BAROQUE AND CLASSICAL STYLE IN SELECTED

ORGAN WORKS OF THE BACHSCHULE

by

DEAN B. McINTYRE, B.A., M.M.

A DISSERTATION

IN

FINE ARTS

Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in

Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for

the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Approved

Chairperson of the Committee

Accepted

Dearri of the Graduate jSchool

December, 1998

© Copyright 1998 Dean B. Mclntyre

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am grateful for the general guidance and specific suggestions offered by

members of my dissertation advisory committee: Dr. Paul Cutter and Dr.

Thomas Hughes (Music), Dr. John Stinespring (Art), and Dr. Daniel Nathan

(Philosophy). Each offered assistance and insight from his own specific area as

well as the general field of Fine Arts. I offer special thanks and appreciation to

my committee chairperson Dr. Wayne Hobbs (Music), whose oversight and

direction were invaluable.

I must also acknowledge those individuals and publishers who have

granted permission to include copyrighted musical materials in whole or in part:

Concordia Publishing House, Lorenz Corporation, C. F. Peters Corporation,

Oliver Ditson/Theodore Presser Company, Oxford University Press, Breitkopf &

Hartel, and Dr. David Mulbury of the University of Cincinnati.

A final offering of thanks goes to my wife, Karen, and our daughter, Noelle.

Their unfailing patience and understanding were equalled by their continual

spirit of encouragement.

11

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ii

ABSTRACT ix

LIST OF TABLES xi

LIST OF FIGURES xii

LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES xiii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xvi

CHAPTER

I. INTRODUCTION 1

11. BAROQUE STYLE 12

Greneral Style Characteristics of the Late Baroque 13 Melody 15 Harmony 15 Rhythm 16 Form 17 Texture 18 Dynamics 19

J. S. Bach's Organs 20

Characteristics of J. S. Bach's Organ Style 30 An Independent and Equal Pedal Part 30 Concertato Treatment 32 Small Chorale Prelude Style 33 Large Chorale Prelude Style 34 Level of Difficulty 35

Types of Chorale Preludes 36

Notes 44

I I I . CLASSICAL STYLE 50

Rococo 52

111

Pre-Classical or Galant Style 54 Melody 57 Harmony 58 Rhythm 58 Texture 58 Dynamics 59 Phrase Structure 60

Empfindsamkeit 61

Sturm und Drang 64

Classical Style 65 Periodicity and Symmetry 65 Harmony 67 Rhythm 72 Melody 75 Texture 82 Performance: Dynamics and Ornamentation 86 Form 89

Notes 96

IV. THE BACHSCHULE 105

Biographical Summary of Selected Members of the Bachschule 110

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-84) 111 Carl Philipp Emanuel (1714-88) 116 Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-95) 119 Johann Christian Bach (1735-82) 121 Johann Lorenz Bach (1695-73) 123 Johann Bemhard Bach (1700-43) 124 Samuel Anton Bach (1713-81) 125 Johann Ernst Bach (1722-77) 126 Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-87) 127 Jakob Adlung (1699-1762) 128 Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720-74) 129 Johann Christoph Altnikol (1719-59) 130 Johann Friedrich Doles (1715-97) 131 Cornelius Heinrich Dretzel (1697-1775) 133 Georg Friedrich Einicke (b. 1710) 134 Heinrich Nikolaus Gerber (1702-75) 135 T. C. Gerlach (1694-1768) 136 Johann Gottheb Theophilus Goldberg (1727-56) 136 Gottfried August Homilius (1714-85) 137 Johann Peter Kellner (1705-72) 139

iv

Johann Phihpp Kimbergber (1721-83) 140 Johann Christian Kittel (1732-1809) 141 Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713-80) 143 Johann Tobias Krebs (1690-1762) 146 Lorenz Christoph Mizler (1711-78) 147 Johann Gottfiied Muthel (1728-80) 150 Christoph Nichelmann (1717-62) 151 David Traugott Nicolai (b. 1720) 152 Johann Christoph Oley (1738-89) 152 Johann Schneider (1702-88) 153 Johann Martin Schubart (1690-1721) 154 Johann Georg Schlibler (born ca. 1720) 155 Christoph Transchel (1721-1800) 155 Johann Trier (1716-90) 156 Johann Caspar Vogler (1696-1763) 156 Georg Gottfiied Wagner (1698-1756) 158 Christoph Gottlob Wecker 158 J. G. Ziegler (1688-1747) 159

Summary 159

Notes 161

V. THE DECLINE OF THE ORGAN 174

Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and the Organ 174

The Role of the Organ in Worship 175

Continued Development amid Decline 179

Changes in the Organ's Role after Bach 181 Theological and Liturgical Factors 185 Philosophical Factors 187 PoUtical Factors 193 Social Factors 194 Musical Factors 198

Notes 202

VI . BAROQUE ORGAN WORKS 206

Works Resembling Compositions of J. S. Bach 206 "Prelude in F Minor" by J. L. Krebs 208 "Toccata in A Minor" by J. L. Krebs 213

Free Baroque Works 216 "Ricercar in C Major" by J. C. Altnikol 219 "Prelude and Fugue in C Major" by J. T. Krebs 221 "Fugue on B-A-C-H" by J. L. Krebs 223 "Eight Fugues Without Pedal For the Organ" by W. F. Bach 228

"Trio in A Minor" by J. Schneider 232 "Allabreve" by J. Schneider 235

Works Based Upon a Chorale 236 "Herr Christ, der einig Gottes Sohn" by J. Tobias Krebs 236

"Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten" (two settings) by J. L. Krebs 237

"Vater unser im Himmelreich" by Johann Schneider 240

"Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend' by J. P. Kirnberger 240

"Was mein Gott will, das g'sheh' allzeit' by W. F. Bach 243

"Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein" by J. G. Muthel 246

"Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" by J. P. Kellner 247

Works Demonstrating Pedal Virtuosity 249 "Toccata in E Major" by J. L. Krebs 249 "Preludium" by J. G. Muthel 252

Notes 254

VI I . CLASSICAL ORGAN WORKS 256

Works in Pre-Classical or Galant Style 256 "Trio in D Major" by J. L. Krebs 256 "Trio in A Minor" by J. Adlung 258 "Mein Gott, das Herze bring ich dir"

by Johann Schneider 259 "Trio in D Major" by J. G. Schubler 263 "Concerto" by H. N. Gerber 266

Works in the Empfindsamer Stil 270 "Prelude in Bb Major" by J. L. Krebs 270 "Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott"

by J. L. Krebs 274 "Christus, der ist mein Leben"

by Jakob Adlung 276

vi

"Fantasie and Fugue in C Minor" (Wq 119/7) by C. P. E. Bach 279

Works in Classical Style 283 "Fantasia a giusto italiano" by J. L. Krebs 283 "Nachspiel" by J. C. Kittel 288 "Sonata in D Major" (Wq 70/5) by C. P. E. Bach 291

Works Based Upon a Chorale 296 "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, allzugleich"

by J. C. Bach 296 "Herzlich tut mich verlangen"

by J. P. Kirnberger 297 "Sei Lob und Ehr dem hochsten Gut"

byJ .L . Krebs 299 "Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist"

by J. C. Oley 301 "Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist"

byJ .C . Kittel 303

Notes 306

VI I I . ORGAN WORKS IN MIXED STYLES 307

Non-Chorale Based Works 307 "Prelude and Fugue in E Major" by J. L. Krebs 307 "Prelude in C Minor" by J. L. Krebs 312 "Trio in G Major" by G. A. Homilius 315 "Preludium" by J. G. Muthel 319 "Praludium in C Major" by J. P. Kellner 321 "Prelude and Fugue in C Major" by J. C. Vogler 325

Works Based on a Chorale 328 "Warum sollt' ich mich den Gramen"

by J. L. Krebs 328 "Ein' veste Burg ist unser Gott" (two settings) byJ .C . Kittel 330

"Ach Herr mich armen Sunder" by G. A. Homihus 334

Notes 338

IX. CONCLUSION 339

BIBLIOGRAPHY 348

vi i

APPENDDC: MUSIC SOURCES 361

Vll l

ABSTRACT

The middle years of the eighteenth century constitute a period of

transition from baroque to classical styles in music, and are marked by

great changes in the basic elements of musical style (melody, harmony,

rhythm, form, texture). Because of the overlap of the decline of the old and

the rise of a new style, characteristics of both are found in the music of the

period. The years covered by Johann Sebastian Bach's pupils span almost

the entire century, and the organ works of the Bachschule embrace all

phases of the transition.

This dissertation examines the different styles existing

simultaneously during this period, including the late baroque. Rococo, Pre-

Classic or Galant, Empfindsamkeit, Sturm und Drang, and the mature

Classical, and includes a discussion of the late baroque style of J. S. Bach's

organ works and the organs on which Bach played. The different style

phases are defined and discussed according to their musical style

elements, which also provides a framework for the analysis of the

compositions of the Bachschule selected for study.

There are brief biographies of thirty-eight Bach organ pupils, and a

section on the decline of organ composition, performance, and its central

importance in the worship of the church. The decline in the organ's role

after Bach is examined as it resulted from theological, philosophical,

political, social, and musical factors.

Discussion and analysis of forty-eight selected works by eighteen

BachschUlers show how Bach's pupils variously avoided or participated in

the new styles. Some eagerly embraced the new music, even playing an

important role in its development. Others clung to the past and remained

ix

the last exponents of the heritage and training they had received from

Bach. Others remained somewhere in between, to varying degrees

adopting aspects of both the old and new in their work. Some works are

discussed in their relationship to existing works by Bach, especially if there

appears to be a relationship of imitation or modeling. Compositions have

been selected to represent a variety of organ genres, including free works,

chorale-based works, pedal solo, toccata, fugue, trio, sonata, and concerto.

LIST OF TABLES

2.1 Bach's Organ at the Amstadt Neukirche, Tested 1703. 21

2.2 Bach's Organ at Muhlhausen, 1708. 22

2.3 Muhlhausen Organ After Renovation, 1709. 23

2.4 Bach's Weimar Castle Church Organ Before Renovation. 24

2.5 Bach's Thomaskirche Organ, Leipzig, 1722. 26

2.6 Paulinuskirche Organ, Leipzig, 1717. 27

2.7 Johanniskirche Organ, Leipzig, 1744. 28

6.1 Comparison of Formal Sections of Bach's "Prelude in B Minor" and Krebs' "Prelude in F Minor." 209

6.2 Comparison of Bach's "Toccata in F Major" and Krebs' "Toccata in A Minor." 215

6.3 Subject Entrances of Altnikol's "Ricercar in C Major." 221

6.4 Form of Krebs' "Fugue on B-A-C-H." 224

6.5 Subject Entrances of Schneider's "Allabreve." 235

7.1 Form of Krebs' "Trio in D Major." 256

7.2 Form of Schubler's "Trio in D Major." 264

7.3 Ritornello Form of Gerber's "Concerto." 269

8.1 Rondo Form of Krebs' "Prelude in E Major." 309

8.2 Form of Krebs' "Fugue in E Major." 310

8.3 Two-Part Form of Krebs' "Prelude in C Minor." 312

XI

LIST OF FIGURES

3.1 Binary Form. 89

3.2 Binary and Ternary Form. 91

3.3 Sonata Form. 93

6.1 Form of Krebs' Pedal Toccata in E Major. 249

7.1 Symmetrical Structure of Krebs' "Fantasia a giusto italiano." 286

7.2 Form of C. P. E. Bach's "Sonata in D Major," First Movement. 293

7.3 Form of C. P. E. Bach's "Sonata in D Major," Third Movement. 294

8.1 Form of Homilius' "Trio in G Major." 315

Xl l

LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES

2.1 J. S. Bach's "Toccata in F Major," BWV 540. 32

3.1 Kellner, "Herzhch thut mich verlangen," Figured Melody. 75

3.2 J. L. Krebs, "Prelude in Bb Major," Figured Melody. 76

6.1 J. S. Bach's "Fugue in Eb Major," BWV 552. 206

6.2 J. L. Krebs' "Prelude in F Minor." 208

6.3 J. S. Bach's "Prelude in B Minor," BWV 554. 209

6.4 J. L. Krebs' "Prelude in F Minor," Closing Cadence. 212

6.5 J. S. Bach's "Prelude in B Minor," Closing Cadence. 212

6.6 J. L. Krebs' "Toccata in A Minor." 214

6.7 J. S. Bach's "Toccata in F Major," BWV. 540. 214

6.8 Altnikol's "Ricercar in C Major," Final Four Entrances. 221

6.9 J. T. Krebs' "Prelude and Fugue in C." 222

6.10 J. L. Krebs' "Fugue on B-A-C-H," First Exposition. 225

6.11 J. L. Krebs' "Fugue on B-A-C-H," Countersubject Exposition. 226

6.12 J. L. Krebs' "Fugue on B-A-C-H," Closing Measures. 228

6.13 W. F. Bach's "Fugue No. 4 in D Minor," Motives. 230

6.14 W. F. Bach's "Fugue No. 8 in F Minor," Final Exposition. 231

6.15 J. Schneider's "Trio in A Minor," Contrasting Themes. 233

6.16 J. L. Krebs' "Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten," Klavierubung. 238

6.17 J. L. Krebs' "Wer nur den heben Gott lasst walten," Second Setting. 239

X l l l

6.18 Kimberger's "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend." 242

6.19 W. F. Bach's "Was mein Gott will, das g'sheh' allzeit." 245

6.20 J. Muthel's "Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein." 247

6.21 J. Kellner's "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan," Opening Rondo. 248

6.22 J. L. Krebs' "Toccata in E Major," Pedal Motives. 251

7.1 J. L. Krebs' "Trio in D Major," Opening Theme. 256

7.2 J. Schneider's "Mein Gott, das Herze bring ich dir." 262

7.3 J. Schubler's "Trio in D" Motives. 265

7.4 H. Gerber's "Concerto" Motives. 268

7.5 J. L. Krebs' "Prelude in Bb," Closing. 271

7.6 J. L. Krebs' "Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott." 275

7.7 J. Adlung's "Christus, der ist mein Leben." 277

7.8 C. P. E. Bach's "Fantasie and Fugue in C Minor." 280

7.9 J. L. Krebs' "Fantasia a giusto itahano." 285

7.10 Kittel's "Nachspiel," Opening and Closing Measures. 290

7.11 C. P. E. Bach's "Sonata in D," Movement One. 292

7.12 C. P. E. Bach's "Sonata in D," Movement Two. 294

7.13 C. P. E. Bach's "Sonata in D," Movement Three. 295

7.14 J. C. Bach's "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, allzugleich." 297

7.15 Kirnberger's "Herzlich tut mich verlangen." 298

7.16 J. L. Krebs' "Sei Lob imd Ehr dem hochsten Gut." 300

7.17 J. Oley's "Nun bitten v dr den heiligen Geist." 302

7.18 "Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist," Original Chorale 304 Melody.

xiv

7.19 J. Kittel's "Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist." 305

8.1 J. L. Krebs' "Prelude and Fugue in E Major." 308

8.2 J. L. Krebs' "Prelude in C Minor." 313

8.3 G. Homihus' "Trio in G," Theme Motives. 317

8.4 J. Miithel's "Preludium," Section One. 320

8.5 J. Muthel's "Preludium," Section Two. 320

8.6 J. Miithel's "Preludium," Section Three. 321

8.7 J. Kellner's "Praludium in C," Opening and Closing. 322

8.8 J. Vogler's "Prelude and Fugue in C Major." 326

8.9 J. L. Krebs' "Warum sollt' ich mich den Gramen,"

Closing Measures. 329

8.10 J. Kittel's "Ein' veste Burg ist imser Gott," First Setting. 331

8.11 J. Kittel's "Ein' veste Burg ist unser Gott," Second Setting. 332

8.12 G. Homilius' "Ach Herr mich armen Sunder," Key Change. 336

8.13 G. Homilius' "Ach Herr mich armen Sunder," Closing Measures. 337

XV

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

c.f. c.p. m . m m .

cantus firmus counterpoint measure measures

xvi

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The change in musical style which came about during the eighteenth

century, especially those years within the middle half of the century, was as

significant and lasting as any such change that marked periods of

transition between previous style periods. Within this and other

transitional periods we can see a great amount of diverse musical activity

taking place: changes, some dramatic, in basic elements of music style

(melody, harmony, rhythm, form, texture); changes in performance

practice; changes in instruments commonly used or even available for use

in performance; changes in the relationship of text to music; and changes

in where, when, why, and by whom music is performed. With hindsight

scholars, theorists, historians, and performers examine such periods of

transition and identify critical points in the evolution of musical style:

perhaps a composer (Monteverdi, Beethoven), a particular composition

(Beethoven's ninth symphony, Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring), a location

(Mannheim, Cathedral of Notre Dame), or a technological innovation

(printing press, computer).

Despite the significance of a Monteverdi, a Beethoven, or a work Hke

The Rite of Spring, changes in musical style rarely, if ever, occur abruptly.

There is a period of time during which the old and new exist

simultaneously, when the existing style has reached a high point of

development, or a manneristic stage, or has begun to decline, and when the

first trends and developments which will result in the new style become

identifiable. Because of the overlap of the decline of one style and the rise of

another, these periods of transition are rich in resources in documenting

the change.

As will be discussed in Chapter II, in the case of the transition from

baroque to classical, the change in style is complicated by the presence of

Johann Sebastian Bach. The early stirrings of the new style can be seen in

works composed a number of decades before Bach's death. In addition, the

decline in the importance of the church and the accompanying decline of

music for use in the church's worship, in particular organ music, can be

seen to be already occurring at the time Bach was composing his late

masterworks. However, Bach's achievements in baroque style and his

contributions to the body of sacred music are seen by some as constituting a

temporary arrest in the already-begun decline of both. In no way does that

diminish Bach's contributions, of course; it merely implies that he

extended the period of baroque development.

Bach was certainly aware of the evolution of style taking place during

his lifetime. He must have been aware of the differences between his own

music and that of his sons, for example, and of his other organ pupils.

Hermann Keller has written:

In the works of his last years Bach ascends into the realm of philosophical music, which can no longer be explained by the traditional concepts of style. One of the greatest changes in recent music history was taking place around him: the change in style from the Late Baroque to Sentimentalism and through the period of Storm and Stress to a new Classicism.

Philipp Emanuel's "Prussian Sonatas" appeared in the same year (1742) as did his father's Fourth Part of the ClavierUbung, and in the same decade Stamitz wrote his revolutionary orchestral trios. Opus 1. Almost automatically all of the older music, especially church and organ music, was put out of circulation by this revolution. . . .

The pupils of Bach were thus faced with the decision whether to change over to the new style and, in so doing, give

up the heritage of their teacher, or to adhere to the old style against an overwhelming counter-current.

. . . Therefore only a small band of pupils and "grand-pupils" preserved the old traditions and held them over into the new period. The organ sonatas of Philipp Emanuel Bach demonstrate in an almost unnerving way the relation of the new style to the organ; in these sonatas almost no traces of a true organ style remain.

The organ works of Justin Heinrich Knecht, who "played the clavier" on the organ in Mozartian turns, stood even lower, of course; as did also the program sjnnphonies of the most successful organ virtuoso of all time, Abt Vogler. From the death of Bach, therefore, to the re-awakening in the nineteenth century, the result was a kind of vacuum. 1

It is Keller's third paragraph above which is the overriding topic of

this dissertation. Even though Bach was aware of the changes around him

and consciously chose to adopt elements of the new style at times, he

maintained essentially a conservative style in his own compositions,

preferring to write with a predominantly baroque vocabulary.2 His pupils,

however, a few nearly his own age but many from the follovdng generation,

had to confront the inevitability of the new style. The changes taking place

in their world-theological and liturgical, philosophical, political, social,

and musical—forced them to make decisions about exactly how they would

earn their livings as musicians, and specifically about what kind of music

they would compose and perform. Some eagerly embraced the new music,

even playing an important role in its development. Others clung to the past

and remained the last exponents of the heritage and training they had

received from Bach. Others, it seems, remained somewhere in between, to

varying degrees adopting aspects of both the old and new in their work.

One of the most ofl-used words in this dissertation v^U be "style."

Already, in less than three pages, it has been used twenty-one times. There

must be some explanation or clarification of its meaning. Apel defined

style in a musical composition as "the methods of treating all the elements-

form, melody, rhythm, etc.,"3 and it is often applied to specific compositions

(the style of Bach's Goldberg Variations); to composers (J. S. Bach's style

compared to that of C. P. E. Bach's style); to types of composition (fugal

style, ornamental chorale prelude style); to media (organ style, choral

style); to methods of composition (contrapuntal style, homophonic style); to

nations (Italian style. North German style); and to periods (baroque style,

classical style). This use of style rests first upon the identification of

musical style elements within a composition, a composer or a school, a

group of works (chorale preludes, toccatas), or a style period, and secondly

upon a comparison or contrasting of how those elements are used, "from

small details to comparisons of whole movements and cycles,

distinguishing significant from coincidental phenomena . . ."^ Others

have pointed out the circularity of this understanding of style:

The norms of a particular style can only be discovered through careful study of individual works. But the criteria for significance employed in the study of the individual work are likely to rest in some measure on a prior definition of the style to which the individual work is thought to belong. The danger is greatest where the aims are broadest, as in the attempt to define the style of a historical period that has itself been defined at least in part on the basis of nonmusical criteria.^

Monroe Beardsley discusses the difficulty vdth defining a general

term^ like "baroque" or "classical" by listing a set of characteristics which

must be present before applying the term. In order to apply such a term to

a work or to a composer or a period of time, all of the necessary and

sufficient characteristics on the list must be present. This renders the term

useless because no such universality of characteristics exists among

works, composers, or dates. Beardsley further refines the problem by

showing that, even if we limited the set of characteristics to a specific

nimaber, say ten characteristics, we would still only be able to identify a very

few compositions which would possess all of the characteristics in our set.

Beardsley's solution is the one chosen for this dissertation as it discusses

style, namely to lay out a set of characteristics for a style category and then

to apply that category if a work, a composer, or a period possesses sufficient

numbers of those characteristics to warrant the title. That is the

underlying necessity for Chapters II and III, which at some length and in

some detail describe characteristics of baroque and classical melody,

rhythm, harmony, form, texture, dynamics, and ornamentation.

Musicians of any time, of course, can choose to work within one or

any number of styles of the present or past. But in the case of the

Bachschule, the choice was one which took on an immediacy as a result of

contemporary events. For example, a musician trained in the skills of

contrapuntal pol5^hony and imitative counterpoint rooted in the tradition of

the Lutheran chorale and established forms of the past, if confronted by the

increasing importance in the church of secular influences, dance music,

new forms, and melody-dominated textures, must at least consider how

large a role that training is allowed to play in seeking a livelihood as a

church musician. To do otherwise might result in becoming

unemployable.

Friedrich Blume points to a connection between the success Bach's

pupils and the proximity in time to their teacher. He writes:

Other contemporaries [of Bach] included Telemann, J. Gottfried Walther, the younger Pachelbel (Wilhelm Hieronymus), Georg Friedrich Kauffmann, and J. Christoph Vogler. In the next generation, the Berlin circle aroimd J. Philipp Kirnberger, Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg, J. Friedrich Agricola, and C. Philipp Emanuel Bach was closely associated v^th Sebastian Bach. In central Germany

an entire group of Bach pupils carried on his tradition: J. Ludwig Krebs, Gottfried August Homilius, J. Christian Kittel, J. Peter Kellner, and last but not least, W. Friedemann Bach. This gave rise to the less distinguished music of Christoph Oley, Christian Gotthilf Tag, Christoph Kiihnau, and many more.'7

While proximity in time to their teacher may have had something to do with

their success as professional musicians, probably a more important factor

was innate talent and how well they learned their lessons under Bach's

instruction

This dissertation covers four interdependent subject areas, all united

by their relationship to the pupils of J. S. Bach. The first main subject area,

covered in Chapters II and III, is the identification and discussion of

selected baroque and classic styles. These chapters discuss the two main

styles which were simultaneously declining and rising during the lives of

Bach and his pupils. Chapter II discusses some of the general style

characteristics of the late baroque, specifically covering elements of melody,

harmony, rhythm, form, texture, and d3niamics. Since this dissertation

specifically deals with organists and organ music, there is discussion of

different aspects of the style of J. S. Bach's organ compositions, especially

during the time he was in Weimar and Leipzig. Additional importance is

given to the chorale prelude and its place within Bach's music and that of

his pupils.

Chapter III similarly covers the general characteristics of the

various trends and styles which eventually culminated in the mature

classical style of the late eighteenth century. The diverse components

which all contributed a part in the evolution of the classic style covered here

include Rococo, Pre-Classical or Galant, Empfindsamkeit, Sturm und

Drang, and finally, the mature Classical Style. Each is discussed in turn,

6

examining various musical elements that had been discussed in the

previous chapter on baroque style. Discussing these elements separately

within the context of the different styles helps to define the differences

between the various styles. Identifying the characteristics of each style and

defining their differences and similarities also provides a framework for

the analysis of the specific compositions selected for study.

The second main subject area of this dissertation is primarily

biographical, covering thirty-eight members of the Bachschule. Relying on

a variety of sources, historical and biographical information is provided on

each one, along with some general description or assessment of their

musical style and contributions. The entries vary in length and detail, and

begin with the four musical sons of J. S. Bach: Wilhelm Friedrich, Carl

Philipp Emanuel, Johann Christoph Friedrich, and Johann Christian, as

well as other Bach relatives. Greater discussion is accorded those Bach

pupils who traditionally have been regarded as his most important.

Bltune's reference above to the "less distinguished music" of certain

Bach pupils is a widely agreed upon assessment of the liturgical and sacred

music composed after his death. It has been described as a decline in

quantity and quality of sacred music which accompanied a general decline

in the importance of the church during the period, and specifically changes

in its worship and liturgy.

The post-Bach era, especially the 19th century, produced a wealth of organ music, particularly for church use. Yet the "decline" of church music is perhaps more apparent in this field than in any other. The causes were sociological (lessened prestige of the organist's profession) and ideological (an anti-art emphasis on edification and on emotionalism rather than craftsmanship), as well as compositional style (the favoring of a melodically oriented chordal homophony), instrumental style (intrusion of heterogeneous style traits borrowed from pianistic, orchestral, vocal, or string writing), and

instrumental technology (influence of the Classic orchestra on organ construction). All these factors acting together brought about a radical change in the composition of sacred organ works - a turning away from the foimdations of J. S. Bach's organ music. It was a gradual rather than a sudden change, and the old style continued to exist in the background, influenced by the new style. The change also affected Bach's pupils.S

The phenomenon of a declining church and its music is closely

related to the change in style that took place within the Bachschule. It is

considered important enough to merit its own chapter in this paper, and

chapter V is the third main subject area of the dissertation.

Chapters VI, VII, and VIII constitute the fourth main subject area.

With earlier chapters having discussed elements and characteristics of

musical style, historical and biographical data on the Bachschule, and the

decline of the church, sacred music, and the organ during the lifetimes of

the Bachschule, these three chapters look specifically and in some detail at

selected organ compositions of selected members of the Bachschule. A

thorough analysis of more than a small sampling of these composers and

their compositions would be far beyond the scope of this dissertation.

Indeed, a number of the items listed in the bibliography are dissertations

which are given over fully to the organ works of only one composer.

The decision of which composers and which compositions to include

was by no means arbitrary. The identity of many of Bach's pupils has been

lost to history. Some can be identified through historical documents. For

others, one, a few, or more compositions may actually survive. For still

others we have a relatively large and reliable body of historical data,

publications, and manuscripts. Composers and works were chosen for a

number of reasons. Some were chosen for their generally acknowledged

place of importance within the Bachschule. Bach's own sons all qualify

8

here, not just because of genetic connection, but also because each one

made significant and distinctive contributions to the evolution of musical

style and were important figures of their time in their own right.

J. L. Krebs must be included because of the excellence of his compositions

for the organ, his status as inheritor and preserver of the Bach style and

tradition, for the close relationship he and Bach enjoyed, and the mutual

respect and esteem in which each held the other, far transcending the

normal teacher-pupil relationship. Kirnberger and Kittel are included for

the continuing high quality of their compositions, but also for their

importance as teachers of the generation which followed. Some

compositions were chosen for their ability to demonstrate one or more

characteristics of musical style discussed in the earlier chapters. Yet other

composers and compositions were selected, at least in part, to give exposure

to organ works largely unknown and unperformed. Many organists begin,

continue, and end their organ study with J. S. Bach. The more curious

might venture occasionally into a work by one of the Bach sons, J. L. Krebs,

Homilius, Kirnberger, or Kittel. It is truly rare to find programmed or

discussed an organ work by almost any other Bach pupil. In some cases,

few if any works have survived. J. G. Schubler's only surviving work for

organ, for instance, has been included in this study.

From among the thirty-eight Bach pupils included in this

dissertation, forty-eight works by eighteen composers were selected for

study and discussion. Some of the music of the Bachschule is of

questionable value and artistry when compared with some of the finer

compositions by Bach pupils, although that does not diminish its value for

historical study and inquiry.

Notes

^Hermann Keller, The Organ Works of Bach: A Contribution to their History, Form, Interpretation and Performance, trans. Helen Hewitt (New York: C. F. Peters, 1967), 291-2.

^Robert Marshall argues (Robert L. Marshall, The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach: The Sources, the Style, the Significance [New York: Schirmer Books, 1989], 24-5) that at least two events took place in Bach's life prior to 1730 which contributed to Bach's adopting the new style: his assuming the directing of the Collegium Musicum, a student musical society founded by Telemann at the University of Leipzig; and his cultivation of a relationship with the more progressive musical establishment at the court of Dresden. In Bach's 1730 letter to the Leipzig town council entitled "Short but Most Necessary Draft for a Well-Appointed Church Music, with Certain Modest Reflections on the Decline of the Same," he wrote, "[The] state of music is quite different from what it was, since our artistry has increased very much, and the gusto has changed astonishingly, and accordingly the former style of music no longer seems to please our ears, and considerable help is therefore all the more needed, in order to choose and appoint such musicians as will satisfy the present musical taste, master the new kinds of music, and thus be in a position to do justice to the composer and his work . . . It is, anyhow, somewhat strange that German musicians are expected to be capable of performing at once and ex tempore all kinds of music, whether it come from Italy or France, England or Poland. . . . To illustrate this statement with an example one need only go to Dresden and see how the musicians there are paid by his Royal Majesty, it cannot fail, since the musicians are relieved of all concern for their living, free from chagrin, and obliged each to master but a single instrument: it must be something choice and excellent to hear. . . ." (Hans T. David and Arthur Mendel, ed.. The Bach Reader, rev. ed. [New York: W. W. Norton, 1966], 123). Marshall concludes that Bach is writing about the change in musical style and tas te-a change for the better-and that he considers himself to be associated vdth it. Marshall points out Bach's awareness of the various national musical styles of his day, as well as Bach's envy of the musical court at Dresden, at the time the operatic capital of Germany and the center of Italian taste.

Bach's activities associated v^dth the Collegium Musicum and his connections vdth the Dresden court had an impact on his own style, since "the conventions observed in music written for such secular purposes encouraged a lighter, more galant, that is, more modern, style" (Marshall, 32). These elements of musical style began to appear in Bach's sacred music, in works like the Christmas and Ascension Oratorios and the Kyrie and Gloria of the B-minor Mass, the last of which were presented in 1733 to the new Elector Friedrich August II in Dresden. The process of assimilating the recent trends in musical style continued in Bach, even to the 1740s with his "Goldberg" Variations. Among the organ works, Bach's

10

Prelude in Eb which opens the ClavierUbung, Part HI is an example of Bach demonstrating his ability to write in the latest Italian pre-classical style as he imderstood it.

The intent here is not to paint Bach as a galant composer, but rather to show him aware of the latest stylistic developments of his time and capable of appropriating them. Indeed, when J. A. Scheibe accused Bach of being unable to write galant music in the ongoing controversy of 1737-9, Bach must have found the criticism as puzzling as he did unfair and inaccurate, as did one of his defenders, Lorenz Mizler. (There is additional discussion of this controversy in Chapter IV in the entry for Mizler.) Marshall's assessment of Bach is to characterize him as progressive, "to the extent. . . that Bach allowed himself to be influenced by the latest developments in musical fashion" (Marshall, 52).

3Willi Apel, "Style," in Harvard Dictionary of Music, revised second edition (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1972), 811-2.

4 jan LaRue, "Style Analysis," in Harvard Dictionary of Music, 812.

^Don Randel, "Style," in New Harvard Dictionary of Music (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986), 811-2.

^Monroe C. Beardsley, Aesthetics: Problems in the Philosophy of Criticism, second edition (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1981), 204.

'''Friedrich Blume, "The Age of Confessionalism," in Protestant Church Music (New York: W. W. Norton, 1974), 267.

^George Feder, "Decline and Restoration," in Protestant Church Music (New York: W. W. Norton, 1974), 371.

11

CHAPTER II

BAROQUE STYLE

The date commonly given for the end of the Baroque Era is 1750,

conveniently marked by the death of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). As

vdth the decline of any of the other musical style periods and the rise of new

ones, such a designation is merely a matter of convenience, and an

arbitrary one at that. Music in the baroque style continued to be composed

long after Bach's death, not the least of which included his contemporaries

George Frideric Handel (1685-1759) and Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1757).

Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) outlived Bach by fourteen years, as did

Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) by seventeen.

New developments in musical style which would eventually

culminate in the mature classical style of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven

after about 1770 can be seen in the works of composers some fifty years

earlier. Developments were taking place in Italian operas of the 1720s and

early 1730s which would lead to the classical symphony. Giovanni

Sammartini (1701-75) composed his first S3miphonies in the 1730s. The

earliest keyboard works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-88) date from

the early 1730s. Johann Stamitz (1717-57) led the Mannheim orchestra

during the 1740s. A number of important treatises date from around the

time of J. S. Bach's death, including Essay on Instruction for Playing the

Transverse Flute^ in 1752 by Johann Joachim Quantz (1697-1773); Essay on

the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments^ in 1753 by C. P. E. Bach;

and Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing^ in 1756 by

Leopold Mozart (1719-87). These elements of the emerging classical style

12

were taking place during the same time J. S. Bach was composing his late

baroque masterpieces while serving as Kantor at the Thomasschule and

music director for the Lutheran churches in Leipzig, a position he

assumed in 1723 and held imtil he died in 1750.

There is, then, a considerable overlap of years during which the

newly developing classical style and the fully mature and waning baroque

style existed simultaneously. It is during this time that the sons and other

students of J. S. Bach received their training from the master and began to

form their own styles of organ composition. In order to understand the

contributions of the composers of the Bachschule and to see the diversity of

style from baroque to classical in their works, it is necessary to identify and

discuss some of the individual traits of the late baroque and the various

styles which led to the mature classical style.^ Some of the traits discussed

below are specifically related to music for the organ, while others are

applied in a broader, more general context of musical style not limited to

organ composition. Later chapters of this dissertation will examine organ

works in light of these characteristics.

General Stvle Characteristics of the Late Baroque

Derived from the Portuguese word for an imperfect, irregularly

shaped pearl, the term baroque carried derogatory connotations as it was

used to describe buildings, paintings, statues, and eventually music which

contrasted to the harmonious, balanced, and symmetrical works of the

Renaissance. To unappreciative critics, examples of the baroque visual

arts, in addition to being grotesque and uncouth, were considered

"grotesquely extravagant, overly ornate, and excessively exuberant."^

13

Similarly, music of the new baroque style might be perceived to be excessive

and ornate in comparison to the dignity, restraint and balance of

Palestrina's late a capella choral music. This new sense of exuberance,

unsettled motion, and extravagance in the visual arts can be compared in

music to the new emphasis given to expressing and depicting human

emotion, exciting the passions, and moving the affections, and expressing

the dramatic content of the text. All of this is seen in the beginnings and

rise of opera early in the baroque era.

When the word baroque began to be used by musicians and critics, its

original meaning implied a quality of the "grotesque and uncouth."^ It was

used to describe the style of some of the early romantic era works by such

composers as Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) which marked such a

radical departure from the order and balance of the earlier classic era

composers. Use of the term contained an element of "contemptuous abuse"

in describing the style, as used by Heinrich C. Koch in his Musikalisches

Lexikon in 1802 when he writes, "Baroque. One uses this term to describe a

work which has many difficult intervals, tangled harmony, and is

overloaded with many dissonances and unusual modulations."'

Eventually, however, European musicologists came to use it commonly to

designate the style which had come to be known as "The Thorough-Bass

Period," ca. 1600 to ca. 1750.8

It will be useful to set out some general characteristics and traits of

the late baroque style, followed by a brief discussion of the style of

J. S. Bach's organ works. This will provide a background and context

within which to discuss further stylistic developments of Bach's organ

pupils.

14

Melody

Late baroque melody is most often characterized by the use of a single

motive, continuously repeated, elaborated and spun out, varied and

transformed. This kind of melody consists of a succession of asymmetrical

phrases and has a sense of forward movement and continuous flow that is

broken only at the cadence. Other baroque melodies, especially in dance

movements, may exhibit qualities of regularity and symmetry, qualities

which would become more pervasive in the newer, developing style. The

repetition and spinning out of the motive through the use of melodic

sequence was especially common.

Harmony

The shift from the modality of the Renaissance to tonality was

completed in the late baroque. Harmony became fully functional v^dthin a

major-minor tonal system. Chordal functions were defined by their

relationship to the ruling tonic. Strong authentic cadences were used to

articulate phrases and larger structures.

A considerable amount of melodic and harmonic dissonance was

used for dramatic and emotional expression. During his later years,

J. S. Bach's "harmonic vocabulary was essentially diatonic" and

"Neapolitan and augmented-sixth chords (the only two outstanding

chromatic combinations) appear only exceptionally at especially emphatic

cadences," while his use of "chromaticism became slightly more

prominent."^

Another feature of Bach's late style that had profound implications

on melody, dissonance and texture is the balance in his music between

melody and harmony. Bach appeared at the time when the importance of

15

polyphony was declining and the importance of harmony was ascending.

These two trends would be completed in the succeeding classic era, but in

the music of Bach, they are in balance. The vertical and horizontal

elements in his music are in equilibriimi. 'Hence, whenever Bach writes

harmonically the parts also move independently, and whenever he writes

polyphonically the parts move also in tonal harmony."10 Thus, his

melodies are largely "free from the regularity of accent because the melodic

climaxes occur in the various contrapuntal voices, not simultaneously as

they do in music dominated exclusively by harmony. "H

Bach demonstrates this intersection of the harmonic and the melodic

in his technique of impljdng two melodies (hence, harmony) from a single

melodic line. His solo violin and cello sonatas are examples of this

technique, but other examples of this implied polyphony are to be found in

the keyboard works. This technique is exploited thoroughly in a number of

virtuoso solo pedal passages in the organ works of Bach and also in those of

his pupil, Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713-80).

Another aspect of late baroque melody, especially in Bach's music, is

that the melodies are most often derived from free intervallic relations

within the scale rather than from the triad, as is the case in later classic

melodies. "Non-triadic themes appear much more often v^th Bach than

with any classic composer."^^

Rhythm

Rh5dihm was often governed by the baroque doctrine of affections, "the

concept that a specific and rationally definable affection or mood can be

expressed through specific musical devices, and further that one basic

16

affection should prevail in any work of music such as an aria, or movement

of a suite, sonata, etc."13 This resulted in a single rhythmic pattern

(frequently combined with motivic patterns in a developmental procedure),

which, once established at the beginning, continued to the end of the

movement or section. This continuous motor rh3^hm was used to create a

driving, forward motion in fast tempos, especially in concerto movements.

Harmonic rh5rthm was generally fast, resulting from the frequent

change of bass notes and the bass voice's more independent, melodic

function within the basso continuo. Fast or slow harmonic rh3rthm, of

course, is a characteristic entirely separate from a composition's tempo.

Form

Late baroque forms include a number of specific forms as well as

formal procedures which arise from tonal principles. Instrumental forms

developed earlier during the baroque era continued to be used, including

dance suites, solo sonata, trio sonata, solo concerto, concerto grosso,

overture, and fugue. Groups of stylized dances (suites) came to be

standardized in the allemande-courante-sarabande-gigue order (plus

additional optional dances), with individual movements written in binary

form. The use of variation technique was to be found in forms such as

partita, passacaglia, and chaconne. ^^ The prelude and fugue existed

independently as well as a combined pair, the latter being a joining of a free

with a strict style. Other keyboard forms included toccata and fantasia.

Of special interest and importance in late baroque form is the

concerto grosso, with its contrasting of the full orchestra {tutti or ripieno)

and a smaller group of soloists (solo or concertino). As the larger and

17

smaller performing groups alternate, so do the louder and softer dynamic

levels. Both four-movement (slow-fast-slow-fast) and three-movement (fast-

slow-fast) forms are to be found.

Late baroque formal procedures found in works for numerous

genres, both vocal and instrumental, are also to be found in organ music of

the late era. These include binary form, ternary form, ritornello, and

Fortspinnung (motivic spinning-out).

Texture

A variety of textures were used in the late baroque, including a

homophonic texture of accompanied melody with inner parts improvised, a

standard soprano-alto-tenor-bass homophony, and imitative contrapuntal

polyphony, as in an organ fugue or keyboard invention. Bukofzer speaks of

late baroque homophony being "held in check by the continuo which

preserved the dualistic conception of musical structure."!^ In this late

baroque continuo-homophonic texture, the harmonic elements are

balanced by the melodic orientation of the bass as well as of the melody and

the melodic thrust of the often present imitative polyphony. It is this more

melodic character of the late baroque bass which distinguishes continuo-

homophony from the generally homophonic texture of the succeeding

galant style. Late baroque continuo-homophony continues to give emphasis

to the two outer voices-melody and bass-as did the general baroque basso

continuo texture, if to a lesser degree. Other differences between continuo-

homophony and galant homophony are the former's faster harmonic

rhythm and energetic rh34hm patterns in its melody and bass.

Another common late baroque texture is that in which all voices

sound in unison, producing a monophonic texture. This texture is often

18

inserted between sections of a contrasting texture, and can most often be

seen in works composed in a concertato style.

Dynamics

Conventional wisdom in baroque performance practice is to make

use of terraced dynamics, that is, the contrasting of two or more volume

levels. This is a natural consequence of the contrasting performance

groups within the baroque concerto grosso (solo and tutti groups). In the

case of harpsichord and organ music, it is easily and most naturally

accomplished as a result of contrasting registrations between the manuals.

These dynamic contrasts are indicated by the placement in the score of p for

piano (soft) and/* for/b/te (loud), or some variation thereof. They may also

result from indications in the score to denote which organ manual the

performer is to play upon, such as these German titles:

1. Hauptwerk (the main division);

2. Positiv or RUckpositiv (the secondary division whose pipes are

located behind the organist;

3. Oberwerk (a secondary division whose pipes are located in the

main case above the Hauptwerk);

4. Brustwerk (an upper division usually based on a four- or two-foot

pitch level, v^th pipes located above the keyboards in front of the organist);

5. Pedal.

Most often, however, the decision as to which manual to use (hence, which

dynamic level was sounded) was left to the discretion of the performer.

Donington, while admitting the use of flexible dynamics and gradual

changes of volume in baroque instrumental and vocal music in general,

has this to say specifically about music for the organ and harpsichord:

19

On the organ, and on the harpsichord, the instrument itself, as made and used in the baroque age, is strongly disposed to "terrace djoiamics": whole passages on one level of volume (and colouring) followed by whole passages on another level.

Modern mechanisms can make it easy to depart from terrace dynamics, and to change volume and colouring frequently, and even gradually. But in the main, this is not only contrary to the nature of these instruments, but also contrary to the music so well composed for them.

It is therefore best, in the main, to arrange the dynamic contrasts on the organ or the harpsichord in blocks rather than in gradations. 16

J. S. Bach's Organs

Bach acquired a considerable reputation in the area of testing

("proving") an organ, and was called upon to do so throughout his life. His

thorough knowledge of organ stops, registration, construction materials,

and tonal design, along with his unsurpassed performance skills, led to his

hire by church committees and town councils in the areas of Thuringia,

Weimar, and Leipzig. C. P. E. Bach and Agricola wrote in Bach's obituary:

He not only understood the art of playing the organ, of combining the various stops of that instrument in the most skillful manner, and of displaying each stop according to its character in the greatest perfection, but he also knew the construction of organs from one end to the other. . . . No one could draw up or judge dispositions for new organs better than he. But despite all this knowledge of the organ, he never enjoyed the good fortune, as he used to point out frequently with regret, of having a really large and really beautiful organ at his constant disposal. 1^

It is safe to assume, then, that the organs Bach played on regularly

throughout his life were mediocre or judged by him to be somehow inferior

to his ideal. As a boy in Ohrdruf, he practiced on a small instrument of

only four manual stops and a Sub-Bass. 1^ But even in his formative years

20

Bach had first-hand knowledge of fine instruments. While in Liineburg he

would have heard organist Georg Bohm (1661-1733) at the Johanniskirche

and perhaps Vincent Liibeck in Hamburg, a short distance from Liineburg,

as well as the famous J. A. Reincken (1623-1722), organist of the

Catharinenkirche in Hamburg from 1663. Bach would later describe this

last instrument as "excellent in every way, . . . the 32' Principal was the

best he had ever heard, and he never tired of praising the 16' reeds, "l^

In 1703 Bach was appointed organist at the Neukirche (formerly

called the Bonifaciuskirche) in Amstadt. While at Arnstadt, Bach tested

and approved the new organ in 1703, and it is this organ Bach had at his

disposal when writing many of his early works. Its stoplist is as follows

(Table 2.1).

Table 2.1. Bach's Organ at the Arnstadt Neukirche, Tested 1703.20

Oberwerk Brustwerk Quintaton 8 Gedackt 8 Principal 8 Principal 4 Gemshorn 8 Nachthorn 4 Gedakt 8 Quint (2 2/3) 3 Viola da Gamba 8 Spitzflote 2 Octave 4 Octave 2 Quint (5 1/3) 6 Sesquialtera Mixture IV Mixture IV Cymbel III Trumpet 8 Pedal Glocken-Accord (Cymbelstern) Sub-Bass 16

Violon-Bass 16 Oberwerk to Pedal coupler Principal-Bass 8 Oberwerk to Brustwerk coupler Hohlflote 8 Tremulant in the OW Posaunen-Bass 16

Keller judges this organ rather negatively, saying, "I cannot

suppose, however, that [it] would have stimulated Bach's musical

imagination."21 He cladms it might have been the inadequacy of this

21

instrument which caused Bach to take an extended sixteen-week trip to

hear Dietrich Buxtehude in Liibeck play on the large organ at the

Marienkirche. This organ had an unusually large number and

assortment of stops and pitches in its three manuals and pedal (thirteen in

the Oberwerk, twelve in the Brustwerk, fourteen in the RUckpositiv, and

fifteen in the Pedal).

In 1707 Bach became organist at the church of St. Blasius in

Miihlhausen. In 1708 he drew up plans to repair and enlarge the organ

there, which were not completed until 1709. This was the only time in

Bach's life that he had the opportunity to enlarge and renovate an organ to

his ov rn specifications. The specifications of the organ upon his arrival

were as follows (Table 2.2).

Table 2.2. Bach's Organ at Muhlhausen, 1708.22

Hauptwerk Quintadena 16 Principal 8 Gemshorn 8 Octave 4 Gedackt 4 Quint 2 2/3 Octave 2 Sesquialtera II Mixture IV Cymbel II Trumpet 8

Brustwerk Quintadena 8 Gedackt 8 Principal 4 Salicional 4 Octave 2 Spitzflote 2 Quint 1 V3 Sesquialtera II Mixture III

Pedal Principal 16 Sub-Bass 16 Octave-Bass 8 Octave-Bass 4 Cornet 2 Rohrflote 1 Mixture IV Posaune 16 Trumpet 8

The changes Bach proposed include the following: a Sub-Bass 32 in

the pedal; a more solid tone for the pedal Posaune 16; Glockenspiel 4 in the

pedal (to be acquired and installed at a later date); replace the Hauptwerk

Trumpet 8 with a Fagotto 16, "which is useful for all kinds of new ideas and

sounds very fine in concerted music"; replace the Gemshorn 8 with a Viola

22

da Gamba 8, "which will concord admirably with the 4-foot Salicional

already included in the RUckpositiv"; replace the Quint 2 2/3 with a Nasat

2 2/3; add an entirely new Brustpositiv manual of seven stops (Schalmei 8,

Quint 2 2/3, Octave 2, Mixture III, Terz 1 3/5 ("with which, by drawing a

few other stops, one can produce a fine and complete Sesquialtera"), Flauto

dolce 4, and a Stillgedackt 8 ("which accords perfectly with concerted

music, and, made of good wood, should sound much better than a metal

Gedackt"); Brustpositiv to Hauptwerk coupler, and "the tremulant must be

regulated so that it flutters at the proper rate. "23 The stoplist after the

changes reads as follows (Table 2.3).

Table 2.3. Muhlhausen Organ After Renovation, 1709.24

Hauptwerk Quintadena 16 Principal 8 Viola da Gamba 8 Octave 4 Gedackt 4 Nasat 2 2/3 Octave 2 Sesquialtera II Mixture IV Cymbel II Fagotto 16

Brustwerk Stifl-Gedackt 8 Flauto dolce 4 Quint 2 2/3 Octave 2 Terz 1 3/5 Mixture III

Brustwerk to Hauptwerk coupler Tremulant

RUckpositiv Quintadena 8 Gedackt 8 Principal 4 Salicional 4 Octave 2 Spitzflote 2 Quint 1 1/3 Sesquialtera II Mixture III

Pedal Sub-Bass 32 Principal-Bass 16 Sub-Bass 16 Octave 8 Octave 4 Cornet 2 Rohrflote 1 Mixture IV Posaune 16 Trumpet 8

23

It is important to take note of the presence on all three manuals of the

Sesquialtera, indicating that Bach particularly favored that mixture.

Keller suggests the replacing of the Trumpet 8 with the Fagotto 16, a

distinctive and lower-pitched reed, was to reinforce and bring out the

continuo bass lines while accompanying the cantatas. In addition, the

combination of the Still-Gedackt 8 and Flauto dolce 4 could be used to

accompany softer passages.25

In 1709 Bach left Muhlhausen for Weimar as court organist and later

Konzertmeister to the Duke of Weimar. The organ in the castle chapel had

been built over fifty years earlier, and Bach made extensive alterations to it

in 1713-14, and more followed after his departure for Cothen in 1717. Keller

says of this organ prior to its rebuilding by Bach that he could not imagine

'"that it could have satisfied Bach with its specifications, which were as

clumsy as they were poor.""26 its specifications are listed in the following

table (Table 2.4).

Table 2.4. Bach"s Weimar Castle Church Organ Before Renovation.27

Oberwerk Quintaton 16 Principal 8 Gemshorn 8 Gedackt 8 Quintaton 4 Octave 4 Mixture VI Cymbel III

Brustwerk Principal 8 Viola da Gamba 8 Gedackt 8 Kleingedackt 4 Octave 4 Waldflote 2 Sesquialtera IV Trumpet 8

Pedal Gross-Untersatz 32 Sub-Bass 16 Violon-Bass 16 Principal 8 Cornet-Bass 4 Posaune 16 Trumpet 8

Tremulants, Cymbelstern, Glockenspiel installed 1715

24

In Cothen there were several organs available to Bach for practice

and teaching, although he had no official duties as organist. The

Jakobikirche organ was in disrepair. The court chapel was Calvinist, so

there was no elaborate sacred music performed there, although there was a

two-manual instrument with thirteen stops. The huiherOin Agnuskirche

organ was larger, with twenty-seven stops in two manuals and a large

pedal range. It is quite possible that Bach composed his F major toccata for

this organ, since its range extended to the fl called for in that work.

There is evidence to suggest that Bach was interested in applying for

the organist position at the Jakobikirche in Haunburg, vacant in 1720. He

had visited Hamburg in earlier years to hear the organists Liibeck and

Reincken. He undoubtedly would have been drawn there by the organ, a

large four-manual installation with sixty stops by Schnitger. Bach applied

for the post and then withdrew his name from consideration, and moved to

Leipzig in 1723. The organ in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, rebuilt by

Johann Scheibe in 1721-2, had three manuals and thirty-five stops (Table

2.5).

25

Table 2.5. Bach's Thomaskirche Organ, Leipzig, 1722.28

Hauptwerk (middle manual) Prinzipal 16 Prinzipal 8 Quintadena 16 Octave 4 Quinta 3 (2 2/3) Super octava 2 Spiel-pfeife 8 Sesquialtera II Mixture VII-X

Brustwerk (upper manual) Grossgedackt 8 Prinzipal 4 Nachthorn 4 Nasat 3 (2 2/3) Gemshorn 2 Zimbel II Sesquialtera II Regal 8 Geigend regal 4

Ruckpositiv (lowest manual) Prinzipal 8 Gedackt 8 Quintadena 8 Gedackt 4 Querflote 4 Violin 2 Rauschquinte II Mixture IV Spitzflote 4 Schallfluote 1 Krumbhorn 16 Trommet 8

Pedal Sub-Bass 16 Posaunenbass 16 Trommetenbass 8 Schallmeyenbass 4 Cornet 3

Tremulant; Vogelsang; Cymbelstern

The Nikolaikirche organ was similar in size, and was renovated in

1725 by Johann Scheibe, although the stoplist of that renovation has been

lost. The organ undoubtedly to Bach's best liking was that of the

Paulinuskirche, built by Johann Scheibe in 1717, and tested and approved

by Bach while he was still employed at Cothen. This organ had three

manuals and fifty-three soimding stops, but only four reeds. Spitta gives its

specifications (Table 2.6).

26

Table 2.6. Paulinuskirche Organ, Leipzig, 1717.29

Hauptwerk Principal 16 Quintaton 16 Principal 8 Schalmei 8 Flute allemande 8 Gemshorn 8 Octave 4 Quinte 3 Quint-Nasat 3 Octavina 2 Waldflote 2 Mixture V-VI Cornetti III Zink (cornet) II

Brustwerk Principal 8 Viola di Gamba 8 Grobgedackt 8 Octave 4 Rohrflote 4 Octave 2 Nasat 3 Sedecima 1 Schweizer Pfeife 1 Largo Mixture III Helle Cymbel II

Unter-Clavier Lieblich Gedackt 8 Quintaton 8 Flute douce 4 Quinta Decima 4 Decima nona 3 Hohlflote 2 Viola 2 Vigesima nona 1 1/2 Weitpfeife 1 Mixture III Hefle Cymbel II Sertin 8

Pedal Great Principal 16* Great Quintaton 16* Octave 8* Octave 4* Quinte 3* Mixture V-VI* Great Quintenbass 6** Jubal 8** Nachthorn 4** Octave 2** Great Principal 16*** Sub-bass 16*** Posaune 16*** Trompete 8*** Hohlflote 1*** Mixture IV***

Extra Stops (Couplers, &c.): Ventils to the Hauptwerk, Brustwerk, Side Basses, Brust and Manual, Stern, Hinterwerk; and a Bell to call the blower.

*Connecting with the great bellows of the manuals. **0n the small Brust-Pedal bellows.

***0n the great bellows on both sides.

27

Bach's obituary describes the trial of the new organ installed in the

Johanniskirche in Leipzig also by Johann Scheibe, father of Johann Adolph

Scheibe, one of Bach's harshest critics. It states, "The trial was perhaps

one of the most exacting ever made" and that Bach had given it his

"complete approval."30 The specification of the organ as given by Spitta is

as follows (Table 2.7).

Table 2.7. Johanniskirche Organ, Leipzig, 31

Oberwerk Principal 16 Principal 8 Quintaton (dble. diap.) 16 Octave 4 Quinte 3 Superoctave 2 Sesquialtera: doubled Mixture of 6, 8 to 10 ranks

Brustwerk Grobgedackt 8 Principal 4 Nachthorn 4 Nasat 3 Gemshorn 2 Cymbel: 2 ranks Regal 8 Geigenregal 4

Ruckpositiv Principal 8 Quintaton 8 Leiblich Gedackt 8 Klein Gedackt 4 Querflote (Fto. traverse) 4 Violine 2 Rauschquinte: doubled Mixture: 4 ranks Sesquialtera Spitzflote 4 Schallflote 1 Krummhorn (Cremona) 16 Trompete 8

Pedals Sub-bass of metal 16 Posaune 16 Trompete 8 Schalmei 4 Comet 3

These organs with which Bach had some connection, either as

designer, tester, or performer, are by no means so similar as to allow

definitive conclusions to be drawn about his preferences. There are,

however, several statements that can be made. Bach preferred to have

available a variety of stops for use in combination within the plenum (full

28

organ). Bach was said to have complained about the weakness of

Silbermann's mixtures,32 indicating Bach's preference for strong, bright

mixtures. Bach's own design of the organ at Muhlhausen may indicate his

concern for the organ's role as an accompanying instmment for the

cantata and other vocal music, as demonstrated by his recommended

changes in strengthening the 16' stops and softer combinations in the

manuals. His improvements also included strengthening of the reed stops

and concern for even and accurate tremulant.

Bach's lifetime was a time of change in how the organ came to be

used in worship (see Chapter V). The organ came to play an increasingly

important role in introducing and accompan3dng congregational singing,

requiring more 8' manual stops, stronger 16' pedal stops, and the ability to

accommodate extremes of volume. Another change occurring during

Bach's life and illustrated in the changing designs of organs is the change

in attitudes toward the plenum and the organo pleno (the complete flue or

principal chorus, with or without reeds). During the time of his earlier

career, the practice was to avoid mixing of tonal families by drawing more

than one rank of the same pitch on the same manual. By the time of his

late career in Leipzig, it had become more acceptable to register mixed

families of tone. Mattheson, Adlung, and Agricola all support such

combinations for the organo pleno, including Principals, Flutes, Reeds,

and Mixtures of the same and mixed pitches.33 Given the changes

occurring in musical style and organ design during Bach's lifetime, it is

certainly accurate to say that "on no single organ that Bach is known to

have played would all his organ music have sounded at its best or been

given a registration suitable to its carefully conceived style and genre."^^

29

Characteristics of J. S. Bach's Organ Stvle

The style of J. S. Bach's organ composition, especially in the mature

works of the Leipzig years, is regarded as the high point of baroque organ

composition. These works are considered to be, not only the summation of

the baroque organ style, but also "the vortex of organ study."35 Elsewhere it

has been written, "Bach's organ works in their entirety are the apex in the

history of organ music, equaled neither before nor after him, just as his

cantatas and Passions are certainly the apex of Protestant church

music."36 Most of what has already been written about the general style

characteristics of the late baroque also applies to the characteristics of

Bach's late baroque organ style. What follows, therefore, will be most

applicable to the organ works. Some of the specific characteristics of this

style follow.

An Independent and Equal Pedal Part

It is not uncommon in the baroque era to find compositions which

may be played equally well on the organ or harpsichord, there seldom being

specific directions as to whether the lowest voice is to be played in the pedals

or in the manuals. In performing these works today, such decisions are

most often made by an editor or the performer.

In Bach's organ works, however, particular attention is given to the

bass voice and in which division37 it is to be played. It is the exception in

Bach's works which is able to be played by the organ or harpsichord

interchangeably.38 Bach's pedal parts participate fully and equally with

the manuals in the polyphonic structure and are, therefore, obbligato

rather than ad libitum,

30

Some scholars have adopted a system of classifying these ambiguous

works for either organ or stringed keyboard instrument.

Compositions with an independent pedal part (especially one with an obbligato character) or that make use of liturgical material (i.e., a chorale melody) are normally classified as organ works. Conversely, keyboard compositions apparently lacking a pedal part or chorale-derived material are assumed to have been conceived for the harpsichord or the clavichord.^^

This is the path chosen by both the Bach-Gesellschaft edition and the

Neue Bach-Ausgabe. In dividing Bach's keyboard works into organ works

or klavier works, the Bach-Werke Verzeichnis (BWV) assigned numbers

525 through 771 to the former and numbers 772 through 994 to the latter.^O

Not only were Bach's pedal parts independent and fully equal, but

they were often of a virtuoso character, as in the F major toccata (BWV 540).

