No.

6 Fall 2006

B ACH N OTES
T HE N EWSLETTER OF THE A MERICAN B ACH S OCIETY

Bachian Fugues in Mozart’s Vienna*

Ulrich Leisinger

Paradoxically, both “old” and “new” musical compositions were held in high esteem in late
eighteenth-century Vienna. Interest in the fugal compositions of Johann Sebastian Bach and
several members of his family contributed greatly to the popularity of similar works by other
Baroque masters and their followers. These fugues were copied in astonishing numbers and also
widely performed. In contrast to Protestant Germany, where professional musicians, mainly
organists and music theorists, preserved the contrapuntal heritage of the past, dilettantes such
as Emperor Joseph II and Baron Gottfried van Swieten appear to have played leading roles in
this respect in Vienna.

Previous studies, in fact, have focused My dear Constanze is the real

almost exclusively on the efforts of cause of this fugue’s naissance. ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
van Swieten alone, the custos of the Baron van Swieten, whom I
Imperial Library and former Austrian visit every Sunday, gave me P. 8. Newly Discovered Manuscripts
are Earliest Bach Autographs
Ambassador to the Prussian Court. all the works of Handel and
Michelle Rasmussen recently referred to Sebastian Bach to take home. 9. Book Reviews:
him as the musical mid-wife who helped . . . When Constanze heard the Bach Studies from Dublin
deliver the music of Bach to Vienna.1 fugues, she totally fell in love by Evan Scooler
with them. Now she will not
This view of van Swieten as conservator listen to anything but fugues, Telemann und Bach/Telemann
of the old seems to be corroborated by and particularly . . . the works Beiträge by Jeanne Swack
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart himself, of Handel and Bach. . . . In time
who in his early Viennese years wrote to and under suitable circumstances 13. Mark Peters and Andrew Talle
his father about the musical academies I will produce five other fugues awarded 2006 Scheide Prize
regularly held at the Baron’s home. In and present them to Baron van
14. Sasha Cooke, First Prize
a letter of April 10, 1782, Mozart wrote Swieten.
Bach Vocal Competition
the famous words “I go to the house
of Baron van Swieten every Sunday at Because Mozart was clearly seeking to 15. Bachfest Leipzig 2006
10 o’clock and nothing is played there portray Constanze to his father and sister by Yo Tomita
but Handel and Bach.”2 Ten days later in Salzburg as a musical connoisseur, and
he sent the Fugue in C Major, K. 394, therefore a worthy fiancée, the content of 16. News from Members
to his sister, and in the accompanying this letter must be interpreted cautiously
letter he linked his own production (as far as we know, not a single one of the 118. Alfred Mann (1917-2006)
of fugal compositions to the music of five additional fugues was ever realized).
the composers he encountered in van How much, then, do we really know 19. Presidentʼs Message
Swieten’s circle, while also promoting his about van Swieten’s role in the promotion
wife: of the Baroque tradition in general and © 2006
the Bach family in particular, apart from The American Bach Society
2

these two prominent quotations? This question was raised recently compositions, but remarkably few chamber pieces (trios, quartets,
by Otto Biba, who argues that we run the risk of ignoring the broader sinfonias, or concertos). Many of the works that Mederitsch copied
context if we relate the Viennese Bach tradition to van Swieten alone.3 for sale that are preserved in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek correspond to
the works offered by Johann Traeg in his 1799 and 1804 catalogues.
The proper context for the well-known and, as Biba suggests, overrated It appears that Mederitsch worked for several music dealers as a free-
Mozart-van Swieten connection is established in this paper by (1) lance copyist, and he may have even hoped to set up his own copying
constructing a list of Bachian fugues preserved in Viennese sources, business in Lemberg.9
(2) exploring the extent to which Viennese performances of Bachian
keyboard fugues can be documented, and (3) discussing the significance Traeg’s catalogues, as one might expect from the connection with
of keyboard fugues arranged for string instruments.4 Mederitsch, also play a role in the study at hand.10 Unfortunately, not
all of the pieces included in the 1799 and 1804 offerings can be securely
Bachian Fugues in Vienna identified. These catalogues nevertheless serve as important sources
for future studies concerning the parallel distribution of printed and
manuscript music. Bachian fugues included in Traeg’s catalogues are
We take as our point of departure manuscript copies of fugues preserved listed in Table 3.
in Viennese libraries that likely circulated in the city before about
1810. These are listed in Table 1, where fugues from multi-movement Through the Traeg catalogues one also gains insight into the relative
works have been omitted unless the fugal movement was transmitted significance of Bachian fugues with respect to all the fugues and
independently of the entire work. contrapuntal instrumental compositions available in Vienna at the time.
Compositions by members of the Bach family form the core of the
The picture remains incomplete, however, unless manuscripts containing Protestant repertoire, which is completed primarily by works of central
fugues copied in Vienna around this time that now reside in libraries and north German composers of the Bach circle, such as Kellner,
outside the city are also taken into consideration. The former holdings Kirnberger, and Marpurg. The repertoire of works that originated in
of Franz Joseph von Hess, now housed in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek, Vienna is small by comparison, consisting mostly of compositions
serve as a prime example.5 Von Hess’s residence was home to concerts of historical significance by composers such as Caldara, Monn, and
regularly attended by Mozart, and in 1796 his library was referred to Muffat, though more recent contributions, notably by Johann Georg
by Joseph Edler von Schönfeld as a “collection of musical antiquities” Albrechtsberger and Georg von Pasterwitz, are also present.
that supposedly contained everything “Handel and the three Bachs [i.e.
Johann Sebastian, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and Wilhelm Friedemann]
had written.”6 At present, however, in addition to the two books of The van Swieten Collection
The Well-Tempered Clavier, the collection contains only ten fugal
compositions. (The presence of The Well-Tempered Clavier is not The sheer number of sources identified in Tables 1 through 3 makes
particularly surprising since Yo Tomita has identified a large number of it clear that there was considerable knowledge of Bachian fugues in
Viennese manuscripts in which book two of the collection is represented late eighteenth-century Vienna. The contrapuntal oeuvre of the Bach
in its entirety or by selections.7) sons is present almost in its entirety, and the selection of works by
Sebastian is broad and quite representative, covering early and late
Also relevant in the present context are the copies of Bachian fugues harpsichord and organ fugues, as well as similar works for other types
prepared by Johann Georg Anton Gallus Mederitsch (1752-1835), of instruments and even some vocal fugues. In fact, the reception of
who was born in Vienna and studied with Georg Christoph Wagenseil Bachian fugues in Vienna at this time ranked second only to that in
(1715-1777), the most prominent keyboard teacher during the time of Berlin, which was known as the secret “capital of Sebastian Bach.”11
Maria Theresa. Most of the manuscripts in the Mederitsch collection The Viennese Bach reception, then, can neither be explained by nor
were bequeathed to the Dommusikverein and the Mozarteum in 1844, restricted to the activities of Gottfried van Swieten, and from this new
as part of the legacy of Mozart’s son Franz Xaver. This collection is now contextualization one more clearly understands Mozart’s comment,
preserved primarily in the music archive of the Salzburg Cathedral, and made after van Swieten introduced him to the fugues of J. S., C. P. E.,
the Bachian fugues it contains are listed in Table 2. and W. F. Bach in the early 1780s, that the Baron’s music library is a
“highly valuable but with respect to quantity very small treasure of
Mederitsch’s activities as copyist have not yet been fully investigated, good music.” Unfortunately, neither a copy of van Swieten’s estate
but Theodor Aigner, the only author to devote a book-length study catalogue nor a significant number of identifiable manuscripts from his
to Mederitsch, presumed the copies of Bachian fugues originated after music library survive.
Mederitsch settled in Lemberg (now Lvov in western Ukraine) in
1817, where he was active as a piano teacher.8 Aigner maintains that There is reason to believe, however, that major portions of van Swieten’s
Mederitsch spent the last decades of his life copying thousands of pages estate were acquired by Johann Traeg and incorporated into his 1804
of music. This assertion is not confirmed, however, by the character catalogue. Such an acquisition would explain why shortly after 1800
of the handwriting or the watermarks of the paper, which usually large-scale vocal works by J. S. Bach, such as the Christmas Oratorio,
display the three crescents typical of the Italian paper used in Vienna. the Magnificat, and the Mass in B Minor, and C. P. E. Bach’s Hamburg
Mederitsch’s fair copies of works by other composers (all undated), oratorios, which otherwise did not circulate widely, were offered for
which clearly differ from his own compositional scores, likely stem sale. If events unfolded in this fashion, then van Swieten’s library may
from the last decade of the eighteenth century and first decade of the also have included the Bachian fugues offered by Traeg for the first time
nineteenth, during the time in which Mederitsch persevered in his in 1804. As seen in Table 3, the 1804 additions to the 1799 repertory
attempts to earn a living as a composer and piano teacher in Vienna. consist only of Friedemann’s complete set of “8 Fugues,” Fk 12, some
Mederitsch’s repertoire of works by other composers is highly unidentifiable “Preludes and Fugues” by Sebastian and also possibly
selective. It consists of piano and organ music, as well as sacred vocal “4 Toccatas” (not indicated in Table 3), which in all likelihood are the

No. 6 B ACH • N OTES

3

Table 1: Bachian Fugues in late Eighteenth-Century Manuscripts Preserved in Viennese Libraries

Thematic Index
Composer Short Title/Description Sources
Number
JCB? BWV Anh. 177 Fugue in E flat Major see BWV 944/2

JSB BWV 538/2 Fugue in D Minor A-Wgm, VII 14399

Prelude and Fuga in C Minor
JSB BWV 574b A-Wn, S.m. 5177
sopra thema Legrenzianum
JSB BWV 846-869 The Well-Tempered Clavier (WTC), Book I A-Wgm, VII 39442 Überformate
BWV 846-869
JSB 14 Fugues from WTC, I A-Wn, S.m. 14602
(selections)
A-Wgm, VII 8802 = Q 10782 and
JSB BWV 870-893 24 Fugues from WTC, II
Q 11731
A-Wn, A-Wgm,
JSB BWV 870-893 WTC, II, various selections
several manuscripts
BWV 903/2
JSB 2 Fugues A-Wgm, VII 24138= Q 11732
BWV 944/2
A-Wn, A-Wgm,
JSB BWV 914/4 Fuga à 3 from Toccata in E Minor
several manuscripts
BWV 944/2
BWV Anh. 177/2
JSB BWV 886/2 Fugues A-Wgm, VII 45327 = SBQ 11500
BWV 951, 951a
BWV 539/2
JSB BWV 1005/2 Fuga in C Major for violino solo A-Wgm, IX 31766 = Q21258
Musical Offering (including the ricercar in 3 A-Wn, A-Wgm,
JSB BWV 1079
and 6 parts) several manuscripts
The Art of Fugue (complete and various
JSB BWV 1080 A-Wgm, VII 8804 – H31300
selections)
Attributed to JSB BWV Anh. 108 Fuge in C-Dur A-Wn, 18687

WFB Fk 31 8 Fugues (complete and various selections) A-Wn, several manuscripts

H 373, A-Wgm, A-Wn,
Attributed to “Bach”/CPEB Fuga in C
BWV Anh. 108 several manuscripts
A-Wn, A-Wgm,
CPEB Wq 119/2-7 6 Fugues
several manuscripts
Allegro moderato (Fuga) from Sonata in C
JCB Op. 5.6 = W A 6/2 A-Wgm, VII 23444 = Q11716
Minor
Attributed by J. P. Kellner
Fuga à 3 in C Minor A-Wn, S. m. 5089
to JCFB

same works preserved as “Toccatas 1 - 4” in the Mederitsch copies in however, may not have taken place in the concert hall. These reports
Salzburg (A-Sda, MN 104), namely the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue, reveal, at the very least, that the following musicians—presented in
BWV 903, the Toccata in D Major, BWV 912, the Toccata in F-sharp chronological order—“studied” and “performed” Bachian fugues:
Minor, BWV 910, and the Prelude and Fugue in G Major, BWV 550. Wagenseil, Albrechtsberger, Johann Baptist Schenk, Mozart, Ludwig
van Beethoven, Joseph Lipawsky, Franz Xaver Mozart. Bachian fugues
may also have been studied and performed by Robert Kimmerling,
Bachian Fugues Studied and Performed of the reputable Melk Abbey (located about twenty-five miles from
Vienna), and Mederitsch.12
Of course the existence of numerous manuscript copies merely suggests,
but does not prove, that music of the Bachs was widely performed Further evidence that Bachian fugues were an active part of the musical
in late eighteenth-century Vienna. Greater evidence is provided by culture is provided by Schenk (most famous today for his contribution
a number of important early reports of public performances, which, to the Singspiel Der Stein der Weisen), who, in an autobiographical

