an inquiry into the spiritual world of the Bach cantatas

The opening choir of Bachs Saint-Matthews Passion (Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen) read against the background of common 17-18th century devotional Bible exegesis, in particular the rev. Heinrich Müller’s very famous Hertzensspiegel, gives us insight in the devotion of Bach and his contemporaries.

Introduction

In Bach’s days Lutherans read the Bible in a very creative and imaginative way, mainly using a kind of sacred word-association-technique, almost at random combining texts from all 66 (or 72) books of the Bible. In this network of words and phrases (today we would say: hypertext) new meaning emerges that is not ‘really’ there (really = historical-literal).¹ Often one recognises traditional allegorical and typological topoi. Since nowadays Bach’s cantata texts are almost the only vital specimina of this almost lost biblical spirituality – which in se is as old as (or even older than) christianity itself – today’s listeners often find it hard to make sense of these texts. However, this is the spiritual world Bach lived in. It was the basis of the sermons he heard, it permeated the devotional or exegetical books he possessed (and read): Heinrich Müller, Johann Olearius, and Johann Arndt, to name only the most influential ones. And it is the material Bach’s libretto-writers (among whom Christian Friedric Henrici (known under his nom de plume Picander) was the most prolific) used to write the cantata-texts, and the scripts for the Passions. One could almost use any text to illustrate this, but I will focus on one text only, the famous opening choir of the St. Matthew Passion. I will analyze this short text with the help of Heinrich Müller’s Evangelischer Hertzensspiegel [Meditations on the gospel of every sunday in the liturgical year]. This book was widespread and well-read especially because Müller had included a number of Passionspredigten in it.²

In these sermons he meditates on every moment of Jesus’s  Passion and finds meaning in every aspect/detail of it. Traces of these sermons can be found in many contemporary sermons, poems (e.g., Salomon Franck, Bach’s colleague and ‘librettist’ in Weimar³ and – of course – in the texts produced by Picander for Bach’s passions. I do not claim to be original in my research nor in my conclusions. My source is a thorough and profound study in German by Elke Axmacher, “Aus Liebe will mein Heyland sterben”. Untersuchungen zum Wandel des Passionsverständnis im frühen 18. Jahrhundert (Neuhausen-Stuttgart, 1984). In chapter 7 (p. 166-203) she deals with the text of the Saint Matthew’s Passion. She suggests quite convincingly that Heinrich Müller’s text was often a direct source for Picander to ‘compose’ his text. Müller on his turn was not original, he never claimed to be. In his work we easily discern echos of over 1500 years of meditational biblical exegesis. His writings had a huge impact because he had theological authority (he was orthodox, but the pietists also liked him), was an excellent preacher, and a sensitive author.

The texts

Between the introductory choir of St. Matthew’s Passion, which already clearly refers to the crucifixion it self (especially in the last two lines), and some passages from Müllers 8th Passionspredigt (sermon on Christ’s Passion) entitled ‘From the Death of Christ’, conspicuous similarities can be found. If one compares the texts, it is clear that one can not speak of Picander simply poetising the prose of Müller (as he did for some of the aria’s), but it is clear that he could easily find all motifs of the introitus including the chorale he cites, in Müllers sermon. In the table below I reproduce the relevant sections from Müller’s sermon juxtaposed with Picander’s text, first in German, then in an English translation.

The introductory choir is full of ancient traditional motifs, mostly typological, of which the understanding is indispensable for a true appraisal of this text. Picander framed the opening choir as a lamentation in which ‘the daughters of Zion and the community of the faithful’ (so they are identified in the libretto) accompany Jesus on his way to the cross. The term ‘Daughters of Zion’ first of all refers literally to the women mentioned in Luke 23:27, adressed by Jesus in verse 28 as ‘Daughters of Jerusalem’. They lamented him. Behind them, however, other ‘daughters of Jerusalem’ emerge,  literary-traditional ancestors of these women: the ‘daughters of Zion’ from the Song of Songs, to whom the ‘Bride’ turns several times for help. A glance at the first lines of Müller makes clear that Bernhard of Clairvaux’s famous 86 allegorical sermons on this Bible Book were not discarded by the Reformed exegetes. Protestant post-Reformation homiletics embraced medieval hermeneutics. This is a bit surprising remembering the way Luther criticized this hermeneutical method. Moreover: without a basic knowledge of this ‘reading of the Old Testament’ one will never understand the texts Bach set to music in many of his ‘dialogue’ cantatas, where the ‘soul’ converses with Christ as a Bride with her Groom. As a particularly clear prophetic vision of the crucifixion ch. 3,11 was understood: “Go forth, O daughters of Zion, and gaze on King Solomon with the crown with which his mother has crowned him on the day of his wedding”. This was understood as a reference to the crown of thorns, esp. because a rose-garden is also present in the Song of Songs. Müller quotes this verse using the traditonal allegorical interpretation: “King Solomon is Jesus Christ, the true Prince of Peace. His mother is the Jewish Synagogue … The day of his wedding is the day of his suffering, for on that day he bought his Bride with his blood. The crown are the thorns the soldiers put on his head.” (p. 371).

