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Bach Manuscripts in UK |
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Katie wrote (July 28, 2002):Does anyone know if there are any original Bach manuscripts on public display anywhere in the UK, preferably London area? |
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Charles Francis wrote (July 28, 2002):[To Katie] I looked at the WTC II manuscript some years ago in the British Library: http://www.music.qub.ac.uk/~tomita/wc2l.html |
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Katie wrote (July 28, 2002):[To Charles Francis] Thanks for your reply - much appreciated. The WTC is a manuscript that I would certainly like to see very much.....but I thought you had to have a special pass to gain access to collections in the British Library? I've looked on the website at the bit about the Exhibition Galleries that are open to the public, and it mentions The Messiah (possibly worth a visit for that), but not Bach.... Did you have special access when you saw it? |
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Arthur wrote (July 29, 2002):[To Katie] I have not been in the Brtish Library for many, many years. In fact when I was there it was called the British Museum, and to get to the Music Room, one had to walk past the Rosetta Stone. In those days one could see almost anything. But even then, the Handel manuscripts would not be brought out unless the reader had a valid reason to examine the originals. One was expected to use a microfilm instead. More and more libaries are refusing permission to view the origibnals, since so many manuscripts are deteriorating due to pollution. If you go, it would best be wise to inquire ahead. I really missed something when I was at the British Museum. I was looking through a sheaf of autograph manuscripts of Suessmayr (Mozart's student who finished the Requiem). One reason why Constanza wanted to use him to complete the Requiem was because his handwriting was like Mozart's and she could fool the Count into thinking that Mozart had completed the work. Anyway, a few years later, someone went through the sheaf of Suessmayrs manuscripts, and discovered ... There, unidentified. were some minuets in Mozart's own hand. Mozart autographs! And I missed them.<darn> |
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Alain Naigeon wrote (August 1, 2002):[To Charles Francis] But wasn't Bach the kind of guy who might have loved chocolate ? |
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S.D.G.l. -- what (if anything) does it mean? |
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Uri Golomb wrote (June 2, 2003):A response to just one point from Thomas Braatz's latest (I might respond to other points later -- time permitting....) "If we can assume from the J.J.s and SDGs that Bach most often wrote on the score that he believed that the music he was creating was for the glory of God, then we can easily assume that he did not envision an operatic performance inchurch." I always wondered about those SDGs [Soli Deo Glorias]: were they unique to Bach? Was Bach the only one who used these indications? So I asked some people who've studied contemporaneous manuscripts. I didn't get a conclusive answer on how widespread they were, but I did see incontrovertible evidence that they were not unique to Bach: the Cambridge scholar Geoffrey Weber, who performed some of Reinhardt Keiser's music, has shown me a facsimile of psalm-settings by that composer, which featured the same insignia -- sometimes in full ("Soli Deo Gloria"), sometimes in initials (SDGl). What does that prove? Not much -- only that one composer has on some occasiosn used it. This is already enough, however, to prove that Bach wasn't completely unique. Here are some follow-up questions -- and I don't have the answers to any of them: 1) How many other composers, besides Bach and Keiser, used this insignia? My guess is "quite a lot", but at the moment it's only a guess. 2) Keiser signed at least some of his sacred music that way. Did he sign all or most of it in this manner? What about his operas and other secular music? Ditto for all other composers who used it: was it only in their sacred music (all/most/some of it), or in their secular music as well? (As far as I remember, Bach did use it in some/most/all secular music as well -- someone correct me if I'm wrong. Also, I think -- I'm not sure -- that Bach was farily conscienteous about this; he used it in virtually all his manuscripts, at least those of sacred music. Was that indeed the case? And if so -- how unusual was that?) 3) Keiser was an opera composer. How different was his sacred music from his secular music, and his operas in particular? Ditto for any other composer who used "J. J." and "S.D.G.l." in sacred music: Was there a big difference between their sacred and secular style? If they wrote operas, were their catnatas and passions any less dramatic than their operas (assuming the latter were indeed dramatic)? 4) What about non-composers? Did priests sign their letters and/or sermons in that way? What about theologians? University professors? State officials? Playwrites? Bussiness-men? Laywers? If it was a convention -- how widespread was it? The whole of Europe? The whole of Germany? Just the Luthern part of Germany? Specific towns and districts? Some families, but not others? Without answering at least some of these questions, we cannot impute any significance on Bach's insignia. And why didn't anyone bother to ask these questions? I know why I did bother: I happen to know that Orthodox Jews begin their letters and official documents with the Jewish equivalent of Jesu Juva (the Hebrew, or rather Arameic, initials for "with the help of Heaven", roughtly translated). The practice is not restricted to rabbis, or to religious texts: my religious neighbour puts it on signs on the noticeboard. Such a line does not prove that the writer is personally devout -- it only proves that he belongs to a certain community or social milieu, where such a signature is standard practice. It can be as meaningful as a heartfelt decleration -- or as meaningless as opening a letter to an official you never met, and don't really care for, with the words "Dear sir/madam". I'm not saying Bach wasn't devout, and didn't write music for the glory of God. He probably was, and he probably did. (Not necessarily more devout than, say, Graupner -- a better composer, yes, but not necessarily more devout in his personal beliefs). All I'm saying is that his insignia, on their own, don't prove it -- and the more Reinhardt Keisers there were at the time (and I repeat: I don't know how many of them there were), the less meaningful do Bach's insignia become. Tom's other premise is that, if Bach wrote for the glory of God, he didn't want his music to be performed dramatically. I'm sorry, but I find this a non sequitour. The music was a sermon; it was meant to convince and enthrall. Yes, Bach had to promise that his music "not appear operatic in nature but, much rather, that it rouse the listeners to devotion". But two things can be said: a) the injunction can be interpreted as an objection to over-sensuous music, rather than an objection to dramatic thrust and power. The two often go hand-in-hand, but they're not identical. One has to investigate what the term "opernhafftig" meant to Bach and his contemporaries. b) I'm not sure he kept his obligation. I'm not at all sure that his music was any less dramatic and theatrical than that of contemporaneous opera. Robert Marshall, who I'm sure has heard and/or studied more Baroque opera than I have, says that Bach's music is more dramatic than that of most contemporaneous opera composers. I'm inclined to believe him. It's certainly no less dramatic than anything I've heard so far in Händel's operas (they can be very dramatic sometimes -- but no more dramatic than Bach's most highly-charged moments). Perhpas I am missing something because I'm a non-believer myself, but I don't see anything inherently sacriligeous about using all the persuasive devices of the theatre in order to make religious precepts more convincing, more persuasive, more emotionally immediate and appealing, to a congregation. Yes, some churches have preached austerity and containment; but not all churches, and not all the time. Here's something worth remembering: there is absolutely no difference in style between Bach's sacred and secular cantatas, except that he didnot use chorales in the latter. He didn't write operas, but he called some of his secular cantatas "Dramma per musica". He wrote music for the seductive "Vollust" (the personification of earthly desires) in his Hercules cantata (BWV 213), then turned it into a lullaby for Jesus in his Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248), and if anything made it even more sensuous in its new setting. And that's not the only example. Did he expect the same music to be performed in a radically different manner in church and in a secular setting? Or did he expect his secular cantatas to be performed in the same restrained manner as