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Bach Studies: Liturgy, Hymnology, and Theology
Discussions - Part 6

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Leaver Bach Studies, Part III, Theology, Chapter 11, "Bach and Pietism."

William L. Hoffman wrote (November 3, 2021):
Robin A. Leaver's Bach Studies, Part III, Theology,¹ begins with Chapter 11, "Bach and Pietism." It is a topic that undergirds discussion of Bach's theology and spirituality and is still subject to considerable debate and varying perspectives. "Bach and Pietism" is particularly appropriate as the topic applies to the graphic and studied texts of Bach's sacred cantatas as musical sermons and his two settings of Passion oratorios according to John (1724) and Matthew (1727), which Leaver characterizes as "sermons in sound."² Pietism in its relationship to the Lutheran cantor is still subject to the "misperception of what Pietism was and much misunderstanding of Bach's relation to Pietism," says Leaver (Ibid.: 219), such as Pietism and its relation to Lutheran Orthodoxy, says Leaver. Chapter 11 seeks "to review some of the presumptions regarding both Pietism and Bach's relation to it; to examine basic features of the Pietist movement" of the 17th and 18th centuries; "to investigate contemporary representatives on both sides of the divide; and to reexamine relevant aspects of Bach's career and compositions." In the last section of Leaver's Chapter 11, Pietism and Bach," two sources are examined below in relation to Bach and Pietism as well as Bach and Jesus. An overview of Pietism in German Hymnody is found at Carl F. Schalk's "German Hymnody,"³ "The Period of Pietism (c. 1675-c. 1750," BCW.

Pietism Explained, Bach's Response

Pietism from a contemporary perspective, says Leaver in the first section, "Some views of Bach and Pietism," is a "fundamentalist outlook," citing Erik Routley (Ibid.: 219f), involving "a laymen's religious movement, a contempt for the academic and cerebral aspects of Christian practice, a stress on inter-denominationalism, a preference for prayer over instruction, and a system of conversion." Bach's experience of Pietism involved evidentiary expression found in the libretti of Bach's vocal works,⁴ particularly the church-year cantatas and biblical Passion oratorios. While Routley's perspective finds "the emphasis on the Passion was the hallmark of Pietism," says Leaver (Ibid.: 221), theologian Jaroslav Pelikan⁵ found in Bach's cantatas the Pietist emphasis on sin as "Angst" (Anxiety) in contrast to Luther's Anfectung" (temptation), says Leaver (Ibid.: 220). Here in the cantatas, "Angst" "was a common theme, as was the emphasis on [the subjective] "Christ in us," "especially in the frequent use of the Bride-Bridegroom imagery⁶ [see, for example Wikipedia] that occurs from time to time in the cantatas," says Leaver (Ibid.: 221). Pelikan stresses "that the Passion was central to Lutheran Orthodoxy," Leaver relates (221), particularly in Luther's Theology of the Cross (Wikipedia). The recitatives and arias in Bach's cantatas and Passions "ring all the changes and sound all the themes of eighteenth-century Pietism: all the intense subjectivity, the moral earnestness, and the rococo metaphors of Pietist homiletics, devotion, and verse," says Leaver (221) Do such analyses of Routley, Pelikan, and others such as Martin Geck, "really expose the heart of Pietism and, therefore do they provide the adequate background to explain the true nature of Bach's relationship with this movement?," asks Leaver (Ibid.: 222). Leaver responds with his studies of "Lutheran Pietism" and 'Some comparisons of Pietists and Orthodox" (Christian Gerber, Valentine Ernst Löscher, Johann Jacob Rambach, Erdmann Neumeister).