Example 2.1 is a six-measure excerpt of Bach's F major toccata, and

demonstrates a number of the virtuosic demands placed upon a performer,

including the following: toccata-like motives; rapid scale passages or

passages for consecutive broken thirds or sixths; chromatic movement;

wide leaps; passages requiring awkward crossing or alternation of the feet;

use of the upper and lower extremes of the pedal division; pedal passages of

a contrasting melodic-rhythmic nature to what is being played

simultaneously by the hands in the upper manuals; pedal passages of

rapid tempo with great forward drive for dramatic or emotional effect; and

double-pedal passages, that is, two distinct voices to be played by the two feet

simultaneously. Bach's pedal technique must have been a source of amaze­

ment to many who heard and witnessed it, especially since such demands

upon the performer were being made less and less as the new musical style

evolved and the organ's role in the church's worship was changing.

31

Example 2.1: J. S. Bach's "Toccata in F Major," BWV 540

213

^

^ ^

'''H?l JOT

*

5 E

i r

s

f

^ m^ Another aspect of Bach's pedal lines is their fully melodic nature.

While Bach certainly makes effective use of the pedals to reinforce the

foundation of the chord, or as a punctuation to the harmony above, or as an

extended pedal point, it is also common for entire melody lines to be placed

in the pedals as a cantus firmus with the manuals serving as

accompaniment. Sometimes these pedal melodies are also treated in the

manner of a toccata or with considerable ornamentation or ornate

figuration.

Concertato Treatment

The use of contrasting performing bodies in the concertato style is

adapted to the organ through a contrasting of the manuals. While at

Weimar (1708-17), Bach composed organ works utilizing themes by other

composers, notably the Canzona in D Minor (BWV 583), borrowed from

Frescobaldi's Fiori musicali; the Fugue in C Minor (BWV 574) on a theme

by Legrenzi; and the Fugue in B Minor (BWV 579) on a Corelli melody. His

interest in adapting instrimiental music to his organ compositions led to

his transcribing six concerti by various composers, including most

importantly several by Antonio Vivaldi. His adapting of Vivaldi's

32

concertato treatment in the organ transcription is accomplished by a

contrasting of registrations (with different tones, timbres and volumes) on

different manuals. Even though these particular works date from the

Weimar period, the technique continues to be an important element in his

later works, such as the Dorian Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, one of the

few works in which Bach specified his own manual changes rather than

leaving them to the performer's determination.

Small Chorale Prelude Stvle

Bach's Orgelbuchlein, written during the Weimar years (1708-17),

was intended to serve as an instruction manual in the various ways of

setting a chorale melody for the organ and in learning and mastering the

pedals. It is a reasonable assumption that Bach used it in instructing his

pupils in chorale prelude techniques. Borrowing from the styles of earlier

composers, including Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707) and Johann Pachelbel

(1653-1706), Bach demonstrates a number of different techniques. Some of

the common style characteristics include:

1. placement of the chorale melody most often in the treble;

2. frequent setting of the chorale in canon with another voice;

3. accompanying the chorale with obbligato voices (usually three);

4. use of quasi-ostinato independent motifs in the accompanying

voices;

5. infusing the freer forms of Pachelbel and Buxtehude with strict

counterpoint.

33

The most important element in this small chorale prelude style,

however, was that Bach

. . . subordinated strict forms to his interpretation of the text. The countermotifs, rather than stemming from the cantus firmus, were determined by the chorale text, as were the harmony, the rhythm, and the technical construction. This conception often resulted in a highly exciting interpretation of the chorale, now jubilant, now deeply moving . . . ^1

Blume dismisses as irrelevant any influence of the doctrine of figures on

this text interpretation. He also asserts that the use of numerical

symbolism and proportions in interpretation is unconvincing.42

Large Chorale Prelude Stvle

No less than four collections of chorale preludes date from the

Leipzig period (1723-50), many of which probably were begun at Weimar.

These include: the Six Chorales (the so-called SchUbler Chorales,

composed 1728-36; arranged, 1746); the Third Part of the ClavierUbung

(1739); the Canonic Variations on "Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich hier"

(1746); and the Eighteen Chorales (ca. 1715-1750). Bach published the first

three of these collections during his lifetime, and probably also intended the

fourth for publication. His death prevented it.

The Eighteen Chorales do not share any common liturgical

unification, as do the earlier OrgelbUchlein and the Third Part of the

ClavierUbung. It is as if their purpose for being brought together by Bach is

to illustrate the many and varied ways of arranging chorales for the organ.

Hermann Keller even says, "Taken all together, the differences in style

(and in value) of the individual arrangements are so great that we cannot

even say that the collection has any purely musical unity.'"^^

34

Nevertheless, as a result of study and performance of many of these

works, several characteristics of these late, large chorale preludes can be

pointed out, most derived from Bach's treatment of the chorale time.

Primary is the juxtaposition of the chorale and the often intricately weaved

web of independent voices which accompany it. The chorale is nearly

always set out in longer note values, most often placed in the pedals or the

highest voice. It is nearly always the most prominent voice, easily

differentiated from the polyphonic web surrounding it. It is rare that Bach

set anything less than the entire chorale melody, at least in one complete

verse, and often in multiple verses. Finally, the voices accompanjdng the

chorale are derived from some aspect of the chorale's melody and/or

rhythm, or from the overall mood of the prelude, which is governed by the

chorale's text. The mood of the prelude might be conveyed by the performer

through tempo, phrasing, articulation, ornamentation, rhetorical figures,

and registration.^"^

Level of Difficulty

"The organ works of Bach's contemporaries and pupils were far

simpler in compositional technique and spiritual concept, and they were

also easier to perform.'"^^ Indeed, one might wonder who would or could

actually perform these late works by Bach. Most likely his own sons could,

at least the older two, although there is the question of their inclination to

do so, given the rising new styles which held their interest more than the

antiquated style of their father. It would be difficult to name very many who

could perform them, even from among Bach's circle of pupils. Keller says.

35

It is improbable that, around 1740, anyone other than possibly Kittel or Krebs would have had the technique to play the E Minor Fugue or the Third Part of the ClavierUbung. And what musician of this transition period-in part galant, in part empfindsam-wovld have had the capacity to comprehend the intrinsic greatness of these gigantic works?46

It should be remembered that, by the time of Bach's late works in

Leipzig, he had become stylistically isolated. By his last years, the mention

of the name Bach would likely suggest to someone of the period one of his

more prominent sons. His own music was largely unknown even in

Germany, and many found its style confusing, complicated and old-

fashioned. One of his pupils even attacked him. Johann Adolf Scheibe,

writing in 1737 in his Critischer Musikus, attacked Bach's music for its

lack of "naturalness" and its "bombastic and confused" style, claiming it

might be more performed if it exhibited more "pleasantness" rather than

pol5T5honic complexity.'^'''

Types of Chorale Preludes

Dutch organist Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) is credited with

inventing the chorale variation when he united the sacred chorale tune

with the already existing secular keyboard variation form. His pupils, the

most famous being Jacob Praetorius (1586-1651), Heinrich Scheidemann

(ca. 1596-1663), and Samuel Scheidt (1587-1654), were instmmental in

spreading his style of organ teaching and composition throughout

Germany. Resulting from a combination of political, ethnic, and religious

differences, there were three schools of German organ composition: North,

Middle, and South, with the North being mostly Protestant and Lutheran

and the South being mostly Catholic. The different styles and methods of

36

performance of liturgical music within these three schools gave rise to a

number of different ways of treating the chorale tune.

The most prominent features of the North German school were those

of fragmentation of the chorale melody and melismatic elaboration of the

melody. These composers cultivated a florid, virtuosic style, perhaps

resulting from the importance of improvisation. Fragmentation included

employing motives derived from the cantus firmus within accompanying

voices. The North Germans also showed a preference for larger and freer

forms in organ composition.

One of the most important features of the South German school was

that of selecting individual phrases of the chorale tune, ornamenting them

in the upper voice, and separating them with interludes which may or may

not make use of motivic material from the cantus firmus. Due to the

strength of the Catholic Church in the South, the use of pre-Reformation

chants and liturgical music was also prominent.

The Middle German school showed a preference for short and

concise forms. The chorale fugue, as exemplified by those of Johann

Christoph Bach (1643-1703), was most often used to introduce the chorale to

the congregation.

However, by the eighteenth century, the adoption of forms and style traits from both the north Germans and the south Germans became more and more a characteristic of the middle German school. The ornamental chorales . . . reflected the north German tradition, while the chorale motets . . . reflected the influence of Johann Pachelbel [in the South].'^8

It is this middle area of Germany in and around Thuringia, with its dual

influence of the North and South schools, of course, which produced

J. S. Bach.

37

When the organ began to accompany congregational singing in

Lutheran churches around 1650, it became common practice for the organ

and congregation to alternate on successive stanzas of the chorale.

Composers wrote organ arrangements of the chorales which could be used,

not only in this alternatim performance, but also to serve as introduction-

or prelude-to the congregation's singing of the chorale (hence, chorale

prelude, a term which, with organ chorale, has come to embrace all organ

chorale types). Some settings served to actually accompany the

congregation's singing (rather than precede or alternate with it), while

other settings were intended for solo performance without any

congregational involvement. Sweelinck's organ chorales are an example of

the latter. Since organ music was excluded from Calvinist worship, his

chorale variations must have been composed for pedagogical purposes or

for solo performance in the many organ recitals he gave.

The different requirements placed upon baroque organ chorale

composers for use in liturgical worship throughout Germany led to the

wealth of chorale-based organ literature of the period and the variety of

chorale prelude types. Scholars have classified these prelude types

differently. Philipp Spitta discusses at some length the various styles of

chorale preludes^^ and gives three types, only vaguely described: pure

chorale preludes, organ chorales, and chorale fantasias. He says that Bach

added no new forms to these three.^^

Albert Schweitzer also classifies three t5rpes in use at the end of the

seventeenth century: motivistic, coloristic, and free fantasia.

In the first, the whole prelude is constructed out of the motives of the melody, in which case the latter is not altered in any way, but runs through the whole as a cantus firmus. This is the "motivistic" method of Pachelbel. In the second, the

38

melody is broken up into arabesques, that climb and wind like a flowering creeper about a simple harmonic stem. This is the "'coloristic"" method of Bohm. In the third the melody forms the core of a free fantasia, as in the chorale fantasias of Buxtehude.^ 1

Schweitzer goes on to state, as did Spitta, that Bach added no new forms to

these three, and that ""all other imaginable kinds of chorale prelude are

only intermediate forms between these three main types; . . ."' 2

Modern scholar Corliss Arnold also describes three types:

1. chorale partita: a series or set of variations;

2. chorale fantasia: an extended treatment of each phrase of the

chorale melody continuously in a variety of ways;

3. chorale prelude or organ chorale: shorter pieces with the melody

of one stanza of the chorale rather clearly emphasized.^3

Bukofzer describes four t5rpes:

1. chorale partita or chorale variation: similar in technique to the

secular variations of the German suite;

2. chorale fantasy: especially prominent in the north German

school, it had become a large rhapsodic composition with virtuoso

character;

3. chorale fugue: prominent in the central German school; the

initial chorale phrase serves as the theme, after which the entire melody

may be introduced as a cantus firmus, or presented in successive phrases

as a chain of fughettas;

4. chorale prelude: the plain or ornamented melody is placed

usually in the soprano with the other accompanying parts set

contrapuntally with independent rhythm and motives.^"^

39

Hermann Keller recognizes six main t5rpes plus six subdivisions, for

a total of twelve. His classification and the number of Bach's works in each

follow:

1. partitas: four;

2. congregational chorales: seven;

3. fughettas: twenty;

4. chorale fantasy: one;

5. small chorale preludes; i.e., organ chorales without separation of

the lines: fifty-seven;

a. manualiter: five;

b. with pedal: fifty-two (forty-six of these in the Little Organ

Book);

6. large chorale preludes; i.e., organ chorales with their lines

separated by interludes: fifty-one;

a. cantus firmus (c.f.) unomamented ("vocal"); the counterpoints

(c.p.) also unornamented and taken from the c.f.: ten;

b. c.f. unomamented; c.p. taken from the c.f. by "instrumental"

paraphrase: twenty-three;

c. c.f. ornamented; c.p. taken from the c.f. by paraphrase: ten;

d. c.f. unornamented; c.p. thematically independent of the c.f:

eight.

Keller has also tabulated the variations according to the number of

independent voices: seven are two-part; forty are three-part; ninety-seven

are four-part; twenty-two are five-part; and one is six-part. He also gives

the frequency with which the chorale melody appears in each voice:

soprano, sixty-three times; alto, five times; tenor, fifteen times; and bass,

fifteen times. It changes register eight times, and is treated canonically

40

fourteen times.^^ What is clear from Keller's statistics is that Bach used a

wide variety of forms, ornamentation, and voices in setting his chorale

melodies.

One of the most useful systems of classifying chorale prelude types is

that by Robert Tusler, which includes seven categories. Some chorale

preludes fit neatly into one of the seven categories, while others exhibit

characteristics of two or more categories simultaneously.

1. cantus firmus chorale: the chorale melody is played in

augmented note values, most often in the lowest voice or pedals;

2. chorale motet: each line of the chorale is treated imitatively,

resulting in a succession of short fugues;

3. chorale fugue: the first line or phrase of the chorale is adapted as

a fugue subject used throughout the work;

4. melody chorale: the chorale appears in the soprano line as a

melody, accompanied by the lower voices;

5. ornamented chorale: similar to the melody chorale above, but the

melody is elaborately ornamented;

6. chorale canon: two or more voices treat the chorale canonically;

7. chorale fantasia: an essentially free form which develops short

motives of the melody.

Tusler places these seven types within two broader categories:

bound and free. Free types are those which set only a portion of the tune,

that is, the chorale fugue and the chorale fantasia. Bound types are those

which set the tune in its entirety, namely cantus firmus chorale, chorale

motet, chorale canon, melody chorale, and ornamental chorale.^^

41

To complete the classification for the purposes of this document, only

the chorale partita (or chorale variation) needs to be added, which presents

a set of variations on the chorale, usually corresponding to the number of

the chorale text's stanzas. The individual variations within the chorale

partita could all be classified under one of Tusler's seven chorale types.

A number of qualities stand out in summarizing Bach's late style of

organ composition. He composed a significantly larger number of chorale-

based works than free works, perhaps as a result of his teaching duties or

in providing music for the Leipzig churches. The organ chorales are in a

wide variety of styles, forms, and moods. They almost always set at least

one stanza of the chorale tune completely, and often in multiple verses. The

chorale is heard prominently, whether plain or ornamented. The tune is

supported by accompanying voices which may be derived motivically from

some aspect of the chorale melody or which may be freely invented. The

accompaniment may include elements of text expression and word

painting. He used dissonance and chromaticism for expressive and

emotional purposes. The pedals participated fully and equally with the

manuals, and his compositions are complex and difficult to perform, often

requiring a level of virtuosity attained by few performers of the time. He

adopted the solo-tutti element of the concerto to articulate the form of many

of the free works. In general Bach's organ style is one of imitative

polyphony equally balanced by harmonic considerations. Contrapuntal

forms and techniques abound. His works exhibit a "depth and range of

emotion, contrapuntal skill and perfection of design . . . [that] far surpasses

that of any of his contemporaries or predecessors."^'^

In a comparison of J. S. Bach and Handel written in 1788, one author

summarizes Bach's organ style as follows:

42

Bach's organ pieces usually-and the pieces for two manuals and pedals always-are written on three staves, one above another. The pedal is always independent of the manuals, and forms a voice in itself. At times there are even two obbligato voices in the pedal. The left hand is anything but the player of the bass; it must have the same fluency and dexterity as the right, in order to play properly parts that are so often full of lively melody.

According to the registration. Bach sometimes gives to the pedals the resplendent chief melody, which is often neither slow nor easy, while the brilliant matter is assigned to the hands; sometimes the pedal has the highest of the inner voices, sometimes the lowest. And the hands, too, must adapt themselves to the same tasks and changes.

The pedal has at times much brilliant and quick material, which, however, only practiced masters can play, and the like of which may never have been heard in England. Now, when one adds that Bach not only satisfied all these requirements with his pen, but could do so also in improvisation and in the most correct possible style-what greatness does this require!

In addition to the chorale settings and variations J. S. wrote, and the preludes to them (these, too, are little known among the English, since the English style of church singing presents very little occasion for them), various trios for the organ have become known, particularly six for two manuals and pedal which are written in such galant style that they still sound very good, and never grow old, but on the contrary will outlive all revolutions of fashion in music. Taking it all in all, no one has written so much beautiful music for the organ as J. S. Bach.58

43

Notes

I johann J. Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flbte traversiere zu spielen (Berlin, 1752); facs., Documenta musicologica (Kassel: Barenreiter, 1951- , ser. 1, 2, 1953); trans. Edward R. Reilly (London: Faber, 1966).

2Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Versuch Uber Anweisung die Flote traversiere zu spielen (Berlin, 1753; facs., Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1957); trans. William J. Mitchell (New York: Norton, 1949).

3Leopold Mozart, Versuch einer grUndlichen Violinschule (Augsburg, 1756); facs., Vienna: C. Stephenson, 1922; trans. Eng. Edith Knocker (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1948; 2d ed., 1951).

'*A number of sources, including some standard reference works, have been consulted in gathering these style traits, and as might be expected, there is considerable duplication between sources. This discussion is intended to embrace a wide range of these traits in order to give the broadest possible picture of the style, within which will then take place the discussion of specific compositions and composers. Since this is a summary discussion and because of the duplication between sources, no attempt has been made to attribute specific style characteristics to a specific author or source, except as otherwise noted. Sources consulted include: Friedrich Blume, Renaissance and Baroque Music: A Comprehensive Survey, trans. M. D. Herter Norton (New York: W. W. Norton, 1967); Friedrich Blume, Classic and Romantic Music: A Comprehensive Survey, trans. M. D. Herter Norton (New York: W. W. Norton, 1970); Manfred F. Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era (New York: W. W. Norton, 1947); Philip G. Downs, Classical Music: The Era of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (New York: W. W. Norton, 1992); Donald Grout, A History of Western Music, 5th ed. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1996); Robert L. Marshall, The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach: The Sources, The Style, The Significance (New York: Schirmer Books, 1989); Reinhard G. Pauly, Music in the Classic Period, 2d ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973); David Poultney, Studying Music History: Learning, Reasoning, and Writing about Music History and Literature (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1983); Leonard Ratner, Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style (New York: Schirmer Books, 1980); Charles Rosen, The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (New York: W. W. Norton, 1972); Charles Rosen, Sonata Forms, rev. ed. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1988); K. Marie Stolba, The Development of Western Music (Dubuque, Iowa: Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1990); New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadey (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback repr., 1995), s.v. "Classical," ""Empfindsamkeit," "Galant," ""Rococo,"' and ""Sturm und

44

Drang'' by Daniel Heartz, s.v. "Keyboard Music, II. Organ Music from ca. 1750," by Glyn Jenkins, s.v. "Bach, III. Individual Members (7) Johann Sebastian Bach, 16. Organ Music," by Christoph Wolff; New Harvard Dictionary of Music, ed. Don Randel, 1986, s.v. "Classical," "Empfindsam style," "Galant style," "Rococo," and "Sturm und Drang" by Eugene K. Wolf.

^William Fleming and Abraham Veinus, Understanding Music: Style, Structure, and History. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1958), 271.

^C. L. Cudworth, "Baroque, Rococo, Galant, Classic," Monthly Musical Record 83, (September 1953), 172.

"^Musikalisches Lexikon (1802), s.v. "Baroque," by Heinrich Koch: 214, quoted in Leonard Ratner, Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style (New York: Schirmer Books, 1980), 357.

8Cudworth, 173.

^Manfred F. Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era (New York: W. W. Norton, 1947), 303.

lOlbid.

lllbid., 304.

12lbid.

13Reinhard G. Pauly, Music in the Classic Period, 2d ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hafl, 1973), 20.

1"^About the pervasiveness of variation in music of the period, Bukofzer says, "Variation appears so consistently as an element of baroque music that the whole era may justly be called one of variation." Ibid., 352.

l^Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era, 221.

l^Robert Donington, A Performer's Guide to Baroque Music (London: Faber and Faber, 1973), 221.

l^Hans T. David and Arthur Mendel, ed.. The Bach Reader, rev. ed. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1966), 223.

45

18Hermann Keller, The Organ Works of Bach: A Contribution to Their History, Form, Interpretation and Performance, trans. Helen Hewitt (New York: C. F. Peters, 1967), 17.

19Walter Emery, "Bach, III. Individual Members (7) Johann Sebastian Bach, 2. Luneburg," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995).

20Keller, 18.

21lbid.

22lbid., 19.

^^Bach Reader, 58-9.

24Keller, 20.

25lbid.

26lbid., 22.

27lbid., 21.

28Corliss Arnold, Organ Literature: A Comprehensive Survey (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1973), 107-8.

29philipp Spitta, Johann Sebastian Bach, 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1873-1880) English translation by Clara Bell and John Alexander FuUer-Maitland (London: Novello and Co., 1899; reprint. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2 vols., 1951), 2:287-8.

^^Bach Reader, 223.

31Spitta, 2:282-3.

46

32peter Williams, "Organ," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995).

33lbid.

34lbid.

35Arnold, 95.

36Friedrich Blume, "The Age of Confessionalism," in Protestant Church Music (New York: W. W. Norton, 1974), 267.

37"Division" here refers to a specific keyboard of the organ. Pedal Division refers to that portion of the organ's wind-chests and pipes controlled by the pedal keyboard, or pedalboard. Other divisions refer to the various manual keyboards and have modern name designations including Great, Swell, Choir, Positive, and others.

38Some of the small-scale organ works, such as the chorale settings from ClavierUbung, Part HI, would be examples which work equally well for either instrument; but this can not be said of some other small-scale works, such as many in the OrgelbUchlein.

The chorale partitas are further examples which may be performed on either instrument. O Gott, du frommer Gott (BWV 767) illustrates this duality of performance mediimi, and may even be said to demonstrate characteristics normally given to one instrument or the other. Its opening chorale statement contains chords of many notes requiring most fingers of both hands to play, a technique often found in harpsichord music. The final variation, however, includes Bach's own dynamic markings indicating a contrasting of loud and soft for two different manuals, and a bass line in the forte passages which, though it may be played in the manuals, is characteristic of a tj^ical baroque pedal line, especially as it approaches the cadence.

39Robert L. Marshall, The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach: The Sources, the Style, the Significance (New York: Schirmer Books, 1989), 272. In addition to this distinction, there is also the existence of the Hausorgel, typically a small, one-manual organ without pedals, intended for the performance of organ music without pedals, in which the pedal part could be supplied by the manual.

47

40lt may be useful to retain the difference between the German term Klavier and the more generic term clavier. Klavier includes only stringed keyboard instruments, thus excluding the organ, while clavier includes all keyboard instruments, including the organ. This is a distinction lost by some music publishers. C. F. Peters, for instance, has entitled J. L. Krebs' collection of organ chorales KlavierUbung, which would exclude the organ under this definition.

4lBlume, "Age of Confessionalism," 265.

42lbid.

'^3Hermann Keller, The Organ Works of Bach: A Contribution to Their History, Form, Interpretation and Performance, trans. Helen Hewitt (New York: C. F. Peters, 1967), 246.

"^^Blume, "Age of Confessionalism," 266. Blume states that the independent voices in these chorale preludes are freely invented, apparently bearing no relationship to the chorale, a curious claim since so many of the preludes can be shown to have this relationship.

45lbid., 267.

46Keller, Organ Works of Bach, 147.

^^Scheibe's attack and the rebuttals which followed may be found in The Bach Reader, ed. Hans T. David and Arthur Mendel, rev. ed. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1966), 237-52.

48David Paul Held, "Chorale Preludes Composed in the Eighteenth Century for Organ and a Solo Instrument" (Los Angeles: D.M.A. diss.. University of Southern California, 1976), 37.

49philipp Spitta, Johann Sebastian Bach, 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1873-1880) English translation by Clara Bell and John Alexander FuUer-Maitland (London: Novello and Co., 1899; reprint. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2 vols., 1951), 1:597-620.

SOlbid., 619.

SlAlbert Schweitzer, J. S. Bach, 2 vols. (Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hartel, 1911), English translation by Ernest Newman (New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2 vols., 1966), 1:47.

48

52lbid., 49.

53Corliss Richard Arnold, Organ Literature: A Comprehensive Survey, 2d ed in 2 vols (I: Historical Survey; II: Biographical Catalog); (TMetuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1984), 1:65.

S^Bukofzer, Music In the Baroque Era, 266-7.

55Keller, Organ Works of Bach, 176.

56Robert Tusler, The Style of Bach's Chorale-Preludes (New York: Da Capo Press, 1968), 25-59.

^^Howard Ferguson, "Keyboard Music, I, 4. The Period of J. S. Bach," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995).

^^Bach Reader, 284-5; probable attribution to C. P. E. Bach by Dragan Plamenac in The Musical Quarterly, 1949, XXXV, 575-87, cited in Bach Reader, 281. The comparison was written as a response to the following excerpt from Charles Burney: "It is my belief, likewise, that in his full, masterly, and excellent organ-fugues, upon the most natural and pleasing subjects, he [Handel] has surpassed Frescobaldi, and even Sebastian Bach and others of his countrymen, the most renowned for abilities in this difficult and elaborate species of composition . . . " (also in Bach Reader, 281).

49

CHAPTER III

CLASSICAL 1 STYLE

There are a number of ways to designate the variety of styles

normally grouped under the main heading of classical style, one being

chronologically. Larsen gives the follov^dng chronological divisions: Late

Baroque, until about 1740; Mid-century style, ca. 1740-1770; Classic style, ca.

1770-1800; and Early Romanticism, fi-om about 1800.2 A similar

designation system is used by Poultney. He defines the High Baroque

Period, 1685-1750; Early Classic Period, 1725-1775; and High Classical

Period, 1775-1825.3 While it is certainly necessary to place developments of

musical style in a proper time frame, and while it is convenient to

recognize certain years as belonging to one or another era or style period, it

is clear that such chronological classification is an approximation and that

different scholars establish different boundaries. One explanation for the

disparity results from the fact that musical style does not evolve and develop

uniformly even throughout a broadly homogeneous context like Western

Europe. Developments taking place in Italy in 1725, for example, may not

be seen in German music until a generation or more later.

It is also the case that style periods do not neatly divide themselves on

a time line. As has already been mentioned, the baroque era is most often

given a termination point of 1750, coinciding with the death of J. S. Bach, by

which time the emerging trends which were to culminate in the classical

style had already appeared. The great variety of styles in existence during

the middle fifty years of the eighteenth century, including late baroque.

Rococo, Pre-Classical, Galant, Empfindsamkeit, Sturm und Drang, and

50

Classical, can often be seen occurring simultaneously, but certainly within

a larger developmental process of declining baroque and rising classical

style.

Friedrich Blume argues in favor of this xmified and continuous

development of the classic style, while viewing the Rococo as a

manifestation of the late baroque and the style galant as a reaction against

the baroque. He says, "the intentional limitation of means, the precious

ingenuousness, and the priority of monodic melody with only incidental

accompaniment make it clear that the basic feeling governing the style

galant is far rather Classic than Baroque.'"* Blume traces the lineage of

the classic style from its early galant origins "through its 'sensibility stage'

(as Gerber calls it) into a sort of Sturm und Drang interlude and thence into

the High Classic phase. . . . the 'sensibility' style, the Sturm und Drang,

and the High Classic in music are by no means to be defined as contrasts to

the galant style."5

Another way to view the different musical phases of the classic style

is by geographical region of origin or concentration.

It must be stressed that the terms "Rococo," "Style galant," "Empfindsamkeit," and "Sturm und Drang" must be used with caution and properly understood; they are not universally applicable chronological labels; they do not refer to general "periods" in history but are applied to developments in specific geographic areas and in certain categories of the arts."

In this manner. Rococo would refer to mostly " . . . French music of

the same period as the rococo in the visual arts, . . . as well as to

comparable music by French-influenced composers such as Telemann."^

Pre-Classic or Galant is seen to have " . . . its origins in Italy - specifically,

in Italian opera. . . ."8 Empfindsamkeit originated as a North German

51

style, primarily cultivated by C. P. E. Bach. One writer calls

Empfindsamkeit "a localized variation - a North German branch office - of

the style galant."^ Empfindsamkeit reemerged in the 1770s in the works of

Viennese composers, "as a late phase or an outgrowth of the Empfindsam­

keit,"^^ now known as Sturm und Drang. The interpenetration and

synthesis of these various regional styles, coupled with the rediscovery and

integration of baroque counterpoint, largely defines and constitutes the late,

mature classical style-a lingua franca. It is a cosmopolitan style with a

"high degree of musical homogeneity prevailing throughout Europe as the

century drew to a close . . . a classical moment, if not period."! 1

Scholars assign different chronological limits for the various styles.

They also differ in terms used to designate the styles, and in what

constitutes the style. What follows is a general discussion and summary of

these various styles. The intent is to include some of these differences

rather than to offer a more narrow definition of the styles. As with the

description of the late baroque style above, some of these descriptions will

apply specifically to the organ while others will apply to other keyboard

instruments such as the harpsichord, or more broadly to musical style in

general. The result will be an inclusive framework in which to place the

narrower discussion of the organ style changes.

Rococo

The term Rococo designates a style in music and the visual arts

taking place simultaneously with the end of the baroque era. It has

especially been applied to the works of French composers of the period, such

as Fran9ois Couperin (1668-1733), and embraces works for lute and

52

harpsichord as well as instrumental chamber music and opera-ballets. It

also has come to include some works by non-French composers who came

under French influence, such as Telemann.

One description of Rococo visual art as compared to baroque art

seems to apply quite well to music.

Rococo art likewise was more playful and intimate than Baroque art. To be sure, it still belonged to a court milieu with its conventions of etiquette (now somewhat relaxed). In this art the extremes of emotion so often expressed in Baroque art were considered out of place and in bad taste, while wit, charm, and sentimentality were cultivated and appreciated. . . . Enter­tainment rather than the stirring of strong emotions was now stressed. . . . [There was] a significant increase in melodic ornamentation . . . Fondness for embellishment, as in the visual arts, became one of the main characteristics of the musical Rococo, both in vocal and instrumental music. 12

Earlier Pauly made the point that much of the music written during the

first half of the eighteenth century challenged the aesthetic conventions and

musical traditions of the baroque, and that music written with a Rococo

spirit was "purposely light, pleasing, and entertaining.'13

One of the profound changes wrought by musical developments of the

eighteenth century was the overturning of the baroque's doctrine of the

affections by allowing two and sometimes more affections to be depicted

rhythmically. The eighteenth century came to view "music as an art of

more delicate expression," and the Rococo sought to "elicit response from

feehng rather than from reason," incorporating into its musical language

"subtle tones," "gentle moods," and "restrained means. "14

Rococo embellishment and ornamentation can be distinguished from

later classical embellishment and ornamentation. Drawing a parallel

53

between Rococo interior decoration and musical ornamentation, Rosen

points out,

In Rococo interiors, the decoration was used to hide the structure, to cover over the joints, to enforce a supreme continuity. Neo-classical decoration, however, always much more sparing, was used to emphasize structure, to articulate it, and to sharpen the spectator's sense of i t . . .

The musical ornamentation of the first half of the eighteenth century was an essential element in the achievement of continuity: the decoration not only covered the underlying musical structure but kept it always flowing. The High Baroque in music had a horror of the void, and the agrements fill what empty space there was.

The decoration of the classical style, on the other hand, articulates structure. The chief ornament, retained from the Baroque is, significantly, the final cadential trill. Other ornaments are used more rarely, and they are almost always fully written out - necessarily so, as they have become thematic. 15

Thus, Rococo is a style originating in France and existing

simultaneously with the late baroque in Germany. It cultivates music that

is light, witty, elegant, and charming, and avoids emotional extremes. It

makes frequent use of embellishment and ornamentation in filling out long

notes and in covering over cadential breaks. This is in contrast to the later

classical concept of ornamentation as a means of articulating formal

aspects through cadential trills.

Pre-Classical or Galant Style 1^

The term galant is often used to broadly refer to the new style evolving

simultaneously with the late baroque. "The first critical writer to use the

word galant at all freely was Mattheson, who equated the term with

urbanity, courtliness, refinement and 'modernity' . . . and the very

antithesis of the uncouth' element always latent in the term baroque."^"^

54

The fact that the galant was developing simultaneously with the late

baroque may account for Charles Rosen referring to this period as

"intermediate and confused." 18

Thurston Dart gives a general description of the term galant. "It is

characterized by an extreme and rather finical sensibility in the treatment

of ornaments, tempi and d3niamics . . . " He further classifies it as a

"synthetic style" derived from the fusion of early eighteenth century French

and Italian styles within German music of the mid-century, and clearly

pointing the way to the mature classical style of the late century. 1^ The

most important feature of galant music is the emotional cadential climaxes

of the melodic line and phrase. "The tune, its direction and its punctuation

are all that matters."20 This is in contrast to the baroque technique of spun

out melodies (Fortspinnung) derived from motivic development, the use of

sequence, and a concealment or deemphasis of the cadence.

Dart recognizes a few examples of galant style in the music of

J. S. Bach, including the Musical Offering;^^ the flute obbligato in "Aus

Liebe will mein Heiland sterben" from the St. Matthew Passion, and some

of the keyboard sarabandes. "But in general it is true to say that Bach was

not very much at home in this style on the rare occasions on which he

deliberately adopted i t ; . . . it was at its height during the years 1740 to 1780-

the generation of Bach's sons."22

Expanding upon the thoughts of Christoph Wolff with substantial

arguments of his own, Robert Marshall persuasively argues that there are

numerous galant elements in several works by Bach, including the

B-minor Mass and Goldberg Variations. He states that "the solo arias and

55

duets enclosed within the structural pillars of the large choral numbers,

especially in the Kyrie and Gloria sections . . . frequently suggest [the style]

of the modem Italianate galant."'^'^ He specifically cites the "tender mood"

and "gentle affections" in the "Christe" duet, as well as the unison violins,

frequent parallel thirds or sixths, the mixing of duplet and triplet rh3^hms

in the vocal theme, and the feminine cadence with its subdivided downbeat

and appoggiatura embellishment.24 He goes on to point out additional

galant features, including ornamentation, Lombard rhythms, mixed

rhythms, subdivided downbeats, and lingering half-cadences in other

movements.

Writers of the period as well as today's scholars identify various

styles within this period, or choose to emphasize different aspects of those

styles. One of the most useful classifications is into two main styles — the

galant, or free style associated with theater and chamber music, and the

strict or learned style, associated with the church. Within this

classification, galant is understood to apply to all music outside the learned

style, used most often in church music of the period.

. . . For 18th-century musicians, the term galant was applied to all music not directly associated with the strict church style or imitating it. For them, galant had a much broader meaning than our image of mid-18th century music characterized by

extensive local and superficial elaboration.25

Prior to discussing several musical elements of galant style in

somewhat greater depth, it might be informative to set down a number of

general characteristics of the style to immediately differentiate it from the

baroque. 26

56

1. the abandonment for the most part of polyphony and imitative

counterpoint;

2. the subordination of the accompaniment to the melody;

3. the use of various rhythmic-chordal accompaniment patterns,

such as the Alberti bass, as supporting harmony;

4. regularity of phrasing, usually into two- or four-measure periods;

5. articulation of phrases by rests and cadences;

6. affirmation of keys and tonal structure by cadences;

7. thinner textures, transforming the baroque contrapuntal

relationship between bass and melody into one of primarily harmonic

support for the melody;

8. loss of independence in the inner parts;

9. development of an incipient sonata form;

10. use of various devices of transition in dynamics, tempo, rh3^hmic

activity, and texture;

11. transitions and abrupt contrasts of affect within a single

movement.

Melody

Melodies were often borrowed from folk song or dance, which

contributed to their having a familiar quality and to their popular appeal.

Composers eliminated the use of difficult and dramatic melodic intervals

which appeared frequently in late baroque music. Rhythmic patterns

within the melody, also taken from dance sources, included syncopations

and the frequent mixing of longer and shorter note values.27

57

Harmony

Late baroque harmonic vocabulary came to be simplified.

Dissonance and chromaticism, especially expressive in the late baroque,

were exchanged for a more diatonic vocabulary. Harmonic rhythm-the

rate and frequency of harmonic change-was slowed down. 28 Composers

showed a distinct preference for the major over the minor mode.

Modulations were mostly limited to related keys.

Rhythm ^ • • • • • • < ^ 111

In contrast to baroque practice of endlessly spinning out a motive in

repetition and variation of its melodic and rhythmic elements, the galant

practice was to make use of more variable rhythmic motion. Successive

themes could be contrasted, not only by their different melodies and

harmonic accompaniments, but also through the use of different rhjrthms.

Baroque motorhythmic treatment came to be replaced by shorter phrases

articulated by rests and cadences, in effect interrupting the rhythmic flow.

Texture

The polyphonic, imitative texture which characterized much of the

late baroque's music was replaced by a simpler texture in which the upper-

voiced melody dominated the lower supporting and accompanying parts.

Where once the bass part participated fully and equally within the texture,

especially if that texture was imitative, it now served as functional support

of the harmony by merely providing the lowest tone, often by means of

repeated notes, or soimding the bottom note of a recurring rhythmic-

harmonic accompanimental pattern. The baroque's technique of each voice

having a melodic function within an imitative texture was changed to one

58

in which the middle voices predominantly demonstrate a harmonic

function.29 This "sacrifice of the integrity of parts was compensated for, in

mid-century, by an increased concentration of rapid textural changes,

more varied than Baroque composers had dreamed of "30

In addition to a polyphonic, imitative texture in which the voices

participate fully and equally, in much baroque music there is a distinct

polarity between melody and bass which is accompanied by inner parts

which serve to fill in the harmony and rh3rthm and which have less melodic

function than the melody and bass. The thoroughbass practice is, in itself,

an indication of this. As the classical style develops, this polarity is

shattered by the weakening of the bass line. It is the weakening of the bass

line which is the fundamental change in the classical period.

Dynamics

The change in texture from baroque imitative polyphony to simpler

classic textures paved the way for a change in dynamic treatment as well.

Baroque terraced dynamics or dynamic treatment which resulted from the

contrast of sonority in the division between tutti and solo were continued in

the new style. However, the change in d5mamic treatment was the

introduction of gradual dynamic change, i.e., the use of crescendo and

diminuendo.

It was the homophony of the "modern" style galant, which coexisted from soon after 1700 until mid-century with the music of Bach, Handel, and their spiritual kinsmen, that favored and almost necessitated elaborate djniamic treatment in details of phrases and in extended stretches to add interest to a texture impoverished by commonplace rhythms and inconsistently inspired melodies.31

59

Phrase Structure

Late baroque phrase structure was often derived from the technique

of Fortspinnung, the producing of a continuous melodic line from the

repetition and variation, the spinning out, of a short motive or figure, with

frequent use of harmonic and melodic sequence. Baroque phrases were

typically asymmetrical and often long. This structure came to be replaced

by clearly articulated phrases, most often symmetrical and balanced,

making use of an antecedent and consequent relationship.32

Thus, galant style (also called free or unbound style) may be

understood to have resulted from different elements of French and Italian

styles in mid-eighteenth century Germany. It differs from late baroque

style in its articulation of the melodic line and phrase endings with

prominently audible cadences, often ornamented. Other elements include

melody-dominated texture, regularity of phrasing, multiple affects within a

single movement, frequent parallel thirds and sixths, mixing of duplet and

triplet rhythms, and feminine cadences embellished by appoggiaturas.

In contrast to galant style, the learned style (also called strict, bound,

or fugal style) is characterized by melodies which retain their melodic and

rh5rthmic identities, resisting fragmentation and ornamentation. It

includes frequent use of melodic dissonances such as the suspension, and

the prominent appearance of the melody or fugal subjects in all the voices,

not just the soprano. Melody and harmony move in slower note values, as

in the alia breve style, and there is frequent use of canon, fugue, and

imitation within a contrapuntal texture.33

60

Empfindsamkeit

The work of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-88) is most often

associated with the style known as Empfindsamkeit, or the expressive style

{empfindsamer Stil), although his older brother, Wilhelm Friedemann

(1710-84), also figured prominently in its development. Components of this

style include the following:34

1. frequent use of the appoggiatura as a melodic sighing motive,

often resolving on a weak beat;

2. short phrases articulated by rests;

3. frequent use of galanterie, those decorative ornaments used to

embellish the melody, including mordents, Scottish snaps, trills and

others;

4. the use of a variety of constantly changing rhythmic pat terns-

short dotted figures, triplets, and as3nnmetrical runs-resulting in a quality

of restlessness and unsettledness;

5. harmonic and melodic chromaticism;

6. the music often takes on the quality of surprise, with sudden

changes of harmony, modulations, pauses and interruptions, variation of

texture, unexpected melodic turns, and sudden sforzando accents;

7. use of nonharmonic tones for tension and suspense. The differing

use of ornamentation in the rococo and Empfindsamkeit styles is only

partially a matter of frequency of use. While it is true that rococo

ornamentation may be more ubiquitous than Empfindsamkeit

ornamentation, the difference is more than one of degree. Rococo

ornamentation is always on the surface of the music, filling in the note's

duration. It is intended to be decorative. Empfindsamkeit ornamentation,

on the other hand, is intended to impart emotion to the music, to heighten

61

or intensify its expressive quality. Rococo ornamentation is manneristic,

while Empfindsamkeit ornamentation is a means of achieving the specific

goals of emotion and expression within the music.

The point can be made that many of the characteristics of

Empfindsamkeit are the same as or similar to those of the Galant. One

might even argue that the characteristics of Empfindsamkeit are largely

elaborations, intensifications, or exaggerations of galant musical elements.

This would explain some scholars' view of Empfindsamkeit as a

"mannerist" style.35

For Ratner, the key elements of Empfindsamkeit are its intimate and

personal style and sentimental quality. Citing C. P. E. Bach's keyboard

music as representative of the style, he includes the following

characteristics: rapid changes in mood, broken figures, interrupted

continuity, elaborate ornamentation, pregnant pauses, and dissonance that

is shifting and uncertain.36 Whether it is a case of performance

influencing the style or style influencing the performance, Bach's

preference for the clavichord for works in this style is significant. The

clavichord's sound is generally softer and more intimate than that of the

piano, although like the piano, differences of loudness and softness can be

produced by varying the force with which the key is struck. In addition, the

clavichord is unique among keyboard instruments in that, by varjdng the

pressure used to hold a key down, it can produce a vibrato effect (known as

Bebung).

Just as the Rococo played a role in overturning the baroque doctrine

of affections, so did Empfindsamkeit. C. P. E. Bach and other

Empfindsamkeit composers generally believed in the avoidance of extreme

62

emotions, preferring to express subtle shades of emotion and changes in

mood or sentiment, often in quick succession. The baroque idea of a single

governing emotion came to gradually be replaced in expressing these subtle

shades of emotion and changes in mood or sentiment by the musical

techniques used to achieve them:

1. modifying or developing a motive immediately after its first

appearance;

2. sudden key changes;

3. dissonances resolved in an unexpected and abrupt manner;

4. ornamentation as an integral part of the line rather than an

addition to it;

5. great emotional outbursts;

6. harmonic devices, including chromaticism, harmonic intensity,

enharmonic changes, augmented chords, and remote modulations.

It is these qualities of C. P. E. Bach's style which provide him with a link to

the later Sturm und Drang style, and even to the harmonic practices of

Romanticism.3 7

Of great importance to Empfindsamkeit composers are emotion and

expressiveness, and they exploit a number of techniques in their search for

these qualities. The following list will give some indication of the wide

range of expressive possibilities in this style.38

1. frequent use of contrapuntal devices, such as imitation and

inversion;

2. flexible phrase structure, making use of longer melodies of six

and even eight measures, rather than the shorter ^a/a/i^ melodies;

3. the intentional creation of asymmetrical phrases through the use

63

of different note groupings, for example, following a six-note phrase with

an eight-note phrase;

4. preserving the baroque use of hemiola;

5. use of angular melodies with more leaps than steps;

6. use of instmmental recitative (showing the influence of opera);

7. affective use of the minor mode;

8. frequent chromaticism;

9. remote modulation.

Sturm und Drang

It is often the case in music that terms employed to denote styles and

trends are taken over from the other arts-literature, visual arts,

architecture. Such is the case with Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress"),

borrowed from the German literary movement of the last half of the

eighteenth century and reflected in other arts. The movement found its

expression in music of the period which seeks a powerful and often violent

expression of emotion, and made use of "driving rhythms, full texture,

minor mode harmonies, chromaticism, sharp dissonances, and an

impassioned style of declamation."39 it is an intensification of

Empfindsamkeit which aimed "to frighten, to stun, or to overcome with

emotion. "40

As a musical trend, its most prominent place is to be found in the

theatre and opera after about 1760, and in some symphonists' works around

1770, including Haydn. C. P. E. Bach is sometimes named as an example

of a Sturm und Drang composer, but "his age and his reluctance to

participate directly in musical theatre make it more appropriate to view

64

him as a particularly powerful creator within the preceding and related

aesthetic sphere of Empfindsamkeit."^^ The movement has Httle

connection to organ works of the period.

Classical Stvle

The mature classical style toward which the previous styles pointed

has been variously analyzed and described by scholars, giving different

emphases to different aspects of the same style. One writer terms this style

"the ideal music of the middle and later eighteenth century," and includes

the following characteristics as its general aims:

1. a universal language not limited by national boundaries;

2. the music is both noble and entertaining;

3. it is expressive within the bounds of decorum;

4. it should be "natural," in the sense of being free of needless

technical complications and capable of immediately pleasing any normally

sensitive listener.42

It would be informative to examine several general characteristics of

the classical style more fully. These seven characteristics are periodicity

and symmetry, harmony, rhjdihm, melody, texture, performance, and

form.43

Periodicity and Symmetry

Ratner defines periodicity as "the tendency of classic music to move

toward goals, toward points of punctuation . . ." Classic music's "motion is

focused toward points of arrival, on every scale of magnitude, from the

figure to the complete movement. "44 The period is the most important of

65

these levels, with four-measure phrases and eight-measure periods

common. Authentic, half, deceptive and inconclusive cadences are used to

control and shape the motion of the period toward its conclusion.

The concept of symmetry plays an important role in periodicity by the

arranging and balancing of short phrases of from two to four measures,

which in turn may be divided into shorter symmetrical units of 2+2 or 4-1-4.

Symmetry permeates every level of classical structure, and includes paired

motives, phrases, periods, and sections. A symmetrical period's two

phrases have been variously referred to as antecedent and consequent,

question and answer, and subject and predicate. The symmetrical period

may be made as3mimetrical through compression or extension, especially

of the eighth measure, or even by making the final measure of the phrase

simultaneously become the first measure of the next phrase.

The importance of this periodic musical structure to the development

of eighteenth century style cannot be overemphasized. Its two elements,

consisting of a clear and decisive arrival at the cadence and complementary

internal arrangements of melody and rhythm, play an important role in

the change from baroque to classic style.

Periodicity is not a characteristic first noted in classic music.

Indeed, it is a common characteristic of dance genres of earlier music.

Even in late baroque music, with its technique of Fortspinnung, periodicity

was present, but it was common to begin with a symmetrical phrase and

quickly move to the spinning out of the motives and the use of sequences. In

the rococo style, periodicity was also present, but the melodic figures were

short and highly ornamented. It is in the later classic style that periodicity

becomes such a permeating feature.45

66

Rosen points out that the wide acceptance of the short, periodic,

articulated four-measure phrase of the developing classic style ("proto-

classical") was a means of pure practicahty, in that it was neither too long

nor too short for composers to work with. Additionally, these four-measure

phrases were easily divided into balanced and symmetrical halves while

the three- and five-measure phrases common to the baroque were not.46

The linking together of periodicity and S5mimetry in classical

phrasing with the harmonic sequence had a significant effect. In late

baroque style, the harmonic sequence was one of the most important means

of propelling a piece of music onward. Rosen calls it "the most basic device

of High Baroque rhythm," and notes that a "Baroque fugue is kept moving

largely by sequence. . . ."47 Since classical music found other means of

forward motion, the sequence, when introduced into a periodic and

symmetrical phrase structure, often had the effect of decreasing tension

and relaxing the movement. "[A]fter a series of surprising modulations, it

is a way of calling a halt, and is often used for this purpose, placed over a

pedal point, particularly toward the end of a development section."48

Harmonv

The harmonic vocabulary of the late baroque and early to mid-classic

eras is not significantly different.49 What does change with the classic era

is how harmonic relationships are used to define tonality.

Baroque tonality has been defined as functional harmony within a

circular or "solar" arrangement.50 In this arrangement, the various scale

degrees (dominant, subdominant, submediant, leading tone, etc.) are

67

related to the tonic in a subordinate manner. They and the functional

triads built upon them are understood in their relationship primarily to the

tonic and how they move within a progression of tones and harmonies.

Variety, interest and tension/release are exploited as the harmonies move

away from the tonic and begin to find their way back again, the pathway

often extended by means of sequence and deceptive cadences, but eventually

moving inexorably back to the tonic.

The solar arrangement is replaced in the classic period by a

contrasting or "polar" arrangement. In this arrangement, the dominant is

set against the tonic in a major key, and in a minor key the relative major is

set against the tonic. Within this polar arrangement, there exists the

potential for the music to yield a dramatic element, with the stage being set

at the opening in the tonic but with the dominant asserting itself at the end

of a movement's first part and continuing at the start of the second part.

But by the end of the second part of a movement, the tonic has regained its

position of superiority. It is this opposition and conflict between tonic and

contrasting harmony and final resolution into the tonic which results in

the dramatic aspect of the polar arrangement. Charles Rosen calls this

shift from solar to polar orientation "the greatest change in eighteenth-

century tonality . . . a new emphatic polarity between tonic and dominant,

previously much weaker."51 Rosen acknowledges that there is a movement

from tonic to dominant in most baroque music, but that it is neither

articulate, i.e., decisive, nor dramatic. The change from baroque to classic

use of tonic to dominant movement was one of intensity and strength of

direction. 52

68

Whereas the solar arrangement seems ideally suited for baroque

sequences and the technique of Fortspinnung, the later polar arrangement

can be seen to contribute to other aspects of classical form, including slower

harmonic rhythm, periodicity and more sjnnmetrical phrase structure. It

also contributes to the major importance of the cadence in determining and

articulating that structure.

Other aspects of the changing musical style of the 18th century can be

identified. These include modulation (the most important being the

movement from the tonic to the dominant); the frequency with which the

major tonality is favored by composers over the minor; the exchange of

mode between major and minor for purposes of color, expression and

drama, but also for "expanding harmonic functions, either within a key or

for purposes of modulation."53

There is also evident in the newer music non-cadential progressions

based on conjunct voice leading, especially in the bass, to give direction to a

harmonic progression.54 These include diatonic or chromatic ascending

or descending bass lines, sequence, and descending parallel sixth chords.

Regarding the treatment of dissonance, the most important

dissonance of the galant style is the appoggiatura, an unprepared accented

dissonance. The suspension, the most important dissonance within

Renaissance and baroque harmony, also continues as an important

classical dissonance. The dissonant seventh, ninth, diminished and

augmented sixth chords can be found in classical music, either in the

carefully prepared usage of the earlier style or in an unprepared context,

often for dramatic or expressive purposes. Finally, there is to be found in

the classical style the simultaneous sounding of two harmonies, either as a

69

double or triple appoggiatura over the bass, or as passing harmonies over a

pedal point.55 The pedal point passage is begun and concluded by the

harmony represented by the bass note, with the harmonic movement in

between being regarded as elaboration. Tonic pedal point passages

represent statement and conclusion, while dominant pedal point passages

help to build tension and a drive to the cadence.

In comparing harmonic technique of the baroque and classic, it can

be said that much remains similar or unchanged, including the essential

harmonic vocabulary, voice-leading, voice doubling, and the rules of chord

progression. However, there was a significant change in harmonic

rh5^hm, largely contributed to by the different functions of the bass lines of

the two eras. The fully participating nature of the baroque continuo bass

and its more melodic function within the polyphony necessitated more

frequent changes of harmony. But as the classic bass gradually exchanged

the earlier baroque melodic function for a more firmly foundational and

supporting function within the harmony, it moved less frequently,

requiring fewer chord changes, hence a slower harmonic rhythm in the

classic than in the baroque. Also playing a role in the development of a

slower classic harmonic rhythm is the ideal of S3nnmetry and balance. As

the baroque solar harmonic system came to be replaced by the classic polar

system, and was reinforced by classical symmetry, then phrase structures

which concentrated their interest on phrase cadences to articulate that

S5nnmetry also resulted in a slower rate of harmonic change.

A development related to this discussion of the changes in harmonic

orientation between baroque and classic is that of linearity. This linear

aspect of music is generally understood to result from the horizontal aspect

of the independent voices within a contrapuntal texture. But in addition to

70

its horizontal aspect, the music also has a vertical aspect. "These vertical

lines were carried by a strong horizontal bass line throughout the entire

Baroque period, and both aspects were heavily attacked by the new style of

the later eighteenth century. "56 Rosen goes on to place the new classical

understanding of linearity within a context which includes not only

harmony and melody, but also periodicity:

Late eighteenth-century phrasing is emphatically periodic, and comes in clearly defined groups of three, four, or five measures, generally four. Imposing this new periodic system upon the musical flow and blurring the inner progression of that flow by the new accompaniment figures meant that the linear sense of the classical style was transferred to a higher level, and had to be perceived as the continuity of the whole work, and not as the linear continuity of the individual elements.57

Also significant is the baroque and classic range of tonality. With the

gradual replacement of the old modal system with that of the tonal system

and the availability of the twenty-four major and minor keys (at least for

keyboard instruments, as evidenced by J. S. Bach's The Well-Tempered

Clavier, Volume One in 1722 and Volume Two in 1744), it is surprising that

baroque composers seldom ventured in the series beyond A major

(F# minor) and Eb major (C minor). Even more surprising, perhaps, is the

fact that classic composers imposed an even narrower tonal range upon

their key choice. As Blume wrote, "Never in the history of music were so

many pieces written in D, F, G, and Bb."58 This represents a deliberate

effort at simplifying tonality.

Blume also makes mention of the baroque's free use of both major

and minor tonalities, and the contrasting practice in the classic period's

strong preference for major. Similar to its simplification of harmonic and

71

tonal practice over the baroque, so also did the early classic period

demonstrate a preference for rather restricted use of modulation within a

movement. However, as the style developed, "the modulatory potential

quickly spread to the extremes of the possible."59

Rhvthm

The many and varied meters common to baroque practice, including

some which have now largely fallen into disuse (6/2, 3/16, 6/16), were

reduced in number in the classic era.^O The link between baroque meter

and expressiveness was one of which classic composers would certainly

have been aware.^l Johann P. Kirnberger (1721-83), himself a pupil of

J. S. Bach, discusses the connection between meter and expressiveness in

his Die Kunst des reinen Satzes in der Musik, YIIA, YI19.

The alia breve measure is proper for serious and pathetic matters and therefore is used in motets and other serious church music. The great 4/4 measure has a very emphatic and serious pace, and is proper for splendid choruses, for fugues in church music and especially for music which demands stateliness and gravity. The 3/2 measure is heavy and very grave, provided that only a few shorter notes are included. The 4/4 measure is suited best for a lively and rousing effect that has a somewhat emphatic quality. The 2/4 measure is lively also, but lighter, and thus can be used to express pla5^ul feelings. The 4/8 measure is volatile, and its liveliness has nothing of the energy of the 4/4 measure. The character of the 3/4 measure appears gentle and elegant, especially when it uses simple quarter notes. The 3/8 measure has a kind of bold liveliness.

These general characters are more sharply defined by the principal note values used, and by the rules which govern the progression of smaller and larger intervals. The character of a 3/4 measure changes greatly when only quarter notes are used, and when mostly small intervals form the progression as

72

when frequent leaps appear . . . . At least it should be clear from my remarks on the

various meters that such variety should help to express the nuances of the passions.^2

This passage shows that the classic composer's selection of meter

was not one of mere duple or triple meter. Expressiveness continued to play

a role in classic rh3d;hm, though less governed by the doctrine of affections.

In addition, metrical signs could be chosen which would allow for a change

in style without a change in meter. For instance, a movement in 6/4 could

accommodate passages in both 6/4 and 3/4 and not require a change in

meter or notation. Differences in affect implied by a metrical shift in the

notation (though not in the specified metrical marking) could be left to the

performer.

Within any particular meter, groups of notes could be rh3rthmically

manipulated to intensify the cadence. Two common manipulated patterns

included the imbroglio, which rearranged and displaced the normal

accents within a metrical pattern across the measure, and the alia zoppa,

the "limping" rhythm resulting from placing a long note between two short

ones, the first of which has received a strong accent.^3

Also of importance in discussing classical rhythm is the change in

how rh3d;hmic contrast was viewed and used in the late baroque and classic

periods. As has already been discussed, classical periodic phrasing led to a

change in music style from long spun-out asymmetrical baroque phrases to

clearly articulated, balanced, sjnnmetrical phrases. However, another

result of the classical sensitivity to symmetry was "a rh5d;hmic texture of

great variety, with the different rhjd^hms not contrasted or superimposed,

but passing logically and easily into each other."64 Baroque phrasing was

73

such that the balancing of the two halves of a phrase rhythmically was not

of primary importance; what was important rhythmically was movement

through and between the rhythms, joined together in a continuous

developmental flow.

Blume sees a rich and lively interplay between melody and rhythm as

well as a differentiation of rhjd^hm "in endless gradations without

endangering comprehensibility. "^5

In contrast to the homogeneous (motor) rhythm of the late Baroque there is to be noticed everywhere among the Classic composers a tendency to broken, if also individually stereotyped, rhythms. Dotted rhythms, Lombard rhythms (Scotch snap), S3nicopations, recitative-like rubatos, the gentlest transitions and often richly nuanced gradations (as in Wilhelm Friedemann and Philipp Emanuel Bach) are to be observed alongside sturdy dance and march rh3^hms; certain ways of alternating two- and three-note figures and triplet

cadences simply became the fashion.^^

Baroque practice was to establish a rhythm and to generally continue

it through to the end, resulting in a more or less homogeneous rh5^hmic

texture. Rhythmic contrast was accomplished in the baroque by the

superimposition of one rhythmic pattern over another, or by following one

passage in a particular rhythm with another passage in a different

rhythm.

A sudden and violent change in the rhythmic texture is sometimes attempted by Bach and other composers for dramatic reasons, as in the organ chorale-prelude "O Lamm Gottes" . . . . Here the effect is one of wilful rhythmic eccentricity, always giving a moment of shock to the listener, deeply emotional. . . But even [this work is an exception]: the most common Baroque form is one of simple and unified rhythm texture. When a rhythm has been established, it is generally continued relentlessly until the end, or at least until the pause before the final cadence. . . . "^'

74

A related element to rhythmic texture and rhythmic contrast is

rhythmic transition, or specifically, how rhythms change as a work

progresses.

Rhythmic transition . . . is achieved with discrete, well-defined elements, generally related to one another by each in turn being twice as fast, or half as fast, as the preceding, so that all the rates of speed tend to come from the series 2,4,8,16, etc. But the movement from one rhythm to another is felt as a transition and not as a contrast.68

The new slower or faster rhjrthm is often begun in a secondary voice, thus

making its entrance less perceptible, resulting in a sense of unbroken

continuity.

