Book I

, p. 206):

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[Footnote 92: His compatriot, John Bull, who died in Antwerp in 1628, had already written a series of variations upon this subject. (See "A General History of Music," by Charles Burney. London, 1789, p. 115.)]

We repeat, it is undoubtedly in intentional recollection of the "_Fiori musicali_" that Bach here makes use of a mannerism which, moreover, was so familiar to him; it is through details of this sort that one is able to gain the mastery of a style which one desires to imitate. As for that, we must not forget that Bach wrote after nearly a century had elapsed. If you will, it is like an ancient painting copied by a modern master, who, although able to correct the perspective, would cause the picture to lose none of its archaic charm, while he would impart to it a certain quality of warmth. Thus, in the _canzona_, notice that progression of the soprano (beginning at the 48th measure) which ascends like the broad sweep of violins, then falls gracefully back upon a well-rounded line--a contrast expressing great tenderness, compared with the austere rigidity of the scholastic rhythm with which the countersubject at the same time pursues its heavy course, in an obsolete style of counterpoint.

Here is truly the _cantable_,[93] as Bach called it, never hesitating to coin French words; the second part of the _Canzona_ which follows this species of march is written in 3/2 time, after the established rule; it is more abstract, and not without prolixity.

[Footnote 93: This is the term which Bach employs in the preface to his _Inventionen und Sinfonien_ compiled in 1723, that his pupils might, through their study, acquire _un jeu cantable_.]

If all the grace, the melodic freedom of the _Canzone_ of Frescobaldi are surpassed in this work, an _Alla Breve_[94] in _D_ major reminds us more of the studied style, of the continuous movement of the _Ricercare_, with some reminiscence of a piece which Pachelbel wrote under the same title and in the same key.[95]

[Footnote 94: P. viii, 6.]

[Footnote 95: Commer. _Musica Sacra_ (Vol. I, No. 123, p. 137).]

The _Passacaglia_[96] again exemplifies the discreet cleverness which Bach henceforth displays in his imitations; he realizes that he has risen above his models, and he now chooses his colors with a critical eye. In this instance he takes us back to Buxtehude.

[Footnote 96: P. i, 2. B.-G. xv, p. 289. [M. Pirro writes me: "You may state that the theme of the Passacaglia was the composition of the French organist André Raison." To which M. Widor adds: "André Raison, organist of St.-Étienne du Mont in Paris at the time of Louis XIV, left a volume of organ works, now very rare, which I have presented to the library of the Conservatoire. Raison's collection is interesting, in that it gives indications of the registration of his time; the chorale is usually found in the pedal, treated as the tenor, the real bass being played by the left hand. The melody of the chorale is performed upon a reed stop in the pedal, while upon the manuals only mixtures are drawn." Tr.]]

Among the works of the latter are various pieces of this same order, Passacaglias or Chaconnes, written over an _ostinato_; which is not necessarily confined to the bass in its original form, but which modulates here and there into closely related keys, or appears in other parts.

The seriousness of the beginning of the Bach _Passacaglia_ cannot cause us to forget that calm entrance, in its very reserve so sad, of the Passacaglio (_sic_) of Buxtehude (ed. Spitta, No. I, p. 1):

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or the profound melancholy of the commencement of the _Ciacona_ (ibid., No. II, p. 6):

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The majority of the details of the Passacaglia, moreover, establish its relationship to the two works which we have just cited.

For example, the broken chords (beginning with the 113th measure), which remind us of the following (_Ciacona_, p. 10):

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Also the rapid progressions accompanied by solid chords (_Ciacona_, p. 11):

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finally the sixteenth-notes in triplets (_Passacaglio_, p. 4).

The idea of joining a fugue to the Passacaglias was also derived from Buxtehude, who united a _chaconne_ and a fugue (_ibid._, No. V).

All this is only incidental, it is true; and we recognize Bach in the length of the work (293 measures) and especially in the skilful counterpoint of the fugue.

From our point of view, the _Passacaglio_ and the _Canzone_ express the whole philosophy of this second period. Bach attains, in these two works, the highest point which it was then possible for him to reach; he comes into his first maturity in treating, it is true, established forms, through which he acquires the necessary mastership for the exploration of new fields.

From this moment progress is manifest. Take the prelude and fugue in _F_ minor;[97] no more superfluous ornaments in the prelude, and, what is especially noteworthy, it is founded entirely, not yet upon a clearly defined subject, but still upon a figure which affects the whole ensemble, imparting to it added coherency.

