Bach in Leipzig

Bach in Leipzig—Bach und Leipzig. Konferenzbericht Leipzig 2000, ed. Ulrich Leisinger. Leipziger Beiträge zur Bach-Forschung, v (Hildesheim: Olms, 2002 ), €78

This volume originated as a conference hosted by the Bach-Archiv, Leipzig, in January 2000 to commemorate the 250 th anniversary of J. S. Bach's death. The 31 articles and two round-table discussions all focus on Bach's activities in Leipzig, and provide a detailed snapshot of ongoing research. This volume reflects many of the strengths and weaknesses of Bach research generally. Among the strengths is that the essays further contribute to the rich historiography on Bach, which has already led to a level of insight into this composer and his world that is probably unmatched. The essays also continue the tradition of research conceptualized as teamwork and as an ongoing process, a hallmark of Bach scholarship since the 19th century. The contributions, all in German, are by a broad range of scholars from North America, Europe and Japan, and encompass all areas of Bach research. The essays here show that while the major questions regarding the dating and genesis of Bach's work have probably been answered, there remains much work to do on topics of performance practice, context, reception and even the origin of many individual works. In addition, fruitful new approaches continue to be developed. Yet there are also weaknesses in this volume, notably a degree of inaccessibility. Many Bach scholars use a shorthand about their subject, and most of the articles here assume considerable background knowledge (which admittedly may be appropriate for a volume such as this). Another weakness is that while this volume shows a growing preoccupation with context and reception, the conclusions of many of the articles could be reformulated to address broader questions, and not solely their relevance to Bach himself.

The collection is divided into one introductory and six main sections. In his preface and introduction, Hans-Joachim Schulze assesses the current state of Bach research, performance practice and the image of Bach. He aptly calls for a reassessment of Bach's biography, arguing that Bach's experience in Leipzig, for example, is still seen in an excessively negative light. Thus he points out that Bach's clashes with the authorities in Arnstadt and Mühlhausen were worse than those in Leipzig. Schulze also correctly advises against over-interpretation of the few documents stemming directly from Bach, and against idealizing Bach the man. By contrast, his critique of some aspects of current early music performance, such as commercialization and the attempt to appeal to audiences not interested in classical music, seems too harsh.

Perennial topics of Bach research—the origin, transmission and ordering of Johann Sebastian's works—are taken up in Section I, with articles by Ulrich Leisinger, Konrad Küster, Hans Grüss, Klaus Hofmann, Karl Heller, Russell Stinson and Hans Eppstein. The authors provide particular insights into the evolution of earlier and later versions of works such as the St Matthew Passion, the St John Passion and the '18 ' organ chorales.

Musical style and analysis are the topics of Section II, with articles by Reimar Emans, Pieter Dirksen, Friedhelm Krummacher, Werner Breig, Wilhelm Seidel and Don Franklin. One common conclusion of the authors is that even in his lesser works, Bach lavished a range of inventive and diverse strategies on his compositions. For example, in his essay on the eight chorale fughettas (BMV697-9 , 701-4), Dirksen revises the common assessment that these pieces were composed individually and were in part mediocre, early works. Instead he argues that they are sophisticated miniatures and were composed as a cycle after 1739. In particular, he argues that BMV702 becomes a much more effective piece if the pedals are used only from bar 20 onwards, as implied by the Brussels manuscript.

Issues related to sources and chronology are addressed in Section III, with pieces by Peter Wollny, Daniel Melamed, Gregory Butler and Joshua Rifkin. The picture that emerges here is one of composition as a collaborative...