B ACH • N OTES Fall 2006

4

Table 2: Bachian Fugues in the Mederitsch Collection

Composer Thematic Index Number Short Title/Description Sources
JCB? BWV Anh. 177 Fugue in E Flat Major (attributed to JSB) see BWV 944/2
JSB BWV 236/1 Kyrie I from Mass in G Major A-Sda, MN 102, pp. 79-82
JSB BWV 538 Fugue in D Minor A-Sda, MN 104, pp. 177-189
JSB BWV 875 Fuga in D Minor from WTC, I A-Sm, H 20/1756, pp. 11-14
BWV 944/2
BWV 539/2
BWV Anh. 177
JSB 6 (Preludes and) Fugues A-Sda, MN 104, pp. 69-141
BWV 923 + 951 and 951a
BWV 533
BWV 549
JSB BWV 1079 Musical Offering A-Sda, MN 101, pp. 129-202
JSB BWV 1080 The Art of the Fugue A-Sda, MN 101, pp. 1-125
WFB Fk 31 8 Fugues A-Sda, MN 111, pp. 28-60
Pepusch, elsewhere
erroneously attributed Wq 119/1 Fugue in A Minor, second of three fugues A-Sm, MN 157, pp. 14-16
to CPEB

Table 3: Bachian Fugues in the Catalogues of Johann Traeg from 1799 and 1804
Year Catalogue Number Composer Catalogue Entry Manuscript or Print
1799 16 CPEB 6 Fugen einzeln geschrieben Manuscript
1799 17 WFB 2 Fughe Manuscript
1799 48 WFB Fuga in F. minore Manuscript
1799 80 JSB die Kunst der Fuga 4 stimmig Manuscript
1799 19 JSB 24 Fug. p. il Clav. o per L’organo Manuscript
1799 20 JSB 24 Fughe detto Manuscript
1799 79 JSB 48 Präludien Manuscript
1799 51 JSB Musikalisches Opfer Manuscript
1804 88 JSB Preludes & Fugues Not indicated
Manuscript (not indicated, but these works
1804 82 WFB 8 Fugues
were not published until after 1804)

piece, wrote about his keyboard lessons with Wagenseil: “The preludes it was actually here [at Melk] that Albrechtsberger
and fugues by Sebastian Bach as well as the keyboard suites of Handel developed his skills in organ playing and composition
were my exercises.”13 Schenk’s studies with Wagenseil began in 1773 to such an extent that he had no equal. In the church
and it seems unlikely that his teacher would have added Bach’s fugues services he had to play two fugues and many preludes
to his teaching repertoire only as a sexagenarian. On this basis we may and versetten daily, a task for which he thoroughly
assume that Mederitsch, who reportedly often played fugues when prepared himself. The greatest masterpieces of both
(or rather than) teaching his students, was also introduced to Bach’s the oldest and the most contemporary composers
preludes and fugues, most likely from The Well-Tempered Clavier Clavier, resided at the Melk Abbey, and were at his disposal.
when he studied with Wagenseil.14 He diligently studied the works of Sebastian and
Philipp Bach, Graun, etc.15
Albrechtsberger received part of his musical training at Melk Abbey,
and returned there as an organist in 1759 after studies in the capital and The biography that Albrechtsberger’s pupil Ignaz von Seyfried added
brief appointments elsewhere. The writings of Abbé Maximilian Stadler to the posthumous edition of his teacher’s theoretical writings similarly
provide insight into his exposure to the music of the Bachs. Stadler, a confirms that “Albrechtsberger developed into a consummate theorist
friend of Mozart’s, who completed several of Mozart’s fragmentary by very diligently studying the works of Caldara, Fux . . . Graun,
compositions after the composer’s death, indicates Händel, the Bachs, and others, which the regens chori at Melk, Robert

No. 6 B ACH • N OTES

5

Kimmerling, kindly made available to him.”16 Unfortunately, no Sebastian Bach’s Preludes & Fugues that he had a separate Pianoforte
traces remain of Kimmerling’s Bach manuscripts, but they must have with Pedals, fixed under the Other.”21 According to Nissen, Attwood
originated before Albrechtsberger’s final departure from Melk in 1765, also observed that “[t]his volume of fugues—The Well-Tempered
and must therefore be counted among the earliest Bach sources in the Clavier—was always lying open on Mozart’s pianoforte.”22
vicinity of Vienna.
With so many reliable reports of performances of Bachian fugues by the
Albrechtsberger plays a further role in the present discussion because most talented organists and pianist in late eighteenth-century Vienna,
a source in his hand, long believed to be lost but actually preserved in the Imperial capital was unique among European musical centers of
the Nydahl collection in Stockholm, contains one prelude and sixteen the time.
fugues from The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book Two. This manuscript
is dated July 1778, however, long after Albrechtsberger’s departure A Difficult Repertory Enjoyed by General Audiences
from Melk. It is clear at any rate that Albrechtsberger held the fugues
of J. S. Bach in high esteem and even used some of them as examples in It would seem that performances of fugues were generally directed
his treatise on composition of 1790. In that same year, he is also known toward the connoisseur rather than the amateur or professional. That
to have tested a new organ with his own compositions, as well as those none of the many professional or semi-professional female pianists
of Bach, Haydn, and Florian Gassmann.17 have been mentioned in the contemporary accounts leads to the same
conclusion. Mozart’s letter of March 24, 1782, suggests, however, that
The little-known Lipawsky (1772-1813) was also recognized in his day general audiences did, in fact, appreciate fugues. After mentioning that
as one well acquainted with the fugues of Bach. According to Stadler, Emperor Joseph II was an admirer of the form, Mozart reported that his
Lipawsky “was one of the most accomplished players of keyboard concerts received the greatest applause when he programmed a prelude
instruments, who performed the most difficult Bachian fugues from and fugue and some of his variations because the pieces “are nicely
memory and with the utmost precision; he knew how to bring out the set-off one from the other” and because “everybody finds something
theme in a special way whenever it entered in one of the voices.”18 according to his or her musical taste.” If Mozart’s impression was
correct, perhaps the performance of Bachian fugues by only the best
Even younger than Lipawsky was Franz Xaver Mozart, born just a pianists and organists reflected more the difficulties of execution than
few months before his father’s death in December 1791. Johann Baptist the general acceptance of these works. In referring to the stupendous
Gänsbacher, who first met Mozart’s son in the home of Baron van keyboards skill of the young Beethoven, Neefe acknowledged the
Swieten shortly before the Baron’s death in 1803, reported that the boy difficulty of the repertoire, praising the “48” as “almost the non plus
played fugues by Bach (among others), transposing them at sight into ultra” of keyboard composition.23
any key.19

Before moving on to Mozart himself, Beethoven should be briefly Fugues Arranged for String Instruments
mentioned as one who is known to have played “major portions” of
The Well-Tempered Clavier at the age of thirteen, while a student The broad appeal of fugal compositions is seen further in the considerable
of Christian Gottlob Neefe’s in Bonn. Somewhat later, in his early number of keyboard fugues arranged for string instruments, as indicated
Viennese years, Beethoven participated in performances at van Swieten’s in Table 4. These arrangements transported a technically demanding
residence. Anton Schindler reported that Beethoven not only became repertory into the realm of the trained amateur.
acquainted with the music of Handel, Bach, and Italian composers up
to Palestrina at van Swieten’s, but The unknown identity of the arranger of many of these pieces is of
little consequence here. Clearly Mozart had a hand in some of them, as
revealed by the autograph score to several fragmentary arrangements
had to stay there longer then anyone else because
and to the five fugues that constitute K. 405 (see Table 4). Beethoven
the old man was musically insatiable. Consequently,
also started similar arrangements, though apparently did not finish a
it was always late into the night before Beethoven
single one. And the fact that a Handel fugue with a newly composed
was allowed to leave (if he was allowed to leave at
introduction was attributed to Gassmann, until Warren Kirkendale
all) since he still had to play half a dozen fugues by
made the correct attribution, attests to the fact that lesser names
Bach, even after everything that had been heard, as a
were also active as arrangers. The addition of an introduction to an
good night blessing.20
existing fugue occurred with some frequency. Composing a prelude-
like movement was less daunting than composing a fugue because
If van Swieten started his music sessions in the 1790s at noon, as he had
the existing preludes, which served as models, have fewer obbligato
in the early 1780s, Beethoven literally spent the entire day with him and
voices than the accompanying fugues and do not adhere to strict part-
his musical treasures.
writing.
The source situation surrounding Mozart’s Bach encounter is
Fugues for instrumental ensembles were not new, however. They
particularly favorable, and many of the facts are commonly known and
were firmly rooted in local compositional practice and frequently
need not be repeated here. In quoting Mozart’s letter above concerning
found in Baroque chamber music. Kirkendale offers an extensive list
“all the works by Handel and Bach” that van Swieten had loaned him,
of instrumental fugues by Viennese composers such as Gregor Joseph
an important qualifier was omitted. Mozart indicated more specifically
Werner, Franz Tu T ma, Wagenseil, Georg Matthias Monn, and Wenzel
that he received these works from the Baron “only after I had played
Raimund Birck—all born before 1720. Although the Baroque keyboard
them through for him.” Thomas Attwood, who received lessons in
partita totally vanished soon after 1750—with the notable exception of
composition from Mozart from 1785 to 1787, revealed even more about
Mozart’s unfinished Suite in C, K. 399—the instrumental fugue, often
his teacher’s involvement with Bach’s music: “Mozart was so fond of
preceded by a slow introduction to form a sonata da chiesa, continued

B ACH • N OTES Fall 2006

6

Table 4. Arrangements of Bachian Fugues for String Instruments

Thematic No.
Key of
Composer Index Original key of Sources Remarks
arrangement
Number parts
Preceded by Largo in E flat Major,
JSB BWV 526/3 C Minor 3 C Minor see BWV 853/2
BWV 526/2, cf. K. 404a/5
A-Wn,
JSB BWV 546/2 C Minor 4 Original
S.m. 11420
A-Wn,
JSB BWV 548/2 E Minor 3 Original
S.m. 11675
A-Wn,
JSB BWV 849/2 C sharp Minor 4 D Minor
S.m. 11418
Preceded by an Adagio in D
JSB BWV 853/2 E flat Minor 3 D Minor D-B, A-Wgm, Q 16436
Minor (by Mozart?) = K. 404a/1
(1) D-B, Mus. aut. Arranged by Beethoven, Hess 30
Beethoven Grasnick 14 (ca. 1801)
JSB BWV 867/2 B flat Minor 5 A Minor
(2) A-Wn, S.m. 11419
Arranged by Beethoven, Hess 35
JSB BWV 869/2 B Minor 4 Original A-Wn, A 81
(fragment, ca. 1817)
JSB BWV 871/2 C Minor 4 C Minor US (privately owned) Arranged by Mozart, K. 405/1
see BWV 871/2; also
JSB BWV 874/2 D Major 4 Original Arranged by Mozart, K. 405/5
W-Wn, S.m. 11679
see BWV 871/2; also
JSB BWV 876/2 E flat Major 4 Original Arranged by Mozart, K. 405/2
A-Wn, S.m. 11677
see BWV 871/2; also
A-M, V 826 and
JSB BWV 877/2 D sharp Minor 4 D Minor Arranged by Mozart, K. 405/4
A-Wn, S.m. 11676 (after
the Melk copy)
see BWV 871/2; also
JSB BWV 878/2 E Major 4 Original Arranged by Mozart, K. 405/3
A-Wn, S.m. 11680
Preceded by an Adagio in F Major
JSB BWV 882/2 F sharp Major 3 F Major see BWV 853/2
(by Mozart?) = K. 404a/1
Preceded by an Adagio in G
JSB BWV 883/2 G Minor 3 G Minor see BWV 853/2
Minor (by Mozart?) = K. 404a/2
JSB BWV 891/2 B flat Minor 4 (1) C Minor CS-Kra By Mozart (collection of
Archduke Rudolph)

