***





                         [Johann Sebastian Bach]

  _Johann Sebastian Bach.  About 1720. (From the picture by Johann Jakob
                  Ihle, in the Bach Museum, Eisenach)._





Johann Sebastian Bach

His Life, Art and Work.  Translated from the German of Johann Nikolaus
Forkel.  With notes and appendices by Charles Sanford Terry, Litt.D.
Cantab.


Johann Nikolaus Forkel and Charles Sanford Terry



Harcourt, Brace and Howe, New York
1920





CONTENTS


Introduction
FORKEL’S PREFACE
CHAPTER I. THE FAMILY OF BACH
Chapter II. THE CAREER OF BACH
CHAPTER IIA. BACH AT LEIPZIG, 1723-1750
CHAPTER III. BACH AS A CLAVIER PLAYER
CHAPTER IV.  BACH THE ORGANIST
CHAPTER V. BACH THE COMPOSER
CHAPTER VI. BACH THE COMPOSER (continued)
CHAPTER VII. BACH AS A TEACHER
CHAPTER VIII.  PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
CHAPTER IX. BACH’S COMPOSITIONS
CHAPTER X.  BACH’S MANUSCRIPTS
CHAPTER XI. THE GENIUS OF BACH
APPENDIX I. CHRONOLOGICAL CATALOGUE OF BACH’S COMPOSITIONS
APPENDIX II. THE CHURCH CANTATAS ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY
APPENDIX III.  THE BACHGESELLSCHAFT EDITIONS OF BACH’S WORKS
APPENDIX IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BACH LITERATURE
APPENDIX V.  A COLLATION OF THE NOVELLO AND PETERS EDITIONS OF THE ORGAN
WORKS
APPENDIX VI. GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF BACH
Footnotes





ILLUSTRATIONS


_Johann Sebastian Bach.  About 1720. (From the picture by Johann Jakob
Ihle, in the Bach Museum, Eisenach)._
Bach’s Home at Eisenach
The Church and School of St. Thomas, Leipzig, in 1723.
Johann Sebastian Bach, circa 1746. _From the picture by Haussmann._
Divided Harmony, Bach treatment
Divided Harmony, conventional treatment
The Bach Statue at Eisenach
Johann Sebastian Bach. _From the picture discovered by Professor Fritz
Volbach_
The Bach Statue at Leipzig
Genealogy Table, p. 303
Genealogy Table, p. 304
Genealogy Table, p. 305
Genealogy Table, p. 306
Genealogy Table, p. 307
Genealogy Table, p. 308
Genealogy Table, p. 309
Genealogy Table, p. 310





INTRODUCTION


Johann Nikolaus Forkel, author of the monograph of which the following
pages afford a translation, was born at Meeder, a small village in
Saxe-Coburg, on February 22, 1749, seventeen months before the death of
Johann Sebastian Bach, whose first biographer he became.  Presumably he
would have followed the craft of his father, the village shoemaker, had
not an insatiable love of music seized him in early years.  He obtained
books, and studied them with the village schoolmaster. In particular he
profited by the “Vollkommener Kapellmeister” of Johann Mattheson, of
Hamburg, the sometime friend of Handel.  Like Handel, he found a derelict
Clavier in the attic of his home and acquired proficiency upon it.
Forkel’s professional career, like Bach’s half a century earlier, began at
Lüneburg, where, at the age of thirteen (1762), he was admitted to the
choir of the parish church.  Thence, at the age of seventeen (1766), he
proceeded to Schwerin as “Chorpräfect,” and enjoyed the favour of the
Grand Duke.  Three years later he betook himself (1769), at the age of
twenty, to the University of Göttingen, which he entered as a law student,
though a slender purse compelled him to give music lessons for a
livelihood.  He used his opportunity to acquire a knowledge of modern
languages, which stood him in good stead later, when his researches
required him to explore foreign literatures. Concurrently he pursued his
musical activities, and in 1774 published at Göttingen his first work,
_Ueber die Theorie der Musik,_ advocating the foundation of a music
lectureship in the University. Four years later (1778) he was appointed
its Director of Music, and from 1779 to 1815 conducted the weekly concerts
of the Sing-Akademie. In 1780 he received from the University the
doctorate of philosophy.  The rest of his life was spent at Göttingen,
where he died on March 17, 1818, having just completed his sixty-ninth
year.

That Forkel is remembered at all is due solely to his monograph on Bach.
Written at a time when Bach’s greatness was realised in hardly any
quarter, the book claimed for him pre-eminence which a tardily enlightened
world since has conceded him.  By his generation Forkel was esteemed
chiefly for his literary activity, critical ability, and merit as a
composer.  His principal work, _Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik,_ was
published in two volumes at Leipzig in 1788 and 1801.  Carl Friedrich
Zelter, Goethe’s friend and correspondent, dismissed the book
contemptuously as that of an author who had “set out to write a history of
music, but came to an end just where the history of music begins.”
Forkel’s work, in fact, breaks off at the sixteenth century. But the
curtailed _ History_ cleared the way for the monograph on Bach, a more
valuable contribution to the literature of music.  Forkel already had
published, in three volumes, at Gotha in 1778, his _Musikalisch-kritische
Bibliothek,_ and in 1792 completed his critical studies by publishing at
Leipzig his _Allgemeine Literatur der Musik._

Forkel was also a student of the music of the polyphonic school.  He
prepared for the press the scores of a number of sixteenth century Masses,
Motets, etc., and fortunately received proofs of them from the engraver.
For, in 1806, after the Battle of Jena, the French impounded the plates
and melted them down.  Forkel’s proofs are still preserved in the Berlin
Royal Library.  He was diligent in quest of Bach’s scattered MSS., and his
friendship with Bach’s elder sons, Carl Philipp Emmanuel and Wilhelm
Friedemann, enabled him to secure precious relics which otherwise might
have shared the fate of too many of Bach’s manuscripts. He took an active
interest in the proposal of Messrs. Hoffmeister and Kühnel, predecessors
of C. F. Peters at Leipzig, to print a “kritisch-korrecte” edition of
Bach’s Organ and Clavier works.  Through his friend, Johann Gottfried
Schicht, afterwards Cantor at St. Thomas’s, Leipzig, he was also
associated with Breitkopf and Haertel’s publication of five of Bach’s six
extant Motets in 1802-3.

As a composer Forkel has long ceased to be remembered.  His works include
two Oratorios, _ Hiskias_ (1789) and _Die Hirten bey der Krippe_; four
Cantatas for chorus and orchestra; Clavier Concertos, and many Sonatas and
Variations for the Harpsichord.

In 1802, for reasons which he explains in his Preface, Forkel published
from Hoffmeister and Kühnel’s “Bureau de Musique” his _Ueber Johann
Sebastian Bachs Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke. Für patriotische Verehrer
echter musikalischer Kunst,_ of which a new edition was issued by Peters
in 1856.  The original edition bears a dedication to Gottfried Baron van
Swieten(1) (1734-1803), Prefect of the Royal Library, Vienna, and sometime
Austrian Ambassador in Berlin, a friend of Haydn and Mozart, patron of
Beethoven, a man whose age allowed him to have seen Bach, and whose career
makes the association with Bach that Forkel’s dedication gives him not
undeserved. It was he, an ardent Bach enthusiast, who introduced the
youthful Mozart to the music of the Leipzig Cantor. “I go every Sunday at
twelve o’clock to the Baron van Swieten,” Mozart writes in 1782, “where
nothing is played but Handel and Bach, and I am now making a collection of
the Fugues of Bach.”  The merit and limitations of Forkel’s book will be
considered later.  For the moment the fact deserves emphasis that,
inadequate as it is, it presented a fuller picture of Bach than so far had
been drawn, and was the first to render the homage due to his genius.

In an illuminating chapter (xii.), _Death and Resurrection_, Schweitzer
has told the story of the neglect that obscured Bach’s memory after his
death in 1750.  Isolated voices, raised here and there, acclaimed his
genius.  With Bach’s treatise on _The Art of Fugue_ before him, Johann
Mattheson (1681-1664), the foremost critic of the day, claimed that
Germany was “the true home of Organ music and Fugue.”  Friedrich Wilhelm
Marpurg (1718-95), the famous Berlin theorist, expressed the same opinion
in his preface to the edition of that work published shortly after Bach’s
death.  But such appreciations were rare.  Little of Bach’s music was in
print and available for performance or critical judgment.  Even at St.
Thomas’s, Leipzig, it suffered almost complete neglect until a generation
after Forkel’s death. The bulk of Bach’s MSS. was divided among his
family, and Forkel himself, with unrivalled opportunity to acquaint
himself with the dimensions of Bach’s industry, knew little of his music
except the Organ and Clavier compositions.

In these circumstances it is not strange that Bach’s memory waited for
more than half a century for a biographer.  Forkel, however, was not the
first to assemble the known facts of Bach’s career or to assert his place
in the music of Germany.

Putting aside Johann Gottfried Walther’s brief epitome in his _Lexikon_
(1732), the first and most important of the early notices of Bach was the
obituary article, or “Nekrolog,” contributed by his son, Carl Philipp
Emmanuel, and Johann Friedrich Agricola, one of Bach’s most distinguished
pupils, to the fourth volume of Mizler’s _Musikalische Bibliothek,_
published at Leipzig in 1754.  The authors of this appreciation give it an
intimacy which renders it precious.  But Mizler’s periodical was the organ
of a small Society, of which Bach had been a member, and outside its
associates can have done little to extend a knowledge of the subject of
the memoir.

Johann Friedrich Agricola contributed notes on Bach to Jakob Adlung’s
_Musica mechanica Organoedi,_ published in two volumes at Berlin in 1768.
The article is valuable chiefly for Agricola’s exposition of Bach’s
opinions upon Organ and Clavier building.

With the intention to represent him as “the coryphaeus of all organists,”
Johann Adam Hiller, who a few years later became Cantor at St. Thomas’s,
Leipzig, published there in 1784 a brief account of Bach in his
_Lebensbeschreibungen berühmter Musikgelehrten und Tonkünstler neuerer
Zeit._

Four years after Hiller’s notice, Ernst Ludwig Gerber published at
Leipzig, in two volumes, 1790-92, his _Historisch-biographische Lexikon
der Tonkünstler._  As in Hiller’s case, Gerber, whose father had been
Bach’s pupil, was chiefly interested in Bach as an organist.

Coincidently with Gerber, another of Bach’s pupils, Johann Martin
Schubart, who succeeded him at Weimar in 1717, sketched his
characteristics as a performer in the _Aesthetik der Tonkunst_, published
at Berlin by his son in the _Deutschen Monatsschrift_ in 1793.

In 1794 appeared at Leipzig the first volume of a work which Spitta
characterises as fantastic and unreliable, so far as it deals with Bach,
Friedrich Carl Gottlieb Hirsching’s _Historisch-literarisches Handbuch_ of
notable persons deceased in the eighteenth century.

Last of Forkel’s forerunners, A. E. L. Siebigke published at Breslau in
1801 his _Museum deutscher Tonkünstler,_ a work which adds nothing to our
knowledge of Bach’s life, but offers some remarks on his style.

Little, if any, information of value, therefore, had been added to the
_Nekrolog_ of 1754 when Forkel, in 1802, produced his monograph on Bach
and his music.  Nor, viewed as a biography, does Forkel much enlarge our
knowledge of the conditions of Bach’s life.  He had the advantage of
knowing Bach’s elder sons, but appears to have lacked curiosity regarding
the circumstances of Bach’s career, and to have made no endeavour to add
to his imperfect information, even regarding his hero’s life at Leipzig,
upon which it should have been easy for him to obtain details of utmost
interest.  His monograph, in fact, is not a “Life” in the biographic
sense, but a critical appreciation of Bach as player, teacher, and
composer, based upon the Organ and Clavier works, with which alone Forkel
was familiar.

It would be little profitable to weigh the value of Forkel’s criticism.
We are tempted to the conclusion that Bach appealed to him chiefly as a
supreme master of technique, and our hearts would open to him more widely
did not his appreciation of Bach march with a narrow depreciation of
Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, the last of whom, he declared ex cathedra,
had not produced “a single work which can be called a masterpiece.” Gluck
he frankly detested.

But Forkel’s monograph is notable on other grounds.  It was the first to
claim for Bach a place among the divinities.  It used him to stimulate a
national sense in his own people. Bach’s is the first great voice from out
of Germany since Luther.  Of Germany’s own Kisorgimento, patently
initiated by Goethe a generation after Johann Sebastian’s death, Bach
himself is the harbinger.  In his assertion of a distinctive German
musical art he set an example followed in turn by Mozart, Weber, and
Wagner.  “With Bach,” wrote Wagner, “the German Spirit was born anew.”  It
is Forkel’s perpetual distinction that he grasped a fact hidden from
almost all but himself.  In his Preface, and more emphatically in the
closing paragraph of his last Chapter, he presents Bach as the herald of a
German nation yet unformed.

It is a farther distinction of Forkel’s monograph that it made converts.
With its publication the clouds of neglect that too long had obscured
Bach’s grandeur began to melt away, until the dizzy altitude of his genius
stood revealed.  The publication of the five Motets (1803) was followed by
that of the Magnificat in 1811, and of the Mass in A in 1818.  A beginning
was made with the Cantatas in 1821, when Breitkopf and Haertel published
“Ein’ feste Burg” (No. 80), commended in an article written (1822) by
Johann Friedrich Rochlitz (1769-1842), the champion of Beethoven, as now
of Bach.  Another enthusiastic pioneer was Carl Friedrich Zelter
(1758-1832), conductor of the Berlin Sing-Akademie, who called Bach “a
sign of God, clear, yet inexplicable.” To him in large measure was due the
memorable revival of the _St. Matthew Passion_ at Berlin, which the
youthful Mendelssohn, Zelter’s pupil, conducted in March 1829, exactly one
hundred years after the first production of the mighty work at Leipzig.
In the following years it was given at Dresden and many other German
towns. Leipzig heard it again after a barren interval in 1841, and did
tardy homage to its incomparable composer by erecting (1843) the statue
that stands in the shadow of St. Thomas’s Church, hard by the Cantor’s
home for a quarter of a century.

Meanwhile, in 1830 and 1831 the _St. Matthew Passion_ and _St. John
Passion_ had been engraved, and by 1845 the B minor Mass was in print.
The credit of having revived it belongs to Johann Nepomuk Schelble
(1789-1837), conductor of the Frankfort Caecilienverein, though the Berlin
Sing-Akademie was the first to give a performance, considerably curtailed,
of the whole work in 1835. A little later, in the middle of the forties,
Peters began to issue his “kritisch-korrecte” edition of the Organ works,
which at length made Bach widely known among organists.  But the
publication of the Cantatas proceeded slowly.  Only fourteen of them were
in print in 1850, when the foundation of the Bachgesellschaft, on the
centenary of Bach’s death, focused a world-wide homage. When it dissolved
in 1900 its mission was accomplished, the entire works(2) of Bach were
published, and the vast range of his genius was patent to the world.

It remains to discuss the first English version of Forkel’s monograph,
published in 1820, with the following title-page:


    LIFE OF JOHN SEBASTIAN BACH; with a Critical View of his
    Compositions. By J. N. Forkel, Author of The Complete History of
    Music, etc., etc. Translated from the German.  London: Printed for
    T. Boosey and Co., Holles-Street, Cavendish-Square. 1820.


The book was published in February 1820; it was announced, with a slightly
differently worded title-page, in the _New Monthly Magazine and Universal
Register_ for March 1820 (p. 341), and the _Scots Magazine_ for the same
month ( vol. lxxxv. p. 263).  The _New Monthly_ states the price as 5s.,
the _Quarterly Review_ (vol. xxiii. p. 281) as 6s.  The book contains
xi+116+3 pages of Music Figures, crown octavo, bound in dark unlettered
cloth.  It has neither Introduction, notes (other than Forkel’s), nor
indication of the translator’s identity.  Much of the translation is so
bad as to suggest grave doubts of the translator’s comprehension of the
German original; while his rendering of Forkel’s critical chapters rouses
a strong suspicion that he also lacked technical equipment adequate to his
task.  It is, in fact, difficult to understand how such an unsatisfactory
piece of work found its way into print.

The character of the 1820 translation has a close bearing upon its
authorship.  In the article on Bach in the new _Grove_ it is attributed to
Samuel Wesley (1766-1837), an attractive suggestion, since Wesley was as
enthusiastic a Bach pioneer in this country as Forkel himself was in
Germany. But the statement is not correct.  In Samuel Wesley’s _Letters to
Mr. Jacobs relating to the Introduction into this Country of the Works of
J. S. Bach_ (London, 1875) we find the clue.  On October 17, 1808, Wesley
writes: “We are (in the first place) preparing for the Press an authentic
and accurate Life of Sebastian, which Mr. Stephenson the Banker (a most
zealous and scientific member of our Fraternity) has translated into
English from the German of Forkel.”

Unfortunately, it is impossible to identify Stephenson precisely, or to
detect his activities in the musical circle in which Wesley includes him.
In 1820 there was in Lombard Street a firm of bankers under the style of
“Remington, Stephenson, Remington, and Toulmin,” the active partner being
Mr. Rowland Stephenson, a man of about forty in that year.  The firm was
wound up in bankruptcy in 1829, Stephenson having absconded to America the
previous year.  He appears to have been the only banker of that name
holding such a recognised position as Wesley attributes to him, though it
remains no more than a conjecture that he was the author of the
translation issued in 1820.(3) But whoever “Stephenson the Banker” may
have been, the poverty of his work fails to support Wesley’s commendation
of his “scientific” equipment, and suggests that his purse rather than his
talents were serviceable to Wesley’s missionary campaign.

For the facts of Bach’s life, and as a record of his artistic activities,
Forkel admittedly is inadequate and often misleading.  Stephenson
necessarily was without information to enable him to correct or supplement
his author.  Recent research, and particularly the classic volumes of
Spitta and Schweitzer, have placed the present generation in a more
instructed and therefore responsible position.  The following pages,
accordingly, have been annotated copiously in order to bring Forkel into
line with modern scholarship. His own infrequent notes are invariably
indicated by a prefixed asterisk.  It has been thought advisable to write
an addendum to Chapter II. in order to supplement Forkel at the weakest
point of his narrative.

Readers of Spitta’s first volume probably will remember the effort to
follow the ramifications of the Bach pedigree unaided by a genealogical
Table.  It is unfortunate that Spitta did not set out in that form the
wealth of biographical material his pages contain.  To supply the
deficiency, and to illustrate Forkel’s first Chapter, a complete
Genealogical Table is provided in Appendix VI., based mainly upon the
biographical details scattered over Spitta’s pages.

In Chapter IX. Forkel gives a list of Bach’s compositions known to him.
It is, necessarily, incomplete.  For that reason Appendices I. and II.
provide a full catalogue of Bach’s works arranged under the periods of his
career.  In the case of the Oratorios, Cantatas, Motets, and “Passions,”
it is not difficult to distribute them upon a chronological basis.  The
Clavier works also can be dated with some approximation to closeness.  The
effort is more speculative in the case of the Organ music.

In his Preface Forkel suggests the institution of a Society for the
publication and study of Bach’s works.  The proposal was adopted after
half a century’s interval, and in Appendix III. will be found a complete
and detailed catalogue of the publications of the Old and New
Bachgesellschaft from 1850 to 1918 inclusive.  The Society’s issues for
1915-18 have not yet reached this country. The present writer had an
opportunity to examine them in the Library of the Cologne Conservatorium
of Music in the spring of this year.

In this Introduction will be found a list of works bearing on Bach, which
preceded Forkel’s monograph.  Appendix IV. provides a bibliography of Bach
literature published subsequently to it.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to Mr. Ivor Atkins, of Worcester
Cathedral, and to Mr. W. G. Whittaker, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who have
read these pages in proof, and improved them by their criticism.

                                                                  C. S. T.
October 1, 1919.





FORKEL’S PREFACE


Many years ago I determined to give the public an account of the life of
Johann Sebastian Bach, with some reflections upon his genius and his
works.  The brief article by Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach(4) and Herr
Agricola,(5) formerly composer to the Court of Prussia, contributed to the
fourth volume of Mizler’s _Musical Library,_(6) can hardly be deemed
adequate by Bach’s admirers and, but for the desire to complete my
_General History of Music,_(7) I should have fulfilled my purpose long
ago.  As Bach, more than any other artist, represents an era in the
history of music, it was my intention to devote to the concluding volume
of that work the materials I had collected for a history of his career.
But the announcement that Messrs. Hoffmeister and Kühnel, the Leipzig
music-sellers and publishers, propose to issue a complete and critical
edition of Bach’s works has induced me to change my original plan.(8)

Messrs. Hoffmeister and Künel’s project promises at once to advance the
art of music and enhance the honour of the German name.  For Bach’s works
are a priceless national patrimony; no other nation possesses a treasure
comparable to it.  Their publication in an authoritative text will be a
national service and raise an imperishable monument to the composer
himself.  All who hold Germany dear are bound in honour to promote the
undertaking to the utmost of their power.  I deem it a duty to remind the
public of this obligation and to kindle interest in it in every true
German heart.  To that end these pages appear earlier than my original
plan proposed; for they will enable me to reach a larger number of my
fellow countrymen.  The section on Bach in my _History of Music_ probably
would have been read by a handful of experts or musical artists.  Here I
hope to speak to a larger audience. For, let me repeat, not merely the
interests of music but our national honour are concerned to rescue from
oblivion the memory of one of Germany’s greatest sons.

One of the best and most effective means of popularising musical
masterpieces is to perform them in public.  In that way works of merit
secure a widening audience.  People listen to them with pleasure in the
concert room, church, or theatre, remember the agreeable impression they
created, and purchase them when published, even though they cannot always
play them.  But Bach’s works unfortunately are rarely heard nowadays; for
the number of persons capable of playing them adequately is at best
inconsiderable. It would have been otherwise had Bach given touring
performances of his music,(9) a labour for which he had neither time nor
liking. Many of his pupils did so, and though their skill was inferior to
their master’s, the admiration and astonishment they excited revealed the
grandeur of his compositions.  Here and there, too, were found persons who
desired to hear on their own instrument pieces which the performer had
played best or gave them most pleasure. They could do so more easily for
having heard how the piece ought to sound.

But, to awaken a wide appreciation of musical masterpieces depends upon
the existence of good teachers.  The want of them is our chief difficulty.
In order to safeguard their credit, the ignorant and incompetent of their
number are disposed to decry good music, lest they should be asked to play
it.  Consequently, their pupils, condemned to spend time, labour, and
money on second-rate material, will not after half a dozen years, perhaps,
show themselves farther advanced in sound musical appreciation than they
were at the outset.  Whereas, under a good teacher, half the time, labour,
and money produces progressive improvement.  Time will show whether this
obstacle can be surmounted by making Bach’s works accessible in the music
shops and by forming a Society among the admirers of his genius to make
them known and promote their study.(10)

At any rate, if music is really an art, and not a mere pastime, its
masterpieces must be more widely known and performed than in fact they
are.  And here Bach, prince of classic composers, can render yeoman
service.(11) For his music is so well calculated to educate the student to
distinguish what is trivial from what is good, and to comport himself as
an artist in whatever branch of the art he makes his own.  Moreover, Bach,
whose influence pervades every musical form, can be relied on more than
any other composer to correct the superficiality which is the bane of
modern taste.  Neglect of the classics is as prejudicial to the art of
music as it would be fatal to the interests of general culture to banish
Greek and Latin writers from our schools.  Modern taste exhibits no shame
in its preference for agreeable trifles, in its neglect of everything that
makes a demand, however slight, upon its attention.  To-day we are menaced
by a proposal to banish the classics from our schoolrooms. Equally
short-sighted vision threatens to extinguish our musical classics as well.
And is it surprising?  Modern art displays such poverty and frivolity that
it well may shrink from putting itself in context with great literature,
particularly with Bach’s mighty and creative genius, and seek rather to
proscribe it.

I fain would do justice to the sublime genius of this prince of musicians,
German and foreign! Short of being such a man as he was, dwarfing all
other musicians from the height of his superiority, I can conceive no
greater distinction than the power to comprehend and interpret him to
others.(12) The ability to do so must at least connote a temperament not
wholly alien from his own. It may even hint the flattering prospect that,
if circumstances had opened up the same career, similar results might have
been forthcoming.  I am not presumptuous to suggest such a result in my
own case.  On the contrary I am convinced that there are no words adequate
to express the thoughts Bach’s transcendent genius stirs one to utter.
The more intimately we are acquainted with it the greater must be our
admiration.  Our utmost eulogy, our deepest expressions of homage, must
seem little more than well-meant prattle. No one who is familiar with the
work of other centuries will contradict or hold my statement exaggerated,
that Bach cannot be named except in tones of rapture, and even of devout
awe, by those who have learnt to know him.  We may discover and lay bare
the secrets of his technique. But his power to inspire into it the breath
of genius, the perfection of life and charm that moves us so powerfully,
even in his slightest works, must always remain extraordinary and
insoluble.

I do not choose to compare Bach with other artists.  Whoever is interested
to measure him with Handel will find a just and balanced estimate of their
relative merits, written by one fully informed for the task, in the first
number of the eighty-first volume of the _Universal German Library,_ pages
295-303.(13)

So far as it is not derived from the short article in Mizler’s _Library_
already mentioned,(14) I am indebted for my information to the two eldest
sons of Bach himself.(15) Not only was I personally acquainted with them,
but I corresponded regularly for many years with both,(16) particularly
Carl Philipp Emmanuel.  The world knows them as great artists.  But
probably it is not aware that to the last moment of their lives they spoke
of their father’s genius with enthusiastic admiration.(17) From my early
youth I have been inspired by an appreciation no less deep than theirs. It
was a frequent theme of conversation and correspondence between us.

Thus, having been in a position to inform myself on all matters relating
to Bach’s life, genius, and work, I may fairly hold myself competent to
communicate to the public what I have learnt and to offer useful
reflections upon it.  I take advantage of my opportunity the more readily
because it permits me to draw attention to an enterprise(18) that promises
to provide a worthy monument to German art, a gallery of most instructive
models to the sincere artist, and to afford music lovers an inexhaustible
source of sublimest pleasure.






CHAPTER I. THE FAMILY OF BACH


If there is such a thing as inherited aptitude for art it certainly showed
itself in the family of Bach. For six successive generations scarcely two
or three of its members are found whom nature had not endowed with
remarkable musical talent, and who did not make music their
profession.(19)

Veit Bach,(20) ancestor of this famous family, gained a livelihood as a
baker at Pressburg in Hungary.  When the religious troubles of the
sixteenth century broke out he was driven to seek another place of abode,
and having got together as much of his small property as he could, retired
with it to Thuringia, hoping to find peace and security there.  He settled
at Wechmar, a village near Gotha,(21) where he continued to ply his trade
as a baker and miller.(22) In his leisure hours he was wont to amuse
himself with the lute,(23) playing it amid the noise and clatter of the
mill.  His taste for music descended to his two sons(24) and their
children, and in time the Bachs grew to be a very numerous family of
professional musicians, Cantors, Organists, and Town Musicians,(25)
throughout  Thuringia.

Not all the Bachs, however, were great musicians. But every generation
boasted some of them who were more than usually distinguished.  In the
first quarter of the seventeenth century three of Veit Bach’s
grandchildren showed such exceptional talent that the Count of
Schwarzburg-Arnstadt thought it worth while to send them at his expense to
Italy, then the chief school of music, to perfect themselves in the
art.(26)

We do not know whether they rewarded the expectations of their patron, for
none of their works has survived. The fourth generation(27) of the family
produced musicians of exceptional distinction, and several of their
compositions, thanks to Johann Sebastian Bach’s regard for them, have come
down to us. The most notable of these Bachs are:

   1. Johann Christoph Bach, Court and Town Organist at Eisenach.(28) He
      was particularly happy in his beautiful melodies and in setting
      words to music. In the _Archives of the Bachs,_(29) which was in
      Carl Philipp Emmanuel’s possession at Hamburg, there is a Motet by
      Johann Christoph in which he boldly uses the augmented sixth, a
      proceeding considered extremely daring in his day.(30) He was also
      an uncommon master of harmony, as may be inferred from a Cantata
      composed by him for Michaelmas, to the words “Es erhub sich ein
      Streit,” etc., which has twenty-two obbligato parts in correct
      harmony.(31) Yet another proof of his rare skill is in the alleged
      fact that he never played the Organ or Clavier in less than five
      parts.(32) Carl Philipp Emmanuel had a particularly warm regard for
      him.(33) I remember the old man playing some of his compositions to
      me on the Clavier at Hamburg, and how quizzically he looked at me
      when one of these daring passages occurred.(34)
   2. Johann Michael Bach, Organist and Town Clerk at Gehren.(35) He was
      the younger brother of Johann Christoph, and like him, a
      particularly good composer.  The Archives already mentioned(36)
      contain several of his Motets, including one for eight voices in
      double chorus,(37) and many compositions for Church use.
   3. Johann Bernhard Bach, Musician in the Prince’s Kapelle and Organist
      at Eisenach.(38)He is said to have composed remarkably fine Suites,
      or Overtures, in the French style.(39)

Besides these three men, the Bachs boasted several able composers in the
generations preceding Johann Sebastian,(40) men who undoubtedly would have
obtained higher positions, wider reputation, and more brilliant fortune if
they could have torn themselves from their native Thuringia to display
their gifts elsewhere in Germany or abroad. But none of the Bachs seems to
have felt an inclination to migrate. Modest in their needs, frugal by
nature and training, they were content with little, engrossed in and
satisfied by their art, and wholly indifferent to the decorations which
great men of that time were wont to bestow on artists as special marks of
honour. The fact that others who appreciated them were thus distinguished
did not rouse the slightest envy in the Bachs.

The Bachs not only displayed a happy contentedness, indispensable for the
cheery enjoyment of life, but exhibited a clannish attachment to each
other.  They could not all live in the same locality.  But it was their
habit to meet once a year at a time and place arranged beforehand.  These
gatherings generally took place at Erfurt, Eisenach, and sometimes at
Arnstadt.  Even after the family had grown very large, and many of its
members had left Thuringia to settle in Upper and Lower Saxony and
Franconia, the Bachs continued their annual meetings.  On these occasions
music was their sole recreation.  As those present were either Cantors,
Organists, or Town Musicians, employed in the service of the Church and
accustomed to preface the day’s work with prayer, their first act was to
sing a Hymn.  Having fulfilled their religious duty, they spent the rest
of the time in frivolous recreations.  Best of all they liked to
extemporise a chorus out of popular songs, comic or jocular, weaving them
into a harmonious whole while declaiming the words of each. They called
this hotch-potch a “Quodlibet,” laughed uproariously at it, and roused
equally hearty and irrepressible laughter in their audience.(41) It is
suggested that German Comic Opera has its origin in these trifles.  But
the “Quodlibet” was a familiar institution in Germany at a much earlier
period.  I possess a collection of them printed and published at Vienna in
1542.(42)

But these light-hearted Thuringians, and even those of their family who
treated their art more seriously and worthily, would not have escaped
oblivion had there not emerged in the fulness of time one whose genius and
renown reflected their splendour and brilliancy on his forbears.  This
man, the glory of his family, pride of his countrymen, most gifted
favourite of the Muse of Music, was Johann Sebastian Bach.

                        [Bach’s Home at Eisenach]

                         Bach’s Home at Eisenach





CHAPTER II. THE CAREER OF BACH


Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685,(43) at Eisenach, where
his father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, was Court and Town Musician.(44) Johann
Ambrosius had a twin brother, Johann Christoph, Musician to the Court and
Town of Arnstadt,(45) who so exactly resembled him that even their wives
could distinguish them only by their dress.  The twins appear to have been
quite remarkable.  They were deeply attached, alike in disposition, in
voice, and in the style of their music.  If one was ill, so was the other.
They died within a short time of each other, and were objects of wondering
interest to all who knew them.(46)

In 1695, when Johann Sebastian was not quite ten years old, his father
died. He lost his mother at an earlier period.(47) So, being left an
orphan, he became dependent on his eldest brother, Johann Christoph,
Organist at Ohrdruf,(48) from whom he received his earliest lessons on the
Clavier.(49) His inclination and talent for music must already have been
pronounced.  For his brother no sooner had given him one piece to learn
than the boy was demanding another more difficult.  The most renowned
Clavier composers of that day were Froberger,(50) Fischer,(51) Johann
Caspar Kerl,(52) Pachelbel,(53) Buxtehude,(54) Bruhns,(55) and Böhm.(56)
Johann Christoph possessed a book containing several pieces by these
masters, and Bach begged earnestly for it, but without effect.  Refusal
increasing his determination, he laid his plans to get the book without
his brother’s knowledge.  It was kept on a book-shelf which had a latticed
front.  Bach’s hands were small.  Inserting them, he got hold of the book,
rolled it up, and drew it out.  As he was not allowed a candle, he could
only copy it on moonlight nights, and it was six months before he finished
his heavy task.  As soon as it was completed he looked forward to using in
secret a treasure won by so much labour.  But his brother found the copy
and took it from him without pity, nor did Bach recover it until his
brother’s death soon after.(57)

Being once more left destitute,(58) Johann Sebastian set out for Lüneburg
with one of his Ohrdruf schoolfellows, named Erdmann(59) (afterwards
Russian Resident at Danzig), and entered the choir of St. Michael’s
Convent.  His fine treble voice procured him a fair livelihood. But
unfortunately he soon lost it and did not at once develop another. (60)

Meanwhile his ambition to play the Organ and Clavier remained as keen as
ever, and impelled him to hear and practise everything that promised him
improvement.  For that purpose, while he was at Lüeburg, he several times
travelled to Hamburg to hear the famous organist,(61) Johann Adam
Reinken.(62) Often, too, he walked to Celle to hear the Duke’s French band
play French music, which was a novelty in those parts.(63)

The date and circumstances of his removal from Lüneburg to Weimar are not
precisely known.(64) He certainly became Court Musician there in 1703,
when he was just over eighteen years of age.(65) But in the following year
he gave up the post on his appointment as Organist to the new Church at
Arnstadt, probably desiring to develop his taste for the Organ and
realising that he would have better opportunities to do so at Arnstadt
than at Weimar, where he was engaged simply to play the Violin.(66) At
Arnstadt he set himself assiduously to study the works of the celebrated
organists of the period, so far as his modest means permitted him, and in
order to improve himself in composition(67) and Organ playing,(68) walked
the whole way to Lübeck to hear Dietrich Buxtehude, Organist of St. Mary’s
Church in that city, with whose compositions he was acquainted already. He
remained there about three months,(69) listening to the celebrated
Organist, but without making himself known to him, and returned to
Arnstadt with his experience much increased.

Bach’s zeal and persevering diligence had already drawn attention to him,
as is evident from the fact that he received in succession several offers
of vacant organistships, one of which, at the Church of St. Blasius,
Mühlhausen, he accepted in 1707.(70) Barely a year after he entered upon
his duties there(71) he again visited Weimar and played to the Duke, who
was so pleased with his performance that he offered him the post of Court
Organist, which he accepted.(72) Weimar promised him a particularly
agreeable atmosphere in which to cultivate his genius.(73) He applied
himself closely to his work, and probably at this period achieved the
mastery of the Organ that he ever afterwards possessed.  At Weimar also he
wrote his great compositions for that instrument.(74) In 1717(75) the Duke
appointed him Concertmeister, a post which gave him further opportunity to
develop his art, since it required him to compose and direct Church music.

It was about this time that Zachau, Handel’s master, died at Halle, where
he was Organist.(76) Bach, who by now had acquired a great reputation, was
invited to succeed him.(77) He visited Halle and composed a work as a
specimen of his skill But for some reason unknown he did not obtain the
post.  It was given to a clever pupil of Zachau, named Kirchhoff.(78)

Johann Sebastian was now thirty-two years old. He had made good use of his
opportunities, had studied hard as a player and composer, and by tireless
enthusiasm had so completely mastered every branch of his art, that he
towered like a giant above his contemporaries. Both amateurs and
professional musicians already regarded him with admiration when, in 1717,
Marchand, the French virtuoso, a celebrated Clavier and Organ player,
visited Dresden.  He played before the King-Elector(79) and won such
approbation that he was offered a large salary to enter His Majesty’s
service.(80) Marchand’s chief merit was his finished technique.  Like
Couperin,(81) his musical ideas were weak to the point of banality, as we
may judge from his compositions.(82) Bach was an equally finished player,
and so rich in ideas that Marchand’s head would have swollen had he been
equally gifted.  Volumier, Concertmeister at Dresden,(83) was aware of
these circumstances, and knowing that the young German had his instrument
and his imagination under the fullest control, determined to arrange a
contest between the two men in order to give his sovereign the
satisfaction of judging their merits.  With the King’s approbation, a
message was dispatched to Bach at Weimar(84) inviting him to a contest
with Marchand.  Bach accepted the invitation and set out at once on his
journey.  Upon his arrival at Dresden Volumier procured him an opportunity
to hear Marchand secretly.  Far from being discouraged by what he heard,
Bach wrote a polite note to the French artist challenging him to a trial
of skill, and offering to play at sight anything Marchand put before him,
provided the Frenchman submitted himself to a similar test.  Marchand
accepted the challenge, a time and place for the contest were fixed, and
the King gave his approval.  At the appointed hour a large and
distinguished company assembled in the house of Marshal Count
Flemming.(85) Bach arrived punctually; Marchand did not appear.  After
considerable delay he was sought at his lodging, when it was discovered,
to the astonishment of all, that he had left Dresden that morning without
taking leave of anybody.  Bach therefore performed alone, and excited the
admiration of all who heard him, though Volumier was cheated of his
intention to exhibit the inferiority of French to German art.  Bach was
overwhelmed with congratulations; but the dishonesty of a Court official
is said to have intercepted a present of one hundred louis d’or sent to
him by the King.(86)

Bach had not long returned to Weimar when Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen,
a good judge of music and a first-rate amateur,(87) offered him the post
of Kapellmeister.  He entered at once upon his new office(88) and held it
for about six years.(89) At this period, about 1722,(90) he visited
Hamburg, played the Organ there, and excited general admiration.  The
veteran Reinken—he was nearly one hundred years old—was particularly
impressed by Bach’s performance.  After he had treated the Choral _An
Wasserflüssen Babylon_ for half an hour in variation after variation in
the true Organ style,(91) Reinken paid him the compliment of saying, “I
thought this art was dead, but I see that it survives in you.”  Reinken
had treated the same Choral in a similar manner some years before and had
had his work engraved, showing that he thought highly of it.  His praise
therefore was particularly flattering to Bach.(92)

On the death of Kuhnau in 1723(93) Bach was appointed Director of Music
and Cantor to St. Thomas’ School, Leipzig,(94) a position which he
occupied until his death.  Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen had great
regard for him and Bach left his service with regret.(95) But he saw the
finger of Providence in the event; for the Prince died shortly
afterwards.(96) The loss of his patron affected him deeply, and moved him
to compose a funeral Cantata containing remarkably fine double choruses
which he himself conducted at Cöthen.(97) While he was at St. Thomas’ he
was appointed honorary Kapellmeister to the Duke of Weissenfels(98) and,
in the following year (1736), received the title of Court Composer to the
King-Elector of Poland-Saxony.(99) The two compliments are not of great
consequence, and the second was to some degree corollary to Bach’s
position as Cantor of St. Thomas’ School.(100)

Carl Philipp Emmanuel, Bach’s second son, entered the service of Frederick
the Great of Prussia in 1740.  So widely was Bach’s skill recognised by
this time that the King, who often heard him praised, was curious to meet
so great an artist.  More than once he hinted to Carl Philipp Emmanuel
that it would be agreeable to welcome his father to Potsdam, and as Bach
did not appear, desired to know the reason.  Carl Philipp did not fail to
acquaint his father with the King’s interest.  But for some time Bach was
too occupied with his duties to accede to the invitation.  However, as
Carl Philipp continued to urge him, he set out for Potsdam towards the end
of 1747, in company with his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann.(101) It was
the King’s custom to hold a private concert every evening, and to take
part on the flute in a Concerto or two. One evening,(102) when he had got
out his flute and the musicians were at their desks, an official brought
him a list of the strangers newly arrived at Potsdam.  Flute in hand the
King ran through the names, and suddenly turning to the waiting musicians,
said with considerable excitement, “Gentlemen, Old Bach has arrived.”  The
flute was put away for the evening, and Bach, who had alighted at his
son’s lodging, was summoned immediately to the Palace.  Wilhelm
Friedemann, who accompanied his father, often told me the story.  Nor am I
likely to forget the racy manner in which he related it.  The courtesy of
those days demanded rather prolix compliments, and the first introduction
of Bach to so illustrious a monarch, into whose presence he had hurried
without being allowed time to change his travelling dress for a Cantor’s
black gown, obviously invited ceremonial speeches on both sides.  I will
not dwell on them; Wilhelm Friedemann related a lengthy and formal
conversation between the King and the Cantor.(103)

More worthy of record is the fact that the King gave up his concert for
that evening and invited Bach, already known as “Old Bach,” to try the
Silbermann pianofortes(104) which stood in various parts of the
Palace.(105) Accompanied from room to room by the King and the musicians,
Bach tried the instruments and improvised upon them before his illustrious
companion.  After some time he asked the King to give him a subject for a
Fugue, that he might treat it extempore.  The King did so, and expressed
his astonishment at Bach’s profound skill in developing it.  Anxious to
see to what lengths the art could be carried, the King desired Bach to
improvise a six-part Fugue.  But as every subject is not suitable for
polyphonic treatment, Bach himself chose a theme and, to the astonishment
of all who were present, developed it with the skill and distinction he
had shown in treating the King’s subject.  His Majesty expressed a wish to
hear him on the Organ also. Accordingly, next day, Bach inspected all the
Organs in Potsdam,(106) as the evening before he had tried the Silbermann
pianofortes. On his return to Leipzig he developed the King’s theme in
three and six parts, added Canones diversi upon it, engraved the whole
under the title _Musikalisches Opfer_ and dedicated it to the royal author
of the theme.(107)

His visit to Potsdam was Bach’s last journey.  The indefatigable diligence
he had shown all his life, and particularly in his younger years, when
successive days and nights were given to study, seriously affected his
eye-sight.  The weakness grew with age and became very distressing in
character.  On the advice of friends who placed great confidence in the
skill of a London oculist lately come to Leipzig,(108) Bach submitted to
an operation, which twice failed.  He lost his sight completely in
consequence, and his hitherto vigorous constitution was undermined by the
drugs administered to him.  He sank gradually for full half a year, and
expired on the evening of July 30, 1760, in the sixty-sixth year of his
age.(109) Ten days before his death(110) he was suddenly able to see again
and to bear the light.  A few hours later he was seized by an apoplexy and
inflammatory fever, and notwithstanding all possible medical aid, his
weakened frame succumbed to the attack.

Such was the career of this remarkable man.  I will only add that he was
twice married, and that he had by his first wife seven, and by his second
wife thirteen children; in all, eleven sons and nine daughters.(111) All
of his sons had an admirable talent for music, but only the elder ones
fully developed it.(112)

         [The Church and School of St. Thomas, Leipzig, in 1723.]

          The Church and School of St. Thomas, Leipzig, in 1723.





CHAPTER IIA.(113) BACH AT LEIPZIG, 1723-1750


Bach was inducted into his office as Cantor of St. Thomas’ School at nine
o’clock on the morning of Monday, May 31, 1723.  He died in his official
residence there at a quarter to nine on the evening of Tuesday, July 28,
1750.  He was buried early on the morning of Friday, July 31, in the
churchyard of St. John’s, Leipzig.

The announcement of his death, made from the pulpit of St. Thomas’ on the
day of his funeral, described him as “Court Composer to His Majesty the
King of Poland and Electoral and Serene Highness of Saxony, Kapellmeister
to His Highness the Prince of Anhalt-Cothen, and Cantor to St. Thomas’
School of this town.”  Bach usually designated himself “Director Chori
Musici Lipsiensis,” or shortly, “Director Musices.”  Circumstances led him
to emphasise a title which asserted a musical prerogative not confined to
the School and the churches it served.

The Cantor of St. Thomas’ was charged formerly with the musical direction
of four Leipzig churches: St. Thomas’, St. Nicolas’, St. Peter’s, and the
New Church.  He was also responsible for the music in the University
Church of St. Paul, the so-called “old service,” held originally on the
Festivals of Easter, Whit, Christmas, and the Reformation, and once during
each University quarter. On high days music also had to be provided at St.
John’s Church.

Bach, as Cantor, succeeded to a more restricted responsibility, which
dated from the early years of the eighteenth century.  The New Church,
originally the Church of the Franciscans, had been restored to use in
1699.  In 1704 Georg Philipp Telemann, who came to Leipzig as a law
student three years before, was appointed Organist there. He also founded
the Collegium Musicum, or University Musical Society, a farther slight
upon the Cantor’s position.  Not until 1729 did the Society pass under
Bach’s direction and its members become available as auxiliaries in the
church choirs under his charge.  Notwithstanding that Bach’s predecessor
Kuhnau had protested against Telemann’s independence, the direction of the
New Church’s music passed out of the Cantor’s control, though the School
continued to provide the choristers.  Six years later the University
Church of St. Paul also began an independent course.  In 1710 the
authorities resolved to hold a University service in the church every
Sunday. Kuhnau asserted his prerogative as Cantor. But he was only able to
maintain it by offering to provide the music for the “new service” as well
as for the “old service” at the fee of twelve thalers which the University
so far had paid for the latter.  After his death the University appointed
(April 3, 1723) Johann Gottlieb Görner, already Organist of St. Nicolas’
since 1721, to control the music both of the “old” and “new” services, for
which the University provided the choir.  Not until after a direct appeal
to the King did Bach succeed, in 1726, in compelling the University to
restore to the Cantor his emoluments in regard to the “old service,” the
conduct of which had been restored to him on his appointment as Cantor.
The “new service” remained under Görner’s direction.  As to St. Peter’s,
its services, which had entirely ceased, were revived in 1711. The music,
however, was simple, and consisted only of hymns.

Thus Bach, as Cantor, was responsible for the music in the two principal
churches, St. Thomas’ and St. Nicolas’.  The School also provided the
choir for St. Peter’s and the New Church.  The junior and least competent
singers sang at St. Peter’s.  The rest were pretty equally distributed
between the other three churches.  At the New Church the music was
performed under the direction of a Chorpräfect.  At St. Thomas’ and St.
Nicolas’ Bach personally directed the concerted music.  On ordinary
Sundays a Cantata or Motet was performed in each church alternately.  At
the great Festivals, New Year, Epiphany, Ascension Day, Trinity Sunday,
and the Annunciation, Cantatas were sung at both churches, the two choirs
singing at Vespers in the second church the Cantata performed by them in
the morning at the other church.  On these occasions the second choir was
conducted by a Chorpräfect. The principal Sunday service in both churches
began at seven in the morning, ended at eleven, and observed the following
order:

      1. Organ Prelude.
      2. Motet, related to the Gospel for the Day; (omitted in Lent and
      replaced by the Benedictus).
      3. Introit.
      4. Kyrie, sung alternately, in German and Latin.
      5. The Lord’s Prayer, intoned at the altar.
      6. Gloria, intoned at the altar and answered either by the Choir’s
      Et in terra pax hominibus, or by the congregation with the Hymn,
      Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr, the German version of the Gloria.
      7. Collect, intoned in Latin; preceded by the preces Dominus
      vobiscum and Et cum spiritu tuo.
      8. Epistle.
      9. Litany, in Advent and Lent only; intoned by four boys, the Choir
      responding.
      10. Hymn, appropriate to the Gospel.
      11. Gospel.
      12. Credo, intoned; (in Lent, last three Sundays of Advent, and
      Festivals of Apostles, the Nicene Creed, sung in Latin).
      13. Prelude, followed by a Cantata, lasting about twenty minutes; on
      alternate Sundays in each church.
      14. The Creed in German, Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott, sung by the
      congregation.
      15. Sermon, lasting one hour (8-9 A.M.).
      16. Hymn, Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend, followed by the
      reading of the Gospel, on which the Sermon had been based.
      17. General Confession, prayers, and Lord’s Prayer.
      18. Blessing.
      19. Hymn.
      20. Communion Service; Hymns and Organ extemporisation.
      21. Benediction.

Vespers began at a quarter past one and was a comparatively simple
service; the music consisted of Hymns, a Motet, and the Magnificat. On the
last three Sundays in Advent and throughout Lent neither Cantatas nor
Motets were sung. The Organ was silent. On the three great Festivals the
appointed Hymn for the season was sung at the beginning of the principal
service, before the Organ Prelude: at Christmas, Puer natus in Bethlehem;
at Easter, Heut’ triumphiret Gottes Sohn; at Whitsuntide, Spiritus Sancti
gratia.  During the Communion service the Sanctus and concerted music were
sung.  A festal hymn followed the Benediction.  The three great Festivals
were each observed for three consecutive days, on the first and second of
which Cantatas were sung at both churches.  On the third day concerted
music was sung at only one of the two churches.

The other week-day Festivals for which Cantatas were provided were the
Feast of the Circumcision (New Year’s Day), Epiphany, Ascension Day,
Purification of the B.V.M., Annunciation of the B.V.M., Visitation of the
B.V.M., Feast of St. John Baptist (Midsummer Day), Feast of St. Michael
the Archangel. The Reformation Festival was kept on October 31, or if that
date was a Saturday or Monday, on the previous or following Sunday.

On Good Friday the Passion was performed in the two principal churches
alternately. Leipzig adopted no official Hymn-book.  The compilation from
which the Hymns were chosen by Bach was the eight-volumed Gesangbuch of
Paul Wagner, published at Leipzig for Dresden use in 1697.  It contained
over five thousand Hymns but no music, merely the name of the tune being
stated above the Hymn.  For the most part the Hymns for special, and even
for ordinary, occasions were prescribed by custom. Otherwise the power of
selection was in the hands of the Cantor, and Bach’s exercise of it caused
some friction with the clergy in 1728.

The provision and direction of the music at weddings and funerals was in
the Cantor’s hands. He arranged the choirs and the music sung at the
scholars’ annual processions and perambulations of the town, which took
place at Michaelmas, New Year, and on St. Martin’s and St. Gregory’s Days.

Augmenting the School’s choristers, the Town Musicians took part in the
Church services and were under the Cantor’s direction. Their numbers and
efficiency were inadequate.

Upon the staff of the School the Cantor ranked third after the Rector and
Sub-Rector, and took a share in the general instruction of the scholars.
Class III. went to Bach for Latin lessons, a duty which the Council
eventually permitted him to fulfil by deputy.  Singing classes were held
by the Cantor on three days of the week, Mondays, Tuesdays, and
Wednesdays, at nine and noon, and on Fridays at noon.  His instruction in
singing was given to the four upper classes only.  On Saturday afternoons
the Cantata was rehearsed. Once in four weeks the Cantor took his turn to
inspect the scholars.  Like the other masters, he was required to conform
to the regulations of the School House, in which he lived.  He rose at
five in summer, at six in winter, dined at ten and supped at five in the
afternoon.

Holidays were numerous.  A week’s vacation was given at the Easter,
Michaelmas, and New Year Fairs.  At Midsummer the School had a month of
half-holidays.  Whole holidays were given on the birthdays of the four
upper masters. There were no morning lessons on Saints’ Days, on the
occasion of funeral orations in the University Church, and on the
quarterly Speech Days. Hence, though Bach’s office carried large
responsibility, it left him considerable leisure for composition.

As Cantor Bach had an official residence in the left wing of the School
House.  In 1723, the Cantor’s wing was of two storeys only, dwarfed by the
greater elevation of the main edifice and under the shadow of the church.
Bach brought to Leipzig four children of his first marriage, and his
second wife, Anna Magdalena, presented him with a son or daughter annually
from 1723 to 1729.  The accommodation of the Cantor’s lodging therefore
rapidly became inadequate.  In the spring of 1731 Bach found a house
elsewhere while an additional storey was added to it, which provided a new
music-room, a good-sized apartment whence a passage led to the big
schoolroom in the main building.  The new wing was formally opened and
dedicated on June 5, 1732, when Bach’s secular Cantata Froher Tag,
verlangte Stunden was performed; the libretto being by his colleague
Winkler.  From thenceforward till his death eighteen years later Bach’s
occupancy was not disturbed.  The wing continued to be the official
residence of the Cantor until the School moved to the suburbs of the city
in 1877.

In addition to his residence, which he occupied rent free, the Cantor
enjoyed a revenue from various and fluctuating sources, amounting in gross
to 700 thalers (=£106 per annum).  His fixed stipend was only 100 thalers
(=£15).  About 12 thalers came to him from endowments.  In kind he was
entitled to 16 bushels of corn and 2 cords of firelogs, together with 2
measures of wine at each of the three great Festivals.  From the
University, after his successful protest, he received 12 thalers for
directing the “old service.” By far the larger part of Bach’s income was
derived from fluctuating sources.  They were of three kinds: (1) School
monies, (2) funeral fees, (3) wedding fees.  The School monies represented
perquisites derived from funds obtained by the scholars, partly by their
weekly collections from the public, partly from the four annual
processions or perambulations of the city.  From the weekly collections a
sum of six pfennigs multiplied by the number of the scholars was put aside
for the four upper masters, among whom the Cantor ranked third.  From the
money collected at the New Year, Michaelmas, and St. Martin’s Day
processions the Rector took a thaler, the Cantor and the Sub-Rector each
took one-eleventh of the balance, sixteen thirty-thirds went to the
singers, and one-quarter of what remained fell to the Cantor.  Out of the
money collected on St. Gregory’s Day (March 12) the Rector took one-tenth
for the entertainment of the four upper masters, and the Cantor took
one-third of the residue.  For funerals one thaler 15 groschen was paid
when the whole school accompanied the procession and a Motet was sung at
the house of the deceased.  When no Motet was sung the Cantor’s fee was 15
groschen. For weddings he received two thalers.

