Kleine Magnificat in a-moll BWV Anh. 21

Have you heard about the Little Magnificat?

Aryeh Oron wrote (November 5, 2004):
This charming work does not appear in the list of Bach works, neither is it included in the list of 'Doubtful and Spurious Works' in Boyd's "Oxford Composer Companion - J.S. Bach". But this work was once attributed to J.S. Bach! I do not know its current status, and if it is mentioned in the NBA.

The Little Magnificat in A minor was even recorded. I am aware of only one recording - by the French/Canadian soprano Micheline Tessier with Arts Quebec Instrumental Ensemble from 1965. I do not know if the work has been recorded since, neither have I been able to find any mention of such recording in the web stores or elsewhere.

This only (?) recording was printed in Israel in the early 1970's. I do not know if this recording have been printed in CD form. But I believe tat it should be better known, A friend of mine converted it from the original LP to CD; I converted it to mp3 and uploaded it to the BCW. You can now listen to it from the page:
http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Mus/BWVAnh21-Mus.htm

Please notice that this is a big file: 21.6 MB. It will take some time to upload it to your computer but it is worth the try.

Quoted from the liner notes on the LP:
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J.S. Bach: Little Magnificat for Soprano Solo, Flute, Violin and Organ

Micheline Tessier - Soprano
Arts Quebec Instrumental Ensemble

This Magnificat dates in all probability from about 1720. Hear for the first time after a silence of two and half centuries, this work was written no doubt for an intimate gathering of Bach's friends and family. Thus we have here a bonus composition, conceived not for the regular Sunday services or written on order. It was for his own pleasure that Bach composed this setting of the Magnificat.

The manuscript - like most works of a man who composed neither for fame nor for posterity - is a first draft, and is unsigned. Once again, we are placed in a midst of a controversy, as to whether the manuscript is authentic.

The Little Magnificat was first heard of in 1858, on the occasion of the publication of the great Magnificat in D Major. The work was lost again until 1940, when a musicologist found the MS at the Saltykov-Scedrin State Library in Leningrad. Another fifteen years were to elapse before the work was heard of again. This time, it was the German critic Alfred Dürr who voiced his doubts about the authenticity of the Magnificat. Now the initiative was taken by the publishing house of De Santis, who, aided by the Italian musicologist Ermenegildo Paccagnella, undertook to establish beyond any doubt the authorship of the Magnificat.

Upon examining the manuscript, one immediately notices certain characteristics peculiar to Bach, such as his seal on the first page and the mention of Soli Deo Gloria at the end. The pages do not follow a numbered sequence, which indicates that Bach, as was his custom, borrowed pages for this work from another, unused one. Calligraphic similarities in the notes and in the words, as personal as fingerprints, are also found here is abundance. But it is the musical writing, which will inevitably lead the analyst to the conclusion that here is a typical work of Bach. The choral structure of mono-harmonic passages, the precise and varied phraseology, the polyphonic texture, the natural relationship of the various tonalities, the method of ornamentation, and the means of melodic variation, all bear the unmistakable hallmark of Bach's genius. This ultimate test, which is the most gratifying and in all likelihood the most conclusive one, as the audition of the work, with an attentive ear and an open mind.
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I am curious to know:
a. What is the current status regarding the authenticity of the Little Magnificat?
b. What is your opinion of the work and the recording?
c. Are you aware of any more recordings of the work?

Riccardo Nughes wrote (November 5, 2004):
< C. Are you aware of any more recordings of the work? >
There is a Magnificat in A minor BWV Anh.21 recently recorded ->
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/hnum/3990078/rk/classic/rsk/hitlist

I'm still downloading your MP3 so I cannot check if it is the same work, I'll try later.
Do you have this CPO cd?

