Johann Sebastian Bach (89 page)

5.
On Bach's Cöthen lodgings, see Hoppe 1994.

6.
Hoppe 1997, p. 65.

7.
Hoppe 1986, p. 148.

8.
Bunge 1905, p. 19; Hoppe 1997, p. 66 (facsimile from the diary). Zanthier later became princely court councillor and director of the administration of the principality of Anhalt-Cöthen.

9.
Spitta II, p. 1, took the dates from Leopold's diary.

10.
Especially French and Italian music (including three operas by Lully and cantatas by Francesco Mancini); see Hoppe 1986, p. 27.

11.
Ibid., p. 28.

12.
Reprinted in Johann Adam Hiller,
Lebensbeschreibungen berühmter Musikgelehrten und Tonkünstler neuerer Zeit
(Leipzig, 1784), p. 135.

13.
Bunge 1905, p. 19.

14.
NBR
, no. 152.

15.
See Michael Tilmouth, “Gottfried Finger,”
New Grove
6: 565–66; Christoph Schubart, “Augustin Reinhard Stricker,”
MGG
12 (1965): cols. 1603–5.

16.
BDII, no. 99.

17.
Based on information provided by Hoppe 1986 and
BDII, nos. 86, 99, 108, 277.

18.
BD
II, no. 91.

19.
The manuscript inventory of the music library at the neighboring ducal castle of Zerbst offers welcome insight into the rich and diversified vocal-instrumental repertoire maintained at a small court. The instrumental genres represented on twenty-four densely filled pages include concertos (for violins, flutes, recorders, oboes, and bassoons), overtures and symphonies for large orchestra, and sonatas for four, three, and two players. See
Concert-Stube des Zerbster Schlosses. Inventarverzeichnis aufgestellt im März
1743,
facsimile edition (Michaelstein, 1983).

20.
Auserlesene und theils noch nie gedruckte Gedichte, vol. 2 (Halle, 1719).

21.
NBR
, no. 78.

22.
BD
II, no. 96.

23.
BD
II, no. 103.

24.
BD
II, no. 92.

25.
Contrary to references in the older literature, neither the specifications nor the manual and pedal ranges of the old St. Agnus organ are known (Henkel 1985, pp. 5, 22).

26.
BD
II, no. 116.

27.
On Spieß as composer, see Hoppe 1998, p. 34.

28.
Smend 1951/E, p. 34.

29.
Smend 1951/E, p. 189.

30.
BD
II, no. 115.

31.
NBR
, no. 76. The visiting musicians listed under the December 1718 date (Johann Gottfried Riemschneider, concertmaster [N. N.] Lienicke [surely a relative of the Cöthen chamber musician and member of the Lienicke family of musicians], Johann Gottfried Vogler, and Emanuel Preese) may have participated in the performance of the cantata BWV Anh. 5 and BWV 66a on the occasion of the prince's birthday.

32.
OPERA PRIMA
| Erster Theil: | Bestehet in 6. Italienischen |
CANTATEN
| à |
VOCE SOLA
| Worzu | Violino oder Hautbois Solo accompagniret | Von | Augustino Reinhardo Stricker, | HochFürstl. Anhaltscher Capellmeister in Cöthen
(Cöthen, 1715); the collection is dedicated to Prince Leopold.

33.
According to Walther,
Lexicon
, p. 527. Riemschneider used to be a member of the Leipzig Collegium Musicum; see Andreas Glöckner, “Musikalisches Leben am Köthener Hof,” in
WBK
2, p. 110.

34.
Händel-Handbuch
, vol. 4:
Dokumente zu Leben und Schaffen
(Leipzig, 1985), p. 173; in 1739, Riemschneider became cantor at the cathedral in Hamburg.

35.
NBR
, no. 152.

36.
Table 7.4 provides a summary of detailed financial information analyzed by Hoppe 1986.

37.
Still, this percentage rate is relatively high. In comparison, the neighboring princely court of Anhalt-Zerbst, with a total income of 107,618 talers, spent 1,322 talers (1.2 percent) for music (figures for 1723–24). See Hoppe 1986, p. 61.