Müller (DEUTSCH)	Picander
Wann denn, liebste Hertzen, ich am heutigen Tage der Braut Christi den Tod ihres allerliebsten Freundes ankündigen soll, möchte ich wol sagen: Ach, wie gern wolt ich, daß ich nicht predigen könnte. Eine traurige Botschafft, der Bräutigam ist todt…  Was wird die Braut Christi am heutigen Tage anders sagen, wann ihr geprediget wird von dem Tode ihres Bräutigams Christi, als diß: Ach, Meine Sünden haben ihn zerrissen! (S. 395) – Im Alten Testament hatte Gott verordnet, daß die Sünd-Opffer ausser dem Lager solten geschlachtet werden. Hier ist auch das Sünd-Opffer, Jesus, der sich selbst hat auffgeopffert Gott zu einem süssen Geruch …  (S. 397). – Hie muß Christus erfüllen das Vorbild Isaacs, Der das Holtz, darauff er solte geschlachtet werden, selbst tragen muste, nach dem Berg Moria. Mein Hertz, so gehet das Lamm Gottes, und träget der gantzen Welt Sünde, kanst leicht gedencken, mit was für Schmertzen. (S. 398)	Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen, Sehet – Wen? – den Bräutigam, Seht ihn – Wie? – als wie ein Lamm! O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig Am Stamm des Kreuzes geschlachtet, Sehet, – Was? – seht die Geduld, Allzeit erfunden geduldig, Wiewohl du warest verachtet. Seht – Wohin? – auf unsre Schuld; All Sünd hast du getragen, Sonst müßten wir verzagen. Sehet ihn aus Lieb und Huld Holz zum Kreuze selber tragen! Erbarm dich unser, o Jesu!
Müller (ENGLISH)	Picander
Oh, my beloved friends, when I have to tell the bride of Christ that her dearest friend has died, I would like to say: ‘Oh, how I would that I could not preach. It is such a sad message I have to bring: the Groom is dead’… What else can the bride of Christ say to day when the message of the Groom’s death arrives? Nothing then this: ‘Oh, My sins have torn him!’ (p. 395) – In the Old Testament God had decreed that the guilt offerings should be slaughtered oustide of the camp. Here we also have a guilt offering, Jesus, who gave himself to please God… (p. 397). – Here Christ is going to fulfil the example of Isaac, who carried himself the wood on which he would be slaughtered, up to Mount Moriah. My dearest, when the Lamb of God, carrying the sins of the world, goes by, you can easily imagine what it is that hurts him (p. 398)	Come, ye daughters, help me lament, Behold! – Whom? – The Bridegroom. Behold him! – How? – Like a lamb. O guiltless Lamb of God, Slaughtered on the stem of the cross, Behold! – What? – Behold his patience. Always found patient, Although thou wast despised Behold! – Where? – Behold our guilt. All sin hast thou borne, Else we must have despaired. Behold Him, out of love and graciousness, Himself carrying the wood of the cross. Have mercy upon us, O Jesus.

In the third line, Picander mentions the second and most famous ‘typos’, which, according to the ancient Passion tradition, prefigures Christ on his path towards the execution: the Lamb. The basic text for this typology of course is Isaiah 53:7 “He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.” Already in the New Testament, the lamb becomes the type of Christ in the baptismal testimony: “Behold, this is the lamb of God that carries away the sins of the world.” (John 1: 29). The hymn quoted by Picander is the first stanza of the Lutheran choral version by Nikolaus Decius of the classic Agnus Dei. The reference to the sacrifices of Israel in general and the one on Atonement Day (Pesach, Easter) in particular are self-evident.

The third christological type Picander found in Müller, is the “example of Isaac, who carried himself the wood on which he would be slaughtered, up to Mount Moriah”(p. 398). Only if one is aware of this then very common interpretation of the story of Isaac the expression in the opening choir ‘das Holz zum Kreuze selber tragen’ (to carry the wood to the cross himself) reveals itself as a reference to Christ as the anti-typos of Isaac. Once one is aware of it, the two last lines of the madrigal text clearly evoke this story.

Analysis

The material with which Picander constructs the opening choir, is thus made of the rock of elementary and traditional passion theology. The Lamb and lsaac are fixed types of Christ carrying his cross. The word ‘lamb’ is also connected to that other semantic field of the ‘wedding’ (Jesus as the Bridegroom). In Revelation 19:7 the ‘Wedding of the Lamb’ even explicitly links the two field. The lamb is the groom, the same who is so eagerly attended by the Bride and her friends (the ‘daugthers of Zion’) in the Song of Songs, who in their turn of immediately suggest those other bridesmaids from the famous parable of Jesus in Mt. 25,1-11 waiting for his arrival in the night. Many hymns use this imagery, f.i. the second stanza of ‘Jesu, meine Freude’ (Salomon Franck), beginning ‘Gottes Lamm, mein Brautigam’ (Lamb of God, my Bridegroom) or the very popular hymn of Adam Drese ‘Seelenbräutigam, Jesu, Gottes Lamm’(Bridegroom of my soul, Jesus, lamb of God), of which the melody is later associated with the famous hymn of Nicolaus von Zinzendorf, Jesus lead Thou on / Till our Rest is won. And of course the well-known hymn of Philipp Nicolai ‘Wachet auf ruft uns der Stimme’ (Wake, Awake, for Night Is Flying), a song entirely build around these equations.⁴

It is interesting to see how Picander uses this traditional material in the opening choir. He cleverly combines it with the hymn and gives it a very lively colour by introducing the exclamations of the women: Kommet, sehet (Come, look!). This adds a dramatical, even theatrical, aspect to the text. The allegorical meaning and the historical setting oscillate. The ‘daughters of Zion’ refer at the same time to the historical women alongside the road (Luke 23,27) and to the friends of the bride eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Bride (Song of Songs 3,11) and to the maidens of the eschatological parable of Jesus (Mt 25,1-11) and – finally – to the community of the faithful present in Church for the service of Good Friday. It is exactly that ambiguity that creates he richness of meaning, so characteristic for he sermons, mediations and spirituality of Bach’s times. These were the times when polysemy was celebrated. In the rest of the opening choir, the choral of course determines the possibilities of the madrigal (free) text. The exclamations ‘wer, wie, was, wohin’ (who, how, what, where) are dictated by the text of the choral. From being a mere ‘spectator’ the faithful are drawn into the action. They not only ‘participate’ in lamenting the fate of Jesus, they get personally involved. As a matter of fact: the imagery of the lamb of God makes them the protagonists of the entire event. It is their sinfulness that triggered this dramatic scene: As in a mirror they suddenly see themselves as who they are: sinners (‘Sehet auf unsre Schuld’, Behold our guilt). At the same moment the meditation deepens and turns into a humble prayer: ‘Erbarm dich meiner’ (Have mercy). In the meantime the imagery of Isaac, as the obedient Son, who without asking why, fullfils the commandments of his Father, designates Jesus as the true Messiah. In the view of Picander this should be interpreted as a gesture of ‘love and graciousness’. That mount Moria, the place of the ‘sacrifice of Isaac’ and the temple mountain are one and the same, at least for the readers of the Old Testament, exponentially heightens the significance of the events that are going to be depicted in the rest of the Passion. Picander’s text introducing the Passion is equal in value and depth as the music it evoked with Bach.

