Tag: BWV 557

playlist | Eight short preludes & fugues attributed to J. S. Bach (BWV 553–560)

The set of ‘eight short preludes and fugues’ discussed here date to the period 1730–50 (Williams) but for stylistic reasons are no longer judged to be the work of J.S. Bach himself (Durr, Lohmann, William). However, they still retain their place in the Bach Werke Verzeichnis (BWV), the official J.S. Bach catalogue, as numbers 553–560.

The first page of BWV 553. [Source: Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin ‘D-B Mus.ms. Bach P 281’]
The earliest surviving source of ‘the eight’ is one of five separately copied manuscripts that are bound together into a single volume containing 12 keyboard works: ‘the eight’ plus copies of  BWV 913.2; 718; 916; 735.1. It has been suggested that the scribe  was Bach’s great-nephew J.C.G.  Bach  (1747–1814) and that subsequently the whole volume was in the possession of J.S. Bach’s last pupil J.C. Kittel (1732–1809) (Lohmann, Williams). The manuscript volume was latterly owned by Georg Poelchau (1773–1836) who was an avid collector of Bach materials. Since 1841 the manuscript has been in the collection of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin as ‘D-B Mus.ms. Bach P 281’.

Linking this copy of  ‘the eight’ to the circle of J. S. Bach is  strengthened by the fact that the same supply of paper used  for it was also used in three sections of another Bach manuscript, ‘D-B Mus.ms. Bach P 803’, one of whose scribes has been identified as J.L. Krebs (1713–80) (Williams), a pupil of Bach. NB A now-lost manuscript of ‘the eight’ – scribe unknown – was once owned by Bach biographer J.N. Forkel (1749–1818) and then by a promoter of Bach’s work F.C. Griepenkerl (1782–1849). It was used to produce the 1852 C.F. Peters (of Leipzig) edition of ‘the eight’ and is likely to have been a copy of Poelchau’s manuscript. (Durr)

Style
Given that nowadays ‘the eight’ is merely “attributed” to Bach commentators have tried to identify alternative composers but with no clear consensus emerging beyond stylistic traits, e.g. Italian concerto (no.1); durezze (no.3); neo-galant (no. 4); toccata (no.5); southern fugal styles (nos. 1, 4, & 5). (Durr, Lohmann, Williams).

My own hypothesis (2022) is that ‘the eight’ is likely to be by a student or students of Bach, based upon ‘partimento’. This was a well-established system of musical pedagogy that Bach used to teaching composition at the keyboard. Broadly speaking, ‘partimento’ uses a pre-composed bass line containing sufficient indications for the student to create a complete composition. (Milka).

In ‘the eight’ can be found some (not all) elements strongly familiar with some of those in the partimento-collection “L’A.B.C. Musical” (c.1734)  by Gottfried Kirchhoff (1685–1746), a composer-organist known personally to Bach (Milka). See the two examples below. This implies that there  will be other (as-yet unidentified) generative sources for ‘the eight’.

Furthermore, it is worth noting that ‘the eight’ is not an ‘ad hoc’ assembly. As with  other early eighteenth-century keyboard collections its content is ordered by ascending key progression and the pairing of major and minors keys – most famously seen in Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier (BWV 846–93) – although in ‘the eight’ only one key is paired. Perhaps therefore ‘the eight’ is an incomplete Bach-student project planned to be a larger collection?

NB as its stands, the sequence of each piece’s tonic note forms the Mixolydian mode.

Performance
The attraction of this collection for me is not only that individual movements are useful in liturgical settings but also that the set, when played complete, makes a pleasing and varied baroque-period concert item.

In preparing these recordings of ‘the eight’ I have taken account of Baroque-period theory concerning the emotional character (affekt) of different musical keys, here pursuing a 1713 affekt-theory of the Hamburg composer and influential theorist Johann Mattheson (1681–1764). The instrument I am using is tuned according to the Baroque Werckmeister III system.

      1. C- major: … it has a rather hearty and confident character suited to the expression of joy.
      2. D-minor: … somewhat devout and calm, at the same time affecting, agreeable, and expressive of contentment … for the furthering of devotion in the church … ‘skipping’ music must not be written in it, whereas flowing music will be very successful.
      3. E-minor: … whatever one may do with it, it will remain pensive, profound, sad, and expressive of grief in such a way that some chance of consolation remains.
      4. F-major: … capable of expressing the most beautiful sentiments … generosity, steadfastness, love, or whatever else may be high on the list of virtues. It is natural and unforced when used to express such affects. It compares to a handsome person who looks good whatever he may do and who has, as the French say, ‘bonne grace’.
      5. G-major: … insinuating and persuasive … somewhat brilliant and suited to the expression of serious as well as joyful affects.
      6. G-minor: … almost the most beautiful key … rather serious combined with spirited loveliness, uncommon grace and affability … it lends itself well and flexibly both to moderate plaintiveness and tempered joy.
      7. A-minor: … somewhat plaintive, modest and relaxed … relaxing but not disagreeably so, These are qualities not immediately apparent in the free Stylus phantasticus manner of the prelude nor in the confident duple pulse of the fugue. While this music is neither ‘relaxed’ nor particularly ‘relaxing’ it has a plaintive quality, heightened by the sharp intonation of A minor in the baroque Werckmeister III temperament (tuning) of the instrument used here.
      8. Bb-major: … very diverting and showy … it can pass as both magnificent and graceful … it elevates the soul to greater things.

Playlist: click on any title to start the playlist.

References

  • Technical notes.
    – Edition: Johann Sebastian Bach Acht kleine Präludien und Fugen. Series: Barenreitr Urtext. (Kassel ; London : Bärenreiter 1990)
    – Temperament: Werckmeister III; pitch A=440    – Organ: Viscount Sonus 60
    – Microphone: Zoom Q2N-4K
    – Recordings: ©Andrew Pink (2022–23). All rights reserved.    Creative Commons licence: [Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International]

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