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While Albert Schweitzer was central to the beginnings of the Bach Revivals in the 20th century, first with the publication of J. S. Bach in 1911 and then his recording of the iconic "Toccata & Fugue in D minor" in 1935 and other organ works, the contributions of another noted keyboard artist, Gustav Leonhardt (1928-2012) empowered the Early Music Movement beginning in the 1950s and brought the explosion of Bach recordings to the forefront with his musical versatility as a performer, conductor, scholar, and teacher (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Leonhardt-Gustav.htm). Leonhardt was steeped in the Dutch/North German tradition, had rigorous early music training at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel, Switzerland, and actively participated in the 1950s development of Bach recordings with his touring Leonhardt-Consort, based in the Netherlands.
Leonhardt preceded Glenn Gould in a recording of the Bach Goldberg Variations (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6EC8MwAdZk) and extensively recorded Bach organ and harpsichord works, chamber music and concertos (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVP/Leonhardt.htm), which established his emphasis on clarity and warmth of keyboard sound. His thesis published in 1952 argued that the Art of Fugue was intended for the keyboard, a conclusion now widely accepted," says Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_Leonhardt). He also championed the widest range of early keyboard music. In 1971 Leonhardt and Nikolaus Harnoncourt jointly undertook a project, completed in 1990, to record all J. S. Bach’s sacred cantatas. Leonhardt’s performances, in which his Leonhardt-Consort provided the orchestral nucleus, including major sacred works, are elegantly shaped and often more restrained in expression than those of Harnoncourt. He starrs as Sebastian in the 1968 documentary, "Chronicle of Anna Magdalena Bach" (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Movie/F0001.htm).
In recognition of his 90th birthday, Bach, Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute, recently published its 2018 edition with six articles on Leonhard under the heading "Gustav Leonhardt: A Remembrance in the Year of his Ninetieth Birthday": "The Leonhardt Connection: From Sweelinck to Bach: Links and Gaps Between Historic 'Makers of Organists'” (pp. 2-8), Christoph Wolff; "Leonhardt's Role in the Invention of Historically Informed Performance" (pp. 9-12), John Butt; "Imagination on Fire: A Remembrance of Gustav Leonhardt" (pp. 13-20), Jeannette Sorrell; "Reminiscences of Three Performers and an Instrument Maker" (pp. 21-43), Peter Wolf; "Gustav Leonhardt as a Teacher" (pp. 44-47), Ton Koopman; and "On the Protestant Roots of Gustav Leonhardt's Style,"Jed Wentz (https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.22513/bach.48-49.issue-2-1).
These begin with the noted Christoph Wolff (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_Wolff) introductory remarks on Leonhardt as the pioneer of 17th century performance technique, revealing the North-German/Dutch tradition of music in the most learned manner while replacing "widespread amateurism" in the early music scene. "Leonhardt's searching and penetrating mind built the foundation for a new and true approach toward understanding the language of music and toward translating their vocabulary, syntax, and style in the act of performance on the appropriate keyboard instruments." He began a dialogue between performers and scholars and became a leading teacher and collaborator with keyboard students as a "maker of keyboardists," as Bach had done. Leonhardt led a paradigm shift in the Early Music movement in the 1950s, which he shaped with particular authority and persistence. His interpretation of Bach was informed by "both deep theoretical knowledge of and extensive practical experience with the tradition in which its was rooted," says Wolff (Ibid.: 8).
The conductor John Butt (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Butt_(musician)) article describes his working experiences with Leonhardt in the 1990s preparing a chorus. He had been "one of the most seminal pioneers of modern historical performance," says Butt (Ibid. 12). His "instinctive attitude to history and above all to 'baroque listening" seemed revelatory to me." Leonhardt's Calvinist reserve and temperament as well as his rigorous performing style and "undertaker's demeanor" hid "his incisive and barbed humour" as well as his being "a connoisseur and antiquarian." His religious perspective caused him to refuse to present Bach cantatas within a church liturgy which would have inhibited the free expression of deeper artistic pursuits. "Leonhardt's rehearsal method makes some historical sense, by which crucial keys to the pacing and affect of each movement could be worked on in some detail but much of the rest was left to chance," says Butt (Ibid.: 11).
Jeanette Sorrell, Apollo's Fire founder, harpsichordist and conductor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeannette_Sorrell), writes a first-hand reminiscence of Leonhardt as scholar, interpreter, and teacher, with his emphasis on the color palette that enlivens performance, as well as discipline and abandon(!) with a strong work ethic and on-going exploration of baroque style. She concludes with a visit to Leonhardt just before his death in 2012, with the still controversial concept of OVPP (one voice per part) in HIP (historically informed performance) to which the then still-active performer who opened the door wide emphasized the need for balance above all in any ensemble performance. Leonhardt possessed an "extreme palette of articulations, a work ethic and sense of discipline measured with abandon, with "imagination on fire," to reveal intrinsic beauties in the music.
