Bach Notes No. 5

No. 5 Spring 2006 BACH NOTES THE NEWSLETTER OF THE AMERICAN BACH SOCIETY BACH AND THE “THEATRALISCHER STIL”1 HANS JOACHIM MARX Bach research, as far as I have seen, has said practically nothing about Bach’s relationship to the opera of his day. In my view, this restraint stems from the fact that until now little doubt has been raised concerning the “Kirchenstil” of the sacred cantatas and oratorios, which have stood at the forefront of the efforts surrounding the formulation of a philologically safeguarded picture of Bach. But then the questions arises, what is to be understood by the term “Kirchenstil,” and how does “Kirchenstil” stand in relation to the “theatralischer Stil,” which, since Giovanni Battista Doni, had become the most important of the Baroque stylistic terms. Philipp Spitta has already pursued this dramatic sections of Bach’s early canta- question in his monumental Bach biog- tas, maintaining that solo song must not IN THIS ISSUE raphy, and if Spitta had not had an aver- express individual feelings, but rather sion to opera in general, which inevitably common feelings. Spitta had a negative influenced his interpretation of Bach’s view of early eighteenth-century opera P. 1. Bach and the “Theatralischer Stil” works, I could restrict myself here to because he believed it was “a plant of the by Hans Joachim Marx his assessment of certain Bach compo- German soil that was rich with leaves sitions. A learned theologian, Spitta but bore no fruit” (“ein blattreiches, 7. Biennial Meeting of the saw, as formulated by Wilibald Gurlitt, doch fruchtloses Gewächs auf deutschem American Bach Society: 3 “the essence of Bach’s art in its sym- Boden”). But was it really? Schedule of Events bolic significance as protestant church and Abstracts music” (“das Wesen der Kunst Bachs in In the following remarks concerning Bach ihrer symbolischen Bedeutsamkeit als and the “theatralischer Stil,” I would 13. News from Members protestantische Kirchenmusik”).2 It was first like to offer a brief overview of the Spitta’s goal to resurrect Bach’s cantatas state of opera in the years from 1720 to 14. Book Review: Daniel R. Melamed’s and oratorios within the context of the 1740 and indicate the courts and cities Hearing Bach’s Passions new orthodox revival movement of the in which Bach might have enjoyed per- by Jason B. Grant late nineteenth century. He interpreted formances of opera. Thereafter, I would Bach’s sacred pieces as works of art that like to sum up the theological/aesthetic 16. Contributors to this Issue most fully and completely embodied the discussion surrounding the influence of purity of religious composition. Against the “theatralischer Stil” on church music Officers, Advisory Board & Membership Information Anton Friedrich Justus Thibaut’s con- by drawing on contemporary writings ceptions of the harmony and purity of concerning the debate. Finally, I will add sacred music, Spitta set the eccentric some observations concerning the extent individualism of opera, which he expe- to which Bach incorporated and modi- rienced less through Baroque opera than fied the operatic style in his vocal works, through the music dramas of Wagner. especially those from the later period. © 2006 For this reason, he also criticized several The American Bach Society 2 Opera, which Mattheson had once described “as the upper an Italian after Venetian models, could accommodate an audi- school of many beautiful disciplines . above all music” (“als ence of 2000, and the technical features of its stage belonged to die Hohe Schule vieler schöner Wissenschaften . vornehmelich the most advanced in all of Europe. With respect to the artists, Musik”) had already lost its attractiveness by the time Bach librettists of the rank of Hunold, König, Postel, and Feind, arrived in Leipzig in 1723. Although almost every German royal as well as composers such as Theile, Strungk, Franck, Keiser, seat and many free imperial cities maintained an opera house and Telemann, enabled German opera to enjoy pre-eminence between 1690 and 1715, for a time among the dra- with its own ensemble of matic and musical genres. singers and instrumentalists, “During his visits to Hamburg, Bach Despite strong theological the “Theatromanie” (as the certainly attended performances at the objections to the “pagan enthusiasm for opera was entertainment” (“heidnische called by its pietistic oppo- Gänsemarkt Opera. he could have Ergetzlichkeit”) of the nents) visibly faded away seen operas by Keiser, such as La forza opera—which even in the 1720s. The court Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, theatres in Bonn, Celle, della virtù (1700) or Die wunderschöne at the request of the lease Düsseldorf, Hannover, holders of the opera, Naumburg, Stuttgart, and Psyche (1701). .” countered with a positive Weimar were closed.4 “The appraisal6—and despite most radiant and most expensive diversion that the human occasional financial and organizational crises, the Gänsemarkt spirit could devise”—as opera was described by John Evelyn Opera survived until 