his sacred music? Remember: the music itself is the same. You cannot assume that Bach's music was not operatic. You have to prove it by comparing it to the operas he knew -- something which I haven't done (Bach didn't know Händel's operas) -- and showing what tricks they use, and Bach doesn't. In what way is Bach's music any less dramatic or theatrical than that of his contemporaries? This is not a rhetorical question: as I said, the few excerpts I heard from German Baroque opera are not enough for me to make my own judgement on this. But anyone who claims that Bach's music is not operatic -- or, for that matter, anyone who claism that it was -- has to substantitate that claim. Listening ot Bach's music, I find it very difficult to believe that anyone at the time wrote anything substantially more dramatic. But that's just a hypothesis. One other thing: I don't object to understated Bach performances (unlike Brad...) Not all of Bach's music is high drama, and much of it works very well indeed in lyrical, reserved performances. Much of it can, in my view, work both ways; and some of it does work best in a truly theatrical rendition. Gestures can be gently underlined, rather than highlighted in broad strokes. For me, at lesat, thats' often enough: I don't object to broad strokes and grand gestures, but I don't always feel a need for them, either. It depends on the specific work (and, admittedly, on the listener's taste as well). What I do mind is the cold, stultifying, and mechanical -- and there's much too much of it in Bach performance, especially from those performers who assume that there's absolutely nothing operatic in any of Bach's music. |
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Thomas Braatz wrote (June 2, 2003):[To Uri Golomb] The New Grove article on Johann Adam Reincken points out that his “Hortus Musicus” which Bach respected highly by arranging 3 of the fugues and a few other pieces for harpsichord, has at the very top of the cover page which depicts a monumental structure the words “Soli Deo Gloria.” Both the structure and fugues contained within are based upon the ‘trias harmonica’ which is 1:1 = unison; 2:1 = octave; 3:2 = fifth – a kind of musical trinity at the top of which the crowning three words: “Soli Deo Gloria” sit. (This according to Ulf Grapenthin (1991). Now the association of such an esoteric meaning that can be attached to SDG along with its usual religious significance makes it more likely that Bach attached meaning/significance to what others might think is simply a convention among composers of Bach's time, as, for instance, the following: In the MGG in any article by Friedrich Blume: „Inwieweit in der tiefen und verwickelten Sinngebung von Bachs Kirchenmusik ein absichtliches Bekenntnis oder einfach die Freude an der handwerklichen Leistung des großen Könners zu erblicken ist, kann strittig sein. Es stimmt bedenklich, daß die Zeitgenossen gerade auf diese charakteristische Problematik nie hinweisen. Die Tatsache vollends, daß Bach seinen Handschriften stets das »J. J.« (»Jesu juva«) oder »S. D. G.« (»Soli Deo Gloria«) zusetzt, bedeutet nicht mehr als einen Handwerksbrauch; viele Musiker-Handschriften des 17.-18. Jahrhunderts zeigen die gleiche Gewohnheit, und Haydn fängt noch in den 1780er Jahren jedes Symphonie-Manuskript. mit »In Nomine Domini« an und beschließt es mit »Finis Laus Deo«.“ [It can be a matter of dispute to determine to what extent Bach’s church music, in its deep and profound significance, is to be understood as an intentional confession [of faith] or simply [an expression] of joy over the physical accomplishment on the part of a great artist. It makes one wonder that his contemporaries never directly mention these otherwise characteristic uncertainties. The fact that Bach always [‘always’ is not true; Friedrich Blume failed to investigate thoroughly before coming to this conclusion, see below] adds “J.J.” or “S.D.G.” to his manuscripts, does not signify anything more than a convention among those of the trade [For Blume, Bach is simply a ‘tradesman’]; many manuscripts by musicians [and composers] of the 17th to 18th century show the same custom [of affixing these terms], and even Haydn, in the 1780s still began each symphony manuscript with “In Nomine Domini” and ended it with “Fini Laus Deo.”] It appears that Blume also provided incomplete information about the centuries when this occurred: Here is an example from the early 19th century: MGG article about Carl Maria von Weber: „Was er auch tat, er fühlte sich immer in der Verantwortung stehend, als Künstler gegenüber Gott (»Soli Deo Gloria« schrieb er nach alter Sitte an das Ende jeder seiner großen Part.)“ [No matter what he did, he always felt [strongly] his responsibility, as an artist [musician, composer] toward God (he wrote, according to an old custom, „Soli Deo Gloria“ at the end of each one of his large scores.)] A while back I had checked all the NBA KBs for instances of Bach’s use of “J.J.” and “SDG” Of course, there are not autograph scores for all of the existing works that have come down to us There were 149 instances of which 85% had “J.J.” 49% had “Fine | SDG” 6% had “SDGl” BWV 1045, a fragment, had “J.J.” SDG was found in BWV 213 214 207 248 243 245 234 236 and JJ in BWV 214 206 215 204 201 248 243 245 244 234 236 238 225 226 The absence of JJ or SDG in the autograph scores of Bach’s instrumental works is rather remarkable. |
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Johan van Veen wrote (June 2, 2003):Thanks for your interesting message. I have inserted some comments below. < Uri Golomb wrote: < A response to just one point from Thomas Braatz's latest (I might respond to other points later -- time permitting....) "If we can assume from the J.J.s and SDGs that Bach most often wrote on the score that he believed that the music he was creating was for the glory of God, then we can easily assume that he did not envision an operatic performance in church." I always wondered about those SDGs [Soli Deo Glorias]: were they unique to Bach? Was Bach the only one who used these indications? So I asked some people who've studied contemporaneous manuscripts. I didn't get a conclusive answer on how widespread they were, but I did see incontrovertible evidence that they were not unique to Bach: the Cambridge scholar Geoffrey Weber, who performed some of Reinhardt Keiser's music, has shown me a facsimile of psalm-settings by that composer, which featured the same insignia -- sometimes in full ("Soli Deo Gloria"), sometimes in initials (SDGl). What does that prove? Not much -- only that one composer has on some occasiosn used it. This is already enough, however, to prove that Bach wasn't completely unique. > I think you are right in assuming that Bach wasn't unique. This idea has come from those who consider Bach the 'fifth Evangelist', a concept Bach would probably have rejected. Bach was simply a believer, as almost everyone in those days. There were hardly people who were really non-believers, and it is just inconceivable that any composer would have been appointed cantor or chapelmaster without being a true believer. It is quite possible that adding initials like "J.J." or "S.D.G." to scores was a kind of 'convention'. That can't be used as an argument to doubt the sincerity with which it was used. Why can't 'conventions' have a real meaning to those who use them? Everyone has habits - things you do without thinking about them every time. Does that mean they have no real significance? < Here are some follow-up questio-- and I don't have the answers to any of them: 1) How many other composers, besides Bach and Keiser, used this insignia? My guess is "quite a lot", but at the moment it's only a guess. 2) Keiser signed at least some of his sacred music that way. Did he sign all or most of it in this manner? What about his operas and other secular music? Ditto for all other composers who used it: was it only in their sacred music (all/most/some of it), or in their secular music as well? (As far as I remember, Bach did use it in some/most/all secular music as well -- someone correct me if I'm wrong. Also, I think -- I'm not sure -- that Bach was farily conscienteous about this; he used it in virtually all his manuscripts, at least those of sacred music. Was that indeed the case? And if so -- how unusual was that?) 3) Keiser was an opera composer. How different was his sacred music from his secular music, and his operas in particular? Ditto for any other composer who used "J. J." and "S.D.G.l." in sacred music: Was there a big difference between their sacred and secular style? If they wrote operas, were their catnatas and passions any less dramatic than their operas (assuming the latter were indeed dramatic)? 