HL Chapter 7 The Theological Character of Bach’s Musical Offering

Chapter 7 The Theological Character of Bach’s Musical Offering
Note:7@@@@@@@@@@@@@@LO STILE DA CHIESA DELLA MUSICA PROFANA

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J. S. Bach’s Musical Offering (BWV 1079),
Note:OGGETTO DI ANALISI

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King Frederick II
Note:DEDICATARIO

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the way the collection was put together
Note:UNA BIBLIOTECA DI SPECULAZIONI

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research by Christoph Wolff,
Note:ACCORDO...ALMENO SULL ORDINE SE NN SUL SIGNIFICATO

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reconstruction was consequently called into question by Wolfgang Wiemer’s
Note:UNA VERSIONE ALTERNATIVA

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Bach probably arranged the various pieces in the Musical Offering by genre (two fugues, sonata, ten canons)
Note:L IPOTESI

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I propose that the Musical Offering assumes an increasingly theological character as it moves from genre to genre
Note:TESI

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holds that this music—in particular, its canons—is “abstract”: it explores “pure” issues of form,
Note:INTERPRETAZIONE DI FRIEDERICH BLUME

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not really meant to be performed,
Note:Ccccccccccccccc

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Ursula Kirkendale
Note:ALTRA INTERPRETE

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it was meant, as declared in Bach’s preface, to glorify its dedicatee,
Note:IL SIGNIFICATO X LA TEEZA INTERPRETAZIONE

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scholars, for example, have taken seriously the clear performance indications in the print:
Note:BLUME SCREDITATO

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glorifying Frederick the Great appears incomprehensible if “glorification” is understood in the conventional manner.
Note:PRIMO RILIEVO TERZA INTERPRET

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the Musical Offering promotes a biblical-Lutheran understanding of glory,
Note:PIÙ PROBABILE

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glorification through abasement,”
Note:TEOLOGIA DELLA CROCE...TIPICA DI LUTEEO

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opposed to the “theology of glory.”
Note:L ALTERNATIVA

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Bach’s high baroque, “learned” counterpoint rather than the galant homophony and occasional galant counterpoint of the Prussian court
Note:UNO STILE LONTANO DALLA CORTE ILLUMINATA

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This music is an homage to God.
Note:TESI RIPETUTA

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the meeting of Bach and Frederick.
Note:IMPORTANTE

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The music was almost invariably composed by Frederick himself
Note:LE SERATE MUSICALI ALLA CORTE DI PRUSSIA

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nobody except Quantz was permitted to react in any way to the king’s performances.
Note:PUNIZIONI ANCHE FISICHE...Q È IL MAESTRO DEL RE

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inviting Bach to take over,
Note:EVENTO STRAORDINARIO...I CONCERTI ERANO X POCHI INTIMI

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his improvisations.
Note:LINTERESSE DI FEDERICO PER BACH

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Frederick provided Bach with a difficult theme on which to improvise a fugue.
Note:LA SFIDA....TUTTI MERAVIGLIATI TRANNE BACH CHE SI RIPROMISE DI MIGLIORARLA

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it points up the higher value of thinking through and reflecting on the demands of fugue;
Note:LA MUSICA DI BACH È PENSATA

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Bach was an orthodox Lutheran, deeply interested in music and theology,
Note:DUE MONDI DIVERSI BACH 62 ANNI 20 FIGLI...L ALTRO 32 OMOSEX ILLUMINISTA ANTICRISTIANO

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Frederick was strongly anti-Christian (though politically tolerant),20 deeply interested in French Enlightenment philosophy
Note:CO NTROPARTE

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Bach believed the primary purpose of music was to honor God
Note:LA DIFFERENZA PIÙ PROFONDA...LA MUSICOLOGIA BACHIANA

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the aim and final reason, as of all music, so of the thorough bass, should be none else but the Glory of God and the refreshing of the mind.”
Note:ANEDDOTO SUL RUOLO DEL BASSO CONTINUO SECONDO BACH

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Frederick believed the primary purpose of music was to entertain and divert,
Note:LA MUSICOLOGIA DI FEDERICO

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While playing the flute before cabinet meetings, Frederick focused his thoughts on other things and came up with answers to difficult political problems.
Note:ANEDDOTI SU UNA MENTE CHE PENSA AD ALTRO MENTRE SUONA

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difficult to imagine a stronger contrast in the 1740s than that between the strict style (gelehrte Stil, “learned” counterpoint) of most of Bach’s Musical Offering and the typically galant style (thin-textured homophony with singing melodies and relatively unobtrusive basses)
Note:LA LONTANANZA DI BACH DAL GUSTO ARISTOCRATICO

