Evening in the Palace of Reason Page 29

  157 “a secret dialogue with himself Friedrich Meinicke, “Ruler Before Philosopher,” translated by Douglas Scott, in Peter Paret, ed., Frederick the Great: A Profile (London: Macmillan, 1972).

  158 “true desire is for fame” Diplomatic dispatch cited in Asprey, 129.

  158 Seckendorff … “begin with a thunderbolt” Quoted in Koser; cited by Asprey, 130.

  159 asked the general to choose Carlyle, III, Book X, Chapter 7, 271–272.

  159 “As soon as I am dead” Ergang, 245–246.

  159 That done, he was ready The scene with his pastors is in Carlyle, III, Book X, Chapter 8, 265ff.

  159 “Death, I fear thee not!” Wolfgang Venohr, Friedrich der Crosse: Porträt einer Doppelnatur (Bergisch Gladbach, 1988), 100; cited by Macdonough, 131.

  160 Dessauer came to console This and following details of Frederick’s behavior immediately after his accession are from Carlyle, III, Book XI, Chapter 1, 278ff.; Jacob F. Biefeld, Letters of Baron Biefeld, 4 vols., translated by Mr. Hooker (London, 1768–70); Venohr, cited in Macdonough, 131; Asprey, 147ff; and Simon, 160–161.

  X. THE ARTIST IN A PAINT-BY-NUMBERS WORLD

  163 age at which his father … mother … older brother … died Marshall, 506.

  164 “I, I, I, I” NBR, 325.

  164 Bach was near the bottom Siegele, 22–23.

  164 At the crucial meeting “Deliberations Excerpted from the Proceedings of the Town Council,” April 23, 1723, NBR 101, as translated in Blume, 20.

  164 very different ideas for the job For the appointment process in Leipzig, see Siegele, “Bach and the Domestic Politics of Electoral Saxony.”

  165 “a very sad state of things” Spitta, II, 201–202.

  165 “fast going to ruin” Ibid., 202.

  167 Friedemann was clearly the favorite “Bach on His Sons,” by Carl Friedrich Cramer, NBR, 413.

  167 sons spoke … of having to distinguish themselves Blume, 16.

  168 Carl remembered his father’s home NBR, 400.

  168 at his desk, where there were stacks of paper For details of the description of Bach’s working space I am indebted to Wolff, JSB.

  169 “not intended to be works” Friedrich Smend, Bach-Studien, 163; cited in Pelikan, 26.

  169 In 1733 he bought a three-volume version Leaver, 21.

  169 the attic of a farmhouse Leaver, 16.

  173 “God help us! It’s an opera-comedy!” C. H. Bitter, Johann Sebastian Bach, 4 vols. (Berlin, 1881), Vol. 2, 58; cited in Terry, 197.

  174 “little inclination to work” This and following quotes are in Wolff, JSB, 346.

  178 “a short and easy road to happiness” Quotations from the story “The Choice of Hercules” are from Joseph Addison’s translation in The Tatler, no. 97, November 22, 1709.

  179 Six hundred students Details of the performance of Preise dein Glücke for the Saxon elector are in Riemer, Chronicles, NBR, 164–167. See also Crist.

  179 No fewer than six movements from Hercules Pelikan, 137; Wolff, 364ff.

  180 The battle with Ernesti All of the many memos dealing with the “affair of the prefects” are in NBR, 172ff.

  182 “Whereas Our Court Composer” Ibid., 195.

  182 the real issue between the rector and his cantor The best general sources for Bach’s confrontation with Ernesti as it demonstrates his posture toward the Enlightenment are “Rationalism and Aufkldrüng in Bach’s Career,” in Pelikan, 29ff.; “Bach’s Quarrel with the Rector of St. Thomas School,” in Stevenson, 67ff.; and Minnear.

  182 “the training of men toward God” Quote from Luther in Stiller, 209.

  183 “Greater weight in exegesis” Minnear, 136.

  183 “He began to quiver and quake” Pelikan, 90.

  184 Kritische Dichtkunst of 1730 … dry, pedantic Gay, The Science of Freedom, 247–248; Gagliardo, 205–206.

  184 Bach showed Gottsched what he thought Dreyfus, Patterns, 232–242.

  185 “the equality of its divisions” Ibid.

  185 “Your Saxony and dismayed Meissen” Translation is in Dreyfus, ibid., 235.

  186 “would be the admiration of whole nations” Johann Adam Scheibe in Der Kritische Musikus, May 14, 1737, NBR, 338.

  187 “How can a man be faultless” Spitta, III, 253–254.

  188 Bach had taken Communion Stiller, 203.

  188 otherwise only twice or three times a year Ibid.

