Delphi Masterworks of Johann Sebastian Bach

by Peter Russell

  I have mentioned already the composers whom in his youth Bach esteemed, loved, and studied. Later, when experience ripened his critical faculty, he had other favourites, among them Imperial Kapellmeister Fux, Handel, Caldara,208 Reinhard Keiser, Hasse,209 the two Grauns,210 Telemann,211 Zelenka,212 Benda,213 etc., and, in general, the distinguished musicians at Dresden and Berlin. He was acquainted with all except the first four of those I mention. In his youth Bach was intimate with Telemann.214 He also had a very warm regard for Handel and often expressed a desire to know him. As Handel, like himself, was a famous performer on the Organ and Clavier, many in Leipzig and its neighbourhood wished to bring the two great men together. But Handel, then living in London, never found time for a meeting during the visits he paid to Halle, his native town. On his first visit in 1719, Bach was at Cöthen, only some twenty miles distant. As soon as he was informed of Handel’s arrival he lost not a moment in setting out to visit him, but on his arrival found that Handel had returned to England. At the time of Handel’s second visit, between 1730 and 1740,215 Bach was prevented from leaving Leipzig by indisposition. But no sooner was he advised of Handel’s arrival at Halle than he sent his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, to beg him to visit Leipzig, an invitation which Handel was unable to accept. In 1752 or 1753, when Handel paid his third visit to Germany,216 Bach was dead. He had always expressed the strongest desire to know Handel, and the Leipzig people were disappointed in their wish to hear the two great men together.

  While Hasse was Kapellmeister at Dresden both the Opera and Kapelle flourished. Bach had many friends at Dresden, who held him in high regard. Among them may be mentioned Hasse and his wife, the celebrated Faustina.217 They often visited Leipzig and were admirers of the Cantor’s rare talents. Hence, at Dresden he was always received in the most respectful manner and often visited the Opera, generally accompanied by his eldest son. When the time for their journey approached Bach would say in fun, “Well, Friedemann, shall we go to Dresden to hear the pretty tunes218 again?” Innocent as the jest was, I am sure Bach would not have uttered it to any but his son, who already could distinguish between great music and agreeable trifles.

  Bach was never in a position to make what is called a brilliant fortune.219 He held a fairly lucrative office, but his income had to maintain and educate a large family. He neither possessed nor sought other means of livelihood, and was too absorbed in his art and work to think of accepting engagements which, in those days, and to a man of his genius, certainly would have brought riches. Had he possessed a taste for travel he would, as even one of his detractors admits, have “drawn upon himself the admiration of the whole world.” But he preferred a quiet domestic life, constant occupation in his work, with contentment and a moderate competence, like his forbears. His modesty, however, did hot prevent him from receiving manifold proofs of regard and affection and marks of honourable distinction. Prince Leopold of Cöthen, Duke Ernst August of Weimar,220 and Duke Christian of Weissenfels, all showed sincere regard for him, which must have been the more agreeable to him seeing that they were all sound judges of music. At Berlin, as at Dresden, he was universally honoured and respected. If we add to these testimonies the fact that he captured the admiration of all who heard him play or were acquainted with his music, then we may be sure that Bach, “singing for himself and the Muses,” received at the hands of Fame the recognition he valued most, and cherished it far more than the trivial honour of a ribbon or gold chain.

  I add that, in 1747, Bach became a member of the “Society of the Musical Sciences,” founded by Mizler, only because we owe to the circumstance his admirable Choral Variations on Vom Himmel hoch.221 He presented them to the Society on his admission and they were engraved subsequently.222

  CHAPTER IX. BACH’S COMPOSITIONS

  To have produced so many great works in all forms of musical expression Bach necessarily must have been a prolific writer. For if a composer be the greatest genius in the world, unless he constantly exercises his art he cannot hope to produce real masterpieces. Superlative excellence is the fruit of indefatigable application. Yet in Bach’s case we should be wrong to acclaim as masterpieces all the products of his great activity just because masterpieces at length were the fruit of it. Already in his early compositions we find undeniable evidence of genius. But they are blemished by faults, passages poor in quality, extravagant, insipid, that are hardly worth preserving, though of interest to the student who wishes to trace from its source the development of Bach’s genius.

