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Constructing Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703)Author(s): Daniel R. MelamedSource: Music & Letters, Vol. 80, No. 3 (Aug., 1999), pp. 345-365Published by: Oxford University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/855027.
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Oxford
University
Press
CONSTRUCTING
JOHANN
CHRISTOPH
BACH
(1642-1703)
BY
DANIEL
R.
MELAMED
A
FAVOURITE
mage
in music
history
is
the Bach
family
as a
dynasty,
a
long
line
of
professional
musicians
stretching
from
Johann
Sebastian's
distinguished
ancestors
to
his
musically prominent
descendants.In the late
1980s,
a
New York
telephone
utility
could
assume that
concertgoers
knew
this,
if
nothing
else,
about the
Bachs in
promoting
its
'family'
of
companies.'
The
scholarly
literature also
approaches
the
Bachs as a clan: witness the Jew GroveBach
Family,
books on the Bachs
by
the
Geiringers
and
by
Young,
and a
recent
genealogy listing
more
than
one
thousand
Bachs.2
The modem
image
is even
more
specific,
regarding
he
Bachs
not
just
as
a
family
of
musicians
but of
composers;
this view
is
reflected
n the
many
anthologies
and
recordings
devotedto
compositions by
representatives
f various
generations.3
The
perspective
of the Bachs as
composers
has roots
in the
eighteenth
century-
certainly
with Carl
Philipp
Emanuel
Bach and
even
with
Johann
Sebastian-and
has
had a
consequence
for the
treatmentof
the
family by
later
historians.
With
a
premium
on
composition,
there has
been a
special
urgency
o
the
attributionof
musical
works o
Bachs,
particularly
o
older
members of
the
family,
even
when candidate
pieces
are
anonymousor are
ambiguously
ascribed.
No older Bach
has been
more
subject
to
attributional
pressure
than
the
man
J.
S.
Bach describedas a
'profound
composer',
Johann
Christoph
Bach
(1642-1703),
son of
Heinrich
Bach,
brother
of
Johann
Michael
(1648-1694),
and
longtime
church and
court
musician in
Eisenach.
This
Bach
has
developed
a
significant
reputation
as a
composer,
but it
rests on
surprisingly
ittle
evidence.
In
fact,
so
great
has
been
the
desire of
eighteenth-century
Bachs,
nineteenth-century
biographers
and
twentieth-
century
scholars to
identify
a
composer
among
the
older
members
of
the
family
that
they
have,
in
effect,
constructed
the
man
they
needed
in
Johann
Christoph.
A
close
look
suggests
that
many
compositions
have
oined
his
work-list
argely
on
the
strength
of his reputation,and thattheyreflecta desire fora
repertory
hatmatcheshis roleas a
great
composer
in
the
generation
before
Johann
Sebastian.
Johann
Christoph
does
occupy
an
important
place
in
the
Bach
family
of
musicians,
and
he
apparently
did
write
some
very good
pieces,
but
some
of his
legacy
as a
composer
may
be a
wishful
stretchingby
three
centuries
of
admirers.
One
reason so
much
attention has
been
paid
to
the
older
Bach
family, Johann
The
advertisement
or the
NYNEX
Corporation
reproduced
ostensible
facsimile
signatures
of
Bachs of
various
generations
with
the
headline
'Ingenuity
often
runs in a
family'.
2
Christoph
Wolffet
at,
The
New
Grove
ach
Family,
London &
Basingstoke,
1983;
Karl
Geiringer
&
Irene
Geiringer,
TheBach
Family:
Seven
Generations
f
Creative
enius,
London,
1954;
Percy
M.
Young,
The
Bachs,
1500-1850, London,1970;Hermann Kock,
Genealogisches
exikon erFamilie
Bach,
Wechmar,
1995.
3
For
example,
Music
of
the
Bach
Family,
d.
Karl
Geiringer,
Cambridge,
Mass., 1955;
Orgelwerke
er
Familie
Bach,
ed.
Diethard
Hellmann,
2nd
edn.,
Frankfurt,
985;
Die
Familie
Bach
vorJohann
Sebastian',
Archiv
419
253-2;
'Geistliche
Musik
der
Bach-Familie',
Laudate
91.511.
345
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Christoph
ncluded,
is that the
family
has
long
been
important
o
biographies
of
J.
S.
Bach.
Starting
with Carl
Philipp
Emanuel's
obituary
of his
father
(1754)
and
Johann
Nikolaus
Forkel's
study
(1802)
and
continuing
through Philipp
Spitta's biography
(published 1873-80)
and
beyond,
Bach
biographies
have
typically begun
by tracing
Johann
Sebastian's
ineage
and
implying,
if
not
suggesting
outright,
that
he
was the
productof his ancestry.They account for some ofJ. S. Bach'sabilitiesby his genesand
by
his
upbringing
in a
gifted
family.4
As is
well
known,
the
family's
own
concern with its
history
reached a
high point
in
J.
S.
Bach's
collection and
performance
of music
by
older
members of the
family
and
the
'Genealogy
of the musical Bach
family'
he
produced
in
1735.5This
genealogy,
which
begins
with Bachs
from
the
sixteenth
century,
identifies its
subjects by
occupation:
baker,
carpet
maker,
Stadtpfeiffer,
rganist,
cantor, Raths-Musicant,
tadt-
Musicus
nd so on. But for
just
two members
of the
family
J.
S. Bach used
the word
'composer',
describingJohann Christoph
Bach as 'ein
profonderComponist'
and
his
brother
Johann
Michael as
'ein
habiler
Componist'.
'Componist'was not an occupationor profession n the late seventeenthcentury.
J.
S. Bach's
use of the term reflects
pride
in an
accomplishment
of his
ancestors: he
production
of musical
works. But there was
more than
family
pride
involved,
because
the
writing
(and
later the
publication)
of
musical works
helped
define a
change
in roles
for
musicians.
Composition
was not
necessarily important
to
seventeenth-century
church
or civic
servants ike
town musicians
or
organists,
but became a
central
activity
of
eighteenth-century
Kapellmeisters,city
music
directorsand
independent
artists.
The
Bach
family
spans
this
change.
J.
S.
Bach's father
Johann
Ambrosius was a
town
and
court
musician;
Johann
Sebastianstarted
n this world and never
completely
escaped
it,
and his
eldest
son,
Wilhelm
Friedemann,
depended substantially
on it
throughouthis adultyears.CarlPhilippEmanuel,after eaving he Berlincourt,kepta
foot in
the old
world as
Hamburg
church
music director but also functioned
independently
as a
composer
and musical
entrepreneur.
Johann
Christian left
the
old world behind
in his career as a
composer
and
impresario.
Given
the
importance
of
composition
to
this social
advancement,
t
comes
as
little
surprise
that
in C. P. E. Bach's 1774/5 annotations to
the
family
genealogy,
he
reinforced
his father's
description
of
Johann
Christoph
Bach
as a
composer,
adding
'This is
the
great
and
expressivecomposer',
and
supplementing
Heinrich
Bach's
entry
with the
remark Was
a
good composer
and a
lively spirit'.6
Compositional
egacy
was
important
o
Philipp
Emanuel,
and he was
almost
certainly
aware
that his comments
would reacha larger public and posterity,forthey were addressedto J. N. Forkel,at
work
on his
biography
and critical
appreciation
of
J.
S. Bach.
This
was not the
only
occasion on which
C. P.
E. Bach
promoted
the
compositions
of his
ancestors.
