While the catalogue of Bach's chamber music seems quite scant with only some 45 works extant, BWV 995-1039 (, ), transcriptions beginning in Bach's time have generated countless versions for other instruments of the solo string works Bach collected first, while stimulating a cottage industry of recordings.? For example, there are almost 400 recordings of his lute works () and in recent years there are all manner of new adaptations.? Originally, Bach conceived this chamber music for personal presentation in courtly and town salons as well as at private homes.? Bach also used this music as pedagogy, teaching his students composition and applied performance. What drove the impetus for the development of this music was the mixed German style that absorbed the influences of the Italian concerto and the French dance with Germanic fugal and occasional Lutheran hymn influences.? Bach seized the opportunities by composing instrumental concertos, sonatas, and suites in three and four parts as the concurrent common practice period shaped the various genres that would be perfected in the evolving classical style of solo sonatas for all manner of instruments, the challenge of trios quartets, and quintets, and the larger ensembles of virtuoso concertos and full-textured symphonies. ? This music formed the crest of the wave of classical music as to spread north from Italy to the German-speaking lands of Austria and Germany.
Recently, Bach scholars have selectively studied these works from the perspectives of musical analysis as well as contextual studies, dating, various versions, authenticity and theological meanings. ? Essentially, the historical studies of the chamber music have yielded findings based on stylistic and collateral evidence that some of the earliest chamber pieces ¡ª violin solos, trio sonatas, and concertos ¡ª were initiated in Weimar about 1714, were revised sometimes in as many as three stages and assembled:? the first before C?then in 1717 involving variants, the second during the C?then period (1717-23), and the third in Leipzig beginning about 1725 and used for teaching.? Bach's favored chamber music instruments were the violin, harpsichord, and emerging transverse flute.? In some cases, he continued to adapt flute music in the 1740s when he visited the court of Frederick the Great where his son Emanuel was employed as keyboardist and composer.? There is still considerable scholarly debate over which of the solo string collections came first. ? Some say that the simpler cello suites were composed first; others that the violin works were prompted by Bach being the concertmaster in Weimar while having no working experience with the cello.? Perhaps, instead of academic, dualistic (binary) thinking, both collections may have evolved at the same time, 1720. ?
The following is an annotated bibliography of important studies of Bach's chamber music, from monographs to articles with a variety of perspectives.?
Series VI:? Chamber Music, Neue Bach Ausgabe (New Bach Edition, Complete Works).? Kassel:? B?renreiter,? 1958-2013).? Five volumes in German, each with critical commentary:? works for violin, cello solo suites, flute, viola da gamba and harpsichord, and various ().? Recently completed are a New Bach Revised Edition of the Music for Violin () and the Cello Suites (, ), while a new edition of "Chamber Music with Flute" is in preparation ().? The most recent study is the NBA Series VI:5, Verschiedene [Various] Kammermusikwerke (: Contents), involving duo sonatas for flute or violin and harpsichord continuo.?
Vogt, Hans.? Johann Sebastian Bach's Chamber Music:? Background, Analyses, Individual Works, Eng. trans. Kenn Johnson.? Portland OR:? Amadeus Press, 1988;? original, Johann Sebastian Bachs Kammermusik: Voraussetzungen, Analysen, Einzelwerke (Stuttgart:? GmbH & Co., 1981).? Overview, .? The only English language study of the chamber music.
Rampe, Siegbert, ed.? Bachs Orchester- und Kammermusik: Das Handbuch, Vol. 5.? Laaber:? Laaber-Verlag, 2013).? Review, .? The emphasis is on historical performance practice while exploring 12 publications on Bach's chamber music.
Brieg, Werner.? "The instrumental music," Part II:? Profiles of the Music, trans. Stewart Spencer.? In The Cambridge Companion to Bach, edited by John Butt, 123-35.? Cambridge:? Cambridge University Press, 1997.? Covers BWV 1001-1069, solo, ensemble sonatas, concertos, overtures.
Articles
Geck, Martin? "The Instrumental Works," 525-607.? In Johann Sebastian Bach:? Life and Work, trans. John Hargraves.? Orlando FL: ? Harcourt, 2006.? Geck begins with the keyboard works (fugues, chorales) and then the chamber works ("Sonatas and Suites"), presenting all manner of anecdotes and insights with an extensive but abbreviated footnote style.