  It is not difficult to distinguish with exactitude those of Bach’s early compositions which are of the first excellence; for he has been at pains to give us the clue. As he did not publish his first work until he was about forty years old 223 we are justified in assuming the merit of what, at so mature an age, he thought worthy to put into print, and in concluding generally that all his engraved works are of first-rate merit.224

  With respect to his unpublished compositions, and they are by far the most numerous, we must in order to distinguish their merit rely partly on a critical examination of their texts, partly on Bach’s own judgment. Like all great composers, he was continually working on his compositions with a view to making them still more finished. Indeed, he actually attempted to improve some of them that were already perfect. Any that were susceptible of improvement he improved, even those already engraved. Such is the origin of the variant readings of his works found in older and more recent texts. By constantly retouching his compositions Bach aimed at making them indisputable masterpieces. In this category I place most of what he wrote before the year 1725, as I show in detail in the following catalogue. A great many compositions subsequent to 1725, which for reasons easily understood are still in MS., bear too evidently the stamp of perfection to leave us in doubt whether to class them as early essays or as the finished work of an accomplished master.

  The following are those of Bach’s works which have been engraved:

  1. Clavierübung, or “Exercises for the Clavier, consisting of Preludes, Allemandes, Courantes, Sarabandes, Gigues, Minuets, etc., for the Diversion of Amateurs. Opus I. Published by the Composer, 1731.” This was Bach’s first published work and contains six Suites. The first of them came out in 1726;225 the others followed in successive years until all were engraved together in 1731.226 The work was much noticed at the time. Such compositions for the Clavier had not been seen or heard before, and the man who could play them was sure of a success. Our young players to-day would profit by the study of them, so brilliant, agreeable, expressive, and original are they. In the new edition227 they are entitled, “Exercises for the Clavier.”

  2. Clavierübung, or “Exercises for the Clavier, Part II., consisting of a Concerto in the Italian style and an Overture in the French manner228 for a Clavier with two manuals. Published by Christopher Weigel, Junior, in Nürnberg.”229

  3. Clavierübung, or “Exercises for the Clavier, Part III., consisting of various Organ Preludes to the Catechism and other Hymns, composed for the diversion of amateurs and particularly of competent judges of such works. Published by the Composer.” Besides the Preludes and Fugues for the Organ, all of which are masterly, the book contains four Duetti for the Clavier,230 models of their kind.

  4. Sechs Choräle, or “Six Choral Melodies of different kinds, for an Organ with two manuals and pedal. Zella, in the Thuringian Forest. Published by Johann G. Schübler.”231 They are full of dignity and religious feeling. In some of them, too, we have instances of Bach’s original management of the stops.232 Thus, in the second Choral, Wo soll ich fliehen hin, he gives to the first manual an 8 foot, to the second a 16 foot, and to the pedal a 4 foot stop. The pedal has the cantus firmus.233

  5. Clavierübung, or “Exercises for the Clavier, consisting of an Aria with several Variations, for a Clavier with two manuals. Published by Balthasar Schmidt at Nürnberg.”234 This admirable work consists of thirty Variations, some in canon, in a variety of movements and at all intervals from the unison to the ninth,
with easy flowing melody. It includes a regular fourpart Fugue,235 several extremely brillant Variations for two Claviers,236 and concludes with a Quodlibet, as it is called, which alone would render its composer immortal, though it is not the best thing in the volume.237

