Born: February 4, 1677 - ThaI, near Eisenach, Thuringia, Germany
Died: Buried: May 1, 1731 - Meiningen, Germany

The German composer, Johann Ludwig Bach [3/72], may have received some instruction from his father, Johann Jacob Bach [3/68]. He attended the Gotha Gymnasium from 1688 to 1993, and then began to study theology.

From 1699 Johann Ludwig Bach was a court musician at Meiningen, from 1703 Kantor and from 1711 court Kapellmeister. In 1706 he had unsuccessfully applied to succeed A.C. Dedekind as Kantor of St George's, Eisenach, although he had been interested only in the musical and not the teaching duties of the post. His lifelong patron Duke Ernst Ludwig died in 1724 and Johann Ludwig wrote the music for his funeral.

Johann Ludwig Bach wrote an imposing number of vocal works. Although orchestral music was probably his principal activity from 1711 onwards, hardly any material is extant. The preservation of the cantatas is due entirely to J.S. Bach, who performed 18 of them, as well as the two masses, in Leipzig in 1726; some were given again between 1735 and 1750. Denn du wirst meine Seele was long considered an early work by J.S. Bach (BWV 15). The cantatas constitute the most significant part of Johann Ludwig's work; in contrast with the main corpus of J.S. Bach's cantatas, they represent the older type of mixed cantata, before Neumeister, which consists essentially of biblical text and chorale, in the following scheme: text from the Old Testament; recitative; aria; text from the New Testament; aria; recitative; chorus; chorale. The standard scoring is for four-part choir, strings and (usually) two oboes; in one cantata two horns are required, but there are no solo woodwind. These works had at least some small influence on J.S. Bach, for example in his use of strings to the words of Jesus.

Works

19 cantatas, all D-B: Gott ist unser Zuversicht; Der Gotdosen Albeit wird fehlen; Darum will ich auch erwählen; Darum säet euch Gerechtigkeit; Ja, nun hast du Arbeit gemacht; Wie lieblich sind auf den Bergen; Ich will meinen Geist in auch geben; Die mit Tränen slien, ed. in SBA; Mache dich auf, werde Licht; Es ist aus der Angst und Gericht; Er macbet uns lebendig; Und ich will ihnen einen einigen Hirten erwecken; Der Herr wird ein neues im Land erschaffen; Die Weisbeit kommt nicht in eine boshafte Seele; Durch sein Erkenntnis; Ich aber ging für dir über; Siebe ich will meinen Engel senden; Denn du wirst meine Seele nicht in der Hölle lassen, BWV 15, ed. in J.S. Bachs Werke, ii (Leipzig, 1851); KIingt vergnügt (secular cantata)
8 motets: Das ist meine Freude, 8vv, ed. in SBA; Die richtig für sich gewandelt haben, 10vv; Gedenke meiner, mein Gott, 8vv; Gott sei mir gnadig, 9vv; Ich will auf den Herm schauen, 8vv; Sei nun wieder zufrieden, 8vv, ed. in Cw, xcix (1964); Uns ist ein Kind geboren, 8vv (Leipzig, 1930); Unser Trübsal, 6vv, ed. in Cw, xcix (1964)
Magnificat, 8vv
Mass, g [Ky-GI), BWV Anh l66, ed. V. Junk (Leipzig, n.d.); Mass, c [Ky-G]; Christe by J.S. Bach, BWV 242], BWV Anh 26, D-Bds
Funeral music, Ich suche nur das Himmelleben, 1724, ed. K. Geiringer, Music of the Bach Family (Cambridge, Mass., 1955)
Funeral music, O Herr, ich bin, Bds
Passion; cantata cycle for 1713: lost, cited in S. Kümmerle, Encyklopädie der evangelischen Kirchenmusik, i (Gütersloh, 1888/R1974), 67
Ov., orch, G, 1715 (Vienna, 1939)

Source: The New Grove Bach Family (by Christoph Wolff, MacMillan London, 1983)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (December 2005)

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Composer of Works previously attributed to J.S. Bach

Title

Year

Cantata BWV 15: Denn du wirst meine Seele, for Easter Sunday

Before 1710

Missa (Kyrie und Gloria) in e, BWV Anh 166

Messe in G, BWV Anh 167 [w/ Antonio Lotti]

Use of Chorale Melodies in his works

Title

Chorale Melody

Year

Messe sopra cantilena Allein Gott in der Höh , BWV Anh.III.166 [opening of Gloria by J.S. Bach]

Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr

1716

Links to other Sites

HOASM: Johann Ludwig Bach
Bach, Johann Ludwig: Biography (Sojurn)
Bachdiskographie - Bach-Familie: Johann Ludwig Bach [German]

Johann Ludwig Bach (Wikipedia)
Johann Ludwig Bach (Meningen Museum) [Picture]

Bibliography

Dörffel: Verzeichnis der Kirchenkompositionen des Johann Ludwig Bach in Meiningen, Johann Sebastian Bachs Werke, xli (1894), 275
A. M. Jaffé: The Cantatas of Johann Ludwig Bach (dissertation, Boston U., 1957)
W. H. Scheide: Johann Sebastian Bachs Sammlungvon Kantaten seines Vetters Johann Ludwig Bach, BJb, xlvi (1959), 52-94; xlviii (1961), 5; xlix (1962), 5
W. Blankenburg: Eine neue TextqueIle zu sieben Kantaten 1. S. Bachs und achtzehn Kantaten J.L. Bachs, BJb, lxiii (1977), 7
K. Hofmann: Forkel und die "Köthener Trauermusik" Joh. Seb. Bachs, BJb, Ixix (1983) [re: funeral music, O Herr, ich bin]

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