Germany at that early period, the artistic excellence attained by this
family becomes all the more remarkable. Its musical promise was first
revealed in the time of the Thirty Years' War, and it was during the
second half of the seventeenth century, when the moral, intellectual
and material strength of the nation was at its lowest ebb, that the
promise was gloriously fulfilled. Simultaneously with the earliest
manifestations of activity in other provinces of intellectual life,
German music attained in Sebastian Bach a height so lofty that it has
never been surpassed, and from this fact two deductions may be drawn:
first, in spite of the sufferings consequent upon the Thirty Years' War,
there had remained implanted in the inmost hearts of the people a vital
germ of great productive power; and, second, the best of which the German
nation was capable in the first century after the war, found expression
through this family of artists. It is also noteworthy in respect to
the German people, that the first creative impulse by which they were
stirred was in the direction of music, and that, in the unsounded depths
of feeling from which this impulse springs, they found compensation for
the loss of those earthly possessions upon which unmerciful fate had
laid its destroying hand. Something like a law of nature is moreover to
be discovered in the fact that German musical art at that time, whether
ecclesiastical or secular in character, developed itself chiefly in the
instrumental line. The essential foundation of both these styles is
represented by the _Volkslied_, which must be regarded as the most direct
and unperverted utterance of the popular imagination. The _Tanzlied_, at
first sung by the people, but later always played, forms the fundamental
element of the instrumental music of that day. The ecclesiastical music
of the seventeenth century, however, that which alone has a right to the
name in the strictest sense, was developed in and through the science of
organ composition. Organ music, on the other hand, derived its greatest
inspiration from the religious form of the _Volkslied_, that is, from the
choral melodies of the Protestant church. If the ecclesiastical music of
the time reached a higher point of perfection than secular instrumental
music, it is because religion offers a broader field for art than any
other manifestation of civilized life. For it has everywhere aroused in
the heart that profound enthusiasm from which the creative artistic
impulse springs. Everywhere the great productions of ecclesiastical art
are animated by a freshness and spontaneity, which may be counterbalanced
by works of another class, but cannot be effaced by them. The end of
the Thirty Years' War was the beginning of a period in which, to such
of the German people as had retained in any degree the love of higher
things and the consciousness of a connection with the sheltering and
protecting power of God, religion must necessarily have appeared to be
the only secure possession in life. It was no joyous burst of gratitude
which stirred their souls, but from the depths of their misery they
looked upward, imploring help. The character of the church music which
originated at that time was at first tender and supplicating like the
prayer of an invalid, while later, under Sebastian Bach, it gained depth
and fervor, but retained its severity and earnestness, the outpouring of
a spirit strengthened by misfortune.
If the Bach family is to be regarded as a standard-bearer of culture
in the midst of a period of universal desolation, then it is not in
the least surprising that its members were greatly superior to their
environment, from a moral point of view. This may be explained in part
by the fact that many of them were in the service of the church; yet
even those who followed another calling revealed a wholesome soundness
of nature which stands out in sharp relief against the ruder manners
and moral laxity of their contemporaries. Repeated instances of their
unselfish devotion and conscientious discharge of duty under the most
trying circumstances have been handed down to us, and when we consider
the peculiar relation subsisting between members of their profession
and the passions of mankind, our admiration of virtues so rare and so
austere must necessarily increase. The musicians of that day followed the
fashion of all the industrial corporations by forming themselves into
a guild, and it was precisely as a guild that they became an object of
contempt on account of their extreme demoralization. The better sort, of
course, were aware of this, and in the year 1653 a society of musicians
was formed in Upper and Lower Saxony, for the purpose of protecting their
common interests and of promoting a higher order of morality. The Bachs,
however, did not find it necessary to join a union of this sort. With
them, the family traditions, so religiously respected, were more binding
than the most formal edict issued under the sanction of the Emperor
himself. It is surely not to be reckoned among the least of their merits
that they preserved their strong independence and integrity of purpose
in an age which had no conception of artistic dignity; furthermore, they
were citizens of petty states, at whose courts musicians were ranked
with lackeys, and for the most part treated as such when attached to the
service of the princely chapels.
