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Bach Studies: Liturgy, Hymnology, and Theology
Discussions - Part 3

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Leaver Liturgy, Chapter 5."Bach and the Cantata Controversy in the Early Eighteenth Century"

William L. Hoffman wrote (July 31, 2021):
Paradoxical perspectives infuse the vocal music of Bach, from his time to today, particularly in his cantatas as musical sermons, a venerable form which created a diversity of interests and responses, particularly its most distinctive feature, the texted libretto, observes Robin A. Leaver in his Bach Studies, Liturgy, Chapter 5, "Bach and the Cantata Controversy in the Early Eighteenth Century,"¹ when that pervasive genre (Wikipedia) in Protestant Germany was in its formative stages. The church cantata became a regular feature of Sunday worship but caused controversy. Orthodox Lutherans embraced this concerted music with its underlying theology and piety, in a form derived from Italian opera, while conservative reformists and Pietists denounced it as too secular and "operatic." Today, "Bach's cantatas are often considered to be too religious," while most often heard in secular settings, says Leaver (Ibid.: 83), another paradoxical perspective.² "Thus, it is necessary to appreciate the different nuances in Bach's day, because understanding how the cantata was regarded at the time will help us in our time to appreciate this form of church music that was once widespread in Germany — the musical form that reached its high point in the cantatas of Bach." At its most appealing then and now are cantata songs such as the "exquisite lullaby" and Bach Family favorite, "Schlummert ein, ihr matten Augen" (Slumber, you heavy eyes; trans. Leaver; YouTube), from the 1727 Cantata 82, "Ich habe genug" (I have enough),³ for the Marian Feast of the Purification (BCW). It is the springboard for Leaver's essay into "the controversy concerning the introduction of the so-called reform cantata" and its impact "within Bach's circle in Leipzig" involving progressive figures such as the theologian Gottfried Ephraim Scheibel. Following this introduction, Leaver examines in the main part of his essay, "Opera in church" (Ibid.: 89-98) and the succeeding, related sections (Ibid.: 98-116): "One-affect theory," the Doctrine of Affections (Wikipedia) and rhetoric with their impact; "Bach and the 'Theatricalische Stil'," with early librettists Bach used; "Bach's poets," detailed use; and "Bach in collaboration with his poets," notably Menantes and Picander, with a closing "Excursus" on Bach student and possible librettist Christoph Birkmann (Ibid.: 116f).

3rd Cycle Librettists, 1725 Bach Watershed

The attribution to Birkmann,⁴ discussed in the Leaver essay final section, "Excursis: Cantata libretti published in Nurenberg 1728" (Ibid.: 116f), reveals important issues involving the production of cantata libretti in Bach's time. Cantata 82 was one of eight original Bach cantata libretti published in 1728 by Birkmann as well others in Bach's third cantata cycle: Georg Christian Lehms, nine cantatas (BWV 13, 16, 32, 35, 57, 110, 151, 170, 1135=Anh. 209; BCW), Rudolstadt/Meinengen⁵ (Helm), seven cantatas (BCW; BWV 17, 39, 43, 45, 88, 102, 187) and Johann Ludwig Bach (substitute 1726, BCW, JLB 1-19); as well as seven Picander (BWV 19, 157, 84, 30, 249, 145, 36); seven possibly by Bach's confessing pastor, Christian Weiss Sr. (BWV 6, 42, 85, 79, 76a, 75a, 1135=Anh. 199); three Salomo Franck (BWV 168, 164, 72); Neumeister, BWV 24; Johann Friedrich Helbig, BWV 47; various poets (BWV 27), and anonymous (BWV 22, 51).⁶ Most of these libretti had been published previously, showing a lively interchange of madrigalian poetry, without attribution but highly influential, a practice typical at this time. The year 1725 was a watershed time for Bach when at Lent he abruptly ended his second, chorale cantata cycle (Wikipedia) and turned to new poetry of Christiane Mariane von Ziegler (BCW) for the succeeding Easter-Trinityfest season, while also beginning to compose profane cantatas (BWV 249.1, 36.1, 205, 1163=Anh. 196). Meanwhile, for Trinity Time 1725, the second half of the church year, Bach ceased weekly church cantata production (June 3 to November 25, BCW, turned to composing instrumental works and sought both published libretti and new textual sources for his third sacred cycle (BCW), resuming at Advent possibly with Cantata 36.4 (BCW).