(2) B minor A-Wn, 11678

Preceded by Adagio in F Major,
JSB BWV 1080/8 D Minor 3 D Minor see BWV 853/2
BWV 527/2, cf. K. 404a/4
Preceded by an Adagio in F
WFB Fk 31/8 F Minor 3 F Minor see BWV 853/2
Minor (by Mozart?) = K. 404a/6

CPEB Wq 119.6 E flat Major 4 Original A-Wgm, IX 31765

No. 6 B ACH • N OTES

7

to be composed. The most prolific composer of such works appears to 6Joseph Edler von Schönfeld, Jahrbuch der Tonkunst ffür Wien und
have been Albrechtsberger, who set numerous fugues in two, three, four, Prag ffür das Jahr 1796, Faksimile-Nachdruck der Ausgabe Wien
five, six, and eight instrumental voices. Many of these fugues are also 1796, mit Nachwort und Register von Otto Biba (Munich and
transmitted for keyboard. Perhaps these are the original sources that, Salzburg: Katzbichler, 1976), 79-80.
like Bach’s keyboard fugues, served as the basis for later instrumental 7Yo Tomita, “Bach Reception in Pre-Classical Vienna: Baron van
arrangements. Swieten’s Circle Edits the ‘Well-Tempered Clavier’ II,” Music &
Letters, 81, no. 3 (2000): 364-91 and “The Sources of J. S. Bach’s
Well-Tempered Clavier II in Vienna 1777-1801,” Bach 29 no. 2 (Fall-
The Earliest Reception Winter 1998), 8-79.
8Theodor Aigner, Thematisches Verzeichnis der Werke von Johann
At present it is difficult to determine exactly when a particular fugue by Mederitsch detto Gallus (Munich: Katzbichler, 1974).
a member of the Bach family first made its appearance in Vienna.24 It 9For information on Mederitsch copies located outside Salzburg, see
is somewhat peculiar that almost no original sources to these Viennese the Göttinger Bach-Datenbank, available online at www.bach.gwdg.
copies have been identified. Original sources exist to copies of C. P. E. de.
Bach’s music, but these do not contain his fugal compositions. These 10Alexander Weinmann, ed., Johann Traeg. Die
copies also originated in Hamburg—that is, after 1768—and according Musikalienverzeichnisse von 1799 und 1804 (Vienna: Universal
to the handwriting of the copyists probably not before the 1780s. Edition, 1973).
11Arno Forchert, “‘Die Hauptstadt von Sebastian Bach’: Berliner
From a study undertaken by Hannelore Gericke in the 1970s, we know Bach-Traditionen zwischen Klassik und Romantik,” Jahrbuch des
that music prints from Berlin, Leipzig, and Norimberg were readily Staatlichen Instituts ffür Musikforschung—Preu
Musikforschung—Preußischer Kulturbesitz
available in Vienna within a year or two of their release, even during (1995): 9-28.
the Seven Years’ War between Prussia and Austria from 1756 to 1763.25 12This section draws on Biba, “Mozart und die ‘Alte-Musik’-Szene
These prints, however, represent only a fraction of the music available in Wien,” Warren Kirkendale, Fuge und Fugato in der Kammermusik
in manuscript form in the 1780s and 1790s and therefore cannot des Rokoko und der Klassik (Tutzing: Schneider, 1966), and
be regarded as a principle source of the repertoire. It was not until Karl Wagner, ed., Abbé Maximilian Stadler: seine “Materialien
around 1780 that several people who reportedly owned works by the zur Geschichte der Musik unter den österreichischen Regenten,”
Bach family settled in Vienna: Fanny Arnstein, née Itzig, in 1776, the Schriftenreihe der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum 6 (Kassel:
ubiquituous Baron van Swieten in 1777, Karl Alois Lichnowsky after Bärenreiter, 1974).
1782. Many music lovers may have had Bachian fugues in their baggage, 13Johann Baptist Schenk, “Autobiographische Skizze,” Studien zur
but this cannot be verified. With few exceptions it appears the fugues Musikwissenschaft 11 (1924): 75-85; cf. Kirkendale, Fuge und Fugato,
of the Bach family crossed the Austrian borders fairly late, but then 62.
rapidly developed a life of their own. Mozart’s often-cited enthusiasm 14Aigner, Thematisches Verzeichnis der Werke von Johann
for the fugues of Bach and Handel must therefore be seen as documenting Mederitsch detto Gallus, XV.
a broad-based Viennese “Bach discovery” around 1780. The fashion 15Wagner, ed., Abbé Maximilian Stadler, 102.
for these works, however, would not have been possible if the Bachian 16Ignaz Ritter von Seyfried, ed., J. G. Albrechtsberger’s sämmtliche
fugues had not fallen upon fertile soil in Vienna. Schriften über
ber Generalba
Generalbaß ß,, Harmonie-Lehre, und Tonsetzkunst;
ß
zum Selbstunterrichte (Vienna: Anton Strauss [c. 1830]), 3: 211.
17Otto Erich Deutsch, Mozart: Die Dokumente seines Lebens
(Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1961), 324; cf. Kirkendale, Fuge und Fugato,
67.
18Wagner, ed., Abbé Maximilian Stadler, 123.
19Deutsch, Mozart: Die Dokumente, 473; cf. Kirkendale (who,
*This essay is an abbreviated version of a paper read at the biennial
however, confuses father and son), Fuge und Fugato,
Fugato, 201.
meeting of the American Bach Society in Leipzig, May 2006. It 20Anton Schindler, Ludwig van Beethoven, 3rd ed. (Münster:
is dedicated to Otto Biba, Vienna, in lieu of a contribution to his
Aschendorff, 1860), 1:20; quoted in Kirkendale, Fuge und Fugato,
Festschrift, on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday.
1Michelle Rasmussen, “Bach, Mozart, and the ‘Musical Midwife,’” The 252.
21Cliff Eisen, ed., Mozart: Die Dokumente seines Lebens. Addenda.
New Federalist August 6, 2001; available online at www.schillerinstitut.
(Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1997), 90.
dk/bach.html. 22Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, Biographie W. A. Mozart’s (Leipzig:
2For Mozart’s letters, see Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart Briefe
Breitkopf und Härtel, 1828), 655.
und Aufzeichnungen, ed. Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum (Kassel: 23Kirkendale, Fuge und Fugato, 252; quoting Neefe from Magazin
Bärenreiter, 1962). All translations are by the author.
3Otto Biba, “Mozart und die ‘Alte-Musik’-Szene in Wien,” in Mozart: der Musik 1 (Hamburg, 1783): 394.
24During the discussion that followed the presentation of this paper
Experiment Aufkl
Aufklärung im Wien des ausgehenden 18. Jahrhundert
Jahrhundert,
at the Leipzig conference, Christoph Wolff pointed out that the sons
Essayband zur Mozart-Ausstellung, ed. Herbert Lachmayer (Ostfildern:
of Habsburgian nobility who attended Leipzig University in the
Hantje Cantz, 2006), 457-66.
4The version of this paper delivered in Leipzig also contained a section 1720s and 1730s and returned to Vienna might have been among the
earliest Viennese owners of music of the Bach family.
on Bachian fugues that appeared in theoretical writings of the time. 25Hannelore Gericke, Der Wiener Musikalienhandel von 1770-1778
5Portions of the von Hess collection were identified by Uwe Wolf
(Graz: H. Boehlaus Nachf.,1960).
a decade ago; see Wolf, “Die Musikaliensammlung des Wiener
Regierungsrats Franz Joseph Reichsritter von Heß (1739-1804) und
ihre Bachiana,” in Bach-Jahrbuch 81 (1995): 195-201.

B ACH • N OTES Fall 2006

8

The significance of this discovery cannot be overestimated.

Newly Discovered The technically demanding and compositionally sophisti-
cated works of Buxtehude and Reinken document both the
Manuscripts are the Earliest extraordinary virtuosity of the young Bach and his efforts
Known in Bach’s Hand to master the most ambitious and complex pieces of the
late seventeenth-century organ repertoire. These manu-
scripts make it clear that even before 1700 the young Bach
had been influenced by the north German organ school.
Researchers from the Bach-Archiv Leipzig have discov- Moreover, his decision to leave Ohrdruf for Lüneburg was
ered two music manuscripts in the Herzogin Anna Amalia apparently not based solely upon the choral stipend he was
Bibliothek in Weimar copied by Johann Sebastian Bach that to receive at St. Michael’s School but also upon his desire
pre-date all other known manuscripts in his hand. Hellmut to learn more about the highly exemplary compositions of
Seemann, president of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, and the senior organ masters in Hamburg and Lübeck, through
Professor Christoph Wolff, director of the Bach-Archiv study with Georg Böhm. He also, no doubt, wanted to gain
Leipzig, announced the discovery jointly on August 31, access to the great and unique Hanseatic instruments.
2006. The manuscripts were discovered by Michael Maul
and Peter Wollny as part of the Bach-Archiv’s project A facsimile of the complete set of organ tablatures with
begun in 2002 to systematically survey archival materi- extensive commentary by Maul and Wollny will be pub-
als and library holdings in central Germany—the first lished later this year as part of the Bach-Archiv’s series
such survey ever undertaken. The two manuscripts from Faksimile-Reihe Bachscher Werke und Schriftstücke–Neue
Bach’s youth, which contain copies of major organ works Folge (Bärenreiter-Verlag). The Buxtehude, Reinken, and
by Dieterich Buxtehude and Johann Adam Reinken, pre- Pachelbel works, along with Bach’s “Wie schön leuchtet der
date the Arnstadt salary receipts of 1703 by a considerable Morgenstern,” BWV 739 and 764, were recently recorded
period. As the earliest known documents in Bach’s hand, by Jean-Claude Zehnder on the historic Schnitger organ at
these manuscripts transmit important information about St. Jacob’s church in Hamburg for the Edition Bach-Archiv
the musical development of the young composer. Leipzig (Carus-Verlag). The CD is available online from
the museum shop of the Bach-Archiv (visit, www.Bach-
Prepared by the barely fifteen-year-old Bach, then a Leipzig.de).
Latin school student, these manuscripts contain copies of
the large-scale chorale fantasias “Nun freut euch, lieben
Christen gmein” by Buxtehude and “An Wasserflüssen
Babylon” by Reinken. Bach’s autograph annotation at the
end of the Reinken copy provides the first documentary
evidence that Bach studied in Lüneburg with the organist
Georg Böhm, from whose collection the piece must have BECOME A FRIEND OF THE
been copied: â Dom. Georg: Böhme | descriptum ao. 1700
| Lunaburgi. BACH-ARCHIV LEIPZIG

The manuscripts transmit the compositions in German

organ tablature, confirming that Bach grew up with this The Bach-Archiv Leipzig, which offers unique access to
old-fashioned notation. Similarly transmitted in tablature primary source materials, is widely recognized as one of
along with the Buxtehude and Reinken works are two the world’s most important centers of Bach scholarship.
previously unknown organ chorales by Johann Pachelbel, A non-profit corporation, the Bach-Archiv consists of a
“An Wasserflüssen Babylon” and “Kyrie Gott Vater in research institute, library, museum, and events bureau.
Ewigkeit,” and a known Pachelbel fugue in b minor in a It occupies the historic Bosehaus complex at St. Thomas
previously unknown adaptation by Bach. This set of tabla- Square in Leipzig. With its vast collection of Bach auto-
tures is in the hand of Johann Martin Schubart (1690-1721) graphs and sponsorship of numerous activities, such as the
—also known as “Anon. Weimar 1”—and was probably Leipzig Bach Festival, the Bach-Archiv contributes signifi-
copied from a Bach manuscript now lost. Schubart began cantly to the time-honored image of Leipzig as the German
studying with Bach in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen, then “Bach city.” If you would like to lend your support to
moved with him to Weimar, as his assistant, before suc- the Bach-Archiv Leipzig, please contact: Friends of the
ceeding him as court organist in 1717. From Schubart’s Bach-Archiv Leipzig, c/o Bach-Archiv Leipzig, Miriam
estate the tablature fascicles eventually found their way Grabowski, Thomaskirchhof 15/16, D-04109 Leipzig;
into the Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, where they phone: +49 341 9137 103; fax: +49 341 9137 105; email:
were placed in the theological manuscript collection. [email protected]; internet: www.bach-leipzig.de.

