Bach-Kommentar: Theologisch-Musikwissenschaftliche Kommentierung der Geistlichen Vokalwerke Johann Sebastian Bachs. Band 1: Die Geistlichen Kantaten des 1. bis 27. Trinitatis-Sonntages.(Book Review)

Bach-Kommentar: Theologisch-Musikwissenschaftliche Kommentierung der Geistlichen Vokalwerke Johann Sebastian Bachs. Band 1: Die Geistlichen Kantaten des 1. bis 27. Trinitatis-Sonntages. By Martin Petzoldt. Kassel: Barenreiter, 2004. (Schriftenreihe der Internationalen Bachakademie Stuttgart, Band 14.1.) [726 p. ISBN 3-7618-1741-X. [euro]49.00.] Index.

This is the first of a series of three volumes covering the church cantatas, oratorios, passions, motets and other sacred works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Volume 1 deals with the cantatas of the Trinity season, which is something of a surprise, since one would have expected the first volume to cover the Sundays of the first part of the church year, from Advent 1 to Trinity Sunday--the substance of the second volume, due for publication in 2005. The logic for beginning with the 1st Sunday after Trinity is that Bach began his tenure as Thomaskantor in Leipzig on this Sunday, 30 May 1723. The second volume will also include commentary on the oratorios and cantatas for festivals, and the third volume, to be published in 2006, will cover the passions, masses, Magnificat, and cantatas for other occasions.

The basic premise behind this project is that the religious/ecclesiastical worldview of the eighteenth century is far removed from our own. What was obvious and straightforward to Bach as composer, as well as to the members of the congregations who first heard his music, is often obscure or totally unrecognized in the twenty-first century. Thus if we are to understand Bach's music, and especially his particular compositional choices, we need access to contemporary explanations of this theological/philosophical world. The author, Martin Petzoldt--professor of systematic theology, Leipzig University, and president of the Neue-Bach-Gesellschaft--presents a variety of biblical, exegetical, historical, and theological presuppositions that lie behind the concepts and vocabulary of the cantata librettos.

Under the heading for each Sunday of the Trinity season, Petzoldt first gives basic background information, such as the biblical readings assigned to the day, the cantatas Bach composed for the Sunday, their vocal and instrumental resources, together with references to recent literature on the respective cantatas. Much of this information is not new and can be found in other sources, but closer inspection reveals that there is more information recorded here than is usually the case, such as the specific entrance psalm for each Sunday, the church in which the cantata was first heard--usually either the St. Nicholas or St. Thomas churches in Leipzig--and the name of the preacher who gave the sermon on this occasion.

Petzoldt then gives extended quotations--usually on the gospel but sometimes also on the epistle of the day--from the biblical commentary by Johann Olearius that is known to have been in Bach's personal library: Biblische Erklarung darinnen nechst dem allgemeinen Haupt-Schlussel der gantzen heiligen Schrifft, 5 vols. (Leipzig: Tarnoven, 1678-81). These extended citations of "commentary" form the backbone of the project and clearly conditioned the choice of its title: Bach-Kommentar.

Bach owned another complete biblical commentary, Abraham Calov's Die deutsche Bibel, 6 vols. (Wittenberg: Schrodter, 1681-82), the only title from the inventory of Bach's library that has apparently survived, and now in the library of Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Missouri. This Bible commentary has received considerable attention because of the marginalia in Bach's hand, together with various underlinings, that are scattered throughout these volumes. But each of the main title pages has Bach's monogram with the year "1733." If this indicates the year the volumes came into Bach's possession then they cannot have had direct influence on the cantatas since most had been composed by this date. The presupposition is that Bach obtained the Olearius volumes at a much earlier date and therefore it would have been this commentary that most likely influenced him in his compositional choices. Bach also had access to Luther's biblical commentaries in the Jena edition of the Reformer's writings in his own library, and they are easily available in various editions and translations in a way that the Olearius commentary is not. For all ...