Review

Noelle M. Haber's Bach's Material and Spiritual Treasures: A Theological Perspective

William L. Hoffman wrote (July 6, 2022):
Two major Bach monographs published in 2021 have greatly increased the understanding of Bachian concepts such as new materialism and theology within the parameters of cutting-edge studies which take center stage at the coming Bach Network Dialogue Meeting 2022¹ in Cambridge UK. The progressive essay collection Rethinking Bach² includes consideration of materiality in Stephen Rose's "Bach and Material Culture" (Ibid.: 11-35) and Isabella van Elferen's "Rethinking Affect" (Ibid.: 141-166) as well as Jeremy Begbie's "Bach and Theology" (Ibid.: 169-192). The meeting will include a Rethinking Bach Round Table.³ Materialism and theology are considered in the widely-heralded Noelle M. Heber's Bach's Material and Spiritual Treasures: A Theological Perspective,⁴ monograph which addresses 1. "Bach's Material Treasures: Career, Salary, Freelancing"; 2-5, cantatas on the themes of Christ as Servant Prince, Mammon's Chain, Feeding the Poor, and Spiritual Manna; 6. "Blood Money" in the St. Matthew Passion; and 7. "Bach's Spiritual Treasures: Values and Priorities."

Heber explores Bach's earthly material treasures across a broad spectrum, as well as the theological messages in the spiritual treasures found in select sacred cantatas for key services of the Christmas festival and Trinity Time services, as well as cost in the St. Matthew Passion, concluding with Bach's spiritual treasures as revealed in his compositional choices, his Calov bible commentary, particularly the Book of Ecclesiastes and concern for poverty and the poor. Rethinking Bach has two chapters related to the interdisciplinary concept of material culture concerning the relationship between music and its physical objects as it began to emerged in the 18th century: Stephen Rose's "Bach and Material Culture," Oxford University Press Scholarship: Chapter 2 (Oxford University Press), and Isabella van Elferen's "Rethinking Affect," OUP Scholarship: Chapter 7 (Oxford University Press). Recent articles on music and material culture are found at publisher Routledge, Rouledge - Taylor & Francis Group, topics include music notation, printed music, public worship, instruments, song, and recordings.

Bach Finite Earthly Treasures, Theological Impact in Bach Works

Heber seeks to understand Bach's finite earthly treasures as they impact on his calling for a well-regulated church music to the glory of God, evoking infinite spiritual treasures. She probes concepts of wealth expressed in five Lutheran theologians found in Bach's personal library and impacting on the poetic texts in his sacred music, as well as accounting for Bach's financial status and "considers his apparent attentiveness to spiritual values related to money," says the publisher's book description, Boydell & Brewer Press. Bach in the spirit of capitalism was first revealed in Heber's 2017 Bach Network Understanding Bach article, "Bach and Money: Sources of Salary and Supplemental Income in Leipzig from 1723 to 1750,"⁵ in which she found Bach's official salary in Leipzig as cantor and music director was doubled through freelancing involving various activities and interests. Heber in person discusses "Bach’s attitudes towards, experiences with, and cantatas related to the ideas of spiritual and material wealth" in "Bach, Money, and Spiritual Treasure."⁶ Two recent reviews by Bach scholars of Heber's monograph are found on line from Mark Peters and Mary J. Greer.⁷ Peters' review summarizes Heber's findings with the first and final seventh chapters related to Bach biography involving material treasures. while Chapters 2-6 deal with gospel teachings on spiritual treasures related to theological themes with extensive musical examples and graphics. First are the Christmas festival cantatas (BWV 91, 197a, 248/1, 121, 151) with gospels of the infant Jesus as the Servant Prince coming in poverty. The driving topical force is Matthew 6:19-21 in the Sermon on the Mount (Bible Gateway) where the finite, corrupt treasures on earth contrast the perpetual rewards in heaven. Chapters 3-5 deal with cantatas as musical sermons on the Gospel teachings for the Trinity services of the Ninth (BWV 105, 94, 168), First (BWV 75, 20, 39), and Seventh (BW 186, 187) Sundays that respectively involve the following: Luke 16:1-9, Parable of the unjust steward showing "Mammon's Chain: The Destructive and Redemptive Potentials of Material Wealth"; Luke 16:19-31, Parable of Dives and Lazarus (rich and poor man) showing "The Afflicted Shall Eat: Tables Are Turned in Eternity"; and Mark 8:1-9, Miracle: Christ feeds the four thousand showing "Spiritual Manna: "The Lord Embraces the Poor." Chapter 6 considers three sections in the St. Mathew Passion related to money: Jesus anointed with "costly water," Judas' betrayal of Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, and the "rich man" Joseph of Arimathea asking for the body of Jesus for burial in his tomb. Mary Greer's review finds (p.6f) the the frontispiece of theologian August Pfeiffer's Gazophylacion evangelium, oder Evangelische Schatz-Kammer (Evangelical Treasure Vault, Jena, 1689), "illustrates the concept of 'spiritual treasures' in a particularly concrete way," one of several theologians cited in Heber⁸ and found in Bach's library. Greer also points out (p.9) Bach's own philanthropy, his emphasis on the book of Ecclesiastes in the Calov Commentary, his charity, and his ownership of a silver mine in Saxony as philanthropy.

