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BWV 218 Cantata Gott der Hoffnung erfülle euch
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BWV 219 Cantata Siehe, es hat überwunden der Löwe
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BWV 222 Cantata Mein Odem ist schwach
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Anh. III 158 Aria “Andrò dall’colle al Prato”
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Anh. III 160 Motet Jauchzet dem Herrn alle Welt, TWV 8:10
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Anh. III 161 Motet Kündlich groß ist das gottselige Geheimnis/1
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Anh. III 162 Motet Lob und Ehre und Weisheit und Dank
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Anh. III 163 Motet Merk auf, mein Herz, und sieh dorthin
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Anh. III 164 Motet Nun danket alle Gott
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Anh. III 165
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BWV 222/3
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/4 /6 Motet Unser Wandel ist im Himmel
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Anh. III 166 Kyrie–Gloria Mass Missa sopra cantilena “Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr”
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Anh. II 24 Kyrie–Gloria Mass
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Anh. II 26 Kyrie–Gloria Mass
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Anh. II 27 Sanctus
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Anh. III 168 Kyrie
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Anh. I 21 Magnificat Meine Seel erhebt den Herren
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Anh. III 169 Passion Erbauliche Gedanken auf den Grünen Donnerstag und Charfreitag über den Leidenden Jesum
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BWV 8/6 Chorale Herrscher über Tod und Leben
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Anh. III 170
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BWV 27/6 Chorale Welt, ade, ich bin dein müde
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BWV 43/11 Chorale Du lebensfürst, Herr Jesu Christ
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BWV 567 Prelude
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Anh. III 178 Toccata quasi Fantasia con Fuga
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Anh. II 43 Fugue
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Anh. II 44 Fugue
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Anh. II 45 Fugue on B-A-C-H
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Anh. II 88 Fugue
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Anh. II 97 Fugue
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Anh. II 103 Fugue
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Anh. II 104 Fugue
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Anh. II 105 Fugue
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Anh.N 208 Fugue
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Anh. II 46 Trio
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BWV 692 Chorale prelude Ach Gott und Herr
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BWV 692a Chorale prelude Ach Gott und Herr
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BWV 693 Chorale prelude Ach Gott und Herr
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BWV 746 Chorale prelude Christ ist erstanden
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BWV 748 Chorale prelude Gott der Vater wohn uns bei
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BWV 748a Chorale prelude Gott der Vater wohn uns bei
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BWV 751 Chorale prelude In dulci jubilo
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BWV 759 Chorale prelude Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele
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BWV 760 Chorale prelude Vater unser im Himmelreich
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BWV 761 Chorale prelude Vater unser im Himmelreich
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BWV 109BWV 6 Chorale prelude Christe, der du bist Tag und Licht Wir danken dir, Herr Jesu Christ
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BWV 771 Chorale variations Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr
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Anh. II 47 Chorale prelude Ach Herr, mich armen Sünder
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Anh. II 56 Chorale prelude Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend
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Anh. II 57 Chorale prelude Jesu, Leiden, Pein und Tod
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Anh. II 61 Chorale prelude O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß
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Anh. II 73 Chorale prelude Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ
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Anh. III 171 Chorale prelude Christ lag in Todesbanden
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Anh. III 172 Chorale prelude Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend
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BWV 824 Klavierbüchlein WFB No. 47: Suite
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BWV 835 Allemande
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BWV 838 Allemande and Courante
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BWV 840 Courante
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BWV 897/1 Prelude
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BWV 962 Fugue
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BWV 970 Toccatina No. 6 Presto
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Anh. II 94 Fugue
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Anh. II 107 Fugue on B-A-C-H
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Anh. II 108 Fugue on B-A-C-H
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Anh. II 110 Fugue on B-A-C-H
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Anh. II 112 Grave
Anh. II 114 Notebook A. M. Bach No. 4 Minuet