38.
Based on expeditures for 1723–24; see ibid., pp. 43f.

39.
See ibid., pp. 31–33.

40.
Cited ibid., p. 34.

41.
In 1719, Leopold established a palace library and appointed his French tutor from childhood days, Gustave Adolphe Allion de Maiseroy, as first librarian; see ibid., pp. 36, 53.

42.
Among other things, many of which related to religious quibbles over Calvinist versus Lutheran dominance, Prince Leopold in particular never overcame the long-lasting negative effects of his decision to deprive Wilhelm Heinrich von Rath, his mother's brother, of his power. Upon his accession in 1716, Leopold dismissed his uncle from the influential position as court and chamber councillor. Domestic and dynastic disputes overshadowed Leopold's administration from beginning to end.

43.
NBR
, no. 128.

44.
NBR
, no. 117;
BD
II, no. 184.

45.
NBR
, no. 117.

46.
A detailed description of the funeral rites, based on court documents, is in Smend 1951, pp. 164–67.

47.
NBR,
no. 396 (pp. 407f.). Handel's visits to his hometown are documented for May–June 1719, June 1729, and August 1750 (cf.
Händel-Handbuch,
4: 82, 173,442).

48.
NBR
, no. 77.

49.
Although no details are known, Immanuel Heinrich Gottlieb Freitag of the Cöthen court capelle probably played in 1720–21 in the margrave's capelle.

50.
NBR
, no. 84. The dedication is written in a French translation that was probably provided by the Cöthen court librarian, Gustave Adolphe Allion (see note 41). In French, “une couple d'années” refers to a period of two years. The date of the dedication (March 24, 1721) is exactly two years after Bach's Berlin visit of March 1719.

51.
Hoppe 1986, p. 16.

52.
Guest lists are provided in
Neu-verbessert und vermehrtes denckwürdiges Kayser Carls-Baad
(Nuremberg, 1731), pp. 79f. For 1718 the guests listed, by name or title, in clude Prince Leopold and his brother (“with their princely household”), the cardinal of Saxe-Zeitz, and Princess Elisabetha von Lamberg; for 1720, again Prince Leopold “with his princely household” but without his brother, and then only “Her Royal Majesty, the Queen of Poland and Electoress of Saxony, with her high royal household”—possibly the first time for Bach to encounter Dresden royaly. For both years, general references are made to other high religious officials and secular dignitaries from many different provinces and countries.

53.
BD
II, p. 68.

54.
See postscript by Christoph Wolff in Plichta 1981, p. 29.

55.
Named after Prince Leopold and his brother August Ludwig. Both princes as well as their sister Eleonore Wilhelmina, duchess of Saxe-Weimar, served as godparents, along with the director of the Cöthen-Anhalt government and the wife of the prince's steward. The baptism with its prominent attendance took place on November 17, 1718, at the castle church (
NBR
, no. 78).

56.
NBR
, no. 306, pp. 304f.

57.
NBR
, no. 80.

58.
On Telemann's Hamburg appointment, see
MGG
13 (1966): col. 187. It remains noteworthy that the reputation Bach earned in 1713 in Halle and 1720 in Hamburg helped pave the way, a generation later, for his son Wilhelm Friedemann to succeed Ziegler in Halle and for Carl Philipp Emanuel to obtain Telemann's position in Hamburg.

59.
NBR
, no. 306, p. 302. Besides a city dwelling, the affluent Reinken owned a suburban lodge; in one of his homes he kept the group portrait (with himself, Buxtehude, and other musicians) that he had commissioned from Jan Voorhout in 1674; see Wolff 1989.

60.
For a corresponding quotation from Quantz (1752), see Chapter 5, p. 136f.

61.
Not limited to the opening chorus (Psalm 94:19), the other cantata movements also focus on expressions of grief and consolation, as the text incipits indicate: aria no. 3, “Seufzer, Tränen, Kummer, Not” (Sighs, tears, sorrow, need); aria no. 5, “Bäche von gesalznen Tränen” (Streams of salty tears); duet no. 8, “Komm, mein Jesu, und erquicke” (Come, my Jesus, and refresh); chorale no. 9, “Was helfen uns die schweren Sorgen” (What do heavy sorrows help us).

