J. S. Bach (review)

This latest publication by Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, a towering figure in Chopin studies, is an extraordinary document. Most of the volume consists of a clear and beautiful photographic reproduction of a copy of the Richault first edition of the first book of J. S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, which was based on the plates of Hans Nägeli's 1801 Swiss edition (one of the first four published editions of the work). What sets this precious copy apart is the variety of annotations Chopin made in it, toward the end of his life, for his student Pauline Chazaren (until recently a little-known figure). These include metronome markings, dynamics, mood and performance indications such as "Allegro" and "legato," articulations, indications of fugal subject entrances (with characteristic little signs indicating inversion or augmentation), added stems to delineate the essential contrapuntal content embedded in more florid passages, and even changes of pitch and additions of voices. Eigeldinger's scholarly introduction, in French, is also given in English and Polish translation, and the entire presentation is clear and beautiful, with all of Chopin's spidery annotations clearly legible except in cases where his own erasures and scratch-outs make comprehension difficult. Predictably, Eigeldinger's introduction is erudite to the point of virtuosity. He makes an attractive portrait of Pauline Chazaren and her family; she had been strongly recommended to Chopin by Liszt, whom professional circumstances had prevented from taking her on as a student himself. (Signs of cordiality between Chopin and Liszt from the 1840s are rather rare, so Chopin's acceptance of and interest in Chazaren as a student adds a bit of depth to their relationship.) Of even greater interest to musical scholars is Eigeldinger's treatment of Chopin's longstanding devotion to J. S. Bach. He painstakingly traces virtually all known discussions of and allusions to this matter by Chopin's contemporaries and students, starting with the composer's own well-known statement that he was correcting a Parisian edition of Bach: "not just the engraver's mistakes, but the ones that were accredited by those who claim to understand Bach (not that I am presuming to understand him better, but I am convinced I can occasionally guess what he meant)" (letter from Majorca of 8 August 1839). Eigel dinger observes that Chazaren's score represents at least the second time that Chopin did this, since that particular Richault edition did not yet exist in 1839 (p. xxxvi), so the question then arises as to which score Chopin had been using in Majorca, and which if any other scores he consulted later. With characteristic meticulousness, Eigeldinger uses the variant readings noted in Chazaren's score to identify that earlier edition and to distinguish between Chopin's own thoughts and the passages taken from Czerny and other editors that he was copying into the new score. The Chazaren score thus turns out to be a kind of recension, encompassing both interpolated readings from other Bach editions and Chopin's highly personal and mostly interpretation-related contributions. One benefit specific to Chopin's own music that results is that Eigeldinger has been able to use Chopin's handwritten notations to confirm, finally, that the tempo indications on the engraver's manuscripts of his two books of Études (opp. 10 and 25) were indeed in his own hand—a matter of great importance to pianists, of course, and one that had been under some debate (p. xxxvii, n. 49).

This edition has no casual use that I can imagine. Those interested in studying Bach have far better editions readily available, and lovers of Chopin's compositions will...