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William L. Hoffman wrote (January 12, 2022):
Noted Bach scholar Hans-Joachim Schulze (b1934, Wikipedia) brings a half-century of Bach studies to the fore in his monograph of the cantatas in Die Bach-Kantaten: Einführung zu sämtlichen Kantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs.1 As an introduction to all Bach's extant cantatas, it covers in narrative style ( GBV|VZG) the following cantata categories: A. all the extant sacred cantatas for Sundays and feast days of the church year, including those without service designation (BWV 117, 192, 97, 100, 200, 1045, 50); B. scared special service occasions (town council elections, weddings, grief/memorial services, repentance, organ dedication); D. oratorios (extended cantatas); and G. worldly cantatas for courts, nobility, bourgeoise. These cantata categories are based on the Bach Compendium (BC, BCW) that Schultze and Christoph Wolff compiled and edited (1985-89), which is found in Die Bach-Kantaten Anhang (Appendix) with Anmerkungen (Remarks) on the 226 cantatas discussed (Ibid.: 739ff) of bibliographical notes citing the individual cantatas and references by BC number. This is followed by the Literature with abbreviations (Ibid.: 746), Personnel Names (Ibid.: 747ff), Cantata Titles (Alphabetical, Ibid.: 754ff), and a concluding Konkordanz cross-referenced from BWV to BC numbers (Ibid.; 759f; BWV 1-215, 248, 249, 1045, 1083; Anh. 10-12, 18).
Schulze Credentials, Perspective
Schulze has impressive credentials, including a substantial Bach Bibliography of 558 listings,2 as well as a 2017 published collection of 60 essays in seven topical chapters, Bach-Facetten.3 In the field of Bach cantatas,4 the most studied and written-about Bach genre, Schulze ranks with other German Bach scholars (3. Cantata Monographs) Werner Neumann (3.2), Christoph Wolff (3.7), Konrad Küster (3.8), and Alfred Dürr (3.9). Schulze is probably one of the most traditional of Bach scholars, grounded in source-based studies, critical commentary, and science-based conclusions while avoiding overt speculation. <<Various still-controversial topics were outlined in Schulze's 2004 essay, "Bach in the Early Twenty-first Century,"5 a cautionary assessment of Bach scholarship and challenges in the future. Schulze seems skeptical of the OVPP (one-voice-per-part) concept, the "current vogue for 'updating' and reinterpreting" works, the failure to use both the "why" and "how" (motive and method) questions in studies, the search for hidden meanings such as "abstract numerical relationships," the reconstruction of lost works such as the St. Mark Passion, and equal temperament. Instead, Schulze advocates "a close collaboration of scholarship and practice.">>
Parody Process, Criticism
While Schulze has been quite conservative in his overall approach to Bach scholarship, one topical area in which he particularly has furthered Bach studies is parody or new-text underlay in Bach-Facetten, Section 4, Texts and Parodies, Chapter A, "Bachs Parodieverfahren" (Bach's Parody Proceedings), which "is an overview of the different types of parodies in Bach's vocal compositions," says reviewer Markus Rathey,6 and "The text is one of the standard resources for every student of Bach's parody technique." The most recent of Schulze's writings on parody is "Parody and Text Quality in the Vocal Works of J. S. Bach."7 Parody challenges faced Bach scholarship in the 19th century, notably the Romantics Bernhard Max (1828), and Albert Schweitzer (1908), says Schulze (Ibid.; 167). While the "extensive application of the parody procedure is characteristic" of Bach, this extensive application is "a problem because the relationship between text and music is often significantly damaged."8 "This problem is exacerbated by the unparalleled inferiority of the texts, which is widely observed, and by the degree of incompetence of Bach's librettists." "Future generations should not be burdened with these 'heinous German sacred text's (in the words of Carl Friedrich Zelter [Wikipedia]), and certainly not with such texts that resulted from the parody procedure" which in self-borrowing can be considered merely a lazy person's self-plagiarism. Previously, Schulze points out, he had shown that these sacred texts "usually involve a well-balanced interplay of theological content, linguistic quality, and suitability for musical setting," often showing "extensive knowledge of the Bible and hymnal." Bach's parody is explored in the "en-block" wholesale re-texting from Köthen profane serenades to Leipzig first cycle feast-day cantatas (BWV 66, 134, 174, 185, 194), while preserving much of the original text, possibly by Bach himself, thus causing him to abandon "the carelessly entered terrain of the en-block parodies," says Schulze (Ibid.: 175). "With other approaches, higher-quality standards could be recognized," Schulze acknowledges.
