Evening in the Palace of Reason Read online

  Actus tragicus (Bach), 92–95, 125

  Adorno, Theodor, 270

  affections, doctrine of, 83, 84–87, 115, 116, 311, 313

  Albert Achilles, elector of Brandenburg, 29

  Albert of Hohenzollern, 32–33

  Albert of Mainz, Cardinal, 17, 30–31

  Albert the Bear, 28

  Albinoni, Tomaso Giovanni, 126

  alchemy, 46–47, 53

  Algarotti, Count Francesco, 152–53, 198, 200, 206

  Amadis (Lully), 57–58

  Amalia, Princess of England, 69, 100

  ambitus, 87, 311

  American Revolution, 247

  Anabaptists, 23, 44, 96, 241

  anabasis (ascensus), 81–82

  Anti-Machiavel (Frederick II), 157–58, 194, 196, 198

  “Aria with Different Variations” (Goldberg Variations) (Bach), 214, 215–16, 748–49

  Aristotle, 14, 141

  Arnstadt: consistory of, 24–25

  J SB’s career in, 78–79, 87–88, 91

  Arouet, Françcois-Marie, see Voltaire

  art, intellectual basis vs. sensual effect of, 130

  Art of the Fugue, The (Bach), 248, 250, 254

  Ascanian family, 28

  ascensus (anabasis), 81–82

  Aufklärung, 153, 154–55, 182

  augmentation, 234–35, 236, 248, 311

  Augustine, Saint, 43, 45, 49, 50

  Augustus II (the Strong), king of Poland, 99, 152, 172, 184

  court musicians of, 175, 146 death of, 148, 177

  hedonism of, 72–73, 76

  JSB’s career and, 164, 171

  Augustus HI (Friedrich), king of Poland, 177–80, 182

  Austrian Succession, War of the, 201

  Bach, Anna Magdalena Wilcke (JSB’s second wife), 165–66, 167, 188, 215, 254

  Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel (JSB’s son), 8, 257

  as composer, 10, 11, 214, 218, 224, 256, 261–62

  as court musician, 6, 10, 146, 213–14, 222, 224, 256

  on family background, 22, 40, 168

  fatherhood of, 221, 222

  godfather of, 253, 262

  as Hamburg music director, 217–18, 226

  homophony espoused by, 124

  on JSB’s musicianship, 114, 167, 216–18, 229, 251, 252, 254, 262

  as keyboard player, 6, 217

  musical aesthetic of, 124, 191, 217, 218–20, 254

  “natural” music favored by, 191

  Bach, Catherina Dorothea (JSB’s daughter), 112

  Bach, Christoph (JSB’s second cousin), 14, 25, 41–42, 112, 238

  Bach, Gottfried Bernhard (JSB’s son), 162, 189–90, 192

  Bach, Johann Ambrosius (JSB’s father), 241

  childhood of, 22–23

  death of, 43, 163

  household of, 14, 25–26, 39

  marriage of, 23

  as musician, 13, 40–41, 78, 79

  as twin, 22, 24

  Bach, Johann Balthasar (JSB’s brother), 39

  Bach, Johann Christoph (JSB’s brother), 44, 45, 52, 53, 54, 138, 163

  Bach, Johann Christoph (JSB’s uncle), 22–23, 24–25, 44, 78, 241

  Bach, Johann Jakob (JSB’s brother), 86, 138

  Bach, Johann Michael (JSB’s cousin), 112

  Bach, Johann Sebastian: administrative politics and, 77–79, 87, 89, 91, 162, 164–65, 170–72, 173–75, 177, 180–82, 237

  burial of, 253, 254, 268–69

  childhood of, 30–40, 41–47

  church musical positions of, 77–80, 87–89, 91, 96–97, 113–14, 126, 138, 162, 163, 164–65, 173–75, 189, 253

  composing desk of, 11, 168

  as court musician, 77, 97–98, 113, 114, 125, 126–27, 128–29, 132, 133, 135, 165

  death of, 51, 189, 248, 250, 251, 252, 253–54

  education of, 42–43, 44–45, 53, 54–55, 77, 125, 164, 185, 187

  eyesight problems of, 250, 251

  family background of, 7, 13–14, 21–26, 78

  family deaths and, 39–40, 43–44, 45, 135, 137, 138, 163, 187–88, 190

  as father, 7, 11, 40, 112, 113, 135, 138, 162, 166–67, 187–91, 214, 221

  on fortepiano development, 223

  Frederick II’s meetings with, 5, 6, 8–10, 222–24, 227–28, 238

  improvisational skills of, 226–27, 238

  income of, 78, 79, 92, 126, 162, 171–72, 174, 175, 216

  independence of, 241–42

  Leipzig home of, 167–68

  marriages of, 7, 79, 89, 91–92, 112, 135, 165–66

  musical influences on, 40–42, 45, 55–56, 58–59, 89–91, 98, 125–26, 129, 176, 263

  as organist, 91, 114–15, 127–28, 163, 217, 228, 253

  productivity of, 113, 127, 165, 168–69, 190

  religious belief of, 7–8, 19, 44, 96–97, 136, 169, 188, 221, 237–38, 239, 241, 272