Melodv

The baroque concept of melody as something which may be carried by

any voice within the harmonic-contrapuntal interplay of voices is

exemplified in the baroque fugue, in which first one voice and then another

and finally all voices have sounded the melodic subject. This came to be

replaced in the classic era by the idea of melody as a single dominating line

supported and accompanied by the harmony. The comment of Mozart to

Michael Kelly, tenor in the first performance of The Marriage of Figaro, is

revealing of the position of prominence assigned to the melody by classic

composers: "Melody is the essence of music. I compare a good melodist to

a fine racer, and counterpointists to hack horses. . . ."^^

Among the various definitions given to melody in the 18th century

are these:70

1. a line of tones; differentiating melody from simultaneously

sounding tones of the harmony;

75

2. the part given to the principal voice (Hauptstimme);^^

3. a line of tones that is imified by key, rhythmic pattern,

punctuation, and contour.

In addition to these definitions, two different types of classic melody

can be identified:

1. simple melody, consisting of a line of chord tones constructed from

conjunct intervals and small leaps, primarily making use of quarter, half,

or whole notes;

2. figured melody, constructed from figures and motives elaborating

the tones of the simple melody.

The following two examples demonstrate the technique of

transforming a simple melody into a figured melody. The first example

shows J. P. Kellner's treatment of the first phrase of the chorale "Herzlich

tut mich verlangen," in an organ setting. The top staff contains the simple,

original chorale, the bottom staff the figured version by Kellner. The lack of

figuration at the beginning and ending of the phrase makes it easily

identifiable.

The second example (3.2) is the first two measures of J. L. Krebs'

"Prelude in Bb Major," discussed more fully in Chapter VII. This example

shows Krebs' elaborate figuration of a simple melody consisting of a four-

note diatonic descent from F to C.

76

Example 3.1. Kellner, "Herzlich tut mich verlangen," Figured Melody.

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From: Incognita Organa, Volume 40. Ewald Kooiman, ed. Copyright 1990, Harmonia. Fair use.

Example 3.2. J. L. Krebs, "Prelude in Bb Major," Figured Melody.

Simple melody was most often linked with the strict style, while

figured melody was linked most often with the free, or galant, style. The

classic era composer's technique of transforming a simple melody into a

figured melody by means of elaboration and ornamentation continued the

technique of earlier composers. There were seven individual ornaments

(agrements) systematized during the seventeenth century which continued

in common use by European musicians throughout the baroque and classic

eras: (1) appoggiatura; (2) trill; (3) turn; (4) mordent; (5) Nachschlag; (6)

arpeggio; (7) vibrato. Some writers have claimed that these ornaments

were primarily used to lengthen the sound of the harpsichord. However,

77

these agrements were used equally in organ and harpsichord music of the

period, which would argue against this notion.72

In his Essay on Instruction for Playing the Transverse Flute of 1752,

Quantz differentiates two types of elaborations: "arbitrary" and

"essential."73 The arbitrary elaborations were those used to ornament a

simple melody or interval, and were left to the discretion of the performer.

These included numbers four through seven above. By the late eighteenth

century, the practice was for composers to write these out as part of the

melodic line. The first three essential agrements, however, were

considered to be required or obligatory at certain places within the musical

phrase, even when the sign had been omitted by the composer, and were

used for purposes of accent and structural punctuation. It is significant

that the only signs to be found in the works of Mozart and Beethoven are the

tiny note representing the appoggiatura, and the symbols for the turn and

the trill.74

The concept of melodic rhetoric played a significant part in the

development of classical melody in general as well as the construction by

composers of specific melodies in particular. Theorists of the period

borrowed rhetorical terms and applied them to melodic figures in common

use within musical works of the period. 75 Since the "basic unit of melody

for all 18th-century music was the figure,"^^ this rhetorical aspect of

melodic figures is an important element of the style. To what degree

individual composers intentionally incorporated the principles of melodic

rhetoric within their music cannot be known. What is known, however, is

that "there can be no doubt that musicians of the late baroque, particularly

78

in Germany, were fully familiar with this aesthetic approach and often

incorporated its tenets in their own compositions. "77 it thus becomes

helpful to include here an abbreviated list of melodic figures with their

rhetorical terms:78

Abruptio. breaking off of a final note;

Anadinlosis. repetition of a figure after a punctuation;

Anaphora, repetition;

Antistrophe, the second part of a melodic section;

Antithesis, an opposing idea;

Aposiopesis. breaking off of a thought; general pause;

Apostrophe, digression to another topic;

Confirmatio. reinforcement of an idea;

Confutatio. resolution of an idea;

Contrast (self-explanatory);

Dispositio. arrangement of ideas;

Distributio. breaking up of an idea;

Dubitatio. uncertainty; broken, unexpected turn;

Ellipsis, rest instead of a note;

Epiphora, repetition of a phrase after intervening material as an

ending to a line (rh)mie);

Epistrophe. repetition of an idea;

Exordium, introduction;

Gradatio. climax, sequence;

Narratio. statement;

Parenthesis, insertion, interpolation;

Periphrasis, circumlocution, use of many notes where one will do;

79

Peroratio. conclusion;

Propositio. statement or restatement;

Repercussio. restatement or counterstatement (not repetition);

Repetitio. repetition;

Variatio. variation;

Versetzung. restatement of a figure on another figure;

Wiederschlag. counterstatement or restatement;

Wiederkehr. restatement;

Zergliederung. breaking up of a figure or idea.

The ubiquity of Fortspinnung as one of the preferred methods of

baroque melodic development is evidence of its ability to satisfy the baroque

composer, performer and listener as a melodic technique. But in the new

classic style, "melodic appeal . . . arises from a gratif3dng turn of figure or a

happy connection of motives, not necessarily from complete tunes."79 This

"gratifjdng turn" and "happy connection" of figures and motives not only

provided the sense of satisfaction and appeal to classic composers, but also

contributed to the musical coherence and unity of the overall work. This

coherence results from the presence of a number of conditions:

1. a compatibility of figures, whether similar or not; one figure could

be substituted for another;

2. counterstatements of melodic figures, making use of repetitions

and variations of melodic figures; counterstatement can also provide unity

at the end of a movement by recalling and rhyming the opening melodic

material;

3. contour established by the structural line: the structure of the

melodic line can often be shown to be a simple melody (discussed above),

consisting of a number of tones moving step-wise or through a chord. Any

80

figured melody derived from or based upon such a simple melody will

retain the same sense of direction as the simple melody.

4. contour established by the figured melody: use of an extended

figured melody to direct interest and emotional anticipation to a

predetermined point of climax, either the end of an extended rise or fall in

the figured melodic line.

This contrasting use of baroque and classic melodic technique is

closely related to their differences in the developmental process in general.

Rosen refers to classical and pre-classical development as "basically

nothing more than intensification. "80 He describes the earliest technique

of classical melodic development: " . . . one [technique] that was never lost,

was to play it with more dramatic harmonies or in a remote key. "81 This is

contrasted with the

. . . most common Baroque means of intensification, the extension of a theme and the avoidance of cadence, [which] never disappeared, and its effect was only enhanced by the classical expectation of periodic cadence. Indeed, the avoidance of periodicity (the breakdown of symmetrical organization) is the fundamental classical means of rhythmic development, and the fragmentation of the melodic material together with the use of contrapuntal imitation, is only the thematic aspect of development, corresponding to the rhythmic

and harmonic aspects and uniting with them.82

Ratner describes a "gratifying turn" and "happy connection" of

figures and motives to provide the sense of satisfaction, appeal, musical

coherence and unity of a work to classic composers. Rosen speaks of the

change from baroque to classical melodic technique essentially as a process

of intensification. Blume gives yet another understanding, preferring to

view melodic construction as linked with expressive power, and making

use of the combinatory potential of the smallest melodic unit, the motif.

81

It is in this respect that the Classic era parts most decisively with the late Baroque: there the motif is a common possession, now it is individual in the extreme; there it is essentially unalterable, now it is a germ capable of development, containing in nuce the expressive content of a movement. Within the frame of the structural period several characteristic motifs gather to form a "theme." The formative force must be strong enough to weld together the independent and self-willed forces of the motif in an energy-laden imity; only such a "whole" can act as a theme. More highly refined rhythm, more mobile harmony and tonality, often combined with color and dynamics give the composers of the High Classic a ready tool for establishing such a union of varied and divergent elements. The Classic is the first age to have known a "theme" in this sense. One can dissect Baroque "themes" into motifs, but their synthesis does not jdeld the tension-rich wholeness of variety and contrast in the structural period's unity achieved in the Classic era. In this process, too, there are of course transitional stages.83

This section began with the very simple and broad definition of

melody as a single dominating line supported and accompanied by the

harmony. But with the distinction between simple and figured melody, the

practice of ornamentation, the importance of figures and musical rhetoric,

and the several ways melody contributes to the overall sense of a work's

unity and coherence, it can be seen that melody was of great importance to

classic composers. It is not difficult to understand Mozart's statement that

melody is the essence of music.

Texture

The various musical textures of the baroque era were continued in

the classic, and covered the range of textures between homophonic or

chordal to pol3^honic or contrapuntal. However, textural style in the

classic era clearly favored a homophonic rather than a contrapuntal

texture. As noted in the previous section on melody, composers also favored

82

a texture in which a melody is soimded out clearly and distinctly above the

accompanying and bass voices. In general, the thick and complex textures

of much late baroque music were exchanged for thinner, lighter textures in

the new style.

The importance of this change must not be understated. The

predominance of contrapuntal texture that had continued from the rise of

polyphony during the Middle Ages had finally come into a balance between

the contrapuntal and the homophonic during the baroque, with the

homophonic finally dominating the contrapuntal in the classic. It was a

profound change.

Musical texture involves several elements: the number of voices

active in the work, how they act individually and together, and the effect of

the sound created in their interaction. Despite the shift from contrapuntal

to homophonic texture, the classic era continued to make use of earlier

textures, and these earlier textures were an important part of organ music

in the baroque and the classic eras.

The polarity of bass and treble that had been established during the

early baroque and which gave rise to the basso continuo continued in

classic texture. In this two-part framework the dominant melody line was

carried by the highest treble voice. The bass provided support and

determined the melody, while the inner voices sounded chord tones, thus

completing the texture. Much keyboard music, including that composed

for the organ, was written in this two-part texture. The inner voices might

also function as reinforcing voices for this two-part framework by

proceeding in parallel thirds or sixths with the melody, a texture common

to the baroque trio sonata but which persisted in the classic style.

83

Blume explains this difference between baroque and classic texture

this way:

While the late Baroque loved having all upper voices take part in articulating the even continuity of rhythm or assigning its own continuous rhythm to each upper voice over a bass that progresses evenly or in rh5rthmic ostinato, basses were now often confined to stereotyped functions, more or less without profile, of marking the beat and defining the motion, while the melody-bearing top voice is distinguished by a strongly differentiated rhythm, variable, often nervous, and fascinating.84

Counterpoint was also an important textural element in the classical

style, especially these three: species counterpoint,85 figured counterpoint,

and descending sixth chords. The learned style, including fugue, canon,

free counterpoint, invertible counterpoint, and free imitation, continued in

the classic era, and composers continued to be trained in the stile antico as

codified by Johann Joseph Fux in his Gradus ad Parnassum of 1725.

The greatest value for classic music [of this link between classic music and its predecessors] was to provide a firm textural underpinning for galant music, far removed from the lean and rigorous terms of the stile antico. Classic style retained some features of the Fuxian system, while making some profound modifications.86

Some of the Fuxian features retained include the following:

1. a cantus firmus in long notes used as a structural melody;

2. species counterpoint against a cantus firmus;

3. two-part writing as a basic texture;

4. relatively short periods or phrases, comparable in length to the

exercises of Fux;

5. slow and regular changes of chord, one or two per measure;

6. extensive use of fourth species counterpoint.

84

However, along with these retained Fuxian features, some others

were modified:

1. the replacing of the old church modes with the major-minor

harmonic system. Fux used cadences to articulate his phrase endings,

while classic music made use of such cadences throughout its

counterpoint, with cadential formulas and secondary dominants to

reinforce the key.

2. Ecclesiastical melodies as cantus firmi, except for chorales and a

few Catholic melodies, were replaced by structural melodies that imply

cadential formulas and sequences.

3. Punctuated, symmetrical, figured melodies replaced the flowing

and continuous melodic declamation of the stile antico.

4. Chains of parallel thirds or sixths came to replace the mixing of a

variety of intervals in the Fuxian system, and the tritone which was avoided

in the earlier music became a prominent and useful interval.87

In addition to species counterpoint as an important element in

classic texture, there was figured counterpoint. There exists a similar

relationship between figured counterpoint and alia breve counterpoint as

exists between figured melody and simple melody discussed earlier. Just

as figured melody is constructed from figures and motives elaborating the

tones of the simple melody, so does figured counterpoint elaborate upon the

simpler, note against note style of alia breve counterpoint. Just as figured

melodies can be reduced to reveal the basic structure of simple melodies, so

can figured counterpoint be reduced to reveal the structure of species

counterpoint. In effect, this process of reduction involves the reversing of

85

the processes of musical composition, namely elaboration, variation, and

paraphrase.88

The third important element in classic counterpoint is descending

sixth chords. As an amplification of a conjunct melodic line, it could

support both ornamentation and suspensions, and was often used to

intensify the drive to the cadence. It took its place as an eighteenth century

compositional tool along with the sequence by descending fifths.

From the foregoing discussion of texture, one might expect to find a

variety of textural practice during this period, including contrapuntal and

homophonic as well as a melody-dominated texture.

While classic music maintained the tradition of treble-bass polarity, it changed to give the melody more responsibility as the governing voice in the texture. . . . [This] shift of focus on melody arose from the ability of classic melody to delineate a greater proportion of the musical content of a passage while the previously very active continuo bass receded to a modest role of punctuation and chord support in a context of relatively slow rate of chord change. The focus on melody also opened the way to dispersal of melodic activity among the component voices in a texture, to a freer and more lively give-and-take.89

Performance: Dvnamics and Ornamentation

Only two areas of performance are briefly highlighted here:

dynamics and ornamentation. Both are discussed more extensively

elsewhere as stylistic elements.

Classic era dynamics normally ranged from pianissimo to

fortissimo, with forte (f) and piano (p) the most commonly used indications.

It was common in the baroque for djniamics to signal a change in volume

or in organ manual (terraced dynamics), and this was continued in classic

era practice. Dynamic indications were also used in the baroque to indicate

86

a change in sonority between tutti and concertino passages, and to simply

indicate the composer's wish for unspecified contrast. Classic composers,

however, came to make use of more gradual changes and contrasts in

volume and sonority through their use of crescendo and diminuendo, as

well as continuing more abrupt changes between loud and soft.

Rosen makes the point that "the use of two keyboards does not imply

two dynamic levels, but rather two kinds of sonority. In reality, this

contrast of sonority is more fundamental to High Baroque music than the

contrast of dynamic levels, which is only a special form of it."90 He argues

that a baroque work may be performed at one dynamic level throughout, or

two dynamic levels may be superimposed or juxtaposed, just as he

suggested was the case for baroque rhythmic contrast. But Rosen does not

support the idea of dynamic differentiation through terraced dynamics as

an important element of the baroque style. Rather, he supports viewing

such dynamic contrast as a result of the contrast of sonority in the division

between tutti and solo in the concerto grosso (and in organ performance).

This contrast of sonority is what allows for the clarification of structure and

the identification of the form of a work.

Having made his point that dynamic contrast may be less significant

to the performance of organ music in the late baroque and early classic

periods, Rosen goes on to say the following regarding ornamentation: "The

High Baroque looked for variety mainly through ornamentation and not

through dynamic contrast, terraced or not."^l

Melodic ornaments {Manieren, agrements) in the classic era were of

two types. Those written in signs or in small notes were performance

ornaments (Spielmanieren) and left to the performer for execution. Those

87

ornaments fully written out in the score were composition ornaments

iSetzmanieren) and were, of course, the composer's control of the

ornamentation process.

Improvised ornamentation no longer occupied the central position it had enjoyed in baroque and mid-century music; in fact, it was openly frowned upon. . . . The decline of the practice, as signaled by the fully written-out ornamentation of most classic music, seems to be an effort to preserve melodic elegance against its deterioration in the hands of unskilled amateurs and charlatans.^2

This decline of free ornamentation and its abuse by amateur

performers received the attention of both Quantz and C. P. E. Bach. Quantz

wrote:

Some persons greatly abuse the use of the extempore embellishments as well as the appogiaturas (sic) and the other essential graces described here. They allow hardly a single note to be heard without some addition, whatever the time or their fingers permit it. . . . It is true that the ornaments described above are absolutely necessary for good execution. But they must be used sparingly or they become too much of a good thing. The rarest and most tasteful delicacies produce nausea if over-indulged. The same is true of musical embellishments if we use them too profusely, and attempt to overwhelm the ear."3

In 1787 C. P. E. Bach stated the desirability for composers to specify

their own ornamentation rather than leaving the choice to incapable

performers:

In view of their many commendable services, it is unfortimate that there are also poor embellishments and that good ones are sometimes used too frequently and ineptly. Because of this, it has always been better for composers to specify the proper embellishments unmistakably, instead of leaving their selection to the whims of tasteless performers.^4

Rosen provides an interesting insight into the decline of improvised

ornamentation as the classic style developed. In discussing the similarities

88

and differences between the various baroque ternary forms (da capo aria,

dance form with trio, early rondo, and concerto grosso form) and the

various classical sonata forms (first-movement, slow-movements, minuet

sonata, and finale sonata or sonata rondo), Rosen pays particular attention

to the differences between the return of the initial A in the baroque forms

and the return of the thematic material of the exposition in the

recapitulation. He points out that in the baroque forms, the intent was to

heighten the sense of tension of the return through improvised

ornamentation, whereas in the classic forms, the intent was to resolve the

harmonic and rhythmic tensions, a process which would work against the

practice of improvised ornamentation. "The practice of improvised

ornamentation, however, did not die, although it was largely superfluous

in the classical style."95

Form

There is a tendency in discussing classic form to arrive at an ideal or

prototype plan and then compare or judge examples against the protot3^e.

This is too rigid a view of classic form which limits its richness and variety.

A preferred method for discussing classic form is to set down a number of

tendencies, common occurences, and frequent formal procedures taken by

classic composers, with the understanding that a single prototype does not

exist, with the further understanding that composers chose to incorporate a

great variety of options and procedures in their formal organization.

Many smaller-scaled classic works, when analyzed by harmonic

content, demonstrate a two-phase action, consisting of a movement away

from the tonic with a structural cadence to conclude the first phase,

followed by a return to the tonic with a structural cadence on the tonic to

89

close the second phase. Each phase or section could be repeated: A A B B.

This is the formal plan inherited from medieval. Renaissance, and baroque

music, especially dances. This simple binary form can be symmetrical or

asymmetrical:

A B symmetrical binary: I I: : I I: : | |

A B asymmetrical binary: I I: : I I: : | I

Figure 3.1. Binary Form.

Both the action of repeating a section as well as the repeated section

itself were known as reprise, hence, this form can be described as a two-

reprise form. This two-reprise form for the classic era was a generic or

prototype plan for formal organization, and can be seen as the formal basis

for both large and small scale works of the period, including dances and

symphonies.

In defining the form harmonically, the most common practice was

for section A to cadence on the dominant or tonic, with a clear return to the

tonic to conclude section B. Ratner offers the following scheme,^^ in which

X is chosen at the composer's option and represents the approach to the

final close in the tonic:

I - I, X - I when the middle cadence is in the tonic;

I - V, X -1 when the middle cadence is in or on the dominant.

In these small two-reprise forms, melodic material can be arranged

in a number of ways, including the reliance upon a single figure

throughout, or its opposite, in which there is never a restatement of a single

figure. The recall of previously stated figures can coincide with harmonic

changes to clarify the form. This is commonly done in two places:

90

1. recall of opening melodic idea at the return of I;

2. recalling the closing melodic idea of the middle cadence on V,

now transposed to I, in order to close the second section, creating a melodic

end-rhyme.

In smaller two-reprise forms, it was the composer's option to employ

melodic end-rhyme, but it became a necessity in larger forms. Indeed, it is

the use of opening melodic recall and melodic end-rhyme in larger forms,

along with the harmonic scheme outlined above, which clearly define the

two major parts of the two-reprise form.

The purpose of the X section is to prepare for the final close of the

second reprise in the tonic. Classic composers used a variety of harmonic

methods to accomplish this, and Joseph Riepel describes three of them in

his 1755 work entitled Grundregeln zur Tonordnung insgemein.^'^

1. Monte - a rise, signifying a rising sequence. In C major this

would proceed from F to G.

2. Ponte - a bridge, signifying a progression that remains on the

dominant;

3. Fonte - swell or source, to which a descent must be made; this

signifies a descending sequential progression, for instance from D minor to

C major.

The X section took on new importance as binary form gradually

expanded into larger sonata form. In second-reprise (binary) form, the X

section prepares for the final close of the second reprise in the tonic. As the

form expanded into sonata form, so did the X section expand in dimension

and complexity. It could roam harmonically, eventually reaching the point

of furthest remove, then reapproach the tonic. The X-section eventually

came to be identified as sonata form's development section.

91

These binary two-reprise forms are sometimes considered to be three-

part forms. This is due to melodic recall and melodic end-rhyme in reprise

II, in effect restating the material of reprise I completely. This can be

diagrammed as follows, and clearly demonstrates its descent from binary

forms already discussed. When viewed as a three-part form, it is known as

three-part, ternary, or rounded binary:

A B symmetrical binary: I I: : I I: : I I

A B asymmetrical binary: I I: : I I: : I I

A B (X) A ternary form: I I: : I I: : I I

Reprise I Reprise II harmony: I V V X I I

Figure 3.2. Binary and Ternary Form.

Confusion or disagreement may result in analyzing the above

ternary form diagram, which can logically be seen to be ternary when

analyzed thematically or melodically, yet can be said to be an extended

binary form when analyzed by its harmonic plan. This tension still exists

today in discussing sonata form, which is essentially an extended two-

reprise form harmonically and structurally, yet retains an ABA melodic

form superimposed upon it.

The ambiguity of two- and three-part forms is pointed out even more

strongly by Charles Rosen who, in discussing thematic unity, has written:

If we wish today to describe that late eighteenth-century form which could be realized in such different ways by Haydn and by his contemporaries, then it will clearly not do to use the number and position of the themes as defining characteristics; nor, on the other hand, will it be reasonable to dismiss the

92

thematic structure as merely a surface manifestation of a deeper harmonic structure, although this too has been proposed in our time; the themes and their order clearly had an important role to play.98

Although sonata form has a commanding presence in music of the

classic era, discussion here will necessarily be rather brief because of its

limited appHcation to the primary subject of this dissertation, namely the

organ works of the pupils of J. S. Bach. It will suffice to say that the

traditional three-part ordering of sonata form's sections as exposition,

development, and recapitulation results from giving emphasis to its

thematic structure and content. The two-part ordering as an extended two-

reprise form results from recognition of its harmonic structure. The

coexistence of these two-part and thee-part structures can be seen in Figure

3.3:

Exposition Development Recapitulation A B (X) A

sonata form: I I: : I I: : I I Reprise I Reprise II

harmony: I V V X I I

Figure 3.3. Sonata Form.

In discussing the rise of sonata forms and the transformation of the earlier baroque forms, Rosen labels the change a stylistic revolution, and says it came in great waves:

. . . the first, from approximately 1730 to 1765, in which the textures of the previous style were radically simplified; and then, from 1765 to 1795, a second and equally profound change in which the new forms and textures were given a greater monumentality and complexity. . . . as their possibilities were exploited, magnified, and finally combined with the contrapuntal techniques of the superseded Baroque tradition.^^

This initial simplification of form and texture is certainly in

agreement with what has been previously discussed in sections of this

98

dissertation dealing with simplification of specific musical elements of

melody, harmony, rh3rtlim and texture. Rosen, however, names several

reasons or purposes for this simplification:

1. the production of a moderately easy Hterature for the cultivated

amateur musician;

2. the creation of easily comprehended, dramatically conceived

forms for public performance;

3. an ever-growing neo-classical taste in all the arts for simplicity

and naturalness, opposed to ornamentation and complexity;

4. a new interest in personal, direct expression of sentiment

(sometimes called Empfindsamkeit) opposed to the objective, complex,

emblematic expression of sentiment of the Baroque (Affektenlehre). 1^^

The new developing sonata forms could achieve these goals and meet

these purposes. It is a fascinating point for further consideration

(discussed elsewhere here in the section on the decline of the organ) that

the very reasons and purposes for the change in style listed above may have

contributed to the decline of both the importance of the organ as an

instrument of the period as well as in the quality of music composed for the

instrument.

A number of imitative forms were carried over from the baroque into

the classic, although classic composers were generally less concerned with

the learned style than were baroque composers. Classic harmony and the

favoring of parallel thirds and sixths accommodated the use of canon. The

shorter classic forms also lent themselves to the incorporation of canon as

well as fiigato. Sections in fugato could occur within a larger, primarily

nonimitative section or movement.

^

In the case of fugue, however, the classic reliance on periodic

structure, strong cadences and the polar arrangement of functional

harmony (i.e., the strong polarity of tonic and dominant, as opposed to the

baroque's solar arrangement, discussed earlier) did not accommodate the

fugue's often far-ranging contrapuntal imitation. Consequently, the fugue

declined in use throughout the last half of the eighteenth century.

The classic form known as fantasia was also closely related to

cappriccio. It had several characteristics and tendencies:

1. invention: the devising of figures, progressions and textures by

the composer;

2. freedom of action: composing a work through improvisation; but

also having no set number of measures, order of sections, or fixed meters;

3. strangeness of effect: use of unusual passages, subtle ornaments,

ingenious turns, elaborations, and exploratory harmonies; "C. P. E. Bach

[Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments,1753] says a free

fantasia consists of varied harmonic progressions which move through

more keys than is customary in other pieces." 1^1

Finally, one is able to find sections of instrumental recitative in

classic music. It is derived from the solo vocal style which seeks to imitate

and emphasize the natural inflections of speech, and with which it shares

its common name. Its characteristics include no fixed or regular meter

and no symmetrical melodic rhythm. Tiirk writes in his Klavierschule of

1789:

Here and there in sonatas, concerti, etc., one finds passages in this style. . . . These will have a poor effect if they are played with metric exactness. The more important notes must be played more slowly and strongly, the less important more quickly and lightly, much as a sensitive singer would sing the notes, or a fine speaker declaim them. 1^2

95

Notes

iThere is a lack of uniformity in naming this musical style period. It is variously called Classical and Classic, with and without capitalization, as well as preceding both names with Viennese, a term derived from the fact that Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven all worked in Vienna. Whichever designation is used, it refers to that period following the Baroque and preceding the Romantic, and includes the sub-period styles known as Pre-Classic(al), Galant, Rococo, Empfindsamkeit, Sturm und Drang, and Classic(al) or High Classic(al), the last referring to the fully mature phase of the period which witnessed a synthesis of all that preceded it, and which generally refers to the mature style of Haydn and Mozart.

2J. P. Larsen, "Some Observations on the Development and Characteristics of Vienna Classical Instrumental Music," Studia Musicologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, IX (1967), 123, quoted in Reinhard G. Pauly, Music in the Classic Period, 2d ed. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973), 8. As with the previous chapter on Baroque Style, a number of sources have been consulted, and as might be expected, there is considerable duplication between sources. Sources listed in note number one of the previous chapter were likewise consulted for material in the present chapter. Because of the duplication between sources and the general nature of some of the information, there has been no attempt to assign specific references to specific works other than as noted within the chapter.

3David Poultney, Studying Music History: Learning, Reasoning, and Writing about Music History and Literature (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1983), 132-3.

4Friedrich Blume, Classic and Romantic Music, trans. M. D. Herter Norton (New York: W. W. Norton, 1970), 31.

5lbid.

6pauly, 28.

7Eugene K. Wolf, "Rococo," in New Harvard Dictionary of Music (Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986).

8lbid.

96

"Philip G. Downs, Classical Music: The Era of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven (New York: W. W. Norton, 1992), 58.

lOPauly, 28.

l lDaniel Heartz, "Classical," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995).

12pauly, 12,15.

13lbid., 7-8.

14lbid., 20-1.

15Charles Rosen, The Classical Style (New York: W. W. Norton, 1972), 108.

l^Some scholars use the designation Pre-Classical to refer to the early stage of classical development, while others prefer the term Early Classic or Galant. This would seem inappropriate since there is no similar designation for other musical style periods (Pre-Renaissance, Pre-Baroque, Pre-Romantic). To designate this early portion of the period with the prefix is to give the impression of less importance, or of a precursor or antecedent status, which is entirely inaccurate.

17Cudworth, 174.

18Rosen, Classical Style, 49.

l^Thurston Dart, The Interpretation of Music (New York: Harper

Colophon, 1963), 96.

20lbid.

2lDart, 96-97, says: "The whole of the Musical Offering was written for a court in which galant taste was at its height, and though the fugues and canons are necessarily written in a learned style, the trio for flute, violin and continuo is one of the most galant of all Bach's works."

97

22Dart, 97.

23Robert L. Marshall, The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach: The Sources, the Style, the Significance (New York: Schirmer Books, 1989), 41.

24lbid., 41-2.

25Leonard G. Ratner, Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style (New York: Schirmer Books, 1980), xv. Ratner's recognition of two basic styles within the period is a rather broad understanding, and is paralleled by Grout, though the latter identifies them differently. Grout describes the pre-classical as consisting of the rococo, or style galant (gallant style), and the expressive, or empfindsamer Stil (sensitive style). Rococo or galant embodies that which is "elegant, pla5^ul, easy, witty, polished, and ornate," and was popular in aristocratic or courtly settings, while the expressive style, more popular with the middle class (style bourgeois), was more concerned with the expression of human emotion, transforming the baroque affections into personal and individual sentiments. (Donald Grout, A History of Western Music, 5th ed., with Claude Palisca [New York: W. W. Norton, 1996], 454-5.)

Wolff and Marshall identify three styles for this period: stile antico, "constituting the eighteenth-century approximation of the contrapuntal style of the sixteenth-century masters, notably Palestrina"; the stile moderno, "being basically the common concertante fugal style of the late baroque"; and the stile galant. (Robert L. Marshall, The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach: The Sources, the Style, the Significance [New York: Schirmer Books, 1989], 41.)

26AS with Chapter II, a number of sources have been used in compiling these style traits. See Chapter II, note 4.

27Marshall, 33.

28lbid.

29lbid., 34.

30Downs, 38.

3lFrederick Neumann, Performance Practices of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (New York: Schirmer Books, 1993), 162.

98

32Marshall, 34.

33Ratner, 23.

34Grout 463-4.

35Downs, 58-9.

36Ratner, 22.

37pauly, 25-8.

38Downs, 62-4.

39Ratner, 21.

40Daniel Heartz, "Sturm und Drang," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995).

41lbid.

42Grout, 453.

43These characteristics are those covered by Ratner in Classic Music, but the discussion below includes contributions from additional sources.

44Ratner, 33.

45Ratner, 35-46.

46Rosen, Classical Style, 58.

47lbid.

48lbid.

99

49 Bach's harmony is sometimes influenced by the modes, however, and there are organ works in the Dorian and Phrygian modes. The remnants of modahty totally disappear in the music of Mozart.

50Ratner, 48.

5lRosen, Classical Style, 26.

52lbid., 69.

53Ratner, 56.

54lbid., 60.

55lbid., 64.

56Rosen, Classical Style, 29.

57lbid.

58Blume, Classic and Romantic Music, 37. This tendency to compose in keys of few sharps and flats might be accounted for in baroque composers, at least in part, by the predominance of mean-tone tuning, especially for the organ. In the case of tonal simplification in the classic style, one contributing factor is certainly the influence of amateurism.

59lbid., 38.

^^Ibid., 31. Related to but different from the use of metrical signs in baroque practice is the use of tempo indications. "In the music of the late Baroque specific tempo indications were still rare. Since categories and forms were typical, tempos were automaticaly understood. Where tempo indications do appear, they often call for departures from the norm, unusually slow or fast tempos, changes of tempo within a movement, and the like.")

6lRatner, 68.

100

62lbid.

63lbid., 74.

64Rosen, Classical Style, 58.

"5Blume, Classic and Romantic Music, 34.

66lbid.

67Rosen, Classical Style, 60-1.

68lbid., 65.

"9Ratner, 81. This passage from Rousseau's Dictionnaire de musique (Paris, 1768), 275, further explains 18th century theory's orientation to melody: "If music only depicts through melody and draws all its power from it, it follows that all music that does not sing, no matter how harmonious it may be, is only an imitation, and can neither move nor depict with its beautiful chords; it soon tires the ear and always leaves the heart cold" (quoted by Ratner, 81).

70lbid., 81-2.

7lKoch, Musikalisches Lexikon, Frankfurt am Main, 1802, 941; in Ratner, 107.

72putnam Aldrich, "Ornamentation," in Harvard Dictionary of Music, Second Edition. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1981.

73Ratner, 85.

74Aldrich, "Ornamentation," 631.

75The doctrine of Figures [Ger. Figurenlehre] is defined as "Any of various attempts made in the 17th and 18th centuries to codify music according to classes of musical figures thought to be analogous to the figures of rhetoric." New Harvard Dictionary, 305, unsigned.

101

76Ratner, 91.

77wim Apel, "Affections, doctrine of," in Harvard Dictionary of Music, 2d ed. Speaking of theorists of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, "Affections, doctrine of," says, "Although these writers often described the affective character of intervals, scales, types of pieces, and the hke, they did not share a precisely formulated 'doctrine of affections' relying on the use of stereotyped musical figues, as was implied by the German scholars who gave currency to the term Affektenlehre. The enumeration and description of musical figures beginning in the 17th century was a separate aspect of the general effort to conceive music in the terms provided by rhetoric."

78Ratner, 91-2; a more complete listing with musical illustrations may be found in "Rhetoric and music, ^3 : Musical figures" by George J. Buelow in New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 1980.

79Ratner, 103.

80Rosen, Classical Style, 50.

81lbid.

82lbid.

83Blume, Classic and Romantic Music, 49.

84lbid., 34.

85TO summarize species counterpoint, it is Fux's five techniques for combining a second, contrapuntal voice to an existing cantus firmus. Since the cantus firmus was given in whole notes, the first species, also in whole notes, was note against note. Second species in half notes was two notes against one. Third species in quarter notes was four notes against one. Fourth species concerned notes in syncopation with the cantus firmus, including suspensions. Fifth species combined the other species in eighth notes. Fux went on to cover counterpoint in three or more parts.

86Ratner, 109.

87lbid., 109-110.

102

88lbid., 111.

89lbid., 116.

90Rosen, Classical Style, 62.

91lbid., 63.

92Ratner, 197.

9 3 j J Quantz, Essay on Instruction for Playing the Transvere Flute, (Berlin, 1752; facs., Documenta musicologica [Kassel: Barenreiter, 1951- , ser. 1, 2, 1953]); trans. Edward R. Reilly (London: Faber, 1966), 99.

94C.P.E. Bach, Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments, (Berlin, 1753; facs., Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1957); trans.

WilHam J. Mitchell (New York: Norton, 1949), 79.

95Rosen, Classical Style, 101.

96Ratner, 209.

97lbid., 213.

98charles Rosen, Sonata Forms, (New York: W. W. Norton, 1980), 6. Rosen's phrase, " . . . nor, on the other hand, will it be reasonable to dismiss the thematic structure as merely a surface manifestation of a deeper harmonic structure, although this too has been proposed in our time; . . . " might be a response to Ratner's essentially harmonic understanding of the form.

99Rosen, Sonata Forms, 13.

lOOibid.

lOlRatner, 308.

103

102Daniel G. Tiirk, Klavierschule, (Leipzig & Halle, 1789, 2d ed., 1802), 370-1, quoted in Ratner, 318.

104

CHAPTER IV

THE BACHSCHULE

There is no authoritative and complete listing available of all those

who studied with J. S. Bach. He had numerous pupils (aroimd eighty

private pupils, about half of whom are included in the discussion below)

throughout his career in his various places of employment, many of whose

names have been lost to history. Numerous young scholars would have

studied with him at the Thomasschule in Leipzig, some as singers, 1 some

as instrumentalists, some as harpsichordists, some in the areas of

composition and counterpoint, and others as organists. Writings of C. P. E.

Bach, Forkel, and others provide the identity of many of these student

organists, as does some of their own personal correspondence and

writings.

Among the closest and most important to Bach would have been his

own sons: Wilhelm Friedemann (1710-84), Carl Philipp Emanuel (1714-88),

Johann Christoph Friedrich (1732-95), and Johann Christian (1735-82), and

a nephew, Johann Ernst (1722-77). Emanuel wrote the following in

response to a written inquiry from Sebastian's first biographer, Johann

Nicholas Forkel (1749-1818): "Apart from his sons, the following pupils

come to my mind: the organist Schubert, the organist Vogler, Goldberg of

Count Briihl's household, the organist Altnicol (my late brother-in-law),

the organist Krebs, Agricola, Kirnberger, Muthel in Riga, Voigt in

Anspach."2

Forkel includes the following in his biography:3 "William

Friedemann and Ch. Ph. Emanuel were, indeed, the most distinguished

105

among them"; John Caspar Vogler [1696-1763], "his oldest scholar."

Following these, Forkel hsts others with a brief comment on their positions,

studies, compositions, or particular musical abilities:

1. Gottfried August Homilius (1714-85);

2. Christoph Transchel (1721-1800);

3. Johann Gottlieb Theophilus Goldberg (1727-56);

4. Johann Tobias Krebs (1690-1762);

5. Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713-80), eldest son of Johann Tobias;4

6. Johann Christoph Altnikol (1719-59), Bach's son-in-law;

7. Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720-74);

8. Johann Gottfried Muthel (1718-80);

9. Johann Phihpp Kirnberger (1721-83);

10. Johann Christian Kittel (1732-1809), the last surviving Bach

pupil;

11. Voight;5

12. Schubert, also listed by last name by both Emanuel and Forkel, is

most likely Johann Martin Schubart (1690-1721), according to Walther a

pupil of Sebastian's from 1707-17.6

Forkel also includes two of Sebastian's younger sons: "John

Christopher Frederick" and "John Christian,"7 both of whom he claims

received instruction from their older brother, Emanuel, rather than their

father. Spitta includes two additional pupils without any additional

comment: one named Siegler,8 and one of Sebastian's nephews, Johann

Ernst (1722-77).9 Spitta also lists two additional Bach relatives: Samuel

Anton Bach, eldest son of Johann Ludwig Bach of Meiningen, who enrolled

106

in the Leipzig university in 1732 and lived in Sebastian Bach's house and

later became court organist at Meiningen; and Johann Elias Bach, Cantor

ofSchweinforth.lO

Others in the Bachschule include: P. D. Krauter (1690-1741), Johann

Lorenz Bach (1695-73), Johann Bemhard Bach (1700-43), and Samuel

Gmelin (1695-1752). C. H. Dretzel (1697-1775) "may have been briefly with

Bach," and T. C. Gerlach (1694-1768) "imphed that Bach had been teaching

him by correspondence for 14 years."ll Wolff includes the following:

Johann Friedrich Doles (1715-97), G. F. Einicke, Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber

(1702-75), J. C. G. Gerlach, Lorenz Christoph Mizler (1711-78), Christoph

Nichelmann (1717-62), Johann Georg Schubler (born ca. 1720), Georg

Gottfried Wagner (1698-1756), and C. G. Wecker.l2 Two other members of

the Bachschule include Johann Schneider (1702-88) and Johann Christoph

Oley (1738-89). 13 Blumeincludes Johann Peter Kellner (1705-72). 14 Jakob

Adlung (1699-1762) is included by Rudiger Wilhelm. 15

Given the decline of the baroque style and the rise of new styles

already evident during their teacher's later years, these Bach students

were confronted with the choice between the old and the new. Having

received training in the old style of their master, do they continue in that

style, preserving the musical wealth and heritage they received from him,

and turn their backs on the new trends and styles; or do they embrace the

new styles and trends, forsaking what they had received from Bach?

Obviously each pupil would face that decision individually, and for different

reasons, choose which path to take. The range of styles evident in the

works of Bach's pupils is wide and includes the thoroughly baroque, yet

107

also embraces the new developing styles. Other works evidence

characteristics of the new and the old within the same composition,

sometimes existing simultaneously and other times separately but within

the same composition. Some student works were obviously composed in

imitation of their teacher, and in several cases this has resulted in

misattribution or uncertainty over the composer's true identity.

Part of the methods of instruction of the period included the copying

by hand of a manuscript. The physical act of copying afforded the pupil the

opportunity to study a composer's individual style and methods, and would

result in a finished manuscript for further study, performance, teaching

and distribution. It is this student copying and sharing of manuscripts

which helped preserve many of Bach's own compositions. Particularly

active as copyists and preservers of Bach's works were his pupils

J. L. Krebs, J. P. Kirnberger, and J. C. Kittel.

Bach's pupils became organists, theorists, composers, cantors,

church music directors, town musicians, writers, concert performers, and

teachers. As students came into Bach's circle, stayed for a time, and then

departed, they found their places all over Germany, and many of them

continued the styles and traditions they had learned from their teacher.

Around the northern part of Germany and in Berlin, J. F. Agricola and

J. P. Kirnberger revealed the influence of Bach's contrapuntal style.

J. L. Krebs, regarded by some as Bach's greatest student and the true

inheritor and preserver of his organ style, lived the last twenty-five years of

his life (he died in 1780) as castle organist at Altenburg. J. C. Kittel held

organ positions in Erfurt from 1756 until his death in 1809. Other Bach

students worked primarily in the newer styles, forsaking their Bach

training. One of these was Sebastian Bach's second son, Emanuel, who

108

enjoyed a reputation among his contemporaries which probably exceeded

that of his father. He was court musician to Frederick the Great from 1740-

1767, then succeeded Telemann as director of the five principal churches in

Hamburg, a position he held until his death in 1788. J. P. Kellner was

Cantor in Grafenroda for the last forty years of his life until 1772.

It seems evident that there were really three levels within the

Bachschule, and Bach was most certainly aware of them. First, there was

that group of students, many of whom often claimed status as Bach pupils

for whatever benefit they could derive from it, but who were never really his

personally chosen, private charges. These are they who were members of

the choir at Leipzig, or who took class instruction under him, or who

perhaps played in the orchestra. Some of them perhaps never enjoyed even

that tenuous a student-teacher relationship with him, having simply met

him while they studied other subjects, or they were in attendance at one or

more concerts or worship services.

The second category would include those students who did, indeed,

enjoy private instruction of one kind or another-composition, harpsichord,

organ, violin, counterpoint-who remained with him for a time and then

went on to pursue their own careers. Many of these Bach would have

helped to secure their positions with letters of recommendation and

testimonials or through direct, personal intervention with the hiring

officials on their behalf. Bach valued the assistance many would have

rendered as scribes, copyists, accompanists, and assistants, and he made

use of their talents in positions which would pay a stipend or honorarium.

Geiringer writes of Bach pupil J. G. Gerlach:

. . . who had graduated from the Thomas School in 1723, [who] was also a valuable helper, whom Bach rewarded by recommending him successfully for the position of organist

109

and music director at Leipzig's 'New Church'. . . . Bach took Gerlach as soloist to Weissenfels in 1729, to take part in the celebration of Duke Christian's birthday, which certainly brought the young singer a handsome fee.l^

The third category includes those students whose relationship with

Bach transcended that of pupil-teacher. These were the ones admitted and

welcomed into the inner circle of Bach's family and friends. Some of them

lived in Bach's house for a time. One of them (Altnikol) became his son-in-

law and received Bach's musical dictations in his last days of life. Others

provided him with assistance of one kind or another which went far beyond

the typical duties of a student, as did J. L. Krebs in Bach's dispute with

Ernesti (discussed below). This inner circle of students guarded and

maintained their relationship with Bach throughout their lives, many

writing of him in respectful and genuinely warm tones, while some of them

payed hommage to him in their compositions, as did Krebs in his Fugue on

B-A-C-H.

Biographical Summarv of Selected Members of the Bachschule

There were four Bach sons who became prominent musicians in

their own right: the two oldest, Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp

Emanuel, whose mother was Bach's first wife, Maria Barbara, whom he

married in 1707, and two younger, Johann Christoph Friedrich and

Johann Christian, whose mother was Bach's second wife, Anna

Magdalena, whom he married in 1721. It is reasonable to assume that

J. S. Bach sought to provide his own sons with the very best musical

training he could give, with instruction in organ, keyboard, composition,

accompanying, violin, flute, and singing, in addition to their formal

110

education at the Thomasschule and the University at Leipzig. Writing

about Bach's sons as principal heirs of his music, Herz says:

Let us begin with those who doubtlessly had been closest to Bach and were the principal heirs of his music-his sons. Of these only Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Phihpp Emanuel and Johann Christoph Friedrich, the BUckeburg Bach, performed compositions by their father, while Johann Christian, who called his father an old wig, broke off all relations to the world of Sebastian Bach. 17

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710-84)

Friedemann is something of a tragic figure. J. S. Bach's family

seems to exemplify the notion that the second child of a marriage is the

most favored and fortunate, benefiting from some of the unfortunate

experiences endured by the older sibling and the first-time parents. In the

case of Friedemann and Emanuel, the four years age difference might also

be an important factor in the different turns their lives took because those

four years would have placed Emanuel's formative years of instruction that

much more removed from the older, declining baroque style and that much

closer to the newer trends. As the first-born son of J. S. Bach, Friedemann

undoubtedly carried whatever high hopes his father had for preserving the

old traditions. It is said, however, that Friedemann "lacked the solid,

purposeful character of [his] father." 18 Forkel claimed Friedemann as

"the most distinguished of [Bach's] scholars," saying:

. . . [he] approached the nearest to his father in the originality of all his thoughts. All his melodies have a different turn from those of other composers, and yet they are not only extremely natural, but at the same time, uncommonly fine and elegant. When performed with delicacy, as he himself performed them, they cannot fail to enchant every connoisseur. It is only to be

111

regretted that he loved more to play from his fancy, and to seek after musical delicacies only in improvisation, than to write;

the number of his beautiful compositions is therefore small. 19

Such high assessment of Friedemann's gifts is not universally shared; and

it is certainly tme that of the four Bach sons, Friedemann was the only one

whose fame and success in his own hfetime did not at least equal that of his

father.

Friedemann Bach suffered the tragic fate of having to live at the time of the Mannheim School of composers while being burdened by the old Bachian tradition. The latter committed him to the organ whose last master he was after his father's death. As the oldest of the family he could not evade his hereditary duty which dictated that he too ought to become an organist and compose cantatas. This happened, however, at a time when the deterioration of Protestant church music had already progressed so rapidly that there was no longer any sense in opposing it. In this context it must be understood that Friedemann, who talked about the gallant pieces of his brother Philipp Emanuel as "pretty little things" (the way Sebastian had talked about Hasse), improvised his own fantasies and fugues. . . . Friedemann Bach brought the history of German organ music to a close.20

Friedeman began his formal studies at the Lateinschule while the

family lived at Cothen. His father began the Clavier-BUchlein vor Wilhelm

Friedemann Bach in 1720, used with Friedemann, his brothers and other

pupils of Sebastian for keyboard instruction. His mother died in the same

year, a traumatic event in the life of any ten-year-old, and one which may

have contributed to some of his problems as he got older. At age thirteen,

after the family had relocated to Leipzig, he enrolled in the Thomasschule,

but he continued his rigorous musical training under his father. Volume

one of the Well-Tempered Clavier was published in 1722, and the twelve-

year-old Friedemann must have been made well-acquainted with it. In

1726 he had a year of viohn study with J. G. Graim, and in 1729 graduated

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from the Thomasschule, followed by four years of study at the Leipzig

university. He took his first organist position in 1733 at the Sophienkirche

in Dresden, helped substantially by his father's reputation and contacts in

that city, where he had given a recital two years earlier. In 1742 he sought

the vacant organist position at the Liebfrauenkirche in Dresden, but it went

to another Bach pupil, G. A. Homihus. Four years later, however, he

succeeded in obtaining the prestigious organist position at the

Liebfrauenkirche in Halle, again with his father's help. "By this time he

was widely regarded as the best organist in Germany, and the last survivor

of the Baroque organ tradition-though this recognition came primarily

through his improvisations, not through his performances of works

composed by or in the style of his father."21 Indeed, Friedemann's

prodigious reputation as an organ improvisor is documented in Forkel's

biography in comments related to the difference between organ and clavier

technique and comparing Sebastian and Friedemann, the two finest

performers on both instruments he had encountered:

Both were elegant performers on the clavier; but when they came to the organ, no trace of the clavier player was to be perceived. Melody, harmony, motion, etc., all was different, that is, all was adapted to the nature of the instrument and its destination. When I heard Will. Friedemann on the clavier, all was delicate, elegant, and agreeable. When I heard him on the organ, I was seized with reverential awe. There, all was pretty; here, all was grand and solemn. . . . Even the organ compositions that have been preserved of this extraordinary man are full of the expression of devotion, solemnity, and dignity; but his unpremeditated plajdng on the organ, where nothing was lost in writing down, but everything came to life directly out of the imagination, is said to have been still more devout, solemn, dignified, and sublime.22

113

Friedemann found that his thirteen years in Dresden, with its more

liberal and open attitudes, put him into conflict with the strict Pietism in

the churches of Halle for which he had to provide music. He increasingly

came under the influence of the Enlightenment, and his dissatisfaction

with the severity of his circumstances in Halle was heightened by contacts

with music in the court of King Frederick in Berlin.23 Increasingly

dissatisfied in Halle, he applied for several positions in other cities, and

actually received the appointment as Kapellmeister in Darmstadt, but he

never followed through to take over his duties there. In 1764 with no notice

to his employers in Halle and no new position to go to, he left his position

there, never to hold another formal position in his lifetime. He continued to

teach, compose, and perform, and eventually sold the bulk of the

manuscripts left to him in his father's will. He moved to Brunswick in 1770

and then to Berlin in 1774, thinking his prospects were brighter there. He

received support and encouagement from Princess Anna Amalia, the

sister of Frederick the Great. Her court composer, J. P. Kirnberger, a

former pupil of J. S. Bach, became a student of Friedemann and befriended

him as well. In return, Friedemann sought to undermine Kirnberger in

the hope of replacing him, a plan which failed and brought him discredit.

He remained in Berlin for ten years, in poverty and sickness, and in

declining mental condition. During his last years he put his own name to

several of his father's compositions, and put his father's name to one of his

24 own.

Friedemann Bach's fate reflects the tragedy of the artist who was not willing to make concessions to the prevailing public taste. Society no longer provided an opportunity for him to make a living. It let him die in misery, yet lamented the "irreplaceable loss" of its "foremost organ player."25

114

W. F. Bach's works fall into four periods. The few early works

composed while still in his father's house (until 1733) are mostly keyboard

works. While at Dresden (1733-46) he composed mostly instrumental

works. At Halle (1746-70), given his responsibility for the churches there,

he composed church cantatas and instrumental music. His last and least

productive period, the years in Brunswick and Berlin (1770-84), was marked

by primarily keyboard and chamber music and an unfinished opera.

The Bach sons each sought to reconcile the conflict of their baroque

heritage and training as received from their father with the new,

developing styles around them. Emanuel blended the old with the new;

Johann Christian turned his back on the old and fully embraced the new;

but Friedemann was unable to convincingly blend old and new or work in

either one exclusively. He vacillated between the old and new, sometimes

even within the same work. One description of this vacillating style

describes it as follows: "works [with] Baroque traits, sometimes strongly

reminiscent of his father-polyphonic part writing with much figuration,

skillful fugal writing, and realistic word painting-are mixed rather

incongruously among arias vnth thematic material in the Neapolitan

manner and songs with empfindsam melodic lines."26 Attributes of his

style include "an outpouring of rich melody, a harmonic palette more

varied and more daring than that of most of his contemporaries, a

consistent deepening of homophonic texture by means of effortless

counterpoint, and, above all, a highly personal style of emotional

"27 expression. ^*

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Carl Philipp Emanuel (1714-88)

C. P. E. Bach was the second surviving son of J. S. Bach by his first

wife, Maria Barbara, and became the most famous of his sons. Herz writes

of this passing of the generational torch:

When Johann Sebastian Bach died in 1750 the world did not mourn the death of its greatest composer but rather the passing of its greatest harpsichord and organ virtuoso. The composer, the contrapuntist Bach who wrote his last composition, The Art of the Fugue, in the midst of the Rococo or musical style galant, was admired by only a few conservative musicians and theorists and dismissed as an anachronism by the progressive majority of his time. The man they called the "old Bach" had died, but Philipp Emanuel was still alive; and he was the one they called the "great Bach. "28

So great was his fame, '"praised to the skies by the English music historian

Burney," that it obscured even that of his father. "Carl Philipp Emanuel

was the great Bach for the eighteenth century. "2 9

Emanuel was born while his father was Duke Wilhelm's court

organist at Weimar, and his godfather was Telemann. He was seven years

old when the family moved to Cothen, where he and his older brother

attended the Lutheran seminary, and nine when they moved to Leipzig,

where both brothers attended the Thomasschule. He claimed only one

music teacher, his father, under whose guidance he learned, not only his

father's music, but also music in the Italian and French styles. He also

benefited from the musicians from all over Europe who came to visit in the

Bach home, and he almost certainly learned from the discussions and

music making that accompanied these visits. Emanuel moved from study

in the Thomasschule to study at the University of Leipzig in 1731, where he

studied law while still living at home and assisting his father. He applied

unsuccessfully in 1733 for the organist position at Naumburg, followed by

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further law study at the University of Frankfurt-an-der-Oder from 1734 to

1738. He earned a living during this time through private teaching and

commissions for composing. By 1734 he had composed numerous keyboard

and chamber works under the guidance of his father, and began to compose

successfully on his own by 1738. The years 1731 to 1738, therefore, were a

period when Emanuel simultaneously studied both law and music, and he

practiced both throughout his life.

In 1738 Emanuel joined such illustrious musicians as K. H. and

J. G. Graun, Franz and Johann Benda, and J. J. Quantz in the employ of

Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia, the future king. He served Frederick

as musician and accompanist for thirty years, all the while continuing to

compose, teach, and write. He was present for the establishment of the

Berlin Opera in 1742, attended many performances there, but never

composed an opera. It is certainly not accidental or coincidental that his

Prussian Sonatas of 1743 and WUrtemburg Sonatas of 1744 demonstrate a

new dramatic element of his style at this time, which would continue to

influence his development. He found his employment by the king to be

confining, his compositions were seldom performed, and his pay remained

low. In 1753 he unsuccessfully applied for the position of Cantor at Zittau,

and for the position of Thomaskantor at Leipzig, a position once held by his

father. Upon the death of his father in 1750, Emanuel took into his home

his younger half-brother, Johann Christian, who would be his most

important pupil.

In 1767, upon the death of his godfather, Telemann, Emanuel was

named his successor at Hamburg, a position which included the cantorate

of the Johanneum (the Lateinschule) and music director of the five

principal churches of the city. He provided music for a large number of

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performances in the five churches and for civic occasions, gave private

keyboard lessons, composed, performed, and published music. Much of the

music he composed during the final decades of his life was sacred vocal

and choral music for the churches in Hamburg, often lacking the quality of

much of his instrumental music. Herz points out that Emanuel often

performed works by his father, as well as some by his god-father,

Telemann, or others that he arranged and adapted in a more modem

style.30 His choral works of this period include chorales, psalm settings,

cantatas. Passions, oratorios, and a Magnificat, perhaps his best-known

vocal work.

Emanuel composed keyboard works throughout his life, but preferred

the subtleties of shading and expression available with the clavichord, as

well as the tremolo or vibrato available on that instrument. His keyboard

works demonstrate the characteristics of the empfindsamer Stil, which

included sudden dynamic and mood changes, remote modulations, the use

of melodic sigh figures, triplet sixteenth notes and Lombard rh5d:hms,

chromaticism, and the use of S3mibols to indicate ornamentation. His

orchestral and chamber works include concertos for harpsichord and

orchestra, a form invented by his father, and in which Emanuel combines a

Bach-Vivaldi t3^e of baroque ritornello procedure with sonata form.31 His

symphonies include some written in the empfindsamer Stil and Sturm und

Drang. Other chamber works include solo sonatas with basso continuo,

trio sonatas, duets, quartets, and keyboard fantasias.

The extant organ works of C. P. E. Bach include two concertos for

organ or keyboard, seven organ sonatas (six without pedal), and several

fugues for organ or keyboard. As is the case with those by his brother

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Wilhelm Friedemann, the organ works bear little resemblance to his

father's. They "are often without pedal [and] stiff and uninspired. "32 If it

is true, as Herz claims, that Friedemann was the organ's "last master

after his father's death," then Emanuel's organ works are more curiosities

of form and genre in a period of decline. Emanuel, and Handel before him,

had allowed the organ to recede into the background of his creative

endeavors. In fact, it was in 1773 that Emanuel admitted to Burney on one

of his visits to Hamburg that he "had not played the organ for such a long

time that he no longer knew what to do with the pedal."33

Emanuel's most significant contribution is probably his Essay on the

True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments, perhaps the most important

musical treatise of his century. It was published in 1753, revised in 1757,

and enjoyed several reprintings and translations. It is regarded today as

the standard reference to eighteenth century fingering, ornamentation,

continuo playing and improvisation.

Forkel's comments on Emanuel single out his appeal to the popular

tastes of his day:

He went soon enough into the great world to remark in time how it is proper to compose for a numerous public. In the clearness and easy intelligence of his melodie, he therefore approaches to some degree the popular style, but is always perfectly free from everything common. Both the eldest sons, by the way, confessed frankly that they had been necessarily obliged to choose a style of their own because they could never have equaled their father in his style.34

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-95)

J. C. F. Bach was the eldest surviving son of J. S. and Anna

Magdalena Bach. He received instruction from his father followed by law

119

study at the University of Leipzig in 1749. Even among the talented circle of

the Bach sons, he was known for his keyboard playing. Forkel writes:

John Christopher Frederick, Concertmeister at the Court of Biickeburg, imitated Emanuel's manner, but did not equal his brother. According to the testimony of William Friedemann, he was, however, the ablest performer of all the brothers, and the one who played his father's clavier compositions in the most finished manner.35

Due to his father's illness shortly before his death, in 1750 he became

chamber musician in the court of Count Wilhelm in Biickeburg, a position

he held until his own death forty-five years later (hence his being known as

the BUckeburg Bach.) He became the count's Concert-Meister in 1759.

Christoph Friedrich gave himself wholly over to music in the Italian style

at the court, presenting oratorios, cantatas, symphonies, operas, and

chamber music by Tartini, Jommelli, Pergolesi, Hasse, but also by Stamitz,

Haydn, Rolle, Holzbauer, and Gluck. In 1778 he took his eighteen-year-old

son, Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst, on a trip to broaden his outlook and

stimulate his musical training. They visited his older brother Emanuel in

Hamburg and younger brother Johann Christian in England. He

continued to direct the court musical performances at Biickeburg until his

death at age sixty-two.

As might be expected, he exhibited a predominantly conservative,

contrapimtal style inherited from his father when he was first employed at

the court at the age of eighteen. For the next forty-five years his style

gradually evolved, through the expressiveness of the north German

empfindsamer Stil of his brother, Emanuel, toward an Italian-dominated

style that included lyrical melodies, slower harmonic rhythm, and

homophonic textures. For a time, these two styles, the northern German

and the southern Italian, alternated in his compositions. As he matured,

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partly under the influence of his brother Johann Christian, but also

because he was attracted to the music of Gluck, and later Haydn and

Mozart, his style became increasingly Classical. His works include

sonatas and short keyboard pieces, some in the galant style and others in

the empfindsamer Stil, chamber music, keyboard concertos, symphonies,

sacred and secular songs, solo cantatas, and oratorios.

