and one forgets the imperfection of the
body in the beauty of the soul which shines through.
A work in five parts, to words that have been often set,
and in particular have been used for a very beautiful
motett by Wolfgang Briegel, " Whom have I in heaven
but Thee, &c.," — in B flat major, in 3-4 time, 125 bars in
length, offers an example of thoughtful, artistic considera-
tion." To this and the following verse of the Psalm Bach
has added five verses of the hymn "Ach Gott, wie manches
Herzeleid" — " Ah, God! how many pangs of heart," — in the
manner of the former motetts, and in such a way that
in the course of the piece the contrast, poetical as well
as musical, between the upper and lower voices vanishes
more and more, and at the end all are at last united in the
last verse of the hymn, " Erhalt mein Herz im Glauben
rein" — "Keep Thou my heart in faith unsoiled." The
previous verses are arranged in this order: 13, 5, 6, 15.
The four-part chorus is at first as independent as possible,
with energetic declamation, adorned with different melodic
98 Naue, Book II., No. 5. He has added a figured-bass, which is not indicated
in the catalogue of P. E. Bach's musical legacy. The date is here, 1699, which,
unless it is a mistake of the transcriber's or printer's, must only mean the year
in which the copy was made, for the composer was dead at that time. This
circumstance considerably takes away from the authority of the dates which
are affixed in the catalogue to the other compositions.
99 Naue, Book II., No. 6, with a figured-bass, which is absent in the index of
the Bach archives. Briegel's motett, which is quite unlike it, has been newly
edited by Fr. Commer, in his Geistliche und weltliche Lieder aus dem XVI.-
XVII. Jahrhundert (published by Trautwein, in Berlin), pp. 80-85.
F
66 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
modifications, indicating already, by some most expressive
entwinings of the inner parts, that breath of ecstasy which
often breaks forth in so overwhelming a manner in the
Chorale hymns of Sebastian Bach ; and even some subject
developments are attempted. At the fifty-sixth bar a change
takes place. The words of the Psalm come in : " My flesh
and my heart faileth ; but God is the strength of my heart,
and my portion for ever " : then comes the simple paraphrase
of the hymn, "Ob mir gleich Leib und Seel verschmacht, so
weisst du, Herr, dass ichs nicht acht," &c.
Six bars before the entry of the chorale the first bar of it
is gone through in the other parts and worked as a separate
subject, as if for a prelude —
Chorale. , .
Ob mir gleich Leib und . . Seel . . verschmacht,
Treated as separate theme.
wenn mir gleich Leib, wenn mir glrich Leib, gleich
i i.
wenn mir gleich Leib, wenn mir gleich
and is carried on with imitations. A similar passage occurs
before the entrance of the fifteenth verse, which follows next;
then the alto melts away gradually from its own independent
movement quite into the chorale,100 the rhythmic unity be-
comes greater, until at last the Bible words end altogether.
The whole of the last verse is taken in a quicker and more
joyful tempo, and thus the subjective expression is altogether
swallowed up in the more general feeling of the hymn.
Here we perceive an undoubted germ of the spirit of Sebastian
Bach, a presage of his inexhaustible art in the poetic treat-
ment of the chorale. But the imitations which prepare for
100 The same thing happened before at bar thirteen, but in that place from a
want of skill. The lower harmonising, too, of bars eleven and twelve (and the
corresponding bars thirty-six and thirty-seven) betray an imperfectly cultivated
taste.
MICHAEL BACH'S MOTETTS. 67
the first bar oi the melody are exactly like Michael Bach's
chorale arrangements for the organ ; under suitable poetic
influence he has transferred to vocal music the same method
which he had practised in them.
Four motetts for double chorus are worked out on the
equally balanced resources of the contrast offered by
chorale and Bible words. Two of them are alike even
in the details of the plan, and the third agrees in all
essential points: all three are in E minor and in common
time. The deeper four-part choir begins homophonically
with the words from the Bible, and then the chorale
enters, the spaces between its lines being occupied by the
second choir. Two verses are gone through in this manner,
and then both choirs unite in harmony of from five to
seven parts, in such a way that the lower choir repeats the
last note of each line like an echo. The poetic combination
in one case consists of Hornigk's hymn, "Mein Wallfahrt
ich vollendet nab " — " My pilgrimage is at an end," — verses
i, 3, 6, with the words from the New Testament, " It
is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judg-
ment. . . . The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." In the second
case, the words are taken from verses i, 4, and 5 of Johann
Franck's "Jesu meine Freude " — "Jesu, my joy," — and
the text " Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take
thy crown . . . and be thou faithful unto death, and thou
shalt receive a goodly inheritance and a crown from the hand
of the Lord "; and lastly, in the third case, the words are
from verses i, 6, and 5 of Flitner's hymn, " Ach was soil ich
Sunder machen " — "Ah ! what shall I, a sinner, do ? " — and
the scripture passage, "Thou, which hast shewed me great
and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again. The Lord will
not always chide, but He will repent and have mercy upon
us according to His great goodness." The fourth is formed
on a somewhat different model (in C major, common time,
115 bars long). It has the same contrast as its motive, but
it is only employed for one verse, and then the first choir is
drawn into sympathy with the freer treatment of the second,
so that in this case it comes to pass, as very seldom happens,
F 2
68 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
that the sentiment is changed from the congregational to the
personal devout feeling — from objective to subjective. And
this tendency is indicated from the beginning. The touching
and beautiful death-chorale, " Ach wie sehnlich wart ich der
Zeit, wenn du, Herr, kommen wirst " — " Ohow long I for the
time when Thou, O Lord, shalt come" — acquired no extensive
popularity as a congregational hymn, possibly only by reason
of its entirely subjective stamp. Michael Bach harmonises it
in a plain, and even childish, but unspeakably touching way.
In the last verse the individual feeling bursts its bonds in
the recurring sigh, which seems to long for death, "O komm!
o komm ! o komm und hole mich ! " — " O come, O come, O
come and fetch me ! " And now both choirs ascend and
compete with each other on the cry " Herr, ich warte auf
dein Heil" — "Lord, I wait for Thy salvation," — and come
back at last to the final line of the hymn, to expire in
beatific peace. This is probably the finest of all Michael
Bach's motetts.101
The process is almost reversed in another motett for
double chorus, for Christmas (in G major, common time,
seventy-three bars long). The choirs unite in the angel's
words, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of
great joy," &c. Then all the altos, tenors, and basses have
a mysterious movement in four or five parts, "For unto you
is born this day a Saviour," — and at last the chorale
" Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ"— "All praise to Thee, Lord
Jesus Christ," — is added in the soprano like a flash of light.
Round this the other voices gather, in fresh, if not very
broadly treated counterpoint.102
The motett for double chorus, "Nun hab ichiiberwunden" —
101 In the Amalien- Library in the Joachimsthal at Berlin. Vol. 116, last piece:
Vol. 326, last piece: Vol. 116, last piece but two: ditto, last piece but one.
The first and fourth motetts have a figured-bass. The entry in the catalogue
of the Bach archives is: "Ach wie sehnlich, &c. Fur den Discant, 5 Instru-
mente und Fundament von Johann Michael Bach." I think that our fourth
motett is intended by this notice, considering the carelessness with which the
index is made. The expression " 5 Instrumente und Fundament " is strange
and suspicious.
102 Amalien-Library, Vol. 90, first piece. Without figured-bass.
MICHAEL BACH'S MOTETTS. 69
" Now I have conquered," — (in G major, common time, ninety-
two bars long),103 is characterised by the extension and
ornamentation of a chorale-verse by means of the full body
of the chorus. That the composer knew Hammerschmidt's
arrangement of " Wie schon leucht't uns der Morgenstern "
above mentioned, and set it before him as his model, is
probable from external and internal considerations. Ham-
merschmidt's works were widely known, and, as has been
already said, existed in the choir library of the Oberkirche
at Arnstadt. This very piece has what the others have
not — in the figured-bass part direction-marks carefully
written in with red ink, besides other proofs of the closest
study, for the bars have been counted and their sum noted
down at the end. In structure Bach's motett shows an
affinity with the older master, particularly in the taking
up of the chorale verses, which continually modulate into
different keys, by each choir alternately; on the other
hand the close is quite different. It is again the lovely
melody of Melchior Vulpius, to the no less fervent hymn
" Christus der ist mein Leben," that Bach chooses for
treatment, here taking the third verse of the hymn.
The piece, both as a whole and in detail, is one of the
best which have been preserved of this gifted composer.
Exception may, indeed, be taken to the declamatory opening
(Choir I., " Nun ! " Choir II., " Nun ! " Choir L, " Nun, nun,
nun, nun ! " Choir II., ditto) : these isolated cries are calcu-
lated to increase the musical interest rather than to raise
the verbal sense, and the composers of that time were very
fond of beginning their motetts in this manner.104 The
103 Naue, Book III., No. 8. A figured-bass is added, of which the Bach
archives say nothing. According to them the motett was written in 1679,
when Michael Bach was thirty-one years old and Organist at Gehren.
104 E.g., " Ich ! ich ! ich ! ich will den Namen Gottes loben " (I will praise
God's name), or "Uns! uns! uns! uns ist ein Kind geboren " (Unto us a
Child is born), and others. Sebastian Bach, when, true to his family traditions,
he began one of his earlier cantatas " Ich ! ich ! ich ! ich hatte viel Bekum-
merniss" (translated, in Novello's edition, "Lord! Lord! Lord ! my spirit was
in heaviness," literally, I, I, I, I was in deepest heaviness), incurred
Mattheson's scorn.
70 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
feeling of happy confidence is given by the music, which
rises occasionally to the most joyful and martial courage,
particularly in the energetic and intermittent cries, " Kreuz!
Kreuz, Leiden! Kreuz, Leiden, Angst und Noth ! "— "The
cross, the cross ! sorrows, sufferings, trouble, and fear ! " —
where we are reminded of the bold challenges in the fifth
number of Sebastian Bach's motett "Jesu meine Freude!"
— "Jesu, my joy." When the whole verse is finished
the two choirs coalesce in a simpler form, and the melody
comes in as a cantus firmus in semibreves in the soprano
part, while the other voices have a more artistically worked
counterpoint than we are accustomed to in Michael Bach;
the counterpoint in the first line is actually formed from the
fourfold diminution of the melody itself, and in the other
lines the formation of real subjects which imitate one
another is attempted.
A last and most remarkable work still remains to be
noticed, in outward form the longest and in inward cha-
racter the most varied.105 This is also for double chorus,
but now six parts (two sopranos, alto, two tenors, and
bass) are placed in antithesis to three (alto, tenor, and
bass). The six-part choir starts (in C major, common time)
sternly and gravely with the first two words of the passage,
" Unser Leben ist ein Schatten auf Erden " — " Life on
earth is but a shadow." After six bars the voices are
suddenly seized with an anxious haste ; the first soprano
glides upward with this flying figure —
t
Un - ser Le - ben ist ein Schat
a pause, in which there is a long drawn wail in the alto ;
then the restless passage again ; now it vanishes away in an
inner part, like a ghost — one expects to see unsubstantial
cloud-shadows hurrying over a mountain steep. Then the
105 Naue, Book III., No. 7. In the catalogue of Ph. Em. Bach's legacy
the date is 1696. As Michael Bach died in 1694, this cannot refer to the time
of composition.
MICHAEL BACH'S MOTETfS.
whole choir begin a perplexing whirling dance, first of quavers,
then of quavers and semiquavers together, as when an autumn
wind whirls up the dry leaves ; now they dance in the air,
now again on the ground, then on high again ; then all is
still and in the interval the death-knells are heard; again
the ghostly passage glides before our sight, and once more
come the dismal chords of mourning.
Un - ser Le -ben ist ein Schat
3=1=*^^
Un-ser Le-ben ist ein Schat - ten, ein Schat- ten, ein
Un - ser Le -ben ist ein Schat - ten, ein Schat- ten, ein
ten, einSchatten, em Schat
Schat-ten, ein Schatten,
Schatten
auf Er - den,
Who does not feel in this fantastic picture the romantic
spirit of Sebastian Bach? Now, for the first time, the other
chorus enters with the fourth and fifth verses of the ehorale
"Ach was soil ich Sunder machen," the peaceful flow of
which is twice disturbed by the intervention of the first
choir; its spiritual meaning culminates in the words " Und
weiss, dass im finstern Grabe Jesus ist mein helles Licht,
meinen Jesum lass ich nicht" — "And know that Christ my
way shall lighten, In the grave where all is dim, I will trust and
cleave to Him." As if for the confirmation of this trust, the
words of Christ Himself are heard in the first choir in three
parts, "I am the Resurrection and the Life," — lasting for
twenty-seven bars; and the second choir answers confidently,
72 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
"Weil du vom Tod erstanden bist, werd ich im Grab nicht
bleiben" — "Since Thou art risen from the dead, the grave
can never hold me," — interrupted by corroborating phrases
from the first choir, which is again in six parts. But we
shall be mistaken if we think that the motett closes with
this peaceful consummation. Deep down in the composer's
mind lingers the gloomy picture of universal human mor-
tality. Accordingly the affecting chorale begins again in full
harmonies: " Ach wie nichtig, ach wie fliichtig ist der
Menschen Leben! " leading up to a marvellous end :
Ach Herr, lehr uns bedenken wohl,
Dass wir sind sterblich allzumal,
Auch wir allhier keins Bleibens han,
Miissen alle davon,
Gelehrt, reich, Jung, alt oder schon.
O teach us, Lord, to bear in mind
That we may die at any hour.
Here we have no abiding place,
We must all pass away,
The wise, rich, fair, old, or gay.
The sad melody is given to two high soprano parts in
thirds, which are followed by the lower voices, and three
lines are treated in this impressive way, "dividing the bones
and marrow." With the fourth line a fearful haste seems to
thrill through the whole body of the chorus; they crowd
together anxiously, like the souls on the brink of Acheron ;
"Davon, davon!" — "Away, away!" — is murmured through
the ranks, " Davon !" resounds from the depths, " Davon !"
is repeated by the two sopranos as they vanish in the
twilight.
In this motett Michael Bach, as usual, not seldom
came in execution far behind his intentions. It was left
for another of his race to bring to perfection that of which
he only had an indistinct perception ; but possibly a still
higher place among the masters of his craft might have been
allotted to him had he not in the flower of his years fallen a
victim to that universal destiny whose tragic element he had
so deeply felt in art. But one thing is very remarkable in this
JOH. CtfRlSTOPH BACH'S WORK. 73
composition, that it is almost entirely cast in the mould of
the church-cantata ; just as, on the other hand, the single
existing church-cantata of this writer bears upon it the
stamp of the motett. The Church Cantata sprang indeed
from a juxtaposition of separate passages of scripture and ot
verses from congregational or devotional hymns. Until the
year 1700 this form alone predominated, and we shall pro-
ceed later on to discuss .what had been already done in
this way before Sebastian Bach developed it to its fullest
perfection. It was after that date that recitative and the
Italian form of aria began to be introduced into it, and it is
well known how the cantata thus enriched owed its greatest
improvements to Sebastian Bach. We see plainly, even in
Michael Bach, how, in the music of the latter half of the
seventeenth century, the most widely differing germs lay
close to one another, soon to grow apart according to their
individual tendencies. He was one of those phenomena
that are wont to appear as the heralds of a new era in art,
round whom the breath of spring seems to hover, and who
make amends for what they cannot themselves perform by
that which they foreshadow.
But the elder brother, Johann Christoph Bach, to whom
we must readily grant the place of a master in concerted
choral music, also left us a series of specimens in the motett
form. Although it is true that unconditional perfection is
impossible to man, still there is this standard for " master-
ship," qualified as it must ever be : Whether the artist can
perfectly assimilate with his own conceptions the sum total
of the ideas and means called forth by the requirements of
his time, and can satisfy those demands of art which remain
at all times valid. In the motett it was needful to combine
into a higher unity a multitude of disconnected factors ; to
turn to account the acquisitions of instrumental music, but
with such moderation that only a tempering gleam should be
cast by them on the smooth surface of pure vocal music ; to
recognise the harmonic tone-system, but with constant re-
gard to the fact that the motett form had its roots in the
polyphonic system of past centuries; at every moment to
refer the movement of the choral masses to the guidance of
74 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
the melody which soared above them, and yet not to forget
that those inferior parts are individuals with a right to a
progression of their own. It was needful to form that musi-
cal system which, by means of a law only to be tested by
feeling, interweaves the severally divided parts into a rational
whole, and, at the same time, to make due allowance for
the reasonable demands of the co-operating poem. And, be-
fore all else, the task was to gain for that subjective warmth
and intensity of feeling which is the art-characteristic of the
time, and which appears touchingly, if not very powerfully,
in its devotional poetry — to gain for this its due place in the
province which was particularly its own, without overstep-
ping that fine and fluctuating line which separates individual
feeling from general precision. All these requirements,
which to this day continue paramount in sacred vocal com-
position, were then new ; and though their fulfilment seems,
in some ways, still harder nowadays, when musical material
has so vastly increased — for few, indeed, succeed in moving
with artistic freedom in the narrow domain of vocal music —
on the other hand this is rendered easier by the amount of
experience which has been collected.
But that Job. Christoph Bach completely solved this prob-
lem no intelligent person can doubt ; his motetts seem as
though they might have been written yesterday. He bears
the same relation both in this and in his compositions in
the oratorio style to his predecessor, Hammerschmidt, as
the latter for his part does to Schiitz. Not one of them
could have been what he is without his predecessor, and each
one in his turn took a step in advance ; so much so that in
the motett Job. Christoph Bach seems to have reached a
height beyond which even Sebastian could not go, excepting
by building up a towering edifice of art ; while the Oratorio,
the Passion Music, and the Church Cantata did not reach
perfection till a generation later, although they presuppose
the existence of such remarkable men as this Eisenach
master was in his way. If this great master was taken
little heed of and quickly forgotten, this is explained by
saying that the highest goal which the artistic spirit of
the age pursued with quick and happy success was not the
HIS EIGHT MOTETTS. 75
motett form. Indeed it could not be, depending as it did
on such manifold compromises. That, however, ought not
to prevent historical investigation from assigning to him
his due position in the development of art, from lament-
ing the disappearance of the greatest number of the com-
positions of this master, or from placing the few that
remain in the right light as a genuine monument of native
art.
In the musical legacy of Sebastian Bach's second son,
so frequently alluded to, were seven motetts by Job.
Christoph Bach, or rather eight, since we can with
tolerable certainty ascribe one without a name to him;106
of these four are lost, not for ever it is to be hoped.107 Five
more motetts have been preserved in other ways, and are
well known. After the oratorio-like composition already
alluded to has been deducted, there remain eight motetts,
a still smaller sum total than in the case of Johann Michael.
Their internal importance is, indeed, quite different.
First, two small and simple motetts are to be considered,
each in five parts, consisting of a moderately long chorus
followed by an aria of several verses.108 The one has for
its subject the text, "Man that is born of a woman is of few
days and full of trouble." Job, xiv. I. It belongs to the
same category as Michael Bach's " Unser Leben ist ein
Schatten," and, although less full of fancy is full of deep
feeling. A weary, mournful tone pervades the first move-
ment, which is twenty-two bars long. It begins thus : —
108 This last is the motett in four parts with a figured-bass, '• Ich lasse dich
nicht " — " I will not let Thee go," — which can be no other than the end of the
original work of Joh. Christoph's for double chorus, " Ich lasse dich nicht, du
segnest mich denn" — " I will not let Thee go except Thou bless me," — which
we shall speak of later on.
107 These are, according to the catalogue, " Meine Freundin, du bist sch»n,"
a wedding-song in twelve parts. " Mit Weinen hebt sichs," in four parts with
fundamental bass, 1691. "Ach, dass ich Wassers genug," for alto solo with
accompaniment of one violin, three viol di gambas, and bass. " Es ist nun aus,"
a death-song in four parts.
IDS Preserved in an old MS. in the possession of Herr Steinhauser, Organist
of Miihlhausen, in Thuringia.
76
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
c
Der Mensch, . . vom Wei- be ge - bo - ren, lebt ei - ne kur - ze
1?—
Der Mcnsch,
vom Wei- be ge - bo - ren, lebt ei - ne kur - ze
=+=
k
— P —
Zeit,
lebt
ei
- ne.
kur - ze
Zeit.
?
1
Zeit,
lebt
f
- ne
4Hr
kur - ze
44* —
Zeit.
To the true motett movement succeeds a five-part aria, of
the same character, but of more expressive melody, of which
this is the first verse : —
Ach wie nichtig,
Ach wie fliichtig
1st das Leben,
So dem Menschen wird gegeben.
Kaum wenn er zur Welt geboren,
1st er schon zum Tod erkoren.
Ah how weary,
Brief but dreary,
Full of anguish
Are our days ! On earth we languish ;
Hardly are we born to sighing
Ere we are condemned to dying.
The two last lines recur as a burden after each of the five
verses. At the beginning of each verse, three times over, two
short ejaculations alternate with each other; to these the
composer has closely clung. The result is a phrase of three
and two bars, by which the character of weariness is inge-
niously stamped on the piece. I have not been able to
discover who was the writer of the hymn, which of course
JOH. CHRISTOPH BACH'S MOTETTS.
77
is quite distinct from Michael Franck's " Ach wie fltichtig, ach
wie nichtig."
The words in the Revelation ii. 10, " Sei getreu bis
in den Tod, so will ich dir die Krone des Lebens geben "
— " Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of
life," — are taken as the subject of the other motett. It begins
broadly and confidently : —
=§-«-
Sei ge - treu,
I I I
sei
I
treu,
I
Sei ge - treu,
Sei ge - treu,
i -4 f =
^
.J «
k
sei
J
- ' f
ge - treu,
*- sei
ge - treu !
^ J J"3 J
ILn
-*^fe
S"c^-r r
-f=
sei .
— F F —
. ge - treu !
sei
ge - treu,
treu!
At the words of the promise the motion becomes more
cheerful, and the opening phrase is repeated at the end : the
whole movement is only twenty bars long. The aria which
follows, " Halte fest und sei getreu " — " Be thou faithful, stand
thou firm," — consists of four verses ; its opening intentionally
reverts to the beginning of the first movement.
Both these motetts are undoubtedly early works by Joh.
Christoph. They have not the grand features and the breadth
of structure which mark all the other six, nor does the treat-
ment of the parts display the skill and smoothness which the
master subsequently succeeded in acquiring. Still we feel
in them the stirring of a peculiar and profoundly meditative
fancy; and this, the gift of his nationality, he trained under the
78 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
best masters, not merely at his father's instigation, but from
his own inclination as well; since we know that at an early
age he already held an official position, and was consequently
independent. Nor did he seek to learn only from the two
principal German masters: he went back to the masters from
whom they had learnt — the Italians. This is proved by his
incomparable superiority to his contemporaries as a skilful
contrapuntist, his more flowing and vocal treatment of the
inner parts, the lovely smoothness of his melodic ideas, and
his harmonic peculiarities, which must be directly referred to
the church music of about 1600, as, for instance, the suc-
cession of triads following each other over a descending bass
— a means of expression for which Hammerschmidt seems
to have had no predilection.
As we learn from the master himself, one of his six great
motetts, "Lieber Herr Gott, wecke uns auf"— "Lord God!
Lord God! wake thou us," — was composed by him at the age
of thirty.109 In this he proves himself already a ripe artist.
This beginning
with its beautifully accented melody and admirable declama-
tion, which so exactly hit the expression of fervent filial sup-
plication, could hardly have been invented by any one else.
Bach's motett has no resemblance whatever to Schiitz's
composition to the same words (Musicalia ad Chorum Sacrum,
No. XIII.). He must, of course, have known it, and may even
have derived the text directly from thence, for it is not
IOB The autograph in the Bach collection of the Royal Library at Berlin bears
the superscription " Motetta &. 8 Foe:1' at the emi is noted " 121 bars"; below
the stave in the right hand corner "Eisenach ao 1672, Xbris. Joh. Christo.
Bach org." Under the vocal parts is a figured-bass ; the writing is fine and
elegant, and the bars marked off with a ruler. This motett has been recently
published by Naue, Book II., No. 4.
JOM. CHRISTOPH BACH'S MOTETTS. 79
biblical but comes from some church prayer; but the sug-
gestion of his having borrowed from it must be altogether
dismissed.110 It is, nevertheless, interesting to note how,
within a quarter of a century, the style of the motett has
developed, how it has all become much more plastic and
pleasing, how the expression is much more clearly defined,
the phrasing more careful, and the progress of the whole
more flowing. Schiitz still clings, as is natural from his
historical position, in some degree to the traditions of the
past, particularly in the uninterrupted connection of the suc-
cessive ideas of the motett, while Bach, in full possession of
the new harmonic tone-system, can dispense with these
means in constructing a coherent whole, and proceeds by in-
dependent phrases. Such an arrangement must, of course,
be all the more prominent in a composition for double chorus,
because this depends essentially on the responsion of the two
bodies, and only expands to a simultaneous employment of
all the voices at each climax. After the second chorus has
repeated the three bars here given, 3-2 time is introduced, and
the composition proceeds in that measure through four
sections, to the words " Wecke uns auf, | dass wir bereit
sein, wenn dein Sohn kommt, | ihn mit Freuden zu
empfahen | und dir mit reinem Herzen zu dienen " — " Rouse
Thou us up | that, when Thy Son comes, we may be
glad | to receive Him with rejoicing, | and with pure hearts
to worship and serve Thee." The third of these is most
broadly worked out ; bar after bar, through thirty-five bars,
the body of sound flows up and down between the two
choruses, full of vigour and in a glorious stream of move-
ment, particularly in the bass parts, where the direct influence
of the Italians is again perceptible. And in the final fugue,
which returns to common time, a warm breath of southern
beauty seems to prevail, tempering and illuminating the bold
outline of a conspicuously artistic structure.
This is, besides, an interesting example of the fugue form
no Winterfeld, in his Ev. Kir. III., 429, seems to hint at something of the
kind. Schiitz's composition has been lately edited by Neithardt: Musica
Sacra, Vol. VII., No. 8. Bote and Bock, Berlin.
So JOHANK SfcfcAStlAN BACH.
as it was now becoming modified out of the old type. The
theme —
ir
i c
&c
durch den - sel - bi-gen dei - nen lie-ben Sohn, die
when we look at the whole movement, is evidently in the
modern key of G major ; the answer, however, does not follow
according to rule, by which the beat, G, in the first bar would
be answered by a D in the corresponding place in the re-
sponse ; but the composer copies the manner of the old school,
which attaches the principal importance to an exact corre-
spondence of the separate intervals, and consequently often
regards it as unnecessary to give prominence to the relations
between the tonic and the dominant. Hence, Bach does not
answer his theme thus —
te
durch
den
- sel
- bi-gen
=P fcr-
dei - nen
lie
- ben Sohn,|
but thus —
aEC-i= i J. JJ i J j=£
durch den- sel -bi-gen dei- nen lie -ben Sohn,
in the Mixolydian mode ; the old and the new schemes of har-
mony are here mingled to form a very remarkable tonality,
which prevails throughout the fugue, with its dependence on
the sub-dominant. The close treatment between the upper
voices is also in the old style; this is introduced quite
at the beginning, and at each return of the subject it is
repeated with a definite intention ; indeed throughout the
motett the principle of close imitation is mest ingeniously
worked out. The multiplicity of complete or half closes,
after which the elaboration begins afresh, are an indica-
tion of mere want of development; even the instrumental
fugues of that period are still cumbered with this imperfec-
tion, and it was precisely by his power of setting free an
unbroken stream of melody in the fugue, by constantly and
unexpectedly introducing the theme, and intermediate sub-
jects developed from it, that Sebastian Bach was to give
JOH. CHRISTOPH BACH S MOTEfTS. 8l
glorious proof of his genius, and fulfil the highest conceivable
requirements of the fugue.
To return to the artistic construction of the fugue now
in question, the theme is adapted not only to a threefold
stretto imitation, but in the first stretto (beginning on the
third crotchet of the first bar) to a double counterpoint
on the octave and tenth. In order to allow of all the
strettos being brought in, the composer in the course of
the piece has somewhat altered the theme, and the melodic
phrase of the second bar is taken down a third ; still the
identity of the theme is not in any way interfered with by
this remarkable evidence of episodical modification, while
the way is opened for a great richness of combinations.
This begins from bar twelve of the fugue, which is steadily
elaborated into closer and closer strettos ; it is brilliantly
conspicuous in the startling introduction of the theme in
counterpoint on the tenth, is confirmed by the majestic
doubling of the tenth between the bass and tenor of the
second chorus, ard flows on in richer and richer harmonies
of the whole eight parts to a half close in the twentieth
bar, on the dominant of E minor. Immediately the entrance
of the voices is repeated as at the beginning, but the simi-
larity is only apparent, because the recently modified form
of the theme is here employed, allowing of a different order
of modulation ; and the tones soon resolve themselves once
more in the splendid crescendo just described, repeating it
even more elaborately, and closing in grand fulness on bar
thirty-four.
The year of composition of another motett is also known
to us. It is on the words from the Book of Wisdom, iv.
7, 10, n, 13, and 14 — "But though the righteous be pre-
vented with death, yet shall he be in rest " — (five voices,
in F major). This, according to the testimony of Phil.
Emanuel Bach, is of the year 1676, and thus four years
later than the former one.111
»i The MSS. handed down by Ph. Em. Bach are in the Royal Library at Berlin.
The same musician has had the voice parts accompanied by stringed instru-
ments and the organ, as is proved by the instrumental parts prepared by his
G
82 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
The relationship to Italian music is here even closer, and
the evident resemblance with a beautiful motett by Giovanni
Gabrieli, " Sancta Maria succurre miseris" can hardly be
wholly accidental. The diatonically ascending motive in the
last movement in Bach — in Gabrieli from bar sixty-two (com-
pare also bars thirty-seven to thirty-nine) — point to a real
relationship; so again do figures such as bars eight to twenty
of Bach (twenty-four to twenty-seven of Gabrieli) with the
identity of key and similar points of agreement throughout
the piece; and finally — though this, to be sure, is less inde-
pendent evidence, but is supported by other resemblances —
the occurrence of the proportio tripla after the diminished
tempus imperfectum in Gabrieli and Bach alike.112 That the work
of the German master may, in spite of this, be extremely
original, need not be said, and that it is so this very com-
parison proves. A genius which is capable of filling in a grand
outline displays itself, as Bach has done, in illustrating each
portion of the text. The piece is at once so complete and so
ample, and contains such a wealth of contrasting details,
that the effect of the whole is equally soothing and ani-
mating. Unspeakably beautiful is the sentiment of the first
movement — the beatification of the righteous who, by an
early death, are snatched from all the ills and dangers of an
evil life, and have attained eternal peace; the softly falling
passages represent the departure of the righteous, with all
that figurative power of imagery which the composer so emi-
nently possessed. But it is not a weary drooping like that of
a withered flower ; the full and solemn tones sink like rain-
drops slowly falling and sparkling from the leaves in the last
evening gleam. The second subject is in strong contrast to
own hand. The composition has been published by Naue (Book I., i), with the
organ accompaniment; also by Neithardt, Musica Sacra, Vol. VII., No. 14.
It must be the same which was in the possession of Reichardt, and of which he
praises the power and boldness (vide Gerber N. L., Vol. I., col. 207).
118 The merit of having first pointed this out is due to Winterfeld (vide
Ev. Kir. The motett by Gabrieli (a Venetian), here spoken of is to be found
in Winterfeld's book, Gabrieli und sein Zeitalter. Berlin, Schlesinger, 1834;
III., 24-28. We must proceed carefully in finding resemblances at such
remote intervals of time; still in this case the observation seems to me to
be accurate.
JOH. CHRISTOPH BACH'S MOTETTS.
the holy peace of the first. It rises in joyful and stirring
passages, " Er gefallt Gott wohl und ist ihm lieb "— "He
pleased God, and was beloved of Him," — and it moves
steadily onwards through a whole series of various ideas
and musical images. Here again we have to admire the
expressive power of the composer who could with such
certainty reproduce the mental pictures suggested by the
words, as at a later period, and in a greater degree, was
done by Handel. Observe only the musical subject to the
words "Und wird hingerucket " — "Yea, speedily was he
taken away" ; how it soars straight up into heaven, and how
immediately afterwards the wickedness and perversity of
the world is stamped on the energetic succession of har-
monies, the suspensions and displacements of accent, and
after this distressful and sorrowful ganglion of harmonies,
the clear triads flash out, " He, being made perfect, in
a short time fulfilled a long time." And then comes the
perfect pacification of the wild and passionate turmoil in
the last movement, which flows on, broad, full, and perfect,
a river of gold. The motive which governs it throughout,
elaborately worked out, flowing from its source with ever
increasing fulness and depth, seems to rush from the dark
places of the earth towards regions of light : —
Da - rum ei - let er mit ihm aus de
jfc -&—^=*
!'<-» Da - rum ei
- let er mit ihm aus dem
M-j; Q
-•
' * — V r V* r \~
Da - rum ei - let er n
^-\-
lit
bo
ben,
G 2
84 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
— " Therefore hasted He to take him away from among the
wicked." It is borrowed from Gabrieli, but what with
him is only musical, in Bach's hands — and this was his
original gift — is poetical as well as musical.
If we take the term " romantic " — elastic as it has become
in its application — in its original meaning, and understand
by it a mixture of certain elements of a phase of culture,
complete in itself, with others which have a tendency to
overstep its limits and to reach a dimly perceived goal,
no word can better suit Joh. Christoph Bach, particularly
with regard to his scheme of key treatment. The old
church modes were sometimes combined by him with the
modern system of majors and minors in a quite indefinable
manner, and this gives rise to a series of broken lights,
a singular chiaroscuro, whence these motetts often derive
an undeniable family likeness to the productions of Schu-
bert and Schumann. Even the final fugue of the motett in
E minor, just discussed, is very striking in this respect ;
but the romantic character is far more conspicuous in two
other motetts for double chorus. One of them is founded on
the words of old Simeon, "Lord, now lettest thou Thy ser-
vant depart in peace."118 The principal key, or more properly
mode, as regards the more prominent closes of the phrases,
may be termed ^Eolian, with a plagal commencement and
close ; and yet with this the piece is carried out in such a
thoroughly modern style of harmony, and is rounded off into
a cycle, with a return to the beginning so regularly according
to the present principles of form, that it might almost be said
to have no fundamental mode. Mingled with the ^Eolian har-
monies, now and then Dorian and Mixolydian intervals strike
the ear; but above all, the wavering between the old and new
systems of key is to be seen in the general manner in which
Bach's harmony progresses. We must use this expression,
since throughout the whole piece the composer deals with
sequences of chords. The raising and lowering of single
notes were regarded by the ancients as accidentia — inci-
dental changes which had no further effect on the character
See Appendix A, No. 5.
HIS TREATMENT OF KEY. 85
of the key, while with us they sometimes make it uncertain,
sometimes entirely change it, and always have an essential
influence on the affinities and relations of a chord. Under
these circumstances it was a matter of indifference to the
older writers whether G minor and E major followed each
other directly, or G major and E minor, while to us the last
two keys stand in the closest relationship, and the two former
are separated by a gap which only the boldest can leap
across. Now Bach frequently raises or lowers a note in the
old manner, but constructs sequences of chords in the new ;
hence a series of triads frequently originate, well adapted
to rouse in our minds every feeling of a fundamental key.
The waves of sound rise and fall in wonderful tremulous
motion ; they gleam and sparkle in a strange variety and play
of harmony ; they seem to obey every breath, and often
illustrate the expression of the words by modulated turns of
extreme audacity, such as we seek for in vain among the
composers of the following century, nay, even in Sebastian
Bach.
After a close in the common-chord of E major, for in-
stance, Joh. Christoph, with two steps, brings himself into
F major, E minor, C major, A minor, F major, and, imme-
diately after, by means of the common-chord of C major, into
G major. Another time he introduces the following sequence
in eight parts: A major, B flat major, A minor, G major (|)
C major, and then proceeds : A major, B flat major, F major,
C major, F major, with which the phrase closes. It is quite
amazing how, in spite of this, we never have the oppres-
sive sense of aimless and planless wandering in the modu-
lations, but give ourselves up in perfect confidence as to
a trustworthy leader. The musician reveals his idea as a
whole with such clearness, and develops it with so much
logic, that we receive an image, dreamlike indeed, and floating
in mist ; but, at the same time, we realise that this is exactly
what its creator intended. In fact, when studying other
compositions by Joh. Christoph Bach, which betray the defi-
nite stamp of a major or a minor key, we can never for a
moment doubt that, to him, the mingling of two different
systems of harmony was a means of which he availed himself
86
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
with deliberate purpose to attain a determined end. This of
itself stamps him as a master, although not a dozen of his
vocal compositions have been preserved to us. In the same
way Sebastian Bach, although indeed under quite altered
circumstances, handled the old church modes freely as a
powerful instrument of expression. We need only recall the
overwhelmingly grand use made of the Mixolydian mode in
the cantata " Jesu, nun sei gepreiset "114 — "Lord Jesu, now
be praised."
How admirably suited this medium is when the object is
to represent and to render in a general and artistic form the
frame of mind of an old man, who at last has found the
certain pledge of a long looked-for day of redemption, and
whose failing eyes see the radiant dawn of a new sun, must
be felt by every one. The chorus first sing alternately the
initial bars, and then imitate each other at the interval of a
bar.
Herr! Herr! nun las-sestdu deinen
j_^ J J J J J
Die-ner in Fr
rJ-J-U
eden fah - ren.
"^ Herr!
Herr!
.sL^, JJ Jil
r r-f i
Herr! nun
t~M&*^
— t-TJ-SES-r^-
I
Immediately follows an extraordinarily beautiful passage,
part of which has been already mentioned —
t-- ^
in Frie - den, in Frie - den fah
114 B. G., X., No. 41. Particularly in the opening chorus. The passages on
pp. 6, 7, and 18 are indescribably sublime.
AND OF THE CHURCH MODES.
87
wie du ge - sa - get hast,
J- _. JL J. , ,
wie du ge - sa - get hast,
J _. J4- LL
-sa- get hast,
! I . I
=P=^=F
f r r i ' r I '
du, wie du ge - sa - get hast, wie du, wie du ge - sa - |get hast.
J _. I J J LI J =,. ! I ! I
du . . ge - sa - get hast, wie du . ge - sa -get hast.
and from which it may be inferred that this motett was con-
ceived of with an instrumental accompaniment (perhaps only
with the support of one deep instrument) ; for in these exces-
sively long-drawn passages in F major, where the bass of the
first choir descends below the c of the second, the full effect
could hardly have been attained without a sixteen-foot organ
bass. The further course of the composition is difficult to
represent, by reason of its abnormal management, without
extensive extracts, and even then the reader would scarcely
acquire a more vivid idea of the whole than he may perhaps
have obtained from what has already been said.
The long-drawn ascending passage on the words " And to
be the glory of Thy people Israel " — is full of a mild dignity;
it closes in the true ^Eolian tone, if I may so say. But now the
real formative power of the artist is first fully displayed. He
first reproduces the whole thirty-four bars of the beginning,
thus arriving at C major, and now, taking a deep breath,
rises again with the original motive from the shadowy
common-chord of F major, brings out again the full volume
of both choruses in imitation, rises twice to the bitter-sweet
D minor chord of the ninth — or as it would then have
been called, from its resting on the third, the chord of the
seventh, an harmonic combination which was just coming
greatly into favour with the Germans — and then sinks softly
down on to A minor— as the head of a dying man sinks on the
88 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
pillows. It does but picture the failing eyes before whose
last glance all worldly objects float in confusion — the last
sigh borne away into infinite space — when, after this, the
chorus passes tremulously and dubiously to the major chord
of the sixth ; and so the last cry of " Lord, Lord!" floats
away, evanescent and faint, on the same notes as the master
began the piece with.
The other motett, allied to this in form and feeling, is the
grandest of all that remain to us. On the words of Lamenta-
tions, v. 15, 16, — "The joy of our heart is ceased ; our dance is
turned into mourning. The crown is fallen from our head :
woe unto us, that we have sinned," — a grand and gloomy
tone-picture is constructed, of no less than two hundred and
twenty-five bars of slow movement. We may regard the
mode as a transposed Dorian, which, as in the previous motett,
has a plagal beginning and close. Sebastian Bach proved
his admiration of this piece by transcribing part of it with his
own hand.115 For variety, energy, and appealing fervour of
expression — for the development of sound into bold and
striking imagery — for the highest perfection of form as
affecting the whole work, it can find no equal excepting
among the very best examples of its kind. What deep
lament is sounded in this beginning —
J -J- -J- IrJ
f
r r
Un-sers I-
J J =
i — r =£=
erz-ens Freu -
J -L J.
i-ri-rr r 'T-
de hat . . ein En - de,
JJTJ^£jfl£
^r r r'i-
115 The score is in the Royal Library at Berlin. There, too, is another copy
in the handwriting of Polchau. R. von Hertzberg published the work in
Vol. XVI. of Musica Sacra, No. 18. (Berlin : Bote and Bock.)
HIS FINEST MOTETT.
89
and further on, amid the wofullest accents, what a noble
strain of melody —
CHOR. 2.
CHOR. i.
Un - ser
^ . ^ J 1 J
I — p
Ife *r
r1 r r r ^
r | f
EJ^— r fJ— ^=-
Un -
ser Rei - gen ist in Weh kla gen
J.
i i A A A ^s-^ ~&- -zL £^ ^- hj
Rei - gen ist in Weh
I I . i i
kla
gen
bJ J ^
-^ ±
J
ir r r
II u
-f— H^ ^
t
I I
Un - -
ser
J J.
J. * J^J
rj
J J
J
' :: F "4P—
— C — C — 1 — i Hr?
1 1
. :
No other composer of that period could have availed him-
self of such " longue haleine" in uttering the words " The
crown is fallen from our head," for thirty-nine bars are
devoted to it; and how proudly, how royally, the motive
starts ! —
Die Kro
ne un - sers Haupts
None other could have been equal to depicting in so
pregnant a manner the pride of ambition and its crushed
fall.
When Forkel, the enthusiastic admirer of Sebastian Bach,
once visited his son Philipp Emanuel at Hamburg, his host,
who held his great-uncle's works in high estimation, let
Forkel hear some of them. " I still vividly remember," he
writes, "how sweetly my friend (Ph. Em. Bach), already an
old man, smiled upon me at the most remarkable and boldest
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH,
passages." Harmonious sequences such as the following-
! II
ireh, dass wir, &c.
-1. „! . J
weh, dass wir, &c.
II II
were indeed calculated still to excite astonishment a hun-
dred years after they were composed ; at the end of the seven-
teenth century they were quite unheard of. Philipp Emanuel
possessed a motett, written about the year 1680, but now
lost, in which Joh. Christoph had used the augmented
sixth, which Forkel very justly terms an act of daring.116
The use of this interval was, to be sure, not wholly new ; it
occurs before this in Carissimi's oratorio of Jephtha and in
his " Turbabuntur Impii,"111 but, on both occasions in solo
voice parts, while Bach seems not to have shrunk from it
in a choral subject.
The main outline of the motett we are studying ap-
proaches far less nearly to the form of the da capo air, then
in process of development, than it does, on the contrary,
to the modern sonata form, and may therefore be designated
as the product of Joh. Christoph's independent artistic
study. Two quite distinct principal parts are each subdivided
into two, a principal and a subsidiary section. The first prin-
cipal section is composed of four long phrases (the motives
of three of them are quoted above), and it ends in G minor.
The first subsidiary section begins with a passage, also
116 Vide the Necrology in Mizler's Musikalischer Bibliothek. Leipzig, 1754.
Vol. IV., Part I., p. 159. Gerber has somewhat embellished these facts in his
Lexicon, Vol. I., col. 206-7.
117 For the first example see Chrysander's edition of Carissimi's oratorios in
Denkmalern der Tonkunst, II., 19, in the last bar but one (f dj, for so the
harmony must be imagined) ; the second instance is in R. Schlecht's Geschichte
der Kirchenmusik, p. 452, bars four and six, so far as the data are, in this
case, to be trusted.
HIS FINEST MOTETT. 9!
quoted, " O weh ! dass wir so gesiindiget haben," and in its
whole character is the most complete contrast, ending with a
half-close on the major chord of D. The second part now
begins ; it repeats the principal section of the first part, but
lets the wailing cry of the first subsidiary section now glide
alongside by side with the most diversified combinations, and
now force its way through them, thus including in this grand
design, which reveals an extraordinary artistic intelligence,
both the development of the sonata subject and the repeti-
tion of the principal theme after the close, which, as in
the first part, is in G minor. The subsidiary section comes
in again in due order, and this time with a wonderfully
beautiful effect in B flat major. It is not till the fifth bar
that it assumes the same form as at its first appearance. A
coda of six bars brings it to an end.
There are still two motetts remaining which, in conse-
quence of the use made in them of chorale melodies, must
take a quite distinct place. They are, however, very dis-
similar. An example was given above which showed how the
dialogue form, worked out with so much predilection by
Hammerschmidt in his sacred concertos, had been transferred
to the motett. Joh. Chr. Bach's vocal composition in five
parts, "Fiirchte dich nicht,"118 in A minor, is of this kind.
Alto, two tenors, and bass sing, as if in the person of Christ,
the Bible text " Fear not : for I have redeemed thee, I have
called thee by thy name ; thou art Mine." Isaiah, xliii. i.
Against this the soprano afterwards sings the last verse of
Rist's tfymn, "0 Traurigkeit, o Herzeleid."
O Jesu du,
Mein Htilf und Ruh,
Ich bitte dich mit Thranen,
Hilf, dass ich mich bis ins Grab
Nach dir moge sehnen.
O Jesu ! Thou
My hope and rest,
With tears I bend before Thee ;
Help! that I in life and death,
Ever may adore Thee.
118 It is to be found in a MS. of the last century in the Am alien -Library
of the College of Joachimsthal in Berlin, Vol. CXVL, No i. The MS., which
also shows a figured-bass, is unfortunately far from accurate.
92 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
When it comes to the last line but one, the voice of
Christ answers with the words, "Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, this day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise." It is
clear that two separate individuals are here represented
in a dramatic dialogue. Thus the composer must have
looked upon the four lower voices as a compact unity,
allowing the soprano to stand out in contrast with the
necessary distinctness ; and if we had just now to criticise
Michael Bach's chorale motetts, because the counterpoint of
the other voices is not always treated with due independence
of the chorale melody, any such demand is here to a certain
degree set aside by the general plan of the composition
itself. Bach has, moreover, succeeded in giving the mass of
tone produced by the four voices the character of an indepen-
dent organism, full of an inner life of its own in its contrast
to the chorale, and has thus produced a real masterpiece of
its kind.
The distribution of the music is, as we are accustomed to
find, clear and masterly, even under these circumstances of
extreme difficulty. It is in three sections. At first the four-
voiced choir sing the Bible words alone for thirty-nine bars.
They begin at once with a vigorous and encouraging shout,
and then work out on this theme —
Ich
r J
hab
dich bei dei-(nem)
U* —
Ich
^^f
hab dich
bei dei - nem Na - men
u ^
ge - ru
- (fen)
a fugato for all four parts, allowing sometimes two, sometimes
three, sometimes only one voice to ring out on the word " geru-
fen," with long held chords and notes in a mighty cry, while
the theme here quoted constantly comes in again with small
intentional alterations — a passage well worthy of Handel,
and reminding us of him in its simple grandeur. It closes
with this in C, the relative major, and then leads back to
A minor by a subject constructed on the words " Du bist
mein," which is particularly interesting for the imitation
between the alto and second tenor.
This is the first part ; the second extends to the commence-
COMPARED WITH SEBASTIAN BACH. 93
ment of the fourth line of the chorale, and contains twenty-
four bars. Here what is highly worthy of admiration is the
way in which the two poetic individualities are kept distinct ;
for example : the soprano coming in on the closing chord of
the chorus carries on the first line of the melody alone;
the chorus reappears at first only in short phrases and
ejaculations, but presently returns to the motives and
passages of the beginning, already known to the hearer,
and which, though they contrast as strongly as possible
with the melody of the choral, still flow as smoothly
into it as though it had been devised expressly for them.
The grandest dramatic emotion is reserved with subtle
foresight for the third part, thirty bars long. To the
reiterated cry of the soprano for " Help," the lower voices
answer with equal insistance, " Verily, verily," &c., and by
numerous imitations of each give this agitated passage a
fervency adequate to the occasion. I must resist the
temptation to quote farther details ; it must suffice to say
that all the peculiarities of the master are conspicuous in
this work.
If we compare it with Sebastian Bach's motett, "Fiirchte
dich nicht" — " Be not afraid," — which is in great part set to
the same Bible words, and in which, in the same way, a
chorale melody with poetical antistrophes is introduced, it
is quite clear that Sebastian Bach endeavoured to attain
this art-ideal in quite another way than Joh. Christoph and
his lesser contemporaries, and that his connection with his
predecessors on this point is a merely general one. The
elder Bach conceived of the two dramatically contrasted
characters as two equally important factors, and endeavoured
to represent their relation to each by musical means only ;
the younger kept the voices which recited the Bible texts in
contrast to the chorale not merely proportionate in volume
but even too independent, since they worked out among
themselves a perfect fugue demanding no supplementary
aid, and to whose calm flow the floating fragments of the
chorale melody might almost seem a mere accidental adjunct,
were it not for the elevated symbolical meaning attributed to
the chorale, which bears no direct proportion to its purely mu-
g^ JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
sical value. But this, as we shall see in the next section of this
book, is the view which in fact afforded the standard for the
independent treatment of the chorale on the organ ; and
it was by this route, so to speak — via instrumental music,
that Sebastian attained a type of art which J oh. Christoph
had reached, starting from his own naturally poetic point
of view.
But if we here have had to deal with the dramatic contrast
of distinct personages, in the other choral motett we find
merely a lyrical contrast of emotional moods, such as we
have already met with in several of Michael Bach's works.
This motett (at first for two and afterwards for one choir) is
now the best known of all this master's compositions. The
Bible text is "Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn"
— "I will not leave Thee till Thou bless me " ; in the second
part the chorale, " Warum betriibst du dich, mein Herz," is
interwoven with the third verse of Hans Sachs' hymn ; and
this is done to such perfection that it might be supposed to be
the work of Sebastian.119 The matter in hand was a contra-
puntal treatment of the chorale melody, with independent
motives throughout; and we have already seen in Michael
Bach's works how little adapted the clumsy style of the
German musicians of that period was, on the whole, to the
solution of such problems. Johann Pachelbel used the fifth
verse of the chorale, "Was Gott thut, dasist wohlgethan" —
"That which God doth is still well done," — as the basis of an
elaborate composition of the concerto type, which he worked
out smoothly and flowingly, but, for that very reason indeed,
quite differently; for there is no contrast of the Bible text and
church hymn, by which the fundamental feeling is first de-
picted in all its depth, while at the same time it necessitates
the most complete mastery over the technique of counter-
point. It is distinct, too, from the above-named work
by Sebastian Bach — irrespective of the dramatic contrast
• — by this radical difference in the tendencies of the two
masters. Sebastian's forms were purely musical ; those
of Joh. Christoph graphic and oratorio-like. Here, again,
See Appendix A, No. 6.
A DOUBTFUL WORK. 95
a comparison of the two works, tolerably alike as they
are in design, is highly instructive. That of Sebastian
is no doubt richer and fresher, but it depends essentially
on the organ. Joh. Christoph, on the contrary, still
stands on the native soil of the motett — pure vocal style
— and gives due prominence to the human voice, with its
greater capabilities of expression and all its natural poetic
quality. There is, perhaps, no second work of this period
in which tendencies, which subsequently diverged diametri-
cally, were so happily and closely combined, and which,
nevertheless, stands at the highest summit of art. The
treatment of the chorale, with all the technical and aesthetic
results involved, points to the way pursued by Sebastian
Bach ; the graphic tone-imagery of the chief musical ideas
points decidedly to Handel. Thus the first principal motive
of the chorale counterpoint — which has to serve again in the
course of the piece in an inverted form — at once depicts an
urgent and instant entreaty —
Ich
las - se dich nicht, nicht, nicht, ich las - se dich nicht, nicht, nicht,
while the second, on the contrary, coming in at first in the
alto, with a passage of close imitation,
nest mich denn,
and then with rich modifications, as in the bass in bar
eighteen,
mi
du
nest mich denn,
illustrates as by the breadth and fulness of an almost unmis-
takable expression the mien of one who extends his hand in
solemn benediction ; and at the same time all purely musical
requirements are fulfilled in the most admirable manner.
With what masterly contrast the motives are constructed,
and how completely they, and they alone, command the
whole composition ! What a perfect adaptation of musical
means to poetic beauty in those three bars' rest in the
96 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
middle, after the artistic complications ! — a calm where the
parts, hitherto contrapuntal, repose and dream, softly moving
in a measure that is now merely declamatory.
This motett, if indeed it is by Joh. Christoph Bach,
certainly is one of his late compositions. The connection of
the harmonies, particularly in the first deeply expressive
part, is, if not bolder, at any rate freer and more subtle.
The scheme of the melody is more individual, as, for in-
stance, in the seventh (a' flat), in the nineteenth and
twenty-third bars of the first section, which is taken by the
soprano with an upward spring, a very novel venture in any
choral composition of that time. Indeed, the key of F minor
is unusual in the latter half of the seventeenth century.
Finally, the whole bears the stamp of mild contemplation
rather than of youthful eagerness or manly vigour, although
it cannot be denied that Joh. Christoph, like his brother
Michael, and indeed the whole period at which they lived,
had a special leaning to the weird and dreamy.
V.
INSTRUMENTAL WORKS OF CHRISTOPH AND MICHAEL BACH.
IT has been already said that even less has been saved
of the instrumental compositions of Joh. Christoph and
Joh. Michael Bach than of their vocal works. In point
of fact, only a few fragments remain to bear witness of their
undoubtedly great productiveness. But this branch of art
is in itself so important — deriving a double significance from
its bearing on Sebastian Bach — that we must seek every
possible means of throwing light on this aspect of the two
artist brothers.
Both were by profession organists, and the art of organ-
playing was indisputably the centre of all instrumental music
till the middle of the eighteenth century, though it was in
Thuringia and in Saxony that it principally flourished and
finally even reached perfection; and this was because it found
in the Protestant chorale a motive and basis for develop-
EARLY ORGAN MUSIC. 97
ment, than which it is impossible to imagine one more fit.
It was, then, in the treatment of chorales that a master of
Central Germany first pioneered the road ; and, whether by
mere accident or no, all that remains to us of the organ
compositions of the brothers Bach are likewise treatments
of chorales. The art of writing for the organ, which had
been previously confined to a mere ornamental transcription
of vocal compositions, in the beginning of the sixteenth
century put forth the early buds of a characteristic blos-
soming, with the first traces of a style peculiar to itself. In
Italy Claudio Merulo found in the Toccata, as it was called —
a kind of composition in which he endeavoured to give full
play to the wealth of tone possessed by the organ, by alterna-
ting combinations of brilliant running passages with sos-
tenuto sequences of harmonies — a form which, if somewhat
erratic and fantastic, was still highly capable of development.
The first steps were taken towards the development of the
organ fugue in the canzone of Giov. Gabrieli ; and Swee-
linck, a Dutchman, gained great celebrity it would seem,
particularly by his elaboration of the technique and by a
great gift for teaching, and endeavoured to make the heavi-
ness of the organ style lighter and more pleasing by skilful
and graceful handling. Samuel Scheidt,the organist at Halle,
was one of his pupils. In his Tabulatura nova (three parts,
Hamburg, 1624), he first succeeded in treating the chorale
as adapted to the organ in a very varied manner, and
with considerable inventive power. These, the very earliest
examples in so extensive and novel a domain of art, show
marks, of course, of being a first attempt. A new path
is opened out, and abundant means are brought in to
level it ; but the practical precision and arrangement are
lacking which would give the full value to each in its place.
In the course of the century a whole series of well-defined
and in themselves logical forms grew up for the treatment of
chorales. Only a few of these are found in any degree pure
in Scheidt, and those the most obvious; among them must be
included the method by which the chorale is worked out line
by line on the scheme of a motett, and, closely connected
with this, the chorale fugue, in which Scheidt still clung
H
98 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
evidently to the vocal style.120 In most of the other forms he
had indeed to emphasise the motives, though he applied
them with arbitrary variety to one and the same subject.
Thus the treatment of the first verse of the melody " Da
Jesus an dem Kreuze stund " — "When Jesus stood before the
cross," — from the first part of the Tabulatura nova, begins with
a fugato on the first line ; then this first line goes up into the
upper voice, the bass and alto singing it in canon. The
interlude after the second line is independent ; after the
third the interlude is strictly built upon the subject; and after
the fourth there is another independent one. Pachelbel,
Walther, or even Sebastian Bach would have developed four,
or at least three distinct forms from this abundance of
primary ideas. On another occasion Scheidt treats the
chorale " Vaterunser im Himmelreich" — "Our Father which
art in heaven," — Part I., v. i, in such a way as to introduce
the first line in motu contrario as a prelude ; but as early as on
the fifth note in a lower part the same line occurs in motu recto,
then after four notes in motu contrario, at the same distance of
time again in motu recto in the upper part, and finally once
more, after the same interval of time, in motu contrario in
the tenor. After this the chorale is carried on in the soprano
part without interruption throughout, but with fresh counter-
point to every line. It need hardly be remarked that with
such a redundancy of good forms it is vain to look for
clearness or unity of structure. Still it is evident that this
does not diminish the merit of this master, who in fact created
an epoch and who did all that could be done ; but it is
significant as pointing out his historical position in the art.
Any detailed account of the progress of the art of chorale
treatment, as it was carried out after Scheidt into the second
half of the century, is not necessary here ; nor indeed should
I be now in a position to give it. The advance seems at
first to have been small, and this is easily intelligible in the
unfavourable circumstances of those times. Delphin Strunck,
180 Examples of this are the fantasia on " Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ,"
Part I., fol. 239 ; the first verse of " Veni redemptor gentium," Part III., fol. 179 ;
tru first verse of " Veni Creator Spiritus," Part III., fol. 179. The last piece is
also given by Winterfeld, Ev. Kir., II., Musical Supp., No. 214.
PROGRESS OF CHORALE TREATMENT. 99
the famous organist at Brunswick, and a very popular teacher
(1601-1694), followed in Scheldt's footsteps, without however
arriving at any fixed principle of art from the constant
treatment of chorales, judging from his compositions re-
maining to us. It is probable that the treatment of the
separate lines of chorales as the basis for motetts continued
to be industriously cultivated ; for instance, the chorale,
" In dich hab ich gehoffet, Herr " — " My hope has been in
Thee, O Lord," — was set in this way by Johann Theile
(1646-1724), who was almost a contemporary of Michael
Bach's, and who was called, by reason of his great skill, the
father of contrapuntists.121 It is in four parts, and displays
great science, for each of the four parts is treated in inde-
pendent counterpoint, but it is intolerably pedantic and stiff.122
According to this, the type of the chorale fugue must have
been established at an early date, if indeed we may apply
the name to a fugal subject, derived from the first line of the
chorale, at the end of which the second line still often
faintly joins in. To this class belongs Heinrich Bach's
admirable treatment of " Christ lag in Todesbanden "
(already mentioned, p. 36). A contemporary of Joh.
Christoph Bach's, Johann Friedrich Alberti (1642-1710),
Organist at Merseburg, availed himself of the melody of
*' 0 lux beata Trinitas" for a series of three compositions of
this kind.123 We here find the form already highly developed;
indeed, Alberti is regarded as one of the best musicians of
that period. The first movement takes for the theme of the
fugue only the six first notes, in a dotted rhythm which,
in the course of its development, undergoes a few further
variations. The parts are neatly and skilfully worked out,
as they are in all the movements. The counterpoint, it is
true, is generally note against note, not from want of skill,
but only to reserve an enhanced elaboration for the following
movement, while the return of the stretto, quite at the
beginning of the third section, is, on the contrary, quite
131 Adlung, Anl. zur mus. Gel., p. 184. Note m.
182 Published by G. W. Korner in the Orgel-Virtuos, No. 65.
123 These lie before me in Walther's handwriting. Comp. Korner's Orgei-
Virtues, No. 65.
H 2
100 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
in the old style. The entrance of the theme is each time
distinctly indicated by a pause before it, and short inter-
ludes also afford a special preparation for it. Then the
whole first line, in semibreves, constitutes the theme of
the second verse, to which is added a short counter-
subject in crotchets, repeated in double counterpoint. The
theme recurs but four times in the whole movement ; it is
heard, slow and majestic, through the stirring busy crowd
of parts ; the counter-subject serves for long interludes,
while it also accompanies the theme throughout the artisti-
cally managed imitation. The third verse finally owes its
enhanced effect to a fugal arrangement of the first line in 3-4
time. A chorale fugue treated in a similar way to the second
verse, in "Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ" — "All praise to
Thee, Lord Jesu Christ,"124— is no less admirable. The
counter-subject is first gone through by itself before being
combined with the line of the chorale, and it consists of
an idea complete in itself, so that a fully worked-out double
fugue is the result.
Johann Christoph Bach, following his natural bent, pur-
sued his own path through this department of music, and, so
far as we are now able to judge, never departed from it. The
result was the same as with his vocal compositions. The next
generation knew him no more — did not understand him, and
ignored him altogether. Comprehensive collections of cho-
rale preludes made with his own hand by Walther, the
lexicographer, Sebastian Bach's colleague at Weimar, include
not a single piece by Joh. Christoph Bach, and do not even
mention them. Eight such arrangements, some of them with
more than one movement, are contained in a volume which
was formerly in Gerber's possession, but which vanished and
left no trace when, after his death, his valuable musical col-
lection was dispersed.125 By a happy accident, however, a
"4 Which is also extant in Walther's MSS.
135 Gerber speaks of this volume in the Lexicon, Vol. I., cols. 208-209. The
whole of the collection, however, was not lost. Part was purchased by Hofrath
Andre, of Offenbach; compare the 'Catalogue CXII.,' 1876, issued by Albert
Conn, of Benin ; particularly No. VI. Some of his collection is to be found in
the Royal Library at Berlin.
JOH. CHRISTOPH BACH'S ORGAN CHORALES. IOI
manuscript book of that time has been preserved with forty-
four arrangements of chorales. Its contents were collected
by the compiler for a special end, and, if the title it now
bears is the original, the little work must have been pub-
lished.126 On this we shall have to found our judgment. But
first of all it must be said that the case is here quite different
from what it was when discussing him as a composer of vocal
music. In that he had a grand tradition behind him, and on
its broad surface he could unfold his own essential charac-
teristics ; in writing for the organ he was treading on half-
tilled soil, over a half-beaten road. All that he thus created
in his isolated position is found, after due consideration, to
be neither unworthy of his great talents nor in any contra-
diction to the praise awarded to him, even as a master of the
organ, by the later and greater members of his family.127
But one single man cannot do everything, and Joh. Christoph
is a striking instance of how much we owe to the Italians,
even in that most German of all forms of music, the organ
chorale. A yearning after an ideal thoughtfulness, pro-
found care for details — these there was no need to borrow
from foreigners ; but the sense of beauty as revealing itself
in the frankest and grandest forms was needed to sustain
and invigorate us ere we could create anything truly
masterly. Such succour soon came flowing in from the
south, but Joh. Christoph seems to have shut himself in
116 This is a MS. of about A.D. 1700, in small oblong quarto, now in my posses-
sion. The title is" CHORAELE \ welche | bey warenden Gottes Dienst zum
Praeambuliren \ gebrauchet werden konnen | gesetzet | und | herausgegeben |
von | Johann Christoph Bachen \ Organ : in Eisenach." (Chorals which may be
used a.s preambles during Divine service, composed and published by J. C. Bach.)
Below, to the right, is the name, now illegible, of the transcriber and owner.
Bach's chorales constitute only the first part of the book, and then, in the same
writing, follow a number of other chorale pieces. The book subsequently often
changed owners, each of whom busied himself, according to his powers, in filling
the pages that remained blank. Also we may conclude from this title-page that
Walther's statement, that nothing of Joh. Christoph Bach's was printed, must
be incorrect.
127 The observation in the Musikalische Bibliothek, Vol. IV., i, p. 159, that
he never can have played in less than five real parts, is a mythical exaggeration.
Of all these forty-four chorales, which he certainly must have played, not a
single one is in five parts
102 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
against it, and so his works remained mere offshoots,
unproductive of blossom and fruit.
Bach, indeed, was never in the dark as to the requirements
of a chorale treatment from the side of mere technique.
The organ, with its echoing masses of chords, produced by
one man and progressing at his sole will and pleasure, was
the most complete conceivable contrast to the ancient chorale
music, that rich and complicated tangle of so many indi-
vidual voices which could never altogether become mere
instruments. This, more than anything else, brought about
the transformation from the old polyphonic to the new
harmonic system. It may, perhaps, seem strange to many
readers, and yet it is quite natural, that even the best
masters, between 1650 and 1700, showed a much more
homophonic spirit, a much more independent treatment of
the vocal parts than is compatible with the pure organ
style, according to our modern conception of it. Of course
the rigid and heavy quality of the organ does not require
for its highest idealisation mere external movement — as
attained by runs and the spreading of chords — but an inner
vitality from the creation of musical entities— for what
else can we call melody and motive ? — and by their in-
telligent reciprocity. But this is always a secondary, not,
as in polyphonic vocal music, a primary consideration.
We admire with justice the organic structure of an organ
piece by Sebastian Bach, every smallest detail of it in-
stinct with vital purpose ; but the so-called polyphonic
treatment, which clothes the firm harmonic structure,
is but a beautiful drapery. It resembles a Gothic cathedral,
with its groups of columns that seem a spontaneous growth,
and its capitals wreathed with flowers and leaves ; they call
up to our fancy the seeming of independent life, but they
do not live, only the artist lives in them. This radical
distinction cannot be sufficiently insisted on ; without a
comprehension of it the whole realm of organ music as an
independent art, and all that has any connection with it,
including the whole of Sebastian Bach's work, cannot be
understood.
When, therefore, Joh. Christoph Bach deliberately widened
fHE SPIRIT OF CHORALE TREATMENT. 10^
the breach, he showed that he knew what needed to be
done. The progression of the parts is often quite untrace-
able; chords occur now in three parts and then in four, in
obedience to purely harmonic requirements ; only in a few
cases can we discern what is intended for the pedal or the
manual bass, and in a fugato the very part which had the
theme not unfrequently repeats it immediately, a fifth lower.
Everywhere the feeling is clearly prominent that the whole
conduct of the piece lies in the hands of a single individual.
But these concessions made by Bach to instrumental style
are but external ; he remained a stranger to the essential
spirit of chorale treatment for the organ. He now should
have boldly ventured to raise the chorale to be an indepen-
dent motive, as the core and basis of a freely wrought
composition ; he should have liberated himself from the idea
that he must set his arrangement of the chorale in a neces-
sary connection with the congregational hymn that belonged
to it, and regard it as a prelude in the strictest sense of the
word, leading up to the main subject. This, however, never
occurred to him, and so nothing could he originate but feeble
vacillating forms without any balance or centre of gravity.
If we examine these forms more closely, we find that in
twenty-one of the preludes the whole melody is taken up ;
in ten, a mere complexusoi the first lines; in the others, the
first is used in the way we have seen, as the theme of a
fugue, and the second line is heard occasionally, or comes
in at the close, but not fugally treated. Arrangements of
the whole melody always begin with a fugato of the first line
or of the first two, quite short interludes sometimes preparing
us for the leads; the following lines are then usually
worked out in close canon, for which a pedal-point is used
as a favourite basis; but we also frequently find an extension
or dissection of the theme, thus forming separate subjects, or
a more or less characteristic transformation of the prin-
cipal features of the melody, and between these again freely
invented smaller subjects of a more lively character.
These compositions are far removed from that broad
motett treatment which calmly develops each movement
of the melody; it is always the chorale as a whole which
104 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
has floated before the composer's mind as the subject of
his arrangement; the separate lines are briefly and hastily
dealt with, and the hearer, who knows the melody — as he is
always supposed to do — feels at the close as though it had
passed over him, as it were, involved in mist. The counter-
point is usually of very simple construction, note against note,
and running in thirds and sixths; the harmonic principle of
organ composition is often intentionally insisted on when
chords are held in the upper parts and a fugal theme goes on
in the bass. It is easy to see that the composer is struggling
after a form, and in some few movements he may be said
to have succeeded. These indeed are of no great length ;
but the arrangement, for instance, of " Ich dank dir schon
durch deinen Sohn," which flows smoothly on in 3-8 time,
reproduces the whole of the choral. He also displays
his feeling for form in the way in which he often entwines
the lines of the melody, bringing in one as contrapuntal to
its predecessor ; or attacks the closing cadence at once, or,
finally, holds the harmonic progression together by the use
of a pedal-point. But, from an excessive consideration for
the conditions of his art, he deprived himself of the right to
construct a musical work in accordance with his own innate
requirements. Now it is the taste of the composer, and
not any inherent law, which demands that here a line shall
suddenly appear in double augmentation, and there be
extended, at least in some of its tones ; that here a section
of the melody is heard in an ornamental and there in its
original form ; that precisely in one arrangement the close
shall run off into elaborate passages, and precisely in
another a long episode shall be introduced.128 If we wholly
set aside the grand sense of unity in these matters of such
a man as Sebastian Bach, it is quite intelligible why even
Job. Christoph's contemporaries could go no further in this
direction.
The method of chorale treatment, by which only a few
128 One of these pieces which, however, is not one of the most characteristic, is
published in G. W. Korner's Praeludien-Buch, Vol. II., No. 2. A chorale
fugue on «' Wir glauben all an einen Gott " is also to be found in Hitter's Kunst
des Orgelspiels, Part III., p. 3.
JOH. cHRistopH BACH'S "PREAMBLES." 105
lines of the chorale are carried through, contains still fewer
germs of development, although the composer here occasion-
ally showed more wealth of resource. For here there is
neither the poetic unity of the whole chorale structure, nor
the musical unity of a composition based on one theme,
and these were in fact the two pillars round which the
whole art of organ chorales clung and grew. In the third
class, finally, which we have called the chorale fugue, he
already trod a more beaten track, and consequently his pro-
ductions in this department are relatively his best. The
treatment is as facile and unforced as any writer could have
made it who had a perfectly clear understanding of the cha-
racter of his instrument. At the same time they fully bear out
the character of the "preamble," and are precisely light enough
not to throw into the background the musical importance of
the congregational singing that was to follow. Most of them
are quite up to the highest level that could, during that
century, be attained in the solution of such problems, and in
this particular line it can be shown that Joh. Christoph had
imitators. If sometimes their harmonies are somewhat
rigid, and the movement rather too stiff, they may still
be regarded as models — allowance being made, of course,
for the period. It is not very easy to estimate Joh. Chris-
toph Bach justly, and without prejudice, even from the
whole contents of the volume, and it is he himself who
makes judgment so difficult by the great perfection of his vocal
compositions. Any one coming fresh from these upon the
chorale preludes will at first meet with constant disappoint-
ment. The whole distance between a highly developed art
and one in its first stage of uncertainty lies before us, and
to modern feeling seems all the greater because we have
long been accustomed to enjoy the most splendid fruits of
both branches — the vocal and instrumental — side by side and
together. Even the hypothesis that these may be works of
the master's youth is amply refuted by one circumstance :
that the chorale " Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier," is to be
found among the chorale arrangements. This hymn was
not known before 1671, 129 and indeed the whole collection
189 Koch's Geschichte des Kirchenlieds, I., 3, p. 355 (third edition).
106 JOHANN SEBASTIAN
could hardly have been made before the middle of that
decade, within which Bach had already written some of his
noblest motetts.
The meagreness and shallowness which is sometimes
characteristic of this (usually) three-part harmony must
not lead us to the conclusion that the master was purposely
writing easy music for some beginner, perhaps his own
musical sons. We may, indeed, readily believe that he
has not displayed in them all his powers ; but this cer-
tainly is not for any educational purpose, but because the
character of the compositions, as he proposed to work them
out, did not seem to afford grounds for it. Besides, they
were published expressly for use during divine service, and
three-part movements were customary for such purposes
at even a later period. Nothing, in short, can be said but
that he could not write them otherwise than as we find
them. And if we still must wonder that a man who, as a
vocal composer, displayed such wealth and vitality, should
here show such poverty of harmony and such halting rhythm,
it is because we do not consider the wide difference between a
body of singers, which, even with very little harmonic variety,
is capable of infinite gradations of light and colour, and can
even translate words and phrases into music — a very strong
point with Joh. Christoph — and the organ, which within the
limits of a single note can never vary in force, and even in
rhythm only in an exceptional way, but produces these
effects by the succession of different qualities of tone. Once
more it must be said Bach understood the full extent of
that difference ; and he, who in the chorale " Warum
betriibst du dich, mein Herz " — "Why art thou saddened, oh
my heart ? " — treated the vocal counterpoint in so beautiful
and striking a manner, could only arrange it for the organ in
the form and style which we find at the end of this collection,
and with full conviction of its Tightness. And we cannot
but recognise that he devoted himself to the task, particu-
larly in the diligently worked out and melancholy chromatic
motive.180 That he opened up no new path in this form of
»° See Supplement I.
JOH. MICHAEL BACH'S WORKS. IO;
music is due to his reserved nature, which was averse to
all the influences of his time. Indeed, had it been otherwise
we should not have had his motetts. What else he may
have produced for the organ cannot be determined in the
absence of further evidence.
Five chorale arrangements by Joh. Michael Bach are
before me in manuscript — a very small number, but still suf-
ficient to throw light on his position as compared with his
brother and his contemporaries. Michael was more pervious to
fresh influences, and he also seems to have occupied himself
more with instrumental music in general than Joh. Christoph.
Walther says of him that "he, too, composed sonatas for
instruments and pieces for the clavier." Hence his works
have shown a much longer vitality, and so late as in the
second half of the eighteenth century his chorale preludes
were still known, though they were no longer considered of
much importance. In Gerber's volume of selections above
mentioned, there were no less than seventy-two chorales
treated in various ways, many of them followed by six, eight,
or ten variations. "There is great variety and multiplicity in
these preludes, for the age in which they were written, and
not one is unworthy of the name of Bach." This opinion,
written by Gerber in the first year of our century, is the only
trace of their existence that survives ; Walther's four MSS.
may have been written about 1730. But in order to under-
stand the difference between the brothers we must first devote
some attention to the man who, in the last twenty years of
the seventeenth century, helped above all others to advance
the art of organ music, and who was closely connected both
with Thuringia and with the Bach family.
Johann Pachelbel, born September i, 1653, at Nuremberg,
cultivated his admirable musical and general talents first at
Nuremberg, Altorf, and Regensburg. He was then for three
years Assistant-Organist to the Church of St. Stephen at
Vienna, and came to Eisenach as Court Organist May 4,
1677. Here he remained till May 18, 1678, and then be-
came Organist to the Prediger Kirche in Erfurt, where, as we
have seen, after the death of Johann Bach, in 1673, Johann
Effler had officiated for a few years. He was the predecessor
IO8 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
of Michael Bach at Gehren, and we shall again have occasion
to mention him among the organists of Weimar. Pachelbel
remained longer at Erfurt than in any other place in the
course of his chequered life; it was not till 1690 that he
quitted it to become Court Organist at Stuttgart ; from 1692
to 1695 he was again in Thuringia, at Gotha, and passed the
remainder of his life as Organist to the Church of St. Sebal-
dus, in his native city, dying March 3, lyoG.181 As a resident in
two of the chief centres of the Bach family in succession, he
had ample opportunity of coming in contact with this race
(and clan) of musicians. He was on such intimate terms
with Sebastian's father as to be chosen by him to be
godfather to one of his daughters and teacher to his eldest
son, and the chorale treatments which remain to us by
Bernard, son of Aegidius Bach, are of unmistakable Pachelbel
stamp throughout; we shall find other proofs of their in-
timate acquaintance as we proceed.
His constant changes of residence between South and
Central Germany had an essential effect on Pachelbel's
art, by giving rise in him to the amalgamation of various
tendencies. The style of chorale treatment which was
principally practised in Thuringia and Saxony, found
in the skeleton of the church hymn a form offering, it
is true, a poetic rather than a musical unity; but it
ran the risk of being decomposed by such handling into
incoherent fragments. With that feeling, so especially
characteristic of Italy, for grand and simple forms,
towards which the very being of the organ pointed, and
in far more favourable circumstances, Italy and South
Germany under direct Italian influence, had far out-
stripped North Germany in the art of organ music.
Frescobaldi, Organist to the Church of St. Peter at
111 Mattheson, in the Ehrenpforte, pp. 244-249, has done important service
in clearing up the details of Pachelbel's life, which had got into great confusion
in Walther's Lexicon. Even here his stay in Eisenach is wrongly stated as
lasting three years, while in fact he was there exactly one year and fourteen days,
as we learn from the yearly accounts of the Royal Exchequer, now in the
archives of Weimar. Pachelbel was at first granted a salary of lorty thajers
a year, raised in 1678 to sixty thalers.
JOHANN PACHELBEL. f09
Rome, had, so early as in the first half of the century,
risen to a height of mastery, which, in certain points —
for instance, in the skilful contrapuntal treatment of a
cantus firmus— was scarcely surpassed by any Catholic
organ-master of later date. In the toccata, by careful
elaboration, a form had at last been worked out which
contained in itself nearly all that the art had then achieved —
fugues, free imitations, brilliant ornamental passages, and
the mighty flow of chord progressions. This summit, fairly
represented by Georg Muffat's grand work, Apparatus Musico
Organisticus (1690), and by the collection of toccatas pub-
lished by Joh. Speth,182 had been reached by the end of the
century ; what remained to be done it was beyond the
powers of the Catholic organists to achieve. The motive
supplied by the Protestant chorale was lacking to them;
the Gregorian chant, which Frescobaldi handled so efficiently
and effectively for the organ, founded as it was on solo
declamation and the church modes, was opposed in its very
essence to that richer development in the new harmonic
system, by which alone the full expansion of instrumental
music became possible. In the Protestant chorale, on the
contrary, that fresh and native growth from the heart of
the people, organ music was destined to find the natural
element which the Roman nationalities could not supply
to it, that pure and unsophisticated essence which penetrated
and invigorated all its branches. Nor was it merely an
abundant flow of new melodic inventions that sprang from
this source; quite new forms of art grew on and from it;
an undreamed-of wealth of harmonic combinations was
discovered, and possibilities of instrumental polyphony
hitherto unknown. Pachelbel carried these achievements
of the south into the heart of Germany, took possession
of the elements he there found ready to his hand, and from
the two constructed something newer and finer. Nowhere
better than in Thuringia could his genius have met with
183 Organisch-Instrumentalischer Kunst-, Zier- und Lustgarten. Augsburg,
1693. Republished by Fr. Commer : Compositionen fur die Orgel aus dem i§,
17 18, Jahrhundert, Part V. (Leipzig: Geissler.)
TIO JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
men capable of welcoming it with unbiassed minds, and with
a greater capacity for furthering it on its way. From
this time forth the focus of German organ music lay un-
doubtedly in Central Germany ; the south fell off more and
more ; the north, with Dietrich Buxtehude at its head,
preserved its position somewhat longer, and even constructed
a certain chorale treatment of its own, which, however,
lagged far behind that of Central Germany in variety and
depth. History, however, retains a memory of a personage
older than Pachelbel — J. J. Froberger, of Halle, who no
doubt largely assimilated the southern spirit, and, so far
as I have at present discovered, did not even make any
use of chorales; he nevertheless was held in great respect
by the organists of Central Germany and even by Sebastian
Bach.
How truly Pachelbel stood above all his contemporaries
as a writer for the organ in the southern style is best
shown by his toccatas ; and at the same time we may
see even in these that a more powerful and soaring spirit
already possessed him. For while he leaves their general
character unaltered, which aims at brilliancy, bravura, and
the elaboration of broad masses of harmony, he has never-
theless abandoned the motley variety of slow and rapid
movements, fugal and not fugal, simple and ornamental, of
which their contents were commonly made up. The finest
and best of his toccatas generally run on in constant
movement, built and elaborated on one or more figures,
and usually supported by a few long held pedal -points.
Thus, one of them rests entirely on C for fifteen bars, on
G fourteen bars, and on C again seventeen bars, and is
grandly thought out on this motive —
Another, even finer and more flowing, has first a pedal-
point on C, sixteen bars, then passes by the chord of g on
F sharp to G ; after remaining there for ten bars it modulates
i i
through F E A to G ; here there is a pedal-point for six bars,
JOHANN PACHELBEL. Ill
and it closes with another on C six bars ; the movement of
the upper parts is at first in semiquavers, then it increases to
triplets of semiquavers, and finally to demisemiquavers. Two
more splendid pieces of this kind are a toccata in G minor
and one in F major ; the first is on G for seventeen bars, D
for twenty bars, and returns in the last bar to G ; the upper
parts at first rush up and down in passages of thirds and
sixths, but presently calm down into arpeggiato chords and
slow waves of harmony. The second is, perhaps, the finest of
all, in its majestic plan and the proud culmination of the
theme ; in it we have the precursor of that truly gigantic
toccata in F major by Sebastian Bach.188
A chaconne in D minor, of which the bass
' J "' J J '
^ ^=^
is repeated thirty-five times, has the same broad character,
full of style, though for inspiration and harmonic richness
it cannot bear comparison with similar works by Buxtehude.
In the field of chorale arrangements Pachelbel deserves
the credit of having brought selection, order, and dignity to
bear on the abundant but uncultured offshoots of organ
music in Central Germany, and of having diverted the tide
of southern beauty to flood the channels of German artistic
feeling. The progress made after his appearance on the
scene is quite remarkable, and perceptible at the first glance.
The direction which this branch of art had to take was that
of every aesthetically constructed form. It had to grow to
independent vitality, freeing itself from those external and
fortuitous conditions to which it owed its existence. Origi-
189 B.-G. XV., p. 154. These two last-mentioned works of Pachelbel are
published by Franz Commer, Musica Sacra, Vol. I., Nos. 136, 128 (Berlin: Bote
and Bock). Nos. 48 to 144 of this series are all by Pachelbel, and the originals
used by Commer are partly printed and partly MSS., in the Library of the Royal
Institute for Church Music at Berlin. A few others are published by G. W.
Korner, of Erfurt, in Part 340 of the Orgel-Virtuos, and in Part I. of the
collected edition of Pachelbel's compositions for the organ (no more published).
Besides these a rich mass of MS. material lies before me.
tI2 jOttAKN SEBASTIAN BACH.
nally intended only as an introduction or prelude suited to
the feeling of the congregational hymn, its only value arose
from its fitness and connection with that. Separate frag-
ments and concords borrowed from a familiar melody sounded
in the hearer's ear; these passages were to him inseparable
from the accompanying poetry, and led his feelings in a
certain direction, so that when the hymn was raised they
blossomed out full and clear.
Art could here produce her result in two different ways.
Either a conspicuous feature of the melody might be
selected — the first line perhaps — as the theme, and a
purely musical composition might be built up upon it ;
then the chorale itself could only indicate the fundamental
feeling which pervaded the whole work. This was the
most obvious method ; practical usage had already pointed
it out. The difference between a fugue designed for a
prelude, and a work constructed on a chorale motive is only
this — that the former has no meaning nor purpose excepting
in connection with the hymn that is to follow, while the lat-
ter offers an independent organism, and therefore proceeds to
exhaust the thematic source while the former is merely meant
to indicate it. Or else the whole melody was transferred to
the organ, and was accepted with all the attributes which
characterised it in its church function as associated with a
religious poem, as a means of general edification, and as an
integral portion of public worship, and thus gave rise to a kind
of ideal devotion in the region of pure instrumental music of
which the melody was really the heart and centre. It is plain
that this process is far behind the former one as to universal in-
telligibility, since too much of what is offered to our perceptions
lies outside the essential nature of the melody; and only a very
well-defined poetical basis can throw the tone-poet's purpose
and feeling into clear relief. But almost infinite room was
open for lavish and deeply elaborated development ; and the
subjective piety of the time found in this form many more
and happier opportunities for weaving in its mystical im-
pulses, and following them out to their subtlest issues, than
in the bare simplicity of a congregational hymn. The
working out of this branch of art, so closely connected with
PACHELBEL'S CHORALE TREATMENT. 113
the church, ran parallel to the modification in ecclesiastical
feeling; and the less men cared to unite in uttering a strong
congregational sentiment in the unction of a church hymn, the
more it was left to the organ chorale to express the intimate
feeling of individuals. The fact that the chorale even then
was practically used as a prelude in divine worship does not
alter these conditions. If now the melody of the chorale
was to serve as the core — the spirit of such a musical medi-
tation, it was indispensable that it should be conspicuous
throughout the music ; that it should soar above it all ;
concentrate it in itself; throw out from itself all its vital
germs. These on their part had to develop into members
of the melody on every side, however diverse ; to group
them into constantly fresh and pregnant shades of tone;
and, to make all perfect, some consciousness of the feeling of
the words had to find a faint utterance through the expression
of the musical composition. In order to effect all this they
were obliged to move with the utmost possible independence,
in obedience to the law that the freer the servant the more
honoured is the master.
At the time of his best maturity Pachelbel published
eight chorale treatments (apparently at Nuremberg, through
Johann Christoph Weigel, 1693) which probably indicate the
highest level of his achievements in that line.184 Most of
them are so constructed that the separate lines of the
melody are slowly and clearly carried through either the
upper or lower part. The subject is rigidly confined to
three or four parts, so that at each fresh lead of the melody
the richest harmonies arise, and it is thus thrown into greater
relief. Every line is introduced by a short passage of
imitation deriving its material from the first notes of the line
itself, and so preparing us for it; but always in double or
fourfold diminution, so that the effect of the chorale may
not be weakened by it, but be conspicuously distinct even in
rhythm. The contrapuntal figures themselves, however, are
not derived from this, but are of independent origin ; still, but
184 Fr. Commer, Nos. 48-55.
114
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
one or only a few figures are adhered to, which proceed and
react by reciprocal imitation. This passage —
from the chorale " Wie schon leucht't uns der Morgenstern"
— " How brightly shines the morning star," — representing the
last line of the verse, will elucidate this. In the first bar the
first three notes of the melody are sounded in preparation, F,
E, D; then they recur in the pedal, and the upper parts play
above them a passage of imitation in a manner very frequent
with Pachelbel ; he often repeats even the parallel motion
that we find here ; the highest grade of contrapuntal free
treatment is not yet attained. It is also a defect that the
interlude is not of a piece with the counterpoint ; otherwise,
the flow of the parts is already very easy, smooth, and
unforced, and at the same time thoroughly adapted to the
organ ; and we know that he insisted on a cantabile style of
composition, even in his pupils, which can mean nothing
different from this.185 The composer rarely goes into the
construction of the contrapuntal themes on the material of
the text of the melody. The cheerful, pastoral effect of it in
the chorale " Vom Himmel hoch " is perhaps unique, and
here a field but little cultivated was still left open to the pro-
found genius of Sebastian Bach.
1»» As we are told by J. H. Buttstedt, in his work: Ut, Re, Mi, &c., iota
Musica ft Harmonia Sterna. Erfurt, 1716, p. 58.
PACHELBEL'S METHOD. 115
Pachelbel's own manner, indeed, predominates so greatly
in his chorales, and where it occurs in the works of his
contemporaries the influence of his music is recognisable by
so many other tokens as well, that we may unhesitatingly
assert that they followed him, and the whole method may
with justice be designated as his. For, although attempts in
this direction occur at an earlier period, it was certainly he
who, by his superior talent and feeling for form, amalgamated
the scattered elements to form an artistic whole. He less
frequently treated the chorale melody contrapuntally, but
still with much mastery, carrying it on in a continuous
course without interludes — if we apply the term, as is
usually done, to independent phrases however short, but not
to a figure which occupies perhaps but a single bar, and
only derives its significance from the foregoing counterpoint.
Of this treatment — not to go beyond the chorale works
above mentioned — the arrangement of "Nun lob mein Seel
den Herren " — "My soul, now praise thy Maker,"136 —
may be quoted as an example ; it is also remarkable
because the melody lies in the middle part, a task not
often attempted at that time. He rarely carries through
the chorale in such a way as that the upper part lends play
of colour, or with interludes between the lines, and in these
respects he is inferior in taste and delicacy of treatment to
Buxtehude and his pupils ; but he has enhanced the artistic
value of his own manner by the way in which, in a number
of admirable works, he graces the chorale with a fugue on
the first line of the melody. We see from this how firm a
grasp the master had of his ideal — namely, the trans-
figuration of the chorale, with all its sacred and ecclesiastical
associations, to a purely artistic work, regarding it, as it
were, as an object of natural beauty to be dealt with by his
art. The introductory fugue is in the manner of a prelude,
only it is more freely and richly worked out. It bears the
same relation to a chorale fugue by Joh. Christoph Bach
that an idealised work does to bare realism ; nay, we need
186 Fr. Commer, No. 50.
I 2
Il6 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
only compare it with one of Pachelbel's own smaller chorale
fugues, intended simply for practical use in the church ser-
vice, to feel the wide difference between them. The chorale
arrangement following the fugue appears by contrast as
the main subject, treated with every variety of means at
the master's command. The melody is heard in aug-
mentation, often majestically filled up in the bass by
octaves, and brilliant and expressive figures entwine and
blossom above and around it. Some of the finest are the
workings out of " Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Ehr," "Vom
Himmel hoch," " Nun komm der Heiden Heiland,"187 and
" Christ lag in Todesbanden " ;188 others are more simple but
not less admirable.
No more need be said concerning the independent fugues
founded on chorales, since they are in all essentials alike,
and only differ at the close.139 But with regard to the
fugue form itself, I must take this opportunity of adding a
few words. Frescobaldi has been called the inventor of it,
but this only really means that he was the first to employ
the fugal style of playing on established principles of art.
The high position held by this master has already been
admitted ; still the form could not be fully developed
excepting under a general acceptance of the harmonic
system, because it was this which first made the genetic
connection between the leading subject and its associates
actual and perceptible, and enabled the composer to con-
struct an instrumental work on purely musical lines and
possessing an organic symmetry of its own. Then it was
that the Quinten-Fuge (i.e., a fugue in which the answer
is on the fifth above) first grew — undoubtedly the most
perfect of those forms — out of all the canzone, capriccios,
and fantasias, by which names everything fugally treated
had until then been called, without any perceptible or
essential difference. The best things produced by the later
187 Commer, Nos. 122, 143, 144.
138 Korner, Pachelbel's Orgel-Compositionen, Part I., No. I.
189 Such an one may be seen in Commer's edition, No. 53 ; in Korner's, No. 5.
HIS COUNTERPOINT. 117
Catholic masters of the organ are to be found in their
toccatas. The seventh toccata of the work mentioned
above, by Georg Muffat, closes with a fugue in which no
less than four extremely pleasing themes are very skilfully
worked out ; and in the second, fourth, and sixth toccatas,
capital fugues occur as distinct portions, not to speak of the
free imitative subjects scattered throughout ; but the great
distance at which they stand from the fugal writing of the
later school of Central Germany is at once evident. The
harmonic basis of the themes is far simpler ; it often can
only be termed a system not of counterpoint, but of chords
which rather seem to carry the motives than to alternate
with them independently. As has been repeatedly said, it
was indispensable for the development of organ music that
the new tone-system should first be firmly established, and
then the nature of the instrument tended inevitably to a
scheme of polyphony, which, though radically different from
the vocal polyphony of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,
still seemed to resemble it. But all the means to this end
which masters of the organ had been able to derive from
the treatment of the Protestant chorales were wanting
in the artists of the south — not merely the supple-
ness of the harmonies, and the intimacy and the in-
dependence of the contrapuntal parts, but also a firm and
deliberate entrance of the themes which, particularly in
the works of Sebastian Bach, always stand forth like a
distinct personality with unforgettable features. In Muffat,
and other writers, there is something painful in their first
appearance, as though they dared not come forth boldly.
They seek support from the companion passages which are
presently brought in, and so they are soon lost, their close dis-
appearing in a common phrase. It follows from this also that
the whole number of parts is not always carried through to
the end, and often the parts come in or cease at need, merely
to help out the harmony. Pachelbel made great progress in
this direction. In the form and attitude particularly of the
theme at its first entrance, he already trod the path afterwards
pursued by Sebastian Bach and Handel, and his counterpoint
is often full of rich vitality, though, no doubt, it is often stiff
Il8 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
and unmeaning. The following example will serve as an
illustration :140 —
m
Pachelbel had a number of disciples in Thuringia, some
his personal pupils, others through his influence only.
Among the former was J. H. Buttstedt (1666-1727), who
succeeded his master at the Prediger Church at Erfurt, and
who is known, to his disadvantage, by his lawsuit with
Mattheson as to his Neueroffnetes Orchestre ; but he
was a great master of his instrument, and a remarkable
composer of organ chorales and fugues.141 Then there was
Nikolaus Vetter, born 1666, who was still Organist at
Rudolstadt (1730), and also did honour to his teacher.
In more or less close relation to Pachebel were Andreas
Armstroff, who died young (1670-1699), an Organist at
Erfurt ; Johann Graff, Organist at Magdeburg (died 1709) ;
and of the succeeding generation the more important of those
who followed in his footsteps were Georg Kauffmann (1679-
1735), a pupil of Buttstedt ; the gifted Gottfried Kirchhoff
(1685-1746), Organist at Halle ; and, above all, Johann Gott-
fried Walther, of Weimar (1684-1748). His influence made
itself felt, by degrees, throughout Thuringia and Saxony, and
hence even by the Bach family; indeed, one of its mem-
bers, the eldest brother of Sebastian, was one of his pupils,
and so perhaps was Bernhard Bach, afterwards Organist at
Eisenach. Still the Bach family was too innately independent
140 The whole fugue occurs in Commer, No. 124, but the case is the same
with many others.
141 I have sought in vain in Erfurt for his published vocal compositions,
mentioned by Walther. It would be worth some trouble to bring them to
light again.
COMPARED WITH THE BACKS.
119
ever to give itself up entirely to any external direction, and
this was the very reason why, at a subsequent date, it was
able to produce a still greater and more comprehensive genius.
Indeed, in Joh. Christoph Bach, who lived with Pachelbel for
some time in Eisenach, his influence was never in any way
perceptible; probably the converse may rather have been the
case. Still Michael Bach availed himself of Pachelbel's
method, and certain circumstances point to a personal
acquaintance between these two artists.
Thus, the five organ pieces by Michael Bach remaining to
us are treatments of the chorales " Allein Gott in der Hoh
sei Ehr " — " Glory to God alone on high " ; " Wenn mein
Stiindlein vorhanden ist " — " If my last hour is now at hand " ;
"Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein " — " Sing and be glad,
all Christian folk"; "In dich hab ich gehoffet, Herr"142— "In
Thee, O Lord, is all my hope," and " Dies sind die heilgen
zehn Gebot"— "These ten are God's most holy laws." The
two last are quite in the style above designated as Pachelbel's.
Since both Joh. Christoph and Pachelbel himself worked up
the chorale " In dich hab ich," it is easy to see, by com-
parison, how far behind the other two Joh. Christoph Bach
remained in the flexibility and melody of his counterpoint.
Only the beginning of each arrangement is here given : —
JOH. CHRISTOPH BACH. | I i^ . .
H
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T P ' | — y
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_ >. . . J. J- Jl A J J !
PACHELBEL.
m
144 I owe my knowledge of this to Herr Ritter, Musical Director in Magdeburg.
It is to be found in the Orgel-Journal of Mannheim, Vol. I., Part 7, and
came from Ch. H. Rinck, a pupil of Kittel's.
120 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACti.
In the third piece Michael Bach treats the chorale melody
as it goes on, contrapuntally, in a truly fine and flowing
manner, striving to keep closely to certain figures, and
preluding the whole with a short fugue on the first line.
The two first-named chorales exhibit no clearly worked out
form ; they are less defined and perfect. The second gives
out the first line once, in three parts. After a short interlude
the second line comes in without any fugal treatment. Two
bars of interlude follow, bringing in the cantus firmus of
both lines in the pedal, but not in double augmentation.
Then comes the first line of the refrain, once imitated, and
then the second, followed by the pedal in canon ; and finally
the third in the same manner. Thus the first line of the
second half of the tune does not occur at all in the pedal; the
piece has no culminating point and no arrangement. When
we compare Pachelbel's treatment of the same melody,
which, in his favourite way, has the full and richly figured
chorale preceded by a chorale fugue, it would seem as though
Michael Bach had produced a not very happy imitation of it.
And though Pachelbel does not introduce the cantus firmus
in augmentation, he has succeeded in giving it value and
relief by other means ; for instance, by richer figura-
tion.143 This Michael Bach has neglected. " Allein Gott in
der Hoh," in short, is so treated that one line is always
carried on fugally on the " Riickpositiv" ;144 and then this
same line, sometimes in combination with the next, is intro-
duced in the simplest four-part harmony on the "Oberwerk."144
But even this is not a central idea of form, for what ought to
have been effected by truly artistic means is here produced by
mere alternations of tone ; or, if the simple chorale subject indi-
cates congregational singing, the true significance of a church
service has been misunderstood, and it has been transferred
to the domain of ideal art, where a quite different standard
prevails. This is not to be done by mere realistic copying.
148 Compare, for instance, No. 134 in Commer.
144 These are the names of two of the manuals in a German organ. The
"Riickpositiv" answers in some measure to our "Choir organ," and the
" Oberwerk " or upper manual to our swell. See Translators' Preface.
INFLUENCED BY THE BACKS* 121
Zachau, again, the teacher of Handel, though fifteen years
younger, gives us a similar treatment in " Was mein Gott
will, das g'scheh allzeit," "Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott,"
and " Vater unser im Himmelreich." So Michael Bach was
not singular in his misconception.
The suggestion just now put forward, that Joh. Christoph
Bach's peculiar greatness cannot have failed to influence
Pachelbel, although he, as an organist, far surpassed the
elder master, is founded in the first place on a treatment of
the chorale " Warum betrubtst du dich, mein Herz" — "Why
art thou saddened, oh my heart?"145 — in which Pachelbel
shows a resemblance that can scarcely be accidental with the
above-mentioned work on the same subject, which closes the
collection of chorales by Joh. Christoph Bach. At the first
occurrence of the sixth and seventh notes of the melody
Bach introduces a dotted figure of quavers, in place of
which he eventually puts in a chromatic figure, to signify the
"saddened" heart. Such playing round his theme is of
frequent occurrence with him, while Pachelbel, on the con-
trary, is wont to leave the lines of the melody unaltered, but
to introduce fugal movements. In the arrangement before
us he has the transformed figures likewise, and by carrying
them consistently through the whole of the chorale fugue
he justifies their introduction. Nay, more, even the chro-
matic motive is turned to account as a counter-subject,
though not in the theme ; such references in the chorale
fugue to the inner parts of the hymn are not usual with
him. Thus the whole work is not only one of the
master's finest, but takes a distinct place among others of
the same kind and character.146
On the strength of this result another conjecture may
perhaps be hazarded, namely, that Pachelbel was incited by
Joh. Christoph's collection of chorale preludes to attempt a
similar work. He did, in fact, collect a series of 160 chorale
145 Published by Korner, Orgel-Virtuos, No. 340. There is yet another and
also very beautiful arrangement by him, with the cantus firmus in the bass, but
which, so far as I know, has never been published.
146 Walther, too, treated the melody, as based on Pachelbel, with rich chro-
matic passages, in direct and counter movement with an ornate cantus firmus.
122 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
melodies, principally for domestic use, with figured-basses,
in a Tabulaturbuch, and to half of these he added short
chorale fugues as preludes.147 These are quite of the same
character as Bach's works, briefly and lightly suggesting the
tune, and so forming a very fitting preparation for the con-
gregational singing ; only, as might be expected, we find a
more free and flowing manner than in Bach. And what
is particularly remarkable is, that in the hymn "Warum
betriibtst du dich, mein Herz," a chorale fugue is introduced
and even the dotted figure. If this view is the correct one,
it becomes plain with how little justice it has been asserted on
the other hand that Bach learnt of Pachelbel, even in vocal
choral music.148 That this is most unlikely is self-evident,
for Bach was twelve years the elder and extremely reserved,
while Pachelbel's was a highly receptive and versatile nature.
But we have only to look through one of Pachelbel's motetts
to find ample proof of the actual inaccuracy of such an asser-
tion. There is hardly the remotest affinity to be detected
between the facile and pleasing style of Pachelbel and the
bold and thoughtful forms of Bach's work. If the tradition
is to be accepted that Pachelbel " advanced the perfecting of
church music,"149 this must certainly refer to his "concerted"
vocal pieces (with obbligato accompaniment of instruments,
»«' Tabulatur Buch | Geistlicher Gesange | D. Martini Lutheri | und anderer
Gottseliger Manner | Sambt beygefugten Choral Fugen | durchs gantze Jahr |
Allen Liebhabern des Claviers componiret | von | Johann Pachelbeln, Organisten
zu | S. Sebald in Niirnberg | 1704. | A MS. in oblong quarto in the Grand
Ducal Library at Weimar, but not in Pachelbel's hand. Goethe took much
interest in this work, and sent it to Zelter, March 27, 1824, who returned it to
him eight days after with an opinion as characteristic of himself as of the book
(Briefwechsel zwischen Goethe und Zelter, III., pp. 423-426). Winterfeld has
given an exhaustive description of it, and five chorale fugues out of it (Ev.
Kir., II., 636-642). Those on the melodies "In dich hab ich gehoffet, Herr"
(fol. 84 b), and " Erhalt uns, Herr " (fol. 130 b), are only abridgments of longer
arrangements. A. G. Ritter has recently proved that it is highly probable that
the whole of this Tabulatur Buch is not an original work, but must be re-
garded as a compilation of abridged organ chorales by Pachelbel, and that these
abridgments, or some of them at least, were not made by the author himself
(Monatshefte fur Musikges. 1874, p. 119).
i« Winterfeld, Ev. Kir., III. ,429.
"» Walther, Lexicon, p 458. Mattheson, Ehrenpforte, p. 247.
THE EARLY SONATA.
123
that is to say), and particularly to the use made in them of the
chorale. Here, the technique he had acquired by composition
for the organ stood him in good stead ; he knew how to avail
himself of it with great skill for vocal style, and was in this
respect the forerunner of Sebastian Bach. His cantata on
the hymn by Rodigast, " Was Gott thut, das 1st wohl-
gethan" — of which the melody would appear to be his also —
is a very remarkable example, as illustrating the state of
church music in the middle of the seventeenth century.150 We
should, however, be in error in supposing him to stand alone
in these works. We shall presently become acquainted with
cantatas by Buxtehude which surpass those of Pachelbel, at
any rate in fervency and inspiration.
The melody (in the major) of " Wo soil ich fliehen hin "
perhaps affords another example of his labours as a composer
of vocal church music —
II O Wo soil ich flie - hen bin
It must have originated at about that time; it occurs
in Pachelbel's Tabulaturbuch, where it is supplied with a
chorale fugue, and it was subsequently worked up with
special care by Job. Gottfr. Walther, which is important
circumstantial evidence, since we know his high esteem for
Pachelbel. If he was the composer of it151 we have here
grounds for concluding that there was a close intimacy be-
tween him and Michael Bach, for Bach has interwoven this
tune, then but little known, in his motett " Das Blut Jesu
Christi." There is yet another circumstance to be mentioned
which seems to prove such an intimacy with tolerable
certainty, since 'it strengthens the hypothesis that the intro-
duction of the air into the motett was a friendly attention,
and is also a further evidence of the probability of Pachelbel
being the original inventor of it.
Pachelbel's versatility led him to direct his energies not
only to the organ and clavier (he is said to have been the
1*0 Part of it is given by Winterfeld, Ev. Kir., II., Musical Supplement,
p. 196.
151 As Winterfeld has already suggested, Ev. Kir., p. 639.
124 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
first who adapted the form of the French "overture" to this
instrument), but to other forms of instrumental music, and
among others the sonata. Of this two kinds must be distin-
guished : the secular sonata, adapted for chamber music, and
the sacred sonata. The latter, as a rule, preceded a piece
of vocal church music, and its actual originator was Giov.
Gabrieli. In form, of course, it had nothing in common with
the modern sonata. It was an instrumental piece in several
parts, in which the principal feature was the development of
fuller and finer harmonies, rather than the working out of
a determined theme. A favourite method was the contrasted
use of the instruments then employed in the church — violins,
cornets, and trumpets — in an antiphonal manner. Excepting
in the constantly increasing distinction in the new scheme of
keys, the essence of the church sonata altered but little in the
course of the seventeenth century. In the last decades, to be
sure, the overture form invented by Lully asserted its influence
to some extent. This form consists of a broad introductory
subject in slow time, often graced by brilliant passages, and
followed by a rapid and agitato fugal movement. Although
Hammerschmidt had made use of a similar contrast long
before Lully wrote his overtures, which marked an epoch,152
still, in later composers, the contrast of the sections is too
evidently intentional and abrupt to leave any doubt as to its
resulting from the application of a deliberate scheme of
form.158 But even at this later period the writer was often
satisfied with a calm movement full of harmonies and sus-
tained passages, and when a livelier movement follows (often
in triple time) it is by no means always fugally treated, but
quite as often shows only a few passages of free imitation.
This is the form we meet with in Joh. Christoph Bach's
IM See the instrumental introduction to the Dialogus, " Wer walzet uns den
Stein," in Part IV. of Musikalischer Andachten, No. 7.
153 I may here name, beside Buxtehude, of whom I shall speak presently,
Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, 1657-1714, Capellmeister in Rudolstadt, whose
Gott geheiligte Singstunde (Rudolstadt, 1704), contains twelve sacred pieces
with introductory symphonies. He was expressly celebrated as having con-
siderable mastery in the treatment of the French oveiture. See Buttstedt as
quoted in the next note.
PACHELBEL'S SERENATA. 125
church sonata, " Es erhub sich ein Streit im Himmel," but
the introduction to Michael Bach's cantata (discussed above)
is in the former style, though indeed it did not become a
model. And the opposition of various groups of instruments
is, even now, a very favourite device. It will be our inte-
resting task, in the proper place, to show what attitude
Sebastian Bach took up with regard to the church sonata.
When we read that Pachelbel wrote sonatas for a double
choir, we must — having regard to the period at which he
lived — take this to mean instrumental church sonatas, and
we know what to understand by the term.
But he also busied himself with secular instrumental
compositions, particularly serenatas. Serenades were at that
time performed with vocal and instrumental music, or with
instrumental only. It is highly improbable that any special
form of structure should have existed for these ; a series of
dances and marches were probably played ; but we are told
of Pachelbel that he composed " a serenata," and as this is
mentioned with his sonatas, it may have been planned on
the same method, only lighter and gayer. Now this serenata
was certainly well known to Michael Bach, and he himself
was possibly treated to it on some festival occasion or other.
He then took a friendly revenge on Pachelbel on a suitable
occasion with a similar composition ; and the works of both
masters are said to have been of such excellence that
Buttstedt mentions them long after the death of the
composers, and says that, of their kind, they rank superior
to Lully's overtures.154
184 J. H. Buttstedt in the work just quoted (see note 153) says: "Art,
on the other hand, was more necessary in my late master and teacher, Herr
PachelbeVs Sonatas, in specie his Serenate, Johann Michel Bach's Revange
and such like" (than in overtures). Thus it would seem that Bach named
his piece "Revange" (Retaliation), indicating at once its motive and aim.
Adlung appears to have known it, for in his copy with MSS. notes of
Walther's Lexicon, now in the Royal Library at Berlin, under the article
" Michael Bach " he has written : " Two choral sonatas by Joh. Mich. Bach
are engraved and printed." The " Revange " was scarcely known beyond
Thuringia, to our loss, for it might in that case have been preserved.
Mattheson, who had a tolerably wide acquaintance with musical literature,
makes no mention of it. See his Beschiitztes Orchestre, p. 22j,
126 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Michael Bach's work as a composer of sonatas has already
been alluded to ; it is mainly in these that it is important
to prove the existence of an intimacy between him and
Pachelbel. Since Sebastian Bach, by his first marriage,
was closely connected with Michael's house — in which, even
after his death, the memory of this friend would certainly
have been cherished, and his compositions particularly
esteemed and probably preserved in considerable numbers —
this is of no small interest.
Neither the famous sonatas nor the clavier compositions of
Michael Bach have anywhere come under my notice. Three
sets of variations for the clavier exist by Job. Christoph
Bach, and going back once more to this Eisenach master,
from whom we digressed, we may conclude our study of the
musical works of the two brothers. The clavier for a long
period played a subordinate part as compared with the organ,
though it was nearly allied to it particularly in the form of the
harpsichord, by the lack of subtle shades of tone, and of
different varieties of touch. But the quick evanescence of
the sound, on the other hand, brought it into contrast with
the organ; and in the clavichord this contrast was even more
conspicuous, because of the possibility of representing diffe-
rent shades of tone, however soft. While, during the first half
of the seventeenth century, music for the organ and clavier
was not kept distinct, and as, in Scheldt's Tabulatura nova,
things were often required of the organ which it was not
generally used for, in the second half of the century a special
clavier style grew up, based principally on the characteristics
of the instrument. Its peculiarities were founded on an in-
creased rapidity in the succession of sounds, adapted to
conceal their deficiency in duration and to compensate as far
as possible for this defect. For such a style the figured
variations already introduced by Scheidt were very well
adapted. A subject of simple construction, with a clearly
defined and easily recognised melody, was selected for the
theme — an aria, saraband, or chorale — and so varied by
running passages for the right hand that the salient points of
the melody were just touched upon, or so slightly modified
that the essential features remained recognisable throughout.
DANCE VARIATIONS. 127
Now and then, for a change, a running passage in the left hand
occurred, while the simple theme was carried on above it.
The rhythmical proportions of the theme were at the same
time not lost sight of. If it was in two sections, so were the
variations ; and if each section was in four bars, these re-
curred in the figures. Chorales, in particular, were much
used in this way ; and so the contemporaries of those writers
must often have heard these nimble fancies played even on
the organ. Buxtehude, indeed, made a complete Suite out of
the fine and solemn chorale, " Auf meinen lieben Gott,"
by variations on it with a saraband, courante, and gigue, in
which the melody is most skilfully retained, in spite of the
different measures and the varying character of the dances.155
Such tasks were undertaken without any thought of frivolity
— simply for the delight in the play of sounds. The greatest
ingenuity in this species of music was manifested by Georg
Bohm, of the Church of St. John, at Liineburg, a younger
contemporary of Joh. Christoph Bach, and like him a Thu-
ringian, who, as we shall see, initiated Sebastian Bach into
this form of art. Works of the same kind exist by Buttstedt,
and even by Pachelbel.156 Now and then a more thoughtful
and artistic combination crept in from the neighbouring domain
of organ music. The titles were "Changes" (Verande-
rungen), "Variations," "Partie," " Partita," in chorales even
"Verses" simply, since it was a favourite plan to make as
many variations as there were verses in the hymn, but
without any special reference to the text of each verse.
These airy and often extremely pleasing structures had a
higher result in the progress of art, serving, in the first
place, to encourage finger dexterity, besides giving rise to an
abundance of figures and subtle variants, which served a
later generation as materials for attaining the very highest
perfection of clavier music. This variation form was not
195 Thus Mattheson is in error when he attributes to himself (Vollkommener
Capellmeister, p. 161) the invention of turning chorale melodies into dances
by variations of rhythm.
156 Pachelbel published a work at Nuremberg, in 1699, Hexachordum Apollinis,
containing six airs with variations.
128 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
capable of any great depth of treatment, for which reason it
proved no longer sufficient for Sebastian Bach's requirements;
and in his variations written for Goldberg he struck out a new
path, worthy of his genius, in which he has been followed by
Beethoven and Brahms. The "Air with variations," how-
ever, in its merely "figured" form, has remained in favour
with artists and the public down to the present day.
Job. Christoph Bach's twelve variations on a saraband,
in G major,167 are models of fancy and grace. The saraband
consists of three sections, each to be repeated. The first
contains eight bars, the two last each four, and this echo-like
repetition of two such short phrases leads us to suppose that
the composer wrote for a two-manualed harpsichord, on
which the parts were played alternately. It is not deficient
in harmonic subtlety ; the theme begins at once, on the
chord of the sixth (it is thus that we must account for the
harmony, although the characteristic E does not come in till
afterwards), a bold attack, worthy of Joh. Christoph. In the
last variation even such chords as these occur : —
m
3
The first variation has, in the right hand, a variant on the
air in quavers ; the second, a fine flowing quaver bass ; the
third gives the melody quite a new character by a pleasing
little variant ; in the fourth, the quaver movement is given in
alternate bars to each hand ; from the fifth onwards, semi-
quavers are introduced, but among them, for contrast,
quieter variations come in, as for example in the sixth, of
which the transcendental chromatic harmony is a feature re-
minding us of Buxtehude; the eleventh variation has quavers
again, and the last closes calmly in grave 3-2 time. Sebas-
tian Bach seems to have known and loved this little work.
In his A minor variations we find a good deal that is
thought out in a similar way, and the beginning of the third
157 In MS. in the Royal Library at Berlin.
J. C. BACH'S VARIATIONS.
129
Goldberg variation 158 appears to be a further development of
Joh. Christoph Bach's fourth : —
JOB. CHR. BACH.
IT
&c.
JOH. SEE. BACH.
Since the grand fourth variation in Beethoven's Sonata
(Op. 109) can be pretty plainly traced to its root in Sebas-
tian Bach's composition, we may see in this the indirect
influence of Joh. Christoph Bach even in modern times.
Beethoven had the highest respect for Sebastian Bach's
clavier works, and such a development is by no means
extraordinary. Reminiscences of him frequently occur,
especially in the earlier sonatas.
Fifteen variations also are extant on an air by Daniel
Eberlin, then Capellmeister at Eisenach ; it is in E flat
major, and seems to be a sort of cradle song. Many of
these variations — which treat the melody as a cantus firmus
with counterpoint, here calm and slow, and there more
rapid — have something of the organ style about them. In
the eleventh the melody comes out very sweetly in the tenor,
and the ninth forms a pendant to the sixth of the series first
noticed. But the use of chromatic passages is even more
daring, and gives the harmony a strange, intoxicating effect,
reminding us of the most modern means of expression used by
Schubert and Schumann. It might safely be wagered that
no one, unacquainted with the instrumental music of the
seventeenth century, would guess at this day that these
variations were composed in 1690 ; rather would he imagine
from their softness and sweetness that they were by Mozart,
B-G., III., 266.
130 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
who also knew how to use chromatic passages and motives
with wonderful force of expression. As regards the figures,
chey display no great variety, though they are pleasing
throughout, and the grouping of the variations is very much
the same as in the first set. That Joh. Christoph Bach's talent
did not preponderate on this side is confirmed by the third
of these little works — fifteen variations on an air in A minor,
in two sections of four bars each. These have all the pleasing
characteristics of the two others, but give us nothing essen-
tially new. In a few of the variations the organ character is
conspicuous, as in the seventh, where, between the quiet
crotchets of the upper parts a beautiful stream of semi-
quavers is poured out in the tenor part ; in the eighth, where
the same thing happens in the alto ; and in the twelfth,
which has the cantus firmus in the bass. The counterpoint
is masterly, and makes the loss of all the composer's really
important organ works the more to be regretted. Moreover,
the resemblance to Sebastian Bach's A minor variations
is here still more conspicuous, and cannot be merely
accidental.159
It may not only be assumed but can be proved that Joh.
Christoph Bach further cultivated this branch. Gerber
possessed a little paper volume containing an air in B flat
major with variations; the copyist had broken off at the fourth,
but the volume was calculated to contain nearly twenty.160
The whole has now been lost, but the air can be restored from
other sources. It appeared in the Geistreiches Gesang-
buch, published at Darmstadt, in 1698, and is set to
Neander's hymn, " Komm, o komm, du Geist des Lebens ";
from thence it was transferred to Freylinghausen's
Gesangbuch. It was afterwards used to the words of
Countess Ludamilia Elisabeth, "Jesus, Jesus, nichts als
lst I myself possess the autograph of the second set of variations. Before
the theme of the second it is written : "Aria Eberliniana \ pro dormente
Ca- 1 millo, \ Variata d Joh. \ Christoph Bach, org : \ Metis. Mart. ao~. 1690. ( "
The third, now in the possession of Herr W. Krankling, of Dresden, has only
the initials " J. C. B." above, to the right. Both are in small quarto, and
very neatly written.
"• Gerber, N. L., I., col. 209.
j. c. BACH'S SONS. 131
Jesus." Since it is not known to what song— probably a
secular one — it originally belonged, no decisive opinion can
be pronounced on the merit of this simple melody. As a
chorale melody it is neither better nor worse than most of
that period. It can, however, scarcely be doubted that it
was invented by Joh. Christoph himself, since, if it were not,
some remark would have been made as to its origin, as in
the case of the air in E flat major.
All has now been told which can be known regarding the
two gifted sons of Heinrich Bach. The whole field of their
work — a mirror from which their complete identity might
have been reflected — is broken up and dispersed; we can
only gather the principal features from solitary fragments,
and piece them together in imagination as best we may. If
I have not succeeded in this, so much at any rate is clear,
that they well deserved to survive as artistic individualities
in the memory of posterity ; while, if I have, it is a clear
gain for the comprehension of their own time as well as of
the art of Sebastian Bach, their younger and more glorious
relative. It will still be necessary to glance at their direct
descendants.
VI.
JOHANN CHRISTOPH BACH'S SONS.
THE only son of Johann Michael Bach died soon after his
birth. Johann Christoph, however, had four sons, of whom
the eldest was the most remarkable. This one, Johann
Nikolaus, was Organist to the Town and University of
Jena in 1695. He made a journey into Italy shortly after,
as it would seem, in the company of Georg Bertuch, of
Helmershausen, in Franconia, who had studied for a time at
Jena as a talented amateur, and subsequently entered the
Danish army, rising at last to be commandant of the fortress
of Aggershuus, in Norway. When he returned to Jena,
Nikolaus Bach fulfilled his duties there indefatigably till his
death— for fifty-eight years in all. He died at the age of
eighty-four, November 4, 1753. the last and most vigorous
K 2
132 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
offshoot of a gifted branch, and he had for years been the
eldest surviving member of his family.161 He married, in
1697, Anna Amalia Baurath, the daughter of a goldsmith of
Jena ; she died on April 14, 1713, and he married again
on October 13 of the same year, Anna Sibylla Lange,
daughter of the sometime pastor of Isserstedt. Of the
ten children which he had by her, five died quite young,
and of the sons Johann Christian (1717-1738) alone arri-
ved at maturity ;162 none survived the father. Nikolaus
Bach was known to his contemporaries as a diligent com-
poser of Suites, and we must be contented with a repeti-
tion of their verdict.163 A Mass of his, however, remains,
which shows that he possessed no inconsiderable talent
for compositions of another kind, and that he was a
true artist and worthy of his great father.164 It is a short
Mass, comprising only the Kyrie and Gloria, the first in E
minor, the second in G major, for two violins, two violas,
soprano, alto, tenor, bass, organ, and basso continuo : in the
Gloria an additional part is added either for a voice or an
instrument. The work is of great interest, both for its sub-
stance and its technical perfection. Its style — melodic, har-
monic, and rhythmic — approaches nearly to that of the
contemporary Italian masters, especially of Antonio Lotti,
both in the considerate and effective treatment of the vocal
parts and in the orchestration; two, and on one occasion,
four violas being used. It bears the character of general
161 The dates are from Walther's Lexicon, and from the parish register at
Jena. The date of his death has hitherto been always erroneously given as 1740;
and curiously enough, even by his own relations, namely, in the Emmert
genealogy.
162 The Emmert genealogy gives the number of sons as two, but the whole
number was really four.
168 Adlung, Anl. zur mus. Gelahrtheit, p. 706.
164 The Mass is in the Royal Library at Berlin, and in the Royal Libraiy at
Konigsberg, in Prussia (No. 13,866). The latter copy is one made by Schicht
in September, 1815, and bears the title: Messa a 9 voci da Giov. Nicolo Bach,
figlio di Giov. Cristofforo Bach, e Zio di Giov. Sebastiano Bach. There is also
another copy, probably made by Joh. Ludwig Bach, in the possession of
Messrs. Breitkopf and Hartel, at Leipzig. This is dated September 16,1716,
so that the date (1734) of the Berlin copy cannot mean the original date of
composition.
NIKOLAUS BACH'S MASS. 133
solemn rejoicing rather than of subjectively religious con-
templation. With the Gloria is interwoven the chorale
which represents it in the Protestant worship, " Allein Gott
in der Hoh sei Ehr"— "Glory to God alone on high "—of
which one verse only is sung simultaneously with the four
movements, Gloria in excelsis Deo; Laudamus te, benedicimus
te; Domine fili unigenite ; Quoniam tu solus sanctus. The
fugue Cum Sancto Spiritu, at the end, has no chorale. In the
whole work there is an exclusively German and Protestant
element, which could only be fitly treated according to the
method established by the Protestant composers. In it two
entirely distinct varieties of style are therefore fused to form
one whole. The character of the chorale under considera-
tion here facilitated the task which, as we must allow, is
perfectly worked out by Nikolaus Bach, and with the com-
pletest mastery of technical requirements.
The chorale melody is placed in the soprano register, and
may have been originally intended, not for the voice, but for
an instrument, as a trumpet or horn, since a soprano solo
would have been quite inaudible in the midst of the almost
uninterrupted soprano and alto of the four-part chorus.
The actual setting of the chorale for the voice was done
later; it occurs in this way in the score in question, in
which, moreover, a rhymed translation of the hymn into
Latin is given, as well as the original, because the mixture
of German and Latin words would sound unpleasant.
Sebastian Bach has adopted the same method in the Kyrie
of his Mass in F, where the chorale, " Christe, du Lamm
Gottes," is given to the horns; this latter instance, however,
is as far above the former as the German style is above the
Italian in depth and intensity of expression.165 It is curious
to observe the two cousins as representatives of two such
radically different art-tendencies in solving the same problem.
Nikolaus Bach had, like his father, bestowed the most careful
study upon the Italian masters, and, by uniting their charac-
165 In Sebastian Bach's work, the chorale was sometimes given to a soprano
voice, as is shown by a manuscript in the Royal Library at Berlin. B.-G.,
Vol. VIII., p. xiv.
134 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
teristics with his national music, succeeded in producing
something in this Mass peculiarly his own. Still, in general,
it must be said that the Protestant chorale does not coalesce
with the Italian style of sacred music, and that the experiment
probably could only succeed with this particular melody,
considering its character. To enable Nikolaus Bach to
arrive at the highest point of this branch of art, he must
have opened out the way afterwards followed by Handel,
have disregarded the exclusively Protestant point of view
and its essentially individual nature, and have striven to take
his stand on the freer and more general ground of human
devotion. But this was denied to him by the circumstances
of his time, and it may be, too, by his natural predilections.
On the other hand, the Italian style could not avail him,
and the only track that could lead to the ideal was that
followed by his great cousin, Sebastian, who engrafted his
own peculiar vocal style on the German art of the organ.
But, as I have said, the masterliness with which this Mass is
written is quite perfect, both in the Kyrie, which is not too
much amplified, and of which the excellent fugato at the
end might, as it stands, have been written by Lotti, and
in the Gloria with its many movements. Here we are
especially surprised to see how independently the four-part
choir surround and adorn the chorale tune, how rich the inven-
tion is, how different and various the feeling of all the separate
ideas which are so independent, and yet so linked together by
the continual recurrence of the chorale. A brilliant fugue
crowns the work, which it is to be hoped, if only for its historical
interest, may once more become generally known, and which,
it may safely be said, would not fail of its full effect even in
the present day.
As chance would have it, we are able to contrast with this
composition, which transports us into the world of the highest
ideal, another work by the same master, which is entirely
founded on the most downright realism ; it is a comic Sing-
spiel, or operetta. And this chance is an especially happy
one, because it adds to the portrait we have been endeavour-
ing to give, of the manner of life of the Bach family, a strongly
marked feature, which must of necessity be absolutely true
HIS COMIC OPERETTA. 135
to nature. However much the minds of these people were
devoted to the sublimest and gravest things, they stood on the
earth with a healthy firmness, they showed a capability
of joining pleasantly from time to time in the trivial amuse-
ments of their fellow-men, and had eyes and understandings
to enjoy the cheerful and comic side of the ordinary life that
lay around them. The more transcendent the flight of genius
and fancy is, so much the more does the necessity of mixing
busily, and even unrestrainedly, in the world around press
upon every properly constituted man. This rule, taught by
experience, is confirmed by the lives of all our great artists.
The occasional hearty enjoyment of rough and audacious
jokes was a special characteristic of the whole Bach family.
If we did not know this from good authority, proof enough
would be found in the fact that, beside those members of the
family who were employed in churches or schools, so many of
them belonged to the easy-going body of the "town-pipers."
The fact of belonging to this body presupposes this trait of
character, and that it was not absent in other members of
the family is proved, even before we learn it from Sebastian
Bach's own works, by the burlesque written with such plea-
sure by his cousin Nikolaus. It is entitled " The Wine and
Beer-cryer of Jena," 166 and is a merry scene from student-life,
suitable in its form to the German opera of the time, which
flourished particularly well in Hamburg. The performance,
of course, was by students on some special occasion or other.
The simple plot is as follows. Two young students, Peter
and demon, of whom the second is a " crasser Fuchs "
(green freshman), come in singing a song in praise of Jena,
the seat of the Muses. They are very much afraid of being
cheated by the Jena people, and determine to go to the
house of the innkeeper, Caspar, who is a countryman of
theirs, and has been known to Peter before. He receives
them, puts the timid youths at their ease by singing the
166 Der | Jenaische Wein- und \ Bierrufer. \ a \ 2 Violini, \ Alto, Monsieur
Peter. \ Tenore i, Monsieur demon. \ Tenore 2, Herr Johannes. \ Basso,
Monsieur Caspar. \ ed \ Fondamento \ von Joh. Nicol. Bach. | The parts are
in the Royal Library at Berlin.
136 JOttANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
song "Bin Fuchs ist gar ein narrisch Thier" (The fresh-
man is a simpleton), and begins a condescendingly cordial
conversation with them. The " green " Clemon then an-
nounces the important news, from his home, that his
"Father's turned his coat, Mother's burnt the fur," when
the crier is heard in the street, shouting out " Good foreign
wine." This attracts attention, and the crier, with comic
dignity, announces in an aria his standing and reputation.
The host adds that he is an "honest Philistine," but that he
has to endure many tricks, and be the amusement of the
company by being insulted and spit upon. After this it
happens that the bold Peter and the frightened Clemon, as
well as the landlord, go to the window and air their wits by
ridiculing the crier, who keeps going by, and who answers
them readily enough in a rough and cynical style. At length
it gets worse, they come to blows, and the crier threatens
to complain of the freshmen to the Rector.167 They are
alarmed and retire; a charming aria for four voices, treating
of the adventures of the Jena students, is the conclusion.
The joke in its dramatic form may have arisen from some
real scrape ; it hits off the rough life of the place, and the
crier, Johannes, in particular, seems to be intended for a
similar personage well known in Jena at the time. The
same realism pervades the music, especially in the recitatives
that accompany the course of the action. The way that Bach
makes Johannes call out, imitating in a jocular way the actual
intonation of such people, the short insulting phrases, ejacu-
lated by the rogues in the window, are a very successful piece
of " speaking music "; and it is very amusing when the old
fellow replies in a very rapid speaking voice to his assailers,
and then, almost without taking breath, goes on with his
regular business. The enjoyment with which the composer
has here copied the quaint reality is unmistakable, and it is
very evident that he must have lived on the best of terms with
the students.168 But the whole thing is perfect in proportion
187 The highest academical dignitary.
168 Compare on this point a remark by the Cantor Caspar Ruetz, who studied
theology at Jena from 1728 to 1730; in Marpurg's Historisch-critische Beytrage
Berlin, 1754, p. 360.
HIS ORGAN COMPOSITIONS. 137
and form. Bach never for a moment forgets that he is an artist,
just as Mozart, in the same kind of jokes, could approach as
nearly as possible to truth of nature, and yet make lovely
music. The interspersed arias, in which the music assumes
its due prominence, are of that small calibre which came
into use in the German opera, as intermediate between the
German song of the seventeenth century and the fully
developed Italian aria. They show great freshness, and
frequently a very quaint humour, and are very skilfully
constructed.
As to Nikolaus Bach's skill as a performer we have no
information, and of his organ compositions there is only to be
found a two-part treatment of the chorale " Nun freut euch,
lieben Christen g'mein " — " Sing and be glad, all Christian
folk," — in Pachelbel's style ; but it is too small and un-
important to found an opinion upon.169 What went further than
his compositions to establish his fame was an extraordinary
power and ingenuity in the construction of instruments.
When Jakob Adlung, who was afterwards Professor in the
Erfurt Academy and Organist of the Prediger-Kirche there,
was studying at Jena, Bach sometimes allowed the poor but
industrious youth to practise on his organ. By this means
it seems that a nearer friendship sprang up between the two,
and Adlung has repaid Bach's kindness by frequent mention
of him in his writings, and thus, through his agency, many
an important trait is preserved to posterity. The Town
Church in Jena got in 1706 a new organ, with three manuals
and pedal, and forty-four stops in all. This organ was built
by an organ-maker named Sterzing, according to Bach's
detailed specification, and under his continual supervision.170
At this time Johann Georg Neidhardt, the musician to whom
the demonstration of the equal temperament is due, and
who was afterwards Capellmeister at Konigsberg, was study-
ing theology in Jena. He was even at that time devoting
his attention to the most practicable way of distributing the
199 In the possession of Herr Musikdirector Ritter, in Magdeburg.
170 Adlung, Musica mechanica organoedi. Berlin, 1768, Vol. I., p. 174, and
pp. 244-245. See also Vol. II., p. 37.
138 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
ditonic comma, in which he agreed on all essential points
with Andreas Werkmeister. He hoped to arrive at the
equal temperament on the organ by means of agreement
with the monochord, a narrow box with one string stretched
across it, on the top of which were marked, with mathematic
accuracy, the proportions of the intervals with regard to the
distribution of the comma, so that by the introduction of a
small bridge at the proper place the required tone could be
got with certainty. He now asked permission to be allowed
to employ this new method of tuning on the new organ, and
obtained leave to make an experiment on it. Bach let him
tune the gedackt of one manual by the monochord, and him-
self tuned that of another manual only by ear. When the
result was heard, Bach's gedackt sounded right and
Neidhardt's wrong. He, however, would not admit that his
method was in fault, but a steady singer was brought in and
made to sing a chorale in the unusual key of B flat minor, and
he agreed with Bach's tuning. Neidhardt had not taken
into consideration the fact that the pitch of the string at
the moment of striking is somewhat higher than it is
afterwards, nor how easily such a string gets out of tune.
The incident shows, however, that Bach, although thoroughly
experienced in mechanical matters, still was strictly an artist
enough to trust more to his feeling than to an abstract
theory. Of course, to tune by the hearing alone is extremely
difficult for unpractised ears. And thus it occurred to him to
obviate those errors of the monochord which came from the
nature of the string, while keeping the mathematical stan-
dard. For this he used a pipe of the same width through-
out, which he placed over a well-regulated bellows of even
action. A cylinder marked according to the distances of
the intervals was passed into the pipe, and the required
tone was got by pushing it in or out to the corresponding
point in the pipe.171 The practical usefulness of this
invention seems, however, to be hampered by the difficulty
caused by the greater or less density of all kinds of wood.
Bach had a considerable reputation, as has been said, for
171 Adlung, Mus, mech. org., Vol. II., pp. 54, 56. Anl. zur mus. Gel., p. 311.
ORGANS AND CLAVIERS. 139
knowledge of organ-building, and other organists came to
him for advice. When we read of the many complaints
that were made of ignorant and incompetent organists, we
can imagine that these gentlemen must have stood in no
little need of advice and instruction. On one occasion, one
of these wanted Bach to agree to the extraordinary view
that a sixteen-foot " Principal " on the manual could only
be used with a thirty-two-foot "Principal" on the pedal,
and not a sixteen-foot. Bach must have shared his enjoy-
ment of this with Adlung, who tells the anecdote.172 He
surely replied to this clever organist that, if he could
not combine a sixteen-foot stop on the manual with a
stop •» of the same depth on the pedal, a thirty-two-foot
sub-bass would answer the same purpose as a "Principal"
of the same kind.
He seems to have inherited his uncle Michael's skill in
the construction of claviers, and since the Bachs always
went to members of their own family for instruction, he may
have received his first impulses in this direction, and even
his first instruction, from his uncle. All his instruments
were remarkable for elegance, neat workmanship, and
easy action,173 and he was eagerly bent on improving their
mechanism too. For claviers with more than one set of
strings, he discovered a way by which he could regulate the
sounding of sometimes one, sometimes another set of strings,
or all together, with greater certainty than by the usual
draw-stops. At the back of the key-board,174 just where the
jacks (i.e., those thin pieces of wood at the top of which the
crowquills that pluck the strings are fastened) are raised
up by pressure on the keys, he cut several notches ; so that,
by pushing in the key-board to different distances, the jacks
of one or other set of strings, or of both together, came over
the notches, and were raised, by pressure on the keys, from,
and not with the key-board. In this way Bach could get
172 Mus. mech. org., Vol. I., p. 187.
»» Adlung, Vol. II., p. 138.
174 u Paimula," originally the name for the key-board of the ancient organ,
afterwards applied to that of the harpsichord or clavier.
I4O JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
seven different changes on a clavier with three sets of
strings, by using either the first, second, or third alone, or
the first and second, first and third, or second and third
together, or all three together.175 In the usual method of
construction it was so arranged that each time the jacks
were used for all the sets of strings, there was a danger of
their being slightly displaced, and so not striking the right
strings.
Adlung further praises Bach's excellent " Lautenclaviere,"
or lute harpsichords.176 He cannot be considered the inventor
of these instruments, which were an attempt to combine the
soft, tremulous tone of the lute with the clavier action. This
honour is rather due to his contemporary, J. Chr. Fleischer,
of Hamburg. The inventive geniuses of the time busied
themselves greatly with projects of this kind, because the
tone of the clavier was felt to be so hard and expressionless.
Sebastian Bach even had one made in Leipzig, according to a
plan of his own. His cousin Nikolaus managed his invention
with such skill that if it were heard without being seen it
would be supposed to be a real lute. He made these instru-
ments of different forms, sometimes with two or even three
manuals, and by the addition of a fifth octave got the effect
of a theorbo, a deeper instrument of similar character with
the lute. A "Lautenclavicymbel," with three manuals,
was sold by him for about sixty Reichsthaler.
His youngest brother, Johann Michael, followed a some-
what similar course ; he learnt the art of organ-building, and
then went off to foreign parts. He went north, and possibly
to Stockholm, where in the second and third decades of the
eighteenth century, Jakob Bach, a brother of Sebastian,
lived as Hofmusicus. His German relations quite lost sight
of him.177 The dates of his birth and death cannot be given ;
the former seems to have been somewhere between 1680-90.
Johann Christoph, too, the second son, disregarded the
174 Adlung describes this mechanism with diagrams, at Vol. II., pp. 108-9. See
also his Anl. zur mus. Gel., p. 555.
176 And describes them at length in his Mus. mech. org.,Vol. II., pp. 135-138.
177 According to the genealogy.
JOH. FRIEDRICH, THE ORGANIST. 141
old family traditions, and turned his back upon his home and
country. He was engaged in teaching the clavier, first in
Erfurt and Hamburg, then for a time in Rotterdam, and,
until 1730, in England;178 but, as far as our information goes,
he held no fixed office abroad.179
Finally, the third, Johann Friedrich, the year of whose
birth must be placed between 1674 and 1678, seems to have
studied theology ; he took the post of Organist of the Blasius
Church at Miihlhausen, in 1708, when it was left by
Sebastian Bach. His salary, paid out of the church chest,
was 43 thalers, 2 gute groschen, and 8 pfennig, with 10 gute
groschen, 8 pfennig on New Year's Day, and, moreover,
for weddings with full choral service, 12 gute groschen,
and for those with only hymns, 6 gute groschen — an
income which has an interest when compared with that of
Sebastian. He was at first only taken on trial, but he
cannot have had to wait long for the definite appointment.