Reckoned in modern currency, and judged by the standard of the period, the
Cantor’s income was not inadequate and served to maintain Bach’s large
family in comfort.  When he died in 1750, in addition to a mining share
valued at 60 thalers, he possessed in cash or bonds about 360 thalers,
silver plate valued at 251 thalers, instruments valued at 371 thalers,
house furniture valued at 29 thalers, and books valued at 38 thalers.  His
whole estate was declared at 1158 thalers, or somewhat less than the
savings of two years’ income.  But for the inequitable distribution of his
property, owing to his intestacy, which left Anna Magdalena only about 400
thalers and the mining share, Bach’s widow and unmarried daughters ought
not to have been afflicted with excessive poverty, as in fact they were.

At the beginning of his Cantorate Bach worked amid discouraging and
unsatisfactory conditions. The Rector, Johann Heinrich Ernesti, was over
seventy years of age in 1723.  The School was badly managed, its
discipline was relaxed, the better-to-do citizens withheld their sons from
it, and its numbers were seriously diminished.  In 1717 the junior classes
contained only 53 as against 120 in Ernesti’s earlier years.  The
proximity and operatic traditions of Dresden and Weissenfels also had a
bad effect; the St. Thomas’ boys, after attaining musical proficiency,
were apt to become restless, demanding release from their indentures, and
even running away to more attractive and lucrative occupations.  Moreover,
the governors of the School were the Town Council, a body which had little
sympathy with or appreciation of Bach’s artistic aims and temperament. To
these difficulties must be added another.  The Town Musicians, on whom
Bach relied for the nucleus of his orchestra, were few in number and
inefficient.

So long as Ernesti lived, there was little prospect of reform.  But, after
his death, in October 1729, Bach made vigorous representations to the Town
Council.  Already he had remonstrated with the Council for presenting to
foundation scholarships boys who lacked musical aptitude.  The Council
retaliated by accusing Bach of neglecting his singing classes, absenting
himself without leave, and of other irregularities.  He was declared to be
“incorrigible” and it was resolved (August 2, 1730) to sequestrate the
Cantor’s income, in other words, to withhold from him the perquisites to
which he was entitled for the conduct of the Church services.(114)

Bach was not deterred from offering, three weeks later (August 23, 1730),
a “sketch of what constitutes well-appointed Church music, with a few
impartial reflections on its present state of decay” in Leipzig.  The
document reveals the conditions amid which Bach worked.  Its
representations may be summarised:

The foundation scholars of St. Thomas’ are of four classes: Trebles,
Altos, Tenors, Basses.

A choir needs from four to eight “concertists” ( solo singers) and at
least two “ripienists” to each chorus part, i.e. a minimum of twelve
voices.

The foundation scholars number fifty-five, by whom the choirs of the four
Churches, St. Thomas’, St. Nicolas’, St. Peter’s, and the New Church are
provided.  For the instrumental accompaniments at least twenty players are
required: viz., 2 or 3 first Violins, 2 or 3 second Violins, 4 Violas, 2
Violoncelli, 1 Contrabasso, 2 or more Flutes, 2 or 3 Oboi, 1 or 2 Fagotti,
3 Trombe, 1 Timpani.  To fill these places there are eight Town Musicians,
and at the moment there are no players available for third Tromba,
Timpani, Viola, Violoncello, Contrabasso, third Oboe (or Taille).

To augment the Town Musicians the Cantor has been wont in the past to
employ University students and instrumental players in the School. Upon
the former “at all times” he relies for Viola, Violoncello, and
Contrabasso, and “generally” for the second Violins.  But the Council, by
its recent resolution, no longer affords the Cantor the means to employ
them.  To place the scholars in the orchestra weakens the choir, to which
they naturally belong.

By presenting to foundation scholarships boys unskilled and ignorant of
music, the resources at the Cantor’s disposal are still farther lessened.

Hence, Bach concludes, “in ceasing to receive my perquisites I am deprived
of the power of putting the music into a better condition.”

No answer was made to Bach’s memorial, and he contemplated resigning his
position.  But with the advent of Johann Matthias Gesner as Rector in
September 1730 a happier period dawned upon the “incorrigible” Cantor.  In
1732 Gesner procured the withdrawal of the Council’s ban on Bach’s
perquisites.  The fallen fortunes of the School revived, and Bach did not
again make an effort to leave Leipzig.  In 1736 the grant of the post of
Hof-Componist to the Saxon Court gave him at length a title which
compelled the deference of his civic masters.

Bach’s early misunderstanding with the University cut him off from
association with the most dignified, if not the most important,
institution in Leipzig, and deprived him of opportunity to display his
genius beyond the radius of his Church duties.  The situation changed in
1729, when he became director of the University Society, and he held the
post for about ten years.  The Society gave weekly concerts on Fridays,
from 8 to 10, and an extra concert, during the Fair season, on Thursdays
at the same hour.  It performed vocal and instrumental music and was the
medium through which Bach presented his secular Cantatas, Clavier and
Violin Concertos, and Orchestral Suites to the public.  The proficiency of
his elder sons and pupils, and his wife’s talent as a singer, were a
farther source of strength to the Society, whose direction undoubtedly
made these years the happiest in Bach’s life.  He took his rightful place
in the musical life of the city, and relegated to a position of
inferiority the smaller fry, such as Görner, who had presumed on Bach’s
aloofness from the University and Municipality to insinuate themselves.
His increasing reputation as an organist, gained in his annual autumn
tours, also enlightened his fellow-townsmen regarding the superlative
worth of one whom at the outset they were disposed to treat as a
subordinate official.

The Leipzig of Bach’s day offered various opportunities for musical
celebration; official events in the University, “gratulations” or
“ovations” of favourite professors by their students, as well as patriotic
occasions in which town and gown participated. The recognised fee for
piecès d’occasion of a public character was fifty thalers.  Bach’s
conductorship of the University Society enabled him to perform festival
works with the resources they required, and to augment the band and chorus
needed for their adequate performance.

Even before he undertook the direction of the University Society, Bach
more than once provided the music for University celebrations.  On August
3, 1725, his secular Cantata, _Der zufried-engestellte Aeolus,_ was
performed at the students’ celebration of Doctor August Friedrich Müller’s
name-day.  In 1726 he revived an old Cantata(115) to celebrate the
birthday of another of the Leipzig teachers.  In the same year the
appointment of Dr. Gottlieb Kortte as Professor of Roman Law was
celebrated by Bach’s Cantata _Vereinigte Zwietracht der wechselnden
Saiten._ In 1733 the birthday of another Professor was marked by the
performance of the Cöthen Cantata to yet another text (_Die Freude reget
sich_). On November 21, 1734, the lost Cantata _Thomana sass annoch
betrübt_ was sung at the induction of Gesner’s successor, Johann August
Ernesti, as Rector of St. Thomas’ School.

But Bach’s activity as a secular composer at Leipzig was chiefly expended
on patriotic celebrations. His compositions of this character are
particularly numerous during the years 1733-36, while he was seeking from
the Dresden Court the post of Hof-Componist.  The first of these
celebrations took place on May 12, 1727, the birthday of Augustus II. of
Poland-Saxony, when Bach’s Cantata, _Entfernet euch, ihr heitern Sterne,_
was performed in the Market Place by the University Society.  The King was
present and listened to the performance from a convenient window.  The
music is lost.  Six years elapsed before Bach was invited to collaborate
in another celebration of the royal House.  On September 5, 1733, less
than two months after his application for the post of Hof-Componist, the
University Society celebrated the eleventh birthday of the Electoral
Prince by performing Bach’s dramma per musica, _Die Wahl des Herkules,_ or
_Herkules auf dem Scheidewege._ Barely three months later, on December 8,
1733, Bach produced another Cantata in honour of the royal family, _Tönet,
ihr Pauken, erschallet Trompeten,_ of which he was both author and
composer.  On no less than three occasions in 1734 Bach did homage to his
unheeding sovereign.  In January the University Society, under Bach’s
direction, performed his Cantata _Blast Larmen, ihr Feinde_ to celebrate
the coronation of Augustus III.  The music had already done duty in Dr.
Müller’s honour in 1725.  On the following October 5, 1734, when the King
visited Leipzig, Bach’s hurriedly written Cantata, _Preise dein Glücke,
gesegnetes Sachsen,_ whose first chorus became the Osanna of the B minor
Mass, was performed in the Market Place.  Two days later, on October 7,
1734, the King’s birthday was celebrated by another Bach Cantata,
_Schleicht spielende Wellen,_ performed by the Collegium Musicum. In 1738,
having received the coveted title of Hof-Componist in the interval (1736),
Bach performed a work—_Willkommen, ihr herrschenden Götter der Erden_—now
lost, in honour of the marriage of the Princess Maria Amalia of Saxony to
Charles of Sicily, afterwards Charles III. of Spain.

Apart from his musical activities and the house in which he lived there is
little that permits us to picture Bach’s life at Leipzig.  Association
with his friends Johann Christian Hoffmann, Musical Instrument Maker to
the Court, Marianne von Ziegler, J. C. Gottsched and his musical wife,
Johann Abraham Birnbaum, among the Professoriate, Picander and Christian
Weiss, Bach’s regular librettists, suggests the amenities of an academic
and literary circle. But the claims of his art and the care of his large
family had the first call upon Bach’s interest.  And few men had a happier
home life.  While his elder sons were at home the family concerts were
among his most agreeable experiences.  As his fame increased, his house
became the resort of many seeking to know and hear the famous organist.
Late in the thirties he resigned his directorship of the University
Society.  His sons were already off his hands and out of his house, and he
turned again to the Organ works of his Weimar period.  Their revision
occupied the last decade of his life, and the hitherto constant flow of
Church Cantatas ceased. Pupils resorted to him and filled his empty house,
to one of whom, Altnikol, he gave a daughter in marriage.

A man of rigid uprightness, sincerely religious; steeped in his art,
earnest and grave, yet not lacking naive humour; ever hospitable and
generous, and yet shrewd and cautious; pugnacious when his art was
slighted or his rights were infringed; generous in the extreme to his wife
and children, and eager to give the latter advantages which he had never
known himself; a lover of sound theology, and of a piety as deep as it was
unpretentious—such were the qualities of one who towers above all other
masters of music in moral grandeur.

Four, perhaps only three, contemporary portraits of Bach are known.  One
is in the possession of the firm of Peters at Leipzig and once belonged to
Carl Philipp Emmanuel’s daughter, who with inherited impiety sold it to a
Leipzig flute player.  The second hung in St. Thomas’ School and is
reproduced at p. 48 of this volume.  It was painted in 1746 and restored
in 1913.  Both portraits are by Elias Gottlieb Haussmann, Court Painter at
Dresden. The third portrait belonged to Bach’s last pupil, Kittel, and
used to hang on the Organ at Erfurt, whence it disappeared after 1809,
during the Napoleonic wars.  Recently Professor Fritz Volbach of Mainz has
discovered a fourth portrait, which is printed at p. 92 of the present
volume. He supposes it to be none other than the Erfurt portrait, as
indeed it well may be, since it represents a man of some sixty years,
austere in countenance, but of a dignity that is not so apparent in
Haussmann’s portraiture.(116)

Bach left no will.  In consequence his widow, Anna Magdalena, burdened
with the charge of a step-daughter and two daughters, was entitled to only
one-third of her husband’s estate.  Neither Carl Philipp Emmanuel nor
Wilhelm Friedemann was her own child.  But the fact cannot excuse gross
neglect of their father’s widow. Her own sons were in a position to make
such a contribution to her income as would at least have kept want from
her door.  In fact she was permitted to become dependent on public
charity, and died, an alms-woman, on February 27, 1760, nearly ten years
after her great husband.  The three daughters survived her.  One died in
1774, the second in 1781.  The third, Regine Susanna, survived them, her
want relieved by gifts from a public that at last was awakening to the
grandeur of her father.  Beethoven contributed generously.  Regine Susanna
died in December 1809, the last of Bach’s children.  In 1845 her nephew,
Johann Christoph Friedrich’s son, also died.  With him the line of Johann
Sebastian Bach expired.

   [Johann Sebastian Bach, circa 1746. From the picture by Haussmann.]

   Johann Sebastian Bach, circa 1746. _From the picture by Haussmann._





CHAPTER III. BACH AS A CLAVIER PLAYER


As a Clavier player Bach was admired by all who had the good fortune to
hear him and was the envy of the virtuosi of his day.  His method greatly
differed from that of his contemporaries and predecessors, but so far no
one has attempted to explain in what the difference consisted. The same
piece of music played by ten different performers equally intelligent and
competent will produce a different effect in each case.  Each player will
emphasise this or that detail.  This or that note will stand out with
differing emphasis, and the general effect will vary consequently.  And
yet, if all the players are equally competent, ought not their
performances to be uniform?  The fact that they are not so is due to
difference of touch, a quality which to the Clavier stands as enunciation
to human speech.  Distinctness is essential for the enunciation of vowels
and consonants, and not less so for the articulation of a musical phrase.
But there are gradations of distinctness.  If a sound is emitted
indistinctly it is comprehensible only with effort, which occasions us to
lose much of the pleasure we should otherwise experience. On the other
hand, over-emphasis of words or notes is to be avoided.  Otherwise the
hearer’s attention will be diverted from the tout ensemble. To permit the
general effect to be appreciated every note and every vowel must be
sounded with balanced distinctness.

I have often wondered why Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach’s _Essay on the Right
Manner of playing the Clavier_(117) does not elucidate the qualities that
constitute a good touch.  For he possessed in high degree the technique
that made his father pre-eminent as a player.  True, in his chapter on
“Style in Performance,” he writes, “Some persons play as if their fingers
were glued together; their touch is so deliberate, and they keep the keys
down too long; while others, attempting to avoid this defect, play too
crisply, as if the keys burnt their fingers.  The right method lies
between the two extremes.” But it would have been more useful had he told
us how to reach this middle path.  As he has not done so, I must try to
make the matter as clear as is possible in words.

Bach placed his hand on the finger-board so that his fingers were bent and
their extremities poised perpendicularly over the keys in a plane parallel
to them.(118) Consequently none of his fingers was remote from the note it
was intended to strike, and was ready instantly to execute every command.
Observe the consequences of this position.  First of all, the fingers
cannot _fall_ or (as so often happens) be _thrown_ upon the notes, but are
_placed_ upon them in full control of the force they may be called on to
exert.  In the second place, since the force communicated to the note
needs to be maintained with uniform pressure, the finger should not be
released perpendicularly from the key, but can be withdrawn gently and
gradually towards the palm of the hand.  In the third place, when passing
from one note to another, a sliding action instinctively instructs the
next finger regarding the amount of force exerted by its predecessor, so
that the tone is equally regulated and the notes are equally distinct.  In
other words, the touch is neither too long nor too short, as Carl Philipp
Emmanuel complains, but is just what it ought to be.(119) Many advantages
arise from holding the hand in Bach’s position and from adopting his
touch, on the Clavichord and Harpsichord,(120) and on  the Organ as well.
I point out merely the most important of them.   To begin with, if the
fingers are bent, their movements are free.  The notes are struck without
effort and with less risk of missing or hitting too hard, a frequent fault
with people who play with their fingers elongated or insufficiently bent.
In the second place, the sliding finger-tip, and the consequently rapid
transmission of regulated force from one finger to another, tend to bring
out each note clearly and to make every passage sound uniformly brilliant
and distinct to the hearer without exertion.  In the third place, stroking
the note with uniform pressure permits the string to vibrate freely,
improves and prolongs the tone, and though the Clavichord is poor in
quality, allows the player to sustain long notes upon it.  And the method
has this advantage: it prevents over-expenditure of strength and excessive
movement of the hand. We gather that the action of Bach’s fingers was so
slight as to be barely perceptible.  Only the top joint seemed to move.
His hand preserved its rounded shape even in the most intricate passages.
His fingers rested closely upon the keys, very much in the position
required for a “shake.”  An unemployed finger remained in a position of
repose.  It is hardly necessary to say that that other limbs of his body
took no part in his performance, as is the case with many whose hands lack
the requisite agility.(121)

A man may possess all these qualities, however, and remain an indifferent
performer on the Clavier, just as clear and agreeable enunciation does not
necessarily make a good speaker.  To be a first-rate performer many other
qualities are needed, and Bach possessed them all in a notable degree.

Some fingers are longer and stronger than others. Hence players are
frequently seduced to use the stronger whenever they can readily do so.
Consequently successive notes become unequal in tone, and passages which
leave no choice as to the finger to be used may become impossible to play.
Bach recognised this fact very early in his career.  To get over the
difficulty he invented exercises for his own use in which the fingers of
both hands were made to practise passages in every conceivable position.
By this means every finger on both hands equally became strong and
serviceable, so that he could play a rapid succession of chords, single
and double “shakes,” and running passages with the utmost finish and
delicacy, and was equally fluent in passages where some fingers play a
“shake” while the others on the same hand continue the melody.

Besides these improvements, Bach invented a new system of fingering.(122)
Before his time, and even in his early years, it was usual for the player
to pay attention to harmony rather than counterpoint. Even so it was not
customary to use every one of the twenty-four major and minor keys.  The
Clavichord was still what we term “gebunden”; that is, several keys struck
the same string, which, therefore, could not be accurately tuned.(123)
Consequently it was usual to employ only those keys whose notes were tuned
with some approximation to accuracy.  Again, good players in those days
hardly ever used the thumb, except when a large interval had to be
stretched.  But when Bach began to melodise harmony so that his middle
parts not merely filled in but had a tune of their own, when, too, he
began to deviate from the Church modes then in general vogue in secular
music, using the diatonic and chromatic scales indifferently, and tuning
the Clavier in all the twenty-four keys, he found himself compelled to
introduce a system of fingering better adapted to his innovations than
that in use, and in particular, to challenge the convention which
condemned the thumb to inactivity. It is held by some writers that
Couperin forestalled Bach’s method of fingering, in his _L’Art de toucher
le Clavecin,_ published in 1716.  But that is not the case.  In the first
place, Bach was above thirty years old in 1716, and had already developed
a distinctive method of his own.  And in the second place, Couperin’s
system differs materially from Bach’s, though both made more frequent use
of the thumb than was so far customary.  When I say “more frequent use” I
do so advisedly; for whereas in Bach’s system the thumb is the principal
finger—for the difficult keys, as they are called, are unplayable without
it—it is not equally indispensable with Couperin, whose thematic material
was not so intricate as Bach’s, nor did he compose or play in such
difficult keys.  Consequently Couperin had not an equally urgent need to
use the thumb. We need only compare Couperin’s with Bach’s system of
fingering, as Carl Philipp Emmanuel explains it,(124) to discover that
Bach’s permits every passage, however intricate and polyphonic, to be
played with ease, whereas Couperin’s is hardly effective even for his own
compositions.  Bach was acquainted with Couperin’s works and highly
esteemed them,(125) as he did those of other French Clavier composers, for
their finish and brilliance. But he considered them affected in their
excessive use of ornaments, scarcely a single note being free from them.
He held them, also, superficial in matter.

Bach’s easy, unconstrained use of the fingers, his musical touch, the
clearness and precision of every note he struck, the resourcefulness of
his fingering, his thorough training of every finger of both hands, the
luxuriance of his thematic material and his original method of stating it,
all contributed to give him almost unlimited power over his instrument, so
easily did he surmount the difficulties of its keyboard.  Whether he
improvised or played his compositions from notes, he systematically
employed every finger of each hand, and his fingering was as uncommon as
the compositions themselves, yet so accurate that he never missed a note.
Moreover, he read at sight other people’s compositions (which, to be sure,
were much easier than his own) with the utmost facility.  Indeed, he once
boasted to a friend at Weimar that he could play at sight and without a
mistake anything put before him.  But he was mistaken, as his friend
convinced him before the week was out.  Having invited Bach to breakfast
one morning, he placed on the Clavier, among other music, a piece which,
at a first glance, seemed perfectly easy.  On his arrival, Bach, as was
his custom, sat down at the Clavier to play or look through the music.
Meanwhile his friend was in the next room preparing breakfast.  In a short
time Bach took up the piece of music destined to change his opinion and
began to play it.  He had not proceeded far before he came to a passage at
which he stopped.  After a look at it he began again, only to stop at the
same place. “No,” he called out to his friend, who was laughing heartily
in the next room, “the man does not exist who can play everything at
sight.  It can’t be done.” With that he got up from the Clavier in some
annoyance.(126)

Bach also could read scores with remarkable facility and play them on the
Clavier. He found no more difficulty in piecing together the separate
parts when laid side by side before him.(127) He often did so when a
friend brought him a new Trio or Quartet for Strings and wished to hear
how it sounded.  If a Continuo part, however badly figured, was put before
him he could improvise a Trio or Quartet upon it.  Nay, when he was in the
mood and at the height of his powers, he would convert a Trio into a
Quartet by extemporising a fourth part.  On such occasions he used a
Harpsichord with two manuals and pedal attachment.

Bach preferred the Clavichord to the Harpsichord, which, though
susceptible of great variety of tone, seemed to him lacking in soul.  The
Pianoforte was still in its infancy and too coarse.(128) Both for practice
and intimate use he regarded the Clavichord as the best instrument and
preferred to express on it his finest thoughts.  He held the Harpsichord,
or Clavicembalo, incapable of the gradations of tone obtainable on the
Clavichord, an instrument which, though feeble in quality, is extremely
flexible.

No one could adjust the quill plectrums of his Harpsichord to Bach’s
satisfaction; he always did it himself.  He tuned his Harpsichord and
Clavichord, and was so skilful in the operation that it never took him
more than a quarter of an hour.  It enabled him to play in any key he
preferred, and placed the whole twenty-four of them at his disposal, so
that he could modulate into the remoter as easily and naturally as into
the more nearly related keys.  Those who heard him frequently could hardly
detect the fact that he had modulated into a distant key, so smooth were
his transitions.  In chromatic movements his modulation was as easy and
sequent as in diatonic.  His _Chromatic Fantasia,_ which is now
published,(129) bears out my statement.  In his extemporisation he was
even freer, more brilliant and expressive.

When he played his own music Bach usually adopted a brisk pace.  He
contrived to introduce so much variety that every piece became a sort of
conversation between its parts.  If he wished to express deep emotion he
did not strike the notes with great force, as many do, but expressed his
feeling in simple melodic and harmonic figures,(130) relying rather on the
internal resources of his art than external dynamics.  Therein he was
right. True emotion is not suggested by hammering the Clavier. All that
results is that the notes cannot be heard distinctly, much less be
connected coherently.





CHAPTER IV.  BACH THE ORGANIST


What has been said regarding Bach’s admirable Clavier playing applies
generally to his skill as an organist.  The Clavier and Organ have points
in common, but in style and touch are as different as their respective
uses.  What sounds well on the Clavier is ineffective on the Organ, and
vice versa.  The most accomplished Clavier player may be, and usually is,
a bad organist unless he realises the differing natures of the two
instruments and the uses they serve.  I have come across only two men who
can be regarded as exceptions to this general rule—Bach and his eldest
son, Wilhelm Friedemann.  Both were finished Clavier performers, but no
trace of the Clavier style was apparent when they played the Organ.
Melody, harmony, and pace were carefully selected with due regard to the
nature and distinctive use of each instrument.  When Wilhelm Friedemann
played the Clavier his touch was elegant, delicate, agreeable.  When he
played the Organ he inspired a feeling of reverent awe. On the one he was
charming.  On the other he was solemn, impressive. So also was his father,
and to an even greater degree.  Wilhelm Friedemann was a mere child to him
as an organist, and frankly admitted the fact.(131) The music that
extraordinary man wrote for the Organ is full of dignity, awe-inspiring,
saturated with the atmosphere of devotion.  His improvisation was even
more inspired, dignified, and impressive: for then his imagination was
untrammelled by the irksomeness of expressing himself on paper.  What is
the essence of this art? Let me, though imperfectly, attempt an answer.

When we compare Bach’s Clavier compositions with those written for the
Organ it is at once apparent that they differ essentially in melodic and
harmonic structure.  Hence we conclude that a good organist must select
fitting themes for his instrument, and let himself be guided by its
character and that of the place in which it stands and by the objects of
its use.  Its great body of tone renders the Organ ill-adapted to light
and jaunty music.  Its echoes must have liberty to rise and fall in the
dim spaces of the church, otherwise the sound becomes confused, blurred,
and unintelligible.  What is played upon it must be suited to the place
and the instrument, in other words, must be congruous to a solemn and
majestic fabric.  Occasionally and exceptionally a solo stop may be used
in a Trio, etc.  But the proper function of the Organ is to support church
singing and to stimulate devotional feeling.  The composer therefore must
not write music for it which is congruous to secular surroundings.  What
is commonplace and trite can neither impress the hearer nor excite
devotional feeling.  It must therefore be banished from the Organ-loft.
How clearly Bach grasped that fact!  Even his secular music disdained
trivialities.  Much more so his Organ music, in which he seems to soar as
a spirit above this mortal planet.

Of the means by which Bach attained to such an altitude as a composer for
the Organ we may notice his harmonic treatment of the old Church modes,
his use of the obbligato pedal, and his original registration.  The
remoteness of the ecclesiastical modes from our twenty-four major and
minor keys renders them particularly appropriate to the service of
religion.  Any one who looks at Bach’s simple four-part Hymn tunes
(Choralgesänge) will at once convince himself of the fact.  But no one can
realise how the Organ sounds under a similar system of harmonic treatment
unless he has heard it.  It becomes a choir of four or five parts, each in
its natural compass.  Compare the following chords in divided harmony:

                    [Divided Harmony, Bach treatment]

with these:

                [Divided Harmony, conventional treatment]

which is the more usual form organists employ. We realise instantly the
effect when music in four or more parts is played in the same manner. Bach
always played the Organ so, adding the obbligato pedal, which few
organists know how to use properly.  He employed it not only to sound the
low notes which organists usually play with the left hand, but he gave it
a regular part of its own, often so complicated that many organists would
find it difficult to play with their five fingers.

To these qualities must be added the exquisite art Bach displayed in
combining the stops of the Organ.  His registration frequently astonished
organists and Organ builders, who ridiculed it at first, but were obliged
in the end to admit its admirable results and to confess that the Organ
gained in richness and sonority.(132)

Bach’s peculiar registration was based on his intimate knowledge of Organ
building and of the properties of each individual stop.  Very early in his
career he made a point of giving to each part of the Organ the utterance
best suited to its qualities, and this led him to seek unusual
combinations of stops which otherwise would not have occurred to him.
Nothing escaped his notice which had the slightest bearing on his art or
promised to advance it.  For instance, he made a point of observing the
effect of large musical compositions in different surroundings.  The
practised ear, which enabled him to detect the slightest error in music
even of the fullest and richest texture, and the art and rapidity with
which he tuned his instrument, alike attest his intuitive skill and
many-sidedness.  When he was at Berlin in 1747 he was shown the new Opera
House.  He took in its good and bad qualities at a glance, whereas others
had done so only after experience. He was shown the large adjoining Saloon
and went up into the gallery that runs round it. Merely glancing at the
roof he remarked, “The architect has secured a novel effect which,
probably, neither himself nor any one else suspected.” The Saloon, in
fact, is a parallelogram. If a person puts his face to the wall in one
corner of it and whispers a few words, another person at the corner
diagonally opposite can hear them distinctly, though to others between
them the words are inaudible.  The effect arises from the span of the
arches in the roof, as Bach saw at a glance.  These and similar
observations suggested to him striking and unusual combinations of Organ
stops.

Bach brought the methods I have indicated to bear upon Church music, and
they help to explain his extraordinarily dignified and inspired playing,
which was at once so appropriate and filled the listener with deep awe and
admiration.  His profound knowledge of harmony, unfailing originality,
freedom from a secular style, his complete command of the instrument, both
manuals and pedals, whence flowed a generous stream of the richest and
most abundant fancy, the infallible and swift judgment which allowed him
always to select from the treasury of his mind precisely the musical ideas
best suited to the occasion immediately before him, his intuitive grasp of
every detail, and his power to make it serve his artistic ends—in a word,
his transcendent genius brought the art of Organ playing to a degree of
perfection which, till then, it had never attained and hardly will attain
again.  Quantz(133) has expressed the same opinion. “The admirable Johann
Sebastian Bach,” he writes, “brought the art of Organ playing to its
highest perfection.  It is to be hoped that when he dies it will not be
suffered to decline or be lost, as is to be feared from the small number
of people who nowadays bestow pains upon it.”(134)

Strangers often asked Bach to play to them between the hours of divine
service.  On those occasions he was wont to select and treat a theme in
various ways, making it the subject of each extemporisation even if he
continued playing for two hours.  As a beginning he played a Prelude and
Fugue on the Great Organ.  Then he developed it with solo stops in a Trio
or Quartet.  A Hymn-tune followed, whose melody he interrupted in the
subtlest fashion with fragments of the theme in three or four parts.  Last
came a Fugue, with full Organ, in which he treated the subject alone or in
association with one or more accessory themes. Here we have the art which
old Reinken of Hamburg considered to be lost, but which, as he afterwards
found, not only survived but attained its greatest perfection in Bach.

Bach’s pre-eminent position and his high reputation often caused him to be
invited to examine candidates for vacant organistships, and to report on
new Organs.  In both cases he acted so conscientiously and impartially
that he generally made enemies.  Scheibe, late Director of Music at the
Danish Court, who as a young man was examined by Bach on such an occasion,
was so incensed by Bach’s unfavourable verdict that he afterwards avenged
himself in his “Critical Musician” by violently attacking his
examiner.(135) In his examination of Organs Bach equally exposed himself
to trouble.  He could as little prevail on himself to praise a bad
instrument as to recommend a bad organist.  He was, therefore, severe,
though always fair, in the tests he applied, and as he was thoroughly
acquainted with the construction of the instrument it was hopeless to
attempt to deceive him.  First of all he drew out all the stops, to hear
the Full Organ.  He used to say jokingly, that he wanted to find out
whether the instrument had good lungs!  Then he gave every part of it a
most searching test.  But his sense of fairness was so strong that, if he
found the work really well done, and the builder’s remuneration too small,
so that he was likely to be a loser, Bach endeavoured, and often
successfully, to procure for him an adequate addition to the purchase
price.

When the examination was over, especially if the instrument pleased him,
Bach liked to exhibit his splendid talent, both for his own pleasure and
the gratification of those who were present.  Such demonstrations of his
powers invariably invited the verdict, that he was conclusively “the
prince of Clavier and Organ players,” a title which Sorge, the late
highly-esteemed organist at Lobenstein,(136) once gave him in a dedicatory
Preface.





CHAPTER V. BACH THE COMPOSER


Bach’s first attempts at composition, like all early efforts, were
unsatisfactory.  Lacking special instruction to direct him towards his
goal, he was compelled to do what he could in his own way, like others who
have set out upon a career without a guide.  Most youthful composers let
their fingers run riot up and down the keyboard, snatching handfuls of
notes, assaulting the instrument in wild frenzy, in hope that something
may result from it.  Such people are merely Finger Composers—in his riper
years Bach used to call them Harpsichord Knights—that is to say, their
fingers tell them what to write instead of being instructed by the brain
what to play.(137) Bach abandoned that method of composition when he
observed that brilliant flourishes lead nowhere.  He realised that musical
ideas need to be subordinated to a plan and that the young composer’s
first need is a model to instruct his efforts.  Opportunely Vivaldi’s
Concertos for the Violin,(138) then recently published, gave him the
guidance he needed.  He had often heard them praised as admirable works of
art, and conceived the happy idea of arranging them for the Clavier.(139)
Hence he was led to study their structure, the musical ideas on which they
are built, the variety of their modulations, and other characteristics.
Moreover, in adapting to the Clavier ideas and phrases originally written
for the Violin Bach was compelled to put his brain to work, and so freed
his inspiration from dependence on his fingers.  Henceforth he was able to
draw ideas out of his own storehouse, and having placed himself on the
right road, needed only perseverance and hard work to succeed. And how
persevering he was!  He even robbed himself of sleep to practise in the
night what he had written during the day!  But the diligence he bestowed
upon his own compositions did not hinder him from studying the works of
Frescobaldi,(140) Froberger, Kerl, Pachelbel, Fischer, Strungk,(141)
Buxtehude, Reinken, Bruhns, Böhm, and certain French organists who were
famed in those days as masters of harmony and fugue.(142)

The models he selected—Church musicians for the most part—and his own
disposition inclined him to serious and exalted subjects.  But in that
kind of music little can be accomplished with inadequate technique.
Bach’s first object, therefore, was to develop his power of expressing
himself before he attempted to realise the ideal that beckoned him.  Music
to him was a language, and the composer a poet who, whatever the idiom he
affects, must first of all have at his disposal the means of making
himself intelligible to others. But the technique of his period Bach found
limited in variety and insufficiently pliable.  Therefore he set himself
at the outset to refashion the accepted harmonic system.  He did so in a
manner characteristically individual and bearing the impress of his
personality.

If the language of music is merely the utterance of a melodic line, a
simple sequence of musical notes, it can justly be accused of poverty.
The addition of a Bass puts it upon a harmonic foundation and clarifies
it, but defines rather than gives it added richness.  A melody so
accompanied—even though all the notes are not those of the true Bass—or
treated with simple embellishments in the upper parts, or with simple
chords, used to be called “homophony.”  But it is a very different thing
when two melodies are so interwoven that they converse together like two
persons upon a footing of pleasant equality.  In the first case the
accompaniment is subordinate, and serves merely to support the first or
principal part.  In the second case the two parts are not similarly
related.  New melodic combinations spring from their interweaving, out of
which new forms of musical expression emerge.  If more parts are
interwoven in the same free and independent manner, the apparatus of
language is correspondingly enlarged, and becomes practically
inexhaustible if, in addition, varieties of form and rhythm are
introduced.  Hence harmony becomes no longer a mere accompaniment of
melody, but rather a potent agency for augmenting the richness and
expressiveness of musical conversation.  To serve that end a simple
accompaniment will not suffice.  True harmony is the interweaving of
several melodies, which emerge now in the upper, now in the middle, and
now in the lower parts.

From about the year 1720, when he was thirty-five, until his death in
1750, Bach’s harmony consists in this melodic interweaving of independent
melodies, so perfect in their union that each part seems to constitute the
true melody. Herein Bach excels all the composers in the world.(143) At
least, I have found no one to equal him in music known to me.  Even in his
four-part writing we can, not infrequently, leave out the upper and lower
parts and still find the middle parts melodious and agreeable.

But in harmony of this kind each part must be highly plastic; otherwise it
cannot play its role as an actual melody and at the same time combine with
the other parts.  To produce it Bach followed a course of his own, upon
which the textbooks of his day were silent, but which his genius suggested
to him.  Its originality consists in the freedom of his part writing, in
which he transgresses, seemingly, at any rate, rules long established and
to his contemporaries almost sacred. Bach, however, realised their object,
which was simply to facilitate the flow of pure melody on a sound harmonic
basis, in other words, successive and coexistent euphony, and he succeeded
with singular success though by unfamiliar means.  Let me explain my
meaning more closely.

Between simple intervals there is little difficulty in deciding whether
the second note must rise or fall.  And in regard to phrases, or sections
of a phrase, if we analyse their structure and follow out their harmonic
tendency, their resolution is equally clear.  But this sense of
destination may be provoked in each part by different intervals.  As we
have observed already, every one of the four parts must flow melodically
and freely.  But to secure that result it will be necessary to introduce
between the notes which begin a phrase and establish its general
atmosphere other notes which often are not consonant with those employed
in the other parts and whose incidence is governed by the accent.  This is
what we call a transitus regularis et irregularis.(144) Each part starts
from a fixed point, and returns to it, but travels freely between them.
No one has made more use of such progressions than Bach in order to colour
his parts and give them a characteristic melodic line.  Hence, unless his
music is played with perfect fluency, occasional passages will sound
harshly and we may be tempted to accuse him of exaggeration.  But the
charge is ill founded. Once we play them as Bach intended them, such
passages reveal their full beauty and their attractive though bizarre
dissonance opens up new vistas in the realm of sound.

But, to speak in detail of Bach’s transgression of recognised rules.  To
begin with, he admitted octaves and fifths provided they sounded well;
that is, when the cause of their being forbidden did not arise.(145)
Everybody knows that there are positions in which they sound well, and
others when they should be avoided, owing to the harsh effect or thin
harmony they produce.  Bach’s octaves and fifths never produce bad or thin
harmony, and he was very definite as to when they could and could not be
used.  In certain circumstances he would not permit hidden fifths and
octaves even between the middle parts, though we exclude them only between
the outer parts.  Yet, on occasion he used them in such a barefaced manner
as to puzzle the beginner in composition.  But their use very soon
commends itself.  Even in the last revision of his early compositions we
find him altering passages, which at first sight appear impeccable, with
the object of enriching their harmony and without scrupling to use hidden
octaves.  A remarkable instance occurs in the first part of the
_Well-tempered Clavier,_ in the E major Fugue, between the fifth and
fourth bars from the end.(146) I regret to this hour that, on looking over
the later text, from which Hoffmeister and Kühnel’s edition of that work
is printed,(147) I was so foolish as to reject Bach’s amended reading
there, merely because the harmony is unorthodox though more pleasing.  I
stupidly preferred the older, more correct, and harsher reading, though in
the later text the three parts run easily and smoothly. And what more can
one demand?

Again, there is a rule that every note raised by an accidental cannot be
doubled in the chord, because the raised note must, from its nature,
resolve on the note above.  If it is doubled, it must rise doubled in both
parts and, consequently, form consecutive octaves.  Such is the rule.  But
Bach frequently doubles not only notes accidentally raised elsewhere in
the scale but actually the semitonium modi or leading-note itself.  Yet he
avoids consecutive octaves.  His finest works yield examples of this.

Again, Bach’s statement that “over a pedal point all intervals are
permissible that occur in the three scales”(148) should be regarded rather
an expansion than a violation of the recognised rule.  In general what is
called an Organ point is merely a retarded close.  Bach, however, did not
hesitate to employ it in the middle of a piece; a striking example occurs
in the last Gigue of the _English Suites._(149) On a first hearing this
Gigue, imperfectly rendered, may not sound well.  But it grows more
beautiful as it becomes more familiar, and what seemed harsh is found to
be smooth and agreeable, until one never tires of playing and hearing it.

Bach’s modulation was as original and characteristic as his harmony, and
as closely related to it.  But the two things, though closely associated,
are not the same.  By harmony we mean the concordance of several parts; by
modulation, their progression through keys.  Modulation can take place in
a single part.  Harmony requires more than one.  I will endeavour to make
my meaning clearer.

Most composers stick closely to their tonic key and modulate out of it
with deliberation.  In music that requires a large number of performers,
and in a building, for instance a church, where the large volume of sound
dies away slowly, such a habit shows good sense in the composer who wishes
his work to produce the best possible effect.  But in chamber or
instrumental music it is not always a proof of wisdom, but rather of
mental poverty. Bach saw clearly that the two styles demand different
treatment.  In his large choral compositions he bridles his exuberant
fancy.  In his instrumental works he lets himself go.  As he never courted
popularity, but always pursued his ideal, Bach had no reason to suppress
the nobility of his inspirations, or to lower their standard for public
consumption.  Nor did he ever do so.  Therefore every modulation in his
instrumental work is a new thought, a constantly progressive creation in
the plane of the chosen keys and those related to them.  He holds fast to
the essentials of harmony, but with every modulation introduces a new
suggestion and glides so smoothly to the end of a piece that no creaking
of machinery is perceptible; yet no single bar—I might almost say no part
of a bar—is like another.  Every modulation bears a strict relationship to
the key from which it proceeds, and springs naturally from it.  Bach
ignored, or rather despised, the sudden sallies by which many composers
seek to surprise their hearers.  Even in his chromatic passages his
progressions are so smooth and easy that we are hardly conscious of them,
however extreme they may be.  He makes us feel that he has not stepped
outside the diatonic scale, so quick is he to seize upon the consonances
common to dissonant systems and combine them to his sure purpose.

                      [The Bach Statue at Eisenach]

                       The Bach Statue at Eisenach





CHAPTER VI. BACH THE COMPOSER (CONTINUED)


Bach’s treatment of harmony and modulation powerfully influenced his
melody.  The strands of his harmony are really concurrent melodies. They
flow easily and expressively, never engross the hearer’s attention, but
divide his interest, as now one now the other becomes prominent. Even when
they are noticeable they seem obscured by the melodic parts that accompany
them—I say “seem obscured,” for if the hearer is sufficiently instructed
to distinguish the several melodies in the ensemble he will discover them
to be more clearly defined by their accompaniment.

The combination of several melodic lines obliges the composer to use
devices which are unnecessary in homophonic music.  A single melody can
develop as it pleases.  But when two or more are combined each must be so
delicately and cleverly fashioned that it can be interwoven with the
others in this direction and in that.  And here we detect one at least of
the reasons why Bach’s melodies are so strangely original, and his tunes
so clearly distinguishable from those of other composers.  Provided that
novelty does not degenerate into eccentricity or extravagance, and that
clearness and facility of expression march with agreeableness, a
composer’s meritoriousness is proclaimed in his originality.(150) The one
drawback is that the ordinary hearer cannot appreciate melodic beauties
which are patent only to the expert.

But Bach’s melodies are not invariably so handicapped. They are always
original, it is true. But in his free compositions the melodies are so
natural and spontaneous that, while they sound differently from those of
other composers, their naturalness, and the sincerity of feeling that
inspires them, make them intelligible to every listener.  Most of the
Preludes in the _Well-tempered Clavier_ as well as a number of movements
in the Suites are of this character.

Bach’s melody, then, bears the unmistakable stamp of originality.  And so
does his passage work, as it is called.  Such novelty, originality, and
brilliancy are not found in any other composer. Examples are to be found
in all Bach’s Clavier works. But the most striking and original are in the
_Great Variations,_(151) in the first Part of the _Clavierübung,_(152) in
the _English Suites,_(153) and the _Chromatic Fantasia._(154) In the last
particularly Bach’s fertility impresses us.  The greater part of its
passage work is in the form of harmonic arpeggios whose richness and
originality match the chords they represent.

In order to realise the care and skill Bach expended on his melody and
harmony, and how he put the very best of his genius into his work, I need
only instance his efforts to construct a composition incapable of being
harmonised with another melodic part.  In his day it was regarded as
imperative to perfect the harmonic structure of part-writing.
Consequently the composer was careful to complete his chords and leave no
door open for another part.  So far the rule had been followed more or
less closely in music for two, three, and four parts, and Bach observed it
in such cases.  But he applied it also to compositions consisting of a
single part, and to a deliberate experiment in this form we owe the six
Violin and the six Violoncello Solo Suites,(155) which have no
accompaniment and do not require one.  So remarkable is Bach’s skill that
the solo instrument actually produces all the notes required for complete
harmony, rendering a second part unnecessary and even impossible.

Bach’s melody never palls on us, because of the presence in it of those
qualities to which I have referred.  It remains “ever fair and young,”
like Nature herself.  In his earlier works, in which we find him still in
bondage to the prevailing mode, there is a good deal that to-day seems
antiquated.  But when, as in his later works, he draws his melody from the
living wells of inspiration and cuts himself adrift from convention, all
is as fresh and new as if it had been written yesterday.  Of how many
compositions of that period can the same be said?  Even the works of
ingenious composers like Reinhard Keiser(156) and Handel have become
old-fashioned sooner than we or their composers might have supposed. Like
other caterers for the public, they were obliged to pander to its taste,
and such music endures no longer than the standard which produced it.
Nothing is more inconstant and fickle than popular caprice and, in
general, what is called fashion.  It must be admitted, however, that
Handel’s Fugues are not yet out of date, though there are probably few of
his Arias that we now find agreeable.(157)

Bach’s melody and harmony are rendered still more distinctive by their
inexhaustible rhythmic variety.  Hitherto we have discussed his music
merely subjectively as harmony and melody.  But to display vivacity and
variety music needs to be uttered with rhythmic point and vigour.  More
than those of any other period composers of Bach’s time found no
difficulty in this, for they acquired facility in the management of rhythm
in the “Suite,” which held the place of our “Sonata.” Between the initial
Prelude and closing Gigue the Suite includes a number of characteristic
French dance measures, whose rhythm is their distinguishing
characteristic.  Composers of Bach’s day, therefore, were familiar with
measures and rhythms which are now obsolete.  Moreover skilful treatment
was necessary in order that each dance might exhibit its own distinctive
character and swing.  Herein Bach exceeded his predecessors and
contemporaries.  He experimented with every kind of key and rhythm in
order to give variety and colour to each movement.  Out of his experience
he acquired such facility that, even in Fugue, with its complex
interweaving of several parts, he was able to employ a rhythm as easy as
it was striking, as characteristic as it was sustained from beginning to
end, as natural as a simple Minuet.

The source of Bach’s astonishing pre-eminence is to be sought in his
facile and constant application of the methods we have discussed.  In
whatever form he chose to express himself, easy or difficult, he was
successful and seemingly effortless.(158) There is not a note in his music
that does not suggest consummate ease of workmanship. What he sets out to
do he concludes triumphantly. The result is complete and perfect; no one
could wish for a single note to be other than it is.  Some illustrations
will make my point clearer.

Carl Philipp Emmanuel, in the preface to his father’s _Vierstimmige
Choralgesänge_ (“Four-part Hymn-tunes”), which he edited,(159) says that
the world was accustomed to look for nothing but masterpieces from Bach.
Some reviewers thought this praise exaggerated.  But if the term
“masterpiece” is restricted to works written during the years of Bach’s
maturity(160) it is nothing less than the truth.  Others have produced
masterpieces in various forms which may be placed honourably by the side
of his.  For instance, certain Allemandes, Courantes, etc., by Handel and
others are not less beautiful, though less richly wrought, than Bach’s.
But in Fugue, Counterpoint, and Canon he stands alone, in a grandeur so
isolated that all around him seems desert and void.  No one ever wrote
Fugues to compare with his; indeed, persons unacquainted with them cannot
imagine what a Fugue is and ought to be.  The ordinary Fugue follows a
rule of thumb development.  It takes a theme, puts another beside it,
passes them into related keys, and writes other parts round them over a
Continuo.  Certainly this is Fugue: but of what merit?  Persons who know
no other not unnaturally hold the whole species in little esteem, and the
player who hopes to make such commonplace material convincing will need
all his skill and imagination.

Bach’s Fugue is of quite another kind.  It presents all the
characteristics we are accustomed to in freer musical forms: a flowing and
distinctive melody, ease, clarity, and facility in the progression of the
parts, inexhaustible variety of modulation, purest harmony, the exclusion
of every jarring or unnecessary note, unity of form and variety of style,
rhythm, and measure, and such superabundant animation that the hearer may
well ask himself whether every note is not actually alive.  Such are the
properties of Bach’s Fugues, properties which excite the admiration and
astonishment of all who can appreciate the intellectual calibre their
composition demands. How great a tribute of homage is due to work of this
kind, which exhibits all the qualities which lend distinction to
compositions in other musical forms!  Moreover, while all Bach’s Fugues of
his mature period have the foregoing properties in common, each is endowed
with peculiar excellencies of its own, has its own distinctive
individuality, and displays a melodic and harmonic scheme in keeping with
it.  The man who can play one of Bach’s Fugues is familiar with, and can
play, one only; whereas knowing one, we can perform portfolios of Fugues
by other performers of Bach’s period.

To what a height was the art of Counterpoint carried by Bach’s genius!  It
enabled him to develop out of a given subject a whole family of related
and contrasted themes, of every form and design.  It taught him to develop
an idea logically from the beginning to the end.  It gave him such a
command of harmony and its infinite combinations that he could invert
whole themes, note by note, in every part, without impairing in the least
the flow of melody or purity of his harmony.  It taught him to write in
canon at all intervals and in movements of all kinds so easily and
naturally that the workmanship is not perceptible and the composition
sounds as smoothly as though it were in the free style. Lastly, it has
given to posterity a legacy of works immensely various, which are, and
will remain, models of contrapuntal form as long as music endures.(161)

I have written exclusively so far of Bach’s Clavier and Organ work.  But
in its expression music has two branches, instrumental and vocal, and as
Bach excels in both of them, the reader will desire to hear somewhat
respecting his vocal writings.

It was at Weimar that Bach first had occasion to write for the voice,(162)
upon his appointment to the Kapelle, which imposed on him the provision of
music for the ducal chapel.  His church music, like his Organ works, is
devout and serious, and in every respect what church music ought to be. He
makes a point also of not elaborating individual words, which leads to
mere trifling, but interprets the text as a whole.(163) His choruses
invariably are magnificent and impressive, and he frequently introduces
Chorals into them,(164) making the other parts accompany their Cantus
fugally, as was the practice in a Motet.  As elsewhere in his works, the
harmonic structure of his voice parts and instrumental accompaniment is
rich.  The declamation of the recitatives is expressive, and the latter
have fine Continuo parts.(165) In his Arias, hardly one of which is not
beautiful and expressive, Bach seems to have been handicapped by the
inefficiency of his singers and instrumentalists, who constantly
complained of the difficulty of his music.  If he had been fortunate
enough to have capable performers the merits of his church music would
have been established and, like his other works, they would still be sung
and admired; for they contain treasures which deserve immortality.(166)

Among the works composed at Leipzig I single out two Cantatas, one of
which was performed at Cöthen at the funeral of Bach’s beloved Prince
Leopold, and the other in St. Paul’s Church, Leipzig, on the occasion of
the funeral sermon in honour of Christiana Eberhardine, Queen of Poland
and Electress of Saxony.(167) The first contains double choruses of
uncommon magnificence and most affecting sentiment.(168) The second has
only four-part choruses, but they are so delightful and fresh that he who
begins the work will not pause till he has reached the end of it. It was
written in October 1727.

Bach also composed a great number of Cantatas, chiefly for the choir of
St. Thomas’ School, Leipzig.(169) The choir ordinarily numbered fifty
singers, and sometimes more, over whose musical training Bach presided
like a father.  He practised them so hard in Cantatas for single and
double chorus that they became excellent singers.  Among these works are
some which, in profundity of conception, magnificence, richness of harmony
and melody, and animation, surpass everything of their kind. But, like all
Bach’s works, and in common with other masterpieces, they are difficult to
perform and need a numerous orchestra to produce their full effect.

Such are Bach’s most important vocal compositions. (170) In minor forms of
the art, morceaux for social entertainments and the like, he wrote
little,(171) though he was of a most sociable disposition. For instance,
he is said never to have composed a song.(172) And why should he?  They
produce themselves so spontaneously that there is little call for genius
to aid their gestation.

  [Johann Sebastian Bach. From the picture discovered by Professor Fritz
                                 Volbach]

  Johann Sebastian Bach. _From the picture discovered by Professor Fritz
                                 Volbach_





CHAPTER VII. BACH AS A TEACHER


It not infrequently happens that talented composers and players are
incapable of imparting their skill to others.  Either they have never
troubled to probe the mechanism of their own facility, or, through the
excellence of their instructors, have taken the short cut to proficiency
and allowed their teacher and not their own judgment to decide how a thing
should be done.  Such people are useless to instruct beginners.  True,
they may succeed in teaching the rudiments of technique, assuming that
they have been properly taught themselves.  But they are certainly
unqualified to teach in the full sense of the word.  There is, in fact,
only one way to become a good teacher, and that is to have gone through
the discipline of self-instruction, a path along which the beginner may go
astray a thousand times before attaining to perfection. For it is just
this stumbling effort that reveals the dimensions of the art. The man who
has adventured it learns the obstacles that obstruct his path, and how to
surmount them. To be sure, it is a lengthy method. But if a man has
patience to persevere he will reap a sure reward after an alluring
pilgrimage.  No musician ever founded a school of his own who has not
followed such a course, and to his experience his teaching has owed its
distinctive character.

This is so with Bach, who, only gradually discovering his full stature,
was thirty years old before unremitting application raised him above the
difficulties of his art.  But he reaped his reward.  Self-discipline set
him on the fairest and most alluring path that it has ever been given to a
musician to tread.

To teach well a man needs to have a full mind. He must have discovered how
to meet and have overcome the obstacles in his own path before he can be
successful in teaching others how to avoid them.  Bach united both
qualities.  Hence, as a teacher he was the most instructive, clear, and
definite that has ever been.  In every branch of his art he produced a
band of pupils who followed in his footsteps, without, however, equalling
his achievement.

First of all let me show how he taught the Clavier.(173) To begin with,
his pupils were made to acquire the special touch of which I have already
spoken.(174) To that end for months together he made them practise nothing
but simple exercises for the fingers of both hands, at the same time
emphasising the need for clearness and distinctness. He kept them at these
exercises for from six to twelve months, unless he found his pupils losing
heart, in which case he so far met them as to write short studies which
incorporated a particular exercise.  Of this kind are the _Six Little
Preludes for Beginners,_(175) and the _Fifteen Two-part Inventions,_(176)
both of which Bach wrote during the lesson for a particular pupil and
afterwards improved into beautiful and expressive compositions.  Besides
this finger practice, either in regular exercises or in pieces composed
for the purpose, Bach introduced his pupils to the use of the various
ornaments in both hands.

Not until this stage was reached did Bach allow his pupils to practise his
own larger works, so admirably calculated, as he knew, to develop their
powers.  In order to lessen their difficulty, it was his excellent habit
to play over to them the pieces they were to study, with the remark,
“That’s how it ought to sound.”(177) It would be difficult to exaggerate
the helpfulness of this method. The pupil’s interest was roused by hearing
the piece properly played. But that was not the sole result.  Without the
help thus given the pupil could only hope to overcome the difficulties of
the piece after considerable effort, and would find it much less easy to
realise a proper rendering of it.  As it was, he received at once an ideal
to aim at and was taught how to surmount the difficulties the piece
presented.  Many a young performer, still imperfect after a year’s
practice, probably would master his music in a month if he once had it
played over to him.

Bach’s method of teaching composition was equally sure and effective.(178)
He did not begin with the dry details of counterpoint, as was the custom
of other teachers in his day.  Still less did he burden his pupils with
the physical properties of sound, which he held to be matter for the
theorist and instrument-maker rather than the composer.  He started them
off at once on four-part harmony over a figured Bass, making his pupils
write each part on a separate stave in order to impress on them the need
for accurate harmonic progression.  Then he passed to Hymn tunes, setting
the Bass himself and making his pupils write the Tenor and Alto parts.  In
time he let them write the Bass also.  He insisted on correct harmony and
on each part having a real melodic line.  Every musician knows what models
Bach has left us in this form.  The inner parts of his four-part
Hymn-tunes are so smooth and melodious that often they might be taken for
the melody.  He made his pupils aim at similar tunefulness, and until they
showed a high standard of merit did not permit them to write compositions
of their own.  Meanwhile he aimed at cultivating their feeling for pure
harmony and for the order and connection of ideas and parts by
familiarising them with the compositions of others.  Until they had
acquired facility in those qualities he neither permitted them nor held
them competent to put pen to paper.