  188 a strange and abrupt move Ottenberg, 23.

  188 “Sensible Thoughts on Fools and Folly” Ibid., 24.

  189 audition for his job Wollny, Bach Studies 2,215; Wolff, 446.

  189 “With what pain and sorrow” Letter to Johann Friedrich Klemm, May 24, 1738; NBR, 200.

  190 “a hot fever” Insertion in Johann Walther’s personal copy of his Lexicon; NBR, 295.

  191 “I have never concerned myself with learned matters” A satire by “Cornelius” (Scheibe) in his Der Kritische Musikus; NBR, 351.

  192 “If Mr. Bach at times writes” NBR, 350.

  XI. WAR AND PEACE AND A MECHANICAL DUCK

  194 The circumstances were a little awkward Details of the story of Frederick’s first meeting with Voltaire are in Carlyle, III, Book XI, Chapter 4, 345ff.

  195 Describing his first meeting with Frederick Voltaire, letter to M. de Cideville, October 18, 1740; in Carlyle, III, Book XI, Chapter 4, 357.

  197 Katte’s father a promotion Macdonough, 140.

  199 “Bravo! The work of an excellent charlatan” Ritter, 82.

  200 he had “obeyed the orders” Besterman, 259.

  201 “Never, never will the queen renounce” C. A. Macartney, Maria Theresa and the House of Austria (London, 1969), 34; cited in Macdonough, 156.

  201 “with nothing but her character” Edward Crankshaw, Maria Theresa (London: Longmans, 1969); cited in Asprey, 155.

  201 a charlatan named Jacques de Vaucanson For this discussion of Vaucanson I am indebted to Richards.

  202 “with an Exactness” Fontenelle, “Abstract of the register of the Royal Academy of Sciences,” appended to Le Mécanisme du fluteur automate (Paris, 1738), 21; translated by J. T. Desaguliers as “An Account of the Mechanism of an Automaton, or Image Playing on the German Flute,” 23; see also Yearsley, Bach, 174ff., and Richards.

  202 “It stretches out its Neck” “Mr. Vaucanson’s Letter to the Abbé de Fontaine,” appended to “Account”; ibid., 21.

  202 “The smell which now spreads” A. Chapuis and E. Droz, Automata (Neuchâtel, 1958); cited in Richards, 381.

  202 “a musical machine could be constructed” Quantz, 131; Richards, 383.

  203 Frederick built a factory Richards, 382.

  204 When it opened in December 1742 Description of the opera house is from Helm, 97ff.

  208 Frederick made himself at home in Dresden Detail from the contemporary account by Lorenz Mizler in his Musikalische Bibliothek (Leipzig, 1739–54), III, 366–368, is in Yearsley, Bach, 135–136.

  209 “the fragility of human fortunes” Asprey, 347.

  209 the occupation had been particularly harsh From Johann Salomon Riemer’s handwritten Chronicles of Leipzig, November 19-December 18, 1745, courtesy Bach-Archiv Leipzig, translated by Sautter.

  210 these were unforgettably gruesome sights See Asprey.

  212 recurrent dreams Duffy, 17.

  212 the scene changed The second part of the dream is related in De Catt, I, 72; Ergang, 253.

  XII. THE NIGHT OF A MUSICAL OFFERING

  213 never quite liked him or his music Charles Burney, A General History of Music, 4 vols. in 2, Dover facsimile edition of the modern edition of the work originally published from 1775–82, Vol. 2, 961; Macdonough, 187; Lavisse, 72, 175; Ottenberg, 62; Burney, II, 262; New Grove, 846.

  213 “one or two lucrative offers” Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, “Autobiography,” translated by W. S. Newman, Musical Quarterly 51 (1965), 363ff.; cited in Ottenberg, 33.

  213 “His other complaints” H. Miesner, “Aus der Umwelt Philipp Emanuel Bachs,
” Bach-Jahrbuch 34 (1937), 139; Ottenberg, 57.

  214 “Bach is lying” Ibid.

  214 he … made two thousand thalers New Grove article on Carl, vol. 1, 845.

  216 Having forsworn the “meat” The interpretation is Yearsley’s. See Bach, 121.

  217 “A player cannot move others” Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments, translated by William J. Mitchell (New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1949), 152; as translated by Blume, 16; also see discussion in Ottenberg, 68.

  217 rarely changed them Wollny, Bach Studies 2, 202ff.

  218 [Carl] replaced Bach’s arias with his own Idem.; Stauffer, 206.

  218 lifted his father’s works Ottenberg, 175–176; Blume, 25.

