feature By Peter Wollny WILLIAM H. SCHEIDE (1914–2014) he Bach portrait by Elias Gottlob Hauss- evidently comes from the estate In William H. Scheide, mann shows the cantor of St. Thomas’s of Bach’s second son, Carl Phi- who died on Novem- Church at around 60 years of age. It is a lipp Emanuel, for the catalogue ber 14, 2014, we have typical “official portrait”, showing the sub- of the estate of the “Hamburg lost a reputed scholar ject in a formal and perhaps also somewhat Bach”, printed in 1790, describes and a profound connois- Tidealized pose. Yet if we look closely, it does give a portrait of Bach as follows: seur of the music of away some information about the great composer. “Bach (Johann Sebastian) Kapell - Johann Sebastian Bach. This is how he must have looked when he performed meister and Music-director in William Scheide had before Frederick the Great, while he was working Leipzig. Painted in oils by Haus- been a member of the on the Musical Offering and the Art of Fugue, and mann. 2 feet, 8 inches high, Board of Trustees of when he put the St. John Passion, written more than 2 feet, 2 inches wide. In a golden Leipzig Bach Archive 25 years earlier, back on the programme for the last frame.” We have only partial Foundation since 2001 time. His dark eyes are alert and interested; they are knowledge of what happened and was one of the Ar- filled with human warmth and intellectual acuity. to the painting after that. Oral chive’s most generous The thick brows lend him a forceful demeanour tradition has it that it came into and loyal sponsors. and the deep frown line is a warning to any over- the possession of the Silesian William Scheide made impudent questioner to exercise caution and re- family Jenke in the early nine- a name for himself as straint. On the other hand, the slightly ironic traits teenth century. A descendent a Bach scholar early around the mouth indicate good-naturedness and of the family, Walter E. Jenke, on; he was the first Original humour. The chin, nose and high brow bear witness then brought it to England American musicologist to an almost unshakeable self-confidence. Life has shortly before the outbreak of to be published in the 1748 left its marks on this face, but it has not succeeding the Second World War. It hung Bach-Jahrbuch and in breaking the person. This is a man who does not in the house of the parents of every one of his essays Extremely need a lot of fuss to be made about him; yet his fel- Sir John Eliot Gardiner in Dorset published there between well con- lows are not indifferent to him. during the war years and after. 1959 and 2003 shaped served: Hauss- Almost incidentally, Bach is holding in his right In 1952, Jenke sold the painting our way of thinking about mann’s hand a small, unassuming sheet of music; however, at an auction; it was bought Bach’s life and artistry. second original he is holding it by the top, inciting the observer to by the Bach scholar and collec- Scheide was a gradu - portrait read: “Canon triplex à 6 Voc: per J. S. Bach”. If you tor William H. Scheide from ate of Princeton Univer- of Bach take the time to look more closely, you will see a Princeton/New Jersey. sity, which awarded him was privately small miracle of musical artistry. The three parts Back in the Bach anniversary a Bachelor’s degree in owned written there can be reversed and together con- year of 1985, Scheide expressed 1936. After the Second until stitute a harmonically richly coloured, six-part the wish that “his Bach” would World War, he developed now. piece in which no note is superfluous or missing. one day return home. During the collection of antique The sheet is evidently intended as proof of Bach’s his visit to the Leipzig Bach books and valuable artistic beliefs: that perfect harmony arises when Festival in the summer of 2003, manuscripts begun by all the parts of an elaborate, polyphonic movement he initially granted the Bach his grandfather and con- constantly “work together” according to the rules Archive the right of first refusal tinued by his father, and of counterpoint. to purchase it. Together with his built up the largest private To this day, Elias Gottlob Haussmann’s portrait wife Judith, on his 100th birthday collection of autograph remains the sole authentic, from-life portrait of (January 6, 2014) he finally scores, early copies and Johann Sebastian Bach. Any other portraits in cir- bequeathed the painting to the first prints of the works of culation are either later copies of Haussmann’s Bach Archive. Bill Scheide died Johann Sebastian Bach. original or intuitive attributions of paintings that on November 14, 2014. When As the longstanding