4. BD II, no. 278.
5. Spitta II, p. 256.
6. NBR, no. 152.
7. NBR, no. 121.
8. Franz Keßler, “Freißlich,” MGG 16: cols. 355–358.
9. NBR, no. 151, p. 150.
10. Minutes of the meeting in NBR, no. 150.
11. BD II, no. 282.
12. Spitta II, p. 242.
13. Gesner wrote a new set of school regulations, Gesetze der Schule zu St. Thomae (Leipzig, 1733), which contained a separate section on music and illuminates his interest in musical education and practice; Thomana Ordnungen, pp. 22–23.
14. BDII, no. 291; Braun 1995, p. 58.
15. NBR, no. 328. As for the hypothetical postulation of different and much smaller numbers, see my brief comments in Early Music, 26 (1998): 540 and 27 (1999): 172.
16. NBR, no. 151, p. 147.
17. Leipzig town musicians received an annual salary of 42 florins and free housing, adding up to about 50 talers; see Richter 1907, p. 36.
18. NBR, no. 151, p. 150.
19. Johann Friedrich Köhler, after 1776; BD III, p. 315.
20. BD II, no. 355.
21. NBR, no. 183.
22. According to the school regulations, the cantor was regularly assisted by three prefects from the Sunday after Easter through the first Sunday in Advent and by four prefects during the busy season from Christmas through Easter.
23. NBR, nos. 181–186, 192–196; for an analysis of the affair pertaining to the school regulations, see Thomana Ordnungen, Nachwort (Schulze), pp. 2–3.
24. Johann August Abraham (baptized November 5, 1733) and Johann Christian (baptized September 7, 1735).
25. NBR, no. 196.
26. NBR, no. 180.
27. NBR, no. 130.
28. In Johann Mattheson, Grosse General-Baß-Schule (Hamburg, 1731), p. 173.
29. Glöckner, WBK 3: 106f.
30. Ibid., p. 111.
31. NBR, no. 186, p. 184.
32. NBR, no. 132.
33. NBR, no. 315.
34. Connections with the Collegium predated Bach’s Leipzig years. In Cöthen, Bach performed with Gottfried Riemschneider (member of the Collegium under Hoffmann) and with Johann Gottfried Vogler, director of the Collegium, 1716–18. Moreover, it is conceivable that Bach performed at Collegium concerts during visits to Leipzig from Cöthen.
35. NBR, no. 187.
36. NBR, no. 207.
37. Neumann 1960, pp. 6f.
38. In 1737–39, Bach was involved with Clavier-Übung III, the Eighteen Chorales, The Well-Tempered Clavier II, and other projects, apart from his regular Sunday and feast day performance schedule.
39. NBR, no. 346.
40. BD II, no. 457.
41. Rudolf Eller, “Leipzig,” MGG 8: col. 555. The Grand Concerts were the immediate forerunner of the Gewandhaus concerts that began in 1781.
42. After 1743, the Grand Concerts presented Passion oratorios regularly during Lent; the Riemer chronicle mentions, for example, the performance on March 31, 1749, of a “passionalisches Oratorium” for an audience of more than three hundred (Wustmann 1889, p. 430). It seems likely that Bach’s performances of works that did not meet the liturgical requirements for the Leipzig main churches, such as Handel’s Brockes Passion (1746–47), a Keiser-Handel Passion pasticcio (1747–49), a Passion oratorio by Graun (~1750), and a Graun-Telemann-Bach-Kuhnau-Altnickol Passion pasticcio (before 1750), were presented at the Grand Concerts. See Glöckner 1977, p. 107.
43. NBR, no. 197.
44. Glöckner 1990, pp. 89f.
45. See Ranft, BzBf 6: 10. Bach lent Büchner the parts of a solo cantata (probably BWV82); NBR, no. 219.
46. Glöckner 1981, pp. 68ff.
47. BD II, no. 425.
48. After Carl Gotthelf Gerlach’s death in 1761, the Leipzig printer Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf acquired his extensive music library, which formed the early nucleus of Breitkopf’s music business. Since Gerlach seems to have functioned for a long time as the Collegium’s librarian, the Breitkopf music catalogues published from 1762 may give a reasonable overview not only of what was available in Leipzig by that time (even though the Gerlach provenance is not always clear) but also what was likely to be performed at the Collegium series from the 1720s on.
