Constructing Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703)

Author(s): Daniel R. Melamed

Source: Music & Letters, Vol. 80, No. 3 (Aug., 1999), pp. 345-365
Published by: Oxford University Press
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() Oxford UniversityPress

CONSTRUCTING JOHANN CHRISTOPH BACH

(1642-1703)
BY DANIELR. MELAMED

A FAVOURITE
image in music history is the Bach family as a dynasty, a long line of
professionalmusicians stretchingfromJohann Sebastian'sdistinguishedancestorsto
his musically prominent descendants.In the late 1980s,a New Yorktelephone utility
could assume that concertgoers knew this, if nothing else, about the Bachs in
promoting its 'family' of companies.' The scholarly literaturealso approaches the
Bachs as a clan: witness the Jew GroveBach Family, books on the Bachs by the
Geiringersand by Young, and a recent genealogy listing more than one thousand
Bachs.2The modem image is even more specific, regardingthe Bachs not just as a
family of musicians but of composers;this view is reflectedin the many anthologies
and recordingsdevoted to compositionsby representativesof variousgenerations.3
The perspectiveof the Bachs as composers has roots in the eighteenth centurycertainlywith Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and even with Johann Sebastian-and has
had a consequence for the treatmentof the family by laterhistorians.With a premium
on composition,there has been a special urgencyto the attributionof musical worksto
Bachs, particularlyto older members of the family, even when candidate pieces are
anonymous or are ambiguously ascribed.
No older Bach has been more subject to attributionalpressurethan the man J. S.
Bach describedas a 'profoundcomposer',Johann ChristophBach (1642-1703), son of
Heinrich Bach, brother of Johann Michael (1648-1694), and longtime church and
court musician in Eisenach. This Bach has developed a significantreputation as a
composer, but it rests on surprisinglylittle evidence. In fact, so great has been the
desire of eighteenth-centuryBachs, nineteenth-centurybiographersand twentiethcentury scholarsto identify a composer among the older members of the family that
they have, in effect, constructedthe man they needed in Johann Christoph.A close
look suggests that many compositionshavejoined his work-listlargelyon the strength
of his reputation,and that they reflecta desire for a repertorythat matcheshis role as a
great composer in the generation beforeJohann Sebastian.Johann Christoph does
occupy an important place in the Bach family of musicians, and he apparentlydid
write some very good pieces, but some of his legacy as a composermay be a wishful
stretchingby three centuries of admirers.
One reason so much attention has been paid to the older Bach family, Johann
The advertisementfor the NYNEX Corporationreproducedostensible facsimile signaturesof Bachs of various
generationswith the headline 'Ingenuityoften runs in a family'.
2
ChristophWolffet at, TheNew GroveBachFamily,London & Basingstoke,1983;KarlGeiringer& Irene Geiringer,
TheBachFamily:SevenGenerations
of CreativeGenius,London, 1954; Percy M. Young, TheBachs,1500-1850, London,
LexikonderFamilieBach,Wechmar, 1995.
1970; Hermann Kock, Genealogisches
3 For
derFamilieBach,ed.
example, Musicof theBachFamily,ed. KarlGeiringer,Cambridge,Mass., 1955; Orgelwerke
DiethardHellmann, 2nd edn., Frankfurt,1985;'Die Familie Bach vorJohann Sebastian',Archiv419 253-2; 'Geistliche
Musik der Bach-Familie',Laudate 91.511.

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Christophincluded, is that the family has long been importantto biographiesof J. S.

Bach. Startingwith Carl Philipp Emanuel's obituaryof his father(1754) and Johann
Nikolaus Forkel's study (1802) and continuing through Philipp Spitta's biography
(published 1873-80) and beyond, Bach biographieshave typically begun by tracing
Johann Sebastian'slineage and implying, if not suggesting outright, that he was the
productof his ancestry.They accountfor some ofJ. S. Bach's abilitiesby his genes and
by his upbringingin a gifted family.4
As is well known, the family's own concern with its historyreached a high point in
J. S. Bach's collection and performanceof music by older members of the family and
the 'Genealogy of the musical Bach family' he produced in 1735.5This genealogy,
which begins with Bachs from the sixteenth century, identifies its subjects by
Stadtorganist,cantor, Raths-Musicant,
occupation: baker, carpet maker, Stadtpfeiffer,
Musicusand so on. But forjust two members of the familyJ. S. Bach used the word
'composer',describingJohann ChristophBach as 'ein profonderComponist' and his
brotherJohann Michael as 'ein habiler Componist'.
'Componist' was not an occupation or professionin the late seventeenthcentury.
J. S. Bach's use of the term reflectspride in an accomplishmentof his ancestors:the
productionof musical works. But there was more than familypride involved,because
the writing(and laterthe publication)of musical workshelped define a change in roles
for musicians. Composition was not necessarily important to seventeenth-century
church or civic servantslike town musicians or organists,but became a centralactivity
of eighteenth-centuryKapellmeisters,city music directorsand independent artists.
The Bach family spans this change. J. S. Bach's fatherJohann Ambrosius was a
town and court musician;Johann Sebastianstartedin this world and nevercompletely
escaped it, and his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, depended substantiallyon it
throughouthis adult years. Carl PhilippEmanuel, afterleavingthe Berlincourt, kept a
foot in the old world as Hamburg church music director but also functioned
independently as a composer and musical entrepreneur.Johann Christian left the
old world behind in his careeras a composer and impresario.
Given the importance of composition to this social advancement,it comes as little
surprise that in C. P. E. Bach's 1774/5 annotations to the family genealogy, he
reinforcedhis father'sdescription of Johann ChristophBach as a composer, adding
'This is the great and expressivecomposer',and supplementingHeinrich Bach's entry
with the remark'Was a good composer and a lively spirit'.6Compositionallegacy was
importantto Philipp Emanuel, and he was almost certainlyawarethat his comments
would reach a largerpublic and posterity,for they were addressedto J. N. Forkel, at
work on his biographyand criticalappreciationof J. S. Bach.
This was not the only occasion on which C. P. E. Bach promotedthe compositions
of his ancestors.Some 25 years earlier,he had begun the obituaryof his fatherwith a
discussionof five prominentolder membersof the family,stressingtheir compositional
4Mozart and Beethovenstudies have also come to emphasizethe composers'families,especially their professionalmusician fathers. This reflects a tendency towards Freudian interpretationof their lives, but also an inclination to
phenomenal musical talent by parentage.
explain
5 On the Altbachisches
Archiv,see Daniel R. Melamed, J. S. Bachand the GermanMotet(unpublished dissertation),
HarvardUniversity,1989,and Altbachisches
Archiv,ed. Max Schneider('Das Erbe deutscherMusik', i-ii), Leipzig, 1935.
ed. Werner
J. S. Bach's genealogy is the 'Ursprung der musicalisch-BachischenFamilie', transcr.in Bach-Dokumente,
Neumann & Hans-JoachimSchulze, Kassel & Leipzig, 1963-72, i/184, with additionalnotes in iii. 647; Eng. trans. in
TheNew BachReader,ed. Hans T. David & ArthurMendel, rev. & enlargedby ChristophWolff, New York & London,
1998, pp. 283-94.
6 'Dies ist der groBeund ausdriickendeComponist';'Warein guterComponist,und von muntermGeiste'; see n. 5,
above.