Summary

Three classic typologies of Christ are present in the opening choir: 1. the Lamb (sacrifice in the OT, esp. on Atonement Day, the ‘Servant of the Lord’ from Isaiah), 2. Isaac, carrying the ‘wood’ for his own sacrifice (his willingness to comply with his Father’s command) and 3. the Groom (implicit in the women along the road who bemoan Jesus’ fate, identified as the ‘Daughters of Zion/Jerusalem, a reference to the friends of the Bride from the Song of Songs, and thus from the wedding parables in the Gospel). Without knowledge of this ‘way of reading Scripture’ one can not begin to understand Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and many a Cantata.

Antwerp, Reformationday 2016 Dick Wursten

1. Luther, Calov and Olearius (just naming a few leading thelogians) would strongly object to this wording. They maintain that the ‘spiritual meaning’ is the true meaning of the text (inspired into it by the Holy Spirit), and – thus – in a sense also the litteral meaning.
2. Heinrich Müller, Evangelischer Hertzens-Spiegel. In offentlicher Kirchen-Versammlung bey Erklärung der Sonntäglichen und Fest-Evangelien, nebst beygefügten Passion-Predigten (Frankfurt am Main, 1679), often reprinted.
3. In one of Franck’s florilegia with spiritual poems we find a poem entitled ‘Auf Christi Begräbnis gegen Abend’ (for the burial of Christ in the evening). In this poem we find the same twists, imagery and biblical associations as in the famous bass-arioso: Am Abend da es kühle war. This way of meditating on Christ’s burial is also present in Müller’s Passionspredigten and of course can be found with the Churchfathers, both early and high Middle-Ages.
4. Bach’s choral cantata BWV 140 makes this point very nicely. See my remarks on this cantata: mystical Bach

Vanaf deze pagina kunt u uitgebreide besprekingen van cantates vinden, gemaakt tijdens de pandemie voor de ‘virtuele Norbertus’. Het menu hierboven kunt u uitvouwen.

Meer cantatebesprekingen en cantatepreken vindt u op mijn gewone Bach-website. https://bach.wursten.be/cantatas/index-cantates.htm

abridged from Howard H. Cox, ‘The Scholarly Detective: Investigating Bach’s Personal Bible’ (in ‘Bach’ 25/1, 1994, pp. 28-45)

WHAT IS IT?
The book now popularly known as “The Bach Bible” or more accurately as “Bach’s Calov Bible” essentially is a biblical commentary, largely excerpted from Luther’s writings and prepared and published in Wittenberg during the years 1681 and 1682 by the seventeenth-century theologian Abraham Calov. Bach acquired it (6-part commentary, bound in 3 in-folio volumes) in 1733. His copy resurfaced in the USA in 1934. In it there is large number of corrections, markings (highlighting passages) and even some annotations. And yes, they are Bach’s !

Professor Howard H. Cox was in charge of the scientific analysis of the hand penned material in the Bach-Calov Bible, located in the Ludwig Fuerbringer Library of the Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri) between 1982 and 1985. This resulted in the ground-breaking publication of The Calov Bible of J.S. Bach, in which he was able to attribute ‘with high probability’ almost all hand-penned entries (inlcuding the text markings) to J.S. Bach. This ‘resumé’ of both the research and the results, he published in 1994.

PROVENANCE?
When, in November 1750, Bach’s estate was divided among his widow and nine surviving children, the Calov Bible passed to his wife, Anna Magdalena.[2] Thereupon follows a provenance gap of nearly 100 years, with no more than a few segments having been filled in – a task achieved only by working in reverse from the twentieth­ century date of the Bible’s rediscovery. In June 1934 the Bible surfaced in the home of a Michigan farmer, Leonard Reichle, during a district meeting of the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church, held in the small town of Frankenmuth. One of the delegates, Reichle’s cousin, Pastor Christian Riedel of Detroit, stayed with Reichle. During Riedel’s visit, Reichle showed him a Bible which he said his father had purchased in Philadelphia at some time between 1836 and 1847, explaining that the book had come into his possession when his father died in 1879. Recognizing Bach’s unique signature and noting the 1733 date on the bottom right-hand comer of the title page (which apparently the Reichle family had not noticed), Riedel identified the book inquestion as Volume III of Bach’s Calov Bible (Fig. 1). Subsequently, the signature (and therefore the book) was verified as authentic by the German scholar, Hans Preuss of Erlangen. A few months later, the first two volumes of the Bible were found stashed away in the Reichle attic.

Under pressure to give the Bible to Bach’s birth house in Eisenach, Reichle, conscious of the German political climate in the mid-thirties, refused, and in 1938 placed the books in the Ludwig Fuerbringer Library of the Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.[3] In 1968 the Bible surfaced again when the German scholar Christoph Trautmann, having searched it out, persuaded the Concordia Seminary to lend the book for a 1969 Bachfest display in Heidelberg. A member of the executive committee of the Neue Bachgesellschaft, Trautmann kept the Bible, studying it for a year before returning it to the Seminary. In 1969 Trautmann published an article in the journal, Musik und Kirche, which first brought the Calov Bible to the attention of the scholarly world.[4]

The importance of Bach’s Bible lies in the abundant penned entries found on more than 250 of its pages. First of all, there are the marginal comments, four of which relate music to worship. Then, there are a number of corrected spellings and the insertion of several missing texts, the result of a multitude of printer’s errors. By far the most common, however, are the underlinings of Calov’s theological commentary and the accompanying marginalia, which resemble quotation marks.