Bach required his pupils in composition to work out their musical ideas
mentally.  If any of them lacked this faculty he admonished him not to
compose and discountenanced even his sons from attempting to write until
they had first given evidence of genuine musical gifts.  Having completed
their elementary study of harmony, Bach took his pupils on to the theory
of Fugue, beginning with two-part writing.  In these and other exercises
he insisted on the pupil composing away from the Clavier.(179) Those who
did otherwise he ridiculed as “Harpsichord Knights.”  In the second place
he required rigorous attention to each part and its relation to the
concurrent parts, permitting none, not even an inner one, to break off
before it had finished what it had to say.  He insisted upon a correct
relation between each note and its predecessor.  If he came upon one whose
derivation or destination was not perfectly clear he struck it out as
faulty.  It is, indeed, a meticulous exactitude in each individual part
that makes Bach’s harmony really multiple melody.  Confused part-writing,
where a note that belongs to the Tenor is given to the Alto, or vice
versa, or the haphazard addition of extraneous parts to a chord which
suddenly shows an increase of notes as if fallen from the sky, to vanish
as suddenly as they came, are faults found neither in his own nor his
pupils’ writing.  He regarded his musical parts as so many persons engaged
in conversation. If there are three, each of them on occasion may be
silent and listen to the others until it finds something relevant to say
itself.  But if, at an interesting point of the conversation, an
interloping voice intervened, Bach regarded it as an intruder and let his
pupils understand that it could not be admitted.

Notwithstanding his strictness on this point, Bach allowed his pupils
considerable licence in other respects.  In their use of certain
intervals, as in their treatment of harmony and melody, he let them
experiment within the limits of their ability, taking care to
discountenance ugliness and to insist on their giving appropriate
expression to the character of the composition.  Beauty of expression, he
postulated, was only attainable on a foundation of pure and accurate
harmony.  Having experimented in every form himself, he liked to see his
pupils equally adventurous. Earlier teachers of composition, for instance,
Berardi,(180) Buononcini,(181) and Fux,(182) did not allow such liberty.
They were afraid to trust their pupils to encounter difficulties, and
short-sightedly prevented them from learning how to overcome them.  Bach’s
system was wiser, for it took his pupils farther, since he did not limit
their attention, as his predecessors did, to the harmonic structure, but
extended it to the qualities that constitute good writing, namely,
consistency of expression, variety of style, rhythm, and melody.  Those
who would acquaint themselves with Bach’s method of teaching composition
will find it fully set forth in Kirnberger’s _Correct Art of
Composition._(183)

As long as his pupils were under his instruction Bach did not allow them
to study any but his own works and the classics.  The critical sense,
which permits a man to distinguish good from bad, develops later than the
aesthetic faculty and may be blunted and even destroyed by frequent
contact with bad music.  The best way to instruct youth is to accustom it
early to consort with the best models.  Time brings experience and an
instructed judgment to confirm the pupil’s early attraction to works of
true art.

Under this admirable method of teaching all Bach’s pupils became
distinguished musicians, some more so than others, according as they came
early or late under his influence, and had opportunity and encouragement
to perfect and apply the instruction they received from him.  His two
eldest sons, Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emmanuel, were his most
distinguished pupils, not because he gave them better instruction than the
rest, but because from their earliest youth they were brought up amid good
music at home.  Even before they began their lessons they knew what was
good.  On the other hand, others, before they became Bach’s pupils, either
had heard no good music or their taste had been already vitiated by
contact with bad.  It at least attests the excellence of Bach’s method
that even his pupils thus handicapped took high rank in their profession
and distinguished themselves in one or other of its branches.(184)

Bach’s first pupil was JOHANN CASPAR VOGLER, who received instruction from
him in his early days at Amstadt and Weimar and, on Bach’s testimony, was
an exceedingly able player.  He became organist, and later burgomaster, at
Weimar, retaining his professional position.  Some Choral Preludes by him
for a two-manualed Organ with pedals were engraved about 1737.(185)

Other pupils of Bach who became famous were:

      1. HOMILIUS, of Dresden.  He was not only an excellent organist but
      a distinguished composer of church music as well.(186)
      2. TRANSCHEL, of Dresden. He was a fine musician and performer on
      the Clavier. There exist in MS. six Polonaises by him which perhaps
      are superior to those of any composer but Wilhelm Friedemann
      Bach.(187)
      3. GOLDBERG, of Königsberg. He was a very finished player on the
      Clavier, but without any marked talent for composition.(188)
      4. KREBS, Organist at Altenburg. He was not only a player of the
      first rank, but also a prolific composer for the Organ, Clavier, and
      of church music. He was fortunate in having Bach’s instruction for
      nine years.(189)
      5. ALTNIKOL, Organist at Naumburg.  He was Bach’s son-in-law and is
      said to have been a very competent player and composer.(190)
      6. AGRICOLA, Court Composer at Berlin.(191) He is less known as a
      composer than as a theorist. He translated Tosi’s(192) _II canto
      figurato_ from Italian into German and provided the work with an
      instructive commentary.
      7. MÜTHEL, of Riga.  He was a good Clavier player and wrote for that
      instrument.  His Sonatas and a Duet for two Claviers attest his
      ability as a composer.(193)
      8. KIRNBERGER,(194) Court Musician at Berlin to the Princess Amalia
      of Prussia.(195) He was one of the most distinguished of Bach’s
      pupils, full of genuine enthusiasm for his art and eager to assure
      its interests.  Besides his exposition of Bach’s system of teaching
      composition, we are indebted to him for the first logical treatise
      on harmony, in which he sets forth his master’s teaching and
      practice.  The first work is entitled _Kunst des reinen Satzes,_ and
      the second, _Wahre Grundsätze zum Gebrauch der Harmonie._(196) He
      served the interests of his art also by other writings and
      compositions, and was an excellent teacher. The Princess Amalia was
      his pupil.
      9. KITTEL, Organist at Erfurt.  He is a sound, though not a
      finished, player, and is distinguished as a composer by several
      Organ Trios, so excellent that Bach himself might have written them.
      He is the sole survivor (1802) of Bach’s pupils.(197)
      10. VOIGT, of Anspach,(198) and an organist named SCHUBART(199) were
      mentioned to me by Carl Philipp Emmanuel as having been Bach’s
      pupils.  He knew nothing about them except that they entered his
      father’s house after he left it.(200)

I have said already that Bach’s sons were his most distinguished pupils.
The eldest, WILHELM FRIEDEMANN BACH, came nearest to his father in the
originality of his genius.  His melodies have quite a different character
from those of other composers.  They are exceedingly clever, elegant, and
spontaneous.  When performed with delicacy, as he played them, they cannot
fail to charm every hearer.  It is greatly to be regretted that he
preferred to follow his fancy in extemporisation and to expend his genius
on fugitive thoughts rather than to work them out on paper.  The number of
his compositions therefore is small, but all are beautiful.

CARL PHILIPP EMMANUEL BACH, who comes next, went out into the world
sufficiently early to discover that it is a good thing for a composer to
have a large public behind him.  Hence, in the clearness and easy
intelligibility of his compositions, he approaches the popular style,
though he scrupulously avoids the commonplace.(201) Both he and his elder
brother admitted that they were driven to adopt a style of their own by
the wish to avoid comparison with their incomparable father.

JOHANN CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH BACH, Concertmeister at the Court of Bückeburg,
imitated Carl Philipp’s style, but was not his equal. According to Wilhelm
Friedemann, he was the best player among the brothers, and the most
effective performer of their father’s Clavier compositions.

JOHANN CHRISTIAN BACH, called “Bach of Milan,” and afterwards “Bach of
London,” was the youngest son of Bach’s second marriage and of too tender
an age when his father died ever to have had lessons from him.  Hence,
perhaps, the absence of Bach’s style in his music.  He was, in fact, a
popular composer universally admired in his day.(202)





CHAPTER VIII.  PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS


Distinguished as a player, composer, and teacher, Bach was also an
indulgent father, a good friend, and a loyal citizen.  His paternal
devotion is shown by his care for his children’s education, and he was
equally assiduous in the performance of his civil and social duties.  His
acquaintance was agreeable to everybody.  Every lover of music, whatever
his nationality, was sure of a friendly reception at his house, and his
sociability and reputation caused him to be seldom without visitors.

As an artist Bach was exceptionally modest. Notwithstanding his
pre-eminence in his profession, a superiority of which he could not but be
conscious, and in spite of the admiration and respect daily shown him, he
never gave himself airs.  If he was asked the secret of his mastership he
would answer, “I was made to work; if you are equally industrious you will
be equally successful,”(203) a remark which made no allowance for his own
exceptional genius.  His opinion of other composers and their work was
invariably fair and generous.  Naturally, much of their work struck him as
somewhat trivial, viewed from his own altitude.  But he never uttered a
harsh criticism, unless it were to a pupil, to whom he held himself bound
to say what he thought.  Still less did he presume on his acknowledged
superiority to indulge in braggadocio, as often happens with performers
brought into touch with those whom they regard as their inferiors.  Herein
Bach’s modesty went so far that he never spoke voluntarily of his
frustrated contest with Marchand, though the latter was the
challenger.(204) Many absurd stories are told of Bach; for instance that,
dressed up as a village schoolmaster, he liked to enter a church and ask
the organist to let him play a Choral, in order to enjoy the astonishment
excited by his playing, or to hear the Organist declare, “This must be
Bach or the Devil.”(205) He always ridiculed such stories, and indeed had
too much respect for his art to make it cloak his vanity.

At musical parties where Quartet or other instrumental music was
performed, Bach liked to play the Viola, an instrument which put him, as
it were, in the middle of the harmony in a position from which he could
hear and enjoy it on both sides.  On those occasions he would sometimes
join in a Trio or other piece on the Harpsichord. If he was in the mood
and the composer was agreeable, he would, as has been told already,
extemporise a new Trio from the Continuo part, or, adding a new part,
convert the Trio into a Quartet. But these were the only occasions on
which he was ready to display his great powers before others.  One
Hurlebusch, of Brunswick,(206) a conceited and arrogant Clavier player,
once visited Bach at Leipzig, not to hear him play, but to play to him.
Bach received him politely and listened patiently to his very indifferent
performance. On taking leave Hurlebusch made Bach’s eldest sons a present
of his published Sonatas, exhorting them to study them diligently. Bach,
knowing the kind of music his sons were wont to play, smiled at
Hurlebusch’s naïveté but did not permit him to suspect his amusement.(207)

Bach was fond of listening to the music of other composers. If he and one
of his elder sons happened to be in church when a Fugue was played,
directly the subject had been stated he always pointed out how it ought to
be developed.  If the composer knew his business and fulfilled Bach’s
anticipations, he was pleased and nudged his son to draw his attention to
the fact.  Is this not evidence of his impartial interest in other
people’s compositions?

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
tunes(218) 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 edition(227) 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 manner(228) 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 mentioned(238) 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
      King(242) 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 sold(248) 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 work, 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,(269)Toccatas 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 Fugue(273) should also prove
useful.  It is melodious, flowing, and not at all old-fashioned.




             II. Music For The Clavier With Other Instruments


      1. _Six Sonatas for Clavier with Violin obbligato_.  Composed at
      Cöthen, they are among Bach’s masterpieces in this form and display
      fugal and canonic writing which is both natural and full of
      character.  The Violin part needs a master to play it; for Bach knew
      the capabilities of the instrument and spared it as little as the
      Clavier.  The six Sonatas are in the keys of B minor, A major, E
      major, C minor, F minor, and G major.(274)
      2. _Several Sonatas for Harpsichord and Violin_,(275) _Harpsichord
      and Flute_,(276) _Harpsichord and Viol da Gamba_.(277) They are
      admirably written and most of them are pleasant to listen to even
      today.(278)
      3. _Several Concertos for the Clavier and other instruments_.  They
      contain real gems of art but are antiquated in form.(279)
      4. _Two Concertos for two Claviers_, with an accompaniment of two
      Violins, Viola, and Violoncello.  The first, in C minor,(280) has an
      antique flavour. But the second, in C major,(281) is as fresh as if
      it had been written yesterday.(282) It may be played without the
      String quartet and still sounds admirable.  The final Allegro is a
      majestic movement and strictly fugal.  Compositions of this form
      were first perfected, indeed, we may conjecture, were first
      attempted, by Bach.  At least, I have met with only a single example
      by another composer that may perhaps be older—namely, Pachelbel of
      Nürnberg’s Toccata, as he called it.  Pachelbel, however, was a
      contemporary of Bach and may have taken the idea from him.  However,
      his work is not worth considering.  One instrument merely repeats
      the other’s phrases without being at all concertante.  It almost
      seems as if Bach at this period had made up his mind to discover
      what could be done with any number of parts. Having already written
      for a single solo instrument music which required no accompaniment,
      he next experimented in dividing his material between as large a
      number of solo instruments as possible.  Hence the Concertos for two
      Claviers were followed by
      5. _Two Concertos for three Claviers_ with an accompaniment of
      Strings.(283) These Concertos present a remarkable characteristic:
      besides the concertante combination of three Claviers, the stringed
      instruments also have concertante parts distinct from the
      accompaniment.  It is difficult to realise the art involved in this
      achievement.  For, in spite of their technical skill, the two works
      are so delicate, full of character, and expressive, that the
      composer might be treating a simple melody (note particularly the
      Concerto in D minor).  Words are inadequate to express the
      admiration they arouse.  But Bach was not satisfied.  Hence he wrote
      6. _A Concerto for four Claviers_ and four stringed
      instruments.(284) I cannot judge the effect of this composition, for
      I have never been able to get together the four instruments and four
      performers it requires.  But that it is admirably written can be
      seen from the parts.




                     III. Compositions For The Organ


The pedal is the distinctive feature of the Organ which places it above
all other instruments, and gives it its magnificence, sonority, and
majesty.  Deprive it of the pedal and you take from it the solemn and
imposing tones which are its distinctive utterance, reducing it to the
level of a “positiv,” or Chamber-organ, an instrument relatively
insignificant.

But an Organ equipped with a pedal must be able to employ it in its full
compass,(285) and both composer and organist must know the proper use of
it.  No one excelled Bach in this knowledge.  Not only is his rich harmony
and melody singularly adapted to the instrument, but he gave the pedal a
part of its own, even in his early compositions.  Yet it was only
gradually that he mastered its technique; for his Organ masterpieces
belong to the period in which those for the Clavier began to be classics.
His early and immature Organ works are widely dispersed; for as soon as a
composer begins to be distinguished everybody is anxious to possess a
specimen of his art.  Public curiosity, however, generally dies down long
before a composer comes to maturity, particularly if his work is over the
heads of the public.  And this seems to have been Bach’s fortune.
Consequently his mature Organ works are less familiar than his early
efforts.  The latter, however, cannot possibly be admitted to a “correct
and critical” edition of his works, and I mention here only those whose
merit is as incontestable as that of the Clavier works enumerated in the
preceding paragraphs.

Bach’s finest Organ music falls into three groups:

      1. _The Great Preludes and Fugues_, with obbligato pedal.  Their
      number cannot be stated, but I believe it not to exceed a
      dozen.(286) At least, after prolonged search I have not been able to
      collect more than that number.(287) To these I must add a very
      clever and original Passacaglia, which, however, seems suitable
      rather for a two-manual Clavicembalo and pedal than for the
      Organ.(288)
      2. _Preludes on Choral Melodies_. It was at Arnstadt that Bach began
      to compose Variations on Choral melodies, under the title _Partite
      diverse._(289) Most of them can be played on the manuals alone.
      Those which I include here are an exception and require the
      obbligato pedal.  Their number may amount to one hundred.  I myself
      possess above seventy, and more survive elsewhere.(290) No other
      Choral Preludes approach them in religious feeling, dignity, and
      sublimity of expression.  I cannot notice them individually; they
      are too numerous. Besides the larger, there is a great number of
      shorter and easier ones, particularly useful for young players.
      MSS. of them exist in considerable number.(291)
      3. _Six Sonatas_, or Trios, for two manuals and an obbligato
      pedal.(292) Bach wrote them for his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann,
      whom they helped to become the great performer he was when I knew
      him.  It is impossible to overpraise their beauty.  Bach composed
      them when he was in the full vigour of his powers, and they may be
      considered his chef d’oeuvre in this form.(293) He also wrote other
      Organ Sonatas, the MSS. of which are in various collections.  They
      are fine compositions, though they do not equal the Six in
      merit.(294)




                          IV. Instrumental Music


There are few instruments for which Bach did not write.  In his day it was
usual to play a Concerto or instrumental Solo during the Communion
office.(295) Bach composed many of these pieces himself, and always with a
view to their improving the technique of the player.  Most of them are
lost.  But two important works of another kind survive and to some extent
compensate us.  They are:

      1. Six Solos for Violin, unaccompanied.(296)
      2. Six Solos for Violoncello, unaccompanied.(297) The Violin Solos
      have long been considered by the finest players to be the best
      instructor for the instrument. The Violoncello Solos are equally
      effective.(298)




                              V. Vocal Music


      1. Five complete sets of church Cantatas for the Sundays and
      Festivals of the year.(299)
      2. Five compositions for Holy Week, one of which is for double
      chorus.(300)
      3. Several Oratorios,(301) Masses,(302) a _Magnificat,_ settings of
      the Sanctus,(303) compositions for birthdays and Saints’ Days,(304)
      funerals,(305) marriages,(306) and some Italian Cantatas.(307)
      4. Several Motets for single and double chorus.(308)

Most of these works are now dispersed.  The Church Cantatas were divided
between his elder sons after their composer’s death.  Wilhelm Friedemann
had the larger share because, being organist at Halle, he could make use
of them.  Later, circumstances compelled him to part with them gradually.
I know of no other collection of Bach’s larger choral works.  There exist,
however, eight or ten Motets for double chorus, but they are dispersed in
various hands.(309) In the collection bequeathed by the Princess Amalia of
Prussia to the Joachimsthal Gymnasium at Berlin there are some of Bach’s
vocal compositions.(310)  Their number is not considerable, but among them
are the following:

      1. Twenty-one Church Cantatas.(311) In one of them, set to the
      words, _Schlage doch, gewünschte Stunde,_(312) the composer
      introduces a bell obbligato.  From that fact we may conclude that
      the Cantata was not composed in the period of Bach’s maturity,(313)
      for the use of bells is of doubtful taste.
      2. Two Masses for five voices with instrumental accompaniment.(314)
      3. A Mass for double chorus, the first being accompanied by Strings
      and the second by wind instruments.(315)
      4. A _Passion,_ for double Chorus,(316) the text by Picander.(317)
      5. A _Sanctus,_ for four voices and instrumental accompaniment.(318)
      6. A Motet, for four voices, _Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu
      dir._(319)
      7. A Motet for five voices, _Jesu, meine Freude._
      8. Four Motets, for eight voices in double chorus:

            (a) _Fürchte dich nicht, ich bin dei dir._
            (b) _Der Geist hilft unserer Schwachheit auf._
            (c) _Komm, Jesu, komm._
            (d) _Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied._(320)

      9. A detached four-part fugal chorus, _Nimm was dein ist, und gehe
      hin._(321)
      10. A bucolic Cantata, with Recitatives, Aria, Duet, and Chorus.  A
      note is prefixed to it.(322)

      On the MS. of the last-named Cantata and of the Mass for double
      chorus (No. 3 supra) there is a note by Kirnberger analysing the
      skill and merit of the compositions.





CHAPTER X.  BACH’S MANUSCRIPTS


It has been remarked more than once that Bach, throughout his life,
devoted much thought to the improvement of his compositions.  I have had
frequent occasion to compare the original and subsequent texts of his
works, and confess to have experienced both surprise and pleasure in
observing his care to improve whatever he thought faulty, to make good
better, and better perfect.  Nothing is more instructive than a collation
of this kind, whether to the experienced musician or the instructed
amateur.  I should like to see a supplement to the complete edition of
Bach’s works showing these variant readings.(323) The collation would be
in the highest degree instructive, and to attempt it is as appropriate to
the works of the composer, a poet in sound, as to those of the poet in
words.

In Bach’s early texts he often repeats a phrase to other words with some
melodic variety, in a lower or even in the same octave.  In his riper
experience he could not tolerate such poverty of workmanship, and cut out
these passages remorselessly, without regard for the number and quality of
the persons who had approved them in their original state.  There occur to
me two good examples of this, the C major and C sharp minor Preludes in
the first part of the _Well-tempered Clavier._ Bach revised them so
drastically as to cut them down by one-half, sacrificing passages that he
thought redundant.(324)

In other places Bach tends to be over-concise; he expresses an idea, but
does not fully develop it.  The best illustration that occurs to me is the
D minor Prelude in the second part of the _Well-tempered Clavier._  I
possess several texts of it.  In the oldest the first transposition of the
theme in the Bass and several other details essential to a complete
development of the idea are wanting.  A second MS. gives the theme to the
Bass wherever the latter is in a key nearly related to that of the tonic.
In a third MS. these addenda are developed more fully and are joined more
skilfully.  But melodic details are present of doubtful relevance to the
rest of the composition.  In a fourth MS. these disappear or are amended,
so that, as we have it, the Prelude stands as one of the most beautiful
and least faulty in the _Well-tempered Clavier._ Many people, no doubt,
preferred the movement in its original form.  But Bach was not a man to be
influenced by approbation or criticism.  He went on correcting until he
satisfied himself.

In the early part of the seventeenth century it was the fashion in
instrumental music to overload single notes with ornaments and add florid
runs.  Lately it has become the fashion to do so in vocal music as well.
That Bach shared this disposition may be inferred from certain pieces that
he wrote in this style.  An instance is the Prelude in E minor in the
first part of the _Well-tempered Clavier._  But he soon returned to his
natural better taste, and altered the movement to the form in which it is
engraved.(325)

Every decade has its own style of melody, distinctive of itself and
evanescent.  A composer must carefully avoid it if he hopes to be listened
to by posterity.  In his young days even Bach ran upon this rock.  His
early compositions for the Organ, and the two-part _Inventions_ in their
original form, are full of fiorituri such as the taste of his period
approved.  His Organ compositions remain comparatively untouched, but the
_Inventions_ he closely revised.  The public will soon be able to compare
them in their first and later forms, as the publishers, with admirable
spirit, have resolved to discontinue the present edition and to send out
to subscribers a revised one based on Bach’s corrected text.

Bach’s processes of revision so far mentioned, however, merely correct
faults of form, that is, diffuseness or incomplete development of a
musical thought.  But Bach employed other methods which are less easy to
describe because they are more subtle.  He often rivets the style and
character of a piece by changing a single note, strictly correct
grammatically and yet disagreeable to an artist such as himself.  Even
commonplace passages he could convert into phrases of beauty by the
addition or alteration of a single note.  Only the most sensitive taste
and trained experience can decide in such cases, and Bach possessed both
in the highest perfection.  He developed them to such a pitch, indeed,
that his brain eventually rejected any idea which, in all its properties
and relations, did not accord inevitably and naturally with the whole
composition.  Consequently his later works display such consistency of
merit that all of them seem to have been cast complete in a mould, so
smooth, facile and abundant is the flow of his rich fancy.  It is on the
highest summits of the art that harmony and melody find their ideal union,
and as yet Bach dwells there in majestic isolation.





CHAPTER XI. THE GENIUS OF BACH


It is surely unnecessary to ask whether that artist is a genius who, in
every form of his art, has produced masterpiece after masterpiece, of an
originality which sets them above the achievements of all other ages,
distinguished also by a wealth of originality and agreeableness that
enslaves every hearer.  The most fertile fancy, invention inexhaustible, a
judgment so nice as to reject intuitively every irrelevant and jarring
detail, unerring ingenuity in employing the most delicate and minute
resources of his art, along with an unrivalled technique—these qualities,
whose expression demands the outpouring of a man’s whole soul, are the
signboards of genius.  The man who cannot find them in Bach’s music either
is not acquainted with it at all or knows it imperfectly.  One needs to be
steeped in it thoroughly to appreciate the genius of its author.  For the
greater the work the closer study is demanded for its apprehension.  The
butterfly method, a sip here and there, is of little use.  But admirable
as were the gifts Bach received from nature, he could never have become an
accomplished genius had he not learned betimes to avoid the rocks on which
many artists, some of them perhaps not less gifted than he, too often
founder.  I will communicate to the reader some scattered thoughts on the
subject and conclude this essay with an indication of the characteristics
of Bach’s genius.

Even the largest natural gifts, coupled with the strongest propensity for
a particular art, offer no more than fruitful soil on which that art may
thrive by patient cultivation.  Industry, the true begetter of every art
and science, is an indispensable factor.  Not only does it enable genius
to master technique, but it stimulates the critical and reflective
faculties also.  The very ease with which genius acquires and applies the
apparatus of musical composition frequently entices it to leap over root
principles in its plunge into deeper waters, or to fly before its wings
are grown.  In such a case, unless genius is guided back to neglected
fundamentals and forced to build itself upon the great examples of the
past, it will inevitably expend its treasure uselessly and never attain to
its promised dimensions.  For it is an axiom, that real progress can never
be made, nor the highest perfection be attained, if the foundations are
insecure.  If arduous heights are to be achieved, the easier obstacles
must first be approached and overcome.  Guided by his own inexperience no
one ever can hope to become great.  He must profit by the practice and
example of others.

Bach did not founder on this rock.  His soaring genius attended an equally
ardent industry which incessantly impelled him, whenever he found his own
equipment insufficient, to seek guidance from others.  Vivaldi and his
Concertos were the first from whom he sought counsel.  From them he turned
to the principal Organ and Clavier composers of the period.  Nothing is
more intellectually stimulating than counterpoint, and the composers Bach
studied were distinguished by their mastery of it, as their fugal writing
attests.  Hence Bach’s diligent study and imitation of them pointed his
taste and imagination to perceive wherein himself was lacking and what
steps were needed to take him farther in his art.

A second rock upon which genius often comes to grief is the public’s
undiscriminating applause.  To be sure, I do not undervalue public
approval or commend without reserve the remark of a Greek teacher to his
pupil, “You performed badly, otherwise the audience would not have
applauded you.”  Yet it is none the less true that many artists are thrown
off their balance by exaggerated and often unmerited plaudits,
particularly in their early careers before they have acquired
self-discipline and sound judgment.  The public merely asks for what it
can understand, whereas the true artist ought to aim at an achievement
which cannot be measured by popular standards.  How, then, can popular
applause be reconciled with the true artist’s aspirations towards the
ideal?  Bach never sought applause, and held with Schiller:


    Kannst du nicht allen gefallen durch deine That und dein
    Kunstwerk,
    Mach’ es wenigen recht; vielen gefallen ist schlimm.(326)


Like every true artist, Bach worked to please himself in his own way,
obeying the summons of his own genius, choosing his own subjects, and
finding satisfaction only in the approval of his own judgment.  He could
count on the applause of all who understood good music, and never failed
to receive it.  Under what other conditions can sound works of art emerge?
The composer who debases his muse to the popular mood either lacks real
genius or, having it, abuses it.  For to catch the ear of the public is
not a difficult task and merely connotes an agreeable facility.  Composers
of that class are like artisans who frankly fashion their goods to suit
their market.  But Bach never condescended to such artifices.  The artist,
in his judgment, is the dictator of public taste, not its slave.  If, as
often happened, he was asked to write something simple for the Clavier he
would answer, “I will do what I can.”  He would choose an easy theme.  But
when he began to develop it he always found so much to say that the piece
soon became anything but simple.  If his attention was drawn to the fact,
he would answer smilingly, “Practise it well and you will find it quite
easy.  You have as many good fingers on each hand as I have.”  Nor was he
prompted in this by mere contradictoriness, but exhibited the true artist
spirit.

It was, in fact, the artist temperament that led Bach to make the great
and sublime his goal.  For that reason his music is not merely agreeable,
like other composers’, but transports us to the regions of the ideal.  It
does not arrest our attention momentarily but grips us the stronger the
oftener we listen to it, so that after a thousand hearings its treasures
are still unexhausted and yield fresh beauties to excite our wonder.  Even
the beginner who knows but the A B C of his art warms with pleasure when
he hears Bach’s music and can open his ear and heart to it.  It was the
true artist spirit, too, that guided Bach to unite majesty and grandeur of
design with meticulous care for detail and the most refined elegance,
characteristics which we rather seek, perhaps, in works whose object is
merely to give pleasure.  Bach held strongly that if the strands are
imperfect, the whole design is faulty.  His genius is sublime and
impressive, and he never condescends to be frivolous even when he touches
the lighter forms of art.

To conclude: it was the union of astounding genius and indefatigable
application that enabled Bach to widen at every point the domain of
musical expression.  His successors have failed to maintain the art at the
level to which he raised it.  If Bach was more successful, if he was able
to produce great work of convincing beauty and imperishable as a model for
those who came after him, we owe it as much to his application as to his
genius.

This man, the greatest orator-poet that ever addressed the world in the
language of music, was a German!  Let Germany be proud of him!  Yes, proud
of him, but worthy of him too!

                       [The Bach Statue at Leipzig]

                        The Bach Statue at Leipzig






APPENDIX I. CHRONOLOGICAL CATALOGUE OF BACH’S COMPOSITIONS




I. CATALOGUE OF BACH’S COMPOSITIONS PRIOR TO HIS APPOINTMENT TO WEIMAR IN
                JUNE 1708, in his twenty-fourth year.(327)



VOCAL:—


Motet: Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden.



CLAVIER(328):—


      Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo (bk. 208
      p. 62) (1704).
      Capriccio in honorem Joh. Christoph Bachii, Ohrdruf (bk. 216 p. 34)
      (c. 1704).
      Sonata in D major (bk. 215 p. 44) (c. 1704).(329)

B.G. XXXVI. prints a number of pieces which, in general, may be assigned
to Bach’s immature years. They are reproduced in Peters’ edition:

      Book 200:

            Fughetta in C minor (p. 10).
            Prelude and Fughetta in D minor (p. 40).
            Prelude and Fughetta in E minor (p. 42).
            Prelude and Fughetta in A minor (p. 47).
            Fugue in C major (p. 54).
            Fugue in C major (p. 56).

      Book 207:

            Fantasia in C minor (p. 50).

      Book 212:

            Fantasia in C minor (p. 58).
            Fugue in D minor (p. 59).
            Fugue in D minor (p. 61).
            Fugue in E minor (p. 68).

      Book 214:

            Prelude and Fughetta in F major (p. 76).
            Prelude and Fughetta in G major (p. 78).
            Prelude in G major (p. 80).

      Book 215: Three Minuets (p. 62).

To these may be added (? authentic) from B.G. XLII.:

      Book 212:

            Fantasia and Fughetta in B flat major (p 58).
            Do. do. D major (p. 60).



Organ(330):—


      Prelude and Fugue in C minor (bk. 2 p. 48) (c. 1704).
      Do. do. C major (bk. 8 p. 88) (? 1707).(331)
      Do. do. the “Short,” A minor (bk. 10 p. 208).
      Fugue in C minor (bk. 12 p. 95) (c. 1704).
      Do. C minor, on a theme by Legrenzi (bk. 10 p. 230) (c. 1708).
      Do. B minor, on a theme by Corelli (bk. 3 p. 60).
      Do. D major (bk. 12 p. 83).
      Do. G major (bk. 12 p. 55).
      Do. G major (bk. 12 p. 86).
      Do. G minor (bk. 2 p. 41).
      Prelude in A minor (bk. 10 p. 238) (by 1706).
      Do. C major (bk. 12 p. 94).
      Fantasia and Fugue in A minor (bk. 12 p. 60).
      Fantasias in 6 major (bk. 9 p. 168; bk. 12 p. 75).
      Pastorale in F major (bk. 12 p. 102).
      Choral Partita: Christ, der du bist der helle Tag (bk. 19 p. 36).
      Do. O Gott, du frommer Gott (bk. 19 p. 44).
      Do. Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig (bk. 19 p. 55).

Generally speaking, the Choral Preludes, other than those in the maturer
collections made by Bach himself, may be regarded as youthful works (bks.
18, 19).




    II. Catalogue Of Bach’s Compositions At Weimar, 1708-17, from his
                 twenty-fourth to his thirty-third year.



Vocal:—


      Secular Cantata: Was mir behagt (1716), _or_, Verlockender
      Götterstreit.



Clavier:—


      Sixteen Concertos after Vivaldi (bk. 217) (c. 1708-12).
      Toccatas in D major (bk. 211 p. 28), G major (bk. 215 p. 19), D
      minor (bk. 210 p. 68), G minor (bk. 211 p. 4),  E minor (bk. 210 p.
      23) (c. 1708-12).
      Aria variata alia maniera Italiana (bk. 215 p. 12) (c. 1708-12).
      Prelude and Fugue in A minor (bk. 211 p. 14) (c. 1715).
      Fugues in A major (bk. 215 pp. 52, 57).
      Do. B minor (bk. 214 p. 48).
      Do. A major (bk. 212 p. 66).
      Do. A minor (bk. 212 p. 70).
      Fantasia in G minor (bk. 215 p. 32).
      Do. B minor (bk. 215 p. 41). (For Organ, N. bk. 12 p. 71.)
      Do. D major (bk. 211 p. 28).
      Do. A minor (bk. 215 p. 5) (c. 1710).



Organ:—


      Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor (bk. 10 p. 214).
      Four Concertos after Vivaldi (bk. 11).
      Eight Short Preludes and Fugues (bk. 1).
      Orgelbüchlein (bk. 15) (1717).
      Aria in F major (bk. 12 p. 112).
      Fantasia con Imitazione (bk. 12 p. 71).
      Do. C major (bk. 12 p. 92).
      Do. C minor (bk. 3 p. 57).
      Trio in C minor (bk. 12 p. 108).
      Do. D minor (bk. 2 p. 54).
      Canzona in D minor (bk. 2 p. 34) (c. 1714).
      Allabreve in D major (bk. 2 p. 26).
      Prelude and Fugue in C major (bk. 7 p. 74).
      Do. do. the “Short,” E minor (bk. 2 p. 44).
      Do. do. D major (bk. 6 p. 10).
      Do. do. the “Great,” A minor (bk. 7 p. 42).
      Do. do. A major (bk. 3 p. 64).
      Do. do. the “Great,” C minor (bk. 7 p. 64).
      Do. do. F minor (bk. 6 p. 21).
      Do. do. G major (bk. 7 p. 80).
      Do. do. G minor (bk. 8 p. 120) (c. 1712).
      Toccata and Fugue in D minor (bk. 6 p. 2).
      Do. do. the “Great,” C major (bk. 9 p. 137).
      Do. do. the “Great,” F major (bk. 9 p. 176).
      Do. do. the Dorian, D minor (bk. 10 p. 196).
      Fantasia and Fugue in C minor (bk. 3 p. 76).
      Prelude in G major (bk. 2 p. 30).
      Do. C major (bk. 12 p. 91).
      Fugue, the “Short,” in G minor (bk. 3 p. 84).
      Do. C major (bk. 12 p. 100).




    III. Catalogue Of Bach’s Compositions At Cöthen, 1717-23, from his
                  thirty-third to his thirty-ninth year.



Vocal:—


      Secular Cantata: Durchlaucht’ster Leopold (1717).
      Do. Mit Gnaden bekröne der Himmel die Zeiten
      (?1721). Do. Weichetnur, betrübte Schatten (?1717-23).(332)



Clavier:—


      Clavier-Büchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1720).
      Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue (bk. 207 p. 4) (c. 1720-23).
      Clavier-Büchlein vor A. M. Bachin (bk 1959) (1722).
      The Well-tempered Clavier (Part i.) (bk. 2790a) (1722).
      Six French Suites (bks. 202 and 2793) (c. 1722).
      Six English Suites (bks. 203-4 and 2794-95) (before 1726).
      Fantasia and Fugue in A minor (bk. 208 p. 50).
      Fugue in A minor (bk. 207 p. 16) (B.G. III. p. 334).
      Twelve Little Preludes and Six Preludes for Beginners (bks. 200 and
      2791) (c. 1722).
      Inventions and Symphonies (bks. 201 and 2792) (1723).
      Toccatas in F sharp minor and C minor (bk. 210 pp. 30 and 40).
      Suites in A minor, E flat major, E minor, F major, and F minor
      (fragment) (bk. 214 pp. 54,62, 68; bk. 215 p. 27; bk. 212 p. 84).
      Prelude and Fugue in E flat major (bk. 214 p. 40).



Chamber(333):—


      Six Sonatas (Suites) for Violin Solo (bk. 228) (c. 1720).(334)
      Six Sonatas (Suites) for Violoncello Solo (bk. 238a) (c. 1720).
      Six Sonatas for Violin and Clavier (bks. 232-33-232a-33a).
      Suite in A major for Violin and Clavier (bk. 236).
      Four Inventions for Violin and Clavier (bk. 2957).
      Sonata in E minor and Fugue in G minor for Violin and  Clavier (bk.
      236) (?early work).
      Six Sonatas for Flute and Clavier (bks. 234-35).
      Sonata in C major for two Violins and Clavier (bk. 237).
      Three Sonatas for Viol da Gamba and Clavier (bk. 239).
      Sonata in G major for two Flutes and Clavier (bk. 239 p. 2).
      Sonata in G major for Violin, Flute, and Clavier (bk. 237).



Orchestral:(335)—


      Six Brandenburg Concertos (bks. 261-66) (1721).
      Four Suites (Overtures) (bks. 267-69, 2068).(336)
      Three Concertos for Violin and Orchestra (bks. 229, 230).(337)
      Concerto in D minor for two Violins and Orchestra (bk. 231).(338)



Organ:—


      Prelude (Fantasia) and Fugue, the “Great,” in G minor (bk. 8 p. 127)
      (?1720).




    IV. Catalogue Of Bach’s Compositions At Leipzig, 1723-34, from his
                    thirty-ninth to his fiftieth year.



Vocal:—


      Magnificat in D (?1723).(339)
      Sanctus in C major, D major (c. 1723), D minor, and G major (P. bk.
      29b).(340)
      St. John Passion (1723).
      Trauer-Ode (1727).
      St. Matthew Passion (1729).
      Mass in B minor (1733-?1738).
      Christmas Oratorio (1734).
      Three Wedding Chorals (P. bk. 1654).
      Motet: Jesu, meine Freude (1723).
      Do. Der Geist hilft unsrer Schwachheit auf (1729).
      Do. fürchte dich nicht.
      Do. Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied.
      Motet: Komm, Jesu, komm.
      Secular Cantata: Der zufriedengestellte Aeolus (1725); also entitled
      Blast Larmen, ihr Feinden (1734).
      Do. Vereinigte Zwietracht der wechselnden Saiten (1726), or, Auf
      schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompeten (after 1733).
      Do. Schwingt freudig euch empor; _also entitled_ Die Freude reget
      sich, _or_ Steigt freudig in die Luft (1726).
      Do Entfernet euch, ihr heitern Sterne (1727; music lost).
      Do. Vergnügte Pleissenstadt (1728; music lost).
      Do. Von der Vergnügsamkeit, _or_ Ich bin in mir vergnügt (c. 1730).
      Do. Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten (c. 1730).
      Do. Der Streit zwischen Phoebus und Pan 1731).
      Do. Froher Tag, verlangte Stunden (1732; music lost).
      Do. Schweigt stille (Coffee Cantata) (c. 1732).
      Do. Herkules auf dem Scheidewege, _or_ Die Wahl des Herkules (1733).
      Do. Tönet, ihr Pauken!  Erschallet, Trompeten (1733).
      Do. Preise dein Glücke, gesegnetes Sachsen (1734).
      Do. Schleicht, spielende Wellen (1734).
      Do. Thomana sass annoch betrübt (1734; music lost).
      Graduation Cantata: Siehe, der Hüter Israels (music lost).



Clavier:—


      Notenbuch vor Anna Magdalena Bach (bk. 1959) (1725).
      Clavierübung, Part I. containing the six Partitas, or German Suites
      (bks. 205-6 or 2796-97) (1731).



Orchestral:—


      Concertos in C major, C minor, and C minor for two Claviers and
      Orchestra (bks. 256, 257, 257b) (1727-36).(341)
      Seven Concertos for Clavier and Orchestra (bks. 248-54) (1729-36).
      Concerto in A minor for Violin, Flute, Clavier, and Orchestra (bk.
      255) (c. 1730).(342)
      Concerto in A minor for four Claviers and Orchestra (bk. 260) (c.
      1733).
      Concertos in D minor and C major for three Claviers and Orchestra
      (bks. 258, 259) (c. 1733).



Organ:—


      Prelude and Fugue, the Great, in G major (bk. 8 p. 112) (1724 or
      1725).(343)
      Six Sonatas in E flat major, C minor, D minor, E minor, C major, G
      major (bks. 4 and 5) (1727-33).(344)
      Prelude and Fugue in C major (bk. 3 p. 70) (c. 1730).
      Do. do. D minor (bk. 9 p. 150).




    V. Catalogue Of Bach’s Compositions At Leipzig, 1735-50, from his
                      fifty-first year to his death.



Vocal:—


      Ascension Oratorio (Cantata 11) (c. 1735).
      Schemelli’s Hymn-book (1736).
      Easter Oratorio (c. 1736).
      Four Masses, in P major, A major (c. 1739), G minor, G major (c.
      1739).
      Secular Cantata: Angenehmes Wiederau (1737).
      Do. Willkommen, ihr herrschenden Götter der Erden (1738) (music
      lost).
      Do. Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet (Peasant Cantata) (1742).
      Do. O holder Tag (?1749), _or_, O angenehme Melodei.
      Italian Cantata: Amore traditore.
      Do. Andro dall’ colle al prato (lost).
      Do. Non sa che sia dolore.



Clavier:—


      Clavierübung, Part II. containing the Italian Concerto (bk. 207) and
      Partita in B minor (bk. 208) (1735).
      Fantasia and Fugue in C minor (bk. 207 p. 50 and bk. 212 p. 88) (c.
      1738).
      Clavierübung, Part III. containing the four Duetti (bk. 208) (1739).
      Clavierübung, Part IV. containing the Goldberg Variations (bk. 209)
      (c. 1742).
      The Well-tempered Clavier, Part II. (bk. Ib or 2790b) (1744).



Chamber:—


      Sonata for Violin, Flute, and Clavier, in C minor (in the “Musical
      Offering”) (bk. 237 p. 3) (1747).
      Three Partitas for the Lute (?1740).(345)



Organ:—


      The Catechism Choral Preludes (in Clavierübung, Part III.)  (bk. 16)
      (1739).
      Fugue in D minor (in ditto) (bk. 16 p. 49) (1739).
      Prelude and Fugue in E flat major (in ditto) (bk. 6 p. 28) (1739).
      Do. do. the “Great,” in C major (bk. 9 p. 156).
      Do. do. the “Great,” in B minor (bk. 7 p. 52) (1727-36).
      Do. do. the “Great,” in E minor (bk. 8 p. 98).
      Canonic Variations on “Vom Himmel hoch” (bk. 19) (1746).
      The Schübler Choral Preludes (bk. 16) (c. 1747-50).
      The Eighteen Choral Preludes (bk. 17) (c. 1747-50).
      The Musical Offering (P. bk. 219) (1747).
      The Art of Fugue (P. bk. 218) (1749).





APPENDIX II. THE CHURCH CANTATAS ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY


We have the statement of Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach,(346) confirmed by
Forkel,(347) Bach’s earliest biographer, that his father composed five
Cantatas for every Sunday and Festival of the ecclesiastical year.
Concerted music was sung at Leipzig annually on forty-three Sundays and
sixteen week-days.(348) Bach therefore must have written at least 295
Cantatas.  Of this number he composed at least thirty before 1723.  Hence
approximately 265 were written at Leipzig.  But Bach’s fertility does not
appear to have outlived the year 1744.  We have reason, therefore, to
conclude that the 265 Leipzig Cantatas were written in the course of
twenty-one years, that is, between 1723 and 1744.  To complete that number
Bach must have composed a new Cantata every month, a surprising but
demonstrable conclusion.

Of the 295 Cantatas only 202 have come down to us, three of them in an
incomplete state.(349) Of those written before 1723 the survivors are too
scanty to indicate a rate of productivity.  But thereafter we have fuller
materials for a calculation.  Bach, as Cantor, conducted his first Leipzig
Cantata on May 30, 1723, and in the following sixteen months produced
twenty-four Cantatas, at the rate of more than one a month.(350) Beginning
at the New Year of 1725 he wrote eighteen Cantatas in nine months, some of
which, however, may belong to the years 1726-7-8-9.  But even so, his
monthly average seems to have been maintained.  For 1730 we have, perhaps,
ten Cantatas.  For 1731 about twenty survive, of which half a dozen may
belong to 1732, a deduction which still preserves Bach’s steady average.
In 1735 he produced actually nineteen Cantatas between the New Year and
the following November, though not all of them are positively dated.
Thereafter his activity is less certainly measured.  But from 1736 till
the end of 1744 he composed fifty-three Cantatas, at the rate, that is, of
at least six every year, without making allowance for Cantatas written and
lost.

There are few phenomena in the record of art more extraordinary than this
unflagging cataract of inspiration, in which masterpiece followed
masterpiece with the monotonous periodicity of a Sunday sermon.  Its
musical significance has been presented with illuminating exegesis by more
than one commentator.  But its literary apparatus has captured little
attention.  Yet Bach’s task must have been materially eased or aggravated
according as the supply of libretti was regular or infrequent, while the
flow of his inspiration must have been governed by their quality.
Moreover, the libretto was the medium through which he offered the homage
of his art to the service of God.  The subject therefore deserves
attention.  However trivial, measured against the immensities of Bach’s
genius, the study will at least provide a platform from which to
contemplate it.

At the outset the opinion may be hazarded that the provision of his weekly
libretti caused Bach greater anxiety than the setting of them to music, a
task which he accomplished with almost magical facility. It is true that
from the early part of the 18th century cycles of Cantata texts for the
Church’s year were not infrequently published.  Bach was in more or less
intimate touch with the authors of four, perhaps five, printed collections
of the kind.  But he used them with surprising infrequency.  Neumeister’s
published cycles provided him with seven libretti,(351) Franck’s with
sixteen,(352) Picander’s with ten,(353) Marianne von Ziegler’s with
nine,(354) and Helbig’s with two.(355) He took three libretti from the
Bible,(356) and the hymn-book furnished him with eleven more.(357) But all
these published sources together only account for fifty-eight texts.  Bach
possessed only one book that could assist his own efforts at
authorship—Paul Wagner’s eight-volumed Hymn-book—whence he took the
stanzas which decorate his Cantatas like jewels in the rare settings he
gave them.  It was, therefore, mainly upon writers with whom he was
brought into occasional or official contact that Bach depended for his
texts.

At the beginning of his career Bach was thrown upon his inexperience.  His
earliest libretti, consequently, are tentative and transitory in their
construction.  His first Cantata was written at Arnstadt for the Easter
Festival of 1704.(358) The core of the libretto is a seven-stanzaed Easter
song by an unknown poet, eked out by two passages of Scripture, a
Excitativo, Aria, and a verse of a congregational hymn.  The Aria and
Recitativo are the only original numbers of the libretto, and there is
little doubt that Bach wrote them himself.(359) But the whole libretto is
stamped by his personality, and reveals the inveterate subjectivity of his
religion.  For, disregarding the general message of the Festival, the
libretto opens on the soul’s personal longing for immortality and closes
on its song of victory over death.  In construction it is archaic, a
survival of traditions acquired from central and northern Germany through
Bach’s earlier residence at Lüneburg and intercourse with Hamburg.(360)

Three years passed before Bach produced his next extant Cantata. In the
interval, on 29th June 1707, he resigned his Arnstadt appointment to
become organist of the Church of St. Blasius at Mühlhausen.(361) Here,
within the space of ten months, he produced three Cantatas, the uniform
character of whose libretti points to local and transitory influence upon
the composer.  The first of them,(362) written in August 1707, is a
setting of Psalm 130, with the addition of two hymn-stanzas.  The
second(363) was performed on 4th February 1708, at the inauguration of the
Mühlhausen Town Council, and consists of Old Testament passages, a verse
of a hymn, and three original stanzas.  The third,(364) a wedding Cantata,
was performed at Dornheim, near Arnstadt, on 5th June 1708, at the
marriage of Pastor Johann Lorenz Stauber to Frau Bach’s aunt, and is set
to four verses of Psalm 115.

We can have little doubt regarding the authorship of these singularly
austere libretti, so far removed in atmosphere from those of Bach’s
subsequent periods.  In fact, the clue is furnished by Bach himself.  A
note in his handwriting on the score of the first of the three Cantatas
(No. 131) states that he composed it at the request of Georg Christian
Eilmar.  The man was a close friend, godfather of Bach’s eldest daughter,
Katharina Dorothea (b. 1708), chief pastor of the Church of the Blessed
Virgin, and Consistorial Assessor, at Mühlhausen.  He was, moreover, an
aggressive foe of Pietism, of which Mühlhausen was the citadel, and Bach’s
minister, Frohne, the protagonist.  Indeed, the two men waged so public
and wordy a warfare(365) that Bach’s social relations with the one and
official connection with the other must have been rendered difficult.  To
his settled convictions regarding the fellowship of music and worship
Pietism offered Puritan opposition.  In fact, its lack of sympathy
eventually drove him from Mühlhausen, in hope, in his own words, “to
realise my views upon the right ordering of Church music without vexation
from others.”(366) Eilmar, on the other hand, though he admitted the
aesthetic value of music, conspicuously lacked the warmth and emotionalism
of Bach’s religious temperament.  To him undoubtedly we must attribute the
cold austerity of the three Mühlhausen libretti and the suppression of the
personal note already sounded in Bach’s Arnstadt Cantata.  Nor did
Eilmar’s influence pass with Bach’s departure from Mühlhausen.(367) It is
to be traced in the early libretti of the Weimar period.

The Weimar Cantatas are twenty-two in number, of which all but three were
written subsequently to Bach’s appointment as Concertmeister early in
1714. He had been organist to the Ducal Court of Weimar since June 1708, a
position which did not require him to compose for the Ducal Chapel. On the
other hand, three Cantatas are attributed to the early Weimar years. But
they cannot be positively dated, and their libretti bear such clear traces
of Eilmar’s influence that their composition may belong rather to the
Mühlhausen period.  Their texts display Eilmar’s preference for strictly
Biblical material and a disinclination to employ secular forms.  The first
of them(368) is a paraphrase of the Magnificat. The second(369) consists
of four verses of Psalm 25, along with three simple rhymed stanzas which
we have no difficulty in attributing to Bach himself.  The third, _Gottes
Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit_ (No. 106), was composed, Spitta
conjectures,(370) for the funeral of Philipp Grossgebauer, Rector of
Weimar School, in 1711.  But more recently, and more probably, Pirro(371)
has expressed the opinion that Bach wrote it for the funeral of his uncle,
Tobias Lammerhirt, who was buried at Erfurt in September 1707.  The theory
accords with the suggestion that all three Cantatas belong to the
Mühlhausen period.  If so, it is probable that the libretto, a very
ingenious mosaic of Scripture texts, was written by Eilmar for the
occasion.  It is the last in which we detect his influence.

Bach’s appointment as Ducal Concertmeister at Weimar can be placed between
14th January and 19th March 1714(372) and, it is probable, was nearer the
former date.  He seems to have produced the first Cantata his new post
required him to write on Sexagesima Sunday, which fell on 4th February in
that year.  From thence to the end of 1716 he produced nineteen Cantatas
and collaborated with a writer whose libretti at length gave him a
satisfactory literary medium.

The new poet, Erdmann Neumeister, four of whose libretti Bach set to music
immediately after his appointment, and a fifth a year later,(373) was
considerably Bach’s senior.(374) As far back as 1700 he had begun to write
a cycle of Cantata texts for the Ducal Chapel at Weissenfels, and pubushed
it in 1704, with an explanatory Preface referred to later.(375) In 1708 he
issued a second cycle for the Court of Rudolstadt, while in 1711 and 1714
third and fourth cycles were written for the Ducal Chapel at Eisenach.
All four cycles were reissued in 1716,(376) with the addition of a fifth
and a Preface, which lauded Neumeister as “the first German to give sacred
music its fitting position by introducing and perfecting the Church
Cantata.”(377)

Spitta has dealt exhaustively(378) with the evolution and construction of
the Neumeister libretto.  It need only be remarked that it adapted a
secular or operatic apparatus to the service of religion, and that the
innovation, hateful to many, triumphed because of Neumeister’s delicate
handling of it.  He perfected the new form, however, in stages.  “A
Cantata,” he insisted in his 1704 Preface, “is simply a fragment of Opera
made up of Aria and Recitativo.”  But the restriction excluded from the
Cantata its most appropriate material.  In his 1708 cycle he found a place
for the chorus.  Finally, he admitted the Bible stanza and congregational
hymn.  With their inclusion the Cantata libretto assumed the form familiar
to us in Bach’s use.  It represents a combination of secular Opera and
ecclesiastical Motet.  The free Arias and Recitativi are derived from the
one, the Bible stanzas and congregational hymns perpetuate the traditions
of the other. Unity of design is stamped on the whole by its general
subordination to the Gospel for the Day.  Thus, at the moment when Bach
was about to devote his genius to the Cantata, Neumeister opportunely
provided him with a libretto singularly adapted to the end Bach had in
view, and appropriate to the musical expression by which he proposed to
secure it.  He adhered to it almost to the end of his life, and found
unfailing inspiration in Neumeister’s sincerity, delicacy, and uniformly
religious outlook.  Neumeister’s Arias, with a single exception,(379) are
hymn-like in mood and metre.  His Recitativi are reflective and prayerful,
rarely oratorical or pictorial, simple communings upon the Gospel themes
which the libretto handles.(380)

Bach’s early introduction to Neumeister’s texts is explained by the close
relations between the Courts of Weimar and Eisenach, by his associations
with his own birthplace, and his intimacy with Georg Philipp Telemann,
Kapellmeister there, for whose use Neumeister’s third and fourth cycles
were written.(381) Bach set, in all, seven of the libretti—four from the
fourth cycle,(382) one from the third,(383) and two from the first,(384)
one of which (No. 142) differs so much from the published version as to
raise the question whether Bach did not receive it direct from Neumeister
in the form in which he set it.(385)

That Bach should have set no more than seven of Neumeister’s texts(386) is
strange.  He shrank, perhaps, from appropriating libretti on which his
friend Telemann had a prior claim.(387) But the reason is found rather in
the fact that at Weimar Bach discovered in 1715 a local poet of first-rate
ability who, with perhaps but one exception, wrote the libretti of all the
Cantatas he composed during the last two years of his Weimar appointment.