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accomplishments and remarkingthat there was extant music by all of them.7 He

reserved his greatest enthusiasm for Johann Christoph Bach, who had also been
singled out by his father.He praised him as strong in the expressionof words and in
the invention of beautiful ideas (the latter a good mid-eighteenth-centurycriterion),
and for composing in a manner that was 'galantand singing, to the extent the taste of
his time allowed', a contemporaryvalue and apparentlyan attemptto portrayhim as
forward-looking.He illustratedthese characteristicswith a referenceto a motet in
which Johann Christoph had daringly used an augmented sixth. C. P. E. Bach also
praisedhis music as unusually full-voiced,citing a 22-voicework, identifiableas the St
Michael's Day vocal concerto 'Es erhub sich ein Streit',which Philipp Emanuel and
his fatherhad each performed.8
Another document of C. P. E. Bach's musical life, his estate catalogueof 1790, also
celebrates the Bachs as composers.9 The catalogue probably had a practical
function-making known the availabilityof his own music for sale-but it also lists
compositionsby J. S. Bach, Wilhelm FriedemannBach, Johann ChristophFriedrich
Bach, Johann Christian Bach, Johann Bernhard Bach, and several older and
anonymous family members grouped under the heading 'Alt-BachischesArchiv'.
The compiler of the catalogue, probably Carl Philipp Emanuel himself, proudly
described these oldest works as 'vortrefflichgearbeitet', a critical evaluation that
stands out in a mostly dry document. It is difficultto believe that the older music
listed in the catalogue had much commercialvalue; its inclusion may have reflected
Philipp Emanuel's pride in the compositionalaccomplishmentsof the Bachs over the
years.
Forkel's study of J. S. Bach also began with the family and emphasized the older
members whom C. P. E. Bach had championed.In the firstcriticalstudy of the Bach
family, Forkel establisheda special respectforJ. S. Bach's ancestorsand an emphasis
on their compositionallegacy. Giventhe statementin his prefacethat the worksofJ. S.
Bach representa 'priceless national patrimony',it is unsurprisingthat in discussing
older Bachs he emphasized their own contributionsto the 'honour of the German
name': their compositions. On Johann ChristophBach in particular,Forkel echoed
C. P. E. Bach's citation of his compositional daring and his full-voiced tendency,
referringto compositionsthat illustratedthese traits. He reportedthat C. P. E. Bach
had had a special esteem forJohann Christoph,and fondlyrecalledPhilippEmanuel's
playing of the older man's music for him, smilinglypointing out the most daringand
7

The repertoryin his music collection shows that he believed he owned music by all five. See n. 9, below.
'Besondersist obigerJohann Christophin Erfindungschiner Gedankensowohl, als im Ausdruckeder Worte,stark
gewesen. Er setzte, so viel es namlich der damaligeGeschmackerlaubte,sowohlgalantund singend,als auch ungemein
vollstimmig. Wegen des erstern Puncts kann eine, vor siebenzig und etlichen Jahren von ihm gesetzete Motete, in
welcher er, ausser andern artigen Einfallen, schon das Herz gehabt hat, die iibermiBige Sexte zu
gebrauchen, ein
ZeugniBabgeben: wegen des zweytenPuncts aber, ist ein von ihm mit 22 obligatenStimmen,ohne jedoch der reinsten
Harmonieeinigen Eintragzu thun, gesetzetesKirchenstiickeben so merkwiirdig,als dieses, daBer, auf der Orgel, und
dem Claviere,niemahls mit weniger als fiinf nothwendigenStimmengespielet hat'; Bach-Dokumente,
iii/666. No motet
using an augmented sixth is known today, and the anecdote has the air of a family story meant to emphasize the
composer'smodernity.On the vocal concerto'Es erhub sich ein Streit'and its sources,see Melamed, 7. S. Bachandthe
German
Motet,pp. 67-70. The reportofJohann Christoph'spracticeof neverplayingon the organand clavierwith fewer
than five real parts,which apparentlyrefersto improvisation,must have been hearsay,because C. P. E. Bach could not
have heard the playing of Johann Christoph,who died in 1703. Emanuel was familiarwith vocal works attributedto
Johann Christophbut left no referencesto specifickeyboardpieces, and it is possiblethat he did not know any keyboard
music. When he supplied music by Johann Michael and Johann Christophto Forkel, he sent
only vocal works. See
Melamed, op. cit., pp. 45-6.
9 Verzeichnifl
des musikalischen
Nachlassesdes verstorbenen
Carl PhilippEmanuelBach, Hamburg, 1790;
Capellmeisters
facsimile edn.: The Catalogof CarlPhilippEmanuelBach'sEstate,ed. Rachel W. Wade, New York, 1981.
8

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In Forkel'saccount, survivingworksdocumentthe man and his

noteworthypassages."?
place in family history.
A later Bach biographer, Philipp Spitta, went beyond the praise of Johann
Christoph'sindividual works to a theory about German artistichistory and his place
in it. Spittaopened his chapteron Johann Christophand his brotherJohann Michael
with a portraitof the German nation in a state of profoundculturalexhaustion in the
wake of the Thirty Years War, and credited these men with its musical revival:
Just as [theirfather]HeinrichBachfostered,in the simplepietyof his childlikesoul,a spark
of thatmysteriouspowerwhichwasdestinedto raiseup the crushednationto newlife,so we
may say of these two men, that that spirit,whichin them took the formof art when all
aroundlay deadand void,was the betterself of the Germannation."
Spitta went on to portrayJohann Christoph as the first German composer of
'Oratorios'-that is, truly dramaticvocal concertos-and, in this, a forerunnerofJ. S.
Bach and especially Georg FriedrichHandel. This forward-lookingview continues in
Spitta's statement that Johann Christoph'smotets 'seem as though they might have
and in his assertionthat the motet 'Unsers Herzens Freude',
been writtenyesterday',12
which he consideredamong his finest, 'approachesfar less nearlyto the form of the da
capo air ... than it does ... to the modern sonata form'.13He reservedthe highest
praise for the motet 'Ich lasse dich nicht' (BWV Anh. 159), which he found so
advancedthat it could even be the workofJ. S. Bach. Overall,SpittaportrayedJohann
Christoph Bach as a musical genius, an artist of the highest order, and a saviour of
Germanmusic in a darkperiod.All these assertionsrestedon his legacy as a composer.
Archiv,Johann Christoph and
Largely because of the survivalof the Altbachisches
Johann Michael Bach were reasonablywell documentedas composersof vocal music.
Spittaregardedboth as influentialcomposersof instrumentalmusic as well, but he had
a fundamental problem in that so few of their instrumentalworks survived. The
demand for securely attributedworks, especially to Johann Christoph,exceeded the
supply, and this would have importantconsequences.14Even among the more plentiful
vocal works,there are many attributedto 'JohannChristophBach' or 'J. C. Bach', but
with this repertorycomes a vexing problem of the ambiguityof the name, which was
carriedby severalolder members of the family. Besides our Johann Christoph(13),15
others include J. S. Bach's elder brotherJohann Christoph (22; 1671-1721), active
most of his life in Ohrdruf;Johann Ambrosius'stwin brotherJohann Christoph(12;
1645-93), who worked mostly in Arnstadt;Johann Christoph (17; 1673-1727),who
spent most of his careerin Gehren;and Johann Christoph(13)'s own son (b. 1676).In
principle, pieces attributedsimply to 'Johann ChristophBach' could be the work of
any of these, in the absence of evidence that distinguishesthem or at least suggests a
particularfamily member.
10
echter
fur patriotischeVerehrer
Johann Nikolaus Forkel, UeberJohannSebastianBachsLeben,KunstundKunstwerke:
musikalischer
Kunst,Leipzig, 1802,p. 2. PresumablyC. P. E. Bach played these pieces at the keyboard,thoughwe do not
know whether they were instrumentalor vocal works.
" Philipp Spitta, JohannSebastianBach,Leipzig, 1873-80, i. 41; Eng. trans.by ClaraBell & John AlexanderFullerMaitland as JohannSebastianBach:his WorkandInfluenceon theMusicof Germany,1685-1750, London, 1884-5, i. 40.
12
Spitta, JohannSebastianBach,i. 72 (Eng., i. 74).
13
Ibid., i. 89 (Eng., i. 90).
14
Spitta even expressed his frustrationat the lack of Johann Christoph Bach's clavier music. Ibid., i. 128 (Eng.,
i. 130).
15 The
numberingsystem for members of the Bach familyderivesfromJ. S. Bach's genealogy(see n. 5, above)and is
expandedin Wolffet al., TheNewGroveBachFamily.Henceforth,the severalJohannChristophswill be distinguishedby
number.

