Spring 2008 EDWARD GREEN. œ œ # œ

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1 No. 9 Spring 2008 BACH NOTES THE NEWSLETTER OF THE AMERICAN BACH SOCIETY BACH AND CHROMATIC COMPLETION: A NEW FIELD FOR ANALYTIC RESEARCH EDWARD GREEN There were advocates of dodecaphonic serialism, Schönberg and Webern most clearly, who wished to present Bach as a msical ohn the Baptist, annoncing (centries in advance) the advent of a new tonal dispensation. 1 No longer wold diatonicism rle, bt chromaticism moreover, a chromaticism of great density. Consider the sbject of the Fge in B Minor from the first book of The Well-Tempered Clavier, which is given in Example 1 below. In the corse of a mere twenty notes, and in a completely linear manner, all twelve members of the chromatic aggregate present themselves, as indicated below. & c Largo There has been speclation that Bach designed this sbject as a sbtle reassertion of the principal idea behind the collection: the relative eqality of all twelve key centers. The sbject of this fge states this idea in terms of individal pitches althogh from a twentieth-centry point of view, and in consideration of the rle of nonrepetition of pitch-class that orthodox serialism imposes on a composer, Bach wold have to edit ot the eight extra tones. However one chooses to regard this remarkable fge sbject relative to the msical procedres of the Second Viennese School, it is clear that a correspondence exists between a formal msical nit the sbject and the completion of the chromatic aggregate. The qestion arises, is this correspondence merely fortitos? Or, if intended, is it to be considered si n 8 9 n Ÿ Example 1: Fge in B Minor, The Well-Tempered Clavier, Book I, mm generis, a niqe technical response appropriate for the symbolism of a fge that stands at the completion of a set honoring the chromatic niverse a techniqe, therefore, that one wold not expect to enconter elsewhere in Bach s work. Either explanation seems plasible enogh. Yet, srprisingly, the trth seems to lie elsewhere. Bach qite often organized his msic so that crcial points of strctral articlation correspond to points at which the final constitent of the chromatic aggregate appears. As is now increasingly well known, primarily throgh the work of ames M. Baker and Henry Brnett 2 (and I have also pblished on the sbject 3), composers of the Classical period, especially Haydn and Mozart, were adept at creating strctres of this type. What has not been considered ade- 12 ALSO IN THIS ISSE P. 8. Book Review: Christoph Wolff and Marks Zepf s Die Orgeln ohann Sebastian Bachs. Ein Handbch by ason Grant 9. Tanya Kevorkian awarded the 2008 Scheide Prize 10. Message from Gregory Btler, Society President, Newly Elected Officers of the Society 12. News From Members th Biennial Meeting of the Society: Overview and Abstracts 19. osha Copeland wins 2008 Bach Vocal Competition 20. Contribtors to this Isse 2008 The American Bach Society

2 2 qately is whether or not the phenomenon existed in earlier periods, and specifically in the msic of Bach. Let s call an nfolding of the chromatic aggregate a cycle. There are many instances in Bach s msic of highly chromatic textres in which all twelve members of the chromatic aggregate are swiftly sed (fll enharmonicism is presmed). Most of these occrrences, however, are not cycles of chromatic completion, bt rather cycles of chromatic circlation, since the twelfth note arrives withot any particlar significance, strctral or otherwise. Sch cycles are by-prodcts of Bach s general tendency to avail himself of a richly chromatic msical langage, and shold be seen simply in that light. There are, however, instances in Bach s msic in which tre chromatic completion occrs. These are so nmeros, in fact, that they are hard to dismiss as mere epiphenomena. Either Bach composed these strctres intentionally, or, at the very least, he possessed a highly developed sbconscios instinct to associate the completion of the aggregate with the completion of a msical nit. Evidence from the Chorales Since chorales are short and their cycles easily observed, the first evidence of chromatic completion in Bach s msic is presented from this grop of compositions. Not only is the cycle easily observed in these works bt its nfolding precisely parallels the nfolding of the composition: the chromatic aggregate is completed near the end of the chorale often in the very last measre and no frther chromaticism follows. A straightforward example of this design is seen in the E-minor chorale ess Christs, nser Heiland, BWV 33. In this work, the tierce de Picardie in the twelfth and final measre is also the twelfth member of the aggregate, as indicated in Example 2. & 5 & c? c. (D).? & 9 n? n (F ). n.. C ( A ). Example 2: ess Christs, nser Heiland, BWV (G) Another clear example is fond in the twenty-five-measre D-major chorale Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr from the cantata Ich liebe den Höchsten von ganzem Gemüte, BWV 174 (see Example 3). The chromatic tones E and G are encontered in m. 2, A in m. 13, and D in m. 1. Only C\ remains, and it appears on the very last eighth note of m. 23. The remaining msic is completely diatonic. Interestingly, when Bach harmonized this chorale melody again, to the text Ach Herr, laß dein lieb Engelein in the cantata Man singet mit Freden vom Sieg, BWV 149, he similarly employed a gradal nfolding of the chromatic aggregate, bt withot a prely diatonic coda: the aggre- 4/10 & & c? c? &? n 17 & 13 n (A)? n 21 &? Example 3: Herzlich lieb hab ich dich, o Herr, BWV 174/5; keyboard redction text and basso contino have been omitted. ( E ) G n n n n (C ) n n n (D).. n No. 9 BACH NOTES

3 3 gate is completed with the arrival of B in m. 24, bt there is an F in m. 25. A third, more sbtle, example is fond in the opening chorale of the cantata Scha, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind, BWV 153. However one ponders the tonal orientation of this movement (and Eric Chafe gives a very interesting accont of its modal colorations in Analyzing Bach s Cantatas 4), it is apparent that its forteenth and final measre is cadential in E (again with a Picardie third), making the movement modally diatonic (see Example 4). Where, then, do we enconter the twelfth and completing tone of the chromatic aggregate? Exactly one-half beat earlier, with the arrival of C at the end of m. 13. Evidence from the Recitatives and an Aria Many of Bach s recitatives display similar featres of chromatic completion. Consider, for example, Er kommt, er kommt, der Brätgam kommt, the first recitative of Wachet af, rft ns die Stimme, BWV 140, which is in C minor and thirteen measres long (see Examaple 5). The last constitent of the chromatic aggregate, D, appears on the downbeat of m. 11, and the conclding two measres are diatonic (where the B\ is indicative of the harmonic minor scale). It is also fascinating to observe that later in this cantata, in the forth-movement chorale setting for tenor, Zion hört die Wächter singen, there is a similar single nfolding of the aggregate. The final chromatic tone to appear in this E -major movement is D in m. 71. The remaining three measres, again, are diatonic. 5 3 Tenor Contino V b b b j V b b b c R? b b 5 b c w j j j Er kommt, er kommt, R 4 7n 4 2 w n n j j R 5 3 j der Brät - gam kommt Ihr Töch - ter Zi - ons, kommt her - as, seinas - gang ei - let as der Hö - he in e - er Mt-ter Has. j 3/7 &? 10 &? 13 &? & c? c n n n n n n b 1/5 j j n.. n 9? b b b V b b b? b b b w 8 V b b b? b b b 11 V b b b j r 7 n 5 Der Brät - gam kommt, der ei - nem Re - he nd jn - gen Hir - sche gleich af R de -nen Hü-geln springt nd ech das Mahl der Hoch-zeit bringt. Wacht af, er-mn-tert ech Den b? b b b n 5 j j R 4 n 2 R n 5 3 w n R R Brät - gam z emp - fan - gen Dort, se - het, kommt er her - ge - gan-gen. 7 b 5 4n 2 n R R 4 n 2 R n Ó Example 4: Scha, lieber Gott, wie meine Feind, BWV 153/1; keyboard redction text and basso contino have been omitted. Example 5: Er kommt, er kommt, der Brätgam kommt, BWV 140/2. BACH NOTES Spring 2008