Cantata 82, Cantata Libretti, Opera Influences

The slumber aria, BWV 82/3, like other songs Bach composed, has textual affinities and correspondences involving similar sacred works, as well as shared theological and poetic underpinnings in its various iterations from 1727 to 1747, says Leaver in his analytical essay (Ibid.: 84). The aria is the third movement in the solo cantata for either solo soprano or baritone, obbligato flute or oboe, and strings, with the text or compilation by Bach student Christoph Birkmann (BCW). It begins with an introductory allusion to Simeon's traditional Night Prayer Canticle, Nunc dimittis servum tuum Domine⁷ (Herr, nun lässest du deinen Diener, Now Lord, let your servant depart), followed by Bach's setting of the canticle as a recitative, and the reflective lullaby, both which Anna Magdalena Bach copied into her Notebook c.1731, with another, closing recitative-aria pair. Following a brief discussion of Cantata 82, Leaver's essay turns to "Cantata libretti" (Ibid.: 84), where he shows the possible textual influences and correspondences in the slumber aria, BWV 82/3, "Schlummert ein," with a similar Purification aria of Gottfried Ephraim Scheibel, theologian and music writer in Leipzig and Breslau (Wikipedia), in his 1725 published cycle of cantata texts. Both slumber arias as Gospel meditations "make use of the same imagery of death as sleep and the closing of the eyes, and the contemporaneous worshiper in both is metaphorically placed alongside Simeon to contemplate the personal transition from earth to heaven," says Leaver (Ibid.: 85). Leaver finds in Scheibel's cycle "pre-echoes of Bach libretti" (Ibid.: 85), notably Scheibel's festive Advent cantata incipit "Jauchzet, frohlocket," the same as the first cantata in Bach's Christmas Oratorio, and the Scheibel Easter Day reference to "Trompeten, "Pauken," and "Saiten," also found in the first movement of Bach's profane Cantata 214, which has parodied movements in the 1734 oratorio. Other historical-biographical connections between Scheibel and Bach in Leipzig relate to progressive influences found at the Neukirche with its operatic style church music. There on Good Friday 1717, the first concerted Passion, Telemann's poetic oratorio, Brockes Passion (TVWV 5:1), was introduced, followed by Johann Kuhnau's biblical Passion oratorio in 1722, alternating between the St. Thomas and St. Nikolaus Churches throughout Bach's tenure. Scheibel also appears to have been involved in the Leipzig Opera, says Leaver (Ibid.: 89). Similar correspondences are "traceable to other cantata libretti that Bach set," observes Leaver (Ibid.: 86), citing two involving Erdmann Neumeister (BCW), author of the so-called "reform" cantatas. They are found in Bach cantatafor the 1726 Sundays after Trinity 16, BWV 27/3, and Trinity 19, BWV 56/1, related to Neumeister texts for Trinity Time in Neumeister's initial 1700 cycle (Geistlichen Cantaten, Weißenfels) in the "practice of using the opening line of an existing poem and then continuing differently," Leaver says in a footnote (Ibid.: 86), called a "Kontrafaktur" (counterfactor).

Opera in Church

"Scheibel's advocacy of opera techniques was part of a larger debate concerning musical style in church music that was then being hotly disputed," Leaver shows (Ibid.: 90) in his main section, "Opera in church" (Ibid.: 89-98). "It would continue for a further twenty years and beyond." The expression of emotion in music seemed appropriate in both the opera house and the church, progressive composers advocated. Moving the affections in theatrical and secular music should extend to spiritual matters, said Scheibel, cited by Leaver (Ibid.: 89), as for example in the works of the North German Hamburg school of composers Keiser, Mattheson, and Telemann, with whom Bach was familiar (see BCW". "Northern Germany: Abendmusiken and Passion-Oratorio"). "Bach scholars, from Spitta on, have tended to underestimate the significance of the new developments in cantata composition," Leaver observes (Ibid.: 90). These "developments were much more radical and revolutionary — both theologically and practically — than has often been understood," citing Joyce Irwin.⁸ "In many respects, the debate began with Erdmann Neumeister" in his first complete cycle of cantata libretti c1700, Leaver emphasizes (Ibid.: 90f). In his 1702 published introduction, Neumeister used recitatives and arias "that until then were usually heard only in an opera house." This original madrigalian poetry became the dominant force in the German sacred cantata, complimenting the traditional texts which were limited to established biblical quotations and chorale verses, later added to Neumeister's third published cycle. "Neumeister had developed his reform cantata libretti in connection with specific courts that were often noted for their performances of opera," observes Leaver (Ibid.: 91), who summarizes Neumeister's published cycles, their courts, and composers (Ibid.: 92): 1. 1700, (Geistlichen Cantaten, Weißenfels), Johann Philipp Krieger; 2. 1707 (Das Wort Christi In Psalmen / Lobgesänge / Geistliche und Liebliche Lieder, Rudolstadt), Philipp Heinrich Erlebach; 3. 1711 (Geistliches Singen und Spielen, Gotha), Georg Philipp Telemann; 4. 1714 (Geistliche Poesien, Eisenach), Telemann; 5. 1716/17 (Fünffache Kirchen-Andachten, Leipzig); and 6. 1717 (Geistliche Poesie mit untermischten Biblischen Sprüchen und Choralen, Eisenach). About the time of the publication of Neumeister's fifth cantata cycle compendium in 1715/16, Johann David Schieferdecker⁹ at Weißenfels also published a progressive cantata cycle, says Leaver (Ibid.: 92f). When it was that "these libretti were set to music that significant opposition arose." "The division concerning the new cantata form was to some extent generational," Leaver suggests (Ibid.: 94).

