Born in Eisenach in 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach was
educated largely by his eldest brother, after the early
death of his parents. At the age of eighteen he
embarked on his career as a musician, serving first as
a court musician at Weimar, before appointment as
organist at Arnstadt. Four years later he moved to
Mühlhausen as organist and the following year became
organist and chamber musician to Duke Wilhelm Ernst of
Weimar. Securing his release with difficulty, in 1717
he was appointed Kapellme...(+)
Born in Eisenach in 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach was
educated largely by his eldest brother, after the early
death of his parents. At the age of eighteen he
embarked on his career as a musician, serving first as
a court musician at Weimar, before appointment as
organist at Arnstadt. Four years later he moved to
Mühlhausen as organist and the following year became
organist and chamber musician to Duke Wilhelm Ernst of
Weimar. Securing his release with difficulty, in 1717
he was appointed Kapellmeister to Prince Leopold of
Anhalt-Cöthen and remained at Cöthen until 1723, when
he moved to Leipzig as Cantor at the School of
St.Thomas, with responsibility for the music of the
five principal city churches. Bach was to remain in
Leipzig until his death in 1750.
As a craftsman obliged to fulfil the terms of his
employment, Bach provided music suited to his various
appointments. It was natural that his earlier work as
an organist and something of an expert on the
construction of organs, should result in music for that
instrument. At Cöthen, where the Pietist leanings of
the court made church music unnecessary, he provided a
quantity of instrumental music for the court orchestra
and its players. In Leipzig he began by composing
series of cantatas for the church year, later turning
his attention to instrumental music for the Collegium
musicum of the University, and to the collection and
ordering of his own compositions.
The so-called Kirnberger Collection (BWV 690-713), a
title now generally ignored in recent editions, is a
collection of music by Bach copied by or for his pupil
Johann Philipp Kirnberger. The latter was born in
Saalfeld in 1721 and educated in Coburg and Cotha,
before, in 1739, travelling to Leipzig for lessons in
composition and performance with Bach. After a period
spent in Poland, he returned to Dresden, moving then to
Berlin as a violinist in the Prussian royal service. In
1754 he entered the service of Prince Heinrich of
Prussia and four years later that of Princess Anna
Amalia, remaining in this last position until his death
in Berlin in 1783. Kirnberger had the highest regard
for Bach, and did his utmost to bring about the
posthumous publication of the latter's four-part
chorale settings.
Bach wrote only two other settings of the chorale theme
in Wir Christenleut (We Christian People), the earliest
(BWV 1090) turning up in 1985 in the Neumeister
Collection and the later one (BWV 612) appearing as the
last of the 11 works in the Christmas section of his
masterful Das Orgelbüchlein (1713-1715). This BWV 710
effort almost certainly dates to his years in Weimar
(1708-1717), and thus may have been written at around
the same time as its Orgelbüchlein sibling. Though it
is a bit longer than that work, it is itself quite
brief, with a duration of just over two minutes. Bach
gives the chorale theme an appropriately light
treatment here, with lively pacing and busy
contrapuntal lines. He also adds more ornamentation
than is usual for his chorale preludes and keeps
virtually all of the thematic activity in the upper
registers. The theme -- and counterthemes -- have a
jaunty, somewhat playful character here, the music
coming across as joyful and happy. Yet the mood also
divulges a rapturous sense, too, as if the notes are
busily carrying out some higher purpose. This
delightful piece will strongly appeal to organ music
and Baroque enthusiasts.
PARTITION