Bach as Human; Bach Works Treasures

An added feature in Heber's book is Michael Marissen's brief "Foreword" (Ibid.: xiv; Amazon.com: "Look inside": Foreword), concluding: "Bach emerges more clearly and persuasively than ever as a real flesh-and-blood human being who was glad to honor God and to enjoy (but not serve) mammon, and not just, or even primarily, to have laboured for artistic and other recognition." In her Preface (Ibid.: xv), Heber emphasizes the importance of theology beyond its influences in the libretti of Bach's music directed to the "biblical antithesis of treasures on earth and in heaven," in their nuances, ironies, contributions, and contexts as found in Bach's world. Heber frames the discussion in her Introduction (Ibid.: 1-14) with the impact of Lutheran theologians on Bach over two centuries, particularly in his sacred music texts involving hymns, poetry, and biblical quotations which now, two centuries later, are interpreted through secular frameworks (2). The great bulk of Bach's sacred works, the cantatas and oratorios, are evaluated from the contrasting perspectives of theology and Bach biography impacting on poverty and abundance in material and spiritual treasures within their comparative influences in both realms. Heber seeks "to bring a greater understanding to the texts in Bach's church music by first exploring the larger context of the relevant themes in his religious environment," she says (3), including "some of what he also thought and believed" and "the ideas conveyed through his music" (3ff). Heber describes (6f) Bach's theological library involving such themes as "time and eternity," salvation, conduct in everyday life, temporal distractions, and conflicts in contrasting perspectives. One emerging topic, Heber observes (7f), is the growth of the German language in Bach's time ⁹ with its associated contexts in academics, poetics, theology, textual collaboration and transformation, and contemporary interpretation. Heber outlines important textual translations (8f) found in Luther's Works, Alfred Dürr's The Cantatas of J. S. Bach (Oxford 2005), and Michael Marissen's Bach Oratorios. The key word in Heber's studies is Schatz, meaning "treasures," with a range of synonyms and applications (9f). Heber cites (9) the soprano-alto duet (No. 5), "Die Armut, so Gott auf sich nimmt" (The poverty that God takes upon himself, YouTube), in the 1724 Christmas Day Martin Luther chorale Cantata 91, "Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ" (Praised be you, Jesus Christ), as that "relates treasures in heaven to eternal salvation" (Cantata 91 text BCW). She also cites (10) as a contrasting example of earthly treasures of material and spiritual poverty the bass aria (No. 4), "An irdische Schätze das Herze zu hängen" (To hang one’s heart on earthly treasures, YouTube), in the 1724 Trinity Time Michael Franck chorale Cantata 26, "Ach, wie flüchtig, ach, wie nichtig" (Ah, how fleeting, ah, how transitory) in a new translation of Michael Marissen and Daniel R. Melamed.¹⁰ Key "treasure" terms "are scattered throughout Bach's sacred music, appearing across a variety of contexts and assuming diverse meanings," says Heber (11).


