Organ Music: Transcriptions
Discussions - Part 2

Organ Transcriptions, Part 2, 1750-1800, Transmission, Reception

William L. Hoffman wrote (February 20, 2019):
One of the great myths in the reception history of Sebastian Bach was that for the first half-century after his death in 1750, his music was lost and he fell into virtual oblivion as a footnote labeling him only as the greatest organist. It was only with the publication of his first biography by Johann Nikolaus Forkel in 1802 and Mendelssohn's 1829 revival of the St. Matthew Passion that he became a symbol of the emerging German nation, following his "Death and Resurrection," as Albert Schweitzer titled a chapter in his biography.¹ Schweitzer's subtitles described this period as "Why he was forgotten" and "His greatness not recognized," and was the first chronicle in what in recent years is the blossoming field of "Reception History," a branch of historical musicology which studies the aesthetic responses of colleagues and students to Bach's music recorded in 18th century sources. This involves subjects such as the pre-history of the Bach Family (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Family-History.htm) and the subsequent endeavors of his immediately family and relatives; the activities of the succeeding Bach circles in Leipzig, Hamburg, Berlin, and Vienna as well as the German province of Thuringia; the provenance of his mostly vocal music autographs; and the transmission and dissemination of his instrumental music by students and followers. Bach scholarship since 1950 and the opening of the Soviet Union in 1990 has generated scholarly publications such as the Bach Documente volumes as a supplement to the Neue Bach Ausgabe (https://www.baerenreiter.com/programm/gesamt-und-werkausgaben/bach-johann-sebastian/nba/supplement/) and the growth of the Leipzig Bach Archive. Bach is now considered the greatest teacher of the 18th century with his students, based in Thuringia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuringia), following his methods and producing copies of many of his organ works where originals are lost.

The primary source vocal music materials have determined this music's dating, copyists, chronology, authenticity, and context, while the secondary sources with many variants involving early free and chorale-based works still generate controversy regarding chronology, authenticity, and original context. Meanwhile, Bach scholarship since the 250th anniversary of his death in 1985 has shifted from vocal to instrumental music, particularly the organ works and most recently the chorale settings. From the primary perspective of pedagogy, these talented organists and cantors based in small towns in Thuringia pursued the art of composition, transcription, performance, and teaching, following in the footsteps of the unparalleled master. Now, questions are explored regarding Bach's motive, method and opportunity, particularly involving the origins and genesis of individual works as well as the later intervention and subsequent transcription and adaptation of succeeding generations. While the polyphonic perspective of the fugues and the chorale-based emphases diminished over time and changing tastes and interests, the first generation of students carried on many traditions with new approaches. Their organ works reveal a synthesis of old and new: "the prelude in the galant style, the trip, usually in one or two movements, and chorale preludes in the style" of Bach's trio aria Schübler Chorales with a touch of contemporary empfindsamkeit (sentimentality), and some free, improvisational fantasias, observes Rüdiger Wilhelm in the first publication of student works.² Others continued the genre of the polyphonic ricercar and the concerto.

At the same time, the Bach circles extended one tradition, the pedagogy of teaching composition and organ improvisation through the use of two-stave canto and figured bass, instead of four-voice harmony (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Chorale-Collections.htm), while member's of the Bach Family developed the "BACH" four-note musical motif (B-flat, A, C, B-natural) that continues to this day in contemporary transcriptions (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Arran/L-BACH.htm, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BACH_motif). Bach's approach to teaching, without manuals or treatises, "sprang entirely from his practical experiences as a musician and composer," says Peter Wollny in his essay on Bach as teacher.³ Bach actively taught "more than 80 private pupils over a span of four decades" (1708-1750), says Wollny, "although the true figure was much higher." Two of Bach's last students, Johann Christoph Kittel (1732-1809, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Kittel-Johann-Christian.htm) and Christian Friedrich Penzel (1737-1801, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Penzel-Christian-Friedrich.htm) made extensive copies of Bach's music, Kittel with instrumental music and Penzel with vocal works. Otherwise, "we should have lost important sources for a wide range of Bach's music," says Stephen Daw in his essay on Bach as teacher.⁴ Two experiences of student Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber (1702-1775, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Gerber-Heinrich-Nicolaus.htm) and Bach son Friedemann between 1736 and 1739 show Gerber's work⁵ in his Clavier-Büchlein and Friedemann's dialogue with his father on contrapuntal technique when he was the organist at St. Sophia's Church in Dresden, Wollny chronicles (Ibid.: 159). "Many transcriptions by Gerber of piano and organ works by Bach during his course of study with Bach [1724-27], are still in existence today" says Rüdiger Wilhelm (Ibid.).