Johann Christian Bach (1735-82)

Johann Christian was the youngest son of Johann Sebastian and his

second wife, born when his father was fifty years old. As was the custom in

his family, he may have begun keyboard and theory study with his father at

around age eight in 1743 or 1744. Forkel, however, says:

John Christian, called Bach of Milan, and afterward of London, being the youngest son of the second marriage, had not the good fortune to receive instructions from his father. The original spirit of Bach is therefore not to be found in any of his works. He became, however, a popular composer who was universally liked in his time.36

Following his father's death, he went to live and study with his older

brother, Emanuel, in Berlin. He travelled to Italy where he studied with

Padre Martini, converted to Roman Catholicism in 1757, and became one of

the two organists at the cathedral in Milan.37 He had been composing

keyboard works and concertos, but now began to receive commissions for

operas from Turin, Naples, and Milan, and job offers from Venice and

London, the latter for the King's Theatre. While in London he collaborated

with C. F. Abel, a boyhood companion from Leipzig who had moved to

London in 1758, on the important and successful Bach-Abel concert series

which lasted from 1765 imtil 1781. Much of the music presented in the

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concerts were by Johann Christian and Abel, including cantatas and

symphonies. In 1764 the eight-year-old Mozart began a year-long stay in

London, became quite close friends with Johann Christian, and was greatly

influenced by him in his own composition. During Lent of 1770, Bach

presented a series of oratorios at the King's Theatre. At one such

performance, the queen insisted he play an organ concerto between acts.

His style of playing, entirely different from that of Handel in earlier years,

was greeted with hisses from the audience and laughter from the boys

chorus. It was an event of public humiliation for him.38 A commission to

compose an opera for Elector Carl Theodor in Mannheim led to numerous

operas being composed and presented there, and Bach travelled between

duties in London and Mannheim between 1772 and 1778. Johann

Christian's popularity in London declined during his later years, despite

new commissions, including an opera for the Academie Royale de Musique

in Paris. His concerts saw lower attendance and his private students fell

away. His housekeeper had embezzled large amounts of money, and his

health declined after 1781. His death passed nearly unnoticed among the

London public.

Johann Christian rebelled against his family and its traditions in a

number of ways: his departure from Germany, conversion to Roman

Catholicism, and his operatic activity. Unlike his older brothers, he did not

struggle to reconcile the two musical forces, baroque and classic; he simply

turned his back on the former to embrace the latter.

Johann Christian Bach's works include substantial Latin church

music from his early career, an oratorio, keyboard works, and

instrumental music. His operas are primarily Italian opera seria. His

early orchestral music shows little distinction between opera overtures and

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orchestral symphonies, but by 1765 he began to differentiate the two forms.

He composed keyboard and chamber works throughout his life, much of it

for use by his pupils and the growing amateur market.

During his lifetime he was respected as composer and performer, but

following his death, his music and popularity faded, eclipsed by the

accomplishments of Haydn and Mozart. During the period of rediscovery

and revival of his father's music, Johann Christian's works were seen to

lack the seriousness and profundity of his father's, and the originality of

his brother, Emanuel's.^9 g^^t with two centuries hindsight, we can now

see Johann Christian as falling fully in the new style. Unlike his oldest

half-brother, Wilhelp Friedemann, Johann Christian chose a path that led

into new directions and trends, a path which finally led to his being

overshadowed by Haydn and Mozart. However, "in a broader historical

perspective he can be seen as a highly significant figure of his time, the

chief master of the galant style, who produced music of elegance, formality

and aptness for its social purpose, and was able to infuse it with both vigour

and refined sensibility. "40

Johann Lorenz Bach (1695-73)

Johann Lorenz was the son of J. S. Bach's cousin, Johann Valentin

(1669-1720), who was a town musician and head tower watchman in

Schweinfurt. Johann Lorenz studied with J. S. Bach in Weimar from 1715-

17. In 1718 he became organist and Cantor at the Castle Church in Lahm

and choirmaster and teacher at the court of Baron von Lichtenstein, a

position he held until his death.41 Only one of his works survives, an organ

fugue in D.42 On the basis of this composition, Spitta judges him "to have

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been a skilled and original composer. "43 Johann Lorenz is important as

the compiler of a genealogy which derives from that drawn up by Emanuel

Bach and given to Forkel for his biography. The Lorenz version, eventually

passed on to his great-grandson, Johann Georg Wilhelm Ferrich, minister

of Seidmannsdorf, "allowed the genealogy to be published in the Allgemeine

Musikalische Zeitung, Vol. XLV, Nos. 30 and 31."44

Johann Bernhard Bach (1700-43)

When J. S. Bach's father died in 1695, the ten year old Sebastian was

taken into the home of his oldest brother, Johann Christoph (b. 1671). It

was natural, therefore, that when Johann Christoph's son, Johann

Bernhard, did poorly in school in their town of Ohrdruf, his father sent him

to live with Johann Sebastian at Weimar. This nephew was the first Bach

relative to so come under Sebastian's care.45 He remained in Sebastian's

home from 1715-19 in both Weimar and Cothen. There he studied the

clavier and composition, and must also have studied the organ since he

became organist of St. Michael's in Ohrdruf in 1721.46 He also appears in

the records of the Cothen Capelle as a music copyist.47 A number of

Sebastian Bach's works survive in manuscript prepared during this time

by Johann Bernhard. Spitta places him under Bach's care only from 1715-

17.

This same Bernhard . . . had trained himself to considerable eminence as an organist and composer of sacred music, and between the years of 1715 and 1717 he had been under the tuition of Sebastian Bach at Weimar. Of course he there did what all the other pupils did, wrote out a number of the best of his master's compositions, with others recommended by him, for his own use.48

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Spitta cites three clavier works by Johann Bernhard, including a

suite in E-flat major which "betrays an almost comical imitation of

Sebastian's methods; it would be possible to refer its origin almost bar for

bar to the six partitas of the first part of the ClavierUbung.""^^ The other two

works, a sonata in B-flat major and a fantasia in G major, demonstrate

more originality.

Samuel Anton Bach (1713-81)

Samuel Anton was the oldest son of Johann Ludwig Bach (1677-1731),

distant cousin to J. S. Bach, and a court musician, Kantor, and

Kapellmeister who enjoyed the lifelong patronage of Duke Ernst Ludwig.

Johann Ludwig wrote a substantial number of orchestral and vocal works.

Johann Sebastian evidently thought highly of his vocal works because he

performed eighteen of his cantatas and two of his masses at Leipzig. 50

When Samuel Anton enrolled at the Leipzig University in 1732, he took up

residence in Sebastian's house. He became close friends with Emanuel,

also a university student by that time. In addition to his university studies

and lessons with Sebastian, he was an artist of some success, and

eventually became both court organist and court painter at Meiningen.

Emanuel wrote of Samuel Anton in the family genealogy:

The son of the Capellmeister of Meinungen is still living there, as Court Organist and Court Painter; his son is engaged as his assistant in both capacities. Both father and son are excellent portrait painters. The latter visited me last summer, and painted my portrait, catching the likeness excellently.51

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Samuel Anton's son of whom Emanuel speaks was Johann Philipp (1752-

1846), who at the age of ninety-five had outlived Sebastian Bach's last

grandson, and had the distinction of being the last surviving member of the

Bach line.52

Johann Ernst Bach (1722-77)

Johann Ernst was the son of J. S. Bach's nephew, Johann Bernhard.

He became a Bach pupil in 1737 upon entering the Thomasschule in

Leipzig. Spitta takes note of a manuscript copy of the twelve Vivaldi

concertos in Johann Ernst's hand from this period, arranged for the organ

or cembalo by J. S. Bach.53 He studied law at the university and took a

position assisting his father in Eisenach in 1742, and later succeeding him

as organist. His musical abilities led to his being appointed

Hofkapellmeister in 1756, and to his contributing the foreword to Adlung's

Anleitung zu der musikalischen Gelehrtheit in 1758. Stylistically, he

embraced the developing trends of his generation, although he continued to

compose in a contrapuntal style also. His vocal works are often dramatic

and his galant melodies contain expressive word-painting and lively bases

and elaborate accompaniments.54 C. P. E. Bach's Genealogy of the Bach

Family contains the following information about Johann Ernst:

. . . only son of Joh. Bernh. Bach, was born Anno 1722. Will devote himself to music along with his [academic] studies. Is Capellmeister of Weimar, but now lives away from the Court, very happily and quietly attending to his duties as Organist in Eisenach. Still receives a pension from the Court, and has sons, but presumably unmusical ones. 55

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Carl FripHrich Abel (1723-87)

Abel was bom at Cothen, where his father was a colleague of J. S.

Bach's in the Cothen Capelle.56 Early musical study was with his father in

Cothen, but after his father died in 1737, he went to Leipzig to study with

Bach. He played gamba in the court orchestra under Hasse in Dresden,

where he became acquainted v^ith Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, who was

organist there until 1746, and J. S. Bach held the appointment of court

composer from 1736. His travels took him to Frankfurt, Mannheim and

Paris, and he became a chamber musician to the King of Poland.57 in 1758

he went to London, where he would remain for most of the remainder of his

life. There he gave concerts on the gamba and harpsichord, and continued

composing. He became the foremost virtuoso of his time on the viola da

gamba.58 it was in London where he joined with another of Sebastian

Bach's sons, Johann Christian, in the long-running Bach-Abel concert

series. He died from an excess of drinking over the period of his last years.

"In Burney's words, 'he loved his bottle' and 'by excess of drinking,' when

he was ill, 'he put an end to his complaint and to his life.' "59

Abel's works are mostly instrumental, energetic and light-hearted,

with little deep emotion or Sturm und Drang elements. He eventually

began to write non-continuo bass lines, but his textures often included two

melody lines supported by a bass: that of the baroque trio sonata. His

harmonies are rich and expressive, and his melodies are instrumental,

with broken chords, syncopation, and appoggiaturas. He frequently makes

use of asymmetrical phrases free of the pre-Classical two- and four-bar

units.60

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Jakob Adlung (1699-1762)

Adlung was born in Erfurt into the family of an organist and teacher,

from whom he received his early musical training. In 1713, while at the

Erfurt Gjmmasium, he lived in the home of and studied the organ with

Christian Reichardt. He went on to the university in Jena in 1723, studying

philosophy, philology and theology, and organ with Johann Nikolaus Bach

(whose grandfather was a brother to Johann Sebastian's grandfather). He

met and became friends with Johann Gottfried Walther in Weimar, and in

1727 he became organist at the Church of the Holy Sermon in Erfurt,

during which time he entered into organ study with J. S. Bach.^l

Adlung, along with Mattheson, Mizler and Walther, was one of a

number of distinguished and influential scholar-musicians working in

Germany in the middle of the eighteenth century. Adlung wrote

extensively on music theory and aesthetics, the German Baroque, and

compiled invaluable data about German organs and organ-building of the

period, including information about the case, pipes and registers, tuning,

temperament, and methods of testing.^2 Much of this information is

contained in his work, Musica mechanica organoedi. A second work,

Anleitung zu der musikalischen Gelehrtheit, includes his writings on

music history, music and mathematics, tuning, organ history,

registration, construction and building costs, musical instruments, vocal

singing, thoroughbass, the chorale prelude, improvisation, and

composition. It is one of the high points of German eighteenth century

scholarship. Several of his other works were destroyed by a fire in his home

in 1736.63

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Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720-74)

Agricola began his study with Bach in 1738 while a student at the

Leipzig university. Bach trained Agricola especially in cembalo and organ

playing and in composition. He regarded his pupil's abilities high enough

to press him into service as the keyboard player in the Collegium musicum,

which Bach conducted in 1738, and also as accompanist for some of his

church music. In 1741 Agricola went to Berlin as a pupil of Quantz, and

became acquainted with C. P. E. Bach and C. H. Graun. He undertook

there a study of opera and the Italian style of singing, and as an opera

composer, became a patron of Frederick the Great. He became court

composer in 1751, and in the same year, against the king's policy, married

one of the opera singers. This conflict led to a reduction in both their

salaries.64 Graun, the king's chief opera composer, died in 1759, and

Agricola was chosen as his successor but was denied the title of

Capellmeister, perhaps as a result of his marrying against the king's

policy.65 His career as an opera composer took a downward turn, even to

the point of the king requiring they be extensively revised.66

Agricola's career embodied not only the composition of operas,

church and instrumental music, but also performing and teaching. He

was the tenor soloist in the premiere of Graun's Tod Jesu in 1755 and

continued to teach and write about singing throughout his life. He also

taught organ in the Bach tradition. Burney visited him in 1772 and

"regarded [him] as the best organ-player in Berlin, and the best singing

master in Germany."67 One assessment of his keyboard works shows him

to be "a fine craftsman in the Bach tradition who nevertheless joined the

trend towards Empfindsamkeit or even, in some cases, towards

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sentimentality,"68 and Forkel writes of him, "He is less known by his

compositions than by his knowledge of the theory of music."69

We are indebted to Agricola for his first-hand recollections of what

Bach thought of certain aspects of the organ and other instruments. In his

Notes from a Treatise on the Organ and Other Instruments of 1766,70

Agricola describes Bach's admiration for and use of reed stops, his opinion

on low pedal stops, the length and width of keys in the manuals and its

effect on performance, his opinion of Gottfried Silbermann's newly-

invented pianofortes, and the lute-harpsichord.

Agricola's writings are important as an early source on J. S. Bach.

Especially significant is his collaboration with C. P. E. Bach on the Bach

obituary published by Mizler in 1754. There is, however, this even earlier

tribute to his deceased master, published in a pamphlet the first year after

Bach's death:

The smallest work that tastes of Bach leaves us more pleased. Than aught that from Italian quill was ever squeezed.

Just as Greece had only one Homer, and Rome only one Virgil, so Germany is likely to have had only one Bach, whom until now no one, whether in the art of writing or of pla5dng on the organ and the harpsichord, has equalled in all of Europe, and whom in the future no one will surpass. The famous harmony and art of Pater Martini, the ingenuity and invention of Marcello, the singing melody and style of Geminiani, and the hand of an Alessandro [Scarlatti?], taken all together, are far from being equal to this Bach.71

Johann Christoph Altnikol (1719-59)

Altnikol, along with Kittel and Miithel, was among Bach's favored

pupils during his last years. He entered the Leipzig university in 1744 and

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often assisted Bach in numerous church performances as a singer. In

1746, when Wilhelm Friedemann Bach vacated his position at the

Sophienkirche in Dresden to take the more important organist position at

the Liebfrauenkirche in Halle, he recommended Altnikol as his successor.

Altnikol failed to win the position despite Friedemann's trumpeting his

study with Sebastian Bach. In 1748, with Bach's assistance, he secured the

position of organist at Niederwiesa, near Greiffenberg, Silesia. Only six

months later, again with the recommendation of Bach, Altnikol was

appointed organist at St. Wenceslaus in Naumburg, a position he held until

his death. Later that year Altnikol took up residence in the Bach family

dwelling, and in 1749 he became Bach's son-in-law by marrying his

daughter Elisabeth. A little over eight months later, they presented Bach

with his first grandchild, a boy, Johann Sebastian, who died less than three

weeks after birth. It is Forkel who places Altnikol at Bach's deathbed,

receiving the dictated final chorale prelude, Vor deinen Thron tret' ich

hiermit (Before Thy throne, my God, I stand), BWV 668.72 ^ew of

Altnikol's works survive. Emery believes that Bach spoke highly of his son-

in-law's compositions perhaps because of family considerations rather

than their own merit.73 Altnikol is remembered today more because he

was the husband of Bach's daughter, the recipient of his final dictated

compositions, and a Bach copyist, rather than for his own compositions.

Johann Friedrich Doles (1715-97)

Following early study with his father and older brother. Doles went to

the school in Schmalkalden where, at age fifteen, he became organist. In

1734 he enrolled in the Schleusingen Gymnasium, where he was prefect of

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the school's choir, organized a concert series, and participated in the

performance and composition of a number of vocal and choral works. Doles

went to the Leipzig University in 1739. In 1744 he, and not his teacher,

provided the music for the Collegiimi Musicum, and in the same year

became Cantor at Freiberg, and eventually Cantor at the cathedral and the

churches of St. Peter, St. Nicholas and St. John. In 1755, upon being

selected firom a field of candidates that included C. P. E. Bach, Doles took

his place in the line of cantors of the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, the

second successor to J. S. Bach. By then, he was actively cultivating the

newer styles rather than those he had studied with Bach.74

It was during Doles' tenure at Leipzig that Bach's works, which had

remained in the church's possession, fell into disuse. Herz writes: "There

is, however, no concrete proof that Bach's pupil Doles performed cantatas of

his great teacher in the church services of the Thomas School."75

However, Herz claims that other performances of Bach's music did take

place while he was Thomas Cantor: As a pupil of Doles, "Rochlitz, the first

great Bach esthetician of the early nineteenth century, reported that he

often had to join in the singing (of the motets) under Doles" and that on

"Palm Sunday in 1776 a Bach Passion was even presented under Doles."76

Doles played a rather significant role in Mozart's discovery of Bach's

music. In 1789, Mozart visited the Thomasschule in Leipzig, and while

there, played on the Thomaskirche organ. He also attended a concert by the

Thomas Choir of Bach's eight-part motet Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied.

Mozart, listening attentively, sat up, startled, after the first few measures, then exclaimed surprised and joyful, "What is this? Finally, here is something from which one can learn". . . . The story is well known how, after the sounds of the motet had died away, Mozart made Doles bring him the other motets of the

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master, the original parts of which the Thomas School possessed. He became totally absorbed in the sheet by sheet study of the different voices and reconstructed in this manner these compositions in his mind. When he finished, he asked for and received a copy of these works. "77

Doles was one of the more important late eighteenth century

composers of church music. He composed cantatas, Heder, motets,

chorales. The criticism he received from Spitta for forsaking the style of his

teacher has also been stated of other Bach pupils: "[His] bias was towards

the sentimental, the operatic and the vacuously popular, and he was not the

true son of his master."78 A more sympathetic view, however, would be

that, like others of his generation, he believed the rigors of baroque

contrapuntal polyphony served to confuse a worshipping and singing

congregation, that they would be more engaged and moved by the melody-

dominated style of Hasse and Graun. He "aimed at a simplicity and

artlessness which would directly awake the pious sentiments of the

untutored listener, an idea reflective of the populist notions of the

Enlightenment. "79 Notwithstanding this appeal to simplicity. Doles style

often consists of rich ornamentation, clear rhythmic articulation, dance­

like meters in quick tempo, series of S5nnmetrical two-bar phrases,

feminine cadences and cadential six-four chords, and frequent parallel

thirds and sixths. Chromaticism is rare.80

Cornelius Heinrich Dretzel (1697-1775)

Dretzel, and its numerous derivations, is the name of a German

family of musicians, especially active in the south around Nuremburg.

C. H. Dretzel is considered the family's most important musician. He may

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have studied the organ with Johann Pachelbel's oldest son, Wilhelm

Hieronymus. Christian F. Schubart refers to "Drexel, a pupil of the great

Sebastian Bach and indeed one of his best. "81 It is not known whether this

refers to C. H. Dretzel or another, but it is possible that Dretzel studied with

Bach at Weimar before 1717. He held a series of increasingly important

organist positions in Nuremburg from 1743, culminating in the one at St.

Sebald in 1764, where he succeeded W. H. Pachelbel. G. A. Will called him

"'one of the greatest virtuosos of his time in playing and composition, so that

his name and reputation are also very great outside his native country. "82

He was respected as a contrapuntist and fugue composer, and several of his

works were even have thought for a time to have been composed by

J. S. Bach.83

Blume discusses the vast number of h5minbooks in the seventeenth

and eighteenth centuries produced by individual and groups of neighboring

towns and communities for their local use. Dretzel produced Des

evangelischen Zions musicalische Harmonic, oder Evangelisches

Choralbuch for the Nuremberg-Bayreuth-Onolzbach area in 1731, with an

abridged edition in 1748. It contains nearly 1000 melodies with basso

continuo, with many composed by Dretzel. His 1773 edition remained in

use into the nineteenth century.84

Georg Friedrich Einicke (b. 1710)

Einicke was born into the family of an organist and cantor in the

town of Hohlstedt in Thuringia, the same region that spawned J. S. Bach.

Spitta claims that he coupled his study and ongoing relationship with Bach

with continued contact with Scheibe, a proponent of the newer styles. At

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the time of Bach's death Einicke was cantor at Frankenhausen and was

still corresponding with Bach.85

Heinrich Nikolaus Gerber (1702-75)

Spitta gives first place as a Bach disciple, following Bach's own sons,

to Gerber.86 He was born into a farmer's family in Wenigen-Ehrich, near

Sondershausen. As a teenaged student at school in Miihlhausen, he heard

Johann Friedrich Bach, J. S. Bach's successor at the Blasiuskirche, play

the organ. An account written by Gerber's son, Ernst Ludwig Gerber in

1791, says that Johann Friedrich "was a drunken organist...of the Bach

family. . . . His [H. N. Gerber's] only desire was to delight in this man's

singing style of performance."87 it was this cantabile style that became

such an important part of Gerber's style. In 1721 he went to

Sondershausen to study, and in 1724 to the university in Leipzig to study

law and music. "He had heard much excellent church music and many a

concert imder Bach's direction,"88 and Bach accepted him as a private

student. His lessons included the inventions, suites, the Well-Tempered

Clavier, and instruction in thoroughbass using Albinoni's violin solos.

Following his university and Bach studies, he returned home, built a small

organ with pedals and twelve stops for himself, and began his professional

career in 1728 as organist at Heringen. He became court organist at

Sondershausen in 1731, and court secretary in 1749. His students at

Sondershausen included another Bach pupil, J. P. Kirnberger in 1738.89

"He permitted himself but a single journey in 1737, to his beloved teacher

Bach in Leipzig."90 His works today are rarely played, and he "is

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important only as a copyist and a source of information about Bach's

teaching methods. "91

T. C. Gerlach (1694-1768)

There is considerable confusion over the identification of the Bach

pupil whose last name is Gerlach, variously identified by the initials T. C ,

J. G., C. G., and J. C. G. Emery identifies T. C. Gerlach (1694-1768), stating

Gerlach "implied that Bach had been teaching him by correspondence for

14 years."92 Wolffs hsting includes J. C. G. Gerlach.93 Geiringer names

J. G. Gerlach, a Thomas School graduate of 1723 and a valuable Bach

assistant, as obtaining the position of organist at the New Church at

Leipzig upon Bach's recommendation. He also names Gerlach as a soloist

Bach took with him to Weissenfels in 1729 in a birthday celebration for Duke

Christian.94 Spitta names this individual as C. G. Gerlach,95 stating that

in 1747 he took over the direction of the Telemann Collegium Musicum

when Bach retired from the post.96

Johann Gottheb Theophilus Goldberg (1727-56)

Goldberg was brought to Dresden while very young by Baron von

Keyserlingk. At Dresden he first studied with Sebastian Bach's oldest son,

Wilhelm Friedemann who, around 1741, began to bring him with him to

Leipzig so that he could receive instruction from his father.97 The further

study was evidently quite beneficial to his skill, because it was Goldberg's

employer. Count Keyserlingk, who requested J. S. Bach to compose some

music to help him through his sleepless nights and times of depression.

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The result, of course, was the Aria With Thirty Variations, also known as

the Goldberg Variations (BWV 988). The work's difficulty is testimony to

Goldberg's talent as a keyboardist.98 Goldberg was later employed by Count

Briihl as Kammermusicus (chamber musician), and remained so until his

death.99

Goldberg was highly regarded for his keyboard playing and sight-

reading. As a composer, he crossed boundaries of style. His cantatas and

trio sonatas take on the style of his famous teacher, while some of the

chamber music and keyboard works are more galant. His orchestral

works, under the influence of C. P. E. Bach, show a more modern style.

Like others of the Bachschule, his works exhibit a multiplicity of style

characteristics, "although a love for syncopation, for wide-ranging

melodies and especially for chromaticism runs through his works." 1^^

Gottfried August Homilius (1714-85)

Homilius was born on the Bohemian frontier into the family of a

Lutheran pastor. He probably took organ lessons from the teacher at St.

Anne's school in Dresden, which he attended after his father died in 1722.

He became the organist there in 1733, and left his position two years later to

begin studies at the university in Leipzig as a theology and law student.

However, music more and more took his attention. One of his law

professors wrote the following in a class report of 1741: "For three years the

candidatus juris has availed himself of my praelectionum judicarum and

striven to master the fundamenta iuris. He has, however, always allowed

music to be his main task. "101 It was during this time that he took lessons

in composition and keyboard playing from Bach. In 1741 he applied for the

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organist position at St. Peter's Church in Bautzen, but was unsuccessful.

His first organist position was at the Frauenkirche in Dresden in 1742. In

1753 he applied unsuccessfully for the organist position at St. John's in

Zittau, along with Friedemann and Emanuel Bach, Altnikol, and J. L.

Krebs. In 1755 he attained the post of Cantor at the Dresden Kreuzkirche

and teacher in the Kreuzschule. At the same time he served as music

director of Dresden's three principal churches: the Frauenkirche,

Kreuzkirche, and Sophienkirche. He remained extremely active in

composing church music throughout the last years of his life, until a stroke

forced him to retire in 1784. He died one year later.

While admired as an organist, Homilius' reputation was built on his

vocal church music, which Spitta regarded as "undoubtedly the most

important works that exist in this style of the second half of the eighteenth

century." 102 Others would include J. F. Doles as his equal in this area. In

addition to the secular chamber works, his church music includes motets,

cantatas, Magnificats, Passion settings and oratorios. His vocal works

follow Graun's lead in giving emphasis to melody and simplicity. His

earlier works derive from the style of Bach and Handel, while his later

works were influenced by the pre-Classic and empfindsamer Stil. His use

of counterpoint gradually gave way to a concern for motif, theme,

S5nnmetry, balance, and form. Even the choruses are predominantly

homophonic and contain singable melodies. His style included dynamic

contrasts, simple harmonies and clear text declamation.

Homilius' ability as an organist was well-known and admired, and

he included among his students Johann Adam Hiller, Daniel G. Tiirk, and

Christian Gotthilf Tag. 103 His virtuosity and improvisation were especially

138

praised. Many of his works use the chorale settings of Pachelbel and Bach

as example, and often fuse the styles of the past with the more current taste

of the empfindsamer Stil.

The chorale-preludes present either single lines of the chorale or the entire melody as cantus firmus, and use contrapimtal techniques to reproduce the underlying mood of the text. Those chorale settings without cantus firmus are treated polj^honically as canons, fugues or organ trios. 104

Johann Peter Kellner (1705-72)

Kellner was born in Grafenroda in Thuringia, and had several organ

teachers, including Johann Schmidt (1674-1746) in Zella. Following several

organist and cantor positions, he became cantor at Grafenroda and

achieved some fame as an organist. He remained in this position until his

death. He numbered Handel and Bach among his acquaintances.

Kellner, though technically never a student of Bach, is an important

Bach disciple. He enjoyed the acquaintance of Bach, knew and studied his

works, collected and preserved a number of the manuscripts. In his 1754

autobiography, he wrote:

In the past I have partly seen and partly heard very much of a great master of music. I derived exceptional pleasure from his work. I mean the now departed Herrn Capellmeister Bach in Leipzig. I long for acquaintance with this excellent man. I was fortunate enough too to enjoy the same. 105

Kellner does not specify exactly what the nature of his acquaintance with

Bach was, nor when it occurred. It was perhaps under Schmidt's teaching

that he came in contact with Bach's compositions. He possessed a number

of copies of Bach's organ works which he probably used in the teaching of

his own pupils, which included Rinck, Rembt and Kirnberger.

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Kellner's own works provide an illustration of the style choices made

by a number of Bach's pupils.

In the spirit of the Empfindsamer Stil he withdrew from the rigorous discipline of Bach, and adopted the Italian cantabile melodic style and newly developed forms. . . . [In the] chorale settings Kellner emphasized features of the character-piece and avoided strict counterpoint. Even in the trios and the preludes and fugues, expressive design takes precedence over formal structure or combines with cantus firmus procedure . . . Contemporary amateur taste is reflected in Kellner's works, although he occasionally recalls Pachelbel and displays a virtuoso pedal technique (e.g., the D minor prelude). 106

Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721-83)

Born in Saalfeld in Thuringia, Kirnberger had early training on the

violin and harpsichord, and later studied the organ with two other

BachschUler, J. P. Kellner in Grafenroda before 1738 and H. N. Gerber in

Sondershausen in 1738, following which he went to Leipzig in 1739 to study

the organ and composition with Bach until 1741. Following ten years in

Poland in various positions and a short time of violin study in Dresden, he

joined the Prussian royal chapel in Berlin as a violinist. He then moved to

the chapel of Prince Heinrich of Prussia, and finally in 1758 he entered into

the service of Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia, a position he held until the

end of his life. He supervised the assembly of the princess' well-known

library. His name became linked with three other prominent theorists in

Berlin, Quantz, C. P. E. Bach and F. W. Marpurg, and counted among his

friends and associates such prominent musicians as C. P. E. Bach,

J. F. Agricola, the brothers Johann Gottlieb and Carl Heinrich Graun, and

his most important organ pupil, J. A. P. Schulz. Kirnberger's

compositions are in both the old style of J. S. Bach and the newer galant

style of C. P. E. Bach, although "In neither category does Kirnberger

140

display the harmonic or melodic imagination of his models." 107 His

theoretical writings are considered significant, though perhaps lacking in

organization and clarity. He "regarded J. S. Bach as the supreme

composer, performer and teacher. . . . [and tried] through his own teaching

and writing to propagate 'Bach's method.' "108 Kirnberger's efforts to bring

into publication all of Bach's four-part chorale settings were not fulfilled

until after his death.

Kirnberger's efforts to preserve Bach's music and teaching might be

seen to have taken on an almost missionary zeal. Speaking of Kirnberger,

Herz writes:

"During the Age of Rationalism Kirnberger was a great defender of Bach's art and teaching method, whether it was for him an innermost experience or not. He saw in Bach's art a most powerful anchor in the midst of the increasing shallowness of the musical style. But he fought for Bach's artistic ideal not merely as a theorist but also as a pedagogue and teacher, showing thereby that the two years he had spent as Bach's pupil in Leipzig (from 1739 to 1741) had not been spent in vain." 109

Johann Christian Kittel (1732-1809)

Kittel was bom and lived most of his entire life in Erfurt in

Thuringia. As a boy he was a student of Jacob Adlung, himself a pupil of

J. S. Bach. At the age of sixteen (1748, two year prior to Bach's death) he

went to Leipzig to study privately with Bach, but had no formal relationship

with the Thomasschule or the university. A year after Bach's death, Kittel

became organist of St. Boniface and teacher in the school for girls at

Langensalza. Within a few years he was reprimanded by his employers for

neglecting his teaching duties in favor of private musical activities, and in

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1756 returned to his home city of Erfurt as organist at the BarfUsserkirche.

He would remain employed in that city for the rest of his life. He became

organist at the Predigerkirche, the largest and most important of the eight

Protestant churches in Erfurt, upon the death of his former teacher,

Adlung, in 1762. This position had been previously occupied by a series of

important organist-composers including Johann Heinrich Buttstett (1666-

1727), Nicolaus Vetter (1666-1734), Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706), and

Johannes Bach (1604-1673), a brother to Johann Sebastian's grandfather.

Kittel's life in Erfurt, a small and isolated town, was largely uneventful,

being filled with private instruction of the large number of pupils he took on

to earn his rather meager living. The economic difficulties of his last years

led to mounting personal debts, and he was forced to sell his house in 1798.

He had earlier faced the death of his son (1780) and wife (1796), and was

continually confronted with the ongoing conflict between Protestants and

Catholics. In 1801 he applied for but did not receive appointment as

organist in Altenbruch. In 1802 Erfurt came under Prussian and in 1806

under French control, and in 1808 the Predigerkirche was transformed by

Napoleon's troops into a warehouse for hay and grain. Kittel died the

following year. 110

Kittel was one of Bach's pupils at the end of his life, and became the

last surviving member of the Bachschule. He remained an ardent admirer

of his teacher throughout his life, "though this is only slightly revealed by

his works."'Ill As an excellent organist, composer and teacher of

numerous organ students, Kittel "did his utmost to transmit the traditions

of Bach's art and style."112

142

Aside from the quiet and highly esteemed organ virtuoso Krebs, J. C. Kittel was a Bach disciple in the true pedagogical sense. His hfespan (1732-1809) extended into the nineteenth century. Spitta said, "he trained a large number of the best Thuringian organists and tried to preserve the traditions of Bach's art in reverent memory of his master." (Spitta, vol. II, p. 727) Forkel observed in his Musikalischer Almanack auf das Jahr 1782, "As far as the dignity of organ playing is concerned, he is considered the best interpreter of the late J. S. Bach. He improvises a strict obbligato movement in trio, quartet or quintet texture. . . , in the manner of J. S. Bach." Through his manual Der angehende praktische Organist (The budding practical Organist) he attempted to keep Bach's method of organ instruction alive. Its subtitle Unterweisung zum Zweckmdssigen Gebrauch der Orgel bei Gottesverehrungen (Instructions for the proper use of the organ in the divine service) indicates that Kittel, like Bach, saw

the organ in the service of worship as late as 1803.113

Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713-80)

Ludwig Krebs was born in Buttelstedt in Weimar, where his father

was organist and at the same time a pupil of Bach in Weimar. His first

music lessons were from his father, but at age thirteen he entered the

Thomasschule in Leipzig where his musical studies with Bach included

lute, violin, keyboard, and choir. He distinguished himself and became a

part of Bach's inner circle of family and students. Bach "made him

cembalist in the musical society, 114 and recommended him to Professor

Gottsched as teacher to his wife, and even took pleasure in his

compositions." 115 When he left Leipzig after nine years with Bach, he left

with a testimonial of appreciation and praise for his abilities:

The bearer, Mr. Johann Ludwig Krebs, having requested the undersigned to oblige him with a testimonial concerning his accomplishments at our School, I would not deny him the same, but wish to declare that I am convinced of having trained in him a man of such parts, and one who has so distinguished himself here particularly in musicis, having

143

qualified himself in respect to the clavier, the violin, and the lute, as well as composition, that he need have no hesitation in letting himself be heard; although this will be more fiilly revealed in practice. I wish him accordingly Divine Support in his advancement, and herewith recommend him again most heartily. 116

An incident in the life of Bach gives evidence of the special regard

Bach had for Krebs and of the close relationship which existed between

teacher and student. This is the well-known disagreement with the

Thomasschule's Rector, Ernesti. Crucial to the affair was Krebs' role,

providing emotional and political support and musical assistance when

Bach needed it, in direct opposition to Ernesti. Undoubtedly the entire

incident contributed to the special relationship that existed between Bach

and this pupil. 117

Krebs left the university in Leipzig as a young man of twenty-four.

He secured his first professional position in 1737 in Zwickau. One of the

nearby musicians wrote to a friend, "A short time since I had the honour to

see and to hear Monsieur Krebs, the new organist of Zwickau, a very good

organ and clavier player; I must confess that what this man does better

than others as an organist is something remarkable, and he is the creation

ofBach."118

In April, 1744, Krebs was appointed organist to the Castle at Zeitz, a

position he held until 1756. It was during his later years as organist at

Zwickau and his early years at Zeitz that Krebs came to see his first works

published, including the six keyboard preludes dedicated to Frau Gottsched

in 1740. Second, third and fourth collections followed, all within three

years. The ClavierUbung, Part I, consisting of chorale preludes, and the

ClavierUbung, Part II, a keyboard suite, were both published between 1744-

144

1756, as was a collection of six suites entitled Exercice sur le Clavessin.

Two sonatas for harpsichord and flute or violin also appeared during the

Zeitz years. Throughout the rest of his life, Krebs composed considerable

other instrumental and vocal music. Some was published while he was

alive, but much of it remains unpublished to this day, and imfortunately,

some of it has been lost.

Bach died on July 31, 1750, and Krebs was unsuccessful in

attempting to succeed his mentor. It makes for interesting speculation to

wonder if Krebs' role in the protracted and bitter Bach versus Ernesti affair

only twelve years earlier contributed to the town council rejecting his

application. Any lingering bad memories of the affair may also have

worked against Bach's own son, Emanuel, being hired, as well as his

friend and associate. Corner, who at the time was organist at the St.

Thomas church. 119

In 1755 Krebs became castle organist in Altenburg at the court of

Prince Friedrich.

The organ was better there, but the salary was scarcely so. George Benda, who auditioned him for the post, wrote to the consistory of the castle: "In view of the rumour that the salary of the organist at Altenburg is hardly greater than what he receives in his present position as organist in Zeitz, [Krebs] lives in the respectful hope, taking into accoimt his wife and seven children, that he might also receive some grain or other remuneration in kind." 120

Krebs' twenty-four year position as organist and musical director at

Altenburg was long, successful and fruitful. There can be no doubt that he

distinguished himself as organist, director and composer, and in every way

measured up to the testimonial written for him by Bach many years earlier.

"He was, beyond a doubt, Bach's most distinguished pupil on the organ,

145

and in every way one of the greatest of those who survived the master. "121

Burney said of him that he had "found in him at Altenburg the greatest

organist in Germany. "122

Krebs' style reflects both his baroque training at the hands of Bach

and the style changes going on around him. A number of his works are

thoroughly baroque, complex, contrapuntal, and in the style of Bach. It has

been shown that some are even directly patterned after specific Bach works.

"Bach's Toccata in F BWV 540 was undoubtedly the stimulus for Krebs's

E major Toccata; the Toccata in C BWV 564 for a Prelude in C; and so

on."123 He often makes use of a long and difficult virtuoso pedal line, and

many of his works display a level of difficulty in performance rarely

equalled by other Bach students, all showing the direct influence of his

teacher. However, other organ works show a willingness to embrace new

styles and trends, while yet others display characteristics of the new and

the old side-by-side. His solo clavier works, chamber pieces, and vocal

works all display a high level of craftsmanship and inspiration. "He was

too much of a craftsman to permit even occasional pieces to become merely

perfunctory gestures."124

Johann Tobias Krebs (1690-1762)

Tobias ICrebs, Johann Ludwig's father, would have been one of

Bach's older pupils, being only five years his junior. He was born in

Heichelheim in Weimar, where he attended school. He became organist in

nearby Buttelstedt in 1710, and took lessons from Johann Gottfried Walther,

and later from J. S. Bach, twice a week in Weimar. 125 Bach was court

146

musician and organist for Duke Wilhelm Ernst in Weimar from 1708-17, so

it is quite possible Walther recommended him to Krebs. Following his

position in Buttelstedt, Krebs went to the Michaeliskirche in Buttstadt. He

also taught in the school there. According to Spitta, he sent three of his

sons to study with Bach at the Thomasschule in Leipzig: Johann Tobias

and Johann Carl, both of whom pursued careers outside of music, and

Johann Ludwig (just discussed), the eldest, highly regarded by his

contemporaries and by Bach. 126 As was the case with a number of other

Bach pupils, the senior Johann Tobias had occasion to copy a number of

Bach's scores, perhaps as part of scribal duties in order to provide

instrimaental or vocal parts for the performers, and almost certainly as

part of his private organ study with Bach. Bach's great Fantasy and Fugue

in C Minor, BWV 537, survives in only one manuscript from the collection

handed down by Johann Ludwig Krebs, dated after Bach's death and

inscribed "Soli Deo Gloria, den 10 Januarii 1751." Largely on the basis of

this inscription and its possession by Johann Ludwig, Keller and others

long attributed the manuscript's existence to Ludwig's copying. 127

However, it is now known that the manuscript was actually copied by his

father, Johann Tobias, to whom we owe sole credit for its survival. 128 Few

of the senior Krebs' compositions survive. The few organ chorales "show a

fondness for learned contrapuntal treatment that few other pupils of Bach

shared."129

Lorenz Christoph Mizler (1711-78)

Mizler had early music training on the violin and flute, and later

became a pupil of Johann Mathias Gesner, who became director of the

147

Leipzig Thomasschule in 1731, while still a youth at the Ansbach

Gymnasium. Mizler claimed J. S. Bach as "his good friend and patron,"

although "the nature and duration of Mizler"s association with Bach

remains unknown." 130 it is known that he took lessons in composition and

clavier playing from Bach from 1731-4 at the Leipzig University. 1^1

Following his bachelor's and master's degrees at Leipzig, he studied law

and medicine at Wittenberg, eventually returning to teach at Leipzig. He

started several of his own music publishing businesses, and served several

years as secretary, teacher, librarian and court mathematician to Polish

Count Malachowski. He completed his doctorate of medicine in 1752 at

Erfurt University and became court physician at Warsaw. He joined the

Erfurt Academy of Sciences in 1757 and became a Polish nobleman in 1768.

Mizler's length and breadth of knowledge in music, mathematics,

philosophy, theology, law and science were uncommon. While certainly a

musician, he was far better known for his activities in writing gmd

speculating about music, in the sciences and mathematics, and as a

physician. Between 1736 and 1754 he published Neu eroffnete Musikalische

Bibliothek [Newly Opened Musical Library], one of the first musical

periodicals and an important publication of the century documenting

contemporary music in Germany and reviewing significant musical

publications of the previous century. It was in this publication that Mizler

published the obituary of J. S. Bach in 1754, written by C. P. E. Bach and

Agricola. The obituary is one of the earliest sources for information on

Bach. 132

Mizler participated in and published portions of the controversy

provoked by Johann Adolph Scheibe's famous attack on Bach, printed in his

148

Critischer Musikus. Scheibe, a former Bach pupil himself, had applied to

become Thomaskirche organist in 1729, but the committee of judges, one of

whom was Bach, selected Gomer instead. 133 in 1731 Scheibe failed to win

the organist's position at Freiberg, despite a testimonial written for him by

Bach. 134 Again in 1733 he apphed for a similar position at St. Nicholas in

Leipzig, which was awarded to another Bach pupil, Johann Schneider. It

is not unreasonable to conclude when Scheibe began work on his Critischer

Musicus, a periodical devoted to analyzing "contemporary music from the

viewpoint of the artistic tenets held by the young generation," 135 that his

frustrations and rejections could have precipitated his attack on Bach in

1737. Scheibe's attack "expressed an attitude widely adopted by the young

generation which, in a revolt against the tenets of the musical Baroque,

stressed pleasure to the senses and simplicity of expression as the primary

goals of a musical composition," 136 ideas refuted by Bach in the satiric

cantata, Phoebus and Pan (cantata 201). Mizler's 1738 Refutations of

Scheibe^'^^ affirm Bach's greatness as a composer, whether taking "as his

model the music of twenty or twenty-five years ago" or composing "in

accordance with the latest taste . . . So well does the Capellmeister know

how to suit himself to his listeners.""1^8 Mizler added a later word of

support in 1740 for Bach's art upon the publication the previous year of the

ClavierUbung, Part HI:

The author has here given new proof that in this field of composition he is more practiced and more fortunate than many others. No one will surpass him in it and few will be able to imitate him. This work is a powerful refutation of those who have made bold to criticize the composition of the Honorable Court Composer. 139

149

Among Mizler's other scholarly endeavors was his founding of the

Society of the Musical Sciences in 1738, an organization devoted to

recognition of outstanding practicing musicians and discussion and debate

of various theoretical aspects of music through the exchange of papers

written by members. Membership was limited and by invitation only, and

included such distinguished musicians as Handel, Telemann and C. H.

Graun. 140 Mizler proposed Bach for membership in 1747, for which Bach

composed A Few Canonic Variations On the Christmas Song, "From

Heaven Above To Earth I Come" (BWV 769) as proof of his technical

mastery.

Johann Gottfried Muthel (1728-80)

Miithel's early musical training was from his father, himself an

organist. In 1747 he attained the post of chamber musician and organist at

the Ducal Court at Schwerin, and in 1750 his employer granted him a

year's paid absence and secured for him a place in Bach's household in

order to perfect his skills. He arrived in May, only two months before

Bach's death. He was present at the point of Bach's death, along with

Bach's wife and daughters, his youngest son, Johann Christian, and son-

in-law Altnikol. 141 Following the death, he went with Altnikol to

Naumburg and studied with him until 1751. During this time he became

acquainted with and visited J. A. Hasse in Dresden, C. P. E. Bach in

Potsdam, and Telemann in Hamburg. A number of Bach's works are in

Miithel's hand but it is unknown whether his duties as copyist date from

the short time he was with Bach or Altnikol or both, or perhaps even from a

later period in his life. From 1753 until his death he was organist in Riga.

150

Spitta regarded his organ compositions as "a test of the highest executive

skill," 142 attesting to the virtuoso elements and technical demands placed

upon the performer.

Stylistically, his organ works remained much closer to those of his

teacher. Bach, than to the newer styles. "Miithel . . . was inflexibly opposed

to the fashionable taste of his time."143 This would seem at odds with

another assessment of Miithel's style, at least as exhibited in some of his

non-organ keyboard music:

Extremely introverted as both man and artist, he began experimenting from about 1750 in self-expression, striving to depict his inner life in music; he has therefore been called one of the most self-willed musical representatives of the early Sturm und Drang. . . . Miithel strove exaggeratedly for expression, in this respect far exceeding his model, C. P. E. Bach. [His] bizarre and occasionally mannered style is most obviously felt in the brittle melodic lines and jagged rhythms, often broken up into tiny units. . . . His keyboard variations are among the boldest and most original compositions of the kind between Bach and Beethoven. 144

Christoph Nichelmann (1717-62)

Nichelmann's early study was in the town of his birth,

Treuenbrietzen. In 1730 he began his class study with Bach at the

Thomasschule, where he was "first treble in the church. "145 While

Nichelmann may not be able to have claimed J. S. Bach as private teacher,

it was during this time that he studied keyboard and composition with

Bach"s oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann. He followed with studies of the

French and Italian styles in Hamburg with Keiser, Telemann and

Mattheson. In Berlin he continued his studies with Quantz, flute

instructor to Frederick the Great, and with Capellmeister C. H. Graun.

151

Spitta lists him as one of ""the most important members of [C. P. E. Bach's]

band" in the service of Frederick the Great in 1740.146 in 1745 he joined

C. P. E. Bach as one of the king's two harpsichordists and later became the

king's Capellmeister. 147

Nichelmann's compositions all date between 1737-59, a period of

rapid style change, and he is especially significant in the continued

development during that period of the keyboard concerto. His work helped

to develop the instrument's idiomatic capabilities, with emphasis on phrase

structure, slower harmonic rhythm, and a condensed reprise, all of which

became fundamental to instrumental music later in the century. His

works include concertos, sinfonias, overtures, keyboard sonatas, various

miniature pieces and dance movements, a Requiem, a cantata, and twenty-

two lieder. 148

David Traugott Nicolai (b. 1702)

Very little is known of this Bach pupil. He was born in Gorlitz in 1702

and studied with Bach in Leipzig. From 1730 he was organist at the

Hauptkirche in Gorlitz, in which position he was assisted by his son, David

Traugott Nicolai (1733-99), whom he instructed in music and organ

playing. The son succeeded his father as Hauptkirche organist in 1764.

Johann Christoph Olev (1738-89)

Oley was born in Bemberg in Thuringia. He was briefly a pupil of

Bach in 1749. In 1755 he returned to his birthplace as organist, and in 1762

took a position as teacher and organist in Aschersleben, where he

remained until his death. He was drawn there by the excellent organ

152

installed in 1738.149 "His organ writing reminded J. F. Agricola, another

Bach pupil, of the glories of an earher age," 150 implying a style derived

from the late baroque. Many of his works demonstrate his fascination with

and fondness for strict canon. Approximately one-fourth of the chorale

preludes in his four-volume Variirte Chorale make use of the device. The

original edition of Bach's Musical Offering presented nine canons in

abbreviated notation, without solution. In 1763 Oley became the first to solve

all nine. "The work he did on the Musical Offering gives great credit to his

musicianship ."151

Johann Schneider (1702-88)

Schneider, born in Oberlauter in Coburg, benefited from excellent

early musical training. He studied first with Capellmeister Reinmann in

Saalfeld as a teenager, and then with J. S. Bach at Cothen in 1720. Spitta

claims he studied with Bach again in Leipzig, 152 though this has never

been substantiated. He studied violin with J. G. Graun and Johann Graf.

His first position came in 1721, that of Konzertmeister of the Castle at

Saalfeld and in 1726 he became a professional violinist in the ducal chapel

in Weimar, sharing the same employer Bach had had from 1708-17. He

joined a list of seven applicants for the organist position in the

Nicolaikirche in Leipzig during the time Bach was cantor and music

director of the Thomasschule. It is not known whether Bach intervened on

Schneider's behalf, but Schneider won the appointment in 1729, having

defeated J. C. Vogler after the second round. He remained in this position

for the rest of his career.

153

During his time at the Nicolaikirche, Schneider enjoyed a reputation

as a truly great organist. In 1739, Johann Mattheson wrote about the

greatest organists of the age, and included such names as Frescobaldi,

Pasquini, Bohm, Callenberg, Clerambault, Hoffmann, Lubeck, Vogler,

Walther, and others, and named Handel and Bach as the greatest of them

all. This prompted Lorenz Mizler to comment that he would add to this list

the name of Johann Schneider in Leipzig, "whose preludes on the organ

are of such good taste that in this field, except for Mr. Bach, whose pupil he

has been, there is nothing better to be heard in Leipzig. "153 Just as

J. L. Krebs had done, so, too, did Schneider pattern some of his works

directly after those of Bach. Unlike Krebs and most of the other Bach

pupils, however, Schneider"s works ""remain truer to Bach's style than

those of other pupils who travelled farther afield. . . . Schneider's long and

close association with the master seems to have shielded him from the

more modern influences which Krebs displays."154

Johann Martin Schubart (1690-1721)

Schubart is another of Bach's pupils of whom we know little. He is

counted by C. P. E. Bach as among his father's organ students in a letter to

Forkel, and thus appears in Forkel's biography. 155 Walther lists him as "a

miller's son, born 1690, . . . learned clavier playing from Mr. Johann

Sebastian Bach and sojourned with the latter continuously from 1707-17;

was also, when Bach moved away, accepted in the same year, toward

Advent, as Chamber Musician and Court Organist here in Weimar; and

died April 2, 1721, of an inflammatory fever."156 Schubart was, then, one of

Bach's oldest pupils, one of his longest-tenured, and his successor at

154

Weimar when Bach moved on to Cothen in 1717. Gerhard Herz names

Schubart as Bach's first pupil. 157

Johann Georg Schiibler (born ca. 1720)

Hardly anything is known or written of the details of Schiibler's life,

other than that he was a pupil of Bach in Leipzig. He is named as the

publisher of Bach's six organ chorales (BWV 645-50) on the title page:

"Pubhshed by Joh. Georg Schiibler at Zella at the Thuringian Forest. "158

Still today most organists refer to these six chorales arranged from

movements of Bach's Leipzig cantatas as the SchUbler Chorales. Schiibler

was also the engraver for Bach's Musical Offering (BWV 1079) and may

have been responsible for the rather disconnected form of the original

publication.

Bach may have neglected to give precise instructions to J. G. Schiibler, who engraved the work for him. Thus Schiibler followed the practice of the time, using the oblong size for pieces he considered keyboard music and the upright one for

the chamber music, including the bulk of the canons. 159

Apparently an organ trio is the only work by Schiibler that survives

today. 160

Christoph Transchel (1721-1800)

Transchel is given brief mention in Forkel's biography as being

known for his excellent playing on the clavier. He especially singles out for

admiration Transchel's six Polonoises which, "excepting those of William

Friedemann, perhaps surpass all the polonoises in the world. "161 Spitta

155

claims him, not only as a Bach pupil in 1742, but also a Bach friend. He

taught in Leipzig until 1755, and then at Dresden imtil his death in 1800.162

Johann Trier (1716-90)

Trier went to the University of Leipzig to study law in 1741, where he

is believed to have studied privately with J. S. Bach. He became active in

several of the musical societies in Leipzig, and from 1746-7 directed the

Collegium Musicum, a position formerly held by both Telemann and Bach.

Trier is listed among the applicants in July 1750 to succeed Bach as Cantor

of the Thomasschule, along with C. P. E. Bach, Johann Ludwig Krebs,

A. F. Graun, Gottlieb Gomer, and Gottlieb Harrer. Harrer was

selected. 163 Three years later he was one of nine applicants for the more

prestigious position of organist and music director at St. John"s Church in

Zittau. Despite such candidates as Emanuel and Friedemann Bach, Trier

was unanimously chosen. 164

Trier was considered a master of the organ during his lifetime, and

was known as a composer of polonaises and preludes for clavier and organ

and church cantatas. He composed primarily in a late baroque polyphonic

style, and only a very few of his preludes have been published. 165

Johann Caspar Vogler (1696-1763)

Vogler was born in the town of Hansen, not far from Arnstadt. Spitta

places him as a yoimg Bach pupil at the New Church in Arnstadt in 1706.

He went on to study with Erlebach and Vetter, the organist at Rudolstadt.

He enjoyed a second period of study with Bach at Weimar (1710-14), with

later positions as organist at Stadtilm (1715), court organist (1721) and

156

harpsichordist in the court orchestra (1755) at Weimar under Johann Ernst

Bach. In the position of organist at Weimar, he became the second

successor to Bach, 166 and successor to Johann Martin Schubart, another

Bach pupil. Vogler sought on several occasions to leave the duke's service

at Weimar by applying for a number of other positions in Leipzig, Gorhtz,

and Hanover, but the duke retained him until his death in 1763. In his

attempts to secure the position at Hanover, "he triumphantly beat ten

candidates out of the field; but, in order to retain him at Weimar, Duke

Ernst August gave him the title of vice-burgomaster. "167 He was made

mayor in 1739, and taught the duke's son from 1746.

Bach described Vogler "as one of his best pupils."'168 Johann

Mattheson includes him in a listing of "The Greatest Organists" he

published in 1739.169 This opinion, however, was not universally held. In

1773, Kirnberger, himself a Bach pupil, responded to a critic's placing

Vogler on a par with Bach by writing, "If it is asked, 'Who is this Vogler?,'

one finally learns, after many inquiries, that he is burgomaster and

organist in Wejmiar, and a pupil of Bach, but by no means even one of his

best pupils." 170 Spitta asks, ""Had Kirnberger, himself a disciple of Bach,

really never heard of Vogler, or is this merely his sarcastic manner?"" 171

His musical style is predominantly baroque:

[His] composition technique and virtuoso ability are clearly apparent in the conciseness and figurative development of the two fantasias in his organ volume. His other compositions (including a St. Mark Passion) are all lost, except for a few chorale arrangements characterized by ornamental and expressive mannerisms. 172

157

Georg Gottfiied Wagner (1698-1756)

Wagner's father was the Cantor at Wiirtzen. Wagner studied at the

Thomasschule from 1712-19 and was a member of Bach's choir from 1723-

26. In September 1726, the Town Council of Plauen had asked Bach for a

recommendation for the vacant Cantor post, and Bach responded by writing

admirably of Wagner's abilities on the organ, clavier, violin, cello and other

instruments, as a composer and as "a bass [singer] that is, though not too

strong, quite mannerly, and his qualities in general are such that I believe

he could well be used for the vacant post." 173 Wagner was selected for the

position and served nearly thirty years until his death.

Christoph Gottlob Wecker

In 1726, Bach wrote a letter of recommendation to Wecker in his

unsuccessful attempt to secure the position of Cantor in the town of

Chemnitz. 174 Three years later Wecker again requested a letter of

recommendation from Bach in pursuit of a new position. Even taking into

consideration the formalities and niceties of others of his correspondence,

Bach's cover letter in response seems unusually solicitous, perhaps even

ingratiating. He addresses Wecker as "Monsieur, Mon tres honore Amy,"

and closes with "votre tres dedie serviteur. Joh. Seb. Bach." The

testimonial reads in part:

. . . I can testify this much concerning him: that his conduct has been such as to give full satisfaction; and specifically that his knowledge in Musicis has made him a welcome guest everywhere, particularly since he has a good command of various instruments and no less can well afford to make himself heard vocaliter, and equally he has been able to give creditable assistance in my church and other music; therefore I have executed this testimonial with my own hand, and leave the rest to him to prove to you. 175

158

J. G. Ziegler (1688-1747)

Ziegler was born into a large Saxon family of musicians. His father

gave him early music lessons, followed by further study at Dresden, Halle,

and Zachow. He studied with Bach in Weimar in 1715. Spitta quotes

Walther in saying he studied the clavier and organ with Bach, but studied

composition with Johann Theile of Naumburg. 176 One year later in 1716 he

became assistant organist at the Ulrichskirche in Halle, becoming organist

and music director there in 1718, a position he held until his death. 177 in

1746, however, he applied for the organist's position at the Liebfrauenkirche

in Hall, a position which Bach had declined to accept thirty-two years

earlier. In his application letter, Ziegler wrote, "As concerns the playing of

chorales, I was instructed by my teacher, Capellmeister Bach, who is still

living, not to play the songs merely offiiand but according to the sense

(Affekt) of the words." 178 Ziegler failed to attain the position, which

eventually went to Bach's oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann. Ziegler became

one of the most notable late baroque composers in Halle, well-known as an

organist and teacher. His works include several cycles of church cantatas,

organ and congregational chorales, solo cantatas, keyboard works, and

music for weddings and funerals.

Summarv

Despite the changing musical styles during Bach's last years, his

contributions to organ design, teaching and composition lived on through

the lives of many of his pupils. It is testimony to his influence and fame,

even at a time when the baroque was in rapid decline, that students and

even those who were never really his students claimed him as their master

159

teacher. One such example is Johann Trier. Spitta is one who claims

(without documentation) that Trier was never a private student of Bach, 179

though he was a theology student at Leipzig and served as director of the

Telemann Collegium Musicum there in 1747. In 1753, with a

recommendation from his now dead acquaintance, Johann Sebastian Bach,

he applied for and won the important position of organist at Zittau. What is

remarkable about his success is that in doing so, he was selected over all

other applicants for the post, which included Bach's two sons Friedemann

and Emanuel, his son-in-law Altnikol, Bach pupil Homilius, and his

favored pupil, Johann Ludwig Krebs. 180

Having been students of the great Bach did not guarantee successful

careers, fame during their lifetime, nor continuing recognition after they

were gone. It did not result in musicians who lived out their lives in

slavish imitation of their mentor, although for many of them, imitation of

his style was a means of paying their deep respect to a beloved teacher and

friend. Despite their shared heritage and training, even at the hands of one

so demanding and influential as Bach, they went their own directions,

cultivating their own styles, making their own various contributions. But if

there was anything most of them shared in common as a result of their

membership in the Bachschule, it might be the preservation of the spirit of

Bach, not only as teacher, but as inheritor and benefactor of the musical

art. Soli Deo Gloria. As Gerhard Herz writes:

"This peculiar Bach cult reflects the sect-like seclusion of the early Bach movement, which deliberately confined itself to a small circle of pupils and second generation pupils, all of whom were determined to preserve the vanishing profession of the organist and considered it their mission to continue to work actively and effectively just as Bach would have done."181

160

Notes

ISome of these are named in the memorandum submitted by Bach to the Leipzig town council in 1730 entitled "Short but Most Necessary Draft for a Well-Appointed Church Music; With Certain Modest Reflections On the Dechne of the Same," contained in Bach Reader, 120-4.

^Bach Reader, 279.

^Bach Reader, SSl-S.

4Spitta, 3:241. He includes two additional sons of Johann Tobias as Bach pupils, Johann Tobias (the second eldest) and Johann Carl (the youngest). He says their music training quickly receded into the background in favor of nonmusical studies and life pursuits.

5Both this listing and the one by Emanuel include this pupil only by last name; the editors surmise it is Johann Georg Vogt, mentioned by J. G. Walther as an oboist and clerk at Anspach. Bach Reader, 332.

6lbid.

7lbid., 333.

8This may be J. G. Ziegler (1688-1747). Walter Emery, "Bach, III. Individual Members (7) Johann Sebastian Bach, 5. Weimar," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 1:790.