Summarizing her Chapter 2-6, Heber emphasizes select works for six main services with musical figures that highlight "similar themes and theological concepts" (12), based primarily on Dietrich Bartel's Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music (Nebraska Press). Heber cites (13) Bach cantata Handbooks of Werner Neumann (1971), Dürr, and Hans-Joachim Schulze (2007), as well as Christoph Wolff's De Welt der Back Kantaten, as well as Bach works/themes in books of Eric Chafe (BWV 21), Markus Rathey (BWV 248), and Calvin R. Stapert (Amazon.com). In new research publications, Heber cites (13) primarily in her opening and closing chapters on material treasures Eberhard Spree's Die verwitwete Frau Capellmeisterin Bach: Studie über die Verteilung des Nachlasses von Johann Sebastian Bach (The widowed woman Capellmeisterin Bach: Study on the distribution of the estate of JSB), which deals with "the economic situation of Bach's time" and "provides invaluable clarification about some of the ideas and misconceptions surrounding the financial situation of Bach and his widow Anna Magdalena" (see BCW: paragraph beginning "It is only since the 300th anniversary of Anna Magdalena's birth in 2001. . . ."). Also cited in Chapter 1 are "these and similar thoughts from Siegbert Rampe's Das Neue Bach Lexicon (The New Bach Lexicon, Laaber-Verlag), "Biographie: 139-145). Heber's multi-disciplinary approach involves musicology with the "theological and context and content of Bach's sacred music." "It is my hope," concluding her Introduction (14), "that this exploration is useful to a wide spectrum of readers, from those for whom this will serve as an introduction to Bach's religious context, to those who might even identify with aspects of it in a personal way." Too often in Bach studies, scholars have shunned discussing his sacred music texts due to various factors: the distance between Bach's antiquated and today's modern audiences in their sense and sensibility; the shift from the primary sense of the sacred perspective to today's profane outlook; a pronounced sense of today's individual autonomy, authority, and agency in the face of past collective, simplistic, and rigid values; and the fundamental embarasment at the "preachy," arcane and lurid sentiments, particularly of Bach's primary poet, Picander, who still merits a thoughtful, studied examination that could put him on a level of impact and significance with Mozart's Lorenzo Da Ponte.

