Sebastian Bach :: FOOTNOTES:

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The lines on this print are given by Spitta, vol. i. p. 9:—

Hier siehst du geigen Hansen Bachen,
Wenn du es hÖrst, so mustu lachen.
Er geigt gleichwohl nach seiner Art
Und trÄgt einen hÜbschen Hans Bachens Bart.

[2] Spitta, i. 160. The genealogist, however, in a list of thirty-seven musicians, signalises one drunkard, Johann Friedrich, the third son of the great Johann Christoph: ibid. 139.

[3] AusdrÜckend was the distinctive title associated to his great-uncle by Philipp Emanuel Bach: Spitta, i. 50.

[4] According to the new style the day is the 31st. Handel was born a month earlier; and English notices, since the year in this country began on the 25th of March, place his birthday in 1684. That this should create a misconception in the minds of foreign writers was natural; but it is curious that they have all failed to detect the source of the confusion, and unanimously exposed an imaginary error.

[5] Bach-Gesellschaft, II. No. 15.

[6] They are a fugue in C minor, and a prelude and fugue in the same key, printed in Peters’ collected edition of the instrumental works, series v. pt. 4. 9 and 5.

[7] Dr. Spitta analyses the characteristics of Bach’s pedal-use in these early fugues as (1) incidental, for a single emphasis, (2) in cadences, and (3) as a pedal-point to strengthen a prolonged fundamental harmony: i. 243 f.

[8] To the latter part of the stay at Arnstadt are attributed the preludes and fugues in C and A minor (Peters, v. 3. 7, 9) and a fantasia in G (v. 4. 11). Another fantasia and a fugue, both in G and presumably of the same period, remain in MS., one in the Berlin library, the other in the possession of the present cantor of S. Thomas’s, Leipzig, Dr. Wilhelm Rust.

[9] Besides the pieces mentioned below, a prelude and fugue in E flat (a MS. in Dr. Rust’s possession), and a fugue in E minor seem to belong to the Arnstadt period, if indeed this latter does not date as far back as Lueneburg. It appears at No. 212, p. 12, of Peters’ cheap edition, to which, as the most generally accessible, I always refer for the clavichord works.

[10] Another capriccio, which may be even earlier than the preceding, has in one copy the interesting heading, In honorem Joh. Christoph. Bachii, his brother and old preceptor at Ohrdruf (No. 216, p. 2).

[11] Bach’s appointment is dated 14th June, 1707. The signatures of three members of the consistory are absent; they offer a pathetic excuse. Their houses had just been burnt to the ground in a great fire that had laid waste much of the town, and they were destitute even of the means of signing their names, hÄtten keine Feder oder Tinte, wÄren wegen des UnglÜcks so bestÜrzet, dass sie an keine Music dÄchten; wie es die anderen Herren machten wÄren sie zufrieden: Spitta, i. 851 f.

[12] The description of the scene, in somewhat sesquipedalian Latin, is quoted by Spitta, i. 801.

[13] Note to Quintilian, Inst. Orat. 1. xii. 3, in Spitta ii. 89.

[14] Forkel, Life of J. S. Bach, pp. 30 f., E. T., London, 1820.

[15] The early works for organ have already been enumerated, above pp. 21 f.

[16] An excellent catalogue of this edition is contained in Alfred Doerffel’s Thematisches Verzeichniss, u.s.w., Leipzig, 1867.

[17] He might indeed just go too far, as we may see from the complaints made against Bach when at Arnstadt (above p. 25).

[18] Handel too was a student of Legrenzi, as a motive in one of his oratorios bears witness.

[19] Mattheson proposed the theme some years later, without stating its derivation, to a candidate for examination on the organ: Spitta, i. 634 f.

[20] This fugue is based upon the G minor violin-sonata, and possibly was composed at Coethen.

[21] To this period belongs also a fragmentary Fantasia in C minor, preserved in MS. at Berlin.

