'J.S.Bach The Organ Works' by George Stauffer
Every piece of music has a context that is not on the printed score. As performers we need to understand when and why it was written within the musical development of the composer and the social environment in which they were living at the time. In the case of Duruflé for example, we are exceptionally fortunate that Ronald Ebrecht provides both an analysis of the scores and the context in which they were written. George Stauffer has now given us an equally erudite and inspirational book on the organ works of J.S.Bach.
With Bach the documentary evidence is both sparse and sometimes contradictory, and it is especially important to look beyond the score. Pianists and harpsichordists have the benefit of the books by Ledbetter (2002) and Schulenberg (2006), which in total run to almost 1000 pages. As organists we are largely dependent on Williams (2003) for detailed analyses. These are presented in BWV order and so relationships between them, and Bach’s compositions for other genres, are largely missing. The overall development of Bach’s complete musical offering is well presented by Jones (2015) but there is relatively little specific reference to his organ music.
Another factor to take into account is that research into Bach’s musical life continues at pace and we have a much better understanding of many aspects of his music than we did over twenty years ago.
George Stauffer is Distinguished Professor of Music History and Dean Emeritus of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and has published eight books on Baroque music and the life and works of J.S. Bach. He has now brought this experience as an academic and as an organist together in his new book J. S. Bach The Organ Works. To give you a sense of the scale of this book it has 648 pages and 138 musical examples, together with a 10-page bibliography.
The book is organized chronologically according to the best current assessment of the date of composition – never an easy decision. The section headings (with a page count) are
Learning the Craft Eisenach, Ohrdruf, Luneberg and Weimar 1685-1703 (54pp)
The First Fruits Arnstadt and Muhlhausen 1703-1708 (64pp)
The Golden Years Weimar (1708-1717) (220pp)
The Organist as Capelmeister Cothen (1717-1723) (40pp)
The Grand Synthesis Leipzig 1723-1750. (185pp)
The final chapter covers topics that include cantatas and passion movements with obbligato organ (unique to this book), the Sonatas, Clavierbung III and the Canonic Variations.
The approach is very different to that of Williams in that there are many essays within the chronological sections on (for example) Bach as a teacher, Bach as an organ consultant and recitalist and Bach’s approach to registration. A particularly valuable element of this book are the links made to Bach’s other instrumental works, such as the Brandenberg Concertos, the Cantatas, the Art of Fugue and the Musical Offering.
The author does not seek to match the comprehensive level of musicological analysis provided by Williams. Instead, he primarily highlights elements that shed light on the development of Bach’s style and provide guidance on interpretation for a performer. Stauffer is not afraid to present his own views on topics, such as the authenticity of BWV565. I’m not going to disclose his position on this piece – you’ll have to buy the book!
Then we come to the indexes! I should preface my comments to note that usually publishers take on the responsibility for compiling the indexes, not the author. They then outsource the compilation process. In this book there are a General Index and an Index of Bach’s Works. The General Index is very comprehensive but the relationship between the first and second levels is invariably not helpful. Johann Gottfried Walther has 24 index entries at the top level and a further additional 34 in seven second level headings, one of which refers to a single page on canonic writing.
The Index to Bach’s Works is a broadly categorized alphabetical list of works by title. The scale of this index vividly illustrates the immense scope of the book. However, there is no typographical convention (e.g. bold typeface) to indicate the primary commentary amongst an often long list of occurrences in the book. For example, the Passacaglia has 27 entries, but the primary commentary (entitled ‘The Great Passacaglia’) is on p357, the eighteenth entry. Very surprisingly there is no numeric index by BWV number.
I have paid quite a lot of attention to the indexes as once read through (and it will be quite a voyage of discovery, I promise you!) this superb book then becomes an invaluable reference work to be dipped into as needed. I have written this review using an e-book version – clicking through 18 entries to track down the very important discussion on the Passacaglia architecture was frustrating. The ‘same but different’ problem will arise with the printed version.
Indexes aside, this book will be of immense and lasting value to scholars, performers of all skill levels and students. At a list price of £35.99 it represents an investment of somewhat less than half the standard fee for a wedding or funeral!
The style of writing balances the twin strands of analysis and performance, clearly coming from an author that has been studying and playing the music of Bach for many decades. As I read through the book, I almost felt that Stauffer was standing beside me at the console offering guidance on how best to convey Bach’s intentions. The book complements the many books by Williams and Wolff and should be on your physical and/or digital bookcase as soon as possible after its anticipated publication on 22 August.