Peter Wolf, educator, editor, and harpsichordist, offers a long historical perspective on pioneer performers-authors harpsichordist Wanda Landowska (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Landowska-Wanda.htm), keyboardist Leonhardt (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Leonhardt-Gustav.htm), and harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Kirkpatrick-Ralph.htm), as well as harpsichord maker William Dowd (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dowd) and their contributions to early music performance. Notable are the pioneer Bach keyboard recordings of Wanda Landowska (1879-1959, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVP/Landowska.htm). "Leonhardt was a remarkable teacher," says Wolf, and one factor was "his ever-evolving understanding of [varied] style" enhanced by his being "so accomplished in the art of improvisation." Leonhardt's insights into the empfindsamer Stil of C. P. E. Bach were a revelation to me." In the mid 1970s, Leonhardt produced and performed transcriptions of Bach solo instrumental music (https://www.earlymusicamerica.org/web-articles/keyboardists-will-cherish-leonardt-bach-transcriptions/). He was central to the "rapid growth during the second half of the twentieth century in our historically informed understanding of seventeenth and eighteenth century music" says Wolf (Ibid.: 32). Kirkpatrick's contributions involved the emphases in contrapuntal music on vocal gestures and dance styles. All thrharpsichordists were "influenced by the instruments they played" and "central to the growth of interest in the harpsichord as a serious performing medium during the second half of the twentieth century," says Wolf (Ibid.: 45).
Conductor Ton Koopman (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Koopman-Ton.htm) as a student in the 1960s recalls Leonhardt's teaching and performing legacy, ranging from continuo performing, especially on recordings, to his organ and harpsichord playing, and his legacy. Notable for Koopman was Leonhardt's "love for the complete culture of the time from which he played music," collecting furniture, paintings, and silverware."
Leonhardt's aesthetic for performing early music can "be traced to Protestant ideologies of Bach performance prevalent in Germany at the turn of the twentieth century as prompted by certain members of the Neue Bach Gesellschaft," says Wentz. While advocating the return of Bach's cantatas to the Evangelical service, these theologians and musicologists also emphasized the need to employ a pious spirit rather than an aesthetic emphasis, free from subjective ego, drama and virtuosity while using original instruments with continuo, ornamentation and boys voices. The Dutch musicians adopted and modified these principles in the 1920s and they had a profound influence on Harnoncourt, notably the Dutch Calvinist austerity and piety in selfless service. "The Late Romantic style with its massive symphonic repertory and its performance-oriented approach was an anathema" to Leonhardt, says Wentz (Ibid.: 89). Given Leonhardt's strict, stiff and severe approach to performing, Wentz questions how today's Early Music's definition of "authentic" performance practice can balance aesthetics and spirituality.
Beyond the topic of OVPP/HIP is the underlying importance of recordings in the 20th century by talented musicians/scholars/teachers who were at the forefront of engaging musicians, students, and the public in the awareness, acceptance and enthusiasm for early classical music. The Riemenschneider Bach Institute is an American organization devoted to Bach and featured in the American Bach Society "Bach Notes" (Fall 2017, https://www.americanbachsociety.org/Newsletters/BachNotes27.pdf). The Bach journal editorship begun by Elinore Barber in 1960 and continued with Melvin Unger and Mary Greer is now directed by Christina Fuhrmann and the publication previously multi-year now is issued annually. Besides the exemplary short articles on Leonhardt are the related scholarly articles involving Jed Wentz's "On the Protestant Roots of Gustav Leonhardt's Performance Style (pp. 48-92); Pieter Dirksen's "Georg Böhm's Keyboard Music: Questions of Authorship and Connections with the Music of J. S. Bach" (pp. 93-115); and Robin A. Leaver's and Derek Remeš' "J. S. Bach's Chorale-Based Pedagogy: Origins and Continuity" (pp. 116-150).
Recordings and performers have been the initial and fundamental interests of the Bach Cantata Website since it was established in 1999 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/index.htm), under the editorship of Aryeh Oron. The 20th century saw the phenomenal growth of interest and acceptance of Bach, his colleagues and predecessors. The exemplary initiative of the Bach notes to cover the work of Bach pioneer Gustav Leonhardt sets a new standard which also suggests a continuing bibliography of his legacy of recordings and writings, as well as other exemplary keyboardists, scholars, and teachers.
William L. Hoffman (January 8, 2019) |