By all accounts he was a highly gifted artist, and of great
executive ability, well versed in the art of organ-building
— even at the end of his life he provided the specification for
the repairs of the organ of the Blasius Church. Heinrich
Gerber, who, before going to Sebastian Bach at Leipzig,
had been for some time at the Miihlhausen Gymnasium,
praised his talents all his life long, and declared that he had
learnt all he knew of the organ from hearing Friedrich
Bach. He gave no instruction, nor indeed could he, since,
alas ! he had weakened and degraded his noble gifts by the
bane of his life, an inordinate love of drink ; and is even said
to have performed the services when in a state of intoxi-
cation ; he was incapable, even when sober, of any artistic
inspiration.180 His surroundings were not of a kind to tear
him away from these habits, for the time had long gone by
when Miihlhausen had been celebrated for its musicians ;
this had already been felt by Sebastian Bach. Johann
Friedrich was married but had no children. He died in
m Walther's Lexicon, p. 63.
179 The Kittel genealogy says that he had an only son, who died unmarried.
180 Gerber. N. L., I., cols. 208 and 210. Lexicon, I., cols 490 and 491. See
Appendix A, No. 7.
142 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
I73O,181 and furnishes evidence of the fact, already proved by
experience, that talents transmitted by highly gifted parents
are often dangerous and even baleful to the children.
VII.
CHRISTOPH BACH AND HIS SONS.
WE come finally to Hans Bach's second son, the grandfather
of Sebastian. He was born at Wechmar, April 19, 1613, and
named Christoph. He likewise selected the calling of musi-
cian. In the account of his elder brother, it has already been
mentioned that he resided for a time at the Grand Ducal
Court at Weimar ; there he is said to have been in " wait-
ing on the Prince,"182 by which we must understand in addi-
tion some musical duty in the Court band, which at that
time was frequently associated with the post of lackey.
About the year 1640, he must have removed from Weimar
to Prettin, in Saxony,183 and there lived by his art, for he took
to wife a daughter of the town, Maria Magdalena Grabler,
born September 18, 1614, whose father was probably a town-
musician there.184 In 1642 we find him a member of the
guild of musicians in Erfurt, whence he removed, in 1653
or 1654, to Arnstadt, the residence of his younger brother,
Heinrich.185 Here he died, only forty-eight years of age, as
court and town-musician to the Count, September 14, 1661,
and his widow followed him on October 8 of the same year.186
181 As follows from the document just referred to, which agrees with the
statement in Walther's Lexicon, p. 64.
182 According to the genealogy.
IBS Not Wettin, as it is written in the Ferrich genealogy, and has also been
printed.
184 My attempts to establish this officially have proved fruitless.
185 In the archives of Sondershausen occurs a small document referring to him,
of November 13, 1654, while his name occurs in the parish register of Erfurt
on April 16, 1653.
186 This date, differing from that given in the genealogy, is from the register
of Arnstadt.
MUSICAL GUILDS. 143
Of the three brothers, Christoph Bach with his sons most
exclusively represent the guild of secular " Kunstpfeifer,"
as they were called (musicians attached to the town, and
with certain privileges and duties), while Heinrich and his
sons filled the highest posts in the service of the church
as organists and composers, and Johann was capable of
filling either. The guilds of musicians were, during the
God-forsaken period of the Thirty Years' War, more sunk in
barbarism and rudeness than any other class, and were for
this reason regarded with very wide-spread suspicion. We
have no record to show that Christoph Bach stood forth as a
pattern of moral worth and immaculate civic virtue, in con-
trast to the general reprobateness of his class. But when
we consider the incorruptible soundness of a race which,
even in such times as these, could produce such worthy men
as Heinrich Bach — in whose society his elder brother spent
his later years — and which, two generations later, gave birth
to a genius of the first order, we are fain to believe in the
unspoiled nature of Sebastian's grandfather. It would be
an insult to the spirit of the noble grandson, in whom the
whole great spirit of the German nation was, in fact,
revealed, if we did not also believe that Christoph Bach
keenly felt the shortcomings of his class, and had a higher
conception of its dignity, and asserted it too, than was at
that time generally held with regard to instrumental musi-
cians— for the most part with too good reason.
It may seem somewhat high-flown to seek for such a
consciousness of superior artistic dignity among simple
fiddlers and pipers; but it is a certain fact that, in
the fiftieth year of the seventeenth century, a con-
viction asserted itself among the best of them that it was
their duty to make the most vigorous efforts to raise
themselves once more to honour and consideration. It is
a token, not to be undervalued, of the great significance of
instrumental music in German culture, that the people, even
to the present day, have not lost the feeling of its intrinsic-
ally elevating power. Above all things it was needful to
raise the musician, as such, in the estimation of his fellow-
men. The art had then, no doubt, long constituted a guild;
144 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
but it was in the nature of the occupation, which frequently
led the members to wander through the country, and at the
same time could set no fixed limit line between the amateur
and the professional, that the protection of the law should
prove very ineffectual. In point of fact, complaints as to
insults to their calling, on the part of musicians, were ex-
tremely common, and increased in number as, during the
course of the century, their self-respect and esprit de corps
grew in opposition to the " beer-fiddlers," as they were
termed. If even in time of peace any due control was
impracticable, the utmost lawlessness must have prevailed
during the thirty years of anarchy. A voluntary association
of larger districts, constituted after the fashion of a guild,
by which the members pledged themselves to the mutual
protection of certain common interests, and to the obser-
vance of strict moral principles was, no doubt, a very
suitable means to this end. Even if the artist was thus
regarded chiefly as an artisan, still some kind of objective
counterpoise was provided to that perilous force, tending to
disintegrate social morality, which is inherent in music
above all other arts.
In the year 1653, the town-musicians of the principal
towns of North and Central Germany did actually combine
in such a union, under the name of the " College or Union of
Instrumental Musicians of the district of Upper and Lower
Saxony, and other interested places" (Instrumental-Mmikal-
ischen Collegiums in dem ober- und niedersachsischen Kreise und
anderer interessirter Oerter.) They drew up statutes, which
they submitted to the Emperor Ferdinand III. for his
ratification, and had them printed and distributed. These
not only give plain information as to the purpose of the
union, but throw so clear a light on the morals and z'wmorals
of musical life at that period, that they must be here repro-
duced at length.187
187 A copy of this broad sheet, now probably very scarce, is preserved in the
town archives of Miihlhausen. The complete title is : " The Imperial
CONFIRMATION of the Articles of the Union of Instrumental Musicians in
the Districts of Upper and Lower Saxony, and other interested places." Folio.
The German original is antiquated in style, full of quaint spelling and pro-
vincialisms, and the expressions and punctuation are also unusual.
A MUSICAL UNION. 145
"I. No member of this musical college (union) shall of
his own accord settle himself to exercise his art in any town,
office, or convent where one of our society is already esta-
blished and appointed, nor shall he deprive him of any of his
'attendances,' unless it be that he exercises some other
branch, or that he is called thither by the authorities of the
place ; and the musician already established shall be assured
that no damage shall ensue to his perquisites, or that at least
he may be protected from harm or loss.
"II. Every sodalis, when he is actually appointed in any
place, shall take pains and care to see that the annual
payment previously given to his predecessors ex publico is
continued to him without reduction or diminution ; and
because, before now, the noble art and its votaries have
fallen into no small contempt, and many honourable men
engaged in its service have even been driven out of place, by
other men offering themselves to perform at * attendances '
for the bare perquisites, every musician shall guard himself
to the utmost against such contracts, which are degrading to
him and to the art.
"III. Inasmuch as Almighty God is wont marvellously to
distribute His grace and favours, giving and lending to one
much and to another little, therefore no man may contemn
another by reason that he can perform on a better sort of
musical instrument ; much less may he be boastful on that
account, but be diligent in Christian love and gentleness, and
thus walk in his art, first of all to the honour and glory of
God most High, to the edification of his neighbour, and so
as to enjoy and maintain at all times a good report of his
honourable conduct in the eyes of men.
" IV. To the end that every town may at all times be
provided with a skilled and duly qualified musician, and that
others, particularly assistants and apprentices, may be urged
to more industry and constant practice, at all times when
one is called in the regular manner to such an office, and
subsequently required to give a testimonial to his efficiency,
two of the neighbouring teachers, together with a skilled
assistant, shall subscribe it, who shall also examine him par-
ticularly as to his art, and listen to his proof and mastery
L
146 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
(Meister-Recht) in playing the pieces prepared for that end,
and to be found in the library of the board of the society.
" V. No man, whether he be master, assistant, or appren-
tice, shall divert himself by singing or performing coarse
obscenities or disgraceful and immodest songs or ballads,
inasmuch as they greatly provoke the wrath of Almighty
God and vex decent souls, particularly the innocence of youth.
Moreover, in considerable meetings and gatherings, those
who serve the noble art of music are thereby brought into
the greatest contempt.
"VI. On the contrary, every man who is called upon to
serve an 'attendance ' shall conduct himself decently, honour-
ably, and becomingly, and not himself alone but also the
assistants with him ; but still he shall not be weary of
cheering and delighting the company present by means of
musica instrumentalis et vocalis.
"VII. Every one shall, so far as in him lies, take special
care to have around him pious and faithful assistants, as well
as apprentices of good report, so that at public meetings and
'attendances ' nothing may be stolen from the invited guests,
nor the whole musical college ill spoken of, nor innocent folks
led into suspicion and danger.
" VIII. No man shall dare to perform on dishonourable
instruments, such as bagpipes, sheep-horns, hurdy-gurdies,
and triangles, which beggars often use for collecting alms at
house-doors, so that the noble art would be brought into
contempt and disgrace by them.
" IX. In specie shall every man abstain from all blasphe-
mous talk, profane cursing and swearing ; but if any man
sin in this matter, he shall be punished for it by his master
and fellows, according to their measure and the atrocity and
frequency of his sinning ; nay, he may even be expelled from
the society.
" X. No man shall dare to give 'attendance' with jugglers,
hangmen, bailiffs, gaolers, conjurors, rogues, or any other
such low company ; but, on the contrary, each one shall
rather shun and avoid them, and keep wholly and solely with
the society, for the preservation of his good fame and report.
" XI. Likewise, no master shall receive an apprentice from
A MUSICAL UNION. 147
the above-named sort of folks, or from any other unfit person ;
but those who are bound apprentice to acquire the art of
music shall not only be of respectable birth, but themselves
have committed no crime by which they have incurred
infamiam juris; but each apprentice, when he is bound, shall
show his certificate of birth, drawn up according to law, and
sworn to by two credible and respectable witnesses, and it
shall be preserved by the nearest board of the musical
college till he has honestly and dutifully served his appren-
ticeship, and may so be provided with a good character and
testimonials.
"XII. And to the end that a perfect musician, may have
been taught many instruments, some pneumatica and some
pulsatilia, and be practised in them, no apprentice shall be free
under five years, that he may be experienced in his art and
acknowledged as skilled. And at his binding two of the
nearest masters of the art and a skilled assistant shall always
be present, and in their presence two copies of the indentures
shall be prepared (of which one shall be kept by him who is
intrusted with the discipline and teaching of the apprentice,
and the other delivered to the apprentice's parents, guar-
dians, or other relatives) ; and more particularly they shall
remind an4 exhort the apprentice earnestly and diligently to
constant prayer, faithful service, industrious labour, and to pay
all due respect and obedience to his master and teacher.
"XIII. To the end that the apprentice, when his time is
out and he is thenceforth free, may be all the more perfect,
he shall, for the next three years before he settles himself,
serve as assistant to other famous masters. But, as among
mechanica artifieia or common artisans, by dint of long cus-
tom, the sons and daughters of masters have acquired this
privilege and advantage, that they are not always obliged to
pass so long a time as assistants, and in travelling ; so like-
wise the sons of the masters in this noble art of music : item,
also those who may have married their daughters, after they
have served one year as assistants, may be exempt from the
remainder, and not pass the remaining tests of mastery.
" XIV. So soon as any man shall have served his appren-
ticeship, and is qualified thenceforth to attend as assistant,
L 2
148 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
certain articles shall be laid before him and made known to
him, of which he shall make use when he comes into strange
places in making his greetings ; whereby masters who are
strangers to him may find out whether the members and
servants of our musical college behave in accordance with
the prescribed articles, and have due and sufficient know-
ledge of them.
" XV. And when this musical college has been throughout
established and settled with special articles and rules, to the
end that it may be protected against meddlers and bunglers —
as in all other far less honourable corpora, as companies, cor-
porations, and guilds — and that, whoever bears love and good-
will to this most noble art of music may be all the more
incited and urged to learn it from the very foundation, all
and each of the members of our college shall banish from
him all disturbers and bunglers, and in the 'attendances'
required of him shall never hold any communication with
them ; but during the years of study make good use of his
time, so as to become right skilful and clever in music, and
thus be always preferred and chosen with reason above such
botchers and bunglers.
"XVI. In case of any dissension or strife arising between
the members of the college or their relatives? whereby
any one is hurt by contempt of his honest name and good
report, or is injured in any other undeserved manner, or by
which he may even be deprived of his income, the injured
party shall be empowered to inform six of the masters settled
in the neighbourhood, who then, at a fitting time, shall call
both parties to appear before the district board, and shall
there hear and receive the account of their difference, and
then, with the consent of three assistants, shall commit
the party found guilty, whether the plaintiff or the accused,
to fitting punishment, and hold him responsible for the costs
occasioned by the matter.
"XVII. As concerns the payment of assistants, each one
shall be free to deal with them at each place and on each
occasion as he thinks proper and just, nevertheless, according
to the work in question ; and the bargain shall at once be set
on paper and a copy of the agreement shall be taken by each
A MUSICAL UNION. 149
into his keeping, so that the one party may be bound to pay
and the other to serve willingly and faithfully, and that they
may have reason to live peaceably together.
" XVIII. Since also one might dare to oust an old master
of our art out of his office, by what way or means, or under
what semblance or pretext it matters not, and to insinuate
himself into his post, therefore any man who seeks his own
advancement by the above-mentioned unseemly means, and
ousts another, our college shall dispossess him, and his assis-
tants who ought to serve him, and he shall no longer be
suffered in it. Inasmuch as venerable age, if accompanied by
weakness, easily falls into contempt (all the former long years
of great labour, pains, and service being forgotten), and youth
generally preferred above it ; if such weakness and impotency
in a musician of great age, holding an appointment, should
be so great that he cannot fulfil his duties, or only with much
difficulty, and that the service of God and other attendances
must necessarily be provided for ; in that case some one
shall be empowered to serve as a substitute for the old man ;
nevertheless, the old man shall enjoy half of the salary and
his share of the profits, and all the remaining days of his life
he shall be duly respected by the substitute or coadjutor,
who shall in all things, if he is not unfit, give the precedence
to him, and await the blessing of the Lord ; and all he does
well and kindly for the old man shall be highly esteemed and
regarded by every one, and God the most High shall surely
one day reward him and repay him.
" XIX. And because the labourer is worthy of his hire,
and that it may be withheld from none, every man who is
bound to hold himself ready in the towns or otherwise to
perform music to order, must himself take good care that
his assistants and helpmates are justly paid, and to dismiss
no man till he has received his arrears of pay ; in the con-
trary case, no other assistant will be permitted to take the
vacant post and service.
" XX. On the other hand, the assistants in a service to
which they have once agreed to be appointed must labour
diligently, must set a good example to the young apprentices
of the decency that beseems them, and, above all, pay all due
150 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
respect to the Principals under whom they have taken ser-
vice, and on that account must show no boldness towards
them if they should imagine that they are better and more
fundamentally experienced in their art than the Principal
himself.
" XXI. Since, too, experience proves that many would fain
fulfil the service they have undertaken with the aid of mere
apprentices, while, on the other hand, sound sense must in-
struct every one that tyros and apprentices, as in all other
matters, so also in musical art, can never bring out any per-
fect work ; and since in consequence hereof, both in public
divine service and in other meetings, faults and defects occur,
and not only does the director of such music incur all the
blame but also great disgrace, and the noble art itself is
thereby brought into contempt, no master shall be suffered
or permitted to take or keep more than three apprentices
at one time to instruct and discipline.
" XXII. Every apprentice shall sign his own indentures
when he is bound, or, if he cannot write, they shall be signed
for him by his parents, guardian, or relations ; so that the
bound apprentice shall be pledged to serve truly, entirely, and
to the end, all the years of apprenticeship named in the above
twelfth article, and not to run away from his master during
those years of apprenticeship ; but if one should be so aban-
doned, and run away from his master during those years of
apprenticeship, he shall not be taken by any other master
under a penalty of ten thalers, nor shall he ever be suffered
to be a member of this our musical college, but be held as
reprobate. But if it should be found out that the apprentice
quitted his master ob nimiam saevitiam, and that the master
was thus in culpa, in that case the master shall be tried by
six of the musical elders settled near by, for his neglect and
other acknowledged damage to his apprentice, or to his
parents or friends, and accounted guilty according to their
just award.
" XXIII. To the end that these articles as compiled by us
may be the more exactly carried out, and that the sodales of
this college may meet with the least cost and trouble, and
at such meetings transact necessary matters, three boards
A MUSICAL UNION. 151
shall be constituted, one in Meissen, the second in Brunswick,
and the third in Pomerania or the Mark of Brandenburg, and
established in whatever town may seem most convenient to
the members of our college ; and these articles shall there be
deposited and faithfully preserved, if not originaliter at least
in authorised and certified copies, so that in all eventualities
at the meetings of our college all actus and matters which
may arise among musicans may be regulated and judged
by them.
"XXIV. And though indeed those who already belong to
this musical college are not few in number, still admission
shall not be refused or denied to any man who after due trial
shall be discerned and held to be a skilled and worthy
member of our society and union.
" XXV. Now, finally, since evil morals and customs give
cause and rise to good and wholesome laws, and since it is
not possible so to extend these present articles as to set
forth specialiter and expressly every case, the remaining cases
shall be decided according to the independent judgment
of the elders of the nearest place where there is a board,
and ordered after the tenour of these articles, and remain
decided according to their arbitrium, so that in the cases
which occur they direct their view to that which is decent
and permissible, and for the maintenance of this musical
college ; that they burden no man beyond what is due and
just ; that they do not let gross and inexcusable excesses
pass unpunished ; to the end that all due submission and
respect may be preserved for this our college, and above all
for His Most Illustrious Majesty the Roman Emperor, and
the ratification granted to it by our gracious Sovereign;
and that the great and famous end may be attained which
the originators of this useful work had in view from the
beginning."
If we call to mind what the "evil morals and customs"
were against which a resolution is here pronounced — even
irrespective of the " special cases not here expressly set
forth " — we can form a very sufficient idea of how matters
stood at that time among German musicians. It is im-
possible to overlook the admirable earnestness of this effort
152 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
to restore discipline, morality, and order; and the conviction
that the noble art was worthy of a higher fate than to be
universally despised and abused is delightfully prominent in
these articles. The list of above a hundred names from the
most important towns in the district concerned, which
follows the articles, also proves that the desire for an
improved state of things was very general ; and other places
beyond the district, as Miihlhausen, in Thuringia, allied
themselves to this Union of musicians. And though, during
the times immediately following, the public estimate of the
town-musicians — Kunstpfeifer and Stadtmusikanten — re-
mained on the whole a low one, though it was said to their
reproach that their executive practice took the place of all
deeper musical knowledge, that they were uneducated,
coarse, haughty, and pig-headed ;188 though petty quarrels did
not cease among them, still a few voices were raised to show
that " many honourable and skilled men were yet among
their number, diligent to walk pleasingly in the sight of God
and man."189 We must never allow ourselves to be misled
into forming a too low estimate of the sound inmost core of
these men, or of their importance in the history of German
art. In every class more inferior and mediocre individuals
are to be found than illustrious and distinguished ones;
and, besides this, poverty and necessity pressed pretty
equally on all, allowing none but conspicuous talents to
expand and blossom freely. Still, they upheld the dignity
of art in their own way, and aroused and fostered to the
best of their powers the love and feeling for native art among
the people, against the foreign influences to which the Courts
and upper classes soon, for the most part, surrendered them-
selves. And the people were not thankless, for they under-
stood their worth and the ideal which gave vitality to their
calling. To this day every itinerant musician who wanders
round the country from house to house, singing his tunes, is
a figure that appeals to the sympathies of every German
heart.
188 Mattheson, Crltica musica, II., pp. 217 and 262.
l*J J. Fr. Mente, in Mattheson's Ehrenpforte, p. 414.
THE BACH CLAN. 153
The regulations for the guild, in Article XXV., were of
course not new, but were at any rate based on common
custom, which was here merely recalled to men's memory,
extended and insisted on. Still, they serve to give us a more
general acquaintance with the mode of life of the town-
musicians at that time, and consequently with the position
of the Bach family.
Christoph Bach must, no doubt, as I have hinted, have come,
by his marriage, into close connection with the musicians
of the district of Upper Saxony ; but there is no evidence to
show that he was admitted as a member of their union.
On the contrary, we may regard it as decidedly improbable
that he, or any member of his family, ever belonged to it.
The supposition rather forces itself upon us that they
themselves, in their close and clinging intimacy, constituted
such a body in Thuringia itself, though lacking countersigns
and statutes. It has been already noted that the three
towns which were the head-quarters of the Bachs — Erfurt,
Eisenach, and Arnstadt — grew into importance at about the
same time ; and nothing can seem fairer than the hypothesis
that these musicians strove, with more or less distinct
purpose, to reach the goal which must have shone before
them — particularly in those times of demoralisation among
their competitors, and especially in Erfurt, as we see it in the
fiftieth and sixtieth years of the century — the upholding,
namely, of the dignity of art and of their own position, within
the pale of a patriarchal and exclusive family circle. And,
if it were only to this limited extent that guild interest held
them together, it is evident that in their pursuit of the art
mere mechanical skill would hold a less important place.
This is a circumstance worthy to be noted as raising them
above their fellow-musicians to form a little circle of the
elect. Since, moreover, the greater number of the family
were in the service of churches and schools, as cantors and
organists, and so represented, in their way, a portion of the
higher culture of the time, their intimate mutual relations
must have involved a relatively greater degree of personal
cultivation than was then common among men of the same
standing. The statement of a contemporary, that among a
154 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
hundred musicians' assistants scarcely one was to be found
who could write ten ordinary words without a mistake,190
cannot, under any circumstances or interpretation, apply to
the Bachs. A further evidence of the spirit that reigned
among them is to be found in the " family-days," which, for
a long period, were annually observed by all the male
members of the family in Erfurt, Eisenach, or Arnstadt.
This custom was religiously kept up, even when Christoph
Bach's eldest son transferred that branch of the family into
Franconia, as late therefore, certainly, as the first half of the
eighteenth century. They assembled in one or the other of
the above-named places for no other purpose than to revive
the feeling of clanship and near connection, to exchange
experiences and ideas, and to enjoy a few hours in each
other's society. It survived even in the memory of Sebas-
tian's son, Emanuel, how that his forefathers had edified
and delighted each other as to matters musical. First the}
would sing a chorale, then followed secular and populai
songs, which, from the contrast with the previous pious
mood, would often, by their quips and jests, rouse the mirth
of both singers and hearers to a keen and cynical wit. The
performance of such songs, be it observed, was part of the
calling of the town-musicians. A particularly favourite
practice seems to have been the performance of Quodlibets,
by which, up to the sixteenth century, were understood
pieces in several parts in which the voices sang different
well-known melodies, often sacred and profane at the same
time, and with the words, and endeavoured to combine them so
as to form a harmonious whole.191 The production of a
really harmonius result must, however, have been far from
the intentions of the jolly musicians ; they would rather
190 Der wohlgeplagte (etc.) Cotala, p. 3. It is evident that Mattheson's re-
flections on the education of musicians' apprentices in the Neueroffnetes
Orchestre, p. 14, are founded on the descriptions in this work rather than on
his own observations.
191 Compare Praetorius, Syntagma musicum, III., 18. B.M. The instances
there alluded to are given, with analysis, in Hilgenfeldt, Joh. Sebast. Bach's
Leben,&c. Leipzig, Fr. Hofmeister, 1850. Sup. I. and II. A pleasing account
of such sports is given in Winterfeld, Zur Geschichte heiliger Tonkunst, II.,
p 281.
GEORG CHRISTOPH BACH. 155
have directed their attention to the diversity of the texts,
where chance must have ruled and revelled in the wildest
contrarieties.192
Georg Christoph, Christoph Bach's eldest son, was born
at Erfurt, September 6, i642.193 At first he was usher in
a school at Heinrichs, near Suhl, a position which he
probably attained through the connection with Suhl of his
father's brother. From thence he moved, in 1668, as cantor,
to Themar, a little old town in the neighbourhood of
Meiningen, which at that time belonged to the Prince-Counts
of Henneberg, but in 1672 was transferred to Gotha, and in
1680 fell into the possession of Duke Heinrich von Romhild.
After his death (1710), Meiningen once more took forcible
possession of it for a time.194 Thus, in those times, did men
play fast and loose with towns and human beings. Twenty
years later Bach was called to fill the same office at Schwein-
furt. There he died, April 24, 1697, the founder of the
Franconian branch of the Bachs.195 That he, too, was a
composer appears from the circumstance that in Philipp
Emanuel's collection of music there was a sacred composi-
tion by him, on the text from the Psalms, " Behold, how
good and joyful a thing it is, brethren, to dwell together in
unity," for two tenors, one bass, one violin, three viole di
gamba, and basso continuo. This composition, which is said
to have been written in 1689, is at present lost, so it is impos-
sible to guess what his merits as a composer may have been.
192 « The Quodlibet is a piece composed of all sorts of pleasing songs, even
though they do not regularly suit and fit each other." F. E. Niedt's Musikal-
ische Handleitung, Part II., Ed. 2, edited by Mattheson, Hamburg, 1721,
p. 103. See also Forkel, p. 3, and Dictionary of Music and Musicians, art.
" Quodlibet."
193 From data in the genealogy and the register of the Kaufmannskirche, which
agree. Ferrich, whose differing statements generally deserve credence when they
refer to his own direct ancestors, here, strangely enough, gives the year as 1641.
194 From documents in the archives of Meiningen. Bruckner, Landeskunde
des Herzogthums Meiningen, II., p. 239.
195 The dates from the Ferrich genealogy. In the report of the Council of
Erfurt for April 28, 1675, mention is made of the very impoverished condition
of one Georg Christoph Bach, who must at that time have been in Erfurt. He
thus can certainly not be identical with the G. C. Bach mentioned in the text,
but I do not know how to identify him otherwise.
156 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
We will go on to his children. The eldest, Johann Valen-
tin, was born January 6, i669,196 whence we may infer that
his father married when he became Cantor. He was suc-
ceeded by Johann Christian (lived from March 15, 1679, till
June 16, 1707), and Joh. Georg (from November n, 1683, till
March 13, 1713) ; nothing certain is known about these two.
Valentin became town-musician in Schweinfurt, May i,
1694, and at the same time, or later, was appointed head
watchman. In this position he conceived it to be his duty
to marry, and on September 25, 1694, he wedded Anna Mar-
garetha Brandt. He died August 12, 1720. Three sons, the
fruit of his marriage, may be mentioned — Joh. Lorenz, the
compiler of the Ferrich genealogy, born September 10,
1695, was Organist at Lahm, in Franconia, and died at a
great age, December 14, 1773. I am acquainted with a pre-
lude and fugue in D major by him, which shows him to
have been a skilled and original composer. The second
son, Joh. Elias, whose meeting with Sebastian Bach I shall
refer to again later, was born February 12, 1705 ; he studied
theology, and afterwards became cantor and inspector of
the Alumneum at Schweinfurt, where he died, November
30, 1755. The third, finally, Joh. Heinrich, born January
27, 1711, did not survive his early youth. It is easy to ob-
serve how, as they became at home on the Franconian terri-
tory, other Christian names occur, as Valentin, Elias, and
Lorenz, than those which had been customary among the
Thuringian Bachs.197
After the birth of his first son, Christoph Bach's wife pre-
sented him next with twins, February 22, 1645, which, two
days later, were held at the font by Ambrosius Marggraf
and Christoph Barwald, as godfathers, and were named,
respectively, Joh. Ambrosius and Joh. Christoph. The
former was destined to be the father of the great Sebastian.
196 At three in the afternoon, says the exact register in the Ferrich genealogy.
That he was afterwards Cantor at Schweinfurt is an error of Philipp Emanuel's.
197 These statements are founded on data derived from the Ferrich gene-
alogy, the fragmentary genealogy attached to the pedigree in the possession of
Fraulein Emmert, of Schweinfurt, and the parish registers of that town. See
Appendix, B. III.
JOH. CHRISTOPH, SEBASTIAN'S UNCLE. 157
They passed their first childhood in Erfurt; when they were
eight or nine years old Arnstadt became the family residence,
and there, under their father's guidance, the foundations of
their musical knowledge and skill were laid.
When Christoph Bach died, in the prime of manhood, his
twin sons were scarcely grown up. Nature had not only tied
them by the closest bond of blood, but had bestowed on them
a resemblance of both external and mental characteristics
that was the astonishment of every one, and that seems to
have made them the object of curiosity and interest even in
the highest circles. They had the same modes of thought
and of expression ; they played the same instrument, the
violin, and had the same way of conceiving and performing
music. Their outward resemblance is said to have been so
great that when they were apart their own wives could not
distinguish their husbands, and their unity of spirit and
temperament was so intimate that they even suffered from
the same disorders ; in fact, the younger survived the death
of the elder but a very short time. Thus the reciprocal
interdependence which was characteristic of all the Bachs,
showed itself in its greatest intensity in the relations of
Sebastian's father to his twin brother; and since we find
little to tell concerning his own life, we will allow ourselves
to bring the characteristic peculiarities of the younger to
bear — so far as they can be determined — on the person of
the elder.
It is probable that after their father's death and the end of
their apprenticeship, they both travelled as town-musicians'
assistants, but then their roads separated. Ambrosius settled
in Erfurt in 1667, and Joh. Christoph received a call,
February 17, 1671, to be Hofmusicus to Count Ludwig
Giinther, at Schwarzburg-Arnstadt. It has already been
observed in another place that this nobleman took an interest
in church music, which here, as elsewhere, had somewhat
fallen into decay. A year before this he had caused a special
hour of practice every Sunday to be arranged for the church
choir, with the instrumental accompaniment under the direc-
tion of the Cantor Heindorff, and he had it carefully kept up.
How needful it was is proved by this, that complaint was
158 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
still made at the school examination, at Easter of the year
1673, of the bad condition of the singing choir, which con-
sisted principally of the scholars. Subsequently, on the
appointment of a new town-cantor, the Count stipulated that
the choir should consist of at least four persons in each part,
which, at that time, when single voices were not unfrequently
thought sufficient, formed a tolerably strong choir. When
the Count appointed a musical groom of the chambers, it
was expressly stated in his appointment that he was " at all
times to be present in the church at the exercitium musicum."
We read just the same in the deed appointing Joh. Christoph ;
at the same time he was enjoined not to travel abroad with-
out the consent of the cantor and the Count's council, and
" to exercise himself in the graces of violin-playing and
music-making," and " since he would be needed at Court,
alone or with others, to show himself ready and willing."
At the same time the chief directors, the Cantor Heindorff,
and the town-musician at the time, named Graser, were
instructed on all occasions of municipal solemnity, where
music was required, to apply first to Bach, then to the
watchmen, and then to the assistant-musicians in turn.
It was necessary to specify these subsidiary duties, for
Bach, as Hofmusicus, received a salary of only twenty —
and subsequently of thirty — gulden, with some payments in
kind.198
As he was now above want, he ought, in the true Bach
fashion, to have set up house. His brother Ambrosius had
already set him the example. He seems, indeed, to have
had some views of this kind; but that they were not at
once carried out, and the reasons why, give us a deeper
insight into the nature of this man than it has been possible
to obtain with regard to any previous member of the family.
The Consistory of Arnstadt, besides its supervision of all
matters ecclesiastical and scholastic, had also a certain
198 From the book of accounts of payments to servants from Michaelmas, 1687,
to Michaelmas, 1688, in the Ministerial Library at Sondershausen, p. 72: " Hof-
musicus Joh. Christoff Bach, twenty gulden a year." The salary of thirty
gulden thus implies an advance.
AN ACTION FOR BREACH OF PROMISE. 159
spiritual jurisdiction over matters connected with religion
and morals. On August 19, 1673, there appeared before
them Anna Margaretha Wiener, widow, and her daughter
Anna Cunigunda, and, as against them, Joh. Christoph
Bach ; and the hearing of the two parties brought to light
certain things which we will reproduce in the characteristic
way in which they were then and there recorded.199
" After Bach had kept company with Anna Cunigunda
Wienerin,200 and by common report was said to be betrothed
to her, both parties appeared before the Consistory, and
Anna Cunigunda confessed that she had promised to marry
Bach, and he her. And the mother says that he had
addressed himself to her, through Hans Lampe, desiring
her motherly consent, which likewise she had given, and
they had done no less than give each other rings in pledge
of marriage, which they still had. She (i.e., the daughter)
was minded to keep her word, that her conscience might not
be burdened, although she would force herself on no man;
and it was now on Bach's conscience and responsibility
whether he thought he could withdraw from her under
these circumstances without injuring her.
" Christoph Bach confessed, indeed, that he had offered
marriage to Anna Cunigunda Wienerin, but they had
merely considered the matter provisionally, and he had
not in any way considered himself bound. Negat pure,
that he asked the mother's consent through Hans Lampe ;
this Hans Lampe was father-in-law to Anna Wienerin and
in the closest relationship to her by marriage. With regard
to desiring her consent to the completion of the act, he would
far sooner demand it through some near blood friend of his
own (Bach's), exempli gratia, Heinrich Bach, than through any
friend of hers. He had given her a ring and she had
given him one, but not in pledge of marriage. In specie
he said she had vexed him about Leuchten's201 daughter,
199 In this, and in other similar cases, the simplest translation has been thought
to be the best. Any attempt at reproducing or imitating the quaint old phrase-
ology would be futile.
200 The feminine termination added to her surname.
801 A citizen of Arnstadt.
160 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
and had declared he had received the ring from her, to
which he replied, in order that she might see that this
was not the case, that he would make her a present of
the ring.
" Anna Cunigunda abides by what she has said above, and
in specie that the ring was given in pledge of marriage, so
that her constancy was made sure.
" Bach no less abides by what he has said, and denies
the circumstances alleged by the opposite party; besides,
Anna Cunigunda had asked for her ring back again, and so
basketed him.
" Wienerin : After Bach had withdrawn from her and his
affection had died out, she had desired to have her ring back,
on these conditions : she put it to his conscience that if she
were not good enough for him, and if he only meant to
make a fool of her, he should return her the ring and answer
for it in his conscience before God. She would leave it to
him to decide, and have nothing more to do with him of
that kind. He, in answer, had sent her word that he had
no fear of punishment from God on that account.
" Memorandum : 'Since Bach stands by his statement that
he had said nothing binding to Anna Cunigunda, although
various reports had been abroad, it is pressingly put before
him that he might easily be made to swear to his deposition.
To the end that he should diligently try himself, he shall be
allowed time for consideration during eight days from this
date, when, without further summons, he shall appear
again and explain himself. Which shall also be declared
to Anna Cunigunda Wienerin.' "
The little romance between the two young people was
soon played out. Indeed, neither of them accused the
other any further, but the Consistory, when the matter
had come to its ears, deemed it its part to take further
cognisance of the affair. Although at the next appointed
hearing no particular fault on Bach's side was proved,
still the Consistory, which in its decision may have had
due regard to the personal impression made by the two
parties, was in the right not to be immediately convinced by
Johann Christoph's defence. The clever and accomplished
THE VERDICT. l6l
young artist probably had not failed to win the affections
of the citizen's daughter of Arnstadt. He had made
advances to Anna Wiener with a view to making her his
companion for life, and in the unconstrained fashion of their
class he had chatted and talked with her, so that the possi-
bility of their union in marriage had been touched upon.
Partly from sincere liking, and partly by inconsiderate con-
duct, it came to pass that he aroused in the girl a serious
affection. The feeling that he did not very warmly return it
led to some jealous teasing about the ring, and he, to meet
it half-way, gave it to her. I am far from defending such
light conduct, but I would not judge him by too strict a
standard. Bach was now tired of the half-serious dallying,
and left the maiden to the torments of unrequited love. Still
her declaration before the Consistory does not betray this
alone, but real womanliness and tender feeling also. Too
proud to allow him to trifle with her, she had given back the
promise, made on her side in earnest, and had given up all
intimacy with him; but as soon as she was questioned on
the subject she betrayed her real feeling in her repeated
appeals to his conscience and to God, before whom he
would have to answer for his conduct, and to whose will she
submitted her own.
The spiritual court, whose purpose it was to bring about
an adjustment, seems on this occasion to have poured oil on
the fire. Bach did not feel himself pledged to Anna
Wiener, as was already proved by his defiant answer that he
had no fear of God's punishment for any breach of faith ;
and the fact that the matter had now become public, and
probably the talk of the town, only strengthened his re-
calcitrancy, and turned his indifference into aversion. What
further proceedings took place before the Consistory we
have no report of ; still we can gather this much, that
their view was that Bach must marry Anna Cunigunda. If
this had, finally, been the result, it would be easily explained
by the authority of the Consistory and the custom of the
time, for mutual inclination was by no means always the
determining cause and motive of a matrimonial alliance ; it
was still more frequent then than now to yield to external
If
l62 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
reasons, and to leave the adjustment, even of serious
differences, to time. That a poor musician, wholly
dependent as to outward circumstances on the Count's
Court and Council, should have resisted this demand with
the utmost decision — nay, with much bitterness — is a
remarkable proof of a justifiable independence, which
allowed of no interference under any circumstances in
matters of sentiment and feeling. The Counts of Schwarz-
burg at that time were dependent on the Dukedom of
Saxony, and Johann Christoph, not meeting with justice in
Arnstadt, carried his appeal before the Consistory of
Weimar. This was in 1674, after the affair had already
lingered on for much more than a year. He here declared,
with a vehemence which must subsequently have been remem-
bered against him, that he " hated the Wienerin so that he
could not bear the sight of her." And in Weimar justice
was done him. Nothing was then left to the Arnstadt
Consistory but to effect a reconciliation, for which Bach
showed himself very ready, and so virtually retracted the
declaration he had uttered in Weimar. By this time it was
the end of the year 1675 ; the worrying contest had deprived
him of his freedom of mind for nearly two years and a half.
He came out of it triumphant, but all thoughts of love and
marriage were marred for him for years. While the others
of the Bach family all married early, many by the time
they were twenty, he remained unmarried till he was
in his thirty-fifth year. He then took to wife Martha
Elisabeth Eisentraut, the daughter of the churchwarden of
Ohrdruf, about Easter, 1679.
There is a suspicion to be dispelled, which may, perhaps,
have arisen from reading the preceding narrative, that it
may have been in consequence of some indiscreet conduct
that Bach was required to marry Anna Wiener. It is
beyond any manner of doubt that their relations were
strictly pure and moral; indeed, it is perfectly clear from
an attentive reading of the trial given above. Such con-
tingencies as might be inferred or imagined were always
discussed with the greatest openness in the transactions of
the Consistory, which are our source of information ; and
CHRISTOPH BACH'S POSITION. 163
in such circumstances the Court of Weimar would certainty'
not have pronounced in favour of Bach. Moreover, I may
here add with great satisfaction, that as regards the relations
of the sexes, the strictest principles prevailed in the Bach
family, and that in this particular they certainly distin-
guished themselves as in advance of their time. When,
among so great a number of marriages and births as I -have
had occasion to search out and follow up, not a single in-
stance is to be met with from which an illegal or premature
connection can be inferred, this is an honourable testimony
of no small import among men of that class, and in times of
such general moral confusion and laxity.
Graser, the town-musician, to whose special consideration
on occasions of " music-making " Johann Christoph was
recommended, made life and labour bitter to him; not
merely damaging him in his earnings, but seeking to hurt
and annoy him in various spiteful and contentious ways.
He once went so far as grossly to insult not Joh. Christoph
only, but the whole Bach family of musicians. This led to
a collective action on the part of the Bachs of Arnstadt and
Erfurt ; but nothing definite can be told as to the outcome,
though they seem to have taken proceedings against Graser.
The disputes, however, did not cease ; the Government once
more took Bach into its service, but at last the old Count
lost patience. He saw plainly that, amid eternal quarrelling,
music could not prosper, and on January 7, 1681, he
dismissed all the musicians from their appointments, " on
account of their idleness and disunion."202 As ill-luck would
have it, the Count died shortly after this, and, in consequence
of the general mourning, all public music was prohibited.
Thus Joh. Christoph found himself bereft of a livelihood,
and with his wife and his first-born, a daughter, reduced to
extreme necessity. It is not without emotion that we read
802 Documents of March 23, 1680, and January 7, 1681. These and the
following statements rest on papers in the archives of Sondershausen : " Con-
cerning Johann Christoph Bach, Hoff-Musicus in Arnstadt, 1671-1696."
Certain of these and other documents relating to different members of the
Bach family were published some years since in Q. W. Korner's Urania.
(Erfurt and Leipzig, 1861.)
M 2
164 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
that this man, nevertheless, every Sunday sat by the side of
his venerable uncle, Heinrich Bach, assisting him in the
church music without the smallest payment ; how, after the
lapse of a few months of mourning, he craved permission of
the young Counts now reigning, "to perform some quiet music,
so as to maintain himself and his family, however meagrely,"
sometimes in Arnstadt, or, if that were forbidden, in the
remote town of Gehren ; or begged, at the New Year, to be
allowed to " pipe before the doors," in spite of the mourning.
The hardest times were presently past, and in the early part
of 1682 he was reappointed by the young sovereigns " Hof-
musicus und Stadtpfeifer."
We may turn from the sadder side of his life and from
the still incessant litigations over the encroachments on
his office, and other quarrels with his fellow-musicians, to
a consideration of the music performed at the Count's Court.
This will interest us all the more because afterwards
Sebastian Bach had to fill an office at the same Court.
After the death of Ludwig Giinther, his dominions fell to
his two nephews. The younger, Anton Giinther, acquired the
"Oberherrschaft"208 with the capital of Arnstadt, where he
took up his residence in 1683, and remained till his death in
1716. He invited Adam Drese to be Capellmeister to his Court,
a man at that time more than sixty years of age. He seems
to have been born at Weimar, about the middle of December
1620, and was sent by Duke Wilhelm IV., in whose band he
was first engaged, for his further education to Marco Sacchi,
Capellmeister to the King of Poland, at Warsaw; he was
then appointed Capellmeister to the Court of Weimar.
Here he presided, in 1658, over a band of sixteen performers,
and received a salary of 275 gulden, besides some payments
in kind. After the Duke's death in 1662, and the division of
his territory, the Duke's fourth son Bernhard took him to
Jena, which fell to that Prince's share. He not only gave
him the post of Capellmeister, but in consequence of Drese's
208 His brother taking the " Unterherrschaft." The Count's dominions lying
up (oben) in the Thiiringer wald, and below (unten) in the plain, they were
thus divided between his nephews.
ADAM DRESE. 165
manifold talents he appointed him his private secretary, and
magistrate of the town and council. In the year 1667 the
Prince made some changes in his establishment, and Drese,
for some unknown reason, was dismissed. A petition
addressed to Duke Moritz of Sax-Zeitz procured him a
flattering recommendation to the Landgrave Ludwig of
Hesse-Darmstadt.20* Whether he obtained any appointment
there is not clear ; a year later he was back again at Jena.
When Bernhard died, in 1678, Drese probably remained at
his post, under the regency of the Duchess, and at her
death (1682), after a short interval, he entered the service of
the Court of Schwarzburg in 1683. In the course of events
he had not improved his position ; in 1696 he was in receipt
of an annual payment of only 106 gulden. He died at
the advanced age of eighty years and two months, February
15, 1701.
Drese's musical occupations must have been various and
extensive. His principal instrument was the viol di gamba,
as it was that of his friend and fellow-artist, Georg Neu-
mark, with whom he lived and worked in Weimar. As a
composer he brought out, in 1672, a collection of allemandes,
courantes, sarabands, and the like, and he seems to have
distinguished himself besides by writing various instrumen-
tal sonatas, church-pieces, and theatrical compositions, and
especially by his treatment of recitative.205 Nothing of all
these works, printed and unprinted, has as yet been re-
covered, but fourteen songs by him have been preserved in
Neumark's Fortgepflanzte musikalisch-poetische Lustwald
(Jena, 1657) ; and an Introduction to the Art of Com-
position, by him, existed and was in use about the year
i68o.206 Of his sacred melodies, which were composed
partly to the hymns written by Biittner, a member of the
Consistory at Arnstadt, and partly to his own verses, that
804 The papers are in the archives at Dresden.
205 \Valther, Lexicon, p. 217. Next to Gasp. Wetzel's Analecta hymnica, I.,
sect. 4, p. 28, this is the principal source of information as to Drese.
206 Mattheson, Ehrenpforte, p. 341. This supplements Gerber's quotation,
N. L-, I», col. 930,
l66 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
beginning "Seelenbrautigam" — "Jesus, bridegroom of my
soul," — with its interesting setting but somewhat undignified
feeling, has remained in use. These poetical and musical
productions were closely connected with the change of
opinions which took place in Drese in his old age. He had
been a light-hearted and jolly musician, who loved to play the
"lustige Person" or clown (Mr. Merriman) in the theatrical
performances in which he bore a part. After the death of
Duke Bernhard he first became acquainted with Spener's
writings, and, principally by their influence, became a
devoted adherent of pietism. In Arnstadt, besides fulfilling
his official duties, he established meetings of his fellow-
believers at his own house, in imitation of Spener's example;
and in 1690 he published a work at Jena, On the Unerring
Evidences of the True, Living, and Bliss-bestowing Faith.207
Spener himself wrote a preface to it, in which he addresses
to Drese the highest praise of his earnest purpose and deep
feeling.208 But Arnstadt did not afford a favourable soil for
pietism ; at any rate the two Olearius, father and son, who
enjoyed the highest esteem there, at first together, were
thoroughly hostile to it. It was undoubtedly by their
influence that, in 1694, on Cantate Sunday and on
Ascension Day, a public warning was preached from every
pulpit against the erroneous doctrines of the pietists, and
it was not without satisfaction that Joh. Christoph Olearius
the younger could write : " Although among others certain
Quakerish-minded pietists had hitherto both secretly and
openly striven to disturb religious peace, still God had
hindered them by the Christian authorities."209 He sub-
sequently characterised Drese as a crafty and restless man,
full of fanatical whims, and whose house was the " harbour
and refuge of all the sleek and subtle pietists"; he objected to
include him among the writers of pure evangelical hymns,
and expressed his delight " that he and his race have
307 Unbetriigliche Priifung des wahren, lebendigen und seligmachenden
Glaubens.
aos Winterfeld, Ev. Kirch., II., 603.
209 Joh, Christ. Olearii Hist, Arnstadiensis. Jena, Arnstadt, 1701, p. 43.
ADAM DRESE. l6;
altogether died out of Arnstadt, and that all his doings
have perished with him." We have no means of deciding
whose judgment of Drese is the more correct, but in general
we cannot help feeling inclined to take the side of the
pietists as against that haughty and overbearing orthodoxy.
It is clear that, under these circumstances, Drese's position
in Arnstadt was not absolutely free from drawbacks, and,
besides this, he frequently found himself in great necessity
through no fault of his own. How little conscience was
exercised in the payment of his salary may be gathered from
a letter, among others, addressed by Drese to the Privy
Council of Arnstadt, on April 19, 1691 : " I would, besides,
briefly recall that before Michaelmas of last year I was put
off till St. Lucy's (December 13) to draw two quarters (of
salary), so that the arrears might not grow too high. At
the said date of St. Lucy, I was put off till the Holy Festi-
vals (at Christmas), and, after these, till Reminiscere
(February 22). These I waited with patience ; but when I
then again presented myself, I was further put off till Passion
Week, and when I presented myself, as became me, I was
informed there would be no money then. When I should
be put off to, after so many postponements, I knew not."
We must here not omit to notice the facility of expression,
and a touch of individual colouring, in this and other papers
written by Drese,210 which have a most pleasing effect when
compared with the dead formality of most of the documents
of that time; and which, even in this unimportant manifesta-
tion of his mind, proves the freshness and vigour which
animated pietism in spite of many perversities. Wilhelm
Friedrich Drese, a son of the old Capellmeister, worked with
him gratuitously in the Count's band for four years after his
appointment.211 He then filled some musical post to a Baron
von Meussbach in Triptis, near Weimar, and subsequently
endeavoured to get a place in the service of the Schwarzburgs.
He cannot have remained in it long. Towards the end of the
810 All preserved in the archives of Sondershausen.
*" He must previously have been Hofmusicus at Weimar, according to docu-
ments preserved there.
l68 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
century the band was temporarily dispersed,212 and Adam
Drese, it is to be hoped, placed in circumstances of befitting
ease. After his death, his wife having already died in 1698,
the efforts of the pietists soon died out, and when, a few years
later, Sebastian Bach came to Arnstadt as organist, hardly a
trace of them was to be found. At any rate, Adam Drese
himself cannot possibly have exerted any personal influence
over him, as it has been thought necessary to suppose, since
he was no longer living ; au and it will presently be abun-
dantly shown that Sebastian Bach's attitude towards pietism
was quite a different one from what has commonly been
imagined.
Count Anton Giinther did much for music, and not the
smallest part was at the instigation of his wife, Augusta
Dorothea, who was accustomed to the eager artistic life and
taste of her father's Court — Duke Anton Ulrich von Braun-
schweig- Wolfenbiittel. Besides calling a famous master to
be at the head of his band, he caused several gifted youths
to be educated and sent to travel at his cost, and he brought
the band itself to very high perfection as compared with the
smallness of his other circumstances. It is true that most
of the musicians fulfilled other offices or services, but in their
salaries their musical qualifications must always have been
taken into consideration. One of the lists of the Court
musicians includes the Organist and Cantor of Gehren, the
Cantor of Breitenbach, and a bassoon-player from Sonders-
hausen. It happened, too, on special occasions that all
the musical forces of the little territory were concentrated,
and the sober figure of Michael Bach may often have
made its way on foot from Gehren to the castle of Arnstadt,
to assist at some exceptionally grand Court concert.214
a> On July 12, 1698, Peter Wenigk, of Gotha, petitions for an appointment,
in case the Count should " be graciously minded at the dedication of the new
chapel in the castle (1700) to establish a small Capell-Music."
sis Winterfeld, Ev. Kirch., III., p. 276, from whom it has been copied by
others.
214 It is hardly possible now to form an adequate idea of what was expected of
the German musicians of that time, when Italian singers, male and female, were
conveyed in litters to each performance at the Prince's courts. Job. Philipp
Even without this, a list of the members of the band is
miscellaneous enough. The following is the catalogue of
the instrumentalists about the year 1690: — Herr Drese,
senior, viol di gamba ; Wentzing, groom of the chambers,
violin ; Gleitsmann, groom of the chambers, lute, violin,
and viol di gamba ; Heindorff, actuary, violin ; Clerk of
the granary, clavier and violin ; Clerk of the kitchen, clavier ;
Herr Drese, junior, viol di gamba ; Heindorff, town-cantor,
violin ; one fagottist, five trumpeters ; Jager, trumpeter,
violin; two oboists, who can also play the violin. Bach and
his folks— four persons. These altogether made twenty-one
players, enough for the perfect performance of any instru-
mental sonata. Another list is even more magnificent,
giving an account of the vocal forces : it shall be given in
its original form. For some inscrutable reason Drese, the
Capellmeister, is not named.
Singers. Instrumentalists.
Discant : Hans Dietrich Sturm. Violin : [Joh.] Christoph Bach.
Alto: Hans Erhardt Braun. Violin: Christoph Jager.
Tenor: i. Clerk of the Chambers. Violin: The Actuary.
Tenor: 2. Clerk of the Granary. Violin: Wentzing.
Tenor: 3. Hans Heinrich Longolius. Alto Viola: ^ _
Bass : I. Clerk of the Works Tenor Viola : Bach'8 AsS1Stant8 and
Bass: a. The Cantor. Bass Viola: J Apprentices.
Contrabasso : Clerk of the Kitchen.
Organ : Heinrich Bach.
Besides Trumpeters, by a gracious special
order these have hitherto been admitted to
belong to this music : —
For the Capella or for Complimento M>
out of the School here : —
Jager's Son : Discant.
Sauerbrey: Alto.
Miiller : Tenor.
Schmidt : Bass.
Weichardt, a member of the ducal band at Weimar, at the time ol Sebastian
Bach, was a student of law at Jena, and every Sunday he was obliged to make
his way to Weimar, to perform in church, and back again.
»• I.e., for church or banquet music.
170 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Of these persons the following especially may be
for instrumental music : —
Jager,
Bach,
The Actuary,
Wentzing,
The Clerk of the Chambers,
The Clerk of the Granary,
Trumpeter Forster,
V Violins.
Trumpeter Herthum,
The Cantor,
Hans Erhardt Braun,
Hans Heinrich Longolius,
Bach's Assistant,
The Trumpeter's Apprentice, \
Hans Dietrich Sturm, L Alto Violas.
M tiller, from the School, j
Schmidt, from the School, \
Sauerbrey, from the School, I Tenor Violas.
Bach's Apprentice, J
The Clerk of the Kitchen, \
Bach's Assistant, [• Contrabasso and two Bass Viols.
Bach's Apprentice, /
An exact comparison of the two lists shows that the second
is the earlier, since Heinrich Bach is named in it, and by
the year 1690 he was no longer capable of service. But we
are obliged to attribute the former list to this date by rinding
the name of Gleitsmann as groom of the chambers ; he en-
tered the Count's service at about that time. The second,
again, can hardly have been drawn up before 1683, or we
should have found in it Giinther Bach, Heinrich's youngest
son. From this point of view we further detect, from our
comparison, that the body of instruments had become richer
and more varied under Drese's direction. The stringed in-
struments have been strengthened by the viol di gamba,
besides the lute, the oboes, and the fagotto. And the
circumstance that, in the second list of instruments, the
cembalist is wanting, justifies the conclusion that the instru-
mental music at the Court at that time was confined to
simple jingling melodies and dance-music, such as were
quite in place before and during banquets, and also that the
instrumental concerto was introduced by Drese ; for it could
JOHANN ERNST BACH. IJI
not have been performed without the accompaniment of the
harpsichord. The clerk of the kitchen, mentioned as playing
the clavier, was none other than Christoph Herthum, Hem-
rich Bach's son-in-law, and the same who in the older list
is named as bass-player. Joh. Christoph Bach finally ap-
pears with four of his assistants in the first catalogue, but
in the second with only three : if any conclusion may be
drawn from this, it would seem that he fared better at first
in his new position under Count Anton Giinther than he did
later. But we know from another source that, after the hard
times at the beginning of this Count's rule, he never suffered
from any prolonged necessity. On the contrary, he was
able, at his death, to leave a small fortune to his family.
He, exactly like his father, only attained the age of
forty-eight years, dying August 25, 1693. His widow and
five children survived him. His widow obtained permission
to retain her husband's office, and continue to have his
duties performed by the assistants ; but she proved herself
unequal to cope with these rough and refractory men as
regarded their duties, and, at the end of three years, she
herself begged to withdraw from the position. The eldest
son, Joh. Ernst, born August 8, 1683, had a by no means
contemptible talent for music, and for its further cultivation
he resided for six months in Hamburg, at his own expense,
and afterwards spent some time in Frankfort. He then,
undoubtedly, returned to Arnstadt to assist his mother and
family by exercising his skill. Unhappily, he was not at
first successful in this ; and since, in the meantime, all his
father's little property had been gradually exhausted by the
survivors, and at last a long spell of sickness fell upon the
household, Christoph Bach's family were soon in very
straitened circumstances. No other branch of the Bach
family who might have given them some assistance was
then living in the town, excepting the youthful Sebastian, who
held his first post as organist there from 1703 to 1707. But
even he, as we shall see, did what lay in his power to
assist his impoverished cousins. When he was called to
Miihlhausen, Joh. Ernst was so fortunate, after a little
exertion, as to become his successor. This certainly did not
172 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
take place till he had passed an examination under the capell-
meister at the time, Paul Gleitsmann, in which Bach won
the precedence over the other candidates by the perform-
ance of a prelude on the full organ, and of a chorale with
extemporised accompaniments, and by his skilled and correct
working out of the figured-bass to a piece of church music
set before him at the moment. But that his proficiency at
four-and-twenty was not to be compared with that which
Sebastian had already attained at the age of eighteen is
evident from the considerable reduction in his salary ; he
received the very modest pay of forty gulden and a measure
and a half of corn, and it was also thought desirable to let
a half-year more elapse before he was definitively installed.
Since he remained for twenty years in this post, which could
barely have sufficed to maintain him, it is not astonishing that
he should not have answered the hopes which Gleitsmann
believed he might form of him. At any rate, in 1728, when
he finally was appointed to the Church of the Holy
Virgin, with a salary of seventy-seven gulden, he had to be
warned by the Consistory " to exercise himself still better in
his art, to improve himself as much as possible by due
reflection, not to remain always at one level, but to cul-
tivate his skill by diligent correspondence with one and
another among experienced musicians." However, a weak-
ness of the eyes impeded his studies. He married for
the first time, October 22, 1720, a daughter of the minister
of Wandersleben, named Wirth ; his second wife, whom he
married in 1725, was Magdalene Christiane Schober; she
was the daughter of a law-clerk at Gotha. She, with three
infant children, survived her husband, on whom the sun
of good fortune had so seldom shone.
Of the three brothers of Joh. Ernst, the youngest, Joh.
Andreas, died within a year of his father, aged three; of
another, Joh. Heinrich, nothing is known, but that he was
born December 3, 1686. Joh. Christoph, however, is more
frequently mentioned. He was born September 13, 1689, but
the incidents of his life are as little known to us as the date
of his death. According to the genealogy, he was a dealer
at Blankenhain, On the other hand, a certain Joh. Christoph
JOH. ERNST'S THREE BROTHERS. 173
Bach, born at Arnstadt, applied in the year 1726 for the
place of organist at the girl's school at the village of Keula,
in Schwarzburg, where he had for twelve years been in the
service of the chief magistrate (Oberamtmann) Struve, and had
sometimes officiated in playing the organ. As this personage
can hardly be any other than the son of Sebastian's uncle,
we must either regard the statement in the genealogy as
incorrect, or assume that he became a dealer afterwards.
This, indeed, is not impossible. He seems to have died in
I736.216
Here we lose the line of the descendants of Johann
Christoph Bach, the town-musician ; but the case is quite
the reverse with those of his twin-brother, Ambrosius.
While we do not even know the names of Joh. Christoph's
grandsons, the genius of the family continued to blossom
even in the children's children of Ambrosius, and though
none of them could compare even remotely with the sole and
only One, still the spirit of art stirred and lived in them all.
The genius of the race, after having diffused itself more or
less widely through whole generations, now culminated and
exhausted itself in the family of Ambrosius Bach.
We left Ambrosius Bach at the time when he entered the
town-council of Erfurt, April 12, 1667, and it was previously
stated (p. 21) that he was the successor in it of his cousin Joh.
Christian, the eldest son of Johann Bach, who at that time
moved from Erfurt to Eisenach. He played the alto viola,
as we learn on this occasion. We may certainly extend this
so as to include violin-playing in general; and it is worthy of
remark, as bearing on Sebastian's musical development,
that it was principally violin-playing that he must have
heard in his father's house. Only one year after his appoint-
ment Ambrosius was married, April 8, 1668. It was in
this same year that the outlay at weddings, which had
degenerated into extravagance and excess, was restricted
816 According to the pedigree given by Korabinsky. Hilgenfeldt gives the
date as 1730, no doubt from an oversight in using Korabinsky's work. The
daughter, only once mentioned, of Ambrosius Bach's twin-brother, was Barbara
Katharina, born May 14, 1680,
174 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
within proper limits by special legislation for the regulation
of weddings by the Elector of Mainz.217 Bach's bride was
Elisabeth Lammerhirt, born February 24, 1644, the daughter
of Valentin Lammerhirt, a furrier, living under the sign of
"The Three Roses," in the Junkersande (now No. i,285).218
The Lammerhirt family were not strangers to the Bachs.
Johann Bach had already chosen his second wife, Hedwig,
from among them — a relation of Elisabeth's, but of course
much older. From this marriage issued six sons and two
daughters.219 The first child must have been born between
1668 and 1671, and have died soon after ; then followed the
eldest of those that survived their parents, Job. Christoph,
born June 16, 1671. 22° In October of the same year
Ambrosius moved to Eisenach, leaving his place among
the town-musicians, as has been told, to his cousin Aegidius
Bach. Besides the maintenance of his family he now
undertook the support and care of his hapless idiot sister,
who, however, was released by death from her miserable
existence in 1679. It is a genuine trait of the Bach character
that the brothers wished to have the funeral sermon preached
on this occasion printed as a memorial, as may be seen in
the dedication, addressed to the three brothers and Job.
Christoph (their cousin, Heinrich's son). The preacher,
taking for his text Luke, xii. 48, "For unto whom much
is given, of him much shall be required," pointed out the
strange distribution of human wealth and talents, saying :
" Our sister, who now rests in the Lord, was a simple
creature, not knowing her right hand from her left ; she was
like a child. If, on the contrary, we look at her brothers we
find that they are gifted with a good understanding, with art
and skill which make them respected and listened to in the
churches, schools, and in all the township, so that through
them the Master's work is praised." This opinion deserves
our attention, because it contains the only contemporary
7ir Comp. Hartung, Hauser-Chronik der Stadt Erfurt, p. 303.
818 See Appendix A, No. 8.
219 According to the genealogy.
220 According to Bruckner, Kirchen- und Schulen Staat. Part III., sect. 10,
p. 95-
HIS UNCLE AMBROSIUS BACH. 175
judgment now extant of Ambrosius Bach.221 He never again
quitted Eisenach. In the spring of 1684 he was indeed
invited to rejoin the Erfurt company of musicians, and
showed some desire to obey the call. But Duke Johann
Georg would not permit him to go, thus proving how highly
he esteemed him.222 The highly respectable position which
he held was, indeed, the reason why other members not only
of his own family, but of his wife's, came to settle in
Eisenach. The children born there came in the following
order : Joh. Balthasar, born March 4, 1673, died in the
beginning of April, 1691; Joh. Jonas, born January 3, 1675 ;
Maria Salome, born May 27, 1677 ; Johanna Juditha, born
January 26, 1680 (she received her first name from Johann
Pachelbel, at that time Organist to the Predigerkirche in
Erfurt) ; Joh. Jakob, born February 9, 1682. None of
these lived to grow up but Joh. Jakob and Maria Salome,
who married one Wiegand, probably of Erfurt, and as early
as 1707 she was left the sole survivor of the sisters. The
man to whose memory this work is dedicated closed the
list, the youngest of Ambrosius Bach's children. We shall
enter on a fresh section with the date of his birth.
A comprehensive retrospect over the history of his fore-
fathers and relations, which is here closed, will suffice to show
that from no artist have we a better right to expect, at the very
threshold of his career, that he should embody the whole
essence of the German nation, than from Sebastian Bach.
His ancestors had already lived and laboured for centuries in
that province of Germany which was his cradle ; they had
grown to be one with their native land in a way which
results more from tilling and sowing it than from any other
form of labour. Thus, deriving their sustenance from the
soil, the race had spread abroad as a mighty oak spreads
its branches, on all sides, and their common origin
321 The funeral sermon of M. Valentin Schron on Dorothea Maria Bach,
born April 10, 1653, printed at Eisenach, 1679, is to be found in the Ducal
Library at Gotha. Another of Christoph Bach's daughters, Barbara Maria, is
also mentioned, born April 30, 1651.
282 From documents in the parish register of Eisenach, first quoted by Ritter
in a revised edition of his works on Bach, now coming out in parts, see p. 36,
176 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
was never forgotten. For generations they had at once
fostered and represented those forms of music which
appeal most nearly to the transcendental and metaphysical
spirit of the German people, and which were destined to be
brought by them to the highest perfection — namely, instru-
mental music and Protestant sacred music, which chiefly
grew out of instrumental music. A constantly increasing
sum of musical experience and practice had been handed
down from generation to generation, and had at last
become an innate portion of the Bach nature ; and thus a
suitable soil had been prepared for the favourable develop-
ment of an unapproachable genius. And that modest piety
and decent morality which we Germans may specially claim
as having been at all times the distinguishing virtues of our
nation — though, indeed, they are the necessary conditions of
all healthy and vigorous growth — we find faithfully cherished
from the first in the Bach family. Indeed, this instinct seems
to have constituted a mainstay of that strong family con-
nection which was always closest precisely at those periods
when society was most demoralised. During the second
half of the seventeenth century, when the rapid growth of
the numerous musical bands of the Courts of Germany must
have tempted them to more brilliant and profitable occupa-
tions, they appear as simple organists and cantors in the
service of the Church, or as fostering the national town
music-guilds among the people, coming only into incidental
contact with Courts. Piety was at that time a precious
possession, the Church and the priesthood cherished the
highest culture. Hence that feature which is so peculiar
to the German character, which was of such conspicuous im-
portance in the time following the war — an ideal standard
of life and of its duties, and, consequently, an elevated con-
ception of the nature and ideal import of all Art — could the
more easily be developed among them.
There can be no greater contrast than that of German
to Italian art at that period. On the one side, with
great qualities, brilliant rather than deeply rooted, what
arrogance, vanity, avarice, and immorality ! On the other
a modest and unself-seeking diligence, working in a narrow
THE STRONG NATIONALITY OF THE BACHS. 177
circle ; a life often spent in a struggle against want, but in
faithful devotion to duty ; and a family feeling which resisted
all the floods of the outer world. And with these we find a
deeply cherished growth and development of the sublimest
forms of art, at first merely dreamed of, veiled as it were in
the mists of poetic fancy, modelled with an experimental
touch; but then seen and grasped in all their meaning,
and brought to life with a warmth and fervency which to
this day have lost nothing of their value. Beyond a doubt,
such a composer as Johann Christoph Bach had a perfect
right to set his exquisite motetts by the side of the most
brilliant productions of the masters of Italian art, if it ever
could have occurred to him to assert himself in any way ;
but art was all he cared for, and to serve art was his only
pride. The character of the Thuringian land, to which the
Bachs clung so tenaciously, also exerted an influence over
them in many ways. The loneliness of its woods and
valleys — which still, even in these overwhelming times of
ours, here and there, arouses a delightful feeling, as though
the motley world had been left outside the mountains that
hedge it in — whose charms could keep its hold even on
the great soul of Goethe for more than fifty years— that
spirit of solitude soared over the country with wider and
mightier wings a century earlier. It narrowed the outlook
and deepened the sources of inward life, the spring from
which music, above all, derives its vitality. More particularly
it tinged the peculiar religious spirit which speaks to us in
the works of Christoph and Sebastian Bach. Beethoven's
" Pastoral Symphony," in which Nature appears as a grand
temple, and Sebastian Bach's organ preludes and fugues,
through which we hear a rush as of the elements through
the crowns of mighty oaks, both flow from the same fount
of feeling.
It is scarcely possible to name any other artist the roots
of whose being can be traced back for two hundred years. A
strong stamp of nationality no doubt necessarily involves a
certain one-sidedness ; and in matters of art it has always
been a weakness of the Germans — not often successfully
overcome — that they subordinate perfection of form to
N
178 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
the ideal inspiration, while it is only the complete balance
of the two factors that can result in a perfect work of art.
But there was a safeguard, stronger than any other could
have been, against the peril which yawns for every com-
poser who is devoted to instrumental music, of losing him-
self in that bottomless and introspective subjectivity which
leads at last to absolute artistic and aesthetic demoralisation.
And that was the old tradition of the Bachs — centuries old,
nobly formed, and deeply rooted — which held conquered
acquisition as sacred; this availed to preserve the man in
whom the stupendous flood and torrent of his power would
otherwise have been sufficient to overwhelm all the forms
already extant, and to have left a chaos where, as it is,
works of fabulous beauty rise before us. Thus the good
genius of his race not only raised him, but protected him
too.
The student who desires to appreciate the depth of our
national being, and to do justice to the history of culture at
the beginning of the eighteenth century, must give due con-
sideration to the advent of Sebastian Bach, who, when all
around was dead and void, appeared unhoped for, and as if
called up by a magic word — as a water-lily is thrown up on
the dull and formless surface of a pool, a glorious evidence
of the imperishable vitality hidden in the womb of nature
and of time. Sebastian Bach appeared at the close of a
period of deep dejection for the German people; the first
promise and sufficient pledge of a new spring-time, moral
and intellectual.
BOOK II.
THE CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YEARS OF
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH,
1685 TO 1707.
N 2
BOOK II.
THE CHILDHOOD AND EARLY YEARS OF
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH,
1685 TO 1707.
I.
EARLY DAYS.— EDUCATION. — OHRDRUF AND LUNEBURG,
1685 TO 1703.
T OHANN SEBASTIAN BACH was born in all probability
on March 21, 1685, but the only direct evidence we have
is the fact that March 23 was the day of his baptism.
His godfathers were Sebastian Nagel, a musician of Gotha,
and Johann Georg Koch, a forester of Eisenach.1 For the
first nine years of his life the boy enjoyed the happiness of
his mother's care and protection, but on May 3, 1694,
Ambrosius Bach followed his wife's body to the grave. Nor
need we attribute to indifference to his dead wife the fact
that he married again scarcely seven months later (Novem-
ber 27), Dame Barbara Margaretha Bartholomai, the widow
of a deacon of Arnstadt. Married life was almost indispen-
sable to the strong and healthy family feeling of the Bachs,
and their vigorous instincts soon turned from the dead to the
living; and a woman's presence and orderly superintendence
must have seemed doubly desirable in a house full of young
children. But Ambrosius was not destined to rejoice long
1 Parish register of Eisenach. It may here be mentioned that the Gregorian
Calendar, or New Style, was not used in Evangelical Germany till 1701, and that
all the dates occurring before this era must be carried on ten days to make them
coincide with the modern reckoning. It would, therefore, be accurate to fix the
day of Sebastian Bach's birth as March 31. According to a tradition preserved
in a lateral branch of the family, the house in the Frauenplan A 303, at
Eisenach, is that where he was born, and a memorial tablet was not long
since placed there by the city authorities.
l82 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
• in his newly established household, for he died two months
afterwards, and was buried January 31, 1695. The family
1 was now broken up. Johann Jakob Bach apprenticed him-
self to his father's successor in the office of town-musician;2
of the other brothers, Johann Balthasar was already dead, as
can be pioved, and so also, probably, was Johann Jonas.
Johann Christoph had already for some years earned his own
bread, and it was to him that the care and education of
Johann Sebastian, then hardly ten years old, were confided,
and the boy never again spent any long time in his native town.
So far as we may suppose at this distance of time, this very
early period of his life was wholly given up to arousing and
cultivating the dormant — or perhaps already active — powers
of his mind.
So far as we can judge from the few details and indications
we have concerning his own life, and from the character of
the twin-brother who so much resembled him, together with
the fundamental features of the Bach nature, his father had
been a man of moral worth, conscientious and skilled in his
art, at the same time of independent views and of good report
among his fellow-citizens. That he was highly esteemed by
his family is proved by the fact that a large portrait in oil was
painted of him, and this also leads us to infer that he lived in
easy circumstances.8 In this portrait, which represents him
as of about forty years of age, we see a strongly marked coun-
tenance with the same nose and chin that we find again in his
son. It is still more characteristic, and an unusual thing at
that period, that we have here no civic portrait with a curled
wig and smug solemnity of face. A frank-looking man gazes
out from the canvas in a careless everyday garb ; the shirt,
which shows over the bosom, is loosely held together at the
throat by a riband, natural brown hair hangs round the head,
and a moustache even ornaments the face. Any one who can
estimate how much the painting of a picture in oils implies
for a man of that rank, will be able to draw the right con-
8 According to the genealogy.
8 This portrait was afterwards in the possession of Philipp Emanuel Bach,
and is now in the Royal Library at Berlin.
SEBASTIAN'S EARLIEST TRAINING. 183
elusions from this complete emancipation from all that, at
that period, was held to be correct and suitable.
Ambrosius must have noticed his son's great musical
gifts at an early age, and have cultivated them, in the first
instance, in violin-playing, as his own skill would naturally
lead him to do ; so that the love for this instrument which
Sebastian manifested so constantly must have had its
root in the impressions of his earliest infancy. He must
also have found an object of admiration in Joh. Christoph
Bach, the greatest musician which the Bach family had up
to this time produced, with his extraordinary skill on the
organ and general musical talents ; and he, no doubt, also
derived from him much incitement, which for a short period
bore outward results in the form of imitative compositions.
Indeed, Eisenach was already generally known for the
musical taste and tendencies that were predominant there.
So early as in the fifteenth century poor scholars marched
through the town three times a week, singing hymns and
asking alms. About the year 1600 the perambulating
chorus for part-singing was established by Jeremias Wein-
rich, the master of the school of Eisenach, and soon became
the pride and delight of the city and the neighbourhood.
Consisting originally of only four scholars, it soon increased
to forty and more, and this was the number even about the
year 1700, at which period we have information concerning it.4
As we know that Sebastian subsequently distinguished him-
self as a fine soprano, we may very well assume that, at any
rate towards the later period of his residence at Eisenach,
he took part in the performances of the scholars' choir, and
marched through the streets singing as he went — just as
Luther had done in the same town two hundred years
before. Ambrosius Bach had sent his eldest son in his
early youth to Erfurt, in 1686, where for three years he
4 Christiani Francisci Paullini Annales Isenacenses. Francofurti ad Moe-
num. Anno M.DC.XCVIIL, p. 237. Somewhat further back he says:
" Claruit semper urbs nostra Musica. Et quid est Isenacum xaT' avayp. quam
en musica: vel : Isenacum, canimus." ("Our town was always celebrated for
music — And what is the anagram of Isenacum — the Latinised form of Eisenach
— but en musica — lo ! music, or canimus — we sing ? ")
1&4 JOHANN SfcBASflAK BACM.
enjoyed the instruction of their friend Johann Pachelbel.
In the last year of his apprenticeship he took the post of
Organist in the Church of St. Thomas there ; this, however,
did not satisfy even the most modest demands, either as to
the organ or as to salary, and he soon gave it up. Joh,
Christoph now turned to Arnstadt, where for a time he per-
formed the duties of the venerable Heinrich Bach, and
relieved the cares of his godfather Herthum with respect to
his old father-in-law. Since the twin-brother of Ambrosius
Bach — whose name was also Joh. Christoph — then living in
Arnstadt, had married a daughter of Eisentraut, the parish-
clerk of Ohrdruf, we can understand why it should be in this
town that Joh. Christoph the younger, in 1690, sought and
obtained employment. He was appointed organist of the
principal church of the town. In the sixteenth century,
and to the beginning of the seventeenth, other persons of
the name of Bach had already settled in this place; still the
scanty records of their existence contained in the parish
register do not allow us to hazard a guess as to their con-
nection with the other branches of the family that had
flourished elsewhere; and after this time, until the arrival
of Joh. Christoph the younger, the name seems to have
disappeared there. He, no doubt by reason of his youth,
was installed with the small salary of forty-five gulden a
year and a few payments in kind. He certainly ere long
asked for an addition, but though it was refused he still
thought his position allowed of his getting married in
October, 1694, to the maiden Dorothea von Hof. This
newly established home made it possible for him to receive
the young Sebastian on the death of his father, which
occurred soon after. He must have been his first teacher
in clavier-playing, and for this reason it would be highly
interesting if we could give an approximate sketch of his
own works and labours. But, unfortunately, the means for
doing so are wholly wanting. We are disposed to a
favourable judgment of them by the circumstance that he
was Pachelbel's pupil during three years. An invitation
to go to Gotha, in 1696 — which he refused in consequence
of an increase of pay — leads us to infer, though not with
JOH. CHRISTOPH, SEBASTIAN'S BROTHER. 185
any certainty, that his skill was known beyond his own
town ; or it may be that Pachelbel, who had quitted Gotha
in 1695, had recommended him there ; and, from his having
made a collection of works by the most famous writers
for the organ of that period, we may gather that he strove
to reach the highest level of his time. Finally, his sons,
who all became cantors and organists in Ohrdruf and
the neighbourhood, may be mentioned in evidence of the
essentially musical nature of their father.5 But all the other
information we have concerning him has little or nothing to
do with music. It was customary then, as it is now, to
employ the organists and cantors as elementary instructors
in the schools. Johann Christoph at first did not choose to
fulfil this double service, which had been performed by his
predecessor Paul Beck, but he accommodated himself to it
in the year 1700 for the sake of the larger income, which now
amounted to ninety-seven gulden, with six measures and a
half of corn, six cords of wood, and four loads of brushwood.
But he seems to have been ill adapted to be an instructor
of youth, and he bore the burden he had taken up with more
and more difficulty as the support of his family increased the
need for it ; his health began to fail, and he was obliged to own
that he was losing his enjoyment and power in the exercise of
his proper vocation of organist. He died February 22, 1721,
and was succeeded as organist by his second son, while the
instruction of the fifth class was given over to a stranger.6
5 These sons, or such of them as grew up, were Tobias Friedrich, born 1695,
Cantor at Uttstadt from 1721 ; Joh. Bernhard, 1700, Organist at Ohrdruf;
Joh. Christoph, 1702, Cantor at Ohrdruf; Joh. Heinrich, 1707, Cantor at
Oehringen ; Joh. Andreas, 1713, Organist at Ohrdruf after 1744. Descendants
of the third son are still living there.
6 Melchior Kromayer, superintendent at Ohrdruf, began in the year 1685 to
keep a book for entering an account of the life and the salary paid to every
priest, teacher, and church official in the town and neighbourhood. This book,
which contains, among others, autograph biographies of Joh. Christoph
Bach and his sons, Tobias Friedrich, Joh. Bernhard, Joh. Christoph, and
Joh. Andreas, was recently found in Ohrdruf, by Herr Staudigel, the town-
clerk, and in the politest way put at my disposal. Bruckner (Kirchen und
Schulenstaat, Part III., pp. 95, 96, &c.) also made use of it, but not without
falling into some errors. I am indebted for information from other sources to
the kindness of Dr. Schulze, Superintendent at Ohrdruf.
l86 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
An anecdote attaches to the volume of organ music just
mentioned, which is significant as bearing on the instinct for
learning of Sebastian Bach. The pieces which his elder
brother put before him were quickly mastered and exhausted,
as to their technical and theoretical difficulty ; he demanded
more difficult tasks and loftier flights. Still, pride of
seniority made Joh. Christoph withhold this collection from
the boy, who every day could see the object of his longing
lying within the wire lattice of a bookcase. At last he stole
down at night, and succeeded in extracting the roll of music
through the opening of the wires. He had no light, so the
moon had to serve him while he made a copy of the precious
treasure. By the end of six months the work was finished
— a work which none but the most ardent votary of his art
could ever have undertaken. But his brother soon discovered
him with the hardly won copy, and was so hard-hearted as
to take it away from him.7 The perseverance of true genius,
with which we shall at a later date still see Sebastian Bach
striving after the end on which he had set his heart, is as
evident in this story as the fact that he soon had no more to
learn from his eldest brother. The most important thing in
the matter to us is that he must, while yet a boy, have been
acquainted with Pachelbel's creations and with the spirit of
his art. How, as a man of honour, he repaid his brother
fifteen years later, shall be told in its place.
At Ohrdruf he began at the same time to lay the founda-
tions of a general education. The " Lyceum " or academy
there, founded in 1560 by the Counts von Gleichen, enjoyed a
by no means small reputation. It was comparatively well
endowed, could point to many competent and learned
teachers, and could send scholars from its first class to
7 Mitler, Mus. Bib., Vol. IV., p. 161. It is here erroneously stated
that Sebastian did not recover possession of the book till after his brother's
death, which occurred soon after, and that it was his death which led to his
departure for Liineburg ; Forkel, pp. 4, 5, repeats this. But the fact that
Sebastian's sons and pupils antedated Joh. Christoph's death by about twenty
years is a proof that his influence was not regarded as of special value in the
development of Sebastian's talent ; otherwise more attention would have been
directed to the principal events of his life.
THE "LYCEUM" OF OHRDRUF. 187
the university. In the course of the seventeenth century
it numbered six classes, the lowest three forming the
people's school, since those who did not aspire to a learned
education were sent home during the Latin and Greek
lessons. Still, even in the upper classes those might have a
share of the instruction who were exempt from studying the
dead languages. However, there were certainly not many
branches of study remaining. That Sebastian was not one
of those who claimed this exemption is proved by the know-
ledge of Latin — as peculiar to himself as it was thorough —
which is self-evident in his letters and official documents ;
and, indeed, it may be taken for granted from all the
traditions of the Bach family. To judge by the age at
which he left his brother's house, he cannot have risen
beyond the second class in Ohrdruf (the first class being
the highest) ; and, indeed, what he learnt must, from the
divisions of the schools at that time, have been one-sided
enough. Theology, Latin, and Greek — the last only on
the basis of the New Testament — formed almost the whole
of the course of instruction, with a little rhetoric and
arithmetic. Of the Roman writers those studied in this
class were Cornelius Nepos and Cicero, particularly his
epistles. The rest of the instruction consisted in learning
grammatical rules written in Latin, with exercises in prosody,
in disputation, and in style. French, almost indispensable
to the culture of the time, was entirely neglected, as also
was history.8 For music five hours out of the thirty hours
of study per week were set aside in the first and second
classes, and four in the third and fourth ; and the chorus of
singers appears to have been at this time an institution
of great importance, under the conduct of the cantor. His
province included, besides the church services on Sunday
* Rudloff, Geschichte des Lyceums zu Ohrdruf. Arnstadt, 1845. He
gives a scheme of study, p. 20, which I have here followed. It is certainly as
early as 1660, but in the course of the century at the utmost the requirements
in each branch of learning may have been somewhat raised. Any more
extensive variety of branches of learning was not introduced till the beginning
of the eighteenth century. Lessons in history were given in Ohrdruf from
the year 1716 (Rudloff, p. 14). French was not taught till 1740 (Ibid, p. 17).
l88 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
and festivals, the performance of motetts and concertos at
weddings and funerals, as well as the perambulations with
singing, at fixed times, from door to door. The regularity
of the school lessons was no doubt seriously interfered with
by this arrangement ; indeed, it would seem that at Ohrdruf,
as distinguished from other places in Thuringia, it was the
custom for the scholars to share in the entertainment at
weddings, not unfrequently to the detriment alike of their
moral and physical balance. How fully the school chorus
was occupied is evident from their receipts, which, during the
third quarter of the year 1720 amounted to 237 thalers,
ii groschen, and 6 pfennige.9 Here Sebastian found fresh
food for his genius, and it can be shown that he rose to be
one of the foremost singers, perhaps, indeed, to be a " con-
certist," receiving a fixed stipend and a larger share in the
subdivision and distribution of the earnings of the choir.
From the year 1696 Job. Christoph Kiesewetter was Rector
of the school : a very learned man, who in 1712 went to
fill the same office at the academy of Weimar, and there
once more met with his former pupil, Sebastian Bach, as
court organist and chamber musician. The offices of sub-
warden and master of the second class were held from 1695
till 1728 by Job. Jeremias Bottiger.10 The religious tone of
the school was strictly orthodox, and all the masters, in-
cluding Job. Christoph Bach, had to sign the Concordien
book.11 Under these auspices Sebastian grew to be a youth.
When he was fifteen it was his fate to have to stand on
his own feet ; he was forced into independence by circum-
stances. His brother's increasing family made the house
too narrow ; besides, he felt that there was no more to be
gained by remaining in that place, and was conscious of
sufficient strength to go on without further help from others.
What step he should take was ere long settled by a happy
accident. It was Elias Herda, who had been Cantor to the
• Rudloff, p
- nuuiuit, p. 45.
10 Bruckner, pp. 83, 86.
11 Concordia e Joh. Muclleri, manuscripto edita. Lips, et Jena, 1705,
p. 59
HERDA AND ERDMANN. 189
Academy since 1698, a young musician of four-and-twenty,
who, beyond a doubt, showed him his path. His father, a
farrier at Leina, near Gotha, had some years before made
a journey to Liineburg, while his son, then about the same
age as Bach now was, was studying in the Academy at Gotha
and cultivating his musical talents. There he had heard
from a man of that country that in Lower Saxony boys from
Thuringia were in great favour, on account of their musical
talents and proficiency, and that the Cantor of the Church of
the Benedictine monks of St. Michael at Liineburg was just
now seeking such a lad, whom he would provide for and
maintain. Herda remarked that he himself had a musical
son of about the right age, and the Cantor being informed of
it, succeeded, by opportunely representing the case, in getting
young Herda to go to Liineburg. There he at once obtained
a free place at the refectory table, and remained for six years.
He afterwards studied theology for two years at Jena, and
soon after received the appointment in which he became
Bach's teacher, perhaps in music only.12 It is easy to
guess what followed. Sebastian had a fine soprano voice,13
distinguished himself by his zeal and his performance, and
became a favourite with the young cantor. When the ques-
tion arose as to his further progress in life, he recommended
him to the school of the Convent of St. Michael, at Liine-
burg, where his own memory was still green, and where the
name of Bach was already well-known, from two of the most
distinguished of those who had borne it. Indeed, two good
singers must have been needed there at the same time, for
with Sebastian there went thither his friend and contem-
porary Georg Erdmann, also a young Thuringian of musical
gifts, who, in after years, though his own path of life led in a
different direction, never forgot this youthful friendship.14
They set out on their journey about Easter 1700, and
12 Bruckner, p. 88.
13 Mizler, op. cit.
14 I have not been able to discover Erdmann's birthplace. If the parish
register is perfect, he was not born at Ohrdruf. In the Imperial archives at
Moscow, acts referring to him only record that he was a native of Sax-Gotha
nor could I find any account of his parents.
igO JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
entered the chorus of St. Michael's School in April. They
were at once admitted, on their proficiency, into the select
troop of the " matins scholars," and immediately allowed
the second grade salary given to the discantists at that
time.15 Erdmann stands above Bach in the list, whence we
may conclude that he was in a higher class. We see that
they can hardly have gone to Liineburg without some preli-
minary introduction — that they cannot have gone there
merely at a venture. The matins singers formed the
main body of the choir, and must have been supported by
the Convent. Hence exceptional talents and powers were
looked for, and certainly the requirements must have been
something more than merely a fine voice and practice in
part-singing, when choristers were sought out from Central
Germany. Sebastian Bach, at the age of fifteen, would not
have ventured on his first flight into the world merely on the
strength of his soprano voice ; nay, we learn that he soon lost
it in Liineburg, and for a long time could not sing at all.16
But the opportunity was all the more favourable for showing
himself a skilled instrumentalist. When the cantor was re-
hearsing the singing, an accompaniment was needed on the
harpsichord; in performances with concerted accompaniments
the violin was needed, not to mention other opportunities ;
indeed, we know that the St. John's School instituted a special
band of instruments which, at the New Year, marched playing
through the streets, thus finding a source of profit. The
Thuringians had always had a greater gift for this form of
musical art than for singing, and it certainly was in a great
degree, if not altogether, his proficiency as a violinist,
clavier-player, and organist that procured Sebastian his
admission among the matins scholars of St. Michael.
Whether subsequently, when his voice had completely
changed, he became prefect of the choir — since he remained
15 At my request, Professor W. Junghans, of Liineburg, has searched out
much information as to the musical affairs of St. Michael's School from the
archives of the convent, with an amount of care worthy of all gratitude, and
published them, with other details as to the practice of music in Liineburg
itself, in the " Easter programme " of 1870,
* Mizler.
CHOIR AT LUNEBURG. IQ1
three years at Ltineburg — is not known ; but it may be fairly
supposed in that position he had to undertake a certain
share of the duties of direction, and particularly the leading
of the processional singing.
At any rate his outward needs were provided for. Beyond
a doubt he and his companion Erdmann were allowed seats
at the free board of the Convent, like Herda before them, for
this privilege was granted to all the matins scholars, of which
the average number at that time was about fifteen. The
salary was paid monthly, and for the first two months after
Bach's appointment — of which alone the account has been
preserved — it amounted to twelve groschen a month ; the
highest sum to which he could gradually rise was one
thaler a month. If he was able to add to this the office of
accompanist on the harpsichord, this would bring him in an
income of twelve thalers a year. Still the principal revenue
flowed to the whole choir of the college, of which the matins
singers constituted only the nucleus ; it consisted at that time
of from twenty to thirty members, and its income was derived
from the processional singing in the streets, and from
weddings and funeral solemnities. In the year 1700 the
receipts came to 372 marks, of which the cantor, according
to custom, took a sixth part ; the prefect received fifty-six
marks, and the remainder each a share in proportion to his
standing in the choir. As has already been said, the School
of St. John had a choir which was conducted in precisely
the same way, so it may be inferred how strong the feeling
for music must have been in Luneburg at that time. A
certain rivalry, which is easily understood, existed between
the two choirs and certainly bore good fruit, though it had
occasionally given rise to conflicts when, at the season for
processional singing — which was only in the winter half-
year — the choirs came into opposition. For this reason the
streets had long been exactly designated in which, each day,
the choirs were to sing.
The employment of the St. Michael's Choir in the services of
the church was tolerably extensive. An order for the regula-
tion of matins and vespers, of the year 1656, assigns a place
and use to concerted church compositions, as well as to motetts
l()2 JOHANN SEBASTIAN fcACtt.
and hymns in parts, and to anthems or spiritual arias in one
or more parts. On eighteen certain festivals of the ecclesias-
tical year a complete choir and orchestra performed, as well
as on other occasions, not unfrequently by special order.
Thus, in 1656-57, the complete band performed thirty times;
in 1657-58, thirty-four times. On other Sundays and holy-
days a motett at least was performed at morning service,
and at afternoon service an aria with organ accompani-
ment. Indeed, it is evident that the Convent grudged no
means for the maintenance of an efficient choral body, and
for the appointment of noble and worthy church music,
since in the year 1702-3, for instance, it devoted to this
purpose the sum of more than 507 thalers, at that time con-
siderable. The shelves of the musical library were rilled
with an unusual abundance of treasures, and their con-
tents may be seen in the catalogue for the year 1696, still
existing in the archives. Besides the various important
collected works of earlier composers, as the Promptuarium
Musicum of Schadaeus, and Florilegium Portense of Boden-
schatz, the seventeenth century was represented by the most
important published works of all the most esteemed German
masters of that period : Schiitz, Scheidt, Hammerschmidt,
Job. Rud. Able, Briegel, Rosenmiiller, Tob. Michael, Schop,
Jeep, Cruger, Selle, Joh. Krieger, and others. The Cantor,
Friedr. Emanuel Praetorius, alone (1655-1694) acquired
many more than a hundred volumes.17 Besides these there
was a collection of 1,102 sacred pieces, as it would seem
in manuscript only, among which Heinrich Bach and Joh.
Christoph Bach, " Henrici filius" were represented each
by one work. Since Joh. Jakob Low, a native of Eisenach,
was at that time Organist at the Church of St. Nikolaus at
Liineburg, it was probably by his instrumentality that the
North German town became acquainted with the two Thu-
ringian masters ; at any rate it is interesting to learn that
the name of Bach was known there before the advent of
Sebastian. That of Joh. Pachelbel is also to be found.
A few compositions by Georg Ludwig Agricola, the little-
17 Junghans, pp. 26, 28, has given the whole catalogue.
HIS FORCE OF CHARACTER. 193
known Capellmeister of Gotha, who died quite young, may
have been introduced by Herda.18
Thus we see there was ample opportunity for Sebastian
Bach to gather knowledge and experience in the province
of vocal church music. But the whole course of his life
shows that his development was based on instrumental
music, too plainly for us not to suppose that he looked on
the vocal side of his art as less important, and subsidiary to
his training as an instrumental player and composer. To
look for his teacher in these branches would be waste of
trouble ; the only function that any master could fulfil to-
wards this great genius — that of curbing for a time with
a steady hand the sportive and soaring exuberance of early
youth, until it should have found a sure footing — had been
supplied by the traditions and influences of his race. These
afforded Sebastian Bach the discipline which Mozart — his
peer in native genius — derived from the chastening severity
of his watchful father. Thus the young tree grew up, almost
of its own accord, in the direction in which it could best
spread and flourish ; just as a plant turns instinctively to-
wards the sun, so he grew towards the side where he felt
that light and space were awaiting him. When the best1
authorities as to Sebastian's life tell us that he learnt com-
position, for the most part, merely by study and contem-
plation of the best works of the most famous and learned
compositions of the time, and from his own mental assimi-
lation of them, we may not only be assured of the per-
fect accuracy of this observation, but may also extend it to his
technical accomplishment. His eminent executive talent,
when once he had surmounted the preliminary steps, only
required to watch and note the performances of good execu-
tants in order to acquire all that it needed.
The restless industry of genius — which is rather one of'
the forces of nature than an outcome of the prompting of
our moral consciousness — irresistibly urged him forward and
18 Junghans has also printed the catalogue of this second collection, but in
an abridged form, pp. 28, 29. The whole musical library of the Convent of St.
Michael has been dispersed and lost.
O
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
gave him no rest, even at night, from the solution of the
problems he set himself. Hence it is of exceptional im-
portance to our knowledge of his progress that we should
be acquainted both with the persons and the artistic
influences which can be proved, or even supposed, to have
have had a determining effect on it. What the Cantor
and the Organist of St. Michael's Church may have done in
this way — the former was named Augustus Braun and the
latter Christoph Morhardt19 — can now no longer be even
guessed. The musical library contained twenty-four pieces
by Braun, with and without instrumental accompaniment ;
these are lost, nor is any opinion of either of them by a
contemporary to be found. It is equally impossible to state
what sort of organ the church possessed ; it can have been
nothing remarkable, since a new one was constructed in the
second decade of the eighteenth century.20
Low, the organist, to be sure, enjoyed a reputation as an
experienced and thoroughly sound artist. He had cultivated
his talents in Italy and at Vienna, and was a friend of
Heinrich Schiitz, who brought him to Wolfenbuttel as Capell-
Director in i655«21 Bach would certainly not have kept
aloof from this his countryman, particularly if Low, as we
may suppose, had been acquainted with Heinrich and Chris-
toph Bach, although he was now an old man22 and could
hardly have had full sympathy with the stirrings of a young
genius. But I do not know a single note of his compositions,
and cannot venture on any merely general conjecture as to
his artistic influence.
However, a fourth musician exerted a recognisable and
considerable influence over Bach. This was Georg Bohm,
who was also his countryman, and the Organist of St. John's
Church. Goldbach, near Gotha, is mentioned as his native
" Junghans, pp. 35, 39.
ao Niedt, Mus. Handleit. Part II., p. 191.
81 See an interesting letter from Schiitz to the Duchess Sophia Elisabeth,
written on this occasion, and given by Fr. Chrysander, Jahrbiicher fur
musikalische Wissenschaft, I., p. 162. (Leipzig : Breitkopf and Hartel, 1863.)
Compare also pp. 166, 167.
M He was born in 1628, as Junghans reckons, p. 39.
GEORGE BOHM. IQ5
place, and 1661 as the date of his birth.28 He had held
his office from the year 1698, and died at Liineburg at an
advanced age j24 he had previously lived at Hamburg.
This man must have had a special attraction for Bach,
because his method as an organist was nearly allied to
that which Bach was then pursuing. Bohm had en-
deavoured to elevate and expand what he had been able
to learn or to elaborate in Thuringia as an organist, by
knowledge derived from the masters of North Germany.
The bare statement that he had resided in Hamburg would
certainly be an insufficient foundation for this assertion if it
were not clearly proved to be true by his compositions.
The Liineburg organist holds a position between the
organ musicians of Central Germany and those of North
Germany, such as they had become about the middle of
the century; a position which corresponds approximately
to that of his place of residence, lying between the towns
of Thuringia on one hand, and Hamburg, Liibeck, Husum,
Flensburg, &c., the headquarters of the North German
masters. The influence of Sweelinck, the Dutch organist,
had gained deeper ground in this district than in any other
part of Germany ; and a son of the same soil, Johann Adam
Reinken (born at Deventer, April 27, 1623, died as Organist
to St. Katherine's Church at Hamburg, November 24, 1722 *),
had aided materially in extending this influence by his re-
markable talent and unusually long life. Its distinguishing
characteristics are technical neatness, pleasing ingenuity,
and a taste for subtle effects of tone. As compared with the
calm severity and sunny cheerfulness of the organ-style of
the south, we here not unfrequently find a meandering
looseness of form — no composer has written longer arrange-
38 Walther, Mus. Lex., p. 98. The register of Goldbach does not mention
him, but it was not carefully kept. The year of his birth was calculated
by Junghans, p. 39, from data given by Bohm in a document preserved at
Liineburg.
24 Junghans, p. 38, appears to give 1734 as the year of his death. Mattheson,
on the other hand, in his Vollkommene Capellmeister, published 1739, p. 479,
speaks of him as though he were still living.
83 Mattheson, Critica musica, Vol. L, pp. 255, 256.
O 2
196 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
ments of chorales than Reinken, Liibeck, and Buxtehude —
and romantic picturesqueness ; and this contrast still holds
good, in great measure, even under comparison with the
style of Central Germany after it had entered into its
inheritance of the culture of the South. This school was
in great danger of squandering its strength in mere ingenuity
of external elaboration, but its peculiarities could be turned
to account for delightful ornamentation when wielded by
an artist of deep feeling and learning.
Such an artist was Bohm, and a great musical genius
besides. If he had lived at a period when he could have
had the benefit of that deep-reaching transformation in art
which was produced by Pachelbel's appearance in Thuringia,
his compositions would probably have been greater than
those of all his contemporaries. As it was, the man who
was destined to amalgamate the different lines of art, to
collect in one centre all the forces that had come into play in
organ music, was he who, by his receptive and assimilative
powers, now attached himself closely to the elder master.
Bohm seems to have been on friendly relations with the choir
of St. Michael, since we learn that, at the beginning of the
year 1705, the prefect of that choir went to him with certain
members of the St. John's choir, and had with him " much
reasoning concerning music."26 Or was this alliance first
formed by Sebastian Bach, who was possibly prefect until
1703?
Bohm had learned from Reinken, and it was part of
Sebastian's original nature that he could only drink from the
spring-head. Hamburg was no great distance off, and it is
probable that just at this very time his cousin Joh. Ernst
Bach (son of his father's brother, Joh. Christoph Bach
of Arnstadt) was residing in Hamburg for his musical
education.27 A holiday excursion thither may therefore
have seemed advisable from family motives, and as it would
enable him to hear Reinken play, and, perhaps, to make
26 Junghans, p. 40, from a document of February 13, 1705.
tf Joh. Ernst was born in 1683, and it seems unlikely that he should, at his
own cost, undertake such a journey to put the finishing stroke to his education
before he was at least seventeen or eighteen years of age.
REINKEN'S INFLUENCE. 197
his personal acquaintance, Sebastian must soon have
regarded it almost as a necessity. If the idea is a correct
one, that his cousin in Hamburg — who was two years
older than himself — first tempted and led him there, the
liberality with which he gave up, at Arnstadt, a portion of
his salary to Joh. Ernst, then in great necessity, at a time,
too, when he himself had particular need of the money,
points to a striking trait in his character. He had the
grateful spirit which cannot lightly forget a benefit, and
with it the self-respect of independent individuality which
makes it a pleasure and satisfaction to fulfil a duty. His
conduct towards his elder brother was precisely the same.
After he had once made acquaintance with Hamburg he
frequently repeated such excursions, which of course were
always made on foot, and with the most humble means of
subsistence; but he was accustomed at home to the very
simplest mode of living. F. W. Marpurg, who was on the
most intimate terms with the circle of the Bachs, had an
anecdote which Sebastian Bach used to delight in telling
later in life. On one of his journeys to Hamburg all his
money was spent but a few shillings. He had seated him-
self outside an inn hardly half-way on his return journey, and
was meditating on his hard fate while sniffing the delicious
savours proceeding from the kitchen, when a window was
opened with a clatter, and two herrings' heads were flung out.
The hungry lad picked them up, and found in each a Danish
ducat. This unexpected wealth enabled him not only to
satisfy his hunger, but to make another expedition to see
Reinken. The identity of his benefactor, however, was
never known to him.28
Reinken's compositions have become very few and rare.
The only one he published is a volume of Suites for two violins,
viola, and continuo, entitled Hortus musicus. I shall presently
adduce evidence that Bach knew this well and valued it
highly. For the present this is not important.29 Only five
28 Simon Metaphrastes, Legende einiger Musik-heiligen ; Colin am Rhein,
1786, p. 74.
39 Mattheson, Ehrenpforte, p. 517.
198 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
more compositions by him in all, for organ or clavier, can be
mentioned as extant ; but it is probable that these have come
to us in a direct line from Sebastian Bach' s music shelves, thus
confirming the exactitude of the remark in the Necrology,
that Bach went to Reinken for his models among others. A
chorale arrangement of " Es ist gewisslich an der Zeit (Was
kann uns kommen an fur Noth)" — " It certainly is now the
time," — for two manuals and pedal, in G major, common time,
contains no less than 232 bars. Every separate line is richly
worked out in the form of the motett, some quite simply, some
with elaborate ornamentation; the independent interludes,
however, are but meagre. The composition is full of flow ;
changes of time — which were much in favour with most oi
these masters — are here disdained; the two manuals cross
each other in a masterly and very delightful way.80 The
organ chorale on "An Wasserflussen Babylon" — "By the
waters of Babylon," — even extends to 335 bars, in F major,
common time. This attained a certain celebrity from an
incident in Bach's after life, but it fully merits it on its own
account. The plan and character are the same; single lines
are frequently treated as supplying distinct themes for
counterpoint, but this does not give rise to a rule for the
treatment of every line. The North German masters rather
looked for the development of grand combinations and various
complicated figures in the widest possible framework, and it
was on this that their peculiar form of organ chorale was
founded.81
Very remarkable, too, is a toccata in G major, common
time. The Northern masters had also worked out a
special form for great independent organ pieces. They
began with a prelude full of brilliant passages. After it they
brought in a fugue, then introduced an ornate intermezzo,
and finally returned to the theme, now altered both in rhythm
M This is to be found in a book among the papers left by Joh. Ludw. Krebs,
Sebastian Bach's most distinguished scholar. This volume, after passing
through the hands of two organists of Altenburg, is now in the possession of
Herr F. A. Roitzsch, musician, of Leipzig.
81 This composition exists in MS. in the Library of the Royal Inst. fur Church
Music at Berlin.
REINKEN'S COMPOSITIONS. tgg
and melodic form, using it for a fresh fugue which closed the
whole, and which sometimes had appended to it a showy
running passage. Reinken's toccata is precisely after this
pattern, and it is particularly interesting for this reason —
that we possess a work by Bach formed strictly on this
model, which we shall presently consider more in detail,
with certain similar works by Buxtehude. But it may at
once be said that none of those masters were usually very
happy in their invention of themes for fugues. Their ideas
certainly appear to flow more spontaneously than those of
the southern composers, but they are not melodious, not
expressive, not graceful enough. The reason, no doubt, is
that this school of composers gave but a one-sided attention to
the chorale, and did not go into it thoroughly, so that the com-
plete beauty of true melody was never fully revealed to them.
How to combine the greatest brilliancy of ornamentation with
the noblest flights of melody was not yet known. Sebastian
Bach was destined to show it. All these general reflections
apply to Reinken's toccata. It is nowhere grandly con-
ceived, but it is full of grace and felicitous ease, par-
ticularly the second half. The same must be said with
reference to the two pieces with variations that remain by
this master, which, in fertility and variety of figures, are
superior to the variations by Joh. Christoph Bach previously
spoken of, coming very near them in their spirit, and testi-
fying to a very considerable amount of technical execution.82
One is founded on a merry air, " Schweiget mir vom Wei-
bernehmen" (altrimenti chiamata : La Meyerin, as the MS.
adds) — " Speak not to me of marrying," — and has eight
partitas.88 The other set are ten variations on a " ballet."
This serves to remind us that at that time German opera
M They are preserved with the toccata in a book which belonged to Andreas
Bach, of Ohrdruf, Sebastian's nephew, and which certainly came to him from
his brother, who lived for some time in Sebastian's house. It belonged more
recently to C. F. Becker, who bequeathed it with his whole library to the town
of Leipzig.
88 The " Meyerin " must have been a well-known air. Froberger also com-
posed a series of elegant variations on it, which are included in a collection of
toccatas, fantasias, canzone, &c., dedicated by the composer to the Emperor
Ferdinand III., at Vienna, September 29, 1649.
20O JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
was flourishing greatly at Hamburg, and that the easy-living
Reinken was one of those who, in 1678, had set this under-
taking going.84 But the opportunity which, some little time
later, seemed to Handel the best fitted for the development
of his very different projects and ideas, was passed over with
indifference by Sebastian Bach. Handel was in Hamburg
from 1703 to 1706 ; Bach probably visited it for the last time
in 1703. The two great geniuses came then and there into
closer contiguity than at any other stage of their career.
Even Reinken's personal influence could not affect Bach,
even if the great difference in their ages had allowed him
to regard him with anything but youthful admiration: but
more of this when, twenty years later, we shall find Bach,
at the climax of his artistic career, meeting for the last
time with Reinken, then nearly a hundred years old.
However, it was not from him alone that he could learn in
Hamburg. From the year 1702 Vincentius Liibeck had been
working there as Organist to the Church of St. Nikolaus.
He was born in 1654, and had previously been employed at
Stade ; he likewise was a disciple of Reinken's, and an
admirable master in his line. The same source which sup-
plies us with the above-mentioned chorale arrangement by
Reinken also contains others by Lubeck — " Ich ruf zu dir,
Herr Jesu Christ " for two manuals and pedal, E minor, 275
bars ; " Nun lasst uns Gott dem Herren," also for two
manuals and pedal ; moreover, a grand prelude with a fugue,
D minor, 174 bars, exhibiting great technical skill, particu-
larly in the prelude.85 So we may surely accept this as a
token that Bach did not neglect this opportunity of improving
his knowledge and skill.
The statement of the Necrology, that he took as models
certain distinguished French composers for the organ,
besides the principal North German organists,86 will serve as
84 Mattheson, Der musikalische Patriot.
85 Both these pieces are to be found in another organ-book formerly belong-
ing to Krebs, and now to Herr Roitzsch.
86 Musikalische Bibliothek, p. 162. Here certainly it is said with reference to
Bach's studies at Arnstadt, where he fed upon the store he had laid up during
his stay at Liineburg.
STRUNGK, OF CELLE. 2OI
my excuse if, instead of returning at once to Bohm, at Liine-
burg, I first follow the indefatigable Sebastian in his journeys
to another centre of art, which he repeatedly visited as well
as Luneburg. At the Ducal Court of Celle the instrumental
dance-music of the French had been in great favour ever
since the middle of the seventeenth century, and in
choosing the members of the band great weight was attached
to their being all able, when required, to play this sort
of music.87 Without doubt French clavier-music was also
held in preference there. It had indeed many advantages
over the German, and must always have been regarded
as a model for its elegance and grace. One of the few
important musicians who were born in Germany in the
fourth and fifth decades of the seventeenth century was a
native of Celle, Nikolaus Adam Strungk, born 1640, who
was prominent as a composer and player on the organ
and violin. He was installed at the Court of Celle in
1661, with a salary of 220 thalers. From 1678 to 1683
he directed and composed operas at Hamburg, then held
the post of Capellmeister in various places — last at
Dresden — and died at Leipzig in ijoo.88 If we had a
more complete knowledge of the skilled musicians who
figured at Celle between the years 1700 and 1703, it would,
no doubt, appear that Bach had some personal acquaintance
or connections there, which made a temporary residence
there profitable to him. For when we are told that by
frequently hearing the Celle band — at that time very famous
87 An estimate of what " pertains to a rightly constituted band," of the year
1663, exists in the Provinzial-Archiv at Hanover, and runs as follows :
" i. Director musices ; 2. An alto ; 3. A tenor; 4. A bass, who all three could
at the same time play the violin in French music ; 5. Two violists, prepared
both in ordinary and French music, which we have already ; 6. A player on the
viol di gamba, which also we have ; 7. An organist, which likewise we have ;
8. A trombonist orfagottist, who can also sing a part and use the violin in ordinary
and in French music ; 9. A cornetist who can play a violin in French music ;
10. Two choir-boys; u. A blower; in all thirteen persons." All information
is unfortunately wanting as to the time of Duke Georg Wilhelm down to
1705, when the line became extinct.
88 His compositions for the organ seem to have remained hitherto unknown.
I possess an elaborate and very beautiful arrangement by him of the chorale,
" Ich dank dir schon durch deinen Sohn."
202 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
— he had an opportunity of making himself familiar with the
French style,89 this can only have been possible if some
acquaintance procured him admission to the rehearsals, for
the band never played in public. The only name, how-
ever, which has come to light is that of the city organist
at the time, Arnold Melchior Brunckhorst, from whose
musical efforts and relations to the world of art nothing was
to be gained. The presumption is strong that it was the first
opportunity that was offered to Bach for acquiring a more
thorough knowledge of French music; and that his desire
for knowledge should have chiefly included clavier music is
probable, both from his own tendencies and from the con-
dition of French orchestral music at that time. Thus the
interest which he actually brought to bear on French com-
posers for the clavier, may be, for the most part, referred to
the impulse received at this period. A Suite in A major, by
N. Grigny, Organist to the Cathedral at Rheims, about
1700, and a similar composition in F minor, by Dieupart,
he copied out with his own hand.40 In collections of selected
works, such as were made later by Bach's pupils, we find,
side by side with numerous works by their master, pieces by
Marchand, Nivers, Anglebert, Dieupart, Clairembault, and
others, a proof that Bach directed them to such works. He
was, indeed, certainly familiar with the works of Fran9ois
Couperin, the most important of those composers.41 It can-
not, however, be overlooked that even Bohm was more than
merely superficially touched by the influence of the French,
M Musikalische Bibliothek. It is evident, from what has been said above,
that the statement that the French style was at that time something new in
that neighbourhood, is incorrect in so wide a sense.
40 The autograph was formerly in the possession of Aloys Fuchs, at Vienna;
where it is now is not known. A copy from the autograph, with a superscrip-
tion by Fuchs, is in the Royal Library at Berlin. Both Suites alike consisted
oi the following parts: overture, allemande, courante, saraband, gavotte, minuet,
gigue. Appended is a list of twenty-nine different ornaments, with directions for
performing them. So long as the autograph does not come to light it will be
impossible to say whether it was written at the time of Bach's residence at
Liineburg or later.
41 Forkel. p. 15, ed. i. This deserves all the more acceptance, since he
undoubtedly must have had decisive and complete information on this point
from Ph. Em. Bach.
BOHM'S COMPOSITIONS. 203
as is proved more particularly by his love for ornate embel-
lishments and florid treatment of melodic passages; and if
he did not precisely arouse Bach's desire to make acquaint-
ance with French music, he no doubt must have strength-
ened it. It is no longer possible to point out any direct
effects of that foreign style in Bach's mode of composition,
but only, perhaps, because the pieces that might illustrate
it no longer exist; for the so-called " French Suites," works
of Bach's age of ripest mastery, have no right to the epithet
in this sense. Perhaps, however, and this is more likely,
such amalgamation as was possible of the German element
with the French had already been accomplished in all its
essentials, in the individuality of Bohm himself as an artist,
so that Bach chiefly imbibed the French element through
this medium.
But in order to do justice to Bach's relations to Bohm in
particular, it will be necessary to throw a clear light on
Bohm's artistic efforts, and on his style in his different
compositions. What I have been able by degrees to collect
of these consists of three clavier Suites, an overture (and
Suite), a prelude with a fugue — these two also for the
clavier — and eighteen arrangements of chorales, of which
a large proportion are worked out in partitas, besides
an air in four parts, " Jesu, theure Gnadensonne" — " Jesu,
living Sun of grace," — a New Year's hymn, no doubt written
for the procession choir of St. John's.42 These only suffice
to give us a very small idea of his style of writing, and it is
much to be regretted that nothing more has been preserved
of the works of so remarkable and admirable a composer.
His strength lay rather in composing for the clavier than for
the organ, as is not difficult to understand from the ex-
tensive influence that was exercised over him, not only by
the North German composers, but also by the French. This
applies equally to his chorale arrangements, even though he
may have intended all, or at any rate most of them, for the
42 Winterfeld, Ev. Kir., II., p. 502, informs us that melodies by Bohm
occur in an edition of Elmenhorst's hymns, published about 1700. I have not
met with this edition.
204 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
organ, and have performed them on it himself. The limit
line between these two instruments seems to have been still
ill-defined, even by the composers at the end of the seven-
teenth century. In estimating those intimate reciprocal
relations which the Form and the Idea must bear to each
other in every work of art, we cannot but attribute to Bbhm's
chorales a disproportionately smaller measure of ideality than
to those of Pachelbel. That master set himself the task of
giving an artistic presentment of the chorale with all its signi-
ficance in the Protestant worship, and in all its bearings
to the subjective sentiment of the individual worshipper.
Bohm's endeavour was to elaborate from the chorale, and on
it, as a basis, pleasing and various forms of tone in which
we can at most detect the general fundamental feeling
of the chorale. It is tolerably clear from his works that
he was very well acquainted with Pachelbel's method, and
availed himself of it : but he did not follow in his footsteps ;
his genius was far too individual. The melody " Vater
unser im Himmelreich " — " Our Father which art in heaven,"
— he does once begin to treat just in the manner we are
accustomed to in Pachelbel. The first line is fugal, and then,
in conclusion, is transferred entirely and emphatically to the
pedal, not, indeed, in augmentation, but still with sufficient
stress. But in the second line Bohm himself appears with
his own characteristics; the theme for the ensuing fugue
does not appear in its simple form —
but modified by a break in the time, by connecting semi-
quavers and dotted accentuation and grace notes —
f
1 H p
f^
^^
*— ^
iss
In the course of the piece these fancies gain the upper
hand, leading further and further from the original subject.
The lines of the chorale, which ought to appear as the aim
and crown of each phrase of elaboration, are more and more
thrown into the shade, and only saunter in, as it were, un-
COMPARED WITH BUXTEHUDE. 205
supported in the pedal ; nay, in the last line but one, the
chorale seems caught up in the general hurry, and must
submit to be spun out by about six notes. Thus a motley
and fantastic picture is composed, which is not fully justified
either as an organ piece or as a chorale arrangement, but
which, nevertheless, is decidedly attractive from its ingenuity,
its distinctive and truly musical stamp, and the elegance and
skill of the interweaving of the parts. Another time Bohm
pitches on the melody " Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Ehr" —
" Honour to God alone most High," — sets the first line in
opposition to a beautiful cantabile counter-subject, and
works both out in a really masterly double fugue. We
here begin to think that no more is coming, or else that
a brilliant treatment in Pachelbel's manner of the whole
chorale will crown the work. No such thing. The second
line follows the fugue in its simplest guise ; then the
whole is repeated from the beginning, as though it were the
unadorned melody, and the remainder is carried out with
equal simplicity. It is a statue with the head and arms
finely chiselled and the rest of it left in the block.
But in setting a counter-theme to a line of a chorale, Bohm
may join hands with Buxtehude, and in such arrangements he
holds a place between the two masters ; above them we cannot
say, for the reasons given. Buxtehude, who stands far below
Pachelbel as regards a profound grasp of the chorale and in
calm beauty, still is his superior in ingenuity of combinations
and alluring harmony. There is a chorale arrangement by
Bohm on "Christ lag in Todesbanden," which is so com-
pletely in the style of Buxtehude's work, that one might feel
inclined to assert that it must be ascribed to him, if the
versatility of Bohm's talent were not set in the balance.48
The essence of this style consists in the motett-like treat-
ment, already spoken of, of the single lines of the chorale, in
43 Such a mistake might easily have occurred, since the names of the organists
above the compositions are often indicated merely by their initials, and " G. B."
(Georg Bohm) might very well have been written for " D. B." (Dietrich Buxte-
hude). An old MS. copy of Pachelbel's chorale " Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem
Wort " (Commer, No. 134), lies before me, signed with " G. B.," but I regard
it as attributable to Buxtehude.
2C>6 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
which Buxtehude was particularly fond of changes of time,
rhythmical modifications of the theme, and independent
counter-subjects. More will be said on this matter in its
proper place. The most singular mixture of his own
methods of procedure with those of others occurs in Bohm's
treatment of " Nun bitten wir den heilgen Geist," in which
the manner of Pachelbel and Buxtehude appears side by side
with Bohm's own. This — in which he also wrote whole
organ chorales, and, as he believed, could most freely reveal
his own nature — consists in this : that each separate line is
not worked out polyphonically, but is thematically exhausted
by the disseverance of its principal melodic ideas, and by
their repetition, dissection, modification, and various recom-
bination. Thus an ingenious brain could display its utmost
inventiveness in transforming and modifying a musical
thought, in nimble fancies, and graceful ornamentation.
Nor was he bound as in variations strictly speaking, by
the harmonic and rhythmical conditions of the theme, but
could create new proportions and phrases, building up a
composition all his own, and finding in it opportunities for
contrapuntal elaboration. He must have been the first com-
poser who availed himself in instrumental music of that
development of the melodic constituents of a subject — using
them as independent themes and motives to form the
component elements of a tone structure on a larger scale—
which played a principal part in the musical art of Beet-
hoven's time. In the motett, no doubt, as we have already
seen, similar metamorphoses had been effected with the
chorale which, however, had necessarily acquired a quite
different aspect, from the difference of the materials em-
ployed. If we may speak of Pachelbel's and of Buxtehude's
type of chorale, we certainly may also speak of Bohm's.
Bohm must be regarded, if not as the inventor of the
principle (since Frescobaldi, the Italian composer, had
already practised the art of making one musical idea gene-
rate a second), still as the composer who first applied it to
the chorale. He did, in fact, create a new musical form;
and this achievement, of which none but a genuinely fine
talent is capable, assures him a place in the history of art.
BOHM'S TREATMENT OF CHORALES.
207
He also treated the form he had devised with much wealth
and subtlety of invention. Thus, in his six partitas on
" Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend " — " Lord Jesu, turn
Thy face to us," — he constructs the following figure in the
first of them, on the initial line : —
CHORALE.
u T' h w i h J ^
s
rT. "™"
?_J _ 1 ^ . m — d-z i_cJ -_j
=f=*
^
i
p*
3S
^^
In the third line he begins it as follows
k
=
/
>ed. 1
— — - — ~ — b* r ^ — j2=_^jg — [
J J. -
J> J __ J J.-
i^-^N
F- , J
~lp -
The next line is highly coloured, the passages flying up
and down from c' to c'" most gracefully, but in almost wanton
208 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
sportiveness ; the third line again affords a parallel to the
first, though worked out quite differently, and the fourth
rolls on to the end in rich and vivid colouring, only pausing
once, in the middle. The harmony throughout is as simple
as in the first line. And there is another mannerism which
Bohm so frequently combines with this mode of treatment
that it may be regarded as an expression of his personal
idiosyncrasy, quite peculiar to him. He constructs an
ornate series of notes, forming two or three bars, to in-
troduce the piece, usually in the bass, and then repeats
the whole or portions of it as often as is feasible between
the lines, using it even as counterpoint to them, and allow-
ing it to reappear once more solo at the close. An example
may here be given of such a " basso quasi ostinato" from
another arrangement of " Vater unser im Himmelreich," as
illustrating the process and as a basis for further remarks : —
This is followed by the three first notes of the melody,
interwoven with ornaments in his fashion ; then the
bass comes in alone, and it is not till then that the real
treatment begins, into which fragmentary motives from the
melody are thrown as occasion serves. Then, under cover
of the long final note of the melody, he once more makes a
diversion, and, as it were, closes the door. In the course of
this proceeding we are so vividly reminded of certain tutti
subjects in Italian instrumental concertos that it is doubtful
whether a direct imitation was not intended. In one instance
the ornate passage lies in the upper part ; the melody of
"Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir" — "I cried to Thee in
direst need,"— »is pitched in the tenor, and then, worked out
as a motive, it is carried on in the Oberwerk by the left hand
alone — a device that could only have been hit upon by a
remarkably clever head. What he produced, with this
natural bent in the way of chorale variations, may easily be
imagined ; in fact, his fancy was inexhaustible in novel
transformations and new clothing of the melody. He
delighted in such labours, but it is true that the chorale
BOHM'S SUITES. 209
sank to the level of any ordinary secular air. That he
always worked for the harpsichord rather than for the organ
is shown by the fulness of the harmonies which he added to
those simple chorales which commonly preface his partitas ;
so that the progression of the parts is undistinguishable, and
chords of five, six, and seven parts follow in succession.
But Bohm could make much more use of the productions
of the French school in independent clavier music than in
the treatment of chorales. In fact, he assimilated its
complete grace without falling into French floridness and
coquetry, though he certainly often leans to these defects.
On the other hand he far surpasses those masters in the
richness of his harmonies and the expressiveness of his ideas.
His Suites (in E flat major, C minor, A minor, and D major)
are beyond question the best which I am acquainted with
of the time before Sebastian Bach. One of these, that in
D major, is preceded by an overture in the French form,
and if the statement is well grounded, that Pachelbel was
the first to transfer this to the clavier, we must regard
Bohm as following his example. But, considering the much
smaller connection which Pachelbel must have had with the
French composers, we might almost imagine the reverse to be
the truth. It is quite certain that the clavier was more Bohm's
instrument, and the organ Pachelbel's ; and though Pachel-
bel left Bohm far behind him in the chorale, still the Nurem-
berg master wrote hardly anything that can compare with the
prelude and fugue in G minor of the Luneburg composer.
I have postponed the mention of this work to the last
because in it Bohm's originality is most clearly and con-
vincingly shown. In the first place, as to the whole form of
the piece — which deviates completely from anything we have
yet known, and yet finds complete justification as a work of
art that has grown from and round the musical idea — we
have a prelude in 3-2 time with arpeggio chords that sway
up and down ; after a short connecting adagio a fugue
worked out at great length ; finally, sotto voce and arpeggiato,
an independent closing subject, of which the semiquavei
movement slowly calms down to adagio ; and withal a mood
so deep, so purely melancholy — a dreaming and revelling in
P
210 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
keenly sweet harmonies, such as is possible to the German
nature alone, and yet, in the fugue especially, a grace such as
at that time belonged only to the French, pervade this very
lovely piece, which would of itself suffice to set its composer
in the rank of the greatest creative talent of his day. We
feel in it, in germ and in bud, something which could only open
to its intoxicating bloom and perfume in the hands of Sebastian
Bach. Those two preludes of the Wohltemperirte Clavier
(C major, Part I. ; C sharp major, Part II.), which seem to
have hardly any movement except in the harmonies, and yet
ebb and flow with such restful pathos, and others like them
have, in the beginning and end of Bohm's composition,
if not their only precursor, at any rate, so far as I know, the
only worthy one. It is significant that it was directly from
the family of Sebastian Bach that this piece and the four
Suites have come down to the present day.44 And these
Suites, in the same way, form the stepping-stone to those of
Bach, in which the light and airy fancies of the French
writers are ennobled to forms of undreamed-of beauty.
Many details of striking similarity show how highly the
great master valued them ; less, perhaps, because they had
afforded him an indispensable fulcrum for his own produc-
tions than because he felt himself in close affinity to his
fellow-countryman, both in their natures and in the character
of their training. When he produced the works we are
speaking of he was far beyond the need of borrowing
from another; but he must all the more have felt him-
self drawn to Bohm in his youth, when he craved
direction and instruction. In Bach's later life their innate
resemblance was conspicuous in the department where
Bohm was destined to do his best work. As a youth he
imitated him in a branch of music in which, as a man, his
detp religious bent led him to adopt very different forms —
the organ chorale.
There are among Bach's works a few chorale partitas. An
expert in such matters at once detects that they are early
attempts. It has been supposed that they were composed
*« They are in the MS. previously mentioned as Andreas Bach's.
BACH'S CHORALE PARTITAS. 211
in Arnstadt. I have not the smallest doubt that they were
written at Liineburg, or at least under the direct influence
of Bohm. One series is based on the melody " Christ, der
du bist der helle Tag"— " Christ, Thou that art the star
of day,"— the other on " O Gott, du frommer Gott "— " O God,
Thou righteous God." ** Here, in fact, there is an agreement
of style such as never recurs, in spite of the various
influences from other quarters that can be proved to have
acted on Bach. Without knowing a note of Bohm's writing
we might, from these variations, become acquainted with his
chorale style, if Sebastian's bright eye did not sparkle now
and then through the mask, and if a certain heaviness were
not perceptible in its bearing. Bohm neyer harmonised a
chorale melody so solidly — almost clumsily — as his imitator
has done ; as, for instance, the first and fifth notes of the
initial line of the first chorale, which fall on the unaccented
part of the bar, are weighted with a massive six-part harmony
while between these notes it is in four parts. This, and much
else, has under any circumstances a bad effect and is taste-
less, even if it is supposed to be played on the harpsichord.
But in general we can but wonder at the astonishing power of
assimilation which deals with the contradictory forms origi-
nating in his own mind, and in that of others, with as much
facility as if they were all spontaneous. Such a phenomenon
in a man whose individuality afterwards stood forth in the
48 These are published in the collected edition of Bach's instrumental works
brought out by C. F. Peters, Series VM Cah. 5 (Vol. 244), Part II., Nos. i and 2
(quoting from the thematic catalogue of 1867). A third group of partitas on the
chorale " Herr Christ, der ein'ge Gottssohn " — " Lord Christ, God's only Son " —
is to be found with many other of Bach's chorales in a volume formerly
belonging to Joh. Ludw. Krebs, now in the possession of Herr Roitzsch of
Leipzig ; it is not yet published. Bach's name is not expressly given. I never-
theless regard him as the author of these seven partitas, which must have been
composed about the same time as the others. That they w^-e written by Bach
at Arnstadt is a mere arbitrary guess of Forkel's (see p. 60 of the first edition),
who possessed them merely in an old MS. copy. No autograph of them has
as yet come to light. An old MS., containing partitas on " Ach, was soil ich
Sunder machen," and bearing the name of Seb. Bach, was, at my suggestion,
bought some years since for the Royal Library at Berlin. There is no reason
to doubt their genuineness, but their character is so similar to that of the other
two partita works that I cannot think it necessary to describe them in detail.
P 2
212 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
strongest conceivable contrast to his time, rising before us
as if hewn out of rock, could only be possible during extreme
youth. Still, it affords us a standard for estimating the way
in which Bach trained himself, and absorbed into himself
everything of value that he met with on his way. This
mode of energy can be traced in his life, at least up to
the middle of his twentieth year. The reader is in a position
to compare for himself after reading the foregoing account of
Bdhm's mode of treatment. He will at once find, in the
second partita of each series, the most striking parallel to
that spinning out of the motives of which Bohm must be
considered the inventor. A highly remarkable thematic
development appears in the four first notes of the fourth line
of the first chorale —
which is worked upon through seven bars in Beethoven's
manner, and in the same way in the other variations also.
Bohm's other characteristics are also to be found in this
work of Bach's. The chorale opens simply, in the way
which he so often affects, but soon is played round in
various ways, returning, however, again and again to
certain fundamental figures ; then it is wholly dispersed in
running passages in the manner of clavier variations; the
lines are brought in, one in the upper part and another in
the lower, different principles being mixed in their treat-
ment; changes of time are introduced, after the model of
the northern masters, and various effects of sound by means
of changes of the manuals — all this we find here, though in
the riper works of the great master it all disappeared again,
almost to the last trace, so far as outward form was con-
cerned. But a single instance will suffice to show the way in
which these influences continued to affect his mental bias.
Together with*these characteristics of Bohm, Bach had also
acquired the use of the basso ostinato, just now mentioned. We
need only look at the beginning of the second partita on
" O Gott, du frommer Gott"—
(Left hand only.)
BACH'S CHORALE PARTITAS. 213
of which it may be said, incidentally, that only the four first
notes of the melody are to be heard, then the bass is repeated,
and not till then does the whole line come in, exactly
as in the chorale by Bohm, previously quoted. We never
again meet with this form in any of his later master-
pieces. But if we study the magnificent work on " Wir
glauben all an einen Gott," which appeared nearly forty years
after in the third part of the Clavieriibung (Vol. I.),46 we
find an independent bass, having no internal connection
with the melody, repeated six times in the course of the
piece after proper pauses. Here is the highest development
and glorification of this particular form, and it must be con-
sidered as an inestimable evidence of the constant progress
and unity of Bach's mental growth. He never even entered
on any path which he subsequently was forced to admit was
a wrong one, and to quit or return. The young sapling
never struck root in barren pebbles or unyielding rock. The
forces he drank in from every source permeated him with
vigour so long as he continued to create.
As I have said, however, these partitas are not to be
attributed to mere imitativeness. More than once the
player feels himself touched by the characteristic spirit of
Bach, of which the intensity and glow can always be at
once recognised by any one who has once truly felt them.
Such passages are more easy to detect by their direct effect
than to describe circumstantially in words ; still, not to deal
merely with generalities, I would direct attention to the last
partita of the first series, and to the eighth of the second,
with their ingeniously worked-out chromatic motives.
Throughout, indeed, in spite of their reliance on an outside
model, these chorale variations bear witness to a quite extra-
ordinary talent. They are by a youth of sixteen or seven-
teen, and what natural beauty they display ! what freedom,
nay, mastery of the combination of parts ! not a trace of the
vacillating beginner feeling his way. He goes forward on his
road with instinctive certainty; and though here and there a
detail may displease us, the grand whole shows the born artist.
*• B.-G., III., p. 212 (1853). P., S. V., Cah. 7 (Vol. 246), No. 60.
214 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
The fitness for the clavier which we find in these partitas
renders the absence of an obbligato pedal part, nay, of a
pedal at all, less conspicuous. We certainly find in the last
partita in " Christ, der du bist der helle Tag," a pedal-
part marked ad libitum; but this mars the beauty of the
piece, at least if it is played so on the organ. The pedal of
a harpsichord has less duration of sound, and would not so
much conceal the succession of semiquavers in the left hand.
In fact, in a whole series of Bach's compositions, we find
the pedal is only introduced very incidentally, while they
are, on the whole, performed only manualiter. This mode
of procedure always indicates an early origin, for at
the height of his powers Bach allowed himself no such
neglect of means of effect. Still, we shall presently be able
to point out further and more subtle distinctions in this
indication.
Here it only may serve to introduce another work of Bach's
which is equally penetrated through and through by Bohm's
method, and which must have been written at the same time
as the partitas. This is the organ chorale, " Christ lag in
Todesbanden," set for two manuals.47 Again, the left hand
alone begins with the frequently mentioned bass passage ;
the melody is then played on the Hauptwerk with more power-
ful stops, and extended in the first four lines by almost
too elaborate ornamentation. The introductory bass passage
serves as material for both interludes and counterpoint to the
first two lines. For the two next the harmonies are indepen-
dent, and the interlude to each composed after Pachelbel's
manner ; then the treatment becomes more and more unfet-
tered and fantastic, quite in Bohm's taste. From time to time
the semiquaver movement gives way to triplets of quavers ;
then motives are thrown in on both manuals. We can no
longer tell whether the subject is in two, three, or four parts till
the last line appears, repeated three times in different places,
and closing in calm chorale beats. The relative merit of this
composition, which consists of seventy-seven bars, is much less
than that of the partitas, where it is true the variation form
" P., S. V., C. 6 (Vol. 245), No. 15.
COMPOSED FOR THE HARPSICHORD. 215
forbids those wholly unlimited amplifications which indeed
form too glaring a contrast to the essence of the chorale, in
spite of the cleverness which Bohm and Bach may have ex-
pended on them. But its purely technical interest is greater,
both on account of the extraordinary skill and facility which
predominate in it, and for the degree of executive agility
which it presupposes. The pedal comes in only in the last
seven bars — first, to bring out the last line of the melody, and
then to hold a few fundamental notes. It is self-evident that
a peculiar closing effect is intended to be produced. Indeed,
it is tolerably manifest, from one single note, that the com-
position is intended for a harpsichord and not for an actual
organ. In the final bar the right hand crosses the left at
the last crotchet, and strikes the low E, although the pedal
has been holding the same note all through the bar. On the
organ this would be aimless, but on the harpsichord the note
would have already died out before the fourth crotchet, and
as it was indispensable to support the closing chord by a
repetition of it, this is effected by the right hand. Generally
composers may have attempted to represent the organ pedal
on this instrument by a repetition of the note, and have
contented themselves with this ineffectual suggestion of their
intention, for it could only serve at a pinch in the place of
the organ pedal. And we, in our treatment of the pianoforte,
must still supply by imagination a great deal which is quite
beyond its powers of presenting. The inference to be drawn
from this is that Liineburg is most likely the birthplace of
this arrangement. Bach had then no organ at his absolute
disposal, and if he desired to hear and perform his own pro-
ductions without hindrance, and complete, he was obliged
to compose for the clavichord or harpsichord.
It will easily be understood that he as yet made no par-
ticular distinction between the organ and the harpsichord as
a medium for his musical thoughts. It is certainly true
that the two instruments have much in common, but when
it is desired to bring out sequences of long-drawn sostenuto
notes the harpsichord fails ; on the other hand, in frequent
repetitions of the same chord, the flowing character of the
organ, which allows of no staccato, is done violence to.
2l6
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
This last consideration, at any rate, Bach did not always
duly regard, and in this Bohm was not a good model ; for,
unscrupulous as writers might be at that time as to the
demarcations of various styles, there still was a certain
limit-line which Bohm recklessly overstepped. There is a
third arrangement of the chorale "Vater unser im Himmel-
reich," by his hand, which would certainly be taken for a
clavier piece were it not for the express instructions " Riick-
positiv. Oberwerk piano, Pedal forte" The part which
delivers the melody is overloaded with ornament ; the accom-
paniment, for the most part, repeats the same chord again
and again, is very rarely tied, and generally proceeds in this
rhythm—
For example, the pedal begins as follows : —
To this Bach composed a pendant which, from its whole
character, can only owe its existence to Bohm's influence,
and which is so remarkable that the beginning at least must
be inserted here : —
Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott. — " Have mercy on me, Lord my God."
Faulty as this is in style, we still cannot fail to discern in it
great power of harmony and a deep sympathy with the
feeling of the hymn — note particularly bar six : and the whole
piece bears the same stamp, though certain harsh harmonies
undoubtedly occur.48
48 This composition, published in B.-G., Vol. . . . , is to be found in Krebs'
Ore;an-Book, which also contains Reinken's chorale " Es ist gewisslich an der
Zeit."
BACH'S CLASSICAL LEARNING. 217
It is almost self-evident that the close artistic affinity
between the mature and the rising composers must have
been supplemented by friendly external relations. Hence
we are justified in supposing that Bohm did not hinder Bach
from using the organ in St. John's Church, and possibly he
may have tried his youthful powers more often on that than
on the organ in St. Michael's. Unfortunately it would seem
to have been even worse than the latter, for it was replaced
by a new one so early as 1705 ,49 Thus even in Liineburg
the ill-luck began which pursued the greatest of German
organists all his life through ; for he had always to do the
best he could with small or bad organs, and never had a
really fine instrument at his command for any length of time.
This is all that it is possible to learn as to the musical
features of Bach's three years' residence in Liineburg.
Without supposing any intentional negligence on his part,
his general studies must have fallen more and more into the
background as compared with music. It was to music
that he already owed his means of existence, and I have
before mentioned how frequently his duties as a choir
pupil encroached on his time as an academy pupil, a fact
which can be established by other examples at that time.