4) What about non-composers? Did priests sign their letters and/or sermons in that way? What about theologians? University professors? State officials? Playwrites? Bussiness-men? Laywers? If it was a convention -- how widespread was it? The whole of Europe? The whole of Germany? Just the Luthern part of Germany? Specific towns and districts? Some families, but not others? Without answering at least some of these questions, we cannot impute any significance on Bach's insignia. > Intriguing questions to which I unfortunately don't have the answers. But generally speaking I very much doubt whether secular works were treated differently from sacred works. As far as I know people didn't see a fundamental difference between 'sacred' and 'secular' - hence the frequent borrowings of material from 'secular' cantatas for sacred works and vice versa. Let us remember how Luther considered music in itself as a gift from God and a tool to keep the devil away - and he wasn't specifically talking about 'sacred' music. It is even not always possible to make a clear distinction between 'sacred' and 'secular'. Take Telemann's cantata 'Alles redet itzt und singet' for example: it is a cantata in praise of nature, which one would consider 'secular' at first, but there are references to God as creator in it and ends with an encouragement to praise God. So what is this: a religious cantata or a secular work? I would say: both, because there is no fundamental difference between the two categories. < I'm not saying Bach wasn't devout, and didn't write music for the glory of God. He probably was, and he probably did. (Not necessarily more devout than, say, Graupner -- a better composer, yes, but not necessarily more devout in his personal beliefs). All I'm saying is that his insignia, on their own, don't prove it -- and the more Reinhardt Keisers there were at the time (and I repeat: I don't know how many of them there were), the less meaningful do Bach's insignia become. > I don't think anything will make them less meaningful, only make Bach less unique, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. < Tom's other premise is that, if Bach wrote for the glory of God, he didn't want his music to be performed dramatically. I'm sorry, but I find this a non sequitour. The music was a sermon; it was meant to convince and enthrall. Yes, Bach had to promise that his music "not appear operatic in nature but, much rather, that it rouse the listeners to devotion". But two things can be said: a) the injunction can be interpreted as an objection to over-sensuous music, rather than an objection to dramatic thrust and power. The two often go hand-in-hand, but they're not identical. One has to investigate what the term "opernhafftig" meant to Bach and his contemporaries. b) I'm not sure he kept his obligation. I'm not at all sure that his music was any less dramatic and theatrical than that of contemporaneous opera. Robert Marshall, who I'm sure has heard and/or studied more Baroque opera than I have, says that Bach's music is more dramatic than that of most contemporaneous opera composers. I'm inclined to believe him. It's certainly no less dramatic than anything I've heard so far in Handel's operas (they can be very dramatic sometimes -- but no more dramatic than Bach's most highly-charged moments). > I have been able to listen to operas by Mattheson and Keiser - nice works which deserve to be performed, but as far as drama is concerned, I think that Bach's Passions are surpassing these operas by far. One should compare Bach's works with music of the same style (more or less) - a comparison with Hasse, for instance, would be nonsense: his works belong to a later style. If Bach would have written operas the audiences which were used to listen to operas by Hasse probably wouldn't have liked them: not because they were not dramatic enough, but because they were old-fashioned stylistically. < Perhpas I am missing something because I'm a non-believer myself, but I don't see anything inherently sacriligeous about using all the persuasive devices of the theatre in order to make religious precepts more convincing, more persuasive, more emotionally immediate and appealing, to a congregation. Yes, some churches have preached austerity and containment; but not all churches, and not all the time. > I am a believer myself, but I don't see anything sacrilegious in using theatrical devices as well. It all depends on which devices are used, and how they are used. Let's not forget that theatrical devices have always been used. It's use dates from the middle ages, when stories like that of the Resurrection of Christ were 'played' in church to audiences which couldn't read and didn't have a bible. There is a well-known piece from the middle ages, the 'Ludus Danielis', which - in a 'medieval way' - is very dramatic. So what Bach did wasn't new at all. And Lutheranism has always put a high value on the congregation living through historical events, like Christ's Passion. That is the reason Bach's Passions end with the burial of Christ and don't explicitly mention the resurrection (implicitly they do). < Here's something worth remembering: there is absolutely no difference in style between Bach's sacred and secular cantatas, except that he did not use chorales in the latter. He didn't write operas, but he called some of his secular cantatas "Dramma per musica". He wrote music for the seductive "Vollust" (the personification of earthly desires) in his Hercules cantata (BWV 213), then turned it into a lullaby for Jesus in his Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248), and if anything made it even more sensuous in its new setting. And that's not the only example. Did he expect the same music to be performed in a radically different manner in church and in a secular setting? Or did he expect his secular cantatas to be performed in the same restrained manner as his sacred music? Remember: the music itself is the same. You cannot assume that Bach's music was not operatic. You have to prove it by comparing it to the operas he knew -- something which I haven't done (Bach didn't know Handel's operas) -- and showing what tricks they use, and Bach doesn't. In what way is Bach's music any less dramatic or theatrical than that of his contemporaries? This is not a rhetorical question: as I said, the few excerpts I heard from German Baroque opera are not enough for me to make my own judgement on this. But anyone who claims that Bach's music is not operatic -- or, for that matter, anyone who claism that it was -- has to substantitate that claim. Listening ot Bach's music, I find it very difficult to believe that anyone at the time wrote anything substantially more dramatic. But that's just a hypothesis. > It is my guess that the rhetorical devices used by actors/singers in theatre and opera were the same as used by singers in the church and as applied by composers in music. And I guess they were the same as used by ministers in their sermons. As far as I know rhetorics were part of the theological education. If sermons were 'dramatic' - and I strongly believe they were - why shouldn't the 'sermons on music' be dramatic as well? < One other thing: I don't object to understated Bach performances (unlike Brad...) Not all of Bach's music is high drama, and much of it works very well indeed in lyrical, reserved performances. Much of it can, in my view, work both ways; and some of it does work best in a truly theatrical rendition. Gestures can be gently underlined, rather than highlighted in broad strokes. For me, at lesat, thats' often enough: I don't object to broad strokes and grand gestures, but I don't always feel a need for them, either. It depends on the specific work (and, admittedly, on the listener's taste as well). What I do mind is the cold, stultifying, and mechanical -- and there's much too much of it in Bach performance, especially from those performers who assume that there's absolutely nothing operatic in any of Bach's music. > I agree here. As much as German music of the 17th and 18th centuries was influenced by the Italian style, there is still difference between German and Italian music, partly due - as far as religious music is concerned - to the difference in function between music in a Roman-Catholic and a Lutheran liturgy. Take for example Schütz: he has been strongly influenced by the 'seconda prattica' in Italy, but it would be wrong IMO to perform his sacred music the same way as Monteverdi's. And how 'dramatic' music or its performance is thought to be indeed partly depends on the listener: if someone doesn't have an ear for the small details in Bach's music he will probably consider a piece or its performance dull. But the use of a simple chorale melody, played on the oboe, in an aria can be as eloquent as anything in the ears of him who knows what the chorale is about. And the original audiences knew those chorales better than probably any of us. |