Lutheran Pietism

The next section, "Lutheran Pietism" (Ibid.: 222-229), explores the "subjective piety that extended throughout Europe" from the 17th century onwards, rooted in Reformed theology [see, for example Wikipedia] in various denominations," Leaver observes (Ibid.: 222). "But in relation to Bach, the term [Pietism] needs to be used in a more restricted and nuanced way," Leaver emphasizes (Ibid.): "Pietism" (capital "P") as a specific movement in German Lutheran Churches, began around 1675, that "created a controversial division within Lutheranism — especially during the first two decades of the" 18th century, "later became accepted into German society" and by mid-19th century "emerged as a dominant, mainstream force in Prussian nationalism."⁷ A half-century before the beginning of Pietism, a precursor wave caused a "particularly creative period of Lutheran theological literature" of devotional handbooks and objective dogmatic theology, says Leaver (Ibid.: 223).⁸ The devotional influences came from the medieval mysticism of Bernard of Clairvaux and Johannes Tauler. This common ground revealed that "the Pietists did not have a monopoly on piety," says Leaver in his earlier Hymnody, Chapter 9, Bach, Hymnic Aria," BCW, Ibid.: 191. In particular are Johann Arndt's Wahres Christentum (True Christianity, 1605/09) and Johann Gerhard's Schola Pietatis (School of Piety, 1622f). Following the devastation of the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), people turned "inward to find consolation and spiritual strength," Leaver says (Ibid.: 224). To Arndt and Gerhard "were added the consolation of newly written sensitive hymns reflecting the times, by such poets as Johann Heermann Martin Rinckart, Johann Rist, and especially Paul Gerhardt," with new devotional literature, notably of Heinrich Müller, showing "the long line of Lutheran devotional writings that [began with Luther, long] before there was the specific Lutheran Pietist movement," says Leaver (Ibid.: 225). Arndt and Müller "were critical of clergy who overstressed outward formality while neglecting spirituality," says Leaver (Ibid.: FN 23, 224f).⁹

Lutheran Mysticism, Piety

The most pronounced feature in this earlier literature was "Lutheran mysticism," involving the pervasive, experiental unio mystica ¹⁰ (mystical union) between the individual and Jesus. Pietism officially began in 1675 with Philipp Jacob Spener's Pia Desideria (Pious Desires), "a six-point agenda for spiritual renewal against orthodox formalism," says Leaver (Ibid.: 226).¹¹ Spener (Wikipedia) wanted more laity (sometimes called the Priesthood of All Believers) having Bible studies in gatherings called collegia pietatis (schools of piety), in lieu of the church-year readings of the Epistles and Gospels, with an emphasis on the Pauline Good Order in Worship (1 Cor. 14:26-40, Bible Gateway). In 1689, Leipzig underwent a spiritual renewal with collegia pietatis, says Leaver (Ibid.: 227) — (as well as the provision of several churches). The "nature of the conflict between Orthodoxy and Pietism was not about spirituality, over which there was much agreement, but rather about the two different approaches to the nature of the church," says Leaver, or what might be called "top-down vs. bottom up." The Pietists sought a second reformation, "essentially a process of elimination," Leaver says (Ibid.: 228). This included bans on eucharistic vestments, exorcism at Baptism, rigid readings on which the sermons were preached, and elaborate music, the last replaced by "lighter and more accessible tunes that the Pietists sang in their collegia pietatis," says Leaver (Ibid.: 229).

Four Pietist/Orthodox Writers, Gerber Cited

The next and most substantial section in Leaver's chapter on "Bach and Pietism" is "Some comparisons of Pietists and Orthodox" (Ibid.: 229-243), in which Leaver offers profiles of four formative, near-contemporary religious writers ranging across the spectrum who had varying deof influence on Bach: Christian Gerber, Valentine Ernst Löscher, Johann Jacob Rambach, and Erdmann Neumeister.