[Footnote 97: P. ii, 5. B.-G. xv, p. 104.]

Up to this time Bach had not achieved such unity, such directness of meaning; and the rapid, stormy passage at the end is more than a mere brilliant cadence: it bears the musical distinction of adding to the dignity of the peroration by emphasizing the tonality, the threads of which are thus united.

In the two preludes in _C_ minor which bear the title of _Fantaisies_[98] these characteristics are still more pronounced; it is from a veritable subject that they derive the somewhat elegiac character common to both, as well as certain details and even the general outlines; the one is, nevertheless, somewhat more individual because of the use of two themes. Less varied, the character of the other is more intimate, although more uniform.

[Footnote 98: P. iii, 6. B.-G. xv, p. 129, and P. iv, 12 (_a 5 voci_). Accompanying the latter Fantasia is a fugue of which, unfortunately, only the first twenty-seven measures are extant.]

To the three fugues which we have mentioned must undoubtedly be added two others, from a chronological point of view, belonging to preludes of a later date; they are the fugues of the Toccata in _F_ major,[99] and of a prelude in _C_ minor.[100] There is truly a remarkable analogy between these five fugues, both in the character of their themes--no longer agitated in movement, but approaching in a slight degree the melodious seriousness of the chorale--and in their treatment. In each of them the interest increases with the development, and the introduction of an accessory subject toward the middle portion (afterwards related to the principal theme), either as a countersubject or for the purpose of preparing the reëntrance of the principal theme, is common to them all.

[Footnote 99: P. iii, 2. B.-G. xv, p. 155.]

[Footnote 100: P. ii, 6. B.-G. xv, p. 218.]

The Toccata[101] in the Dorian mode and the accompanying fugue are perhaps contemporary; this imposing composition still partakes of that character of studied virtuosity which Bach was destined completely to abandon in his later years.

[Footnote 101: P. iii, 3. B.-G. xv, p. 136.

[At the time of Bach it was a frequent usage to omit an accidental from the signature; in the above case the omission of the only flat undoubtedly suggested the appellation frequently given "_in modo dorico_," although otherwise the composition bears hardly a trace of the Dorian mode. Tr.]]

III

After resigning his post at the palace in Weimar, Bach never again occupied an official position as organist. Not that he renounced the instrument which he so loved to play, but he was no longer obliged to fulfil the requirements of regular service; his earlier compositions he could gather together and correct at his ease, and finally bring out no new ones that were not thoroughly in accordance with his ideals.

The number of these new organ compositions also diminished in an extraordinary degree; for from all the thirty-three years embraced in this last period, but about twenty works exist for our study.

Although Bach no longer bore the title of organist while at Cöthen, it must not be inferred that access to the organs of the town was denied him; for instance, to the instrument in the _St. Agnuskirche_, the pedal of which was unusually extended in compass. We learn, in fact, from a work of C.F. Hartmann's,[102] published at the beginning of this century, that the pedal of this organ was two and a half octaves in range, extending up to _f'_[sharp][103] inclusive, while the organs of that period usually possessed but two octaves in the pedal, from _C_ to _c'_, with sometimes _c'_[sharp] and _d'_ in addition.

[Footnote 102: _Geschichte der evangelisch-lutherischen St. Agnuskirche in Köthen. Herausgegeben von C.F. Hartmann, Köthen, in der Commission der Huschen Buchhandlung_ (1802). The organ is described on pages 19 and 20.]

[Footnote 103: [The pedal, even of modern organs, extends upwards only to _f'_. Since the middle of the last decade, the house of Cavaillé-Coll in Paris, has applied to the larger instruments constructed by it the compass of _C_ to _g'_. This range was recommended by the translator and adopted for an organ now in process of construction in Boston; it is also a feature of the large organ for Yale University, recently contracted for.]]

This instrument, although of modest dimensions, responded to the touch with remarkable precision and promptness. And we have good reason for believing that Bach had it in mind when he wrote the Toccata in _F_ major;[104] this piece has always been played, traditionally, at a very rapid tempo; and one encounters at various points high _f's_ and _e's_ in the pedal part. If Bach, who was continually seeking new instruments or improvements hitherto ignored, had not had at his disposition a _pedalier_ upon which he could play this pedal part, he undoubtedly would have so written it as to make it generally practicable for performance. It seems evident, on the contrary, that he composed this work only in order to take advantage of a resource which he had not encountered before; thus the date of this Toccata appears to be between the years 1717 and 1723, the period of Bach's residence in Cöthen.