  218 “Invention by Which Six Measures” C. P. E. Bach, Einfall, as printed in F. W. Marpurg, Historisch-kritische Beyträge zur Aufnahme der Musik, vol. 1 (1755); Yearsley, Bach, 185.

  218 “dry and despicable pedantry” Burney, II, 252.

  218 Carl’s attitude toward canons Yearsley, “C. P. E. Bach’s Canons,” in C. P. E. Bach Studies, edited by Annette Richards (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).

  220 “consists once and for all in the art” Heinichen, Der General-Bass in der Composition (Dresden, 1728); cited in Yearsley, Bach., 94.

  220 “Really we should follow” Johann Mattheson, Critica Musica, 2 vols. (Hamburg, 1722–25), I, 346; cited in Yearsley diss., 94.

  222 the trip straight through Burney describes a carriage ride from Leipzig to Potsdam in Present State, vol. 2, 84.

  222 Summoned to the city palace NBR, 429.

  223 a sales agent for them Wolff, 413–414.

  223 wanted to collect them all NBR, 25n. 429n.

  223 by now he had fifteen, Ibid.

  226 Bach could improvise … for hours at a time NBR, 440.

  228 performing tour of the organs NBR, 430.

  231 One musicologist supported Ursula Kirkendale, “The Source for Bach’s Musical Offering,” Journal of the American Musicological Society 33:1 (Spring 1980), 88ff.

  231 order of increasing theological significance Marissen, Bach Studies 2.

  232 Christoph Wolff seemed finally Wolff, “New Research on the Musical Offering,” Essays, 239ff

  232 Translators have often rendered Marissen, Bach Studies 2.

  234 ricercar an acronym Wolff, “Apropos the Musical Offering: The Themum Regium and the Term Ricercar,” Essays, 324ff

  235 Hofstadter likens this canon Hofstadter, 10.

  235 Eric Chafe was first to point out Chafe, Tonal Allegory, 22–23, 213–215.

  235 set in the form of sonatas da chiesa Marissen, Bach Studies 2.

  236 a polite dedication would be in French Ibid.

  236 Frederick specifically prohibited Ibid.

  236 Of the four hundred Ibid.

  238 Frederick … sang the Royal Theme NBR, 366–367.

  239 “Never criticize the composition” A. W. Thayer, The Life of Ludwig van Beethoven, translated by H. E. Krehbiel, III, 20; cited in Helm, 28.

  240 “In the case of works of art” For his insights into the Romantic movement and the relation of Romanticism to both the Enlightenment and fascism, I am indebted to Berlin.

  243 “gloomy, cold, hard” Reinhold Koser, Ceschichte Friedrichs des Grossen, 4 vols. Darmstadt, 1963. Quoted in Ritter, 185.

  244 his fingers had so stiffened Helm, 37.

  244 lost interest in music completely Ibid., 47, 76, 138.

  244 he had to order soldiers Ibid., 138.

  244 “disgusting platitudes” Pierre Gaxotte, Frederick the Great, translated by R. A. Bell (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1942), 379; cited in ibid., 76.

  244 “ridiculous … bizarre” Shakespeare Macdonough, 370.

  244 Italian music was “dumb stuff” Helm, 73.

  245 French music “childish” Ibid., 74.

  245 “a racket that hurts the ears” Ibid., 71.

  245 Mozart’s was “caterwauling” Ibid., 76.

  245 “The ill custom prevails” Reddaway, 316.

  246 “Hats off, gentlemen,” Mitford, 196.

  246 Lafayette paid the old king a visit Olivier Bernier, Lafayette: Hero of Two Worlds (New York: E. P. Dutton, Inc., 1983), 161–163.

  247 “about whom his fucking memoirs” Macdonough, 385.

  248 “Through all his life” Reddaway, 2.

  250 “the depths of the wisdom of the world” Wolff, Bach Studies 2; Wolff, Essays, 389; NBR, 338ff.

  250 a self-promoting quack named Dr. John Taylor A. K. Kubba, “Johann Sebastian Bach’s Disastrous Operation,” International Journal of Clinical Practice 51:5 (July-August 1997).

  251 “Before Thy throne, my God” Translated by Terry, 136.

  252 “moving ever farther” Yearsley, Bach, 36.

  252 “In the dark chamber” Schweitzer, I, 223–224.

  252 No one has ever invented Johann Michael Schmidt, Musico-Theologico, 1754; NBR, 361; Richards, 383.

  253 “A man, 67 years” Terry, 265n (German); Spitta, III, 276 (translation); NBR, 244.

  253 “what the school needs” Terry, 265.

  253 “Departed Bach! Long ago” Telemann’s valedictory, “Let Italy go on her virtuosi vaunting,” NBR, 313.

  254 no mention was made Terry, 266.

