Johann Sebastian Bach: The Organist and His Works for the Organ

In old-fashioned proverbial guise Werckmeister shows us quite well what was expected from this class of stops; slow of speech, of a sharp, cutting timbre, they would not have blended with the foundation stops combined with the mixtures—an ensemble which lends extraordinary harmonic fulness to the polyphony when the combinations are judiciously made. The reeds were fitted rather to voice a serious and quiet melody, as a solo. Thanks to their sometimes strange tones, which seem, as Goethe said, to herald the advent of past centuries, echoes of supernatural voices, where the human voice, with its individual character, would lose the power of expression—the antique chorale-melody is illuminated, detached from the accompaniment, and comes as from on high; it is the gold and scarlet illumination of the missals, whereon the sacred words are brought into relief, themselves devoid of ornament, in their regular lines, but interlaced by ingenious arabesques of a softer tone, almost effaced by the brightness of the whole.

One direction of Bach's proves that he adopted this usage: in No. 2 of the Orgelbüchlein (Gottes Sohn ist kommen) the chorale is played upon the eight-foot trumpet in the pedal; the chorale In Dulci Jubilo, composed about the same time, undoubtedly demands the same registration.

It is well known that these two chorales possess a pedal-part extending unusually high (F and F sharp); this was the Cöthen pedal. In playing them upon an ordinary instrument, Bach undoubtedly played the pedal an octave lower, with a four-foot register. The organs of that period usually contained a four-foot reed-stop on the pedal, called a Cornet (which must not be confounded with the mixture of that name), or a Chalumeau (Schalmey), sometimes even of two feet. This use of stops of a higher pitch in the pedal was an old tradition; Samuel Scheidt availed himself of them in playing the chorale, and we find them expressly called for in several of six chorales published at Zella by Schübler, with the Bach annotations.[158]

Besides the reeds—trumpet, chalumeau, clarion, or vox humana—other combinations were permitted for the execution upon one manual of an accompanied solo. Mattheson (Der vollkommene Kapellmeister) gives us some examples; among others, the viola da gamba played alone, the eight-foot principal, and the cornet, the Flauto traverso, the eight-foot bourdon, and a two-foot Waldflöte.

By their particular qualities, these different combinations of registers, now in higher, now in lower relief, were suited to the performance even of the chorales. In fact, it may be said that without doubt the reeds were reserved, within the limits which we have defined, for the joyous chorales of the feast-days; the organists were governed by the necessity of adapting their manner of playing to the joyful or mournful solemnities of the liturgical year. "One plays much stronger at Easter," says Adlung,[159] "than for the funeral service; for Good Friday one must, if possible, use still more discretion." The employment of softer registers for the more serious chorales, and for funeral chants, is also recommended by Christoph Raupach, of Stralsund.[160]

We know how Bach brought out the significance of these chorales, interpreted with such supereminence, by the deft combination of the parts. The execution of a design did not make him oblivious of the interest attached to the coloring. We have already spoken of the chorale In dir ist Freude; who knows whether Bach did not intend still further to accentuate its joyous character by picturesque registration? Adlung speaks of the carillon (Glockenspiel) as being particularly fitted to symbolize gladness; and says that use was made of it only at the most joyous festivals. Mark the spiritedness of this chorale; and, further, the repetition of the chaconne subject presented in the bass, singularly suggestive of a chime of bells; and consider the period to which this composition belongs, bearing in its form the distinct impress of the organists of the North. Without serious error, could we not ascribe it to the years 1708 or 1709, the time when Bach, occupied with the restoration of the organ in Mühlhausen, wished to add, in the pedal, a carillon of his own invention? Would not the contrast of those metallic tones of four-foot pitch[161] with the deep resonance of the Untersatz of thirty-two, which he also demanded, have produced all the harmonic overtones of real bells?... But this is only an hypothesis, though a plausible one, and one which it would be amusing to justify by trying its effect in actual performance.

