Famous composers and their works, Vol. 1

by Unknown

But if the drawbacks connected with Bach's stay in Leipsic are undeniable and deserving of the conspicuous mention which they have heretofore received, the question on the other hand might well be raised in what locality of the Germany of that day he could have found a position commensurate with his genius. He was not adapted by nature for a brilliant princely court like that of Dresden; there the opera and Italian singing were all in all; appreciation was lacking both for his organ music and his church cantatas—at the very most he was recognized as a virtuoso. And this would have been equally the case if his compositions had been less profound and earnest. He belonged in a place where he would come into constant communication with the Protestant church, and where, in case of need, he had means at hand for giving expression to his grand ideas. So far as such a place was to be found at all, Leipsic offered him perhaps a better field than any other of the larger German towns, and a wider sphere of action had become imperatively necessary for him, after the limitations imposed upon him at Weimar and Cöthen. The liturgy in the Leipsic churches, which even at the present day is comparatively rich, was then characterized by a fulness and variety scarcely inferior to that of the Catholics, and music was called into requisition in corresponding measure. Here was sufficient encouragement for the development of a many-sided activity. Bach's compositions, to be sure, were far above the comprehension of the Leipsic public. But a traditional respect for church music and their strong love for the Thomas choir furnished him at least with willing ears. As cantor of the institution, too, Bach was incontestably the first musical authority of the town, and the proud consciousness of this fact experienced by the artist, could not be even disturbed by the influence of the opera, then already established in Leipsic.[1]

The position occupied by Leipsic as a centre of traffic, especially at the time of the "Messen," or great fairs, heightened the importance of his office, and the strangers who poured into the town at such seasons bore away with them the fame of Bach. Few musicians came hither without seeking the acquaintance of the master, playing before him and begging the privilege of hearing him perform. If one reckons, in addition to these advantages, the material benefits derived from the position, which were sufficient to relieve a man of his simple habits from all wearing anxieties, a very comfortable picture is presented, the darker side of which is to be attributed rather to the deficiencies of the age than to the condition of affairs in Leipsic.

The twenty-seven years passed by Bach in the famous university town cover a period of prodigious activity in the composition of sacred vocal music. Works for the organ became more rare, since his calling brought him into no direct communication with that instrument. On the other hand, a series of magnificent works in the department of chamber music was written in Leipsic. For this his own home and the family life presented the strongest inducements, but about the year 1736, he also conducted a musical union composed of the university students, who assembled twice a week for practice. Journeys were at this time of frequent occurrence, especially to Dresden, where Bach had long possessed a wealth of friends and continually added to the number. In 1736 he received from the court in that city the title "Hof-Compositeur," and in 1733 his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedmann, secured his first position as organist at the Church of St. Sophia, in that city. During his travels in 1727, Bach was twice in Hamburg; his native province of Thuringia was not forgotten, and his relations with Weimar were renewed through the efforts of the successor of Duke Wilhelm Ernst. It is also certain that he paid at least one visit to Erfurt, one of the old gathering-places of the family. Between the years 1723 and 1726, he was frequently heard at the Saxon ducal court of Weissenfels and received from this court the title of Capellmeister, which he bore until his death. The last journey of which we have knowledge was undertaken in May, 1747, and directed to the court of King Frederick II. of Prussia, where, since the year 1740, his son Carl Philipp Emanuel had been established as chamber musician. The king resided in Potsdam and held here his regular "Musikabende," at which he himself played the flute in the circle of his musical friends. Hither Bach repaired on the 7th of May, accompanied by his son Wilhelm Friedemann, and here, through his playing, he aroused the admiration of the king, who himself gave a theme to work out on the clavier. The next day he performed before a crowded audience in the Church of the Holy Ghost, and on the same evening appeared again before the king at his palace, where, at Frederick's request, he improvised a six-part fugue. From Potsdam he went to Berlin and, among other objects of interest, visited the opera-house, built in 1743. After his return to Leipsic he employed the theme given him by the king as the basis of a series of artistic compositions of varying length, which he caused to be engraved and dedicated to Frederick, under the title: "Musikalisches Opfer."

