Reconstruction of music by Johann Sebastian Bach

Lost versions of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach can be reconstructed on the basis of extant versions of similar music. Reasons for such reconstructions include extension of the repertoire and testing hypotheses about the genesis history of known pieces. For instance, in the late 19th century it was discovered that Bach likely transcribed his Concerto for two harpsichords in C minor, BWV 1060, from a lost earlier version for violin and oboe.[1][2] Reconstructions of BWV 1060 to its presumed original version, published from the 1920s, extended the Bach repertoire for oboists.[3][4]

A more elaborate undertaking was the reconstruction of Bach's lost St Mark Passion, BWV 247: its libretto, printed in 1732, survived without music.[5] Bach's two surviving Passions (St Matthew and St John) are among the composer's most often performed vocal works, and Bach's most popular oratorio, the Christmas Oratorio, written in the early 1730s like the St Mark Passion, was apparently to a large extent based on earlier compositions by Bach: a similar assumption was made for the St Mark.[6] From the second half of the 20th century, there were several attempts to reconstruct the St Mark based on extant material from Bach's music library.[7]

Since the 19th century, a violin concerto model has been suggested for Bach's first Harpsichord Concerto, BWV 1052: the violin concertos resulting from various reconstruction attempts seem to indicate, at least according to Peter Wollny, that for this harpsichord concerto there was likely no violin concerto model.[8] In the 1980s Peter Williams suggested that the well-known Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, for organ, may have been based on piece for violin: in this case the violin version reconstruction appeared to be more convincing.[9][10] In the introduction of the 1990 second edition of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (BWV), Wolfgang Schmieder suggested to indicate reconstructions by the addition of a "R" to the BWV number of the extant version of the composition on which the reconstruction was based, thus, e.g. the violin and oboe version of the BWV 1060 concerto would be numbered BWV 1060R.[11]

Vocal music

Reconstructions of Bach's vocal music are often based on surviving lyrics, such as librettos, which show similarities with those of extant music, so that the variant text can be combined with the known music.

In vocal music, recitatives are often a particularly difficult challenge for reconstruction: when Bach parodied his own vocal music, he reused music of arias, duets and choruses for the new work, but recitatives with different lyrics were less suitable for such transcriptions. For example, when he adapted Vereinigte Zwietracht der wechselnden Saiten, BWV 207, one of his secular cantatas,[12] into Auf, schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompeten, BWV 207a, for a different occasion, he reused the music of all movements except the music of the recitative movements 2, 4 and 6: he composed new music for the recitatives of the later work.[13] An exception appears to have been when he parodied the Michaelmas cantata BWV 248a, recitatives and all, into the sixth part of his Christmas Oratorio: how exactly he proceeded with this adaptation can however not be ascertained while the text of the BWV 248a cantata went lost.[14] Reconstruction of recitatives may depend on borrowing music of recitatives with somewhat similar lyrics (e.g. Simon Heighes 1995),[15] or re-composing recitatives in the style of Bach (e.g. Ton Koopman 2000).[16]

Reconstruction of chorale movements of lost church music is helped by the fact that hundreds of Bach's four-part chorales survive, including separate chorales such as BWV 253–438 and 1122–1126, which are most likely nearly exclusively chorale settings from otherwise lost larger vocal works. With some educated guesswork Bach scholars such as Friedrich Smend and Klaus Häfner have coupled extant chorale settings with hymn verses in librettos of otherwise lost works.[17]

Cantatas

Bach likely composed around 300 church cantatas, of which around 200 are extant. In other words, nearly two of his five cantata cycles were lost: the larger part of what is conventionally indicated as his fourth and fifth cycles is lost. For his secular cantatas, less than half of the around 50 known works are fully extant. Several dozens of Bach cantata librettos survive without music, many of these by Picander, published in his Ernst-Schertzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte: a few of these are at least partially reconstructible based on known works.

