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

Bach. Not only is it stylistically indistinguishable from these works, it gives much the
same pleasure; both aurally, for the listener, and physically, for the performer. 75 I
mention this specifically because it is easy to forget, in our ever-refined examination of
stylistic ‘fingerprints’ and patterns of transmission, Bach’s avowed intention of
creating music for ‘the glory of God and the refreshment of the spirit’. In thinking of
these pieces as puzzles to be solved, as indicators of historical style-shifts, or as texts
to be deconstructed, it is possible to forget that they were also intended to be a source
of pleasure. As we explore the works of other Bach followers we will find many
pieces that are difficult to distinguish from his own on any concrete stylistic grounds;
we will find few that give the same sort of musical enjoyment.
JOHANN LUDWIG KREBS: ORGAN FUGUES
If Wilhelm Friedemann Bach never seems to have found his place in the world,
Johann Ludwig Krebs had few doubts about his. He was an organist first and last: no
Kantor or Kapellmeister, which is why, for all his outstanding gifts, he was not chosen
to succeed his teacher at Leipzig. His father Johann Tobias was also an organist and
had studied with Bach in Weimar; all three of Ludwig’s sons would follow the same
path.
The situation of an organist in the middle the eighteenth century was not what
it had been fifty or a hundred years earlier. Church resources were increasingly
depleted, and what money there was was seldom spent upon music. Concerted music
became rarer. Organs fell into disrepair. Organists found it hard to survive. It is
disturbing to read their biographies and discover how many—even the very greatest—
died in or near poverty. The list is long, including J. G. Walther, W. F. Bach, J. C.
75 The invigorating tactile pleasure in getting one’s fingers around J. S. Bach’s textures is an important
stylistic characteristic, perhaps liable to be overlooked.
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