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Uri Golomb wrote (June 2, 2003):Johan van Veen wrote: < It is quite possible that adding initials like "J.J." or "S.D.G." to scores was a kind of 'convention'. That can't be used as an argument to doubt the sincerity with which it was used. Why can't 'conventions' have a real meaning to those who use them? Everyone has habits - things you do without thinking about them every time. Does that mean they have no real significance? > I would only say this: you cannot judge the sincerity of the convention from the convention itself. It is just an outward sign. Two people may share the same habit -- the use of a phrase like S.D.G.l., a courtesy greeting like raising your hat (if you have one) towards an acquaintance; signing your letters with "sincerely yours", whatever; For one of them, it is both a social convention and a genuine exprsesion of faith/respect/sincerity. for the other, it is an empty gesture. Yet the gesture might well appear identical to an outsider. In order to know how sincere it is, you have to know other things about that person. So I'm not saying that the conventionality of the gesture is, in itself, proof of its insincerity. I'm only saying that the gesture, on its own, does not prove much one way or the other. You can use Bach's devoutness to prove the sincerity of his S.D.G.l. insignia. You cannot do the reverse (use the insignia as evidence for unusual devoutness). I know the Ludus Danielis -- in fact, as a teenager I took part in a (shortened and re-worked) summer school production of that play... There were no operas at that time, but that play was probably one of the most vividly theatrical things available to people then, inside or oustide the church. As far as I'm aware, church attitudes towards theatrical devices have changed back and forth, from time to time and place to place, and probably even from one person to another within the same congregation. There is no doubt that rhetoric was part of a musician's education in the 17th and 18th centuries. There is much debate on exactly how the study of rhetoric influenced musical composition and performance, but undoubtedly it had some impact. These 20th century debates on what rhetoric meant to 18th century musicians have had much impact on Bach performance: Harnoncourt, for example, believes in a "strong" version of Musik als Klangrede (a phrase from Mattheson's Capellmeister, which is also the title of one of Harnoncourt's books), and his gestural performance manner is closely linked to this belief. For a more sceptical view on the significance of rhetoric, see, for instance, the following interview with Joshua Rifkin: http://homepages.kdsi.net/~sherman/rifkin.html (towards the middle of the interview). Rifkin represents an opposite pole to Harnoncourt in this respect, and many other musicians occupy something of a middle ground. |
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Dick Wursten wrote (June 2, 2003):Rhetorics Johan van Veen reacted on Uri Golombs mail about SDGI etc.... I liked this discussion. The questions are raised in a proper way and with as broad a context as possible (much broader of course than my background, thats the disadvantage). Ik picked out one point I know something of myself, hope others will pick up other points they know about... and share their insights. Johan van Veen guesses that "rhetorical devices used by actors/singers in theatre and opera were the same as used by singers in the church and as applied by composers in their music. And I guess they were the same as used by ministers in their sermons. As far as I know rhetorics were part of the theological education." Well indeed: And indeed: Both sermons and cantatas were rhetorical compositions (only the 'means' were different). A good 'preacher' should be a word-artist as a good cantor should be a music-artist. That means they should be able to use all layers of their 'language' in function of the scope of their 'performance' (sorry for the use of this profane term for cultual practice) in order to 'touch' the audience in all its faculties. So the shared scope of their performances would be: instructing the brains, moving the feelings and bending the will of the 'audience' all three under the supervision of and in the direction of 'Gods Word'. Classic Aristotelian rhetorics comprised the 'art of' (the ability of) 'instruire' (=instruct, teach) 'movere' (= to move.. the will, if I remember my classes correctly) delectare (enjoy, delight, please) the audience. There must be also a set of criterions to measure the propriety of these arts to the subject. I don't remember them... IMO the scope, the aim of both the verbal as the musical 'sermon' (in general, but also in particular. it can vary per performance, per subject) defines which of these rhetorical figures should be used preferably and at what length it should be used. This is even a moral matter, because in the communication between men manipulation is always possible, because of the different position of the participants in relation to the subject matter (f.i. the preacher has studied the subject, decides what to speak and about what to keep his mouth shut. He conrols the matrix.... The audience is silent and mostly passive and can be moved in non-desirable directions as well, but this goes off topic....so I stop) Finally: Could not rhetoric be the 'middle-term' between dramatic and bureaucratic performance...? |
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Santu de Silva wrote (June 2, 2003):[To Uri Golomb] I would suggest that, while Bach's writing "s.d.g." etc does in fact indicate that he was religious--and we have independent evidence of this--it is impossible to infer what his opinion would be concerning particular secular-vs-sacred issues, esp. staging, operas,manner of performance, etc. Nor would I necessarily respect Bach's wishes about any number of things, much as I adore and respect him and his musical judgements. [I'm on the fence about women in choirs; I have nothing against women, and I believe that their presence in choral ensembles adds a great deal. But I do like to hear the cantatas and choral works sung by bo's choirs as well. Heck, some of my best friends are women.] For instance, should convicted felons be allowed to sing in Bach Cantatas? To all of us, this is a silly question, since we have our own opinions about it, and many would say it is not a topic appropriate to a list about Bach. But the question remains: if Bach were to be asked, what would he have said? Fortunately, the cowards among us can adopt essentially a "didn't ask, didn't tell" policy. History is mercifully silent about Bach's opinion of his works being performed in heathen lands, for instance. We can only surmise, with that infallible internal Bach compass that so many of us have been blessed with, that we know what he would have wished. the problem is that each of our infallibel Bach compasses often points in completely different directions. [With that rascal Wagner, of course, history has told us all too much about him. What would he say about UN security council resolutions concerning weapons inspections? I can guess. Wagner was a failed Texas oil baron who got misplaced by the stork.] At any rate, I'm alarmed at the ease with which Tom Braatz leaps to conclusions based on relatively little evidence. Conjecture is important, and often useful. But it has to be clearly labeled as conjecture, especially in a time when speculative musicology has had both very good, and very bad consequences. |
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Restoring/preserving the Bach Manuscripts |
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John Pike wrote (August 23, 2003):The Freunde der Staatsbiblothek zu Berlin (Friends of the State Library of Berlin) which owns 80% of the remaining Bach manuscripts, is trying to raise money for the costly process of restoring the manuscripts. Bach wrote with very acidic ink which burns holes in the paper he used and the Staatsbibliothek needs to store the manuscripts at -40oC to halt the deterioration. Ultimately, they hope to properly restore the manuscripts, and they are currently raising the money required. If you contribute more than 260 Euro, they will send you a complimentary facsimile copy of the manuscript for Cantata BWV 190 ("Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied!") discussed on the BCML a week or so ago. There is a limited edition of this of 400 copies (I received no. 288 in the series a few months ago), paid for by the Staatsbibliothek with other funds. If you would like to contribute, please use the contact below and please forward this e mail to anyone else whom you think might contribute. Dr. Dr. h.c. Helwig Hassenpflug, Stellvertretender Vorsitzender, Freunde der Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin E.V. Unter den Linden 8 D - 10117 Berlin Tel. +49 (0)30 266 1273 Fax. +49 (0)30 266 1436 E mail: freunde@sbb-spk-berlin.de Internet: www.freunde-sbb.de <http://www.freunde-sbb.de/> Their bankers details are: Deutsche Bank 24, Berlin, BLZ 100 700 24, Konto-Nr. 439 39 22 00 (presumably you would need to specify that donations were for the Bach manuscripts). I hope you can help them. |
