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Bach Books
Bach's Musical Universe: The Composer and His Work
Discussions - Part 3 |
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Continue from Part 2 |
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Clavier-Übung I to IV: Keyboard Publications |
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William L. Hoffman wrote (June 16, 2020):
In the spring of 1725, Bach reached a crossroads in his compositional journey. As Leipzig cantor responsible for weekly music in the leading churches, he had produced and presented his own cantatas almost weekly from the beginning of his tenure in May 1723, completing one heterogeneous cycle of 60 for the Sundays and festivals of the church year, and 42 chorale cantatas for the second homogeneous cycle. At this point during the Lenten hiatus, Bach began a major shift in composition with two new pieces in different genres: on February 12, he presented the occasional sacred wedding Mass, "Sein Segen fließt daher wie ein Strom" (His blessing floweth forth like a stream, by Z. Philip Ambrose), BWV 1144=Anh. 14 (text only),1 which may have four arias later parodied through contrafaction in the Mass in B-Minor, as well as (also a parody) the early version of the Easter Oratorio, BWV 249.3, on April 1 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV249-Gen5.htm).
Instead of continuing and completing the chorale cantata cycle during the Easter-Pentecost season of 1725,2 Bach instead began a third cycle, which would take two years to complete, beginning with three works left from the first cycle and nine texts by Leipzig poet Christiane Mariane von Ziegler. For the Trinity Time second half of the church year in 1725, Bach composed only a handful of church cantatas, instead turning to home and keyboard music with Anna Magdalena's second Clavier-Büchlein with Partitas 3 and 6, BWV 827, 830, from six progressive, substantive dance suite studies, BWV 825-30 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE-0Ux1PYiU), begun several years earlier, says David Schulenberg.3 "It is possible that the Partitas were composed at Leipzig expressly for publication," he suggests, with the Partita no. 1 published in November 1726 when Bach began to finish the third and final, heterogenous cantata cycle.
During his first two years in Leipzig, Bach had actively pursued teaching keyboard music and composition to his students and sons, utilizing manuscript collections recently compiled in Köthen (http://bach-cantatas.com/Books/B0221.htm: "Three Köthen Keyboard Collections") as well as the so-called French and English Suites, which were the prototype of the Partitas. It was the beginning of Bach's publication odyssey, the Clavier-Übung keyboard exercise/practice, "something worthy of his reputation as Germany's greatest keyboard player," says Schulenberg (Ibid.: 322). In the Clavier-Übung Bach was following the tradition and model of his Leipzig predecessor, the learned Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Kuhnau), who also had published four volumes of keyboard music, with the first two containing French-style suites, called Parthien, "presumably the German equivalent of the Italian Partita," he says (Ibid.: 323). The initial six partitas "might have been conceived as a tribute to Kuhnau," says Richard D. P. Jones.4 "Market considerations might also have played a part in Bach's debt to Kuhnau. For the older composer's four engraved books of keyboard music, published from 1689 to 1700, had met with enormous success and popularity," in the city noted for its publishing industry. Kuhnau's partitas had "progressed (seven to each volume) systematically through the key system (upwards in major scales in the first volume and minor ones in the second)," says Stephen Daw (Ibid.: 17),5 with the Kuhnau last reprint appearing in 1726 when Bach published his first partita.
Bach's Clavier-Übung
Bach's return to instrumental music in 1725 affirmed his initial, youthful interest in the foundation of his compositional learning now reaching full maturity in Leipzig and enhancing his vocal music. The Clavier-Übung (CÜ) "is conceptually the most innovative, stylistically the most varied, technically the most advanced, and in sum the most ambitious and demanding published collection of keyboard music from the first half of the eighteenth century," says Christoph Wolff in his new Bach musical biography.6 It "was a balanced cross-section of keyboard repertory, quite representative of its period," showing "a mastery and originality within each of the genres included," he says. These involved partitas (CÜ I), the Italian concerto and French overture (CÜ II, 1735); prelude and fugue, chorale prelude, duet (CÜ III, 1739); and theme and variations with canons interspersed (CÜ IV, 1741). The first two publications involved the participation of Anna Magdalena, Bach's second wife and copyist. Meanwhile, Bach demonstrated that his reach was further than his grasp: originally planning seven partitas in CÜ I, announced in 1730, a year prior to the published collection labeled "Opus 1," Wolff points out (Ibid.: 164), and planning a fifth CÜ publication, the Art of Fugue, when he died, says Schulenberg (Ibid.: 323), published posthumously by son Emanuel. This last was one in a series of keyboard publications done in the late 1740s and emphasizing counterpoint: Musical Offering, Schübler Chorales, and Canonic Variations on "Von Himmel hoch."