No. 6 B ACH • N OTES

9

Book Reviews performance of Zelenka’s Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis to the octave

of All Saints in 1736.
Bach Studies From Dublin: selected papers presented at the ninth
biennial conference on Baroque music, held at Trinity College Dublin Rebecca Kan’s contribution, “Vivaldi, Bach and their concerto slow
from 12th to 16th July 2000, edited by Anne Leahy and Yo Tomita. movements,” sheds light on a facet of late Baroque concertos that is
Irish Musical Studies 8. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2004. 270 pp. often overlooked. She argues that the structure of the slow move-
$55 (hardback). ments in Vivaldi’s concertos is founded upon ritornello principles yet
remains distinct from the ritornello structure of fast movements. She
The essays contained in this volume, which range from analyses defines the concerto adagio form as a condensed version of concerto
of individual movements to issues of performance practice and the allegro form in which the solo episodes become the focal point, as the
exploration of even broader topics, reflect the quality and diversity ritornello statements become fewer and shorter. Kan’s conclusions
of recent research on Bach and his contemporaries. These findings regarding Bach’s use of ritornello structure parallel those of White
will not be neglected, and mark the Dublin conference as a notable with respect to Bach’s use of da capo form. Once again we see Bach
event among the celebrations commemorating the 250th anniversary appropriating styles, structures, and/or techniques in the creation of
of Bach’s death. unique hybrids.

In “The Baroque upbeat: outline of its typology and evolution,” Ido Kan’s essay is nicely complemented by Gregory Butler’s “The prelude
Abravaya focuses on two types of Baroque upbeats, both of which to the third English Suite BWV 808: an allegro concerto movement in
were abandoned by the beginning of the Classical era. The first is the ritornello form” in which he offers a fascinating hypothesis concern-
extended upbeat (or fore-beat), which occurs rarely in the works of ing Bach’s mastering of concerto writing. Butler cautiously narrows
Bach and Handel, though is found in great variety in the eighteenth- the date of composition of BWV 808/1 to between 1715 and 1717
century French repertory, such as Couperin’s Pièces de clavecin. “The based on stylistic and formal comparisons with many pieces, especially
apparent reason for this is that phrases with long upbeats tend to the second movement of the Fifth Brandenburg Concerto. He then
be end-accented. . . . For Couperin and other French composers of suggests that BWV 808/1 could be a compositional stepping-stone
his time, end-accented phrases are, perhaps in analogy to the French between Bach’s keyboard transcriptions of Vivaldi’s opp. 3 and 4 (c.
language, most natural and obvious.” (p. 19) A piece that utilizes the 1713—1714) and his first newly composed orchestral concertos in the
second type of upbeat, the after-beat, begins with a short rest, and Vivaldian style. This would be a very logical progression, but until
although this opening may appear similar to an extended upbeat, it has the chronology of Bach’s concertos and movements in concerto form
its own metric and rhythmic weight. Abravaya convincingly demon- is more firmly established, it will not be possible to determine whether
strates that consideration of the upbeat may inform our analysis. In or not Butler’s supposition is correct.
a brief discussion of Bach’s Sinfonia in E-flat Major (BWV 791), for
example, he finds “a remarkable achievement in style unification, in the Don Franklin’s groundbreaking research on tempo and temporal
spirit of Les Gouts reunis,” as Bach added “an Italianate basso ostinato designs in Bach’s music promises to greatly impact the performance
with a Germanized after-beat before the French rhythm of the upper of Baroque music. His present essay, “Composing in time: Bach’s
voices.” (pp. 27-8) temporal design for the Goldberg Variations,” extends his study of
temporal procedures in Bach’s 1733 Missa to this later set of varia-
Harry White’s paper, “Johann Joseph Fux and the question of Einbau tions.1 Franklin begins by summarizing Kirnberger’s contemporary
technique,” elucidates the originality of Bach’s compositional approach account, explaining that “each time signature is associated . . . with
to da capo and dal segno arias by exploring similar vocal writing in a particular set of note values (Notengattung), which, when read in
Fux’s oratorios. He discovers that Einbau techinique, the process conjunction with the time signature, convey its tempo giusto, that is,
through which the opening ritornello attains meaning only after its its basic, or conventional, tempo.” Further, according to Kirnberger,
texture is completed by the incorporation of the vocal line, is found “a composer may . . . modify the note values traditionally associated
not just in Bach’s arias, but in Fux’s as well. He finds further that with a signature’s tempo giusto, thereby effecting a change in tempo.”
Fux’s arias are constrained by the conventional form of the da capo (p. 105) Franklin suggests that around 1714 Bach created his own
aria in a way that Bach’s are not. The da capo structure “is a resource “Bachian” tempo giustos by using a different primary note value with
in Bach’s musical imagination . . . which is constantly vulnerable to the a particular time signature than the note value indicated by Kirnberger.
expressive claim of other resources, notably in his case the chorale and He goes on to explain that a fermata between successive movements
the vast enterprise of Bach’s choral and instrumental counterpoint.” (p. indicates that the pulse or beat is replaced by a new beat, and thus a
47) White poses a fascinating question (whose answer will largely be new tempo. Franklin has devised three terms to describe important
speculative): to what extent is the freedom found in Bach’s arias due to temporal relationships: (1) “Temporal structure” is the ratio of tempo-
the composer’s imagination, and to what extent does it reflect Lutheran ral units (marked off by fermatas) to the total number of movements,
pragmatism (as opposed to the political and religious absolutism of (2) “Proportion” is the ratio of the beat (or pulse) of one movement
Vienna)? to the beat of the following movement (in the same temporal unit),
(3) “Dimension” is the ratio of the duration of two successive move-
Just as the Leipzig liturgical calendar has been crucial in establishing ments, measured in beats. He continues in this essay by exploring the
the chronology of Bach’s cantatas, the more complete liturgical calen- relationships between successive movements in each temporal unit of
dar and list of gala days established by Janice Stockigt in “The royal the Goldberg Variations. It is clear that the temporal designs inherent
Polish and electoral Saxon court and state calendars, 1728—1750,” in this work are quite complex and do not coincide neatly with the
makes it possible to establish a more accurate chronology of the pattern of canons at increasing step-wise intervals found in every third
sacred works of Heinichen, Zelenka, Hasse, and others. Stockigt dem- variation. These designs may not be obvious and straightforward—but
onstrates the usefulness of this information by pinpointing the first when did Bach ever limit himself to ideas that were?

B ACH • N OTES Fall 2006

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In “Eschatology, theology and music: death and beyond in Bach’s In “Bach performance practice in the twentieth century: recordings,
vocal music,” Robin Leaver refutes the widespread notion that “for reviews and reception,” Dorottya Fabian begins “to address the issue
Bach eschatology meant a preoccupation with death and dying.” (p. of style (‘romantic’ versus ‘historical’) and to determine the dimensions
130) Even though death had been present in German Baroque art and that underlie the listeners’ perception of Baroque music. . . .” (p. 185)
literature since the Thirty Years’ War, and Bach himself was personally She designed a study in which more than fifty participants evaluated
surrounded by death throughout his life, Leaver argues persuasively five recordings of two excerpts from the Brandenburg Concertos with
that the picture of Bach as preoccupied with morbidity is one-sided respect to forty supplied descriptors such as “clear structure” and
and inaccurate. Many of his cantatas center on death, to be sure, but “expressive.” She found that there are two strong dimensions affecting
that is usually because they elaborate upon the Gospel of the day. And the listeners’ perception of the music, one associated with stylishness
death for Bach (as for Luther) was intertwined with hope, faith, and and the other with expressive content: “we tentatively concluded that
even triumphant victory: through death one meets God and through the stylish performance is judged primarily according to articulation
death Jesus completed his work. By examining vocal works that and speech-like-ness. An expressive performance is judged primarily
Bach composed for transitional points in the liturgical year, as well according to its romantic and unmechanical qualities.” (p. 186) In a
as the motet Lieber Herr Gott composed by Sebastian’s uncle Johann second study designed to measure the impact of articulation on the
Christoph, which Christoph Wolff theorizes Bach was preparing perception of dotted-ness, two measures of variation seven of the
for his own funeral, Leaver reveals that Bach’s settings of librettos Goldberg Variations were played for the test subjects with a variety of
concerning death often express eschatological joy—the joy surround- articulations. Fabian found that articulation had a significant effect on
ing the coming of Christ and the knowledge that death leads to the the perceived dotted-ness of a performance, so the ratio of dotting is
afterlife. hardly the only factor contributing to the perception of dotted-ness.

J. Drew Stephen’s contribution, “Bach’s horn parts: alternatives to John Butt’s stimulating paper, “Bach in the twenty-first century:
nodal venting and hand stopping,” tackles the thorny question of how re-evaluating him from the perspective of performance,” defends
Baroque trumpeters and horn players, whose instruments were capable historical performance practices against the impassioned critiques of
of playing only notes of the harmonic series, played written f and a, Theodor Adorno. Butt contends that hermeneutics and research of a
whose corresponding harmonics—the eleventh and thirteenth—are speculative nature can play a valuable role in contemporary scholarship
out of tune in relation to standard systems of temperament. After dem- by complementing the positivist research that has formed the core of
onstrating that the two techniques noted in the title of his essay were Bach studies since the middle of the twentieth century. He counters
little used, if at all, before the second half of the eighteenth century, Adorno’s assertion that “mechanically squeaking continuo-instru-
Stephen suggests two ways in which Bach’s contemporaries might have ments and wretched school choirs contribute not to sacred sobriety
rendered these notes. To begin with, they might simply have played but to malicious failure” with examples in which meaning in Bach’s
them as they sounded on the instrument. The audience, to whom the works is revealed only through performances involving the original
use of brass instruments in art music was a novelty, might have simply performing forces. He points, for example, to instances in which viola
accepted a system of tuning specific to those instruments, especially da gamba and vocal parts seem to convey the sense of difficulty and
since many listeners would have been accustomed to the “out-of tune” human imperfection expressed in the text. Historical performance and
notes heard on horns in their traditional venue, the hunt. The second investigations into the theology and meaning of Bach’s works contrib-
approach, the one he believes was used most frequently, is bending (or ute to a greater understanding of Bach’s style and the creative process.
lipping) the notes. In addition to documentary evidence, he cites physi-
cal evidence from early brass instruments to demonstrate that Baroque In “Bach’s Credo in England: an early history,” Yo Tomita proposes
players must have been quite skilled at this technique. Stephen ends some fascinating transmission scenarios. His careful review of the
by making the very important point that the use of anachronistic tech- sources reveals that all the early copies of the Credo in England derive
niques is not difficult to countenance if these techniques help today’s from one source, which was owned by Charles Burney. He suggests
performers achieve what should be their primary goal—the creation of that Burney’s copy came to him either from the Royal family, after this
an expressive and authentic sound. source had been used to make a fair copy for the Queen (c. 1789), or
from Emanuel Bach in the 1770s or 1780s, in which case Burney him-
In “Bach in North America during the shellac era (1900—50): early self would have had a fair copy made for the Queen. Tomita favors the
sound documents of art and commerce,” Martin Elste surveys sev- second scenario and suggests that Burney’s derogatory remarks about
eral recordings from the first half of the twentieth century and dis- Bach’s style may have led him to give a copy of the Credo to the Queen,
tinguishes between those that document an old-fashioned, romantic as an apology, thereby spreading Bach’s popularity in England.
tradition of performing Bach and those that document an emerging,
modernist style that would lead to historically informed performances By showing how much longer it took for Bach’s vocal works to gain a
in the second half of the century. His selection of recordings seems foothold in Ireland than in England, Barra Boydell’s essay, “’This most
rather arbitrary: three recordings of the St. Matthew Passion (the 1937 crabbed of all earthly music’: the performance and reception of Bach’s
recording by Koussevitzky with the B.S.O. was released on 27 discs!), vocal music in Dublin in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,”
two recordings of The Art of Fugue, a single recording of two trio makes a great counterpart to Tomita’s. It was not until 1847 that a
sonatas by the organist Carl Weinrich. His work is promising, but public performance of what was believed to be a Bach vocal composi-
will be more illuminating when a larger, more coherent repertoire is tion was attempted in Ireland (it turns out that the motet performed
examined. Elste includes a very interesting appendix that lists the first was actually written by Bach’s friend Georg Gottfried Wagner). The
Bach performances on American labels or by American musicians from “Crucifixus” from the Mass in B Minor was not performed until 1865,
1909 to 1977. and a complete vocal work by Bach was not performed in Dublin until
1874 (the entire Mass in B Minor was not performed until 1908!).