Gerber (1660-1731, Wikipedia) was an ardent and influential Pietist polemicist, prolific writer, and Saxon chronicler. In 1690, Gerber came under the influence of the Saxon Spener and produced "pro-Pietist promotion of internalized spirituality, set against an anti-Orthodox stance that is dismissive of most external liturgical reforms as being examples of worthless worldliness," says Leaver (Ibid.: 230). While Gerber applauded the depth and breadth of spiritual practice in Leipzig, he disdained Catholic-leaning activities such as the celebration of fixed Marian and saints' feast days¹² and "the frequent [profane] abuse of such holidays," says Leaver (Ibid.: 232), as well as the Feast of the Epiphany,¹³ all of which Bach observed, and the excessive, operatic-style of this music. Gerber was highly critical of both St. Michael's feast¹⁴ (worshiping angels) and the Reformation festival. "What he apparently did not know," says Leaver (Ibid.: 234), "is that in some parts of Saxony, especially in Leipzig, before the celebration of the Reformation Festival on October 31 became an annual event [at 1617 centenary), it was customary to celebrate the beginnings of the Reformation on St. Michael's Day." Gerber "writes of the centenary of the Reformation in 1617, and he is very dismissive of the musical celebrations that took place," says Leaver (234). Leaver also cites (Ibid.: 235) the famous Gerber article, "Theatrical Passion Music," "that for a long time was thought to be a comment on the first performance of a Bach Passion in Leipzig" (see BCW: "Relationship with Authority"). References to "theatrical," "opera," and "comedy" "are coded language" in Pietist literature," says Leaver (235) with Gerber's "basic objection to elaborate church music," says Leaver (Ibid.: 236).

Three Contemporary Perspectives: Löscher, Rambach, Neumeister

Having established the central musical conflict between Pietism and Orthodoxy as Bach practiced the latter, especially in Leipzig, Leaver considers three other contemporary writers: author Valentine Ernst Löscher's critical perspective (Ibid.: 237-39), Johann Jacob Rambach's literary Pietist acceptance of concerted music in worship (Ibid.: 239f), and Erdmann Neumeister's "reform" cantatas (Ibid.: 24-42, BCW) and criticism of Pietism (Hymnary.org). Löscher (1673-1749, Wikipedia), pastor of the Kreuzkirche and superintendent in Dresden, "was a prolific author," says Leaver (Ibid.: 237), with "devotional works, sermons, compilations of Reformation documents," etc., as well as the first German theological journal (Leipzig 1701), with its primary focus on "the disturbing effect that the Pietist movement was having throughout Lutheran Germany, followed by "a more systematic critique of Pietism," says Leaver (Ibid.: 238). Löscher engaged in extended, printed debates with Berlin Pietist Joachim Lange (1670-1744, Hymn Time). Löscher found "points of agreement with Spener" while criticizing "Orthodox theologians for being totally negative in their treatment of Pietism," says Leaver (Ibid.). Löscher affirmed piety's importance in Christian life. "Thus expressions of piety by both Pietists and Orthodox are often indistinguishable," says Leaver (Ibid.: 239), offering the examples of Rambach and Neumeister. Rambach (1693-1735, Wikipedia) began as a Pietist theologian in Halle but became a professor of theology in Giessen and later in Göttingen, says Leaver (239). "Rambach wrote many collections of sermons and devotional books that circulated beyond Pietist circles," Leaver says (239). Rambach's Betrachtungen über das gantze Leiden Christi (Reflections on the whole sufferings of Christ, Abe Books), is a "sequence of devotions on the Passion," says Leaver (Ibid.), "that the Bach household treasured, since in 1741 Bach's wife, Anna Magdalena, gave to a friend a copy of the second edition. . . ." Rambach was a hymn writer and also published "collections of poetry including cantata libretti," says Leaver (Ibid.: 240), notably his Geistliches Poesien (Halle, 1720) complete cantata cycle with a "reworking" of his text for the 14th Sunday after Trinity in Bach's 1723 Cantata 25, "Es ist nichts Gesundes an meinem Leibe" (There is nothing healthy in my body; see Francis Browne text translation and "Note on the text," BCW), for the same Sunday. In "large measure the architect of the so-called 'reform' cantata," Neumeister shows a "warm devotional style of his hymn texts and the intimate nature of his cantata libretti. . . ," says Leaver (240). Neumeister engaged in controversy, observes Leaver (Ibid.: 241), with noted Pietists August Hermann Francke (Wikipedia) and so-in-law Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen (Wikipedia), whose hymnal, Geistreiches Gesangsbuch (Halle: Waysenhaus, 1704), caused "Much of the controversy between Orthodoxy and Pietism centered on this hymnal," says Leaver (Ibid.: 242). "Orthodox Wittenberg theologians criticized the omission of classic hymns that dealt with the fundamentals of Lutheran theology such as Luther's Erhalt uns Herr, bei deinem wort, which was sung especially at Reformation celebrations," he says (242). The second part of Freylinghausen's Gesangbuch of 1714 includes three hymns "written by the anti-Pietist and pro-Orthodox Erdmann Neumeister," Leaver points out (242). He summarizes: "Being pious was not the issue, but when personal piety was presented as the condition for salvation, rather than its fruit, when Pietist meetings for prayer and bible study were considered as essential and the public worship of the church unimportant and even dispensable, then Orthodox pastors and theologians objected."

