JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH, Chorale Fantasy for Organ, Were God the Lord Not On Our Side. BWV 1128. First edition. Edited by Stephan Plaut and Michael Pacholke. With a preface by Hans-Joachim Schulze. Ortus Musikverlag (OM 77). xiii + 9 pp. (preface in German, English, French; critical report in German; chorale verses 1–8 in German; two facsimile illustrations).

As reported in the July 2008 issue of THE AMERICAN ORGANIST, an hitherto unknown large-scale organ chorale setting by J. S. Bach has recently come to light among the holdings of the Univeritäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle. On the basis of both source and style, this work is so securely attributable to J. S. Bach that the present edition must be reckoned as an indispensable addition to the repertory, whether for collectors or performers. Previously relegated to the appendix of the official Bach catalog as BWV-Anh. II:71, and previously known only as a fragment, it will appear henceforth in the main body of the catalog as BWV 1128, Fantasia super Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält.

Its source history is simple but colorful, as described in the preface by Hans-Joachim Schulze, emeritus director at the Leipzig Bach Archive. It begins in the early-19th century with the Hallische organist and church music director Johann Nicolaus Julius Kötschau (1788–1845), who owned copies of many Bach organ compositions––including the priceless original of the Clavierbüchlein vor Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. Kötschau appears to have been somewhat of a character, as he claimed to have acquired manuscripts as a personal gift from the Bach family member Johann Christian Bach (not J. S. Bach’s son, but a keyboardist at Halle) (1743–1814), when in fact he merely acquired them at the estate sale of this J. C. Bach. Moreover, he was stingy with his materials, withholding them from public scrutiny for most of his life. But when he did begin to open-up his collection, in the 1840s, Wo Gott der Herr was inexplicably omitted both from the publication itinerary of C. F. Peters, and from the manuscript assemblages of Felix Mendelssohn.

After Kötschau’s death, his collection of Bach organ chorales was acquired by the Königsberg music director Friedrich August Gotthold (1778–1858), who, in turn, donated his own extensive collections to the Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek at Königsberg. In 1870, a catalog of these materials was published, and the entry for Wo Gott der Herr may then have come to the attention of the great Bach scholar Wilhelm Rust (1822–92), who obtained his own copy in 1877. Rust’s copy ought to have served in the next subsequent installment of Bach organ chorales in the Complete Works Edition of the Bach-Gesellschaft––in which Rust had been a leading light, and editor par excellence––but by that time, Rust had already become disengaged from the Gesellschaft in a policy dispute, in which his principal antagonist was the Bach biographer Philipp Spitta. (Although Wo Gott der Herr receives no mention in Spitta’s biography completed in 1880, it does receive mention in the second edition of Carl Hermann Bitter’s rival Bach biography published in 1880–81.) The next subsequent installment of Bach organ chorales in the Complete Works Edition of the Bach-Gesellschaft (Vol. 40) was issued much later, and here again, Wo Gott der Herr was inexplicably omitted, even though the editor had access to Rust’s copy, and had even prepared a copy of his own.

After Rust’s death, many of Rust’s materials, including Wo Gott der Herr, were acquired by his former pupil, the Beethoven scholar Erich Prieger (1849–1913). Prieger’s collection was not dispersed until 1924, and Wo Gott der Herr may have been acquired at auction by the collector Manfred Gorke (1897–1956). But it did not resurface until another auction in March 2008, in which the Univeritäts- und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle acquired what were advertised as “manuscripts from the estate of Wilhelm Rust. Mostly compositions of his own, or arrangements of works by Bach.” The careful scholarly examination of these materials by the present editors Stephan Blaut and Michael Pacholke gave rise to the final discovery and identification of the long-lost work, which is now housed at the Martin-Luther-Univerität, under call number Yi 54 (St. 157).

As published, the work runs nine pages (85 mm., common time), and is layed-out on three staves, for two manuals and pedal. The manuals are designated Rückpositiv (forte) and Oberwerk (piano); the Rückpositiv part, in this instance, encompasses over four octaves (C–d´´´). The staff layout, manual designations, dynamic markings, and key signature (two flats/G minor) are in accordance with Rust’s copy, but the clef usage (treble and bass only) omits the alto clef employed by Rust.

