JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
ALSO BY CHRISTOPH WOLFF
BOOKS
Der Stile antico in der Musik Johann Sebastian Bachs
Bach-Studien: Gesammelte Reden und Aufsätze von Friedrich Smend (ed.)
The String Quartets of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven: Studies of the Autograph Manuscripts (ed.)
The New Grove Bach Family
Bach-Bibliographie: Nachdruck der Verzeichnisse des Schrifttums über Johann Sebastian Bach (ed.)
Orgel, Orgelmusik, und Orgelspiel: Festschrift Michael Schneider zum 75. Geburtstag (ed.)
Bach Compendium: analytisch-bibliographisches Repertorium der Werke Johann Sebastian Bachs (co-ed.)
A Life for New Music: Selected Papers of Paul Fromm (ed.)
Johann Sebastian Bachs Spätwerk und dessen Umfeld: Perspektiven und Probleme (ed.)
Johann Sebastian Bach und der süddeutsche Raum: Aspekte der Wirkungsgeschichte Bachs (co-ed.)
Bach: Essays on His Life and Music
Mozart’s Requiem: Historical and Analytical Studies, Documents, Score
The World of the Bach Cantatas (ed.)
The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents (co-ed.)
Driven into Paradise: The Musical Migration from Nazi Germany to the United States (co-ed.)
Über Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke: Aspekte musikalischer Biographie (ed.)
Die Gegenwart der musikalischen Vergangenheit: Meisterwerke in der Dirigentenwerkstatt (ed.)
EDITIONS OF WORKS BY BACH
The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080; Fourteen Canons, BWV 1087; Cantatas BWV 22, 23, 127, 159, and 182; Clavier-Übung, Parts I–IV; Concerto for Two Violins, BWV 1043; Goldberg Variations, BWV 988; Kyrie, BWV 233a; Mass in B minor, BWV 232; A Musical Offering, BWV 1079; Organ Chorales from the Neumeister Collection; Works for Two Harpsichords
EDITIONS OF WORKS BY MOZART
Horn Concerto, K. 370b + 371; Piano Concertos (complete); Rondos for Piano and Orchestra, K. 382, 386; Grande sestetto concertante (arrangement of K. 364); Die neugeborne Ros’ entzückt, K. Anh. 11a
OTHER EDITIONS
Anguish of Hell and Peace of Soul: A Collection of Sixteen Motets on Psalm 116; Johann Michael Bach, The Complete Organ Chorales; Dieterich Buxtehude, The Keyboard Works; Antonio Caldara, Magnificat; Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, 24 Polonaises in All Keys; Paul Hindemith, Cardillac, Op. 39
JOHANN
SEBASTIAN
BACH
The Learned Musician
CHRISTOPH WOLFF
W • W • NORTON & COMPANY
New York • London
Copyright © 2013, 2000 by Christoph Wolff
All rights reserved
First published as a Norton paperback 2001
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wolff, Christoph
Johann Sebastian Bach: the learned musician/Christoph Wolff.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN: 978-0-393-32256-4 pbk.
1. Bach, Johann Sebastian, 1685–1750. 2. Composers—Germany—Biography. I. Title.
ML410.B1 W793 2000
780'.92—dc21
[B] 99-054364
ISBN 978-0-393-07595-3 ebook
W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110
www.wwnorton.com
W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., 10 Coptic Street, London WC1A 1PU
For Barbara,
Katharina, Dorothea, and Stephanie
Contents
General Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
List of Illustrations
Preface to the Updated Edition
Preface
Prologue: Bach and the Notion of “Musical Science”
1. Springs of Musical Talent and Lifelong Influences
EISENACH, 1685–1695
Ambrosius Bach and His Family
In the Ambience of Home, Town, Court, School, and Church
2. Laying the Foundations
OHRDRUF, 1695–1700
In the Care of His Older Brother
Sebastian’s Musical Beginnings
3. Bypassing a Musical Apprenticeship
FROM LÜNEBURG TO WEIMAR, 1700–1703
Choral Scholar at St. Michael’s in Lüneburg
Böhm, Reinken, and the Celle Court Capelle
The Interim: Thuringian Opportunities
Early Musical Achievements
4. Building a Reputation
ORGANIST IN ARNSTADT AND MÜHLHAUSEN, 1703–1708
At the New Church in Arnstadt
“First Fruits” and the Buxtehude Experience
At the Blasius Church in Mühlhausen
5. Exploring “Every Possible Artistry”
COURT ORGANIST AND CAMMER MUSICUS IN WEIMAR, 1708–1714
The First Six Years at the Ducal Court
Clavier Virtuoso and Organ Expert
6. Expanding Musical Horizons
CONCERTMASTER IN WEIMAR, 1714–1717
A Career Choice
Mostly Music for “The Heaven’s Castle”
“Musical Thinking”: The Making of a Composer
High and Low Points
7. Pursuing “the Musical Contest for Superiority”
CAPELLMEISTER IN CÖTHEN, 1717–1723
Princely Patronage
Travels and Trials
A Canon of Principles, and Pushing the Limits
8. Redefining a Venerable Office
CANTOR AND MUSIC DIRECTOR IN LEIPZIG: THE 1720s
