15 14 Introduction Few composers have placed the art of the chorale setting at the center of their creative According to Yoshitake Kobayashi,3 Bach began transcribing the chorales “around activity to such an extent as Johann Sebastian Bach. Reference is made here not only 1739/42” and entered the first 13 pieces (up to and including Allein Gott in der Höh sei to the organ chorales, but also to the great chorale choruses of the chorale cantata year Ehr BWV 663) in relatively quick succession. The project was then apparently put 1724/25, the Passions and the countless arias in which a chorale melody is interwo- aside for several years: the next two chorales, the Trio on Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr ven into the structure. Bach’s first engagements as organist (in Ohrdruf? Perhaps as BWV 664 and the pedaliter arrangement of Jesus Christus, unser Heiland BWV 665 evi- early as Eisenach?) no doubt required the composition of organ chorales. He began dence a later phase of handwriting that can be dated “circa 1746/47.” The close of the by writing such works in the style of Johann Pachelbel and Johann Michael Bach – manuscript in the form we know today raises many questions. Firstly, it seems curious pieces that were light-years away from the intricate and highly important settings in, that the next two chorales BWV 666 and 667 bear the characteristics of the hand- for example, the Clavierübung III. writing of Bach’s pupil and son-in-law Johann Christoph Altnickol; but then Bach’s Until he was (ungraciously) dismissed from his service at the court of Weimar, Bach familiar writing traits reappear in the autograph version of the five canons on Vom had always held organists’ posts (in Arnstadt, Mühlhausen and Weimar). The Weimar Himmel hoch, da komm ich her BWV 769a. This is followed by the fragment entitled Vor period (1708–1717) saw Bach “not only training himself to become a versatile organ- deinen Thron tret ich BWV 668, written on the page containing the end of the last canon ist, but also laying the groundwork for his mighty organ works.”1 Other duties had and in the hand of an unidentified copyist (see facsimiles pp. 117 and 156). claimed priority during his years as Kapellmeister in Köthen and during his first Leipzig Until a few years ago, the claim that Altnickol had transcribed the piece at Bach’s years. But already in 1726, Bach once again turned his attention to the keyboard request was undisputed. Altnickol’s handwriting characteristics had been first exam- instrument with the publication of the first Harpsichord Partita BWV 825. The six ined by Alfred Dürr on the basis of more than 40 manuscripts.4 Peter Wollny was Partitas (Clavierübung I), the Organ Sonatas and the Clavierübung II are devoted to able to provide a differentiation, however, which led him to assign about 15 of these “free” keyboard music such as the suite, sonata and concerto; but beginning approx. manuscripts to Johann Christoph Farlau, a previously completely unknown scribe.5 in 1736 organ chorale settings – a genre that recurred consistently in his works up to This new knowledge entailed a revisiting of Altnickol’s handwriting development. the end of his life – once again took on a major role in Bach’s œuvre. The printed col- Today, Peter Wollny propagates the view that the two Chorales BWV 666 and 667 lections (Clavierübung III, Canonische Veränderungen über “Vom Himmel hoch,” Schübler- were possibly only entered into P 271 after Bach’s death.6 These considerations will Choräle – see Vol. 6 of the present new edition, in the following NA) – were thus able be further elucidated in the Commentary. to reach a broad public and confirm the importance of these collections for Bach. Even more complex are the questions arising from the last chorale, Vor deinen Thron tret ich BWV 668. Is it somehow connected to the last days of Bach’s life? Is the expres- Manuscript P 271 sion “Bach’s Death Chorale” legitimate? And does it belong in any way to the collec- Apparently after the publication of the Dritter Teil der Clavierübung, released for the fall tion P 271 or was it also entered later on paper that had remained free? The legend of trade fair of 1739, Bach took the decision to collect and compile earlier chorale set- “Bach’s Death Chorale” and its origin were astutely analyzed by Christoph Wolff, but tings. At the center of the present edition is Bach’s great organ-music manuscript P 271 even he does not want to exclude the possibility that Bach worked on this chorale dur- (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Mus. ms. Bach P 271). Its first part comprises the six Organ ing the last days of his life, and perhaps made the corrections transmitted in P 271.7 Sonatas BWV 525–530 (Vol. 5 of the NA), the second part 23 chorale settings; Bach entered the organ sonatas around 1730, but did not get to the chorales until about ten 3 Yoshitake Kobayashi, Zur Chronologie der Spätwerke Johann Sebastian Bachs – Kompositions- und years later. “A conspicuous characteristic of P 271 is the consistent