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This points up a problem: we have seen that 'Johann Christoph Bach' was the
subject of family lore, but which Johann Christoph were the stories about? When
C. P. E. Bach annotatedthe genealogy entry forJohann Christoph(13), he wrote that
'this is the great and expressive composer'. This remark is usually taken to be a
reinforcementof his father'scomment ('ein profonderComponist'),but I think Philipp
Emanuel's emphasis was on the firstword: 'thisis the greatand expressivecomposer',
and he meant to clear up ambiguity about whichJohann Christophwas a great and
expressive composer.'6 The confusion implied here has persisted: good pieces
attributedto 'JohannChristophBach' continue to gravitatetowardsJohann Christoph
(13), even when other family members of this name are likely or at least plausible
candidatesas their composer.The lexicographerErnstLudwig Gerberrecognizedthis
almost two centuries ago, cautioning that 'one has good reason to be careful in
collecting [Johann ChristophBach (13)'s]works,because in his day there were several
excellent composers and organistswith his name'.17
Because of this problem, we need to ask how carefulpeople have been in assigning
works to a composerwith a big reputationand an ambiguous name. We can quickly
surveythe worksattributedtoJohann Christoph(13), and the resultsare sobering.(See
Appendix I, below.) Two motets are transmittedin autographsand are probablyhis;
the detailed form of the attributionin 'Lieber Herr Gott' makes it unambiguous, but
note that 'Der Gerechte, ob er gleich zu zeitlich stirbt'is attributedmerely to 'J. C.
Bach'. Three more motets ('Der Mensch, vom Weibe geboren', 'Sei getreu bis in den
Tod', 'Ftirchte dich nicht') derive directly or ultimately from Thuringian sources
whose context arguably suggestsJohann Christoph(13) as their composer, but does
not guarantee it. The attribution of 'Herr, nun lassest du' stems from the early
nineteenth-centurycollector Georg Poelchau, who first wrote and then crossed out
another (illegible) attributionon his score. The attributionof 'Ich lasse dich nicht'
(BWV Anh. 159) was a nineteenth-centuryspeculation.'Merk auf, mein Herz' (BWV
Anh. 163), attributedmerely to 'Bach in Eisenach'in the source, has come to Johann
Christoph(13) only in the last decade. Two more motets from a Thuringian source
('Das kein Aug gesehen hat', 'Herr,wenn ich nur dich habe') are anonymousand were
attributedspeculativelyin the 1980s.
Among the vocal concertos, 'Meine Freundin'was transmittedin a copy by Johann
Christoph (13)'s Eisenach colleague Johann Ambrosius Bach, lessening any ambiguity, but the Erfurtcopy of 'Herr, wende dich' names 'ChristophBach'. There are
conflictingattributionsfor 'Ach, daB ich Wassersgnug hatte': C. P. E. Bach's estate
catalogue (and apparently his sources) named Johann Christoph, but a Diiben
Collection concordancenames Heinrich Bach. Johann Christoph(13)'s most famous
piece, the 22-voice 'Es erhub sich ein Streit', is attributed to his brother Johann
Michael in an inventoryfrom Ansbach, and an Amalienbibliotheksourceof unknown
provenancealso creditsJohann Michael. The town council concerto 'Die Furcht des
Hern' is anonymous-C. P. E. Bach hazardedno guess-and was attributedto Johann
Christoph (13) by Max Schneider in 1935 because the fragmentarysource is in his
hand. 'Wie bist du denn, o Gott' was listed in the Liineburg inventoryunder 'J. C.
"6The bending of the remarkand the elevationof
Johann ChristophBach (13) to the pantheon are evident in Max
Schneider'sstatement:'Er Johann ChristophBach (13)] ist nicht nur dergrofeundausdrickende
wie ihn schon
Componist,
die bachische Familienchroniknennt, sondern einer der bedeutendsten deutschen Meister
iiberhaupt'.Altbachisches
Archiv,p. vi.
7 'Indessen hat man Ursache, beym Sammeln seiner Werke vorsichtigzuy seyn, indem es in seinem Zeitalter
mehrere vorziigliche Tonkunstler und Organisten seines Namens gab.' Ernst
Ludwig Gerber, Neues historischLexikonder Tonkiinstler,
biographisches
Leipzig, 1812-14, i. 209.

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Bach'; a work with this text is much performedunderJohann Christoph(13)'s name,

but its source creditsJohann Philipp Krieger,and it may not be the same piece. 'Der
HerrZebaoth'is attributedmerelyto 'Sign. Bach', and nothingis known about the lost
'Strafmich nicht'. The two arias 'Es ist nun aus' and 'Mit Weinen hebt sich an', listed
amongJohann Christoph(13)'s worksby C. P. E. Bach, are each attributedmerely to
'JCB'.
Among the instrumental music, the 44 preludes are apparentlyunambiguously
attributed,as are the Prelude and Fugue BWV Anh. 177. The choralepreludes in the
Neumeister collection are likely to belong to Johann Christoph(13), but in principle
are subject to some doubt. Four variation sets are traditionallyassigned to Johann
Christoph (13). Two, the Aria Eberliniana(attributedto 'Joh. ChristophBach org.')
and a set in A minor (attributedto 'J.C.B.'), are transmittedin the hand of Johann
ChristophBach (22); Gerber owned an incomplete set in B flat, now lost.18A fourth,
the Sarabandewith twelve variations,is known in incomplete form from the so-called
Borss manuscript, and in complete form in a late eighteenth- or possibly early
nineteenth-centurycopy in a convolutemanuscriptassembledby Georg Poelchau.'9It
is attributedmerely to 'J. C. Bach' in each source.20
Overall,the number of pieces we can ascribewith certaintyto Johann Christoph(13)
is small. A surprisingproportionof the attributionswere made in the nineteenth and
twentiethcenturies,and severalseventeenth-and eighteenth-centuryattributionsleave
room for doubt. Many were probably influenced by Johann Christoph (13)'s
reputation, including those made by members of the Bach family. Any attribution
to 'Johann Christoph Bach'-to say nothing of 'J. C. Bach' or even 'J. C. B.'-is
potentiallyambiguous without some evidence pointing us in the direction of Johann
Christoph(13).21In our evaluationofJohann Christoph(13) as a composer,we need to
distinguish his reputation(well documented in the Bach family)from the significance
of his compositionallegacy (a much shakierproposition).And because it is not clear
that we have a corpus of securely attributedworks, we are on thin ice in making
stylistic comparisonsto decide whether doubtful compositionsare his.
The difficulty is illustrated by two famous compositions for keyboard that are
traditionallyassigned to Johann ChristophBach (13). In examining their history, we
encounterthe strengthof his reputationas a composer,his assignedplace in the history
of German music, the ambiguity of his name, and the difficultyof making stylistic
comparisons. An equally likely candidate for the composer of the pieces, another
Johann Christoph Bach, turns out to have been as little considered as Johann
Christoph(13) was championed.
The works are two variation sets for keyboard, the one in A minor attributedto
'J. C. B.' known from a manuscriptnow in the ZurichZentralbibliothek;and the 'Aria
Loc. cit., cited by Spitta, JohannSebastianBach,i. 120 n. 42 (Eng., i. 130 n. 160).
19The first source,
compiled c.1703-4 by Johann Christoph Bornss, is lost, but photographs survive as
Staatsbibliothekzu Berlin/Stiftung PreussischerKulturbesitz,Musikabteilungmit Mendelssohn-ArchivFot Bu 124.
and theAndreasBachBook:Two Keyboard
See Robert Hill, TheMdllerManuscript
fromthe Circleof the roung
Anthologies
JohannSebastianBach(unpublisheddissertation),HarvardUniversity,1987,p. 115n. 20 and p. 168. Hill furthersuggests
(p. 170) that Bomss's copying of this work representsa connection, togetherwith a concordanceand the overlapof six
composers,with the copying activitiesof Johann ChristophBach (22). This assertiondepends partlyon the identity of
the Johann Christoph Bach to whom the variousworks are attributed.
20
Perhaps we should add to the work-lista bourr6ewith text that appearsin a portraitsaid to representJohann
Christoph (13), reproduced in JohannSebastianBach:Life, Times,Influence,ed. BarbaraSchwendowius& Wolfgang
Domling, New Haven, 1984, 58.
21 One wonders whether Johann Christoph (13) adopted the long form of his signature,with title and Eisenach
designation, to distinguish himself from others with the same name.
18

