BACH NOTESThe Journal of the London Bach Society

Top Left: Mahan Esfahani solo Harpsichordist Top Right: Jane Gordon - A rising star directing Steinitz Bach PlayersBottom Left: Nick Pritchard (tenor) - LBS Bach Singers Prizewinner Nick writesThe Bach Society’s emphasis on creative programming and deep exploration of the vast repertoire by JS Bach in preparation for the competition was a huge incentive for taking part in the first place. That coupled with the chance to perform alongside the wonderful Steinitz Players and other young, talented and inspiring Bach singers represented a humbling opportunity, which altogether was an incredible experience. Huge thanks to all at the London Bach Society”

Spring 2014

Sir John Tavener

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Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Revolutionary or just another town musician?

Town musicians in 17th and 18th century Germany were key figures in one sense, but classed as mere servants in another. They often occupied important

posts at main churches and were expected not only to provide the music for the weekly services, but for civic occasions too. Some employers were better than others, some posts more favoured and some environments more conducive. Whatever… but by their very existence, these positions created opportunities for the occupants to set down musical markers, promote the latest compositional styles, influences, and provide collections of works that, by good fortune and the research of eagle-eyed scholars, remain constant sources of study, curiosity and uplift today. The CPE Bach Estate is one such collection.

Joh. Seb. Bach had just been appointed Kapellmeister at Weimar when the latest addition to the family arrived on 8 March 1714; he was named Carl Philipp Emanuel. It was a relief that the third son born to Maria Barbara survived, for just a year earlier twins Johann Christoph and Maria Sophia both died within the month. Emanuel’s Godparents included Bach’s great friend Telemann and from the outset, like his older brother Wilhelm Friedemann1, Emanuel was surrounded by music and destined surely to follow in the footsteps of his Father.

Solid education at LeipzigE m a n u e l B a ch’s m u s i c a l education was given entirely under the tutelage of Johann Sebastian. He was nine years old when the Bach family left their lodgings at Cöthen2 to travel to Leipzig in 1723 where Bach was to take up a new position as Cantor. The young Bach then entered the city’s

Thomasschule and became a member of the Thomaner,

enabling him to become steeped in Leipzig’s musical traditions from an early age. Detailed keyboard study would have formed part of his musical education and he displayed a natural facility. Indeed his consummate ability matured to such an extent that, while the name and repute of Joh. Sebastian Bach was revered, CPE’s reputation would eclipse his Father’s in the mid to late 18th century, as fashion, taste and style moved on from the baroque into what we refer to as the ‘classical’ period. First though, and in order to get on in life, the acquisition of an appropriate social status was deemed essential. Therefore a University education beckoned and Emanuel first studied Jurisprudence3 at Leipzig, then Law at Frankfurt-am-Oder, gaining his degree in 1738 at the age of 24.

After that he was off to Berlin…

At a glittering Court (1738-1768)His Law studies completed, Emanuel returned to music

and gained employment as Harpsichordist at the Court of Crown Prince Frederick4 (pictured) at Berlin.

He became immersed in the city’s rich cultural life with fellow musicians Graun, Benda and Quantz in his circle of friends. Emanuel thrived. He used his position to enhance his standing as a keyboard player and as a significant composer for the instrument. His “Württemberg” Sonatas for the Duke of Württemberg, dated 1744, the year of his marriage to Johanna Maria Dannemann, are a very fine example among a list of keyboard works as long as your arm (sonatas and concertos) backed up by the influential treatise “An Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments” (Versuch über die wahre Art des Clavier zu spielen) published in 1753. This placed CPE Bach at the forefront of keyboard music and instruments on the Continent – composer, performer and innovator; some say revolutionary. However, Emanuel’s skill as a composer was not confined to the keyboard and a significant work to emerge from his Berlin years is a very fine Magnificat (1749), the influence of Johann Sebastian clearly in evidence and a portent of things to come during his next appointment, which was at the Hanseatic city of Hamburg from 1768.

