Sinfonia in D major BWV 1045 - Provenance & More

Sinfonia in D major BWV 1045
Provenance & More

Existing Sources:

A. The autograph score (fragment of the Sinfonia) located in the SBB, call number:
Mus. ms. Bach P 614

This manuscript probably had belonged to Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-1784), who probably sold it to Johann Nikolaus Forkel (1749-1818). In 1852 Ferdinand Mendheim (owner of the Trautwein music dealership) had purchased it at an auction occasioned by the closing down of the Rellstab music dealership. It is no longer possible to determine who the subsequent owners of the manuscript might have been nor is the date of acquisition by the SBB ascertainable. The slightly tanned manuscript is in good condition and consists of 6 pages (ternio format) with 12 sides (33.5 x 21.5 cm – the bottom of these pages has been cut off) of these pages being written upon. The autograph numbering of these pages (2 and 3 only) was completed later in pencil.

The watermark has been documented as paper which was produced from c. 1737 to 1766.

The manuscript is contained in a separate folder which has in an unidentified handwriting the following title:

l l, | Intrada o Concerto à piu Stromenti | composito da Giov. Sebast. Bach, e scritto di lui stesso.

The autograph title appearing at the top of the first page of the score reads:

J.J. Concerto à 4 Voci. 3 Trombe, Tamburi, 2 Hautb: Violino Conc: 2 Violini, Viola | e Cont.
Sinfonia

On the inner side of the folder (on the right-hand side of p. 2) there are 1 ½ mm of score (one accolade with 11 staves) in an unidentified hand intended as a conclusion for the Sinfonia.

There are circa 150 corrections made to the score by Bach.

B. A copy of the score by an unidentified copyist which was acquired by from the Voss-Buch manuscript collection. It is now in the SBB, call number
Mus. ms. Bach P 213 adnex 5.

This copy comprises 16 pages (“in 4 Binionen”) with 32 pages numbered in ink (25.3 x 33 cm). There is a white label on the title page of the cover which reads:

N 6. Intrada o Concerto

On top of the first page of the score:

Intrada o Concerto 3 Trombe, Tamburi, 2 Oboi e 2 Violini Concertanti (underlined twice), Violini, Viola e Basso. Composto da Giov: Sebast: Bach.

On page 2 the individual staves are labeled with the names of the instruments whereby staves 7-9 have the following indications: Violino I (was or = V. conc.), Violino II (= V. I) and Violini (V. II). The total number of measures is 151.

[Also contained in this collection of manuscripts are the following works copied by Christel (possibly Johann Christian Bach), and anonymous copyists LL and NN among others.

BWV 1079
Adnex 1 BWV 575
Adnex 2 BWV 914
Adnex 3 BWV 944, Anh. 177, BWV 886, BWV 951a, BWV 951, BWV 539
Adnex 4 BWV 690, BWV 694, BWV 696, BWV 741, BWV 695, BWV 702, BWV 703, BWV 708, BWV 709, BWV 760, BWV 761, BWV 712, BWV 713
Adnex 5 BWV 1045 (listed above)
Adnex 6 BWV 906 (breaks off after 48 mm)]

C. Two parts for the Violino concertato.
SSB call number: H 731

These originally came from the “Staatliche Akademie für Kirchen- und Schulmusik, Berlin-Charlottenburg No. II”. The parts carry the following titles:

1. Violino I. concertante. | Intrada o Concerto da Giov: Seb: Bach.

2. Violino 1mo concertante. | Intrada a [!] Concerto da Giov: Seb: Bach.

Lost Sources:

Regarding the size or scope of the original composition from which this work was possibly taken we have no certain knowledge. Since the Sinfonia is probably an adaptation based upon a concerto movement which also has been lost, it can be assumed that the entire concerto was at one time complete. It is doubtful that the short conclusion (1 ½ mm) represents Bach’s intentions. There are no clues or indications that Bach had ever finished composing the remainder of this composition (cantata, concerto, etc.), so that it even appears questionable whether an original set of parts had ever existed.

Additional Observations:

The inconsistency of Bach’s handwriting varies from that of a composing score to certain parts which are obviously copied from an existing source because they have far fewer errors than those expected in a composing score. For instance, the trumpet, timpani and partially also the oboe parts have a ‘flighty’ (cursory) appearance while the strings and continuo give the impression of a ‘clear’ or ‘clean’ copy with the notes having a firm, deliberate appearance and with few if any errors being made. Most atypical for a composing score is the concertante violin part which contains numerous markings of articulation normally found only in the performing parts which Bach normally revised and not in his composing scores. The general impression of the autograph score is that the string and the continuo parts were being copied from an earlier, unidentified source, while the brass parts were being added as Bach progressed through the score.

Source B above was probably copied from the autograph source A. It even includes the 1 ½ measure conclusion which was added by someone else. One of the two Violino Concertato parts in source C was copied from source B and the second part was copied/created from the former. There is also a poco dolce indication which is neither in source A nor in B.

General Observations:

The dating of this Sinfonia can be limited by means of handwriting analysis to the following two suppositions:

1. circa 1742 according to Alfred Dürr, Zur Chronologie der Leipziger Vokalwerke J.S. Bachs, 2^nd edition, Kassel, 1976, p. 170.

2. circa 1743 to 1746 according to Yoshitake Kobayashi, Zur Chronologie der Spätwerke Johann Sebastian Bachs. Kompositions- und Aufführungstätigkeit von 1736 bis 1750, Bach Jahrbuch 1988. pp. 7-72.

The designation Concerto almost certainly points to the fact that this movement might have come from a sacred cantata. It is not known for which occasion (Sunday, Feast Day, etc.) such a cantata might have been intended and if Bach ever completed it beyond the existing fragment.

The Sinfonia is likely an arrangement based upon a movement from a violin concerto. Whether the latter source was an original composition by Bach has been called into question for stylistic reasons (see the article Die Wandlung der Konzertform bei Bach from the journal, Musikforschung 6, 1953, p. 143, by Rudolf Stephan. The limitations imposed by the NBA do not allow this matter to be treated in greater detail, but the possibility that such a violin concerto was originally composed by a different composer cannot be excluded from consideration, so that what we have here before us could just as well be Bach’s arrangement of a concerto by another composer (cf. also Ralph Leavis’s article, Zur Frage der Authentizität von Bachs Violinkonzert d-Moll, in the Bach Jahrbuch 1979, pp. 25-27).

Other Editions:

The only other critical edition of this Sinfonia was published in the BG 21/1 by Wilhelm Rust. The foreword is dated: “Berlin, im September 1874”. It was based upon the autograph source A.

From the Preface to the NBA I/34:

>>In regard to the Cantata-Sinfonia BWV 1045, there appears here to be a situation where Bach arranged a movement from a violin concerto which he then expanded to add trumpets and timpani. If this violin concerto source was not Bach’s own, it could easily be assumed that it was by another composer. The printed score in the NBA clearly separates the first 149 ½ measures from Bach’s autograph score from the additional 1 ½ measures that were subsequently added by someone else.<<

Source: from NBA KB I/34 pp. 127-130, prepared by Ryuichi Higuchi, 1990 and the NBA I/34, music published in 1986, pp. 305-328, mm 1-150 middle of the measure, final 1 ½ mm by an unidentified hand, page VI of the introduction gives a brief description of the Sinfonia and page XII is a facsimile of 1^st page of the autograph score of BWV 1045

Contributed by Thomas Braatz (January 18, 2009)

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Last update: ýJanuary 18, 2009 ý13:07:14