Gathered from the indications of J.G. Walther, the registration of another chorale appears to bear the marks of more positive authenticity. We refer to the Lutheran chorale, Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott, mentioned in a previous chapter. Walther thus annotates it: "Für 3 clav."; for the left hand he directs "Fagotto"; for the right, "Sesquialtera." First of all must we notice this combination of a mutation stop with a reed; it is derived directly from the French organists. In Grigny,[162] for instance—we cite him especially because of Bach's study of his works—may be found in various instances a Bass Trumpet, or Cromorne en taille, accompanied by the Tierce or Cornet.[163] To a certain extent the Fagotto corresponds to the Cromorne, whose tone appeared somewhat veiled. This register, which Adlung tells us bore various names—Portunen, Dulcian, or Basson, among others—was sometimes added to the lower half of the great organ only, and was "of good effect in playing the basso continuo." Moreover, it was of small scale; even on the pedal it was not a noisy stop. As for the Sesquialtera, composed of the fifth and the tenth, it resembled more or less certain mutation stops of old French organs. It is noteworthy that the employment of a reed with a mixture is not mentioned by contemporary German writers; on the other hand, it would seem from the context[164] that this piece was played at the inauguration of the Mühlhausen organ, for whose restoration Bach had prepared the plans. He had demanded, among other improvements, that a Tierce be added to one of the manuals, in order that, by drawing it with a Quint, a good Sesquialtera might be produced; this in order to carry out all sorts of musical inventions of his own.

It is interesting to learn the details of this project, which, it is true, was not realized in its integrity; and it furnishes us with the most curious data upon the subject of Bach's ideas on registration and organ-building, and his own tastes.

Here it is in full:

Disposition of the new repairs upon the organ of St. Blasius.

1. Three new bellows, carefully installed, should insure a sufficiency of wind to feed the great organ, the choir, and the new swell.

2. The pressure should be increased in the four old bellows, to give speech to the new Subbass of thirty-two feet, and to the lower pipes of the other stops.

3. The old soundboards of all the bass pipes to be renewed, and the wind-supply so to be regulated that when playing with only a single stop drawn all the remaining registers may be brought on suddenly without producing unsteadiness, as has been the case up to the present time; this being of the greatest importance.

4. To be added is the Subbass of thirty-two feet, called the Untersatz, which will be made of wood, to serve as the best possible foundation for the weight of the ensemble. These pipes should have a special soundboard.

5. The Bombarde is to be furnished with new and larger resonators, and the mouths of the pipes shaped differently, in order to obtain more roundness in the emission of the tone.

6. As to the new features—the Glockenspiel on the pedal, composed of twenty-six bells of four-foot pitch, desired by the parishioners, who will have them made at their own expense; while the manufacturer must see that they are rendered playable.

As to the great organ, the Trumpet, which is to be removed, will be replaced by:

7. A Fagotto (Bassoon) of sixteen feet, which will permit of all sorts of new combinations, and whose tone is to be very délicat for the musique.[165]

In place of the Gemshorn (Chamois horn) which will also be removed:

8. A Viol da Gamba of eight feet, which will blend admirably with the four-foot Salicional in the choir.

Item, if the Quint of three feet be removed, it may be replaced by

9. A Nassat of three feet.

All the other stops of the great, and all those of the choir organ, may be retained, provided they be revoiced.

10. The new swell is to be arranged as follows:

11. Between the swell[168] and the great organ a coupler shall be constructed. Finally, the whole instrument shall be revoiced, and the tremulant made to vibrate regularly.

II

The document just cited, which is preserved in the archives of Mühlhausen, is full of interest; we will now make a further study of two of its sections, which treat of the same subject.

I refer to the combination of organ with orchestra in the performance of the cantatas.