[Footnote 104: P. iii, 2. B.-G. xv, p. 155.]

While remarkably brilliant, this work bears the stamp of a certain dryness; it is somewhat too much of a "show-piece,"[105] perhaps the best one of this type which Bach wrote; quite different, in so far, from the fugue in _A_ major joined to the prelude in the same key.[106]

[Footnote 105: The beginning, at least; while the conclusion is characterized by repetitions, this part of the work is not its least imposing portion.]

[Footnote 106: P. ii, 3. B.-G. xv, p. 120.]

This fugue (also from the Cöthen period, as well as the prelude, to judge them by the pedal, which extends to _e'_) occupies an entirely individual position among the works of Bach--one which is shared by no other work. One would say that in writing this fugue he had relaxed from the severity which the grandeur of the instrument inspired in him, lending to the work the intimate charm of a somewhat effeminate grace of movement.

The elusive rhythm of the subject, and even the theme in its entirety (though a different way), bear a strange resemblance to this fugue subject:

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given out by the oboe, repeated first by the flute, then by the _viola d'amore_, and finally by the _viola da gamba_, above the _continuo_ in the cantata "_Tritt auf die Glaubensbahn_."[107]

[Footnote 107: This cantata, written for soloists, was first performed December 29, 1715. B.-G. xxx, 2.]

Certain portions of the fugue in _A_ major, further, produce the effect of concerted music, conceived for different tone-colors, rather than that of a polyphony of like sounds, especially where broken chords occur in the counterpoint. At other times, when the pedal is silent, a trio-sonata is suggested. This does not surprise us; Bach was still preoccupied with the forms of Italian chamber music. We have noted the transformation which his preludes underwent under this influence, they now being constructed upon distinct subjects; and we have seen in the Toccata in _C_ how Bach sought to write a work in three movements, each one of a different character and tempo, in imitation of the concertos and sonatas. Here and there again, as in this instance, we find attempts at three-part writing clearly defined;[108] not merely because the pedal remains silent, but by reason of a plainly indicated design.

[Footnote 108: For example, in the fugue in _G_ minor (P. iv, 7).]

Bach aligned these endeavors in definite order, classified their essentials, and embodied them in the sonatas, or rather trios, for two manuals and pedal.[109]

[Footnote 109: P. i, 1. B.-G. xv.]

Play these trios upon the organ, and you will divert them from their original destination. Bach composed them for the clavecin with two manuals and pedal, between the years 1722 and 1727,[110] for the purpose, Forkel tells us, of instructing his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, in organ-playing, through their use in home practice.

[Footnote 110: The first part of the sonata in _D_ minor undoubtedly dates from the year 1722; the _adagio_ and _vivace_ of the sonata in _E_ minor are transcribed from the cantata _Die Himmel erzählen_ (1723), B.-G. xviii. The last movement of this sonata was originally intended to serve as an interlude between the prelude and the fugue in _G_ major (P. ii, 2. B.-G. xv, p. 169. The theme of the fugue is, in major, that of the first chorus in the cantata _Ich hatte viel Bekümmerniss_, performed in 1714), composed, according to the water-mark of the autograph, in 1724 or 1725.]

The structure of these sonatas is analogous to that of the six violin sonatas of Bach with clavecin accompaniment; they still lack the definite form of the modern sonata;[111] they are more, as has been said, "lyric pieces."

[Footnote 111: See S. Bagge: _Die geschichtliche Entwickelung der Sonate_.]

If Bach wrote these trios to accustom his son to the technical difficulties of the organ, perchance considering them only a set of studies, and for himself an interesting occupation by which he might profit, his motives in writing the Fantasie and Fugue in _G_ minor[112] were, apparently, very different, and may be definitely connected with the journey which he made to Hamburg in 1720. This is an hypothesis which is sustained by a whole chain of circumstances.

[Footnote 112: P. ii, 4. B.-G. xv, p. 177.]

First of all, Mattheson, in his treatise upon thorough-bass,[113] furnishes the ground for our premise; he cites the following fugue subject as having been given to a candidate who was undergoing an examination for an organ position:

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with this countersubject:

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[Footnote 113: _Grosse General-Bass-Schule, oder Exemplarische Organistenprobe_ (Hamburg, 1731), p. 34. "The subject of this fugue was produced by a facile pen, and, in 1725, presented to a candidate for the position of organist."]

