Bach's condition when he composed it, viewed as a lament amid the
terrors of death, or as a declaration of readiness to appear before
the throne of that God whose aid he invoked at the head of his
compositions.[147]
[Footnote 147: At the commencement of his compositions he wrote the
initials J.J. (_Jesu Juva_) or S.D.G. (_Soli Deo Gloria_).]
This chorale has been called the "Swan-song."
In completing this study we must mention the chorale-accompaniments
which Bach wrote to sustain the singing of the congregation, which
are found in a manuscript of Kittel (P. v, Appendix, Nos. 1, 3, 6, 7,
and last) and in a copy by Forkel (P. vi, 26).
They are quite different from those which he wrote in 1706, upon his
return from Lübeck, and which so scandalized the parish, confusing
the congregation by their ornamentation.
REGISTRATION AND ORNAMENTS OF BACH'S ORGAN WORKS
It is well known how important is the _rôle_ played in the execution
of organ music by the registration, and the skilful combination of
the keyboards.
Bach left but few directions upon this subject; but with their
aid, and the assistance of other hints derived from tradition or
found in works of that period, and by placing before the reader the
specifications of the principal organs which Bach may have had at his
disposal during his long career, we will try to form an idea of what
Forkel calls "the exquisite art with which he combined the various
registers of the organ, and his manner of treating them."[148]
[Footnote 148: _Ueber J.S. Bach's Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke._
Leipzig, 1802.]
And our task is now the more delicate, because we cannot draw
our conclusions from expressions which bore, at Bach's time, a
significance quite different from that which we ascribe to them
to-day. Furthermore, we would not lay down any absolute rules in
the matter, which in truth is, above all, subjective, the artistic
province of the executant. We shall simply point out what Bach
indicated in certain definite instances; and, on the other hand, that
which was customary at his time. In fact, in authoritative works of
the centuries just past, veritable methods of registration exist; and
without reverting to the documentary evidence (valuable, though too
concise), inserted _ad hoc_ by Scheidt at the end of his _Tabulatura
nova_ (Hamburg, 1624), we often find, at the head of pieces written
at the end of the seventeenth, or during the eighteenth century,
indications of the registration to be employed; given by composers
less discreet than Bach. Among the number are not a few Frenchmen,
and those men not to be despised; on the contrary, we shall prove
how Bach frequently borrowed from their highly picturesque art of
registration. No wonder if he provoked a renewed interest in their
original "mélanges."
He copied a suite in _A_ major by Nicolas de Grigny, organist at
Rheims, and a suite in _F_ minor by Dieupart,[149] and added to them
a table of twenty-nine ornaments, with their interpretation. And he
was acquainted with the works of Marchand, Nivers, d'Anglebert, and
particularly of François Couperin. I doubt whether the intrinsic
value of these compositions, despite their entertaining nature in
some cases (for instance, Couperin's descriptive pieces), succeeded
in holding his attention for any length of time; Bach could learn
nothing from their technique, so often elementary; but he knew how to
draw profit from their accessory qualities. Certain combinations of
registers seem to us, in fact, to have been directly inspired by the
study of their _livres d'orgues_, just as certain ornaments appear to
have been borrowed from the "_Agrémens_" of their clavecin pieces.
[Footnote 149: Dieupart, born in France during the last third of the
seventeenth century, was a remarkable violinist and clavecinist. He
went to England early in the eighteenth century, and, associated with
Clayton, introduced Italian opera at Drury Lane. After disasters
similar to those which later befell Händel, he renounced the theatre
and busied himself no longer with instrumental music. He died in 1740.
Of his compositions are extant: Six suites for the clavecin, divided
into Overtures, Allemandes, Courantes, Sarabandes, Gavottes, Minuets,
Rondos, and Gigues, composed and arranged for concert performance by
a Violin and a Flute, with a Bass Viol and an Archilute. (See Grove's
"Dictionary of Music and Musicians.") The prelude of Bach's first
English Suite was inspired by a passage in the _A_ major suite of
Dieupart.]
I
We have said that one must not invariably interpret, by their present
meaning, certain expressions whose significance is no longer the same
as when Bach wrote.
First of all, the term _Organo pleno_, sometimes the sole indication
given by Bach for preludes, fugues, or fantasies; one is often
tempted to interpret it, on modern organs, by calling into
requisition the uproar of all the registers combined, to whatever
family they may belong.