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Eberliniana pro dormente Camillo' attributedto 'Joh. Christoph Bach org.' transmitted in a manuscriptnow in the Bachhaus, Eisenach.22(See Appendix II, below.)
This second piece and its source are well known; the work was edited for the BachGesellschaftin 1940,and the Neue Bachgesellschaftpublisheda handsomefacsimileof
its source in 1992. Both manuscriptsare in the hand of Johann ChristophBach (22),
musician in Ohrdruf and J. S. Bach's elder brother and early teacher.23One might
think that he is the obvious candidate as composer, but there has been a strong bias
against him, extending to a reluctanceto credit him as the composer of anything, let
alone anything as good as these variations.
Johann Christoph (22) was long known primarilyas the person with whom the
orphanedJ. S. Bach lived between the ages of ten and fifteen.In recent years, HansJoachim Schulze has identifiedhim as the copyistand assemblerof the AndreasBach
Book and M6ller Manuscript,two anthologiesof keyboardmusic that document his
collectingand copying of keyboardrepertoryand that are crucialsourcesfor the music
of the young J. S. Bach.24In a biographicalstudy, Schulze painted a fuller picture of
this previously shadowy figure but acknowledged an important gap: no musical
compositionscould be ascribedto him.25In fact,we do not know whetherhe composed
at all. This is not for lack of compositionsattributedto 'JohannChristophBach', as we
have seen, but the many such pieces have automaticallybeen assigned to the older
musician with that name.
Schulze inclined for variousreasonstowardsJohann Christoph(13)'s authorshipof
our two sets of keyboardvariations,but cautioned that this should not be taken as a
premiss. He suggested that we should instead undertakea stylistic study that rules
out Johann Christoph (22) and shows the pieces to be consistent with the known
music of Johann Christoph(13).26This provesto be difficultif not impossible, as the
survey of Johann Christoph (13)'s work-listshows, because we do not have a secure
repertorywith which to compare them. All we can do is investigatewhen and why
the variationswere assigned to Johann Christoph (13). We should also look at the
factorsthat have led away from attributionsto Johann Christoph(22), their copyist,
and ask whether it is plausible that the younger man composed this kind of piece at
the time suggested by the sources.
The manuscripts of the variation sets have remarkablehistories. Philipp Spitta
owned both at the time the firstvolume of his Bach biographywas published in 1873;
he probablyacquired them from the collection of Hans Georg Nageli, in whose 1854
estate catalogue they appear. How Nageli acquiredthem we do not know, but the A
minor variationscontain a receipt dated 1802 documenting their sale on behalf of
Johann Christian Bach of Halle, the so-called Clavier-Bach,who also owned the
22

Zurich, Zentralbibliothek,MS Q. 914, headed 'AriaJ: C: BachJ: C. B.'; the firstpage is reproducedin Hill, The
andtheAndreas
BachBook,p. 596, and the workpublishedinJohann ChristophBach,Ariaa-mollmit 15
MollerManuscript
Variationen
fur Cembalo,ed. Giinter Birkner, Zurich, 1973; Eisenach, Bachhaus, 6.2.1.05, olim AA 1, headed 'Aria
- millo, Ivariataa jJoh. IChristophBach
EberlinianaIpro dormenteCa=
org. I Mens. Mart ao. 1690.';the firstpage is
reproducedand the work published in Johann ChristophBach, AriaEberliniana,
ed. ConradFreyse ('Veroffentlichung
der Neuen Bachgesellschaft',xxxix/2), Leipzig, 1940, and the whole
reproduced in Johann Christoph Bach, Aria
Eberliniana
camillovariata(1690). FaksimilederHandschrift
prodormente
im BachhausEisenachmiteinemNachwortvonClaus
Oefner,Leipzig, 1992. The watermarkin the paper of both manuscriptsis reportedas an A with trefoilin Hill, op. cit.,
p. 114, and Hans-JoachimSchulze, Studienzur Bach-Uberlieferung
im 18. Jahrhundert,
Leipzig, 1984, p. 52 n. 170.
23 Robert Hill considersthat both the Eberlinianaand A minor
manuscriptspredatethe Moller Manuscriptand the
Andreas Bach Book, that is, before c.1704: TheMoler Manuscript
andtheAndreasBachBook,p. 115.
24
Schulze, Studienzur Bach-iberlieferung,
and theAndreasBachBook.
pp. 52-6; see also Hill, TheMillerManuscript
25
Hans-Joachim Schulze, 'Johann Christoph Bach (1671 bis 1721), "Organist und Schul Collega in Ohrdruf",
lxxi (1985), 55-81.
Johann Sebastian Bachs erster Lehrer',Bach-Jahrbuch,
26

Ibid., p. 78.

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Bookfor WilhelmFriedemann
Bach.It is likely that he receivedthat volume, the
Keyboard
A minor variationsand probably also the Eberlinianavariationsfrom Friedemann,
who was his teacher.27The variationmanuscriptsthus appearto have been transmitted
for many years within the Bach family.28
The identification of their copyist as Johann Christoph Bach (22) is a relatively
recent development.29The reigning (and only) opinion for years was Spitta's, who
called the manuscripts 'autographs'-that is, of Johann Christoph(13).30This was a
decisive statement, because with it the question of authorshipwas implicitly opened
and closed: an autographis in the hand of the composer.But we need to ask whether
Spitta actually knew Johann Christoph(13)'s handwriting.He did identify one other
score, that of the motet 'Lieber Herr Gott, wecke uns auf', as an autograph,but it is
clearlyin a hand differentfrom that in the two keyboardmanuscripts.3I suspect that
Spittaassumed that the keyboardmanuscriptswere autographsbecause he believed a
priorithat the pieces were composed by Johann Christoph(13).32In any event, there is
no earlierassignmentto a particularcomposer;Spitta'sBach biographyof 1873 is the
origin of the attributionsto Johann Christoph(13).
A twist in the historyof the Aria Eberlinianamanuscripthas probablycontributedto
the continued acceptance of the attribution to Johann Christoph Bach (13). The
manuscriptis now one of the treasuresof the Bachhaus in Eisenach, a museum that
occupies a house once said to beJ. S. Bach's birthplace,and the compositionhas long
been championed by directors of the museum. The first modem edition was by
Conrad Freyse, who wrote that Eisenach was the fitting place for a manuscript
containing a 'distinctivelyEisenach composition'.33The facsimile issued in 1992 by
the Neue Bachgesellschaftto mark the 350th anniversaryof the birth of Johann
Christoph (13) was edited by a later director of the museum, Claus Oefner, who
27