4 4 In the St. Matthew Passion, several of the recitatives display featres congrent with the idea that Bach, however consciosly or sb-consciosly, associated the completion of a msical form with the completion of the chromatic aggregate. Consider the work s first recitative, Da ess diese Rede vollendet hatte, which is eight measres long and travels tonally from G major to B minor. As may be seen in Example, the first chromatic tone to arrive is C, which is heard in measre five. Two measres later the penltimate measre we hear the remaining chromatic tones: D on the downbeat, A half a beat later, and then, simltaneosly on the forth beat, E and G ths Strings Tenor Basso Contino & 4 w V? & c V c? c? c? w?? Evangelista Da e-ss die -se Re - de voll-en - det hat - te, sprach er z sei - nen ün-gern: Ó R R R R Example : Da ess diese Rede vollendet hatte, BWV 244/2; vn I, vn II, and va constitte the strings of the pper staff. j r R Ó j j p j Ó wis-set, daß nach zwei-en Ta-gen O-stern wird, nd des Men-schen Sohn wird ü - ber-ant-wor-tet wer-den, daß 7 & V n r w R er ge - kre zi - get wer-de. j Ó p ess Ihr R R completing the aggregate immediately in time for the eighth measre s perfect cadence in the new tonality. Another very interesting example can be fond in the third movement of the Coffee Cantata, BWV 211. In the doble recitative D böses Kind / Herr Vater, Schlendrian completes his portion of the recitative within the first for measres of the movement. Bt this is not all he completes; his msic also presents all twelve tones, as seen in Example 7. The idea of an introdction presenting all twelve tones an idea already somewhat illstrated throgh the previos two examples can be seen vividly in the next. This example does not involve a recitative, however, bt rather the orchestral introdction to the aria Nimm mich dir z eigen hin from the cantata Sie werden as Saba alle kommen, BWV 5. Thirty-two measres long, this introdction presents the eleventh and twelfth members of the aggregate, A and E, in m. 29. The final three measres are diatonic. Evidence from the Solo Keyboard Msic Chromatic completion is also present in Bach s instrmental msic. In the twenty-eight-measre Sarabande Soprano Basso Contino & 3?? & c? c Schlendrian? c w j " R n D bö-ses Kind, d lo-ses Mäd-chen, ach Wenn er-lang ich meinen - j Zweck: t mir den Cof-fee. Example 7: D böses Kind / Herr Vater, BWV 211/3, mm Lieschen Ó Ó weg Herr j r j Va - ter, w R R R R R j j seid doch nicht so No. 9 BACH NOTES

5 5 from the Partita in B Major, BWV 825, the twelfth note of the aggregate, D, appears in m. 2. With the exception of an E\ in the bass that fnctions as the leading tone to the dominant F, the remainder of the movement is entirely diatonic. The opening movement of the Partita in C Minor, BWV 82, is tripartite in strctre Grave, Andante, Allegro. Chromatic completion is observed in the seven-measre Grave, where the final member of the aggregate, F, is reached in the conclding measre. Frther scrtiny of this introdctory section reveals another very interesting compositional featre. Since the minor mode nearly always makes se of both the lowered and the raised sixth and seventh scale degrees, the three most chromatically sensitive tones the ones that trly stand ot to the ear are the lowered second and the raised third and forth scale degrees. In the Grave, the pitches corresponding to these scale degrees appear in the order E\ (m. 3), D (m. 3), and F (m. 7), and this is precisely the order in which they are presented in the ensing Andante and Allegro. Perhaps, jst perhaps, this ever-so-sbtle toch of serialization helps to nify the three sections. If we trn to the first of the English Sites, BWV 80 in A major, we observe another aspect of chromatic completion that can be called linkage. By this term, I wish to draw attention to a particlar design featre in which the twelfth tone of the aggregate occrs so as to connect two otherwise separate msical nits the first nit being flfilled exactly at the arrival of the second. Linkage occrs in this work between Borrées I and II. Borrée I makes se of all the notes of the chromatic aggregate except C\, and the very first note of Borrée II is that missing C\. Frther Instances of Linkage A very similar strctre, bt with an extra and fascinatingly sbtle featre, may be seen in the two Menets of the Site for Solo Cello in G Major, BWV As in the English Site, the G-Major first Menet contains an nfolding of the entire aggregate, except for the lowered third scale degre, B, as seen in Example 8a. This missing note is spplied by the first note of the following Menet in G minor (see Example 8b), which itself, in its own manner, likewise presents jst eleven tones: C is now the missing note. In performance, of corse, the G-Major Menet wold retrn da capo, and its final chromatic pitch, C in m. 19, wold complete the nfinished cycle of the G-Minor Menet. ld Since Bach s otpt is not only vast bt also vastly sbtle and ingenios, one hesitates to point to any particlar compositional design and call it especially remarkable. So I hesitate bt then go ahead; for to my knowledge, nowhere else in Bach s msic is there a strctre jst like this one linking two nits of a large-scale ternary strctre so closely by means of cycles of chromatic completion. Yet it is eqally clear that Bach fond other opportnities to employ linkage and with striking effect. Consider the motet Singet dem Herrn ein nees Lied, BWV 190, Menet I? 3 4 Ÿ 7?.. 13? (D). First cycle begins. (G) n n n (F ) n 19? ** n... (C) Menet II ** = End of second cycle. (This cycle begins in Menet II). Example 8a: Menet I, BWV 1007/5 *? b b 3 4 (B b) Second cycle begins. (F) 7? b b.. n 13? b b n (E n) n b n (A b) 19? b b.. * = End of first cycle. Example 8b: Menet II, BWV 1007/ (B ) Menet I da capo BACH NOTES Spring 2008

6 whose for sections make se of strctres in which all twelve tones nfold, as well as cycles in which only eleven nfold. In the first section, in ¾ time, two complete nfoldings of the aggregate are followed by an incomplete nfolding that lacks only D, the lowered third scale degree of the principal key of the motet, B. It is notable that the earlier, complete nfoldings conclde precisely on the later-missing D thogh in the first instance the enharmonic eqivalent, C, is sed. The second section, in common time, is similar. In this instance, however, a single complete nfolding, which ends with the arrival of C, is followed by an incomplete nfolding in which D, once again, is the missing pitch. The third section, by contrast, contains no incomplete nfoldings and displays a perfect eqation of form and content: the complete nfolding is followed by a short diatonic coda. Since the tonality appears to focs on E (albeit with strong Mixolydian coloration), the completion of the cycle on F appears to maintain the general design: emphasis on the raised second/lowered third scale degree. The first three sections may be seen as variations on a basic design concept and the forth and conclding section (in 3/8 time) may be seen in a similar light. After the single complete cycle of section three, a single incomplete cycle is seen in section for. What is lacking? D. Again, there are gronds for wonder at Bach s extraordinary architectonic sense. A stdy of his compositions in terms of chromatic completion merely confirms what we already knew only, I believe, from a srprisingly fresh perspective. Point-of-Frthest-Remove Stdents of msic of the Classical period are familiar with Leonard Ratner s concept of the point-of-frthestremove that point in a sonata-form movement where the tonality is farthest from the home key, and where the msic begins arching back toward the re-establishment of the original tonality. Althogh the sonata form of Haydn or Beethoven did not exist for Bach, a point-of-frthestremove may nevertheless be identified, and it is often associated with the completion of the chromatic aggregate. Take, for example, the aria Seht, was die Liebe tt from the cantata Ich bin ein gter Hirt, BWV 85, which is in E major and ternary in form. The opening and closing A sections are almost totally diatonic (there is a single A\ in the second A section in m. 59). The B section cadences in G minor in m. 49, jst before the retrn of the conclding A section, making these cadential measres the point-of-frthest-remove both harmonically and strctrally. The completion of the chromatic aggregate also occrs at this point, as the cycle is completed by the C that appears in m. 47. Perhaps even clearer is the design of the Sarabande from the Orchestral Site in B Minor, BVW 107. The opening section of this binary-form movement cadences natrally enogh in the dominant, and midway in the B section the msic retrns to the tonality of B, thogh at first with a toch of the parallel major. At the point-of-frthestremove, jst before the tonality begins its retrn to B minor, the final member of the chromatic aggregate, C\, appears in m. 24. Conclding Remarks I end this essay with two remarks. The first is philosophic. The great American philosopher Eli Siegel, the fonder of Aesthetic Realism, wrote extensively abot the interaction of art and life. The world, art, and self explain each other: each is the aesthetic oneness of opposites, he stated. 7th 7 And the work of Bach srely provides evidence for the trth of this philosophic idea. We know that Bach had a tremendos interest in the concept of completeness. It is reflected in The Well-Tempered Clavier, in the design of the Goldberg Variations, in the plan for The Art of the Fge, and many other works. At the same time, Bach was an intensely dramatic composer and drama, with its reqisite sspense, relies pon the incomplete. As all the examples cited here indicate, chromatic completion depends pon the dynamic interaction of these very opposites: one yearns, however sbconsciosly, for that completing tone; one is palpably aware of incompleteness. 8pl And when chromatic completion takes the form of linkage, as we observed in the Site for Solo Cello and in the motet, not only are the opposites of the complete and the incomplete strongly present, bt so too are the opposites of separation and jnction. These two pairs of opposites ontologically present in all reality are also primal in the experience of msic. The second remark concerns a possible attribtion. Mch thoght has been spent, and mch ink spilled, on the sbject of who, precisely, wrote the royal theme of the Msical Offering. Whoever it was thoght in terms of chromatic completion or, at the very least, designed a strctre that fairly cries ot for the se of linkage, since this theme takes a melodic path that gradally reveals eleven of the twelve chromatic pitches. In the Ricercar a 3, for example, chromatic completion clearly coincides with the formal strctre: the remaining pitch, B, arrives precisely as the second voice enters the msical textre, as may be seen in m. 10 of Example 9. No. 9 BACH NOTES