During the 1730s and 1740s, while Bach published the Clavier-Übung tetrology, he continued simultaneously to compose or compile the final versions of major vocal works: oratorio settings of three Passions (John, Matthew, Mark) and three (possibly a fourth) for feast days (Christmas, Easter, Ascension and perhaps Pentecost); and Latin Church Music (Magnificat, four Missae: Kyrie-Gloria, and "Great," "Catholic" B-Minor Mass). During the similar period as director of the Leipzig Collegium musicum, Bach composed "an abundance of large-scale secular congratulatory works for the Dresden court and other patrons, as well as chamber works, concertos, and orchestral suites," Wolff relates (Ibid.: 153). Further, Bach composed a second Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II, and also revised the "Great 18 chorales," a work in progress. The Clavier-Übung was Bach's initial effort to publish his work independently with a systematic plan for the partitas done in installments with six colleagues handling sales across Germany, Wolff shows (Ibid.: 156)
Clavier-Übung I: Six Partitas, BWV 825-30
There were various influences contributing to Bach's Clavier-Übung, beginning with Johann Kuhnau, organist at St. Thomas before becoming cantor in 1703 and succeeded by Bach, says Wolff (Ibid. 154), and the Italian concept of Essercizi and the English Lessons, as well as the French keyboardists Couperin and Rameau, says Schulenberg (Ibid.: 323). Most importantly was Handel, "who truly stoked Bach's ambition," says Wolff (Ibid.: 157), with his Eight Great Suites, HWV 426-433 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Harmonious_Blacksmith, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLXEJDU2u5k), his first keyboard publication in 1720, with Bach assuming "a quiet rivalry," says Wolff (Ibid.: 159). A direct relationship between it and the CÜ is Bach's borrowing of the D-minor Allemande, HWV 428 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBmLTQQcXU8), found in Bach's Allemande, BWV 826 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MjA6tTAjn4). A forerunner of the six Partitas was Bach's earlier six little suites without preludes, BWV 818-23 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVD/BWV818-824.htm), says Wolff (Ibid.: 160), presumably found in the first Anna Magdalena Clavier-Büchlein of 1722 but part of the lost two-thirds which also may have included the initial drafts of the otfour large suites with preludes.
In the six Bach Partitas (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partitas_for_keyboard_(Bach)), within the traditional German core format of allemande, courante, sarabande and gigue, Bach added progressive gallanterie movements (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galanterie), often in parody or caricature but labeled Menuet, Burlesca, Scherzo, Aria, Rondeau, Capriccio, Passepied, and Gavotta. Each suite opens with a different style: No. 1, "Preludium"; No. 2, "Fantasia': No. 3, "Overture"; No 4, "Sinfonia"; No. 5, "Preambulum"; and No. 6, "Toccata." In the traditional dance movements, Bach used various nationalistic inflections, while in the modern dance movements, Bach also produced great variety. The concluding Giga of Partita 1 "sets the stage for the finales of all other partitas," says Wolff (Ibid.: 162), all capricious works, although only the finale of Partita 2 is labeled "Capriccio." While the Partita collection fulfilled Bach's ambition of recognition, "the composer's uncompromising demands on both performer and listener likely limited the popularity of these works," he says (Ibid.: 167).
Clavier-Übung II: Italian Concerto and French Overture
For the second Clavier-Übung, published in 1735, Bach shifted genre gears from a unified collection of extended dance suites in multiple movements, each partita with its own distinct character, running 73 pages, to two distinct, rigorous genres of instrumental music that he previously had essayed: the three-movement Italian Concerto, BWV 971, and the French Suite, here called "Ouverture in the French Manner in B minor, BWV 831. The "change of publishing venues [from Leipzig to Nuremberg] probably spoke against the continuation of opus numbers," Wolff suggests (Ibid.: 168). Again, no composing score is extant but rather an autograph copy by Anna Magdalena, "prior to 1733/34 and perhaps as early as around 1730." The reason for the four-year hiatus between the first and second Clavier-Übung publications (1731, 1735) can only be conjectured but during that time Bach was preoccupied with creating the Dresden-style congratulatory cantatas. Given the orchestral (concerted) nature of this CÜ II music, with forte and piano indications on the score, these "call for the gradated sonic resources of a double-manual harpsichord," Wolff says (Ibid.: 169). Bach "defines the contrasting stylistic principles with great clarity," he observes (Ibid.: 173f): the fast-slow-fast concerto movements in F major, compared to the multi-movement structure of prelude and fugue leading to a sequence of seven short dances in B minor.
Further contrasts involve "melodic-melismatic vs. rhythmic-metric emphasis, ritornello (tutti-solo) and aria forms vs. homogeneous dance types and character pieces, strict vs. irregular part-writing, and fee style polyphonic continuity vs. quickly passing harmonic effects," he says (Ibid.: 172). The concerto was the ultimate statement of the form which Bach in Weimar in 1714 had begun to develop in keyboard, Italian-style concerto transcriptions, BWV 972-87 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVD/BWV972-987.htm). Bach particularly enjoyed playing "such transcriptions at the Collegium musicum concerts in the 1730s," says Wolff (Ibid.: 173). The French Overture ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCawA6r9biQ) is a hybrid piece which does not use the German suite core setting of allemande, courante, sarabande and gigue but instead has a potpourri of dances without "the latent polyphonic textures" of Bach's earlier keyboard suites, says Wolff (Ibid.), but is a unique Bachian conception, like the four orchestral suites, and is best compared with the Overture No. 1 in C major, BWV 1066 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHVJZ34VXW4), also Collegium musicum favorites.
Clavier-Übung III: Organ Mass, Catechism Chorales
The period of 1735-39 was a unique time for Bach as he sought to consolidate and affirm his presumptive standing as Leipzig Capellmeister, while intentionally pursuing his posts as Music Director and Cantor with at least five Christological compositions appropriate for the forthcoming Reformation Jubilee of 1739, honoring the bicentennial of the area's acceptance of the Lutheran confession. He intentionally, selectively, and patiently created significant works far beyond the three parodies for the Augsburg Confession celebration of 1730 (BWV 120.3, 190.2, 1139.2=Anh. 4a). It began in 1735 with the incarnate six-part Christmas Oratorio, followed by the Ascension Oratorio, which took four years to create in three stages7; and also in 1738 the Easter Oratorio, which had taken 14 years; and the four Missae: Kyrie-Gloria; and concluding in 1739 with three impressive works: the monumental Clavier-Übung III: Organ Mass, Catechism Chorales (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clavier-Übung_III) composed in three stages and published in Leipzig, the lost Pentecost Oratorio (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Lost-Pentecost-Oratorio.htm), and the final version of hybrid chorale Cantata 80, "Ein feste Burg ist Unser Gott" for Reformation Day on October 31, says Wolff (Ibid.: 125).