Cantatas Libretto Disputes

During the second decade of the 18th century, German court composers with opera connections began composing church year cycles to texts of Neumeister, Georg Christian Lehms, and Christian Friedrich Hunold (Menantes), while Bach initially set texts of Salomo Franck, Weimar court poet. Meanwhile, disputes over progressive musical settings erupted, notably the extended controversy between Erfurt organist Johann Heinrich Buttstett and Hamburg composer and theorist Mattheson. It centered on "the blurring of the traditional distinction between ecclesiastical and secular styles," says Leaver (Ibid.: 95), between solemn church and theatrical opera. Schiebel viewed this conflation "as a positive asset," with music becoming "a little livelier and freer," "affection is not constrained," and with "charm and gracefulness" (Leaver's translation, Ibid.: 95).¹⁰ "The debate was epitomized by the printed polemics that flowed back and fourth between Joachim Meyer" (Göttingen) and Mattheson, says Leaver (Ibid.: 66), with the latter discussing "the fundamental biblical, theological, philosophical, moral, and artistic principles that undergirded theatrical church music," says Leaver (Ibid.: 97). "Musicians continued to be divided over the issue, but among the clergy, not surprisingly, many were generally negative or at least extremely cautious." Schiebel's concern with older church music was the lack of poetic texts where he favored three cantata librettists," says Leaver (Ibid.: 98): Neumesiter, Johann Jacob Rambach,¹¹ and Salomo Franck. The related next section in Leaver's essay, "One-affect-theory" (Ibid.: 98-104), addresses the classical Greek doctrine of affections where music in both theater and church needs "to express and evoke emotion," says Leaver (Ibid.: 99). Scheibel and Mattheson between 1713 and 1739 sought the means to express a range of emotions through rhetorical principles which "move" the listener, making music as "preparation for devotion, just like the exordium [introduction] in an oration,"¹² says Mattheson, cited by Leaver (Ibid.: 100).

Rhetoric To Move Emotions

From the 16th century, Lutheran Latin schools embraced "the seven liberal arts (grammar, logic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music), developed from the curricular provision of [Lutheran theologian] Philipp Melanchthon," says Leaver (Ibid.: 100). Early Baroque composers (c1600) sought to emphasize the beauty of words put to music such as madrigals. "A significant number of seventeenth century cantors were also the authors of basic textbooks of music theory, which used rhetorical categories¹³ to explain and expound the nature, logic and meaning of music," says Leaver (Ibid.: 101). The "musical expression of these emotions was conditioned by the text being set." There "was a growing expressiveness in much of the church music" and "an increase of emotional intensity in the devotional literature of the period," says Leaver (Ibid.: 102). The genre of opera seria (Wikipedia) in the 1700s used the single affect or mood in stock arias involving "(a)nger, ardor, vengeance, rage, fury, and all other such violent affections," says Mattheson (cited in Wikipedia). By Bach's time, "there was a radical shift away from the text as the object of composition and instead the listener became the focus of the music, where the aim was to evoke a subjective response to the music as it was being heard." The radical shift toward listening included the change from the term "congregation" to "listeners" or "audience," moving from passive hearing to active listening, says Leaver (Ibid.: 102, Footnote 87). Melanchthon's 16th century perspective made a distinction between dialectics to teach and rhetoric to move and stimulate, says Leaver (Ibid.: 103), so that "librettists and writers in music, rather than academics in the disciplines that taught and employed rhetoric (notably, theology, philosophy, and law), who would revive this primary understanding of rhetoric that had been fundamental to education in the sixteenth century," Leaver concludes the section on "One-affect-theory" (Ibid.: 104).