Johann Bach had several sons, all of whom were musicians in Erfurt.
One of his grandchildren, Johann Bernhard Bach, became organist in
Eisenach and won a reputation as composer of organ and orchestral music,
but no other member of this branch of the family attained celebrity.
The descendants of Heinrich Bach, who himself was a fine organist and
excelled in composition, were however more prominent in the musical
world. His two sons, Johann Christoph and Johann Michael, took higher
rank as composers than any of the other ancestors of Sebastian Bach.
The former especially must certainly be pronounced the greatest motet
composer living at the close of the seventeenth century. Unfortunately
only eight of his motets are extant, but in these he shows himself worthy
to stand by the side of his predecessor, Heinrich Schütz, and his great
successor, Sebastian Bach. Johann Michael (born 1648, died 1694), while
inferior to his brother both as regards invention and execution, has
still much of the latter's fervency of feeling, and is distinguished by
a certain profundity of imagination. He confined himself to instrumental
composition more exclusively than Johann Christoph, and devoted himself
in addition to the manufacture of clavichords and violins. But few of
his instrumental compositions are now extant, and the twelve motets
which have been preserved give perhaps no just idea of his artistic
personality, taken as a whole.
In Christoph, the second of the three sons of Hans Bach, we behold the
grandfather of Sebastian. He also was the father of three sons, the
eldest of whom has been alluded to as having taken up his residence
in Franconia. The other two, Johann Ambrosius and Johann Christoph,
were twin brothers and resembled each other, both in appearance and
in character, to a degree which excited universal astonishment. Their
thoughts and modes of expression were identical; they played the same
instrument and in the same style. The sympathy between them is said to
have been so close that they shared each other's illnesses, and the elder
survived the death of the younger but a short time. Ambrosius Bach was
born in Erfurt in 1645, and there passed a portion of his youth, becoming
later a member of the public orchestra. In 1671 he removed to Eisenach,
where he acted as town-musician, his cousin, Johann Christoph Bach, the
before-mentioned important composer, being already established there as
organist. Here he died in January, 1694; and the youngest of his eight
children, consisting of six sons and two daughters, was to become the man
whose genius these lines commemorate. In order to afford a comprehensive
view of the connection between the different generations, a genealogical
tree of the Bach family is here inserted.
VEIT BACH
|
+---------------------------+-------------------------+
| |
HANS BACH (LIPS) BACH
| |
+--+----------+-----------------------+ |
| | | |
JOHANN CHRISTOPH HEINRICH WENDEL
| | |
+----------+-----------+ +-----------+ |
| | | | | |
GEORG JOH. JOH. JOH. JOH. JACOB
CHRISTOPH AMBROSIUS--CHRISTOPH CHRISTOPH MICHAEL |
| |
+--------------+-------------+ |
| | | |
JOH. CHRISTOPH JOH. JACOB JOHANN SEBASTIAN JOH. LUDWIG
Johann Sebastian Bach was born about one month later than Handel, in the
year 1685. Reckoning from the day of his baptism, originally asserted to
have been the 23d of March, we may assume his birthday to have fallen
on the 21st of March, O. S., a date corresponding to the 31st of that
month according to our present calendar. At the early age of ten, both
parents had been taken away by death, and it is probable that only
two of his brothers still survived. These were Johann Jakob, who was
then serving his musical apprenticeship, with a view to succeeding his
father, and Johann Christoph. The latter was already able to earn his own
living in the capacity of organist at Ohrdruf, a town in the vicinity
of Gotha, and took the little Sebastian under his personal charge, thus
separating him for years from the beautiful surroundings of his early
home. The necessary stimulus for developing the boy's talent was readily
supplied by the musical traditions of the family. His father, though
best known as a violinist, is reputed to have been a thoroughly educated
musician, and it is also certain that the influence exercised upon him
by his great-uncle, the Eisenach organist, was very strong. As was the
case in all places belonging to the protestant confession, where there
was no royal court, and no Italian singers were at hand, the principal
opportunity for the study of vocal music in Ohrdruf was afforded by
the _Schülerchor_, or pupil-choir. The youthful Bach possessed a very
beautiful soprano voice, and he assuredly belonged to this choir, then
composed of forty members, who, following an ancient custom, were in the
habit of marching through the town on certain appointed days, singing and
collecting money on the way.