Bach also taught members of his Bach Family: Johann Ernst (1722-1777), Johann Elias (1705-1755), Johann Bernhard (1700-1743), and Johann Heinrich (1707-1783), says Stephen Roe's essay.⁶ In all, Roe estimates (Ibid.: 459f) that "at least three hundred [Thomasschule students] went on to have careers as musicians and became teachers themselves. The churches [and courts] around Saxony and beyond were seeded with direct and indirect pupils." Although almost nothing is known about many, "they were Bach's immediate legacy, and to an extent the guardians of his works, copying many church works." Much has been learned about Bach's pupils from the research the past 20 years, by Wollny, director of the Leipzig Bach Archive, where Bach research now is concentrated, and his associates there and elsewhere. Wollny's work "has provided new perspectives, new information, and new answers to Bach's relationship with the musicians surrounding him, and specifically on the dissemination of his music through manuscript copies prepared by his pupils."⁷ The studies reveal how different copies vary from each other and which "represented the most accurate version." Works attributed to Bach are now seen as music of other students such as his favorite pupil, Johann Ludwig Krebs (1726-1735, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Krebs-Johann-Ludwig.htm), the Eight Short Preludes and Fugues, BWV 553-560 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight_Short_Preludes_and_Fugues, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_pJjg6qUXk), the ?Fugue in C minor, BWV 537/2 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_Qk0am5lMI), and the chorale prelude, "Das Jesulein soll doch mein Trost," BWV 702 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV7Bn-NxxQA).⁸

Johann Peter Kellner Circle

The "copyists-of-copyists" "legacy was the chief means by which Bach's music was disseminated throughout Europe during the eighteenth century," says Russell Stinson in his study of the Bach organ works.⁹ The most noted copyist was the versatile organist, composer, and teacher Johann Peter Kellner of Gräfenroda, 1705-1772), who knew Bach beginning in the 1730s and encouraged his students to copy works. His Bach copies total 46 manuscripts and because of the "dearth of autograph material, in many instances a Kellner copy is the earliest extant source for a Bach work and in a few cases the only source," says Stinson. "The same can be said about Bach copies made by Kellner's students and copyists." Stinson's study "seeks to shed light in the chronology, compositional history, and authenticity of the music itself.

Bach's music "was championed by a small cult of dedicated followers in Germany throughout the 18th century," says Stinson (Ibid.: 4), with the keyboard works espoused by musicians in Thuringia, also the provenance of the Bach Family. The "earliest major figure in the Thuringian Bach tradition" was his brother Johann Christoph (1671-1721) who was his teacher in Ohrdruf from 1695 to 1700, and who produced the first two collections of Sebastian's early keyboard works, the "Andreas Bach Book" and the "Möller Manuscript," dating to 1704-1707 and 1707-1713, respectively, and the first collection of the Bach Family circle. This was followed by the second scribal circle in Weimar of cousin and colleague, Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748), and Bach's pupil, Johann Tobias Krebs (1690-1762), father of Johann Ludwig, who produced three large manuscripts of the most extensive sources of his Weimar organ compositions of more than 100 keyboard works. Krebs' son also was an important copyist of Bach's work found in the Weimar sources. Two Bach family members also were copyists of his music from 1715 to 1730 were the Gehren cantor, Johann Christoph (1673-1727) and Eisenach town organist Johann Bernhard (1676-1749). The third circle involved organ virtuoso Kellner who began copying Bach's works about 1729 and later was joined by his pupil, Johann Nicolaus Mempell (1713-1747, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Nicolaus_Mempel), and his pupil, Johann Gottlieb Preller (1717-1785, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Gottlieb_Preller) in the 1740s, compiling the Mempell-Preller Collection which initially brought Bach's works to villages around Weimar "and ranks second only to the Walther-Krebs miscellanies in disseminating Bach's music in that area," says Stinson (Ibid.: 9). The fourth circle involved Kittel in Erfurt who lead the last major Thuringian Bach circle in the 18th century, attracting numerous pupils, teaching them composition while amassing one of the most extensive collections of Bach organ works, later destroyed by fire, and fostering the Thuringian Bach tradition into the 19th century. "Bach copies fashioned by Kellner's and Kittel's pupils were prepared, for the most part, during their studies with those two Bach devotees," says Stinson. (Ibid.: 10).¹⁰