Material, Spiritual Treasures

The first chapter, "Bach's Material Treasures: Career, Salary, and Freelancing," assesses the composer's financial status, responsibilities, and activities in benchmark sections entitled, "German Currency and Economic Setting," "An Increasingly LucratCareer," "Unstable Salary in Leipzig," "Payments from Legacies and Foundations," "Instrumental Maintenances and Payments from Churches," "Bach the Freelancer," "Organ Examinations and Guest Performances," "Private Music Lessons," "Publications," "Sales and Rentals," "Direction of the Collegium Musicum," and recent studies of "Financial Outcome." These are supported with extensive, varied factual tables and figures. In the final Chapter 7, "Bach's Spiritual Treasures: Values and Priorities" (209-240), Heber shows that the "biblical topics related to material and spiritual treasures" (209), found in Bach's church music and "elaborated in the wider Lutheran theological context" of the 16th to 18th centuries, "consistently prioritize the 'eternal' over the 'temporal,' and the 'spiritual' over the 'material'." Table 7.1 (209) is a "Summary of consequential relationships [cause-effect] related to material and spiritual treasures" in Bach's music as found in the teachings in Chapters Two to Six: 2. "The Servant Prince: Poverty of Christ," Christ physically poor, believers spiritually rich, following Christ's example, giving to the poor. 3. "Mammon's Chain: The Destructive and Redemptive Potentials of Material Wealth," believers give mammon away on earth, gain friends in heaven; people 'attach their hearts' to mammon, "are eternally condemned." 4. "The Afflicted Shall Eat: Tables Are Turned in Eternity," material poverty on earth, spiritual abundance in heaven; earthly material abundance, eternal spiritual poverty. 5. "Spiritual Manna: The Lord Embraces the Poor," Jesus' compassion for the poor, providing for their physical and spiritual needs; believers close to Jesus, nourished by his Word; believers accept Jesus' compassionate heart, generous towards poor. 6. "Blood Money': The Coins that Bought Jesus' Death," Maria pouring costly water on Jesus' head, affirmed by Christ as a 'good work'; Judas' betrayal, suicide; Joseph of Arimathea seeks Jesus' body for honorable burial, uses his material wealth for a righteous purpose." Bach used "a range of compositional techniques" (210) in key words "to express concepts" covering poverty and the poor, the range of earthly and spiritual treasures in musical motifs, and "Jesus as Treasure," shown in chorale chorus, BWV 147/10 (YouTube), "Jesus bleibet meine Freude" (Jesus remains my joy), best known as "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring." In the Calov Bible Commentary, the greatest number of Bach markings, 25%, is found in the wisdom book (?Solomon) of Ecclesiastes, Heber finds (214), "doing one's duty with devotion and in fear of God" (218), which "could well have informed Bach's understanding of a Lutheran work ethic and influenced his approach to ecclesiastical service." Calov's introduction establishes the theme of pursing one's calling (Berufung) with a variety of related themes (219) of "wealth as a gift from God," being generous to those less fortunate, the questionable value of personal toil in a finite world (Ecclesiastes 1.3), particularly "the futility of striving after wealth and property" as presented in Heber's Chapters Two to Six. Ecclesiastes Chapter 4 emphasizes working "not only for oneself but also for the benefit of others," says Heber (222), while Chapter 5 stresses "performing one's duty with devotion and allowing God to govern one's labour." Chapter 6 describes how a person should labour according to one's share and position while Chapter 7 finds that "sustenance and wisdom are both God's gifts" (224). Chapter 9 is "an exhortation to persist in good works for as long as one is able to serve one's neighbour (Ecc. 9.4.) and Chapter 11 is a "call to be generous to the poor." Not discussed but essential to the book of Ecclesiastes is Chapter 3 (Bible Gateway), "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven" in a dialectic over the next seven verses that leads to the question, " What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? Verse 4 enabled Bach to embrace both opportunities simultaneously, "A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance." The great rest-in-the-grave closing choruses in Bach's Passions affirm the best of both worlds: blending lyrics of sorrow to music in triple-time dance-styles, John, "Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine" (Rest in peace, you sacred limbs), as a menuett YouTube; Matthew, "Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder" (We sit down with tears), as a sarabande (YouTube), and Mark, "Bey deinem Grab und Leichen-Stein / Will ich mich stets, mein Jesus, weiden" (By thy rock grave and great tombstone, will I myself, my Jesus, pasture), as a gigue (YouTube).

Chapter 6, Blood Money

Chapter 6, Blood money. In contrast to the Johannine Christus Victor concept of atonement as the Theology of Glory is the substitution theory of atonement as the Theology of the Cross, best exemplified in Matthew's gospel Passion account (Chapters 26 and 27) and Bach's setting in his St. Matthew Passion. Most notably is the monumental opening chorus, "Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen" (Come, you daughters, help me to lament), with its chorale trope, "O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig" (O Lamb of God, innocent) of Nikolaus Decius' German "Agnus Dei." Mary Greer's Compositional Choices¹¹ essay, "Toward an Understanding of J.S. Bach's Use of Red Ink in the Autograph Score of the Matthew Passion," examines the symbolic, metaphorical, biblical and theological implications of Bach's rare emphasis on red ink as found in the Gospel text, the opening chorale text and the text incipit of the chorale, "Erkenne Mich, mein Hüter" (Recognise me, my guardian), the fifth verse of Paul Gerhardt's Passion chorale, "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden" (O sacred head now wounded). These passages in red ink show the "allegorical attributes to Jesus's blood," suggests Greer (Ibid.: 93) in the intercessory plea to the Father in the German "Agnus Dei," in the "strengthening of the believer's faith when he hears the Gospel account of Jesus's Passion, death, and resurrection," and in the 18th century believer's "figurative mark on his forehead with the blood of Jesus, assuring him that he will be among the Elect, i. e., have eternal life."