First, Bach speaks of the Fagotto, whose tone so easily assimilated with that of instruments; here he agrees with his contemporaries, who recommended the use of a sixteen-foot stop of more definite timbre than the bourdons, although not stronger,—it was also called Dulcian,—"dolce suono,"—in performing the basso continuo. The employment of the Stillgedackt, the softest stop in the organ, interests us in its use as a means of filling out this same figured bass. Such a register evidently lacked power, but was sought for that quality of indefiniteness, even of vacuity, which it possessed (still, in German, means quiet); this produced more the effect of diaphony, of a harmonic filling-in, like the sostenuto of certain of our wind-instruments, than of polyphony in real parts, which one could not distinguish.

These lines of J. Th. Mosewius[169] will give us, further, an idea of the rôle which the organ played in the orchestras of Bach and Händel: "It is a widely prevailing impression, and one confirmed by the new instrumentation which Mozart and Mosel made for the Händel oratorios, that by their use of the organ these two masters (Bach and Händel) supplied those features of our instrumentation which were then lacking. Such an opinion is correct, if nothing more is meant than that in concert rooms where no organ is available, it must be replaced by other instruments.[170] It must not be inferred that this new instrumentation maintains reciprocal relations with the original accompaniment. In the former it is the string-quartet which serves as the foundation of the harmony, and it is only the wind-instruments which affect the color. With Händel (and Bach) the organ, which fills out the figured bass, serves as a background for all the other instruments; the color is added by all the other voices of the orchestra, whether strings or wind."

Nothing could be more just than this statement of Mosewius; the organ serves to combine all the parts of the orchestra, unifying them without betraying its agency by any too assertive quality; a gray background, if you will, upon which some livelier colors are displayed, as in paintings of the school of Panselinos.

This testimony of Bach himself, specifying in his plans stops of a very soft and well-rounded quality for the accompanying organ, is corroborated by his contemporaries.

Scheibe, Adlung, and others permitted in the accompaniment of arias and recitatives but a single bourdon of eight feet, called, from its use for such purposes, Musikgedackt. A recitative, especially, was to be sustained lightly, for fear of covering the voice of the singer; a few prolonged notes to guide him, occasional soft chords, and, curiously enough, if one believe in the strict treatment of the organ, arpeggios, as upon a clavecin.

The staccato was generally employed in playing the bass; but this license stopped here, and for ordinary organ pieces Bach exacted from his pupils the strictest legato.

Even in playing in the choruses, and with full orchestra, the organ had to be content with the "half-tone" tint; neither reeds nor mixtures, said Schröter,[171] organist in Nordhausen; Petri[172] made a similar recommendation.

Moreover, the accompaniment, at least such of it as was contrapuntal in nature or consisted of successive chords, was played usually upon the positif (choir), whose pipes were less powerful than those of the great organ; the bass was executed upon the latter manual in the manner already indicated, sometimes also legato. The pedal itself might be added here; in certain passages it only marked the accents with stops of more emphatic quality, when it was desirable to emphasize the breadth of the rhythm, or to avoid confusion, when the movement was too rapid. This is confirmed by Saint-Lambert (Traité d'accompagnement, p. 58): "When the tempo is so rapid," says he, "that the accompanist cannot conveniently play all the notes, it will suffice if he play and accompany only the first notes of each measure, leaving to the basses the task of performing all the notes, which they will be able to accomplish much more easily, having no accompaniment to play in addition. Very rapid tempi are not suited to accompanying instruments; on this account, if particularly quick passages are encountered, even in a slow movement, the accompagneur (sic) may leave them to the other instruments; or, if he play them himself, he may so modify them as to play only the principal notes of such passages; that is to say, the notes which fall upon the principal beats of the measure."

Again, the organist was obliged to take into consideration the small number of orchestral players and of voices. Bach, in a memorandum of August 23, 1730, enumerates twelve singers and eighteen players, besides the organist; the Kapelle over which Gerlach held sway in the new Protestant church at Leipzig, was still smaller: four singers and ten players.