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Anh. II 115 Notebook A. M. Bach No. 5 Minuet
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Anh. II 122 Notebook A. M. Bach No. 16 March
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Anh. II 123 Notebook A. M. Bach No. 17 Polonaise
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Anh. II 124 Notebook A. M. Bach No. 18 March
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Anh. II 125 Notebook A. M. Bach No. 19 Polonaise
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Anh. II 129 Notebook A. M. Bach No. 27 Solo per il cembalo
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Anh. II 130 Notebook A. M. Bach No. 28 Polonaise
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Anh. II 131 Notebook A. M. Bach No. 32
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Anh. II 133 Musical clock, No. 1 Fantasia
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Anh. II 134 Musical clock, No. 2 Scherzo
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Anh. II 135 Musical clock, No. 3 Burlesca
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Anh. II 136 Musical clock, No. 4 Trio
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Anh. II 137 Musical clock, No. 5 L’Intrada della Caccia
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Anh. II 138 Musical clock, No. 6 Continuazione della Caccia
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Anh. II 139 Musical clock, No. 7 Il Fine delle Caccia I
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Anh. II 140 Musical clock, No. 8 Il Fine delle Caccia II
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Anh. II 141 Musical clock, No. 9 Song of Psalm “O Gott die Christenhalt”
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Anh. II 142 Musical clock, No. 10 Psalm 110
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Anh. II 143 Musical clock, No. 11 Polonaise
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Anh. II 144 Musical clock, No. 12 Polonaise Trio
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Anh. II 145 Musical clock, No. 13 March
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Anh. II 146 Musical clock, No. 14 March
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Anh. II 147 Musical clock, No. 15 La Combattuta
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Anh. II 148 Musical clock, No. 16 Scherzo
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Anh. II 149 Musical clock, No. 17 Minuet
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Anh. II 150 Musical clock, No. 18 Trio
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Anh. III 177 Prelude and Fugue
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Anh. III 179 Fantasia durch alle Tonarten gehend
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Anh. III 180 Fugue
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Anh. III 181 Fugue
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Anh. III 182 Passacaglia
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Anh. III 183 Notebook A. M. Bach No. 6 Rondeau
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BWV 103BWV 6 Trio
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BWV 103BWV 7 Sonata
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Anh. III 173 Invention
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Anh. III 174 Invention
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Anh. III 175 Invention
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Anh. III 176 Invention
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Anh. III 184 Sonata
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Anh. III 185 Sonata
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Anh. III 186 Trio Sonata
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Anh. III 187 Trio
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Anh. III 188 Sonata
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Anh. I 23 Concerto
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Anh. III 189 Concerto
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BWV 655b Chorale prelude Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend
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BWV 655c Chorale prelude Herr Jesu Christ, dich zu uns wend
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The Biographies
The Bach House in Köthen was the home of the composer and his second wife Anna Magdalena
Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life, Art, and Work by Johann Nikolaus Forkel
Translated by Charles Sanford Terry
Johann Nikolaus Forkel (1749-1818) was a German musician, musicologist and music theorist, as well as Bach’s first biographer. Born at Meeder in Coburg, Forkel was the son of a cobbler, and received early musical training, especially in keyboard playing, from Johann Heinrich Schulthesius, the local Cantor. As a teenager he served as a singer in Lüneburg, and studied law for two years at the University of Göttingen; he remained associated with the University for more than fifty years, where he held varied positions, including instructor of music theory, organist, keyboard teacher and eventually director of all music at the university. In 1787 he received an honorary doctorate of philosophy from the institution. Forkel’s library, which was accumulated with care and discrimination at a time when rare books were inexpensive, forms a valuable portion of the Berlin State Library and also of the library of the Königliche Institut für Kirchenmusik.
Forkel is often regarded as the founder of Historical Musicology, for it is was principally due to his efforts that the study of music history and theory became an academic discipline with rigorous standards of scholarship. An enthusiastic admirer of Bach, whose music he did much to popularise, Forkel published the first biography of the great composer in 1802. The book is of particular value today, as Forkel, while researching its content, was still able to correspond directly with Bach’s sons Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, acquiring much valuable information that would otherwise have been lost.
Johann Nikolaus Forkel (1749-1818)
The first edition's title page
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.
