Johann Sebastian Bach Read online

  JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

  ALSO BY CHRISTOPH WOLFF

  BOOKS

  Der Stile antico in der Musik Johann Sebastian Bachs

  Bach-Studien: Gesammelte Reden und Aufsätze von Friedrich Smend (ed.)

  The String Quartets of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven: Studies of the Autograph Manuscripts (ed.)

  The New Grove Bach Family

  Bach-Bibliographie: Nachdruck der Verzeichnisse des Schrifttums über Johann Sebastian Bach (ed.)

  Orgel, Orgelmusik, und Orgelspiel: Festschrift Michael Schneider zum 75. Geburtstag (ed.)

  Bach Compendium: analytisch-bibliographisches Repertorium der Werke Johann Sebastian Bachs (co-ed.)

  A Life for New Music: Selected Papers of Paul Fromm (ed.)

  Johann Sebastian Bachs Spätwerk und dessen Umfeld: Perspektiven und Probleme (ed.)

  Johann Sebastian Bach und der süddeutsche Raum: Aspekte der Wirkungsgeschichte Bachs (co-ed.)

  Bach: Essays on His Life and Music

  Mozart’s Requiem: Historical and Analytical Studies, Documents, Score

  The World of the Bach Cantatas (ed.)

  The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents (co-ed.)

  Driven into Paradise: The Musical Migration from Nazi Germany to the United States (co-ed.)

  Über Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke: Aspekte musikalischer Biographie (ed.)

  Die Gegenwart der musikalischen Vergangenheit: Meisterwerke in der Dirigentenwerkstatt (ed.)

  EDITIONS OF WORKS BY BACH

  The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080; Fourteen Canons, BWV 1087; Cantatas BWV 22, 23, 127, 159, and 182; Clavier-Übung, Parts I–IV; Concerto for Two Violins, BWV 1043; Goldberg Variations, BWV 988; Kyrie, BWV 233a; Mass in B minor, BWV 232; A Musical Offering, BWV 1079; Organ Chorales from the Neumeister Collection; Works for Two Harpsichords

  EDITIONS OF WORKS BY MOZART

  Horn Concerto, K. 370b + 371; Piano Concertos (complete); Rondos for Piano and Orchestra, K. 382, 386; Grande sestetto concertante (arrangement of K. 364); Die neugeborne Ros’ entzückt, K. Anh. 11a

  OTHER EDITIONS

  Anguish of Hell and Peace of Soul: A Collection of Sixteen Motets on Psalm 116; Johann Michael Bach, The Complete Organ Chorales; Dieterich Buxtehude, The Keyboard Works; Antonio Caldara, Magnificat; Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, 24 Polonaises in All Keys; Paul Hindemith, Cardillac, Op. 39

  JOHANN

  SEBASTIAN

  BACH

  The Learned Musician

  CHRISTOPH WOLFF

  W • W • NORTON & COMPANY

  New York • London

  Copyright © 2013, 2000 by Christoph Wolff

  All rights reserved

  First published as a Norton paperback 2001

  For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to

  Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Wolff, Christoph

  Johann Sebastian Bach: the learned musician/Christoph Wolff.

  p. cm.

  Includes bibliographical references.

  ISBN: 978-0-393-32256-4 pbk.

  1. Bach, Johann Sebastian, 1685–1750. 2. Composers—Germany—Biography. I. Title.

  ML410.B1 W793 2000

  780'.92—dc21

  [B] 99-054364

  ISBN 978-0-393-07595-3 ebook

  W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 500 fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10110

  www.wwnorton.com

  W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., 10 Coptic Street, London WC1A 1PU

  For Barbara,

  Katharina, Dorothea, and Stephanie

  Contents

  General Abbreviations

  Acknowledgments

  List of Illustrations

  Preface to the Updated Edition

  Preface

  Prologue: Bach and the Notion of “Musical Science”

  1. Springs of Musical Talent and Lifelong Influences

  EISENACH, 1685–1695

  Ambrosius Bach and His Family

  In the Ambience of Home, Town, Court, School, and Church

  2. Laying the Foundations

  OHRDRUF, 1695–1700

  In the Care of His Older Brother

  Sebastian’s Musical Beginnings

  3. Bypassing a Musical Apprenticeship

  FROM LÜNEBURG TO WEIMAR, 1700–1703

  Choral Scholar at St. Michael’s in Lüneburg

  Böhm, Reinken, and the Celle Court Capelle

  The Interim: Thuringian Opportunities

  Early Musical Achievements

  4. Building a Reputation

  ORGANIST IN ARNSTADT AND MÜHLHAUSEN, 1703–1708

  At the New Church in Arnstadt

  “First Fruits” and the Buxtehude Experience

  At the Blasius Church in Mühlhausen

  5. Exploring “Every Possible Artistry”

  COURT ORGANIST AND CAMMER MUSICUS IN WEIMAR, 1708–1714

  The First Six Years at the Ducal Court

  Clavier Virtuoso and Organ Expert

  6. Expanding Musical Horizons

  CONCERTMASTER IN WEIMAR, 1714–1717

  A Career Choice

  Mostly Music for “The Heaven’s Castle”