Let us see what was understood in Bach's time by _organo pleno_, or
_volles Werk_. "The _volles Werk_," says Mattheson,[150] "consists of
principals, Sordunen (the bourdons of to-day), salicionals, octaves,
quints, mixtures, _Scharffen_ (small-scale mixtures of three ranks),
of the quintadena, cymbale, nazard,[151] twelfth, sesquialtera,[152]
and of super-octaves; with the _Posaunen_ in the pedal, but not upon
the manual; for the _Posaunen_ are reeds, which are not drawn upon
the manual with full organ, where, on account of the higher pitch,
they would be too rasping; in the pedal, on the contrary, through the
sonority of their tones, they produce a majestic effect, especially
if the mouths of the pipes are covered, as is desirable."
[Footnote 150: _Der Vollkommene Kapellmeister_, Hamburg, 1739, §69,
p. 467.]
[Footnote 151: Mattheson says, _à propos_ of this stop: "The French
have given to the _Nachsatz_ (thus named on account of its high
pitch, in contrast to the _Untersatz_ of thirty-two feet) of the
Netherlanders, the designation _Nasard_ or _Nasarde_, 'a vulgar
expression, of which use is made in comedy or burlesque,' says
Boyer's dictionary."]
[Footnote 152: This register, composed of two ranks of pipes of tin
or of composition, is a compound stop. The longer pipe gives the
fifth of the octave, the shorter the third of the fifteenth; there is
thus the interval of a major sixth between the two ranks.]
In a former work, Mattheson had laid down the following rule for
omitting the reeds from the _ensemble_ of the registers:[153] "A
reed-stop may not be drawn with the flutes upon the same keyboard,
unless it be in the pedal." He makes an exception only in case the
organ is not sufficiently powerful to keep a choir from wandering
from the pitch and into chaos, when advantage must be taken of all
resources.
[Footnote 153: In _Das neu eröffnete Orchester_ (1717). Mattheson was
born in Hamburg in 1681; aside from his critical works on music he
was an organist of ability; he knew Buxtehude, becoming acquainted
with him in 1703. He even expected to succeed him, but renounced his
aspirations in this direction upon learning that in accepting the
position of the father he would be obliged to marry the daughter,
Anna Margaretha, born in 1669, and therefore much too old for him;
this was one of the conditions of the place, which also deterred
Händel from presenting himself as a candidate.]
The combination indicated above was, moreover, in accordance with
general usage;[154] it corresponded to what the French called the
_plein-jeu_. Nivers,[155] for instance, wrote: "The _plein-jeu_ is
composed of the Prestant, the Bourdon, the Doublette, the Cymbale,
and the Fourniture; to those may be added the other sixteen- and
eight-foot stops, if any there be; if there be no Prestant, the Flute
may be drawn."
[Footnote 154: Certain organists abused this powerful combination;
Adlung says, "There are many who, in playing the chorale or music in
general, know only the noise of the _plein-jeu_. One may be content
to continually wear the same clothes, but an organist who produces
the same sounds every day will render himself insupportable by his
monotony. In the chorale, in the last verse, one may play a little
louder, to remind the minister to prepare for the resumption of his
duties; especially in towns where it is no longer customary (as is
still the honored usage in some villages) to rap with a _bâton_ for
this purpose, as though one by force would arouse him from slumber."
_Anleitung zur musikalischen Gelahrtheit_, 1758.]
[Footnote 155: _Premier livre d'orgue_, 1665.]
The same combinations are found in Le Bègue, Clairembault, André
Raison. The last-named presents a curious example of the contrast of
the _plein-jeu_ to the reeds, in the "Kyrie in the first mode for the
_plein-jeu_ accompanied on the pedal by a _Trompette en taille_."[156]
[Footnote 156: _Livre d'orgue_, 1688.]
This absence of the reeds from the _volles Werk_, to which other
writers also bear witness, is, from a practical point of view, worthy
of perpetuation, especially if we consider the very considerable
place in certain modern organs occupied by this family, and the
intensity of _timbre_ due to their harmonic construction.
These registers were not numerous in organs of that time, at least in
Germany, and, it must be added, badly voiced; they were often nothing
but antiquated imitations of the thin and shrill _Regal_.