No. 6 B ACH • N OTES

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Boydell shows that the old stereotypes of Bach’s music as unvocal, Johann Sebastian Bachs sowie ihrer Familien: Eine Datenliste.” While
intellectual but unemotional, and overly complex—all views that can some of the intersections between the two families are well-known
be traced back to Scheibe’s famous attack—remained common in (Telemann serving as godfather to C.P.E. Bach in 1714, J. S. Bach per-
Irish reviews through the late nineteenth century. His account of forming Telemann’s music and subscribing to his Nouveaux Quatuors
how differently Bach was viewed in the early twentieth century (the of 1738, and C.P.E. Bach succeeding the late Telemann in Hamburg
Irish Times reported in 1908 that “The genius of Bach is accepted by in 1768), the annotated list provided here offers a concise summary of
everyone”) attests to the powerful draw of Bach’s music—once it was direct and indirect contacts between the two families extending from
actually performed. the 1690s to the 1790 print of C.P.E. Bach’s Nachlaß
Nachla , which lists works
of Telemann in Emanuel’s possession at his death.
The final entry, Hans-Joachim Schulze’s “Bach at the turn of the
twenty-first century,” reviews the current state of Bach scholarship In “Telemanns ‘Sonnet auf weyland Herrn Capellmeister Bach,’”
and performance, and offers correctives to several potentially danger- Jürgen Rathje finds Telemann’s memorial sonnet to be an example of
ous trends. First and foremost, Schulze warns against idle speculation. “gelehrte Poesie” that demonstrates the composer’s familiarity with
Noting the relatively small body of primary documents pertaining to Latin and Greek sources. In addition, he stresses that the impetus for
Bach’s life, he bemoans certain (unnamed) authors who exploit gaps in the work came in the form of a letter from the Dresden Kapellmeister
the historical record in order to promote fanciful hypotheses. Without Pisendel, who pointed out that Bach’s passing was one of three recent
proper intellectual rigor, Bach can be seen at the summit of every deaths of members of Mizler’s “Correspondierende Societät der musi-
field—“as a theologian, mathematician, philosopher, physicist, rhetori- kalischen Wissenschaften.”
cian, politician (and whatever one wishes beyond this).” (p. 248) Soon,
the monument we have created to Bach will make it very difficult to Joachim Kremer discusses Romain Rolland’s Telemann biography
find any fault with the master at all. Schulze is equally wary of recon- (“Johann Sebastian Bach und sein ‘glücklicher Rivale’: Zu Romain
structed works and of numerology: “Not even the simplest number Rollands Telemannbild”), showing that Rolland, in seeing Telemann as
allegory can be shown to have a sound basis—at least in the work of a progressive, Francophile, and crucial composer of the modern style
Bach.” (p. 255) His warnings need to be heeded as Bach scholarship in the first half of the eighteenth century, was reacting in part to Spitta’s
enters a new millennium. comparison of the putative Neumeister settings of Bach and Telemann
(replete, of course, with incorrect attributions) in which Telemann fares
Evan Scooler poorly.

1Don O. Franklin, “Aspekte von Proportion und Dimension in Johann Of most interest to Bach scholars and aficionados will be the series of
articles comparing the ways in which the two composers approached
Sebastian Bachs Missa von 1733,” Leipziger Beitr
Beiträge zur Bachforschung the sacred cantata. Ute Poetzsch-Seban, in her article “Bach und
5, ed. Ulrich Leisinger (Hildesheim: Georg Olms, 2002), 235-72. Neumeister—Bach und Telemann,” provides an invaluable overview
of the Bach and Telemann settings of Neumeister cantata libretti. One
of the puzzling aspects of Bach’s cantata oeuvre is that he set so few
Telemann und Bach/Telemann Beitr äge, edited by Brit Reipsch and
Beiträäge (only five) Neumeister texts, while other composers set large num-
Wolf Hobohm. Magdeburger Telemann-Studien XVIII. Hildesheim: bers, including complete cycles. Chief among these was Telemann,
Georg Olms Verlag, 2005. 286 pp. 58 Eur. (hardback) who worked professionally with Neumeister in Sorau and Hamburg
and set five of his cycles. Bach set one cantata, Gleich wie der Regen
One of the difficulties in assessing Bach’s oeuvre of church music has und Schnee, BWV 18, from Neumeister’s first cycle, Geistliches
been the relative inaccessibility of much of the repertoire of his contem- Singen und Spielen of 1711, and four (three completely and one par-
poraries. His cantata output in particular has been studied for the most tially) from the second cycle, which Neumeister wrote for Telemann.
part in isolation, without the context provided by a close study of the Telemann set this second Neumeister cycle in the French style, creat-
works of his nearest fellow composers. As part of its ongoing series of ing the “Französischer” Jahrgang of 1714-15, which was performed
Telemann-Studien, the Zentrum ffür Telemann-Pflege und -Forschung, in Frankfurt and Eisenach concurrently. Bach likewise began his first
Magdeburg, has issued a volume divided into two large sections. The setting from this cycle, Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61, in
first treats the relationship between Bach and his most crucial German the French style. Poetszch-Seban offers the reasonable conjecture that
contemporary, Georg Philipp Telemann, and the second provides Bach and Telemann communicated with each other regarding their set-
a series of more specialized studies of Telemann’s music. Only the tings of this text and that Telemann’s Francophile approach also infil-
first section concerns us here, but the reader’s attention is directed to trates Bach’s later settings from this cycle. Thus, Bach’s involvement
Jürgen
rgen Neubacher’s article “Zur AuffAufführung von Telemanns ‘Engel- with Neumeister texts may have had as much to do with his interest in
Jahrgang’ und zu Zensurbestrebungen ffür kirchenmusikalische Texte Telemann’s music as in Neumeister’s poetry.
in Hamburg” in the second half of the volume. This essay provides
additional information on one of Telemann’s most important later Brit Reipsch turns to another of Bach’s cantata librettists in
Hamburg cycles, one that post-dates Bach’s cantatas and is virtually “Annotationen zu Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Friedrich Helbig
unknown to non-Telemann specialists. The Telemann/Bach essays und Johann Sebastian Bach.” She suggests that Telemannn’s setting of
were planned and offered as a tribute to Hans-Joachim Schulze on the Helbig’s 1720 cycle, known as the “Sicilianischer” Jahrgang because of
occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday. its simple, dance-like Italian style, influenced Bach’s setting of Wer sich
erhöhet, der soll erniedriget werden, BWV 47, whose text is from the
The volume opens with an essay by Wolf Hobohm entitled same source. More specifically, Reipsch expands upon Dürr’s sugges-
“Berühungspunkte in den Biographien Georg Philipp Telemanns und tion that BWV 47 was inspired by Telemann’s setting of this same text,

B ACH • N OTES Fall 2006

12

TWV 1: 1603, by pointing out numerous gestural and compositional

similarities between the two. She posits that Bach may have received
the cantata text directly from Telemann.
CALL FOR PAPERS
In Poetzsch-Seban’s second article, “Wann wurde ‘Ich hatte viel
Bekümmernis,’
mmernis,’ BWV 21/BC 99a erstaufgef
erstaufgeführt?” she argues that the
“Understanding Bach’s B-Minor Mass”
documented performance of this work on the Third Sunday after An International Symposium
Trinity in 1714 may not have been the first. She points out that
Telemann’s setting of a Neumeister text beginning with the same open-
ing Dictum (from Psalm 94) for his 1716/17 cycle was not composed November 2-4, 2007
for the Third Sunday after Trinity but for Reminiscere, where the text
fits the Gospel reading more closely. She bolsters her case by fitting School of Music & Sonic Arts
the general affect of Bach’s setting to Telemann’s corpus of cantatas Queen’s University, Belfast,
for Reminiscere.
Northern Ireland
Martina Falletta offers a comparison of the Bach and Telemann settings
of Salomon Franck’s cantata libretto “Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn,” A half-century has passed since Friedrich Smend published his
showing the two composers’ vastly different responses to the text.
controversial edition of the B-minor Mass (BWV 232) in the
Steven Zohn, in his “Bach’s Borrowings from Telemann,” discusses the
few documented borrowings or reworking of Telemann’s compositions Neue Bach-Ausgabe (edition 1954; critical report 1956). Since
by Bach, and conjectures others. His article concludes by focusing on that time, many new issues surrounding the composition and
the middle movement of Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in F Minor, reception of this work have been raised and often intensely
BWV 1056, whose opening certainly bears a strong resemblance to the debated by scholars. Despite the appearance in the last ten
first movement of Telemann’s Concerto in G Major for Flute or Oboe years of several new editions to replace Smend’s—Christoph
and Strings, TWV 51:G2, on which it was probably modeled. Finally, Wolff (C. F. Peters, 1995), Uwe Wolff (‘1733 Missa only’ as
Brit Reipsch summarizes Telemann’s works included in the BWV. NBA II/1a: Bärenreiter, 2005), and Joshua Rifkin (Breitkopf
& Härtel, 2006 [forthcoming])—there has not been a sym-
The Bach-related essays in this volume will prove invaluable to Bach
posium at which Bach scholars have discussed this work in a
scholars as they establish a context for Bach’s works (however specific,
in this case), especially his cantatas. If this scholarship helps introduce comprehensive manner. Consequently, no single book can be
Bach scholars to the field of Telemann studies, and helps place Bach’s considered to represent the most up-to-date scholarship on this
cantatas within the larger framework of sacred Lutheran music of the important work. The aim of this symposium is to remedy this
first half of the eighteenth century, then it will already have accom- situation. Invited guest speakers include Christoph Wolff (key-
plished an important mission. note address), John Butt, Ulrich Leisinger, Szymon Paczkowski,
Hans-Joachim Schulze, George B. Stauffer, Janice Stockigt, and
Jeanne Swack Uwe Wolf. The symposium will culminate with a performance
of the B-minor Mass under the leadership of Masaaki Suzuki
conducting the Academy of Ancient Music.
Join
The Society for Additional papers on the B-minor Mass are sought that con-
cern the work’s historical background; composition and mean-
Eighteenth-Century Music ing; sources, editions, and performance; theological issues;
and worldwide reception during and after Bach’s lifetime.
Publication of selected papers is planned. Proposals and
abstracts are due by March 21, 2007 and should be sent to

Dr Yo Tomita ([email protected])
International Symposium on Bach’s B-minor Mass
School of Music & Sonic Arts
Music Building
Queen’s University Belfast
Belfast, BT7 1NN
The Society for Eighteenth-Century Music provides a forum
Northern Ireland
where scholars and performers can further their knowledge of
music, history, and interrelated arts of the period, and serves as a For more information, contact Dr. Tomita or visit www.music.
resource to facilitate and encourage collaboration. For more infor- qub.ac.uk/tomita/bachbib/conferences/Belfast-Nov2007/
mation, visit www.secm.org.

