J.S. BACH’S Precepts and Principles For Playing the Thorough-Bass or Accompanying in Four Parts Leipzig, 1738 TRANSLATION WITH FACSIMILE, INTRODUCTION, AND EXPLANATORY NOTES BY PAMELA L. POULIN CLARENDON PRESS - OXFORD &ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wouLp like to acknowledge the kind permission granted by the Brussels Bibliothéque du Conservatoire royal de Musique to include a facsimile of the manuscript of the Vorschrifien und Grundsaize .. . (mr.FRW 27.224), and to the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Musik Sammlung, for permission to include theoretical por- tions of the Klavierbtichlein fiir Anna Magdalena Bach (Mus. ms. Bach P 225). Special thanks are extended to Richard Ives, who read the German; to Donald Campfield, musical autographist; and to Dawn Van Hall, photographer. I wish to express my gratitude to the Cortland College Research Foundation for making possible financial support for several aspects of this project. I wish also to express my appreciation te Lutz Mayer, who proof-read the manuscript and provided many helpful comments, and to Muriel Pons for unending support. Thanks are due also to M. Paul Raspé, Director of the Brussels Bibliotheque du Conservatoire royal de Musique for his assistance and access to the manuscript. viPREFACE In 1781, three decades after Johann Sebastian Bach’s death, Johann Friedrich Reichardt announced the second and enlarged edition of Bach’s Vierstimmige Choralgesdénge and, in veritably extolling terms, referred to the composer as ‘the greatest harmonist of all times and nations’. The Berlin composer, theorist, and writer Reichardt had a remarkable sense of Bach’s artistic greatness, authority, and influence, but he could hardly have anticipated Beethoven’s notion of Bach the ‘progenitor of harmony’, let alone the fact that Bach’s four-part chorales would, for more than two centuries and to the present day, reign supreme as the pre-eminent fundamental text for the teaching of harmony. The remarkably early recognition of Bach’s universal significance, as reflected in Reichardt’s and Beethoven’s pronouncements, appears to be closely connected to the fact that, unlike any other major eighteenth-century composer, Bach had been throughout his life a dedicated and prolific teacher of scores of musicians. Among them we find some of the most important pedagogues and theorists of the age of enlightenment in Germany. Indeed, names such as Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Friedrich Agricola, Johann Philipp Kirnberger, Christoph Nichelmann, and Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg represent the key figures in an extraordinary development of compositional theory whose founda- tions were laid by Johann Sebastian Bach. As his pertinent personal connections and the contents of his own library suggest, Bach himself was not only actively interested in theoretical writings, he clearly played a role in the preparation and dissemination of such major works as Johann David Heinichen’s Der General-Bass in der Composition (Dresden, 1728), Johann Gottfried Walther’s Musicalisches Lexicon (Leipzig, 1732), and Lorenz Christoph Mizler’s annotated German translation of Fux’s Gradus ad Parnassum (Leipzig, 1742). At the same time, he himself apparently never engaged in writing extended manuals or treatises and rejected theory textbooks for specific teaching purposes. Instead he seems to have preferred a more eclectic manner of instruction, emphasizing the use of practical examples that permitted the combination of performing experience with the study of composition. This, however, did not prevent him from formulating, writing out, or dictating ‘most necessary rules’ or ‘precepts and principles’ as effective means of musical pedagogy and in whatever concise form deemed suitable. Describing his father’s teaching method, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1775) empha- sized: ‘The realization of a thorough-bass and the introduction to chorales are without viiPREFACE doubt the best method of studying composition, as far as harmony is concerned.’ The four-part setting of chorale melodies served to explore the harmonic implications of a given cantus firmus and to develop an appropriate contrapuntal configuration of four singing voices, while the thorough-bass realization advanced the understanding of the fundamental vertical harmonic structures. Moreover, the art of the thorough-bass represented not only the point of departure for a beginning composer, but also the general frame of reference for the structure of Baroque polyphonic composition and its performance. The present edition of Bach’s Precepts and Principles for Playing the Thorough-Bass (1738) provides a most welcome access to Bach’s hands-on approach to the teaching of figured bass and harmony. Different from ‘Some Most Necessary Rules of Thorough Bass’ from the Clavier-Bichlein fiir Anna Magdalena Bach (1725), a shorter and much more abstract résumé of figured-bass technique, the Precepts and Principles embody a coherent sct of prose rules with accompanying and illuminating practical exercises. While the study of these authentic documentary materials doubtlessly provides valuable insight into Bach’s teachings, it must be supplemented by the critical review of those specimens that exemplify a more sophisticated approach, complex realization, and higher aesthetic claim of Bach’s own fully written-out continuo realizations for keyboard as, for instance, in the Large e dolce movement of the B minor Sonata BWV 1030. Bach’s practice is apparently also quite well reflected in some later thorough-bass realizations from the immediate Bach circle such as Kirnberger’s keyboard accompaniment for the Andante of the Trio Sonata from the Musical Offering BWV 1079 or the extensive examples (in- cluding major portions from the St John Passion BWV 245 and the B minor Overture BWV 1067) appended to the Regeln des Generalbasses von dem Herrn Musico Hering qa771).! Christoph Wolff Harvard University ' Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Mus. MS theor. 