The informationhere is largely summarizedfrom Ariaa-moll,ed. Birkner,and AriaEberliniana,

ed. Freyse. Both
manuscripts are listed in the 1854 auction catalogue of the Nageli collection, where the Eberlinianavariationsare
p. 37 n. 114, and Raymond
inexplicablyattributedto Johann Ernst Bach; see Schulze, Studienzur Bach-Uberlieferung,
lxxxii(1996),45. Both were owned by
Meylan, 'Neues zum MusikaliennachlaBvon Hans Georg Nageli', Bach-Jahrbuch,
Philipp Spitta (JohannSebastianBach, i. 128 n. 41; Eng., i. 130 n. 159). The A minor variations,though not fully
traceable, are known to have passed to Wilhelm Kraukling;see Spitta, ibid. (Eng. only), i. 130; Schulze, Studienzur
Ixvii
Bach-Uberlieferung,
p. 38 n. 115; and idem, 'Sebastian Bachs Choral-Buchin Rochester, NY?', Bach-Jahrbuch,
(1981), 127 n. 23. Spittaretainedthe manuscriptof the AriaEberlinianaat least until 1889;see Schulze,StudicnzurBachUberlieferung,
p. 38 n. 116, citing Max Schneider, 'ThematischesVerzeichnisder musikalischenWerke der Familie
iv (1907), 158. The Aria Eberlinianamanuscriptended up in the Eisenach Bachhaus, perhaps
Bach', Bach-Jahrbuch,
directlyfrom Spitta's son.
28 Max Schneider('ThematischesVerzeichnis',p. 158) hypothesizedthat they had a connection to the Altbachisches
Archiv.Cf. Schulze, Studienzur Bach-Uberlieferung,
p. 38.
29 Dietrich Kilian first identified the hand of the variationsas that of the principalscribe of the Andreas Bach Book
and Moller Manuscript, and Schulze subsequently identified this copyist as J. S. Bach's elder brother. See Schulze,
and theAndreasBachBook,
Studienzur Bach-Uberlieferung,
p. 32 n. 94 and p. 37 n. 110; and Hill, TheMdllerManuscript
pp. 3-6. On the possible reasonsfor the overlookingofJohann ChristophBach (22) as a candidate,see Schulze, Studien
zur Bach-Oberlieferung,
p. 52, and Robert Hill, '"Der Himmel weiss, wo diese Sachen hingekommen sind":
Reconstructingthe Lost Keyboard Notebooks of the Young Bach and Handel', Bach, Handel,Scarlatti:Tercentenary
Essays,ed. Peter Williams, Cambridge, 1985, pp. 161-72. The connection between the variationsand the Miller
Manuscriptand Andreas Bach Book long went unrecognized,and the supposed copyist of the two large collections
changed severaltimes without affectingthe attributionof the variations.
30 Spitta, JohannSebastianBach,i. 128 n. 41 (Eng., i. 130 n. 159).
31
Berlin, Staatsbibliothekzu Berlin/Stiftung PreussischerKulturbesitz,Musikabteilungmit Mendelssohn-Archiv
Mus. ms. Bach P 4/2.
32
At the least, Spitta's decisions about hand and authorship were made together. By the time Conrad Freyse
published his edition of the Aria Eberlinianain 1940, he recognizedthat the hand was not that of Johann Christoph
but by then the attributionof the compositionwas entrenched.
(13),
3
ed. Freyse,preface.Freyse pointed to the Eisenach connectionsof both
Johann ChristophBach, AriaEberliniana,
Eberlin and Johann Christoph Bach (13).

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described the manuscript as a 'significantdocument of Eisenach's musical history',

and acceptedthe older Bach's authorshipas a premiss.This manuscriptis said to have
found its way home to Eisenach, the adopted town of its presumed composerJohann
ChristophBach (13), who lived and workedthere for almost50 years. For an Eisenach
museum in possessionof such a manuscript,there might be a greatdeal at stake in an
attributionto the Bach most closely associatedwith the town.34
Whateverhas encouragedthe perpetuationof the attribution,it clearlybegan with
Spitta, and I suggest that he based it not on supportingevidence but, rather,on his
convictionsaboutJohann Christoph(13). Along with Spitta'shigh regardfor this man
went strong opinions about these compositions in particular.First, he believed that
they were especially important pieces, and was eager to connect them and their
composer to later keyboard music. In discussing the Eberliniana variations, for
example, Spitta wrote:
The use of chromaticpassages. . . gives the harmonya strange,intoxicatingeffect,
remindingus of the mostmodemmeansof expressionused by Schubertand Schumann.
It mightbe safelywageredthatno one, unacquainted
with the instrumental
musicof the
seventeenthcentury,wouldguessat this day thatthesevariations
werecomposedin 1690;
ratherwouldhe imaginefromtheirsoftnessand sweetnessthattheywereby Mozart.35
Spitta also asserted that J. S. Bach must have known a third set of variations
attributedto Johann ChristophBach (13), citing passagesfromthe Ariavariataallaman.
Italiana(BWV 989) and the Goldberg Variations(BWV 988) that they influenced.36
Again, he related the variationsto later music: 'Since the grand fourth variationin
Beethoven's Sonata (Op. 109) can be pretty plainly traced to its root in Sebastian
Bach's [Goldberg Variations], we may see in this the indirect influence of Joh.
ChristophBach even in modem times'.37
Spitta needed a composer for these pieces who belonged in the pantheon that
included Schumann, Schubert, Beethoven, Mozart and J. S. Bach, and in Johann
Christoph Bach (13) he had a candidate. Spitta's views on the variationsand their
authorshipare thus merely part of his broaderperspectiveof Johann Christoph(13),
and it is difficultto see how he might have attributedthe variationsto anyone else. All
subsequent commentatorshave followed his attribution.
The bias towardsJohann ChristophBach (13) as the composerof these (and other)
works is matched by a long-standing prejudice againstJohann Christoph (22) as a
composer, and again the views of the Bach family and of Spittaare crucial.The most
influential anecdote about J. S. Bach's elder brother is a story in C. P. E. Bach's
obituaryof his father,recounted in Forkel'sbiography.The young Johann Sebastian,
denied access to a manuscriptof keyboardmusic, secretlycopied it out by moonlight,
only to have it confiscatedby his elder brother.38Spittaattributedthe withholding of
the moonlight manuscriptto Johann ChristophBach (22)'s 'pride of seniority',and
describeshim as 'so hard-heartedas to take it away from him'.39In this story,Johann

4 The manuscriptof the A minor variations,once owned the Zurich

by
publisherand collectorHans Georg Nigeli,
followed a circuitous route through Philipp Spitta to its presentowner, the Zentralbibliothek,Zurich. In some sense,
this manuscript,too, found its way 'home', as Birkner(Ariaa-moll)points out.
5
johannSebastianBach,i. 128 (Eng., i. 129-30).
36 The connection with the Goldberg Variations has
Berichtto Johann
persisted; cf. Christoph Wolff, Kritischer
SebastianBach:NVueAusgabesimtlicherWerke,v/2, Kassel & Leipzig, 1981, p. 110. On the A minor variations,
Spitta
wrote: 'The resemblanceto SebastianBach's A-minor variations[the Ariavariata]is here still more
conspicuous, and
cannot be merely accidental'.JohannSebastianBach,i. 128 (Eng., i. 130).
37 Ibid., i. 127 (Eng., i. 129).
38 Forkel, UeberJohannSebastianBachsLeben,p. 5.
39
Spitta, JohannSebastianBach, i. 183-4 (Eng., i. 186).

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Christoph(22) is the antagonist, portrayedas a 'provincialorganistwith little insight

