Scholarship has long been at odds about whether Bach and his music are conservative or liberal, religious or universal. A recent essay and book by Ruth Tatlow have now put forward a novel assessment, one in which Bach and his music are particularly and deeply Christian but are also broadly liberal and inclusive in their attitudes toward all humanity. In Tatlow's investigations-aimed against what she characterizes as "hardline views" in the Bach literature-she has submitted, via renderings of selected excerpts from the writings of August Pfeiffer (a significant and well-represented author in Bach's extensive personal library of devotional books on religion, theology, and the Bible), what she reports to be the discovery of a historically informed "Bach theology" that is kindly toward Jews, Catholics, Muslims, and others. Her investigations have accordingly depicted Bach's church cantatas and other music as promoting a gentle, kindly, and inclusive theology. The present article delves in detail into how the evidence presented in Tatlow's work is marked by incautious or mistaken citing and translating of historical sources. In addition, this article lays out how Tatlow has not taken notice that Pfeiffer retained Lutheranism's foundational distinctions between "natural" and "salvational" knowledge of God, and between "universal" and "salvational" grace; nor that Pfeiffer wrote specifically and harshly against an inclusive view of salvation; nor that Bach in his private readings of scripture highlighted commentary glosses in favor of an exclusive view of salvation; nor that Bach's community is documented as having been exclusivist; nor that Pfeiffer and Bach both wrote clearly disdainful sentiments about Jews and others; nor that Pfeiffer and the other theologians cited from Bach's personal library spoke of Jews as eternally damned and also wrote disapprovingly and harshly on the matter of their being permitted to live among Christians. Similar problems surface in Tatlow's assessments of the Bach repertory. I argue that, contrary to what her book maintains, Bach's cantata Erhalt uns, Herr, bei deinem Wort BWV 126 is not a lesson in broad unity and peace, and likewise that this cantata does not convey an inclusive understanding of God's grace and love to people from all nations and races; rather, its powerful words and forceful musical setting articulate prayers for unity within God's (Lutheran) church, and for God to heap deadly vengeance upon the enemies of Lutheranism, here "the Pope and Turk." The cantata Am Abend aber desselbigen Sabbats BWV 42, similarly, articulates ungentle and unkindly sentiments about those it identifies as the church's metaphorical and actual enemies, here "the Jews."
Marie Curie, Charles Darwin, Emily Dickinson, Albert Einstein, Immanuel Kant, Isaac Newton, and Benedict de Spinoza-what do these figures have in common? There is a threefold answer: they were intelligent, they were original thinkers, and they are suspected to have been autistic. While acknowledging that all claims pertaining to the psychology of historical subjects are conjectural, this article explores the possibility that Johann Sebastian Bach's name belongs on the above list. Initially, it considers whether Bach exhibited autistic behaviors, with reference to diagnostic criteria (while acknowledging that the pathological conception of autism implicit in such criteria is, for many, problematic). Subsequently, it explores ways in which the qualitative properties of Bach's music might reflect an autistic thinking style. A prominent theme is that many autistics work "hyper-systematically": they pursue operative and/or constructive principles to degrees that can seem excessive. Analyses of the Sinfonia No. 9 in F Minor BWV 795 and the Fugue in C Major, Well-Tempered Clavier Book I highlight the remarkable structural sophistication, and resultant aesthetic character, of Bach's music. To at least some of Bach's peers, his music was distastefully overcomposed. Since the nineteenth-century revival era, though, his instantly recognizable "voice" has been regarded by many as an exemplar of genius. What led Bach to write music that was more attractive to the listening sensibilities of later ages than to those of his own age? Tentatively, this article suggests that Bach's apparent prescience reflects autism and considers some implications of this contentious idea.
The Riemenschneider Bach Institute at Baldwin Wallace University owns all six partbooks of the Novus thesaurus musicus, a monumental motet anthology printed in Venice in 1568. Although at first glance the books appear to be in original sixteenth-century bindings, closer examination reveals that the books come from two different original sets and were later rebound in an attempt to fool users into thinking it is an original complete set. Using methodologies from the disciplines of descriptive bibliography and the history of the book, and drawing upon evidence from other surviving copies of the print, this article unravels the mysteries of the Institute's partbooks, tracing their circuitous journey from sixteenth-century Venice to twentiethcentury Ohio. Along the way, it points out traps and pitfalls that could easily result in misleading interpretations of the books' history and use, while offering valuable lessons to those interested in the materiality of early modern musical sources.
During the nineteenth century, paying a call to an autograph collector usually entailed signing their album "in friendly remembrance" of the encounter. Musical visitors might also leave a small gift: a few measures of a favorite aria, a brief improvisation such as a cadenza or prelude, or even a complete piano piece or song. Some chose to signal their erudition, and that of the dedicatee, by writing out a contrapuntal curiosity such as a canon or fugue-part of a long tradition of learned album entries. Among such remembrances are quotations of works by Johann Sebastian Bach. These overlooked inscriptions, mostly penned between the 1830s and 1900s, document Bach's Romantic-era reception in an unusually intimate way. Among the inscribers are several well-known Bach enthusiasts, such as musicologist and collector Aloys Fuchs, violinist Joseph Joachim, pianist Ignaz Moscheles, and singer-conductor Julius Stockhausen. Others are less familiar, such as the pianists Anna Mehlig and Carl Tausig, the violinist Engelbert R & ouml;ntgen, the pedagogue Eduard Eggeling, the amateur organist Friedrich Schlemmer, and the painter Susette Hauptmann. All chose to commemorate a social interaction by iden-tifying themselves closely with Bach, whose music thereby functioned both as a personal calling card and as a potent form of cultural currency.
This article focuses on the oratorio Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu Wq 240 by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. It describes and analyzes a newly discovered early print-the program of a concert performed in honor of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach on 30 January 1789 in Erlangen, Germany. The program includes works by Haydn (Joseph or Michael), Johann Heinrich Rolle, Gaetano Pugnani, and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. Particularly important are two fragments from Bach's oratorio Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu, for which new lyrics were written. The newly discovered program gives us the full new lyrics for the first time. This allows for more precise speculation about which numbers from this oratorio were heard at this performance. This source therefore constitutes an interesting and important addition to our knowledge about the reception of this oratorio.