348 (of Jorg-Andreas Botticher, ‘Generalbasspraxis in der Bach-Nachfolee Eine wenig bekannte Berliner Handschrift mit Generalbass-Aussetzungen’, Bach-Jahrbuch, 79 (1993), 103-25) viliCONTENTS Preface by Christoph Wolff Introduction to the Translation PART I: THE TRANSLATION [TaBLe ON DovuBLinGs IN THOROUGH-Bass] SHorT INSTRUCTION IN THE So-CaLLED THOROUGH-Bass FUNDAMENTAL INSTRUCTION IN ‘THOROUGH-Bass 1. On the Etymology . On the Definition . On the Clefs Occurring in the Thorough-Bass . On Time or Metre . On the Harmonic Triad . Some Rules on How One Should Play the Thorough-Bass in Four Voices Throughout . How One Should Play If There Are No Figures Written Over the Bass . Rules for the Figures Found Above the Notes . [On the Seventh, Ninth, Eleventh, and Others Appearing with These] 10. [Additional Rules and Examples] Auntwn soo mI [AbpiTionaL. ExaMpLes] PRINCIPLES FOR PLAYING IN Four Parts Tue Most-Usep Fina CapENces PART II: THE FACSIMILE Appendices A Theoretical Extract from the Klavierbiichlein fir Anna Magdalena Bach, 1725, item 45, pp. 124-6 vii xi 10 10 10 1] 12 13 14 15 17 22 24 32 46 56 37 102 102CONTENTS B A Rearrangement of the Table on Doublings in Thorough-Bass C On German Script IndexINTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSLATION In his own time, Johann Sebastian Bach was considered a master teacher as well as re- nowned composer. His home was bustling with the comings and goings of students, visiting composers, and performers.’ C. P. E. Bach characterized their household thus: ‘like a bechive, and just as full of life’.’ Some of these students, such as Johann Philipp Kirnberger, Johann Friedrich Agricola, and his own son C. P. E. Bach, later wrote their own theore- tical treatises.’ In addition to private teaching in his home, teaching was also a part of his duties as Cantor at the Thomas-Schule in Leipzig (1723-50). Bach quickly found a col- league to take over his teaching of Latin (for the sum of 50 thalers), but continued music- theory instruction at the Schule until 1740.4 The Vorschrifien und Grundsitze . . . or Precepts and Principles .. .. 1738, may represent Bach’s codification of music-theory rules and constructs refined by his many years of teaching at the Thomas-Schule. Many of Bach’s keyboard compositions are didactic in nature and were very important to his teaching, for example, the Inventions, Sinfonias, Well-Tempered Clavier, Clavier-Ubungen, and, finally, the Art of the Fugue. This is confirmed by C. P. E. Bach: ‘Since he himself had composed the most instructive pieces for the clavier, he brought up his pupils on them.” Writing about his father’s teaching in answer to a letter from Bach biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel, Philipp Emanuel relates, In composition he started the pupils right in with what was practical, and omitted all the dry species of counterpoint that are given in Fux’ and others. His pupils had to begin their studies by learning pure four-part thorough bass. From this he went to chorales; first he added the basses to them himself, and they had to invent the alto and tenor. Then he taught them to devise the basses themselves. He particularly insisted on the writing out of the thorough bass in [four real] parts [Aussetzen der Stimmen im Generalbasse}. In teaching fugues, he began with two-part ones, and so on ' For a discussion and a provisional listing of Bach students (more than eighty identified), see H. Leffler, ‘Die Schiller Johann Sebastian Bachs’, Bach-Jahrbuch, 40 (1953), 5-28. * Hans T. David and Arthur Mendel (eds.), Back Reader (rev. edn., New York, 1966), 279. 5 Im the opening to his Gedanken tiber die verschiedenen Lekrarten in der Kompasition, als Vorbercitung sur Fugenkenniniss of 1782 (p. 4), Kirnberger claims that his Die Kunst des reinen Satzes in der Musik (1771) follows Bach’s order and method of presenting materials (1771). It appears that some of the theory concepts, however, are his own (e.g. chord classification). * Karl Geiringer, The Bach Family (Oxford, 1954), 170, 187 5 Buch Reader, 279. * Bach’s own copy, with his autograph signature, of Johann Joseph Fux’s counterpoint treatise, Gradus ad Parnassum (Vienna, 1725) is now part of the Staats- und Universitatsbibliothek collection in Hamburg. See Peter Benary, Die deutsche Kompositionslehre des 18. Jahrhunderts (Leipzig, 1961), 78. xiINTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSLATION The realization of a thorough bass and the introduction to chorales are without doubt the best method of studying composition, as far as harmony is concerned. . . . In his judgement of works he was, as regards harmony, very severe, but otherwise he valued everything that was really good, and gave it his acclaim even if it contained human weaknesses.’ Bach differed from his contemporaries in that he advocated writing continuously in four parts, rather than occasionally dropping to three voices at problematic points, the then current method for avoiding parallel fifths and octaves. Alfred Mann points out in his essay on Bach and Handel’s teaching, ‘Bach’s rules for four-part realization clearly depart from textbooks of the time.”* Unfortunately, little of a theoretical nature by Bach survives. Alfred Mann further comments, ‘Bach’s course of instruction has come down to us primarily in the handwriting of pupils and with a minimum of comments in the composer’s hand.” Music-theory rules appear in one of the two Kiavierbiichlein Bach compiled for his second wife Anna Magdalena Bach and in the one for his eldest son Wil- helm Friedemann Bach. Two sections on music theory appear at the conclusion of the sec- ond Klavterbichlein for Anna Magdalena Bach, begun in 1725 (the earlier K/avierbiichlein is dated 1722). The first section is entitled ‘Some Most Necessary Rules of Thorough-Bass of J.S.B.” (‘Einige héchst nétige Regeln vom General Basso di J.S.B.’), page 123, copied out by Bach’s second-youngest son Johann Christoph Friedrich (with space left for addi- tional rules),'” followed on page 124 by ‘Some Rules of Thorough-Bass’ (‘Einige Reguln vom General Bass’) in Anna Magdalena’s hand (as shown in facsimile in Appendix A). The latter dates perhaps from some time before 1733/4, as suggested by changes in her handwriting which began to appear around that time.'' Both sections were probably copied from Bach’s dictation. Thorough-bass and harmony exercises for the children appear on page 110. The four pages which originally followed here are missing as evidenced by the narrow strips of paper remaining at the fold. It is possible that these contained more exer- cises and may have been a further source on Bach’s teaching, especially if they contained