The actual relationship between Kellner and Bach "is still far from clear," says Stinson (Ibid.: 14). Erfiurt organist Kellner was in contact with Bach in Leipzig about 1730 and began copying manuscripts of keyboard works, joined soon after by colleagues and especially students in a growing circle. Kellner also was grounded in Thuringia and they had in common connections to the Bach Family as well as Kellner's teachers and Bach students. Kellner and Bach also had strong connections to Bach Weimar pupil J. C. Vogler and Weimar colleague J. G. Walther, and interconnected copies of Dietrich Buxtehude involving Kellner student Johannes Ringk (1717-1778, https://everipedia.org/wiki/lang_en/Johannes_Ringk/), based in Berlin. Bach and Kellner had a common student, Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721-1783), http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Kirnberger-Johann-Philipp.htm). Other Bach-Kellner common acquaintances were Heinrich Nicholaus Gerrber and the Zella music engraver J. G. Schübler (c1720-1755, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Schubler-Johann-Georg.htm), who did the original prints of Bach's Musical Offering and the Schübler Chorales. There appears to be a relationship between Kellner and Handel, most likely when the latter visited Halle in 1729 and there are later copies of Handel's keyboard music by Johannes Ringk before about 1740 when he moved to Berlin and Mempell's copying of Handel's chamber works no later than 1747 while there "is no evidence that Ringk or Mempell were personally acquainted with Handel," says Stinson (Ibid.: 17). In the same summer of 1729, it is suggested that Bach and Kellner had become acquainted and that Kellner had a strong link to Ohrdruf and the Andreas Bach Book and Möller Manuscript that Kellner copied as well as possibly nearby at Arnstadt with other members of the Bach Family.

The Kellner circle Bach copies today are housed in West Berlin (SPK) and Leipzig, the great majority in the SPK. The most important is SPK 804, totaling 400 pages and included Kellner circle copies as well as "manuscripts that were never in Kellner's possession," says Stinson (Ibid.: 20). Kellner was the scribe for eight SPK manuscripts involving 50 sources of organ and keyboard works was well as the Six Cello Unaccompanied Suites, BWV 1007-112, and five of the Six Sonatas and Partitas for Unaccompanied Violin, BWV 1101, 1003-3, and the Clavier Concerto No. 1 in D minor, BWV 1052, coped about 1738-50. Arranged chronologically by Stinson, the earliest listings were copied before 1725, about half before 1727 and the remained after 1727. The Kellner circle copyists were Wolfgang Nicholaus May (no information), working with Kellner possibly beginning before 1725, 14 mostly keyboard works; organist Johannes Ringk, studied with Kellner c.1730-1740, 20 mostly keyboard works; organist Johann Anton Gottfried Wechmar (d.1799), 15 organ and keyboard copies; as well as Apolda cantor Mempell, and Leonhard Frischmuth (1721-64). In summary, these copyists had a "predilection for Bach's fugues on themes by other composers," says Stinson (Ibid.: 51f), as well as the organ concerto transcriptions, BWV 592-96) and the clavier transcriptions, BWV 972-87). A dearth of organ chorale transcriptions is found in the Kellner circle, suggesting that Kellner found them of little interest that simply required improvisation."Flashy concerto arrangements . . . would have served ideally for concerts as well as church services." After 1750, various Kellner students traveled outside Thuringia and made their copies available to Bach enthusiasts in Berlin, Leipzig, Gottingen (Forkel) and elsewhere.

Kittel Circle and Other Copyists, Collectors

Johann Christian Kittel was one of Bach's last student from 1748 to 1750 and brought a good pedagogical background, having studied with Jakob Adlung (1699-1762, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jakob_Adlung, http://partitura.org/index.php/jacob-adlung-herr-christ-der-einig-gottes-sohn/). Erfurt organist and student of Johann Nikolaus Bach, Kittel was successor to Johann Heinrich Buttstedt in 1727 when he probably met Bach. Kittel had a portrait of Bach (see http://www.bach-cantatas.com/thefaceofbach/QCL14.htm) as well as his drawing of the Bach Family Tree (Bach 333: 12f). Kittel's best known students were Ringk, Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Heinrich_Rinck), Wilhelm Hässler (1747-1822), and Michael Gotthardt Fischer (1773-1829). Rinck possessed the Neumeister Collection manuscript of organ chorales, now housed at Yale University (https://www.amazon.com/Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Orgelchorale-Eumeister-Sammlung/dp/0300035098). Lesser known is the Yale collection of chorale preludes attributed to Bach in the Rinck Collection. The Rinck collection released in 1997 (LM 4843) of Bach organ music c1800 includes copies of various free organ works and from the Orgelbüchlein and Clavier-Übung III (BWV 677, 686), as well as from the early Neumeister collection and numerous Miscellaneous chorales, four classified as BWV deest. These early works cover such genres as chorale fantasy (BWV 1103), fughetta (BWV 599, 621), figured chorale (deest), chorale trio (BWV 601, deest), chorale aria (BWV 693), and congregational chorale (BWV deest), says Gerhard Walterskirtchen's liner notes to the Rinck and Rudorff Collections recording.¹¹

Although Kittel is considered an inferior composer and sloppy copyist, his teaching methods were grounded in traditional pedagogy. He published his organ method in three volumes (Erfurt, 1801-08) while emerging as the foremost practitioner of the two-part chorale figured bass method of composition for organists, a technique currently being studied with various sources, as a practice dating to the beginning of the 18th century and an alternative to the written-out vocal technique of four-part compositional writing unparalleled in Bach. Kittel's Choralbuch collection of 189 chorale melodies with figured bass (1780-1810) may have originated when the chorale basses and figures were created, possibly as early as 1756, when he became organist at the Barfußerkirche in Erfurt, says Robin A. Leaver.