Johann Christoph, the elder brother, was Sebastian's senior by fourteen
years. In 1686, he had been sent by his father to Erfurt, in order to
enjoy the instruction of Johann Pachelbel, one of the most eminent organ
composers of his time. Three years later he betook himself to Arnstadt,
where he discharged a portion of the duties belonging to the position of
his venerable great-uncle, Heinrich Bach. After the year 1690, he resided
in Ohrdruf, in which village he died in 1721. It was soon evident that a
higher order of ability than he could boast was required for the proper
unfolding of the youthful Sebastian's genius. The jealousy of Johann
Christoph was moreover excited by the fact that he saw himself in danger
of being cast in the shade by his younger brother, and notwithstanding
the burning desire of the boy to obtain them, he withheld from him a
collection of organ compositions by the most famous masters, copied
by himself. Sebastian thereupon managed to get possession of the
manuscripts, which he copied by moonlight--at least, so it is related. In
addition to the instruction received at home, he attended the gymnasium
in Ohrdruf. At Easter (1700) he left his brother's house and made his
way to Lüneburg, accompanied by a friend, Georg Erdmann by name, with
whom he continued to hold relations in after years. Both were entered as
matins scholars at St. Michael's School in Lüneburg. This institution was
especially devoted to the cultivation of music and attracted to itself
the youthful talent of Thuringia. Bach was at first enrolled among the
discantists, but soon manifested a capacity for so many branches of the
musical art that the remuneration received for his services enabled
him to remain in the school even after the loss of his soprano voice.
Before leaving Lüneburg, in the spring of 1703, he is said to have passed
successfully through every class, and to have improved to the utmost
every opportunity afforded him, even acquiring some proficiency in the
French language, a branch of instruction not yet generally introduced
into the German schools. All the more credit is due him for this, because
the musical duties of the pupils were manifold and often rendered
it impossible for them to pursue, with regularity, any literary or
scientific course of study. But Bach was not merely endowed with unusual
intellectual gifts; he devoted himself with unflagging perseverance to
the accomplishment of his ends.
[Illustration: BACH'S BIRTHPLACE AT EISENACH IN THURINGIA.
From a photograph by G. Jagemann.]
In the seventeenth century, Lüneburg occupied a prominent position in
North Germany as a center of cultivation for church music, and in this
connection St. Michael's Cloister, with its school, deserves no small
degree of praise. It was here the custom to celebrate the eighteen
festival days of the church in each year by rendering, with full
orchestral accompaniment, the music adapted to the several occasions.
If we count with these performances the others which were often given
by especial command, they would reach at least an annual aggregate of
from thirty-four to forty. On all intervening Sundays a motet was sung,
if nothing more. The abundant resources of the cloister had provided a
choice collection of musical works, both printed and in manuscript, among
which were to be found compositions by Heinrich and the great Johann
Christoph Bach, so that the fame of his family had preceded the young
Sebastian. A native of Eisenach, Johann Jakob Löw, a pupil of Heinrich
Schütz, was, moreover, acting as organist in the Church of St. Nicholas,
at Lüneburg. Bach probably made the acquaintance of this countryman of
his, who, however, was a man advanced in years, and perhaps no longer
able to interest himself in the newer methods of the youthful genius.