Thomas Braatz wrote (November 5, 2004):
Aryeh Oron wrote: >> Have you heard about the Little Magnificat? This charming work does not appear in the list of Bach works, neither is it included in the list of 'Doubtful and Spurious Works' in Boyd's "Oxford Composer Companion - J.S. Bach". But this work was once attributed to J.S. Bach! I do not know its current status, and if it is mentioned in the NBA. I am curious to know:
a. What is the current status regarding the authenticity of the Little Magnificat?<<
BWV Anh. 21 Magnificat in A minor

The NBA II/9 KB (2000) discusses this work, and guess what? It's by Melchior Hoffmann whose history and work was discussed on this list fairly recently.

W. Gillies Whittaker has an extensive analysis of this work in vol. 1 of his "The Cantatas of Johann Sebastian Bach."

I'll try to share further details from the NBA as soon as I find some time.

Bradley Lehman wrote (November 5, 2004):
<< C. Are you aware of any more recordings of the work? >>
< There is a Magnificat in A minor BWV Anh.21 recently recorded ->
http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/hnum/3990078/rk/classic/rsk/hitlist >

...by Melchior Hoffmann. The 1998 edition of BWV puts this into appendices 1 and 3, and refers the reader to an article by Andreas Glöckner, pages 97-102 in the 1982 edition of Bach-Jahrbuch.

I hadn't heard of the piece. Thanks for mentioning it, Aryeh!

Thomas Braatz wrote (November 5, 2004):
The following is a translation from the NBA KB II/9 pp. 67-68

Magnificat in A minor by Melchior Hoffmann BWV Anh. 21

The Magnificat in A minor, the so-called 'little' Magnificat, was accepted by the editors of the BG as an authentic work by J. S. Bach since it was purportedly an autograph manuscript. However, it never made it to the final printed version in BG 11/1 because of the apparently deliberate loss of the score caused by Siegried Wilhelm Dehn. (explained by Andreas Glöckner in an article "Die Leipziger Neukirchenmusik und das "Kleine Magnificat BWV Anh. 21" contained in the Bach-Jahrbuch 1982, p. 97.) It was discovered later on that Dehn had given the score as a present to Alexis von Lwoff in St. Petersburg. Today the score is located in the St. Petersburg Saltykov-Stschedrin Library where W. G. Whittaker rediscovered it (W. Gillies Whittaker, "A lost Bach Magnificat' in "Music & Letters" 1940, pp. 312-318.) Only after a closer inspection/analysis of the manuscript carried out by
Alfred Dürr and Frederik Hudson in connection with the preparatory work demanded by the NBA, the former opinion regarding the work had to be revised: what was
once considered to be a Bach autograph score turned out to be a composition written in an unknown, unidentifiable handwriting.

Based upon a comparison of an autograph title page of a Telemann cantata "Singet dem Herrn" (1708) included as a facsimile in the catalog of the Magdeburg Commemorative Telemann Exhibition, Hans-Joachim Schulze ("Das "Kleine Magnificat" BWV Anh. 21 und sein Komponist" in Musikforschung 21 {1968}) came to the conclusion that the Magnificat was a Telemann autograph. However doubts arose concerning this attribution after questioning more carefully the owner of this Telemann score (the Royal Library of Copenhagen) regarding whether this was a genuine Telemann autograph.

Meanwhile, Glöckner, in the above-mentioned article reported that he had been able to locate among the piles of anonymous compositions of the Berlin State Library (BB: Berliner Staa) a set of parts for the 'Little Magnificat.' Among the copyists involved in copying these parts there was one that was identical to the handwriting of the Leningrad/St. Petersburg score. This was the composer of the score. Among the other copyists, as confirming evidence, were, among others, the musical director of the 'Neukirche' (New Church) in Leipzig, Carl Gotthelf Gerlach and the young Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel. All of this points to the fact that the 'Little Magnificat' originated and was probably composed for the music program of the Leipzig Neukirche [New Church.]

By means of further comparisons between the various handwritings, Glöckner finally succeeded in being able to identify the one who wrote and composed the Leningrad-St. Petersburg score: it was the musical director of the Neukirche [New Church] in Leipzig, Melchior Hoffmann, who composed the work c. 1708.