Parody Challenges
Two related Schulze English-language articles on parody found in the periodical Bach are "The Parody Process in Bach's Music: An Old Problem Reconsidered"9 and "Bach's Secular Cantatas: A New Look at the Sources."10 In the first article on parody process, published in 1989, Schulze provides a historical summary of the initial reception of Bach parody in the 19th century which tended to minimize and annex this process (Ibid.: 8) — and which continues in some scholarly quarters to this day!11 Citing various 20th century scholars, Schulze examines Friedrich Smend's initial, fruitful discovery12 of early versions of Bach vocal works (as well as surviving texts with lost music),13 as well as subtle parody ingredients such as the distinction between "compositional" or random text reuse for a new occasion and "poetic" or deliberate re-texting from a profane to sacred cantata (from profane occasional to sacred liturgical context). Schulze also discusses the pervasive parody practice (also called contrafacta) in the Late Baroque period, notably two Bach secular arias planned as parodied sacred lullabies in the Christmas Oratorio. These show considerable forethought and teamwork with Bach's favorite parodist, Picander, suggesting that the original versions of the occasional drammi per musica, BWV 213-15, "could have been composed with a view to the oratorio, already planned," says Schulze (Ibid.; 17). Schulze concludes his essay by considering "Why J. S. Bach availed himself of the parody process, and what place it has in his works in general" (Ibid.: 18). Bach's motive involved "the assembly of a working repertory" through elaboratio and variatio, also influenced by "growing self-imposed demands for quality that came with old age," he suggests (Ibid.: 19), and greater restraint and deliberation beginning in 1725. "Possibly, a creative crisis resulting from fatigue caused the early demise of the chorale cantata cycle and prevented its completion." "The young Bach was perhaps the first to apply to composition the maxim of improving something that was not good enough as it was found; the repertory available to him did not meet his demands," says Schulze (Ibid.: 19). "Bach's last complete large work, the B-Minor Mass, also speaks to a fondness for improvement and things improved." "The absorption of material from" the "Mourning Ode" (Cantata 198) "into the St. Mark Passion by means of parody offered a suitable opportunity for reperformance of the most important parts of this choice work of art." The "great quantity of surviving material by" Bach's colleagues Stölzel and Graupner, says Schulze (Ibid.: 20), "speaks for an ad-hoc approach to composition." Concludes Schulze: "Bach's parody process must also be seen in this light" of striving for perfection.
Secular Cantatas Parodied as Church Works
Says Schulze in his 1990 essay, "Bach's Secular Cantatas: A New Look at the Sources" (Ibid.: 27): Bach's transformof materials from occasional profane cantatas into sacred liturgical compositions entailed certain textual challenges involving original quality and references to "forgotten persons or unimportant events" to adaptation to the church service. Bach's alterations which Schulze assesses involve Hunting Cantata 208 to church cantatas BWV 68 and 149 (Ibid.; 29); Cöthen serenades BWV 173a, 134a, 66a, 184a, and 194a to Leipzig cantatas for the Easter and Pentecost second and third day and Trinity Sunday festivals in 1724, as well as BWV 30 for St. John's Day and BWV 213-15 for BWV 248 (Ibid.: 30); 1725 Shepherd's Cantata 249a and multi-use Cantata 36 (Ibid.: 31); profane reuses of BWV 205, 207, 216, 210, 206 (Ibid.; 32-4); three serenades for the visiting Saxon Court, BWV Anh. 9=1156 in 1727, BWV 215 in 1734, and BWV Anh. 13=1161 in 1738 (Ibid.: 36f); and BWV 198 in BWV 247 (Ibid.: 37-9). "Bach's secular cantatas form an equitable part of his artistic output, a repertory of the same value as the other segments of his work," Schulze concludes (Ibid.: 40).
Cantata Monograph, Article Sources
In his monograph, Die Bach-Kantaten, Schulze cites only those works where an extant secular to sacred Bach realization is found: BWV 30a, 36 (a-c), 173a, 184a, 198, 213-215, 208, 249. Thus, the various versions of BWV 249 are discussed while there is no mention of the parodied movements of BWV 198 realized as the core movements in BWV 247 since, presumably, no source-critical materials are extant. Also lacking in Die Bach-Kantaten is any citation of the pages where the works are discussed, including no mention either in the Anmerkungen (Remarks, 739ff) or the Konkordanz (759f). Two other cantata articles in English are "Bach the Composer" and "Poetry and Poets," in The World of the Bach Cantatas: Early Sacred Cantatas, from Arnstadt to Cöthen, ed. Christoph Wolff (New York: W. W. Norton, 1995: 93ff, 101ff; Amazon.com). Schulze's colleague and collaborator on the unfinished Bach Compendium, Christoph Wolff, has provided an up-to-date accounting with the new BWV3 catalogue numbers. Especially helpful are Wolff's citations of incomplete Christmas cantata 197.1, "Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe, with a forthcoming entire reconstruction of all the missing movements, and the Markus-Passion, BWV 247, with all 44 movements and various reconstructions listed.