9Spitta, 2:47.

lOlbid., 3:239-40.

llEmery, 1:790.

12Christoph Wolff, "Bach, III. Individual Members (7) Johann Sebastian Bach, 9. Leipzig," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 1:800.

13 Jean Horstman, The Instrumental Music of Johann Ludwig Krebs (Ph.D. diss., Musicology, Boston Univ., 1959), 35-6.

14Blume, "Age of Confessionahsm,"" 267.

161

15Rudiger Wilhelm, ed.. Organ Music of the Bach School (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1985), 3.

16Karl Geiringer, Johann Sebastian Bach (New York: Oxford University Press, 1966), 65.

17Gerhard Herz, Essays on J. S. Bach, Studies In Musicology, Vol. 73 (Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1985), 27.

18Sac/i Reader, 23.

19lbid., 332-3.

20Herz, 29. The reference to Sebastian calling Hasse's music "pretty little things" comes from Forkel's biography (Bach Reader, 335), telling of how Bach would take his oldest son to Dresden to attend the opera. A few days before their departure Bach would jokingly say to Friedemann, "Friedemann, shan't we go again to hear the lovely Dresden ditties?".

2lEugene Helm, "Bach, III. Individual Members (8) Wilhelm Friedemann Bach," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 1:841.

22j3ac/i Reader, 312-3.

23He had accompanied his father there in 1747, the famous occasion which resulted in J. S. Bach's Musical Offering.

24These historical and biographical details have been condensed from Forkel's biography of J. S. Bach [reprinted as Section Six in David and Mendel's The Bach Reader, 295-357], Spitta's biography, and from Eugene Helm, "Wilhelm Friedemann Bach," 1:841-2.

25c. F. Cramer, Magazin fUr Musik, vol. II, 1784. Quoted after Falck, W. F. Bach, 57, in Herz, 30.

26George Feder, "Decline and Restoration," in Protestant Church Music: A History (New York: W. W. Norton, 1974), 348.

27Helm, "Wilhelm Friedemann Bach," 1:843.

28Herz, 149.

162

29lbid., 27.

30Herz, 32, gives numerous imattributed borrowings by Philipp Emanuel from his father's works, arguing that he thus acknowledged his father's superiority in certain compositional areas. "When one encounters intricate and dense polyphony in Emanuel's compositions, one may look for the original in the works of his father."

3lEugene Helm, "Bach, III. Individual Members (9) Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 1:851.

32john P. Anthony, "The Organ Works of Johann Christian Kittel" (Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1978), 199.

^^Tagebuch einer musikalischen Reise, 1773, vol. Ill, 217; Quoted by Kelletat, Orgelmusik, p. 114; in Herz, 29. C. P. E. Bach writes of this incident himself to Forkel: ""When he was in Hamburg . . . he prayed the Capellmeister Emanuel Bach (who is, of course, the son of J. Sebastian) to play on the organ of the Michaelis-Kirche, which has a fine new instrument by Hildebrandt. When Bach told him that he could not play the pedal, he is said to have laughed and said the pedals were not essential."" Bach Reader, 284.

34j5ac/i Reader, 333.

35lbid.

36lbid.

37David and Mendel suggest Christian converted to Catholicism as a prerequisite for obtaining the organist position at the Milan Cathedral, although they go on to admit the possibility that "'perhaps he was motivated as strongly by the splendor of the Roman ritual and the sensuousness and vivacity of its music as by any considerations of advancement in his career" in Bach Reader, 20-21.

38Ernest Warburton, "Bach, III. Individual Members (12) Johann Christian Bach," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 1:866.

3 9 A further story is told of Johann Christian, who was generally a lighthearted and jovial person. One of his more serious friends, concerned over the squandering of his money on frivolous, sensuous pleasures, "held

163

up to him the example of his elder brother in Berlin [C. P. E. Bach], who wrote large works and knew very well how to hold on to the money he earned; Bach said: 'Oh well, my brother lives to compose and I compose to live; he works for others, I work for myself " (quoted from J. F. Reichardt, Bach Reader, 292).

40Warburton, 1:872.

41 Wilhelm Krumbach, Organ Music of Bach's Pupils, Musical Heritage Society LP Recording No. MHS 3196, n.d. Notes translated from the German by H. Kevil.

42christoph Wolff, "Bach, I. Family Members," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 1:779.

43Spitta, 1:156.

44spitta, l:ix-x.

^^Bach Reader, 202.

46wolff, "Bach Family Members," 1:775.

^^Bach Reader, 202.

48Spitta, 1:629.

49lbid., 1:525.

50christoph Wolff, "Bach, III. Individual Members (6) Johann Ludwig Bach," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 1:785.

^^Bach Reader, 2()^.

52Spitta, 1:10.

53Spitta, 3:239. The Appendix B to Spitta, 3:297-8, contains additional information about Johann Ernst, including a more extensive list of his works. Spitta's judgment of a Kjnrie/Gloria based on the chorale, "Es woll uns Gott genadig sein," seems applicable to Johann Ernst in general: "The whole composition shows a skillful musician, and is one of the best sacred

164

pieces of that time, which, to be sure, was not in any way on the whole important in the history of art."

54christoph Wolff, "Bach, III. Individual Members (10) Johann Ernst Bach," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 1:863.

^^Bach Reader, 209. This is the genealogy originally set down by J. S. Bach in 1735, with C. P. E. Bach's additions of 1774 in itahcs.

56lbid., 262.

57Walter Knape & Murray R. Charters, "Abel, Cari Friedrich," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 1:11.

^^Bach Reader, 262.

59lbid.

60Knape & Charters, 1:13.

61Wilhelm, 4.

62He, himself, built sixteen organs during his lifetime. George J. Buelow, "Adlung, Jakob," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 1:110.

63lbid., 1:111.

64Eugene Helm, "Agricola, Johann Friedrich," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 1:165.

65Spitta is evidently mistaken when he writes that Agricola succeeded Graun in 1759 as Capellmeister to the king. Spitta, 3:243-4.

66Helm, "Agricola," 165.

67charles Burney, The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Provinces (London, 1773, 2/1775); ed. P. Scholes as Dr. Burney's Musical Tours (London, 1959), quoted in Helm, "Agricola," 165.

165

68Helm, "Agricola," 165.

69Bac/i Reader, 332.

'^^Bach Reader, 257-9.

'^^Gedanken Uber die welschen TonkUnstler, Halberstadt, 1751, 20-1, in Bach Reader, AAA:.

'^^Bach Reader, 340.

73Walter Emery, "Altnikol, Johann Christoph," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 1:297.

74Spitta, 3:244.

75Herz, 34.

76lbid. This performance took place fifty-three years before Mendelssohn would direct the Berlin Singakademie in the famous performance of the St. Matthew Passion in 1829.

77lbid., 44-5.

78Spitta, 3:244.

79Bradford Robinson, "Doles, Johann Friedrich," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 5:527.

80lbid.

^^Ideen zu einer Asthetik der Tonkunst (Vienna, 1806), 207, quoted by Lini Hiibsch-Pfleger, "Dretzel," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 5:632.

8 2 G . A. Will, NUrnbergisches Gelehrten-Lexikon, in Hiibsch-Pfleger, 632.

83lbid.

166

84Blume, "Age of Confessionahsm," 261.

85Spitta, 3:243.

86lbid., 240.

^'^Bach Reader, 264.

88lbid.

89Howard Serwer, "Kirnberger, Johann Philipp," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 10:80.

^^Bach Reader, 264.

91 Walter Emery, "Gerber, Heinrich Nikolaus," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 7:248.

92Emery, "Bach, III.(7)5.Weimar," 1:790.

93Wolff, "Bach, III.(7)9.Leipzig," 1:800.

94Geiringer, Johann Sebastian Bach, 65.

95Spitta, 248-9.

96lbid., 2:225, 3:20.

97lbid., 3:246.

98Forkel tells the story of the work's commissioning in the Bach biography, contained in Bach Reader, 338-9. Rubin and others postulate Forkel is in error, even calling it "Forkel's doubtful story,"" since Goldberg would have only been fourteen years old at the time. Norman Rubin, ""Goldberg, Johann Gottlieb," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 7:498.

99Spitta, 3:246.

167

lOORubin, 499.

lOlHans John, "'Homilius," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 8:674.

102Spitta, 3:245.

103Held, 86.

104john, 675.

105Kellner's autobiography was included in: F. W. Marpurg, Historisch-kritische Beytrdge, Bd. 1. (Berlin: 1754), 439ff., quoted by Ewald Kooiman, ed.. Incognita Organo, Volume 40 (Hilversum, Holland: Harmonia, 1990), Preface.

106Karl Gustav Fellerer, "Kellner, Johann Peter," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 9:853.

107Serwer, 10:81.

108ibid.

109Herz, 36.

llOThis historical and biographical has been summarized from Anthony, 41-78, and Charles Stagmaier Brown, Jr., The Art of Chorale-Preluding and Chorale Accompaniment as Presented in Kittel's Der Angehende Praktische Organist (D.M.A., Rochester, NY: Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, 1970), 2-10.

l l lKooiman, Preface.

112Spitta, 3:247.

113Herz, 39-40.

114spitta, 3:241, here cites Gerber's Lexicon, Vol. I.

115Spitta, 3:241.

168

^'^^Bach Reader, 135.

117During Krebs' years as a imiversity student at Leipzig (1735-7) following his studies with Bach at the Thomasschule, Bach found himself embroiled in a dispute with the Rector, named Ernesti. In his long retelling of the matter, Spitta recounts how the situation had reached an impasse. Ernesti had appointed a student named Krause to act as first prefect, a position of musical leadership within the choir. Bach, however, considered this student "a disreputable dog," (Spitta, 3:5) and banished him from the position. In a challenge to Bach's authority, Ernesti had forbidden any of the other boys in the choir to take the place of first prefect and reinstated Krause. When Bach returned to find Krause in place, he angrily banished him again, but none of the choir boys, for fear of retribution from the rector, would take his place, and seemingly Bach had no one to lead the motet that day. Spitta tells us that "Krebs, who had been at the University since 1735, and who happened to be present, at his master's request undertook to direct it." (Spitta, 3:7). Bach's own words, recorded in a letter to the Council of August 13, 1736, make for fascinating reading: "Accordingly it came about that in yesterday afternoon's service at the Nicolai-Kirche, to my great shame and public humiliation, there was not a single pupil, for fear of the threatened penalty, willing to take over the chanting, much less the direction of the motet. Indeed the very service would have been upset as a result if a former pupil at the Thomas-Schule, named Krebs, had not fortunately taken over the same, at my request, in place of one of the present students" (Bach Reader, 139). Bach's dispute with Ernesti lasted for nearly two years, with charges, countercharges, angry confrontations, appeals and hearings before the Council. The Council refused to resolve it, and according to Spitta, the matter was finally resolved only after Bach appealed directly to the King to act on his behalf Resolution finally came in favor of Bach, "brought about by the personal intervention of his Majesty" (Spitta, 3:11). All of Bach's communication regarding his dispute with Ernesti may be found as number XI of Appendix B, 3:307-15, of Spitta's biography. A more complete collection of these same communications, along with those of Ernesti, the town council and King Frederick of Poland are contained in Bach Reader, 137-158.

118Spitta, 3:242.

'^'^^Bach Reader, 191.

120Hugh J. McLean, "Krebs," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 10:247.

121Spitta, 3:242.

169

122Herz, 124, quoting H. Loffler, "J. L. Krebs," in Bach-Jahrbuch, 1930.

123McLean, 247.

124lbid., 247-8.

125Walther was a friend and cousin of J. S. Bach and would later author the first musical encyclopedia, Musicalisches Lexicon, in 1732.

126Spitta, 3:241.

127Keller, 106.

128McLean, 246.

129ibid., 246-7.

130George J. Buelow, "Mizler von Kolof, Lorenz Christoph," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 12:372.

13 las claimed by Mizler in the Bach obituary he published in 1754, Bach Reader, 224.

132]r.eprinted in Bach Reader, 215-224.

133ibid., 237.

134Geiringer, 89.

135lbid.

136ibid., 90.

^'^^Bach Reader, 248-9.

138ibid.

139ibid., 236.

170

140Leopold Mozart (1719-87), father of Wolfgang Amadeus, dechned membership upon invitation. Buelow, 12:373.

141spitta, 3:274. Another of the Bachschule most likely present at Bach's death was J. G. Muthel, since he had arrived in May 1750, only two months before the death.

142lbid., 248.

143Herz here cites in footnote 94, "Schubart [Christian Friedrich], Ideen zu einer Aesthetik der Tonkunst, Vienna, 1808, p. 105. Quoted by Kelletat, Orgelmusik, p. 32.""

144Lothan Hoffmann-Erbrecht, "Miithel, Johann Gottfried," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 12:877.

145with some disdain, Spitta names Nichelmann as one of those pupils who can claim Bach only as a classroom teacher and not as one of the select private pupils in organ, keyboard, or composition, yet who took the opportunity to "call themelves his pupils to the world" (Spitta, 3:248).

146lbid., 231.

147lbid., 248.

148Douglas A. Lee, "Nichelmann, Christoph," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 13:204-5.

149walter Emery, ed., Johann Christoph Oley: Four Chorale Preludes (London: Novello, 1958), 12.

150Hugh McLean, "Oley, Johann Christoph," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 13:531.

15lHans Theodore David, J. S. Bach's Musical Offering (New York: G. Schirmer, 1945; reprint. New York: Dover Publications, 1972), 96.

152Spitta, 3:242.

171

153Mattheson's article and Mizler's response are to be found in Bach Reader, 233.

154Hugh J. McLean, "Schneider, Johann," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 16:687.

155Bac/i Reader, 279, 332.

156lbid., 332.

157Herz, 38.

158Bac/i Reader, 175.

159Geiringer, 330.

160 Wilhelm, Preface.

16lBacA/deader, 331.

162Spitta, 3:245.

163Bac/i Reader, 188-9.

164Spitta, 3:248, incorrectly gives Trier's first name as Thomas.

165Robert L. Marshall, "Trier, Johann," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 19:143.

166stated in C.P.E. and Agricola's obituary of Bach, contained in Bach Reader, 218.

167Spitta, 1:522, and Forkel's biography in Bach Reader, 331.

168Kraft, "Vogler, Johann Caspar," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 20:63.

172

169Bac/i Reader, 233.

170lbid., 448.

171Spitta, 1:522.

172Kraft, 20:63.

^'^^Bach Reader, 106-7.

174The entire letter is in Bach Reader, 109.

175Bac/i i?eader, 115-6.

176Spitta, 1:524.

177Dieter Hartwig, "Ziegler, Johann Gotthilf," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 20:679.

'^'^^Bach Reader, 237.

179Spitta's confusion over Trier's first name cannot be accounted for. He is clearly referring to Johann Trier. In any case, his claim that Trier was never a private Bach student has been questioned by Robert Marshall. See entry above under Johann Trier.

180Spitta, 3:248.

18lHerz, 40.

173

CHAPTER V

THE DECLINE OF THE ORGAN

The nearly one hundred years between the death of J. S. Bach in 1750

and Mendelssohn's six sonatas for organ (1844-5) are not one of the more

productive periods of organ hterature. Despite the work of Bach's pupils

and the grand achievements of those composers who led the way toward the

mature classic style of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, the overlapping

decades which mark the late baroque, galant, and early Classic are a

period of decline for organ composition, performance, and its central

importance in the worship of the church. If the works of Bach, Haydn,

Mozart, and Beethoven can be viewed as high points of achievement during

the course of music history, one way of measuring the relative importance

of the organ between them would be to briefly consider their organ works.

Mozart. Haydn. Beethoven and the Organ

Mozart (1756-1791) was known to have been fond of the organ, having

written so in letters to his father. He composed two large-scale fantasias,

both in F minor (K. 594 and K. 608), during the last two years of his life.

Although they were written for mechanical clock organ and require some

adaptation when performed on the organ, both are masterworks of the

highest caliber, demonstrating the potential of the instrument and its

adaptability to the late classic style. These two works are, however, the

exception. Mozart's other compositions for organ are rather insignificant

when compared to his accomplishments in choral, symphonic, chamber

and piano music. He composed a number of sonatas for a variety of

instruments and organ. The organ's role is primarily one of providing

174

accompaniment from a figured bass, with few solo passages. Mozart

composed these sonata all' epistola as service music while serving at the

Salzburg Cathedral. They were to be played as interludes between the

Epistle and Gospel readings at High Mass. The archbishop had established

the service length to be no longer than forty-five minutes, which left httle

time for music of any kind and eliminated the possibility of any major

works of substantial depth or length. 1

Neither Haydn (1732-1809) nor Beethoven (1770-1827) contributed any

organ works of consequence to the literature. Haydn composed thirty-two

small-scale pieces for mechanical clock organ and three concertos for

organ (or cembalo) and two oboes with strings. None of Haydn's organ

works include parts for the pedals. Beethoven's organ works include a two-

voice fugue in D major (composed 1783), two preludes for organ or clavier

(Op. 39, composed in 1789), and three short pieces from 1799 entitled

"Adagio," "Scherzo," and "Allegro," composed for mechanical clock organ.

In these few, rather inconsequential works is the entire compositional

output for organ by the three great composers of the fully mature classic

style. Today these works are seldom studied and rarely heard in concert or

church, except perhaps as oddities. This demonstrates how rapid and

steep was the organ's descent into disfavor and disuse as the style changed

from baroque to classic.

The Role of the Organ in Worship

Accompanying the change in style was the change in the importance

of the church in general in the new rationalistic age, and the role music

and the organ played within the church. To the late baroque and most

certainly to Bach at Leipzig, it would be difficult to overstate the organ's

175

place of importance. In a discussion of the importance of the organ in

Bach's church music, Spitta even uses the organ as a metaphor for Bach's

church music, then goes on to speak specifically of the decline of the actual

instrument in importance:

In Bach's church music the ruling or dominant factor is not the chorus or the voices-if there be any such factor, it can only be said to be the organ; or, to put it more decisively, the body of sound used in performing Bach's church music is regarded as a vast organ of which the stops are more refined and flexible and have the individuality of speech. Still, this organ is not to be conceived of as a dead mechanical instrument, but as the conveyer and the sjmabol of the devotional sentiment of the church, which is what it had indeed become in the course of the seventeenth century, and by the aid of Bach himself. While assigning it this place in his church music, he succeeded in effacing, so far as he was concerned, the disproportion which existed between vocal and instrumental music, and in combining them to form a third power higher than either; he could do it only in this manner in his position and sphere. . . . In the latter half of the century, as the influence of the Protestant church decreased, the spiritual meaning of Bach's church music became less understood. Kirnberger watched with anger the gradual and increasing disuse of the organ in church music, while a secular and theatrical style was demanded on all sides which lowered this whole branch of art. In his opposition to these tendencies he was joined by the school of Bach and many other musicians, who devoted themselves to the music of the better times that had gone by. 2

An event which took place in 1714 demonstrates the importance of the

organ in worship for Bach. In 1714 Bach was still in the employ of Duke

Wilhelm Ernst of Weimar as court musician and organist; yet, on

December 2, 1714, the First Sunday in Advent, Bach was in Leipzig

conducting a performance of his cantata. Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland,

either at the Thomaskirche or the Nicolaikirche. Spitta surmises he made

the trip in order to meet Johann Kuhnau, music director of the three

Leipzig churches and Thomaskantor, whom he would eventually succeed

176

in 1723. On this Sunday not only did he direct a cantata of his own writing,

but also served as organist for the entire service. "In order not to lose his

way in the involved order of the service, he noted it with his own hand on

the inside of the cantata score," as follows:^

ORDER OF DIVINE SERVICE IN LEIPZIG First Sunday in Advent: Morning

(1) Preluding (2) Motetta (3) Preluding on the Kyrie, which is performed throughout

in concerted music (4) Intoning before the altar (5) Reading of the Epistle (6) Singing of the Litany (7) Preluding on [and singing of] the Chorale (8) Reading of the Gospel (9) Preluding on [and performance of] the principal

composition [cantata] (10) Singing of the Creed (11) The Sermon (12) After the Sermon, as usual, singing of several verses of

a hymn (13) Words of Institution [of the Sacrament] (14) Preluding on [and performance of] the composition

[probably the second part of the cantata]. After the same, alternate preluding and singing of chorales until the end of the Communion, et sic porrd.^

What is clear from Bach's hand-written outline is that music and the

organ played a significant role in the service. It was around 1650 that

Lutheran churches began to supplement the congregational singing with

the organ, and the most common practice was to have the congregation and

organ alternate on successive stanzas of the chorale. The organist,

therefore, would announce or introduce the chorale with a prelude,

following which the congregation and organ would perform in alternatim.

Later practice would include the organ playing the chorale simultaneously

with the congregation's singing of it, that is, as actual accompaniment to

177

rather than merely preceding or alternating with the singing, though this

practice was by no means uniform throughout Lutheran churches. At the

time of Bach's 1714 performance in Leipzig, "The custom, which was

becoming more and more general, of accompanjdng the congregational

singing throughout on the organ, had not yet come into use at Leipzig. "5

Nevertheless, Bach found ample opportimity to demonstrate his

competence on the organ: prelude to the service, motet, prelude to the

Kyrie, prelude to the main chorale (which gave him the opportunity to show

his skill in chorale arranging), prelude to the principal composition (his

own cantata), alternatim performance with the congregational singing

during communion, another prelude to a chorale, all concluded by a festive

organ work which would show his skills to their fullest.

Prior to the seventeenth century, the Lutheran custom was for the

motet to be sung without instruments, but after 1600 instruments were

commonly combined, almost always including the organ in a prelude to

and as accompaniment to the motet. Some regarded this as an intrusion,

as a degeneration of historical church practice. In 1717 Mattheson wrote,

"Where are the vocalists who used to sing without instruments, even

without a bass, whether of clavier or organ? . . . Where are the singers, I

ask, who can sing a whole aria without accompaniment and can keep in

tune?"6 Bach's own pupil, Kirnberger, writing in 1781 on the Leipzig

services, said:

Performances of church-music, even when sung in four, eight, or more parts without instruments, were always accompanied on the organ, which served to support and to keep up the pitch of the voices; or, at least, the manual was employed when a performance of music for the Passion or

178

some other occasion was sung below in the church, for which double basses were used according to the number of the singers. 7

As the eighteenth century progressed, organ accompaniment of

choral music and congregational chorales was commonly practiced in

nearly all Lutheran churches, and "the organ [had become] an

independent constituent part of the service."'8 Its use in worship fulfilled

several functions:

1. preludes or voluntaries independent of any vocal music, such as

at the start of the service or postludes as a concluding voluntary, in which

the organist could display his abilities in large-scale, free forms as the

people departed the service;

2. preludes to the chorales, hymns or other musical sections given

over to congregational singing, in part to establish the tempo, tonality,

volume, mood, and melody in the ears of the congregation;

3. harmonizations to accompany congregational singing;

4. harmonizations in alternatim with congregational stanzas;

5. prelude to concerted church music (cantata), which also had the

effect of giving other instruments time "to tune without disturbing the

devotions of the congregation."9

6. the accompanying of concerted music, providing the basso

continuo part from a figured bass.

Continued Development amid Decline

The point is often made that organ chorales had actually begun to

decline under various forces and influences (see below) as early as 1700,

and that Bach's continued development of the genre provided a glorious last

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chapter to a story whose ending, if not yet written, had already been

determined.

In the cantata and the oratorio the relationship between text and music was expressed directly; important abstraction and absorption were required, however, before one could proceed in like manner with the purely imagined word in the organ chorale. The fact that in this art Bach remained "unique" (in both senses of the word) is to be attributed not only to the strength and depth of his personality, but also to the decline of the organ chorale after 1700. This was brought about by the undermining influence of the Enlightenment, which caused the form to sink rapidly to the level of an artisan's product.

After a century of rich development the organ chorale was gradually approaching a crisis. Its decline was arrested solely by the workmanlike diligence of Johann Gottfried Walther and the genius of Johann Sebastian Bach. Otherwise, production, which had once been so plentiful, rapidly subsided. Music detached itself from the church much as Beethoven, a scant hundred years later, in his symphonies emancipated himself from the social music of his time. In the midst of this notorious decline of the ecclesiastico-musical community life. Bach rescued the treasures of the Evangelical chorale by removing them from the clutches of fashion and preserving them for the little circle of "connoisseurs of work of this kind" (see the title-page of the Third Part of the ClavierUbung) in a most artistic style unintelligible to the uninitiated. . . . If one contrasts the rationalistic shallowness of chorale-preludes by Telemann and others-which were therefore popular with congregations-with the depth of thought, the wealth of S3nnbolism, and the emotional strength of Bach, the gap

between the two worlds seems too wide to bridge. 10

Writing only two years after Bach's death, no less important a person

than Quantz took note of the importance of Bach's contributions. It is

especially significant that in his final sentence Quantz refers, not just to a

coming decline or downfall, but to a renewal of a decline, implying that one

had been arrested by Bach.

As long ago as the middle of the last century a few celebrated men, some of whom had themselves visited Italy and France with profit, others of whom had taken the works and taste of distinguished foreigners as their models, began to

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work on the improvement of musical taste. The players of the organ and clavier, among the latter especially Froberger and after him Pachelbel, among the former Reincken, Buxtehude, Bruhns, and several others, wrote almost at the first the most tasteful pieces of their time for their instruments. Above all, the art of playing the organ, for the most part taken over from the Netherlanders, was carried at this time to a very high point by those just named and a few other skillful men. More recently, this art was brought to its highest and final perfection by Johann Sebastian Bach, a man worthy of admiration. It is only to be hoped, in view of the small number of those who still take a certain pains with it, that with his death this art may

not again tend toward decline, or even toward its downfall. H

But with the benefit of the perspective of 250 years beyond that

of Quantz, we now plainly see, not only the decline which followed

Bach, but some also see Bach as the last nonclassicist in Europe:

It is the realization that the various European countries entered the classical era at different times, that they followed one another; that England, France and Italy reached the ideal of the cantabile style earlier than Germany hence the mocking remarks about the Baroque "ruins and remnants" in central and north Germany. The enlightenment could no longer comprehend the "scholasticism of the Age of the Organ." Bach was thus not only the last guardian of a past art in Germany, but also the last nonclassicist in Europe. As Nietsche said, "In Bach there is still too much of crude Christianity, of the crude German character, of crude scholasticism." 12

Changes in the Organ's Role after Bach

As has been discussed previously, the development of the various

types of chorale preludes was directly related to their use in introducing the

chorale for congregational singing, and in alternating with congregational

stanzas. A number of liturgical and social developments took place which

had as indirect results, the decline of congregational singing and the

importance of the organ. These developments included the Seven Years'

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War, the conflict in Lutheran churches between orthodoxy and Pietism,

and the rise of rationalism with its secularizing influence. The resulting

loss of the liturgical year and the alteration or elimination of the traditional

liturgical order of service, along with the new musical trends which would

culminate in the classic style, all contributed to the demise of

congregational chorale singing. With the loss of congregational singing

came the accompanying loss of the need for composers to write chorale

preludes.

The "spiritual songs" which displaced the magnificent treasure of Protestant church melodies led to the arbitrarily set, gloomy, and dragging congregational singing that was a caricature of the sturdy and lively chorales of the heroic age of the Reformation. . . . In the midst of this general decline organ music could not sustain its ancient glory. The chorale preludes, jewels of Protestant instrumental church music, shrank, undoubtedly under the influence of the spiritual song,

to little song-like pieces. 13

Beginning aroimd the late 1760s, with the deemphasis of the chorale

and chorale preludes, the trend was toward a freer type of prelude, one

whose connection with a chorale was no longer required. This trend went

hand-in-hand with the "spiritual songs" described above by Lang, and

which came to replace the singing of the historical chorales. In this t3^e of

prelude, the composer was free to express the mood of the chorale and to

entirely dispense with the melody, or he might choose to work in motifs or

phrases of the chorale tune if desired. This change was gradual rather

than sudden, and was by no means universally adopted, especially among

the pupils of Bach. Krebs, Homihus, Kittel, Miithel, and Schneider all

continued to compose chorale preludes in Bach's style to greater or lesser

degree. But with the loss of the old chorales as a basis for composition, and

182

with the expression of a mood rather than the conveying of a text, organ

preludes declined.

Simplicity and simplification were the ke3^words which, in the case of organ technique, led to lowered standards, to purely functional music for "teachers and organists in town and coimtry." Little organ pieces "for use in the public worship service" could be heard everywhere . . . What the theoreticians of sacred music were never tired of preaching was put fully into practice. The old, artistic forms of organ music, still represented by works of J. L. Krebs, were despised and eventually became extinct. Only the fugue survived, but written in a manner that was dry and antiquarian, with easygoing themes lacking in profile and built up by equal periods; there was little or no cohesion or tension in the

construction and the voice leading was lifeless. 14

The change is further demonstrated by a comparison of Bach's playing in

Leipzig on that First Sunday in Advent of 1714 (see above) and the organ

playing of the late 1760s. Bach concluded his service with a festive,

celebratory work designed not only to provide a fitting conclusion to a joyous

worship service, but also to demonstrate the capacity of the instrument and

the abilities of the organist. In the 1760s there developed a Postludium, to be

played at the end of the service, or sometimes after the principal hymn as

the minister made his way into the pulpit. Musicians sometimes jokingly

referred to it as a "pulpit march." Its characteristics were that it "could be

written in any number of styles and lacked a distinctive form. The reigning

type was a vaguely 'expressive' organ composition (with or without any

reminiscence of a chorale), appropriate at any time during the service." 15

It is interesting to take note of the fact that the decline in the role of

the organ and in organ composition, especially in the church, was not a

result shared by some other areas of the organ repertory. The period

between the organ works of Bach and the organ works of Mendelssohn

183

some seventy-five years later is an incredibly fertile period in European

music history, with composers in every corner of the continent writing

sonatas, concertos, overtures, sjonphonies, serenades, string quartets,

piano works, chamber music, songs, and operas. Even in the related areas

of organ literature, although it was far less fertile than the areas

mentioned above, there are organ concertos with orchestral

accompaniment, works for two or more organs, and music for the domestic

house organ. Also, contemporary journals were filled with articles on

organ building, playing, and literature.

This period is also marked by the renovation of a number of older

organs and the installation of numerous new instruments, as well as

technical innovations in organ design and operation. The period is one of

transition in which the technical innovations resulted most often from

demands placed upon the instrument by changes in musical style. As

baroque textures of independent pol3rphonic voices gave way to the more

homophonic textures that followed, organ voices were designed to blend and

combine with each other in expanded families of tone. As baroque terraced

djniamics gave way to gradual crescendo and diminuendo, swell shutters

and fully enclosed divisions were developed. As the number of pipes and

divisions grew to accommodate the need for increased flexibility in the

subtleties, shadings and range expansion of different tonal families (reeds,

strings, principals, diapasons, etc.), builders had to devise mechanical

means to allow the organist to make use of these expanded tonal resources

without having to exert all the physical force required himself Thus while

in some respects the period may be one of decline, it is not one of total

neglect.

184

The decline is a general one of religious music, and religious organ

music specifically. "The secularizing influence of the Enlightenment, v^dth

its reaction against organized religion and its emphasis on the natural and

rational, effectively removed the organ from the mainstream of musical

activity. "16 What were the contributing factors of this decline? There were

several: theological and liturgical, philosophical, political, social, and

musical.

Theological and Liturgical Factors

Several of these factors have already been mentioned: the conflict

between orthodoxy and Pietism; the loss of the liturgical year, and the

resulting alteration or elimination of the traditional liturgical order of

service. The orthodox branch of Lutheranism, of which Bach was most

certainly a committed member, sought to preserve the heritage and

traditions of the Reformation and earlier Roman Catholic pillars of its

worship life. Orthodoxy was "based on strict observance, looking for

salvation only in the Sacraments, Holy Scripture, and the sermon." 17 The

central importance of the scriptures found expression in and gave order to

the worship liturgy. Prayers, hymns, canticles, chorales, choral music,

and sacraments were all selected as a result of their relation to the text and

the day's observance within the liturgical season of the year. Perhaps most

important of all to Lutherans, the sermon-the proclamation and exposition

of the biblical texts for the day by the pastor or priest-was seen as the high

point of the service. In the case of sacred music, the orthodox

understanding of its purpose was as expressed by Bach: "honoring God

and uplifting the soul." 18

185

Pietism was a reaction against what it perceived to be the dry and

dogmatic nature of orthodoxy. Rather than orthodoxy's strict observance

and salvation through sacraments, sermon and scripture. Pietism

proclaimed individual and personal salvation through repentance and an

ongoing spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ. It contained a mystical

and emotional element absent from orthodoxy. It was a faith of personal

experience and feeling rather than a shared, inherited tradition and

dogma. Pietism led to a distinction between the converted and the

unconverted-the saved and the unsaved-and the denial of the sacraments

to those it judged the latter. Music came to be regarded as:

a language of the emotions, and as such it became subject to a new master: the demand for "popularity," . . . In striving for popularity, no aspect of performance received greater attention than "distinctness." It, and the proper expression, insured the comprehensibility of a composition to both the musically learned and the musically illiterate. Consonant with the emphasis on feeling and comprehensibility was the concern for simplicity, a trait of the "natural man" to which the mid-century artists sought to subordinate their richer inspirations. 19

The chorale came to be supplemented and often supplanted by a new

kind of simple, devotional song, "whose fervent verse and lilting, but often

rather vapid, melodies were meant as much for home as for church use . . .

[lacking] the robust spirit of the true chorale. . . ."20 With the deemphasis

or loss of the chorale as a central feature to the music of the church,

chorale-based organ composition also declined. The opening prelude and

closing voluntary to the service continued, but increasingly the organ's role

became one of providing accompaniment to hymn singing and improvising

interludes between lines and verses. This deemphasis of the organ in

worship led to a general decline in the level of organ playing. After a visit to

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Augsburg, Charles Burney explained that "the rage for crude, equivocal

and affected modulation which now prevails . . . renders voluntary playing

so unnatural that it is a perpetual disappointment and torture to the ear. "21

Philosophical Factors

At the same time that Pietism was challenging orthodoxy's

established order and practice within the Lutheran church during the

eighteenth century, the secular philosophy of the Enlightenment, especially

those of scientific rationalism and empirical reasoning, threatened it from

without. In general, the Enlightenment valued learning through a spirit of

skepticism and empiricism. Rationalism proclaimed that human reason

or intellect rather than tradition or emotion was the true source of

knowledge, and would provide a foundation for human existence.

Empiricism sought for knowledge in observation and experiment,

proclaiming experience as the only true source of knowledge.

Rationalism rejects the claims of empiricism, but both rejected revelation

and the supernatural. The Enlightenment judged the church, religion,

and faith, along with music and the arts, education, governments and

rulers, political and social institutions, on the basis of whether or not they

contributed to the ultimate improvement and perfection of the individual.

In admitting rationalism's human reasoning and intellect and

empiricism's human observation and experience as the bases for

determining beliefs and actions, the Enlightenment "subverted Lutheran

doctrine by substituting reason based on experience for faith in a divine

revelation of world order."22

187

The combined effect of Pietism and the Enlightenment on Lutheran

orthodoxy was profound. Those traditional forces which shaped and

worked to preserve Lutheran faith and practice, including musical

practice, were weakened. The liturgy and other aspects of worship were

eliminated, abbreviated, or adapted to rationalistic ideals. The sacraments

were no longer given the importance they once enjoyed. Prayers became

sentimentalized, often taking on the character of an oration; they became

"nothing but the expression of the sincere desire that God might support

and strengthen us in our striving for improvement of the heart."23 The

sermon became a lecture, the congregation became an audience, and the

preacher became a pulpit speaker, whose effectiveness was measured by

the length and volimie of the applause at the lecture's conclusion, or by how

often the audience was moved to tears or some other emotional response.

There were other effects of Pietistic and Enlightenment thought on

church music. For a time at least, music continued to be based upon a

biblical text or a chorale, but this music gradually came to be infused with

emotion, replacing the objectivity of the old biblical texts and chorales with

the subjectivity of personal expression. Secular forms increasingly invaded

the music of the church, including operatic styles and chamber music. In

some locations, the only music that appeared in the service was to be found

in simple, plain h5mms.24 The more extreme advocates of Pietism called

for the exclusive use of plain hymns with simple organ accompaniment,

while some, because of Pietism's "purism, sobriety, and rationality, [were

led] to a theoretical rejection of all higher art music."25

The Enlightenment defined the purpose of church music by calling

for congregational singing, organ playing, and sacred polyphony to be

188

useful for the edification of the worshiper. Music which edified was music

which brought about feelings of reverence. In many cases, such edifying

music took on a sentimental quahty. This is a profound change in

perception from that which prevailed during Bach's time, "that church

music was an indispensable part of an immutable tradition, instituted by

God for His praise"26 Church music had to be edifying for all worshipers,

not just those who enjoyed and understood liturgical Latin, complex

polyphony or organ chorale preludes. This could be accomplished through

simplicity and dignity, two words which after 1750 came to be applied to the

liturgy, chorales and hymns and their accompaniments, pol3rphonic

music, and organ playing. The idea took hold that simplicity and dignity

were best achieved through the simple homophonic, chordal style of the

period, and by a melody-dominant texture.

The music of Bach was labeled as artful and artificial. Scheibe's 1737

criticism of Bach's style as confused27 was echoed by others after Bach's

death. Carl Friedrich Abel, himself a former pupil of Bach and later a

promoter with Bach's youngest son in the London Bach-Abel concerts,

wrote the following critical judgment of the complex and confused style of

J. S. Bach, and also of his son, Emanuel:

If Sebastian Bach and his admirable son Emanuel, instead of being music directors in commercial cities, had been fortunately employed to compose for the stage and public of great capitals, such as Naples, Paris, or London, and for performers of the first class, they would doubtless have simplified their style more to the level of their judges; the one would have sacrificed all unmeaning art and contrivance, and the other have been less fantastical and recherche; and both, by writing in a style more popular, and generally intelligible and pleasing, would have extended their fame, and been indisputably the greatest musicians of the eighteenth century. 28

189

Abel's brief critique sums up many of the factors which contributed

to the decline of church music and the organ: disdain for their status,

preference for secular music of the stage and concert, the exodus of the best

musicians out of the church, the desirability of a simple style, a contrived

art without meaning, the appeal of a popular, intelligible and pleasing

style, and greatness being measured by these qualities. In 1803, Bach's

pupil Kittel charged that Bach's intention had been "to elicit. . . admiration

for his great erudition rather than to move through the grace and

expressiveness of his melodies" and that his free compositions resulted in

"learned chaos. "29 He wrote in the preface to his Vierstimmige Chorale

mit Vorspielen (1803) that "'it was the duty of the organist to 'play for the

people,' " and that "the learned manner of Bach was considered

inappropriate for liturgical purposes."30 it had come to the point where

"Bach's vocal and organ compositions were considered unsuitable for the

church, due to excessive artificiality and a lack of edifying quality. "^1

Doles, one of Bach's successors as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, describes his

being instructed in the contrapuntal style by Bach, but that he had not

"carried this to excess."32 in the 1790 preface to his cantata Ich komme vor

dein Angesicht, Doles calls for church music that contains "rh5dihms that

are easily understood, simple and forceful harmonies, and melodies that

will go to the heart." Fugal style, however, is unintelligible for the

churchgoer; it does not touch the heart, but rather "amuses the intellect."33

Bach's third successor as Leipzig Thomaskantor, J. A. Hiller, in 1787

censured the "crudities" found in Bach's music34 and removed Bach's

190

works from the choir's repertory. This prejudice lasted well into the early

nineteenth century. In 1832, F. Kessler banned the use of the larger

polyphonic works in church services, specifically mentioning those

composed by Bach, Handel, J. G. Albrechtsberger, Mozart, Krebs, and

Johann Schneider, because they provided "intellectual pleasure for the

initiated listener rather than for the ordinary man."35

This anti-art attitude and rejection of the art music of the past led to

two styles of church music for a time, one in which certain sections of the

liturgy made use of the secular styles common to opera of the period,

including especially the da capo aria. The second style was that of imitative

polyphony, or a fugal style, considered by the rationalistic mind of an

Enlightened church-goer to be somehow scientific, or learned. It was also

known as the church style. Burney alludes to these two styles in relating

his visit and conversation in 1772 with J. F. Agricola in Berlin:

He shewed me some of his compositions for the church, in score, which were very masterly; but he said that it was a style of writing which was but little cultivated, at Berlin, as the I^ng will not hear it. Indeed, I had been told before my arrival that his Prussian majesty carries his prejudice against this kind of music so far, that when he hears of any composer having written an anthem, or oratorio, he fancies his taste is contaminated by it, and says, of his other productions, every moment. Oh! this smells of the church.36

The liturgy was abbreviated, marked by the survival of the Kyrie and

Gloria from the original Mass Ordinary. Singing of the Ordinary (or its

surviving movements) and chanting of the prayers were dispensed with

and hymns substituted at the discretion of the minister. Established

scripture texts for the Sundays, feasts and observances of the liturgical year

were eliminated, thus undermining the importance of the day's cantata

and organ music, as well as removing one of the foundations of historic,

191

traditional Lutheran worship. Fewer liturgical elements in the service

resulted in fewer musical portions and less opportunities for organ playing,

which had already been reduced to simple hymn accompaniments and

improvised short interludes between verses.

In order to understand the decline in the role of the organ in worship

and in organ performance standards, it would be informative to examine

more closely the style of congregational singing and the organist's role

during this time. "Only bad things are reported about congregational

singing by most sources. Most of all, the constant dragging of tempo is

deplored . . ."37 The slow tempos resulted from notating the chorales in

half notes and holding each half note in the melody approximately two

seconds. In some locations the practice was to hold each syllable of text for

four pulse beats, and fermatas for up to twelve beats. It is little wonder that

congregations began to add ornamentation to these long, drawn-out

melodies, and that the men's voices might sing a lower countermelody

(Sekundieren). Organists were urged from the middle of the eighteenth

century on to avoid conflicts in harmony by playing the simplest and most

obvious harmonization as accompaniment. One result of the

Enlightenment was the removal of notated music from hymnbooks, now

only contained in the organist's volume. Even choristers and music

reading congregation members could no longer sing the correct melody, let

alone an accompanying part. Throughout the century organists had been

accustomed to providing variations between and as accompaniment to

hymn verses, a practice which now came under attack because it led to a

distortion of the singing and harmonic confusion. After 1750, the

interludes between lines that were inserted by organists commonly

contained ornaments and embellishments to the melody, and these came to

192

be imitated by the song leader (precentor) and the congregation. The first

written examples of these organ interludes were provided by J. S. Bach, and

the impetus for their use probably came, not from the congregation, but

from the organists who saw the need to relieve the boredom of such slow

moving melodies. They may also have been added by organists, at least in

part, as a response to the abbreviation of the liturgy and the resulting loss of

opportimities for the organist to play.

The proliferation of organ chorale books throughout the eighteenth

century marks the final stage of the organ's role in Lutheran

congregational singing, which originally was performed without

accompaniment, then with the organ in alternatim, then with organ

interludes and variations, and finally with full and continuous organ

accompaniment. The first chorale books had only melody and figured bass,

but these were replaced with full four-part settings as the use of basso

continuo declined. The first successful chorale book to find wide-spread use

was the collection of four-part chorales by J. S. Bach, first published 1765-9

in a shortened edition, with the complete edition published 1784-7 in four

sections, prepared by Kirnberger and assisted by C. P. E. Bach.38

Political Factors

In many locations that suffered through the Seven Years' War

(1756-63), in which England and Prussia defeated Austria, France, Russia,

Sweden, and Saxony, organs incurred such damage that stops, choruses,

divisions, and sometimes entire organs were unplayable. Even if there had

been trained organists to play the organs, and even if changes in musical

style were not leading away from the organ's central role in worship

music, in many locations there were no organs to be played.

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Social Factors

The social status of musicians during the eighteenth century was not

very high. They were often considered low-ranking employees of a duke or

a nobleman, little different than servants. Bach suffered numerous

indignities at the hands of the town council or a school official, and in 1717

was thrown into prison upon petitioning the Duke of Weimar for his release

from employment. Nearly fifty years later Haydn still considered himself to

be a servant to the wealthy Hungarian noble family of Esterhazy. He lived

out most of his life in service to the family, providing music for all kinds of

occasions, and taking his meals in the kitchen with the other servants.

Church musicians received even lower wages and enjoyed a lower

status than court musicians on the social scale. Many had to accept

payment-in-kind for their labors, as was the case when Bach acknowledged

a gift of venison: "I and my whole household acknowledge the [gift] with

most obedient thanks, and wish only for an opportunity to prove our desire

to thank Your Honor in deeds. The fine roast venison has been, in the

meantime, consumed by us, with a wish for Your Honor's good

health . . ."39 Payment in food, firewood, clothing, wine, or grain was not

uncommon. They also received fees for weddings and fimerals, and many

supplemented their incomes by teaching private students, writing or

composing. Some, however, were forced to seek additional income outside

of music, whether it be performing legal or clerical duties, or teaching in a

nearby school.

The decline in social standing of church musicians is made clear by

the Prussian Code of 1794, in which:

. . . neither cantors nor organists (which latter had always had less security in the social order) are listed as professionals in

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their own right; they are listed on a level with custodians, as "lower church employees" [Oskar Sohngen, "Das kirchenmusikalische Amt in der evangelischen Kirche der altpreussischen Union. Die wichtigsten geltenden Verordnungen und Erlasse auf dem Gebiete der Kirchenmusik. Mit Erlduterungen herausgegeben. . . . Berlin, 1950]. The better musicians among them were anxious to find work in secular musical life, and the cantors themselves esteemed their secular compositions more than their sacred ones, for to be known as a church composer was no longer a recommendation. Thus, the word "cantor" became "almost an invective" [G. Ch. F. Schhmbach, "Ideen und Vorschldge zur Verbesserung des Kirchenmusikwesens" in Berlinische Musikalische Zeitung I, 1805]. By 1800 the position of cantor had lost most of its earlier artistic and social prestige. Organists fared no better; if their profession was not considered attractive, this was due only in part to the poor pay.40

As organists' and other church musicians' status and prestige

declined, many sought a livelihood in secular music as performers,

composers, conductors, and promoters. The rise of secular musical

institutions, such as the opera house, and the increase of public concerts

drew both musicians and listeners away from the church. "In general, the

clergy made no attempt to prevent the exodus of music from the church."41

Whereas formerly the church was the main location for the performance

and hearing of music, as the century progressed that location shifted to the

public concert. Much of this shift had been accomplished by the time of

Bach's sons. Sebastian's youngest son, Johann Christian, was himself

promoter for the important and successful Bach-Abel concert series which

lasted from 1765 until 1781 in London. As the public's desire and need to

hear music was increasingly met outside the church, interest in great

church music declined. Both choral and organ works which would have

been heard in a liturgical setting within the church were now presented in

a concert setting.

195

With the relocation of the best musicians from the church to the

concert hall, it is little wonder that church organists of the period were

often reduced to rendering simple accompaniments to simple hymns as

their contribution to the church's worship. Many of them could perform

only on such a level. The gap left in the church by the departure of its best

musicians was partly filled by amateur organists. The rise of the amateur

organist was made possible by the combined effects of Pietism and the

Enlightenment's scientific rationalism, which so devalued the musical

heritage and traditional liturgical style of Bach's and previous generations

that the dedication, skill and commitment of trained organists were no

longer needed. The declining standards of organ playing resulted in a

proliferation of anthologies which provided simple cadenzas and interludes

for the untrained organist unable to provide his own service music or

perform the more difficult literature. "This orientation towards the

amateur undoubtedly deterred the great composers of the period, many of

whom were renowned for their improvisations, from publishing music for

the organ."42

One of the hallmarks of J. S. Bach's organ style was his independent

and fully equal pedal parts (Chapter II), often of a virtuoso character.

Many of these works would be quite difficult for an amateur or a lesser

trained organist to perform, yet many would aspire to such performance.

In addition, much of the later music composed for organ lacked an

independent and notated part for the pedals, and could be performed on

manuals only or even on the harpsichord or piano. Numerous manuals

appeared in order to provide instruction to aspiring amateur organists on

how to employ the pedals, how to simplify already written pedal parts, and

how to construct a pedal part from keyboard music lacking one, without

196

having to spend years of practice to develop an accomplished pedal

technique. One such manual was by Justin Heinrich Knecht (1752-1817),

from whom the following excerpt is taken:

The Adept Use of the Pedals. Precis: the way the Pedal is to be employed, as it is very seldom notated (and frequently not at all); how the ordinary bass in organ and other pieces is to be supported and accompanied by the pedals . . . The pedal can, depending on the kind of piece it is, be used in three ways: (i) sparingly, (ii) following, on the whole, the manual bass, (iii) quite on its own, or diverging from the manual bass. The sparing use of the pedal is mainly employed in pleasant and cantabile pieces where it is sufficient to point the single main notes in order not to darken the melody or finely-wrought accompaniment figure through a continuous humming in the bass . . . one only plays with the pedal a pointing-in of the first note of the undulating accompaniment . . . A knowledge of harmony . . . to pick out the main notes of a running bass (as distinct from subsidiary or passing notes) and good musical taste and judgement (sic) must also contribute its part if the pedal accompaniment is to be appropriate to the character of the piece . . . If passages too fast or difficult occur in a piece (irrespective of its type or character) play with the pedal only the first note (which anyway usually turns out to be the main one [harmonically]), or you can simplify the runs in the pedal by means of long notes . . . In the course of a piece, if Tenor, Alto, and Soprano contrapuntal lines occur (not only in fugues but also in other pieces), it is natural that when the ordinary [manual] Bass is silent, the pedals should be too. However, such contrapuntal sections are excluded when both hands have so much to do that the pedal has to help out with the ordinary bass . . . In the gallant or brilliant manner of organ playing, where the right and left hands are partly together and partly in dialogue, and also in fast and staccato fashion, the pedal can be played in three ways: 1) when the fingers of both hands are at top speed, the pedal points the main notes giving an organ-like fullness, without which the texture would sound thin; 2) play the main notes of such fast figuration staccato and hold the final one (at the end of a phrase) longer, to give more strength and emphasis; 3) in the most gallant organ pieces, employ, on the one hand, an isolated staccato pedal note only occasionally, and, on the other, after a long pedal rest produce a number of consecutive notes, reinforcing the main line of the [manual] bass . . . At a concluding cadence the pedal can make two distinctive alternative contributions, as follows . . . it can hold down the dominant while both hands play either

197

delicately and quickly or imitatively and contrapimtally; or it can enter quickly, literally just before the final note . . . The last note, the tonic, can (though more rarely) also be held on while the hands are playing dehcately or contrapuntally. But it will soimd far better, and give in the church a nicer after-echo, if one cuts off the final note in both manuals and pedals.43

Musical Factors

A number of musical factors have already been mentioned in the

discussion of other factors above, including the decline in congregational

singing and the resulting decline in organ literature and performance; the

impact of public concerts on the patronage of the church and on the exodus

of trained musicians from the church, again resulting in lower standards

of playing and composition; and the increasing market for the amateur

musician, with increasing publication of music for that market, and the

succession of amateurs into organist positions formerly held by trained

musicians. There are several other musical factors to be considered.

As galant finally evolved into the fully classic style, instrumental

music came to dominate vocal music more and more. Outside the church

the truly significant developments in musical style were taking place in the

concerto, the symphony, the quartet and other chamber genres. The

importance of instrumental music to style developments, along with the

irresistible secularizing influences of the Enlightenment, exerted pressure

on a number of musical areas of the church. More and more, church

organs were designed to accompany congregational singing and to imitate

the sounds of an orchestra. Earlier baroque organs typically would have

sharp, distinct solo stops. The principals would be strong and brightly

voiced to enhance their roles as the foundation tone of the organ. Mixtures

would also be bright, sometimes piercing. Flutes would likewise be imbued

198

with their own characteristic tone qualities. Each family of tones was

designed as a unit, or chorus, such as principal chorus or reed chorus.

Bach's time (the first half of the eighteenth century) was one of

change, both in aesthetic and in performance. As organs played a larger

role in accompanying congregational singing and as solo opportunities in

the service decreased, it became increasingly important to have a wide

array of 8' manual stops, strong 16' support in the pedals, and the ability to

contrast tone and volume. Early in the century, the accepted practice was

to maintain the integrity and individuality of the tonal families by not

combining stops of the same pitch level from different families. By mid-

century, however, it was becoming common for organists to combine stops

from all families, except the reeds. Adlung suggested the following as a

solo melody registration: Prinzipal 8' + Gedackt 8' + Gemshorn 8' -i-

Rohrflote 8', with similar mixing in the pedal and accompanying

manual.44

Within this period of change, there was inevitably some confusion in

the area of organ design, and hence, in organ performance. Within a short

span of years, organs were designed for the performance of a wide variety of

literature, but most especially that of the historic, traditional Lutheran

church; and organs were designed to attempt to meet the needs of organists

in this time of changing liturgy and musical style. Compare, for instance,

Gottfried Silbermann's installation in the Freiberg Cathedral with the

Scherer-Freundt installation at Klosterneuburg. The Freiberg organ was

plainly designed for baroque literature.

[It] was not a mass of clumsy auxiliary stops but a unique blend of Saxon and Parisian elements, full of well-thought-out balance between the three manuals, and implying a mode of registration needing to be learnt carefully by the organist.

199

[The] voicing is strong, particularly of the Principals . . . Wind pressure . . . was . . . higher than that of good large organs of about 1700.45

The Klosterneuburg organ, on the other hand, was designed, not for

traditional performance playing, but to accommodate the changes taking

place in the hturgy and the role played by the organ:

. . . neither the Brustwerk nor even the RUckpositiv competes with the main chest (Hauptwerk and Pedal), either in sound or appearance. . . . The instrument should be seen not so much as a three-manual organ but as a group of three independent organs: Hauptwerk for postludes, etc., RUckpositiv for interludes and major accompaniments, Brustwerk for continuo.46

The Klosterneuburg installation is an example of changes in the musical

portions of the service affecting organ design. One result was that organs

were designed tonally to imitate orchestral families. Some theorists even

"encouraged particular imitations of string stops and in general helped to

deceive organists into thinking they could duplicate orchestral effects."47

Another musical factor in the organ's decline in the church was

related specifically to continuing development of instriunental forms

outside the church and the popularity of instrumental music in general.

The organ was the principal instrument of worship during the baroque,

involved in and leading virtually every musical section of the service. As

the style and practice changed over the century, it was increasingly

relegated to performing a continuo accompaniment role, with much service

music becoming orchestrally accompanied. Sometimes the organ was

entirely replaced by other instruments, especially wind instruments.

Many galleries or balconies which had housed baroque organs were

not designed to hold large numbers of instrumentalists, so as orchestral

200

music supplanted the organ in the service, the organ and gallery sat

unused, and a number of organs fell silent from disuse and neglect.

Separate areas within the church had to be foimd in which to locate the

orchestra, and eventually even such time-honored liturgical items as the

opening and closing voluntaries were performed orchestrally. In some

churches which found new locations for an orchestra, a small chamber or

portative organ was included in the new location. The previously-

mentioned sonata all' epistola of Mozart could have been performed in this

manner quite adequately.

As a result of these various factors-theological and liturgical,

philosophical, political, social, and musical-the organ, the organist, and

organ music had fallen from their earlier positions of importance and

prominence.

Small wonder that with the common state of instruments, the sparse opportunity for extended playing, and the increasing seciilarization of style, the majority of organists took refuge in extemporization, or pillage of the piano repertoire—the lesser of them with risible results. The development of an idiomatic organ style to suit changing needs was delayed and music specifically composed for solo organ a rarity.48

201

Notes

lArnold, Organ Literature (1973), 162.

2Spitta, 2:306-7.

3Spitta, 2:519. The order Bach wrote down is not complete. As any organist so completely familiar with the liturgy of the church service from week to week might do, he chose to highlight the musical portions which would require most of his attention.

^Bach Reader, 70.

5Spitta, 2:278-9.

6Mattheson, Das beschUtzte Orchestre (Hamburg, 1717), 83, in Spitta, 2:279.

7Kirnberger, Grundsdtze des Generalbasses (Berlin, 1781), 64, in Spitta, 2:279.

8Spitta, 2:291.

9lbid., 2:292. In his last years Bach published the Six Chorales (BWV 645-50), commonly called the SchUbler Chorales, consisting of trio arrangements of chorale movements from six of his Leipzig cantatas composed between 1728 and 1736. While we can not be certain of his intended purpose in publishing these chorales, almost certainly part of that intent was for making materials available for instruction. It would also seem plausible that the intended audience would be church organists seeking suitable prelude and voluntary music. Dietrich sees the "Schiibler chorales [as] 'the mighty keystone' of Bach's production of organ chorales, 'his legacy to the next two generations.' . . . Unfortunately it was a period of decline which took possession of this inheritance from Bach." (Fritz Dietrich, "Bachs Orgel choral und seine geschichtlichen Wurzeln," Bach-Jahrbuch for 1929, in Keller, 263.)

lOKeller, 170-1.

11 J. J. Quantz, Versuch einer Anweisung die Flote traversiere zu spielen (1752), reprinted in Oliver Strunk, Source Readings In Music History: The Classic Era (New York: Norton, 1965), 21-2.

12Herz, 26.

202

13Paul Henry Lang, Music in Western Civilization (New York: W. W. Norton, 1941; republished with a new foreword by Leon Botstein, 1997), 701.

14Feder, 375.

15lbid.

16 Glyn Jenkins, "Keyboard Music, II. Organ Music from cl750," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 10:21-2.

17Blume, "Age of Confessionalism," 251.

18lbid., 313.

19Charles Stagmaier Brown, "The Art of Chorale-Preluding and Chorale Accompaniment as Presented in Kittel's Der Angehende Praktische Organist" (D.M.A. diss., Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, 1970), 133-4.

20Leaver & Bond, 11:369.

21Charles Burney, The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Provinces (1773), in Jenkins, 10:22.

22Blume, "Age of Confessionalism," 251.

23Forkel, Geschichte, 2:13, in Brown, 129.

24Downs, 175.

25Blume, "Age of Confessionalism," 255.

26Feder, 323.

27Many of the original documents of the debate are contained in Bach Reader, 237-52.

28lbid., 262.

203

29Feder, 324.

30jenkins, 10:22.

3lFeder, 324.

32lbid., 325.

33lbid.

34Blume, "Age of Confessionahsm," 313.

3 5 F . Kessler, Der musikalische Kirchendienst, in Jenkins, 10:22.

36charles Burney, The Present State of Music In Germany, the Netherlands and United Provinces (London, 1773) 2:91, in Downs, 170.

37Feder, 340.

38Much of this discussion has been distilled from a much more complete and detailed account in Feder, 340-7. Some of Bach's pupils compiled their own chorale books and wrote instructions for organists, some of which have been analyzed and discussed in academic theses and dissertations listed in the bibliography. Particularly informative are the discussions of the contributions of Kittel and Tiirk in the dissertations by John Philip Anthony and Charles Stagmaier Brown, and the dissertation on chorale preludes for organ and solo instrument by David Held.

^^Bach Reader, 168.

40Feder, 322.

41lbid., 323.

42jenkins, 10:22.

43j. H. Knecht, Vollstdndige Orgelschule, I Abteilung (Lepizig, 1795-8), 81-6, in Robin Langley, ed.. Classical Organ Music from the Death of J. S. Bach to the Advent of Mendelssohn, 3 volumes (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986), l:Preface.

204

44peter Williams, "Organ," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1980; paperback reprint, 1995), 13:755.

45lbid.

46lbid., 756-7.

47lbid., 759.

48Langley, l:Preface.

205

CHAPTER VI

BAROQUE ORGAN WORKS

Works Resembling Compositions of J. S. Bach

A number of factors come into play in determining that a work is

directly based upon or influenced by a composition of another composer.

