Parodies in Bach’s Vocal Works
Discussions - Part 7

Continue from Part 6

Reimagining Bach: Today, Yesterday

William L. Hoffman wrote (September 18, 2019):
Besides being one of the leading composers practicing self-modeling (also known as parody), Bach is known today as the most-arranged composer with various "updates" as a tribute to him and as a contemporary perspective of his music. The September edition of BBC Music magazine has an article entitled on the cover "Bach Reimagined: Ten ways to transform the Baroque genius," by Meurig Bowen, with the article inside headlined, "It's good to be Bach" and the subheading, "JS Bach has been arranged more than any other composer," says Meurig Bowen, who picks ten reworkings of the Baroque master's music. Bach reworkings began in the 19th century with the Bach Revival as part of a reception history that is only now being recognized and appreciated. Besides "Bach Reimagined," are other Bach studies, "Bach Reinvented" (https://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Bach-Paul-Elie/dp/0374534047), "Rethinking Bach," edited by Bettina Varwig,¹ and Contextual Bach Studies, ed. Robin A. Leaver (https://rowman.com/Action/SERIES/_/CBA/Contextual-Bach-Studies.

Bach himself in Weimar was the transcriber for organ or keyboard of the concertos (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_concertos_for_harpsichord_solo_by_J._S._Bach) of Vivaldi and the Marcellos, Alessandro and Benedetto, as well as the works of Telemann and Weimar Prince Johann Ernst and fugues on theme of Legrenzi and Corelli, in addition to works of Giuseppe Torelli, Adam Rincken and Tomaso Albinoni. (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVD/Organ-Music-Trans1.htm). In this manner, Bach perfected the art of composition, especially the ritornello form, and explored ways to build on these foundations. He was highly selective in Leipzig, setting some of his own concertos for other solo instruments, although the original sources are presumed to be lost while contemporary reconstructions of many concertos (realizations) are extant. One Bach multiple-keyboard concerto survives as an adaptation, Concerto in A minor for Four Claviers, BWV 1065 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBKu4uCLbNo,), from Vivaldi's Concerto for Four Violins in B minor, Op. 3, No. 10, RV 580 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhV9prGZnkk). It was composed about 1730 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboard_concertos_by_Johann_Sebastian_Bach) for Bach and his sons, as house music and possibly for the Collegium musicum concerts (https://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00002563). At the about the same time Bach began compiling movements from previous-existing works as contrafactions from mostly German to Latin for the Missa: Kyrie-Gloria in B minor, BWV 232.2.

Virtually all of his Mass music were borrowings from his own choruses and arias although on occasion a model from another composer has been suggested. The best example is the opening "Kyrie," which is influenced by the style and mood of a Kyrie by the Dresden Court composer Johann Hugo Wilderer from his Missa Brevis in G minor (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJcb2avvvn8, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Hugo_von_Wilderer). In the "Credo" of the Missa tota Mass in B-Minor, BWV 232, composed in the late1740s, the newly composed and inserted No. 16, mixed-style SSATB chorus "Et in carnatus est" (And he was incarnate), may be modeled after music in Dresden Masses (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV232-Gen19.htm: "Trinitarian Credo in 1740s" graph beginning "The original music . . .") possibly of Jan Dismas Zelenka (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB8RH4W5Vnw), Vivaldi's Gloria, RV 588 or 589 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_in_B_minor, Credo No. 4), perhaps the "Qui tollis pecatta mundi" with its chromaticism, or Johann Adolf Hasse's Salve Regina (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNByuOT-rd4).

Later in Leipzig, there are a whole category of works Bach adapted as models for Latin church music or performed as part of his "well-ordered church music" (some of it still being explored and performed). This involves works of both well-known contemporary German colleagues such as Georg Philipp Telemann, Georg Frideric Handel, Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, C.H. Graun and Reinhard Keiser, as well as respected figures of the far- and near-past such as Palestrina, Frescobaldi, Fux, Lotti, Pergolesi, and Caldara (see: BCW: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Other/Work-Perform.htm) . In fact, these composers were listed in Bach's "Obituary" as influences and acquaintances, yet virtually ignored by mainline German Bach scholarship, beginning in the early 19th century when originality and struggle were championed over so-called self-plagiarism or learning still treasured by many practicing contemporary composers. http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWVAnh24-26-Gen.htm. http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Other/Work-Perform.htm.