use of one sole type Aufführungstätigkeit von 1736 bis 1750, Bach-Jahrbuch 1988, pp. 7–72. See also Johann Sebastian Bach. of paper [...] for the two large fascicles. [...] It would thus appear that the composer Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, ed. by Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Institut Göttingen and by Bach-Archiv Leipzig, Kassel etc. 1954–2007 (=NBA) Band IX/2, Die Notenschrift Johann Sebastian Bachs – stockpiled a considerable amount of paper while notating the sonatas – apparently Dokumentation ihrer Entwicklung, ed. by Y. Kobayashi, pp. 170–173 and p. 207. with the intent to lay down the definitive form and calligraphic appearance of further 4 Alfred Dürr, Zur Chronologie der Handschrift Johann Christoph Altnickols und Johann Friedrich Agricolas, organ works at a later date.”2 Bach-Jahrbuch 1970, pp. 44–65. 5 Peter Wollny, Tennstedt, Leipzig, Naumburg, Halle – Neuerkenntnisse zur Bach-Überlieferung in Mitteldeutschland, Bach-Jahrbuch 2002, pp. 36–47. 6 See also Yoshitake Kobayashi and Kirsten Beißwenger, Die Kopisten Johann Sebastian Bachs – Katalog 1 Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Ueber Johann Sebastian Bachs Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke, Reprint of the first und Dokumentation, NBA IX/3, Text vol. pp. 172f. (no. 233). Note at BWV 666 and 667 reads edition, Leipzig, 1802, ed. by Axel Fischer, Kassel etc., 1999, p. 6. Ibid., Edition – Quellen – “possibly after 1750.” Materialien, vorgelegt und erläutert von Christoph Wolff, Bach-Dokumente, Vol. VII, Kassel etc., 7 Christoph Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bachs „Sterbechoral“: Kritische Fragen zu einem Mythos, in: Studies in 2008. Renaissance and Baroque Music in Honor of Arthur Mendel, ed. by Robert L. Marshall, Kassel etc., 2 Johann Sebastian Bach, Die achtzehn großen Orgelchoräle BWV 651–668 und Canonische Veränderungen 1974, pp. 281–297; Christoph Wolff, Bach – Essays on his life and music, Harvard University Press, 1993, über “Vom Himmel hoch” BWV 769 – Facsimile of the original manuscript ed. by Peter Wollny, pp. 282–294 (“The Deathbed Chorale: Exposing a Myth”); Christoph Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach, Meisterwerke der Musik im Faksimile 5, Laaber, 1999 [Wollny Faksimile], p. VII. Frankfurt a. M., 2000, pp. 491f. 16 15 These factors led to the various titles attributed to the cycle. Bach had left one page penned a “draft” of the revised version as an intermediary level between the Weimar free, most likely for the entry of a further title, but this page was ultimately left blank. version and the autograph P 271; though this may sound convincing, there are no Wilhelm Rust, the editor of the Alte Bach-Gesamtausgabe, suggested the title unequivocal documents to support this. Bach’s surviving sketches and drafts have “Achtzehn Choräle von verschiedener Art” (Eighteen Chorales of Various Types)8 in since become accessible to the public thanks to the supplement volume of the NBA.14 analogy with the Schübler Chorales; in the NBA Hans Klotz corrected the number Klotz’ often highly illustrative and effective presentation (“the documents concerning to “Seventeen Chorales.”9 The last chorale can most likely rightfully claim a special Bach’s drafts[...], which were housed in the cabinets of the ‘composition room’ of position in the manuscript. If we opine that Altnickol’s contributions (BWV 666 and Leipzig’s Thomaskantorat”)15 must be amended or at least relativized.16 The path from 667) probably did not reflect Bach’s will, we would even have to speak of “Fifteen the Weimar-era autographs to the Leipzig autograph P 271 was possibly quite complex; Chorales.”10 Despite all these imponderabilities, the order of the pieces should be today, scholars are assessing the possibility that Bach may have had to leave behind kept as in the source P 271, which meant so much to Bach during the last decade of many manuscripts upon his dismissal from his post at the Weimar court.17 his life. The collection comprises almost all types of “major” pedaliter chorale settings of the Also questionable is the term “Leipzig Chorales” used in many program notes and Weimar creative period. It thus constitutes a supplement to the Orgelbüchlein (“minor” CD recordings. Bach ascertainably wrote first versions of the “Seventeen Chorales” organ chorales), to the Chorale Fughettas (BWV 696–699 and 701–704) and to the during his Weimar creative period (or earlier); further, a connection can also be traced manualiter arrangements (BWV 695, 711, 713, 717, 734). The forms range from large between BWV 668 and the (Weimar) Orgelbüchein. The clearest evidence of its genesis pedal cantus firmus works (BWV 651, 661) to the ornamented chorales, typical for in Weimar is provided by the trio arrangement of the Advent hymn Nun komm der Weimar (BWV 653, 654, 659, 662) and up to motivically structured pieces analogous Heiden Heiland BWV 660: this is one case in which, next to the later Leipzig autograph, to those of the Orgelbüchlein (BWV 656, 658).