Examples of at least partially reconstructed Bach cantatas include:

Passions, oratorios, and church music in Latin

Reconstructions range from small repairs (e.g. the last measures of laudes "D" of the Magnificat in E-flat major, BWV 243a),[19] to reconstructions of entire Passions (e.g. several reconstructions of the St Mark Passion, BWV 247).[20]

Instrumental music

Schmieder's suggestion to add a "R" to a BWV number to indicate a reconstruction was, in practice, nearly only applied to some of the concerto reconstructions.[11]

Solo pieces

Reconstructions of Bach's instrumental music include the recasting of the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, for organ, as a surmised anterior version for solo violin.[9][10]

Concertos

Reconstructions based on Bach's harpsichord concertos include:

  • BWV 1050a: the early version of the fifth Brandenburg Concerto, BWV 1050, has only been incompletely transmitted. For instance, the violone part of the last two movements of that early version went missing. Alfred Dürr reconstructed the violone part based on a spurious cello part for the later version of the concerto.[21]
  • BWV 1052R: based on BWV 1052, 1052a and/or on cantata movements BWV 146/1 (Sinfonia) and /2 (Chorus), and/or on what is known regarding the lost opening Sinfonia of BWV 188 (a variant of the third movement of BWV 1052 scored for oboe, strings and obligato organ):
    • Violin Concerto in D minor[22]
    • Organ Concerto in D minor[23][24]
  • BWV 1053R: based on BWV 1053 and/or cantata movements BWV 169/1 (Sinfonia), /5 (Aria) and 49/1 (Sinfonia):
    • Oboe d'amore Concerto in D major
    • Oboe Concerto in F major
    • Organ Concerto in D major
  • BWV 1055R: based on BWV 1055:
    • Oboe d'amore Concerto in A major
  • BWV 1056R: based on BWV 1056 and/or (for the middle movement) BWV 156/1 (Sinfonia):
    • Violin Concerto in G minor
    • Oboe Concerto in G minor
  • BWV 1059R: based on the BWV 1059 fragment and on cantata movements BWV 35/1 (Sinfonia of Part I), 156/1 (Sinfonia) or 35/2 (Aria), and 35/5 (Sinfonia of Part II):
    • Harpsichord Concerto in D minor
    • Oboe Concerto in D minor
    • Organ Concerto in D minor
  • BWV 1060R: based on BWV 1060:
    • Concerto for Violin and Oboe in C minor
    • Concerto for Violin and Oboe in D minor
    • Concerto for Two Violins in C minor
  • BWV 1063R: based on BWV 1063:
    • Concerto for Violin, Oboe and Flute in D minor
    • Concerto for Three Violins in D minor
  • BWV 1064R: based on BWV 1064:
    • Concerto for Three Violins in D major
Legend to the table
column content
01 BWV Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis (lit. 'Bach-works-catalogue'; BWV) numbers. Anhang (Annex; Anh.) numbers are indicated as follows:
  • preceded by I: in Anh. I (lost works) of BWV1 (1950 first edition of the BWV)
  • preceded by II: in Anh. II (doubtful works) of BWV1
  • preceded by III: in Anh. III (spurious works) of BWV1
  • preceded by N: new Anh. numbers in BWV2 (1990) and/or BWV2a (1998)
02 2a Section in which the composition appears in BWV2a:
  • Chapters of the main catalogue indicated by Arabic numerals (1-13)
  • Anh. sections indicated by Roman numerals (I–III)
  • Reconstructions published in the NBE indicated by "R"
03 Date Date associated with the completion of the listed version of the composition. Exact dates (e.g. for most cantatas) usually indicate the assumed date of first (public) performance. When the date is followed by an abbreviation in brackets (e.g. JSB for Johann Sebastian Bach) it indicates the date of that person's involvement with the composition as composer, scribe or publisher.
04 Name Name of the composition: if the composition is known by a German incipit, that German name is preceded by the composition type (e.g. cantata, chorale prelude, motet, ...)
05 Key Key of the composition
06 Scoring See scoring table below for the abbreviations used in this column
07 BG Bach Gesellschaft-Ausgabe (BG edition; BGA): numbers before the colon indicate the volume in that edition. After the colon an Arabic numeral indicates the page number where the score of the composition begins, while a Roman numeral indicates a description of the composition in the Vorwort (Preface) of the volume.[25]
08 NBE New Bach Edition (German: Neue Bach-Ausgabe, NBA): Roman numerals for the series, followed by a slash, and the volume number in Arabic numerals. A page number, after a colon, refers to the "Score" part of the volume. Without such page number, the composition is only described in the "Critical Commentary" part of the volume. The volumes group Bach's compositions by genre:[26]
  1. Cantatas (Vol. 1–34: church cantatas grouped by occasion; Vol. 35–40: secular cantatas; Vol. 41: Varia)
  2. Masses, Passions, Oratorios (12 volumes)
  3. Motets, Chorales, Lieder (4 volumes)
  4. Organ Works (11 volumes)
  5. Keyboard and Lute Works (14 volumes)
  6. Chamber Music (5 volumes)
  7. Orchestral Works (7 volumes)
  8. Canons, Musical Offering, Art of Fugue (3 volumes)
  9. Addenda (approximately 7 volumes)
09 Additional info may include:
  • "after" – indicating a model for the composition
  • "by" – indicating the composer of the composition (if different from Johann Sebastian Bach)
  • "in" – indicating the oldest known source for the composition
  • "pasticcio" – indicating a composition with parts of different origin
  • "see" – composition renumbered in a later edition of the BWV
  • "text" – by text author, or, in source

