Naumburg is a German town located about fifty km from Leipzig.

St. Wenzel's Church (St. Wenzelskirche von Naumburg) is a splendid Baroque church. It received a first organ around 1705. But under the influence of JS Bach and also, very probably, of Gottfried Silbermann, the organ builder Zacharias Hildebrandt was called upon, who, at the time, was considered one of the great masters of organ building baroque. We know that Bach exercised a great influence, as an advisor, in the building of organs in the Leipzig region. We also know that he tried some of the instruments of the region. The Hildebrandt organ in Naumburg is a very important instrument: it is one of the rare Baroque organs to have received, from the beginning, 3 keyboards and a 32' pedal stop. It was therefore, for its time, a certainly considerable organ. The Naumburg organ therefore dates from the years 1743-46, originally. In 1748 Bach wrote to the Naumburg Town Council to nominate his son-in-law JC Altnikol as organist of St. Wenzel's Church. We know, at least, that Altnikol participated, in 1753, in the harmonization of the Naumburg organ. Unfortunately, JS Bach's assessment of the new Naumburg organ has not been preserved in the city archives. We see, in any case, that JS Bach had the opportunity to be involved in the creation of this instrument, which obviously makes this organ particularly precious. We also know for sure that JS Bach played this instrument.

This organ, unfortunately, had to undergo inevitable transformations over the centuries: 1834 = change of arrangement of the stops by the maker Friedrich Beyer, with loss of 11 registers and different harmonization (the A is higher); 1864 = the maker F. Ladegast adds a Posaune 32' and a Violin 32'; 1911-17 = Oskar Ladegast changes the layout, transforms the windchests of the Oberwerk, raises the tuning fork; 1932-33 = Walcker from Ludwgisburg installs electro-pneumatic traction, notably registers, and tunes the instrument higher (there, the "damage" is more serious). In 1992, the City of Naumburg organized an international symposium around this organ, with the participation of the Association "Förderkreis Hildebrandt-Orgel" (we would now say: the Friends of the Hildebrandt Organ of Naumburg). At the end of this Symposium, a unanimous and decisive vote firmly recommended the restoration of the organ to its condition of 1746, the condition that JS Bach knew. The state of the premises is not very glorious (1993 inventory): the buffet is weakened; Hildebrandt's 3 keyboards are electrified (!); it has 60 games also electrically controlled; Hauptwerk, Positif back, Crankset are electro-pneumatic traction; 33% of pipes were shortened to match sounds 2 semitones higher; internal parts of the instrument have been modified. To reconstruct (reconstitute), from existing original elements, this remarkable instrument, it was necessary to consult the archives of the City of Naumburg from the date of 1743 and find all the photographic documentation established during Walcker's intervention (1932/33). This very important work was entrusted to the organ factory Hermann Eule Orgelbau in Bautzen, a factory which had already been maintaining this organ since 1960. This factory surrounded itself, for this colossal work, with organists, renowned organologists and scientists of sound matter and metal alloys. These people submitted a very detailed report in April 2001. This report marks the end of the work. After these immense, scientifically conducted efforts, the Hildebrandt organ in Naumburg was reconstructed, and we can say that the current instrument corresponds to the one played by JS Bach. The final harmonization was carried out according to the method of Johann Georg Neidhart restoring the tuning made by Bach's son-in-law, JC Altnikol, in 1753 (Neidhardt I 1724). Johann Sebastian Bach [ʒɑ̃sebastjɛ̃ bak]1 (in German: Johann Sebastian Bach [ˈjoːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ]2 Listen), born in Eisenach (Duchy of Saxe-Eisenach) on Mars 21, 1685 ( Mars 31, 1685 in the Gregorian calendar) and died in Leipzig on July 28, 1750, is a composer, musician, and in particular German organist.

The most prominent member of the Bach family — the most prolific family of musicians in history — his career took place entirely in central Germany, within the framework of his native region, serving small municipalities, unimportant princely courts political, then the municipal council of Leipzig, which showed him little consideration: thus, he never obtained a position commensurate with his genius and his importance in the history of Western music, despite the consideration of certain sovereigns Germans, such as Frederick the Great, for the “Cantor of Leipzig”.

Orphaned at an early age, his first training was provided by his father, Johann Ambrosius Bach, then by his older brother, Johann Christoph Bach. But he is also an autodidact3, passionate about his art, tirelessly copying and studying the works of his predecessors and contemporaries, developing his science of composition and particularly of counterpoint to a level unknown before him and, since then, never surpassed4. Johann Sebastian Bach is a virtuoso of several instruments, the violin and the viola, but especially the harpsichord and the organ. On these last two instruments, his exceptional gifts cause the admiration and astonishment of all his listeners; he claims to play everything at first sight and can improvise a three-part fugue on the spot. He also has recognized and highly sought-after skills in instrumental expertise.