But there was another Thuringian at work in Lüneburg, upon whom nature
had bestowed an original creative mind, and who was then in the prime of
life. This was Georg Böhm, at that time organist of St. John's Church,
and previously a resident of Hamburg, where he became interested in the
Northern school of organ music. The names of the many superior artists
belonging to this school have only recently been rescued from oblivion.
Their chief claim to distinction does not rest upon what they were able
to accomplish in the line of compositions for the organ, or their skill
as performers; it is mainly based upon their influence in the development
of the _suite_, which may be defined as a secular instrumental form.
Some of the most eminent of these artists were Johann Adam Reinken
and Vincentius Lübeck in Hamburg, Dietrich Buxtehude in Lübeck, and
Nikolaus Bruhns in Husum. Böhm had studied with great interest the
peculiarities of this school and showed himself able to combine with
them such knowledge of musical forms as he had managed to acquire in
his Thuringian home. At the same time, he did not remain insensible to
the piquant charm of the French school of pianoforte music, which rose
into prominence at the end of the seventeenth century. He had himself
made successful attempts at clavier music, and something of the French
manner had crept into his organ compositions. It was easy to account for
this, since he lived in the neighborhood of the town of Celle, where
clavier music was actively cultivated. At this time Duke Georg Wilhelm of
Lüneburg-Celle, the last descendant of the royal line of Guelph princes,
was a resident of the place and had provided for the exclusive adoption
of French music in all the services conducted in the royal chapel. From
these elements the highly gifted Böhm formed his extremely characteristic
style, and produced such an impression upon Bach that he wrote a number
of still-existing organ compositions, which might easily be mistaken for
the work of the older master. And not only this; he went directly to the
sources from which Böhm had drawn, making repeated pedestrian journeys to
Hamburg and Celle, where he acquired fresh artistic impressions, which he
turned over and over in his mind with unceasing energy.
After the brief course in the elements of music which had been given
him by his brother, Bach had, properly speaking, no second instructor,
nor did he require one. Herein is plainly seen the inestimable boon
conferred upon him by his ancestors, who had so definitely pre-determined
the sphere of his activity that any departure therefrom would have been
scarcely possible. But there must also be taken into account his own
great executive power, and the untiring industry with which he not only
developed his technical skill as clavier, organ and violin player, but
also continued to perfect himself in the art of composition. We learn
from his son that he often worked through the whole night in order to
satisfy his ardent desire for knowledge.
At Easter, 1703, Bach left St. Michael's in order to devote himself
entirely to the profession of music. Had his means permitted, he would
probably have been glad to enter a university, as was then customary
with rising musicians, and as many of his cousins had done before him.
But he was poor and obliged to earn his bread. Returning to Thuringia,
he obtained a situation as organist at the ducal Saxon Court of Weimar,
where, however, he only remained a few months. An organ had recently been
added to the New Church at Arnstadt, and just at this time the instrument
was completed. Notwithstanding his youth, Bach must have already acquired
great fame as an organ player, for he was summoned to try the instrument
and to play upon it on the occasion of its first employment in a church
service. This happened in July, 1703. His performance seems to have made
a profound impression on the citizens of the place and advantageous
offers were made with a view to securing his services as organist for
the New Church. He decided to accept them, severed his connection with
Weimar, and entered upon his new duties on the 14th of August. It was
thus that the boy of eighteen now became an inhabitant of the little
town so especially endeared to him through long family tradition. In
order to convey an idea of the style of living in which artists like
himself were able to indulge at that time, let it be here recorded that
his yearly salary amounted to about fifty-seven dollars. This sum was
so much more than sufficient for his needs, that after a few years he
not only had money enough to spare for a journey of some length, but was
also able to render aid to an indigent cousin. The outside obligations
imposed by his position were very few. He played the organ three times a
week and gave instruction in singing to a small pupil-choir, but here
his labors as a teacher ended. The New Church did not rank as the first
in Arnstadt, that position being maintained by the Franciscan Church,
where the principal choir of singers rendered the music for which Bach's
pupils were in process of preparation. The town was then the residence
of Count Anton Günther, of Schwarzburg, a man who interested himself in
music in many ways, and supported a small chapel, to which he gave as
leader an important musician, Adam Drese. For the court performances
it was customary to demand the aid of every inhabitant of the region
who possessed any skill as instrumentalist or singer, and it is quite
possible that Bach's services also may have been called into requisition.