7 7 & b b b & bb b C b n n n ṁ 5. n n b 8... Example 9: Ricercar a 3 from BWV 1079, mm The sitation is similar in the Ricercar a, only the B now arrives slightly later, as the second pitch in the answering voice. In many other portions of this extraordinary contrapntal collection, the principle of chromatic completion is eqally evident. I give jst one frther instance. In the Canon a 4 the twelfth (and completing) tone once again is the flatted seventh scale degree, in this case F\. This missing pitch arrives jst as the second voice enters; it is the sixteenth note in the conterpoint to the newly added voice. Who, at Frederick s cort, was most likely to have had an awareness of the techniqe of chromatic completion? The answer, one imagines, is C. P. E. Bach. And there are pieces by him that also illstrate chromatic completion. Bt ah that is an entirely different essay. 1 See, for example, Anton Webern, The Path to the New Msic and The Path to Twelve-Note Composition in The Path to the New Msic, ed. Willi Reich, tr. Leo Black (Bryn Mawr, PA: Theodore Presser Co., 193), 9-41 and See, for example, Baker s Chromaticism in Classical Msic, in Msic Theory and the Exploration of the Past, ed. Christopher Hatch and David M. Bernstein (Chicago and London: niversity of Chicago Press, 1993), , and Brnett and Shagn O Donnell, Linear Ordering of the Chromatic Aggregate in Classical Symphonic Msic, in Msic Theory Spectrm 18, no. 1 (Spring, 199): See Green, Chromatic Completion in the Late Vocal Msic of Haydn and Mozart A Technical, Philosophic, and Historical Stdy Ph.D. diss., New York niversity, Among my earlier writings on the sbject are The Principle of Chromatic Satration in the Late Choral Msic of Mozart and Haydn, Choral ornal 4, no. 12 (ne 200): 35-50, and Donald Francis Tovey, Aesthetic Realism, and the Need for a Philosophic Msicology, International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Msic 3, no. 2 (December 2005): My essay Haydn s Secret Dodecaphonic Art is forthcoming in Goldberg in (New York: Oxford niversity Press, 2000), My analysis is in keeping with that of the many scholars who read the bass line of m. 5 as having first an E\, and then an E, rather than two diatonic tones. See, for example, ohann Sebastian Bach, Wachet af, rft ns s die Stimme, ed. Günter Raphael (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel, c. 193). Also of interest from Bach s msic for strings is the opening Adagio of the Violin Sonata in G Major, BWV In this movement, every member of the chromatic aggregate is presented except B. The pbeat second movement complements the first in tempo and completes the aggregate, as B, presented two measres from the end, is its last chromatic pitch. 7 Cited in my essay A Note on Two Conceptions of Aesthetic Realism, British ornal of Aesthetics 45, no. 4 (October 2005): Chromatic circlation, as defined earlier, does not provide a sense of strctral closre. As employed by Bach, however, it often jxtaposes opposites of another kind diatonic and chromatic. CALL FOR SBMISSIONS Bach Perspectives 8 Bach and the Oratorio Tradition Daniel R. Melamed, editor The American Bach Society invites the sbmission of essays for consideration for pblication in Bach Perspectives 8, whose topic will be Bach and the Oratorio Tradition. Essays on all aspects of the sbject, inclding Bach s oratorios, their connection to earlier and later repertories, performance, context, and interpretation, are welcome. Papers shold be approximately 000 words in length and shold be sent in electronic form to Daniel R. Melamed by 1 September 2008 at the e- mail address dmelamed@indiana.ed. If necessary materials may be sent in both paper and electronic form to D. Melamed, School of Msic, Indiana niversity, Bloomington, IN SA. BACH NOTES Spring 2008

8 8 Book Review Die Orgeln ohann Sebastian Bachs. Ein Handbch, by Christoph Wolff and Marks Zepf. Leipzig: Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, pp. Ero 1.80 (softcover). If asked to name the instrment most closely associated with ohann Sebastian Bach, chances are most Bach enthsiasts and scholars wold immediately choose the organ. If pressed to describe in detail any one organ that Bach might have known or played, most respondents wold probably be stmped. Readers may now fill the gaps in their organological knowledge with Die Orgeln ohann Sebastian Bachs, the recently pblished handbook by Christoph Wolff and Marks Zepf. The last book to appear on the topic of Bach and the organ was Werner David s ohann Sebastian Bach s Orgeln (Berlin: [Brüder Hartmann], 1951), and a new contribtion had been long overde. The present book shold not, however, be considered merely an pdated version of David s stdy. The older stdy was more or less biographical, designed to identify the most important organs with which Bach had been associated dring the several stages of his career. Wolff and Zepf, on the other hand, focs on the organs themselves. The book discsses, systematically and comprehensively, all the organs that are demonstrably connected to Bach. The treatment of the individal instrments serves to illminate Bach s interest in the organ, not only as a composer and performer bt also as an expert in its design, constrction, maintenance, and restoration. The stdy might even be considered a spplement or an extensive appendix to Wolff s magisterial Bach biography, ohann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Msician (Norton, 2000), in which the organ is presented as central to nderstanding Bach s development as a performer and composer. The book is clearly laid ot. The front matter consists of a foreword that serves as a basic statement of prpose, an introdctory sketch of Bach the organist, organ composer, and organ expert, a chronological table of important dates concerning Bach s involvement with the organ, and two pages of maps indicating the cities in which Bach lived, the places he visited, and places associated with the Bach family. The introdctory sketch is really the only essay in this book that otherwise contains mostly informational tables and charts. The athors make the bold claim that Bach s knowledge of individal timbres and sond combinations acqired throgh his activities as organist and organ expert contribted to his ability to draw stops as a composer of vocal and instrmental msic. Only as an organist cold Bach have had the imagination to come p with the instrmentation fond in the cantatas Gleichwie der Regen nd Schnee vom Himmel fällt (BWV B 18, 4 viols) and Tritt af die Glabensbahn (BWV 152, recorder, oboe, viola d amore, viola da gamba), or in the Qoniam of the Mass in B Minor (horn and 2 bassoons) (p. 13). While Bach s ear for affective if nsal instrmental combinations may well have developed as a reslt of his time spent on the organ No. 9 bench, I wold add that he may also have been inflenced in this respect by his boyhood performances of concerted works scored for a variety of instrments as a member of the chors msics directed by his father Ambrosis, the Eisenach town msician. 1 The blk of the material is contained in part I, Die Orgeln ohann Sebastian Bachs, which is divided into two sections. The first of these concerns the organs demonstrably connected to Bach and is arranged alphabetically by geographical location, from Altenbrg to Zschorta. nder each entry detailed information is provided concerning the general and architectral history of the chrch, constrction history of the organ, disposition of the organ as Bach wold have known it (list of stops and other pertinent data), the pitch at which the organ was tned (Kammerton, Chorton, or variants of these), temperament of the organ, if known (typically some type of modified meantone in accordance with the writings of Andreas Werckmeister), wind pressre if identifiable, and references to sorce materials and literatre. The second section presents data on forteen reference instrments in places Bach is known to have visited. While no docmentation connects Bach directly to any of these instrments (located in places sch as Berlin, Erfrt, Gotha, Lübeck, and Potsdam), the instrments are inclded here to provide a comprehensive srvey of the organ cltre of central and northern Germany. One of the most revealing sections is the overview of the seventy-five organs srveyed in the book (pp ). Of these instrments, only eight of the organs that Bach knew and six of the reference organs are flly extant. Partially extant are forteen organs that Bach knew and for reference instrments. Becase it is possible to see and hear only a few of the instrments known to Bach, this thoroghly researched and clearly organized book is an especially valable resorce and gide to the instrments that engaged Bach reglarly and deeply throghot his career. The book is also beatiflly appointed with photographs and historical illstrations, many of which provide tantalizing glimpses of existing organs and wistfl remembrances of lost ones. The second part of the book deals with organs Bach examined and reviewed, whether new installations or reconstrctions of existing instrments. While Bach is known to have been involved with abot twenty sch projects (the actal nmber may well be mch higher), only seven of his reports (Orgelgtachten) srvive. All seven Orgelgtachten, thogh previosly pblished elsewhere, are conveniently reprodced here. Appended to this part of the book is a reprodction of a mid-eighteenth-centry gide for examining organs ( Anweisng zm Orgelexamen ) attribted to Gottfried Silbermann. Althogh this docment is in no way connected to Bach, it nevertheless provides an idea of what Bach wold have been looking for when he examined a new or rebilt organ. BACH NOTES

