Download Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician

Book Review Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician By Christoph Wolff. New York, London: W.W. Norton & Co., 2000. 599 pp. ISBN 0­393­0825­X. Reviewed by Dexter N. Weikel Christoph Wolff states in his preface to Johann Sebastian Bach: the Learned Musician that the subject determines the nature and the method employed in approaching a biographical study. In the case of J. S. Bach two factors affect this work: the first, the lack of exciting dimensions in his life, and the second, the lack of detail. The author is the acknowledged Bach authority in today's world. For many years he has been engaged in researching, editing, and writing about the life and music of his subject. Wolff has not only contributed to the growing body of information, but he has used this expanding body of knowledge to further the understanding of Bach's pivotal position in the history of western music. In addition to this expanding information, there is a recognition that much is lost and much yet to be found. Because of these factors, Wolff declares his is a work in progress. The author has organized his work in chronological order starting with Bach's birth, his family and their milieu of town, court, school and church. He proceeds to discuss the subject's life and times within the framework of twelve chapters that follow Bach's successive positions from Arnstadt to Leipzig. In each section Bach's duties, his study, and his relationships are viewed in unusual detail. Throughout, Wolff brings new information to light or suggests alternative ways of viewing commonly held ideas about the composer. A prologue and an epilogue frame the twelve chapters. Wolff asserts that Bach not only broke out of his family's geographic territory of central Germany but also went beyond their educational levels and their compositional and musical skills. From an early age Bach was driven to assimilate all that he experienced. His superior work at St. Michael's Latin School in Lüneburg, as well as his time as a student at Ohrdruf and Eisenach gave him a significant academic background. The move to distant Lüneburg displayed an independent spirit and self­confidence that consistently marked his character. Given this independent spirit, Bach, however, continually maintained a network of family, friends, and professional colleagues. This network is shown clearly and in greater detail than has been seen in earlier research. Bach went to Lüneburg (1700) with an exceptional musical preparation both as a keyboardist and as a composer. His earliest training immersed him in the Lutheran chorale in all its musical forms, in the music of Froberger, Pachelbel, Italian, and French composers, as well as in the music of his family. At Lüneburg he experienced contemporary French compositions and performance practice, as well as a wide variety of choral compositions, including the work of Schütz. Details of his student life at St. Michael's are fleshed out, particularly his relationship
with Böhm and Reinken. Wolff shows throughout the book that Bach's background coupled with his unique "desire to try for every possible artistry" governed his entire life. A novel twist is provided by Wolff's statement that Bach's achievement before Arnstadt, during Arnstadt (1703­1707), Mühlhausen (1707­1708), and Weimar (1708­1717) have been underestimated. He cites a number of organ chorales, fantasias, preludes, toccatas and fugues that not only imitated his immediate models but also surpassed them by actually redefining the genres. Bach's reputation as a clavier virtuoso and organ expert was clearly established by the time he arrived in Weimar (1708). Wolff proposes that Bach's image of himself, at least after 1714, and in contrast to the prevailing view, was that of a composer. Wolff's certainty for this is based on two facts: the first, Bach refused the appointment as church music director at Our Lady's Church in Halle, where he would have had available one of the finest organs in Germany, and the second, immediately following this refusal he accepted the post of Concertmaster at Weimar; in this position he was required to perform newly composed church music (cantatas) once a month. Wolff marks this change as a significant indication that composition will take priority over the other aspects of his musical life. The cantatas written during the latter days at Weimar display a systematic exploration of nearly all the compositional possibilities that could be found in vocal­instrumental music; he matched his increasingly fluent and complex language with the prose and poetry of the new cantata form. A mind­boggling fact unearthed by Wolff is that a total of 5,760 sheets of paper were delivered to Bach and his copyist during his tenure at Weimar. The duties of the Capellmeister at Cöthen (1717­1723) were primarily in the area of instrumental music; little church music was required, as the prince's chapel was Calvinist. Because of the newly­developed concept of equal­tempered tuning, Bach made many experimental forays into new harmonic fields using the organ and harpsichord as his laboratory. Wolff attests to the continuing controversy over the provenance of many of the Cöthen instrumental works including the Brandenburg Concertos. It is generally accepted that numerous sonatas, suites and concertos from the Cöthen period have not survived. Wolff also is convinced that a large body of correspondence is lost. These missing pieces make the biographer's work difficult. The Cöthen years were considered to have been generally tranquil, marked by congenial relations with Prince Leopold; however, the last two years were troubled by ducal politics, declining financial support with a resulting reduction in the cadre of musicians. At Leipzig, the intellectual capital of Germany, the position of cantor at St. Thomas School and music director for the four city churches was long­standing and had a tradition dating back to the sixteenth century. In 1723 the city council was looking for a "famous man" to reshape the city's musical life. In Bach they found a man ready to embark on this task with an energy and determination that would bring distinction to church and city. The primary duties of this position centered on the principal liturgies for the Sundays and feast days of the Lutheran church year. The musical focus of the liturgy was the cantata, fundamentally a musical exegesis of the Gospel. Four of these cycles, each numbering nearly sixty works, were completed from 1723 to
2 1727. These cantatas, technically demanding went far beyond the prevailing standard. With the Leipzig cantatas Bach joined text and music with interpretive imagery that raised "word­ painting" to a new level. In addition to these cantatas, the 1720s saw the production of the Magnificat (1723), the St. John Passion (1724), and the St. Matthew Passion (1727). Bach's appointment as director of the Collegium Musicum (1729) brought about a change in his schedule of activities. Weekly concerts of instrumental music were performed at Zimmerman's Coffee House. Bach continued this collaboration throughout most of the 1730s. It has been proposed that Bach lost interest in the church and church music at this time. Wolff strongly refutes this by indicating the Cantor continued his regular duties at St. Thomas and St. Nicholas and produced significant liturgical works during the 1730s. The Christmas Oratorio, the first sections of the Mass in b minor, the Ascension Oratorio, the Easter Oratorio and four short Latin masses are enumerated to substantiate Wolff's position. Large projects occupied the master in his later years such as the Clavier­Übung (1731­1741), a four­part opus that eventually consisted of six partitas, the Italian Concerto, preludes on Luther's Catechism hymns, and the Goldberg Variations. During his last decade, Bach continued to lead a full professional life. Organ projects, private students, and compositions of a more abstract nature such as the Musical Offering, canonic variations on "Von Himmel hoch," and the Art of Fugue attest to Bach's continued creative and intellectual prowess. His death brought to an end a life governed by a spirit that was driven to investigate his art to its fullest and outermost limits. Christoph Wolff brings to life Bach, the man, and Bach, the learned musician, in an accessible manner for all who love and enjoy his music. The body of the work includes numerous tables that present information in easily perceived form. The reader is given copious endnotes, musical examples, four appendixes, a bibliography and three indexes. The volume is not unlike Bach in its monumental dimensions.
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