49. See BC G 46.
50. See Wolff, Essays, Chapter 17.
51. NBR, nos. 172 and 201.
52. See BC I/4, pp. 1487–1500.
53. NBR, no. 173.
54. Ibid.
55. A sole example of an outdoor processional piece by Bach has survived in the Marche of cantata BWV 207.
56. BD II, no. 352, p. 251.
57. NBR, p. 461.
58. Dreyfus 1987, p. 60. Ulrich Leisinger (private communication) suggests a performance of Jahrgang II, 1732–33, up to the state mourning period (February 15), and the composition of new chorale cantatas for 1734–35.
59. Princess Maria Amalia, born in 1724, stood out as a particularly accomplished performer on the keyboard.
60. Fürstenau 1862, pp. 180f.
61. Single Sanctus settings (from 1720s) appended, for completion of Latin repertoire:
BWV 237
Sanctus in C major
SATB, 3tr/ti, 2ob, str, bc
1723 (St. John’s Day, June 24)
BWV 238
Sanctus in D major
SATB, str, bc
1723 (Christmas Day)
BWV 232III
Sanctus in D major
SSSATB, 3tr/ti, 3ob,
1724 (Christmas str, bc Day)
62. NBR, no. 307.
63. Horn 1987, p. 121.
64. Aside from the Magnificat, his Latin pieces consisted solely of individual Sanctus settings he needed in 1723–24 for the main services on high feast days in Leipzig. For the concerted Kyrie and Gloria likewise required for Leipzig (Table 8.3), he usually turned to works by other composers. For the Leipzig repertoire of the 1720s (which included works by Johann Christoph Pez and Johann Hugo von Wilderer), see Wolff 1968, pp. 159–72, and Beißwenger 1992.
65. The more private but also suspended Collegium concert series was permitted to start earlier, on July 17, 1733; NBR, no. 160.
66. See the report in the Riemer chronicle, Wustmann 1889, 2:286–89.
67. Facsimile edition, with a commentary by Hans-Joachim Schulze (Leipzig, 1983).
68. NBR, no. 161, with facsimile of the title wrapper.
69. Facsimile, BJ 1994: 11. In exact juxtaposition, the two dedications read:
bezeigte mit inliegender
Bezeigte in einer
MISSA
CANTATA
seine unterthänigste Devotion
seine unterthänigste Devotion
der Autor
Johann Sebastian Bach
J. S. Bach
For similar dedications, see BD II, nos. 221, 402.
70. St. Sophia’s was the church generally frequented by the Lutheran court officials. In 1737, the Lutheran court service was officially moved there after the old palace church had been converted into apartments.
71. The coronation as king of Poland would take place on January 17, 1734.
72. NBR, no. 162.
73. BDI, p. 75.
74. BDI, no. 36.
75. NBR, no. 190.
76. NBR, no. 191.
77. It is also possible that BWV 906 was added to the library at a later point. See commentary by Hans-Joachim Schulze, facsimile edition of BWV 906 (Leipzig, 1984).
78. Ibid., pp. 6f.
79. Handel’s Organ Concertos Op. 4 (1738) and Op. 7 (1761), originally performed by the composer during oratorio intermissions, reflect a similar idea but don’t develop a comparable kind of concerto structure and texture.
80. See Stauffer 1996, p. 1.
81. NBR, no. 179.
82. For the printing history and other details, see the commentary to the facsimile edition of the entire Clavier-Übung, ed. Christoph Wolff (Leipzig, 1984).
83. BD II, no.
224.
84. NBR, no. 343.
85. NBR, no. 331.
86. The revision of the Eighteen Chorales, largely during the years 1739–42, may have been prompted by Clavier-Übung III.
87. Dorian: “Wir glauben all an einen Gott” “Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam” “Vater unser im Himmelreich” “Jesus Christus, unser Heiland.” Phrygian: “Kyrie, Gott Vater” (three strophes); “Aus tiefer Not.” Mixolydian: “Dies sind die heilgen zehn Gebot.” In his discussion of Clavier-Übung III, Johann Philipp Kirnberger stressed in 1771 that “the most delicate of modern composers, J. S. Bach, considered it necessary to know the method of composing in the old church modes” (BD III, no. 767, p. 221).
88. NBR, no. 333.
89. NBR, no. 342.
90. NBR, pp. 464–65.
91. See Wolff 1996a, pp. 119–21.
92. NBR, no. 306, p. 305.
93. Corroborated by known figures from the Musical Offering of 1747 (front matter, two hundred copies; first print run of engraved music, one hundred copies); see NBR, nos. 246, 257.