To Hamburg (1768-1788)CPE Bach, by now a highly respected musician, succeeded Telemann5 as Director of Music of the five main city churches the year after his godfather died. This post was not dissimilar to that of Johann Sebastian’s at Leipzig where music for the weekly church services was required as well as duties to the city as ‘town musician’. In twenty years Emanuel composed nearly two dozen Passions, including six settings according to St. Matthew6, a substantial number of cantatas, numerous oratorios, and this little gem, the non-commissioned Heilig ist Gott (publ. 1779), a dramatic and extravagantly scored setting of the German Sanctus for solo alto, double chorus and double orchestra with no less than six trumpets. All this was in addition to the influential symphonies, numerous chamber works and Lieder. Public concerts also grew in popularity during his Hamburg years and CPE Bach not only directed his own works on these occasions, but other works, among them Handel’s Messiah, and the Credo from his father’s Mass in B Minor. It was a very full life.

CPE Bach and his Father’s legacyEmanuel Bach assumed responsibility for his father’s legacy in greater measure than his older brother, for which we have to be very grateful today. He saw to it that Die Kunst der Fuge (Art of Fugue) BWV 1080 was published. It was Emanuel, with Johann Friedrich Agricola, who wrote Bach’s Obituary in 1751 published in 17547. This important document is a Bach study in itself, still posing many questions for scholars to wrestle with today.

11710-17842The Court appointment Bach held from 1717-17233The Study and Theory of Law

4Later Frederick the Great51681-17676Several now lost 7See New Bach Reader pp.297-307 & pp. 395-400

It cannot have been easy being a son of ‘old Bach’, with numerous comparisons to endure no doubt. Emanuel’s career path certainly had similarities with that of Johann Sebastian’s. At one time or another both held positions at a Princely Court and both were city church musicians, but in the 1740s for example, Johann Sebastian was approaching old age. He was occupied with ‘other forms of composition’, with publishing, clearly at odds with the church authorities, enjoying recognition from Royalty at Berlin (1747) that inspired the Musical Offering8 and from his peers at Mitzler’s Learned Society the same year for whom he provided the Canonic Variations9, compiling his Mass in B minor (1748/9) while probably suffering from catarracts.

Meanwhile, CPE was in his thirties and at Berlin. Fashion, taste and style were changing and while he inherited many of old Bach’s musical gifts, his innovative creative powers were leaning more towards a new era, the ‘classical period’, with the sonata form of the late baroque moving onwards and the emergence of the ‘classical’ symphony. He used effectively what he had learnt from his father, but Carl Philipp Emanuel was also a man of his time, a revolutionary? Mozart referred to CPE Bach thus “He is the Father; we are the children”. He was admired for the emotional intensity of his writing (Empfindsamer Stil) and powers of invention. He influenced Haydn and Beethoven too. Sadly, Emanuel Bach’s compositions soon fell into neglect in the 19th century, perhaps as the momentum gathered behind the movement to revive his father’s music.

Zelter collects for Berlin SingakademieA dedicated collector of CPE Bach’s manuscripts was Carl Friedrich Zelter

(pictured), the director of Berlin’s Singakademie and a tutor to Fel ix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. This institution owned the CPE Bach Estate that was ‘re-discovered’ later, along with the Old Bach Archive and other pieces10, in the State Archives at Kiev at the turn of the century..

“The recovery of the Archives of the Singakademie in 1999, includes the Hamburg Passions and cantatas once thought lost in WWII”. www.cpebach.org Miracles can happen!

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach died on 14 December 1788 and is buried at the Michaeliskirche in Hamburg.www.cpebach.de Margaret Steinitz

A New Bach Document discovered

Exciting news about the discovery of a new Bach document was announced last December. The latest discovery, a letter, relates to the

1740s, Bach’s final decade, his apparent absence from duties and the part a former Thomaner, Gottfried Fleckeisen, played ‘deputising’ as Cantor for two years ....../Continued in next column

From the Press Release…“An unknown document is discovered concerning a period of leave (“time out”) taken by the Cantor at the Thomaskirche, J S Bach.

A n a s t o n i s h i n g document, previously unknown, on Johann Sebastian Bach’s work as the Cantor of the Thomaskirche has been discovered in Döbeln by a member of staf f from the Leipzig Bach Archive. A letter written by one of Bach’s students proves that in later years the composer withdrew from his work as leader/conductor of the Leipzig church music. Until now little has been known about the last part of the Cantor’s life. The discovery was made by PD Dr. habil. Michael Maul at the end of the research project, “A systematic investigation of the lives and careers of Bach’s Thomaner”, which was started in 2012 on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the St. Thomas choir and was funded by the Gerd Henkel Foundation.”

