Encyclopaedia Britannica Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 1 Part 31

SUMMARY OF BACH'S WORKS

No attempt is here made at chronological sequence. The changes in Bach's style, though clear and important, are almost impossible to describe in untechnical language; nor are they of such general interest as to make it worth while to expand this summary by an attempt to apportion its contents among the Arnstadt-Muhlhausen period, the Weimar period, the Cothen period (chiefly remarkable for instrumental music and comparatively uninteresting in its easy-going choral music), and the last period (1733-1750) in which, while the choral works became at once more numerous and more terse (_e.g._ _Jesu, der du meine Seele_) the instrumental music, though never diffuse, shows an increasing preference for designs on a large scale. (Compare, for example, the second book of the _Wohltemperirtes Klavier_, 1744, with the first, 1722.)

I.--CHURCH MUSIC

A. _With Orchestra_

190 church cantatas: besides several which are only known from fragmentary sets of parts. Of the 190, 40 are for solo voices, about 60 (including some solo cantatas) are more or less founded on chorales, and the rest, though almost invariably containing a chorale (for congregational singing), are practically short oratorios and frequently so ent.i.tled by Bach himself.

3 wedding cantatas: the Easter oratorio (exactly like the above-mentioned oratorio-cantatas; and the Christmas oratorio (six similar cantatas forming a connected design for performance on six separate days).

The Pa.s.sions according to St Matthew and St John.

Funeral ode for the d.u.c.h.ess Eberhardine (now known to be arranged from portions of the lost Pa.s.sion according to St Mark).

4 short ma.s.ses (_i.e._ Kyrie and Gloria only) mainly compiled from church cantatas.

Ma.s.s in B minor. Magnificat in D. A few other ecclesiastical Latin choruses.

B. _Without Orchestra_

5 motets _a capella_ (but there is reason to believe that these, except _Komm Jesu komm_, were intended to be partly supported by the organ). A sixth motet has an obligato figured-ba.s.s accompaniment.

A few early choruses, mostly turned to account in later works.

A large collection of plain chorales, including several original melodies.

II.--SECULAR VOCAL MUSIC

_Der Streit zwischen Phoebus und Pan_ and _Der zufrieden gestellte Aeolus_; both ent.i.tled _Dramma per Musica_, but showing no more essential connexion with the stage than Handel's _Acis and Galatea_.

7 solo and 7 choral cantatas, of which latter three were almost entirely absorbed into the Christmas oratorio and the B minor ma.s.s. Of the solo cantatas two are Italian (one of these being Bach's only developed work for voice and clavier) and two are burlesque.

Several tunes with clavier ba.s.s, almost foreshadowing the modern song.

III.--INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

A. _Orchestral_

7 clavier concertos arranged from violin concertos and other sources.

3 concertos for two claviers (two being arranged from concertos for two violins).

2 concertos for three claviers.

The 6 Brandenburg concertos, for various combinations.

2 violin concertos, and a colossal _torso_ of a concerted violin-movement forming the prelude to a lost church cantata.

1 concerto for two violins.

4 orchestral suites. (The symphony in F in the same volume of the _B. G._ is only an earlier version of the first Brandenburg concerto.)

B. _Chamber Music_

3 sonatas for clavier and flute; a suite and 6 sonatas for clavier and violin, 3 for clavier and viola da gamba; 2 trios with figured ba.s.s; 2 flute-sonatas and a violin suite with figured ba.s.s; 6 sonatas (_i.e._ 3 sonatas and 3 part.i.tas) for violin alone; 6 suites for violoncello alone.

C. _Clavier and Organ Music_

Bach's own collections are:--

1. _Das wohltemperirte Klavier_ for clavichord: two books each containing 24 preludes and fugues, one in each major and minor key; with the object of stimulating tuning by "equal temperament" instead of sacrificing the euphony of remoter keys to that of the more usual ones.

2. _Klavier-ubung_ (chiefly for harpsichord) in four books comprising: (i.) 15 two-part inventions and 15 three-part symphonies, (ii.) 6 part.i.tas, (iii.) The "Goldberg" variations. 4 duets, and an important collection of organ choral-preludes, with the "St Anne" prelude and fugue in E flat, (iv.) The Italian concerto and French overture.

3. The 6 "French" and 6 "English" suites.

The other clavier works fill two _Jahrgange_ of the _B.-G._

Bach's collections of organ music are (besides that included in the third part of the _Klavier-ubung_):--(1) 6 sonatas. (2) 4 groups of 6 organ preludes and fugues. (3) _Das Orgelbuchlein_, a collection of short choral-preludes carefully planned--all the blank pages of the autograph being headed with the t.i.tles of the chorales intended for them--but not half executed. (The projected whole would have been a larger volume than the _Wohltemperirtes Klavier_). (4) 18 larger chorale-preludes, including Bach's last composition. (5) The 6 "Schubler" chorales, all arranged from movements of cantatas.

Besides these there are the three great independent toccatas and the Pa.s.sacaglia. The remaining choral-preludes fill one _Jahrgang_, and the other organ works two more.

D. _Uncla.s.sified_

Two important instrumental works cannot be cla.s.sified, viz. _Das musikalische Opfer_, the volume of compositions (two great fugues, various puzzle-canons, and a splendid trio for flute, violin and figured ba.s.s) on the theme given to Bach by Frederick the Great; and _Die Kunst der Fuge_, a progressive series of fugues on one and the same subject, written in open score as if entirely abstract studies, but all (except the extreme contrapuntal _tours de force_) in admirable clavier style and of great musical value.

IV.--LOST WORKS

A. _Choral_

J. N. Forkel's statement that Bach wrote 5 _Jahrgange_ of church cantatas (_i.e._ enough to provide one for each Sunday and holy day for five years) would indicate that some 80 are lost, but there is reason to believe that this is a great exaggeration. Not more than six or seven cantatas are known to be lost, by the evidence of fragments, text-books, &c.

Forkel also says that Bach wrote five Pa.s.sions. Besides the great Matthew and John Pa.s.sions there is in an indisputable Bach autograph one according to St Luke; but it is so worthless that the best plea for its authenticity offered by responsible critics is that only a personal interest could have induced Bach to make a copy of it.

[v.03 p.0130] The lost Pa.s.sion according to St Mark must, judging by the movements preserved in the _Trauer-Ode_, have been larger than that according to St John.

Was there a _genuine_ Lucas-Pa.s.sion? If so, Forkel's report of five Pa.s.sions would be explained. Several lost secular works are partly preserved in those portions of the Christmas oratorio of which the sources are not definitely known, but which, like the other duplicated numbers, are fair copies in the autograph.

B. _Instrumental_

Three violin concertos and one for two violins; known only from the wonderful clavier versions.

Most of the first movement of the A major sonata for clavier and flute which was written in the spare staves at the bottom of a larger score. Some of these have been cut off.

V.--ARRANGEMENTS OF WORKS BY OTHER COMPOSERS

Arrangements for harpsichord alone of 16 concertos, generally described as by Vivaldi, but including several by other composers.