A Capellmeister at St. Thomas’s
Mostly Cantatas
“The Great Passion” and Its Context
9. Musician and Scholar
COUNTERPOINT OF PRACTICE AND THEORY
Performer, Composer, Teacher, Scholar
Music Director at the University
Professorial Colleagues and University Students
Materials and Metaphysics
10. Traversing Conventional Boundaries
SPECIAL ENGAGEMENTS: THE 1730s
At a Crossroads
Director of the Collegium Musicum and Royal Court Composer
The Clavier-Übung Project
At the Composer’s Desk
11. A Singing Bird and Carnations for the Lady of the House
DOMESTIC AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Family and Home
Balancing Official Duties and Private Business
12. Contemplating Past, Present, and Future
THE FINAL DECADE: THE 1740s
Retreat but No Rest
The Art of Fugue, the B-Minor Mass, and a Place in History
The End
Estate and Musical Legacy
Epilogue: Bach and the Idea of “Musical Perfection”
Notes
Music Examples
Appendixes
1. Chronology
2. Places of Bach’s Activities
3. Money and Living Costs in Bach’s Time
4. The Lutheran Church Calendar
Bibliography
GENERAL ABBREVIATIONS
Note: For bibliographic abbreviations, see Bibliography.
A
alto (voice)
B
bass (voice)
bc
basso continuo
bn
bassoon(s)
cemb
cembalo
cor
corno, corni
cto
continuo
D.
Do
ctor
div
divisi
fl
flute(s)
fg
fagotto, fagotti
gr.
groschen
instr
instrument(s)
M.
Magister
ob
oboe(s)
ob d’am
oboe(s) d’amore
pf.
pfennig
rec
recorder(s)
rip
ripieno, ripieni
rthl., rtl.
reichst(h)aler
S
soprano (voice)
str
strings
T
tenor (voice)
ti
timpani
thlr., tlr
thaler, taler
tr
trumpet(s)
trb
trombone(s)
trav
transverse flute(s)
v
violin(s)
va
viola(s)
va d.g.
viola(s) da gamba
va d’am
viola(s) d’amore
vc
violoncello(s)
vne
violone, violoni
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Frontispiece: Courtesy of William H. Scheide, Princeton, New Jersey; Pages 12, 52, 368, 369: Bachhaus Eisenach; 15, 128, 416: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung; 32: Evangelisch-lutherisches Pfarramt Ohrdruf; 38, 39, 452–53: Archive-Museum for Literatur and Art, Kyiv; 56: Museum für das Fürstentum Lüneburg, Lüneburg; 65: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, Hamburg; 76: Schloßmuseum, Arnstadt; 80: Evangelisch-lutherisches Pfarramt, Arnstadt; 1 104, 106: Museum am Lindenbühl, Mühlhausen; 116: Stiftung Weimarer Klassik / Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Weimar; 120, 236, 241, 320, 321, 322: Bach-Archiv Leipzig; 146, 149: Kunstsammlungen zu Weimar, Schloßmuseum, Weimar; 186, 190, 192: Bachgedenkstätte im Schloß Köthen, Köthen; 267, 268, 304: Evangelisch-lutherische Kirchengemeinde St. Thomas-Matthäi, Leipzig; 266, 4003, 404, 405(both): Stadtarchiv, Leipzig; 390: Sotheby’s Holdings, London; 340, 359: Stadtgeschichtliches Museum, Leipzig
List of Illustrations
Johann Sebastian Bach, painting by Elias Gottlob Haußmann, 1748
“Sun of Composers,” by A. F. C. Kollmann, 1799
View of Eisenach, 1650
Johann Ambrosius Bach, c. 1685
Street map of Ohrdruf, c. 1710
Johann Christoph Bach, “Meine Freundin, du bist schön,” title page, c. 1740
J. C. Bach, “Meine Freundin,” solo violin part, before 1695
Street map of Lüneburg, 1654
Interior of St. Michael’s Church at Lüneburg, c. 1700
Portrait of Buxtehude and Reinken, 1674
Panorama of Arnstadt, c. 1700
Interior of the New Church (Bachkirche) at Arnstadt, 1999
View of Mühlhausen, 1720
Interior of St. Blasius’s Church at Mühlhausen, c. 1880
The ducal palace at Weimar, c. 1760
Duke Ernst August of Saxe-Weimar, 1742
Orgel-Büchlein: “Gott durch deine Güte,” BWV 600
Interior of the Himmelsburg, c. 1660
Cross section of the Himmelsburg, c. 1660
Floor plan of the music gallery at the Himmelsburg
Street map of Cöthen, c. 1730
The princely palace in Cöthen, 1650
Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, c. 1715
Street map of Leipzig, 1723
St. Thomas Square in Leipzig, 1723
Interior of St. Thomas’s Church in Leipzig, eastward view
Interior of St. Thomas’s Church, westward view
Interior of St. Nicholas’s Church, westward view, c. 1785
The Scheibe organ at St. Paul’s (University) Church in Leipzig, 1717
Magister Johann Heinrich Ernesti, rector, c. 1720
Magister Matthias Gesner, rector, c. 1745
Magister Johann August Ernesti, rector, 1778
Panorama of Leipzig, 1712
Zimmermann’s coffeehouse in Leipzig, 1712
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, c. 1733
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, c. 1733
Watercolor of the St. Thomas School by Felix Mendelssohn, 1838
Façade of the St. Thomas School, 1732