Pietism and Bach

In the final section of Chapter 11, Leaver says: "The answer to the direct question, 'Was Bach a Pietist?' has to be an emphatic negative" (Ibid.: 243). Where tensions are found in Bach's lifetime between Orthodox and Pietism, "Bach will always be found on the side of Orthodoxy," says Leaver (243).¹⁵ "With the possible exception of Mühlhausen in all his professional church appointments Bach found himself in Orthodox environments."¹⁶ Leaver summarizes Bach's appointments in Arnstadt, Mühlhausen, Weimar, and Leipzig. In Mühlhausen, Bach experienced "the antagonistic environment that existed between the two pastors," one Orthodox and the other Pietist. Bach's resignation letter of 25 June 1708 to the town council regarding "vexations and hindrances" to his "goal" of "a well regulated church music and Leaver provides a "much more nuanced" characterization (Ibid.: 244) "of a third group, led by the pastor of a parish on the outskirts of Mühlhausen." Previously in Arnstadt and subsequently in Weimar and Leipzig Bach experienced productive relationships with Orthodox theologians and pastors as well as reigning monarchs such as Weimar's duke, Wilhelm Ernst. In Leipzig, Lutheran Superintendent Salomon Deyling (Wikipedia) and his involvement with orthodoxy and other relevant matters are discussed by Leaver (Ibid.: 244f), as well as a biographical summary (Ibid.: 245ff) of JoGottlob Carpzov, professor and clergy at the Thomaskirche. Leaver concludes (Ibid.: 247), with a summary of religious currents in 1750 and the "musical elements that the orthodox strived to retain within the worship of the church . . . ." "In sum: although the contents of Bach's cantatas have the appearance of Pietism in imagery and expression, it was the liturgical purpose, eucharistic context, and theological content of Orthodox that provided the environment that brought the cantatas into existence." Bach's spirituality from a wide range of perspectives is a topic which increasingly engages Bach scholars and enthusiasts. ¹⁶