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Charlie Ervin McCarn wrote (September 1, 2003):< John Pike wrote: Bach wrote with very acidic ink which burns holes in the paper he used and the Staatsbibliothek needs to store the manuscripts at -40oC to halt the deterioration. Ultimately, they hope to properly restore the manuscripts, and they are currently raising the money required. > Paper is also a problem, from what I've been told. I know someone who owns an original performing part that has continuo figures and dynamic markings in Bach's handwriting. He told me that he is grateful that the part that he has was written out at a time when Bach was using paper that was all rag content and that therefore has none of the acid content in it that makes a lot of the manuscripts so fragile. |
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Bach Manuscripts |
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John Pike wrote (February 11, 2004):For the past 4 years, the German State Library in Berlin has been restoring the Bach manuscripts which they hold there (80% of the remaining Bach manuscripts). This work cost 1.8 million Euros and is now complete. Before restoration, the manuscripts had to be stored at -40oC because the ink Bach used was highly acidic and was burning holes in the paper. It was therefore nigh on impossible to see the manuscripts. Since my wife and I contributed a little to the cost of restoration, we have been invited to a "party" in Berlin to celebrate the completion of the work. This will include a very rare opportunity to see some of the restored manuscripts. We are looking forward to it! |
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Jack Botelho wrote (February 11, 2004):[To John Pike] Thanks for this, what will certainly be a wonderful opportunity to see some of Bach's work first hand! Please let us know more about the particulars of this restoration if you wish, and which of the manuscripts were on view when you return! I wish you a safe and pleasant jourmey, one which many of us would only be able to dream of! |
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More tidbits from the web: Bach manuscripts heading to Net |
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Peter Bright wrote (February 27, 2004):Sounds like a very worthwhile exercise: (http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/TechNews/2004/02/26/361885-ap.html): Bach manuscripts heading to Net The Johann Sebastian Bach Archive in Leipzig will restore and digitalize original scores by the composer, with the idea of giving people access to the works via the Internet, officials said Thursday. The project will restore 44 original compositions from Bach's second Leipzig cantata cycle, as well as scores, manuscripts and books about Bach from the 17th to 19th centuries. It will be paid for by a $137,500 grant from the Hamburg-based Ebelin and Gerd Bucerius ZEIT Foundation, the archive said. At the same time, the archive plans to electronically catalogue its holdings, considered to be the most important in the world, and make them available on the Internet as well. |
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cmNEWS~ GET Bach: Archive puts composer's manuscripts on the Internet |
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Barry Murray wrote (February 28, 2003):I thought the following article might interest some members. GET Bach: Archive puts composer's manuscripts on the Internet Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription) - Minneapolis, MN, USA Berlin -- The Johann Sebastian Bach Archive in Leipzig will restore and digitalize original scores by the composer, with the idea of giving people access to ... <http://www.startribune.com/stories/457/4630960.html> NO tax credit for composer's heirs MLive.com - MI,USA ... was entitled to all the foreign tax credits it has been given for six music contracts covering works by Mancini, Johnny Mercer, Richard A. Whiting and composer ... < http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/entertainment/index.ssf?/base/entertainment-2/107780154826391.xml > |
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Wolff lecture on Bach manuscripts |
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John Pike wrote (March 22, 2004):http://athome.harvard.edu/dh/wolff.html A most interesting lecture video by Christoph Wolff on rediscovering the lost Berlin Sing-Akademie Archive in Kiev. It contains 5000 manuscripts, mostly by CPE Bach, but some by JS Bach himself. |
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Restoration of Bach Manuscripts |
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John Pike wrote (April 2, 2004):Some of you will know that the 1.8 million Euro project to restore the Bach manuscripts at the Staatsbibiothek in Berlin is now complete. The Staatsbibiothek holds 80 percent of the remaining Bach manuscripts and 3825 pages needed to be restored (about 50 percent of theiholding). The remainder was in good condition and did not need restoration. Those people who contributed to the cost of restoration (including my wife and me) were inviterd to a party in Berlin on Wednesday to celebrate the completion of this work. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, attended by the German Bundespresident. The main speaker was one of the world's leading Bach Scholars, Christoph Wolff, Professor at Harvard and Director of the Bach Archive in Leipzig. He spoke under the heading "Dead Ppers, Living Music" about the importance of resoring old manuscripts. We were treated to fine performances of Cantata 182 "Himmelskoenig Sei Wilkommen" and the Motet BWV 226 "Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf" by a young Leipzig choir and orchestra, many of whom are at the conservatoire. We were later able to see the original manuscripts of the St Matthew passion (BWV 244), St John Passion (BWV 245), Christmas Oratorio (BWV 248), B Minor Mass (BWV 232), Magnificat (BWV 243), the Motet Singet den Herrn ein neues Lied", Cantata BWV 51 "Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen", the Anna Magdalena notebook, the Art of Fugue (BWV 1080) and a couple of other cantatas. Quite an experience! The next day, we visited the Maxim Gorky Theatre, former home of the Berlin Singakademie and site of the Mendelssohn performance of the St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) in 1829. |
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Olle Hedström wrote (April 2, 2004):[To John Pike] Thanks for your interesting report on the restoration of Bach's manuscripts. I would like to recommend the following recording in which there is an interesting documentary: "The saving of the Bach's manuscripts" It's a DVD which also includes Il Giardino Armonico, who plays J.S. Bach, Carl Philip Emanuel Bach and Vivaldi: THE ITALIAN BACH IN VIENNA, TDK DV-BACON. |
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Trivia Bach's oldest surviving manuscript [BeginnersBach] |
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Steven Foss wrote (November 7, 2005):Since Jack was talking about Weimar, I thought, and thoughts on what may have been written (The solo keyboard Concertos, which may have been inspiration for the later Italian Concerto), I thought I might add some trivia, or what is the earliest authenticated work of J S Bach. After leaving his job as Violinist and Lackey (there are records of salary payment to Bach from March to August 1703, otherwise he had been unemployed since Easter of 1702) for Duke Johann Ernst, (seventy years earlier Sebastian's grandfather had worked for the same man?), Bach went to Arnstadt While at Arnstadt the chorale prelude Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, BWV 739, was written or at least is ascribed to this period (around 1705). The autograph of this prelude is also the oldest surviving Bach autograph. |
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JSB |
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Jean-Pierre Grivois wrote (March 9, 2006):My question is: on how many cantatas manuscripts did JSB wrote the 3 letters SDG (Soli Deo Gloria)? I saw this information somewhere but I cannot find it again. Could somebody help me ? Thanks. |
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Fiume wrote (March 9, 2006):[To Jean-Pierre Grivois] Look in this web http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Topics/Manuscripts.htm |
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Jean-Pierre Grivois wrote (March 10, 2006):[To Fiume] Thanks a lot ! |
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German researchers find earliest Bach manuscripts |