9 9 The third part of the book provides an annotated list of organ bilders known personally by Bach, other bilders from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centries associated with the organs Bach knew, and selected bilders from the nineteenth and twentieth centries, several of whom were involved with rebilding or restoring instrments known by Bach. Althogh Bach never again had a fll-time organ position after his Weimar years, his interest in and engagement with the instrment contined in earnest, whether he was composing new works, sbmitting specifications for new instrments, recommending action on a repair or restoration project, examining an organ, or giving a dedicatory recital. The organ, perhaps more than any other instrment, held a central position for Bach at all stages of his career. For their efforts to provide modern interpreters, listeners, and organ enthsiasts, at a glance, knowledge of the spectrm of organs known to Bach, in all their breadth and variety (p. 15), Wolff and Zepf are to be commended. Bach scholars and enthsiasts, especially those with an interest in the organ, wold do well to become acqainted with this book. ason B. Grant 1 For more on Bach and the chors msics, see Wolff, ohann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Msician, Tanya Kevorkian Awarded the 2008 William H. Scheide Prize Every two years, the Society honors a pblication or pblications of exceptional merit on Bach or figres in his circle by a Society member in the early stages of his or her career. The William H. Scheide Prize, awarded for an otstanding book, article, or edition that appeared in the previos two calendar years, is possible becase of the generosity of William Scheide. This year s committee, which consisted of Mary Dalton Greer, Robin Leaver, and eanne Swack, awarded the prize to Tanya Kevorian for her book Baroqe Piety: Religion, Society, and Msic in Leipzig (Ashgate, 2007). The Society to Award William H. Scheide Research Grants The William H. Scheide Research Grant, a stipend ordinarily ranging from $500 to $4000, is awarded biennially to a member of the Society to spport a research project on Bach or figres in his circle. This grant is ordinarily available to Ph.D. candidates as well as those who have held the doctorate for no longer than seven years. Awards will normally go to citizens or permanent residents of the nited States or Canada. Applications shold inclde a research proposal of no more than three doble-spaced pages, along with a crriclm vitae and a bdget, all in English. The committee will favor proposals that inclde concrete statements of (1) the materials to be conslted (specific scores, books, instrments, etc.) if research in libraries or archives is proposed, and why it is necessary to examine them on-site; (2) a clear itinerary if travel is involved; and (3) the natre of the ltimate otcome of the research (book, article, edition, etc.). Grants will be awarded in odd-nmbered years, with applications de in the fall of the preceding year. To apply, please send the application materials reqested above and a bdget by 15 October 2008 to awards@americanbachsociety.org. Tanya Kevorkian is an associate professor of history at Millersville niversity (Millersville, PA). Her main research interests are the social history of msic and the social history of religion in Germany dring the Baroqe era. She is crrently working on her second book, The Social History of Msic in Germany dring the Baroqe Era. BACH NOTES Spring 2008

10 10 A Parting Message from Gregory Btler Society President, At the bsiness meeting in Bethlehem I gave my final address as president to the membership of the Society and I want to smmarize here the points I made for those who were not present. Dring the past for years, the exective has broght to completion (or very nearly) initiatives of the previos exective. The long overde revision of the constittion and by-laws of the Society have been carried ot and the membership will receive a copy in de corse. The Society has been reincorporated in the state of Ohio with its address at the Riemenschneider Bach Institte in Berea, the home of its archives. In addition the format of the revamped newsletter of the Society, Bach Notes, has been extended and enhanced so that nder the editorship of Reggie Sanders it is now one of the finest of its kind anywhere. When I came into office my priority was the yearbook of the Society, Bach Perspectives, and I set as my goal the pblication of volmes and 7 by As volme editor of both volmes and with the hard work of the staff of the niversity of Illinois Press led by William Regier, I achieved that goal. In order to assre the timely pblication of Bach Perspectives and act as liaison with the press, dring the pblication of volme 7 George Staffer was elected to the newly-created exective position of general editor. In addition, a gift of $25,000 from an anonymos donor allowed s to set p a pblications fnd that has pt the prodction of Bach Perspectives on a more stable financial footing. More recently we have received a generos gift of $100,000 from another anonymos donor to be invested as an endowment allowing s to reach ot to the pblic and fnd Bach-related edcational projects. Dring my tenre as president the Society held two notable biennial conferences. The first, in 200, took place in Leipzig with the Bach Archiv Leipzig taking care of local arrangements. This, the first conference of the Society held otside of the nited States, with Crossing Borders as a most fitting focs, was an nqalified sccess and served to establish or presence internationally while at the same time strengthening or relationship with Bach scholars and scholarly instittions in Germany. The second meeting, this spring in Bethlehem (where the Society first met), was a going back to or roots meeting with Bach and the Oratorio Tradition as its sbject, again a most fitting one in light of the presence of The Bethlehem Bach Choir, whose director, Greg Fnfgeld, and his staff welcomed s. The Society faces important challenges. Most important perhaps is the overhal of or website to bring it into line with those of other scholarly societies and make it a vital sorce of commnication and research for those interested in Bach, and for the wider pblic thirsty for knowledge. At the same time we mst bild on or base and attract new members who will sstain the Society and carry on its mission. I wish to thank my exective, Mary Dalton Greer, Matthew Dirst, and George Staffer for their hard work and spport. My thanks go as well to the members of the Advisory Board and Editorial Board. No. 9 BACH NOTES

11 11 Newly-Elected Officers of the Society Mary Dalton Greer, president, is active as a msicologist and condctor. She is the artistic director of both Cantatas in Context, a Bach cantata series she fonded in collaboration with the Orchestra of St. Lke s in New York City, and The Bach Experience, a joint prodction with the Handel and Haydn Society in Boston. She has held faclty positions at Yale niversity and Montclair State niversity (N) and her pblications inclde From the Hose of Aaron to the Hose of ohann Sebastian: Old Testament Roots for the Bach Family Tree in Abot Bach (niv. of Illinois Press, 2008), Embracing Faith: The Det as Metaphor in Selected Sacred Cantatas by. S. Bach, and a stdy of nineteenth-centry performances of Bach s msic in New York City, which appeared in Bach Perspectives 5. She is crrently writing a book on the annotations in. S. Bach s personal copy of the Calov Bible commentary. For the Society, Greer edited the Newsletter from 199 to 2000, served as secretary-treasrer from 2001 to 2004, and as vice president from 2004 to Lynn Edwards Btler, vice-president, is an organist specializing in the msic of the North German Baroqe and. S. Bach. Her recording Festival Chorales of.s. Bach appears on the Loft Recordings label. Btler is also active as an organologist and her articles on Bach s organ msic and Central German organ bilding have appeared in Festschrifts honoring Barbara Owen, Harald Vogel, and Peter Williams, and in BACH: ornal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institte, the Organ Yearbook, and the Bach-ahrbch (forthcoming). She Mark Peters, secretary-treasrer, earned his Ph.D. in historical msicology at the niversity of Pittsbrgh in 2003 with a dissertation on Mariane von Ziegler s sacred cantata texts and their settings by. S. Bach. He has presented conference papers on Bach, Ziegler, and ohannes Brahms, and his pblications inclde the monograph A Woman s Voice in Baroqe Msic: Mariane von Ziegler and. S. Bach (Ashgate, 2008) and articles in BACH: ornal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institte. In 200 he is co-fonder of the Westfield Center, a non-profit organization recognized internationally for its advocacy on behalf of classical keyboard instrments organ, harpsichord, clavichord, fortepiano and for otstanding workshops and symposia, pblications, and international tors to historic instrments. Btler served as director of the Center from 1979 to was the recipient of the Society s William H. Scheide Prize and he is crrently associate professor of msic at Trinity Christian College (Palos Heights, IL). BACH NOTES Spring 2008