Two-Part Harmonizations

The format of two-part melody and bass in simplified harmonization is initially found in various communal hymnbooks, notably Christian Friedrich Witt's Gotha Cantional, Psalmodia sacra (1715) which Bach used in Weimar for the Orgelbüchlein. Beginning in 1728, various composers produced two-part keyboard chorale settings, beginning with Christopher Graupner's Darmstadt Choral-Buch of 146 simple, engraved settings for churches and schools (http://tudigit.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/tmp/pdf/Mus-1875.pdf). In 1730 in Hamburg Georg Philipp Telemann published his settings of Fast allgemeines Evangelisch-Musicalisches Lieder-Buch, 433 chorales handwritten in church-year order with melody and figured bass but with no text (https://books.google.com/books?id=lr9IAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ViewAPI#v=onepage&q&f=false, facsimile available). Two other, similar two-part choralbücher from this same period are the publications of Cornelius Heinrich Dretzel (Nuremburg, 1731) and Johann Balthazar König (Frankfurt 1738), says Leaver. ¹²

Bach's pupils in Dresden between 1730 and 1740 compiled a similar Bach-Choralbuch found in the Sibley Library, says Leaver in another publication.¹³ Breitkopf's New Year catalogue of 1764 has this listing, "Complete Choral Book with notes set with Figured Bass comprising 240 melodies in use in Leipzig" (Leaver trans. 24; BDOK III, 165-66 [No. 711]), lost and unknown source. Leaver suggests (Ibid.: 24) that this source is the Sibley Choralbuch based on four common features: it is a comprehensive anthology for congregational use in the church year; the melodies with figured bass are in two-parts, the Choralbuch comprises 240 melodies while booksellers' catalogues of the 1730s contains 238, a close proximity; and Breitkopf's entry links "the repertory with Leipzig use."¹⁴

Recently discovered is the 1762 collection of 167 Bach chorales in the hand of Carl Friedrich Fasch (1736-1800, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Christian_Fasch), deputy at the Prussian Court to harpsichordist Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach. Its "significance lies in the fact that it not only predates other collections of Bach chorales such as the Birnstiel and Breitkopf editions, but it appears to have possibly been used as a source for such subsequent collections," says Luke Dahn (http://www.bach-chorales.com/Resources.htm).¹⁵

Collectors Kirnberger, Penzel

Kirnberger in Berlin in 1777 obtained for the Princess Amalia Bach Library copies of 30 organ chorale settings (SPK Am. B 72 and 27a) from Breitkopf, the source being "a handwritten collection of Bach's organ chorales compiled for the sales purposes on the premises of the Breitkopf publishing house sometime between 1760 and 1764," says Reinmar Emans,¹⁶ and available for copy in the Breitkopf 1764 catalogue. Eventually 24 preludes were collected in the Bach Werke Verzeichnis (BWV) of 1950 as "the Kirnberger collection," now known as the Breitkopf Collection (BWV 690–713, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Johann_Sebastian_Bach#BWV_690). Subsequently, as with many other chorale preludes and variants attributed to Bach from later copies, some of these have been identified as works of other composers such as BWV 691a-693 as being the work of J. G. Walther and classified in the new BWV3 as Appendix D, the work of others. Other late Bach pupils who owned similar Breitkopf copies included Penzel, Kittel, and J. C. Oley (1738-1789, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Oley-Johann-Christoph.htm).

Christian Friedrich Penzel in 1780 compiled a collection of 32 chorale keyboard settings of 14 Bach sacred songs (12 from Schemelli Gesangbuch) and 18 settings of copies from Bach students, Wolfgang Wiemer, "J.S. Bach und seine Schule" (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1985/2002 https://www.stretta-music.com/bach-js-bach-und-seine-schule-nr-117473.html. Nine of Weimar's settings (4-11 and 14) are recorded in the Edition Bachakademie, Books of Chorale-Settings, as BWV deest/Weimer (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV250-438-Rilling.htm).

As the Bach Revival (https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/bach-revival) got underway in the 19th century, Bach's organ compositions were gathered by collectors, most notably Johann Gottfried Schicht (1753-1823, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Gottfried_Schicht), St. Thomas cantor (1810-1823); Franz Hauser (1794-1870, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Hauser), vocal teacher and systematic collector of Bach's manuscripts and copies; Johann Nepomuk Schelbe (1789-1837, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Nepomuk_Schelble), founder of the Caecilian Association in Frankfurt; and Count Voss-Buch of Berlin, who inherited some of Friedemann's Bach chorale cantata manuscripts and the organ music collection SPK P 285, which contains works questionable and catalogued as BWV Anhang (Appendix). These collections provided essential music materials to the last publications of Bach's organ music in the Bach Gesellschaft Ausgabe, Volumes 38 and 41 in 1891 and 1893, respectively.