To tell the story of Bach’s Bible and to give a general description of its contents was a very important contribution. But without having made a scholarly examination of the script, Trautmann set forth opinions which raised serious doubts concerning the authenticity of most of the hand-penned material. He accepted the four comments relating music to worship and all of the entries made with red ink; however, this left the bulk of the writing and markings open to question. What made the resulting situation especially difficult was the fact that only a small portion of the markings are script, most being underlinings and marginal marks. Trautmann’s suggestion “that the identity of the writer could never be known” put the Calov Bible in a state of limbo with only a few passages reliably assignable to Bach.

Such was the state of affairs at the time I became involved. It was Alfred Mann, then Director of the Bethlehem Bach Choir and Secretary of the newly formed American Chapter of the Neue Bach­ Gesellschaft, who asked me if I would make a study of Bach’s Bible on behalf of the American Chapter. When I acceded, he procured a microfilm copy of the Bible for my use and also gave me a copy of Trautmann’s article. Rarely has a research project had such a modicum (such a small quantity, DW) of source material!

My first look at Bach’s Bible left me quite bewildered. Like many other Bach enthusiasts, I assumed that one would find comments indicating Bach’s thinking in the selection of texts for his compositions. [… And, indeed, there are 4 comments on music], but three of them quite general in character – all linking music to worship. And there is 1 geographical remark, in which Bach mentions a town named Schwereborn (mentioned by Luther in the commentary) as being close to Erfurt. Apart from these 5 references, all notations relate specifically to the text, showing that the interest of the writer was in the biblical text, itself, or in the commentary accompanying it.

It was, for me, then, important to approach this study with the attitude of finding what was there, instead of looking for something that might be there.

For this reason, I decided that rather than electing to proceed along Trautmann’s path, I would begin a fresh study of the text, using Trautmann only for reference. And so I began to compile a list of the pages bearing entries, in order that I might classify them as to category and assess their intrinsic values. Over a period of three or four years I performed the necessary operation of going through all 4,355 pages of the microfilm copy several times, examining each page meticulously. In fact, each time I went through the film, I found a few entries I had not previously seen.

In search for a method of testing the authenticity of the markings

I became steadily more convinced that the question of authentication had to be met head on. And, given the character of the source material, it appeared to me almost from the beginning that an ink analysis capable of relating the underlinings and marginal marks to the script was the only way to find a solution to the problem. In the search for a laboratory capable of ink analysis, my first contact was with the Winterthur Museum in Delaware. I had learned from my son, a museum curator, that the major museums had developed laboratories which made use of highly sophisticated methods in the examination of artifacts. Winterthur had such a laboratory and the specialist with whom I spoke had done research on paper, although he had never analyzed inks. He suggested a private investigator in the Washington, D. C. area, who had done work for the FBI. Thus began a three-year pursuit of laboratories capable of ink analysis -a search which often seemed fruitless, but, in the end, paid off.

Crocker Nuclear Laboratory (Davis, California) – testing the inks

By the Spring of 1982, I received a call from a professor at San Jose State University in California, who told me that someone at the Smithsonian Institution had informed him of my search for an ink-analysis laboratory. He went on to say that the University of California at Davis had recently developed such a process and was currently testing old manuscripts. Indeed, I discovered later that the Crocker Nuclear Laboratory there had tested the printing inks of a Gutenberg Bible and other incunabula, although it had not yet tested writer’s ink. In anticipation of this situation I had previously worked out a procedure for relating the few entries of known authorship with the much more extensive groups of entries of unknown origin, knowing all along that if a laboratory did emerge that could test the inks, there would have to be a method by which the results could be utilized. This preparation included a list of assumptions and the making of lists of entries to be tested according to categories. (this paper is also published in Cox 1985, DW) It was this paper on “Methodology” that was sent to the Crocker Laboratory. Subsequently, arrangements were made for me to transport the Calov Bible to the laboratory for testing.

The Crocker Laboratory’s analytical process is fully non­-destructive. First, the cyclotron generates a beam of protons which, when directed to pass through a square millimeter of ink and the paper to which it is attached, in effect causes x-rays to be emitted by the ink and paper. The resulting x-ray readout is sent to a computer which provides an immediate analysis of the spectrum in terms of both qualitative and quantitative elemental composition. The technique has become known as “PIXE,” or “particle induced x-ray emission.” The computer printouts typically include the readings of nineteen elements from “Sodium” on the light end of the Periodical Table to “Lead” on the heavy end. The heavy elements are more stable and more useful for comparative purposes. The units listed are infinitesimal quantities approaching nanograms (billionths of a gram). The relationships of inks are determined by placing the data on graphs. By means of computer processing the data are then revised from absolute quantities to proportional ratios. Several of the most common heavy elements are used as norms. In the case of the inks of the Bach Bible these elements were manganese, iron, copper, and zinc. To use iron as an example: the computer assigns the number “100” to every entry in that column. The readings for all of the other elements for each entry are then given in proportional ratios to iron. The same procedure is then used for the other three elements – manganese, copper, and zinc. These ratios are then plotted on graphs. Where clusters of points appear, a common source is indicated. Where the different combinations of ratios consistently reveal clusters, the entries represented by those points may be said to derive from the same ink. (See Fig. 2.)

A total of 152 usable samples were taken, 91 of which consisted of samples of black manuscript ink. Thus, the remainder of the process (from which we derived the concluding evidence concerning the authenticity of the penned entries) focused on the black manuscript ink. Dr. Bruce Kusko, a physicist at the Crocker Nuclear Laboratory who worked closely with me, is responsible for the scientific analysis. To the best of our knowledge, the Bach Bible was the first historic document in which manuscript ink was tested for research purposes.

At first, the samples grouped themselves in two large clusters however, as Bruce Kosko refined the technique, the large clusters subdivided into nine smaller ones. Although we had common ink groupings for most of the clusters, we did not find any entries that could be identified. What we needed now was a handwriting analysis of the marginal comments that had been tested.