No. 6 B ACH • N OTES

13

MARK PETERS AND ANDREW TALLE

AWARDED THE
2006 WILLIAM H. SCHEIDE PRIZE

Every two years, the Society honors a publication or publications of exceptional merit on Bach or figures in his circle by a Society member in the
early stages of his or her career. The William H. Scheide Prize, awarded for an outstanding book, article, or edition that appeared in the previous
two calendar years, is possible because of the generosity of William Scheide.

This year’s committee, which consisted of Matthew Dirst, Mary Dalton Greer, and Jeanne Swack, awarded the prize to both Mark Peters for his
article, “A Reconsideration of Bach’s Role as Text Redactor in the Ziegler Cantatas,” in BACH 36, no. 1 (2005) and Andrew Talle for his article,
“Nürnberg, Darmstadt, Köthen — Neuerkenntnisse zur Bach-Überlieferung in der ersten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts,” in Bach-Jahrbuch 89
(2003).

Mark Peters earned his Ph.D. in historical musicology at the University Andrew Talle received undergraduate degrees in cello performance
of Pittsburgh in 2003 with a dissertation on Mariane von Ziegler’s and linguistics from Northwestern University before earning a Ph.D.
sacred cantata texts and their settings by J. S. Bach. He has presented in historical musicology from Harvard University in 2003. His dis-
conference papers on Bach, Ziegler, and Johannes Brahms, and his pub- sertation, advised by Christoph Wolff, establishes a social and musical
lications include articles in BACH and the monograph Claude Debussy context for Bach’s printed Keyboard Partitas (BWV 825-830). He has
As I Knew Him and Other Writings of Arthur Hartmann (University given papers at several national and international conferences and he is
of Rochester Press, 2003), with Samuel Hsu and Sidney Grolnic. He is currently revising his dissertation for publication. Talle teaches music
currently completing A Woman’s Voice in Baroque Music: Mariane von history at The Peabody Conservatory and Johns Hopkins University
Ziegler’s Sacred Cantata Texts and Their Settings by J. S. Bach to be in Baltimore, Maryland.
published by Ashgate Publishing in 2007. Peters is assistant professor
of music at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, Illinois.

WILLIAM H. SCHEIDE RESEARCH GRANTS

The American Bach Society awards William H. Scheide Research Grants to support research on Bach or figures in his circle. The grant is
awarded biennially and typically ranges in amount from $500 to $4,000. It is ordinarily available to Ph.D. candidates, as well as those who
have held the doctorate for no longer than seven years. Awards will normally go to citizens or permanent residents of the United States or
Canada.

Applications should include a research proposal of no more than three double-spaced pages, along with a curriculum vitae and budget, all
in English. The committee will favor proposals that include concrete statements of (1) the materials to be consulted—specific scores, books,
instruments, etc.—if research in libraries or archives is proposed; (2) the itinerary and why it is necessary to examine sources on-site, if travel
is involved; and (3) the nature of the ultimate outcome of the research (book, article, edition, etc.). Grants will be awarded in odd-numbered
years. To apply, please send your proposal and budget by January 5, 5, 2007
200 to [email protected].

B ACH • N OTES Fall 2006

14

Sasha Cooke, First Prize

Bach Vocal Competition for Young American Singers
Sasha Cooke, mezzo-soprano, was faculty of Mason Gross School of the
awarded first prize in the fourth Arts of Rutgers University.
biennial Bach Vocal Competition for
Young American Singers, co-spon- The New York Times has called Sa-
sored by the American Bach Society sha Cooke’s singing a combination of
and The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, “the outward purity of a Renaissance
Pennsylvania. As the first place win- angel and a voice of powerful sensual
ner, Ms. Cooke will be featured in The warmth and excellent musicality.”
Bach Choir’s Christmas Concerts, A Texas native, Ms. Cooke earned
December 9-11, 2006, in Bethlehem, degrees from Rice University and
Allentown, and Bryn Mawr, and she The Juilliard School. While a student
will also receive a career development at Juilliard she performed with the
grant of $3000. Honorable Mentions New Juilliard Ensemble on several
and cash awards of $500 were award- occasions, including the American
ed to Matthew Anderson, tenor, from premiere of Valentin Silvestrov’s Ode
Massachusetts, and Abigail Nims, to a Nightingale. In addition to her
mezzo soprano, from Connecticut. performances with The Bach Choir
this December, Ms. Cooke will also
David Gordon, education director, vocal coordinator, and mas- perform at Carnegie Hall as a soloist in Messiah with the
ter class director of the Carmel Bach Festival in California chose Oratorio Society of New York (she placed third in their solo
the ten finalists from applicants, thirty years of age or younger, competition in 2005). Other performances this year include
who submitted a recording of their singing. Each finalist per- Chausson’s Poème me de l’amour et de la mer at the Miller Theater
formed two Bach arias of his/her choice for the five judges, in New York City, the New York Festival of Song’s Brava
who, in addition to Gordon, were Greg Funfgeld, artistic Italia! Recital, C.P.E. Bach’s Magnificat with the Brazos Valley
director and conductor of The Bach Choir; Tamara Matthews, Symphony Orchestra, and Falstaff with Seattle Opera’s Young
soprano, member of the voice faculty at Furman University; J. Artist Program. Ms. Cooke appears in cooperation with The
Reilly Lewis, founder and music director of the Washington Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development
Bach Consort; and Frederick Urrey, tenor, member of the voice Program.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Complete Works

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Complete Works is an editorial and publishing project of the Packard Humanities Institute, in cooperation
with the Bach-Archiv Leipzig, the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, and Harvard University. Its goal is to make available,
in both printed and digital formats, a critical edition of the composer’s works. Nine volumes are currently available at www.cpebach.org:

I/3: “Probestücke,” “Leichte” und Damen” Sonatas, edited by III/5: Oboe Concertos, edited by Janet Page
David Schulenberg

I/8.1, 8.2: Miscellaneous Keyboard Music I and II, edited by Peter Wollny III/8: Sei concerti per il cembalo concertato, edited by Douglas Lee

III/2: Six Symphonies for Baron von Swieten, edited by Sarah Adams IV/5.1: Passion according to St. Mark (1770), edited by Uwe Wolf

III/3: Orchester-Sinfonien mit zwölf obligaten Stimmen, edited V/5.1: Works for Special Occasions I, edited by Ulrich Leisinger
by David Kidger

No. 6 B ACH • N OTES

15

“Von Bach zu Mozart” Koopman’s delicate and artful phrasing in the slow movement of the Overture in
D Major (BWV 1068). I was completely overwhelmed by the totally convincing
Bachfest Leipzig 2006 performances of Ophélie Gaillard, who played three unaccompanied Cello
Suites (BWV 1007-1009), and Jana Semerádová (transverse flute), who per-
formed the Overture in B Minor (BWV 1067) with Musica Aeterna Bratislava.
In honor of the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth, the world’s largest and These are the rising stars, and I am sure we will hear more from them in the
most prestigious Bach festival took as its theme “From Bach to Mozart.” The years to come.
ten-day festival consisted of about fifty concerts, including nine organ concerts/
tours in the neighboring towns, daily worship services featuring Bach’s cantatas Unfortunately, however, there were more concerts at which I was disappointed
and motets in context, as well as museum exhibitions and four musicological than thrilled. Some musicians were unable to offer satisfactory performances
lectures by scholars from the Bach-Archiv Leipzig. due simply to lack of preparation. Others, however, faced acoustical problems,
particularly at the Nikolaikirche, which they could have managed better if they
Although the performances included works by Bach’s sons and their had rehearsed more carefully.
contemporaries, the music of Bach and Mozart was naturally featured. Mozart’s
compositions, in fact, received even more performances than I had expected. “From Monteverdi to Bach” will be the theme of Bachfest Leipzig 2007,
His music could be heard everyday, beginning with the opening concert which will begin on June 7th. The featured guest artists will include Nikolaus
performance of the Mass in C Minor (K 427), in the version recently completed Harnoncourt, with the Arnold Schoenberg Chor and Concentus Musicus Wien
by Robert Levin. Roderich Kreile lead an impassioned performance with the in an exploration of Bach’s early cantatas; Sir John Eliot Gardiner, with the
participation of the Dresdner Kreuzchor and Batzdorfer Hofkapelle. Monteverdi Choir performing compositions from the “Altbachisches Archiv”;
Peter Seymour, with the Yorkshire Baroque Soloists presenting the works of
One took special note of performances of works by Mozart that connect the Purcell and Blow; and Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden, with the Tölzer Knabenchor
two composers. For example, two different concerts featured performances and Concerto Köln concluding the festival with a performance of the Mass in
of the string arrangements of Bach’s three-part fugues commonly attributed B Minor. For more information, visit the Bach-Archiv Leipzig website at
to Mozart (K 404a) but probably by Albrechtsberger. There were also http://www.bach-leipzig.de.
performances, however, of Mozart’s operas Die Entf
Entführung aus dem Serail (K
384) and Bastien und Bastienne (K 50) that appear to have little connection with Yo Tomita
Bach. Conspicuously missing was a performance of Singet dem Herrn ein neues
Lied (BWV 225), which Mozart reportedly heard in Leipzig in 1789.

The performance of high-profile concerts at historic venues is one of the

features that makes Bachfest Leipzig very special. Large-scale choral works are
typically performed at the Nikolaikirche and Thomaskirche and chamber music “Bach and the Oratorio Tradition”
at the Altes Rathaus (where the portraits of the successive mayors look down
upon the inquisitive visitors to this dark but majestic hall). This year in these Bach Perspectives 8
historic buildings festival attendees had the rare opportunity to hear some of
today’s best-known ensembles: Masaaki Suzuki with the Bach Collegium Japan
performed Freue dich, erlöste
ste Schar (BWV 30), the Overture in C Major (BWV Bach Perspectives invites submissions to be con-
1066), and the Magnificat (BWV 243); Frieder Bernius with the Kammerchor sidered for publication in volume 8, whose topic
Stuttgart and Barockorchester Stuttgart performed the St John Passion (BWV
245); Ton Koopman with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra performed C.P.E will be “Bach and the Oratorio Tradition.” This
Bach’s Symphony in G Major (W 183/4; H 666), Concerto for Harpsichord and subject will be explored at the upcoming biennial
Fortepiano in E-flat Major (W 47; H 479), Symphony in D Major (W 183/1;
H 663), W. F. Bach’s Sinfonia (Adagio and Fugue) in D Minor (Fk 65), and meeting of the American Bach Society to be held
J. S. Bach’s Sinfonia in D Major (BWV 42/1) and Overture in D Major (BWV in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, May 8-10, 2008 (see
1068); Hermann Max led the Rheinische Kantorei and Das Kleine Konzert
in performances of Dem Gerechten mu muß das Licht (BWV 195), C.P.E Bach’s p. 20 of this issue of Bach Notes). Papers read at
“Jauchzet, frohlocket” (W 242; H 804), J. C. Bach’s Dies irae in C Minor (E12; the meeting on the topic of Bach and the oratorio
202/4), and Mozart’s Kyrie in D Minor (K. 341).
tradition will be considered for inclusion in the
Local groups were also well represented by Thomaskantor Georg Christoph Bach Perspectives volume.
Biller and his Thomanerchor, who appeared first with the Gewandhausorchester
in a well-chosen program on the theme of death, featuring Gottes Zeit ist die
allerbeste Zeit (BWV 106), Heribert Breuer’s arrangement of the unfinished Articles should be no longer than 6,000 words
fugue from The Art of Fugue (BWV 1080), and Mozart’s Requiem (K 626). Biller
and the Thomanerchor appeared again in the closing concert of the festival with (approximately thirty-five pages of double-spaced
La Stravaganza Köln and the Trompeten Consort Innsbruck in a performance text, including footnotes) and should be sent
of the Mass in B Minor (BWV 232) in which an Introit was added to recreate
Bach’s performance in Leipzig on Pentecost in 1748. This was a deeply moving in hard and digital form to George B. Stauffer,
performance, despite embarrassing mistakes by one of the vocal soloists. general editor, Office of the Dean, Mason Gross
Venues such as the Gewandhaus, the Museum ffür Musikinstrumente, and the School of the Arts, Rutgers University, 33
Alte Handelbörse were used this year mainly for recitals and performances Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
involving smaller ensembles. New to the festival were performances at the
Bundesverwaltungsgericht, a truly magnificent building that was home to both ([email protected]). A volume
Ton Koopman’s performance with his wife Tini Mathot and Bob van Asperen's editor will be named in the near future.
solo recital, as he replaced an indisposed Gustav Leonhardt.