Published by the BWV in 1950 were 51 Miscellaneous chorale preludes (BWV 714–765, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_compositions_by_Johann_Sebastian_Bach#NBA_IV-9), as well as collection of chorale preludes that were of questionable origin and designated as BWV Anhang (Appendix), Anh. 47-74 (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/List-BWVAnh.htm). As publications of these chorale settings began in the 1950s, based on sources in the 19th century with unidentified scribes, these sources attributed to Bach were questioned on the basis of authenticity and style. Bach's "pupils already mixed authentic compositions within authentic ones," say Edourd Nies-Berger and Albert Schweitzer in the Schirmer edition of 77 chorale-based works,¹⁷ often involving free-form preludes and fugues and multi-movement sonata and trio settings, as well as individual chorale settings. Copying works of other composers mixed in with Bach was a practice Bach himself did with no attribution so the students simply assumed that these were his. "Those who drew up the inventory of Bach's organ compositions on the chorale at the beginning of the 19th century did not have a sufficiently comprehensive view of his entire creative output to be capable of a fully critical procedure," "bringing together authentic and inauthentic material," Nies-Bergar and Schweitzer observe. "The contradiction between form and content is the starting-point for the raising of doubts." While the two expressed doubts regarding specific works that published them until later research could be definitive.

The 1950 first Schmieder Catalogue (BWV) published 29 chorale preludes as appendices. Today the following five chorale preludes are attributed to other composers: BWV Anh. 47, "Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder (Johann Peter Kellner); BWV Anh. 56, "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend" (Georg Philipp Telemann, TWV 31:8); BWV Anh. 57, "Jesu, Leiden, Pein und Tod" (Johann Caspar Vogler); BWV Anh. 61, "O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß" (by Johann Pachelbel); and BWV Anh. 73, "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ (arrangement of BWV 639 by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach). One prelude, BWV Anh. 71, Chorale fantasia "Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält," is authenticated and renumbered to BWV 1128 in the BVW3 Catalogue (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJrEvArDByg, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wo_Gott_der_Herr_nicht_bei_uns_hält,_BWV_1128). The remaining 23 BWV Anhang works were recorded in 1995 as "21 Newly Published Organ Chorales Attributed to Bach" (https://www.allmusic.com/album/21-newly-published-organ-chorales-attributed-to-js-bach-mw0001810802).

The discovery of the Neumeister Chorales in 1985 caused Bach scholars to reconsider and research many of the questionable chorale preludes as possible works involving Bach. Only one new source has been found, the Rudorff Collection. Meanwhile, only a few chorale works survive in autograph (BWV 691, 728, 739), the rest are copies of Bach's pupils or later copyists. "Owing to the lack of reliability of the sources and the contradictions between the various copies, in the case of many pieces it is a matter of doubt and dispute as to whom they should be ascribed," says Zászkaliczky Tamás.¹⁸ Eleven of the most interesting of the Anhang chorale preludes are considered in the most authoritative source of Bach's organ music, Peter Williams' book: Anh. 200, 49, 50, 52, 54, 55, 59, 61, 68, 70, 73.¹⁹

Some 12 preludes under consideration by Emans and listed in the NBA IV/10 are BWV Anh. 49-55, 58, 62a and 63, 69, and 70. The NBA New Edition of the Complete Works of Bach — Revised Edition, is preparing two volumes of Organ Chorales: BA 5939-01, edited by Christine Blanken (https://www.baerenreiter.com/en/catalogue/complete-editions/bach-johann-sebastian/nbarev/overview-of-volumes/, who currently also is completing the NBA3 edition while "Organ Chorales II" has no reference or editor listed. Thus far, according to Bach 333: BWV, the following have been accepted into the BWV3: BWV Anh. 200, "O Traurigkeit, O Herzeleid (Orgelbüchlein fragment) now BWV 1168, BWV Anh. 55 as BWV 1169 and BWV Anh. 77 as BWV 1170 (both Walher/Krebs Collection), and five BWV deest as BWV 1171-75 (4 Rinck Collection [dated 1703-1707], BWV 1175 Gebser collection). Four BWV Anh. chorale preludes are listed in the BWV3 as Appendix B, Doubtful works attributed to Bach: BWV Anh. 49, 50, 58 and 70.