It is true that Bach, first of all an organist himself, did not always bequeath such an ungrateful task to the organ; besides the organ of accompaniment, he gives us examples of what he calls organo obligato. Numerous cantatas furnish such instances; we find one in the Passion according to St. Matthew, with the added interest of an indication of the registration. It is where the chorus, in unison, sings the chorales, O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig, and O Mensch, bewein' dein' Sünde gross.[173] The register which Bach prescribes here is the Sesquialtera, undoubtedly in combination with some foundation stops. The character of this register, thus particularly selected, seems to call for the tasto solo; without doubt Bach demanded it because of its decisive quality, for the purpose of bringing out the chorale sung by the ripieno against the other two choruses and the two orchestras, which he treated independently. The brightness of the Sesquialtera would seem to recommend it also for the sinfonie, or prelude, of the cantata composed for the election of the Council[174] (August, 1731). This idea is supported by the fact that a Sesquialtera was undoubtedly added to the positif of the organ in St. Thomas' Church in 1730 or 1731, by the organ-builder, J. Scheibe.

A register of quite opposite effect was used to support the whole orchestra in the Reformation Cantata[175] (1717). The Luther chorale-melody is here entrusted to the sixteen-foot Bombarde on the pedal, accompanied in the orchestra by the violoncello and the violone, a similar instrument.

In these particular instances we see that Bach departed from the general custom of omitting the reeds and mutation stops;[176] but here the organ derived from its own resources sonorities most individual in character, the accompaniment being furnished by a second instrument (the orchestra). Moreover, as W. Rust, the authorized editor of the Bach cantatas, says, "When the organ is obbligato it does not present itself in a polyphonic capacity, for then it would cover up all the other instruments; but it should be treated as a solo part, like a flute or an oboe."[177]

With regard to Bach's orchestra, we should remember that the cantata Die Himmel erzählen ("The heavens declare the glory of God") suggests the registration for the first movement of the sonata in E minor. True, it will be said that Bach wrote these trios for pedal-clavecin; but their performance upon the organ, too, should not be neglected. Certain adagios, by reason of their long-sustained notes, demand an instrument capable of prolonging the tone. This first movement, in fact, is but a transcription of the Sinfonie (adagio and vivace) which serves as an overture to the cantata just mentioned. The instrumentation: Oboe d'amore, Viola da gamba, and continuo. These are timbres to be found in all organs; we may add that the Viola da gamba of the organ was one of Bach's favorite stops. It is not unwarranted to consider that in many chorales the cantus, placed in the tenor, was played with this register upon a separate manual, just as Bach would have given it to the violoncellos in the orchestra.

For we must take into consideration this practice of Bach's of transferring to the organ resources of the orchestra, to the orchestra those of the organ. Thus, in the Pastorale (Hirtengesang) of the Christmas Oratorio, Bach produces the effect of an organ whose manuals respond to each other, the one with foundation stops contrasted with the chorus of oboes upon another.

This passing from one manual to another Bach seldom indicates in his organ compositions; one piece, however, furnishes us with directions which are authentic beyond question, and extremely interesting. It is the great prelude in E flat major, published in Part III of the Clavierübung. On comparing these indications with others, particularly with those in the D minor (Doric) Toccata, one may decide to play upon the great manual (Oberwerk)[178] all that is written with pedal; where the pedal is silent, one may change to the choir (Rückpositif). In carrying this deduction to its limits, one might even formulate the rule that when the parts are reduced to two, they should be played upon the swell (Brustwerk).

III

In connection with the foregoing it will be interesting to learn the specifications of the principal organs of which Bach was able to avail himself during his long career. We find details concerning them in various works, notably in Adlung (Musica mechanica organoedi), or in the supplement which J.F. Agricola, an esteemed pupil of Bach, added to this work, published after the death of its author; and in the contemporary writings of local historians.

The organ at Arnstadt, the first at which Bach held the position of organist, possessed twenty-four registers, divided among two manuals and the pedal:[179]

Great Organ.

