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Georg Heinrich Ludwig Schwanberg (Violin, Copyist, Bach's Pupil) |
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Born: ~ March 10, 1696 - Helmstedt, Lower Saxony, Germany
Died: December 15, 1774 - Braunschweig oder Wolfenbüttel, Lower Saxony, Germany |
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Georg Heinrich Ludwig Schwanberg [Schwanenberger] was born the son of Johann Wilhelm Schwanberg (general auditor and committee member in Helmstedt). He visited Leipzig and studied basso continuo/figured bass with J.S. Bach (1727-1728 or 1730). He became as friend of the family and he was godfather to one of J.S. Bach's daughters, Regine Johanne Bach. His father-in-law, Johann Daniel Bähre, was the organist in St. Peter’s Church in Braunschweig. From about 1727 he was chamber musician (violinist) in the Hofkapelle Braunschweig / Wolfenbüttel (retired in 1769). Anna Magdalena Bach copied for him the set of 6 Sonatas & Partitas for solo violin (BWV 1001-1006) and the set of 6 Suites for solo cello (BWV 1007-1012). He added c1730 or thereafter the title page for this collection. His title reads:
Pars 1. | Violino Solo | Composée | par | Sr. Jean Seb: Bach. |
Pars 2. | Violoncello Solo. | Senza Basso. |
"composée | par | Sr. J. S. Bach. |Maitre de la Chapelle | et | Directeur de la Musique | a | Leipsic. |}
ecrite par Madame | Bachen. Son Epouse.
The watermark of the paper used by Georg Heinrich Ludwig Schwanberg has been proven to being used by J.S. Bach as well for his manuscripts from October 17, 1727 until December 2, 1731. Schwanberg’s presence in Leipzig is documented from late fall of 1727 to at least October 1728, but it has not been determined as yet just when he finally left Leipzig. Possibly he was still in Leipzig c1730 when he may have commissioned Anna Magdalena Bach to make these copies for him. It is unclear when Schwanberg separated the solo cello works from those for violin which he then kept for himself. Aside from circumstantial evidence, there is no way to know for sure whether J.S. Bach intended the solo cello suites to be the 2nd part of a set of works beginning with the solo violin sonatas and partitas or if Schwanberg coincidentally assigned them to function as a Libro Secunda continuation of the Libro Primo set of solo violin works.
Georg Heinrich Ludwig Schwanberg announced from Leipzig in 1727 from his father-in-law Johann Daniel Bähre that he wanted to learn "Herrn Bachen seine art" “Mr. Bach's way” of playing the organ. The copy of the violin solos made for Schwanberg by Anna Magdalena Bach as well as the sponsorship for J.S. Bach's daughter Regina Johanna in 1728, taken over by Schwanberg, suggest that the desired study actually came about. Since Schwanberg was over thirty years old and employed as a court musician at the time of his stay in Leipzig, his lessons should be classified as a kind of further training.
References: Koska: A-22; Bach Digital: 00004716 |
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Works of Bach he copied [Manuscript No. in Bach Digital / Work / Performance date] |
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D-B Mus.ms. Bach P 268: BWV 1001-1006 [c1725 to before 1733/1734]
D-B Mus.ms. Bach P 269: BWV 1007-1012 [between October 17, 1727 and December 2, 1731]
D-B Mus.ms. Bach St 162: BWV 1014, BWV 1015, BWV 1016, BWV 1017, BWV 1018a, BWV 1019a (= 1st version of BWV 1019: contains BWV 830/3 as 3rd mvt. and BWV 830/6 as 5th mvt. in G minor) [Harpsichord part: 1725; Violin part: not before 1727] |
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Sources:
1. Article "6 Suites for Violoncello BWV 1007-1012" by Thomas Braatz (BCW)
2. Bernd Koska: Bachs Privatschüler in Bach-Jahrbuch 2019, English translation by Aryeh Oron (May 2020)
3. Bach Digital Website (June 2019)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (August 2019, May 2020) |
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Links to other Sites |
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6 Suites for Violoncello BWV 1007-1012 (BCW) [PDF]
Schwanenberger, Georg Heinrich Ludwig (Bach Digital) |
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Bibliography |
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Sources: Dok II, Nr. 239; Dok V, Nr.A 92e; Schulze Bach-Überlieferung, S. 97–100; Landesarchiv Wolfenbüttel, 1 Alt 25 Nr. 302 (ohne Titel, Quittungen und Resolutionen betreffend Hofmusik), fol. 21r |
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