The later 19th century Rudorff Collection, housed in the Leipzig Music Library (MB ms R24), involves seven initially- published chorale preludes, ostensibly early works of Bach, five not previously recognized (BWV deest) and two that were identified, BWV Anh. 47 (J. P. Kellner) and BWV 743. The five are found in the collection recording, https://www.allmusic.com/album/bach-organ-chorales-of-the-rinck-and-rudorff-collections-mw0001939313. All seven are found in the Bärenreiter edition (https://www.baerenreiter.com/en/shop/product/details/BA5169/: "Content"), edited by Franz Haselböck. Most are recognized in the NBA IV/10 (https://www.baerenreiter.com/en/shop/product/details/BA5290_41/: "Content"), edited by Reinmar Emans: "Herr Jesu Christ, wahr' Mensch und Gott" (Emans 100, 101), "Es spricht der Unweisen Mund" (Emans 69, Anh.), "Der Tag der ist so freudenreich" (Ein Kindelein so löbelich, Emans 53), "Ach, was soll ich Sünder machen" (3 variants, not recognized). For the Rudorff works, see Kevin Boyer’s Rudorff Chorales, Volume 14 (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVP/Bowyer.htm#Organ: R-14.

New editions of Bach chorales continue to be published as part of his complete organ music. While the authenticity of many continues to be studied and debated, two observations are made: Bach produced various versions (variants) of the same chorale or free setting and comparisons can suggest the genesis of the work as well as later changes involving Bach's motive, method and opportunity. Some of the questionable works have intrinsic merit and could have had an impact on Bach and on his students in their pedagogical and performance responses. An examination of the extensive and diverse Rinck collection provides a valuable tool box to help unravel some of the inherent mysteries of Bach's organ compositions such as their transmission and subsequent adaptations and alterations by the Bach circles.

One such example are the variant versions by Bach and circle members of the so-called "Great 18," extended chorale preludes, BWV 651-668 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Eighteen_Chorale_Preludes), says Jonathan Baxendale:

<< "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland" (BWV660b), "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend" (BWV 655b), "Komm heiliger Geist, Herr Gott" (BWV 651a) and "Komm, Gott Schöpfer, heiliger Geist" (BWV 667b), form variants of those Bach prepared during the 1740s, possibly with a view to their publication. Out of the four, only BWV 667b seems to have been prepared by Bach. BWV 660b, the second of two variants of "Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland," appears to be a largely unsuccessful arrangement by J. T. Krebs of the first: the right hand part is transposed up an octave and the ornamented cantus firmus, which, given the new distribution of parts, can only work when played on a two-foot stop, is placed in the pedal. BWV 655b (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77qqleD2510, one of three variants of "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend," appears only in nineteenth-century sources; based only on the pecantus firmus section of BWV 655 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nteAdZE_DhA), alterations appear to have been made to suit later tastes: the left hand has been transposed down an octave and the harmony altered, especially at cadential points. BWV 667b is a version of the setting Bach made of "Komm, Gott Schöpfer, heiliger Geist." prior to its revision for the Eighteen: made by J. G. Walter and improved by J. L. Krebs after 1731, it appears as a simplified version, with much of the semiquaver figuration of the original altered to quavers. (It is also interesting to note that this organ chorale is itself an expanded version of the version found in the Orgelbüchlein (BWV 631, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIrbRJd8oVc). The variant of "Komm heiliger Geist, Herr Gott" [BWV 651a], on the other hand, is worth considering in slightly more detail, since not only is it an earlier version of the Leipzig autograph, but it demonstrates much about Bach’s revision processes. In comparison with BWV 651, which is over twice its length, its differences are typical of those organ chorales composed in Weimar and reused in Leipzig; here Bach repeated bars 12-43, and composed new sections between bars 44 and 54, and 89 and 103. Musically, BWV 651a works well and, unlike other organ chorales of the same period, the bass cantus firmus neither hinders the flow of the counterpoint nor its harmonic rhythm>>. © 2003 Jonathan Baxendale.²⁰

B-A-C-H Motif: Bach, Bach Family

The Bach Family four-note musical motif, B-A-C-H (B-flat, A, C, B-natural) is a distinctive motto originating with Sebastian (the Leipzig Bach) and is found in the works of his sons and their generation of the Bach Family. "The Bach revival of the 19th century brought a surge of interest in its possibilities for Romantic expression" and in the 20th century "the Second Viennese School of Arnold Schoenberg and his disciples found it easy to incorporate into totally chromatic, serial works," says Aryeh Oron in his BCW Article, "Arrangements & Transcriptions of Bach's Works — Works using the Name Bach (The BACH Motif)" (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Arran/L-BACH.htm). Many of the free settings are for organ and in the 20th century were composed for Bach anniversaries, 1950 tercentenary, 1985, and 2000. Bach uses the theme in some of his most iconic works from Weimar to his last decade. The earliest work using the theme dates to Weimar and the Orgelbüchlein chorale prelude, "Gott, durch deine Güte," BWV 600, followed by settings in the "Great 18" preludes, "Komm, Heiliger Geist," BWV 651, and "Komm, Gott Schöpfer, heiliger Geist" (III), BWV 667 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D60-ObGd8Ag). In Cöthen, it is found in the "Prelude in C Major, BWV 846a, Well-Tempered Clavier, Book 1 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkt75juxvxw); Suite for solo cello No. 5 in C minor, BWV 1011; and Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F major, BWV 1047. In Leipzig, it is found in his probe piece, "Cantata BWV 23, "Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWY02RC2LSQ); the keyboard Sinfonia No. 9 in F minor, BWV 795; and the English Suite No. 6 in D minor, BWV 811: Gigue. It is most pronounced in the last decade beginning with the Chorale Prelude "Vater unser im Himmelreich" (II), BWV 682, in the Clavier-Übung III; as well as Canonic variations on the Christmas hymn Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her (II), BWV 769; Musical Offering, BWV 1079: Ricercare à 6 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amvlmj5k1QU); Die Kunst der Fuge BWV 1080: Contrapunctus XI und XIX. The theme also is found in various free-standing chorales.