  The Variations are models of what such compositions ought to be, though no one has been so rash as to attempt to follow Bach’s footsteps. We owe them to Count Kaiserling, formerly Russian Ambassador at the Saxon Electoral Court, who frequently visited Leipzig with Goldberg, already mentioned238 among Bach’s pupils. The Count was a great invalid and suffered from insomnia. Goldberg lived in the Ambassador’s house, and slept in an adjoining room, to be ready to play to him when he was wakeful. One day the Count asked Bach to write for Goldberg some Clavier music of a soothing and cheerful character, that would relieve the tedium of sleepless nights. Bach thought a set of Variations most likely to fulfil the Count’s needs, though, on account of the recurrence of the same basic harmony throughout, it was a form to which he had hitherto paid little attention. Like all his compositions at this period, however, the Variations are a masterpiece, and are the only example he has left us of this form.239 The Count always called them “my Variations” and was never weary of hearing them. For long afterwards, when he could not sleep, he would say, “Play me one of my Variations, Goldberg.” Perhaps Bach was never so well rewarded for any composition as for this. The Count gave him a golden goblet containing one hundred louis d’ors, though, as a work of art, Bach would not have been overpaid had the present been a thousand times as large. It may be observed, that in the engraved copy of the Variations there are serious mistakes, which the composer has corrected in his own copy.240

  6. Einige kanonische Verdäderungen, “Canonic Variations on the Christmas Hymn ‘Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her,’ for an Organ with two manuals and pedal. Published at Nürnberg by Balthasar Schmidt.” The work contains five canonic variations of the utmost ingenuity.241

  7. Musikalisches Opfer, or “A Musical Offering,” dedicated to Frederick II., King of Prussia. The theme received by Bach from the King242 is treated first as a three-part Fugue under the acrostic title “Ricercare” (Regis iussu cantio et reliqua canonica arte resoluta). There follows a six-part “Ricercare” and Thematis regii elaborationes canonicae of various kinds.243 The work includes a Trio for Flute, Violin, and Clavier upon the same subject.244

  8. Die Kunst der Fuge, or “The Art of Fugue.” This work, unique of its kind, did not appear till about 1752, after Bach’s death, though the greater part of it had been engraved by his sons during his lifetime.245 Marpurg,246 the leading German musical critic of that day, contributed a preface to this edition which contains many just observations on the value and utility of such treatises.247 But, being too good for the general public, the work found only a small circulation among those who discerned its merit and eagerly bought copies. The plates were never used again and eventually were sold248 by Bach’s heirs at the price of old copper. Written by a man of Bach’s transcendent genius, and commended as a masterpiece by a critic so highly regarded as Marpurg, a work of this kind, if published in any other country than Germany, would have passed through at least ten editions by now, if only at the bidding of patriotism. But in Germany not a sufficient number of copies was sold to pay for the plates used in engraving the work!

  The work consists of fugal Variations planned on the most elaborate scale.249 The composer’s intention was to show in what a variety of ways the same theme can be treated fugally. The Variations (here called “Contrapunctus”)250 are complete Fugues upon the same theme. The last Fugue of all has three subjects, in the third of which the composer signs his name, B A C H.251 Bach was prevented from finishing it by the disorder of his eyes, and as an operation brought no relief the movement was never completed. It is said that Bach intended to introduce four themes into it and to bring it to an impressive conclusion by inverting them all. All the Fugues in the work are equally smooth and melodious.

  To make up for the unfinished Fugue Bach concluded the work with a Choral Prelude upon the tune “Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein,” which he dictated to his son-in-law, Altnikol, a few days before his death.252 Of the extraordinary skill it displays I do not speak, save to remark that even in his last illness it proclaims Bach’s skill undiminished. The pious resignation and devotion that characterise it move me deeply whenever I play it. Nor should I find it easy to say which I had rather had been omitted, the Choral Prelude, or the conclusion of the unfinished Fugue.

  9. Lastly, after Bach’s death, his four-part Chorals were collected by his son, Carl Philipp Emmanuel, and were published by Birnstiel (Berlin and Leipzig), Part I. in 1765, Part II. in 1769.253 Each Part contains one hundred Chorals, mostly taken from the composer’s church Cantatas.

  More recently Kirnberger edited, in four volumes, a collection of Bach’s Chorals. They are published by Breitkopf.254

  Bach’s works, still in MS., consist of compositions for the Clavier, Organ, with and without other instruments, Strings, and the voice. I will enumerate them in that order.