  as representative of tradition, 5–6, 7–8, 124, 191, 220

  Romantic aesthetic theory and, 186, 241

  sightreading skills of, 114

  spirituality joined with secular life of, 135–37, 272

  students of, 87–88, 113, 173–74, 180–81, 192

  temperament of, 88, 130, 217, 237–38, 241

  theological library of, 169–70

  title obtained by, 177, 180, 187

  Bach, Johann Sebastian, music of: canons, 115, 116–22, 124, 215, 216, 230, 248–49

  civic events marked by, 95

  consistory prescriptions on, 91

  critics of, 162–64, 173, 186–87, 191–92, 216

  dedicatees of, 86, 117, 133–34, 177–78, 209, 228, 232, 249

  final masterpiece of, 249

  five annual cycles of, 168–69

  Frederick II’s challenge and, 9–12, 124, 221, 223–39

  funeral cantatas, 92–95, 184–85

  German cultural espousal of, 265–67

  “Great Eighteen” organ chorales of, 251

  humor in, 216

  ineffability of, 240

  instrumental hierarchy overturned by, 129, 130–31, 132–33

  JSB’s work process and, 11–12, 168, 229, 232, 241, 251, 252

  librettists of, 184–85

  lost works of, 113

  mixture of styles in, 129–30, 134, 185

  Mozart’s work compared with, 256–57

  musical-rhetorical figures in, 82, 86–87, 95–96, 115, 240

  numerical codes in, 51, 137, 232, 237

  passions, 169, 172–73, 175, 263–65

  posthumous reputation of, 254–55, 256, 260, 261, 262–65, 269–71

  publication of, 95, 216

  as response to Enlightenment aesthetics, 8, 12, 192–93, 216, 248, 273

  sacred vs. secular, 7–8, 136–37, 173, 179

  secular cantatas of, 178–79, 312–13

  songs, 166

  sons’ attitudes toward, 6, 216–18, 254, 262

  stylistic development of, 175–77, 185–86, 190, 191, 240

  triumph over death as theme of, 45, 93–94

  see also specific musical works

  Bach, Maria Barbara (JSB’s first wife), 112–13, 134, 166, 167, 190

  death of, 135, 137, 138, 163, 164, 165

  Bach, Maria Elisabeth (JSB’s mother), 23, 25, 26, 163, 241

  Bach, Wilhelm Friedemann (JSB’s son), 138, 177, 214, 215, 221–22

  childhood of, 138

  church musical positions of, 188, 253

  as favored son, 167, 217, 262

  JSB’s manuscripts taken by, 254, 262n

  on JSB’s music, 217, 218

  musical aesthetic of, 191

  Bach and the Meanings of Counterpoint (Yearsley), 192

  Bach and the Patterns of Invention (Dreyfus), 185

  Bach family, musical tradition of, 7, 13, 21, 23, 40–42, 78, 163, 167

  Bach-Gesellschaft, 266

  Bainton, Roland, 18–19, 238

  Beethoven, Ludwig van, 260, 261

  Benda, Franz, 146, 214, 222

  Bend
a, Johann, 146, 214, 222

  Berlin, Isaiah, 240

  Berlin, wartime devastation of, 242–43

  Berlin Opera, 201, 204–5, 244, 268

  Bernard of Clairvaux, Saint, 44

  B-flat minor, key of, 93, 233

  Bible:

