part ii

, chap. xxv.]

We know how Bach brought out the significance of these chorales, interpreted with such supereminence, by the deft combination of the parts. The execution of a design did not make him oblivious of the interest attached to the coloring. We have already spoken of the chorale _In dir ist Freude_; who knows whether Bach did not intend still further to accentuate its joyous character by picturesque registration? Adlung speaks of the _carillon_ (_Glockenspiel_) as being particularly fitted to symbolize gladness; and says that use was made of it only at the most joyous festivals. Mark the spiritedness of this chorale; and, further, the repetition of the _chaconne_ subject presented in the bass, singularly suggestive of a chime of bells; and consider the period to which this composition belongs, bearing in its form the distinct impress of the organists of the North. Without serious error, could we not ascribe it to the years 1708 or 1709, the time when Bach, occupied with the restoration of the organ in Mühlhausen, wished to add, in the pedal, a _carillon_ of his own invention? Would not the contrast of those metallic tones of four-foot pitch[161] with the deep resonance of the _Untersatz_ of thirty-two, which he also demanded, have produced all the harmonic overtones of real bells?... But this is only an hypothesis, though a plausible one, and one which it would be amusing to justify by trying its effect in actual performance.

[Footnote 161: It appears that this _carillon_ was not constructed; it is possible, however, that Bach had it in mind when writing the chorale. Moreover, it was to be found in other organs.]

Gathered from the indications of J.G. Walther, the registration of another chorale appears to bear the marks of more positive authenticity. We refer to the Lutheran chorale, _Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott_, mentioned in a previous chapter. Walther thus annotates it: "Für 3 clav."; for the left hand he directs "_Fagotto_"; for the right, "_Sesquialtera_." First of all must we notice this combination of a mutation stop with a reed; it is derived directly from the French organists. In Grigny,[162] for instance--we cite him especially because of Bach's study of his works--may be found in various instances a Bass Trumpet, or _Cromorne en taille_, accompanied by the _Tierce_ or Cornet.[163] To a certain extent the _Fagotto_ corresponds to the _Cromorne_, whose tone appeared somewhat veiled. This register, which Adlung tells us bore various names--_Portunen_, _Dulcian_, or _Basson_, among others--was sometimes added to the lower half of the great organ only, and was "of good effect in playing the _basso continuo_." Moreover, it was of small scale; even on the pedal it was not a noisy stop. As for the _Sesquialtera_, composed of the fifth and the tenth, it resembled more or less certain mutation stops of old French organs. It is noteworthy that the employment of a reed with a mixture is not mentioned by contemporary German writers; on the other hand, it would seem from the context[164] that this piece was played at the inauguration of the Mühlhausen organ, for whose restoration Bach had prepared the plans. He had demanded, among other improvements, that a _Tierce_ be added to one of the manuals, in order that, by drawing it with a _Quint_, a good _Sesquialtera_ might be produced; this in order to carry out all sorts of musical inventions of his own.

[Footnote 162: _Livre d'orgue contenant une messe et quatre hymnes pour les principales festes de l'année. Par Nicolas de Grigny, organiste de l'église-cathédrale de Reims. À Paris, chez Christophe Ballard, seul imprimeur du Roy pour la Musique. Rue Saint-Jean de Beauvais, au Mont-Parnasse. 1701. Avec Privilège de Sa Majesté._]

[Footnote 163: [The cornet here referred to is obviously a mixture, not the reed of the same name already mentioned.--TR.]]

[Footnote 164: This organ was the only one with three manuals which Bach could have had in mind while he was in Weimar with Walther; it is natural that in his compositions he should be preoccupied with an organ whose restoration he had planned, and undoubtedly supervised--Weimar being not far from Mühlhausen--and which in all probability he looked forward to inaugurating. This remark, moreover, may apply to the composition of the chorale _In dir ist Freude_, although here Bach had been disappointed.]

It is interesting to learn the details of this project, which, it is true, was not realized in its integrity; and it furnishes us with the most curious data upon the subject of Bach's ideas on registration and organ-building, and his own tastes.

Here it is in full:

_Disposition_ of the new repairs upon the organ of St. Blasius.

1. Three new bellows, carefully installed, should insure a sufficiency of wind to feed the great organ, the choir, and the new swell.

2. The pressure should be increased in the four old bellows, to give speech to the new Subbass of thirty-two feet, and to the lower pipes of the other stops.