The distinction must be made between quotation, modeling, and tme

influence of one composer on the work of another.

Quotation is the mere presence of material of one composer in the

work of another; perhaps a melody, phrase, or even longer passage. The

opening pitches of J. S. Bach's subject of the Fugue in Eb Major (BWV 552)

of the ClavierUbung, Part III are identical to the opening melody of an

earlier English hymntune, St. Anne, attributed to William Croft (1708), and

account for this fugue sometimes being referred to as Bach's "St. Anne

Fugue" (Example 6.1). Whether a connection existed in the mind of Bach is

largely irrelevant, since such a connection has been perceived in the ears of

many listeners and organists, and the nickname has endured. The

continued use of the nickname is based upon the perceived quotation (the

mere presence of the notes) of the hymntune in Bach's fugue subject, yet

there is no question of any stylistic influence of Croft upon Bach.

Example 6.1. J. S. Bach's "Fugue in Eb Major," BWV 552.

«

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r I r r r r r ^ r r r I

206

Modeling is composing a work which intentionally makes use of

certain aspects of another work, including motive or melody, rhythmic

patterns, chord progressions, formal elements, or combination of musical

elements. It is the adoption of much more than another composer's

melody, while not the same as the literal borrowing of material that

occurred in the Renaissance Parody Masses. Modeling implies the

borrowing of musical elements less recognizable by the listener, such as

motive and phrase direction, tonality or modality, formal articulation

according to harmonic or textural similarities, or perhaps even phrase and

section length. These elements from another composer's work would be

imitated, i.e., brought over as a model, into a new composition which made

use of sufficient original musical material to allow its recognition as a new,

original work. As with quotation, modeling does not really raise the issue

of true stylistic influence of one composer upon the work of another.

Quotation and modeling are relatively simple to demonstrate, and

there are examples throughout music history. True influence, however, is

a more significant relationship, one which runs deeper than the surface

resemblances of theme, harmony, rhythm or form which may constitute

the primary elements of quotation and modeling. It is more difficult to

prove.

True influence is going to be something that runs between one composer's oeuvre and another's, not between individual pieces in a particular genre. . . . I would argue that real influence is likely to manifest itself in a pattern of multiple similarities on several stylistic levels, not in any single area (a

theme, a harmonic progression). 1

The discussion which follows is intended to demonstrate a

relationship of modeling one work on another rather than one of mere

quotation or of deeper stylistic influence. It is this middle level of

207

relationship to an existing work of Bach which would actually place certain

works within a baroque style.

"Prelude in F Minor" hv J. L. Krehs

The F minor prelude is one of Krebs' finest compositions and of

uncommonly large scale. In conception, formal organization, attention to

details of motive, harmony and rhythm, as well as its ability to demonstrate

the full, idiomatic potential of the instrument and the skill of the performer,

it is without equal among Krebs' organ works, and worthy of comparison of

the best of Bach's works. It also bears some striking similarities to Bach's

"Prelude in B Minor" (BWV 544, Example 6.3), even to the point of

suggesting Krebs used his teacher's work as a model.

Example 6.2. J. L. Krebs' "Prelude in F Minor." 1

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208

Example 6.3. J. S. Bach's "Prelude in B Minor," BWV 544.

There are a number of readily apparent similarities between the two

works.2 Both are set in a minor key. Both are in 6/8 meter and are

performed in a broad maestoso with two pulses per bar rather than six.

Both opening melodic motives are characterized by a florid, quasi-

improvisational quality. Both works are sectionalized with alternating

passages for manuals alone and manuals with pedals. The form of the two

preludes resulting from their sectionalization is illustrated in Table 6.1:

Table 6.1. Comparison of Formal Sections of Bach's "Prelude in B Minor" and Krebs" ""Prelude in F Minor."

Bach's Prelude in B Minor Krebs' Prelude in F Minor

Section 1: mm. 1-17 (Bm, w/pedals)

Section 2: mm. 17-30 (Bm, manuals)

Section 3: mm. 30-43 (F#m, w/pedals)

Section 4: mm. 43-72 (F#m, w/pedals)

Section 5: mm. 72-85 (Bm, w/pedals)

mm. 1- 24 (Fm, w/pedals)

mm. 24- 58 (Fm, manuals)

mm. 58- 86 (Cm, w/pedals)

mm. 86-113 (Cm, manuals)

mm. 114-128 (Fm, w/pedals)

209

A number of similarities between the works may be pointed out in

support of the modeling relationship.

Form and harmonv. Both works are divided into five main sections.

Sections one and two are in the tonic area, sections three and four in the

minor dominant, with the fifth sections returning to the tonic.

Use of manuals alone or with pedal. With one exception, both

preludes display a similar pattern of pedal usage. Sections one, three, and

five call for manuals and pedals. The second sections are for manuals

alone. Only in sections four is there a difference.

Texture. Both preludes make use of a similar texture and interplay

of musical elements in their opening sections. Examples 6.2 and 6.3

compare the opening texture of both works. The uppermost voice is an

extended, elaborately ornamented theme in short note values in the already

mentioned quasi-improvisational style. This is supported by a left hand

accompaniment consisting of a two-chord motive, the second chord most

often higher than the first (B/5, K/1). Bach's first chord is an unstable

diminished harmony leading to a stable minor chord, followed by a rest.

This pattern is then repeated using different harmonies. Krebs uses the

same movement of harmony and rhythm, but in a reversed order, with a

stable minor chord followed by an unstable diminished harmony. It is as if

Krebs borrowed Bach's idea, but reversed the order of the small-scale

harmonic movement. Beneath these two manual activities, the feet

contribute a tonic pedal point in alternating adjacent octaves (B/4-6, K/1-6).

In both works, the normal strong accents on beats one and four are denied

through the use of a tie between beats three-four and six-one.

Section two. Bach's section two consists of an imitative section using

a main idea derived from his opening theme, while Krebs' consists of a

210

fugal section whose subject is also derived from the opening theme. Both

composers use a three-note motive of eighth notes in prominent

juxtaposition to the main idea or subject in this section.

Section three. A section similar to the opening returns. Both works

place the pedal point on the dominant and appropriately transpose the

dissonant/consonant left hand chords. Both works continue with a

developmental subsection consisting of extended toccata-like scale passages

in sixteenth notes linked together in the manuals, superimposed over a

steadily-moving scale pattern in longer note values in the pedals. Both

sections conclude in the minor dominant.

Section four. This section is similar to section two in both works, but

is in the minor dominant. Krebs here makes use of the mirror of his

subject from section two, resulting in a considerable melodic and rhythmic

similarity between the subjects in this section.

Section five. Both concluding sections present material from their

opening sections, but transformed and altered. The drive to the final

cadence provides a suitable climax to the tension built up through the

melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic development which preceded it in both

works.

Specific similarities between the two works can also be drawn on a

smaller scale.

Final cadence. In the penultimate measures of each work (K/127,

Example 6.4 and B/84, Example 6.5), the composers use similar melodic

and rhythmic patterns. These consist of upper voice melodic direction,

three eighth note chords immediately before the final chord, and a short

concluding eighth note chord followed by rests to fill in the final measure.

211

Example 6.4. J. L. Krebs' "Prelude in F Minor," Closing Cadence.

A . 127 ^CT ^ ^

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Example 6.5. J. S. Bach's "Prelude in B Minor," Closing Cadence.

84

P w m i J • J J J •= F f'i\'*

cr ^m\ t y V yf V

^ ^ y y ^ y

f r Unique parallel sixth pattern. In the approximate same place within

each work given their proportional differences (B/75, K/103-4), there occurs

a unique appearance of a rapid stepwise eighth note movement in parallel

sixths of an almost halting, interrupting nature.

Similar third suspensions. B/69 and K/66 contain descending right

hand suspensions in thirds against a rising thirty-second note figure in the

left hand.

Cadential Neapolitan. Although they appear in different sections

between the works, both use the Neapolitan sixth chord to conclude a

section (B/16, B/72, K/57).

212

It may be argued that some of these similarities, such as use of the

Neapolitan at a cadence, or the division of a work into sections according to

manuals only and manuals with pedals texture, are inevitable, resulting

from their common use within the period or idiom. Considered with the

other similarities mentioned, however, some of which would be quite

striking if indeed unintentional, such as the similarity of melodic,

harmonic and rhythmic activity which opens both works, it becomes more

likely that Krebs modeled his work after that of Bach. This possibility is

increased when we further take into account the close relationship shared

between the two men, a relationship which developed into much more than

that of merely teacher and student.

"Toccata in A Minor" bv J. L. Krebs

Krebs' A minor toccata (Example 6.6) is another work which may

have been modeled on a work by Bach, his "Toccata in F Major" (BWV 540,

Example 6.7). The comparison here will be limited to characteristics of

form and structure, texture, and patterns of pedal usage.

213

Example 6.6. J. L. Krebs' "Toccata in A Minor."

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Example 6.7. J. S. Bach's "Toccata in F Major," BWV 540.

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214

Table 6.2. Comparison of Bach's "Toccata in F Major" and Krebs' "Toccata in A Minor."

Bach's Toccata in F Major Krebs' Toccata in A Minor

Section 1: mm. 1- 54 ( 54 mm.)

Section 2: mm. 55- 82 ( 28 mm.)

Section 3: mm. 83-136 ( 54 mm.)

Section 4: mm. 137-176 ( 40 mm.)

Section 5: mm. 176-438 (263 mm.)

mm. 1- 30 ( 30 mm.)

mm. 31- 57 (27 mm.)

mm. 57-106 ( 50 mm.)

mm. 107-133 ( 27 mm.)

mm. 134-219 (105 mm.)

Although Bach's toccata has twice the number of measures than that

of Krebs, the similarity of dimensional pattern can be seen. Sections one

and three are substantially larger than sections two and four, and section

five consists of an extended development section in which individual

motives presented earlier are repeated, transformed, expanded, combined,

and altered.

There are other parallels between the two works, including formal

and textural similarities. Bach's section one is canonic manuals over a

pedal point while Krebs* is imitative manuals over a pedal point. Both

second sections are for solo pedal. Bach's section three returns the canonic

manuals over a pedal point and Krebs' is imitative manuals and pedals.

Kreb's brings back the imitative manuals and pedal point in section four.

Both sections five are for manuals and pedals throughout. Both works

further articulate their individual sections by contrasting the sections in

tonic and dominant. Bach's opening motive used throughout the work

consists of a sixteenth note elaboration of the tonic triad with a lower

neighbor tone placed between the first and third notes, the entire motive

215

cast in a rising direction. Krebs' opening motive is quite similar, also in

sixteenth notes and making use of the lower neighbor in the same position,

but is cast in a descending direction. Both works begin with a two-measure

statement of the motive in the upper voice, followed by an exact repetition of

those two measures at the octave below, all over a tonic pedal point. Both

works continue the same pattern of the opening motive in imitation in both

manuals combining intervals of thirds, sixths, and tenths. This pattern is

continued throughout both works in all five sections.

These similarities between the two toccatas: formal and textural

divisions; rapid imitative or canonic manual work in thirds, sixths, and

tenths, supported below by extended tonic pedal points; lengthy and difficult

solo pedal passages based on the opening motive in the manuals;

proportional similarities of the sections; and the close similarity between

the primary motives that are spun out, all give credence to the idea that

Krebs used Bach's work as a model.

Free Baroque Works

The characteristics which qualify a composition as baroque have

been discussed in Chapter II, but a brief summary might be helpful here.

This is a general summary, unlike the earlier, more comprehensive

discussion which included general style characteristics of the baroque as

well as a discussion of Bach's organ style.

Melody is characterized by the continuous use of a single motive,

developed through repetition, variation, modulation, chromatic alteration,

and changes in accompanying harmony. Forward movement is

continuous in asymmetrical phrases, broken at the cadence points.

Cadences may appear at different times in the different voices. Melodic and

216

harmonic sequence is used as a means of development and to build tension.

Melodies are often derived from a combination of scale degrees rather than

primarily relying on scale degrees of the triad, as is often the case with

classical melodies.

Baroque harmony favors almost exclusive use of major-minor

tonality over Renaissance modality. It makes use of primary, secondary,

and tertiary harmonies in a solar harmonic organization, that is, with

each chord functioning by its relationship to the tonic. Authentic cadences

are used to articulate phrases and larger structures, with many internal

cadences in individual voices obscured by the polyphony. Dissonance, both

melodic and harmonic, is used for dramatic and emotional expression, and

includes nonharmonic tones, altered chords, and chromaticism. Harmony

and melody are in equilibrium in much baroque music, representing a

midpoint in the gradual evolution toward melody-dominated homophony in

the classical style. Harmony may be implied within a single melodic line

that is written on multiple melodic levels within the same voice. Harmonic

rhythm is faster than in the classical style because of the more melodic

nature of the bass line.

Rh3^hm often combines with melody in constituting the motive, and

with harmony in constituting a kind of accompanimental motive. The

rhythmic aspect of melodic and harmonic movement is often unchanged

throughout a section or movement, reflective of the baroque unity of

affections. Much baroque music moves in a motorhythmic manner

throughout a movement or section.

A variety of solo and ensemble forms are used, as well as formal

procedures, including: dance suites, solo and trio sonatas, solo concerto,

concerto grosso, overture, fugue, toccata, and others. Those forms which

217

are not based on a chorale (such as toccata, prelude, and fugue) are known

as free forms. Chorale-based forms are strict or bound (including all types

of organ chorale preludes). Use of binary and rounded binary forms are

common, and dance movements may exhibit quahties of regularity and

symmetry. Variation techniques are often used, and include partita,

passacagha, chaconne, and ground. A composition may be in contrasting,

paired sections according to strict and free formal procedures, as in the

toccata (or prelude or fantasia) and fugue. The concerto grosso's

contrasting of performance groups (solo/tutti) and the resulting contrast in

d3niamics is often found in organ music of the period that exploits different

tonal and dynamic resources of different manuals.

Baroque texture is varied, and includes the homophonic, polyphonic,

contrapuntal, imitative, and monophonic. Formal divisions are often

initiated by a change in texture. Organ music includes all textures. The

contrapuntal nature of much of the music, the equality of the voices within

the texture, and the polarity that exists between melody and bass result in

an imitative pol3^honic texture which often has a melodic thrust.

Djmamic change is through contrasting of different volume levels

rather than gradual changes from one level to another. These terraced

djmamics are accomplished through a change of manuals or registration.

Finally, the designation "free" refers to a work that does contain or is

not based upon a chorale melody. Free works include toccata, fantasia,

prelude, fugue, ricercar, trio, and others. This is not to be confused with

the more general understanding of the term when it refers to works which

depart from the expected formal procedures of a given form. For instance,

fugue implies certain harmonic conventions and formal procedures, such

as a tonic subject being answered on the dominant, or the alternation of

218

expositions and episodes. A composition which does not follow these strict

conventions and procedures might be considered to be freer, and imitative

rather than fugal. "Bound" refers to chorale-based works, and would

include all categories vrithin Tusler's system discussed in Chapter II.

"Ricercar in C Maior" hv J. C. Altnikol

By virtue of its form, a precursor to the fugue, this work is connected

with the past rather than looking forward to new styles. Descending from

the polyphonic ricercars of Gabrieli and Frescobaldi, eighteenth century

use of the form retained its associations with the past, and connoted a fugal

composition that makes use of contrapuntal procedures such as

augmentation, diminution, inversion, mirror, retrograde, and retrograde

inversion, as well as long notes and alia breve meter.

Altnikol's composition is true to its name in that it contains frequent

entrances of the subject spaced throughout the work, sounding almost

continuously with no contrasting modulatory episodes, an eight-note theme

consisting of two motives, one an ascending scale pattern of four half notes,

completed by the second motive of quarter notes of an initial leaping interval

followed by three descending tones. He alters and fragments the motives

and treats them sequentially between and as accompaniment to subject

entrances.

Altnikol's ricercar is truly an example of virtuoso composition,

especially in the final four entrances (Example 6.8), of which the first two

are in stretto, entering a half note apart and sounding the interval of

consecutive thirds, and the last two are also in stretto and augmentation

(with doubled note values), entering a whole note apart at the interval of a

fourth; and with all four last entrances as a group in stretto.

219

Example 6.8. Altnikol's "Ricercar in C Major," Final Four Entrances.

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The various ways Altnikol places and treats the subject are shown in

Table 6.3.

220

Table 6.3. Subject Entrances of Altnikol's "Ricercar in C Major."

Entrance ]

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11,12

13 14 15 16,17 18,19

20 21,22

23,24

25 26 27,28 29

30

Measure

1 2 5 6 9 11 18 20 25 28 31

33 35 39 40 A6

51 56

58

59 61 6A 6A

65

"Prelude and Fugue in

Voice

alto tenor bass soprano bass soprano tenor soprano soprano bass alto, tenor

soprano tenor alto

Subject Treatment

normal normal normal normal normal normal normal normal normal normal 11 is normal, 12 is inverted; both sound simultaneously, beginning at interval of a fourth inverted normal normal

soprano, bass normal, stretto, half note apart alto, bass

soprano soprano, alto

alto, bass

alto soprano alto, soprano tenor

bass

normal, sound simultaneously at interval of a tenth normal normal, sound simultaneously at interval of a sixth normal, sound simultaneously at interval of a tenth inverted inverted normal, stretto, half note apart augmentation, stretto with 27 and 28, half note apart augmentation, stretto with 29, whole note apart, and with 27 and 28; first note of final entrance is slightly altered

C Maior" bv J. Tobias Krebs

This work (Example 6.9), as one might expect of one of the earhest

and eldest of Bach's pupils, is quite baroque in style. The opening

221

sixteenth-note motives in the pedal of the prelude are used throughout the

prelude, along with their inversion. The first note of each four-note motive

is the primary melodic note, the remaining three are figured

ornamentations of it. The content and direction of Krebs' true melodic line

can be discovered, therefore, by separating these first notes from the rest of

the figuration. The same relationship can be seen in the fugue, in which

the second half of the final subject entrance in the pedals (mm. 18-19) is an

unornamented, unfigured version of the subject as originally presented

(mm. 1-3).

Example 6.9. J. T. Krebs' "Prelude and Fugue in C." 5 a ^S

^

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Despite the short length of the prelude's nine measures, it is

nevertheless segmented. A descending sixteenth note line of ornamented

tonic chord tones opens in the pedals, concluded by three dominant-to-tonic

parallel first inversion chords in the manuals. A differently figured pedal

line follows, coining to rest on the dominant with suitable harmony above.

A steady series of eighth note chords and pedals accompanies a line of

sixteenth note figures above, leading to a glissando-like flourish and an

authentic cadence to conclude the prelude. Of particular interest in the

prelude are the numerous instances of dissonances between the upper line

of sixteenth note figures and accompanying eighth note chords, resulting

222

from the repetition of the motivic patterns at different harmonic levels.3

Musical example 6.9 contains several of these dissonances resulting when

the lower neighbor note of each barred sixteenth-note group clashes with

the harmony of the accompaniment, followed by an immediate resolution.

The fugue is quite simple in construction and form, opening with a

four-voice exposition (mm. 1-11) in descending order from soprano to bass

(in the manuals). An episode of motives derived from the subject and the

prelude follows (mm. 11-17), preparing the final and only pedal entrance in

the fugue (m. 17). The fugue ends with a similar but lengthened glissando-

like flourish and ornamented authentic cadence.

"Fugue on B-A-C-H" bv J. Ludwig Krebs

Krebs' fugue on the B-A-C-H subject4 is really an extended fugal

fantasia. In it he treats the subject both fugally and imitatively in eight

sections, as illustrated in Table 6.4.

Krebs' pattern is to begin each new section with a thin texture,

generally two voices, followed by a thickening of the texture and

heightening of tension as voices are added, the pitch levels raised, and the

cadence approached. The tension is released at the start of the next section

with a return to a fewer-voiced texture in a lower register. Another aspect

of Krebs' style can be seen in this work, namely his tendency to begin a

work or a section one way but to conclude it differently. The section may

begin contrapuntally and conclude homophonically. The beginning might

be, as above, in a thin two-voice texture and proceed to a thick four-voice

texture. Or it might begin as a fugal exposition with the expected harmonic

and melodic orientation of that form, but end imitatively rather than

223

fugally, or with the subject being treated with melodic or rhythmic liberties

rather than maintaining its subject identity throughout. An example of

this process is the fact that in this "Fugue on B-A-C-H," there is only one

complete, tmly fugal exposition. It is found in section one, consisting of

four voices entering successively in bass, tenor, alto and soprano.

Secondly, after the initial statements of the BACH subject in most sections,

the subject is immediately altered and varied melodically or rh3^hmically.

The work has been titled as a fugue and begins as such, but as it proceeds it

takes on the character more of a sectionalized fantasia with a variety of

melodic, harmonic, and textural elements used.

Table 6.4. Form of Krebs' "Fugue On B-A-C-H."

Section Measures Subject Treatment and Texture

1 1- 30

2 31- 45

3 45- 69

4 69- 80

80- 92

92-109

109-132

8 132-145

30 mm.) exposition; fugal; four voices

15 mm.) episode; sequences; three voices

25 mm.) exposition; imitative; four voices

12 mm.) episode; sequences; four voices

13 mm.) episode; imitative; three voices

18 mm.) exposition; imitative; four voices

24 mm.) exposition; imitative; four voices

14 mm.) coda; homophonic; thick chords

224

Example 6.10. J. L. Krebs' "Fugue on B-A-C-H," First Exposition.

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Related to Krebs' tendency to transformation within his works is his

tendency to progress from the contrapuntal to the homophonic, even in this

most contrapuntal of forms. Several sections begin imitatively but conclude

homophonically. Section three, for example, begins with a juxtaposition of

subject and countersubject in long note values against a flowing,

motorhythmic upper voice in shorter note values. As the section proceeds,

its note values become more uniform and the movement more homophonic.

This pattern is continued in section four which, by the point of its

conclusion (mm. 77-80), is thoroughly homophonic. Although voice

leadings and appearances of the subject and countersubject can be

identified in the coda, it also is largely homophonic chords above an

extended fourteen-measure tonic pedal point.

A number of baroque style characteristics are to be found in this

work.

225

Use of the fiigal form. The fact that this work is cast in the form of a

fugue or an extended fugal fantasia is testimony to the hold of the baroque

on this composer during a time which was witnessing its decline and the

rise of new styles and forms. Within the overall form he also makes use of

numerous devices common to the form and to the era.

Countersubject. The material which forms the countersubject, an

interval usually of a fourth (sometimes a fifth) filled in by chromaticaUy

descending tones, is introduced before the completion of the first exposition

(alto voice, mm. 6-8), and is prominently treated throughout the work. The

countersubject is a four-note rhythmic variant of the BACH motive,

consisting of a melodic rearrangement of the two chromatically descending

two-note figures comprising the BACH motive. The countersubject often

immediately follows the BACH motive in the same voice. The prominence

given to this countersubject by Krebs is demonstrated by its own complete

exposition (mm. 13-20, Example 6.11) in the same order as the opening

BACH exposition, and by the fact that it maintains its identity and nearly

equal importance to the subject throughout the work.

Example 6.11. J. L. Krebs' "Fugue on B-A-C-H," Countersubject Exposition.

P 13 ^

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226

Stretto. The fugue utilizes stretto technique throughout. The

opening exposition of both the subject (mm. 1-11) and the countersubject

(mm. 13-20) are in stretto. Numerous other examples are to be found

throughout, such as the two quick appearances in mm. 66-69. The use of

stretto technique in this work, so often consisting as it does of successive

subject entrances at two-note intervals which results in stacked harmonic

thirds, is similar to Bach's use of stretto in the opening of his Eb fugue ("St.

Anne," Example 6.1).

Augmentation and diminution. The countersubject appears in both

augmentation (mm. 49-52) and diminution (numerous examples in section

three). The subject, however, maintains its rhythmic identity throughout.

Coda. The coda (Example 6.12) is noteworthy and stylistically stands

somewhat apart from the remainder of the work. A number of Bach works

contain similar codas, such as his chorale prelude "Nun komm, der

Heiden Heiland" (BWV 659). Bach's setting of the Advent chorale,

expressive of the intense longing and desire for the appearance of the

Messiah, has built up considerable tension through its dissonance,

chromaticism, and embellishment. The effect of his coda is to disperse

some of this tension through an extension of the tonic pedal point and a

fully resolving cadence at the close. Krebs, however, uses his coda to

further heighten the tension rather than to disperse it. There is the

expected expanded tonic pedal point and closing cadence, but through the

coda's fourteen measures it manages to continue building tension through

a series of major, minor, and diminished half-note chords grouped into

four-chord units forming a kind of rhythmic transformation of the BACH

subject. Most are chromatically altered, but two are true subjects (mm. 132

and 140). The tension is further heightened through a gradual rise in pitch

227

of the four-chord patterns, a thickening of the texture, and a juxtaposition

of a rhythmic transformation of the countersubject in shorter note values.5

Example 6.12. J. L. Krebs' "Fugue on B-A-C-H," Closing Measures.

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"Eight Fugues Without Pedal For the Organ" bv W. F. Bach6

The eight fugues of this set are rather modest in length and

conception. All are for three voices. Most are 25-35 measures in length.

Only number eight is substantially longer, running 203 measures in 2/4

meter. Numbers one and two are in C major and minor successively;

numbers three and four are in D major and minor; numbers five and six

are in Eb major and E minor; number seven in Bb major and number eight

in F minor. There is no thematic or other unity demonstrated among any

of the fugues. On the whole, these fugues measure up to the assessment of

228

one writer (see Chapter IV) as being rather stiff, uninspiring, and bearing

little resemblance to any of his father's works.

Fugue No. 3 is in D major, 2/4 meter, and contains thirty-four

measures. Bach provides an interesting form for this fugue, in which

section one (mm. 1-15) is marked by the continuous presence of the subject

and contains five entrances (alto m. 1, soprano m. 2, bass m. 8, alto m. 10,

soprano m. 12). All five entrances alternately begin on either tonic or

dominant, and section one remains in the tonic area. Section two (mm. 15-

26) is a development of the two motives which combine to make the subject,

one a leaping between eighth note chord tones, the other a running scale

passage of sixteenth notes. Section two moves harmonically from its

beginning in the tonic to a cadence on the dominant at m. 26. The short

final section (mm. 26-34) begins abruptly with an alto subject entrance (m.

26), followed by a soprano entrance (m. 27) in stretto, and a bass entrance

(m. 30). These final three entrances all begin on the dominant.

Fugue No. 4 is in D minor, 3/8 meter, and contains forty measures.

The subject is quite interesting and composed of various components

(Example 6.13). Motive A, a triplet sixteenth followed by an upper neighbor

eighth note, is separated from motive B by a rest. Motive B, which contrasts

rh3^hmically with motives A and C in that it lacks any sixteenth note

triplets, is a nearly chromatic descending line decorated by a leaping

sixteenth note figure. It leads directly into motive C, a succession of three

triplet sixteenth figures and a final eighth note to conclude the subject.

Bach exploits this variety of melodic and rhythmic motivic elements within

his subject by fragmenting them and placing them together and against

each other. He especially seems to enjoy the juxtaposition of the triplet

motive in one voice against the duple division of the beat in another (mm. 6,

229

9-11, 13, and throughout). He also follows partial measures of triplet

division with partial measures of duple division, in which all sounding

voices are participating in the same division of the beat at any given

moment, the contrast being one of successively different division patterns

rather than simultaneously different patterns (mm. 25-6, 35-7).

Example 6.13. W. F. Bach's "Fugue No. 4 in D Minor," Motives.

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Motive A Motive B Motivie C

Perhaps because of the chromatic nature of the subject and its

potential for heightened dissonance treatment, the fugue remains in the

tonic key throughout with only very brief passages which may be identified

as being in the dominant. The first two subject entrances follow one after

the other (alto m. 1, soprano m.5), with isolated third and fourth entrances

(bass m. 13 and alto m. 25). Episodes of varjdng length make extensive use

of the melodic and rhythmic elements of the different motives of the subject.

The last episode (mm. 28-35) makes an attempt to reverse the direction of

the chromatic line of motive B (mm. 30-32), which provides a welcome relief

from the continuous chromatic descent elsewhere in the fugue. This

episode concludes with a dramatic appearance of a diminished-seventh

chord (vii7/V), strengthened by a fermata. A final subject entrance appears

in the bass to bring the fugue to a close.

Fugue No. 8 is in F minor, 2/4 meter, and lasts 203 measures. As

with the previously discussed fugues and others in this set, it alternates

various types of subject entrances with episodes which develop fragments of

the subject. In this fugue, however, the first subject entrance is

simultaneously accompanied by a countersubject of a contrasting melodic

230

and rhythmic nature. The subject opens with a half note on the tonic,

followed by chromatically descending quarter notes which fill out the

interval of a perfect fourth, concluded by a leap up to the tonic decorated by a

lower neighbor. The countersubject includes leaping chord tones and

arpeggiated chord tones, all in eighth notes, fragments of which are used

throughout the fugue. Also as with other fugues, subject entrances occur

in exposition (alto m. 1, soprano m. 9, bass m. 22; ) and in isolation (alto m.

41). This fugue makes more use of fugal devices than others in the set.

There are two paired subject entrances in stretto (alto/soprano mm. 63-4,

and bass/alto mm. 105/6). There is an exposition of inverted subject

entrances (alto m. 139, soprano m. 145, bass m. 153). The subject is first

paired with its inversion in two stretto entrances (soprano m. 159 and alto

m. 161). The final exposition (Example 6.14) is of three entrances, the first

in regular form and the remaining two inverted, all in stretto (soprano m.

171, alto m. 173, bass m. 175).

Example 6.14. W. F. Bach's "Fugue No. 8 in F Minor," Final Exposition.

171 Ms i ^ m # m ^ r rr rr

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231

Trio in A Minor" bv Johann Schneider

One can only wonder if Schneider's association with J. S. Bach as

organist at the Nikolai church in Leipzig in 1729 contributed to his high

achievements as a composer, or to his continuation of the baroque style.

But for whatever reason, Schneider's trio is a work of great artistry as well

as a continuation of the style.

The work is in two sections. Section one (mm. 1-11) is marked

"Adagio" and section two (mm. 11-32) is marked "Andante." Unfortunately

the work was left incomplete, the manuscript breaking off after m. 32. Even

though there is no way of knowing how Schneider intended to complete it,

we are just as likely to believe he could have completed it with only one

additional measure as with any number. 7 The Adagio is in A minor

throughout, cadencing on the dominant by means of an augmented-sixth

chord. The three voices are equal participants in the pol5rphony, each

taking its turn with thematic entrances, with the pedal being somewhat

less rhythmically active than the manuals. The two highly contrasting

themes (Example 6.15), one expansive, leaping, and extending the distance

of an octave, and the other compact, chromatic, and covering only a fourth,

are initially stated in the manuals. Theme A is a measure of leaping chord

tones tied to a descending line filling out the interval of a fourth. Theme B

is a three-note chromatically descending motive which actually begins with

an eighth rest. The same motive is repeated as continuing chromatic

descent, followed by an upward leap of a fourth plus a lower neighbor. The

manual voices are of nearly equal tessitura and rhythmic activity and

exhibit some cross-voicing, although here they will be identified as soprano

and alto. Theme A begins in the soprano and B in the alto. Theme A moves

to the bass and B moves to the soprano at m. 3. At m. 7 theme A is in the

232

alto and B the bass. Both themes always begin on the tonic scale degree;

thus there is no movement to the dominant until the first structural

cadence at m. 11. The compact formal design and economy of writing is

thus demonstrated by the appearance of both themes in all three voices, as

well as several measures of hnking and cadential material, within the

opening eleven measures.

Example 6.15. J. Schneider's "Trio in A Minor," Contrasting Themes.

Adagio

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m • * ^m The twenty-two-measure Andante exhibits the same equality of

melodic and rhythmic activity and tessitura in the manuals, with the

pedals a nearly equal partner, moving in mostly continuously active eighth

notes. There is one theme (C) in the Andante, unrelated to either theme A

or B from the Adagio. It sounds first in the soprano (m. 12), then in the alto

(m. 13). Both times the theme begins on the third of the triad, a detail

233

repeated each time the theme appears, regardless of the harmony. The

next thematic entrance (soprano m. 18) is in C major, followed by an alto

entrance one measure later in D minor. The remainder of the Andante

consists of fragmenting of the theme and mostly sequential development.

Given the fact that Schneider has been quite careful and deliberate in his

formal organization in the Adagio, and that he opens the Andante with two

pairs of complete thematic entrances, it is at least possible, and perhaps

likely, that he intended to continue the Andante with additional

development, eventually to retum to complete expositions in both voices as a

conclusion.

Mention must be made of at least one element present in this work

which points the way to the developing style, and that is its ornamentation.

Much of the ornamentation is written into the notation, making use of notes

as short as thirty-seconds. Schneider has also provided an abundance of

symbolized ornaments for many notes. In fact, of the first twelve melody

notes of the Adagio, seven contain ornaments. Thirteen of the first twenty-

six soprano melody notes are ornamented with a S5rmbol. This is less the

case in the Andante since it moves in shorter, quicker-tempo note values,

although here there is another rhythmic device that comes into play,

namely the introduction of two triplet thirty-second note figures in theme C,

both surrounded by duple sixteenth note figures. These triplets are more

prominently treated as the development progresses, and the juxtaposition of

duple and triple division of the beat adds a rh5d;hmic complexity not unlike

the effect of ubiquitous ornamentation. The higher level of ornamentation

and multiple divisions of the beat are elements pointing the way to the

galant, but within an essentially baroque setting.

234

"Allabreve" bv Johann Schneider

As with Altnikol's "Ricercar," Schneider's "Allabreve" chooses the

form of composition as its title, both a continuation from earlier styles. Alia

breve has been mentioned in Chapter III as a style of slowly moving

melodies and harmonies in whole and half notes. Learned style generally

signifies an imitative, contrapuntal style. Schneider's "Allabreve"

embraces both the learned style and alia breve.

This work begins with a four-voice subject exposition. Subsequent

entrances are spaced throughout the work, as illustrated in Table 6.5:

Table 6.5. Subject Entrances of Schneider's "Allabreve."

Entrance Measure Voice Subject Treatment

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13 14

1 5

10 14 19 21 22 27 34 38 42 43 46 51

soprano alto tenor bass soprano alto tenor bass soprano tenor alto bass soprano bass

normal normal normal normal normal normal normal normal normal normal normal normal normal normal

Schneider's style, though securely within baroque bounds, is not as

involved or complex as Altnikol's. All subject entrances take the form as

originally stated, with no examples of augmentation, diminution,

retrograde, inversion, or other variation. He does, however, use stretto

technique between entrances 5-7, 11-12, and 12-13.

235

What is remarkable about this work is its lack of unique,

distinguishing events, the lack of harmonic, rhythmic, or melodic

surprise, and its predictability. It is largely diatonic with infrequent

altered harmonies. The nearly total reliance upon rhythmic movement in

half and whole notes, the balanced arch of the subject and its containment

within an interval of only a fourth result in a kind of contrapuntal,

imitative polyphony that is more homophonic than contrapuntal.

Works Based Upon a Chorale

"Herr Christ, der einig Gottes Sohn" bv J. Tobias Krebs8

The seven phrases of the chorale determine the form of this prelude,

and are all contained in the lower manual with only a few ornaments. The

cantus firmus moves in primarily quarter and half notes. The upper

manual moves more rapidly in predominantly sixteenths, and the pedals in

mostly eighths with sixteenths. There is no attempt at imitation of the

chorale tune in either the upper manual or pedals, nor is there any

imitation between them. Each voice, therefore, has its own distinct

rhythmic and melodic identity, and the bass is very much an equally active

and melodic partner within the polyphony.

One important feature of this work, not uncommon to both baroque

and classical works, is the repetition of passages and sections within the

work. For example, the introduction and first phrase (mm. 1-8) are nearly

identically repeated as interlude and second phrase (mm. 9-16). The inter­

lude at mm. 9-11 is nearly identical to the interlude at mm. 18-20 and 28-29

in transposed form. Other passages in the prelude bear some resemblance

to a previous passage, and there is frequent repetition and variation of

motives and figures, especially in the upper manual. One final feature to

236

mention is the thinning of the texture to two voices at the conclusion. Many

chorale preludes extend the final note of the chorale, thus providing a pedal

tone to the changing harmonies and figuration around it. In this work, the

final cantus firmus note stops a full two and one-half measures before the

final authentic cadence, which ends on tonic notes two octaves apart.

"Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten" (two settings) by J. L. Krebs

One way to discover the difference between baroque and classical

styles would be to examine how one composer sets the same chorale in two

contrasting styles. Such is the case with two different settings of this

chorale by Krebs. The first setting is from his KlavierUbung, a collection of

three different settings of each of thirteen chorales. Each first setting he

calls "Praeambulum supra," a free-form prelude, often including a short

fughetta treatment. The second setting is called simply "Choral," in which

he assigns the cantus firmus to one voice throughout, accompanied by one

or two other voices, usually in short notes of rapid figuration. The third

setting, "Choral alio modo," is for two voices with figured bass, probably

intended for accompan3ring congregational singing and practice in figured

bass realization. The entire volume thus provided a variety of settings

usable for church organists, teachers, and students.

This first setting (number 2a, Praeambulum supra from the

KlavierUbung, Example 6.16) opens imitatively in A minor, and makes use

of only the chorale's first phrase in its sixteen-measure duration. The two

voices are derived from ornamented figuration of the chorale tune, and are

treated canonically at the octave for the first two measures, followed by four

measures of melodic and harmonic sequences in which the tune is not

237

present. The chorale's first phrase returns, again canonically for two

measures but in reversed order from the beginning, and now in the relative

major. This is followed by a short developmental passage which winds its

way harmonically through a number of diminished-seventh chords and an

appearance of the Neapohtan chord at m. 13 before concluding in A minor.

The work is quite similar in style and form to a Bach two-part invention.

Example 6.16. J. L. Krebs' "Wer nur den Heben Gott lasst walten," KlavierUbung.

1

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The second Krebs setting of this chorale (Example 6.17) presents the

chorale in its entirety in three voices in the key of C minor, with the cantus

firmus in the pedals. The manuals are entirely accompanimental,

containing only incidental references to the chorale melody, often obscured

by the melodic and rhythmic figuration. The two manual voices in this trio

sonata texture open briefly in imitation but quickly take up freer, non-

imitative patterns. Their figuration is more classic than baroque,

consisting of arpeggios (mm. 12, 28), broken chords and thirds (mm. 31-2),

and Alberti bass figures (persistent throughout). There is much use of

parallel sixths and tenths between the hands (mm. 2, 9-10, 13-17), in which

one voice consists of eighth notes while the other plays the parallel interval

using sixteenth notes which provide an extra note of figuration between the

parallel intervals.

238

Example 6.17. J. L. Krebs' "Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten," Second Setting.

'1^ ' ' ' ' ' JJJJJ iJ J ift •h\ r. rfrfrfrrrfrfrl ^

H E . ^ *

^ m f m

i r r r 8

I & ^^ J J

^ ? E

'^•i\ J r ' ^

From: Church Organist's Golden Treasury, Vol. Ill; © 1951 Oliver Ditson Company. Used by permission of the publisher.

The comparison of a number of style elements between these two

works will illustrate how Krebs works in both the baroque and classical

styles. The first setting discussed above is baroque, while the second is

classical. Setting number one makes use of such baroque contrapuntal

devices canon and imitation, while setting nimiber two does not. The two

voices of setting one are fully equal and independent, and both participate

equally in melodically sounding the chorale tune. Setting two, while not a

soprano-dominated texture, is a melody-dominated one, in which the two

manual voices are accompanimental to the pedal cantus firmus. The

figuration of setting one is highly motivic, relying on the melodic and

rhythmic aspects of its figures and motives for shape and identity, making

much use of nonharmonic passing tones. Setting two's figuration relies

heavily upon Alberti and arpeggio figures. Cadences in setting one occur at

239

different points in each line (mm. 7, 8), thus obscuring a clear division of

the form and contributing to the neverending forward motion of the

rhythm. Setting two's cadences, formal divisions, and harmonic structure

are explicit.

"Vater unser im Himmelreich" bv Johann Schneider

This work demonstrates how well Schneider learned his lessons at

the age of nineteen while a pupil of Bach at Cothen. It is an example of the

chorale motet type of prelude of Pachelbel and other baroque composers, in

which each phrase is treated in Vorimitation as a short fughetta prior to

the appearance of that phrase in the cantus firmus. In this chorale,

Schneider sets each phrase imitatively in shorter note values in three voices

prior to its appearance in the pedal in long notes. As is common to the

form, successive entrances are in stretto, with each new point of

Vorimitation marked by a thinning of the texture, which again reaches

four full voices with the entrance of the tune in the pedals. The only

unusual feature of this setting is the single appearance of a Vorimitation

entrance in inversion (tenor voice, m. 79, third entrance) in the fourth of the

six chorale phrases.

"Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend' " bv J. P. Kirnberger

The complexity of some of the baroque works by Bach and Krebs and

the contrapuntal style of Schneider's chorale are in contrast to the

simplicity and straightforward style of this trio setting by Kirnberger. It

may have resulted from the need to provide teaching materials for his

students, but whatever led to its composition, the result is a simple trio

setting of the chorale which demonstrates a number of baroque style traits.

240

The chorale tune appears in the upper voice in extended note values

and constitutes the entirety of the upper manual voice. Because the work is

in trio texture, such a limiting of the chorale to one manual forces the pedal

to take on a more active role. It is a fully equal partner to the accompanying

manual voice, sounding throughout the work, but exclusive of any eighth

notes, possibly reflective of the prelude's didactic use. The rising triadic

nature of the opening three pitches of the chorale tune are used motivically

through the work in the accompanying manual and pedals, most often in

inverted form (five occurrences, mm. 1, 3, 6, 8, 10, within the first phrase of

the cantus firmus, with similar frequency in the second and third

phrases).

This inverted triad motive begins the accompanying manual's

countertheme to the chorale tune. It is used prominently, appearing nine

times throughout the work, especially at structural divisions related to the

chorale tune. It opens the work (m. 1); appears in the pedal immediately

after the first chorale phrase (m. 8); in the manual midway through the

first chorale phrase (m. 10); at the interlude between chorale phrases one

and two (m. 15); after phrase two has begun (m. 20); at the interlude

between phrases three and four (m. 28, with manual and pedals

duplicating exactly the opening four measures of the work); in an inverted

varied form at the beginning of phrase three (m. 31); at the interlude

between phrases three and four (m. 38); and at the start of chorale phrase

four (m. 41, Example 6.18). Kirnberger makes liberal use of 7-6 and 4-3

suspensions and accented passing tones, which contributes considerably to

the melodic and harmonic interest. Particularly effective is the final

extending of the work through the addition of a concluding plagal cadence

as the final note of the chorale tune is held out.

241

Example 6.18. Kirnberger's "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend."

41

P ^ ^

^ ^

m z : ?

«i w

z

m f

^

iK i

^

1 J J]j f m

^

^

i ^

i P ^P

From A Concise School for Trio Playing. Edited by C. H. Trevor. © Oxford University Press. Reproduced by permission of the publisher.

Mention has already been made of this work's simplicity. It lacks the

harmonic inventiveness, rhythmic thrust, and melodic beauty of Bach,

probably by design of the composer. There is little to challenge the

technique of organists of modest skill. And yet, even at this most basic and

beginning of levels, Kirnberger manages to satisfy the performer and

listener through repetition of motive and theme, accompanying lines that

are shaped with melodic and rhythmic direction and logic, use of

suspensions and passing tones for melodic and harmonic interest, and an

interesting and varied accompaniment which does not eclipse the chorale's

central importance.

242

"Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh' allzeit" bv W. F. Bach

The melody of this chorale time is in eight phrases, of which the first

two are repeated as phrases three and four, and again as phrases seven

and eight, resulting in a melodic form of ababcdab. Bach sets all phrases of

the melody contrapuntally, but with some interesting contrasting changes

which result in an as3nnmetrical binary form. This would qualify as a

chorale motet except that there is no Vorimitation and no cantus firmus.

Each phrase has its own exposition as it is introduced successively in each

of the four voices with no attempt at motivic or thematic development. After

the final appearance of the phrase within each exposition, the texture thins

as the next phrase is introduced. The one exception to this procedure is the

appearance of phrase two, which sounds only one time (soprano m. 12),

which leads to the first structural cadence. The beginning of the

expositions of the other seven phrases are in mm. 1, 16, 22, 28, 33, 39, and

45. Expositions of phrases 3-8 are in ascending order from bass to soprano.

The asymmetrical binary form of the chorale prelude results from

the different ways Bach sets phrases 1-2 and 3-8 (Example 6.19). The

exposition of phrase one starts the prelude, with entrances beginning in

mm. 1 (soprano), 2 (alto), 6 (tenor), 9 (bass). This exposition differs from

later expositions in that it is accompanied by a countertheme derived

motivically from the first phrase. The first exposition is immediately

followed (m. 12, soprano) by the second chorale phrase, for which there is

no exposition since it sounds only once. After a short two-measure

extension, the first section cadences in A minor, after having begun and

remained mostly in C major. Section two begins (m. 17) with an abrupt

move to C major, but concludes in A minor (Picardy third). Rhythmically,

section one consists mostly of eighth and sixteenth notes, with the chorale

243

set in mostly quarter notes. The shorter note values consistently appear in

the countertheme and motivic work which accompany the chorale. The

rhythm of the chorale tune in section two remains true to a primarily

quarter-note value with some half notes, but the countertheme and

accompanying motivic work of section one is entirely lacking. Instead each

exposition consists only of the chorale tune itself, resulting in a slower-

moving rhythm for section two, roughly twice as slow as section one.

Another difference between sections one and two is that in section

one, the exposition order was soprano-alto-tenor-bass, with most of the

measures sounding in a relatively high tessitura. This is reinforced by the

only sounding of phrase two in the soprano voice. Section two, however,

reverses the exposition order, and all entrances occur in the order of bass-

tenor-alto-soprano. The effect of the slower rhythm, longer note values,

reversed exposition order, and lower tessitura is that part two has a darker,

more somber quality while part one was much more lively and bright. The

change appears to have been made for musical rather than textual reasons,

since there is no similar contrast in the words of the chorale.

244

Example 6.19. W. F. Bach's "Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh* allzeit."

^

1

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^ ^

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^

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I *

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1 ^ ^

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^

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i f From: Church Organist's Golden Treasury, Vol. Ill; © 1951 Oliver Ditson Company. Used by permission of the publisher.

245

Chapter III spoke of the role played by the Empfindsamkeit in

overturning the baroque idea of a single governing emotion, preferring to

express shades of emotion and changes in mood or sentiment, and that this

was a gradual change. This work by W. F. Bach may be an example of that

shift with the reversal of mood or emotion between its two sections.

"Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein" bv J. G. Miithel

This prelude is an example of the self-expression and intensely

emotional, dark, and somber elements of Miithel's style. This intensity and

extreme of emotional content has led some scholars to consider him an

early exponent of Sturm und Drang (see Chapter IV). This prelude

demonstrates this element within the overall style of the baroque.

The tonal center is E, although Miithel wisely avoids using a key

signature because of the pervasive chromaticism, nearly always

descending. Structural cadences occur on the tonic (mm. 8, 22, 35) and

subdominant (mm. 15, 28). The chorale tune is in the upper manual in half

notes, sparsely ornamented at the cadences. All chorale phrases are

preceded by Vorimitation in quarter notes in the manual or pedals,

sometimes in both (first and second phrases). As has been stated,

chromaticism is pervasive, occupying every measure of the prelude,

sometimes in phrases of up to four consecutive measures in a voice (mm. 3-

6, Example 6.20), or up to two measures in parallel movement between

voices (mm. 5-6).

246

Example 6.20. J. Muthel's "Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein.'"

IE ^ ^ f

'y-^v r r r f ^ 1

^ ii]jjjJ;:j]^i:]

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au r * Copyright 1969, David Mulbury. Used by permission.

"Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan" bv J. P. Kellner

This well-constructed setting by Kellner is quite a substantial

composition, numbering 128 measures with the repeat of the first two

phrases. The phrasing and figuration are reminiscent of the instrumental

writing which might accompany a cantata movement. It is a cantus

firmus chorale with the chorale tune accompanied by three voices in

manual and pedals. There is no attempt at Vorimitation of the chorale and

no imitation between non-chorale voices. The pedal contains a continuo-

type bass line throughout, resulting in a typically quick harmonic rhythm.

The form and harmony are largely determined by the individual

phrases of the chorale tune. However, on top of that form Kellner has

247

superimposed a rondo. The first six measures (Example 6.21) of the

introduction come back in whole or in part preceding each chorale phrase

with the exception of phrase six. Phrase two is preceded by a restatement of

mm. 1-6 (followed by phrases three and four as repeats of one and two);

phrase five is preceded by mm. 1-5; phrase seven is preceded by mm. 1-6

which are then extended by two additional complete measures of parallel

third triplets, an extension of the triplet figure which concludes m. 6 of the

introductory rondo. Following the final chorale phrase, the rondo returns

at m. 77, but this time it includes not just the five or six-measure rondo

material but nearly the entirety of the sixteen-measure introduction.

Example 6.21. J. Kellner's "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan," Opening Rondo.

m 1

^

^ i $ ^

^ ^

T f P

P ^ W ^ ^ f m ^m * p » f f f tj

From: Church Organist's Golden Treasury, Vol. Ill; © 1951 Oliver Ditson Company. Used by permission of the publisher.

248

Works Demonstrating Pedal Virtuesitv

Virtuoso pedal technique can result from a number of elements:

scale passages, chromatic passages, wide leaps, arpeggiated figures, use of

two or more notes simultaneously (resulting in real harmony rather than

the implied harmony derived from a single line in contrasting pitch areas),

complex rhythmic figures, intricate melodic patterns with frequent

accidentals, use of the upper and lower extremities of the pedalboard, £ind a

fast tempo. These elements may appear in passages for pedals alone or for

pedals played together with manuals.

"Toccata in E Maior" bv J. L. Krebs

The opening pedal toccata is fifty-three measures in length and is

linked to a prelude for manuals and pedals of an additional 140 measures.

(The prelude and fugue are discussed in Chapter VIII.) The toccata is in

two sections of approximately equal length (mm. 1-24 and mm. 25-53), each

with three subdivisions. The two-part form is the result of its overall

harmonic structure and motivic development, as shown by the following:

6 mm. (1-6)

E: I

8 mm. (25-32)

Section 1

8 mm. (7-14)

IV

Section 2

11 mm. (33-44)

10 mm. (15-24)

V7 I V

9 mm. (45-53)

V I V I V I V I V7/ii ii V7 I V7 I I I

Figure 6.1. Form of Krebs' Pedal Toccata in E Major.

IV V7 I

249

Section one is entirely monophonic; the harmonic scheme shown is,

therefore, implied from the melody (Example 6.22). The tonic harmony

which opens section two is announced by a polyphonic double pedal passage

consisting of ascending parallel thirds (mm. 25-6), which is then developed

and varied through the use of broken thirds (mm. 27-8), a variety of other

intervals (mm. 29-32), neighboring tones (mm. 31-34), expansion of the

thirds into other broken intervals extending to tenths (mm. 35-42), and

arpeggiation of the triads (mm. 43-44). A second double pedal passage

follows in which first one foot then the other sustains a pedal point against

an arpeggiated triad (mm. 45-8). Two monophonic measures of sixteenth

and thirty-second notes bring the toccata to a close in the tonic harmony.

In the E major pedal toccata Krebs has made use of a number of

techniques and elements which give it its virtuosic character, techniques

which, while not particularly challenging in the manuals, will challenge

most performers' abilities in the pedals. These techniques include: many

notes of short duration played at a quick tempo; use of the extremities of the

pedalboard; wide and unusual leaps; quick changes of direction; diatonic

scale passages in a key requiring frequent use of sharps; consecutive

harmonic thirds and octaves; and cross-pedaling, that is, passages

requiring the left foot to play notes higher than the right foot.

250

Example 6.22. J. L. Krebs' "Toccata in E Major," Pedal Motives.

Motives combining neighbor and leaping chord tones, mm. 1-2

I " 1111 I I Ascending arpeggio motives, mm. 8-9

I J I I I I I I J T M ^ Motives of close intervals and steps, mm. 15-6

^ ^ I I l| I I I I I Motives of initial leap with rising scale, mm. 21-2

'' • r . f r I I , , f I f f I Rising harmonic thirds, mm. 25-6

nh I } i ^=7=i Rising melodic thirds, mm. 27-8

'/v« p r f r r r ir r r r r r Expanding motive, mm. 31-2

Expanding, leaping, arpeggiated chord tones, mm. 40-1

^ ^ ~ 1 * ^ ^

Double pedal arpeggios, mm. 45-50

^ &

jeaai arpe

^ ^ = ^ E

f —lfL—ltLT nl m lU

Copyright 1938. Used by permission of C. F. Peters Corporation.

251

There is a difference which must be noted between Bach's use of

pedal virtuosity and Krebs'. Krebs has joined together a variety of

challenging melodic and rhythmic patterns, wide leaps, quick tempo,

pol)T)honic pedal work, and other virtuoso elements, to challenge the

performer and move the listener. The performer masters each virtuoso

element and attempts to unite them in an orderly and musically satisfying

performance. Bach's technique, however, has a logic, order, and seeming

inevitability of phrase and direction which results in a highly unified

composition. While using the same virtuoso elements as Krebs, Bach's

work imparts to the listener a simultaneous sense that what is now being

performed is the result of what came before, and that what is now being

performed is moving on to what will follow. Krebs draws attention to the

immediacy of the motive or phrase, while Bach commands attention to be

focused and maintained on larger musical units. Perhaps it can be said

that Krebs uses virtuosity for the sake of virtuosity, that is, to showcase the

potential of composer, performer, instrument, and to move the listener,

while Bach uses virtuosity to a more artistic end, even while managing to

showcase the composer, performer, instrument, and to move the listener.

This ability is in itself yet another element of virtuosity, difficult to describe

or substantiate because of its rather subjective quality, but one which is

present nevertheless.

"Preludium"' bv J. G. Miithel

This work is more fully discussed in Chapter VIII as a work in

mixed baroque and classic styles, however it is also a work for solo pedals

and exhibits many of the same or similar characteristics of pedal virtuosity

contained in Krebs' "Toccata in E Major." The work is rhythmically

252

diverse, with sections of even, rapid sixteenth notes in scale and arpeggio

patterns, as well as sections in dotted notes, triplets, and a rhythmically

freer quasi-recitative style. It contains trills and other ornaments, and

there are wide leaps interspersed with scale passages. It encompasses the

full range of the pedalboard, often making use of rapid, intricate melodic

patterns with accidentals. The prelude also exhibits true polyphony

requiring the simultaneous use of both feet.

253

Notes

iDavid W. Fenton (New York University), "Influence/Causahty," in an Internet discussion over the American Musicological Society-List, September 22,1997.

^Hereafter examples or sections from the two works will be differentiated by the letters B or K followed by a slash (/) and measure or section numbers. Measure and measures will be abbreviated m. and mm.

^These dissonances are similar to those found throughout the Eight Little Preludes and Fugues (BWV 553-560), widely beHeved not to have been composed by Bach, but whose composer remains unknown. Some scholars have speculated their author to be Tobias Krebs, his son, Ludwig, or perhaps Kittel. Whatever the actual identity of the composer, the attribution of the Eight Little Preludes and Fugues to both Bach and his pupils is further evidence of stylistic influence.

^The spelling of Bach's last name is made possible by the German notation system, which uses these letter names to identify the tonal equivalents to the notes Bb, A, C, B.

5performance and analysis of this work leads to two intriguing possibilities, both remote at best and subject to the same skepticism currently enjoyed by some of Albert Schweitzer's theory of quite literal S3nnbolism contained within Bach's music. Nevertheless, the possibilities do present themselves and are worthy of inclusion here at least in a footnote. First, the descending chromatic or stepwise countersubject line may have been seen by Krebs as a way of placing himself within the composition. The theme melodically fills out an interval, usually of a fourth or a fifth. In mm. 9-10 in the lowest manual voice and mm. 13-17 in the pedals, it moves from dominant to tonic (F to Bb). Remembering Bach's pun about Krebs being "the greatest crab in the brook," could this be a visual depiction or notational symbolization of the movement of a crab, and hence a symbol for Krebs himself? Secondly, the KREBS countersubject is usually heard immediately following the BACH subject, as if it proceeds directly from the BACH subject, perhaps symbolic of Krebs' status as a Bach pupil. Thirdly, the KREBS countersubject receives its own complete fugal exposition in mm. 13-20, asserts itself as the dominant theme in various sections of the fugue, and takes its place as an equal to the BACH subject in the coda, perhaps sjnnbolic of the fact that Krebs saw himself as the inheritor of Bach's style. This fugue, like most of Krebs' works, is without date of composition, and his output does not fall into successive chronological periods which demonstrate an evolution of style. The work can not be dated, but the possibility exists that it was composed upon the death of Bach as a last gesture of admiration and respect for the master. It

254

does not seem beyond possibility that Krebs sought to imbue his work with such extra-musical trappings as self-identification with his countersubject.

6w. F. Bach's organ works are listed in the Martin Falck index. This group of fugues is numbered Fk 31/1-8.

'Indeed, that is how the editor of the source consulted has provided a quite satisfying performing edition.

8This chorale prelude has been included in the Bach-Gesellschaft edition of J. S. Bach's works as BWV Anh. II 55. It has been determined to be a work by Johann Tobias Krebs by Maurizio Machella in J. S. Bach: Opere dubbie e spurie per Organo, Volume II (Padova: Euganea Editoriale Comunicazioni, 1995), prefatory pages.

255

CHAPTER VII

CLASSICAL ORGAN WORKS

Works in Pre-Classical or Galant Stvle

"Trio in D Maior" hv J. L Krphs

The "Trio in D Major" is a work whose opening theme (Example 7.1)

bears a striking resemblance to the "Adagio" movement of Bach's "Oboe

Concerto in D Minor."! A brief examination of some of its musical

elements will establish its galant style.

Example 7.1. J. L. Krebs' "Trio in D Major," Opening Theme.

m w

'>'-^\'i r CJJ

^

^m m

^m ^

m m p

Form. The trio is in an ABA rounded binary form, with the initial A

section marked for repetition. The form may be diagrammed as follows:

Table 7.1. Form of Krebs' "Trio in D Major."

Section Measures Harmonic Movement

1

2

3

1- 8 (8 mm.)

9-16 (8 mm.)

17-24 (8 mm.)

tonic to dominant

dominant to relative minor

tonic throughout

256

Harmonv. The harmonic scheme is typical of many classical suite

movements, opening in the tonic with a cadence on the dominant to

conclude the first section. The second section begins with the dominant but

moves through a series of modulations to a cadence on the relative minor.

Two abrupt modulatory chords at m. 16 mark the return of section one,

again in the tonic.

Melodv and rhvthm. Melody and rhythm combine in thematic

development. The opening melodic line's direction is changed in section

two while the rhythm remains largely the same. The trio exhibits the

classical traits of balance and periodicity. All three sections are made up

equally of eight measures. Each eight-measure section can be further

divided into sub-phrases of four measures each.

Texture. The trio sonata texture is most often one of equal voices, the

only departure being the final four measures, in which the bass line

forsakes its melodic quality and takes on a character more of supporting

foundation in longer note values. There are various combinations of voice

pairings in frequent use of parallel thirds, sixths and tenths throughout the

work, most often between the upper two voices and occasionally between the

pedal and one of the other voices.

Krebs has imbued this work with the light, elegant gracefulness of

the new classical age. The sparing ornamentation, the slurring patterns

evident in the music (m. 11), the filling out of the final measure with

melodic nonharmonic tones ending with the third of the tonic chord in the

soprano, and the piece's simplicity and unpretentiousness give it a

decidedly ^a/an^ spirit.