di- have come down to us anonymously. the Haussmann Bach portrait rector of the Bach Aria Haussmann executed his portrait – presumably on of 1748 takes its place in the Group, which he founded a commission by Bach – twice: the first (dated 1746) Bach Museum’s Treasure Room, in 1946, he championed “PAINTED IN OILS was, according to unconfirmed reports, part of the it will – in accordance with the the propagation of Bach’s inheritance of Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and was last will of his former owner – work in the United States. In accordance with his purchased in around 1800 by the later cantor of have returned home after 265 1 St. Thomas’s Church August Eberhard Müller, who years. Then visitors to the Bach will, his collection of BY HAUSMANN” donated it to St. Thomas’s School when he left Leip- Archive will be able to divine books and manuscripts 2 zig. Since 1913, this version has hung in the Bach for themselves the mysteries of will go to Princeton Room of Leipzig’s Stadtgeschichtliches Museum. his personality and music. University. The portrait A new attraction is coming to Leipzig Bach Archive in 2015: an original portrait of The painting is rather badly conserved; it has been of Bach by Elias Gottlob Johann Sebastian Bach, painted by Elias Gottlob Haussmann in 1748, is returning to painted over and restored several times with the Haussmann, which he Leipzig after 265 years. Most recently, the painting was part of the private collection of result that the subject gives the impression of being owned since 1952, is behind a veil – with blurred outlines and odd shad - now – in Scheide’s own American researcher and collector, William H. Scheide. During the Second World War, ows on the face. words – “coming home”. it also hung for a while in the house of the parents of John Eliot Gardiner. The second original, painted two years later, is in a much better state of conservation. This painting feature Better than Blurred the first outlines: original: Hauss- copy of the mann’s first Haussmann Bach por- portrait of trait (1746) from life” was not crucial initially. As a general rule, people did But what is a “genuine” Bach? We will never know 1746, mid- is in poor not want a photographical reproduction of Bach’s features, but how Bach looked in real life. We do have the offi- nineteenth condition, century having a “convincing” portrayal of the great master. cial Haussmann portrait to go on, but that is all. been All other “Bach” portraits have come down to us painted in more or less anonymous fashion – in those over sev- eral times In 2014 in Concerto magazine, you reported on the meeting cases, how can we speculate how close each re- of a commission of experts in Leipzig in 1955. The objective spective painter came to painting the “real” Bach? Copy Original of this meeting of Bach researchers, art historians and differ - In contrast, putting the question of how credible ca.1850 174 6 ent medical specialists was to resolve the question of the a portrait is means trying to find out as much as authenticity of a total of five Bach portraits. On what body possible about the circumstances in which it of knowledge was the commission able to base its investiga- was painted. And in that case we can state, albeit tion – and what was the result? with reservations, that the closer the painter was There is no straightforward answer to that. From the surviving to the person or to the time of Bach, the better. records, I have the impression that the members of the com- mission did not cooperate much, but rather that each one of them presented his opinion and that they then went their From that point of view, which Bach portraits different ways without much discussion. can we now regard as credible? Ultimately, only the Haussmann portrait is credible. One of the participants was Heinrich Besseler. One year later, he published his paper entitled “Five genuine portraits In 1970 you published a book about the por- of Johann Sebastian Bach”, triggering a debate which lasted traits of Richard Wagner. What are the main dif - several months and in which Bach researcher Alfred Dürr, fer ences between Bach and Wagner iconography? especially, contradicted Besseler on numer ous details. How There are hundreds of photos of Wagner. You can important at that time were political events and the division really build up a good picture of how he looked in of Germany in this debate about portraits? the different situations and phases of his life. If Although Besseler had been awarded the GDR National Prize, he you hold up the numerous painted portraits of viewed the country as provincial in many ways.