Of the concerts I attended, I was particularly impressed by Suzuki’s exquisite

performance of the opening of Freue dich, erlöste ste Schar (BWV 30) and

B ACH • N OTES Fall 2006

16

organist and member of the performance faculty. Inspired by

north German and Dutch instruments of the period around
News from Members 1700, the organ was built by Gene Bedient of Lincoln, Nebras-
ka, in 1991 and has thirty-five stops and three manuals and ped-
als. This thorough technical renovation, which were completed
Paolo Bordignon has been appointed associate organist at Saint by Flentrop Orgelbouw (Zaandam, The Netherlands) and in-
Bartholomew’s Church in New York City where he plays the cluded some tonal revisions, make the Maynard-Walker Organ
225-rank Æolian-Skinner organ for concerts and worship ser- one of the best mediums for the performance of music of the
vices and accompanies the Saint Bartholomew’s Choir (profes- north German school and J. S. Bach in the New York metro-
sional), St. Bart’s Singers (semiprofessional), and the Boy & Girl politan area.
Choristers. Bordignon, a graduate of the Julliard School and the
Curtis Institute of Music, was a featured soloist at the opening The award-winning documentary “Glory to God Alone: The
festival of Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, and has performed re- Life of J. S. Bach,” originally produced by the Evangelical Lu-
cently with the New York Philharmonic, the English Cham- theran Church in America in 2002, features commentary from
ber Orchestra, and at a Julliard Gala with Renee Fleming and Robin Leaver and Christoph Wolff, and on the expanded 2003
Wynton Marsalis. He also performs with the Orpheus Chamber version from Mary Dalton Greer. This documentary is avail-
Orchestra and leads the Baroque ensemble at the Grand Teton able for free download or purchase on DVD or VHS tape at
Music Festival. For additional biographical information, visit www.elca.org/mosaic/winter02.html.
www.bordignon.org
Harpsichordist Rebecca Pechefsky recently released a CD enti-
The Dallas Bach Society launched its twenty-fourth annual tled Bach and his Circle (Quill Classics, QC 1006). This record-
subscription season with performances of Purcell’s Dido and ing includes performances of Bach’s Chromatic Fantasia and
Aeneas in October. Season highlights include performances of Fugue; the world premiere recording of Johann Ludwig Krebs’s
Messiah (in the arrangement by Mozart), the Brandenburg Con- expansive Partita in A Minor, which begins with a Fantasy and
certos, Rameau’s opéra-ballet Pygmalion, and the St. Matthew Fugue that are a clear homage to Bach; “Wachet auf” and Fugue
Passion. For more information, visit www.dallasbach.org. in F Major by Johan Gottfried Walther; and the Suite in C Mi-
nor by Conrad Friedrich Hurlebusch, also a world premiere re-
Under the direction of Cantor Rick Erickson, Bach Vespers at cording. This CD is available on-line at www.amazon.com or
Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in New York City entered its www.vaimusic.com.
thirty-ninth season this fall, continuing its tradition of perform-
ing Bach’s cantatas on the Sunday for which they were written in The Bach Collegium—Ft. Wayne (IN), under the direction of
the proper liturgical context. On two Sundays, Michael Maris- Daniel Reuning, announces its fifth anniversary season, which
sen will offer a Pre-Vespers Talk on the cantata to be performed. will include a lecture/demonstration of “Bach’s ‘Well-Ordered’
On the First Sunday of Advent he will speak on “The Religious Music” featuring Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn, BWV 23,
Erotic in Bach’s Cantata 140,” and on Sexagesima his subject as well as performances of the “Coffee Cantata,” BWV 211, and
will be “Luther’s Harsh Language in Bach’s Cantata 126.” For the Mass in B minor, BWV 232. For more information, visit
more details on Bach Vespers, visit www.bachvespersnyc.org. www.bachcollegium.org.

Performing on period instruments, Publick Musick Orchestra George Ritchie’s recording of the complete organ works of J.
and Choir, lead by Thomas Folan, has just released a recording S. Bach, performed on nine historically-inspired American pipe
of Bach’s Missae Breves, BWV 233-236. This CD is available at organs, has been released as an eleven-CD set on the Raven label
www.musicaomnia.org (Cat. # 0203). (Raven OAR-875). The registration for each work is included as
well as photographs and stoplists of each organ. Included with
Carolina Baroque, under the leadership of Dale Higbee, opened the set are six essays by George Stauffer on the musical style
its nineteenth season in October with “Handel at the Opera and milieu. Ritchie is professor emeritus and retired head of the
House.” The season is rounded out by two subsequent con- organ department at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. This
certs entitled “18th Century Genius: Bach, Handel & Mozart” set is available at RavenCD.com, through the Organ Historical
and “Handel in Italy.” For more information on the upcoming Society, and at record stores.
season as well as Carolina Baroque’s latest recording, “Music’s
Golden Age: Bach, Handel & Mozart,” visit www.carolinaba- For a dozen years Curt Sather has played a recital at St. Barn-
roque.org. abas Episcopal Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, to celebrate J. S.
Bach’s birthday. On March 21, 2006, in commemoration of the
Jan-Piet Knijff acted as consultant for the recent renovation of composer’s 321st birtday, Sather played Bach’s complete organ
the Maynard-Walker Memorial Organ at the Aaron Copland works on a twenty-three-hour marathon recital. Over 500 peo-
School of Music, Queens College/CUNY, where he is college ple visited the church throughout the day to listen to the pro-

No. 6 B ACH • N OTES

17

gram, which began at 1:00 a.m. and finished at 12:00 midnight.

Dr. Sather is currently in residence at the Benedictine monastery
of San Miniato al Monte in Florence, Italy, where he plays daily
Bach-Jahrbuch 2006
recitals on the 3-manual mechanical action Tamburini organ. (Contents)
During 2006 David Schulenberg saw the publication of a Andreas Glöckner (Leipzig), Alumnen und Externe in den Kantoreien der
thoroughly �updated and revised second edition of his book The Thomasschule zur Zeit Bachs
Keyboard Music of J. �S. Bach by Routledge Press. His edition
Ernst Koch (Leipzig), „Jakobs Kirche“ – Erkundungen im gottesdienstli-
of twenty-four keyboard �sonatas by C. P. E. Bach, including
chen Arbeitsfeld Johann Sebastian Bachs in Weimar
the “Probestücke,” was also published this year as part of Carl
Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Complete Works.Works. �Schulenberg also Markus Rathey (New Haven, CT), Zur Datierung einiger Vokalwerke
read a paper entitled “Fugues and Fingering: Scales and �Other Bachs in den Jahren 1707 und 1708
Technical Devices in Bach’s Contrapuntal Works” at the
Maria Hübner (Leipzig), Neues zu Johann Sebastian Bachs Reisen nach
New �England Chapter Meeting of the American Musicological Karlsbad
Society at �Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island (Sept.
30, 2006). The paper was �followed by an all-Bach harpsichord Michael Maul (Leipzig), Überlegungen zu einer Magnificat-Paraphrase
und dem Leiter der Leipziger Kantatenaufführungen im Sommer 1725
recital that included J. S. Bach’s Partita in E minor, BWV 830,
and Capriccio sopra la �lontananza del suo fratello dilettisimo,
dilettisimo Karol Berger (Stanford, CA), Die beiden Arten von Da-Capo-Arie in der
BWV 992, and C. P. E. Bach’s Prussian Sonata No. 6, H 29. Matthäus-Passion
On n �the opening concert of the 27th Symposium on Musical In-
Daniel R. Melamed (Bloomington, IN), Hat Johann Sebastian Bach die
strument Building �at Michaelstein, Germany (Oct. 6, 2006), he
Lukas-Passion BWV 246 aufgeführt?
was joined by Mary Oleskiewicz in a performance of the recent-
ly identified Flute Sonata in E minor by W. F. Bach; an earlier Anselm Hartinger (Leipzig/Basel), Materialien und Überlegungen zu den
broadcast �performance on flute and clavichord can be heard on- Bach-Aufführungen August Eberhard Müllers
line at �http://www.wgbh.org/webcasts/command, along with
Uwe Wolf (Leipzig), Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach und der „Münter-Jahr-
performances of J. S. Bach’s Flute Sonata �in G minor, BWV gang“ von Georg Anton Benda
1020, and other works.�
Christine Blanken (Leipzig), Zur Werk- und Überlieferungsgeschichte des
Magnificat Wq 215 von Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
Christoph Wolff has been awarded the first annual Royal Acad-
emy of Music Bach Prize. Established by the Kohn Founda- Paul Corneilson (Cambridge, MA), Zur Entstehungs- und Aufführungsge-
tion and presented by the Royal Academy of Music, this prize schichte von Carl Philipp Emanuel Bachs „Heilig“
is �awarded to an individual who has made an outstanding con-
Kleine Beiträge
tribution to the �performance and/or scholarly study of the mu-
sic of Johann Sebastian Bach. The prize was presented to Wolff Ludwig Häfner (Bad Berka), Neue Erkenntnisse zur „Berkaer
in the Academy’s David �Josefowitz Recital Hall on October Bach-Orgel“
16, 2006, and was accompanied by performances by John Butt
Christoph Öhm-Kühnle (Herrenberg), Zum Notentext der Suite e-Moll
(Glasgow University) and Laurence Dreyfus (Oxford Universi-
(BWV 996) – Eine textkritische Untersuchung der Abschrift von Heinrich
ty), both of whom also served on the selection committee. Wolff Nikolaus Gerber
also gave a talk on recent Bach discoveries.
Uwe Wolf (Leipzig), Zur Bläserbesetzung der Kantate „Es ist nichts Ge-
sundes an meinem Leibe“ BWV 25

Directions to Contributors
ontributors Christoph Henzel (Rostock/Berlin), Vogler – Zelter – Bach. Zu einem au-
tographen Brieffragment Carl Philipp Emanuel Bachs

Besprechungen
Bach Notes is published twice yearly (Spring
Spring and Fall and
mailed to all members and subscribers. Submissions for the Vom Klang der Zeit. Besetzung, Bearbeitung und Aufführungspraxis bei
Johann Sebastian Bach. Klaus Hofmann zum 65. Geburtstag, hrsg. von Ul-
Spring
pring 2007 issue are due by January 31, 2007, and should be
rich Bartels und Uwe Wolf, Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 2004. 199 S.
in Microsoft Word, employ endnotes, and follow the stylistic (Markus Rathey, New Haven, CT)
guidelines of The Chicago Manual of Style (15th ed.). Email
submissions (much preferred) should be sent to bachnotes@ Lucia Haselböck, Bach Textlexikon. Ein Wörterbuch der religiösen Sprach-
bilder im Vokalwerk von Johann Sebastian Bach, Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2004.
americanbachsociety.org and submissions on compact disc
225 S. (Markus Rathey, New Haven, CT)
(CD), with hard copy, may be mailed to Reginald L. Sanders,
Department of Music, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH 43022. Neue Bach-Gesellschaft e.V. Leipzig
Mitglieder der leitenden Gremien

B ACH • N OTES Fall 2006

18

along with the entire northeast, was engulfed in ice and all
Alfred Mann (1917-2006) airports were closed, preventing Board members from attend-
ing the event. But Alfred, determined to bring the project to a
A Personal Reminiscence timely conclusion, managed to book a flight to Newark later in
the day to deliver the advance copy to Judith McCartin (now
Judith Scheide) at the airport before immediately returning to
Rochester on the next flight. Here is an excerpt from the letter
he wrote to Bill a few days later:

In one of many anxious telephone communi-

cations of recent days, I asked Ray Robinson
[co-editor of the volume with Paul Brainard],
“On what day of January is Bill’s birth-
day?” And he said: “Am Dreikönigstag!”
Well–-sie sind nicht alle aus Saba gekommen:
they started out from Connecticut, Florida,
Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and upper New
York State (though some of them, like the one
from the latter place of departure, didn’t make
it all the way.) But what they had to bring was
infinitely more precious than gold, myrrh and
frankincense.

