Bach

After this fugue has been worked at considerable length there is an instrumental interlude, and it recommences, the bass leading off with the subject in the tonic. The Christe eleison is set as a duet for two sopranos in D major, and the second kyrie as a fugue, alla breve, in four parts, in which the instruments double the voices. It has the following stirring subject:

The “Gloria” begins in D major, and consists of eleven movements, opening with a vigorous five part chorus vivace.

“Quoniam tu solus Sanctus” is a bass aria accompanied by Corno di caccia, two fagotti and continuo. There are no other instruments.

The Creed contains seven movements. The words “Credo in unum deum” are a fugue on the ancient Plainsong, which is in semibreves, with a perpetually moving bass on the organ in crotchets. The only orchestral instruments are two violins, which play independent parts.

“Et incarnatus est” for five voices is based on an arpeggio figure imitated in all the parts:

The “Crucifixus,” one of the most impressive movements, is founded on a chromatic ground bass, which recurs thirteen times, the four part chorus singing various harmonies above it. This is the form of the Passacaglia, and the same bass was used by Bach in the opening chorus of the cantata, “Jesu, der du meine Seele,” though in a very different manner. “Et resurrexit” is another movement conceived in Bach’s happiest mood. It is in D major, like the Gloria, and has, if possible, even more energy and swing. This is the vigorous opening phrase:

and it is repeated for the words “Cujus regni non erit finis.”

“Et in Spiritum sanctum” forms a bass solo accompanied by two oboi d’amore.

“Confiteor unum baptisma,” a closely knit fugue on two subjects, is in five parts with an independent organ bass. After a time the tempo becomes adagio, and one of the most overpowering effects in the whole of music introduces the words “et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum”; as it were the whole of creation is called to witness the supreme miracle of the resurrection of the dead.

The Sanctus is a six part chorus; the voices move for the most part in flowing triplets, the bass generally in an octave figure. After a time the triplets give way to the following powerful passage:

after a few bars of which the triplets are resumed.

“Pleni sunt cœli et terra gloria ejus,” is a six part fugue, and “osanna” is a double chorus. The “Dona nobis pacem” has the same opening passage as the Rathswahl cantata. The work from beginning to end is on a gigantic scale, in which each separate movement is a masterpiece from every point of view.

Chapter X

The Wohltemperirte Clavier was gradually compiled and formed into a complete work in two parts. The first part was completed at Cöthen in 1722, and entitled “The well tempered clavier, or preludes and fugues through all tones and semitones, both with major and minor thirds. For the edification and use of young musicians who are eager to learn, and for the recreation of those who are already facile in this study. Collected and prepared by Johann Sebastian Bach, Grand-ducal Capellmeister and Director of Chamber music to the Court of Cöthen, Anno 1722.”

The expression “well-tempered” refers to the equal temperament, of which Bach was so strong an advocate, and many of the pieces would be impossible with any other system of tuning. There is sufficient internal evidence to show that these delicate and beautiful compositions were primarily intended for the clavichord, as this instrument had a power of expression which was denied to all the other keyed instruments of that period. It is a mistake therefore to play them on the harpsichord, and Spitta is right in his assertion that they require for their adequate performance the very best pianoforte that the skill of modern makers can produce. The larger number of the pieces in the first collection were written at Cöthen, and probably quickly after one another. According to a tradition they were written on one of his journeys, when he had not access to an instrument. Schumann considered that many of the preludes were not originally connected with the fugues. Bach made three copies which still exist. He never had any intention of publishing a work which would scarcely meet with success among the general public from its difficulty. The second part was completed in 1740 or 1744. The only autograph is in the British Museum, add. MS. 35,021, of a page of which we give a photograph. It is written on large paper, fourteen staves to a page.

Gerber says that Bach valued the work highly for its educational value, and played it through no less than three times to him.

It was first printed by A. F. C. Kollmanns in London in 1799, but this impression was never published. The three first editions were those of Hoffmeister and Kühnel,[66] Simrock in Berlin, and Nägeli in Zurich, all in 1801. The first English edition was that of Wesley and Horn, 1811.