12 12 News From Members Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity capped its 40th season with Bach SommerFest NYC, Bach on Central Park (ly 17-20), featring Cantor Georg Christoph Biller of St. Thomas Chrch, Leipzig, and noted Bach scholar Michael Marissen of Swarthmore College. The series featred workshops in performance, lectres by Biller and Marissen, open rehearsals condcted by Biller, as well as worship services rendered as they wold have been in Bach s day. Bach s annotated copy of the Calov Bible commentary was also on display in connection with an exhibit at the American Bible Society on Martin Lther and the Bible of the Reformation. Dring its 40th season Bach Vespers, nder the artistic direction of Cantor Rick Erickson, presented twenty-for Vespers that inclded fifteen Bach cantatas, all the motets, the Magnificat, BWV 243a, the Easter Oratorio, BWV 249, and two performances of the St. Matthew Passion. For more information, visit Richard Benedm, professor emerits, niversity of Dayton (OH), will present his paper What did Bach learn from Bxtehde? at the College Msic Society Conference in Atlanta in Fall As contribtions to Carl Philipp Emanel Bach: The Complete Works, Darrell Berg recently edited two parts of a volme containing keyboard sonatas by Bach that he pblished in anthologies dring his lifetime (Series I, 5.1 and 5.2: Sonatas Pblished Individally), and as part of the same project she will edit a volme of Bach s Lieder (Series VI/1.1: Gellert Lieder and Anhang to the Gellert Lieder). Berg has also been bsy serving as translator and annotator of a bilingal edition of the letters of Christian Gottfried Krase, athor of Von der msikalischen Poesie (1752) and co-editor with Karl Wilhelm Ramler of Oden mit Melodien (1753, 1755). The monograph, to be pblished by Ashgate, will be entitled The Correspondence of Christian Gottfried Krase: A Msic Lover in the Age of Sensibility. The Loisville Bach Society, now in its 45th season and condcted by fonder Melvin Dickinson, held the First Annal Gerhard Herz Yong Artists Competition in Vocal Performance on May 17. The prize money, which totaled $7,000, was awarded to Angela Smcker, first place, Evan Boyer, second place, and Colleen Hghes, third place. For information on the pcoming season, which begins Agst 24 with a special concert and commences with the sbscription series on October 12, visit loisvillebachsociety.org. In May Matthew Dirst condcted a performance of Bach s seclar cantata Der Streit zwischen Phoebs and Pan, BWV 201, at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts in Hoston. The program, which conclded the Ars Lyrica Hoston season, was entitled Delling Divas and inclded Händel s dramatic cantata Il dello amoroso, HWV 82, pls the first local performance of Bach s Second Brandenbrg Concerto on period instrments, featring Nathanial Mayfield on Baroqe trmpet. For more information, visit Raymond Erickson has been bsy enlightening adiences on two of Bach s masterpieces. In March he lectred on the St. ohn Passion at the 71st Whittier College Bach Festival in California, and in ne, nder the sponsorship of Early Msic America, he lectred on the Ciaccona from the Partita for Solo Violin, BWV 1004, at the National Performing Arts Convention in Denver, where he was assisted by violinist Ellie Kang. Qentin Falkner s book The Registration of.s. Bach s Organ Works was recently pblished by Wayne Lepold Editions, Inc. Falkner and Mary Mrrell Falkner will be bsy from October throgh 17 leading a tor, Bach s Organ World, in which participants will have the opportnity to visit, hear, and play central German organs of particlar significance. For more information visit www. concept-tors.com The Salisbry Bach and Handel Festival, nder the direction of Dale Higbee, begins its 21 st season with a concert on October 10 of Bach cantatas inclding As der Tiefen rfe ich, Herr, z dir, BWV 131, and Nn komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 1. For more information, visit an-piet Knijff read a paper entitled Bach s Prelde in E- flat Major (BWV 552 I): Analysis, Performance, Teaching at the Tenth Conference of the Dtch-Flemish Society for Msic Theory in March in Maastricht. This paper is forthcoming in the Dtch ornal of Msic Theory. And in ne the American Gild of Organists named Knijff a Fellow, the highest level of the Gild s professional certification program. In the process of attaining this stats, Knijff won the FAGO Prize for the highest overall score on the Fellowship exam, as well as the S. Lewis Elmer Award for the highest overall score on any of the pper-level exams. Mark Peters took his expertise to Soth America in ne, lectring in Ecador on Bach s cantatas within the context of the Leipzig litrgy. His particlar focs was Bach and the feast of St. ohn the Baptist (BWV 17). Msic for a Mixed Taste: Style, Genre, and Meaning in Telemann s Instrmental Works is the title of Steven Zohn s book recently pblished by Oxford niversity Press. In September, Zohn will perform works by C.P.E. Bach for flte and keyboard with David Yearsley, fortepiano, at Cornell niversity and Temple niversity. No. 9 BACH NOTES

13 13 The American Bach Society s 15 th Biennial Meeting, Bach and the Oratorio Tradition, was held May 8-11, 2008, at Lehigh niversity in Bethlehem, PA The varied program inclded a keynote address, for paper sessions, a rondtable discssion, performances and lectres offered as part of the 101 st Bethlehem Bach Festival, an excrsion to the harpsichord workshop of Willard Martin, as well as plenty of opportnities to visit with colleages at the coffee breaks, receptions, and lncheon. The complete conference program may be fond in Bach Notes, no. 8, Fall 07. A highlight of every American Bach Society conference is the keynote address, and 2008 was no exception. As part of his ongoing stdy of strctral procedres in the Passion msic of.s. Bach, Don Franklin extended his stdy of Bach s se of Acts strctre to the libretto of the Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248. (Acts strctre is an organization of a libretto that corresponds to Ltheranism s traditional division of the Passion story into six acts or events.) Franklin was convincing in his demonstration of how fndamental this approach was for Bach and his librettist. Kerala Snyder started the first session off by linking Bach s five-part Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248, to Bxtehde s tradition in Lübeck of presenting an oratorio on five afternoons. Daniel Melamed discssed Bach s enconters with the so-called Brockes-Passion text, which he sees as the most significant textal inflence on Bach s passion repertory. Stephen Crist looked careflly at Bach s se of the biblical text in his St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244, and explicated ways in which Bach s niqe division or sb-division of the text allowed for some of Bach s most profond msical tterances. Mark Peters conclded the session by examining textal and msical featres of Meine Seel erhebt den Herren, BWV 10, a cantata based on a chorale melody bt whose libretto is based on prose biblical text. In the second session, David Schlenberg proposed applying the term throgh-composed da capo form to what have traditionally been called modified da capo arias (Stephen Crist offered a rebttal), and Marks Rathey looked at the strctral and dramatic fnction of Bach s large-scale chorale movements that also inclde biblical or madrigal poetry, observing that the chorale serves as a trops for the other text. In other sessions, Tanya Kevorkian reported on her traversal of ohann Adam Hiller s Wöchentliche Nachrichten (pblished 17-70) for echoes of.s. Bach s Leipzig ; effrey Sposato discssed Mendelssohn s Pals and Elias (Elijah) oratorios and the ways in which Mendelssohn adjsted his approach in order to make the genre more comprehensible to his English pblic; Rth Tatlow explicated her recent work on Bach s parallel proportions as illstrated in the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV , the so-called Leipzig Organ Chorales, BWV 51-8, and the Msical Offering, BWV 1079; and Szymon Paczkowski nlocked the hidden allsions and metaphors embedded in the libretto of Tönet, ihr Paken Erschallet, Trompeten, BWV 214. The abstracts to all the papers are provided in the following pages. Interspersed throghot the conference were concerts presented nder the aspices of the Bethlehem Bach Festival. nder the leadership of Greg Fnfgeld, artistic director and condctor, the 100-member volnteer choir and festival orchestra presented an Dismas Zelenka s Miserere as well as O es Christ, meins Lebens Licht (BWV 118), the Traer Ode (BWV 198), Wer mich liebet, der wird mein Wort halten (BWV 74), the Ascension Oratorio (BWV 11), and the Mass in B Minor (BWV 232). The Festival also presented solo concerts by violinist Simon Standage (in the historic Saal of the Moravian Msem) and gitarist Eliot Fisk, as well as a lectre for the general pblic by Christoph Wolff, who answered in the affirmative the long-debated qestion Are Bach s Oratorios Sacred Operas?. Thanks to all the participants and to the program committee Mary Dalton Greer, Mel nger, and Greg Fnfgeld (who also served as local arrangements chair) for a stimlating meeting, and to Fnfgeld and Exective Director Bridget George of The Bethlehem Bach Choir for so many enjoyable performances. Lynn Edwards Btler BACH NOTES Spring 2008