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un-Bachian tastes.
Note:IL GUSTO DI F

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interested in the power of fugue as “spectacle”;
Note:L UNICO INTERESSE DI F

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not much interested, however, in fugue as composition.
Note:ccccccccccc

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among his more than 120 surviving sonatas, there is only one movement in fugal style
Note:INDIZIO

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“Italian superficiality and French insipidity” as compared with the “beauty, truth, and nobility” of “authentic German” music.
Note:NELLA GRANDE BATTAGLIA F ARRUOLATO TRA GLI INSIPIDI

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Frederick’s not keeping his copy of the Musical Offering,
Note:UNO SPARITO MAI STUDIATO DA F

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no evidence that Frederick ever acknowledged or rewarded Bach’s efforts.
Note:MAI RINGRAZIATO

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“working for the King of Prussia,”
Note:IL DETTO...LAVORARE X NIENTE

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Fugues
Note:ttttttttttttt

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lack of balance and symmetry,
Note:LA CRITICA ALLE FUGHE DELL OFFERTA

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In strict fugues, the episodes frequently allude to or quote from parts of the subject and its initial counterpoint by means of division, augmentation, diminution, and contrary motion.
Note:FUGA STRETTA...TIPICA BACHIANA...TUTTO È DERIVATO DA UNA CELLULA

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In free fugues, the episodes mostly present material that may be related to but is not derived from
Note:ALTERNATIVA...STILE HANDELIANO

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Bach’s Six-Part Fugue would more likely have been labeled “free” and the Three-Part Fugue “strict.”
Note:CONCLUSIONE

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throughout the Three-Part Fugue, Bach cultivated some elements of the galant style: thinner textures,
Note:CONCESSIONI

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“sighing” appoggiaturas.
Note:Cccccccccc

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fortepiano.
Note:IL NUOVO STRUMENTO MAI SFRUTTATO A PIENO DALLO STILE ARCAICO DI BACH

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rapid modulatory sequential movement in the flat direction.
Note:ALTRA STRANA CARATTEEISTICA

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Bach rarely travels so many steps away from the home key
Note:Cccccccccc

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Distant tonal movement in the flat direction in Bach’s church cantatas frequently expresses ideas concerning death, spiritual decay, lament, suffering, vanity, emptiness, and the like.
Note:UN BRUTTO SEGNO L ALLONTANAMENTO

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Capriccio sopra la lontananza del fratello dilettissimo (BWV 992),
Note:ESPEDIENTE USATO ANCHE QUI...OLTRE CHE NELLE CANTATE

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suggest negative associations with the lighter style.
Note:IL GALANTE INQUINATO DA SENTIMENTI NEGATIVI

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Sonata
Note:tttttttttttt

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a sonata would seem, on the face of it, to be much more promising.
Note:ASPETTATIVE PIÙ ALTE DI INCONTRARE IL GUSTO DELLA CORTE...DELUSIONE

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a galant-style work for solo flute with unobtrusive continuo or obbligato keyboard.
Note:QUEL CHE CI SI ATTENDE A CORTE

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flutist would not occupy visually or musically the central position,
Note:MA IN BACH

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contrapuntal style for flute, violin, and continuo.
Note:LO STILE INTRICATO DI BACH

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Giuseppe Tartini’s model with three movements: Slow, Fast, Fast(er).
Note:FORMA USATA WA CORTE CORTE

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Bach’s sonata has four movements in the configuration Slow, Fast Fugue, Slow, Fast Fugue,
Note:CONTRO

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“church sonata”
Note:IL MODELLO DI BACH

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(sonata da chiesa),
Note:1 AUSYERA

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(sonata da camera).
Note:GALANTE

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a strong distaste for all music that “smells of the church.”
Note:GUSTI DI FEDE

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“smell of the church,” could be called anti-galant.
Note:ANTIGALANT

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parallel thirds and sixths
Note:CONCESSIONE 1 ALLO STILE GALANTE

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appoggiaturas marking the phrase endings.
Note:CONCESSIONE 2

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the galant is “baroqued.
Note:IN BACH LE POCHE CONCESSIONI...SONO SUBOTO TRATATE E SEGMENTATE

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traveling outside the ambitus
Note:ALTRA MINA ALLO STILE GALANTE...TIPICO DELLO STILE DA CHIESA...MODULARE VERSO TONALITÀ MOLTO BDISTANTI IN BE MOLLE

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movement in the flat direction is associated with negative topics in his texts.
Note:COMMENTO AI TESTI BIBLICI

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contradicting, rather than supporting, the galant melodic style
Note:EFFETTO NEL CONTESTO DATO