  254 rarely performed works by Bach Blume, 26.

  254 he sold the plates for scrap Ottenberg, 56.

  XIII. AFTERLIVES: AN EPILOGUE

  256 he said Carl was the only composer Blume, 29.

  258 All over Europe, in pamphlets and books Besterman, 357.

  260 “Why is he dead?” NBR, 490.

  260 The Romantic movement was conceived For this discussion I am indebted to Berlin.

  261 expressing the newly emergent creative self See Peckham, 148ff.

  262 “laughable and empty” E. T. A. Hoffmann, Schriften zur Musik (Munich, 1963); cited in Ottenberg, 201.

  262 “It was as if a dwarf had appeared” Ottenberg, 203.

  262 He even copied out Yearsley “C. P. E. Bach’s Canons.”

  262 Carl proudly brought out Burney, II, 273.

  263 “atrocious German chorale texts” Blume, 44–45.

  263 “could not escape French influence” Ibid., 45.

  263 “You might give me a serious exposition” Ibid., 45.

  263 “to make the antiquated work modern” Ibid., 51.

  264 for that performance he had cut Mendelssohn’s cuts for the 1841 performance of the St. Matthew Passion are from Christopher Spering, “Affekt and Emotion: Comments on Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s Arrangement of the St. Matthew Passion by J. S. Bach,” translated by John Sidgwick, an article accompanying Spering’s recording of Mendelssohn’s 1841 arrangement.

  265 the most ambitious opera of its time See Wolff, 300ff.

  266 “Look then upon this head” Richard Wagner, Was ist deutsch? (1865–78), in Gesammelte Schriften und Dichtungen von Richard Wagner (Leipzig, 1871–83), Vol. 10, 51ff.; NBR, 505.

  266 the Romantic hero became a demigod For this discussion of Romanticism and fascism I am indebted to Berlin and Peckham.

  267 Hitler … made Frederick his collaborator For Frederick’s appropriation by the Third Reich, see Macdonough, 5–9.

  267 “as long as the swastika flies over Germany” Duffy, 324.

  268 Kohl created something of a stir Der Tagesspiegel, Sunday, August 18, 1991.

  268 “Old Fritz’s bones today” Ibid.

  268 gay demonstrators in Baroque costume Ibid.

  268 A poll conducted … controversy Macdonough, 9.

  268 Bach’s bones had a ride For the “authentication” of Bach’s skeleton, see Yearsley, Bach.

  270 “Do you suppose Bach is turning in his grave?” Hinton, 134.

  270 “the way I feel it” Letter from Anton Webern to conductor Hermann Scherchen, 1938, quoted in Herbert Glossner, “Shadows of Death, Signs of Life,” translated by Steven Lindberg, an article accompanying Chris
toph Poppen’s recording of Webern’s orchestration of the six-part ricercar.

  A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

  Adorno, Theodor. Introduction to the Sociology of Music. Translated by E. B. Ashton. New York: The Seabury Press, 1976.

  ——. “Bach Defended Against His Devotees.” In Prisms. Translated by Samuel and Shierry Weber. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1981.

  Althaus, Paul. The Theology of Martin Luther. Translated by Robert C. Schultz. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1966.

  Asprey, Robert B. Frederick the Great: The Magnificent Enigma. New York: History Book Club, 1986.

  Attali, Jacques. Noise: The Political Economy of Music. Translated by Brian Massumi. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press, 1985.

  Bach, C. P. E. Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments. Translated by William J. Mitchell. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1949.

  Bainton, Roland H. Here I Stand: A Life of Martin Luther. New York and London: Penguin Books, 1950.

  Bamford, Christopher, ed. Homage to Pythagoras: Rediscovering Sacred Science. Hudson, N.Y.: Lindisfarne Books, 1994.

  Barraclough, Geoffrey. The Origins of Modem Germany, revised edition. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1979.

  Bartel, Dietrich. Musica Poetica: Musical-Rhetorical Figures in German Baroque Music. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1997.

  Becker, Carl L. The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth-Century Philosophers. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1932.

  Benjamin, Walter. The Origin of German Tragic Drama. Translated by John Osborne. London and New York: Verso, 1998.

  Berlin, Isaiah. The Crooked Timber of Humanity: Chapters in the History of Ideas. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1991.

  ——. The Power of Ideas. Edited by Henry Hardy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.

  ——.The Roots of Romanticism. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999.

  ——. Three Critics of the Enlightenment: Vico, Hamann, Herder. Edited by Henry Hardy. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.

  Besterman, Theodore. Voltaire. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1969.

  Biermann, Berthold. Goethe’s World as Seen in Letters and Memoirs. New York: New Directions, 1949.