62.
NBR
, no. 319.

63.
BD
II, no. 302. See BWV
^k
, p. 317, for the possibility of Weimar origin of BWV 542/2.

64.
Fitting well into the context of Bach's manifold explorations of the tonal spectrum (
Well-Tempered Clavier, Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue
, etc.).

65.
Cf. Wolff 1989.

66.
NBR
, no. 81. The St. Jacobi church body authorized to make the appointment consisted of the senior minister (Neumeister), two town council members residing in the parish, and four sworn members; see Kremer 1993, p. 217.

67.
The others being Matthias Christoph Wiedeburg of Gera, Heinrich Zinck of Itzehoe, Vincent Lübeck of Hamburg, Johann Joachim Heitmann of Hamburg, Johann Heinrich Frenkel of Ratzeburg, Hans Heinrich Lüders of Flensburg, and Johann Georg Hertzog of Hamburg.

68.
Cantor Joachim Gerstenbüttel and the organists of St. Catharine's (Johann Adam Reinken), St. Peter's (Andreas Kniller), and Holy Spirit (Georg Preuß); see
NBR
, no. 81.

69.
See also
BD
II, p. 79, and Kremer 1993.

70.
NBR, no. 82. Mattheson's reference to Bach's playing “on the most various and great
est organs” may refer to Bach's undertaking a tour of the city's organ landscape, probably in the company of a group of musicians and some curious bystanders.

71.
See
BDII, no. 108. The other godparents included Bach and the chamber musician
Lienicke.

72.
Personal and family trips are usually not documented. But Bach may have attended the funeral of his oldest brother, Christoph, who died on February 22, 1721, at age forty-nine in Ohrdruf, a two-day trip away from Cöthen. In the spring of 1722, he learned of the death of his brother Jacob in faraway Stockholm, where he had served as royal Swedish court musician.

73.
NBR
, no. 85. Bach was in Schleiz for several days in early August and stayed at the Inn of the Blue Angel, all expenses paid. The court account books do not specify the purpose of his visit, indicating only that Bach received his fee on August 7, his hotel bill was paid on the 11th (a Monday), and his mail-coach fare on the 13th. The visit probably involved a church performance on August 10 (ninth Sunday after Trinity), especially since the cantor of the Schleiz palace church, Johann Sebastian Koch, seems to have been an old acquaintance of Bach's; prior to 1711, Koch had served as choir prefect in Mühlhausen.

74.
Schubart 1953, p. 48.

75.
The Monjou daughters were employed on a part-time basis; see also Smend 1951, p. 35.

76.
Schubart 1953, p. 46.

77.
Bach is known to have played a guest performance of the cantata “Overgnügte Stunden” (not listed in BWV) on August 9, 1722, the birthday of Prince Johann August, just a few weeks before Johann Friedrich Fasch became capellmeister in Zerbst (
BD
II, no. 114), but Bach may well have visited and performed in Zerbst before.

78.
Indicative of the numerous interfamily connections is the fact that Adam Imanuel Weldig, Bach's colleague at the Weimar court capelle and later a member of the Weissenfels capelle, was godfather in 1713 to a child born to the Weissenfels trumpeter Georg Christian Meissner and Anna Magdalena's sister Katharina. A year later, Bach and Weldig exchanged godparentships: Weldig as godfather to Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Bach to Johann Friedrich Immanuel Weldig (see
BDII, nos.
67–68).

79.
Within a few months, her salary matched that of the highest-paid chamber musician, Joseph Spieß (300 talers).

80.
BD
II, no. 106.

81.
NBR
, no. 86.

82.
BD
II, no. 111. On September 26, 1721, the reading of the will of Martha Katharina Lämmerhirt, widow of Bach's uncle Tobias Lämmerhirt, took place. Bach's share came to about 50 florins, but it was not paid out to him until 1722. Regarding the complex partition of the Lämmerhirt estate, see
BD
I, no. 8;
BD
II, nos. 109, 112, 117, and 118; and
NBR
, no. 89.