Three of Bach's sons did fugal B-A-C-H settings — Emmanuel (1714-1788), Johann Christian (1735-1782), and Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795) — while two other Bach Family members also did, Johann Andreas Bach (1713-1779), and Johann Michael Bach (13) (1745-1820). Two other B-A-C-H settings misattributed to Bach are extant: "Fugue in B-flat on BACH," BWV Anh. 45 (NBA IV/11), a work of Justin Heinrich Knecht ( http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Knecht-Justin-Heinrich.htm (1752-1817), and the Prelude and Fugue in B-flat on BACH, BWV 898 (BWV3 Appendix A, BG 42: XXXIV, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wovG2n62qU), dated to the second half of the 18th century with similarities to Liszt's "Prelude and Fugue on Bach" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GulmwjIoITI). Both are found in Kevin Bowyer's complete Bach organ recordings (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVP/Bowyer.htm: R-16). Georg Andreas Sorge (1703-1778, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Sorge-Georg-Andreas.htm), Lobenstein organist with connections to Bach, published three fugue settings in C on B-A-C-H, BWV Anh. 107-108, 110 (source BL London Add. MS 31307), and one with no attribution, BWV Anh. 109 (Rincl Collection). Sorge, who also was admitted with Bach in 1747 to the Lorenz Mizler's Corresponding Society of Musical Sciences, wrote in a lighter tone similar to Bach's Schübler Chorales, BWV 645-650. Five of his chorale prelude settings are found in the Neumeister Collection (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neumeister_Collection).