Salomo Franck, Bach’s new collaborator, was Curator of the Ducal Museum of
Coins and Medals at Weimar.  He was twenty-six years older than Bach.  But
Spitta’s conjecture,(388) that the two men were not acquainted, is hardly
tenable.  Both resided in the same small provincial town, both were in the
Duke’s service, and throughout 1715 and 1716 collaborated in at least ten
Cantatas performed in the Ducal Chapel.  Moreover, though the Preface of
Franck’s first cycle is dated 4th June 1715,(389) Bach had already set one
of its libretti for Easter of that year. A second cycle of texts, of which
Bach made little use,(390) was published by Franck in 1717.(391)

Schweitzer, no doubt, is correct in his conclusion(392) that Bach was
drawn to Franck by his poetic insight, his mysticism, and innate feeling
for nature.  It must be remembered, too, that his libretti were, in some
degree, official.  On the other hand, Franck was Neumeister’s inferior in
ability to conceive a picture fit to express Bach’s larger moods, and on
occasion could descend to sheer bathos.(393) But his texts have a rhythmic
swing and melody which Bach found agreeable.  He set at least sixteen of
them, and returned to them even after he settled at Leipzig.

The circumstances which terminated Bach’s service at Weimar are familiar,
and need not be restated.  He received a new appointment at Cöthen on 1st
August 1717, and took up his duties there, probably at Christmas, that
year.(394) His position was that of Capellmeister to the princely Court.
He never styles himself Court Organist,(395) and his duties severed him
for five years from the service of the Church, to which he had declared
his particular dedication in 1708.  The Cöthen Court was unpretentious.
The Prince was a Calvinist.  Figurate music was not permitted in the Court
Chapel, and its Organ was small and inadequate.  Hence Bach devoted
himself chiefly to chamber music, and only two genuine Church Cantatas
belong to this period of his career.  Both must have been written for
performance elsewhere, possibly in connection with Bach’s frequent Autumn
tours as a performer.(396)

For both Cantatas Bach employed a librettist, otherwise little known,
named Johann Friedrich Helbig, State Secretory to the Eisenach Court. In
March 1720,(397) more than two years after Bach’s arrival at Cöthen,
Helbig published a cycle of “Musical Texts on the Sunday and Saints’ Day
Gospels throughout the year,” for performance “in God’s honour by the
Prince’s Kapelle at Eisenach.”(398) How they came into Bach’s hands we do
not know, but can readily conjecture.  They are indifferent poetry,
judging them by the two specimens Bach made use of, and are uniform in
construction.  The first movement invariably is a Chorus upon a text from
the Gospel for the Day, or a Scripture passage closely related to it.  Two
Arias separated by a Recitative follow. A Choral brings the libretto to an
end.(399)

The first of the two Cantatas written to Helbig’s words was designed for
the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity, which fell in 1720 on September
22.(400) Spitta conjectures(401) that Bach intended it for performance at
Hamburg.  In fact, his wife’s death postponed Bach’s visit to that town
until November, by which date the Sunday appropriate to the Cantata had
passed. Spitta holds that the Cantata may have been performed, after all,
during the visit. Schweitzer is sceptical.(402) But Bach certainly
expended great pains upon the score.

The second Helbig Cantata(403) is for the Third Sunday in Advent, and the
date of it would appear to have been 1721.  It is one of the least
agreeable of Bach’s works.  Spitta (404) declares it a juvenile
composition hastily adapted to a new libretto. Schweitzer(405) expresses
the same opinion, and Sir Hubert Parry(406) finds the work “rather
commonplace.”  Its genuineness is discussed by Max Schreyer in the
“Bach-Jahrbuch” for 1912, and more recently Rudolf Wustmann has insisted
that it does not bear the stamp of Bach’s genius.(407) If it actually was
composed in 1721, its production must have coincided with Bach’s second
marriage on December 3 of that year.(408) In that case, his resort to old
material is explicable.

Only these two Cantatas were composed at Cöthen.  But later, at Leipzig,
two others were manufactured out of secular material written there.(409)
It is unnecessary to refer to them, except to remark that in each case
Bach appears to have been the author of the new libretto.  In the first of
them(410) it is clear that he was handicapped by the frankly secular metre
of the original stanzas.  The second of them,(411) originally a Birthday
Ode to Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, is a masterly conversion into a
Whit-Monday text which, assuming that Bach wrote it, puts his literary
facility beyond question.

Bach made the last move in his professional career on May 31, 1723, when
he was inducted Cantor of St. Thomas’ School at Leipzig, with particular
charge of the Churches of St. Thomas and St. Nicolas.  Here by far the
greater number of his Cantatas appeared, and 172 of them survive.  They
are too numerous to be considered individually, and their classification
is rendered difficult by the fact that the authorship of most of their
libretti is conjectural and not ascertained.  They fall, however, into two
large categories, each of which exhibits characteristics of its own.

The dividing year, clearly but not arbitrarily, is 1734.  Before it and
after it Bach was aided by new writers.  But the earlier period
pre-eminently was one of experiment, out of which emerged the glorified
hymn-libretto, or Choral Cantata, of Bach’s last years.  That it sprang,
in some degree, from the difficulty of finding good original texts in
sufficient number may be granted.  That it was adopted as an avenue of
escape from Picander’s coarser work is a conjecture based, apparently,
upon a prevalent exaggeration of Bach’s dependence on that writer.  The
fundamental reason which led Bach to the hymn-libretto undoubtedly was the
fact that it most closely fulfilled the ideals which informed his work.

The first Cantata performed during Bach’s Cantorship(412) reveals a new
author, whose assistance, if the conclusion is well grounded, was at
Bach’s disposal throughout the whole of the earlier Leipzig period.
Spitta’s keen insight failed him in this instance.  He betrays no
recognition of the new writer, and occasionally(413) attributes his
libretti to Picander.  The credit of the discovery belongs to Rudolf
Wustmann, though he fails to work it out to its fullest conclusions.(414)

No one can read the early Leipzig libretti without being struck by the
number of them that are not only uniform in structure, but similar in tone
and point.  They all begin with a Bible text, chosen frequently, but not
invariably, from the Gospel for the Day.  Every one of them ends with a
hymn-stanza.  Their Arias, with hardly an exception,(415) are written in
what, compared with Picander’s rollicking dactyls, may be held
hymn-metres.  Their Recitativi, almost invariably, are didactic or
exegetical.(416) They do not display the vapid rhetoric of Picander.  Nor
do they express the reflective or prayerful mood that reveals Bach.  They
are essentially expositive and, it is noticeable, are studded with direct
or veiled references to Bible passages which expand or enforce the lesson
of the initial text.  In a word, they suggest the work of a preacher
casting his sermon notes into lyrical form, an impression which is
strengthened by the fact that the libretto invariably opens with a
Scripture passage and frequently blends the Gospel and Epistle for the Day
in one harmonious teaching.  Spitta detected this characteristic.  But he
failed to follow up the clue.  He speaks(417) of one of these texts(418)
as a “moralising homily,” a phrase concisely appropriate to them all.
Moreover, a remark of his,(419) pointing the significance of the
god-parents chosen by Bach for his children—Eilmar, for instance—as
revealing Bach’s intimate associates at the moment, affords another clue
to the personality of the new writer.

Among the clergy of St. Thomas’ during Bach’s Cantorate were two men,
father and son, each of whom bore the name Christian Weiss.  The elder was
Pastor of the Church from 1714 till his death in 1737.  He was a cultured
man, in touch with the University, and possibly formed a link between it
and Bach, to whom he showed greater cordiality than the Cantor received
from other clerical colleagues.  In 1732 his daughter, Dorothea Sophia
stood godmother to Bach’s son, Johann Christoph Friedrich, afterwards
famous as the “Bückeburg Bach.”(420) In 1737 his son stood sponsor to
Bach’s daughter, Johanna Caroline.(421) Nor can it be altogether without
significance that the names Dorothea, Sophia, Christian, are borne by
others of Bach’s children by his second marriage.  There is sufficient
evidence, therefore, that Bach’s relations with the elder Weiss were
intimate enough to support a literary partnership.  Moreover,
circumstances lend weight to the inference.  For some years before Bach’s
arrival in Leipzig, Weiss suffered from an affection of the throat which
kept him from the pulpit.  But, during the first year of Bach’s Cantorate,
he was able to resume his preaching.  If he was, in fact, the author of
the libretti, we can have little difficulty in concluding that they and
his sermons were built on the same text.

So far as they can be identified—the attempt is somewhat speculative—Weiss
provided Bach with at least thirty-three libretti.  He set five of them in
1723, three in 1724, nine in or about 1725, one in 1727, two in 1730, six
in 1731, three in 1732, and four in the later Leipzig period.(422)
Fourteen others bear a constructional resemblance to Weiss’s texts,(423)
but their character refers them rather to Bach or Picander.  Even so, if
we do not exaggerate his activity, Weiss seems to have written at least
one-sixth of the Leipzig libretti and more than a quarter of those of the
earlier period.  Without a doubt he eased a difficult situation in Bach’s
experience before his regular association with Picander began.

Apart from their revelation of Christian Weiss, the libretti of Bach’s
first year at Leipzig do not call for comment.  Franck and Neumeister
appear among them, and we trace Bach’s hand in nine.(424) But at Easter,
1724, he broke new ground with a libretto whence developed the Cantata
form of his latest period.

The Cantata for Easter Day 1724,(425) is Bach’s earliest setting of an
entire congregational hymn.  Spitta suggests(426) that he felt the fitness
of giving the libretto an antique character to match the hymn’s melody.
However that may be, Bach would appear already to have been groping
towards the Choral Cantata of the late ’30’s.  And though he did not
repeat the experiment until the Easter of 1731,(427) he treated three
hymn-libretti in the interval in a manner which shows him already to have
worked out the essentials of the Choral Cantata form.(428)

Another landmark meets us a year and a half after the Easter experiment.
On September 23, 1725(?)—the Seventeenth Sunday after Trinity—Bach
produced a Cantata(429) whose Arias are set to words which had appeared in
print in the preceding year.  Their author was a hack writer named
Christian Friedrich Henrici, or, as he preferred to style himself,
Picander.  His hand probably is also traced in the libretto used by Bach
on the preceding Sunday(430) and again in that for Sexagesima in the same
year.(431) But the evidence is only inferential.  That he collaborated
with Bach on September 23, 1725 (?), is incontestable, and the work
defines the beginning of a long and fruitful partnership.

Spitta,(432) who tells us all that is known of Picander, has sufficiently
exposed his superficial literary facility.  He commenced to write sacred
poetry in 1724, and on Advent Sunday of that year began a cycle of
“Profitable Thoughts,” so he termed them, upon the Sunday and Saints’ Day
Gospels.  He published them in 1725, when the cycle was complete.(433)
Three years later he issued a cycle of Cantata texts for 1728-29 in the
Neumeister form.(434) That he intended them for Bach’s use is apparent in
the fact that he expressly dedicated them to the service of “our
incomparable Capellmeister.”  But Bach made the sparest use of them and of
the earlier “Profitable Thoughts” alike.  From the latter he took not one
libretto.(435) Of the 1728-29 cycle he used only eight texts.(436) One
more libretto can be referred to Picander’s later publications,(437) and
of six others we can be sure that they are based upon his texts.(438) In
other words, of the original libretti of the Leipzig period we can trace
Picander’s hand positively in no more than fifteen.

It is necessary to emphasise this point. For Spitta(439) has stated
positively that Picander wrote “most” of the Leipzig libretti, and his
opinion has been generally accepted.  But its correctness may be
contested.  It is suspicious, to begin with, that Picander never published
the texts which Spitta asserts him to have poured out in such profusion.
“He placed no value,” Spitta answers readily, “on these manufactured
compositions, put together hastily to please his friend.”  But the
argument cannot stand.  Why should Picander have thought less of libretti
actually used by his “incomparable Capellmeister” than of those published
for and rejected by him?—for Spitta does not venture to declare that as
literature the rejected were superior to the accepted texts.  If out of a
published cycle of libretti expressly written for him Bach chose only
eight texts, are Picander’s “manufactured compositions,” as Spitta calls
them, likely to have attracted him to a greater degree?  We can detect his
hand perhaps in six Cantatas(440) besides those already mentioned, and
Bach relied on him exclusively for his secular texts.  One concludes, none
the less, that Bach rarely accepted an original Cantata libretto from
Picander, and employed him chiefly on the Choral Cantatas of his latest
period.  Excluding them, and adding the probable to the actual original
Picander texts, they total only twenty-one, a fraction inadequate to
support Spitta’s sweeping statement.

From the advent of Picander in 1725, to the end of the first Leipzig
period nine years later, Bach does not seem to have gone outside the
circle of familial authors for his regular Cantata texts.  On October 17,
1727, however, he produced a funeral Cantata, or “Trauer-Musik,” in memory
of the late Queen of Poland, the libretto of which was written by
Professor J. C. Gottsched.  The partnership, in fact, was accidental: the
libretto was supplied to Bach with the commission to set it to music, and,
so far as is known, Gottsched and he did not collaborate again.

So, reviewing Bach’s activities during his first eleven years at Leipzig,
we find that of the hundred libretti set by him to music Christian Weiss
heads the list as the presumed author of twenty-nine.  Bach follows him
with eighteen.(441) Picander’s hand appears in fifteen, Franck’s in
eight,(442) Neumeister’s and Gottsched’s in one each.  Fifteen libretti
are congregational hymns in their original or paraphrased form.  One is
the _Gloria in Excelsis_ of the B minor Mass adapted as a Christmas
Cantata (No. 190).  Twelve are by authors not identified.

Passing to the later Leipzig period, seventy-two surviving Cantatas are
attributed to the years 1735-50.  They reveal one, perhaps two, new
writers.  The first of them, Marianne von Ziegler, was identified by
Spitta in 1892.  She was the widow of an officer, resident in Leipzig, a
cultured woman, in touch with University life, her house a salon for music
and musicians.(443) There is no reason to suppose Bach to have been of her
circle, or that he was acquainted with her literary gifts.  Indeed the
contrary is to be inferred from the fact that, though she published her
poems in 1728,(444) he does not seem to have known them until seven years
later, when he used them for nine consecutive Sundays and Festivals in
1735, beginning on the Third Sunday after Easter, and ending on Trinity
Sunday.

In addition to these nine libretti, both Spitta(445)and Schweitzer(446)
attribute to her the text of Bach’s Cantata for the Second Sunday after
Easter in the same year.(447) It is uniform in construction with the
authentic nine, but is not among the authoress’s published works.
Wustmann(448) finds the tone of the libretto less ardent and its rhythm
rougher than those published under her name.  Admitting the soundness of
Wustmann’s criticism, one hazards the opinion that the challenged text was
written at the period when Bach set it, namely, in 1735, eight years after
the poetess published her earlier texts.  The difference of time may
account for the difference of texture to which Wustmann draws attention,
but leaves undecided the question whether Bach was drawn to the earlier
through the later and unpublished texts or vice versa.  It is quite
probable that he set other libretti by the same writer, though
Schweitzer’s(449) attribution to her of a second text for Ascension Day,
1735, must be rejected.(450)

It is worth noticing, since it certainly reveals Bach’s preference, that
Marianne von Ziegler’s libretti are constructed almost invariably in the
Weiss form.  Every one of them but three(451) opens with a Bible passage,
invariably taken from St. John’s Gospel, which provides the Gospel for the
Day from the First Sunday after Easter down to Trinity Sunday, excepting
Ascension Day.  All but one (No. 68) of the libretti conclude with a
Choral, and their Arias are hymn-like in metre.  The tone of them,
however, is warmer, more personal, less didactic than the Weiss texts.
That Bach regarded them with particular favour is apparent in the
circumstance that he took the trouble to revise all but one of them.(452)
That they stirred his genius deeply is visible in the settings he gave
them.

After 1735 the chronology of the Cantatas is not certainly ascertained.
Of those that fall after the Ziegler year, as we may term it, the majority
can only be dated approximately as circa 1740, that is, anywhere between
1735 and 1744.  Nor, except rarely, can we detect in their libretti the
work of those on whom Bach elsewhere relied.  Weiss, who died late in
1737, is only an occasional contributor.  The texts of this period, in
fact, are the outcome of Bach’s own experiments in libretto form.
Thirty-three of them are Choral Cantatas, whose evolution it remains to
trace concisely.

That Bach should have turned to Lutheran hymnody, chiefly of the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, and that the Cantatas built upon it should be his
most perfect religious work is not surprising.  The hymns and their
melodies were the foundations upon which the temple of German
Protestantism had been reared.  They appealed vividly and powerfully to
Bach’s spiritual nature, and profoundly influenced his musical utterance.
His whole career, as Sir Hubert Parry points out,(453) was an effort to
widen his means for self-expression.  And the Choral Cantata, in effect,
was the reconciliation or blending of this self-discipline.  It was the
supreme achievement of Bach’s genius to assert the faith and idealism of
Lutheran hymnody with the fullest resources of his technique.

It is not our task to consider the hymn libretto in its relation to the
structure of Bach’s latest Cantatas.  Necessarily it tied him to a
stereotyped design, which he clung to with greater persistency because it
exactly fulfilled his devotional purpose.  But experience compelled him,
after a brief trial, to discard the simple hymn libretto.  In the earlier
Leipzig years as many as eight Choral Cantatas(454) are set to the
unaltered text of a congregational hymn.  In the later Leipzig period only
two(455) libretti are of that character.  Bach, in fact, soon realised
that, while the unaltered hymn-stanza, with its uniform metre and balanced
rhyme, was appropriate to the simple Choral or elaborate Fantasia, it was
unmalleable for use as an Aria or Recitative.  Hence, retaining the
unaltered Hymn-stanza for the musical movements congruous to it, he was
led to paraphrase, in free madrigal form, those stanzas which he selected
for the Arias and Recitativi.

As early as September 16, 1725,(456) Bach was moving towards this
solution.  And it is significant that Picander’s hand is visible in the
libretto.  The next example(457) occurs three years later, and again
reveals Picander’s authorship.  Two other instances also occur in the
early Leipzig period.(458) To that point, however, it is clear that Bach
was not satisfied as to the most effective treatment of the hymn-libretto.
But in the second Leipzig period, after his collaboration with Marianne
von Ziegler, he arrived at and remained constant to a uniform design.  Of
the thirty-nine Choral Cantatas of the whole period only two exhibit the
earlier form.  Of all the others the libretto consists partly of unaltered
hymn-stanzas—invariably used for the first and last movements, and
occasionally elsewhere—but chiefly of paraphrased stanzas of the hymn,
whose accustomed melody, wherever else it may be introduced, is associated
invariably with the hymn when the text is used in its unaltered form.  We,
to whom both words and melody are too frequently unfamiliar, may view the
perfections of the Choral Cantata with some detachment.  But Bach’s
audience listened to hymns and tunes which were in the heart of every
hearer and a common possession of them all.  The appeal of his message was
the more arresting because it spoke as directly to himself as to those he
addressed.

It would be satisfactory and interesting to point positively to Bach’s own
handiwork in these libretti, of which he set fifty-four in the period
1724-44.  Unfortunately it is impossible to do so, except, perhaps, in a
single case,(459) where we can reasonably infer that the libretto is his.
Of the rest, one is by Franck.(460) In eighteen of them the hand of
Picander is more or less patent.(461) Nineteen(462) we can only venture to
mark “anonymous,” though Picander is probably present in most of them.
Ten are unaltered congregational hymns.(463) There remain, however,
five(464) in which, perhaps, we detect another, and the last, of Bach’s
literary helpers.

Wustmann draws attention(465) to the libretto of Cantata No. 38, a
paraphrase of Luther’s Psalm 130.  He finds in it, and reasonably, an
expression of “Jesus religion” very alien to Picander’s muse, and suggests
the younger Christian Weiss as the author of it.  Like his father, he was
Bach’s colleague, the godfather of his daughter, and undoubtedly on terms
of close friendship with him.  But if he wrote the libretto of Cantata No.
38, probably it is not the only one.  The same note rings in four more of
the Choral Cantatas,(466) which may be attributed tentatively to Weiss,
though their ascription to Bach would be equally congruous.

Returning, however, to the seventy-two libretti of the later Leipzig
period we reach this result: More than half of them (thirty-nine) are
congregational hymns, all but two of which are of the paraphrased type in
which we detect the work of Picander, Bach himself, and perhaps the
younger Weiss.  Of the remaining thirty-three original libretti Marianne
von Ziegler heads the list with nine, and perhaps ten.(467)  Bach follows
with a problematical six,(468) Picander with five,(469) the elder Weiss
with four,(470) Neumeister with one.(471) One text is taken from the
Bible.(472) Another consists of a single stanza of a hymn by Martin
Behm.(473) Five are by authors unknown or undetected.(474)

But, as was said at the outset, the attribution of particular libretti to
individual writers is conjectural, except in comparatively few cases.
Yet, unsatisfying as it is, this guess-work reveals with approximate
correctness the extent to which Bach drew upon his own and other people’s
abilities for the texts he needed.  Summarising our conclusions, we
discover that about one-quarter (fifty-four) of the 202 libretti set by
Bach between the years 1704 and 1744 were provided by the hymn-book.  It
is shown elsewhere(475) that all but eleven of them are taken from Paul
Wagner’s volumes.  The elder Weiss comes next with thirty-three libretti.
Bach follows with thirty, Salomo Franck with twenty-one, Picander with
twenty (exclusive of his arrangements of Choral Cantata texts).  Marianne
von Ziegler contributes ten, Neumeister seven, Eilmar and Helbig two each,
Gottsched and Martin Behm one each.  Three libretti are taken from the
Bible or Church liturgy.  Eighteen remain anonymous.

The literary qualities of the libretti are not under discussion here.
They have a characteristic, however, on which one cannot forbear from
remarking.  Indifferent literature as, for the most part, they
are—children of their period and blemished with its imperfections—they
enshrine an extraordinarily interesting anthology of the religious poetry
of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries.  They expose the
evangelical thought of Germany from the age of Luther to that of Bach, and
are particularly rich in the lyrical fervour of the Reformation itself.
Of the seventy-seven hymn-writers whom Bach includes in his collection, so
many as forty-four belong to the sixteenth century.  Only thirteen of them
touch Bach’s own period.  And a similar bias to the Reformation epoch is
observable in his choice of the tunes of the Chorals, which are absent
from only twenty-one of the Cantatas.  By far the greater number of them
are coeval with the hymns themselves; that is, they date from the
Reformation and behind it.

Here clearly is the source of Bach’s inspiration, the master-key of his
art.  He touches Luther, is in a sense his complement, his art builded on
the foundations Luther laid, consecrated to the ends Luther vindicated,
inspired by a dedication of himself to God’s service not less exalted—a
great artist, a great Protestant, a great man.(476)

NOTE.—Cantatas distinguished by an asterisk (*) are for Soli voices only
(S.A.T.B. unless the particular voices are stated); those marked (†)
include, in addtion, simple four-part Chorals: the rest contain concerted
Choruses.




            (1) COMPOSED AT ARNSTADT (see also Nos. 150, 189.)




           (2) COMPOSED AT MÜLHAUSEN (see also Nos. 150, 189.)




    (3) COMPOSED AT WEIMAR. (See also Nos. 12, 72, 80, 164, 168, 186.)




            (4) COMPOSED AT CÖTHEN. (See also Nos. 22 and 23.)




 (5) COMPOSED AT LEIPZIG. 1723-34. (See also Nos. 31, 70, 134, 147,  158,
                                  173.)




                     (6) COMPOSED AT LEIPZIG: 1735-50





APPENDIX III.  THE BACHGESELLSCHAFT EDITIONS OF BACH’S WORKS


The Bachgesellschaft was founded on December 15, 1850, issued its first
volume in 1851, and was dissolved on January 27, 1900, upon the
publication of its sixtieth and concluding volume.  The Society had
fulfilled its fundamental purpose—the publication of Bach’s works—and on
the very date of its dissolution the Neue Bachgesellschaft was founded
with the object of popularising Bach’s music by publishing it in
practicable form and by holding Bach Festivals.  A secondary object, the
foundation of a Bach Museum at Eisenach, in the house in which Bach was
born, already has been achieved.  Bach Festivals have been held at regular
intervals—at Berlin in 1901, Leipzig in 1904, Eisenach—in connection with
the opening of the Museum—in 1907, at Chemnitz in 1908, Duisburg in 1910,
Breslau in 1912, Vienna in 1914.  The publications of the new Society
necessarily are unimportant by the side of those of its predecessor.  It
has, however, brought to light and published a Cantata overlooked by the
old Bachgesellschaft.  (See New B.G. XIII. (2).)

The publications of both Societies are quoted here by their year of
issue—I., II., III., and so forth.  When more than one volume has been
published in a single year they are differentiated thus: XV.(1), XV.(2).
When a volume appeared upon a date subsequent to the Vereinsjahr it bears,
the date of the Preface is indicated in a bracket, e.g. 1872[1876].

The editorial work of the original Bachgesellschaft was undertaken, in
unequal proportions, by ten editors during fifty years.  Of the Society’s
sixty volumes three were edited by Moritz Hauptmann (1851-58), one by Carl
F. Becker (1853), two by Julius Rietz (1854-56), twenty-seven by Wilhelm
Rust (1855-81), one by Franz Kroll (1866), eleven by Alfred Dörffel
(1876-98), six by Paul Graf Waldersee (1881-94), five by Ernst Naumann
(1886-94), two by Franz Wüllner (1887-92), and two by Hermann Kretzschmar
(1895-1900).




                 (A) PUBLICATIONS OF THE BACHGESELLSCHAFT


   I. 1851. Kirchencantaten. Erster Band. Ed. Moritz Hauptmann.(478)

            No. *1. Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern.
            No. *2. Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein.
            No. *3. Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid (c. 1740).
            No. *4. Christ lag in Todesbanden.
            No.  5. Wo soll ich fliehen hin.
            No. *6. Bleib’ bei uns, denn es will Abend werden.
            No.  7. Christ unser Herr zura Jordan kam.
            No. *8. Liebster Gott, warm werd’ ich sterben?
            No.  9. Es ist das Heil uns kommen her.
            No. *10. Meine Seel’ erhebt den Herren!
            Frontispiece: G. Haussmann’s portrait of Bach, in the
            possession of St. Thomas’ School, Leipzig.

  II. 1852. Kirchencantaten. Zweiter Band. Ed. Moritz Hauptmann.

            *No. 11. Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen.
            No. *12. Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen.
            No. 13. Meine Seufzer, meine Thränen.
            No. 14. War’ Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit.
            No. 15. Denn du wirst meine Seele nicht in der Hölle lassen.
            No. 16. Herr Gott dich loben wir.
            No. 17. Wer Dank opfert, der preiset mich.
            No. 18. Gleich vie der Begen uud Schnee vom Himmel fallt.
            No. 19. Es erhub sich ein Streit.
            No. 20. O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (c. 1725).

 III. 1853. Clavierwerke. Erster Band. Ed. Carl F. Becker.

        (1) Fifteen Inventions and Fifteen Symphonies (Sinfonie) (P. bk.
            201).(479)
        (2) Clavierübung, Part I.:—

                  Partiten 1-6 (P. bka. 205, 206).

        (3) Clavierübung, Part II.:—

                  Concerto, in F major, in the Italian style (P bk. 207).
                  Partita (Overture) in B minor (P. bk. 208).

        (4) Clavierübung, Part III.:—

                  Organ Prelude and Fugue in E flat major (N. bk. 16 pp.
                  19, 83).
                  Four Duetti (P. bk. 208 p. 78).
                  Catechism Choral Preludes (Organ):—

                              Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit (N. bk. 16 p.
                              28).
                              Christe, aller Welt Trost (ib. p. 30).
                              Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist (ib. p. 33).

                              Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit (alio modo)
                              (   2. ib.   1. p. 36).
                              Christe, aller Welt Trost (ib. p. 37).
                              Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist (ib. p. 38).

                     3. Allein Gott in der Hoh’ sei Ehr’ (ib. p. 39).
                     4. Ditto (ib. p. 40*).(480)
                     5. Allein Gott in der Hoh’ sei Ehr’ (Fughetta) (N.
                        bk. 16 p. 41).
                     6. Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot’ (ib. p. 42).
                     7. Ditto (Fughetta) (ib. p. 47).
                     8. Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott (ib. p. 49).
                     9. Ditto (Fughetta) (ib. p. 52).
                    10. Vater unser im Himmelreich (ib. p. 53).
                    11. Ditto (ib. p. 61).(481)
                    12. Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam (ib. p. 62).
                    13. Ditto (ib. p. 67).
                    14. Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir (ib. p. 68).
                    15. Ditto (ib. p. 72).
                    16. Jesus Christus unser Heiland (ib. p. 74).
                    17. Ditto (Fugue) (ib. p. 80).

        (5) Clavierübung, Part IV.:—

                  Aria and thirty Variations (Goldberg) (P. bk. 209).

                  Toccata in F sharp minor (P. bk. 210 p. 30).
                  Ditto. C minor (P. bk. 210 p. 40).
                  Fugue (with Fantasia) in A minor (P. bk. 207 p. 16).

  IV. 1854. *Passionsmusik nach dem Evangelisten Matthäus.  Ed. Julius
      Rietz.
V(1). 1855. Kirchencantaten. Dritter Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            *21. Ich hatte viel Bekümmerniss.
            22. Jesus nahm zu sich die Zwölfe.
            *23. Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn.
            24. Ein ungefärbt Gemüthe.
            *25. Es ist nichts Gesundes an meinem Leibe.
            26. Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig.
            *27. Wer weiss, wie nahe mir mein Ende.
            *28. Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende.
            29. Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir.
            *30. Freue dich, erlöste Schaar.

V(2). 1855 [1856]. Weinachts-Oratorium. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.
  VI. 1856. *Messe. H moll. Ed. Julius Rietz.
  VI. VII. 1857. Kirchencantaten. Vierter Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            No. 31. Der Himmel lacht, die Erde jubiliret.
            *32. Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen.
            33. Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ.
            *34. O ewiges Feuer, O Ursprung der Liebe.
            35. Geist und Seele wird verwirrt.
            36. Schwingt freudig euch empor.
            37. Wer da glaubet und getauft wird.
            *38. Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir.
            *39. Brich dem Hungrigen dein Brod.
            *40. Dazu ist erschienen der Sohn Gottes.

VIII. 1858. Vier Messen. F dur, *A dur, G moll, G dur. Ed. Moritz
      Hauptmann.
  IX. 1859 [I860]. Kammermusik. Erster Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            Three Sonatas, in B minor, E flat major, A minor (and
            Variant), for Clavier and Flute (P. bk. 234).
            Suite in A major, for Clavier and Violin (P. bk. 236).
            Six Sonatas, in B minor, A major, E major, C minor, F minor
            (and Variant), G major (and Variants), for Clavier and Violin
            (P. bks. 232, 233).
            Three Sonatas, in G major (or 2 Flutes), D major, G minor for
            Clavier and Viola da Gamba (P. bk. 239).
            Sonata in G major, for Flute, Violin, and Clavier (P. bk.
            237).
            Sonata in C major, for two Violins and Clavier (P. bk. 237).
            Sonata in G minor, for Clavier and Violin (not in P.).(  (6)
            482)

   X. 1860. Kirchencantaten. Fünfter Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            No. *41. Jesu, nun sei gepreiset.
            42. Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbaths.
            *43. Gott fahret auf mit Jauchzen.
            *44. Sie werden euch in den Bann thun (c. 1725).
            45. Es ist dir gesagt, Mensch, was gut ist.
            46. Schauet doch und sehet, etc.
            47. Wer sich selbst erhöhet, der soll emiedriget werden
            48. Ich elender Mensch, wer wird mich erlösen?
            49. Ich geh’ und suche mit Verlangen.
            *50. Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft.

XI (1). 1861 [1862]. *Magnificat, D dur, und vier Sanctus, C dur, D dur, D
      moll, G dur. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            The Appendix contains four additional numbers which are found
            in one of the two Autograph scores of the Magnificat.

XI (2). 1861 [1862]. Kammermusik für Gesang. Erster Band. Ed. Wilhelm
      Rust.

            Secular Cantata: *Phoebus und Pan.
            Secular Cantata: Weichet nur, betrübte Schatten.
            Secular Cantata: Amore traditore.
            Secular Cantata: Von der Vergnügsamkeit, or, Ich bin in mir
            vergnügt.
            Secular Cantata: Der zufriedengestellte Aeolus, or, Zer
            reisset, zersprenget, zertrümmert die Gruft.

XII (1). 1862 [1863]. *Passionsmusik nach dem Evangelisten Johannes. Ed.
      Wilhelm Rust.
XII (2). 1862 [1863]. Kirchencantaten. Sechster Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            No. 51. Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen.
            52. Falsche Welt, dir trau ich nicht.
            *53. Schlage doch, gewünschte Stunde.
            *54. Widerstehe doch der Sünde.
            55. Ich armer Mensch, ich Sündenknecht.
            *56. Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen.
            57. Selig ist der Mann.
            58. Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid (1733).
            59. Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten (1716).
            60. O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort (1732).

XIII (1). 1863 [1864]. Trauungs-Cantaten. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            No. *195. Dem Gerechten muss das Licht.
            196. Der Herr denket an uns.
            197.

                  Gott ist uns’re Zuversicht.
                  Drei Chorale zu Trauungen : (1) Was Gott thut, (2) Sei
                  Lob und Ehr’, (3) Nun danket alle Gott.

XIII (2). 1863. Clavierwerke. Zweiter Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            Six Great Suites, in A major, A minor, G minor, F major, E
            minor, D minor, known as the “English Suites” (P. bks.
            203,204).
            Six Small Suites, in D minor, C minor, B minor, E flat major,
            G major, E major, known as the “French Suites” (P. bk.
            202).(483)

XIII (3). 1863 [1865]. *Trauer-Ode. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.
 XIV. 1864 [1866]. Clavierwerke. Dritter Band. Das wohltemperirte Clavier
      (P. bks. 2790 a-b.). Ed. Franz Kroll.(484)

            Erster Theil, 1722.
            Zweiter Theil, 1744.

  XV. 1865 [1867]. Orgelwerke. Erster Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            Six Sonatas, in E flat major, C minor, D minor, E minor, C
            major, G major (N. bks. 4, 5), for 2 Claviers and Pedal.
            Eighteen Preludes and Fugues:—

                  Prelude and Fugue in C major (N. bk. 7 p. 74).
                  Prelude and Fugue in D major (N. bk. 6 p. 10).
                  Prelude and Fugue in E minor (N. bk. 2 p. 44).
                  Prelude and Fugue in F minor (N. bk. 6 p. 21).
                  Prelude and Fugue in G minor (N. bk. 8 p. 120).
                  Prelude and Fugue in A major (N. bk. 3 p. 64).
                  Prelude (Fantasia) and Fugue in C minor (N. bk. 3 p.
                  76).
                  Prelude (Toccata) in D minor (N. bk. 10 p. 196).
                  Prelude and Fugue in D minor (N. bk. 9 p. 150).
                  Prelude and Fugue (Toccata) in F major (N. bk. 9 p.
                  176).
                  Prelude and Fugue the Great, in G major (N. bk. 8 p.
                  112).
                  Prelude (Fantasia) and Fugue in G minor (N. bk. 8 p.
                  127).(485)
                  Prelude (Fantasia) and Fugue in A minor (N. bk. 7 p.
                  42).(486)
                  Prelude (Fantasia) and Fugue in B minor (N. bk. 7 p.
                  52).
                  Prelude (Fantasia) and Fugue in C minor (N. bk. 7 p.
                  64).
                  Prelude (Fantasia) and Fugue in C major (N. bk. 9 p.
                  156).
                  Prelude (Fantasia) and Fugue in E minor (N. bk. 8 p.
                  98).
                  Prelude and Fugue in C major (N. bk. 3 p. 70).

                  Three Toccatas and Fugues, in C major, the       “Great”
                  (N. bk. 9 p. 137).
                  Toccata and Fugue D minor (N. bk. 6 p. 2).
                  Toccata and Fugue E major (N. bk. 8 p. 88, as Prelude
                  and Fugue in C major)

            Passacaglia, in C minor (N. bk. 10 p. 214).

 XVI. 1866 [1868]. Kirchencantaten. Siebenter Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            No. *61. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (1714).
            62. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (c. 1740).
            63. Christen, ätzet diesen Tag.
            64. Sehet, welch’ eine Liebe.
            *65. Sie werden aus Saba Alle kommen.
            66. Erfreut euch, ihr Herzen.
            *67. Halt’ im Gedachtniss Jesum Christ.
            *68. Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt.
            69. Lobe den Herren, meine Seele.
            *70. Wachet, betet, seid bereit allezeit.

XVII. 1867 [1869]. Kammermusik. Zweiter Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            Seven Concertos, in D minor (and Variant),(487) E major (and
            Variant), D major (and Variant), A major (and Variant), F
            minor, F major, G minor, for Clavier and Orchestra (Strings;
            two flutes added in Concerto VI. (P. bks. 248-254).(488)
            Triple Concerto in A minor, for Flute, Violin, Clavier, and
            Orchestra (Strings). (P. bk. 255).

XVIII. 1868 [1870]. Kirchencantaten. Achter Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            No. 71. Gott ist mem Küonig.
            72. Alles nur nach Gottes Willen.
            73. Herr, wie du willt, so schick’s mit mir.
            74. Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten (? 1735).
            75. Die Elenden sollen essen.
            76. Die Himmel erzahlen die Ehre Gottes.
            77. Du sollst Gott, deinen Herren, lieben.
            78. Jesu, der du meine Seele.
            *79. Gott, der Herr, ist Sonn’ und Schild.
            *80. Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott.

 XIX. 1869 [1871]. Kammermusik. Dritter Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

      Six Concertos (“Brandenburg”) for Orchestra and Continuo:—

            No. I. in F major (Strings, 3 Ob., Fag., 2 Cor. (P. bk.
            261).(489)
            No. II. in F major (Strings, Flute, Oboe, Tromba) (P. bk.
            262).
            No. III. in G major (Strings) (P. bk. 263). [N.B.G. IX. (3)].
            No. IV. in G major (Strings and 2 Flutes) (P. bk. 264).
            No. V. in D major (Strings, Flute, Clavier) (P. bk. 265).
            No. VI. in B flat major (2 Violas, 2 Violas da Gamba,
            Violoncello, Contrabasso) (P. bk. 266).

XX (1). 1870 [1872]. Kirchencantaten. Neunter Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            No. *81. Jesus schläft, was soll ich hoffen?
            *82. Ich habe genug.
            83. Erf route Zeit im neuen Bunde.
            84. Ich bin vergnügt mit meinem Glücke.
            85. Ich bin ein guter Hirt. [Score, N.B.G. IX. (1)].
            86. Wahrlich, wahrlich, ich sage euch.
            87. Bisher habt ihr nichts gebeten in meinem Namen.
            88. Siehe, ich will viel Fischer aussenden. [Score, N.B.G.
            VII. (1)].
            89. Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim?
            90. Es reifet euch ein schrecklich Ende.

XX (2). 1870 [1873]. Kammermusik für Gesang. Zweiter Band. Ed. Wilhelm
      Rust.

            Secular Cantata: Schleicht, spielende Wellen.
            Secular Cantata: Vereinigte Zwietracht der wechsehiden Saiten.
            Secular Cantata: Auf, schmetternde Tone der muntern Trompeten.
            [See B.G. XXXIV].

XXI (1). 1871 [1874]. Kammermusik. Vierter Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            Three Concertos for Violin and Orchestra (Strings):—

                  No. I. in A minor (P. bk. 229).(490)
                  No. II. in E major (P. bk. 230).(491)
                  No. III. in D minor (two Violins) (P. bk. 231).(492)

            Symphonic movement, in D major, for Violin and Orchestra
            (Strings, 2 Ob., 3 Trombe, Timp.).(493)

XXI (2). 1871 [1874]. Kammermusik. Fünfter Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            Three Concertos for two Claviers and Orchestra (Strings):—
            No. I. in C minor (P. bk. 257).
            No. II. in C major (P. bk. 256).
            No. III. in C minor (P. bk. 257b).(494)

XXI (3). 1871 [1874]. *0ster-0ratorium: “Kommt, eilet und laufet.” Ed.
      Wilhelm Rust.
XXII. 1872 [1875]. Kirchencantaten. Zehnter Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            No. 91. Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ.
            92. Ich hab’ in Gottes Herz und Sinn.
            *93. Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten.
            94. Was frag ich nach der Welt.
            95. Christus, der ist mein Leben.
            96. Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes-Sohn.
            97. In allen meinen Thaten.
            98. Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgethan, in B major (c. 1732).
            99. Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgethan, in G major (c. 1733).
            100. Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgethan, in G major (c. 1735).

XXIII. 1873 [1876]. Kirchencantaten. Elfter Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            No. 101. Nimm von uns, Herr, du treuer Gott.
            102. Herr, deine Augen sehen nach dem Glauben.
            103. Ihr werdet weinen und heulen.
            *104. Du Hirte Israel, höre.
            105. Herr, gehe nicht in’s Gericht.
            *106. Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit (Actus tragicus).
            107. Was willst du dich betrüben.
            108. Es ist euch gut, dass ich hingehe.
            109. Ich glaube, lieber Herre.
            110. Unser Mund sei voll Lachens.

XXIV. 1874 [1876]. Kirchencantaten. Zwölfter Band. Ed. Alfred Dörffel.

            No. 111. Was mein Gott will, das g’scheh’ allzeit.
            *112. Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt.
            113. Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut.
            114. Ach, lieben Christen, seid getrost.
            *115. Mache dich, mem Geist, bereit.
            *116. Du Friedefürst, Herr Jesu Christ.
            117. Sei Lob und Ehr’ dem höchsten Gut.
            118. O Jesu Christ, mein’s Lebens Licht.(495)
            *119. Preise, Jerusalem, den Herrn.
            120. Gott, man lobet dich in der Stille.

XXV (1). 1875 [1878]. Die Kunst der Fuge: 1749-1750 Ed. Wilhelm Rust. (P.
      bk. 218)

            Contrapunctus 1-14
            Four Canons I
            Two Fugues for two Claviers)
            Fugue on three subjects )

XXV (2) 1875 [1878], Orgelwerke. Zweiter Band. Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

            (1) Orgelbüchlein (N. bk. 15), containing Preludes on the
            following melodies:(496)

            _      Advent—_

                     1. Nun komm der Heiden Heiland.
                     2. Gott, durch deine Güte, or, Gottes Sohn ist
                        kommen.
                     3. Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes-Sohn, or, Herr
                        Gott, nun sei gepreiset.
                     4. Lob sei dem allmächtigen Gott.

            _      Christmas—_

                     5. Puer natus in Bethlehem.
                     6. Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ.
                     7. Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich.
                     8. Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her.
                     9. Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schaar.
                    10. In dulci jubilo.
                    11. Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, allzugleich.
                    12. Jesu, meine Freude.
                    13. Christum wir sollen loben schon.
                    14. Wir Christenleut’.

            _      New Year—_

                    15. Helft mir Gottes Güte preisen.
                    16. Das alte Jahr vergangen ist.
                    17. In dir ist Freude.

            _      Feast of the Purification of the B.V.M.—_

                    18. Mit Fried’ und Freud’ ich fahr’ dahin.
                    19. Herr Gott, nun schleuss den Himmel auf.

            _      Passiontide—_

                    20. O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig.
                    21. Christe, du Lamm Gottes.
                    22. Christ us, der uns selig macht.
                    23. Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund.
                    24. O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde gross.
                    25. Wir danken dir, Herr Jesu Christ.
                    26. Hilf Gott, dass mir’s gelinge.

            _      Easter—_

                    27. Christ lag in Todesbanden.
                    28. Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der den Tod.
                    29. Christ ist erstanden (three verses).
                    30. Erstanden ist der heil’ge Christ.
                    31. Erschienen ist der herrliche Tag.
                    32. Heut’ triumphiret Gottes Sohn.

            _      Whitsunday—_

                    33. Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist.

            _      Trinity Sunday—_

                    34. Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend’.
                  35-6. Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (two settings).

            _      The Catechism—_

                    37. Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot.
                    38. Vater unser im Himmelreich.

            _      Penitence and Amendment—_

                    39. Durch Adam’s Fall ist ganz verderbt.
                    40. Es ist das Heil uns kommen her.

            _      Christian Conduct and Experience—_

                    41. Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ.

            _      In Time of Trouble—_

                    42. In dich hab’ ich gehoffet, Herr.
                    43. Wenn wir in höchsten Nothen sein.
                    44. Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten.

            _      Death and the Grave—_

                    45. Alle Menschen müssen sterben.

            _      The Life Eternal—_

                    46. Ach wie nichtig, ach wie flüchtig.

            (2) Six Chorals (Schübler) (N. bk. 16) on the following
            melodies:

                  Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme.
                  Wo soll ich fliehen hin, _or_, Auf meinen lieben Gott.
                  Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten.
                  Meine Seele erhebt den Herren.
                  Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ.
                  Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter.

            (3) Eighteen Chorals (N. bk. 17) on the following melodies:

            1., 2. Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott (two settings).
               3. An Wasserflüssen Babylon.
               4. Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele.
               5. Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend’.
               6. O Lamm Gottes unschuldig (three verses).
               7. Nun danket Alle Gott.
               8. Von Gott will ich nicht lassen.
            9, 10, 11. Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (three settings).
            12, 13, 14. Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’ (three settings).
            15, 16. Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der von uns (two
                  settings).
              17. Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist.
              18. Vor deinen Thron tret’ ich, or, Wenn wir in höchsten
                  Nöthen sein.

            (4) Older texts of the “Orgelbülein” and “Eighteen” Chorals:

               1. Christus, der uns selig macht (Orgelbülein No. 22) (P.
                  bk. 244 p. 108).
               2. Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist (Orgelbülein No.
                  33) (P. bk. 246 p. 86A).
               3. Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott (Eighteen No. 1) (P.
                  bk. 246 p. 86).
               4. Ditto (Eighteen No. 2) (P. bk. 246 p. 88).
               5. An Wasserflüssen Babylon (Eighteen No. 3) (P. bk. 245 p.
                  103).
               6. Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend’ (Eighteen No. 5) (P.
                  bk. 245 pp. 107, 108 prints two of the three Variants).
               9. O Lamm Gottes unschuldig (Eighteen No. 6)(P. bk. 246 p.
                  97).
              10. Von Gott will ich nicht lassen (Eighteen No. 8) (P. bk.
                  246 p. 102).
              11. Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (Eighteen No. 9) (P. bk. 246
                  p. 92).
              12. Ditto (Eighteen No. 10) (P. bk. 246 pp. 93, 94).
              14. Ditto (Eighteen No. 11) (P. bk. 246 p. 96).
              15. Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’ (Eighteen No. 13) (P.
                  bk. 245 p. 100).
              16. Allein Gott in der Hö’ sei Ehr’ (Eighteen No. 14) (P.
                  bk. 245 p. 97).
              17. Jesus Christus unser Heiland (Eighteen No. 15) (P. bk.
                  245 p. 112).

XXVI. 1876 [1878]. Kirchencantaten. Dreizehnter Band. Ed. Alfred Dörffel.

       121. Christum wir sollen loben schon.
       122. Das neugebor’ne Kindelein.
       123. Liebster Immanuel, Herzog der Frommen.
       124. Meinen Jesum lass’ ich nicht.
       125. Mit Fried’ und Freud’ ich fahr’ dahin.
       126. Erhalt’ uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort.
       127. Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’r Mensch und Gott.
       128. Auf Christi Himmelfahrt allein.
       129. Gelobet sei der Herr.
       130. Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir.

XXVII (1). 1877 [18791. Kammermusik. Sechster Band. Ed. Alfred Dörffel.

            Three Sonatas (Suites), in G minor, A minor,(497) C
            major,(498) for Violin Solo (Nos. 1, 3, 5 in P. bk. 228).
            Three Partitas (Suites, Sonatas), in B minor, D minor, E
            major,1 for Violin Solo (Nos. 2, 4, 6 in P. bk. 228).
            Six Suites (Sonatas), in G major, D minor, C major, E flat
            major, C minor, D major, for Violoncello Solo (P. bks. 238a,
            238).

XXVII (2). 1877 [1878]. Thematisches Verzeichniss der Kirchencantaten No.
      1-120. Ed. Alfred Dörffel.

      [Note.—The Thematic Catalogue is completed in B.G. XLVI. (P. bk.
      270b).]

XXVIII. 1878 [1881]. Kirchencantaten. Vierzehnter Band Ed. Wilhelm Rust.

       131. Aus der Tiefe rufe ich, Herr, zu dir.
       132. Bereitet die Wege, bereitet die Bahn.
       133. Ich freue mich in dir.
       134. Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiss [and Variant].
       135. Ach Herr, mich armen Sunder.
       136. Erforsche mich, Gott.
       137. Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen Küonig.
       138. Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz?
       139. Wohl dem, der sioh auf seinen Gott.
      *140. Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme.(499) Mit Gnaden bekrone der
            Himmel die Zeiten (No. 134 adapted).

XXIX. 1879 [1881]. Kammermusik für Gesang, Dritter Band. Ed. Paul Graf
      Waldersee.

            Secular Cantata: Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd.
            Secular Cantata: Non sa che sia dolore.
            Secular Cantata: O holder Tag, erwünschte Zeit (Wedding).
            Church Cantata No. 194: Hochsterwünschtes Freudenfest.
            Secular Cantata: Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht.
            Secular Cantata: Mer hahn en neue Oberkeet.
            Secular Cantata: Mit Gnaden bekröne der Himmel die Zeiten.
            Secular Cantata: O angenehme Melodei.
            Instrumental Piece for Violin, Flute, and Continuo. (Not in
            P.).

 XXX. 1880 [1884]. Kirchencantaten. Fünfzehnter Band. Ed. Paul Graf
      Waldersee.

            141. Das ist je gewisslich wahr.
            142. Uns ist ein Kind geboren.
            143. Lobe den Herren, meine Seele.
            144. Nimm, was dein ist, und gehe hin.
            145. So du mit deinem Munde bekennest Jesum.
            146. Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal in das Reich Gottes
            eingehen.
            147. Herz und Mund und That und Leben.
            148. Bringet dem Herrn Ehre seines Namens.
            *149. Man singet mit Freuden vom Sieg.
            150. Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich.

XXXI (1). 1881 [1885] Orchesterwerke. Ed. Alfred Dörffel. (P. bk. 219)

            Overture in C major (Strings, Ob. 1 and 2, Fagotto) (P. bk.
            267).
            Overture B minor (Strings, Flauto traverso) (P. bk. 268).
            Overture D major (Strings, Ob. 1 and 2, Trombe 1, 2, 3,
            Timpani) (P. bk. 269).
            Overture D major (Strings, Ob. 1, 2, 3, Fagotto, Trombe 1, 2,
            3, Timpani) (P. bk. 2068).
            Sinfonia in F major (Strings, Ob. 1, 2, 3, Fagotto, Corno da
            caccia 1 and 2).(500)

XXXI (2). 1881 [1885] Musikalisches Opfer. 1747. Ed. Alfred Dörffel.

            Ricercare a tre voci.
            Canon perpetuus super thema regium.
            Canones diversi 1-5.
            Fuga canonica in Epidiapente.
            Ricercare a sei voci.
            Two Canons.
            Sonata in C minor, for Flute, Violin, Clavier
            Canone perpetuo (Flute, Violin, Clavier)(501)

XXXI (3). 1881 [1885]. Kammermusik. Siebenter Band. Ed. Paul Graf
      Waldersee.

            Two Concertos for three Claviers and Orchestra (Strings): No.
            1 in D minor (P. bk. 258).(502)
            No. 2 in C major (P. bk. 259).).(503)

XXXII. 1882 [1886]. Kirchencantaten. Sechzehnter Band. Ed. Ernst Naumann.

            151. Süsser Trost, mein Jesus kommt.
            *152. Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn.
            153. Schau’, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind’.
            154. Mein liebster Jesus ist verloren.
            155. Mein Gott, wie lang’, ach lange.
            156. Ich steh’ mit einem Fuss im Grabe.
            157. Ich lasse dich nicht.
            158. Der Friede sei mit dir.
            159. Sehet, wir geh’n binauf gen Jerusalem.
            160. Ich weiss, das mein Erlöser lebt.

XXXIII. 1883 [1887]. Kirchencantaten. Siebzehnter Band: Ed. Franz Wülner.

            161. Komm, du süsse Todesstunde.
            162. Ach, ich sehe, jetzt da ich zur Hochzeit gehe.
            163. Nur Jedem das Seine.
            164. Ihr, die ihr euch von Christo nennet.
            165. O heil’ges Geist- und Wasserbad.
            166. Wo gehest du bin?
            *167. Ihr Menschen, rühmet Gottes Liebe.
            168. Thue Rechnung! Donnerwort.
            169. Gott soll allein mein Herze haben.
            170. Vergnügte Ruh’, beliebte Seelenlust.