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sonata in concerto style”).
Note:IN BACH GLI STILI SI MESCOLANO CONFONDENDO L ASCOLTATORE INGENUO

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this bourrée-style, concerto-style sonata movement turns out to be a fugue,
Note:ALTRE MISTURE

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The new slow-moving bass line, presented with rhythmically more active counterpoints above it, corresponds to baroque cantus-firmus technique.
Note:GLI STILI ACCUMULATI...SONATA CONCERTO FUGA CANTUS FIRMUS...STILE FRANCESE BOURRÉ STILE ITALIANO CONCERTO VIVALDIANO

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Aestheticians did speak frequently and forcefully of the need for clarity in the representation of styles and genres,
Note:NEL CORSO DELL ILLUMINISMO

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mixtures were certainly tolerated and even encouraged so long as they were “agreeable”
Note:UNICA ECCEZIONE

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the piece’s severity.
Note:IL CARATTERE DELLA SONATA...NN XERTO AGREEABLE...IN CONTRASTO CON CONCERTO E DANZA

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bourrées were especially prized in the eighteenth century for their carefree character.
Note:NELLE MANI DI BACH LA MUTAZIONE DI CARATTERE

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“contentment; pleasantness
Note:I CARATTERI DELLA BOURRÉ NELLA TRADIZIONE DI CORTE

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bourrée style speak straightforwardly of carefree, joyful, and sunny matters.
Note:È VERO XSINO NELLE CANTAT DI BACH

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bourrée conflict with the fugal and cantus-firmus styles
Note:...MA NELLA SONATA DELL OFFERTA ECCO IL CONFLITTO

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If the Royal Theme destroys the sense of what constitutes the subject in this fugue, it also, more subtly, obfuscates the bourrée dance steps
Note:UN MISCHIONE

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The remaining movements of the sonata also mix various genres with opposing Affects.
Note:UN PROCESSO CHE SI RIPETE...MANCANZA DI TRASPARENZA

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French sarabande, the most difficult and sophisticated of baroque dance steps (basically outmoded by the 1740s).
Note:UTILUZZO DI DANZE FUORI MODA

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highly formal dance
Note:COMPLESSITÀ FORMALE

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severe chromatic subject for a dancelike but strict fugue.
Note:L ULTIMO MOVIMENTO

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Canons
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Bach’s often severely learned canons (contrasting with the galant canon writing of Quantz and others) must almost surely have represented an affront to Frederick’s aesthetic
Note:L AFFRONTO

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Enlightenment writers on music considered canons to be the most learned form of counterpoint. Many of them, not surprisingly, had little good to say about this sort of writing, calling it unnatural, unmelodious, excessively artificial, eye-oriented rather than ear-oriented, and so forth.49 Canons were considered completely at odds with the desire for freedom of expression in music.
Note:ILLUMINISMO VERSO IL CANONE

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“Dictator,”
Note:COME LO DEFINIVA IL MATTHESON

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“delectable variety stands completely to the wayside.”
Note:DOVE STA IL DELIZIOSO?

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church music,
Note:IL LUOGO PROPRIO DEL CANONE

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association with the positive moral and ethical aspects
Note:ASSOCIATO ALLA LEGGE MORALE

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original meaning of the word canon: “rule,”
Note:RIPRESA DELL ETIMOLOGIA

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Ten Commandments).
Note:IL CANONE X ECCELLENZA

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there are ten canons in the Musical Offering.
Note:IMPIEGO A MAN BASSA

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learned contrapuntal keyboard ricercars and a learned contrapuntal sonata da chiesa, both employing tonal procedures uncommon in Bach’s instrumental music but more familiar from his church cantatas,
Note:È CHIARO IL CARATTERE TEOLOGICO DELL OFFERTA

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Law has two functions, the one “civil” and the other “spiritual”
Note:L INSEGNAMENTO DI LUTERO SULLA LEGGE BIBLICA

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public peace and order
Note:COSA DEVE GARANTIRE

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God-instituted offices of government, parents, and teachers.
Note:TRAMITE CHI OPERA

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God’s Law in its civil sense.
Note:IL RIFERIMENTO DI BACH

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the function of the Law is to make people feel its power, recognize their sin,

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ALTRA FUNZIONE DELLA LEGGE....TROPPO ELEVATA MA PUR SEMPRE UN MODELO

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experience God’s wrath, and be led to repentance
Note:UNA LEGGE CHE EVIDENZI IL PECCATO E ISPIRI IL PENTIMENTO

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The gospel (that is, “good news”) stands alongside it.
Note:LA LEGGE NN È IL SOLO SEGNO DIVINO

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Law and gospel, according to Luther, have opposite functions,
Note:DOPPIA FUNZIONE