During the last years of his life, Bach was several times drawn into literary controversies. One of his adversaries was Johann Adolf Scheibe, who, born in Leipsic in 1708, resided there as music-teacher till 1735 and then went to Hamburg, where he published a periodical to which he gave the title of "Critische Musikus." In this he attacked Bach on account of his confused and turgid style, which he characterized as both painful and ineffective, because it was opposed to common sense. Scheibe cherished a personal resentment against Bach, believing that he had judged him unjustly on the occasion of his candidacy for the position of organist at St. Thomas's Church in 1727. The attack caused great excitement and called forth a polemical discussion between Scheibe and Bach's friend, the university teacher, Johann Abraham Birnbaum, in which the former was finally worsted. After the lapse of some years, he seems to have realized that he had gone too far, and endeavored in his later works to efface the unfavorable impression produced by his immature criticism of the great artist. In 1749 the school rector, Biedermann, of Freiburg in Saxony, published a Latin treatise containing a warning to youth against an excessive devotion to music, as "easily leading to a dissipated life." In illustration of his theory, he cites a number of profligate characters, belonging to antiquity, and also dwells upon the small esteem in which the musicians of those days were held. The effect of this tirade was to excite the animosity of the whole musical profession, and Bach, whose pupil, Johann Friedrich Doles, was cantor of the Freiburg school, felt himself called upon to retaliate. He induced the organist Schröter to write a reply, which, however, did not appear in print until it had undergone a number of unwarrantable alterations, falsely attributed by the author to Bach himself. As a result of this, the latter was subjected to all sorts of annoyances, and though he did not defend himself with his pen, he was driven to do so through the medium of music. A Latin cantata, "Phöbus und Pan," which evidently referred to Scheibe's hostility, was composed by him in 1731 and performed by a society of musical students. At the time of the Birnbaum controversy, he again brought it to light, inserted a few appropriate allusions in the text, and produced it anew. He was not the man to suffer insult or see his cherished art defamed.

Bach had been nearsighted from his childhood and was afflicted in later years with a weakness of the eyes, which was doubtless occasioned by the strain of his night labors as a youth. An English oculist named Taylor, the same who afterwards treated Handel in London, came to Leipsic in the winter of 1749, and, yielding to the advice of his friends, Bach submitted to an operation, which proved unsuccessful and he became totally blind. Nor was this the only sad result, for the medical treatment prescribed at the same time completely undermined his hitherto unfailing strength. On the eighteenth of July he suddenly found his sight restored, but was, however, stricken with apoplexy immediately afterward, and on the evening of the 28th of July, he died. His work was continued until within a few days before the event, and a choral "Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit" ("Before Thy throne herewith I come"), which he dictated to his son-in-law, was his last composition. His funeral took place on the morning of the 31st of July in St. John's Church. Of the children left behind, two of the sons were taken in charge by their brothers and sisters, the others were already established in independent positions outside of Leipsic. The widow, who had three daughters to support, fell into poverty and lived finally upon public benevolence. It is an indelible stain upon the honor of the town of Leipsic that this was permitted.

BACH BEFORE FREDERICK THE GREAT.

From a painting of an ideal scene.

Together with his wonderful gifts as an artist, Bach united great clearness and acuteness of intellect, strength of will, a persistency which often amounted to obstinacy, the love for order and a high sense of duty. Like all artists, he possessed an irritable temperament, and was liable to passionate outbreaks, but in the main his demeanor was grave and dignified. Though conscious of his worth, he was free from arrogance. He provided generously for his family and his home life was a happy one, nothing affording him more pleasure than the little concerts which he conducted with his wife and children, assisted occasionally by talented pupils. If he sometimes manifested violent excitement when giving instruction to large school classes, he exercised great patience with individual pupils, and showed a happy faculty for teaching them. Instead of oppressing them by the excess of his genius, he drew them up to himself with words of friendly encouragement, and it is certain that he could hold up to them no better example than his own unwearied industry. Among the large number of distinguished artists trained by him are Johann Ludwig Krebs, Gottfried August Homilius, Johann Friedrich Agricola, Johann Philipp Kirnberger, Johann Theophilus Goldberg, Johann Gottfried Müthel; also his own sons, Wilhelm Friedemann, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and Johann Christoph Friedrich. The education of the last he was unable to complete. His latest pupil was Johann Christian Kittel, afterwards organist in Erfurt, who, through his great gifts as a teacher, kept alive in Thuringia for several generations the art of Sebastian Bach. He died in 1809.

The old inherited love of race was strongly characteristic of Johann Sebastian. We owe to him a manuscript genealogy of the Bach family, which is now preserved in the royal library at Berlin. The first number is from the hand of Sebastian himself, while the remainder of the work was performed by his son, Philipp Emanuel. The philanthropic and self-sacrificing spirit manifested by Bach towards his pupils was still more fully exemplified in the circle of his family. In the year 1707 he bestowed upon a cousin in needy circumstances a part of his slender salary. While in Weimar, he took into his house a son of his eldest brother, thus requiting the kindness which he had received from the latter as a boy. In Cöthen he devoted himself energetically and with true filial affection to the fulfilment of an honored relative's testamentary bequests, against his own interests and in opposition to the grasping demands of her next of kin. All that we know of Bach's life presents him to us in the light of a strong and noble nature and confirms us in the belief that the truly great artist must as a man always be profoundly worthy of our veneration.