He adds that this theme was well known, and that it had been chosen to assist the candidate in his task, since he would already have had an opportunity of hearing it treated; he says, further, that its origin was not unknown, and that it was well known who had been the first to make use of it with success.

Mattheson, who wrote this about 1725, seems to be speaking of a theme unusually familiar. Was it not from Bach himself--the examination took place at Hamburg--that the candidate, who was from that city or a neighboring locality, would probably have heard a fugue composed upon this same subject?

Moreover, an examination of the prelude will confirm this opinion. Through his study of the works of Buxtehude and of Reinken, the venerable organist, Bach had possessed himself of all their secrets. The opportunity had come for him to demonstrate to the organists of Hamburg how, in imitating them, he could surpass them on their own ground.

For the characteristics of the prelude resemble those of the works of these men; recitatives, rapid passages which cover the entire compass of the manuals; chord progressions with bold, unforeseen modulations; subjects treated in imitation. But the recitatives are of an expressive, declamatory character which was then unheard of; the rapid passages are the forerunners of "those scales, those tremendous ascending and descending scales which rise and fall like the waves of the sea in a storm,"[114] which Mozart wrote in the overture to _Don Giovanni_; the chord progressions, with a daring which had never been exceeded, leading to that gigantic passage (measures 31 to 40), a veritable orchestral crescendo, where all resources of sonority deploy themselves in radiation, taking on new force with each strong beat; it serves also as an example of the crescendo which may be obtained upon the organ without recourse to modern appliances. Finally, the motive treated in imitation (measures 9 to 13) vouchsafes us a period of repose, corresponding to a point of temporary rest in the midst of chaotic agitation; it is the calm supplication of prayer which alternates with the power of the elements freed from their fetters.

[Footnote 114: Charles Gounod: _Le Don Juan de Mozart_, p. 5.]

The opposition of these varied means of expression imparts to this piece a value which the works of Buxtehude, despite their valuable qualities, will never possess. I refer to those designs, in the absence of which music stifles, giving the impression of a drawing without perspective; such qualities are essential, especially in music composed for the organ, whose manuals, of different intensity, so easily accomplish the display of the various phases, emphasizing one subject while leaving another in the background.

Pölchau, in the 18th century, declared that the fugue accompanying this prelude was the "best work with pedal ever written by Bach." It is rarely allowable to pronounce such absolute judgments, or even to subscribe to them; that it is one of the best, however, there can be no doubt; still greater through that unity of opposition, through the effect of continuity which it produces, like the uninterrupted course of a great river, contrasted with the boiling torrent which terrifies our imagination.

It now remains for us to speak only of the prelude and fugue in _E_ flat major, and of the six preludes and fugues which have been surnamed "the great." These latter, which are found together in the manuscript, were, perhaps, assembled by Bach for publication; that was not, however, accomplished.

Of all the compositions which we have cited thus far, only the prelude and fugue in _E_ flat were published during the composer's life.

The prelude stands at the head of the third part of the _Clavierübung_[115] and the fugue ends that volume. In any case, there is no doubt that these two pieces belong together. Griepenkerl, who in his edition[116] united them for the first time, declares that he did not do so arbitrarily, but that he was justified by Forkel, who in turn derived his authority from Bach's sons.

[Footnote 115: _Clavierübung.--Dritter Theil der Clavierübung bestehend in verschiedenen Vorspielen über den Catechismus und andere Gesänge vor die Orgel: denen Liebhabern und besonders denen Kennern von dergleichen Arbeit, zur Gemüths-Ergötzung verfertiget von J.S. Bach, königl. Pohlnischen, und Churfürstlich Sächsischen Hof-Compositeur, Capellmeister, und Directore Chori Musici in Leipzig. In Verlegung des Authoris._]

[Footnote 116: P. iii, 1. B.-G. iii, pp. 173 and 254.]

Moreover, a comparison of these two pieces will show their similarity; while the prelude is more grandiose, the character of the fugued portions is quite the same in the one as in the other; moreover, the polyphony, in each case in five parts, indicates an evident unity of composition.[117]

[Footnote 117: It is worthy of note that the fugue, a last reminiscence of Buxtehude, is in three movements of different rhythms.]

The publication of the _Clavierübung_ may be fixed at about the year 1739. The prelude and fugue in _E_ minor[118] are probably anterior to this work; a minute study of the autographs has given Ph. Spitta reason to place the composition between 1727 and 1736.