Provenance of standard texts and tunes, such as Lutheran hymns and their chorale melodies, Latin liturgical texts (e.g. Magnificat) and common tunes (e.g. Folia), are not usually indicated in this column. For an overview of such resources used by Bach, see individual composition articles, and overviews in, e.g., Chorale cantata (Bach)#Bach's chorale cantatas, List of chorale harmonisations by Johann Sebastian Bach#Chorale harmonisations in various collections and List of organ compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach#Chorale Preludes.

10 BD Bach Digital Work page
Legend for abbreviations in "Scoring" column
Voices (see also SATB)
a A b B s S t T v V
alto (solo part) alto (choir part) bass (solo part) bass (choir part) soprano (solo part) soprano (choir part) tenor (solo part) tenor (choir part) voice (includes parts for unspecified voices or instruments as in some canons) vocal music for unspecified voice type
Winds and battery (bold = soloist)
Bas Bel Cnt Fl Hn Ob Oba Odc Tai Tbn Tdt Tmp Tr
bassoon (can be part of Bc, see below) bell(s) (musical bells) cornett, cornettino flute (traverso, flauto dolce, piccolo, flauto basso) natural horn, corno da caccia, corno da tirarsi, lituo oboe oboe d'amore oboe da caccia taille trombone tromba da tirarsi timpani tromba (natural trumpet, clarino trumpet)
Strings and keyboard (bold = soloist)
Bc Hc Kb Lu Lw Org Str Va Vc Vdg Vl Vne
basso continuo: Vdg, Hc, Vc, Bas, Org, Vne and/or Lu harpsichord keyboard (Hc, Lw, Org or clavichord) lute, theorbo Lautenwerck (lute-harpsichord) organ (/man. = manualiter, without pedals) strings: Vl I, Vl II and Va viola(s), viola d'amore, violetta violoncello, violoncello piccolo viola da gamba violin(s), violino piccolo violone, violone grosso
Reconstructions published in the New Bach Edition
BWV 2a Date Name Key Scoring BG NBE Additional info BD
1052R R 1970 Concerto D min. Vl Str Bc VII/7: 3 by Fischer; after BWV 1052[27] 01236
1055R R 1970 Concerto A maj. Oba Str Bc VII/7: 33 by Fischer; after BWV 1055[27] 01240
1056R R 1970 Concerto G min. Vl Str Bc VII/7: 59 by Fischer; after BWV 1056[27] 01241
1060R R 1970 Concerto C min. Vl Ob Str Bc VII/7: 75 by Fischer; after BWV 1060[27] 01245
1064R R 1970 Concerto D maj. 3Vl Str Bc VII/7: 103 by Fischer; after BWV 1064[27] 01250