[22] The inventory of Bach’s property at his death mentions among his books August Pfeiffer’s Anti-Calvinismus. He certainly possessed it at Coethen, as witnesses the inscription on a Clavier-BÜchlein written for his second wife.

[23] Their intimate relations may be illustrated by the fact that a child of Bach’s, born in November, 1718, was christened after the Prince and one of his brothers, who with a sister and two courtiers all stood sponsors to the boy.

[24] Bernhard Bach came to occupy his father’s old post at Muehlhausen. He afterwards studied law at Jena, but died there of a fever in 1739.

[25] Spitta, i. 665-669.

[26] A fifth, in A minor, remains in MS. at Berlin.

[27] Dr. Spitta argues in support of its genuineness, and is inclined also to accept another one, at present unpublished, of which he quotes the opening bars: vol. ii. p. 686.

[28] Add to these three detached minuets printed at 216, pp. 30 f.

[29] An early sonata and two capriccios have already been noticed above, p. 23.

[30] At Weimar he had already written a concerto in C minor, which remains in MS. The arrangements for clavichord of Vivaldi’s violin concertos (217) are of singular interest, as evidence of Bach’s view of the requirements and capacities of the clavichord; but they cannot be included in a list of his original works.

[31] The other three have been already included under the concertante instruments.

[32] Three of them have been excellently transcribed for the pianoforte by Joachim Raff, and published at Leipzig by Rieter-Biedermann.

[33] Another composition for these instruments is one of the endless varieties of the Musikalische Opfer, but its position there removes it somewhat from the field of Bach’s chamber works.

[34] Forkel, pp. 22 f.

[35] Goerner has one claim to remembrance, since he lived to draw out the stops for Mozart when he made his historical visit to the Thomaskirche in 1789.

[36] Vol. ii. p. 52.

[37] To this class we may assign without hesitation the cantatas, Ich bin vergnÜgt mit meinem GlÜcke (No. 84) and Ich habe genug (No. 82). The latter is printed in a form which Bach afterwards gave to it, changing the soprano into a bass solo. Possibly Wer nur den lieben Gott lÄsst walten (93) had a like origin: see Spitta, ii. 274 f., 302 f., 269 ff. A secular cantata of which the subject closely resembles that of the two first-named works should seem to belong to the same category: it is printed in the Bach-Gesellschaft xi. (2) p. 105.

[38] Ein Teuflisches Geplerr und Geleyer. The expression occurs in his treatise on Thorough Bass, printed by Spitta, ii. 913-950.

[39] Published by the Bach-Gesellschaft, xi. (2) p. 139. The music was used again for the Coronation Festival in 1734.

[40] B.-G. xx. (2) p. 73; used again for the King’s birthday.

[41] B.-G. xi. (2) p. 3.

[42] This and the two following exist in MS. at Berlin.

[43] B.-G. xx. (2) p. 3. It was revived for a royal anniversary in 1736 or 1737.

[44] Cp. below, p. 106.

[45] The Edifying Reflexions of a Tobacco-smoker are printed by C. H. Bitter in his Life of Bach, vol. i. pp. 124 f. (Berlin, 1865), and the music added in facsimile at the end. The words recall entirely the old English song, Tobacco’s but an Indian weed, of Tom d’Urfey’s Pills to Purge Melancholy, 1699, or Wither’s delicious verses, with the refrain Thus think and drink tobacco, of which d’Urfey’s are a rÉchauffÉ. But the English has not the analogy of the pipe and the human soul carried into such detail as Bach’s text; witness the lines:—

Wie oft geschieht’s nicht bei dem Rauchen,
Dass, wenn der Stopfer nicht zu Hand,
Man pflegt den Finger zu gebrauchen?
Dann denk’ ich, wenn ich mich verbrannt,
O macht die Kohle solche Pein;
Wie heiss mag erst die HÖlle sein.