Some
25
years
earlier,
he had
begun
the
obituary
of his father
with
a
discussion
of five
prominent
older members of the
family,
stressing
heir
compositional
4Mozart
and Beethoven
studies have also come
to
emphasize
the
composers'
amilies,
especially
their
professional-
musician
fathers. This reflects
a
tendency
towards Freudian
interpretation
of their
lives,
but
also an
inclination
to
explain
phenomenal
musical talent
by parentage.
5
On the
Altbachisches
rchiv,
ee Daniel R.
Melamed,
J.
S. Bach and
the
German
Motet
unpublished dissertation),
Harvard
University,
1989,
and Altbachisches
rchiv,
d.
Max Schneider
'Das
Erbe deutscher
Musik',
i-ii), Leipzig,
1935.
J.
S. Bach's
genealogy
is
the
'Ursprung
der
musicalisch-Bachischen
amilie',
transcr. n
Bach-Dokumente,
d.
Werner
Neumann
&
Hans-JoachimSchulze,
Kassel
&
Leipzig,1963-72, i/184,
with
additional
notes in iii.
647;Eng.
trans. n
The
New
Bach
Reader,
d.
Hans
T.
David
& Arthur
Mendel,
rev. &
enlargedby
Christoph
Wolff,
New York &
London,
1998,
pp.
283-94.
6
'Dies
ist
der
groBe
und
ausdriickende
Componist';
War
ein
guter
Componist,
und von munterm
Geiste';
see
n.
5,
above.
346
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accomplishments
and
remarking
that
there was extant
music
by
all of them.7
He
reserved his
greatest
enthusiasm for
Johann
Christoph
Bach,
who
had also
been
singled
out
by
his father.
He
praised
him
as
strong
in the
expression
of words
and
in
the invention
of beautiful
ideas
(the
latter
a
good
mid-eighteenth-century
riterion),
and
for
composing
in a manner
that
was
'galant
and
singing,
to
the extentthe
taste
of
his time
allowed',
a
contemporary
value
and
apparently
an
attempt
to
portray
him
as
forward-looking.
He illustrated
these characteristics
with
a
reference
to
a motet
in
which
Johann
Christoph
had
daringly
used an
augmented
sixth. C.
P. E.
Bach
also
praised
his music as
unusually
full-voiced,
citing
a 22-voice
work,
identifiable
as
the
St
Michael's
Day
vocal concerto
'Es erhub
sich
ein
Streit',
which
Philipp
Emanuel
and
his
father had
each
performed.8
Another document
of C. P. E. Bach's
musical
life,
his estate
catalogue
of
1790,
also
celebrates the Bachs as
composers.9
The
catalogue
probably
had a
practical
function-making
known the
availability
of his
own music
for
sale-but
it
also
lists
compositions by J.
S.
Bach,
Wilhelm
Friedemann
Bach,
Johann
Christoph
Friedrich
Bach,
Johann
Christian
Bach, Johann
Bernhard
Bach,
and
several
older
and
anonymous family
members
grouped
under
the
heading
'Alt-Bachisches
Archiv'.
The
compiler
of the
catalogue,
probably
Carl
Philipp
Emanuel
himself,
proudly
described
these oldest
works as
'vortrefflich
gearbeitet',
a
critical
evaluation
that
stands out
in a
mostly
dry
document. It is
difficult to believe
that
the
older music
listed in the
catalogue
had much
commercial
value;
its
inclusion
may
have
reflected
Philipp
Emanuel's
pride
in
the
compositional
accomplishments
of
the
Bachs over
the
years.
Forkel's
study
of
J.
S.
Bach also
began
with the
family
and
emphasized
the
older
members
whom
C.
P.
E. Bach
had
championed.
In the
first
critical
study
of the
Bach
family,
Forkel
established
a
specialrespect
forJ.
S.
Bach's
ancestors
and
an
emphasison their
compositional
egacy.
Given the
statement
n
his
preface
hat
the
works
ofJ.
S.
Bach
represent
a
'priceless
national
patrimony',
t is
unsurprising
hat
in
discussing
older
Bachs
he
emphasized
their own
contributions o
the
'honour
of
the
German
name':
their
compositions.
On
Johann
Christoph
Bach
in
particular,
Forkel
echoed
C.
P. E.
Bach's
citation
of
his
compositional
daring
and
his
full-voiced
tendency,
referring
o
compositions
that
illustrated
hese
traits.
He
reported
hat C.
P.
E.
Bach
had
had a
special
esteem
forJohann
Christoph,
and
fondly
recalled
Philipp
Emanuel's
playing
of
the
older
man's
music
for
him,
smilingly
pointing
out
the
most
daring
and
7
The repertoryn his music collectionshows thathe believedhe owned music by all five.See n. 9, below.
8
'Besonders st
obigerJohann
Christoph
n
Erfindung
chiner
Gedanken
sowohl,
als
im
Ausdrucke
der
Worte,
stark
gewesen.
Er
setzte,
so viel es
namlich
der
damalige
Geschmack
erlaubte,
sowohl
galant
und
singend,
als
auch
ungemein
vollstimmig.
Wegen
des
erstern
Puncts
kann
eine,
vor
siebenzig
und
etlichen
Jahren
von
ihm
gesetzete
Motete,
in
welcher
er,
ausser
andern
artigen
Einfallen,
schon
das
Herz
gehabt
hat,
die
iibermiBige
Sexte
zu
gebrauchen,
ein
ZeugniB
abgeben:
wegen
des
zweyten
Puncts
aber,
ist
ein
von
ihm
mit
22
obligaten
Stimmen,
ohne
jedoch
der
reinsten
Harmonie
einigen
Eintrag
zu
thun,
gesetzetes
Kirchenstiick
ben so
merkwiirdig,
ls
dieses,
daB
er,
auf
der
Orgel,
und
dem
Claviere,
niemahls
mit
weniger
als
fiinf
nothwendigen
Stimmen
gespielet
hat';
Bach-Dokumente,
ii/666. No
motet
using
an
augmented
sixth is
known
today,
and
the
anecdote
has
the
air
of a
family
story
meant to
emphasize
the
composer's
modernity.
On the
vocal
concerto
Es
erhub
sich
ein
Streit'
and
its
sources,
see
Melamed,
7.
S.
Bach
and he
German
Motet,
pp.
67-70.
The
report
ofJohann
Christoph's
practice
of
never
playing
on the
organ
and
clavier
with
fewer
than
five
real
parts,
which
apparently
refers
o
improvisation,
must
have
been
hearsay,
because
C. P.
E.
Bach could
not
have
heard
the
playing
of
Johann
Christoph,
who
died in
1703.
Emanuel
was
familiar
with
vocal
works
attributed o
Johann
Christoph
but left
no
references o
specifickeyboardpieces,
and it
is
possible
that
he
did
not
know
any keyboardmusic. When he
supplied
music
by
Johann
Michael
and
Johann
Christoph
to
Forkel,
he
sent
only
vocal
works.
See
Melamed,
op.
cit.,
pp.
45-6.
9
Verzeichnifl
es
musikalischen
achlasses
es
verstorbenen
Capellmeisters
arl
Philipp
Emanuel
Bach,
Hamburg,
1790;
facsimile
edn.:
The
Catalog
f
Carl
Philipp
Emanuel
Bach's
Estate,
ed.
Rachel
W.
Wade,
New
York,
1981.
347
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noteworthypassages. ?
n Forkel's
account,
surviving
works
document the
man and his
place
in
family
history.
A later
Bach
biographer, Philipp Spitta,
went
beyond
the
praise
of
Johann
Christoph's
ndividual
works
to a
theory
about
German
artistic
history
and his
place
in it.