257

"Trio in A Minor" hv J. Adlung

This is a work which does not succeed fully as either a classical or

baroque work, exhibiting traits of both, but because of its lighthearted spirit,

its buoyancy, its thematic treatment, and other factors discussed, it best fits

the category of galant. The work divides into two sections. The first section

contains the first fifty measures and is in 4/4 meter and A minor

throughout. There is some use of imitative entrances (mm. 1/5 and 11/12),

but this is not a device used to organize phrases and annoimce themes. The

opening two-measure theme returns only twice more in section one (mm.

25, 38), and on neither return, unlike the opening, is it imitated in the other

voice, nor does it commence a new section. There are instances of motivic

imitation between voices, but these are fewer in number than the instances

of motivic repetition, both within and between the voices, especially used in

conjunction with sequence. There is no overall harmonic scheme to section

one, and it remains in A minor throughout. Other than the opening two-

measure theme, there are no other identifiable themes as such. Some

motives are repeated, but there is no overall pattern or design. Nor is it an

example of the systematic working out, manipulation, or spinning out of a

motive as a developmental process. It is as if Adlung has brought together

a collection of themes and motives, assembled them in no particular

thematic or melodic order, with no overall harmonic scheme or direction.

Almost all interest is concentrated in the manuals which participate

equally in the melodic and rhythmic motion, while the pedals provide a

fundamental bass line which consists entirely of quarter notes and quarter

rests up to the point of an extended dominant pedal point (mm. 41-48).

There is some melodic effort made in the pedal line with an occasional

descending chromatic line (mm. 26, 39), vaguely reminiscent of the opening

258

theme, but other than these two instances, nearly the entire pedal line is

composed of isolated one-beat pedal tones or three quarter-note patterns. It

is largely lacking of the thematic interest, formal design, harmonic plan,

and unity based upon motivic synthesis which are present in trios of some

other Bach pupils, such as J. L. Krebs and G. A. Homihus.

Section two is identified by Adlung as a Bourr^e, a binary dance

common to keyboard suites. It exhibits less polyphonic independence

between the manuals than does section one, with both manuals and

sometimes also the pedals moving essentially together. Part one of the

Bourr^e is fourteen measures (mm. 50-64) and is marked to be repeated. It

begins in the tonic of A minor and cadences in C major. Part two (mm. 78-

96) begins in C major, has an internal cadence in C major (m. 88), but

abruptly returns to A minor with a rh3mie of the material which opened

part one. Despite its more organized form stemming from its dance status,

section two exhibits some of the same qualities as section one, namely a

succession of motives and sequences apparently with no attempt to give a

sense of thematic order or internal unity to the work, while at the same

time not exhaustively spinning out a motive in the baroque fashion.

"Mein Gott. das Herze bring ich dir" bv J. Schneider

The form of this prelude is rather straightforward, determined by the

phrases of the chorale. A nine-measure introduction leads to the first

chorale phrase in the soprano in quarter and half notes. Once begun, the

chorale tune proceeds without interruption or interludes between phrases,

other than quarter rests to articulate each phrase. The dominance of the

chorale places it in the melody chorale category of prelude. The melody is

259

lightly decorated by one or two ornaments per phrase, and the setting

remains in the tonic key area throughout.

The overall form of the prelude is in two sections, each section setting

the chorale's four phrases entirely and v^dthout separation by interludes.

The accompaniment patterns in the pedal and alto voice during the first

stanza are repeated largely unchanged in the second section for the second

stanza, the main difference being the lowering of the chorale tune by one

octave, placing its pitch level well within or at the lower range of the

accompanying voice. Portions of the accompaniment patterns are used in

the introduction.

There is an almost total lack of imitation, Vorimitation, or any

contrapimtal devices. The voices all exhibit an independent melodic

function within the trio texture, but there is no thematic or motivic

imitation between the voices, and only one instance of Vorimitation of the

chorale in the accompanying voice (m. 7). At times the bass has an

independent melodic quality, especially where the texture thins to two

voices when the chorale tune is absent. At other times the bass is more

fundamental.

The most significant element in this prelude is rhythm. Most

immediately apparent are the different layers of rh3d:hm among the three

voices. The chorale proceeds in quarter notes, with half notes concluding

each phrase and whole notes concluding each stanza. This is the slowest-

moving voice because of the longer note values. The accompanying manual

voice moves in the shortest and fastest notes, mostly sixteenths. Its

figuration is variously scalewise (mm. 8-9, 11, 14), arpeggiated chords

(mm. 1, 4, 10, 13, 16), consecutively expanding or contracting intervals

(mm. 5-6, 16), and other figures. The pedal line moves in mostly

260

consecutive eighth notes, sometimes stepwise and sometimes leaping

between chord tones. It takes on a more melodic and rhythmically active

quality in the two-voice passages where the chorale time is absent. The

resulting rhjrthmic stratification, then, is slowest voice on top (chorale),

fastest voice in the accompanying manual, and steady-moving notes of

medium length in the pedals. This design is maintained throughout the

chorale.

Another rhj^hmic device used in this setting is that of rhji:hmically

shifting one voice slightly to sound immediately after (or between) the notes

of another voice. This occurs in mm. 18 and 30 in the accompaniment to

the final note of both stanzas of the chorale tune (Example 7.2).

One final rh5d:hmic device to mention is that of successive passages

in the accompanying manual voice sounding in note values twice or half as

fast as the preceding passage. There are several instances in which brief

thirty-second note scale passages are introduced rather suddenly, preceded

and followed by longer passages of sixteenth notes (mm. 14, 21, 26). Even

more noteworthy is the change to longer thirty-second note passages which

conclude the introduction (mm. 8-9) and immediately precede the final

cadence in the work (mm. 33-35, Example 7.2).

261

Example 7.2. J. Schneider's "Mein Gott, das Herze bring ich dir."

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262

Baroque practice has been described in Chapter III as establishing a

rhythm and generally continuing it through to the end, resulting in a more

or less homogeneous rhjdihmic texture, with rhythmic contrast most often

accomplished in the baroque by the superimposition of one rhythmic

pattern over another, such as a duple division of the beat in one voice

against a triplet division in another. Rhythmic treatment in this work,

however, much more resembles the classical practice of differentiated

rhythms between voices and the technique of rh3^hmic transition, that is,

moving between sections of differing rhythms related to each other at

speeds of twice or half as fast, so that the movement between differing

rh3^hms is felt as a transition and not as a contrast (also discussed in

Chapter III).

"'Trio in D Maior" bv J. G. Schiibler

This trio exhibits a spirit of lightness, gracefulness, and elegance

throughout. There is a kind of musical brightness that results partially

from the continually high tessitura of the upper manual and partially from

the many chords which sound with a third as the highest pitch in the upper

manual.

The form is determined partially by harmonic structure and partially

by thematic use. The work's eighty measures divide into seven sections, as

shown in Table 7.2:

263

Table 7.2. Form of Schubler's "Trio in D Major."

Section Measures Harmonic Movement Motives

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1-10 (10 mm.) tonic throughout

10-17 ( 8 mm.) tonic throughout

ABCD

BD

17-36 (20 mm.) tonic to dominant to tonic ABD

36-46 (10 mm.) tonic throughout

46-58 (12 mm.) tonic to subdominant ABD

58-68 (10 mm.) subdominant to dominant CD

68-80 (12 mm.) tonic throughout ABCD

While it is apparent that each section has a clear harmonic center,

each section is also given over to exploitation or development of one or more

specific motives (Example 7.3). Only the opening and closing sections

utilize all motives. Section four is the only section devoted to a single motive

and is also the only section for manuals alone. The three manual motives

in section one are a rising sixteenth note scale passage concluding with a

quarter note chord (motive A); a triplet figure (motive B); and a passage of

parallel tenths (C). The pedal contributes the fourth motive (motive D),

which is an Alberti figure in sixteenths. These four motives are repeated,

varied, and combined as they provide new thematic and motivic identity to

the other sections which follow.

264

Example 7.3. J. Schubler's "Trio in D" Motives.

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The developmental process is not at all one of baroque Fortspinnung;

rather, it is that the individual motives are transposed and repeated on a

different tonal level rather than exhaustively varied. There is some degree

of motivic alteration that occurs, but this is minor compared to the motive

retaining its melodic and rhythmic structure as it is sounded in a new

harmony.

265

There is a high degree of motivic separation between manuals and

pedals. Motives A, B, and C appear only in the manuals. Motive D appears

only in the pedals, except for a two-measure passage immediately prior to

the final cadence in which the manuals double this motive at one and two

octaves above the pedal, also the only unison passage in the work.

There is an extraordinarily high level of classical symmetry and

balance in this work. On a large scale, the first and last sections are the

only ones which use all four motives, and the middle section is the only one

to use only one motive. The middle section is also noteworthy for its use of

suspensions within the manual chords as accompaniment for the solo

work in the pedals.

On a smaller scale, each section is highly organized into the

repetition of symmetrical units of two measures. The motives are

melodically, rh3^hmically, and harmonically grouped into pairs (mostly

paired measures), and each pair is immediately repeated. This S5mimetry

continues nearly uninterrupted throughout, until the close.

"Concerto" bv H. N. Gerber

Chapter III discussed part of the Rococo style as being music that

was purposely light, pleasing and entertaining. This is not music designed

to stir strong emotions. It has been said of this particular composition by

Gerber, "In spirit, this work by Gerber is thoroughly suggestive of the

elegant, foamy ornateness of Rococo architecture and painting."^ This

quality is achieved through the use of motives (Example 7.4) constructed of

ornamental turns and trills (m. 1), rapidly repeated neighbor tones

sometimes in parallel harmony with a second voice (m. 55), suspensions

that sound as a full measure of dissonant repeated melodic intervals which

266

resolve to a second full measure of consonant repeated melodic intervals

(mm. 24-25), and the ease with which a duple and a triple division of the

beat foUow one another (mm. 40-43). Other techniques contributing to this

spirit of lightness and elegance include identical motives immediately

following each other between the manuals, as in echo (mm. 1-2), passages

of rapidly moving parallel third figuration (mm. 11-12), and parallel motion

between two voices with one voice containing an extra ornamental note

between each main note (m. 7). These various rh3^hmic, harmonic, and

melodic activities take place in a sparse trio texture, made more sparse by a

pedal which most often contributes a single or two-note motive as harmonic

foundation, occasionally contributing a short melodic figure of a measure

or so. The many two-note leaps in the pedal (mm. 41-49) would most likely

have been played in detached manner, as would the same kind of motives in

the manual (mm. 41-47). This alternation of detached and legato motives

(mm. 6-7), as well as their contrasting as they are played simultaneously

(m. 42) may suggest the lightness and playfulness of the Rococo spirit.

This work is a concerto, not in the sense of a substantial multi-

movement work for solo instrument and orchestra such as those by Mozart,

nor even in the sense of the developing solo keyboard concerto of the period

such as those by Handel (for organ) or Bach's sons (for harpsichord or

piano). A more likely model might be Bach's Italian Concerto (BWV 971)

for harpsichord, a work for one performer on one instrument with

contrasting manuals. Gerber's one-movement work shares some of the

formalistic features of the keyboard concerto as it developed from Baroque to

Classical, even though it is not a long work (sixty-six measures of 2/4

meter). What it shares with many of the first movements of keyboard

concertos is ritornello form, as outlined in Table 7.3.

267

Example 7.4. H. Gerber's "Concerto" Motives.

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i S

S ^

ri

i ^

I * : ^ ^ I I

^ 5 • • • • • •

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The R sections in this work are the organ's equivalent of the

regularly recurring tutti sections of an orchestral concerto or concerto for

solo instrument and orchestra. The S sections are the equivalent of the

alternating solo sections. Depending upon the disposition of the organ of

performance, numerous possibilities for registration, tonal, and volume

contrasts present themselves.

268

Table 7.3. Ritornello Form of Gerber's "Concerto."

Section Measures Harmony Motives

Rl

SI

R2

S2

R3

S3

R4

S4

R5

1- 7 (7 mm.)

7-15 (9 mm.)

16-22 (7 mm.)

23-31 (9 mm.)

32-33 (2 mm.)

34-39 (6 mm.)

40-41 (2 mm.)

42-52 (11 mm.)

53-66 (14 mm.)

I - V AB

V CB

V - n AB

II - vi CD

vi A

vi - ii CB

IV A

I - V DB

I AB

In Gerbers use of this form, it is motive A (m. 1), a repeated melodic

turn, which constitutes the motto for the ritornello. Motive B (m. 3), a

broken stepwise sixteenth figure, appears in most sections and is used as a

modulating figure between phrases. Motive C (mm. 7-8) is a repeated

leaping melodic interval, often used as a suspension. Motive D (mm. 27-31)

is a triplet figure in one manual, against which is sounded successive two-

note figures at the extremes of the other manual. Gerber's forward motion

is derived from the stringing together of these motives into phrases,

contrasting them with one another, treating them sequentially, and

repeating them as a means of formal articulation. It is not a matter of

altering, fragmenting, mutating, or spinning out of motives so much as it

is a matter of combining, linking, and repeating them as they retain their

melodic and rhythmic identity.

269

Works In the Empfindsamer Stil

"'Prelude in Bb Maior" bv J. L. Krehs

This short work is predominantly in a classical style. As with many

of Krebs' classical organ works, it also manages to retain some baroque

elements.

A number of melodic characteristics contribute to this work being

assigned to the empfindsamer Stil. The melody reigns supreme in the

upper voice. It is elegantly decorated with ornaments, some notated

symboHcally (mm. 1, 2, 5, 6, 16, 19), but most written out fully within the

melody itself (m. 1 and throughout). The ornamentation, figuration, and

profusion of short note values in the motives and melodic ideas give a quasi-

improvisational or fantasia quality to the work. The juxtaposition of this

fantasia quality in the melody with a persistent eighth note chordal pattern

in the accompaniment could effectively be performed in the rubato style

referred to by composers and writers of the period, including Quantz, C. P.

E. Bach, Leopold Mozart, and Tiirk. Melodic ideas of varying lengths are

presented, some as short as a half measure (m. 3), others as long as two or

more measures (mm. 8-9, 12-14). The melody contains numerous leaps,

sometimes exhibiting a sudden change in direction (m. 5). Melodic

figuration includes stepwise filling in of intervals (m. 6), arpeggiation of the

chord (m. 2, 5), rhythmic displacement of strong beat accents (mm. 3, 17-

18), sudden introduction of triplet figures within a prevailing duple meter

(mm. 17, 19, 20), and the unexpected use of extremely short duration notes

(mm. 7, 16, with the appearance of 64th notes). This rich variety of melodic

treatment is carried out over an accompaniment consisting of the

persistent and steady repetition of eighth note chords, slightly varied only at

the structural cadences (mm. 6, 21-2, Example 7.5). The homophonic

270

accompaniment, which also testifies to the Empfindsamkeit quality within

this work, moves along in the lower voices in steady eighth note pulses, the

harmony sometimes changing every beat (mm. 2-4), but also every two beats

(mm. 8, 13-14). It makes frequent use of diminished-seventh harmonies

(mm. 2, 5, 8,10,11).

Example 7.5. J. L. Krebs' "Prelude in Bb," Closing.

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73

271

The overall harmonic structure of the composition does not fit within

a harmonic scheme common to baroque or classical styles. The first

phrase begins on the tonic and moves to the dominant at m. 2. Following

melodic and harmonic sequential treatment, the first section cadences at

m. 6 on the dominant. The next section, starting in m. 6, begins with a

repetition of the opening theme's melody, rhythm and harmony, all

sounded in the dominant tonal area. The thematic structure, however,

breaks down here and the remainder of the work cannot be divided into

obvious subsections marked out by cadences. It is instead most often a

series of independent musical phrases, sounded and then repeated with

some variation. Measures 14-15, for instance, contain a two-beat melodic

idea which begins on Ab. The idea is then repeated with an additional

opening ornament and a variation on the close, then sounded a third time

with the melody an octave higher and the harmony now in minor.

Harmonically, the work gives the impression of being quite

adventuresome, with frequent modulations and interesting use of the

diminished-seventh chord. However, each section or phrase is actually in a

key area related to Bb major, such as the dominant of F major, the Eb

subdominant, or the relative G minor. Some of the unexpected harmonic

twists result from the introduction of secondary dominants, melodic

suspensions and appoggiaturas, and deceptive cadences. One especially

effective deceptive cadence is to be found at m. 16. The phrase has been

moving toward a cadence in Eb major, with a I - V7 of V -1 6/4 - V7

harmonic progression and an upper voice trill on the leading tone, all

expected to nicely conclude with an authentic cadence on Eb. However, the

anticipated Eb cadence chord is unexpectedly replaced by an E-G-Bb-Db

diminished-seventh chord. The cadence is denied and the phrase

272

continues on into yet further harmonic and melodic development and

instability.

The work seems to come to a close on the downbeat of m. 20 (Example

7.5), but the harmony at this point is F major, which results in a marvelous

moment of ambiguity. Krebs uses the remaining measures as a cadential

extension of this F major harmony, giving the impression of a coda on the

tonic of F. What he is really doing, however, is gradually converting the

tonicized F major harmony into a dominant harmony through the eventual

introduction of its seventh in the penultimate measure. Only at the cadence

does one realize that the bass pedal point on F was an extended dominant.

It is an uncommonly beautiful and expressive work, requiring a sensitivity

on the part of the performer to subtle phrasing and interpretation.

Many of the characteristics of this work might similarly be said of the

third movement of Bach's "Pastorale in F Major" (BWV 590) which also

evidences some Empfindsamkeit traits. The melody is in the upper voice,

accompanied by regular repetitions of intervals or chords in the left hand

(the movement is for manuals alone). Bach's melodic line, however, is less

disjunct than Krebs', and is more highly unified rh5^hmically. There are

fewer harmonic and melodic surprises, and fewer unexpected reversals of

direction. Bach's melodic line is more dependent upon scalar motion and,

because of its heavy reliance upon triplet motives, is much less adventurous

rhythmically than Krebs' prelude, with less of a fantasia quality about it.

Both works make use of a variety of secondary harmonies, including

diminished-seventh chords.

273

"Erbarm dich mein. o Herre Gott" by J. L. Krebs

This chorale prelude is the tenth Praeambulum supra of Krebs'

KlavierUbung. It is somewhat unusual in that many chorale preludes set

either the opening phrase of the tune or they set the tune in its entirety.

"Erbarm dich" sets the first two phrases of text and tune, both in the upper

voice. The first phrase appears in mm. 7-8 and the second in mm. 18-19.

The chorale serves well to illustrate a number of characteristics of

the empfindsamer Stil. Several works in the KlavierUbung might work

equally well on organ or harpsichord, but "Erbarm dich" is clearly an

organ work. With its Largo tempo indication (one of the few in the volimie),

the longest notes called for (mm. 1, 21, 23-5, Example 7.6) would disappear

and prove ineffective on the clavier. On the organ, however, a sustained

pedal tone would provide the desired foundation and dissonance so

important to this setting. The expressiveness and sensitivity of the

empfindsamer Stil are realized by Krebs through his use of sustained and

intense chromaticism and frequent and sometimes unexpected modulation

requiring enharmonic equivalents. Although there is no key signature, the

tonal center of the work is E, with a feeling of minor modality; but any

significant sense of tonality or modality is obscured by the intense

chromaticism throughout, an effective expression of the text of Psalm fifty-

one, "O, God, be merciful to me, according to Thy great pity."

274

Example 7.6. J. L. Krebs' "Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott."

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The chromaticism seems all the more dissonant because of two

Empfindsamkeit traits Krebs uses. First there is the linear nature of the

three voices, resulting in a woven texture of polyphony which makes the

dissonance more jarring than if it was sounded by simultaneous

homophonic chords. The second trait is the rapid harmonic rhythm,

which changes as often as every successive eighth note. The harmony does

not linger long enough to impart a sense of repose, formal articulation, or

relief from the chromaticism; it quickly moves from one chord to another,

with amazingly few primary chords or cadences. The most intense

concentration of rapidly changing chromatic chords is found in mm. 16

and 17, a point at which the tonahty is on the verge of losing any

recognizable center or harmonic direction (Example 7.6).

Other Empfindsamkeit traits present include: sighing motives (mm.

5, 6), harmonic and melodic chromaticism (throughout), sudden changes

of harmony and modulations (throughout), use of nonharmonic tones for

275

tension and suspense, a heightened sense of emotion and expressivity,

augmented chords (mm. 15, 18, 20, the last of which resolves inward rather

than outward, that is, contracting rather than expanding), use of angular

fines consisting more of leaps than steps (mm. 5, 6, 12, 21-2), and affective

use of the minor mode (throughout).

"Christus. der ist mein Leben"" bv J. Adlung

The text of this chorale speaks of death as being something to be

looked forward to as a release from human pain and suffering experienced

during life, as an attainment of eternal peace and bliss. Composers often

set this chorale in a highly expressive manner, making use of such

affective devices as appoggiaturas, suspensions, melodic sighing figures,

leaping intervals resolving stepwise in the opposite direction, and gradually

shifting linear harmonies. Adlung incorporates these devices and others.

The chorale tune is in four phrases, the first two of which are here

combined in the first appearance of the melody (mm. 6-9, Example 7.7) in

the upper voice. Successive phrases appear at mm. 17 and 25. Adler"s

setting fits well into the category of ornamented chorale, as each phrase is

ornamented with trills, turns, passing tones, escape tones, appoggiaturas,

and suspensions, nearly all of which are written into the notation rather

than notated symbolically. There is only one attempt at Vorimitation, at the

very beginning, in which the first phrase of the chorale is used in the

accompanying voice. The upper voice is reserved for the ornamented

melody. Two accompanying voices appear together on the other manual,

and the pedal provides a foundation to the harmony above, often in insistent

repeated notes. It does not participate in melodic or rhythmic imitation of

the upper voices.

276

Example 7.7. J. Adlung's "Christus, der ist mein Leben."

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Orgelmusik um Johann Sebastian Bach (Ed. No. EB 8470), edited by Ruediger Wilhelm. © Breitkopf & Hartel, Wiesbaden - Leipzig. Used by permission.

277

The work is set in Eb major. After a five-measure introduction, the

linked first two chorale phrases begin and end in Eb. The next seven and

one-half measures are an interlude particularly rich in harmonic

treatment. This interlude begins and cadences in Eb major, but in between

makes the following solar harmonic progression: Eb - Dm7 - G7 - Cm - D7 -

Gm - D7 - G7 - Cm - C7 - F7 - Bb7 - Eb. The progression is enriched with

several types of melodic and harmonic dissonances and use of sequence.

The chord changes to the more remote harmonies are particularly sudden

and unexpected, but are made acceptable as they logically proceed to the

next dominant. The retum to Eb (m. 17) marks the beginning of the third

chorale phrase. The next six measures contain another interlude with a

similar solar progression: Eb - Fm7 - Bb7 - Eb - Ab - Dm7 - G7 - Cm - D7 -

Gm - C7 - Fm - Bb7 - Eb, also enriched by melodic and harmonic dissonance

and sequential treatment. The final chorale phrase, entering at m. 25, is

obscured but certainly identifiable within the figuration of the continuous

string of sixteenth notes lasting six measures. This voice containing the

figured chorale is accompanied by a duplicate string of sixteenth notes in

the other manual in parallel thirds. After a one-measure break, the

pattern continues for another four measures in parallel sixths. This

extended passage for parallel thirds and sixths originally appeared briefly

in the introduction, and is a frequent component of instrumental writing

throughout the eighteenth century.

The dominant melody accompanied by lower voices, the

ornamentation written into the score rather than indicated by symbol or left

to the performer's discretion, the dynamic indications of piano and forte

(mm. 1, 6), the non-thematic bass line, and the parallel movement place

this work in the galant style, while the sudden harmonic changes.

278

expressive use of dissonance, and irregular phrase lengths give at least an

indication of the empfindsamer Stil.

"Fantasie and Fugue in C Minor" (Wq 119/7) hv C. P. E. Bach

There is no name so firmly finked vrith the empfindsamer Stil than

that of C. P. E. Bach, and this work illustrates why. The fantasia portion of

the work consists of the first eighteen measures, and the fugue takes up the

remaining 110 (Example 7.8).

There are numerous traits of this style to be foimd in the fantasia.

The texture is one of accompanied melody, in which the melody is the

highest manual voice. The melody is strong and fully independent of the

accompaniment, although both are clearly to be played on the same

manual. The left hand and pedals provide the accompaniment of short

patterns of homorhythmic chords separated by rests. The harmony is

occasionally augmented with additional right hand notes. Measures 4-5

allow some linearity to the accompanying voices, but still in a strict

homorhythmic pattern, the effect of which is a quick succession of eighth

note chords derived from chromatic voice movement, and producing

numerous chord types in quick succession: triads, seventh, diminished-

seventh, and augmented-sixth chords. The melody includes the use of

suspensions (mm. 1, 2, 6) and appoggiatura (m. 3) adding to the rich

harmonic palette, as well as some wide and unexpected leaps (mm. 3,6)

and short motives articulated by rests (mm. 2-3). The first six measures

are separated from the next six-measure passage (mm. 7-12) by a rest

extended by a fermata. This second passage is both a harmonic and

textural contrast to the first in that it consists of a series of eleven half-note

279

Example 7.8. C. P. E. Bach's "Fantasy and Fugue in C Minor."

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^ B = #

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ii i i w

4 h i£

^

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280

Example 7.8. Continued

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18 Fugue

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block chords progressing in the following manner: Edim7 - C7 - F7 - Bbm -

Gbmaj7 - Eb7 - Ab7 - F7 - Bb7 - G7 - Ab. This chord progression leads to the

next section, an unbarred passage of seven measures of various melodic,

rhythmic, and harmonic treatments. It is begun with a descending run of

thirty-second notes which gradually slow to eighth notes and finally a

quarter note sounded in the pedal, all in quasi-recitative style. These lead to

a second series of half-note block chords in the following progression:

281

Adim7 - F7 - Bdim7 - Dm - Am(sus4) - Adim7 - Ebm - F#dim7 - Cm. This is

followed by a second descending melodic run in quasi-recitative style, this

time beginning with thirty-second notes, followed by triplet thirty-seconds,

slowing to a pair of sixteenths and ending on a pedal tone in the bass, with

a dramatic, hammering repetition of chords in an authentic cadence to end

the fantasia.

The form of the fugue is one of beginning and ending with complete

four-voice expositions, in between which there are alternate passages for

five episodes and five single-voiced subject entries in the different voices and

at different harmonic levels. Episodes make frequent use of motives from

the subject, fragmentation, and sequence, with frequent modulations.

The fugue begins (m. 18) with two motives melodically elaborating

notes of the tonic triad, but the empfindsamer Stil quickly invades with a

succession of wide-ranging leaps in opposite directions: major seventh

down, major sixth up, minor sixth down, followed by a long, nearly

chromatic rise of nine notes to complete the subject. Actually, it is difficult

to tell when this subject breaks off and countersubject begins, since the

countersubject is a continuation of this chromatic ascent and Bach uses it

in varying lengths throughout the fugue. At the conclusion of the fourth

subject entrance of the first exposition (mm. 33-37), for example. Bach

extends this chromatic rise as the pedal sounds every one of the fourteen

notes in the chromatic ascent from E to F, a distance of an octave plus one

half-step. The first subject entry is immediately followed by a single entry

(m. 37) in the tenor voice in F minor, and the first episode (mm. 41-53). A

single subject entry occurs in the upper voice at m. 53, a point at which the

harmony has been established in the subdominant of Ab following a long

episode. Following another episode, another single entry appears in the

282

pedals at m. 63, now in the Eb relative major. Following another episode,

the next single entry begins in the tenor voice at m. 77, now in G minor.

The next episode is constructed over a nearly chromatic ascending line of

even longer length than that in mm. 33-37, this one covering a distance of

two full octaves plus a third, using twenty-seven notes in eight measures

(mm. 80-87). The next subject entry is in the alto (m. 91) in Bb minor,

followed by a thinning of the texture to two voices in the next episode. The

final subject entry is in the upper voice (m. 102), although it is followed

within two measures (mm. 102-103) in quick succession by stretto entries of

shortened and altered subjects in the alto, tenor, and bass voices.

Following the final exposition, m. 107 begins a passage which

continues to repeat fragments of the fugue subject polyphonically, but this

passage is progressively less contrapuntal and more homophonic, until it

has become a series of alternating chord repetitions between the right hand

and the left hand with pedals, cadencing on the dominant at m. 116. The

contrapuntal style returns in the following nine measures, prominently

featuring the first half of the fugue subject, doubled in left hand and pedal

octave (mm. 122-124), cadencing on the flatted-sixth chord on Ab (m. 124).

Four eight-voice whole note chords starting with a German-sixth and

second inversion tonic lead to an authentic cadence.

Works in Classical Stvle

"Fantasia a giusto italiano" by J. L. Krebs

The "Fantasia a giusto italiano'"^ is one of Krebs' most successful

and identifiably classical compositions. It is a veritable textbook example of

classical style characteristics from Ratner, Rosen, and Blume discussed in

Chapter III.

283

Periodicity. Ratner's definition of periodicity as the tendency to move

toward goals and points of punctuation, with motion being focused toward

points of arrival on every magnitude from figure to phrase to complete

movement is certainly in evidence in this work. In the first four-measure

phrase (Example 7.9) the opening five-chord motive consists of such a

gesture, moving melodically in a downward motion through three

inversions of the tonic triad separated by passing chords. The second

gesture of nine chords reverses the direction, and the third repeats a

fragment of the second, followed by a fourth gesture of seven chords clearly

headed melodically and harmonically to the dominant triad. The direction

of the entire four-measure phrase is clearly focused on its arrival on this

dominant, with smaller units similarly directed toward their own

harmonic and melodic goal on the way. The second four-measure phrase

(mm. 4-8) repeats the process while using fragments and variations of the

motives, but again beginning on the tonic and directed toward the

dominant.

284

I

^

I m

m

i s ^

Example 7.9. J. L. Krebs' "Fantasia a giusto italiano."

1

£ JJ Jjjj Jj E

J J J J J J J J

J i j j j i i J

J j j j J j j j I

^ ^ ^

J J J J J

'fi* j'j ^ I

• n < J J J J

"ijijim MmMim

i

J J i i i J J J ^ ^

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Svmmetrv. Ratner's statement that symmetry permeates every level

of structure is also in evidence. Throughout this work and its phrases,

each unit can be shown to be constructed from pairings of smaller units,

permeating every level from the two large structural divisions down to the

smallest motives and figures. The overall symmetry of form can be seen in

the fact that the work's forty measures divide harmonically and

thematically exactly in half, with the measures, harmony and phrase

structure as diagrammed in Figure 7.1.

285

Section One

m.: 1 4 5 8 9 16 17 20

F: I V I V I v " ! V (4 + 4) -I- (4 + 4)-^ 4

Section Two Coda

m.: 21 24 25 27 28 31 32 35 36 40

F: V V/V V V/V vi V/vi V/V V bVI v T (3.5 -f- 3.5)+ (3.5 -•- 4.5) -\- A

Figure 7.1. Symmetrical Structure of Krebs' "Fantasia a giusto italiano."

Polar harmonic structure. The work clearly falls within Rosen's

polar orientation rather than the solar orientation common to the baroque.

Most phrases and sections are in the tonic and dominant harmonies. Even

in what might be considered a modest development section (mm. 24-34), the

harmony remains in closely related areas.

Mode exchange. An example is present in mm. 12-14 (Example 7.9),

in which measures are nearly identical except that the middle measure is

in the parallel minor.

Non-cadential progressions directed bv conjunct bass voice leading.

There are numerous examples of this characteristic, mostly diatonic and

not chromatic (mm. 3, 11, 16-17, 27). Interestingly enough, the melodic

bass patterns at the cadence points tend to be quite disjunct (mm. 8, 20, 34,

40), perhaps resulting from a continuation of typical baroque cadential bass

patterns, in which the bass line assumes a strongly harmonic function

which supercedes its melodic function.

286

Use of appoggiatura and suspension. There are a number of

examples of both in this short work. Appoggiaturas are used within the

phrase (mm. 2, 3, 6, 22, 23, 29, 30), and suspensions at internal and

structural cadences (mm. 4, 8, 24, 27).

Simultaneous sounding of two harmonies as double or triple

appoggiatura over the bass or as passing harmonies over a pedal point.

Examples of this may be found in the very opening motives of the section,

and are used prominently throughout the work, as well as in the final

cadence.

Tonic pedal point passages as statement and conclusion: dominant

pedal point passages to build tension. This is very clearly the case in the

opening eight measures where the first four measures of statement occur

over a tonic pedal point, as do the next four measures of conclusion. A

similar tension-dispersing tonic pedal point occurs in the final few

measures of the coda-like close. A nearly five-measure dominant pedal

point passage (acting as a V/V) occurs in mm. 11-15, which does, indeed,

help to build tension leading into the first structural cadence on the

dominant which divides the work in half.

More supportive, less melodic classical bass resulting in fewer bass

notes requiring fewer chord changes and a slower harmonic rhvthm.

Forty-two of the first forty-seven bass notes are F. These forty-two notes are

in two consecutive passages of twenty-one notes each, divided by a short

five-note scale passage filling in the leap from tonic to dominant at the first

cadence. Thirty-one of the entire work's forty measures contain at least

one-half measure of the same bass note. Seventeen of the forty measures

consist of the same bass note throughout the measure. Discounting

passing and neighbor chords, six and one-half of the first eight measures

287

consist of tonic harmony. Many passages consist of harmonies which

change no more than once every measure or half-measure.

Varietv of rhvthmic patterns rather than homogeneous baroque

motor rhvthms. Blume's description of the classical tendency to broken

rhythms, dotted rhythms (mm. 2, 3, 6, 22, 23), Lombard rhythms (mm. 12-

14 [Example 7.9], 27, 30, 37), and the easy and logical passing of different

rhjrthms into each other (left hand, mm. 9-20) are all present in his also-

mentioned rich and lively interplay between melody and rhythm. Indeed, it

is this interplay of melody and rhythm which combine in motivic

identification and variation.

Simple (versus figured) melodv consisting of a line of chord tones

constructed from conjunct intervals and small leaps. This is essentially an

exact description of the opening motives and melodic line, as well as how

they are treated throughout the work.

More homophonic than contrapuntal texture. The work is

thoroughly homophonic. Where there is an identifiable melody or voice

differentiated from the homophonic texture (left hand, mm. 9-20), the

remaining texture is unrelentingly homophonic, with the right hand and

pedals acting as a single rhythmic and harmonic unit. Even in this

particular passage, the differentiated voice sounds at a pitch level between

those of the right hand and pedal, the result being that it sounds more as a

melodic part of the homophonic web than as a dominant melody

accompanied by that web.

"Nachspiel" bv J. C. Kittel

This is an interesting but short work of only fifty-six measures,

obviously to be played at a quick tempo. It is the t3^e of work described in

288

Chapter V, common to Lutheran worship in the eighteenth century, a kind

of Gebrauchsmusik fulfilling a specific liturgical purpose. In this case it is

a postlude or concluding voluntary in which the organist might display his

technical abilities or virtuosity in free forms as the people departed the

church. A number of such non-chorale-based compositions by Kittel were

contained in his Grosse Praeludien, and bore such titles as

"Praeambulum," "Praludium," "Nachspiel," and "Fantasie."

There are a number of classical features apparent in this work. The

opening motive treated prominently throughout is triadic in nature

(Example 7.10). It is used in every instance as the opening of a new section

(mm. 1, 18, 30). The phrases are both short and periodic. Figuration often

consists of arpeggiated and broken chord patterns. The harmonic rhythm

is slow, most often changing once per measure or once per two measures.

The pedal line most often consists of punctuations of a chord tone to

determine the inversion. There is little melodic independence to the bass.

The work divides into four sections. Section one (mm. 1-17) is in D

minor. Section two (mm. 18-29) opens in D minor but moves to F major.

Section three (mm. 30-41) opens in F major but ends on a vii^'^/V in D

minor, which is followed by a ten-measure cadenza-like passage in which

toccata figures in the right hand are accompanied by chords (including two

measures of the Neapolitan) in the left hand and extended pedal tones (A

and G) in the bass. The work concludes with a flourish of large six and

seven-note manual chords at the cadence.

One unusual characteristic of this work is the degree to which it

relies on octave and heterophonic passages. The opening motive of m. 1 is

an octave, triadic leaping between chord tones. The second motive (m. 2)

consists of two lower-pitched voices moving in octaves in eighth note

289

Example 7.10. Kittel's "Nachspiel," Opening and Closing Measures.

I 1

^^m ^ 1 m 1 ¥ w ^ ^

• = M

I mm i * g

^

m ^=?=f ^

I 54

^ ^N f «

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^

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stepwise motion, accompanied by the same line in the upper voice

elaborated by an extra sixteenth note between the principle melody notes.

Motives one and two are sounded four times on related pitches to make up

the first eight-measure phrase. The second phrase (mm. 8-16) uses a

different idea, that of toccata-like sixteenth-note passages of running scale

figures, broken and arpeggiated chords in the left hand, accompanied

mostly by shifting chords in the right hand and pedal, but even here there is

290

some octave motion (m. 14). Octave passages continue throughout the work

(mm. 19, 22-26, 31, 33, 41, 51-54), as do heterophonic passages (mm. 2, 4, 6,

27, 29, 35, 37). The closing measures demonstrate Kittel's frequent use of

large chord structures in the manuals (Example 7.10).

Despite its toccata qualities, the work does not make difficult

demands upon the performer's technique. The large amount of octave

work and heterophony, the rather simple, straightforward harmonies

used, and the simplicity of the pedal line result in a work of quite modest

difficulty but which might impress a listener as being quite challenging.

"Sonata in D Maior" (Wo 70/5) bv C. P. E. Bach

Bach's organ sonatas, composed in Berlin while he was employed by

Frederick the Great, were written for Princess Anna Amalia, Frederick's

sister. Bach wrote on the title page, "These 4 organ solos were written for a

Princess who was unable to play the pedals, or any very difficult music, but

who nevertheless caused a fine organ with 2 manuals and pedal to be built

for herself, and took great pleasure in playing upon it. "5 This accounts for

the lack of a separate pedal part in the sonatas, perhaps also for the often

present figuration that seems suited more to the pianoforte or harpsichord

than to the organ. Bach even composed variants for portions of the third

movement of the "Sonata in D Major" intended specifically for those two

instruments, and wrote so on the pages of that sonata.

A number of Empfindsamkeit characteristics are present in the

opening phrases. The initial attention-getting forte chord is immediately

followed with a piano three-chord motive (Example 7.11), then a second

forte chord followed again by the piano motive. There are numerous

sudden and unexpected interjections of forte chords, either individually or

291

in pairs (mm. 13, 15, 17) throughout the movement. Also to be mentioned is

the contrasting lyrical quality of this piano motive, thus providing a variety

of sentiments in succession. There is a variety of phrase lengths, some as

short as two and three measures, others extending to six, seven, and eight.

Phrases of differing textures are also combined. Measures 17-26 contain an

upper melody accompanied by steadily repeated left hand intervals.

Measures 26-28 have full homophonic quarter and half note chords in both

hands. Measures 28-34 are contrapuntal and imitative. Measures 34-36

are chordal in both hands, but sounding on alternate beats. This

succession of textural varieties also plays a part in the Empfindsamkeit's

presenting a variety of sentiments in succession.

Example 7.11. C. P. E. Bach's "Sonata in D," Movement One.

1 ^m i ^

M ^

M

F#»

Copyright 1968. Used by permission of C. F. Peters Corporation.

The movement is in sonata form, complete with the superimposition

of a three-phase thematic structure of exposition, development, and

recapitulation upon the two-phase harmonic structure (both repeated) as

discussed in Chapter III. The form is illustrated in Figure 7.2.

292

section: Exposition Development Recapitulation measure: 1 15 36 37 54 68 82 105

theme: A B A B A B I I: : I I: : | |

D Major: I V V V VI v i l I I

Figure 7.2. Form of C. P. E. Bach's "Sonata in D Major," First Movement.

The sonata's second movement is a slow, expressive movement, filled

with sentiment without being sentimental, that is, making liberal use of

expressive devices without being manneristic (Example 7.12). It is

generally in a three-voiced texture, with the upper melody accompanied by

the two lower voices, although the texture occasionally thins to two voices

(mm. 8, 17) or is augmented by the interjection of a fuller chord structure

(m. 5-6). There are long passages for parallel thirds (mm. 6-7, 22-24) broken

into uneven phrase lengths by rests and the bass movement. There are

numerous examples of appoggiaturas, suspensions, and sighing figures,

as well as figures and phrases within the melodic line which seem to

simply trail off unresolved, only to be picked up and continued after a brief

pause. The ornamentation is both notated and symbolized. The harmony

has an irregular meter to its changes, and frequently uses diminished-

seventh, Neapolitan, and augmented-sixth chords, although it does not

follow chromatic lines or chord progressions.

293

Example 7.12. C. P. E. Bach's "Sonata in D," Movement Two.

Adagio e mesto

2 ^ « = i

^L±s± ( m ^ ^ [JT "te

^m s r r r r ^ ¥

Copyright 1968. Used by permission of C. F. Peters Corporation.

The third movement is a lively, buoyant Allegro that is reminiscent of

the galant style (Example 7.13). Thematically the form is an ABA ternary

form that has elements of sonata form, in that two contrasting themes can

be identified in A which are then developed somewhat in B, and brought

back again in the final A section. This is done, however, without the

normal harmonic organization of sonata form. This form is illustrated in

Figure 7.3.

section: measure:

theme:

A 1 17 A B

I I

60 61 A

:ll:

85 B

.A.. 107 A

123 B

182

II D Major: I I V V I IV

Figure 7.3. Form of C. P. E. Bach's "Sonata in D," Third Movement

294

Example 7.13. C. P. E. Bach's "Sonata in D," Movement Three.

95 I —T—r-M— —I Ta — m mh

f F ^ i i ^

CO

i 3 _L

^ m f Mi g a p

Cop3n[ight 1968. Used by permission of C. F. Peters Corporation.

Within each section in addition to the two identified A and B themes

are other themes, some variants of A and B, which are stated in section A

and come back for some development in section B, then return again in the

final A section. These additional themes include the phrase of triplets

(mm. 15-16), the succession of block chords (mm. 49-54), and the dotted

figures in mm. 57-8. All of these reappear in sections B and C, sometimes

on different tonal levels and sometimes on the same, sometimes extended

(mm. 100-106), and sometimes combined or juxtaposed (mm. 97-8).

It is a movement of great melodic, rhythmic, and textural variety and

contrast. There is also dynamic contrast, with many phrases marked

piano and forte. But there is also symmetry and balance. Nearly all

phrases are of eight measures, many of which can be further divided into

four-measure components exhibiting some contrast between the half

phrases. This succession of symmetrical eight-measure phrases in section

A is broken only after the seventh phrase, with the section concluding with

a four-measure closing before the repeat. The S3nnmetrical eight-measure

295

phrases continue in section B, again concluded by an irregular six-

measure closing. Again with the return of section A the symmetrical

eight-measure phrases continue, this time concluded by two six-measure

phrases.

Works Based Upon a Chorale

"Lobt Gott. ihr Christen, allzugleich" bv J. C. Bach

This prelude by the youngest of the four Bach composer-sons is a

miniature of only eleven measures. It is in its entirety merely an

elaboration of one brief stanza of the tune which accompanies this joyous

Christmas text.

It is for four voices and the melody appears mostly unaltered in the

soprano. The pedal consists only of four short step-wise passages with

typical leaping figures to conclude, and a final extended tonic pedal point at

the closing cadence. Despite some motivic similarities, there is no attempt

at imitation between the accompanying voices or between the chorale and

the accompaniment. There is much movement in parallel thirds (mm. 3,

5, 8, 9), sixths (mm. 6, 10, 11), and tenths (m. 6) in the accompaniment

(Example 7.14). The effect is that of a basically homophonic composition

moving in the same note values as the chorale melody, but with the

distance between melody notes being filled in with figuration of rapid

sixteenth notes. This figuration is typical of classical keyboard style.

296

Example 7.14. J. C. Bach's "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, allzugleich."

' ' U J L

I 10

^ ?

m J 1 jnjrp f

4

. ^

From: Church Organist's Golden Treasury, Vol. II; © 1951 Oliver Ditson Company. Used by permission of the publisher.

"Herzlich tut mich verlangen" bv J. P. Kirnberger

Kirnberger's setting is a simple and expressive one, appropriate to

the well-known Passion Chorale tune by Hassler, also used to accompany

the text, "O Sacred Head, now wounded." The thirty-six measures are

grouped around the eight phrases of the chorale set in trio texture. The

unomamented melody begins without introduction and is in the upper

manual in note values twice as long as they are normally presented for

singing (Example 7.15). The pedal moves homophonically with the melody,

thus determining the harmony with the melody. The left hand moves in

constant eighth note motion in a combination of stepwise and leaping

figures and chord arpeggiation. There is no identifiable pattern within

these phrases, nor is there any attempt at imitation of the chorale tune.

297

Example 7.15. Kirnberger's "Herzlich tut mich verlangen."

1

^

9i« .m

^ j Q

i i^ - # • ^mt

^m

:zi

t ^ ^

rt^ 1 0! -pp ffrF^d

1'^' J J 1

— T T " 1 1 r p j ^ j j

1 J 1

1 fJ 1

From: Church Organist's Golden Treasury, Vol. II; © 1951 Oliver Ditson Company. Used by permission of the publisher.

There are several noteworthy features present in the lower manual

voice. Each chorale phrase is extended by a measure and one-half as this

voice continues its figuration, with seven of the eight phrases using the

same melodic pattern each time (only phrase three differs), namely one of

descending chord arpeggiation down to a tonic note to fleetingly make a

cadence. A second feature is the frequency and regularity with which a

new upper manual melody note, of which there are fifty-two, is

accompanied by a suspension in the lower manual. There are thirty-two

such occurrences spaced through the work, with sixteen in the first four

phrases and sixteen in the second four phrases. A third noteworthy feature

of the lower manual line, related to the frequent use of suspension, is its

use of imbroglio and alia zoppa, two common manipulated metrical

298

patterns in classical style discussed in Chapter III. The imbroglio, the

displacing of the normal accents within a metrical pattern across the

measure, occurs in twenty of the work's thirty-six measures. The alia

zoppa, the "limping" rhythm resulting from placing a long note between

two short ones, the first of which has received a strong accent, resembles

the imbroglio except that it does not occur across the measure. There are

eleven examples of the alia zoppa in this work. The imbroglio and alia

zoppa frequently occur as a melodic leap upward, often of some

considerable distance. Kirnberger makes use of upward melodic leaps

spanning the intervals of a third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh.

"Sei Lob und Ehr dem hochsten Gut" by J. L. Krebs

Two common characteristics of Bach's chorale settings come to mind

as contrast to this Krebs chorale, the eighth Praeambulum supra of the

KlavierUbung. Bach's normal practice was to set the chorale in its entirety

and that it is usually prominently heard and plainly recognizable. Neither

of these characteristics occur in this setting, which may be illustrative of

the kind of organ chorale which developed under strong secularizing

influences (Example 7.16).

The thirty-seven measures divide into a three-part ABA form in

tonic-dominant-tonic tonal areas, the sections beginning at mm. 1, 16, and

28. Each section begins with a statement of the opening theme in the

appropriate harmony in two-voice texture, quickly adding a third voice.

The lowest voice is slightly reminiscent of the first phrase of the chorale,

and opens with the same repeated note melodic pattern. An ornamented

fragment of the second chorale phrase may be found in the upper voice

beginning in m. 7, and a fragment of the third phrase in the upper voice

299

Example 7.16. J. L. Krebs* "Sei Lob und Ehr dem hochsten Gut."

f ^ ^ ^ Lm[irltf ^

t i S as r^=f

't riitEiTri n

i ? i r * ?:[fM /ggJl^

33

j' n ^ ' 34

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^S ^

*

I 35

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36

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J J

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J M 1 37 *-

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beginning in m. 24. It is significant that in all appearances of the melody,

the tune is obscured by fragmentation and figuration. Other phrases of the

300

melody are suggested elsewhere, but the resemblance is so tenuous as to

preclude convincing identification. So obscured is the chorale that it is as if

Krebs sought to compose a work based on a chorale tune which challenged

the performer and listener to recognize the chorale. Clearly Krebs has

allowed the importance of the chorale to be subjugated to the demands of

harmonic formal structure and thematic treatment.

The middle section is slightly developmental, primarily of the

opening theme's repeated note melodic pattern, and is more harmonically

adventuresome. He uses a fragment of the third chorale phrase as a return

to the tonic (mm. 24-27) and the restatement of the opening A section at m.

28. The entire work makes constant use of t)T)ically keyboard idioms,

including broken chords (mm. 1, 4-6), arpeggiated chords (mm. 8, 24-26, 33-

35), filling in of the octave with scale passages (mm. 2, 17, 29), consecutive

broken octaves (mm. 9), and these different devices often flow continuously

from one to another. Rh5d;hmic treatment includes dotted figures (mm. 5-

6), extended sixteenth note treatment (mm. 19-27), rapid figuration over an

extended pedal point (mm. 33-35), and unexpected introduction of triplet

figures (mm. 8, 36). Thematic treatment is entirely of the classical style

rather than the baroque practice of motivic spinning-out (Fortspinnung).

"Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist" bv J. C. Olev

Chorale text settings dealing with the end of earthly life are often

among the most expressively beautiful. One thinks of Bach's final deathbed

composition, the chorale prelude "Vor deinen Thron tret' ich hiermit"

(BWV 668). Expressive devices used by Oley in this prelude include melodic

sighing figures, suspensions, appoggiaturas, chromatic lines, diminished

harmonies, and a slow tempo marking of adagio (Example 7.17).

301

Example 7.17. J . Oley's "Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist."

, 20

h^'i 1 t t

IS ^ ^

' a. ^m pi m

E f=

^ ^

5

^ ^

P

s iS-

^

S ! ' ' • ' ' ' ' • •

r J Jjj ^^^^g

^ ^ * y W

^gfr>

^

t y'^tii * » »

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The texture is that of accompanied melody, with the chorale tune in

the upper manual, the lower manual and pedals moving largely

homophonically with some amount of independence, especially where the

chorale tune is absent. There is a good deal of galant ornamentation, both

by symbol (mm. 7, 12,15, 16, 19) and within the notation (mm. 4, 7, 15, 39,

44, 45, 46, 48). Also present in most measures are indications for slurring

302

and articulation similar to that of classical string writing. These have been

preserved from the original edition of 1791. There is no precise division of

the accompaniment into specific voices, reflecting more its function of

providing chordal harmonies than independent, contrapuntal polyphony.

This accompaniment is always a result of the combination of lower manual

and pedals, and variously ranges between one (m. 49-50) and four pitches

sounding simultaneously (mm. 31, 51-53). There is an almost total lack of

imitation in this setting, the lone exception being the brief instance of

Vorimitation in the opening pedal line (m. 1), which quickly breaks off after

the fourth note. One final classical characteristic is the presence of

dynamic markings (mm. 1, 8, 50), tempo indications (mm. 1, 50), and a

change of meter from 3/4 (m. 1-49) to 4/4 (m.50-53).

"Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist" bv J. C. Kittel

This setting (Example 7.18) makes an interesting comparison to that

above by Oley. It mostly moves homophonically with occasional

independence of voices (mm. 5-8). As with Oley's setting, it applies marks

for slurring and articulation from classical instrumental performance.

There is also symbolized (mm. 8, 10, 12) and notated ornamentation (mm. 1,

3, 8, 11). There are appoggiaturas, suspensions, and sighing figures, and

some chromatically altered chords and an augmented-sixth chord (m. 11).

One must ponder Kittel's thoroughness in hiding the chorale melody

(Example 7.18) in his setting (Example 7.19). The upper note does, indeed,

provide a melody to the accompaniment, but it most certainly is not that of

the stated chorale title, nor does it resemble a chorale tune. It is quite

instrumental in nature. There is, however, a correlation between the

general shape of the chorale melody and the uppermost melodic line of the

303

prelude, and at times one can even pick out several consecutive notes of the

chorale tune well-hidden among the figures, motives, and ornamentation

of the melody. If this is the case and Kittel's intent, then this prelude is an

example of the kind of chorale prelude discussed in Chapter V that resulted

from the trend toward a freer type of prelude, one whose connection with a

chorale was no longer required. This is the type of prelude in which the

composer was free to express the mood of the chorale and to entirely

dispense with the melody, or he might choose to work in motifs or phrases

of the chorale tune if desired.

Example 7.18. "Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist," Original Chorale Melody.

| * f ! t J J J I J J J

¥ ^ ^ ^ =

/T-.

i r r r 'r i j J I I I I

r r II e r r ' I I i J ^ P J w

.-Q^

^ :S^

304

Example 7.19. "Nun bitten wir den heihgen Geist," J. Kittel's Setting.

I *

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305

Notes

^This music was later recast as the opening "Largo" of his Harpsichord Concerto No. 5 in F Minor (BWV 1056). It is well-known to organists in its numerous transcribed forms, usually titled "Arioso." The opening similarities between Bach's music and Krebs' come from the identity of opening pitches, rh3d;hm, and harmony. The similarities diverge after two measures.

^David Mulbury, "A Collection of Organ Music By Pupils of Johann Sebastian Bach" (D.M.A. diss.. University of Rochester, 1969) 76.

^The lower manual treble clef sign in m. 87 of the Peters Edition is an error. It should be a bass clef Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Organ Works, Traugott Fedtke, ed. (New York: C. F. Peters, 1968), 22.

^The title of this work is as it is given in the sources. The Quellen (Sources) provided in the C. F. Peters edition indicates that it is thus spelled in the autograph in the Staatsbibliothek Preussicher Kulturbesitz in Berlin, indicating Krebs most likely made the error in his Italian title. The Italian word giusto is an adjective which in English means just" or "right." Tempo giusto, for example, is the indication for a fitting tempo, correct tempo, exact or strict tempo. It is more likely Krebs intended to use the word gusto, a noun meaning "taste," or more freely, "style." Given the confusion of placing two dangling adjectives in the title, and given the frequency of use of the term "taste" during the eighteenth century and the suitability of that term to this work, it is likely Krebs intended to use it in the title. In addition, the diacritical slash on the a has no proper Italian meaning in this sense. If Krebs" intended title was "Fantasia According to the Italian Taste" or "Fantasia in the Italian Style," the a would correctly be al. Perhaps Krebs neglected to give enough length to the word's second letter in titling his work, and future editors rendered it incorrectly, or perhaps it is a second example of his incomplete mastery of Italian. In any case, the correct Italian title might well have been "Famtasia al gusto italiano."

5 C. P. E. Bach, Organ Works, editor's preface.

306

CHAPTER VIII

ORGAN WORKS IN MIXED STYLES

Non-Chorale Based Works

"Prelude and Fugue in E Major" bv J. L. Krebs

The opening pedal toccata of this work has been discussed previously

in Chapter VI. The prelude and fugue for manuals immediately follow it

(Example 8.1). Krebs' decision to compose a work in mixed baroque and

galant styles seems quite deliberate and intentional. The entire work

exhibits a degree of unity resulting from the fact that many of the figures

and motives from the prelude and fugue are derived from those of the

toccata. The mere existence of an opening pedal toccata and a concluding

fugue testify to a baroque influence on the form, further confirmed by the

use of baroque style characteristics for the toccata and fugue and galant

characteristics for the prelude.

Form. The form of the prelude is that of a rondo in which the A

sections are followed by contrasting sections, as illustrated by Table 8.1.

Melodv. The melody of the entire prelude section, especially that of

its opening, is in great contrast to the thiuiderings sounded by the pedal

toccata which precedes it. The brightness of the key of E major enhances

the simplicity and elegance of the rondo theme, decorated by such galant

ornaments as escape tones (mm. 54, 55), trills (mm. 91-6), and double trills

(m. 126). Elsewhere are suspensions in thirds which resolve by leap rather

than step (mm. 164-72) and others resolved with stepwise motion (mm. 98,

164). Other galant features include passages of Alberti-like figures (mm.

114-7, 122-5) as well as arpeggiated figures (mm. 66-70), prominently heard

in the opening pedal toccata.

307

Example 8.1. J. L. Krebs' "Prelude and Fugue in E Major."

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308

Table 8.1. Rondo Form of Krebs' Prelude in E Major.

Section Measures Treatment, Texture, and Harmony

1 (A) 53- 72 (20 mm.) chordal; tonic to dominant

2(B) 73- 98 (26 mm.) contrapuntal; dominant

3 (A) 99-109 (11 mm.) contrapuntal; tonic to dominant

4 (C) 110-126 (17 mm.) accompanied melody; tonic to dominant

5 (A) 127-134 ( 8 mm.) contrapuntal; tonic to dominant

6 (D) 135-172 (38 mm.) contrapuntal (developmental); tonic

7 (A) 173-193 (21 mm.) mixed chordal and contrapuntal; tonic

Harmonv. The prelude is organized largely within a tonic-dominant

polar scheme, with most sections either entirely in the tonic or moving

from tonic to dominant. It uses mostly primary chords with cadences in

closely related areas. The prelude is highly consonant. It is most

adventurous harmonically in section six, the longest section and most

developmental, in which several secondary harmonies and the prelude's

only appearance of a diminished-seventh chord occur (mm. 161-2).

Texture. Within an overall texture of a dominant melody, there are

several varieties of accompanying texture present. There is the dominant

melody accompanied by two manual voices in paired thirds or sixths (mm.

54-6); melody accompanied by punctuating chords (mm. 90-7); melody

accompanied by Alberti figures (mm. 114-7); and melody as the top note of

chords of longer duration (mm. 180-2). The role played by the pedal within

these textures is also varied. At times it is an extended pedal point (mm.

309

54-6, 127-9); a sounding of the lowest foundation tone of the harmony (mm.

115-26, 189-93); and an independent polyphonic voice with melodic function

of its own (mm. 164-71).

The fugue is organized into three sections, as shown in Table 8.2.

Table 8.2. Form of Krebs' Fugue in E Major.

Section Measures Exposition Order Harmonic Movement

1 194-256 (62 mm.) I-V-vi 194-209 alto-tenor-bass-soprano I 209-226 soprano-bass-alto-soprano I-V 226-239 soprano-tenor-bass-tenor V 239-256 episode (sequences) V-vi

2 256-338 (82 mm.) vi-ii-V 256-279 soprano-alto-tenor-bass vi - ii 279-318 soprano-soprano/tenor-bass ii-V 318-338 soprano-bass V

3 338-380 (42 mm.) I 338-380 bass-soprano-alto-bass I

Harmonv. The harmonic scheme is a logical one, and exhibits more

the baroque's solar arrangement, with section one's expositions moving

from tonic to dominant, and the closing episode of sequences further

moving into the relative minor. Each of the three expositions of section two

takes its turn in moving the harmony one step closer in its return toward

the tonic, which is reached at the start of section three's exposition. The

overall harmonic scheme, therefore, is (I-V) - (vi-ii-V) - (I), parentheses

indicating the fugue's three sections.

310

Fugal devices. There are a number of fugal devices used. Stretto

appears at mm. 194-5, 200-1, 213-15, 233-5, and elsewhere. An inverted

subject entrance occurs at m. 226, and the subject occurs simultaneously

with its inversion, begun on the same pitch, at m.289. A false entry is

heard at m. 298, and much of the counterpoint is derived from fragmenting

the opening pitches of the subject throughout the fugue.

Use of sequence. A notable element of this fiigue is Krebs' use of the

harmonic and melodic sequence in mm. 239-56. It is noteworthy for several

reasons. First there is its length. At seventeen measures, it is the longest

subsection within section one. It consists of eight repetitions of a two-

measure pattern. Each two-measure pattern, in turn, consists of a one-

measure pattern plus a one-measure textural variation. Krebs use of such

a short, highly symmetrical pattern, with so many repetitions over an

unusually extended number of measures, contributes to a degree of

monotony or tedium. He could have ended this passage at its midway point,

but instead chose to extend it over a pedal point. Harmonically it is inten­

ded to move from dominant to relative minor. Each two-measure repetition

begins on a successively lower scale tone, filling in the octave from C-sharp

down to the next C-sharp, a logical and orderly plan, but one taking

considerable time to complete. This tendency to long sequences is present

in other works by Krebs, as in the B-A-C-H fiigue (mm. 31-45, 69-75, 81-92).