14 14 Paper Abstracts from the 15 th BIENNIAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN BACH SOCIETY BACH AND THE ORATORIO TRADITION May 8-11, 2008, Lehigh niversity, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Oratorio on Five Afternoons: From the Lübeck Abendmsiken to Bach s Christmas Oratorio Kerala. Snyder (niversity of Rochester/Eastman School of Msic) ohann Sebastian Bach timed his trip to Lübeck in the fall and winter of 1705 to coincide with the Abendmsik season, when Dieterich Bxtehde normally prodced an oratorio in five parts, performed on the afternoons of the last two Sndays of Trinity and the second, third, and forth Sndays of Advent. We do not know whether he presented his ordinary series that year, bt Bach was certainly present for two extraordinary concerts on December 2 and 3, for which we have the librettos, in which Bxtehde presented two ceremonial oratorios, Castrm doloris, commemorating the recent death of the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, and Templm honoris, honoring his sccessor, oseph I. The one other extant libretto, Die Hochzeit des Lamms, from 178, represents his more typical dramatic Abendmsik based on a biblical story, in this case the parable of the wise and foolish virgins reconted in Matthew 15:1-13. Althogh the msic for all Bxtehde s known Abendmsiken is lost, it is possible to extract examples from his extant vocal msic to illstrate the msical components of his Abendmsiken and to show that in many cases they reflect his familiarity with the Hambrg opera, which opened in 178. In a similar manner, Bach s Christmas Oratorio, in which he drew pon works entitled dramma per msica, reflects his growing interest dring the early 1730s in the electoral cort at Dresden and the opera there. And he employed many of the same msical components that Bxtehde had, inclding the aria, the love det, chorale settings intermingled with arioso, and the se of trmpets in connection with the nobility. The msical style has of corse been pdated, bt Bach s presentation of a dramatic oratorio stretching over six separate days dring the Christmas season may have its roots in his experience of Bxtehde s Lübeck Abendmsiken twenty-nine years earlier. ohann Sebastian Bach and Barthold Heinrich Brockes Daniel R. Melamed (Indiana niversity) Barthold Heinrich Brockes s Der für die Sünden der Welt gemarterte nd sterbende ess (the Brockes-Passion ) was the sorce of many free texts in the St. ohn Passion, BWV 245; was the model for the poetry on which Picander drew in compiling the libretto for the St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244; and formed the text of G.F. Händel s composition that Bach mined for his late 1740s performance of an anonymos St. Mark Passion. In fact, Brockes s text, a poetic oratorio, was probably the most significant textal inflence on Bach s Passion repertory even thogh the Leipzig litrgy admitted only Gospel settings. It is possible to view the 1724 St. ohn Passion as a kind of Brockes-Passion adapted to the biblical oratorio tradition, particlarly becase the work draws on the poetry at many of the most important points in the narrative. The St. Matthew Passion finds frther ways to incorporate featres of the Brockes model into a biblical oratorio. And Bach s pastiching of the anonymos St. Mark Passion (sing Händel s msic) can be seen as fndamentally a presentation of Brockes s texts. In light of Bach s apparently close connections to Hambrg (evident not least in his se in BWV 245 of Passion poetry possibly by Christian Heinrich Postel) it is worth asking what he knew of settings of Brockes s text by other composers, particlarly becase he was acqainted with at least two Keiser and Telemann who set it there. Mch of Keiser s msic was available in a widely circlated print, and it has been demonstrated that Bach had access to two distinct sorces of Händel s work. Overall, it appears Bach took a particlar interest in Brockes s Passion poetry and that to examine his enconters with it is to get to the root of his composition of Passion msic. No. 9 BACH NOTES

15 15 The Narrative Strctre of. S. Bach s St. Matthew Passion Stephen A. Crist (Emory niversity) The libretto of. S. Bach s St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244, incldes material from three sorces: the Bible, Ltheran chorales of the sixteenth and seventeenth centries, and poetry by the Leipzig poet known as Picander. Its backbone is the narrative of ess Passion from the Gospel of Matthew. All seventy-five verses of chapter 2, and all sixty-six verses of chapter 27 a total of 141 verses are set to msic in Bach s composition. This long passage of Scriptre is not presented withot interrption, however, as it had been in some of the earlier St. Matthew Passions, sch as those by Vlpis or Schütz in the seventeenth centry. Rather, the narrative is pnctated at varios points by stanzas from chorales, and by msical settings of Picander s poetry (mostly recitatives and arias, and the occasional chors). These movements serve as moments of reflection, which emphasize certain events in the biblical narrative. This paper considers the precise placement of the reflective movements in Bach s Passion, as well as their meaning. Bach s approach shares some featres in common with other seventeenth- and eighteenth-centry settings of this biblical text by composers sch as Sebastiani, Flor, Fncke, Theile, Kühnhasen, Meder, Clajs, Gerstenbüttel, and Brans. What is srprising, however, is the extent to which Bach and his librettist prsed nsal ways of sbdividing the text. By sometimes going against the grain of the narrative, Bach s setting emphasizes moments and develops ideas that are glossed over in other St. Matthew Passions. These novel approaches to the sbdivision of the biblical text, in trn, paved the way for some of Bach s most profond msical tterances. Considerations of Genre in. S. Bach s BWV 10, Meine Seel erhebt den Herren Mark A. Peters (Trinity Christian College) In The Cantatas of. S. Bach, Alfred Dürr describes the niqe natre of BWV 10, Meine Seel erhebt den Herren, ths: It is not based on a Protestant hymn, and yet if ever a work deserved the description chorale cantata it is this, for it is based on a genine (Gregorian) chorale melody, that of the ninth psalm-tone (p. 78). Indeed, it is dif- ficlt to know how to consider BWV 10: it is one of the best known of Bach s chorale cantatas, bt one whose text is based not on a chorale bt a canticle and whose msic is related not only to Bach s chorale settings bt also to his settings of biblical qotation in his non-chorale-based cantatas and to his Latin Magnificat, BWV 243. This paper arges that an exploration of BWV 10 from these varios perspectives reveals new insights into the work s textal and msical featres. The paper begins with an overview of Bach s treatment of biblical qotation and strict paraphrase in the chorale cantatas. While only one movement otside of BWV 10 contains strict biblical qotation, BWV 7/5, several other cantatas are based on chorales of Martin Lther that are themselves strict paraphrases of biblical texts, both Psalms (BWV 2, 38, 14) and canticles (BWV 10, 125). The paper then examines the niqe textal natre of BWV 10, particlarly as it relates to the srronding chorale cantatas. Not only is BWV 10 based on prose biblical text rather than a chorale, bt it incldes only biblical qotation and strict paraphrase (together with a final doxology), with none of the reflective movements common in the cantata libretti set by Bach. The paper concldes with a consideration of the msical significance of Bach s setting of the Magnificat text and the paraphrases thereof in BWV 10, particlarly in relation to his treatment of biblical qotation in the cantatas of the first ahrgang and to his other psalmtone settings, BWV 83/2 and 243/10. Modifying the Da Capo? Throgh-Composed Arias in Vocal Works by Bach and Other Composers David Schlenberg (Wagner College, New York) The expression modified da capo aria refers to arias in which the first A section ends in the dominant and the second A section is written ot in modified form so as to end in the tonic. It seems not to be generally known among Bach scholars that the same term occrs in writings abot Händel s msic to describe a type of aria that appears, at least sperficially, to be similar. Håndel prodced several sch arias by literally modifying what was originally a conventional da capo form. In O sacred oracles from Belshazzar and Rejoice greatly from Messiah, Händel deleted the da capo and moved the B section from its sal place after the A section to the center of the A section. In both cases the original A BACH NOTES Spring 2008