Among the Clavier-Übung, the third volume has unique and distinctive features as his sole, exemplary organ work, not found in the other three publications. Bach’s motivation for composing Clavier-Übung III involved four agendas, suggests Peter Williams:8 1. organ recital plan for a Sunday afternoon; 2. practical settings of Lutheran liturgy and doctrine for use in actual services; 3. compilation of French, Italian, and German musical idioms from stile antico to modern styles; and 4. learned study of counterpoint and invention, found in Bach’s final decade of studies in the Art of the Fugue, the Musical Offering, and Canonic Variations. The work's title page says it is for "for music-lovers and particularly for connoisseurs of such work, for the recreation of the spirit," says Wikipedia. The CÜ III collection (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVD/BWV669-689.htm) has three distinct parts in between the recital-like framing opening and closing Prelude and Fugue in E-flat major, BWV 552 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04cN0dbP5u4): 21 chorale settings of the German Mass: Kyre-Gloria, BWV 669-77; chorale settings of the main parts of Martin Luther's Catechism, BWV 678-89; and the addendum of four polyphonic, Catechism-like Duets, BWV 802-805.9 "With its seventy-seven pages of music, the volume stood as the weightiest portion of the Clavier-Übung, and as an organ publication it did not have any counterpart whatever in the eighteenth century," says Wolff (Ibid.: 178). It is "an extraordinary and multifaceted program that encompasses multiple aspects of liturgical, theological, and hymnological background and content," he says (Ibid.: 181).
The contents and form of Bach’s Clavier-Übung III, notably the framing and inclusion of an opening prelude and closing four duets and fugue, have puzzled Bach scholars and organists. A comprehensive exploration and explanation of this collection is found in David Humphreys’ monograph, The Esoteric Structure of Bach’s Clavier-Übung III.10 As an exemplar of Bach’s well-regulated church music from a Christological and Trinitarian perspective, Bach’s organ settings suggest that the “religious motive for Clavier-Übung III was inherent in the design of the whole series (of keyboard studies) and was in Bach’s mind from the early 1730s,” says Humphreys (Ibid.: 87). The collection is “the provision of music for a complete Lutheran Sunday,” more liturgically figurative than functional, that provides the music for a Mass and Vesper services. In its historical context, the collection is motivated in part by learned humanistic pursuits as well as the so-called Scheide Controversy regarding Bach’s compositional style, says Humphreys (see https://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVD/BWV669-689-Gen1.htm). The symbolic and esoteric ordering of the 27 movements are as follows, “Prelude in E-flat,” BWV 552/1 (French overture), represents the morning blessing of the Trinitarian Sign of the Cross, the last of Luther’s Catechism instructions; the nine Mass Kyrie-Gloria preludes, BWV 669-677, represent “Musica arithmetic”; the 12 Catechism preludes, BWV 678-689, represent the “Musica oratorical”; the four Duetti, BWV 802-805, represent Luther’s Lesser Catechism four rules for instilling their teachings on commandment, petition, and portion into young people; the closing “Fugue in E-Flat,” BWV 552/2, represents the Catechism evening blessing, also the Sign of the Cross. The chorale prelude manual and pedal versions could symbolically represent both the Lesser and Greater Catechisms as well as Luther’s advocacy in the Deutsche Messe for its use in private devotion as well as public worship. The German Mass/Catechism organ chorales involve nine settings of the Kyrie and Gloria, BWV 669-676, followed by Luther’s Catechism doctrinal teachings on the Ten Commandments, Apostles Creed, Lord’s Prayer, Baptism, Penitence, and Communion. Bach’s 21 alternate chorale settings in old and new styles and forms represent two types of Sunday services, the early Main Services of the Word and Communion, with the Missae: Kyrie-Gloria, and the afternoon Vespers/Catechism Service, observes Peter Williams in “Chorales from Clavier-Übung III, BWV 669-689.11 The larger pedal preludes probably were intended to be played during appropriate places in the Main Service and Vesper Service of the Word, with the alternate manual preludes played during the Main Service of Communion. The chorale settings were Bach's definitive statement of hymns in the omnes tempore second half of the church year of the church year, following his Orgel-Büchlein short chorale preludes emphasizing the de tempore first half of the church year concerning Jesus Christ.
Clavier-Übung IV: Goldberg Variations
Bach returned two years later in 1741 to the two-manual harpsichord, with an opus also published in Nuremberg of a single setting of a structured, multi-movement work with 20 variations interspersed with nine canon settings. With no autograph score extant, "the work's genesis remains largely unknown," says Wolff (Ibid.: 184). Another important influence of Handel is found in his second volume of Suites de Pieces de Clavecin, HWV 434-442,12 published in 1733 and including dances composed in Hamburg (1703-06), he points out (Ibid.: 185). Again, Bach in the Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldberg_Variations), quotes Handel from another suite collection, the final Suite IX in G Major, HWV 442, Variation 62 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJecU5LZR90), here the ostinato. Bolstering the variation and canonic structure is the opening sarabande-like aria restated at the end and a division into two section with the second half with Variation 16 as a miniature French overture, "thus creating an intriguing link Bach to part II of the Clavier-Übung, he observes (Ibid.: 187). Bach has a potpourri of numbers: counterpoint canons, and in the variations contemporary dances and folk-like songs. Bach also restates sone of the keyboard principles of the Clavier-Übung, says Wolff (Ibid.: 190): "formal, textual, and stylistic variety, advanced technical demands, contrapuntal sophistication, and ingenious logic of musical architecture."