Spitta
opened
his
chapter
on
Johann
Christoph
and his
brother
Johann
Michael
with
a
portrait
of the German
nation in a state of
profound
culturalexhaustion in the
wake
of the
Thirty
Years
War,
and credited
these men with its musical
revival:
Just
as
[their
ather]
HeinrichBach
ostered,
n the
simple
piety
of
his
childlike
oul,
a
spark
of
that
mysterious
ower
which
was destined o raise
up
the
crushed
ation o
new
ife,
so
we
may say
of
thesetwo
men,
that
that
spirit,
which
n
them
took
the formof art when
all
around
ay
dead
and
void,
was the better elf of the
German
ation.
Spitta
went
on to
portray Johann Christoph
as the
first German
composer
of
'Oratorios'-that
is,
truly
dramatic
vocal
concertos-and,
in
this,
a
forerunner
ofJ.
S.
Bach and
especially Georg
FriedrichHandel. This
forward-looking
iew
continues in
Spitta'sstatement thatJohann Christoph'smotets 'seem as though they might have
been
written
yesterday',12
nd in his assertion
hat the motet
'Unsers
Herzens
Freude',
which
he considered
among
his
finest,
'approaches
ar less
nearly
to
the
form of
the
da
capo
air ...
than it
does
...
to
the modern sonata
form'.13He reserved
he
highest
praise
for
the motet
'Ich lasse dich nicht'
(BWV
Anh.
159),
which he found so
advanced
hat it could
even
be
the work
ofJ.
S. Bach.
Overall,
Spittaportrayed ohann
Christoph
Bach
as a musical
genius,
an
artist
of the
highest
order,
and a
saviour of
German
music
in
a
dark
period.
All
these
assertionsrestedon
his
legacy
as a
composer.
Largely
because
of the survivalof
the
Altbachisches
rchiv,
ohann Christoph
and
Johann
Michael
Bach were
reasonably
well documented as
composers
of
vocal music.
Spittaregardedboth as influentialcomposersof instrumentalmusic as well,but he had
a
fundamental
problem
in
that
so few of their
instrumental works survived. The
demand
for
securely
attributed
works,
especially
to
Johann
Christoph,
exceeded the
supply,
and
this
would have
importantconsequences.14
ven
among
the
more
plentiful
vocal
works,
there
are
many
attributed
o
'Johann
Christoph
Bach' or
'J.
C.
Bach',
but
with this
repertory
comes
a
vexing problem
of the
ambiguity
of the
name,
which was
carried
by
several older
members
of the
family.
Besides our
Johann Christoph
(13),15
others
include
J.
S. Bach's elder
brother
Johann
Christoph
(22;
1671-1721),
active
most
of his
life in
Ohrdruf;
Johann
Ambrosius's
win brother
Johann Christoph(12;
1645-93),
who worked
mostly
in
Arnstadt;
Johann Christoph
(17; 1673-1727),
who
spentmost of his career n Gehren;andJohann Christoph 13)'sown son (b. 1676).In
principle,
pieces
attributed
simply
to
'Johann Christoph
Bach' could
be
the
work of
any
of
these,
in
the absence
of evidence that
distinguishes
hem
or at least
suggests
a
particular
amily
member.
10
Johann
Nikolaus
Forkel,
Ueber
ohannSebastian achs
Leben,
Kunst
und
Kunstwerke:
ur
patriotische
erehrer
chter
musikalischer
unst,
Leipzig,
1802,
p.
2.
Presumably
C.
P.
E. Bach
played
these
pieces
at the
keyboard,
hough
we do not
know
whether
they
were instrumental
or vocal
works.
Philipp Spitta,
Johann
Sebastian
ach,
Leipzig,
1873-80,
i.
41;
Eng.
trans.
by
Clara Bell &
John
Alexander
Fuller-
Maitland
as
Johann
Sebastian
ach:his Work
nd
Influence
n theMusic
of
Germany,
685-1750, London,
1884-5,
i.
40.
12
Spitta,
JohannSebastian
ach,
.
72
(Eng.,
i.
74).
13
Ibid.,
i.
89
(Eng.,
i.
90).
14
Spitta
even
expressed
his frustration
at
the
lack of
Johann Christoph
Bach's clavier music.
Ibid.,
i.
128
(Eng.,
i.
130).
15
The
numbering
system
for
members
of
the
Bach
family
derives
rom
J.
S.
Bach's
genealogy
(see
n.
5,
above)
and
is
expanded
n Wolff
et
al.,
TheNew
Grove
ach
Family.
Henceforth,
he
severalJohann
Christophs
will be
distinguishedby
number.
348
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6/22
This
points
up
a
problem:
we have
seen
that
'Johann
Christoph
Bach' was
the
subject
of
family
lore,
but which
Johann Christoph
were
the
stories about?
When
C. P.
E. Bach annotated
the
genealogy
entry
for
Johann
Christoph
13),
he wrote
that
'this
is the
great
and
expressive composer'.
This remark
is
usually
taken
to be
a
reinforcement f his father'scomment
('ein
profonder
Componist'),
but
I
think
Philipp
Emanuel'semphasiswas on the firstword: 'this s the greatand expressivecomposer',
and he
meant to clear
up ambiguity
about
which
Johann
Christoph
was a
great
and
expressive
composer.'6
The confusion
implied
here
has
persisted:
good
pieces
attributed
o
'Johann
Christoph
Bach' continue
to
gravitate
owards
ohann
Christoph
(13),
even
when other
family
members
of this
name are
likely
or at
least
plausible
candidatesas
their
composer.
The
lexicographer
Ernst
Ludwig
Gerber
recognized
his
almost
two
centuries
ago,
cautioning
that
'one has
good
reason
to be
careful
in
collecting
[Johann
Christoph
Bach
(13)'s]
works,
because
in his
day
there
were
several
excellent
composers
and
organists
with
his
name'.17
Because of this
problem,
we need
to
ask how
careful
people
have
been in
assigning
works to a composerwith a big reputationand an ambiguousname. We can quickly
survey
he
worksattributed
oJohann
Christoph
13),
and
the
resultsare
sobering.
See
Appendix
I,
below.)
Two motets
are
transmitted
n
autographs
and
are
probably
his;
the detailed
form of
the attribution
n
'Lieber
Herr
Gott'
makes
it
unambiguous,
but
note that 'Der
Gerechte,
ob
er
gleich
zu
zeitlich
stirbt' is
attributed
merely
to
'J.
C.
Bach'.
Three more
motets
('Der
Mensch,
vom
Weibe
geboren',
'Sei
getreu
bis
in
den
Tod',
'Ftirchte
dich
nicht')
derive
directly
or
ultimately
from
Thuringian
sources
whose
context
arguably
suggests
Johann
Christoph
(13)
as
their
composer,
but
does
not
guarantee
it.
The
attribution
of
'Herr,
nun
lassest du'
stems
from
the
early
nineteenth-century
collector
Georg
Poelchau,
who
first
wrote
and
then crossed
out
another(illegible) attributionon his score. The attributionof 'Ich lasse dich nicht'
(BWV
Anh.
159)
was a
nineteenth-century
peculation.
Merk
auf,
mein
Herz'
(BWV
Anh.
163),
attributed
merely
to
'Bach
in
Eisenach'
in
the
source,
has
come
to
Johann
Christoph
(13) only
in the
last
decade.
Two
more
motets
from
a
Thuringian
source
('Das
kein
Aug gesehen
hat',
'Herr,
wenn
ich
nur
dich
habe')
are
anonymous
and
were
attributed
speculatively
n
the
1980s.