94. See NBR, no. 385.
95. NBR, pp. 474–76.
96. The “Confiteor” setting was written in the late 1740s.
97. NBR, no. 395, p. 399.
98. The high proportion of gallic acidity in Bach’s ink is primarily responsible for the phenomenon of ink bleeding through the page; this is gradually destroying the paper on which his compositions are written.
99. NBR, no. 394, p. 396.
100. A one-time contender for the Heinichen succession in Dresden; see Walther, Lexicon, p. 488.
101. NBR, no. 394, p. 397.
102. Yet another arrangement from 1736–37 transcribes the work for lute, as the opening movement of the Suite in E major, BWV 1006a.
103. BDII, no. 436.
104. NBR, no. 344, p. 343.
CHAPTER 11
1. BD IV, p. 160.
2. The portrait survives in two authentic versions. The earlier one, painted in 1746 and now at the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum in Leipzig (formerly at the St. Thomas School), suffered serious damage over the years and bears several layers of problematic restorations. The replica of 1748, which is very well preserved, is owned by William H. Scheide (of Princeton, New Jersey), who has kindly permitted me to reproduce it as a frontispiece for this book.
3. 1726–27; BD IV, p. 234.
4. MGG, vol. 11 (1963), plate 81.
5. BDI, p. 118.
6. See Odrich-Wollny 1999, no. 58.
7. Johann Elias Bach’s predecessor as tutor for the Bach children, Bernhard Dietrich Ludewig, left Leipzig in October 1737; he had studied theology at Leipzig University from 1731. In a testimonial of October 10, 1737, Bach mentioned “the diligent instruction he has given my children and the assistance he has lent to both church and other music, vocally as well as instrumentally” (NBR, no. 198). Ludewig may also have acted as private secretary.
8. NBR, no. 152.
9. NBR, no. 121.
10. On October 22, he replied via Catterfeldt (“den 22 8br. per Catterfeldt beantwortet”); see facsimile, BJ 1985: 84.
11. NBR, no. 210.
12. NBR, no. 223.
13. NBR, no. 224.
14. See facsimile edition (with afterword) of the 1725 album, ed. Georg von Dadelsen (Kassel, 1989).
15. NBR, no. 217.
16. NBR, no. 218.
17. NBR, no. 258.
18. Joint guest performance of Anna Magdalena and Johann Sebastian Bach in Cöthen, December 1725; NBR, no. 117.
19. List of Anna Magdalena Bach’s copies in Dadelsen 1957, pp. 34–37.
20. She was a close friend of Christina Sybilla Bose, ten years her junior, who died in 1749. See Schulze 1997.
21. In 1731, Anna Magdalena traveled with her husband to Kassel, where he examined the organ at St. Martin’s, an unlikely occasion for her to perform.
22. NBR, no. 152.
23. On the friendship between the two women, see Schulze 1997.
24. BD I, no. 184, p. 267; NBR, no. 303, p. 293.
25. BD II, no. 443.
26. See facsimile edition (note 14 above), pp. 68–69, and afterword, p. 13.
27. NBR, nos. 175–176.
28. BD II, no. 365.
29. NBR, no. 188.
30. NBR, no. 203.
31. BD I, p. 109.
32. NBR, no. 305.
33. Johann Pachelbel’s daughter Amalia (1688–1723) is a notable exception in an early eighteenth-century musical family. She became a successful and well-known painter and draughtswoman in Nuremberg. See Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, eds. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart, vol. 25. Leipzig, 1932, p. 120.
34. Facsimile edition (New York, 1979); see also Chapter 2.
35. BDI, nos. 25–26.
36. See the commentary (by H.-J. Schulze) to the facsimile edition of the autograph fair copy of BWV 541 (Leipzig, 1996), p. 5.
37. Reference in C. P. E. Bach’s autobiographical sketch (1773), facsimile ed., ed. William S. Newman (Hilversum, 1967).
38. NBR, no. 267. C. P. E. Bach dedicated his Trios, Wq 161 (1751), to Count Wilhelm.
39. BD I, p. 124.
40. NBR, no. 184, pp. 180f.
41. A description probably from the circle of C. P. E. Bach: Hilgenfeldt 1850, p. 172 (see also Schulze 1984a, p. 19).
42. NBR, no. 409; see also BD III, commentary to no. 973. Christian Fürchtegott Gellert was from 1745 professor of poetics at Leipzig University. Cramer knew well of the existence of the Bückeburg Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach but did not consider him to be in the same league as the others and omits him from the count of Bach’s sons.