16 1 section comprised two complete statements of the text, the first ending in the dominant. Händel s modification yielded a form identical to Bach s modified da capo aria; in particlar, as Stephen Crist has noted, the first A section in Bach s modified da capo forms typically states its text only once, as with Händel. Yet Händel employed the procedre only in a few late works; Bach wrote sch arias throghot his career. Händel s modifications have been explained as abbreviations of a form that had grown excessively lengthy; no sch intent is evident with Bach. Bach s reglar se of the form sggests that for him it was one of several eqally normative aria designs (whether or not derived from similar forms in older works by Scarlatti and Pallavicino). For this reason, and becase there is no evidence sch arias arose as actal modifications of existing ones, I propose the alternate term throgh-composed da capo form. To reconsider why Bach cltivated this form, the paper examines instances in his oratorios and serenatas, dramatic works in which se of the form was theoretically sbject to the same considerations that occrred to Händel. Chorale-Trops and Dramatic Coherence in Bach s Oratorios Marks Rathey (Yale niversity) Hymn settings are an integral part of ohann Sebastian Bach s oratorios, as they were in the oratorios of his predecessors in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centries. The majority of the hymn settings are simple forpart settings with the melody in the pper voice. In the narrative framework of the oratorios the settings mostly represent the perspective of the congregation. The simple textre of the settings nderscores the identification with the congregation and congregational singing (even thogh the hymns in Bach s oratorios were probably not sng by the actal congregation). Bach s oratorios contain only a small nmber of largerscaled, more elaborate hymn settings. Expanded for-part settings with instrmental pre- and interldes, for instance, appear in the Christmas Oratorio, and the second version of the St. ohn Passion from 1725 is framed by two largescale chorale settings, the first of which was later integrated into the St. Matthew Passion (173). All of these largerscaled chorale settings stand ot in the narrative flow of the oratorios, freqently marking the beginning and end of a section. A closer integration between the narrative of the oratorio and the chorale can be observed in those movements in which Bach combines biblical or madrigal poetry with a chorale and where the chorale serves as a trops for the other text. Both Passions and the Christmas Oratorio contain several movements of this type. This paper will explore the compositional techniqes employed in these tropsmovements (in the context of Bach s chorale tropses in general) and the dramatic fnction of these movements in the narrative of the specific oratorio. Thematic Transformation and the Design of Bach s D-Minor Ciaccona, BWV 1004/5 Fred Fehleisen (Mannes College The New School for Msic and The illiard School) Althogh Helge Thoene s widely poplarized secret codes theory abot the D-minor Ciaccona has largely been rejected, many qestions still remain nanswered concerning the work s msical langage and the larger levels of design that articlate its strctre. Rather than being a piece driven by hidden chorale phrases and encoded nmbers, the msical langage and design of the Ciaccona are articlated by what appears to be an nfolding process of thematic transformation that is both affective and rhetorical. This process which concerns interactions between the varios forms of the bass line and thematic material fond in the middle-grond of the pper voices gives rise to larger nits of design that sometimes span two or more statements of the bass. In addition, this process leads to the articlation of larger formal symmetries that sggest Bach may have intended the Ciaccona to be an abstract msical argment an argment that has no actal extra-msical sbtext bt may possess certain affective and rhetorical qalities that make it fit for se in certain extra-msical sitations, inclding litrgical ones. onathan Miller s Prodction of the St. Matthew Passion and the Limits of Representation Benjamin Binder (Lawrence niversity) The promotional materials for onathan Miller s 1994 staging of the St. Matthew Passion claimed that Miller peels away the passive performance traditions of [the work], allowing s to confront the emotion and hmanity No. 9 BACH NOTES

17 17 at the heart of [the] Passion. Bt as anyone who has been persaded by Daniel Melamed s Hearing Bach s Passions will recognize, an active performance approach actally takes s frther away from the work s original conditions. As Melamed asserts, it is the setting, not the performers, [that told] the story in Bach s Passions. As with Italian oratorio of the early eighteenth centry and Händel s English oratorios, Bach s Passions employ prely msical resorces to stage a drama in the mind s eye of the listener. Moreover, Bach s congregation wold not have seen the performers at all. Today, of corse, the performers of a Bach Passion are virtally always in fll view of the adience, and all roles are assigned to individal singers to satisfy or need for dramatic consistency. As a reslt, Bach s msic is mch less likely to inspire the kind of reflection pon and identification with the Passion narrative that an eighteenth-centry congregation might have experienced. Miller s soltion is to indlge the habits of or visal cltre, often making explicit what the msic of the oratorio wold have implied to its eighteenth-centry hearers. Bt it does so in a particlar way, inviting the adience to become more immediately and personally involved in the sbjective moments of the Passion when they might otherwise have simply observed a performance. Singers and instrmentalists are gathered in the rond and wear casal clothing, indistingishable from the adience that encircles them. Starting from this basic premise, and withot trampling on the inherent vales of Bach s original (with one telling exception), Miller s prodction attempts to draw its adience members into their own rminative experience of the Passion in a modern analoge to an eighteenth-centry msical and spirital experience we can never recover. nfortnately, Mr. Binder was nable to deliver this paper de to illness. Many thanks to Howard Cox and Robin Leaver for sbstitting on short notice and presenting on Bach s annotations in his copy of the Calov Bible commentary. Echoes of. S. Bach s Leipzig in ohann Adam Hiller s Wöchentliche Nachrichten nd Anmerkngen die Msik betreffend Tanya Kevorkian (Millersville niversity) Last smmer I had the pleasre of reading throgh ohann Adam Hiller s Wöchentliche Nachrichten. This ornal, pblished weekly in Leipzig from 17 to 1770, incldes nmeros specific references to. S. Bach that are reprodced in Bach Dokmente, vol. III. Beyond these references, thogh, is mch more material that gives insight into broader continities and shifts from high-baroqe Leipzig msical cltre to the post Seven Years War era. The ornal both docmented and was part of a time of major transition. Continities inclde many references to old hymns and their settings for organ, along with discssions of new hymns. There are even sefl descriptions of congregational singing practice that can be applied to the pre-1750 era. Hiller described pre-1750 seclar vocal performances in Leipzig in a tone similar to that of his reviews of contemporary concerts. Particlarly with reference to sacred msic, thogh, there was more change than continity. While Hiller and other contribting writers praised the cantatas of. S. Bach and his contemporaries, Hiller noted that taste in [cantata] poetry has changed a lot since that time. 1as By 179 he stated otright that in many places, cantatas freqently awaken the most negative feelings of boredom, des Ekels, or even anger. 2 One rnning theme of the ornal was the search for a new style of chrch msic, and yonger composers sch as Doles, C. P. E. Bach, and Homilis were praised. Frther, the blk of the ornal, increasingly so with each volme, was devoted to seclar msic, with opera and figres sch as Haydn, Rossea, and Benjamin Franklin and his glass harmonica highlighted. 1 Wöchentliche Nachrichten 1, no. 51 (15 ne 177): Wöchentliche Nachrichten 3, Anhang, no. 17 (October ): 134. Mendelssohn s Oratorios and the Bach Tradition effrey S. Sposato (niversity of Hoston) Even as Felix Mendelssohn rshed to complete his first oratorio, Pals, in time for its May 183 premiere in Düsseldorf, he was already making arrangements with Simrock for its pblication. Bt while dissemination in Germany was assmed, Mendelssohn hesitated to make the work available in England. Encoraged by German enthsiasm over the newly revived St. Matthew Passion (a work that tapped into familiar Ltheran litrgical traditions), Mendelssohn had modeled Pals after Bach s masterwork by incorporating chorales and reflective arias. Indeed, so central was the Passion model to the constrction of Pals that Mendelssohn may have feared that the BACH NOTES Spring 2008