ENDNOTES
1 Hans-Joachim Schulze; Die Bach Kantaten . . . (The Bach Cantatas: Introduction to all of Johann Sebastian Bach's Cantatas; Evangelische Verlagsanstalt: Leipzig; Carus: Stuttgart, 2006); Amazon.de: Google Translate.
2 Hans-Joachim Schulze, Bach Bibliography Bach-Bibliographie.
3 Hans-Joachim Schulze, Bach-Facetten: Essays - Studien - Miszellen (Bach Facets; Essays, Studies, Miscellaneous; Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsastalt, 2017); description, Amazon.com.
4 Bach Cantatas, see "Bach Cantatas, A Selected, Annotated Bibliography, Part 1," BACH CANTATAS: SELECTED, ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY; BCW, updated.
5 Hans- Joachim Schulze, Afterword: "Bach in the Early Twenty-first Century," in The Worlds of Johann Sebastian Bach, ed. Raymond Erickson, Aston Magna Academy Book (New York: Amadeus Press, 2009: 291ff); trans. and footnotes, Raymond Erickson, from "Bach at the turn of the twenty-first century," in Bach Studies from Dublin. eds. Anne Leahy, Yo Tomita (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2004: 247ff); cited in "Compositional Choices: Reception History," "21st Century Perspectives," BCW. A select few of Schulze's writings are found only in English.
6 Markus Rathey, "Hans-Joachim Schulze, Bach-Facetten," book review in Bach, Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute (Berea OH: Vol. 50, No. 1 (2019), 121); description contents, see: Jstor.org; Schulze's article, "Bachs Parodieverfahren" (Bach's Parody Proceedings), first appeared in Die Welt der Bach Kanaten (The World of the Bach Cantatas), ed. Christoph Wolff; Vol. 2, Johann Sebastian Bachs weltliche Kantaten (secular cantatas; (Stuttgart/Kassel: Metzler/Bärenreiter, 1997: 167-87); Bach-Facetten will be discussed soon on the BCW BML (Bach Cantatas Website, Bach Mailing List).
7 Hans-Joachim Schulze, "Parody and Text Quality in the Vocal Works of J. S. Bach," trans. Reginald L. Saunders, in Part III, Bach's Self-Modeling: Parody as Compositional Impetus, Compositional Choices and Meaning in the Vocal Music of J. S. Bach, ed. Mark A. Peters & Reginald Sanders; Festschrift for Don O. Franklin, the eighth Contextual Bach Studies, series ed. Robin A.Leaver (Lanham MD: Lexington Books, 2018: 167-76), source, "Parodie und Textqualität in Werken Johann Sebastian Bachs," in Messe und Parodie bei Johann Sebastian Bach, Greifswalder Beiträge zur Musikwissenschaft 12; ed. Peter Tenhaef, Walter Werbeck (Frankfurt am Main: Lang., 2004), 49-57.
8 See: "Beyond Analytical Musicology: Bach's Self-Modeling": "Self-Modeling: Parody as Compositional Impetus," BCW.
9 Hans-Joachim Schulze, "The Parody Process in Bach's Music: An Old Problem Reconsidered," trans. Daniel R. Melamed, in Bach, Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute (Berea OH: Vol. 20, No. 1, Spring 1989: 7-21), Jstor.org; transcript of keynote address, American Bach Society Triennial meeting, Harvard Campus, Cambridge MA, April 28-30, 1988.
10 Hans-Joachim Schulze, "Bach's Secular Cantatas: A New Look at the Sources." in Bach, Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute (Berea OH: Vol. 21, No. 1, Spring 1990: 26-41), Jstor.org; revised version of lecture, November 11, 1989, RBI Symposium Series.
11 See BCW BML Discussion Part 6, "Parodies in Bach's Vocal Works," "Parody": Obsession or Transformation," BCW.
12 See Friedrich Smend, Bach in Köthen, 1951; English edition ed. & revised Stephen Daw (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing, 1985: 34); discussion, "Cöthen Court: Homage Serenades, Sacred Cantata Sources," BCW.
13 Surviving texts with lost music are being accepted into the Bach Werke Verzeichnis works catalogue in the third edition published soon, new vocal works listings BWV 1135-63, BCW. |
