Johann Sebastian Bach and his followers

Johann Sebastian Bach’s music, including his works for organ, has exerted a huge influence on the development of schools of composition from later epochs. As Bach embraced the organ, an instrument without which it is hard to imagine not just German culture, but in a sense German history as well, so too did other representatives of the German school (Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Max Reger) and the Hungarian school (Franz Liszt).

It is arguably in the music of Robert Schumann that elements of genres and forms typical of Bach’s writing style first appeared. These include the important role of the fugue. The composer himself spoke of his “obsession” with this form. Robert Schumann started out along this path in 1845 with his fugues for piano, Op. 72 (the original title was Character Fugues), and later he began work on the “Bachian” organ pieces (Six Organ Fugues on B-A-C-H, Op. 60). Work on this cycle made the composer turn to the so-called Pedalflügel (pedal piano) – a piano equipped with a special pedal mechanism that could be used like a “house organ”. This was a teaching instrument used in home conditions to perfect organ playing technique. Despite the external similarity, the Pedalflügel in no way resembled the sound of the organ, as it essentially remained a keyed instrument. Drawn by the Pedalflügel, Robert Schumann turned to works intended especially for it. These works include Studien für den Pedalflügel. Sechs Stücke in kanonischer Form, Op. 56 and Skizzen für den Pedalflügel, Op. 58.

Reviving the traditions of the great organ maestro Johann Sebastian Bach, Max Reger composed his Fantasia and Fugue in D Minor, Op. 135b, which is dedicated to Richard Strauss. The work was premiered one month after the composer’s death on 11 June 1916 in Hanover, and was performed by Herman Dettmer. Referring back to the genre prototype of Bach’s (baroque) cycle of the organ fantasia and fugue, the composer used this to create a grandiose symphonic poem. Turning to works for organ after a break of eight years was due to the composer’s revived collaboration with the organist Karl Straube, who often performed Weber’s works. The story behind this piece, which came to light after the composer’s death, conceals a kind of mystery. There are two versions of the Fantasia and Fugue: a fuller version and a more concise one. Their existence was to be the source of many longstanding quarrels in the music world – should the “cut” version or the later, fuller version be considered authoritative. And it was only after the rediscovery of certain materials that the authenticity of the composer’s original “cut version” was established, having served as the basis for the first edition in 1916.

The chorale is one of the most important genres in Johann Sebastian Bach’s music. It formed the basis for many of his works and was essentially his natural genre. The protestant chorale stands beyond the limits of living human emotion – it is a religious work. Johannes Brahms introduced fundamental changes in the understanding of the genre. His attitude to the chorale passed into an emotional sphere. For the composer, apart from the religious content, the most sacred emotion was concentrated in the chorale. His Eleven Choral Preludes, Op. 122 (1896) is a chain of lyrical monologues enunciated in the form of a chorale. The prelude Herzliebster Jesu was written in the “Bachian” spirit of a comment on the chorale. To reflect the text in detail, the composer uses rhetorical figures linked with an effect of suffering in the music. The chorale Herzlich tut mich verlangen forms the dramatic culmination of the work.

The genre of the Prelude and Fugue on the Theme B-A-C-H (1856) takes on fantastical colour in the music of Franz Liszt, imbued with romantic pathétique. Following the sons of Johann Sebastian Bach, both Robert Schumann and Max Reger turned to writing a cycle on the basis of this theme. Franz Liszt’s typical scherzo-like Mephistophelian spirit and demonism reign triumphant in both parts of the cycle. Unlike Johannes Brahms, who strictly adhered to the laws of counterpoint in his organ music, Franz Liszt used the baroque model as an artistic symbol with which to embody his own poetic idea.

Even today, Johann Sebastian Bach’s music remains a “Bible”, a summary of “musical commandments” for many composers. It was not by chance that Robert Schumann called Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier “bread and butter” in his Home and Life Rules for Musicians.

Anna Kolenkova

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