[Footnote 118: P. ii, 9. B.-G. xv, p. 236.]

In the strict succession broadly established by a prelude developed at length (137 measures), follows the fugue, of still greater dimensions (231). It is the longest of all the Bach fugues, but, despite its proportions, the interest does not flag for a moment. Here again Bach constructed his subject upon that same chromatic progression to which he already owed so many expressive combinations; but the theme soon retires into the background of this fugue; it is but the excuse for a counter-theme of singular pathos, which assumes the importance of a symphonic subject, freely treated.

We should place by the side of this masterpiece the prelude and fugue in _B_ minor.[119] The beauties of this composition are of a character quite as lofty, to which no analysis can do justice. It is a sort of soul-language, of which Hegel says, in his _Aesthetik_: "If we consider all intercourse of the soul with the beautiful as a deliverance, as a release from all trouble, it is in music that we must seek the completeness of that liberation."

[Footnote 119: P. ii, 10. B.-G. xv, p. 199.]

Undoubtedly it is also "that internal harmony which lifts us for an instant out of the infinite depths of longing, which delivers the soul from the oppression of the will, which diverts our attention from all that is importunate, showing us things divested of all the influences of anticipation, of every personal interest, becoming objects of disinterested contemplation, and not of covetousness; thus this repose, vainly sought along the open paths of desire, but which has always eluded us, appears to us, as it were, of its own volition, and vouchsafes the realization of peace in plenty. This free condition of sadness Epicurus pronounced the chief of all good, the happiness of the gods."[120]

[Footnote 120: Schopenhauer. _Lichtstrahlen aus seinen Werken._ J. Frauenstädt, Leipzig, 1874.]

To the six greater preludes and fugues also belong the prelude in _C_ major[121]--which, reproduced in an altered form by Bach himself upon another occasion, recalls in both its forms the beginning of the Concerto in _C_ major for two clavecins--and the prelude in _C_ minor,[122] the fugue of which (as we have already seen) must be earlier in date. Otherwise the great fugue in _A_ minor,[123] the prelude of which, included with the fugue in this series, is still replete with souvenirs of Buxtehude, and would thus revert to the Weimar period.

[Footnote 121: P. ii, 1.]

[Footnote 122: P. ii, 6. B.-G. xv, p. 218. Here are noticeable reminiscences from the _Recordare_ in the _Dies Irae_ of Legrenzi, for eight-part chorus, three _violes_ and organ.]

[Footnote 123: P. ii, 8. B.-G. xv.]

Finally, we would mention the prelude in _C_ major in 9-8 time[124]; it recalls in its movement a fantasia by Froberger.

[Footnote 124: P. ii, 7. B.-G. xv, p. 228.]

It is curious to observe that the fugue which follows it played a

## part in the inspiration of _Die Meistersinger_, in its analogous

figures, and in resuming the subject at the close, this time in augmentation, like a chorale melody.

Is it not of some interest to see brought together, in a work of Bach's, these extremes in music? Froberger, with all his inheritance of past centuries; Wagner, proclaiming the dawn of a new art?

THE CHORALE

PRELUDES (_VORSPIELE_)--TRIOS--FANTASIAS--FUGUES

We have seen to what an early period of Bach's life his first free compositions revert; perhaps of still earlier origin are the works which the Chorales inspired in him.

Liturgical in character, and thus all the more closely identified with the popular sources from which he sometimes drew his own inspirations in order to idealize them mystically in a sort of "_procession en Dieu_," the chorale is the soul of Lutheran religious music. Far more; this universal prayer, the spiritualized communion of the faithful (their sole participation, really, in a dogma freely interpreted), passed from the inner temple to the outer court, like the reading of Holy Writ; the Bible was the book of the family, the volume of chorales its musical breviary.

The very first arrangements of chorales made by Bach convey a little of that intimate charm, of that impression of "home" and its domestic circle, where in the evening the hymns are sung between the reading of two chapters from the Evangelists; it would seem as though the young man, an orphan, in imparting to them their expression of quiet sympathy, desired that they should take the place of those same intimate pleasures which had been denied him.

In fact, the "_Partite_," these two sets of variations upon "_Christ, der Du bist der helle Tag_" and "_Gott, Du frommer Gott_,"[125] lend themselves but poorly to the somewhat formal solemnity of a public service.

[Footnote 125: These variations are contained in the fifth volume of the Peters edition (