The title "Goldberg Variations" is based on Bach's visit in November 1741 to the Dresden home of Saxon Court emissary Count Keyserlingk and its young house-musician, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Gottlieb_Goldberg). Keyserlingk previously had notified Bach of his title of "Court Composer," on 17 November 1736. Bach biographer Nikolaus Forkel claimed that Bach composed the work for Goldberg to play to Keyserlingk. Williams in his monograph (Ibid.: 5), suggests Forkel's source, Friedemann, was the dedicatee, noting Bach assembled the following keyboard collections for him: the 1720 Clavierbüchlein, the 1725-30 Six Sonatas for Organ, BWV 525-30, perhaps the 1722 Book 1 of the WTC, the first three Clavier-Übung, and the Six Schübler Chorales, BWV 645-50, which he "doubtless played when he became the newly appointed organist at the Liebfrauenkirche, Halle" in 1746, says Williams. Bach's closest variation predecessors were the early sectional Aria variata, BWV 989 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdINJYUE39Y, and Sarabande con Partite, BWV 990 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcPLVU9pyzg); the single-movement "Passacaglia in C minor," BWV 582 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ie52xH8V2L4), and the violin "Chaconne" from the violin "Partita in D minor, BWB 1004 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu-9frVpssg), as well as the harmonic setting of the pure-hymn Easter chorale Cantata 4, "Christ lag in Todesbanden (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43drQ_KRtyg).
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
1 Sacred wedding Mass details, see: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV232-Gen18.htm: "Lent 1725, Parodies, Secular Music," "BWV Anh. 14 Sacred Wedding, B-Minor Mass."
2 See "Chorale Cantata Cycle: Part 1": "Chorale Cantata Movement Remnants"; Chorale Cantata Cycle: Part 1.
3 David Schulenberg, Chapter 15, "Clavier-Übung, Part 1, The Six Partitas," in The Keyboard Music of J. S. Bach, 2nd ed. (New York: Routledge, 2006: 322).
4 Richard D. P. Jones, The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach: Volume 2,, 1717-1750, Music to Delight the Spirit (London: Oxford University Press: 2013: 50).
5 Stephen Daw, "Partitas," liner notes to the Kenneth Gilbert recording, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVP/Gilbert.htm: K-8, 1985: 16ff); music, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb_m61NqehI).
6 Christoph Wolff, Chapter 5, "Proclaiming the State of Art in Keyboard Music: The Clavier-Übung Series," in Bach's Musical Universe: The Composer and His Work (New York: W. W. Norton, 2020), Amazon.com; still quite informative is Wolff's initial essay, Chapter 15, "The Clavier-Übung Series," beginning the section "Old" Sources Revisited: Novel Aspects, in BACH: Essays on His Life and Music (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1991: 189-213).
7 See Peter Wollny, "6. Anonymous Vj (NBA IX/3, No. 200)," in "Neuerkenntisse zu einigen Kopisten der 1730er Jahre" (New Insight into Some Copyists in the 1730s), in Bach Jahrbuch 2016 (Vol. 102: 83ff), Eng. trans. Thomas Braatz.
8 Williams, “Background and Genesis: Clavierübung III,” Chapter 1, Bach: The Goldberg Variations (Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, 2001: 25f .
9 Wikipedia offers an extensive Clavier-Übung III commentary with graphics on-line at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clavier-Übung_III; Contents: 1. History and origins, 2. Textual and musical plan (including form and key), 3. Numerological significance, 4. Prelude and fugue, BWV , 5. Chorale preludes BWV 669–689, 6. Four duets BWV 802–805, 7. Reception and influence, 8. Historic transcriptions, 9. Selected recordings, 10. See also, 11. Notes, and 12. References.
10 David Humphreys, The Esoteric Structure of Bach’s Clavierübung III (Cardiff GB: University College Cardiff Press, 1983).
11 Peter Williams, The Organ Music of J. S. Bach, 2nd ed. (Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Press, 2003: 390).
12 Handel, Suites de Pieces de Clavecin, HWV 434-442: Foogle Books); music, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_knK9QeCBBVRsB1fRxVDy0bVFvDZLcyuQU.
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To Come: Wolff, Chapter 6, "A Grand Liturgical Messiah Cycle: Three Passions and a Trilogy of Oratorios. |
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Etta Tsubouchi wrote (June 16, 2020):
[To William L. Hoffman] Thank you for your emails, which I've been reading with much interest (all archived).