ENDNOTES

¹ Bach Network Dialogue Meeting 2022, Programme (Bach Network); a sample preview of the meeting was help at the Leipzig Bachfest, June 13, in the session 'Bach Network in Dialogue,' involving the latest research on numerous Bach-related topics. The first roundtable featured Michael Marissen, Ruth Tatlow, and Michael Maul on 'Bach Cantata texts, Techniques, and Meaning'; the 'Flash Announcements' highlighted recently published work by Alan Shepherd, Tatiana Shabalina, Eberhard Spree, and Szymon Paczkowski. The second round table focused on research by Early Career Scholars Andrew Frampton, Noelle Heber, and Thomas Cressy (source, Bach Network on Facebook).
² Rethinking Bach, ed. Bettina Varwig (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2021: 193-225), Amazon.com; critique, BCW.
³ Rethinking Bach Round Table, Session 11, on Thursday, 21 July, with Rethinking Bach authors Wendy Heller, Michael Markham, John Butt, Jeremy Begbie, Stephen Rose, Bettina Varwig and moderator Lawrence Molinaro.
⁴ Noelle M. Heber, Bach's Material and Spiritual Treasures: A Theological Perspective (Woodbridge GB: Boydell Press, 2021), Amazon.com, Look inside: Contents [ix], description, Boydell & Brewer; Heber biography, Noel M. Heber; Heber bibliography, Bach-Bibliography.
⁵ Noelle M. Heber, "Bach and Money: Sources of Salary and Supplemental Income in Leipzig from 1723 to 1750," online Understanding Bach 12: 111–125, © Bach Network UK 2017, Young Scholars’ Forum, Bach Netweok UK. Heber will discuss her book at the Bach Network Dialogue Meeting, 20 July, "Session 7: New Research Publications."
⁶ "Bach, Money, and Spiritual Treasure," Notes on Bach, Bach Society Houston, Apple Podcasts; discussion with resources, Carrie Allen Tipton interviews Heber with comments on books, documents, and sources, Bach's impoverished youth, life-long freelancing, stabile professional reputation, moral potential of wealth, lost sources, textual contrasts, further research on Bach, and the book of Ecclesiastes.
⁷ Recent reviews: Mark A. Peters, J. S. Bach's Material and Spiritual Treasures: A Theological Perspective by Noelle M. Heber (review), in BACH: Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute (Berea OH: Baldwin Wallace University, Volume 52/2 2021: 233-236), Project MUSE; and Mary J. Greer, "Review: J. S. Bach’s Material and Spiritual Treasures," in Bach Notes, Newsletter of the American Bach Society, Spring 2022, No. 36), American Bach Society: Bach Notes 36: 6-9.
⁸ Theologians cited in Heber: 1. Martin Luther sermons; 2. Abraham Calov Bible Commentary, Die deutsche Bibel (3 vols, Wittenberg, 1681-82); 3. Martin Geier, Zeit und Ewigkeit (Leipzig, 1670); 4. Heinrich Müller, Apostolische Schluß-Kette und Krafft-Kern (Frankfurt, 1671); and 5. Johann Olearius, Biblissche Erklärung (5 vols, Leipzig, 1678-81); also known as biblical commentary, devotional books; as well as Martin Petzoldt, Bach-Kommentar: Theologisch-Musikwissenschaftliche Kommentierung der geistlichen Vokalwerke Johann Sebastian Bachs (3 vols, Kasel, 2004, 2007, 2008).
⁹ For the growth of the German language and its impact on Bach, see William B. Fischer's When God Sang German: Etymological Essays about the Language of Bach's Sacred Music (BCW).
¹⁰ Michael Marissen, Daniel R. Melamed, BachCantataTexts.org, BachCantataTexts: BWV 26, in Introducing BachCantata Texts, BCW; Marissen will participate in the discussion, "Bach Cantata Texts, Poetic Techniques and Meanings," Tuesday 19 July, at the Bach Network Dialogue Meeting 2022, to be recorded live for Discussing Bach 5, Bach Network.
¹¹ Compositional Choices and Meaning in the Vocal Music of J. S. Bach, the eighth Contextual Bach Studies, edited by Robin A. Leaver (Lanham MD: Lexington Books, 2018); BCW: paragraph beginning "In contrast to the Johannine Christus Victor concept of atonement . . . ."