Added to this were the opportunities of employment which
a lad of musical acquirements might otherwise find and,
under pressure of necessity, make the best of. The subjects
of instruction in St. Michael's School did not differ from those
in the Ohrdruf Academy. In the first class, to which we may
suppose Sebastian to have advanced by degrees, the cycle of
Latin authors that were read was rather more extended. We
find mention of selected odes of Horace, Virgil's Mneid,
Terence, Curtius, and Cicero, with speeches, epistles,
and philosophic essays. But besides the necessary Latin
exercises, oral and written, Greek also was taught out of
the New Testament, religion, logic, and arithmetic — at
any rate in the year 1695, and there is no reason for
supposing that things were different from 1700 to 1703 .60
49 Gerber, N. L., I., under the word " Dropa."
«° Junghans, op. cit., pp. 40. 41.
2l8 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
If the scholars wished to acquire knowledge on other
subjects they might obtain it from the tutors of the
institution, of course for an honorarium ; but those who
had to earn the means of keeping themselves there can
hardly have had much to spend on this object. We may,
however, assume that Bach, when he quitted Liineburg,
must have completed at least a two years' course in the
first class, for he was eighteen years old, and the university
course was usually entered upon at an earlier age then than
now. That he did not go to the university — though Handel,
Telemann, Stolzel, and so many of his favourite cousins did
— there might be strong external reasons for supposing ; but
it is not so as regards internal reasons ; for musical studies
were more compatible with a course of learning at the
high schools at that time than they would be under the
increased requirements of our day. It seems even to have
grown to be a sort of custom — and a good one — that the
youthful musician, if he aimed at higher flights, might not
remain a total stranger to the lecture-rooms of the
high schools; otherwise Johann Bahr, the Concertmeister
of Weissenfels, could not seriously have raised the question
as to whether a composer must necessarily have been a
student.51 But Sebastian was poor and had no choice, even
if his desire was ever so great to enlarge the circle of his
knowledge — which, indeed, we have no means of knowing.
Still, before we see him depart to struggle onwards, let us
cast a hasty glance on the past. As so great an artist was
living — a member, too, of Bach's family — as late as 1703, as
Joh. Christoph Bach of Eisenach, it may seem surprising
that no distinct influence over Sebastian is referred to him.
Some slight trace of such an influence does certainly appear
to exist, and must not remain unnoticed; only the uncertainty
of the matter postpones it to this place. Three small chorale
41 " Ob ein Componist necessario miisse studirt haben." Joh. Beerens
A/MS«oi//sche Discurse. Nuremberg, 1719 (nineteen years later than the death
of the author), chap. XLI. The author, who writes his name as Bahr, Beehr,
and Beer, had himself had an excellent general education, and gives it as his
decision that, though it was not absolutely necessary, it was better that a com
poser should have studied.
THREE CHORALE FUGUES. 2IQ
fugues exist, under the name of Sebastian Bach, on the
melodies "Nun ruhen alle Walder"— " Now silence falls,"
— " Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend " — " Lord Jesu, turn
Thy face on us,"— and " Herr Jesu Christ, meins Lebens
Licht"— "Lord Jesu, sun to light my path."52 They have
precisely the same character as the fugally treated chorale
preludes by Joh. Christoph Bach, lately discussed,58 and of
the similar works by Johann Pachelbel. The second
particularly, of which the melody was also worked out
by the Eisenach master, has a complete resemblance. It
is rather more flowing, and longer by three bars, but other-
wise remarkably similar ; for instance, in the entrance of the
subject at the beginning and the subsequent pedal-point on
the dominant. If these little pieces are indeed Sebastian's,
the conclusion is almost inevitable that they were written
under the influence of his uncle, perhaps even of Pachelbel.
It must further be inferred that they are works of his boy-
hood, before the Liineburg period even, which would account
for their complete insignificance. Consequently we can trace
back his impulse towards independent creation to his very
earliest years, and this result is at least as interesting as the
proof of any direct influence from Joh. Christoph, which in the
natural course of things may be taken for granted, but can
hardly be regarded as of great consequence to so young a lad,
particularly as it displays itself in a branch of music to
which the chief powers of the elder master were never
directed. If we possessed any choral compositions by
Sebastian which suggested his influence, that would be of
real importance. But this is not the case at the present
time, and it is very doubtful whether any such works ever
existed, when we consider the very different path which the
nephew struck out for himself.
A further supplement to the stage of his life that we have
82 Published by Fr. Commer : Musica Sacra, I., 1-3. He obtained them in
1839 from A. W. Bach, of Berlin, who had had them copied from a MS. by
Bach, in the collection of the Counts von Voss-Buch. This entire collection
subsequently passed into the Royal Library ; but the chorales in question are
no longer in it.
*8 See ante, p. 105.
22O JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
gone through consists in mentioning a clavier fugue in E
minor, which also deserves to be called a youthful or boyish
work, in the strictest sense of the term. Since a few fugues
by Sebastian exist of the year 1704, this estimate is not too
severe. The piece betrays its early origin, not only by the
singular stiffness of the themes, but by the anxious per-
tinacity with which the same counterpoint hangs on to the
heels of the main subject ; the persistent clinging to the
principal key through no less than fourteen consecutive
entrances of the theme, the almost total absence of all con-
necting subjects, and, finally, by a surprisingly unplayable
character, the form not being as yet adapted to the technique
of the clavier. Of all Bach's fugues that are known to me
this is the most immature, and can hardly have been com-
posed anywhere later than in Ohrdruf. By the time he
quitted Liineburg he had at any rate gone far beyond so low
a standard in this form of art.
II.
LIFE AT WEIMAR AND ARNSTADT, 1703-4. — INFLUENCE OF
KUHNAU. — WORKS FOR CLAVIER AND ORGAN.
IN former times Bach's grandfather had had an appoint-
ment at the Court of Duke William IV., at Weimar.
This, however, can hardly have been the cause of his
grandson's being invited to the same town. Other ties must
have existed, of which we know nothing, but which, of
course, would easily have been formed from Eisenach or
Arnstadt. Sebastian received the appointment to be " Hof-
musicus," one of the Court performers, not at the Court
of the reigning Duke Wilhelm Ernst, but to Johann Ernst,
his younger brother, who therefore must have had a musical
establishment of his own, as he certainly had his Court
painter.54 This leads us to infer that he took an eager
interest in all art, and sets the young artist's appointment
54 That it was Job. Ernst who took Sebastian Bach into his service is
expressly stated in the genealogy (see in Book I., chap. I., what is said regarding
Nik. Eph. Bach). Further evidence is found in the close relation in which the
musician stood to this Duke's son, Ernst August, although he did not succeed
to the government till long after Bach had left Weimat,
LIFE AT WEIMAR. 221
in a pleasing light. For it was obviously a quite different
thing to be a member of one of those official bands, which
were often kept up only for state, and were in consequence
frequently made to subserve all sorts of utilitarian ends, and
to belong to a body which had been called into existence by
a true love of the art. On the other hand we should be
mistaken in our view of the state of things in those petty
Courts if we concluded that Sebastian had nothing whatever
to do with the Court band proper. It is, indeed, quite certain
that though he stood in the position of personal servant
to Johann Ernst, he was made of use in the Court band.
His place was that of violin-player, and the inference is
plain that if he was invited from Luneburg to take this place
in such a band, his proficiency cannot have been incon-
siderable. At the same time, as it is quite certain that all
his training had hitherto been directed chiefly to organ and
clavier playing, it is evident that he accepted this post at
Weimar for outside reasons, namely, for a living. Thus, in j
his own particular line, he made no immediate progress by !
this first step into the world of art ; however, he at any
rate made acquaintance there with a mass of instrumental
music, particularly with Italian works, which were much
in favour at the Court of Weimar, as we shall see later.
There also lived there at that time a violin-player of no
mean attainments, Johann Paul Westhoff, the Duke's
private musician and secretary, a man who, besides, may
have been very attractive from his great experience of
the world and general culture.55 There, too, was the
famous organist, Johann Effler, who, as was said in a
former place, had been Michael Bach's predecessor at
Gehren ; and in fact later evidence would prove, if it were
needed, that in Weimar Sebastian was not out of reach of
church music. To the musical side of his life these brought
him much and various incitement, and the length of his
residence there exactly sufficed for him to yield to it so far as
at the time he can have thought serviceable. In a few
months new prospects were already opened to him.56
55 Walther, Lexicon. Westhoff died in 1705. 56 See Appendix A, No. 9.
222 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Towards the close of the previous century the Municipality
of Arnstadt had rebuilt one of their churches, which had been
destroyed by fire in 1581, and had consecrated it in 1683
under the name of the New Church.67 Only an organ was
lacking ; but the new sanctuary lay so near the hearts of the
inhabitants that the Consistory could show soon after, that a
sum of 800 gulden had been collected for it, by contributions
from all sides, and would still increase to 1,100 gulden. A
rich citizen, in 1699, bequeathed 800 gulden more, and now
they could take steps for the construction of a really worthy
and complete organ. An inefficient builder was passed over,
though a native of the town, and Johann Friedrich Wender,
of Miihlhausen, was chosen, who constructed and erected the
organ between Whitsuntide and the winter of 1701. 58 Wender
had built many organs in Thuringia, and had so made a name ;
but he was not a thorough workman. In a very short time
it was shown that four pipes were wanting to the work.
Repairs were already needed in 1710, and Wender effected
these so carelessly that Ernst Bach, the organist at that
time, was forced to explain that the organ required complete
restoration to preserve it from becoming quite unserviceable.
The same experience was gone through with regard to the
organ at the Church of St. Blasius at Muhlhausen, which
Wender had also built, and in which there was always some-
thing to mend.
Still, the great instrument was for the time complete,
and the pride of the municipality. An organist of equal
merit and renown was now the desideratum, but not to be
found at once. A son-in-law of Christoph Herthum's (the
often-mentioned son-in-law and successor of Heinrich Bach)
knew how to manage an organ tolerably, and, perhaps at
Herthum's application — perhaps, too, because at the moment
there was no one else — the place was given to him. His
name was Andreas Borner. He took up his appointment at
*r Olearius, Historia Arnstadiensis, pp. 52, 55.
58 The testamentary benefactor was Joh. Wilh. Magen, died May xi, 1699.
Documents referring to this organ, of July i, 1699, ex'st >n ^c archives at Son.
ORGANIST AT ARNSTADT. 223
the New Year, and was to receive thirty gulden a year and
three measures of corn. These were deducted from his
father-in-law's income, who, to balance the account, deputed
to Borner the duty of performing the early Sunday service
at the Church of the Holy Virgin. Borner had also to
declare himself willing to rush off to the Franciscan Church
as soon as his own morning service was over, whenever the
over-busy Herthum was called away at that hour by his
duties in the castle chapel. Not much was spent on the
man, and very little was intrusted to him. When he had
played in the New Church he was required always to restore
the key of the organ-stairs to Burgomaster Feldhaus, who
had the management of the organ and all that related
to it.
This was the state of affairs till the summer of the follow-
ing year. Meanwhile Sebastian Bach had gone to Weimar,
and it may easily be imagined that, once there, he soon pro-
posed to himself the pleasure of visiting Arnstadt, the old
meeting-place of all his family, and of seeing his relations
still living there. He went, and he played the organ, and
the Consistory saw that this was the man they wanted.
Small ceremony was made with Borner ; he simply had to
quit the field. " But, for the prevention of any unpleasant
collisions," he had a new place made for him as Organist
at matins, and deputy at morning service in the Fran-
ciscan Church, and he was allowed to keep his salary,
so that in general all was on its old footing. But they
thought themselves bound to special efforts on behalf of the
young artist of eighteen ; he had made a deep impression on
the people. As the means of the Church itself were very
limited, contributions were raised from three different sources,
and the salary was fixed at the handsome sum of eighty-four
gulden, six groschen (= seventy-three thalers, eighteen
groschen), which was, in fact, considerable in comparison
with the salaries of his fellow-officials. He then went
through a solemn installation, and received a somewhat
sweeping exhortation to "industry and fidelity to his calling,"
and to all that " might become an honourable servant and
organist before God, the worshipful authorities, and his
224 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
superiors " ; and to all this he pledged himself on August
14, 1703, by joining hands.59
Sebastian must have been quite delighted with such a
flattering reception into his new post in the pretty little
town, so full of family memories. His compulsory duties
also were comparatively few, and ample leisure was left him
for his own studies and creations. No burdensome educa-
tional duties claimed his energies, no utterly heterogeneous
tasks of a subsidiary kind — such, for instance, as were
allotted to the kitchen-clerk Herthum — could disturb the
collectedness of his mind. His post only required his attend-
ance three times a week — on Sunday mornings from eight to
ten, on Thursdays from seven to nine a.m., and on Mondaysfor
one church service.60 With what joy must he have felt himself
for the first time in an independent position, so well adapted
to his inclinations, and have heard the tones of the new
organ resounding under his own hands through the height
and breadth of the vast church. The organ was splendidly
constructed, all the diapasons being of seven-ounce tin, the
gedackt also being of metal, instead of wood, as was more
usual. The character of the " Brust-positiv" must, indeed,
have been somewhat shrill, owing to the preponderance of four-
foot stops; and it was only by using all the stops in combi-
nation that even a moderately good effect could be produced;
nor was there on the pedals any deep stop of moderate
strength, still the "Hauptwerk" was well arranged. The
entire specification was as follows: —
Oberwerk (Upper Manual).
1. Principal (i.e., diapason) 8ft.
2. Viola da gamba . . 8 ft.
3. Quintaton . . .. 16 ft.
4. Gedackt .. ..8ft.
5. Quint . . . . 6 ft. 5-
6. Octave .. ..4ft.
7. Mixture .. 4 ranks.
8. Gemshorn . . 8 ft.
9. Cymbal i ft. 2 ranks.
10. Trumpet . . . . 8 ft.
11. Tremulant.. .»
12. Cymbelstern
59 All these details are from documents in the archives at Sondershausen. To
form a just estimate of this salary, it must be remembered that Joh. Ernst Bach,
Sebastian's successor, received only forty gulden, and even in the year 1728,
as Organist to the Franciscan church of the Holy Virgin, had no more than
seventy-seven gulden.
60 Olearius, p. 57.
HIS DUTIES AT ARNSTADT. 225
Brust-positiv (Choir).
1. Principal .. .. 4 ft.
2. Lieblich gedackt . . 8 ft.
3. Spitz flute . . 4 ft.
4. Quint . . . . 3 ft.
5. Sesquialtera
6. Nachthorn . . 4 ft.
7. Mixture . . i ft. 2 ranks.
Pedal Organ.
1. Principal
2. Sub-bass
3. Posaune
4. Flute
5. Cornet
8ft.
i6ft.
i6ft.
4 ft.
2ft.
Coupler for the manuals and pedals.
Two bellows, 8 ft. by 4 ft.
The organ still existed until i863.61
Next to the Franciscan or Upper Church, the New Church
occupied the second place. It had been originally built as
a chapel-of-ease to the former, because the Liebfrauen-
kirche was found to be inadequate to the enlarged demands,
and there was no room for the large number of Sunday
church-goers.
Since Sebastian, in spite of his youth, had taken his place
as a musician of many-sided learning, who, moreover, had
organised practices of choral music in Liineburg, the Con-
sistory handed over to him the tuition of a small school-choir,
which served, as it were, for the stepping-stone to the larger
choir that sang in the Upper Church ; and with the latter
were amalgamated, according to the old Thuringian custom,
the "Adjuvanten," or music-loving amateurs of the town.
The actual direction, which in the main choir was the task
of the cantor, was here the duty of the prefect of the school-
choir. Bach had only to rehearse them, to keep the whole
together, and to accompany them on the organ. It may be
supposed that with these opportunities he would bring his
own compositions to a hearing.62 Finally, it may be assumed
with certainty that his violin-playing was occasionally taken
advantage of for the Count's band ; although historical
testimony is wanting, Sebastian could no more have escaped
these demands than could Michael Bach in his day, who must
have come in from Gehren expressly on stated occasions.
81 Then a new and very fine one was erected in its place, as a memorial to
Sebastian Bach ; as many of the old stops, however, as could be used were
retained. The originator of this worthy project, to which the friends of Bach's
art, from far and near, contributed, was the present Organist, Herr H. B. Stade
who devoted himself to managing the matter. The work is now complete.
82 Evidence of this will appear in the course of the narrative.
Q
226 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Since the band consisted chiefly of native musicians, pro-
fessional or amateur, it would have been foolish to leave
such a remarkable talent unused.
In organ-playing, Sebastian found no one who could teach
him anything, much less compete with him. Herthum can
only have prosecuted his music by the way, since his post
at Court was engrossing and laborious, as may be proved
even now by documentary evidence. Johann Ernst Bach
quickly lost, in the misery of his domestic circumstances,
what he had brought home fresh from his journeys to Ham-
burg and Frankfort. Sebastian could not learn anything
more of importance from him, although the cousins certainly
kept up a close friendship. A somewhat greater variety
prevailed in other musical matters. The busy life of a gifted
artist, Adam Drese, had come to an end some years before.
His place had been filled by Paul Gleitsmann, a pupil of
the learned Johann Bahr, of Weissenfels. He had already
been in the Count's service as groom-of-the-chambers and
musician. He was a skilled performer on the violin, the
viol di gamba, and the lute ; and, judging from the scanty
evidence we possess, he seems to have been a cultivated and
well-meaning man.63 He certainly was the man in whom
Sebastian could most readily find intelligent sympathy, the
only one, perhaps, of the whole band. The Rector of the
Arnstadt Lyceum, the learned and energetic Johann Fried-
rich Treiber, was a great lover of music ; and, besides his
thorough and wide-spread theoretical knowledge, he possessed
practical musical ability, and perhaps had some experience
as a composer.64 His son, Johann Philipp, an imaginative
genius, with rare knowledge in all the provinces of the
learning of the time, showed remarkable talent for poetry
and music, and learned composition under Drese. He had
studied at Jena, first philosophy, theology, and medicine, and
then jurisprudence: he had obtained the degrees of Master
and Doctor, and delivered lectures. His freethinking views
on religion compelled him to quit Jena. He then lived for
•* He is noticed in Walther's Lexicon.
64 For further details, see Gerber, N. L., Vol. IV., col. 384.
THE TREIBERS, FATHER AND SON. 227
a few years in the country, pursuing his scientific labours,
but in consequence of these was again prosecuted for atheism,
and once even imprisoned for six months in Gotha. After
his release he lived with his father in Arnstadt during the
years 1704-6. He was forced by disputes with the clergy of
that place to go to Erfurt, where he became a Catholic, and
obtained high honour as professor of jurisprudence. He died
in 1727, in his fifty-third year. While in Arnstadt, in 1704, he
published a work, Der accurate Organist im General-Basse,
in which he treated the bass part of only two chorales with
every possible variety of harmonies ; he had previously
published in Jena a work to demonstrate the possibility of
employing every variety of chords, keys, and time in a
single air, and worked out a composition of his own as
an example.65 Later on, in Erfurt, he wrote a " Grand
Serenade," in honour of the rector of the academy, and
conducted the performance himself.66 A work which was
brought out in May, 1705, at Arnstadt, seems to have been
the joint production of both the Treibers. It was a "Sing-
spiel" or operetta, according to the title, and was called " Die
Klugheit der Obrigkeit in Anordnung des Bierbrauens" —
"The wisdom of the authorities in the management of
brewing." 67 The plan is that of the biblical school-plays of
the seventeenth century, or the sacred musical dramas of
Dedekind ; i.e., the dialogue consists of Alexandrines, inter-
spersed with songs of several verses and short recitatives,
and as many persons as possible (in this instance no less
than thirty) are introduced. It is, of course, pervaded with
the plain, rough character of the burgher's life, and several
of the persons speak in the Thuringian dialect of Arnstadt.
The performance of this and other dramatic productions
took place in the Count's theatre. Anton Giinther did
65 This book, Sonderbare Invention : Eine Arie in einer einzigen Melodey
aus alien Tonen und Accorden auch jederley Tacten zu componiren, &c.,
appeared, according to Walther, in 1702. The copy in the Konigsberg Library
is numbered 1,703 in Jos. Muller's catalogue. I have not seen it.
66 Hesse, Verzeichniss Schwarzburgischer Gelehrten, Stuck 18. Rudol-
Stadt, 1827. Gerber, Vol. II., col. 673. Adlung, Anl. zur Mus. Gel., p. 116.
67 See Appendix A, No. 10.
Q 2
228 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
not maintain any dramatic or musical company ; what-
ever of this kind was done at Arnstadt, at that time, was
due for the most part to the exertions of the citizens. The
Count, according to an engagement which he had entered
into with Wentzing, one of his privy councillors, and the
Capellmeister Drese, had bound himself to found and main-
tain a theatre, with the necessary appliances ; to put the
band at their disposal, to provide for the lighting, and to
supply the provisions required for the stage banquets. On
the other hand they were bound to find the wardrobe,
and to play before the Count whenever he liked, pro-
vided that fourteen days' notice was given, and to allow
free entrance to the Count's suite. This arrangement dif-
fered materially from all the other institutions of the court,
and approximated closely to the German opera at Ham-
burg, in that every one "who wanted to see these Actioncs"
could obtain admission " on payment of a certain price."
By this means the popular interest was not overlooked.
This is proved by the " Beer " operetta, which was followed
by a similar " Singspiel " on July 6, I7O8,68 and still more
by the actors, some of whom were scholars, and some
artisans of Arnstadt. Similar performances took place in
other small capitals of Thuringia. Even in Weimar the
stern Wilhelm Ernst had an "opera-house," and even court
actors.69 It was a good thing that not many princes had
the means of organising such an entertainment wholly with-
out help from the people, or they would gladly have done so.
The organisation of the Arnstadt theatre was imitated from
68 At this period all the boys in the first class of the school took part in such
performances (Acts in the Raths-Archivs at Arnstadt). The chief part of the
theatre contract and a catalogue of the actors was given by K. Th. Pabst in the
programme of the Arnstadt Gymnasium for 1846, p. 22. I have not been
able to find the interesting original document itself, so must content myself wi'.h
this.
69 Operatic performances took place in Weimar from 1697 onwards. Some of
the libretti are preserved in the Grand Ducal Library there ; also the MS. of a
"Lustspiel" or "Vaudeville," called " Von einer Bauren-Tochter Mareien, Um
welche zwey Freyer, ein alter und ein junger geworben " — "Of a peasant-girl
Maria, who had two suitors, an old and a young one," — of which part was spoken
in the Thuringian dialect.
FIRST EASTER CANTATA. 22Q
that of Brunswick, and the plan had been brought from thence
by Anton Gunther's wife, Augusta Dorothea, daughter of
Duke Anton Ulrich. She also had built the Augustenburg
at Arnstadt, after the pattern of her father's Lustschloss
(pleasure palace) of Salzdahlen, and instituted occasional
musical performances in it. On August 23, 1700, she wel-
comed her parents there with a cantata, the " Frohlockender
Gotter-Streit "— "The victorious battle of the gods,"— of
which the poetry was written by a native of Weimar, with
whom Sebastian Bach was subsequently to come into very
close relations.70
This exhausted the musical resources of Arnstadt at that
time, so far as can be ascertained. I have spoken of them,
not because they may have exerted a determining influence on
Bach, or in order to prove that they can have had any such
result ; they were quite inefficient for any such effect on a
nature so strongly cast and so energetically self-reliant in its
working as his was. But a youth of twenty, just entering on
life, must have come into contact with them as the days flew
past, and so they might for the moment give his spirit some
beneficial refreshment. More particularly the performance
of the sportive popular singing may have been a real pleasure
to his wholesome Thuringian nature. Thus it is not as
bearing on the history of art, but simply from the bio-
graphical point of view, that Bach's musical surroundings
are here dealt with.
Bach's connection with the choir which was established
for the New Church must, ere long, have roused his desire
to employ his talent for compositions for their use ; and this
must have answered to the wishes of the Consistory. Some
of these early attempts in the department of concerted
church music he regarded many years later as worth re-
modelling in Leipzig. It is to this idea of the master's that
we owe the cantata for the first day of Easter, "Denndu
wirst meine Seele nicht in der Holle lassen " — " For Thou
?0 Salomo Franck, Geist- und weltliche Poesien I., p. 302 ; cf., p. 306. The
music was perhaps by a native of Brunswick- Wolfenbiittel. The Augusten.
burg was afterwards pulled down.
230 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
wilt not leave my soul in hell,"— which, as it now stands,
rests on three different sections of the text which did not
originally belong to each other.71 It is easily observed that
the greater part of it is set to a connected hymn in seven
verses, beginning with the lines —
Auf, freue dich, Seele, du bist nun getrost,
Dein Heiland der hat dich vom Sterben erlost.
Es zaget die Holle, der Satan erliegt,
Der Tod ist bezwungen, die Siinde besiegt.
Trotz sprech ich euch alien, die ihr mich bekriegt.
Up, soul ! and be joyful, thy comfort is near,
Thy Saviour hath freed thee, no death need'st thou fear.
Hell quakes at His coming, who crushes its pride.
Death trembles in fetters, Sin cowers to hide.
Peace be unto all who have fought on His side.
The composer has used the first verse for an air for a
soprano ; the second, third, and fourth72 are set to an arioso
for alto, tenor, and bass ; the fifth is a duet ; the sixth and
seventh arioso again, with a closing air for four voices. This
is exactly on the model of the older church cantatas. At
that time, and until another form gained general acceptance
in the second decade of the eighteenth century, songs
divided into. verses were always set in those forms which
had gradually grown up in course of the seventeenth century,
woven in with Bible texts and chorales " to taste." These
even often constituted the principal part, admitting only here
and there an aria in several verses with the same music to
each. Sometimes the text consisted solely of Bible words, or
of a chorale treated in various ways. Recitative was as yet
not used ; instead of it the arioso was employed, in which
time was strictly observed, and the instrumental accompani-
ment was carried on in persistent sympathy, without its falling,
however, into a regular aria. Hence the recitative, " Mein
Jesus ware todt," was most certainly first introduced at the
time when the cantata was remodelled, as indeed is evident
likewise from the free treatment of the rhymed lines — a
» B.-G., II., NO. 15.
f Bach composed only four lines of the fourth verse, leaving out the fifth.
ITS ORIGINAL FORM. 231
device as yet hardly used in sacred verse and very little
known. The duet which follows, " Weichet, Furcht und
Schrecken " — "Vanish Dread and Terror!" — is distinguished
by the very different metrical form of the text, and as having
no connection with the main text, while in its musical
casting it bears the stamp of the earlier time. Since the
contents of the work all bear on the Easter festival, it is
probable that this piece was taken from another cantata —
composed possibly for the second day of Easter — and sub-
sequently combined with the recitative composed later for
the purpose (and in which, indeed, Bach contrived to imitate
his own youthful style in a very masterly way) into a more
important Easter cantata in two parts. The following tenor
solo, "Entsetzet euch nicht" — "Oh! be not dismayed," —
probably also belonged to the second cantata, and there
preceded the duet. It cannot have been placed imme-
diately after the introductory number, if only because all
poetic connection would then have been wanting. The
whole is most completely welded together, if we suppose
the soprano aria, " Auf, freue dich, Seele," to have imme-
diately followed the introductory bass arioso, and that in
the second cantata the duet, " Weichet, Furcht und
Schrecken," came after the comforting words of the angel.
In this way the proper relation between the Bible words
and those of the hymn is established ; besides, it was the
custom always to preface the verses by a single Bible text,
never more.78
We may, with tolerable certainty, fix Easter, 1704, as
the time when the original cantata was composed.74 Its
character, in details as well as in general, displays the
close adhesion of a young composer to the works of the
same kind by the masters of Central and Northern Ger-
many, particularly the latter. This is easily accounted
for by Bach's three years' residence in Liineburg, and the
intercourse he kept up from thence with Hamburg. But a
deeply seated feeling of innate affinity also drew him to-
wards them, a feeling to which he, some years later, once
*8 See Appendix A, No. n. 74 See Appendix A, No. 12.
232 JOHANN SEBASTIAN fiACtt.
again evidently yielded ; and we shall then have the oppor-
tunity of doing fuller justice to the sacred musicians of the
north, and of illustrating in detail the extent to which this,
the earliest of his cantatas, was founded on them. Here,
for the present, it only concerns us to form some general
conception of its contents. The first number, in C major,
is, as has been said, a Bible text set for a bass voice, " For
Thou shalt not leave my soul in hell ; neither wilt Thou suffer
Thy Holy One to see corruption " (Psalm xvi. n), and is
introduced by a short sonata, in which three trumpets with
drums and stringed instruments are employed antiphonally
with the organ. After five bars adagio, where hardly
anything is to be heard but broad isolated chords ac-
centuated by fermatas, comes an allegro of three bars —
a kind of fanfare — which leads on at once to the singing.
The antiphonal dialogue is here repeated, but between the
voice and the instruments. When the voice has sung a
phrase arioso, it is answered by the violins or trumpets,
or followed up by a short imitation on the instruments.
In the old German aria the Ritornel, or instrumental re-
frain, plays an important part, and not merely regularly
at the end of each strophe, but between the lines of the
verses. It was then transferred to the informal arioso,
from which it was detached by Bach, who also raised both
the arioso itself and the fully developed recitative to an in-
dependent and definite position. The declamatory portions
in the instance before us are somewhat stiff and ineffective ;
even the treatment of the bass voice is hardly freer than with
his predecessors, who often knew so little how to deal with
it that they simply used it in unison with the fundamental
bass, or made it move in thirds with it. The recitative
follows, and then the duet for soprano and alto in A minor,
accompanied only by the organ and violins ; a most pleasing
little piece, which, though it certainly echoes the sentiment
of the words in only one or two passing details, forms a
contrast to the former arioso by its slender form, moving on
its way unburdened by contrapuntal gravity. The form is
that of the Italian da capo aria, which was just then begin-
ning gradually and by stealth, as it were, to gain a footing. It
ITS YOUTHFUL STAMP. 233
also lies at the bottom of the following tenor solo, " Entsetzet
euch nicht," which returns to the key of C major, and calls
out the instruments once more; but here it has to accommo-
date itself as well as it can to the arioso style. The melodic
forms offer us, among many forms common to the period, a
feature especially Bach's, at the words " den Gekreuzigten"
— "The Crucified," — where the voice wanders sadly about
among harmonies involved in a strict subject in four parts,
that marches on as if it could be no other than it is. Among
Bach's predecessors, under similar circumstances, this could
not always be said. The contrasting passage, " Er ist aufer-
standen und ist nicht hie" — " He is not here, but is risen,"
— is full of genuine youthful aspiration, and a still more
significant fire — nay, boyish daring — is breathed into the
closing aria for the soprano, " Auf, freue dich, Seele." The
form again is quite simple ; the lines of the verse are sung
one after another with very little repetition, so that the com-
poser still clings for the most part to the type of the old
sacred aria; still, since the first theme returns at the close,
though briefly and almost as a ritornel, it points in this direc-
tion to the Italian form of aria ; while, finally, the sameness
of the phrase, which recurs again and again in higher posi-
tions of key, with answering instrumental passages between,
reminds us of the arioso. The piece is, indeed, a confused
mixture of various elements of form, but attractive because
it is natural and truly felt. We now come to another grand
arioso, in which alto, tenor, and bass take part, usually singly,
but sometimes together. Here all the extravagance of an
ardent young genius has been allowed full play. The
passage which represents the " raving " hounds of hell
chases the alto in semiquaver passages, high and low,
through storming octaves on the organ pedal, and the parts
seem striving to outdo each other in defiant and scornful
challenge to hell and death. The bass praises Christ, the
Warrior, in a somewhat cut and dried fashion; and, although
some attempt at completeness is made by repeating this
part, the whole leaves an impression of incoherence.
The second duet in G major, which follows, is also given
to the soprano and alto, and shows, like the Luneburg
234 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
chorale-partitas, with what uncommon rapidity Sebastian
Bach developed his mastery in the art of independent and
unforced part-writing. Two quite different motives are here
employed side by side, and the greater portion of the duet
is developed from this combination. The soprano sings —
If2*
Ich jauch - 2e, ich la che, ich jauch - - ze mit Schall,
while the alto begins only two crotchets later with —
Ihr kla - get mit Seuf - zen, ihr wei - net,
(soprano, " I glory, I triumph, I glory with shouts " ;
alto, " Ye moan and are sighing, lamenting"). The combi-
nation allows of the double counterpoint on the octave,
which is very fitly employed, and each time the violins take
possession of both motives, the viol di gamba comes in
with a third characteristic agitato part. But the quaver
figure of the first motive is carried on through the whole
piece, and keeps it firmly together in all its parts. To com-
prehend Bach's talent and do full justice to his early
maturity, we must always recollect that a flowing poly-
phonic treatment was by no means the strong side of the
German masters of that time, whose conquered ground only
he could appropriate; but that, on the contrary, his own
genius for construction must have helped him in this to
quite an equal degree. Even if we chose to assume that in
working through the cantata a second time he greatly im-
proved the duet, which may very well be the case, still the
file can only have been applied to details ; what is most
wonderful in it he cannot possibly have added later, for it
is the creative germ of the whole piece. How strikingly
these two subjects express the contrast in the ideas of the
texts need not be pointed out. Moreover, this chromatic pas-
sage is always a favourite motive with Bach, which we shall
shortly meet with again in other compositions by him, and
which he clung to throughout his whole career.
We now come to the final number. It is prefaced by the
introductory sonata, very little altered ; then an aria in
CAPRICCIO WRITTEN FOR JOH. JAKOB. 235
several parts gradually grows out of it (an aria, in the old
sense of the word, meaning a subjectively religious hymn in
verses), first given to two and two and then to four voices, but
it is in no respect superior to what we are already accustomed
to in the better composers of this kind of music. It is imme-
diately followed by the chorale "Weil du vom Tod erstanden
bist " — " Since Thou art risen from the dead." The violins
accompany the voices in repeated quavers, and only the first
violin goes on independently, supplying a fifth part above the
chorus ; after a few lines the trumpets and drums come in
with a fanfare, and the close works off into free imitation in
all the parts. This all lacks originality, and is elaborated on
well-known models.
In the earlier part of his stay at Arnstadt Bach may have
made many other attempts in the department of church
music, but I have not yet succeeded in bringing to light
any further evidence of his industry. So much, however, is
certain, as that while there his principal efforts were directed
to instrumental music, and that he continued to cultivate his
talents in this direction by technical studies and practice in
composition, as well as by thorough analysis of the best works
of the period. It was at Arnstadt that "he really showed the
first-fruits of his industry in the art of organ-playing and in
composition, which he had in great measure learnt only from
the study of the works of the most famous composers of
the time, and from his own reflections on them." So says
Mizler's Necrology. We will endeavour to make ourselves
acquainted with some of these first-fruits.
Johann Jakob, the second of Sebastian's surviving elder
brothers, had served his apprenticeship as a town-musician
at Eisenach, and then, probably, set forth on his travels " to
inquire what manner of music he might find in other places,"
as used then to be said. In 1704 he may have been in
Poland, then allied with the Elector of Saxony, just when
Charles XII. of Sweden had penetrated so far in his adven-
turous and victorious progress. Spell-bound by the magic of
romance which surrounded the young hero, and tempted
by advantageous conditions — so we may fancy — at the age of
two-and-twenty he made up his mind to enter the Swedish
236 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Guard as oboe-player.76 He returned home once more,
expressly to take leave of his family and friends; and it must
have been on that occasion that Sebastian composed a piece
for him, which was to serve him as a remembrance of his
brother when at a distance. The form was evidently sug-
gested by the personal situation ; in five short movements
he represented the various moods and scenes which preceded
and were occasioned hy his brother's impending departure.
To these he appended a fugue, and combined the whole
under the title " Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo fra-
tello dilettissimo " — " Capriccio on the absence (departure)
of a beloved brother."78
This little work is so unique in the whole mass of Bach's
compositions that it could hardly be accounted for, even by
the occasion above mentioned, if we could not without any
difficulty quote a model. This model was presented by
Johann Kuhnau's six sonatas on Biblical narratives, which
had appeared four years before, and, being the work of so
gifted and learned a master, had naturally attracted much
attention.77 In it six incidents derived from the Old Testa-
ment were illustrated by a series of tone pictures, an experi-
ment in composition in which, however, Kuhnau did not
stand alone at that time. Mattheson, Kuhnau's younger
contemporary, tells us — and it has been frequently
repeated from him — that Froberger could depict whole
histories on the clavier, "giving a representation of the
persons present and taking part in it, with all their natural
characters"; he also states that he was in possession of a
Suite by the same composer, " in which the passage across
the Rhine of the Count von Thurn, and the danger he was
exposed to from the river, is most clearly set before our eyes
75 According to the genealogy.
78 No autograph of this is known; hence it must remain uncertain whether
the Italian title was given by Bach himself. However, even at his earliest period,
he was fond of using Italian designations. It is contained in Vol. 208 (No. g)
of Peters' edition.
77 Musicalische Vorstellung | Einiger | Biblischer Historien, | In 6 Sonaten,
| Auff dem Claviere zu spielen, | Allen Liebhabern zum Vergniigen | versuchet
| von Johann Kuhnauen. | Leipzig, | Gedruckt bei Immanuel Tietzen \
Anno M.D.CC.
JOHANN KUHNAU. 237
and ears in twenty-six little pieces."78 Allied to this, though
not identical, is the disposition shown by certain French
composers, as Couperin and Gaspard de Roux, to represent
distinct types of character in their clavier pieces. It would,
perhaps, be safe to assert that at all times and so long as
independent instrumental music exists, attempts will be
made, with more or less success, to dramatise definite
sentiments figuratively illustrated, by musical forms, which
can only reflect the world of general emotion. Now the first
and universally typical musical instrument is the human
voice, which can hardly be conceived of apart from articulate
utterance. Hence, it is quite intelligible that Sebastian, in
his nineteenth year, carried away by his genius and technical
skill, should for once have allowed himself to be tempted
into a path which was never fitted for spirits of his mould.
For us it is a particularly happy circumstance, since it
enables us to perceive — which otherwise we could hardly
have done — that Kuhnau as well as so many others had
some influence on Bach ; and, indeed, much of various kinds
was to be learnt from him.
Johann Kuhnau was born in 1667 at Geysing in the Erz-
gebirge. From 1684 he was Organist of the Thorn as- Kirche
at Leipzig; from 1701 cantor also in the Thomasschule.
He died there in 1722, and Bach, whom he had known
personally so early as when he was at Weimar, succeeded
him in his office. His talent was marked by a versatility
absolutely phenomenal ; he had acquired considerable know-
ledge in languages, mathematics, and jurisprudence, and was
an ingenious writer on musical subjects. In the history of
practical music he made himself famous by being the first to
transfer the chamber sonata, with its several movements, to
the clavier. The first attempt of this kind appeared as the
appendix to the second part of his " New Clavier Exercises,"
in i695,79 and consists of a prelude with a fugue in B flat
Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister, p. 130, § 72.
79 Neue Clavieriibung. The first part he had published in 1689, but on
the appearance of the second he had a new title engraved. The first part con-
tains seven suites, " Partien," in major keys ; the second, seven in minor keys,
besides the said sonata.
238 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
major, an adagio in E flat major, with an allegro in B flat
major joined on to it worked out in imitation, and a repetition
of the two first movements. He evidently found it approved,
for a year after he brought out a new work containing seven
such sonatas, under the title Fresh Fruits for the Clavier
— (Frische Clavierfriichte). Irrespective of this novelty,
Kuhnau had a distinctly creative genius for clavier music,
while the few organ chorales that we have by him seem
insignificant ; his church cantatas must be spoken of in
another place. In the treatment of the fugue, particularly
of the double fugue, he was regarded as a model by the most
prominent theoretical musicians of the middle of the eight-
eenth century, such as Mattheson and Marpurg; and deserves
to be considered so still, if lucidity and elegance are looked
for rather than richness and depth. While comparable to
Pachelbel in the full and expressive form of his themes, he
was led to greater freedom and rapidity by the character of
the instrument for which he wrote.
The Biblische Historien also contain some capital fugues,
and are throughout so interesting to the musician that
they still must give pleasure to every intelligent player,
Much of what seems odd to us, and which gives a peculiar
flavour to our enjoyment, was certainly not planned to that
end by the composer. He set about his task quite gravely.
The biblical subject of itself forbade all joking. At most
might he permit himself a cheerful and whimsical humour
in the sonata on Jacob's marriage. In the others the
deepest earnestness is expressed, and, when once we have
got over the hybrid character of the music, is really impres-
sive. This is the case in the piece " Saul cured by David, by
means of music " — " der von David vermittelst der Musik
curirte Saul," — to which the author has given us the following
argument : — " Thus this sonata represents — ist. Saul's melan-
choly and madness. 2nd. David's refreshing harp-playing;
and 3rd. The King's mind restored to peace." It begins in
the mournful key of G minor, revelling in ingeniously com-
bined and melancholy harmonies. In spite of the recitative-
like phrases which here assert themselves, all is connected
in sound and form, Saul's sudden burst of madness is
" BIBLISCHEN HISTORIEN.'
239
certainly most energetically expressed by an involved de-
scending passage of demi-semiquavers to a long-held chord of
the 5. A very beautiful fugue is attached to the first move-
ment, with this dimly brooding theme (the embellishments
omitted) : —
The counterpoint consists of an unfixed involved motive in
semiquavers, which is preserved as a second theme through-
out the fugue : —
Thus the two images of Saul, as "melancholy" and as
"mad," contain the poetical germ of a truly musical de-
velopment. Then we hear David's harp striking a prelude,
as it were, and, at intervals, the gloomy meditations of the
King, till David plays on without interruption, in one long
sweep, the following idea —
•-J- J hJ
ft ' l
N=
• -H
1- —
J
r r f *
^ HE]
constantly repeating and varying it. And then, in the
last part of it, the King's restored composure is indicated
by a characteristic finale in staccato quavers. As in
this, so in the other sonatas. Situations are selected
which are characterised by the most simple and unmixed
sentiment. This, for instance, is the programme of the
sixth : — " ist. The agitation of the sons of Israel by the
deathbed of their beloved father. 2nd. Their grief at his
death, their reflections, and what followed thereon. 3rd.
The journey from Egypt to the land of Canaan. 4th. The
burial of Israel and the bitter lamentation thereat. 5th.
The comforted hearts of the survivors." The prevalent
240 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
moods are in parts similar to those which Bach might have
observed in his family at the departure of his brother. In
fact, a certain musical agreement seems also to betray that this
very sonata, whether consciously or unconsciously, floated in
his mind. Kuhnau's musical images are throughout more
broadly treated than Bach's; nor can we attribute this to
the score of inexperience in the younger composer, since in
other forms he already knew how to express himself very
effectively. Rather may we regard it as an indication that
Bach did not set to work with the full musical purpose of
the older man, but, under a sense of doing something only
half-artistic, carried out the composition with a certain
humour, which might easily be associated with his regret
at parting from his brother. Indeed, the depicting of moods
in which the feelings of the artist are personally involved
is never otherwise possible. If he himself had actually
lamented and mourned as he represents, the power of com-
position would have deserted him. Besides, the objective
musical feeling triumphs so completely in the closing fugue
that no doubt can remain as to the view Bach himself took
of this class of music — Programme-music as it came to be
called.
But we will go through it in order. The first piece is,
" Persuasion addressed to friends that they withhold him
(the brother) from his journey." Persuasion is represented
by a very pleasing and really insinuating figure —
which recurs in other compositions of his early time. The
second number " is a representation of the various casus
(casualties) which may happen to him in a foreign country";
a fugue in G minor, nineteen bars long, which soon loses
itself in remote keys— possibly with symbolical intention,
for the modulations proceed softly and imperceptibly — and
terminate at last with an expression as of some one wearied
with talking, on the dominant of F minor. But, as nothing
makes any impression on the brother, in the third part begins
ANALYSIS OF BACH'S CAPRICCIO. 24!
"A general lamentation by friends." Two basses ostinati
rule almost the whole movement ; the second of these —
is a favourite motive with Bach, already put forward in this
cantata. It occurs again in the first chorus of the cantata
" Weinen, klagen,80 and from thence was adopted into the
"Crucifixus " of the Mass in B minor ; the first chorus of the
cantata " Jesu, der du meine Seele";81 the first chorus of
the cantata " Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich"; the closing
subject of the clavier toccata in F sharp minor;82 a clavier
fugue in A minor,83 and other works. The upper part
associated with these basses has sobbing or chromatically
larmoyant passages ; as a whole, it is easy to detect in it
the form of the passacaglio, and the great facility and variety
of treatment cannot be sufficiently admired in a composer
hardly twenty years of age. The pathetic and solitary bass
at the end reminds us again of Bohm, whose influence
is also recognisable in the elaborate ornamentation of the
first two movements. In the fourth, "the friends seeing
it cannot be otherwise, come to take leave " ; for this they
have only eleven bars allowed them, for the post-chaise is
already at the door. Part five, Aria di Postigiione, is a
delightful little picture in two parts, in which a cheerful
melody alternates with the signal given by the post-horns ;
in the second part it lies in the bass, and sounds there as if
it never could have belonged to any other place. When the
carriage has driven off and the composer is left alone, he
takes advantage of his solitude to write a double fugue on
the post-horn call.
We must devote some further attention to this fugue. It
is the only thoroughly worked out piece in the whole capric-
cio, and, in a musical sense, much the best. It is evident
80 B.-G., II., No. 12, P., Vol. 1283.
« B. G., XVIII., No. 78, P., Vol. 1294.
•» B.-G., III., p. 318. P., S. I., C. 4 (Vol. 210), No. 4.
•• P., S. I., C. 4 (Vol. 208), No. 6. B.-G., III.
R
242
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
that when Bach wrote this clavier-work as a memorial for
his brother, his chief view was to write a good piece of music
in which to show what he was capable of. He prefaced
the parts with descriptions of the situations, because it was
a favourable opportunity for imitating Kuhnau for once
in this branch of art, treating them with that light irony
which does not exclude a true interest in the subject, but
ensures command of it. If we already find reason to admire
a high degree of mastery in the descriptive movements, we
are fairly astonished in contemplating the fugue ; indeed, we
might doubt the early origin of the capriccio if its evident
dependence on Kuhnau did not solve the mystery. The same
phenomenon is observable as in his use of Bohm's chorale-
partitas. Bach had such a wonderful sense of form, and his
assiduity in study was so great, that his youthful receptivity
very soon succeeded in absolutely assimilating the styles of
other masters; at the same time he in no way renounced
his personal characteristics. If this fugue ever came under
Kuhnau's notice, he must at once have recognised himself in
it, but he also must have discerned from afar the flight of
a spirit other and mightier than his own. To mention the
most conspicuous instance first, the whole technical structure
and mechanism of the fugue is different from Bach's own
later style, which makes the greatest demands on the indepen-
dence and pliancy of every finger, and occasionally on the
player's skill in runs; and yet its fundamental character is
calm, equable, and flowing, and it is strictly opposed to all
jumps and flying changes. But a player may be thoroughly
versed in Bach's technique and yet meet in this fugue with
exceptional difficulties. The themes both mimic the post-
horn, the second recurring to the Aria di Postiglione : —
The first part has a new device : —
EARLY SONATA IN D MAJOR. 243
The combination reminds us of the double fugue in Kuhnau's
"Saul"; then, in some places very decidedly, of a double
fugue in his Clavierubung, for which Bach must have had
a particular liking, since he worked up the first theme of it in
a separate composition. To these two principal subjects he
added a third counterpoint, which may almost be regarded as
an independent theme — it returns with so much regularity, is
so distinct from the others, and yet coalesces with their
combinations as if it had grown together with them. While
the fugue flows uninterruptedly on in a fresh stream, inte-
resting thematic images constantly come out, developing
themselves most naturally from the second theme, so that,
in fact, the whole art of subject-treatment is here brought to
bear. It was a real Ricercar, a master-fugue that he would
give to his brother; and if all it contains had been genuinely
his own, we might already call him a master of fugue-
writing.
I have already said that this capriccio is unique among
Bach's works. But it is by no means the only one in which
he has followed the footsteps of Kuhnau, and perhaps a mere
accident has deprived us of the certainty that we possess
a second example of Programme-music by him, for another
composition in imitation of Kuhnau's pieces, with several
subjects, undoubtedly exists.84 The fact that it is entitled
a " Sonata," a name first applied by Kuhnau to clavier-
pieces in several movements, and at that time not yet univer-
sally used, serves to confirm this view.85 But the internal
evidence is enough to allow of a decisive verdict. The
first subject in D major, 3-4 time, is in construction and
general consistency of character so totally unlike what we
regard as characteristic of Bach, that no one who should
meet with it apart from the movements that follow could
guess that he was its composer. But it is closely allied to
84 P., S. L, C. 13 (Vol. 216), No. 8.
85 The title which Joh. Peter Kellner has given to the MSS. referred to, in
the possession of Herr F. Roitzsch : " Sonata clamat in D4 et Fuga in H moll"
is careless and uncertain. It is evident that the name " Sonata" must refer to
the whole work of five movements.
R 2
244 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
the style of Kuhnau, who, in accordance with his musical
views, produced many consistent and song-like movements;
nay, I do not hesitate to assert that it is constructed on the
pattern of a particular part of the " Historic" of Jacob's
marriage. I mean the section which bears the indication,
" The bridegroom happy on the wedding night ; something
warns his heart of evil, but he soon forgets it again and
falls asleep." In time, key, scope, accentuation of the
principal ideas, and in general character, the agreement is
complete. In both the whole is composed of aria-like
phrases, mostly of eight bars, each time resulting in a perfect
and almost always similar cadence, only Kuhnau is shorter
and more lucid, Bach more massive in his harmonies and
almost as long again, though he has on the whole no more
to say. Here we detect the beginner. The similarity goes
still further; just as Kuhnau brings in under the superscrip-
tion "Jacob's wrath at the deception," a short subject formed
of recitative-like phrases, Bach tacks on a little piece of
fourteen bars in imitation of recitatives, from which a style
is developed of polyphonic combination altogether resem-
bling Kuhnau's (compare the first prelude of the first part of
the Clavierubung), and it leads very beautifully into the
dominant of B minor. The next piece is a fugue with this
theme86 —
an expressive and remarkably independent piece, only
rendered somewhat confused by the strettos which tread
on each other's heels. We cannot reproach Bach, at any
rate as compared with his contemporaries, for the defects
in the counterpoint, which here and there consists only of a
calm succession of chords ; nor for the answers to the theme,
which are occasionally such as would be inadmissible ac-
cording to those strict laws of composition which he himself
was afterwards the first to observe in all their severity.
M The almost exact resemblance to the andante of Beethoven's Pianoforte
Sonata, Op. 28, must strike every one. Here, of course, there can be no idea
of a plagiarism.
ITS RESEMBLANCE TO KUHNAU. 245
Now comes a beautiful little movement adagio, still in
strict style, and showing a depth of feeling which Kuhnau
never had at his command ; then the closing fugue in the
principal key, to which again the other master has contri-
buted his share— perhaps from the first subject of Jacob's
marriage, though in plan it is otherwise quite different.
More interesting to us than the musical value of this slightly
built movement is the indication it bears in manuscript —
" Thema all Imitatio Gallina Cucca." w Thus this light
theme —
is intended to mimic the cackling of a hen, with this other,
which gives the accompanying contrary rhythm throughout
the whole movement: —
It would hardly be too bold to argue, turning to this from the
capriccio, that we here have a connection of similar ideas to
that which subsists between the closing fugue of the capriccio
and the rest of that piece. The two fugues have considerable
general affinity, but the second dances on more quickly to the
end, which may, perhaps, be attributable to the subject
which was floating before the composer's mind. That
certain definite ideas did in fact govern its origin is obvious
from the transition from the previous adagio — which is so
devoid of musical motive that it seems to be endeavouring
after some special utterance, from the recitative, and from
its similarity to Kuhnau's " Historic"; which, however, I
am not able to say, and I shall leave it to others to put
forward any guesses on the subject.
At any rate, the dramatic aspect of Kuhnau's compositions
was that which least attracted Bach. If he ever yielded to
87 Indifferent Italian for " Tema all' imitazione della chioccia." The post-
horn fugue in the capriccio has the title " Fuga all' imitazione della cornetta
di Postiglione."
246 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
it at all there is no lack of evidence that he did so in a far
more humorous vein. Under the relations which exist be-
tween instrumental and vocal music, and the many close ties
which at that time existed between these two great branches
of art, as they still did a hundred years later, it would do
his talent no dishonour if he had really for once believed
that this class of art was of some value, particularly since
it was protected by such a name as Kuhnau's. But, unless
some more unknown treasures of instrumental music by
Bach should one day be brought to light, the fact remains cer-
tain that, after this juvenile attempt, he never again returned
to this branch of music in the whole course of a long artistic
career extending over nearly fifty years. To a genius so
thoroughly and inexhaustibly musical as his, it must have
been intolerable to see the art limping on crutches, or reduced
to a subordinate position.
The association of a musical composition with the con-
ception of a definite scene, in order to arouse or to represent
its emotional aspect, tends too often to mere platitude and
weariness. It serves to stimulate the composer's inventive-
ness when the natural energy of his purely musical ideas is
exhausted; and the theoretical composers of Bach's time
who, following the example of the rhetoricians of antiquity,
set themselves a suitable " topic" or subject for invention —
since free invention yielded them little or nothing — found in
this process a means of inflaming their imagination by the
images called up, a locus adjumentorum, as it was termed. The
imaginative power of the hearer, however, far from finding a
comprehension of the piece facilitated, is dragged away by
secondary ideas from the main musical conception. The whole
question of course turns on the nature of the ideas which it
is the function of music to deal with. The French, whose
genius for instrumental music is on the whole inconsiderable,
were fond of adopting for their small clavier-pieces — almost
the only line in which they showed any creative talent —
such titles as L'Auguste, La Majestueuse, Les Abeilles, &c.,
thus stamping them as portraits or as genre pictures, and
betraying their theatrical tendency. With regard to Kuhnau,
a German, it has already been said that he usually succeeded
THE LYRIC IDEAL. 247
in expressing situations which were replete with emotion,
although, indeed, he sometimes adopts very trivial means,
as, for instance, when he assigns recitatives to the clavier ;
and in the succession of various tone pictures, of which the
dramatic requirements are too obviously beyond the conditions
of musical art, he really fails as an artist. But when the
poetic element is worked out and subordinated to a purely
musical conception, so as merely to suggest the limitation
to one single and definite scheme of feeling, within which
the music can evolve its being, this no doubt serves to con-
centrate the sentiment, but also to turn the balance between
the objective and subjective elements in the work essen-
tially in favour of the latter. For that which is universally
paramount in a work of art is Form, in which, in a piece of
music, the idea or the image is not included. All such
artistic ideas are visions for the solitary soul, and from that
aspect are not less justifiable than the lyric form in the poetic
art, since Goethe declares that this should properly always be
a poem on a given occasion ; but to the multitude they are
intelligible only in their narrowest development, and even
then but rarely sympathetic. If the artist desires to give
utterance to such a conception, he must necessarily make
use of the human voice, since, in that, Nature has combined
articulate speech with musical tone into an unit among the
materials at his command.
Bach's development not only bears weighty witness against
such musical monologues, but confirms the correctness of the
principle just laid down in the most striking way. Take
the organ chorale, as written by Pachelbel, blossoming, as it
were, from the points of contact where personal feeling
meets the church melody, and uttering in mysterious
harmonies all the sacred emotions and imperishable memo-
ries that were woven round it in the composer's mind.
What is it but a subjective picture of his own mood ? For
a long period indeed Sebastian devoted all the powers of his
genius by preference to this form of composition, and opened
to us a world of sentiment that is as deep and immeasurable
as the ocean. But the true essence of an artist is to be able
to give outward form and expression to inward experience ;
248 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
and, just as all art as a whole is constantly tending to an
increasingly objective treatment of the subject selected, so
must the individual development of every true artist. The
aim and essence of Bach's chorale-choruses and forms of
composition allied to them was the raising of the organ
chorale to its utmost and highest perfection. Even in
Weimar he had already started on this path, and during
his residence in Leipzig he followed it up with stupendous
energy.
The second movement of the sonata by Bach now under
consideration has an independent pedal part, while in the
rest of the composition only the hands are employed. A
process here recurs which has been briefly alluded to in
speaking of a chorale arrangement. In a great number of
Bach's works it may be observed how he first gradually
educated himself to use the pedals in a thoroughly indepen-
dent way. No doubt his predecessors, too, had shown
much freedom in this respect, since, excepting perhaps in
the organ chorale, they had not confined themselves strictly
to a subject in which the number of parts was the same
throughout ; but still the proportions were always such that
the pedal had to play an essential part in the composition, as
soon as it had once been brought in to take its share in the
working-out. But its isolated entrance in the middle of a
piece, and its subsequent total disappearance, as in this sonata,
is the stamp of a beginner; neither Pachelbel nor Buxtehude
would have allowed himself such a licence. Nor is it more
mature in style when we find the pedal first introduced
towards the close of a composition, whether in the indepen-
dent conduct of the theme or to give more brilliant effect to
a closing cadence; here, certainly, there is an artistic purpose,
which however is directed to a superficial effect. Finally,
we come upon separate pedal notes serving as "pedal points,"
or as the deeper bass for a full chord. This treatment, which
was known also to other composers of his time, hardly in-
volves the pedal at all in the organism of the piece, and only
uses it as an ornamental accessory. Consequently, if we are
not completely deceived by the marks, this use of the pedals
is still to be seen in the first years of Bach's second residence
BACH'S USE OF THE PEDALS. 249
in Weimar, till it entirely disappears in the course of the
artist's advance towards maturity. The other modes of
using the pedals are referable only to the earliest period of
his labours, and any one who realises the vigorous polyphonic
treatment, of which he was master before the age of twenty,
will hardly regard compositions of this stamp as still possible
in the second half of the Arnstadt period. As a mere external
consideration it must be remembered that the frequent prac-
tice on the organ, for which he never had full opportunity
till he went to Arnstadt, afforded him an opening for the
independent use of the pedals, so that his compositions in
general may be regarded as a standard by which to mea-
sure his technical skill. In the one, as in the other, he
went onwards and upwards with gigantic strides ; and we
know that he would often sit the night out in obedience to
the demands of his genius.88
One composition thus characterised by an arbitrary use of
the pedals has a special biographical interest, because it
is connected with Sebastian's eldest brother. As Johann
Jakob, when starting with the Swedes, had a musical souvenir
written for him, so we find that Joh. Christoph received a
composition as a token on some festive occasion. For this,
also, the title of" capriccio" was chosen, and, as in the former
case, the occasion of the composition was exactly stated.
Here it was, at any rate, indicated by the words, " In honour
of Johann Christoph Bach, of Ohrdruf."89 The idea that this
was principally intended as an evidence of the artistic skill
he had acquired, and of the progress he had made, seems all
the more probable since the work was offered to his former
master, possibly on his birthday. It can hardly be of later
date than 1704, and was probably composed even before he
left Liineburg. The progress of an artist is not invariably
straight onward, or the latter date would certainly be the
88 Mizler, Necrology, p. 167.
89 " Capriccio. In honorem Joh. Christoph. Bachii (Ohrdruf} per Jh. Sb.
Bach" Thus in a copy which comes down to us from Aloys Fuchs, and now is
in the Royal Library, Berlin. The same title, with a few alterations, is in a copy
by his younger contemporary, J. P. Kellner. P., S. I., C. 13 (Vol. 216), No. 6.
250 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
correct one, for the merit of the second of these capriccios
is undoubtedly less than that of the first. It consists only
of one fugal movement, but the title was not then unusual
for an informal work of the fugue type. Informal it is,
in so far as that all sorts of other elements have a casual
existence in subordination to the theme — passages of pre-
tentious counterpoint which come to nothing, transient
ornamental effects interspersed with full chords. This inco-
herent treatment of the fugue betrays the influence of the
northern school as strongly as the cleverness of the thematic
development, which, indeed, is what lends the piece its chief
interest. Otherwise, in spite of its actual length (126 bars,
common time), it is not fully and duly developed. The road
leads over neither hill nor vale, but through a level plain,
not wholly without beauty. The greater part of the blame
attaches to the theme —
which, as compared with the brisk fresh post-horn thema,
moves on stealthily and almost sleepily. It is in bar sixty-
seven that the pedal is suddenly brought in, for no other
reason than that both hands may be employed in the imita-
tive passages above the bass. It disappears again after a few
bar», returning once more for the same purpose towards the
end, where an opportunity is given to the player for exhibit-
ing his skill in brilliant passages of demi-semiquavers. We
may assume that the bass was arbitrarily strengthened by the
pedal as suitable opportunities occurred. However, it is
necessary only in these two places. From its general
character the capriccio seems to be intended for the cem-
balo.
A work, however, in which the adaptation for the organ is un-
mistakable, and which must likewise be ascribed to this period,
on account of the undeveloped form of pedal treatment, is a
prelude with its accompanying fugue, in C minor.90 In this
instance the composition may without any doubt be assigned
•• P., S. V., C. 4 (Vol. 243), No. 5.
PRELUDE AND FUGUE IN C MINOR. 251
to the Arnstadt time; the rapture with which the composer
revels in the unlimited wealth of tone in the organ, glows in
every bar. In the prelude the pedal is, except in an intro-
ductory solo of several bars, employed only for the long-held
bass notes, on which is built a splendid flowing movement in
imitation, that is still another proof of Bach's early mastery
of polyphonic writing ; in only two places (bars twenty and
twenty-four) does he use the mannerisms of the time, which
he afterwards entirely cast off. The fugue is constructed
in such a way that the pedal does not enter until quite
the end, when it has the subject, it is true, but with no
counterpoint in the manuals, only chords accompanying
it in harmony. He may not yet have fully conquered
the art of form, any more than that of execution ; but it
is a striking proof of the evenness between the outer
and inner development of Bach's genius, that the impres-
sion produced is not in any way that of an idea only par-
tially realised. His thoughts fell naturally into the form
in which justice could best be done them by his executive
skill; and though this was not yet completely and equally
developed, the composition is homogeneous throughout.
The late entry of the pedal part may practically result from
the fact that Bach was not yet able to use it independently
in the form of an obbligato; it is evident, notwithstanding,
that an intentional climax is obtained at the end by means
of it. In fact, the true fire of youth burns throughout
the piece with a bright flame ; the semiquaver passages in
the pedals roaring and rushing up and down, accompanied
by the heavy chords in the manual, have a very impos-
ing effect, and one which is particularly suited to the
organ ; and in the rushing torrents of sound, which over-
whelm everything at the end, there is much more than
mere striving after executive brilliancy. If we consider
the structure of the fugue in other respects, we shall
find that the way in which the entrances of the subjects
follow one another betrays the desire not so much to
fulfil the higher and highest demands of the fugue form as
to revel freely in a mighty realm of sound. That this is a
special characteristic of the period before Bach, which, more
252 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
or less removed from the old strict polyphony, strove above
all things to bring into use the whole tone material of the
organ, has already been emphatically asserted. It was
reserved for Bach himself to achieve the most perfect mastery
over the outer material as subservient to the loftiest ideal.
This was the case at the time of his highest perfection,
when, as he became ever stricter and more strict, the traces
of the freedom of an earlier time grow very rare. At
this time, however, they were of very common occurrence.
The C minor fugue is in three parts, up to the entrance of the
pedals, where the part-writing ceases. These three parts,
however, are not as it were individuals partaking in the
development of the piece by the regular alternate delivery
of the theme. The theme begins on c, and ascends
constantly in the four subsequent entrances into the octave
between c" and c'" ; from the third entrance it remains, of
course, in the upper part. The rule of fugue construction
is not adhered to, except in the changes between tonic and
dominant, and their inner relations to one another; in truth,
this is the natural foundation for organ fugues, as well as
for all branches of instrumental music. The feeling of or-
ganic unity, which in other forms is gained in a different
way, is here only possible by adherence to a fixed number of
parts, which seem, like individuals, intended for one another.
The end and aim of form is to vivify its materials, and of
all these the organ tone is one of the most inanimate.
Among the most interesting of Bach's youthful works is
to be reckoned another fugue in C minor, which seems to
be of nearly the same date as the foregoing.91 It is
interesting, too, because themes resembling this one, but
more mature and full of meaning, are found in several
different fugues, so that it seems to be the expression of an
element inherent in Bach's deepest nature. It is brought
to marvellous perfection in the three-part fugue in the E
M P., S. V., C. 4 (Vol. 243), No. 9. Griepenkerl, in the preface to that volume,
assigns it, on the authority of a very old MS., to the Weimar period, in which,
however, he gives it a very early place. The use of the pedals is also in tins
case a very plain guide.
ANOTHER EARLY FUGUE.
253
minor toccata for clavier, for which this fugue would seem
to be a sketch, so closely allied are they, both in matter
and method. But this one, too, is important enough by
itself, and it may well be doubted if such a theme as the
following had ever occurred to any one else at that time : —
It is true that the harmonic, and at the same time melodic,
figure used from the middle of the third bar onwards was a
favourite and very effective means of uniting rapidity with
breadth of sound on the organ, and dignity with anima-
tion ; but when we look at the beginning — what a vague
indefiniteness of motion in rhythm and harmony — though
it was, and is, a fundamental rule to make the theme of
a fugue clear both in tonality and in rhythm ! In this, at
first, we do not know whether E flat major or C minor is
intended, and even when this doubt is solved in the next
bar, we have the choice, owing to the four semiquavers on
the third beat, of taking it as in F minor or A flat major,
until the entry of the response decides for the major. The
treatment, however, throughout is uncommon and of great
harmonic beauty. The uncertainty of the rhythm continues
still longer; as far as the third beat of the fourth bar the
player or the reader alone could know on which notes the
chief accents lay, and the unprepared hearer would doubtless
conceive of the phrase as accentuated in this way —
since the organ has no power of accentuation, and the
rhythm is not made clear until the fourth bar. This sudden
plunge from subjective obscurity into objective clearness is
a deeply rooted characteristic of Bach's artistic method. A
glance at the F sharp minor fugue, in the second part of
the Wohltemperirte Clavier, will serve to show how he
yielded to it even in later life. From the theme onwards
254 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
the work is pervaded by a feeling of tension and an expres-
sion of longing for a blissfulness as yet but dimly antici-
pated ; a wonderful effect, and one entirely unlike anything
then existing, is produced in passages like this —
by the chord of the sixth in A flat major, with the third
above and below, and the sad uncertain diminished chord in
the next bar. The composer comes constantly back to this
counterpoint, as though he could never be weary of it. The
flood of feeling with which the whole is permeated is so
intense that we willingly forget how little wealth of counter-
point the fugue displays, and how few are the changes with
which similar combinations recur in different positions. It
is a restless and delightful drifting to and fro, not designed
to carry us to any harbour. At the close a pedal passage
comes in, to warn us, apparently at least, of the approaching
end ; and this is ratified by an emphatic solo, otherwise we
should hardly believe it.
The question here arises what Bach did, at this time oi
the budding and happy blossoming of his genius, in the way
of organ chorales. We cannot suppose him to have now
neglected that form of composition to which some of his
earliest experiments belong, to which he devoted such in-
defatigable industry at his greatest period, and to which
his inclination continually prompted him. An arrangement
of the chorale " Wie schon leucht't uns der Morgenstern " —
" How brightly shines the morning star," — also exists in an
elegant autograph, of which the whole character assigns it
to the period of his residence in Arnstadt.92 It is written
for two manuals and pedals, and clearly betrays the influence
of the northern masters. We must also bear in mind that
it was in the path struck out by Pachelbel that the boy
92 Four leaves in small oblong quarto in the Royal Library at Berlin.
PACHELBEL'S INFLUENCE ON BACH. 255
was first led by his brother's hand, and that this influence
again met him on all sides when he returned from his three
years* sojourn in Thuringia. Since, during his residence in
the north, he gave himself entirely up to the influence of the
original genius of the masters that were most esteemed there,
we should hardly be mistaken in assuming that he would
come back with energies renewed and enriched, to the forms
of art which he could with truth call those of his native
country. These forms were the true soil — the deepest and
most productive of all — in which the Bach organ chorale,
like a majestic oak, had its root, while all other influences
were accessory, serving only as the nourishing water. During
these first years at Arnstadt we must think of him as follow-
ing most of all in the footsteps of Pachelbel. The works
that can with any show of probability be pointed out as the
result of his studies at this time are certainly very few. A set
of seventeen variations on " Allein Gott in der Hoh sei Ehr"
is ascribed to him in an old MS.98 The internal evidence
against its authenticity is much weakened if we consider it
as an early work, remembering how very nearly Bach at this
time approached to the style of Bohm and Kuhnau. In many
of the variations we perceive a breathing likeness to Pachel-
bel, but especially in the second, where the cantus firmus is
in the pedal part, and in the eleventh, where the melody is
given to an inner part. The fact, too, of the piece being worked
in three parts throughout agrees with Pachelbel's ordinary
and usual method. Original features are scarcely to be dis-
cerned, and therefore the variations bear no weighty witness
to the point of development which Bach had reached at this
time. Such evidence can only be derived from compositions
which reveal some new matter, even though the form be not
original. Buttstedt, Walther, and others wrote pieces all
their lives long which might have been written by Pachelbel.
Bach's relations to him can have been no more marked than
his relations to Bohm, Kuhnau, and Buxtehude. Nay, the
more familiar he was from childhood with Pachelbel's method,
the earlier must he have learnt to move freely and indepen-
* In the possession of Dr. Rust, Leipzig, unpublished.
256 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
dently in that method ; but this independence, naturally, is
not very conspicuous in this production, which was perhaps
lightly thrown off and quickly finished.
III.
VISIT TO LUBECK. — BUXTEHUDE AND HIS STYLE. —
INFLUENCE ON BACH, 1704-5.
Two years had slipped away in diligent and secluded labours
in his art. If Bach, at the very first, had gained the respect
of the citizens of Arnstadt by his conspicuous skill, he had
by this time means at his command to rouse them at times
to admiration. But whether it fell out so is another question.
It is quite certain that only a few suspected his genius ; the
majority asked no more than that he should fulfil his duties
satisfactorily, which on the whole was not demanding too
much. The musician took the contrary view ; to him the
aim and end of his official position was the opportunity it
afforded him for undisturbed self-improvement. Convinced,
for his own part, of what he owed to his own gifts, he found
certain parts of his duty displeasing and intrusive. Besides,
the supply of artistic experience and inspiration which he
had brought with him from the towns of North Germany,
had gradually been exhausted. He wanted to find himself
free once more, and to enjoy the invigorating and refreshing
intercourse with superior artists which he had been deprived
of now for some years. He had been able to save the funds
for a long journey out of his salary, so, towards the end of
October, 1705, after finding an efficient deputy, he petitioned
for four weeks leave of absence.94
His destination again lay northwards, being in fact Liibeck,
94 Immediately after his return he was summoned to appear before the Con-
sistory, February 21, 1706, and charged with having remained away four times
H")L, 4 U~-tL/c.) as long as his permission extended. See the document quoted later, which is
i.j. I in agreement with the statement in Mizler, p. 162, that his stay in Liibeck was
almost a quarter of a year — if the time for his journeys to and fro and some
] days spent in Hamburg and Liineburg on his return journey be deducted.
DIETRICH BUXTEHUDE. 257
the residence of Buxtehude. Pachelbel, indeed, was living
still nearer to him, but in the south at Nuremberg; and
he was sixteen years younger and by so much more vigorous
than Buxtehude. But Bach probably, and very rightly, took
the view that he could no longer acquire anything in Nurem-
berg that had not long formed part of the common stock
in Thuringia, and become to him part of his very being,
while the art of the Liibeck master offered new and peculiar
aspects, and had as yet gained small acceptance in Central
Germany. His reason for choosing the late autumn season
for his journey probably was that between Martinmas (No-
vember n) and Christmas the famous " Abendmusiken," or
evening performances, were held in the Marien-Kirche at
Liibeck, and he must have wished to hear them. Thus he
had no time to linger on the way at Liineburg or Hamburg,
or anywhere else if he was to arrive in time ; and the whole
fifty miles must be made on foot.
Dietrich Buxtehude was a Northman in the strictest
sense — a Dane. His father, Johann Buxtehude, held the
post of Organist at the Church of St. Olai (St. Olaf s),
at Helsingor, in Seeland, where the son was born in
1637. Nothing accurate is known as to the mode of his ^
education,95 but it probably was influenced by the school
of Sweelinck. In the sixth decade of the century he went
to Liibeck, and there he soon attracted general observa-
tion by his playing and his conspicuous musical talents.
Very possibly he was tempted thither by the prospect of
succeeding the Organist Tunder, who had died Novem-
ber 5, 1667, at the church of St. Mary ; and he was in
fact elected to this office, April n, i668.96 A few months
after this he married (August 3) Anna Margaretha, the
daughter of the deceased organist. It would seem that a
custom at that time made this marriage an indispensable
95 According to Walther, Johann Theile was his teacher, but this is obviously
an error, since he was nine years younger than Buxtehude.
86 H. Jimmerthal, Beschreibung der grossen Orgel (an organ built between
'^S1^) in der St. Marien-Kirche zu Lubeck, p. 44. Erfurt und Leipzig :
G. W. Korner, 1859.
S
258 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
condition.97 The place of organist to this church was one of
the best in all Germany. At the beginning of the eighteenth
century it was worth 709 marks ; the office of receiver, which
was combined with it, brought in 226 marks, and there were
besides various fees and perquisites. The organ was of
considerable compass, and, as it would seem, tasteful in
construction, with fifty-four stops to three manuals and
pedal.98 Hence, a man of genius and energy would find here
a favourable soil for prosperous activity.
Buxtehude had not long been in office when the signs of
his presence were already visible. His efforts were directed,
not merely to organ -playing, but to grand musical perform-
ances, which were only very remotely connected with the
church services. In 1670, a choir was built in the Church of
St. Mary, close by the organ, expressly for the singers, and,
in the year 1673, we first find mention made of that "evening
music " which Lubeck could at that time boast of as a pecu-
liar institution. These performances took place every year
before Christmas, on the two last Sundays in Trinity, and the
second, third, and fourth Sundays in Advent, from four to five,
after afternoon service. Buxtehude must not, however, be
regarded as having instituted them, since he himself wrote in
a church register kept by him, which still exists, that they
had been customary of old. As to where they originated and
on what occasion only the vaguest guesses were rife, strangely
enough, even in the eighteenth century. What, however,
remains certain is that Buxtehude raised them to greater
importance. On these evenings concerted sacred music
especially was performed, both longer and shorter pieces ;
but of course it must be understood that Buxtehude was
« A passage from his Hochzeitscarmen or epithalamium, in the City Library
at Liibeck, seems to hint at this : —
True, indeed, it pleased him ill, and he longed to be as free
As of yore ; but longed in vain — he had lost his liberty.
For the maiden's fair demeanour — with some unaccustomed fever.
Asking for its satisfaction — got the upper-hand for ever.
In the same song mention is made of the esteem in which the Lubeck citizens
held him as an artist.
98 The specification is given in Appendix, B. IV.
259
to be heard between the pieces as an accomplished organist.
His brother-in-law, Samuel Frank, a native of Stettin, at
first rendered him much assistance. He was cantor at
Liibeck, and fourth master in the St. Catherine School, but
was already dead in 1670." The municipality showed no less
readiness to support the master in his efforts ; musicians and
instruments alike were procured. Buxtehude attached great
importance to a perfect orchestra. Quite at an early date
he had purchased two trumpets "constructed in a singular
manner, such as had hitherto been seen in no prince's
band." In 1680 he organised a grand performance, in which
an orchestra of nearly forty persons were engaged besides
the singers and the organ. For this purpose the inde-
fatigably zealous musician had himself written out about
four hundred sheets, and as the profits did not answer to
the outlay, the church allowed him an additional sum of
one hundred marks. It might seem from this that the
"Abendmusiken " were regular church concerts, to which
admission was by payment. This, however, certainly was
not the case ; entrance was always free, as if to Divine
service. But it was the custom to have the books of the
words of all five concerts neatly bound together, and to send
them to the houses of the well-to-do citizens of Liibeck; and
it was a matter of honour on the part of the recipients to
send back an adequate honorarium. The impresario of the
concerts was thus reimbursed for his outlay, and paid himself
with the possible surplus. What Buxtehude developed out
of the " Abendmusik " proved to be an institution which
struck deep root in the life of the citizens of Liibeck, was
kept up throughout the whole of the eighteenth century,
and was even carried on during part of the nineteenth.100
99 The extraordinarily rich musical library of the Marien-Kirche was presented
by the town of Liibeck to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, in Vienna, in
1814. See C. F. Pohl, Die Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Vienna, 1871),
pp. 114, 115.
100 The principal printed source of information as to Buxtehude is Johannis
Molleri Cimbria Literata, Vol. II., p. 132 (Havniae, 1744). There, among
others, a passage is quoted from Hoveln's Begliickte und geschmuckte
Liibeck, p. 114, where the "Abendmusik of the world-famed organist and
S 2
260 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
His fame now spread widely and rapidly ; he became a
centre round which younger talents gathered. The most
important of these was Nikolaus Bruhns, born in 1665, at
Schwabstadt in Schleswig ; Buxtehude afterwards procured
him occupation for many years at Copenhagen till he be-
came Organist at Husum, where he died, unfortunately in
the prime of his powers, in 1697. He was also an admirable
violin-player, and by his method of double-stopping could pro-
duce such effects that the hearers could fancy they were listen-
ing to three or four violins.101 Daniel Erich, afterwards Organ-
ist at Giistrow, also deserves mention; and Georg Dietrich
Leiding, born in 1664, at Biicken near Hoya, who, like Bach,
made a pilgrimage in 1684 from Brunswick to Hamburg and
Liibeck to derive instruction from Reinken's and Buxtehude's
playing.102 We may even suspect Buxtehude's direct influence
on Vincentius Liibeck, who has already been mentioned.
He was in close friendship with Andreas Werkmeister among
others, who was organist at Halberstadt and an excellent
theoretical musician, and he took the opportunity of testify-
ing to this friendship by addressing to him, after the manner
of the time, two poems in his praise, which were inserted
before his Harmonologia Musica, 1702; one of these is an
acrostic on the composer's name, and shows a more than
ordinary facility of diction. A later generation were equally
unanimous in his praise, at their head Mattheson, who
mentions him with Werkmeister, Froberger, and Pachelbel,
as one of the few who, " although merely an organist," still
could show intelligent folks that he had something more in
him " than merely clanking the cymbals."103
composer, Dietrich Buxtehude," is fully discussed. Other materials are derived
from the church registers, account books, and official documents of St. Mary's
Church, which I owe to the kindness of Professor Mantel, of Liibeck.
Mattheson also, in the Vollkommene Capellmeister, mentions the " Abend-
musik." Ruetz discusses them later and more fully in a work entitled, Wider-
legte Vorurtheile von der Beschaffenheit der heutigen Kirchenmusik, p. 44.
(Liibeck, 1752.) H. Jimmmerthal has lately discussed the matter in a careful
little work, Dietrich Buxtehude, Historische Skizze. (Lubeck, 1879.)
101 Mattheson, Ehrenpforte, p. 26.
102 Walther, Lexicon, under " Erich " and " Leiding."
108 Mattheson, Grosse General-Bass-Schule, p. 42.
HANDEL AT LUBECK. 26l
Mattheson,born in Hamburg in 1681, and a resident there
throughout his life, had ample opportunity for knowing and
hearing Buxtehude. This he did in 1703 ; still the immediate
cause of his doing so at that time was the prospect of the pos-
sible death of the master, already advanced in years. He had
never forgotten the circumstances and conditions under which
he himself had obtained his office, and he, like his prede-
cessors, determined that his place should only be filled
by a man who should marry one of his daughters. As
such a bargain, though not unusual at the time, might not
be to every man's taste, it was necessary to look out betimes
for a successor. Mattheson at that time enjoyed a repu-
tation as a thorough musician and singer and a skilful player,
for which reason Von Wedderkopp, the president of the
council, invited him to Liibeck to take a nearer view of the
position. In the same year Handel had visited Hamburg and
formed a close friendship with Mattheson. By his friend's
request he made the journey with him, for it offered
various prospects of enjoyment and instruction to the two
young men, and it survived as a pleasing memory thirty-
seven years after, in Mattheson's memoirs, where he alluded
to it.104 Buxtehude played to them ; then they themselves
tried "almost every organ andclavi-cembalo"; and as Handel,
notwithstanding his youth, was his companion's superior on
the organ, he played that instrument and Mattheson played
the harpsichord. But the matrimonial conditions frightened
Mattheson away ; and well they might, for the bride proposed
to him, Anna Margaretha Buxtehude, was born in 1669, and
was thus no less than twelve years older than himself.105 His
comrade of eighteen, who from his previous training was
peculiarly fitted for the post, must under these circumstances
have had even less inclination for it, even if he had had no
other prospect in view. So they satisfied themselves with
104 Ehrenpforte, under " Handel," p. 94.
106 The church register does not indeed give the name in this particular place,
and Buxtehude had six daughters; but as Schieferdecker, the organist who
succeeded him, married one of them, named Anna Margaretha, it can only have
been this one— the eldest. Her name was the same as her mother's; besides, it
is natural that the office should have involved marrying the eldest daughter,
262 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
music and those pleasures which the citizens felt themselves
bound to offer to invited guests and distinguished artists, and
" after many proofs of respect and the enjoyment of many
entertainments," they withdrew from Liibeck.
Two years later Bach was standing before the organ on
which Handel had played. But the very different conditions
in which he found himself throw a strong light on the
difference in the development of the two men. Handel had
come to Liibeck to see whether the place might suit him if
Mattheson should not wish to take it : the evening perfor-
mances, the fine instrument, and the high salary, might
provisionally seem a temptation to him. He was a very fine
organ-player, but there is no reason to suppose that he was
superior to his contemporary Bach. And yet, with two
years more of diligent study and training, Bach was far from
imagining that he could get a lucrative appointment in
Lubeck. It was exclusively the desire to acquire some
new and important elements of artistic knowledge which
brought him to the side of the great master of organ-playing :
for the organ was the starting-point of his own develop-
ment— the germ from which, in great measure, his charac-
teristic creations grew and spread. Handel, with a genius
which, if more comprehensive, was far less profoundly labo-
rious, never stood in so intimate a connection with the organ
music of his time, that essentially German branch of art;
and the way in which he afterwards made it subserve his
grand and pregnant artistic ideal, the oratorio, demanded not
so much profound treatment as breadth and brilliancy. The
outward circumstances answer to this. Handel arrives from
Hamburg in the bright midsummer days, in the gay society
of Mattheson, and in obedience to an invitation from the
president of the council ; he enjoys an affable welcome, and
festivities in his honour. Bach comes on foot in the dull
autumn weather from remote Thuringia, following his own
instinct, and perhaps not knowing one single soul that
might look for his coming.106 But his talent was his best
06 Mizler, p. 162. " In Arnstadt once he was moved by a particularly strong
impulse that he should hear as many good organists as possible. §0 he went,
BUXTEHUDE'S WORKS. 263
letter of introduction. It is beyond all doubt that the
venerable Buxtehude must have observed what a genius was
here in blossom, and that an affinity in the artistic views of
the two men must have bridged over the half-century of years
between them, and have drawn them together. Once intro-
duced into this new world of art, Bach soon could think of
nothing else. His leave expired without his troubling
himself about the matter ; he had become indifferent to the
plaoe of Organist to the New Church at Arnstadt. Week
after week passed by ; he outstayed the allotted time — twice
the time — three times. It can be to a certain extent ascer-
tained what he heard of Buxtehude's larger compositions.
On the occasion of the death of the Emperor Leopold I.,
and the accession of the Emperor Joseph, Buxtehude per-
formed on December 2 and 3, 1705, from four to six in the
afternoon, a Castrum doloris and Templum honoris at
St. Mary's Church. These two works, which were printed
at the time, are now unfortunately lost.
A considerable number of Buxtehude's compositions were
published at Liibeck during his lifetime. They were prin-
cipally concerted works for church use, among them the
pieces written from 1678 to 1687 for the " Abendmusik,"
with incidental compositions, large and small. Of these
only five wedding arias have been preserved. Nothing has
come to my knowledge of his printed instrumental composi-
tions ; possibly a work consisting of seven sonatas for violin
and viol di gamba, with harpsichord (Liibeck, 1696), is the
only one which was published.107 Mattheson insisted that
on foot too, a journey to Liibeck, to hearken to the famous organist of St. Mary's
Church in that town — Dietrich Buxtehude." The conspicuous contrast be-
tween Handel and Bach led Forkel to interpret the word " behorchen " as mean-
ing " to listen secretly," but it only means to hearken with attention and
docility. That Bach, who was already a distinguished artist, should not have
ventured to make Buxtehude's acquaintance, while Handel two years previously
had boldly gone to work on his organ and brought him pupils from all sides,
has really no sense.
1(" Gerber, N. L. I., col 590, gives a list of Buxtehude's printed works, and inac-
curately quotes Moller's Cimbria Litterata as the authority, for he has combined
with it the notices by Walther (Lex., p. 123) and Mattheson. Moller's list runs as
264 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Buxtehude's chief strength lay in clavier music, and lamented
that " little or nothing" of his in that line had been printed.
Thus even he knew of none in print. It is therefore doubtful
whether a collection of seven Suites for clavier, of which the
existence is announced, ever were distributed, excepting in
written copies. At the same time, it was almost exclusively
to these Suites, now lost, that Buxtehude owed the circum-
stance that even in later times he was now and then spoken
of as a composer. He is said, for instance, to have " cun-
ningly represented in them the nature and characteristics of
the planets,"108 whence we might suspect them to have been
examples of the most tasteless "programme-music." On
the other hand, it must be remembered that the seven planets
— no more were known at that time, and the sun and moon
were reckoned in — had special identities of character attri-
buted to them, from which astrologers calculated their
influence on the lives and fortunes of men. It is evident
follows: "Various Hochzeh-Arien. Lubecae 1672, infol. — Fried- und Freuden-
reiche Hinfahrt des alten Simeons, bey Absterben seines Vaters, Juh. Buxte-
huden [The peaceful and joyful departure of aged Simeon ; on the occasion of
his father's death, by Joh. Buxtehude], 32jahrigen Organisten in Helsingor (der
zu Liibeck am 22 Jan. 1674. 72jahrig verstorben) in zwey Contrapunc-
ten musicalisch abgesungen. Lub. 1674. infol. — Abend Musick in IX. Theilen.
Lub. 1678-1687. in 4. — Hochzeit des Lammes. Lub. 1681 in 4. — VII. Sonate
a doi, Violino &> Viola di gamba, con cembalo. Lub. 1696. in fol. — Anonymi
hundertjahriges Gedichte vor die Wolfahrt der Stadt Liibeck ; am I Jan. des
Jubeljahres 1700. in S. Mamw-Kirche musicalisch vorgestellt. Lub. 1700. in
fol. — Castrum doloris dem verstorbenen Keyser Leopoldo und Templum honoris
dem regierenden Keyser Josepho I. ; in zwey Musicken, in der Marien-Kirche
zu Liibeck, gewidmet. Lub. 1705. in fol." — To these he adds two works which
were ascribed to Buxtehude in the Leipzig catalogue of the Spring book-
fair of 1684. " i. Himmlische Seelen Lust auf Erden iiber die Menschwerdung
und Geburt unsers Heylandes Jesu Christi. 2. Das allerschrocklichste und
allererfreulichste, nemlich das Ende der Zeit, und der Anfang der Ewigkeit,
Gesprachsweisevorgestellet." — [" i. Heavenly joy on Earth, over the Incarnation
and Birth of our Saviour Jesus Christ. 2. The most fearful and most joyful [of
events], namely, the End of Time and the Beginning of Eternity, set forth in
recitative."] I may here refer the reader to my own edition of Buxtehude,
brought out since the first volume of this work was written: two vols.,
Leipzig, Breitkopf and Hartel, 1875-1876. They include several pieces which
were unknown to me at the time when I wrote upon Buxtehude's charac-
teristics.
106 Mattheson, Vollkommener Capellmeister, p. 130.
BUXTEHUDE'S POSITION IN ART. 265
that Buxtehude had proposed to reflect these in his Suites,
and so to compose seven characteristic pieces; and this, in
Mattheson's opinion, he had perfectly succeeded in doing. It
is difficult to see why this should be a more unmusical idea
than Couperin's, when he called his sarabandes and allemandes
" La Majestueuse," "La Tenebreuse" &c. On the contrary, the
suggestion betrays a far deeper comprehension of the essence
of purely instrumental music than any Frenchman ever
showed. That the art of music is a reverberation of the
harmonious order of the universe, and that a mysterious con-
nection subsists between its pure tones in their essence and
combinations, and the sempiternal motions of the Cosmos
with the heavenly bodies, keeping their orbits in an infinite
space which is instinct with life — such thoughts as these
have stirred the deepest minds from extreme antiquity down
to the present day. Beyond a doubt, that which guided
the composer in an attempt which, at the first glance,
seems so singular, at a time when it was not unusual to
require of music that it should represent a given subject,
was a true feeling for what really could be fitly rendered
by it.
Between Froberger, Kuhnau, and the French composers
on one side, and Sebastian Bach on the other — whose
compositions, apart from his organ chorales, are the very
essence of pure tone for tone's sake — Buxtehude stands
as a compromise, leaning, however, visibly towards the
latter. Our hypothesis would be still further confirmed
if the seven Suites were based on the seven degrees of the
diatonic scale, as Kuhnau, in his " Claviertibung," had gone
through both the major and minor scales with seven Suites
each, one on each note.109 Then a direct reminiscence of
Greek antiquity might come in : the Pythagoreans taught
that the intervals between the orbits of the seven planets
corresponded to those of the notes of the seven-stringed lyre.
Unfortunately, there is no prospect of this interesting work
ever coming to light again. It was greatly due to two
109 Leaving out, however, B major and B flat minor, no doubt, on account of
difficulties of temperament.
266 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
contemporaneous authorities that any instrumental compo-
sitions were even at the time preserved in MS. — the indus-
trious collector Joh. Gottfried Walther and Sebastian
Bach himself.110 The first preserved only organ chorales,
but what we derive from Bach, be it observed, are al-
most exclusively independent organ pieces ; he understood
Buxtehude.
In point of fact, interesting and clever as his chorale
arrangements are, in this department he cannot stand com-
parison with Pachelbel and his school. It was, therefore,
greatly to the master's disadvantage that, of those few of
his compositions which, until quite recently, had been made
accessible to the world by being printed, the greater number
were chorales.111 In this way a quite one-sided and often
unfavourable idea must be formed of his true importance.
His chief strength lay — for we must somewhat expand Mat-
theson's verdict — in pure instrumental music, uninfluenced
by any adventitious poetical idea. In this he is the negative
pole, so to speak, to Pachelbel, who marked an epoch by his
organ chorales, and by what he wrought out from a thorough
and persistent study of popular melody — namely, the inven-
tion of expressive musical themes. Buxtehude, by his grand
independent compositions, which are full of genius, aided
greatly in the culture of one important side, at any rate,
of Bach's talent — a side which now might be supposed
to be the most imperishable, because it is based on the
very essence and nature of music. That he should other-
wise have influenced Central Germany very little is easily
110 In the volume of selections before mentioned, Walther wrote out vvitk his
own hand a great number of Buxtehude's chorale arrangements together. All
that came from Bach's family is in the MS. of Andreas Bach, two remarkably
beautiful volumes of writing now in the library of the Joachimsthaler Gymna-
sium in Berlin, derived from the collections of Kirnberger or Agricola, and in
the Krebs volumes.
111 « XIV. Choralbearbeitungen fur die Orgel von Dietrich Buxtehude — heraus-
gegeben von S. W. Dehn. Leipzig: C. F. Peters." A few smaller ones were
published by Commer (Musica Sacra, I., No. 8), and G. W. Korner (Gesammt-
ausgabe der classischen Orgel-Compositionen von Dietrich Buxtehude. Erfurt
and Leipzig, only one part issued.) This contains, in part, the same works as
those published by Dehn.
BUXTEHUDE'S PRELUDES AND FUGUES. 267
explained, since there almost all effort was concentrated
on the chorale, while in the North there was no very
great disposition to treat this particular form as a medium
for subjective utterance. Between the South Germans, who
did not possess the Protestant chorale, and Buxtehude,
with his fellow musicians, there was, on the other hand,
a closer affinity — as was natural under the more similar
conditions — and this is visible in many peculiarities of
style, particularly in the construction of melodies. In
other particulars, to be sure, as in harmonic treatment,
in the employment of colouring, and in pitch, there is
all the difference between the noonday and the evening's
glow.
There are twenty-four organ compositions, rich alike in
matter and extent, on which we can found a more certain
judgment as to Buxtehude's high importance in this branch
of art.112 Among them are two chaconnes, a passecaille, one
shorter toccata and two longer ones, three separate fugues,
and two canzonets ; the remainder consists of preludes with
fugues, to which we shall first turn our attention. The
preludes have generally an ornate subject, carried on in
all the parts in a full stream of imitation, of which a good
share is given to the pedal, which also becomes frequently
prominent in brilliant solo passages. This last feature
forms an essential mark of difference from the many
similarly constructed toccata movements by the South
German organ-masters; and comparison especially teaches
us how far (in point of executive quality) these latter works
are behind those of Buxtehude and his school, to which a
similar impulse had been given by Sweelinck. In these the
use of the pedal is chiefly confined to long-held bass notes,
or to slow progressions ; even in Pachelbel it is throughout
almost the same. Georg Muffat put under the eighth
toccata of his Apparatus musico-organisticus the words,
112 For comparison with the following remarks, see Dietrich Buxtehude's
Sammtliche Orgel-Compositionen, Herausgegeben von Philipp Spitta. Two
vols., folio. Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hartel, 1875-76. The figures in brackets
refer to this edition.
268 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Dii laborious omnia vendunt. This piece, which, in his
opinion, was of exceptional difficulty, would doubtless have
been played straight off by men like Buxtehude and Bruhns.
As in the prelude, so of course in the fugue, the pedal has a
distinct and independent part, in which, moreover, Buxte-
hude has, by means of a general plan as characteristic as it
is important, made room for a still richer development —
that is to say, he usually modifies the theme once, if
not oftener, in the course of the fugue, and so gives rise to
ii a fresh treatment. An entire fugue consists in such cases
of several separate fugues which, regarded as independent
movements, are generally joined into one by short interludes,
in which the chief object is bravura display. These new
forms, in which the first theme only serves as the motive of
another, are a very remarkable characteristic of the instru-
mental music of the time. They show that the fundamental
nature of pure music was then perfectly understood, and
point onwards to one of the first principles of form in the
modern sonata, without departing from the proper ground
of fugal form. The cradle in which this form was preserved
and fostered was the toccata, and, indeed, we can distinctly
perceive as it were the sketch of it in the toccatas of
Froberger. But Buxtehude was of course not the only
one, even of his period, who adopted this form ; a similarly
constituted work by Reinken was mentioned above, one too
by Bruhns is preserved, and it was this which incited Bohm
to write his organ chorales, which are indeed founded on the
principle of exhausting each separate line of the tune as a
distinct motive. In spite of this, however, Buxtehude must
be called the chief representative and perfecter of this form,
not only because he has left us the largest number of
examples of it, but also because he evinces in it that power
of invention which distinguishes the mind of genius. By
this he makes up for what his chief subjects lack in beauty
or animation.
Thus in one of his greatest organ compositions (Vol. I.,
No. 6), after a very beautiful prelude of sixteen bars of
common time in E minor, he sets off with the following
fugal theme : —
FUGUE IN E MINOR. 269
When this is gone through he begins afresh with this theme: —
_^ f y- tip- to- feg_
JEj^i r ' • ' ' ~^^=i T
After richly elaborating it and introducing a free interlude,
this subject begins : —
I .„.! J
We see what rule the composer has followed in the formation
of the second and third themes : he takes out the character-
istic passage of the chief theme, first the passage from b', the
fifth to the tonic e' (first bar), from there up to the octave e",
and down to a' ; secondly, the passage — as before — from b' to
e', going straight to a' without going up to the octave. The
skip of the fourth in the second subject (from c' sharp or c'
to g sharp), is only apparently anomalous, since Buxtehude
intended the last semiquaver but one of the first bar in the
chief subject (d"), and not the following e" to be the note of
the melody. This last is only an harmonic passing-note, and
the melody is considered to go from d" to a', which seems to
have rather a harsh effect, but is not foreign to Buxtehude's
style. Throughout the whole composition, numbering as it
does in all 137 full bars, there moves but one and the same
chief musical identity, notwithstanding the various changes
of position, mien, and costume ; and the effect is heightened
by the change of time. From the regularity with which, in |
Reinken and Bruhns, a two-time is always followed by ai
three-time, we see another recognised principle of form
manifesting itself ; the organism must change from the
grave severity of the beginning to the joyfulness of airy
motion, and this form is what is aimed at in these three
sections. The first, which although inwardly agitated, yet
enters with the external dignity of repose, is followed by the
second, with its labyrinth of entanglements and profound
270 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH. •
intricacies ; beside this subject there are two counter-subjects,
the second of which, with its passages in quavers, impels the
whole to greater animation, and then the first theme appears
in inversion. Such a network of tones, and one in which
each mesh stands out with full and clear regularity, notwith-
standing all the complication, could only be woven by a
genius for harmonic invention of the highest order. Between
the second and third sections stands one of those interludes,
without any strict thematic germ or marked working-out,
which serve the purpose of halting-places, and have the
effect of affording a relieving contrast with the strict regu-
larity of the foregoing piece by an unrestricted playfulness,
and of refreshing the hearer and preparing him for what is to
follow. They consist of running passages and broad masses
of chords, in both of which Buxtehude shows such a clearly
stamped individuality that his hand may be most easily
recognised in these interludes. It is he who first introduced
and brought to perfection those passages to be played without
regard to time (a discrezione, or ad libitum), which may be
called organ recitatives; and he, too, was the first to take
pleasure in employing shakes in several parts at once and
even on the pedals, and certain passages divided between the
two hands. It is in the quiet progressions of chords, however,
that he most prominently shows his harmonic individuality,
when some startling harmony stands out from those around
it as a very Fata Morgana, calling up magic imagery, ever
new and ever transient. After such an intermezzo the
conclusion of the tone-drama follows in the last fugal
movement ; the theme goes through the different parts in
proud magnificence, assuming in the pedals an expression of
stately grace, and seems to have been intended just for that
position and for no other. It may be remarked throughout
how the organ-character speaks from every note of this great
and remarkable composition.
A fugue in G minor (Vol. I., No. 7) shows also three
forms of the theme, but in spite of this similarity in structure
it is intrinsically quite different. The prelude even is of
another form. In it there is no ornate subject, but a regular
fugue-theme carried on through twelve bars of 6-4 time,
FUGUE IN G MINOR. 271
almost the whole of which is on a pedal on G, which only
alters its position quite at the end, and then goes through
the theme once in a more ponderous manner, while the
manual has accompanying chords above. The theme of the
first fugue — which is converted into a double fugue by a
second subject coming in after the first theme has been
once gone through — is this —
^— ' i u'-t— 1 r USE* u ' *
and the ambiguity of its harmonies must not be overlooked,
as being a kind of anticipation of Bach. On it, again, is
built a masterpiece of profound harmonic ingenuity, which
can only be found fault with on the ground that it displays
too great a number of combinations in too quick succession,
and so is not quite fitted to the nature of the organ, of which
the majestic character requires constant simplicity up to a
certain point. At any rate, this work of genius demands a
very quiet rendering to make it clear. In one place the
inclination to elaborate passages of rich invention round
about the subject interrupts the calm flow of the polyphony.
Out of the interval of a fourth, between the second and third
notes of the theme, grows a dialogue between the upper and
the two inner parts of four bars long. Then the theme is
given to the pedals and gone through twice running, after
which all the parts work back again in the earlier style.
The melancholy feeling of the whole is carried out by the
interlude that concludes it, which sinks sadly and dreamily,
deeper and deeper, into itself. Then it is awakened by
the first modification of the fugue theme (on the dominant
of D)—
which works itself several times vigorously and recklessly
out of the depths, without regard to the entrance of the
different parts, always rising higher and higher, as in the
C minor fugue of Bach, mentioned above; regardless, too,
of harmonic considerations, for a false relation is repeated
272 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
persistently again and again. Then there comes a sudden
break ; the second modification of the theme begins, and
the powerful last movement in 3-2 time : —
Of the same kind is another work on a like principle, and
yet how differently carried out (Vol. I., No. 14). The
prelude breaks in tempestuously, like the shock of a wave,
and foams wildly about in passages of thirds and sixths.
After six bars of 12-8 time there comes in, as though from
the depths of the sea, a threatening bass-theme : —
tr
This is repeated five times, while the storm rages above: the
waves toss round and over one another, they part and again
pile themselves up — truly a fantastical and weird conception.
Forthwith the theme appears in the bass —
severe and heavy, as indeed is the whole fugue. In the inter-
lude a bass is brought dreamily in on the manual, while
above it are heard broken chords, which under close exami-
nation combine to reveal a distinct idea, both as to phras-
ing and melody, and the melody is heard, like a distant
song borne upon the wind. Then the pedals come in with
massive leaps of octaves, with an accompaniment of semi-
quavers ; the passages are repeated in the right hand, and at
length lead into the last movement— largo, 3-2 : —
This time the three-time brings in no cheerful conclusion —
indeed how could it ? — but, in contrast to the weird monotony
of the foregoing movement, a deep and overwhelming sorrow.
A fervid and overpowering expression of feeling was at the
BUXTEHUDE'S ROMANTIC FEELING. 273
command of the composers of that period, which may be
called the youth of the art whose manhood is represented by
Bach and Handel. Johann Christoph Bach's motetts are
quite steeped in this atmosphere ; many things by Kuhnau,
and in a high degree also many arias and songs by Erlebach,
display an intensity of feeling that goes to the heart as
directly even now as it did two hundred years ago. But
though Buxtehude is steeped through and through with this
element, his way of giving it expression is quite distinct, and
yet not so different but that a resemblance may be perceived.
Although it is difficult to prove this without going into the
smallest details of his peculiarities of style, yet it makes
itself clearly felt, and seems to be accounted for by nothing
so much as by his Danish extraction. It would be easy to
draw a comparison between him and a distinguished artist of
the present day, his countryman, if references to the living
did not too easily disturb the quiet contemplation of an
historical picture. Certain it is that this master's manner,
strange and yet familiar, touching us so remotely and yet so
nearly, lends a heightened charm to his art. The period
before Bach was in its early days a period of musical
romance, and on the instrumental side the greatest roman-
ticist is Buxtehude. Except his chorales there are very few
pieces by him in which this characteristic is not prominent ;
the organ composition in question is quite full of it. The
movement whose theme was last quoted is especially imbued
with a longing, a striving after infinity, which is the more
striking from its struggling with the stubborn material of the
organ, like Pygmalion's with the cold marble.
In the prelude and fugue in E major (Vol. I., No. 8) the
chief theme reappears three times in different forms. The
modifications, however, are all shortened, and are constructed
on only the first two notes of the theme, nor is it brought to
a conclusion in three-time, but in common time, by a short
fugue closely connected with it. The nature of the piece
becomes more energetic and more compact up to the very
end. In subservience to this idea the first fugue is very
sedate in style, and has its full effect only in conjunction
with the other parts, though even then a certain rigidity is
T
274 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
not altogether concealed.113 As a general rule the theme
underwent only one modification, and this must be regarded
as the fundamental form which none but such a richly gifted
genius as Buxtehude could overstep, and then only occa-
sionally. The greater number of his compositions are
confined within these limits, but manifest within them the
greatest variety.
Another fugue, also in E minor,114 with a majestic intro-
ductory prelude, has this theme —
riff:
which, regarded by itself, seems half insignificant and half
peculiar. On playing further, however, it soon becomes
clear that, in part at least, this is intentional. The theme
charms us but little by its own merit, but interests us by its
harmonic uncertainty, which is made use of cleverly enough
in the working out. After a short interlude, which, with
its semiquavers, reminds us of the prelude, there follows this
modification in 3-4 time:—
tr—
The counterpoint in the second bar afterwards becomes the
motive of some very graceful figures, which gradually extend
further and further, until at last they usurp the whole
territory and then lead back into common time. Now
the semiquaver passage of the prelude reappears, and in
addition to this some most charming episodes, formed on
a pedal-figure &* J!p^^ which appeared before as a tri-
butary ; and they, by degrees, drive everything else into
the background, securing the last word for themselves.
Beethoven himself could hardly have done it differently.
118 This first fugue is in the third volume of A. G. Ritter's Kunst des Orgel-
spiels, and it was afterwards published in a selection of Buxtehude's works,
made by Korner. Il was, for the reasons given in the text, not the happiest
choice.
"* Vol. I., No. 13.
HIS METHOD. 275
Buxtehude is very fond of such finales as this, by which
the whole work attains a brilliant conclusion ; and he makes
frequent use of them. The method is referable to the same
principle as that by which the rhythmic form resolves itself
for the most part into three-time, and which aims at cheer-
fulness and serenity at the end of the piece. We are not
led up to the heights of art and there left alone, but are
brought back again to the abodes of men. Since the highest
forms of instrumental music require a corresponding height
of subjective isolation, we can see in this a healthy and
justifiable universal feeling. The same method is followed
by Mozart, who always lets the hearer depart with a
pleasant impression, whatever depths of feeling may have
been previously unveiled to him. Nay, in every instrumental
form of more than two movements, this tendency should, to
a certain extent, be followed ; for at the close it is not the
details that should prevail, but the general sentiment ;
fitness requires this, in art as in life. And this is adhered
to no less by Beethoven than by Mozart; no less by the
Suite-composers, who always gave the last place to the
lively gigue, than by Alessandro Scarlatti in his overtures
in three movements. But in relinquishing a form once
obtained and made clear, and in returning to an arbi-
trary and unmethodical style, there is certainly a kind of
retrogression. Here it becomes evident that Buxtehude, in
spite of all his genius, could not entirely free himself from the
fault of the school to which he belonged — viz., the perpetual
aiming at effectiveness in performance. That his perorations
or finales were often in the highest degree interesting and
full of genius, is amply proved by the composition just
alluded to. Here, too, he still confines himself within
moderate limits, and refers so distinctly back to the prelude
that the proper feeling of cyclic rounding-off is well preserved.
So is it in the prelude and fugue in D minor (Vol. I., No. 10),
where the pregnant theme —
T 2
276 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
which afterwards reappears in this form —
is clearly announced in the prelude, kept up in the interlude
by means of a little imitative passage, and again heard
quite plainly in the rhythm of the brilliant peroration. So
much unity of subject is not forthcoming in the prelude
and fugue in A minor (Vol. I., No. 9), a piece which,
in consequence of the remarkable relation which it seems
to bear to one of the fugues in Bach's " Wohltemperirte
Clavier," will occupy our attention again. In this, how-
ever, the peroration is not so long as to weaken, in
any important degree, the impression of the foregoing
and nobler forms. Of quite different proportions is a
composition of the same class in F sharp minor (Vol. I.,
No. 12). The prelude begins with semiquaver figures,
chiefly of a harmonic kind, followed by progressions of
chords in Buxtehude's genuine manner; then in a grave
movement the double fugue makes it appearance, and, in
thematic invention, is one of the master's most beautiful
compositions: —
p
-Sff-
As it proceeds it is full of deep expression directly prophetic
of Bach. After this lovely movement, the second theme
presents itself vivace, in this form —
is carried through all four parts, and joins to itself the chiet
subject in this form : —
ORGAN FUGUE IN F MAJOR.
277
Soon it modulates into the relative major, which was not
permitted in the melancholy grave movement; the groups
of three semiquavers begin to develop themselves more
and more decidedly as episodes, and the piece, fresh and
sparkling with genius, rushes on. In the peroration the
composer gives the reins to his fancy. A remarkably free
organ recitative is heard, and when at last it returns to a
half close on the dominant of the original key, there begins
on the phrases —
f= and
the most charming series of playful combinations, un-
wearying and inexhaustible, and with ever-increasing bril-
liancy and wealth of tone. The perfect unity of the ideas,
the well-considered changes and progressions of the parts,
the high degree of contrapuntal dexterity, the brilliant tech-
nique, bringing into requisition all the qualities of the organ,
combine to make this composition a true masterpiece of
German organ music. It cannot be questioned that we here
find ourselves on a considerable height : whoso would desire
to climb further must possess the strength and breadth of a
Sebastian Bach. The aesthetic defect which arises from the
form of peroration, and especially such a long peroration, is
not indeed entirely removed by even the most inspired treat-
ment, but it is considerably modified.
There are not many organ fugues by Buxtehude which go
on their way in one movement without any modification of the
theme. There is one such in F major (Vol. I., No. 15), which
is introduced by a beautiful prelude, in which, by way of
exception, there is one change of rhythm — viz., it is in
common time at the beginning and end, and 12-8 time in the
middle. But the four-time is at the root even of this, so
that the change is almost imperceptible and does not disturb
the flow of the piece. The theme is long and characteristic — •
278 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
and its lively character pervades the whole piece without
losing itself in harmonic complications. The semiquaver
figure of the first bar gives ample opportunity for pleasing
interchanges between the higher and lower registers. The
inclination, too, to episodical extensions is very evident.
The influence which this work of Buxtehude's has exercised
on a great concert fugue of Bach's is unmistakable.
The form of a great toccata in F major (Vol. I., No. 20) is
at first sight very varied, but a regular fugue forms the germ
which, in some degree, provides the material for the sub-
jects which follow, in so far as they are compressed into
intelligible forms, and do not ramble about in fantastic
aimlessness. More cannot be demanded of a form which can
at most be agreeable and pleasing, though it is fully justified
when the higher claims of art are not set aside for it.
The toccatas of Buxtehude are naturally immensely superior
to those of older masters — such as Froberger — in variety,
genius, and effectiveness, and especially in the use of the
pedal, as has been remarked before with regard to his
productions in general.
But our master knew full well the worth of a composition
that increases in purpose and meaning up to the very end.
An instance of this is furnished by a great organ compo-
sition in G minor — a perfect model of systematic and well-
calculated design (Vol. I., No. 5). A short and lively
prelude begins the work, coming to a close on the dominant;
then follows a fugato Allegro, a few bars long, on this
subject : —
To this is added a passage which soars upwards and closes in
G, the key in which the theme of the principal fugue begins.
The meaning of this fugato increment is at first obscure,
as it has no connection with the theme of the fugue, which
is that subject afterwards so freely used, and which ulti-
mately became common property : —
THE CHACONNE. 279
It is found again in the second part of the " Wohltemperirte
Clavier" (No. 20, in A minor), in a string quartet by Haydn,
in a Requiem by Lotti, in Handel's "Joseph" and "Mes-
siah," and in Mozart's " Requiem." At the conclusion of the
fugue, which, in spite of its interest, contains much that is
unwieldy, a new theme appears in 3-2 time, which bears a
strong resemblance to the first fugato : —
r I r i r i
As it goes on the resemblance becomes more decided, and
at last it is confirmed by this pedal passage, which is
accompanied by the chord of G minor in the upper parts : —
When the fugue comes to an end, this passage, destined to
a twelve-fold repetition, like the theme of a chaconne, comes
to light, the offspring, as it were, of the development of the
whole : —
This theme is surrounded with a rich counterpoint, which
brings the whole work to a close. The expectancy created
by the working in of the fugato movement is completely
satisfied. The happy thought of developing a fugal idea
through a lavish rhetorical treatment as it were, closing
on an irrefragable axiom, and so proving his skill in the
ever-new relations of the contrapuntal changes, occurred
once again to Buxtehude, and was employed in a fugue
with a prelude in C major (Vol. I., No. 4) ; the Ciacona,
in 3-2 time, stands in the place of the modification of
the theme which was formerly in use. Closely allied to
the Ciacona, or Chaconne, is the Passacaglio. Both were
originally dance forms, in which a short bass theme of
two, four, or, at the most, eight bars was incessantly
repeated. The opportunities which they afforded for
building upon them ever-changing combinations of counter-
point, made them a favourite subject with composers for
280
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH,
organ or clavier. What we are told of their characteristic
differences by writers of that time is altogether contradic-
tory, and of no authority whatever.115 Even the composers
themselves seem to have held the most various opinions.
Buxtehude, however, established for himself a difference
between Passacaglio and Ciacona, which is also noticeable
in a chaconne by Bohm — namely, that in the first the
theme is always the true bass, and remains unaltered
throughout, while in the latter it may go into any of the
parts, and be subjected to the most various adornments and
variations so long as it remains recognisable throughout.
According to this, we must call the concluding movement of
the G minor fugue " alia Ciacona," since the theme wanders
freely about among the parts, and once is even quite lost
among the figurations. We also possess two chaconnes and
one passecaille as independent works, which for beauty and
importance take the precedence of all the works of the
kind at that time, and are in the first rank of Buxtehude's
compositions. His individual style of harmony unfolds
itself here in all its fulness and intensity of expression, and
the hearer is overpowered by the melting sweetness of its
melancholy. All three works are pervaded with the same
feeling, but, in spite of this, they are very different in expres-
sion— the very first bars decide this. Of the two chaconnes
that in C minor is the more impassioned. It is a work full
of wailing longing (Vol. I., No. 2) : —
Fed.
STB1
116 See, for instance, Mattheson, Vollkommener Capellmeister, p. 233, com-
pared with his Neu eroffnetes Orchestre, p. 185, and Walther's Lexicon, under
*' Passacaglio."
CHACONNE IN E MINOR.
28l
The second chaconne, in E minor (Vol. I., No. 3), is like
a ballad, in which the agitation of the speaker, about some
mournful or gloomy subject, is concealed beneath the objec-
tive aspect of the form in which it is told ; still it is distinctly
felt throughout. The modulation to G major, especially in
the second bar, bears the stamp of outward equanimity, and
even as the piece proceeds the increasing motion has an
external and narrative effect. But that it is so only in
appearance is clear even at the beginning: witness the
upper melody with its lovely swing and its well-chosen
rhythm and harmony, which is capable of the deepest ex-
pression, though it is almost immediately repressed : —
The working-out after the first eight bars is excellently
introduced. From the ninth bar onward it soars bravely out-
wards and upwards into the world, with so free a flight that
the indissoluble chain of the subject in the bass is wholly
282 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
forgotten. Later on the feeling resembles more distinctly
an inevitable destiny from whose charmed circle there is
no escape. Though it may sometimes be concealed, or
partially disappear, at the decisive moment it is always in
its place. Of the richness of invention displayed by the
composer in the ever-new superstructures no description can
be attempted ; in the middle there is a series of harmonies,
evolved by chromatic reverse motion between the upper and
lower parts, the possibility of which had been scarcely dreamt
of before Buxtehude.
The warmth of feeling restrained in this chaconne breaks
forth with redoubled strength in the passecaille in D minor
(Vol. I., No. i). The broad rhythm at once points to this,
and the form of the bass theme —
Sfef[=gM 9^=^=—^-^^=^==^=
which transfers itself in so impressive a manner into the
dominant. The passecaille consists of four sections almost
exactly of the same length, of which the first is in D minor,
the second in F major, the third in A minor, and the last
again in D minor. This subdivision gives rise to the
only fault that can be found; the sections might have
been welded together in a more imperceptible manner by
smoother modulations, while as it is they stand side by
side, only bound together by quite short, modulatory
interludes. For the rest, the composition is above all re-
proach ; one would fain say above all praise also. It is not
only that the strict form goes hand in hand with melodic
animation, than which none greater or more individual
can be conceived of; but also there is no piece of music of
that time known to me which surpasses it, or even approaches
it, in affecting, soul-piercing intensity of expression.
What has been said will suffice to make the importance of
Buxtehude's independent organ works very evident. They
are, as they might be expected to be in a collection put
together by mere chance, of unequal artistic merit, and some
of them have not much more than a historical interest. On
the whole, however, they have no reason to fear comparison
BUXTEHUDE AND BACH. 283
with the highest standard of all ; that, namely, derived from
Bach's masterpieces. There can be no doubt that the latter
far surpassed Buxtehude, but his advance was, at the same
time, a step in another direction, although he used and
appropriated the acquisitions of the earlier master. A just
estimate demands that, as Mozart's symphonies stand their
ground next to those of Beethoven, so too Buxtehude, with
his preludes and fugues, his chaconnes and passecailles,
should retain his place next to Bach. When an art is
approaching its highest stage of development, the relations
between its component parts are no longer so clearly defined
that one can be said to absorb the others into itself, and
so assert its own individual importance. Only the foun-
dations of an edifice are invisible; the building itself rises
into the air, and is then adorned with numerous gables
and towers. One is wont to overtop the others, but if
the architect understands his business he will reach his
full effect only with the aid, and partly by means, of
all. The technique of the organ had already reached
such a point of development by the time of Buxtehude's
full power, and chiefly by his agency, that it cannot
altogether be said that Bach had to open out entirely
new paths. He brought what he received to its highest
perfection, but it was in that mainly that he found the means
of utterance for his inspired ideas. Buxtehude's mental
horizon may have been more confined, his talent less pro-
lific ; but what he had to say — and that was of great import-
ance and all his own — he could say in a form utterly perfect,
and so reach the ideal of a work of art, so far as it is ever
possible to do so. It will be seen later on that Bach, with
perfect comprehension of the state of affairs, essayed himself
only in a transitory manner in the special forms cultivated
with such mastery by Buxtehude, on which, however, he
left the stamp of his genius without in any essential degree
towering above his predecessor. This is especially true of
the chaconne and the passecaille. All that he has of greater
profundity and concentration in his famous work of the latter
class, the other master makes up for in depth of expression
and youthful fervour. Bach, it is true, possessed this fervour
284 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
and depth in the highest degree, but it came to the surface
with more difficulty, and for the most part lay hidden in
the depths, pervading and vivifying all. Still this very
characteristic is the token that both stand on the highest
step of the art of organ music.
It is a constantly recurring phenomenon in history that the
creations of human genius, when they have been developed in
any given direction to the greatest possible perfection, begin
to show some essential reaction, which overpowers and seeks
to ruin them, and so forms the germ of a new and quite diffe-
rent evolution. Not always, but very frequently, in Bux-
tehude we meet with forms which seem quite to thirst after
the true soul of music, although it is quite indisputable that
they were intended for the mechanical, soulless material of
the organ. In the second bar of the chaconne in E minor,
the beginning of which is quoted above, there is no apparent
reason why the composer should not have allowed the upper
part to coincide with the second part on g' on the third beat
of the bar — since it would sound the same to the hearer as
what is written now — unless it be that he wishes to express,
as well as he can, the way in which the melody occurred to
him, and that he had more to say than he could express.
The indications of his having in his mind some instru-
ment more capable of expression are so strong in these
passages that they seem, if played on a modern pianoforte,
as though they were written for it. If we only attempt
it we shall be convinced that it is utterly impossible
to reflect the deep expression which everywhere rises to the
surface, without the employment of shades in execution, and
even that will scarcely suffice ; we shall feel impelled to call
in the aid of song. Pachelbel^in consequence of his acquisi-
tions from Southern art, approaches far more nearly to the
true simple essence of organ music; indeed he was the
real inventor of the organ chorale, which by its nature
strives after the most purely subjective expression, and,
although the younger of the two, he more nearly attains
this than Buxtehude. Their difference of age was equalised,
however, by the enervated state of Germany after the gre.at
war. Though she did indeed succeed in producing a Buxte-
BUXTEHUDE AND PACHELBEL. 285
hude, this was hardly possibly before the time at which
Pachelbel also was born. Thus the only contrast between
them is that between the North and the South, and we
can see, without need of further remark, how they converged,
and met half-way — Buxtehude's restless intensity towards
Pachelbel's chorale, Pachelbel's quiet restfulness towards
Buxtehude's free organ composition. Bach united these
contrasts in himself. But he felt Pachelbel's influence
through the medium of the Thuringian masters, who had
already amalgamated his spirit with their own ; besides, his
nature was German to the core, and more allied to the
romantic than the classic element. For this reason he stands
not exactly between and above them, but somewhat nearer
to the Liibeck master; and, for the same reason, not below
him either, but to a certain extent beside him, and more so
than Pachelbel.
That subjective warmth which a hundred years later was
destined to call forth — in antithesis to this first — a second
golden age of German instrumental music, glowed also in
Bach, and in an infinitely higher degree than in any of his
predecessors or contemporaries. It did not, indeed, gush
forth so unrestrainedly as in Buxtehude's case, but was kept
powerfully in check, influencing and permeating all that he
wrote.
The number of Buxtehude's organ chorales which remain
is almost twice as many, and we are indebted to Walther's
diligence for the greater number of them. To Bach's
collection we can ascribe at the most those three which his
pupil, Johann Ludwig Krebs, has preserved in his two books,
for organ and clavier respectively. It stands to reason, in
the case of so great a master, that his works, even of this class,
are, to say the least, not to be slighted. His natural inclina-
tion to pure music led him, indeed, like all the organ com-
posers of the northern school, to disregard the poetic
intensifying of the organ chorale. What there may be of this
poetic feeling is, as it were, only by the way, and is based on
no definite principle. But the organ chorale has become, and
must remain, too closely united with the hymn to be treated
only on musical principles. It is in fact founded on the sup-
286 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
position that the melody at least of the chorale shall be plainly
heard throughout in its original form, so that the hearer may
easily trace it through the more elaborate figures of the
organ arrangement, and that what the latter lacks in organic
development from its own materials may be supplied by a
reference to the original air. Thus it was only the natural
outcome of an indwelling germ when Pachelbel extended
these conditions, as he could not evade them, by applying
them to the poetic meaning of the chorale melody, and thus
winning new material for musical forms.
Buxtehude came only half-way to this point, and so all
that his inventive genius did in this form must of necessity
have a more superficial character. Full of genius, brilliant,
effective in the best sense — these are the most just epithets
to apply to his chorale arrangements. These qualities are
most prominent in the cases where the lines of the chorale
are treated in the manner of motetts, as we have before
called this method of treatment — an expression which is
meant to denote the preponderance of polyphony in contra-
distinction to Bohm's manner of using the phrases as melodic
episodes. To this method belong the three pieces, " Nun
freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein," " Gelobet seist du, Jesu
Christ," " Herr Gott, dich loben wir," works of the grandest
dimensions, resembling those by Reinken and Liibeck, which
we have mentioned before. Thus the first of these begins
with a movement of no bars common time, then 22 bars
of 3-2 time, then 18 bars of 12-8, ending with 107 bars
common time, consisting of rich semiquaver figures — 257
bars in all ! certainly one of the longest existing composi-
tions for the organ. The simultaneous employment of
two manuals, differing in power and quality of tone, is a
favourite device of Buxtehude's in this case — as in others
— for he lays great stress on individual effects of tone.
This, indeed, is a characteristic of the school. We here
meet with the effect used so happily also by Bach, of
giving the melody to the pedal in the tenor part, with
eight-foot or eight and four-foot stops. In common with
Reinken he has made use of the doubled pedal part.
This was afterwards turned to account by Bach in the finest
BUXTEHUDE'S ORGAN CHORALES. 287
forms of his organ music, although in this he had been
anticipated in a scarcely less wonderful manner by Bruhns,
of whose composition a perfect fugue with two-part obbligato
pedals has been preserved.116 Buxtehude is very fond of
the double fugue-form, so he is wont to oppose indepen-
dent themes to the lines of the chorale and to work them
both together. Especially fine in this respect is a work on
" Ich dank dir schon durch deinen Sohn," in which a piece
of 154 full bars is developed from a short four-line chorale.
The first and third lines are treated fugally with strettos in
the old-fashioned way, the latter in double counterpoint; the
first gives an opportunity, by a slight chromatic alteration,
for the most surprising and genuine Buxtehude harmonies.
The second and fourth lines are also treated fugally, but each
has two independent themes, with which it undergoes every
possible combination in double counterpoint on the octave ;
these themes are very characteristically invented, but con-
tain harsh passages which grate upon the ear.
The arrangement of the chorale " Ich dank dir, lieber
Herre," is in part more artistic, but in part, too, more
simple. The first line is gone through in a quiet four-part
movement, as if accompanying the voices for the service; the
second follows allegro, worked episodically, and then fugally
treated, first in two and then in three parts, with a stretto
between the two parts. Then the first line in diminution
becomes the theme of a fugue which is gone through in
the proper way ; at the end the pedal is heard through the
fabric of the fugue with the subject in augmentation ; this is
followed as before by the fugue on the second line but with
richer treatment. Then the remaining lines are gone through
with their independent themes, the two last being in 6-4 time.
It is evident that the composer set himself the task of
inventing something outwardly new, as far as possible, for
each line, and that he attached more importance to manifold
variety than to unity of feeling. For this reason his most
116 Commer, Musica Sacra, I., No. 5. There is also given, under No. 6, a
chorale arrangement by Bruhns on " Nun komm der Heiden Heiland," which
is quite like the great chorales of Buxtehude in style.
288 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
successful pieces are those in which he displays the full
brilliancy of his technique, which keeps the feeling more
on the surface; for he becomes restless and fatiguing when
he tries to be effective by contrapuntal treatment only.
Buxtehude understood perfectly how to treat a simple
long-drawn-out chorale with uninterrupted counterpoint,
and if he scarcely ever prevailed upon himself to keep
to one and the same figure throughout, like Pachelbel,
yet he took great care that the flow of the work should
nowhere be allowed to stagnate.117 With a view to a new
effect, he sometimes united the two forms ; as, for example,
in an arrangement of " Nun lob mein Seel den Herren,"
where first the chorale is gone straight through in the
upper part with continuous counterpoint, then treated line
by line, and lastly given to the pedal, and there gone
through without interruption against fine animated passages
in the upper parts.
The same method is followed in the chorale " Wie
schon leucht't uns der Morgenstern,"118 in which the
melody, beginning in the manual-bass, goes into the upper
part at the repetition of the first section of the tune, and
two sets of ascending passages of triplets soar upwards
between the short lines of the second section. The descend-
ing scale of the last line is now thoroughly worked out
in 6-8 time (changes of time are seldom wanting in his
greater organ chorales), then the whole chorale is once
more gone through in 12-8 time, while animated fugal
themes are formed chiefly from the lines of the tune,
and are worked out in uninterrupted connection. It seems
that he wrote but few chorale fugues properly so-called,
preferring to invent his themes for himself.119 But he
created a special type of shorter two-manual chorales,
which are treated not with a full working out, but with
117 Compare the chorale "Jesus Christus unser Heiland," Vol. II., Part II.,
No. 15.
"8 See Vol. II., Part I., No. 8.
119 Korner, loc. cit., p. 8, gives one which I also consider genuine, chiefly
because some of the master's little peculiarities appear in it.
BUXTEHUDE AND PACHELBEL. 2»9
a single enunciation of the melody. This is played or
one of two manuals, arranged in contrast to one another,
and receives grace notes and ornamentations, but no
episodical extension as is the case in Bohm's work.
With this the other manual and the pedal have counter-
point, which is never confined to a particular figure.
Between the lines there are short interludes, sometimes
consisting of free imitation, sometimes taking their shape
from the beginning of the next line, according to the
fancy, and in these the pedals generally lead. Interludes
based upon the subject of the following line are also a
characteristic of Pachelbel's chorales, but, notwithstanding,
the two forms have nothing to do with one another — nay,
they are rather in direct contrast. Here there is no attempt
at the ideal unity which Pachelbel kept in view, nor any
trace of consistent uniformity throughout. Buxtehude aims
solely at the adornment of each separate line in an agreeable
manner, at ingenuity of harmony, and at giving an especial
colour by clever interchange of the manuals, and sometimes,
too, by doubling the pedal part. This composer, who was
so great in the organic forms of pure music, entirely lost his
characteristics when he ventured on the poetic treatment
of the organ chorale ; for when we do not know the
melody which he has treated, it is often quite impossible
to discover any plan whatever in his chorales of more
than four lines long. Buxtehude only directed his view
to details; it was not given to him to find the happy
medium, and to show the whole form of the chorale
underneath the flowery ornamentation with which he
loaded each separate portion. In the organ chorale it must,
indeed, be always left to the hearer to supply part of the
inner unity, but there are musical means by which even this
may be made felt. Apparently Buxtehude did not attempt,
in any way, to reflect the chorale organism in his own
subjective feeling, and only availed himself of an outward
unity in order to give the reins to his inventive faculty for
details. It is fundamentally the same as in his greater
works, only that in them great independent tone pictures
were formed from each line, which, as such, were more
V
2QO JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
readily connected musically with each other ; while here the
musical relation of the lines of the melody is interrupted,
without any such compensation being offered beyond a
cleverly written movement. How similar the radical prin-
ciple in the two cases actually is we can most easily see
where the episodical interludes are somewhat more worked
out. In these cases small fugal movements on the separate
lines begin as if of themselves, and among these the upper
part, which comes in last of all, and to which the melody
is always given, appears only as the last among its fellows,
and not as the end and aim of the whole development,
which should come prominently forward and dwarf all else
by its presence.120 Viewed, however, from the composer's
standpoint, even these works afford much refined and artistic
gratification. Even in Central Germany this was afterwards
acknowledged by competent judges like Adlung and Walther.
Adlung did full justice to them when he said " Buxtehude
set chorales very beautifully."121 Walther testified his admi-
ration by writing out more than thirty of them. His interest
in Buxtehude, however, has partly a personal foundation, in
the intercourse he had, when young, with Buxtehude's friend
Andreas Werkmeister. The latter gave him also "many a
lovely clavier piece of the ingenious Buxtehude's compo-
sition,"122 which we must envy him, and grieve that he has
left us none of them, unless we include amongst them that
suite on the chorale "Auf meinen lieben Gott" (Vol. II.,
Part II., No. 33), which was mentioned before, and which
only raises our desires still higher.
Turning now to Buxtehude's vocal compositions, only
cursory attention need be paid to the five "Hochzeitsarien"
— wedding arias — before mentioned.128 They are songs in
strophes, with ritornels in the fashion of the time ; a harpsi-
uo See, for instance, Vol. II., Part II., Nos. 20 and 22.
121 Anleitung zur mus. Gel., p. 693.
128 Walther, quoted in Mattheson Ehrenpforte, p. 388.
128 In parts, in the Town Library at Liibeck. They date in order as follows:
June 2, 1673; March i, 1675; July 8, 1695 ; March 14, 1698; September 7,
1705.
THE OLDER CHURCH CANTATA. 2QI
chord accompaniment alone is indicated, excepting to the
earliest, where two viole da gamba with one voice and the
spinet-bass compose a subject in four parts. The third and
fourth are set to Italian texts, and it is clearly to be seen
how the foreign method of singing had at that time begun to
influence even these forms. The melodies are very sweet,
and particularly well adapted to the Italian words. There
is a distinct advance observable in the five pieces, the second
representing most purely the old German aria, while the
last betrays the sixty-eight years of the composer's age. In
the ritornels, too, it may be noticed that those to the two
first arias are simply five-part subjects treated as fugues (at
the close of the second a decrescendo from for te through piano
to pianissimo has a very good effect) ; in the others they are
short and in three parts, and in Nos. 3 and 4 a little dance is
appended, as was a favourite practice later, namely, a minuet
and a gigue.
But his concerted church music deserves more attention,
for we already know that an artistic task, to which he
attached great importance, was the conduct of the " Abend-
musik " at Liibeck ; and these compositions played no small
part in gaining him fame. The original printed editions are
for the present lost, but we have a substitute in the form of a
beautiful MS. copy, which was written, at any rate in part,
under the superintendence of the master. It shows traces of
revision more or less important by his own hand, and con-
tains some of the evening music pieces — perhaps actually
some of those that were printed.124
Hitherto no opportunity has offered for a full investigation
of the state of church music generally at that period. Joh.
Christoph Bach's great choral work, " Es erhob sich ein
Streit," is of quite another stamp, and Michael Bach's " Ach
bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ," remained but half developed
from the motett. What was before glanced at, as to Sebas-
tian Bach's first attempt, may here very properly be enlarged
upon, since Buxtehude's church compositions are not only
124 See Appendix A, No» 13.
U 2
2Q2 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
interesting in themselves, but admirable representatives of
their species ; moreover, they will serve as a fitting back-
ground to Bach's work.
The form of church music accompanied by instruments —
or, as I shall henceforth call it, the older Church Cantata —
which was the predominant form from 1670 to 1700, resulted
from a combination of the different forms of church music
which had previously been in use separately. How the text
was commonly constructed has already been told. The
musical forms most in use were the aria, for one or more
voices ; the arioso, that is to say, the older type of recita-
tive, as it was introduced by Schutz and then preserved
nearly unaltered; and concerted choral-singing, in several
parts ; besides these, certain timid attempts at a few modes
of treatment borrowed from organ music. These were used
alternately, and it was optional whether an introductory
instrumental piece should precede them. Rich polyphony
was not much in use ; this branch of art had almost dis-
appeared with the extinction in Germany of the old tenden-
cies and views, and could not be recovered till new paths
were thrown open. The soft and elementary melody of
the time, with its generally homophonous treatment, the
poverty of development in the forms in use, and, wherever
the sections were of any length, the frequent changes of
time ; finally, the formless and fragmentary arioso, which
grew more spun out, give the older cantatas a sentimental
and personal character ; and those who seek in the music
of the period the reflection and counterpart of pietism must
seek it in these, and not in Bach's cantatas.
The first in the collection of Buxtehude's cantatas is
founded on the following series of texts — "Whatsoever ye
do in word or deed, do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God and the Father by Him " (Colossians
iii. 17):—
Dir, dir, Hochster, dir alleine,
Alles, Allerhbchster dir,
Sinne, Krafte und Begier
Ich nur aufzuopfern meine.
Alles sei, nach aller Pflicht,
Nur zu deinem Preis gericht't, &c.
SONATA AND SINFONIA. 2Q3
Thine and Thine alone, Most Holy,
All, O Lord Most High, be Thine;
Heart and soul before Thy shrine,
Here I offer, poor and lowly.
Due to Thee is all I own,
And I bring it to Thy Throne, &c.
" Delight thou in the Lord ; and He shall give thee thy
heart's desire" (Psalm xxxvii. 4). Then follow the two
last verses of the hymn " Aus meines Herzens Grunde,"
and at the close the text from the Bible is repeated.
No indication as to its use on any Sunday or holy-day
is given with either of the cantatas, and the one under
discussion seems not to have been composed for such a
purpose, but for some special occasion, perhaps a wedding.
The instrumental accompaniment consists of two violins,
two violas, bass, and organ, for a five-part treatment was
more usual than four parts, and when the chorus consisted
of four voices the first violin added a fifth part, lying above.
The cantata is in G major, and is introduced by a sonata
consisting of nine slow bars of common time, with very
lovely, soft, and original harmonies, and a presto in 3-4
time, which works out the same motive in imitation.
Sonata and sinfonia originally meant the same thing, as
applied t© an introductory instrumental movement. The
former term subsequently fell into disuse for this, as it
began to be used for other instrumental pieces. However,
it was still retained when the prelude was to display that
essential harmonic character which originally distinguished
Gabrieli's sonatas, while the name sinfonia came into
general use, particularly as, with the progress made
in time, a more polyphonic animation was introduced.
Perhaps the radical meaning of the words may have helped
in this, since in the sonata the chief importance was given to
unity of effect, and in the sinfonia to the parts, which by
their combination produced the harmonies. And though
that form of sacred prelude in two sections, which betrayed
the influence of the French overture, was often called a
sonata, this is perhaps most easily accounted for by as-
suming that the name was taken from the first movement,
2Q4 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
which was always to be broad and sonorous in effect. But
the second portion also frequently preserved this character,
so that the upper parts only carried on a series of imitations
of each other, and the lower ones filled out the harmony.
It was thus that the introductory sonata to Joh. Christoph
Bach's " Es erhob sich ein Streit " was constructed, and
so also is this one by Buxtehude. It may be remembered
that Sebastian Bach, in the same way, prefixed a sonata to
the Easter cantata of 1704.
The first text is here sung by the chorus in four parts.