  “Musical Thinking”: The Making of a Composer

  High and Low Points

  7. Pursuing “the Musical Contest for Superiority”

  CAPELLMEISTER IN CÖTHEN, 1717–1723

  Princely Patronage

  Travels and Trials

  A Canon of Principles, and Pushing the Limits

  8. Redefining a Venerable Office

  CANTOR AND MUSIC DIRECTOR IN LEIPZIG: THE 1720s

  A Capellmeister at St. Thomas’s

  Mostly Cantatas

  “The Great Passion” and Its Context

  9. Musician and Scholar

  COUNTERPOINT OF PRACTICE AND THEORY

  Performer, Composer, Teacher, Scholar

  Music Director at the University

  Professorial Colleagues and University Students

  Materials and Metaphysics

  10. Traversing Conventional Boundaries

  SPECIAL ENGAGEMENTS: THE 1730s

  At a Crossroads

  Director of the Collegium Musicum and Royal Court Composer

  The Clavier-Übung Project

  At the Composer’s Desk

  11. A Singing Bird and Carnations for the Lady of the House

  DOMESTIC AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE

  Family and Home

  Balancing Official Duties and Private Business

  12. Contemplating Past, Present, and Future

  THE FINAL DECADE: THE 1740s

  Retreat but No Rest

  The Art of Fugue, the B-Minor Mass, and a Place in History

  The End

  Estate and Musical Legacy

  Epilogue: Bach and the Idea of “Musical Perfection”

  Notes

  Music Examples

  Appendixes

  1. Chronology

  2. Places of Bach’s Activities

  3. Money and Living Costs in Bach’s Time

  4. The Lutheran Church Calendar

  Bibliography

  GENERAL ABBREVIATIONS

  Note: For bibliographic abbreviations, see Bibliography.

  A

  alto (voice)

  B

  bass (voice)

  bc

  basso continuo

  bn

  bassoon(s)

  cemb

  cembalo

  cor

  corno, corni

  cto

  continuo

  D.

  Do
ctor

  div

  divisi

  fl

  flute(s)

  fg

  fagotto, fagotti

  gr.

  groschen

  instr

  instrument(s)

  M.

  Magister

  ob

  oboe(s)

  ob d’am

  oboe(s) d’amore

  pf.

  pfennig

  rec

  recorder(s)

  rip

  ripieno, ripieni

  rthl., rtl.

  reichst(h)aler

  S

  soprano (voice)

  str

  strings

  T

  tenor (voice)

  ti

  timpani

  thlr., tlr

  thaler, taler

  tr

  trumpet(s)

  trb

  trombone(s)

  trav

  transverse flute(s)

  v

  violin(s)

  va

  viola(s)

  va d.g.

  viola(s) da gamba

  va d’am

  viola(s) d’amore

  vc

  violoncello(s)

  vne

  violone, violoni

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Frontispiece: Courtesy of William H. Scheide, Princeton, New Jersey; Pages 12, 52, 368, 369: Bachhaus Eisenach; 15, 128, 416: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Musikabteilung; 32: Evangelisch-lutherisches Pfarramt Ohrdruf; 38, 39, 452–53: Archive-Museum for Literatur and Art, Kyiv; 56: Museum für das Fürstentum Lüneburg, Lüneburg; 65: Museum für Hamburgische Geschichte, Hamburg; 76: Schloßmuseum, Arnstadt; 80: Evangelisch-lutherisches Pfarramt, Arnstadt; 1 104, 106: Museum am Lindenbühl, Mühlhausen; 116: Stiftung Weimarer Klassik / Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Weimar; 120, 236, 241, 320, 321, 322: Bach-Archiv Leipzig; 146, 149: Kunstsammlungen zu Weimar, Schloßmuseum, Weimar; 186, 190, 192: Bachgedenkstätte im Schloß Köthen, Köthen; 267, 268, 304: Evangelisch-lutherische Kirchengemeinde St. Thomas-Matthäi, Leipzig; 266, 4003, 404, 405(both): Stadtarchiv, Leipzig; 390: Sotheby’s Holdings, London; 340, 359: Stadtgeschichtliches Museum, Leipzig