FORKEL’S PREFACE
CHAPTER I. THE FAMILY OF BACH
CHAPTER II. THE CAREER OF BACH
CHAPTER IIA.113 BACH AT LEIPZIG, 1723-1750
CHAPTER III. BACH AS A CLAVIER PLAYER
CHAPTER IV. BACH THE ORGANIST
CHAPTER V. BACH THE COMPOSER
CHAPTER VI. BACH THE COMPOSER (continued)
CHAPTER VII. BACH AS A TEACHER
CHAPTER VIII. PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS
CHAPTER IX. BACH’S COMPOSITIONS
CHAPTER X. BACH’S MANUSCRIPTS
CHAPTER XI. THE GENIUS OF BACH
APPENDIX I. CHRONOLOGICAL CATALOGUE OF BACH’S COMPOSITIONS
APPENDIX II. THE CHURCH CANTATAS ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY
APPENDIX III. THE BACHGESELLSCHAFT EDITIONS OF BACH’S WORKS
APPENDIX IV. BIBLIOGRAPHY OF BACH LITERATURE
APPENDIX VI. GENEALOGY OF THE FAMILY OF BACH
ENDNOTES.
The original frontispiece
INTRODUCTION.
Johann Nikolaus Forkel, author of the monograph of which the following pages afford a translation, was born at Meeder, a small village in Saxe-Coburg, on February 22, 1749, seventeen months before the death of Johann Sebastian Bach, whose first biographer he became. Presumably he would have followed the craft of his father, the village shoemaker, had not an insatiable love of music seized him in early years. He obtained books, and studied them with the village schoolmaster. In particular he profited by the “Vollkommener Kapellmeister” of Johann Mattheson, of Hamburg, the sometime friend of Handel. Like Handel, he found a derelict Clavier in the attic of his home and acquired proficiency upon it. Forkel’s professional career, like Bach’s half a century earlier, began at Lüneburg, where, at the age of thirteen (1762), he was admitted to the c
hoir of the parish church. Thence, at the age of seventeen (1766), he proceeded to Schwerin as “Chorpräfect,” and enjoyed the favour of the Grand Duke. Three years later he betook himself (1769), at the age of twenty, to the University of Göttingen, which he entered as a law student, though a slender purse compelled him to give music lessons for a livelihood. He used his opportunity to acquire a knowledge of modern languages, which stood him in good stead later, when his researches required him to explore foreign literatures. Concurrently he pursued his musical activities, and in 1774 published at Göttingen his first work, Ueber die Theorie der Musik, advocating the foundation of a music lectureship in the University. Four years later (1778) he was appointed its Director of Music, and from 1779 to 1815 conducted the weekly concerts of the Sing-Akademie. In 1780 he received from the University the doctorate of philosophy. The rest of his life was spent at Göttingen, where he died on March 17, 1818, having just completed his sixty-ninth year.
That Forkel is remembered at all is due solely to his monograph on Bach. Written at a time when Bach’s greatness was realised in hardly any quarter, the book claimed for him pre-eminence which a tardily enlightened world since has conceded him. By his generation Forkel was esteemed chiefly for his literary activity, critical ability, and merit as a composer. His principal work, Allgemeine Geschichte der Musik, was published in two volumes at Leipzig in 1788 and 1801. Carl Friedrich Zelter, Goethe’s friend and correspondent, dismissed the book contemptuously as that of an author who had “set out to write a history of music, but came to an end just where the history of music begins.” Forkel’s work, in fact, breaks off at the sixteenth century. But the curtailed History cleared the way for the monograph on Bach, a more valuable contribution to the literature of music. Forkel already had published, in three volumes, at Gotha in 1778, his Musikalisch-kritische Bibliothek, and in 1792 completed his critical studies by publishing at Leipzig his Allgemeine Literatur der Musik.
Forkel was also a student of the music of the polyphonic school. He prepared for the press the scores of a number of sixteenth century Masses, Motets, etc., and fortunately received proofs of them from the engraver. For, in 1806, after the Battle of Jena, the French impounded the plates and melted them down. Forkel’s proofs are still preserved in the Berlin Royal Library. He was diligent in quest of Bach’s scattered MSS., and his friendship with Bach’s elder sons, Carl Philipp Emmanuel and Wilhelm Friedemann, enabled him to secure precious relics which otherwise might have shared the fate of too many of Bach’s manuscripts. He took an active interest in the proposal of Messrs. Hoffmeister and Kühnel, predecessors of C. F. Peters at Leipzig, to print a “kritisch-korrecte” edition of Bach’s Organ and Clavier works. Through his friend, Johann Gottfried Schicht, afterwards Cantor at St. Thomas’s, Leipzig, he was also associated with Breitkopf and Haertel’s publication of five of Bach’s six extant Motets in 1802-3.