It is almost purely homophonic, and at first each syllable
has a note, but afterwards a few figures and very simple
imitations occur. The somewhat meagre method of spin-
ning out the melodic thread by repeating the same musical
phrase, sometimes in a higher and sometimes in a lower
register, is unfortunately characteristic of Buxtehude's vocal
compositions. Here again, however, we may convince
ourselves to how great a degree the natural conditions
of the instrument employed supply the standard for the
form. The same master whom we lately saw wandering
through the mazes of counterpoint in organ fugues, here
does not venture beyond the simplest combinations. As
we consider these unadorned forms, it becomes clear how
much was left to be done by a genius like Bach in this
very branch of art, and why the greatest organist that
ever lived nevertheless directed his powers as composer
principally to vocal music. The three verses of the hymn
are set to an aria in four parts, with a ritornel for two
violins and a bass; the melody is very pleasing but trivial,
and, like the words, lacking in depth. Then follows an
arioso for the bass, in E minor, on the words " Delight
thou in the Lord," where we at once perceive that speeches
from the Bible, if they were to be given to a solo voice, had
to be treated in this way, since no other available form
as yet existed for them. Thus it is not singular that Bach
should have adopted the same method in his Easter cantata ;
but in the repetition of a melodic phrase in gradual ascent or
descent — as for instance is done in the tenor arioso " Entsetzet
euch nicht," and in the progressions in thirds in the bass voice
BUXTEHUDE'S CANTATAS. 295
and basso-continuo, which come in in the first subject and
elsewhere, and which are such a blemish in part-writing —
we may trace the influence of an earlier master. Buxtehude's
arioso has some analogy to both these, but it is otherwise
full of really consolatory feeling, and its modest beginning,
accompanied merely by the organ, serves as the blank page
for displaying a flash of talent of the greatest brilliancy ; for,
after it has closed on the e, the whole body of violins comes
in at the topmost register, and sinks slowly and grandly
through intoxicating harmonies, like celestial dews on the
thirsty earth, coming down at last on G major below, on
which the hopeful chorale at once begins, " Gott will ich
lassen rathen " — "To God's good counsel leave it ": —
g%=^
- g ~- J, *U j
d
9^ =?
TJ _ ^r'r1: -
-i >, f—\-~ f*\» - i ^ —
j.
rf5— ^ %B |—f J—
i
["5= s^
^^~" r [ ^
•— *,
j
=* 1 1
The organ must be imagined as playing softly, and particu-
larly as supporting the bass by the use of a sixteen-foot stop.
One verse is then sung by the soprano alone, the second
by four voices, very originally and softly harmonised ; for
some time the organ alone accompanies, while the instru-
ments come in with interludes between the lines, till at last
they continue throughout, enriching the subject both in
quality and harmony. In the last bar but two the first
violin soars up in ecstasy and then sinks again ; to conclude,
296 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
the first chorus is repeated, but is prefaced by a slow intro
duction full of rapturous feeling, beginning thus : —
^agu. J ,
fe-— =|
JSL.
f* r
d- -1
lilEE
Compare bars four to six of the beginning to Bach's Easter
cantata ; we here and elsewhere find the prototype of its
separate chords and abrupt harmonies. There is yet another
sacred sinfonia by Bach which quite preserves Buxtehude's
style : it preludes the grand chorale cantata, " Christ lag in
Todesbanden,"125 but can hardly have been composed for this;
it must have been transferred from some earlier work. The
final chorus in this instance is somewhat richer, and displays
a pleasing and engaging polyphonic treatment of a thoroughly
agreeable character.
The second cantata is undoubtedly an " Abendmusik,"
composed for the second Sunday in Advent. It treats of the
Second Coming of Christ to the Judgment, and has a vein of
pomp and mysticism. The means employed are considerable,
consisting of a five-part choir, three violins, two violas, three
cornets, three trombones, two trumpets, bassoon, double-bass,
and organ. With this body of sound Buxtehude has con-
structed one of his grand massive compositions. A symphony
begins in D major, of which the theme is taken up by a
flourish of trumpets ; the violins and trumpets are used for
alternate contrast, but the trumpets are played con sordini, an
effect of tone intended to increase the mysterious feeling. 121
Then the soprano comes in in the same key, with a well-
considered accompaniment of only the stringed quartet and
the organ with bassoon, singing the words of the hymn "Ihr
lieben Christen, freut euch nun " — " Ye faithful Christians
now rejoice," — but to the melody of " Nun lasst uns den
"• B.-G.,I.,p. 97.
ISM Walther says of the trumpets con sordini, that they sounded " quite soft,
as if they were far away."
VOCAL FORMS DERIVED FROM THE ORGAN. 2Q7
Leib begraben " — " Let us now put off this body," — a
deeper sentiment, leading us beyond the gates of death ;
this selection anticipates an equally significant instance by
Bach himself. This chorale is an exact transcript, for the
soprano and stringed instruments, of Buxtehude's small
organ chorale for two claviers, and its real importance
attaches to the application of the organ character to vocal
music. For here the principle comes to light which was
destined to give to Protestant church music both a new form
and a new spirit. In the place of the first manual, which
gave out the melody, we have the voice ; and in the place of
the second manual and pedal, the orchestra. Whatever is
praiseworthy in the organ chorale reappears here to greater
advantage, beautiful effects of tone from the soprano lying
high and clear above the shifting tangle of the instruments
and the rich and ingenious harmonies, as the morning rises
above the mists of the plain. Moreover, the chorale melody
naturally stands out as the principal subject, by means of the
voice and words, far more distinctly than it could on the organ,
where also its significant simplicity is overburdened with
colour ; and the passages in canon in the bass, which on the
organ are only confusing, here appear as charming subsidiary
themes. But the want of plan in the counterpoint, and the
want of proportion in the care given to the effects of the
body of tone, as compared to the interests of the independent
existence of the single parts, remain the same as in the organ
piece. At first the rhythm of the theme of the symphony is
well pronounced above the varying movement of the instru-
ments, but it soon becomes indistinct and shadowy, and
presently vanishes altogether, giving way to vague fancies.
To the eye such contrapuntal treatment gives at once an
impression of disorder; still, when played and sung, it all
sounds well and accurately written, but the real basis of
satisfaction is lacking. Pachelbel, who also made an attempt
to transfer his organ chorales to vocal music, of course, from
his natural temperament, produced something more ideal and
profound, as the fifth verse of the cantata on " Was Gott thut,
das ist wohlgethan," which may be termed masterly. The
•succeeding chorus stands in well-considered contrast to the
2Q8 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
movement just described. It opens with all the splendour of
the full body of tone in the rousing shout, " Behold the Lord
cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judg-
ment upon all" (Jude, 14, 15). It starts in majestic chords
and then passes into a fugato, which is more important for
the dramatic way in which it is conceived and for the mix-
ture of qualities of tone than for polyphonic art. This
theme, for instance —
mit viel tau ------- send
is repeated in incessant alternation by the voices, the violins,
and the trumpets, at first in single parts, but soon in two
and three, and still only moving from the tonic to the domi-
nant and back. A picture is borne in on the fancy of the ten
thousand saints riding forth after Christ, hither and thither
from all the corners of heaven, ever more and more rising
above and beyond those in front, and each host more glorious
than the last. A grand effect is also produced when the
choir sings the words " Gericht zu halten," with only the
organ accompaniment, in alternate semi-chorus ; and then,
all at once, the whole body of tone comes in with full force.
Here again we see a prototype of Handel's treatment. A
blaring instrumental symphony of eleven bars follows ; then
we hear a mysterious bass arioso, "Behold I come quickly,
and My reward is with Me" (Revelation xxii. 12), accom-
panied only by the organ and two trumpets con sordini, which
die away in the final passages, so that the image fades like
a vision. Until now the fundamental key has never been
abandoned. The next movement — for alto, tenor, bass,
three violins, two violas, and figured bass — is in A major,
but it is the weakest in the cantata. It shows how
incapable composers were as yet of animating grand forms
with corresponding spirit. The verses of the hymn which
supplies the foundation are repeated line for line with little
imitations; then each time an instrumental ritornel is
brought in, sounding very stiff and ungainly, however, in
BUXTEHUDE'S CANTATAS. 299
its six parts. The best that can be said of it is that it helps
to produce remarkable contrasts of tone. The solemn peal
of the muffled trumpets follows the union of the subdued
voices with the swaying tones of the violins, and, above the
trumpets, two clear soprano voices sing a fugal " Amen."
Buxtehude always knew how to round off his work ; so, to
close, he returns to the chorale of the beginning —
Ei, lieber Herr, eil zum Gericht,
Lass sehn dein herrlich Angesicht,
Das Wesen der Dreifaltigkeit !
Das hilf uns, Gott, in Ewigkeit 1
Yea, Lord, come quickly, judge and seal!
Thy glorious countenance reveal —
The presence of the Trinity !
And guide us through eternity.
It strides on in 3-2 time and in full magnificence ; the first
violin throws in a sixth part high above the chorus, and
between the sections of the melody the trumpets come in
with a fanfare. A lively "Amen" ends the chorale, consisting
of a light alternation of imitations between the chorus and
instruments. The reader will at once perceive that we have
here the exact prototype of the closing chorale of Bach's
Easter cantata.
The third, calculated for massive effects, is written only
on three verses of the book of Sirach (Ecclus.), 1. 24-26.
It has no solos, and the choral portions again display the
inaptitude of the period for such undertakings. No com-
poser had hitherto dared, ^Eolus-like, to unchain the spirits
of music and to set them free to rush tumultuously over the
broad ocean of sound ; although in Buxtehude's organ-works,
they are heard already hurtling against the door of their
prison. Instead of this, small motives are brought in
which, separately, never dare to contradict or even to assert
themselves, but which show much spirit when all are
working together, though after every little effort they have
to be refreshed by a ritornel. In the middle is a five-part
arioso with the organ, " Which exalteth our days from the
womb, and dealeth with us according to His mercy," —
3OO JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
of the same type as the three-part arioso in Bach's
cantata. In the third part the time is very much varied ;
3-2, common time, 3-4, common time, 3-4, 3-2, 3-4, succeed
each other, and then the first ritornel and chorus are repeated.
This unrest is highly subjective, reminding us of Christian
Flor's Musikalisches Seelenparadies,127 and if the composer
were not Buxtehude, we might call it amateurish.
While a quotation from the Bible is the sole text of the
third cantata, only hymns are employed in the fifth and
sixth. The former depicts the joys of the blest in the next
world in the manner of the Song of Solomon, and in the
poetically rapturous but sentimental language and feeling of
the pietistic hymns. The fifth verse is as follows : —
Die Rosen neigen
Sich von den Zweigen
Ins giildne Haar
Der Auserwahlten
Und Gottvermahlten :
Seht, nehmet wahr 1
Sie kommt die Schone,
Dass man sie krone,
Ihr Heiland ist,
Den sie zum Lohne,
Zum Lohn, zur Krone
Hat auserkiest.
The roses bending
Are softly twining
Among her hair.
She is the chosen,
The bride and loved one,
And she is fair.
Behold, she cometh,
And we will crown her ;
It is her Lord,
Who deigns to own her,
With bliss to crown her,
For her reward.
The musician has set all nine verses, but it is only in
the first and last, where large masses of sound are handled
with but little polyphony, that he has managed the trivial
rhythm of the hymn with any freedom. No deep vein is any-
where struck; cheerful melody, facile rhythm, and ingenious
combinations of tone, form the whole. In addition to the
instruments — namely, three violins, two violas, three cornets,
three trumpets, three trombones, bass, and organ — we find — a
unique instance — the dulcimer (cymbalo) ; the chorus is in
six parts. We see that the plan of the orchestra is still
designed for alternation of effect. After the first section,
127 The Musical Paradise of the Soul. Winterfeld, Ev. Kir., II., 414, and the
examples given in notes.
BUXTEHUDE'S CANTATAS. 301
the following verses are carried on in alternate settings for
one or for three parts in each, in the aria form and with
gay ritornels : happily the same melody is not adhered to
throughout, for the inevitable rhythm (of a dotted crotchet
and three quavers) in 3-4 time is fatiguing enough as it is.
The sixth cantata, "Bedenke, Mensch, das Ende, bedenke
deinen Tod " — " Remember thou art mortal, remember thou
must die," — is far more dignified and grave, but even here
the construction is very simple. Five verses of the hymn
are fitted to the same music, only the last is richer in detail,
and is graced by an "Amen" movement. It is prefaced by a
sonata which has quite the form of the French overture
in little ; then three voices sing the verses, each finishing
with a ritornel on the violins. The "Amen" consists of
small subjects fugally treated and taken up by the instru-
ments ; here and there only the first violin ventures on a
combination with the other instruments.
The fourth cantata resembles the first and second in its
mixture of Bible words, hymns, and independent writing, but
musically it is distinct from them by having no chorus on an
independent verse ; instead, it has two different chorales.
After a short symphony in G minor, plunged in sadness, the
chorale strophe is heard handled in precisely the same
manner as in the second cantata.
Wo soil ich fliehen hin,
Weil ich beschweret bin
Mit viel und grossen Siinden,
Wo soil ich Rettung finden ?
Wenn alle Welt herkame,
Mein Angst sie nicht wegnahme.
Ah ! whither can I fly ?
Bowed down and crushed am I ;
Iniquities upbraid me,
Whom shall I find to aid me ?
If all the world stood round me,
My fears would still confound me.
What was omitted in the former case — namely, the intro-
duction of ornamentation with the melody — is here done to
3O2 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
a certain extent in one of the voice parts ; nevertheless, the
solo soprano has not merely a musical, but also a dramatic
purpose, and the small deviations in the melody are only
intended to bring the idea of the tortured heart more
/ividly before the mind. To this questioning a bass arioso
replies, " Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy-
laden," &c. Thus we have a dialogue, in which we must
suppose the speakers to be the Believing Soul and Christ,
according to the allegorical form long known in the Pro-
testant Church. The title of the cantata is, indeed,
expressly Dialogus. Hammerschmidt, who opened out new
paths in church music in so many directions, had as early
as 1645 published " Dialogi, or Conversations between God
and a Believing Soul,"128 and had followed out the idea in
the fourth part of his Musical Meditations, and in Musical
Discourses on the Gospel, by the alternate response of
hymns and Bible words. But the characteristic feature of
the composers at the close of the seventeenth century con-
sisted in this — that they allowed the chorale to be performed
by a solo voice with an accompaniment, and could thus use
it, with the addition of passion-breathing modifications of the
melody and unexpected harmonies, as a means for expressing
the most subjective feeling, without giving it a polyphonic
form so strict as to counterbalance the subjectivity. It is
in them, properly speaking, as has already been said, that
we most clearly discern the musical counterpart of the
pietistic " spiritual song." Of course, not in the sense
that this style of composition in any way owed its origin
or its tendency to pietism ; the direct influence of Pietism
on sacred music and its development was quite insignificant,
for this reason — that it strictly excluded the whole realm
of art.
The two lines of feeling originated side by side, and
from the same root of sentiment ; and music, as a fact,
reached that stage of sentimentality and youthful rhapsody
which necessarily ensues on the resuscitation of a nation's
128 Dialogi oder Gesprache zwischen Gott und einer glaubigen Seele.
THE DIALOGUS. 303
life, and which must first betray itself in music, all
the earlier, because — from the very nature of the German
people — it was precisely in music that the first vital energy
was shown, which budded and blossomed after the miseries
of the great war. The beginnings of pietistic verse
writing, no doubt, lay within that same musical period.
Buxtehude even had more than one opportunity of com-
bining it with his tones, but by the time it was at its fullest
blossom church music had long overstepped that stage;
partly it had repossessed itself of the religious ideal in its
purest sublimity, and partly it had turned in other direc-
tions which had no further concern with that ideal.
The bass arioso which responds to the Believing Soul,
and which is not wanting in feeling and fervour, is very
long, and falls into two parts. The first closes on the domi-
nant of G minor ; the second begins] again in B flat major,
"And ye shall find rest unto your soul," and does not return
to the principal key until the last bars. There is no idea of
any complete or compact form, but there are in it elements
which were of more essential, though of less obvious,
importance to the sacred aria formed on the Italian model,
and as Bach subsequently developed it. A few con-
spicuous ones are also traceable. Thus now and then the
accompanying violins pass into brief polyphonic combina-
tions with the bass voice ; still, the proper treatment of
this voice remains an almost undiscovered country — it
generally coincides with the instrumental bass. At a later
date, Mattheson, speaking of Handel, who, at the time when
he went to Hamburg was not yet freed from the manner of
the old-fashioned cantata, says: "He composed, at times,
long, very long, arias, and positively endless cantatas, which
displayed neither true skill nor correct taste, though their
harmony was perfect ; but the opera, which was a fine
school, soon upset all that."129 Certainly, the church-can-
tata could not but be influenced in some degree by dramatic
music.
129 Mattheson Ehrenpforte, p. 93.
304 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
The Believing Soul now follows the consoling invitation
and promises, with the second verse of the chorale —
0 Jesu voller Gnad,
Auf dein Gebot und Rath
Kommt mein betriibt Gemiithc
Zu deiner grossen Giite.
Lass du auf mein Gewissen
Bin Gnadentropflein fliessen.
Oh! Jesu, gracious Lord,
Obedient to Thy word
1 bid my weary spirit
Trust wholly in Thy merit,
Some drops of mercy craving,
To bring me peace and saving.
Then, with renewed and more earnest consolations, the
bass begins a second arioso in E flat major, " As I live,
saith the Lord, I will not the death of a sinner, but rather
that he should be converted and live. Ask and ye shall
receive, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be
opened unto you." To this succeeds one of those beautiful
slow instrumental movements, several of which we have
become acquainted with, and then an aria (i.e., a hymn of
four verses with a ritornel) for the tenor, connected with
the close of the foregoing passage of Scripture, and medi-
tating on the promises there bestowed. This idea, but in
four or three parts, occurs, too, in the first and second
cantatas ; this again, foreshadows the later church can-
tatas, and particularly the Bach Passion Music, in which
the aria has exactly the same poetic import. The end is
formed of the sixth and eighth verses of the chorale, " Herr
Jesu Christ, du hb'chstes Gut," in which it is resolved to
approach the Saviour with a petition for grace and a blessed
end. The sixth verse is sung by the soprano- solo again,
with four-part accompaniment of strings and organ ; the last
verse is given to the chorus with expressive melodic orna-
ments, deeply moving harmonies which prophesy distinctly
of Bach, and several amplifications of the phrases. In the
intervals between the lines are inserted interludes, among
BUXTEHUDE'S CANTATAS. 305
which one, twice repeated, appears particularly striking and
original, even for Buxtehude's style : —
I
_p •*•
The " Amen " is more elaborate than usual, with beautiful
canon treatments and richer and more independent orches-
tration, so that we may conclude that this dialogue had a
special interest for the composer. The tender depth of
feeling that makes itself felt in it gives it, in fact, a prominent
superiority over the rest of Buxtehude's cantatas, although
the feeling is somewhat too monotonous and it lacks ani-
mating contrasts.
The seventh cantata is set to Martin Schalling's beautiful
hymn of three verses, "Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr"
— "I love Thee, from my soul, O Lord;" it is in the
strictest sense a chorale cantata. Buxtehude was not alone
among his contemporaries in the employment of this form.
The Leipzig cantors Kniipfer and Schelle had worked at
it diligently, and a similar composition by Pachelbel has
been already mentioned. But in its details, and in the
feeling they express, it is a penectly individual composition.
The first verse is again intrusted to the soprano, and is sup-
ported by an independent accompaniment in five parts which
in part lies above it. This, however, is not thematic,
hence it is restless, and without real depth ; still, as we
have said, the chorale, by being given to the human voice,
has the good effect of making itself felt as the principal
motive of the work, and of giving unity to the whole. The
impression on the senses is captivating, particularly when
the two violins soar high up, and the melody is surrounded
on all sides with a sea of sound. The poetic expression is
rendered very personal by the rapturous harmony border-
ing on sentimentality, and by the outward means of change
of tempo, so that the cry, " Herr Jesu Christ ! " in the last
x
306 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
line but one, gives the impression of an almost sensuous
desire. On the other hand, Buxtehude's filmy harmonies
have something ethereal in them, so that we seem often
to see a web of silver threads. At the second verse the
motett-like treatment of the melody begins. We do not
see here any mere imitation of Buxtehude's similarly
constructed organ chorales — nay, rather these are them-
selves imitations of the motett style. But certain features
which occur in them are frequently found again here, par-
ticularly the union of the chorale theme with independent
subsidiaries, and the different combinations of the themes
which follow one another in unbroken succession and in
great variety. Tutti passages alternate with the polyphonic
movements, and give a beautiful effect of breadth to the
whole. The expression is often made more vivid and
intelligible by a change of tempo, or even by a kind of
instrumental tone-painting, which approaches the province
of oratorio. There is a remarkable passage in the second
verse, to the words "Auf dass ichs trag geduldiglich " —
" On which I bear it patiently," — where the carrying of
the Cross is represented by eight oppressively heavy
chords, of which the harmony scarcely changes at all.
There is deeper feeling still in two passages in the third
verse, the first beginning —
Ach Herr, lass dein lieb Engelein
Am letzten End die Seele mein
In Abrahams Schooss tragen.
Lord, send Thine angel when I die
To bear me up, that I may lie
In father Abraham's bosom.
Timidly, yet fervently, the prayer is begun by two voices,
while all the instruments are silent. In the sixth bar the
violins enter with a whispered tremolo in repeated quavers,
and then in semiquavers ; the voices go on, alone and forsaken,
as in the lonely death-hour; they are surrounded on all sides
with a fluttering breeze, and we seem actually to hear
the wings of the heaven-sent messengers. A tremolo on the
violins, which now has long lost any especial effect, was
BUXTEHUDE*S CANTATAS. 307
then something new; but such is the spirituality with which
it is imagined and worked out, that, even now, one cannot
escape a mysterious thrill of awe at the passage. Later
on, this passage occurs —
Den Leib in sein'm Schlafkammerlein
Gar sanft ohn einig Qual und Pein
Ruhn bis zum jiingsten Tage
The body in its narrow bed,
Calmly, without a pain or dread,
Rests till the resurrection.
On the last line the following tone-picture is constructed :
the bass voice, supported by a low instrumental bass, first
takes the word "rest," in 3-2 time, on a long-held e. In the
next bar the second soprano and alto come in on g' sharp
and e', and, finally, the tenor starts on the fifth, b, which,
after the other parts have ceased, is still held softly in the
distance. Then the gradual formation of the chord is
repeated, beginning, however, at the top — b',g' sharp, e', and e
— and as each voice ceases a bar before the next, the chord
dies away dreamily as it descends. In the whole passage
the strings keep up a mysterious whispered rocking motion
in crotchets, in the two octaves from c to c".
A different method is followed with the hymn by Johann
Franck, " Jesu, mein Freude," in the eleventh cantata. It
is set for only two sopranos and bass, two violins, bassoon,
and organ. After a sonata, the first verse is gone through by
the three vocal parts, with a superstructure of two violins,
thus making five parts ; the course of the chorale melody,
which is harmonised very delicately and with great discrimi-
nation, is completely adhered to, and only interludes and a
ritornel at the end are added to it. The second verse is
given to the first soprano alone, supported only by the
organ ; the melody is lost in florid ornamentation, but
any extension of the phrases is strictly avoided, as is
usual even in Buxtehude's small organ chorales. The
third verse is taken by the bass alone, with the instruments.
The effort after the greatest possible individual expression
destroys the rounding off of the phrases, and prolongs the
x 2
308 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
separate lines by emphatic declamation and the subsidiary
development of episodes. The instruments now and then
repeat what has been given out by the voices. It is
hardly possible here not to be reminded in the liveliest
manner of Bach, and convinced that he must have known
this piece, and that, consciously or unconsciously, he must
have been thinking of it when he wrote his lovely motett,
" Jesu, meine Freude." Just as in that, Buxtehude begins
(and time and key are identical, too) with the warlike,
defiant and intermittent cries, " Trotz ! trotz! trotz dem
alten Drachen !"-—" Death ! death! death to that old
dragon ! " — the rolling passage to the words, " Tobe, Welt,
und springe" — "Storm, thou world, and break," — are pre-
cisely similar, and the passage " Stehen und Singen in
sichrer Ruh " — " Standing and singing at rest and secure," —
is represented with equal vividness, although by different
means. These lines are most characteristically treated —
Erd und Abgrund muss verstummen,
Ob sie noch so brummen.
Earth and Hell henceforth be still,
Rage they as they will.
For "Abgrund" the bass has a phrase of powerful de-
scending octaves (e — E and d — D) and we will give an
example of the " brummen " (raging) : —
. Violincn.
J
~ "*"
I-J f L l-l i ~T7
*al-r-r|J
1
Mp "LJ
L^- ^ t]«U J J 1-
[muss
ver-)stum- men, muss ver - stum - men 06 sie noch so brim -
ob sie noch so brum - men.
BUXTEHUDE'S CANTATAS. 309
There is in this tone-picture, although in a much smaller
degree, that kind of grim mirth which Bach, like Luther,
occasionally indulges in. If we regard more particularly the
general scheme of the cantata, we shall see that it is the
precursor of those wonderful works of Bach's in which
he treats a hymn, such for instance as "Christ lag in Todes-
banden," with a strict regard to the original melody through-
out. They indeed belong to the period of his greatest
perfection ; nevertheless I am inclined to believe that he
attempted something of the kind when young, and possibly
the Sinfonia before mentioned which introduces this cantata,
may have been taken from some such youthful performance.
We have seen in one striking case, and we shall meet with
still more, how the impressions of his youth had their effect
on him afterwards, and suddenly rose again to the surface,
after many years, in a glorified and transfigured form.
For the fourth verse all three voices are employed, and
the instruments come in by turns with them and against
them. It begins with passionate cries : " Weg ! weg ! weg
mit alien Schatzen" — "Go! go! go all earthly treasures," —
treated contrapuntally, in the style of Bach's motetts. The
fifth verse is given to the second soprano alone, the melody
being treated with florid ornamentation and extended, accom-
panied only by the organ. In the sixth verse all the parts are
finally united, and this interesting work closes in rich five-
part harmony. Two other cantatas in the manuscript
collection are also set to hymns, one to Michael Pfefferkorn's
" Was frag ich nach der Welt," the other to the hymn by
Angelus Silesius, " Meine Seele, willst du ruhn." Buxtehude
has not confined himself, however, to their original melodies,
but has regarded them simply as available devotional poems,
and has put his own music to them, — a procedure which
Hammerschmidt, and even Schiitz did not hesitate to employ
with the old traditional hymns.
It is a remarkable feature of the period that several
cantatas were written for a single voice. To these belong
the composition, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant,"
&c. The first section, which is preceded by a symphony, is
remarkable, because in it an attempt is made to mould the
310 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
arioso to a more defined form ; and although it is not yet
freed from the stiff ritornel, yet a rounding off is attempted
at the end by a repetition of the chief melodic theme. It
is the same treatment as in the tenor solo and the soprano
aria of Bach's Easter cantata. The second section is also
interesting in the matter of form, since a very pretty fugue
is developed between the tenor and the two violins, in
which, however, the supporting bass takes no part. Here
a decided attempt to arrive at a new style is perceptible.130
The cantata " Herr, wenn ich nur dich habe," is also
for one solo voice. Here the biblical text is first gone
through in an arioso manner; then follows an aria in two
verses, then an instrumental interlude, and, last of all, a
long " Amen," of such a form that the voice has each time
a florid passage of several bars on the first syllable of the
word, which is then answered by the instruments, and so
on to the end. The seventeenth cantata, too, " Ich bin eine
Blume zu Saron" — "I am the Rose of Sharon," &c., — is,
curiously enough, set for a single bass voice, although the
words — from the beginning of the second chapter of the Song
of Solomon — contains the conversation of two lovers.181
The other pieces present no essentially new forms to our
notice, although they contain many separate beauties and
much elegance.132 The composition " Ich habe Lust abzu-
scheiden," is particularly remarkable for great tenderness
and depth of feeling, and for a very beautiful dying close at
the end, in which a feeling is perceived which was to soar
to its full height in Bach's cantata, " Gottes Zeit ist die
allerbeste Zeit "— " God's time is the best."
180 See Appendix A, No. 14.
131 After bar thirty-two there is some error in the MS. I presume that
the transcriber has only forgotten the conclusion of the voice part (possibly
g sharp — e) in the following bar.
132 They are, " Lauda Sion salvatorem" for two sopranos and bass;
" Nichts soil uns scheiden von der Liebe Gottes," for soprano, alto, and
baritone ; " Ich halte es dafiir," for soprano and bass ; " Also hat Gott die
Welt geliebet," for soprano; "Lauda, anima mea" for soprano; " Jesu, meine
Freud und Lust," for alto. The collection must also have been intended to
be continued, since, on Fol. 86b, there is the beginning of another cantata for
soprano, in G major, which has been struck through, " Dies ist der Tag, den
der Herr gemacht hat."
IV.
BACH'S RETURN TO ARNSTADT, AND DISPUTE WITH THE
CONSISTORY. — HIS MARRIAGE WITH HIS COUSIN.
WHEN the year 1706 arrived, Bach gradually remembered
that his home was not Liibeck but Arnstadt. Perhaps it
might have happened to him to make a new home in the
old Hanseatic town, since it is scarcely possible that he
would have been refused the post of Buxtehude's successor
if he had married his eldest daughter. What direction his
genius would have taken in that case, and whether he would
have retained the full depth of his character in the vicinity
of the opera at Hamburg, in prosperous circumstances and
surrounded with all the most brilliant accessories of art, it
is impossible to say. But the somewhat mature age of the
daughter deterred him just as much as it had done Matthe-
son and Handel, and perhaps his affections were already
attached in another quarter. So he left it to another and
an older musician to secure for himself, with the lady, the
reversion of the post of organist in the Marien-Kirche, for
Johann Christian Schieferdecker, previously cembalist (i.e.,
maestro al cembalo, or harpsichord-player) in the opera
band at Hamburg, was Buxtehude's successor. The wife
who had been, in the phrase of the time, " allotted " or
" reserved " for him with the situation, cannot long have
survived, since he took a third wife in 1717 and died in 1732.
It was probably in the early part of February that Bach
took leave of the venerable master whom he was never to
see again, for on May 9, 1707, Buxtehude was taken from
life and art. On his way home Bach may, perhaps, have
passed by Luneburg and visited Bohm ; he may even have
taken a day at Hamburg, but by February 21, he had been for
some days re-established in his lonely home in Thuringia.
On that day he received a citation from the Consistory.
In matters of business they were in no way punctilious, nay,
they were not so exact as might have been wished. But a
312 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
leave of absence extended from four weeks to sixteen
outraged even their forbearance. In addition to this, the
clerical authorities were not satisfied with Bach's way of
playing the service; and they had cause for their dissatisfac-
tion. For though at the present day we may consider that
Bach was justified in regarding the free cultivation of his
organ-playing as the chief matter, and its employment in
divine service as subsidiary, it could not be expected that
his official superiors should humour his as yet unrecognised
genius in all respects, disregarding the feelings of the
congregation. Bach, with his productive power luxuriantly
bringing forth innumerable blossoms, would submit to no
restrictions even from the congregational singing, in respect
to which it ought to have filled a subordinate position. Even
during the singing of the tune, he indulged in ornamentations
and digressions of a new and bold kind ; and doubtless in
this irregular habit, from which he subsequently almost
entirely freed himself, he was especially confirmed by his
close connection with the northern masters, although indeed
it was a very general one.183 He must too, though it was
not expressly stated, have given way recklessly to his love
of harmonic intensification ; and we know how much the
character even of the best-known melody can be altered by
unfamiliar harmonies. He went so far that the congrega-
tion often did not know what they were listening to, and got
into complete confusion.184
We possess an interesting organ work of his earliest
period, which throws a clear light on the style of his playing
188 Adlung could still denounce this practice in 1758 (Anl. zur mus. Gel.,
pp. 681, 682), "when," he says, "several organists are accustomed to
make variations, even while the congregation are singing, as if they were
playing a chorale prelude. Now are heard two-part variations and diminu-
tions and playful passages, sometimes on the pedals, and sometimes in the
upper part ; then they kick about with their feet, they ornament the tune and
break it up, and hack it about until one does not know it again. Is this, then,
the real way to keep the congregation together ? I should think it would
rather puzzle them."
184 The reader will remember an anecdote of Beethoven's youth— that an
experienced singer in the Hof-Kirche, at Bonn, was quite put out by his bold
modulations. (Thayei's Life of Beethoven.)
AN EARLY PRELUDE BY BACH. 313
at that time. This is the chorale " Wer nur den lieben
Gott lasst walten," with prelude, interludes, and postlude,
which we see at the first glance to have been intended for
divine service, and which must have been written in the
first years of the Arnstadt period, since many traces of
Bohm's manner can be discerned, and very little use is
made of the pedals. The prelude consists of nine bars of
semiquaver figures, mostly for the right hand, which antici-
pate the harmonic progression of the chorale. This follows
next, in three parts, with a highly embellished melody, of
which the last line but one, for example, has this form: —
The interludes are not introduced regularly between each
line, as they ought to be if employed at all; they appear
between the first and second, not between the second and
third; again, between the third and fourth, and then at
greater length before the second section of the tune, but
there is none before the last line. It is very possible — nay,
even likely — that Bach would not separate those lines that
are closely connected together in the form of premise and
conclusion ; the idea, logically and poetically, was a good
one, but quite impracticable as regards the congregation
who must have thought it was done in a merely arbitrary
manner.185 He had also overstepped the mark in the free
preludes before the different hymns; but when Olearius,
the Superintendent, requested him to make them rather
shorter, he contracted them to such a degree as to give
general offence. The characteristic of an easily aroused
185 The arrangement of this chorale in its pure form, with many improvements
and richer adornments, was included in the Clavierbiichlein, made for his
son Friedemann in 1720, evidently after he had made the elegant employment
of ornamentation a particular study. He was better fitted for that than for
accompanying congregational singing. It will be found in its shortened and
improved form in P. Ser. V., Vol. V., No. 52 ; and in its original form as the
vacant to No. 52 at the beginning of the volume.
314 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
irritability and of obstinacy meets us here for the first though
not for the last time ; it ran in his family, and though we
cannot directly point it out in Ambrosius Bach, the reader
will remember the affair about the marriage of his brother,
whose temper was very similar. Finally, he had completely
alienated his choir, and consequently did not care the least
about it. In the first place, the choir was too bad for him,
and he was too much occupied with composition to take any
pleasure in troubling himself with their progress; but he
forgot that it was only natural that the best voices of the
place should not be allotted to him, since his tuition was
only to be a preparation for the chief choir of the Ober-
Kirche. He forgot in the ardour of youth that, notwith-
standing his extraordinary gifts, he must, after all, fulfil his
duty ; he forgot, too, the frank kindness with which he
had been received, and the great confidence which had been
reposed in him. In fact, the Consistory, in exercising their
authority, as had at last become necessary, might justly
have spoken with much harshness and severity, but they
showed themselves mild and patient beyond expectation.
But, on the other hand, it must have been pretty hard for a
young musician, barely twenty years old, to get on well
with the scholars, some of whom were probably scarcely
younger than himself. The excellent discipline which had
been originally instituted by the energetic and watchful
Rector Treiber, had ceased since Johann Gottfried Olearius
— who had the interest of the school very little at heart —
had been appointed Superintendent and Inspector of the
school. Treiber's authority now began to be undermined
by arbitrary encroachments on his rights, instigated by
his enemies ; his influence was gradually weakened and
destroyed, and the way was thus left open for disorder in
the school, and finally for utter insubordination. In an
address from the town-council to the Consistory, presented
on April 16, 1706, complaint is made of the disobedient,
ungovernable, and lawless behaviour of the scholars. "They
have no fear of their teachers, they fight even in their
presence, and meet them in the most insolent manner.
They wear swords, not only in the streets but in the school
BACH TAKEN TO TASK. 315
too ; they play at ball during service and in school hours,
and run about in improper places."186 When mature and
worthy men could obtain no respect from the undisciplined
boys, how should an inexperienced and irritable youth
succeed ?
The report of the examination appointed by the Count's
Consistory, to consider the case of Bach, is one of the most
interesting documents relating to him. It shall follow here
in the exact form in which it has been preserved to us.
Whatever inconvenience may be occasioned to the reader
by the antiquated phrasing will be compensated far by the
lively view of the time which it gives, for the spirit of an
age is reflected in its outward forms.137
" Actum, de Feb. 21. 706.
The Organist of the New Church, Bach, is required to say
where he has been for so long of late, and from whom he
received leave of absence ?
Ille (i.e., Bach, answered)
That he had been to Lubeck with intent to learn thoroughly
one or two things connected with his art, and that he
previously asked permission from the Herr Superintend.
Dominus Superintendent
That he had only asked such permission for four weeks, but
had remained abroad quite four times as long as that.
Ille
Hoped that the organ meantime would have been played by
the substitute he had put in,188 in such a manner that no com-
plaint could be made on that score.
Nos (i.e., the Consistory)
Charge him with having hitherto been in the habit of making
136 Uhlworm, Beitrage zur Geschichte des Gymnasiums zu Arnstadt. Part
III., pp. 7-9. (Prospectus of the Arnstadt Gymnasium for the year 1861.)
137 The report is preserved by itself among the archives of the Principality
of Sondershausen, and bears the title: " jfoh. Sebastian Bachen, Organisten in
der Neuen-Kirche betr. wegen Langwierigen Verreissens vnd Unterlassener
Figural music. 1706." (Joh. S. Bach, Organist of the New Church, summoned
respecting his prolonged absence and the discontinuance of the part-singing,
1706.)
188 This was possibly his cousin, Ernst Bach.
316 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
surprising variationes in the chorales, and intermixing divers
strange sounds, so that thereby the congregation were con-
founded. If in the future he wishes to introduce some tonus
Peregrinusm he must keep to it, and not go off directly to
something else, or, as he had hitherto done, play quite a
tonum contrarium.140 And then it is very strange that up to
this time he has had no "music-making" (i.e., rehearsals),
by reason of his not being able to agree with the scholars.
Therefore he is to declare whether he will play both part-
music and chorales with the scholars ; since another Capell-
meister cannot be kept, and 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 may be appointed
to the post.
We
If a proper Director be appointed, he will play again.
Resolvitur (It is. resolved)
That he shall explain his conduct within eight days. And, at
the same time, that Scholar Rambach appear,141 and be
reproved for the desordres which up to this time have taken
place between the scholars and the Organist in the New
Church.
I lie (i.e., Rambach)
The Organist, Bach, used to play too long preludes, but
after this was notified to him, by the Herr Superintendent,
he went at once quite to the opposite extreme and has made
them too short.
Nos
Reproach him, with having gone to a wine-shop last Sunday
during the sermon.
189 From the connection, this can only mean a key not proper to the original
melody.
140 Meaning a tune harmonised in an unusual way.
141 The name of the choir prefect. In the accounts of the church expenses
in the council archives at Arnstadt (p. 63), there appears the entry: " Joh.
Andreas Rambach, for chorale singing in the New Church, from Michaelmas,
1705, to Trinity Sunday, 1706 — 9 months ; 7 fl. 10 ggr. 6 pf." His successor
from the second half of the year was Joh. Chr. Rambach (see the same accounts,
p. 64).
HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE CONSISTORY. 317
Ille CT&^uL)
Was very sorry, and would never do so again, and their
Reverences had already treated him very severely about it.
The Organist need not complain of him about the conducting,
because that was undertaken, not by him, but by the youth
Schmidt.142
Nos
He must, for the future, behave quite differently and much
better than he has done hitherto, or else the emolument
designed for him will 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 manner as to give satisfac-
tion, as he had promised. The servants of the Court are
hereby enjoined to tell the Rector to adjudicate that Ram-
bach be imprisoned on four successive days for two hours
each day."
Although the Consistory in their requirements from Bach
used, according to this report, very emphatic language,
their conduct was patient and forbearing. In his playing
the musician may have accommodated himself more to
their expressed wishes, and, with regard to the differences
with the school choir, they were impartial enough to per-
ceive that there were faults on both sides ; they suggested
a change in the circumstances of the case, and they
allowed the explanation demanded of Bach within eight
days to stand over for a time, hoping that he might of
his own accord come to an agreement with the choir.
In truth, however, there was little prospect of this,
especially since Bach, elevated and replenished with the
artistic life he had enjoyed at Liibeck, now, more than
before, busied himself with his own productions, and
142 Perhaps Andreas Gottlieb Schmidt, who, in 1728, when Ernst Bach
succeeded Borner in the Ober-Kirche, applied for the post of Organist of the New
Church, but withdrew afterwards, because he had been " for a long time out of
practice," and could not regain his powers in so short a time. He was at that
time Registrar (Acta " regarding the appointment of the organists at Arnstadt."
Fol. 132).
318 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
certainly must have found the drudgeries which he had to
undergo with the scholars, rough alike in music and in
manners, quite intolerable.
The influence of Buxtehude's music clung to Bach all his
life, in certain characteristics of form. The ideal side of it
swiftly disappeared in the mighty flood of Bach's own origi-
nality, because the older master's musical feeling, though
much more limited than Bach's, was yet of the same
kind. So that all those compositions which, whether in gene-
ral plan or in particular methods of expression, show an evi-
dent leaning towards the style of Buxtehude, may with justice
be considered as works of Bach's earliest period, written
for the most part soon after his return from Liibeck, partly
even before his journey thither.148 For he could not previously
have been unacquainted with Buxtehude's works, or what
could have induced him to seek his immediate neighbour-
hood ? On the contrary, he must have made acquaintance
with them when he was at Liineburg, and through Bohm,
who had a great respect for them.
I am not able to point out any vocal compositions by
Bach founded directly on those of Buxtehude. The cantatas
of the following year are indeed in the old prescribed form,
but they are, in a great degree, full of his own ideas. Not-
withstanding, the impression which he had received from this
quarter was certainly an important one, and it has already
been pointed out that it unexpectedly appears in some of
the later works. We may also believe that the evening per-
formances had affected him deeply. The man who could give
such full musical expression to the sweet, elevated yearning?
of Advent-tide, and the bright, pure, fulness of joy of Christ-
mas Day, as Bach did in his Advent cantata of 1714 and in
his Christmas Oratorio, must have fully entered into the
poetry of those performances in the winter evenings in the
church, radiant with light and music. A number of instru-
mental works could be mentioned which seem to have
an unmistakable connection with these occasions. The
148 Mizler, p. 62. "For organ composition he took (when he was in
Arnstadt) the works of Bruhns, Reinken, and Buxtehude for models."
EARLY PRELUDES AND FUGUES. 319
fugue in C minor, before spoken of, betrayed this connection
in some measure, especially in the form of the prelude which
ushers it in, but much more does a prelude and fugue in
A minor144 from beginning to end, though still in a way which
is somewhat immature. The work has the appearance of
having been merely a reminiscence, and not a new formation
resulting from the assimilation of foreign elements; as if it
had been written before Buxtehude's manner had become
quite comprehensible, and as it were living to the composer ;
probably, therefore, before 1706, but at Arnstadt, as we judge
from the pedal technique. It consists of a short prelude, two
fugues separated by an interlude, and a postlude which re-
peats and dilates upon the movement of the prelude. The
second fugue is not based upon the first, but has an indepen-
dent theme. Thus what was a strict condition of the organ-
ism of the northern fugue-form is here wholly neglected, the
composition falls into two sections, and is only superficially
rounded off and connected by the repetition of the prelude.
The first theme bears quite a striking likeness to the models
of the northern masters; with mechanical motion and an ab-
sence of all melodic expression, it goes round in its narrow
circle, and no rich development makes up, as was usual in their
works, for its insignificance. It goes steadily downwards
without interruption through four entries of the theme,
without regard to a fixed number of parts, and then this
manoeuvre is repeated in a lower position, with a close in
C major, and so an end. The second theme has a more
individual growth, but strongly inclines to Buxtehude's
manner by immediately bringing in a counter-subject, which
accompanies it throughout its whole course in simple and
double counterpoint, which produces even here an inevitable
monotony. From a little appendage to the theme, which
appears first in bar fifty-two, an independent figured passage
is afterwards generated, which, in detail as in general features,
greatly reminds us of Buxtehude ; and with this the fugal
movement closes, the chief theme not being heard again.
P. Ser. V., Cap. III. (Vol. 242), No. 9.
320 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
This evolution of a new subject is very clever and subtle.
Separate details, in which the true resemblance is often
more easily traced than it is in general outline, might be
quoted in abundance ; for instance, the kind of figuration
used, the double shake in the sixth bar from the end, the
solo entry of the pedal, the thrice-repeated quaver in the
newly formed subject, the false relation twice introduced
quite intentionally in the broad harmonic progressions in the
interlude, the long-tarrying on the subdominant just before
the end, which closes "with the greater third" (i.e., in the
tonic major). Nor is there any lack of harsh, unwieldy
passages ; we are deluded in a particularly unpleasant way,
in bars fifteen and twenty-four, into the hope of getting into
C major on the third beat of the bar, and in bar fifty-one
the sudden cessation of the two upper parts has not an
agreeable effect.
On the other hand, a more mature work, and one betray-
ing a greater warmth of feeling, is a fantasia in G major,145
so called because it neither contains a regular fugue as its
germ, nor presents the variety and changing style of a
toccata. Although it contains three complete movements,
there reigns throughout a perfect thematic unity, such as
Buxtehude loved and liked to work out. Nay, more, in his
great composition in G minor, which extends into a chaconne,
or other works of the same kind, we can recognise the pro-
genitors of Bach's fantasia. Kuhnau's subject, already
quoted before, serves as the first theme —
P
and the contrapuntal treatment is very like that of the fugue
in the first part of the "Claviertibung." It subsequently
appears inverted, and serves in a slightly modified form for
148 Unpublished ; contained in the Royal Library at Berlin, in an old MS. (in
a volume, sign. 287) from the legacy of the organist Westphal, in Hamburg,
which came into the market in 1830. The full title is: FANTASIA, clamat
in Gtydi Johann Sebastian Bach.
INFLUENCE OF BUXTEHUDE. 321
the motive of the second movement (Adagio, E minor),
namely —
from which is generated finally, for the third movement
(Allegro, G major), this chaconne theme: —
This form, thoroughly characteristic of Buxtehude, never
recurs in any of Bach's later works, and removes all doubt
as to the date of composition ; we have additional evidence
in the unmethodic use of the pedal, in the undefined charac-
ter wavering between that of the organ and clavier; and
lastly, in the expression, which hovers on the surface and
seldom is of much depth. The treatment of the subject is
free in the antiquated style ; the answer comes first three
times on the octave, then the theme appears four times in
the dominant, then again many times more in the tonic,
and afterwards twice in the minor. In the last movement
the chief subject lies now below, now in the middle, and
now above, its place in the scale varying with each repetition.
The way in which it is surrounded on all sides with imitative
passages of semiquavers, and yet comes prominently forward
with dramatic vigour whenever it appears, is very admirable,
and shows how thoroughly the composer had mastered the
inherent nature of his exemplar. Just as before we have
seen him following Bohm or Kuhnau, so he shows in this
instance that his universal talent had the power to assimi-
late all the different tendencies of the time ; thus he laid
the broad foundations on which he was to rear the secure
and towering edifice of his own productions. It was not in
his character to evince originality of a false and immature
kind, but he always infused some individuality into whatever
form he used.
To put counterpoint of the most resplendent kind to slowly
ascending and descending scale passages in the bass, as is
y
322 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
done here, was a favourite style of organ-music with Bruhns
and Buxtehude. Bach employed this motive in a broad and
fine manner for a piece for the organ, which also has the title
of Fantasia, and which is in the same key.148 But this would
not be enough to give it a place here, were it not that the
Buxtehude influence in the harmonising of the fantasia, and
the kind of feeling it reveals, is prominent to a degree never
reached by any other of Bach's works. Here, if anywhere,
we find evidence of the fact that Bach must at some time or
other have been fully imbued with Buxtehude's peculiarities.
It gives the impression that he had resolved for once to
revel in the intoxicating wealth of sound which had been
brought to him from that quarter. With insatiable enjoy-
ment he repeats those doubled suspensions, chords of the
ninth, diminished intervals, wide-spread harmonies, melodic
phrases rapturously ascending and outsoaring one another —
an entranced delight in the ocean of sound that never pauses
to ask what the end will be. Thus throughout the long Grave
movement the full five parts are almost always kept up, the
pedal only ceasing for a short time at bar 103. Towards
the end, and especially from this place onwarids, the scale
subject is more prominent, at first heavy and slow ; and then
the expression rises gradually to an indescribable intensity
and glow, which soars away far, far above the capabilities of
the organ. The pedal slowly ascends with irresistible force
from D, through two octaves in semibreves, resting finally
in a mighty pedal-point on the note it started from ; then
the left hand takes up the subject in thirds, and the counter-
point soars farther and farther above it, until it is interrupted
by the chord of the diminished seventh, and then, like a
shower of rain in sunshine, down pour the glittering pearls
of sound in demi-semiquavers, in groups of six, with many
bold intervals and skips from passing notes.
Again he follows his model as regards both form and
feeling in a fugue in 12-8 time, and likewise in G
major.147 A comparison of the conclusion of the first great
146 P. Ser. V., Cah. 4 (243), No. n.
147 In manuscript in the legacy of the late Musikdirector at Dessau, Hcrr F.
W. Rust; now in the possession of Herr Dr. W. Rust in Berlin.
INFLUENCE OF FROBERGER. 323
fugue in E minor with the C major fugue by Buxtehude will
confirm this judgment at the first glance, both as to the
whole and in the details. Many features exactly corre-
spond : the adornments of the theme, invented with special
regard to the pedal, and which are at once brilliant and easy;
their repeated accompaniment of chords in short Iambic
measure, and much besides. But that a bolder flight and a
deeper nature animate this masterly piece, it might just
as well have been written by Buxtehude.
A prelude and fugue in E flat major must also be men-
tioned here.148 Mention has frequently been made of J.
Jakob Froberger, of Halle, who, in the middle of the seven-
teenth century, was one of the most prominent masters of
the clavier and organ, in Germany. Although a native of
Central Germany, he had devoted himself chiefly to the
southern type of organ-music, just then raised to its zenith
by Frescobaldi in Rome. But his performances were known
and valued throughout Germany, least of all, indeed, in his
own native province — since his education had left him un-
familiar with the chorale form — but much more in the north.
It has been already noticed that his toccatas contributed to
the formation of the North German fugue-form, consisting
of several sections. With regard to free organ composition
Froberger stands about half-way between the northern and
southern masters. We are told that in the book belonging
to Bach's elder brother, which he secretly transcribed for
himself in Ohrdruf, there were pieces by Froberger, so that
he had made this master's acquaintance when quite a boy.149
The northern masters, of whom he learnt in later life, had,
it is true, long since overtaken Froberger, but they still
referred to him, and did not hinder the delight which Bach,
determined by his earliest impressions, took in his works.
That this was actually the case, is shown by Adlung, a
personal friend of Bach, who says : " Froberger was held at
148 In the legacy of F. W. Rust's brother, who lived at Bernburg; now
likewise the property of Dr. Rust in Berlin. It bears the date, " Bernburg,
I757-"
149 Mizler, p. 160
Y 2
324 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
that time in high honour by the late Bach, of Leipzig,
although he was somewhat antiquated."150 But in the
nature of the case, it cannot be thought that Froberger
had any important or direct influence on Bach through
his own works ; the principal elements of Froberger's genius
were probably transmitted to him through the northern
masters, with whom he stood in closer connection than with
Frobergei .
In fact the only work where beside or beneath Buxtehude's
manner that of Froberger appears at all, is this same prelude
and fugue. It was a favourite device with this master to
display at the beginning and end of his toccatas a kind of
passage-writing accompanied with chords now lying above
and now underneath ; these passages consist of notes of
different values irregularly mixed, and are easily recognisable
by this restless character. From such a germ grew the pre-
lude of Buxtehude, who, however, added the elements of
proportion, order, and development; his "finales" or pero-
rations, ingenious as they are, are allied to the finale passages
of Froberger's toccatas. Bach's composition reminds us
strongly of Froberger, not only in the form of the running
passages (e.g., the phrase of zig-zag descending semiquavers)
and the massive chords, but also in the repetition of the fugue
in a form adorned with trivial figures which have no inner
connection with it, expanded to a length which in later times
the composer never permitted. On the other hand, the
passages have a quieter flow and more connection by means
of imitation, as in the works of Buxtehude. Both influences
seem to me less conspicuous in the fugue ; the theme has
not sufficient motion for the Liibeck master, and the style
of contrapuntal invention is not his, while, on the other hand,
the harmony is too complicated for Froberger.151
Among the most important works of this period, is a
great work for the organ in four sections in C major; in it
the Buxtehude fugue-form (the extension by means of
episodes) is seen in full perfection.152 While the technical
180 Anleitung zur Mus. Gel., p. 711.
161 See App. A, No. 15.
w» Peters' Cah. 3 (242), No. 7.— B, G, XV., p. 276. See App. A, No. 16,
BACH'S FUGUE-WRITING. 325
power of writing in the greater number of the compositions
already mentioned leaves scarcely anything to be wished, in
this the inherent independence is so great that the work is
all but a perfect masterpiece. The additional superscription
concertato, which is found in two manuscripts, shows that it
was intended as a piece for the display of execution, and
though in this respect it does not come up to Bach's later
writings, it demands a very high degree of facility both of
finger and foot, and its effect is powerful and brilliant.
Probably Bach wrote it for himself when, in the year 1707,
he was playing in other places besides Arnstadt. We might
hesitate to assign such an early date, if the fact that this is
the only instance known of Bach's having written a fugue in
this form were not clear evidence of his having borrowed it
from Buxtehude. In later life he cultivated exclusively the
fugue in one movement which concentrates all its strength
on internal perfection, and which more fully satisfied his
nature ; only, in the last period of his working, the older
form rose once more from the depths of his musical nature
to the surface, in that most marvellous fugue in E flat major
in the third part of the Clavierubung. But the theme in its
original form is plainly influenced by the northern models,
not to mention the running passages of the prelude and
of the interlude. But in the fugal working proper we per-
ceive a new spirit stirring its pinions ; this lovely, flowing
animation of all the parts, none of which is ever used as a
mere stop-gap ; this bold, free style of counterpoint in the
first fugue movement soar high above Buxtehude's more con-
fined and earth-bound nature to new regions. The second
fugue movement is remarkable. The triple time, it is true,
is retained, but the gracefulness and serenity which should
find a share in this part are altogether absent. It is as
though such a conclusion were contrary to Bach's nature,
that " earnest temperament " which is attributed to him in
the Necrology;153 here at least he has only superficially
adopted a form into the spirit of which he did not care to
enter ; this again assigns the composition to the number of
"* Mizler, loc. cit., pp. 170 and 171,
326 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
works of development, and suggests a new reason for his
so soon abandoning Buxtehude's fugue-form. In entire con-
trast to that master, the formation of the theme is broad and
heavy, and the working out is the same, nay, almost devo-
tional ; but later it is enlivened by counterpoint in semi-
quavers, and closes with majestic breadth of chords. While
Buxtehude, with a dignified smile, bends down to meet the
hearer, Bach turns his face heavenwards with a holy gravity.
But we must remember that the complications between
our young genius and his authorities were still awaiting
their solution. Bach considered this quite unnecessary;
and the eight days in the course of which he was to give in
his " categorical " explanation had grown into more than
eight months, without his having fulfilled the wishes of the
consistory with regard to the trial as to the school-choir.
This mute resistance, however, was met with renewed
mildness, and they contented themselves provisionally with
a repeated summons, the short document of which still
exists :
" Actum d. ii. Novemb. 706.
It is hereby represented to the Organist Bach that he should
declare whether, as he has been enjoined to do, he will
make music with the scholars, or will not ; as, if he feels no
shame in keeping his post in the church and receiving
the salary, he must also not be ashamed to make music with
the scholars thereto appointed for the time arranged else-
where. It is intended that these should exercise them-
selves (i.e., rehearse), so that for the future the music may
be better looked after.
Ille (i.e., Bach)
Will make the declaration on this subject in writing.
Nos (i.e., the Consistory)
Furthermore remonstrate with him on his having latterly
allowed the stranger maiden to show herself and to make
music in the choir.
Ille
Has already spoken about it to Master Uthe."
DIFFICULTIES WITH THE AUTHORITIES. 327
The expected written "declaration" should follow here,
for the Consistory cannot possibly have left the affair thus
only half despatched ; unfortunately we no longer possess it.
In it Bach would most probably explain his conduct by a
number of difficulties with the scholars, such, perhaps, as
their unpunctuality, idleness, insolent behaviour, or their
musical incapacity, and perhaps, too, by a reference to his
own striving after the ideal, and his compositions. Thus
much can be supposed ; but that, in spite of this, the diffi-
culties which embittered his position were not thoroughly
remedied is shown by the course of his life during the next
year. From that time he endeavoured to get away from
Arnstadt into some other position. We shall soon see
that it was not for the sake of pecuniary gain, since in
that respect he might at that time be considered quite
contented, so that it must have been only inward con-
siderations which could drive him away. Whether there
were others besides the affair just mentioned is uncertain,
but there are no certain grounds on which to found any
other suppositions.
The document also mentioned a " stranger maiden,"
with whom Bach had " made music " in the church. He
had certainly not done it without previously informing his
clergyman, Master Uthe,154 but still it was the cause of
unpleasant remark. It would, however, be erroneous to
conclude from this that the singer had taken part in the
service. As long as the form of the old church-cantata was
retained — and this was the dominant form at that time at
least in Arnstadt — the question of employing female voices
in church music would not be even broached. With the
introduction of the newer cantata, influenced so essentially
by operatic vocalisation, there came the occasional disregard
of the command, " Let your women keep silence in the
churches." But Bach would certainly never have thought of
such an innovation, and Uthe as certainly would not have
184 Magister Just. Christian Uthe (b. 1680), was preacher in the New Church
from 1704 to 1709 ; see Hesse, Verzeichniss schwarzburgischer Gelehrten and
Kiinstler. No. 333. Rudolstadt, 1827.
328 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
permitted it, so that the question here can only be of some
private music in the church. What sort of singer it could
have been who could make music with Bach in the New
Church, to the enjoyment of both, is a question which we
are not without hope of being able to solve. A professional
singer might certainly have come over from the Brunswick-
Wolfenbuttel opera by command of the Countess. But,
considering Bach's nature and musical tendencies, it would
even then be impossible to imagine what could lead to an
acquaintance, and even to the intimacy of private music-
making together, to say nothing of the fact that opera
singers would certainly have turned up their noses at the
simple old-fashioned church singing. An event of the next
year puts us on the right track : Bach's marriage with his
cousin, the youngest daughter of Michael Bach, of Gehren.
Maria Barbara, as the bride-elect was named, was born in
Gehren, October 20, 1684. Her mother is known to have
been the younger daughter of Wedemann, once Town-clerk
in Arnstadt, where she lived until her death, October 19,
1704. In spite of the scattered nature of the evidence it is
pretty clear that Maria, then twenty years of age, betook
herself to her mother's unmarried sister, Regina Wedemann,
in Arnstadt, where Sebastian made her acquaintance and
fell in love with her.155 Some musical qualifications surely
may be presumed in the daughter of one distinguished
musician and the affianced bride of another — the most highly
gifted of his race — and if it were she who in the case
mentioned was the singer in the church, a delightful episode
in the courtship of the young couple is disclosed to our view.
Her being called a " stranger maiden " quite agrees with
the nature of the facts, since she was grown up when she
first came to Arnstadt.
The plan on which Bach wished to found his own family
shows how he, too, was filled with that patriarchal feeling by
166 The chief ground of this supposition is confirmed by the account of their
wedding. As subsidiary evidence may be mentioned the fact that Maria
Barbara had seveial young companions in Arnstadt whom she afterwards
invited to Weimar to be godmothers to her children Philipp Emanuel and
Gottfried Bernhard; among them was a daughter of the organist Herthum.
HIS BETROTHAL. 32Q
which his race was distinguished and brought to such a
flourishing condition. Without straying into foreign circles
he found, in a relation who bore his name, the person whom
he felt to be the most certain of understanding him. If we
must call it a coincidence, it is, at any rate, a remarkable
one, that Sebastian, in whom the gifts of his race reached
their highest perfection, should also be the only one of its
members to take a Bach to wife. If we are right in
regarding the marriage union of individuals from families
not allied in blood as the cause of a stronger growth of
development in the children, Bach's choice may signify
that in him the highest summit of a development had been
reached, so that his instinct disdained the natural way of
attempting further improvement, and attracted him to his
own race. His second wife, indeed, was not allied with
him in blood, but that with the first he found, in some
respects, his more natural development may perhaps be con-
cluded from the fact that the most remarkable of his sons
were all the children of his first marriage.
In other respects his marriage is a token that by this time
he regarded the years of his education as at an end. In the
capacity of perfect executive musician, as well as in that of
composer, he had gained the topmost height of that time;
and in the completely acquired technicalities of his art, he
had himself created the forms in which, from this time forth,
he cast his surpassingly new and individual thoughts. This,
of course, was shown at different times in different ways,
corresponding with the progress of his growth, and vaster,
deeper, and more original at each stage ; and, side by side with
this growth, he perfected also his technical powers, so that
his latest works have scarcely anything in common with the
earliest but certain general features. The true man never
ceases to improve and educate himself ; he may be con-
sidered as fully developed only when his powers correspond
to his demands upon them. That this was the case
with Bach is shown plainly by his handwriting. No
autograph works of this time can be found, it is true, but
there exist still five acquittances for salary received ; the
dates are December 16, 1705, February 24, May 26, and
330 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
September 15, 1706, and June 15, lyo;.156 The writing
which these display, and which is of a charming clearness,
elegance, and certainty, is substantially the same as that
which meets us, full of such characters, in the almost
innumerable works of his long life. About the time of the
Matthew Passion and the B minor Mass it is rather bolder
and larger, but the characteristic features remained so
identical, that in the carefully and ornamentally written
scores of that period, as, for example, the cantatas " O ewiges
Feuer " and " Weinen, Klagen," there is scarcely a percep-
tible difference from the writing of his twentieth and twenty-
first years.
The widely diffused opinion that Bach's development
was slow in comparison with that of Handel is shown
to be false, by the fact that his powers during the years
from twenty to thirty were almost at a standstill, and
the reverse would be more near the truth. Bach was
much more influenced by his surroundings than his equally
great contemporary. It was not only that his extraction
and old family traditions led him almost intuitively on
the right way; the object which lay nearest to his heart,
the perfecting of the art of the organ, was attainable by a
much simpler method ; he concentrated the efforts of the
most remarkable of his ancestors, and, as it were, added
the roof to the edifice which they had left but half-finished,
completing it with "cloud-capp'd towers." We are not
now bringing into consideration the undreamt-of paths
opened out, over and above this perfection, by his colossal
genius. Handel had to collect the elements of his ideal
with much greater labour, and the hewing of the separate
stones of his temple of art was a much longer process ;
but, as surely as his operas and chamber-music have an
eminent artistic value, so surely are they not to be compared
with the instrumental works composed by Bach at the same
156 The first four of these are in the Rathhaus at Arnstadt ; the last in the
Ministerial Library at Sondershausen. The acquittance of December 16, 1705,
is naturally dated too soon or too late, since the receiver was at that time not
in Ainbtadt.
END OF THE ARNSTADT PERIOD. 331
time. In exact agreement with this relation between the
two stands their respective estimation with their contem-
poraries and with posterity. Bach's fame is founded chiefly
on the instrumental works of his earlier and middle periods,
that of Handel on the oratorios composed in his middle and
later life.
Just as Bach's nature was more deep than diffuse, so the
years of his " apprenticeship " and his Wander jahre were
simultaneous, if indeed there was any period at all which
could be designated by the last name. At twenty-two
years old he became " master," and according to true
German custom the "master" must be married. He
must also have "apprentices," and from 1707 onward,
such will demand our notice.157
Before this, however, his service in Arnstadt must have
come to an end. It is related that about this time, in the
years 1706 and 1707, different situations as organist were
offered to him at short intervals.158 His fate was decided
by a trial performance which took place at Easter in the
last-named year, in the Church of St. Blasius, at Miihlhausen.
187 The life of a tradesman or artisan in Germany is divided into three
periods: — First, the apprenticeship (Lehrjahre). Second, the period during
which he travels and, as it were, " finishes his education" (Wanderjahre), with
which the original meaning of our "journeyman" corresponds ; and third, the
period from the time of his entering into his business on his own account,
onwards — the period called " Meisterschaft," or when he is styled Master.
Readers of Carlyle will remember that the first part of his translation of
Wilhelm Meister is called " apprenticeship," and the second, " travels."
This analogy has been followed in the present work — the book just concluded
being called Ausbildungsjahre, or " years of formation," and from the third
book onwards, " Meisterschaft." [Translators' note.]
168 This is related by Forkel, and can hardly be pure invention on his part.
BOOK III.
THE FIRST TEN YEARS OF BACH'S "MASTERSHIP."
BOOK III.
THE FIRST TEN YEARS OF BACH'S " MASTERSHIP."
I.
BACH AT MUHLHAUSEN. — HIS RELIGIOUS OPINIONS.
THE post of Organist to the church "Dim Blasii," in the
free imperial city of Muhlhausen, had risen to special
celebrity from the many highly gifted artists who had filled
it during the last century and a half. From 1566 to 1610
(May 24), Joachim Moller von Burck (born in 1541) — the
friend of Johann Eccard, a man who may be regarded as
having given the chief impulse to the earnest musical feeling
for which Muhlhausen was long distinguished1 — laboured
there. At the end of the year 1654, Johann Rudolf Ahle
came to fill the post (born 1625), an^ was as efficient as a
leader of public affairs as he was as an organist and com-
poser, for he became a member of the council, and even a
burgomaster of the town. He died in the prime of life
(July 8, 1673); from the beginning of the year 1672 his son,
Johann Georg, had already officiated for him, and he now
succeeded his father. He was equally distinguished for his
musical talents, and like him filled a place in the town
council, and he also won from the Emperor Leopold I. the
title of poet laureate " for his virtue and splendid talents, but
particularly for his admirable proficiency in the noble science
of German poetry and for his rare and delightful style in
highly commended music, and his elegant compositions."2
Both father and son practised musical composition. Johann
1 His less famous successors were Johann Heydenreich (Moller's son-in-law),
from 1610 to 1633; Rudolph Radecker, 1633-1634; Hermann Schmied, 1634-
1649 ; Johann Vockerodt, 1649-1654. These and the following statements con-
cerning the two Ahles depend for their deviations from all previous accounts
on the account books of the church of St. Blasius.
8 See Gerber. N. L., I., Col. 35.
336 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Georg Able died December 2, 1706, and was interred three
days later with much honour, as became the respect he had
enjoyed during his life.3
A man to fill the place was not this time easy to find ;
meanwhile a scholar was intrusted to perform the service
as best he might. However, candidates were not wanting
for a position of so much honour, and Bach must have cast
an eye on it, for in an expression used by his cousin Johann
Ernst, who exerted himself to become his successor at
Arnstadt, we certainly may trace an echo of his own views.
He says in an application laid before the Consistory,
June 22, 1707, that " it must be known to them that his
cousin (Sebastian) had had the vacant post of Organist to
the celebrated church of St. Blasius offered to him, and had
willingly accepted it on being called." At the same time
he was not too forward nor hasty in making the council
of Miihlhausen acquainted with his person and his qualifi-
cations. The organ-builder, Wender, had wished to induce
Johann Gottfried Walther, then residing at Erfurt, to come
over and perform on trial on Sexagesima Sunday of the year
1707. He, however, for some reason had not consented.4
On the other hand a public trial had been made by some
others, whom Bach easily drove from the field when he
presented himself, which was not till Easter; when the
council met, a month later (May 24), they were at once
agreed on this point, and caused him to be summoned to
appear a second time that they might treat with him as
to his reasonable claims in the matter of salary.5 They
feared, no doubt, that so great a virtuoso might make
demands they could not satisfy. But Bach's object was
not pecuniary advancement, though ere long he had two
8 " Herr Johann Georg Ahle, buried with the whole school and with two
tellings, December 5." — Extract from the register of the church of Divi Blasii.
The funeral took place three days after the death, as is the custom still.
4 According to his own statement, in Mattheson (Ehrenpforte), who, however,
confounds the younger with the elder Ahle. There was never any question
oi an invitation to Walther refused by him before the invitation to Bach.
Compare Gerber, Lex., II.
6 The documents relating to Bach are reproduced at full length in App., B. V.
of the German edition. They are devoid of interest for the English reader.
HIS NEW POSITION. 337
to provide for; and when, three weeks later, he treated in
person with the council, he obtained only the same salary
as he had had in Arnstadt, besides such payments in kind
AS his predecessor had enjoyed. It is true that even so his
emoluments exceeded those granted to Ahle by nearly twenty
gulden, for Ahle had, from the year 1677, only been paid
sixty-six gulden and fourteen groschen;6 and his father had
received even less. Bach's salary, accordingly, was as much
as eighty-five gulden,7 with three matter (coombs) of corn, two
cords of wood, and six trusses of brushwood, as an equivalent
for the arable land previously attached to the office. The
payments in kind were to be delivered at his door. He also
received, according to the custom of the place, an annual do-
nation of three pounds of fish. He expressly added a hope that
he might be assisted in transporting his furniture by the loan
of a vehicle ; naturally enough the dowry of the young bride
he was shortly to bring home lay near the bridegroom's heart.
The council acceded to everything, and all the more
readily since it was at the moment sorely pressed by other
concerns ; for only a fortnight previously a serious fire at
night had in great part destroyed the dwellings in the parish
of St. Blasius, to which Bach was henceforth to belong ;
the fire had raged so close to the church and the priests'
houses that the books belonging to Frohne, its Superin-
tendent, had been flung into a cellar, where they remained
several weeks.8 Many members of the churchwardenry
were houseless ; and when the clerk of the council brought
them the agreement to sign, pens and ink were lacking, and
they declared that they had just then no thought for music,
and that they were satisfied with the decisions of the council.
It was the handsomest and wealthiest part of the city that
had been destroyed by the fire,9 and the first impression pro-
6 " 70 schock " according to the parish accounts, i schock = 20 groschen ;
I meissen gulden = 21 groschen.
7 In Arnstadt he had had only 84 gulden 6 groschen, accurately speaking,
for his salary had been paid him in various coinage.
8 According to a statement made by Frohne himself during the litigation that
ensued.
• It is thus stated in the penitential prayer referring to this disaster.
Z
338 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
duced on Bach by his future home must have been dismal
and comfortless. That he was nevertheless well content
shows that he was glad to quit Arnstadt ; he had no doubt
ample reason : release from onerous official relations, the
acquisition of a post which was doubly honourable by reason
of his youth, and the near prospect of setting up house.
His instalment dated from June 15, thus his new duties
began from the Crucis term of the year (ending September
14). On June 29 he presented himself at the council-house
of Arnstadt, announced what had occurred, expressed his
gratitude for the confidence that had been placed in him,
craved his dismissal, and restored the key of the organ to
the hands of the council. He did not wait to receive part
of his salary which was in arrear ; it often happened that
there was no money in the coffers, then the salary was
simply not paid, and the persons concerned left to manage
as best they could. On this occasion Sebastian Bach availed
himself of his credit, to obtain assistance for his needy
cousin Ernst, who had lived in Arnstadt for many years
without any appointment. He had very likely filled his
place during his journey to Llibeck, and had perhaps been
of assistance to him previously in Hamburg when Sebastian
made an excursion thither from Ltineburg, for it may be
approximately calculated that the two had met there at least
once. This was the desired opportunity for repaying such
services ; and the sum was not so trifling as it appears, for
five gulden are an item of some importance out of a whole
income of less than eighty-five gulden, particularly when a
wedding and a removal are close at hand; five gulden indeed
formed an eighth part of the annual salary subsequently
obtained by Ernst Bach.10 That Sebastian thought he could
do without it shows what good spirits he was in, and also
throws a clear light on his simple and modest way of life.
He now started afresh, and with youthful confidence in
10 That it was but a quarter of the sum that Sebastian received can be
positively proved from the account-books and receipts in the archives of the
town-council of Arnstadt, in connection with the official statements as to
Johann Ernst's salary. It is not necessary here to go into the details of the
evidence.
HIS MARRIAGE. 339
his new circumstances. At the end of three months all was
so far arranged that he could fetch his wife home to his own
house, and for this purpose he returned once again to
Arnstadt. At Dornheim, a village about three-quarters of a
mile distant, Johann Lorenz Stauber had, since 1705, rilled
the place of minister, and had been in close intimacy with
the Bach family. His first wife, Anna Sophie Hoffmann, very
possibly belonged to the family at Suhl from which Johann
and Heinrich Bach had formerly chosen their wives. After
her death (June 8, 1707) he married again, in about a year's
time, that same Regina Wedemann with whom, as we may
suppose, Maria Barbara, Bach's betrothed, was living. This
would explain why it was he, who on October 17, 1707,
performed the wedding of our young couple. Count Anton
Giinther gave his express permission, and for them the pre-
scribed fees for Arnstadt were remitted ; and it is evident
from this friendly and courteous conduct that Bach and his
patrons had parted without any grudge or ill-feeling. The
notice inserted by Stauber himself in the parish register
betrays in its details much personal interest. It runs as
follows : " On October 17, 1707, the respectable Herr
Johann Sebastian Bach, a bachelor, and organist to the
church of Saint Blasius at Muhlhausen, the surviving lawful
son of the late most respectable Herr Ambrosius Bach, the
famous town-organist and musician of Eisenach, was married
to the virtuous maiden Maria Barbara Bach, the youngest
surviving unmarried daughter of the late very respectable
and famous artist Herr Johann Michael Bach, organist at
Gehren ; here in our house of God, by the favour of our
gracious ruler, after their banns had been read in Arnstadt."11
A particularly fortunate coincidence added to their happiness:
Tobias Lammerhirt, an elder brother of Sebastian's deceased
mother, and a well-to-do burgess of Erfurt, had died in
September of the same year, and left fifty gulden to each of
11 In the marriage register at Arnstadt the record of this marriage is also
preserved. The father of Maria Barbara is there styled Mstr. (Meister) Johann
Michael Bach. The title of meister or master probably refers to Michael Bach's
skill as an instrument maker.
Z 2
340 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
his sister's children.12 His will was read September 18, and
as nothing stood in the way of an immediate payment of the
legacy, this sum must have come in precisely in time for the
wedding. Sebastian might perhaps have felt as though his
lost mother herself had pronounced a blessing on this union,
and the young couple went to their new home joyful and
thankful.
Miihlhausen enjoyed a good reputation for music ; at the
time, however, when Bach came thither it had greatly
degenerated from a past time, in which it could boast of
Joachin von Burck and Johann Eccard, Georg Neumark
and Johann Rudolf Able, and when a " musical society"18
had collected together the instrumental and vocal forces of
the town and surrounding country in great numbers, for
regular practisings. Johann Georg Able had started on a
path which, exclusively followed out, must inevitably result
in waste of power. His father, it is true, had also had a
predilection, which sprang from his own subjective piety, for
sacred arias in the form of hymns divided into verses and
set for one or more voices with instrumental " ritornels," or
interludes. But sometimes he could hit upon a general and
comprehensive musical idea, so that not a few of these
evince a fitness for congregational singing; and he was very
well acquainted with the greater and more complicated
forms of the sacred concerto, and in this had followed up
with success the course opened out by Hammerschmidt.
Another side of his artistic faculty is shown by some im-
portant productions in the way of organ compositions, still
extant, with which his skill as an organ-player must have
corresponded, and which have hitherto remained unknown.14
The style of the chorales, which for the most part are treated
in the manner of motetts, is, it is true, somewhat arbitrary
and lacking in design, as might be expected from the infancy
13 City archives of Erfurt.
18 I have derived my information respecting this society in the seventeenth
century from the documentary sources in the Monatshefte fur Musikgeschichte
II., pp. 70-76 (Berlin : Trautwein, 1870).
14 Of his activity as a church composer a complete picture, written con
is given by Winterfeld, Evangel. Kirchenges., II., pp. 296-328.
JOHANN GEORG AHLE. 341
of that branch of art at the period. But here and there
unmistakable tendencies towards the style of Pachelbel are
already apparent, and it is instructive and interesting to
observe how a dim and shadowy ideal is here darkly felt
for, which, like every genuine truth, seems plain and self-
evident as soon as it is found. Ahle's fugues are also
remarkable historic monuments. The form of the quin-
tenfuge15 is not yet brought to its full perfection in them;
sometimes the theme is answered first in the octave and
then in the fifth, involving another response in the octave ;
it even occurs that the answer remains for the time exclu-
sively in the octave. Stretto treatment is in great favour
even at 'the very beginning ; the character of the key-treat-
ment wavers between the old and new ; the use of the pedal
is irregular, and presupposes very indifferent technical skill.
Two-part writing predominates in the polyphonic sections,
and the parts are often repeated in a transposed form, either
higher or lower. Notwithstanding a 1 their want of develop-
ment, these organ works testify to an earnest and thorough
dealing with the subject, and bear an unmistakable instru-
mental stamp.16
Johann Georg Able had not the musical versatility of
Johann Rudolf, but confined himself, so far as we know, to
sacred arias and little pieces for several instruments. He
was fond of combining the two in short compositions ;
adding to an air a prelude and a finale, in which he
frequently used the motive of the air as the theme, and for
this he made pleasing use of the dance rhythms of that
time.17 Compositions for the organ were seldom printed,
and it may be an accident that we do not know of any such
in manuscript; still the great fertility which he displayed
in the aria form points this out as being his chief province ;
15 I.e., a fugue of which the subject is answered at the interval of a fifth.
16 They will be found in the collection (Musikaliensammlung) of Herr Musik-
director Ritter, by whom they were copied from the Tabulaturbuch of 1675,
mentioned above. Fortunately; for the precious musical legacy of Hilde-
brand, the organist of Miihlhausen, was sold by his heirs to a butcher, as I
discovered to my sorrow in the winter of 1867-68.
M Winterfeld, Op. Cit., 328-342.
342 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
and this is hard to combine with the broad objective solem-
nity of the organ. The sacred aria contained in itself no
conditions, either in form or idea, of any richer develop-
ment. It rose to importance by drawing the deepest
feelings of the soul to the surface, and by developing the
tone-material in its subtlest details. But in the construc-
tion of the great musical forms of Bach and Handel it was
only indirectly made use of, and from the beginning of the
eighteenth century onwards, its independent importance
was lost for musical art, which henceforth, full of a
soaring spirit, strove after broad and catholic express
sion. By constantly mirroring our own mind in the smaller
forms of art, we easily lose the sense of proportion, as well
as our interest in what lies outside us. Thus was it with
Georg Able; and the people of Miihlhausen, long accus-
tomed to regard their musicians as ample authorities, had
followed him in this, and gave little or no attention to what
was passing in the mus cal world round about them.
Into this situation came Bach, who had perfectly mastered
all that had hitherto been achieved in the art of organ-
playing and in the " church cantata " form, and was already
eagerly striving for something greater, above and beyond these.
To this young and ardent soul the fame of his predecessor
must have been an additional spur to produce something
worthy of his post. According to the terms of his appoint-
ment he was obliged to play the organ in the church of St.
Blasius only on Sundays, saints'-days, and festivals. But
he had already formed the determination to elevate church
music in general to a higher grade, and in an address sub-
sequently presented to the council he twice expressly notified
this as the end and aim of his endeavour.
A sure and unerring instinct for the field in which the
full display of strength will be possible, has been in all times
a mark of genius ; and little as Bach may then have thought
whither this clearly shown way would ultimately lead him,
such an utterance from the lips of an artist of twenty-three
years old was very significant. He extended his activity into
the province of sacred vocal music, although this properly
fell within the cantor's sphere of work ; nay, it seems as
BACH'S REFORMS. 343
though he may have managed it quite alone. Possibly this
may have been customary with his predecessors here, and
so such an encroachment may have been more easily prac-
ticable. With his views of art, he obviously could not endure
the preponderance of Ahle's compositions, and as there
existed at Mlihlhausen very few church compositions besides
these, he procured at his own expense, and in a short time,
a sterling selection, and had them performed. He tried to
complete the church choir as well as the accompanying
instruments, and it will be understood that he did his utmost
in playing the organ. In all this he was aided by his first
pupil, Johann Martin Schubart (born March 8, 1690, in
Gehra, near Ilmenau), who lived in close intimacy with him
for full ten years, and by this faithful adherence proved how
great an attraction Bach's youthful genius and great powers
of fascination could exert over other musicians if they
approached him without prejudice or vanity. In the year
1717 Schubart succeeded his master in Weimar, but died four
years after, in the prime of life. The name also of Bach's
choir-leader can be given ; it was Johann Sebastian Koch, who
was born in 1689 a* Ammern, near Mtihlhausen, held this post
from 1708 to 1710, and died as cantor in Schleiz.18
In his indefatigable zeal for his art Bach was not unmindful
of the state of music in the immediate neighbourhood, and he
must have noticed that often more material of a better kind
for the church was available there than in the town itself.
Among the surrounding villages Langula, however, has been
distinguished from the beginning of the eighteenth century
to the present time by having a succession of well-qualified
cantors and an active feeling for music. That Bach was
known there is plain from a church cantata of his composition
which I myself discovered in the " Cantorei " (the cantor's
house), and which is recognisable as an early work, appa-
rently belonging to his Miihlhausen time.19 It is incomplete,
18 Walther, Lexicon, Art. " Schubart " and " J. S. Koch."
19 Everything of value in the way of old music that had belonged to the
Cantor Sachs of Langula came into my hands in 1868. But I only acquired
a copy made by him of Bach's cantata, and not the original MS. The first
chorus had meanwhile been lost.
344 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
and is adorned with some certain and other apparent addi-
tions by later cantors at Langula; still it offers some genuine
matter for the consideration of the historian. The first piece,
a duet for soprano and bass, in F major, beginning with
the words " Meine Seele soil Gott loben," &c., is still treated,
as regards the bass part, quite in the style of the older church
cantatas, and greatly resembles them in the melodic treat-
ment ; it is, however, already cast in the form of the Italian
aria, and has a few interesting passages. The concluding
fugue in B flat major, "Alles was Odem hat," &c., is a
splendid piece, full of fire, of which the bold and soaring
theme may be given as a specimen : —
Al-les was O-dem hat lo - be den Herrn, lo - be, lo - be, lo-beden Ilenn.
This great advance in melody is displayed also in another
cantata composed at Miihlhausen, which, as it lies before us
in the most perfect state and in an unfalsified form, shall be
subjected to a more exact examination, as befits the first-
fruits of the young master's labours.
The affairs of the city were managed by a council consisting
of forty-eight members (of whom six were burgomasters),
and divided into three sections, each consisting of sixteen
persons. Each of these in rotation controlled the muni-
cipality for a year, from February to February, presided
over by two burgomasters. It was the custom that each
change of council should be celebrated with a church festi-
val and a piece of music composed for the occasion, which
was then printed in parts at Miihlhausen at the press of
Joh. Hiiter or of Tob. Dav. Bruckner. For a long time
it had been the duty of the Organist of Saint Blasius to
compose this music ; he, in fact, by ancient tradition was
regarded as the representative of the musical dignity of the
city, and the organist of the other great church — Beatcz
Maria Virginis — seems always to have been second to him
in importance ; his name in Bach's time was Hetzehenn. It
is to the inauguration of a new section of the council, presided
over by the burgomasters Strecker and Steinbach, that a
i
"RATHSWECHSEL" CANTATA. 345
cantata by Bach, composed for February 4, 1708, owes its
origin and also its publication in such a style as, so far as
I know, was never bestowed on any other cantata during
Bach's lifetime. Not only has this edition been preserved
to us, bul^also the score and the parts, in an autograph
of charming elegance and neatness ; and in the score the
bars are marked, as they often are in the master's earlier
works, with lines drawn with a ruler.20 The performance
took place in the church of the Holy Virgin, in which
the superintendent of Saint Blasius also had to preach on
certain holy days.
The text of the cantata consists of verses from the Old
Testament, a few rhymed verses of an occasional hymn, and
a verse of a chorale ; it first expresses the feelings of a grey-
headed servant who longs only to end his days in peace,21
and who receives benedictions to that effect ; it then turns to
the governing power of the Almighty, implores Him to protect
the city, to grant success to the new ministry, and finally
to give health and happiness to the Emperor Joseph. The
preponderance of Biblical texts and of the chorale caused
Bach to give his composition the title of a motett, and not ol
swoncerto, the designation which he subsequently most usually
adopted. So far as I have discovered, the older sacred cantatas
were named only by the first words of the text, and the name
cantata only came into use with the later form. This title is
an instance of the undefined character of the motett at that
period; subsequently Bach distinguished exactly between the
different classes. By the prefix " diviso in quatuor chori" he
distinctly indicates the point of view of the older cantatas
with regard to the accompaniment, since by this he
comprehends the various groups of instruments: three
trumpets and drums, two flutes and a violoncello, two oboes
and a bassoon, two violins, viola, and bass, used for the most
20 B. G., XVIII., p. 3 to 34. It is evident from what has been said that the
cantata should be designated as composed not for an "election" but a "change"
of councillors.
21 Whether among the retiring members there were any very old men, to
whom the cantata particularly referred, I cannot tell. The burgomasters for
the year 1707 were Johann Georg Stephan and Christian Grabe.
346 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
part alternately or tutti?* The same principle is to be traced
in this of a division into a "weaker" and a full orchestra, the
full orchestra coming in only in strong passages, and then
withdrawing again, and in the score this is termed the capella —
a recurrence to the terminology of the seventeenth century.
If now we take a comprehensive view of the massive
character of the material at command, it is clear how
entirely this composition still stands, as to external form, on
the same ground as certain church cantatas by Buxtehude ;
and this makes it all the more interesting to observe how a
new spirit pervades the whole. The first chorus (" Gott ist
mein Konig"), C major, sounds at first tolerably familiar,
but from the sixteenth bar, where — on the words " der alle
Hiilfethut" — "who is our only help" — the voices incessantly
follow each other in close imitation, it assumes a new and
unusually broad character, which is only weakened somewhat
at the close. In the second number (E minor) the tenor sings
to an organ accompaniment the words of old Barzillai,
II. Samuel, xix. 35 : "I am this day fourscore years old;
wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden to my
lord the king ? I will turn back, that I may die in my own
city, by the grave of my father and of my mother." In
opposition to this the soprano gives forth the sixth verse of
Hermann's hymn : —
And should my days be yet
Extended in their span,
Should I with stumbling feet
Tread the last goal of man,
Then lend me patience, Lord!
From sin and error save ;
Let my grey hairs go down
In honour to the grave !
We know that the combination of Bible words with suitable
28 The wood-wind instruments and the violoncello (this last only for con-
venience) are written in D major, while the cantata is in C major. We see
from this that the pitch or the organ of St. Blasius was a whole tone above
the ordinary pitch. No transposition was necessary for the trumpets as they
were always made to what we should now call concert-pitch (see Mattheson,
Neu eroffnetes Orchestre).
" RATHSWECHSEL ' CANTATA. 347
verses of chorales was no invention of that time. Following
Hammerschmidt's precedent, Johann Rudolf Ahle had em-
ployed them together with dexterity. Johann Christoph
and Michael Bach, with others, had transferred them to the
motett ; in Buxtehude's cantatas we find an example where
Christ and the believing soul converse, though not in simul-
taneous, yet in alternate musical phrases. All these modes
of musical construction are entirely different from the method
struck out by Bach. He came to the task, in the first place,
approaching the question only from the musical side, his
whole development having been derived from the organ ; the
musical welding of the subject was of the first importance to
him, and the chorale-tune naturally the main subject. So
little did he direct his attention to the poetical aim of such
combinations, that he quite failed to see how the contents of
the chorale-verses, chosen in all cases by himself, had
properly nothing whatever to do with the feeling of the Bible
words. For in one case an old man is speaking, who only
longs for a place in which to die in peace, while the other
prays that his later years if granted to him may be honourable ;
the two frames of mind have not much more in common
than that they both suit the conception of old age. But still
less is there any feeling of dramatic fitness ; the fact of the
Bible words being intrusted to the tenor voice, and not to
the bass, makes it clear that the composer wishes at any rate
to give expression to what he himself feels, and not to what
would be the emotion of an old man in Barzillai's place.
This is borne out still more by the structure of the melody,
which, though touching and indeed very expressive, moves
up and down in bold steps, nay, even leaps. Even this
Bach first conceived instrumentally, and wrote for no techni-
cally educated singer, or it could not have escaped him
what eccentric expression such a song must acquire when
executed by a human voice with all its capabilities of ex-
pression at command. It was not long before he detected
this great distinction, and in later times his solo songs show
the pure gold of a feeling which, though fused in instrumental
fire, is still musically poetic, and at the same time he learnt
to comprehend the poetic feeling of the interweaving of the
348 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
words of chorales with passages of Scripture with a depth
unapproached by any one before or after him.
Here he offers us at first merely a chorale for the organ
constructed on the lines of Buxtehude, but with a vigour and
depth of harmony undreamt of by that writer. The piece
is strictly speaking a trio for soprano, tenor, and an accom-
panying organ-bass, in which the parts move with the
greatest possible independence — an independence never ven-
tured on before Bach : there appears however another part,
in free counterpoint and independent of the harmonies of the
general bass, coming in at first in an unobtrusive and echo-like
way, and afterwards given out on the choir organ, ultimately
forming a quartet. Then comes a double fugue in four
parts ; " Dein Alter sei wie dein Jugend," &c. (in A minor),
the theme of which, compared with that quoted from the
other cantata, is somewhat unmeaning and laboured, and
the working-out rather mechanical. The counter-subjects
remain tolerably similar throughout the entire fugue, and
are only to be distinguished by their position ; the de-
velopments28 are only once interrupted by an episode, and
are wound up with a free coda of nine bars long, in which
we for the first time trace again the quickening breath of
Bach's spirit. This little spot of sterile ground is amply
compensated for by a refreshing arioso for the bass : " Tag
und Nacht sind dein," in F major. Bach deals very
arbitrarily with the nomenclatures in the cantata, for the
bass solo is a regular da capo aria, while the second number,
called "Aria con Corah" exhibits in the tenor voice an
entirely arioso treatment. There may be differences of
opinion as to the conception of the words of the text, but
the music, as music, is throughout delightful. The treatment
of the bass voice in the arioso has still, except in the middle
portion, the older stamp, in accordance with which the
voice does not move freely through its full compass, but
appears for the most part as the basis of the harmonies.
The first part, which returns at the end, has a tender,
pastoral character, being accompanied only by the wood
Durchfuhrung."
"RATHSWECHSEL" CANTATA. 349
instruments, the violoncello and the organ ; a character
which blossomed into full beauty in a charming aria in B
flat major to the words " Was mir behagt," &c., occurring
in a secular cantata composed eight years later. In the
second part the instruments are silent, except the organ;
and the majestic expression of the solo " Du machest, dass
beide, Sonn, und Gestirn, ihren gewissen Lauf haben," forms
a fine musical contrast, and is also well adapted to the words.
Moreover, the arrangement of the whole work bears witness
that the composer knew very well how to produce his effect
by contrasts of sound; and this was no less conspicuous in
his maturer age than in his youth, though from higher con-
siderations, such effects in later times became subordinate.
Now there follows an aria for alto, accompanied only by
three trumpets and drums, without organ, while in the
chorus which follows this, all the instruments except these
are used, the whole of the tone-materials not being reunited
until the final chorus. This alto solo is called " aria "
perhaps because the first phrase with its refrain is heard
again at the close, but it is more strictly an arioso, and
reminds one at last by its superficial melodiousness of the
older German air: we find a hybrid form of similar in-
definiteness in the Easter cantata of the year 1704. The
chorus already named (larghetto, C minor) is on the other
hand a work full of meaning and individuality. The treat-
ment is homophonic, and its effects are principally due to
the innate expression of the melody and the richly coloured
accompaniment. The semiquavers of the violoncello follow
in arpeggios the harmonic progress of the body of voices ; a
running figure in the bassoon part —
gives it the character of weight and coherence, the double-
bass and the organ accompany staccato, and the most
expressive phrase of the melody is re-echoed by the flutes
and oboes. In the course of the movement the violoncello
figure is communicated to these instruments, and at last to
35O JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
all the violins, and they weave rich and fanciful garlands
about the vocal parts, in which — a thought as new it is
effective — all the voices combining in unison declaim the
words first on c, rising then to d' flat, sinking again to 6
flat and returning to c't where they die away — the major in
long drawn-out notes.
A terrible expression of suppressed pain is the height to
which the character of the whole piece naturally leads us.
But if we look for the justification of this character in the
text, it is easy to perceive that Bach has coloured the tone-
picture much too darkly. The words of the psalm: "O
deliver not the soul of thy turtle-dove into the multitude of
the wicked," contains only metaphorically a prayer for pro-
tection from the violence of the enemy ; and for this prayer,
not less than for the general feeling of the whole cantata, a
calm trustful sentiment is the only fit one. Again, one single
heart, overwhelmed with deep sorrow, expresses itself as a
chorus ; the composer has here overshot the mark, and has
so far failed ; still, this failure is of the highest psychological
interest, because it betrays unequivocally his own predilec-
tion for dark, deeply moved conditions of the soul. This
chord of his sensitive faculty needed only the lightest touch
to set it in full vibration ; the fear of possible danger became
deepened with him (in this case) into the agony of a mind
tormented to the last degree by terror and distress. Hence
it also follows that no case is found in which Bach's musical
treatment either weakens a really good text or fails to do
it full justice ; on the contrary, he is apt to involve himself
too deeply in its meaning, even to the point of abstruseness.
Hence springs his propensity for setting words which have
to do with sorrow and tears, with dying and death ; hence
also the faculty by which he is enabled, in a gigantic work
like the St. Matthew Passion, to shadow forth one and the
same feeling in such unheard-of variety of expression. That
he allowed himself in the chorus of this " Rathswechsel "
cantata to be carried away too far by his subjective bias
must have become plain to him later, when he wrote a chorus
with a precisely similar fundamental idea, nay, with many
similar details (particularly the wailing minor sixths) to the
PHILIP HEINRICH ERLEBACH. 351
words, " Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen," &c.24 (Third Sun-
day after Easter), and afterwards used it again for the heart-
rending " Crucifixus " of the B minor Mass. Here, indeed,
these tones were in the place to which they had so early
and in so startling a manner urged their claim. Even Johann
Christoph Bach, rich as he was in earnest and intense
feeling, had upon his palette no colours of such glowing
fulness. I can only name one who, before Sebastian Bach's
time, composed anything approaching this, Philip Heinrich
Erlebach, Capellmeister in Rudolstadt (1657-1714). In the
first part of his " Harmonischen Freude musikalischer
Freunde " (1697), under No. XIV., is found a splendid aria
in the cyclic da capo form for soprano, with accompaniment
of two violins and figured bass, of which the appealing verse
expresses the frame of mind of a soul torn by grief. The
composition unites broad flowing melody and true German
intensity of feeling, and speaks to this day a pathetic
language. It comes very near the Bach choruses in expres-
sion, resembling the earlier ones in the construction of the
principal melody, and the later ones still more in other
details.
Circumstances show that Bach may quite well have
known Erlebach's collection of arias. On October 28, 1705,
the Count von Rudolstadt, commissioned by the Emperor
Joseph I., received the homage of the free imperial city of
Miihlhausen, and on this occasion the Capellmeister made
and performed there a great " Festmusik " (festival com-
position). Thus Erlebach was known in Muhlhausen, and
although we cannot suppose from the character of the in-
habitants that he would make many friends there by his
music, yet the composition, which contains an excellent
chorus, seeming like a prophecy of Handel, was important
enough not to be at once forgotten, and it might have had
the effect of spurring on Bach to make a nearer acquaintance
with Erlebach, if he had not already done so.
But let us turn to the last chorus of the " Rathscantate,"
to which the direction " arioso" intended for only one
** Cantata zum Sonntage Jubilate, B.-G., Vol. II., No. 12.
352 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
portion of it, indicates the various changes between the
homophonic chorus-passages and the refrains, and between
the bars of common time and the others. The most im-
portant thing in it is a choral fugue which comes in the
middle (the words having reference to the Emperor Joseph),
which is so superior to the earlier fugues that they cannot
be named together. In those there was hardly anything
but scholastic severity — here a fresh, austere vitality reigns.
The theme and the counter-subjects — of which two recur so
constantly that the piece might even by its musical form
be called a triple fugue — are very happily invented ; all is
united together as if it came from one fount, and increases in
richness of sound and in harmonious fulness up to the end.
Particularly significant is the co-operation of the orchestra,
which shows how clearly Bach even now understood that
in the only church style which was possible at that time,
the voices and the instruments must be welded together
into an essentially coherent whole, so completely that the
first should limit and determine the form, as the superior
and characterising factors, and yet appear among the in-
struments, not as masters among servants, but as superiors
among equals. He had recognised that the human organ
must, as far as possible, divest itself of its personal or, so
to speak, dramatic character, and, as much as it can, must
become an instrument, without an independent identity,
subservient to the lyrical expression of a common religious
feeling: with this knowledge all connection with the sentiment
and craving for individuality of the older church cantatas was
renounced. While others had formerly used the orchestra
merely to support, amplify and strengthen the voice-parts
and to alternate with them, at the utmost only allowing a
high instrument to have an independent part above the
choir, Bach gave all the instruments an indispensable part
in the fugal working-out. At first the theme is once gone
through by the four parts of the semi-chorus, then it is
taken by the first violin and oboe, the vocal subject at the
same time being carried further ; then by the second violin
and oboe ; now the soprano part of the full choir enters,
and the orchestral counterpoint is strengthened, then the
353
remaining parts of the full choir come gradually in, and with
them more and more instruments ; the harmony meanwhile
develops into five and then into six parts, and at last the
theme is caught up by the shrill blast of the trumpets, which
until then have purposely been kept silent. A more suitable
combination of voices and instruments could not be made,
nor one more skilfully adapted to increase and heighten the
interest up to the end.
The appended coda, which is a repetition of an earlier
passage, is, for a composition of Bach's, comparatively un-
interesting ; and in estimating this cantata throughout we
must necessarily use the standard which the master gives
us in his own best works. When compared with the works
of his predecessors, it is seen to be for the most part far
above them and never below them. But in many places
we find things of a quite new and original type too decidedly
conspicuous for this comparison to be wholly just. That
these arose from the only sound and right view we have
endeavoured to demonstrate. In the combination of chorale
and Bible words Bach disregards everything that is dramatic
in order to rise to a general musical idea ; by the reiterated
use of strict vocal fugue he indicated that he wished all forms
of choral treatment to be centred in this one form, which
suppresses as much as possible all personality ; and in the
last fugue he endeavours to reduce to a minimum the con-
trast between the voices and the instruments.
Fugues are very rarely found in the older church cantatas,
as is only natural from their character ; and such a fugue
as that last discussed was something entirely new, and so
were the chorale combinations ; they had only become pos-
sible by the fact of their having previously been developed
from the art of organ-playing. One must have before one's
eyes the vocal fugue-writing of the older masters of that
time in order to appreciate properly the immense advance.
What little had already been timidly attempted by others
before him in this direction vanished before the unfailing
certainty with which the twenty-two-year-old Bach com-
prehended the right and only possible way of treating the
subject. Under the decay of unaccompanied vocal music the
2 A
354 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
organ became the means by which the ideal of devotional art
was kept purest in Germany; from it this ideal was to rise
again with renewed strength, more subjective — since the
musician had had more unlimited command of the dead
instrument than he could have of living men — and so much
the more esoteric and hard to understand as the province
of instrumental music is deeper and more mysterious, but
not on that account the less worthy to express the sub-
limest religious ideal. The point now was to find the happy
medium, and not to allow the poetic element to be quite
overwhelmed in the waves of pure music.
Directly after the composition and performance of this
cantata, Bach took into consideration a new problem, the
fitting solution of which was of great importance in the
development of church music as he conceived of it. The
organ in the Blasiuskirche — although it had been largely
repaired in the years 1687-1691 by J. F. Wender at a cost of
450 thalers — stood in need of thorough repair — nay, even
of a partial restoration. The number of bellows was insuffi-
cient for the size of the organ ; the passage of the air into
the wind-chest in the bass had been inadequately fixed ;
there was no 32-feet stop, and the pedal trombone had no
strength ; in the great organ a number of the stops were
out of order, and the Brustwerk had become quite useless.
Bach ascertained all these deficiencies, and presented to the
council a scheme for the repairs mentioned above. As an
entirely new addition he put into his plan a pedal Glocken-
spiel (a peal of twenty-four small bells acted upon by pedals)
invented by himself, in which the parishioners of St. Blasius'
Church took such an interest that they determined to get
it at their own expense.25 Besides the principal organ
there was in the church a small chamber organ, placed in
" The subsequent organist of Waldenburg, Voigt, a native of Miihlhausen,
says in his Gesprach von der Musik zwischen einem Organisten und Adjuvanten
(Erfurt, 1742, p. 38): " He (an unknown musician) fell hereupon to talking of
Herr Bach, and if I knew him, as he had learnt that I was a Thuringian and a
native of Miihlhausen, and he, Herr Bach, had been organist of Miihlhausen.
I replied that I well remembered having seen him, though not more than that,
seeing that I was only twelve years old, and had not been there since for thirty
RESTORATION OF THE ORGAN. 355
the choir below the organ, which was only used for prac-
tising the choir, or for the unobtrusive accompanying of
motetts, but was not otherwise of use. Bach wished to
employ this in the second theme of the Rathscantate, very
softly, as an echo of the vocal melody, and to introduce it as
a fourth part, probably before he was aware that the per-
formance would not take place in the Blasiuskirche.26 He
now proposed to give up this little instrument, so as to
obtain the restoration of the large organ, which was the
principal thing, at a less cost. His scheme showed so much
practical knowledge that the council, at a sitting on Feb-
ruary 21, not only determined at once to effect the restora-
tion, but charged him in all confidence with the manage-
ment of the undertaking.27 As regards the work, it was
again given to Wender, who was prepared to do it for 230
thalers, for which he was also to supply the materials ; he
allowed 40 thalers for the little organ. Bach's scheme
testifies to his masterly knowledge of the technicalities of
organ-building, and is also very interesting from its original
and thoroughly artistic style of expression ; it is as follows —
Specification of the new Repairs of the Organ of St. Blasius.
1. The defects of the wind to be rectified by three new proper bellows,
so that justice can be done to the Oberwerk, the Ruckpositiv, and
the new Brustwerk.
2. The four old bellows which still exist must be applied with stronger
wind power to the new 32-feet stop, and to the other bass stops.
3. The old bass wind-chests must all be taken out and renewed, being
provided with such arrangements for the passage of the wind that
a single stop, and then all the stops directly afterwards, can be
used without changing the wind supply, which heretofore has
never been done in this way, and yet is very necessary.
years. He had added a Glockenspiel to the St. Blasius' church, but hardly was
it ready when, to the great indignation of the council of Miihlhausen, he was
summoned to Weimar as Kammer-musicus."
26 This easily accounts for the fact that in the printed organ part these
passages do not occur. In the Marienkirche they were played on the second or
third manual if there was no separate chamber-organ there ; in the latter case
the statement in the text must be modified accordingly.
a7 As is shown by the document as to Bach's demand for his dismissal.
2 A 2
356 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
4. The 32-feet wood sub-bass, or the so-called Untersatz (support),
which gives to the whole organ the greatest weight, comes next.
This must have a separate wind-chest.28
5. The bass trombone (Posaune) must be furnished with new and
large pipes, and the mouthpieces arranged in quite a different
way, by which means a much greater gravity of tone can be got.
6. The new Glockenspiel on the pedals, which the parishioners wish
for, consisting of twenty-six bells of 4-feet tone ; which bells the
parishioners have already procured at their own cost, and the
organ-builder will make them available. As regards the upper
manual, there must be put in, instead of the trumpet (which must
be taken out) a —
7. Fagotto (bassoon), of i6-feet tone, which shall be available for the
new and generally used inventions, and give a very refined tone
to the music. Furthermore, instead of the gemshorn, which must
be then taken out, let there come a —
8. Viol di gamba, 8 feet, which may agree in admirable concord with
the existing salicional, 4 feet, on the choir. Also, instead of the
3-feet quint, which must likewise be taken out, let a 3-feet —
9. Nassat (nason) be put in. The other existing stops of the upper
manual may remain, as well as the whole of those in the choir,
though they must be newly voiced throughout in the course of the
alterations.
10. The following stops will be the essential part of the new front
choir-organ (Brustpositiv) : —
In the front of it three principal stops, viz. —
1. Quint, 3 feet, \
2. Octave, 2 feet, I made of good 7-02. tin.
3. Schalemoy,292 feet, )
4. Mixture. Three ranks.
5. Tertia, with which in combination with several other
stops, a good full " sesquialtera " tone may be obtained.
6. " Fleute douce," 4 feet; and lastly a —
7. Stillgedackt, 8 feet (i.e., a soft gedackt), which may sound
well in combination, and if made of good wood will sound much
better than a metal gedackt.
11. There must be a coupler to combine these (front choir and the
swell) manuals. And last of all, besides the thorough voicing
of the whole organ, the tremulant must be so put right that its
action may be regular.
Thus Bach displayed on every occasion his earnest
88 I.e., Because there would be no room in the principal chest for this newly
introduced stop.
& I.e., the Chalumeau.
RESTORATION OF THE ORGAN. 357
desire to do his part in the interests of church music. But
hindrances soon came in the way of his zeal, and these in
the course of a few months must have increased so greatly
that he could already make up his mind, in the summer of
that year, to leave unfinished the work he had begun with
so much ardour. In his application for dismissal he speaks
of "obstacles which had beset him. and which would not
be removed by any means so easily." By this we must
understand in the first place the disposition of a portion of
the municipality of Miihlhausen which clung to old fashions
and customs, and neither could nor would follow Bach's
bold flights, and even looked askance at the stranger who
conducted himself so despotically in a position which, as
far back as the memory of man extended, had always been
filled by a native of the city, and for its sole honour and
glory. In proportion as the inhabitants watched with pride
and delight the acts and deeds of any distinguished fellow-
citizen, they were wont — some of them at least — to be cold
and repellent to anything that came from outside. It was
noted as a matter of great moment in a MS. chronicle of
the year 1794 that, at the consecration of the church of St.
Mary Magdalen in the year 1704, Johann Georg Ahle had
composed the hymn "Lobt ihr frommen." But the same
chronicler takes no notice of Erlebach's grand composition
performed in the following year. And when we read that
Bach's successor, Christoph Bieler, of Schmalkalden, com-
plained to the council of " the strange ways of the people,"
and that " he was met rather as a foe than as a friend," it
seems probable that Bach may occasionally have met with
the same treatment. The greatest grievance was when the
neighbouring towns were put forward as a model of musical
productiveness, and worthy of imitation ; for a certain anta-
gonism existed between Muhlhausen especially and Langula
with the other villages of the jurisdiction — an antagonism
which, as I have been informed, has not altogether ceased at
the present day. But, after all, these were not essential
matters when the proceedings of a great artist were in ques-
tion, and Bach on the other hand enjoyed the favour of a
highly estimable council — indeed private friendships were
358 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
never lacking to him.30 Certain occurrences however prove
that all sorts of conflicts arose between him and the spiritual
authority of the city, namely, the Superintendent and chief
preacher of the church of St. Blasius ; and that in these
disputes their different views as to church music played an
essential, or perhaps the most important part. If Bach
found himself fettered and hindered in his aspirations by his
immediate ecclesiastical superiors, it is easy to understand
how his position might soon have become thoroughly painful
to him.
It was at this period that the religious struggles between
Spener's pietism and the old Lutheran orthodoxy were
raging everywhere, and were carried on by the Lutherans
with increasing vehemence as, year by year, pietism gained
a broader foothold among the German people. In Arnstadt
it is true it had only struck temporary root, as has been
already said, and after the death of Drese it had not been
able to stand against the hostility of the two Olearius, father
and son ; but it was different in Muhlhausen. J. A. Frohne,
Diaconus, or Dean, of Muhlhausen from 1684, and who suc-
ceeded his father as Superintendent in 1691, had for many
years, under the influence of Spener, worked eagerly and
without any opposition to rouse a deeply Christian frame of
mind and course of life in himself and others. Spener's
Pia Desideria (1675), which gave the impetus to the whole
religious movement, at first had met with no contradiction,
but had even found full acceptance on the part of many
judicious theologians ; it was not till the theory was carried
80 Thus when Friedemann Bach (born November 22, 1710) was baptised, the
godparents were : " Frau Anna Dorothea Hagedorn, wife of Herr Gottfried
Hagedorn, J.[uris] U .[tritisque] Candidate in Miihlhaussen," and " Herr
Friedemann Meckbach, J. U. doctor in Miihlhaussen " (Parish-register of
Weimar). Herr Krug, of Naumburg, possesses an interesting relic in what has
been the fly-leaf of a bound book out of Bach's private library ; to the right,
in his own elegant handwriting, are the words, "ex libera donations Dn.
Oehmii \ me possidet jfoh. Seb. Bach" The Oehme family, in many branches,
formerly resided at Muhlhausen, and still exist there. This leaf, with the rest
of the book, was in the possession of Herr Koberstein, the historian of literature
at Schulpforte; the fly-leaf he gave away, the book was sold by auction at his
death, with his other books, and it has not been possible to ascertain even
what its contents were.
PIETISM IN MUHLHAUSEN. 359
out vigorously in practice, and the rigidly orthodox were
unpleasantly disturbed in their self-satisfied peace and
unfruitful conceit, that the opposition was begun, with a
combination of small intelligence and great hatred.
This was exactly what occurred in Miihlhausen. In
the year 1699 there came from Heldrungen, where he had
been superintendent, G. Chr. Eilmar, to be A rchidiaconus and
pastor of the church of the Blessed Virgin; he, though
thirteen years younger than Frohne, was thoroughly inimical
to the eager and active spirit of pietism, and was in a desperate
hurry to prove himself so. In a sermon preached by him, as
a stranger, on Sexagesima Sunday, he had taken up so
offensive an attitude towards Frohne, whose views he must
have known, even finding himself supported on certain
points by the municipal authorities, that Frohne thought
he ought not to look on quietly at such an agitation and
disturbance of men's minds. Eilmar's reproofs had chiefly
borne upon the relation of the pietists to the Bible : that it was
heretical to pray for special enlightenment when reading the
Scriptures, since the Holy Ghost dwelt in the very words of
the Bible ; that there was no distinction to be made between
the outward and the inward word ; that the pietists held the
word of God to be a dead letter ; that those contemners of
the Church and the Bible held that they could be justified
by the mediation of the ministry alone, without personal
conversion and edification. And this certainly was the stand-
point of orthodoxy to which they had been driven to sub-
scribe, by the struggle. The first principle of Lutheranism
was already lost to them ; the Church was to them almost
as to the Catholics, something perfect and divine, whose
means of grace her children need only receive passively,
and whose ministers considered themselves as the bearers
of a divine official gift which was perfectly independent of
their moral conduct ; while pietism, on the contrary, strove to
develop afresh the fundamental idea of Protestantism. When
Frohne came forward to support his views against Eilmar he
could declare with justice that he stood firm on an orthodox
basis, and in his pamphlet of August 12, 1700, could show
reason for repudiating the " false imputation spread abroad
360 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACK.
against him, that he was lapsing from evangelical orthodoxy
and was given up to Chiliasm and all sorts of innovations."
For there was nothing to be found in them, any more than
in Spener's Pia Desideria, which might not be logically
deduced from the fundamental principles of the Protestant
Church, and in his official capacity he would certainly never
have favoured any separatist extravagances.
The contention which broke out in flames immediately
after Eilmar's sermon, and which seems to have caught the
other ecclesiastics of the city, soon, however, came to an
end for a time, for on May 23 of the same year the council
promulgated a very moderate order to the effect that all
ministers were to refrain from controversy in their public
discourses ; and if any one of them noted anything " sus-
picious " in a colleague, he was to notify it in writing to the
consistory, " to the end that such errors might meet with
friendly and brotherly correction, and that all other anxious
and vexatious proceedings and disorders might be avoided."
Most estimable and moderate views, no doubt ; and indeed
the council throughout this period constantly showed its tact
and moderation. But a few years later the squabble broke
out again, in speech and on paper. Who began it cannot
be decided — each party declared itself to have been first
attacked ; but, though there may have been faults on both
sides, they certainly were not equally divided, and the in-
formation derived from the tolerably abundant materials
before us is such that the unprejudiced reader cannot doubt
to which side his sympathies must lean.
Eilmar stands forth as a worthy partisan of the collective
orthodoxy opposed to Spener: hard, bigoted, and sunk in
rigid and lifeless formalism. Nowhere can we find a trace
of warm religious sentiment ; nothing but an unrefreshing
and lifeless doctrine, pedantry, scholastic logic, litigious ver-
bosity, and conspicuous coarseness.
Frohne was a man of lively religious feeling, and of great
moral courage and severity as regarded both himself and
others. This made him obnoxious and hateful to a large
number of the citizens, who of course sided with Eilmar,
and who had influence enough after Frohne's death to
PIETISM IN MUHLHAUSEN. 361
procure him his place. Under any circumstances it rouses
us to esteem when we see a man of honest convictions,
independently arrived at, contending against the tendencies
of his time, and exposed to every sort of insult in return for
his conscientiousness ; and to this esteem is added sincere
pleasure when in the contest he displays mildness and mode-
ration. This was the case with Frohne — who was by this
time old, feeble, and becoming blind — in his written remon-
strances to the council, and he had the satisfaction of seeing
them take his side very decidedly. Though they twice or
thrice admonished him, this only proves their impartiality ;
otherwise they entirely disapproved of Eilmar's movement.
The quarrel was ultimately made up by the decision of
the disinterested Faculties. Frohne expressly declared him-
self willing to be pacified in any case if only Eilmar were
persuaded to the same. This judgment was pronounced in
the council, May 8, 1708, and communicated to the two
ministers on the following day ; but no report has been pre-
served as to how it fell out. Frohne died November 12,
1713, aged 61 ; Eilmar died two years later.81
Who that has ever endeavoured to reproduce in his own
mind some image of the personal characteristics of the
master from his works would not immediately have supposed
that in these lamentable dissensions Bach would have stood
by the Superintendent and chief preacher in word and in
feeling ? And yet the very reverse was the case. In the
entry on the parish register of the birth of his first child,
which took place in the same year at Weimar, we read first
and foremost among the sponsors, " Herr Doctor Georg
Christian Eilmar, Pastor primarius in the church of the
Blessed Virgin, and Consistorii Assessor at Miihlhausen."
A careful consideration of the godfathers and godmothers
chosen by Bach for his children is of no small importance,
because each reveals certain relations, at any rate for the
time, to different persons. The principle of selecting near
81 Altenburg, Beschreibung der Stadt Miihlhausen (Description of the City ci
Miihlhausen) ; and a quatrain in his honour was written by Joh. Gottfried
Krause, Poetische Blumen (Langensaltza, 1716, p. 117.)
362 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
relations or friends, or persons otherwise trustworthy, has
of course always been the same ; moreover, in the circle of
society to which Bach belonged such events were — and are
still — celebrated with special solemnity, and this was the
case in direct proportion as the mode of life was patriarchal
in its character. That he should, therefore, have regarded
the office of first sponsor to his eldest-born child as one of
distinguished honour is quite intelligible, and Eilmar figures
here by the side of the musician's nearest relatives. As
Bach was at this time Court Organist at Weimar, and in no
official position as regards Miihlhausen, this step must have
resulted from a quite independent decision, and must be con-
sidered as an expression of sincere and hearty conviction.
Indeed, it is beyond dispute that Bach was an adherent and
admirer of Eilmar, and consequently, as things stood, more
or less inimical to Frohne. How this could be we cannot
but ask with surprise, for is not Bach's leaning towards
pietism supposed to be an ascertained fact ? It is in fact sup-
posed to be established from certain internal coincidences of
evidence. But it never seems to have been duly considered
whether the pietistic views of art and life must not from
the very outset have counteracted any such bias in his mind.
All art, as art, asserting itself for its own sake, in the mind
of the pietist fell under the designation of "the world" to
which, as they deemed, every true Christian must find him-
self in primitive, direct antagonism ; they declared with
more or less unreserve that the artistic pleasures, which
orthodoxy regarded as indifferent (adta^opa) , and in themselves
neither good nor evil, but capable of becoming either one or
the other according to circumstances, could not be reconciled
with a way of life of which every instant should be answered
for before God, and that they were therefore to be avoided
as tending to seduce and destroy the soul. It was only in
so far as art devoted herself unselfishly, so to speak, to the
service of religion, and contributed to individual edification
and awakening, that it could escape condemnation. With
regard to music, therefore, in pietist circles, nothing was
encouraged but "spiritual songs" of the narrowest type,
which followed the verse as closely and simply as possible,
ITS BEARINGS ON MUSIC. 363
and at the same time were utterly opposed to all sentiment.
Every attempt tending to extend the forms of church music
as an art, and to combine them into a more massive whole,
or to introduce entirely new forms borrowed from the
denounced music of operas, must have appeared, from the
pietist point of view, absolutely reprobate. For all that in
the best instances might be detected in these as an edifying
and elevating power was, as they could not fail to see, by no
means that contemplative " drawing near " to God which
they sought for, and thought could only be found by abnega-
tion of the " world " ; it had only grown up as the embodi-
ment and idealisation of historical development. Now Bach
saw, as he himself admits, that it was part of his life-task
to raise sacred music to a new and higher aim, by fusing
all that had been hitherto produced ; and it was precisely in
Muhlhausen that he first began to work energetically and
with eager inspiration to that end. Since Frohne, according
to his convictions, could only endure such an advance to a
very moderate degree, he could not but endeavour to sup-
press the luxuriant productive power of the great musician,
and probably never guessed that in so doing he was choking
his very life-currents. Here was an antagonism in principles
enough of itself to send Bach over from the camp of a noble
minister of the church to the side of his opponent. It would
also seem that Eilmar had musical tastes, and was in favour
of the development of church music on new lines.82
But we must go still farther, and assert that Bach had
never been of Frohne's party, and had not been forced to
attach himself to Eilmar by flying for his life — in the sense
of his art. The close connection which he soon established
between Eilmar and his own family requires us to assume
that they had some feelings and opinions in common ; and
82 Mattheson (Der Musikalische Patriot, 1728, p. 151) mentions a book by
Eilmar, published at Brunswick in 1701, The Golden Jewel of the Evangelical
Churches (Giildenes Kleinod Evangelischer Kirchen), in which the writer
is zealous against the pietists. His defence of the modern church music proved
of great service, and he therefore gives a few sentences out of it : this would
not have happened amid the mass of writings to which this gave rise unless he
bad been sure of Eilmar's concurrence.
364 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
I need hardly here remind the reader that in the doctrine of
regeneration by baptism the views of the pietists and of the
orthodox were distinctly opposed. The religious traditions
of the Bach family — a simple but deep and living Pro-
testantism, which had been strengthened and rooted by a
long course of labours in the service of the Church — had of
course been implanted unaltered in the soul of Sebastian as
a child. His education under the eye of his elder brother
and in the highly orthodox lyceum (or college) of Ohrdruf
was not calculated to modify his views. In Arnstadt, in the
same way, the atmosphere was wholly unfavourable to
pietism ; and as the zealots suspected it of being a complete
revolution against the pure doctrine that had come down to
them from their fathers, Bach must have been strongly
opposed to it. He undoubtedly can never have tested its
principles, for he can hardly have experienced any religious
need which could not be amply satisfied by the creed of his
fathers. Everything beyond that he found in art and in his
own artist's calling. Beyond question he sometimes expressed
himself in these in a way which closely touched on certain
aspects of pietism ; the mysticism in which he shrouds
himself in the texts of his works, particularly in Bible texts,
is closely allied to the fervid devotion with which the pietist
read the sacred Scriptures. That transcendental vein which
made him so ready to dwell on the annihilation of this
mortal existence through death and on the joys of heavenly
bliss, corresponds very nearly to the attitude taken up by
Spener's followers, of " looking for the glorious reign of
Christ." Nay, and their craving — at any rate at times — to
enjoy a perfect and immediate communion with God, and to
feel in themselves the ecstatic consciousness of the infinity
of the Divine spirit, has its counterpart in Bach's instru-
mental music.
It is the proper function of this form of art to give an
idealised image of only the most comprehensive and general
facts of all human experience ; and of all forms of tone-
utterance the organ is the least amenable to the stamp
of the artist's individuality. A composition of this kind
is in truth the symbol of that sempiternal harmony
BACH'S CATHOLIC GENIUS. 365
whose mighty waves flow from and to God Himself; to
bring this near to and into the human soul without the
intrusion of any incidentally associated idea, to grasp it
with subjective fervour, and to glow with its inward fire, is
the beginning of an impulse similar to that with which
the pious soul on fire with devotion seeks to apprehend
the unapproachable and incomprehensible divinity of God
without the intervention of the Church. How fully Bach
attained this is proved by his freely conceived fugues for
the organ, which even to this day must appear to
every one permeated by devout fervour and a wonderful
vitality in spite of their severity, like rocks flooded with a
sunset glow. But all these were not the outcome of pietist
religious views ; they were only the revelation of an analo-
gous tendency, a growth from the same root of German
vital feeling, but in the domain of art. And indeed we find
side by side with the marks of identity the widest dif-
ferences; the firmest suppression of subjective demonstra-
tiveness under the severest conceivable forms, a wholesome
worldliness in recognising and utilising all that was around
him and before him, and in his vigorous enjoyment of his
own existence — a characteristic inherited from his fore-
fathers. If all that pietism held of beauty, goodness and
truth was most purely embodied — even at that time perhaps
— in Bach's music, this could only be because its creator was
no pietist. Not indeed that this could have been the case
if he had been sternly opposed to pietism ; but this in fact
can never have been the case. His religious standpoint was
above all contentions, something more catholic and sublime,
as became so catholic a genius ; and though the tradition of
his family and the love of his art kept him in the ranks of
the orthodox, nothing could be more false than to regard
him as a fanatical partisan. Might we not ask indeed
whether music so full of vitality and purpose as his ever
could submit to an union with the dead and empty semblance
of Christianity of Eilmar and his associates ?
The pietist mode of expression in Bach's cantatas and
in the text of the Passion music is often interpreted as
though the composer had here felt himself in the element he
366 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
loved. But this language, now for the first time appealing
with warmth to the heart, had taken general possession of
every one who bore in his soul a spark of poetry, and it would
be very delightful if all the verse composed to by Bach had
been pitched in that tone; we could take into the bargain
much redundancy and want of taste, particularly as they
would be almost lost in the flood of music or eliminated
without much trouble. In point of fact, among the writers
of Bach's texts, so far as they have hitherto been identified,
there was not one pietist ; nor indeed could there have been,
since to them all the new church cantatas were a sinful
abomination ; on the contrary, the real originator of this
form, so far as it took the aspect of verse, was one of the
most zealous champions of orthodoxy. A good authority —
in most things highly competent to judge — has attempted to
show that Bach had a share in Freylinghausen's hymn-
book, both as an original composer and as improving the
contributions of others.88
Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen, son-in-law and as-
sistant minister to August Hermann Francke (and after
Francke's death pastor himself of St. Ulrich's Church, and
director of the orphanage founded by Francke at Halle), pub-
lished, in the year 1704, a "Spiritual Song-book," containing
" the substance of old and new hymns, as also the notes of
the unfamiliar melodies." Since the end of the sixteenth cen-
tury, Halle, by the instrumentality of men like Francke and
Breithaupt, had become a great centre of pietism, and
this book, published "for the arousing of sacred devotion,
and for edification in the faith and in a godly mind," was
the full utterance of that religious view. It found a won-
derfully wide distribution ; edition followed edition, and in
1714, in spite of the virulent attacks of the hostile party, a
second part appeared as the " New Spiritual Song-book,"
which also met with the greatest favour ; in 1741, two years
after Freylinghausen's death, this was combined with the
first part by Francke's son, forming a collection of above
1,600 hymns, with more than 600 melodies.
Winterfeld, Vol. III., pp. 270-276.
FREYLINGHAUSEN'S HYMN-BOOK. 367
The statement that Bach took part in the musical portion
of this hymn-book, which, from the master's pronounced
attitude from the first towards pietism, we must regard as
more than doubtful, rests on a certain "Musical Hymn-book"
published for Georg Christian Schemelli, cantor of the castle
at Zeitz, by Christoph Breitkopf, of Leipzig, in 1736 ; in this
are sixty-nine tunes which, says the preface, were all either
newly composed or partly improved in their thorough-bass by
Sebastian Bach. An exact examination proves that forty of
these melodies are to be found in earlier sources, and eighteen
of them actually occur for the first time in Freylinghausen's
hymn-book.84 Bach's co-operation in this would thus be
proved only on condition of proving his authorship of these
eighteen tunes, or of some of them. But so far as regards
the first edition, Freylinghausen's own words invalidate this
attempt, since in the preface he says : " It has been thought
unnecessary to add the melodies in notes to the old church
hymns in general use ; but the new ones are all provided
with tunes, partly taken from the Darmstadt hymn-book, and
partly newly composed expressly for this work, by Christian
and experienced musicians of this place." This preface
is dated September 22, 1703, from Glaucha, a suburb of
Halle. Bach was at that time eighteen years old, and
Organist at Arnstadt; thus it is simply impossible that he
should be included as " an experienced musician of this
place," i.e.y Halle. Thus all the tunes which first appeared
in the earliest edition are put out of the question, and these
form no less than half of the remaining nine ; three occur in
the fifth editon of 1710, which in its preface has the general
remark repeated, that "all the melodies have been again
diligently revised according to the rules of composition by
experienced and Christian musicians, and improved in many
places."
One of these melodies (No. 436, " Seelenweide meine
Freude,") ought then to serve as a chief piece of evidence.
To this hymn, by Adam Drese, was subjoined in the first
M Not nineteen ; Winterfeld has by accident counted No. 284 (in Schemelli —
No. 94 in Freylinghausen) twice over.
368 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
two editions a tune in the Ionic metre (o o ), probably
devised by the poet himself; but its dancelike character
had been eliminated by the time it reached the third
edition (1706) by a change into common time. The fifth
edition gives us an entirely new tune, and as it was
erroneously believed that Bach was still living in Arnstadt,
together with Drese, and stood in some connection with him,
the idea arose that he was the composer. This seemed
to be further proved by the fact that the melody occurs in
Schemelli's hymn-book almost unaltered, while comparison
shows that Bach made abundant changes in melodies which
can be proved not to be his, especially in the treatment ot
the bass ; and this in his own composition he might not
have thought necessary. But even this criterion turns out
to be useless, for it was part of Bach's nature to supply new
harmonies to his own melodies as well as to those of others,
as often as they came under his hand ; among others, this is
proved by the tunes of his own invention to " Dir, dir,
Jehovah will ich singen " and " Gieb dich zufrieden und sei
stille," both of which exist in two different and equally
masterly settings ; and of melodies by other writers instances
innumerable testify that his various modes of setting did
not spring from an effort to improve what was defective,
but generally from the urgent prompting of his creative
fancy. Moreover, it must be added that the other two
melodies which remain in Freylinghausen's fifth edition, and
occur again in Schemelli's hymn-book,85 are found in the
latter with an entirely different bass and harmonies, and
even with several altered passages in the melodies ; so that any
conclusion we might seem to derive from the former melody
is, by this alone, entirely lost to us again.86 Finally, it must
36 Nos. 592 and 614 in Freylinghausen, " Die Giildne Sonne " and " Der
lieben Sonnen Licht."
36 Winterfeld is in error in stating that these two last melodies already existed
in the first edition of the hymn-book, for there the old tune by Ebeling is given
to Gerhard's morning hymn, and Scriver's evening hymn has a melody which
is new and quite different from the old one. The index given on p. 271 must
be altered as follows: Nos. 108, 121, 463, 475, 522, 572, 580, 700, 779 in
Schemelli, correspond to Nos. 363, 278, 349, 461, 659, 515, 405, 353, 412 in
FREYLINGHAUSEN'S HYMN-BOOK. 369
be said that even the style of Drese's hymn in Schemelli
shows a few not important deviations.
But even if all these objections are thought insufficient, the
following is surely decisive.87 It was the fifth edition which
was to be distinguished from the first edition by the insertion
of the melodies. It was not observed that the fifth is merely a
word for word reissue of the fourth, which appeared in 1708.
The utter impossibility of Bach having, in that particular
year — when he was ranged on the side of orthodoxy in a
bitter struggle between an orthodox minister and a pietist —
taken any part in an undertaking so violently disputed over
by the antagonists, must be evident to every one. Thus the
whole fabric of conjecture falls to pieces at once. For the
probability of his co-operation must be less in proportion as
the number of the melodies dwindles in which it seems at
all possible. Here one reason supports the other, and now
for the last six tunes there is no evidence but on the very
untrustworthy ground of resemblance in the harmonies,
which indeed, as I have shown, is not even to any extent
present. If at the beginning of the work Bach was opposed
to it, and always remained aloof from its managers, how
could it be possible that they should desire his assistance as
it went forward ? And finally, if we reflect that this hymn-
book of Schemelli's was publicly said to be a counterpart to
that of Freylinghausen, and indeed a compromise between
the two parties, since, in point of fact, hymns by the leaders
of the pietists as well as of the orthodox party stand in it
peaceably side by side — one88 even is by Freylinghausen
himself — it becomes intelligible how Bach got the credit
of Freylinghausen's eighteen melodies, and also, how the
musical rearrangement of this latter hymn-book might
Freylinghausen's first edition, 1704. Schemelli's Nos. 13, 19, 710, answer to
592, 614, 438, in Freylinghausen's fifth edition, 1710. The index to the first
edition of the second part, 1714, is correct.
87 Compare Winterfeld, p. 14. Not twenty-three, but only nineteen hymns
have had new tunes set to them ; No. 662 is transposed from major to minor,
and some others are set to a more convenient pitch.
88 No. 496 ("Mein Herz, gieb dich zufrieden") signed). A. Fr. It is to be found
in the second part as No. 450. In Schemelli's hymn-book, No. 798, August
Hermann Francke's hymn (" Gottlob, ein Schritt zur Ewigkeit ") is introduced.
2 B
37O JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
have been attributed to him, his absence of all partisanship
in religion being well known. But that he never had the
smallest direct part in Freylinghausen's collection of hymns
may for the future be regarded as an incontestable fact.
Some few months had elapsed since Bach had obtained
permission from the council to repair the organ, and he had
at once set to work with vigour. During this time it had
become clear to him that he could not remain in Miihlhausen.
A new sphere of action was opened to him sooner than he
could have hoped ; the post of organist in his old and
familiar home, Weimar, fell vacant, and as in any case it
must have been his object to make himself more extensively
known as a musician, he decided on introducing himself
at the ducal court, and made the excursion serve another
purpose as well. On June 5, Stauber, the minister, was
to celebrate his second marriage, with Regina Wedemann,
the aunt of Bach's wife. It occurred to Sebastian to grace
the occasion for this worthy man — who a year before had
blest his own union, and who was now entering on a closer
relationship with him — by the production of a cantata. Since
he gave in his resignation at Miihlhausen on June 25, he
must have gone to Arnstadt first, and certainly took his wife
with him ; she then either remained there with her friends,
or else went with him to Dornheim, whence her husband
fetched her again upon his return from Weimar.
The cantata which is here to be discussed, is written to
the words : " Der Herr denket an uns," &c. (" The Lord hath
been mindful of us, and He will bless us" — Ps. cxv. 12-15) 89
and bears, in its manuscript form, no mark of its desti-
nation ; nay, the conclusion that a cantata was written by
Bach at all for that day is only arrived at by combining
several very plain indications. That the work belongs to
Bach's earliest period will be at once admitted by every
one who has clearly learnt to appreciate certain differences
of style ; as also the fact that it refers to some marriage
festival. The idea that it is designed for an ordinary mar-
riage is improbable from the words of the text : " The Lord
E.G., XIII., i, pp. 73-94-
WEDDING CANTATA. 371
increase you more and more, you and your children," and
one cannot suppose it was meant for an anniversary festival
where there was no religious ceremony. But everything
well befits the second marriage of a widower surrounded with
children, as Stauber was. And besides, the passage in the
psalm applies directly to the house of Aaron, and so is
sufficiently appropriate to account for its use in the cantata,
and especially finds its exact application to a clergyman from
the words, " Ye are the blessed of the Lord which made
heaven and earth." The opportunity of composing a cantata
for the second marriage of a preacher did not offer itself so
often, at all events in the first years of Bach's "master"
period, that the exactly fitting conditions in this case can
be disregarded. The work is composed of two choruses,
between which are inserted an air and a duet. The only
instruments used are strings and organ, which begin with a
symphony built upon the first subject of the opening chorus;
this is gone through on the two violins in short sections,
always joined together by two bars of a transitional character.
In general two distinct modes of treatment are noticeable in
Bach's church symphonies or sonatas. The chief charac-
teristic of the one (which is the older) is, that above the
progressions of the harmonies, which sometimes consist of
broad chords, sometimes of soft suspensions, two upper parts
are written in expressive and cantabile imitations. The later
form is closely connected with the construction of an instru-
mental "concerto," and is an ingenious transportation from
the province of secular music ; while the earlier method, in
which Bach continued the structure begun by his prede-
cessors, takes its rise entirely from religious music. We
may regard his achievements in this particular direction
as the perfect climax of the Gabrieli sonata-form ; the har-
monic masses indeed are still disguised from view, but the
vast skeleton is adorned with the blossoms and tendrils of
the newer instrumental polyphony. The symphony of the
cantata under notice belongs to this older class, although
the tenors and cellos have a more prominent share in the
counterpoint than has fallen to them in other cases; the
part-writing is excellent and flowing.
2 B 2
372 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
The four vocal pieces are full of that tender and feeling
expression which is common to the older cantatas, and
may here be accounted for by the purpose of the composi-
tion. Both choruses are fugal ; the first begins with a
section in free imitation, where the interweaving of the
voices is twice interrupted by the instruments tutti ; even
from this touch, taken in connection with other similar
passages and the interludes in the last chorus, one can
infer the early origin of this work. The fugue, in which
the theme is answered with a freedom which Bach never
afterwards permitted himself to use, corresponds closely, in
the interweaving of the instruments, to the last movement
of the " Rathswechsel " cantata ; at the end the section
with which the number began comes in again like a refrain.
The aria is of a compact da capo form and of less import-
ance, the words of the text being too few to serve for a
more extended piece. Much warmer and more captivating is
the duet for tenor and bass: " Der Herr segne euch," &c., a
piece full of genuine evangelic benignity ; such Bach never
again wrote. A soft, broadly flowing melody, which carries
as it were in itself the imitation of a second voice, runs, some-
times instrumentally, sometimes vocally, almost through the
whole duet; and though the regular alternations between
the two tone mediums give it an antiquated stamp, they are
interwoven so dexterously and with such genius that Bach's
later manner is plainly foreshadowed in them. The close is
surprisingly beautiful, where, after an apparently final refrain,
the voices give one more last benediction, while the violins
descend in arpeggio passages through four octaves on the
chord of C major. The final chorus, which begins with a
homophonous passage, over which there is a brilliant instru-
mental figure, changes after sixteen bars to a double fugue
(on "Amen"), full of freshness and vigour, the effect of
which is indeed somewhat injured perhaps by a few passages
conceived too instrumentally; it is also wanting in breadth
and continuity, since in its development the work is divided
into too short sections between the voices and the instru-
ments used alternately, and the voices and instruments used
together. This was a part of his inheritance from his pre-
APPOINTMENT TO WEIMAR. 373
decessors, which Bach only appropriated as his own in the
course of time, though even now it had begun to yield him
good interest. There is a very splendid and bold passage
where (in the fifty-fourth bar) both the violins attack the
chief theme on c'"9 while all the other instruments have
a rushing accompaniment of confused semiquavers and
quavers ; it has all the glitter of a knightly hero on a
prancing charger. But the gently dying close leads back
beautifully into the fundamental idea of the whole. Com-
pared with the " Rathswechsel " cantata, this one has less
richness, but a greater unity, and it is a precious production
of true religious feeling. And as it was free from the diffi-
culties of most of Bach's works, it was soon taken into
favour by the art world, like its slightly younger brother,
the beautiful and earnest Actus tragicus.