Among
the
vocal
concertos,
'Meine
Freundin'
was
transmitted
n a
copy
by Johann
Christoph
(13)'s
Eisenach
colleague
Johann
Ambrosius
Bach,
lessening
any
ambi-
guity,
but
the
Erfurt
copy
of
'Herr,
wende
dich'
names
'Christoph
Bach'.
There
are
conflicting
attributions
or
'Ach,
daB
ich
Wassers
gnug
hatte':
C.
P.
E.
Bach's
estate
catalogue (and apparently his sources) named Johann Christoph, but a Diiben
Collection
concordance
names
Heinrich
Bach.
Johann
Christoph
(13)'s
most
famous
piece,
the
22-voice 'Es
erhub
sich
ein
Streit',
is
attributed to
his
brother
Johann
Michael
in an
inventory
rom
Ansbach,
and
an
Amalienbibliothek
ource
of
unknown
provenance
also
credits
Johann
Michael.
The
town
council
concerto
'Die
Furcht
des
Hern'
is
anonymous-C.
P. E.
Bach
hazardedno
guess-and
was
attributed o
Johann
Christoph
(13)
by
Max
Schneider
in
1935
because
the
fragmentary
ource
is
in
his
hand.
'Wie
bist du
denn,
o
Gott'
was
listed
in
the
Liineburg
inventory
under
'J.
C.
6
The
bending
of
the
remark
and the
elevation
of
Johann
Christoph
Bach
(13)
to
the
pantheon
are
evident in
Max
Schneider's
tatement:
Er
Johann
Christoph
Bach
(13)
]
ist
nicht
nur
dergrofe
und
ausdrickende
Componist,
ie
ihn
schon
die bachische Familienchroniknennt, sondern einer der bedeutendstendeutschen Meister iiberhaupt'.Altbachisches
Archiv,
.
vi.
7
'Indessen
hat
man
Ursache,
beym
Sammeln
seiner
Werke
vorsichtig
zuy
seyn,
indem
es
in
seinem
Zeitalter
mehrere
vorziigliche
Tonkunstler
und
Organisten
seines
Namens
gab.'
Ernst
Ludwig
Gerber,
Neues
historisch-
biographisches
exikon
er
Tonkiinstler,
eipzig,
1812-14,
i.
209.
349
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8/9/2019 Johann Christoph Bach
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Bach';
a work with this text
is
much
performed
under
Johann
Christoph
13)'s
name,
but its
source credits
Johann
Philipp
Krieger,
and it
may
not
be
the same
piece.
'Der
Herr Zebaoth' s
attributed
merely
to
'Sign.
Bach',
and
nothing
is
known about the
lost
'Strafmich nicht'.
The two arias 'Es ist
nun aus' and
'Mit
Weinen hebt
sich
an',
listed
among
Johann
Christoph
13)'s
works
by
C. P.
E.
Bach,
are each
attributed
merely
to
'JCB'.
Among
the instrumental
music,
the
44
preludes
are
apparently
unambiguously
attributed,
as
are the
Prelude and
Fugue
BWV
Anh.
177. The
chorale
preludes
in the
Neumeister
collection are
likely
to
belong
to
Johann
Christoph
13),
but
in
principle
are
subject
to some doubt. Four
variation sets are
traditionally
assigned
to
Johann
Christoph
(13).
Two,
the Aria
Eberliniana
attributed
o
'Joh.
Christoph
Bach
org.')
and
a
set
in A minor
(attributed
o
'J.C.B.'),
are
transmitted n the hand of
Johann
Christoph
Bach
(22);
Gerber owned an
incomplete
set
in
B
flat,
now
lost.18A
fourth,
the
Sarabandewith twelve
variations,
s
known in
incomplete
form
from the so-called
Borss
manuscript,
and in
complete
form in a
late
eighteenth-
or
possibly early
nineteenth-century opy in a convolutemanuscriptassembledby GeorgPoelchau.'9 t
is attributed
merely
to
'J.
C. Bach'
in
each
source.20
Overall,
he
number
of
pieces
we
can ascribewith
certainty
o
Johann
Christoph
13)
is small. A
surprising
proportion
of the
attributionswere made in the nineteenth and
twentieth
centuries,
and severalseventeenth-and
eighteenth-century
ttributions eave
room
for
doubt.
Many
were
probably
influenced
by
Johann Christoph
(13)'s
reputation,
including
those
made
by
members of
the
Bach
family. Any
attribution
to
'Johann
Christoph
Bach'-to
say nothing
of
'J.
C.
Bach'
or
even
'J.
C.
B.'-is
potentially
ambiguous
without some evidence
pointing
us in the direction of
Johann
Christoph
13).21
n our evaluation
of
Johann
Christoph
13)
as
a
composer,
we
need
to
distinguishhis reputation(well documentedin the Bachfamily)from the significance
of his
compositional
egacy
(a
much shakier
proposition).
And because it
is
not clear
that
we have
a
corpus
of
securely
attributed
works,
we are on thin ice in
making
stylistic
comparisons
to decide
whether doubtful
compositions
are
his.
The
difficulty
is illustrated
by
two
famous
compositions
for
keyboard
that are
traditionally
assigned
to
Johann
Christoph
Bach
(13).
In
examining
their
history,
we
encounter
he
strength
of his
reputation
as a
composer,
his
assigned
place
in the
history
of German
music,
the
ambiguity
of
his
name,
and the
difficulty
of
making stylistic
comparisons.
An
equally
likely
candidate for the
composer
of the
pieces,
another
Johann
Christoph
Bach,
turns out
to
have been as little considered as
Johann
Christoph(13) was championed.
The
works
are two
variation
sets for
keyboard,
the one in
A
minor
attributed
to
'J.
C. B.' known
from
a
manuscript
now
in
the Zurich
Zentralbibliothek;
nd the
'Aria
18
Loc.
cit.,
cited
by
Spitta,
Johann
Sebastian
ach,
.
120
n.
42
(Eng.,
i.
130
n.
160).
19
The
first
source,
compiled
c.1703-4
by
Johann
Christoph
Bornss,
is
lost,
but
photographs
survive
as
Staatsbibliothek
u
Berlin/Stiftung
Preussischer
Kulturbesitz,
Musikabteilung
mit Mendelssohn-Archiv
Fot
Bu
124.
See Robert
Hill,
The
Mdller
Manuscript
nd theAndreas
achBook:Two
Keyboard
nthologies
rom
the
Circle
f
the
roung
Johann
Sebastian
ach
unpublished
dissertation),
Harvard
University,
1987,
p.
115 n.
20
and
p.
168.
Hill further
uggests
(p. 170)
that
Bomss's
copying
of this
work
represents
a
connection,
together
with
a
concordance
and the
overlap
of six
composers,
with
the
copying
activities
of
Johann Christoph
Bach
(22).
This
assertion
depends
partly
on
the
identity
of
the
Johann
Christoph
Bach
to whom
the various
works are attributed.
20
Perhapswe should add to the work-lista bourr6ewith text that appears n a portraitsaid to representJohann
Christoph
(13), reproduced
n
Johann
Sebastian ach:
Life,
Times,
nfluence,
d. Barbara
Schwendowius
&
Wolfgang
Domling,
New
Haven, 1984,
58.
21
One
wonders whether
Johann Christoph
(13) adopted
the
long
form
of his
signature,
with
title
and Eisenach
designation,
to
distinguish
himself
from
others with
the same name.
350
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8/9/2019 Johann Christoph Bach
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Eberliniana
pro
dormente
Camillo'
attributed
to
'Joh.
Christoph
Bach
org.'
trans-
mitted
in
a
manuscript
now in
the
Bachhaus,
Eisenach.22
See Appendix
II,
below.)