Here, in any case, he found ample leisure for continuing his studies. The
only artists in the place were men of mediocre ability who could teach
him nothing; but he had brought with him from Lüneburg a rich experience,
together with a full supply of musical works, forming a treasure-house
from which he was able to draw for two whole years. A portion of his
own compositions for the clavier and organ, belonging to this period,
are of the highest importance. In the year 1704, he completed a work
for the clavier, which possesses a biographical interest from its
connection with his brother, Johann Jakob. The latter had enlisted as
oboist for the body-guard of his Swedish majesty, Charles XII., made
the Russian campaign in the king's service, and, after the battle of
Pultawa, accompanied him to Bender. From this point he afterwards went,
by way of Constantinople, to Stockholm, where he died in 1722, probably
in consequence of his superhuman exertions during the campaign. On
his departure from home, Sebastian composed a "_Capriccio sopra la
lontananza del suo fratello dilettisimo_," which is also known under its
somewhat more familiar German title: "Capriccio auf die Abreise eines
Freundes." It is divided into five parts, with explanatory programme, as
follows: I., "Persuasion of the friends, endeavoring to deter him (the
brother) from undertaking the journey"; II., "Various casualties which
might befall him in foreign lands"; III., "A general lamentation by his
friends"; IV., "The friends, because they see it cannot be otherwise,
come to take leave"; V., "The Postillion's Aria." At the end is a long
fugue, the theme of which is the call of the post-horn. The whole work
shows decided skill in composition and marked originality.
[Illustration: JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
_Drawing by Sidney L. Smith, after the monument in Eisenach, by A.
Donndorf._]
In the autumn of 1705, Bach determined to give the finishing touch to
his musical culture by studying for a short time with Dietrich Buxtehude
in Lübeck. Buxtehude was a Dane, born in 1638 at Helsingförs, on the
island of Seeland, and consequently an old man at that time. Towards
the middle of the seventeenth century, he came to Lübeck and became
organist of Saint Mary's Church. The position was one of the finest in
Germany, not only on account of the very considerable income it afforded,
but also because of its magnificent organ and the favorable musical
conditions prevailing in the place. Buxtehude is to be regarded as the
founder of the "_Abendmusiken_," musical performances on a grand scale,
which took place in the church, between four and five o'clock in the
afternoon, on the five Sundays preceding Christmas. On these occasions
he distinguished himself as an organ virtuoso and often presented his
own vocal compositions. Bach had formed his travelling plans with direct
reference to spending the period of the Abendmusiken in Lübeck. Towards
the end of October, he asked for a few weeks' leave of absence, and
undertook, with the help of the money saved from his salary, to make the
long journey of fifty German miles on foot. Arrived in Lübeck, there
is no doubt that he at once entered into close personal relations with
Buxtehude. So completely, indeed, did he fall under the spell of the
artist, that he forgot all the duties of his office and trebled his leave
of absence, returning to Arnstadt on the 21st of February. Perhaps it lay
only with himself to decide upon settling permanently in Lübeck. It was
often the case with regard to the positions of organist, cantor and the
like, that the sons-in-law of the incumbents, in wooing their wives, had
at the same time sued for the office of the father. Buxtehude had himself
pursued this course, and, as his children were all daughters, he wished
to see the husband of the oldest in the person of his successor. In the
year 1703, Handel, who had then just come to Hamburg, paid a visit to
Buxtehude. He had probably wished to ascertain whether the place was a
desirable one for himself, since it was evident that the venerable artist
had not long to live. But the marriage which was made a condition of
the contract presented too few allurements. Bach may have held the same
opinion, or else, as is more likely, he was already bound to his native
province by ties of strong affection.