Here, once again, is the article by Glöckner on Hoffmann from the Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press, 2004 - acc. 11/5/04): [Notice that there is another Magnificat in d minor (1700) listed below]

>>Hoffmann, Melchior

(born in Bärenstein, near Dresden, c1679; died in Leipzig, 6 Oct 1715). German composer and organist. As a choirboy in the Dresden Hofkapelle, Hoffmann received his musical training from Johann Christoph Schmidt. He went to Leipzig in autumn 1702 and enrolled at the university to study law. He also joined the student collegium musicum founded by Telemann. When Telemann left Leipzig in June 1705, Hoffmann succeeded him as organist and music director of the Neukirche, and took over as director of Telemann's collegium musicum. He was also conductor of the Leipzig civic opera, which had been in existence since 1693 and for which he wrote a number of works. In 1709 he met the violin virtuoso Johann Georg Pisendel, who became leader of the orchestra of Hoffmann's collegium. At this time the ensemble consisted of 50 to 60 musicians and had won fame and recognition beyond the Leipzig area. [note the size of this ensemble!]

Hoffmann seems to have visited England between 1709 and 1710, but no details are known. There is no definite evidence of a visit to Italy in 1714 either, and it is unlikely that he went there. In 1713 he applied, along with J.S. Bach and three other candidates, to succeed F.W. Zachow as organist at the Liebfrauenkirche in Halle. When Bach eventually declined the appointment on 19 March 1714 the Halle consistory offered it to Hoffmann, but although he officially accepted the post he never took up his duties in Halle, and in fact resigned on 23 July. On 9 September 1714 he married Margaretha Elisabeth Philipp and in the same month became one of the few Leipzig musicians of the time to be granted citizenship. He had been suffering from a serious illness since 1713 and died on the evening of 6 October 1715, aged only 36. He was buried in the Johannisfriedhof in Leipzig on 10 October; all the pupils of the Thomasschule attended the funeral.

Hoffmann died a prosperous citizen, regarded by his contemporaries as an important composer and a sensitive musician. The Leipzig chronicler Christoph Ernst Sicul described him in an obituary as 'a famous composer', whose collegium musicum had produced many fine musicians holding prominent positions as organists or in the Kapellen of major German courts.

Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, a member of Hoffmann's collegium from 1707 to 1710, and the Darmstadt court poet Georg Christian Lehms also paid tribute to Hoffmann's great importance in their writings, and Charles Burney regarded him as one of the finest composers of the first half of the 18th century. In spite of his early death Hoffmann left a quite extensive body of work, although only a fraction of it has survived. Very little from his secular output, and in particular from his operas, is extant, and his music only began to attract attention from musicologists when three works previously attributed to Bach (BWV 53, BWV 189 and Anh.21) were recognized as being by Hoffmann (or, in the case of BWV 53, probably by him). In older studies Hoffmann has often been confused with the Breslau composer Johann Georg Hoffmann.

Melchior Hoffmann's music shows a feeling for unusual and effective orchestration. His cantata and opera arias are notable for their pleasant, attractive and accessible melodies, sometimes with a strong emotional emphasis, as in the cantata Meine Seele rühmt und preist. His later compositions show Italian influence.

WORKS

sacred vocal

Missa (e), B, vn/fl, bc, D-Bsb (partly autograph), later version (a), S/T, va, bc, Bsb; Sanctus (a), SATB, str, bc, 1708, Bsb*; Sanctus (C), SATB, 3 tpt, timp, str, bc, Bsb*; Sanctus (D), SATB, 3 tpt, timp, 2 ob, str, bc, Bsb; Mag (d), SATB, 2 vn, 2 va, bc, 1700, Bsb*