In the 1740s, Bach broadened his compositional re-workings while simultaneously pursuing two special interests, the completion of the B-Minor Mass and the presentation on Good Friday of annual pasticcio Passions utilizing the works of various composers, usually involving music originally composed in the genre of the poetic oratorio Passion, now dominating popular interest in Germany. First are the special reworkings, most notably the penitential Psalm 51 contrafaction setting of Pergolesi’s popular Stabat Mater, “Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden,” BWV 1083, opportunity unknown but appropriate for Good Friday Vespers or Pentecost Sunday (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV1083-Gen2.htm). Among these later presentations are the Bach’s pasticcio Passion of Telemann, Graun and Altnikol, BWV 1088 (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV1088-Gen.htm), and the Keiser-Handel Passion Pasticcio (https://www.carusmedia.com/images-intern/medien/30/3550203/3550203x.pdf, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Mark_Passion_(attributed_to_Keiser). Also considered are possible Bach performances of other poetic Passions which began with his presentation in 1734 of the Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel’s Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld (http://bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Poetic-Music-Sorrow.htm), and later other Stölzel works.

The ten reworkings of Bach music, primarily for keyboard and most often adapted as instrumental music (in chronological order), according to Meurig Bowen, are: Charles Gounod's 1858 "Ave Maria" Latin text setting with this vocal melody supported by the first Well-Tempered Clavier Prelude in C Major, BWV 846 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzXOaQioeyc); Edward Elgar's orchestration of the organ "Fantasy and Fugue in C Minor," BWV 537 (http://bach-cantatas.com/NVD/Organ-Music-Trans1.htm); Webern's 1935 setting of the "Ricercare à 6" fugue from the Musical Offering, BWV 1079 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIHDY0WEktw); Percy Grainger's 1931 "Blithe Bells," based on "Sheep May Safely Graze," Hunt Cantata 208/9 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8wgxznypsY); the Jacques Louisser Trio's "Air on the G String" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14AhD3xdoMk) from 1959 inwards found in the Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major, BWV 1068/2; The Swingle Singers with Ward Swingle's scatting, wordless vocals, from 1963 onward, the most celebrated being the "Badinere" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi0CdBRFliM) from the Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor, BWV 1067/7; Wendy Carlos and the Moog "Switched-on Bach" (1968) beginning with the Sinfonia to Cantata 29 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVxGpN8B4BQ); John Williams and Sky play "Toccata," BWV 565a (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olGEi5I3Q9c) in 1980); Courson and Akendengué "Lamberena - Back to Africa" Albert Schweitzer fusion tribute, "Rest Well," BWV 245 ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyTI30HZOFU); and Camerata Brasil's "Bach in Brazil" 2000 in the "Double Violin Concerto in d Minor," BWV 1043 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrgX6TcbIiA&list=PLMWrAwTCHKto0rAaaawkD8bBc0LBTrCh_).

Another, recent and striking update is the omnibus Bach 333: J. S. Bach, The New Complete Edition of recordings and musical commentary, "Bach & Beyond: B-A-C-H Motif, Jazz, Contemporary Settings" (http://bach-cantatas.com/NVD/Organ-Revival-20.htm: April 2019). The main subjects as described by Paul Mosley, are "B-A-C-H Motif as Transcription," "Bach a la Jazz," and "New Colours of Bach," new technologies and fusion styles. Another interesting category is "New Bach Arrangements, Composers' Tributes," with major works transformed unto new sacred works involving an original Sankt-Bach-Passion, a Te Deum based on Luther's setting, "Herr Gott, dich Loben wir" (Lord God, we all praise you); a Requiem, based on keyboard works, Chromatic Fantasia & Fugue in D minor, BWV 903, as well as other keyboard works, Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother in B flat Major, BWV 992, and "Morimur," a tribute to Maria Barbara, Bach's first wife, based on the famous "Chaconne" from the Violin Partita No. 2 in D minor, BWV 1003/5. Contemporary composers also have been influenced by Bach's sacred works in compiling their perspectives on Passions as well as realizations or reconstructions of liturgical worship and settings of the lost St. Mark Passion ("Arrangements & Transcriptions of Bach Vocal Works," http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Arran/L-Vocal.htm).