XXXIV. 1884 [1887]. Kammermusik für Gesang. Vierter Band. Ed. Paul Graf
      Waldersee.

            Secular Cantata: Durchlaucht’ster Leopold.
            Secular Cantata: Schwingt freudig euch empor, _or_, Die Freude
            reget sich.
            Secular Cantata: Hercules auf dem Scheidewege, _or_, Lasst uns
            sorgen, lasst uns wachen.
            Secular Cantata: Tönet, ihr Pauken! Erschallet, Trompeten.
            Secular Cantata: Preise dein Glücke, gesegnetes Sachsen.
            Secular Cantata: Angenehmes Wiederau.
            Secular Cantata: Auf, schmetternde Töne der muntern
            Trompeten.(504)

XXXV. 1885 [1888]. Kirchencantaten. Achtzehnter Band. Ed. Alfred Dörffel.

            171. Gott, wie dein Name, so ist auch dein Ruhm.
            172. Erschallet, ihr Lieder.
            173. Erhötes Fleisch und Blut.
            174. Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüthe.
            175. Er rufet seinen Schafen mit Namen.
            176. Es ist ein trotzig und verzagt Ding.
            177. Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ.
            178. Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält.
            179. Siehe zu, dass deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei.
            *180. Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele.

XXXVI. 1886 [1890]. Clavierwerke. Vierter Band. Ed. Ernst Naumann.

         1. Suite in A minor (Appendix version in P. bk. 214).
         2. Suite in E flat major (P. bk. 214).(505)
         3. Suite (Overture), in F major (P. bk. 215).
         4. Sonata in D major (P. bk. 215).
        10. Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor (P. bk. 207).
        11. Fantasia and Fugue in A minor (P. bk. 208).
        12. Prelude and Fugue in E flat major (not in P.).
        13. Prelude and Fugue in A minor (P. bk. 211).
        14. Prelude and Fugue in A minor (P. bk. 200).
        15. Prelude and Fughetta in D minor (P. bk. 200).
        16. Prelude and Fughetta in E minor (P. bk. 200).
        17. Prelude and Fughetta in F major (P. bk. 214).(506)
        18. Do. do. G major (P. bk. 214).(507)
        19. Twelve Preludes for Beginners (P. bk. 200). 20 Six Little
            Preludes (P. bk. 200).
        21. Prelude in C major (for Organ, N. bk. 12 p. 94).
        22. Do. (Fantasia) in C minor (not in P.).
        23. Do. do. in A minor (P. bk. 215).
        24. Fantasia in G minor (P. bk. 215).
        25. Do. C minor (P. bk. 207).
        26. Do. (on a Rondo), in C minor (not in P.).
        27. Do. C minor (P. bk. 212).
        28. Fughetta in C minor (two-parte) (P. bk. 200).
        29. Fugue in E minor (P. bk. 212).
        30. Do. A major (P. bk. 212).
        31. Do. C major (for Organ, N. bk. 12 p. 100).
        32. Do. A minor (P. bk. 212).
        33. Do. D minor (P. bk. 212 p. 61).
        34. Do. A major (P. bk. 215 p. 52).
        35. Do. A major (P. bk. 215 p. 57).
        36. Do. B minor (Theme by Albinoni) (P. bk. 214).
        37. Do. C major (P. bk. 200 p. 54).
        38. Do. C major (P. bk. 200 p. 56).
        39. Do. D minor (P. bk. 212 p. 59).
        40. Capriccio in B flat major, sopra la lontananza del suo
            fratello dilettissimo (P. bk. 208).
        41. Do. E major, in honorem J.C.Bach (P. bk. 215).
        42. Aria variata in A minor (P. bk. 215).
        43. Three Minuets, in G major, G minor, G major (P. bk. 215).
        44. Fragment of a Suite in F minor (P. bk. 212).
        45. Do. do. A major (P. bk. 1959, p. 3).
        46. Prelude, Gavotte II, and Minuet in E flat major.(508)
        47. Two Minuet-Trios, in C minor and B minor.(509)
        48. “Applicatio” in C major.(510)
        49. Prelude in A minor (not in P.).
        50. Do. (unfinished) in E minor (not in P.).
        51. Fugue (unfinished) in C minor (P. bk. 212 p. 88). (511)

XXXVII. 1887 [1891]. Kirchencantaten. Neunzehnter Band. Ed. Alfred
      Dörffel.

       181. Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister.
       182. Himmelskönig, sei willkommen.
       183. Sie werden euch in den Bann thun (?1735).
       184. Erwünschtes Freudenlicht.
       185. Barmherziges Herze der ewigen Liebe.
       186. Aergre dich, 0 Seele, nicht.
       187. Es wartet Alles auf dich.
       188. Ich habe meine Zuversicht.(512)
       189. Meine Seele rühmt und preist.
      *190. Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied.

XXXVIII. 1888 [1891]. Orgelwerke. Dritter Band. Ed. Ernst Naumann.

         1. Prelude and Fugue in C minor (N. bk. 2 p. 48).
         2. Prelude and Fugue in G major (N. bk. 7 p. 80).
         3. Prelude and Fugue in A minor (N. bk. 10 p. 208).
         4. Eight Short Preludes and Fugues in C major, D minor, E minor,
            F major, G major, G minor, A minor, B flat major (N. bk. 1).
         5. Fantasia and Fugue in A minor (N. bk. 12 p. 60).
         6. Fantasia con Imitazione in B minor (N. bk. 12 p. 71).
         7. Fantasia in C major (N. bk. 12 p. 92).
         8. Fantasia in C minor (N. bk. 3 p. 57).
         9. Fantasia in G major (N. bk. 12 p. 75).
        10. Fantasia in G major (N. bk. 9 p. 168).
        11. Prelude in C major (N. bk. 12 p. 91).
        12. Prelude in G major (N. bk. 2 p. 30).
        13. Prelude in A minor (N. bk. 10 p. 238).
        14. Fugue (Theme by Legrenzi) in C minor (and Variant) (N. bk. 10
            p. 230).
        15. Fugue in C minor (N. bk. 12 p. 95). 16» Do. G major (N. bk. 12
            p. 86).
        17. Fugue G major (N. bk. 12 p. 55).
        18. Fugue G minor (N. bk. 3 p. 84).
        19. Fugue B minor (Theme by Corelli) (N. bk. 3 p. 60).
        20. Canzona in D minor (N. bk. 2 p. 34).
        21. Allabreve in D major (N. bk. 2 p. 26).
        22. Pastorale in F major (N. bk. 12 p. 102).
        23. Trio in D minor (N. bk. 2 p. 54).
        24. Four Concertos after Antonio Vivaldi:(513)

                  No. 1, in G major (N. bk. 11 no. I).(514)
                  No. 2, in A minor (N. bk. 11 no. 2).(515)
                  No. 3, in C major (N. bk. 11 no. 3).
                  No. 4, in C major (N. bk. 11 no. 4).

        25. Fantasia (incomplete) in C major (not in N. or P.).(516)
        26. Fugue (incomplete) in C minor (not in N. or P.).
        27. Pedal Exercise in G minor (not in N. or P.).
        28. Fugue (authenticity doubtful) in C major (not in N. or P.).
        29. Fugue (authenticity doubtful) in D major (N. bk. 12 p.
            83).(517)
        30. Fugue (authenticity doubtful) in G minor (N. bk. 2 p. 41).
        31. Trio in C minor (N. bk. 12 p. 108).
        32. Aria in F major (N. bk. 12 p. 112).
        33. Kleinea harmonisches Labyrinth (authenticity doubtful) (P. bk.
            2067 p. 16) (not in N.).

XXXIX. 1889 [1892]. Motetten, Choräle und Lieder. Ed. Franz Wüllner.

        (1) Motets:

                  Motet: *Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied.
                  Motet: *Der Geist hilft unsrer Schwachheit auf.(518)
                  Motet: *Jesu, meine Freude.
                  Motet: *Fürchte dich nicht, ich bin bei dir.
                  Motet: *Komm, Jesu, komm.
                  Motet: * Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden.
                  Motet: *Ich lasse dich nicht, du segnest mich denn (by
                  Johann Christoph Bach).
                  Motet: *Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren (the second number,
                  Nun lob’ mein’ Seel’ den Herrn, of Cantata 28).

        (2) 185 Chorals harmonised by Bach, from the collection made by
            Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach:(519)

            1 (1). Ach bleib’ bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ.
            2 (2). Ach Gott, erhör’ mein Seufzen und Wehklagen.
            3 (3). Ach Gott und Herr, wie gross und schwer.
            4 (385). Ach lieben Christen, seid getrost (Wo Gott der Herr
                  nicht bei uns hält).
            5 (388). Wär’ Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit (Wo Gott der Herr
                  nicht bei uns hält).(520)
            6 (383). Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält.
            7(10). Ach, was soll ich Sünder machen.
            8 (12). Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr.
            9 (15). Allein zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ.
            10 (17). Alle Menschen müssen sterben.
            11 (19). Alles ist an Gottes Segen.
            12(20). Als der gütige Gott.
            13 (21). Als Jesus Christus in der Nacht.
            14 (22). Als vierzig Tag’ nach Ostern war’n.
            15 (23). An Wassernüssen Babylon.
            16(24). Auf, auf mein Herz.
            17 (30). Aus meines Herzens Grunde.
            18 (157). Befiehl du deine Wege (Herzlich thut mich
                  verlangen).
            19 (158). Ditto.
            20 (32). Befiehl du deine Wege.
            21 (33). Christ, der du bist der helle Tag.
            22 (34). Christe, der du bist Tag und Licht.
            23 (35). Christe, du Beistand deiner Kreuzgemeinde.
            24 (36). Christ ist erstanden.
            25 (38). Christ lag in Todesbanden.
            26(39). Ditto.
            27 (43). Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam.
            28 (46). Christus, der ist mein Leben.
            29 (47). Ditto.
            30 (48). Christus, der uns selig macht.
            31 (51). Christus ist erstanden.
            32 (52). Da der Herr zu Tische sass.
            33 (53). Danket dem Herren, denn er ist sehr freundlich.
            34 (54). Dank sei Gott in der Höhe.
            35 (55). Das alte Jahr vergangen ist.
            36 (56). Ditto.
            37 (57). Das walt’ Gott Vater und Gott Sohn.
            38 (58). Das walt’ mein Gott, Vater, Sohn.
            39 (59). Den Vater dort oben.
            40 (60). Der du bist drei in Einigkeit.
            41 (61). Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich.
            42 (62). Des heil’gen Geistes reiche Gnad’.
            43 (63). Die Nacht ist kommen.
            44 (64). Die Sohn’ hat sich mit ihrem Glanz.
            45 (65). Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot.
            46 (67). Dir, dir, Jehovah, will ich singen (Bach’s   melody).
            47 (70). Du grosser Schmerzensmann.
            48 (71). Du, 0 schönes Weltgebäude.
            49 (74). Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott.
            50 (75). Ditto.
            51 (77). Eins ist noth, ach Herr, dies Eine.
            52 (78). Erbarm’ dich mein, 0 Herre Gott.
            53 (85). Erstanden ist der heil’ge Christ.
            54 (262). Est ist gewisslich an der Zeit (Nun freut euch,
                  lieben Christen g’mein).
            55 (92). Es spricht der Unweisen Mund wohl.
            56 (93). Es steh’n vor Gottes Throne.
            57 (94). Es wird schier der letzte Tag herkommen.
            58 (95). Es wol’ uns Gott genädig sein.
            59 (96). Ditto.
            60 (106). Für Freuden lasst uns springen.
            61 (107). Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ.
            62 (111). Gieb dich zufrieden und sei stille (Bach’s melody).
            63 (112). Gott, der du selber bist das Licht.
            64 (113). Gott der Vater wohn’ uns bei.
            65 (115). Gottes Sohn ist kommen.
            66 (116). Gott hat das Evangelium.
            67 (117). Gott lebet noch.
            68 (118). Gottlob, es geht nunmehr zum Ende.
            69 (119). Gott sei gelobet und gebenedeiet.
            70 (120). Gott sei uns gnädig und barmherzig.
            71 (121). Meine Seele erhebet den Herrn.
            72 (123a). Heilig, Heilig, Heilig!
            73 (129). Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir.
            74 (132). Für deinen Thron tret’ ich hiermit (Herr Gott dich
                  loben alle wir).
            75 (133). Herr Gott dich loben wir.
            76 (136). Herr, ich denk’ an jene Zeit.
            77 (137). Herr, ich habe missgehandelt.
            78 (138). Ditto.
            79 (139). Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend’.
            80 (140). Herr Jesu Christ, du hast bereit’t.
            81 (141). Herr Jesu Christ, du höchstes Gut.
            82 (145). Herr Jesu Christ, mein’s Lebens Licht.
            83 (146). Herr Jesu Christ, wahr’ Mensch und Gott.
            84 (148). Herr, nun lass in Friede.
            85 (149). Herr, straf’ mich nicht in deinem Zorn.
            86 (151). Herr, wie du willst, so Schick’s mit mir.
            87 (152). Herzlich lieb hab’ ich dich, 0 Herr.
            88 (170). Heut’ ist, O Mensch, ein grosser Trauertag.
            89 (171). Heut’ triumphiret Gottes Sohn.
            90 (172). Hilf, Gott, dass mir’s gelinge.
            91 (173). Hilf, Herr Jesu, lass gelingen.
            92 (174). Ich bin ja, Herr, in deiner Macht (Bach’s melody).
            93 (175). Ich dank’ dir, Gott, für all’ Wohlthat.
            94 (176). Ich dank’ dir, lieber Herre.
            95 (177). Ditto.
            96 (179). Ich dank’ dir schon durch deinen Sohn.
            97 (180). Ich danke dir, O Gott, in deinem Throne.
            98 (182). Ich hab’ mein’ Sach’ Gott heimgestellt.
            99 (185). Jesu, der du meine Seele.
            100 (186). Ditto.
            101 (187). Ditto.
            102 (189). Jesu, der du selbst so wohl.
            103 (190). Jesu, du mein liebstes Leben.
            104 (191). Jesu, Jesu, du bist mein (Bach’s melody).
            105 (195). Jesu, meine Freude.
            106 (363). Jesu, meiner Seelen Wonne (Werde munter, mein
                  Gemüthe).
            107 (364). Ditto.
            108 (202). Jesu, meines Herzens Freud’.
            109 (203). Jesu, nun sei gepreiset.
            110 (206). Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der von uns.
            111 (207). Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der den Tod.
            112 (208). Jesus, meine Zuversicht.
            113 (210). Ihr Gestirn’, ihr hohlen Lüfte.
            114 (211). In allen meinen Thaten.
            115 (215). In dulci jubilo.
            116 (217). Keinen hat Gott verlassen.
            117 (218). Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist.
            118 (225). Kyrie! Gott Vater in Ewigkeit.
            119 (226). Lass, O Herr, dein Ohr sich neigen.
            120 (228). Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier.
            121 (232). Lobet den Herren, denn er ist sehr freundlich.
            122 (233). Lobt Gott, ihr Christen allzugleich.
            123 (234). Ditto.
            124 (237). Mach’s mit mir, Gott, nach deiner Güt.’
            125 (240). Mein’ Augen schliess’ ich jetzt.
            126 (241). Meinen Jesum lass’ ich nicht, Jesus.
            127 (242). Meinen Jesum lass’ ich nicht, weil.
            128 (248). Meines Lebens letzte Zeit.
            129 (249). Mit Fried’ und Freud’ ich fahr’ dahin.
            130 (252). Mitten wir im Leben sind.
            131 (253). Nicht so traurig, nicht so sehr (Bach’s melody).
            132 (254). Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist.
            133 (257). Nun danket Alle Gott.
            134 (260). Nun freut euch, Gottes Kinder all.
            135 (261). Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein.
            136 (269). Nun lob’, mein’ Seel’, den Herren.
            137 (270). Ditto.
            138 (273). Nun preiset alle Gottes Barmherzigkeit.
            139 (298). Nun ruhen alle Wälder (0 Welt, ich muss dich
                  lassen)
            140 (289). 0 Welt, sieh’ hier dein Leben (O Welt, ich muss
                  dich lassen).
            141 (290). Ditto.
            142 (291). Ditto.
            143 (274). Nun sich der Tag geendet hat.
            144 (275). O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort.
            145 (277). O Gott, du frommer Gott (1679 tune).
            146(282). Ditto (1693 tune).
            147 (284). O Herzensangst, O Bangigkeit und Zagen (Bach’s
                  melody).
            148 (285). 0 Lamm Gottes, unschuldig.
            149 (286). O Mensch, bewein’ dein Sünde gross.
            150 (287). 0 Mensch, schau’ Jesum Christum an.
            151 (288). 0 Traurigkeit, 0 Herzeleid.
            152 (299). O wie selig seid ihr doch, ihr Frommen (1649).
            153 (300). Ditto (1566).
            154 (301). O wir armen Sünder.
            155 (303). Schaut, ihr Sünder.
            156(306). Seelenbräutigam, Jesu, Gottes Lamm.
            157 (307). Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig.
            158 (309). Singt dem Herrn ein neues Lied.
            159 (310). So giebst du nun, mein Jesu, gute Nacht.
            160 (311). Sollt’ ich meinem Gott nicht singen.
            161 (313). Uns ist ein Kindlein heut’ gebor’n.
            162 (314). Valet will ich dir geben.
            163 (316). Vater unser im Himmelreich.
            164 (324). Von Gott will ich nicht lassen.
            165 (325). Ditto.
            166 (326). Ditto.
            167 (331). Warum betrübst du dich, mein Herz.
            168 (332). Ditto.
            169 (334). Warum sollt’ ich mich denn grämen.
            170 (336). Was betrübst du dich, mein Herze (Bach’s melody).
            171 (337). Was bist du doch, 0 Seele, so betrübet.
            172 (349). Was willst du dich, 0 meine Seele.
            173 (351). Weltlich Ehr’ und zeitlich Gut.
            174 (352). Wenn ich in Angst und Noth.
            175 (353). Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist.
            176 (354). Ditto.
            177 (355). Ditto.
            178 (358). Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein.
            179 (359). Ditto.
            180 (366). Wer Gott vertraut, hat wohlgebaut.
            181 (367). Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten.
            182 (374). Wie bist du, Seele, in mir so gar betrübt.
            183 (375). Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern.
            184 (382). Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott, Schöpfer.
            185 (389). Wo Gott zum Haus nicht gibt sein’ Gunst.

        (3) Seventy-five Chorals harmonised by Bach:(521)

               *1 (S). Ach, dass ich nicht die letzte Stunde.
            2 (S). Auf, auf! die rechte Zeit ist hier.
            3 (S). Auf, auf! mein Herz, mit Freuden.
            4 (S). Beglückter Stand getreuer Seelen.
            *5 (S). Beschränkt, ihr Weisen dieser Welt.
            6 (S). Brich entzwei, mein armes Herze.
            7 (S). Brunnquell aller Güter.
            8 (S). Der lieben Sonne Lacht und Pracht.
            9 (S). Der Tag ist hin, die Sonne gehet nieder.
            10 (S). Der Tag mit seinem Lichte.
            *11 (S). Dich bet’ ich an, mein höchster Gott.
            12 (S). Die bitt’re Leidenszeit beginnet.
            13 (S). Die gold’ne Sonne, voll Freud’ und Wonne.
            *14 (S). Dir, dir, Jehova, will ich singen.
            *15 (S). Eins ist noth, ach Herr, dies Eine.
            16 (S). Ermuntre dich, mein schwacher Geist.
            17 (S). Erwürgtes Lamm, das die verwahrten Siegel.
            18 (S). Es glänzet der Christen inwendiges Leben.
            19 (S). Es ist nun aus mit meinem Leben.
            20 (S). Es ist vollbracht! Vergiss ja nicht dies Wort.
            21 (S). Es kostet viel, ein Christ zu sein.
             *22. Gieb dich zufrieden und sei stille (erste Composition).
             *23. Ditto. (zweite Composition).(522)
            24 (S). Ditto. (dritte Composition).
            25 (S). Gott lebet noch! Seele, was verzagst du doch?
            *26 (S). Gott, wie gross ist deine Güte.
            27 (S). Herr, nicht schricke deine Rache.
            *28 (S). Ich bin ja, Herr, in deiner Macht.
            29 (S). Ich freue mich in dir.
            *30 (S). Ich halte treulich still.
            31 (S). Ich lass’ dich nicht.
            32 (S). Ich liebe Jesum alle Stund’.
            *33 (8). Ich steh’ an deiner Krippen hier.
            *34 (8). Jesu, Jesu, du bist mein.
            35 (S). Jesu, deine Liebeswunden.
            36 (8). Jesu, meines Glaubens Zier.
            37 (8). Jesu, meines Herzens Freud’.
            38 (8). Jesus ist das schönste Licht.
            39 (8). Jesus, unser Trost und Leben.
            40 (8). Ihr Gestirn’, ihr hohlen Lüfte.
            41 (8). Kein Stündlein geht dahin.
            *42 (8). Komm, süsser Tod, komm, sel’ge Ruh’!
            *43 (8). Kommt, Seelen, dieser Tag.
            *44 (8). Kommt wieder aus der finst’ren Gruft.
            46 (8). Lasset uns mit Jesu ziehen.
            46 (S). Liebes Herz, bedenke doch.
            47 (8). Liebster Gott, wann werd’ ioh sterben.
            *48 (S). Liebeter Herr Jesu, wo bleibst du so lange.
            49 (S). Laebster Immanuel.
            60 (S). Mein Jesu, dem die Seraphinen.
            *61 (S). Mein Jesu, was für Seelenweh.
            62 (S). Meines Lebens letzte Zeit.
            *63 (S). Nicht so traurig, nicht so sehr.
            64 (S). Nur mein Jesus 1st mein Leben.
            66 (S). O du Liebe, meiner Liebe.
              66. O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort.
            *67 (S). O finst’re Nacht, wann wirst du doch vergehen.
            68 (S). O Jesulein süss, O Jesulein mild.
            *69 (S). O liebe Seele, zieh’ die Sinnen.
            60 (8). O wie selig seid ihr doch.
             *61. Schaffs mit mir, Gott, naoh deinem Willen.
            62 (8). Seelenbräutigam, Jesu, Gottes Lamm.
            63 (8). Seelenweide, meine Freude.
            64 (S). Selig, wer an Jesum denkt.
            66 (8). Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig.
            66 (8). So gehest du nun, mein Jesu, hin.
            67 (8). So giebst du nun, mein Jesu, gute Nacht.
            68 (8). So wünsch’ ich mir zu guter Letzt.
            69 (S). Steh’ ioh bei meinein Gott.
            70 (8). Vergiss  mein  nioht,  date  ich  dein  nicht
                  vergesse.
            *71 (S). Vergiss mein nicht, mein allerliebster Gott.
             *72. Warum betrübst du dich und beugest.
            73 (S). Was bist du doch, 0 Seele, so betrübet.
             *74. Wie wohl ist mir, 0 Freund der Seelen.
            75 (S). Wo ist mein Schäflein, das ich liebe.(523)

        (4) Five Arias from Anna Magdalena Bach’s “Notenbuch” (1725)"(524)

              *1. So oft ich meine Tabakspfeife.
              *2. Bist bu bei mir.
              *3. Gedenke doch, mein Geist, zurücke.
               4. Gieb dich zufrieden und sei stille.
               5. Willst du dein Herz mir schenken (Aria di Giovannini).

  XL. 1890 [1893]. Orgelwerke. Vierter Band. Ed. Ernst Naumann.

        (1) Choral Preludes, from Kirnberger’s collection.(525)

               1. Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten (N. bk. 19 p. 21).
               2. Ditto (N. bk. 19 p. 22).
               3. Ach Gott und Herr (N. bk. 18 p. 1).
               4. Ditto (N. bk. 18 p. 2).
               5. Wo soll ich fliehen hin (N. bk. 19 p. 32).
               6. Christ lag in Todesbanden (Fantasia) (N. bk. 18 p. 16).
               7. Christum wir sollen loben schon, _or_, Was fürcht’st du,
                  Feind Herodes, sehr (N. bk. 18 p. 23).
               8. Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ (Fughetta) (N. bk. 18 p.
                  38).
               9. Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes-Sohn (Fughetta) (N. bk.
                  18 p. 43).
              10. Nun komm der Heiden Heiland (Fughetta) (N.bk. 18 p. 83).
              11. Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her (N. bk. 19 p. 16).
              12. Ditto. (Fughetta) (N. bk. 19 p. 14).
              13. Das Jesulein soll doch mein Trost (Fughetta) (N. bk. 18
                  p. 24).
              14. Gottes Sohn ist kommen (Fughetta) (N. bk. 18 p. 41).
              15. Lob sei dem allmächtigen Gott (Fughetta) (N. bk. 18 p.
                  73).
              16. Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt (N. bk. 18 p. 28).
              17. Liebster Jesu wir sind hier (N. bk. 18 p. 72a).
              18. Ditto. (N. bk. 18 p. 72b).
              19. Ich hab’ mein’ Sach’ Gott hergestellt (N. bk. 18 p.
                  54)(526)
              20. Ditto. (N. bk. 18 p. 58a).
              21. Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend’ (N. bk. 18 p. 50).
              22. Wir Christenleut’ (N. bk. 19 p. 28b).(527)
              23. Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr (Bicinium) (N. bk. 18 p.
                  5).
              24. In dich hab’ ich gehoffet, Herr (N. bk. 18 p. 59).
              25. Jesu, meine Freude (Fantasia) (N. bk. 18 p. 64).

        (2) Twenty-eight other Choral Preludes(528)

               1. Ach Gott und Herr (Canon) (N. bk. 18 p. 3).
               2. Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’ (N. bk. 18 p. 4).
               3. Ditto. (Fuga) (N. bk. 18 p. 7).
               4. Ditto. (N. bk. 18 p. 11).
               5. An Wasserflüssen Babylon (N. bk. 18 p. 13).
               6. Christ lag in Todesbanden (N. bk. 18 p. 19).
               7. Der Tag der ist so freudenreich (N. bk. 18 p. 26).
               8. Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott (N. bk. 18 p. 30).
               9. Erbarm’ dich mein, 0 Herre Gott (N. bk. 18 p. 35).
              10. Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ (N. bk. 18 p. 37).
              11. Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ (N. bk. 18 p. 39).
              12. Gottes Sohn ist kommen (N. bk. 18 p. 42).
              13. Herr Gott, dich loben wir (N. bk. 18 p. 44).
              14. Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend’ (N. bk. 18 p. 52).
              15. Herzlich thut mich verlangen (N. bk. 18 p. 53).
              16. Jesus, meine Zuversicht (N. bk. 18 p. 69).
              17. In dulci jubilo (N. bk. 18 p. 61).
              18. Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (N. bk. 18 p. 70).
              19. Ditto. (N. bk. 18 p. 71).
              20. Lobt Gott, ihr Christen allzugleich (N. bk. 18 p. 74).
              21. Meine Seele erhebt den Herren (Magnificat) (Fuga) (N.
                  bk. 18 p. 75).
              22. Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein, _or_, Es ist
                  gewisslich an der Zeit (N. bk. 18 p. 80).
              23. Valet will ich dir geben (Fantasia) (N. bk. 19 p. 2).
              24. Ditto. (N. bk. 19 p. 7).
              25. Vaterunser im Himmelreich (N. bk. 19 p. 12).
              26. Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her (N. bk. 19 p. 19).
              27. Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (N. bk. 19 p. 23).
              28. Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott (N. bk. 19 p. 30).

        (3) Choral Variations:

               1. Christ, der du bist der helle Tag (N. bk. 19 p. 36).
               2. 0 Gott, du frommer Gott (N. bk. 19 p. 44).
               3. Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig (N. bk. 19 p. 55).
               4. Vom Himmel hoch da komm ich her (N. bk. 19 p. 73).

        (4) Variant texts and fragments:

               1. Variant of Kirnberger’s No. 2 (P. bk. 244 p. 111).
               2. Variant of Kirnberger’s No. 3 (not in N. or P.).
               3. Ich hab’ mein’ Sach’ Gott heimgestellt (N. bk. 18 p.
                  58b).
               4. Variant of Kirnberger’s No. 6 (P. bk. 245 p. 104).
               5. Variant of Kirnberger’s No. 25 (P. bk. 245 p. 110).
               6. Variant of No. 10 of the Twenty-eight supra (not in N.
                  or P.).
               7. Variant of No. 17 (not in N. or P.).
               8. Variant of No. 20 (not in N. or P.).
               9. Variant of No. 26 (not in N. or P.).
              10. Variant of No. 22 (P. bk. 246 p. 91).
              11. Variant of No. 23 (P. bk. 246 p. 100).
              12. Jesu, meine Freude (fragment) (P. bk. 244 p. 112).
              13. Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (fragment) (not in N.
                  or P.).

        (5) Choral Preludes and Variations of faulty text or doubtful
            authenticity:

               1. Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh’ darein (P. bk. 2067 p.44).
               2. Auf meinen lieben Gott (P. bk. 2067 p. 39).
               3. Aus der Tiefe rufe ich (P. bk. 2067 p. 64).
               4. Christ ist erstanden (not in N. or P.).
               5. Christ lag in Todesbanden (P. bk. 2067 p. 56).
               6. Gott der Vater wohn’ uns bei (P. bk. 245 p. 62) (by J.
                  G. Walther).(529)
               7. O Vater, allmächtiger Gott (not in N. or P.).
               8. Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele (not in N. or P.) (also
                  attributed to G. A. Homilius).
               9. Vater unser im Himmelreich (not in N. or P.) (also
                  attributed to G. Böhm).
              10. Ditto.
              11. Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott, Schöpfer (P. bk. 2067 p.
                  40).(530)
              12. Variations on Ach, was soll ich Sünder machen (not in N.
                  or P.).
              13. Variations on Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’ (not in
                  N. or P.).

        (6) Addendum to B.G. III.:

                  Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’ (an early version of N.
                  bk. 16 p. 40*) (P. bk. 245 p. 96).

 XLI. 1891 [1894]. Kirchenmusikwerke. Erganzungsband. Ed. Alfred Döffel.

            Cantata No. 191: Gloria in excelsis (the B minor Mass
            “Gloria”).
            Cantata No. 192: Nun danket Alle Gott (incomplete).
            Cantata No.193: Ihr Pforten zu Zion (incomplete).
            Ehre sei Gott in der Hone (incomplete).
            Wedding Cantata: O ewiges Feuer, O Ursprung der Liebe
            (incomplete).
            Wedding Cantata: Herr Gott, Beherrscher aller Dinge
            (incomplete).
            Sanctus in D major.
            Kyrie eleison (Christe, du Lamm Gottes).
            Christe eleison (Johann Ludwig Bach).
            Jesum lass’ ich nicht von mir (the original concluding Choral
            of the first Part of the “St. Matthew Passion” (Breitkopf and
            Haertel’s “Choralgesange,” No. 247).
            Four Cantatas of doubtful authenticity:

                  Gedenke, Herr, wie es uns gehet.
                  Gott der Hoffnung erfulle euch.
                  Siehe, es hat iiberwunden der Lowe.
                  Lobt ihn mit Herz und Munde.

XLII. 1892 [1894]. Clavierwerke. Funfter Band. Ed. Ernst Naumann.

            Sonata in D minor (P. bk. 213 p. 24).(531)
            Suite in E major (not in P.).(532)
            Adagio in G major (P. bk. 213 p. 1).(533)
            Sonata in A minor (P. bk. 213 p. 2).(534)
            Sonata in C major (P. bk. 213 p. 16).(535)
            Fugue in B flat major (P. bk. 1959 p. 75).(536)
            Fugue in B flat major (P. bk. 1959 p. 90).(537)
            Sixteen Concertos after Antonio Vivaldi (P. bk. 217).(538)
            Fifteen Compositions of probable authenticity :

               1. Prelude and Fugue in A minor (P. bk. 1959 p. 84).
               2. Fantasia and Fugue in D minor (P. bk. 1959 p. 80).
               3. Fantasia in G minor (P. bk. 1959 p. 94).
               4. Concerto and Fugue in C minor (not in P.).
               5. Fugato in E minor (P. bk. 1959 p. 24).
               6. Fugue in E minor (P. bk. 1959 p. 72).
               7. Fugue in G major (P. bk. 1959 p. 68).
               8. Fugue in A minor (not in P.).
               9. Fugue in A minor (not in P.).
              10. Prelude in B minor (and Variant) (not in P.).
              11. Suite in B flat major (P. bk. 1959 p. 54).
              12. Andante in G minor (P. bk. 1959 p. 63).
              13. Scherzo in D minor (and Variant) (P. bk. 1959 p. 62).
              14. Sarabande con Partite in C major (P. bk. 1959 p. 26).
              15. Passacaglia in D minor (P. bk. 1959 p. 40).

            Ten Compositions of doubtful authenticity :

               1. Fantasia in C minor (not in P.).
               2. Toccata quasi Fantasia con Fuga in A major (not in
                  P.).(539)
               3. Partie in A major (not in P.).
               4. Allemande in C minor (not in P.).
               5. Gigue in F minor (not in P.).
               6. Allemande and Courante in A major (not in P.).
               7. Allemande in A minor (not in P.).
               8. Fantasia and Fughetta in B flat major (P. bk. 212 p.
                  58).
               9. Do. D major (P. bk. 212 p. 60).
              10. Fugue (unfinished) in E minor (not in P.).

            Concerto in G major by Antonio Vivaldi (original of the second
            Clavier Concerto supra).(540)

XLIII(l). 1893 [1894]. Kammermusik. Achter Band. Ed. Paul Graf Waldersee.

            Three Sonatas for Flute and Clavier:

                  1. In C major (P. bk. 235 p. 33).
                  2. In E minor (ib. p. 39).
                  3. In E major (ib. p. 51).

            Sonata in E minor, for Violin and Clavier (P. bk. 236).
            Fugue in G minor for Violin and Clavier (P. bk. 236).
            Sonata in F major for two Claviers (by Wilhelm Friedemann
            Bach).
            Concerto in A minor for four Claviers and Orchestra (Strings)
            (P. bk. 260 p. 3).(541)

XLIII (2). 1893 [1894]. Musikstücke in den Notenbüchen der Anna Magdalena
      Bach. Ed. Paul Graf Waldersee.

        (1) The Notebook of the year 1722 contains:

               1. The French Suites (incomplete) (see B.G. an. (2)).
               2. Fantasia in C major for the Organ (see B.G. XXXVIII. No.
                  25).
               3. Air (unfinished) in C minor (not in P.).
               4. Choral Prelude, ’ Jesus, meine Zuversicht’ (see B.G. XL.
                  sec. 2 No. 16).
               5. Minuet in G major (see B.G. xxxvi. and P. bk. 215 p.
                  62).

        (2) The Notebook of the year 1725 contains:(542)

               1. Partita III. (A minor) from the “Clavierübung,” Part I.
                  (see B.G. III.).
               2. Partita VI. (E minor) from the same (see B.G. III.).
            3 (P). Minuet in F major.
            4 (P). Minuet in G major.
            5 (P). Minuet in G minor.
            6 (P). Rondeau in B flat major (by Couperin).
            7 (P). Minuet in G major.
            8 (P). Polonaise in F major (two versions).
            9 (P). Minuet in B flat major.
            10 (P). Polonaise in G minor.
              11. Choral Prelude, “Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt alten”
                  (see B.G. XL., Kirnberger’s Collection, no. 2).
              12. Choral, “Gieb dich zufrieden und sei stille” see B.G.
                  XXXIX. see. 4 no. 4).
              13. Aria, “Gieb dich zufrieden un sei stille” (see B.G.
                  XXXIX. sec. 2 no. 62).
            14 (P). Minuet in A minor.
            15 (P). Do. C minor.
            16 (P). March in D major.
            17 (P). Polonaise in G minor.
            18 (P). March in A major.
            19 (P). Polonaise in G minor.
              20. Aria, “So oft ich meine Tabakspfeife” (see B.G. XXXIX.
                  sec. 4 no. 1).
              21. Minuet in G major, “fait par Möns. Böhm.”
            22 (P). Musette in D major.
            23 (P). March in E flat major.
            24 (P). Polonaise in D minor.
              25. Aria, “Bist du bei mir” (see B.G. XXIX. sec. 4 no. 2).
              26. Aria in G major (the Aria of the Goldberg Variations.
                  See B.G. III.).
            27 (P). Solo per il Cembalo in E flat major.
            28 (P). Polonaise in G major.
              29. Prelude in C major (Prelude i. of the first Part of the
                  “Well-tempered Clavier.” See B.G. XIV.).
              30. Suite in D minor (the first of the French Suites. See
                  B.G. XIII (2)).
              31. Suite in C minor (the first three movements of the
                  second French Suite. See B.G. XIII (2)).
              32. Choral (wordless) in F. major.
              33. Aria, “Warum betrübst du dich” (see B.G. XXXIX. sec. 3
                  no. 72).
              34. Recitativo and Aria, “Ich habe genug,” and “Schlummert
                  ein,” for Basso (from Cantata 82, nos. 2 and 3),
                  transposed.
              35. Aria, “Schaff’s mit mir, Gott, nach deinem Willen” (see
                  B.G. xxxrx. sec. 3 no. 61).
            36 (P). Minuet in D minor.
              37. Aria, “Willst du dein Herz mir schenken” (di Giovannini)
                  (see B.G. XXXIX. sec. 4 no. 5).
              38. Aria, No. 34 supra.
              39. Choral, “Dir, dir Jehovah, will ich singen” (see B.G.
                  XXXIX. sec. 2 no. 46).
              40. Aria, “Wie wohl ist mir, 0 Freund der Seelen” (see B.G.
                  XXXIX. sec. 3 no. 74).
              41. Aria, “Gedenke doch, mein Geist, zurticke” (see B.G.
                  XXXIX. sec. 4 no. 3).
              42. Choral, “O Ewigkeit, du Donnerwort” (see B.G. XXXIX.
                  sec. 2 no. 144).

XLIV. 1894 [1895]. Handschrift in zeitlich geordneten Nachbildungen. Ed.
      Hermann Kretzschmar. Contains facsimiles of Bach’s handwriting and
      autograph MSS.
XLV(1). 1895 [1897]. Clavierwerke. Zweiter Band (neue berichtigte
      Ausgabe). Ed. Alfred Döffel.(543)

            The Six English Suites (see B.G. XIII. (2)). (P. bks. 2794,
            2795.)
            The Six French Suites (see B.G. XIII. (2)). (P. bk. 2793.)
            Five Canons in 4, 6, 7, 8 parts.
            Prelude and Fugue in E flat major (P. bk. 214 p. 40).
            Suite in E minor (P. bk. 214 p. 68).
            Suite in C minor (not in P.).
            Sonata (first movement) in A minor (not in P.).(544)
            Four Inventions, in B minor, B flat major, C minor, D major,
            for Violin and Clavier (P. bk. 2957).
            Overture in G minor for Strings and Clavier (not in P.).
            The “Clavier-Büchlein” of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach contains:

               1. Applicatio in C major (see B.G. XXXVI. no. 48).
               2. Prelude in C major (the first of the Twelve Little
                  Preludes) (see B.G. XXXVI. no. 19).
               3. Choral Prelude, “Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten”
                  (see B.G. XL., Kirnberger’s Collection, no. 2).
               4. Prelude in D minor (the fifth of the Little Preludes)
                  (see B.G. XXXVI. no. 19).
               5. Choral Prelude, “Jesu meine Freude” (fragment) (see B.G.
                  XL. sec 4 no. 12).
               6. Allemande in G minor (not in P.).
               7. Allemande (fragment) in G minor (not in P.).
               8. Prelude in F major (the eighth of the Little Preludes)
                  (see B.G. XXXVI. no. 19).
               9. Prelude in G minor (the eleventh of the Little Preludes)
                  (see B.G. XXXVI. no. 19).
              10. Prelude in F major (the ninth of the Little Preludes)
                  (see B.G. XXXVI. no. 19).
              11. Minuet in G major (the first of the three Minuets) (see
                  B.G. XXXVI. no. 43).
              12. Minuet in G minor (the second of the three Minuets) (see
                  B.G. XXXVI. no. 43).
              13. Minuet in G major (the third of the three Minuets) (see
                  B.G. XXXVI. no. 43).
              14. Prelude in C major (the first Prelude of the first Part
                  of the “Well-tempered Clavier.” See B.G. XIV.).
              15. Do. C minor (the second Prelude of the first Part of the
                  same. See B.G. XIV.).
              16. Do. D minor (the sixth Prelude of the first Part of the
                  same. See B.G. XIV.).
              17. Do. D major (the fifth Prelude of the first Part of the
                  same. See B.G. XIV.).
              18. Prelude in E minor (the tenth Prelude of the first Part
                  of the same. See B.G. XIV.).
              19. Prelude in E major (the ninth Prelude of the first Part
                  of the same. See B.G. XIV.).
              20. Prelude in F major (the eleventh Prelude of the first
                  Part of the same. See B.G. XIV.).
              21. Prelude in C sharp major (the third Prelude of the first
                  Part of the same. See B.G. XIV.).
              22. Prelude in C sharp minor (the fourth Prelude of the
                  first Part of the same. See B.G. XIV.).
              23. Prelude in E flat minor (the eighth Prelude of the first
                  Part of the same. See B.G. XIV.).
              24. Prelude in F minor (the twelfth Prelude of the first
                  Part of the same. See B.G. XIV.)
              25. Allemande and Courante in C major, by J. C. Richter.
              26. Prelude in C major (first of the Little Preludes. See
                  B.G. XXXVI. no. 19).
              27. Prelude in D major (fourth of the Little Preludes. See
                  B.G. XXXVI. no. 19).
              28. Prelude in E minor (see B.G. xxxvi. no. 50).
              29. Prelude in A minor (B.G. xxxvi. no. 49).
              30. Prelude in G minor (not in P.).
              31. Fugue in C major (see B.G. xxxvi. no. 38).
              32. Prelude in C major (Invention i. See B.G. m.).
              33. Prelude in D minor (Invention iv. See B.G. m.).
              34. Prelude in E minor (Invention vii. See B.G. m.).
              35. Prelude in F major (Invention viii. See B.G. m.).
              36. Prelude in G major (Invention x. See B.G. in.).
              37. Prelude in A minor (Invention xiii. See B.G. m.).
              38. Prelude in B minor (Invention xv. See B.G. m.).
              39. Prelude in B flat major (Invention xiv. See B.G. III.).
              40. Prelude in A major (Invention xii. See B.G. III.).
              41. Prelude in G minor (Invention xi. See B.G. III.).
              42. Prelude in F minor (Invention ix. See B.G. III.).
              43. Prelude in E major (Invention vi. See B.G. III.).
              44. Prelude in E flat major (Invention v. See B.G. III.).
              45. Prelude in D major (Invention iii. See B.G. III.).
              46. Prelude in C minor (Invention ii. See B.G. III.).
              47. Suite in A major (fragment) (see B.G. XXXVI. no. 45).
              48. Partita in G minor by Steltzel, including a Minuet Trio
                  by J. S. B. (Minuet in P. bk. 1959 p. 8).
              49. Fantasia in C major (Sinfonia i. See B.G. III.).
              50. Fantasia inD minor (Sinfonia iv. See B.G. III.).
              51. Fantasia in E minor (Sinfonia vii. See B.G. III.).
              52. Fantasia in F major (Sinfonia viii. See B.G. III.).
              53. Fantasia in G major (Sinfonia x. See B.G. III.).
              54. Fantasia in A minor (Sinfonia xiii. See B.G. III.).
              55. Fantasia in B minor (Sinfonia xv. See B.G. III.).
              56. Fantasia in B flat major (Sinfonia xiv. See B.G. III.).
              57. Fantasia in A major (Sinfonia xii. See B.G. III.).
              58. Fantasia in G minor (Sinfonia xi. See B.G. III.).
              59. Fantasia in F minor (Sinfonia ix. See B.G. III.).
              60. Fantasia in E major (Sinfonia vi. See B.G. III.).
              61. Fantasia in E flat major (Sinfonia v. See B.G. III.).
              62. Fantasia in D major (Sinfonia iii. See B.G. III.).(545)

XLV (2). 1895 [1898]. Passionsmusik nach dem Evangelisten Lucas. Ed.
      Alfred Döffel.

      Though the Score is in Bach’s autograph, the work is generally held
      not to be his.

XLVI. 1896 [1899].(546) Schlussband. Bericht und Verzeichnisse. Ed.
      Hermann Kretzschmar.

      The volume contains:—

            Historical retrospect of the Society and its activities.
            Thematic Index to Cantatas 121-191 (see B.G. XXVII (2)),
            unfinished Cantatas, Cantatas of doubtful authenticity,
            Christmas Oratorio, Easter Oratorio, St. Matthew Passion, St.
            John Passion, St. Luke Passion, Mass in B minor, the four
            Masses in F major, A major, G minor, G major, the four Sanctus
            in C major, D major, D minor, G major, Magnificat in D major,
            the “Trauer-Ode” Wedding Cantatas and Chorals, Motets, Secular
            Cantatas (P. bk. 270b).
            Alphabetical Index of the movements throughout the vocal
            works.
            Thematic Index to the Clavier music.
            Thematic Index to the Chamber music.
            Thematic Index to the Orchestral music.
            Thematic Index to the Organ music.
            Thematic Index to the “Musikalisches Opfer”.
            Thematic Index to the “Kunst der Fuge”
            Index to the several movements throughout the instrumental
            works.
            Index of names and places occurring in the Prefaces of the
            B.G. volumes.
            Bach’s vocal and instrumental works arranged (1) in the order
            of the yearly volumes, (2) in groups.




               (B) PUBLICATIONS OF THE NEW BACHGESELLSCHAFT


1(1). 1901. Lieder und Arien. Fur eine Singstimme mit Pianoforte (Orgel
      oder Harmonium). Ed. Ernst Naumann

      The seventy-eight Songs are those contained in B.G. XXXIX. secs. 3
      and 4 (first three only) supra.

I (2). 1901. Lieder und Arien. Furvierstimmigen gemischten Chor. Ed. Franz
      Wüllner.

      The seventy-five Songs are those contained in I (1), omitting those
      in sec. 4 of B.G. XXXIX. supra.

1(3). 1901. Erstes deutsches Bach-Fest in Berlin 21 bis 23 Marz 1901.
      Festschrift.

      The frontispiece is Carl Seffner’s bust of Bach.

II (1). 1902. Orgelbüchlein. 46 kürzere Choralbearbeitungen für Klavier zu
      vier Handen. Ed. Bernhard Fr. Richter.

      The original forty-six Organ Preludes, here arranged for two
      pianofortes (see B.G. XXV (2), sec. 1).

II(2). 1902. Kirchen-Kantaten. Klavierauszug. Erstes Heft. Ed. Gustav
      Schreck and Ernst Naumann.

      Contains Breitkopf and Haertel’s vocal scores of—

            Cantata 61: Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland.
            Cantata 64: Sehet, welch’ eine Liebe.
            Cantata 28: Gottlob! nun geht das Jahr zu Ende.
            Cantata 65: Sie werden aus Saba Alle kommen.
            Cantata 4: Christ lag in Todesbanden.

III (1). 1903. Kirchen-Kantaten. Klavierauszug. Zweites Heft. Ed. Ernst
      Naumann.

      Contains Breitkopf and Haertel’s vocal scores of—

            Cantata 104: Du Hirte Israel, höre.
            Cantata 11: Lobet Gott in seinen Reichen.
            Cantata 34: O ewiges Feuer.
            Cantata 45: Es ist dir gesagt.
            Cantata 80: Bin’ feste Burg.

III(2). 1903. Drei Sonaten für Klavier und Violine. Ed. Ernst Naumann.

            Sonata I. in B minor.
            Sonata II. in A major. (See B.G. IX.)
            Sonata III. in E major.)

IV (1). 1904. Drei Sonaten für Klavier und Violine. Ed. Ernst Naumann.

            Sonata IV. in C minor.
            Sonata V. in F minor (See BG. IX)
            Sonata VI. in G major.

IV (2). 1904. Joh. Seb. Bach, Bildnis in Heliogravure.

      A print of the portrait discovered by Dr. Fritz Volbach reproduced
      at p. 92 of this present volume.

IV (3). 1904. Zweites deutsches Bach-Fest in Leipzig 1 bis 3 Oktober 1904.
      Festschrift.
V (1). 1905. Fest-Gottesdienst zum deutschen Bachfeste in der Thomaskirche
      zu Leipzig. Ed. Georg Rietschel.

      Contains the order of service and music sung on the occasion.

V (2). 1905. Ausgewahlte Arien und Duette mit einem obligaten Instrument
      und Klavier- oder Orgelbegleitung.

      I Abteilung: Arien für Sopran Ed. Eusebius Mandyczewski.

         1. Auch mit gedämpften schwachen Stimmen (Cantata 36: Violin).
         2. Die Armen will der Herr unarmen (Cantata 186: Violin).
         3. Es halt’ es mit der blinden Welt (Cantata 94: Oboe d’amore).
         4. Gerechter Gott, ach, rechnest du (Cantata 89 : Oboe).
         5. Gott versorget alles Leben (Cantata 187 : Oboe).
         6. Hochster, was ich habe, ist nur deine Gabe (Cantata 39:
            Flauto).
         7. Hört, ihr Augen, auf zu weinen (Cantata 98 : Oboe).
         8. Ich bin vergnügt in meinem Leiden (Cantata 58: Violin).
         9. Ich ende behende mein irdisches Leben (Cantata 57: Violin).
        10. Ich nehme mein Leiden mit Freuden auf mich (Cantata 75: Oboe
            d’amore).
        11. Ich will auf den Herren schau’n (Cantata 93: Oboe).
        12. Seufzer, Thranen, Kummer, Noth (Cantata 21 : Oboe).

V(3). 1905. Bach-Jahrbuch 1904. Herausgegeben von der Neuen
      Bachgesellschaft.

      In addition to sermons and addresses on the occasion of the second
      Bach Festival at Leipzig in 1904, the volume contains the following
      articles:

         1. Bach und der evangelische Gottesdienst. By Karl Greulich.
         2. Praktische Bearbeitungen Bachscher Kompositionen. By Max
            Seiffert.
         3. Bachs Rezitativbehandlung mit besonderer Berück sichtigung der
            Passionen. By Alfred Heuss.
         4. Verschwundene Traditionen des Bachzeit alters. By Arnold
            Schering.

VI (1). 1906. Ausgewahlte Arien und Duette mit einem obligaten Instrument
      und Klavier- oder Orgelbegleitung. II Abteilung: Arien für Alt. Ed.
      Eusebius Mandyczewski.

         1. Ach, bleibe doch, mein liebstes Leben (Cantata 11: Violin).
         2. Ach, es bleibt in meiner Liebe (Cantata 77: Tromba).
         3. Ach Herr! was ist ein Menschenkind (Cantata 110: Oboe
            d’amore).
         4. Ach, unaussprechlich ist die Noth (Cantata 116: Oboe d’amore).
         5. Christen müssen auf der Erden (Cantata 44: Oboe).
         6. Christi Glieder, ach, bedenket (Cantata 132: Violin).
         7. Es kommt ein Tag (Cantata 136: Oboe d’amore).
         8. Gelobet sei der Herr, mein Gott (Cantata 129: Oboe d’amore).
         9. Ich will doch wohl Rosen brechen (Cantata 86: Violin).
        10. Jesus macht mich geistlich reich (Cantata 75: Violin).
        11. Kein Arzt ist ausser dir zu finden (Cantata 103: Flauto).
        12. Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgethan (Cantata 100: Oboe d’amore).

VI (2). 1906. Ausgewahlte Arien und Duette mit einem obligaten Instrument
      und Klavier- odor Orgelbegleitung. III Abteilung: Duette für Sopran
      und Alt. Ed. Eusebius Mandyczewski.

         1. Die Armuth, so Gott auf sich nimmt (Cantata 91: Violin).
         2. Wenn Sorgen auf mich dringen (Cantata 3: Violin or Oboe
            d’amore).
         3. Er kennt die rechten Freudenstunden (Cantata 93: Violin).

VI (3). 1906. Bach-Jahrbuch 1905. Herausgegeben von der Neuen
      Bachgesellschaft.

      Contains the following articles:

         1. Johann Sebastian Bachs Kapelle zu Cöthen und deren
            nachgelassene Instrumente. By Rudolf Bunge.
         2. Geleitwort. By Arnold Sobering.
         3. Die Wahl Joh. Seb. Bachs zum Kantor der Thomaschule i. J.
            1723. By Bernhard Fr. Richter.
         4. Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott. Kantata von Joh. Seb. Bach. By
            Fritz Volbach.
         5. Verzeichnis der bisher erschienenen Literatur über Johann
            Sebastian Bach. By Max Schneider.
         6. Reviews of books.

VII (1). 1907. Kantate No. 88: “Siehe, ich will viel Fischer aussenden.”
      Partitur. Ed. Max Seiffert.
VII (2). 1907. Kantate No. 88: “Siehe, ich will viel Fischer aussenden.”
      Klavierauszug mit Text. Ed. Max Seiffert und Otto Taubmann.
VII (3). 1907. Bach-Jahrbuch 1906. Herausgegeben von der Neuen
      Bachgesellschaft.

      Contains the following articles:

         1. Erfahrungen und Ratschlüger bezüglich der Aufführung Bachscher
            Kirchenkantaten. By Wilhelm Voigt.
         2. Über die Schickssle der der Thomasschule zu Leipzig
            angehorenden Kantaten Joh. Seb. Bachs. By Bernhard Fr.
            Richter.
         3. Die grosse A-moll Fuge für Orgel [Novello bk. 7 p. 42] und
            ihre Vorlage. By Reinhardt Oppel.
         4. Zur Rritik der Gesamtausgabe von Bachs Werken. By Max
            Seiffert.
         5. Verzeichnis der bis zum Jahre 1851 gedruckten (und der
            geschrieben im Handel gewesenen) Werke von Johann Sebastian
            Bach. By Max Schneider.
         6. Übersicht der Aufführungen J. S. Bachscher Werke von Ende 1904
            bis Anfang 1907.
         8. Notes.

VII (4). 1907. Drittes deutsches Bach-Fest zur Einweihung von Johann
      Sebastian Bachs Geburtshaus als BachMuseum [at Eisenach]. Fest- und
      Programmbuch [26-28 May 1907].

      The frontispiece is Carl Seffner’s bust of Bach.

VIII (1). 1908. Violinkonzert No. 2 in E dur. Partitur. Ed. Max Seiffert.

      See B.G. XXI (1) no. 2.