That by Hoffmeister and Kühnel was edited by Forkel, who, selecting from a great number of copies, published many of the fugues in a shortened form, believing that these were Bach’s last arrangements of them. It is well known that Bach constantly polished and improved his works; and the number of different readings of the Wohltemperirte Clavier would fill a large volume. Amongst the more noticeable varieties of reading is that of the E minor prelude in Part I. In Litolff’s edition (Köhler) and Novello’s (Best) there is a florid melody in the right hand, above the chords, which accompany the moving bass. In Chrysander’s edition it is explained that Bach’s more mature taste led him to discard the florid passages, and it is accordingly published from a later MS. with only the chords on the first and third beats of the bar, the melody being entirely omitted.[67]

The “Art of Fugue” is a series of workings of a single subject in many different ways. Like the Wohltemperirte Clavier it was primarily intended for educational purposes. Forkel gives the following account of it:

“This excellent and unique work was not published till 1752, after the composer’s death, but was for the most part engraved during his life by one of his sons. Marpurg, at that time at the helm of musical literature in Germany, wrote a preface to the edition, in which much that is good and true is said concerning the work.

“But this ‘Art of Fugue’ was too lofty for the great world; it became only known in the very small world of connoisseurs. This small world was soon provided with copies; the plates were useless, and were finally sold by Bach’s heirs as old copper.”...

“The last fugue but one has three subjects, the third being the notes b, a, c, h. This fugue was however interrupted by the blindness of the author, and could not be finished.

“To make up for the unfinished fugue, the editors added at the end the four voice chorale ‘Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein,’ which he dictated to his son-in-law Altnikol on his death-bed.”

The work was brought out at the Leipsic Fair of Easter 1752. Mattheson was loud in his praise saying it would astonish all French and Italian fugue-makers. But the work was in reality finished. The MS. was complete, and the engraving was being done under the author’s direction when he died in 1750. No one could fulfil his intentions, and the engravers simply went on engraving everything that came to hand, both sketches and completed movements, and it was full of printer’s errors. Hauptmann clearly shows that the last (unfinished) fugue is certainly Bach’s own work, but that it has no connection with the “Art of Fugue,” which closes in reality with the fugue for two claviers. The series of fugues are all on one subject; the unfinished work leaves the subject, and has nothing to do with the other fugues. We have therefore Bach’s last work complete, and the incomplete portion is due to a mistake of the first publishers.

“The Musical Offering” is a series of fugues and canons on a subject given to Bach at Potsdam by Frederick the Great. The work consists of—

• 1. Fuga (ricercata) for three voices.
• 2. Fuga (ricercata) for six voices.
• 3. VIII. Canons.
• 4. Fuga canonica in epidiapente.
• 5. Sonata (Trio) for flute, violin, and bass.
• 6. Canon perpetuus for flute, violin, and bass.

It is headed:

“Regis Iussu Cantio, Et Reliqua Canonica Arte Resoluta.”

The dedicatory letter will explain its purpose:

“Most Gracious King,—To Your Majesty is proffered herewith in humblest obedience a musical offering, whose most excellent portion originates from your noble hand. I recall with respectful pleasure the peculiarly royal favour with which during my visit to Potsdam your Majesty was pleased to play to me a fugue theme, and to require me immediately to work it out in your presence. Obedience to your Majesty’s command was my duty. I however soon remarked, that for want of proper preparation the working out was not as good as so excellent a theme required. I therefore resolved to work out this most royal theme properly and to make it known to the world. This project is now fulfilled to the best of my ability, and it has no other object than in some small way to do honour to the fame of a monarch, whose greatness and power both in the arts of peace and war, and especially in that of music are acknowledged and admired by all. I make bold to add this humble request: that your Majesty will accord a gracious reception to this small work, and by so doing still further extend your royal condescension.—Your Majesty’s most humble and obedient servant,

The Author.

“Leipsic, July 7, 1747.”