1738, with a repertory that extended from as early as 1645—had, among other things, overtaxed the finan- the courtly homage operas to the to galant Singspiel on local cial possibilities of the courts. Other royal seats, such as those subjects. Ultimately, the forced closing of the Hamburg Opera in Durlach-Karlsruhe, Gotha, Rudolstadt, and Weißenfels, after sixty years of existence reflected the inability of the direc- held fast to the tradition of joining dynastic events with opera tors to manage it as a viable concern operated according to the performances. In the years following 1720, only the courts at principles of supply and demand, in both an artistic and com- Dresden, Munich, and Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel maintained mercial sense. a standing opera ensemble. While the performances in Dresden and Munich consisted almost exclusively of Italian opera—the During his visits to Hamburg, Bach certainly attended perfor- great majority from Venice and Vienna—those in Braunschweig mances at the Gänsemarkt Opera. As early as the Lüneburg consisted predominantly of German opera or opera in German years, during which, according to the obituary, he “traveled translation until about 1735. The preference for German- from time to time to Hamburg,” he could have seen operas language opera at this court had to do with Braunschweig’s by Keiser, such as La forza della virtù (1700) or Die wunder- proximity to the Gänsemarkt Opera in Hamburg, with which schöne Psyche (1701), both to texts translated from the Italian it maintained an extensive program of exchange. The Theater and arranged by Wolfenbüttel court poet Friedrich Christian am Hagen in Braunschweig, which had been modeled after the Bressand. From the music of Keiser, Bach could have learned Hamburg opera house, was the site of Hasse’s debut as an opera how text is divided within a scenic complex, how the affect composer with the 1721 performance of Antioco. In the years of a text is presented in the melody and in the instruments, from 1723 to 1732, this theatre, under the leadership of Georg and in which situations recitative and aria further the plot or Caspar Schürmanns, mounted at least eight Händel operas that bring it to a standstill. He could also have come to know the included texts partially in German. Although admittance to the opera orchestra in Hamburg, which was superior to most court court theater was open to the bourgeoisie (sometimes with an orchestras, not only because of its great variety of instruments admission charge), it is unlikely that the young Bach attended (in addition to the usual scoring for strings, oboes, and trum- performances at the Braunschweig theater during any of his pets, there were also the viola d’amore, oboe d’amore, piccolo, trips to northern Germany. corno da caccia, and theorbo),7 but also because of the high level of musical excellence. If Bach visited the Gänsemarkt The strongest impulse supporting the development of German Opera during his visit to Hamburg in the fall of 1720, he might opera did not come from the courts but from the free imperial have heard Steffani’s Roland on 6, 14, or 18 November or cities of Hamburg and Leipzig. Opera in Leipzig, however, Schürmann’s Alceste on 7, 9, or 13 November. If he had already despite engagements by Nicolaus Adam Strungk and Georg arrived in Hamburg in mid-October of that year, he might have Philipp Telemann, did not achieve importance beyond its local heard Händel’s Rinaldo, in the arrangement by Keiser. region, and in fact the Opernhaus am Brühl closed in 1720 due to financial difficulties. The opera in Hamburg, on the other hand, While we can only make assumptions about Bach’s visits to garnered an international reputation. Kings, princes, and dukes the opera in Hamburg, we are on somewhat surer footing included Hamburg in their travel plans in order to attend per- with respect to his visits to the opera in Dresden. Through formances at the “magnifique OperenHauß am Gänsemarckt,” Forkel, we know of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s remark as it was described in one chronicle.5 This opera house, built by that his father “often went there to hear the opera.”8 And No. 5 BACH • NOTES 3 Forkel’s joking comment to Wilhelm Friedemann—asking if responsible for the composition of concerted church music. they (Freidemann and his father) had not “once again” wanted One of the first to write sacred texts as madrigalian verse was to hear the “beautiful little Dresden songs” (“schönen Dresdner the theologian and poet Erdmann Neumeister. In the pref- Liederchen”)—makes Bach’s particular interest in the “theat- ace to his Geistlichen Cantaten statt einer Kirchen-Musik, ralischer Stil” of the opera unmistakably clear. Bach, then, who which appeared in Weißenfels in its second edition in 1704, stayed in Dresden many times between 1717 and 1741, cannot Neumeister described the new type of sacred cantata and com- possibly have been the “affected composer of double counter- pared it with opera.

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