At the crossroads of the main European musical traditions (Germanic countries, France and Italy), he produced a very innovative synthesis for his time. Although he did not create a new musical form, he practiced all genres existing at his time, with the exception of opera: in all these areas, his compositions, of which only ten were printed during his lifetime, show an exceptional quality in melodic invention, in contrapuntal development, in harmonic science, in lyricism.

Bach's music achieves the perfect balance between counterpoint and harmony, before the latter takes precedence from the middle of the 18th century. He is, in particular, the great master of the fugue, the chorale prelude, the religious cantata and the suite, which he brought to the highest degree of completion. The main destination of his works depends greatly on the functions performed: organ pieces in Arnstadt, Mühlhausen or Weimar, chamber and orchestral pieces in Cöthen, religious pieces in Leipzig in particular.

Inspired by a deep Christian faith, his contemporaries often considered him an austere musician, too scholarly and less forward-looking than some of his colleagues. He trained numerous students and passed on his knowledge to several musical sons for whom he composed a number of pieces with a didactic vocation, leaving, however, no writings or treatises. But the end of his life was devoted to the composition, collection and editing of masterful works or cycles synthesizing and concretizing his theoretical contribution, constituting a sort of “musical testament”.

Little known during his lifetime outside of Germany, out of fashion and more or less forgotten after his death, fully rediscovered in the 19th century, his work, comprising more than a thousand compositions, is generally considered the achievement and crowning achievement of the Baroque musical tradition: it is admired by the greatest musicians, aware of its extraordinary artistic value. The object, among musicologists and musicians, of a cult5, which was able to arouse the irony of Berlioz6, Jean-Sébastien Bach is considered, since his rediscovery in the 19th century, as one of the greatest composers of all time, if that is not like the greatest7.
Biography
Origins

Like many musicians of the 17th and 18th centuries, Johann Sebastian Bach came from a family of musicians: but the Bach family - perhaps coming from Hungary in the 16th century and settling in Thuringia to be able to freely practice their Lutheran faith - is the most numerous of all8.

A document, probably established by Johann Sebastian Bach himself, provides information on the genealogy and biography of fifty-three musicians who are members of this family; it is entitled Ursprung der musicalisch-Bachschen Familie (Origin of the family of Bach musicians) and three copies exist, in the absence of the autograph manuscript9.

In fact, this family exercises a sort of monopoly on all music practiced in the region: its members are town, court, church musicians, cantors, instrument makers, dominating the musical life of all the towns in the region. region, nBach had his first audition in 1702, in Sangerhausen, west of Halle. The aim was to find a successor to Gottfried Christoph Gräffenhayn who had just died on July 9, 1702. Despite the excellent hearing he gave, the duke himself, Johann Georg of Saxe-Weissenfels, opposed this appointment and awarded the position to the grandson of a former holder of this office. At the beginning of Mars 1703, freshly graduated, Bach took a position as court musician in the chapel of Duke John Ernest III of Saxe-Weimar in Weimar, a large city in Thuringia. “He was employed as a lackey and violinist in the chamber orchestra of the brother of the Duke of Weimar36. ". In seven months, until mid-September 1703, he established a solid reputation as an organist and was invited to inspect and inaugurate the new organ of the Church of St. Boniface in Arnstadt, southwest of Weimar. . He is eighteen years old.
photo: Lübeck church
St. Mary's Church, Lübeck.

In August 1703, he accepted the position of organist of this church38,39, which provided him with light duties, a relatively generous salary, and access to a new and modern organ. The Bach family has always maintained close ties in this city, the oldest in Thuringia. But this period was not without tensions: he was apparently not satisfied with the choir. Conflicts broke out and, for example, he came to blows with a bassoonist, Johann Heinrich Geyersbach. His employers reproached him for excessive absence during his trip to Lübeck: he announced that he was leaving for four weeks, but only returned four months later, walking four hundred kilometers to visit Buxtehude40 in order to attend the famous Abendmusiken (Concerts evening) at Sainte-Marie church41. It was at this time that Bach completed his art of counterpoint and his mastery of monumental constructions42.

Returning to Arnstadt in January 170643 — after having visited Johann Adam Reinken in Hamburg and Georg Böhm in Lüneburg — the consistory strongly criticized his new way of accompanying the office, interspersing stanzas and using such a rich counterpoint that the chorale is no longer recognizable44. In this case, the following reproach was made to him45: “how is it, sir, that since your return from Lübeck, you have been introducing into your improvisations, much too long in fact, modulations such as the assembly in is very troubled? » The consistory also accused him of taking advantage of the sermons to slip away and join the wine cellar, and of playing music in the church with a “foreign young lady”, his cousin Maria Barbara46.
Mühlhausen
engraving: Mühlhausen in 1650
Mühlhausen in 1650
(engraving by Matthäus Merian).

