#bach art

What's the significance of BWV 216?

BWV 216 is a wedding cantata composed by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1728. Its significance lies in the fact that it was considered lost for over 80 years before its rediscovery in Japan among the papers of pianist Chieko Hara. The cantata provides valuable insights into Bach's compositional style and his approach to wedding music during that period. The rediscovery highlights the ongoing efforts to uncover and preserve Bach's works, showcasing the importance of musicological research and archival work.

BACH PORTRAIT

Image : " The Bach House in Eisenach, the town where Johann Sebastian Bach was born, has acquired a portrait of the composer long believed to have vanished. It's very likely the portrait was made during his lifetime.

* Experts agree: A pastel portrait that has resurfaced is an original from the second half of the 18th century. Following the Eisenach museum's investigations, scholars say the piece corresponds to the physical condition of the long-sought picture, as well as the style of painting and the clothing represented in it. Furthermore, the facial features, with low-set eyes and underbite, resemble those from a Bach painting by Elias Gottlob Haussmann from the year 1746 - a work held to be undeniably authentic.

It's believed Manfred Gorke held the picture in 1927/28 as part of his famous collection - one of the last large and privately-owned assemblages of Bach items. The English researcher Charles Sanford Terry identified it at the time as an authentic pastel depiction of Bach, stemming from a collection held by the composer's son Carl Philipp Emanuel. After Gorke's collection was dissolved, the painting went to a private individual in Berlin and vanished from public view.

* That a Bach pastel existed is known from letters that Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, then living in Hamburg, sent to his father's biographer Johann Nikolaus Forkel. "My father's portrait is painted in pastel. I had it transported here from Berlin by boat and ship because such paintings with dry colors can be damaged when transported by coach."

These letters are the only documents that offer historical proof of the existence of another Bach picture in addition to the famous Haussmann portrait from 1746, which hangs in Leipzig's former City Hall.

Two years ago, the picture was offered for purchase to the Bach House in Eisenach, which paid 50,000 euros ( $70,000 ) for it. "

source: DW, July, 2014

JS BACH PRELUDIUM

JS Bach’s two volumes of Preludes and Fugues.

In the first book, written in 1722, the key scheme progresses chromatically from C major to C minor, then C# major/C# minor etc. right through the twelve major and twelve minor keys. Volume two, dated between 1739 and 1742, repeats the process.

But even more fascinating is this – the same prelude, but from Wilhelm Friedemann Bach’s notebook, the collection of pieces written by Johann Sebastian in 1720 for his eldest son by his first wife, when Wilhelm was 10. It starts in the familiar way, but then breaks off from the figuration to write the harmonic patterns, on which the figurations are based, as chords.

The prelude appears yet again in the Anna Magdalena Notebook of 1725 – this was the second of two notebooks compiled for Anna Magdalena Bach, JS Bach’s second wife, containing keyboard works and arias by various composers. In this version, 4 bars are omitted, perhaps so that it can be fitted into two landscape manuscript pages. To see the first sixteen bars, scroll down to the sixth page here (And rotate!)

Musically, the prelude follows a journey from C major back to C major, via a series of modulations; to the dominant key of G major first, followed by the anxiety of D minor, soon resolved. The choice of harmonies becomes gradually darker until a long passage over a dominant pedal point brings the final relief of a perfect cadence; even then, Bach initially inserts a B flat , briefly turning towards the nostalgia of the sub-dominant key, before cancelling it and reaching the safety-net of the tonic chord.

In the manuscript of the second book of Preludes and Fugues, not only is Bach’s handwriting evident, but also Anna Magdalena’s, Wilhelm Friedemann’s – and that of JS Bach’s son- in-law, Johann Altnickol. They all helped with the copying. Very much a family affair.

Source:

https://notesfromapianist.wordpress.com/2017/03/04/a-family-affair-bach-prelude-in-c/