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

popularity arise purely from a minor anomaly of reception history?
Unfortunately we will never know, as the manuscript was lost during the
second world war. Even if it were found, however, how much faith could we place in
our revised evaluation? Although the unfamiliarity of its arrangement and its context
might encourage us to see the song in a new, more detached light, it is impossible to
separate our personal emotional engagement with this piece from the critical
assessment we make. Just as we cannot simply ‘un-know’ our previous experience of
the piece, we cannot hear it as just another of the Airs divers comp. par M. Stölzel.
In Das Kantatenschaffen von Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, 11 Fritz Hennenberg
outlines the difficulties that have stood in the way of the appreciation of Stölzel’s other
works. Complete editions have been proposed several times (notably by Max
Schneider in 1910 and Armin Fett in 1930), but never undertaken. Editions of nearly
all his instrumental works (mostly concertos and trio sonatas) have been published, but
his vocal works remain comparatively untouched. The reasons are not hard to find—
with 472(!) surviving cantatas to choose from, where does one begin? After all,
performances of choral works require larger forces and more organisation than
chamber or keyboard works. And yet, for all his considerable historical interest, it has
to be admitted that the students of Stölzel and his music have shown none of the
urgency, the centrality, the driving cultural imperative with which the nineteenth
century undertook the unearthing of J. S. Bach. Even Hennenberg, one of the leading
Stölzel experts (and presumably enthusiasts), concludes his tercentenary article thus:
‘Stölzel, today? Now that his anniversary has arrived, he receives honour—but few
performances. Yet in comparison to many of his contemporaries he deserves greater
justice. Stölzel redivivus? Certainly—in moderation.’ 12
There was nothing ‘moderate’ about the Bach revival. Samuel Wesley, Forkel,
11 Leipzig: V.E.B. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, 1976.
12 ‘“...ein Bach durchaus ebenbürtiger Instrumentalkomponist”? Zum 300. Geburtstag von Gottfried
Heinrich Stölzel’, Neue Zeitschrift für Musik 151/1 (Jan 1990), 13.
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