This dedication however only referred to a portion of the work, which was gradually completed and engraved later. The epithet ricercata perhaps refers to the mechanical difficulty of the pieces.

The six Great or English Suites are so called according to Forkel[68] because they were written for some Englishman of rank. The same authority says that the six little French suites received their name because they are in French taste. It does not appear that the composer gave either of these names. Both sets seem to have been written at Cöthen.

All accounts agree as to Bach’s wonderful capacity for teaching, and we have a description of his methods from one of his pupils, H. N. Gerber,[69] which we make no apology for quoting in full:

“He went to Leipsic to study partly law and partly music under the great Joh. Seb. Bach.... In the first six months he heard much excellent church music and many concerts under Bach’s direction, but no opportunity arose which gave him courage to approach the great man, until at last he mentioned his wish to one of his friends called Wilde (afterwards organist at St Petersburg) who introduced him to Bach. Bach received him in the most friendly manner and at once called him ‘Fellow-countryman.’[70] He promised to give him instruction, and asked whether he had practised fugues diligently. At the first lesson he placed the ‘Inventions’ before him. When Gerber had studied these to Bach’s satisfaction, he was given a number of suites, and then the Wohltemperirte Clavier. This work Bach played through three times to him with unapproachable art; and my father counted those amongst his most enjoyable lessons when Bach, under the excuse that he felt indisposed to teach, would seat himself at one of his excellent instruments, and the hours passed like minutes. The end of a lesson was taken up with figured bass-playing, for which Bach would choose the violin solos of Albinoni; and I must confess that the skill with which my father performed these basses in Bach’s manner, and especially in the flow of the parts amongst each other was unsurpassable. This accompaniment was so beautiful in itself that no solo part that I have heard could give me so much pleasure.” Gerber was for two years under Bach.

Forkel[71] tells us that the first thing he taught was his own peculiar touch, and for this purpose the pupil was kept for several months at finger exercises, in fact they sometimes lasted from six to twelve months; but when the pupil’s patience began to flag he was given little pieces which Bach composed specially for him, such as the six little preludes for beginners, and the two-part inventions. He wrote these during the lesson, and was thus able to make them suit the particular requirements of the pupil. Together with the finger exercises the pupil had to practise all manner of ornaments, and Bach demanded the severest possible application from all his pupils.

As soon as possible he was made to learn whichever of Bach’s greater works suited him. In order to lighten the difficulties, Bach played the piece through to the pupil, and said, “that is how it must sound.”

One can, says Forkel, scarcely enumerate the many advantages of such a method. Even if it were only that the pupil is roused to emulation through the pleasure of hearing such a performance, the advantage would be very great. But in addition to this he obtains at once a grip of the piece in its complete form, instead of having to work it out bit by bit as he gradually overcomes the mechanical difficulties.

The instrument on which Bach taught was the clavichord, on account of its expressive quality which trained the ear to fine shades of tone; he would have nothing to say to mere finger training apart from understanding the music, and insisted on the cultivation of both art and technique together.

In teaching composition Bach did not begin with dry counterpoints leading to nothing, as in his time was done by all other teachers; still less did he trouble his pupils about tone-relationships, which in his opinion concerned only theorists and instrument makers. He started at once with pure four part figured bass, and insisted on the proper leading of the parts, because this would give the clearest insight into the harmonic progressions. He then went on to the chorale, to which he at first set the basses and made the pupil only write the tenor and alto, afterwards gradually making him write the bass. He insisted at all times not only on the greatest possible purity in the harmony, but on the natural and flowing connection of all the single voices. The models he himself has left are known to every connoisseur, and his inner voices are often so singable that they might serve for the upper part. This style had to be striven for by the pupil, and until he had reached a high degree of proficiency Bach did not consider it wise to allow him to try inventing on his own account. He took for granted that all his composition pupils had the faculty of thinking in music. If any had not this faculty he was advised not to attempt composition.

As soon as the above-mentioned preparations in harmony were finished, he began with two voice fugue, and in this, and all composition practice, the pupil was strictly forbidden to use the clavier. Those who were obliged to do so he called “Knights of the keyboard.”