Cants.: Entfernet euch, ihr schmeichlenden Gedanken, S/T, 2 hn, 2 ob, str, bc, Dl; Lob sei dem allerhöchsten Gott, SATB, 2 tpt, str, bc, B-Bc; Meine Seele erhebt den Herrn, S, fl, str, bc, D-Bsb (partly autograph), RUS-SPsc*; Meine Seele rühmt und preist, T, fl, ob, vn, bc, D-Bsb; Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, SATB, 2 tpt, timp, str, bc, 1708, Bsb, DK-Kk* Doubtful: 3 missa brevis (C, C, G), D-Bsb; 4 cants., MÜG; Schlage doch, gewünschte Stunde (cant.), A, bells, str, bc, Bsb

Lost: 32 cants., listed in Breitkopf catalogues, 1761 and 1764

operas

performed in Leipzig; music lost except for some arias in D-SHs and S-L Acontius und Cydippe, 1709; Banise, oder Die dritte Abteilung dieser asiatischen Prinzessin, 1710; Balacin, oder Die erste Abteilung der asiatischen Banise, 1712; Chaumigrem, oder Die andere Abteilung der asiatischen Banise, 1712; Die amazonische Königin Orithya, 1713; Rhea Sylvia, 1714

other secular vocal

Cants.: Auf, muntre Sinnen zum Jagen, T, str, bc; Ich lebe als im Schlafe, S, str, bc; Schönste Lippen, eure Liebe, S, ob, bc; Treue Liebe edler Seelen, S, str, bc; Verdopple, Tyranne, verdopple dein Rasen, S, ob, str, bc; Verfolge mich immer mit rasenden Stürmen, S, str, bc: all D-SHs

Lost: 8 cants., listed in Breitkopf catalogue, 1761 instrumental

Sinfonie (f), str, D-Dl, GB-Lbl; Conc. (E ), hn, 2 ob, str, D-Dl; Sonata (g), ob, vn, bc, Dl

Lost: 5 sinfonie (D, D, F, A, B ), str, bc, listed in Breitkopf catalogue, 1762

BIBLIOGRAPHY

MatthesonGEP, 117-19
A. Schering: Musikgeschichte Leipzigs, ii: Von 1650 bis 1723 (Leipzig, 1926), 341-4, 462-3
A. Dürr: 'Zur Echtheit der Kantate "Meine Seele rühmt und preist"', BJb 1956, 155 only
A. Glöckner: 'Die Leipziger Neukirchenmusik und das "Kleine Magnificat" BWV Anh.21', BJb 1982, 97-102
A. Glöckner: 'Neukirchenmusik unter der Direktion von Melchior Hoffmann (1705-1715)', Die Musikpflege an der
Leipziger Neukirche zur Zeit Johann Sebastian Bachs (Leipzig, 1990), 39-76
ANDREAS GLÖCKNER
� Oxford University Press 2004<<

John Pike wrote (November 5, 2004):
[To Aryeh Oron] How fascinating. I will listen to it at home

Yoël L. Arbeitman wrote (November 5, 2004):
Aryeh Oron wrote: < I do not know if the work has been recorded since, neither have I been able to find any mention of such recording in the web stores or elsewhere. >
Thank you for you effort, Aryeh. (1) Such a large file is beyond the downloading capabilities of a dial-up modem. (2) By sheer coincidence I received an order from Broinc yesterday and it included the CPO disk. As others have said, a charming enough work. On the CPO disk it is coupled with two apocryphal missae breves, only the 2nd of which (Anh. 26) I have thus far listened to.

Doug Cowling wrote (November 5, 2004):
[To Thomas Braatz] I may have missed the information in this string, but is the Hoffman Magnificat published?

Bradley Lehman wrote (November 5, 2004):
[To Doug Cowling] Looks like Carus has it.
http://www.carus-verlag.com/index.php3?BLink=KKWerk&WerkID=4095

Their citation of "BWV Anh. III 168" is incorrect. That number belongs to the previous item listed in Anhang III, the Kyrie in G minor by Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. (Page 467 of the 1998 BWV, bottom two iof the page...)

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Last update: �November 6, 2004 �08:38:24