ENDNOTES

¹ Robin A. Leaver, Bach Studies: Liturgy, Hymnology, and Theology (Abingdon UK: Routledge, 2021); Amazon.com.
² "Sermons in sound," see Robin A. Leaver, "J. S. Bach as Preacher: His Passions and Music in Worship," Church Music Pamphlet Series (St. Louis, 1984), p. 26; cited in William L. Hoffman, "Spiritual Sources of Bach's St. Matthew Passion" (Bach Cantatas Website, 2009), BCW.
³ Carl F. Schalk, "German Hymnody," in Marilyn K. Stulken, Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship Philadelphia PA: Fortress Press, 1981: 29-31), Amazon.com; see also "Pietism," Wikipedia.
⁴ An examination of the various Protestant Reformation doctrinal perspectives in Bach's vocal works is found in Peter Smaill's "Bach among the Heretics: Inferences from the Cantata Texts," in Understanding Bach 4 (Bach Network UK 2009: 101-118), BachNetwork UK. These involve Universalism, Quietism, Socianianism, Theopaschitism/ Patripassionism, Pietism in the Cantata 22 Probstück and Moravian Pietism, Rosicrucianism, Chiliasm, Eschatology, and Calvinism; Smaill also cites the distinct theological crux of two Bach Passion perspectives: Christus Victor in the non-synoptic St. John Passion, BWV 245.3, and the Anselm satisfaction/substitution theory in the synoptic St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 (and the St. Mark Passion, BWV 247).
⁵ Jaroslav Pelikan, "Pietism, Piety, and Devotion," in Bach Among the Theologians (Philadelphia PA: Fortress Press, 1986: 56-71); Amazon.com; Bach-Bibliography, Bach-Bibliographie.
⁶ See especially Isabel van Elferen, Mystical Love in the German Baroque, Theology, Poetry, Music; Contextual Bach Studies, 2, ed. Robin A. Leaver (Lanham MD: Scarecrow Press, 2009: 217-313), Amazon.com.
⁷ Running parallel with much historical Pietism is the American brand beginning with the "Great Awakening" religious revival in the 1730s in four waves to the 20th century (Wikipedia), which became the charismatic movement impacting various Protestant and Catholic denominations (Wikipedia).
⁸ At the same time as well came the era in German hymnology, just before the period of Pietism (1675-1750), described as "The Period of Paul Gerhardt, the Thirty Years' War, and the Development of New Literary Concerns (c. 1618-c. 1675)," says Schalk (Ibid.: 26-29). One strain of devotional hymns were Jesuslieder, sometimes substituted for Epiphany Time hymns between New Year's Day and Lent, as in the Geistreicher Lieder-Schatz oder Leipziger Gesangbuch of 1717, says Günther Stiller in Johann Sebastian Bach and Liturgical Life in Leipzig (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing, 1984: 249), cited in BCW and recorded in YouTube.
^{9 "}Overstressed outward formality" sometimes is found with Lutheran clergy still today called "chancel prancers."
¹⁰ The concept of unio mystica involves the second, present stage in the three-fold advent meaning of Christmas in Lutheran salvation history through Jesus Christ, cited in Marcus Rathey, Chapter 3, “Layers of Time,” Johann Sebastian Bach’s Christmas Oratorio: Music, Theology, Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 52ff), being his perpetual, spiritual indwelling in the believer’s heart (inhabitatio) in mystical unity (unio mystica) with the believer. The first stage was Jesus coming through incarnation, born on earth in human flesh as the Son of Man, while the final, eschatological act involves Jesus Christ’s coming at the end time in judgement, also called Christ’s Second or Last Coming, signifying the victory of good over evil and a king coming in glory and judgement of mankind (source, BCW).
¹¹ Pietism involves "closely defined dogmas, reception of the sacraments, and participation in the ordinances of the church," says Schalk (Ibid.: 29).
¹² Leaver cites the fixed feasts and Bach's works (Ibid.: 233f): Epiphany (January 6),⁹ Cantatas 65, 123, and BWV 248VI; Purification (February 2): BWV 161, 83, 125, 82, 157, 200, 158 (see BCW); Annunciation (March 25), BWV 182, 1, [1135=Anh. 199 (see BCW)]; St. John the Baptist's Day (June 24), BWV 167, 7, and 30 (BCW); and St. Michael's Day (September 29), BWV 130, 19, 149 (BCW).
¹³ Epiphany, see Bach Epiphany Mass, Gabriel Consort & Players, Paul McCreesh; "Lutheran Epiphany Mass: Leipzig, c. 1740 (BCW), liner notes, Robin A. Leaver and Paul McCreesh); YouTube.
¹⁴ St. Michael's Day (Sept. 29): In a footnote (Ibid.: FN 60: 234), Leaver says Cantata 50, "Nun ist das Heil und die Kraft" (Now is the salvation and the strength, Francis Brown tr.; after Rev. 12:10), "was more likely composed for a Reformation festival," ref. Leaver, Bach Studies, Chapter 15, "Bach and Anniversaries of the Reformation" (Ibid.: 343); also see Cantata 50 commentaries, BCW, BCW.
¹⁵ A "revisionist view" of Pietism and Bach is found in a series of essays dated 1993/94 by the late Bach scholar Don O Franklin in the publication Pietisten, beginning with the article, "Bach and Pietism," Pietisten, with the remainder summarized and accessible (Pietisten).
¹⁶ Extensive information on Bach's Lutheran experiences are found in Leaver, Chapter 7, "Churches," in Routledge Research Companion to . . . Bach, ed. Robin A. Leaver (London: Routledge, 2017: 142-190), Amazon.com.
¹⁷ Leaver discuses the ‘Emblematic Jesus’ in the Bach network on-line Discussing Bach 2, "Bach and Jesus," 11 June 2021, BachNetwork UK.