In fugue he was especially careful about the part writing—no voice must merely fill in the harmony, or break off before it had finished what it had to say. He looked upon his voices as persons, who conversed together as in private society, in which it would be unseemly for anyone to disturb the conversation either by uninteresting remarks, or by not finishing his sentences. On the other hand, he allowed his pupils as much freedom as possible with regard to intervals. They might try any experiments they liked as long as no damage was done to the purity of the harmony, or the inward meaning of the movement. He tried all possible experiments himself, and was glad to see his pupils do so. The whole of his system is to be found in Kirnberger’s “Kunst des reinen Satzes” (Art of pure writing).[72]

Among his pupils were his sons, of whom an account has already been given. The others were the following:—Johann Caspar Vogler, who began studying under him at Arnstadt and Weimar, and, according to Bach’s own showing, was a very fine organist. He became organist and Burgomaster at Weimar.

Gottfried August Homilius, subsequently music director of the three chief churches at Dresden, and cantor of the Kreuzschule. He was also of considerable reputation as an organist and church composer. Died 1785.

Christoph Transchel, who died in 1800 at Dresden, was an esteemed teacher and clavier player. He was the owner of a considerable musical library.

Johann Ludwig Krebs eventually became Court organist and music director at Altenburg, where he died in 1803. He was a very good organist and composer. Bach’s pun, “Ich habe in meinem Bache nur einen Krebs gefangen,” “I have only caught one Crab in my stream,” was intended to show the esteem in which he held him.[73]

J. G. Goldberg of Königsberg was declared by Bach to be one of his best pupils on the clavier and organ.

Altnikol, his son-in-law, a fine organ player, and organist at Naumburg. He helped his father-in-law considerably during his blindness.

John Philipp Kirnberger, born 1721, died at Berlin in 1783, was Court musician to Princess Amelia of Prussia, and celebrated as a theorist and composer.

Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720-1774) became composer to the Prussian Court. He was more known by his theoretical works than his compositions.

Johann Christian Kittel, who was organist at Erfurt and died in 1809, was a thorough harmonist, a clever and learned organist, an able composer, and a good teacher.

Johann Schneider, Court organist and first violinist at Saalfeld, and afterwards organist of the Nicolai Church at Leipsic. He was also a pupil of Graun.

Johann Martin Schubart (1690-1721) was Bach’s first pupil; he became organist at Weimar, but died early.

A pupil named Voigt is mentioned by Emmanuel Bach as having come to his father after he (Emmanuel) had left the house. Perhaps he is the author of a “Conversation between an organist and his deputy about music,” mentioned by Walther.

Gotthilf Ziegler, organist and music director at St Ulrich, Halle, was a renowned teacher, composer and writer.

Ernst Bach, his cousin, was Capellmeister at Eisenach, having first studied law, and become a barrister. He was also a composer and organist.

J. H. Müthel, organist in Riga, a good performer and composer. Gerber gives a long account of him, and Burney praises his playing and compositions.[74]

We have seen that the first attempt to publish the Wohltemperirte Clavier was made in London. England was early in its recognition of the composer, chiefly through the efforts of Samuel Wesley (1766-1837) who, becoming acquainted with his works, eagerly propagated a knowledge of them. Wesley’s edition of the Wohltemperirte Clavier was published in conjunction with C. F. Horn in 1810; and through his influence, Forkel’s “Life” of Bach was translated and published in 1820. He became famous for his performances of Bach’s organ fugues, or as they were called in those days “pedal fugues,” and perhaps the name of his third son, Samuel Sebastian, may have some connection with his admiration for Sebastian Bach.

In 1849 the English Bach Society was founded, having as its objects the collection of the compositions and the performance of the works of J. S. Bach. It gave the first performance of the “Matthew Passion” in England at Hanover Square Rooms in 1854 under Sterndale Bennett. After a few more performances the society was dissolved in 1870, and its library given to the Royal Academy of Music.