Bach and theatralische Stil

The next, related section, "Bach and the theatralische Stil" (Ibid.; 104-107), begins with Bach's earliest systematic use of new, profane libretti by Menantes (BCW) when Bach was Capellmeister at Cöthen (1718-20).¹⁴ Bach "must also have had other anthologies of poetry intended for public worship," says Leaver (Ibid.: 105), although not documented. These involved the poets Georg Christian Lehms (BCW), Neumeister (BCW), Franck (BCW), Johann FriedrHelbig (BCW), and Johann Friedrich Knauer (BCW), published between 1711 and 1721. Bach "was in favor of the new reform style in cantata composition, which stood in close relationship to the 'theatralische stil,' since he was foremost in developing it," says Leaver (Ibid.: 106). Unlike "other contemporary composers Bach never composed a complete annual sequence of cantata libretti written by a single poet. Instead, he preferred to pick and choose, often just one text, sometimes two or three for successive Sundays or celebrations [feast days], rarely more than three for consecutive occasions."¹⁵ Like the Doctrine of Affections, the concept of a "theatrical style" (Wikipedia) is derived from the Greek classics and was used during the Baroque, in contrast to the "church style," also known as stile antico.¹⁶

Bach's Poets

Bach's selective use of cantata libretti showed that his "preference appears to have been to work directly with a poet rather than with preexisting published collections of such poetry," says Leaver at the beginning of the next, related section of "Bach's poets" (Ibid.: 107-113). The exception is found in Bach's third and final cantata cycle (1725-27; BCW: "Bach's Third Cantata Cycle (1725-27): Revised Classification"), when Bach turned almost exclusively to printed libretto sources for mini-cycles of the poetry beginning with Ziegler (published later), followed by the published Lehms and Rudolstadt/Meinengen (Christoph Helm) cycles; Picander and Birkmann cycles to be published, and possibly Christian Weiss Sr. (unpublished, BCW), as well as a selective, published smattering from Salomo Franck, Neumeister, Helbig, composite, and anonymous (see above, "3rd Cycle Librettists, 1725 Bach Watershed"). These Leaver outlines in tables (Ibid.: 108f) while a "further five [BWV 204, 19, 27, 55, 82], while also being anonymous, are connected in some way with previously published sources," he says (Ibid.; 107). Bach came full circle with Menantes, his serenade collaborator in Cöthen, in Leipzig in 1726 or 1727 with a composite libretto unknown occasion, moral Cantata 204,¹⁷ Von Der Vergnügsamkeit: “Ich bin in mir vergnügt” (On Contentedness: I am content in myself). Leaver discusses the textual changes and adaptation (Ibid.: 109f) with an unknown author "most likely responsible for the libretto in its present form," he says (Ibid.; 110). A recent critical commentary of David Yearsley¹⁸ suggests that this soprano solo Cantata 204 was written for Anna Magdalena Bach, involving the "poem's rejection of worldly striving in favor of self-reliant religious devotion" (Ibid.: 221), appropriate for home, "music room, salon, or coffeehouse" (Ibid.; 227). The 1726 Michaelfest Cantata 19,¹⁹ "Es erhub sich ein Streit" (There arose a strife) has a libretto that "is another compilation of revised preexisting poetry with newly written verse," says Leaver (Ibid.: 110). The original text is by Picander and Birkmann did the printing in 1728. "Cantatas 27 and 55 makes use of lines from Neumeister's libretti, and the aria Schummert ein in BWV 82 echoes lines of Scheibel," says Leaver (Ibid.: 113).

Bach Collaboration with Poets

The concluding section of Leaver's essay on liturgy focuses on "Bach in collaboration with his poets" (Ibid.; 113-116), showing that the third cantata cycle (1725-27) "is characterized by two related phenomena," he says (Ibid.: 113f): "Bach made more use of printed libretti than was his usual custom" while, on the other hand, "an unknown poet or poets" used "published poetry of others in order to create new cantata libretti" for "a group of cantata texts" (five or more). One source appears to be Scheibel, with the "unanswered question": "How closely was Bach involved in the process of creating these new texts?" Leaver says it was "an active involvement" (Ibid.: 114). "The impression is that during this time Bach was working with one or two of his closest colleagues [? Picander, Weiss], actively reviewing published anthologies of cantata texts, to find usable libretti, or to discover phrases, lines, rhymes, and concepts that could be refashioned and developed into new libretti" (? with the assistance of students Birkmann, etc.), and others (Anna Magdalena). Still to be determined are the authors of the cantata texts for the first two cycles, their processes and collaborations.