The death of the organist of the Saint-Blaise church in Mühlhausen, located sixty kilometers from Arnstadt, gave him the opportunity he had been waiting for: from autumn 1707 to mid-July 1708, he was organist at Mühlhausen. There he wrote his first cantata (perhaps BWV 131), a prelude to a monumental liturgical work to which was added the organ work. During his life he composed more than three hundred cantatas, corresponding to five complete years of liturgical cycle. Several dozen of these compositions are lost, part of which dates from this period.

Mühlhausen was then a small town in Thuringia, recently devastated by fire, and Bach struggled to find accommodation at a suitable price. On October 17, 1707, in Dornheim near Arnstadt32, he married his cousin Maria Barbara47, whose soprano tone he admired. He must fight to build up a suitable dowry, helped by the modest inheritance from his uncle Tobias Lämmerhirt48, and to give his wife a place in the performances, because until the 19th century women were generally not admitted to the podium. of honor. They had seven children, four of whom reached adulthood, including Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel.

Bach brings together a library of German music, and puts the choir and new orchestra to work. He reaped the fruits of his labor when the cantata BWV 71, inspired by Buxtehude47,48, written for the inauguration of the new council was performed in the Marienkirche, where this council had its headquarters49, on February 4, 1708.

The government of Mühlhausen is satisfied with the musician: it makes no difficulty in renovating at great expense the organ of the Divi-Blasii-Kirche (Blasiuskirche or Saint-Blaise church) (de) and entrusts him with the supervision of the work. The government also published at its own expense the cantata BWV 71, one of the rare works (and the only cantata50) by Bach published during his lifetime, and twice invited the composer back to conduct it.

However, a controversy arose within the city51: the orthodox Lutherans, lovers of music, opposed the pietists, who were more puritanical and who refused the arts. Bach, whose direct superior, Johann Adolf Frohne, was a pietist, felt that the situation
Vocal works

    Cantatas BWV 4, BWV 9, BWV 21, BWV 35, BWV 51, BWV 56, BWV 78, BWV 82, BWV 106, BWV 127, BWV 136, BWV 140 (Cantata du Vieilleur), BWV 146, BWV 147 (Que ma joy abides), BWV 177, BWV 198 (Trauer-Ode), BWV 201, BWV 205, BWV 208, BWV 211 and BWV 212.
    Motets, BWV 225 to BWV 231.
    Mass in B minor BWV 232.
    Magnificat, BWV 243.
    Passion according to Saint Matthew, BWV 244.
    Passion according to Saint John, BWV 245.
    Christmas Oratorio, BWV 248.

Organ works

    BWV 525-530: six trio sonatas including the Trio Sonata for organ in E minor, BWV 528.
    BWV 531-566: preludes, fantasies, toccatas and fugues (including the Toccata and fugue in D minor for organ BWV 565 and some other pairs of preludes and fugues or fantasies and fugues like BWV 534, 538 “Dorienne”), 541, 542 “Grande”, 543, 544, 545, 546, 548, 552 (Prelude and triple fugue), 564 (Toccata, adagio and fugue).
    BWV 568-590 and 598 and 1027a: various pieces (fugues, preludes, trios, passacaglia, pastorale, canzona, etc.) including the Passacaglia and fugue in C minor, BWV 582.
    BWV 592-596: five organ concertos (transcriptions) including the Organ Concerto in A minor BWV 593.
    BWV 599-644: the forty-five chorales from the Orgelbüchlein (Little Organ Book).
    BWV 645-650: the six Schübler chorales including the chorale Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645.
    BWV 651-668: the eighteen chorales of Leipzig including the chorales Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele, BWV 654, and Nun komm der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659.
    BWV 669-689: the third part of the Clavierübung (Lutheran Mass).
    BWV 690-713: the twenty-four chorales from the Kirnberger collection.
    BWV 714-740: twenty-seven various chorales.
    BWV 741-765: twenty-five various chorales.
    BWV 766-770 and 802-805: partitas and duettos.
    BWV 1093-1120: chorales from the Neumeister collection.

Harpsichord/piano
score: BACH in musical notes
Bach's musical signature: BACH which corresponds to the notes B-flat – A – C – B-natural in German notation.

    Inventions and sinfonias, BWV 772–801.
    The Six English Suites, BWV 806–811.
    The six French Suites, BWV 812–817.
    The six partitas for harpsichord, BWV 825–830.
    The Well-Tempered Clavier, BWV 846–893.
    Chromatic fantasy and fugue, BWV 903.
    Seven toccatas, BWV 910-916.
    Italian concerto, BWV 971.
    Goldberg Variations, BWV 988.
    The Art of Fugue, BWV 1080.