Andreas Werckmeister, known through his works upon the temperament of
tones as applied to the organ, wrote (_Orgelprobe_, 1681):
_Schnarrwerk
Ist unterweilen Narrwerk;
Ist es aber frisch und guth,
So erfrischt es Herz und Muth._[157]
[Footnote 157: "Reed-stops are often Fool-stops; but if they be clear
and bright, they are refreshing to heart and soul."]
In old-fashioned proverbial guise Werckmeister shows us quite
well what was expected from this class of stops; slow of speech,
of a sharp, cutting timbre, they would not have blended with the
foundation stops combined with the mixtures--an _ensemble_ which
lends extraordinary harmonic fulness to the polyphony when the
combinations are judiciously made. The reeds were fitted rather
to voice a serious and quiet melody, as a solo. Thanks to their
sometimes strange tones, which seem, as Goethe said, to herald the
advent of past centuries, echoes of supernatural voices, where the
human voice, with its individual character, would lose the power of
expression--the antique chorale-melody is illuminated, detached from
the accompaniment, and comes as from on high; it is the gold and
scarlet illumination of the missals, whereon the sacred words are
brought into relief, themselves devoid of ornament, in their regular
lines, but interlaced by ingenious arabesques of a softer tone,
almost effaced by the brightness of the whole.
One direction of Bach's proves that he adopted this usage: in No.
2 of the _Orgelbüchlein_ (_Gottes Sohn ist kommen_) the chorale is
played upon the eight-foot trumpet in the pedal; the chorale _In
Dulci Jubilo_, composed about the same time, undoubtedly demands the
same registration.
It is well known that these two chorales possess a pedal-part
extending unusually high (_F_ and _F_ sharp); this was the Cöthen
pedal. In playing them upon an ordinary instrument, Bach undoubtedly
played the pedal an octave lower, with a four-foot register. The
organs of that period usually contained a four-foot reed-stop on
the pedal, called a Cornet (which must not be confounded with the
mixture of that name), or a _Chalumeau_ (_Schalmey_), sometimes
even of two feet. This use of stops of a higher pitch in the pedal
was an old tradition; Samuel Scheidt availed himself of them in
playing the chorale, and we find them expressly called for in several
of six chorales published at Zella by Schübler, with the Bach
annotations.[158]
[Footnote 158: _Sechs Choräle von verschiedener Art auf einer Orgel
mit 2 Clavieren und Pedal vorzuspielen, verfertiget von Johann
Sebastian Bach, königl. Pohln. und Churf. Sächs. Hoff-Compositeur,
Capellm. und Direct. Chor. Mus. Lips. In Verlegung Joh. Georg
Schüblers zu Zella am Thüringer Wald._
These chorales are taken from the cantatas composed at Leipzig. They
are, however, only transcriptions; it is interesting in registrating
them to know their orchestration. In the chorale _Ach bleib' bei
uns!_ (B.-G. xxv, P. vi, 2) the melody is sung by the soprano,
accompanied by a _violoncello piccolo_, the _continuo_ sustaining the
harmony. In _Meine Seele erhebt den Herrn_ (_Magnificat_, P. vii,
42), the _continuo_ is played by the pedal, the parts entrusted to
the left hand corresponding to the duet between tenor and alto, while
the chorale (_dextra forte_) is executed in the score by the first
and second oboes and the trumpet.]
Besides the reeds--trumpet, _chalumeau_, clarion, or _vox
humana_--other combinations were permitted for the execution upon
one manual of an accompanied solo. Mattheson (_Der vollkommene
Kapellmeister_) gives us some examples; among others, the _viola da
gamba_ played alone, the eight-foot principal, and the cornet, the
Flauto traverso, the eight-foot bourdon, and a two-foot _Waldflöte_.
By their particular qualities, these different combinations of
registers, now in higher, now in lower relief, were suited to the
performance even of the chorales. In fact, it may be said that
without doubt the reeds were reserved, within the limits which
we have defined, for the joyous chorales of the feast-days; the
organists were governed by the necessity of adapting their manner
of playing to the joyful or mournful solemnities of the liturgical
year. "One plays much stronger at Easter," says Adlung,[159] "than
for the funeral service; for Good Friday one must, if possible, use
still more discretion." The employment of softer registers for the
more serious chorales, and for funeral chants, is also recommended by
Christoph Raupach, of Stralsund.[160]
[Footnote 159: _Musica mechanica organoedi_ (Langensalza, 1762).]
[Footnote 160: _Der vollkommene Kapellmeister_, part ii, chap. xxv.]