ENDNOTES

¹ Robin A. Leaver, Bach Studies: Liturgy, Hymnology, and Theology (Abingdon UK: Routledge, 2021); Amazon.com; discussions, BCW; text, "Chapter 5, Google Books.
² Paradoxical perspective: two Martin Luther theological views: "We are simulaneously saints and sinners" (Simul justus et peccator, Wikipedia), and "Jesus Christ as truly God and Man" (Lutheran Reformation).
³ Cantata 82: music, YouTube; score, BCW; discussion, https://www.bach-cantatas.com/BWV82-D9.htm; recent article, Bettina Varwig, "Death and Life in J. S. Bach's Cantata Ich habe genung (BWV 82)," in Journal of the Royal Musical Assn. (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1 Jan. 2020), Cambridge University Press.
⁴ Birkmann Bach cantata libretti (BWV 49, 52, 55, 56, 58, 82, 98, 169), Bach Netork, BCW.
⁵ Rudolstadt/Meinengen texts, republished in 1726 as Bach continued his third cantata cycle (Wikiwand), are found at Digital Historische Bibliothek Erfurt/Gotha.
⁶ Source: William L. Hoffman, "Bach Texts as Cantata Mini-Cycles," BCW: section "Third Cantata Cycle Mini-Cycles."
⁷ Nunc dimittis: text, BCW; melody, BCW.
⁸ Joyce L. Irwin, Neither Voice nor Heart Alone: German Lutheran Theology of Music in the Age of the Baroque (New York: Lang, 1993), Chapter 12, "The Cantata Debate," Google Books; Amazon.com; besides Scheibel, Irwin discusses at length the responses of Joachim Meyer and Mattheson and briefly Christian Gerber [see Christian Gerber, responses to Passion performances, "Relationship with Authority," in William L. Hoffman, Spiritual Sources of B's St. Matthew Passion, BCW].
⁹ Johann David Schieferdecker, biography, Google Translate from German Wikipedia.
¹⁰ The earlier Italian distinction between the instrumental sonata da camera (chamber music) and sonata de chiesa (church sonata), with the former using dance styles and the latter straightforward stile antico fugues, also became blurred at the beginning of the 18th century (Wikipedia), and by Bach's time in Leipzig, both types were introduced during main service communion.
¹¹ Johann Jacob Rambach influenced the unknown librettist, possibly Christian Weiss Sr., in Bach's Cantata 25, “Es ist nichts Gesundes an meinem Leibe” (There is nothing healthy in my body, Psalm 38:3), for the 14th Sunday after Trinity, 1723 (BCW: "Note on the Text").
¹² The structure of an oration as a rhetorical form of discourse, such as a sermon, involves the following: exordium (introduction) and proposito (key statement), the interpretive tractatio (investigation of proposito), applicatio, and the conclusio (see Robin A. Leaver, "J. S. Bach as Preacher: His Passions and Music in Worship" (St. Louis MO: Concordia, 1982: "Bach's Passions," 27-35).
¹³ Rhetorical categories include the following: 9 modes, 7 rhetorical devices, 4 types, and 3 appeals ( Google Search Results. Prominent rhetorical factors in music are symmetry (proportion), contrast, and repetition.
¹⁴ Bach, Cöthen Serenades, Bach Cantatas Website articles: BCW: "Royal Court at Köthen: Serenades"; BCW; "Bach in Cöthen, 1719-29"; BCW: "Cöthen Serenades."
¹⁵ Bach's so-called fourth "Picander cycle of 1728–29" (Wikipedia copy, Google paste), remains an enigma since Bach selectively only set 10 of 70 cantatas during this period.
¹⁶ The favored study is Hans Joachim Marx's "Bach and the 'theatralische Stil'," found at American Bach Society: Bach Notes 05, in which Marx discusses a "brief overview" of Bach's connection to opera from 1720-40, the influence of theatrical style on church music, and Bach's use of operatic style in his vocal works; opera existed in Weimar and Leipzig before Bach's tenures there; Marx bibliography, Bach-Bibliographie; see also Reinhard Strohm, Chapter 4, "The Crisis of Baroque Opera in Germany," in Dramma per Musica: Italian Opera Seria of the Eighteenth Century (New Haven CN: Yale University Press, 1997: 81-96), Amazon.com; topics are "Court and city opera," "Tragedie into dramma per musica," and select musical works in "Theory and practice," and "Themes and dreams"; for a full understanding of the Habsburg Court in Vienna and the opera seria and oratorio influences of composers Johann Joseph Fux and Antonio Caldara on Handel and Bach, see Bach Mailing List discussions of Harry White's study, The Musical Discourse of Servitude: Authority, Autonomy and the European Musical Imagination, 1700-1750 (BCW: Feb. 16 to May 2, May 29).
¹⁷ Cantata 204: composite libretto (Bach Digital); text, BCW, Eng. trans. Francis Browne BCW; score, BCW; recording, YouTube; discussion, BCW.
¹⁸ David Yearsley, "The Paradoxical Pleasures of Renunciation," in Sex, Death, and Minuets: Anna Magdalena Bach and Her Musical Notebooks (Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press: 2019: 220-27), Amazon.com.
¹⁹ Cantata 19: Bach Digital, Bach Digital; text, BCW; score and recording, YouTube; discussion, BCW.

