Basic Bach

Musical Times, Summer 1999 by Tomita, Yo

Basic Bach

YO TOMITA

An introduction to Bach studies Daniel R. Melamed & Michael Marissen Oxford UP (New York, 1998); xi, 189pp; 28.50. ISBN 0 19 5122313.

With the estimated two-hundred books and articles that are related to Bach studies appearing every year, Johann Sebastian Bach is clearly the most intensively-researched composer of all time. Since the establishment of modern scholarship, he and his works have been studied from many different aspects, and, as one can expect, this tendency is progressing as time goes by, creating many specialist areas within Bach studies. Naturally, some branches receive more attention than others, and, as in the world of fashion and design, trends change from time to time, resulting in unique patterns in the nature and quantity of publications during the course of changing historical tides, in particular, those relating to the image of Bach.

A great majority of the literature, including those works considered as most important, is written in German. Yet the contribution to Bach studies from the scholars in the English-speaking world has never been insignificant. With the popularity of Bach studies steadily gaining momentum in recent years, this trend is most evident in the USA, as publications written in English, which amount to roughly a quarter, are mostly by American authors.

One can easily imagine, therefore, that with such an extraordinary flow of information it is very difficult even for well-established scholars to catch up with every new hypothesis, theory and discovery without sifting each of them with their own critical judgement. It must be a nightmare situation for those eager students who wish to begin their studies but cannot do so because they do not know where to start. Primarily for these students, two young American professors have written this book. They attempt to present a very clearly-defined guide indicating how students could wade through the enormous literature already published by using both the available reference tools and the short-listed references that the authors consider both the most important and directly relevant for each subject topic. In a sense, it is a sort of resource to be given at the beginning of lectures on Bach at universities, and from this point of view I shall examine the strengths and weaknesses of this highly intriguing publication, in particular the system in which the subjects are organised, the chosen references, and the additional information that is often required for introducing a topic.

The organisation of the book is laid out in a systematic fashion, in which the authors discuss the subject in eleven short chapters with clearly labelled subdivisions within each topic area. The contents effectively cover all the major areas of research.

The opening chapters, 1: `Bibliographic tools of Bach research' and 2: `Sources of secondary literature', are extremely useful for students who are new to Bach studies, where all the important references, such as BWV and BC, are explained with the authors' objective and insightful comments.

The authors then move on to discuss the biographical studies under chapters 3: `Bach's life' and 4: `Bach's world'. In the former, both the organisation of the sub-topic and comments are helpful and intuitive. A relatively weak area is the early part of 3.5: `Places and their biographical issues' where the period of Bach's youth is covered less thoroughly than his later periods. It is true that further research on this area is now overdue; more in-depth commentary would be instrumental in encouraging future musicologists. I would mention one extra item here to fill the gap - an article by Martin Petzoldt: ' "Ut probus & doctus reddar": Zum Anteil der Theologie bei der Schulausbildung Johann Sebastian Bachs in Eisenach, Ohrdruf und Luneburg' (BJ 71 (1985), pp.7-42).

In the fourth chapter, where Bach is viewed from a distance, the authors cover such areas as Bach's teaching, students, library and the liturgical context in which he worked. I find their reconstruction of Bach's liturgical calendar (pp.55-60) very convenient. Excluded from their discussions are more general historical topics, such as politics, social issues, aesthetics, tradition and the spirit of the age, although they may have been omitted simply due to the relatively low profile they have attracted so far.

The next two chapters, 5: `Sources and transmission' and 6: `Repertory and editions', cover the central topics in current Bach scholarship, which the authors treat admirably

Bach's works are covered in the following two chapters, 7: `Vocal music' and 8: `Instrumental music'. The former is the most impressive of its kind, where often confusing subject areas are introduced and discussed systematically with an air of authority. In sharp contrast is the next chapter, where all the remaining non-vocal music is described together. I for one am disappointed with the absence of a section where Bach's clavier pieces could have been described comprehensively with subdivisions such as temperament and registration. Ideally, this chapter could have been divided into four, each dealing with organ, clavier, chamber and orchestral music, if space is not an issue.