In 1875 the “Bach Choir” was formed under the conductorship of Mr Otto Goldschmidt, for the performance of the B minor Mass, which was effected in 1876 at St James’s Hall, and the society was then placed on a permanent footing for the purpose of performing works of Bach and other composers. In 1885 Mr Otto Goldschmidt was succeeded by Professor Villiers Stanford, under whose bâton many of Bach’s important works have been performed.

Bach is perhaps best known in England at present by his organ works, which are familiar to all competent organists, and his violin solos, which Herr Joachim has done so much to propagate. The Wohltemperirte Clavier is a household word to every earnest musician, and his Passions of St Matthew and St John, besides the Christmas Oratorio and a few cantatas, are frequently performed in London churches.

Selections from the organ works have been published in England from time to time: by S. Wesley, by Coventry and Hollier (with the pedal part arranged by Dragonetti for double bass), by Best and by Novello with Best as editor. A complete edition is being brought out by Sir F. Bridge and Mr J. Higgs.

Chapter XI

Bach never wrote an oratorio in the sense of a sacred dramatic work to be performed on a stage without action. We have shown that the Passion settings are a portion of the Lutheran Lenten services; and the church cantatas take much the same place as the anthem in the English Cathedral service, with the difference of greater length, orchestral accompaniment, and an opportunity for the congregation to take part in the final chorale.

The so-called Christmas Oratorio, dated 1734, is nothing more than a series of six cantatas, to be sung during the service on six successive days at Christmas time. Each begins with a chorus which is followed by several arias and recitatives, and each ends with a chorale, besides which, chorales are also interspersed in the body of the work. The second cantata opens with a most exquisite symphony, of a pastoral nature something akin to the pastoral symphony in the “Messiah,” but longer, and with the most subtle orchestral effects; especially are the passages for two oboes interchanging with the strings most beautiful; and the chief “motive” of the symphony recurs in the accompaniment of the closing chorale. The character of the choruses is for the most part one of triumphant joyfulness, and the arias have all the tender effects which Bach so well knew how to produce.

The Easter Oratorio is a short cantata without a chorale.

The motets are compositions in several movements for unaccompanied voices, from three to eight in number. The movements are interspersed with chorales harmonised in four parts. The seventh motet, “Ich lasse dich nicht,” though as fine as any, is considered to be almost certainly not by Bach, and is therefore only given as an appendix in vol. 39 of the Bach Gesellschaft edition. The appendix also gives a figured bass and instrumental accompaniment to No. 2. “Der Geist hilft unsrer Schwachheit auf.”

Motets by Bach and other composers are sung in the Thomas Church at Leipsic, and in the Kreuz-Church at Dresden at vespers on Saturday afternoons.

Bach also wrote a few secular vocal works. Among these are several birthday, wedding and funeral cantatas—odes for important personages; some “Dramme per Musica,” two of which, the “Choice of Hercules,” and “Tönet ihr Pauken” are taken bodily from the Christmas Oratorio, other words being adapted to the music; a cantata for the dedication of a new organ at Störmthal, a comic cantata in praise of coffee. Some of the secular cantatas were composed for the Concert Society which met once a week about 1736 in a coffee-house in the Katharinen-strasse at Leipsic, and of which Bach was the director. Among these was “The strife between Phœbus and Pan.”

Besides the B minor Mass Bach wrote four “short” masses of much smaller calibre, four “Sanctus,” and a “Magnificat” in D major of great power and beauty. This work appears in two forms, of which one is much finer than the other, and is therefore considered to be the latest. It was the custom to intersperse the singing of the Latin Magnificat with four chorales, but this custom not coinciding with Bach’s sense of the fitness of things, he added the chorales as an appendix to his score.

The work is for a five part choir, with arias, a duet, and a trio. The trio is a remarkable canon, or rather piece of canonic imitation in the voice parts, to the words “suscepit Israel puerum suum,” to which the strings play an accompaniment, while the oboes play in their highest register the chorale “meine Seel’ erhebt den Herren” (“my soul doth magnify the Lord”). And, as showing Bach’s sense of form, the whole work is welded together by a fresh working of the material of the opening chorus, at the words “sicut erat in principio et nunc.... Amen.” We have remarked on this kind of construction in the second cantata of the Christmas Oratorio,[75] and it is not at all infrequent with Bach.

