Johann Sebastian Bach was a member of a family that had
for generations been occupied in music. His sons were
to continue the tradition, providing the foundation of
a new style of music that prevailed in the later part
of the eighteenth century. Johann Sebastian Bach
himself represented the end of an age, the culmination
of the Baroque in a magnificent synthesis of Italian
melodic invention, French rhythmic dance forms and
German contrapuntal mastery.
Born in Eisenach in 1685, Bach was ...(+)
Johann Sebastian Bach was a member of a family that had
for generations been occupied in music. His sons were
to continue the tradition, providing the foundation of
a new style of music that prevailed in the later part
of the eighteenth century. Johann Sebastian Bach
himself represented the end of an age, the culmination
of the Baroque in a magnificent synthesis of Italian
melodic invention, French rhythmic dance forms and
German contrapuntal mastery.
Born in Eisenach in 1685, 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.
The Prelude & Fuge on the name B-A-C-H (BWV 898) is not
considered to be the work of Bach. Only a single
manuscript copy from the second half of the 18th
century exists. All other copies and printed music of
it come from the 19th century. The NBA KB discusses the
differences between all the different sources: In order
to avoid the appearance of supporting this work as
genuinely by J. S. Bach (there are no exterior or
interior reasons supporting this contention), it was
placed this time in this reissue in the appendix, so
that the purchasers of this volume would not have to do
without finding this work which they may have come to
love. The critical voice regarding this composition is
very likely that of Johann Nikolaus Forkel who, in
1810, wrote to the Leipzig publishing firm Hoffmeister
und Kühnel, that was preparing to publish Bach’s
keyboard works: The Fugue on Bach’s Name which you
have sent to me for consideration is definitely not a
work by J. S. Bach. You should not dishonor a
collection of his works with such a common,
schoolmasterly effort.
In the same letter Forkel mentions that he has already
received at least 20 such fugues on B-A-C-H that have
been described as ‘great musical rarities’. In
contrast to Forkel and Griepenkerl, Philipp Spitta is
the only Bach expert who thought that he saw
indications that this might have been a youthful work
from the early Weimar period. All other experts since
Spitta’s time have brought forth various arguments
against Bach’s authorship. One might have to agree
with Griepenkerl that externally the provenance of the
sources for this work are highly questionable.
Internally (stylistically) the only characteristics
that might point into the direction of J. S. Bach are
the use of the French ouverture in the Präludium and
the virtuosic insertion at the end of the fugue, but
the latter was commonplace among many masters of the
North German style. Frieder Rempp suspects that the
almost too frequent use of parallel thirds and
sequential structures might be closer to the style
exhibited in the A minor Fugue BWV 897/2. This along
with the idiosyncratic final statement of the fugal
subject in octaves would point more in the direction of
Johann Christoph Kellner (1736-1803) as the possible
composer of BWV 898.
SHEET MUSIC