  List of Illustrations

  Johann Sebastian Bach, painting by Elias Gottlob Haußmann, 1748

  “Sun of Composers,” by A. F. C. Kollmann, 1799

  View of Eisenach, 1650

  Johann Ambrosius Bach, c. 1685

  Street map of Ohrdruf, c. 1710

  Johann Christoph Bach, “Meine Freundin, du bist schön,” title page, c. 1740

  J. C. Bach, “Meine Freundin,” solo violin part, before 1695

  Street map of Lüneburg, 1654

  Interior of St. Michael’s Church at Lüneburg, c. 1700

  Portrait of Buxtehude and Reinken, 1674

  Panorama of Arnstadt, c. 1700

  Interior of the New Church (Bachkirche) at Arnstadt, 1999

  View of Mühlhausen, 1720

  Interior of St. Blasius’s Church at Mühlhausen, c. 1880

  The ducal palace at Weimar, c. 1760

  Duke Ernst August of Saxe-Weimar, 1742

  Orgel-Büchlein: “Gott durch deine Güte,” BWV 600

  Interior of the Himmelsburg, c. 1660

  Cross section of the Himmelsburg, c. 1660

  Floor plan of the music gallery at the Himmelsburg

  Street map of Cöthen, c. 1730

  The princely palace in Cöthen, 1650

  Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, c. 1715

  Street map of Leipzig, 1723

  St. Thomas Square in Leipzig, 1723

  Interior of St. Thomas’s Church in Leipzig, eastward view

  Interior of St. Thomas’s Church, westward view

  Interior of St. Nicholas’s Church, westward view, c. 1785

  The Scheibe organ at St. Paul’s (University) Church in Leipzig, 1717

  Magister Johann Heinrich Ernesti, rector, c. 1720

  Magister Matthias Gesner, rector, c. 1745

  Magister Johann August Ernesti, rector, 1778

  Panorama of Leipzig, 1712

  Zimmermann’s coffeehouse in Leipzig, 1712

  Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, c. 1733

  Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, c. 1733

  Watercolor of the St. Thomas School by Felix Mendelssohn, 1838

  Façade of the St. Thomas School, 1732

  Floor plans of the St. Thomas School

  Cantor’s apartment before and after renovation, 1732

  Autograph score of “Et incarnatus est” from the Mass in B minor, c. 1749

  Johann Christoph Bach, “Lieber Herr Gott, wecke uns auf,” title page by J. S. Bach and taille part, 1749–50

  Map showing places of Bach’s activities

  Preface to the Updated Edition

  Quite a few books on Johann Sebastian Bach have appeared over the past several decades and in particular on the occasion of the last jubilee year 2000. Virtually without exception, either they are devoted to describing the composer’s life and works or they clearly focus on some aspects of his music. In contrast, the present book was intended as a decidedly biographical presentation, even though the biography of a musician cannot avoid discussing musical aspects and mentioning actual works. Therefore, I had to include essential musical references, but the discussion of specifically musical facts is limited to what is most necessary, and a detailed explanation of the composer’s development and musical language is consciously omitted. Instead, the intention was and remains to update the current state of knowledge—what we know about Bach’s life and the more immediate context of his being and his workings—which has not been done since Philipp Spitta, that is, for well over 125 years. For this purpose, as many accessible source materials as possible were taken into account and evaluated, but discussing them all, with their often varied interpretations of events, had to be passed up.

  The bibliography at the end of the book makes this aim clear, even though the preface to the first edition did not say so explicitly. I have been asked repeatedly why Albert Schweitzer’s Bach book of 1908, by far the most widespread and influential work ever on the composer, is not cited in the bibliography. The answer is both simple and unapologetic, because in no way does it involve neglect. Schweitzer, as a declared Wagnerian, given the impermanence of his insights for understanding Bach’s expressive musical language, in fact contributed weightily, and thereby essentially dislodged Spitta. However, that certainly does not apply to the area of biography; in that regard, he not only depended on Spitta but also lagged behind him in many ways. On the whole, Spitta’s biographical sketch gave authoritative direction for the twentieth century within the framework of a wonderful presentation of Bach’s life and work. This orientation also pertains especially to Spitta’s emphatic avoidance regarding the human side of Bach, which is difficult to approach and so is usually neglected. Therefore, this book offers an attempt, not restricted to a small part (such as chapter 11), to diminish slightly the prevailing abstract view of Bach.

  Only in writing this book, and even more pointedly in the aftermath, did it become clear to me how much the late eighteenth-century tradition of understanding Bach as a musical cult figure goes back to the composer’s apparent furtherance and propagation of his self-image. In the end, what we know today is that Bach was a highly self-conscious man—one who was seemingly not shy about styling himself as a kind of star in his surroundings and in the circle of his students. The question of how much the basis for the picture of musical genius—for the view of the unchanging uniqueness of his art—goes back to Bach himself I have pursued elsewhere.* Most of all, the retrospective portrayals in the Obituary, which go back to Bach’s own reports, offer discernible traces in this regard (cf. the typical opinion of Reinken in his view of Bach’s historic mission, pp. 212–13), as does Bach’s establishment of his historical place in the framework of the family genealogy and the Old-Bach Archive (pp. 420ff.).

  It speak
s to the vitality of a branch of research when, in the space of roughly a decade, new knowledge has been uncovered that proves relevant to the biographical representation. Considering the ongoing systematic research in central German church, state, and communal archives that has been undertaken by the Leipzig Bach Archive since 2002, we may be sure that in the future, further pertinent materials will turn up that will require future updating. All new and genuine Bach documentary material collected through 2006–07 has now been published by the Bach Archive in volume V of the Bach-Dokumente series: Dokumente zu Leben, Werk und Nachwirken Johann Sebastian Bachs, 1685–1800, ed. Hans-Joachim Schulze (Kassel, 2007).