[46] The two comic cantatas have been published by S. W. Dehn in two editions; the second is issued by C. A. Klemm at Leipzig.

[47] Three are mentioned: one is lost; the second probably dates from Coethen, and is published by the Bach-Gesellschaft, xi. (2) p. 75; and the third had already been used for certainly three occasions before it was adapted to a marriage festival, it seems in 1749.

[48] Possibly we should add a cantata which seems to belong to some court festival, and exists in private hands at Dresden: Spitta, ii. 450 f.

[49] MS. at Berlin.

[50] Afterwards absorbed into the church cantata, ErhÖhtes Fleisch und Blut.

[51] Afterwards re-written as church cantata No. 35.

[52] The Trauer-Ode is published in the Bach-Gesellschaft, xiii. p. 3.

[53] Of this sort Bach is only known to have written three cantatas, of which two remain. One, Non sÀ che sia dolore, lies in MS. at Berlin; the other, Amore traditore, is printed by the Bach-Gesellschaft, xi. (2) p. 93.

[54] All but No. 2 have been published at Leipzig by Breitkopf and Haertel: a few others are of doubtful genuineness.

[55] Preface to the twentieth volume, first division, of the Bach-Gesellschaft.

[56] Vol. ii. pp. 335 ff.

[57] Vol. ii. pp. 338-346.

[58] Sometimes in Italy the oratorio was actually presented with all the scenic accessories of the opera, just as Liszt’s Saint Elisabeth was performed at Weimar, in 1881.

[59] The only change is by way of addition, namely, of two place from S. Matthew xxvi. 75, xxvii. 51, 52, to the distinct invigoration of the somewhat colourless narrative of the fourth Gospel.

[60] G. A. Macfarren, preface to Novello’s edition of the Passion, p. ii.

[61] In the interval it had apparently formed part of the Passion music written for 1725, of which indeed it remains the solitary relic. See above, p. 89.

[62] This idea had already suggested itself to Telemann, in his S. Mark Passion; and before him it had been used by Heinrich Schuetz in his Seven Words. Another method had been to give Christ’s words to a chorus, as though too great for any single voice: Spitta, vol. ii. pp. 374 f.

[63] The smaller masses are in G major and minor, A, and F; the two former are simple adaptations of pieces from the church cantatas. All are of later composition than the S. Matthew Passion; those in G and A apparently dating from about 1737. The four Masses are printed in the eighth volume of the Bach-Gesellschaft. A Christe eleison in C minor and four Sanctuses (B.-G. xi. pt. 1) complete the list of Bach’s Latin works.

[64] As already mentioned, p. 65, the Kyrie and Gloria of the High Mass were written for Dresden and dedicated to the king on the 27th of July, 1733; the Credo may have been composed for use at Leipzig even a year or two earlier. The completion of the whole cannot be fixed later than 1738.

[65] Bach’s thankfulness has often this same emotional tenour. In the Mass it is made conspicuous by the identity of the music of the Dona nobis with that of the Gratias agimus. The subject is an old church one. Bach had used it before in the great chorus of his Rathswahl-Cantate of 1731, Wir danken dir, Gott (No. 29), where the similar, but different and less elaborate treatment of the same subject—the second subject also is all but identical—offers an instructive study.

[66] Forkel, p. 87.

[67] See above, p. 53.

[68] One good he got from it. The town having awoke to the advantage of hearing good music, it became more liberal in the arrangements, and especially the financial arrangements of the Thomaskirche. It had slept apparently through the S. Matthew Passion.

[69] The title is often given in French as the Clavecin bien tempÉrÉ; but this is confusing, for the works were never intended for the harpsichord (clavecin), but for the more expressive clavichord (clavier).

[70] “You will then,” he adds, “surely become an able musician.”

[71] An early form of the prelude and fugue in G (in the second part) will be found in No. 214, p. 42, and yet another prelude to the same fugue at p. 44. The relation of these essays to their inimitable successor is full of suggestion. Similarly the prelude and fugue in A flat (also in the second part) were at first written in F. See 214, p. 40.