This
second
piece
and
its source
are
well
known;
the work
was edited
for the
Bach-
Gesellschaft n
1940,
and the Neue
Bachgesellschaft
ublished
a
handsome
facsimile
of
its source in
1992.
Both
manuscripts
are
in the hand
of
Johann
Christoph
Bach
(22),
musician
in
Ohrdruf
and J. S. Bach's elder brotherand earlyteacher.23One might
think that he is the obvious
candidate
as
composer,
but
there
has
been a
strong
bias
against
him,
extending
to a
reluctance o
credit
him as
the
composer
of
anything,
let
alone
anything
as
good
as these
variations.
Johann Christoph
(22)
was
long
known
primarily
as the
person
with
whom
the
orphaned
J.
S.
Bach
lived between
the
ages
of
ten and
fifteen. In
recent
years,
Hans-
Joachim
Schulze has
identifiedhim as
the
copyist
and
assemblerof
the
Andreas
Bach
Book
and
M6ller
Manuscript,
two
anthologies
of
keyboard
music
that
document
his
collecting
and
copying
of
keyboard
repertory
nd
that are
crucial
sources
for the
music
of
the
young J.
S.
Bach.24
n
a
biographical
tudy,
Schulze
painted
a
fuller
picture
of
this previously shadowy figure but acknowledged an important gap: no musical
compositions
could
be
ascribed o
him.25
n
fact,
we
do
not
know
whetherhe
composed
at
all. This is not
for lack
of
compositions
attributed
o
'Johann
Christoph
Bach',
as
we
have
seen,
but
the
many
such
pieces
have
automatically
been
assigned
to
the
older
musician with
that
name.
Schulze inclined for
various
reasons
towards
Johann
Christoph
13)'s
authorship
of
our two
sets of
keyboardvariations,
but
cautioned
that
this
should
not
be
taken
as
a
premiss.
He
suggested
that we
should
instead
undertake
a
stylistic
study
that
rules
out
Johann
Christoph
(22)
and
shows
the
pieces
to
be
consistent
with
the
known
music
of
Johann
Christoph
(13).26
This
proves
to
be
difficult
f
not
impossible,
as
the
surveyof Johann Christoph(13)'swork-listshows, because we do not have a secure
repertory
with
which
to
compare
them.
All we
can do
is
investigate
when and
why
the
variations
were
assigned
to
Johann
Christoph
(13).
We
should
also
look at
the
factors
that
have
led
away
from
attributions o
Johann
Christoph
(22),
their
copyist,
and
ask
whether it is
plausible
that
the
younger
man
composed
this
kind
of
piece
at
the
time
suggested
by
the
sources.
The
manuscripts
of
the
variation
sets
have
remarkable
histories.
Philipp
Spitta
owned
both at
the
time
the
first
volume
of his
Bach
biography
was
published
in
1873;
he
probably
acquired
them
from the
collection
of
Hans
Georg
Nageli,
in
whose
1854
estate
catalogue
they
appear.
How
Nageli
acquired
them we
do
not
know,
but
the
A
minor variationscontain a receipt dated 1802 documentingtheir sale on behalf of
Johann
Christian
Bach of
Halle,
the
so-called
Clavier-Bach,
who
also
owned
the
22
Zurich,
Zentralbibliothek,
MS
Q.
914,
headed
'AriaJ:
C:
BachJ:
C.
B.';
the
first
page
is
reproduced
n
Hill,
The
MollerManuscript
nd
heAndreas
ach
Book,
p.
596,
and the
work
published
nJohann
Christoph
Bach,
Aria
a-moll
mit
15
Variationen
ur
Cembalo,
d.
Giinter
Birkner,
Zurich,
1973;
Eisenach,
Bachhaus,
6.2.1.05,
olim
AA
1,
headed
'Aria
Eberliniana
I
pro
dormente
Ca=
millo,
I
variataa
j
Joh.
I
Christoph
Bach
org.
I
Mens.
Mart
ao.
1690.';
the
first
page
is
reproduced
and
the
work
published
in
Johann
Christoph
Bach,
Aria
Eberliniana,
d.
Conrad
Freyse
('Veroffentlichung
der
Neuen
Bachgesellschaft',
xxxix/2),
Leipzig,
1940,
and
the
whole
reproduced
in
Johann
Christoph
Bach,
Aria
Eberliniana
ro
dormente
amillo
ariata
(1690).
Faksimile
er
Handschrift
m
Bachhaus
isenach
mit
einem
Nachwort
on
Claus
Oefner,
eipzig,
1992.
The
watermark n
the
paper
of
both
manuscripts
s
reported
as
an A
with
trefoil n
Hill,
op.
cit.,
p.
114,
and
Hans-Joachim
Schulze,
Studien
ur
Bach-Uberlieferung
m
18.
Jahrhundert,
eipzig,
1984,
p.
52
n.
170.
23
Robert
Hill
considers
that
both
the
Eberliniana
and
A
minor
manuscripts
predate
he
Moller
Manuscript
and
the
AndreasBach Book, that is, beforec.1704: TheMolerManuscriptnd theAndreas achBook,p. 115.
24
Schulze,
Studien
ur
Bach-iberlieferung,
p.
52-6;
see
also
Hill,
The
Miller
Manuscript
nd the
Andreas
ach
Book.
25
Hans-Joachim
Schulze,
'Johann
Christoph
Bach
(1671
bis
1721),
Organist
und
Schul
Collega
in
Ohrdruf ,
Johann
Sebastian
Bachs
erster
Lehrer',
Bach-Jahrbuch,
xxi
(1985),
55-81.
26
Ibid.,
p.
78.
351
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Keyboard
ook
or
Wilhelm riedemannach.It is
likely
that he
received
hat
volume,
the
A minor variations
and
probably
also the
Eberliniana
variations
from
Friedemann,
who
was his teacher.27 he variation
manuscripts
hus
appear
o
have
been
transmitted
for
many
years
within
the Bach
family.28
The
identification
of their
copyist
as
Johann
Christoph
Bach
(22)
is
a
relatively
recent
development.29
The
reigning (and only) opinion
for
years
was
Spitta's,
who
called
the
manuscripts
'autographs'-that
is,
of
Johann
Christoph
(13).30
This was a
decisive
statement,
because with it the
question
of
authorship
was
implicitly
opened
and
closed: an
autograph
s in the
hand of the
composer.
But we
need to
ask
whether
Spitta
actually
knew
Johann Christoph
(13)'s handwriting.
He
did
identify
one other
score,
that of the motet 'Lieber Herr
Gott,
wecke
uns
auf',
as
an
autograph,
but it is
clearly
n a hand different rom that in the two
keyboard
manuscripts.3
I
suspect
that
Spitta
assumed
that the
keyboard
manuscripts
were
autographs
because he
believed a
priori
hat
the
pieces
were
composed
by
Johann
Christoph
13).32
n
any
event,
there is
no
earlier
assignment
to a
particular omposer;
Spitta's
Bach
biography
of
1873 is the
originof the attributions o Johann Christoph(13).
A
twist in
the
history
of the Aria Eberliniana
manuscript
has
probably
contributed o
the continued
acceptance
of the
attribution to
Johann
Christoph
Bach
(13).
The
manuscript
s now one of the treasuresof the
Bachhaus
in
Eisenach,
a
museum that
occupies
a house once
said to
beJ.
S.