The full text of the Press Release appears in an English translation on the London Bach Society’s website. www.bachlive.co.uk

8 BWV 1079 9 BWV 769 10 5,000 pieces in total

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The New Bach Edition (NBA),completed and available in 104 music volumes and 101 critical commentaries, is regarded as a work of musical scholarship of the rst rank. However, new sources have been discovered, new knowledge has been acquired and further editorial experience amassed.The Bach Archive Leipzig and Bärenreiter will therefore publish approx. 15 volumes or works in revised editions.

The New Bach Edition – Revised (NBArev) resembles the NBA in its outward appearance, but each volume now contains a more detailed foreword in German and English, as well as a concise critical report in German. State-of-the-art scienti c methods employed when examining Bach’s manuscript scores enable in-depth analysis of areas which have been destroyed or made illegible.

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Michael Maul (left) with Peter Wollny (centre) and the Leipzig Bach-Archiv team

John Tavener composer – a tribute 28 January 1944 – 12 November 2013

The news of John Tavener’s death on 12 November at the age of 69 was still a shock. His health was fragile for most of his life, yet he always seemed to rebound

from any setbacks. Many dedicated pages have been written since the announcement, tributes generously made and these will continue to flow throughout 2014, Tavener’s pre-planned 70th birthday year.

We had the privilege of knowing this sincere and charismatic creator from the very beginning of his career and proudly list a number of Tavener’s works as First Performances. Our commission11 was given in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 27 March 1968, a work based on the opening bars of Bach’s Mass in B minor and it made headlines. The B minor Mass was clearly a defining work and constant inspiration, for he turned to it several times in later compositions.

The Telegraph Obituary (13 Nov’13) recalled that Paul Steinitz and the London Bach Society choir gave Tavener’s first professional performance on 20 July 1964 in the Priory Church of St. Bartholomew-the-Great, West Smithfield. This came about in familiar fashion. A class student of Paul’s at the Royal Academy of Music, John came to an LBS concert in the early 1960s carrying a score to interest the conductor in giving the first performance. Impressed, Paul agreed; the work was John’s Three Holy Sonnets of John Donne. He was just 20 years old. The collaboration and friendship continued and John went on to enjoy national and international recognition, became a significant musical figure, a composer who could divide musical opinion as well as unite it; for or against, but never blithe indifference.

John Tavener’s funeral took place on 28 November last in Winchester Cathedral (pictured), the full panoply of a Greek Orthodox Service in which the Choral Foundation of Winchester directed by Andrew Lumsden also took part and the Dean read a lesson. It was presided over by Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain, the music a mix of Bach, Bruckner, Stravinsky and Tavener. Indeed the charged atmosphere was synonymous with similar Tavener musical experiences. I think of the 1970s London première of Ultimos Ritos12 for example and the funeral of Diana Princess of Wales, his Protecting Veil and Anthem “The Lamb”. The service ended with us all singing

Tavener’s simple setting of The Lord’s Prayer (1999) and as the coffin was carried sedately down the long nave followed by Lady (Maryanna) Tavener, his children Theodora, Sofia and Orlando, the choristers sang “Dona Nobis Pacem” from Bach’s Mass in B minor.

If I could describe the service in one simple sentence it would be to quote from the text “Blessed is the road on which you journey today, for a place of rest has been prepared for you.” John Tavener’s 70th birthday concerts planned for 2014 will have a new meaning now. We shall greatly miss our friend and Honorary Patron.Margaret Steinitz

BOOK REVIEWThe Creative Development of Johann Sebastian BachVolume II: 1717-1750Richard D P Jones Oxford University Press 237pp. Price £120

From that city of dreaming spires comes, long awaited, the second volume in the most comprehensive study of Bach’s musical

development now in print. The lofty price for the hardback aims at a must-buy acquisition by serious musicologists and librarians; the good news is that, as happened with the author’s translation of Alfred Dürr’s monumental Cantatas of J S Bach, a paperback will follow.