Of the 91 black ink samples, 57 included marginal writing, with the other 34 consisting only of underlinings and marginal marks. The number of handwriting examples available and the proportion of them to the other markings now seemed sufficient for a study that could be decisive. One of the observations apparent to the critical eye examining the Calov Bible marginalia is the fact that there is a considerable variety in handwriting styles. I believe that this is the factor which misled Trautmann. For, when one looks at other Bach manuscripts, the same variety of style is apparent. Let me cite one example: The notation “NB.” in the Calov Bible (of which there are approximately 30 examples) is written in two strikingly different ways. One might logically assume that two different hands are represented. However, numerous examples of both are found in other Bach manuscripts. Indeed, I discovered both of them in a single authenticated manuscript, Bach’s “Short But Most Necessary Draft for a Well-appointed Church Music”

Hans-Joachim Schulze – the handwriting

I tried to satisfy the need for a handwriting analysis in two ways. First, I made a study of Bach’s handwriting by looking at other Bach manuscripts. Being now quite familiar with the penned material in the Calov Bible, I was able to catalog parallel examples in the other manuscripts.. However, in order to present a convincing case, I felt it important to have the judgment of a recognized Bach handwriting expert. Therefore, I had photos made of the 57 samples involving handwriting and took them to the Leipzig Bach Archiv, where I conferred with Hans-Joachim Schulze, its director. Schulze divided the samples into three groups:
– (1) those that were definitely Bach: 36 items;
– (2) those that were probably Bach: 10 items;
– (3) those that were possibly Bach: 11 items.

The results: almost all of Bach!

Returning from Leipzig, I gave the new material to Bruce Kusko. From this time on, everything began to fall into place: the authenticated handwriting, the underlinings, and the marginal marks came together in the same ink groups; the same was the case with Schulze’s three groups. Conclusions could now be drawn with the strong probability that all of the penned material in Bach’s Calov Bible came from the hand of J. S. Bach – or at the very least, we could now say that the burden of proof would henceforth be placed on the doubter.

What does this new material tell us about Bach?

What does this new material tell us about Bach? First of all, we must recognize the Calov Bible as a very private document. Everything which Bach wrote on its margins or marked within its text reflects his personal interests. It is Bach speaking to himself. Rarely do we have such a historical document, shorn of all outside influences.

Secondly, it can be said that what Bach said to himself privately is consistent with the theological interests represented in his sacred music, even though the texts for his sacred choral works were, for the most part, provided by librettists. The same can be said with reference to his letters.

It is impossible to do justice to all that Bach wrote and marked in his Calov Bible in a paper of this length. However, I will mention three subjects which seem to have captured Bach’s interest. These may be designated as: (1) God’s providential order; (2) Bach’s divinely appointed vocation; and (3) the origin of church music.

1. God’s providential order

It is noteworthy that the block of material which is most marked is Calov’s commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes. This may be characterized as “practical theological wisdom”: the set of attitudes by which one confronts daily life in God’s world. Here is much advice on how one finds one’s place in the power structure of society. Concern for justice, the assessing of real values, the handling of one’s emotions (especially as it concerns being astute and discreet in relating to others, including one’s superiors); and, most importantly, the recognition of God’s governance over the entire historical process – these are the interests which dominate Calov’s commentary (de facto: Luthers public lectures on Ecclesiastes from 1526, published in 1532, DW). One should accept his lot, do his best, extend good will to others (even if they are unkind or injurious), and leave matters in God’s hands. One finds comments here and there in Bach’s letters which reflect the attitude that God is in control. When Bach received his appointment at Weimar he requested dismissal from the church at Mühlhausen, writing: “Now, God has brought it to pass that an unexpected change should offer itself to me.”[5] And, in a time of discouragement at Leipzig, he wrote to his boyhood friend, Georg Erdmann, a letter which included the following statements:[6] …it pleased God that I should be called here to be Director of Music and Cantor of the Thomas­ Schule… I cast my lot, in the name of the Lord, and made my journey to Leipzig… Here, by God’s will, I am still in service.

These statements might be considered mere formalities except for numerous parallels which Bach marked in the Calov Bible commentary. Consider two sentences which Bach underlined:

Therefore, whoever wants to be a Christian and lead a godly life must learn to bear his own concerns and to commend governance to God, learning to pray sincerely in the Lord’s Prayer: Lord, Thy will be done.[7]

Thus joy and sadness, peace and restlessness, fortune and misfortune, death and life lie utterly and completely in God’s hands.[8]

2. Bach in defense of his office

Closely related to Bach’s firm belief in divine providence was the conviction that his vocation, his “office,” was a divine appointment. This conviction stands at the center of a shattering conflict which occurred between Bach and the Rector of the Thomas­Schule, Johann August Ernesti. On the surface, this conflict revolved around the question of who had the authority to appoint a student prefect, the Cantor or the Rector. But, underneath, as Paul Minear has logically argued, was the more fundamental issue of the continuing prominence of music in the curriculum of the school. Ernesti was an eminent classical scholar, who continued to lecture at the University while he was Rector of the school. This conflict generated several intense letters from Bach to the Town Council, the Church Consistory, and finally to the King. Bach appealed for a defense of his office, a term which he used sixteen times in these communications. In the Calov Bible there are eight passages of commentary having to do with one’s office, all of which Bach marked – some emphatically. The following passage (which includes underlining, marginal marks beside each line, and two marginal NBs) evidently captured Bach’s attention:

Thus you should not judge the beginning but rather the end, for if you are in an office and want to help and counsel matters, ingratitude will greet you and people will value little and forget your good deed, compensating good with wickedness, your great beneficence with idle thanklessness. If you are faint­ hearted, you will soon become annoyed and give up, but do not do so; hold firmly, persevere, carry out your office.[9]

Another passage, also providing strong ammunition for Bach is emphatically marked with the same three indicators:

It is true, as has been said, that anger must exist, but take care that it occur as is proper and in your command, and that you express anger not for your own sake but for the sake of your office and for God’s sake; and that you not confuse the two -your own cause with that of your office. For yourself, you must show no anger, no matter how severe the offense has been. However, where it concerns your office, you must show anger, even if you yourself have not been wronged.[10 – complete marked passage]

