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Bach St. John Passion #2 Bach’s St. John Passion Day Two: A life of music Eric Osborne, 2021 If you followed the 2020 Advent Calendar, you will have read on a couple occasions of the exciting lives of some of the composers of the works we looked at. We had a story of political assassination or the story of a Sulpician novice going to sea and then returning to write theatrical works by night and devotion texts during the day. Today we have a story that has its twists and turns that I think would make a good mini series on Netflix, but then maybe my tastes may not be shared by the majority. Today, I would like to examine the life of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750. Many books have been written about the life of Bach. At the conclusion of this essay, I will share a couple recommendations from my library if you wish to learn more. I am attempting to be concise and in this essay we will only examine the life of Bach up to the composition of the St. John Passion. Bach came from a family of musicians. In a family tree there were over fifty musicians in the family. Although a family from Thuringia, Germany, the Bach family were originally from Hungary. In the late sixteenth century/ early seventeenth century, his great great grandfather, Veit Bach (1550-1619) moved to Thurgian, in particular the area around Eisenach, where Bach was born. The Bach family were Lutherans. Bach was born in Eisenach on March 21, 1685 (Old Style) (March 31 New Style) to Ambrosius Bach (1645-1695) and Maria Elisabeth Lämerhirt (1644-1694), the eighth and youngest child. Ambrosius was the director of the town musicians. Bach’s music education began early. His father taught him the violin and harpsichord. Bach attended the local Latin grammar school. In 1694, Bach’s mother died, followed nine months later by his father. An orphan, he went to live with his elder brother, Johann Christoph Bach (1671-1721) in Ohrdruf, and it was here that he had his early organ lessons. Johann Christoph was a student of Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706), and under his tutelage, Bach was introduced to the music of Pachelbel, Froberger, Lully, Marchand, Marais and event Frescobaldi. In 1700 Bach was enrolled as a student at the prestigious St. Michael’s School in Lüneburg. It was there he studied with Georg Böhm (1661-1733). He would travel to Hamburg to study with Johann Adam Reinken (1643-11722). On his graduation in 1703, he entered the service of the Duke of Weimar, as a violinist. After being part of the installation of a new organ at the New Church in Arnstadt, and performing the inaugural recital, Bach became the organist there. It is here we first hear of the tensions between musician and employer that would feature prominently in the life of Bach. Bach had firm ideas of a ‘well-principled’ music. Not only were their tensions with his employer but with other musicians. Bach is recorded as assaulting a rival. In 1705/6 he obtained permission to be absent for four weeks to go to Lübeck and study with Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707). Walking the 250 miles on foot, Bach was absent for four months, much to the consternation of the church authorities in Arnstadt. In 1707, he became the organist in Mühlhausen, and here there was concern for his wife singing in the choir gallery. This was not the norm at that time. He would marry his second cousin, Maria Barbara Bach (1684-1720). The following year, he would return to Weimar and enter the service of the Duke there as organist in the Castle Church. In 1714 he was made Director of Music. Here in Weimar, his first children were born, and during this time his main output was keyboard and instrumental works. With his 1714 appointment as Konzertmeister, he had the monthly responsibility of a church cantata. Most of Bach’s organ works were written during his time here. Three years later in 1717, he fell out of favour. He had found a new position in the service of the Prince of Cöthen and having given his notice, he had a disagreement about his dismissal from service. His “determination” in this matter resulted in being jailed for a month. Bach’s work in Cöthen was a period where he felt appreciated. His employer, Prince Leopold was a musician and gave Bach latitude in composing and performing. The court, being Calvinist, did not require sacred music to the extent that the court in Weimar did. It was during this period that most of Bach’s composition were secular and instrumental. In 1720, while at Carlsbad with Prince Leopold, Bach’s wife, Maria Barbara died suddenly. A year later, Bach had remarried Anna Magdalena Wilcke, and had a further thirteen children. (here is where there are many jokes about Bach being in the “family way.” In 1723 Bach was appointed Thomaskantor at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig, being responsible for music in the four city churches, Thomaskirche (St. Thomas’ Church), Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas’ Church), Petrikirche (St. Peter’s Church), and Neuekirche (New Church). The position of Thomaskantor was the pre-eminent sacred music position in protestant Germany. Bach’s predecessor, Johann Kuhnau (1680-1722) was cantor from 1701 until his death in 1722. However Bach was not the council’s favoured choice. Their first choice was Georg Philipp Telemann, who was offered the job but would not relocate to Leipzig. He went to Hamburg instead. Bach’s job description required him to teach the students of the Thomasschule in singing and provide music in the churches of Leipzig every Sunday. A cantata was required every Sunday when music was permitted and on Holy Days during the church kalendar. In his first year at Leipzig, his first cycle of Sunday cantatas was composed and performed and is quite complete. However there were Sundays when cantatas by other composers would be performed. In this first year besides a cantata every Sunday, Bach is working on the composition of St. John Passion. We will examine the liturgical use of Passions in the church and during Bach’s lifetime in the next instalment. S.D.G. (Soli Deo Gloria = To God alone be the Glory) and J.J.(Jesu juva = Jesus, help), For Further Reading Gardiner, John Eliot (2013). Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven. New York: Alfred O. Knopf. ISBN 978-0-375-41529-6. Wolff, Christoph (2000). Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-816534-7., second edition, 2013, W. W. Norton, New York .
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