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By 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- . 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 . Painted in oils by Haus- been a member of the on and , 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 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 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 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, ferences 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 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. For that reason, Wagner against them, you realize how differently SEEING WHAT WE LOVE he wanted to be published and make his voice heard in the West. he is portrayed – even if you only take the ones for But insisted on self-determination where its cul- which we have proof that he sat for the painter. tural assets were concerned. Commercial interests, which were Once you’ve seen that, you’re very cautious about Bach researcher Martin Geck on Bach portraits and iconographic research admittedly minimal measured against today’s standards, may asserting that a painter has provided an “authen- also have played a role: the GDR hoped to obtain hard currency tic” portrait of the model. In what way is Renoir’s through reproductions, the Bärenreiter publishing house hoped impressionistic Wagner portrait “authentic”? The to make money by selling books, and Besseler presumably example of Wagner is a warning against investi- For many years, there were no new developments relating portraits, we can only speculate. The privately hoped to pocket a fee for his purported authentications. gating the different Bach portraits first and fore- to Bach portraits, then in 2014 three new acquisitions were owned portrait in Dortmund is, in my view, a most in relation to their “authenticity”. announced successively: two by in and fairly “hot favourite”. But it is so badly damaged one by a private owner in Dortmund. What did we know that it does not contribute much to the debate As proof of his thesis, Besseler referred first and foremost about the three paintings at that time? about the “authentic” appearance of Bach. to anatomical features. What were the methodical weak- In your own, personal view: why do people Several years ago, the Handel researcher Hans Joachim Marx nesses of this kind of approach? Can anatomical features in want to know how Bach (or any other famous hinted at the existence of the Dortmund portrait (at that time paintings tell us anything at all? composer) looked? What do these paintings tell in private ownership in Hamburg) and reproduced it in one of Is it possible that other portraits of which we It’s all built on very weak premises – if only because no one us, and can even dubious portraits contribute his publications. That had made it a hot tip for connoisseurs were previously unaware might come to light? knows how faithfully the different painters reproduced the meaningfully to our image of Bach? for quite some time. People had been talking of the portrait The more time passes, the more improbable it specific anatomical features of the model: he might have Everybody builds a picture of someone they love in the Gorke collection for nearly a century, and for not quite is that an unknown portrait will come to light. exaggerated or even omitted them. and admire. Often, painted portraits have to do so long about a portrait owned by the Danish composer N. O. Even the three portraits mentioned above did the job – they are something physical to focus Raasted. But events accumulate sometimes, and most impor- not appear from nowhere. on. If someone has a doubtful portrait that they tantly, this kind of thing gets greater publicity today. How much further are we today compared with that perhaps bought themselves and that they have meeting of experts in Leipzig on January 24, 1955? grown fond of, why shouldn’t they hang it up? 3 When did Bach iconography begin? When Today we are much further ahead when it comes to deter- There is no absolute definition of “appropriate”  Apart from these three, what possible or actual Bach did researchers begin to take in interest in the mining the period at which a given portrait or frame was or “embarrassing”. And with Bach’s music, it’s 4 portraits can we theoretically or quite positively identify question of how Bach looked? made. That’s a matter of physical fact. As for criticism of the exactly the same: who has an exact of image of given the information we have on sources? Bach’s son Carl Philipp Emanuel had a large col- style, that’s still a very broad subject. Bach in their head? There are many musical Only the different versions of the Haussmann portrait should lection of portraits of composers, suggesting that images of Bach and every one of them is right – be viewed – to differing degrees – as completely authenticated interest in the appearances of famous musicians although I would of course hope that there aren’t historically. But we should not imagine that this painter’s dates back at least to the mid-eighteenth century. You argue in favour of taking the term “genuine” out of the too many kitschy or warped images among them. image of Bach is absolutely objective: Haussmann was used to He also felt it important that Johann Nicolaus discussion and instead looking at the question of credibility. The same applies to painted images of Bach.  rendering likenesses of Leipzig dignitaries and his portrait has Forkel should precede his Bach biography with What is the difference and what are the advantages of this an official character that may have struck Bach’s family and the most appropriate portrait of his father as pos- change of mindset as far as method is concerned? friends as rather unnatural. As to the authenticity of all other sible. At the same time, the criterion of “painted People talk of a “genuine” Rembrandt or a “genuine” Picasso. Interview: Christiane Schwerdtfeger