3. The divine origin of organized church music

Finally, Bach evidently found especially pertinent the origin of organized church music in the Temple cult as it is described in the books of Chronicles. In a section of six chapters (I Chronicles 23-28), David is said to have assembled all the leaders and to have laid out the entire Temple organization. Furthermore, I Chronicles 25 lists the appointment of twenty-four representatives of the three guilds of musicians for the on-going worship services in the Temple. Not only were these musicians trained both as instrumentalists and singers, but each of them also became the leader of a choir of twelve singers. The presumption is that music was performed in the Temple hourly, around the clock. In the margin Bach wrote this comment:

“NB. This chapter is the true foundation of all church music pleasing to God.”[11]

At the end of Chapter 28 there is a summary statement in which David hands over the plans for the Temple to Solomon and says: “Behold, the hierarchy of the priests and Levites for all the services in the house of God.” Calov began his cornrnentaiy to this verse with the words: “It is clear, however, from this divine model…,” words which Bach underlined. Following this, he has written in the margin:

“NB. A splendid example, that besides other forms of worship, music, too, was especially ordered by God’s spirit through David.”

The culmination of this picture is the account of Solomon’s having the Ark brought into the newly completed Temple (II Chronicles 5). For this occasion, the Levitical musicians performed mightily. The three grand directors, Asaph, Hernan, and Jeduthun, were there together with a full choir and orchestra, bringing with them 120 priests who blew trumpets. At the height of that rendition, the Temple was filled with a cloud as the glory of the Lord entered it. Bach underlined these verses, writing in the margin:

“NB. With a devotional music God is always present with His grace.”[12]

We may assume that it was in this musical organization of the Temple that Bach found his roots, [and of his ‘office’ (- see sub 2)]

---

[2] see Bach-Dokumente II, pp. 504-505.

[3] see Robin Leaver, J. S. Bach and Scripture (St. Louis: Concordia, 1985), pp. 16-20 and Gerhard Herz,Bach Sources in America (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1984), pp. 191-195. [addition, DW: Rumour has it that it was ‘lost’ (displaced), but in reality it was safely kept. but first not and latter incorrectly catalogued (Calov: Biblia Illustrata)]

[4] Christoph Trautmann, “Calovii Schritften. 3. Bände’ aus Johann Sebastian Bachs Nachlass und ihre Bedeutung für das Bild des lutherischen Kantors Bach,” Musik und Kirche 39 (1969): 145-160.

[5] see Werner Neumann and Hans-Joachim Schulze, eds. Bach-Dokumente I: Schriftstücke von der Hand Johann Sebastian Bachs (Kassel/Basel: Bärenreiter, 1963), pp. 19-20 and The Bach Reader, pp. 60-61.

[6] see Bach-Dokumente I, p. 67 and The Bach Reader, p. 125.

[7] see Howard H. Cox, ed. The Calov Bible of J. S. Bach (Ann Arbor: UMI Press, 1985),p· 424; facs. 144, col. 1058. Trans. by Ellis Finger.

[8] See Cox, Calov Bible, p. 425; facs. 147, col. 1063.

[9] See Cox, Calov Bible, p. 431; facs. 165, col. 1102.

[10] See Cox, Calov Bible, p. 445, facs. 218, cols. 53-54.

[11] See Cox, Calov Bible, p. 418; facs. 110, cols. 2047-2048.

[12] See Cox, Calov Bible, p. 419; facs. 112, col. 2088.

Op deze pagina ga ik kort in op de vraag: Wat is dat eigenlijk voor muziekstuk? Hoe moet ik me de liturigische setting voorstellen? Hoe werd het uitgevoerd door Bach? etc.

Bent u op zoek naar de volledige tekst met een Nederlandse vertaling, die vindt u op mijn gewone website: https://bach.wursten.be/cantatas/bwv244.htm.

Bent geïnteresseerd in achtergrond info (bijbels, spiritueel, muzikaal): Analyse en muziekvoorbeelden van enkele bekende passages uit de Mattheüspassie: een selectie van mijn studies:
– Erbarme dich (vrouwen rond Jezus)
– Openingskoor (Wie is de dochter Sion)
– Am Abend da es stille war (De stilte na de kruisafname)
– Sehet, Jesus hat die Hand (de kruisverheffing: een zegenende omarming)
– O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden (het koraal van de Passie)
– Over het bloedende hart en tranen die vloeien (uit een preek van Heinrich Müller)
– De tekst in het tekstboekje van Picander (1729)

Concert en/of kerkmuziek

De Mattheüspassie kennen wij eigenlijk alleen nog als een concertstuk. En het maakt niet uit of het in een concertzaal of een kerk plaatsvindt, het blijft een ‘uitvoering’. Zeker, een kerk is sfeervoller, maar ook daar is het een concert. Het muziekstuk zelf heeft echter heel duidelijk een liturgische context: Het is ‘gewoon’ de hoofdmuziek voor de Middagdienst (de Vesper) van Goede Vrijdag. De zondag ervoor is Palmpasen gevierd en twee dagen later volgt er een feestelijke Paasmis (met een feestelijke cantate, trompetgeschal en paukenslag, wat had u gedacht). De Mattheüspassie is dus – net als de cantates – kerkelijke liturgische muziek. Het hoort thuis in een eredienst, een viering (zoals gezegd: de Vesper van Goede Vrijdag, aanvang 13u45). Voor ons gevoel past dat niet. De muziek duurt toch veel te lang… , maar voor 18de eeuwers had het een normale kerkelijke lengte. De muziek is de evangelielezing voor de Goede Vrijdag. Ze werd voorafgegaan door een lied, en gevolgd door een motet en een gebed. En – niet te vergeten: tussen beide delen was er een preek voorzien (ca. één uur lang). Hier de liturgie.