his corrections.” In 1721, two months after Wilhelm Friedemann’s tenth birthday, his 7 Bach Reader, 279. * “Bach and Handel as Teachers of Thorough Bass’, in Peter Williams (ed.), Bach, Handel, Scarlatti Tercentenary Essays (Cambridge, 1985), 250. See also Alfred Mann, ‘Bach and Handel’, in his Theory and Practice: The Great Composer as Student and Teacher (New York, 1987), 7-19. * “Bach and Handel as Teachers of Thorough Bass’, 249, " See the afterword by Georg von Dadelsen of the Bérenreiter facsimile edn., Klavierbichlein fiir Anna Magdalena Buch, 1725 (Kassel, 1988), 13, where Hans Joachim Schulze is credited with having identified Johann Christoph Friedrich’s handwriting. See also the ‘Kritischer Bericht’ of Newe Buch-dusgabe, 5/4, as well as the ‘Besondere Bemerkungen’ of the practical edn. by the same publisher, 1960 (2nd edn, 1981). The MS is today part of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Musik Sammlung, Mus. ms. Bach P 225. See App. A far the text and trans. of pp. 123-6, relating to music theory of the Klavierbtichlein fiir Anna Magdalena Bach, (723. " Klavierbiichlein fur Anna Magdalena Bach 1725, ed. Georg von Dadelson, 12-13. "= For Bach's corrections of Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber’s thorough-bass realization of the accompaniment for Tommaso Albinoni's four-movement Sonata in A minor, see Philipp Spitta, Johann Sebastian Bach (1873 and 1880; 8th unaltered xiiINTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSLATION father began preparing a Klavierbtichlein for him, which begins with an explanation of clefs and ornaments (‘Claves signatae’ and ‘Explication unterschiedlicher Zeichen’) in Sebastian’s own hand." Much of Bach’s music comes to us not in the Master’s hand, but from that of Anna Magdalena (whose musical notation came to resemble his very closely), his sons, and his students. Many manuscript copies for which autograph originals no longer survive ori- ginate from his circle of students." The Precepts and Principles, the most important teaching document to survive, is dated 1738. The document was earlier in the possession of Bach-admirer and organ virtuoso Johann Peter Kellner (1705-72, an important trans- mitter of many of Bach’s documents).'> Phillip Spitta had earlier ascribed the hand- writing to Kellner, but Hans Joachim Schulze has recently identified the handwriting of the title-page and corrections appearing throughout as that of Carl August Thieme (1721-95), a student of Sebastian at the Leipzig Thomas-Schule from 1735 to 1745, who later became its Assistant Rector in 1767 until his death in 1795.'° The document reads as if it were dictated lecture notes, i.e. Kollegnotizen, making the translator’s task all the more difficult. Further suggestion of the material having originally been dictated is, as described by F. T. Arnold, ‘The recurring misspelling “modus” for “motus contrarius” (which exhibits the Saxon characteristic of failing to distinguish between d and ¢, 6 and p, etc.)’; similarly, Alfred Mann points out that it may be ‘an amusing hint at Bach’s Thuringian pronunciation.” The manuscript today is part of the collection at the Bibliotheque du Conservatoire royal de Musique in Brussels, mr. FRW 27.224. In the nineteenth century it was a part of the important musical autograph collection (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert) in Marburg of Dr. med. Richard Wagener, anatomy professor and Bach-admirer, who edn., Wiesbaden, 1979), trans, Clara Bell and J. A. Fuller-Maitland, 3 vols. (London, 1884—5; repr. New York, 1951) iii, suppl. 6, pp. 388- 98, discussed on pp. 293 ff. (hereafter, Spitta (German edn.) and Spitta (English edn.)). See also Alfred Durr, ‘Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber als Schuler Bachs’, Bach-Jahrbuch, 64 (1978), 7-18. " See the Neue Back Ausgabe critical edn. by Wolfgang Plath, Klavierbiichlein fir Wilhelm Friedemunn Bach, 5/5 (Kassel, 1962) and his facsimile edn. of the same name (Kassel, 1979). See also the facsimile edn, prepared by Ralph Kirkpatrick, Clavier-Buchlein fur Withelm Friedemann Bach (New Haven, Conn., 1959). The MS is part of the Yale University Library Music Collection. ' e.g. the MS copies of Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720-74), Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721-83; earlier a student of Johann Peter Kellner, 1725-72), Johann Tobias Krebs (1690-1762), his son Johann Ludwig Krebs (1713-83), Johann Cas- par Vogler (1696-1763), Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber (1702-75), and Johann Christian Kittel (1732-1809). 5 Mann, ‘Bach and Handel as Teachers of Thorough Bass’, 250. 's ‘The rest of the MS appears to have been copied by a copyist, as were e.g. many of Kellner’s MS copies of Bach’s music, See Hans-Joachim Schulze, ‘ “[as Stiick im Goldpapier”—Zu Bachs Generalbasslehre’, Bach—Jahrbuch, 64 (1978), 19-42; and his Studien aur Bach-Uberlieferung im 18. Jahrhundert (Leipzig, 1984), 125-7. See also J. Schreyer, ‘Bachs Generalbasslehre’, Bach-Jahrbuch, 3 (1906), 136 and the discussion between F. T. Amold and Schreyer, Bach-Jahrbuch, 6 (1909), 153-62. "BT. Arnold, The Art of Accompaniment from a Thorough-Bass (Oxford, 1931; repr. Dover, 1965), i. 214 and Mann, ‘Bach and Handel as Teachers of Thorough Bass’, 251. xiiiINTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSLATION also owned the autograph of the Well-Tempered Clavier (now in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Mus. ms. Bach P 416). In 1904, while music historian and theorist Francois Gevaert was Director of the Conservatoire, the Precepts and Prin- ciples was purchased from the Wagener estate for the Conservatoire through its librarian Alfred Wotquénne (compiler of the C. P. E. Bach Thematisches Verzeichnis, 1915).'* The manuscript is 17.8 cm by 23.1 cm, oblong, of vertical laid paper, without watermarks, and appears to have been cut to fit its present binding, as the tops of some of the pages are slightly cut off. It has twenty-three leaves (the pagination in pencil in upper corners is incorrect in the manuscript and has been corrected for the present edition).’