As a keyboard player, I wish to make small corrections regarding Six Partitas (BWV 825-30):
Partita 2 opens with Symphonia
Partita 3 opens with Fantasia
Partita 4 opens with Overture
Looking forward to the instalment on Chapter 6. |
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Etta Tsubouchi wrote (June 17, 2020):
Another tiny one:
No fugue in French Overture BWV 831. |
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Wolff: Bach Oratorios as "A Grand Liturgical Messiah Cycle:" Passions |
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William L. Hoffman wrote (June 23, 2020):
Bach two major compositional endeavors, the quartet of instrumental keyboard exercise publications called Clavier-Übung and the vocal oratorios for the major Christological observances of the Passion and feast days, reveal two significant features: they were conceived during a similar timeframe, from 1724 to 1739 when Bach achieved compositional mastery and they revealed Bach's achievement of major, extended works, displaying "the form, content, scope, and overall character" in the initial version of the St. John Passion, BWV 245.1, in 1724, observes Christoph Wolff in his new Bach musical biography.1 These works where "Bach moved in novel directions" on a "unparalleled scale," in "neither case did the composer anticipate how that particular series of compositions might eventually evolve," he says (Ibid.: 192). Beginning in 1724, Bach would produced three biblical oratorio Passion settings of the gospel of John, followed by Matthew (1727), and Mark (1731), taking the time to begin revising the first two. All three have distinct, unique musical and theological treatment. Here Bach was building on a Leipzig tradition of annual presentations at the Good Friday vespers alternating between the two main churches, St. Thomas and St. Nikolai, which he would observe until 1750 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passions_(Bach). These were followed by "a parallel oratorio project" between 1734 and 1738, when Bach would produce unique, extended cantatas on the major feasts in the life of the biblical Jesus for Christmas, Easter and Ascension Day. Together, these two sets of oratorios cover "the same thematic range" that Handel "would draw upon a few years later" for the Messiah oratorio of 1741," says Wolff, suggesting that Bach's oratorios are "A Grand Liturgical Messiah Cycle." Bach's librettist for all the oratorios, save the St. John Passion, was Christian Friedrich Henrici, known as Picander, whose texts for the two Passion settings of Matthew and Mark were published but not the feast day oratorios.
While other German composers generally were content to compose annual settings of the Passion and the Christmas observance, Bach as usual went much further in perfecting the historia tradition. It had coalesced with Heinrich Schütz in Dresden (1585-1672, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Schütz),2 and in the case of the Passion had reached fruition with two distinct forms of biblical oratorio Passion and poetic Passion oratorio in 1705 in Hamburg where, coincidentally, Bach visited the area while Handel was a fixture at the opera house. In the second decade of the 18th century, the two forms would achieve popular status with the public throughout Protestant Germany for almost half a century, primarily in the theatrical format known as the Brockes Passion ( https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Other/Brockes-Passion-List.htm). Fortunately for Bach, as was the case of Telemann in Hamburg at the same time, the municipal community of Leipzig welcomed both.
Meanwhile, there were certain compositional stylistic and thematic parallels between Bach and Handel. In their early composing years, both wrote music in the oratorio style or prototype format of this static theatrical genre which had begun in Italy at the beginning of the Baroque Era when opera also was developed. Handel in Hamburg may have composed a biblical oratorio Passion setting of Heinrich Postel's St. John Passion ( https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mrxoYouEKpzBau1oVAoFGJHlaPY0xuTAs), still debated, and in Italy in 1708 created his Resurrection Oratorio, HWV 47 (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Other/Brockes-Passion-List.htm). About the same time Bach composed his first version of the Easter chorale Cantata 4, "Christ lag in Todesbanden" (Christ lies in death's bondage; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43drQ_KRtyg),3 followed by a memorial vocal concerto, BWV 106, "Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit" (God's time is the best time, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snqxsCFY48U), which quotes two passages from Luke's account of the Passion, two of the Seven Last Words (Lk. 23:42-43, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV106-D8.htm).
Passion production began in earnest for both composers in the second decade of the 18th century. Handel composed his poetic Brockes Passion, HWV 48 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxw1DJVUPQo), perhaps as early as c.1715-16 in London, although there is no documentation (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Other/Handel-Brockes-Passion.htm). Bach presented a Passion oratorio in Gotha on 26 March 1717, known as the "Weimarer Passion, "BWV deest, BC D-1 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimarer_Passion,4 remnants of which may be found in the second version of the St. John Passion, BWV 245.2, and the St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244.1. Bach also presented in Weimar c.1712 a St. Mark oratorio Passion, BC D-5a, of Gottfried Keiser, Jesus Christus ist um unsrer Missetat willen verwundet (Jesus Christ is wounded for our iniquity), which he reperformed in Leipzig in 1726 and c.1747 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mark_Passion_(attributed_to_Keiser).
Christus Victor St. John Passion
Leipzig observed the first performance of Telemann's Brockes Passion in 1718 at the progressive New Church and in 1721 the first biblical Passion oratorio setting of St. Mark at St. Thomas Church in 1721, by Johann Kuhnau, Bach's predecessor, notes Wolff (Ibid.: 193ff). Bach in 1724 followed the Kuhnau format while assembling a poetic libretto from various sources, most notably in five arias from the Heinrich Brockes Passion text (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brockes_Passion). Bach also may have performed the Telemann and Handel Brockes Passion settings in Leipzig although there is scant documentation. Bach's initial setting of John's non-synoptic gospel emphasizes the Johannine theological concept of Christus Victor (Christ the King) theory of sacrificial atonement (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christus_Victor). Besides quoting verbatim Martin Luther's translation of John's gospel Chapters 18 and 19, Bach inserted two quotations for Matthew's setting: Peter's lament of his betrayal (Matt. 26:75, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26%3A75&version=KJV) and the earthquake following Christ's death (Matt. 27:51-52, https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+27%3A51-52&version=KJV). These borrowings "enhanced the dramatic impact of specific scenes in preparation for a contemplative musical moments," says Wolff (Ibid.: 197).
In addition, Bach shaped his musical structure with "noticeable textual and musical parallelisms" first identified as symbolic Johannine"chiastic" (cross-like) passages repeating the distinctive pejorative, vehement phrases, "Jesum vom Nazareth" (Jesus of Nazareth, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo3LItjPMFs) and "Judenkönig" (King of the Jews, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec3ah9q_pOM) in the crowd choruses (turbae). In his subsequent revisions of the St. John Passion, Bach made substantial musical, biblical and theological changes: No. 2, 1725, chorales choruses and arias emphasizing the substitution theory of atonement found in the synoptic gospels (see https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV245-Gen7.htm, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBhALSvlujU);5 No. 3, ? 1728/1732, a "pure" Johannine treatment omitting the two insertions from Matthew's Gospel; and No. 4 the 1749 version which restored the insertions, as in Version No. 1. This version was repeated in 1750, led by Bach student copyist and prefect Johann Nathanael Bammler.6 Apparently only once did Bach follow the strict gospel order of presenting all four passions: 1729 Matthew, BWV 244.2; 1730, spurious Luke, BWV 246; 1731, Mark, BWV 247; and 1732, John BWV 245.3. This tradition of presenting all four liturgical Passions also is found in Telemann's tenure in Hamburg, beginning in 1722 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passions_(Telemann)#Hamburg_and_Danzig_liturgical_Passions).