Choir Organ.

Pedal Organ.

The organ in the palace at Weimar contained the following stops, according to A. Wette:[182]

Great.

Choir.

Pedal.

We have mentioned the special feature of the organ in Cöthen: a pedal which boasted of two octaves and a half, from great C to f' sharp; we should further emphasize in this organ, otherwise not especially noteworthy, the quality of the Principal[183] in the great organ, and of the eight-foot Trumpet in the pedal.

The organ in the University church in Leipzig, of which Bach made an expert examination December 17, 1717, was a remarkable instrument, which he was very fond of playing. It was one of the masterworks of the manufacturer Scheibe. It had the following registers:

Great.

Echo.

Choir.

Pedal.

Finally, the specification of the principal organ in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, installed in 1525, twice rebuilt during the seventeenth century, enlarged in 1670; and considerably repaired, in 1721, by Johann Scheibe:[185]

Great.

Echo (Brustwerk).

Choir.

Pedal.

The St. Thomas church possessed in addition a small organ. This instrument, at one time abandoned, and later again brought into service, stood at Bach's time in a gallery, opposite the large organ. It possessed a stop called Trichter-Regal, a sort of Vox humana. This organ was used in performance of the St. Matthew Passion music, in coöperation with the other.

When Bach played for strangers, he was fond of astonishing them by his originality in registration. "After having first of all censured as ill-advised the combination of certain stops," says Forkel,[188] "the listeners were greatly surprised upon hearing the admirable effect produced by these very combinations, suddenly drawing from the organ a sonority at once original and varied, whose attainment might have been vainly sought by following older methods....

"In trying an unfamiliar organ, his first step was to draw all the registers and to play upon the great manual with all couplers. He was in the habit of saying, jestingly, that he wished at the outset to know if the instrument possessed good lungs."

With this art in registration was combined the greatest facility in improvisation.

"It was often the case," writes Kirnberger,[189] "that friends asked Bach to play to them at times other than during religious service. Then he would choose some theme and treat it in every form of organ composition, playing without interruption for two hours or more, yet without exhausting his resources. Perhaps he made use of his subject first in a prelude and fugue for all the foundation stops. Then his genius in registration was displayed in a movement in three, or in four, parts, always upon the same theme. Now followed a chorale, and the subject served as a counterpoint to the chorale-melody, in ingenious imitations in three or four voices. Finally he concluded by a fugue for organo pleno, based upon the same subject, interweaving the previous variations of it he had made."

IV

In a technical work compiled for his son Friedemann, Bach left us an explanation of the signs employed by him to indicate the various ornaments which he calls Manieren. They are thus illustrated:

[Listen] [MusicXML]

Trillo. Mordant. Trillo u. Mordant. Cadence. Doppelcadence.

idem. Doppelcadence und Mordant. idem. Accent steigend. (rising.)

Accent fallend. (falling.) Accent u. Mordant. Accent u. Trillo. idem.

The greater number of these ornaments,[190] as we see by the table, do not begin upon the given note. However, if a turn occur at the beginning of a piece, or if it ornament a characteristic interval (as, for example, in the fugue in F minor), the essential note should be struck first; even if such a rendering produce a discord with the other parts.

The mordent—it is the pincé simple or the "pluck" of Chambonnières, Couperin, and Le Bègue, who had borrowed it from lute-players[191]—is generally diatonic, although with this exception: if the note which it affects be marked with an accidental in the same measure, the accidental must be observed in executing the mordent.