3. The old soundboards of all the bass pipes to be renewed, and the wind-supply so to be regulated that when playing with only a single stop drawn all the remaining registers may be brought on suddenly without producing unsteadiness, as has been the case up to the present time; this being of the greatest importance.

4. To be added is the Subbass of thirty-two feet, called the _Untersatz_, which will be made of wood, to serve as the best possible foundation for the weight of the _ensemble_. These pipes should have a special soundboard.

5. The _Bombarde_ is to be furnished with new and larger resonators, and the mouths of the pipes shaped differently, in order to obtain more roundness in the emission of the tone.

6. As to the new features--the _Glockenspiel_ on the pedal, composed of twenty-six bells of four-foot pitch, desired by the parishioners, who will have them made at their own expense; while the manufacturer must see that they are rendered playable.

As to the great organ, the Trumpet, which is to be removed, will be replaced by:

7. A _Fagotto_ (Bassoon) of sixteen feet, which will permit of all sorts of new combinations, and whose tone is to be very _délicat_ for the _musique_.[165]

[Footnote 165: That is, for playing the _basso continuo_ of the orchestra.]

In place of the _Gemshorn_ (Chamois horn) which will also be removed:

8. A _Viol da Gamba_ of eight feet, which will blend admirably with the four-foot Salicional in the choir.

_Item_, if the Quint of three feet be removed, it may be replaced by

9. A _Nassat_ of three feet.

All the other stops of the great, and all those of the choir organ, may be retained, provided they be revoiced.

10. The new swell is to be arranged as follows:

Three _Principalia en montre_[166] (_im Gesichte_).

1. Quint of three feet, } in good tin of 14 "loth" [_i.e._, 2. Octave of two feet, } 14 parts pure tin to 2 parts 3. _Chalumeau_ of eight feet, } alloy]. 4. Mixture of three ranks, }

[Footnote 166: [_En montre_ signifies literally "on show"; that is, in front. The French designation for a diapason, _Montre_, is derived from the custom of placing the pipes of that register in an exposed position.--TR.]]

5. A _Tierce_, with which can be formed, by adding certain other stops, a fine _Sesquialtera_.

6. Fleute douce (_sic_--a soft flute) of four feet; and, finally,

7. _Stillgedackt_ (a species of Bourdon) of eight feet, which will blend perfectly with the "music."[167] As it will be made of good wood, it will be much more resonant than if of metal.

[Footnote 167: [The filling-out of the figured bass by the organ, made necessary in music with orchestra by the paucity of the instrumental numbers, was referred to as the "music."--TR.]]

11. Between the swell[168] and the great organ a coupler shall be constructed. Finally, the whole instrument shall be revoiced, and the tremulant made to vibrate regularly.

[Footnote 168: [The word _swell_ I have used in the foregoing merely to designate the third manual; and it by no means implies that the pipes belonging to that keyboard were enclosed in a swell-box. Although this invention was applied to an English organ for the first time in 1712 (St. Magnus Church, London Bridge), its adoption in Germany has become general only within comparatively recent years, and then only in newly-built instruments.--TR.]]

II

The document just cited, which is preserved in the archives of Mühlhausen, is full of interest; we will now make a further study of two of its sections, which treat of the same subject.

I refer to the combination of organ with orchestra in the performance of the cantatas.

First, Bach speaks of the _Fagotto_, whose tone so easily assimilated with that of instruments; here he agrees with his contemporaries, who recommended the use of a sixteen-foot stop of more definite _timbre_ than the bourdons, although not stronger,--it was also called _Dulcian_,--"_dolce suono_,"--in performing the _basso continuo_. The employment of the _Stillgedackt_, the softest stop in the organ, interests us in its use as a means of filling out this same figured bass. Such a register evidently lacked power, but was sought for that quality of indefiniteness, even of vacuity, which it possessed (_still_, in German, means quiet); this produced more the effect of diaphony, of a harmonic filling-in, like the _sostenuto_ of certain of our wind-instruments, than of polyphony in real parts, which one could not distinguish.

These lines of J. Th. Mosewius[169] will give us, further, an idea of the _rôle_ which the organ played in the orchestras of Bach and Händel: "It is a widely prevailing impression, and one confirmed by the new instrumentation which Mozart and Mosel made for the Händel oratorios, that by their use of the organ these two masters (Bach and Händel) supplied those features of our instrumentation which were then lacking. Such an opinion is correct, if nothing more is meant than that in concert rooms where no organ is available, it must be replaced by other instruments.[170] It must not be inferred that this new instrumentation maintains reciprocal relations with the original accompaniment. In the former it is the string-quartet which serves as the foundation of the harmony, and it is only the wind-instruments which affect the color. With Händel (and Bach) the organ, which fills out the figured bass, serves as a background for all the other instruments; the color is added by all the other voices of the orchestra, whether strings or wind."