into his younger brother'sgifts'.4
The biographicalfacts, as Schulze has pointed out, do not supportthe story'sclear
implication of a coolness between the brothers.4' But Spitta, perhaps disposed to
disconnect the Bach brothers,assertedthat Johann Sebastianand Johann Christoph
(22) did not have much contact afterJ. S. Bach's departurein 1695, and concluded
that, at least in C. P. E. Bach's opinion,Johann Christoph(22) had had little influence
on Johann Sebastian. Only Johann Christoph(22)'s keyboardteaching, about which
there was no information,seemed to Spittato have influenced his younger brother.42
But Spitta had assertedthat our two variationsets were a direct influence on J. S.
Bach's music. For that to be true in Spitta'sscheme, they could not have been by his
brother.43Spitta'sconvictionsaboutJohann ChristophBach (22) must have ruled him
out as a composer of these pieces, and, as far as I know, no other music has ever been
attributedto him.
The variationsand their sourcesdo offersome clues to their authorship,but most of
them are ambiguous and have been interpretedover the years as pointing to Johann
ChristophBach (13). In the light of the biases we have seen, the matteris worthanother
look. We can begin with the apparentconnection of the Aria Eberlinianawith Daniel
Eberlin. Eberlin (1647-c. 1713-15), a violinistand composer, led a tumultuous career
It has
in Kassel, Nurembergand mostly in Eisenach.Few of his compositionssurvive.4"
been routinelyclaimed that the Aria is a workby Eberlinhimself, and althoughthis is
an understandableguess, I do not think we should trust it." First, a name attachedto
an aria of this type is not necessarilyan attribution;Pachelbel's'AriaSebaldina'from
the Hexachordum
Apollinis,to citejust one example,was apparentlynamed in honour of
St Sebald or the St Sebald Church of Pachelbel'snative Nuremberg.Second, the Aria
Eberlinianais a conventionallittle piece; with its 4 + 4-barbinarystructure,three-voice
texture and rhythmicregularity,it resemblesmany other themes used as the basis for
variation sets. Its tune is stereotyped;Johann Heinrich Buttstedt used a similar
ornamentedmelody for a set of variations,and a relatedtune with variationsappears
anonymously in the Mylau Manuscript.46The material of the Aria Eberliniana is
commonplace, and the piece may simply have been named in Eberlin'shonour.
Either way, the question is to which Johann ChristophBach the referencepoints.
Historians have always looked in the direction of Eisenach, the town most closely
connected with the elusive Eberlin, and thus to Johann Christoph (13). Eberlin is
known to have been in Eisenach in 1690, the date on the manuscript,as was Johann
40 Hill, "'Der Himmel weiss"', pp. 162-3. This story seems to have become more pointed with each telling. Karl
and Irene Geiringer,for example,wrotethat it was 'exasperationwith the young genius'sunceasingbatteryof questions
and a sudden jealous awareness of Sebastian'ssuperior gifts that provokedthis spiteful outburst'. The Bach Family,
p. 122.
41
Schulze, 'Johann Christoph Bach', p. 56.
42
Spittanoted that C. P. E. Bach's obituaryof his fathermistakenlyreportsthatJ. S. Bach left Ohrdruffor school at
Liineburgwhen his elder brotherdied, supposedlyin 1700,and that laterBach family copies of the genealogy misstate
the date of Johann Christoph(22)'s death. JohannSebastianBach, i. 184 n. 7 (Eng., i. 186 n. 7).
43
Spitta conceded that J. S. Bach had probablybeen exposed to the music of Pachelbel because of his brother's
study with him, but concluded thatJohann Sebastian'soon had no more to learn from his eldest brother'.Ibid., i. 184
(Eng., i. 186).
44 Susette
Clausing, 'Eberlin, Daniel', The New Grove,v. 813-14; Richard Schaal, 'Eberlin, Daniel', MGG, cols.
xxii (1969),
1055-6; Claus Oefner, 'Neues zur Lebens- und FamiliengeschichteDaniel Eberiins',Die Musikforschung,
464-75.
45
Clausing (in TheNew Grove),for example, includes 'Pro dormenteCamillo, aria' in Eberlin'swork-list.
46 See ErnstZiller, DerErfurterOrganist
JohannHeinrichButtstidt(1666-1727), Halle, 1935;and EberhardBorn, Die
handwerklicher
Variationals Grundlage
SchaffenJohannPachelbels,Berlin, 1941, esp. music
Gestaltungim musikalischen
example 1, a strikingcomparisonof all these aria tunes.

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Christoph(13), whereasJohann Christoph(22) was elsewhere.But Johann Christoph

(22) lived most of the first fifteen years of his life there, and apparentlymaintained
connectionswith the town afterleaving home c.1685, at least until his parents'deaths
in 1694/5. Johann Christoph(22) might have had reason to referto Eberlin, and we
cannot assume that the referenceidentifiesJohann Christoph(13) as the composer.
Perhaps the most puzzling element in the heading is the label 'pro dormente
Camillo', perhapssomehow connected with Eberlin.I have been unable to determine
how. None of the members of the Bach or Eberlin families appearsto have had the
name Camillo or any name for which it would be a likely translation,nickname or
diminutive.I can discern no likely connectionwith the historicalfiguresfrom ancient
Rome whose name was Camillo,47nor with the Italiannoun camilloreferringto youths
who assisted ancient priests.4 GiovanniBononcini'sII trionfodi Camilla,claimed to be
the sourceof bothJ. S. Bach and Handel borrowings,was producedin Naples in 1696,
too late to be connected with our variations.49
An opera Camillogenerosoproduced in
Dresden in 1693 is also too late to be relevant.50For the moment the significanceof
'Camillo' is a mystery.5'
The source describes the Eberlinianavariationsas 'variataa Joh. ChristophBach
org', and Schulze has argued that this form of signature,in particularthe designation
'org[anist]',is characteristicof Johann Christoph(13). In March 1690, too, Schulze
notes, this Johann Christophheld a position as organist,whereasJohann Christoph
(22) had recently quit his post at the ErfurtThomaskirche,was probablyin Arnstadt
I find this evidence
awaiting a better one, and thus did not hold the title 'organist'.52
suggestiveratherthan compelling, and sufficientlyambiguousthat it does not rule out
Johann Christoph(22). It is true that he was out of ajob in 1690,but his trainingwas as
an organist,he hadjust left a post wherehe held the title, and was apparentlyin search
of a new organist'sposition.Johann Christoph(13) did sign himself in a characteristic
way, but the distinguishing feature of his signature seems to be that he identifies
himself as 'organist in Eisenach', which is not specified in the Aria Eberliniana
heading. The attributioncould thus point just as easily to Johann Christoph(22) as
Johann Christoph(13).
The date March 1690 might provide a hint of the younger man's authorship. In
June 1690, Johann Christoph (22) was installed as organist in Ohrdruf.53He had
spent most of the years between 1684 and 1690 in Erfurt,briefly as organist in the
Thomaskirche, and for three or four years as a pupil of Johann Pachelbel, whose
tutelage provides a plausible context for Johann Christoph(22)'s composition of the
variations.Variationtechnique plays an importantrole in Pachelbel'smusic,
figuring
in chaconnes and passacaglias,in variationson chorale melodies (like those in the
MusicalischeSterbens-Gedancken,
Erfurt, 1683), and in sets of variations on arias
transmitted in manuscript and published in his Hexachordum
Apollinis(Nuremberg,
1699).5
Marcus Furius Camillus and Lucius Furius Camillus: see TheNew Encyclopedia
Britannica,Chicago, 1995.
Grandedizionarioenciclopedico,
Turin, 1994. If the term was applied symbolically to serversor other boys who
assisted with moder services,it could referto anyone.
49 See Winton Dean, 'Handel and Bononcini: Another Link?', TheMusical
Times,cxxxi (1990), 412-13.
s0 See Franz Stieger, Opernlexikon,
Tutzing, 1975.
5s Christoph Wolff pointed out to me the parallel between this aria with variationsfor a
'sleeping Camillo' and
Forkel'sclaim thatJ. S. Bach's GoldbergVariationswere connectedwith Count HermannCarl
Keyserlingk'sinsomnia.
What this might say about the authorshipof the Eberlinianavariationsis not clear.
2 Schulze,
'Johann ChristophBach', pp. 77ff.
5 See ibid.
4 See the work-listin Ewald V.
Nolte, 'Pachelbel,Johann', TheNew Grove,xiv. 53, and JohannPachelbel:
Klavierwerke,
ed. Max Seiffert& Adolf Sandberger('Denkmiler der Tonkunst in Bayern',
ii), Leipzig, 1901.
47
48

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Variationtechnique is also prominentin the survivingmusic of Pachelbel'spupils.