Leaver Bach Studies, Part III Theology, Chapter 12, "Bach, Gesner, and Johann August Ernesti"

William L. Hoffman wrote (November 21, 2021):
Following Robin A. Leaver's Bach Studies,¹ Part III, Theology, Chapter 11, "Bach and Pietism" (BCW), comes another updated essay related to theological challenges facing Bach in Chapter 12, "Bach, Gesner, and Johann August Ernesti." Gesner and Ernesti were "two acclaimed philologists," who also were noted educationalists, being successive rectors at the Thomas School in Leipzig (1730-47). Leaver observes (Ibid.: 248): "In their collaboration with Bach both profoundly affected his career, one positively [Johann Matthias Gesner], the other negatively" (J. A. Ernesti). Leaver provides special insight and extensive background and contemporary information on both of these reformers/authorities as well as source material on the Thomas School environment, particularly the "tensions that had simmered for decades between the city council and the faculty of the Thomasschule," he says (Ibid.: 249). Of note were the major changes in curriculum and de-emphasis of music, changes in the learning process as well as restrictions on traditional outside activities such as the new rector Ernesti's prohibited involvement in Leipzig University. Much of this essay deals with Ernesti's tenure (1734-47), beginning with Ernesti's political manipulations as conrector during Gesner's tenure, as well as both's "Different approaches to curriculum reform" (Ibid.: 256-8), Ernesti's conflicts with Bach, particularly the "Präfektenstreit" [prefect dispute]" (Ibid.: 259-61), and the question Leaver poses, "Was the cause of the conflict between theology and music?" (Ibid.: 262-4). The two concluding sections involve "Gesner's footnote on Bach" (Ibid.: 264-7), and Ernesti's biographical account of Gesner in "Gesner's footnote in Leipzig" (Ibid.: 267-73), also involving related reception history topics such as German academics and scholars, church changes in Leipzig after Bach, and Thomas School relations.

Thomas School Rector Gesner

Johann Matthias Gesner (1691-1761, Wikipedia) brought another serendipitous situation to Bach with his four years as rector (1730-34), succeeding the late Johann Heinrich Ernesti (1652-1729, Wikipedia; served 1684-1729), no relation to the younger Johann August Ernesti (1707-1781, Wikipedia). They had been colleagues first when Gesner was conrector at the Latin gymnasium in Weimar (1715-17) while Bach was concertmaster creating church-year cantatas and Gesner was forging a career as a Latin school reformer. At issue in Leipzig, says Leaver (Ibid.: 250), were the governing city council's long-standing plans to modernize the St. Thomas School² curriculum content and the pedagogical learning process as well as downplaying the role of music while adding history, geography, and logic in addition to a long-needed, complete building renovation. The faculty "resisted pressure from the city council for educational reforms," he finds (Ibid.), perhaps in part because of the potential loss of outside in come as well as newly-issued governing regulations of 1723 and changes in the admissions procedures with less musical requirements. In addition were governing personnel changes and increasing council oversight during Bach's first five years, says Leaver (Ibid.: 251). Another tradition abandoned when Gesner was appointed was the prohibition of the rector serving on the Leipzig University faculty and publishing — "the new rector was, therefore, expected to devote all his attention to leadership of the Thomasschule," Leaver remarks (Ibid. 252). Following renovation completed in April 1732, Gesner turned to a new version of the school regulations on the details of daily life and student conduct and attempted to reaffirm the role of music, Leaver describes (Ibid.: 253). After the 1733 school law was published, Gesner was appointed professor of poetry and eloquence at the new University of Göttingen, "where, in the following decades, he pursued an illustrious career," Leaver observes (Ibid.: 254). Previously, between 1731 and 1734, "there seemed to be an amicable relationship between the three leading faculty," says Leaver (Ibid.: 255) — Gesner as rector, the ambitious young Ernesti as conrector, and Bach as cantor. Leaver cites the example of profane Cantata BWV 36c (36.1) for Gesner's birthday, 8 April 1731 (Ibid.). Meanwhile, from 1729 to 1734, Bach produced six varied works³ for the Thomas School as his compositional emphasis shifted from cantor sacred cantatas to music director profane works, often utilizing parody or new-text underlay, a process which would continue to the end of the decade with drammi per musica.⁴