FOOTNOTES

¹ Albert Schweitzer, Chapter 13, J. S. Bach, eng. trans. Ernest Newman (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1911: 1: 222)
² Rüdiger Wilhelm, "Preface," Organ Music of the Bach School (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1985: 4); 15 compositions of 10 composers: Jakob Adlung, Johann Christoph Altnikol, anonymous, Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber, Johann Christoph Kellner, Johann Peter Kellner, Johann Christian Kittel, Christian Heinrich Rinck, Johann Schneider, and Johann Georg Schübler. An on-line source, Partitura Organa, lists a short biography and works of German organ music composers, many with connections to Bach, see http://partitura.org/index.php/composers/.
³ Peter Wollny, "Bach as a Teacher," in Essays: Leipzig Bach Archive, Bach 333 project (Berlin: Deutsche Grammophon, 2018: 155), https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8469462--bach-333-the-new-complete-edition. Bach's pupils are listed at the Bach Cantata Website, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Other/Pupil-List.htm, with one-third of the 92 involved with the organ.
⁴ Stephen Daw, "Bach as teacher and model," in The Cambridge Companion to Bach, ed. John Butt (Cambridge University Press, 1997: 2000).
⁵ Gerber recordings, https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&ei=c5hjXKW6KIzmjwSChYbgBw&q=Heinrich+Nikolaus+Gerber++YouTube&oq=Heinrich+Nikolaus+Gerber++YouTube&gs_l=psy-ab.12...232566.246761..249444...0.0..1.275.3409.23j8j1......0....1j2..gws-wiz.....0..0i67j0j0i131j0i22i30j33i299j33i160.ZxKdCy6aOwM
⁶ Stephen Roe, Part V, Dissemination, "Sons, Family and Pupils," in The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach, ed. Robin A. Leaver (London & New York: Routledge, 2017: 458 (https://books.google.com/books?id=SCklDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA437&lpg=PA437&dq=Roe+Sons,+Family+Routledge&source=bl&ots=QajiatgUMA&sig=ACfU3U3A6cQ7DpPnMXEr8tzDK1zgErbYSg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivmIzw6bbgAhUK04MKHXh8AHwQ6AEwB3oECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=Roe%20Sons%2C%20Family%20Routledge&f=false).
⁷ Peter Wollny's writing, http://swb.bsz-bw.de/DB=2.355/CMD?ACT=SRCHA&IKT=1016&SRT=YOP&TRM=Peter+Wollny&MATCFILTER=N&MATCSET=N&NOABS=Y; Leipzig Bach Archive, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bach_Archive.
⁸ Krebs organ music, https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&ei=25djXMDtGoj7jwTatpT4Dw&q=krebs+organ+works+YouTube&oq=krebs+organ+works+YouTube&gs_l=psy-ab.12..33i22i29i30.9265.27733..29623...0.0..0.117.3098.16j15......0....1..gws-wiz.......0i7i30j0i13i30j0i30j0i8i7i30j0i13j0i8i13i30j0j0i8i30j0i22i30.txiq5UciDuw.
⁹ Russell Stinson, The Bach Manuscripts of Johann Peter Kellner and His Circle: A Case Study in Reception History Durham NC: Duke University Press, 1989: 3); recording of Kellner and his students is found at http://www.johann-peter-kellner.de/index.php?sub=musikliteratur&page=tontraeger).
¹⁰ See also organ music of Bach students, found at https://urresearch.rochester.edu/institutionalPublicationPublicView.action?institutionalItemId=21580; contents are: Prelude and fugue in C major / Johann Caspar Vogler. Prelude and fugue in C major / Johann Tobias Krebs. Concerto / Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber. Allabreve / Johann Schneider. Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgetan; Prrelude and fugue in D major / Johann Ludwig Krebs. Ach Herr mich armen Sünder / Gottfried August Homilius. Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist / Johann Christoph Oley. Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein / Johann Gottfired Müthel. Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott; Ein' feste Burg (zweites Vorspiel); Nun bitten wir den heil'gen Geist / Johann Christian Kittel. Preludium (pedal solo) / Johann Gottfired Müthel.
¹¹ "Organ Chorales From the Rinck and Rudorff Collections," organist Franz Haselböck, Hänssler 94030, https://www.allmusic.com/album/bach-organ-chorales-of-the-rinck-and-rudorff-collections-mw0001939313.
¹² Robin A. Leaver, "Bach's Figured Bass Chorales in Leipzig," https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315452814.ch14: 385; also see Susan McCormick, "The Significance of the Newly Rediscovered Kittel Choralbuch" https://www.bachnetwork.org/ub8/UB8_McCormick.pdf).
¹³ Robin A. Leaver, "Bach’s Choral-Buch? The Significance of a Manuscript in the Sibley Library," in Bach Perspectives 12, Bach and the Organ, ed. Matthew Dirst (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2016: 16-38), series publication of the American Bach Society; https://muse.jhu.edu/chapter/1773043/pdf.
¹⁴ For more details on the two-part chorale pedagogy, see Leaver and Derek Remeš,"J. S. Bach’s Chorale-Based Pedagogy: Origins and Continuity," https://www.academia.edu/38111649/J._S._Bach_s_Chorale-Based_Pedagogy_Origins_and_Continuity; Remeš, "J. S. Bach’s Chorales: Reconstructing Eighteenth-Century German Figured-Bass Pedagogy in Light of a New Source," http://derekremes.com/wp-content/uploads/Remes_TP_Vol-42[FINAL].pdf; and Leaver/Remeš, Bach's Sibley Choralbuch, to be published at Wayne Leupold Editions in 2019.
¹⁵ Luke Dahn, "Timeline of Events Related to the Transmission of Bach Chorales," http://www.bach-chorales.com/ChoralesTimeline.htm; "QUICK KEY TO THE EARLY CHORALE COLLECTIONS," http://www.bach-chorales.com/EarlyCollectionsKey.htm; "Resources & Databases," http://www.bach-chorales.com/Resources.htm; "Articles & Research," including "Chorale Scholarship Bibliography," http://www.bach-chorales.com/Articles.htm; source, http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Chorale-Collections.htm).
¹⁶ Reinmar Emans, "Preface," Bach Organ Works: Organ Chorales from Miscellaneous Sources, NBA KB IV/10 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2008: xii).
¹⁷ Edourd Nies-Berger, Albert Schweitzer, "Organ Compositions on the Chorale of Doubtful Authenticity,".J. S. Bach Organ Works, Vol. 6, Miscellaneous Compositions on the Chorale (G. Schirmer, 1954, xif).
¹⁸ Zászkaliczky Tamás, "Introduction," Separate Chorales, Neumeister Chorales, J. S. Bach Complete Organ Works, Vol. 8 (Budapest: Edito Musica, 1987: vii).
¹⁹ Peter Williams, The Organ Music of J. S. Bach, 2nd ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2003: 577ff)
²⁰ Jonathan Baxendale, liner notes, J.S. Bach: Complete Organ Works, Vol. 15, The Rinck Chorales, Kevin Bowyer, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVP/Bowyer.htm#Organ: R-15.

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TO COME: Transcriptions, Part 3, 19th century to present with recording transcriptions.