[69] P. iii, 7; B.-G. xv, p. 276. This work also bears the title of Toccata. It presents the peculiarity of being divided into four movements, whence, possibly, this designation, concertato, which accompanies it in one of the MSS. It is essentially an imitation of Buxtehude's compositions in several movements.
[70] P. iv, 3; B.-G. xv, p. 88.
[71] "It is not necessary," says Mattheson, "to indicate the degree of rapidity of an alla breve; these words suffice to animate the most sluggish brain, to make supple the heaviest of hands. For example, it is like 'clucking' to a horse."—Grosse Generalbass-Schule, Hamburg, 1732.
[72] P. iii, 5; B.-G. xv, p. 112.
[73] P. viii, 5. These works are part of the collection of G. Pölchau, a well-known musician of Hamburg in the last century.
[74] Born in 1663, Duke Wilhelm Ernst reigned from 1683. Early becoming a widower, and left without children, he adopted a somewhat retired mode of life, as we may judge. At the palace, "Wilhelmsburg," everyone had to retire at nine o'clock in summer and eight in winter. He evinced a marked taste for theological studies and discussions; in 1710 he brought together in a synod one hundred pastors, and he built or repaired a number of churches and seminaries. He was also interested in numismatics. This austerity was in some degree tempered by concerts, whose programs were performed (J.O. Köhler tells us, Historische Münzbelustigung, Nuremberg, 1730) by sixteen picked musicians, dressed in Hungarian costume (Bach en tzigane!). Further, the duke built a theatre in 1696; the patronage accorded to the troupe of Gabriel Möller, "Hofcomödiant" (court comedian), was not of long duration; it had already ceased in 1709.
[75] Prince Johann Ernst was of a weak constitution; he died in 1715, at the age of nineteen years, and the only way he could make his insomnia bearable was to keep with him in his room during entire nights Walther, his music teacher, who would play for him his favorite pieces.
[76] Johann Gottfried Walther was born in 1684, and from 1707 held the position of town organist in Weimar. Not only was he a good musician, but he was also a theoretician of merit; while he learned from his friend Bach the principles of the old school of Sweelinck, the traditions of which had descended through the teachings of Reinken and Buxtehude (see J.G. Walther als Theoretiker.—Study by Gehrmann in the Vierteljahrschrift für Musikwissenschaft, 1891), Bach, on the other hand, was able to obtain other advantages from this interchange; Walther was remarkably well-schooled in harmony, and from his thorough knowledge, of long standing, of Italian chamber music, he undoubtedly was not indirectly connected with these new studies of Bach's.
[77] I am not speaking of virtuosos. We know with what astonishment Corelli, the great Italian violinist, listened to the playing of Nikolaus Strungk of Celle: "I call myself arcangelo," said he to the latter, "but you deserve the title of arcidiavolo." And we must not forget the old musician, J. Franz Biber, who was born in 1638 and died at Salzburg in 1698, and who exerted a perceptible influence upon the creation of the violin sonata.
But what the Germans sought was not, let me repeat, within the domain of that expressive instrument; they could not be content with simple melody, they must have complete harmony. And so we learn that Bruhns (the remarkable organ-pupil of Buxtehude, and an exceptionally talented violinist) would seat himself before the pedal of an organ, violin in hand, and would play in four parts—the bass with his feet, the other parts upon his violin.