* OVERVIEW OF THE PRECEPTS AND PRINCIPLES The Vorschrifien und Grundsiitze (Precepts and Principles) is divided into five sections prefaced with a summary chart showing the possible doublings of triads and seventh chords.” Doublings necessitated by writing consistently in four parts (unusual for the time), were very important in Bach’s theory of thorough-bass instruction. The principles of doubling are stated ‘using words’ in the following section, ‘Short Instruction in the So-Called Thorough-Bass’ (‘Kurtzer Unterricht von dem so genannten General Bass’), providing an overview of thorough-bass. This section bears a striking resemblance to ‘Some Rules of Thorough-Bass’ from the 1725 Klavierbtichlein for Anna Magdalena Bach (see Appendix A and the notes to the ‘Short Instruction in the So-Called Thorough- Bass’, below). The second and most substantial section of the Precepts and Principles, the ‘Fundamental Instruction in Thorough-Bass’ (‘Griindlicher Unterricht des General- Basses’) is divided into ten chapters. The first nine are based on Friederich Erhardt Niedt’s Musicalische Handleitung oder Griindlicher Unterricht (Musical Guide or Fundamental Instruction), Hamburg, 1700/10,” followed by sixteen additional exercises or examples ™ See Katalog einer Wertvallen Bibliothek von Musikbuchern des XV. bis XVIII. Jahrhunderts (Leipzig, 1913), Musitbticher aus der Sammlung Wagener-Giessen (Leipzig, 1914); and Richard Schaal, ‘Zur Musik-Sammlung von Richard Wagener’, Mozart-Jahrbuch (1968-70), 387 ff. Today, Brussels is also an important centre for C. P, E. Bach’s music. ” The MS is described and the need for a critical edn. is cited in Johann Sebastian Bach, Newe Ausgabe siimtlicher Werke, Supplement: Back-Dokwmente, vol. 2, ed. Werner Neumann and Hans-Joachim Schulze (Kassel, 1969), 333-4 (facsimile of the title-page opposite p. 400). * Heinichen includes a table of thorough-bass figures in his General-Bass, but does nat include the alternative doubling possibilities as docs Bach. Johann David Heinichen, Der General-Bass in der Composition, published by the author in Dresden, 1728, partial trans. George. J. Buelow in Thorough-Bass Accompaniment according to Johann David Heinichen (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1966), 16. Bach’s table has been rearranged for better comprehension by today’s reader as App. B ? Niedt wrote two additional volumes of the Musical Guide: his Musicalische Handleitung zur Variation des General- Basses (1706; rev. edn. of 1721 by Johann Mattheson) and Musicalische Handleitung, Handelnd vom Contra-Punci, Canon, Moteeten, Choral, Recttativ-Styla und Cavaten (1717, ed. and brought out by Matheson after Niedt’s death), all pub, in Hamburg. See the author's trans. (with the collaboration of Irmgard Taylor) and commentary of all three volumes in one volume: The Musical Guide (Oxford, 1989). All references hereafter will be made to this English trans, See also the repr. edn. pub. by Frits Knuf, Amsterdam as vol. 32 of its Bibliotheca Organologica series, 1976. xivINTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSLATION worked out by a student, the last five of which are fugues. The fourth section, ‘Princi- ples for Playing in Four Parts’ (‘Grundsatze zum Enquatre Spielen’), consists of fourteen exercises, with instruction, for thorough-bass realization from a figured bass line. The final section consists of seventeen of “Che Most-Used Final Cadences’ (‘Die gebrau- chlichsten Clausulas Finales’), illustrated by figured bass lines for the student to realize. FRIEDERICH ERHARDT NIEDT Since a large portion of the Precepis and Principles takes as its basis the Musical Guide, some information about Niedt’s life (until recently unknown) and his writings might be of interest at this point. Niedt was born in Jena (near Weimar) and according to church records, was baptized on 31 May 1674.” Like Bach, he came from a musical family. His grandfather Niclas Nied was ‘an instrumental musician at Kaltensundheim’ (30 miles South of Eisenach), in the duchy of Saxe-Jena, and his father, of the same name, was a harpist in Jena.” Friederich probably received his first instruction in music from his father. His mother Anna Magdalena Baumgarten, described in the marriage record of his parents as ‘a daughter in the academic community here [ JenaJ’,* probably encouraged his general education. Perhaps describing his own parents and background, Niedt writes in the introductory allegory of his first volume of the Musical Guide: My father and mother came of respectable stock and encouraged me from my sixth year on to attend school and, in addition to reading, writing, and arithmetic, to apply myself with carc and diligence to learning music, such as singing and fiddling, because I demonstrated a great desire for this. When I was almost twelve years old, my father (who could not have passed on to me anything better than this desire to learn something worthwhile in my youth) sent me to a Master who enjoyed the reputation of being the best organist in the whole countryside.” Niedt probably attended the Lateinschule in Jena where he grew up, as this would have been a prerequisite for entering the University of Jena, where he matriculated on 14 April 1694.” Niedt describes himself as an Imperial Notary Public of Jena on the title-page of the Musical Guide (1700) and probably studied law at the University, as was common for many university-trained musicians of the time, for instance, C. P. E. Bach.” From the Taufbuch, baptismal register, of the Evangelisch-Luiherische Kirchgemeinde, Jena, 119 From the Traubuch, marriage register, of the Evangelisch-Lutherische Kirchgemeinde, 70. * Ibid. ® Musical Guide, 13. * Records of the Universitat Jena (identified ‘Fridr. Echard Nied. Jen.”) through the kind assistance of Prof. Dr L, Bohmiiller, Direktor, Friedrich Schiller-Universitat, Jena, Universitatsbibliothek. * See facsimile of the title-page: ‘Friderich Erhard Niedtens / Jenensis, Not, Publ. Caes.’, Musica! Guide, 1. One possible reason for Bach’s decision to pursue the position at Leipzig was to provide his sons with a university education, something he had never had and was made acutely aware of, especially during the years in Leipzig. xvINTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSLATION According to university records, he became a student of Sebastian’s cousin, organist an composer Johann Nicolaus Bach (1669-1753) in 1695. At the conclusion of the intrc duction to the first volume of the Musical Guide, Niedt writes, ‘Just as my Master he taught me faithfully, I, too, wish to instruct music lovers and eager learners’.” It may