[1] Its first use is to be found in the opera of “Enea,” performed at Genoa in 1676. Before 1680 it was universally adopted.
[2] It is noteworthy that in this volume occur for the first time the musical terms “adagio,” “piu adagio,” “affetuoso,” “presto,” and “allegro.” In the “Cantate da Camera a voce sola,” published at Bologna (1677) by Gio. Bat. Mazzaferrata, the terms “vivace,” “largo,” and “ardito” are also found for the first time.
[3] Geminiani used to relate that Franceschelli, a celebrated performer on the violoncello at the beginning of this century, accompanied one of these cantatas at Rome so admirably, while Scarlatti was at the harpsichord, that the company, being good Catholics, and living in a country where miraculous powers have not yet ceased, were firmly persuaded it was not Franceschelli who had played the violoncello, but an angel that had descended and assumed his shape.—Burney’s History, vol. iv. p. 169 (1789).
[4] Doctor Arbuthnot, in a humorous pamphlet called out by the operatic war, entitled “Harmony in an Uproar,” calls Handel the Nightingale, and Porpora the Cuckoo.
[5] It is curious to remember that the sacred cantatas were not composed for universal fame or for a musical public, but for the use of congregations who probably looked on them as a necessary part of the service, and thought little about the merits of their composition. In those days art-criticism was in its infancy, and they were scarcely noticed beyond the walls of Leipsic till after the composer’s death.—Bitter’s Life of Bach.
[6] Handel’s Second German Passion, as it is now generally called, differs entirely from the earlier Passion according to St. John, and bears no analogy at all to the Passion Music of Sebastian Bach. The choruses are expressive or vigorous in accordance with the nature of the words; but none exhibit any very striking form of contrapuntal development; nor do they ever rise to the grandeur of the Utrecht Te Deum or Jubilate.—Rockstro’s Life of Handel.
[7] The following list of cantatas by Americans hardly sustains Mr. Barnard in his assertion that there are but a few of them: Baker, B. F., “Burning Ship;” “Storm King.”—Bechel, J. C., “Pilgrim’s Progress;” “The Nativity;” “Ruth.”—Bradbury, W. B., “Esther.”—Brandeis, F., “The Ring.”—Bristow, G. F., “The Pioneers;” “No More.”—Buck, Dudley, “Don Munio;” “Centennial;” “Easter Cantatas;” “The Golden Legend;” “Light of Asia;” “Voyage of Columbus.”—Butterfield, J. A., “Belshazzar;” “Ruth.”—Chadwick, G. W., “The Viking’s Last Voyage.”—Damrosch, Leopold, “Ruth and Naomi;” “Sulamith.”—Foote, A., “Hiawatha.”—Gilchrist, W. W., “Forty-sixth Psalm;” “The Rose.”—Gleason, F. G., “God our Deliverer;” “Culprit Fay;” “Praise of Harmony.”—Hamerik, A., “Christmas Cantata.”—Leavitt, W. J. D., “The Lord of the Sea;” “Cambyses; or, the Pearl of Persia.”—Marsh, S. B., “The Saviour;” “King of the Forest.”—Paine, J. K., “Œdipus Tyrannus;” “The Nativity;” “Phœbus, Arise;” “Realm of Fancy.”—Parker, J. G., “Redemption Hymn.”—Parker, H. W., “King Trojan.”—Pratt, S. G., “Inca’s Downfall.”—Root, G. F., “Flower Queen;” “Daniel;” “Pilgrim Fathers;” “Belshazzar’s Feast;” “Haymakers;” “Song Tournament;” “David.”—Singer, Otto, “Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers;” “Festival Ode.”—Trajetta, Philip, “The Christian’s Joy;” “Prophecy;” “The Nativity;” “Day of Rest.”—Whiting, G. E., “Dream Pictures;” “Tale of the Viking;” “Lenora;” and many others.
BACH.
Johann Sebastian Bach, the most eminent of the world’s organ-players and contrapuntists, was born at Eisenach, March 21, 1685, and was the most illustrious member of a long line of musicians, the Bach family having been famous almost from time immemorial for its skill in music. He first studied the piano with his brother, Johann Christoph, and the organ with Reinecke in Hamburg, and Buxtehude in Lübeck. In 1703 he was court musician in Weimar, and afterwards was engaged as organist in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen. In 1708 he was court organist, and in 1714 concert-master in Weimar. In 1718 he was chapel-master to the Prince von Köthen, and in 1723 was appointed music-director and cantor at the St. Thomas School in Leipsic,—a position which he held during the remainder of his life. He has left for the admiration of posterity an almost endless list of vocal and instrumental works, including cantatas, chorales, motets, magnificats, masses, fugues, sonatas, and fantasies, the “Christmas Oratorio,” and several settings of the Passion, of which the most famous are the “St. John” and “St. Matthew,” the latter of which Mendelssohn re-introduced to the world in 1829, after it had slumbered an entire century. His most famous instrumental work is the “Well-tempered Clavichord,”—a collection of forty-eight fugues and preludes, which was written for his second wife, Anna Magdalena Bach, to whom he also dedicated a large number of piano pieces and songs. His first wife was his cousin, Maria Barbara Bach, the youngest daughter of Johann Michael Bach, a composer of no common ability. By these two wives he had twenty-one children, of whom the most celebrated were Carl Phillipp Emanuel, born in 1714, known as the “Berlin Bach;” Johann Christoph Friedrich, born in 1732, the “Bücheburger Bach;” and Johann Christian, born in 1735, who became famous as the “London Bach.” Large as the family was, it is now extinct. Bach was industrious, simple, honest, and God-fearing, like all his family. He was an incessant and laborious writer from necessity, as his compensation was hardly sufficient to maintain his large family, and nearly all his music was prepared for the service of the church by contract. The prominent characteristics of his work are profound knowledge, the clearest statements of form, strength of logical sequences, imposing breadth, and deep religious sentiment. The latter quality was the outcome of his intense religious nature. Upon everyone of his principal compositions he inscribed “S. D. G.,” “to the glory of God alone.” He died July 28, 1750, and was buried at Leipsic; but no cross or stone marks the spot where he lies. His last composition was the beautiful chorale, “Wenn wir in höchsten Nöthen sein,” freely translated, “When my last hour is close at hand,” as it was written in his last illness. The only record of his death is contained in the official register: “A man, aged sixty-seven, M. Johann Sebastian Bach, musical director and singing-master at the St. Thomas School, was carried to his grave in the hearse, July 30, 1750.”