One of the best-known Bach transcriptions is William Walton's ballet setting, "The Wise Virgins" of 1940 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wise_Virgins), which uses selections from six mostly sacred works (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlvDO6Iw_lA, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Performers/Walton.htm. Other transcriptions of Bach's music include Leopold Stokowski (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Arran/OT-Stokowski.htm), Lucien Callet (https://www.discogs.com/es/artist/841585-Lucien-Cailliet?filter_anv=1&anv=Cailliet), and Eugene Ormandy (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/NVP/Ormandy.htm). Sometimes overlooked is Ormandy's recording, "Bach's Greatest Fugues," in arrangements for double orchestra by Arthur Harris (https://franklin.library.upenn.edu/catalog/FRANKLIN_9934315563503681). One of the best-known fugal arrangements is Arnold Schoenberg of the "Prelude and Fugue in E-Flat," BWV 552, known as "St. Anne."² Among other composers works inspired by Bach is the Shostakovich "24 Preludes and Fugues" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/24_Preludes_and_Fugues_(Shostakovich)) and Villa-Lobos' "Bachianas Brasilieras" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachianas_Brasileiras). Neo-classical composers of the 20th century (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoclassicism_(music)) who were inspired directly or indirectly by Bach include Ottorino Respighi (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Arran/OT-Respighi-Rec-Orchestra.htm), Igor Stravinsky (https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Arran/OT-Stravinsky-Rec-Orchestra.htm), and Richard Strauss.

Finally, little recognized is Catherine Winkworth's (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Winkworth) contribution in the mid-19th century to Bach hymnody. "She translated hundreds of German hymns into English and introduced English audiences to the German chorale tradition," says Carol Howard Merritt (https://www.lentmadness.org/2018/03/isaac-watts-vs-catherine-winkworth/). "She labored to make sure that the translated songs retained the poetry, rhythm, and meaning of the originals." Her best-known work is Lyra Germanica: Hymns for the Sundays and Chief Festivals of the Christian Year.³

ENDNOTES

¹ "Rethinking Bach," https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&sxsrf=ACYBGNRQStz451sfxWqXgnK28qv-8-qaiQ%3A1568836636379&ei=HIyCXeHdFpDS-gTdnJyAAg&q=rethinking+bach%2C+ed.+bettina+varwig+%28new+york%3A+oxford+university+press&oq=Rethinking+Bach&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.35i39j0i22i30.1514.8200..12079...1.0..1.263.4227.0j28j1......0....1..gws-wiz.....10..35i362i39j0i67j0j0i131.RtE91jSTPxM.
² Prelude and Fugue in E-Flat, BWV 552, https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&sxsrf=ACYBGNRkl2CDNIb8vLYSsRQXrCUz9E0wcQ%3A1568832482013&ei=4nuCXeIiiOP6BJa7tegB&q=Fugue+in+E-Flat+BWV+552+YouTube&oq=Fugue+in+E-Flat+BWV+552+YouTube&gs_l=psy-ab.12...4332.29569..31493...9.0..1.363.9440.0j55j2j3......0....1..gws-wiz.....10..35i39j0i22i30j35i362i39j0i131j0j0i67j0i20i263j33i160.o-us46Bcxq0&ved=0ahUKEwjim7W2hNvkAhWIsZ4KHZZdDR0Q4dUDCAo.
³ A selection of Winkworth's translations is found at http://bach-cantatas.com/Search-Result.htm?cx=partner-pub-1395360517184161%3A8ku9se-lih1&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=Winkworth+chorale+translations&sa=Search&siteurl=bach-cantatas.com%2FOrder-2019.htm&ref=bach-cantatas.com%2Findex.htm&ss=20287j30015257j39.

Parodies in Bach’s Vocal Works: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
Arrangements of Bach’s Vocal Works: Part 1 | Part 2