Bovenaan de pagina vindt u linkes naar de bespreking van enkele onderdelen van de Mattheüspassie, vooral bedoeld om tekst en muziek te kaderen in zijn tijd: de theologische en liturgische context dus, m.i. onmisbaar voor een goed verstaan. Niet dat de muziek en tekst niet ook zonder deze context geapprecieerd kan worden (gelukkig wel!), maar ze wint er wel door aan kracht. Enfin, mijn mening. Op mijn bach-cantate-website heb ik een korte inleiding geschreven op de passie en ook de hele tekst opgenomen en opnieuw vertaald. Daar was zeker nog winst te halen qua begrijpelijkheid.

Cruciale verschillen

1. opstelling.

Een in het oog springend verschil met de huidige uitvoeringen is dat alle muzikanten in Bachs tijd buiten beeld bleven. Ze bevinden zich allemaal bij het orgel (op het doksaal). Instrumentisten en zangers. En solisten zijn er niet, d.w.z. de zangers van koor 1 nemen alle aria’s voor hun rekening. Bij de heruitvoering in 1736 heeft Bach een continuogroep en 4 zangers (en de extra sopra(a)nen ?) bij het Zwaluwnest-orgeltje gezet dat zich nabij het koor bevond in de Thomaskerk. Hierboven ziet u een tekening van het doksaal in het Thomaskerk (uit het proefschrift van Rens Bijma, uit 2017). Deze afbeelding is gebaseerd op de reële afmetingen en beschikbare bronnen (brieven, nota’s, klachten, partituren (= handgeschreven stemmen, contemporaine beschrijvingen). Zij visualiseert het eindresultaat. Bach zit achter de klavecimbel. Iemand anders bespeelt het orgel als continuoinstrument (met pedaal). Op de afbeelding is er een hulp-dirigent voor de blazers rechts. De 2 x 4 zangers staan bij de balustrade. Ook de Mattheüspassie zal de eerste twee keer (1727 (?) en 1729) zo zijn uitgevoerd. Het lukt net op de orgelgalerij in de Thomaskerk. Tijdens de allereerste uitvoering (1727 denkt men) worden de koren ook niet echt onderscheiden, d.w.z. er is maar 1 continuo-partij. De versie van 1736 (netschrift van Bach zelf) heeft wel 2 koren = 2 zang+instrumentgroepen, elk met eigen continuo. Toen gebruikt Bach ook het ‘zwaluwnestorgel’ (mini-orgelgalerij halverwege de kerk, bij het koor).

2. aantal musici.

Een tweede (hiermee samenhangend) cruciale verschil met de latere uitvoeringspraktijk (maar de tijden zijn veranderd, ik weet het) is dat er waarschijnlijk niet meer dan één zanger per stem is geweest in elk koor, waarbij de beste zangers in koor 1 zaten (dat was het standaardkoor, dat Bach ‘s zondags ook voor de cantates gebruikte. Stuk voor stuk top). De zangers SATB (uit koor 1) zongen dus ook alle aria’s. Dat betekent dat de tenor uit koor 1 zingt:
– De koorpartijen van koor 1 voor tenor
– De recitatieven van de Evangelist
– De occasionele aria’s voor tenor.

De bas van koor 1 zingt:
– De baspartijen van het koor
– De aria’s
– De rol van Jezus.
Zoals al gezegd: neem gewoon de originele partituur (stemboek: bassus chori I) en u ziet precies die noten staan (en de rol wordt ertussen gekrabbeld).

Koor 2 speelt in dialogische stukken een aparte rol en functioneert dan altijd als de ‘antwoordende partij’. Ook nemen tenor en alt de rol van de twee valse getuigen op zich. De suggestie is: dit koor zijn de Thomaskoorknapen die op gewone zondagen de ‘mis’ verzorgden in de andere kerken van Leipzig. Die zongen daar eenvoudige (nu ja) 4-stemmige motetten.

Naast de gewone partijen is er ook nog een soprano in ripieno die enkel het openingskoor en het slotkoor van deel 1 moet zingen: O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde gross. NB: De eerste versie heeft geen slotkoor in deel 1, enkel een 4stemmig koraal. Deze sopraan (of eventueel meerdere, vooruit) had maar 1 velletje muziekpapier: Daar stonden haar noten op. Ook dit muziekblad is bewaard.

U begrijpt dat bij deze wijze van uitvoering met name de tenor zeer veel noten op z’n zang heeft (= een argument om de recitatieven vooral niet te zwaar te zingen, anders haalt hij het einde niet). De andere mannenrollen voor bas (de hogepriester en priesters, Judas, Pilatus, Petrus) staan op een apart vel en lijken aan twee verschillende bassen te zijn toegewezen. Het zou mij niet verbazen dat deze bijdragen door instrumentisten zouden zijn geleverd. Ze zijn echt minimaal. (Ziet u het voor u: “Ik zoek nog een extra sopraan – de dienstmaagden bij Petrus en Pilatus’ vrouw; vrijwillgers?” etc). Maar misschien waren er ook wel gasten of kennissen die mee wilden doen. Doet er niet toe: Wat van belang is:
– 1. Er is geen groot koor (zoals wij dat kennen). Dat is anachronistisch.
– 2. Er zit geen ‘theater/opera’ aspect in de rolverdeling.
– 3. Alle geschreven stemmen (vocaal/instrumentaal) zijn in principe gelijkwaardig.
Hieronder een schematisch overzicht van hoe de ‘stemmen’ (rollen) verdeeld zijn volgens de overgeleverde stem-partituren. Hierbij valt op dat enkel de canon van de valse getuigen bij het tweede koor terechtkomt:( alt en tenor). Wie alles optelt en aftrekt komt dan op 12 zangstemmen uit en 18 instrumentale(30 personen). Dat is het minimum waarmee het geheel kan uitgevoerd worden en dan bevind je je dicht bij de originele bezetting. Bij Sigiswald Kuijken zijn er 11 zangers (ripienist doet ook de korte solo’s) en 23 instrumentisten (34 personen). En het klinkt heerlijk helder, transparant en vol tegelijk.

Stemmen (partijen) in de Mattheüspassie

3. geen oratorium.