b that Niedt is referring to Johann Nicolaus and was thus transmitting the Bach famil tradition of thorough-bass in a form which would later attract the family’s most notab member. Erich Wennig recounts that Niedt left Jena for Copenhagen shortly before 1700. Evidently Niedt saw more potential opportunities for himself in one of the larger Nort European cities.” On his way to Copenhagen, it seems he stopped in Hamburg and mad arrangements for publishing his first book, the first volume of the Musical Guide o thorough-bass, which was published almost immediately (1700) by Nicolaus Spiering! who also published music by Buxtehude. Mentioned several times by theorist, compose and performer Johann Mattheson (1681-1764) in his own writings, it is also possible th: Niedt met Mattheson, who would later edit the second and third volumes of the Music: Guide. Niedt is not mentioned in surviving Copenhagen records until 1704, when his reque: to succeed the ‘elderly incumbent’ organist at the Nikolai Kirche appears, dated 7 Ma 1704.” He probably had settled in Copenhagen prior to 1704, as he writes in vol. iii, Counterpoint .. . of his expectation that one of his compositions, Helden-Gedicht, woul soon be published. It was indeed published in 1704, and in Copenhagen. At some poit Niedt married (Anna Dorothea, 1675-1733) and in 1706, the same year his On the Variatio of the Thorough-Bass was published, his son ‘Frif[e]drich Ludewig’ was born (d. 1731). In 1708 Niedt’s book on the elements of music, Musicalisches ABC zum Nutzen der Lehi und Lernenden, was published in Hamburg by Spieringk in a charming edition. Th primer covers the basic material of which both Niedt and Bach say one must have a firt grasp before embarking on thorough-bass: the staff, clefs, key signatures, rhythm, rest time signature, pitch-reading, and singing. Niedt even includes a bit on the philosoph % Priedrich Schiller-Universitat, Jena, records at the Universitatsbibliothek. ® Musical Guide, 25 » Erich Wennig, Chrome des musikalischen Lebens der Stadt Jena (Jena, 1937), i. 71 * Although Jena appears to have been a thriving university town at the time, itself having nine publishers, Nie evidently favoured the cosmopolitan musical centre of Hamburg. Jena was also the home of the very interesting mat ematician and astronomer Erhard Weigel; his home, with all its inventions, was a source of wonder to his visitors. Part the home is preserved in the Jena City Museum. Today, the famous Zeiss optical instruments and telescopes and Jel Glassworks are to be found in that city. See Geiringer, Back Family, 87-96 for more on Jena and Johann Nicolaus Bac The Danske Kancellis Supplikprotokol for the year 1704 of the Danish Record Office, cited in Wilhelm Carl Rav Musikforeningens Festskrift i anledning af Musikforeningens halohundredaardag (Copenhagen, 1886), 30 n. 1; ref. obtain through the kindness of Birgitte Hvidt, Librarian, Copenhagen Rigsbibliotekarembedet. % Louis Bobé, Die Deutsche Si Peiri Gemeinde in Kopenhagen, ihre Kirchen, Schulen, und Stiftungen, 1575-19. (Copenhagen, 1925), 233, 382. XviINTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSLATION of music (in chs. 1-3 and 13), and some seventy pages are devoted to aria samples of his own music.* On 13 April 1708 Niedt died and was buried at the St Petri Kirche, the German church in Copenhagen. Two years after his death in 1710, the first volume of the Musical Guide was repub- lished. In 1717 Mattheson ‘prepared for printing’ and wrote the introduction for Nicdt’s unfinished volume iii of the Guide. Mattheson writes, ‘it was decided to have this part appear in print just as it was found among the late author’s papers . . . especially since those rules and remarks contained therein are very necessary and useful to many compos- ers, organists, and other musicians today.” In 1720 Mattheson again turned to the writ- ings of Niedt, editing and annotating vol. ii, On the Variation of the Thorough Bass, which was published in Hamburg in 1721. Perhaps this work served as a preparation for some of his own later writings, e.g. Grosse General-Bass-Schule (1731) and Kleine General-Bass- Schule (1735), in particular the thorough-bass exercises found in both works.-” JOHANN NICOLAUS BACH To return to Johann Nicolaus Bach, Niedt’s teacher, both Sebastian and Nicolaus were born in Eisenach and it is probable that they kept in touch throughout their lives. It is likely that, as was the family custom, they sent notes back and forth with friends and relatives travelling between Jena and whatever city Sebastian was working in at the time. It was to Jena in 1738 that Bach’s problem son Bernhard fled after his short, failed career in Muhlhausen and Sangerhausen, to study law at the University of Jena, an opportunity previously afforded his older two brothers but not to him. Johann Nicolaus probably welcomed him, especially since his only son had just died a few months earKer. Unfortunately, Bernhard himself succumbed to a fever four months after his matricula- tion at the University.” Perhaps Sebastian received a copy of the Musical Guide from Nicolaus and saw that it ™ See Musical Guide, 31, and Ch. 4, below. For more information on Niedt’s compositions, sec Poulin’s intrad. to Musical Guide, pp. xix-xx. ™ Burial records of the St Petri Kirche, through the kind assistance of Moller Hansen, Assistant Archivist, Rigsarkivet, Copenhagen. ‘There is a scarcity of records for this period, as many were burned duting English attacks at the time. St Petri Kirche records, which may have contained additional information on Niedt, were destroyed in a fire later in the year 1708 during one of these attacks. ™ Musical Guide, 235. * Benjamin Schiller (succeeded by his widow, and later, Johann Christoph Kissnex), the publisher of Niedt's last five books (1706, 1708, 1710, 1717, 1721), also published Mattheson's Das new-crifftete Orchestre (1713), Das beschtizte Orchestre (1717), Organisten-Probe (1710), and Das furschende Orchestre (1721). * For more on Johann Nivolaus Bach, see Geitinger, Buch Family, 87-96 and Herbert Koch, ‘Johann Nikolaus, der “Jenaer” Bach’, Die Mustkforschung, 21 (1968), 290 304. In his Ursprung (Bach Reader, 208), Johann Scbas Nicolaus as the ‘now [1735] senior of all the living Bachs’, * Geiringer, Back Family, 194-7. xviiINTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSLATION would serve well as