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

These pieces are worthy to stand beside the organ trio sonatas of J. S. Bach,
which were themselves ‘written in such galant style that they still [1788] sound
good.’ 90 Krebs continued this line of development a little further; in Ex.1.14 we can
see finely detailed empfindsamer melodic writing and a largely homophonic textural
orientation (plenty of suave parallel thirds and sixths), superimposed onto a fugal
schema—it is, stylistically, identical to the genuine trio sonata quoted in Ex.0.5 (p.35).
Whilst a few of Krebs’s trio movements have more self-consciously fugal material like
the ‘allabreve’ of Ex.1.15—as was not uncommon in galant chamber music of the
time—the opening of Ex.1.14 is more typical. As models, Bach’s organ trios were to
have a particularly durable legacy, with composers such as Johann Ernst Rembt (1749-
1810) and Christian Heinrich Rinck (1770-1846) producing examples into the
nineteenth century. We can see in this genre one of the last survivals of the mid-
century galant style.
Galant elements can also be found in many of the preludes and fantasias Krebs
wrote for organ. Perhaps the most advanced (and attractive) example is a Fantasia à
gusto italiano in F (Ex.1.16). At first it reminds one of J. S. Bach at his most suave
and tender (‘Schlafe, mein Liebster’ from the Christmas Oratorio, for example)
although no real parallel can be found in his organ music. To be sure, Allein Gott
BWV 663 has an ornamented solo line in the tenor, and the quite unique Erbarm dich
BWV 721 has a similar accompaniment of repeated chords. But among his non
chorale-based organ works this sort of clear differentiation between melody and
accompaniment is very rare indeed; perhaps the nearest approach (although in both
cases the melody is in the treble) is in the Adagio of BWV 564, or maybe the Andante
which has always been associated with the Pastorale in F, BWV 590.
90 ?C. P. E. Bach, ‘Excerpt from a letter of February 27, 1788, written at ---’ [A comparison between
Bach and Handel], Allgemeine deutsches Bibliothek, 1788. In H. T. David and A. Mendel, The
Bach Reader 2 nd ed. (London: Dent, 1966), p.285.
90