VIII (2). 1908. Violinkonzert No. 2 in E dur fur Violine und Klavier. Ed.
      Max Seiffert and A. Saran.
VIII (3). 1908. Bach-Jahrbuch. 4 Jahrgang 1907: Im Auftrage der Neuen
      Bachgesellschaft herausgegeben von Arnold Schering.

      In addition to a sermon by Professor Georg Rietschel and an obituary
      notice of Joseph Joachim, the volume contains the following
      articles:

         1. Sebastian Bach und Paul Gerhardt. By Wilhelm Nolle.
         2. Stadtpfeifer und Alumnen der Thomasschule in Leipzig zu Bachs
            Zeit. By Bernhard Fr. Richter.
         3. Angeblich von J. S. Bach komponierte Oden von Chr. H.
            Hoffmannswaldau. By —. Landmann.
         4. Die neuen deutschen Ausgaben der zwei- und dreistimmigen
            Inventionen [Peters bk. 2792]. By Reinhardt Oppel.
         5. Thematisches Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke der Familie
            Bach. I. Theil. By Max Schneider.
         6. Notes and Reviews of books.

IX (1). 1909. Kantate No. 85: “Ich bin ein guter Hirt.” Partitur. Ed. Max
      Seiffert.
IX (2). 1909. Kantate No. 85: “Ich bin ein guter Hirt.” Klavierauszug mit
      Text. Ed. Max Seiffert and Max Schneider.
IX (3). 1909. Brandenburgisches Konzert No. 3. Partitur. Ed. Max Seiffert.

      See B.G. XIX. no. 3.

IX (4). 1909. Brandcnburgisches Konzert No. 3 für Klavier zu vier Händen.
      Ed. Max Seiffert and Max Schneider.
IX (5). 1909. Viertes deutsches Bach-Fest in Chemnitz 3-5 Oktober 1908.
      Fest- und Programmbuch.

      The frontispiece is a photograph of Carl Seffner’s statue of Bach,
      unveiled at Leipzig May 17, 1908.

IX (6). 1909. Bach-Jahrbuch. 5 Jahrgang 1908: Im Auftrage der Neuen
      Bachgesellschaft herausgegeben von Arnold Schering.

      Contains the following articles:

         1. Zu Bachs Weihnachtsoratorium, Theil 1 bis 3. By Woldemar
            Voigt.
         2. Über Seb. Bachs Kantaten mit obligater Pedal. By Bernhard Fr.
            Richter.
         3. Cembalo oder Pianoforte? By Richard Buchmayer.
         4. Bearbeitung Bachscher Kantaten. By Max Schneider.
         5. Nachrichten über das Leben Georg Böhms mit spezieller
            Berücksichtigung seiner Beziehungen zur Bachschen Familie. By
            Richard Buchmayer.
         6. Ein interessantes Beispiel Bachscher Textauffassung. By Alfred
            Heuss.
         7. Edgar Tinel über Seb. Bach.
         8. Notes.

X (I). 1910. Ausgewahlte Arien und Duette mit einem obligaten Instrument
      und Klavier- oder Orgelbegleitung. IV Abteilung: Arien für Tenor.
      Ed. Eusebius Mandyczewski.

         1. Dein Blut, so meine Schuld durchstreit (Cantata 78: Flauto).
         2. Die Liebe zieht mit sanften Schritten (Cantata 36: Oboe
            d’amore).
         3. Ergiesse dich reichlich, du gottliche Quelle (Cantata 5:
            Viola).
         4. Handle nicht nach deiuen Bechten mit uns (Cantata 101:
            Violin).
         5. Ich will an den Himmel denken (Cantata 166 : Oboe).
         6. Ja, tausendmal Tausend (Cantata 43 : Violin).
         7. Mich kann kein Zweifel stören (Cantata 108 : Violin).
         8. Seht, was die Liebe thut! (Cantata 85 : Violin or Viola).
         9. Tausendfaches Unglück, Schrecken, Trübsal (Cantata 143:
            Violin).
        10. Wir waren schon zu tief gesunken (Cantata 9 : Violin).
        11. Woferne du den edlen Frieden (Cantata 41 : Violoncello).
        12. Wo wird in diesem Jammerthale (Cantata 114: Flauto).

X (2). 1910. Brandenburgisches Konzert No. 1. Partitur. Ed. Max Seiffert.

      See B.G. XIX. no. 1.

X(3). 1910. Brandenburgisches Konzert No. 1 fur Klavier zu vier Handen.
      Ed. Max Seiffert and Max Schneider.
X(4). 1910. Bach-Jahrbuch. 6 Jahrgang 1909: Im Auftrage der Neuen
      Bachgesellschaft herausgegeben von Arnold Schering.

      The volume contains the following articles:

         1. Zum Linearprinzip J. S. Bachs. By Robert Handke.
         2. Bachs Verhältnis zur Klaviermusik. By Karl Nes.
         3. Zur Tenorarie [“Ich will an den Himmel denken”: See X (1) no.
            5, supra] der Kantate 166. By Reinhard Oppel.
         4. Die Verzierungen in den Werken von J. S. Bach. By E.
            Dannreuther.
         5. Konnte Bachs Gemeinde bei seinen einfachen Choral-sätzen
            mitsingen? By Rudolf Wustmann.
         6. Buxtehudes musikalischer Nachrnf heim Tode seines Vaters (mit
            einer Notenbeilage). By Reinhard Oppel.
         7. “Matthauspassion,” erster Theil. By Rudolf Wustmann.
         8. Zu den Beschlüssen des Dessauer Kirchengesangver einstages. By
            Arnold Schering.
         9. Notes.

X (5). 1910. Fünftes deutsches Bach-Fest in Duisburg 4 bis 7 Juni 1910.
      Fest- und Programmbuch.

      Frontispiece, St. Thomas’ Church and School, Leipzig, in 1723.
      Reproduced at p. 28 of the present volume.

XI (1). 1911. Ausgewahlte Arien und Duetto mit einem obligaten Instrument
      und Klavier- oder Orgelbegleitung V Abteilung: Arien für Bass, Ed.
      Eusebius Mandyczewski.

         1. Achzen und erbärmlich Weinen (Cantata 13: Violin or Flute).
         2. Die Welt mit allen Königreichen (Cantata 59: Violin).
         3. Endlicb, endlich wird niein Joch (Cantata 56: Oboe).
         4. Erleucht’ auch meine finstre Sinnen (“Christmas Oratorio,”
            Part V. no. 5: Oboe d’amore).
         5. Gleichwie die wilden Meeres-Wellen (Cantata 178: Violin or
            Viola).
         6. Greifet zu, fasst das Heil (Cantata 174: Violin or Viola).
         7. Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener (Cantata 83: Violin or
            Viola).
         8. Hier, in meines Vatera Stätte (Cantata 32: Violin).
         9. Komm, süsses Kreuz (“St. Matthew Passion,” no. 57:
            Violoncello).
        10. Lass’, O Welt, mich aus Verachtung (Cantata 123: Flauto).
        11. Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn (Cantata 152: Oboe d’amore).
        12. Wenn Trost und Hülf’ ermangeln muss (Cantata 117: Violin).

XI (2). 1911. Bach-Jahrbuch. 7 Jahrgang 1910: Im Auftrage der Neuen
      Bachgesellschaft herausgegeben von Arnold Sobering.

      The volume contains the following articles:

         1. Die Diatonik in ihrem Einfluss auf die thematische Gestaltung
            des Fugenbaues. By Robert Handke.
         2. Bach und die franzosische Klaviermusik. By Wanda Landowska.
         3. Sebastian Bachs Kirchenkantatentexte. By Rudolf Wustmann.
         4. Uber Joh. Kasp. Fred. Fischers Einfluss auf Joh. Seb. Bach. By
            Reinhard Oppel.
         5. Hans Bach, der Spielmann. By Werner Wolffheim.
         6. Vom Rhythmus des evangelischen Chorals. By Rudolf Wustmann.
         7. W. Friedemann Bach und seine hallische Wirksamkeit. By C.
            Zehler.
         8. Neues Material zum Verzeichnis der bisher erschienenen
            Literatur über Johann Sebastian Bach. By Max Schneider.
         9. Reviews of books.

XII (1). 1912. Ausgewahlte Arien und Duette mit einem obligaten Instrument
      und Klavier- oder Orgelbegleitnng. VI Abteilung: Arien fur Sopran. 2
      Heft. Ed. Eusebius Mandyczewski.

         1. Bereite dir, Jesu, noch itzo die Bahn (Cantata 147: Violin).
         2. Eilt, ihr Stunden, kommt herbei (Cantata 30: Violin).
         3. Erfüllet, ihr bimmlischen, göttlichen Flammen (Cantata 1: Oboe
            da caccia).
         4. Genügsamkeit ist ein Schatz in diesem Leben (Cantata 144: Oboe
            d’amore).
         5. Hört, ihr Völker, Gottes Stimme (Cantata 76: Violin).
         6. Ich folge dir gleichfalls (“St. John Passion,” no. 9: Flauto).
         7. Jesus soll mein erstes Wort (Cantata 171: Violin).
         8. Liebster Jesu, mein Verlangen (Cantata 32: Oboe).
         9. Meinem Hirten bleib’ ich treu (Cantata 92: Oboe d’amore).
        10. Seele, deine Spezereien sollen nicht (“Easter Oratorio,” no.
            4: Flauto or Violin).
        11. Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgethan (Cantata 100: Flauto).
        12. Wie zittern und wanken der Sünder Gedanken (Cantata 105:
            Oboe).

XII (2). 1912. Bach-Jahrbuch. 8 Jaargang 1911: Im Auftrage der Neuen
      Bachgesellschaft herausgegeben von Arnold Schering. Mit 2 Bildnissen
      und 8 Faksimiles.

      The volume contains the following articles:

         1. “Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut” [see infra XIII (2)]. By Werner
            Wolffheim.
         2. Das sogensante Orgelkonzert D-moll, von Wilhelm Friedemann
            Bach [Peters bk. 3002]. By Max Schneider.
         3. Bachiana. By Werner Wolffheim.
         4. Zur Geschichte der Passionsaufführungen in Leipzig. By
            Bernhard Fr. Richter.
         5. Tonartensymbolik zu Bachs Zeit. By Rudolf Wustmann.
         6. Über die Viola da Gamba und ihre Verwendung bei Joh. Seb.
            Bach. By Christian Dobereiner.
         7. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach und Joh. Gottl. Im. Breitkopf. By
            Hermann von Hase.
         8. Zur “Lukaspassion.” By Max Schneider.
         9. Verzeichnis der Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente im Bachhaus zu
            Eisenach. By G. Bornemann.

      The illustrations are, portraits of W. Friedemann Bach (aet. 72) and
      Johann Sebastian Bach (son of Carl P. E. Bach); facsimiles of Bach’s
      arrangement of the D minor Vivaldi Organ Concerto (attributed to W.
      F. Bach) and “Lukaspassion,” and of a letter written to J. G. I.
      Breitkopf by C. P. E. Bach, dated 28th February 1786.

XII (3). 1912. Sechstes Deuteches Bach-Fest in Breslau 15 bis 17 Juni
      1912. Fest- und Frogrammbuch.

      Frontispiece, J. S. Bach after the oil-painting by G. Haussmann in
      possession of St. Thomas’ School, Leipzig (see Spitta, vol. i.
      frontispiece and XVI (1) infra).

XIII (1). 1913. Ausgewahlte Arien mit obligaten Instrumenten und
      Klavierbegleitung. VII Abteilung: Arien fur Sopran. 3 Heft.
      Weltliche Arien. Ed. Eusebius Mrmdyczewski.

         1. Wenn die Fruhlingslüfte streichen (“Weichet nur betrübte
            Schatten”: Violin).
         2. Sich üben im Lieben (“Weichet nur betrübte Schatten”: Oboe).
         3. Des Reichtums Glanz (“Ich bin in mir vergnügt”: Violin).(547)
         4. Meine Seele, sei vergnügt (“Ich bin in mir vergnügt”: Flauto).
         5. Angenehmer Zephryus (“Der zufnedengestellte Aeolus”: Violin).
         6. Schweigt, ihr Flöten (“O holder Tag”: Flauto).
         7. Ei! wie schmeckt der Coffee süsse (“Schweigt stille, plaudert
            nicht”: Flauto).
         8. Ruhig und in sich zufrieden (“Ich bin in mir vergnügt”: 2
            Oboi).
         9. Schafe können sicher weiden (“Was mir behagt”: 2 Flauti).
        10. Ruhet hie, matte Töne (“O holder Tag”: Violin and Oboe
            d’amore).
        11. Jagen ist die Lust der Götter (“Was mir behagt”: 2 Horns).
        12. Hört doch! der sanften Flöten Chor (“Schleicht, spielende
            Wellen”: 3 Flauti).

XIII (2). 1913. Solo-Kantate für Sopran, “Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut,”
      ausgefunden und herausgegeben von C. A. Martiensen. Partitur.
XIII (3). 1913. Solo-Kantate für Sopran, “Mein Herze schwimmt im Blut.”
      Klavierauszug mit Text von Max Schneider.
XIII (4). 1913. Bach-Jahrbuch. 9 Jahrgang 1912: Im Auftrage der Neuen
      Bachgesellschaft herausgegeben von Arnold Schering. Mit 2
      Noten-Anhängen.

      The volume contains the following articles:

         1. Uber die Motetten Seb. Bachs. By Bernhard Ft. Richter.
         2. Uber die F-dur Toccata [N. bk. 9 p. 176] von J. S. Bach. By
            Woldemar Voigt.
         3. Die Möllersche Handschrift. Ein unbekanntes Gegenstück zum
            Andreas-Bach-Buche (mit einem Notenanhange). By Werner
            Wolffheim.
         4. Bachs Bearbeitungen und Umarbeitungen eigener und fremder
            Werke. By Karl Grunsky.
         5. Über die Kirchenkantaten vorbachischer Thomaskantoren (mit
            einem Notenanhange). By Arnold Sobering.
         6. Beiträge zur Bachkritik. By Arnold Sobering.
         7. Aufführungen von Joh. Seb. Bachs Kompositionen. By Th.
            Biebrich.
         8. Notes.

XIV (1). 1914.(548) Joh. Seb. Bachs Kantatentexte. Im Auftrage der Neuen
      Bachgesellsehaft herausgegeben von Rudolf Wustmann.

      Contains the literary texts of the Church Cantatas, with critical
      notes.

      XIV (2). 1914. Bach-Jahrbuch. 10 Jahrgang 1913. Im Auftrage der
      Neuen Bachgesellsehaft herausgegeben von Arnold Sobering. Mit einem
      Titelbilde und einer Beilage.

      The volume contains the following articles:

         1. Studien zu J. S. Bachs Klavierkonzerten. By Adolf Aber.
         2. Über Joh. Seb. Bachs Konzerte fur drei Klaviere. By Hans Boas.
         3. Die Kantata Nr. 150, “Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich.” By
            Arnold Sobering.
         4. Über die C-dur-Fuge aus dem I. Theil des “Wohltemperierten
            Klaviers.” By Wanda Landowska.
         5. Die Varianten der grossen G-moll-Fuge für Orgel [Novello bk. 8
            p. 127]. By Hermann Keller.
         6. Ein Bachkonzert in Kamenz. By Hermann Kretzschmar.
         7. Breitkopfsche Textdrucke zu Leipziger Musikaufführungen zu
            Bachs Zeiten. By Hermann von Hase.
         8. J. S. Bachs Aria, “Erbauliche Gedanken ernes Tabakrauchers.”
            By Alfred Heuss.(549)
         9. Johann Seb. Bachs und Christoph Graupners Kompositionen zur
            Bewerbung um das Thomaskantorat in Leipzig 1722-23. By
            Bernhard Fr. Richter.
        10. Register zu den ersten 10 Jahrgangen des Bach Jahrbuchs
            1904-13. By Arnold Schering.

      The frontispiece is a portrait of Bach, about thirty-five years old,
      after the original in the Eisenach Museum by Job. Jak. Ihle. See
      frontispiece of this volume.

XIV (3). 1914. Fest- und Programmbuch zum 7 Deutschen Bachfest der Neuen
      Bachgesellschaft. Wien. 9 bis 11 May 1914.

      The frontispiece is a picture of St. Thomas’ Church and School in
      1723 (see p. 28 supra).

XV (1). 1914. Ausgewählte Arien und Duette mit einem obligaten Instrument
      und Klavier- oder Orgelbegleitung. VIII Abteilung: Arien für Alt. 2
      Heft. Ed. Eusebius Mandyczewski.

         1. Bethörte Welt (Cantata 94: Flauto).
         2. Ein ungefärbt Gemüte (Cantata 24: Violin or Viola).
         3. Ermuntert euch (Cantata 176: Oboe).
         4. Gott ist unser Sonn’ und Schild (Cantata 79: Oboe or Flauto).
         5. In Jesu Demuth (Cantata 151: Oboe d’amore or Violin).
         6. Jesus ist ein guter Hirt (Cantata 85: Violin or Violoncello).
         7. Kreuz und Krone (Cantata 12: Oboe).
         8. Schäme dich, O Seele, nicht (Cantata 147: Oboe d’amore).
         9. Von der Welt verlang’ ich nichts (Cantata 64: Oboe d’amore).
        10. Weh der Seele (Cantata 102 : Oboe).
        11. Willkommen! will ich sagen (Cantata 27: Cor Anglais).
        12. Zum reinen Wasser (Cantata 112: Oboe d’amore).

XV (2). 1915. Bach-Jahrbuch. 11 Jahrgang 1914: Im Anftrage der Neuen
      Bachgesellschaft herausgegeben von Arnold Schering (Leipzig). Mit
      einem Titelbilde und einer Bilderbeilage.

      The volume contains the following articles:

         1. Neues über das Bachbildnis der Thomasschule und andere
            Bildnisse Johann Sebastian Bachs. By Albrecht Kurzwelly.
         2. Zur Geschichte der Bachbewegung. Bericht über eine bisher
            unbekannte frühe Aufführung der Matthaüuspassion. By Karl
            Anton.
         3. Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach. By Georg Schünemann.
         4. Die Wiederbelebung der Kurrende in Eisenach. By W. Nicolai.
         5. Aufführungen von Joh. Seb. Bachs Kompositionen in der Zeit vom
            Oktober 1912 bis Juli 1914. By Th. Biebrich.
         6. Bachaufführungen im ersten Jahre des deutschen Krieges. By Th.
            Biebrich.
         7. Mitgliederversammlung der Neuen Bachgesellschaft. Montag, den
            11 Mai 1914.
         8. Reviews.

      The frontispiece is a picture of Bach by Daniel Greiner.

XVI (1). 1916. Das Bachbildnis der Thomasschule zu Leipzig, nach seiner
      Wiederherstellung im Jahre 1913. Gemalt von E. G. Haussmanu 1746.

      A print of the renovated picture is at p. 48 of this volume.

XVI (2). 1916. Bach-Genealogie mit zwei Briefen von Carl Philipp Emanuel
      Bach. Herausgegeben von Professor Max Schneider in Breslau.(550)
XVI (3). 1916. Bach-Jahrbuch. 12 Jahrgang 1915. Im Auftrage der Neuen
      Bachgesellschaft herausgegeben von Arnold Sobering (Leipzig). Mit
      dem Bildnisse J. S. Bachs nach der Gedenkbüste in der Walhalla.

      The volume contains the following articles:

         1. Johann Sebastian Bach im Gottesdienst der Thomaner. By
            Bernhard Friedrich Richter.
         2. Karl Philipp Emanuel Bach und der Dresdner Kreuz kantor
            Gottfried August Homilius im Musikleben ihrer Zeit. Ein
            Beitrag zur Geschichte der Stilwandlung des 18 Jahrhunderts.
            By Rudolf Steglich.
         3. Eine Umdichtung des “Zufriedengestellten Aeolus” (Mit einem
            Anhang über die Kantata “Schleicht, spielende Wellen”). By
            Woldemar Voigt.
         4. Eine alte, unbekannte Skizze von Sebastian Bachs Leben. By
            Arthur Prüfer.
         5. Bachauffuhrungen im zweiten Jahre des deutschen Krieges. By
            Th. Biebrich.
         6. Reviews.

      The frontispiece is a photograph of Professor F. Behn’s bust of Bach
      in the Walhalla.

XVII (1). 1916. Motette “O Jesu Christ, mein’s Lebens Licht.” Nach Bachs
      Handschrift zum ersten Male herausgegeben von Max Schneider.
      Partitur, [See E.G. XXIV.]
XVII (2). 1916. Motette “O Jesu Christ, mein’s Lebens Licht.”
      Klavierauszug mit Text von Max Schneider. [See B.G. XXIV.]
XVII (3). 1917. Bach-Urkunden. Ursprung der musikalisch-Bachischen
      Familie. Nachrichten über Johann Sebastian Bach von Carl Philipp
      Emanuel Bach. Herausgegeben von Max Schneider.

      The volume contains a facsimile of the Bach Genealogy compiled by
      Joh. Seb. Bach and formerly in Carl Philipp Emanuel’s possession,
      and two letters from the latter to J. N. Forkel.

XVII (4). 1917. Bach-Jahrbuch. 13 Jahrgang 1916. Im Auftrage der Neuen
      Bachgesellschaft herausgegeben von Arnold Schering (Leipzig).

      The volume contains the following articles:

         1. Die F.-Trompete im 2 Brandenburgischen Konzert von Joh. Seb.
            Bach. By Richard Hofmann.
         2. Zur Frage der Ausführung der Ornamente bei Bach. Zählzeit oder
            Notenwert? By Hans Joachim  Moser.
         3. Friedrich Bachs Briefwechsel mit Gerstenberg und Breitkopf. By
            Georg Schunemann.
         4. Bachaufführurgen im dritten Jahre des deutschen Krieges. By
            Th. Biebrich.
         5. Laterarische Beigabe: “Der Thomaskantor.” Ein Gemüth-erfreuend
            Spiel von deme Herren Cantori Sebastian Bachen, vorgestellt in
            zween Auffzügen durch Bernhard Christoph Breitkopfen seel.
            Erben: Breitkopf und Hartel 1917. By Arnold Schering.

XVIII (1). 1917. Konzert in D moll nach der ursprünglichen Fassung fur
      Violine wiederhergestellt von Robert Reitz. Partitur. [See B.G.
      XVII.]
XVIII (2). 1917. Konzert in D moll nach der ursprünglichen Fassung für
      Violine wiederhergestellt von Robert Reitz. Ausgabe fur Violine und
      Klavier. [See B.G. XVII.]
XVIII (3). 1918. Bach-Jahrbuch. 14 Jahrgang 1917: Im Auftrage der Neuen
      Bachgesellschaft herausgegeben von Arnold Schering (Leipzig). Mit
      einem Eildnis.

      The volume contains the following articles :

         1. Gustav Schreck [d. 22 Jan. 1918].
         2. Das dritte kleine Bachfest zu Eisenach:

               I. Der Festgottesdienst in der St. Georgenkirche zu
                  Eisenach am 30 September 1917.
              II. Vortrage und Verhandlungen der Mitgliederversammlung des
                  dritten kleinen Bachfestes in Eisenach am 29 September
                  1917.

         3. Seb. Bachs Stellung zur Choralrhythmik der Lutherzeit. By Hans
            Joachim Moser.
         4. Zur Motivbildung Bachs. Kin Beitrag zur Stilpsychologie. By
            Ernst Kurth.
         5. Ein Programmtrio Karl Philipp Emanuel Bachs. By Hans Mersmann.
         6. Hermann Kretzschmar [b. 19 Jan. 1848].
         7. Review.

      The frontispiece is a copy of the oil portrait of Bach after
      Haussmann, copied by J. M. David in 1746.





APPENDIX IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BACH LITERATURE


The following list does not include magazine articles or technical works.
A comprehensive bibliography, compiled by Max Schneider, will be found in
the Bach-Jahrbuch for 1905 and 1910.  Shorter lists are in C. F. Abdy
Williams’ _Bach_ (1900) and Andre Pirro’s _J.-S. Bach_ (1906).  Titles
within square brackets in the following list are inserted upon the
authority of the _Bach-Jahrbuch,_ but are not discoverable in the annual
Book Catalogues.  Since the absence of an Italian section may be remarked,
it should be said that the _Catalogo generate della Libreria Italiana,
1847-1899_ (published in 1910) contains no reference to Bach.  Nor does
the Supplement of 1912.




                                I. Germany


      Johann Christoph W. Kühnau, _Die blinden Tonküstler._ Berlin. 1810.
      J. E. Grosser, _Lebensbeschreibung des Kapellmeisters Johann
      Sebastian Bach._ Breslau. 1834.
      Albert Schiffner, _Sebastian Bachs geistige Nachkommenschaft._
      Leipzig. 1840.
      Johann T. Mosewius, _Johann Sebastian Bach in seinen Kirch-Kantaten
      und Choralgesängen._ Berlin. 1846.
      Johann Carl Schauer, _Johann Sebastian Bachs Lebensbild: Eine
      Denkschrift auf seinen 100jähringen Todestag._ Jena. 1850.
      C. L. Hilgenfeldt, _Johann Sebastian Bachs Leben, Wirken und Werke._
      Leipzig. 1850.
      [W. Naumann, _Johann Sebastian Bach. Eine Biographie._ Cassell.
      1855.]
      [Anon., _Biographien und Charakteristiken der grossen Meister: Bach,
      Händel, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, mit Portrats._ 2nd ed.
      Leipzig. 1860.]
      C. H. Bitter, _Johann Sebastian Bach._ 2 vols. Berlin. 1865. 2nd ed.
      1880.
      C. Albert Ludwig, _Johann Sebastian Bach in seiner Bedeutung für
      Cantoren, Organisten, und Schullehrer._ Bleichroder. 1865.
      Alfred Dörffel, _Thematisches Verzeichniss der Instrumentalwerke von
      Joh. Seb. Bach._ Auf Grund der Gesammtausgabe von C. P. Peters.
      Leipzig. 1867. 2nd ed. 1882.
      Carl Tamme, _Thematisches Verzeichniss der Vocalwerke von Joh. Seb.
      Bach. Auf Grund der Gesammtausgaben von F. Peters und der
      Bach-Gesellschaft._ Leipzig, n.d.
      C. H. Bitter, _C. P. E. und W. F. Bach und deren Brüder._ 2 vols.
      Berlin. 1868. New ed. 1880.
      [Anon., _J. S. Bach. Biographie._ Leipzig. 1869.]
      L. Ramann, _Bach und Handel._ Leipzig. 1869.
      W. Junghans, _Johann Sebastian Bach als Schuler der Partikularschule
      zu St. Michaelis in Lüneburg._ Lüneburg. 1870.
      Emil Naumann, _Deutsche Tondichter von Sebastian Bach bis auf die
      Gegenwart._ Berlin. 1871. 5th ed. 1882.
      M. Schick, _J. S. Bach: ein musikalisches Lebensbild._ Reutlingen.
      1873.
      Philipp Spitta, _Johann Sebastian Bach._ 2 vols. Leipzig. 1873-1880.
      E. Frommel, _Händel und Bach._ Berlin. 1878.
      Elise Polko, _Unsere Musikklassiker. Sechs biographische
      Lebensbilder_ [Bach, etc.]. Leipzig. 1880.
      [Anon., _J. S. Bach. Biographie._ [In _Meister der Tonkunst,_ no.
      2.] Leipzig. 1880.]
      August Reissmann, _Johann Sebastian Bach. Sein Leben und seine
      Werke._ Berlin and Leipzig. 1881.
      Otto Gumprecht, _Warum treiben wir Musik?_ [Bach and others.]
      Leipzig. 1883.
      C. H. Bitter, _Die Söhne Seb. Bachs._ Leipzig. 1883.
      Jul. Schümann, _Joh. Seb. Bach, der Kantor der Thomas-schule zu
      Leipzig._ Leipzig. 1884.
      A. L. Gräbner, _Johann Sebastian Bach._ Dresden. 1885.
      Fr. Spitta, _Haendel und Bach. Zwei Festreden._ Bonn. 1884.
      E. Heinrich, _Johann Sebastian Bach. Ein kurzes Lebensbild._ Berlin.
      1885.
      E. Naumann, _Deutsche Tondichter von J. S. Bach bis Richard Wagner._
      Leipzig. 1886. 6th ed. 1896.
      Paul Meyer, _Joh. Seb. Bach. Vortrag._ Basel. 1887.
      Ludwig Ziemssen, _Johann Sebastian Bach. Lebensbild._ Glogau. 1889.
      Richard Batka, _J. S. Bach._ Leipzig. 1893.
      Wilhelm His, _Johann Sebastian Bach. Forschungen über dessen
      Grabstätte, Gebeine und Antlitz._ Leipzig. 1895.
      Wilhelm His, _Anatomisches Forschungen über J. S. Bach’s Gebeine und
      Antlitz, nebst Bemerkungen über dessen Bilder._ Leipzig. 1895.
      Armin Stein, _J. S. Bach. Ein Küntstlerleben._ Halle. 1896.
      Hans von Wolzogen, _Bach_ [In _Grossmeister deutscher Musik_].
      Berlin. 1897.
      [W. Kleefeld, _Bach und Graupner._ Leipzig. 1898.]
      [Fr. Thomas, _Der Stammbaum des Ohrdruffer Zweigs der Familie von J.
      S. Bach._ Ohrdruf. 1899.]
      [Fr. Thomas, _Einige Ergebnisse über J. S. Bachs Ohrdruffer
      Schulzeit._ Ohrdruf. 1900.]
      B. Stein, _Johann Sebastian Bach und die Familie der _“Bache.”
      Bielefeld. 1900.
      Fr. von Hausegger, _Unsere deutschen Meister_ [Bach and others].
      Munich. 1901.
      Arnold Sobering, _Bachs Textbehandlung._ Leipzig. 1901.
      [W. Tappert, _Sebastian Bachs Kompositionen für die Laute._ Berlin.
      1901.]
      K. Söhle, _Sebastian Bach in Arnstadt_ Berlin. 1902. 2nd ed. 1904.
      Arthur Prüfer, _Sebastian Bach und die Tonkunst des XIX.
      Jahrhunderts._ Leipzig. 1902.
      H. Barth, _Joh. Sebastian Bach: Lebensbild._ Berlin. 1902.
      Gustav Höcker, _Johann Sebastian Bach._ Gotha. 1903.
      Paul von Bojanowski, _Das Weimar Johann Sebastian Bachs._ Weimar.
      1903.
      Jul. Schumann, _Bach, Händel, Mendelssohn. Die protestantische
      Kirchenmusik in Lebensbildern._ Calw and Stuttgart. 1903.
      [—. Weissgerber, _J. S. Bach in Arnstadt._ Arnstadt. 1904.]
      [K. Storck, _J. S. Bach: Charakter und Lebensgang._ Berlin. 1905.]
      [A. Pischinger, _J. S. Bach._ Munich. 1905.]
      Philipp Wolfrum, _Joh. Seb. Bach._ Berlin. 1906.
      Albert Schweitzer, _J. S. Bach._ Berlin. 1908.
      Friedrich Hashagen, _Joh. Sebastian Bach als Sänger und Musiker des
      Evangeliums._ Wismar. 1909.
      Max Trümpelmann, _Joh. Sebastian Bach und seine Bedeutung für die
      Choralkomposition unserer Zeit._ Magdeburg. 1909.
      August Wildenhahn, _Joh. Sebastian Bach._ Eisenach. 1909.
      Philipp Wolfrum, _Johann Sebastian Bach._ 2 vols. Leipzig. 1910.
      André Pirro, _Johann Sebastian Bach. Sein Leben und seine Werke._
      [Translated from the French by Bernhard Engelke.] Berlin. 1910.
      Johannes Schreyer, _Beiträge zur Bach-Kritik._ Leipzig. 1911.
      Martin Falck, _Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. Sein Leben und seine Werke,
      mit thematischem Verzeichnis seiner Kompositionen und zwei Bildern._
      Leipzig, c. 1911-14.
      K. Glebe, _Johann Sebastian Bach._ Halle. 1912.
      La Mara, _Johann Sebastian Bach._ 5th edition. Leipzig. 1912.
      H. Reimann, _Johann Sebastian Bach._ 1912.
      Armin Stein, _Johann Sebastian Bach._ Halle. 1912.
      Rudolf Wustmann, _Joh. Seb. Bachs Kantatentexte._ Leipzig. 1914.
      Max Bitter, _Der Stil Joh. Seb. Bachs in seinem Choralsatze._
      Bremen. 1913.
      Ernst Kurth, _Grundlagen des linearen Kontrapunkts. Einführung in
      Stil und Technik von Bachs melodischer Polyphonie._ Bern. 1917.




                                II. France


      Johann Nikolaus Forkel, _Vie, talents et travaux de Jean Sébastien
      Bach._ [Translated from the German by Felíx Grenier.] Paris. 1876.
      Ernest David, _La vie et les œuvres de J.-S. Bach, sa famille, ses
      élèves, ses contemporains._ [An abridged translation of Spitta.]
      Paris. 1882.
      William Cart, _Un maitre deux fois centenaire: étude sur J.-S. Bach,
      1685-1750._ Paris. 1884. New ed. 1898.
      André Pirro, _L’Orgue de Jean-Sébastien Bach._ Paris. 1895.
      [G. Fink, _Étude biographique sur Jean-Sébastien Bach._ Angoulème.
      1899.]
      [—. Daubresse, _Haendel et Bach._ Paris. 1901.]
      Albert Schweitzer, _J. S. Bach, le musicien-poète._ Leipzig. 1905.
      André Pirro, _J.-S. Bach._ Paris. 1906. 4th edition. 1913.
      André Pirro, _L’Esthétique de Jean-Sébastien Bach._ Paris. 1907.




                            III. Great Britain


      Johann Nikolaus Forkel, _Life of John Sebastian Bach. Translated
      from the German_ [by — Stephenson]. London. 1820.
      C. H. Bitter, _The Life of J. Sebastian Bach. An abridged
      translation from the German._ [By Janet Elizabeth Kay Shuttleworth.]
      London. 1873.
      R. Lane Poole, _Sebastian Bach._ London. 1881.
      Sedley Taylor, _The Life of J. S. Bach in relation to his work as a
      Church musician and composer._ Cambridge. 1897.
      Philipp Spitta, _Johann Sebastian Bach: His work and influence on
      the music of Germany, 1685-1750._ Translated from the German by
      Clara Bell and J. A. Fuller Maitland. 3 vols. London. 1899.
      C. F. Abdy Williams, _Bach._ London. 1900.
      A. Maczewski and F. G. Edwards, art. _Bach_ in _Grove’s
      Dictionary,_ vol. i. 1904.
      E. H. Thome, _Bach._ London. 1904.
      C. H. H. Parry, _Johann Sebastian Bach._ London and New York. 1909.
      Donald F. Tovey, art. _J. S. Bach,_ in _Encyclopaedia Britannica._
      Vol. iii. 1910.
      Albert Schweitzer, _J. S. Bach. With a Preface by C. M. Widor.
      English translation by Ernest Newman._ 2 vols. London. 1911.
      C. Sanford Terry, _Bach’s Chorals._ 3 vols. Cambridge. 1915, 1917,
      1920.
      W. G. Whittaker, _Fugitive Notes on certain Cantatas and Motets by
      J. S. Bach._ London. 1920.




                       IV. United States Of America


      André Pirro, _Johann Sebastian Bach, the Organist, and his works._
      [Translated from the French by Wallace Goodrich.] New York. 1902.
      Elbert Hubbard, _Little voyages to the homes of great musicians._
      New York. 1902.
      Ludwig Ziemssen, _Johann Sebastian Bach._ [Translated from the
      German by G. Putnam Upton.] Chicago. 1905.
      Rutland Boughton, _Bach._ New York. 1907.




                                V. Holland


      A. M. Oordt, _Een koort woord over Bach._ Leiden. 1873.




                               VI. Belgium


      Charles Martens, _Un livre nouveau sur J.-S. Bach._ Brussels. 1905.
      Victor Hallut, _Les Maîtres classiques du dix-huitième siecle._
      [Bach and others.] Brussels. 1909.




                               VII. Russia


      [Kuschenaw Dmitrevsky, _Das lyrische Museum_ (no. 25)]. [The oldest
      Russian biography of Bach.] Petrograd. 1831].
      [W. Th. Odoewsky, _Sebastian Bach._ Petrograd. 1890.]
      [G. M. Bazunow, _J. S. Bach._ Petrograd. 1894.]
      [S. M. Haljutin, _J. S. Bach._ Minsk. 1894.]
      [Adolf Chybinski, _J. S. Bach._ Warsaw. 1910.]





APPENDIX V.  A COLLATION OF THE NOVELLO AND PETERS EDITIONS OF THE ORGAN
WORKS


      Novello: Book I. Eight Short Preludes And Fugues.

            Page 2. Prelude and Fugue in C major (P. bk. 247 p. 48).
            Page 5. Do. do. D minor (ib. 51).
            Page 8. Do. do. E minor (ib. 54).
            Page 11. Do. do. F major (ib. 57).
            Page 14. Do. do. Q major (ib. 60).
            Page 17. Do. do. G minor (ib. 63).
            Page 20. Do. do. A minor (ib. 66).
            Page 23. Do. do. B flat major (ib. 69).

      Novello: Book II. Preludes, Fugues, And Trio.

            Page 26. Allabreve in D major (P. bk. 247 p. 72).
            Page 30. Prelude in G major (ib. 82).
            Page 34. Canzona in D minor (P. bk. 243 p. 54).
            Page 38. Fugue (The Giant) in D minor (P. bk. 246 p. 78).
            Page 41. Fugue in G minor (P. bk. 247 p. 85).
            Page 44. Prelude and Fugue (the Short) in E minor (P. bk. 242
            p. 88).
            Page 48. Prelude and Fugue in C minor (P. bk. 243 p. 32).
            Page 54. Trio in D minor (ib. 72).

      Novello: Book III. Fantasias, Preludes, And Fugues.

            Page 57. Fantasia in C minor (5 parts) (P. bk. 243 p. 66).
            Page 60. Fugue in B minor (on a theme by Corelli) (ib. 46).
            Page 64. Prelude and Fugue in A major (P. bk. 241 p. 14)
            Page 70. Do. do. C major (ib. p. 2).
            Page 76. Fantasia and Fugue in C minor (P. bk. 242 p. 55).
            Page 84. Fugue (the Short) in G minor (P. bk. 243 p. 42).

      Novello: Book IV. Sonatas Or Trios For Two Manuals And Pedal.

            Page 88. Sonata in E flat major (P. bk. 240 p. 2).
            Page 97. Do. C minor (ib. 11).
            Page 110. Do. D minor (ib. 24).

      Novello: Book V. Sonatas Or Trios For Two Manuals And Pedal
      (IV.-VI.).

            Page 124. Sonata in E minor (P. bk. 240 p. 36).
            Page 134. Do. C major (ib. 46).
            Page 151. Do. G major (ib. 63).

      Novello: Book VI. Toccata, Preludes, And Fugues.

            Page 2. Toccata and Fugue in D minor (P. bk. 243 p. 24).
            Page 10. Prelude and Fugue in D major (ib. p. 14).
            Page 21. Do. do. F minor (P. bk. 241 p. 29).
            Page 28. Do. do. E flat major (P. bk. 242 p. 2).

      Novello: Book VII. Preludes And Fugues.

            Page 42. Prelude and Fugue (the Great) in A minor (P. bk. 241
            p. 54).
            Page 52. Do. do. B minor (ib. 78).
            Page 64. Do. do. C minor (ib. 36).
            Page 74. Prelude and Fugue in C major (P. bk. 243 p. 2).
            Page 80. Do. do. G major (ib. 8).

      Novello: Book VIII. Preludes And Fugues.

            Page 88. Prelude and Fugue in C major (P. bk. 242 p. 62).
            Page 98. Do. (the Great) in E minor (P. bk. 241 p. 64).
            Page 112. Do. do. G major (ib p. 7).
            Page 120. Do. in G minor (P. bk. 242 p. 48).
            Page 127. Fantasia and Fugue (the Great) in G minor (P. bk.
            241 p. 20).

      Novello: Book IX. Preludes And Fugues.

            Page 137. Toccata and Fugue (the Great) in C major (P. bk. 242
            p. 72).
            Page 150. Prelude and Fugue in D minor (ib. 42).
            Page 156. Do. (the Great) in C major (P. bk. 241 p. 46).
            Page 168. Fantasia in G major (P. bk. 243 p. 58).
            Page 176. Toccata and Fugue (the Great) in F major (P. bk. 242
            p. 16).

      Novello: Book X. Toccata, Preludes, And Fugues.

            Page Page 196. Toccata and Fugue (the Dorian) in D minor (P.
            bk. 242 p. 30.)
            Page 208. Prelude and Fugue (the Short) in A minor (ib. 84).
            Page 214. Passacaglia in C minor (P. bk. 240 p. 75).
            Page 230. Fugue in C minor (P. bk. 243 p. 36).
            Page 238. Prelude in A minor (ib. 68).

      Novello: Book XI. Four Concertos [after Antonio Vivaldi].

            Page 1. Concerto in G major (P. bk. 247 p. 2).
            Page 10. Do. A minor (ib. 10).
            Page 24. Do. C major (ib. 22).
            Page 49. Do. C major (ib. 44).

      Novello: Book XII. Preludes, Fantasias, Fugues, Trios, Etc.

            Page 55. Fugue in G major (P. bk. 2067 p. 18).
            Page 60. Fantasia and Fugue in A minor (ib. 3).
            Page 71. Fantasia with Imitation in B minor (P. bk. 215 p.
            41).
            Page 75. Fantasia in G major (P. bk. 2067 p. 25).
            Page 83. Fugue in D major (P. bk. 2067 p. 22).
            Page 86. Do. G major (ib. 12).
            Page 91. Prelude in C major (P. bk. 247 p. 77).
            Page 92. Fantasia in C major (ib. 78).
            Page 94. Prelude in C major (ib. 76).
            Page 95. Fugue in C minor (P. bk. 243 p. 50).
            Page 100. Fugue in C major (P. bk. 247 p. 80).
            Page 102. Pastorale in F major (P. bk. 240 p. 86).
            Page 108. Trio in C minor (P. bk. 2067 p. 30).
            Page 112. Aria in F major (ib. 34).

      [Novello’s Books XIII. and XIV. (Choral Preludes and Variations) are
      superseded by Books XV.-XIX.]
      Novello: Book XV. Orgelbüchlein (little Organ Book).

            Page 3. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (P. bk. 244 p. 44).
            Page 5. Gott durch deine Güte, or, Gottes Sohn ist Kommen (ib.
            20).
            Page 9. Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes-Sohn, or, Herr Gott,
            nun sei gepreiset (ib. 24).
            Page 11. Lob sei dem allmächtigen Gott (ib. 40).
            Page 13. Puer natus in Bethlehem (ib. 50).
            Page 15. Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ (ib. 19).
            Page 18. Der Tag, der ist so freudenreich (ib. 13).
            Page 21. Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her (ib. 53).
            Page 23. Vom Himmel kam der Engel Schaar (ib. 54).
            Page 26. In dulci jubilo (ib. 38).
            Page 29. Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, allzugleich (ib. 42).
            Page 31. Jesu, meine Freude (ib. 34).
            Page 33. Christum wir sollen loben schon (ib. 8).
            Page 36. Wir Christenleut’ (ib. 58).
            Page 39. Helft mir Gottes Güte preisen (ib. 23).
            Page 43. Das alte Jahr vergangen ist (ib. 12).
            Page 45. In dir ist Freude (ib. 36).
            Page 50. Mit Fried’ und Freud’ ich fahr’ dahin (ib. 42).
            Page 53. Herr Gott, nun schleuss den Himmel auf (ib. 26).
            Page 58. O Lamm Gottes unschuldig (ib. 46).
            Page 61. Christe, du Lamm Gottes (ib. 3).
            Page 64. Christus, der uns selig macht (ib. 10).
            Page 67. Da Jesus an dem Kreuze stund (ib. 11).
            Page 69. O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde gross (ib. 48).
            Page 73. Wir danken dir, Herr Jesu Christ (ib. 59).
            Page 76. Hilf Gott, dass mir’s gelinge (ib. 32).
            Page 79. Christ lag in Todesbanden (ib. 7). 81. Jesus
            Christus, unser Heiland (ib. 34).
            Page 83. Christ ist eratanden (ib. 4).
            Page 89. Erstanden ist der heil’ge Christ (P. bk. 244 p. 16).
            Page 91. Erschienen ist der herrliche Tag (ib. 17).
            Page 94. Heut’ triumphiret Gottes Sohn (ib. 30).
            Page 97. Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist (P. bk. 246 p.
            86).
            Page 99. Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend’ (P. bk. 244 p.
            28).
            Page 101. Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (ib. 40).
            Page 103. Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot’ (ib. 14).
            Page 105. Vater unser im Himmelreich (ib. 52).
            Page 107. Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt (ib. 15).
            Page 109. Es ist das Heil uns kommen her (ib. 18).
            Page 111. Ich ruf’ zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (ib. 33).
            Page 113. In dich hab’ ich gehoffet, Herr (ib. 35).
            Page 115. Wenn wir in höchsten Nothen sein (ib. 55).
            Page 117. Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten (ib. 57).
            Page 119. Alle Menschen müssen sterben (ib. 2).
            Page 121. Ach wie nichtig, ach wie flüchtig (ib. 2).

      Novello: Book XVI. The Six “Schübler Chorale Preludes” And The
      “Clavierübung,” Part III.

            (a) The Schübler Preludes.

                  Page 1. Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme (P. bk. 246p.
                  72).
                  Page 4. Wo soll ich fliehen hin, or, Auf meinen lieben
                  Gott (ib. 84).
                  Page 6. Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten (ib. 76).
                  Page 8. Meine Seele erhebt den Herren (Hi. 33).
                  Page 10. Ach bleib bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ (P. bk. 245
                  p. 4).
                  Page 14. Kommst du nun, Jesu, vom Himmel herunter (P.
                  bk. 246 p. 16).
                  (b) The “Clavierübung,” Part III.
                  Page 19. Prelude in E flat major (P. bk. 242 p. 2).
                  Page 28. Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit (P. 246 p. 18).
                  Page 30. Christe, aller Welt Trost (ib. 20).
                  Page 33. Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist (ib. 23).
                  Page 36. Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit (ib. 26).
                  Page 37. Christe, aller Welt Trost (ib. 27).
                  Page 38. Kyrie, Gott heiliger Geist (P. 246 p. 28).
                  Page 39. Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’ (Pk. b. 245 p.
                  10).
                  Page 40. Do. do. do (ib. 12).
                  Page 41. Do. do. do. (ib. 29).
                  Page 42. Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot’ (ib. 50).
                  Page 47. Do. do. do (ib. 54).
                  Page 49. Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott, Schöpfer (P.
                  bk. 246 p. 78).
                  Page 52. Do. do. do. (ib. 81).
                  Page 53. Vater unser im Himmelreich (ib. 60).
                  Page 61. Do. do. (P. bk. 244 p. 51).
                  Page 62. Christ, unser Herr, zum Jordan kam (P. bk. 245
                  p. 46).
                  Page 67. Do. do. do. (ib. 49).
                  Page 68. Aus tiefer Noth schrei’ ich zu dir (ib. 36).
                  Page 72. Do. do. do. (ib. 38).
                  Page 74. Jesus Christus unser Heiland (ib. 82).
                  Page 80. Do. do. (ib. 92).
                  Page 83. Fugue in E flat major (P. bk. 242 p. 10).

      Novello: Book XVII. The Eighteen Chorale Preludes.

            Page 1. Komm, heiliger Geist, Herre Gott (P. bk. 246 p.4).
            Page 10. Do. do. do. (ib. 10).
            Page 18. An Wasserflüssen Babylon (P. bk. 245 p. 34).
            Page 22. Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele (P. bk. 246 p. 50).
            Page 26. Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend’ (P. bk. 245 p.
            70).
            Page 32. O Lamm Gottes unschuldig (P. bk. 246 p. 45).
            Page 40. Nun danket alle Gott (ib. 34).
            Page 43. Von Gott will ich nicht lassen (ib. 70).
            Page 46. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (ib. 38).
            Page 49. Do. do. do. (ib. 40).
            Page 52. Do. do. do. (ib. 42).
            Page 56. Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’ (P. bk. 245 p. 26).
            Page 60. Do. do. do (ib. 22).
            Page 66. Do. do. do. (ib. 17).
            Page 74. Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der von uns (ib. 87).
            Page 79. Do. do. do. (ib. 90).
            Page 82. Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist (P. bk. 246 p.
            2).
            Page 85. Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein, or, Vor deinen
            Thron tret’ ich allhier (ib. 74).

      Novello: Book XVIII. Miscellaneous Chorale Preludes (Part I.).

            Page 1. Ach Gott und Herr (P. bk. 2067 p. 38).
            Page 2. Do. do. (P. bk. 245 p. 3).
            Page 3. Do. do. (P. bk. 2067 p. 39).
            Page 4. Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr’ (not in P.).
            Page 5. Do. do. do. (P. bk. 245 p. 6)
            Page 7. Do. do. do. (ib. 30).
            Page 11. Do. do. do. (ib. 8).
            Page 13. An Wasserflüssen Babylon (ib. 32).
            Page 16. Christ lag in Todesbanden (ib. 43).
            Page 19. Do. do. (ib. 40).
            Page 23. Christum wir sollen loben schon, or, Was fürcht’st
            du, Feind Herodes, sehr (P. bk. 244 p. 9).
            Page 24. Das Jesulein soll doch mein Trost (P. bk. 2067 p.
            47).
            Page 26. Der Tag der ist so freudenreich (not in P.).
            Page 28. Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt (P. bk. 245 p.
            66).
            Page 30. Ein’ feste Burg ist unser Gott (ib. 68).
            Page 35. Erbarm’ dich mein, O Herre Gott (not in P.).
            Page 37. Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ (P. bk. 244 p. 102).
            Page 38. Do. do. do. (ib. 20).
            Page 39. Do. do. do. (P. bk. 245 p. 61).
            Page 41. Gottes Sohn ist kommen (P. bk. 244 p. 22).
            Page 42. Do. do. (P. bk. 245 p. 64).
            Page 43. Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes-Sohn (P. bk. 244 p.
            25).
            Page 44. Herr Gott, dich loben wir (Te Deum Laudamus) (P. bk.
            245 p. 65).
            Page 60. Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend’ (P. bk. 244 p.
            28).
            Page 52. Do. do. do. (not in P.).
            Page 53. Herzlich thut mich verlangen (P. bk. 244 p. 30).
            Page 54. Ich hab’ mein’ Sach Gott heimgestellt (P. bk. 245 p.
            74).
            Page 58. Do. do. do. (not in P.).
            Page 59. In dich hab’ ich gehoffet, Herr (P. bk. 245 p. 94).
            Page 61. In dulci jubilo (P. bk. 244 p. 103).
            Page 64. Jesu, meine Freude (P. bk. 245 p. 78).
            Page 69. Jesus, meine Zuversicht (P. bk. 244 p. 103).
            Page 70. Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier (ib. 105).
            Page 71. Do. do. (ib. 105).
            Page 72. Do. do. (ib. 39).
            Page 73. Lob sei dem allmächtigen Gott (ib. 41).
            Page 74. Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, allzugleich (ib. 106).
            Page 75. Meine Seele erhebt den Herren (Magnificat) (P. bk.
            246 p. 29).
            Page 80. Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein, or, Es ist
            gewisslich an der Zeit (ib. 36).
            Page 83. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (P. bk. 244 p. 45).

      Novello: Book XIX. Miscellaneous Chorale Preludes (part II.) And
      Variations.

      (a) Preludes.

            Page 2. Valet will ich dir geben (P. bk. 246 p. 53).
            Page 7. Do. do. (ib. 56).
            Page 12. Vater unser im Himmelreich (ib. 66).
            Page 14. Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her (ib. 67).
            Page 16. Do. do. do. (ib 68).
            Page 19. Do. do. do. (P. bk. 244 p. 106).
            Page 21. Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten (ib. 56).
            Page 22. Do. do. do. (ib. 56).
            Page 23. Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern (not in P.).
            Page 28. Wir Christenleut’ (P. bk. 2067 p. 52).
            Page 30. Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott, Vater (P. bk. 246 p.
            82).
            Page 32. Wo soll ich fliehen hin (P. bk. 2067 p. 48). (6)
            Variations.
            Page 36. Christ, der du bist der helle Tag (P. bk. 244 p. 60).
            Page 44. O Gott, du frommer Gott (P. bk. 244 p. 68).
            Page 55. Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig (ib. 76).
            Page 73. Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her (ib. 92).

The Peters volumes 244, 245, 246, 2067 contain movements excluded from the
Novello edition, viz.:—

      Book 244: the figured Choral (Herr Christ, der ein’ge Gottes-Sohn)
      on p. 107, and the Variant texts on pp. 108-112.
      Book 245: the Variant texts on pp. 96-113.
      Book 246: the Variant texts on pp. 86-103 (excepting the B version
      of “Komm, Gott, Schöpfer, heiliger Geist”).
      Book 2067: the Choral Preludes on pp. 39 (Auf meinen lichen Gott),
      40 (Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott), 42 (Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod),
      44 (Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein), 54 (Aus der Tiefe ruf ich),
      56 (Christ lag in Todesbanden), and the “Kleines harmonisches
      Labyrinth” on p. 16.





APPENDIX VI. GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF BACH


                        [Genealogy Table, p. 303]
                        [Genealogy Table, p. 304]
                        [Genealogy Table, p. 305]
                        [Genealogy Table, p. 306]
                        [Genealogy Table, p. 307]
                        [Genealogy Table, p. 308]
                        [Genealogy Table, p. 309]
                        [Genealogy Table, p. 310]





FOOTNOTES


    1 “Seiner Excellenz dem Freyheren van Swieten ehrerbietigst gewidmet
      von dem Verfasser.”

    2 So far the New Bachgesellschaft has published only a single Cantata
      overlooked by the old Society. See infra, p. 280.

    3 In _The News_ of January 4, 1829, he is described as the second son
      of the late John Stephenson of Great Ormonde Street, Queen Square,
      whom he had succeeded in the partnership of the firm.  His wife was
      dead, and of his eight children the eldest was also in the Bank.