Floor plans of the St. Thomas School
Cantor’s apartment before and after renovation, 1732
Autograph score of “Et incarnatus est” from the Mass in B minor, c. 1749
Johann Christoph Bach, “Lieber Herr Gott, wecke uns auf,” title page by J. S. Bach and taille part, 1749–50
Map showing places of Bach’s activities
Preface to the Updated Edition
Quite a few books on Johann Sebastian Bach have appeared over the past several decades and in particular on the occasion of the last jubilee year 2000. Virtually without exception, either they are devoted to describing the composer’s life and works or they clearly focus on some aspects of his music. In contrast, the present book was intended as a decidedly biographical presentation, even though the biography of a musician cannot avoid discussing musical aspects and mentioning actual works. Therefore, I had to include essential musical references, but the discussion of specifically musical facts is limited to what is most necessary, and a detailed explanation of the composer’s development and musical language is consciously omitted. Instead, the intention was and remains to update the current state of knowledge—what we know about Bach’s life and the more immediate context of his being and his workings—which has not been done since Philipp Spitta, that is, for well over 125 years. For this purpose, as many accessible source materials as possible were taken into account and evaluated, but discussing them all, with their often varied interpretations of events, had to be passed up.
The bibliography at the end of the book makes this aim clear, even though the preface to the first edition did not say so explicitly. I have been asked repeatedly why Albert Schweitzer’s Bach book of 1908, by far the most widespread and influential work ever on the composer, is not cited in the bibliography. The answer is both simple and unapologetic, because in no way does it involve neglect. Schweitzer, as a declared Wagnerian, given the impermanence of his insights for understanding Bach’s expressive musical language, in fact contributed weightily, and thereby essentially dislodged Spitta. However, that certainly does not apply to the area of biography; in that regard, he not only depended on Spitta but also lagged behind him in many ways. On the whole, Spitta’s biographical sketch gave authoritative direction for the twentieth century within the framework of a wonderful presentation of Bach’s life and work. This orientation also pertains especially to Spitta’s emphatic avoidance regarding the human side of Bach, which is difficult to approach and so is usually neglected. Therefore, this book offers an attempt, not restricted to a small part (such as chapter 11), to diminish slightly the prevailing abstract view of Bach.
Only in writing this book, and even more pointedly in the aftermath, did it become clear to me how much the late eighteenth-century tradition of understanding Bach as a musical cult figure goes back to the composer’s apparent furtherance and propagation of his self-image. In the end, what we know today is that Bach was a highly self-conscious man—one who was seemingly not shy about styling himself as a kind of star in his surroundings and in the circle of his students. The question of how much the basis for the picture of musical genius—for the view of the unchanging uniqueness of his art—goes back to Bach himself I have pursued elsewhere.* Most of all, the retrospective portrayals in the Obituary, which go back to Bach’s own reports, offer discernible traces in this regard (cf. the typical opinion of Reinken in his view of Bach’s historic mission, pp. 212–13), as does Bach’s establishment of his historical place in the framework of the family genealogy and the Old-Bach Archive (pp. 420ff.).
It speak
s to the vitality of a branch of research when, in the space of roughly a decade, new knowledge has been uncovered that proves relevant to the biographical representation. Considering the ongoing systematic research in central German church, state, and communal archives that has been undertaken by the Leipzig Bach Archive since 2002, we may be sure that in the future, further pertinent materials will turn up that will require future updating. All new and genuine Bach documentary material collected through 2006–07 has now been published by the Bach Archive in volume V of the Bach-Dokumente series: Dokumente zu Leben, Werk und Nachwirken Johann Sebastian Bachs, 1685–1800, ed. Hans-Joachim Schulze (Kassel, 2007).
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