Chorale variationsby severalof them are known, and Buttstedt'sMusicalische
ClavierThe document closest to
Kunst(Leipzig, 1713)includes an ariawith twelvevariations.55
Pachelbel'sErfurtteaching,Johann ValentinEckelt'stablature,containsno variations,
but the Mylau Manuscriptcontains twelve sets, including four by Pachelbel and one
by his pupil Nicolaus Vetter.56Johann Jacob de Neufville'sSex meleas[ive]Ariaecum
variationibus
(n.p., prefacedated 1708) contains five ariaswith variationsfollowed by a
it is not difficultto see it as an emulation of his teacher'sHexachordum
and
ciaccona,
which
consists of six sets of variations,the last the 'Aria Sebaldina'.57
Apollinis,
Pachelbel's pupils composed variations of the type represented by the Aria
Eberlinianaand A minor variations,and Johann Christoph(22)'s study with Pachelbel
provides a context for his authorshipof pieces like them.58We should also note that
Pachelbel's path often crossed with that of his Nuremberg compatriotEberlin, which
could account for the Eberlin reference in a composition by his pupil. There is no
reasonwhy the Bach variationscould not be the workofJohann Christoph(13), but in
Johann Christoph(22), especially in the light of his study with Pachelbel, we have an
equally plausible candidate.
One reason that this possibilityhas been little consideredis thatJohann Christoph
(22)'s authorship would actually create a historiographicproblem. Historians have
debated the relationbetween the Dutch, Italianand Viennese variationtraditionsand
the cultivation of variations in central Germany, especially in Thuringia among
Pachelbel and his pupils. In particular,they have wondered where Pachelbel learnt
variationtechnique. Spitta, speakingmostly of chorale settings,proposedthat Johann
Christoph Bach (13) had influenced Pachelbel.59He held the view that Pachelbel
himself, great as he was, had had little influence on the Bach family, which was 'too
innately independent ever to give itself up entirely to any external direction', and no
perceptibleinfluence on Johann Christoph(13).60The influence, accordingto Spitta,
was the other way around, by Johann ChristophBach (13) on Pachelbel;once again,
we see the long shadow cast by this man and his reputation.
Taking his cue from Spitta, Max Seiffertsuggestedin his historyof keyboardmusic
that Pachelbel had learnt about variationstyle in Thuringia, including fromJohann
ChristophBach (13).61Indeed, Seiffertcited our two variationsets, describingthem in a
way that clearly assumes that they were composed before Pachelbel's time in
5 On the Pachelbel circleand its variation
im
Tasteninstrumentalstil
compositions,see EdithRumohr, Derniimbergische
undSuite(unpublisheddissertation),Universityof Muinster,1939;Born, Die
17. Jahrhundert,
dargestlltan Arie, Variation
derKlaviermusik,
Variation,p. 16; Max Seiffert, Geschichte
Leipzig, 1899, p. 196; Ziller, Der ErfurterOrganistJohann
HeinrichButtstidt,p. 64 and music examples 37-46.
6 On the Eckelt Tablature, see Christoph Wolff, 'Johann Valentin Eckelts Tabulaturbuchvon 1692', Festschrift
MartinRuhnke,Neuhausen-Stuttgart, 1986, pp. 374-86. On the Mylau Manuscript,see Max Seiffert,'Das Mylauer
i (1918-19), 607-32; some of its repertoryis in TheMylau
Tabulaturbuch von 1750', Archivfur Musikwissenschaft,
ed. John R. Shannon ('Corpusof EarlyKeyboardMusic', xxxix), n.p., 1977.
Tabulaturbuch:
FortySelectedCompositions,
57 Ed. Laura Cerutti, Padua, 1994.
5 We would be in a betterposition to evaluatethis possibilityif we possessedthe materialthatJohann Christoph(22)
acquired during the time he studied with Pachelbel, the equivalent of Eckelt's manuscript.As has been suggested,
perhapsit was identicalwith the model for the 'moonlightmanuscript'copied by the youngJ. S. Bach. If we knew more
about the contents of this volume we might also have a better idea of Johann Christoph(22)'s exposure to variations.
"
Spitta, JohannSebastianBach,i. 119 (Eng., i. 121).
60
'[Pachelbel's]influence made itself felt... even by the Bach family;indeed, one of its members, the eldest brother
of Sebastian,was one of his pupils ... Still the Bach familywas too innatelyindependenteverto give itself up entirelyto
any externaldirection ... Indeed, in Joh. ChristophBach [(13) ], who lived with Pachelbelfor some time in Eisenach,
his influence was never in any way perceptible.'Ibid., i. 116-17 (Eng., i. 118-19).
61 'Was Pachelbel spaterhinin der Variationund Fuge leistete,hat er sicherlichzum Teil dem ThiiringischenLande
derKlaviermusik,
zu verdanken.'Seiffert,Geschichte
p. 233.

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Thuringiaand implyingthat they were partof the repertoryfromwhich Pachelbelhad

learnt.62Now if Pachelbel's cultivationof the variationwas the product of his time in
Thuringia and of his study of the Aria Eberliniana and A minor variations in
particular,then those pieces could hardly have been the compositions of one of his
pupils, such as Johann Christoph Bach (22). Spitta's and Seiffert'sview of German
music history ruled out the younger man as the composer. We should probably not
dismiss Johann Christoph (22)'s authorship of the variationson the strength of this
historicalperspective,which is based ultimatelyon the premiss of Johann Christoph
(13)'s greatnessas a composer and his musical influence on Thuringia.
We cannot be certainof the authorshipof the two keyboardvariationsbecause none
of the evidence points unambiguouslyto one personor the other, but it should be clear
that Johann Christoph (22)'s authorship is at least as plausible as that of Johann
Christoph(13).Just as he was long overlookedas the copyistof the M6ller Manuscript
and the AndreasBach Book and as a musical influenceon J. S. Bach, perhapsJohann
Christoph(22) has also been ignored as the possible composerof these works.63
Apart from the set of 44 short choralepreludes,which do not rise above the level of
basic craftsmanship,Johann Christoph(13)'sreputationas a composerof instrumental
music depends largely on family stories and on these variations.But the evidence for
the attribution of these works is ambiguous at best, if not weak. Their continued
assignment to him may reflect a well-intentionedbut flawed process of repertorybuilding around a musician whom centuries of appreciationhave elevated to the
position of Composerin the vanguardofJ. S. Bach. His reputationhas attractedthese
compositionsto his canon, but this is not evidence of authorship.I suggest that other
compositions on his work-listmay have come to him in a similar way in a kind of
positive feedback loop: Johann Christoph(13)'s strong reputationhas attractedgood
pieces to his repertory,which has in turn reinforcedhis reputation,attractingmore
pieces. Given the number of musicians in the late seventeenthand early eighteenth
centuries named Johann Christoph Bach, we need to be more careful with these
variationsand indeed with much of the music attributedto Johann Christoph(13). We
will, of course, constructour own Johann ChristophBach, but if we insist on making
him a composer, we can at least do so with a firmergrasp of the pieces he
actually
wrote.
62 'Chr. Bach zeigt darin [the variations]eine Meisterschaft,die selbst Pachelbelnur mit Wenigen i3berbotenhaben
dilrfte.'Ibid., p. 232.
63 See Hill, "Der Himmel weiss"', 163. We do not know
whetherJohannChristoph(22) composedat all. Schulze
p.
points out ('JohannChristophBach', p. 77) that the 1721 entry for him in the Ohrdrufburial registerrefersto him as
'optimus artifex',but that it is not clear whether this refersto his abilitiesas a performer,as a composer,or merely in
general. The most obvious candidates for his pieces are the two variationsets in his hand; whether other repertory
among the worksattributedto 'JohannChristophBach' might belong to him is an open question.Perhapswe should be
looking among the vocal music as well as the keyboardworks;he was an organist,but so was Johann Christoph(13),
who left both vocal and instrumentalpieces.