Except opera and oratorio Bach wrote every kind of work that was known in his day. The Bach Gesellschaft completed the publication of his works in full score in 1898 in some sixty large quarto volumes. Complete editions of the vocal works in pianoforte score and the instrumental in full score have been published by Peters, and by Breitkopf and Härtel of Leipsic, while the editions of selected portions published from time to time since the beginning of the nineteenth century are innumerable.

But when we say “complete edition” it must be understood as referring only to the works that have been preserved, for a large number seem to have been lost when the great man died: before his property was valued for probate there was an unseemly scramble for his manuscripts among his elder sons.

Mizler, in his “Necrology,” tells us the bare fact that there were five “year courses” of cantatas, i.e. sets of cantatas for each Sunday and holy day throughout the year. The Lutheran ecclesiastical year contains fifty-nine such days (six Sundays in Lent and three in Advent are excluded). The five courses would therefore require no less than 295 cantatas. Of these W. Friedemann took three “year courses,” since he could use them in his post of organist at Halle, but his wretched circumstances forced him afterwards to part with them one by one.

Forkel only knew of “eight to ten motets for double chorus,” and twenty-one church cantatas, two five-voice masses, a mass for two choirs, of which the first choir is accompanied by strings, the second by wind, a double-chorus Passion with text by Picander (this must be the “Matthew Passion”), a Sanctus, some motets, a single fugue for four voices, and a comic cantata.

The other two “year courses,” which included about ninety cantatas, and the two known Passions, went to C. P. Emmanuel Bach.

The MSS. of the larger number of the existing works of Bach are in the Royal Library and in that of the Joachimsthal at Berlin. Many of these are in autograph. The parts are of more value than the scores, since they are not only more carefully copied, but contain the corrections for performance.

Bach used to wrap up his scores and parts in covers on which the name of the work and title of the composer were fully given, while on the MSS. themselves nothing was given. If the cover were lost, therefore, the composer’s name was lost. Many works by other composers are found in Bach’s handwriting, both score and parts.

The Bach Gesellschaft has been at immense pains to search for all that exists of Bach’s compositions. In vol. vi. they give a long account of the difficulties they had to contend with in publishing the B minor Mass; the owner of the autograph score, placing every difficulty in their way, would neither sell it nor lend it to them, and finally tried to dispose of it secretly to some unknown person. They were obliged, therefore, to publish it from such copies as they could collect; but almost immediately after they had done so they obtained access to the precious MS. and were able to publish an appendix, giving whatever variations from their own edition were found there.

Of Bach’s instrumental compositions the most important are, as we have indicated, those for the organ and other keyed instruments. He has left many orchestral works, but these have not the significance of his organ and clavier music, for the symphony, in the modern sense, was not yet developed.

His playing is thus described by the poet Schubart:—“J. S. Bach was a genius of the highest order, his soul is so peculiar, so gigantic, that centuries will have to pass before he is reached by anyone. He played the clavier, the flügel, the cymbal with equal creative power, and the organ—who is like him? who will ever equal him? His fist was gigantic; he could, for example, stretch a 12th with the left hand, and perform running passages between with the three inner fingers; he made pedal runs with the greatest possible exactness, he drew the stops so silently that the hearer almost sank under the magic effect; his hand was never weary, and lasted out through a whole day’s organ playing.

“The comic style was just as familiar to him as the earnest; he was equally a virtuoso and composer. What Newton was as a philosopher Bach was as a musician. He had such a wealth of ideas, that no one except his own great son can come near him; and with all this he combined also the rarest talent for teaching.”

With respect to the Manieren or grace-notes attacked in the “Kritische Musikus” by Scheibe, a friend of Bach’s answered the attack by saying that by means of these signs no performer would now be able to destroy the effect of a piece by applying his own method; those who went wrong would be put in the right way, and the honour of the master would be retained.