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Mathias Hansen wrote (August 31, 2006):http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/08/31/europe/EU_A-E_MUS_Germany_Bach.php The Associated Press Published: August 31, 2006 Weimar, Germany German researchers said Thursday they have discovered the oldest known handwritten manuscripts of Johann Sebastian Bach. The two manuscripts contain copies that Bach made of organ music composed by Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Adam Reinken, and date from around 1700, said Hellmut Seemann, president of the Foundation of Weimar Classics. Researchers found the documents in the archives of the Duchess Anna Amalia library in Weimar, where a previously unknown aria by Bach was discovered last year. The library, housed in a 16th-century palace, was badly damaged by a fire in September 2004. While some 50,000 books were lost, the Bach scripts survived because they had been stored in the building's vault. The foundation said the discovery provided vital clues about Bach's early development. He was a 15-year-old schoolboy when he copied the two chorale fantasias — "Nun freut euch, lieben Christen gmein" by Buxtehude and "An Wasserfluessen Babylon" by Reinken. Bach attached a note to the Reinken copy that confirmed he was studying at the time with the organist Georg Boehm in the north German town of Lüneburg, the foundation said. The manuscripts were found together with two previously unknown fantasias by Johann Pachelbel, copied by Bach's student Johann Martin Schubart. "Technically highly demanding, these organ works document the extraordinary virtuoso skills of the young Bach as well as his efforts to master the most ambitious and complex pieces of the entire organ repertoire," the foundation said. It said the find also made clear that Bach went to Lüneburg in order to learn more about the influential North German organ school in Hamburg and Lübeck. Schubart succeeded Bach as organist at the court of Weimar in 1717, and the newly discovered documents were passed to the library as part of Schubart's estate, the foundation said. Both the manuscripts and the aria found last year were unearthed by researchers from the Bach Archiv foundation in Leipzig, who have been combing German archives for information about the composer since 2002. The manuscripts will be exhibited at the library from Sept. 1 and at the Bach Archiv in Leipzig from Sept. 21. The Associated Press Published: August 31, 2006 ================================================================= http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1288762006 Early Bach manuscripts reveal teenage talent BERLIN (Reuters) - Previously unknown manuscripts by Johann Sebastian Bach, recently discovered in Germany, prove that the prolific German composer was a virtuoso even as a teenager, researchers said on Thursday. The works, one of which is dated 1700 when Bach was only 15 and the other thought to be even older, are copies of other composers' choral pieces, arranged for organ by Bach. They were found among archives in a library in the eastern city of Weimar. "We have until now not had anything dated before 1700 and what is particularly important is that these are not just manuscripts but musical arrangements which are particularly demanding," said Christoph Wolff, director of the Bach archive in Leipzig. "Technically, they are demanding, compositionally they are demanding and they show what the 13- to 15-year-old Bach was capable of," he added. "This is something we have never had any indication of previously." The two handwritten pieces are copies of "Nun freut Euch lieben Christen gmein" by Dietrich Buxtehude and "An Wasserfluessen Babylon" by Johann Adam Reinken. The Weimar archives in the Anna Amalia Library have already yielded an unknown early Bach aria, adding to the few surviving pieces wremain from his early career. Acknowledged by many as the greatest Baroque composer, Bach was born in 1685 and died in 1750. His most famous works include the Brandenburg concertos and the Mass in B minor. This article: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1288762006 Last updated: 31-Aug-06 18:31 BST ================================================================= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5303252.stm New Bach manuscripts found Experts say the composer's script was quite distinctive Researchers in Germany say they have unearthed two previously unknown manuscripts written by Johann Sebastian Bach when he was a teenage organist. The handwritten manuscripts, dating from about 1700, are copies of organ music composed by Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Adam Reinken. At the time Bach was 15 - and these are the oldest known manuscripts by him. They were among archives taken from a library in Weimar, east Germany, which was ravaged by a fire two years ago. The Bach manuscripts survived because they were stored in the building's vault. The fire at the Duchess Anna Amalia Library, part of a 16th-Century palace, destroyed about 50,000 books. Bach's life illuminated According to Bach experts Michael Maul and Peter Wollny from the Bach-Archiv foundation in Leipzig, the manuscripts shed new light on the career of the young Bach. They confirm that he was a student of the organist Georg Boehm in the north German city of Lüneburg. The researchers say the latest find is more significant than the discovery last year of a previously unknown vocal piece by Bach, which was also among the papers removed from the library. Bach's script was quite distinctive, the researchers said, although there was some similarity to Boehm's. The organ works that Bach copied were chorale fantasias called Nun freut euch lieben Christen gmein (Be joyful ye Christians) and An den Wasserfluessen Babylons (By the waters of Babylon). The Bach Archiv foundation said that "technically highly demanding, these organ works document the extraordinary virtuoso skills of the young Bach as well as his efforts to master the most ambitious and complex pieces of the entire organ repertoire". ================================================================= http://www.welt.de/data/2006/08/31/1018115.html Musik Eine Begabung wie Mozart? Jahrhundertelang waren die Blätter verschwunden. Zwei Forscher entdeckten jetzt in Weimar Handschriften des jungen Johann Sebastian Bach. Der Komponist zeigte schon mit 15 Jahren hohe Fähigkeiten. Für den Laien sehen sie aus wie Hieroglyphen, dem Fachmann offenbaren sich die verblassten Zeichen auf den bräunlichen Blätter als fachmännische Noten-Abschriften von der Hand des jungen Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Die Wissenschaftler Michael Maul und Peter Wollny vom Bach-Archiv Leipzig entdeckten die beiden Dokumente in der Mittelalter-Sammlung der Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek in Weimar. Damit kann das Team erneut einen Erfolg verbuchen. Seit Jahren forscht das Archiv in einem groß angelegten Projekt nach unbekannten Dokumenten der weit verzweigten Musikerfamilie Bach in Thüringen, Sachsen und Sachsen-Anhalt. Im vergangenen Jahr hatte Maul bereits die Bach-Arie „Alles mit Gott und nichts ohn’ ihn“ aus dem Jahr 1713 in Huldigungsschriften der Weimarer Bibliothek gefunden. „Es ist ein schöner und unerwarteter Fund“, sagte der Direktor des Bach-Archivs Leipzig, Christoph Wolff, bei der Präsentation in der Klassik Stiftung Weimar. „Für die Bach-Forschung ist es wichtig, die alten Dokumente nicht nur immer wieder neu zu interpretieren, sondern durch neue Fakten zu bereichern.“ Die Blätter von der Hand des 15 Jahre alten Bach zeigen Abschriften von Dietrich Buxtehudes Choralfantasien „Nun freut euch lieben Christen gmein“ und Johann Adam Reinkens „An Wasserflüssen Babylons“. Nach diesem Fund muss für Wolff die Biografie des Barockmusikers zwar nicht umgeschrieben, aber überarbeitet werden. „Wir können unserem Bach-Bild ein weiteres Mosaik hinzufügen“, sagte Wollny. „Die Daten aus der Jugendzeit Bachs sind an einer Hand abzuzählen.“ Rund zehn Monate haben die beiden akribisch die Handschrift mit den wenigen erhaltenen frühen Belegen von Bach verglichen. Wichtige Eigenheiten wie das P im Wort Pedal belegten eindeutig, dass es Bachs Handschrift sei. Zudem ergaben Nachforschungen im Archiv Lüneburg, dass der junge Musiker auf Papier mit Wasserzeichen des Lüneburger Organisten Georg Böhm (1661-1733) geschrieben hat. Die beiden Forscher sehen darin den ersten dokumentarischen Beleg, dass der 15-Jährige ein Schüler von Böhm war und wahrscheinlich in dessen Haus wohnte. Darauf deutet auch eine Notiz auf der Reinken- Abschrift. „Wir glauben, wir haben neben dem älteren Bruder Johann Christoph Bach in Böhm einen sehr wichtigen Lehrmeister von Johann Sebastian gefunden“, sagte Wollny. Ob Bach nach kurzer Zeit in Lüneburg als Lateinschüler die Schule verlassen hat, ist nicht bekannt. Die Forscher schließen jedoch nicht aus, dass Johann Sebastian damals schon genau wusste, was er wollte: Orgel spielen. „Das ist kein Kind, das hier schreibt“, sagte Wollny. Bach habe die schwierige Buchstabenschrift für Noten, auch Tabulatur genannt, beherrscht. Deshalb gehen die Wissenschaftler davon aus, dass er bereits früh eine hohe virtuose Fähigkeiten besaß und vom Blatt spielen konnte. „Hier zeigt sich eine Begabung, die vielleicht nur mit Mozart vergleichbar ist“, sagte Wollny. Ob der Forscher aber hier nicht ein wenig übertreibt, um zu Mozarts 250. Geburtstag auch noch gehört zu werden? Die Begabungen beider Komponisten lagen sicher auf unterschiedlicher Wellenlänge und vom kindlichen Bach sind keine Kompositionen bekannt. Als bereits 18-Jähriger startete Bach freilich in Thüringen seine Karriere, zunächst in Arnstadt, dann in Mühlhausen und Weimar. Die beiden jetzt entdeckten Werke haben die Residenzstadt Weimar vermutlich nie verlassen. Als bisher unbekannter Anhang klebten sie an Notenpartituren von Johann Pachelbel, die im Tresor im