This book qualifies immediately as a towering work of outstanding musical analysis. Not since Phillip Spitta’s massive three volume efforts in the late nineteenth century, and not even in the German-speaking world in the last hundred years, has there been such an all-embracing study of Bach’s musical creativity, year by year; and with all the works grouped intelligently such that cross referential figurations, idioms, structures and musical devices are analysed and referenced.

The author’s practical musical knowledge has already surfaced, for example, (Volume I) in his original and precise structural decipherment of the Passacaglia and Fugue BWV582; here, gems of original thought abound in relation to the Cantata cycles, Passions and Oratorios; as well as late keyboard and instrumental works. Here also we find careful weighing of the impact of Bach’s contemporaries, the working out of the ideas of antecedents and the sophistication of once-denigrated parody techniques. Enquire within could be the subtitle.

Jones’s new volume continues also to be a valuable digest of the thoughts of other scholars; spanning the Cöthen years as well as Leipzig, it is a masterpiece of compression and precision, yet finds time to ventilate the most interesting aspects of Bach scholarship. At last we can read of Michael Maul’s fascinating thesis regarding a performance of the B Minor Mass in the Stephansdom in Vienna; and, little observed elsewhere, here is Andreas Glöckner’s observation regarding the sixth part of the Christmas Oratorio: originally a Cantata for the Feast of St Michael the Archangel.

Detail abounds but also direction: Jones amply shows Bach as consolidator of past styles, assimilator of the present, and progenitor of a new formalism in music in which, paradoxically, disruptive invention is dramatically empowered against structure. ....../Continued overleaf

11 Introit for the Feast of St. John Damascene (1968) 12 Based on Crucifixus from Bach's Mass in B minor BWV 232

BOOK REVIEW ...Bach scholarship in the last few decades has often moved to the peripheral; the influence of rhetoric; numerology; emblemata, and mysticism- all active and relevant factors. These elements we do not, however, hear or feel directly. By contrast, in this return to the objective core, the question of musical creativity, Dr Jones writes movingly of the heart of the matter for the listener, the subjective effect of Bach. Of the B Minor Mass: “The feelings of exaltation and uplift that

we experience upon entering fully into this sublime work are a measure of its power to reunite us with that which is of ultimate value”. That unifying process in Bach thus receives, in this volume, worthy tribute amongst its myriad analyses, exemplars, anecdotes and associations. Peter Smaill

An Investment Banker by profession, Peter Smaill is also Chairman and a Trustee of Bach Network UK. He maintains a lifelong study of the life and music of Bach. Read his latest in “Understanding Bach” 2013 on www.bachnetwork.co.uk

Bach and the affects of Wartime Introduction

It should never have happened! It crept up almost insidiously. The German Kaiser, awash with personal resentments, jealousies and burning ambition, had

been preparing for such a conflict for at least a decade. It took just a few shots fired in anger elsewhere, assassinating Archduke Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo July 1914, to trigger the series of Alliances between various European states that brought the boils that had been festering for years beforehand to a head. Lancing those boils would prove to be a protracted and bloody business, with millions on all sides slaughtered on the battlefields.

Britain declared war on 4 August 1914 after France was invaded and neutral Belgium overrun by the hefty German army. What followed the declaration was an outpouring of patriotic fervour in Britain like no other. Dancing in the streets. War parties. War Work was the new fashion; Army officers and the honest Tommy could not enlist quickly enough, as keen as mustard, after all we would push old Fritzy back to Berlin a bit

sharpish wouldn’t we and all be home by Christmas! Others were less optimistic. They were right.

Two centuries before that Bach’s life too was affected by wars and later, the survival of his music in the 20th century seemingly cast in greater doubt because of the extreme politics of its country of origin.

In a year that marks the centenary of the outbreak of World War I, the 75th anniversary of the start of World War II and the 25th anniversary of the Fall of the Berlin Wall, we shall contribute to the commemorations by recalling the affects of conflict in 17th and 18th century Germany. This and a survey of the survival and then revival of Bach’s music through WWI, WWII and Cold War years will feature in a special commemorative edition of Bach Notes published on 1 September. Margaret Steinitz

Catherine Ennis (pictured), RCO President for 150th

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Royal College of Organists and events to celebrate will be presented all over the country. The RCO’s longevity

is largely due to its ability to embrace change, explore new musical avenues and think ‘out of the organ loft’ but remain true to its origins. Today it can be justly proud of its national perspective, its Academy and greater reach.