Bach's
birthplace,
and
the
composition
has
long
been
championed by
directors of the
museum. The first
modem
edition was
by
Conrad
Freyse,
who
wrote that
Eisenach was the
fitting place
for a
manuscript
containing
a
'distinctively
Eisenach
composition'.33
he
facsimile issued in
1992
by
the Neue
Bachgesellschaft
to
mark the
350th
anniversary
of the
birth
of
Johann
Christoph
(13)
was edited
by
a later director
of the
museum,
Claus
Oefner,
who
27
The
informationhere
is
largely
summarized rom
Aria
a-moll,
ed.
Birkner,
and
Aria
Eberliniana,
d.
Freyse.
Both
manuscripts
are
listed
in the 1854
auction
catalogue
of
the
Nageli
collection,
where
the Eberlinianavariationsare
inexplicably
attributed
to
Johann
Ernst
Bach;
see
Schulze,
Studien
ur
Bach-Uberlieferung,.
37 n.
114,
and
Raymond
Meylan,
'Neues zum MusikaliennachlaB
on
Hans
GeorgNageli',
Bach-Jahrbuch,
xxxii
(1996),
45. Both were owned
by
Philipp Spitta
(Johann
Sebastian
Bach,
i.
128
n.
41;
Eng.,
i.
130
n.
159).
The A
minor
variations,
though
not
fully
traceable,
are known
to
have
passed
to Wilhelm
Kraukling;
see
Spitta,
ibid.
(Eng.
only),
i.
130; Schulze,
Studien
ur
Bach-Uberlieferung,.
38
n.
115;
and
idem,
'Sebastian Bachs
Choral-Buch n
Rochester,
NY?',
Bach-Jahrbuch,
xvii
(1981),
127
n.
23.
Spitta
retained he
manuscript
of the
Aria
Eberliniana
at least until
1889;
see
Schulze,
Studicn
ur
Bach-
Uberlieferung,.
38 n.
116,
citing
Max
Schneider,
'Thematisches
Verzeichnis der musikalischenWerke der Familie
Bach',
Bach-Jahrbuch,
v
(1907),
158. The Aria
Eberliniana
manuscript
ended
up
in
the Eisenach
Bachhaus,
perhaps
directly
from
Spitta's
son.
28
Max Schneider
('Thematisches
Verzeichnis',
p.
158) hypothesized
hat
they
had a connection to the Altbachisches
Archiv.Cf. Schulze,Studien urBach-Uberlieferung,. 38.
29
Dietrich
Kilian first
dentified the hand
of
the variationsas that of the
principal
scribe of
the
Andreas
Bach
Book
and
Moller
Manuscript,
and
Schulze
subsequently
identified this
copyist
as
J.
S. Bach's elder brother.
See
Schulze,
Studien
ur
Bach-Uberlieferung,
.
32
n. 94 and
p.
37
n.
110;
and
Hill,
The
Mdller
Manuscript
nd the
Andreas
ach
Book,
pp.
3-6. On
the
possible
reasonsfor
the
overlooking
ofJohann
Christoph
Bach
(22)
as
a
candidate,
see
Schulze,
Studien
zur
Bach-Oberlieferung,.
52,
and Robert
Hill,
' Der Himmel
weiss,
wo
diese
Sachen
hingekommen
sind :
Reconstructing
he Lost
Keyboard
Notebooks of the
Young
Bach and
Handel',
Bach, Handel,
Scarlatti:
Tercentenary
Essays,
ed. Peter
Williams,
Cambridge,
1985,
pp.
161-72.
The connection between
the variationsand the
Miller
Manuscript
and
Andreas Bach Book
long
went
unrecognized,
and
the
supposed copyist
of
the two
large
collections
changed
several
times without
affecting
the attribution
of the variations.
30
Spitta,
Johann
Sebastian
Bach,
.
128
n. 41
(Eng.,
i.
130
n.
159).
31
Berlin,
Staatsbibliothek
u
Berlin/Stiftung
Preussischer
Kulturbesitz,
Musikabteilung
mit Mendelssohn-Archiv
Mus. ms.
Bach P
4/2.
32
At the least, Spitta's decisions about hand and authorshipwere made together.By the time Conrad Freyse
published
his edition
of the Aria
Eberliniana
n
1940,
he
recognized
that the hand was
not that
of
Johann
Christoph
(13),
but
by
then
the
attribution
of
the
composition
was entrenched.
3
Johann
Christoph
Bach,
Aria
Eberliniana,
d.
Freyse,
preface.
Freyse
pointed
to the Eisenach connections
of
both
Eberlin
and
Johann
Christoph
Bach
(13).
352
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8/9/2019 Johann Christoph Bach
10/22
described
the
manuscript
as
a
'significant
document
of Eisenach's musical
history',
and
accepted
the older Bach's
authorship
as a
premiss.
This
manuscript
s said to
have
found its
way
home
to
Eisenach,
the
adopted
town of
its
presumed composerJohann
Christoph
Bach
(13),
who
lived and worked
there for almost
50
years.
For an
Eisenach
museum
in
possession
of such
a
manuscript,
here
might
be a
great
deal at stakein
an
attribution o the Bach most closely associatedwith the town.34
Whatever
has
encouraged
the
perpetuation
of the
attribution,
t
clearly
began
with
Spitta,
and I
suggest
that
he based it not
on
supporting
evidence
but, rather,
on
his
convictions
about
Johann
Christoph 13).
Along
with
Spitta's
high regard
orthis
man
went
strong
opinions
about these
compositions
in
particular.
First,
he
believed
that
they
were
especially important pieces,
and was
eager
to connect them
and
their
composer
to later
keyboard
music. In
discussing
the Eberliniana
variations,
for
example, Spitta
wrote:
The use of
chromatic
passages
. .
gives
the
harmony
a
strange,
ntoxicating
ffect,
reminding
s of
the most
modem meansof
expression
sed
by
Schubert nd
Schumann.
It mightbe safelywagered hatno one,unacquainted iththe instrumental usic of the
seventeenth
entury,
would
guess
at
this
day
that these
variations ere
composed
n
1690;
rather
wouldhe
imagine
rom heirsoftness
nd sweetnesshat
they
were
by
Mozart.35
Spitta
also
asserted that
J.
S.
Bach must
have
known a
third set
of
variations
attributed o
Johann
Christoph
Bach
(13),
citing
passages
rom
the Aria
variata lla
man.
Italiana
(BWV
989)
and the
Goldberg
Variations
(BWV
988)
that
they
influenced.36
Again,
he related the
variations o
later
music:
'Since the
grand
fourth
variation
n
Beethoven's
Sonata
(Op.
109)
can be
pretty plainly
traced to
its
root
in
Sebastian
Bach's
[Goldberg
Variations],
we
may
see in
this
the
indirect
influence
of
Joh.
Christoph
Bach even
in modem
times'.37
Spitta
needed a
composer
for these
pieces
who
belonged
in the
pantheon
that
included
Schumann,
Schubert,
Beethoven,
Mozart
and
J.
S.
Bach,
and
in
Johann
Christoph
Bach
(13)
he had a
candidate.
Spitta's
views
on
the
variations
and
their
authorship
are thus
merely
part
of his
broader
perspective
of
Johann
Christoph
(13),
and it
is difficult
o
see how
he
might
have
attributed
he
variations o
anyone
else.
All
subsequent
commentators
have
followed
his
attribution.
The
bias
towards
Johann
Christoph
Bach
(13)
as
the
composer
of
these
(and
other)
works
is
matched
by
a
long-standing
prejudice
against
Johann
Christoph
(22)
as
a
composer,
and
again
the views
of the
Bach
family
and
of
Spitta
are
crucial.
The
most
influential
anecdote
about
J.
S.
Bach's
elder
brother is
a
story
in
C.
