Janette Fishell
Mississippi College, Jackson, MS
September 15, 2009

Program Notes

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach, like the plays of William Shakespeare, represents an unparalleled summit of human achievement so it is perhaps not too far-fetched to reference the playwright's "As You Like It" for this journey through the ages of Sebastian Bach. We begin with Bach the prodigy, continue through his years of trial, absorption and experimentation, to summation and his enduring iconic status as Muse to the Ages. It is, in a sense, a time lapsed aural picture that reveals the unfolding of pure Genius, and concludes with a glimpse of his lasting impact upon future generations.

The Schoolboy

Much speculation has surrounded the opening work. Alternatively called Toccata in E Major and also surviving in the key of C Major (a much tamer key for the unequal temperaments of Bach's day), it is unique among his organ works. Cast in the Stylus Phantasticus idiom of the North German school, it alternates between sections marked by freedom, harmonic daring, and virtuosic flourishes (the toccatas), and fugues, the second of which is on a theme carved from the first. While no certain date can be assigned to its composition, it seems clear that it was written near to the time of Bach's famous trip, 500 miles most likely made by foot, to meet and learn from Dieterich Buxtehude, celebrated Cantor of the Marienkirche in Lübeck. Bach very famously ran afoul of the Arnstadt authorities who reproved him for his prolonged absence in the winter of 1705-06 (missing Christmas!); it is clear from the daring energy of BWV 566 that the church knew its brilliant young organist had perhaps learned too well from his mentor Buxtehude for Bach would soon leave the Neuekirche for greener pastures.

This is followed by a partita - or set of variations - a form the young Bach would have studied and emulated from childhood, using models by composers such as Georg Böhm and Johann Jakob Froberger. The eight variations that follow the plainly set theme explore a range of keyboard figurations and textures that at times seem to allude to the meaning of the text. Especially noteworthy is the flight of the violinistic third variation and the pathos of the seventh variation's chromatic inflections, perhaps tied to the inherent longing of the text: "At my end let me depart relying on Christ's death . . ."

The Lover

The tragic, premature death of his first wife, Maria Barbara, left Bach devastated and a single parent to four children and it has been speculated that the great Fantasia in G Minor stems from a recital Bach performed in Hamburg just four months after her death. It is a work marked by daring harmonic exploration that pushes the listener to the very brink of an emotional precipice. One can liken the dramatic opening to a rhetorical cry against the darkness; it alternates with a quieter contrapuntal theme, calmer and seeking solace. The ensuing fiery fugue may not have been originally paired with the Fantasia. Based on a Dutch folk tune, its secular roots and perpetual motion provide an aptly life-affirming conclusion to one of the organ's greatest masterpieces.

This work is preceded by a brief ornamented Easter chorale prelude from the notebook Bach wrote for his beloved second wife, Anna Magdalena. Peter Williams sees a connection between the music and the ninth verse, which speaks of the contrast between death and eternal life: "What here is ailing, groaning and beseeching will there be fresh and glorious."

The Soldier

Early in his life Bach had an infamous encounter with an unruly student named Geyersbach; before Bach could draw his dagger fisticuffs ensued. As fascinating as it is to consider Bach in a brawl it is his musical conquest of other lands for knowledge and inspiration that we now turn. The composer never left Germany yet he successfully absorbed and synthesized the most important musical influences of his day, especially Italian and French, to say nothing of his mastery of musical form and expression from all eras and regions of his own nation.

The Pièce d'Orgue, also known as the Fantasia in G Major, is unique, not just in Bach's work but, seemingly, in the literature. Much has been written about its "French" elements: the title (no doubt supplied by someone other than the composer), one low B pedal note (something found on French, but not German, organs of the time), and the grandiose second section, thick with gloriously unfolding lines and large-scale peaks and valleys. However, it can also be seen as a product of Bach the Soldier conquering three nations: the sprightly single line figuration of the opening section hearkens back to toccata flourishes in the German repertoire and the French "Grand Plein Jeu" of the second section gives way to Italianate broken chords in the third. What unites all three sections is Bach's use of harmony to provide definition and form in every dimension - from individual beats to large-scale proportions.

This is followed by one of the best-loved of all Bach's chorale preludes, "Schmücke dich", a work championed by Felix Mendelssohn, founder of the nineteenth century Bach Revival. In fact, it has been said that this was Mendelssohn's favorite piece of music, period, and it is easy to see the attraction. Its melody, decorated with ornaments in the French style, is more than a beautiful solo with accompaniment for Bach infuses the left hand with aspects of the Italian ritornello technique and it achieves as much musical interest and charm as the melody itself.

We end Bach's international campaign with his arrangement of an instrumental concerto in the Italian style composed by Duke Johann Ernst, III, an enthusiastic amateur musician and the composer's employer for a short time when Bach was "lackey" at the Weimar court. Later in his career Bach would return to Weimar to assume the more exalted position of Organist and Director of Chamber Music, a dual position that exposed him to excellent instrumentalists and the latest musical trends, including Vivaldi's concerti grossi. So to his German counterpoint and French expressiveness Bach would add a command of Italian concerto technique, which transformed his approach to the art of musical development.

The Judge

As we approach the end of our time on Earth it is often true that we choose to reflect upon and refine our past work, rather than dig new furrows. One of the remarkable aspects of Bach's final years is that even as he refined and revised past works and techniques he also plumbed new depths and scaled new heights. However, full appreciation for this legacy would not come during his lifetime; although lauded as a master of music, he was regarded as "Old Bach", slightly out of touch with the fashionable trends of the day. But a Wise Judges sits high above the fashionable fray, a view that affords clear vision of the past, present, and even perhaps glimpses into the future.

The final works heard tonight are from Clavierübung III, a work that sums up Bach's mastery of counterpoint and motivic development as well as his Lutheran theology. It is a sermon in tone that begins with the longest organ prelude he composed and ends with a tri-partite fugue whose subject sounds rather like the hymn tune St. Anne (hence the moniker "St. Anne".) The Prelude begins in French Overture style marked by dotted rhythms and dramatic runs. The symbolism is clear: we are entering a sacred drama and the overture is the curtain raiser. The long work could be tedious in a less masterful composer's hands but here we find visceral drama and cerebral mastery in equal measure. Further, its ingenious organization is sometimes linked to three-part Trinitarian symbolism, an idea supported by the choice of E-flat Major (three flats). The Fugue in E-flat, like the Prelude, may allude to Father (first fugue in the old style of Palestrina), Son (second fugue for manuals alone in the fashionable instrumental style of Bach's day) and Holy Spirit (a gigue Art Fugue, in which contrapuntal mastery is shown through combination of themes and various "learned" devices such as augmentation and stretto). From Schoolboy to Judge, Birth to Death, Bach brings us full circle by ending with a cadential formula taken from the Prelude.

"Again I thought how we are never at an end with Bach, how he seems to grow more profound the oftener he is heard."
- Robert Schumann

"I worked hard. Anyone who works as hard as I did can achieve the same results."
- Sebastian Bach

- Notes by Janette Fishell