Stadtschloss aufbewahrt werden. Deshalb waren sie auch nicht vom Brand der Bibliothek vor zwei Jahren betroffen, sagte Bibliotheksdirektor Michael Knoche. Ab Freitag sollen die Schätze im Rahmen des Kunstfestes in der Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek gezeigt werden. dpa/Welt.de Artikel erschienen am Do, 31. August 2006 ================================================================= http://derstandard.at/?url=/?id=2570856 Frühe Bach-Handschriften entdeckt Abschriften von Orgelwerken belegen außergewöhnliche Begabung des jungen Komponisten Weimar - Leipziger Forscher haben in der Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek zwei Musikhandschriften des jungen Johann Sebastian Bach entdeckt. Der Präsident der Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Hellmut Seemann, und der Direktor des Bach-Archivs Leipzig, Christoph Wolff, bezeichneten den Fund am Donnerstag in Weimar als "Sensation". Damit würden der bisher kaum bekannten Jugendzeit Bachs (1685-1750) wichtige Facetten hinzugefügt. Bei den Blättern handelt es sich um Abschriften von zwei Orgelwerken von Dietrich Buxtehude und Johann Adam Reinken, die der knapp 15 Jahre alte Bach in Lüneburg anfertigte. "Wir sind absolut sicher, dass es sich um die frühesten Schriftzeugnisse Bachs handelt", erklärten diForscher Michael Maul und Peter Wollny vom Bach-Archiv Leipzig. "Nunmehr können fundierte Aussagen über die ersten 20 Jahre in Bachs Leben getroffen werden", betonte Maul. Bisher seien seine Jugendjahre fast ein weißer Fleck, allenfalls nur mosaikhaft vorhanden, ergänzte Wollny. Bach schrieb die Orgelwerke nachweislich auf Papier mit dem Wasserzeichen des Lüneburger Organisten Georg Böhm (1661-1733). Maul und Wollny sehen darin den ersten dokumentarischen Beleg dafür, dass der junge Bach ein Schüler Böhms war und wahrscheinlich in dessen Haus wohnte. "Wir müssen die Bach-Biografie zur Jugendzeit überarbeiten und ergänzen", sagte Wolff. Bachs Abschriften von Buxtehudes Choralfantasien "Nun freut euch lieben Christen gmein" und Reinkens "An Wasserflüssen Babylons" fanden Maul und Wollny in den Mittelalter-Handschriften der Forschungsbibliothek. In der Nacht des Großfeuers in der Weimarer Bibliothek im September 2004 wurden sie als Anhang bekannter Notenpartituren von Johann Pachelbel im Tresor im Stadtschloss aufbewahrt, wie Bibliotheksdirektor Michael Knoche erklärte. "Das ist kein Kind, das hier schreibt", sagte Wollny. Bach habe die schwierige Buchstabenschrift, Tabulatur genannt, nicht nur beherrscht, sondern es sei davon auszugehen, dass er bereits früh hohe virtuose Fähigkeiten besaß und vom Blatt spielen konnte. Es entstehe das Bild eines jungen Erwachsenen mit großem Sachverstand für die polyphone Musik, der als Zwölfjähriger schon weiter im Orgelspiel gewesen sei als die meisten Organisten seiner Zeit. "Hier zeigt sich eine Begabung, die vielleicht nur mit Mozart verbleichbar ist." Im vergangenen Jahr hatte das Bach-Archiv bereits eine Arie von Bach in der Weimarer Bibliothek aufgespürt, die durch Zufall ebenfalls nicht dem Brand zum Opfer gefallen war. Das Bach-Archiv durchforstet derzeit Archive und Bibliotheken in Sachsen, Thüringen und Sachsen-Anhalt nach bisher unbekannten Dokumenten der Bach- Familie. Laut Wolff wurden seit 2002 mehrere Dutzend Dokumente über die Musikerfamilie gefunden. Sie sollen ab 20. September in einer Sonderschau in Leipzig präsentiert werden. (APA/AP/dpa) |
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New Bach Mansucripts |
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Douglas Cowling wrote (August 31, 2006):From the BBC today: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/music/5303252.stm New Bach manuscripts found Signature of J S Bach on original handwritten music script found in Weimar Experts say the composer's script was quite distinctive Researchers in Germany say they have unearthed two previously unknown manuscripts written by Johann Sebastian Bach when he was a teenage organist. The handwritten manuscripts, dating from about 1700, are copies of organ music composed by Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Adam Reinken. At the time Bach was 15 - and these are the oldest known manuscripts by him. They were among archives taken from a library in Weimar, east Germany, which was ravaged by a fire two years ago. The Bach manuscripts survived because they were stored in the building's vault. The fire at the Duchess Anna Amalia Library, part of a 16th-Century palace, destroyed about 50,000 books. Bach's life illuminated According to Bach experts Michael Maul and Peter Wollny from the Bach-Archiv foundation in Leipzig, the manuscripts shed new light on the career of the young Bach. They confirm that he was a student of the organist Georg Boehm in the north German city of Lüneburg. The researchers say the latest find is more significant than the discovery last year of a previously unknown vocal piece by Bach, which was also among the papers removed from the library. Bach's script was quite distinctive, the researchers said, although there was some similarity to Boehm's. The organ works that Bach copied were chorale fantasias called Nun freut euch lieben Christen gmein (Be joyful ye Christians) and An den Wasserfluessen Babylons (By the waters of Babylon). The Bach Archiv foundation said that "technically highly demanding, these organ works document the extraordinary virtuoso skills of the young Bach as well as his efforts to master the most ambitious and complex pieces of the entire organ repertoire". |
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Bradley Lehman wrote (August 31, 2006):Douglas Cowling wrote: < New Bach manuscripts found (...) At the time Bach was 15 - and these are the oldest known manuscripts by him. (...) They confirm that he was a student of the organist Georg Boehm in the north German city of Lüneburg. (...) Bach's script was quite distinctive, the researchers said, although there was some similarity to Boehm's. > An important additional detail, from some of the other news stories: these manuscripts are in keyboard tablature, not score. Letters crammed onto a page, not musical notes. It's a form of notation that packs a lot of detail into a small space, but isn't always perfectly clear as to which octave we're in, or where any rests or breathing-spaces are located in the melodic lines, or how long any of the longer notes are to be sustained. Note releases are to be figured out from context and from knowing what sounds good, within improvisatory practices and style..... |
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Thomas Braatz wrote (September 1, 2006):Bradley Lehman wrote: >>these manuscripts are in keyboard tablature, not score. Letters crammed onto a page, not musical notes. It's a form of notation that packs a lot of detail into a small space, but isn't always perfectly clear as to which octave we're in, or where any rests or breathing-spaces are located in the melodic lines, or how long any of the longer notes are to be sustaind. Note releases are to be figured out from context and from knowing what sounds good, within improvisatory practices and style.....<< If Bach had intended this type of notation to serve in supporting artistic license while supporting improvisatory practices and style, why is it that he left no body of compositions of his own in this form, and why is there no evidence that he taught it to his sons and other pupils? The lack of precision in notating his own compositions may be the main reason why Bach rather quickly abandoned this type of notation in favor of a standard, more precise method. The only purposes which organ tablature served in Bach's life seem to be a) antiquarian: being able to read and play compositions from an earlier period that used such a notation method. Samuel Scheidt in his "Tabulatura nova (1624)was one of the first composers to replace this antiquated and imprecise musical shorthand used in writing out organ music with the same notation as used in vocal music. As better methods of copper engraving became possible, the printing of music in organ tablature (which was, in fact, easier to print and hence less costly than the standard vocal type) was soon abandoned with the last such printed volumes appearing in 1645 (J. E. Kindermann, "Harmonia Organica" and Christoph Michel, "Tabulatura auf dem Klavier"). It was still in use in restricted parts of Germany and Scandinavia until c. 1700 after which it quickly died out. b) shorthand: being able to use far less costly paper and being able to squeeze in additional notes in the margin in order to avoid an awkward page turn or to indicate a missing bar/measure of music. The examples of Bach's use of organ tablature in this manner are quite rare and served more as a note to himself so that he could quickly explain to his copyists or publishers what he actually wanted. It is quite unlikely that Bach's copyists or publishers had any facility in reading this type of notation correctly. |
