J. S. BACH Jonathan Berkahn - Victoria University - Victoria ...

‘originality’—of historical priority, that is to say—but his awareness of the aesthetic
possibilities of specifically fugal processes; an awareness it proved impossible to
communicate fully to the next generation. But analysis of individual works will show
only so much. Comparisons between particular works of J. S. Bach and J. L. Krebs
have given us an insight into subtle but important differences of approach; but this
insistence upon comparing like with like overlooks the most important difference
between them. On a case by case basis, Krebs can indeed almost keep up with Bach,
for a while at least. Some of his preludes and fugues are comparably well-wrought, his
chorale preludes a worthy continuation of their tradition, his trios are delightful, the
pieces for organ and obbligato instrument a valuable addition to the repertoire. When
we consider their clavier works, however, Bach draws ahead more decisively, and if
we factor in his enormous output of cantatas, concertos, chamber music, motets,
masses,and passions, there is simply no comparison.
Furthermore, across this entire spectrum, J. S. Bach maintains an
extraordinarily high standard of workmanship and musical interest, whereas while
some of Krebs’s works are rich and interesting, others are astonishingly jejune, or
contain passages that are so. It is hard to believe that the same person who wrote
Exx.1.14 and 1.15 was also responsible for Ex.1.27.
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