Broderip, Wilkinson and the first English edition of the '48'

Musical Times, Summer 2006 by Kassler, Michael

ALTHOUGH AFC KOLLMANN included a prelude and fugue from the '48' in his 1799 Essay on practical musical composition, and William Shield another prelude in his 1800 Introduction to harmony, the first English edition of multiple preludes and fugues from the '48' appeared in 1802. This little-known edition was printed for Broderip & Wilkinson, music sellers and musical instrument makers in the Haymarket, and its publication date is indicated by an advertisement on page 1 of The Times for 14 June 18012, reproduced as fig.1.1

The 'twelve preludes, and twelve fugues' mentioned are the first 12 in part 2 of the '48' (BWV 870-893). As Broderip & Wilkinson advertised this pub1lication as 'Book I' it seems clear that they planned at this time to publish the remaining 12 preludes and fugues of part 2 as Book II, and perhaps they also intended eventually to issue part 1 of the '48' (BWV 846-869) as books III and IV. As noted below, Book II was published about six years later. However, whatever plan they may have had to publish books III and IV was thwarted by Broderip's death on 8 February 1807 and by Wilkinson's decision in August 1809 to cease all aspects of their business other than the manufacture of pianofortes.

The title page plate engraved for the Broderip & Wilkinson edition of the '48' was used to print the title pages of both Book I and Book II. On each copy of a Book 11 title page a mark was handwritten in ink to show the book's number, as in fig.2.

The text of Broderip & Wilkinson's title page, including its lettering style, line division and layout, its use of the French language and the dedication by the publisher to the Conservatoire de Musique which had been established in Paris in 1795, was copied from the title page of an edition of the '48' published by Nicolaus Simrock in Paris and Bonn.2 This title page is shown in fig.3.

Simrock issued his edition in two books. The first book (whose plates of engraved music bear the number 138) presented the entire part 2 of the '48' and was first published about April 1801.3 The second book (plate no. 166), which contained part 1 of the '48', first appeared a few months later. The idea that what is now called part 2 of the '48' should precede what is now called part 1 apparently came from the manuscript upon which Simrock's edition was based,4 and was followed in several editions that derived from Simrock's, including the Broderip & Wilkinson edition.

As can be seen from the different spacing before and after the word 'et' in the two title pages illustrated in figs.2 and 3, the plate used to print Broderip & Wilkinson's title pages was not the one previously engraved for the Simrock edition. Also, after the word 'partie ', Broderip & Wilkinson had the title page text changed to reflect the circumstance that each of Simrock's two books, which had been published in Paris and Bonn, contained 24 preludes and 24 fugues, whereas Broderip & Wilkinson's books, which were published in London, contained half as many.

Presumably Broderip & Wilkinson's decision to halve the number of preludes and fugues in each book arose from their diffidence about the English market in 1802 for Bach's '48'. Halving the up front costs of engraving, paper and printing substantially lessened their risk of testing this market. This hypothesis is strengthened by the circumstance that only one copy of their 1802 impression of Book I is known to be extant (it is in the Riemenschneider Bach Library, Baldwin-Wallace College, Berea, Ohio, USA, printed on paper watermarked '1801'). The low survival of examples of this impression suggests that few - perhaps only 25 - copies of Book I had been printed when Broderip & Wilkinson advertised it in The Times, and that these copies sold slowly.

None of the '48' was printed in Bach's lifetime. A few preludes and fugues from the '48' were printed between 1750 and 1800, but it was not until 1801 that three continental music sellers - Simrock, Nägeli in Zurich, and Hoffmeister & Kühnel in Leipzig - began to publish the entire '48' as a set. Nägeli's edition of part 2 of the '48' came out in January 1802. Hoffmeister & Kühnel, who issued the '48' in instalments, had just started publishing part 2 when Book I of the Broderip & Wilkinson edition appeared in June 1802. The Hoffmeister & Kühnel edition of the last prelude and fugue in Broderip & Wilkinson's Book I (BWV881) was not published until after September 1802, several months after Broderip & Wilkinson's Book I was available for sale in London.

Besides reproducing Simrock's title page (except for the alterations noted above), Broderip & Wilkinson's engravers also substantially copied the musical text and layout of Simrock's edition. They therefore presumably worked from a copy of that edition.

Broderip & Wilkinson was established about November 1798.' Of the two partners Francis Fane Broderip was much more experienced in importing, publishing and selling print music, and the decision to publish the '48' presumably was initiated by him. He came from a musical family. His father John Broderip (1719-70) was organist and master of the choristers at Wells Cathedral from 1741 until his death; and an uncle Edmund Broderip (baptised 1727-1779) was a prominent organist at Bristol. According to the Wells Cathedral register, Francis was 'received ' into the Church of England on 1 November 1750, and thus almost certainly was born earlier in that year. From 1759 to 1766 he served under his father as a Wells Cathedral chorister.6