What is perhaps most illuminating about Wo Gott der Herr is the way in which, in its details, it conforms with the known strictures of other Bach compositions, while as a whole, it conforms precisely with none. In true fantasy form, the compositional procedures change from section to section, and it would be difficult to convey the full flavor and affect of the composition by means of excerpts. The opportunity to experience an entirely new Bach work in a professional capacity is something of a major life-event––and to this reviewer, the impression gained was very similar to the initial impressions gained from other Bach works learnt long ago, that at first sight, it can be somewhat complicated and difficult. The chorale comprises seven phrases, which may serve as a basis for interpretation. The melody is in the venerable A-A-B barform, where phrases I–II and III–IV are identical, but Bach does not prescribe a literal repeat, and instead, recomposes phrases III–IV in relation to phrases I–II. The ensuing sections are likewise varied, and the composition as a whole can be understood as follows, in nine sections, where the Roman numerals refer to the respective chorale-phrases:

I. Chorale in tenor is combined with free-part in alto (both hands on Oberwerk). This is answered by the chorale in the bass (Pedal), with head-motif of the free-part in soprano (Rückpositiv).

II. Same procedure, but with full-length answer in the soprano. The Oberwerk accompaniment is extended and carried-over into the next section.

III. Chorale in soprano (Rückpositiv), with head-motif of the free-part now in Pedal.

IV. The further continuation of the Oberwerk accompaniment outlines the chorale itself, which is then stated in the soprano. The free-part from II. is now employed as an animated pedal bass. A short codetta emphatically reaffirms the tonic.

V. The three upper voices move to the Rückpositiv (with chorale in soprano), and they are echoed on the Oberwerk. This whole passage is then repeated, almost literally, a fourth lower.

VI. Same procedure, but the repeat is now a fourth higher.

V. Chorale is given twice more, first on the Rückpositiv with echo on the Oberwerk (as before); and then on both manuals together, with an animated pedal part. There is an emphatic half-cadence on the dominant featuring a three-octave melodic decent in the Rückpositiv.

VI. Chorale is treated in all four voices, two measures apart, in various key positions, and with a regular countersubject. Once the chorale appears in the last voice (soprano on the Rückpositiv), it proceeds toward a full cadence in the dominant, again featuring a three-octave melodic descent.

VII. Chorale and new countersubject are now treated quasi-fugally, with regular double-counterpoint, statements in various keys, and episodes. The coda features a brilliant melisma––alone, and with pedal points––encompassing the entire range of the Rückpositiv (C–d´´´).

Stated broadly, Wo Gott der Herr employs some procedures long-familiar in other Bach organ chorales (staggered entries, regular countersubjects, invertible counterpoint), and some that are not so familiar (the huge span of the Rückpositiv part, and the somewhat ill-considered assignment of upper-voice parts to the pedal bass). Its closest parallel is probably the early Christ lag in Todes Banden, BWV 718, which employs the manual divisions similarly, though without a full-standing pedal part.

With respect to the chorale melodies set by Bach throughout his life, “Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält” does not appear elsewhere within his chorale-based organ music. It appears in Cantatas 73, 114, and 178, but these were all written much later. Cantatas 73 and 114 draw upon different chorale texts altogether, but they are also set in G minor, and in Cantata 114, the chorale melody is also attended with extensive echo effects. The full text of “Wo Gott der Herr” may well reveal some of the intended illustration in the organ setting, where, for example, the huge span in the Rückpositiv part may allude to verse 5, which reads, in connection with the conquering of the evil foe, that “their shackles He will rend apace, and bare their secret hiding place, He will not be restrained” (es wird ihr Strick zerreisen gar, und stürtzen ihre falsche Lahr, sie werdens Gott nicht wehren). (This same line also receives a fine illustrative treatment in the fifth movement of Cantata 178.)

A more thoroughgoing probity will undoubtedly be forthcoming, as the work begins to assume a more well-defined place in the ongoing discourse on the evolution of Bach’s chorale-based organ music.

FRANK MORANA, FAGO FRCCO reviews new music for The American Organist and can be visited at www.bachstudies.net

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MANUSCRIPT HISTORY OF BWV 1178

Joh. Christian Bach
(1743–1814)
|
Joh. Nicolaus Julius Kötschau
(1788–1845)
|
Friedrich August Gotthold
(1778–1858)
|
Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek,
Königsberg
|
Wilhelm Rust (1877 copy)
(1822–1892)
|
Erich Prieger
(1849–1913)
|
Manfred Gorke?
(1897–1956)
|
???
|
Univeritäts-und Landesbibliothek Sachsen-Anhalt,
Halle