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To come: Leaver Bach Studies, Part 2, Hymnology, Chapter 6, "Bach and Johann Christoph Olearius."

Leaver Bach Studies, Hymnology, Chapter 6, "Bach, Johann Christoph Olearius"

William L. Hoffman wrote (August 10, 2021):
Robin Leaver's new collection of Bach Studies focuses on the three essential spiritual ingredients in Bach's sacred music: liturgy, hymnology, and theology.¹ As part of the current wave of interest in Bach spiritual matters, Leaver's 15 updated essays have five each centered on these key elements with trajectories that are both chronological and contextual. The first two ingredients, liturgy and hymnology, relate to the driving forces behind Bach's sacred vocal music: the liturgy which establishes the pericope readings for the services being observed, often found in biblical choruses and arias, and the Lutheran congregational hymns as the other key ingredient in worship.² "Luther viewed the congregational hymn or chorale as an integral and vital part of the liturgy," says Carl Schalk as cited by Mary Kay Stulken (Ibid.: xv). The earliest hymns called canticles are referred to following the Last Supper or First Eucharist in the gospels of Mark (14:25) and Matthew (26:30): "And when they [Jesus and the Disciples] had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives," possibly Psalms 115-118 sung after the Passover meal. The five chapters in Part II, Hymnology are: Chapter 6, "Bach and Johann Christoph Olearius" in Arnstadt, the foundations of the Lutheran hymn in Bach's sacred music; Chapter 7, "Bach's Christ lag in Todesbanden (BWV 4): hymnology and chronology," Bach's first, early chorale cantata, possibly for Easter Sunday 1706; Chapter 8, Bach's Orgelbüchlein organ chorale prelude collection for the church year (Weimar 1708-15), possibly also originating in Arnstadt; Chapter 9, "Bach and the hymnic aria," emphasis in chorale aria devotional settings of Paul Gerhardt; and Chapter 10; "Bach and the letter codes of the Schemelli Gesangbuch," Bach's knowledge and use of pitch and key by letter codes in the hymns of the omnibus 1736 collection.

These Leaver Bach Studies first five chapters begin with the Part 1 foundations of liturgy involving the cantatas as musical sermons primarily for the church year cycle (BCW) that explores the gospel and epistle readings, focusing next on the Leipzig Liturgy, then on the key Agnus Dei Latin Mass Ordinary church appeal for mercy (BCW), and the process from cantata (Proper) to Missae (Ordinary): Kyrie Gloria, BWV 232-235 (BCW: Leaver, Bach Liturgy, Chapter 4, "Bach’s Parody Process: From Cantata to Missa."). Chapter 5, "Bach and the Cantata Controversy in the Early Eighteenth Century" (Chaper 5 above) explores the formative period of the first two decades of the 18th century when the cantata texts expanded from established, concerted biblical quotations and chorale stanzas to embrace Italian operatic, poetic texts of recitatives and arias in madrigalian music that included great cantatas known as oratorios for feast days and the Good Friday Passion, as well as motets for special occasions such as funerals and thanksgiving services.

Arnstadt Organist Bach, Deacon Olearius

In the second major category of hymnology, Leaver again turns to the foundational factors that underlie the sacred music with the Lutheran chorale and its understanding and application in Chapter 6, "Bach and Johann Christoph Olearius"³ (1668-1747, Goggle Translate). The pioneering hymnologist and Arnstadt deacon Olearius had significant correspondences and direct influences on the young organist Bach in Arnstadt (1703-07) and the beginnings of his early cantatas using only biblical quotations and chorales.⁴ Olearius likewise was a competent musician with a strong understanding of Latin motets and early Johann Walther German sacred song partbooks⁵ as the fundamentals of church music in Leaver's hymnology first section, "Johann Christoph Olearius, Arnstadt deacon" (Ibid.: 122f). A "major part of his publishing output was devoted to the history and use of hymnody," which made him one of the pioneer hymnologists of the early 18th century. The next section, "Hanseatic journeys from Arnstadt," (Ibid.: 124f), traces the formative, similar trips the young Olearius and Bach made a decade apart (1694/95 and 1705-1706), respectively, to northern Germany, especially Lübeck, where the superintendent, Georg Heinrich Götze, created the first official hymnbook in 1703, which acknowledges the impact of Olearius' hymnological studies, Christliche Lieder-Predigt (Christian sing sermon). "Given this connection between the Lübeck superintendent and the Arnstadt deacon and librarian, it would not be unreasonable to suppose that Bach took with him a letter of introduction" to Götze from Olearius, Leaver suggests (Ibid.: 125).