a starting-point for his teaching at the Thomas-Schule; here, he would refashion words as he had earlier the music of others. We do not know for certain what books on music Bach possessed. He appears to have been as well informed on musical writings as he was on music itself.” We know that he owned a copy of Fux’s Gradus ad Parnassum (1725) and acted as bookseller in his home in Leipzig, being the official agent for Johann David Heinichen’s Der General Bass in der Composition (1728) and for his cousin, Johann Gottfried Walther’s Musicalische Lexikon (1732), as advertised in the Leipziger Post-Zeitungen of 18 April 1729." It would have been illuminating to see any annotations Bach may have added to his copy of the Guide. There are various possible explanations for Bach’s choosing Niedt’s work as a point of departure in his teaching. Perhaps he had the same reason that Niedt had for writing the Guide. In his closing to its first volume, Niedt explains that he has written his work on thorough-bass ‘because most printed and available descriptions of the thorough bass are very difficult and not intended for beginners and apprentices to understand but are only for those who already play the thorough bass almost to perfection.” Alfred Mann points out that the Musical Guide was ‘the only generally available book on thorough bass at the time Bach formulated his rules’, and Joel Lester further states, ‘the path from learning thoroughbass to composing is described in many sources. But the one thoroughbass writer who demonstrated more completely than any other how this was done is Niedt.’* Only a handful of thorough-bass tutors had been published earlier in the century and fewer were in German; Niedt’s work must have come closest to meeting Bach’s teaching needs.** Niedt’s writings were certainly popular in the eighteenth century, as both the first and second volumes went through a second edition and three of the five editions were published posthumously. The large number of extant copies today also attests to this popularity.” About his edition of Niedt’s second volume, on variation in thorough-bass, © For a listing of Bach’s library, sce Kirsten Beisswenger, Johann Bachs Notenbibliothek (Kassel, 1992) * Thid. 360. See also Werner Neumann, ‘Einige neue Quellen zu J. S. Bachs Herausgabe eigener und zum Mitvertrieb fremder Werke’, in Musa—mens—musici: Geilenkschrft fiir Walther Vetter (Leipzig, 1969), 165-8. ® Musical Guide, 55. * See ‘Bach and Handel as ‘Teachers of Thorough Bass’, 250 n * Compositional Theury in the Eighteenth Century (Cambridge, Mass., 1992), 66. * Other tutors include Jean-Henri D’Anglebert, ‘Principes de Paccompagnement’, from Piéces de clavecin (Paris, 1689), ed. Kenneth Gilbert (Paris, 1975); Denis Delair, Traité d’accompagnement pour le théorbe, et le clavecin (Patis, 1690) (facs. repr. Geneva, 1972), trans. Charlotte Mattax (Bloomington, Ind., 1991); Francesco Gasparini, L ‘armunico pratico al cimbalo (Venice, 1708), trans. Frank S. Stillings as The Practical Harmonist at the Keyboard (New York, 1980), Johann David Heinichen, Neu erfundene und griindliche Anweisung ... 2 voltkommener Erlernung des Genera!-Basses (Hamburg, 1711) and his Der General-Buss in der Composition (Dresden, 1728); Johann Matheson, Exemplarische Organisten-Probe im Artikel vom General-Bass (Hamburg, 1719); and Michel de Saint-Lambert, Nouveau traité de Paccompagnement de clavecin, de Vorgue et des autres instruments (Paris, 1707}, trans. John S. Powell (Bloomington, Ind. 1991). Although, from descriptions of his Luneberg years (1700-3), it appears that he became fluent in French, Bach would naturally gravitate to a text in German. * See Répertoire international des sources musicales, Ecrits imprimé concernant la musique, B/V1/2 (Munich, 1971), s.v. ‘Niedt’. xviiiINTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSLATION Mattheson writes, ‘Furthermore, there had been many requests [for a second edition] before either the publisher or I had time to consider this . . . it is a sign that the book is useful.’” Also, it seems that in his teaching Bach would rather demonstrate musically, would rather lecture than write down his own theories, or better yet, dictate his ideas for his wife, son, or students to take down. Possibly losing patience with the written word, he concludes his didactic expository of the K/avierbiichlein for Anna Magdalena Bach, ‘The remaining precautions that must be adhered to will show themselves better in oral instruction than in writing,“ and later, in the Precepts and Principles, ‘Fundamental Instruction in Thorough-Bass’, Chapter 9, Rule 5: “The remaining, which can not be clearly described with words alone, can be deduced from the last given example.’ Thus, refining the words of another must have appeared attractive to this busy composer, who was teaching his sons and other gifted pupils in his home, in addition to teaching and other responsibilities at the Thomas-Schule, where he was not always consulted about the acceptance of students.” As with music by other composers attractive to Bach, both Niedt’s words and musical examples are refashioned to suit Bach’s purposes (Chs. 1-9), with the reworked examples apparently serving as figured bass lines for the students to realize.” Evidently Bach did not see the student’s realizations of the Precepts and Principles, as they are uncorrected. In Ch. 10, Bach illuminates concepts presented earlier, adding more of his own ideas in the following ‘Additional Examples’, ‘Principles for Playing in Four Parts’, and the ‘Most-Used Final Cadences’. PRECEPTS AND PRINCIPLES AND NIEDT’S MUSICAL GUIDE OR FUNDAMENTAL INSTRUCTION The first seven chapters of the Precepts and Principles are a paraphrase of Niedt’s Fun- damental Instruction with some items of Niedt’s omitted. In the first chapter of both the ‘Fundamental Instruction in Thorough-Bass’ of the Precepts and Principles and Niedt’s work of the same name, the origin and meaning of the words Bassus and thorough-bass, and * Musical Guide, 68. * p. 126 (see App. A for facsimile). * See Spitta, Back (English edn.), ii, 189 ff for a description of Bach’s extensive duties and the conditions under which he lived and worked. See also Bach’s report on prospective students of May 1729, Bach Reader, 116-17; and ‘A short, but indispensable sketch of what constitutes a well-appointed church music, with a few impartial