“The Royal College of Organists is a multi-faceted charity and membership organisation whose professional and educational work is aimed at all who have interests in the organ and choral music. The College was established in 1864, the result of an idea by Richard Limpus, organist of St Michael’s, Cornhill in the City of London. His idea to form a body for the purpose of ‘elevating and advancing our professional status’ was enthusiastically welcomed by his colleagues, who elected Limpus as their first Secretary. It was always Limpus’s intention to obtain a Royal Charter, an ambition achieved in 1893 by his successor, Edmund Turpin.” www.rco.org.uk

LBS will be reflecting the 150th at the 2014 autumn Bachfest and a further article will appear in the September Edition of Bach Notes.

In the meantime – a very happy anniversary and many congratulations!

Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music 2014 16-24 MayThe Sixteen leads the pageant with Handel’s Coronation Anthems, Vox Luminis plumb the depths of Schütz and Purcell, The Hilliard Ensemble dazzle with J. S. Bach, Rachel Podger directs Vivaldi, and to crown the edifice, Laurence Cummings brings German forces to bear on Handel’s ‘Joshua’. www.lufthansafestival.org.uk Booking from Monday 3 February www.sjss.org.uk or telephone 020 7222 1061

Prince Leopold of Arnhalt-Cöthen, Bach’s employer

1717-1723

Military Parade in Berlin 1914

Leipzig Bachfest poster 1914

LBS BACH FRIENDS Passionate about Bach? The story of Bach, his music, life and times, opens up many exciting avenues to explore. Founded in 1946 by Bach scholar and conductor Paul Steinitz (1909-1988), London Bach Society is devoted to telling that story, from promoting the latest research to presenting high-class professional performances by leading artists at its annual Bachfest... and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! To help us promote our performances and educational programmes, we are sustained financially by a growing and greatly valued network of support. Why not join us? The Society’s 70th anniversary is in 2016…and we are going to celebrate. Full details are posted on the Bach Friends page of our website www.bachlive.co.uk

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St. John’s Smith Square London SW1P 3HA Westminster tube Friday 21 March 2014 at 7.30pm

LBS welcomes the brilliant harpsichordist MAHAN ESFAHANI to a special on Bach’s Birthday

“Celebrating CPE Bach’s 300th on J S Bach’s birthday”

Mahan Esfahani solo harpsichordWith Steinitz Bach Players directed by Jane Gordon

Joh Seb Bach/Esfahani Improvisation on Prelude BWV 823Joh Seb Bach Concerto in F minor BWV 1056C P E Bach Sonata in A flat major Wq.49/2 “Württemberg” (1744)Joh Seb Bach Concerto in D minor BWV 1052Joh Seb Bach Toccata in G BWV 916C P E Bach Concerto in D minor Wq.23

In the beautiful setting of St. John’s Smith Square, the exciting and engaging Iranian-American harpsichordist plays solos and concertos in celebration of Bach, Father and Son, sharing his thoughts with the audience in his own inimitable way. Mahan is a former BBC New Generation Artist now enjoying an international solo career.

Tickets: £28.00, £22.00, £18.00 and £12.00 From: The Box Office at St. John’s Smith Square 020 7222 1061 or online from www.sjss.org.uk

Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times “In this winning performance by the young American-Iranian harpsichordist, one is taken aback by the avant-garde effects and abrupt changes of tempo and mood. The sound of his instrument — a reproduction based on models by the Berlin court harpsichord-maker Michael Mietke (d 1719) — enjoys a wide-ranging spectrum of timbres in Esfahani’s dexterous hands, but it is the verve of his allegros and the affecting pathos of his slow movements that mark him out as a special interpreter of this fascinating composer’s music in his tercentenary year.”

Mahan’s recently released recording CPE Bach’s Württemberg Sonatas Hyperion (Album of the week) January 2014