Thomas School Rector Ernesti

In the next section, "Different approaches to curriculum reform," Leaver describes (Ibid.: 256f) Ernesti the younger working to achieve a "change in the educational philosophy" at the Thomas School that the town council had long sought: "reducing its primary focus on music and by expanding the curriculum beyond traditional classical studies" to new subjects that led to a conflict between rector and cantor (Ibid.: 257). Meanwhile, Gesner in Göttingen developed new school rules in 1737 for schools throughout the electorate of Braunschweig-Lünebuurg that expand the course offerings including languages "but had much in common with the 1733 Gesetze that Gesner had prepared for the Leipzig Thomasschule," Leaver notes (Ibid.: 258). "For Gesner, the long-standing practice of the daily music lesson was of primary importance in the education of students." Also, Gesner was working on a new critical edition and treatise on the Roman rhetorician Marcus Fabius Quintilian (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quintilian), which "set out the theory and practice of rhetoric and are explorations of the fundamental premise that to be a good orator one must first be a good person," says Leaver (Ibid.: 259). "Music was fundamentally important in Quintilian's curriculum, as was well-known at the time," says Leaver (Ibid.).

Präfektenstreit, Bach Performing, Gesner's Footnote in Leipzig

Leaver describes in detail the Präfektenstreit (prefect dispute, Ibid.: 259-61) between Bach and Ernesti.⁵ "The intensity and bitterness of the dispute was no doubt exacerbated by the different personalities of the two stubborn protagonists," says Leaver (Ibid.; 261). This conflict, long characterized as "the collision of two ideologies," says Leaver (Ibid.: 263), Bach as Orthodox Lutheran and Ernesti as progressive Enlightenment), instead was, "as explored in this chapter, a fundamental disagreement over the role of music in education, which had significant ramifications for the Leipzig churches as well as the Thomasschule," says Leaver (Ibid.; 264). In his Quintilian edition published in 1738, Ernesti in a footnote describes Bach in performance (Theory of Music: JS Bach performing by JM Gesner (1738)), "a superlative illustration of Quintilian's description of the various levels of simultaneous activity that music-making requires," comments Leaver (Ibid.: 266). Still, Gesner and Ernesti "appear to have maintained a cordial friendship after Gesner left Leipzig" in 1734, says Leaver (Ibid.; 267). In his final and most extensive section of chapter 12, "Gesner's footnote in Leipzig" (Ibid.: 267-73), Leaver examines Ernesti's essays on Leipzig notable academics and scholars, many also serving in civic or church positions, including a biographical memoir/elegy at Gesner's death in 1761. This section provides a wealth of detail on Bach reception history, a more recent field of musicology which in recent years has yielded significant studies of Leipzig after Bach (see below).