357

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APPENDIX I
CompositionsAttributedto Johann ChristophBach (13) (Primaryand PrincipalSources Only)
Attributionin source

Composition/Source
MOTETS
'Lieber Herr Gott'
SBB P 4/2 (autograph)

'John. ChristophBach org

in Eisenach'

'Der Gerechte, ob er gleich'

[Sing-Akademie,lost]
'Der Mensch, vom Weibe geboren'
[lost source, Miihlhausen, reportedSpitta]
[lost 19th-c. copies, Berlin Hochschule]
'Sei getreu bis in den Tod'
[lost source, MLthlhausen,reportedSpitta]
[lost 19th-c. copies Berlin Hochschule]
'Fiirchtedich nicht'
SBB AmB 116
'Unsers Herzens Freude'
SBB P 4/2
'Herr, nun laissestdu deinen Diener'
SBB P 4/2
'Ich lasse dich nicht' (BWV Anh. 159)
SBB P 4/1

'Merk auf, mein Herz' (BWV Anh. 163)

HarvardUniv. Mus. 627.273.579(parts)
(score)
Brussels,Bib. Roy. Alb. Ms. II 3902
'Das kein Aug gesehen hat'
SBB AmB 116
'Herr, wenn ich nur dich habe'
SBB AmB 116
VOCAL CONCERTOS
'Meine Freundin, du bist schdn
[Sing-Akademie,lost]
'Herr, wende dich'
SBB St 337 (Erfurt,Michaeliskirche)
'Ach, daB ich Wassers gnug hatte'
[Sing-Akademie,lost]
Uppsala, Universitetsbib.i hs 3:1 (Diiben
Collection)
[Liineburg,lost]

'J. C. B[ach]'
'J. C. Bach'
'J. C. Bach'
'J. C. Bach'

Notes on attributiontoJCB (13)

Autograph

Probablyautograph
See Spitta, Bach,i. 73 ff.
See Spitta, Bach,i. 73 ff.

'J. C. Bach'
Attr.J. S. Bach, 1740s
'J. C. Bach'
Attr. G. Poelchau, early 19th c.
'Joh. ChristophBach'
[anon.]

'J. S. Bach'
'del Sigl: Bach Cugino del
Sigl: Giov: Seb: Bach'
'di Bach in Eisenach'
[anon.]

[anon.]

Attr F. Naue, NeunMotettenfur

vonJohann Christoph
Singchore
Bach undJohannMichaelBach,
Leipzig, 1821-3
Attr. P. Wollny, Merkauf, mein
Herz, undsiehdorthin,Stuttgart,
1993

Attr.E. Franke,JohannChristoph
Bach:Samtliche
Motetten,Leipzig,
1982
Attr. Franke,JohannChristoph
Bach:SamtlicheMotetten
Attr.J. Ambrosius Bach

'JohannChristophBach,
org'
Attr.J. C. Appelman
'ChristophBach'
'J. C. Bach'

Attr. C. P. E. Bach estate cat.,

1790

'Heinrich Bach'
des
Possibly 'Johann Christoph See W. Junghans, Programm
fili Heinrich Bach'
Johanneumszu Luieburg,1870

'Es erhub sich ein Streit'

[Sing-Akademie,lost]
SBB AmB 91
[Ansbach,lost]

Probably'J. C. Bach'
'JohannMichael Bach'
'Joh. Mich. Bach'

'Die Furcht des Herrn'

[Sing-Akademie,lost]

[anon.]

See Richard Schaal, Die MusikIndesAnsbacher

handschriften
ventarsvon1686,Wilhelmshaven,
1966
Attr. Max Schneider, 1935;
unattr. in C. P. E. Bach estate
cat. 1790

358

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Composition/Source
Composition/Source

Attributionin source

Notes on attributionto JCB (13)

['Wie bist du denn, o Gott']

[Liineburg,lost]

'J. C. Bach'

See W. Junghans, Programm

des
1870.
zu Luineburg,
Johanneums
Not necessarilyidentical with
work attr. to J. Ph. Kriegerin
SBB Mus. ms. 12152 (DTB x,
p. 125), listed in Krieger's
Weissenfelsperformancediary
(DDT liii/liv).

'Der Herr Zebaoth'

Strasbourg,S6minaireProtestant17. MMS 2
[Concerto:Strafmich nicht] [lost]
'Es ist nun aus mit meinem Leben'
[Sing-Akademie,lost]

'Sign. Bach'

20th-centuryattribution
Cited Eitner, Quellenexikon

'JCB'

Attr. C. P. E. Bach estate cat.

1790

'Mit Weinen hebt sichs an'

[Sing-Akademie,lost]

'JCB'

Attr. C. P. E. Bach estate cat.

1790

KEYBOARDWORKS
44 chorale preludes
Berlin Hochschule der Kiinste, Spitta Ms. 1491
Prelude and Fugue El (BWV Anh. 177)
Musikbib. der Stadt Leipzig, Becker III.8.5
SBB P487
3 chorale preludes
Yale LM 4708 (Neumeister)(hand of Rinck)
Chorale variations
In Komer, Der neueorganist(Erfurt,18??)
[8 Chorale preludes]
[MS owned by Gerber, lost]
Aria Eberliniana
Eisenach, Bacchaus (hand of J. C. Bach (22))
Aria [A minor]
Zurich, Zentralbibliothek(hand of J. C. Bach (22))
Sarabandeduodecies variat
SBB P 4/2 (hand of Anon 703)
Bornss MS (SBB Fot Bu 124)
[Ariawith 4+ variations,BI]
[lost]

Missing since World War II,

'JohannChristophBachen recentlyrecovered.American
BachSocietyNewsletter,Fall 1998.
Organ: in Eisenach'
'signoriJoh. Christoph.
Bachius Org. Isennaci.'
'J. C. Bach'
'Joh. Chr. Bach'
Ernst Ludwig Gerber,Neues
Lexikon
historisch-biographisches
derTonkiinstler,
Leipzig, 1812-14
'Joh. ChristophBach org'
'J. C. B.'
'J. C. Bach'
'J. C. Bachen'
?

Spitta,Bach,i. 120 n. 42 (Eng., i.

130 n. 160)

SBB= Staatsbibliothek
zu Berlin/Stiftung
Preussischer
mitMendelssohn-Archiv
Kulturbesitz,
Musikabteilung
On sourcesfromtheSing-Akademie
zu Berlin,seeD. R. Melamed,J. S. BachandtheGerman
Motet(unpublished
Harvard
dissertation),
ed. M. Schneider,
1989,andAltbachisches
University,
Archiv,
Leipzig,1935

359

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APPENDIX II
1 J. C. Bach, [Aria in A minor], with incipits of each variation

.r

. J

Hi 1.

t?
r

'

rr

,j

Var.1

94

Var. 2

'T i' A_h

37Var.-

.r-

':'
r

'" rr

Var. 3

N4-r^"t
A

y,,^p(

"ri r'
rl-tt

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Var. 4

Var. 5
M"

Var. 6

Var. 7

,7-

i;

Var. 8

Var. 9

^s"

AL.siff'f
rr
r--

;:
7

rr

361

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Var. 10
=

1 1 1 I

p:~.^
r

Var. 11

J
r~

- o

r"

Var. 12

t.d... "J"FI

Var. 12

:J

:j

Var. 14

Var.
.14

___

Var. 15

rr ~1

r
1

1r

Lr

362

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PEm

2 'Aria Eberliniana pro dormente Camillo', with incipits of each variation

r , r ^,
;rrI
rr
1X:r

IX'*",

r r^^

Var. 1

Vab,

ff

r.

Var. 2

'bL^

v .

VW

Var. 3

363

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Var. 4

Var. 5

i tm

I1i

IIrI r-eB-r

Var. 6

t'

AP

Var. 7

rft

^-t

*^1f

Var. 8

Var. 9

(T

)4z,. r
(6:f

r
Tr

r
LJ(

r
r-n

i-e
r r-

364

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Var. 10

|:)

II r F

( la L;,
Im' L' .
:

'

BSS
i

Var. 11

Vr 13l

Var. 12
t*
.d

.i

do

Var. 13

Var. 14

- r'^
r':SI:

IIJ

Var. 15

to
--L-

yr
(w-r-r^

---4.

X
r
I

~ .~
L-

-i

.a

,_
-

365

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