Three very dramatic musical passages in the St. John Passion are discussed in Wolff's book. First is the opening da capo chorus "Herr, unser Herrscher" (Lord, our ruler) describing the Johannine Christ the King (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIcinMxNYBc), based on Psalm 8:1 (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+8%3A1&version=KJV), a lament that "later transitions to become a hymn of praise, with the word 'verherrlochen' (glorify/ magnify)," says Wolff (Ibid.: 201). Perhaps the most dramatic section is the extended scene of Jesus before Pilate when Jesus is scourged, with the bass arioso/tenor aria pairing from the Brockes Passion text portraying Jesus as the "Man of Sorrows," says Wolff (Ibid.: 205): Nos.19-20, "Betrachte, meine Seele" ( Consider, my soul, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSwOKLUlphM) and "Erwage" (Ponder, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IE5JPxGQ-Cc). The third significant passage is Christ's last words on the cross (Jn. 19:30), "Es ist vollbracht" (It is finished/accomplished), set as a modified da capo aria (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNGf9GVtT6U), which reverses the normal pulse with the B section (3/4 alle breve), "Der Held aus Juda siegt mit Macht"(The hero from Judah triumphs in his might), a fast Christ the King affirmation that "claims victory over death," he says (Ibid.: 208), the same image found in the chorale "Du großer Schmerzensmann,"7 Stanza 4, "Dein Kampf ist unser Sieg, dein Tod ist unser Leben (Your fight is our victory, your death is our life). It is followed by the brief (only once in Bach) one-line recitative narrative (Jn. 19:30b), "Und neiget das Haupt und verschied" (And he bowed his head and passed away), succeeded by another triumphant (bass) aria with chorale (No. 32), "Mein teurer Heiland, laß dich fragen" (My beloved Saviour, let me ask you, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO0AIP5ojw8). In the 1725 version of his St. John Passion, Bach substituted the chorale chorus, "O Mensch, bewein’ dein’ Sünde groß" (O man, bewail thy great sin) and omitted the arioso-aria pairing (Nos.19-20), since it had referred to the original opening chorus, "Herr, unser Herrscher" (see above), says Wolff (Ibid.: 210), and was temporarily replaced by the tenor aria, "Ach windet euch" (Ah, writhe thou, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRD86P_NHjU).
St. Matthew Passion: Substitution Sacrificial Atonement
During the Lenten closed time in 1725, Bach was considering the substantial synoptic treatment of the Matthew account of the Passion (Chapters 26-27) and turned to a collaboration with his librettist Picander who had just completed the poetic text for the first version of the Easter Oratorio, BWV 249.3. Picander was in the process of publishing a paraphrase poetic Passion oratorio libretto in the style of the Brockes Passion, "Erbauliche Gedanken auf den Grünen Donnerstag und Charfreitag ueber den Leidenden Jesum" (Edifying thoughts on the Holy Thursday and Good Friday on the suffering of Jesus), BWV Anh. III 169, from which Bach was able to salvage and utilize some six madrigalian movements in the St. Matthew Passion (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWVAnh169.htm, https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00001480). Bach also used the two allegorical figures of the Daughter of Zion and the Faithful that Picander had borrowed from Brockes to build dialogue music, says Wolff (Ibid.: 214). Given the expansive nature of the Matthew Passion project, Bach delayed its presentation two years until 1727, instead substituting two reperformances: the St. John Passion in 1725 and the "Keiser St. Mark Passion" in 1726 (see https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/SMPGenesisWH.pdf).
While Bach in the summer of 1725 significantly reduced his cantor's workload of presenting cantatas for every Sunday and festival, he proceeded slowly with the St. Matthew Passion while composing instrumental works and as town music director turning to secular commissions with Picander, who had extensive contacts with the Dresden Court faction and their supporters in Leipzig, producing cantatas for birthdays, weddings, funerals, and other special occasions. Composer and librettist, Wolff points out (Ibid.: 214), produced Bach's first drammi per musica (static opera), extended congratulatory serenade-type works such as Cantata 205.1, "Der zufriedengestellte Aeolus" (Aeolus pacified), and Cantata 36.1, "Schwingt freudig euch empor" (Soar up joyfully on high), for the birthdays of Leipzig University professors, and Cantata 249.2, "Die Feier des Genius" (Festival of the Genius), a parody of the EastOratorio, for the birthday of Count Joachim Friedrich von Flemming, Leipzig governor and a leader of the Dresden court Leipzig Town Council faction that has chosen Bach in 1723. Bach began using the university Collegium musicum while exploiting commission opportunities (see http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Leipzig-Serenades.htm). Picander had cultivated Fleming and Bach produced two other birthday works, 1729 solo soprano serenade, BWV 210, and the 1731 BWV 1160=Anh. 10, as well as three works which would be stock for future sacred parodies: 1725 wedding serenade BWV 1163= Anh. 196, and two drammi per musica for the 1727 visiting Saxon Court, BWV 1156=Anh. 9, and BWV 193.1, which may ave provided music for the Mass in B-Minor. Together, Bach and Picander would produce some 60 works (many lost except for texts, most notably the congratulatory drammi per musica in the 1730s (https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://unichor.uni-leipzig.de/index.php%3Fpage%3Dfestmusiken&prev=search), key Dresden court works such as BWV 213-15 that would be parodied as the Christmas Oratorio of 1735-6.