reflections on its present state of decline’, dated 23 Aug. 1730, in which Bach describes the sad state of affairs at the Thomas-Schule, Geiringer, Bach Family, 176-9. ® Heinrich Lemacher and Hermann Schroeder extract several of the bass lines from the Vorschrifien and treat them as exercises in thorough-bass for modern students in their Generalbasstibungen, ‘Johann Sebastian Bach aus “Griindlicher Unterricht des Generalbasses”, Leipzig 1738”, (Diisseldorf, 1954), 4-12, thus approximating what Bach’s students may have worked from. xixINTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSLATION instruments employed in the thorough-bass are presented. In the second chapter of both, thorough-bass is further defined, including attention to the disposition of parts between the hands. Omitted from Bach’s Chapter 2 is Niedt’s significant discussion of consonance and dissonance. The various clefs are presented in both Bach’s and Niedt’s third chapter (similar information is included in the Klavterbiichlein for Wilhelm Friedemann Bach). In both, mention is made of Bassetgen or Hoch Bass (high bass lines). In both fourth chapters, metre is touched on only briefly, as previous knowledge of this and other rudiments is presumed; information of interest on the interpretation of various tempo indications and the interpretation of C and 2 in time signatures is, however, retained by Bach. The concept of the harmonic triad appears as Bach’s Chapter 5, illustrated with eleven triads of the sixteen principal keys (Niedt includes only eight); the radix simplex and radix aucta (the three- and four-voiced triad) are defined (but not illustrated, as they were by Niedt). Niedt, but not Bach, includes the radix diffusa (the triad ‘spread out into different octaves’), which is illustrated in five and six voices. The ‘Fundamental Instruction in Thorough-Bass’ begins to differ more from Niedt’s Musical Guide or Fundamental Instruction in Chapter 6. Bach corrects, clarifies, and reclarifies (with reworked and additional musical examples) the material found in Niedt’s Chapters 6—11, omitting some portions, perhaps as extraneous, not germane to his teaching needs. Details of these changes appear in the notes to relevant chapters later in this book; an overview of these chapters and their differences is now given below. In Chapter 6, ‘Some Rules on How One Should Play the Thorough-Bass in Four Voices Throughout’, Bach omits Niedt’s rules 2, 3, 7, and 8 on, respectively, compass, consecutive $ chords, high bass, and doubling the vocal line as not necessary when playing the thorough-bass; thus Niedt’s rules 1, 4, 5, 6, and 9 become (with some surface changes) Bach’s Rules 1-5. Musical examples of any real length first appear with regularity in Bach’s and Niedt’s seventh chapter, on unfigured basses, divided in both works into paragraphs instead of tules. Niedt’s ‘simple’, unfigured bass line is included by Bach in Chapter 7 and then realized in three ways, showing the three positions of the soprano and employing four voices throughout. Niedt’s reference to compass is again omitted by Bach (who evidently did not want to place limits on compass); also omitted are Niedt’s four examples of variations for the right hand, then left hand, using the ‘simple bass’, although Bach uses this compositional device in several of his ‘figuration’ preludes (as in the C major Prelude of the Well-Tempered Clavier, where a single motive or figure employed over changing harmonies forms the basis of the work). Two musical examples showing parallel fifths and octaves, to be avoided, somewhat reworked in the case of the Precepis and Principles, conclude both seventh chapters. XXINTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSLATION Of the ten rules found in Niedt’s chapter 8 on figured bass, rules 3, 11b, 11a, 9, 10, 12, 7, 8, are reworked and become, in this order, Bach’s Rules 1-8. Topics include sharp, 6 flat, and natural signs found in figured bass; doubling in the sixth, ; and § chords (the latter with and without the diminished fifth); doubling, voice-leading, and preparation in 5 6, 6 5, and 4 3; cadence patterns; and realization of ‘swift’ basses. In general, Bach places more emphasis on doubling, voice-leading, and preparation than does Niedt, providing more detailed instruction on these subjects. In this chapter, the musical exam- ples are quite different: To illustrate the chord of the sixth (Rule 3; Rules 1 and 2 do not have musical examples), Bach chooses a descending scale employing consecutive sixth chords, thus making the students’ job more difficult and forcing them to think of his rules on doubling. Niedt does not emphasize doubling in vol. i, but does later in vol. iii; to avoid parallel octaves and fifths, he and other writers of the early 1700s advocated dropping to three voices on problematic chords (here on sixth chords). Niedt explains the reason for this in vol. iii: In the same chapter [8], Rule 2, I spoke of the omission of the octaves when dealing with sixths. One can, however, double the third or the sixth in four voices and also include the octave where appropriate. I skipped over this point on purpose for the sake of beginners, but have shown it in several examples in the Second Volume. For example [example follows]:*! In contrast, Bach includes detailed instructions for doubling throughout the Precepts and Principles so that four voices, with smooth voice-leading and without parallels, may be maintained throughout the music. In performance realizations, Bach liked even ‘fatter’ chords. Three-voice chords would never have been acceptable, as Bach student and organ virtuoso Johann Christian Kittel’s (1732-1809) description indicates: When Sebastian Bach performed a church cantata, one of his most capable pupils always had to accompany on the harpsichord. It will easily be guessed that no one dared to put forward a meager thoroughbass accompaniment. Nevertheless, one always had to be prepared to have Bach’s hands and fingers intervenc among the hands and fingers of the player, and without getting in the way of the fatter, furnish the accompaniment with masses of harmonies which made an even greater impression than the unsuspected close proximity of the strict teacher,” The ascending scale is chosen for realization of a string of the figures 5 6, with an harmonic sequence of 6 5 concluding the musical example to Rule 