P. E.
Bach's
obituary
of
his
father,
recounted in
Forkel's
biography.
The
young Johann
Sebastian,
denied
access
to a
manuscript
of
keyboard
music,
secretly
copied
it
out
by
moonlight,
only
to
have
it
confiscated
by
his
elder
brother.38
Spitta
attributed
he
withholding
of
the
moonlight
manuscript
to
Johann
Christoph
Bach
(22)'s 'pride
of
seniority',
and
describes
him
as 'so
hard-hearted
as
to
take it
away
from
him'.39
n
this
story,Johann
4
The
manuscript
of
the
A
minor
variations,
once
owned
by
the
Zurich
publisher
and
collector
Hans
Georg Nigeli,
followed a
circuitous route
through
Philipp Spitta
to its
present
owner,
the
Zentralbibliothek,
Zurich.
In
some
sense,
this
manuscript,
too,
found
its
way
'home',
as
Birkner
Aria
a-moll)
points
out.
5
johann
Sebastian
ach,
.
128
(Eng.,
i.
129-30).
36
The
connection
with
the
Goldberg
Variations
has
persisted;
cf.
Christoph
Wolff,
Kritischer
ericht o
Johann
Sebastian
ach:
NVue
Ausgabe
imtlicher
Werke,
/2,
Kassel
&
Leipzig,
1981,
p.
110.
On
the A
minor
variations,
Spitta
wrote:'The resemblanceto SebastianBach'sA-minorvariations
[the
Aria
variata]
s here still more
conspicuous,
and
cannot be
merely
accidental'.
Johann
Sebastian
ach,
.
128
(Eng.,
i.
130).
37
Ibid.,
i.
127
(Eng.,
i.
129).
38
Forkel,
Ueber
ohann
Sebastian
achs
Leben,
p.
5.
39
Spitta,
Johann
Sebastian
ach,
i.
183-4
(Eng.,
i.
186).
353
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8/9/2019 Johann Christoph Bach
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Christoph
(22)
is the
antagonist, portrayed
as a
'provincialorganist
with little
insight
into
his
younger
brother's
gifts'.4
The
biographical
acts,
as
Schulze
has
pointed
out,
do
not
support
the
story's
clear
implication
of a coolness
between
the brothers.4' But
Spitta,
perhaps disposed
to
disconnect
the Bach
brothers,
assertedthat
Johann
Sebastianand
Johann Christoph
(22) did not have much contact afterJ. S. Bach's departure n 1695, and concluded
that,
at least in
C.
P.
E. Bach's
opinion,
Johann Christoph 22)
had had little
influence
on
Johann
Sebastian.
Only Johann Christoph
(22)'s
keyboard
eaching,
about
which
there
was no
information,
seemed
to
Spitta
to have
influenced
his
younger
brother.42
But
Spitta
had
asserted that
our two variation
sets
were
a direct
influence on
J.
S.
Bach's
music.
For that
to be
true in
Spitta's
scheme,
they
could not have been
by
his
brother.43
pitta's
convictions
about
Johann Christoph
Bach
(22)
must have ruled him
out
as a
composer
of these
pieces,
and,
as far as I
know,
no other music
has ever
been
attributed
o him.
The
variations
and theirsources
do offersome
clues to their
authorship,
but most of
them are ambiguousand have been interpretedover the yearsas pointingto Johann
Christoph
Bach
(13).
In the
light
of the
biaseswe have
seen,
the matter s worth another
look.
We can
begin
with the
apparent
connectionof the Aria Eberliniana
with Daniel
Eberlin.
Eberlin
(1647-c.
1713-15),
a
violinist
and
composer,
led a
tumultuous
career
in
Kassel,
Nuremberg
and
mostly
in Eisenach.
Fewof his
compositions
survive.4
t
has
been
routinely
claimed
that the Aria
is a work
by
Eberlin
himself,
and
although
this
is
an
understandable
guess,
I do not think
we
should
trust
it. First,
a name attached
to
an
aria
of this
type
is
not
necessarily
an
attribution;
Pachelbel's
Aria Sebaldina'
from
the
Hexachordum
pollinis,
o cite
just
one
example,
was
apparently
named in honour
of
St
Sebald
or the
St Sebald
Church
of
Pachelbel's
native
Nuremberg.
Second,
the
Aria
Eberliniana s a conventional ittlepiece;withits 4 +4-barbinarystructure, hree-voice
texture
and
rhythmic
regularity,
t resembles
many
other themes
used as the basis
for
variation
sets.
Its
tune
is
stereotyped;Johann
Heinrich
Buttstedt used
a similar
ornamented
melody
for
a set of
variations,
and
a
related
tune
with variations
appears
anonymously
in
the
Mylau
Manuscript.46
The material
of
the
Aria Eberliniana
is
commonplace,
and
the
piece
may simply
have
been named in
Eberlin's honour.
Either
way,
the
question
is
to
which
Johann
Christoph
Bach
the reference
points.
Historians
have
always
looked in
the direction
of
Eisenach,
the town
most
closely
connected
with
the elusive
Eberlin,
and thus
to
Johann
Christoph(13).
Eberlin
is
known
to
have
been
in Eisenach
in
1690,
the
date on the
manuscript,
as was
Johann
40
Hill,
'Der
Himmel
weiss ',
pp.
162-3.
This
story
seems
to
have
become more
pointed
with each
telling.
Karl
and
Irene
Geiringer,
or
example,
wrote
that it
was
'exasperation
with the
young
genius's
unceasing
battery
of
questions
and
a sudden
jealous
awareness
of
Sebastian's
superior
gifts
that
provoked
this
spiteful
outburst'.
The Bach
Family,
p.
122.
41
Schulze,
'Johann
Christoph
Bach',
p.
56.
42
Spitta
noted
that
C. P.
E. Bach's
obituary
of
his
father
mistakenly
reports
hatJ.
S. Bach
left Ohrdruf
or school
at
Liineburg
when
his elder brother
died,
supposedly
n
1700,
and
that laterBach
family copies
of
the
genealogy
misstate
the date
of
Johann
Christoph
(22)'s
death.
Johann
Sebastian
ach,
. 184
n. 7
(Eng.,
i. 186
n.
7).
43
Spitta
conceded
that
J.
S.
Bach
had
probably
been
exposed
to the music
of Pachelbel
because of
his brother's
study
with
him,
but concluded
thatJohann
Sebastian
soon had
no
more
to
learn
from
his
eldest
brother'.
Ibid.,
i.
184
(Eng.,
i.
186).
44
Susette
Clausing,
'Eberlin,
Daniel',
The
New
Grove,
.
813-14;
Richard
Schaal,
'Eberlin,
Daniel', MGG,
cols.
1055-6;
Claus
Oefner,
'Neues
zur Lebens-
und
Familiengeschichte
Daniel
Eberiins',
Die
Musikforschung,
xii
(1969),
464-75.
45
Clausing
(in
The
New
Grove),
or
example,
includes
'Pro dormente
Camillo,
aria'
in Eberlin's work-list.
46
See Ernst
Ziller,
Der
Erfurter
Organist
ohann
Heinrich uttstidt
1666-1727),
Halle,
1935;
and Eberhard
Born,
Die
Variation
ls
Grundlage
andwerklicher
estaltung
m
musikalischen
chaffen ohann
Pachelbels,
erlin,
1941,
esp.
music
example
1,
a
strikingcomparison
of all these
aria tunes.
354
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8/9/2019 Johann Christoph Bach
12/22
Christoph
(13),
whereas
Johann
Christoph
(22)
was elsewhere.