    4 Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, third son of Johann Sebastian Bach, b.
      1714; Kammermusikus to Frederick the Great of Prussia (1746),
      Kapellmeister at Hamburg (1768); d. 1788.

    5 Johann Friedrich Agricola, of Dobitsch, b. 1720; studied composition
      with Bach at Leipzig; Court Composer (1751) and, after Carl Heinrich
      Graun’s death (1759), Kapellmeister to Frederick the Great of
      Prussia; d. 1774. See Spitta, _Johann Sebastian Bach,_ iii. 243 ff.

    6 Lorenz Christoph Mizler (1711-78), a pupil of Bach, founded at
      Leipzig in 1738 the “Sozietat der musikalischen Wissenschaften,” of
      which Bach and Handel were members.  Mizler’s journal, the
      _Neueröffneter Musikalischer Bibliothek,_ was its organ.  It
      appeared from 1736 to 1754.  In Part I. of vol. iv. (1754) C. P. E.
      Bach and Agricola collaborated in the obituary notice, or
      “Nekrolog,” which is almost the earliest literary authority for
      Bach’s life.  It covered less than twenty pages.  (See Schweitzer,
      _J. S. Bach_ (trans. Ernest Newman), i. 189 ff. and Spitta, i.
      Pref.)  Agricola’s association with Bach’s son in the preparation of
      the obituary notice is explained by the fact that for the last ten
      years of Sebastian’s life Agricola was in closer relations with him
      than Carl Philipp Emmanuel, who no longer was resident in Leipzig.

    7 Forkel’s _Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik_ (2 vols. 1788-1801) had
      only come down to the sixteenth century when its author diverted his
      pen to a biography of Bach.

    8 The firm of Hoffmeister and Kühnel was founded at Leipzig in 1800 by
      Franz Anton Hoffmeister, who started, in 1801, a subscription for
      the publication of Bach’s works, to which Forkel alludes.  The
      scheme failed to mature, and its accomplishment was reserved to C.
      F. Peters, who purchased Hoffmeister’s “Bureau de Musique” in 1814.
      See articles on Hoffmeister and Peters in Grove’s _Dictionary._

    9 Though Bach never ventured upon such tours as Mozart or Berlioz, for
      instance, undertook, he loved travelling, and his artistic journeys
      made him famous throughout Germany, at least as an organist.  Forkel
      himself describes (infra, pp. 19, 23) his notable visits to the
      Courts of Berlin and Dresden.

   10 In 1802, it must be remembered, not a note of Bach’s concerted
      Church music was in print except the tunes he wrote for Schemelli’s
      Hymn-book (1736) and the vocal parts of an early Cantata (No. 71).
      Of his instrumental works engraved by 1802 Forkel gives a list
      infra, p. 137.  It was hardly until the foundation of the
      Bachgesellschaft in 1850, to celebrate the centenary of Bach’s
      death, that the systematic publication of his concerted Church music
      began.  Before that date, however, Peters of Leipzig had taken in
      hand the abandoned scheme of Hoffmeister and Kühnel, to which Forkel
      alludes, and in which he participated.

   11 It is notable that Forkel makes no mention of Haydn, Mozart, or
      Handel, whose English domicile had divorced him from Germany’s
      service.  Forkel’s pessimism is the more curious, seeing that
      Beethoven was already thirty years old, and that Mozart in 1786,
      after giving him a subject to extemporise upon, had remarked,
      “Listen to that young man; he will some day make a noise in the
      world” (Holmes, _Life of Mozart,_ Dent’s ed., p. 223).  Forkel, in
      fact, appreciated neither Mozart nor Beethoven and thoroughly
      detested Gluck.

   12 As has been pointed out in the Introduction, Forkel stood almost
      alone in 1802 in his opinion of Bach’s pre-eminence.  Even Beethoven
      placed Bach after Handel and Mozart, but knew little of his music on
      which to found a decision.

   13 The anonymous article in the _Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek,_ to
      which Forkel alludes, deals with Bach’s Clavier and Organ works and
      upon them asserts Bach’s superiority over Handel.  The judgment was
      unusual.  Bach’s fame was gravely prejudiced by German
      Handel-worship, which the first performance of the _Messiah_ at
      Leipzig in 1786 stimulated.  Johann Adam Hiller, Bach’s third
      successor in the Cantorate of St. Thomas’, was largely responsible.
      He neglected, and even belittled, the treasures of Bach’s art which
      the library of St. Thomas’ contained.  See Schweitzer, i. 231.

   14 The _Nekrolog._ See supra, p. xxiv.

   15 Carl Philipp Emmanuel and Wilhelm Friedemann.  The latter was born
      in 1710, and after holding Organistships at Halle and Dresden, died
      at Berlin in 1784, leaving his widow and daughter in great poverty.
      The former received a grant from the receipts of the _Messiah_
      performance alluded to in note 1, supra.  A man of brilliant musical
      attainments, Wilhelm Friedemann’s character was dissolute and
      unsteady. See Schweitzer, i. 146 ff.

   16 Two letters written by C. P. E. Bach to Forkel in 1775, conveying a
      good deal of information reproduced by Forkel in this monograph, are
      printed in facsimile by Dr. Max Schneider in his _Bach-Urkunden_
      (N.B.G., XVII. (3)).

   17 Forkel’s statement is entitled to respect. On the other hand there
      is nothing in the recorded careers of either of Bach’s sons that
      bears him out on this point. Schweitzer (i. 229) endorses Elinor’s
      judgment: “Bach’s sons were the children of their epoch, and never
      understood their father; it was only from piety that they looked at
      him with childlike admiration.” Dr. Charles Burney spent several
      days with Carl Philipp Emmanuel at Hamburg in 1772, but during the
      whole time the son never played to him a note of his father’s music.

   18 i.e. Hoffmeister and Kühnel’s project.

   19 The accuracy of this statement is apparent from the Genealogy
      appended to this volume.  Bach’s sons represented the sixth
      generation from Veit Bach, the sixteenth century ancestor of the
      family. Veit himself was not a professional musician; one of his
      sons was a Spielmann; thereafter for the next 150 years all but
      seven of his descendants, whose professions are known, were
      Organists or Cantors or Town Musicians.  Many of them, moreover,
      were men of the highest attainments in their profession.

   20 He took his name from St. Vitus (Guy), patron saint of the church of
      Wechmar, a fact which sufficiently disproves Forkel’s statement that
      his original domicile was in Hungary.  The Bachs were settled in
      Wechmar as early as circ. 1520.  Veit migrated thence to Hungary,
      though there is no adequate foundation for the statement that he
      settled at Pressburg.  He returned to Wechmar during the beginning
      of the Counter-Reformation under the Emperor Rudolph II. (1576-
      1612), and died at Wechmar, March 8, 1619.  See Spitta, i. 4.

      Apart from church and town registers, laboriously consulted by
      Spitta in tracing the Bach genealogy, we owe our knowledge of it to
      an MS. drawn up by Bach in 1735 which is now in the Berlin Royal
      Library after being successively in the possession of Carl Philipp
      Emmanuel, Forkel, and G. Pölchau, the Hamburg teacher of music.

      The original entries in it are stated by Carl P. Emmanuel to be by
      his father. Forkel also owned a Bach genealogical tree, given him by
      Carl Philipp Emmanuel; it has disappeared. Traces of it exist in a
      work published at Pressburg by Johann Matthias Korabinsky in 1784,
      its insertion being due to the assumption that the Bachs were a
      Hungarian family.  Forkel shared that error.  See Spitta’s Preface
      on the whole question.  The MS. genealogy of 1735 is published by
      the New Bachgesellschaft (XVIII. 3) in facsimile.

   21 Veit, in fact, returned to his native village. His name, as has been
      pointed out, implies a connection with Wechmar that must have dated
      from infancy.  Moreover, there was living there in 1561 one Hans
      Bach, an official of the municipality, who may be regarded
      confidently as Veit’s father.

   22 It has been suggested that the name Bach is the sole authority for
      the statement that Veit was a baker.  But Spitta points out that the
      vowel in the name is pronounced long and was frequently written
      BAACH in the seventeenth century, a fact which makes it difficult to
      associate the word with “Backer” (Baker).

   23 In the Genealogy Johann Sebastian calls the instrument a Cythringen.

   24 Hans Bach (d. Dec. 26, 1626) and (?) Lips Bach (d. Oct. 10, 1620).
      See infra, Genealogical Tables I. and II. and note to the latter.

   25 The “Stadt Pfeiferei,” or official town musical establishment,
      descended from the musicians’ guilds of the Middle Ages and was
      presided over by the Stadt Musiker, who enjoyed certain ancient
      privileges and the monopoly of providing the music at open-air
      festivities. Johann Jakob Brahms, the father of Johannes, was a
      member of such a corporation at Hamburg, after having served his
      apprenticeship for five years elsewhere.  See Florence May,
      _Johannes Brahms,_ vol. i. pp. 48 ff.

   26 See Genealogical Table II.  The three young Bachs were the sons of
      Lips Bach and, presumably, nephews of Hans the “Spielmann.” The
      youngest of them was named Jonas; the name of another was certainly
      Wendel.  It is remarkable, in a period in which Italy was regarded
      as the Mecca of musicians, that exceedingly few of the Bach family
      found their way thither.  Besides the three sons of Lips Bach, only
      Johann Nikolaus, 1669-1753 (see Table VI.), Johann Sebastian Bach’s
      son Johann Christian, 1735-82 (see Table VIII.), and Carl P. E.
      Bach’s son Sebastian (see Table VII.) seem to have visited Italy.

   27 i.e. from Veit Bach.  Of the three names Forkel mentions the first
      two were a generation before Johann Sebastian; the third, Johann
      Bombard, was of the same generation as Johann Sebastian; none of the
      three belonged to Johann Sebastian’s branch.

   28 Eldest  son of Heinrich Bach (see Table VI.).  Whether he was Court
      as well as Town Organist at Eisenach cannot be stated positively.

   29 The _Alt-Bachische Archive_ is a collection of the compositions of
      various members of the family, before and after Johann Sebastian,
      formed largely by the latter.  From C. P. E. Bach it passed to G.
      Pölchau and from him to the Berlin Royal Library.

   30 Johann Christoph composed several Motets (see them discussed in
      Spitta, i. 75 ff.).  The daring work to which Forkel alludes was
      written about 1680 and is lost.  Though the augmented sixth was then
      and remained unusual, Johann Christoph’s is not the earliest use of
      it.  Spitta finds it in Giacomo Carissimi (1604-74).

   31 The Cantata (“And there was war in heaven”) is analysed by Spitta
      (i. 44).  The score is unusually full: two five-part choirs; Vn. 1
      and 2, 4 Violas, Contrabasso, Fagotto, 4 Trombe, Timpani, Organ.  In
      1726 Johann Sebastian Bach wrote a Cantata for Michaelmas on the
      same text (Rev. xii. 7).

   32 Spitta (i. 101 n.) characterises the statement as “a mythical
      exaggeration.” In a chapter devoted to the instrumental works of
      Johann Christoph and his brother he instances a collection of
      forty-four Organ Chorals by the former, not one of which is in five
      parts.

   33 In the Bach genealogy already referred to C. P. E. Bach designates
      Johann Christoph a “great and impressive composer.”

   34 A _Lamento_ published under Johann Christoph’s name seems actually
      to have been composed by his father Heinrich (see Pirro, _J.-S.
      Bach,_ 9 n.). Johann Christoph, however, is the composer of the
      Motet _Ich lasse dich nicht,_ so often attributed to Johann
      Sebastian.

   35 See Table VI. He was the father of Johann Sebastian’s first wife.

   36 See note, p. 4 supra.

   37 Spitta (i. 59 ff.) mentions twelve Motets by Michael Bach. Several
      of them are for eight voices.  Forkel probably refers to the most
      remarkable of Michael’s Motets, in which he detects the romantic
      spirit of Johann Sebastian.  It is set to the words _Unser Leben ist
      ein Schatten,_ (_Life on earth is but a shadow_).  The first choir
      consists of 2 S., A., 2 T., B., and the second choir of A. T. B.
      only. Spitta analyses the work closely (i. 70-72). Novello publishes
      his five- part Motet _Christ is risen_ with an English text.

   38 He succeeded his cousin Johann Christoph at Eisenach in 1703.

   39 Spitta (i. 24 ff.) mentions four Suites, or Overtures, Clavier
      pieces, and Organ Chorals as being by him.  That Johann Sebastian
      Bach highly esteemed the Suites is proved by the fact that he copied
      the parts of three of them with his own hand at Leipzig.

   40 It is a curious fact that, prior to the career of Johann Sebastian
      Bach, the composers of the Bach family occur invariably in other
      branches than his.  With two exceptions, the gift of composition
      appears to have been possessed, or exercised, solely by Heinrich
      Bach (see Table VI.), his two sons Johann Christoph and Johann
      Michael, already discussed, and his grandson, Johann Nikolaus (son
      of Johann Christoph).  Heinrich Bach was a very productive composer
      in all forms of musical art employed at that time in church (Sp. i.
      36).  His grandson, Johann Nikolaus, composed a Mass and a comic
      operetta (ib., 132 ff.). The only other Bach composer known to
      Spitta is Georg Christoph, founder of the Franconian Bachs (see
      Table IV.) and Cantor at Themar and Schweinfurt (ib. 155). The other
      Bach composer outside Heinrich Bach’s branch is Johann Bornhard,
      already mentioned by Forkel.

   41 In the Quodlibet different voices sang different well-known
      melodies, sacred and profane, and sought to combine them to form a
      harmonious whole.  For an example see Variation 30 of the _Aria mit
      30 Veranderungen_ (Peters’ ed., bk. 209 p. 83).  In it Bach combines
      two popular songs of his period.

   42 See article “Quodlibet” in Grove.

   43 The date is conjectural, and is deduced from the fact that the
      infant was baptized on March 23.  The Gregorian Calendar was not
      adopted in Germany until 1701.  Had it been in use in 1685 Bach’s
      birthday would be March 31.

   44 Johann Ambrosius’ Court appointment is to be inferred from the fact
      that in 1684 the Duke refused him permission to return to Erfurt.

   45 See Table IV.

   46 Johann Ambrosius survived his brother by nearly eighteen months.

   47 His mother died in May 1694, and his father in January 1695.  At the
      latter date Johann Sebastian was three months short of his tenth
      year.

   48 Excepting Johann Jakob, a lad of thirteen years, Johann Christoph
      was Bach’s only surviving brother, and the only one of the family in
      a position to look after him.  Johann Jakob accompanied Sebastian to
      Ohrdruf (Pirro, p. 13) and afterwards apprenticed himself to his
      father’s successor as Town Musician at Eisenach. One of the
      daughters was already married.  What became of the other is not
      stated. See Table V.

   49 It is difficult to believe this statement.  That the boy was
      destined for a musical career by his father hardly can be doubted.
      That he was of unusual precocity, the story told by Forkel in the
      text proves.  His father’s asserted neglect to instruct him is
      therefore hardly credible.

   50 Johann Jakob Froberger, born at Halle (date unknown); Court Organist
      at Vienna, 1637-57; d. 1667.

   51 Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer, c. 1660-1738 (actual dates of his
      birth and death unknown); Kapellmeister to Markgraf Ludwig of Baden
      at Schloss Schlackenwerth in Bohemia. His _Ariadne Musica
      Neo-Organoedum_ (1702) was the precursor of Bach’s _Das
      wohltemperirte Clavier._

   52 Johann Caspar Kerl, b. 1628; Kapellmeister in Munich, 1656-74; Court
      Organist at Vienna, 1677-92; d. 1693.

   53 Johann Pachelbel, b. 1653, d. 1706.  In 1695 he was Organist of St.
      Sebald’s Church, Nürnberg.  His influence upon the organ playing of
      his generation was enormous.  Bach’s brother, Johann Christoph, was
      his pupil.

   54 Dietrich Buxtehude, b. 1637, d. 1707; Organist (1668) of the
      Marienkirche, Lübeck, and the chief musical influence in North
      Germany.

   55 Nikolaus Bruhns, b. circ. 1665, d. 1697; a. pupil of Buxtehude;
      Organist at Husum; the greatest organist of his time after
      Buxtehude.

   56 Georg Böhm, b. 1661; date of death uncertain (c. 1739); from 1698
      Organist of the Johanniskirche, Lüneburg.

   57 In fact, Johann Christoph did not die until 1721, more than twenty
      years after Sebastian ceased to be under his roof.

   58 The fact that Johann Christoph survived till 1721 disproves Forkel’s
      statement. The youthful Bach, aged fifteen in 1700, no doubt seized
      the earliest opportunity to relieve his brother of the charge of
      him.  Moreover, Johann Christoph’s family was increasing (see Table
      V.).  In spite of the story of Bach’s midnight copying, it cannot be
      questioned that he owed a good deal to his brother, who not only
      taught him but, presumably, maintained him at the Ohrdruf Lyceum,
      where Bach acquired a sound education and a considerable knowledge
      of Latin.  See Pirro, pp. 14-16, on Bach’s education at Ohrdruf.  He
      left the Lyceum in March 1700.

   59 Georg Erdmann, Bach’s fellow-pupil at the Lyceum.

   60 Bach’s entry into the choir of St. Michael’s Convent, Lüneburg, took
      place about Easter 1700.  The step was taken upon the advice of
      Elias Herda, Cantor at the Ohrdruf Lyceum, himself a former member
      of St. Michael’s.  Bach remained at St. Michael’s for three years,
      till 1703.  The choir library was particularly rich in the best
      church music of the period, both German and Italian.  Spitta is of
      opinion that Bach’s talents as a violinist and Clavier player were
      also laid under contribution.  His voice, as Forkel states, soon
      ceased to be serviceable.  His maximum pay was one thaler (three
      shillings) a month and free commons.

   61 Probably Georg Böhm, who had relations with the Convent choir,
      inspired Bach to make the pilgrimage.  Böhm, then at St. John’s,
      Lüneburg, was a pupil of Reinken of Hamburg.  Spitta (i. 196)
      suggests that Bach’s cousin, Johann Ernst (see Table IV.), was at
      this time completing his musical education at Hamburg, a fact which
      may have contributed to draw Bach thither.  He made more than one
      visit, on foot, to Hamburg.  F. W. Marpurg published, in 1786, the
      story, which he received from Bach himself, that on one of his
      journeys from Hamburg, Bach sat down outside an inn and hungrily
      sniffed the savours from its kitchen.  His pockets were empty and
      there seemed little prospect of a meal, when a window was opened and
      two herring heads were thrown out.  Bach picked them up eagerly, and
      found in each of them a Danish ducat.  Who was his benefactor he
      never discovered; the gift enabled him to satisfy his hunger and pay
      another visit to Hamburg.

   62 Johann Adam Reinken, b. 1623, became Organist of St. Catherine’s
      Church, Hamburg, in 1664, and held the post until his death in 1722.

   63 His introduction to French music marked another step in Bach’s
      progressive education.  The reigning Duke of Celle (father-in-law of
      George I. of Great Britain and Ireland) had married a Frenchwoman.
      See Pirro, _J. S. Bach,_ pp. 24-27.

   64 He entered the Weimar service on April 8, 1703 (Pirro, p. 29).

   65 Bach’s engagement was in the private band of the younger brother of
      the Duke.  He remained in his new post only a few months.  He was
      engaged as a Violin player, and since his interests were towards the
      Organ and Clavier, it is clear that he accepted the engagement as a
      temporary means of livelihood.

   66 He is, however, described in July 1703 as Court Organist (Pirro, p.
      30).  Bach was drawn to Arnstadt chiefly by the fact that the New
      Church recently had been equipped with a particularly fine Organ
      (specification in Spitta, i. 224), which existed until 1863.  Bach
      inaugurated it on July 13, 1703, and entered on his duties as
      Organist of the church in the following month (Pirro, p. 30).

   67 His earliest Church Cantata (No. 15) was composed here in 1704.  To
      the Arnstadt period (1703-7) also must be attributed the Capriccio
      written on the departure of his brother, Johann Jakob (Peters bk.
      208 p. 62), the Capriccio in honour of his Ohrdruf brother, Johann
      Christoph (Peters bk. 215, p. 34), the Sonata in D major (Peters bk.
      215, p. 44), the Organ Prelude and Fugue in C minor (Novello bk. 2
      p. 48), and the Organ Fugue in C minor (Novello bk. 12 p. 95).

   68 In the _Nekrolog_ C. P. E. Bach and Agricola remark of the Arnstadt
      period, that Bach then “really showed the first-fruits of his
      industry in the art of Organ-playing and composition, which he had
      in great measure learnt only from the study of the works of the most
      famous composers of the time, and from his own reflections on them”
      (quoted in Spitta, i. 235).

   69 Bach’s stipend at Arnstadt was not inconsiderable, and his duties
      engaged him only at stated hours on Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays.
      He, therefore, had leisure and the means to employ it.  In October
      1705 he obtained four weeks’ leave of absence and set off on foot to
      Lübeck, after leaving an efficient deputy behind him.  He stayed
      away until February 1706.  On his return the Consistory demanded an
      explanation of his absence, and took the opportunity to remonstrate
      with him on other matters.  They charged him “with having been
      hitherto in the habit of making surprising variationes in the
      Chorals, and intermixing divers strange sounds, so that thereby the
      congregation were confounded.”  They charged him with playing too
      long preludes, and after this was notified to him, of making them
      too short.  They reproached him “with having gone to a wineshop last
      Sunday during sermon,” and cautioned him that, “for the future he
      must behave quite differently and much better than he has done
      hitherto” (see the whole charge in Spitta, i. 315 ff.).  Bach also
      was on bad terms with the choir, whose members had got out of hand
      and discipline.  Before his Lübeck visit he engaged in a street
      brawl with one of the scholars.  Then, as later, he was a choleric
      gentleman.  In November 1706 he got into further trouble for having
      “made music” in the church with a “stranger maiden,” presumably his
      cousin Maria Barbara Bach, then on a visit to Arnstadt; he married
      her a year later.  Clearly the relations between the Consistory and
      the brilliant young Organist were becoming difficult, and Bach’s
      migration to Mühlhausen no doubt was grateful to both.  His
      resignation was made formally on June 29, 1707.

   70 Bach was appointed on June 15, 1707, to succeed Johann Georg Able.
      Mühlhauson prided itself upon its musical traditions.  Bach’s
      Cantata, No. 71, written in February 1708 for the inauguration of
      the Mühlhausen Town Council, was engraved (the parts only), the only
      one of the 206 Cantatas which have come down to us which was printed
      during Bach’s lifetime.  He also composed Cantatas 131 and 196 at
      Muhlhausen, and perhaps three others. See infra, p. 188.

   71 Bach’s petition to the Mühlhausen Consistory for permission to
      resign his post is dated June 25, 1708, and is printed in full by
      Spitta, i. 373.  Bach mentions the Weimar post as having been
      offered to him, but bases his desire to resign the organ of St.
      Blasius, partly on the ground that his income was inadequate, partly
      because, though he had succeeded in improving the organ and the
      conditions of music generally, he saw “not the slightest appearance
      that things will be altered” for the better.  Mühlhausen, in fact,
      was a stronghold of Pietism and unsympathetic to Bach’s musical
      ideals.

   72 He was Court Organist and Kammermusikus.  In the latter post Bach
      was of use as a Violinist and Clavier player.  The Court band, or
      Kapelle, on special occasions appeared in Hungarian costume, which
      Bach presumably donned.  His income began at a sum nearly double
      that he had received at Arnstadt and Mühlhausen.

   73 The character of his employer, Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar,
      must be reckoned a factor in the development of the youthful Bach.
      The Duke was not only a cultured artist, but was also a man of
      genuine piety.

   74 Though Bach retouched them in later years and wrote others, it may
      be stated in general terms that his Organ works were the fruit of
      the Weimar period, which lasted from 1708 till 1717.

   75 Bach’s promotion to the position of Concertmeister had taken place
      certainly before March 19, 1714, on which date Spitta (i. 517)
      prints a letter in which Bach gives himself the title.  The increase
      in his income early in 1714 also supports the conclusion, while a
      letter of January 14, 1714, written by Bach, is not signed by him as
      Concertmeister.  It would seem that his promotion took place in the
      interval between the two letters.  As Concertmeister it was part of
      his duty to provide Cantatas for the church services.  Twenty-two
      were written by him at Weimar.  See infra, p. 188, for a list of
      them.

   76 Friedrich Wilhelm Zachau died on August 7 or 14, 1712.

   77 Spitta (i. 513) infers that, in the later years of the Weimar
      period, Bach spent part of the autumn of every year in visits to the
      Courts and larger towns of Germany in order to give Organ recitals
      and to conduct performances of his Cantatas. Besides the visit to
      Halle, in 1713, to which Forkel alludes, Bach performed at Cassel in
      1713 or 1714 before the future Frederick I. of Sweden, who presented
      him with a ring which he drew from his finger.  Bach’s feet, an
      admirer recorded, “flew over the pedal-board as if they had wings.”
      In December 1714 he visited Leipzig and performed Cantata No. 61,
      _Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland._  In 1716 he was again invited to
      Halle, and at about the same time performed at Meiningen. Forkel
      records the famous contest with Marchand, the French Organist, at
      Dresden in 1717.

   78 Forkel’s brief account follows the _Nekrolog._  Bach was in Halle in
      the autumn of 1713, a year after Zachau’s death.  The latter’s post
      was still vacant and a new and particularly large Organ (sixty-three
      speaking stops) was being erected.  The authorities pressed Bach to
      submit himself to the prescribed tests, and he complied so far as to
      compose a Cantata and to conduct a performance of it.  On his return
      to Weimar he received a formal invitation to accept the post.  After
      some correspondence Bach refused it, partly, perhaps chiefly, on the
      ground that the income was inadequate.  The refusal was answered by
      the groundless accusation that he had merely entertained the Halle
      proposal in order to bring pressure upon Weimar for a rise of
      salary.  The misunderstanding was cleared away by 1716, when Bach
      visited Halle again.  In the interval Zachau’s post had been given
      to his pupil, Gottfried Kirchhoff.  The whole matter is discussed at
      length in Spitta, i. 515 ff.

   79 Frederick Augustus I. of Saxony was elected, as Augustus II., to the
      throne of Poland in 1697. He died In 1733.

   80 Louis Marchand, b. 1669, d. 1732; Organist to the French Court and
      later of the Church of St. Honoré, Paris.  His arrival in Dresden
      was due to his being in disgrace at Versailles. Whether or not he
      was offered a permanent engagement at the Saxon Court, he was
      regarded as the champion of the French style, and as such the
      challenge was issued to him by Bach.

   81 Francois Couperin, b. 1668, d. 1733; Organist of St. Gervais, Paris.
      Forkel’s judgment upon his art is not supported by modern criticism.

   82 Bach, however, admired Marchand’s compositions sufficiently to give
      them to his pupils. See Pirro, p. 52.

   83 Jean-Baptiste Volumier, an acquaintance of Bach, according to Spitta
      (i. 583). Eitner, _Quellen Lexikon._ says that he was born in Spain
      and educated in France.  Grove’s _Dictionary_ declares him a
      Belgian.  In 1709 he was appointed Concertmeister to the Saxon
      Court.  He died at Dresden in 1728.

   84 It is more probable that Bach was at Dresden either expressly to
      hear Marchand or upon one of his autumn tours.

   85 Some years earlier Flemming had witnessed Handel’s triumphant
      descent on the Saxon Court, but had failed to establish friendly
      relations with him.  See Streatfield’s _Handel_, p. 87.

   86 The article on Marchand in Grove gives a different version of the
      affair, based upon Joseph Fétis (1784-1871).  According to this
      story of the event, Bach, summoned from Weimar, attended Marchand’s
      concert incognito, and after hearing Marchand perform, was invited
      by Volumier to take his seat at the Clavier.  Bach thereupon
      repeated from memory Marchand’s theme and variations, and added
      others of his own.  Having ended, he handed Marchand a theme for
      treatment on the Organ and challenged him to a contest.  Marchand
      accepted it, but left Dresden before the appointed hour.

   87 The Prince was brother-in-law of Duke Ernst August of Saxe-Weimar.
      Bach was, therefore, already known to him and showed the greatest
      regard for him both at Cöthen and after he had left his service.

   88 The reason for Bach’s migration from Weimar to Cöthen was his
      failure to obtain the post of Kapellmeister at the former Court upon
      the death of Johann Samuel Drese in 1716. The post was given to
      Drese’s son. On August 1, 1717, just before or after his Marchand
      triumph, Bach was appointed Kapellmeister to the Court of Cöthen.
      Duke Wilhelm Ernst refused to release him from his engagement, and
      Bach endured imprisonment from November 6 to December 2, 1717, for
      demanding instant permission to take up his new post.  Probably his
      last work at Weimar was to put the _Orgelbüchlein_ into the form in
      which it has come down to us (see articles by the present writer in
      _The Musical Times_ for January-March 1917).

      With his departure from Weimar in 1718 Bach left behind him the
      distinctively Organ period of his musical fertility.  Though his
      compositions were still by no means generally known, as a player he
      held an unchallenged pre-eminence.

   89 He was appointed to Cöthen on August 1, 1717, and was inducted at
      Leipzig on May 31, 1723.

   90 The date actually was November 1720.  At Cöthen Bach had an inferior
      Organ and little scope for his attainments; his chief duties were in
      connection with the Prince’s band.  The yearning to get back to the
      Organ, which eventually took him to Leipzig in 1723, shows itself in
      his readiness to entertain an invitation to Hamburg in 1720.

   91 Three Organ movements by Bach upon Wolfgang Dachstein’s melody, _An
      Wasserflüssen Babylon,_ are extant.  See notes upon them and their
      relation to the Hamburg extemporisation in Terry, _Bach’s Chorals,_
      Part III.

   92 As at Halle in 1713, Bach does not appear to have gone to Hamburg
      specially to compete for the post of Organist to the Church of St.
      James, vacant by the death of Heinrich Friese in September 1720.  He
      was not able to stay to take part in the final tests, nor was he
      asked to submit to them, since his visit to Hamburg had given him an
      opportunity to display his gifts.  In the result the post was given
      to Johann Joachim Heitmann, who acknowledged his appointment by
      forthwith paying 4000 marks to the treasury of the Church.  See
      Spitta, ii. 17 ff.

   93 Johann Kuhnau died on June 25, 1722.

   94 On the title-pages of his published works Bach describes himself as
      “Capellm. und Direct. Chor. Mus. Lips.”

   95 Forkel has practically nothing to say regarding the Leipzig period
      of Bach’s musical life.  That a professed historian of music,
      setting before the public for the first time the life of one whom he
      so greatly extolled, and with every inducement to present as
      complete a picture of him as was possible, should have taken no
      trouble to carry his investigations beyond the point C. P. E. Bach
      and Agricola had reached in the _Nekrolog_ of 1754 is almost
      incredible.  The only reason that can be adduced, apart from the
      lack of a really scientific impulse, is that Forkel was almost
      entirely ignorant of the flood of concerted church music which
      poured from Leipzig from 1723 to 1744.  His criticism of Bach as a
      composer is restricted practically to Bach’s Organ and Clavier
      works.

   96 On November 19, 1728.  Latterly his interest in music had waned.
      The fact, along with Bach’s concern for the education of his sons
      and his desire to return to the Organ, explains his abandonment of
      the more dignified Cöthen appointment.

   97 The score of this work was in Forkel’s possession, but was missing
      from his library in 1818 and was assumed to be lost until, in 1873,
      Rust was able to show that Bach used for the occasion certain
      choruses and Arias from the _St. Matthew Passion,_ which he was then
      writing, with the first chorus of the _Trauer-Ode_ as an opening of
      the extemporised work.  See Spitta, ii. 618; Schweitzer, ii. 208.

   98 In 1723 he received the title Hochfürstlich Weissenfelsische
      wirkliche Kapellmeister and retained it till his death.  He retained
      also his Cöthen appointment.

   99 Augustus III. Bach had petitioned for the appointment in a letter
      dated July 27, 1733 (Spitta, iii. 38), forwarding a copy of the
      newly-written Kyrie and Gloria of the B minor Mass.

  100 There does not appear to be any ground for the suggestion that the
      post of Hofcomponist to the Dresden Court was attached ex officio to
      the St. Thomas’ Cantorate.  Bach applied for it in 1733, taking
      advantage of the recent accession of the new sovereign, Augustus
      III., in February 1733.

  101 Friedemann was then at Halle.

  102 May 7, 1747, according to Spitta, quoting Friedrich Wilhelm
      Marpurg’s _Historisch-kritische Beyträge zur Aufnahme der Musik,_
      which appeared in 5 vols. between 1754-1778.  On the other hand,
      Spener, who first records the event, states briefly: “May 11,1747.
      His Majesty was informed that Kapellmeister Bach had arrived in
      Potsdam, and that he was in the King’s ante-chamber, waiting His
      Majesty’s gracious permission to enter, and hear the music.  His
      Majesty at once commanded that he should be admitted” (Spitta, iii.
      231 n.).  If the Marpurg and Spener dates are reliable, it looks as
      though Friedemann’s story of his father, travel-stained and weary,
      being hurried incontinent into the presence of the King is a piece
      of picturesque embroidery.

  103 Clearly this was a story that Wilhelm Friedemann prided himself on
      the telling, and Forkel’s remark suggests the need for caution in
      accepting all its details.  Frederick’s courtesy to Bach, however,
      tends to discredit the story that ten years earlier (1737) Handel
      deliberately refused to meet the King at Aix-la-Chapelle owing to
      the peremptoriness of his summons.  Mr. Streatfleld (p. 145) also
      shows that Frederick was not at Aix until 1741, when Handel was
      writing the _Messiah_ in London.

  104 Gottfried Silbermann, a pioneer of the modern pianoforte.  Bach was
      already familiar with his Claviers with hammer action, and indeed
      had offered useful criticism of which Silbermann had taken
      advantage. See Spitta, ii. 46.

  105 * The pianofortes manufactured by Silbermann, of Freiberg, pleased
      the King so much, that he resolved to buy them all.  He collected
      fifteen.  I hear that they all now stand, unfit for use, in various
      corners of the Royal Palace.  [Robert Eitner, in 1873, found one of
      the pianos in Frederick the Great’s room at Potsdam.]

  106 According to another account, which Spitta (iii. 232) follows, Bach
      played before a large congregation in the Church of the Holy Spirit,
      Potsdam. The King does not appear to have been present. The
      extemporisation of the six-part Fugue took place in Frederick’s
      presence on the evening of that day.

  107 Bach’s letter to Frederick accompanying the gift is dated 7th July
      1747. He calls it “a musical offering, of which the noblest portion
      is the work of Your Majesty’s illustrious hand.”  In addition to
      Forkel’s analysis it contains a Sonata for Flute, Violin, and
      Clavier, and a canon perpetuus for the same three instruments.

  108 John Taylor (1703-72), oculist to George II.  The operation took
      place in the winter of 1749-50. Taylor is said to have operated on
      Handel in 1751 (see the article on him in the _Dict. Nat.
      Biography._).  Streatfield (_Handel,_ p. 212), however, does not
      mention Taylor, and his account suggests that Samuel Sharp, of Guy’s
      Hospital, was the operator in Handel’s case.

  109 The actual date was July 28, at 8.45 P.M. Bach was working to the
      very moment of his collapse on July 18.  Probably his last work was
      the Choral Prelude (Novello bk. xvii. 85) on the melody _Wenn wir in
      höchsten Nöthen sein._  Facing eternity, he bade his son-in-law,
      Altnikol, inscribe the movement with the title of the Hymn, _Vor
      deinen Thron tret ich hiemit,_ whose first stanza filled his mind:

      Before Thy throne, my God, I stand,
      Myself, my all, are in Thy hand.

      An addendum to the Genealogy, in C. P. E. Bach’s hand, gives July 30
      as the date of his father’s death.

  110 July 18.

  111 See Genealogical Tables VII. and VIII.

  112 The statement is misleading.  Of the five sons of the first
      marriage, two were famous, two died in infancy, and the fifth
      abandoned a promising musical career for the law. Of the six sons of
      the second marriage, one was imbecile, three died in infancy, two
      were famous.

  113 See Introduction, p. XXI, supra.

  114 In view of Bach’s memorial of August 23, 1730 (infra), this seems to
      be  the meaning of the resolution.

_  115 Steigt freudig in die Luft,_ first performed at Cöthen, set to a
      new text, _Schwingt freudig euch empor._

  116 The well-known portrait by C. F. Rr. Liszewski in the Joachimsthal
      Gymnasium, Berlin, was painted in 1772, twenty-two years after
      Bach’s death.  It represents him at a table with music-paper before
      him and an adjacent Clavier.  Pirro uses for his frontispiece a
      portrait by Geber, which bears no resemblance whatever to the
      Haussmann or Volbach pictures.  Mention must also be made of a
      singularly engaging picture of Bach at the age of thirty-five.  It
      hangs in the Eisenach Bach Museum and is by Johann Jak. Ihle.  It is
      reproduced as the frontispiece of this volume.

  117 His _Versuch über die wahre Art des Klavier zu spielen_ was
      published (Part I.) in 1753.

  118 Forkel’s meaning can be made clear in the following manner: place
      the thumb and fingers of either hand upon the notes C D E F G of the
      pianoforte so that the three middle fingers lie more or less flat
      upon the keys; then draw back the three middle fingers until they
      form an arch having their tips approximately in a straight line with
      the tips of the thumb and little finger upon the keys.

  119 It must be remembered that Forkel is speaking of the Clavier and not
      of the Pianoforte.

  120 The Harpsichord, as its name implies, was an instrument whose
      strings were plucked by a plectrum. Bach preferred the older
      Clavier, or Clavichord, which could be regulated, as the other could
      not, by nicety of touch. See note, p. 68, infra.

  121 Schweitzer (i. 208) points out that Bach’s touch was modern, in that
      he realised that “singing tone” depends not only upon the manner in
      which the keys are struck, but, to a great extent, on the regulation
      of their ascent.

      Of Handel’s touch, Burney writes (quoted by Rockstro, p. 349): “His
      touch was so smooth, and the tone of the instrument so much
      cherished, that his fingers seemed to grow to the keys.  They were
      so curved and compact when he played, that no motion, and scarcely
      the fingers themselves, could be discovered.”

  122 At the beginning of the seventeenth century, as Spitta points out
      (ii. 34), the art of fingering had not developed.  Speaking
      generally, neither thumb nor little finger was employed.  It was not
      until the beginning of the eighteenth century that a scientific
      method emerged, a development rendered necessary by the advance in
      the modes of musical expression.  C. P. E. Bach, quoted by
      Schweitzer (i. 206), puts this concisely: “My late father told me
      that in his youth he had heard great men who never used the thumb
      except when it was necessary to make big stretches.  But he lived in
      an epoch when there came about gradually a most remarkable change in
      musical taste, and therefore found it necessary to work out for
      himself a much more thorough use of the fingers, and especially of
      the thumb, which, besides performing other good services, is quite
      indispensable in the difficult keys, where it must be used as nature
      intends.”

  123 According to Mr. Arnold Dolmetsch, Clavichords with special strings
      for each note (bundfrei) were known in Bach’s time.

  124 In the _Essay_ already referred to.  For a discussion of Couperin’s
      method see Spitta, ii. 37 ff.

  125 For instance, the Rondeau in B flat in Anna Magdalena’s _Noten-
      buch_ (No. 6) (1725) is by Couperin.

  126 No doubt the friend who prepared this trap for Bach was Johann
      Gottfried Walther.  His compositions frequently were characterised
      by intricacy.

  127 Mozart had the same gift.  When visiting St. Thomas’ School in 1789,
      he heard with astonishment a performance of Bach’s Motet, _ Singet
      dem Herrn ein neues Lied._ “At the conclusion he expressed his
      delight, and said, ‘Now that is something from which a man may
      learn.’  On being informed that Bach was Cantor to this school, and
      that his Motets were venerated there as reliques, he was eager to
      see them.  No score being to be obtained, they handed him the
      separate parts, and it was interesting to observe his manner of
      reading them, holding some in his hands, some on his knees, placing
      some on chairs around him; seeming thoroughly lost to everything,
      and not rising till he had thoroughly satisfied his curiosity”
      (Holmes, _Life of Mozart,_ ed. Dent, p. 251).

  128 There were in Bach’s time three “Clavier” instruments in use. The
      oldest, the Clavichord, as a rule, had two strings to every note,
      set in motion by a “tangent” striking them from below.  Its
      advantage was that it permitted the tone to be regulated by the
      touch.  For that reason, though its tone was weak, Bach preferred
      it.  The Clavicembalo, or Harpsichord, as it is called in the text,
      was in general known as the “Flügel,” the strings being plucked, or
      flipped by a quill or metal pin, after the manner of the modern
      mandoline. The third instrument was the “piano e forte,” or
      Hammerclavier. The Clavicembalo was also built with two keyboards,
      like an Organ, and a pedal-board provided with strings.  It was for
      this instrument that the so-called Organ Sonatas of Bach were
      written.  He possessed five Clavicembali, but not a single
      Clavichord at the time of his death. For that reason it has been
      questioned whether Forkel is accurate in stating that Bach preferred
      the latter instrument. See Schweitzer, i. 200 ff.

  129 Peters bk. 207 p. 4.

  130 The truth of this remark is very evident in the _Orgelbüchlein._

  131 Forkel writes as though he were in a position by personal knowledge
      to compare the gifts of Bach and his son.  In fact he was born in
      1749 and was less than two years old when Bach died.

  132 On Bach’s use of the stops see Spitta, i. 394 ff., and Pirro’s
      _L’Orgue de J.-S. Bach._

  133 Johann Joachim Quantz, b. 1697; flute player and composer; taught
      Frederick the Great the flute; settled at Berlin as Kammer-musikus
      and Court Composer; d. 1773.

  134 The _Nekrolog_ sums up more briefly than Forkel, in a judgment
      which, without doubt, is the very truth: “Bach was the greatest
      Organ player that had yet been known.”

  135 Johann Adolph Scheibe, a native of Leipzig, was an unsuccessful
      candidate for the Organistship of St. Thomas’ Church in 1729.  Bach
      was one of the judges.  In 1737 Scheibe published in the “Kritische
      Musikus” a criticism of Bach which, while doing justice to his
      powers as an organist, characterised his compositions as “turgid and
      confused in character.”  Bach was incensed by the criticism and
      asked his friend, Professor Birnbaum of Leipzig, to answer it.
      Scheibe replied in 1739, with a wholly unjustified challenge of
      Bach’s general education and culture. In his “Phoebus and Pan,”
      performed in 1731, Bach had already had the satisfaction of
      representing Scheibe as “Midas” and calling him an ass.  On the
      whole matter see Schweitzer, i. 178 ff. and Spitta, iii. 252.
      Scheibe conducted the Court orchestra at Copenhagen from 1742-49 and
      died there in 1776.

  136 Georg Andreas Sorge, “Court and Town Organist to the Count of Reuss
      and Plau at Lobenstein,” in his dedication thus commended Bach: “The
      great musical virtue that Your Excellency possesses is embellished
      with the excellent virtue of affability and unfeigned love of your
      neighbour.” See Schweitzer, i. 155.

  137 The following passage from the Autobiography of Hector Berlioz (ed.
      Dent, p. 11) is relevant: “My father would never let me learn the
      piano; if he had, no doubt I should have joined the noble army of
      piano thumpers…Sometimes I regret my ignorance, yet, when I think of
      the ghastly heap of platitudes for which that unfortunate piano is
      made the daily excuse—insipid, shameless productions, that would be
      impossible if their perpetrators had to rely, as they ought, on
      pencil and paper alone—then I thank the fates for having forced me
      to compose silently and freely by saving me from the tyranny of
      finger-work, that grave of original thought.”

  138 Antonio Vivaldi, A. 1743; a master of form.  That fact turned the
      attention of German composers to him; while the popularity of his
      Violin Concertos also attracted musicians, like Bach, whose work at
      Cöthen was in close association with the Court Kapelle or band.

  139 Bach re-wrote sixteen Vivaldi Violin Concertos for the Clavier, four
      of them for the Organ, and developed one into a Concerto for four
      Claviers and a quartet of strings which Forkel enumerates ( infra,
      p. 132) as a composition of Bach’s (Peters bk. 260). Bach learnt
      from Vivaldi “clearness and plasticity of musical structure.” See
      article _Vivaldi_ in Grove; Spitta, i. 411 ff; Schweitzer, i. 192
      ff.  The Vivaldi Clavier Concertos are in Peters bk. 217; the Organ
      Concertos in Novello bk. 11. Not all these transcriptions are based
      on Vivaldi. See Schweitzer, i. 193.

  140 Girolamo Frescobaldi, b. 1583, d. 1644; Organist of St. Peter’s,
      Rome.

  141 Delphin Strungk, b. 1601, d. 1694; Organist of St. Martin’s,
      Brunswick; composed for the Organ.

  142 Purcell should be added to those whom Forkel mentions as Bach’s
      models. See infra, p. 261.

  143 * See Kirnberger’s “Kunst des reinen Satzes,” p. 157. [The work was
      published in two volumes at Berlin in 1771, 1776.]

  144 Transitus regularis= a passing note on the unaccented portions of
      the bar; transitut irregularis=a passing note on the accented part
      of the bar.

  145 Spitta (iii. 315 ff. ) prints a treatise by Bach, _Rules and
      Instructions for playing Thorough-bass or Accompaniment in Four
      Parts,_ dated 1738. Rule 3 of chap. vi. states: “Two fifths or two
      octaves must not occur next one another, for this is not only a
      fault, but it sounds wrong.  To avoid this there is an old rule,
      that the hands must always go against one another, so that when the
      left goes up the right must go down, and when the right goes up the
      left must go down.”

  146 Actually the third beat of the fourth bar from the end. P. bk. 1 p.
      37 Fugue no. 9.

  147 Forkel edited the _Wohltemperirte Clavier_ for Hoffmeister in 1801.

  148 The rule is not in the _Rules and Instructions_ already referred to.

  149 Suite No. 6, in D minor (P. bk. 204 p. 84).

  150 * Many people hold the opinion that the best melody is one which the
      largest number of persons can understand and sing.  But this cannot
      be admitted, for if it were true, popular airs which are sung up and
      down the country by all classes, even the lowest, must be accounted
      the finest and best.  I should be inclined to state the proposition
      conversely: a melody which attracts everybody is invariably of the
      most ordinary kind.  In that form the statement might, perhaps, pass
      as a principle.

  151 Forkel alludes to the _Goldberg Variations_ (P. bk. 209).

  152 P. bks. 205, 206.

  153 P. bks. 203, 204.

  154 P. bk. 207.

  155 Bach wrote three Suites (Partita) and three Sonatas for Solo Violin.
      They date from about 1720 and are in the keys of G minor, B minor, A
      minor, D minor, C major, and E major (P. bk. 228).  The six
      Violoncello Suites date from the same period and are in G major, D
      minor, C major, E flat major, C minor, and D major (P. bks. 238a,
      238b).

  156 Reinhard Keiser, b. 1673, d. 1739; scholar of the Leipzig
      Thomas-schule; settled at Hamburg, 1694; composed a number of
      Operas, and for a time had a great vogue.

  157 It was precisely his agreeable operatic Arias that expressed
      Handel’s genius in the eyes of his generation.  With rare exceptions
      that branch of his work is obsolete and his cult survives mainly in
      the _Messiah,_ which supports his quite posthumous reputation as
      “musician in ordinary to the Protestant religion.” See Mr. R. A.
      Streatfield’s _Handel,_ Introduction.

  158 Schweitzer advances the opinion, which may perhaps be challenged,
      that inevitable and natural as Bach’s melodies are, they do not give
      the impression of “effortless invention.”  Bach, he holds, worked
      like a mathematician, who sees the whole of a problem at once, and
      has only to realise it in definite values.  Hence, he agrees with
      Spitta, Bach’s way of working was quite different from Beethoven’s.
      With Beethoven the work developed by means of episodes that are
      independent of the theme.  With Bach everything springs with
      mathematical certainty from the theme itself. See Schweitzer (i.
      211) on Bach’s methods of working.

  159 Johann Sebastian Bach’s _Vierstimmige Choralgesänge_ were published
      in 1765 and 1769.  C. P. E. Bach was concerned only with the first
      volume.  Forkel perhaps refers to an edition of the _Choralgesänge _
      issued by Breitkopf in four parts at Leipzig in 1784, 1785, 1786,
      and 1787, and edited by C. P. E. Bach.

  160 Forkel indicates the period 1720-1750.  But in 1720 Bach had already
      completed the _Orgelbüchlein_ and the greater part of his Organ
      works.

  161 * There are people who conclude that Bach merely perfected harmony.
      But if we realise what harmony is, a means to extend and emphasise
      musical expression, we cannot imagine it apart from melody.  And
      when, as in Bach’s case, harmony is actually an association of
      melodies, such a view becomes the more ridiculous.  It might perhaps
      be reasonable to say of a composer that his influence was restricted
      to the sphere of melody, because we may get melody without harmony.
      But there cannot be real harmony without melody.  Hence the composer
      who has perfected harmony has influenced the whole, whereas the
      melodist has left his mark only on a fraction of his art.

  162 As has been pointed out already (supra, p. 14) Bach’s earliest
      church Cantatas date from the Arnstadt period.

  163 The statement certainly needs a caveat.  No composer of his period
      studied his text more closely or reverently than Bach.  No one, on
      the other hand, was more readily fired by a particular word or image
      in his text to give it sometimes irrelevant expression.

  164 Of Bach’s church Cantatas 206 have survived.  In only 22 of them
      does Bach fail to introduce movements based upon the Lutheran
      Chorals.

  165 We must attribute to Forkel’s general ignorance of Bach’s concerted
      church music his failure to comment upon a much more remarkable
      feature of the recitatives, namely, their unique treatment of the
      human voice as a declamatory medium, a development as remarkable as
      Wagner’s innovations in operatic form a century later.

  166 It was not the imperfections of the choir but the indifference of
      Bach’s successors at St. Thomas’, Leipzig, that was chiefly
      responsible for the neglect of his Cantatas in the latter half of
      the eighteenth century.  Johann Friedrich Doles (1716-89) was the
      only Cantor who realised the greatness of his predecessor’s
      concerted church music.

  167 The _Trauer-Ode_ was performed on October 17, 1727.  Bach finished
      the score two days before the performance!  A parallel case is that
      of Mozart, who finished the overture of _Don Giovanni_ on the
      morning of the first performance of the Opera, and actually played
      it unrehearsed that evening.

  168 It has been pointed out already that Bach used the _St. Matthew
      Passion_ music, set to other words, for the occasion. No. 26 (“I
      would beside my Lord be watching”) was sung to the words “Go,
      Leopold, to thy rest”!

  169 Of the 206 surviving Cantatas, 172 were written for the Leipzig
      choir.

  170 Forkel’s knowledge is very incomplete.

  171 Elsewhere Forkel mentions only one of the secular Cantatas.

  172 There is a tradition that Bach wrote a comic song, _Ihr Schönen,
      höret an,_ which was widely current about the time of his death
      (Spitta, iii. 181 n.). The Aria, _So oft ich meine Tabakspfeife,_ in
      A. M. Bach’s _Notenbuch_ of 1725, should be mentioned.  See B. G.
      xxxix. sec. 4.

  173 Bach’s method has come down to us in treatises by two of his pupils,
      C. P. E. Bach’s _Essay_ and Kirnberger’s _Die Kunst des reinen
      Satzes in der Musik,_ to which reference has been made already.

  174 Supra, p. 60.

  175 Bach wrote eighteen Preludes for Beginners.  They are all in P. bk.
      200.

  176 Most of these movements, which Bach called indifferently
      “Inventions” (ideas) and “Praeambula” (Preludes), were written in
      1723. They are in P. bk. 201.

  177 Heinrich Nikolaus Gerber, who was Bach’s pupil from 1724 to 1727,
      particularly emphasises this feature of Bach’s teaching.

  178 See on the whole matter Spitta, iii. 117 ff. Bach’s method is
      illustrated by his _Rules and Instructions_ (1738) printed by
      Spitta, iii. 315 ff., and also by the _Einige höchst nöthinge
      Regeln_ at the end of A. M. Bach’s _Notenbuch_ (1725).

  179 Mozart wrote as follows to a correspondent who asked him what his
      method of composition was: “I can really say no more on this subject
      than the following; for I myself know no more about it, and cannot
      account for it. When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely
      alone, and of good cheer—say, travelling in a carriage, or walking
      after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep; it is on
      such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. _Whence_
      and _how_ they come, I know not; nor can I force them. Those ideas
      that please me I retain in memory, and am accustomed, as I have been
      told, to hum them to myself.  If I continue in this way, it soon
      occurs to me how I may turn this or that morsel to account, so as to
      make a good dish of it, that is to say, agreeably to the rules of
      counterpoint, to the peculiarities of the various instruments, etc.
      All this fires my soul, and, provided I am not disturbed, my subject
      enlarges itself, becomes methodised and defined, and the whole,
      though it be long, stands almost complete and finished in my mind,
      so that I can survey it, like a fine picture or a beautiful statue,
      at a glance.  Nor do I hear in my imagination the parts
      successively, but I hear them, as it were, all together.  What a
      delight this is I cannot tell!…When I proceed to write down my
      ideas, I take out of the bag of my memory, if I may use that phrase,
      what has previously been collected into it in the way I have
      mentioned.  For this reason the committing to paper is done quickly
      enough, for everything is, as I said before, already finished; and
      it rarely differs on paper from what it was in my imagination”
      (Life, ed. Dent, p. 255).

      Wagner, writing in 1851 to Uhlig, who could not understand how the
      libretto of _Young Siegfried_ could be set to music, expresses the
      same idea as Mozart: “What you cannot possibly imagine is a-making
      of itself!  I tell you, the musical phrases build themselves on
      these verses and periods without my having to trouble at all;
      everything springs as if wild from the ground” (Life, trans. Ellis,
      iii. p. 243).

      Schumann writes in 1839: “I used to rack my brains for a long time,
      but now I scarcely ever scratch out a note.  It all comes from
      within, and I often feel as if I could go on playing without ever
      coming to an end” (Grove, vol. iv. p. 353).