[72] It is interesting to compare the great organ-fugues, as that in G which dates from 1724-5, or that in C from 1730.

[73] Pp. 57 f, cp. 68 f.

[74] The most scholarly edition of the Wohltemperirte Clavier was prepared by Franz Kroll for the Bach-Gesellschaft, and appears in the fourteenth volume. Kroll has also brought out a reprint of the text in Peters’ cheap series, by far the most convenient for students, since it is unencumbered by the additions of later pianoforte-music makers, marks of tempo, emphasis, &c.

[75] Not, however, by his sons’ hands, as is commonly stated. The Kunst der Fuge is edited by Dr. Rust in the twenty-fifth volume of the Bach-Gesellschaft (first division): its study should be accompanied by Moritz Hauptmann’s musician-like ErlÄuterungen, published by Peters.

[76] It was published in 1752. The only works that appeared in Bach’s lifetime were the five parts of the Clavier-Uebung containing clavichord and organ compositions, the Musikalische Opfer, and a Canon written for Mizler’s Musical Society.

[77] The chorale was added in the first edition of the Kunst der Fuge, and its place there, though musically irrelevant, is surely justified by a fine sentiment. Forkel touchingly says, “The expression of pious resignation, and devotion in it, have always affected me whenever I have played it; so that I can hardly say which I would rather miss—this chorale, or the end of the last fugue,” p. 91. The rigour of criticism has of course relegated the piece to the category of organ-works (vii. 58).

[78] Forkel, p. 78.

[79] Forkel, p. 28.

[80] See Spitta, vol. i. 713; ii. 124f.: and compare W. S. Rockstro’s article, Orchestration, in Mr. Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

[81] A second edition appeared in London in 1878. There are few more amusing examples of ardent hero-worship than this collection contains. Bach is first “our Demi-God,” “our grand Hero,” “our Sacred Musician,” “our Apollo,” “this marvellous Man.” At length Wesley’s rhetoric fails, and his idol becomes “The Man (which expression I prefer to any epithet of great, or wonderful, &c., which are not only common, but weak, as is every other epithet applied to one whom none can sufficiently praise),” p. 36.

[82] Curiously enough, Johann Adam Hiller, a respectable musician and a successor of Bach at the Thomasschule, admired Bach’s counterpoint and part-writing, but found his melodies "odd" (sonderbar).

[83] The detailed arguments in favour of this arrangement will be found in Spitta, vol. i. pp. 225-230; 339-350; 369-372; 438-461; 480-507; 525-565; 790 f.; 797-801; 803-814; vol. ii. 181-306; 545-569; 774-790; 791-810; 830-838: with which compare the various prefaces in the edition of the Bach-Gesellschaft, vols. i.-xxviii.

[84] An incomplete work discovered by Dr. Spitta in the chantry at Langula near Muehlhausen: vol. i. pp. 339 f.

[85] Printed by the Bach-Gesellschaft, xiii. (1), p. 73.

[86] Printed in J. P. Schmidt’s KirchengesÄnge.

[87] Printed in the same.

[88] Rewritten as No. 80 of the B.-G.

[89] Originally intended as the Probe-StÜck for his post at Leipzig, but discarded in favour of the preceding number. Perhaps it was produced on the same Sunday in the following year.

[90] The dates of Nos. LVI.-LXXIII. do not admit of an exact determination.

[91] Fragment afterwards mainly absorbed into a marriage cantata (No. XCIII.) printed by the Bach-Gesellschaft, xiii. (1), p. 3.

[92] Rewritten from a Coethen serenade: see above, p. 79, n. 3.

[93] Rewritten from a secular cantata: see above, p. 79, n. 1.

[94] Printed by the Bach-Gesellschaft, xiii. (1), p. 97.

[95] This and the eight following numbers are of uncertain date.

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