The appointment to Weimar was an auspicious circum-
stance, and Bach, thankful and overjoyed at this unlooked-
for and happy change, hastened to break off his connection
with Miihlhausen. The only thing which troubled him was
the parting from the council, who had always been well-
disposed towards him, and to whom he felt grateful. This is
plainly seen in his very polite demand for dismissal : —
Magnifies, High and very Noble, High and very
Learned, High and Respected Gentlemen. *°
Most Gracious Patroni and Gentlemen,
This is to represent to your Magnificent, and to my highly esteemed
Patrons who of your grace bestowed on me, your humble servant, the
office, vacant a year since, of Organist to the church of St. Blasius, and of
your favour granted me to enjoy a better subsistence, that at all times I
desire to recognise your favours with obedient gratitude. But although
I have always kept one end in view, namely, with all good will to con-
duct well-ordered church music to the honour of God and in agreement
with your desires, and otherwise to assist, so far as was possible to my
humble ability, the church music which has grown up in almost all the
parishes round, and which is often better than the harmony produced
here, and to that end have obtained from far and wide, and not without
40 This is an approximate rendering of the titles attributed to the patrons,
each in his degree, of the office held by Bach : ist, the burgomaster, who
was president of the church committee ; 2nd, the town-councillors ; 3rd, the
literates ; 4th, the citizens. In the original all the words in italics are of
foreign derivation.
374 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
expense a good apparatus [collection] of the choicest church pieces,
and no less have, as is my duty, laid before you the project [estimate]
of the defects necessary to be remedied in the organ, and at all
times and places have with pleasure fulfilled the duties of my office.
Still this has not been done without difficulty, and at this time there is
not the slightest appearance that things will be altered,41 although in the
future at this church, even I have humbly to represent that, modest as is
my way of life, with the payment of house-rent and other indispensable
articles of consumption,42 I can with difficulty live.
Now God has so ordered it that a change has unexpectedly been put
into my hands, in which I foresee the attainment of a more sufficic-nt
subsistence and the pursuit of my aims as regards the due ordering of
church music without vexation from others, since his Royal and Serene
Highness of Saxe-Weirnar has graciously offered me the entree to his
Court Capelle and chamber music.
In consequence of this privilege I hereby, with obedience and respect,
represent it to my most gracious patrons, and at the same time would
ask them to take my small services to the church up to this time into
favourable consideration, and to grant me the benefit of providing me
with a good dimission [testimonial] . If I can in any way farther con-
tribute to the service of your church I will prove myself better in deed
than in word, so long as life shall endure.
Most honourable gentlemen,
Most gracious Patrons and gentlemen,
Your most humble servant,
JOH. SEE. BACH.
Miihlhausen, June 25, anno 1708.
[Addressed :]
To all and each respectively of the very high and highly esteemed
gentlemen, the ministers of the church of St. Blasius, The memorial of
their humble servant.
Unwillingly, but with liberality, the council on the follow-
ing day granted the dismissal, with the proviso, however,
that Bach should promise to give his further assistance in
the completion of the repairs of the organ. Since the new
"Brustpositiv," as the document quoted above tells us, was
not ready till 1709, Bach must during this time have come
over from Weimar once at least, but probably oftener.
Moreover, the town of Miihlhausen was remembered with
41 Bach's salary was higher than his predecessor's.
42 Able had had a house of his own. Generally rent was paid as part of the
salary. Bieler had twelve thalers a year on that account, besides many other
small revenues in money and in kind.
THE COURT OF WEIMAR. 375
pleasure by him all his life long ; and even after a period of
more than twenty-five years he was induced by the " former
favours of the council," to make an application on behalf of
his son Bernhard, for the post of Organist to the Marien-
kirche. In the post he had given up he was succeeded, as
has been said, by his cousin Johann Friedrich Bach.
II.
BACH AT WEIMAR. — HIS FRIENDS AND COMPANIONS.
AMONG the petty rulers of central Germany, as it existed
at that time — men who for the most part belied their
nationality as much as possible, who had an eye to their own
advantage only, and had no conception of the duties of a
sovereign — Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe- Weimar stands forth
as an independent, conscientious individuality of great depth
of character. He had already reigned from the year 1683,
and when Bach was called to Weimar by him he was in his
forty-sixth year. Separated from his wife after a short and
unhappy union, he lived childless and in retirement at
Wilhelmsburg, the ducal residence of Weimar. His court
was held with much simplicity, his tastes being opposed to
all noisy and splendid pleasures ; by nine o'clock in the
evening in the summer, and by eight in winter, all was silent
in the castle. The less time and money he needed for his
personal expenditure the more freely he could give himself
up to the concerns of his little territory, and he was especially
occupied with his care for the affairs of the church and of
education. The character of Wilhelm Ernst was eminently
that of a religious churchman. Even as a boy he had
strongly manifested this feature, for in his eighth year,
under the direction of the court preacher, he had preached
a regular sermon before his parents and a select gathering,
on the text Acts xvi. 33, " with great address and with
extraordinary boldness and much grace" as we are told.
His reign of forty-five years is full, from beginning to end,
of a series of admirable projects and enactments of this
character, which to this day have kept his memory green.
376 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
In 1713 he had the old ruined church of Saint James rebuilt;
in 1712 he transformed the old city school into the gymnasium
or college which still exists, and provided it with a new
building and benevolent endowments for the maintenance of
poor scholars ; and again, two years before his death, he
founded a seminary for preachers and teachers ; on October 30,
1717, the two hundredth Jubilee-festival of the Reformation,
on which day he also kept his birthday, he invested a
sum of which the interest was to accrue yearly to the
ministers, teachers, scholars, and poor ; and to commemorate
it he had a medal struck bearing on the obverse his own
head — a sharply-cut and meagre face, with a retreating
forehead, a large prominent nose, and a somewhat projecting
chin. He reintroduced the custom of confirming young
persons, which for more than a century and a half had fallen
into desuetude, and urged on the clergy the teaching of the
catechism. He extended the education of the lower classes
with vigorous and noble zeal — or rather their training in
Christian doctrines, which at that time was the same thing —
and often travelled from place to place in his dominions to
judge for himself of the condition of the churches and schools.
At the same time a religious bent was conspicuous in his
own life. " All in God " was his favourite motto. He performed
his devotions daily, and required his suite to do the same ;
when he proposed receiving the sacrament he secluded him-
self entirely for some days previously, and limited the pro-
ceedings of his council to that which was strictly necessary;
and among his court officials he settled from the very begin-
ning of his reign the exact order in which they should com-
municate by turns. He insisted on their piety and good
moral character, but was in other respects known as a kind
and considerate master, particularly to old and tried servants.
His favourite society were the clergy, whom he liked to see
about him in full canonical dress. To meet the requirements
of the town, containing at that time above five thousand in-
habitants, he increased the number of the regularly appointed
ministers to seven at the least, and in the year 1710 he
summoned them all at once from the whole country — above
a hundred— to a synod at Weimar, where he himself assisted
DUKE WILHELM ERNST. 377
at the proceedings from beginning to end. It was natural
that he should be interested by all the discussions on church
matters to which pietism as it spread and grew had given
rise, but his own convictions were always ranged on the side
of the " old church party." 43 For the church of Saint James
— so runs the decree — he stipulated for a preacher who
must have studied at some university " above suspicion " (of
unorthodoxy) — a remark directed against Halle ; in 1715 he
prohibited private meeting for religious purposes as in-
volving abuses; three years later he required of all preachers
their universal assent to the dogmatic proposition that the
gifts of even unconverted ministers were saving and effectual
by virtue of their office. He caused all the more serious points
of difference to be narrowly investigated by the learned men
of Jena, and then announced in a full and particular rescript
how he would have them decided.
It is pretty clear, however, from all we know of him, that
Wilhelm Ernst's interest was by no means directed solely
to church establishment and the maintenance of "pure"
doctrine, but that a deep vein of living piety ran through his
nature. For this reason zealot orthodoxy was repugnant to
him ; he sternly repressed all controversy in the pulpit, and
required that any prevalent religious error should be refuted
" humbly and by the light of reason."
Next to this he was well disposed to science and art, and
in this he distinguished himself above most of his contem-
poraries and peers, for he did not merely protect these
faculties out of ostentation and for effect, but studied in
them himself with honest perseverance. He was in his time
a student for three years in Jena, and his very interest
in theological matters kept him constantly connected with
science. Besides bestowing much care on the archives of
the duchy, he laid the foundations of the grand-ducal library,
now so extensive, by many valuable and important purchases,
and, with his usual businesslike exactitude, placed it in the
43 His younger brother, Johann Ernst, had, in 1691, made an ineffectual
attempt to get Hermann Francke as his court preacher and tutor to his eldest son
(see Francke's diary in Kramer, Beitrage zurGeschichte. A. H. Franckes, 1861).
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
charge of a special librarian. He also possessed a con-
siderable collection of coins, and was always endeavouring
to add to it. In spite of his serious character he was
induced in 1696 to allow the erection of an opera-house, and
for a time he even had a " court comedian " (" Hof-
comodiant") in the person of Gabriel Moller, which, of
course, implies that a permanent troupe of actors enjoyed
the privilege of performing at Weimar and the other towns
in the duchy. In 1709, however, this privilege no longer
existed.44 The friendly relations which subsisted between
the pleasure-loving court of Weissenfels and that of Weimar
was not without its influence over amusements of this kind.
In 1698 Wilhelm Ernst held here a four days' carnival, with
a great suite ; and even during the last decade of their lives
the cousins were faithful and eager fellow-huntsmen. The
court " capelle," or band, was not inconsiderable for that
period, and even by the year 1702 included some conspicuous
musicians. A sketch of the Duke's life, written in 1735,
narrates ingenuously: "Sixteen well-trained musicians,
dressed in the habit of heyducs, at times delighted his ear."
As these were, of course, the best of his band, the conclusion
is forced upon us that Bach himself must from time to time
have presented himself in "the habit of a heyduc " — a
comical figure enough. Meanwhile, the taste for chamber
music was greater in his younger brother, Johann Ernst, in
whose service Bach remained for a few months in 1703 ; and
after his death in 1707 it showed itself in his son (by his
second marriage), Prince Johann Ernst, of whom we shall
hear again presently. Duke Wilhelm's natural proclivities
turned his mind chiefly to church music.45
It is clear at a glance that no more favourable spot could
have been imagined for Bach and his great aims. Every
germ of art, however fertile the soil in which it grows,
44 On May 14, 1709, Duke Christian of Saxe- Weissenfels commends, to
Duke Moritz of Saxe-Zeitz, Gabriel Moller, erewhile employed as court
comedian at Weimar (Comp. Fiirstenau).
45 The best source of information for the life of Wilhelm Ernst is the
sketch given by J. David Kohler's Historischer Miinz-Belustigung, Part II.
(Niirnberg, 1730). Gottschalg also gives a large space to this ruler. Some
THE COURT OF WEIMAR. 379
demands light and air for its full development, and these
elements were extremely difficult to find at that time for true
sacred music, particularly at courts, which nevertheless were
best able to afford the means by which art might thrive.
Any real interest in religion hardly displayed itself excepting
in the form of pietism, which was inimical to art ; for the
rest, and for the most part, religious indifference hid behind
ecclesiastical formalism, and was best pleased when the
church music in common use included a compromise with
operatic music, with a leaning, if possible, on that side,
since this was now the focus of general musical interest.
But it was quite otherwise at the court of Wilhelm Ernst.
The Duke had the deepest conviction that the religion of
the Protestant Church was the first of human blessings, but
that it did not exclude the other aspects of life in all its
manifestations and relations, but merely concentrated them
and raised them to a purer ideal. Artistic efforts within the
jurisdiction of the Church must therefore have seemed to
him something exceptionally praiseworthy and deserving of
promotion, particularly when he observed what a gifted man
this was who applied the greater portion of his splendid
powers to this problem. On his views were moulded those of
most of the men who surrounded him, and Bach could at once
be convinced that his music would meet with sympathetic
appreciation, if only because it was church music. He was
supported by the favour of a majority, in whose estimation all
that was connected with the Church held the highest place.
The appreciation and sympathy of our fellow-men is as indis-
pensable as the breath of life to some even of the strongest
minds, and to the rest it is at any rate warming and invigo-
rating as the sunshine. The court of Weimar stands forth
among those of the princes of that period as Bach himself
does among composers for the Church ; they seem made for
each other.
The new post was twofold, combining those of court
details I derived from the archives at Weimar; and quite lately an interesting
study by Beaulieu Marconnay: Ernst August, Herzog von Sachen-Weimar-
Eisenach (Leipzig, 1872), confirms the view here given of Wilhelm Ernst's
estimable character.
380 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Organist and Kammermusicus. For this Bach received for the
first three years a salary of 156 gulden 15 groschen, which
was punctually paid, since the financial administration was
very exact.46 At Midsummer, 1711, he was advanced to
210 gulden 12 groschen; at Easter, 1713, to 225 gulden, and
from 1714 still further — an unmistakable sign of how well
they knew his value.47 The church of the castle dated from
the year 1630, and had later acquired the name of " Weg zur
Himmelsburg"— "The Way to the City of Heaven,"— the
Duke had had five new bells cast for it in the year 1712, in
order to adorn it still more. How often Bach had to do duty
in it cannot be exactly said, since so many extra services
were held there. The organ was rather small, but had a
strong, full-toned pedal, in which it surpassed that of the
town church, while that was superior to it in the number of
manuals. It will be interesting to see the specification: —
8ft.
8ft.
8ft.
8ft.
4ft.
4 ft.
2ft.
4ft.(?)
i6ft.
8ft.
8ft.
4 ft."
46 If he thought it needful the duke assisted his court-officer with advances.
Vide ]. D. Kohler, p. 23.
47 The collected private accounts in the archives of the Grand Duchy, which
give information respecting Bach's salary, are only to be found from Michaelmas,
1710, onwards. Here the following entries occur: 150 gulden of salary and
6 gulden 15 groschen for "3 cords of driftwood"; besides this, 12 groschen
11 for coals for the court-organist in the winter." The remaining entries, up to
the end of 1713, show a considerable increase.
48 Wette, who communicates this specification (pp. 175, 176), celebrates the
Upper Manual.
Lower Manual.
i. Principal 8 ft.
i. Principal
2. Quintaton ... ... 16 ft.
2. Viol-di-gamba
3. Gemshorn ... ... 8 ft.
3. Gedact
4. Gedackt 8 ft.
4. Trumpet
5. Quintaton 4 ft.
5. Small Gedackt
6. Octave 4 ft.
6. Octave
7. Mixture ... ... 6 ft.
7. Waldflote
8. Cymbel 3 ft.
8. Sesquialtera
g. Glockenspiel, or carillon.
Pedal Organ.
i. Great " Untersatz "
4. Violin-Bass
(support) ... ... 32 ft.
5. Principal Bass
2. Sub,-Bass 16 ft.
6. Trumpet- Bass
3. Posaune (Bass Trom-
7. Cornett-Bass
bone) 16 ft.
BACH AND HIS COLLEAGUES. 381
In the musical capelle (band) Bach was of use both as a
pianoforte and violin-player, so that he was afterwards
advanced to be concertmeister (leader of the band), which
became his customary post, except at the performances in
church, when he had his own place at the organ. A list
of the ducal musicians employed between 1714 and 1716
numbers twenty-two ; it is true that the singers are included
in this ; but they were all more or less accustomed to play
on some instrument as well, and indeed most of the players
had knowledge of several instruments. There were always,
moreover, some among them who held offices of entirely
different kinds ; it was the custom, and they were used to it.
The four voices of the chorus used to be doubled, and six
choirboys added to its strength ; also the Stadtmusicus was
at hand, who with his company could lend a support if
desired.
Bach found a worthy colleague in art and profession in
Johann Gottfried Walther, the organist of the town-church
of SS. Peter and Paul. He was an " Erfurter " through his
mother, whose maiden name was Lammerhirt, and so he
was rather nearly related to Bach ; and besides he was
connected with the family through his first teacher of music,
Johann Bernhard Bach. Born on September 18, 1684, ne
was nearly of an age with Sebastian, and once already an
opportunity had been given to both of trying for the same
prize, when the place of Georg Ahle in Miihlhausen was to
be filled up. But Walther withdrew from the competition
which had been urged upon him, and a few months after,
on July 29, 1707, was summoned from Erfurt to the town-
church of Weimar, where the town-organist, Heintze, had
died shortly before.49 He remained in this post until his
death, March 23, 1748; he had nothing to do with the court
band in Bach's time, since he was first called "Hofmusicus"
in 1720 ; while in the year of his arrival he undertook the
organ as " incomparable," which, if any weight is to be given to his judgment,
must be referred to the quality of the stops. Its pitch was the so-called cornet-
tone, i.e., a minor-third above the Kammerton or ordinary pitch. See App.
A, 17.
49 A. Wette, Hist. Nach., &c., von Weimar (Weimar, 1737), p. 261.
382 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
clavier instruction of Prince Johann Ernst and his sister,
Johanne Charlotte.50
Walther's name is commonly known in the history of art
by his Musical Lexicon, which appeared in 1732 at Leipzig,
and is the first German attempt to bring the whole mass
of musical information into the dictionary form. The book
is even now a source of information hardly to be dispensed
with, principally owing to the fulness of the biographical
notices, which have been collected together with great dili-
gence, although it naturally contains many inaccuracies :
the author, moreover, was always anxious to bring it to per-
fection, and to publish a continuation, but he died in the
meantime.51 And yet this was only the fruit of this diligent
man's leisure hours ; his chief occupation was practical
music — playing, teaching, and composition. He was
peculiarly fitted for teaching by his precise, indefatigable,
and persevering nature, combined with fundamental musical
knowledge to such a degree that he could in this well stand
his ground beside Bach — at least as a teacher of composition.
His style of playing — judging from those of his composi-
tions which are preserved — must have been broad and solid.
Of these a few small examples were engraved on copper in
his lifetime,52 but a large number of them have been handed
down to us in autograph — compositions exclusively for the
organ or clavier ; as to his church compositions, concerning
which he himself informs us, I, at least, have never seen
them. Five fugues (in A major, C major, D minor, C major,
and F major) are respectable, viewed as the further deve-
loped works of his Thuringian predecessors ; and still more
so the preludes, in the form of toccatas, which are prefixed
60 Walther himself has written the greater part of his life in Mattheson's
" Ehrenpforte " (Hamburg, 1740), pp. 387, 390. See Gerber, Lex., II., Sp. 765.
61 His copy, with many manuscript additions, was in the possession of the
lexicographer Gerber, who incorporated the chief part of them in his own
Lexicon. After his death the manuscript came into the library of the " Gesell-
schaft der Musikfreunde," in Vienna.
w To those mentioned by Gerber there should be added a book of arrange-
ments of the Advent hymn " Wie soil ich dich empfangen," published b)
Christian Leopold in Augsburg.
WALTHER. 383
to four of them.58 His chief interest was bestowed on "organ-
chorales"; he was a diligent collector of good chorale ar-
rangements by past, and sometimes by contemporary, com-
posers, and he himself made many hundreds of such pieces.
There still exist five more or less comprehensive books of
chorales collected by him, in which we find Bohm fairly
represented, and also Buxtehude, in whom he had been
interested by Andreas Werkmeister. However, his chief
model was Pachelbel, by whose genius all the Erfurt
organists of the time were influenced, and whose son he
went especially to Nuremberg to visit in the year 1706. An
entire set of chorale-preludes for a year (i.e., one or more for
each service of the year) were composed by him in the
manner of that master.54 One can fully join in the high
praise bestowed upon him by Mattheson, who calls him the
second Pachelbel, " if not in art the first," and asserts that
Walther's chorales surpass in elegance all that he had ever
heard or seen, and yet he had heard many and seen many
more.55 In this specialty he must be considered as the
greatest master next to Sebastian Bach, if we put out of sight
the long-drawn-out form of the North German organ chorale,
in which he had only tried his hand. All that Pachelbel had
left technically more or less undeveloped was completed by
Walther. The counterpoints are worked in freer contrast to
the melody, and form an independent and self-contained
organism, in which the separate parts move with great
freedom ; with a like ease the cantus firmus now appears in
the bass, now in an inner or an upper part ; the pedal
technique is fully developed. Moreover, he has at his com-
mand a considerable wealth of inventive combinations, and
that facility for the solution of difficult contrapuntal pro-
blems which is only acquired by persevering industry.
He was conscious of his powers, and fond of exercising
them in artfully devised canons. For example, to the melody
of " Wir Christenleut hab'n jetzund Freud," he added a two-
68 In the royal library at Berlin.
54 Mattheson, Critica Musica, Vol. II., p. 175.
65 Vollkommener Capellmeister, p. 476.
384 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
part canon on the octave at the distance of a crotchet, and
put the cantus firmus on the pedal.56 He was very fond of
working the melody in canon between the upper part and
the pedal in many kinds of alternations, as for example,
where the bass enters with the simple melody, and the upper
part follows a bar later with it richly adorned (in an arrange-
ment of " Ach was soil ich Sunder machen "), or the upper
voice proceeds in minims and the pedal comes in after two
bars in crotchets, and so catches it up at the end of each
line (" Mitten wir im Leben sind ").57 Also where it is pos-
sible to use two lines of a chorale in close combination, he
knows how to discover it ; and accordingly he worked a
"chorale fugue" through on the first line of " Herr Jesu
Christ, du hochstes Gut," in such a manner that he used
the second line as counter-subject and, indeed, in diminution
as well as in double counterpoint.58 Such an experiment,
demanding both art and genius, he tried even on the major
melody, probably originating with Pachelbel, to " Wo soil ich
fliehen bin," which is so worked that it allows of double
counterpoint in all four parts, and consequently in the second
verse the tenor has counterpoint to the alto, the alto to the
tenor, the soprano to the bass, and the bass to the soprano.59
But this very facility in counterpoint was the origin of
many of Walther's failures. Such a full development of the
technical powers is a sword that cuts both ways ; it often
turns against him who wields it, since it selfishly makes
68 The autograph is on a loose quarto-leaf in the royal library in Berlin.
Mattheson, Critica Musica. In the same place, in the form of a leaf from an
album, is a " Canone infinite gradato a 4 voci, sopra : A Solis ortus cardine " —
--
fc " *-« " «hfcbE: — t-
1tt" it. • *•
viz., a canon on the fifth, in which the parts ascend at each repetition, so that
the soprano and tenor begin the second time on E, and alto and bass on B, and
so on.
67 Both these are in the Frankenberger Autograph, p. 270 and 334.
68 Commer, Musica Sacra, I., No. 145.
69 It is in the Konigsberg Autograph.
WALTHER AND HIS STYLE. 385
itself too prominent, injuring the composer's conception by
its very nature. To curb it properly and to keep it always
in subjection to the ideal requires the greatness of genius,
which must be denied to Walther, whose scope was narrow,
and whose tendency was to trivialities.
The idea of the Pachelbel organ chorales, which was to
allow the choral melody to stand out in its simple grandeur,
so that the characteristic religious feeling should spread aloft
and around, was often quite obscured by Walther's too arti-
ficial method of treatment by canons, in which the attention
is given more to separate combinations than to a compre-
hensive plan. Two examples may make this clear. An
arrangement of " Hilf Gott, dass mirs gelinge"60 is planned
quite in Pachelbel's manner ; two upper voices treat in imi-
tation each line of the chorale, which after a time appears
slowly and majestically in the pedal part. The composer,
however, is not satisfied with this, but, besides the melody in
the pedal, brings it in again on a loud great organ a fifth
above, and moreover in diminution, adorned and shortened
in parts just as it may happen to suit. Every one must feel
the painful restlessness of this over-refined combination,
since the ear vacillates to and fro incessantly between the
quiet simple melody below and the restless ornamented one
above ; nay, what is still worse, between the impression of
tonic and dominant below and above. A fair and noble
picture is thus frightfully distorted. The second instance
has to do with the chorale " Gott der Vater wohn uns bei."
The two first lines are first delivered by the upper part in
minims with beautiful counterpoint in semiquavers. Even
with the last three notes the pedal comes in with the repeti-
tion, and the attention is urged on to another subject before
the goal first suggested is reached. After the pedal is re»
leased from its task, the upper voice again takes possession
of the lead, but is only allowed to give out two notes before
the pedal comes in and drowns it with doubled diminution.
The following line is led by the pedal, and the upper part
comes after it in canon ; the next is given to the upper part
Commer, op. cit., No. 147.
2 C
386 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
alone, but the one after it is again treated in imitation ; then
it is repeated. In the last lines the upper and lower parts
are so interlaced that the progression of the melody is
almost unrecognisable. Here we are led by the superfluity
of art nearly to the point of view of Samuel Scheidt, or a
hundred years back.
By an error this organ chorale has come to be included under
Bach's name in GriepenkerFs edition of his organ works.61
But I have no hesitation in saying that Bach never wrote a
piece in which the plan and organisation of the whole is
so utterly sacrificed to separate interesting combinations.
The whole difference between the two composers is clearly
shown by such productions, which irresistibly confirm the
overwhelming superiority of Bach's genius. Although he
had much greater polyphonic ingenuity than Walther, he
never allows himself to be carried away by it to the injury
of the ideal, but remains grand and simple even through
the most complicated forms. In the canonic treatment of
a chorale-melody, giving rise to the hardest problems (of
which he has given the most brilliant examples among his
Weimar chorale arrangements), he hardly ever employs the
process in the strict Pachelbel form, evidently because he
fully entered into the poetic depth of the chorale. We only
know two exceptions, and here the indescribably grand
achievement vindicates itself.62 Thus Bach alone really
perfected the Pachelbel ideal, inasmuch as it was he who took
that last step with confidence, and reproduced in the coun-
terpoint the poetic essence of the melody, of which only
weak indications appear in Walther. A publication, com-
plete as far as possible, of Walther's organ chorales would,
however, be the only proper method of judging him, so that
their technical subtlety and perfection — which Mattheson
happily calls "elegance" — should be admired as they deserve.
The personal connection between these two men, already
prepared by relationship, soon became a friendly intimacy,
91 P. S. V. Cah. 6, No. 24 (245). It is in the Frankenberger Autograpli with
Walther's name in full, p. 74.
62 " Dies sind die heiligen zehn Gebot," and " Vater unser im Himmelreich,"
in the third volume of the " Clavieriibung " (Peters).
BACH AND WALTHER.
387
and Bach stood godfather to Walther's eldest son Johann
Gottfried (September 26, 1712) ,m An album leaf, on which
a four-part canon written by Bach, with a dedication, we
can certainly refer to Walther, particularly as an exactly
similar leaf, on which there is also a canon, but by Walther,
is extant. Bach's memento is in this form : —
" Canon d 4 Voc : perpetuus."
§ § §
This trifle is here written for the owner (of the book) in affectionate
remembrance.
Weimar, Aug. 2, 1713.
Joh. Sebast. Bach.
Furste. Sachs. Hofforg. u,
Carrier Musicus.64
A love of the canon form was at that time common to
them both ; it is conspicuous, as has been already said, even
in some of Bach's organ chorales written at Weimar. We
shall presently see them emulating each other in another
branch of musical composition. But it is self-evident and
natural that men so near in their ages and aims should inter-
change their views and experience in art. Thus an anecdote,
which must have been preserved for posterity by one of
Bach's elder sons, most likely refers to Walther. Sebastian
had very soon attained so high a degree of skill in organ
and clavier playing, and set himself such difficult problems
in his own compositions, that he could play the compositions
of others unhesitatingly at sight. He once said before a
63 Parish Register at Weimar.
64 This leaf was in the possession of Herr Clauss, consul-general at Berlin,
who allowed me to copy it. The collection was sold by auction in 1872, at
Leipzig.
2 C 2
388 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
friend — who we suppose must have been Walther — that he
believed he really could play anything and everything at
sight, and his friend for a joke determined to teach him
differently within eight days. " He invited him," says our
authority,65 " to breakfast one morning, and laid on the desk
of his instrument, besides other pieces, one which at first
sight looked quite insignificant. Bach came in, and, accord-
ing to his custom, walked straight to the instrument, partly
to play and partly to look through the pieces which lay on
the desk. While he was turning over the pages and trying
them, his host went into another room to prepare breakfast.
In a few minutes Bach came, in its turn, to the piece pre-
pared for him, and began to play it ; but not far from the
beginning he came to a standstill. He studied it, began
again and again, came to a stop. " No," he exclaimed,
rising to leave the instrument, while his friend was laughing
to himself in the next room ; " no one can play everything
at sight : it is not possible."
At a later period some estrangement must have occurred
between them ; this is evident from the way in which
Walther speaks of Bach in his Lexicon. As we look through
the worse than meagre article, it is difficult to believe that
its author was the man who had lived with Bach for more
than nine years, in a small town, on those terms of equality
which result from a community of artistic interests, and
the closest intimacy. Not a word in it betrays that it
treats of the man who was already one of the greatest
organists in all Germany, and not merely esteemed so at the
court of Weimar, but famous far and wide. There is no
mention of all his numerous compositions written in Weimar
— cantatas and pieces for the organ and clavier which
Mattheson admired in Hamburg as early as in 1716 ; nothing
about the competition — so much talked of and so honourable
to all German musicians — between Bach and Marchand in
1717. These were all events amid which Walther had
actually lived, and which it was impossible that he could
have forgotten by the time when he wrote the Lexicon.
Forkel, Ueber Job. Seb. Bachs Leben, p. 16.
THEIR INTIMACY AND ESTRANGEMENT. 389
Nor can it be objected that in all the biographical articles
he confined himself only to the briefest statement of the prin-
cipal facts; on the contrary, the article on Georg Oesterreich
shows how discursive he could be concerning his personal
acquaintance. How much more interesting would the nar-
rative of his intimacy with Bach have been ! But even his
later additions in manuscript refer only to Bach's residence
at Leipzig, and are derived from sources accessible to all.
His own living interest in his great contemporary must have
cooled entirely; and it is difficult to believe, willing as we may
be, that the divergence of their paths in life should have
been the only cause of it. There is, besides, external evidence
that even during the last years of Bach's residence in
Weimar the old intimacy between them no longer existed.
Bach went from thence to visit his cousin Johann Ludwig
Bach, capellmeister at Meiningen, whom he learnt to esteem
highly, and he copied many of his compositions with his own
hand. If he had still been in intimate intercourse with
Walther it would be extremely surprising that he, in his
Lexicon, should betray no knowledge of Bach of Meiningen,
for he must certainly have heard much in his praise from
Sebastian. But as to the cause of his estrangement we can,
at most, hazard a guess. Possibly Walther found himself
more thrown into the background by Bach's transcendent
merit than his very justifiable self-esteem could brook, and
when once this form of dissatisfaction has taken root, and
the field is so narrow, how easily occasions for sensitiveness
and friction arise ! It is highly significant that Walther, in
his collection of organ chorales — a province of his art in
which he had every right to feel himseli a master — has
borrowed comparatively little from Bach.
Bach was thrown into near relations with yet another
personage who held office in connection with the town
church, namely, the cantor, Georg Theodore Reineccius.
Heie again we derive our information from the fact of his
having been godfather to one of Bach's twin children (born
February 23, 1713). Reineccius was born at New Branden-
burg in 1660, and was cantor in Weimar from 1687 till 1726,
and also teacher in the Gvmnasium, at first to the fourth
3QO JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
class and then to the third. His colleague Walther testifies
of him that he was an excellent composer, " though he had
learnt to compose merely from studying good scores," and he
adds that Capellmeister Theile, of Naumburg, who was called
the father of counterpoint, had spoken of him as " a learned
composer," for a Mass in E major. We are in position to
test this opinion, and indeed to confirm it from a motett for
a double choir: " Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn" ("Praise,
O Jerusalem, the Lord"). Judging from this, the "good
scores" must have been principally by Italian masters, for
the motett displays so much comprehension of vocal feeling,
so much skill in the treatment both of the double choir and
of eight-part harmony, so much flow in the conduct of the
parts, that a German of that time could hardly have
originated them without an Italian model. It consists of
several broadly handled movements, and closes with a
"Hallelujah" fugue.66 A series of texts for cantatas for
the whole year, founded on the Gospels, and printed about
1700, show him to have been a master of his native tongue
and of rhythm, and the music for these pieces, at any rate
in great part, was also composed by him. He seems to have
had a manner calculated to engage the confidence of the
young ; for, besides Bach, Matthias Gesner, who was six years
younger and who was corrector (or sub-warden as we may
render it) of the Weimar College from the early part of 1715
till 1729, was devotedly attached to him, and publicly stated
the fact years after.67 Gesner was passionately fond of
music, and as the two branches of study were united in
Reineccius, who was a very superior man, it is pretty certain
the learned Gesner and the illustrious artist Bach at this
time had already begun the friendship which after an interval
68 In a collection of 93 Motetts in score (No. 13,661) in the University library
(Gotthold) at Konigsberg, p. 203. This one is only signed " G. T. R.," but as
the collection was apparently made in Thunngia, there can hardly be any
doubt as to the composer.
67 Jo. Matth. Gesneri primcp linece isugoges in eruditionem universalem.
Tom. II., pag. 553 (edit, alt.} : " Vinaria familiaritas mihi fidt cum pr&ceptore
tertice classis (Reinesio] qui simul Cantor erat atque ct'llegii totius senior, et per
XL annos in populosa urbe munere scholastico June tus ; et erat vit bonus, cut
fidtm habere poteram.''
BACH'S OTHER COLLEAGUES. 3QT
of more than twelve years they re-cemented in Leipzig, and
which on Gesner's side found enthusiastic utterance in the
well-known note to his edition of Quintilian68 — an utterance
which does equal honour to him and to Bach.
Bach himself stood in no direct connection with the
Gymnasium, since the scholars engaged in the choir were of
course under the direction of the cantor, and special lessons
in music for the college boys were not instituted till 1733 ;69
still he must have exercised considerable influence over the
choir, at any rate in his later capacity as concertmeister. It
has already been noted that he met again in Weimar with
his old friend the rector of the Ohrdruf College, Magister
Joh. Christoph Kiesewetter, who in 1712 was called to be at
the head of the new Gymnasium.
There is less to say with reference to the members of the
ducal band. The capellmeister was Johann Samuel Drese,
born in 1644, cousin and pupil of Adam Drese, and who,
like him, at first officiated as court organist to Duke Bern-
hard of Sax-Jena ; but at the accession of Wilhelm Ernst in
1683 he was called to fill his office at Weimar, and in 1671
had married a wife of that town.70 He was, however, feeble
in health, and during the last twenty years of his service
could scarcely fulfil his duties ; nevertheless the duke, who
clung much to old and faithful servants, did not allow him
to leave, but gave him the assistance of a deputy. This
assistant, from 1695 till about 1705, was Georg Christoph
Strattner, who is known in hymnology by the melodies he
set to Joachim Neander's " Bundesliedern und Danksal-
men " (" Songs of the Covenant and Psalms of Thanks-
giving").71 In his installation he was charged with "the
direction of the whole band in the absence of the present
capellmeister, Johann Samuel Drese, when, by reason of his
well-known bodily infirmities, he could not be present, and
in such cases to hold the usual examinations in the house of
the said Drese ; also not at any time less than every fourth
68 To the Institut. Orat., I., 12, 3.
89 Wette, Op. Cit., p. 415.
70 Walther, Lexicon.
71 Walther, Lexicon. Comp. Winterfeld, Evangel. Kirchengesang, II. 516 ff.
3Q3 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Sunday to conduct in the prince's castle-chapel a piece of
his own composition, and at all times, whether he were
conducting or not, to sing tenor," &c., for which he was to
receive 200 gulden yearly. Subsequently Samuel Drese's son,
Johann Wilhelm, became deputy capellmeister, probably with
the same duties, and after his father's death (December i,
1716) he filled his place. Nothing can be said as to the
artistic productions of either ; those of the son seem to have
been quite insignificant, since Walther does not even mention
him in the Lexicon, and the invalid father during Bach's
residence certainly but rarely came into prominence, so that
it was easy for Bach to come to the front with his talents
and his personal influence. The violinist Westhoff had been
dead ever since 1705, and no single celebrity deserves to be
named as belonging to the band, so far as I have been able
to discover. Still we must assume it as certain that, as a
body, it was skilled and competent, from the lively interest
taken by the court even in chamber music. Among the
musical personages of Weimar who deserve to be mentioned
in this place was Johann Christoph Lorbeer, court advocate
and poet laureate, who first displayed his taste in the arts
by his " Lob der Edeln Musik " (" Praise of the noble art of
music," Weimar, 1696), and a year afterwards chivalrously
defended his favourite art against the attacks of the rector
Vockerodt, who assailed it in a bitter pamphlet. He was
on excellent terms with Samuel Drese, who prefaced his
friend's " Lob der Edeln Musik" with a poem in eulogy of
his " dear friend " (" Herzen's Freund ").
III.
THE WEIMAR PERIOD.— ORGAN MUSIC, CONCERTOS,
CANTATAS, &C.
BACH'S nine years' residence in Weimar was the period
of his most brilliant activity as an organist and com-
poser for the organ, for this particular department was in
the first place and above all that which his official position
assigned to him The very competent author of the
BACH AS AN ORGANIST. 393
Necrology says, " The benevolence of his gracious sovereign
inspired him to attempt all that was possible in the art of
handling the organ, and here it was that he composed most
of his organ pieces."72 The vigour of endeavour which was
characteristic of him, together with gifts of the very first
order, left no doubt of his success. His fame soon spread
throughout north and central Germany ; in the excursions
for artistic purposes which he made from Weimar he covered
himself with honour of every kind ; and Mattheson of Ham-
burg wrote of him in 1716, " I have seen things by the
famous organist, Herr Johann Sebastian Bach, of Weimar,
which, both for church use and for keyed instruments, are
certainly so conceived that we cannot but highly esteem
the man," and at the same time he asked him for a sketch
of his biography for his " Ehrenpforte," which he was then
planning, but which did not appear till twenty-four years
later.73 How he applied himself to acquire the highest per-
fection of a peculiar form of fingering technique, on which
indeed a considerable share of his greatness as a clavier-
player ultimately depended, it will be his part to tell us later.
With this he combined a certainty, boldness, and versatility
in the use of the pedal obbligato, such as had been hitherto
unheard of.74 His works, of which the technical difficulties
remain unsurpassed, even at the present day, exist to
testify that as time went on he achieved the most unlimited
mastery over the mighty instrument ; and as with him the
external form was always the handmaid merely of an inward
purpose, we may conclude that the demands made by them
on executive skill never rise to the utmost height of his own
technical capabilities, as exhibited in free improvisation
when display was the first object, or when trying some new
organ.
Even in the knowledge of organ-building — of which the
72 Mizler, Op. Cit., p; 153. Compare Forkel, p. 6.
73 Mattheson, Das beschiitzte Orchestre, Hamburg, 1717, p. 222. Probably
tne first time that Bach is mentioned in literature.
74 Mizler, p. 172. Compare Gerber, Lexicon, I., col. 90. A fragment, appa-
rently autograph, and a very interesting " pedal exe rciiium " by Bach, are in the
possession of Professor Wagener, of Marburg.
394 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
project laid before the council of Mtihlhausen gives so signal
a proof — he soon had made himself perfect to such a degree
that he was considered as quite the equal of the oldest pro-
ficients. As time goes on we shall often see him called
upon to exercise his keen insight into the subject. This
quality, applied to his own compositions for the organ,
gave rise to one element of essential consequence as
regards the full effect, which element has unfortunately
not been handed down to us in its original form, namely,
a very characteristic and ingenious use of the stops.
Bach's judgment was equally eminent in the combina-
tion of harmonies and of qualities of tone, and as in
the former his eye had detected paths which no one had
previously dreamed of, so in the mixture of musical tones he
was inexhaustible in his devices, peculiar sometimes to the
verge of strangeness, but never pedantic or devoid of style.75
This art, which was allied to the orchestration of later com-
posers, he displayed especially when a powerful instrument,
fully supplied with stops, came under his hand ; unfortu-
nately in his places of residence he never possessed one worthy
of such a master. Since, however, tone-colouring is espe-
cially adapted to introduce the expression of a poetic element
into music, skilful management of the stops must be of great
value, particularly in the organ chorales. Whether the
means will ever offer for detecting in a number of these the
traces of his intentions as to the use of various qualities
of tones is in the hands of fate. Bach, at any rate, did not
indicate them in any of the autographs that have been pre-
served, because the vast difference in the stops of different
organs must determine which are to be used, and at that
time much had to be left to the intelligence of the performer
of organ music.
From the form and character of the compositions only very
general hints can be obtained. But in one single organ
chorale it is possible to arrive at Bach's original way of
using the stops; in an indirect way, it is true, but with
perfect certainty. Walther gives in each of his most compre-
76 Mizler, p. 172. Forkel, p. 20.
BACH AS AN ORGANIST. 395
hensive collections an arrangement by Bach of the chorale,
" Ein' feste Burg," which he must have obtained, as he
did all the Bach chorales which he has handed down, at
the time of their living together in Weimar ; the plan of it
points certainly to an early date of composition.78 In the
older collection the direction, " a 3 clav." (for three manuals)
is written over it, and over the commencement of the left
hand " Fagott," and over the right, which comes in after
two and a half bars, "Sesquialtera." Now neither Walther's
nor Bach's organ in Weimar had three manuals,77 nor had
either a fagotto stop, so that these directions cannot possibly
have proceeded from Walther, nor have been inserted by
Bach with reference to the castle organ. But when we
remember that, according to Bach's own scheme of the
repairs of the Miihlhausen organ, a i6-feet Fagotto was to be
put in instead of the useless trumpet ; that further, agreeably
to his specification, a tertia had been put into the " Brust-
positiv," "with which, in combination with several other
stops, a good full ' sesquialtera* tone may be obtained ";
and that, lastly, Bach was bound to look after the structure
until its completion, and so in some sort was held respon-
sible for it — we can no longer doubt that a composition
adapted to the remodelled Miihlhausen organ is before us,
in which all the newly introduced stops were to be shown
off. Since the new structure was ended in 1709, the com-
position must be of that date; and the chorale introduced
into it more particularly assigns it to the Reformation fes-
tival, on which day Bach must have first displayed the
powers of the restored organ to the townspeople and the
council.
The combination of a reed-bassoon with the sesquialtera
is one of those "entirely new inventions" of which Bach
speaks in its place in the specification before mentioned, and
gives a fairly good idea of the striking combinations of sound
78 These two collections are the Konigsberg (evidently the older), and the
Frankenberger (the later). The chorale with which we are concerned is P. S. V.,
Cah. 6, No. 22.
77 The expression " clavier " refers always simply to manuals when speaking
of the organ.
39$ JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
which he was fond of making. The composition shows off
both stops equally well, since the first lines with their
repetitions are almost entirely in two parts, and worked in
such a manner that the right and left hand alternately have
the cantus firmus. In the twentieth bar the sign R. (Ruck-
positiv) shows that both hands are to play on the third
manual, from which point the fifth line of the melody is
treated in Bohm's way, and developed into a subject ; and
the pedal enters there for the first time. Although this
bears no direction as to the stops, one can quite see, from
the quietly gliding quavers on the pedals, which demand a
clear intonation in combination with the slighter volume of
sound of the choir-organ (Riickpositiv), that the new 32-feet
sub-bass (see the specification No. 4) was to be shown off.
From the twenty-fourth bar onwards the manuals of the Ober-
werk and Brustwerk are once more kept in activity as at the
beginning; they cross each other, possibly with more power-
ful stops, in semiquaver passages, while the pedal takes the
cantus firmus for the sixth and seventh lines, doubtless to
afford an example of the improved bass-posaune (see specifi-
cation No. 5) ; although there is no direction for this, the
whole design points clearly to it. The treatment of the
eighth line (bars 33-39) corresponds with that of the fifth,
even in the mixing of the stops, since the rhythm of the pedal-
figure _£J_n_ is very well adapted to the display of a quick
" speaking," on which so much depends in any sub-bass, but
particularly in the 32-feet one. At the last three semi-
quavers of the thirty-ninth bar we find the direction " Ober-
werk " (upper manual), which would hold good in Walther's
Weimar organ ; it is not hard to see, from the facility of the
changes of the stops, that from this point the Oberwerk and
Brustwerk were coupled together (see specification No. n),
and that at last, with the second half of the fiftieth bar, the
full organ enters and continues to the end. Walther, who
very likely accompanied Bach to Miihlhausen as a friend of
the organ-builder Wender, noted down in the copy of the
chorale in his older collection the surprising use of the
stops at the beginning; but in the course of transcription
adapted the changes more and more to his own two-manual
BACH AS AN ORGANIST. 397
organ (hence the simple direction " oberwerk " in bars 24
and 39), and left out others, as the entrance of the full
organ at bar 50 ; in the later of the two collections he
omitted the addition " a 3 clav.," "fagotto," " sesquialtera,"
because they were without meaning for his own practice.
How Bach himself handled this organ chorale — how he
used the rich variety of the organ in beautiful combination
and diversity, and yet was able to lose sight so entirely of
all these outer inducements, and to forget them in the idea
of his composition, that all that was strictly musical held its
due and proper place — for this we must feel the deepest
wonder. Of course every form was not equally well fitted
for this aim, and Bach, who had at command all possible
means, did right in choosing the chorale type of Bohm. Nor
need we suppose that he always used such a variety of
stops ; he allowed himself naturally to be guided in this by
the character of the composition, and we may be sure that
he never would have fallen into the mistake of adorning the
simple grandeur of Pachelbel's chorales with variety of
colouring.78
We will now turn our attention once more from the
technical or external means to their proper end and object,
that is the compositions themselves, and must first notice
a number of free organ pieces. There is much slighter
chronological testimony as to the date of Bach's organ
compositions than for his cantatas, or even for his chamber
music. What there is to be known, however, gives us,
in combination with internal evidence, a pretty clear idea
I of the works of the Weimar court organist.79 The free
78 I take occasion here to observe that the Walther manuscript deviates in
some points from the Griepenkerl edition. Since there is no autograph of
Bach's, Walther's readings have the fullest authority, and this is justified by
internal evidence. The two most important differences consist in this, that the
second half of the nineteenth bar is thus —
that the pedal bass is an octave lower in bars 21-28 (? bars 25-32).
See App. A., No. 18.
398 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
compositions for the organ fall naturally, even to those only
moderately practised in criticism, into two distinct groups,
an earlier and a later; but I at least will not venture to
carry through such a distinction in the case of the chorale
arrangements. It is quite plain that this was the branch of
art in which Bach soonest reached maturity, and in which
his perfect originality first appeared. In those of Bach's
organ chorales which Walther has preserved to us we find
in parts a style so extraordinarily large and bold that it is
scarcely surpassed by the compositions of the later Leipzig
time ; and we may remember how perfect those chorale
partitas in Bohm's manner seemed, which were written by
a youth about seventeen years old. A single piece like the
arrangement of " Bin* feste Burg," the date of which we
are able to discover, is of little service in evidence, since
it was written for a particular purpose ; for the present we
must content ourselves with a collective survey devoted to
the close of the Weimar period.
Three independent preludes,80 respectively in G major,
A minor, and C major, standing by themselves, head the
list. The first must be one of the very earliest of the
Weimar compositions, and may have been written before
1708. A sort of thematic development is indeed perceptible,
but the chief motive idea was the setting free of a tu-
multuous flood of sound, in which the impetuous spirit of
the young composer revels with delight ; it is expressed in
passages of semiquavers that rush tumultuously here and
there, and in the full resounding chords. The characteristic
of the second is calm, clear sobriety ; it is entirely built on
the thematic material of a single bar, the separate sections
of which go through all the parts with ingenious changes of
position and with great variety of harmonies. The effect of
the rhythm, continuous throughout and of the same quiet-
ness, is at best, however, somewhat monotonous, and only
quite at the end is greater animation given by the introduc-
*> P. S. V., Cah. 8, No. n (247) ; Cah. 4, No. 13 (243) ; Cah. 8, No. 8 (247).
The second alone is well-authenticated by the handwriting of Bach's pupils,
J. L. Krebs and Kittel ; the writing of the others is newer, but from internal
evidence there can be no doubt of their genuineness.
ORGAN WORKS — WEIMAR. 399
tion of semiquaver passages ; still the use of the doubled
pedal part is especially fine. The third and shortest prelude
is partly built on a descending scale-passage treated in
imitation, and might, by reason of its neat four-part writing,
be assigned to a somewhat later period, did not bars 20 to 26
contradict the supposition, in which the treatment is not of
a piece with the strict style of the rest of the prelude,
showing an inconsistency not to be found in Bach's later
works. A fantasia in C major81 for manuals alone must
next be mentioned, the germ of which consists of the rhythm
J JT3 : it seems to have been written for a technical
purpose, since it demands a careful legato style of playing
and a facility in changing the fingers on the same note. As
by this time pupils had begun to collect about Bach, the
piece may very well have been written for some of them.
Probably a fugue82 in the same key was originally attached
to it, as it is almost entirely for the manuals and is founded
on a similar rhythm. Its early date may be inferred from the
five concluding bars, to say nothing of all the rest ; for one
thing, because the formation of the chords in them follows
exactly the Buxtehude manner, of which the composer
shows no trace in the later Weimar years, and also from the
pedal, which only enters at this point. The fugue cannot be
called a pre-eminent work of art, though the writing is good
and flowing.83
Next in order come eight short preludes and fugues
which have been handed down together.84 It is not easily
intelligible how these can have been considered as the
work of Bach's novitiate, since throughout they bear the
« P. S. V., Cah. 8 (247), No. 9.
82 P. S. V., Cah. 8 (247), No. 10.
83 In the tenth bar I consider the reading incorrect ; the F sharp in the alto
and tenor should be F each time. Compare the concluding harmonies of the
toccata in D minor. P. S. V., Cah. 4(243), No. 4.
84 P. S. V., Cah. 8 (247), No. 5. An older MS. of these, from the legacy of G.
Polchau, the Hamburg music-teacher, has come into the possession of the royal
library in Berlin. The title is: " VIII PRMLUDIA \ ed \ VIII FVGEX
I di. | y. S. BACH (?)" On the right side below: " Poss: \ C. A. Klein."
There is in my opinion no reason for the note of interrogation, which is as old
as the rest of the title.
400 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
stamp of a commanding master of composition, and the
short, simple forms correspond just as little with Bach's
inclination at his earliest period as with that of any other
young genius. On the other hand, with all their general
independence, there are a number of particular features
in them which point plainly to certain mannerisms of the
northern masters : for instance, the form of the themes
in the first and fourth fugues, a great deal of the eighth
fugue, and figures such as those in the thirteenth and four-
teenth bars of the fifth prelude. We must therefore suppose
these eight compositions to have been written when the
author had not yet quite freed himself from the influences
of those great organ-masters. We may add to this the fact
that most of the preludes, both in general outline and in
their surprising and irregular figures, show clearly the in-
fluence of Vivaldi's violin concertos — a great number of
which Bach was just then engaged in arranging for the
clavier or organ. This influence is so evident that it would be
superfluous to trace it in particular cases, especially as the
arrangements from Vivaldi are published and the comparison
is easy. The suggestion here presents itself that these pieces
too were written for some one especially capable scholar,
or perhaps more; they demand a not inconsiderable technique,
especially in the pedal obbligato, but do not display enough
technical difficulty and are not important enough in sub-
stance for the master's own use. The second, third, fifth,
and seventh, are especially fine. In the sixth fugue, which
otherwise is very successful, the pedal comes in (in the
thirty-eighth bar) after a long pause, not with the theme, but
only with notes to support the harmony, which is not quite
in accordance with rule, and which Bach never would have
allowed to stand in his later time. On the other hand, the
introduction of the key of C minor (in the thirty-first bar),
quite out of the natural and easy course of things, is a true
masterstroke.
Among the number of compositions of greater extent and
intrinsic merit we must first mention a fugue in G minor,85
85 P. S. V., Cah. 4 (243), No. 7.
I
ORGAN FUGUE IN G MINOR. A.OI
which, on account of its very beautiful theme and the
masterly flow of the writing, has justly become a great
favourite. The individual characteristics which make it
inferior to the works of the following year must not be over-
looked. Of these the most prominent is the counterpoint
on the theme, which is always the same, and only in one
part, since notes to fill up the harmony and the doubled
sixths (bars 41 and 42) cannot be considered as such. It
is only from the fifth bar before the end that it is in three
parts, while the beautiful free episodes display greater
polyphonic animation. The irregular form of the response
need not be objected to; the strict rule of fugue which
is here transgressed can hardly hold good for so long
and melodic a theme, since, although the lead on the
dominant should be followed by the lead on the tonic,
yet in the next notes the key of D minor ought to be
plainly felt, and the ear should only be permitted to rest
for a moment in the principal key. Here, however, this
is the less necessary since the whole composition inclines
not to the key of the dominant, but to that of the rela-
tive major; not to mention that the beauty of the theme
would have suffered if the rule of the response had been
strictly adhered to. Another indication of the date is to
be found in the meaningless entry of the pedal in bar 26;
and yet another (and a still stronger) in the entry of the
theme in the left hand, as if preparing the way for some
thing else, in bar 25, which entry is transferred after a
few notes to the right hand. Such features, which, con-
trary as they are to all objective principles of form, can
only be explained by the hypothesis of a momentary freak,
would necessarily be more and more cast aside by the
thoughtful musician, who, following nature's principle, must
endeavour to give definite aim to the several parts of the
organism he has created. Now if this arbitrariness and
defiance of rule be found elsewhere, it will be a piece of
internal evidence of the most certain kind to prove that
the pieces in which such characteristics are found were
written within a short time of one another.
Appearances then suggest that a prelude and fugue in
2 D
402 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
C major86 must have been written about this time. In
bar 23 of the fugue, the pedal, which up to this point has
been silent, enters with a passage resembling the theme,
after which, in the next bar, the theme itself appears in the
upper part, and then the pedal is silent again until the
thirty-sixth bar, when it has the true theme. Again, near
the end, after a pause of more than twenty bars, it starts
suddenly once more with a pedal-point. Both the prelude
and the fugue, moreover, in their whole form offer us a
sufficiently safe ground for assuming the date of their com-
position in the massive character of the chords, the effective
and brilliant close, and the freedom of the part-writing.
The effect of this work when well played, and upon an
organ of adequate power, is quite extraordinary. Through-
out we hear the roar of the wind, as in a stormy night of
March, and we feel that such power is irresistible.
A prelude and fugue in E minor is of an utterly different
character.87 In the prelude sullen haughtiness strives
against a deep-seated melancholy, which utterly overcomes
it in the fugue. The inner connection of the two pieces
is altogether much closer than that which usually exists
in Bach between the prelude and the fugue. The former
begins with broad rolling passages (the shakes in demi-
semiquavers in bars 6, 8, 9, 10, and 28 are in Buxtehude's
manner),88 but from the eleventh bar onwards leads up to a
quieter climax, in which we seem to see the earnest coun-
tenance of the composer without a veil. It is this noble
melancholy which is the key-note of so many — nay, even of
most — of Bach's compositions ; only Beethoven possessed
the same degree of power in expressing conditions of the
80 P. S. V., Cah. 4 (243), No. I. B. G., XV., p. 81. This internal evidence is
strengthened by the external evidence of the manuscript, which has come from
the legacy of Griepenkerl into the royal library at Berlin. It is in autograph, and
evidently a first sketch of the composition, since several passages in it are
marked as tentative. From the characteristics of the writing and of the
paper, this autograph can belong only to a very early period.
w P. S. V., Cah. 3 (242), No. 10.
38 The numbering of Ihe bars is according to Griepenkerl's (Peters) edition.
In the Bach Society's edition bar 18 is struck out, as being at least doubtful.
PRELUDE AND FUGUE IN E MINOR.
403
mind, and these took quite a different colour under his
hands. Like a deep sigh, this phrase —
goes through the different parts, accompanied by chords that
come in reluctantly after the notes of the melody. The
pedal indeed ascends with mighty strides at the last, even
in tenths, but in vain — it is obliged to yield. Then the fugue
comes in; its meaning as a whole is at once intelligible
to every one, but in detail it is full of expression which is
quite indescribable, and which yet seems to crave for inter-
pretation. The theme, at first timid and trembling, and
then going on its quiet way, is full of infinite charm ;89 the
counterpoint is in the form of question and answer, and the
theme makes its last appearance with resolute calmness in
an overpoweringly beautiful pedal entry, and in the same
position as the first delivery.
In the case of a musician who feels himself in full
and hard-won command of all technical possibilities, it is
intelligible that he should seek opportunities of exhibiting
his ability from every point of view. Thus it happens that
the compositions of the first year of the Weimar period not
unfrequently show, besides the intrinsic importance of the
ideas themselves, a strongly marked desire for the display
89 Which, however, is grievously impaired, if the mordente (i.e., a trill with
the additional note below instead of above) is performed thus-
after which the ear is forced to accept B as the key-note. Tke feeling of the
wavering fifths which is required throughout is only made clear by this ren
dering —
It should be noticed moreover that in this fugue too, in bar 19, the pedal, after
a moderately long pause, enters with notes which only serve to support the
harmony. Besides the instances of this which have been noticed up to this
point, this license does not occur at all again in Bach's later organ fugues.
2 D 2
404 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
of execution. The organ compositions in which this is
observable constitute even at the present day the most
brilliant concert-pieces that exist ; and as Bach's technical
skill has been attained by hardly any one since his time,
and has certainly never been exceeded, and also because
they are based upon and grow out of the most exact and
perfect knowledge of the instrument, their effect when per-
formed with full command of the technical difficulties is even
now very powerful — nay, often quite colossal, although, it is
true, not so deep or lasting as that produced by his later
works.
We will first consider a toccata and fugue in D minor.90
This, even without detracting from the greatness or origi-
nality of his genius, shows in its details many traces of the
northern school. Thus the form chosen for the toccata
is not that of Pachelbel, simple and quiet, but the varied,
agitated form of Buxtehude ; its constituent parts are inter-
mittent recitative-like passages, broadly sounding chords,
and running passages on the different manuals, which are
arranged in contrast. The theme of the fugue is one of
those of which even Bach is very fond, in which a melody
is heard through broken harmonies, thus uniting movement
and repose in a way particularly suited to the organ, and more
especially effective in the pedal part. The working-out is
free and fanciful; for long sections the ear, surfeited with
sound, is carried restlessly along by rocking passages which
have no connection whatever with the chief idea, which
appears at the most but once, and is soon suppressed; while
it is impossible to recognise whether there is a definite
number of parts or no. The close leads back into a section
of the same character as the beginning, with organ recitative
and ponderous, roaring masses of chords ; in bar 137 a figure
comes in which Bach made the chief groundwork of an
independent clavier piece, and the reader who cares to
compare them will not overlook the similarity between the
formation of certain phrases (e.g., bars 87 ff., 105 ff.), and
some phrases in the G minor fugue before noticed (p. 401).
P. S. V., Cah. 4 (7.43^, No. 4. B.-G., XV., p. 267.
ORGAN WORKS — WEIMAR. 405
A prelude and fugue in G major will next be considered.91
Both are treated at great length ; the first contains fifty-
eight bars of 3-2 time, and the second, after a transitional
movement of three bars, 149 bars of common time. The
chief importance this time lies in the prelude, which is
founded on a subject treated imitatively and episodically
with spirit and invention, just as Buxtehude would have
treated it, only that this is far richer and more beautiful than
he could have made it. A pedal solo of ten bars, which
traverses the whole compass of the instrument from top to
bottom, gives ample opportunity for display either of in-
dividual execution or of the organ (the pedal in the organ
of the castle at Weimar was particularly good) ; and yet it
is legitimately built upon the fundamental theme. After this
splendid piece there is a falling-off in the fugue which,
flowing and brilliant as it undoubtedly is, has an animation
of a more purely external kind, and besides is somewhat
too long.
Next comes a prelude and fugue in D major,92 one of the
most dazzlingly beautiful of all the master's organ works.
The prelude, after a few introductory passages and chords,
works out this subject —
with incessant imitations and episodic prolongations; alia
breve is written over it, but this direction is not to be under-
stood of the pace, but rather indicates only the style, which
is strictly sustained, ornamented with many syncopations,
and throughout displays full brilliancy of harmony. At bar
96 there is an interrupted cadence in E minor, from which
point to the end the treatment is in Buxtehude's manner,
in free and fanciful harmony, while magnificent power of
tone is obtained by the bold use of the double pedal. In
the following fugue, too, the manner of the Liibeck master
recurs again and again; it has evidently been influenced by
« P. S. V., Cah. 4 (243), No. 2.
92 p. S. V., Cah. 4 (243), No. 3. B.-G., XV., p. S3.
406 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
a fugue by him in F major, before noticed, the theme of
which was quoted (p. 272), and near the end, too, by certain
figures from the fugue in F sharp minor. This is a bravura
piece from beginning to end, but in the best sense of the word.
The theme, five bars in length, comes in in semiquavers
alone, only once interrupted by a daring pause. There is
not much attempt here at harmonic intensity or ingenious
interlacing of the parts. Skilful pedal-players will find it
exactly suited to them, for the theme is quite exceptionally
fitted for pedal technique. In this whirling dance of notes,
which becomes madder and madder towards the end, we can
appreciate the truth of the words in the Necrology : " With
his two feet he could perform on the pedals passages which
would be enough to provoke many a skilled clavier-player
with five fingers."93 It cannot be doubted that the work was
composed for a particular occasion, possibly for one of his
musical tours, and this is confirmed by the title Concertato,
which occurs in an old MS. of the prelude.94 It appears,
moreover, that Bach afterwards clipped the too luxuriant
growth of brilliant executive passages, and greatly condensed
the whole, since it also occurs in a form thirty-nine bars
shorter, which could scarcely have come from any hand but
that of the composer himself.95
In complete contrast with this work is a fugue with a
prelude, in G minor;96 the prelude, which in the former
work had a homogeneous unity, is here without a definite
thematic germ ; it begins with lovely quietly moving har-
monic passages, and then chords of the § broken up into
figures of demisemiquavers rise chromatically in steps, each
lasting for one bar, for the first half of which the seventh is
always suspended. The fugue, on the other hand, in which,
in the former work, the passages hurried past with their
transient brilliancy, is here a well-defined form, full of power,
depth, and perfect mastery over the materials ; it is indis-
83 Mizler, Op. Cit., p. 172.
M See Griepenkerl's Preface to Cah. 4 (243) of Peter's Edition, p. iii.
95 This differing version is given by Griepenkerl at the beginning of the same
volume.
96 P. S. V., Cah. 3 (242), No. 5. B.-G., XV., p. 112.
ITALIAN MUSIC AT THAT PERIOD. 407
putably the most important of all the works that we have as
yet examined, and in its pure earnestness seems to prophesy
of the works of the later Weimar period. To understand the
advance it marks, it is only necessary to notice how with
each new entry of the theme a fresher and greater life is
brought into the counterpoint, how not a single repetition
occurs which might save trouble of writing, how easily the
episodes come in, and how strictly the four parts are pre-
served, except in one place (bar 46). But yet the theme,
with its " e" flat and d" " four times repeated, and in the
whole of the fourth bar, has not discarded the type of the
northern school, and this is my reason for assigning the
composition to this period. Some other organ works of this
time must be analysed in another connection. We must
here pass them over, with the remark that Bach, who was
fond of remodelling his earlier compositions, sometimes, too,
combined pieces from them with his later productions. The
celebrated organ fugue in A minor97 has a prelude which
certainly cannot be of the same date, but must have been
written in the period on which we are now engaged ; this
will be seen by a glance at its character, which is quite free,
and hardly at all thematically developed ; in this it agrees
with the great prelude in C major mentioned above (p. 402). 98
And Bach went on developing the prelude into organisms
rich in idea and of stricter character.
Of great importance to Bach's thorough development as an
artist was the direction in which he was driven by his post of
kammermusicus, and in which he had up to this time hardly
ventured, if indeed it had not remained entirely strange to
him. Here for the first time he found opportunity for
making himself thoroughly familiar with the chamber music
of the Italians. This knowledge was indispensable for any
man who was to traverse the whole realm of instrumental
music, and build successfully on that soil. And then the
Italian nature, so exceptionally gifted with the sense of
form, had, in music as in the other arts, laid down the prin-
ciples on which alone a safe superstructure could be built.
« P. S. V., Cah. 2 (241), No. 8. «» P. S. V., Cah. 4 (243), No. i.
408 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
The art of organ and clavier playing had, it is true, freed
itself by this time from its influence, and had undergone an
independent development under conditions of an individual
and a national kind ; but in violin-playing and music, and in
all the forms that take their rise from the combined effect
of several instruments, the preponderance of the Italian
influence was still widely recognised. The chief forms
which they had originated were the sonata and the con-
certo; the former determining the arrangement of separate
movements in one whole, the latter the formation of a
single movement. The principle of form in the sonata
agrees with that in the suite, in so far as that pieces of
different character are united in suitable succession ; while,
however, the suite proper was confined to a set of idealised
dance forms, the sonata is chiefly formed on freely in-
vented subjects, and yet without absolutely excluding the
dance forms. The standard characteristic of each is the
change between slow, sustained, and cantabile movements,
and those of quick, fugal and ornate character; the so-
called " church sonatas," which, however, must not be
confounded with those by Gabrieli, but were only chamber
music transferred to the church, admitted no dance forms.
The three-part form of two violins, bass, and a supporting
cembalo or organ was in great favour ; the judicious Italians
quickly discovered that a three-part harmony was amply
sufficient ; it is true that to deal with so thin a body of
sound required some skill, but it also served to show off
that skill. The order of the movements was transferred
from the sonata to the concerto; but while in the former
there were often four or even more movements, the composer
of the concerto did not as a rule exceed three, and put the
slow movement in the middle.
The form of the separate movements, especially of the first
and most important, originated directly in the contrast and
contest between the solo instrument and the whole body of
sound. A tutti subject as important as possible always
begins the first movement, and as soon as it stops the solo
instrument enters in the same key with a new subject of
greater or less prominence, the contrast often consisting
THE CONCERTO-FORM. 409
merely in the figures employed. This process is repeated
with modifications and prolongations, and with mutual inter-
weaving in the keys nearest allied to the principal key.
Thus the form is still quite distinct from that of the modern
sonata, in spite of its using two subjects as the corner-stones
of the development ; it is not evolved from the intrinsic
nature of the tone system, but superficially constructed by
the combination of two distinct materials of sound. The
slow movement gives scope to the player for the display of
broad tone and tasteful adornments ; it is as a rule short, and
then the tutti comes back to its allotted task of accompanying,
but in longer movements it interrupts the free solo passages
at stated intervals ; or else, by means of a well-marked regular
bass subject, gives support and connectedness to the whole.
The last movement is generally in triple time, and of an
animated and lively character ; its form is either similar to
that of the first movement, or it is in two sections, in what
is called "Lied" or song form, with repeats; sometimes
it is in the form of a gigue or courante, thereby reminding
us of the suite, or still more — by reason of the concerto being
in three movements — of the Scarlatti overture.
Bach availed himself of the discoveries and acquisitions
of the Italians, not at first by working in the province to
which they belonged, but by adapting and transferring
them to his own especial sphere, that is to say, to the
organ, the clavier, and the church sonata. He was no
longer a novice in his art, but a master who had come to a
perfect knowledge of his powers and aims, and whose keen
glance immediately recognised the possibility of turning
these forms to good account. It was not till a long time
after, so far as we know, that he first turned his attention
to the sonata and the concerto, and reached the highest
perfection in those forms.
The use of instrumental chamber music at the ducal court
was the more eagerly pursued between the years 1708 and
1715 because a young nephew of the Duke's, Johann Ernst,
showed considerable talent for playing the violin and clavier,
and even for composition. In the two last branches he was
instructed by Walther, who also wrote for the young Prince
4IO JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
a compendium of the theory of music, and dedicated it to
him on March 13, 1701 ; his skill on the violin, his principal
instrument, he acquired under the direction of Eilenstein,
his gentleman-in-waiting, and probably afterwards cultivated
still farther under the influence of Bach. His passion for
music was so great that when he was ill Walther not
infrequently had to sit with him throughout the night ; and
that Bach also was closely connected with the Prince as to
matters musical, we may conclude from a letter of the master's
in which he excuses himself for some delay by saying that
he has had to conduct some musical " functions " at court
in honour of the Prince's birthday. Walther's instruction in
composition — extending over three-quarters of a year — bore
fruit in the form of nineteen intrumental works ; of these six
concertos were engraved in copper and published by Georg
Philipp Telemann. Johann Ernst died young, August i,
1715, «it Frankfort-on-the-Main, in his nineteenth year, and
his concertos must have appeared the same year — the year
before at the soonest. Telemann was at that time capell-
meister in Frankfort, but for four years before 1712 he had
been capell and concertmeister at Eisenach ; he was on very
friendly terms with Bach, and in consequence of the intimate
relations between the courts must have been in frequent
intercourse with Weimar; in 1715 he dedicated to the Prince
a work consisting of six sonatas for the violin, with clavier
accompaniment. The ducal compositions seem, in fact, to
have had some musical merit, for, sixteen years later,
Mattheson wrote of them as follows : " The famous master,
Herr Telemann, published some time since six concertos,
elegantly engraved on copper, composed by the late Prince
Ernst of Saxe- Weimar with his own hand and of his own
invention. Of these, Concerto V. is in the key of E major,
and one of the finest. To find an independent prince who
writes musical compositions that can be performed is not
a thing of every-day occurrence; still music gives a man
particular advantages."99
89 Mattheson, Grosse General-Bass-Schule, 1731, p. 409. The matter is
mentioned with less particulars in the first edition of the work (Exemplarische
Organisten Probe, 1719, p. 203). Constantin Bellermann says (Parnassus
ARRANGEMENT OF VIVALDl's CONCERTOS. 4!!
The Italians having composed the best violin concertos,
their favour at court was a foregone conclusion. The
musicians who surrounded the prince must have been
interested in them, if only out of respect for him ; but they
also found ample inducement to a more thorough study of
them from the artistic point of view, in their lucid forms
and the simple beauty of their ideas. Walther and Bach
began to emulate each other in arranging Italian concertos
so that they might be played on the clavier and organ.
Walther arranged concertos by Albinoni, Manzia, Gentili,
Torelli, Taglietti, Gregori, and a few German composers —
thirteen in all — for the organ.100 Bach arranged sixteen
violin concertos by Vivaldi for the clavier and three for
the organ, besides setting one of the sixteen a second
time for the organ.101
Vivaldi stands out as one of the most illustrious masters of
instrumental composition of the beginning of the last century.
From 1713 he lived in Venice as concertmeister to the
Ospitale delta Pieta, after having been for some time in the
service of the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, and he died
in 1743. He was an extremely prolific composer, and, as
has been said, had achieved distinction by the elaboration of
the concerto. He also wrote concertos for two, three, and
even four solo violins with accompaniment, he enriched the
orchestra by the addition of wind instruments, and devoted
himself generally to the adoption and application of new
means of musical expression. His great strength lay in the
treatment of form; his ideas are often flat and insignificant,
Musarum), in enumerating the potentates who have been musical: " Nee non
ct Comes de Buckeburg, et Jo. Ernestus Princeps filius Duds Sax. Vinar. qui
modos musicosfecerunt, hanc Poecilen exornant"
11)0 These exist in autograph in the Royal Library at Berlin. The two con-
certos by Albinoni are the fourth and fifth of his Sinfonie e Concerti a cinque,
due violini, alto, tenore, violoncello e basso, Op. 2. In the Lexicon, Walther
mentions eleven works by Taglietti, and says they were all published before
1715. That this year (that of the Prince's death) should recur to his mind in
writing the Lexicon, conveys an intimation that after that event he ceased to
occupy himself more particularly with that kind of chamber music.
101 P. S. I., Cah. 10, and S. V., Cah. 8 (247), Nos. 1-4. See, too, the Editor's
prefatory notice
412 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
though occasionally full of fire and expression.102 We could
only do justice to Bach's method of adaptation of these con-
certos if the originals were at our command. Only six of
these have come under my observation.103 Still, as they
are all very similar in construction, an average judgment
of all may be formed from these few. That Bach did
not mechanically transfer the different parts of Vivaldi's
score to the double stave of the clavier-player will be
readily believed; but comparison shows that he not infre-
quently followed them very exactly, imitating and trans-
forming them, reproducing as it were the abstract idea of
the composition, but embodied in the clavier. In the prin-
cipal themes, of course, for the sake of the whole he could
alter nothing, and when they were as utterly meagre and
stiff as the tutti subject of the first movement of the con-
certo in G (No. 2), he left the responsiblity to the original
inventor. But by giving more movement to the bass, by
adding animation to the inner parts, by supplementing the
solo passages for the violins with counterpoint, by resolu-
tion of the suspensions, and by paraphrasing certain of the
violin effects, he has in most cases produced a genuine work
for the clavier, and at the same time essentially added to
the musical value of the piece. All his additions occur so
naturally and inevitably, that the effect is produced of a
mere flowing and facile transcription, which in itself proves
that none but a skilled artist could have accomplished it.
In this G major concerto Vivaldi gives the solo instrument
the support of two violins, violoncello, and harpsichord con-
certante; the tutti violins commonly move in unison, while
the violoncello supports the clavier bass ; the rhythmical
and harmonic accompaniment, consisting of the simplest
elements, is almost entirely left to the clavier, and the
102 Wasielewski, Die Violine und ihre Meister. Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hartel,
1869, p. 60.
108 The originals of the first, fifth, and seventh of the clavier arrangements,
and of the second of the organ arrangements, are to be found in Vivaldi's Most
Celebrated Concertos, Op. 3 (London: Walsh), as Nos. 5, 7, 12, 3, and 6, The
original of the second clavier arrangement is No. 2. of Op. 7 ; that of the ninth
is Stravaganza No. x.
VIVALDI'S CONCERTOS. 413
strings are only brought in for special effects. With subtle
artistic perception, Bach has reproduced the development
of the first movement — which depends principally on the
different qualities of the instruments — in the unpliant
material offered by the clavier, by constantly filling up the
inner parts. The beginning he has left unaltered ; from bar
46 his transforming hand shows itself in the equally flowing
quaver bass, instead of the original crotchets with quavers
intervening in iambic rhythm, and in the connecting semi-
quavers of bars 59 and 67 ; so also he has set free the violin
part from bars 60 and 67 in runs of semiquavers, while in
the original they alternate with quavers in descending skips.
From bars 76 to 90 high chords in quavers on the tutti
strings come in with the figure in semiquavers of the solo
violin ; to indicate this effect of mixed tones Bach has intro-
duced demisemiquavers. From bar 91 to the end all the
crotchet and quaver movement for the left hand originated
with the transcriber; the original composer required merely
simple chords, and the final passage through three octaves
is developed from a scale three times repeated within the
compass of C to c'. The largo (larghetto in the original) is
almost a new composition ; Vivaldi had written a sostenuto
air for the violin, proceeding only in crotchets and dotted
quavers, and as an accompaniment simple chords in
crotchets. Bach, detecting the ineffective character of such
a melody on the clavier, worked it up in an arabesque
movement, supplying the chief notes of the melody with
incisive trills and mordente ; and he also invented an inde-
pendent middle part, from whose nobly melodious flow no
one could believe that it had not formed an integral part
of the original. In the last movement many portions, more
particularly of the bass, are newly devised, as in bars 7 and
8 (and corresponding to them 33, 34, and 35), from bars 21
to 28, and especially from bars 43 to 49, where the original
writer contented himself with the most meagre structure
of chords — a mere scaffolding. Bach also made the finale
richer and more brilliant.
If we now transfer the practical results of comparison in
this case to the other adaptations, it cannot be very difficult
414 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
to recognise Bach's share in the work in the general plan,
excepting of course a residue of uncertainty in the details.
We see his hand in the easy progression of the bass, the
melodious middle parts, and in the severer and freer imi-
tative passages. By these many of the concertos have been
turned into genuine clavier pieces, to be played with no less
delight and pleasure than Bach's original creations. And
this is but natural, since Bach took up the work con amove,
as is proved by the multiplicity of these arrangements.
Thus, for instance, the third concerto in D minor must be felt
to be entirely interesting — the adagio really beautiful from
beginning to end — nor must we undervalue the inventive
genius of the man to whose mind such a melody could occur;
the swift and rushing presto, with its truly Italian stamp, was
intensified by Bach by lovely imitations. The eighth concerto
in B minor appears to owe even more than the others to the
German master, and to confirm the observation, so easily
verified, that B minor was his favourite key — just as Handel
preferred F minor and Beethoven C minor. This concerto
indeed differs from the others in the greater number of its
movements. The progression in two parts of the first vehe-
ment allegro beyond a doubt is due to Bach, and the little
adagio which follows has a remarkably striking effect from
its thoroughly Bach-like harmonies ; and in the two other
allegros the hand of the German is perceptible in almost
every bar. The adagio of the twelfth concerto is conspicuous
by its harmonic richness, and the melody offering in some
places an opportunity for imitation in canon, Bach naturally
at once availed himself of it. Here and there occur certain
rhythmical " manieren " (i.e., embellishments) as —
or
deserving of mention, because they were admired as an
invention of Vivaldi's, and eagerly imitated ; they were called
" passages in the Lombard style " (" Spielweise im lombard-
ischen Geschmack").
Bach showed his originality even with greater freedom
in his organ arrangements. If in the transfer of concerted
VIVALDI'S CONCERTOS. 415
music to the clavier an internal development only seems to
have been introduced, we here find that we have to do with
an expansion or outward development. This may best be
seen by a comparison of the first movement of a concerto in
C major which exists both as adapted to the organ and to
the clavier.104 For the organ it contains 81 bars, for the
clavier only 66. Vivaldi quite clearly indicated the distribu-
tion of the movements in general ; it is divided into six
sections, corresponding to the recurrence of the theme for
tutti, and which follow each other in the keys of G major,
E minor, D minor, A minor, and finally C major. But at
the beginning of the second phrase he had introduced the
germ of a form without maturing it, for the theme, which
runs as follows —
he immediately repeats in A minor; and not till then are
the passages combined.
Bach regarded this impressive modification as worthy to
be raised from the position of an episode to that of an
organic feature, by constituting new phrases corresponding
to it ; and he therefore added two more sections, each begin-
ning likewise with the modified theme, so that the composition
ceased to lack roundness and symmetry. The first six bars are
alike in both works, then the original, as we might fairly call
the setting for the clavier, passes by a continuous series of
figures extending through three bars to the second phrase in
G major, while the organ piece returns to C major, brings
in the first diminution of the theme, and does not agree
with the original in getting into G major till sixteen bars
after. At the twenty-second bar of the original it again
digresses from the primary arrangement, returns to E
minor, and here brings in the other phrase with the theme
in diminution. After reverting to the first modification
104 P. S. I., Cah. 10 (217), No. 13, and S. V., Cah. 8 (247), No. 4. See App.
A, No. 19.
416 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
the two arrangements proceed alike with very slight devia-
tions. But the much greater variety of means in the organ
involves a quite different handling of the musical ideas ; the
contrast between the solo and tutti could be represented by
the alternation of the Oberwerk and the Ruckpositiv ; the
harmonies could be conveniently supported by the pedal, and
the figures could consequently move more freely and more
richly, and in the most suitable position. Many passages
that were not available for the organ underwent alterations
for this reason; but, even irrespective of external considera-
tions, Bach endeavoured to work out everything more fully
and freshly for this, his own principal instrument, and even the
theme itself underwent a slight modification that essentially
improved it.
The relations which the three other organ concertos
bear to their prototypes we cannot, it is true, ascertain
by comparison, but it is certain at least that the character
of the organ must have involved the same freedom in
handling the musical ideas. A composition for two solo
violins supplied the foundation for the second of these ; and
it is highly interesting to observe how subtly the two con-
certante instruments are kept distinct from each other, and
what new effects of sound are thus evolved. The third would
seem, by the extensive compass through which the con-
certante parts move, to be derived from a violoncello concerto;
there are in it a great number of showy passages, particularly
the extravagantly prolonged cadenzas.
Bach now began to avail himself of the new form of
composition, with which he had familiarised himself by
such energetic study, for his own purposes. It had not
escaped him that the principle of employing two con-
trasting themes would be fertile in results, though with
certain limitations, even in compositions for the organ and
clavier. The essential condition of music for these instru-
ments is that it must always be polyphonic ; but since a
prelude could be placed before a fugue, it was conceivable
that a piece on the principle of a concerto might be so em-
ployed ; and, due reference being observed to the character
of each, an adagio might be not unsuitably placed between
THE CONCERTO FORM. 417
them. In his Italian concerto, written at a later period,105
he proved that under a master-hand the only question is :
How? but that the form is not perfectly adapted to the
nature of the instrument is also shown by the fact that
it remains unique among his compositions. In fact he
generally remained faithful to the old accredited forms, but
his powerful imagination was now and then irresistibly
temptv:d by any other that he could deem justifiable.
It would seem that the combination of a fugal with a con-
certo movement had already occupied his attention during
his years of study ; a composition exists which, from its
awkwardness in some parts and want of proportion in others,
can only be the work of a beginner. Being entitled a con-
certo in C minor, its evident purpose is to give something of
a concerto effect in the first movement, by the juxtaposition
of two contrasting groups of notes — for they are hardly to
be called subjects ; these slide off into a series of undis-
ciplined figures, but towards the close he returns in due
course to his tutti subject again. Then comes a fugue, very
freely treated as to its counterpoint and development; in
this, as in the first movement, we find here and there
passages which look like badly managed imitations of those
tutti chords which frequently interrupt the passages given to
the solo instruments in the adagio movement of a concerto.
This piece may have originated from some impulse given
during his first stay in Weimar in 1703 ; at any rate it must
be referred to the very earliest period of his independent
efforts.106
On the other hand, a toccata and fugue in C major
105 In Part II. of the " Clavieriibung," B.-G., III., p. 139.
106 An old MS. copy exists in the possession of Dr. Rust. What Forkel
says with regard to Bach's first compositions for the clavier answers pretty
exactly to certain parts of this concerto, so that he perhaps had particular
instances in his mind. But when he goes on to assert that Bach was reclaimed
from the unsettled character which he for a time exhibited on the clavier,
by his study of Vivaldi's works, this may be true as regards that particular class
of works, of which he perhaps wrote a considerable number at his very earlies^
period, but is not so in any general application. Bach had nothing to learn
from Vivaldi in what concerns the construction of a polyphonous piece. Hence
Forkel attributes his study of Vivaldi's concertos to a much too early time.
2 E
418 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
stands out as the work of a consciously constructive artist,
and these titles are fully justified, for the piece consists of
three independent movements on the model of the Italian
concerto.107 The first begins with a freely designed prelude ;
an ornate flow of running passages on the manual closing
with a long pedal solo, foreshadowing the two principal
motives of the main subject. One of these is the more
melodic ; the other, as was usual, more ornate. The move-
ment is developed in alternation between them ; deviating
completely from the ordinary type of toccata and pre-
lude, it is altogether concerto-like, but without doing vio-
lence to the conditions of organ-music ; it is plain that
here we have no mere imitation, but a masterly adaptation
of another class of artistic work. The adagio in A minor
consists of a very beautiful unbroken cantabile, with a per-
fectly homophonic accompaniment — a piece that has no
fellow in any other of Bach's works, and in which we
nevertheless feel irresistibly that, though in this particular
instance the whole work has been composed expressly for
the organ, the general style of treatment is not of the very
essence and nature of the organ. The pedal figure, in
intervals of octaves, carried throughout, and the chords of
the accompaniment which were to have a manual with soft
stops to themselves, remind us too vividly of an adagio solo
with cembalo accompaniment. An organ recitative leads to
eight bars of harmonic progressions in Buxtehude's manner;
the last subject consists of a quick fugue in 6-8 time which
in its theme, with bold effects of pauses with contrapuntal
passages inserted in them, strongly reminds us of the great
fugue in D major that I have already described.
By the side of this piece for the organ, we may set a com-
position for the harpsichord, also consisting of three move-
ments108; this likewise has the title of toccata, which in both
these pieces seems to indicate the final fugue movement by
which alone it is distinct from the complete concerto form.
The first bars of the tutti theme are similar in structure to
107 P. S. V., Cah. 3 (242), No. 8. B.-C., XV., p. 253,
1(» P. Ser. I., Cah. 13 (210), No. 3.
TOCCATA FOR THE CLAVIER. 419
those at the beginning of the second allegro movement in
Vivaldi's concerto in B minor, while the elaborate passages
usual at the beginning do not occur, and the heavy de-
scending groups of chords for both hands remind us of the
methods of execution which frequently occur in the tran-
scriptions of Vivaldi for the clavier. Bars 5 to 7 contain the
solo response, and the movement develops this in the most
careful order through five phrases and the following scheme
of modulation : G major, D major, E minor, B minor,
G major. The adagio, full of melodic sentiment, is also
thought out polyphonically with extreme care; this passage —
in particular being imitated in beautiful variety, so that
German feeling is here amalgamated with Italian form with
an uncommon and delighful result. How completely this
was in fact the purpose of the composer is evident from
his adherence to certain external details — for instance, to the
closing adagio. The conclusion in the fundamental key, and
then the recommencement in order to attain the suspense
of a half-close as a preparation for the last movement, is
altogether in the manner of the Italian composers. Here
again, the 6-8 time and the cheerful nature of the closing
fugue, as well as the mocking phrase borrowed from the
first five notes of the theme, reminds us that it forms the
close of a composition planned on the lines of the concerto.
This gay and brightly dancing movement forms an ad-
mirable contrast to the elegiac character of the adagio,
and, like the whole work, was written in an hour of happy
inspiration.
In order to avoid repetition later, mention must here be
made of yet another composition which, though it certainly
belongs to a subsequent period, displays in the same way an
intention of combining the forms of the concerto with the
fugue. All we know with certainty is that it was written before
the year 1725 ; and it appears to me by no means impossible
to show, from internal evidence, that it was probably written
at any rate in the later years of Bach's residence in
2 E 2
420 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Weimar.109 It consists of a fugue with what is called a
prelude ; but this prelude is, in fact, a complete movement,
broadly planned and brilliantly worked-out, on the concerto
model. That this was Bach's purpose is here particularly
clearly indicated by the circumstance that in the later years
of his life he worked up these two movements into a true
concerto for the flute, violin, and clavier, with an accompani-
ment, inserting an adagio between them,110 — forming an
arrangement, it may be added, of really dazzling artistic
quality and splendour. A fiery, restless stir runs through
both the movements, and their importance consists in the
incessant waves of new and spontaneous embellishments, in
the fulness of the harmonies — in short, in the conception of
the work as a whole, rather than in the form and character
of the individual motives. That of the tutti passage at
the beginning is indeed insignificant in itself, but it acts like
a charm to unloose the spirits of sound ; whenever it is
repeated new gates seem to open like sluices, from which
the rushing and sparkling flood pours out. It serves as a
clue through what seems an endless maze of music. The
fugue, which demands no less technical skill and " staying
power" than the first movement, is in 12-16 time, and quite
keeps up the character of a concerto finale. Indeed, in the
arrangement, that form is given to it, Bach having devised a
tutti motive for it; and not only has he inserted this very
skilfully between the sections of the fugue, but has worked
them out side by side without any alteration in the original.
Considering the eagerness with which Bach strove to
derive all the profit he could from the compositions of the
Italians, it would have been strange indeed if he had not
turned his attention to their organ music. Proofs exist of
his having done so ; and in particular he turned with just
insight to the works of the illustrious Frescobaldi, a master
whose writings marked an epoch ; he succeeded in procuring
109 P. S. I., Cah. 9, No. 2. The piece exists in a MS. by J. P. Kellner, and
bears the date 1725. It has a rather conspicuous resemblance in feeling to that
grand fugue in A minor which is to be found in Andreas Bach's book (P. S. I.,
Cah. 4, No. 2).
11° B.-G. XVII., p. 223.
THE CANZONE FOR ORGAN. 421
a very careful copy of his " Fiori Musicali," composed in
1635, printed on 104 pages of particularly good paper, in which
he wrote with his own hand, " J. S. Bach, 1714." m Fresco-
baldi's importance in the history of fugue is very consider-
able, although he had already had a remarkable predecessor
in G. Gabrieli. In Italy the fugue had grown chiefly out of
the canzone (canzone francese) , which were often played on the
organ or clavier, and thus served for the first material for
imitative forms. Thus even in the course of years certain
rhythmical peculiarities of these chanson melodies remained
clinging to the fugal theme; for instance, it was usual for
the first held note to be succeeded by other rapid ones of
shorter value in a stereotyped form, and not unfrequently
the first note was several times repeated.112
Incited to the task by such examples of Frescobaldi's, Bach
now wrote a canzone, in which he preserved to the utmost
the Italian type, though he could not escape infusing his
own mind into the whole work.113 No one can fail to feel
the singular charm of this lovely piece ; even at a superficial
glance the construction of the theme cannot but be striking,
and closer observation soon reveals the typical canzone
rhythm. A second theme, chromatic in structure, is con-
trasted with the first, and the subject proceeds deliberately,
strictly in four parts, without any concession to executive
effect, or any attempt at instrumental brilliancy. After a
steady course of seventy bars in common time it comes to a
half-close, and a new section begins in 3-2 time, the prolatio
perfecta in the terminology of that day. This change of beat,
well-known in the works of the North German organists, was
also a common feature with the Italians of the first half of
the seventeenth century, and appears to have arisen in
111 This remarkable relic is in the library of the Royal Institute for Sacred
Music, Berlin.
112 This interesting observation was first made by Ambros (Geschichte der
Musik, Vol. III. Breslau, 1868, p. 533). Compare also Vol. II., p. 506. A
selection from Frescobaldi's Fiori Musicali was published by Commer (Compo-
sitionem fur die Orgel aus dem XVI., XVII., XVIII. Jahrhundert. Leipzig:
D. H. Geissler, Part I). Among them are two canzone which enable us to
make a comparison with Bach.
™ P. S. V., Cah. 4, No 10.
422 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
imitation of vocal music, in which Giov. Gabrieli, for in-
stance, was fond of using it. Nay more ; Frescooaldi had
already employed that melodic transformation of the theme,
by altering the time, which had acquired almost the dignity
of a principle of construction with Buxtehude and some
others. And thus Bach also made use of the materials of
the first subject to make a new and highly ingenious one,
following the rhythm of the canzone in altogether a different
manner. But a comparison, not with Buxtehude's work
only, but with the closing movement of one of his own earlier
works (see ante, p. 321) suffices to show how well aware he
was of the difference of style which existed between them.
Here the character is freely and purely musical, there it is
smooth and sacred, so far as Bach's individuality would
permit. For he could no more belie his own nature than he
could ignore the advance of his art ; and his own craving for
a nobler musical vitality, richer in individual colouring, led
him in the quicker rhythm of the second section to supply a
deeper harmony, and to demean himself more boldly in the
progression of the parts. Nevertheless, a thorough study
of the details reveals a number of harmonic peculiarities,
which are best explained as the results of a leaning towards
Frescobaldi's style ; thus, only to mention one — the attacks
of the theme throughout the first section succeed each other
exclusively in the principal key of D minor.
This canzone is not the only one of this character among
the works of Bach. An alia breve in D major is likewise
clearly recognisable as being in Frescobaldi's manner, or
rather in the manner common to the Italian organ composers
of the period.114 It is an undivided fugue in an unbroken flow
of four parts, and the peculiarity of this composition lies in
the very method of the fugal treatment. The main theme is
immediately joined by an answering theme which accom-
panies it for the most part throughout the piece; close
imitation is employed by preference ; the entrance of the
theme is but slightly marked, often not at all; the counter-
114 P. S. V., Cah. 8 (247), No. 6. It is interesting to compare a similar work
by Pachelbel in Commer, Mus. Sac., I., p. 137.
A THEME TAKEN FROM LEGRENZl. 423
point overflowing, as it were, into the theme, which moves in
the simplest diatonic intervals. All this is calculated not so
much to preserve the vital and formative power of an in-
dividually characteristic idea through a series of diversified
aspects, as to present a grand organic whole, of which the
fundamental principle is laid on broad, general lines, while
its progress is always fettered by external conditions or by
its very essence. That a composer has a perfect right to
distinguish between the Protestant and Catholic styles, and
that Bach here felt the distinction, is easily proved by
comparing this with other pieces for the organ. The
solemnity of the general effect is farther heightened by the
breadth given by using nothing quicker than crotchets, and
by the preparation of the discords, which remind us of the
old vocal style whose true home was always the Catholic
Church. But indeed no one but Bach could have written
this piece ; the very magnitude of it, extending like a vast
arch, through 197 bars, could hardly have been constructed
by any other hand ; and then those vigorous introductions
of new motives, as in the alto part, bars 32 to 46 — those
grand organic superstructures, as the interlude bars 113 to
134 — those imaginative and brilliant series of harmonies!
Though we may call the canzone a romantic child of Ger-
man feeling and Italian mould, this alia breve will always
remind us of a deep blue sky whose image is reflected from
the calm face of a translucent flood.
Nor were the writings of Giovanni Legrenzi — who lived in
the second half of the seventeenth century, and was known
as an eminent organist and composer, and as the teacher of
the great Venetian Antonio Lotti — unknown to the German
master. This is proved by Bach's having arranged a thema
by Legrenzi as an organ-fugue.115 A striking feature in
this is the constant recurrence of a full close before each
entrance of the theme, by which it acquires a somewhat
115 P. S. V., Cah. IV., No. 6. The autograph, which for the present has
disappeared, did not, according to Griepenkerl, name Legrenzi as the inventor
of the thema ; but Andreas Bach's MS., a trustworthy authority, has the super-
scription : Thema Legrenziannm elaboratitm cum subjecto pedaliter. By sub-
jectum is meant the independent counter-subject;
424 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
fragmentary and short-breathed character, while usually
Bach devoted so much industrious care to bringing in the
repetitions of the theme as a surprise or, as it were by
accident, against the background of continuous sound.
This and the brilliant display of the close, in the mannei of
Buxtehude, make it seem probable that the fugue was written
not later than 1708 or 1709. We must not, however, attribute
to its early origin the simplification of form to which the
second theme is subjected in bars 43, 49, 66, 77, and 88 ; at any
rate this cannot have arisen on technical grounds, since the
theme is not difficult to perform on the pedal in its proper
form. The imitative counterpoint at the beginning must
certainly be referred to Legrenzi ; Bach's own method of
treatment is only evident from bar 34. The broad independent
scheme of the double fugue form was new at that time — both
the themes being independently and completely worked out
before they unite — for, though before this the double fugue
had been preferred to the simpler form, this was not for the
sake of the greater richness, but for convenience and
simplicity; the second theme accompanied the first from
the beginning, like its shadow. Here we have a full and
mighty organism, whose abundant beauty far outweighs the
deficiencies we have mentioned.
From which of Legrenzi's works Bach derived this idea we
cannot say ; the matter is clearer in the case of three other
fugues to which certain violin-sonatas by Corelli and Albinoni
have supplied the themes. Arcangelo Corelli (born 1653, died
1713) was equally distinguished as a composer and as a player
and teacher of the violin, and was properly speaking the
originator of the violin sonata and the head of the Roman
school of music. Tomaso Albinoni lived about 1700 at
Venice, a musical dilettante who gained celebrity not only
as an instrumental composer, but as the author of several
operas, and as a singer and violinist. Corelli published as opera
terza twelve sacred sonatas in three parts, of which the fourth
was considered one of the finest.116 The second subject is a
fugue with the following theme : —
Gerber, N. L., I., col. 786.
CORELLl
AND ALBINONI.
_! !
425
A^Q-^
•^j-^ .-^
f~b
•p-ft» * ^ I* X*'*|L- * ,.
^^&C'
Bach borrowed this for an organ fugue in four parts which
has nothing in common with Corelli's piece, excepting the
stretto treatment of the first movement.117 Though Corelli
had by the end of thirty-nine bars exhausted all he could
find to say on the two themes, Bach required more than a
hundred to develop all the wealth of his flow of ideas. Of
course he could make no use of the same structural arrange-
ment as that employed by the Italian. He begins the stretto
at the seventh bar, and remains constant to this intricate
form till the very end ; while the German writer, on the con-
trary, does not adopt this means of enhanced effect till the
ninetieth bar, and works out the whole spirit of the theme
fully and freely, grouping and linking the principal phrases
by means of well-developed episodes. With what special
ingenuity and facility these are developed is shown in bars
25 to 30, among others ; here the minims of the first theme
are steadily taken down by degrees deeper and deeper, while
above and among them a delightful alternation is worked
out in semiquavers, and leads gracefully back to the theme
again. The fact that Bach should have used Corelli's theme
for the organ especially, probably indicates that the Italian
use of sacred violin sonatas had been accepted as a custom
in Weimar. And we shall indeed presently see that he even
adopted a form borrowed from that type of music in one of
his cantatas.
Bach must have had an especial liking for Albinoni's com-
positions. Even in his later years he was accustomed to use
bass parts of his for practice in thorough-bass ; and Gerber
tells us that he had never heard anything more admirable
than the way in which his father — a pupil of Bach's — em-
117 P. S. V., Cah. 4 (243), No. 8. The sonata is to be found in the new edition of
Corelli's works, by J. Joachim (Denkmaler der Tonkunst, III. Bergedorf bei
Hamburg, 1871, pp. 142-147).
426 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
ployed these same basses in the manner of his master, and
that the accompaniments thus worked out were of themselves
so beautiful that no leading part could add to the charm he
felt in them.118 And this is quite in agreement with the fact
that we possess two fugues in which Bach made more or
less use of compositions by Albinoni.119 The Italian pieces
are in three parts, and Bach's — both for the clavier — are
this time the same; thus the scheme is alike in both. The
first fugue is in A major;120 Albinoni had considered the
matter at an end, and thought he had done enough when
he had supplied one counterpoint to the theme—
which he always repeats exactly in the proper transpositions
of key. Nor does he trouble himself much with develop-
ment, and in his piece, which is 48 bars long, he only
recurs to the theme eight times ; the remainder consists of
free passages, not always above triviality. Bach could use
but little out of the whole material of the composition. The
counterpoint quoted he employed but once, in the first
entrance of the response, and even there with essential im-
provement ; afterwards throughout the hundred bars which
constitute the piece he never recurs to it, as though plainly
to point the lesson that a regular fugue was something more
than a series of mechanical transpositions of the parts up-
wards or downwards — that it ought rather to throw off a
number of new shoots from the same stem. He also bor-
rowed an idea from a subsidiary phrase in bars 8 and 9 —
with which Albinoni could do nothing farther, but which In
Bach's hands blossoms out into the loveliest episodes (com-
118 Gerber, N. L., I., col. 492.
119 Both are to be found in the Suonate \ a tre \ doi Violini, e Violoncello \ col
Basso per I'organo da \ Tomaso Albinoni \ Musico di Viollno diletante Veneto.\
Opera f>rima\. They are the two movements of the third and eighth sonatas.
120 P. S. I., Cah. 13, No. 10 (215, p. 57). Though it also occurs in G major,
this must be regarded as a transposition.
FUGUES ON THEMES BY ALBINONI. 427
p^re bars 24-27 and 44-47). Everything else in this remark-
ably beautiful composition is original ; a keen freshness like
that of a fine autumn morning pervades it, and the figures
flow on as from an inexhaustible fount — healing and con-
solatory. The tempo, given as allegro by Albinoni, must be
the same in Bach. The richness displayed at the close, with
the introduction of the pedal, still has a flavour of juvenile
redundancy ; but it is so completely of a piece with the rest
that even in later years, as it would seem, the composer made
no further alterations. In the other fugue in B minor, on the
contrary, he deemed them necessary, as two rearrangements
prove. There is in fact a great charm in noting how Bach
digested in his imagination all the prominent features of the
work, and here elaborated as it were a new combination of
the elements, so that they all reappear again in the new
work, but in a very different and far more effective con-
nection.121 A middle passage of the counterpoint of the
response is more frequently resorted to : —
This, which is the last quaver of the third bar and the first
half of the following bar in Albinoni, is used by Bach at first
in bars 12 and 13 of the upper part, in bar 58, and again in
bars 80 and 81 of the middle part. In the fifth bar this
passage of three quavers —
repeated in bar 29, is rendered surprisingly expressive by the
use made of it by Bach in bars 59 and 60 ; it flashes from
the depth of his soul with a fearful effect. The chromatic
passage given to the second violin in bar 20 appears in bar
40 in the clavier fugue, likewise for the middle part, then it
reappears at bar 50 in the upper part ; a little staccato figure
121 The second arrangement of Bach's fugue is to be found P. S. I., Cah. 3,
No. 5 (214, p. 48), the first in the appendix to the samevqlume. Albinom's fugue
will be given at length in the Musical Supplement to this work.
428 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
in semiquavers from bar 22 slips in lightly and unobserved
at bar 25 of Bach's work, and maintains its existence for
some time. The chromatic ascending passages, bar 33, dis-
tributed between the second and first violins, are distinctly
introduced as early as bars 14 and 15 in the clavier piece,
and, after some restless turns in broken and divided semi-
quavers in bars 34 and 35, are at last worked out completely
on the high notes. Such a palingenesia is certainly one of
the rarest phenomena of the world of art ; in it the com-
poser has so completely assimilated in his own work that
of another writer, that its farther existence seems thence-
forth superfluous ; and yet he has produced something so
fundamentally different that, irrespective of the theme, the
two compositions can scarcely be compared.
Still a certain hardness and stiffness clung here and there
to Bach's first arrangement;122 the process was not altogether
perfect till the second was written, when Bach worked only
upon his own first composition, without any reference to
Albinoni's. Here all the seams were closed, all the contours
rounded off, and all the parts were reduced to proportions of
the most perfect beauty ; at every bar we cannot but admire
the master's consummate judgment. Consider, for example,
only the transformation in bar 30 and the way in which its
counterpart appears in bar 94 ; how in the phrase from
bar 34 on to the next attack of the theme every part is
stretched and expanded, while at the same time the chro-
matic figure of the bass is long drawn-out, like the enfolding
sheath from which the living germ at last comes forth.
From bar 68 of the second arrangement the development is
quite different from that of the first, overflowing those limits
by a long way, and never receding to a calm till bar 102. The
general sentiment of this fugue is quite different from that of
the former one : it floats in that mysterious twilight of feeling
in which Bach is more at home than any other composer, and
122 The b' as the third note of the response (bar 3) I regard as an incorrect
transcript in the written copy for c'fy. There was no reason for altering this
c'fy which exists in Albinoni, and which Bach himself retains in bars 12, 37,
and 68, and throughout in the second arrangement ; the b' is a particularly un-
pleasant discord with c'fy in the counterpoint.
REINKEN'S HORTUS MUSICUS. 429
which evades all verbal expression as completely as a vision.
The Italian original has nothing of this ; and this radical
difference would justify us in a corresponding moderation in
applying the allegro of the Italian fugue to the tempo of
Bach's. Besides, the second arrangement must certainly
have been the product of Bach's fullest maturity, for the
work undoubtedly is one of the master's finest and best. He
himself had a great preference for it, and added to it, as it
would seem, a grand imaginative prelude.128
When speaking of Job. Adam Reinken and his influence
on Bach, mention was made of that master's Hortus Musicus
(see p. 197) .m This work contains six sonatas, each for two
violins, viola (di-gamba), and basso continue.125 As they are
quite on the model of the Italian violin trios, particularly
Corelli's, we may here discuss them in connection with the
original Italian music. There are in existence two clavier
sonatas, in A minor and C major, which have hitherto passed
123 This prelude, which occurs together with the fugue in two MS. copies,
has lately been ascribed to Wilhelm Hieronymus, the son of Joh. Pachelbel,
and it has therefore been suppressed in the Peters edition. It should however
be restored to Bach, since in what is known as the Fischhoff autograph of the
first part of the Wohltemperirte Clavier (in the Royal Library at Berlin) after
the last fugue, the first fourteen and a-half bars of the prelude are written by
the same hand on the last four staves, with the title " Prcelude di J. S. Bach."
Even if the Fischhoff autograph is not genuine — and I must confess to some
well-founded suspicions — we may credit a very careful copyist of twenty-four
of Bach's preludes and fugues with having assured himself of the genuineness
of what he transcribed.
™ Hortus Muficus \ recentibus aliquot flofculis \ " SON A TEN \ ALLE-
MANDEN, \ COVRANTEN, \ SARABANDEN, \ et \ GIQVEN, \ cum 2
Violini, Viola et Ba/o \ continue, confitus \ a \ JOHANNE ADAMO
REINCKEN Daventrienfe tranfsalano, \ Organi Hamburgenfis ad \ D.
Catharines celebratijfimi \ Directore " | . Hamburg, no date. Five parts in
separate score engraved in copper ; folio. The only copy known to me of this
now very scarce work is in the possession of Professor G. R. Wagener, of
Marburg. The work has been published by the Maatschappy tot bevordering
der Toonkunst.
125 Reinken in each instance has entitled the first Adagio, the second Allegro
Fuga, and the second Adagio which follows this, the Sonata, combining the
three under one number ; to the dances which follow he gives a distinct number.
But as these are always in the same key as the previous movements, and are
conceived in the same vein, we may be allowed to give the name of Sonata
unhesitatingly to each set, including the dances, and are supported in doing so
by the practice of the Italians.
43O JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
for Bach's compositions, because in the manuscript, which is
certainly not his autograph, they are simply designated as
"di Signer J. S. Bach"™ A glance at Reinken's Hortus
Musicus shows us that they are not altogether original com-
positions by Bach, but clavier arrangements of Reinken's
first and third sonatas. The first sonata is indeed completely
preserved in all its parts in the clavier piece ; the third only
as far as the allemande, inclusive. Nothing can throw a
clearer light on the sincere sympathy which Bach brought
to bear on Reinken's music, and nothing can more clearly
prove a certain intrinsic affinity between the masters, than
the circumstance that hitherto no one ever had a suspicion
of their not being genuinely and originally by Bach. The
material supplied by Reinken has actually become Bach's
property by his treatment of it, though he has in most
of the movements done no more than paraphrase them
more freely and richly in a highly admirable and masterly
way. Only in the fugues do we see him follow some-
what the same method, as with Corelli and Albinoni.
The second movement of the A minor sonata in Reinken
contains fifty bars, in Bach eighty-five ; the giga of the
same sonata has nineteen bars in each part in Reinken, in
Bach thirty. The second movement of the C major sonata
has in the original forty-seven bars, in the clavier arrange-
ment ninety-seven. In this latter piece Bach disports himself
most freely ; he hardly avails himself of anything of his
predecessor's but the theme. He keeps more closely to the
structure of the original in the fugue movement of the
A minor sonata ; particularly in the theme response, which
he leaves unaltered, excepting the final fifteenth bar, although
he distributes it differently among the parts and introduces
very ingenious free interludes. There can hardly be a more
interesting study than that of the process of modification
which has here been effected by Bach's genius, by which he
has produced works which are equal to his finest original
compositions. We can see at a glance that these arrange-
ments were not written at this eady period, since Bach
P. S. I., Cah. 3, Nos. i and 2.
VARIATIONS IN THE ITALIAN STYLE. 43!
endeavoured to learn from Reinken in Hamburg. Only a
man who was himself a master could have allowed himseli
to undertake such a task, or have brought it to such a
splendid result.127
To conclude the subject of Italian influence, as shown in
Bach's compositions of this period, we must still mention a
piece with variations, alia maniera Italiana;™ these, which
are arranged for the clavier on a delicious thema in song
form ("Liedform"), resemble the Italian variations for violin.
The figures, with hardly an exception worth mentioning, lie
in the upper part: the bass simply goes on as a support to
it, though it is not devoid of independent movement ; the
subject is principally in two parts, and so undoubtedly forms
a strong contrast to the splendidly harmonised theme, which
recurs somewhat altered as the last variation. Many pas-
sages reproduce the style of violin music, no doubt inten-
tionally, and the modes of execution frequently recur which
we saw in the arrangement of Vivaldi's concerto.129 Com-
pared with the " Goldberg" variations, in the fourth part of
the "Clavierubung," these certainly fall into the shade; they
are like neat and delicate pencil drawings by the side of
richly coloured paintings. But the spark of Bach's fire is
not wanting ; it glows with intensified strength in the sweet
127 J. P. Kellner has given us yet another anonymous fugue in B flat major
which proves to be an arrangement of the first allegro of the second sonata
from the Hortus Musicus. (See Dorffel's thematic catalogue of Bach's instru-
mental works, App. I., Ser. I., No. n.) Most probably this arrangement also
is by Bach. Reinken's Sonata in A minor will be given entire in the musical
supplement to this work. It will be observed that Bach has disregarded the
repetition in the second adagio, and he has done the same in the C majoi
sonata. With regard to the cross x , a sign that constantly recurs, we ma)
note what Reinken thought proper to prefix as an admonitio to the viola part
" Si quis forte ignoravit, quidnam simplex x si'bi velit, is sciat tremulum
signijicare^qui inferne tonum feriat quemadmodum, h<z dnce \\ tremulum notant,
qui superne tonum contingit." (" If any one be ignorant of the signification
of the sign x , let him know that it means a trill, in which the note immediately
below the principal note is used as the assistant grace-note, while these two
marks || indicate a trill in which the note immediately above is employed.")
128 P. S. I., Cah. 13, No. 2 (215, p. 12). The number of variations differs in
the original copies. Andreas Bach, our best authority, has ten.
129 Compare, for instance, the B minor concerto, No. 8, particularly the
beginning of it, with Var. g.
432 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
and melancholy theme, which seems to wander like a shade
through the variations, but blossoms out again in the full
beauty of intoxicating harmony in the last.
The third group consists of such instrumental composi-
tions as do not owe their origin to the influence of Italian
art, and are intended exclusively for the clavier. Since, as
has been said before, in the cases where Bach followed the
Italians, he did so not with the uncertain steps of a novice,
but with the deliberation of maturity, he could produce, in
addition to the works we have been enumerating others, of a
quite different kind, and of a masterly character. In the
course of our examination of these, elements of French as
well as of Italian art will several times be observed, the
employment of which only exemplifies his unfettered control
of all means and materials.
Bach begins a small suite in F major with a complete
overture in the French style.180 The whole of the little
composition, which only contains three dance-pieces of the
most meagre proportions — a minuet, a bourree, and a gigue —
acquires a heightened interest when compared with the later
suites, which are just as remarkable for the boldness and
ideality of their treatment as this one is for the unpreten-
tiousness with which it confines itself to the simple dance
forms. After the overture there follows, by way of interlude,
an "entree," which was designed to prepare the way for the
other movements; in character the entree generally was
similar to the opening movement of the overture, but was in
two parts, each of which was repeated just as in the present
case. The most valuable portions of the suite are the
charming fugue movement of the overture, and the minuet
with its lovely trio.
Of the separate clavier fugues one particularly fine one in
A major must be mentioned before all the others.181 In out-
line it bears an unmistakable likeness to the one on a theme
of Albinoni's in the same key, although in detail it is quite
P. S. I., Cah. 13, No. 4 (215, p. 27).
P. S. I., Cah. 13, No. 9 (215, p. 52)
SUITES AND FUGUES. 433
different to that, both in theme and in construction. From
bar 35 onwards the development is achieved by the inversion
of the theme, with which the counter-subject —
is now and then intermingled, after which the two motives are
ingeniously worked together. At the end there are several of
those pedal effects which, in their striving after technical dis-
play, point to a more or less early date of composition.
Another fugue in A major132 is of less importance ; in this
the strettos are hurried and yet slack, both in direct and
inverted motion, and the theme is answered in bar 3 in such
a way as to lead us at first to think of E major as the tonic.
It must have been written at a very much earlier period
than the others, or else in an unpropitious moment.
A fugue in A minor133 in free form, and of an early date,
has a charmingly arch and playful character; in it we seem to
hear the elves chattering and tripping to and fro ; it sounds
like a scherzo of Mendelssohn, anticipated by about a hundred
years. Another in the same key resembles it in many ways,
and on that account may have been written about the same
time, but further chronological testimony is wanting.134
We have previously mentioned several independent organ
preludes. Whether they are really to be considered as in-
dependent pieces, or as belonging to fugues now lost, it is
impossible to decide. The first of these hypotheses can be
asserted with greater certainty of two clavier preludes, which
have an unusual form that is common to both, and which,
although they fail to become firm, distinct formations, yet
reveal a certain condition of mind, dreamy and vague, full
of passionate longing and unsatisfied aspiration. Until
evidence to the contrary is produced, I must regard it as ex-
i32 P. S. I., Cah. 9, No. 13 (212, p. 66).
138 P. S. I., Cah. 9, No. 15 (212, p. 70).
134 In MS. among the legacy of Westphal, now in the Royal Library at Berlin
(sign. P. 291, 34, piece i). I know nothing against its authenticity. It is still
unpublished ; its theme is given in the Berlin thematic catalogue of the instru-
mental works, App. I., p. 19. '
2 F
434 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
elusively characteristic of Bach to content himself with sub-
jective tone-pictures such as these, without intimating the
connection between individual and general feeling in a piece
in strict form which should follow ; this characteristic, how-
ever, is naturally less observable in his more mature years.
The prototype of such compositions is found in a work for
the clavier by Georg Bohm before mentioned, in which, it is
true, the dreamy prelude is followed by a fugue; -but after
this the character of the beginning is resumed, and the com-
position dies away in melancholy, murmuring chords. Now
we know a copy of one of these two preludes by Bach, made
in the year 1713 by another musician, we may therefore
suppose the date of composition to be somewhere about the
year lyio.185 That the other must be of about the same
date is probable from the similarity in form, and the fact,
which may be observed throughout Bach's works, that when
he essays the employment of a new form, he never contents
himself with a single attempt, but endeavours to exhaust it
as far as possible by repeating the experiment.136 Both
are lacking in melodic charm, and present only harmonic
progressions which are strictly confined to a stiff and
unchanging rhythmical figure. This rhythm indeed divides
their form into two chief sections, which are limited by
chords and passages of preparation or cadence. The key of
the first is C minor, but the entirely subjective character is
clearly seen in the fact that, except in the first and last
phrases, the key scarcely makes itself felt at all. Even the
melancholy arpeggios of the introductory chords lead directly
into G minor, and in G minor the first chief section begins —
135 The copy is in the Royal Library at Berlin, and has this title : " Jova
Java | Praeludium ex c dis [= E flat, i.e. in C minor] | di Joh. Seb. Bach.\"
Below, on the right : "Joh. Ch. Schmidt \ Hartz p. t. org. \ d. g gbr., 1713. | "
" Hartz " may signify Hartzungensis, Hartzburgensis, Hartzgerodanus, &c.
I have not succeeded in discovering anything about the writer, who, moreover,
has copied it very incorrectly. This piece also occurs in Andreas Bach, fol. 71,,
and 72", carefully written, but without the name of the composer, and in a
different handwriting from that of the other works of Bach.
136 The second is published in P. S. I., Cah. 13, No. i (215, p. 5), under
the title Fantasia, although in two MSS. it also bears the superscription
" Pratludium"
PRELUDE IN A MINOR.
I >
435
which, by modulations through the allied keys on the full
subject in E flat major, leads into the second chief section, in
4-8 time. The semiquavers in the left hand yield to a quaver
figure, and the upper phrase is replaced first by crotchets, and
then by quavers intermingled with semiquavers ; at last only
semiquavers are heard. The close consists of two small epi-
sodes, in common time and 24-16 respectively, the last of
which rushes up impetuously with short pedal-points, almost
entirely on the subdominant, the tonic key recurring for the
first time with these questioning chords : —
The other prelude is more broadly treated. Its introduction is
made up of figures in demisemiquavers, and clavier recitatives.
The first section begins at the fourteenth bar; the rhythm ex-
presses an inward and ever-increasing restlessness, in accord-
ance with which the harmonies are worked up from dim regions,
higher and higher, till they reach their climax in one passion-
ate outburst (bar 32), and then sink back into the depths. The
rhythmic figure that pervades the second section is the same
as that which we noticed at the end of the organ toccata in
D minor;137 there it vanished before it was thoroughly played
out; here it is almost over-exhausted in fifty-two bars. From
the epilogue (bars 87-106) one passage must be selected of mar-
vellous effect; after stormy ascending semiquaver passages,
followed by a short pause, we come suddenly to this : —
3? P. S.. V., Cah. 4 (243), No. 4.
138 A harmonic progression of exactly similar character occurs in the last of
2 F 2
436 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
With these two preludes we must contrast four fantasias.
It is a complete mistake to imagine that Bach signified by
this name rambling improvisations, to which he was in
general little addicted. The fantasia, in the sense in which
he employed the word, comprises regularly constituted forms
evolved from melodic subjects, and not unfrequently consists
of such forms alone. The question is quite decided by the
fact that Bach originally gave this name to his " clavier
symphonies"189 in three parts, which are sustained through-
out in the strictest style ; and this is confirmed by a com-
parison of his works which have this title. But the op-
portunity for the free display of an inventive talent is by
no means entirely cut off; the name seems to be ascribed
to those pieces whose construction was not perfectly analo-
gous to the customary forms, but always presented some
few features of a free character. Such is the case with the
fantasias under consideration.
The first, in G minor,140 is built on three subjects fitting
into one another, which all admit of double counterpoint on
the octave ; by means of their transpositions and develop-
ments the powerful flow of the piece is kept up. In the
second, in B minor,141 the first movement is ingeniously
evolved from the germ —
and the second is freely developed on this subject : —
The third again, in A minor, is different in form. It begins
the Italian variations (last bar but one) ; a new proof that both works were
composed at the same period.
139 In the autograph " Clavier-Biichlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach."
(" Little Clavier-Book for W. F. Bach.")
"° P. S. I., Cah. 13, No. 5 (215, p. 32).
141 P. S. I., Cah 13, No. 7 (216, p. 41). I cannot agree altogether with Roitzsch's
theory that the B minor fantasia was intended for the organ. At the time of
Bach's maturity — and to that time the piece must certainly be assigned — the
employment of isolated pedal-notes, as in bars 15-24, occurs only in clavier
FANTASIAS FOR CLAVIER.
437
with a very brilliant toccata-like movement, followed by a
very lively though somewhat shallow fugue on the theme —
Presto.
at the end it returns to the toccata, which this time is
kept up by means of changes in tempo and recitatives* to
thirty-five bars.143
The fourth is the longest and most remarkable of all, and
displays the most wonderful variety of forms.148 After a few
preluding bars the first movement begins in D major on this
subject —
_
which is at first answered quite regularly on the fifth as if it
were a fugue, but soon is carried farther and worked out in
the left hand with free repetitions, while the right has short
chords, until this group of notes —
interrupts it, forming a new subject, which is continued for
some time, the quavers being alternately above and below.
At the thirteenth bar the two groups are set in opposition to
one another, and from this opposition is evolved all the
subsequent progress of the piece. It is obvious that the
concerto form is at the root of this. This is followed by a
varied adagio movement in true toccata form ; a short phrase
of four notes is prominent in it, interrupted by tremolos,
works ; at least, my observations have always led me to this conclusion. The
light and minute character, too, of the first movement seems to me to be unfitted
for the organ.
142 The MS. is in Fischhoff's bequest in the Royal Library in Berlin.
i« P. S. I., Can. 9, No. 3 (211, p. 28).
438 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
leading to figures in bars 4-7, which exactly correspond
to a passage in the A minor prelude (bars 87 ff.) already
described (see p. 435), showing that both pieces must have
been written within a short time of each other. We now come
to a third movement of more animated form again, which in
construction exactly resembles the G minor fantasia just
mentioned ; here also there are three interwoven themes
arranged in double counterpoint on the octave; by giving
opportunity for the formation of episodical interludes they
provide the means for the development of the whole move-
ment. Their first entrances follow the rule of answering on
the fifth, so that a regular triple fugue is the result. The
key of this section was F sharp minor, so the next move-
ment has to lead gradually back to the original key ; it is
even more varied than the first interlude, and is full of
pathetic clavier recitatives (to be played con discrezione, as
is remarked in some of the manuscripts) and broad uniting
harmonies; the progression from the A minor prelude,
which was illustrated above (p. 435) by an example, occurs
also here (bars 9, 10). At last we come to the concluding
fugue, in 6-16 time, which flutters away on wings as light
and airy as those of a butterfly. This last fantasia is in its
form a combination of the before-mentioned toccatas, in three
movements, of which the first is in the style of a concerto,
with another kind of toccata, of which also Bach has left
several examples. It is called a fantasia undoubtedly be-
cause it corresponds to neither one model nor the other
entirely.
For the proper estimation of Bach's artistic nature it is
by no means unimportant to observe how, even in a form
which allows of the most arbitrary formlessness, he en-
deavoured to construct great organisms in accordance with
fixed principles, and yet kept them utterly free from eccen-
tricity. All that he did was controlled by the greatest
severity of form. And it was for this very reason that,
when he conceived himself to have hit upon a good scheme
of form, he sought, by repeating it in another work, to assure
it to himself anew, and to test the fertility and worth of the
scheme thus evolved. He did so with the toccata form,
TOCCATA IN D MINOR. 439
which has considerable affinity with the D major fantasia.144
It is in four movements, of which the second and fourth are
fugal, while the others are in freer form.
The toccata in D minor must, according to the tradition
in the family of Kittel, Bach's pupil, be the master's first
toccata, and we have no right to doubt the statement.145
The first movement is very animated until bar 15, when,
according to the oldest style of the toccata, it alternates
with sustained passages in the strictest four-part harmony,
and full of warm, deep feeling. The second movement con-
sists of a double fugue, in which the only peculiarity is that
both themes are almost exactly alike in melody and rhythm,
the only essential difference being that the first contains a
skip from d to d', and the second a skip from d' to b' flat.
What purpose the composer had in this remarkable construc-
tion, which occurs nowhere else in his instrumental works,
cannot be imagined; the result is naturally somewhat
monotonous in effect. The part-writing is in a high degree
flowing and elegant, with two exceptions, where the inner
parts are tossed about in an utterly aimless and unmelodic
manner (bars 10-12 and 73-74). This is followed by an
adagio of tender, wailing character, founded on a subject of
one bar long, which wanders restlessly from one key to
144 I use the simple title " toccata " and " fantasia," for the addition " con
fuga " has no justification, as all these pieces contain several fugues, and
indeed appear to be nothing more than introductions to the concluding
fugue. I am convinced that such was Bach's intention, since, for example, in
the autograph of the toccata in F sharp minor (which we shall consider further
on) this is the whole tide. See P. S. I., Cah. 4., No. 4, with Griepenkerl's
remark.
145 A copy which came from Kittel's sale, and appears to be in his writing, is
in the Royal Library in Berlin, and bears the title : Toccata Prima. ex Clave D.
b. manuliter. per. J. S. Bachlum. (D. b. signifies D bemol = D minor). By
the order of the words and the punctuation, prima can only apply to the
Toccata in general, not to the indication of the key. The work is published in
P. S. I., Cah. 4., No. 10 (210, p. 68), but in a form which seems to be a second
recension by the composer himself. The old edition, corrected by C. Czerny,
and published by C. F. Peters, seems to exhibit the first recension. This follows
from bars 18 and 19 of the first fugal movement, which are wanting in the present
edition, and yet are so very necessary for the clear understanding of the de-
velopment. Czerny's evidence is valuable, while Griepenkerl's omission is
probably due to a printer's error.
440 JOttANN SEBASTIAN BACti.
another, and at bar 25 comes to a standstill on the dominant
of D minor. The changing of the harmonies is apparently
the chief object ; it has the effect of giving relief and vigour
for a new effort, and in the economy of the whole work this
section holds the same position as do the free interludes
in Buxtehude's organ fugues, only here there is more con-
nectedness. The last movement again consists of a double
fugue, of which the themes —
HB ^=H3 3=
are certainly petty and unimportant when compared to what
we have been accustomed to in Bach, and even to the themes
of the other double fugue of this work. The composer could
not have made the first working-out follow immediately upon
the entrances without any episodes had he not intended to
produce the impression of breathless haste. On the other
hand he was in danger of entirely stifling the insignificant
themes by using episodes, so he chose an expedient which
seems strange, but is justified by the want of definiteness
in the whole piece, and before the real beginning of the fugue
he ushers it in with eleven bars of free treatment based on
the subject material. The themes are given out, and in
bars 3 and 4 are treated in double counterpoint on the
octave ; in the remaining bars is stored up the material for
the episodes. After this the working-out begins, and has
many beautiful points; but in spite of its 140 bars it shows a
great want of breadth and fulness. The phrases are all too
short and breathless, and the themes too are so unfruitful
.hat one has soon heard enough of them. The constant
uniform rhythm is also very wearisome.
Nor is there much more to be said about the second toccata,
in G minor.146 It is of exactly the same form as the one just
noticed. The first movement begins with a rush of descend-
148 P. S. I., Cah. 9, No. i (211, p. 4).
TOCCATAS IN 6 MINOR AND E MINOR. 441
ing passages, followed by an adagio in " free fantasia " form,
in place of the beautiful four-part section in the D minor
toccata. The second movement is a double fugue in B flat
major, with a firm, soldier-like bearing, the themes of which
come in together, but are kept more distinct from each
other; the first entrances are again remarkable, for the
themes are answered in the octave, as at the beginning of
the last movement in the former toccata, but with several
modifications that give rise to new harmonies. Here again
a moderately long adagio without any regular thematic germ
serves for the third movement ; and the last place is occupied
by a broadly treated fugue, with this splendidly energetic
subject —
A
which is also treated in inversion, and by this means pro-
duces an impression of defiant fierceness, though it fails
of its full effect by never appearing with sufficient freedom.
The close refers back to the opening of the first movement,
thus giving a cyclic form to the work.
The third toccata, in E minor,147 differs in form in so far
as that in the first movement there are no long-drawn-out
harmonic progressions, and its general character is short and
like a mere prelude. All else is of similar form : the double
fugue for the second movement, the adagio with its fantasia-
like recitatives for the third, and the concluding fugue. In
substance, however, this toccata ranks distinctly above its
fellows, and is one of those pieces steeped in melancholy and
deep yearning which Bach alone could write. Thus the
exquisite short double fugue is full of agonised longing from
the beginning, where the first sigh is heard in the suspended
seventh, to the close, where the themes repeat themselves
twice over in the same position, as if they never could be satis-
fied. And then the last movement, so light and slender, like
a fair vision passing by, yet with so pale and tearful a counte-
147 P. S. I., Cah. 4, No. 3 (210, p. 23). Griepenkerl, not recognising the form
from which it took its rise, names it incorrectly in his preface to the work.
442
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
nance that it can only be fully appreciated by those who,
experienced in sorrow, have lived through the whole cycle of
grief. It should be noticed that this same frame of mind,
which was represented in an earlier fugue148 here attains its
most perfect utterance ; the similarity between the two shows
itself also in the subtlest details, especially in the fakering and
intermittent character of the counterpoint to the theme,
which has an essential part in giving it its unspeakable
charm.
We cannot doubt that in the whole of the first half of the
Weimar period, which, in brief, brings us to the year 1712,
Bach's interest in vocal church music had withdrawn into
the background, and no important losses are to be deplored,
though we can only specify three cantatas written during
this period. Their characteristics are the same as those of
the older church cantatas, and, as will be shown immediately,
it was not till after 1712 that Bach decisively adopted the
newer cantata form ; so that the period of their composi-
tion is indicated with more or less certainty. They are,
within the limits of their plan, as we might expect from
the power of their creator, the most perfect cantatas of
this kind extant. But, moreover, Bach's individual caa-
tata style, which has its roots in the full breadth of
instrumental music, breaks forth here with far more power
than in the Miihlhausen festival music and the wedding
music, which is perhaps of the same date. The composer
had not only attained a higher level in the art of the
organ, but had also received quite new impulses from
chamber music, especially that of the Italians ; both these
influences were turned to account in the cantatas. The
exact chronological order in which they stand among them-
selves cannot be decided except by internal evidence ;
viewed collectively, however, they have many features in
common, and are about on the same level as regards
technical display. One has no chorale ; it does not, how-
ever, take its text exclusively from the Bible, as in the
wedding cantata just spoken of, but includes rhymed poetry,
148 P. S. V., Cah. 4, No. g, in C minor.
THREE CANTATAS WRITTEN AT WEIMAR. 443
according to usual custom. Even on first glancing at the
score we see the influence of the Italian chamber music;
the cantata begins with a sinfonia in B minor, on the pat-
tern of the Italian three-part violin sonatas. Two violins
and continue — that is to say, the organ accompaniment, the
bass of which is reinforced by a bassoon — constitute the in-
strumental portion of the material ; this is not increased in
the course of the cantata, but the bassoon has an occasional
obbligato passage.149
In this, as in the "Wedding" cantata, the opening theme of
the first chorus is gone through at first as a kind of prepara-
tion. This chorus is set to Ps. xxv. i, 2, the four clauses of
which are treated with as many corresponding musical ideas,
"Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich"— "Unto thee, O Lord, do
I lift up my soul. O my God, my trust is in thee ; let me not
be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me." The
external form of the chorus is fixed by this correspondence.
At a later period Bach would have contented himself with a
smaller quantity of words, probably with the first two clauses
alone, and would liave built upon them two contrasted move-
ments, but the whole was not too much for his present ideal
of form. He makes it into one movement, with strictly fugal
sections at the beginning and the end, set respectively to the
first and last clauses of the text, for which he uses the same
theme in different forms; between these two sections is
inserted a middle section in free form on the second and
third clauses. It is unmistakable that here Buxtehude's
fugue form has been transferred to vocal music. The first
theme is this, with some modifications at the end: —
j. • ^ *--*--
Nach dir, Herr, ver - Ian - get mich.
It is briefly worked out in three divisions, with strettos in
the old style, and between the divisions there come in short
passages from the introductory symphony, in the style of the
ritornel which was usual in the older church cantatas. The
149 My knowledge rests hitherto upon the authority of a MS. in the Royal
Library in Berlin; another MS., apparently older, is still in Hauser's legacy.
444 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
theme appears in a more animated form and in quicker time
in the concluding fugue : —
dass sich mei - ne Fein - de nicht freu - - - en ii - ber mich.
It goes on for twenty-one bars without interruption, at first
with close strettos, and gradually with more and more
freedom. The relation between the quiet and animated,
the weighty and light portions, is just the same as in the
two fugal movements in Buxtehude's organ works, and
so too the interlude in this work agrees exactly with its
prototype in its abrupt and aphoristic nature. The words,
"Mein Gott!" which sound out on a fermata, lead into F
sharp minor, when the words, " Ich hoffe auf dich " — " My
trust is in Thee " — are set to an allegro of three bars long,
with semiquaver movement in the soprano part and sup-
porting quavers in the other parts. Then, after a few chords
on the instruments, comes a passage of four bars long, with
strict imitations and interesting harmonic progressions, tin
boco allegro, to the words, " Lass mich nicht zu Schanden
werden " — " Let me not be ashamed." This is followed by
a repetition of the word " ashamed " for a few bars more,
adagio, with alternating accompaniment of the instrument,
until at last a short ritornel leads into the last fugue. The
polyphonic treatment is very rich and skilful ; the two
violins are always, the bassoons very frequently, obbligato ;
one figure in the accompaniment —
may be especially noticed, for it occurs in all three cantatas
in more or less the same form. If any further evidence for
the thoroughly instrumental origin of this first choral
number were required, it would be found in the fact that
Bach used the idea created here again in his toccata for
clavier in F sharp minor, and altered its form in order to
suit the requirements of that instrument. This also must
have been done in Weimar; still, judging from the evidences
CANTATA, "NACH DIR, HERR, VERLANGET MICH." 445
of maturity in the toccata, not immediately after the com-
pletion of the cantata. It would have been psychologically
curious if it had been, since the composer must have felt
that his material was exhausted for the moment.
The second number consists merely of a short aria for
soprano, accompanied by the violins in unison and the
organ ; the words, which are in rhyme, express a firm con-
fidence in trouble. Its form corresponds neither to the
Italian nor to to the German aria, nor even to the arioso,
although it bears several traces of this latter form. It is
restless and transitional in its character. The soprano aria
in the "Wedding" cantata, though on the plan of a trio, had
a much more distinct form. After this short interruption
the chorus goes on with the fifth verse of the psalm : " Lead
me in Thy truth, and teach me, for Thou art the God of my
salvation ; on Thee do I wait all the day." Its form is that
of the motett, in so far that each of the four leading thoughts
of the verse is gone through briefly by itself, and there is no
interruption of the instrument between them ; the instru-
ments are only independent when they add higher parts to
the harmonic structure. Bach has a new and beautiful
leading idea for each section of the verse. First the words
" Lead me " give rise to a scale passage, which ascends in
crotchets from B to d'", in which the parts relieve one
another at every bar, beginning with the bass; the other
parts meanwhile declaim the words " Lead Thou me " in
full chords, and grand, restful alternations of harmony, in
this rhythm : J. J* j At last each separate part takes up
the phrase — ^
I" Dai - ly wait I on Thee.
in different positions, while the other parts have hurried
semiquaver figures. At last the cry is heard in the bass part
on 6, lasting for several bars, while the other voices press
upwards from above and below, with an intensity of passion,
like entreating hands stretched out towards the Saviour.
This is followed by an aria in D major — the principal key
being now left for the first time — for alto, tenor, and bass
in the form of a simple chorale verse. As the subject of the
4.46 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
verse is a storm, the basses have a graphic figure in semi-
quavers and quavers. A bar of instrumental symphony is
occasionally introduced between the lines of the verses,
which are here and there slightly extended by short imita-
tions ; with these exceptions the course of the whole is quite
symmetrical.
The next chorus goes back again to the Bible-words, being
set to verse 15, " Mine eyes are ever towards the Lord, for
He shall pluck my feet out of the net." It begins in D major,
but soon works back to B minor through F sharp minor.
The first section is homophonous, but is interwoven and
surrounded with an ingenious piece of orchestration, which
represents in a manner as new as it is beautiful, a longing,
heavenward glance in the passionate upward striving of the
violins, supported by the gently flowing semiquavers of the
bassoon. The second section — a fugue with an independent
accompaniment for the violins — takes its character from the
image called up by the text. The complicated interweaving
of the parts is like a compact net ; the escape from it is fitly
enough represented by an upward leap of an octave on the
word " ziehen "— " He shall pluck,"— and at the close by the
forcible rush of the harmonies :150 —
The last chorus shows in a decisive way the direction
50 I may, however, mention that Johannes Brahms, to whom I showed this
cantata, supposes the passage to have been wrongly written, and to run as
follows : —
"NACH DIR, HERR, VERLANGET MICH." 447
taken by Bach at this time. It is nothing less than a
ciacona transferred to the accompanied body of voices.
There was no necessity for Bach to hesitate to use this
form because it had been originally a dance, for it had
been for a long period so frequently and freely employed by
composers for the clavier and organ as a form suitable in
the highest degree for the display of polyphonic art and
inventive faculty, that a disturbing remembrance of its
original purpose would scarcely occur to any one. It was
frequently used even in organ chorales, as, for instance, by
G. Kirchhoff in his arrangement of the melody, " Herzlich
lieb hab ich dich." But its adaptation into the realm of
vocal church music was at least as great an innovation as
was the Buxtehude fugue form. Bach solved the hitherto
unheard-of problem, which was that of also letting both
choir and orchestra have their full effect in contrast to and
in combination with one another; and this with wonderful
musical skill and judgment. The chaconne theme is this —
and it is set to the following words :« —
Meine Tage in den Leiden
Endet Gott dennoch zu Freuden ;
Christen auf den Dornenwegen
Fiihren Himmels Kraft und Segen ;
Bleibet Gott mein treuer Schatz,
Achte ich nicht Menschenkreuz,
Christus, der mir steht zur Seiten,
Hilft mir taglich sieghaft streiten.
Though my days are full of sadness,
God shall make them end in gladness;
Pierced with thorns, our feet are bleeding,
Yet the way to heaven is leading ;
God shall be for ever mine
At the cross I'll not repine ;
Christ, who ever art beside me,
On to daily conquest guide me.