[Footnote 169: J. Th. Mosewius: _J.S. Bach in seinen Kirchencantaten und Choralgesängen_ (Berlin, Trautwein, 1845), p. 25.]

[Footnote 170: This is what was done by Robert Franz. See _Offener Brief an Eduard Hanslick_ (Leipzig, 1873).]

Nothing could be more just than this statement of Mosewius; the organ serves to combine all the parts of the orchestra, unifying them without betraying its agency by any too assertive quality; a gray background, if you will, upon which some livelier colors are displayed, as in paintings of the school of Panselinos.

This testimony of Bach himself, specifying in his plans stops of a very soft and well-rounded quality for the accompanying organ, is corroborated by his contemporaries.

Scheibe, Adlung, and others permitted in the accompaniment of arias and recitatives but a single _bourdon_ of eight feet, called, from its use for such purposes, _Musikgedackt_. A recitative, especially, was to be sustained lightly, for fear of covering the voice of the singer; a few prolonged notes to guide him, occasional soft chords, and, curiously enough, if one believe in the strict treatment of the organ, _arpeggios_, as upon a clavecin.

The staccato was generally employed in playing the bass; but this license stopped here, and for ordinary organ pieces Bach exacted from his pupils the strictest legato.

Even in playing in the choruses, and with full orchestra, the organ had to be content with the "half-tone" tint; neither reeds nor mixtures, said Schröter,[171] organist in Nordhausen; Petri[172] made a similar recommendation.

[Footnote 171: _Deutliche Anweisung zum Generalbass_ (Halberstadt, 1772), p. 137.]

[Footnote 172: _Anleitung zur practischen Musik_ (Leipzig, 1782).]

Moreover, the accompaniment, at least such of it as was contrapuntal in nature or consisted of successive chords, was played usually upon the _positif_ (choir), whose pipes were less powerful than those of the great organ; the bass was executed upon the latter manual in the manner already indicated, sometimes also _legato_. The pedal itself might be added here; in certain passages it only marked the accents with stops of more emphatic quality, when it was desirable to emphasize the breadth of the rhythm, or to avoid confusion, when the movement was too rapid. This is confirmed by Saint-Lambert (_Traité d'accompagnement_, p. 58): "When the tempo is so rapid," says he, "that the accompanist cannot conveniently play all the notes, it will suffice if he play and accompany only the first notes of each measure, leaving to the basses the task of performing all the notes, which they will be able to accomplish much more easily, having no accompaniment to play in addition. Very rapid tempi are not suited to accompanying instruments; on this account, if particularly quick passages are encountered, even in a slow movement, the _accompagneur_ (sic) may leave them to the other instruments; or, if he play them himself, he may so modify them as to play only the principal notes of such passages; that is to say, the notes which fall upon the principal beats of the measure."

Again, the organist was obliged to take into consideration the small number of orchestral players and of voices. Bach, in a memorandum of August 23, 1730, enumerates twelve singers and eighteen players, besides the organist; the _Kapelle_ over which Gerlach held sway in the new Protestant church at Leipzig, was still smaller: four singers and ten players.

It is true that Bach, first of all an organist himself, did not always bequeath such an ungrateful task to the organ; besides the organ of accompaniment, he gives us examples of what he calls _organo obligato_. Numerous cantatas furnish such instances; we find one in the Passion according to St. Matthew, with the added interest of an indication of the registration. It is where the chorus, in unison, sings the chorales, _O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig_, and _O Mensch, bewein' dein' Sünde gross_.[173] The register which Bach prescribes here is the _Sesquialtera_, undoubtedly in combination with some foundation stops. The character of this register, thus particularly selected, seems to call for the _tasto solo_; without doubt Bach demanded it because of its decisive quality, for the purpose of bringing out the chorale sung by the _ripieno_ against the other two choruses and the two orchestras, which he treated independently. The brightness of the _Sesquialtera_ would seem to recommend it also for the _sinfonie_, or prelude, of the cantata composed for the election of the Council[174] (August, 1731). This idea is supported by the fact that a _Sesquialtera_ was undoubtedly added to the _positif_ of the organ in St. Thomas' Church in 1730 or 1731, by the organ-builder, J. Scheibe.

[Footnote 173: B.-G. iv. [The first and last numbers, respectively, of