4. The $ chord (Rule 5) and 4 3 (Rule 6) are illustrated using Niedt’s bass line (one bass pitch omitted in each to make a stronger cadence) with, of course, a differing student realization. Bach ° Musical Guide, 239. * Back Reader, 266, from Johann Christian Kittel, Der angehende praknische Organist, pr. iii (Erfurt, 1808), 33. XXiINTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSLATION also shortens the bass line of the musical example to Rule 7, making it more succinct. A io Bach points out that 55 actually indicates 2 Niedt’s thirteen-bar example of cadence patterns is very much condensed into a concise three measures for Rule 9. For his musical example for Rule 10, Bach takes Niedt’s ‘fast’ fresh example is given for Rule 8, on bass line, refashioning it to include § and 4 3 in the two different realizations. Chapter 9 focuses on preparation and doubling in the seventh chord and in suspen- sions 76,98, 9 3, and 1) 19. Niedt’s rules 3 and 4, on the seventh chord and the seventh with 4 3, are omitted and musical examples are given for the first two examples only, The first example (now in another key) is an elaboration of Niedt’s example, including a more extensive sequence of seventh chords. The second example illustrates a sequence of 7 6 suspensions over a descending scale segment. In Chapter 10, Bach, departing from Niedt’s format altogether, returns to previous material in order to provide more information and eight more extensive musical exam- ples for the students to realize. Here he chooses the topics of his Chapter 7 (root-position triads), Rule 6 of Chapter 8 (4 3), Rule 2 (7 6), Rule 3 (9 8), and Rule 5 (1 i) of Chapter 9 (all previously not illustrated), Rule 7 fs both the Bach and Niedt musical 5 more attention. The eighth example takes as its basis material from Niedt’s chapter 11, concerning the use of sixth chords in modulation. Sixteen ‘Additional Examples’, ‘to provide further instruction’, from twelve to twenty-one measures in length, follow, probably intended only for playing because of the very free use of dissonance and voice- leading in the student realizations. Five are in two-reprise format (Exx. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6) and the last five are exercises in four-voice fugue writing. It is clear that harmonic underpinning is as important here in fugue writing as it is in thorough-bass. As stated earlier, although Bach owned a copy of Fux’s counterpoint book, he eschewed ‘all the dry species of counterpoint that are given in Fux and others’. Bach may have used here an interesting approach to teaching fugue writing that was very similar to that employed by Handel in his teaching: Handel prepared fugue exercises, presented in one stave, with figures for realization and entrances of subjects and answers (not already on the staff) noted in tablature below the staff. The student would then sketch in any missing subjects and answers, adding free counterpoint based on the implied harmonies, with motives examples have similar opening materi) and Rules 4-5 [6 5 and s} of Chapter 8 for * Bach Reader, 279. XxitINTRODUCTION TO THE TRANSLATION derived from the subject (see below for more on Handel).* In the Bach examples, we have only the uncorrected student-completed exercises. Again, the foundation for writ- ing is four parts. As former student and theorist Kirnberger confirms, ‘It is best to begin with four voices, because it is not possible to write for two or three voices perfectly until one can do so for four voices.’ The next section, ‘Principles for Playing in Four Parts’, contains fourteen bass line exercises for students to realize directly at the keyboard, each in the three keys of C major, G major, and A minor; included are: the harmonization of descending and ascend- ing scales using consecutive sixth chords, consecutive 5 6s over an ascending scale, 6 5 in an harmonic sequence, consecutive 7 6s over a descending scale, harmonic sequence of root-position triads and seventh chords in alternation, harmonic sequence of consecutive sevenths, harmonic sequence of § to 3, chromatic chords embellishing a descending scale, harmonic sequences of § in alternation with 4 3, © in alternation with 9 8,65 in 5 alternation with i 8, 4 in alternation with the sixth chord, and 4 resolving to 6 then to 8. The final section consists of seventeen of “The Most-Used Final Cadences’, given as bass lines for realization at the keyboard. A COMPARISON OF THE PRECEPTS AND PRINCIPLES AND HANDEL’S EXERCISES FOR PRINCESS ANNE Another teaching document of the period, this one by Handel, survives today: Handel’s exercises for his gifted pupil Princess Anne, daughter of George II.** Although Handel had had numerous students, beginning with his Hamburg days, he apparently had not been eager to continue teaching. He once told organist Jacob Wilhelm Lustig, who was Fugues written out using this shorthand method are also found as Mus. ms. Bach P 296 (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Preussischer Kulturbesitz), a collection of sixty-two preludes and fugues attributed to J. S. Bach, Also notated in this fashion and probably intended for realization at sight are the less complex fugues by Francesco Durante (1684-1755), included in his basso continuo exercises, ‘Partimenti ossia Intero Studio di numerati per ben suonare i] cembalo’. Durante was a well-known Neapolitan teacher, who counted among his pupils Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710-36). Something similar, without tablature marking of entries (perhaps inadvertently omitted in publishing), appears in the Musical Guide: what seems to be an unrealized two-voice fugue on one stave (employing several different clefs) might well have originally been a fugue exercise employing this same system of notation (sce Musical Guide, 48-9). ® See Johann David Kirnberger, The Art of Strict Musical Composition, trans. David Beach and Jurgen Thym (New Haven, Conn., 1982), 159. * See the Hallische Handel-Ausgabe, suppl. vol. i, Alfred Mann’s critical edn. with facsmiles of the Aufzeichnungen zur Kompositionslehre aus den Handschriften im Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Kassel, 1978), See also David Ledbetter, Continuo Playing according 10 Handel: His Figured Bass Exercises with a Commentary (Oxford, 1990), which also includes Prof. Ledbetter’s realizations of the exercises and fugues. xxili