18 18 work wold be inaccessible in England, a contry where the Bach revival had not yet taken hold. The German Pals premiere was a trimph, and demand for the work in England soon became too great to ignore. Despite the hastily-written English translation, St. Pal was likewise a tremendos sccess, reslting in lavish praise in the poplar press. Nonetheless, even these glowing reviews reveal that, as Mendelssohn had perhaps anticipated, St. Pal was a work the English pblic did not flly nderstand. In particlar, those elements that derived from the Bach Passion tradition (sch as chorales) were often described as foreign (albeit beatifl), or were wrongly attribted to the dramatic narrative. In composing his next oratorio, Elias (Elijah), Mendelssohn took to heart German and English reactions to Pals by creating a work that both adiences cold appreciate and nderstand. Since German excitement regarding Pals stemmed in part from its Bachian (and therefore Ltheran) overtones, Mendelssohn endeavored to retain sch elements in Elias. In deference to his English pblic, however, he disgised these elements in a manner that made the work comprehensible to those nfamiliar with the Bach tradition. Sond-Encoded Politics:. S. Bach s Cantata Tönet, ihr Paken Erschallet Trompeten (BWV 214) Szymon Paczkowski (Institte of Msicology, Warsaw niversity) In Tönet, ihr Paken Erschallet Trompeten (BWV 214), Bach set to msic a libretto by an nknown poet in order to celebrate the birthday on 8 December 1733 of Maria osepha, Qeen of Poland, Electress of Saxony, and wife of Agst III. In Bach scholarship this occasional piece has mainly been considered from the viewpoint of its sbseqent parody in the Weihnachts-Oratorim. In his monograph on Bach s cantatas, Alfred Dürr goes so far as to sggest that, despite its sbtitle, dramma per msica, dramatic action is absent from the piece. In his reading, the only action involves for goddesses, distribted among the for vocal parts Bellona, the goddess of war (soprano); Pallas, the goddess of the mses and scholarship (alto); Irene, the goddess of peace (tenor), and Fama, the goddess of fame (bass) who praise the qeen for accomplishments in their respective domains. To Dürr, in fact, it is a comment on the magnificence of Bach s msic that his ftre Weihnachts-Oratorim can already be heard despite the disproportionately trifling character of the original libretto. 1s 1 s Dürr s appraisal is srprising in its sperficiality. After all, the splendid msic of Tönet, ihr Paken Erschallet Trompeten cold not have been sbseqently adapted for the prposes of a religios piece had it not been for some kind of match between the oratorio text and the spposedly trifling lines of the cantata not only in terms of poetic meter or rhythms, bt more importantly of affect. Contrary to received opinion, there is a great deal more hidden meaning in the libretto of BWV 214 than its critics have been willing to concede. The text carries certain allsions and metaphors that, once properly nlocked, make it possible to recognize a latent political program and better nderstand the sond code that Bach chose to employ in this piece. The political program wold have been virtally nrecognizable to anyone except members of the original 1733 Saxon adience, and it wold seem that the libretto, no less than the magnificent msic, pays a skillfl tribte to the contemporary propagandist project of the Dresden cort dring a period in which the War of Polish Sccession was being foght in Erope. This paper seeks to analyze the political circmstances srronding the cantata s composition and to highlight their relevance to its interpretation. 1 Alfred Dürr, Die Kantaten von ohann Sebastian Bach (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1985), 90. Bach s parallel proportions and their implications, illstrated by the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, the Leipzig Organ Chorales, and the Msical Offering Rth Tatlow (Stockholm niversity) Proportional parallelism is a newly-formlated term that describes a nmerical characteristic present in every collection or mlti-movement work that ohann Sebastian Bach pblished or copied in fair hand. When preparing a collection for pblication Bach freqently added a few bars or a new movement to a previosly-composed collection that wold otherwise have been considered polished. These changes often lack a msical explanation and are a perennial pzzle for the editor. Proportional parallelism provides a new explanation for these changes: Bach maniplated the nmber of bars in order to create perfect proportions at several levels across and within a collection. No. 9 BACH NOTES

19 19 Knowing the nmber of bars was essential for the copyist, engraver, and composer in Bach s time to ensre accracy and economy of layot on valable paper. Knowing the nmber of bars was also a sefl, albeit blnt, tool with which the composer cold assess the dration of a movement or a work, as Michael Praetoris (119) and Lorenz Mizler (1754) testify. The cmlative bar totals Bach occasionally wrote at the end of pages and movements in his manscripts show that he knew how many bars he composed and that he cold have sed the bar as a means to create perfect proportions if he so wished. The theory of proportional parallelism has nothing to do with the over-interpretation and historical flaws that are all too freqently a characteristic of so-called nmerology in Bach stdies. At every stage of its formlation, the theory has been based on docmentary evidence, and the startling reslts are valid for all of Bach s collections. Principles from the theory can be sed to demonstrate if and at which point a mlti-movement work received its final revision, and can also aid in reconstrcting the order in which Bach pieced together a collection. This paper will describe the new theory in fll, sing as examples the Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin (BWV ), the Leipzig Organ Chorales (BWV 51-8) and the Msical Offering (BWV 1079). CARL PHILIPP EMANEL BACH The Complete Works RECENTLY PBLISHED VOLMES Organ Works Edited by Annette Richards and David Yearsley Berlin Symphonies Edited by Ekkehard Krüger and Tobias Schwinger Violoncello Concertos Edited by Robert Nosow Keyboard Concertos from Manscript Sorces XIV Edited by Arnfried Edler Passion according to St. Matthew (179) Edited by lrich Leisinger For a complete list of available and forthcoming volmes, visit Bach Vocal Competition for Yong American Singers osha Copeland, First Prize osha Copeland, baritone, was awarded first prize in the Fifth Biennial Bach Vocal Competition for Yong American Singers, co-sponsored by the American Bach Society and The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, PA. The prize incldes a career development grant of $3,000, and as the winner Copeland will be featred at the Bethlehem Bach Festival, May 1-2 and 7-9, Honorable mention and a cash award of $500 were awarded to Matthew Anderson, tenor, from Massachsetts, a gradate of Harvard niversity and the New England Conservatory of Msic in Boston. Copeland, a native of Tennessee, received his bachelor of msic from Frman niversity (SC) and his master of msic from Yale niversity, where he was a stdent of ames Taylor as well as Richard Cross in the Yale Opera Program. Copeland was the second-place finalist in the American Bach Soloists International Yong Artist Competition in ne 200 and a finalist in the Oratorio Society of New York Lyndon Woodside Competition in He has appeared as soloist in the Brahms Reqiem with the Hendersonville (NC) Symphony Orchestra and Miamiʼs Seraphic Fire; in the Drflé Reqiem with the Yale Institte of Sacred Msic; in Bach cantatas with Yale Schola Cantorm and Helmth Rilling, in the St. ohn Passion with Belle Meade Baroqe, and in the Christmas Oratorio with the American Bach Soloists. Recent performances also inclde a recital of songs by Charles Ives in Weill Hall and the roles of Falke in Die Fledermas and Ramiro in Ravelʼs LʼHere Espagnole with Yale Opera. Ten finalists were selected from more than sixty applicants (30 years of age or yonger) by David Gordon, edcation director, vocal coordinator and master class director of the Carmel Bach Festival. The finals were jdged by Greg Fnfgeld, artistic director and condctor of The Bach Choir of Bethlehem; Mary Dalton Greer, newly elected president of the American Bach Society; Melvin nger, director of the Reimenschneider Bach Institte; and Kendra Colton and Rosa Lamoreax, soprano soloists at the 101st Bethlehem Bach Festival. BACH NOTES Spring 2008