We know how Bach brought out the significance of these chorales,
interpreted with such supereminence, by the deft combination of the
parts. The execution of a design did not make him oblivious of the
interest attached to the coloring. We have already spoken of the
chorale _In dir ist Freude_; who knows whether Bach did not intend
still further to accentuate its joyous character by picturesque
registration? Adlung speaks of the _carillon_ (_Glockenspiel_) as
being particularly fitted to symbolize gladness; and says that
use was made of it only at the most joyous festivals. Mark the
spiritedness of this chorale; and, further, the repetition of the
_chaconne_ subject presented in the bass, singularly suggestive of
a chime of bells; and consider the period to which this composition
belongs, bearing in its form the distinct impress of the organists
of the North. Without serious error, could we not ascribe it to the
years 1708 or 1709, the time when Bach, occupied with the restoration
of the organ in Mühlhausen, wished to add, in the pedal, a _carillon_
of his own invention? Would not the contrast of those metallic tones
of four-foot pitch[161] with the deep resonance of the _Untersatz_ of
thirty-two, which he also demanded, have produced all the harmonic
overtones of real bells?... But this is only an hypothesis, though a
plausible one, and one which it would be amusing to justify by trying
its effect in actual performance.
[Footnote 161: It appears that this _carillon_ was not constructed;
it is possible, however, that Bach had it in mind when writing the
chorale. Moreover, it was to be found in other organs.]
Gathered from the indications of J.G. Walther, the registration
of another chorale appears to bear the marks of more positive
authenticity. We refer to the Lutheran chorale, _Ein' feste Burg ist
unser Gott_, mentioned in a previous chapter. Walther thus annotates
it: "Für 3 clav."; for the left hand he directs "_Fagotto_"; for
the right, "_Sesquialtera_." First of all must we notice this
combination of a mutation stop with a reed; it is derived directly
from the French organists. In Grigny,[162] for instance--we cite
him especially because of Bach's study of his works--may be found
in various instances a Bass Trumpet, or _Cromorne en taille_,
accompanied by the _Tierce_ or Cornet.[163] To a certain extent
the _Fagotto_ corresponds to the _Cromorne_, whose tone appeared
somewhat veiled. This register, which Adlung tells us bore various
names--_Portunen_, _Dulcian_, or _Basson_, among others--was
sometimes added to the lower half of the great organ only, and was
"of good effect in playing the _basso continuo_." Moreover, it
was of small scale; even on the pedal it was not a noisy stop. As
for the _Sesquialtera_, composed of the fifth and the tenth, it
resembled more or less certain mutation stops of old French organs.
It is noteworthy that the employment of a reed with a mixture is
not mentioned by contemporary German writers; on the other hand, it
would seem from the context[164] that this piece was played at the
inauguration of the Mühlhausen organ, for whose restoration Bach had
prepared the plans. He had demanded, among other improvements, that
a _Tierce_ be added to one of the manuals, in order that, by drawing
it with a _Quint_, a good _Sesquialtera_ might be produced; this in
order to carry out all sorts of musical inventions of his own.
[Footnote 162: _Livre d'orgue contenant une messe et quatre hymnes
pour les principales festes de l'année. Par Nicolas de Grigny,
organiste de l'église-cathédrale de Reims. À Paris, chez Christophe
Ballard, seul imprimeur du Roy pour la Musique. Rue Saint-Jean de
Beauvais, au Mont-Parnasse. 1701. Avec Privilège de Sa Majesté._]
[Footnote 163: [The cornet here referred to is obviously a mixture,
not the reed of the same name already mentioned.--TR.]]
[Footnote 164: This organ was the only one with three manuals which
Bach could have had in mind while he was in Weimar with Walther;
it is natural that in his compositions he should be preoccupied
with an organ whose restoration he had planned, and undoubtedly
supervised--Weimar being not far from Mühlhausen--and which in all
probability he looked forward to inaugurating. This remark, moreover,
may apply to the composition of the chorale _In dir ist Freude_,
although here Bach had been disappointed.]
It is interesting to learn the details of this project, which, it is
true, was not realized in its integrity; and it furnishes us with the
most curious data upon the subject of Bach's ideas on registration
and organ-building, and his own tastes.
Here it is in full:
_Disposition_ of the new repairs upon the organ of St. Blasius.