These ornaments should be played "with regard for their value and upon the beat";[192] however, an excessive rigor in this respect should not be affected; Bach did not exact such precision, and did not attach to these figures such great importance that he did not feel at liberty to substitute for them, in copies of these same pieces made by himself, other and practically equivalent ones. Certain of them are, moreover, quite rare; for example, the accent. We find it employed, at least in the organ compositions, only in an arrangement of the chorale Allein Gott in der Höh' sei Ehr' (Gloria in excelsis). No piece could be more elaborated than this one; and in it are introduced a majority of the signs employed by Bach; we borrow from Mr. E. Dannreuther's interesting work, "Musical Ornamentation,"[193] the transcription of the first six measures of this chorale, fully written out. Such an example will be more instructive than all we could say upon this subject, if the reader will take pains to compare this interpretation with the musical text as found in the well-known editions:[194]

[Listen] [MusicXML]

This is evidently a species of appoggiatura, as also in the chorale Vater unser im Himmelreich (Clavierübung, Part III). But in this case, Bach uses a special notation:

[Listen] [MusicXML]

In his Method for clavecin Ph. E. Bach, in speaking of a similar figure, thus explains it: "The first note of this figure must not be made too short, if the tempo be slow or moderate; for the second would then be held too long. It should be gently dwelt upon, not suddenly hammered."

"Play flautato," says W. Rust[195] upon the subject of such a fugue in an orchestral part; one should thus anticipate the beat with the flutist's stroke of the tongue, according to Quantz (Essai d'une méthode pour apprendre à jouer de la Flûte traversière. Berlin, 1752); that is to say, that the first of the two notes should be considered as written thus:

[Listen] [MusicXML]

In a solfeggio lesson by J.G. Walther,[196] written in 1708, this indication, called punctus serpens, signifies that the notes are to be slurred; that is, bound together, two by two. This is, undoubtedly, the most correct interpretation, which fairly corresponds to what S. Scheidt calls "imitatio violistica."

Analogous notations of Frescobaldi[197] and Muffat[198] indicate a similar manner of execution.

Appendix

To facilitate the perusal of our work, we will close with a short sketch of J.S. Bach's life.

Bach was born March 21, 1685, at Eisenach. His father, Ambrosius Bach, was a musician of the town; his uncle, Johann Christoph Bach, an organist.[199]

When Bach was nine years of age his mother died; the next year followed the decease of his father, and the boy was taken in by his elder brother, organist at Ohrdruf. Here he attended the Lyceum, where the teaching of music held an important place; the chorus, formed of the pupils, was renowned. Young Sebastian, gifted with a good soprano voice, was a member of this chorus; and in addition studied the clavecin under the direction of his brother, a pupil of Pachelbel. With such zeal did he devote himself to these studies, that he copied by moonlight a volume of pieces which he had been forbidden to play, his brother wishing to reserve for himself the right to conquer their difficulties.

He did not remain long under the charge of his brother, whose family was gradually increasing. In 1700, undoubtedly upon the recommendation of Elias Herda, cantor of the school in Ohrdruf, Bach was admitted to St. Michael's School in Lüneburg; but he was now no longer a pupil, for in return for the general instruction which he received he was obliged to act as a sort of assistant chorusmaster for his comrades; at least as a leader. When his voice changed, which soon came about, he was charged with the clavecin accompaniment at chorus rehearsals, or with playing a violin part in the orchestra. He had, in fact, studied that instrument since his earliest childhood, his father having been a good violinist. He profited in his new surroundings by the advice of Georg Böhm, organist of St. John's Church in Lüneburg, and a musician of merit, whose influence upon Bach is apparent in many of the latter's earlier compositions, especially in the chorales.

The location of Lüneburg permitted him also, from this time on, to make trips on foot to Hamburg, where he heard Adam Reinken and Vincent Lübeck, or to Celle, where the orchestra of the ducal court performed French music; then the fashion, complains Mattheson, not because of a value whose existence this German critic denied, but simply—the final misfortunes of the reign of Louis XIV. had not yet dimmed this glory—because it was French.

In 1703 Bach left St. Michael's School; he had been so busily occupied with music while there, that he very likely had been unable to exhaust the depths of the general curriculum, which in itself was rather limited. Not that they had been satisfied with giving him instruction of a too elementary nature; but Bach, in point of intellectual culture, was much inferior to most of the great musicians of his time, Mattheson and Händel, for instance, both of whom had attended the University.