In the first section, in which the first six lines are treated,
the instruments, with quieter or more animated passages,
448 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
alternate now with the full choir, and now with the separate
parts of it ; and by means of skilful digressions into D major,
F sharp minor, A major, and E major, all trace of monotony
is dispelled. In the second section (from bar 53 onwards)
we never again lose sight of the principal key, but or the
simple bass theme an imitative structure in six parts is raised,
of the greatest beauty and breadth; victorious ("sieghaft") as
well in its expression as in the conquest of all technical
requirements, so that a surpassing climax is attained, not for
the final chorus alone, but for the entire composition. There
can be no greater pleasure to the historical critic than, while
examining the older church cantatas in their order, to come
at last to works such as this and the one which we shall next
consider by Bach. We feel the same ground beneath our
feet, but all around us is transformed as with the wand of a
magician. An undreamt-of wealth of new phenomena meets
our gaze on all sides ; grand tone-pictures in new, strange,
and diversified forms, single ideas of stalwart growth, and
of free and noble birth ; poetic inspirations of such un-
speakable depth, that we are impressed with an unearthly
awe. The wonderful individuality of these cantatas is a cir-
cumstance which, occurring as it does hardly anywhere else
in the history of the art, would be perfectly inexplicable and
marvellous were it not that we can point out its instrumental
sources, as we have already sought to do, and as will be done
still more farther on. The accumulated results of experience
which had been stored up in another sphere of art were
suddenly and with a powerful hand directed into a new and
only scantily fed channel ; what wonder if a mighty flood
rushed into it ? It is true that after this account of the
phenomenon, enough remains which can only be con-
sidered as flowing from Bach's own nature ; and he
must, indeed, at first have produced in the instrumental
branch of the art the greater part of what he afterwards
ventured to employ as material for his sacred compositions.
The poetic foundation on which the second of the three
cantatas is built is the whole of Psalm cxxx., with which are
interwoven the second and fifth verses of the hymn, " Herr
Jesu Christ, du hochstes Gut" — "Lord Jesus Christ, Thou
CANTATA, "AUS DER TIEFE RUFE ICH." 449
chiefest good."151 The cantata is in G minor, and contains five
long movements; the chorus is in four parts; the instruments,
besides the organ, are one violin, two violas, double-bass, oboe,
and bassoon. The words of the opening chorus are : " Aus
der Tiefe rufe ich," &c.— " Out of the depths have I cried
unto Thee, O Lord : Lord, hear my voice ; let Thine ears be
attentive to the voice of my supplications." It falls naturally
into two sections, a slow section (adagio, 3-4), and an
animated one (vivace, common time). It is preceded by a
symphony of a kind described before, in which Bach per-
fected the " church sonata " of Gabrieli, according to which
two upper parts — in this case an oboe and a violin — carry
on an imitative movement supported by the broad harmonies
of the other instruments. The subject of the symphony is
in this instance the same as the chief subject of the chorus
that immediately follows it : —
This chorus has a tender and melancholy character, and is
doubly interesting in the consideration of Bach's emotional
history, when it is compared with the tragic majesty of those
colossal choruses on chorales : " Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh
darein," and " Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir," which
were the productions of his later years. In its form it corre-
sponds in essential particulars to the older manner ; there is
no great extension; it is homophonous, and keeps up an alter-
nating dialogue with the instruments. But in the fifth bar
161 A copy which has come to us from the collection of Count von Voss-Buch
is in the Royal Library at Berlin (press mark, p. 49). The autograph was formerly
in the possession of Aloys Fuchs, of Vienna. A copy of his autograph catalogue
is preserved in the City Library at Leipzig. Here the title is : " Motett ' Aus
der Tiefe,' 4 sings, u. Instr. (Partitur) 1715." If the date is correct this
cantata must reach back to another period of Bach's labours. A few very deep
notes in the bass voice, as D and C, are accounted for by the high pitch of
the organ at the castle of Weimar.
2 G
450
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
from the end the unprepared seventh on e" flat is for that
time a very bold stroke.
The vivace which follows gives the effect of impassioned
excitement, and at the same time is of the greatest interest
in its form because in the fugal writing it presents a most
striking likeness to the D minor clavier toccata in four
movements before mentioned (p. 439). As in the last
movement of that work, so also here, we find that the
materials of the fugue are set out in order before its com-
mencement, while the theme is twice delivered by one part
in different positions, and is each time interrupted by the
full choir coming in. But, more remarkable still, the method
of procedure here is the same as in the second movement
of the toccata, where a double fugue was evolved from one
theme, only slightly modified for the second subject — a phe-
nomenon that occurs nowhere else in Bach's instrumental
works. Thus from bar 12 onwards : —
Ej£E
p J C C-C "
O let Thine ears be
o-pen
to the voice of
— — b» — w
my com-plain-ing,
to the voice of
my
fir
com-
^
o
let Thine ears be
o -pen
to the voice of
my
com-
O let Thine
ing.
- plain
And, finally, as in the second movement of the G minor
toccata spoken of at the same time (p. 440), the themes of
the double fugue are answered at the octave, so also here the
first theme does not take the dominant until its third entry,
and after that the answer goes back to the octave again.
Such observations as these, instructive as they are as to the
formative working of Bach's creative genius, seem to me
also to offer the strongest internal evidence for the same
date of composition of these works. It is the same thing
"AUS DER TIEFE RUFE ICH." 451
as in the case of the preparatory entrances of the theme in
several fugues that were mentioned earlier. That Bach
should at different periods of his development, which never
was stationary, have come back to such arbitrary experi-
ments as these is in the highest degree improbable.
In the second movement, in which verses 3 and 4 of the
Psalm are combined with the second stanza of the chorale
before mentioned, we see Bach following out the method
adopted in the " Rathswechsel " cantata, namely, that of
transplanting the organ chorale into the soil of vocal music.
There the pure musical element was too conspicuous ; but
here due allowance is made for the requirements of poetry.
The apprehension which marks the words of the Old Testa-
ment poet, "So du willst, Herr," &c.— " If Thou, Lord,
shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand ? " — is
dispelled by the Christian confidence of the lines —
Erbarm dich mein in solcher Last,
Nimm sie aus meinem Herzen,
Dieweil du sie gebiisset hast
Am Holz mit Todesschmerzen.
Have mercy, Lord, upon my sin,
The load 'neath which I languish ;
Its expiation thou didst win
Upon the cross of anguish.
The words of the Psalm are sung by the bass, the chorale
by the soprano, each solo; an oboe part is added to these
two, and has a wonderfully pathetic, and yet consoling,
effect, as it hovers around and above them ; the whole is
supported by a basso continue, which proceeds in quavers, so
that the result is in fact a quartet. It is not every one who
can at once enter into the style of such of Bach's pieces as
this ; the only safe key to a thorough understanding of it is
to consider how he developed it from the organ chorale.
The ruling idea is the chorale melody, and the end in view
is to develop this, poetically as well as musically, to a more
tangible objectivity than is possible with pure instrumental
music. So the contrasting Bible words, or whatever else
might be used, only served the purpose of reaching a deeper
2 G 2
452 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
feeling and bringing it up in a swelling flood to the surface,
but did not serve that of dramatic contrast. This is more-
over unmistakably shown in this case by the oboe obbli-
gato, which musically has just as much importance as the
bass voice ; and the whole character of the work, while it
reaches to the very depths of intensity, is as broad and
general as possible. Bach achieved the combination of
two apparently inconsistent objects : that of making the
chorale the receptacle for the most subjective feelings, and
that of preserving its congregational value and importance.
He grounded his style entirely upon that of the older church
cantatas, but succeeded in introducing individual sentiment
in a masterly way into the general connection, and so giving
strength to its delicate and tender nature. The contrapuntal
web of the parts is so closely woven that no one part can
have the pre-eminence without risking its coherence. The
singer has to adapt his rendering to correspond to this. He
must not simply sing his part mechanically, which indeed
would hardly be possible with the extremely impressive
changes, but must keep his place as the fulcrum of the
whole, and make his style resemble the equable strength of
the organ tone, avoiding all passionate demonstrativeness.
The same rule must be observed in singing the chorale
itself, although here the danger of attempting dramatic
delivery is less, as long as the real meaning of the chorale
is kept in view; in order to understand Bach's intentions
thoroughly we must remember, especially in pieces of this
kind, that the soprano and alto parts were taken by the
unimpassioned voices of boys. Whoever blames such a
contrapuntal treatment of the voice parts as wrong in style
must abjure every kind of vocal chorale writing, except those
where the chorus is treated either as a mass or in unison
with instrumental accompaniment. It is evident that in
that case certain classes of expression must be entirely given
up. It is true that Bach himself must have made such
reflections as these, for he soon found another and in
certain respects a preferable form ; but in his later years he
returned more and more to the two methods of treatment just
mentioned.
AUS DER TIEFE RUFE ICH.
453
The comfort so anxiously prayed for in the second number
is expected in the third, although not yet found : " I wait on
the Lord, my soul doth wait, and I hope in His word." After
the sad key of G minor the quiet beginning of the chorus in
E flat major has a striking effect, since that key has scarcely
been heard at all in the foregoing section. This key is not
retained for long, for the fugue that sets out in bar 6 is only
in minor modes. Beginning in F minor, largo, it goes through
the keys of C minor and G minor to D minor, from whence
it goes back for a close to G minor. This ingenious soaring
up from dim melancholy to brighter regions is, however,
only one trait of this piece, which, look at it from what side
we may, must astonish and touch us. It is one of Bach's
sublimest productions ; nobler or more fervent tones of
longing have never been sounded, nor could any spring of
music well up to more perfect or satisfying fulness. Of
certain of the earlier pianoforte sonatas of Beethoven it may
be said that, although they are surpassed in boldness of
imaginative flight by his later works, they yet bear the
stamp of the master's pure and lofty soul in its fullest
originality and most perfect form, so that we know not what
there is to be wished for beyond them. So it always is with
Bach; his later choruses are indeed loftier and more majestic
in structure, but no one of them shows more mastery, nor
speaks more directly to the heart. The following example
(the opening bars) will give some idea of the theme and its
lovely accompaniment : —
454 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
i* U i*
hof - fe, und ich hof - fe, ich hof - fe, ich hof - fe auf dein Wort.
^5J=J=Z.J JEEElg J^ZEpEEEgEEE^
As this is more and more elaborated the entrances of the
theme become ever more surprising and more impassioned,
so that in order to give a perfect idea of it the whole fugue
would have to be quoted.
The fourth number corresponds to the second ; the fifth
verse of the chorale is given to the alto, the sixth verse of
the Psalm to the tenor, accompanied by a basso quasi ostinato,
such as we became acquainted with in Bohm's organ chorales.
The tenor part is very melodious, and the feeling of the
whole is less troubled than in the second number, as suits
the requirements of the text ; but the movement seems
somewhat too much spun out, and the interludes between
the lines of the chorale are so long that the sense of its
continuity is lost. As to the choice of the chorale verse,
it strikes us that in its place in the hymn it forms only the
antecedent to the following verse ; unless it is to be con-
sidered as something apart and unconnected we must take it
as a sequel to the text of the previous chorus; even then
the word " and" is quite unintelligible.
The fifth number is naturally choral again, and is set to
the closing verse: "Let Israel hope in the Lord; for with the
Lord is mercy and plenteous redemption. Redeem Israel, O
God, out of all his troubles." Since the last sentence is the
most important, Bach treats the foregoing one in three little
subjects, kept distinct by changes of time, among which the
middle one is especially prominent for its beautiful expres-
"AUS DER TIEFE RUFE ICH."
455
sion, while the first, with its echo-like pianos and short
imitative passages, moves more in the older and more con-
ventional forms, and the last has an instrumental character
about it. On these chief ideas, however, is formed an
excellent and compact triple fugue, of a grave character:
no doubt the composer felt that a bright and joyful chorus,
after what had gone before, would not have formed a fitting
conclusion. In the treatment of the three themes, however,
it is the nature of the instrumental composer that shows
itself, for the text does not suggest such treatment. If the
demand that in a vocal fugue each theme should represent an
independent poetic idea is a reasonable one, Bach has here
committed an error in aesthetics. If however his ruling prin-
ciple was to merge the individuality of the voices in the
general effect, he is only consistent in this case. The justi-
fication of this principle in church music is self-evident;
and it is Bach's special and peculiar merit, at a time when
the greatest egoism of feeling prevailed in church and the
theatre alike, that he succeeded in bringing the individual
will into subjection to the lofty aims of religion. Still,
human beings ought not to be simply regarded as singing-
machines, and there is a limit which should not be over-
stepped. Bach, however, begins the fugue thus —
Theme i.
— I* -N--
f
Und er wird Is - ra - el er - 16
Thema 2.
Aus
Sun
den.
and by the simultaneous sounding of words which should be
heard after one another impedes the clear recognition of
the predominating poetic idea. This is an excess of instru-
mental arrangement which cannot be approved of, and it
456 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACti.
is significant that Bach's pupils and admirers took pleasure
in performing this fugue as a mere organ piece.152
The third cantata is generally known under the name
Actus tragicus or, from its commencement : " Gottes Zeit ist
die allerbeste Zeit"—" God's time is the best."153 Judging
by its contents it was designed for the mourning for
some man, probably of advanced age, to whom the song
of Simeon could be suitably applied. No such death took
place in the ducal house at this time, for Prince Johann
Ernst died when a youth, and also when Bach's style of
composition had reached a different stage. Possibly the
cantata has reference to Magister Philipp Grossgebauer, the
rector of the Weimar school before its reorganisation, who
died in 171 1;154 at least I can find no other suitable occa-
sion. The contrast between the spirit of the Old and New
Testaments — between the wrath of an avenging God and the
atoning love of Christ — which had already appeared in Psalm
cxxx., is the germ and root of this cantata to such a degree
that it is evident that Bach had fully realised by this time
how fertile a subject for treatment it was. It contains no
chorus of such depth and force as those of the i3Oth Psalm.
Its character is much more entirely individual and per-
sonal, and so it has a depth and intensity of expression
which reach the extreme limits of possibility of representa-
tion by music. The arrangement of the poetic material is
most excellent ; it does not wholly consist of Scripture texts
and verses of hymns ; and in several fit and expressive
thoughts which are freely interspersed we can almost
IM Published in that form from the MS. of Kittel and Drobs in P. S. V., Cah. 8
(247), No. 12. This meagre arrangement cannot possibly have come from the
hand of the composer, for it only gives the voice parts, and often not even all
these without alteration ; while in the original not only is the figured bass quite
independent, but the instruments take part in the fugue in a striking manner.
In the four concluding bars — which are wanting in the original — the arranger
has gone back to the introduction.
158 Kirchen-Musik von Job. Sebastian Bach, edited by A. B. Marx. (Bonn : N.
Simrock), No. 6. B.-G., XXIII., No. 106. Also with German words in Peters'
edition, No. 42, and with English words by Rev. J. Troutbeck, published by
Novello, Ewer & Co.
164 A. Wette, Historische Nachrichten, p. 418.
f
CANTATA, "GOTTES ZEIT." 457
recognise Bach's own hand. If such be the case the whole
arrangement of the poetry may, with reason, be ascribed to
him.
A tender, flowing sonata (E flat major, molto adagio,
common time), for two flutes, two viol-da-gambas, and
figured bass, forms the introduction, in which certain phrases
in the middle movement of the cantata are anticipated ; these
instruments are not replaced by any others during the whole
course of the work, and they impart a muffled and dreamy
effect to it. The first chorus, " Gottes Zeit'ist die allerbeste
Zeit," &c. — " God's own time is the best, ever best of all. In
Him live we, move and have our being, as long as He wills.
And in Him we die, at His good time,"155 — expresses at first
only the feeling of dependence upon God in life and death ;
and the greatest stress is laid on this first phrase, since after
a few beautiful bars of slow movement a lively fugue is
formed on the second sentence, depicting in the most vivid
manner the varied agitations of earthly life. It is with the
last sentence, to which are allotted seven deeply expressive
bars and no more (adagio assai, C minor, common time),
that thoughts of death first begin to sink down upon us like
obscuring mists, and after the anxious half-close, "when He
wills," we wait, uncertain what is to follow. In the same
minor key (lento, common time) the tenor now turns our
thoughts in an impressive way to the common lot of man-
kind, in the solemn words of Psalm xc. : " Ach Herr,
lehre uns bedenken," &c. — " O Lord, incline us to consider
that our days are numbered : make us apply our hearts unto
wisdom." A mournful passage on the flutes, supported by
the other instruments —
is repeated again and again — like an inverted chaconne, as
it were — always in new forms, like an unceasing reminder ;
it remains some time in the original key, and then goes into
156 The middle sentence alone is biblical for the most part (Acts xvii. 28).
Whether the others are original, or have their source elsewhere, I do not know.
458 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
n
G minor, and thence (omitting E flat major) into C minor
again, and is the leading idea of the whole movement. The
arioso voice-part goes on, frequently interrupted by pauses.
And now comes the message so anxiously expected : " Set
in order thine house, for thou shalt die, and not live," the
words once spoken to King Hezekiah by Isaiah, are now
heard in the gloomy tones of the bass voice, and the fearful
and expressive close demands instant results. And if we
dare to look in the face of the destroyer and ask " Why ?"
the psalmist tells us : " For we are consumed by Thine
anger, and by Thy wrath are we troubled."
With reference to this gloomy vision the choir begins a new
movement — for the bass solo is in its form the second part
of the tenor solo — on the words of Jesus, the son of Sirach
(Ecclus. xiv. 18): "It is the old decree: Man, thou art
mortal" (F minor, andante, common time). We have here
the chief movement of the work. It contains three con-
stituent musical parts. First the three lower voices have a
double fugue on the text just quoted, supported by a figured
bass of steady, even character. In contrast to them the
soprano sings alone the words of resignation and longing :
"Yea, come, Lord Jesus!" Lastly, the flutes and viol-di-
gamba, in three parts, have the melody of the old death-
hymn : —
Ich hab' mein Sach Gott heimgestellt,
Er machs mit mir, wie's ihm gefallt ;
Soil ich allhier noch langer leb'n,
Nicht wiederstreb'n,
Sein'm Willen thu ich mich ganz ergeb'n.158
I have cast all my care on God,
E'en let Him do what seems Him good ;
Whether I die, or whether live
No more I'll strive,
But all my will to Him will give.
156 It is not the melody in its usual form, but a modification of it that is here
introduced, which is also quoted by Dretzel (Des Evangelischen Zions Musica-
lische Harmonic. Nuremberg, 1731, p. 689, third stave) ; its first lines agree
exactly with the tune of "Warum betrubst du dich, mein Herz." There is
an error in Mosewius, Job. Seb. Bach in sienen Kirchencantaten and Choral-
gesangen (Berlin: T. Trautwein, 1845, p. 13.)
"GOTTES ZEIT." 459
The design is clear ; the curse of death has been changed
into blessing by the coming of Christ, and that which man-
kind dreaded before, they now stretch out entreating hands
to; the bliss of the new condition of things shines out in
supernatural glory against the dark background of a dis-
pensation that has been done away. This is the idea of
the concerted vocal parts ; and the fact that thousands upon
thousands have agreed in the joy of this faith is shown by
the chorale tune now introduced ; for to the understanding
listener its worldless sounds convey the whole import of
the hymn which speaks so sweetly of comfort in the hour
of death ; sounds which must recall to every pious heart all
the feelings they had stirred when, among the chances and
changes of life, this hymn had been heard — feelings of
sympathy with another's grief or of balm to the heart's own
anxiety. These are the sounds in which all the deep
emotion of the piece is concentrated ; they raise an invisible
temple above and about us, among whose lofty arches the
song is prolonged and re-echoed a thousand-fold. At the
same time there is a proportional falling-off in clearness
and intelligibility. This form has this advantage over
that employed in Psalm cxxx., where the chorale is given
to a single voice, that the contrapuntal voice-parts are not
so completely lost among the instruments, since they can
assert themselves much more easily against the flutes,
violins, or oboes. But the principal thing, the chorale,
becomes mystical and indefinite, especially when, as here,
it departs from its normal course by means of ornamentation
and prolongation, and with it the import of the work is
obscured. But for moods in which we are made to feel the
deepest mysteries of existence this form is wonderfully
suitable; and, truly, who would not bow before the greatness
of the genius evinced by the youthful composer? Considered
from a technical point of view, what is it but a transcription
of an organ chorale in Bohm's manner, with interludes on
independent motives ? And yet how entirely the form is
made subservient to a new and lofty idea ! and, on the other
hand, how perfectly the idea inspires the form ! This form
demands, for the sake of a consistency which can be least
460 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
dispensed with in organ pieces, that the episodical material
shall be repeated after each line of the chorale, and by this
the work, even in its vocal form, preserves the characteristic
of its genus.
We might have expected that Bach would have treated
the contrast between the two aspects of death, under the Old
and New Covenants, in such a way that, as the former was in
truth conquered by the latter, so in his artistic representation
it would gradually retire till it was reduced to silence. This
would have been a dramatic representation of the conflict
between the two powers; but all dramatic modes of treat-
ment lie wholly outside the province of Bach's church can-
tatas, and indeed are foreign to the spirit of genuine church
music in general. Gluck makes the furies retreat gradually
before the song of Orpheus, and leave the field to him ; in
Bach the threatening image of the " old decree " survives
to the last. The representation of the contrast is purely
lyrical, just as it is in the choral numbers of the " Raths-
cantate," of Psalm cxxx., and in many other places. In his
striving after the greatest possible emotional intensity Bach
is not content with the ordinary means at his command ; some
factor or other, which need have no obvious connection with
the musical materials, must be added to complete the in-
tended effect. To this end the words of the soprano part are
taken from the Revelation (xxii. 20), that production of the
most ecstatic religious devotion, and by this means the whole
feeling of that book, with all its mysterious awe, is brought
before the imagination of the hearer who is versed in the
Bible.157 And what is that curious fluttering produced by
the low flutes after the last note of the chorale, and the
strange shake that dies away before coming to the end of the
note? —
157 That these four words may have been inserted here, without regard to
the context, is of course not impossible, and I cannot prove my assertion except
by appealing to my own personal idea; yet I am almost convinced that such
is the case. Let any one read the two last chapters of the Revelation with
regard to the general poetic impression alone, and then turn to Bach's music,
and let him judge for himself.
"GOTTES ZEIT." 461
Wenn mein Herz und Gedanken
Zergehn als wie ein Licht,
Das hin und her thut wanken,
Wenn ihm die Flamm gebricht —
When heart and flesh are failing
Like to a flickering light,
Which wavers in its waning
Ere it be lost in night.
These words, from a glorious old hymn,158 to which the
melody had been put more than a hundred years before,
by a cantor of Weimar, Melchior Vulpius, give the fitting
answer. Doubtless they were in the composer's imagina-
tion, and inspired that unique tone-picture where the lower
parts, still muttering the stern decree of fate, at last mount
gently in triads (while the strings have a passage in con-
trary motion) and vanish like clouds into the air, while the
soprano — supported by a bass, the pulsating rhythm of
which grows ever fainter and fainter — hangs alone over
the abyss like a fluttering spirit, and when at last all has
become still as death fades away, gently murmuring the
name "Jesus."
Let us consider once more the number of sources from
which Bach has drawn the feelings which make up the
whole emotional material that filled his imagination. Old
Testament dread, Gospel consolation, exaltation of a general
devotional kind, ecstatic hope in an ineffable splendour, the
powerful picture of mortal frailty vanquished by the spirit ;
and, as a more solid element in this sea of inconstant, ever-
varying colours, a strict and simple musical organism is
added. The man who can feel all these diverse elements in
a comprehensive whole is capable of wonderful experiences.
But it is certain too that when such various and intensely
subjective feelings are brought to bear on the construction of
168 " Christus der ist mein Leben," by an unknown author.
462 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
a work of art, general effect is out of the question. If Bach
wrote no second work of this kind, he knew the reason why.
The way of Christian consolation has been pointed out ;
now confidence takes deeper hold on Christ's redeeming
work. The alto sings a paraphrase of the words spoken by
Him on the cross to an indescribably quiet and deeply touch-
ing air : " Into Thy hands my spirit I commend ; Thou hast
redeemed me, O Lord, thou God of truth " (B flat minor,
common time). It is accompanied with the figured bass
alone, and exhibits — in a bass subject which recurs five times
— a form compounded of the chaconne and Bohm's organ
chorales. The soul praying thus fervently hears the words
of the Redeemer addressed to it, as the bass comes in as if
in reply, also arioso: "Thou shalt be with Me to-day in
Paradise." After this promise, "Simeon's death-hymn" (a
well-known chorale) flows forth as it were involuntarily from
the comforted heart : " In joy and peace I pass away when-
e'er God willeth," which is sung by the alto, while the
bass continues its beautiful and expressive solo; and two
viol-di-gambas are brought in independently to complete the
picture. Thus individual emotion is once again sublimated
to general devotional feeling, and this is brought into
prominence by the bass only accompanying the chorale
through half its length, and then keeping silence and letting
the chorale finish alone, as if nothing remained to say but
what the chorale implied in itself, with its thoughtful inter-
preting instrumental accompaniment. With this the fourth
movement concludes, having returned to the key of C minor
at the beginning of the chorale — before that it was in B flat
minor — and in the final chorus it goes back to the original
key.
The whole plan clearly shows that the chorale was
originally intended for a solo voice, although of late the
contrary opinion seems to have come into favour. In such
questions it should be remembered that the noticeable differ:
ence in tone between a solo and a chorus, such as we are
accustomed to nowadays, did not exist for Bach. The choir
proper could only double the parts ; and even when the ripieno
chorus of the schoolboys, and perhaps some of the "Adju-
463
vanten" (see p. 225), were added, which was only the case in
full choral movements, each part certainly could not- have
numbered more than five representatives. Even if Bach had
allowed this multiplying of voices, a performance by a chorus
on the modern scale would not be justified; there would
however be no aesthetic objection to the addition of two or
three voices, in such a way as not to disturb the acoustic
balance. The vivace for bass, " Set thy house in order,"
is certainly also designed only for solo, or else we must
assign to the chorus the preceding tenor air, which agrees
with it exactly in form. It is plain that the relation between
the voices is the same as it is in the fourth movement
between the alto and bass. In general the character of
the cantata is unsuited to large masses, with the possible
exception of the principal movement, in which, if anywhere,
the ripieno choir may have assisted.159 These two movements
correspond to one another in the same way that the second
and fourth do, so that the movement in F minor, the true
centre of the whole, is inclosed by double and corresponding
numbers. The last chorus consists of the so-called "fifth
Gloria" to the melody " In dich hab' ich gehoffet, Herr"—
" In Thee, O Lord, is all my hope ":—
All glory, praise and majesty
To Father, Son, and Spirit be.
The holy, blessed Trinity;
Whose power to us
Gives victory
Through Jesus Christ. Amen.
The treatment of the chorale, with its melodic adornments
and interludes, and the form of its prelude, is in that still
older style which is known to us from Buxtehude's cantatas.
The lines are given out in broad four-part harmony, the last
serving as the theme of a fugue ; the counter-subject comes
in on the word "Amen" in semiquavers, and the brilliant
number rushes by, allegro. The late entry of the instruments,
and the augmentation of the theme in the soprano near the
159 It is a great pity that we have no autograph remaining which might possibly
tend to clear up this point.
464 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
end, give it constantly increasing interest. After that there
is a remarkable effect ; the last two chords in the chorus
vanish away with an echo on the instruments, piano, which
was at that time a favourite kind of close, owing its origin
to an organ effect; it also occurs in the "Wedding" can-
tata. In this case these chords, which, to attain their proper
effect, should be rendered very broadly, and slightly rallen-
tando, are intended to keep up the feeling of the whole in the
hearer's mind.160 It is obvious that in feeling and senti-
ment this chorus is the companion picture to the first. There
the idea is that of life committed into God's hands, here it
is that of the final victory of life through Divine assistance,
although it is solemnised by the subject of death. And so it
must be; we have to learn to repress by the customary
duties of life the thoughts stirred up at the grave of a
beloved one ; thoughts which lead us away from life and the
world.
So we have before us a work of art, well rounded-off and
firm in its formation, and warmed by the deepest intensity
of feeling even in the smallest details. It fully deserves the
universal admiration it has gained since its re-emergence to
the light of day. This and the cantata " Ich hatte viel
Bekummerniss" — " My spirit was in heaviness," — which is
nearly allied to it both in date and feeling, have become the
most popular out of about a hundred and fifty cantatas by
Bach already published. It was quite natural that the
musical instinct should be attracted by this more youthful
and tender religion which speaks so plainly to the soul, rather
than by the stern heights of his later compositions. For it
was not through the medium of the Church that our age
again found access to Bach, but through music in the
abstract ; his instrumental compositions had never been
entirely forgotten. A similar road was taken by the master
himself when, starting from the organ and clavier, he first
improved the older church cantatas originated by individual
160 In the editions the piano is only put for the instruments ; of course it
applies equally to the last " Amen " of the chorus, if analogy and internal con-
siderations are to have any voice in the matter.
THE EARLY CANTATAS AS A WHOLE. 465
feeling, so as to infuse into them some universal import, and
then soared steadily upwards to the heights of devotional
sublimity. In this similarity of progress lies the ground
for hoping that in our time an ever-increasing interest will
be taken in the later church music of Bach, to which these
earlier cantatas lead up gradually. It is true that, as these
are more than mere stepping-stones — nay, perfect works of
art in themselves — they have certain individualities which
are absent from the works which follow. The words have
the great advantage of consisting of texts of Scripture full
of deep meaning, and church hymns ; while in the later
cantatas, rhymes — often of the most washy description —
take their place. The music is easier of performance,
particularly because of the very limited employment of wind
instruments.
More than all, however, there is in these a fresh origi-
nality which is impartially applied, even to the most minute
details ; which sometimes goes perhaps too far, but always
gives the feeling of an inexhaustible power. Not only
the individual ideas, but the general forms — all alike are
entirely new. Only consider the fabulous variety and ful-
ness of the forms comprised in these three cantatas, and
how these forms contain nothing which strikes us as forced,
but are thoroughly and perfectly formed with admirable
power. When, soon after this, Bach had made himself
familiar with the Italian da capo aria, he became conscious of
his waste of power, since he could do much with that form,
of a simpler, and therefore better kind, without foregoing his
originality in any degree ; while ample field was left in other
directions for the exercise of his gift for creating new general
forms. Though production was rendered easier by this
means, yet there was at least the possibility of his lapsing
into formality, which in truth occurred very seldom indeed,
but for which the opportunity was entirely wanting in the
older cantatas. Whoever will compare these with those,
and seek to comprehend them thoroughly, will find that
these earlier works seem to soar up into a world of their
own, as if released from all material bonds. If we can,
however, point out passages in which the roots are let down
2 H
466 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
to the realm of earth, the works are exonerated from the
reproach of formlessness ; nor could it ever have been raised
but from a misapprehension of their place in the history of
IV.
CHURCH MUSIC. — ANALYSIS OF THE CANTATA FORM.
WHILE Bach was striving contemplatively after his pure
ideal in quiet and calm activity, outside in the world the
murky flood of an aimless artistic struggle was rising higher
and higher, and approaching with its threatening tide even
the domain of music which still remained the stronghold of
earnest endeavour, the last and highest goal of human effort.
It was now the opera which, being more and more cultivated
by both German and foreign artists, was attracting all atten-
tion to itself. Invented, to a certain extent, at the beginning
of the seventeenth century by the Italians, it had soon been
transplanted as a luxury for courts into Germany, then again
it was checked in its growth by the great war ; but during the
last decade it had shot up luxuriantly, not without acquiring
some national peculiarities, particularly since the citizen
class had taken possession of it, following the example of
Hamburg. Ere long, however, it was again wholly depen-
dent on the foreigners who had originated it, and who were
by nature so well qualified for it, and in this form it retired
161 In a letter to O. Jahn (Mitgeth. Grenzboten, Jahrg. XXIX., p. 05), Haupt-
mann says, mixing deserved praise with undeserved blame : " Yesterday at the
Euterpe Concert Bach's ' Gottes Zeit ' was given. What a marvellous intensity
pervades it, without a bar of conventionality ! Of the cantatas known to me,
I know none in which such design and regard is had to the musical import and
its expression. Were we able and willing, however, to disregard this side of
the beauty, and look upon the whole as a work of musical structure, it is a
curious prodigy, composed of movements which jostle one another and yet grow
out of one another, put together by accident, just as the sentences of the text
are, without any grouping or climaxes," &c. Other utterances of Hauptmann's
on the cantatas occur in his letter to Hauser (Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hartel),
I., 86, and II., 51. It is remarkable that Mendelssohn's artistic feel'ng led him
to judge rightly of the relations between this and the later cantatas (Letters,
II., 90).
THE OPERA IN GERMANY IN BACH'S TIME. 467
completely, during the first half of the eighteenth century,
to the courts of princes, as being its most suitable refuge,
there to minister to their splendour, extravagance, and amuse-
ment—a foreign growth on German soil, rich in foliage but
barren in fruit.
What we did to advance the cause of opera is, on the
whole, but little to boast of. An enervated and powerless
generation, lacking any lofty common aim and incapable
of any serious artistic enjoyment, found only the means
of forgetting the deplorable conditions of actual life in these
gaudy and uninspiring phantasmagoria, of which the material
was for the most part both foreign and indifferent to them.
But there were still some noble and genuine spirits of true
metal who dug once more into the uncorrupted depths of
humanity and strove to extract from them something fresher
and better; as a sign of resuscitating life there were a
number of vigorous and highly endowed artists, who would
have laughed to scorn existence itself if they had been desired
to fritter their talents for nothing better than the trivial
amusement of a heartless crowd. But since in spite of all
this the liking for opera was almost universal, there must
have been some deeply rooted reason for this preference ; and
in fact it is easy to detect. The tendency of all the musical
art of the last two and a half centuries had been increasingly
towards the expression of individuality, corresponding in fact
to the general spirit of the times ; personal feeling, which
had been kept in the background by the many-voiced music
of the preceding period, now asserted its right to the most
vehement and express utterance. The Germans indeed were
not equal to inventing means and forms for this ; they were
hindered alike by the character of the national mind and
by the unfavourable circumstances of the times. But when
once the Italians had set them the example, none but the
Germans could carry on the development of it in the right
direction, since the impulse towards individualisation is
inborn in them more than in any other people ; and from the
beginning of the eighteenth century Germany took the lead
among the nations in matters musical, and has held it to the
present day.
2 H 3
468 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Now it was in the opera of that period that this craving
found the most unlimited gratification, since it consisted
almost entirely of solo singing ; the dramatic element was
degraded to a mere framework on which to hang personal
incidents, and so imposed neither musical nor poetic limi-
tations on the egoism of the parts. Indeed, as everything
in it aimed merely at satisfying the vanity of individual
executants, no work could originate possessing any artistic
vitality or elevating influence. But it was only the way in
which the ruling impulse expressed itself that was in fault,
and because it displayed itself in needless imitation of the
work of others; in itself it was healthy and justifiable, a
natural outcome of historical progress. Hence, though the
opera of that date was incapable of producing any enduring
work on its own lines, it exerted an influence on those
branches of art in which the vocal and instrumental music
of the time presently culminated — the Cantatas and Passion-
music of Bach and the Oratorios of Handel, so that the
clearest results of that influence, mingled of course with
other elements, are recognisable in those works.
Personal sentiment had acquired a very conspicuous hold
even in sacred music from about the middle of the seventeenth
century. But the occasion was at the moment unfavourable
to any radical transformation ; both on historic grounds —
since church music still clung to its past traditions of noble
and beautiful chorale singing — and on aesthetic grounds, since
the sacredness of the feelings involved seemed to forbid the
expression of individual emotions. It was not until this new
development of music had drunk its fill of vigour in that
current where solo singing constituted a determining factor
and had roused a sympathetic echo in the hearts of men
throughout Europe, that it knocked insistently at the gates
of the Church, and had not to wait long for admission, being
recommended by universal favour.
Its captivating effect rested principally on two main
features — the recitative and the aria. The Church had
already accepted recitative in its older and still very limited
form. The arioso had grown out of this, and had been fre-
quently used in the solo declamation of Bible words ; and,
THE MADRIGAL VERSE FORM. 469
being supplemented with a certain richness of instrumental
harmony, produced an effect which, though informal, was
not altogether undignified. On the other hand the recita-
tive was gradually developed in the theatre into great pliancy
and movement ; it grew to be what it ought to be, a discourse
in certain registers of tone, founded on the simplest har-
monies, capable of expressing the most passionate emotion
without teaching it objectively in the narrative form. The
aria — hitherto synonymous with a song in verses for one
or more parts, and graced with a ritornel — in spite of its
sentimental character, had been to a certain degree hedged
in from subjectivity by the necessity of fitting all the verses
to the same melody. But now the Italian arias gained by
degrees methods by which were formed compositions rounded
off in a broad cyclic form of three sections, and representing
a particular emotion in a dialectic way. These two new
forms of solo-singing, suitable as they were to serve in the
most perfect way for the freest emotional expression, still
needed for their full development a corresponding and fitting
text as a foundation. The German of the Lutheran Bible
was too terse and ponderous for the blandishments of recita-
tive, and indeed its sacred purport seemed hardly recon-
cilable with the rapidity of declamatory solo. It was not
sufficiently susceptible of the three-verse form for the aria,
and in fact its grandiose sentiment generally was adverse to
solo singing. The sacred poetry of the time, with its diffuse
character and strict scheme of rhymes, with the short-
breathed lines of its verses or its lengthy Alexandrines — now
met with only in dramatic poetry — was perfectly unsuited
as a medium for the outpourings of personal feelings.
Since the Italians had supplied the musical form they
were now referred to for the poetical framework as well, and
it was found in the madrigal. The first reference to this
form of verse was by Heinrich Schiitz, whose brother-in-law,
Caspar Ziegler (a theologian of Leipzig with a taste for
music, who subsequently studied jurisprudence, and died in
1690, at Wittenberg, as professor of legal science), first intro-
duced the madrigal into German literature by a treatise on
its nature, with specimens appended. He caused a letter by
470 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Schiitz to be printed, as introductory to his work, from
which the elder master's influence in the undertaking is
plainly discernible.162 Ziegler, who had made a profound
study of the Italian madrigal, defines it as an epigrammatic
poem, " in which we often find more to reflect on and more
to understand than appears in the words or meaning," and of
which the main subject reappears in the last line of each
verse ; but as to form it is the freest of any.
It is not limited to any particular number of lines as the
sonnet is, still from five lines to sixteen formed the limita-
tions between which the Italian poets were content to move.
The lines too must not be of equal length ; on the contrary,
the poet might mix long and short at pleasure, though
the Italians preferred those of seven and eleven syllables ;
finally, it was permissible that all the lines should not
rhyme, " since the madrigal can endure so little coercion that
it even often resembles a plain discourse rather than a poem."
Of all species of verse in the German none lends itself more
readily to music ; and the form of language which was em-
ployed by the Italians in their musical dramas was no more
than a prolonged madrigal, "but yet so constructed that an
arietta or even an aria with real verses was inserted here
and there, to which both the composer and the poet had to
pa)' particular consideration, so as to alternate them at
appropriate periods, and in a sweet and pleasing manner."
To what extent Ziegler's recipes were followed in the other
musical departments at that time I know not. In' church
music it was not till nearly fifty years later that the Italian
system took root, and it then became at once almost
universal.
The man who by his energy conquered the numerous
prejudices that opposed it, was Erdmann Neumeister. His
home was in central Germany, where he was born at Uech-
tritz, near Weissenfels, May 12, 1671, the son of a humble
1M "Caspar Ziegler | von den | Madrigalen | Einer schonen und zur Musik
be- | quemesten Art Verse | Wie sie nach der Italianer Ma- | nier in unserer
Deutschen Sprache | auszuarbeiten, | nebenst etlichen Exempeln | LEIPZIG, |
Verlegts Christian Kirchner, | Gedruckt bey Johann Wittigaun, | 1653. | "
i
ERDMANN NEUMEISTER. 471
schoolmaster. The healthy vigour of the lad at first found
more pleasure in a country life than in books ; not till he
was fourteen did his taste for learning and study declare
itself, hand in hand with excellent talents. After living for
four years at Schulpforte he went in 1689 to Leipzig to study
theology, and there August Hermann Francke made a deep
and permanent impression on him. As subsidiary to his
main studies, he here already occupied himself with the art
of poetry, and in 1695, having taken the degree of Magister,
he gave a series of readings on poetry, based on a disserta-
tion on the poets and poetesses of the seventeenth century.163
Two years later he entered on his first post as preacher at
Bibra, and shortly after was called to be colleague in the
superintendency of Eckartsberge, and in 1704 to Weissenfels,
as court deacon. He was already connected with this town,
having eight years previously married a wife from thence ;
he soon became a great favourite with the Duke, and was
intrusted with the education of his daughter. His eloquence
and lucidity, and a manly and unflinching demeanour, dis-
tinguished him as a preacher. Although he did not reside
long at Weissenfels — for in 1706, after the Princess's mar-
riage, he retired with her to the court of the Count of Sorau
— he kept up a lasting connection with the ducal house, as
is proved by a series of congratulatory epistles of the years
1736 to 1741, which were regularly answered by the Duke.164
His theological views, meanwhile, had become sternly
orthodox, and he accordingly began in Sorau his contests
with pietism, and maintained them throughout his life, as
one of the most valorous, respected, and learned leaders of
his party. From Sorau, where his independent courage
incurred the Count's displeasure, he went in 1715, in obedience
to a call from thence, to be head minister of the church of
St. James (Jacobi-Kirche), Hamburg. Here he laboured with
KB " De poetis Germanicis hujus secnli prcecipuis Dlssertatio compendiarla.
Additce et sunt Poetries, hand raro etiam, ut virtutis in utroque sexu gloria eo
magis elucescat, comparebunt Poetastri Erdmann Neumeister et Friedrich Groh-
mann. Lipsice, 1695." S. W. Klose, in his Lexicon of Hamburg authors,
Vol. IX., p. 497 ; he also gives (p. 496) a careful list of Neumeister's writings.
164 These documents exist in the archives of Dresden.
472 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
undiminished vigour up to a great age, preaching himself on
the fiftieth anniversary of his call to the ministry ; and he
died at the age of eighty-five, surrounded by a numerous
family of children and grandchildren (August 18, 1756).165 His
literary works were only in part theological and polemical ;
he published by degrees a great number of collections of
sermons, which were much read, and a considerable number
of his hymns were adopted for use in churches ; indeed,
many of them, as the hymn for the Epiphany " Jesu, grosser
Wunderstern " — "Jesu, Star of glorious light," — are among
the best hymns, not only of his time, but of the Lutheran
church at any period.
Neumeister's first appearance as a writer of cantata texts
occurred precisely in the year i7oo.166 Since he himself was
deficient in any intimate knowledge of music167 the suggestion
must have come to him from outside, and as it was for the
court band at Weissenfels that he wrote the first cycle, what
gave rise to it is quite clear. The opera then flourished at
that court under the conduct of the capellmeister, Johann
Philipp Krieger, a talented man of experience both in art
and in the world ; thus it exercised a direct influence on the
style and construction of these texts which, by Neumeister's
own statement, Krieger was fond of using for his own com-
positions, and which procured the poet the name of the
"Chenaniah168 of Weissenfels," who bore the palm among the
executants of church music. The hymns refer to the Sun-
days and holy-days of the Christian year ; they were printed
separately, and distributed to the congregation for reading
from. When Neumeister came as preacher to Weissenfels
in 1704, they were collected into a small octavo volume, and
he wrote a new preface to them.169 In this he first enlarges
"• Koch, Geschichte des Kirchenliedes I., 5, 471 (third edition).
lee G. Tilgner, in his preface to Neumeister's Fiinffachen Kirchen-Andachten.
Leipzig, 1716.
167 As we are expressly told by the writer of the preface to the Fortge-
setzten Fiinffachen Kirchen-Andachten (Hamburg, 1726), a certain J. E.
Miiller.
lea "And Chenaniah, chief of the Levites, was for song; he instructed about
the song because he was skilful." — I. Chron. xv. 22.
169 Erdmann Neumeisters | Geistliche | Cantaten | statt einer | Kirchen-
THE SCHEME OF THE CANTATA. 473
on the term cantata as generally applied, and then goes on :
"To express myself shortly, a cantata seems to be nothing
else than a portion of an opera composed of stylo recitativo
and arie together ; and any one who knows what they both
required will not find it difficult to work out such a genus
carminum. However — to be of use even to beginners in the
poetic art, and to say somewhat of each— for recitative
the iambic measure is suitable ; but the shorter the verses
the more pleasing and commodious are they to compose to.
Nevertheless, in an affettuoso phrase now and then a few
trochaic or even dactylic lines may be very fitly and expres-
sively introduced. Indeed, as in a madrigal, the writer is
at liberty to alternate and mingle the rhyme and metre at
pleasure. Only the ear must be constantly consulted so as
to avoid all forced and harsh combinations ; on the contrary,
a flowing grace must be observed throughout. With regard
to the aria, it should consist of one, or at most two strophes —
very rarely of three — and always turn upon a sentiment or a re-
flection complete and proper to it. And to this end it must be
led up to by a fitting situation, according to the circumstances.
And if in such an aria, the capo, as it is called — the begin-
ning— can be repeated with perfect fitness at the end, it has
a very excellent effect in the music." To all this he adds
the observation that recitative and aria may be intermingled
according to taste, and then points out the great advantages
offered by such a poem to the composer.
With reference to the hymns in his volume, he remarks
that the ideas expressed in them have reference to his own
sermons. "When arranging the regular services of the
Sunday I endeavoured to render the most important subjects
treated of in my sermon in a compact and connected form
for my own private devotions, and so to refresh myself after
the fatigue of preaching by such pleasing exercises of the
mind. Whence arose now an ode, now a poetical oration,
and with them the present cantatas." They were published,
Music. | Die zweyte Auflage | Nebst | einer neuen | Vorrede, { auf Unkosten)
Eines guten Freundes. | 1704. This is to be found in the Wernigerode
library ; it is omitted from Klose's list.
474 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
however, in accordance with the desire of certain artistic
and musical friends to whom they were known — and, in fact,
a pirated edition170 brought out so early as the following year
by Renger, of Halle, shows what approval Neumeister's
innovation met with. And the publication, in 1707, without
his consent or knowledge (by Chr. Fr. Hunold) of a Collegium
Poeticum, held at Leipzig, was also a result of the universal
notice which he now attracted ; his volume, entitled " Die
allerneuste Art zur reinen und galanten Poesie zu gelan-
gen,"171 came to several editions in the course of the year.
In 1708 this first attempt was followed by a second series of
cantatas for the year, on the Gospels, and this went to the
court of the Count of Rudolstadt, and was set to music by
Erlebach. A third and fourth cycle were written in 1711 and
1714 for the church of the Duke of Sax-Eisenach, where Tele-
mann was then capellmeister.172 They were all republished
—together with a new fifth series, in 1716 — with the consent
of the author, by Gottfried Tilgner, and dedicated to Duke
Christian in Weissenfels; a neatly executed copper plate,
representing Neumeister in his study, ornaments this edition,
and in the preface Tilgner speaks of him as "the man who,
without contradiction, deserves the fame of being the first
among us Germans who brought church music to a higher
standing by introducing the sacred cantata and bringing it to
, its present perfection."173 This collection of poems, in the
course of time, had two supplements published ; the first called
Fortgesetzte funffache Kirchen-Andachten, Hamburg 1726,
170 That it was one is clear from the preface to the Fiinfiachen Kirchen-
Andachten.
ivi " The very newest method of attaining a pure and polite [style of] poetry."
17a The third has no author's name, and was printed at Gotha, with the title :
"Geistliches | Singen | und j Spielen, | Dasist: | Ein Jahrgang | von Texten, |
Welche | dem Dreyeinigen GOTT | zu Ehren | bey offentlicher Kirchen-Ver-
sammlung | in Eisenach | musicalisch aufgefiihret werden | von | Georg. Philip.
Telemann, \ F. S. Capellmeister und Seer. \ GOTHA, gedruckt bey Christoph
Reyhern, | F. S. Hof-Buchdr., 1711." A copy is in my possession.
na Tit. " Herrn | Erdmann Neumeisters | Fiinffache | Kirchen-Andachten |
bestehend | In theils eintzeln, theils niemahls | gedruckten | Arien, Cantaten-
und Oden | Auf alle | Sonn- und Fest-Tage | des gantzen Jahres. | Heraus
gegeben | Von | G. T. | LEIPZIG, | In Verlegung Joh. Grossens Erben. j
Anno 1716. |
NEUMEISTER'S CANTATA TEXTS. 475
the second, Dritter Theil [third part] der fiinffachen Kirchen-
Andachten," Hamburg also, 1752. Neumeister was besieged
for texts on all sides, he gave away many copies, and
they were often printed without his knowledge. The collec-
tion of 1726 contains, besides the appendices for public
services and private meditation, three complete series for the
year, of which the first had appeared as early as 1718 at
Eisenach, under the title of " Neue geistliche Gedichte" —
"New Spiritual Songs," — and several cantatas out of this
series occur again in a collection anonymously printed in 1725
at Weissenfels. The cycle contained in the third part had
music composed to it throughout by Telemann, in whom
Neumeister found at all times an industrious and grateful
fellow-artist. For Mattheson also he used his pen when at
Hamburg, writing for him the oratorio, " Die Frucht des
Geistes"— "The Fruit of the Spirit"— 1719, and "Das
gottselige Geheimniss " — " The Blessed Mystery."174 A
poetical flight of another kind, but relating to the Christian
year, occurs in the second part of the " Evangelische Nach-
klang" — " The Echoesof the Gospel" — (Hamburg, 1718 and
1729), but although these were only hymns in verses, they
were also employed for church music ; at any rate certainly
the second part, which was produced for the Castle chapel of
Weissenfels. Imitators now appeared in troops ; this form
seemed a positive revelation of the very thing which had
been the desideratum ; and since any depth or breadth of
thought was not necessary, the composition of a cantata text
was a not very difficult task. But there were very few that
could rival Neumeister's productions, for the most part they
stood far below the model.
The Fiinffache Kirchen-Andachten continued to be the
principal work of this kind, and it is now our duty to examine
its character somewhat more closely. Neumeister himself
called the first series the poetical duplicate, as it were, of
his sermons. But it would be a mistake to imagine that
they in any way reflect the sermon form, and still more
erroneous is the idea that the form of the new church
174 Mattheson, Ehrenpforte, pp. 205 and 210.
476 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
cantata was in general borrowed from the sermon, or always
an idealised reflection of the whole cultus of Protestant
Christianity.176 Its standard was on the contrary derived
from quite other and different principles : first of all the
imitation of the operatic form, which met the spirit of the
times ; then a simple consideration of the means of expres-
sion that church music had at its command. In the two
first cycles and in the fifth, neither Bible text nor verses of
chorales were turned to account ; the last indeed consists
wholly of songs in verses, each prefaced by a motto of three
rhymed lines. The cantatas of the first cycle consist of
recitatives and arias. We must however always remember
that, at the beginning of the century, the word aria was
employed not exclusively for solo songs, and much of his
work is so constructed as to demand the German form of
aria, and to be adopted for singing in several parts; still by
far the greater portion is intended for solo singing. The reci-
tatives are in iambic verse, as the author himself enjoins, and
the arias generally in iambic or trochaic metre, with greater
uniformity in the length of the lines. Still, as compared with
the hymns of that period, a very remarkable freedom prevails
in the arrangement of the rhymes, and in the number and
length of the lines, so that the influence of the madrigal
here too is perceptible. A da capo is not always possible, and
often only a very brief one ; here and there too the verse
form still appears, though divided by recitatives. Dactyls
are more rarely used, sometimes only at the outset of one
aria ; twice we even find Alexandrines ; and once again they
occur, mixed with iambics and trochees, but the verse always
begins on an accented syllable. An aria introduces the
cantata and closes it — seldom a recitative ; sometimes short
arioso lines are introduced into this separately — lines which
might have some connection with each other; this method
was still farther worked out at a later date. Usually each
176 Winterfeld, Evang. Kircheng. III., 61. The opinion of this investigator
that from this period a text from the gospel of the day was taken as the germ
of these musical and devotional compositions, is quite incorrect. On the
contrary, the words of Scripture were employed much less frequently here than
in the older church sonata.
NEUMEISTER'S CANTATA TEXTS. 477
cantata contains three arias with the corresponding recitative,
sometimes even more.
The second cycle shows a marked advance, inasmuch as
Alexandrines have altogether disappeared, and the parts
intended for the chorus are indicated. Since church choirs
were now universal, they could not be altogether ignored.
The employment of the chorus is in every case the same :
three rhymed lines begin the piece, and are repeated at the
end, and in the middle four lines are again given to the
choir. These tutti phrases are almost altogether wanting in
that force and generality of purpose which the words for a
chorus require; but Neumeister either detected this him-
self or his composers pointed it out, for in the third and
fourth series chorales and Bible texts are introduced, and
with this we may consider the form of the modern church
cantata to have become established. No other principle but
that of alternation is discernible in the arrangement, and it
is no more the rule that a verse of a chorale should constitute
the close than that a sentence from the Bible should stand
at the beginning. The idea which gave it unity was derived
from the ecclesiastical meaning of the Sunday or festival to
which it belonged ; the text did no more than throw light on
this in various aspects ; all the rest was the concern of the
composer. If we look at Neumeister's work in detail what
we find to praise above everything is the easy smoothness,
nay, elegance of the language. Not unfrequently we meet
with a really melodious cadence, but at the same time we
cannot overlook a certain straining after graphic and
picturesque expression. The recitative and aria are for
the most part distinctly denned — the former being applied
as far as possible to reflections and meditations, the latter
to expressing unmixed and untroubled sentiment. The im-
minent danger of falling, in recitative, into a prosaic and
diffuse moralising tone, certainly often beset Neumeister; a
dreadful example occurs in the cantata for the Fourth
Sunday after Trinity in the first series. Occasionally he
sinks to astonishing platitude, as in the cantata for the
Fourth Sunday in Lent of the second series, where the
first recitative goes through all the four rules of elemen-
478 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
tary arithmetic ; while here and there the expression is
intolerably dry and tasteless, as in the cantata for Sexa-
gesima of the first series. His arias often lack even the
moderate amount of fervency and aspiration which was
required ; he had in fact no sufficient fount of poetical
fancy, and wrote too much — and to order. Still he not
unfrequently finds warm and stirring words. Taking them
for all in all, we cannot think meanly of these works ; they
not only fulfilled their end, and were well suited for musical
treatment, but they display a feeling for form which, in the
then state of German literature, must not be undervalued ;
and many of them are really models of their kind, and might
well satisfy even our present much enhanced requirements
— as, for instance, the Advent cantata, used also by Bach :
" Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland " — " O come, Thou
Saviour of the heathen."176
No innovation has ever escaped antagonism — violent in
proportion to its extent and importance. The transference
of the dramatic style to church music was a kind of revo-
lution in art, and the fact that it could be set on foot by an
eminent ecclesiastic who had testified throughout a long
life, by word and deed, how dear to him was his Church,
proves that it answered to a real and deep need of the spirit
of the time. Neumeister himself had not been wholly free
from doubts, but he had crushed them. " I have already
said," he wrote in the preface to the first year's cycle, 1704,
" that a cantata has the appearance of a piece taken out of
an opera, and it might almost be supposed that many would
be vexed in spirit and ask how sacred music and opera can
be reconciled, any more than Christ and Belial, or light and
darkness. And therefore it might be said I should have
done better to choose some other form. But I will not strive
to justify myself in this matter till first I am answered :
Why certain other spiritual songs are not done away with
178 Among his contemporaries he was universally regarded as a great poetic
artist. Gottfried Bliimel speaks in one of the collections of his own cantatas
(Budissin, 1718) of Neumeister's little metrical vagaries as merely ncevi in
fulchro carport.
HOSTILITY OF THE PIETISTS. 479
which are of the same genus versuum as worldly, nay, often
profane songs ? Why the instrumental musica are not broken
which we hear in churches to-day, and which only yesterday
were performed upon for the luxury of worldly pleasure?
And hence, whether this kind of poetry, though it has
borrowed its model from theatrical verse, may not be sancti-
fied by being dedicated to the service of God ? Whether
the Apostle's words may not be applied to this case, as it is
written in I. Cor. xiv. 7; I. Tim. iv. 5; Phil. i. 18, and
whether such an application is not a sufficient answer on
my part ?" However, there were many who were not to be
thus convinced, who saw in this innovation a profanation of
the sanctuary, and opposed it with anger and disapproval.
Unsuccessful as was this opposition — for the new church
cantatas gained ground every year — so much obstinate dis-
like was manifested, and the champions of the new principle
were so little satisfied to hold their own merely by artistic
effort, that ere long a bitter literary war broke out along
the whole line, which declared itself in endless paper
missiles on both sides.
The Pietists were of course its most determined foes ; even
the earlier forms of church music had been an abomination
to them — nothing would they endure beyond the simplest
verse hymn. It is often strange how little mutual under-
standing exists between tastes and tendencies which are
really identical in aim and feeling. As if, in point of fact, the
endeavour to express personal emotion on the boards of a
theatre differed in essence from the transcendental subjec-
tivity of the hymns in the devotions of the Pietists themselves !
But with them it was useless to discuss the matter, as Neu-
meister well knew, and he did not hesitate to hit them a
direct blow when he put these words into one of his cantatas —
Then let us trust His faithful saying
Living in faith, and praying
And bringing forth the fruits of holiness and truth
In humbie, Christian seeming,
Not pietistic dreaming —
and by coupling them in a not very flattering manner with
the Pope and the Turks in the first verse of the hymn " Erhalt
480 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
uns Herr bei deinem Wort " — " O Lord, maintain us by Thy
word."177
A second, but certainly not a numerous, host of anta-
gonists consisted of certain musicians of the old stamp who
were possessed by an antipathy towards theatrical music in
general, though in fact they could not have said in what
other way an effective sacred cantata was to be constructed ;
but as for the most part they could not wield the pen their
position was not a strong one. To them belonged Johann
Heinrich Buttstedt, the organist of Erfurt, and a distin-
guished man in his way, whose misfortune it was that in
his Ut, re, mi, &c., he should have undertaken to defend a
cause already lost against so skilful a writer as Mattheson.
A third camp of foes consisted of the more serious-minded
laymen and dilettanti, such as the pastor Christian Gerber,
who pointed out the abuses in church music in his book
Unerkannte Siinden der Welt — Unrecognised sins of the
world, — and Joachim Meyer, a professor of jurisprudence at
Gottingen, who also involved himself in a squabble with
Mattheson.178 Associated with Meyer in this contest was
Guden, a theologian of Gottingen, who, unlike Meyer, was
a dabbler in music : between these parties the strife was a
fierce one.
Those who make assertions have to prove them, and the
innovators gave themselves infinite trouble. It cannot, how-
ever, be said that Mattheson, Motz, Tilgner, and the rest
adduced anything more or newer than what Neumeister had
already said in fewer words; and he himself only revived old
weapons of defence, for long before this the older church
cantatas had been accused of worldliness.179 Above all it was
m Fiinffache Kirchen-Andachten, Jahrg. IV., Eighth Sunday after Trinity.
Constantin Bellermann puts it forcibly in his " Parnassus Musarum" p. 5 :
" pii quidam homines — qui — omnem extermim musices usum aut ex templis
eliminant aut minaci lege circumscribunt : faciamus hos missos, quos neque
herba neque pharmacum restituet."
178 By his book Unvorgreifliche Gedanken iiber die neulich eingerissene
theatralische Kirchenmusik und die darin bisher iiblich gewordenen Cantaten
(1726) — Unauthoritative considerations as to the newly introduced theatrical
church music, &c.
179 So, for instance, the cantor of Lauben, Christian Schiff, was accused by
THE DEFENCE OF THE CANTATA FORM. 481
sought to prove out of the Bible that the forms and instru-
ments attacked were pleasing in the sight of God, and were
commanded by him. The permission to use noisy instru-
ments was derived, for example, from II. Chron. v. 12, where
it is related that at the dedication of Solomon's temple the
Levites sang to cymbals, psalteries, and harps, while a hun-
dred and twenty priests blew trumpets. Miriam's song of
thanksgiving and Zachariah's song of praise were held to
sanction a cheerful and lively form of expression. The
frequent repetition of the text in the aria was supported by
the parallelisms which characterise the Hebrew poetry,
and Tilgner referred even the da capo to Psalm viii., of
which the first verse is repeated at the end.180 Weapons
were borrowed too from the old type of church music. Those
who demurred to recitative were reminded of psalmodic
singing at the altar ; those who objected to the adoption of
the operatic style were asked whether, after all, many sacred
airs had not been originally secular, and often of very doubt-
ful purport ; and finally they were appealed to as to whether,
as all was done to the honour of God, it were not a matter
of indifference by what means the mind was attuned to
devotion so long as devotion was the outcome, and reminded
that the religious words in themselves ought to divert the
thoughts from all worldly subjects.
Neumeister had besides laid down the principle of ad-
hering as far as possible to the phraseology of the Bible
and of theological writings. For this reason the theatrical
and the sacred dramatic style of music could never be exactly
alike. Opponents like Buttstedt, it is true, declared that no
judicious musician could deny their intrinsic identity, nay,
that " all sorts of singable stuff was brought into the
his clergyman, Job. Muscovius, in 1694. The substance of his defence is given
by Mattheson, Ehrenpforte, p. 317.
180 In Mattheson's reply to Joachim Meyer (Der neue Gottingische, &c.,
Ephorus. Hamburg, 1727), he copied all the account relative to this question
from Tilgner's preface to the Funffachen Kirchen-Andachten, and added
supplementary notes (pp. 101-108). For the da capo form he quoted sixteen
passages from the Psalms as authorities, among which two, he says, must have
been quite in the rondo form.
2 1
482 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
church, and the gayer and more dance-like it was, the
better it pleased, so that sometimes for a very little
more the men would join hands with the women and
dance among the chairs, as sometimes at a wedding they
would go over tables and benches." 181 But Mattheson
replied that it would be bad indeed if no distinction were
made between a sacred and an operatic recitative, and that
" it would be a sin and shame if unskilled scribblers of
music were to bring all sorts of singable stuff into the
church ; but that the true church style remained nevertheless
an independent style." 182 But then if it was further asked
wherein its independent character was discernible there was
the difficulty. Mattheson said that all intelligent musicians
knew very well how to treat it, and keep the "happy
medium"; Tilgner, that "the composer must make his
work plain and devotional, without offering to God the
old leaven of misplaced fancies, but preferring the choicest
ideas to sinful pastime." Niedt183 advised the composer
to accommodate himself to the taste of the congregation,
whether they preferred motetts, concertos, or arias ; to set
recitatives and arias as simply as possible, and to work
out all fugues " on an ' Amen,' * Hallelujah,' or the like,"
because they resembled nothing so much as a " mirthful
juggler's trick, and in general would only be listened to by
the folks in church with disgust and annoyance," and advised
that the singers should be constantly admonished to sing
" from the heart, and so to touch the hearts of others." And
he himself worked on these principles ; to be sure he was in
consequence regarded as a Pietist, and almost driven from
the town and country by an inquisition ; in point of fact, to
this day no man can say what is the strict and true style of
church music.
Thus matters stood ; and no one attempted to get at the
bottom of the affair on grounds of independent and un-
prejudiced judgment. The defendants took too great a per-
181 Buttstedt, Ut, re, mi, &c., pp. 81 and 64.
182 Mattheson, Das beschiitze Orchestre, p. 142.
iss Friedrich Ehrhardt Niedtens Musicalischer Handleitung, Part III.
burg), 1717, p. 37.
PROGRESS OF THE CANTATA FORM. 483
sonal interest in the subject ; some of them, and Mattheson
at their head, were musicians fighting, so to speak, for hearth
and home, and the practice of highly intelligent men like
Reiser, Telemann, and Stolzel, was arrayed convincingly on
their side. Even if any one could have brought forward
irrefutable proof of his error, the creative artist would have
gone on with an incredulous smile, and have finished his
dramatic-sacred composition undisturbed ; the rest would
very likely have wavered until the next performance of
sacred music, and then have been entirely reconverted to
their former opinion.
The course of great movements in the progress of culture
is at all times mightier than the will of individuals, and
any attempt to judge an impulse which is felt to be a
condition of existence would be out of place here. Other-
wise it would not have been difficult to point out the fact
that the growth of each branch of art presupposes a definite
impulse in the progress of the human mind, and that the
mental forces which led to the production of the opera were
quite different from those which found expression in the art
of sacred music. Each growth of art bears deep in itself, and
not on its surface only, the character of the soil from which
it grew; and it was indeed utterly to undervalue the power of
music — as distinct from that of speech — when men supposed
that its nature could be essentially modified by its application
to sacred texts. This was merely a plausible view calcu-
lated to encourage self-deception ; and those who asserted
that they were inspired with sentiments of devotion as
much, or more, by religious opera music as by any other,
mistook in their own minds the romantic art-afflatus for
sacred aspiration. The restless " scriblomania " of the various
apologists for the new style, which kept them in a constant
stir, round and round the same circle, also betrayed very
sufficiently their own indecision in the matter ; and naturally
enough, for intelligent reflection must sometimes sit silent,
while the hasty judgment of feeling does not.
Thus their opponents found ample justification for their
energetic disapproval ; in this only were they unjust : in
demanding that every suspicion of worldly art should be
2 I 2
484 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
eliminated for the sake of purity in church music. What is
church music ? The question has been asked again and
again during nearly two hundred years, and if we consider
it closely we find that the answer with most of us is at the
same stage as it was with Mattheson and his contemporaries.
And yet the answer is simple enough : Church music is
music that has grown up within the bosom of the Church.
But while, in the first instance, all musical art belonged to
the Church, and to it alone, in the course of time and under
the extension of culture many branches of it have blossomed
freely out in the world, And unless the Church insists on
shutting herself up in the fatal idea that she is the one
and only fertile parent of all intellectual effort, needing no
helping hand — thus choking the wellspring of her own
vitality — she cannot but direct her attention to the fruits
of a free development in this art. In the sixteenth century
the secular songs of the people had brought a renovating in-
fluence to bear on sacred music, in spite of its light or even
obscene verbal texts ; why should not something of the same
kind be possible to operatic music ? There was still, surely,
an actual living art of sacred music, capable of absorbing
a foreign element, of purifying it, and of assimilating it as
nutriment. But the only branch of art which throughout
the seventeenth century could grow up to an imposing
height within the limits of the Church, and blossom into
splendour, was organ music. It alone was true church
music at the beginning of the eighteenth century ; and any
element that hoped for more than a mere temporary admis-
sion to that sublime realm of art had to blend itself with that.
Its very nature seemed, indeed, to tend to this ; for its prin-
cipal form, the organ chorale, already had a hold on ideas both
purely musical and dramatically musical, and was distinctly
tending — with an impulse common to every natural growth
— to escape from the dimly lighted region of abstraction
and sentiment into the clear light of day. Nay, all organ
music imperatively required to be associated with a flow of
music linked to a poetical form of words if it was to fulfil
all the requirements of church music. Instrumental music
of a purely ideal nature is too catholic to satisfy the needs
BACH SOLVES THE DIFFICULTY. 485
of any Church ; it may be religious in the highest sense, but
the essence of a Church as a body lies in a creed common to
its members, and this can only be indicated in its music by
the words sung. So, as natural means to an end are always
the fittest, the severely sublime and apparently passionless
style of organ music — a consequence merely, in the first
instance, of the mechanism of the instrument — proved
spontaneously, as it were, to be a corrective of the erratic
individualism of the opera. Still this could not be altogether
rejected so long as men's thoughts were directed to evolving
a living type of church music. For every art must solve the
problem of how best to grasp and embody the spirit of the
period as it passes by.
Thus both the contending parties overshot their mark, as
is always the case on such occasions. The only one who
did not struggle and theorise, but acted in the only right way,
with all the confidence of genius, was Sebastian Bach. His
intellect, which with a kind of centripetal force drew towards
itself all the forms of which the air just then seemed full,
seized also on the opera ; and the fact that throughout his
life he encouraged it proves that he understood its real
value. But he altogether eliminated its emotional sensuality
by the chaste translucent flow of his organ music. Bach
undertook to amalgamate the two styles, dissimilar as they
were, and so created the only possible form for the church
music of that period. It was he, and he alone, who under-
took this task ; and the innumerable sacred compositions of
his gifted contemporaries fell, without exception, stillborn,
like barren blossoms from a tree, while his works are to this
day a living power with an ever-increasing procreative in-
fluence. That he should have been reproached for availing
himself of theatrical forms and his works condemned as
not fitted for church use, shows a not very Protestant
spirit, and still less a rational historic sense; it might indeed
be called quite incomprehensible, if people's views were
not so confused about Bach's cantatas, and so obscure even
now as to the mode of executing them. Of course, if we
insist on performing them without an organ they resemble
some artificially galvanised body from which the heart has
486 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
been removed ; while with an organ all our puzzles and
doubts solve themselves—at any rate, for any one who has
set up no fanciful ideal of evangelical church music, but
accepts as such the form which has evolved itself sponta-
neously from the very being of the Church. It is true that
organ music was the latest independent offshoot that the
Church produced, and so Bach has remained to this day the
last church composer ; since his time we have had religious
music only. It would be a great mistake to regard its de-
velopment into the church cantata as the final and only
aim to which, as independent instrumental music, it served
merely as a stepping-stone. It was a branch of art com-
plete in itself — if we except the organ chorales with a
certain reservation — and thus, without quitting the province
of church uses, it was able to outgrow its limits and to infuse
a certain religious catholicity into the church ideal. Thus
while with one hand it pointed out the way to true sacred
music, with the other it pointed from it to another road.
This path led, first and foremost, in the same direction as
the popular feeling of the time, and so it came to pass that
Bach remained without an imitator in his church cantatas;
nay, that even during his lifetime they had, to a certain
extent, ceased to be understood. It would almost seem as
though we were now to gather up the clue which then was
dropped.
Bach became acquainted with Neumeister's verses for
cantatas through the Count's court at Eisenach. The third
and fourth series were written, as has been said, for the
capelle there in 1711 and 1714. Under the circumstances
of relationship between the families of Saxe- Weimar and
Saxe-Eisenach, and more particularly of the friendship that
existed between Telemann of Eisenach and Bach (Telemann
was indeed godfather to Bach's second son, Philipp Emanuel),
it was easy for him to obtain a copy. Judging from the
music now extant, Bach seems to have composed four out of
the fourth series, two out of the third, and one out of the
first. Of the fourth series it can be proved that two were
written later, at Leipzig, and they will not come under con-
CANTATA, "UNS 1ST filtf KIND GEBOREN." 4^7
sideration here.184 We know that in the year 1715 a cycle
of cantatas, written by a poet of the place, was prepared
especially for the capelle at Weimar by command of Wilhelm
Ernst, and two consecutive series from the First Sunday in
Advent of 1716; and Bach, so long as he remained in
Weimar, had to bear a part in composing music for them ;
so the date of composition of the other two is quite certainly
established. With regard to the last three we have a choice
between the ecclesiastical year of 1712-13 and that of
I7I4-I5.185
We will study them in their probable order, and begin with
a cantata for the first day of Christmas-tide.186 Its super-
scription— "Concerto Festo Nativitatis Christi" — gives it the
designation which Bach was accustomed to bestow on his
church cantatas when he did not otherwise distinguish them
by the initial words of the text and the day for which they
were intended, or did not call them " dialogi," from the
character of their contents. He avoided the Italian word
" cantata" by which in his day a dramatic scena for one or
more solo voices was understood, and clung to the custom of
the seventeenth century in using the name "concerto" which
at the same time served to indicate the necessary distribution
of the instruments. Happily Telemann's composition on the
same text has been preserved,187 and we can compare them.
The difference is as great as that between the characters of
the two musicians, and extends to every particular, even to the
key. Telemann's composition is C major. He sets the text
from Isaiah, which introduces it — " Unto us a Child is born,"
&c. — to a chorus in five parts, homophonic throughout, with
violins and trumpets introduced alternately, and by the end
184 « gin ungefarbt Gemuthe " — " A spirit faint and failing," — for the Fourth
Sunday after Trinity (B -G., I., No. 24) ; and " Gottlob nun geht das Jahr zu
Ende" — " Now that the year is near its ending," — for the Sunday after Christ-
mas (B.-G., I., No. 28). The evidence will be given later. Perhaps the first
may be based on an earlier work, though there are no distinct traces of this.
186 See App. A., No. 20.
186 Extant in MS. in Fischhoft's bequest to the Royal Library at Berlin.
187 I obtained it from the Cantor's Library at Langula, near Miihlhausen ; it
had no doubt gone there from Eisenach, which is at no great distance. It is a
MS. written about the year 1750, score and parts.
488 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACti.
of forty-two bars in 6-8 time has performed his task, greatly
aided by the use of a da capo. This piece, probably written
in half-an-hour — to judge from the swiftness of the writing —
shows us the worst side of the church music of the time ; it
has all the meagreness and meanness of the older cantata,
with all the pretension to filling a broader form. Bach chose
the key of A minor, prompted to this selection chiefly by the
fact that he set the text of the altered form, associating
with it the ^Eolic chorale, " Wir Christenleut hab'n jetzund
Freud " — " We Christian souls may now rejoice," — instead
of the Mixo-Lydian " Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ "— " All
praise to Thee, Lord Jesus Christ."188 But this idea ap-
parently pleased him, for he has adhered throughout the
cantata to the subdued minor key, which offers so singular
a contrast to the bright joyfulness of Christmas. It gives
a tone as of melancholy reminiscences of the pure Christmas
joys of our childhood, as they float before our "mind's eye,"
in a tender and changeful glow; in contrast to this Telemann's
eternal C major is often unutterably shallow and flat. Bach
moreover does not begin at once with a vocal part ; he intro-
duces it by an independent instrumental piece for a quartet
of strings, two flutes, two oboes, and basso ^rnisHs kept
strictly to the form of the Italian concerto — an evidence of
the stage of development he had then reached — and ends
with a picturesque preparation for the succeeding chorus.
This is a double fugue with the following theme : —
To us a Son
p rr — ^- fr h~ K 0 T"?7 ^ l"~~
To us a Child is giv - en
The commencement offers a fresh example of that remarkable
method of construction which we also meet with in the last
movement of the toccata in D minor for the clavier (see
p. 439), and in the first fugue in Psalm cxxx. (see p. 450), the
theme is distinctly set forth before the fugue itself begins.
The two ideas are at first stated, as quoted above; but when
188 See App. A, 20, for further details as to the alterations in the text.
TELEMANN AND BACH COMPARED. 489
the fugal treatment proper begins (at bar 4) the second theme
enters immediately after the fourth note of the first, and thus
they proceed together for the greater portion of it. But it is
perfectly clear that this exposition of the theme has some
other reason than a purely musical one ; the two verbal texts,
so to speak, of the musical discourse are distinctly spoken to
begin with. Thus a fault which we had to point out in the
closing fugue of Psalm cxxx. is here avoided by a means so
simple that none but a genius could have devised it. The
choral movement goes on without a break for nineteen bars,
with a complication of strettos ; it is then relieved a few
times by instrumental episodes, and from bar 29 once more
proceeds uninterruptedly to the end, but with a prepondera-
ting emphasis on the second theme, which continues to be
heard for a while in the coda. Only compare with this
massive subject the principal motive of Telemann's chorus: —
5 parts. C major chord,
llo To us a Child is giv - en, to us a Child is giv - en.
This is succeeded by a solo movement: "Dein Geburtstag
ist erschienen " — " Hail, O Saviour, born this morning," —
composed by Telemann in C major for two soprano voices
with figured bass accompaniment, by Bach in E minor for
bass in the Italian aria form, with two violins and figured
bass. Telemann's duet indeed is not one, properly speaking,
but with rare exceptions a song for two voices, and super-
ficial throughout; while Bach's aria is full of tender feeling
and melody, and most carefully worked out as to technique.
The aria style proper to Bach declares itself plainly even
in the working-out of a small motive for the bass, although
a too frequent repetition of the ritornel cuts up the vocal
part too much, and his wonderful melodic interweaving of
the instruments with the voice is as yet but little developed.
The next movement consists in each composition of a
chorus in C major, on the text of Psalm Ixix. 31 : " Ich
will den Namen Gottes loben " — " I will praise the name
of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanks-
giving." Telemann here gives us the best he has to offer
49<> JOHANtt SEBASTIAN &ACU.
in a double fugue ; the first theme, it is true, is not worth
much, but with the second a little more spirit is infused,
and this composer never lacks a certain facile flow. In
Bach's work this movement is the least good. The figura-
tion, at first started between the two parts in close imitation,
soon gives way to an antiquated homophony, and the rest
of the section is quite insignificant. It bears stamped on
the face of it that Bach wrote it without sympathy — nay,
with more than indifference. He thought a bright and
splendid chorus was due to the Christmas festival and could
not then put himself in tune for it. It is not till we come to
the following aria, where he again strikes a minor key, that
we find him his true self again. The poet has here given the
words for three arias which bear a relation of rhythm to each
other, though two are divided by a recitative. Telemann
has composed the whole of this for alto, bass, soprano, and
then bass again, all three to arias in C major, and we cannot
but confess that they are very skilfully contrasted as to rhythm
and melody. The form, in accordance with the poem, had
to be Italian. Violins are employed to accompany the two
first tunes, but they have scarcely any interludes to execute;
the second part of the aria has only a figured-bass for the
sake of contrast — this was customary. The third is set to
a species of chaconne-bass, and has at any rate a somewhat
graver effect. Indeed the combination —
_^-
i*~ i*
1
*^*-+-+*
•(»•
J
^^
g
f- '....Ul i :
Lord, to Thee be
glo
- ry giv - en,
pT — p=; 1* | |"T
u_i^ * * j | _| — r. — d_*
-*-^s-
— *! —
is worked out with all Telemann's skill on paper, but it
cannot sound equally well, because the bass voice and the
instrumental bass are perpetually interfering with each
other. The recitative as set by Bach is shortened by more
TELEMANN AND BACH COMPARED.
491
than half; also he has made use only of the first and third
verses, and both to the same music, only first it is in A
minor for the tenor, and then for the alto in D minor. The
words, which are full of a sentiment of gratitude and praise,
are pitched in a very melancholy strain : —
Oboes (Flutes the
second time).
Lord, to Thee all thanks be giv-en,
Here again we miss the grand flood which in Bach's
most highly developed arias enables the song to flow on, with
only a ritornel to mark the principal divisions of it; here
again the skill and power won in the school of organ-playing,
and which would have supported the voice with the instru-
ments— answering, echoing, amplifying, and spiritualising it as
they mingled with it — appears in a very moderate degree. It
is only when we compare it with Telemann's production that
we instantly detect that their two courses are already widely
different. A simple four-part chorale forms the close in both
compositions ; the parts being treated in an interesting
melodic style by Bach, and by Telemann in an off-hand way
on mere harmonic principles. Bach has added an accom-
paniment in semiquavers, which is limited, however, to an
adornment of the melody ; so there is still a long distance
from this to those chorales for a choir in which the instru-
ments follow out an idea of their own, through which the
chorale itself shines, as it were, by its own magic light.
The second cantata of Neumeister's third cycle is devoted
to Sexagesima Sunday, and must therefore have been per-
formed either on February 19, 1713, or on February 4,
I7I4.189 Here again we have a composition by Telemann
189 Published by the Bach Society (B.-G., Vol. II., No. 18) from the parts in
the Royal Library at Berlin, which are for the most part autographs. With
respect to the style of writing and of the paper, most of them correspond with
the autograph of the cantata for Advent, written 1714.
492 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
for comparison.190 The text, founded on the closing portion
of the Gospel for the day, treats of the miraculous power of
the Divine word. It starts with the passage from Isaiah
Iv. 10, u, where the word of God is compared with " the
rain that watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth
and bud," and then in a recitative it beseeches God to pre-
pare the hearts of men to receive it. Between the phrases
of the recitative two appropriate lines from the German
litany are inserted here and there, and the recitative closes
with the same words. Then follows an aria, praising the
sacred word as the highest and only precious possession, and
it ends with the eighth verse of Spengler's hymn, " Durch
Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt "— " Through Adam's fall the
world was lost." Bach again begins with an instrumental
sinfonia for two flutes, four violas, bassoon, stringed bass,
and organ ; key of G minor, 6-4 time. This grand and truly
inspired composition has something of the character of a
chaconne ; a powerful theme for all the instruments, except
the flute, is carried all through it —
repeated strictly for the most part, but sometimes inter-
woven with other subjects with the freedom characterising
the chaconne ; once even it comes up from the bass to the
middle part. A few details are derived from Italian con-
certo movements : thus, just at the beginning, the interlude
before the second entrance of the theme, after which we
expect a development between two ideas; then the unaltered
return at the close of the first twenty bars ; and the general
structure of the theme, which strongly reminds us of the
concerto tutti in unison. As Bach introduced the forms of
Italian chamber music into organ composition he might very
well make use of them also for the church cantata; only the
organ had to stand out as the predominant factor, for the
sake of unity of effect, and this is not yet altogether the case
190 In parts, in the library of the castle-chapel at Sondershausen ; only the
soprano part is wanting, but can be supplied from that of the first violin.
CANTATA, "GLEICHWIE DER REGEN." 493
in the sinfonia to the Christmas cantata. The chaconne, on
the other hand, as has already been remarked, had already
been long regarded as a true organ form ; and it is from this
point of view that Bach composed the piece under discussion,
without at the same time disregarding the peculiar character
of the wind and stringed instruments. The organ is
taken as the standard for the instrumentation ; for in-
stance, the flutes always double the parts of the two first
violins an octave higher, as though a four-foot stop were
used to supplement an eight-foot. This effect is often found
in Bach's works, as in the lovely air for an alto voice in the
cantata for Whitsunday, "O ewiges Feuer, O Ursprung der
Liebe"191 — "O fire eternal, O fountain of love," — and it is
highly instructive as to the principles which guided him in
instrumentation.192
It still may be a question whether the composer intended
to express some definite idea by this sinfonia — perhaps to
give a musical presentment of the abundant power and effec-
tual working of the divine word. I myself do not think so,
for in all his instrumental introductions Bach merely gives
us general preparation for the feeling of the piece, and never
has any descriptive aim in view, which is one reason why he
so frequently employed detached pieces from independent in-
strumental works as introductory to his cantatas. He only
intended to compose a movement answering to the solemn
character of the cantata ; and it was only owing to his great
affection and natural bent for instrumental composition that
he did not in general begin at once with the vocal portion.
In the treatment of the words the two composers to a great
extent agree, if we consider the general structure ; but in the
details the greatest dissimilarity appears, as might be expected
from the difference in their standpoint and dispositions, above
all in the recitative. The introductory words from the Bible
are thus treated by both, but with an early transition into
the arioso, which from its greater expressiveness seemed
the fitter form in cases which were unsuited to the introduc-
tion of a chorus. Telemann's work has beyond a doubt the
B.-G., VII., No. 34, P. 1291. 1M See App. A, No. 21,
494 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
advantage of the most natural and obvious conception : he
gives the first clause, (verse 10), to the tenor as a recitative,
and the second clause, (verse n), to the bass, but turned into
an arioso ; here only the organ and bass viol accompanying
the voice, while in the first section a rushing intermezzo on
the stringed instruments represents the words " As rain and
snow fall from heaven." Bach gives the whole passage to
the bass voice, accompanied by the organ and supported by
the bassoon, and it is only at the recitative of the hymn that
another voice and the full body of instruments are brought
in. He thus marks a stronger contrast between the Bible
words and those of the modern poet, while on the other
hand he weakens the contrast which exists in the Bible text
itself; he treats both verses in the same way, beginning them
in recitative, and deviating into the arioso. It is not that the
picturesque element is lacking, but it here lies in the voice
part, while in Telemann it is given to the instruments.
Strictly speaking, it is inexact to speak of the picturesque,
though the music no doubt mimics the movement of a tangible
visible object. In every movement of the phenomena of
nature man may discern the image of a certain phase and
flow of feeling in himself, and feeling is to us the most cogent
token of life. Now life — that mysterious current that flows
deep below the surface, in which every phenomenon of the
visible world dips its roots — life is the fundamental idea which
it is the function of music as an art to set before us. This
is what justifies imitative music — the reproduction of the rip-
pling of a brook, the surging of the sea, the downrush of the
rain, the sweeping march of the clouds, the whisper of the
leaves ; nay, even the busy hum of birds and insects ; it re-
presents the indissoluble bond which makes us really one
with all that seems external to us — the power which pervades
the whole world with the same intensity as it does our own
being. But since the justification of such attempts can only
be found by reference to the inmost soul of musical meaning,
they naturally fall strictly within the province of pure music,
t.£., instrumental music. That Bach should have paid no
heed to this shows what was the governing principle in his
essentially creative nature : namely, that catholic feeling for
BACH'S TREATMENT OF RECITATIVE. 495
music as music, which regards the human voice as first in the
whole order of instruments. This principle was in fact the
standard of his treatment of recitative in general, although the
nature of this form was apparently contrary to it. The recita-
tive was in its origin a dramatic form of art, and its function is
to facilitate the presentment of a transitory incident either by
narrative or by dialogue. Hence the important point is what
is said in singing, and not what is sung in the saying; in other
words, the meaning conveyed rather than the melody which is
engrafted on it. Still it had an eminently musical side, and
it must soon have been detected that with the means at its
disposal and an impassioned text it could rise to a high pitch
of pathos and impressiveness — nay, all the more so from
being devoid of all equalising uniformity. In consequence
of this it was, on the other hand, peculiarly fitted to pre-
pare the hearer, by exciting and attuning his attention
(musically), for a composition presenting itself in a more com
plete and symmetrical form. From the former point of view
it could have no application in church music, and even in the
latter no immediate justification ; for it is impossible to say
that the self-assertive display of personal passion is appro-
priate to the Church. Hence the dramatic factor was set
aside in the words, while the composers absorbed the musical
element unchanged into church music. They treated recita-
tive, exactly as in opera, as speaking in a singing voice : a
kind of chant, with here and there a stronger musical accent,
as the poetry admitted ; the utmost they demanded was that
the singer should to some degree efface himself in performing
it, but it did not always occur to them that the same modera-
tion might be needful in the composer.
Bach is the only one who even here borrowed nothing from
outside, but created much that was new. Expressive decla-
mation was by no means all he aimed at. A general principle
of music governs his compositions for recitative, a law above
and beyond those which rule over mere declamation, which
sometimes is identical with them, but not unfrequently
defies them and forces them to give way ; and it is precisely
this which fits his recitative to the style of church music.
We instantly feel that the arbitrary subjective feeling is
496
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH,
subdued to a sublime artistic conception, which confines it
within invisible limits. The stream of melody in Bach's
recitative is sometimes so full and equable that we can un-
hesitatingly disjoin it entirely from the words of the text. The
beginning of the second recitative in this very cantata (238
and 239) is the most striking instance of this, with which
compare Telemann's setting of the same passage : —
£
Mein Gott, hier wird mein Her-ze sein, ich 6ff-ne dir's in mei-nes Je - su
Na-men, so streu-e dei-nen Sa-men als in ein gu-tes Land her - ein.
1Ur ^"f* — ?• — ^ — |*n* — 5 — 5 r — i1*™
rr — r~P — r — • — ^ — (*~p
Gott, hier wird mein Her-ze sein, lass soIchesFrucht unc
hundert-tiil - tig bringen, o
« ~U 6 ' '
3
3
f-^4z
Herr,
Herr,
= — n ^ 1 K — 1=— »^-
hilf, o Herr, lass wohl
ge -lin-gen!
6
^
4
2
6
6
-r
In this way are evolved in due course all the wonderful
features which strike us again and again in Bach's recitatives.
Thus in the cantata, " Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir" — " I
call to Thee in woful need," 193 — we find a recitative against
which the bass part of the organ accompaniment performs
the whole of a chorale, and we meet with a similar com-
bination with an upper instrumental part in the cantatas,
B.-G., VII., No. 38.
BACH'S TREATMENT OF RECITATIVE. 497
" Du wahrer Gott und David's Sohn " — " Thou very God,
yet David's Son,"194 — and " Wachet, betet, seid bereit"—
" Watch and pray, and be prepared."195 And how would it
have been otherwise possible to write a recitative with fugal
treatment in four parts, such as we find in the sixth section
of the Christmas oratorio,196 or a duet in recitative such as
that in the cantata for Trinity Sunday for the year 1715 ?
We hear people criticise the unrest of Bach's recitative,
but it only appears restless so long as singers insist on
declaiming it in the usual manner. As soon as its intrin-
sically melodic character is clearly realised and expressed
all that seems forced becomes natural and harmonious,
while the sharp and angular accentuation is softened and
rounded off under the light of a purely musical standard of
plastic, as distinguished from dramatic beauty. This is the
only mode of performance indeed which is not in glaring
contrast with the sustained flow of the organ accompaniment.
As this view as to Bach's recitative is, however, somewhat
antagonistic to that usually received, I must here repeat
that an impressive accentuation of the words is by no means
absent ; on the contrary, we find in his work, no less than in
that of other masters, those emphatic tones which light up
the deep places of our inmost feeling as with a lightning
flash, revealing the idea to its very roots; and any one who
knows Bach, even but a little, will readily believe that in him
these flashes are of magical brilliancy and colour. But it is
undoubtedly an error to suppose that Bach watched and
imitated the accents of ordinary speech in arranging the
tones of his recitative, and had no end in view but the
utterance of the text. It would be quite easy to name
examples in abundance which in the common acceptance
are simply failures so far as declamation is concerned.197
Of course they are not so in the least when considered
from the right point of view, and any one who might be
194 B.-G., v., i, No. 23, P. 1651.
195 B.-G., XVI., No. 70, P. 1666.
196 B.-G., V., 2, p. 255, P. 26 (full score), 38 (piano score).
197 This has been already done, and with the same purpose, by Lobe, in his
Lehrbuch der Musikalischen Composition, IV., p. 58.
2 K
498 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
tempted to try to alter them would at once perceive that
it was impossible without seriously injuring their melodic
character. We must therefore pronounce that his recitative
bears the most perfect relation to the style of his arias. It
leads up to and beyond them just as in organ music a
prelude does to a fugue ; and just as these are often set in
contrasting qualities of tone, so, to meet the dramatic concep-
tion, one voice may sing the recitative and another the aria.
To return to the cantata for Sexagesima Sunday — every
recitative runs into an arioso, often with a very complicated
accompaniment and a picturesque and varied treatment of
the voice part, appropriately leading into the recurring
transition into a verse of the litany. This feature too must
be referred to the conditions just mentioned ; it is almost an
established rule in the cantatas of that period; and the
instrumental bass usually imitates the phrases of the arioso.
Moreover, Bach invariably gives the first line of litany to
the soprano alone, with a busy accompaniment on the
organ ; and it is only on the cry, " Erhor uns, lieber Herre
Gott" — "O hear us, Father, hear our cry!" — that the chorus
and all the instruments come in. Telemann makes shorter
work of it, and brings his full chorus in immediately after
the recitative. The text throughout is on too large a scale,
and in parts full of the dryest moralising. For this reason
Telemann certainly achieves a more pleasing general effect
by passing more rapidly over the solo passages than Bach,
who revelled and lost himself in musical depths. Telemann
set the next aria to a pleasing composition for the tenor in
D minor (the leading key is A minor), which has more
value and purpose than any aria in his Christmas cantata,
though it is merely a simple melody, with only violins to
accompany it. This is how it begins : —
4kz^:
Mein
3 1 — g — — I —
See - len - schatz ist
Got - t
es Wort.
— L. — _ ! — J 3 1
1 — | 1
Still it sinks into nothingness by the side of the extreme
originality and sparkling freshness of Bach's music. He
499
selected the soprano voice and the key of E flat major,
which after the persistent minor of the foregoing section is
doubly refreshing. The accompaniment rests with the
organ and all four violas in unison, an effect which Bach
did not invent,198 but to which he gave peculiar piquancy by
four-foot stops — that is to say, by requiring the flutes to
carry it out in the higher octave. This complicated accom-
paniment is combined with a splendid melody for the voice,
full of joy and assurance. Here the soprano lightly breasts
the dark waves of the swaying violins and flutes. Here
again they seem to give a tremulous reflection of its form —
now the parts fly asunder in joyful haste ; then again they
combine in a happy rocking motion. We shall yet learn
something of the sentiment of similar arias in the Easter
cantata, to be spoken of shortly, and the Advent cantata of
1714 ; but any one who has in some degree familiarised
himself with the character of the different periods of Bach's
career as a composer cannot overlook the fact that here
again we have that spring-tide freshness which comes but
once in a man's lifetime ; in later years the master com-
pensated for its loss by greater breadth, depth, and maturity,
but he could never return to it.
The final chorale is harmonised by Telemann with sim-
plicity and dignity, and is only marred by this incompre-
hensible and impish figure in the bass : —
Bach's setting, simply in four parts, and supported by all the
instruments, displays that marvellous wealth and bold inde-
pendence in the progression of the parts which must have
grown out of his mastery of the organ, and by which he is
at once distinguishable from all the composers who at that
time set chorales for voice parts. While they generally
added the chorale for mere custom's sake, slightly and super-
198 Mattheson, Neueroffnete Orchestre (Hamburg, 1713)^. 283 : " There are
many whole arias with accompaniment of Violette all' Unisono, which sound
very strange, because of the depth of the accompaniment."
2 K 2
5OO JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
ficially treated, we find Bach throwing himself with fresh
vigour and delight into the work of elaborating the simple
subjects of a chorale. Others, who could only effect a super-
ficial union of the secular types of music with the uses of
the church could, of course, neither fully understand nor
care for the chorale, with which it soon became the universal
custom to close all sacred cantatas. Indeed, viewed from the
musical standpoint alone, it was somewhat dry and devoid of
artistic effect, when a work claimed to avail itself of all the
various forms at that time known — more or less — only to
dwindle off into a commonplace hymn-tune in four parts.
But to the hearts of the congregation the chorale, simple as
it was, was still the most significant and important form of
vocal music ; and Bach, by devoting to its development his
utmost care, proved by that how truly he, and he alone, had
the right feeling for church music. The closing chorale was
the modest vessel in which the whole essence of the cantata
was to be collected ; and it was a labour of honour, and worthy
of the artist, to preserve it with loving care, and to cover it
with emblematic decorations. Strangely enough, in these
later days many critics have opined that the congregation
joined in the final chorale. Then, indeed, Bach might
have saved himself his artistic labours. To any one who
can appreciate the church cantata as a real form of art, it
will be inconceivable how any one can even imagine the
possibility of such a naturalistic travesty. It cannot even
be admitted that the choir of singers represents an ideal
congregation. In church music it does not signify in the
least who it is that sings ; what is sung and how is the only
question. We may here also contravene the error — which,
indeed, Bach's own son helped to establish by editing his
father's chorale treatments separately — and which regards
these chorale settings as complete and independent master-
pieces somewhat analogous to Hassler's four-part hymns.199
They were merely conceived of as the keystone of the
i» " Kirchengesang : | Psalmen vnd geistliche Lieder, | auff die gemeynen
Melodeyen mit vier Stimmen simpliciter gesetzt, | durch Hanns Leo Hassler,"
#c. Niirnberg, 1608. A new edition by G. W. Teschner. Trautwein, Berlin,
CANTATA, " ICH WEISS DASS MEIN ERLOSER. 50!
cantata, giving to it its full significance, and demanding,
as such, the brilliancy and support given by the associa-
tion of instruments. They are altogether too bold in the
treatment of the parts for a cappella singing, and sound
forced and heavy, although individual movements, if well
performed, might have a very striking effect.
The text which Bach chose from Neumeister's first series
is intended for Easter Sunday. That it should have been
written earlier than when he was in Weimar is extremely
improbable, and certain particularly fine passages and re-
markable features seem to indicate that it was written even
later than the two cantatas of the third cycle.200 If so, the
performance must be dated as April 16, 1713, or April I,
1714. It is throughout a solo cantata for the tenor, and
probably the first of the kind that Bach composed.201 No
instruments are employed but the organ, with a bassoon to
strengthen the bass, and a solo violin. The text, like all
those of the series for that year, is exclusively Neumeister's
own writing, and consists of three arias and two recita-
tives. The first two arias are written in the same metre, and
separated by the first recitative, and Bach has set to each a
different air, unlike the Christmas cantata. The whole com-
position exhibits that union of tender sentiment and fresh
vitality which we have already admired in the Sexagesima
cantata. The first aria has a particularly sustained character.
It is an elegant detail when the principal motive, brought in
again by the ritornel —
recurs, as at first in the voice part, in augmentation —
,. , s — •> "^~V- _/• — -
Ich weiss dass mein Er - 16 - ser lebt.
6 6
200 See on this subject App. A, No. 20.
201 The owner of this precious unpublished MS. is Dr. Rust, of Leipzig. It is
n autograph copy by Bach's disciple, Heinrich Nicholaus Gerber, but shows
5O2 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
a real flower opening from the bud, and suggested perhaps
to the master by the words of the text —
Faith blooms into assurance :
I know that my Redeemer lives.
The second time the subject appears in its simple form
again ; but in its farther progress it gives rise to turns and
subtleties of every kind. The poet had supplied very suit-
able words for the succeeding recitative, having once more
briefly referred to all the history of the Passion of our Lord
from the beginning till the Resurrection, in phrases of ad-
mirable significance and brevity, indicating at the same
time the reverent pity of the Christian soul. What Bach
made out of this is a real gem of stirring declamation and
glorious melodic flow. In proof of this we here give just
the beginning. No one can listen unmoved to the expressive
character of the last two bars, with the suspended seventh,
and the transition into F major : —
r-r-
Er lebt, und ist von Tod - ten auf - er - stan - den,
6 6
5^ : 1 ,
— U-
hier
—& ^
=£=£={
^ ^ J C — 5—
- auf be - ruht der Gi
6
und, der als
ein
Pels
6
den
fe-
sten
Glau-ben
(6)
tragt zur Hoff - nung mei - ner Se - lig - keit.
7
The accents of creation, "travailing and groaning," are hit
no great care ; from bar 33 of the first aria two bars are missing ; however, it
is very easy to reconstruct them from the ritornel at the beginning; but in many
places the text is wrong or unintelligible. Two deviations from it seem,
however, to have originated with Bach himself, namely, those in bar 37 of the
first recitative and the beginning of the second.
" ICH WEISS DASS MEIN ERLOSER LEBT." 503
with wonderful realism on the words " folgt ich halbtodt bis
Golgotha im nach"— " Half-dead, I followed Him to Gol-
gotha,"— and the very expression of piercing anguish is found
in the emphasis on the lines " Hab ich So manchen Stich Mit
Ach und Weh empfunden, Da man sein Haupt mit Dornen
stach " — "And when His brows were pierced with thorny
crown of anguish, I felt as many pangs as He," and all
merely by simple contrivances of melody and harmony,
without any special aid from the instruments. Once only
is a certain richness of colouring given to the idea of " tears
of joy " by musical appliances, and in fact this is a true
climax. Arioso settings there are none, perhaps because
the composer did not wish to extend any farther the already
long recitative. The second aria, which, as well as the third,
is in C major, sings in ardent tones of the saving power of
the resurrection of Christ, and already shows a broader
stream of melody than other airs of the same kind in the
earlier cantatas. The voice part already bears to the instru-
mental parts a relation approximate to that of a first among
equals, which is the ideal of Bach's sacred aria. It was not
customary to devise any prominently new idea for the middle
sections of the aria, and even Bach followed the rule, and in
this place used some of the previous material for new elabo-
rations. It is interesting to note how, in this part of the air,
the motive from which, properly speaking, the whole aria is
developed —
lies in the bass, where it is busily worked out, though the air
itself scarcely refers to it at all.
There is still another passage worth noticing, where the
voice part, after a full close on the dominant, returns to the
leading key through a jubilant passage, helped out by the
chief phrase : —
(mein Erloser) lebt 1 ........
A perfectly similar passage occurs in the cantata "Ach ich
504
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
sehe, jetzt da ich zur Hochzeit gehe," of the year 1715
(duet, bar 25); and as this transition is very unusual with
Bach, it seems to suggest the idea that these cantatas must
have been written at no very long interval of time. The
following recitative shows at the beginning how admirably
Bach knew how to avail himself of the contrast between
recitative and arioso for purposes of expression : —
al - len Teu - feln Trutz, mein Held
The final aria is equal to the others in merit. We might
perhaps have expected, and particularly from Bach, a deeper
expression of feeling in music written to words which express
the desire to be united to Jesus in heaven ; but the idea of
producing a steady intensification of vehemence running
through all the arias appears to have governed throughout.
We may regard these three cantatas for Christmas, Sexa-
gesima and Easter as so many successful attempts by Bach
to master and appropriate the forms of the newer church
cantata. Not that they have no other value ! At the
eminence where Bach was already standing there could be
no further question of mere experimental study. Still,
neither of the three shows us all Bach's mastery over every
aspect of the requisite technique. The first is still defective
in the treatment of the aria and chorale, and is generally
the least important ; the second starts with a strong flight,
but no broad choral forms are developed ; the last is in
every respect admirable, though merely a solo piece.
We shall soon, however, make acquaintance with a sacred
composition which not only exhibits a masterly combination
i3ACH*S MATURE INDIVIDUALITY OF STYLE. 505
of all forms, but also proves that by the year 1714 Bach had
already perfectly established the style which we must call
his own, and which at the same time stands by itself as the
sole representative of the sacred style of the period. By this
we must understand the perfect amalgamation of all vocal
music with the methods derived from organ music, after the
organ had itself extended its domain by contributions from
chamber music. Its influence is most directly traceable in
choral music — both in that which is freely treated, generally
fugally, and in the chorus with a chorale ; less as establish-
ing its proportion than as determining the specific characters
in the aria and its allied forms for several solo voices , where,
as a result of its polyphonic association with obbligato in-
struments, the human voice is compelled to renounce its in-
dividuality to the utmost. Again, in the arioso, by the canon
treatment of the bass, which has become almost a rule ; and
finally in the recitative, by asserting and upholding the laws
of instrumental — that is, pure music in the strict sense.
Even in the instrumental sinfonia the organ style asserts its
invigorating spirit ; in the forms borrowed from chamber or
operatic music, as well as in that which was the last off-
shoot of Gabrieli's sacred sonata. With regard to solo-
singing, the difference we find between the last noble
cantatas of the older type and those of the new is that
between a less and a greater perfection of form ; but this
must be considered as referring not only to Bach's pro-
ductions, but to the general ideal of form at the period.
The medium which the master had by this time created
for the utterance of his ideas underwent no further essential
modification during the remaining thirty-six years of his life.
Those differences which we may yet observe in the distinct
periods of his work proceed from the constantly expanding
scope of the artist's sentiments, sympathies, and views of
life ; they are differences of import, and as the thing he had
to say constantly expanded the form in which it had to be
said, it always found the fittest to meet its requirements.
If we reflect that Bach's indefatigable energy had only
just begun really to work in the field of sacred cantata-
writing, we shall recognise in this rapid evolution of
506 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
a form so ample and perfect — every member of which he
had to mould afresh from insufficient and heterogeneous
models — a revelation of a marvellous creative power, com-
parable only to the thaumaturgic forces of nature. Since,
however, a form without substance is inconceivable, and
since the two exist in inseparable reciprocity, we see the
reason why the cantatas of the later type bear a relation to
human feeling so different from those of the earlier. They
speak a clearer and more emphatic language ; the will
asserts its rights as well as the emotions. At first we still
meet here and there with accents of that earlier speech ; its
echoes often float past like the tones of a harp from some
vanished land of enchantment; but soon these romantic
chords are hushed, and the music marches steadily on
without any melancholy regrets towards the solemn goal of
riper manhood.
The cantata here indicated is the first of the fourth cycle
of Neumeister's poetry, and intended for the First Sunday
in Advent. The date 1714 is moreover written by Bach
himself on the title-page ; so, according to this, it must have
been performed on December 2.202 Connected with this
cantata is an interesting biographical incident to which I
shall recur presently. Also, in order to come to a musical
analysis of this composition, we must for the present pass
over another cantata written earlier, and which has all the
technical merits of the Advent music, but which from many
points of view belongs to another place.
The text is in every respect admirable ; it is one of the
best that Neumeister wrote. Two chorales begin and end it :
at the beginning we have the first verse of the Advent hymn
of St. Ambrose, "Veni, Redemptor genitum" — "Come, O
Saviour of the nations." The close consists of the second
section of the last verse of " How brightly shines the morn-
ing star ! " The first recitative reminds us of the importance
to the Church of Christ's incarnation, the final aria implores
208 B.-G., XVI., No. 61. The original MS., for the most part autograph, !i
written with extreme care, and all the bars are marked off with a ruler. In the
Royal Library at Berlin.
CANTATA, " NUN KOMM DER HEIDEN HEILAND." 507
His merciful presence during the new ecclesiastical year.
The feeling of the piece is diverted into personal sentiment
by the beautiful mystical words from the Book of Revelation
(iii. 20) ; in a new aria the heart of the worshipper opens to
receive the coming Saviour, and this idea is then expressed
by the whole congregation in the chorale which immediately
follows. Thus the whole poem falls naturally into two con-
trasting groups of three sections in each. How clearly Bach
had seized the suggestion thus offered is at once proved by
his choice of keys ; in the first group A minor and C major, in
the second E minor and G major. The separate images are
planned and worked out with the utmost care and tender-
ness. The first chorus is an instance of the unusual com-
bination of a chorale with the French overture; it is evident
that this could only be possible after the transition of this
strictly instrumental form through the medium of the organ ;
and in fact the first part corresponds very closely to an
adaptation to the organ of a cantus firmus; while in the
second part, which is fugal, the overture was appropriate to
the organ as it stood. Only quite distinctly constructed
verses could be suited to such a mode of arrangement ; but
Bach must have seen very plainly that the results reached
would bear no proportion to the trouble to be expended on it,
and that the French overture had no special feature which
the organ did not already possess in a better and more
fertile form in the prelude and fugue. However, the com-
bination is carried out with remarkable skill. The two first
lines, " Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, der Jungfrauen Kind
erkannt " — " Come, 0 Saviour of the nations, the Virgin-
born art Thou," — come in with the grave and ponderous first
part of the overture ; the upper instruments march on in a
dotted rhythm ; the organ, bassoon, and double-bass play the
melody, which is next transferred to the soprano, and from
thence to the alto in the fifth above ; then again, after a
moderately long interlude, to the tonic in the tenors, and
again to the fifth in the bass. The parts then combine on the
.second line, and bar 32 passes on to the next section, " Des
sich wundert alle Welt" — "Wonderful to all the world."
The melody set to this serves as the theme for an effective
508 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
and flowing fugue in 3-4 time,203 full of a grand and
healthy severity, and reverting according to custom to the
first subject, supplemented by the last line of the chorale,
" Gott solch Geburt ihm bestellt." Bach has given the
melody a singularly modern cast by raising the third note
of the first and last lines, by which means the key of A
minor is sharply insisted on from the very beginning; but a
melodic interval, forbidden in all laws of diatonic writing —
the diminished fourth— is the result : —
The same feature recurs in an organ arrangement of this
chorale by Nik. Bruhns, which Bach probably knew.204 The
G sharp, however, so took possession of his ear that it
led him into a fresh piece of daring in the fugal movement,
where he introduces this imitation : —
In a later cantata he returned to the original form in treating
this same chorale. 205 The matter finds a real explanation
in Bach's personal attitude as regards the church tones, to
which reference will be made later on.
The first recitative, which passes into a melodious and
highly developed arioso, gives us at the beginning a con-
spicuous proof of how completely the musical spirit predomi-
nated in Bach over the dramatic. Neumeister wrote : —
Der Heiland ist gekommen,
Hat unser armes Fleisch und Blut
An sich genommen.
On earth, with man abiding,
The Saviour comes in flesh and blood.
His Godhead hiding.
Bach treats the first period in the regular manner, but ends
the second after the word "Fleisch," and gives "und Blut"
aos With the indication "gaij," probably an abbreviation of " gaicment" or
gayement."
»<* Commer, Musica Sacra, I., No. 6. 205 B.-G., XVI., No. 62.
" NUN KOMM DER HEIDEN HEILAND. 509
to the following phrase — altogether wrong as regards decla-
mation. But if we consider the sequence of the notes we
perceive that this method gives rise to three musical phrases
of equal magnitude, of which the first and third have a softer,
gentler flow, while the middle one is stronger and more
vigorous, so as to constitute a small cycle of beautiful sym-
metry. The faults in declamation may be easily altered
and then the charm is thrown into relief, which the ear
confesses in hearing a due balance of parts. It is the
singer's duty to mitigate the defective declamation by a
certain subtlety in the rendering, without disturbing the
musical structure. The tenor aria, " Komm, Jesu, komm zu
deiner Kirche " — " Come, Lord, O come into Thy temple,"
— is full of exquisite melody. The voice part is supported
by an independently flowing continuo with four strings in
unison (two violins and two violas), and their yield-
ing body of sound fitly clothes the tender gravity of the
subject. Bach, led astray perhaps by its charm, has let the
voice sink more into the background than it ought; a ritornel
of noble breadth first displays the real melodic material,
even while the voice is employed almost all the chief portion
of the melody is given to the violins, although the poetic
element is so far respected that the words of the text are
quite clearly distinguishable ; and then the whole ritornel is
once more repeated, so that it recurs four times including
the da capo. In the second portion of the aria certainly the
oversight is made good — still it is not important enough.
Apart from this deficiency it is a masterpiece in Bach's
own style. It may give some idea of the fulness of the
melodic flow to say that through fifty bars in 9-8 time, as
far as the beginning of the second section, there are only
three real full closes.
With the next recitative a fresh mood is struck: " Behold,
I stand at the door and knock," &c. (the words of Revela-
tion iii. 20). Christ is at hand, and blessedness awaits those
who welcome His coming. But Bach did not mean to
express this Advent thought alone ; he goes deeper than this,
and has infused the whole import of the Apocalypse into the
ten bars set to these words. Anxious waiting breathes out
5IO JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
of the pizzicato chords on the violins, which mark the passing
of time with steady regularity, like the swings of a pen-
dulum, and measure the hours till the expected One shall
come ; they begin, too, in a very characteristic manner on
the unprepared chord of the seventh, as if they had gone on
so from eternity. The words are sung by the bass — in no
sense a dramatic impersonation of Christ, any more than in
another cantata the bass singer is supposed to represent the
Holy Spirit.206 It is only the medium of utterance: the
instrument best fitted to the purpose here aimed at. How
peculiar and picturesque is this phrase, as embodying a feeling
above all others transcendentally superhuman : —
Und klo - - pfe an
Tasteless as it might perhaps have been if Telemann or
Stolzel had taken it in hand, here it is grandiose, standing
as it does in the foreground of such a stupendous per-
spective of feeling. Bars 4 and 5 again would be a failure
in the declamatory sense, with the emphasis —
mt
So Je - mand mei - ne Stim-me ho - ren wird
if the pen of the master had not infused into it an ideal
quite apart from the logical distribution of the accent in the
words ; if it were not treated as a watchman's cry, sounding
awfully and mysteriously through the night with a warning
to wake up from sleep, and stand like the five wise virgins
ready for the moment of departing. Thus a sinister and
lurid glow as of the Last Judgment is cast over the joyful
glory of the festival. But it soon turns to the purest radiance :
the Lord is welcomed with childlike devotion. This is
expressed in the aria in G major, " Oeffne dich, mein ganzes
Herze " — " Open wide, my joyful Spirit," — which contrasts
with the recitative. Yea, that is the true Advent blessedness
which no human being can ever forget whose childhood has
B.-G. xii., 2, No. 60.
" WER MICH LIEBET " : FIRST SETTING. $11
not been absolutely bereft of all religious influences ; that is
the feeling with which the soul filled with the tender and
mighty images of the Gospel of the Advent looks forward to
Christmas ! The soprano alone utters its childlike rejoicing
in a triumphant melody, to the accompaniment of the organ
and a supporting violoncello; the simplest means alone could
be admitted here. This motive, however —
Oeff - ne dich
is treated with a subtle delicacy which may be divined from
the bass. Bach, as usual, has not left us the organ ritornel
and the figured-bass accompaniment to the vocal part. It
was usual to derive the materials for the ritornels exclusively
from the motives of the songs, so that their main features
were never difficult to recognise, and this is the case here ;
the details are left to the good taste of the writer who under-
takes their restoration. The chorus comes in emphatically:
" Amen, amen ! Komm, du schone Freudenkrone " — " Amen,
amen ! Come, thou glorious crown of blessing, do not tarry.
I await thee full of longing." This is the first chorus on a
chorale in Pachelbel's manner which we meet with in Bach.
When this flood of sound poured forth from the body of the
organ it must have seemed as though the church were filled
with a glory of pure light. The violins in unison take an
independent course ; from the eighth bar onwards they wave
their wings up and down in semiquavers, and rise at last to the
g'" — a height at that time rarely hazarded — as if soaring into
the empyrean: an anticipation of one of the most famous
points in the Credo in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.207
There still remains a second cantata which Bach set
to music, taking the text from the fourth series of the
Fiinffache Kirchen-Andachten. It belongs to Whit-Sunday,
May 31, I7i6.208 Bach did not set the whole of Neumeister's
207 Mattheson (Neu eroffnetes Orchestre, p. 281) says of the violin that it has
a compass of two and a half octaves, " excepting in some few cases when it is
carried up to the g"'t thus making three octaves, which however no assistant
can do" — i.e., none but a master.
806 B.-G., XII., 2, No. 59. See App. A, No. 22.
512 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
poem, but he thought a part of the music worthy of extension
and elaboration so long as nineteen years later. The first
movement consists of a duet for soprano and bass, " Wer
mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten " — " He that loves
Me, he will keep My saying," — and it is interesting on account
of its highly artistic polyphonic treatment, though it is not
marked by strong melodic feeling. Of all the instruments,
namely, the organ, string quartet, two trumpets and drums,
it is only the last and the viola that do not work out inde-
pendent passages on their own account. The form is taken
from the Italian concerto, and we must be familiar with this,
or the repeated closes and recommencements with the same
leading idea will seem strange and unpleasing. In dealing
with the Bible text the da capo form was hardly possible ;
that here selected offered the opportunity for enhancing the
idea it expresses as a whole by a succession of new combina-
tions and richer harmonies up to the very end, and this was
undoubtedly the most proper method. A recitative follows,
to which the stringed instruments, as well as the organ, play
an accompaniment in long-drawn chords. This method,
which we have already met with in the Sexagesima cantata,
is very remarkable in Bach's recitative. It hinders the
primary and dramatic purpose of recitative, which, as such,
only requires a musical fulcrum in the form of short chords,
or at most, in emotional passages, an harmonic modulation,
with perhaps some illustrative interludes. But this accom-
paniment wraps the voice in a close veil of harmony, so that
it cannot for an instant forget that its final cause is pre-emi-
nently musical. It is, as we cannot fail to see at once, an
imitation of organ technique. The recitative finds an issue
in the Whitsuntide chorale, " Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre
Gott" — "Come, Holy Spirit, God and Lord," — magnificently
set, and the only chorale number of the whole work. Then
follows a bass aria, with a violin, of a warm melodious cha-
racter, which in its trio-like plan is more perfect in style
than the tenor aria of the Advent cantata, since the voice
part has the prominent position that is due to its importance.
A particularly pleasing effect is produced when the melody
of the two first lines is repeated to other words in the first
BACH'S OCCASIONAL JOURNEYS. 513
section of a hymn in verses ; it is a delightful amalgamation
of this form with that of the Italian aria. Bach's cantata ends
here, though Neumeister supplies the text for three more
numbers — a verse of a chorale, a Bible verse (Rom. xv. 13),
and words for an aria. It seems to me doubtful whether
Bach did not end the chorale with the third verse, from
" Erhalt uns, Herr bei deinem Wort " — or at any rate
intend to end it there; there exists in MS. some slight
trace of such an intention. The reason why he left the rest
unset lay undoubtedly in its indifferent adaptation to musical
purposes ; for the condition of the autograph gives no ground
for believing that any part of it has been lost.
V.
BACH'S VISITS TO VARIOUS TOWNS. — SOME OF HIS PUPILS.
THE journeys made by Bach with a view to his advance-
ment in art brought some variety into the quiet and
monotony of his labours as a composer and the fulfilment of
his official duties. If I am not mistaken, he was wont for
some time to make a longer or shorter excursion in the
autumn of every year, in order to play on the organ at
different courts, or in the larger towns, and also to conduct
in person performances of the cantatas he had composed.
We have proof of several such journeys; one was to the
court of Cassel. The opera was at that time flourishing
greatly there, under the patronage of Karl, Landgrave of
Hesse Cassel ; in 1701 Ruggiero Fedeli had been appointed
capellmeister ; Lucia Bandarini, Cristina Maria Avolio, A.
Noleati, Laura Valetta, are the names of the female singers
at the time; of the men we find the names of two — Albertini
and a certain Pierri. The salaries of the singers were fairly
good, though not to compare with those given in Dresden,209
809 One named Salbey received about 1,300 gulden. It was probably in 1710
that Madelaine du Salvay was appointed in Dresden, where she had a salary of
2,000 thalers (Fiirstenau, Geschichte der Musik und des Theaters zu Dresden,
II., p. 135).
2 L
514 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
and the ladies had, besides, sedan-chairs provided to take
them to the opera-house, delicacies for the table, presents in
money, hundreds of thalers in compensation for travelling
expenses, residence rent-free, furniture for their apartments,
&c. The capellmeister's income amounted to about 1,000
gulden, and to this 600 thalers were added — later indeed 700
— for two male sopranos. The court organist, Karl Miiller,
on the other hand, received, besides his court emoluments,
only 140 gulden, which was not raised to 200 thalers until
ten years later. One of the best German violin-players of
the time, Johann Adam Birkenstock, in whom the court took
a particular interest, and who was concertmeister at Cassel
from the year 1725, nevertheless received no more than 200
thalers and emoluments.210
It would appear indeed that it was less the Landgrave him-
self that attracted Bach to Cassel than the Crown Prince
Friedrich, afterwards King of Sweden. A basis was afforded
by the relationship existing between the two courts ; the
mother of the musical Crown Prince was a Princess of
Hesse Homburg. In 1695 the Landgrave Karl, with the
Crown Prince and some Princesses of Hesse, had paid a
visit of several days to Weimar,211 and in July of the same
year August Kiihnel, at that time deputy capellmeister to
Duke Wilhelm Ernst, was invited to be capellmeister at
the court of Cassel.212 Bach's journey must have taken
place before the end of the year 1714, his primary object
being the trial of the newly restored organ. On this occa-
sion, in obedience to the wish of the Crown Prince, he
played the organ to him alone, and so filled him with
astonishment and admiration by his marvellous execution of
a pedal solo that the prince drew from his finger a ring set
with precious stones and presented it to the master. " His
feet flew over the pedal-board as if they had wings, and the
210 I derive this from data in the Acts preserved in the royal archives at
Marburg.
211 Gottschalg, Geschichte, p. 286.
212 Document at Marburg. He must have been deputy, since the office of
capellmeister was held by Samuel Drese, and another deputy was appointed in
1695-
BACH INVITED TO HALLE. 515
ponderous and ominous tones pierced the ear of the hearer
like a flash of lightning or clap of thunder ; and if the skill
of his feet alone earned him such a gift, what would the
prince have given him if he had used his hands as well ? "
So writes an intelligent admirer of art in 1743, when speaking
of this incident. We know no more, however, of Bach's
stay in Cassel.218
In the autumn of 1713 we find him in Halle. It is doubt-
ful whether he did not stop there on his way back from some
longer expedition. Just at this time a large organ had been
erected there in the church of the Holy Virgin — Liebfrauen-
kirche — by Christoph Cuncius, of Halberstadt, after the old
organ had fallen into utter ruin. The new one had sixty-
three sounding stops. Bach had probably heard of it, and
the great interest he took in organ-building may have led
him to Halle principally on that account. At any rate it is
certain that he performed there with the greatest success.
The post of organist at this church had remained vacant
ever since the death of F. W. Zachau (August 14, 1712),
and it seemed only waiting for Bach to offer himself: the
prospect of working on this fine instrument, so infinitely
superior to that at Weimar, must have been tempting. A
part of it was to be ready for use by the following Easter ;
he therefore presented himself at once, before leaving the
town, before the church authorities, and announced his will-
ingness to accept the appointment. They, on their part,
did not hesitate to seize the opportunity, and as part of the
organist's duties consisted in composing music and con-
ducting church music, the chief preacher of the church — one
Dr. Heineccius — pressed him to submit at once to the pre-
scribed tests. Bach arranged for a prolongation of his stay,
composed a cantata forthwith, and conducted the perform-
ance ; then he set out homewards, for time was pressing.
The elders of the church of Halle were very polite to the
Weimar organist, and they never doubted but that, under the
circumstances, he would esteem himself lucky in the posses-
sion of such a post. Although they separated without any
813 See App. A, No. 24.
2 L 2
516 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
decisive agreement, they sent him before Christmas a "call"
regularly drawn up in duplicate copies for his signature.
Meanwhile Bach had notified to the Duke that he was in
treaty with Halle. The Duke would have been sorry to
see him depart, and indeed Bach himself was not altogether
satisfied with the salary and conditions of the new appoint-
ment. Still he clung to the idea, expecting that the Chapter
would take his personal wishes into consideration ; he there-
fore returned one copy unsigned, at the end of a few weeks,
keeping the other, however, in sign that he was in earnest
about the matter, and promising to formulate his demands
precisely as soon as possible ; and if they could come to an
understanding to return to Halle, and sign and seal then
and there. This is the letter he wrote : —
Most Noble, Most Respected Sir,214—
I have duly received your favour with the vocation in duplicate ; I am
greatly obliged to you for sending it, as I esteem it a happiness that
the whole of your most noble Collegium condescend to call me, your
humble servant, who had determined to follow the guidance of God
shown in this vocation. Still, most honoured sir, I beg you not to take it
amiss that I could not hitherto notify to you my final resolution, by reason
that I have not yet received my final dimission, and (2) because in one
or two things I should be glad of some alteration both as to the salary
and also as to the service, all of which shall be specified in writing this
week. Meanwhile I remit to you one exemplar ; and since I have not
yet received my entire dimission, I pray you, most honoured sir, not to
take it ill that still, at this time, I cannot engage myself, by subscribing
my name or otherwise, before I am actually out of service. And so
soon as we shall be agreed as to my station [work and pay] I will
present myself in person, by my signature to prove that I have really
and truly intended to bind myself to your service. Meanwhile, most
honoured sir, I would beg you to commend me most respectfully to all
the elders of the church, and to make my excuses for that want of time
has hitherto not possibly allowed of my giving in any categorical resolu-
tion ; for certain preparations at court for the prince's birthday,215 and
also the regular church services, have not suffered it; but it shall, with-
out fail, be done circumstantially this week. I received your favour with
214 The address of the letter is wanting, but it was undoubtedly sent to A.
Becker, Licentiate, to whom Bach's other letters on this occasion were addressed.
He was a member of the church committee.
216 Johann Ernst, born December 26, 1696. The vocation was dated Decem*
ber 14, 1713.
BACH'S LETTERS TO HALLE. 517
all due respect, and I hope the illustrious Collegium of the church will
be graciously pleased to remove certain difficulties which appear. In
the hope of an early and happy issue, I remain, most noble and most
honoured sir,
Your devoted servant,
Weimar, January 14, 1714. JOH. SEBAST. BACH.316
The second and more explicit letter must certainly have
followed this very shortly, but the church committee would
not hear of any alterations in the conditions of the appoint-
ment, and desired Bach to send back the document of
vocation if he was not satisfied with its contents. This he
did ; and the citizens of Halle were now mean enough to
declare that he had only opened the negotiation in order to
extort some additional advantages in Weimar. Such treat-
ment must have infuriated Bach all the more because his
salary at the ducal court had for a long time been higher
than that offered to him in Halle. The income from the
Liebfrauenkirche amounted in all only to 171 thalers 12 ggr.
— irrespective of unestimated perquisites — while in his old
place Bach had been receiving ever since the previous Easter
the sum of 225 gulden ( = 196 thalers 21 ggr.). It was by
abstract advantages that he had been tempted, as he had
been once before from Arnstadt to Miihlhausen, and his con-
ditions seem to have been modest enough on both occasions.
But that a man should have an ideal, or any but sordid
motives, seems to have been incomprehensible to the elders
of the church : they judged Bach by the standard of an
avaricious artisan. However, he was not the man to swallow
such an affront in silence. He wrote an answer which leaves
nothing to be desired as regards clearness and a determined
attitude : —
Most Noble, Illustrious, and Learned, Most Honoured Sir, —
That the very worshipful Collegium should be surprised at my refusal of
the post of organist, of which — as they suppose — I was ambitious, does
not at all surprise me, for I perceive that they can have considered the
matter very little. They suppose that I greatly desired the above-men-
tioned post of organist, while nothing could be farther from my mind. This
216 The reader who is interested in the quaint originals of Bach's letters is
referred to the German of Herr Spitta's work.
518 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
much I know, that I offered myself, and that the most worshipful Collegium
much desired me ; for I, after having presented myself, was minded to
travel away at once, when I received Dr. Heineccius' command; and
politely remained, though I was not compelled, to compose and conduct
the piece you know of. Moreover, it is not to be presumed that a man
should go to a place where he injures his position. This, however, I
could not accurately ascertain in from fourteen days to three weeks, for
I am quite of opinion that a man cannot ascertain what his wages are
in any place — as the perquisites must be reckoned as part of the pay —
even in a few years, much less in fourteen days ; and this is in some
degree the reason why I accepted the nomination, and on the ground of
my (unsatisfied) desires gave it up. Still, from all this, it is a long way
to concluding that I have played a trick on the worshipful Collegium in
order to move my gracious master here to increase my salary, since his
highness has already shown so much favour to me and my art that I had
no need to travel to Halle for an increase of salary. Thus I regret that
the certain conviction of the most worshipful Collegium should have led
to such a very uncertain issue ; and to this I would add : Even if I were
to get as good payment in Halle as here in Weimar, should I not still
be bound to prefer the former service to the new ? You, who under-
stand law and equity may best judge of this; and I would venture to
request you to lay this my justification before the most worshipful
Collegium, and remain, most honoured sir, yours obediently,
JOH. SEE. BACH,
Weimar, March 19, 1714. Concertmeister and Court Organist.
[Addressed]
A Monsieur | Monsieur A. Becker | Licentie en Droit. Mon | tres honore
Ami a | Halle | [in the lower left-hand corner :] p. couvert.
That he was fully justified in boasting of the duke's
benevolence we already know, from the steady increase in
Bach's salary during many years. At the beginning of 1714
his income was again increased, so that it now amounted to
264 giilden.217 The words that " he had no need to travel to
Halle for an increase of salary " prove that without this cir-
217 The whole expenditure for chamber music from Michaelmas, 1713, to
1714, " 232 florins 10 ggr. 6 pf. To the concertmeister and court organist, Job.
Seb. Bach :—
53 fl- 15 ggr- 9 P^ to Crucis J ^
53 » I5 »» 9 »» i» Luciae j ' 3*
62 „ 10 ,, 6 „ „ Reminiscere ) „
62 „ 10 „ 6 „ „ Trinity ) 7 4
And besides this 12 fl. for wood and 2 fl. from the foundation. In another list
of payments (under " Court and household expenses : Miscellanea ") we find this
notice, " Concertmeister Bach, 18 bushels of corn."
A PERFORMANCE AT LEIPZIG. 5*9
cumstance a further increase of payment was in view, and
indeed must have been in consequence of the addition to his
duties. For at the same time he took the place of concert -
meister, whose place it was then, as it is at the present day,
to lead the orchestra, playing the first violin. Drese's ad-
vanced age and infirmity must have obliged him altogether
to give up this post, and with it the lead in chamber music ;
for Bach subsequently had to take part of the duties of the
capellmeister as well.
At the beginning of December we find him in Leipzig,
where, on the First Sunday in Advent, being the second day
of the month, he conducted a performance of the cantata,
" Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland," in the church either of
St. Thomas or St. Nicholas, and led the whole service as
organist. This journey, like the one he made years before
to Halle, was undertaken from purely artistic motives; he no
more thought of seeking a new appointment now than he had
then. He may have been more particularly prompted by a
desire to make acquaintance with Kuhnau, whose works had
not been wholly without influence on his mind and its develop-
ment, and perhaps to make known to him the full extent oi
his own powers. In order not to lose his way in the involved
order of the service, he noted it with his own hand on the
inside of the cantata score.218 Here he found ample opportunity
for showing his skill on the organ. He opened the service
with a prelude, followed by a motett; then came a prelude to
the Kyrie. After the intonation by the preacher in front of
the altar, the reading of the epistle, and the singing of the
litany, came the prelude to the chief chorale, in which he
could display his skill in chorale arrangement. Then the
gospel was read ; and next Bach introduced the chief music
(Hauptmusik), which on this occasion was his own cantata,
by a prelude on the organ. After the sermon followed the
communion, with another prelude to a chorale, and finally he
818 The note is given in the preface to the cantata ; it is by this alone that we
know of Bach's journey to Leipzig. It is evident that it was not inserted later,
when Bach was cantor at Leipzig, because he entered on his office there in the
spring of 1723, and by Advent of that year could certainly no longer have
needed to make any note as to the order of the service.
520 JOHAtiN SEBASTIAN BACtt.
had to close the service, and here, again, could put forth all
his powers in an organ piece on the grandest scale. This
was the first visit he paid to the town where he was destined
to spend twenty-seven years — the most laborious of his
life.
Meanwhile, it began to be understood in Halle that the
accusations brought against Bach were wholly unfounded.
When at Easter, 1716, Cuncius had finished his work, after
three years' labour, Bach was invited to try it. It does the
elders of the church much honour that they should have en-
deavoured to make amends for their injustice; and the fact
that they trusted to his impartiality in spite of all that had
taken place shows the high opinion they must originally have
formed of his character. He was to be assisted in his judg-
ment byKuhnaUjfrom Leipzig, and Christian Friedrich Rolle,
of Quedlinburg, the father of the well-known church composer,
Johann Heinrich Rolle. The invitation was transmitted by
Becker, the licentiate, and the master was greatly pleased
and touched by it. He wrote a polite reply, which runs as
follows : —
Most Noble Gentlemen,
And you particularly, Highly Honoured Sir, —
I am deeply obliged by your honour's very particular and gracious
confidence, and by that of the whole very most honoured Collegium; and,
as I always find the greatest pleasure in waiting on your worship, I shall
now more than ever endeavour to make my services acceptable to your
worship, and to give satisfaction to the utmost in the examine required
of me. I would beg you accordingly to communicate this my resolution
to the most honoured Collegium without delay, and at the same time to
offer to them my most humble greeting, and my dutiful respects for the
special confidence with which they have favoured me.
I also beg to acknowledge with obedient gratitude all the trouble your
worship has been pleased to take for me in many ways up to this
time, and will take again ; and I shall have the greatest pleasure, so
long as I live, in subscribing myself, most honoured Sir,
Your worship's devoted servant,
JOH. SEE. BACH,
Concertmeister.
[Addressed to]
Herrn | Herrn Angusto Becker \ Bestmeritirten Licentiate Juris, \ Wie
auch der Kirchen B. M. Virginis \ fiirnehmen Vorstehern. Meinemj
insonders HochgeEhrtesten Herrn | in | Halle. |
TRIAL OP THE ORGAN At HALLE. 52!
The examination of the organ was fixed for the second
week after Easter, and was to begin on April 29. Kuhnau
wished it postponed for four days, for he was just then much
pressed with official duties; but the authorities at Halle
would not agree to this. The testimonial in writing which
was given by all three experts was altogether to the credit
of Cuncius, and the only essential defect pointed out was in
the arrangement of the bellows. The specification had been
exactly carried out in all essential points, and Halle could
henceforth boast of possessing one of the largest organs in
Germany.219 What effects Bach may have produced with
such an abundant variety of stops of course we cannot even
imagine; but even less able organists found themselves
helped and improved by the intelligent care bestowed on
the instrument — the three manuals being quite different in
character without either of them suffering any loss of fulness
and roundness of tone. It cost the church authorities much
trouble, however, to engage an organist worthy of the instru-
ment— the post was too ill-endowed. Melchior Hoffmann, of
Leipzig, who was treated with after Bach had left, likewise
refused. At last, by the middle of 1714, they came to an un-
derstanding with Gottfried Kirchhoff to take the post. He
was a contemporary of Bach (born in 1685), a pupil of
Zachau, and at that time organist at Quedlinburg. He
followed in the footsteps of Pachelbel as a composer of organ
chorales, but with much talent and independence.220
819 The sketch of the specification in Cuncius' writing is still extant. Adlung
gives us a list of stops in working order in 1768 (Musica Mechanica, I., p. 239),
with some little differences. Some alterations must have been made already.
220 The documents concerning the Halle appointment are preserved in the
church. It is Chrysander who deserves the credit of having first directed atten-
tion to them ( Handel, I., p. 22). He subsequently published a paper on them
in the Jahrbiichern fur Musikalische Wissenschaft, II., p. 235. He has,
however, fallen into the error of regarding the specification as written by
Bach himself, and infers that it was his ideal of what an organ should be, and
that he and Cuncius were on intimate terms. Bach did not write the specifi-
cation ; it was copied from a sketch-specification by Cuncius, who signed it.
The faults of spelling are of themselves sufficient evidence, and Chrysander's
error sets Bach in an unfavourable and undeserved light. I take this oppor-
tunity of expressing my thanks to Herr Karmrodt, of Halle (music-dealer),
who materially assisted me in collating the documents in question. Mizler
522 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
As Bach's fame grew and spread the number of his pupils
grew in proportion ; it was his executive skill, of course,
which most struck the public, so at first his instruction was
more sought for organ and clavier-playing than for com-
position. I have already spoken of his first scholar, who
for many years was also his amanuensis, Johann Martin
Schubart. The next to be mentioned is Johann Caspar
Vogler, who was born at Hausen, near Arnstadt,221 in 1696,
and is said to have had the advantage of Bach's teaching as a
boy, when Bach was still organist at the New church.223 He
subsequently went to the musical training-schools of Erlebach,
and of Fetter, the organist at Rudolstadt ; then he went again
to Bach at Weimar, who made of him, as he himself declares,
one of his best organ pupils.223 In 1715 he was organist
at Stadtilm, and after Schubart's death he succeeded him.
After that he did not again quit Weimar, although (1735) at
a competitive examination at the Marktkirche at Hanover,
he triumphantly beat ten candidates out of the field ; but,
in order to retain him at Weimar, Duke Ernst August
gave him the title of vice-burgomaster. He died about
1765. He himself published one of his compositions, a
choral work, entitled Vermischte Musikalische Choral-
Gedanken, i Probe (Weimar, 1737) — Miscellaneous Musical
Chorale Subjects.224
alludes very briefly to the matter, and is not quite accurate as to the order ot
events, in the Necrology, p. 163 : " After the death of Zachau, director of the
music and organist to the Marktkirche (Market Church) in Halle, our Bach re-
ceived a call to the office. He did, indeed, go to Halle, and there went through
his tests. But he found reasons for refusing it, and it was given to Kirchhoff."
221 According to the trustworthy statement of Hesse in his list of the worthies
and artists of Schwarzburg, No. 388 (Rudolstadt, 1827).
222 So Forkel says (p. 42), and there is no reason to doubt him.
228 Gerber, Lex., II., col. 746. An expression of Kirnberger's contradicts this
statement strangely (Die wahren Grundsatze zum Gebrauch der Harmonie,
1773, p. 54). Some critic in the Zeitung von gelehrten Sachen, of Jena, had set
Vogler on the same level with Bach, on which Kirnberger writes: " If we ask,
' Who is this Vogler ? ' after much inquiry we discover that he is a burgomaster
and organist of Weimar, and a pupil of Bach, but not the most eminent by a
long way." Had Kirnberger, himself a disciple of Bach, really never heard of
Vogler, or is this merely his sarcastic manner ?