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Bradley Lehman wrote (September 1, 2006):New Bach Mansucripts - a Buxtehude example of tablature I wrote earlier today: << At the time Bach was 15 - and these are the oldest known manuscripts by him. (...) Bach's script was quite distinctive, the researchers said, although there was some similarity to Boehm's. >> < An important additional detail, from somof the other news stories: these manuscripts are in keyboard tablature, not score. Letters crammed onto a page, not musical notes. It's a form of notation that packs a lot of detail into a small space, but isn't always perfectly clear as to which octave we're in, or where any rests or breathing-spaces are located in the melodic lines, or how long any of the longer notes are to be sustained. Note releases are to be figured out from context and from knowing what sounds good, within improvisatory practices and style..... > This bears a direct example, to show how much music can be packed into a small space by using late 17th century notational conventions of keyboard tablature. I have uploaded the original manuscript format of an Allemande and Courante by Buxtehude, all fitting onto a single page: and then the modern transcriptions of those same two dances into score notation. These transcriptions are from Klaus Beckmann's edition of Buxtehude's harpsichord music, for Breitkopf & Haertel. These examples are in the Files section for the group: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/BachCantatas/files/keyboard_tablature/ The tablature's notation is in letters, not notes, written onto blank paper and without staves. This is one of the notational styles Bach learned as a teenager. Pack in those letter-names of the notes, and then some scratch-marks above these show how fast the notes go, as a group. This style of notation tends to work especially well for music that has a fairly constant flow of the same note speeds. The speed continues, implicitly, until changed by the next set of scratches. When there is blank space on the page, the notes might be resting or they might be held across; decided only by context and listening. I did some work on this area in grad school and later, trying to understand for myself the compositional process that leads to such notation. A useful exercise is to take a finished piece, in notation, and transcribe it back to a hypothetical 17th century German tablature version after first learning to play it...to see how tablature works in practice, as notational shorthand. Also I set myself the task of learning some lute and vihuela music to play it on keyboards, from the different tablatures that they use. Apparently in this mode of learning the musical craft, one learns or composes the piece first by working it out at the instrument, in memory or by rote (often arising from an improvisation), and then writes down the minimal details necessary to play it back. The tablature merely indicates when the pitches begin, and a suggestion of the voice-leading or figuration of the parts, as a reminder. It does not say much about either articulation or the length of sustaining those notes. Rests are rarely indicated, if at all. One decides the proper lengths per occasion by listening to the acoustics, during the blank spaces on the page, and by figuring out harmonic relationships and progressions.... A similar process obtains for the published piece by Francois Couperin (published 1716-7) that JSB hand-copied (or arranged) into Anna Magdalena's notebook, dated 1725. Even though that composition was written out in notation, both in the original and in Bach's copy, the note-values still don't indicate that some of the pitches should really be held out longer than it says in the notation--if we are to get a similar sound to Couperin's more painstakingly notated original, with two voices happening in the same staff. The Bach version simply indicates when the notes begin, and the player is to figure out by sound and taste how long the notes should go, to make the right effect. All of this is more familiar to lutenists than to keyboardists: as to the use of tablature, and non-specific note-lengths.... |
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Ed Myskowski wrote (September 1, 2006):Bradley Lehman wrote: < This bears a direct example, to show how much music can be packed into a small space by using late 17th century notational conventions of keyboard tablature. > The essentials of this post (abstract below for reference) are so clearly stated that I can grasp and enjoy them. Even if many of the details exceed my abilities (or time) to pursue. Why try to separate musicology from listening? Unless you are one of those musicologists who never bothers to enjoy listening to music. Or a listener who considers knowledge a bother. I am just now listening to Leusink, BWV 99. It reminds me of one of those Polish-American dances we used to call a Scottische. A definite respite from doom and gloom. Music unites us. |
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Riccardo Nughes wrote (September 1, 2006):Some photos here -> http://www.repubblica.it/ then click on "MUSICA Manoscritti di Bach scampati alle fiamme ritrovati in Germania " [a java script in the middle of the page on the right] |
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Bradley Lehman wrote (September 1, 2006):[To Riccardo Nughes] Thanks! A more direct link to that newspaper's eight photos of these fascinating manuscripts (getting around the javascript popup windows): http://www.repubblica.it/2006/05/gallerie/esteri/bach-inediti-ritrovati/1.html |
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Bradley Lehman wrote (September 1, 2006):< These examples are in the Files section for the group: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/BachCantatas/files/keyboard_tablature/ > I have added three pages from the Buxtehude piece that Bach copied, "Nun freut euch" BuxWV 210. These are pages 10-12 of 12, in a score-notation format from the Spitta/Seiffert edition of 1903. (Some newer editions are better, but this one is at least decent and out of copyright....) There is always some editorial judgment required in choosing a reasonable octave, note-lengths, etc for the music when transcribing tablature into score. It's also not always clear, in organ music, which parts (if any) should be played by pedal as opposed to the manuals. At least this score is good enough to illustrate some of the difficulty in this flashy piece. The other pages have additionally fun bits such as hands crossed, quick echoes from one manual to the other (or out to a third manual), lots of leaps, meter changes, little fugatos, and the right hand reaching over to play a bass line while the left hand and pedal are occupied playing something else.... (Assuming that Spitta/Seiffert got the parts disentangled reasonably correctly when making their score, of course!) |
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Rick Canyon wrote (September 1, 2006):Bradley Lehman wrote: << These examples are in the Files section for the group: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/BachCantatas/files/keyboard_tablature/ >> Very interesting. The tablature looks almost like a series of mathematical formulas. |
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Bradley Lehman wrote (September 1, 2006):[To Rick Canyon] Yup. That's also part of the reason why I take one of Bach's other manuscripts as a tablature (or shorthand) for his tuning method. Step-by-step sequence to set up the notes, like the way tablature notation is step-by-step hitting the notes in the right order, to play a composition. I believe it's a way of jotting down a concept one knows, without having to waste a lot of effort or page space on symbols, or any effort on calculation. Just draw a picture of the thing, elegantly. Details, second little section on this page: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/larips/faq3.html |
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Thomas Braatz wrote (September 1, 2006):BWV 1121 Only Extant Composition by Bach in Organ Tablature To view a detailed facsimile of the only extant complete composition by J. S. Bach in organ tablature (estimated date anywhere from 1706-1713): Go to Files in the Yahoo Group Bach Cantatas Open folder BWV 1121 Click on BWV1121T.jpg in folder I had wanted to include for comparison a copy of the modern notation NBA printing of thsame but the Files section of the BCML does not allow another upload (no available space since the maximum has been nearly reached!). There are no upside-down letters to be found anywhere on this page. |
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Thomas Braatz wrote (September 2, 2006):Aryeh Oron has kindly placed both the facsimile and the transcribed version (modern notation courtesy of the NBA) of the first portion of BWV 1121 at the following address on the BCW: http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Scores/BWV1121-Tablature.htm |
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Scores of Bach Cantatas: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Bach’s Manuscripts |
Last update: ýSeptember 2, 2006 ý17:20:44