In any case, Bach's scant means would have forbidden his availing himself of a university education. On leaving St. Michael's School he was obliged to provide for himself; but here his talent for the violin came to his aid, and procured him admission, at Weimar, not only to the court orchestra, but to an orchestra which Johann Ernst, the brother of the reigning Duke Wilhelm Ernst, maintained at his own expense. He did not remain there long; in the summer of 1703, as a result of a journey to Arnstadt, where he was heard upon the organ of the New Church,[200] the position of organist of this parish was offered him. The place was a modest one (seventy thalers salary), but advantageous for Bach, who at his leisure could perfect himself in organ-playing and practise vocal composition, having a choir to conduct; his first cantata dates from Arnstadt.

Besides, meagre as was his salary, he could save enough for a journey to Lübeck to hear Buxtehude, whom he had long desired to know; for while his brother Christoph had taught him Pachelbel's methods, Georg Böhm, of another school, had already impressed on him that dualism whence was born, when another element was added to it, his own originality. Receiving the favor of a leave of absence for one month, Bach betook himself from Arnstadt to Lübeck the last of October, 1705; he did not return until February, 1706. From this journey he brought back a new virtuosity and the susceptibility of a young artist who from that moment felt himself a master; the former singularly disappointed the parish. He now accompanied the chorale with Buxtehude's exaggerated freedom; the ears of the faithful could not follow such elaborations, and, still worse, their voices lost the clue, and the choir fell into confusion. Hence a scandal, and thereupon a reprimand from the vestry. Moreover, had not Bach singularly outstayed his leave of absence? And again, why should he now neglect his choir? Why no more "music"? and still other grievances. Stung to the quick, Bach answered them by thenceforth affecting the very excesses in accompaniment which had met with such opposition, and by leaving entirely to themselves his choristers, whose sottise and coarseness disgusted him. As to the rest, he explained nothing, but sought another place; more than a year passed in these troubles. Upon the death of G. Ahle, organist of the church of St. Blasius in Mühlhausen, he applied for this position; it fell to his lot as the result of a competition, and he entered upon his duties during the summer of 1707. The same year (October 17) he married his cousin, Maria Barbara Bach.

From a pecuniary point of view the situation was not bad,[201] but the organ was detestable. Bach gave himself no rest until he accomplished its restoration by the council; he himself drew up a scheme for this, which was found to be so practical that it was adopted. But scarcely had the work been commenced, when the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, Wilhelm Ernst, offered him the position of court organist (1708). Bach accepted; Mühlhausen was then the scene of sectarian dissensions, pietists and orthodox were in open strife, in which were lost the efforts of Bach to establish a "regular style of music wholly to the glory of God,"[202] as he himself said; to which, moreover, the pietists were by doctrine[203] opposed. An aggravating circumstance was that Frohne, the Oberintendant of the church of St. Blasius, was one of the most ardent disciples of Spener, the founder of the pietists' sect; and Bach had chosen, as godfather for his first child, Eilmar, pastor of the Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who was the defender of the older traditions, to which Bach was devotedly attached.

Bach spent nine years at Weimar; for him this period was the complement of his finished years of study, and was the most brilliant in his career as a virtuoso. He played at neighboring courts, and his reputation was sufficiently great to put to flight Marchand (who was called "le grand Marchand"), who had been invited in 1717 to meet him in a sort of musical tournament. Numerous cantatas, as well as some chamber music, date from this period. In fact, during the last years of his residence in Weimar, Bach had undertaken the duties, without the title, of director of chamber music to the court, in addition to his vocation as organist; succeeding the aged Drese, who was too old to fill the position effectively. Upon the death of the latter, late in 1716, Bach expected the appointment; but nothing came of it, and this lack of recognition caused him to accept the offer he received next year from the Prince of Anhalt-Cöthen.