De Passies van Bach zijn dus niet geconcipieerd als religieuze opera (of oratorium). Die waren er wel, maar daarvoor moest je in Hamburg wezen, waar de ‘Brockes-Passion’ geregeld werd uitgevoerd vanaf het begin van de 18de eeuw (zettingen van Keiser, Handel, Telemann). Dit gebeurde echter heel duidelijk buiten de kerkelijke liturgie om. Het waren openbare ‘uitvoeringen’ (zoals de Abendmusiken van Buxtehude), georganiseerd vanuit… de opera van Hamburg. Concerten dus. Wie dat libretto doorbladert, ziet meteen de verschillen met de kerkelijke passies (van Bach en anderen). In de Brockes-Passie zijn de rollen echte rollen (personen, karakters). De vertellende tekst is een parafrase van het Evangelie, waarbij de dichter zich behoorlijk wat vrijheden heeft veroorloofd om het effect te versterken. Het libretto van de Johannespassie vertoont enkele overeenkomsten met (en zelfs ontleningen aan) dit Passie-oratorium. Naar mijn aanvoelen verklaart dit ook de onevenwichtigheid van de Johannespassie. De barokke ‘vrije stukken’ brengen het geheel uit balans, ‘Fremdköper’ (vind ik). Bach heeft er ook nogal aan gesleuteld in de loop van zijn leven (tot een jaar voor zijn dood toe). Hij is er klaarblijkelijk nooit zo tevreden over geweest als over zijn tweede, grote Passie: de Matthäuspassion. Op ons komt die dus zeer barok over, maar ze was juist sober. Enkel sommige dialogen incl. Sind Blitze verraden invloed van de Hamburgse oratorium-traditie. Met name de persoon van Zion (Die met de ‘Dochter van Jeruzalem’ dialogeert). In de Brockes-passion trouwens een volledig uitgewerkte theatrale hoofdrol. Bach moet content geweest zijn met het eindresultaat van zijn toonzetting van de Passie volgens Mattheüs. De volledige partituur heeft hij in 1736 in het net uitgeschreven (twee kleuren) en hij koesterde dat exemplaar (repareerde het ook). Hier wat we weten over de diverse uitvoeringen:

Uitvoeringsdata en plaatsen van Mattheüspassie

Voor verdere lezing

Analyses en muziekvoorbeelden van enkele passages uit de Mattheüspassie:
– Erbarme dich (vrouwen rond Jezus)
– Openingskoor (Wie is de dochter Sion)
– Am Abend da es stille war (De stilte na de kruisafname)
– Sehet, Jesus hat die Hand (de kruisverheffing: een zegenende omarming)
– O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden (het koraal van de Passie)
– Over het bloedende hart en tranen die vloeien (uit een preek van Heinrich Müller)

---

Tenslotte nog een levendige versie van dezelfde tekening (uit De VOLKSKRANT, bij een interview met de auteur van het bovengenoemde boek, Rens Bijma.) Wat u hier nog wel moet bijdenken is de onzichtbare organist op het hoofdorgel. Die heel wat forser (en wrsch. zelfs met 16-voetsregister) de basso continuo speelde dan de huidige kistorgeltjes. Hij heeft contact met het hulpje van Bach (de maatslager, die eigenlijk iets meer naar achteren moet (d.w.z. half-achter het rugwerk van het orgel – zie bovenaan deze pagina, de bron voor deze vrije schets).

21 maart 2021, Dick Wursten

NOTES – contemporary quotes (from Elam Rotem: Bach’s choir: Size matters?

1. Johann Scheibe, Der critische Musikus (1745), p. 713 [first ed. is from 1740] [MDZ]: “Wenn etwa Trompeten und Pauken bey der Musik sind: so soll man sie, so viel wie möglich, verstecken, und hinter alle übrige Instrumente stellen, wenn man nicht durch ihr prasselndes Geräusche so wohl Harmonie und Melodie, als Sänger und Instrumente, unvernehmlich machen will; insonderheit aber soll man sie von den Singestimmen allemal entfernen, weil sie diesen am schädlichsten sind … Die Singestimmen sollen auch, wo möglich, mehr, als einmal, bestellt seyn, weil sich die Chöre sonst gar nicht ausnehmen.”
2. Letter by Johann Christian Strodtmann, Rector of the Ratsgymnasium in Osnabrück (1750): “Wenn er ein Tutti in den neuen Musikalien findet, von jeder Stimme nur einen und zwar den besten nehme. Es klingt schön, wenn man nur einen Bassisten, Tenoristen, Altisten und Discantisten höret; hingegen ist es nichts als ein Geblöke, wenn alle durcheinander schrein…” Taken from Franz Bösken, Musikgeschichte der Stadt Osnabrück (Regensburg, 1937), p. 143.
3. Georg Philipp Zahn, Singordnung (1721): “¶11 … Und weil bey denen Kirchen Musiquen nicht alle können gebraucht werden, so sollen keine andere auf die Orgel gehen, als welche jedesmahl bey der Music nöthig sind, die andere sollen an ihren gehörigen Ort in ihre Ordnung sich begeben.”

“the ignorant believe themselves to be all-knowing, while the wise realize they still have much to learn…”

Luther on Psalm 117 starts with an introduction in which he makes clear that he is fully aware of the paradox of learning: “the ignorant believe themselves to be all-knowing, while the wise realize they still have much to learn…”

This excerpt is quoted by Abraham Calov in his preface to the Deutsche Bibel , which J.S. Bach also possessed. Het quotes the Altenburg edition of Luther’s works (vol V, 1562, p. 252)

Der Cxvij. Psalm.

Lobet den HERRN alle Heiden
Preiset ihn alle Völcker.
Denn seine Güte und Trew
Waltet über uns ewiglich. Halelu Ja.

Below the text from the 1562 edition (= the same text, but orthography modernized). Above the first edition of this lecture/sermon (Der Hundert vnd siebenzehende Psalm. Ausgeleget dur D. MArt. Luther im M.D.XXX. Jar. (Coburgk, 1530).

1.  In margine: Acedia: Trägheit zu Gottes Wort / Rom. 12.v. 11 Apo 3 v. 15.16.) ↩︎