  I. Compositions For The Clavier

  1. Six Little Preludes far Beginners.255

  2. Fifteen Two-part Inventions. An Invention is a musical theme so constructed that by imitation and inversion a whole movement can be evolved from it. The subject having been first stated, the rest develops naturally out of it. For the instruction of a young Clavier player these fifteen Inventions are of great value, seeing that the composer has been careful not only to provide exercises for both hands but for every finger as well. They were composed at Cöthen in 1723, with a long title which begins: “An honest Guide, in which lovers of the Clavier are shown a clear method of playing correctly in two parts,” etc.256

  It cannot be denied that, among other blemishes, the Inventions occasionally exhibit melodic poverty and roughness. But finding them useful to his pupils, Bach eventually revised them and removed from them everything that offended his maturer taste, so that they now stand as masterpieces of pure music. Moreover they are invaluable exercises for the fingers and hands and are sound instructors of taste. There is no better introduction to Bach’s larger works than they afford.

  3. Fifteen three-part Inventions, also called Symphonies. They were written for the same purpose as the Inventions, but are more advanced.257

  4. The Well-tempered Clavier, or, Preludes and Fugues in all tones and semitones, composed for the profit and use of young musicians desirous of knowledge, as also for those who are skilled already in this studio. Part I. was finished in 1722. Part II., like Part I., contains twenty-four Preludes and twenty-four Fugues in every key, and was composed at a later period.258 Every number of it, from first to last, is a masterpiece. In Part I., however, certain Preludes and Fugues bear marks of immaturity and are included probably only in order to complete the series. But here again Bach eventually corrected whatever seemed to him lacking in finish. He altered or rewrote entire passages, so that in the later texts few movements are not perfect. Among these few I reckon the Fugues in A minor,259 G major and G minor,260 C major,261 F major and F minor.262 The rest are excellent, some of them so superlatively good as to be not inferior to those in Part II.263 Even Part II., for all its original perfection, has been improved by the composer, as may be observed by comparing the original and later texts. Both Parts contain treasures of art not to be found outside Germany.

  5. Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue.264 I have taken considerable pains to discover a similar piece of music by Bach, but without success. The Fantasia is unique and unequalled. Wilhelm Friedemann sent it to me from Brunswick inscribed with these words by a mutual friend. “Anbey kommt an etwas Musik von Sebastian, sonst genannt: Fantasia chromatica; bleibt schön in alle Saecula.”

  It is remarkable that this piece, for all its technical skill, appeals to the most unpractised hearer, if it is performed at all tolerably.

  6. A Fantasia in C minor. It is not of the same character as the preceding wo
rk, but resembles rather the Allegro of a Sonata. It is divided into two parts, but must be played as a single movement. It is an excellent work, and in old copies an unfinished Fugue follows, which, however, cannot belong to it.265 The first thirty bars certainly are by Bach, for they are marked by an extremely bold use of augmented and diminished intervals and their inversions, in three-part harmony. None but Bach attempted such things. The rest of the movement seems to have been added by another hand and bears no trace of Bach’s style.

  7. Six large Suites, consisting of Preludes, Allemandes, Courantes, Sarabandes, etc. They are known as the “English Suites,” because the composer wrote them for an Englishman of rank.266 All of them are of great merit as works of art, and some movements, in particular the Gigues of the fifth and sixth Suites, are perfect masterpieces of harmony and melody.

  8. Six small Suites, consisting of Allemandes, Courantes, etc. They are generally called the “French Suites,” because they are written in the French style.267 The composer is intentionally less academic in them than in his larger Suites, and their melodies are more than usually pleasant and agreeable. In particular the fifth Suite deserves to be noticed: all its movements are most melodious, and in the concluding Gigue only consonant intervals, especially thirds and sixths, are used.

  These are Bach’s principal works for the Clavier which can be considered classics.268 A great number of single Suites,269Toccatas and Fugues,270 besides those already mentioned, have great and varying merit, but are youthful works.271 At the most, ten or twelve of them seem to me worth preserving, some of them because they would be useful as finger exercises, for which their author originally intended them, others because they are at least better than similar works by other composers. As an exercise for the fingers of both hands I particularly single out a Fugue in A minor,272 in which the composer has been at great pains to write florid passages in order to give equal strength and suppleness to both hands. For beginners a little two-part Fugue273 should also prove useful. It is melodious, flowing, and not at all old-fashioned.