At Cöthen there was no more organ playing to be done; no more church music to direct—the prince was a Calvinist. As to his duties, for which he had been well prepared by his recent experience at Weimar, Bach was content with the composition of most of the suites and sonatas for violin, viola da gamba, flute, and clavecin; further, the first part of the Well-tempered Clavichord dates from Cöthen. This is worthy of note, because of the relationship which can be established between certain organ works and some of those in this volume.

A life which might thenceforward have been so quiet, Bach being treated as a friend by his prince, and having no further care than the performance of music in an intimate manner, was in 1720 crossed by a sudden misfortune; upon his return from a journey to Carlsbad, Bach found his home desolate; his wife, Maria Barbara, was dead.

Despite his grief, Bach recovered himself in a comparatively short time, for in November of the same year he went to Hamburg to conduct the cantata Wer sich selbst erhöhet, der soll erniedriget werden; he drew from Adam Reinken, by his improvisations upon the organ, an outburst of enthusiasm which the old man had never entertained for anyone but himself.

Left alone with his children, who were still young, Bach lost no time in remarrying (December 3, 1721); this time a good musician, Anna Maria Wülken, who acted as his copyist, and for whom he wrote several pieces.

Upon the death of Kuhnau, cantor at St. Thomas' School in Leipzig (1722), Bach advanced his candidacy. He was not unknown in Leipzig, where enough confidence had been reposed in him to cause his summons as an expert, in 1717, to examine with Kuhnau the organ in the University Church.

Meanwhile there were delays; Bach was not installed until May 31, 1723. Beside music lessons, and the direction of the choirs in St. Thomas' and St. Nicholas' Churches, the cantor (the third in the school by order of precedence) was still charged with certain duties of supervision, and in addition had a course in Latin to conduct; the latter Bach avoided as much as possible.

In itself it was not, on the whole, a very advantageous position for Bach, nor one where his independence would be respected; many annoyances, besides an almost overwhelming amount of labor, were caused him by the director, or more indirectly by envious musicians. Despite all these mortifications, and the difficulties of his situation—mitigated, it is true, as long as the celebrated Gessner was at the head of the school—Bach never left it; in soliciting it, he had taken into consideration the advantages it offered for bringing up his family, which was steadily increasing.

We have commented upon the relatively small number of organ compositions which date from this period, but this is not the case with the other religious works; of 295 cantatas, divided among five liturgical years, about 266 were written in Leipzig; five settings of the Passion, the Christmas Oratorio (1734), the Easter (1736), that of the Ascension, and a number of motets, composed between 1723 and 1734—only a few of these are to-day complete; others are apocryphal—four "Missae breves" (short masses), the Mass in B minor, composed between 1730 and 1737, testify to his prodigious activity in this style of music. Further, he did not rest without writing numerous secular works, in particular the concertos for several clavecins; he published some technical studies which he engraved himself; and he completed the second part of the Well-tempered Clavichord. If we add to the time devoted to the composition of these works that given to the duties of his position—to lessons, rehearsals, etc.—and to numerous pupils, we shall realize why this last period is less productive of biographical incidents of note. We may finally mention the famous journey to Berlin in 1740, the last triumph of "Old Bach."

In consequence of this excess of fatigue, Bach was destined to lose his sight during the last years of his life; the unskilfulness of the surgeons did the rest.

Bach passed away July 28, 1750. His remains were interred in St. John's cemetery; but the location of his grave is to-day unknown, because of the transformation which this burying ground underwent at the end of the last century.[204]

Catalogue

OF THE

COMPLETE WORKS

OF

JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH

EDITION OF THE BACH-GESELLSCHAFT

FIRST YEAR.

Church Cantatas. Vol. I.

SECOND YEAR.

Church Cantatas. Vol. II.

THIRD YEAR.

Pianoforte Works. Vol. I.

Fifteen Inventions and Fifteen Symphonies.