  180 Angela Berardi’s _Documenti armonici. Nelli quali con varii
      discorsi, regole, ed essempii si dimonstrano gli studii arteficiosi
      della musica_ was published at Bologna in 1687.

  181 Giovanni Maria Buononcini, b. c. 1640, d. 1678; Maestro di Capella
      at Modena; published his _Musico prattico_ at Bologna in 1673, 1688.

  182 Johann Joseph Fux, b. 1660, d. 1741; Kapellmeister at Vienna;
      published his _Gradus ad Parnassum_ at Vienna in 1725.

  183 See supra, p. 74.

  184 * I speak here only of those pupils who made music their profession.
      But, besides these, Bach had a great many other pupils.  Every
      dilettante in the neighbourhood desired to boast of the instruction
      of so great and celebrated a man.  Many gave themselves out to have
      been his pupils who had never been taught by him.

  185 See Spitta, i. 522; Schweitzer, i. 214 for farther details regarding
      Vogler, who died circ. 1765.

  186 Gottfried August Homilius, b. 1714, d. 1785; pupil of Bach, circ.
      1735.  Cantor of the Kreuzschule, Dresden.

  187 Christoph Transchel (1721-1800) taught music at Leipzig and Dresden;
      Bach’s pupil and friend, circ. 1742.  See Spitta, iii. 245.

  188 Johann Gottlieb (or Theophilus) Goldberg, clavicenist to Count
      Kaiserling (infra, p. 119) for whom Bach wrote the so-called
      _Goldberg Variations._ He was born circ. 1720 and was a pupil of
      Bach from 1733-46.

  189 Johann Ludwig Krebs, b. 1713, d. 1780; Bach’s pupil, 1726-35. Bach
      said of him that he was “the best crab (Krebs) in the brook (Bach).”

  190 Johann Christoph Altnikol, d. 1759.

  191 Johann Friedrich Agricola, b. 1720, d. 1774; pupil of Bach circ.
      1738-41; Director of the Royal Chapel, Berlin.

  192 Pier Francesco Tosi, b. circ. 1650; singing master in London. His
      _Opinioni de’ canton antichi e moderni, o sieno osservazioni sopra
      il canto figurato_ was published at Bologna in 1723.

  193 Johann Gottfried Müthel, b. circ. 1720, d. circ. 1790; pupil of Bach
      in 1750 and resident in his house at the time of his death; organist
      of the Lutheran Church, Riga.

  194 Johann Philipp Kirnberger, b. 1721, d. 1783; Bach’s pupil, 1739-41.

  195 Louisa Amalia, of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, wife of Frederick the
      Great’s brother, and mother of his successor, Frederick William II.
      (1786-97).

  196 The second work was published in 1773 at Berlin. For the first, see
      supra, p. 74.

  197 Johann Christian Kittel, b. 1732, d. 1809; one of Bach’s latest
      pupils; Organist of the Predigerkirche, Erfurt.  He is said to have
      possessed a portrait of his master and to have rewarded his pupils
      for good playing by drawing the curtain which usually covered the
      picture and permitting them to look upon it.  It is, perhaps, the
      portrait, recently discovered by Dr. Fritz Volbach, which is
      reproduced at p. 92 of this volume.

  198 Nothing seems to be known of him.

  199 Johann Martin Schubart succeeded Bach at Weimar in 1717.  He was
      born in 1690 and died in 1721. See Spitta, i. 343.

  200 In addition to those mentioned by Forkel, the following pupils of
      Bach are known: Johann Gotthilf Ziegler, of St. Ulrich’s Church,
      Halle; J. Bernhard Bach, of Ohrdruf; Heinrich Nikolaus Gerber,
      Organist at Sondershausen; Samuel Anton Bach, of Meiningen; Johann
      Ernst Bach, of Saxe-Weimar; Johann Elias Bach, Cantor at
      Schweinfurt; Johann Tobias Krebs, organist at Buttelstädt, and his
      sons, Johann Ludwig, Johann Tobias, and Johann Carl; Johann
      Schneider, organist of St. Nicolas’, Leipzig; Georg Friedrich
      Einicke, Cantor at Frankenhausen; Johann Friedrich Doles, Bach’s
      second successor in the Cantorate of St. Thomas’; Rudolph Straube,
      who afterwards settled in England; Christoph Nichelmann, cembalist
      to Frederick the Great; Christian Gräbner, and Carl Hartwig.

      For full information upon Bach’s pupils see Spitta, i. 522 ff., ii.
      47 ff., iii. 116 ff., 239 ff., and the relative articles in Grove’s
      _Dictionary._

  201 Forkel does not do justice to his friend.  C. P. E. Bach is
      recognised as the immediate precursor of Haydn and as the link
      between the latter and J. S. Bach.

  202 Mozart had a very particular regard for him.  See Schweitzer i. 220
      on his brothers’ abilities as composers.

  203 Spitta (iii. 262) quotes a characteristic anecdote.  To some one who
      praised his skill on the Organ Bach replied: “There is nothing
      wonderful about it.  You merely strike the right note at the right
      moment and the Organ does the rest.”

  204 See supra, p. 19.  Bach himself certainly was the challenger.

  205 When Handel was at Venice in 1708, Domenico Scarlatti, hearing a
      stranger touching the Harpsichord at a masquerade, exclaimed, “That
      must either be the famous Saxon or the Devil” (Rockstro’s _George
      Frederick Handel,_ p. 48).  Streatfield (p. 145) mentions a similar
      event which took place in 1737.  Hearing a stranger playing a Fugue
      in one of the Flemish churches, the organist embraced him, saying,
      “You can be no other but the great Handel.”

  206 Heinrich Lorenz Hurlebusch was organist of three churches in
      Brunswick.  His visit to Bach took place in 1730, seemingly.  See
      Schweitzer, i. 154.

  207 Schweitzer prints an appreciation of Hurlebusch which suggests that
      he was a man of distinct ability and “a paragon of politeness.”

  208 Antonio Caldara, b. circ. 1670; vice-Kapellmeister at Vienna,
      1716-36; d. 1736.

  209 Johann Adolph Hasse, b. 1699, d. 1783; Kapellmeister and Director of
      the Opera, Dresden.

  210 Johann Gottlieb Graun, b. circ. 1698, d. 1771; conductor of the
      royal Kapelle, Berlin.

      Carl Heinrich Graun, b. 1701, d. 1759; like his brother, in
      Frederick the Great’s service.

  211 Georg Philipp Telemann, b. 1681, d. 1767; Cantor and Musik-direktor
      in Hamburg.

  212 Johann Dismas Zelenka, b. 1679 or 1681, d. 1745; Court Composer at
      Dresden.

  213 Franz Benda, b. 1709, d. 1786; Concertmeister to Frederick the Great
      upon the death of J. G. Graun.

  214 On Telemann’s influence on Bach see Spitta, ii. 437.

  215 Handel’s second visit to Halle took place in June 1729.  His
      mother’s illness detained him.  See Streatfield, p. 110.

  216 Handel’s third visit took place in July-August 1760.  He was laid up
      by a severe accident in the course of it, and appears to have not
      recovered from it at the time of Bach’s death.

  217 Faustina Bordoni, b. 1693, d. 1783; m. Hasse in 1730.  She was one
      of the most famous singers of the day.

  218 The original has “Liederchen.”

  219 See supra, p. 37.  Compare Handel’s case.  He received a royal
      pension of £600 per annum, and though he was twice a bankrupt, left
      £20,000.

  220 The Duke was the nephew of, and succeeded, Duke Wilhelm Ernst in
      1728.

  221 The Canonic Variations on the melody are published by Novello bk.
      19, p. 73. For the Mizler Society, see supra, p. xxiv.

  222 Spitta (iii. 294) regards the statement as incorrect and holds that
      the work was engraved before Bach joined Mizler’s Society in June
      1747.  Pirro (p. 215) supports Spitta and regards the Variations as
      having been engraved at Nürnberg “vers 1746.”

  223 The first of Bach’s works to be engraved was the Mühlhausen Cantata,
      _Gott ist mein König,_ (parts only).  It was published in 1708, when
      Bach was twenty-three years old.  Forkel refers to Partita I. in the
      first Part of the _Clavierübung_ (P. bk. 205 p. 4).  It was engraved
      in 1726, when Bach was forty-one years old.  In 1731 he republished
      it, with five others that had appeared in the interval, in the first
      Part of the _Clavierübung_ (P. bks. 205, 206).

  224 Forkel’s rather casual critical axioms seem to be as follows:
      “Publication postulates excellence”; “An amended MS. implies that
      the original text was not a finished work of art.”

  225 It was the first work engraved by Bach himself, though the parts of
      the Cantata  _Gott ist mein König_ had been published by the Town
      Council at Mühlhausen in 1708.

  226 The work was published at Leipzig “in Commission bey Boetii Seel,
      hinderlassenen Tochter, unter den Rath-hause.”  The Suites, or
      Partitas (P. bks. 205, 206), are in B flat major, C minor, A minor,
      D major, G major, E minor.

  227 In 1801 Hoffmeister and Kühnel unsuccessfully attempted to publish
      Bach’s works by subscription.

  228 The Partita in B minor (P. bk. 208 p. 20).

  229 The work was published in 1735.  The Italian Concerto in F major is
      published by Novello and P. bk. 207.

  230 The work appeared in 1739.  It was intended to contain works for the
      Organ only; the four Duetti are incongruous and seem to have crept
      in by mistake.  See the scheme of the work discussed in Terry,
      _Bach’s Chorals,_ Part III.  The Choral Preludes are in Novello’s
      ed., bk. xvi.

  231 The work was published circ. 1747-50.  Five of the six movements
      certainly, and the sixth with practical certainty, are adaptations
      to the Organ of movements out of Bach’s Church Cantatas.  See Parry,
      _Bach,_ p. 535.  The Chorals are in Novello’s ed., bk. xvi.

  232 See supra, p. 65.

  233 Thus the pedal sounds above the part given to the second manual and
      is often the topmost part.  See Novello’s ed., bk. xvi. 4.

  234 Published circ. 1742; the so-called “Goldberg Variations.” They are
      in P. bk. 209.

  235 Variation No. 10 is a Fughetta in four parts.

  236 Ten of the Variations are marked “a 2 Clav.,” that is, for two
      keyboards or manuals: Nos. 8, 11, 13, 14, 17, 20, 23, 25, 26, 28.
      Nos. 5, 7, 29 are marked “a 1 ovvero 2 Clav.”

  237 The movement is constructed upon two merry folk-songs, _Kraut and
      Rüben haben mich vertrieben,_ and _Ich bin so lang nicht bei dir
      gewirt_.

  238 See supra, p. 101.

  239 In fact Bach wrote the early _Aria variata alla maniera Italiana_
      (Peters bk. 215, p. 12) for the Clavier.  For the Organ he wrote
      four sets of Variations upon as many Choral melodies (Novello bk.
      xix.).  But all except the Goldberg Variations are youthful works,
      and in his maturity Bach clearly had no liking for the form.  The
      theme of the Goldberg Variations, moreover, is itself a youthful
      idea; at least it dates back to as early as 1725, and is found in A.
      M. Bach’s _Notenbuch_ (No. 26, Aria in G major).

  240 There is no reference to these corrigenda in the B. G. edition.

  241 The work has been referred to already in connection with Bach’s
      membership of Mizler’s Society (supra, p. 112).  It was composed
      presumably circ. 1746 and in point of technical skill is the most
      brilliant of Bach’s instrumental works.  Forkel states that it was
      engraved after June 1747, when Bach joined Mizler’s Society.  Spitta
      (iii. 295) is of opinion that it was already engraved by then.  It
      is in bk. xix. of Novello’s edition.

  242 Supra, p. 25.

  243 The presentation copy of the work, which Bach sent to Frederick
      along with a dedicatory letter (July 7, 1747), is in the Berlin
      Amalienbibliothek and proves that only the first third of the work,
      as far as the “Ricercare a sei voci” (see B.G. XXXI. (2)) was sent
      then.  The latter and the remaining canons were dispatched
      subsequently probably by the hand of C. P. E. Bach.  The six-part
      Ricercare was a particular compliment to the King.  Frederick had
      desired Bach on his visit to play a Fugue in six parts but left it
      to the player to select his theme.  Bach now employed the thema
      regium for the purpose.  The first reissue of the work was by
      Breitkopf and Haertel in 1832. Peters (bk. 219) brought it out in
      1866. See Schweitzer, i. 417 IV. and Spitta, iii. 191 ff. and 292.

  244 In C minor (P. bk. 237 p. 3).

  245 The statement is inaccurate.  The work was written for the most part
      in 1749 and the greater part of it was prepared for engraving by
      Bach himself during his last illness.  None of his elder sons was
      with him at his death, and the blunders that disfigure the engraved
      copy show that they clumsily finished their father’s work.  It is in
      P. bk. 218.

  246 Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, b. 1718, d. 1795.

  247 The work was published shortly after Bach’s death, but had no sale.
      C. P. E. Bach then commissioned Marpurg to write a preface, and the
      new edition was published at the Leipzig Fair, Easter, 1762.  In
      four years only about thirty copies were sold. See Spitta, iii. 197
      ff. and Schweitzer, i. 423 ff.

  248 In 1756.  See C. P. E. Bach’s advertisement in Felix Grenier, p.
      232.

  249 The work contains six Fugues and four canons upon the same theme; an
      unfinished Fugue “a tre soggetti,” the first four notes of the third
      of which spell B A C H; and the Choral Prelude “Wenn wir in höchsten
      Nöthen sein.”

  250 Schweitzer explains: “His purpose in this work being a purely
      theoretical one, Bach writes the Fugues out in score, and calls them
      ‘counterpoints’ ”

                [  251 B A C H in German musical notation]

  252 Supra, p. 27.  The movement is in N. bk. 17 p. 85.  It is not
      certain that Bach intended the Prelude or the unfinished Fugue to be
      included.

  253 C. P. E. Bach was only concerned with the first volume.  Erk, in his
      edition of the _Choralgesänge,_ conjectures that Kirnberger was
      responsible for the second.

  254 The four volumes were published at Leipzig between 1784-87.  Spitta
      states that C. P. E. Bach was the editor.  Erk joins Kirnberger with
      him in that position.  As C. P. E. Bach died in 1788 Kirnberger’s
      association with the work is probable, especially if he had already
      been responsible for the 1769 volume.

  255 Bach’s Clavier school consisted of eighteen Preludes for beginners
      (all in B.G. XXXVI.); the two-part and three-part Inventions; and
      the _Well-tempered Clavier._  The six Preludes mentioned by Forkel,
      and which alone he knew, were published by him for the first time.
      Seven more are found in Wilhelm Friedemann’s _Clavierbüchlein_ (B.G.
      XLV. (1)), and the remaining five have survived in texts handed down
      by others of Bach’s pupils.  The eighteen are in P. bk. 200.

  256 The Autograph was written at Cöthen and is dated 1723.  It also
      contains the fifteen Symphonies, or three-part Inventions mentioned
      in paragraph 3.  Both Inventions and Symphonies are in F. bk. 201.
      According to Spitta (ii. 57 n.) the Inventions were published at
      Leipzig in 1763.  See also Schweitzer, i. 328 ff.

  257 See the previous note.

  258 The second Part was compiled in 1744 and Bach’s Autograph of it,
      though not the earliest Autograph, is in the British Museum.  See
      Schweitzer, i. 331 ff. and Spitta, ii. 161 ff.  The whole work is in
      P. bks. 1, 2; or 1a, 1b; or 2790a, 2790b.

  259 No. 20. Spitta (ii. 164) attributes it to the years 1707 or 1708.
      Schweitzer (i. 332) also regards it as a youthful piece written,
      moreover, for the pedal Clavicembalo.

  260 Nos. 15 and 16.  Spitta, admitting that the two do not rank with the
      most interesting in the collection, finds no indication of their
      being of different date from the best movements.

  261 No. 1. Here Spitta (ii. 165 n.) challenges Forkel.

  262 Nos. 11 and 12.  In regard to No. 12 (F minor) Spitta holds Forkel
      to be in error.  As to No. 11, he expresses the same opinion as in
      note 3, supra.

  263 The date 1744 places the second Part among Bach’s latest
      compositions.  On the other hand, like the first Part, it contained
      work of earlier date.

  264 Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor (P. bk. 207 p. 4).  It
      probably dates from circ. 1720-23.

  265 The MS. was discovered in 1876 and is now at Dresden. It was written
      circ. 1738 and disproves Forkel’s conjecture that the fugue did not
      belong to the Fantasia and is only partially by Bach.  The Fugue
      contains forty-seven bars.  As the Autograph is a fair copy the
      Fugue cannot be called unfinished.  See Spitta, iii. 182.  The
      Fantasia is in P. bk. 207 p. 50; the Fugue in P. bk. 212 p. 88. See
      B.C. xxxvi., xxxviii., and xlii. for other Clavier Fantasias.

  266 The true explanation seems to be that the Prelude of the first Suite
      (A major) is based upon a Gigue by Charles Dieupart (d. circ. 1740),
      a popular teacher and composer in England.  The words fait pour les
      Anglois, which head the A major Suite in an early MS., have been
      wrongly interpreted as applying to the whole set of six.  They
      merely indicate Dieupart’s borrowed Gigue. See Grove, vol. i. 701,
      and Parry, _J. S. Bach,_ p. 463.  A copy of the work exists, of date
      1724-27, made by one of Bach’s pupils.  But the composition of the
      Suites may certainly be assigned to the Cöthen period.  They are
      published in P. bks. 203, 204.

  267 The French Suites undoubtedly date back to the Cöthen period, since
      they figure, though incomplete, in the _Notenbuch_ of A. M. Bach
      (1722). They are published in P. bk. 202.

  268 Forkel’s incomplete catalogue may be compared with the
      Bachgesellschaft volumes III., XIV., XXV. (1), XXXI. (2), XXXVI.,
      XLIL, XLIII. (1 and 2), XLV. (1).  See generally Schweitzer, ch. 15,
      and Pirro, pp. 218 ff.

  269 P. bks. 205, 206, 208, 212 (fragment in F minor), 214, 215, 1959.

  270 P. bks. 200, 210, 211, 212, 214, 215, 1959.

  271 For the most part these youthful works will be found in B.G. XXXVI.

  272 P. bk. 207 p. 16.

  273 In C minor (P. bk. 200 p. 10).

  274 In P. bks. 232, 233.

  275 Suite in A major (P. bk. 236), Sonata in E minor (P. bk. 236), Fugue
      in G minor (P. bk. 236), four Inventions (P. bk. 2957), Sonata in G
      minor (BG. ix. 274; not in P.), Sonata in C major for 2 Violins and
      Clavier (P. bk. 237).

  276 There are six Sonatas for Flute and Clavier, in B minor, E flat
      major, A minor, C major, E minor, E major (P. bks. 234, 235).

  277 There are three Sonatas for Clavier and Gamba, in G major, D major,
      G minor (P. bk. 239).

  278 Forkel omits two Sonatas for Violin, Flute, and Clavier, in G major
      and C minor (both in P. bk. 237).

  279 As Forkol mentions in secs. 4, 5, 6 the Concertos for two, three,
      and four Claviers, perhaps he had in mind here seven Concertos for
      Clavier and Orchestra (P. bks. 248-254).  A Concerto for Clavier,
      Violin, Flute, and Orchestra (P. bk. 255 p. 4) in A minor also
      should be mentioned.  Also an Overture, in G minor, for Clavier and
      Strings (B.G. XLV. (1) p. 190; not in P.)

  280 P. bk. 257 p. 4.

  281 P. bk. 256 p. 4.

  282 There are, in fact, three Concertos for two Claviers and Orchestra:
      two in C minor and one in C major.  Forkel refers to only one of the
      former and regards it as antiquated by comparison with the one in C
      major.  Spitta (iii. 144) attributes the C major to 1730.  Forkel’s
      C minor in its original form was a Concerto for two Violins, now
      lost.  The other C minor Concerto is identical with the Concerto in
      D minor for two Violins and is in P. 257b. Spitta (iii. 138) dates
      it 1736. See Schweitzer, i. 413.

  283 In D minor and C major (P. bks. 258, 259).  The tradition is that
      Bach wrote these two Concertos in order to play them with his elder
      sons.  Spitta (iii. 144) finds the tradition trustworthy.  Hence the
      two works must have been written by c. 1733 at latest, before the
      sons left home.  See also Schweitzer, i. 414.

  284 In A minor (P. bk. 260).  This is not an original composition, but
      is an arrangement by Bach of a Vivaldi Concerto for four Violins.
      Spitta (iii. 149) assigns it to the same period as the Concertos for
      three Claviers, c. 1733.  See B.G. XLIII. (1) infra.

  285 The pedal on the small German Organ had only the compass of an
      octave.

  286 The Great Preludes and Fugues are, with one exception, in B.G. XV.
      The Prelude and Fugue in E flat was published by Bach in the third
      Part of the _Clavierübung._  Its Fugue is known as the “St. Anne’s.”

  287 From the figures printed by Forkel the twelve can be identified as
      follows (the references in parentheses are to the Novello edition of
      Bach’s Organ works):

            Prelude and Fugue in C minor, the “Great” (bk. vii. 64).
            Prelude and Fugue in A minor, (bk. vii. 42).
            Prelude and Fugue in G major, (bk. viii. 112).
            Prelude and Fugue in E minor, (bk. viii. 98).
            Prelude and Fugue in B minor, (vii. 52).
            Prelude and Fugue in C major, (bk. ix. 156).
            Prelude and Fugue in D minor, (bk. ix. 150).
            Prelude and Fugue in C major (bk iii. 70).
            Tocatta and Fugue in D minor (bk. x. 196).
            Tocatta and Fugue in F major (bk. ix. 176).
            Prelude and Fugue in G minor (bk. viii. 120).
            Prelude and Fugue in E minor (bk. ii. 44).

  288 The Passacaglia in C minor (Novello bk. 10 p. 214) was written
      originally for the Clavicembalo and pedal.  It belongs to the later
      Weimar period, i.e. circ. 1715.  See Spitta, i. 588 and Schweitzer,
      i. 280.

  289 They are all printed in Novello bk. 19, and are three in number, on
      the melodies “Christ, der du bist der helle Tag”, “O Gott, du
      frommer Gott,” and “Sei gegrüsset, Jesu gütig.”  The pedal is only
      required in one movement of the first, in none of the second, and
      considerably in the third.  Without question all three date from
      Bach’s earliest period, but whether they were written at Arnstadt or
      Lüneburg cannot be stated.

  290 The fullest collection of these miscellaneous Organ Choral Preludes
      is in B.G. XL. Not counting variant readings they number fifty-two,
      besides two fragments and thirteen of doubtful authenticity, of
      which two are sets of Variations.  The Novello edition contains
      fifty-two in bks. 18 and 19.  To these must be added the “Eighteen”
      Preludes on Choral Melodies, which Forkel nowhere mentions, as well
      as the third Part of the _Clavierübung,_ the _Schübler Chorals,_ and
      the Variations on _Vom Himmel hoch,_ to which he has already made
      reference in the first section of this chapter.  As he does not
      mention it specifically, it is to be inferred that Forkel was
      ignorant of the existence of the _Orgelbüchlein_; otherwise he could
      hardly have failed to introduce it in this section.  All Bach’s
      Choral Preludes, miscellaneous and in collections made by himself,
      are in Novello’s edition, bks. 15-19.  A useful key to their
      melodies is provided by bk. 20.  For more detailed information see
      Terry, _Bach’s Chorals,_ Part III.

  291 The large number of MSS. of many of the miscellaneous Preludes is
      made evident in the introduction to B.G. XL.

  292 The Sonatas in E flat major, C minor, and D minor are in N. bk. 4; E
      minor, C major, G major in N. bk. 5.

  293 The so-called “Sonatas” were actually written for a Clavicembalo
      with two manuals and a pedal.  Bach’s Autograph of them belonged to
      his second son and an earlier copy of them to Wilhelm Friedemann.
      Both are now in the Berlin Royal Library.  Friedemann went to
      Dresden as Organist in 1733 and Spitta is of opinion that the whole
      of the six Sonatas were in existence by or soon after 1727.  If so,
      they must be regarded as the outcome of Bach’s early years at
      Leipzig.  See Spitta, iii. 212 ff. and Schweitzer, i. 278.

  294 None are extant.  Spitta, iii. 213 n., conjectures that Forkel
      refers to the Trios in D minor and C minor (N. bks. 2 p. 54, 12 p.
      108) and the Pastorale in F major (N. bk. 12 p. 102.) His incomplete
      knowledge of the Organ works is revealed by Appendix V. infra.

  295 This is a pure conjecture and Schweitzer scouts it (i. 416 n.).

  296 The oldest copy of them dates from circ. 1720; they belong therefore
      to the late Cöthen period.  The 1720 MS. is in A. M. Bach’s
      handwriting and was discovered in 1814 at Petrograd among old papers
      about to be sent away to a butter dealer.  The Sonatas are in P. bk.
      228.

  297 They also date from the Cöthen period and are in P. bk. 238a, 238b.

  298 Forkel omits to mention the Brandenburg Concertos (P. bks. 261-266);
      the Overtures in C major (P. bk. 267), B minor (P. bk. 268), D major
      (P. bk. 269), D major (P. bk. 2068); and the Violin Concertos in A
      minor (P. bk. 229), E major (P. bk. 230), and (for two Violins) in D
      minor (P. bk. 231). In B.G. XXI. (1) is a Symphonic movement, in D
      major, for Violin and orchestra.  A Sinfonia in F major (B.G. XXXI.
      96) is another version of the first Brandenburg Concerto.  The
      Clavier Concertos have been mentioned supra.

  299 The set of five is complete only for Christmas Day, Feast of the
      Circumcision, Whitsunday (one of the five is of doubtful
      authenticity), Purification of the B.V.M., and Feast of St. Michael
      the Archangel.  See Terry, _Bach’s Chorals,_ Part II. 2 ff.

  300 In giving the number of _Passions_ as five, Forkel repeats the
      statement of the _Nekrolog._  The number corresponds with the five
      sets of Church Cantatas which Bach is known to have written.  It is,
      however, exceedingly doubtful whether Bach wrote more than four
      _Passions._  Only those according to St. Matthew and St. John have
      come down to us from C. P. E. Bach, who was left the Autographs of
      both by his father.  The _St. John Passion_ was first performed in
      1724 and the _St. Matthew Passion_ in 1729. Picander, Bach’s
      librettist, certainly wrote two other Passion texts, one of which
      was written for Good Friday 1725, and the second, based on St.
      Mark’s Gospel, was actually performed at St. Thomas’, Leipzig, on
      Good Friday 1731.  Spitta (ii. 505) gives good reason to hold that
      Bach’s music for this Passion was adapted from the _Trauer-Ode,_
      which he had written in 1727 in memory of Queen Christiane
      Eberhardine.  But of the 1725 _Passion_ there is no trace.  If it
      ever existed, its loss probably may be assigned to Wilhelm
      Friedemann’s carelessness, to whom presumably it was assigned in the
      division of Bach’s property after his death.  But even so, we have
      no more than four _Passions._ There exists, however, a fifth
      _Passion according to St. Luke,_ which is undoubtedly in Bach’s
      Autograph, and which Spitta is inclined to attribute to Bach
      himself.  It is published by Breitkopf and Haertel, but is generally
      regarded as being by another composer than Bach, who probably copied
      it for use at Leipzig.  On the whole matter see Spitta, ii. 504 ff.,
      Schweitzer, chap. xxvi., and the Bach-Jahrbuch for 1911
      (Publications of the New Bachgesellschaft XII. (2)).

  301 Other than the _Passions,_ the only Oratorios are the _Christmas
      Oratorio_, (1734), the _Easter Oratorio_ (c. 1736), and _Ascension
      Oratorio_ (c. 1735).

  302 Besides the B minor Mass (1733-? 38) Bach wrote four miscalled
      “short” Masses, in F major, A major, G minor, and G major.  They all
      belong to the Leipzig period (c. 1739).

  303 Besides the setting of the Sanctus in the B minor Mass there are
      four detached settings, in C major, D major, D minor, and G major.
      Of these only that in D major is probably by Bach (c. 1723).

  304 The music for Saints’ Days is included in the church Cantatas.  For
      the Birthday Odes see supra, Chap. IIA.

  305 Besides the _Trauer-Ode,_ three or four of the church Cantatas and
      certainly three of the Motets were written for funerals.  See Terry,
      op. cit., pp. 24, 44.

  306 Among the church Cantatas there are at least five for use at
      weddings.  Bach wrote also three secular wedding Cantatas: _Weichet
      nur, betrübte Schatten_ (c. 1730); _O holder Tag_ (11749); the third
      (1728) has disappeared.

  307 Two Italian Cantatas—_Amore traditore_ and _Non sa che sia
      dolore_—have come down to us.  A third, _Andro dall colle al prato,_
      is lost.  See B.G. XI. (ii.), XXIX.

  308 Only six are genuine. See infra, p. 141.

  309 Of the Motets that have come down to us as his, only six are Bach’s.
      Forkel mentions five of them in secs. 7 and 3 of the next paragraph;
      he omits _Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden._  In 1802-3 Breitkopf and
      Haertel published six Motets—the five mentioned by Forkel and
      another, _Ich lasse dich nicht,_ of which Bach made a copy, but
      whose composer actually was Johann Christoph Bach.  We know that
      Bach composed at least one Latin Motet for double chorus, and
      Friedemann’s share of his father’s autographs may have contained it
      and others known to Forkel but no longer extant.

  310 The Amalienbibliothek of the Joachimsthal Gymnasium, Berlin,
      contains one of the most important Bach collections, but it has long
      been superseded by the Royal Library there as the chief repository
      of Bach’s Autographs.

  311 The Amalienbibliothek has only one Autograph, namely, Cantata 34, _O
      ewiges Feuer._ The rest are early copies.

  312 Cantata 53.  No Autograph of this Cantata exists, and the copies
      from which the B.G. edition was printed are in the
      Amalienbibliothek.

  313 On the contrary, the Cantata belongs to the Leipzig period, 1723-34.

  314 None of the four “short” Masses is in five parts.  All have
      instrumental accompaniments.  The autograph scores of the Masses in
      A major and G major are in Messrs. Breitkopf and Haertel’s
      possession.  Copies of the other two scores, in Altnikol’s
      handwriting, are in the Berlin Royal Library.  See Introduction to
      B.G. VIII.

  315 An eight-part Mass in G was performed at a Leipzig Gewandhaus
      Concert on March 7, 1805, and was published later in the year by
      Breitkopf and Haertel.  The score is admittedly, for the greater
      part of the work, in Bach’s hand and is in the Berlin Royal Library.
      The publication of the work was under consideration by the
      Bachgesellschaft in 1858.  That it is not by Bach is generally held.
      It has been attributed to Johann Ludwig Bach (d. 1741).  See
      Genealogical Table II.

  316 The _St. Matthew Passion._

  317 A nom de plume for Christian Friedrich Henrici (1700-64), who wrote
      a large number of Bach’s Leipzig texts.

  318 Perhaps Forkel indicates the short _Sanctus_ in Richter’s edition of
      the _Choralgesänge_, No. 123, or that in B.G. XLI. p. 177.

  319 This is the first Chorus of Cantata No. 38.  It is printed as a
      separate Motet in Erk, No. 150.

  320 Forkel’s list is complete except for _Lobet den Herrn, alle Heiden._

  321 The opening Chorus of Cantata 144.

  322 Forkel refers to the _Peasant Cantata,_ or _Mer hahn en neue
      Oberkeet,_ performed on August 30, 1742.  Forkel clearly was not
      familiar with Bach’s other secular Cantatas.  See B.G. XI. (ii.),
      XX. (ii.), XXIX.  The Autograph score of the Peasant Cantata is in
      the Berlin Royal Library.

  323 Forkel’s suggestion was carried out, with varying thoroughness, in
      the Bachgesellschaft edition.

  324 Forkel’s judgment is at fault.  See Schweitzer, i. 336.

  325 Also in Wilhelm Friedemann’s _Clavierbüchlein._  See Schweitzer, i.
      279; Spitta, ii. 166.

  326 “Since you cannot please everybody by your actions and work, strive
      at least to satisfy a few; popular appreciation encourages bad
      art.”—Schiller’s _ Votiftafeln_

  327 The Cantatas are classified under Appendix II.

  328 The references are to Peters’ edition.  Excepting bk. 1959, which
      contains pieces of doubtful authenticity, every number printed by
      Peters is entered in the Chronological Catalogue.

  329 There are three other Sonatas, in A minor, C major, D minor, none of
      which is an original composition.  They are printed in P. bk. 213.
      The first and second are adaptations of material in Reinken’s
      _Hortus Musicus._  The third is a transcription of the second Solo
      Sonata for Violin.

  330 The references are to Novello’s twelve Books of Bach’s Organ Works,
      edited by J. F. Bridge and J. Higgs.  The edition is complete, and
      contains every movement included in Alfred Dorffel’s “Thematisohos
      Verzeichniss” (second edition, 1882) except his No. 24 on p. 72;
      Nos. 6 and 8 on page 85; the “Kleines harmonisches Labyrinth”
      (Dörffel, p. 88, tigs. 131-33), the genuineness of which is
      questioned by Spitta (ii. 43); and figs. 136-37 on p. 88.  The
      Novello edition also follows Rust, against Spitta’s judgment, in
      printing the “Fantasia con Imitazione” (bk. 12 p. 71) as an Organ
      instead of as a Clavier piece.  Books 15-19 print the Choral
      Preludes.  See the Peters and Novello editions collated in Appendix
      V.

  331 Printed as a “Toccata” in E major in B.G. XV. p. 276.

  332 Spitta (ii. 620, 718) mentions a Birthday Cantata written in
      1717-1721(?), the title of which is lost.

  333 The references are to Peters’ edition.

  334 The D minor contains the famous Chaconne.

  335 The references are to Peters’ edition. In the B.G. edition the
      Orchestral music is included in the Chamber Music volumes.

  336 Pirro, p. 228, holds that the first two (C major and B minor) were
      written at Cöthen and the last two (D major and D major) at Leipzig.
      Schweitzer (i. 402) regards it as not clear in which period the
      Overtures were written.

  337 In A minor, E major, G major. The G major figures as the fourth
      Brandenburg (bk. 264) and as the Clavier Concerto in F major (bk.
      248). The A minor and E major were also converted into Clavier
      Concerti (G minor and D major) (bks. 249, 251). The D minor Clavier
      Concerto (bk. 264) preserves a lost Violin Concerto in the same key,
      and the one in F minor (bk. 250) corresponds with a lost Violin
      Concerto in G minor (bks. 3068, 3069).

  338 Also arranged as a Concerto for two Claviers (C minor) in P. bk.
      257b.

  339 Bach wrote another Magnificat, the music of which is lost. See
      Spitta, ii. 374.

  340 All except the Sanctus in D major are of doubtful authenticity. See
      Schweitzer, ii. 328 and Spitta, iii. 41 n.

  341 The Concerto in C minor (P. bk. 257) is an arrangement of one for
      two Violins now lost. The third, also in C minor, is identical with
      the D minor Concerto for two Violins and is published in that key in
      the Peters edition.  The remaining Concerto, in C major, is the only
      one originally written for the Clavier.  See Schweitzer, i. 413.

  342 The work is an amplification of the Prelude and Fugue in A minor,
      already catalogued among the Clavier works of the Cöthen period.
      Schweitzer (i. 340) concludes that it was rearranged as an
      orchestral Concerto early in the thirties, when Bach needed
      Concertos for the Telemann Society’s Concerts.

  343 The scheme of the G major and C major Preludes and Fugues dates back
      to the Weimar period. See Spitta, iii. 208; Parry, p. 67.

  344 These so-called “Organ” Sonatas were written for the Pedal
      Clavicembalo.

  345 The Clavier Suites in E minor, E major, and C minor are arrangements
      of these, otherwise lost, Lute Partitas. See Schweitzer, i. 344.

  346 In Mizler’s _Nekrolog._

  347 Supra, p. 138.

  348 See the present writer’s _Bach’s Chorals,_ Part II. p. 1.

  349 Ibid., p. 4.  Four more Cantatas, of doubtful authenticity, are
      published by the Bachgesellschaft, Jahrgang XLI.

  350 See the Table of Cantatas set out in chronological order.

  351 Nos. 18, 24, 28, 59, 61, 142, 160.

  352 Nos. 31, 70, 72, 80, 132, 147, 152, 155, 161, 162, 163, 164, 166,
      168, 185, 186 (part).

  353 Nos. 145, 148 (part), 156, 157, 159, 171, 174, 188, 190 (one
      version), _Ehre sei Gott_ (incomplete).

  354 Nos. 68, 74, 87, 103, 108, 128, 175, 176, 183.

  355 Nos. 47, 141.

  356 Nos. 50, 191, 196.

  357 Nos. 4, 97, 100, 107, 112, 117, 118, 129, 137, 177, 192.

  358 No. 15: _Denn du wirst meine Seele nichfc in der Hölle lassen._

  359 The intimate personal note of the opening words of the
      Recitative—“Mein Jesus ware tot”—reveals him.

  360 Spitta, i. 231.

  361 Schweitzer, i. 103.

  362 No. 131: _Aus der Tiefe rufe ich, Herr, zu dir._

  363 No. 71: _Gott ist mein Küonig._

  364 No. 196: _Dorr Herr denket an uns._

  365 See Spitta, i. 359 ff.

  366 Ibid., i. 374.  On the other hand, Baoh’s art was visibly affected
      by Pietistic influences, as Schweitzer, i. 169, shows.

  367 Eilmar died in 1715 (Spitta, i. 361).

  368 No. 189: _Meine Seele rühmt und preist._

  369 No. 150: _Nach dir, Herr, verlanget mich._

  370 Vol. i. 456.

_  371 J.S. Bach,_ p. 87.

  372 The conclusion is based on letters printed by Spitta, i. 517.

  373 Nos. 18, 61, 142, 160, and 69.  See Table.

  374 He was born May 12, 1671 (Spitta, i. 470).

  375 The volume is entitled _Erdmann Neumeisters Geistliche Cantaten
      statt einer Kirchen-Musik.  Die zweyte Auflage._

  376 Entitled _Herrn Erdmann Neumeisters Fünffache Kirchen-Andachten,_
      Leipzig, 1716.

  377 Spitta, i. 474.

  378 Vol. i. 466 ff.

  379 See the Aria (Duetto) of Cantata No. 28.

  380 See particularly the Litanei in Cantata No. 18.

  381 Telemann was Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach’s godfather (Spitta, i.
      486).

  382 Nos. 24, 28, 69, 61.

  383 No. 18.

  384 Nos. 142, 160.

  385 See Spitta, i. 630.

  386 His influence is also detected in Nos. 27, 56, 199.

  387 Telemann also set the libretti of Bach’s Nos. 18 and 142. See
      Spitta, i. 487.

  388 Vol. i. 530.

  389 Wustmann, _Joh. Seb. Bach’s Kantaten-Texte_ (1913), p. xxii n. The
      cycle is entitled _Evangelisches Andachts-Opffer._

  390 Only Nos. 70, 147, and 186 are taken from it.

  391 Entitled _Evangelische Sonn- und Fest-Tages Andachten._

  392 Vol. ii. 131.

  393 For instance, the Aria in Cantata No. 168, beginning:


          Kapital und Interessen Meiner Schulden gross und klein,
          Mussen einst verrechnet sein.


  394 Spitta, ii. 5; Schweitzer, i. 106.

  395 Spitta, ii. 3.

  396 The two Cantatas are Nos. 47 and 141.

  397 Wustmann, p. xxiii.

  398 Spitta, ii. 12 n.

  399 The Choral is absent from No. 141.  It should be “Christe, du Lamm
      Gotten.”

  400 Schweitzer, ii. 147.  The Cantata is No. 47, _Wer sich selbst
      erhöhet._

  401 Vol. ii. 13.

  402 Vol. ii. 147.

  403 No. 141: _Das ist je gewisslich wahr._

  404 Vol. ii. 15.

  405 Vol. ii. 148.

_  406 Johann Sebastian Bach,_ p. 108.

  407 Op. cit., Note 195.

  408 Spitta, ii. 147.

  409 Nos. 134 and 173.

  410 No. 134: _Ein Herz, das seinen Jesum lebend weiss._

  411 No. 173: _Erhötes Fleisch und Blut._

  412 No. 75: _Die Elenden sollen essen,_ sung on May 30, the day
      preceding Bach’s formal induction.

  413 For instance, Nos. 67 and 102.

  414 Wustmann, by implication, only associates eight libretti (Cantatas
      Nos. 37, 44, 75, 76, 86, 104, 166, 179) with Weiss.  All of them
      belong to the early years, 1723-27.

  415 See Nos. 75 and 105.

  416 See Nos. 25, 42, 77.  As an extreme illustration, the first
      Recitative of No. 25 begins with the words, _Die ganze Welt ist nur
      ein Hospital._

  417 Vol. ii. 388.

  418 Cantata No. 65: _Sie werden aus Saba Alle kommen._

  419 Vol. i. 361.

  420 Wustmann, p. xxiv.

  421 Ibid.

  422 See the Table.

  423 They ore Nos. 6, 17, 22, 43, 48, 57, 144, 148, 157, 159,171,
      190,195, and the incomplete Cantata, _Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe._

  424 Nos. 16, 23, 63, 81, 83, 153, 154, 184, 194.  See the Table.

  425 No. 4: _Christ lag in Todesbanden._

  426 Vol. ii. 393.

  427 See the Table: No. 112, _Derr herr ist mein getreuer Hirt._

  428 Nos. 8, 20, 93.

  429 No. 148: _Bringet dem Herrn Ehre seines Namens._

  430 No. 8: _Liebster Gott, wann werd’ ich sterben._

  431 No. 181: _Leichtgesinnte Flattergeister._

  432 Vol. ii. 340 ff.

  433 The volume is entitled _Sammlung Erbaulicher Gedancken, Bey und über
      gewohnlichen Sonn- und Festtags-Evangelien,_ Leipzig.

_  434 Cantaten auf die Sonn- und Fest-Tage durch das gantze Jahr,_
      Leipzig, 1728.  He reprinted them in 1732 in his _Satyrische
      Gedichte._

  435 But see Cantata No. 148 and Spitta, ii. 693.  Also No. 19.

  436 Cantatas Nos. 145, 156, 159, 171, 174, 188, 190 (one version), and
      the Cantata _Ehre sei Gott._

  437 No. 157.

  438 Nos. 19, 30, 36, 84, 148, 197.

  439 Vol. ii. 346.

  440 Nos. 32, 48, 67, 90, 144, 181.

  441 Nos. 16, 22, 23, 27, 35, 51, 56, 58, 63, 66, 81, 82, 83, 153, 154,
      194, 195. No. 184 is an adaptation. See also Nos. 19, 36, 84, 144,
      145, 148, for Bach’s collaboration with Picander.

  442 Besides No. 80, a Choral Cantata.

  443 Schweitzer, ii. 332 ff.

  444 Entitled _Versuch in gebundener Schreibart._

  445 Vol. iii. 71.

  446 Vol. ii. 331 n.

  447 No. 85: _Ich bin ein guter Hirt._

  448 Note 60.

  449 Vol. ii. 331 n.

  450 No. 33: _Gott färet auf mit Jauchzen._

  451 See Table.

  452 No. 74.

  453 Op. cit., p. 377.

  454 See Table.

  455 Nos. 100 and 107, both of them c. 1735.

  456 No. 8, for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity.

  457 No. 93, for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity (1728).

  458 Nos. 9 (? 1731), 99 (c. 1733).

  459 No. 122.

  460 No. 80.

  461 Nos. 1, 2, 5, 8, 20, 26, 62, 78, 91, 92, 93, 96, 115, 121, 124, 127,
      138, 140.

  462 Nos. 7, 9, 10, 14, 33, 41, 94, 99, 101, 111, 113, 114, 116, 125,
      126, 130, 139, 178, 180.

  463 Nos. 4, 97, 100, 107, 112, 117, 129, 137, 177, 192.

  464 Nos. 3, 38, 123, 133, 135.

  465 P. xxiv.

  466 Nos. 3, 123, 133, 135.

  467 See supra, p. 180.

  468 Nos. 17, 34, 43, 151, 197, and _Herr Gott, Beherrsoher aller Dinge._

  469 Nos. 30, 32, 48, 57, 90.

  470 Nos. 45, 79, 110, 143.

  471 No. 28.

  472 No. 50.

  473 No. 118.

  474 Nos. 6, 11, 13, 146, 193.

  475 See _Bach’s Chorals,_ Part II., Introduction.

  476 The above article and the Table that follows were communicated
      originally to the Musical Association on March 28, 1918.

  477 General mourning for the Queen lasted from Sept. 7, 1727, to Jan. 6,
      1728. No Cantatas were sung in the period.

  478 The Church Cantatas are published by Peters and also by Breitkopf
      and Haertel.  A prefixed asterisk indicates that an English edition
      of the Cantata or Oratorio is published by Novello or Breitkopf and
      Haertel.

      The Organ music is published by Novello, to whose edition references
      are given (N.), Peters, and Breitkopf and Haertel.   collation of
      the Peters and Novello editions is given in Appendix V.

      The Clavier and Instrumental music is published by Peters, to whose
      edition references are given (P.).

  479 A Variant of the first Invention is on p. 342 of the volume.  A
      Variant of Sinfonia ix. is on p. vi. of the Nachtrag.

  480 A Variant is in B.G. XI.

  481 A Variant is in P. bk. 244 p. 109.

  482 “If genuine, the Sonata is a youthful work,” remarks Schweitzer, i.
      401 n.

  483 Additional movements of the second, third, and fourth Suites are in
      Appendix II. of B.G. XXXVI.

  484 The volume contains an Appendix of Variants, etc. See also B.G. XLV.
      (1) Appendix. Variants of Nos. 1, 3, 6 of Part II. are in Appendix
      I. of B.G. XXXVI.

  485 See publications of the N.B.G. xiv. (2) no. 5.

  486 See publications of the N.B.G. vii. (3) no. 3.

  487 For this work, in its original form as a Violin Concerto, see N.B.G.
      XVIII. (1 and     2).

  488 The D major (No. 3) and G minor (No. 7) Concertos are identical with
      the Violin Concertos in E major and A minor. See B.G. XXI. (1). No.
      6 (F. major) is the fourth Brandenburg Concerto (in G.). See B.G.
      XIX. no. 4.

  489 In a shortened form this work appears also as a Sinfonia in F major.
      See B.G. XXXI. (1) no. 5, and N.B.G. X. (2).

  490 Identical with the G minor Clavier Concerto. See B.G. XVII. no. 7,
      and also B.G. XLV. (1), Appendix, p. 233.

  491 Identical with the D major Clavier Concerto. See B.G. XVII. no. 3,
      and N.B.G. VIII. (1)

  492 Identical with the Concerto for two Claviers in C minor. See B.G.
      XXI. (2) no. 3.

  493 The movement is described as being from “einer unbekannten
      Kirchencantate” for four voices and Orchestra. The Autograph is
      incomplete. The movement is not published elsewhere than in the B.G.
      edition.

  494 Identical with the Concerto for 2 Violins, in D minor. See B.G. XXI.
      (1) no. 3. Also pp. 131, 158, 160, supra.

  495 Also in N.B.G. XVII. (1 and 2).

  496 For an exposition of Bach’s design in the “Orgelbüchlein,” see the
      present writer’s articles in “The Musical Times” for January_March
      1917, and “Bach’s Chorals,” Part III. See N.B.G. II. (1) for an
      arrangement of the Preludes for two pianofortes.

  497 See B.G. XLII. for a Clavier version.

  498 See B.G. XLII. for a Clavier version.

  499 Boosey and Co. also publish an English edition.

  500 This is a shortened form of the first Brandenberg Concerto (see B.G.
      XIX. no. 1).  It consists of the Allegro, Adagio, Minuet, Trio I.
      and Trio II. of the latter, and omits its second Allegro and
      Polacca.

  501 The Appendix contains Joh. Philipp Kernberger’s solutions of the
      Canons and his expansion of the figured bass of the Clavier part of
      the Sonata.

  502 See publications of the N.B.G. XIV. (2) no. 2.

  503 See publications of the N.B.G. XIV. (2) no. 2.

  504 Text and music are identical with the version in B.G. XX. (2).

  505 Another Allemande to the Suite is in B.G. XXXVI. 217 (also in P.).

  506 The subject of the Fughetta is the same as that of Fugue No. 17 in
      the second part of the “Well-tempered Clavier.”

  507 The Prelude is No. 11 in Peters (B.G. xxxvi. 220). The Fughetta is
      his No. 10. It is the same subject an that of Fugue 16 in the second
      part of the “Well-tempered Clavier.” An alternative Prelude (P. 214
      p. 78) is in the Appendix (p. 220).

  508 They are described as “zur vierten französischen Suite.” The Prelude
      is in P. bk. 1959 p. 67.

  509 Written respectively for the second and third French Suites (not in
      P.).

  510 A fingered exercise.

  511 The Appendices of the volume contain variant readings of movements
      elsewhere contained in it, and of the first, third, and sixth
      Preludes and Fugues in the second part of the “Well-tempered
      Clavier.”

  512 See B.G. XLV. (1) Appendix.

  513 Only nos. 2 and 3 are derived from Vivaldi.

  514 A variant text is in B.G. XLII. 282.

  515 Vivaldi’s text of the first movement is in the Appendix (p. 229).

  516 See B.G. XLIII. (2) sec. 1 no. 2.

  517 The fugal subject is taken from the Allabreve.

  518 Bach’s instrumental accompaniments are in the Appendix (p. 143).

  519 C. P. E. Bach’s collection of his father’s Choral settings was
      published by Immanuel Breitkopf in four volumes between the years
      1784-87.  They are all inoluded in Breitkopf and Haertel’s edition
      (1898) of Bach s “Choralgesänge”; the numerals in brackets in the
      above list indicate the position of each Choral in that collection.
      The latter includes also the simple four-part Chorals from the
      Oratorios and Cantatas; hence the numeration of that volume and B.G.
      XXXIX. is not uniform.

  520 The bracket states the title by which the tune is better known.

  521 The Chorals are taken from two sources, Anna Magdalena Bach’s
      “Notenbuch” (1726; see B.G. XLIII. (2)), and Schemelli’s
      “Musicalisches Gesang-Buch” (1736), of which Bach was the musical
      editor.  The latter contains sixty-nine melodies (with figured
      bass), the former seven: one melody (No. 14) is in both collections.
      The Schemelli tunes are indicated by an S within a bracket after the
      numeral.  One melody (No. 71) is indubitably by Bach himself.  It,
      and others, which may be attributed to him on good evidence, are
      marked by an asterisk.  The seventy-five settings are published in
      practicable form by the N.B.G. I. (1) and I. (2).

  522 Nos. 22 and 23 are the same tune.

  523 For a discussion of Bach’s original hymn-tunes see the present
      writer’s “Bach’s Chorals,” Part II. Introduction, pp. 67 ff. Six
      more of Bach’s original hymn-tunes are printed there.

  524 The first three Arias are published by Novello, and also by the
      N.B.G. I. (1).

  525 In the Royal Library, Berlin.  Kirnberger was a pupil of Bach.  See
      section on Variants infra.

  526 Novello omits the concluding four-part Choral.

  527 The Prelude is also attributed to J. L. Krebs, a pupil of Bach.

  528 See section on Variants infra.:

  529 Variant, P. bk. 245 p. 106.

  530 Ernst Naumann remarks, “Das Stück kann recht gut von Seb. Baoh
      herrühren.” The text is complete, and the omission of the Prelude
      from the Novello edition is to be regretted.

  531 A transcription of the second Sonata for Solo Violin, in A minor,
      See B.G. XXVII. (1).

  532 A transcription of the third Partita, in E major, for Solo Violin.
      See ibid.

  533 From the third Sonata for Solo Violin, in C major. See ibid.

  534 Both Sonatas are arrangements of instrumental Sonatas in J. A.
      Reinken’s “Hortus Musicus.” See Spitta, i. 430.

  535 Both Sonatas are arrangements of instrumental Sonatas in J. A.
      Reinken’s “Hortus Musicus.” See Spitta, i. 430.

  536 After a Sonata movement by J. A. Reinken.

  537 After a Fugue by J. C. Erselius. The original is given in Anhang II.
      of the volume.

  538 Only Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 14 are derived from Vivaldi. The others
      are founded on Benedetto Marcello (No. 3), Duke Johann Ernst of
      Weimar (Nos. 11, 16, and perhaps 13).

  539 The Toccata is by Henry Purcell. See Grove, vol. iii. p. 857.

  540 The volume also contains a Variant of the first Organ Concerto (B.G.
      XXXVIII.).

  541 The Concerto is an arrangement of one by Antonio Vivaldi for four
      Violins, the original of which (in B minor) is given in the Appendix
      to the volume.

  542 Omitting the vocal numbers, movements printed elsewhere, and the
      “Menuet fait par Mons. Böhm,” Peters’ Bk. 1959 contains the
      remaining twenty numbers of the Notebook. They are indicated in the
      above index by a P in a bracket.

  543 A separate Preface to the reprinted Suites is by Ernst Naumann. It
      is dated 1895.

  544 Perhaps an arrangement of an orchestral piece. See Schweitzer, i.
      342 n.

  545 The Appendix to the volume contains addenda to the Violin Concerto
      in A minor (see B.G. XXL. (1)) and Cantata 188 (see B.G. XXXVII.).
      Also the Zurich and London texts of the “Welltempered Clavier” (B.G.
      XIV.), with critical notes.

  546 The Preface is dated 1899. The volume was issued in 1900.

  547 The original words are “Die Schätzbarkeit der weiten Erden.”

  548 The title-page is dated 1913 and the Preface “Im Advent auf 1914.”

  549 The Aria is no. 20 of A. M. Bach’s “Notenbuch” for 1725. See E.G.
      XLII. (2) no. 20.

  550 This publication, announced for 1916, appears under a different
      title as the third issue for 1917. See infra, XVII. (3).