Leipzig Church, Music Reform

Ttranslator and editor of Ernesti's German volume on memorial tributes in 1792 was Gottlob Friedrich Rothe (1733-1813), Thomaner student and custos (sexon) at the Leipzig Johannes and Thomas churches, who "was concerned not only to reveal the details of these illustrious men but also to record connections with the churches in Leipzig," says Leaver (Ibid." 269). Rothe provided additional materials on significant Leipzig church figures and added "a complete German translation of Gesner's Quintilian description of Bach in performance in a footnote to Ernesti's biographical memoire of Gesner," Leaver reveals (Ibid.: 270). In 1792, "far-reaching reforms of church life" through modernization occurred "as the leaders of the Leipzig churches attempted to move away from what was perceived to be a lifeless formalism inherited from orthodoxy in favor of a more expressive religious environment which has been described as 'pious enlightenment'," an amalgam of elements of Pietism and Rationalism, says Leaver (Ibid.; 271). "In many respects, Leipzig was among the last cities to undertake similar reforms," which involved making "the services shorter, more accessible, and more 'modern'." Most Latin hymns and liturgical texts were eliminated, replaced with "new liturgical formularies" and substituting older hymns with ones that had lighter melodies, as well as "the abandonment of Eucharistic vestments, public confession replacing private confession," and other changes, observes Leaver (Ibid.). Cantor Johann Adam Hiller (1728-1804, BCW) provided "appropriate music in the fashionable galant/Enlightenment style" (Ibid.), as music was an important part of liturgical reforms, says Leaver (Ibid.: 272), who cites leading Leipzig figures with musical pedigrees, Burgomeister Carl Wilhelm Müller, Superintendent Johann Georg Rosenmüller, and Custos Rothe. Meanwhile, the major conflicts between the Thomas School rectors and cantors continued, as Leaver points out (Ibid.),⁶ between Johann Friedrich Fischer and Johann Friedrich Doles and between Fischer and Hiller, the latter who "was vigorous and effective in reestablishing the Thomasschule preeminently as a music school that served the needs of the Leipzig churches." At the same time, the shadow of Bach continued when, as Leaver comments (Ibid.; 273), Gesner's footnote "should reappear in German during a similar period of conflict between rector and cantor towards the end of the eighteenth century."

ENDNOTES

¹ Robin A. Leaver, Bach Studies: Liturgy, Hymnology, and Theology (Abingdon UK: Routledge, 2021); Amazon.com.
² See also Michael Maul, Bach's Famous Choir: The Saint Thomas School in Leipzig, 1212-1804, trans. Richard Howe (Woodbridge: Boydell: 2018: 141-235), Amazon.com; review, American Bach Society, Chad Fothergill, "Translating and Institutional History," American Bach Society: Bach Notes: 7ff).

³ For an account of Bach's six school works, see my "Homage Works for Thomas School Rectors, Renovation," as well as the Bach-Gesner relationship and related Bach works, BML Discussions, BCW. The original version of BWV 36c (36.1), “Schwingt freudig euch empor” (Soar in your joy up, Wikipedia) also was a birthday cantata for an unknown Leipzig University professor, dated to c. April-May 1725. Leipzig University in a posting (Universtät Leipzig: Festmusiken), says that BWV 36c is possibly (evtl.) a "Geburtstagskantate für einen Lehrer, evtl. für Johann Heinrich Ernesti, Thomasschulrektor und Prof. Poeseos, zum 75. Geburtstag am 12.03.1727 (evtl. schon April und Juli 1725)." Bach Digital instead suggests Gesner or J. B. Mencke (Bach Digital).
⁴ Drammi per musica, see Alberto Basso, "Opera and the Dramma per Musica," summary trans. Thomas Braatz, in Die Welt der Bach Kantaten (Stuttgart: Metzler/Bärenreiter, 1997: 48-63), https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/Opera-Drama[Braatz].htm, Google scroll and paste).
⁵ The Bach-Ernesti dispute is summarized in Robin A. Leaver's "Religion and Religious Currents," in The Worlds of Johann Sebastian Bach, ed. Raymond Erickson (New York: Amadeus Press, 2009: 132) in Leaver's section, "Rationalism" (Classical Net), with previous sections on Lutheran theology, chorales, and reformation currents, topics addressed in perceptive detail in Leaver's Bach Studies: Liturgy, Hymnology, Theology (passim).
⁶ Leaver cites Maul (Ibid.: 249-72), Amazon.com; and Jeffery S. Sposato, Leipzig After Bach: Church and Concert Life in a German City (New York: Oxford University Press: 113-34, 157-88), Amazon.com.

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To Come: Leaver Bach Studies: . . . Theology, Chapter 13, Bach and Erdmann Neumeister

Continue on Part 7