1. Three new bellows, carefully installed, should insure a
sufficiency of wind to feed the great organ, the choir, and the new
swell.
2. The pressure should be increased in the four old bellows, to give
speech to the new Subbass of thirty-two feet, and to the lower pipes
of the other stops.
3. The old soundboards of all the bass pipes to be renewed, and the
wind-supply so to be regulated that when playing with only a single
stop drawn all the remaining registers may be brought on suddenly
without producing unsteadiness, as has been the case up to the
present time; this being of the greatest importance.
4. To be added is the Subbass of thirty-two feet, called the
_Untersatz_, which will be made of wood, to serve as the best
possible foundation for the weight of the _ensemble_. These pipes
should have a special soundboard.
5. The _Bombarde_ is to be furnished with new and larger resonators,
and the mouths of the pipes shaped differently, in order to obtain
more roundness in the emission of the tone.
6. As to the new features--the _Glockenspiel_ on the pedal, composed
of twenty-six bells of four-foot pitch, desired by the parishioners,
who will have them made at their own expense; while the manufacturer
must see that they are rendered playable.
As to the great organ, the Trumpet, which is to be removed, will be
replaced by:
7. A _Fagotto_ (Bassoon) of sixteen feet, which will permit of all
sorts of new combinations, and whose tone is to be very _délicat_ for
the _musique_.[165]
[Footnote 165: That is, for playing the _basso continuo_ of the
orchestra.]
In place of the _Gemshorn_ (Chamois horn) which will also be removed:
8. A _Viol da Gamba_ of eight feet, which will blend admirably with
the four-foot Salicional in the choir.
_Item_, if the Quint of three feet be removed, it may be replaced by
9. A _Nassat_ of three feet.
All the other stops of the great, and all those of the choir organ,
may be retained, provided they be revoiced.
10. The new swell is to be arranged as follows:
Three _Principalia en montre_[166] (_im Gesichte_).
1. Quint of three feet, } in good tin of 14 "loth" [_i.e._,
2. Octave of two feet, } 14 parts pure tin to 2 parts
3. _Chalumeau_ of eight feet, } alloy].
4. Mixture of three ranks, }
[Footnote 166: [_En montre_ signifies literally "on show";
that is, in front. The French designation for a diapason,
_Montre_, is derived from the custom of placing the pipes
of that register in an exposed position.--TR.]]
5. A _Tierce_, with which can be formed, by adding certain
other stops, a fine _Sesquialtera_.
6. Fleute douce (_sic_--a soft flute) of four feet; and,
finally,
7. _Stillgedackt_ (a species of Bourdon) of eight feet,
which will blend perfectly with the "music."[167] As it
will be made of good wood, it will be much more resonant
than if of metal.
[Footnote 167: [The filling-out of the figured bass by the organ,
made necessary in music with orchestra by the paucity of the
instrumental numbers, was referred to as the "music."--TR.]]
11. Between the swell[168] and the great organ a coupler shall be
constructed. Finally, the whole instrument shall be revoiced, and the
tremulant made to vibrate regularly.
[Footnote 168: [The word _swell_ I have used in the foregoing merely
to designate the third manual; and it by no means implies that the
pipes belonging to that keyboard were enclosed in a swell-box.
Although this invention was applied to an English organ for the first
time in 1712 (St. Magnus Church, London Bridge), its adoption in
Germany has become general only within comparatively recent years,
and then only in newly-built instruments.--TR.]]
II
The document just cited, which is preserved in the archives of
Mühlhausen, is full of interest; we will now make a further study of
two of its sections, which treat of the same subject.
I refer to the combination of organ with orchestra in the performance
of the cantatas.
First, Bach speaks of the _Fagotto_, whose tone so easily assimilated
with that of instruments; here he agrees with his contemporaries, who
recommended the use of a sixteen-foot stop of more definite _timbre_
than the bourdons, although not stronger,--it was also called
_Dulcian_,--"_dolce suono_,"--in performing the _basso continuo_.
The employment of the _Stillgedackt_, the softest stop in the organ,
interests us in its use as a means of filling out this same figured
bass. Such a register evidently lacked power, but was sought for
that quality of indefiniteness, even of vacuity, which it possessed
(_still_, in German, means quiet); this produced more the effect of
diaphony, of a harmonic filling-in, like the _sostenuto_ of certain
of our wind-instruments, than of polyphony in real parts, which one
could not distinguish.