References
  1. Voigt 1886.
  2. Butt 2015, p. 5.
  3. Seiffert 1920.
  4. Schneider 1924.
  5. Picander (=Christian Friedrich Henrici). Ernst-Schertzhaffte und Satyrische Gedichte, Volume III. Leipzig: Joh. Theod. Boetii Tochter (1732; 2nd printing 1737), pp. 49–69. (in German)
  6. Wilhelm Rust. "Vorwort" (Preface) of Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, Vol. 20.2: Kammermusik für Gesang – Band 2. Bärenreiter, 1873, pp. VIII–IX. (in German)
  7. "St Mark Passion BWV 247". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2019-05-15.
  8. Wollny 2015, p. 6.
  9. Williams, Peter (July 1981). "BWV 565: a toccata in D minor for organ by J. S. Bach?" pp. 330–337 in Early Music Vol. 9, No. 3.
  10. Rockwell, John (September 13, 1984). "Concert: Academy of Ancient Music". New York Times. Retrieved 2011-09-29.
  11. Schmieder 1990, p. XXXV.
  12. "Vereinigte Zwietracht der wechselnden Saiten (Dramma per musica) BWV 207.1; BWV 207". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2019-03-11.
  13. "Auf, schmetternde Töne der muntern Trompeten (Dramma per musica) BWV 207.2; BWV 207a". Bach Digital. Leipzig: Bach Archive; et al. 2019-03-11.
  14. Glöckner 2000.
  15. Eduard van Hengel. Johann Sebastian Bach: Markus-Passion (BWV 247, 1731), in de reconstructie van Simon Heighes (1995) at eduardvh.home.xs4all.nl, 2010. (in Dutch)
  16. Ton Koopman & The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra: Markus Passion (1731) at www.challengerecords.com.
  17. Speculations Regarding the Original Liturgical Occasions of the Individual BWV 253–438 Chorales at Luke Dahn's www.bach-chorales.com.
  18. OCLC 159405685
  19. Jenkins, Neil (2000). "Bach Magnificat in D & E flat BWV 243 & 243a / (Novello edition ed. N. Jenkins)" (PDF). www.neiljenkins.info. p. 4.
  20. Markuspassion, BWV 247: reconstructions at the International Music Score Library Project
  21. Pieter Dirksen. "The Background to Bach's Fifth Brandenburg Concerto" pp. 157–185 in The Harpsichord and its Repertoire: Proceedings of the International Harpsichord Symposium, Utrecht, 1990. Utrecht: STIMU Foundation for Historical Performance Practice, 1992. ISBN 9072786033
  22. Violin Concerto in D minor, BWV 1052R: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  23. Harpsichord Concerto No.1 in D minor, BWV 1052 – For Organ and Orchestra: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
  24. André Isoir, Le Parlement de Musique, Martin Gester. Johann Sebastian Bach: L'oeuvre pour orgue et orchestre. Calliope 1993
  25. Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe, .../Prefaces, .../Thematic Catalogue: documentation and facsimiles at the International Music Score Library Project
  26. Neue Bach-Ausgabe: documentation at the International Music Score Library Project
  27. Wilfried Fischer. Verschollene Solokonzerte in Rekonstruktionen: Fünf Konzerte nach BWV 1052, 1055, 1056, 1060, 1064 (NBA VII/7 Supplement). Bärenreiter 1970.

Sources

Further reading
  • Butt, John. "Reconstructing Bach." Early Music. November 1998, 673–675.
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