The four chief ornaments are—

The Trill (tr.) seems to have been put down rather recklessly, perhaps on account of fashion. Thus, the oboe sometimes has trills given it which are quite impossible to perform.

Chapter XII

Innovations in the Fingering and Use of Keyed and Stringed Instruments.

At Weimar Bach had devoted a considerable part of his energies to the clavier, as his official duties demanded. The harpsichord, being deficient in expression and in duration of sound, required rapidity of movement and polyphonic writing to produce its due effects. Bach did what was possible, however, to use the legato style on it, and on the other hand introduced on the organ, as far as it would bear it, the rapid execution peculiar to the harpsichord.

Before his period the fingering of keyed instruments had not been reduced to any systematic method. Michael Prætorius in his Syntagma Musicum thinks the matter of no importance, and that if a note was produced clearly and distinctly it was a matter of indifference how it was done.[77]

At the beginning of the eighteenth century the necessity of some method seems to have dawned on musicians; up to that time the thumb and little finger had hardly been used, owing to their shortness. In order to play legato on the organ, the middle fingers were made to go under and over each other. Daniel Speer, in 1697, gives the following fingering for the scale of C (for convenience we alter it to English numbering):—

Mattheson taught—

J. F. B. C. Majer, a Swabian organist about the same time, taught—

There is no advance in these fingerings on the book by Ammerbach, published in 1571.

The right thumb it will be seen was unused, and hung helpless—the fingers being stretched out flat to reach the keys.

In order to bring the thumb into use, Bach caused the fingers to be curved and to remain over their respective keys, so as to be able to strike them accurately and rapidly. The thumbs had to pass under the fingers, and to take an equal part with them in the playing.

The new kind of fingering was made the more necessary by the use of all the keys equally; for hitherto only a few keys had been used. The hand and arm were to be held horizontally, the wrist straight; the fingers bent in the natural position assumed by the hand when about to grasp any object. Each finger had to fall without disturbing the others; and Bach devoted an immense amount of labour to make his fingers independent and equal in strength. He could perform trills with all fingers equally well, and could play melodies at the same time with the other fingers. After a finger had held down a note as long as was necessary it was drawn towards the inner part of the hand on leaving the key. The wrist and elbows were kept perfectly quiet. The method was the same for both organ and harpsichord. The keys were not struck but pressed down. Bach raised his fingers so little that their movement was hardly noticeable. They were, however, still passed over one another, as well as the thumb, and in order not to break the legato effect, the finger passed over was drawn back before leaving the key. This method was particularly applicable to the clavichord, one of Bach’s favourite instruments.

He liked the upper row of keys to be shallower than the lower, so that he could slip down from one to the other without change of finger.

But others were at work on the same ground. Couperin, organist of St Gervais at Paris, published in 1717 his “L’art de toucher le clavecin.” J. G. Walther used the thumb, and has left some organ chorales with this indicated.

Heinichen and Handel also used the thumbs, and bent their fingers over the notes, so that they struck the right ones unconsciously.

Two short pieces with Bach’s fingering in his own hand have come down to us—the rules laid down by his son C. P. Emanuel differ from them considerably—thus Emanuel limits the crossing to the thumb; Sebastian prescribes crossing of fingers as well.

Sebastian, in fact, retained all that was advantageous in the old system and engrafted on it the use of the thumb, etc. His son, who was the forerunner of modern piano-playing, simplifies his father’s rules. His compositions were of a far less complicated nature than those of his father, and he therefore was able to use simpler fingering.

The hammer-like stroke required for the modern piano effectually banished the crossing of fingers over one another, by which pressure only, not a blow, could be obtained. The loss of Bach’s complete method of fingering (which is not adapted for the piano) causes his compositions to be more difficult to the modern player than they were to him, but this does not hold good of the organ, the nature of which remains the same as in his time.

He played equally in all keys, and for this purpose had his instruments tuned in equal temperament, as is universally the case at present. Experiments had been made in this method of tuning by Werkmeister, who died in 1706, and, later, by J. G. Neidhardt.