Meanwhile, Bach and Picander worked on the Matthew Passion, with Bach choosing chorale tropes and extensive operatic like arioso-aria pairings of commentary and reflection, the poetry reinforced by suggestions from Bach's library of Passion homilies by Heinrich Müller.8 Theology, especially Martin Luther's concept of the Theology of the Cross (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theology_of_the_Cross),9 and dramaturgy played major roles in Bach's Passions, the former as a sermon construct, says Robin A. Leaver:10 introduction, key statement (Biblical text), exposition of the Biblical text, application, and final statement, and the latter as found in the Matthew Passion scenic organization of 15 scenes, says Wolff (Ibid.: 217), involving five acts: Preparation and Last Supper, Garden of Gethsemane Passion, Trials, Way of the Cross and Crucifixion, and Post-Mortem and Burial. "Picander seems to have been in ideal choice," says Wolff (Ibid.: 215). In their hands these oratorios became sacred opera, he says (Ibid.: 217), where the choir loft of the church became a virtual stage" throughout the drama in the choruses' interactions as participants and commentators, the intimate arias and ariosi as human characters and emotions, the collective congregational chorales, and the gospel story in the evangelist's narrative and the soliloquies of the main characters.11 "In its treatment of various kinds of text passages, the setting of the biblical narrative shows a degree of sophisticated stylistic differentiation that well exceeds the more uniform text handling in the St. John Passion," says Wolff (Ibid.: 221). The libretto shows the "varieties of highly individualized human expression," he says (Ibid.: 223), "to address complex issues of faith symbolism and theological doctrine," particularly arias such as "Mache dir, mein Herze rein" (Make yourself pure, my heart, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKc00BHvaas), with "straightforward and unpretentious language [that] stood in contrast to the more convoluted style of the Brockes libretto, so that the St. Matthew Passion "stands alone as a conceptually unified and thoroughly original opus," he concludes (Ibid.).
St. Mark Passion: Concise Passion Gospel.
In the fall of 1727 Bach had the second of three opportunities to compose an extended funeral cantata for different royalty. Following the premier of the St. Matthew Passion on Good Friday, Bach presented the Funeral Ode, Cantata 198, "Laß, Fürstin, lass noch einen Strahl" (Let, Princess, let one more ray), on 17 October at the University Church for Christiane Eberhardine, Queen of Poland and Electoral Princess of Saxony. Its Tombeau core music of opening and closing choruses and three internal arias was suitable to be parodied as Passion music (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgv3e61QyWo), supported by an unusual, antique-sounding orchestra of pairs of transverse flutes, oboes d’amore, violas da gamba, and lutes plus strings and continuo of clavichord (played by Bach) and organ. Previously, Bach had composed the Weimar Funeral Cantata, “Was ist, das wir Leben nennen?” (What is this that we call life?), BWV 1142 (BC B-19),12 for the funeral of his beloved Prince Johan Ernst of Saxe-Weimar (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Johann_Ernst_of_Saxe-Weimar) on 2 April 1716. Its 22 movements involved three choruses, four chorales, six recitatives, two ariosi, and seven arias; some of this music may have been adapted for the "Weimarer Passion, "BWV deest, BC D-1 in 1717 but is not extant. Finally, Bach presented the extended Cöthen funeral music,13 BWV 1143=244a, “Klagt, Kinder, klagt es aller Welt” (Cry, children, cry to all the world), for his beloved Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, on 23 March 1729. This Picander parody has music from the Funeral Ode and the St. Matthew Passion and is found in three recent reconstructions. "The versatile Henrici, librettist for the Cöthen funeral piece and by now Bach's house poet, agreed to parody the [Johann Christoph] Gottsched text of the funeral ode for the projected St. Mark Passion," says Wolff (Ibid.: 224).
Three and-a-half years following the Funeral Ode, Bach on Good Friday 1731 at the St. Thomas Church completed the tetrology of oratorio Passion presentations with his St. Mark Passion, BWV 247.1.14 This was Bach's first substantial parody of a major vocal work, leading to the feast day oratorios in the latter 1730s and the completion of the Mass in B Minor in 1749. The original music of the St. Mark Passion is lost but much has been reconstructed in the past half century through the process of parody or new-text underlay using previously-composed music. Increasingly, Bach scholars have accepted the work's existence following debates about the lack of source-critical evidence and pejorative parody concerns. This is Bach's most concise Passion setting, lasting about 90 minutes and being faithful to Mark's synoptic gospel account (Chapters 14-15), the first extant gospel and considered the "Passion Gospel."15 While no definitive version is extant, the Picander complete libretto of the 1744 second version, considered the definitive source showing a straightforward, single-ensemble account with only eight internal arias but with 16 chorales, both Passion and non-Passion hymns. Modest "revisions were carried out about 1740 and surely in conjunction with a performance of the work" with "a new score copy as well," says Wolff (Ibid.: 328). It "was chronologically the last of the three [Passions], and as such perhaps the most modern in terms of concept and style," he says (Ibid.: 229). Thus, "this 'new' work made substantial of preexisting musical material, and thereby also establishing a model for the later [feast day] oratorio trilogy," he suggests (Ibid: 223f). It is possible "to venture a partial reconstruction capable of conveying a general notion pf the St. Mark Passion's character," says Wolff in his essay, "Complete Bach: what is missing," in Bach 333: Contents in J. S. Bach: The new Complete Edition (Berlin: Deutsche Grammophon, 2018: 9).