Jones, Richard D. P.? Articles "The Brandenburg Concertos and other instrumental works," 65-105; "The Harpsichord concertos and other instrumental works," 248-70; and "The Musical Offering and other instrumental works," 363-73. ? In The Creative Development of Johann Sebastian Bach:? Music to Delight the Spirit, Vol. II:? 1717-1750.? Oxford:? Oxford University Press, 2013.? This is a selective survey of Bach's compositions by categories and periods, including historical context, genres, and musical ingredients. Nicholas Kenyon, "Instrumental music," 342-81.? In Bach:? The Faber Pocket Guide to Bach.? London: Faber, 2011.? This concise study of Bach's music involves the orchestral works and concertos, BWV 1041-69, as well as the chamber music and lute music, BWV 995-1040, including highlights, alternate versions, and recordings.? The material updated and abridged in Kenyon's "Chamber Works," in Bach 333:? The Music, 163-72, J. S. Bach:? The New Complete Edition (Berlin:? Deutsch Grammaphon, 2018).? Another "complete" set of Bach's music with extensive commentary from the Bach Archiv Leipzig, observing the 333rd anniversary of Bach's birth (1685).
Ledbetter, David? "Instrumental Chamber and Ensemble Music," 317-57.? In The Routledge Research Companion to Johann Sebastian Bach. ed. Robin A Leaver.? London:? Routledge: 2017.? This is a research guide in essay form from leading Bach scholars on subjects and genres, including surveys and such topics as "Aspects of Performance," "French Overtures," "Performance Analysis," "Instruments," "Pitch and Intonation," "Forces," "Analytical Approaches" (styles, genres, improvisation, interpretations) and Work Groups (BWV 1001-1069).? The bibliographies are found in the footnotes for each chapter.
Terry, Charles Sanford.? "The Chamber Music."? In The Music of Bach:? An Introduction, 43-54.? New York, Dover, 1933. ? Before the BWV catalog, the music is identified by editions; includes solo, suites, sonatas, concertos, overtures; with tables.
Wolff, Christoph? "Bach's Leipzig Chamber Music." In Bach: ? Essays on His Life and Music.? Cambridge MA:? Harvard University Press, 1991.? Except for the solo works, BWV 1001-1012, this covers the works for instrumental ensemble, BWV 1014-1069 and the Musical Offering, BWV 1079, showing that these works have a history in Leipzig, 1725-47; music performed at home, the Collegium Musicum and other Leipzig venues, and during travels.
In addition to Kenyon's survey of music through recordings, there are liner notes on chamber music in "complete" recording edition collections from H?nssler Edition Bachakademie (CD 155-156, 161-168), Bach 2000 Das Alte Werke Teldec (Bach 2000: vol.11, ), and Brilliant Classics (CD 9-17, 19-20, 22, ).? These recordings omit works that are considered doubtful, reworkings, or assemblages, especially clavier/continuo sonatas (BWV 1020-26) and trio sonatas (1036-1038).? These may be found in individual recordings on various labels.
There are a growing number of Bach realizations or transcriptions.? For example, recordings include the guitarist Paul Galbraith (), lutenist Hopkinson Smith (), and violist Scott Slapin (). The solo violin and cello works, BWV 1001-1012 have been arranged for viola and recorded often, most notably the print editions of Meyer/Vieland (violin) and William Primrose (5 suites). ? More than any other performer, guitarist Andres Segovia (1893-1987, ) brought Bach music to the fore in the 20th century with his transcriptions, performances, and recordings of movements from the violin, cello, and lute solo works (BWB 995-1012, ).? Others who have added to the repertory with transcriptions include cellist Yo-Yo Ma and friends (), flutist James Galway (BWV 1067, 1032, 1044, ), oboist Albrecht Meyer (), guitarist Sharon Isbin (), trumpeter Alison Balsom (), and violinist Laura St. John ().? Reconstructions of clavier concertos for violin and oboe have spurred other reconstructions (), first published in 1970, :? "Contents."
At the heart of Bach's pursuit of chamber music in C?then was the rare genre of unaccompanied solo works in sonata and suite genres beginning with the violin and cello works, BWV 1001-1012, followed primarily in Leipzig with the duo sonatas for violin, flute, and viola da gamba, as well as 24 transcriptions of 14 of these works for different instruments and the perfection of the solo pieces. ? During much of this time Bach also composed works for lute or lute harpsichord while focusing on the flute in Leipzig. ? The music was intended for varied purposes:? to teach composition to family members, students, and friends; to develop a repertory to reflect emerging genres and tastes, and to meet the needs of a growing general public to experience music first-hand. ?
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To Come: ? The collections of the solo string works for violin and cello.?
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William Hoffman
William Hoffman