Johann Sebastian Bach - booksnow.scholarsportal.info

212 JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.would give expression to this medium character. Thatinstrument is the pedal clavier with two manuals. Theoriginal MSS. distinctly state them to be for that instrument,and the title of " Organ Sonatas " now in use is,strictly speaking, incorrect. In his organ music proper,Bach turned to account much of his chamber music. Buthe took care not to transfer the forms without alteration,and in their entirety. We possess neither genuine organsonatas by him nor organ concertos. In contrast to Handel,he never ceased to regard the organ as devoted to the serviceof the church.These six sonatas were intended to complete the educationof his eldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann, as an organist.^^^They were produced gradually ; the first movement of the Dminor sonata dates from about 1722 ; the Adagio andVivace of the E minor sonata belonged originally to thechurch cantata " Die Himmel erzählen," of the year 1723;the last movement of the same sonata and the Largo of theC major sonata must have been middle movements insertedbetween the preludes and fugues in G major and C majorrespectively, and therefore date from the Cöthen or theWeimar period. The whole collection must have beencompleted between 1727 and 1733, since in the latter yearFriedemann Bach was appointed organist in Dresden ; wemay with more exactitude put the completion of the worksoon after 1727.^^' It is easiest to understand these sonatasif we take them up after the six violin sonatas alreadymentioned. Fully equal to them in wealth of ideas, ininteresting working-out, in masterly treatment of the threepartwriting, and in sharpness of contrast between eachother, they have a limited individuality consequent on the396 Forkel, p. 60.397 Both the existing original MSS. bear the sign M A. See Appendix A.,No. 34. Only one of these is autograph ; the other was written as far asto page 48 inclusive, by Friedemann Bach, and from that point by AnnaMagdalena, Sebastian having only put in a few additions. For the rest seethe preface to B.-G., XV., in which Vol. the sonatas are pubhshed, andP. S. v., Cah I (240), with Griepenkerl's preface.