Olearius: Pioneer Hymnologist; Liedpredigten

Olearius and Bach "clearly shared a common interest in the Lutheran chorale, both texts and music," says Leaver (Ibid.: 125), beginning the next section, "Johann Christoph Olearius, pioneer hymnologist." Just before Bach arrived in Arnstadt in 1703, Olearius published the New Arnstadt Song Book in 1701, with the companion commentary in 1702, Kurtzer Entwurff einer nützlichen Lieder-Bibliotheck (Brief draft of a useful library of songs), in three main sections: a discussion of sacred songs, brief information on the hymn authors, and comments on the hymns with "cross-references too where sermons on the individual hymns could be found." Bach probably used both volumes when he was in Arnstadt, Leaver suggests (Ibid.: 126). In the next section, "Liedpredigten" (Ibid.: 126-28), "Congregational hymnody became a significant feature of the Lutheran Reformation of the sixteenth century," says Leaver (Ibid.: 126). Understanding the many newly-written hymns produced the "Liedpredigt" (hymn-sermon), "which explored the biblical and theological meaning of a hymn." With the chorale a fixture in the 17th century, "the didactic function of the Liedprediget was intensified by an increased devotional content, especially when it was used as the homiletic form for funerals and memorial services" (see FN 7 below). For regular Sunday preaching, "a primary hymn was assigned to each day and celebration of the church year, to be sung between the Epistle and Gospel" as the Graduallieder in the sermon Exordium (Introduction), "creating an Exordium-Jahrgang" "throughout the church year." A milestone involving the Leipzig chorale use in the cantata was the collaboration between Thomascantor Johann Schelle and superintendent Johann Benedict Carpzov, producing a chorale cantata (concerto) cycle (c1689),⁶ only six extant (A-R Editions), says Leaver (Ibid.; 127). Carpzov in 1689 published a companion collection of 69 dispositionen (sermon outlines), a possible forerunner of the printed cantata libretto books distributed at Leipzig church services. During Bach's Arnstadt tenure, Olearius published in quarterly installments (1705-07) his Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz (Evangelical song treasure), which "included a commentary on each of the primary hymns on every Sunday, festival, and celebration throughout the church year," and which "exerted a significant influence on the creation and dissemination of the genre of Liederpredigten." Meanwhile, in 1706 Carpzov's complete sermon texts as Lieder-Predigten were published in Leipzig, says Leaver (Ibid.: 128).

Dispositionen, Organ Manual, Olearius' Later Influence

The next hymnology section in Leaver's Chapter 6, "Johann Christoph Olearius's Dispositionen," shows that the Olearius Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz (sermon outlines) includes both "background information on the hymn associated with" all of the established 73 Lutheran church year services, as well as individual "sermon outlines, dispositionen, says Leaver (Ibid.; 128). Some of the actual hymn sermons were preached in Arnstadt in 1703-04 "from the Neuen Kirche pulpit when Bach would have been leading the congregation from the Neuen Kirche organ bench," says Leaver (Ibid.: 130). "To have access to outlines of what was preached in Bach's presence is a rarity in Bach literature."⁷ Because Olearius "frequently focused on the primary hymns of the Lutheran church, the so-called 'Kern-Lieder," says Leaver, his Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz "was in part a homiletic book," with another Olearius hymnological book as a supplement on Passion hymns, Hymnologia Passionalis, with appropriate sermons given during Lent. As Bach progressed in Arnstadt with his development of the organ chorale prelude, he was influenced also by "An Arnstadt chorale-based organ manual (1704)," the title of Leaver's next section (Ibid.: 131), related to thorough-bass and temper mean-tone tunings as he perfected the art of organ construction, composition, and performance. A noted censure from the Arnstadt consistory on 21 February 1706, just after Bach's return from northern Germany, "may have been as much a criticism of his transpositions as it was a complaint about his extravagant harmonizations," Leaver suggests (Ibid.: 134). Meanwhile, Olearius' writing on the history, theology, and homiletic use of Lutheran chorales in the first decade of the 18th century "made Arnstadt recognized as a center for such studies," says Leaver at the beginning of his final section, "Olearius's continuing influence in Bach's later years" (Ibid.: 134-36).