The “printed word” was clearly one of Alfred’s passions, and

his mastery of the English language, including his infallible
sense of choosing the right word or turn of phrase, is seen in
his own publications—Study of Fugue is now considered a clas-
sic—as well as in the papers and communications he wrote as
secretary. Moreover, during the years that the Chapter/Society
collaborated with the Riemenschneider Institute in publish-
ing the journal Bach (1989-1993), Alfred’s editorial hand was
invaluable, as was his consummate skill as a translator. He not
Alfred Mann, who died September 21, 2006, served as the
only rendered masterful translations of German articles sub-
guiding spirit of our Society from its founding in 1972 as the
mitted to Bach, but also simultaneously translated papers read
American Chapter of the Neue Bachgesellschaft until his retire-
in German at meetings of the Chapter/Society. During the last
ment in 1992. In his position as secretary, Alfred took an active
decades of his life, spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, he continued
role in recruiting members from among his academic colleagues
to relish the opportunity to take on a translation project and
and fellow musicians, and in arranging for professional meet-
was delighted when asked to do so by an American or German
ings to be held on a regular basis (originally every three years),
colleague.
beginning with the first meeting of the Chapter at the Moravian
Seminary in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in 1976.
Along with writing, editing, translating, and teaching—his last
academic appointment was as professor of musicology at the
Eschewing the “new technology,” Alfred carried out the busi-
Eastman School of Music––Alfred was also active as a conduc-
ness of the Chapter by telephone or handwritten notes. A tele-
tor. I recall his exhilarating performance of the Bach motet
phone call from Alfred, invariably coming late in the evening,
Singet dem Herrn at the Chapter’s meeting in Rochester in 1982.
meant at least an hour of discussion devoted to a host of issues.
I was also in the audience in Berlin in August 1976 when Alfred,
A note, written in Alfred’s elegant hand, conveyed his thanks
as the director of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, conducted a
or appreciation or, on occasion, offered his ironic and often
performance of the Mass in B Minor in the Philharmonie as part
humorous account of an event that had not gone as planned. In
of the 51st International Bach Festival. (Two days later, Alfred
January 1994, for instance, the Society had arranged to celebrate
led a program of motets and organ works at the Thomaskirche
Bill Scheide’s eightieth birthday with a luncheon in Princeton
in Leipzig.) Welcoming Alfred and the choir to Berlin were the
at which Bill would be presented with an advance copy of A
city’s mayor and representatives to the Neue Bachgesellschaft.
Bach Tribute, a volume of essays sponsored by the Society
I could not help but observe what a remarkable event it was,
and published in his honor. Alfred, who had been intimately
not only for the Berliners but even more so for Alfred, who
involved with the collection from inception to completion, was
was conducting in the city where he had studied and taught
to present the volume to Bill. On the appointed day, Princeton,

No. 6 B ACH • N OTES

19

before fleeing the Nazi regime in the late 1930s and emigrating
to America with his mother, Edith Weiss Mann (1888-1951).

When Alfred retired as secretary in 1992, the Chapter he had

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
been instrumental in founding had became a nationally rec-
ognized Society with the status of a non-profit organization
and membership numbering over 200. On the occasion of his In the aftermath of what was a most successful
retirement, Alfred, fittingly, was named an honorary member meeting of the Society this past May in Leipzig,
of the Society, as well as an honorary member of the Neue
Bachgesellschaft, only one of three Americans so designated.
I want to inform you of two important develop-
Those of us who are Society members, along with all who study ments in the affairs of the Society having to do
and perform Bach’s music, will remain indebted to Alfred for with our publications. Because of the need to
his unflagging devotion to “preserving and fostering the music bring out our yearbook in a more timely fashion,
of J.S. Bach.” we made the decision to appoint a member of the
Don O. Franklin
Society to act as liaison between the publisher,
(Don Franklin served as chapter representative to the Neue University of Illinois Press, and the editors of
Bachgesellschaft and as Society vice-president from 1988-1992 individual volumes. George Stauffer of Rutgers
and president from 1992-1996.) University, past president of the Society, has
agreed to serve as our first general editor for a
term of four years. He will expedite and oversee
the publication not only of Bach Perspectives but
also of the Society’s publications as a whole. We
Forty-Five Members and Scholars welcome him in his new office.
Attend the Society’s
Biennial Meeting at the Further, I am pleased to announce that an anony-
Bach-Archiv, Leipzig, Germany mous benefactor has made an important dona-
tion to the Society for the purpose of setting up
a publications fund. I want to extend our thanks
“Bach Crossing Borders”� was the theme of the Society’s to this generous donor and at the same time to
fourteenth biennial meeting, which was held for the first
urge you, the membership, to donate to the new
time outside the United States at the Bach-Archiv, Leipzig,
fund. Donations made by check payable to the
Germany, from May 11-13, 2006. The meeting featured a
keynote address by Peter Wollny (who graciously substi- “American Bach Society” and earmarked for the
tuted on short notice for John Butt), numerous engaging Publications Fund should be sent to:
papers, and outstanding performances at churches con-
nected with Bach in and around Leipzig (for the complete
conference program, see Bach Notes, Spring 2006). Matthew Dirst, Secretary-Treasurer
American Bach Society
The Society extends its deepest gratitude to Vice-Presi- Moores School of Music
dent Mary Dalton Greer (program chair) and to all those
120 School of Music Bldg.
who made the meeting such a tremendous success, most
University of Houston
especially Christoph Wolff and Peter Wollny, as well as
Bach-Archiv staff members Anselm Hartinger and Miriam Houston, TX 77204-4017
Grabowski.

The Society’s fifteenth biennial meeting will be held in

Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, from May 8-10, 2008. For more Gregory Butler
details, see the back cover of this issue of Bach Notes.

B ACH • N OTES Fall 2006

20

CALL FOR PAPERS THE AMERICAN BACH SOCIETY

American Bach Society’s
Fifteenth Biennial Meeting OFFICERS
Gregory G. Butler
Butler, President (University of British
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Columbia)
Mary Dalton Greer, Vice-President
May 8–10, 2008 Matthew C. Dirst, Secretary-Treasurer (University
of Houston)
George B. Stauffer, General Editor (Rutgers
University)
The theme of the meeting will be “Bach and the Oratorio Tradition.” The conference will take
Reginald L. Sanders, Editor, Bach Notes (Kenyon
place in conjunction with the 2008 Bethlehem Bach Festival and will include lectures and perfor- College)
mances, as well as excursions to points of interest in the vicinity of Bethlehem. Proposals on all
aspects of Bach research are invited, but of particular interest are those that focus on the confer-
ence theme. A one-page, double-spaced abstract should be submitted, preferably as an e-mail ADVISORY BOARD
attachment, by September 1, 2007, to: James Buswell (New England Conservatory)
Don O. Franklin (University of Pittsburgh)
Greg Funfgeld (Bethlehem Bach Choir)
Mary Dalton Greer Walter B. Hewlett (Center for Computer-Assisted
Chair, Program Committee, ABS Meeting 2008 Research in Humanities)
3 Channing Place Robin A. Leaver (Westminster Choir College of
Cambridge, MA 02138-3306 USA Rider University)
[email protected]; fax (617) 576-0038 Robert Levin (Harvard University)
Joan Lippincott (Westminster Choir College of
Rider University)
George Ritchie (University of Nebraska/ Lincoln)
Kenneth Slowik (Smithsonian Institution)
Kerala J. Snyder (Eastman School of Music)
Contributors to this Issue George B. Stauffer (Rutgers University)
Jeanne R. Swack (University of Wisconsin)
Melvin Unger (Riemenschneider Bach Institute)
Ulrich Leisinger received his doctorate from the University of Heidelberg in 1992 and
Allan Vogel (Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra)
subsequently worked for many years at the Bach-Archiv Leipzig. He is currently the director Christoph Wolff (Harvard University)
of the research department at the Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum in Salzburg and also
the executive director of both the Digital Mozart Edition, which will be published by the
Mozarteum Foundation and the Packard Humanities Institute, and the Neue Mozart- EDITORIAL BOARD
Ausgabe. Leisinger is a member of the editorial board of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Gregory G. Butler (University of British Columbia)
Complete Works, and serves as series editor for the vocal works. His edition of Dank-Hymne Stephen A. Crist (Emory University)
der Freundschaft, H 824e (CPEB:CW V/5), has just been released. His current projects Don O. Franklin (University of Pittsburgh)
Robin A. Leaver (Westminster Choir College of
include a study of the Viennese reception of the Mass in B Minor and a thematic catalogue of
Rider University)
the works of Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795). Michael Marissen (Swarthmore College)
Daniel R. Melamed (Indiana University)
Evan Scooler received his Ph.D. in musicology from Brandeis University in 2003. His George B. Stauffer (Rutgers University)
dissertation, “Function Following Form: J. S. Bach’s Changing Conception of the ‘Great Russell Stinson (Lyon College)
Eighteen’ Organ Preludes,” investigates the liturgical designs of the collection and reexamines Christoph Wolff (Harvard University)
the sources and Bach’s revisions. Since 2002 he has taught in the Boston area at Emmanuel
College and Boston University.
Visit the Societyʼs website at
Jeanne Swack is professor of musicology and Jewish studies at the University of Wisconsin- www.americanbachsociety.org for links to
Madison, where she also teaches traverso and directs the Early Music Ensemble. Her festivals and other websites of interest.
work centers on the music of Telemann, Bach, and anti-Semitism in musical texts. She was
MEMBERSHIP INFORMATION
awarded the Society’s Scheide Prize in 1994, and her scholarship has appeared in numerous Founded in 1972 as a chapter of the Neue
publications, including the Journal of the American Musicological Society and Early Music. Her Bachgesellschaft, the American Bach Society is
contributions to the field also include a complete scholarly edition of Telemann’s cantata cycle dedicated to promoting the study and performance
Fortsetzung des harmonischen Gottes-Dienstes, and her book, Composition and Performance of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. Annual dues
in the Music of Georg Philipp Telemann, is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. are $40 ($25 for students). Membership information
and application materials are available online at
Yo Tomita is reader in the School of Music & Sonic Arts at Queen’s University Belfast, www.americanbachsociety.org. Interested persons
may also contact Matthew Dirst, ABS Secretary-
Northern Ireland. His main research interest is the sources to Bach’s The Well-Tempered
Treasurer, Moores School of Music, 120 School of
Clavier, Book II. Three of his most recent articles are included in The English Bach Awak- Music Bldg., University of Houston, Houston, TX
ening: Knowledge of J. S. Bach and his Music in England 1750-1830, ed. Michael Kassler 77204-4017, USA.
(Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004). Among his forthcoming publications is a new edition of The
Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II (G. Henle Verlag, 2007). ® 2006 by The American Bach Society
All rights reserved

No. 6 B ACH • N OTES