Addendum: Further Passion settings
The discovery of the 1744 St. Mark Passion libretto in 2007 also involved the discovery of a libretto for Gottfried Henirich Stölzel's Passion-oratorio Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld, which Bach performed on Good Friday 1734.16 This confirmed that Passion oratorios were part of the annual vespers and that Bach may have presented two other Passion oratorios, Telemann's Brockes Passion, TWV 5:1, in 1739, and Handel's Brockes Passion, HWV 48, in 1746. In addition, Bprovided two pasticcio Passion oratorios: Wer ist der, so von Edom kömmt, after 1745 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wer_ist_der,_so_von_Edom_kömmt), and Jesus Christus ist um unsrer Missetat willen verwundet (Jesus Christ is wounded for our iniquity, Keiser St. Mark Passion) with seven arias from Handel's Brockes Passion, 1747/48 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV1088-Gen.htm: "Discussions in the Week of March 31, 2013"), possibly conducted by Johann Christoph Altnikol.17
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
1 Christoph Wolff, Chapter 6, "A Grand Liturgical Messiah Cycle: Three Passions and a Trilogy of Oratorios, in Bach's Musical Universe: The Composer and His Work (New York: W. W. Norton, 2020: 192), Amazon.com; Google Books.
2 See Wolfram Steude, "Passions, Resurrection History and Dialogues" (https://www.brilliantclassics.com/media/511841/94361-Downloadable-Booklet.pdf: 17-20, texts passim); also William L. Hoffman, "Bach’s Dramatic Music: Serenades, Drammi per Musica, Oratorios" (2008), https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/HoffmanBachDramaII.htm.
3 Bach Cantata 4, Bach Digital Bach Digital.
4 Bach "Weimarer Passion, Bach Digital Bach Digital).
5 St. John Passion, BWV 245.2, Bacxh Digital.
6 See Robin A. Leaver, Chapter 20, "Life and Works: 1685-1750)," in The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach, ed. Robin A. Leaver (London: Routledge, 2017: 538), Google Books.
7 "Man of Sorrows" (Isaiah 53:3): Meister Francke painting, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_of_Sorrows); music, Martin Jahn's "Du großer Schmerzensmann," Bach BWV 300 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi-2JJTDnKw, Das neu Leipziger Gesangbuch No. 82; see Handel's "He was despised" from Messiah, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CP4JSVMBdZg.
8 For theological influences in Bach's music, see Martin Petzoldt, Bach-Kommentar, Vol. 3, Die Passionen, geistliche Kantaten für Kasualien und ohne Bestimmung (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2018: 904); Google Translaste.
9 See William L. Hoffman, Spiritual Sources of Bach's St. Matthew Passion (2009), https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/SMP-Spiritual-Hoffman.htm).
10 Robin A. Leaver, "J. S. Bach as Preacher: His Passions and Music in Worship," Church Music Pamphlet Series (St. Louis MO: Concordia, 1984: 26.
11 Other Bach scholars have begun reinforcing this concept of oratorio as drama, notably Marcus Rather's Bach's Major Vocal Works: Music, Drama, Liturgy (New Haven CN: Yale University Press, 2016; https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Books/B0216.htm), and his Johann Sebastian Bach's Christmas Oratorio: Music, Theology, Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016); Daniel R. Melamed's Listening to Bach: The Mass in B Minor and the Christmas Oratorio (New York: Oxford University Press: 2018); and Eric Chafe"s J. S. Bach's Johaninnine Theology: The St. John Passion and the Cantatas for Spring 1725 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).
12 Weimar Funeral Cantata: Bach Digital; lyrics ?Salomo Franck (Bach Digital); description, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Weimar-Leipzig-Sorrow.htm.]: "Weimar Funeral Cantata BC 19."
13 Köthen funeral music: Bach Digital; text, Bach Digital, http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV244a.html; description, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV244a.htm; details, and diiscography, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klagt,_Kinder,_klagt_es_aller_Welt,_BWV_244a; recording https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/classic/detail/-/art/koethener-trauermusik-bwv-244a/hnum/8375831.
14 St. Mark Passion, BWV 247: Bach Digital; https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV247.htm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mark_Passion,_BWV_247; discussion, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV247-Gen2.htm; lyrics, http://www.uvm.edu/~classics/faculty/bach/BWV247.html; print music, Google Translate; recordings, https://vimeo.com/261729606; https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV247.htm, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV247.htm (notes)
https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Pic-Rec-BIG/SRP-Sierra-A-R02e[Audio-20190419-prog].pdf .
15 See also William L. Hoffman, Narrative Parody in Bach's St. Mark Passion (2012, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/BWV247-Hoffman.pdf).
16 See Tatjana Shabalina, "Discoveries in St Petersburg," in Understanding Bach, 9 (Bach Network UK 2014: 25-48), based on Shabalina '“Texte zur Music” in Sankt Petersburg: Neue Quellen zur ... Weitere Funde', Bach-Jahrbuch, 95 (2009), 11–48.
17 Johann Christoph Altnikol, Bach Digital.
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To Come: Christoph Wolff: "A Trilogy of Oratorios," sacred opera for feast days. |
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Continue on Part 4 |
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Christoph Wolff : Short Biography
Piano Transcriptions: Works | Recordings
Books: The Bach Reader / The New Bach Reader | The World of the Bach Cantatas | Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician | Bach's Musical Universe: The Composer and His Work: Details & Discussions Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 |
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