43. The St. Thomas School records are missing from 1739, and therefore nothing is known about Christian's progress in school. Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, however, matriculated at Leipzig University in 1749, which suggests that he had graduated from the Thomana earlier that year. BD II, no. 628, p. 504. On the gift of instruments to Christian, see Chapter 12, “Estate and Musical Legacy.”
44. Inventories from 1789 and 1823; see Fröde 1983 and Braun 1995. Earlier descriptions (by Richter and Terry, also in BD IV, p. 246) are misleading and erroneous.
45. BD II, nos. 291, 296, and 308. The school construction project was first discussed in June 1730 and decided on in September of the same year.
46. Wilhelm Friedemann’s exercise books were found in a closet of this room when the school was torn down in 1902; see BD IV, no. 266.
47. NBR, no. 279, p. 253.
48. BD II, nos. 602–603.
49. Christoph Daniel Ebeling writing in 1773, based on information provided by C. P. E. Bach (BD III, no. 777, p. 250).
50. After Bach’s death, Müthel continued his studies with Altnickol in Naumburg. In May 1751, he and Anna Magdalena Bach served as godparents to Altnickol’s daughter Augusta Magdalena; BDIII, no. 640.
51. NBR, no. 312b.
52. See NBR, p. 315.
53. NBR, no. 395, p. 400.
54. NBR, no. 359.
55. NBR, no. 395, pp. 400, 461.
56. NBR, no. 303, p. 290.
57. NBR, p. 460.
58. NBR, no. 209.
59. NBR, no. 279.
60. Thomana Ordnungen, pp. 27–32; adapted from the summary in Terry 1928, p. 170.
61. Gesner, in his revised school regulations of 1733, writes that singing after mealtime would contribute to the students’ health and well-being (Thomana Ordnungen, p. 16).
62. This pattern was by no means unique. When in 1767 C. P. E. Bach was appointed cantor at the Hamburg Johanneum, the school board urged him to “hold the singing lessons according to the school regulations which Telemann, in an irresponsible way, neglected throughout his tenure” (Miesner 1929, p. 118).
63. See Marshall 1972, pp. 63–68.
64. A later version (c. 1746–47) used stationary instruments: 2 litui, 3 oboes, bassoon, strings, and continuo.
65. NBR, no. 250.
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66. NBR, no. 279; BDII, no. 628, p. 504. Plausible arguments relate the large harpsichord in the Berlin Instrument Collection, built by Johann Heinrich Harrass, to the Bach estate; see Krickeberg 1996.
67. NBR, no. 256.
68. NBR, no. 140, pertaining to the first installment of Walther’s Lexicon, published in 1728.
69. BD II, nos. 527–529, 567–568, 363, 373, 492.
70. BD III, p. 638.
71. In 1728, Nicolaus Bach delivered two such instruments to a Hungarian nobleman; the instruments must have been small, because together they cost only 8 talers (BJ 1989: 214).
72. NBR, no. 358e.
73. Unlike other keyboard experts of the time, Bach paid attention not only to mechanical and acoustical details but also to ergonomic aspects of keyboard design. As Agricola relates: “The semitones must anyway be a little narrower at the top than at the bottom. That is how the late Capellmeister Bach required them to be, and he, for the above-mentioned reasons [the player can go from one manual to the other with much more ease], also liked short keys on the organ.” NBR, no. 358c.
74. NBR, no. 358d.
75. NBR, p. 429.
76. See Drüner 1987; Smith 1998.
77. NBR, no. 364.
78. Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach served as godparents to children of Hoffmann’s sisters (see BD II, nos. 275, 449); in 1743, both Bach and Hoffmann were godfathers to Johann Sebastian Weyrauch, son of the notary public and lutenist Johann Christian Weyrauch of Leipzig.
79. BD II, no. 272; see also Kröhner 1988.
80. BD II, nos. 573, 613/613a.
81. NBR, nos. 37, 75, 110.
82. NBR, p. 436.
CHAPTER 12
1. NBR, no. 208.
2. See BC D2e. Completing the revision and copying out new performing parts within a time span of ten days would have been extremely difficult. Tying the incomplete revision of BWV 245 to the canceled 1739 performance is, therefore, not without problems.
3. Kobayashi 1988 provides a survey and chronological list of Bach’s compositional and performing activities from 1735 through the 1740s.
4. BD III, no. 703.
5. NBR, no. 306, p. 297.
6. Johann Friedrich Agricola, 1768; see BD III, no. 740.
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