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the gospel preaches forgiveness of sins through Christ.
Note:FUNZIONE DEOL VANGELO

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The Law leads into death; the gospel proclaims eternal life
Note:OPPOSIZIONE

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The Law places humans under the wrath of God (what Luther calls God’s “alien work”); the gospel brings grace
Note:OPPOSIZIONE 2

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Bach’s ten canons in the Musical Offering are possibly tied up with Luther’s understanding of the theological function of the Law.
Note:TESI

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Seek, and you will find”).
Note:INTESTAZIONE DEL CANONE 9...MATTEO 7 E LUCA 9

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use of the term ricercar (which means “to search/seek out”)
Note:ALTRO INDIZIO

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What humans ultimately seek, to the Lutheran mind, is salvation.
Note:OGGETTO DELLA RICERCA

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justification appears to be a recognition of one’s need for grace and an appeal to God’s merciful bestowal of it.
Note:COME GIUNGE LA SALVEZZA

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“cry out,” “ask,” “seek,” and “knock.”
Note:I VERBI DI LUTERO...IMPLORARE

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a reminder of the theological function of the Law: recognition of sin and the need for receiving God’s grace.
Note:COME INTERPRETARE L EPIGRAFE AL NONO

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Abraham Calov’s Bible with Lutheran commentaries
Note:NELLA BIBLIOTECA DI BACH E NEI SUOI APPUNTI LA CONFERMA

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Chafe concludes that Bach seems here to highlight what Walter Benjamin called the “disproportion between the unlimited hierarchical dignity with which [the monarch] is divinely invested and the humble estate of his humanity.”
Note:NEI DUE CANONI INTESTATI ALLA GLORIA DEL RE....CANONI CON UNA ASCESA MINATA DA TONI E MODULAZIONI MELANCONICHE

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Canon 4
Note:OGGETTO DI ANALISI

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Bach’s German preface suggest a heavily theological tone
Note:UNA LINGUA...E UNA CULTURA ODIATA DA FEDE

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the word Opfer (“offering,” “sacrifice”) is set dramatically larger
Note:NELLA DEDICA

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For Bach to write “consecrate an offering” makes his dedication “smell of the church”
Note:LINGUAGGIO CURIALE

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similar expressions in his Calov Bible.
Note:LA LANCIA ONTE DI ISPIRAZIONE

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excerpt from Exodus 29
Note:Cccccccc

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“to glorify,”
Note:ALTRO VERBO SINTOMATICO

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odd in a secular dedication, especially one to Frederick the Great.
Note:ANOMALIA

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it presumably refers to different notions of glory.
Note:PUZZA DI CHIESA

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from the first, third, and fourth versions of the St. John Passion (BWV 245).

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I PRECEDENTI DELL ESPRESSIONE

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the notion that Christ’s glorification as the king of humanity centers on his suffering on the cross.
Note:GLORIA NELLA TEOLOGIA LUTERANA...TEOLOGIA DELLA CROCE

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finding joy in suffering;
Note:PRATICA LUTERANA

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Frederick, by contrast, wrote frequently and forcefully in favor of a view very much opposed to Bach’s.
Note:SUL TEMA DELLA GLORIA

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Great minds labour only for fame,
Note:CONCEZIONE MONDANA

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like the Law, glory might be said to have two senses, the one essentially spiritual and the other more worldly. Bach captured this in the St. John Passion and in the preface to the Musical Offering by using for the one verherrlichen (literally, to glorify in the sense of “to make Godlike,” to suffer) and for the other rühmen (to glorify in the sense of “to make known”).
Note:I DUE SENSI

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Canon 4
Note:ESEMPIO DI GLORIFICAZIONE

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traditional baroque associations of majesty and glory
Note:LINEA DI BASSO

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the line becomes deregalized, because at half speed, the dotted rhythms
Note:NEL CANONE

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The melancholy Affect and the deregalized canonic solution link regal fortune (worldly works, glory) not to splendor, might, and fame but to the theology of the cross.
Note:SIGNIFICATO

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Conclusion
Note:Tttttttttttttttt

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“[A preacher] need not guard his mouth nor take into view gracious or wrathful lords or noblemen,
Note:DIFFICILE CHE BACH SI TRATTENGA...I SUOI COMMENTARI PARLANO CHIARO

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the ways of severe learned counterpoint (as opposed to the ways of galant homophony or galant fugues and canons) and of the theology of the cross.
Note:UNA MUSICA CHE ESPRIME UNA TEOLOGIA BEN PRECISA

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loving one’s neighbors implies imparting one’s God-given knowledge to them.
COME ESPRIMERE L AFFETTO VERSO IL RE?