234 A copy of this rare work exists in the library of the Institute for Church
Music at Berlin.
BACH'S PUPILS — j. T. KREBS. 523
Somewhat older than Vogler, though he emancipated
himself later from his master, was Johann Tobias Krebs.
He was born in 1690, at Heichelheim, near Weimar, where
he got his schooling, but in 1710 was organist and cantor at
Buttelstadt. He did not achieve his musical acquirements
till he was already in office and married. As late as in 1717
he visited Weimar on foot from Buttelstadt, and at first
was Walther's pupil in playing and in composition ; but
afterwards this no longer satisfied him, and he continued his
studies under Bach.
The fruits of these persevering efforts are very discernible
in the few relics of Krebs' compositions which I have been able
to collect. There are two chorale arrangements of the most
complicated character, but full of genuine musical feeling.
One of them, " Christus, der uns selig macht " per canonem
diminutum, is unfortunately only a fragment. A theme is
constructed on the first line —
which is first fugally treated, and remains conspicuous
throughout the whole arrangement ; elsewhere the material
for the counterpoint is derived from the other lines of the
chorale. The cantus firmus lies in the bass in minims ; as
soon as the first line is introduced it is associated with it in
crotchets. This process is repeated in the following lines,
though in a less strictly logical manner. The organ chorale
on " Machs mit mir, Gott, nach deiner Gut " is also planned
on a canon per diminutionem.m It is a sufficient proof of
the impression that Bach's mastery and skill made on
Tobias Krebs, that he intrusted his son, Johann Ludwig
(born February 10, 1713) ,226 to the same teacher at the early
age of thirteen. He, too, grew to be an organist of the first
rank; but the genius of the son must not lead us to overlook
M6 The authority for these chorales is the volume of works for the organ
already spoken of as having belonged to Joh. Lud. Krebs, and now in the
possession of Herr F. A. Roitzsch,of Leipzig; the second is also to be found in
Frankenberger's autograph by Walther.
«• Not October 10, as Gerber states, Vol. I., col. 756.
524 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
the talent of the father. He went to Buttstadt in 1721, and
was still living there as organist in I758.227
Johann Gotthilf Ziegler, born at Dresden, 1688, remained
a shorter time under Bach's tuition. His talent was early
ripe, versatile and restless. He too, according to Walther,
worked at clavier and organ playing under Bach, but in
composition followed the guidance of Johann Theile, of
Naumburg. But in the condition of musical science at that
time it must have been quite impossible to divide the two
branches so sharply; a chorale arrangement, for instance,
would fall within the province of organ-playing, but would
presuppose a knowledge of the laws of composition. And
Ziegler, at the age of fifty-eight, acknowledges with pride
how much he owed to Bach, even in this : " As concerning
the playing of chorales, I was instructed by my master, the
Capellmeister Bach, who is still living, to play the airs, not
only as of the first importance, but according to the tenor of
the words." 228 Ziegler lived at Halle, where he was organist
to the church of St. Ulrich, and much sought after as a
teacher; and where, too, he had studied theology and juris-
prudence about 1715. Still, after KirchhofPs death in 1746,
he did not succeed in obtaining his post. He declined all
offers of honourable employment elsewhere.229
In the year 1715, as it would seem about Easter, Bach
took into his house his nephew Bernhard, the second son of
his brother at Ohrdruf. He had not forgotten what he had
formerly owed him, and mutual practical help among the
members of the family was a traditional custom of all the
Bachs. Bernhard Bach, born November 24, 1700, had
studied at first at the Lyceum at Ohrdruf ; he himself naively
227 Gerber, N. L., III., col. 109.
228 In his letter of application for the post of organist to the church of the
Holy Virgin at Halle, February i, 1746, given at length by Chrysander, Op.
cit., p. 241.
229 Walther's article on Ziegler is incredibly confused. In spite of an abund-
ance of chronological data, he never once calculates the time when he was
Bach's pupil. Even the call sent to him from Reval he dates incorrectly, and
sets in a wrong light ; from documents of the town council of Reval, it was in
1721 that a deputation was sent to Ziegler with an invitation to go there, as my
friend Herr O. von Riesemann has obligingly ascertained,
BACH'S PUPILS — BERNHARD BACH. 525
relates that " by reason of his bad memory, father held it to
be unadvisable that he should remain at his studies." For
this reason he sent him to Weimar to his brother, at that
time concertmeister, who was a very famous and skilled
maitre™ and there he acquired good proficiency, both on the
clavier and in composition."231 He says nothing of the
length of his stay in his uncle's house — still it cannot have
extended beyond the year 1717, for if he had moved with him
to Cothen he would certainly have told us so. It is most
probably to his industry as a scholar that we owe the greater
part of a valuable MS. copy of Sebastian Bach's compositions,
which passed into the hands of his brother Andreas Bach,
with the post of organist at Ohrdruf, in I744.232 Up to this
date, when he died, Bernhard had filled this post, which was
previously held by their father, who died in 1721. Three
MS. works for the clavier exist by him, one of which, a suite
in E flat major, betrays an almost comical imitation of
Sebastian's methods ; it would be possible to refer its origin
almost bar for bar to the six partitas of the first part of the
Clavieriibung. The second, a sonata in four movements in
B flat major,233 and a third piece, a fantasia in G major, are
more independent in style.
Many remembrances of his life in Ohrdruf and Liineburg
must have revived in Sebastian's mind when Georg Erdmann,
the companion of his youth, paid him a visit at Weimar
some time between 1715 and 1717. Since 1713 Erdmann
had had employment in Russia; he had studied jurispru-
dence, and in the year 1718 was acting as military law
referee to the division under the Russian general, Prince
Repnin. He made occasional expeditions from the north to
visit his native land, and on one of these occasions he visited
Weimar, and had the pleasure of seeing his former school
230 [French words are always French in the original documents. — TRANS.]
231 In Kromayer's Kirchenbuche, before mentioned as made use of by Bruck-
ner, Kirchen- und Schulenstaat, Part III., sec. 10, p. 95. It is there expressly
stated that he went to Weimar in his fifteenth year.
232 Compare App. A, No. 18.
283 The two first are in the possession of Dr. Rust, of Berlin, in an old MS,
copy ; the last is owned by Herr Ritter, musical director at Magdeburg.
526 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
comrade in the midst of his household and blooming family.
Their friendly interchange of sentiments and experiences,
begun then by word of mouth, was continued afterwards in a
correspondence, and we shall presently have more to say con-
cerning Erdmann.234
VI.
CANTATAS WRITTEN AT WEIMAR TO TEXTS BY FRANCK.
WE find Bach at the beginning of the year 1714 court-
organist and concertmeister j285 we have already said that in
this latter capacity he must have fulfilled some of the duties
of the capellmeister. Samuel Drese was almost incapable of
work from his age and infirmities, and his son was a musician
of very small pretensions at the best ; but Duke Wilhelm
Ernst was desirous of establishing at Weimar regular church
music on Neumeister's model, incited to the scheme, no
doubt, by the example of his cousin at Eisenach. He had
not failed to discover the genius for composition of his court-
organist, and he therefore issued the order — which indeed
had nothing unusual in it — that Bach, as concertmeister,
should compose and conduct a certain number of sacred
pieces every year,286 thus concentrating more and more all
the most important musical functions in the person of Bach.
The poet who might write the texts was to be found on
the spot. Salomo Franck, born March 6, 1659, at Weimar,
where his father was private secretary, had probably studied
in Jena, where he had published his first volume of poems in
1685 ; he then spent some time at Zwickau, went to Arnstadt
in 1689 in the capacity of secretary to the government o
Schwarzburg, and returned to Jena to fill a similar office in
that town. He subsequently lived at Weimar as secretary
to the Superior Consistory of the Principality of Saxony, and
284 From papers in the imperial archives at Moscow, of which I have copies.
236 A complete list of the members of the court capelle or band at Weimar,
from the years 1714 to 1716, is given in App. B, No. VI. (Vol. III., p. 300).
236 Mizler, Op. cit., p. 163.
FRANCK'S CANTATA TEXTS. 527
died there in 1725. He was also librarian and curator of the
ducal collection of coins. He was a member of a society
known as the " Association of Ingenious Men " (Fruchtbrin-
genden Gesellschaft), and as such enjoyed the epithet of " Treu-
meinende" or, faithful in purpose.237
Franck was undoubtedly one of the true poets of his time.
In neatness and grace of diction he was equal to Neumeister,
and but little his inferior in purity of expression. Added to
these he had what Neumeister often lacked, depth and
fervour of feeling. This natural bent would of course lead
him to lyric poetry, and with this, at that time, sacred verse
was synonymous. His masques, his poems written for
weddings, on occasions of mourning, and others of the kind,
are distinguished by their refined and elegant character,
without displaying any great variety or originality of thought.
In religious poetry, on the other hand, he revealed a very
marked and remarkable individuality. His scope, even here,
is limited, no doubt ; but his way of seeing and modes of
expression are neither borrowed nor absorbed from others ;
they are the genuine offspring of his own mind. Grandeur
and a soaring flight he has not, but a very picturesque vein
of rhapsody and tender melancholy. He likes to dwell on
the sorrows and sufferings of human life ; he lingers by the
grave, and muses on death and the inspiring and hopeful
images of heavenly joys. In treating of this he displays a
very uncommon wealth of fancy, and he soon formed for him-
self a distinct style for the adequate expression of his ideas
and feelings. A certain amount of familiarity with his mode
of treatment makes it almost impossible not to recognise it
at once ; in it he reminds us of Eichendorff, as well as in
a certain key of mystical dreaminess, when due allowance is
made for the difference of their periods, and in some degree
of their subject-matter. Certain turns of language and figures
of speech he is apt to repeat frequently, and in the same way
he is fond of using intricate metres, artificial schemes of
rhyme, and a mixture of long and short lines ; he likes, too,
287 Schauer, Vorrede zu Salomo Francks geistlichen Ltedern (preface to S. F.'s
hymns). Halle: J. Fricke, 1855.
528 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
to frame in a verse, as it were, by repeating the first lines at
the end of it.
The subjective character of his poems did not hinder their
extensive use for church purposes. Franck is a very con-
spicuous witness to the fact that the transfusion of the objec-
tive catholic church sentiments into personal religious feeling
met an universal predisposition half-way as it were, even out-
side the special circle of the Pietists. A reader of his poems,
whose knowledge of the conditions under which they were
written was merely superficial, would certainly attribute them
to a pietistic writer. But that he was far indeed from this
is sufficiently proved by his friendship with Olearius, the
superintendent at Arnstadt, and by the position of esteem he
held at the court of Wilhelm Ernst ; there is still further
evidence in his numerous texts for cantatas, arranged in the
manner of Neumeister. Of his hymns the best known is " So
ruhest du, O meine Ruh," although its want of simplicity, and
particularly an incessant seeking to play upon words, show
that it is a youthful work; and indeed it is contained in his first
collection.288 Twelve years later he brought out at Arnstadt
a collection of Madrigals on the Passion ; we may sympathise
with the fervent feeling of these poems, but cannot overlook
the want of taste in much of the expression, and the turgid
or lame character of the images. However, as he went on
he succeeded better in finding natural and touching expres-
sion for his ideas. His sacred and secular poems (Geist und
Weltlichen Poesien), which came out in two parts in 1711
and 1716, mark the highest level of his works in the sacred
lyrics it contains;289 indeed these volumes include most of
what he had produced in the way of occasional poems up to
the year when the second part was published, excepting some
sacred cantatas, which we must now study more closely.
Franck's earliest cantatas were written in the old form,
and consist of Bible texts and hymns in verses. One whole
838 This appeared (in 1685) under the title Salomon Frankens aus Weimar
Geistliche Poesie — Sacred Poetry, &c.
28& Schauer has published a pleasing selection in his little volume, and in the
preface has given a list of Franck's works, so iar as they can be identified.
FRANCK'S CANTATA TEXTS. 529
series240 is included in the sacred and secular poems 94
to 210; a rhythm adapted to recitative is introduced only
into two dialogues, for the second day of Christmas-tide and
the first day of Easter, and in both cases unhesitatingly
given to the chorus. In the second part of the same col-
lection there is likewise a series of hymns for the year
under the title Singende Evangelische Schwanen — Gospel
Songs of the Swan (pp. 2 to 86), — on the subject of death
and the life to come. While these are all, without excep-
tion, simple arias — that is to say, hymns in verses — in
pp. 132, 134, and 190 we find the first of his cantata texts
in the complete form as devised by Neumeister. Between
these again there are several poems, intermediate in cha-
racter, which are devoid of recitative, consisting only of a
string of arias of modern style and of various metres, inter-
spersed with short ejaculations or axioms. This attempt
to reconcile the forms of the older and the newer cantata
— by no means advantageous from the musical point of
view — was evidently the result of the fact that Franck did
not become acquainted with the new style till he was a
man of fifty, and could not at once make up his mind to
give up the old form that he knew and loved. Of the
three series of cantatas for the year which he wrote, and
which have come down to us, the second only consists
of poems of this older character; while in the other, recita-
tives after the Neumeister model are also introduced. So far
as I have been able to discover he was alone in his experi-
ment. It seems clear too, from the fact that these new
methods were not used by him before he wrote the second
part of his sacred and secular poems, that the idea of adopt-
ing the new form of sacred cantatas had been suggested
from Eisenach, and chiefly by the third and fourth cycles of
Neumeister.
All these poems must have been written after 1711; and it
is very possible, indeed probable, that Bach composed music
for one and another of them — indeed he may have used some
840 Evangelische Seelen-Lust iiber die Sonn-und Festtage durchs ganze Jahr
(Gospel joys for the soul tor every Sunday and holy day throughout the year).
2 M
53O JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
of the older texts by Franck as well. None of them are to be
found, it is true, among those of his cantatas which remain
to us; still it is incontestable that he took a great interest in
Franck's poetry, and composed music for it, and not merely
by the desire of his sovereign. Superior as he must have
been to the poet in vigour, spirit and originality, they had
one feature in common — their transcendental mysticism —
and a disposition to regard the actualities of all earthly
things as utterly gloomy and unsatisfying in comparison
with the glorious visions of celestial bliss. And though
he must have told himself that Franck was far from
equalling Neumeister in the incisiveness and point of his
expressions — that in his arias even, his lack of sympathy
with the scope and structure of the grander forms of music
renders his texts inadequate — on the other hand, he cannot
have been insensible to the melodious flow of his verses.
Even when in Leipzig he often returned to Franck's poetry ;
and though this was less the case as regards his cantata
texts — which nevertheless were far superior in poetic merit
to Picander's insipid patchwork — others of his hymns
pleased him so much that he endeavoured to find a place
for them in his compositions. It will be shown in the
proper place that one of the noblest pieces of the Passion
according to St. Matthew rests on a modification of a poem
by Franck, which can hardly be attributed to any hand but
that of Bach himself. It would even seem that he made
use of a number of Franck's verses in the Passion according
to St. John. There is no direct evidence that the two were
ever personally acquainted ; still it is credible. At the same
time it must not be forgotten that Franck was the elder by
twenty-six years.241
A regular use of Franck's texts in the ducal chapel, and
at the same time of a corresponding series of compositions
by Bach, was not begun till the Easter of 1715. It is not
possible now to ascertain what order had previously been
241 In the Geist und weltlichen Poesien, I., p. 529, we find a wedding song,
" Bey der Unruh-Bachischen Ehe-Verbindung vorgestellet " (on the occasion
ot the marriage of Unruh and Bach). Was this "maiden Bach" a relative of
Sebastian's ? The church registers afford no information on this point.
531
observed in the services in the castle chapel, nor what share
Bach had taken in them as a composer. It must even
remain unknown whether a regular production of certain
compositions for church use was required of him from the
time when he was first appointed to the post of concert-
meister, or not until the following year. But the com-
position of two of Franck's poems certainly falls within this
period ; and if we add to these the cantatas by Neumeister,
previously discussed, we have the proofs of no small amount
of labour in this department even at that early date.
These two cantatas belong to the third Sunday after
Trinity, June 17, 1714, and Palm Sunday in 1714 (March
25) or 1715 (April i^).m The first, "Ich hatte viel Bekum-
merniss" — "My spirit was in heaviness,"248 — is one of the
best known of his works. It refers directly to the epistle
for the day, but is of such general application that Bach him-
self wrote over it " Per ogni tempo " — for any season. It may
perhaps have been composed for some special occasion, for
the treatment is unusually broad and rich. It begins with
a very beautiful sinfonia in C minor, common time, which
has the form of Gabrieli's sonatas. The oboe and first
violin have imitative passages full of melody and of even
passionate expressiveness, while the second violin, viola,
organ and basses support them with majestic harmonies.
The vocal portion consists of four choruses set to Bible
words — the third being underlaid throughout by a chorale
melody — three arias, two recitatives and a duet.
The first chorus, " My spirit was in heaviness" (arranged
from the words of Ps. xciv. 19) goes through the theme —
=^=ii ^z^^z^BiES^^
llu Ich hat - te viel Be • kiim - mer - niss
with incisive close treatment (the response enters on the
fifth note of the theme) for the first eighteen bars, ascending
diatonically, with constant suspensions of the seventh and
the second ; then for a time at the interval of a fourth ; then
242 App. A, No. 25.
243 B.-G., V., i, No. 21. Peters, 41. Published, with English words, by
Novello and Co., Ltd.
2 M 2
532 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
again with gradual ascent and much richer harmonies, which
are shared in by all the orchestra. Then a long-drawn " But,
Lord," leads into the vivace, " Thy consolations have my
soul restored," a brilliant upward and downward movement
of all the voices and stringed parts in semiquavers, with a
predominance of the major key; the last bars grow calmer,
while a most ingenious polyphony is developed, and it closes
on C major. Then follows an aria for the soprano with oboe
obbligato, in which fear and sorrow find utterance with
all the impressive vehemence characteristic of Bach. A very
melodious recitative for the tenor — the lament of one for-
saken by God — leads to the second aria, in F minor. The
text compares the woes of humanity to the floods of the
sea which threaten to wreck the frail vessel of life; but some
of the images are not very clear. The movement here given
to the quartet of strings is derived from this figurative idea ;
the aria is almost unequalled for harmonic depth and fulness,
and lends an enhanced effect to that which has preceded it.
The voice, which is here treated only as an instrument,
though the first among others, is never associated with
another for support, and wherever it is accompanied the
result is a five-part harmony.
As a contrast to these images of woe, painted as they are
in the deepest hues, we have a peculiarly touching com-
mencement to the chorus "Wherefore grievest thou, 0 my
spirit?" (Psalm xlii. 6), sung at first by a few voices, and
then emphatically repeated by all. At the words, " and art
so unquiet in me," it is vivified into a tone-picture of mar-
vellous art ; four motives of the most distinct rhythmical
individuality are given to the voices; these subjects pursue
each other in canon, and then are all sung together, while
an accompaniment in six parts is brought in which is founded
on a totally new motive, and which does not combine with
the chorus till afterwards. Genius can go no further in de-
picting the restless hopes and fears of the human soul.
Then comes a new section full of tender peace and fervent
joyful impetus, " Hope thou in God," which passes into the
exquisite closing fugue in C minor. This whole movement
is a sort of echo or reminiscence of the past emotions, such
"ICH HATTE VIEL BEKUMMERNISS." 533
as we find in the music to Psalm cxxx., and in certain parts
of the "Actus tragicus." In technical treatment the fugue
reminds us of Bach's earlier period: a single instrument glides
in with the theme among the voices in the four-part subject ;
then for a time the instruments alone treat it fugally, and
finally the voices join once more in the intricate maze, be-
ginning the whole fugal structure afresh.
The second part of the cantata begins with a dialogue in
recitative for the soprano and bass, representing the Soul
and Christ. This, too, is highly musical, and the accom-
panying strings often have an independent passage. The
very first bars contain a most subtle touch. To these words,
spoken by the Soul : " Lord Jesus, my repose, my light,
where art Thou gone?" the violins work upwards on soft
chords of the dominant, thus giving a very graphic image
of spiritual longing ; then when, after Christ's answer,
" Behold, O spirit, I am with thee," the Soul cries out
" With me ? but here is only night ! " the violins quit their
hold of the long-drawn high chord, and sink abruptly, an
octave and a half at a time, to the very depths, and on the
word "night" strike on a brooding and ominous long-
sustained chord which is not resolved till Christ speaks His
words of comfort. The next number is a duet between
the same two allegorical figures with an accompaniment on
the organ only (E flat major, at first in common time,
then in 3-4, and at the end in common time again) ; and
then comes a great chorale chorus (on the second and fifth
verses of " Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten " — " He
only waits on God who submits to God"). The three other
parts work contrapuntally on an independent motive in
scale passages up and down to these words, adapted from
Psalm cxvi. 7 : " Now, again be thou joyful, O my spirit :
thy reward is of God."
This cantata of Bach's offers us the first example of the
transfer of a whole organ chorale in Pachelbel's form to a
vocal chorus, but it is far superior to Pachelbel in technique,
from the logical adoption (musically speaking) of a counter-
point especially its own. The cantus firmus lies first in
the tenor, with only solo voices in contrast, and all the
534 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
instruments are silent except the organ ; in the other verses
the soprano carries on the melody while the whole chorus
are employed with all the instruments, reinforced by the
addition of trombones ; a second scheme of counterpoint is
introduced, the former one undergoes new treatment, and
the whole proceeds with renewed vigour. It is all worked
out with supreme technical knowledge.
A happy flight of song for the tenor — " Rejoice, O my
spirit, in thy consolation ; for now from thy sorrow thou
findest salvation " — bridges over the transition to the last
chorus, in C major, common time, which is indeed "the end
that crowns the work," and crowns it brilliantly.244 It is
with justice that this hymn of triumph (from Rev. v. 12
and 13) has become so famous ; it is unwontedly popular
in style for Bach, and reminds us of Handel. This may be
explained by supposing that in this instance the sentiment
of Bach's older church cantatas once more powerfully
asserted itself in him, though subsequently it was driven
into the background by the sterner temper of his maturer
mind. His youthful frankness and soaring ardour are, as it
were, the obverse — the outer face — of that rapturous fervency
and tender dreamy spirit which are so peculiarly his own.
As regards its construction the fugue has much resemblance
to the closing fugue of the " Rathswechsel " cantata of
I708.245 Here again solo parts begin which, from bar 15
onwards, gradually become merged in the choral mass.
When they have gradually worked up to the top, the
trumpets, in three parts, carry on the theme, then the body
of violins with the oboe, while the voices have a jubilant
imitation in semiquavers. Up to this point we have had no
chords but those of the tonic and dominant ; now, however,
the voices take up the theme with all the weight of homo-
phony in four parts in D minor, and again, after an interlude
in imitation, in F major. The close is marked by an almost
wilful audacity after the trumpets have once more rung
out the theme in their triumphant tones. Little attention
*" The text of the aria is clearly in two verses ; Bach must have had some
reason for not making use of the first line of the second verse.
846 See pag:e 352.
'* ICH HATTE VIEL BEKUMMERNISS." 535
is paid to profound treatment in the development of this
fugue, but much to its elaboration in breadth and effect.
The counterpoint is always the same, only varying as to the
register and part to which it is given. When the orchestra
comes in, an imitative treatment of the theme in canon,
with a postponement of a quarter bar, is begun, and hence-
forth each time the theme recurs this recurs also ; thus
bars 47-50 are the same as bars 15-18, except that they
are sung tutti. A constantly repeated figure —
I have often met with in motetts of about 1700. It has a
very brilliant effect in a high register, but it is not very
melodious, and Bach subsequently discarded it.
In details of style and manner the first chorus keeps
to the motett form. Were it not for the short interlude
at bar 48 we could well dispense with the whole body of
instruments. The vocal parts make up a self-contained,
progressive whole ; even the instrumental bass, though it
renders the harmonies fuller and clearer, can scarcely be
called an essential feature. A characteristic of the motett
composers of the time is the use of introductory chords (in
the voices) at the beginning, in which means the character
of the text is often little regarded. These occur, for in-
stance, in Michael Bach's motett, " Nun hab ich iiber-
wunden."246 Mattheson, who probably became acquainted
with this cantata in the year 1720, when Bach was at Ham-
burg, in blaming Zachau's practice with regard to this, casts
reproof on Bach also.247 " The worthy Zachau," he says,
" has a companion in this, and does not stand alone in it,
for we find an otherwise excellent Fractious hodiernus, which
at least does not repeat the words like this : " Lord, Lord,
Lord, my spirit was in heaviness, my spirit was in heaviness
and deep affliction, and deep affliction. My spirit was in
heaviness :|: and deep affliction :)::]: My spirit was in
heaviness : I": and deep affliction :~1 : My spirit was in heavi-
846 See ante, p. 69. M7 Critica Musica, II., p. 368.
536 JOHANK SEfcASTlAN BACtt.
ness :] : and deep affliction : f: :~| : : 1": :1 : [": My spirit was in
heaviness :[: and deep affliction :]:" &c. And afterwards :
"Sighing, weeping, sorrow, need (pause), sighing, weeping,
anxious longing, fear of death (pause), rend the guilty heart
in twain," &c. And then, too : " Come, my Saviour, and
restore me (pause), shed Thy grace and gladness o'er me
(pause), come, my Saviour (pause), come, my Saviour, and
restore me, shed Thy grace . . . and gladness o'er me, that
this spirit," &c.
With reference to the "Lord, Lord, Lord," at the begin-
ning, this censure is justifiable, seeing that to arrest the
attention by means of chords is the duty of the orchestra,
and even in a motett they would not be considered good.
But Mattheson only refers to this by the way ; and as to his
other criticism, one is at a loss to know what he means.
He had previously laid it down as a rule for setting words
that no conclusion of a sentence should be repeated with-
out its beginning — a rule which was evidently laid down
with reference to an existing example. Zachau, indeed, had
written a fugue on the half of a sentence : " Und den du
gesandt hast, Jesum Christum, erkennen " — " And to know
Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." There is no example
whatever of this kind in Bach ; in the first chorus one
complete and concise musical idea is formed on the words :
" My spirit was in heaviness and deep affliction " (German :
" in meinem Herzen " — " within my heart "), an idea of
which the central thoughts are the pathetic words : " heavi-
ness " and " heart " and for this reason these words are
repeated with their context. In the air the predicate of the
sentence alone is treated, while the subject is insisted on in
the duet, because here, particularly in the air, almost every
word is full of a sentiment which requires to be clearly
brought out. It is only from the dry logician's point of view
that such beginnings are incomplete, and even then they are
hardly so ; since he who hears the words, "Sighing, weeping,
sorrow, need," sung to a lovely melody, has all that is
necessary for intelligibility, and Mattheson must have known
this. And yet he himself sets words in this manner, and
with much less excuse: "Ah! (pause), how hungereth my
" ICH HATTE VIEL BEKUMMERNISS." 537
spirit, how hungereth my spirit, Friend of man (pause),
Friend of man, joy to inherit,"248 and certainly would have
held it blameless according to his view. It is clear that he
only seeks an opportunity to pick a hole in Bach, and to
vent the unfriendly feeling he had cherished towards his
great contemporary since the year 1720.
If there were nothing else against this cantata, we might
proclaim it without hesitation to be the most perfect of its
kind existing perhaps anywhere. But there are two weak
points. For these indeed the poet is chiefly in fault, but yet
the composer must bear the blame of having followed his
lead too closely. The general plan of development in the
work consists in the contrast between the deepest anguish of
spirit and the redemption from that state by Christ's media-
tion ; so it falls naturally into two contrasted states of feeling
and two chief divisions. The first chorus, especially after
the impassioned and wailing symphony, ought only to give
expression to the feeling which pervades the whole first part
until the final chorus, in which deliverance is anticipated,
but still only anticipated. It does not do this, but contains
in itself the contrast which lies at the root of the whole
cantata. This is perplexing, for we have to return to pain
and sorrow after the joyful soaring up of the end of the
chorus, and go slowly through the whole process again. In
this respect the cantata is decidedly inferior to the Advent
music of the same year. Franck ought to have chosen
another chorus text.
The second weak point is in the duet, which is indeed a
very extraordinary number. Solo-singing may be introduced
into church music, provided that it is cast in such a form
that the individual is forgotten. In the same way use may
be made of duets and trios, if the parts devote themselves
unselfishly to the artistic expression of a common emotion,
or an idea of general import. There is also little to be said
against it when, in the so-called " dialogues," the Soul and
Christ, Fear and Hope, or some other easily intelligible
248 In his Passion Music, to words compiled by Brockes. Winterfeld, Ev.
Kirchg., III., 50.
538 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
allegorical figures are introduced, and relieve one another
with their characteristic parts, which represent only different
aspects of the same religious feeling. But all church music
comes to an end as soon as two individuals, as is here the
case, converse with one another in the form of petition and
answer, or of contradiction and agreement. There is no
longer any question of general feeling, in representing which
the two persons stand for all ; for, sentence after sentence, it
is only the individual interests that, with their alternate rela-
tions, animate the piece and preserve its flow. The duet
is what no piece of church music should be — dramatic.
Bach, it must be confessed, not only did nothing to soften
down this fault in the poetry, but increased it by his musical
treatment. He employed no instrument in the accompani-
ment whose melodic interweaving might have laid claim to
a share of the interest. Led by his delight in contrapuntal
part-writing, he, without doubt unintentionally, intensifies
the dramatic element in an almost painful way, when the
voices throw unceasingly from one to the other the ejacu-
lations : " Ah nay ! " " Ah yea ! " " Thou hatest me ! " "I
care for thee !" Apparently, too, this alternating dialogue
was not Franck's idea at all ; it is tolerably clear that he
intended first the " Spirit " and then the bass voice to have
a consecutive solo. It may be alleged as a mitigating
circumstance that at that time the soprano was sung by
a boy, which in some degree lessens the impression now
inevitably produced, that the piece is a charming love duet.
For these reasons it has not been favourable to the spread
of a sound judgment of Bach's works that the cantata " Ich
hatte viel Bekiimmerniss " should be so widely known, while
a number of other woiks of its class, not inferior to it, and
belonging to it in date, are not known at all. In this one
there is an apparent justification for the reproach which is
so often brought against him, that his church music contains
theatrical and pietistic elements. But in truth there is,
besides this duet, only one single movement of a similar
nature (dating from the year 1715). Franck was very fond
of this form, and Bach accommodated himself to him.
Subsequently he never introduced any piece of the kind
539
into his cantatas, so far as my knowledge of them extends
up to the present time. When similar tasks were given
him in the setting of words, he succeeded in giving the
voices that carry on the dialogue a higher unity, and in
wrapping them in a network of instrumental polyphony in
such a way that no doubt remains that by this time he
knew what was essential to his style.249 Error of this kind
was so much the easier to fall into as all the other church
composers were only too ready to accept the theatrical forms,
and Bach had to go on his way apart from and in opposition
to them.
We may treat the cantata for Palm Sunday very briefly.250
The text is in the regular Franck form, which consists of
a series of verses intended for arias one after another in dif-
ferent metres and without recitatives, for a bass arioso of
eight bars on Ps. xl. 8, 9, can hardly be called so. Both
the opening and the final chorus are set to aria verses, and we
here meet, for the first time in Bach, with the da capo form
in choral writing. This cantata seems to me in no respect
inferior in merit to the foregoing one, with which it has
great similarity of plan. It shows, however, the certainty
with which Bach's genius could grasp contrasting mental
situations, and how thoroughly he entered into the spirit of
this particular Sunday. Even in the symphony (G major)
the keynote of feeling which permeates and preserves the
unity of the whole is struck ; it has a tender, solemn, and yet
joyful character, like a breath of spring. The lovely inter-
lacing passages on the high violins or the wood wind, sup-
ported by the harp-like pizzicatos of the lower body of
strings, represent the wreathed flowers and leaves with
which the gates are decked for the arrival of a beloved one.
Then the words, " Himmelskonig, sei willkommen " — " King
249 It is most interesting to compare in this respect the dialogues in the
cantatas, " O Ewigkeit,du Donnerwort " (B.-G., XII., 2, No. 60), and "Erfreut
euch, ihr Herzen" (ibid., XVI., No. 66). Even the duets in " Wachet auf, ruft
uns die Stimme " are differently treated.
250 " Himmelskonig sei willkommen." Published by J. P. Schmidt in Kir-
chengesange fur Solo- und Chor-Stimmen mit Instrumental-Begleitung von
Johann Sebastian Bach. Berlin : Trautwein, Heft. II. ; Autograph in the Royal
Library at Berlin.
54-O JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
of heaven, with joy we greet Thee ; let our hearts be still
Thine home. Hither come ; as with joy we run to meet
Thee " — are treated in a florid and beautiful fugal chorus.
In the course of the three lovely "aria" verses, the feeling
is brought out in a masterly way ; in contemplating the
approaching death of Christ it becomes grave and sad, and
at last bitter and piercing, but is relieved and brightened by
a wonderful chorale chorus : —
Jesu, deine Passion
1st mir lauter Freude,
Deine Wunden, Kron und Hohn
Meines Herzens Weide.
Meine Seel auf Rosen geht
Wenn ich dein gedenke ;
In dem Himmel eine Statt*
Uns deswegen schenke.251
Jesu, Lord, Thy Passion
Is my deepest gladness,
Thy sore wounds, and crown of scorn
Take away my sadness.
Oh, my soul is full of joy,
At Thy contemplation ;
Grant me when my hour shall come
Full and free salvation.
After that the solemn festal feeling is brought back again in
the last chorus, and in the second part takes a splendid
flight, remarkable for its grand and artistic working-out.
In the meantime Franck's first year of cantatas was com-
pleted, and brought out in two forms; collected together in a
small volume with a dedication to the duke, and also printed
separately for distribution amongst the congregation, that
they might follow. The title was Evangelisches Andachts-
Opfer. The compositions contributed to the work by Bach252
261 Verse 33 of the hymn, " Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod," by Paul Stockmann.
262 Evangelisches | Andachts-Opffer | Auf des | Durchlauchtigsten Fiirsten
und | Herrn, HERRN | Wilhelm Ernstens, | Herzogens zu Sachsen, Jiilich, |
Cleve und Berg, auch Engern und | Westphalen, &c., &c. | Unsers gnadigsten
regierenden Landes | FiirstensundHerrns | Christ-Furstl. Anordnung, | ingeist-
lichen | CANTATEN \ welche auf die ordentliche | Sonn- und Fest-Tage | in
der F. S. ges. Hof-Capelle zur | Wilhelmsburg A. 1715, zu musiaren, | ange-
ziindet | von | Salomon Francken, | Furstl.Sachss.gesamten Ober-Consistorial-
CANTATA, " DER HIMMEL LACHT." 54!
are for the most part preserved, but certainly not all of them.
The vice-capellmeister, Strattner, had been charged with the
duty of composing an anthem for every fourth Sunday. Cer-
tain groups of Bach's cantatas — for example, those for the
Sixteenth, Twentieth, and Twenty-third Sundays after Trinity,
or those for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, Sunday after
Christmas, and Second Sunday after Epiphany — show that
a similar obligation had been laid upon him. There are nine
cantatas of this year, from Easter, 1715, to Easter, 1716. 263
We will review them in their chronological order.
i. Cantata for Easter-Day (April 21, 1715), "Der Himmel
lacht, die Erde jubiliret" — "The heavens laugh, the earth
itself is joyful!"254 It was afterwards revised throughout by
the composer, and it is only in this improved form that it
now exists. In the opening chorus a vocal part is added, and
the instruments are strengthened; and the last aria seems to
have been altered, not indeed in plan, but in the setting.
Thus something must be subtracted from our high estimate
of Bach's work in Weimar, so far as this cantata is concerned.
The poetry is, for the most part, very successful. It springs
out of the joy of the festival itself, but at the same time
brings in with exquisite taste the feeling of Spring and re-
awakening nature. In the solo texts there is a good deal that
is too didactic, but this was often very hard to avoid. The
end, however, is as appropriate for music as it is characteristic
of Franck. Our thoughts are led from Christ's resurrection
to the resurrection of all flesh, and the attainment of ever-
lasting bliss, and this is followed (not quite logically) by a
wish that death may come soon, to lead us to a speedy union
with Christ — every line in this is full of fervent feeling. Bach
Secretario in Weimar. | Daselbst gedruckt mit Mumbachischen Schrifftenj'
— " The offering of Christian devotion. To his serene highness Prince and Lord,
Lord Wilhelm Ernest, Grand Duke of Saxony, Julich, Cleve, and Berg, also of
Engern and Westphalia, &c., &c. To be performed, by the command of our
most gracious Prince and Lord regnant, as sacred cantatas on the ordinary
Sundays and holy-days, in the ducal court chapel at Wilhelmsburg, suggested
by Salomon Franck, secretary to the ducal united Upper Consistory at Weimar.
Printed there with Mumbach's types." Preserved in Count Stolberg's library
at Wernigerode (not in Weimar, as Schauer says, p. cit., Op. xxxix.).
^ See Appendix A, No. 26. 2M B.-G., VJL, No. 31,
542 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
begins with a magnificent sonata (C major, 6-8), the structure
of which in the entry of the instruments agrees with that of
the cantata for Sexagesima, " Gleichwie der Regen," only
that in the combination of the chaconne form with that of
the Italian concerto, with a leaning to the latter, he goes
a step farther, and the first subject does not appear as
the dominant idea throughout the whole. The master un-
ceasingly created new forms, but always within the bounds of
reason. Thus the chorus of rejoicing which follows, again
exhibits a combination of fugue-form and song-form (Lied-
form), and besides this shows a trace of the Italian aria.
Its first portion is divided into two equal parts, like the first
section (Aufgesang) of a chorale ; this is succeeded by a
second portion in another time, and consisting of essentially
homophonic passages ; this last, however, consistently with
the character of the whole, flows into a new fugue, and when
it ends the orchestra takes up the opening phrases again.
In the first aria the ingenuity must not be overlooked with
which five questions following one another are musically ex-
pressed ; the piece is constructed on a freely treated basso
ostinato, and is difficult to accompany in a worthy manner.
In the tenor air we meet, for the first time, with one of
those sets of words which express no emotion, but are of
purely dogmatic import. Just as the older church composers
in certain doctrinal portions of the Mass give expression
simply to their general ecclesiastical character, so Bach also
in such cases gives us independent compositions, moving
within that circle of feeling which limits his stricter church
style. But at the same time he expresses a more definite
sentiment, for as the various feelings in his cantatas are
usually developed in gradual progression, so the purport of
such portions is essentially adapted to their position in the
work. And if a rational coherence subsists between the
sections of the text, then text and music ought to fit
each other; the music, it is true, is not the outcome
of the text, but they combine to form a third unit higher
than either by itself. Such is the case here. The opening
part of the cantata is taken up with the objective fact
of Christ's resurrection ; from the recitative of this aria
543
onwards the attention is directed to its prophetic bearing on
the life of the Christian, the crowning point of which is the
resurrection at the last day. The music serves to bridge over
the interval between the joy of the festival and the mystic
contemplation of the last scenes. What it says could not be
conveyed in words, and that is the true purpose of music.
But that this feeling was dear to Bach's heart is shown
by the extraordinary vocal and instrumental beauty of the
aria. It is like a song of spring pervaded by a soft breath of
longing. In form it resembles the bass aria in the cantata
for Palm Sunday, which was probably performed eight days
before it, and here and there it is like the second aria of " Ich
hatte viel Bekummerniss." The strings are often employed
simply to fill up the harmonies, except the first violin, which
has many concerted passages with the voice alone; short
instrumental interludes are freely interspersed. Such par-
ticular features are not to be overlooked, for they are the
waymarks in the history of Bach's growth. It is also worthy
of remark that the melodic subject of the ritornel is different
from the opening phrase for the voice, into which the ritornel
comes independently after one bar — the ritornel-subject, too,
provides the accompaniment throughout the whole aria.266 A
short recitative, remarkable for its ecstatic flight, leads to the
last aria : —
Letzte Stunde, brich herein,
Mir die Augen zuzudrucken !
Lass mich Jesu Freudenschein
Und sein helles Licht erblicken 1
Lass mich Engeln ahnlich sein,
Letzte Stunde, brich herein.
Day of death, O dawn on me,
With kind hand mine eyelids sealing;
Let me soon my Saviour see,
All His glorious light revealing.
Let me like an angel be ;
Day of death, O dawn on me.
855 I take this occasion to remark that in the foregoing recitative a mistake in
the text has been made, which has not been corrected even in the Bach Society's
edition, viz., the words should be: " Auf! von den todten Werken 1 Lass, dass
dein Heiland in dir lebt, An deinen Leben merken !'
544 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Bach shows us by his treatment how congenial this con-
clusion is to him. But is it not strange to conclude an
anthem for Easter — the festival of victory and triumph —
with the contemplation of death and the unknown future,
with vague and anxious longing ? But such is the musician's
nature. As a true church composer he views everything in
the light of eternity; still, it is not the majestic glory that
the sun sheds from the vast vault of heaven upon all crea-
tures ; it is a stray beam of light, falling through a half-open
door into a world of darkness, to let it dimly perceive how
much it lacks of light. Even those festivals of the Church
which call forth the greatest joy in existence cannot entirely
withdraw him from his natural bent. He loves the blossoms
of spring, but never so well as when they are illumined by
the evening glow.
The tender and affecting passage for the soprano has an
oboe obbligato ; then there comes in the melody of " Wenn
mein Stiindlein vorhanden ist "— "When my last hour is
drawing nigh," — given out quietly and broadly in unison
on the two violins and violas, in a low register. We are
familiar with the form from the Actus tragicus. Its charac-
teristic is, that the chief factor, the chorale, is brought
in without words, and that the subsidiary factors are set
to words, by which means the natural order of things is
reversed. The feeling of solo singing is thus drawn within
the sphere of church music, but as ample opportunity is
given for subjectivity in the interpretation of the chorale by
the instruments, an undefined and romantic character per-
vades the whole. As in the Actus tragicus this form was
found to be admirably suited to the representation of a par-
ticular frame of mind, so it is here ; but the character of this
cantata would not allow of such a sustained abstraction into
transcendental feeling. So at the end we find verse 5 of the
same chorale, but sung by the whole choir, and appearing with
distinct outlines from out of the dim twilight that has gone
before. This verse is introduced by the poet; Bach's genius
consisted in anticipating its melody in the former number, in
such a way as to prepare the way for the final chorale, as
the flower prepares the way for the fruit. Here again he
CANTATA, " BARMHERZIGES HERZE. 545
has created a new form which he afterwards turned to
account, and always with fresh ingenuity, and producing the
most striking effects. The harmonising of the chorale cor-
responds to that of the foregoing one ; a feeling of beatitude
is poured through it, so that we seem to feel a breath 01
beings from the other world. The leading idea is derived by
Bach from the opening lines : —
So fahr ich hin zu Jesu Christ,
Mein' Arm' thu ich ausstrecken.
I go to be with Jesus Christ,
Mine arm to Him uplifting.
The violins and trumpets progress above the vocal parts in
melodies and rhythms which irresistibly call up the idea 01
a soul being borne heavenwards, and stretching out its arms
to the beatific vision ; an unspeakable impressiveness is
given by the suspended discord on the fermatas, which is
never resolved until the second quaver. The trumpet, with
its tender, silvery tone, which is carried up very high, must
have had a most magical effect.256
Franck's text served for a second composition by Freislich,
the Capellmeister of Sondershausen, who must have known
Bach's work, since his beginning reminds one distinctly of
it.257 The work is pleasant, but unimportant; it is inte-
resting to us only by the fact that at the end of verse 10
of the Easter hymn, " Fruh morgens, da die Sonn aufgeht "
— "At daybreak, when the sun doth rise," — is introduced,
with its joyful " Hallelujah." To make the usual ending
with such materials was an easier task, and more intelligible
to the multitude.
2. Cantata for the Fourth Sunday after Trinity (July 14,
1715) : " Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe " — " All mer-
ciful heart of the love everlasting."258 It concludes with
the chorale, " Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ "—" I call on
Thee, Lord Jesu Christ." Bach introduces it, too, in the
266 Winterfeld, Ev. Kircheng., III., p. 378, seems to me to misunderstand this
movement, as also does Mosewius, Op. cit., p. 8.
257 In parts, in the library of the castle church of Sondershausen.
268 Published by J. P. Schmidt, Op. cit., Book III., from the autograph in the
Royal Library at Berlin.
2 N
546 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
first number (F sharp minor, 6-4) and gives it to a trumpet
or oboe, accompanying a duet, the figured bass being in
quavers.259 By this means he makes a new use of the com-
bination spoken of above, so that the whole cantata is
spanned, as with a widespread arch, by the chorale. The
fundamental thought of the whole chorale is the bitter lament
over human frailty, beside which, merely as a secondary idea,
there is a prayer to Christ for assistance in leading a life that
shall be pleasing to God. The introduction of the melody,
even in the first number, naturally proclaims its character,
which, it is true, is quite a different one from that which
appears in the first words of the text : —
Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe,
Errege, bewege mein Herze durch dich,
Damit ich Erbarmen und Giitigkeit iibe,
O Flamme der Liebe, zerschmelze du mich !
All-merciful heart of the love everlasting,
O stir up my heart with desires from above,
That the works which I do may be worthy and lasting,
Inflame me and quicken, thou fire of love !"
The idea of divine love inflaming the cold heart of man, and
quickening it to Christian activity, would, no doubt, according
to the poet's idea, rather have demanded warm and glowing
music. But that would have suggested an emotion which,
however it might be toned down, would be out of keeping
with the purport of the chorale. This could not be thought
of by Bach, to whom the chorale was the highest form of
church music. If Franck were in error to choose this hymn,
it gave Bach opportunity for a deeply felt combination, and
is to us a new evidence of his great formative power, even in
the domain of dramatically musical poetry. As the cantata
stands, it is a complete work of art, perfectly rounded off.
The duet moves in canonic imitations, but the voices (soprano
and tenor) sometimes get too far apart in height and depth.
469 That the trumpet was employed for it, even in Weimar, is shown by the
existence of a trumpet part in G minor, to correspond to the pitch of the cornet
stop on the Weimar organ, for the trumpets always stand in the "chorus" pitch.
The piece is entitled Duetto. Thus much in correction of Schmidt's edition
which is unsatisfactory in other places.
" BARMHERZIGES HERZE." 547
Certain harsh chords are indeed inserted intentionally, but
the melodies are lovely throughout.
For the subject-matter of the recitatives the poet has
adhered to the didactic Gospel for the day ; hence they are
very subdued in tone. Bach has succeeded, however, in
raising them from this by his musical treatment. The first,
for alto, turns into an arioso, followed by the instrumental
bass in canon. The same method is also to be found in
the Easter cantata, and again in the Advent and Oculi
(Third Sunday in Lent) cantatas, and in the cantata for the
Sunday after Christmas in the same year, and may be
regarded as a peculiarity of the master's style at this
period. An aria for alto (A major, 2-4) depicts the feeling
of rapturous expectation of an eternal reward for Christian
works done in this life. The idea presented in the text — of
the sheaves gathered in hereafter, the seeds of which have
been sown in this world — provides the subject of the com-
position. A happy serenity, the effect of which is doubled
by the troubled music that has gone before, pervades this
charming composition, even in its smallest details ; the strict
polophony is handled with a loveliness like that of Mozart ;
the flood of melody is full and happy, and in the most flowing
style of writing. A new instance of his genius for making
new forms is given by the next aria — B minor, common time
— set to the following words by Franck : —
Das ist der Christen Kunst: The Christian's task is this :
Nur Gott und sich erkennen, God and his own heart knowing,
Von wahrer Liebe brennen, With pure devotion glowing,
Nicht unzulassig richten, To cease from evil doing,
Noch fremdes Thun vernichten, All ways of sin eschewing ;
Des Nachsten nicht vergessen, In faithfulness to labour
Mit reichem Masse messen. And duly love his neighbour,
Das macht bei Gott und Menschen With God and man to be at
Gunst, peace —
Das ist der Christen Kunst. The Christian's task is this.
It was far from easy to make a regular composition out
of this material. The form of the Italian aria could not
be used, for the chief point of the thought lies not in the first
line, although that is repeated at the end, but in the lines
that follow ; so that it was impossible to give the chief
2 N 2
548 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
musical subject to the first line. Neither could the strophic
song-form be turned to account ; at most could he adopt the
arioso, and that could not be used in this place. There was
nothing for it but that the composer should create a new
form. He therefore took each - pair of the lines 2-7 by
themselves, inclosing them with the first line, which was
repeated for the last, and so made three verses of four lines
each. Still the purport of the text would not allow of his
using the same music for each and so making a hymn of
it ; so he treated lines 2-7 as a consecutive whole, closing
them again with a repetition of the first. The last two lines
he turned into two phrases of four bars each by repeating
the words. So we see that a structure was raised which
was to give rise to musical ornamentations in the style of
the Italian concerto. This is the chief (or concerto-tutti)
subject —
c r i i
Das ist der Chris - ten .Kunst,
and this the tributary (or concerto-solo) theme: —
Nur Gott und sich er - ken - nen, . . Von wah - rer Lie - be bren - nen, , .
The development from these two contrasting themes now
follows in quite a regular manner through the related keys.
After B minor there comes D major, then A major, and then
— for the longer passage, in which the second theme is
amplified and prolonged — E minor, and at last B minor
again, where the first theme is given out only by the instru-
mental bass, which in general is treated very independently.
Thus the build of the Italian instrumental form is turned to
account for Bach's solo treatment. Viewed from the side of
feeling, the aria expresses an ardent zeal for a warmly
cherished religious conviction, with an impressiveness and
stalwart energy which are quite characteristic of Bach. The
final chorale, which expresses the emotion of lamentation
with the greatest harmonic vigour, is accompanied by an
independent instrumental part of most beautiful structure.
3. Cantata for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (October
6), 1715, " Komm, du siisse Todesstunde " — " Come, sweet
CANTATA, " KOMM, DU SUSSE TODESSTUNDE." 549
hour of my departure."260 The gospel for the day narrates
the raising of the widow's son at Nain (Luke vii. 11-17),
which gives the poet an opportunity for treating his favourite
theme of a blessed death and everlasting life, in three arias
and two recitatives. Bach once more introduces the final
chorale (" Herzlich thut mich verlangen," verse 4) into the
opening number, giving it to the organ on a prominent stop,26
during an aria for alto (C major, common time) accompanied
by two flutes and figured bass. The character of the whole can-
tata is so celestial and suprasensual that we sometimes feel
as though it were no earthly music that we hear, but that we
are moving among spiritual beings. The airy semiquaver pas-
sages on the flutes are a distinct anticipation of the sublime
last chorale in the first part of the St. Matthew Passion; they
float above us like cloudlets in the pure ether, and between
them moves the lovely and lucid form of the solo melody : —
[Come, sweet hour of my departure,
For my soul honey takes from the lion's body.] ™*
260 An old score is preserved in the Royal Library at Berlin. It was probably
written out at Leipzig by an unknown copyist, under Bach's superintendence,
February 2, 1735. (See also Vol. III., App. A, No. 2, near the end.) The com-
plete title is, "Dom: 16 p. Trin: Kom. du siisse Todes Stunde," on the right the
sign a || a>, and on .the left a. w ; and underneath, in another handwriting, "item
Festo Purific. Maria," and on the right, in the corner, " di Bach" That the
cantata was written in Weimar is seen at a glance by its entire agreement in
plan with the others.
261 The MS. directs the Sesquialtera to be used. In a later copy the chorale
is given to a soprano voice, with Gerhard's words, " Wenn ich einmal soil
scheiden,"&c. That the instrumental method is to be considered as the original
need scarcely be mentioned after all that has been said above.
262 A somewhat far-fetched conceit from the history of Samson. See Judges,
chap. xiv.
550 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
And all this is covered as with broad wings by the melody
(without words) of the old death-bed hymn. The second aria
(A minor, 3-4), separated from the first by a recitative, is
of a more sombre character, the flutes are replaced by the
more impassioned string quartet, and it is sung by a tenor
voice. In the former number the voice seemed to proceed
from a beatified spirit, but here a human being speaks,
longing for death in tones in which pain and bliss are wonder-
fully blended. After a grand recitative which reconciles these
two differing mental conditions, the last aria (C major, 3-8)
again proceeds with a tender ecstasy. It is in four parts,
reminding us of the older church cantatas; and, except for
some simple canonic imitations between the upper and lower
pairs of voices, is quite homophonous. It is accompanied by
the strings and flutes, to which are given combinations note-
worthy alike for excellence of substance and style; especially
certain demi-semiquavers on the flute which have a strangely
weird effect ; they sound like the whisperings of spirits. The
crowning point of the chorus is the chorale that imme-
diately follows; above the four-part movement the flute
wanders with strange and mysterious passages, giving rise
to marvellous harmonies; the whole sounds as though heard
in a dream.
Finally, the two recitatives are among the loveliest
of Bach's writings. They are also highly characteristic of
his own peculiar manner, and are everywhere full of deeply
felt musical melody and yet of admirable and vivid declama-
tory accent. The first is accompanied only by the figured
bass, and the second by the whole band, which inten-
sifies and renders all the prominent pathetic portions more
impressive, not by preludes and postludes, but in the
genuine Bach manner, by richly interwoven subsidiary sub-
jects.268 The close is particularly remarkable. The subject
here is the tolling of the last hour of a man's life, and all
the instruments are made to sound a bell-like peal ; the
basses solemnly swinging to and fro from CC to C, the
263 In bars 4-14 the text of the score differs slightly from the printed poem ;
Bach seems to have altered it arbitrarily, because the musical declamation was
not go well fitted to the original words.
" KOMM, DU SUSSE TODESSTUNDE." 55!
violins in the middle like a vesper-call to prayer, and the
two flutes above in shriller chime.264 Surrounded with these
tones, the solo voice enters like an earthly pilgrim on his
last sad journey : —
Flutes .^ .__,
-*-*-»-*-*- -»- -m- -J -J- -m-
Violins. Tenors.
SE
Basses.
so schla-ge doch, so schla-ge doch, du letz
ter Stun-den
-* -?-
i
is S
^3=z
-g-
fc^-E-Cg-apg^
- schlag, so schlage doch, schlage doch, schlage doch, du letz ter . . Stunden -
i
-if -it -it -it
* -if
I
^==r=^==&:^
- schlag.
-V-=i- J "i r
=^=^=ti
[Strike, then, oh strike, thou latest hour of life!]
484 In North Germany a bell " tolls the knell of parting day" at six in the
552 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Whether such tone-painting is justifiable or not may indeed
be asked. Music cannot, of course, be unconditionally for-
bidden to imitate and assimilate tones and phrases of musical
instruments — and such surely must bells be considered — that
are closely associated with certain circumstances of life, so
long as such things are treated in an artistic way. Trumpets
and horn-tunes occur naturally in battle or hunting pieces,
as do pastoral passages on the oboe in representations of
shepherd life. Nor is it by accident that these instruments
and certain of their characteristic phrases have been brought
into combination with those circumstances of life ; there is
an inner connection between them ; they reveal the inner-
most germ of the living feeling which pervades and animates
those circumstances, and the musician in using them only
avails himself of the materials which offer themselves to his
hand. Inasmuch as it is easy by means of these tone-
paintings to call up certain adequate and distinct ideas in
the imagination, they are by no means to be despised for
dramatic compositions. They may also be employed in
purely lyrical work, only it is indispensable that they
should be modified and refined into ideal subjects. It
is also evident that the simpler and more limited the
powers and phrases of the instrument, the more carefully
must it be refined and modified, since it the more easily
gives the disturbing impression of realism. How well Bach
could adhere to this condition, even in imitating the pealing
of bells, is shown by the first aria of his cantata " Liebster
Gott, wann werd ich sterben," 265 where, to a text precisely
similar to the one before us: "Was willst du dich, mein
Geist, entsetzen, Wenn meine letzte Stunde schlagt ? "-
" Why should'st thou tremble, O my spirit, when my last
hour on earth shall strike?" — the instrumental basses
throughout imitate pealing bells, but so thoroughly trans-
forming them into a musical subject that it is quite of a
piece with the rest of the organism. This is not the case
here ; in the recitative we hear the sound of bells for a few
evening; it is the close of man's labour, and he is invited to prayer. Shortly
before a smaller warning bell is rung, represented here by the flutes.
*"• B.-G., I., No. 8, P. 1199.
IMITATION of BELLS m MUSIC. 553
bars, and on a few harmonies, without any preparation in
the music, and then again it ceases.
The composer's intention is of course plain ; by a reminis-
cence of the death-peal he means to arouse in us the feeling
that steals over us on such occasions; it is a poetic intensify-
ing of the thought, like what he achieves by the introduction
of chorale melodies without words. But is it correct or
artistic to gain his effect by such external and foreign means ?
In general, assuredly it is not ; and certainly the effect on
the hearer of to-day may very possibly be painfully realistic.
The question however has a somewhat different aspect when
we try to view it in the light of Bach's individuality. As
a natural result of his inclination to pure music, he abstained
from sound-pictures on the whole. Though in the last
recitative of the Advent cantata, " Nun komm, der Heiden
Heiland," a piece of tone-painting in the voice part strikes
us as strange, it is developed from an accentuation on the
words, formed quite naturally on Bach's principle of com-
bining declamatory and musical passages; and in that par-
ticular place it has a sublime effect, since it brings out the
contrast between the narrowness of the things which belong
to the senses and the infinitude of those above them. Other
scattered passages of this kind will be accounted for in their
own place.
The imitation of pealing bells was, however, an effect of
which Bach was very fond, and which occurs in a large
number of his works, as for instance in the beginning of
the cantata just mentioned, in an aria in the cantata,
" Herr, wie du willst, so schicks mit mir,"266 in a majestic
conception in the second recitative of the funeral ode for
Queen Christiana Eberhardine,267 and in the funeral aria
"Schlage doch, gewunschte Stunde,"268 of which, by the
way, the poem is easily recognisable as Franck's. Here,
however, he has employed it with quite a different view;
Bach's relations with the Church and its usages were so
close and deep that to him the sound of bells did not seem
B.-G., XVIII., No. 73, P. 1676. w B.-G., XIII., 3.
B.-G., XII., 2, No. 53. Also contained in Peters' " Alt-album."
554 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
unworthy to be employed in any musical form whatever. If
this is considered too naive and narrow, we reply that true
genius must be narrow, and that it is only an exclusive and
blind devotion to the object aimed at that has in all times
succeeded in creating works of true greatness. Musical
history presents one other precisely similar case ; the imita-
tion of the nightingale, the quail, and the cuckoo, in the
andante of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony. It is very easy
to see that Beethoven there overstepped the bounds of the
ideal, and yet how could he have written this symphony had
he not felt the magic charm and the sublimity of Nature so
deeply as to regard all her works as sacred ? As we have
already pointed out, that which Nature was to the one of
these two equally great and nearly allied souls, the Church
was to the other.
4. Cantata for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity (Novem-
ber 3, 1715) : " Ach ich sehe, jetzt da ich zur Hochzeit gehe,"
&C.269 — "Ah, I tremble, as the favoured guests assemble."
The subject of the Gospel is the parable of the king who
made a marriage for his son, and when the guests refused to
come, called guests in from the streets, but expelled again
those who were unworthy (Matt. xxii. 1-14). Accordingly
the chief emotions in the cantata are : fear and anxiety to be
found worthy ; longings of the poor human soul to be
quickened by the supper of the Lord ; rejoicing at being ad-
mitted to it. These are represented in three arias connected
by recitatives. The bass begins (A minor, common time)
with a masterpiece of polyphony and episodical sequence;
the figure —
goes through the whole like a gnawing anxiety. The second
aria, for soprano (D minor, 12-8), breathes out urgent suppli-
cation, and is again quite different to anything we have
hitherto met with in Bach; and the exclamation "Jesu!"
26a The score (from the Fischhoff bequest) is in the Royal Library at Berlin,
and must have been copied from the original parts in Von Voss's collection.
These I have never seen.
CANTATA, " NUR JEDEM DAS SEINE.
555
thrice repeated is most remarkable in its expression. But
when, indeed, was this stream of novelty ever exhausted ?
The last aria, a duet between alto and tenor, again opens
out an unknown territory. In it there is what we are
almost tempted to call a Dionysic rejoicing, as the parts
move now in joyful semiquavers, now in long-held shouts
of joy, while below them the bass has the following pas-
sage, as if for a festal dance : —
The piece, with its broad treatment and noble freedom, has
the form of the Italian aria, and the road by which Bach leads
back to the first part is particularly fine. The two voices are
now in homophony like a two-part song, and now break into
an animated polyphony which reveals its origin in the organ;
it is not yet quite in the special Bach form of duet, but there
is no trace of the duets of Steffani, which were the pattern at
that time, and which were the examples that Handel copied.
This exuberant joy is toned down in the final chorale to
correspond to the opening ; the seventh verse of the hymn
" Alle Menschen miissen sterben," is sung to a melody in A
minor, which is not known elsewhere. It cannot be decided
at present whether it was composed by Bach or no.
5. Cantata for the Twenty-third Sunday after Trinity (No-
vember 24, 1715), " Nur jedem das Seine" — "Let all be
paid duly."270 Referring to the Gospel, which treats of
the tribute money (Matt. xxii. 18-22), Franck wrote a set of
words which are for the most part absolutely devoid of senti-
ment. The last is alone really fit for musical treatment — the
beginning may serve as an example of the rest : —
Nur jedem das Seine !
Muss Obrigkeit haben
Zoll, Steuern und Gaben,
Man weigre sich nicht
Der schuldigen Pflicht !
Doch bleibe das Herze dem
Hochsten alleine!
Nur jedem das Seine!
Let all be paid duly —
A tithe to thy pastor,
A tax to thy master;
Let no man refuse
To any their dues —
To God give thy heart, ever
serving Him truly —
Let all be paid duly !
470 Autograph score in the Royal Library at Berlin. Comp. App. A., No. 25.
556 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
In spite of these dreadfully prosaic rhymes Bach threw
himself into the work with especial interest. He chose his
favourite key of B minor, wrote out the score with careful
neatness, and brought all his art and subtlety to bear on the
music itself. It is easy to perceive that he did not make a
purely ideal piece of music, but that he was really incited by
the words. In order to understand this we must consider
that he viewed them in the idealising light of the Church
and of Scripture; and it must not be forgotten how easily
satisfied the general taste for poetry was at that time, and
how little progress it had made. Bach has displayed his
lofty poetical feeling in so many ways when the matter in
hand was the conception of a general idea, as founded on
the basis of music, that it in no respect detracts from his
greatness that he should have stood no higher than the level
of his time as regards the fitness of special subjects for
poetic treatment. The way in which he conceived the first
aria shows that he saw through the outer husk to the kernel
of the subject. It was the idea of order and obedience
to law and morality that suggested itself to him from the
words, and which he represented in a piece of music which
stands firm, as though hewn out of stone. Another com-
poser would probably not have known even how to set about
treating these words, and that Bach took them up with such
warmth is a beautiful contribution to the knowledge of his
personal characteristics : steadfastness, morality, and a won-
derful feeling for order — these were the qualities that pervaded
his whole nature. I cannot describe the piece more fully ;
the full effect lies in the keen and strong general picture —
is the germ from which it grows without break or interrup-
tion. In the following aria, which compares the heart of the
Christian to a worn-out coin, not worthy to be brought to
Christ, the words —
Komm ! arbeite, schmelz, und Come and melt me ! then, refin-
prage, ing,
Dass dein Ebenbild in mir Stamp me fresh, that I may live
Ganz erneuert werden moge — Newly with Thine image shining —
CANTATA, " BEREITET DIE WEGE. 557
give the direction to the bold imagination of the master ; the
bass voice (E minor, common time) carries on its earnest
daily toil, while two busily working violoncellos cast a
twilight effect over the piece. A beautiful contrast of tone
is next given by a two-part recitative, between the soprano
and the alto, in imitation, and ending in a long arioso.
This bold innovation was only completely possible with
Bach's conception of the recitative. It is followed by a
pure and childlike duet for the same voices (D major, 3-4)
on a poetic text, the subject of which is devotion to the Sa-
viour. Meanwhile the violins and tenors in unison play the
melody of " Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht" — " I will never
leave my Lord," — the whole constituting a fabric of marvel-
lous delicacy. But the close is not furnished by this chorale,
but by the eleventh verse of Heermann's hymn, "Wo soil
ich fliehen hin," to Pachelbel's melody in the major, used
before this by Michael Bach in a motett, which Sebastian
probably became acquainted with through his near relations
with the latter, or through Walther. It seemed to him
unsuitable for interweaving with the preceding duet; but,
in order not to sacrifice the impression produced by the
other, he has bestowed upon it only the simplest possible
harmonies.271
6. Cantata for the Fourth Sunday in Advent (Dec. 22),
1715 : " Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn," — " Prepare ye
the way, and make ready the road."272 Without ever betray-
ing a trace of formalism, the master goes on pouring out
new treasures from his inexhaustible fancy. The number
and order of the movements in this cantata are the same
as in the preceding one. The first aria (A major, 6-8) is full
of idyllic festivity. It begins with an exquisite passage for
the oboe, accompanied only by harmonies in chords : —
271 In the autograph, under the title "Choral semplice stylo," there is only the
figured bass without words. But it is easy, by means of the printed text, to
know what melody is intended.
372 Autograph score in the Royal Library at Berlin. Vide App. A, No. 27.
558 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
When it gets to e' it soars joyfully up an octave, over-
shadowing the melody — which now comes in on the violins —
with a brilliant shake, and then gaily interweaving the subject
with the voice part, which busily hastens up and down in
semiquavers, to level every obstacle and to make its way.
The second part is quite charming ; the bass first plays the
principal subject in F sharp minor, and the voice comes in
with it afresh with the following —
llu
be - rei - tet die We-ge und ma - chet die Ste-ge
and for the third part the oboe has this passage
after which the parts go through different keys in three-part
counterpoint, and then, after a repetition, are suddenly
silenced in their busy course, while the soprano alone gives out
the loud and joyful cry, " Messias kommt an !"— " Messiah
is come !" The way, too, in which the second part leaves off in
D major, and the instruments begin the da capo again without
pausing to take breath, is of characteristic charm. Gradually
— in the first recitative — graver thoughts begin to make
themselves felt ;273 and as the priests and Levites in the
Gospel asked John the Baptist, " Who art thou ? " so now,
as he goes to meet his Lord, there occurs to the mind of the
Christian the soul-searching question, " Wer bist du ? Frage
dein Gewissen" — "Who art thou ? Ask it of thy conscience,"
— bass aria (E major, common time). The voice is accom-
panied only by the organ and figured bass for the violoncello,
which are entwined together in an intricate way, and often
in a curiously low register. Even if we take into considera-
tion the high pitch of the Weimar organ, and take it for
granted that the figured bass was played very lightly, and
that the bass voice was very powerful, the fact remains that
178 As to the remarkable unison passage between the voice and the bass in
bars 28 and 29 to symbolise the " unison of the soul with Christ," I shall men-
tion it again when speaking of the E minor fugue in Part I. of the Wohltem-
perirte Clavier.
BACH'S USE OF THE INVERTED PEDAL.
559
the effect must have been gloomy and ugly in detail. In
several places, too, there are certain harmonic peculiarities.
Bach is fond of bringing in, underneath sustained harmonies,
whether in the form of firm or broken chords, melodic pas-
sages which are to be understood only as a series of passing-
notes to some far-off harmonic goal ; and until this is reached
the ear is of necessity kept in suspense. Though it is not
difficult to accustom the ear to these passages (instances
of the " inverted pedal," as it is called), they are still further
complicated by the circumstance that he does not shrink
from making the passing-notes serve as the groundwork of
independent harmonies which come into inevitable collision
with the chief harmonies. I refer especially to the passage
in bars 42 and 43 —
^— » *^iT —
&c.
where the voice is supported by the lowest notes of the bass,
while the chief harmony consists of the third e, g sharp.
Compare also bars 14 to 26. The continuation of bar 43 is
still bolder : —
Here, indeed, only the e is left, but this makes no differ-
ence theoretically, and the progression of the chord is the
same as if e were not there at all, even in a suspended
form — compare bars 16 and 28. That such hazardous pas-
sages already appear in Bach, is another proof of how early
his musical character was clearly stamped. Their effect is
at first repulsive, but when we begin to see the rationale
and sequence in them, they have a wonderful charm, and
especially when the expression of the words is heightened
by them, as in this case. As even the gloomy quality of
560 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
the tones contributes to this end, we finally quit this aria
with the impression of a stern but imposing whole.
All that need be noticed in the third aria is that it has a
pathetic tone in remembrance of what mankind has gained
by Christ's passion; the recitative has formed a bridge
between the two sentiments. It is set for alto and solo
violin, and in a kind of anticipation of that sublime song of
woe in the " Matthew Passion," " Have mercy upon me, O
Lord ! " The prominence which is given in all these cantatas
to the alto voice is due to the excellent quality of the voice
of the alto in the chapel, whose name was Bernhardi. The
chorale " Herr Christ, der einge Gottes-Sohn " — " Lord
Christ, the only Son of God," — forms a worthy and sublime
conclusion.
7. Cantata for the Sunday after Christmas (December 29,
1715), " Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn "— " Walk in the way
of faith." 274 This has no choruses or chorales, is only written
for two solo voices, and is altogether one of the most remark-
able of Bach's productions. It does not derive much of its
origin from the Gospel for the day. That narrates the pro-
phecies of Simeon and of Anna, that Christ " is set for the
fall and rising again of many in Israel," and for a stone of
foundation to some, and of stumbling to others. Franck
has turned this subject into dull verses, comprising two
arias and two recitatives, and for the close a duet between
Christ and the Soul. Bach went beyond the text to the
feeling attributed to the Sunday by the Church ; the germ
of his music is the echo of Christmastide, which vibrates
gently on in the soul until new and solemn religious festivals
occupy its attention. He begins with a long orchestral piece,
given to a most exquisite combination of instruments, namely,
to a flute, oboe, viola d'amore, viol da gamba, and organ.
The root of the form is the French overture, but the slow
first section is more in the style of the Gabrieli sonata, and,
although only four bars in length (E minor, common time),
274 The autograph score is in the Royal Library at Berlin, and in the colour,
texture, and watermark of the paper, agrees exactly with the autograph of the
Advent cantata, " Nun komm der Heiden Heiland."
CANTATA, "TR1TT AUF DIE GLAUBENSBAHN." 561
reminds us strongly of the sinfonia at the beginning of the
" Ich hatte viel Bekummerniss." Then follows a fugue, on
a theme of such charm that Bach afterwards used it again in
a modified form for the organ :275 —
m
*/ .'.'2.
W*
Here all the characteristics of the overture are preserved,
even the typical pedal on the dominant, only that instead of
an organism through the arteries of which runs hot blood, a
tender, soft, and transparent vein is spread out before us,
treated with supreme mastery and tender depth of feeling
(139 bars). The vocal portion of the work begins with a
mild and grave bass aria, in daring, but happily conceived
combination with an oboe, accompanied by the figured bass ;
the bass voice also has the beautiful recitative with arioso,
which follows next. The Hofcantor Wolfgang Christoph
Alt seems to have been the principal bass singer in this
chapel, and he must have possessed a magnificent organ, to
judge from the parts written for him by Bach. Even the E
major aria in the preceding cantata is inconceivable without
this ; and here we find, besides others, the following gigantic
leaps : —
in Is • ra - el zum Fall und Auf -er - ste - hen
Although we know Bach's inclination to represent exter-
nal movement by a solo voice, this seems almost like a
joke. The crowning point of the cantata is the aria for
soprano, in G major, which follows next, which is a very
jewel among all the other airs of Bach. It is, although such
is not the express idea of the text, a lullaby sung at the
cradle of the infant Saviour. The resemblance between this
and the exquisite slumber song in the Christmas oratorio276
is evident, but that is the more full and contenting, while
the character of this one is more tender and airy, like a
P. S. V., Cah. II. (241), No. 3.
B.-G., V., 2, p. 68.
562 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
sweet and dreamy memory. A graceful charm smiles from
each note, from the rocking passages of the single flute and
viola d'amore, from the silvery tones of the long-held notes,
the tenderness of the melody and its close on the third, from
the caressing sixths of the two instruments above the slow
swing of the bass notes. The final duet, like the duet for
soprano and bass in " Ich hatte viel Bekummerniss "
(see ante, p. 537), is too dramatic, and inconsistent with
the church style. Besides this the dance rhythm of the
gigue goes through it from beginning to end, but this
indeed was almost necessitated by Franck's poem. On the
other hand the lyrical principle is more adhered to in this
than in the other duet, by the introduction, though but
rare, of independent instrumental passages. As a piece of
music it is sufficiently charming, as scarcely need be said.
8. Cantata for the second Sunday after the Epiphany,
January 19, 1716, " Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange?" —
"How long, Lord, will thou tarry?"277 Nothing is taken
from the Gospel (of the marriage in Cana) except the thought
that God will at last send help in trouble, though He tarry
long. This prescribes the simple psychological course of
the cantata. While the bass persists in monotonous and
never-ending quavers on D, the soprano has a recitative-like
movement, lamenting that no end is seen amid looming
troubles ; the end is very graphic, where the voice soars
upwards on the words " Freudenwein ! " — " wine of joy !" — in
demi-semiquavers, and then sighing out the words " mir
sinkt fast alle Zuversicht " — " all confidence is gone from
me," — sinks wearily down between the two violins in
imitation.
The duet which comes next, between alto and tenor
(A minor, common time), and the words " Du musst
glauben, du musst hoffen " — " Still believing, ever hoping,"
has a feeling of quiet consolation ; with the vocal parts of
this a bassoon part is interwoven in a consummately skilful
manner, consisting partly of broad broken harmonies, partly
of independent passages, partly too of imitations of the
877 Autograph in the Royal Library at Berlin. Comp. App. A, No. 25.
CANTATA, " MEIN GOTT WIE LANG. * 563
voice parts. A further step towards perfect consolation
is taken by the bass recitative, " So sei, o Seele, sei
zufrieden " — " Thus$ O my spirit, be thou happy," — till, in
absolute confidence of faith, there sounds out a beautiful
soprano aria (F major, common time), " Wirf, mein Herze,
wirf dich noch in des Hochster Liebesarme !"— " O my
heart, now cast thyself on the Saviour's arms so loving !" —
one of those pieces by Bach that, with their strongly marked
rhythm, their incessant chords of the seventh, and the happy,
victorious expressions of the melody, make us feel we never
could tire of hearing them. Here also we meet with in-
stances of the inverted pedal, those great ventures of har-
mony, to the flight of which we commit ourselves with
perfect confidence, trusting to the certain aim of the master's
hand. A great effect and an indescribable expression is
given by the alternations between major and minor, which
are introduced with the boldness of Schubert in the middle
and at the end of the aria. As far as regards the combina-
tion of ^quaver triplets with dotted quavers (i.e., J7J) let it
be understood once for all that the semiquaver in this
rhythmical figure in such cases should always coincide with
the last quaver of a triplet I • 4 * \ This broad and dignified
rendering, though not quite strict, was the only one in use
until the overweening restlessness of more modern instru-
mental music came into vogue.278 The twelfth verse of the
chorale, " Es ist das Heil uns kommen her," forms the close
of this beautiful composition.
9. Cantata for " Oculi " Sunday (Third Sunday in Lent),
(March 15, 1716). " Alles was von Gott geboren" — "All that
is of God's creation." This work was subsequently embodied
in the cantata, " Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott,"279 which is
made up of it and two chorale choruses, numbers i and 5.
The trace still remains of its existence in its original form.
The two choruses must clearly have been composed later,
278 P. E. Bach, Versuch iiber die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen, Part I., p.
98 (third edition, Leipzig, 1781). Comp. B.-G., XXIL, p. 123, bars 3 and 4.
«™ B. G., XVIII., No. 89, P. 1012.
3 O 2,
564 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
while the rest of the work agrees entirely with the other
cantatas of this year (i7i5-i7i6).280 Thus in the first aria
(D major, common time) the melody of the final chorale is
brought in on the instruments ; it is a war-song for the bass,
surrounded by the violins and violas in unison, which beat
the ground like chargers thirsting for battle under valiant
horsemen. The second aria, introduced by a bass recitative,
" Komm in mein Herzenshaus, Herr Jesu, mein Verlangen "
— " Come and dwell within my heart, Lord Jesus, my salva-
tion,"— and sung by the soprano with only figured bass accom-
paniment (B minor, 12-8), is a touching and childlike prayer,
in striking contrast to the martial strains that went before.
After another recitative for the tenor there comes a duet for
tenor and alto, accompanied by the violin and oboe da caccia
(G major, 3-4). The Gospel for the day relates that after one
of our Lord's most important discourses a woman from the
people lifted up her voice and said, " Blessed is the womb
that bare Thee, and the paps which Thou hast sucked," and
how He answered, "Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear
the word of God, and keep it." Accordingly Franck begins
his text thus : " Wie selig ist der Leib, der, Jesu, dich
getragen ! Doch selger ist das Herz, das dich in Glauben
tragt " — " How blessed is the womb that bare Thee, O my
Saviour! But happier still the heart that Thee by faith
receives." This narrative, so touching in its simplicity, was
taken by Bach for the groundwork of the duet. We feel in
this a particular kind of softness, quite distinct from other
tender pieces by Bach, so that we might almost say it has
something feminine and motherly in it. Even the cradle song
in the cantata " Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn " is different, al-
though in some places it is like it. The homophonous thirds,
the immediate modulation into the key of the sub-dominant,
and even the bringing in of the F — like a tearful glance from
a mother's eyes — all these are very unusual things in the
opening of a work by Bach. Directly after this opening the
vocal parts are treated in skilful imitation, surrounded by
the oboe and the violin in fantastic and mysterious Semi-
App. A, No. 28.
CANTATA, " ALLES WAS VON GOTT GEBOREN." 565
quavers. Farther on, where Christ's answer is given, the first
subject comes in again, but is treated fugally in four parts with
the assistance of the instruments — a wonderfully successful
amplification by simple means. To each couplet that follows
there is a new and fresh image in the music ; thus the
believer's victory over all his enemies is expressed by a
movement of bold and animated character, with reminis
cences of the figures in the first aria — his final victory even
over death, by imitations which struggle valiantly for a time,
and then seem to lose their way in strange and gloomy har-
monies. The idea of Death, with his terrors, makes itself
felt for a moment ; it is then overpowered by the return of
the calm ritornel, and finally is completely vanquished by
the closing chorale. We could in former cases perceive a
reflex of Bach's character in the way in which he conceived
the text of an aria. The intensity with which he has here
grasped the feeling of the Bible narrative seems to me to
reveal more clearly the pure depth of his German heart than
any outward incident of his life could do.
We have come to the end ; the reader, on glancing back,
will observe that elaborate choruses are almost entirely lack-
ing in the works that remain of this year. The chief reason
lies in the poems by Franck, for at this time he abstained
altogether from employing Bible words ; and Bach was well
aware of what was required in a text for a chorus. But this
is not the only reason. Up to this time, however admirable
his productions of a choral kind are here and there, yet the
time of his full perfection in that form had not yet arrived.
The Weimar period was the flowering-time of his achieve-
ments on and for the organ, particularly in the form of
the chorale; and this height had to be gained before he
could take a further stride and condense into vocal forms the
more subjective and dramatic aspects of the instrumental
forms. His greatest productions in the way of choral music
are indeed his chorale choruses, and these too constitute
the crown of his art as applied to the purposes of the
Church. The strength of these Weimar cantatas consists
in the solos, of which the wealth of ideas, the variety and
perfection of form, compel our a,mazement. Each melody
566 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
bears its peculiar stamp, in each piece an individual emotion
is thoroughly treated, and even in the most dissimilar the
composer has succeeded with marvellous versatility in doing
full justice to the subjects. The music flows so untiringly
and spontaneously that it is utterly inconceivable that such
power should ever decay ; the most complicated technical
problems are solved with such a quiet certainty that they
never occur to us as such. The conception of the words
shows an intensity of feeling entirely devoted to the Church,
and utterly free from any blemish of secular shallowness.
His idea is always concentrated on the whole solemnity of
meaning of each separate Sunday ; and if the text is in-
adequate to the thorough bringing-out of the chief thought,
he grasps it in its deepest meaning, and gives it its right
form by means of his music. The aim and end of the can-
tatas, which is the bringing-out of devotional feeling, is here
greatly helped by the skilful employment of the chorale. If
it were not for the sparing use of chorus-writing these can-
tatas might well be considered as the ideal of Bach's church
music.
In this first year there comes, by way of interlude, a secular
cantata. Duke Wilhelm Ernst, as we have before said, was
in the most friendly relations with Duke Christian of Saxe-
Weissenfels. This latter personage had inaugurated a grand
hunting festival in celebration of his thirty-fifth birthday
(February 23, 1716). In order to take his share in the fes-
tivities, Duke Wilhelm Ernst commanded a cantata to be
produced, in the ducal hunting-lodge, by way of " table-
music," and this was to be written by Salomo Franck, and
composed by Sebastian Bach.281 Its form, of course, was
allegorical and dramatic, but the merit of the poetry was so
slight that it would scarcely repay the trouble of analysing it.
The characters, as was customary, were taken from ancient
mythology. Diana comes on, and declares that her delight
is exclusively in the chase, and Endymion reproaches her
with having neglected him. To this the goddess replies that
it came about because she must give her whole attention
Autograph in the Royal Library at Berlin. Vide App. A, No. 20,.
SECULAR CANTATA, " WAS MIR BEHAGT." 567
to-day to " dear Christian," and so her lover is satisfied,
and sings a congratulatory duet with her. Pan, the god of
nature, comes in with similar sentiments, and at last Pales,
the goddess of flocks and herds, offers her attestation of
devoted loyalty. Since there is now a quartet of characters,
there is nothing to prevent a proper musical production ; so
first they sing in four parts, then there is a duet for Diana and
Endymion, followed by an aria for Pales and Pan ; and the
whole closes with a general chorus.
The cantata is rather lengthy, containing ten numbers,
besides the connecting recitatives. Bach took a great
interest in the composition, as it was probably his first
work of the kind, and it contains much charming music. He
referred back to it several times as opportunity occurred,
and even used separate pieces from it in a later church
cantata. It first came into use again for the celebration of
the birthday of Prince Ernst August (April 19), the nephew
of Duke Wilhelm Ernst, and elder step-brother to the
musical Johann Ernst, who succeeded the Duke as Regent
in 1728. 282 It was afterwards performed in Leipzig for the
anniversary of the name-day of King Friedrich August of
Saxony (whether the first or second is not stated), " in unter-
thanigster Ehrfurcht aufgefuhret in dem Collegia musica
durch J. S. B."283 — "performed with the most submissive
reverence in the musical college, by Johann Sebastian Bach."
Probably a part of it at least was performed at another time
in honour of Duke Christian and his consort Louise
Christine, a princess of the house of Stolberg.284 Lastly, in
282 In the score, wherever the name "Christian" occurs, Bach has written
"Ernst August ' above or below it.
283 As it is stated in a copy of the words written on purpose.
284 On the last page of the book of words, in which is preserved the original
version (but not in Bach's own writing), this is written across the other writing
as a parody of the words of the last chorus, by a second hand: —
Die Anmuth umfange, das Gliick bediene
Den Hertzog u. seine Louyse Christine
Sie weyden in Freudei; auf Blumen u. Klee
Es prange die Zierde der Fiirstlichen Eh* ;
Die andre Dione
Fiirst Christians Crone !
Die Anmuth umfange, &c., D.-C.
568 JOttANN SEBASTIAN BACtt.
the year 1735, two arias out of this work were transferred in
an amplified and enriched form to the Whitsuntide cantata,
"Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt "285— " So God the Father
loved the world." One of these is the first song of Pan (C
major, common time), in which Bach solved the problem of
setting such unthankful words, by writing a powerful poly-
phonic movement with the least possible regard to the
subject. In its altered form the treatment becomes broader
and more finished, and the music is made with a masterly
facility to fit the different requirements of the new text in
details ; as a whole, however, this would have well repaid
the trouble of another composition. The two arias of Pales
and the second of Pan give the composer a true poetic in-
spiration, and we see how his heart delighted in the thought
of the free open-air life of shepherds and husbandmen. The
first aria of Pales, " Schafe konnen sicher weiden " — "All
the flocks may feed in safety," — accompanied on two flutes
and figured bass (B flat major, common time) is a charm-
ing little piece of the most perfect finish.
Bach felt that the second aria (F major, common time)
could be remodelled to something still more beautiful. It
is thirty-six bars long and lies over a free basso ostinato, like
that of the bass aria in the Easter cantata of 1715. This
was retained, but the melody is replaced by another of a
much bolder and freer character, which, with its happy
breath of spring, has even won its way to the hearts of the
musical world of the present day. The piece is enlarged to
fifty-two bars, and the modulations are altered. Not yet
satisfied with this, the master carries on the bass theme in
a postlude of twenty-six bars at the end. The words, " Mein
glaubiges Herze, frohlocke, sing, scherze " — " My heart ever
faithful, sing praises, be joyful," — were exactly fitted to the
transferred form ; and still more was the general feeling of
Whitsuntide, the festival of May.
If such transference from one work to another of a different
kind is possible, there can be no difference in style between
Bach's sacred and secular compositions. And no such
B.-G., XVI., No. 68, P. 1287.
FRANCE'S TEXTS, 1716-1717. 569
difference does actually exist. Bach's style was sacred, and
the sacred style was Bach's. He does not put it on and off
like a vestment, but uses it always without thinking of it,
because his style of composition had developed naturally
with his growth, and he could not express himself in any
other way. In some details of the secular cantatas he
attempts to gird himself somewhat more loosely, and indeed
a greater degree of grace is there perceptible. But on the
whole his pure polyphonic style is retained in both to an
equal degree.
The singers of Weissenfels, so long accustomed to the
outward showiness of the opera, must have pulled long
faces at this music, although Bach took the trouble for a
moment, in the first aria for Diana, of writing something
brilliant and effective. One of the ornaments of the opera at
that place was at this time (from what year is not certain)
Christiane Pauline Kellner, who may have taken the part of
Diana. She made a great effect at the Brunswick Opera
at the end of the seventeenth century, and subsequently at
Cassel, and gained a great name as a vocalist. Mattheson
praises her improvisations, and "her vocal fantasias without
a single word." She was also well known in Hamburg.286
Instances of Bach's having written for female singers are
of the rarest occurrence in his life. In his time there were
no female singers at the Court of Weimar, either in church
or chamber music, and they were first introduced there at
the end of I72O.287
The second series of Franck's cantatas extended from the
first Sunday in Advent of 1716 to the same day in ijij.®*8
Thus there were no new poems for the time from Easter till
Advent, 1716. Bach, as we have seen, composed for the
286 Mattheson, Das Besch. Orch., p. 137. Walther, pp. 338 and 229. Chry-
sander, Jahrbiicher, I., pp. 188, 190, 200, 202, and 265.
887 Walther, p. 450, at the bottom.
288 " Evangelische | Sonn- und Fest- | Tages | Andachten, | Am | Hochfurstl.
Gnadigste Verordnung | Zur | Fiirstl. Sachsis. Weimarischen | Hoi-Capell-
Music | In Geistlichen ^4n'en | erwecket | Von | Salomon Francken, | Furstl.
Sachs. Gesamten Ober-Con \sistorial-Secretario in Weimar. | Weimar und Jena, |
Bey Johann Felix Bielcken. | 1717. | " It is in the Grand-Ducal Library at
Weimar, without a preface. See App. A, No. 30.
570 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
festival of Whitsuntide a cantata to a text of Neumeister,
and we cannot point to any other works of that time.
Indeed, we possess only two cantatas out of the whole of
the second annual series of poems, both of which must
certainly have been written in Weimar. Whether he set
no others, or whether the rest have been lost, remains
uncertain. These two are for the second and the fourth
Sundays in Advent, December 6 and 20, 1716. The
circumstance that one was written so soon after the other
is obviously connected with the death of Drese, the old
Capellmeister, which took place at that time. In this
series, Franck had again altogether avoided the use of
recitative ; Bach worked up these cantatas afterwards at
Leipzig, inserting recitatives which were written on purpose,
and dividing each into two sections by introducing a chorale
in the middle. They have only come down to us in this
extended form ; but it is easy to restore them to their
original state, excepting perhaps certain improvements
in the details which must have been made in any case.
Each consisted of a chorus, four arias, and a chorale.
The Gospel for the Second Sunday in Advent treats of
Christ's coming to judgment, and affords an opening into
that realm of mysticism in which Bach's genius was so
eminently at home, and in this cantata he spreads his
wings for a mightier flight than we could have dared to
expect even from all that he had done before.289 The chorus
at the beginning, which is cast in the mould of the Italian
aria, has eighty bars (C major, common time). " Wachet,
betet !" — " Watching, praying!" — these are the words which
serve as the germ for the mighty growth of sound. It is
already a living thing in the instrumental introduction, for
this contains the statement, as it were, of every motive
which is afterwards used by the instruments throughout
the work. Among these the most significant are the
resonant signal call —
*» B.-G., XVI., No. 70, P. 1666.
CANTATA, "WACHET, BETET": FIRST STATE. 57!
and a solemn rolling figure in a succession of broad chords,
like that of the C major prelude in the Wohltemperirte
Clavier, through which we hear alternately the soft but
rousing tones of the trumpets and oboes ; for even in prayer
we must keep watch ! The number for the chorus is worked
upon quite different motives; the materials consisting of hasty
snatches of semiquavers, energetic shouts, bold challenges,
and, as a contrast, devotional streams of harmony, such
as this:290—
be - - tet,
The four arias constitute so many distinct pictures of asto-
nishing vividness.
Beautiful as the recitatives are (the last, in which the
chorale " Es ist gewisslich an der Zeit " — " It certainly is
now the time," — peals forth from the trumpets as if its call
were sounding from the clouds, while a powerful picture is
at the same time given of the destruction of the earth, being
especially grand and startling), and absolutely justified as
this means of utterance is on general grounds of art, in the
present instance they cannot be considered necessary. It
seems to me that I can throughout perceive quite clearly
that they were not originally intended by Bach. The
psychological development is followed up with such unin-
terrupted vigour through the four arias to the final chorale
that the master himself could insert nothing more with-
out disturbing its continuity. The composition was too
thoroughly a spontaneous stream flowing from the very
depths of his being, and in such creations there is no open-
ing for remodelling afterwards ; they come into existence
at once, and complete. The first aria, for an alto voice
(A minor, 3-4 time), resembles the tenor song of the Advent
290 The fervent declamation of the last passage reminds us of a similar one in
the Kyrle of Beethoven's Missa Solemnis.
572 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
cantata of 1714 ; it contains the earnest warning to prepare
for the last day before it is too late and the judgment falls
upon us with terror and dismay, as the fire fell upon guilty
Sodom. The warning is associated with a tone of deep sad-
ness, as though to convey the feeling that it will be all in
vain to most men. They will not believe that the end is
near, but the word of Christ shall abide, and He shall
appear in the clouds to judge them ; this is the second aria
for soprano (E minor, common time). In it the expression
of firm conviction on one hand, and on the other of being
appalled by a stupendous vision, is mingled with a mys-
terious dread. How majestic are the veins of melody from
bars 7 to 12 ! and again from 14 to 20, how powerful their
swell ! Does not this broad, deliberate subject —
with its echo-like diminuendo to piano and pianissimo, sound
as if it had been born of space and died away again, shud-
dering into infinitude ?
But yet the pious may hold up their heads and be confi-
dent they will " bloom in Eden, and ever serve God." This
is the sentiment expressed in the following air for the tenor
(G major, common time).291 Its free form is similar to that
of the duet of the cantata, " Ach, ich sehe!"— "Ah! I
see!" The leading theme comes in unexpectedly out of
the obscurity of the sub-dominant in bar 34, a subtle and
poetical illustration of the words, " Hebt euer Haupt
empor " — " Lift up your heads on high." The melody,
which is beautiful in its construction, is more exclusively
conspicuous throughout the piece than in the other arias;
it is constantly recurring with its consoling sweetness, and
it proves itself truly consolatory, for the last aria for the
291 In Franck's text the third and fourth lines are as follows: " Der jiingste
Tag wird kommen Zu eurer Seelen Flor " — " The last day will come to your
soul's spring-time." Bach has simply ignored the third line, and the verbal
idea is consequently somewhat obscure ; still, the omission is a fresh proof of
how completely his mind was directed solely to the illustration of the main
sentiment.
HERZ UND MUND : FIRST STATE. 573
bass (C major, 3-4 time) pours out a flood of eager longing
for that last and blessed day which shall see the trans-
lation of the righteous to the realms of joy. Rarely indeed
has Bach written a melody of so pure and self-dependent a
kind, or one which stands out so perfectly from its sur-
roundings, as the twenty-four bars adagio which constitute
the beginning of this song. No instrument intrudes ; the
voice flows on in a steady and unbroken stream of feeling,
supported only by the solemn tones of the organ in calm and
restful harmony. Suddenly the end of the world bursts
in : the instruments storm, the organ surges, trumpet-calls
sound through the tumult, all the foundations of the earth
quake and fall ; but high above the terror of desolation
shines the celestial glory of that new heaven and new earth,
of which it is written that in them there shall be no more
death, and that God shall wipe away all tears (Rev. xxv. 4).
In this the music not only transcends everything earthly in
the expression of feeling, but all consideration for the com-
monly received rules of form are set aside ; after this wild
middle movement Bach returns to the adagio of the begin-
ning, and the song goes on to the end in a strain of tran-
scendental rhapsody.
The chorus comes in with the fifth verse of the chorale,
" Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht " — " I will never leave my
Lord." Usually the four-part vocal subject has above it but
one single independent instrumental part, but here this has
failed to satisfy the composer. The violins soar up in a free
vein of melody in three parts ; it is the harmony of the
spheres ! There is no cantata which gives us, with more
directness and force, the impression that the whole course
of the sentiment it conveys flows undeviatingly to its goal in
the closing chorale. We only feel that we have reached the
end we confidently expected, which our ears had anticipated;
that now the last veil is lifted, and the glory of the heavens
revealed.
The eye that has gazed on the sun turns, dazzled and
indifferent, to the things of earth. Thus it is a disadvantage
to the second cantata, " Herz und Mund und That und
574 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Leben 'l292 — " Heart and mouth, and soul, and spirit,*' — that
it should come under review in chronological order after that
just discussed; otherwise we might be delighted with the
really fresh and splendid opening chorus (C major, 6-4),
with the highly expressive first aria, and indeed with much
that is very stirring throughout the work.
We may regard the cantata, " Wachet, betet" as the key-
stone of his sacred compositions at Weimar. Even if the
master should have found, in other poems of this "Christian
Year," an opening for other important compositions — if one
or another of these should some day be thrown up by the
tide of time — we yet could hardly find in them clearer marks
of the marvellous individuality of his genius, which loved to
dwell in the gardens of the blest, rising above and beyond
the joys and woes of humanity — whose lips were touched by
the finger of God, that they might declare His glory to the
darkened minds of men.
VII.
AT MEININGEN I JOHANN LUDWIG BACH. AT DRESDEN :
ORGAN WORKS OF THE LATER WEIMAR PERIOD.
WE have no certain record of any journey undertaken by
Bach in the years 1715-16, but it can scarcely be doubted
that during this period he once paid a visit to Meiningen,
and the court of Saxony residing there.293 The reader may
remember that at that time the Capell-Director there was
Joh. Ludwig Bach, a descendant of Veit Bach's second son,
whose musical gifts reached the highest fruition in this
Bach of Meiningen. Up to this time we have no traces of
898 The autograph score is in the Royal Library at Berlin.
898 If we might regard a copy of the E minor mass by Nikolaus Bach — now
in the possession of Messrs. Breitkopf and Hartel — as being in Sebastian's hand-
writing, this would be a proof that he was in Meiningen in September, 1716, for
at the end it has the date, " Meiningen, d. 16 7^ 1716.'' But it was not till a
later date that Sebastian Bach wrote some of it in; and, besides, it is not in his
hand. Indeed, I cannot read the name under the date as J. S., but as J. L.
Bach. Probably it is an autograph of Johann Ludwig Bach.
JOHANN LUDWIG BACH. 575
any intercourse between the two branches, but we find them
again as soon as Sebastian had re-established it ; for in the
year 1717 the eldest son of his brother at Ohrdruf was called
" by recommendation " to be court cantor to the foundation
at Gandersheim, where Joh. Ludwig's brother was already
in office, and where the abbess was the sister of the Duke of
Saxe-Meiningen.294 That these two, the most gifted represen-
tatives of the two branches, should have made these advances
is a new and pleasing token of the fraternal feeling which
pervaded all the members of the great clan. It is still
more important to recognise the warm and lasting interest
taken by Sebastian ih Joh. Ludwig's compositions, and to
observe to what extent he benefited in this case again from
the rising tide of gradual improvement and advancement in
the talents of his family. Joh. Ludwig, it is true, could not
contribute any qualifying influence to his cousin's develop-
ment, for they did not come into contact till Sebastian was
already quite independent of it ; but he always found ample
room and disposition to derive something from the methods
of his cousin — more, indeed, it would seem, than from any
other composer. There is no other writer whose works he
copied to so great an extent at a later period. In this we
see something of the same feeling as when he married a
daughter of his own race ; for, since in him all its gifts and
characteristics were most perfectly concentrated and de-
veloped, and no further improvement was possible in another
generation, he instinctively drew to himself other members
of his family for the further fostering of his own individuality
— partly, too, from their community of life, and partly for
the sake of an exchange of ideas in matters of art.
Of course Joh. Ludwig's talent is in no respect comparable
to Sebastian's. Even Joh. Christoph (of Eisenach) ranks
higher as to inventiveness and profundity ; still he must be
regarded as an artist of great originality and many-sided
culture. In the first place it is to be observed that he was
animated by a totally different spirit to that which charac-
terised the most prominent individuals of the main branch of
394 See ante, p. n. Bruckner, Part III., sec. 9, p. 35.
576 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
the family. His features even had hardly any resemblance
to the face we are accustomed to imagine as typical of the
Bachs, from the portraits of Sebastian, his father, and his
sons. A pastel portrait, which represents him as a man of
nearer forty than thirty, shows us a smooth, roundish face,
with soft and delicate outline, and fine arched eyebrows. In
a miniature portrait in oil, taken when he was a youth, or
quite a young man, the features are, indeed, of remarkable,
but almost feminine beauty.295 And his compositions are
equally lacking in breadth, depth, and imaginative power.
He never seems to have occupied himself in writing for
the organ, and this is certainly significant. His character
directed him to what was sweet and pleasing in invention ;
at the same time he had a natural facility in every line of
his art. However, he seems at least to have been diligent
in instrumental music.
There is a suite for orchestra by him, of the year 1715,
consisting of an overture, air, minuet, gavotte, air, and
bourree;296 of which the overture is certainly the best
section, powerful in the first movement, very flowing and
smooth in the second, and rendered effective by the favourite
method of introducing pedal points. The first air is very
peculiar, consisting almost entirely of semiquavers, and
beginning thus : —
The chirping figure (in a bracket), appearing alternately on
the solo oboe and in the tutti, plays an important part in it.
The other dance-movements are sturdy and vigorous, rather
than joyous. A rich selection remains of his motetts and
296 The portrait in pastel is in the Royal Library at Berlin. The oil-picture,
painted on copper, is in the possession of Herr Dreysigacker, Post-director at
Meiningen, who in the politest manner has permitted me to see it. In conse-
quence of some obscure tradition it passed for a portrait of Sebastian Bach,
but this was immediately proved to be an error. External and internal evidence
alike point to its being the likeness of Johann Ludwig.
296 In the Royal Library at Berlin, with the following title : " Ouverture d
4. | en G. h. \ del \ Joh.Lndwig Baach. \ " In the left-hand lower corner is the
date: " Mens : Febr. 1715."
HIS SACRED CANTATAS. 577
church cantatas. Sebastian Bach alone transcribed with his
own hand the score of eighteen of the cantatas.297
These works stand about midway between the older and
the newer cantata forms. The texts contain madrigal verses
for recitative, and, side by side with these, Bible texts for solo
voices; and, on the other hand, original lines for the choruses.
In the Bible texts the arioso is retained with those older
characters discarded by Sebastian Bach ; for instance, the
bass solo in the closing cadences is frequently in unison with
the bass instruments. The recitatives, strictly speaking, are
not yet rendered sufficiently prominent as an independent
form by due lightness and freedom of declamation. The
arias are for the most part of the da capo form, but are
meanly proportioned. Sometimes the construction is ill-
defined ; for instance, an aria for the alto in the cantata " Ja
mir hast du Arbeit gemacht " (for Quinquagesima Sunday)
begins in 3-2 time with a fine broad melody, but after twenty
bars glides off without any visible reason into pure recita-
tive. The choruses are in imitation, but generally not much
worked out. Finally, in the treatment of the chorale he
prefers a homophonic vocal subject, accompanied by all the
violins in a repetition of quavers ; occasionally, however, the
violins rise above the voice in free and vigorous figures. The
general expression of sentiment commonly holds a medium
pitch, equally remote from the emotional style of the older
cantatas, and the vapid flatness of Telemann, Stolzel, and
their fellows. A genuine vein of original invention is every-
where discernible, and often startles us by its vivid imagery.
In the cantata just mentioned the bass arioso at the beginning
is introduced by this subject for the instruments —
Viol. i&2. | , ", — « ,. „ v
H* FF i L uY
867 Twelve of them are bound together in a volume in the Royal Library at
2 ?
578 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
which admirably depicts Christ's aching prescience of His
approaching sufferings; it predominates throughout the
arioso, and reappears, very cleverly adapted, in the closing
chorus with the same idea.298
We know that Italian singing was much approved at the
Court of Meiningen, and it is therefore pretty obvious that
Joh. Ludwig owed the particularly singable character of his
vocal music in great measure to his studies of the Italian
method. It is particularly conspicuous in the motetts. The
real originality and superior importance of these works is
not fully revealed till we compare them with the mongrel
and flaccid motetts by other composers of the period. After
Sebastian Bach, I know of none worthy to stand by the
side of his Meiningen cousin. We must not, of course,
seek in them for such extension and development as is
indispensable in the modern type of motett, where Joh.
Christoph still held the first place. But it has frequently
happened in the history of art that though none but a tran-
scendent genius has been able to reach the highest level
attainable at the time, some feebler talents have still suc-
ceeded in obtaining a place near it. Then certain elements,
which in the process of transition to a different standard of
ideal have been somewhat neglected, come to the front again,
and with increased boldness, and yet succeed in combining
very delightfully with the newer and fresher ones. Joh. Lud-
wig Bach stood in much nearer relationship to the Italian
vocal style of his day than any of his contemporaries, who,
when composing motetts, could never emancipate them-
selves from the idea of concerted music. The true essence
of choral singing had been more fully revealed to him,
and he had what was lacking to most of the composers of
northern and central Germany, an adequate sense of the
glowing and satisfying beauty of the pure tones of the
Berlin, with a title-page written by Ph. Em. Bach. Besides these, I have seen
there the parts of four others transcribed by Sebastian Bach.
298 Mosewius, by an inexplicable oversight, has quoted this ritornel and the
chorale that follows it as a composition of Sebastian Bach's, in Supplement 7
to his essay on that composer's church cantatas and chorale hymns. We have
in it an instance of Joh. Ludwig's treatment of a closing chorale.
HIS TASTE FOR CHORAL EFFECTS. 579
human voice. Since he had formerly held the post of Court
Cantor he had himself, perhaps, been a good singer. Besides
this he was a highly educated contrapuntist ; indeed it may
safely be said that he was master of all that at that time had
been produced in Italy in this branch ; and as he brought to
it a strong inventive individuality the results are to a certain
extent intelligible.
It is a significant token of his inclination to revel in pure
choral effects that his motetts are of such enormous length.
One for double choir, on Isaiah ix. 6, 7 : " Uns ist ein Kind
geboren," &c., contains no less than 346 bars in common
time, and without any subdivisions into subjects, such
as are usual in Sebastian Bach's motetts ; short breathing-
space only is allowed by fermatas in bars 63, 133, 164, 228,
and 275. This gigantic work begins in a simple and deli-
berate manner, but at bar 64 an image is worked out of
surprising originality; all the basses and tenors lift up their
voices in unison, as if chanting a psalm : —
Wel ches Herr .... schaft
Then the other four parts come in higher up, in canon-like
imitation —
Ho Wel - ches Herr - schaft ist auf sei - ner Schul - ter
repeating the motive in D major, then in A minor, then in
two parts again in G major, closing on the dominant. It is
singularly touching when, during the pauses which succeed
the cadences in the upper parts, the basses and tenors carry
on the melody with its firm fulness of tone and deliberate
movement — the whole subject has such an unmistakably
Catholic stamp as to seem quite strange as the composition
of a Protestant musician. After this the two sopranos take
up the long-drawn phrase, then the basses alone, then the
tenors, then the basses again, and now the fabric of the
upper parts becomes firmer and richer. At bar 228 begins
an eight-part fugue : " Solches wird thun der Eifer des
2 P 2
580
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Herrn Zebaoth "— " And the zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall
do this " :—
_ji_j j j „' .L-J-J:
N j.j i j j
p
sol - ches wir
f
thun der Ei
I I
sol - ches wird
We should seek long, indeed, perhaps in vain, to find a
piece of equal importance and more admirable of its kind.
It is full of that playful facility, that glowing fusion of
parts, that revelling in sweet sounds, which can only result
when the whole " sings itself," as we say. With different
words this fugue might pass for the work of an Italian
master — we might guess of Leonardo Leo.
Another motett, " Gott sei uns gnadig und segne uns"
(Psalm Ixvii.), is a work of perhaps even higher value.299 It
is for three choirs, so far at least as that two choirs each
consist of four parts, while the third is represented by a bass
part only. This proceeds independently of the other masses
of voices, and is clearly brought out in a passage in minims
rising from B through the scale to c', and then falling again
to F. Then follows a phrase in which the bass chorus
lingers persistently on the /, with the words " dass wir auf
Erden erkennen seinen Weg, unter alien Heiden sein Heil" —
"That Thy way may be known upon earth," &c. The
beginning is then repeated to the words " Es danken dir,
Gott, die Volker, es danken dir alle Volker " — "Let the
people praise Thee, O God," &c. And the bass chorus pours
out a current of semiquavers in the sharpest contrast —
en sich
299 Amalien-Bibliothek, Vol. xc., piece 2. In this there are to be found
several other remarkable motetts by this master.
STATE OF MUSIC AT MEININGEN. 581
while the other two choruses dance round in quavers.
Towards the end all the three basses unite to sing
semibreves and minims in opposition to the crotchets and
quavers of the other parts, using the melody of the
Magnificat to these words " Es segne uns Gott, unser
Gott ; es segne uns Gott und alle Welt fiirchte ihn " —
" God, even our own God, shall bless us ; and all the ends
of the world shall fear Him." After which the motett goes
on to the end in rich polyphony. These brief indications
must suffice in this place ; Job. Ludwig Bach must always
hold a prominent position in the history of purely vocal
music.
Duke Ernst Ludwig of Saxe-Meiningen left no happy
memory behind him, for his administration was selfish, his
outlay on his court extravagant, and he encouraged favouritism.
But he was a warm friend to the arts which made his court
splendid, and above all to music. So early as in 1713 Ludwig
Bach had conducted a " Passion Music " in the castle-chapel,
and at the same time a whole series of church cantatas in the
new form were printed, which were all or many of them by
him; by 1719 a third edition of these had been demanded.300
It is interesting to note here how the different characters of the
two courts of Weimar and Meiningen were reflected in the
compositions of the two Bachs ; in one gravity and severity,
in the other brilliancy and sweetness ; the character of the
reigning prince in each case guided the inspiration of the
musician. Concert music was also performed at court, both
at the midday meal and in the evening ; this last indeed was
principally called for when some royal visitor was in the
place. The Duke also liked to see foreign artists appear
at his soirees.801 He himself wrote a good deal of sacred
poetry, particularly at the time when, after a gay and careless
life, graver thoughts began to stir his mind. One of his sisters
was the abbess at Gandersheim, another was canoness there;
800 Bruckner, Landeskunde des Herzogthums Meiningen, I., p. 65, and certain
private documents referring to it.
801 From data in a document of the court-marshal's office of May 12, 1721, in
which a musician of the band complains of having been degraded by the caDell-
meister.
582 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
and if we remember that Freylinghausen's hymn-book
was dedicated to this lady abbess, with her deaconess and
canoness, and hence that pietism had found its way
within the convent walls, we may suppose that the Duke's
poetical attempts had also some pietistic bias. He had
selected for the text of his own funeral sermon Psalm cxvi.
16, 19, and had written a hymn on it, of which the first
verse runs, " Ich suche nur das Himmelleben " : —
I seek alone the joys of heaven,
Thy faithful servant would I be ;
My heart and soul be wholly given
To Him who gave His life for me:
Thy kingdom come, O Son of God,
And guide me in the heavenward road.
When he died in 1724, Job. Ludwig made use of the
verses of the psalm and of this hymn as the text of a grand
funeral composition in three sections. It would seem that
he also availed himself of a melody written by the Duke
himself, for an air something like the following lies at the
foundation of the second section : —
___^ /T\ /T\
w J r rl r TT cTTr r ^rT-y-rt^EE^B
802
i I /T\
From all this it is clear that Sebastian might reckon on
a very friendly reception at court, and on a delightful inter-
change of ideas on art with his cousin when he betook
himself to Meiningen. And his expectations were fulfilled
in every respect ; he formed a life-long intimacy with Lud-
wig; the copies of cantatas before spoken of were not made
till he was in Leipzig. It is no doubt an afterglow of the
impression made in the ducal family by his artistic powers
when we see him, a few years later, entering into relations
with the Markgraf Christian Ludwig of Brandenberg, whose
sister, Elizabeth Sophia, was the Duke of Meiningen's
second wife.
302 The score of this funeral music is in the Royal Library at Berlin.
BACH AND MARCHAND. 583
The autumn journey of 1717 had a much more famous
outcome. Dresden was now his destination, and in that
city both music and the theatre were at that time flourishing
greatly under the extravagant rule of Friedrich August I.
Bach had some acquaintances among the band, and one
of these was the concertmeister Jean Baptiste Volumier,
who filled this position at the court of Berlin till 1709 ;803
possibly also there was Pantaleon Hebestreit, who had been
called thither in 1714, and who before that had been at
Eisenach with Telemann. Hebestreit was distinguished by
his executive skill on an instrument resembling a dulcimer,
invented by himself; but he was also an efficient violin-
player, and familiar with the French style of music. Volu-
mier was a Frenchman by education if not by birth, and
highly esteemed for his performance of the compositions of
his countrymen. Other capital artists were also employed
there — the organist Petzold, the church composer Zelenka,
the violonist Pisendel — so that a stay there must have been
very interesting to any musician, and it must have seemed
highly desirable to become known in such a circle.
It happened too, quite by chance, that Bach met at
Dresden the French clavier and organ-player, Jean Louis
Marchand, the private organist to the King of France, and
organist also to the church of Saint Benedict at Paris. Mar-
chand was born at Lyons in 1671, and thus was by fourteen
years Bach's senior ; he possessed in a high degree both the
faults- and the merits of his nationality. He was highly
gifted in qualities of technique, his art was thoroughly
elegant, and he well knew how to turn these talents to the
best account ; but he was at the same time full of vanity,
arrogance, and petty caprice. Paris society swore by him,
and pupils crowded round him from all parts ; but the dis-
favour of the King drove him for a time into Germany, and
his fame followed him.804
803 At any rate he was still there, according to a document in the archives of
the Principality of Hesse at Marburg, in 1708 ; his appointment at Dresden
dates from June 28, 1709 (Fiirstenau, II., p. 65).
304 A portrait of Marchand, engraved on copper, of the first half of the
eighteenth century, now in my possession, bears the inscription : " Organiste du
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
His playing was greatly admired at the court at Dresden,
and procured for him a gift of two medals worth one
hundred ducats, and, it is said, a command to remain there
permanently. Bach, it is true, did not play before the King,
but he had ample opportunity for making himself heard by
artists and the friends of art ; and a violent dissension arose
as to which of the two was the greatest musician. One
powerful party consisted of the court circle, for the King
was very fond of French music ; these took the side of Mar-
chand, while most of the German artists forming the band
stood up for Bach. The question finally resolved itself into
a battle of opinions as to the greater or less value of French
or German music on general grounds, and Bach was urged
by his friends to challenge Marchand to a competitive per-
formance. This he did after an opportunity had been con-
trived for him secretly to hear his antagonist play at court ;
he wrote to him declaring himself ready to go through any
musical ordeal Marchand might choose to impose, provided
only that he on his side would undertake the same. Mar-
chand accepted the challenge; a musical jury was selected;
the scene of the tournament was to be the salon of a powerful
minister, probably of Count Flemming, who had been prime
minister since 1712, and who had considerable knowledge
of music ; out of love of the art he even kept a private band
of his own.806
Curiosity and excitement rose to a high pitch, and at
the appointed hour a large and brilliant assembly of both
sexes had met. Bach and the umpires were punctual, but
Marchand came not. The company waited awhile; then
the count sent to remind him of his appointment, and received
3n reply the information that he had set out that very morning
by the fast coach, and had disappeared from Dresden. With
certain prescience of defeat he had abandoned the field;
Roy, ne a Lion, mort a Paris le 17 Fevrier, 1732. Age de 61 ans." Further
information as to his life and singular caprices is to be found in Gerber, LM I.,
col. 870, and in Hilgenfeldt, p. 23. A little-known anecdote is in Caecilia II.,
p. 85 (Mainz: Schott and Co.). [See article "Marchand," in Grove's Dic-
P
tionary of Music.]
«* Fvirstenau, Loc. cit., p. 7.
BACH AND MARCHAND. 585
Bach played alone. It is evident that Marchand must have
heard him somewhere or other, and have convinced himself
that the German musician was infinitely his superior ; and
not only in organ-playing, in which no doubt he would have
declined to compete with him, but on the clavier as well, in
which, according to the general opinion of the time, the
French school had the advantage and preference. The glory
was all the greater for Bach, as he had beaten his opponent
on his own special ground. He had long been familiar with
Marchand's works, as with those of all the other important
French masters, and then and later fully recognised their
merits.806 All that I myself have seen of Marchand's works
quite deserve this recognition, and are not inferior to Cou-
perin's clavier works in variety and grace. They offer, no
doubt, too thin a pabulum to the more solid German taste,
and are besides, like everything French, excessively difficult
to play. Adlung, who inquired elaborately into the details
of Bach's challenge, said with regard to Marchand's suites :
" They never really pleased me but once, namely, when I
once spoke to the Capellmeister Bach of his challenge, when
he was staying here [at Erfurt] , and told him I had these
suites by me; and he played them to me in his manner, that
is to say, very smoothly and artistically."307 Of course from
such a centre as Dresden the news of an event so glorious to
German art could not fail to spread in all directions; the
belief in the superiority of French clavier music began to fail,
and Bach's fame was greatly enhanced and extended.
After such a success, he might well be indifferent to the fact
that no distinction was awarded him on the part of the court.
How this could happen remains unexplained. Perhaps the
royal interest was exclusively directed to the newly engaged
Italian opera company, which arrived at Dresden from Vienna
just in the same month, namely, September, when Bach was
visiting the capital. Its director was no less a man than
Antonio Lotti. At the same time it is not probable that he
806 A suite by him is in Andreas Bach's book, and another, dated 1714, in one
of the volumes of Ludwig Krebs' collection,
w Adlung, Anl. zur Mus. Gel., p. 719, note 8.
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
should have met Bach there, or have found the opportunity
of making his acquaintance in the midst of all the business
in which his new position must have involved him, interesting
as it would be to think that the greatest sacred composers
of Germany and Italy at that time should once in their lives
have stood face to face.808
Bach cannot have remained absent from Weimar later
than the beginning of October, for extensive preparations
were being made there for a jubilee to commemorate the two
hundredth anniversary of the Reformation, and the Duke's
composer had of course his part in this. The festival lasted
three days, from October 31 to November 2, and on the eve
of the second day the Duke solemnly established a fund, in-
vesting a sum of which the interest was to be distributed
annually on his birthday.809 For this, as well as for the
first day of the jubilee, new cantatas were composed and
performed; Franck probably wrote the texts,310 and Bach
certainly composed the music for at least one.
He must have been in the midst of all this work when the
event occurred which was destined to turn the course of his life
into a different channel. Prince Ernst August had married,
on January 24, 1716, Eleonore Wilhelmine, a sister of the
reigning Prince Leopold, of Anhalt-Cothen. This young
prince, who was devoted to music, had thus come to know
Bach, and his former capellmeister having left him a short
time previously, he called Bach to the post. We are safe in
venturing to assume that Bach at the moment was no longer
particularly comfortable at Weimar. After Samuel Drese's
death no man had a better right than he to his vacant place.
But first of all a project was entertained of making Tele-
mann — a man of very various accomplishments and propor-
K*8 See App. A, No. 31.
809 The court organist was to receive three gulden yearly out of this fund
(Gottschalg, note to p. 270).
810 The proclamation concerning this festival (in the archives at Weimar)
speaks in general terms only of the performance of these two cantatas, without
mentioning either the poet or the composer. However, we know from a notice
in MS. that Franck superintended the printing of the festival programme. The
texts themselves I have been nowhere able to find.
THE SECOND WEIMAR PERIOD. 587
tionately respected — capellmeister-general to Duke Ernst of
Saxony,811 and when nothing came of this, Drese's son was
appointed, and Bach was simply passed over, without regard
to his far more various qualifications, as shown in his
eminent artistic industry. Now, notwithstanding that the
post offered to him would take him out of the path of art
he had hitherto trodden, he did not hesitate to accept it.
His move to Cothen must have taken place at once, in
November, for already during the Advent season we find
Schubart, his faithful disciple and worthy successor, filling
his place at the organ of the castle chapel.312
Bach's labours as an officially appointed organist ended
for ever with his departure from Weimar. We therefore
must here direct our attention to one more aspect of them :
his mode, namely, of accompanying congregational singing
and his independent treatment of the chorale on the organ.
This, indeed, constitutes almost the most important element
of all his labours as an artist, and that which proved most
fertile in results ; and it was in Weimar that he pursued it
with the greatest energy. Still the list of his organ compo-
sitions is by no means exhausted by those already discussed.
He was indefatigable in producing fugues and works of a
kindred nature, setting himself a still higher mark, which he
did not fail to reach. A certain group of these compositions
has a stamp in common which is distinct from the former,
and we may consider them as forming a second Weimar
period, as opposed to the first. Conspicuous in them above
all is the desire to repress mere external brilliancy, and to
attain the calmness of depth. It will be permissible to con-
sider these compositions at once.
It will be remembered that we regarded Buxtehude's
chaconnes and passecailles as models in their way, which
even Bach has not improved on in any essential respect ; for
which reason he generally held aloof from this particular
class of music. The only piece of the kind is a passecaille
311 Mattheson, Ehrenpf., p. 364. The Duke of Weimar is there called Ernst
August, a slip of memory on Telemann's part.
SIB Walther, Lexicon, p. 557.
588 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
in C minor.818 Though this has been regarded as a work
of Bach's later period, this must have been because his
peculiar relations to Buxtehude were not known, for the
composition clearly reminds us of him in its details and as
a whole ; because also its origin from a distinct source was
'not understood, and finally because the high level of Bach's
productions at Weimar, particularly in organ music, was
under-estimated.814 The piece in question, universally and
justly admired, is no doubt too mature for the earlier years
of this period, and distinctly marks the progress made by
Bach between these and his later time at Weimar. It
appears as though he had grasped with one clutch all that
Buxtehude had laboriously won. Indeed, according to
Buxtehude's category, it is not strictly a passecaille, but
rather a chaconne; for the theme reappears in the upper and
inner parts, and not always unchanged, but often in an orna-
mented form, while sometimes a mere suggestion is given.
Still, on the other hand, the theme is at times insisted on in
the bass with so much logical consistency that we cannot
venture to call it simply a chaconne ; it is rather a combina-
tion of the two forms. Just as Buxtehude was wont to con-
solidate a fugue into a chaconne towards the end, Bach here
by a reverse process relaxes the rigidity of this form and
passes into the free flow of a fugue. Each musician has an
aesthetic feeling, but each shows plainly to which of the two
forms he attaches the greater importance. Even the length
of the piece betrays the endeavour after an exhaustive amal-
gamation ; it consists of 293 bars, 168 of which belong to the
passecaille.
Among the details which most remind us of Buxtehude
are the resolution of the harmony in bars 113 to 128, and
813 B.-G., XV., p. 289. P. S. V., C. i (240), No. 2. An autograph, formerly in
the possession of Capellmeister Guhr of Frankfort a. M., has disappeared. But the
passecaille is also to be found, beautifully written, in Andreas Bach's collection,
which proves its origin. It is singular that none of the editors have paid any
attention to this MS.
814 W. Rust has in this instance given evidence of his feeling for the differences
in Bach's style, for he has attributed this passecaille to the Cothen period at
the latest.
PASSECAILLE AND ORGAN FUGUE. 589
the chords which come in with the passage in semiquavers,
bars 80 to 88, and, above all, the beginning as far as bar 32,
which is wonderfully beautiful, revelling as it were in its
anxious longing. Here the genuine Buxtehude sentiment,
in all its rhapsodic youthfulness, predominates over Bach's —
which was in a certain sense its opposite — too evidently for
us to doubt that the alliance was intentional. But Bach's
sterner tones are rendered all the more expressive as the
piece proceeds, and by the time we have reached the fugue,
in which the theme of the passecaille is contrasted with
another and a new one, all resemblance has vanished.815
An organ fugue with a prelude in A major is remarkable,
not only for its artistic beauty, but psychologically with
reference to the composer. Its theme —
is, as it were, the " wraith " (or " Doppelganger") of that on
which the instrumental fugue is constructed which serves
to introduce the cantata " Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn "
—"Walk in the way of faith." They are different in the
gender of the key — so to designate the difference between
major and minor — in the key itself, and even in the actual
order of the notes, but we see how in spite of all this
the idea may nevertheless remain the same. We may
assume that this composition originated soon — or perhaps
immediately — after the other, because a later and more
perfect remodelling of the organ piece exists ; thus it must
in any case be attributed to an early time, since Bach never
worked up again any organ piece of his Leipzig period.816
The alterations in the fugue, however, extend only to this :
that the time is changed from 3-8 to 3-4 in consideration for
the increase in the tone-material, the three closing bars are
omitted, and in two places a pedal of high pitch is used which
815 This passecaille has been recently arranged for an orchestra, with a very
skilful imitation of organ effects, by H. Esser, and its beauties are thus rendered
more accessible to the general public.
816 B.-G., XV., p. 120. P. S. V., C. 2 (241), No. 3. It appears in the original
form as a variant.
590 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
was probably lacking to the Weimar organ. The fugue is
quite unique among Bach's organ pieces : contrary to the
conditions of the instrument, as it would seem, he has given
it something of a peculiarly feminine character, and this runs
through every thread of it with pure depth of feeling. Broken
harmonies in the counterpoint, soft sixths and passages of
thirds, breathe into it something of the temper of the G major
aria in the cantata just mentioned ; the playful suggestions
of stretto are quite delightful, till at last one is fully developed
with infinite grace. From bar 153 the feeling acquires a won-
derful intensity ; the counterpoint seems to cling in a loving
embrace to the theme, which from bar 161 appears again in
smiling beauty. The alterations in the prelude are more
important ; it was recast, not merely fuller in tone, but more
complete in organic structure. Its form still reminds us
of Buxtehude, but the composer soon forsook this entirely.
In the rest of the works to be mentioned here he had
already opened out new paths. These are two fugues in C
minor, one in F minor, and one in F major, and they are so
nearly related in both external and internal structure that —
when we recall Bach's principle of exhausting a certain
vein of form-treatment, when once he had opened it, in a
succession of works — they must have been written at the
same time. The preludes with which two of them (F major
and C minor) are furnished in their present state817 were
not originally written on purpose, but substituted later for
the original preludes ; their grander structure offers too great
a contrast to the fugues, and betrays the period of Bach's
highest mastery. The others, however,318 evidently form
with their preludes each a complete piece conceived of as a
whole; indeed, the rejected prelude to the C minor fugue
seems to have been preserved separately.319 The improve-
ments made upon it consist in the utmost possible elimina-
tion of all inorganic ornament, the utmost possible adherence
to a certain distribution and number of parts, and above all
»« B.-G., XV., pp. 155, 218. P. S. V., C. 3 (242), No. 2, and C. 2 (241), No. 6.
si8 B.-G., XV., pp. 104, 129. P. S. V., C. 2 (241), No. 5, and C. 3 (242), No. 6.
319 P. S. V., C. 4 (243), No. 12. See, too, Griepenkerl's remarks in the preface.
PRELUDES AND FUGUES FOR ORGAN. 5QI
in the use of a real theme in the place of the secondary
motive. The treatment of the theme is imitative, so that
the free entrances of the other parts constitute an essential
difference from the strict fugue, and allows a wider variety
in the development.820 The F minor prelude, however, does
not show this form in all its purity ; it includes some strongly
marked ideas, but works them out for the most part episo-
dically. The C minor preludes, on the other hand, leave us
in no doubt as to the meaning of the composer. They are as
like to each other as twin sisters, both in details of structure
and in the noble elegiac feeling they express ; one and the
same spirit fills their inmost being, though in one it is more
veiled, more reserved than in the other — ebbing and flowing
restlessly, and yet with hardly perceptible movement, over the
immutable persistency of a mysterious pedal point ; the other
is animated with a richer vitality, which blossoms out into a
more intense elaboration of harmony from the foundation of
two principal motives.
In the fugues we are first struck by the very different
stamp of the themes as compared with earlier ones ; the stir
and bustle of the northern masters, which had left their
mark on Bach, is done away with, and has given way to a
dignified moderation, moving in well-considered intervals.
Here once more that element has clearly asserted its rights
which influenced Pachelbel's fugue themes, but which could
not produce the most beautiful possible results till it was
combined, in Bach's music, with the best feature of the
northern masters : namely, that calm, melodic structure,
like that of the chorales, whose essence the master had not
studied so long in vain. Common to them all is a develop-
ment from the broad beginning to a constantly increasing
agitation; only one of the C minor fugues321 starts at once
with some considerable degree of animation, and produces
the enhanced effect rather by harmonic means. Common
to them again is the introduction in the middle, usually
820 The two C minor preludes are called Fantasias in the MS. Compare with
this what has been said ante, p. 436.
«i B.-G., XV., 129. P. S. V., C. 3 (242), No. 6.
5Q2 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
after a perfect cadence, of an episode which then either is
made use of as an answering theme, or else gives way for
the entrance of the leading theme. The least good is the
fugue in F minor, in which also the episode never assumes
a regular form. It has, so far as was possible with Bach, a
somewhat irregular growth ; many new figures of counter-
point are brought in, but in a short time seem to lose their
vitality, so that the theme is constantly feeling about for
new support ; in spite, therefore, of very great beauties,
something is lacking to our full enjoyment. In the other
fugue, in C minor, from bar 121 to 140, a passage comes in
of very remarkable homophony, which, though it is super-
ficially connected with the rest by the continuous quavers,
in its purpose is quite foreign to it ; no similar passage is to
be found in any other organ piece of Bach's, nor is it pos-
sible to detect any objective reason for it.
The fugue in F major is that which displays the grandest
development to a regular double-fugue treatment throughout;
but the first, in C minor, has the greatest vigour and fling.
Its theme alone —
reveals that robust and conquering force which was Bach's
alone, and which he most loved to display in his instrumental
fugues.
In estimating Bach's attitude towards congregational
singing as a part of the church services, we must before all
things bear in mind that we have to do with a genius of the
supremest type, with a power of invention which has never
been surpassed in the province of instrumental music, and
in that of organ music has never been even most remotely
approached. At the time of the Reformation organ music
formed no integral constituent in the ideal of Protestant
worship ; it served only to support congregational psalmody.
Even under these conditions it is no doubt more essential
than in the Catholic Church, since a more active part is
taken by the congregation in Protestant than in Catholic
worship. But I have already endeavoured to indicate the
BACH'S METHOD OF ACCOMPANIMENT. 593
undreamed-of importance acquired by the organ after the
native freshness of the early evangelical hymns had faded,
and men's spirits, no longer capable of a vital and common
religious sentiment, had fallen back on a subjective piety
which indeed is not foreign to the nature of Protestantism.
Here they found in instrumental music the fittest means for
giving utterance to their inner life ; and in the organ chorale
they found the form which combined for them the Personal
element with the Congregational. The natural result was
that the organ assumed greater importance than the singing;
the instrument strove to display all its wealth and power,
the voices became more and more silent. Thus it might well
happen that the organist, even where he ought to have accom-
panied modestly, would not refrain from embroidering on the
melody an arbitrary ornamentation, altering its organism by
interposing his own fancies. The congregation were content,
for the true value of the simple chorale was lost to them. Bach
grasped it again in all its richness and depth, and he also
detected that if the true art of sacred music were ever to
become an accomplished fact, it must be evolved from organ
music, and principally from the organ chorale. It was for
this very reason, and precisely because he turned this soil in
every direction with incredible energy, that he would never
resign himself to make his playing a mere useful support for
the singing of the congregation — he who, whenever he sat
at his instrument, was drinking of the main spring of the
Church music of his time. No, infinitely narrow as this
province must have seemed, here he always would be the
living and creative artist. He had learnt in Arnstadt the
limits of this territory, and made use of the experience he
had obtained there. He had already reverted to his more
general methods of development from the phase of over-
loaded colouring and too imaginative digressions; and in-
deed, in the orthodox town of Weimar, he must certainly have
had a congregation that understood the nature of the chorale,
with a competent cantor and a trustworthy choir of boys.
There is no need to appeal to Bach's example for a
decision of the question as to how an organist ought to
accompany the hymns. In our time the answer is a simple
2 Q
594 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
one, because, unfortunately, we are now far enough from the
genetic evolution of Protestant Church music. Our only
task now is to keep those treasures of chorale melody that
we possess untampered with. From this point of view the
admissibility of interludes does not deserve the discussion
which, even now, is sometimes wasted on it. They are
mere empty vehicles for the display of ignorance and bar-
barism, and can at most be endured between the separate
verses. But the case was then far otherwise, though honest
judges could not shut their eyes to the fact that tasteless
exuberance in organ music entirely destroyed congregational
singing. It was Adlung's opinion that " when so many
play as loud as they can, to perform whole passages, inter-
mingled with regular closes, beginning quickly, and then
again leaving off slowly, so that either the congregation
sing on all out of order, or else must wait too long — it can
hardly be said to be the finest performance in this best of
worlds."822 Nikolaus Bach of Jena would have nothing to
say to interlude-playing, " because he believed that a steady
grasp could control the congregation better without such
run-work," and in the castle chapel of Weissenfels they
were actually forbidden.
We are not left entirely to guess-work to form an idea of
Sebastian Bach's practice in this matter. In the collections
of chorales made by his pupils and by Walther a few com-
positions are to be found which supply us with hints on the
subjects in hand. They are arrangements for the organ of
the chorales : " Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ," " In dulci
jubilo" " Lobt Gott ihr Christen, allzugleich," and " Vom
Himmel hoch da komm ich her."828 Every one who is at all
322 Anleit. zur Musik. Gel., p. 683.
8:28 P. S. V., C. 5 (244), Appendix. Nos. 2 and 5 of this appendix are not under
consideration here. The first, " Jesus, meine Zuversicht," is a three-part clavier
piece with a very ornate subject. This of itself betrays its origin, namely,
the little clavier-book planned for his second wife in 1722. It was undoubtedly
intended, at the same time, for practice in the Jioriture, which, it may be in-
cidentally remarked, are not accurately reprinted in Griepenkerl's edition. No.
5, " Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier," is remarkable for being treated as an inde-
pendent chorale for two manuals. With reference to No. 4, the same melody
will be given in the Musical Supplement to Vol. III. of this work.
BACH'S METHOD OF ACCOMPANIMENT. 595
familiar with the type proper to the organ chorale, sees that
these movements are not of that type. They all carry on the
melody line by line in broad harmonies, observe the fermatas
as they occur, and introduce passages between the lines, with
individual exceptions, which do not, however, contradict
their fundamental character. The purpose is evident of
leaving the separate members of the melody in clear relief.
The endeavour to transfer the chorale as a homogeneous
composition to the province of pure music is thrust into the
background, though this is the proper function of the organ
chorale. Add to this the disconnected character of the
structure, which is in several parts, and in which sometimes
four, sometimes five or more, notes are employed to produce
a really impressive combination of sound, without any par-
ticular care being given to the progression of the individual
parts.
The plainest evidence lies, however, in the passages which
have no intrinsic connection with the harmonic structure,
and which were what was then regarded as an interlude.824
There can be no doubt that we have here full proof of
the way in which Bach accompanied congregational singing
and chose that his pupils should accompany, since he must
have given them these movements with that view. If we only
compare them with the organ subject — mentioned previously
to illustrate his custom at Arnstadt 825 — on " Wer nur den
Lieben Gott lasst walten," we shall observe that the upper
part is almost devoid of ornament, that it always goes on
calmly and grandly in its own way, and is only once con-
cealed for a moment by a part rising over it (in "Lobt Gott,
ihr Christen," bars 6 and 7). The interludes have no in-
dependent existence, either of melody or otherwise ; they
are merely ornamental passages. But within these limits,
which he established out of pious consideration for the uses
of congregational singing, he displays his artistic and
creative genius with wonderful freedom and breadth. By
these grand harmonies, these glorious bursts of tone, this
bold progression of the parts, he infused a semblance of
Adlung, Loc. cit, 826 Ante, p. 313.
293
596 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
poetic exaltation into the simple hymn sung by the people ;
and by his deep consciousness of its dramatic significance he
lent something of that tendency towards individualisation
which is peculiar to Protestantism as opposed to the Romish
Church. In the second line of " Lobt Gott, ihr Christen
allzugleich " — " Oh praise the Lord with one consent," — at
the words, " To-day His gates are opened wide," one part
rises above the melody and soars triumphantly heavenwards.
In the harmonising of the melody, " Vom Himmel hoch da
komm ich her " — " From highest heaven behold I come," —
the rising and falling passages in semiquavers give a mystical
image of the angelic hosts soaring to and from heaven.326
And even in their more general aspect the character of their
purpose in the church service is plainly stamped on these
choral settings. Singularly enough they are all Christmas
hymns.
The hymn, " In dulci jubilo" displays the most genius
and grandeur, and in this form it may perhaps have served
as an accompaniment to the last strophe. The first lines
are brought out in majestic five-part harmony below the
notes of the melody. But from the third line the flood of
ornate passages which is poured in among these can no
longer be restrained; it spreads out under cover of the
upper part, becomes visible during the pauses between the
sections, sometimes makes its way to the highest part, over-
spreading the melody for a little space ; then hurried on
into triplets — it surges from the depths with added force, and
returns to calm only on the last line but one, where the
master restores the peace that ruled at the beginning, and
builds up at last a seven-part harmony on the tonic pedal,
which is held through several bars. As we contemplate
such a piece as this, some dim idea steals over us of the
form it must have assumed under Bach's fingers, when,
wrapt in the ecstasy of religious inspiration, he called up
visions of celestial palaces, appearing and vanishing in an
826 The intention is unmistakable, particularly when we compare it with
the organ chorale "Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schaar," in the Little Organ
Book.
CHORALE ACCOMPANIMENTS. 5Q7
instant, and golden cloud-castles — the sublime and visionary
birthplace of those sacred voices and pious melodies.