What leads to identif5dng this work as a mixed style is not that it

exhibits characteristics of multiple styles in close proximity to each other,

flowing from one to another or even existing simultaneously. Here the

approach seems to be to exhibit baroque and galant characteristics, but

distinct from each other, contained within sections devoted to one style

primarily. Krebs does not seem to bring the different styles together for the

311

purpose of unif3dng them or establishing a new hybrid style. Rather it is as

if he acknowledges the different styles and characteristics, but allows them

to retain their distinctiveness through their separation within the work's

section. The toccata, while it does exhibit some galant traits, is primarily

baroque in nature, as is the fugue. In the middle stands the prelude with

its decidedly ^aZan^ quality and features.

"Prelude in C Minor" bv J. L. Krebs

This little prelude is only twenty-five measures in length. It divides

into roughly equal sections, with a short coda, as in Table 8.3.

Table 8.3. Two-Part Form of Krebs' Prelude in C Minor.

Section Measures Harmony

1 1-13 (13 mm.) tonic to dominant

2 14-21 (8 mm.) dominant to tonic 21-25 (5 mm.) harmonic extension over tonic pedal point

Harmonv. Organization is within the polar scheme with the use of

secondary dominants within some phrases. The work demonstrates Krebs'

affinity for the diminished-seventh chord (mm. 4, 8, 12, 20). There is also

an Ab major chord (m. 19) functioning as a German sixth chord without its

seventh.

Rhvthm and melodv. To a great degree in this work, rhythm and

melody combine in motivic repetition and development, although not in the

baroque sense of Fortspinnung. The opening melodic motive of four

sixteenths and an eighth note in the shape of a turn is immediately

312

answered by a succession of three eighth-note chords (Example 8.2). That

combination of two motives becomes the predominant figure throughout the

composition. It is repeated in the second measure, forming a two-measure

unit which is one-half of the first phrase. The second half begins with the

two component motives appearing simultaneously in the two hands rather

than successively as in the opening measures. The rhythmic and melodic

identity of the two motives are repeated, varied, and combined throughout

the work, but not in the baroque spinning-out style. The result is a highly

unified composition. The pedal line provides a foundation for the harmony,

participating in the motivic interplay only with the consecutive eighth note

motive.

Example 8.2. J. L. Krebs' "Prelude in C Minor."

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Copjndght 1974. Used by permission of C. F. Peters Corporation.

313

Symmetry. Balance and symmetry are significant elements of this

work. The half-measure motives combine into measure length figures.

The first two-measure half phrase is balanced by the second half of two

measures. The first four-measure phrase is answered by a second four-

measure phrase, then a third with the first stmctural cadence at the

midpoint of the composition. The first eight measures of the second section

are likewise divisible into four, then two, then one, and finally half-

measure components, concluded by the coda with pedal point. Even the

coda is similarly divisible into successively smaller halves, consisting at its

smallest level of the same combination of half-measure motives which

opened the work.

Texture. The prelude is in four voices throughout, and there is

certainly the sense that there is considerable independence of movement as

the voices move melodically. This effect is also highly visible in the notation

on the page. However, a closer examination will reveal that these

polyphonic lines are the result of melodic elaborations of the chordal

harmonies sounded on the downbeats and midpoints of measures. This is

further betrayed by the frequency of use of parallel thirds (mm. 3, 8, 9, 13,

14, 17, 19, 20, 24), parallel sixths (1, 10, 14, 15), parallel tenths (throughout),

and the sparsity of contrary motion. Many of the lines in the four voices are

the result of these parallel intervals or their elaboration with passing tones.

The non-contrapuntal nature of this polyphony comes through as it is

heard as a series of melodically-elaborated chord changes, reinforced by the

regularity of chord changes at measure and half-measure intervals, also by

the high degree of symmetry throughout the work. This is not the kind of

polyphony found in Bach's organ works, in which melody and harmony are

in equilibrium. This is polyphony very much dominated by the harmony, in

314

which the melodic lines are derived from melodic and rhythmic

elaborations of those chords. It is polyphony which is more homophonic

than contrapuntal.

There is much that is classical in this work: s)nnmetry and balance,

the prominence (though not domination) of the upper voice, polar harmonic

arrangement, and the notated ornamental turn that is part of the opening

motive. Yet it retains baroque elements as well. The texture remains one

of mostly four independent voices, at times exhibiting a considerable

melodic quality, rather than a homogenous accompanimental texture. The

bass line, though not in a fully polar relationship with the upper melody,

still takes a more active melodic role.

"Trio in G Maior"' bv G. A. Homilius

This organ trio, while exhibiting some baroque characteristics, is

predominantly in a galant style. It is less tied to motivic manipulation in

its development than many baroque works, although motives play an

important role in their repetition and in structural formation. The form is

rounded binary with a rather substantial portion of the second section given

to development. Figure 8.1 demonstrates the form:

Section One Section Two

m. : l 7 12 18 24 28 36 44 5

G : I V V v i v i V ii V I I Th Th Th Th Th

Figure 8.1. Form of Homilius' "Trio in G Major."

Four of the five statements of the six-measure theme (mm. 1, 7, 18,

44) announce the major harmonic divisions of the form. The first two

315

theme statements are in tonic-dominant order, and m. 24 is simultaneously

the end of the theme's third appearance and the beginning of a development

section. Section two contains a slightly varied theme at m. 33, and

concludes with a complete final tonic appearance of the theme.

The theme (Example 8.3) is derived from the combination of four

different motives: eighth note chord arpeggiation (motive A, m. 1),

sixteenth note chord arpeggiation (motive B, m. 2, 3 ) , sixteenth note scale

passage often containing an upward octave leap (motive C, m. 4), and a

combination of sixteenth note chord arpeggio followed by two sets of triplet

sixteenths (motive D, m. 5). Homilius ingeniously combines and repeats

these motives to fill out the six measures of the theme.

Friedrich Blume, quoted in Chapter III, spoke of classical thematic

construction consisting of gathering together several motives to form the

theme, with the motives being constructed in such a way as to allow their

welding together into a larger thematic unit with its own resulting melodic

and rhythmic force and identity. He contrasts this with baroque themes,

also resulting from the combination of motives, but which do not yield a

"tension-rich wholeness" because their motives retain their own individual

identity within the theme. Blume further states that this change from

baroque to classic motivic synthesis was a gradual one. This trio is an

example of that transition. Motive A descends an octave from tonic to tonic.

Motive B begins to ascend rather tentatively, but returns to the lower tonic

(m. 2). Motive B again tries to ascend (m. 3) £ind again returns to the tonic,

but this time ends with a full octave leap up, coming to rest on the lowered

seventh. Motive C (m. 4) moves between the upper and lower regions of the

octave set out by motive A, as if it has broken free and is exploring the

melodic bounds. Motive D (m. 5) combines the arpeggio element of motive A

316

Example 8.3. G. Homflius' "Trio in G," Theme Motives.

1 Motive A Motive B

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(in a duple arpeggio) with the scale element of motive B (in a triplet

pattern), thus adding rhythmic energy and variety as it marks time in the

very middle of the octave. The closing arpeggio figure (m. 6) seems as if it is

going to leap to the upper tonic, but instead returns to the lower at the

cadence. This extra-musical narrative to describe the process of motivic

synthesis, giving as it does a will and desire to the notes which they

certainly do not possess, does, however, help to illustrate the sense of the

dramatic which can result from classical themes derived from Blume's

described motivic synthesis. The motives flow from one to another, their

317

individual characteristics and identities contributing to a new, larger,

unified theme.

Homilius repeats the opening theme in the dominant on the second

manual, and follows it vrith a brief passage (mm. 13-18) in which he begins

to explore the developmental potential of the individual motives by means of

sequence. After bringing section one to a close with the third thematic

statement (mm. 18-24), he begins the true development section in which the

motives are fragmented and varied, stated first in one voice and answered

in another, with frequent sequential treatment. Another developmental

technique Homilius uses is the juxtaposition of reordered fragments of

motive A in one manual with the entirety of motive D in the other, a pattern

which first appears in the first small developmental section within section

one (mm. 15-16). He repeats it at mm. 25 and 26 and at the varied theme

entrance at m. 36.

The work seems transitional in its exhibition of baroque and classical

characteristics. While it still relies on the identity of individual motives, it

combines them into a theme in a classical manner. There is still the

fragmenting and sequential treatment common to the baroque. The

harmonic structure of section one, with the themes appearing in tonic and

dominant, the extended development section and return of the theme at the

close all point toward classical form. The bass line is of the fundamental

kind, with little melodic interest, never participating in the motivic and

thematic play, with a preponderance of short figures, often only two notes,

separated by frequent rests. It certainly does not participate as a fully equal

partner within the polyphonic texture.

318

"Preludium" bv J. G. Miithpl

There is much in Muthel's prelude for pedal solo that is reminiscent

of Bach's "Pedal Exercitium" in G minor (BWV 598). While Bach's work is

clearly a study piece for the mastery of pedal technique, Miithel's, while it

could also serve in that capacity, impresses as having been intended as a

performance piece. Its formal design, thematic and motivic development,

and variety of rhythmic treatment lead to this possibility. There is also here

perhaps an element of Sturm und Drang. It was mentioned in Chapter IV

that Miithel was often concerned in his compositions with exaggerated

expression, making use of brittle melodic lines and jagged rh5rthms, often

broken up into tiny units.

The work is in three sections. Section one (Example 8.4) includes six

measures of introduction followed by motivic and thematic material (mm.

7-29). The main melodic ideas consist of triplet figures (m. 5), arpeggios

(m. 8), Alberti figures (m. 8), and monophonic writing which implies two-

voice pol3T)hony (mm. 16). Section one treats these various ideas in

repetition and fragmentation, while also using harmonic and melodic

sequence. Section one cadences on an implied harmony of E minor.

Following the introduction, section one consists rhythmically of an

unceasing flow of continuous sixteenth note patterns, broken up only by two

eighth notes at mm. 20 and 21.

319

Example 8.4. J. Muthel's "Preludium," Section One.

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Section two (Example 8.5) is much more discontinuous than section

one. It's twelve measures (29-41) are divided into nine discrete segments of

differing lengths (mm. 29-31, 31, 32, 32-34, 34-36, 36-38, 38-39, 39-40, 40-41).

These segments, or phrases, are motivically derived from material in

section one, but are pieced together with such rhythmic and melodic

diversity as to give the impression of recitative or improvisation. These

phrases freely link sixteenth note scale passages in duple meter with

arpeggiated triplet chords, trills on long notes, dotted rhythm figures, and

fermatas. The first appearance of true polyphony is in the final phrase,

which is given to the right foot alone, to be played against a lower pedal

point on G, in preparation for the return of the tonic and section three.

Example 8.5. J. Miithel's "Preludium," Section Two.

29

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Copyright 1969, David Mulbury. Used by permission.

320

Section three (mm. 41-9, Example 8.6) begins with a retum of the

opening theme from m. 7. This is followed by several measures of motives

in an echo effect for double pedal (mm. 43-5), a reprise of the implied two-

voice polyphony from m. 24 (mm. 45-6), and a close which again uses the

opening theme, ending with a double tonic pedal.

Example 8.6. J. Muthel's "Preludium," Section Three.

43

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"Praludium in C Maior" bv J. P. Kellner

Kellner's prelude is a most interesting work that is an amalgam of a

number of different formal elements. Its seventy-one measures move in a

quick tempo with great forward motion, each phrase and section hardly

allowing itself a breath before the next begins with new energy and drive. It

is in trio texture, although Kellner allows the occasional addition of a note

in the chord to fill in the harmony. There is also a thickening of texture at

the final two cadences.

321

Example 8.7. J. Kellner's "Praludium in C," Opening and Closing.

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322

The formal plan is in three large sections: section one (mm. 1-21) is

in the tonic and moves to the dominant; section two (mm. 21-53) is in the

dominant but moves quickly through a number of other harmonic areas

including the relative minor; and section three (mm. 54-71) returns to the

tonic. That simple A-B-A, tonic-dominant-tonic scheme is made

considerably more complex as individual sections and phrases within each

section are considered.

The opening phrase (mm. 1-4) is derived from a common bass

pattern in use throughout the baroque and later periods, namely that of a

full descending octave, accompanied by an equally familiar harmonic

scheme: I - Ve - vi - iiie - IV -16 - ii - V7 - 1 . This pattern is repeated a

number of times during the work, resulting in a kind of ground bass,

though it is not used throughout. The harmonic pattern is also repeated,

resulting in a kind of passacaglia or chaconne, although neither is it used

throughout the work. Both manual melodic lines of the opening phrase

also become repeated patterns during the course of the work. The opening

phrase's four-measure length is the prevailing phrase length throughout,

although Kellner allows a little variety here, especially in transitional

phrases (mm. 43-44).

Kellner successfully exploits a number of differing textures,

providing contrast and variety. The first phrase (mm. 1-4) pairs the

manual voices in a succession of rapid sixteenth note motives, as the pedals

play the ground pattern in simple detached eighth notes. The second

phrase (mm. 5-8) is a repeat of the upper manual's line played by solo

pedals. The third phrase brings back the first phrase, varied this time by

the addition of octave leaps in the pedal ground. The fourth phrase

introduces two completely new melodic lines in the manuals and a

323

variation on the passacaglia harmony: I - IV - V - I - vi - ii - V - I. Thus

far, the direction of all phrases was that of a melodic descent. Kellner here

introduces a four-measure transition in which the motive used, a variation

of the opening manual motive, continues this descending motion through

its measure-length duration, but successive repetitions of the motive as well

as the bass line begin an ascent that carries the harmony from tonic to

dominant and the beginning of section two. Section two continues to make

use of the motives, rhythms, phrases, variations, passacaglia and ground

that were used in section one, and textural variety, although with greater

freedom and some sense of development. Kellner even manages to

incorporate a four-measure dominant pedal point with a new variation of

an earlier motive in the manuals. He uses this as a tension-bulding

transition into the return of the tonic at section three, where he

recapitulates the opening manual theme from part one, first as a pedal solo

(mm. 54-57), followed in mm. 58-61 by the theme as it had been given in

phrase three (mm. 9-12), altered slightly at the cadence (m. 61). This final

thematic statement includes the pedal ground, but with a new variation

consisting of sixteenth note Alberti figures. The composition could have

ended here, but Kellner chose to add a short coda, using familiar motives

from the theme over a dominant pedal, followed by a brief section in the

parallel minor, and a rather dramatic introduction of homophonic quarter

and half-note chords coming to a climax on a diminished-seventh chord

(vii*^ of V), with three final cadence chords.

This composition thoroughly and quite successfully integrates

baroque and classical elements. Classical elements include the large-scale

formal and harmonic plan; the ubiquitous four-measure phrase; the

pervasive use of S3mimetry in half-measure motives combining into large

324

one-measure melodic units; the balancing of two-measure units to become

four-measure phrases; the developmental aspect of the second section and

the unmistakable sense of return and recapitulation, even though this work

is clearly not in sonata form; and the clearly marked sectional divisions,

sometimes marked texturally as well as cadentially. Baroque elements

include the equality of the three voices; the pedals as contributing bass

melody rather than simply harmonic punctuation; the use of passacaglia

and ground; the prominence of the motive rather than a more lyrical

melody as the most important element in generating the phrase; and the

prevailing polyphonic rather than homophonic texture.

"Prelude and Fugue in C Major" bv J. C. Vogler

The differing assessment of Vogler's talent by Mattheson (favorable)

and Kirnberger (unfavorable; see Chapter IV), might both have been made

in considering this composition. Because his training from Bach came at

an early period in both of their lives, first as a ten-year-old student of the

twenty-one-year-old Bach at Arnstadt and later as a teenager at Weimar, he

was thoroughly grounded in the baroque style. This work is not unlike a

number of Bach's early preludes and fugues, in that it is sectionalized,

containing passages of rapid solo work for manuals and pedals alone

consisting of ascending and descending scale passages, arpeggiated

chords, various patterns of figuration, and other chordal passages for

manuals and pedals together (Example 8.8).

325

Example 8.8. J. Vogler's "Prelude and Fugue in C Major."

Prelude

Fugue 14

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Copyright 1969, David Mulbury. Used by permission.

The short (thirteen measures) prelude consists of two measures of

homophonic chords for manuals and pedals, followed by three measures of

sixteenth-note Alberti figures in the pedals, then an extended tonic pedal

point over which the manuals contain rapid thirty-second notes in parallel

326

sixths, concluded by a large chord on the dominant. The prelude continues

with several more sections contrasted by texture, leading to the

simultaneous sounding of the final chord of the prelude with the first note

of the fugue at m. 14. The prelude is very much in the style of a baroque

toccata, although not anything approaching the length, complexity, and

artistry of Bach's toccatas or similar sectionalized preludes.

One example of Vogler's mixing of styles can be seen at the opening

of the fugue, in the various ways the fugue subject is accompanied in the

other voices. After the subject's solo appearance (m. 14), the countersubject

takes the form of stepwise and leaping eighth notes (mm. 16-18). The third

subject entrance (pedals, m. 19-20) is accompanied by short, punctuating,

eighth-note chords in the manual. The fourth entrance (mm. 21-23) is

accompanied by more punctuating eighth-note chords, but here they are

initially repeated in a note-against-note fashion with the subject. After an

episode of parallel thirds, sixths and tenths for manuals only, the fifth

subject (mm. 29-30/pedals) is accompanied by homophonic quarter-note

chords. This is immediately followed by the sixth entrance (mm. 31-33),

again in the pedals, with manual accompaniment of sparser, homophonic

eighth-note chords. Most of the remainder of the fugue is a continuation of

this pattern, namely the subject in one manual or pedals, accompanied by

one of several punctuating chord patterns or occasionally a reminiscence of

the countersubject, alternating with episodes of scale passages and various

figuration patterns. Even in the episodes there is the effect of homophonic

chords accompanying a prominent voice moving melodically (mm. 52-55).

The work concludes with a cadenza-like section (mm. 67-73) of rapid

scale and arpeggiated chords in sixteenth and thirty-second notes, begun

on the tonic rather than the more common dominant. Several of these

327

measures are sounded on the downbeat with full-fisted chords and pedal.

There is a most unexpected and somewhat out of place appearance of the

tonic minor and diminished-seventh (vii^^ of V) harmonies in m. 72,

perhaps an attempt at more forceful and dramatic conclusion, followed by a

penultimate measure of rapidly alternating arpeggiations of dominant and

minor tonic harmonies over a tonic pedal point, followed by the tonic major

at the cadence.

The mixing of styles results from several characteristics. Baroque

elements include the prelude and fugue form, use of some contrapuntal

polyphony, sectionalization resembling the older toccatas and preludes, use

of solar rather than polar harmonic movement, and motivic manipulation

with some spinning out. Classical elements include increased use of

homophony, accompanied melody, much parallel movement rather than

contrapuntal, and classical figuration.

Works Based on a Chorale

"Warum sollt' ich mich denn Gramen" bv J. L. Krebs

This work is set in trio texture with a high degree of melodic

independence and rh5d;hmic differentiation between the three voices. The

form is derived from the phrases of the chorale, which also largely

determine the harmonic structure. The lower manual and pedal voices

perform throughout and serve as accompaniment to the chorale, which

appears as a mostly undecorated cantus firmus in the upper manual

(Example 8.9).

328

Example 8.9. J. L. Krebs' "Warum sollt' ich mich denn Gramen," Closing Measures.

51

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The pedal proceeds in persistent quarter notes and occasional half

and dotted notes, ending on an extended tonic pedal point. The lower

manual consists almost entirely of eighth notes with occasional quarter

notes at some phrase points, and only two half notes at the close. This

voice's figuration is mostly broken chords and arpeggios. Taken together.

329

the two lower voices form a quite satisfying and complete unit by

themselves. There is no attempt to relate either voice thematically to the

chorale, such as in the style of Pachelbel's Vorimitation as described in

Tusler's chorale motet. It fits well within his category of melody chorale.

The cantus firmus is mostly unomamented, with only a few ornaments

indicated in the closing phrases. The work ends with a five-measure

cadential extension of the final note of the chorale, duplicated by a five-

measure tonic pedal point. Between these two voices the texture thickens

with the introduction of a second manual voice, both voices proceeding

through arpeggiated chords and neighboring tones in nearly parallel sixths

and tenths, adding yet another manual voice in parallel thirds at the final

cadence.

What makes this work baroque is its independence of voices and the

melodic nature of the bass line. What makes it classical is the figuration of

the non-chorale manual voice.

"Ein' veste Burg ist unser Gott" (two settings) bv J. C. Kittel^

These two settings come one after another in volume one of Kittel's

publication, Der angehende praktische Organist, and provide several

interesting points of comparison. Setting number one (Example 8.10) is

thoroughly baroque in style while setting number two (Example 8.11) is

more classical. Both settings are in C major, are quite short (twenty-one

and thirteen measures), use only the opening chorale phrase, and were

most likely intended to be used to introduce the singing of the chorale by the

congregation.

330

Example 8.10. J. Kittel's "Ein' veste Burg ist unser Gott," First Setting.

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331

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In the first setting there are two expositions of all four voices. After

two initial imitative entrances of the tune of the first chorale phrase as

subject (m. 1 in the tenor, m. 2 in the alto), a brief sequential interlude

precedes the third entrance (m. 7 in the soprano) and the fourth (m. 8 in the

bass). The second exposition begins in m. 10 in the soprano, with the

333

second entrance in inverted form and stretto in the tenor (m. 11), and the

third in m. 13, also inverted, in the alto. The fourth entrance is in the

pedals in augmentation (quadrupled note values). It is followed by another

entrance in augmentation (doubled note values) in the tenor (m. 17), also in

stretto, an entrance of normal values in the alto (m. 18) and a final entrance

in the soprano (m. 18), the last four entrances all in stretto. There are yet

two entrances to follow (mm. 19, 20), both rhythmically altered, the second

of which is also inverted. Kittel has packed this brief setting with subject

entrances and a number of baroque contrapuntal devices.

The second setting ("Zweites Vorspiel iiber vorhergehenden Choral")

is quite different from the first. It includes passages for double pedal,

especially when containing the opening three-note motto which begins this

chorale. The first entrance of the three-note motto is in quarter notes in

double pedal and manual, the remaining entrances are in eighth notes.

There is a mixture throughout this setting of baroque contrapuntal

polyphony (mm. 2-6) with classical homophony (7-9, 11, 13). The figuration

is classical, using Alberti figures and passages of broken thirds. The

manual voices' figuration often sounds in parallel thirds, sixths, and

tenths, and even one passage in a very Mozartian-sounding parallel octaves

followed by chords in both manuals (mm. 10-11). Also present in this

setting is Kittel's frequent use of large chords in the manuals, often

sounded together with the pedal providing the foundation (mm. 11-13).

'Ach Herr mich armen Siinder" bv G. A. Homilius

This trio setting treats only the opening chorale phrase. The effect of

secluding the chorale tune, that is, of almost making it unrecognizable due

to its brevity and suffusion within the surrounding polyphony, along with

334

the motivic combination and repetition, the figuration in arpeggiated

chords, and the frequent pairing of voices in parallel thirds, sixths, and

tenths point to the classical. The use of imitation, some of it canonic, the

reliance upon short motives to propel the motion along, and the equality of

voices point to the baroque.

The opening chorale phrase is given to the upper manual,

undergirded by a distinctive pedal line of large, descending octave leaps.

Both voices continue in brief figured imitation until the opening phrase

enters in the lower manual, proceeding canonically a fourth below for four

measures. The established tonality of C minor modulates through an

interlude (mm. 9-11) to a new dominant-seventh chord on the sixth scale

degree of Ab, followed by a new tonality, complete with change of key

signature, to C-sharp minor, the enharmonic of Db-minor, a most unusual

shift (Example 8.12). The next section in the new key is largely a repeat of

the opening C minor section, with the same opening chorale phrase in the

upper manual, repeated again canonically in the lower manual, with

much of the same accompaniment, at times slightly altered. Thus, mm.

12-20 are the result of mm. 1-9, transposed and slightly altered. Another

modulation returns the tonality to C minor (m. 22) for a third section of the

work. Three measures of interlude (mm. 22-24) introduce another

statement of the opening chorale phrase (m. 24), this time in the lower

manual and in F minor. The final statement of the chorale theme enters in

the upper manual (m. 30) and again proceeds canonically at a fifth above

for several measures, and continues with short motives moving in parallel

thirds in the manuals as well as one after another as in a dialogue. An

extended dominant pedal point (mm. 36-7, Example 8.13) prepares the

335

authentic cadence at m. 40, with the final chord being a unison tonic note sounded

in three different octaves (Example 8.13).

Example 8.12. G. Homihus' "Ach Herr mich armen Siinder," Key Change.

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336

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36

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337

iThe spelling of the title's second word, which is usually given as "feste," is Kittel's.

338

CHAPTER IX

CONCLUSION

Music historians have divided the course of musical development

into manageable periods according to similarity or continuity of style.

These individual style periods are never stagnant; they are always

changing. In one sense they are an artificial construct, giving a

misleading picture of the true nature of music history, namely that of a

continuous course of development and evolution. The notion of a composer

consciously and intentionally setting out to compose in a radically new and

different style than that of the immediate past is probably a false notion.

There are exceptions, of course, such as Monteverdi's prima and seconda

prattica in 1605, Schoenberg's twelve-tone method of composing in 1923, or

much of Charles Ives' work. But in the case of the change from baroque to

classic styles, the change was gradual, initiated by numerous composers in

numerous places, the various streams of developing eventually being

sjmthesized in the works of the late-century composers, especially Haydn,

Mozart, and Beethoven. To most composers at any given point along that

continuum of change, awareness of a new style period had probably not

dawned. Today, 250 years later, we look back at their time and work and

place them in a particular period of our own invention. What we see as a

period of overlapping of baroque and classic, a period of experimentation

and change, a time when old practices decline and die and the seeds of new

ones are sewn and cultivated, composers of the period probably saw less

distinctly. Of course, as time passed and they became further removed

from Bach and the old ways, they would also be more aware of how different

the new music was from the old.

339

Perhaps this helps to accoimt for why some compositions of the

Bachschule lack a sense of unity. Vogler's "Prelude and Fugue in C

Major" and Kellner's "Praludium in C Major" both use baroque and classic

elements of style. The impression of Vogler's work is that these diverse

elements have been assembled and ordered without much prior thought as

to how they might sound as an entire unit. There is an element of

disorderliness about the work. Kellner, on the other hand, has clearly

taken the diverse elements and ordered and integrated them into a imified

whole. Kellner's prelude exhibits what Ratner called a "gratifying turn"

and 'happy connection" of figures and motives and a sense of satisfaction,

musical coherence, and overall unity resulting in part from a

"compatibility of figures" (Chapter III).

Some composers of the Bachschule seem more adept at achieving

this sense of unity and satisfaction as they incorporate elements from both

styles. In his prdludium, Kellner was able to do so while placing these

diverse elements in close proximity. J. L. Krebs at times is likewise able to

successfully integrate diversity, but also chooses the technique of

incorporating the diverse elements in different sections of a composition, as

in his "Toccata and Fugue in E Major." The opening pedal toccata

(Chapter VI) and the closing fugue are in a mostly baroque style while the

middle prelude section is mostly galant (Chapter VIII). This technique

succeeds, not only because it preserves the integrity of the two styles, but

also because it results in a large-scgde composition which exhibits a formal

plan at its largest level, that is, an ABA form according to style elements of

toccata-prelude-fugue.

Some of the Bachschule remained more closely tied to the baroque

(J. T. Krebs, Schneider, Agricola) while others more fully embraced the

340

new styles (C. P. E. Bach, J. C. Bach, Homihus). Most exhibited elements

of both. How the contrast of styles is handled by a particular composer or

exhibited within a particular composition is of great interest. J. L. Krebs,

for example, apparently was able to differentiate between elements of the

new and old to a degree that allowed him to compose thoroughly baroque

works ("Prelude in F Minor"), works in mixed styles ('"Prelude and Fugue

in E Major," "Prelude in C Minor"), works in various of the contributory

classic styles ("Prelude in Bb Major" in the Empfindsamkeit, "Trio in D

Major" in the Galant), and thoroughly classic works ("Fantasia a giusto

italiano""), all compositions exhibiting a mastery of the different styles, a

high level of craftsmanship.

It is a mistake to view these composers primarily as Bach's progeny.

It is as objectionable as viewing Dietrich Buxtehude as a precursor of Bach.

We can not deny Bach's singular greatness or his posthumous status as the

summation of the baroque; but to view those who preceded and those who

followed only in light of how they contributed to his own accomplishments

or how they made use of his achievements is to miss an objective and

accurate assessment of a composer and his work. Krebs may, indeed, have

patterned his "Toccata in A Minor" on Bach's "Toccata in F Minor," but we

still need to judge Krebs' composition on its own merits and not in

comparison to Bach's toccata.

It is the tendency to relegate composers of the Bachschule to a

secondary level of importance because of their status as pupils which has,

in part, resulted in their largely being ignored. Other than Bach's sons, the

only composer to have had his complete organ works published is

J. L. Krebs. Individual works and a few larger collections by other

341

composers have been pubhshed or are to be found in diverse publications,

but there is much music awaiting publication, analysis, and performance.

Those looking at compositions of the Bachschule in order to establish

a gradual change in style from late baroque to early classical will be

fmstrated. Aside from the difficulty and sometimes impossibility of

assigning dates of composition to many works, it is a fact that many of

Bach's pupils composed in multiple styles and their works exhibit those

styles to varying degrees. Indeed, although he is acknowledged to be the

summation of the baroque style, even Bach himself has been shown to have

been aware of and to have incorporated elements of the new style in his own

works.

What can be seen in the works of the Bachschule are examples of the

various trends and style developments which existed simultaneously

during this period. While some BachschUler remained predominantly

within the baroque style, others more actively sought their place within the

new styles. Most if not all of them at times exhibit characteristics from the

old and new, sometimes in quite close proximity within the same

composition. It is clearly a time of experimentation and innovation. The

compositions included in this study can be used to illustrate and perhaps

summarize a number of specific tendencies as they developed during this

simultaneous period of the late baroque and early classical styles.

The contrapuntal and imitative texture of the baroque can be seen in

Altnikol's "Ricercar in C," the very title of which places it in an older style.

The baroque texture of equality of voices can certainly be seen in fugal

works, but also in a number of chorale preludes, including W. F. Bach's

"Was mein Gott will, das g'scheh' allzeit." As the new style developed, and

as the polarity that existed between melody and bass was shattered, the

342

function of the bass changed from that of equal and melodic participation in

the texture to one of harmonic support, which in turn led to a weakening of

the inner voices of the texture, all of which came to act as supportive

accompaniment to the dominant melody. Such a texture is evident in

Adlung's "Christus, der ist mein Leben," in which the pedal line frequently

consists of repetitions of a single note in a most unmelodic fashion.

The baroque melodic technique of Fortspinnung is demonstrated well

in J. L. Krebs' "Toccata in A Minor," in which he uses a single six-note

motive as nearly the entire melodic content of the 238-measure toccata,

working it through various alterations and variations. The classical

tendency toward simple melodies exhibiting symmetry and periodicity can

be seen in Krebs' "Fantasia a giusto italiano," which also illustrates the

classical technique of composing melodies by the combination of notes into

figures, figures into motives, motives into phrases, and phrases into

periods. The technique of deriving a more elaborate figured melody from a

simple melody, although not specifically a baroque or a classical melodic

technique, is demonstrated in Kellner's chorale prelude, "Herzlich thut

mich verlangen." This work interestingly provides an example of the use of

both simple and figured melody within the treatment of the opening phrase

of the chorale tune, in which the initial three notes are unfigured while the

remainder are figured, thus contributing to the ready identification of the

chorale by the listener or singing congregation. Another example is

contained in the opening measures of J. L. Krebs' "Prelude in Bb Major," in

which a melody consisting of the diatonic descent through the interval of a

perfect fourth is elaborately figured with ornaments, scalar passages,

leaps, and syncopations.

343

A variety of harmonic treatments can be seen in these works. The

generally fast harmonic rhythm of the baroque is maintained in works

which maintain a strong melody-bass polarity and an independent and

more melodic bass hne, such as J. T. Krebs' "Prelude and Fugue in C

Major." The slower classical harmonic rhythm can be seen in Kittel's

"Nachspiel," in which the bass consists most frequently of a doubling or

heterophonic variation of the melody, or assumes a punctuating function

with occasional or isolated notes. Baroque and classical harmonic usage

both include chromatic and diatonic characteristics, although the classical

tends toward the more diatonic, as illustrated by Schiibler's "Trio in D

Major." At the same time there is J. L. Krebs' use of highly expressive

dissonance and chromaticism in his setting of "Erbarm dich mein, o Herre

Gott." Baroque harmonic schemes often tended to the solar, that is, moving

through a number of related tonal levels which begin and end in the tonic.

Such is the case with the fugue of J. L. Krebs' "Toccata and Fugue in E

Major." The tonic-dominant juxtaposition which occurs in the classical

polar scheme is illustrated in Krebs' "Fantasia a giusto italiano" as well as

C. P. E. Bach's "Sonata in D Major." Another aspect of classical harmony

is the use of rhythmic-chordal patterns in the accompaniment, such as

Alberti figures, arpeggiated chords, and patterns resulting from a

combination of leaping movements between chord tones. These form a

large portion of the accompaniment in Kellner's "Praludium in C Major."

Another interesting use of these figures may be seen in the works and

sections of works for solo pedals, such as J. L. Krebs' "Toccata in E Major"

and Miithel's "Preludium," where their primary use is as melody, but their

rapid figuration simultaneously provides a recognizable implication of

harmony.

344

Rhythm is an equally important element with melody in the baroque

technique of Fortspinnung, and is similarly varied and manipulated in this

technique. The rhythmic component of galant melodies, rather thgm being

one of exhaustive manipulation and variation, was more one of rhythmic

contrast. The different themes of a galant work could be contrasted, either

as they appeared simultaneously in different voices, as in Adlung's "Trio in

A Minor," or as they were contrasted in successive themes or sections, as in

Schneider's "Mein Gott, das Herze bring ich dir," Gerber's "Concerto," and

C. P. E. Bach's "Sonata in D Major." The extended, uninterrupted phrase

structure resulting from baroque motorhythmic treatment was replaced by

identifiable, discrete phrases articulated by rests and cadences, as in

Muthel's "Preludium," or even more so in W. F. Bach's "Was mein Gott

will, das g'scheh' allzeit" and C. P. E. Bach's "Fantasie and Fugue in C

Minor."

These changes in stylistic elements from baroque to classical were, of

course, inevitable. They are accompaniment to rather than causes of the

decline of the organ and organ music which took place during the lifetimes

of the BachschUler. There is absolutely no reason to conclude that a change

from a complex, imitative, contrapuntal texture to a texture of simple

accompanied melody is, in itself, a decline or deterioration. Likewise, the

change from a baroque solar to a classical polar harmonic orientation does

not itself necessarily indicate a change from better to worse. Those

questions of quality and importance were dealt with in Chapter V, and were

seen to result more from larger changes taking place in the world that

surrounded the musical activities of the Bachschule. Those changes were

seen to be theological and liturgical, philosophical, political, and social in

nature, as well as musical.

345

Organ music, organ composition, and organ performance do not

exist in their own isolated realms, much to the disappointment sometimes

of those who compose and perform organ music. The changes in organ

composition and performance which took place between the baroque and

classical styles also took place in other areas of music, both instrumental

and vocal. As some musical genres were clearly in a developmental stage

of increasing importance, such as the concerto, quartet, and symphony,

others were in decline, notably those associated with the church. The

organ, having been central in importance to the worship of the church,

suffered such a fate, and a discussion of changes in the style of organ

composition during these years is certainly of less significance to the

history of music than a discussion of, for instance, the symphony or the

concerto. It was a natural phenomenon for elements of musical styles and

genres in ascendancy to be incorporated into music for the church and the

organ, even as the latter declined in importance. Such secular invasion of

traditionally sacred style and form is a continuing theme within the history

of sacred music. It is of interest to note that the members of the Bachschule

who are generally regarded as the most successful composers of organ

music, i.e., J. L. Krebs, Kellner, Kirnberger, and Kittel, are those who most

closely aligned themselves with and demonstrated their appreciation for

the traditional forms and techniques of Bach; and at least some of the

BachschUler who were less successful as organ composers are those who

in their time identified more with the newer trends in musical

development. However, the true picture is only arrived at by realizing that

some of those who were less successful as organists played a more

important role in changes in musical style that led to the Classical Era.

These would include Bach's own sons and Homilius. Those who

346

distinguished themselves during their hfetimes as inheritors and

preservers of the Bach tradition generally exercised little if any influence on

the direction musical style was to take, and their major contributions were

long forgotten or ignored.

347

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Articles

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Cudworth, C. L. "Baroque, Rococo, Galant, Classic." Monthly Musical Record, September 1953,172-5.

Heiller, Anton. "Chorales of the Clavierubimg, Part 3." Diapason (Oct. 1962), 8.

Marigold, W. G. "The Preludes and Fugues of J.L. Krebs." Musical Opinion, xc, 1967, 337.

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348

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349

. s.v. "Vogler, Johann Caspar," by G. Kraft.

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• S.v. "Luther, Martin," by Robin A. Leaver and Ann Bond.

. S.v. "Nichelmann, Christoph," by Douglas A. Lee.

. S.v. "Trier, Johann," by Robert L. Marshall.

. S.v. "Krebs," by Hugh J. McLean.

. S.v. "Oley, Johann Christoph," by Hugh J. McLean.

. S.v. "Schneider, Johann," by Hugh J. McLean.

. S.v. "Doles, Johann Friedrich," by Bradford Robinson.

. S.v. "Goldberg, Johann Gottlieb," by Norman Rubin.

. S.v. "Kirnberger, Johann Philipp," by Howard Serwer.

. S.v. "Bach, III. Individual Members (12) Johann Christian

Bach," by Ernest Warburton.

. S.v. "Organ," by Peter Wilhams.

. S.v. "Bach, I. Family Members," by Christoph Wolff.

. S.v. "Bach, III. Individual Members (10) Johann Emst Bach," by Christoph Wolff.

. S.v. "Bach, III. Individual Members (6) Johann Ludwig Bach," by Christoph Wolff.

. S.v. "Bach, III. Individual Members (7) Johann Sebastian Bach, 9. Leipzig," by Christoph Wolff.

.. S.v. "Bach, III. Individual Members (7) Johann Sebastian Bach, 16. Organ Music," by Christoph Wolff.

350

Steinitz, Paul. "Trends in the Interpretation of Baroque Music." The Choral Journal, May 1970, 8-9.

Wolff, Christoph. "Zur musikalischen Vorgeschichte des Kyrie aus Johann Sebastian Bachs Messe in H-moll." In Festschrift Bruno Stdblein zum 70. Geburtstag, ed, Martin Ruhnke, 316-26. Kassel: Barenreiter, 1967.

Der stile antico in der Musik Johann Sebastian Bachs: Studien zu Bachs Spdtwerk. (Beihefte zum Archiv fUr Musikwissenschaft, 6.) Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1968.

. "New Research on Bach's Musical Offering." The Musical Quarterly 57(1971): 379-408

Books

Aldrich, Putnam. Ornamentation in J. S. Bach's Organ Works. New York: Coleman-Ross, 1950; reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1978.

Arnold, Corliss Richard. Organ Literature: A Comprehensive Survey, 1st ed. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1973. 2nd ed. in 2 vols. (I: Historical Survey; II: Biographical Catalog). Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1984.

Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel. Versuch Uber Anweisung die Flote traversiere zu spielen. Berlin: 1753; facs., Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1957; trans. Wilham J. Mitchell. New York: Norton, 1949.

Banning, Helmut. Johann Friedrich Doles Leben und Werke. Leipzig: F. Kistner & C. F. W. Siegel, 1939.

Beardsley, Monroe C. Aesthetics: Problems in the Philosophy of Criticism, second edition. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1981.

Bitter, Karl Herman. Carl Philipp Emanuel und Wilhelm Friedemann Bach und deren Brueder. Berlin: W. Mueller, 1868.

Blume, Friedrich. Classic and Romantic Music, trans. M. D. Herter Norton. New York: W. W. Norton, 1970.

351

. Protestant Church Music: A History, in collaboration with Ludwig Finscher, Georg Feder, Adam Adrio, Walter Blankenburg, Torben Schousboe, Robert Stevenson, and Watkins Shaw. Kassel, Germany: Barenreiter-Verlag, 1964. English translation (with three additional chapters) of the German original, Geschichte der evangelischen Kirchenmusik, New York: W. W. Norton, 1974.

. Renaissance and Baroque Music, trans. M. D. Herter Norton. New York: W. W. Norton, 1967.

Bonis, Siegfried. Kirnbergers Leben und Werk und seine Bedeutung im Berliner Musikkreis um 1750. Ohlau in Schlesien, H. Eschenhagen, 1933.

Bukofzer, Manfred F. Music in the Baroque Era. New York: W. W. Norton, 1947.

Burney, Charles. A General History of Music From the Earliest Ages to the Present Period (1789). London: G. T. Foulis & Co., 1935; reprint in two volumes. New York: Dover Publications, 1957.

Campbell, Robert Gordon. Johann Gottfried MUthel, 1728-1788. Indiana University, 1966. Thesis. Vol. I, Life and works. Vol. II, Music and catalogue.

Clark, Stephen L. C P. E. Bach Studies. Oxford: Clarendon, 1988.

Dart, Thurston. The Interpretation of Music. New York: Harper Colophon, 1963.

David, Hans T. and Arthur Mendel. The Bach Reader (Revised Edition). New York: W. W. Norton, 1972.

Dickinson, A. E. The Art of J. S. Bach. London: Hinrichsen Edition, 1950.

Donington, Robert. A Performer's Guide to Baroque Music. London: Faber and Faber, 1973.

Downs, Philip G. Classical Music: The Era of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. New York: W. W. Norton, 1992.

Dreetz, Albert. Johann Christian Kittel, der letzte Bach-schUler. Berlin: Dmck, 1932.

352

Falck, Martin. Wilhelm Friedemann Bach: sein Leben und seine Werke, mit thematischem Verzeichnis seiner Kompositionen und zwei Bildern. Lindau: C. F. Kahnt, 1956. Translated by Patricia Rose Haas, Umversity of Louisville thesis, 1969.

Fleming, William and Abraham Veinus, Understanding Music: Style, Structure, and History. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1958.

Franck, Hans. Friedemann, der Sohn Johann Sebastian Bachs. Stuttgart: Kreuz-Verlag, 1964.

Friedrich, Felix. Johann Ludwig Krebs: Leben und Werk. Altenburg, Germany: Schloss- und Spielkartenmuseum, 1988.

Geiringer, Karl, in collaboration with Irene Geiringer. The Bach Family: Seven Generations of Creative Genius. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1954.

.. Johann Sebastian Bach. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966.

Grout, Donald. A History of Western Music, 5th ed., with Claude Palisca. New York: W. W. Norton, 1996.

Guericke, Walrad. Friedemann Bach in WolfenbUttel und Braunschweig. Braunschweig: F. Bartels, 1929.

Herz, Gerhard. Essays on J. S. Bach. Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press, 1985. Studies In Musicology, Vol. 73.

Keller, Hermann. The Organ Works of Bach: A Contribution to Their History, Form, Interpretation and Performance, trans. Helen Hewitt. New York: C. F. Peters, 1967.

Kemmler, Ervrin. Johann Gottfried MUthel (1728-1788) und das nordostdeutsche Musikleben seiner Zeit. Marburg, Germany: Lahn, 1970.

Kratzenstein, Marilou. Survey of Organ Literature and Editions. Ames: The Iowa University Press, 1980.

Landowska, Wanda. Landowska On Music. Collected, edited and translated by Denise Restout. New York: Stein and Day, 1969.

Lang, Paul Henry. Music in Western Civilization. New York: W. W. Norton, 1941; republished with a new foreward by Leon Botstein, 1997.

353

Marshall, Robert L. The Music of Johann Sebastian Bach: The Sources, The Style, The Significance. New York: Schirmer Books, 1989.

Mozart, Leopold. Versuch einer grUndlichen Violinschule. Augsburg: 1756; facs., Vienna: C. Stephenson, 1922; trans. Edith Knocker. London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1948; 2nd ed., 1951.

Neumann, Frederick. Performance Practices of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. New York: Schirmer Books, 1993.

Ottenberg, Hans-Giinter. C. P. E. Bach. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.

Pahsca, Claude. Baroque Music. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1968.

Pauly, Reinhard G. Music in the Classic Period. Second edition. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1973.

Poultney, David. Studying Music History: Learning, Reasoning, and Writing about Music History and Literature. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1983.

Quantz, Johann J. Versuch einer Anweisung die Flote traversiere zu spielen. Berlin: 1752; facs., Documenta musicologica, Kassel: Barenreiter, 1951-, ser. 1, 2, 1953; trans. Edward R. Reilly. London: Faber, 1966.

Ratner, Leonard G. Classic Music: Expression, Form, and Style. New York: Schirmer Books, 1980.

Rosen, Charles. Sonata Forms. New York: W. W. Norton, 1980.

. The Classical Style. New York: W. W. Norton, 1972.

Scheimchen, Helmut. Johann Gottfried MUthel: ein Lebensbild zum 200. Esslingen, Germany: H. Scheimchen, 1988.

Schulenberg, David. The Instrumental Music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Research Press, 1984. Studies In Musicology, Vol. 77.

Schweitzer, Albert. J. S. Bach, 2 vols. Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hartel, 1911. English translation by Ernest Newman. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2 vols., 1966.

354

Spitta, Phihpp. Johann Sebastian Bach, 2 vols. Leipzig: 1873-1880. English translation by Clara Bell and John Alexander Fuller-Maitland. London: Novello and Co., 1899; reprint. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 2 vols., 1951.

Stauffer, George B. J. S. Bach as Organist: His Instruments, Music and Performance Practices. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1985.

Stinson, Russell. The Bach Manuscripts of Johann Peter Kellner and His Circle: A Case Study in Reception History. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1990.

Stolba, K. Marie. The Development of Western Music. Dubuque, lA: Wm. C. Brown Publishers, 1990.

Strunk, Oliver. Source Readings In Music History: The Classic Era. New York: Norton, 1965.

Sumner, Wilham Leshe. Bach's Organ Registration. London: Hinrichsen, 1961.

Tusler, Robert. The Style of Bach's Chorale-Preludes. Los Angeles: University of Califomia Press, 1956; reprint. New York: Da Capo Press, 1968.

Veilhan, Jean-Claude. The Rules of Musical Interpretation in the Baroque Era, trans. John Lambert. Paris: Alphonse Leduc, 1979.

Wilhams, Peter. The European Organ 1450-1850. London: B. T. Batsford, 1966.

Bach's Organ Music. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1972.

Young, Percy. The Bachs: 1500-1850. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Co., 1970.

Theses and Dissertations

Albrecht, Timothy Edward. "Musical Rhetoric in Selected Organ Works of J.S. Bach." D.M.A. diss.. University of Rochester, 1978.

Anthony, John P. "The Organ Works of Johann Christian Kittel." Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1978.

355

Brown, Charies Stagmaier. "The Art of Chorale-Preluding and Chorale Accompaniment as Presented in Kittel's Der Angehende Praktische Organist."" D.M.A. diss., Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, 1970.

Campbell, Robert Gordon. "Johann Gottfried Miithel, 1728-1788." Ph.D. diss., Indiana University, 1966.

Held, David. "Chorale Preludes Composed in the Eighteenth Century for Organ and Solo Instmment." D.M.A. diss.. University of Southern California, 1976.

Horstman, Jean. "The Instrumental Music of Johann Ludwig Krebs." Ph.D. diss., Boston University, 1959.

May, Emest D. "Kimberger's Collection of Organ Chorales by J.S. Bach." Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1974.

Prokopchak, Michele E. "Johann Ludwig Krebs: A Biography and Analysis of Several Chorales." Master's thesis. Catholic University of America, 1978.

Staphn, Carl B. "Styhstic Changes in the Chorale Preludes of J.S. Bach." Ph.D. diss., Washington University, 1966.

Stauffer, George Boyer. "The Organ Preludes of Johann Sebastian Bach." Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, 1978.

Stevens, Jane R. "The Keyboard Concertos of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach." Ph.D. diss., Yale University, 1965.

Wade, Rachel W. "The Keyboard Concertos of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: Sources and Style." Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1979.

Wohlfarth, Hannsdieter. "Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach als Instrumental-komponist." Ph.D. diss., Heidelberg, 1968.

Wollny, Peter. "Studies in the Music of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach." Ph.D. diss.. Harvard University, 1993.

Research Journals in Music

Bach: The Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute in Affiliation with the American Chapter of the New Bach Society. Baldwin-Wallace College, 1970-.

356

Bach-Jahrbuch. Neue Bach-Gesellschaft. 1904-.

Editions of Music

Archives des maitres de Vorgue des XVI^, XVII^, et XVIII^ siecles. Edited by Alexandre Guilmant. 10 vols. Paris: A. Durand & Fils, Editeurs, 1898-1910.

Cantantibus Organis: Sammlung von OrgelstUcken alter Meister. Edited by Eberhard Kraus. Regensburg: Friedrich Pustet, etc., 1958-.

Corpus of Early Keyboard Music. Wilh Apel, gen. ed. Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1963-.

Liber Organi. Mainz: B. Schott's Sohne, 1931-38,1954-.

Die Orgel: Ausgewdhlte Werke zum praktischen Gebrauch. Lippstadt, etc., Germany: Kistner & Siegel, 1957-.

Recent Researches in the Music of the Baroque Era. Christoph Wolff, gen. ed. Madison, WI: A-R Editions, 1964-.

Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era. Eugene K. Wolf, gen. ed. Madison, WI: A-R Editions, 1975-.

Composers' Complete Works and Catalogues

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Edition. E. Eugene Helm, coordinating ed.; Rachel Wade, gen. ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1989-.

Falck, Martin. Thematisches Verzeichnis der Kompositionen Wilhelm Friedemann Bachs. Lindau: C. F. Kahnt, 1956. A reproduction of section four from the author's biography of the composer (listed under Books section of this bibliography).

Helm, E. Eugene. Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989.

Johann Sebastian Bachs Werke, herausgegeben von der Bach-Gesellschaft. 47 vols. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1851-99,1926.

357

Schmieder Wolfgang. Thematisch-systematisches Verzeichnis der musikalischen Werke von Johann Sebastian Bach: Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV). 2nd ed., rev. and enl. Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1990.

Schulze, Hans-Joachim, and Christoph Wolff. Bach Compendium: Analytisch bibliographisches Repertorium der Werke Johann Sebastian Bachs (BC). Frankfurt: C. F. Peters, 1985-.

Wotquenne, Alfred. Thematisches Verzeichnis der Werke von Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788). Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1905.

Pubhshed Organ S^cnrt^si

Albrecht, Christoph, ed. Orgeltrios des 18. Jahrhunderts. New York: C. F. Peters, 1986.

Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel. Organ Works. Edited by Traugott Fedtke. New York: C. F. Peters, 1968.

Bach, Johann Sebastian. Bach: The Complete Organ Works. New York: Edwin F. Kalmus, 1968.

Bach, W. F. Eight Fugues Without Pedal For the Organ. New York: Edwin F. Kalmus, n.d.

Buck, Joanne S., ed. Sacred Organ Journal. Vol. 12 (May 1978): No. 5. Dayton, Ohio: Sacred Music Press, 1978.

Carl, William C, ed. Historical Organ Collection. Boston: Boston Music Co., 1919.

Classical German Organ Music, 1750-1800. Chapel Hill, NC: Hinshaw Music, 1982.

Emery, Walter, ed. Johann Christoph Oley: Four Chorale Preludes. London: Novello, 1958.

Fifteen Organ Trios. Boca Raton, Florida: Masters Music Publications, 1994. Reprint of Stuttgart: s.n., 1928.

Kalmus Organ Series. Organ Preludes by Old Masters. New York: Edwin F. Kalmus, n.d.

358

— — . School of Classical Organ Trios from 1512 to 1916. New York: Edwin F. Kalmus, n.d.

Keller, Hermann, ed. 80 Chorale Preludes: German Masters of the 17th and 18th Centuries. New York: C. F. Peters, 1937.

Kooiman, Ewald, ed. Incognita Organo, Volume 40. Hilversum, Holland: Harmonia, 1990.

Krebs, Johann Ludwig. A Bicentennial Collection of Organ Pieces. Edited by David Pizarro. New York: Belwin-Mills, 1980.

. Complete Organ Works, Vols. 1-4. Edited by Gerhard Weinberger. Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1985-88

, KlavierUbung. Edited by Kurt Soldan. New York: C. F. Peters, n.d.

.. Orgelwerke I. Edited by Walter Zollner. New York: C. F. Peters, 1938.

Orgelwerke II. Edited by Karl Tittel. New York: C. F. Peters, 1974.

Langley, Robin, ed. Classical Organ Music from the Death of J. S. Bach to the Advent of Mendelssohn, 3 volumes. New York: Oxford University Press, 1986.

Machella, Maurizio, ed. J.S. Bach, opere dubbie e spurrie: per organo. Padova, Italy: Euganea editoriale comunicazioni, 1994. Convivio musicale series, volume CM 11, chorale-based works.

.. J.S. Bach, opere dubbie e spurrie: per organo. Padova, Italy: Euganea editoriale comunicazioni, 1995. Convivio musicale series, volume CM12.

Margittay, Sandor, ed. Historia organoediae. Budapest: Editio Musica, 1982. Organ Music From Eight Centuries, vol. 11.

Masterpieces of Organ Music Series. 4 Centuries of Organ Music. Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania: Theodore Presser Company, 1977.

Mulbury, David, comp. A Collection of Organ Music By Pupils of Johann Sebastian Bach. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester, 1969.

Orgelmusik um Johann Sebastian Bach. Wiesbaden, Germany: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1985.

359

Pfatteicher, Cari F. and Archibald T. Davison, editors. The Church Organist's Golden Treasury: An Anthology of Chorale Preludes. Bryn Mawr, PA: Oliver Ditson Company, 1949.

Phillips, Gordon, ed. Anthology of Organ Music, Second Series, Volume 12, "Trio in C Minor." London: Edition Peters, n.d.

Trevor, C. H., ed. Concise School of Trio Playing for Organ. London: Oxford University Press, 1964.

. Seasonal Chorale Preludes, Book II. London: Oxford University Press, 1963.

Twillert, Willem van, ed. Music voor het orgel: de generatie na J.S. Bach. Sneek, Holland: Boeijenga, 1983.

Wilhelm, Rudiger, ed. Organ Music of the Bach School. Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1985.

Wolford, Darwin, ed. Just for Manuals. Delaware Water Gap, PA: Harold Flammer, 1977.

Sound Recordings

Organ Music of Bach's Pupils, Wilhelm Krumbach, organist. Musical Heritage Society No. MHS 3196. Notes translated from the German by H. Kevil

360

APPENDIX

MUSIC SOURCES

Johann Sebastian Bach's Werke, herausgegeben von der Bach Gesellschaft. 47 vols. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1851-99.

J. S. Bach's "Toccata in F Major," BWV 540. J. S. Bach's "Fugue in Eb Major," BWV 552. J. S. Bach's "Prelude in B Minor," BWV 554. J. T. Krebs' "Herr Christ, der einig Gottes Sohn," BWV Anh. II 55.

Incorrectly attributed to J. S. Bach.

Bach, W. F. Eight Fugues Without Pedal For the Organ. New York: Edwin F. Kalmus, n.d. (public domain).

W. F. Bach's "Fugue No. 3 in D Major." W. F. Bach's "Fugue No. 4 in D Minor." W. F. Bach's "Fugue No. 8 in F Minor."

CPE Bach, Orgelwerke, Vol. I. Traugott Fedtke, ed. New York: C. F. Peters, 1968.

C. P. E. Bach's "Sonata in D."

CPE Bach, Orgelwerke, Vol. H. Traugott Fedtke, ed. New York: C. F. Peters, 1968.

C. P. E. Bach's "Fantasie and Fugue in C Minor."

J. L. Krebs, Orgelwerke I. Walter Zollner, ed. New York: C. F. Peters, 1938.

J. L. Krebs' "Prelude in F Minor." J. L. Krebs' "Toccata and Fugue in E Major."

J. L. Krebs, Orgelwerke, Vol. II. Karl Tittel, ed. New York: C. F. Peters, 1974.

J. L. Krebs' "Toccata in A Minor." J. L. Krebs' "Fugue on B-A-C-H." J. L. Krebs' "Fantasia a giusto italiano." J. L. Krebs' "Prelude in C Minor."

361

J. L. Krebs, KlavierUbung. Kurt Soldan, ed. New York: C. F. Peters, n.d.

J. L. Krebs' "Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten," KlavierUbung. J. L. Krebs' "Erbarm dich mein, o Herre Gott." J. L. Krebs' "Sei Lob und Ehr dem hochsten Gut."

Church Organist's Golden Treasury: An Anthology of Chorale Preludes, 3 vols. Carl F. Pfatteicher and Archibald T. Davison, editors. Bryn Mawr, PA: Oliver Ditson Company, 1951.

J. C. Bach's "Lobt Gott, ihr Christen, allzugleich." J. Kimberger's "Herzlich tut mich verlangen." J. L. Krebs' "Wer nur den heben Gott lasst walten." W. F. Bach's "Was mein Gott will, das g'sheh' allzeit." J. Kellner's "Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan." J. L. Krebs' "Warum sollt' ich mich den Gramen."

Concise School of Trio Playing for Organ. C. H. Trevor, ed. London: Oxford University Press, 1964.

J. Kirnberger's "Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend"

Kooiman, Ewald, ed. Incognita Organo, Volume 40. Eward Kooiman, ed. Hilversum, Holland: Harmonia, 1990.

J. Kellner's "Herzlich thut mich verlangen."

Mulbury, David, ed. A Collection of Organ Music By Pupils of Johann Sebastian Bach. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester, 1969.

J. T. Krebs' "Prelude and Fugue in C." J. Muthel's "Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein." J. Muthel's "Preludium." H. Gerber's "Concerto." G. Homilius' "Ach Herr mich armen Siinder." J. Oley's "Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist." J. Kittel's "Nun bitten wir den heiligen Geist." J. Schneider's "Allabreve." J. Vogler's "Prelude and Fugue in C Major." J. Kittel's "Ein' veste Burg ist unser Gott," First Setting. J. Kittel's "Ein' veste Burg ist unser Gott," Second Setting.

Organ Music of the Bach School. Riidiger Wilhelm, ed. Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Hartel, 1985.

J. Adlung's "Christus, der ist mein Leben." J. Adlung's "Trio in A Minor."

362

J. Altnikol's "Ricercar in C Major." J. Kellner's "Praludium in C." J. Schneider's "Trio in A Minor." J. Schneider's "Mein Gott, das Herze bring ich dir." J. Schubler's "Trio in D Major"

Organ Preludes by Old Masters. New York: Edwin F. Kalmus, n.d. (public domain).

J. L. Krebs' "Prelude in Bb Major."

Sacred Organ Journal (May 1978). Joanne Buck, ed. Dayton, OH: Lorenz Pubhshing Co., 1978.

J. Kittel's "Nachspiel"

School of Classical Organ Trios from 1512 to 1916 for the Organ. New York: Edwin F. Kalmus, n.d. (public domain).

G. Homilius' "Trio in G Major." J. L. Krebs' "Trio in D Major."

Wedding Music, Part II: Hymn Tune Preludes. Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1952.

J. Schneider's "Vater unser im Himmelreich."

363