Initially, Bach began compiling organ chorale preludes in his incomplete Orgelbüchlein collection in Weimar,⁸ a reflection of the influence of Oleaerius' Evangelischer Lieder-Schatz, says Leaver (Ibid.), as well as a template of hymns for the church year. Bach's association with Olearius also can be seen in his chorale cantata cycle, mostly between 1724-25, with its focus on Graduallieder and to celebrate the bicentennial of the earliest Lutheran hymnals. Leipzig superintendent Salomon Deyling and pastor Christian Weise may have drawn attention to Bach regarding the earlier Carpzov-Schelle collaboration, Leaver suggests (Ibid.: 135), and may have contributed lyrics to the cycle (see BCW: "Cycle Cessation, Librettists"). The Arnstadt Olearius clergy influence "can be traced in other directions," says leaver (Ibid.). They "influenced the young Bach in his choice of books to study and purchase," especially the bible commentary, Biblische Erklarung, of Johann Olearius (1611-1684, BCW), cited extensively in Martin Petzoldt's Bach Kommentar, vols. 1 and 2 (ref. cit. Vol. 4, Olearius Index, 443-478; Ibid.: FN 7). The libretto of Mühlhausen funeral Cantata 106 "is comprised of a sequence of Bible verses that were almost certainly extracted from a devotional book" of the elder Olearius, says Leaver. Olearius the younger not only shared with Bach an interest in the theological writings of Lübeck superintendent August Pfeifer (1640-1698) but may have introduced Bach to these writings, Leaver suggests (Ibid.: 136). The influence of hymnologist Olearius on Bach "was incalculable and informed his understanding and use of chorales, the texts and their associated melodies, in organ works, cantatas, and especially his Passions." Bach's extended stay in Northern Germany, from November 1705 to mid-February 1706, included visits to Lübeck (Buxtehude Abendmusiken) and probably Hamburg where he was influenced by the developing German Passion, vocal serenade, and mixed-style German opera. Leaver in the next Chapter 7, "Bach's Christ lag in Todesbanden (BWV 4): hymnology and chronology," suggests that this work may have premiered as early as Easter Day, 6 April 1706, in Arnstadt.

ENDNOTES

¹ Robin A. Leaver, Bach Studies: Liturgy, Hymnology, and Theology (Abingdon UK: Routledge, 2021); Amazon.com; discussions, BCW; download, EBIN.
² Sources are two articles, Mary Kay Stulken's "The Use of Hymns in Worship," and Carl F. Schalk's "German Hymnody" (historical essay, <http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Articles/German-Hymnology[Carl-F-Schalk].pdf>, copy, Google paste) in Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship, ed. Mark Kay Stulken (Philadelphia PA: Fortress Press, 1981: xiii-xxii and 19-33 respectively), Amazon.com.
³ Original version of Chapter 6 is "The Organist Encounters the Hymnologist: J. S. Bach and J. C. Olearius in Arnstadt," in Understanding Bach, 7: 21–28 (© Bach Network UK 2012, Bach Network; "It is here reworked and significantly expanded with further research," says Leaver in his Preface (Ibid.: xii).
⁴ Importance of the Lutheran chorale to Bach is discussed at "Chorale-Song Collections, Student Work Discussions," BCW.
⁵ Johann Walter, Wittenbergisch deudsch Geistlich Gesangbüchlein (Wittemberg 1551), Bayerische StaatsBibliothek; See also Carl Schalk, "Johann Walter, First cantor of the Lutheran Church (St. Louis MO: Concordia, 1992), Sheet Music Plus), and BCW), BCW.
⁶ See "Leipzig Chorale Cantata Tradition," in "Bach’s Church-Year Cantatas: An Historical-Contemporary Perspective," BCW; see also Marcus Rathey "The Chorale Cantata in Leipzig: The Collaboration between Schelle and Carpzov in 1689-1690 and Bach's Chorale Cantata Cycle," in BACH, Journal of the Riemenschneider Bach Institute, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Berea OH, 2012: 46-92), Jstor.
⁷ In his magisterial four volumes of Bach Kommentar covering all of Bach's vocal works, Theologisch-Musikwissenschaftliche Kommentierung Der Geistlichen Vokalwerke Johann Sebastian Bachs (Bärenreiter), Martin Petzoldt was able to identify through church records the pastor preaching the sermon for almost all Bach's service works while only a few of the actual sermons were published. All of the main and vesper services sermons were based on the Gospel/Epistle while special services such as funerals involved a biblical passage, often chosen by the deceased, such as Motet BWV 226, “Der Geist hilf unser Schwachheit auf” (The Spirit helpeth our infirmities; Rom. 8:26f), which also was the subject of the sermon, preached by Christian Weise, which was printed; see William L. Hoffman, "Motet BWV 226," BCW, also Thomas Braatz, "Information about Bach's Motets with a Specific Examination of BWV 226," BCW.
⁸ Orgelbüchlein collection: composed (46), BCW, and projected (118), Orgelbüchlein: The Missing Chorales.

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To come: Leaver Bach Studies, Hymnology, Chapter 7, "Bach's Christ lag in Todesbanden (BWV 4): hymnology and chronology."

Continue on Part 4