Many of these chorale accompaniments may have borne
some outward resemblance to the real organ chorale. But
a quite distinct principle of structure governed the two
forms and must always be ultimately discernible ; in the
mere accompaniment the centre of gravity, as it were, lay
outside the instrument ; in the true organ chorale, on the
other hand, it lay within it, even though it might claim
the co-operation of extra-musical factors. In the organ
chorale the melody, as it is played, is the focus from which
everything radiates; in the accompaniment it is only one
member of the harmonic structure which must throw a
halo round the congregational song, and to which, conse-
quently, the composer must direct his chief interest. Hence
there can be no doubt that another composition, derived
from the same source as those above mentioned, "Liebster
Jesu, wir sind hier," is no more than a chorale accompani-
ment, though the interludes are altogether wanting.827 The
harmonies are so heavy and broad that the counterbalance
of a massive unison of voices is indispensable to give a pro-
portionate effect. And, if we still hesitate to decide, we
have only to compare with it another organ study on the
Te Deum, in which the length alone, 258 bars, at once must
exclude all idea of its being an independent organ piece.828
At any rate it must have been written down in order to give
greater value and charm to the repetition of the melody by
its carefully considered variety of harmony. Its character
agrees perfectly with that of the first chorale setting ; and
in order to be amply convinced of the difference between this
and an organ chorale, we need only compare it with any
melody treated contrapuntally throughout that we may
choose out of the Little Organ-Book.
This work, the Orgelbiichlein, must serve as a starting
•" P. S. V., C. 5 (244), App., No. 4. Possibly also the setting, from Krebs'
collection, P. S. V., C. 5 (244), No. 36, though in this case it is difficult to
recognise the special purpose of the piece. The simple chorale which follows
this I do not regard as Bach's.
8*8 p. S. V. C. 6 (245), No. 26.
JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
point for forming an estimate of Bach's labours as a com-
poser of organ chorales while at Weimar. It is a collection
of forty-five arrangements, planned by him for beginners in
organ-playing, and in the first instance for his eldest son,
Wilhelm Friedemann, to be a manual of good models in the
arrangement and playing of chorales.329 Whether he ever
had thought of publishing it is unknown, but it is certain
that he never completed the work as he intended. Most of
the leaves and pages of the Little Organ-Book remain blank,
and only bear on the upper stave the beginning of the hymn
of which he intended that the page should contain the
arrangement. Its modest aspect, and its being destined in
the first instance for a lesson-book, lead us hardly to suspect
the importance of the contents. But the narrower the circle
in which Bach had to turn, the deeper he went ; and that he
loved to devote himself to young artists, from whom he might
expect a loving insight into his deepest purposes, is shown by
two of his most important clavier works : the Inventionen and
the Wohltemperirte Clavier. Ziegler describes the ten-
dency of Bach's teaching as being " to set organ chorales,
not merely superficially, but according to the emotion ex-
pressed by the words." In taking this view Bach had
entered into Pachelbel's inheritance ; but he had succeeded
equally well in availing himself of the works in this depart-
ment of other illustrious artists, more particularly Buxtehude.
829 The whole title, as it stands in the autograph copy in the Royal Library
at Berlin, is as follows : " Orgel-Biichlein | Worinne einem anfahenden Organ-
isten | Anleitung gegeben wird, auff allerhand | Arth einem Choral durchzufuh-
ren, an- | bey auch sich im Pedal studio zu habi- \ litiren, indem in solchen
darinne | befindlichen Choralen das Pedal \ gantz obligat tractiret wird. | Dem
Hochsten Gott allein zu Ehren, | Dem Nechsten, draus sich zu belehren.
Autore \ loanne Sebast. Bach \ p. t. Capellce Magistro \ S. P. R. Anhal-
tini- | Cotheniensis " (" A Little Organ-Book, in which it is given to the
beginning organist to perform chorales in every kind of way, and to perfect
himself in the study of the pedal, inasmuch as in the chorales to be found in it
the pedal is treated as quite obbligato. Inscribed in honour of the Lord Most
High, And that my neighbour may be taught thereby"). 92 leaves, oblong
quarto, in boards, leather back and corners. On the first page, upper right-hand
corner, are these words: "ex collectione G. Polchau" P. S. V., C. 5 (244)
Sec. i. Compare also Griepenkerl's Preface. B. G. XXV., 2. Sec., App. A.,
No. 32.
THE LITTLE ORGAN-BOOK. 599
He has profited most from Pachelbel on the ideal side, from
Buxtehude on that of form ; and now, standing on a com-
manding eminence, he addressed himself with all the
originality and force of his genius to the elaboration of this
particular kind of music. His power of inventing combina-
tions is inexhaustible, his ingenuity in working out dramatic
sentiments by instrumental means is marvellous, refining
them to the utmost tenderness and deepening them almost
to infinitude.
In the Little Organ-Book he prescribed to himself certain
limits by its instructive purpose, and though it was intended
that a " beginning " organist should find the opportunity
for performing a chorale " in every kind of way," still the
multiplicity here contemplated is to be understood as re-
ferring to details rather than to general treatment. Not one
ot these chorales has that grand form in which each line of
the chorale is introduced by a preparatory interlude, and
which we have attributed emphatically to Pachelbel. In all,
with a single exception, the melody is contrapuntally treated
in a continuous flow, and this is even done — with three ex-
ceptions again — without an attempt at any striking colouring
of the melody. The counterpoint runs on, evolved through-
out from one motive, the golden kernel of the chorale tune
entangled in its silver tissue. The consistent adherence to
this principle is an advance on Bach's part on the practice
of his predecessors, and it always rouses our sense of some-
thing great and homogeneous. At the same time the
counterpoint is in every case full of such vast musical
significance that it immediately opens to us a realm of
feeling of its own — a realm of feeling which, it is true, was
pre-existent in the melody itself, so that it is as though a
veil were suddenly lifted, and we looked into the mysterious
depths behind. What tender melancholy lurks in the chorale
" Alle Menschen miissen sterben " — " All mankind alike must
die," — what an indescribable expression, for instance, arises
in the last bar from the false relation between c sharp and c',
and the almost imperceptible ornamentation of the melody !
It would be perversity to insist on always finding in such
features the representation of certain poetical images, line for
600 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
line ; it is the general musical idea that Bach endeavours to
enhance and elaborate by these means.380 The Christmas
melody " Der Tag der ist so freudenreich " — " On this
most joyful day of days," — is beautified by a joyful soaring
rhythm ; a fresh vitality as of the rising sun flows with
constantly increasing power through all three stanzas of
the old Easter hymn " Christ is erstanden " — " Jesus is
risen," — and fervent longing is marked in every line of the
exquisite labyrinth of music in which the master has involved
one of his favourite melodies, "Jesu, meine Freude " — "O
Jesu, joy of joys."
Though the motives of the counterpoint are for the most
part independently devised, in three of these chorales they
are evolved out of the first line of the tune, and in this way
they have an inherent organic connection with the chorale
itself. These three are : " Dies sind die heilgen zehn Gebot"
—"These ten are God's most holy laws,"— " Helft mir Gott's
Giite preisen" — "Help me to praise God's goodness," —
" Wenn wir in hochsten Nothen sein " — " 'Tis when we are
in direst need." In the two last the counterpoint is confined
to the four first notes, which are then either set out afresh
and independently, or are further developed as episodes or
by inversion. Bach is particularly fond of treating the tune
in canon, a favourite exercise of skill in which his Weimar
contemporary, Walther, was often his competitor. No less
than nine of the melodies are thus treated, four of them in
canon on the fifth or twelfth, without the strictness of the
rest of the counterpoint being in any degree relaxed. And it
is in these very pieces that the most powerful general effect
goes hand in hand with the most learned harmonic art. For
instance, there is a piece of sixteen bars on " Christe du
Lamm Gottes"; in the three first bars the three-part
counterpoint is given out, then the tenor brings in the
melody, the soprano follows a bar later on the fifth, and
then begins a fabric— a chain— of peculiar and melancholy
880 In these chorales the fermatas only indicate the end of the lines, and not
a real pause. This is quite clear from the canonic treatment, where no pause
is possible.
THE LITTLE ORGAN-BOOK. 6oi
harmonies. At first their strangeness strikes us, perhaps
even repels us, but by repeated hearing they grow upon us
more and more, and we end by finding them unforgettable,
so profound and so truly musical is the interpretation they
engraft on to the chorale.
The same canon treatment is applied to the Passion
chorale, " O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig." The expression is
here less stern and dry ; the anguish, compressed into one
cry of need, presently ceases, and the music grows soft and
mild just as the words of the hymn also enter more pro-
foundly into the subject. The parts are but four; the
swinging passages given to the contrapuntal parts are an
anticipation of the accompaniment to the chorale for chorus
which closes the first portion of the " Passion according to
St. Matthew."
In the arrangement of " Hilf, Gott, dass mirs gelinge " —
" Help, Lord, that I may conquer," — we have again a canon
on the fifth carried on by the soprano and alto. Mean-
while the left hand, on the second manual, keeps up an
incessant stream of triplets of semiquavers, which sometimes
lead below the canon, sometimes mix in with it, and some-
times rise high above it; and here it is very evident that
Bach understood how to combine the characteristics of the
northern school with the achievements of Pachelbel. It is
also very instructive to compare with it Walther's arrange-
ment, which in the same way works out a canon on the fifth,
but, as we have seen, in such a way that we were forced
to criticise his want of taste. While Bach imitates the
melody in notes oi the same value, but at an interval of
half a bar later he forces the imitating part into accord
with the upper part, and yet makes them quite independent
of each other. Only an outline of the melody falls upon
our consciousness — a silhouette, like the shadow thrown
behind a solid body.
In five arrangements Bach has restricted himself to the
simple canon on the octave, and in every instance he has
given it to the upper manual part and to the pedal. This
not unfrequently goes up above the manual bass part, an
effect of tone of which Buxtehude and his pupils were also
602 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
very fond ; for instance, in " Gottes Sohn ist kommen " and
" In dulci jubilo " the pedal part is carried up to /' or even
/' sharp, whence we may infer that Bach must have used
the four-feet cornet stop on the pedals which the Weimar
castle chapel organ possessed, for a pedal of so great a
natural compass could at that time hardly have existed
anywhere. Once, in the chorale " Herr Jesu Christ, dich
zu uns wend," we find traces of Bohm's influence; his
treatment of this chorale has already been analysed (see
ante, p. 207). Here the bass in canon carries on the
melody in diminution as an episode. The other peculiarities
of this chorale, however, are not to be referred to the
example of the Liineburg master, but to the influence of the
chaconne ; in two places a definite bass theme re-enters
after short pauses.
A further step towards perfecting this form was taken by
Bach when he made the contrapuntal elements in his music
a means of reflecting certain emotional aspects of the words.
Pachelbel had not attempted this ; he lacked the fervid
feeling which would have enabled him thus to enter into his
subject. And it is entering into it, and not a mere depicting
of it. For, once more be it said, in every vital movement
of the world external to us we behold the image of a
movement within us ; and every such image must react on
us to produce the corresponding emotion in that inner world
of feeling. Bach's treatment, then, is simply a deeper
penetration into the emotional purport of the poem. " Ach
wie fliichtig, ach wie nichtig ist der Menschen Leben ! "
wrote Michael Franck; and Bach accompanies the melody
with restless, gliding semiquavers, hurrying by like misty
ghosts. " From heaven came down the angelic host,"
Luther begins in his well-known Christmas hymn, and
Bach's music rushes down and up again like the descending
and ascending messengers of heaven (worked out in the
left hand, followed by the pedal in double augmentation).
" Through Adam's fall the human race has lost its grace by
nature " is the first line of a hymn on the atonement ; and
the pedal indicates the fall of man by an episode in leaps of
sevenths. Let us not blame this as being a mere trivial
THE LITTLE ORGAN-BOOK. 603
illustration of the first line, for the image it contains of a
fall from a condition of innocence to the state of sin governs
the whole poem ; it was only such images as these that
Bach was ever wont to set in music. This is proved, for
instance, by the setting of the death-bed hymn, " Herr Gott,
nun schleuss den Himmel auf " — " Lord, open now the gates
of heaven," — in which the crabbed counterpoint continues to
puzzle us until, half-way through the first verse, we come
to the lines, " Hab gnug gelitten Muh und gestritten "— " I
have encountered trouble and sorrow," — and then the mean-
ing is shown to be an image of the turmoil and weariness of
the life of man ; or consider the organ chorale " Da Jesus
an dem Kreuze stund " — " When Jesus hung upon the
cross," — the verses are a paraphrase of the seven words
spoken from the cross. The fact of His hanging on it is
represented by the heavy, syncopated notes — an evidence
of a wonderfully true aesthetic feeling, for that enforced
quietude of direst anguish was no real calm.
It is, comparatively speaking, very seldom that Bach gives
colour to the melody — the Little Organ-Book offers but three
examples — but where he does he rises far above his prede-
cessors, even in their finest works, by the culmination of
subjects and the depth and boldness of his harmonies. In
the chorale, " Das alte Jahr vergangen ist" — "The fleeting
year has passed away," — the gloom and solemnity of the
words and air are intensified to the utmost by the chromatic
counterpoint; "O Mensch, bewein dein Siinde gross" — "Oh
man, thy heavy sin lament," — has a passage full of imagi-
nation and powerful feeling ; the composer was inspired by
the miracle of Christ's advent upon earth.
Once we even come upon a free handling of the chorale in
the manner of Bohm and the northern composers ; from its
brilliant executive requirements this piece hardly seems to
belong to the collection, and it undoubtedly is of an earlier
date; this is the chorale, "In dir ist Freude" — "In Thee
is gladness."
Turning now from the small but comprehensive form of
the compositions in the Little Organ-Book, we will consider
some larger works. So much material here lies before us
604 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
that a subdivision into groups will be necessary. As regards
the greater or lesser merits of his compositions Bach
himself has indicated a division; for when at Leipzig he
wrote out with his own hand a selection of the best organ
chorales of his earlier time, and took that opportunity of
working them up again where he thought it necessary; I shall
add to these a few others of equal importance that have come
to us from other sources. Besides these there is a rich mine
in the other chorales, which will serve in the first place to
enable us to get a general idea of the world of form in which
Bach's genius moved, and though we cannot venture to
derive from them a definite chronological arrangement of
the chorales, it may give us the opportunity of determining,
at least in a general way, the limit between his earlier and
his later work.
The earliest chorale arrangements we have had occasion
to study were two series of variations (ante, p. 211). To
these we may now add a third in " Sei gegriisset, Jesu
giitig " — " Hail, O Jesu, gracious Saviour," — in eleven Par-
titas. It can at once be detected that these are of dif-
ferent periods; the four first and the seventh resemble
those earliest works, not merely in being restricted to the
manual, but in their whole style and character, particularly
in their resemblance to Bohm ; and they show the true
variation type by the melody being completely or partially
absorbed by the ornamental figures, and (in the first) by
its being extended by episodes. Numbers 5, 6, 9, 10, and
n, on the other hand, are regular organ chorales, and
with one exception have an obbligato pedal ; their form is
the same as that which predominates throughout the Little
Organ-Book ; the tenth variation only, with its fully har-
monised interludes — which serve as a rich and prolonged in-
troduction to each line — reminds us of Buxtehude's manner ;
we shall presently have to speak more fully of the signs
of this manner in Bach's works of the Weimar period.
Number 8 stands alone, somewhat superior to the first
group, but inferior to the second. The simple chorale
which opens the series has not the awkward clavier style
of harmony shown in the earlier partitas, but is a model of
CHORALE ARRANGEMENTS. 605
four-part writing. We are soon brought to the conclusion
that Bach worked at this arrangement at three different
times ; its first state may have been contemporaneous with
the two other chorales, and may even have resembled them
in the beginning chorale. Later he would have added the
beautiful four-part setting, have revised the first variation
especially — for this, when compared with the corresponding
portion of the other series, is far more regular in style
though identical in design — and have concluded with the
fourth variation. Subsequently he must have written the
whole second group, have mixed up two older variations to
fill the seventh and eighth places, revising the eighth, how-
ever, and probably supplementing it with the short pedal
notes. It is thus that the whole must have grown up
— a composition in which we find a remarkable mixture
of mature work with what was originally immature and
influenced more or less by other minds.281
The most primitive form of organ chorale, namely, contra-
puntal writing, without any fixed subject or episodic inter-
ludes, occurs in only two cases ; and in both a few intro-
ductory bars begin with an imitation on the first line. The
source whence we derive them to a certain extent betrays
their early origin ; but, simple as they are, they contain
much beautiful harmony.832
A number of examples are before us in which Pachelbel's
form is followed, from the closest adherence to it and through
every stage of independent development up to its highest
ideal. An arrangement, " Durch Adams Fall ist ganz ver-
derbt " 883 bears the unmistakable stamp of youth ; every
line is carefully preceded by a fugal interlude, but the melody
is not sufficiently prominent, and the counterpoint is naturally
not episodical. An arrangement of " Gelobet seist du, Jesu
831 P. S. V., C. 5 (244), Sec. II., 3. A certain degree of corroborative evidence
as to the stages of writing and revising this work is to be found in the fact that
in one of J. L. Krebs' books the four-part chorale is preserved with only the
four first partitas.
832 These are " Gottes Sohn ist kommen," P. S. V., C. 6 (245), No. 5, and
" Vater unser im Himmelreich." Ibid., C. 7 (246), No. 53.
w» P,S.V., 0.6(245), No. 2j,
606 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
Christ"834 is similar in form, but in this the prominence
given to the melody answers to the requirements of the ideal.
An arrangement of " Vom Himmel hoch" is of considerable
length ; the melody lies in the pedal, but, considering that it
occurs without augmentation, the interludes are much too
long ; and though it is very distinctly brought out by
the shades of tone — the pedal ceasing in order to exhibit
it more clearly — still the idea is not sufficiently worked out.
The cantus firmus in "Valet will ich dir geben " is given
to the pedal without augmentation, but the interludes are of
moderate extent, and the counterpoint is interwoven and
blended with delightful grace. Walther loved this piece, and
copied it several times ; and the composer himself liked it so
well that he revised and polished it at a subsequent period.885
Pachelbel gave his own ideal the fullest expression when
he prefaced a chorale, treated with brilliant counterpoint, by
a fugue constructed on the first line of it. Bach seized upon
this form, wrote a fugue on the two first lines of "Allein Gott
in der Hoh," one after the other, and then used them to
crown the whole at the close as a cantus firmus in the pedal.836
And, as if this were a mere fragmentary illustration of the
principle, he has left us a model of it in a grand arrangement
of the Magnificat,837 which begins with a fugue of ninety-
seven bars for the manual, a bold and ambitious structure,
below which lie the ponderous foundation-stones of the cantus
firmus, with its stately tones. Simple chorale fugues, on the
other hand, we scarcely ever meet with ; in this he followed
the example of Buxtehude, who, when he wanted to write a
fugue, preferred to invent his own theme. However, Bach
has once used " Vom Himmel hoch " in this way, perhaps
only because he wished to introduce the two middle lines in
diminution as the answering themes ; at any rate the form
has been essentially altered by this process.888
It was inherent in Bach's nature as an artist that the
884 P. S. V., C. 6 (245), No. 23.
836 P. S. V., C. 7 (246), No. 50, in its revised form. The original form is
given in the same volume as a variorum copy.
«86 p. S. V., C. 6 (245), No. n. ™ P. S. V., C. 7 (246), No. 41.
«• P. S. V., C. 7 (246), No. j+
CHORALE ARRANGEMENTS. 607
method of counterpoint hitherto in use — without distinct
motives in each part — could soon no longer satisfy him, for it
was always his aim to give organic vitality to every part of
his material. Just as in the Little Organ-Book each of the
parts which accompanied the chorale was derived from a
more or less plainly revealed germ, so it was now in the form
he borrowed from Pachelbel. This seemed difficult, since
this form demands the insertion of interludes, each of which
should be formed of the material of the line following it ; but
Bach seems to have hit at once on the right methods, with-
out much search. At one time he thought out certain figured
subjects of so pliable a nature that it was easy in each to
touch the main points of the fundamental subject. Another
time he brought in, simultaneously with the ornate episode,
the thematic preparation for the cantus firmus, so that both
were firmly united. We can perceive from several works
how he grew more and more skilled in the employment of
this device. A fantasia, so called, on "Christ lag in Todes-
banden " still clings to the old method, but each of the two
sections of the time is introduced by a prelude formed on a
single motif from their first lines, and this motif is so con-
structed as to be equally available for counterpoint in four
ways.889 The newer method, however, reigns supreme in an
arrangement of " Ich dich hab ich gehoffet, Herr,"840 only
that in this case the ornamental figures are too comprehensive,
involving even the cantus firmus, which is not brought out by
any other means ; besides this, the impetus fails at the end
of each line, and comes to a standstill, so that the piece falls
into so many fragments. The close alone is perfectly satis-
factory; the vivacity of the counterpoint is suitably increased,
and, after the cantus firmus has spoken its last word in the
upper part, the pedal once more takes hold of the simple
phrase of melody, while the upper parts carry on a very happy
accompaniment. " All's well that ends well."
A setting in three parts, for the manuals only, stands out
in contrast to this by its evident fulfilment of the composer's
P. S. V., C. 6 (245), No. 16.
P. S. V., C. 6 (245), No. 34. Incorrectly called a Fughetta.
608 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
intention ; it is on " Allein Gott in der Hoh " ; in this initial
subject —
we not only hear at once the melody of the first line, but
each succeeding one is more or less distinctly reproduced,
and the substance of all the counterpoint is also contained
in it, though it unceasingly renews itself by inversions, ex-
tensions, and transformations.841 The cantus firmus goes on
steadily above it in half-bar notes.
Sometimes a chorale melody was so constructed in its
separate sections that the episode derived from its first line
served for all with some slight alterations : for instance, " Ach
Gott und Herr," in which this motive —
can be made to answer almost every purpose, as Bach has
proved by doing it.842
With regard to Buxtehude's works and those of his school,
more use could be made of their subtle effects of tone and
ingenious devices than of the type as a whole. Still, when
in Weimar, Bach not unfrequently trod in Buxtehude's steps
in writing small organ chorales, though no doubt he always
produced something quite different from anything that master
could have created, still the starting-point is plainly recog-
nisable. In later years he altogether quitted this path, into
which he had probably been tempted by some external cause.
The only example we need mention at present is an arrange-
ment of Clausnitzer's hymn " Wir glauben all an einen
Gott."843 The characteristics of Buxtehude's form were
purely musical — an elegant ornamentation of the melody,
and delightful additions as to harmony and tone ; for the
latter he constantly used two manuals, to one of which the
melody was given ; he also was fond of using the double
pedal, and the whole school followed him in this. The more
P. S. V., C. 6 (245), No. 4. s42 p. S. V., C. 6 (245), No. i.
"» P. S. V., C. 7 (246), No. 62.
COMPARISON WITH BUXTEHUDE. 609
negative characters were his indifference to the due inde-
pendence of the counterpoint, to giving any prominence to
the cantus firmus but that derived from quality of tone, and
to any regular plan in writing interludes, in which the suc-
ceeding line was sometimes used, but sometimes not. All
these peculiarities are recognisable in Bach's chorale, but he
could not help compensating as far as possible for the
defects. The first line of melody is given complete to the
tenor, and then, before the entrance of the cantus firmus,
there are four bars more of free prelude ; the second line
comes in without an introductory interlude, while the first
line of the second section, on the other hand, is fugally
treated with an accompaniment in several parts ; the last,
again, has a simple one. The cantus is brought out in
notes of the same value on the manual, without any particu-
lar ornamentation, but with an unmistakable Buxtehude
coda of rapid passages at the close. But the whole body of
counterpoint is far more coherent, held together not by mere
artistic imitation and episodic treatment, but by the un-
broken unity of the movement, which is enlivened by the
free and melodious progression of the separate parts.
Bach has with good reason set aside Buxtehude's fugal
additions, which come to nothing and only hinder the flow,
and he has laid the greatest stress on what is most im-
portant to the piece, i.e., the contrast of tones, colour, and
richness of harmony. To this end he has used a double
pedal part throughout the piece, and this gives rise to the
most interesting combinations with the two-part progress
of the accompanying manuals. With an effective arrange-
ment of stops the result must be enchanting.
Knowing that Bach was thus striving after a higher and
new ideal, by the amalgamation of Pachelbel's form with
a contrapuntal treatment which should aim at episodical
treatment in each part, we might expect to find him endea-
vouring to make more of this last method — which might be
termed especially his own, even if he had not at once im-
pressed on it the stamp of his genius — than he had given
proof of in the Little Organ-Book. The next obvious step
was to work out an original composition on independent
2 R
6lO JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
ideas, a piece which should present in music the purport of
the chorale it treated, and at the same time receive en-
lightenment from the poetic sentiment of the chorale tune
that was woven in with it. Bach had no hesitation in taking
this step, and so again displaying the marvellous continuity
and consistency of his development, and the inseparable
oneness of his creative utterances in all the various depart-
ments of his art. Pachelbel had grasped the idea of the
chorale in its relations to the Church as an instrumental
work of art ; Bach, in the new form, which I will hence-
forth term the chorale fantasia, expressed almost exclusively
those feelings which filled him, personally, when he heard a
chorale melody.
The next step in this road must have been either to
abandon the cantus firmus and to write the beginning of the
chorale at the head of the piece, simply to suggest its
purport, or else to seek for some means of restoring the
chorale to its prominent position without forfeiting the
acquisitions made in the department of instrumental music.
Bach chose the latter alternative. A direct outcome of this
form are those most glorious chorales for chorus and
orchestra in which the instruments work out their own
structure of parts, while the hymn comes in in the chorus of
voices, controlling everything by its high moral significance,
and ruling in its own sphere. Bach went to the utmost
limits of absorbed subjectivity in treating the organ chorale,
but he never set foot in the quicksand beyond them. As a
high-minded priest of his art, he diligently strove to impart
and interpret to the outer world the divine visions revealed
to him in deep solitude. As compared to the chorales for
voices designed on this plan, the number of chorale fantasias
dwindles to nothing. Of course we are not to think of the
process of evolution as though Bach, after he had clearly
conceived of the transition to the vocal through the instru-
mental form, had flung this last aside as worthless. On the
contrary, even in his later years, he wrote organ chorales,
not only in a general way, but especially of this type. For
this form bore within it its own justification, like all others
that have had their natural place in history, and could
THE CHORALE FANTASIA. 6ll
penetrate certain depths of life which remained inaccessible
to all others, even to some which are aesthetically higher.
Thus in the development of art those forms which are
derived from each other always to a certain extent exclude
their parents, and the spirit that has struck all its vital
fibres into the old soil will not generally thrive in the new
one. There are but a few geniuses, and those the elect, that
are comprehensive enough to effect such an evolution — to
follow out the new without quitting grasp of the old.
The fantasia in three parts on " Jesu, meine Freude"844
belongs to the earlier works in the style described above ; it
is a fugal movement on this theme —
with which the chorale is interwoven, in the upper, middle,
or lowest part, as the case may be. This is very skilfully
managed — still in the first half of the tune only — while the
second section has independent variations in Bohm's manner,
and is thus weakened in effect. There is also an arrange-
ment of " Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein," in which
a running subject in semiquavers is worked out into a
complete piece, while the cantus firmus is carried on by the
pedal in the tenor part.845
Finally there are those organ chorales collected by Bach
at a later period, in which we may recognise the very quint-
essence of all he elaborated in Weimar in this field of art.
In making a survey of all his works, to classify them accord-
ing to their several types, two other works of a similar
character may here be mentioned. These are two simple
chorales with episodical counterpoints ; indeed, the smaller
half of one of them, " Komm, Gott Schopfer, heiliger
Geist,"846is also to be found in the Little Organ-Book. The
M< P. S. V., C. 6 (245), p. 29. 345 P. S. V., C. 7 (246), No. 44.
846 The shorter form of this chorale cannot be regarded as the original, for
the reason that the pedal has hardly anything to do in it, and so it does not cor-
respond to the object of the Little Organ-Book. The complete piece is written
out in the collection made by Bach's pupil Altnikol. P. S. V., C. 7 (246), No. 35,
with the abridgment as a variant.
2 R 2
6l2 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
melody is gone through twice— first in the upper part and in
crotchets or dotted quavers, with counterpoint chiefly in
quavers, and then in augmentation in the pedal with a
grandiose effect, after which the accompaniment is spurred
on to semiquavers. The setting in reiteration has not here
any relation, as it usually has, to the number of verses in
the poem ; in the second instance, on the contrary, this is
the case : " O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig." 347 This sublime
composition is of masterly construction. The first time the
cantus firmus is given to the upper part, the second time to
the middle part, and the third time to the pedal, which up to
that moment has been silent. The counterpoint changes
with every verse, and becomes more interesting at every
change. Before the close there is a break, the beginning
of the line, " All Siind hast du getragen "— " Thou hast
borne all transgressions," — being delayed by the introduc-
tion of a subject figurative of bearing sin, while the cantus
firmus proceeds slowly in the lower part ; then, on the
words, " Sonst mussten wir verzagen " — " Else must we
quake and tremble," — there is a wailing chromatic passage
through four bars in 3-2 time, and the suspense of a half-
close : " Gieb uns deinen Frieden, O Jesu " — "Give us thy
peace, O Lord." The mighty waves of sound roll on one
after another up and down, not resting till long after the
melody is ended, and only the last note of it lingers on,
supporting the agitato sounds above it, and audible through
them all. It is indeed a marvel of profoundly religious art !
The arrangement of " Nun danket alle Gott "848 is strictly
on Pachelbel's pattern, and without a flaw to mar it, to the
very last note. The jubilant shout that rises to the very
clouds, and which Bach alone could raise, is here wanting ;
but in many places he has enhanced the beauty of the form
by his tuneful counterpoint.
847 P. S. V., C. 7 (246), No. 48, in its revised form ; the earlier form of which
I am here speaking is also given among the variants. But the deviations are
unimportant so far as my present purpose is concerned. The same holds good
also with regard to the following chorales, where no special observation is
added.
8« P. S. V., C. 7 (246), No. 43.
THE LITTLE ORGAN-BOOK. 613
Of the two arrangements of the communion hymn, "Jesus
Christus, unser Heiland,"849 the part of the manual betrays
itself as a work which can only have been written, at latest,
in the first years of Bach's residence at Weimar, by the
pedal point which comes in at the close. It is a stroke of
genius to have made the passage thrown in at bar 10 — and
which belongs, as an interlude, to the congregational hymn
—reappear in the second half of the chorale as a new con-
trapuntal subject. The second arrangement is one of the
grandest and profoundest creations of this most admirable
master. Upon the leading idea of the first verse —
Jesus Christus, unser Heiland,
Der von uns den Zorn Gottes wandt,
Durch das bitter Leiden sein
Half er uns aus der Hollenpein —
Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour,
Who freed us from the wrath of God ;
By his death and anguish sore
Redeemed us from the pains of hell —
he constructs three movements. The two first lines are full
of solemn agitation, as though tinged with a memory of the
Last Supper, and as yet unaffected by any special considera-
tions. From this characteristic subject —
he develops the details of the accompaniment directly, and
in inversions. On the third line we come upon chromatic
semiquavers rushing past and against each other in a bold
agitato, indicative of the "anguish sore" (compare bar 37).
This contrapuntal motive on the line—
lifts us triumphantly out of this dejection, and culminates in
a close full of dignified gravity. Here, as elsewhere, what
is most worthy of note is the perfect adaptation of the con-
849 P. S. V., C. 6 (245), No. 32. The other arrangement, No. 31.
614 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
structive requirements of the musical composition to the
impulse roused by the purport of the words. Indeed, Bach
only yields to such an impulse when it can find a justifica-
tion in the organic structure of the composition ; hence,
when he does so, it is all the more impressive. It was im-
possible to him to mangle the work, as a whole, by intro-
ducing petty descriptive details ; thus in the short chorales
of the Little Organ-Book we never find him going into the
meaning of each line separately. It was only when the
conditions of the case demanded an artistic treatment of
multiplicity in unity that he allowed his inventive faculty to
be guided by the poetical images, line by line. We find
these conditions here : a tide of sentiment flows through the
whole as strong as we can meet with anywhere. How pro-
found is the impression produced each time, when, after the
entrance of the cantus firmus, the melody is repeated in the
upper part !
The chorale, " Von Gott will ich nicht lassen "— " From
God will I not wander," — is permeated by fervent feeling
and unutterably deep and trustful devotion.850 The cantus
firmus lies constantly in the pedal, and the parts wind around
and above it like a luxurious garland of amaranth. It is not
too much to say that this masterpiece is, in its way, quite
incomparable.
A second arrangement of the deathbed hymn, "Valet
will ich dir geben " — " Farewell I now am saying " — also
belongs here,351 but how different in this case is the funda-
mental feeling ! A sublime and soul-felt peace soars on
mighty pinions far above the bustle of the " false, deceitful
world " — a representation of the sentiment conveyed in the
words : —
"Tis good to dwell in heaven
The goal of my desires.
Bach has also succeeded in combining the Pachelbel chorale
in a very ingenious manner with the independent organ trio.
«» P. S. V., c. 7 (246), No. 56.
861 P. S, V., C. 7 (246), No. 51. This is not in the MS. collection, but is un-
doubtedly genuine.
THE LITTLE ORGAN-BOOK. 615
The older master had been wont to treat the first line fugally,
and then to allow the whole melody to come in with brilliant
counterpoint, so the younger one constructed a trio on a
theme derived from the first phrase of the tune, developed
this thoroughly to due proportions, and towards the end
brought in the cantus firmus almost imperceptibly in the
pedal. The melodies, " Allein Gott in der Hoh " and " Herr
Jesu Christ dich zu uns wend," have both experienced this
mode of treatment.862
Bach assimilated Buxtehude'stype of treatment, not merely
for the sake of the opportunities it afforded for the display of
a special kind of skill and of a selective feeling for qualities
of tone — to both of which Bach attached greater importance
at his Weimar period than he did later ; he evidently found
a charm in the difficulty of making anything of this style of
work which could satisfy his strict requirements. He did
not here use any definite method, but proceeded in accord-
ance with tne characteristics of the individual melodies, and
his own feelings at the moment. Hence these chorales are
as unlike each other as possible, and from that very cause
are peculiar to eccentricity. That which is nearest to the
model form is " Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott," though
the lines are worked out with greater breadth, and the parts
of the counterpoint are kept in stricter order.853 But it is
proved that the form was far from satisfying Bach by his
never having made use of it a second time.
An arrangement of "Allein Gott in der Hoh," is of a more
original and hybrid form ; on the one hand we have broad and
careful interludes in imitation with episodical counterpoint,
and on the other the cantus firmus in the tenor part in a
manual by itself, richly adorned and with the phrases some-
what extended — a tropical luxuriance of foliage with many-
852 P. S. V., C. 6 (245), Nos. 7 and 27. Two variants exist of the latter, but the
deviations in one are unimportant, while the other is shorter by more than
half, and hardly consists of more than a two-part counterpoint to the air, the
subject being derived from the first line. The type is therefore altogether
different; compare what is said (below, p. 618) concerning "Nun komm der
Heiden Heiland."
353 P. S. V., C. 7 (246), No. 37.
6l6 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
coloured blossoms. The art of combining different qualities
of tone is brought to a remarkable pitch, and yet is con-
trolled throughout by a healthy taste. Yet another arrange-
ment of this favourite melody resembles this one in nothing
but its extreme complication.854 It has all the showy colour-
ing of its class, and is divided into separate classes of tone.
Besides this, it is arranged as follows : All that stands out
in contrast to the melody grows out of a theme derived from
the first line of the tune —
m
feEE^
and the passage, moving downwards in three intervals of
thirds, is again made use of as a motive; thus it comes
very near to the chorale fantasia, that ultimate issue
of Bach's type of organ chorale. But, as far as regards
fulness of tone and harmony, the parts are always kept
full throughout, in accordance with the model on which it
is founded. Finally, and to mark the beginning of the
second section, the first line of this portion comes in, as pre-
paratory, on the pedal. The result is the production of a
triumphant and masterly creation, but also of a musical
composition which is quite unique.
Equally remarkable, and to the utmost extent in the spirit
of Buxtehude, both in form and feeling, and in the words
and music alike, is " An Wasserfliissen Babylon." The
melody is given to the tenor, and the compact body of
contrapuntal parts works on incessantly on the two first
lines. Among many subtly conceived embellishments the
first line is very remarkable —
for it shows us how much even these means could contribute
to determining the sentiment of the piece. I doubt whether
this piece can have been written later than 1712. Bach
subsequently remodelled it, skilfully adding a fourth part to
the accompaniment by a constant use of the double pedal, in
«** P. S. V., C. 6 (245), No. 9. The first is No. 8.
CHORALE ARRANGEMENTS. 617
consequence of which the cantus firmus lay in the upper
part. The piece in this form has acquired a resemblance to
the arrangement spoken of above, of " Wir glauben all."
An occurrence in Bach's life can be very naturally supposed
to be connected with this revision, his journey, namely, to
Hamburg, where his composition on the hymn " An Wasser-
flussen Babylon " won high praise from the venerable
Reinken. The inference is obvious that he was desirous
of meeting this master on his own ground ; he was now
nearly a century old, and could have but small sympathy
with the new roads struck out by Bach ; his views indeed
were essentially those of Buxtehude, and for this reason
Bach would have remodelled his earlier work on a basis
which would be particularly intelligible to Reinken, develop-
ing the combination of different tones and the use of the
pedal.855
Similar again in general design, but just as unique in other
respects, is the setting of " Schmiicke dich, o Hebe Seele."
The accompaniment in three parts consists of figures on the
first line of the first section, and afterwards on the first line
of the second section, and forms a cycle by returning at the
close to the passages introduced at the beginning; the
melody is carried on with many expressive embellishments of
the upper part. The strange and mysterious charm of this
piece has long occupied the minds of the best students of
Bach's work; a step at least towards its explanation becomes
possible from an investigation of the history of its origin.
The chief mystery of course must still remain hidden in the
creative depths of Bach's genius, which regarded the external
characteristics of musical form merely as touches of light
and colour by which he might bring before us more vividly
a mental image, though solemn and subdued, of heavenly
ecstasy. By comparing this chorale with that previously
discussed, " Jesus Christus, unser Heiland," we shall imme-
866 P. S. V., C. 6 (245), No. 12. The first form is to be found as a variant in
the Appendix ; the arrangement with double pedal is 12 A, and the still later
arrangement of the first form with a single pedal part, which was probably a
second revision at the time of its insertion in the large MS. volume, is 12 B of
the same volume.
6l8 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
diately become conscious of the widely different spheres of
feeling in which they dwell.856
Bach has left us three arrangements of the old Advent
chorale, " Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland," which were
evidently thought out as a connected whole.857 The first is
in the Buxtehude form, but this time, setting aside the little
imitative introduction, it has hardly any thematic accom-
paniment, also it extends the highly adorned melody beyond
the strict limits of its phrases, and is of remarkable beauty
of form. The second appears as a trio, the counterpoint
being carried out by a manual and the pedal bass, the melody
in the treble on another manual; or in reverse order, the
accompaniment being given to the manuals and the cantus
firmus to the bass. The first line provides the thematic
material for the whole, with added figures in semiquavers,
and the parts follow each other in canon. A piece is thus
evolved which needs nothing but a freely invented theme to
take it out of the class of chorales. Such compositions from
a bridge over the gap that divides Pachelbel's chorales from
the chorale fantasia ; and yet they must not be regarded as
amalgamating those with the independent organ trio, since
the early entrance of the cantus firmus leaves no time for in-
dependent development. The composition now in question is
almost unapproachable in the abruptness of its character and
the startling recklessness of the effects of tone, especially in
366 P. S. V., C. 7 (246), No. 49. The reader will here be glad to be reminded of
Schumann's fine words concerning this chorale, when a composer almost of our
own time was enabled to follow just such a flight as Sebastian Bach's. He
says (Schriften, Vol. I., p. 219, first ed.) : " Then, soon after, you, Felix Mentis
[Mendelssohn] — man of the noble heart and brow — played one of his chorale
arrangements. The text was ' Schmiicke dich, o meine Seele ' ; round the
cantus firmus clung garlands of golden foliage, and a strain of beatitude was
poured into it, for you yourself confessed to me that ' if all hope and faith were
taken out of your life, this chorale alone would be enough to restore them to
you.' But I was silent, and answered not. I went away, almost mechanically,
into the churchyard, and felt a keen pang of regret that I could lay no flower
on his urn."
867 Walther indeed wrote them out in one of the Berlin autographs as one
composition. P. S. V., C. 7 (246), Nos. 45, 46, 47. Walther gives the second with
the cantus firmus in the pedal (Variant II.); hence it must have been left in this
form also by Bach, which otherwise would be difficult to believe from bar 33.
CHORALE ARRANGEMENTS. 6lQ
the first form. There are a few other works of the kind by
Bach in which the presentment of a spiritual meaning is
followed up with complete indifference to external effect.
But no purely artistic work can originate in this way, for
that which is beautiful to the senses is an indispensable
condition of form, though not the most important. The ear
accommodates itself reluctantly and by slow degrees to this
sort of vague suggestion only after we have completely
identified it with the idea and plan of the composition.
Still, this feature could not be absent from the totality and
completeness of Bach's character as an artist ; it was that
exaggerated idealism of a true German nature which, walk-
ing with its head in the clouds, takes no heed of the earthly
thorns that entangle its feet.
In the third arrangement of this same chorale the fantasia
form comes prominently forward. If we add to this powerful
work the even more powerful one on " Komm, heiliger Geist,
Herre Gott," we have completed the whole list of chorale
fantasias composed at this time. This form was a favourite
one with Bach at a later period, and he expanded this last
work into one of considerable length — nay, we might say he
had never completed it till he did this, for in its first state
it works up only the first four lines of the chorale.358 With
regard to the general meaning, hardly anything remains to
be said, but that it is as majestic as the instrument whose
grandeur it was intended to display; the themes in both
cases are very animated and ornate, and present an imposing
contrast to the grandiose calmness of the cantus firmus on
the pedal.
Here we finish our consideration of Bach's organ chorales,
though only indeed for the present. The master continued
his labours in this department till the close of his life, and
the last and fairest blossoms of his genius have been pre-
served to us. But we shall have no more new forms to deal
with; this province of his art he had now fully explored, and
858 P. S. V., C. 7 (246), No. 36. The variants in the Appendix. An old
written copy in the possession of Dr. Rust corresponds with that left by Krebs
in the smallest particular.
¥
62O JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.
it could not be otherwise, for it was on his unbounded
possession of it that his further development was based.
In concluding this analysis of Bach's labours in organ
chorale writing, we at the same time close the most im-
portant period of his life, which contains the key to all the
others — the first ten years, namely, of his independent
mastership. It was not in Bach's nature to contemplate
the retrospect of what he had done, or he might have been
satisfied with himself. He stood on a supreme eminence as
an organ and clavier player, and had early reaped the fruits
of his executive skill, which ripens sooner than the intel-
lectual seed, to such an extent that he was known far and
wide through central and northern Germany, and was uni-
versally famous as the victorious champion of German as
opposed to foreign art. And what is more, by his unfaltering
progress, his indefatigable utilisation of every element of art
that came within his ken, his incessant cultivation of his
own amazing gifts, he had produced a multitude of glorious
works, differing in kind, it is true, but all bearing more or
less relation to a common centre. German, Italian, and
French instrumental music, by earlier and contemporary
composers — for the organ, clavier, and violin, and of the
most various types — old and new forms of the art, both
sacred and secular — we have marked them all as they have
come within reach of the great whirlpool of Bach's own
organ music, seen them drawn into it only to be flung up
again in renewed youth, and inspired with fresh vigour and
vitality: a picture of many aspects, but withal consistent
and complete.
APPENDIX (A, TO VOL. I.)
1 (p. 6). Hans Bach the Elder. The genealogy is here incorrect
in many respects : the town piper is said to have lived in the tower of the
castle of Grimmenstein ; Hans Bach to have lived there till the castle
was destroyed, and then to have returned to Wechmar, where, meanwhile
his father had died. But the castle of Grimmenstein had been ruined as
early as 1567, and Hans Bach was certainly not then born. After this
Gotha possessed no castle until the present castle of Friedenstein was
constructed in 1646. But the town-hall was so grand and spacious that
in 1640 it was made ready as a temporary residence for Duke Ernst the
Pious (Beck, Geschichte der Stadt Gotha, p. 422). Veit Bach was still
living some time after his son had settled in Wechmar.
2 (p. 9). Hans Bach the Younger. This is clear from the
following facts : Johann Bach, who according to the register was married
in 1635, is there called the senior ; on June 7 of the previous year our
Hans, No. 3, had been married ; the senior is evidently, therefore, to
distinguish them. If they had been only cousins, and a distinction
had been needed, some other token would surely have been hit upon,
while, as between brothers, it is perfectly natural, particularly when
one was married so soon after the other. I attach no importance to
this question, and only mention it for the father's sake.
3 (p. 10). The Bach Genealogy. It is evidently from a con-
fusion with Hans Bach that the father is called a carpet-maker ; and
when we find here again three musical sons, it casts a suspicion on the
credibility of the statement, and gives it the air of a subsequent inven-
tion. With regard to what the genealogy afterwards says as to the
further ramification of this branch, it is for the most part guess-work,
which is the less valuable because the compiler knew nothing of the
existence of the Bach family in Thuringia, reaching back far beyond
Veit. The fact that among the Bachs of Bindersleben the tradition
still exists that their ancestors were immigrants from Bohemia or
Hungary, without their acknowledging any relationship with Seb. Bach,
might dispose us for a moment to derive this line from Veit's second son.
But the late and spurious character of this tradition — which certainly
originated in a desire to connect the Molsdorf-Bindersleben line with
the great Sebastian — is evident from the fact that it makes the first
Bach settle at once at Molsdorf ; and it is still clearer when we re-
member that its accuracy is very doubtful, even as regards Sebastian's
forefathers.
4 (p. 10). Jakob Bach. These statements are principally based
on a pedigree begun by Veit Bach, and which was in the possession of
622 APPENDIX.
Jakob Bach's great-grandson, Job. Philipp Bach, of Meiningen ; a copy
of it came into the hands of Fraulein Emmert, of Schweinfurt. All that
the genealogy and its addenda say on the subject agrees with this
pedigree, only by an oversight, the year of Jakob Bach's birth is given
as that of his death. Gelbke's Kirchen und Schulenverfassung des
Herzogthums Gotha, gives 1654 as the date of his birth. In Bruckner's
Kirchen- und Schulenstaat we find a notice that in 1631 Jakob Bach
was installed as usher (Schuldiener) at Thai, near Ruhla, and according
to a document of the Visitation of 1642 he is called Schoolmaster of
Ruhla. The dates do not fit, but this may be a misprint.
5 (p. 84). Motett by Christoph Bach. The only MS. known
to me is preserved in the Royal Library at Berlin. It is evidently
transcribed from parts, and full of errors. From bar 116 onwards it
has become perfect nonsense, from the copyist having overlooked a
repeat mark in the alto, by which bars 106 to 119 should have been
repeated, and then have gone on to the following passages. A beginning
of a similar confusion is to be traced in the same place, in the bass part.
In bar 131 the copyist has again overlooked a pause of two bars in the
alto, and erroneously transcribed bars 125, 126, 127 a second time (128,
129, 130). The correction of some other inaccuracies is more obvious;
the text is wanting to the last bars. This motett has never been
published.
6 (p. 94). " Ich lasse dich Nicht." The Royal Library at
Berlin possesses this motett in an ancient MS., which, after repeated
investigation, I feel assured is an autograph of Sebastian Bach's. The
watermark, which I shall fully discuss in Note 27 to this volume, proves
it to be of the Weimar period. The character of the writing is very
similar to that of the Miihlhausen Rathswechsel Cantata (see p. 345) ;
hence the MS. may date from about 1710. The name of the composer
is not given, so it cannot be denied that the possibility that this motett
is not a work of Joh. Christoph Bach, but of his nephew, Sebastian,
has a certain foundation in external circumstances ; and the early period
at which Sebastian must have composed it would account for all that
seems strange in the peculiarities of style. It appears, too, that
throughout the last century it was sung by the Thomasschule choir at
Leipzig as a composition of Sebastian Bach. For Rochlitz, himself
a chorist of the Thomasschule, and a singer of Bach's motetts, expresses
himself as first convinced of its spuriousness by Philipp Emanuel's
catalogue (see his Sammlung Vorziiglichen Gesangwerke, Vol. III.,
Part I., p. viii. of the preface), while in his book Fur Freunde der
Tonkunst. II., p. 144 (third edition), he still lets it pass as a composition
of Seb. Bach. The cantor of St. Thomas, too, in 1802, T. G. Schicht,
published the motett as a work by Sebastian (Leipzig: Breitkopf und
Hartel) ; and in his own MS. copy, now in the Royal Library at Konigs-
berg in Prussia (press-mark 13, 583), he appended verses seven and eight
of Hans Sachs' poem with a harmonised setting by Seb. Bach, which
APPENDIX. 623
is also preserved by L. Erk (Joh. S. Bach's Choralgesange, I., 121).
Still, due consideration must be given to the fact that Ph. Em. Bach
seemed not to have acknowledged the motett as a work by his father,
though in his catalogue, p. 85, he does not designate it as by Joh.
Christoph, but only classes it among the compositions of his Bach
ancestors. A final decision cannot indeed be arrived at unless an
autograph of Sebastian Bach were to come to light in which he
signs himself as the composer. It was first published as a work of Joh.
Christoph, by Naue, Part III., p. 9, with a supplementary bass — after-
wards by Bote and Bock, of Berlin; Breitkopf and Hartel, of Leipzig;
and others.
7 (p. 141). Friedrich Bach. A most bewildering blunder has
been perpetrated by Gerber in the Lexicon I., col. 491. He says : "The
only musical genius living there was a drunken organist, who, when
sober, could do as little as his fellow-citizens of the Bach family";
the last four words are misplaced. What Gerber manifestly intended
to say was this : " A drunken organist of the Bach family, who when
sober," &c. When it is said farther on that the scholars were forced to
go to another church than that where Bach played, we need not infer
that they abandoned the church of St. Blasius on account of his bad
example. They probably had places assigned to them in the Marien-
kirche.
8 (p. 174). J. S. Bach's Mother. There were at that time— as
may be seen from the register for 1666, preserved in the archives of the
town-council of Erfurt — no less than three Valentin Lammerhirts in the
city, who all had daughters named Elisabeth. But that it was this
particular Elisabeth Lammerhirt that Ambrosius married is proved by
the documents, to be alluded to presently, referring to the " Lammerhirt
will case," from which we learn the name of her brother, Tobias. By
this clue it is possible to find our way through the labyrinth of the
parish register. Two of the three Lammerhirts were furriers, and lived
side by side in the Junkersande, one in the house known as " The Three
Roses," the other as " Zur Jungfrawen " — " The Virgin," — now No. 1284.
But as Tobias Lammerhirt subsequently had a house in the Breiten-
strasse with the same name, " The Three Roses," and as it was customary
when^people changed their residence to transfer the name of the house,
No. 1285, as has been said, is no doubt the house where Sebastian's
mother was born. The genealogy speaks of Ambrosius Bach's father-
in-law, and of the father of Hedwig Lammerhirt, as " Raths- Verwandte"
— the title given to persons related to a family of which a member had
become a town-councillor ; but this was premature. The first Lammerhirt
(Valentin also) who is to be found in the lists of the town-council occurs
in 1658 and 1663 — a younger relative, therefore, ot the one now under
discussion.
9 (p. 221). Bach's Residence in Weimar. A chronological
difficulty arose here, for the genealogy ana Mizler's Necrology— and,
624 APPENDIX.
following them, almost all the later biographies — date the move to
Arnstadt in 1704, while the deed of installation makes it 1703, and that
in so many places that any error of transcription is out of the question.
The error lies therefore in the first-named authorities ; and there might
seem to be a doubt whether Bach's residence in Liineburg should not be
shortened, and his move from thence ascribed to the year 1702, since a
slip of the memory seems more natural which could confound a "2"
with a "3" than one which should extend a few months to a year
and a quarter. But I was so happy as to find among the private papers
of the Grand Duke's court at Weimar a list of the whole band for the
year 1702, and Bach's name is not in it. Now it is certain that
Sebastian quitted Liineburg about Easter, because there were no profits
from processional singing by the school choir during the summer half-
year. Thus the list could only be rejected as evidence under the
supposition that it was drawn up before Easter, which is very unlikely.
It is also to be observed that this seems to give a disproportionate
length to his residence in Weimar. The whole course of his develop-
ment could not have tended to his holding such a position; he must
as soon as possible have looked about for a more suitable sphere
of labour, and it might be supposed that he was as likely to have had
the appointment of organist at Arnstadt — which at that time was held
by the incompetent Borner — in 1702 as in 1703. For these reasons,
and because the biographical records of Sebastian Bach in the genealogy
were not written down directly from his statements, and contain other
small oversights — the whole genealogy, indeed, not having been drawn
up under his supervision — in spite of its importance generally as the
oldest authority we possess, I must regard 1704 as an error. Since the
Necrology says the same, no doubt one at least of the hands employed
was the same in both. In 1703 Easter fell on April 8. Thus, in any
case Bach did not remain more than four months in Weimar.
10 (p. 227). The Treibers' Operetta. A copy of the text, printed
at Arnstadt in 1705, exists in the Ministerial Library at Sondershausen,
and was in great part reproduced by K. Th. Pabst in 1846 (in the
Gymnasial-Programm, Arnstadt). It may be inferred with certainty
that the elder Treiber (rector of the college) supervised the text at
any rate, since the operetta was performed by the Arnstadt Lyceum
scholars, and the names of the dramatis persona would not have been
so ingeniously devised by any one not perfectly familiar with Latin
and Greek. Thus two drawers of beer are Modulius and Cantharinus ;
a cooper's apprentice is Doliopulsantius; the brewer's wife, Eulalia;
a barmaid, Bibisempria. The music was probably written by the
son, or they may have worked at it together. In Arnstadt a legend
grew up that Bach was the composer, but, so far as I can see, without
any foundation but the circumstance that he was organist there at
the time. If it had only been considered how musical both the
Treibers were, and that the son was then staying in Arnstadt, such
APPENDIX. 625
I
a theory would have been impossible. It has even found its way
into a novel by E. Marlitt. Bach, like all his family, had occasional
impulses to satire and buffoonery, but he certainly would never have
worked upon a text so devoid of all life and humour as this. Besides,
he was by no means always on the best terms with the pupils of the
college.
11 (p. 231). " Denn du wirst meine Seele," Easter, 1704.
The autograph score and the autograph parts (both in the Royal
Library at Berlin) beyond a doubt owe their existence to the Leipzig
period of Bach's career, as can be proved both by the paper and
the writing; and they also bear unmistakable marks of having been
written from an already complete copy. All those corrections and altera-
tions of which Bach's autographs of the cantatas are generally so full are
wholly wanting, as well as the letters "S.D.G.," which the master never
omitted to sign at the end of a first score ("Soli Dei glorias" — "To
the glory of God alone "), and as well as letters "J. J." (" Jova" or
•'Jesu Juva") at the beginning, excepting when making a copy or unim-
portant rearrangement. The fact that the score runs on without a
break, and that the division into sections is not yet indicated, is still
further evidence that this was a combination of two works. In this
state it is much too lengthy to be performed all at once, under any
conditions; and if this was the original form, Bach must have already
intended to divide it. But then it would be quite incomprehensible how
the divisions should be wanting in this score.
12 (p. 231). In 1748 Johann Sebastian Brunner, at that time
cantor of the principal church at Weimar, composed the text and music
of a whole cycle of cantatas, in which he partly worked up in an extra-
ordinary manner the sacred verses of some of the older Weimar
poets — weaving them together, turning them about, and then printing
the result as his own composition. A copy exists in the grand ducal
library at Weimar. Thus the cantata text by Salomo Franck, of the
year 1716, to which Bach composed his splendid music, " Wachet, betet,
seid bereit," was maltreated by him in this way, as may be seen at once
by a comparison of the different versions ; and a similar fate befel the
verses used in the Easter cantata. It is certain that Brunner availed
himself of none but Weimar prototypes, since one of the best sacred
poets of the time, Salomo Franck, was at that time living and writing
in Weimar, and, on the other hand, the demand for cantata verses was
at that time very considerable, and Brunner was certainly not fastidious.
Hence it follows that the text of Bach's Easter cantata was written in
Weimar, and it must also have been within the first twelve years of the
eighteenth century, for after that the new cantata form was elaborated
there. But the hypothesis that Bach composed the work in question
during his second residence in Weimar — that is to say, after 1708 — is
proved untenable when we compare it with the Miihlhausen " Raths-
wechsel " cantata and other works dating from that time. In those we
2 S
626 APPENDIX.
already see the hand of a master, in this only a highly gifted beginner. It
only need be supposed that Bach became acquainted with the text during
his first stay in Weimar. It is proved that poetical efforts of this kind
were already produced there, since a collection of texts for cantatas had
been published there by Georg Theodor Reineccius, at that time town
cantor, under the title of " Wohlklingendes Lob Gottes," &c. — " Sweet-
sounding Praise of God, from the Gospels appointed for Sundays, sung
in the parish church of St. Peter and St. Paul, at Weimar, from the
First Sunday after Trinity, of the year 1700, with pleasing concertos, to
the honour of God and the awakening of the congregation." The form
which prevails among these is precisely similar to that on which Bach
chiefly based his cantata. This composition cannot have been brought
out at Weimar, because Bach never spent an Easter there; but we
cannot attribute it to the later Arnstadt period, since it is authentic
that Bach quarrelled with his choir, took no more trouble about them,
and performed none of his compositions with their aid. In itself,
too, it is more probable that he should have made use of a text
imported from another town at a time when its memory was fresh in
his mind. Finally, the composition strikingly betrays the influence of
the northern masters, which Sebastian must have retained from his
residence in Liineburg. Since, moreover, in Brunner's text the altered
words for the duet are followed by the hymn in seven verses, this is
a fresh confirmation of my hypothesis that it originally belonged to a
cantata for the Second Sunday after Easter. The two texts were in
the same collection, and Brunner took something from the second
to eke out the first.
13 (p. 291). Buxtehude's Abend-Music. This MS., consisting
of eighty-seven leaves, in upright folio, is in the town library at Lubeck.
It contains twenty sacred pieces in German tabulatur, with an index, and
is arranged with admirable neatness and precision. In some places we
find a different and certainly more rapid and practised writing, and it is
easy to conclude that this must be that of Buxtehude himself. He is
only named as the author of Nos. i, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 12. It can, however,
hardly be doubted that all twenty are by him. Wherever the name occurs,
excepting to the twelfth, it is added by the second hand ; and this has
also been more or less busy in Nos. 2, 4, and 6, which have no com-
poser's name. In No. 2, indeed, more than two folio pages are in this
writing, which displays a steadiness and certainty which could only
be the composer's. It would be vain to inquire how a third person
could have chanced to interfere with a very competent copyist, and
write out a whole section in the midst of a cantata in a different and
not particularly good hand. But it is easy enough to imagine that
Buxtehude may have been dissatisfied with the movement as it stood in
the original copy, and, wishing to remodel it in the handsome folio,
found it the simplest plan to write it out himself. Moreover, the un-
acknowledged pieces are so perfectly of the same stamp and style as the
APPENDIX. 627
signed ones that, if Buxtehude were not their author, he must have had
a second self who understood his business as well as he, or better. I
have written out the first seven pieces in the modern notation, and tried
them note for note. Nos. i to 9 and No. 12 are beyond a doubt Buxte-
hude's work, and so I believe the others to be, from both internal and
external evidence. This grand folio copy was evidently made in honour
of a highly esteemed master. Buxtehude himself supervised the first
part, and probably died soon after. Even where his interference is
visible it is but fitful. An instance of this occurs in a remark appended
to the fifth movement, where the trumpet parts are written in D, as they
are to sound. He has remarked : " N.B. : should be written in C."
Now the trumpets have been employed from the beginning and written
throughout in D. This note therefore ought to have been at the
beginning of the cantata. Judging from this, we need not be surprised
at the omission of the name and the irregular interpolations, least of
all where we trace the work of the master's own hand. Authors were
not so eager in asserting their rights then as they are now.
14 (p. 310). A Cantata by Buxtehude. We know from Moller's
Cimbria Littemta that Buxtehude wrote a composition on the death of
his father, " Fried- und Freudenreiche Hinfahrt des alten Simeons'1] but
we cannot assume that it is this one, on account of the addition " in
zwey Contrapuncten musicalisch abgesungen " — " to be sung in double
counterpoint," — which can only refer to a double arrangement, the
hymn " Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin." Walther (in the Lexicon,
under "Buxtehude") has an obscure remark as to this composition,
from which it is not possible even to make out whether the arrange-
ment of the chorale was set for voices or for instruments. He also
mentions it once in his MS. work on music.
J5 (P- 324)- Froberger and Bach. Any one who has the oppor-
tunity of studying Bach's composition can convince himself of the
accuracy of these remarks by a comparison with Froberger's Diverse
Curiose e Rarissime Partite (Moguntias, MDCXCV.), which are pub-
lished in Commer's Musica Sacra, No. 45. The Royal Library at Berlin
possesses a small MS. volume of Chaconnes and Canzones, bearing the
signature " Di J. S. Bach." They certainly show no trace whatever of
Bach's style; on the contrary the pieces bear the stamp of Froberger.
It is of course possible that the copyist had before him a MS. which bore
the name of Bach as its owner, or which may have been made by him,
and so came to be erroneously regarded as his composition.
16 (p. 324). Grand Toccata in C major. This piece occurs
in various old MSS. under very different titles. That of Toccata, given
by W. Rust in the edition of the Bach-Gesellschaft, is at least so far
historically justified that it was applied by Reinken to a work of the
same form. The key is sometimes C major and sometimes E major;
from certain pedal points in the first and middle movements C major
Seems to me to be the original one. On the organs of the time, which
383
628 APPENDIX.
were sometimes tuned so high as to be about a third higher than
" chamber " pitch, the full chords in the lowest part would not have
sounded so heavy as they would now.
17 (p. 380). Pitch and Key. The wind instruments alone
natuially determine the compromise between the "chorale" and the
"chamber" pitch. In the autograph score of the cantata "Tritt
auf die Glaubensbahn," composed at Weimar in 1715, of which the
key is E minor, the flutes and oboes are in G minor. The score of
the cantata " Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich," written in the early
years of his residence at Weimar, has the bassoon in D minor, to
the key of B minor. " Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe,"
written in 1715, is in F sharp minor, and a trumpet part exists in
autograph in G minor ; since the natural pitch of the trumpet was
already a whole tone higher than "chamber" pitch, we hav^ here the
difference of a minor third. The Easter cantata, " Der Himmel lacht,
die Erde jubiliret," 1715, is in C major, the parts for the bassoons and
oboes in E flat major. The Advent cantata for the same year, " Bereitet
die Wege," has the oboes, contrary to Bach's usual custom, in the
soprano clef; it was only necessary to substitute for this the violin (G)
clef, and to strike out the three sharps in order to keep the same propor-
tion. I think that these examples make the matter quite clear. If in
other scores of the Weimar period the wind instruments are written in
the true key, this proves nothing to the contrary, since it was doubtless
for the sake of convenience in reading and uniformity. Bach wrote the
wind parts in a score, in a key agreeing with .the pitch of the organ
only when he was prevented from writing the parts out himself,
and would intrust the work of transposing to no one else. And he
might also improvise a transposed version of the organ part in
performance. Furthermore, by this evidence for the Easter cantata
just named, a number of difficulties are cleared away (see B.-G.,
VII., Preface to Cantata 31) and a new criterion of some value is
gained by which to test general chronological details.
It may be asked whether the two versions of the great organ com-
position in Buxtehude's style (P. S. V. C. 3 [vol. 242], No. 7; B.-G.,
XV., p. 276), which is found both in C major and E major, do not prove
that the work was first written in C for the high-pitched organ at Weimar,
and afterwards transposed a major third higher for an instrument of
lower pitch. But we know nothing as to the pitch of the Arnstadt
organ, and very weighty internal evidence goes to prove an earlier
date of composition ; and finally it is very remarkable that among
all the rest of the Weimar organ compositions no one other is found in
a similar transposition. I incline to believe that the transposing of the
piece into E major was done in order to make it right for an exceptionally
low organ, rather than that it was done to bring it from an exceptionally
low key to a suitable average pitch. The new organ, which was built in
the year 1756, was tuned to " chamber " pitch (Adlung, Musica Mcch*
APPENDIX. 629
Organ. I, 282), which would perhaps not have been the case had not the
inconvenience of a " cornet " pitch been long felt.
18 (p. 397). Andreas Bach's MS. Volume. An important aid
in the chronological arrangement of Bach's organ and clavier com-
positions is supplied by the MS. volume of Andreas Bach so often
mentioned, which contains, besides compositions by Kuhnau, Polaroli,
Reinken, Buxtehude, Bohm, Pachelbel, Buttstedt, Ritter, W[itt], Pestel,
Marchand, Telemann (Melante), Marais, J. C. F. Fischer, Kiichenthal,
and some anonymous pieces, fourteen by Sebastian Bach, namely: i,
Fugue in A major (P. S. I., C. 13 [vol. 216], No. 9) ; 2, Toccata in F
sharp minor (P. S. I., C. 4 [vol. 210], No. 4); 3, Overture, &c., in F
major (P. S. I., C. 13 [vol. 215] , No. 4) ; 4, Passacaglio in C minor
(P. S. V., C. i [vol. 240], No. 2) ; 5, Toccata in C minor (P. S. I., C. 4 [vol.
210] , No. 5) ; 6, Toccata in G major (P. S. I., C. 13 [vol. 215], No. 3) ; 7,
Fugue in G minor (P. S. V., C. 4 [vol. 243], No. 7) ; 8, Aria variata, in A
minor (P. S. I., C. 13 [vol. 215], No. 2) ; 9, Fantasia in C major (P. S. V.,
C. 8 [vol. 247], No. 9); 10, Organ chorale, " Gott, durch deine Giite"
(P. S. V., C. 6 [vol. 245], No. 25) ; n, Fugue on a theme by Legrenzi
(P. S. V., C. 4 [vol. 243] , No. 6) ; 12, Fantasia in B minor (P. S. I., C. 13
[vol. 216] , No. 7) ; 13, Fantasia with fugue in A minor (P. S. I., C. 4,
No. 2) ; 14, Prelude in C minor (unpublished, pages 716 and 720 of the
MS.). Andreas Bach, born in 1713, was the fifth son of Sebastian's
eldest brother, but closer investigation reveals the fact that he cannot
have been the original owner of this book, and consequently cannot have
written or selected the pieces. His name and the date 1754 are written
only on the last page, indistinctly, and evidently at a later period ; but
what is decisive is that he was neither a pupil of Sebastian Bach's, nor
in any special degree a player on the organ or clavier. His life lay in
quite a different direction ; he lived at Ohrdruf till his twentieth year,
and then, in 1733, entered a Gotha regiment of Dragoons as oboe-
player, and followed it during a campaign on the Rhine ; he was then
for five years steward to the Count von Gleichen, and subsequently,
through his protection, obtained the post of organist to the church of
the Holy Trinity at Ohrdruf; in 1744, on the death of his brother
Bernhard, he held the same office in the church of St. Michael. This
same Bernhard, on the contrary (born in 1700), had trained himself to
considerable eminence as an organist and composer of sacred music,
and between the years 1715 and 1717 he had been under the tuition of
Sebastian Bach at Weimar. Of course he there did what all the other
pupils did, wrote out a number of the best of his master's compositions,
with others recommended by him, for his own use. Nothing can seem
more obvious than that this book is the result of these labours, and
that it should, at the death of Bernhard Bach, have passed into his
brother's hands, with the office he had held. The fact that all the
pieces by Sebastian Bach, with one exception, and many of the others
are in the same even handwriting is an additional proof that it was all
630 APPENDIX.
written at the same time ; and the fair, clear writing — which is somewhat
florid and cramped — may very well be that of a boy of sixteen or seven-
teen, a pupil who desired to do the compositions all the honour of a
careful copy. If these conclusions are correct — as I make no doubt —
we may infer that these compositions must have been written at latest
in Weimar, as is probable indeed on internal grounds in most cases, and
certain for other reasons as to one. It is easy to build up further in-
ferences on so broad a foundation, and it gives importance and certainty
to many minor indications. The first notice of this valuable book, a
very superficial one, is in an appendix by C. F. Michaelis to Busby's
History of Music, translated by him (Vol. II., p. 599. Leipzig, 1822).
19 (p. 415). A Composition by Prince Johann Ernst.
Though the last-named piece bears, in a MS. by J. P. Kellner, the
title, " Concerto delV illustrissimo Principe Giovanni Ernesto, Duca di
Sassonia, appropriate all1 Organo a 2 Clav. e Pedale da Giovanni Sebastiano
Bach," he here stands in contradiction with himself, since in another
MS. copy he attributes the movement, with the two others belonging
to it, to Vivaldi. I have made many vain attempts to discover Johann
Ernst's published concerto, and particularly with reference to this dis-
cussion. Still, as Kellner's manuscripts always betray great haste, and
he gives another concerto of Vivaldi's as Telemann's — since, too, the
concerto in question has the unmistakable stamp of Vivaldi's work — I
remain for the present of opinion that it is a mistake to attribute it to
Johann Ernst. But that such a mistake was possible shows more plainly
than anything would the close connection between the prince and the
production of these concerti.
20 (p. 487). Neumeister's Texts for Three Cantatas, 1711-13.
The texts must have been given to the composer some time before
the beginning of the church year, in order that he might have time
to set them to music. Thus the third series must have reached
Eisenach by the end of the summer or in the early autumn of
1711. It is not wholly impossible that Bach should have become
acquainted with the poems earlier in the year, through Telemann, and
have used them. At any rate, the works of the famous poet would have
been regarded as a precious possession, and it is hardly probable that
he would have given them out of his keeping before they had been used
for their original purpose. A simultaneous composition by Bach is
almost certainly out of the question, because in the Christmas cantata
" Uns ist ein Kind geboren " Bach's text is different from that printed
by Tilgner, and used by Telemann. The recitative of fifteen lines is
compressed by Bach into six, the second verse of the hymn is omitted,
and at the close, instead of the last verse of the chorale, " Gelobet
seist du, Jesu Christ," the last verse of " Wir Christenleut hab'n jetzund
Freud " is inserted. In the first cycle of Neumeister's " Fortgesetzten
funffachen Kirchenandachten " (Hamburg, 1726) we find a cantata
introduced by the same Bible text, and of almost precisely similar
APPENDIX. 631
arrangement, ending, too, with the same chorale verse. From this
resemblance I think it may be inferred that the text used by Bach was
obtained directly from the writer. Why and when the alterations were
made can no longer be ascertained, but it was, at any rate, after the
distribution of the first edition. Hence it follows that Bach cannot
have composed this cantata before Christmas, 1712 ; and since we find
him already at work on the fourth series by Advent, 1714, it must have
been then or at the same season of 1713. The composition of the
music for Sexagesima, " Glechwie der Regen und Schnee," must con-
sequently be ascribed to the spring of 1713 or 1714, for it is to be sup-
posed that Bach, when he began on a series, went on in regular order,
and did not first compose a cantata for the Lent season, and then go
back to the Christmas festival. This hypothesis would allow a much
wider interval for the Easter cantata " Ich weiss, dass mein Erloser
lebt," which is taken from the first series, if it were not so evident that
Bach only came to know the first series through the third, and if the
composition were not so similar in style to the rest. In technical
practice, particularly in the recitatives, it is to a certain extent superior
even to them. For these reasons I cannot admit that it was written
before the Christmas cantata, but imagine it must have been composed
for the Easter festival of either 1713 or 1714.
21 (p. 493). " Gleichwie der Regen und Schnee." The
flutes were certainly added subsequently at Leipzig. They are written
in A minor, and in the French violin (G) clef, and are not autograph,
but only revised by Bach. The way in which they are written appears
to me quite explicable ; on this plan all that was needed was to copy
the two viola parts, with the necessary alteration of a few accidentals.
Then the organ was played in G minor, which was equivalent to A
minor of the " chamber " pitch ; and in point of fact we find only one
figured organ part, in G minor, and not a second in F minor. The
bassoon likewise played in A minor, and an unfigured bass part exists
in that key. I therefore cannot comprehend Herr M. Hauptmann's
statement in the preface to the cantata, that the flutes must have
sounded a ninth lower down, being intended to agree in pitch with the
violas. If it had been intended for tenor flutes, neither the violin clef
nor the key of A minor would have been used.
22 (p. 511). " Wer mich liebet der wird mein Wort
halten." Besides the autograph score and parts, now in the Royal
Berlin Library, there is also there an old copy of the score which bears
at the beginning in the right-hand corner the date 1731. This caused
Zelter to write on the margin of the autograph score this note : " di \ J.
S. Bach. | 1731.!" In another and — as a comparison of the style shows
at the first glance — a much later cantata for Whit Sunday, Bach has
adopted the duet and the bass aria out of this one, working up the
duet with his own peculiar mastery as an introductory chorus with
additional accompaniment, transferring the bass air to the soprano in F
632 APPENDIX.
major, substituting an oboe da caccia for the violins, and adopting a
different text. To the movement thus transformed he has given the
second place; then the remaining six numbers are new (B.-G., XVIII.,
No. 74). We might be tempted to imagine that the date 1731 indicated
that of the composition of this second cantata, and that by mistake it
had been inscribed on the wrong manuscript. It will, however, appear
later that the second cantata was written in 1735. There is still further
evidence that the older cantata was composed at Weimar, since in
the blank lines at the end of the autograph score we find a hasty
indication of the first bars of the final chorus of a cantata for the
Second Day of Whitsuntide, "Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt" (B.-G.,
XVI., No. 68). (In Bach's manuscripts we frequently come upon traces
of his having hastily noted down a motive that might suggest itself to
him while he was composing, on any vacant sheet that was at hand ;
as, for instance, again in the cantata, "Ach lieben Christen, seid
getrost.") This cantata (" Also hat Gott ") is the one which contains
the beautiful aria " Mein glaubiges Herze," which, as is well known,
is a remodelled version of a song from the secular cantata "Was mir
behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd." This cantata, however, was written
in 1716 (as will presently appear in the text). The whole process
then is clear: Bach had to compose two pieces for the Whitsuntide
festival of 1735, and, as he lacked either time or inclination to compose
two perfectly new ones, he adopted, for the first, parts of an older work.
While busied with this a suitable theme for the fugue of the second
cantata occurred to his mind, and he noted it down at once on the score
of the older music, which lay before him. However, his revived interest
in this aroused his recollection of the time when it was written, and of
his work and experiences then; his thoughts reverted to the duke's
birthday at Weissenfels in 1716, and the music written for that festival,
and he found he could adapt part of it for the second Whitsuntide cantata.
But if the older cantata, " Wer mich liebet," was composed in Weimar, it
can only have been for Whitsuntide of 1716, for in 1715 and 1717 other
texts occur, arranged for his music by the duke (see Nos. 27 and 32 of this
appendix). Moreover, there are in the copy, which is dated 1731,
other deviations from the original. In the duets and recitative a tenor
is put in instead of a soprano, and the chorale " Komm, heiliger Geist"
is postponed to the end; but in the parts written by the composer him-
self, and which, from the character of the paper, ink, and writing, seem
to belong to a later date, these deviations are not attended to. A
proof that Bach meant to let a chorale follow the bass aria lies in the
words added to the bass part, " Chorale Segue." In the score, to be sure,
there is no sign of it, though six lines remain vacant on the last page.
Still this is not the only instance in which Bach left out the last chorale;
it is wanting, too, in the Advent cantata for 1715, " Bereitet die Wege,
bereitet die Bahn," and must have been written on a separate sheet. If
Bach meant to give the trumpets and drums independent employment,
APPENDIX. 633
a space of six lines no doubt seemed insufficient ; he wrote the chorale
on an independent sheet, and the separate parts in the same way, so it
might very easily be all lost. The chorale, at any rate, must have been
in A minor, and that the beginning and end should be in different keys
will surprise no one after the Advent cantata of 1714. In performing it,
it suits very well to use the similar movement from the cantata " Bleib
bei uns, denn es will Abend werden " (B.-G. I., No. 6).
23 (p. 513). A Cantata attributed to Bach. IntheAmalien-
Biblothek of the Joachimsthaler Gymnasium at Berlin, Vol. No. 43,
last portion, there is a MS. with the following title : Cantata. \
" Herr Christ der einge u. s. w. | a \ 2 Violini \ Viola \ Soprano, Alto, \
Tenore, Basso \ e \ Fondamento. \ del Sign. J. S. Bach" \ This com-
position— which must not be confounded with the great cantata
beginning with the same words which Bach wrote for the Eighteenth
Sunday after Trinity, and which begins with an imposing chorale
in chorus — is founded on a text composed by Neumeister for the
Feast of the Annunciation, in his fourth series. But, notwithstanding
that the MS. names Bach as the author, and notwithstanding that it
was mentioned so early as in Breitkopl's list, Michaelmas 1761, under
Bach's name, I am perfectly convinced that it was not he but Telemann
who composed it. Bach may possibly have copied it out, just as the
cantata " Machet die Thore weit," is still extant in the Royal Library
at Berlin in Bach's own writing ; or his friend may have given it to
him, and then by an oversight it passed under Bach's own name. Nor
would this be the only instance of a production of Telemann's passing
under the protection of Bach's name. In the list of property left by
Philipp Emanuel Bach is a motett for double choir in C major, " Jauch-
zet dem Herrn alle Welt," designated as Bach's work, and it is still
quoted as his, though it belongs to Telemann, and is ascribed to Bach
for no other reason than because some one has inserted into the middle
of it the grand chorale for chorus out of the last cantata, " Gottlob
nun geht das Jahr zu Ende " (B.-G. V., i, No. 28). Still what Fischhoft
observes in the MS. which formerly belonged to him is quite correct :
that on a MS. copy in the Conservatorium at Vienna, Bach and Tele-
mann are named as the authors. But it will not be requisite to recapi-
tulate the arguments that prove that Bach cannot have written the
cantata for the Annunciation. For instance, he never wrote a vocal
fugue on such a theme as here serves for the closing movement : —
men, A - men.
It does once happen that an undoubtedly genuine cantata by Bach,
634 APPENDIX.
" Schau lieber Gott, wie meine Feind " begins as this does, with a simply
set chorale. Still, peculiarities enough remain to weigh decisively
against the genuineness of the cantata " Herr Christ der ein'ge Gotts-
Sohn." The two airs and the recitative can scarcely be called Bach-
like ; the former are too shallow and pretty, and the latter is too
exclusively declamatory. Any one, however, who is familiar with
Telemann's style of composition will easily detect his hand throughout,
particularly in the theme here quoted, and in the management of the
parts in the chorale.
24 (p. 515). Bach's Visit to Cassel. The only person who
mentions Bach's journey to Cassel is Constantin Bellermann, some-
time Rector of Minden, a native of Erfurt. He published in 1743
a pamphlet, now very rare, with the following title: " Programme* \
in quo \ Parnassus \ Musarum \ voce, fidibus, tibiisque resonans, \ sive\
musices, \ artis divi- \ nee, laudes, diverse species, singulares effertus,
atque primarii auctores succinte, \ prcestantissimique melopoetce cum\
laude enarrantur ; \ simul et illustres civitatis Mundce proceres, \ sum-
mique patroni, bonarum artium \ fautores, atque amid \ ad audiendas
quasdam orationes scholasticus, \ submisso animi cultu, \ debitaque reverentia,
et humanitate \ in Lyceum Mundense invitantur \ a \ Constantino Beller-
manno, \ P. L. C. et Rectore ibidem CIODCCXXXXIII \ cum censura. \ "
In a quarto of 47 leaves, a copy of which is shown in the Royal Library
at Berlin, on p. 39 are the following sentences referring to Bach :
"BACHIUS Lips, profundce Musices auctor his modo commemoratis
[Mattheson, Reiser, Telemann] non est inferior, qui, sicut HAEN-
DELIUS apud ANGLOS, Lipsia miraculum, quantum quidem ad
Musicam attinet did meretur, qui, si Viro placet, solo pedum ministerio,
digitis aut nihil, aut aliud agentibus, tarn miriftcum, condtatum, celeremue
in Organo ecclesiastico mouet vocum concentum, ut alii digitis hoc imitari
deftcere videantur. Princeps sane hereditarius Hassia FRIDERICUS
BACHIO tune temporis, Organum, vt restititutum ad limam vocaret CAS-
SELLA S Lipsia accersito eademut facilitate pedibus veluti alatis transtra
hccc, vocum gravitate reboantia, fulgurisque in morem aures prcesentium
terebrantia, percurrente, adeo Virum cum stupor e est admiratus, ut annulum
gemma distinctum, digitoque suo detractum, finito hoc musico fragore ei
dono daret. Quod munus, si pedum agilitas meruit, quid quceso daturus
fuisset Princeps (cui soli tune hanc gratiam faciebat), si et manus in
subsidium vocasset." By this it appears that Bach went from Leipzig
to Cassel. But Bellermann must have been in error as to this point,
for no time is conceivable when this can have taken place. The Here-
ditary Prince Frederick, from the end of 1714, when he went by way of
Stralsund to Stockholm, there to take for his second wife Ulrica
Eleanora, sister of Charles XII. of Sweden, in the year 1715, was
absent from Germany till the year 1731, when he became Landgrave of
Hesse, his father having died a year before. He soon returned to his
kingdom of Sweden, leaving Hesse to be ruled by his brother.
APPENDIX. 635
Whether he ever returned to Germany (and it must have only been for
a short time, if at all) I am not able to say. It is, however, unimpor-
tant, and Bellermann, who must have heard the story from his relations
at Erfurt, or perhaps from Bach himself, who sometimes went there,
cannot have confused Frederick, the King and Landgrave, with Frederick,
the Hereditary Prince. S. Bach can only have been in Cassel before
the last month of the year 1714. The Hereditary Prince was a com-
manding general in the Spanish War of Inheritance, and was out of the
country until the Peace of Utrecht, in 1713. But he used to reside in
Hesse in the winter, so that we may conclude with certainty that
Bach's going to Cassel can only have taken place in the year 1713-14.
If it was the organ in the Hofkirche which was renewed, there is no
support to be got from this for a more certain proof, since in the docu-
ments in the state archives from which all my information is got, there is
no trace of such occurrence. Possibly some other organ is meant.
Bellermann's mistake is easily accounted for ; only consider that in
the latter part of his life, Bach was always called " Bach of Leipzig,"
and it might easily be forgotten, even if it were generally known that
he had ever been in Weimar. However, Bellermann's narrative is
mentioned by Adlung. (Anl. z. Mus. Gel., p. 690, Note i.)
25 (p. 53i» 555» 562)- Texts and Watermarks in 1714-15. The
first independent series of Franck's cantata texts (the full title is given
in note 252, p. 540) is dated 1715, and at the end of the dedication to the
duke the more exact date is given of June 4, 1715. It begins with the
First Sunday in Advent and ends with the Twenty-seventh Sunday after
Trinity ; an appendix contains five more cantatas for special occasions.
A doubt may now exist between the years 1714-15 and 1715-16, but we
possess Bach's autograph scores for the Fourth Sunday in Advent and
the Fourth Sunday after Trinity, and as both are dated 1715, the series
of performances cannot possibly have begun with the Advent season.
Still, the beginning cannot be dated later than the Fourth Sunday after
Trinity, 1715. For, from this Sunday till the Annunciation inclusive,
the separate copies of the words were kept, and are now preserved
in the Grand Ducal Library at Weimar — each on two leaves small
octavo, the first bearing the title — and these give us the dates of the
performances with all the precision we could desire. The text for
Cantata Sunday, Fourth after Easter, has the following title page:
"CANTATA | Auf den Sonntag CANTA- | TE 1715. in der Furstl.)
Sachsischen Hof-Capelle zur | Wilhelms-Burg zu mu \ siciren." Further
evidence is afforded by a notice in the general private accounts for
Michaelmas 1714-15, where, under the heading " Printing, &c.," we find
the following entry : " 13 fl. 15 ggr. for 6 reams of writing paper and 12
reams of printing paper for the church cantatas. July 9, 1715." This
proves that not long previously, at any rate within the second quarter of
the year, Mumbach, the printer, had obtained paper by the duke's order
from a maker, since the account came in on July i, and was paid on the
636 APPENDIX.
gth from the ducal purse. The quantity of paper is accounted for by the
preparation of separate sheets printed for each Sunday to be distributed
to those who came to church, that they might read them and follow.
The date of the dedication, too, indicates the second quarter, for Franck
could not possibly have dedicated to his patron a work which had already
been some time in use by his band ; and it is quite intelligible that the
printing of the collection may not have been ready till a few weeks after
the separate sheets printed at once for the requirements of the congre-
gation. Now, did the year begin, in fact, with Cantate Sunday (Fourth
after Easter) ? I believe not. Easter fell on April 21, and it would be
too singular if some festival had not been chosen for bringing before
the world the new institution. Thus then the annual cycle would have
extended from Easter to Easter. This would explain the otherwise un-
accountable fact that there is no annual series of cantatas for the
ecclesiastical year from 1715-16, while we find them again for 1716-17
and 1717-18. To the interval belongs the Whitsuntide cantata, "Wer
mich liebet," on Neumeister's text, and at other times they put up
with ordinary music ; and during the seasons between the festivals
had no special or regular music. The question as to whether Franck
may not previously have written a series of cantatas for the court
church in Neumeister's place — for the year 1714-15 perhaps — must be
answered in the negative, when we remember the dedication to
Wilhelm Ernst, printed at the beginning of the " Evangelischen
Andachts-Opifer." That he should have dedicated this work to the
prince, and have omitted to do so in the succeeding years, indi-
cates that it was the first of its kind. No doubt an earlier one, also
dedicated to him, may have been lost ; but then he would hardly have
avoided mentioning it, and would not simply have written, as he has
done, " Your most gracious and serene highness has been graciously
pleased to permit that I should dedicate with the deepest submission,
and to inscribe to your highness these evangelical cantatas, prepared
by your humble servant (meine Wenigkeit) to the glory of God and
the awaking of pious devotion, by the gracious commands of your
most Christian highness in all Christian singleness of purpose." It
is also worthy of note that in the private accounts of the previous
year no trace of a similar outlay for writing and printing paper is to be
found. However, it is plain from the terms of the dedication that the
duke must previously have interested himself in the employment of
music in the castle chapel ; for Franck particularly says, after lauding
the many virtues of Wilhelm Ernst : " Among the beautiful Divine
services performed to the Lord in your highness's royal court chapel
is the devout and heart-stirring music, a foretaste of the heavenly joys,
and worthy of perpetual praise." The chief part of this praise is certainly
due to Bach, but it would be surprising indeed if, with Franck's poetic
gift, he had not before this laboured in co-operation with the great
composer.
APPENDIX. 637
We must reconcile ourselves to the reflection that we have many
losses to bewail. For instance, on November 6, 1713, the dedication of
the new church of St. James at Weimar took place with magnificent
solemnity. A detailed programme in folio was printed, of which a copy
still exists in the archives at Weimar, and which contains the complete
text of a cantata composed for the occasion. The text, beginning with
a chorus —
" Hilff, lass alles wohl gelingen,
Hilff! Herr GOtt wir loben dich"—
" Help, O Lord, and bless our labours ;
Help, O Lord, the God we praise," —
and constructed on the plan of the cantatas of the transition period — as
has been described — must for this very reason have been Franck's work,
and also betrays itself as his by certain peculiarities of style. Under
these circumstances, what can be more probable than that Bach wrote
the music for it.
Still, two important cantatas remain to us of the period before
April 21, 1715 — " Ich hatte viel Bekummerniss," for the Third Sunday
after Trinity, and " Himmelskonig, sei willkommen," for Palm Sunday.
The first alone bears the date 1714, but it can be proved that the
second was composed at the same time. The texts are not to be
found in any of the collections of Franck's poems, but they are his
nevertheless. The metre alone proves this; he is fond of short lines,
with unexpected introduction of longer ones. The cantatas in the
second part, especially of the "Geist- und weltlichen Poesien," contain
a great number of such irregular metres. Franck was also very fond
of using a verse consisting of four lines in four feet of three syllables
each, the first two of which lines ended with a feminine, the last two
with a masculine rhyme, such as those of the last aria of " Ich hatte
viel Bekummerniss " : —
" Erfreue dich Seele, erfreue dich Herze,
Entweiche nun Kummer, verschwinde du Schmerze,
Verwandle dich Weinen in lauteren Wein,
Es wird nun mein Aechzen ein Jauchzen nur sein."
" Rejoice, O my spirit, in this consolation,
For now from thy sorrow thou findest salvation ;
The water of grief God hath changed into wine,
All sadness is over, and gladness is mine."
The character of the recitative, the fondness for introducing a dialogue
between Christ and the soul, and many similar or identical passages in
638 APPENDIX.
these verses and the cantatas known to be his, remove every possible
doubt that they are by Franck. The similes are his too, and so is the
arrangement of the numbers in the cantata. We know the date at
which the cantata " Ich hatte viel Bekiimmerniss " was written from
Bach's autograph note, for, according to Bach's usual practice, the
date on the cover of the parts can mean nothing else than the time
of composition. Hence the cantata cannot be that which was written
for Halle in the autumn of 1713, as has been supposed (Chrysander,
Handel, I., p. 22). Still less can it be so if Franck wrote the words, for
Bach composed his trial piece for Halle without any preparation, and
undoubtedly to words which were laid before him there and then.
Indeed this hypothesis can only have arisen in some measure from
the fact that until lately nothing was known of Bach's having already
worked so abundantly at that time as a composer of cantatas.
The time when " Himmelskonig sei willkommen " was written can
only be approximately calculated. It was written in Weimar — this can
be proved to a demonstration by the character of a part of the original
MS. The autograph of the score and of one flute and one violin part
are in the Royal Library at Berlin ; the remaining parts have been
written out by a copyist. Of the whole body of parts a small portion
was written in Weimar — that is to say, besides the two autograph parts,
one soprano part, one alto, one tenor and one bass, as is proved by
the watermark in the paper. We know from Bach's own MS. that
the Advent cantata " Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn " was
composed in 1715. The paper on which this is written has a very
conspicuous watermark, resembling an M with two oblique
upward strokes added to its right line, something like this : —
This watermark also occurs in the paper of the autograph
of the cantata " Mein Gott, wie lang, ach lange " from Franck's
" Evangelische Andachts-Opffer," and there, on the other side
of the sheet, another no less distinct mark is visible — the ox-
head of Ravensburg, a sort of two-pronged fork, in this shape : —
These two signs recur again in the cantata " Nur jedem das
Seine," which also is derived from the " Evangelische Andachts-
Opffer"; and even the colour of the paper is identical. Finally
they occur in an autograph by Walther, who always lived in
Weimar — a copy by him of two of Froberger's Toccatas, now in
the Royal Institute for Church Music at Berlin. Hence it is
quite certain that paper with this mark was used in Weimar at
that time. I have investigated the watermarks of every autograph
by Bach that has come under my hand, and have convinced myself
that this paper was not used either in Cothen or in Leipzig. In the
only instances in which I have detected it, other indications also
point to Weimar, and in all the autographs which can either be proved
to have been written in Leipzig or which by their caligraphy and con-
tents seem to indicate it, the watermarks are entirely different. In these
APPENDIX. 639
we frequently find a crescent or the initials M.A. ; here and there a
fanciful figure :—
Sometimes a stag, or simply an eagle, not to mention other stamps.
The smaller portion of the parts as above-mentioned has then this
Weimar watermark very plainly, and it is thus proved decisively that
the cantata was written in Weimar. And the character of the other
parts of the MS. plainly reveal the further fate of the composition. The
remaining and larger portion of the parts has been written by a copyist
of whose services Bach frequently availed himself in Leipzig, and the
watermarks — a crescent, M.A., and cornucopia — also bear witness to
their origin ; they have a separate wrapper. The autograph score finally
is to be ascribed to the Leipzig period by having the cornucopia water-
mark (on the first leaf of the two beginning sheets we find instead of it
a rather large W), but the beautifully careful writing, the bars marked
almost throughout with a ruler, the nearly total absence of any alterations
or corrections, and finally the absence of the letters J. J. at the beginning
and S. D. G. at the end, suffice to show any one who is familiar with Bach's
scores that this, though an autograph, is a second copy. Thus the
work must have been composed and performed in Weimar, and then the
master must have looked it out again at Leipzig, have had the number
of parts multiplied as was there requisite, and have written the score
out fair, the work evidently being one that he liked. In the two auto-
graph part copies the last chorus in 6-8 time was written out again
at Leipzig; apparently the instrumentation was at first different
Supposing, then, that the cantata was composed at Weimar, the
question is, in which year ? It cannot have been after the Easter of
1715, since we have the complete annual series by Franck after that
time, nor can it have been before 1712, since the text proves an
acquaintance with Neumeister's cantatas, and these had not reached
Weimar from Eisenach before 1712. Its great resemblance, too, to the
cantata "Ich hatte viel Bekummerniss " would place it near to it in
640 APPENDIX.
date. Common to them both are the symphonies, composed on the
same principle, with a certain broad arrangement of the chorale, equally
admirable in both, and holding very much the same position in each.
Considerable similarity is observable, too, in the fugal treatment of the
other choruses. Both cantatas have three arias, one of which in each has
only a figured bass accompaniment, one has a single instrument concertante,
and one is accompanied by a quartet of strings. We may therefore
assume that it was written either for March 25, 1714, or April 14, 1715.
26 (p. 541). Leipzig Cantatas on Franck's Texts. Bach
also composed on the text for the festival of the Trinity, out of the
" Evangelische Andachts-Opffer," "O heilges Geist- und Wasser-Bad " ;
on that for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, " Thue Rechnung!
Donnerwort, das die Felsen selbst zerspaltet"; for the Thirteenth
Sunday after Trinity, " Ihr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet";
and for the Third Sunday after Epiphany, "Alles nur nach Gottes
Willen" (B.-G., XVIII., No. 72). The score of the first cantata,
written out by Bach's second wife, Anna Magdalena, is in the Amalien
Library of the Joachimsthaler Gymnasium at Berlin (No. 105). The
original scores of the others are in the Royal Library, Berlin, and the
autograph parts of the two last are also preserved there. Neither of
these four cantatas was composed in Weimar. Their broad and deeply
considered form indicates the Leipzig period. There are also external
evidences. In the first there is the crescent watermark in the paper,
and a peculiar elegance in the writing which distinguishes several of the
later cantatas — for instance, " O ewiges Feuer," and " Weinen, Klagen,
Sorgen," and the copy, made in Leipzig, of "Himmelskonig, sei will-
kommen." In the second the introduction of the oboe d'amore is
decisive, for this instrument was unknown in Weimar in Bach's time,
as we learn from Walther (under the word "oboe"); so is the hasty
writing, full of corrections, by which the greater part of Bach's Leipzig
cantatas are distinguished. The same marks hold good for the two last
cantatas. We have already seen, when considering Neumeister's poems,
that the master, under some circumstances, went back to older texts ;
and this is very easy to understand in the case of Franck's poems, of
which he was very fond.
27 (p. 557)- Cantata, " Bereitet die Wege." I have spoken
in detail in No. 25 of the character of the autograph. Here I must
add, however, that it is not perfect. The final chorale is wanting.
From a comparison with the printed text, it was the fifth stanza of the
hymn : " Herr Christ, der ein'ge Gotts-Sohn" ("Ertodt uns durch dein
Giite "). Since the autograph, as it stands, fills three sheets in such a
a way that only two lines are left empty on the last page, the chorale
must have been written on a separate sheet. But that it did actually
at one time exist is proved by the circumstance that at the end of the
aria the usual 5. D. G. is wanting. To complete it the final chorale
from "Jesus nahm zu sich dieZwolfe" may be used (B,-G., V., i, No. 22),
APPENDIX. 64!
or the simple four-part movement, published by Erk (I., 47), either of
them transposed to A major.
28 (p. 564). " Alles was von Gott geboren." In a catalogue
of written musical works of the publishing firm of Breitkopf, of Leipzig,
for the year 1761, the title of the cantata is quite accurately given, with
the Sunday for which it was written and the list of vocal and instrumental
parts. The statement, which has been extensively repeated from Win-
terfeld (Ev. Kir., III., p. 328), that Bach wrote the cantata " Bin feste
Burg " for the Reformation Jubilee of the year 1717, is a complete
mistake. It is only in his later years that we find Bach rearranging or
making use of his early works ; and that he should, in Weimar, and
for so important an occasion, have worked back on a composition
written only two years previously is incredible, even if it were not
expressly called " a newly composed piece " in the printed account of
the festival (in the archives of Weimar). Indeed, Franck, who wrote
two new series of church cantatas for the years 1716-18, would not
have permitted a mere rechauffe of old verses on such an occasion.
Finally — and this is not the least decisive argument — a composition
such as the introductory chorus to this cantata lay certainly quite
beyond Bach's powers at that time. This chorale chorus, in its grand
proportions and vigorous flow, is the natural and highest outcome of
Bach's progressive development, and he never wrote anything more
stupendous. When it was that the Weimar cantata was expanded cannot
at present be accurately determined : I should think for the Reformation
Festival of 1730. In June of that year the two hundredth anniversary
of the delivering of the Confession of Augsburg was celebrated, and for
this occasion Bach composed three cantatas. It was quite natural that
the Reformation Festival should be held with special splendour, and
equally natural that Bach should be exhausted by so many festal com-
positions, and feel no further inclination to compose anything altogether
new. Besides this, just in this month he was in a particularly depressed
and unpropitious frame of mind. From the alterations which he made
on this occasion in the old materials, one point at any rate is clear : the
chorale melody of the first aria, worked up in Buxtehude's manner, was
originally given only to the instruments (probably the oboe and organ),
a method Bach was fond of employing throughout this annual series.
The words given to the second verse Franck had intended for the
closing chorus, and they no doubt originally stood there in Bach's
composition. When he extended the work it occurred to him to use all
four verses, so he gave the fourth to the final chorale and the second to
the first aria, and composed new choral subjects for the first and third.
Indeed it is perceptible at once that the voice part is merely a sim-
plification of the oboe part, and much that is characteristic has to this
end been suppressed — for instance, the truly Buxtehude-like attack,
with a rolling, ascending scale in bar 23. He has given it little of any
special character, excepting a few closing cadences. The alteration of the
2 T
642 APPENDIX.
text, however, in the beginning of the duet can hardly be Bach's own
doing. Instead of the original words : " Wie selig ist der Leib," &c. —
" Blessed is the womb that bare Thee, but still more blessed is the heart
that bears Thee in faith"— we find, " Wie selig sinddoch die, die Gott
in Munde tragen " — " How blessed are the lips that bear God's holy
name !" &c. — which has no special sense in itself, and entirely destroys
the image which is called up by the music. No autograph exists to
settle the question. Some petty prudishness may have prompted the
alteration. But there are inaccuracies in other parts of the text.
29 (p. 566). Secular Cantata, " Diana and Endymion."
The poem is to be found in the appendix to the second part of the
Geist- und weltlichen Poesien (pp. 436 to 440), and has the following
heading: "Diana, Endymion, Pan, and Pales, performed for the birth-
day festival of his Highness the Duke Christian, at Saxe-Weissenfels as
banquet-music, in the Prince's hunting-lodge after a hunt of wild beasts."
The date is not given, but it can be calculated. The order of the poems
dedicated on special occasions to illustrious personages is chronological.
On page 235 is a congratulatory cantata to Wilhelm Ernst for the new
year 1714; before this are the festal verses used on the consecration of
Saint James' Church, November 6, 1713 ; before these again, a New
Year's cantata, for 1713. Franck evidently was first prompted to
add an appendix while the book was being printed, when he saw that
there still would be room. In it are two birthday poems to Wilhelm
Ernst — written, therefore, in October, 1714 and 1715 — and then comes
the Weissenfels birthday cantata, February, 1716. The book was
brought out in 1716, so a later date is out of the question. An earlier
year might be assumed, since Franck may have given the poems to
the duke the first place in his arrangement. However, the many and
striking similarities between this work and the church cantatas com-
posed at that time seem to argue decisively for 1716. The first aria for
Diana reminds us in bars 19 and 20 of certain passages in the D minor
aria of the cantata for the Twentieth Sunday after Trinity ; the bass
in the second aria of Pales is like the duet of that same cantata ; the
close on the subdominant in the aria for Diana (bar 27), with its
reversion to the principal key, reminds us of a similar point in the first
aria of " Bereitet die Wege " ; finally, the first aria for Pales is like the
G major aria in the cantata " Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn." All this
points to the year 1716 as the date of this composition, because this
would seem to account for his remembering it when rearranging the
Whitsuntide cantata of 1716 in the year 1735 (see ante, No. 22 of this
appendix).
30 (p. 569). The Evangelische Sonn- und Festtags-
Andachten are dated 1717. It is obvious that this cannot mean that
they belong to the ecclesiastical year of 1717-18. The separate sheets
were the first printed — none, however, have been preserved — and as this
took place towards the end of the civic year it is scarcely possible that
APPENDIX. 643
the collection should have been printed within the same year, par-
ticularly if it was to be done so carefully and elegantly, as we see was
the case. Moreover, in December, 1717, Bach was no longer in Weimar.
None of the cantatas composed on texts from this series remain to us
in their original form — we only know them in their later arrangements
of the Leipzig period, which are recognisable in the first place by the
introduction of recitatives and chorales, as well as by their division
into two portions. Franck used no recitative in his Evangelische
Andachten ; he invariably begins with a text for chorus of his own
composition, follows it with verses of different metres for three — or at
most four — arias, and closes with a chorale. Indeed, he did not call
these poems cantatas, but sacred arias. And that these are actually
rearrangements is easily proved. I may spare myself the trouble with
regard to the cantata for the second Sunday in Advent, "Wachet, betet,
seid bereit," since the keen eye of the editor has already detected the
evidence without any reference to the date when the text was written
(B.-G., XVI., preface, p. xx.). Here the additions consist of the recitative
(PP- 343. 349. 354. and 360), and the chorale (p. 354). The increased
length necessitated the division into two portions, and the cantata in its
altered form was given to the Twenty-sixth Sunday after Trinity. Other
changes are not discoverable. I have already mentioned a cycle of
cantatas written by Johann Sebastian Brunner, the cantor of Weimar
for the year 1748, in which he made a singular use of the poems of
former writers (see No. 12 of this appendix). He availed himself of the
text, and mixed up its different lines in a really ingenious manner, not
always escaping making nonsense of them.
The autograph score of the cantata for the Fourth Sunday in Advent,
" Herz und Mund und That und Leben," is in the Royal Library at
Berlin. The very form of it tells the history of its origin. The auto-
graph consists of six sheets ; judging from the watermarks the four
first are of Weimar paper, the two last of Leipzig. That it is a fair
copy is proved by the great elegance and neatness of the writing — the
bars are marked with a ruler in the first chorus, and carefully drawn
all through ; there are hardly any corrections, and there is no heading,
nor the usual J. J. The whole aspect of the MS. is precisely similar
to that of the autograph of " Himmelskonig, sei willkommen " — both
seem to have taken their present form at about the same time. When
Bach was about to remodel the cantata, he first wrote separately the pieces
to be inserted, and then copied the whole out fair. In the roll of score
and parts he had brought from Weimar, he found a few sheets of music-
paper still blank. With the economy which characterised him in these
matters, he made use of them, and, as they were not sufficient, took
two sheets of fresh paper. The alterations in the text are here more
considerable. Irrespective of the fact that the cantata is intended for
a different occasion — the Feast of the Visitation of the B.V.M. — and
that three recitatives were added, above all the closing chorale was
2 T 2
644 APPENDIX.
altered. In Franck's text it originally consisted of the sixth verse
of " Ich dank dir, lieber Herre " (" Dein Wort lass mich bekennen ") ;
in remodelling it Bach inserted at the first portion the sixth verse
of the hymn by Janus, " Jesu, meiner Seelen Wonne," with the melody
of " Werde munter, mein Gemiithe," by which arrangement the two
last notes of the last two lines had to be sung in a slur together : a
licence the master also allowed himself in the Passion according to
Matthew (B.-G., IV., p. 173), with an ornate instrumental accompani-
ment, and a repeat at the end of the whole. In this way the chorale
subject of the first state is altogether lost. Then the arias 2 and 3 had
had to change places ; a few changes in the words are unimportant,
but it is worthy of note that the first aria is now accompanied by the
oboe d'amore, which it cannot have been in the first instance. Finally,
a new text is given to the fourth aria, as these words originally used
did not suit the Festival of the Visitation. The rearrangement of the
numbers is precisely similar to that which I thought must be supposed
to have taken place in the remodelling of the Easter cantata for 1704,
and this I desire particularly to note, to protect myself against criticism
in that instance.
The composition for the Third Sunday in Advent is also still extant,
" Aergre dich, o Seele, nicht"; the original score is in the Royal
Library at Berlin. Dr. Rust was so obliging as to investigate it care-
fully by my request, as I had not the time to do so. It is a copy written
in Leipzig, revised by Bach, with additions in his own hand, and the
heading written inside: "J. J. Dominica 7 post Trinitatis di J. S. Bach
ad 1723." This distinctly fixed date will not allow me to venture to call
this cantata a rearrangement, much as there is to be said for the asser-
tion that, at the time when the elder Drese died, and his son was hindered
by mourning from carrying out his duties as a composer, Bach would
have set all three cantatas one after another. Besides, there are many
passages where the music fits very well with the remodelled text, and
very badly with the original. The recitative and the chorale in the
middle are again interpolated ; the final chorale, verse 8 of the hymn
"Von Gott will ich nicht lassen " (" Darum ob ich schon dulde hier
Widerwartigkeit "), is wholly absent from the score.
31 (p. 586). Bach and Marchand at Dresden. I must relate
this oft-told incident in much plainer words, that there may be no con-
fusion between the picturesque and fanciful legend and historical truth.
An incontestable authority is the report of " Magister" Johann Abra-
ham Birnbaum, as given in his Vertheidigung seiner unparteyischen
Anmerkungen iiber eine bedenkliche Stelle in dem sechsten Stiicke ben
critischen Muskus, wider Johann Adoiph Scheibens Beantwortung
derselben (Leipzig, 1739), reprinted in the new revised and extended
edition of Scheibe's Kritische Musicus (Leipzig, Breitkopf, 1745). p. 899
—A defence of his unprejudiced observations on an important passage
in the Criticus Musicus, &c.— Birnbaum wrote this in defence of Bach,
APPENDIX. 645
and under his supervision, dedicating it also to him. There can there-
fore be nothing in it which Bach himself can have thought inaccurate
or unfair. Birnbaum tells us (p. 981) : " He who, if I were to name
him, would be regarded as the greatest master of his time on the
clavier and organ in all France, and against whom the court com-
poser [Bach] not long since fully vindicated his honour and that of
Germany. This was Mows. Marchand, who, being in Dresden, and
the court composer being also there, was by the desire and com-
mand of a great personage at court challenged in a polite letter
to a trial and competition of their respective skill on the clavier,
and pledged himself to appear as required. The hour came when
the two great performers were to measure their strength. The court
composer, with those who were to be the umpires in this musical
contest, both on his side and on the other, anxiously awaited the
opponent, but in vain. At last the information was brought that he
had vanished from Dresden at break of day by the swift post. Beyond
a doubt the Frenchman had found his boasted skill too feeble to stand
against the mighty attack of his experienced and bold antagonist.
Otherwise he would not have sought safety in such rapid flight." The
trustworthiness of this account is enhanced by the fact that Adlung,
who in the same way had it from Bach's own lips, agrees almost exactly
with it. He says (Anleit. zur Mus. Gel. p. 690, § 345) : " Marchand, a
Frenchman, must be mentioned, who at one time found himself in
Dresden with our capellmeister ; and by various discussion it came to
be suggested that the two men should compete, in order to see whether
the German nation or the French could produce the best master of the
clavier. Our countryman at the appointed time performed in public, but
his opponent had proved his disinclination to measure himself against
him by making himself scarce. When at one time Herr Bach was with
us in Erfurt, I was prompted by a desire to know exactly all about it, to
ask him, and he then told it me all ; but partly there is no room for it
here, and partly I have forgotten it again." The occurrence is related
with much greater detail in Mizler's Necrology, written by Ph. Em.
Bach and Agricola, p. 163 : " The year 1717 gave Bach, who was
already so famous, a new opportunity of acquiring fresh honours.
The clavier and organ player Marchand, who was celebrated in France,
had come to Dresden, had played before the king with particular appro-
bation, and was so successful that a place in the king's service was
offered him at a high salary. The concertmeister in Dresden at that
time, Volutnier, wrote to Bach, whose merits were not unknown to him,
and invited him to come without delay to Dresden to compete with the
haughty Marchand for the advantage. Bach willingly accepted the
invitation, and went to Dresden. Volumier received him with joy, and
arranged an opportunity for him to be hidden to hear his antagonist.
Bach then invited Marchand by a polite note, in which he offered to play
at sight any musical task that Marchand might set him, and demanded
646 APPENDIX.
of him an equal readiness for the contest. Great audacity, no doubt !
The day and place were fixed — not without the king's knowledge. Bach
at the appointed time betook himself to the house of a distinguished
minister, where a large company of persons of high rank and of both
sexes were assembled. Marchand kept them waiting a long time; at last
the master of the house sent to Marchand's lodgings to remind him, in
case he had forgotten, that now was the time to prove himself a man.
But with great surprise they received the information that Monsieur
Marchand that selfsame day, very early, had set out from Dresden by
extra post. Bach, who was now master of the field, had consequently
ample opportunity for showing the skill with which he was armed
against his antagonist, and this he did to the admiration of all. The
king had intended him to have a present of 500 thalers, but by the dis-
honesty of a certain servant, who thought he could make a better use of
this gift, he was robbed of it, and had to carry home the honour he had
earned as his sole remuneration, &c. However, Bach always willingly
paid Marchand the tribute of praise for his beautiful and very neat
execution." An equally detailed account is given by F. W. Marpurg
(Legende einiger Musikheiligen. Coin, 1786, p. 292) ; he, too, says he
had his information from Bach himself, but his account does not agree
with that in the Necrology in many particulars. According to him
Bach was admitted to a court concert by the king's permission,
stood by Marchand while he played variations on a French air, and
when called upon to play took up Marchand's thema and played new
and endless variations on it. He then invited him to compete on the
organ, and gave him a theme on a sheet of paper to work out at sight;
but Marchand did not come to the struggle, but disappeared from
Dresden. The fact that the two last accounts agree neither with each
other, nor with Birnbaum and Adlung, makes them both suspicious;
indeed by analysing them duly we can plainly detect the process by
which a historical myth is gradually developed. Birnbaum and Adlung
agree in making Bach's presence in Dresden accidental, which seems
quite natural, knowing as we do his habit of making yearly journeys
for the purposes of his art. In the Necrology and in Marpurg he is
appealed to as a champion in need, which is highly improbable, because
correspondence and travelling were at that time far more difficult than
now, and it is perfectly senseless to imagine that the request can
have emanated from Volumier, a Frenchman, who can hardly have
had an interest in seeing his countryman vanquished by a German;
while it is, on the other hand, very credible that Bach should have
had an earlier correspondence with Volumier regarding a journey to
Dresden, and have been encouraged by him to undertake it. In the
older accounts we do not find a word of the king's participation in the
matter, and in Mizler it is smuggled in in such a way as to give the
contest the effect of a brilliant whim. In that case the conditions of the
affair have no sense ; if the king really interested himself in it it would
APPENDIX. 647
have taken place at court, and not at Count Flemming's house. Marpurg
goes even further : Bach did not hide himself to hear Marchand, but
was admitted to a court concert. The interest in the clavier competition
being thus diminished, the challenge is supposed to be to play the organ,
which in itself is to the last degree improbable, even if exterior circum-
stances were more trustworthy; and a performance impromptu, which
is to be based on a theme, ceased to be impromptu. Indeed, the papers
of the court and household accounts for 1718 (in the Royal archives at
Dresden) prove that Bach did not play before the king. In fol. 32
(under " Nach specificirte auf allergnadigste mvindliche Konigl. Verord-
nung im Jahre, 1717, beydero OberCammerey Casse bezahlte Posten")*
we find the following note, " 528 Kfl. [Kaiser-gulden] 7^ Kr., or 130
ducats, at 2 thlr. 17 ggr., in the form of three medals, of which one of
30 ducats value is graciously presented to the violinist Friihwirth,
who played at Carlsbad, and the two others of 100 ducats to the organist
Marchand, who played in the Capelle band." Since the affair between
Bach and Marchand had attracted so much attention, it is incredible
that if he too had had a gift it should not have been mentioned with
Marchand's. If he had played before the king his Majesty would
certainly never have allowed him to depart empty-handed. It farther
follows that he cannot have been cheated of his reward by a court
servant, since under any circumstances the account must have been
entered. Moreover, the sum of 500 this, is much too high an esti-
mate if Marchand only received 100 ducats = 270 thlr. 20 gr. Handel,
too, had no more when, two years later, he played at court (see Chry-
sander, II., p. 18). It is very possible that such smuggling-in was
common enough at court; perhaps it was the discovery of such an
instance at a later period which gave rise to a supposition in the Bach
family which, by frequent repetition, as is not uncommon, gradually
assumed the aspect of a fact. The entry given above has no date.
However, from the place in which it occurs, we may conclude that
Marchand was in Dresden at some time about September; the accounts
are generally arranged chronologically, and this would correspond with
the time of year when Bach usually made his journeys.
32 (p. 598). The Little Organ Book, as may be seen by the title-
page, was written at Cothen. But if all the contents were also composed
in Cothen, it would be difficult to explain in any satisfactory manner the
following note: "p.t.[protempore] Cappellce Magistro S .[erenissimi] P.[rin-
cipis] R.[egnantis\ Anhaltini-Cotheniensis." Bach could only have written
11 pro tempore " with reference to some earlier time, of course that at
Weimar, when most, if not all, of the chorales here copied out were
composed. And this is only compatible with the difference in his
duties there and in Cothen. Here he had not the smallest direct connec-
tion with the organ and organ-playing ; in Weimar, on the contrary, it
* Posts paid out of the household purse by the special order of the king.
648 APPENDIX.
was the main feature of his duties. Adlung says expressly (Anleltung,
p. 690) : " He set some beautiful chorales when he was court organist at
Weimar." But of course he does not mean to limit his labours to the
organ. Added to this, most of his organ chorales which are to be found in
Walther's collections occur in the Little Organ Book, particularly those
in the three collections at Berlin (in the Royal Library) : " Das alte Jahr
vergangen ist," "Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ," "Herr Gott, nun
schleuss den Himmel auf," "Heut triumphiret Gottes Sohn," "Jesu,
meine Freude," " Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin," "Puer natus in
Bethlehem," " Von Himmel hoch da komm ich her " ; those in the Fran-
kenberger autograph : " Es ist das Heil uns kommen her," " Herr Christ,
der ein'ge Gott'ssohn." The last two occur, too, in the Kbnigsberg auto-
graph. I have already shown how Walther's intimacy with Bach grew
up gradually, and that their intercourse came to a standstill and ceased
altogether, at any rate after Bach's departure, and probably during
the last years of their residing in the same town ; it is therefore plain
enough that Walther must have obtained those of Bach's chorales which
he inserted in his collections from the composer, between 1708 and 17171
probably nearer the former than the later year. It is further evidence
that most of the chorales of the Little Organ Book were written during
the time when Walther and Bach had common views of their art, and
that they show a conspicuous predilection for canon treatment, which was
a speciality of Walther's, and which Bach subsequently abandoned.
But the accuracy of the opinion that most of the chorales of the
Little Organ Book were written in Weimar is still more conclusively
proved by the following considerations. In the beginning of the year
1879 I found in the possession of Herr Ernst Mendelssohn-Bartholdy,
of Ber.in, a second autograph of the Little Organ Book. It had
belonged to Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in his time, and he had sup-
plied it with a cover and title-page written in his own hand. It was
in his possession in 1836. Two leaves out of it he gave to his betrothed
for her album. A third leaf he subsequently gave to Madame Clara
Schumann. These donations are noted on the cover. They are still
extant, the former in the possession of Frau Wach, wife of Professor
Wach, of Leipzig ; the latter is still in the hands of Madame Clara
Schumann at Frankfort-on-the-Maine. This autograph, which has lost its
original title, consists, as it now exists in Herr Ernst Mendelssohn-
Bartholdy's hands, of fourteen elegantly and clearly written leaves in
small oblong quarto ; the pages are not numbered, and contain the
following chorales : —
" Das alte Jahr vergangen ist " (14).
" In dir ist Freude " (13).
" Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin " (15).
" Christe, du Lamm Gottes " (19).
" O Lamm Gottes unschuldig " (16).
" Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund " (20).
APPENDIX. 649
** C1 Mensch, bewein dein Siinde gross M (18).
** Christus, der uns selig macht " (17).
•• Wir danken dir, Herr Jesu Christ " (21).
" Hilf Gott, dass mirs gelinge " (23).
14 Herr Gott, nun schleuss den Himmel auf " (24).
11 Christ lag in Todesbanden " (28).
" Jesus Christus, unser Heiland " (25).
14 Christ ist erstandet: " (29).
" Erstanden ist der heilge Christ " (26).
*' Heut triumphiret Gottes Sohn " (27).
" Erschienen ist der herrliche Tag " (30).
" Es ist das Heil uns kommen her " (34).
'* Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ " (36).
" In dich hab ich gehoffet Herr," alio modo (22).
The two unnumbered leaves in Frau Wach's possession contain ; —
14 Liebster Jesu wir sind hier "* (31).
44 Dies sind die heilgen zehn Gebot" (35).
44 Vater unser im Himmelreich " (37).
44 Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt " (38).
The leaf in Madame Schumann's possession has : —
44 Komm, Gott Schopfer heiliger Geist " (32).
" Herr Jesu Christ dich zu uns wend " (33).
Thus this autograph contained altogether twenty-six chorales. A
later hand, for the convenience of copying, has arranged it differently.
He has added numbers to the chorales, inserted in brackets above and
after the first lines of each. The new arrangement did not follow that
of the more ample Cothen autograph, as we may see by comparing them ;
for the order of the pieces, with one exception (" Christ ist erstanden "),
is quite different in the two copies. Still the circumstance that it only
begins at No. 13 leads us to the conclusion that when it was made it
contained twelve chorales more. This we may also infer from the fact
that while the order of the chorales in the Mendelssohn autograph
follows, on the whole, that of the ecclesiastical year, those for Advent
and Christmas are wanting. We are therefore justified in supposing
that Mendelssohn's autograph originally included thirty-eight chorales :
eight less than the Cothen copy.
From an examination of both we infer that the Mendelssohn copy
must be a good deal the older. In the first place we find the chorales
41 Christus, der uns selig macht " and " Komm, Gott Schopfer heiliger
Geist" in an older reading. These are not unknown in this form.
Griepenkerl has given them as a variorum reading in his edition of
Bach's organ chorales. As his authorities he names, for the first,
* On three sets of lines ; the second version in the Cothen Autograph.
650 APPENDIX.
Schiibler's collection, and for the second simply this autograph. Now,
as the two variants do not occur in the Cothen copy, this older autograph
must have been before him, and must have been then in Schubler's
possession ; Mendelssohn may have had it from him. Thus we have
here rediscovered an authority which since Griepenkerl's time had
been lost.
The earlier date of the Mendelssohn autograph is further proved by
the chorales " Hilf Gott, das mirs gelinge" and "In dich hab ich
gehoffet Herr." The former, which in the Cothen autograph is copied
fair, while in the Mendelssohn copy it is full of corrections, has here
been written at first on two staves. When Bach had written as far as
the fourth bar he perceived that he should not have room enough. He
therefore has drawn, freehand, a third stave for the pedal, which runs
on to the end of the piece. In the Cothen autograph it is written on
three staves from the first, that is to say the pedal part is written in
German "tabulatur" notation below the second stave. The chorale
" In dich hab ich gehoffet " Bach wished to introduce in two different
arrangements when he put together the chorales in the Mendelssohn
copy. One was ready done; this he copied in, wrote over it "alio modo,"
and left a leaf free for the arrangement still waiting to be composed.
When he arranged the more extensive Cothen collection, intended to
contain a larger number of chorales, this arrangement was still not
composed, but he had not given up the intention ; here again he left a
place for it. If the contents of the Little Organ Book, as it was first
written out, exist in the Cothen MS. we must conclude that the Men-
delssohn autograph is an extract ; but, if so, how comes it that Bach
should have left a space for a piece not yet composed? No composer
ever undertakes the rearrangement of an earlier work of his own until it
is removed by some lapse of time, which enables him to form an unpre-
judiced estimate of it, or until he has reached a standpoint conspicuously
in advance of the former. And many years certainly had intervened
between the time when these two copies, the Cothen and the Mendels-
sohn autographs, were made. And the former was not written all at
once, but, as may be plainly seen from the difference in writing, added
to by degrees during the years of his residence at Cothen. Consequently
the Mendelssohn autograph confirms what, on other grounds, seems
probable, that the contents of the Little Organ Book were in great part
not composed in Cothen. At least 26— but presumably 38 — of the 46
chorales were written before the Cothen period.
We can go farther still. Supposing the Mendelssohn autograph to
have been written in his later years at Weimar, the MS. still bears unmis-
takable traces in a great part of its contents of being only a transcript
of a still older work- On page 611, note 346, I have alluded to this,
and I consider the statement as quite incontrovertible that the chorale
in the Little Organ Book, "Komm, Gott Schopfer," as it stands there,
cannot have been originally written for that book. Correctly speaking,
APPENDIX.
it is not at all suited to it. In the Little Organ Book Bach himself
says, "the pedal is to be treated exclusively as obbligato," and here we
find it almost entirely the reverse. This piece has been conceived of as
an introduction to a much grander organ chorale, which in fact we
actually possess. It is only in its original connection that we can at all
understand those short pedal notes which only serve to mark the pro-
gression of the harmony ; after this the pedal must of course have taken up
the cantus firmus, and in order that it might do so with the more effect
Bach is as sparing as possible in the first use of the pedal. Thus the
longer organ chorale was already in existence before Bach inserted this
fragment of it in the Mendelssohn autograph. It is also remarkable that,
setting aside the two complete rearrangements, the chorales of the
Mendelssohn copy deviate only in minute particulars from the Cbthen
autograph. The chief differences are in " Mit Fried und Freud," bar 13,'
alto ; the last crotchet : —
(the c in the third note is quite clearly intended) ; In
schleuss den Himmel auf," bar 21, alto—
Herr Gott nun
and in the last bar of the same, and the last beat of the bar in the tenor
part : —
In " O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig," the upper part in bar 6 is : —
Ife
In " Hilf Gott, das mirs gelinge," in the last bar the pedal part is —
but afterwards the low F sharp was added. But, on the other hand,
there are many caligraphic errors, and in not a few pieces ties, single
notes, and even whole sets of notes are left out altogether through care-
lessness. Thus, in " In dir ist Freude," bars 3 and 4, both the lower
parts are omitted; in " Herr Gott nun schleuss," bar i, the two last
notes, and in bar 13 from the second to the sixth notes, in the pedal part ;
in " O Mensch bewein," bar 8, the first half-bar in the tenor in bar 10,
the first three-quarters of the bar in the pedal ; in " Wir danken dir,"
bar i, the first note in the tenor; and in "Christ ist erstanden " and
" Heut triumphiret Gottes Sohn" there are omissions; in this last
652 APPENDIX.
instance alone the gaps were filled up by Bach himself at a later date.
Such a thing never happened, I should think, to any composer who
writes a complete work fairly out, or at least when, as was done by Bach,
the greatest care is bestowed even upon the characteristics of style.
These chorales are not written in a hurry, but somewhat thoughtlessly
and mechanically, and this could only be done by Bach when he was
engaged in the mere copying of an old or long-finished piece. We
shall not venture too much in putting back the date of the chorales in
the Mendelssohn autograph to the earlier years of the Weimar period.
Since the body of this work was written Rust has edited for the Bach
Gesellschaft the Orgelbiichlein (Little Organ Book), and the six grand
organ chorales of the Schubler MS., with eighteen others (B.-G,, XXV., 2).
In the first volume of this book (published in 1873) I expressed for
the first time an opinion that, irrespective of his very early attempts,
all Bach's organ chorales were the fruits of the Weimar period, with
the exception of the third part of the Clavieriibung, the six chorales in
Schiibler's copy, and the partitas on " Vom Himmel hoch." In Rust's
preface he puts forward a contrary view. He attributes the chorales of
the Orgelbiichlein — with the exception of " Liebster Jesu, wir sind
hier " — to the Cothen period, and the eighteen great chorales to the
Leipzig time. The Mendelssohn autograph was not known to him. He
has dealt somewhat cavalierly as to refuting the reasons I adduced for
my opinion, simply ignoring them. I will here bring forward one point
more. In the Necrology, p. 163, it is said that Bach composed most of
his organ pieces in Weimar. It is obvious to any one who has studied
the course of Bach's development that this refers particularly to the
organ chorales, and to them above all. Of these we possess between
120 and 130, besides the three early partita arrangements. But if the
forty-six (or forty-five) chorales in the Little Organ Book, the eighteen
large ones edited by Rust, the sixteen in the Clavieriibung, the six in
Schubler's collection, the five pieces in canon on " Vom Himmel hoch "
— altogether about ninety pieces — were all composed in Cothen and
Leipzig, what remains for him to have done in Weimar ? Rust's evidence
is not satisfactory. Where he says that Walther's MSS. seems to be of
later date than the Cothen autograph, I do not know on what he takes
his stand. Walther's writing — and this would afford a moderately
accurate standard — remained remarkably uniform throughout his life ;
I myself possess an autograph of some extent by him, written as early
as 1708, in which the writing is just the same as that of his chorale
collections. But, even if Rust were right, this — in the face of all
critical method — would not prove his assertion that Walther's MS.
could not therefore be referred to older original copies. In point
of fact, Walther did not by any means always have recent copies
when making his various collections of chorales ; on the contrary, he
liked to write them out himself, and would take the opportunity of
inserting emendations of his own — a fact which deserves to be con-
APPENDIX. 653
sidered when variorum readings are under discussion (see Spitta's
edition of Buxtehude's organ compositions: critical notes to Vol. II.,
p. viii.). The allusion to the organ in the Lutheran church at Cothen
cannot be regarded as decisive. If the chorales " Gottes Sohn ist
kommen " and " In dulci jubilo " really could have only been played
upon it, all that this would prove is that they must have been composed
in Cothen, and would in no way hinder that the rest should have been
written in Weimar. But the premise is defective ; the high pedal notes
/' and /' sharp would be brought out very well on the Weimar castle
organ by the aid of the four-foot cornet stop. The note added to the
chorale •' Gottes Sohn ist kommen," in the Cothen autograph — "Fed.
Troinp. 8 F " — merely renders it highly probable that Bach played the
chorale on the organ of the Lutheran church; if he played it at Weimar
he would only have to use different combinations of stops.
I must go at rather greater length into a third course of evidence
which Rust has attempted to make use of. Chorale melodies, or, as we
should call them, hymn-tunes, like popular song-tunes, go through a
variety of small modifications in the course of transmission, which then
become concrete in the use of certain congregations. Thus, for
instance, a melody would be somewhat differently sung in Nuremberg
and in Leipzig, or Gotha, or Hamburg, and many other similar
variations would have originated in other places. Rust assumes that
Bach in his organ chorales and arrangements for church use would
always have adhered strictly to the form of the tune commonly in use
in the town where he might be writing the piece. He adduces a list of
melodies which he maintains were in use among the congregations of
Weimar; and when he finds that a chorale in the Little Organ Book
does not exactly correspond with these he concludes that the piece in
question cannot have been composed in Weimar. This method is
very applicable for chronological calculations if it is used as an
auxiliary to others of greater value ; but it proves a broken staff
when we attempt to rely upon it alone. One example will suffice :
The melody of " Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott " was used in
identically the same form in the cantata written at Weimar, " Wer
mich liebet," and the motett written at Leipzig, " Der Geist hilft
unsrer Schwachheit auf." But this form does not coincide with
that which, as we may infer from Vopelius' Gesangbuch and Vetter's
Musicalischer Kirch- und Hauss-Ergotzlichkeit, was in use among the
Leipzig congregations. The chorale " O Lamm Gottes unschuldig,"
is different in Vopelius and in Vetter from the form used in the Passion
music (St. Matthew). The tune, "Meinen Jesum lass ich nicht," again
is different in the same Passion music, and in the cantata, " Mein
liebster Jesus," which was also written in Leipzig (1724). One only
of the two, however, can have been in congregational use. Thus this
once, at least, Bach did not recur to the same form. " Helft mir
Gott's Giite preisen " exists in two forms, which differ rathei con-
654 APPENDIX.
spicuously; both occur in Leipzig cantatas — the one in "Herr Gott
dich loben wir," the other in " Herr, wie du willt." Indeed, the final
chorale of the Ascension oratorio shows yet a third form, and Vetter
gives a fourth. " Jesu meine Freude " occurs in the Leipzig cantatas :
" Jesus schlaft, was soil ich hoffen," " Sehet, welch eine Liebe," and
" Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten," and in each with certain differences
in the tune ; and a fourth form, in the turn of the last line, is to be
found in the second verse of the chorale of the motett of the same
name. In all these instances — and I could easily add to their number
— where do we find an adherence to the form in congregational use ?
Rust's assumption rests, in my opinion, on a false idea of Bach's
attitude towards congregational singing. The master always recog-
nised it as the central point of his church duties, but still he went to
the task with a certain Protestant independence. Though he considered
himself bound by it on the whole, still in detail he must of necessity bend
the chorale to his own subjective needs. The only rule he acknowledged
was to keep the chorale melody in the same form throughout when once
he had used it in a composition. To this rule the exceptions are
extremely rare, but beyond this his selection of this or that form of
melody is entirely subordinate to his own artistic standard. This he
regarded as his right, and in the same way he adopted the words of
hymns of which the tunes were well known to other melodies, fitting
them together. The Christmas oratorio affords an example. It is
unnecessary to go into any further items of Herr Rust's argument ; its
conclusion is worthless so soon as the premise is shown to be false,
and it is clear from what has been said why I consider it so.
Since we concluded, from the fact that certain chorales occur in
Walther's collections, that they must have been composed in Weimar,
we have an equal right to assign the rest of Bach's chorales which are
in Walther's collection, but not in the Little Organ Book, to the
Weimar period. These are in the Berlin autographs : " Komm, Gott
Schopfer " (P. S. V., C. 7, v. 246, No. 35), and " Nun komm, der Heiden
Heiland" (P. S. V., C. 7, v. 246, Nos. 45-47)— two copies; in one of
these the quavers for the right hand in the third verse are written as
semiquavers. In the Frankenberger autograph we have (excluding the
" Bin feste Burg ist unser Gott," which has been already mentioned)
" Herzlich thut mich verlangen " (P. S. V., C. 5, v. 244, No. 27, with
some small deviations which prove the excellence of Griepenkerl's
edition), "Valet will ich dir geben " (P. S. V., C. 7, v. 246, and a
variant in No. 50, which differs in three places from Griepenkerl's
edition), " Vater unser im Himmelreich " (P. S. VM C. 7, v. 246,
No. 53). The Konigsberger autograph includes the same chorales and
two more : " Ach Gott und Herr" (B minor, common time, see Themat.
Cat., App. I., Series V., No. 10), thus proving their genuineness, and
" Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten." This last is nothing more
than the chorale accompaniment previously mentioned in illustration ol
APPENDIX. 655
Bach's methods of playing in Arnstadt, with the omission of the pre-
post and interludes, and a few trifling differences. The arrangement is
undoubtedly by Bach. As the subject recurs in the Clavierbiichlein
(P. S. V., C. 5, v. 244, No. 52) in a still more ornate form, and evidently
intended for the practice of embellishments, we can trace the process
by which Bach gradually grew into a conviction of what the sole use ot
such settings could be. Finally, in Andreas Bach's book we find the
organ chorale on " Gott, durch deine Giite " (P. S. V., C. 6, v. 245, No.
25) in "Tabulatur" notation; but, unlike Griepenkerl's edition, it is
3-2 time. Any direct chronological data for further labours in this
direction are wanting, but we need only utilise those we already possess,
and compare all the organ chorales that remain to us, remembering at
the same time the statement of the Necrology that most of Bach's organ
pieces were written at Weimar, to acquire the conviction that the list of
those about which we are certain is quite insufficient. We must seek
for further traces. In the Berlin Library is a MS. of Bach's organ
chorales, containing the following sixteen numbers in the master's own
hand: i. Fantasia on " Komm, heiliger Geist" (P. S. V., C. 7, v. 246,
No. 36); 2. "Komm, heiliger Geist" (Ibid., No. 37); 3. "An Wasser-
flussen Babylon " (Ibid., v. 245, No. 126) ; 4. " Schmiicke dich, O Hebe
Seele (Ibid., v. 246, No. 29) ; 5. Trio on " Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu nus
wend" (Ibid., v. 245, No. 27) ; 6. " O Lamm Gottes unschuldig " (Ibid.,
v. 246, No. 48) ; 7. Nun danket alle Gott" (Ibid., No. 43) ; 8. " Von Gott
will ich nicht lassen" (Ibid., No. 56) ; 9-11. "Nun komm der Heiden
Heiland " (Ibid., Nos. 45-47) ; 12. " Allein Gott in der Hoh " (Ibid., No. 9) ;
13. "Allein Gott in der Hoh" (Ibid., No. 8); 14. Trio on the same
(Ibid., No. 7); 15. "Jesus Christus, unser Heiland" (Ibid., No. 31);
16. Variations in canon on "Vom Himmel hoch " (C. 5, v. 244, II.,
No. 4). Among them there are a few more pieces written out by
Altnikol, his pupil, and subsequently his son-in-law. By this and by
the character of the paper we see it is of the Leipzig period; at the
same time it is a fair copy.
We have already learnt to regard the three arrangements of " Nun
komm, der Heiden Heiland " as probably produced at Weimar. The
chorale " Komm, Gott Schopfer, heiliger Geist," of which the same
view is the probable one, is to be found in this same copy in Altnikol's
hand. But it is very remarkable that we should find that variants exist
of all the chorales contained in it, with only three exceptions (" Schmiicke
dich, o liebe Seele," " Nun danket aiie Gott," and " Allein Gott in der
Hoh," No. 12), and that when compared with them all of these appear
to have been remodelled later. An exact examination leads us to the
conviction that Bach was accustomed to revise in later years all his
instrumental compositions written in Leipzig, because at the close of
the Cothen period his instrumental purview had been finally extended
and his technical skill brought to the utmost perfection. The inference
is almost inevitable. In this MS. Bach collected the more worthy of
656 APPENDIX.
his earlier works, and took the opportunity of subjecting them once
more to a thorough revision. Nor is this probability excluded even
though some of them were composed in Cothen. Only we must always
remember that his position there led him to quite other work. He had
no immediate reason for playing the organ there — nay, it was a very
poor instrument ; so that it can only have been with a view to his
journeys that he can ever have felt moved to compose anything great and
worthy of himself for his favourite instrument. Finally, if, after sifting
out all the organ chorales published by Bach himself in Leipzig, we
compare, from the standpoint offered by this collection, all the rest of
his works of this kind remaining to us, we perceive at once that scarcely
one of them can belong to a later time ; most must be ascribed to an
earlier. On the whole — this is the final result — we are not likely to err
if we estimate Bach's work as a setter of chorales from the total mass
of the organ chorales, with the exception of the third part of the
Clavieriibung, the six edited by Job. Georg Schubler and published at
Zella (the rest are in part arrangements of cantatas), and the variations
in canon on " Vom Himmel hoch." These are all contained in the
edition by Griepenkerl, with the exception of a few pieces which are
doubtful, and it is based on the best authorities, so far as they were at
that time attainable. I have already pointed out an error in it. The
chorale " Gott der Vater wohn uns bei " (P. S. V., C. 6, v. 245,
No. 24) is by Walther. I also regard the chorale " Ich hab mein Sach
Gott heimgestellt " (v. 245, No. 28) as undoubtedly spurious, though
only on internal evidence, it is true ; its extraordinary canon treatment
is a pendant to the former, and must also be of Walther's composition.
I am doubtful as to the two-part arrangement of " Allein Gott in der
Hbh " (v. 245, No. 3). Bernhard Bach wrote somewhat in this style;
still, a few important features warn us to be careful.
END OF VOL I.
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