But
Johann
Christoph
(22)
lived
most of
the first fifteen
years
of his
life
there,
and
apparently
maintained
connections
with the town
after
eaving
home
c.
1685,
at least
until
his
parents'
deaths
in 1694/5.
Johann
Christoph
(22)
might
have had
reason
to refer
to
Eberlin,
and
we
cannot assume
that the reference
dentifies
Johann
Christoph
(13)
as the
composer.
Perhaps the most puzzling element in the heading is the label 'pro dormente
Camillo',
perhaps
somehow connected
with Eberlin.I
have been unable
to
determine
how.
None
of the members
of the Bach
or Eberlin families
appears
to have had
the
name Camillo
or
any
name
for which
it would
be
a
likely
translation,
nickname
or
diminutive. I can
discern
no
likely
connection
with
the
historical
igures
from
ancient
Rome whose
name was
Camillo,47
or
with
the Italian
noun
camillo
eferring
o
youths
who assisted ancient
priests.4
Giovanni
Bononcini's
II
trionfo
i
Camilla,
laimed to
be
the source of
bothJ.
S. Bach
and
Handel
borrowings,
was
produced
n
Naples
in
1696,
too
late to be
connected
with our
variations.49
n
opera
Camillo
eneroso
roduced
in
Dresden in 1693 is
also too
late
to
be
relevant.50
or the
moment
the
significance
of
'Camillo' is a mystery.5'
The source
describes
the
Eberliniana
variationsas
'variata
a
Joh.
Christoph
Bach
org',
and Schulze
has
argued
that
this
form
of
signature,
n
particular
he
designation
'org[anist]',
s
characteristic
of
Johann
Christoph
(13).
In
March
1690,
too,
Schulze
notes,
this
Johann
Christoph
held
a
position
as
organist,
whereas
Johann
Christoph
(22)
had
recently
quit
his
post
at the Erfurt
Thomaskirche,
was
probably
n
Arnstadt
awaiting
a
better
one,
and
thus did not
hold
the
title
'organist'.52
find
this
evidence
suggestive
rather
han
compelling,
and
sufficiently
mbiguous
that
it
does
not
rule
out
Johann
Christoph
22).
It is
true
that
he was
out
of
ajob
in
1690,
but
his
training
was as
an
organist,
he had
just
left
a
post
where
he
held
the
title,
and
was
apparently
n
search
of a new organist'sposition.Johann Christoph 13)did sign himselfin a characteristic
way,
but the
distinguishing
feature
of
his
signature
seems to
be
that
he
identifies
himself as
'organist
in
Eisenach',
which is
not
specified
in
the
Aria
Eberliniana
heading.
The
attribution
could
thus
point
just
as
easily
to
Johann
Christoph
(22)
as
Johann
Christoph
(13).
The
date
March
1690
might
provide
a
hint
of
the
younger
man's
authorship.
In
June
1690,
Johann
Christoph
(22)
was
installed
as
organist
in
Ohrdruf.53
He
had
spent
most
of
the
years
between
1684
and
1690
in
Erfurt,
briefly
as
organist
in the
Thomaskirche,
and
for
three
or
four
years
as
a
pupil
of
Johann
Pachelbel,
whose
tutelage
provides
a
plausible
context
for
Johann
Christoph
(22)'s
composition
of
the
variations.Variationtechnique playsan importantrole in Pachelbel's
music,
figuring
in
chaconnes
and
passacaglias,
in
variations
on
chorale
melodies
(like
those
in
the
Musicalische
terbens-Gedancken,
rfurt,
1683),
and
in
sets
of
variations
on
arias
transmitted
in
manuscript
and
published
in
his
Hexachordum
pollinis
Nuremberg,
1699).5
47
Marcus Furius
Camillus
and
Lucius
Furius
Camillus:
see The
New
Encyclopedia
ritannica,
hicago,
1995.
48
Grande
izionario
nciclopedico,
urin,
1994. If
the
term
was
applied
symbolically
to
servers
or
other
boys
who
assisted
with
moder
services,
t
could refer
to
anyone.
49
See
Winton
Dean,
'Handel
and
Bononcini:
Another
Link?',
The
Musical
Times,
xxxi
(1990),
412-13.
s0
See
Franz
Stieger,
Opernlexikon,
utzing,
1975.
5s
Christoph
Wolff
pointed
out to
me
the
parallel
between
this
aria
with
variations or
a
'sleeping
Camillo'
and
Forkel'sclaimthatJ. S. Bach's
Goldberg
Variationswereconnected
with
Count
Hermann
Carl
Keyserlingk's
nsomnia.
What
this
might
say
about
the
authorship
of
the
Eberliniana
variations
s not
clear.
2
Schulze,
'Johann
Christoph
Bach',
pp.
77ff.
5 See
ibid.
4
See
the
work-list n
Ewald
V.
Nolte,
'Pachelbel,
Johann',
The
New
Grove,
iv.
53,
and
Johann
Pachelbel:
lavierwerke,
ed.
Max
Seiffert
&
Adolf
Sandberger
'Denkmiler
der
Tonkunst
in
Bayern',
i),
Leipzig,
1901.
355
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8/9/2019 Johann Christoph Bach
13/22
Variation
technique
is also
prominent
n the
surviving
music of
Pachelbel's
pupils.
Chorale
variations
by
several of them are
known,
and Buttstedt's
Musicalische
lavier-
Kunst
Leipzig,
1713)
ncludes
an
aria with twelvevariations.55
he
document closest
to
Pachelbel's
Erfurt
eaching,
Johann
Valentin
Eckelt's
ablature,
containsno
variations,
but
the
Mylau
Manuscript
contains
twelve
sets,
including
four
by
Pachelbel and one
by his pupil Nicolaus Vetter.56ohann Jacob de Neufville's Sex melea [ive]Ariaecum
variationibus
n.p.,
preface
dated
1708)
contains
five
arias with variations ollowed
by
a
ciaccona,
and
it is
not difficult
to see it as an emulation of his teacher's Hexachordum
Apollinis,
which consists
of six sets of
variations,
he last the 'Aria Sebaldina'.57
Pachelbel's
pupils
composed
variations
of the
type represented by
the Aria
Eberliniana
and
A minor
variations,
and
Johann
Christoph
22)'s
study
withPachelbel
provides
a context
for his
authorship
of
pieces
like
them.58
We should also note that
Pachelbel's
path
often crossed
with that
of his
Nuremberg compatriot
Eberlin,
which
could
account
for
the Eberlin
reference in
a
composition by
his
pupil.
There
is
no
reason
why
the Bach
variations
ould not
be the
work
ofJohann
Christoph
13),
but
in
Johann Christoph(22), especiallyin the light of his studywith Pachelbel,we have an
equally
plausible
candidate.
One
reason
that this
possibility
has
been little considered s that
Johann Christoph
(22)'s
authorship
would
actually
create
a
historiographic
problem.
Historians
have
debated
the
relation
between the
Dutch,
Italian and Viennese variation raditions
and
the
cultivation
of
variations in
central
Germany, especially
in
Thuringia
among
Pachelbel
and his
pupils.
In
particular,
hey
have wondered where Pachelbel
learnt
variation
echnique. Spitta,
speaking
mostly
of chorale
settings, proposed
that
Johann
Christoph
Bach
(13)
had
influenced Pachelbel.59
He held the view that Pachelbel
himself,
great
as he
was,
had
had little influence on the Bach
family,
which was
'too
innatelyindependenteverto give itselfup entirelyto any externaldirection',and no
perceptible
nfluence
on
Johann
Christoph
(13).60
The
influence,
according
to
Spitta,