  Enlightenment views on, 182–83

  Lutheran, 169

  Birnbaum, Johann Abraham, 191, 192, 220, 250

  Bismarck, Otto von, 267

  “Blasphemy of Talking Politics During Bach Year, The” (McClary), 132–33

  Boethius, Ancius Manlius Severinus, 48, 116

  Böhm, Georg, 251

  Boileau, Nicolas, 58

  Bokemeyer, Heinrich, 46, 124

  Boyd, Malcolm, 231

  Boyle, Robert, 14

  Brahe, Tycho, 14

  Brahms, Johannes, 239

  Brandenburg, 28–30, 33–34, 35, 188

  Brandenburg Concertos (Bach), 95, 129–31, 132–33, 134

  bubonic plague, 19

  Burney, Charles, 218, 220, 262

  Buxtehude, Dietrich, 55–56, 88–91, 95, 249, 251

  cadenza, 311

  Calov, Abraham, 169, 170, 175, 221

  Calvinism, 23, 34, 44, 66, 134

  Candide (Voltaire), 156, 258, 259

  canon, 7, 115–16

  crab, 236, 248, 312

  critics of, 122–23, 124, 218–20

  defined, 311

  fugue vs., 116, 118, 224

  in Goldberg Variations, 215, 216 248–49

  of Musical Offering, 230, 232, 234–35, 236–37

  perpetual, 52, 117, 121, 122, 236, 249, 313

  puzzle, 117–21, 234, 236, 313

  on Royal Theme, 230, 236

  canonic imitation, 311

  canon per tonos (spiral canon), 311

  cantatas, 92–96, 97, 168–69, 311

  cantus firmus, 94, 226, 311

  Capriccio on the Departure of the Beloved Brother (Bach), 86–87, 138, 233, 240

  Carlyle, Thomas, 27–28, 64, 152, 160, 268

  catabasis (descensus), 82, 311

  Catt, Henri de, 109

  celestial music, 7, 48, 49, 250

  Celle, dukedom of, 56

  Chafe, Eric, 235

  Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, 197, 198

  Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor, 207

  Charles XII, king of Sweden, 86

  chorales, 80–81, 94, 311

  choral prelude, 311

  Christiane Eberhardine, electress, 184

  Christianity:

  Anabaptist, 23, 44, 96, 241

  Calvinist, 23, 34, 44, 66, 134

  on crucifixion of Jesus, 183

  Pietist, 44, 96–97, 169, 260

  predestination doctrine of, 66, 142, 242

  as target of Enlightenment, 154

  see also Lutheranism

  Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg, 132

  Christmas Oratorio (Bach), 179

  chromaticism, 57, 225, 229, 311–12

  church sonatas, 235–36, 237

  clavichord, 222

  Clavierubung (Bach), 176, 192–93, 216

  collegium musicum, 124, 312

  Comenius, Jan Amos, 53

  concerto, social implications of, 131–33

  continuo, 312

  contrapuntist, 312

  Corelli, Arcangelo, 126

  cosmological harmony, 49–52, 116–17, 122

  counterpoint, 46–52, 248–49, 311

  accompanied melody vs., 187

  alchemy vs., 46–47

  criticism of, 122–24, 187, 191, 218–20

  defined, 312

  development of, 46

  metaphysical aspects of, 7, 46–47, 49, 51–52 116, 117, 122

  rhetorical function of, 93–94

  in twentieth century, 9

  Counter-Reformation, 19

  countersubject, 312

  Couperin, François, 176

  crab canon, 236, 248, 312

  creative process:

  rationalist approach to, 184, 185

  Romantic conception of, 260–61

  Critica Musica, 123, 163–64

  Critique of Pure Reason (Kant), 260

  Critischer Musikus, 162, 186, 220

  crucifixion scene, rationalist interpretation of, 183

  da capo arias, 125, 172, 184, 312 democracy, 247

  Descartes, René, 83

  descensus (catabasis), 82, 311

  Dessauer, General, 149, 158–59, 160

  Devrient, Edward, 263

  Diderot, Denis, 154, 203

  Diet of Worms (1521), 15, 16

  diminution, 248, 312

  Discours sur I’homme (Voltaire), 156

  dramma per musica, 178, 312

  Drese, Samuel, 127

  Dreyfus, Laurence, 129, 185

  Duhan, Jacques, 68, 101, 107, 145, 197, 211

  Eisenach, 13, 14, 25, 39, 40, 44

  Elizabeth Christina, Queen, 144–46, 248

  Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 27–28

  empfindsamer Stil, 217

  empiricism, 8, 154, 257, 260, 271–72

  Encyclopedia (Diderot), 203–82

  England, international alliances of, 70, 100, 198, 207

  Enlightenment:

  aesthetic theories in, 184, 185, 193, 256

  belief vs. reason in, 8, 12, 182–83, 272

  cultural benefits derived from, 271–72

  defined, 153–54

  disillusion with, 257–60

  encyclopedic impulse of, 184, 185

  generational conflicts in, 180

  German, 153, 154–55

  optimistic certitude of, 257–59, 260

  on spirituality vs. secular life, 135

  Erdmann, Georg, $6n

  Ernesti, Johann August, 180–83, 184, 254

  Escher, M. C, 235

  Essay on Man (Pope), 258

  Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments C. P. E. Bach), 217

  Euclid, 47–48

  Eugene, Prince of Savoy, 149, 150

  Euler, Leonhard, 194

  extremum enharmonium, 93, 233

  “eye music,” 230, 252

  Fay, Sidney, 29–30

  Feldhaus, Martin, 78, 79, 89, 91–92

  Fénelon, François de Salignac de La Mothe-, 67

  First Silesian War, 198–201, 205, 207, 214

  Flemming, Count von, 127, 128, 164

  Fleury, André-Hercule de, 200, 205, 207

  flute player, mechanical, 202–3, 252

  Fontaine, Abbé de, 202

  Fontenelle, Bernard Le Bovier de, 202

  Forkel, Johann Nikolaus, 40, 114, 226

  fortepiano, 222–23

  France:

  German adoption of culture of, 3, 36, 59

  music in, 56–59, 131–32

  Prussian relations with, 198, 200, 208, 242

  revolution of, 259, 260

  Franck, Salomo, 98

  Frankfurt an der Oder, 188–89

  Frederick I, elector of Brandenburg, 29

  Frederick I, king of Prussia, 27, 28, 36–38, 70, 267

  Frederick II (the Great), king of Prussia: ambition of, 142, 199

  christening of, 27–28

  correspondence of, 151–52, 156–57

  court musicians of, 4, 6, 146, 151, 209, 213–14, 254, 256

  cultural fashions set by, 5

  death of, 247, 248

  deceitfulness of, 140–41, 143, 197–98, 200, 206

  diplomatic strategies of, 4, 141, 197–98, 200–201, 205, 207, 244, 245, 247

  domestic policies of, 196, 199, 212, 245

  dual life of, 147, 157–58, 244

  education of, 65–68, 101, 141, 142–43, 151

  on elected government, 247

  Enlightenment stance of, 272

  escape plots of, 102–8

  finances of, 100–101, 103, 151, 153, 196, 205, 212, 244

  flute played by, 3, 4, 60, 73, 75, 107, 109, 141, 151, 209, 230, 244

  Frederick William
I’s persecution of, 4, 11, 60, 71–72, 73–76, 99–100, 101–2, 103–9, 110, 111, 139–44

  French culture admired by, 3, 60, 73, 75–76, 99, 156, 206, 236

  on German literature, 7

  Hohenzollern ancestry of, 17, 28, 29–30, 32–38

  intellectual interests of, 4, 5, 68, 151, 152, 155–57, 194, 201–4, 244

  JSB’s meeting with, 5, 6, 8–10, 222–24, 227–28, 238

  JSB’s response to musical challenge of, 9–12, 124, 221, 223–39

  last years of, 243–44, 246–48

  library of, 68, 100, 107, 151

  marriage of, 7, 69–70, 99–100, 144–46, 147, 152, 248

  as militarist, 4, 67, 142, 143, 147–48, 149–50, 157–58, 195, 196–97, 200, 207, 208, 210, 242–43, 245, 246, 247, 248, 268

  musical aesthetic of, 5, 7, 8, 213, 220, 233, 236, 244–45

  musical instruments collected by, 222, 223

  nihilism of, 210–11, 246

  as opera enthusiast, 4, 5, 73, 201, 203–4, 209, 244

  philosophical interests of, 5, 155, 203–4

  physical appearance of, 3, 145, 243, 246–47

  on political theory, 4, 34, 68, 148, 157–58, 194, 196, 198, 247

  posthumous reputation of, 266, 267–68

  on Prussian history, 34, 246

  religious beliefs of, 7, 66, 142, 155, 242, 257

  royal residence of, 223, 229, 248, 268

  sadistic aspects of, 10, 11, 248

  sexuality of, 7, 73, 102, 152–53, 204, 268

  succession of, 106, 151, 159–61, 246

  territorial expansion under, 4, 142, 148, 197, 198–99, 244

  work habits of, 212

  writings of, 141, 148, 152, 157–58, 196, 206, 246

  Frederick III (the Wise), elector of Saxony, 15–16, 17–19, 30, 31

  Frederick William (the Great Elector), elector of Brandenburg, 34–36, 62, 70, 132, 158

  Frederick William I, king of Prussia: administrative improvements of, 60–62

  death of, 151, 158–60

  as father, 65–68, 70–76, 99–100, 101–2, 103–8, 139–44, 146, 147, 153, 158, 211, 212

  foreign policy of, 62–63, 70, 148–49, 150, 195, 197

  Frankfurt downgraded by, 188

  French culture despised by, 3, 4, 60, 75–76

  Katte’s execution ordered by, 108–9, 110, 111, 139, 140, 160

  marriage of, 68–69, 70, 100, 105, 159

  military under, 62–63, 138, 148–49, 158

  on monarchy, 67–68, 71

  musicians fired by, 27

  ornamental guard of, 63–64, 72, 185

  Protestantism of, 44, 60, 66, 159

  succession of, 38, 60–61, 77

  temperament of, 3–4, 11, 64, 65, 71–72, 99, 153, 158, 211, 216, 224

  thrift of, 60–61, 69

  Frederick William II (Henry), king of Prussia, 247, 248

  free will, 15

  French Overture (Bach), 176

  French Revolution, 259, 260