Chamber music

    Sonatas and partitas for solo violin, BWV 1001–1006.
    Suites for solo cello, BWV 1007–1012
    Partita for solo flute, BWV 1013 and Flute Sonatas, BWV 1030–BWV 1035.
    The Musical Offering, BWV 1079.

Orchestra and concertos

    Violin concertos, BWV 1041, BWV 1042, BWV 1043.
    The six Brandenburg Concertos, BWV 1046–1051.
    Harpsichord concertos, BWV 1052–1065.
    Suites for orchestra, BWV 1066–1069.

Appendices
Genealogy

 
 
    Veit BACH (1520 in Hungary?-1619): miller
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    Johannes Hans BACH (1580-1626): violinist, Stadtpfeifer (de)   
 
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    ? (1563-?)
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    Christoph BACH (1613-1661): musician   
 
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    Hein SCHMIED (?-1632)
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    Anna SCHMIED (1578/1580?-1635)   
 
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    19
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    Johann Ambrosius BACH (1645-1695): city musician and court trumpeter   
 
 
 
 
    ? GRABLER (?-?)
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    Martin GRABLER (1588-?): farmer, Stadtpfeifer (fife player)   
 
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    21
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    Maria Magdalena GRABLER (1614/1616?-1661)   
 
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    22
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    ? (1593-?)   
 
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    23
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    Jean-Sébastien BACH
(1685-1750)   
 
 
 
 
    Valentin LÄMMERHIRT (1555-1640)
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    Valentin LÄMMERHIRT (1590-1646)   
 
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    Urtey BRÜLL (1555-1625)
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    Valentin LÄMMERHIRT (1610/1618?-1665)   
 
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    26
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    13   
 
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    27
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    Maria Elisabeth (KOCH) LÄMMERHIRT (1644-1694)108   
 
 
 
 
    28
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
 
    14   
 
 
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
    
 
Old works and compilations

    Johann Nikolaus Forkel (trans. Félix Grenier), Life, talents and works of Jean-Sébastien Bach, Paris, J. Baur, 1876, 287 p. (OCLC 12299063, BNF 42992389, read online [archive] [PDF])
    First biography of the composer. Translation of: Über Johann Sebastian Bachs Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke (1802)(text on Wikisource [archive])
    William Cart, Jean-Sébastien Bach, The Perseids, 2012, reissue of a work from 1885.
    Albert Schweitzer (pref. Charles-Marie Widor), Johann Sebastian Bach: The musician-poet, Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel, 1905 (OCLC 422249368, read online [archive])
    Gilles Cantagrel (trans. from German), Bach in his time: documents by JS Bach, his contemporaries and various witnesses from the 18th century, followed by the first biography on the composer published by JN Forkel in 1802, Paris, Fayard, 1997 (1st ed. . 1982), 658 p. (ISBN 2-213-60007-4, OCLC 38827650, BNF 36698655, read online [archive]). Work used for writing the article
    Composed of 405 period documents plus Forkel's biography.

Modern works

    Karl and Irène Geiringer, Bach and his family: seven generations of creative geniuses. Buchet/Chastel, 1979 (1st ed. 1955, ed. Corrêa). (OCLC 757663641)
    Luc-André Marcel, Bach, Paris, Seuil, coll. “Microcosm / Solfèges” (no. 19), 1961, 188 p. Work used for writing the article
    Adrien Rougier, The Organs of Jean-Sébastien Bach, Roudil Frères, Lyon, 1964.
    Roland de Candé, Jean-Sébastien Bach, Paris, Seuil, November 1984, 493 p. (ISBN 2-02-008505-4, OCLC 319750728, BNF 34763585). Work used for writing the article
    Alberto Basso (trans. from Italian by Hélène Pasquier), Jean-Sébastien Bach, vol. I: 1685–1723, Paris, Fayard, October 1984, 844 p. (ISBN 2-213-01407-8). Work used for writing the article
    Alberto Basso (trans. from Italian by Hélène Pasquier), Jean-Sébastien Bach, vol. II: 1723–1750, Paris, Fayard, December 1985, 1072 p. (ISBN 2-213-01649-6). Work used for writing the article
    Tim Dowley (French adaptation by Marie-José Lamorlette), Bach, Paris, Éditions Gründ, coll. “Great composers”, 1990, 96 p. (ISBN 2-7000-5504-7, OCLC 671797896, BNF 35081803). Work used for writing the article
    Philippe Zwang, Jean-Sébastien Bach, Paris, Librairie Honoré Champion, Publisher, 1990
    Paule du Bouchet, Magnificat: Jean-Sébastien Bach, the cantor, Paris, Gallimard, coll. “Discoveries” (no. 116), 1991, 192 p. (ISBN 2-07-053144-9, OCLC 24870499, BNF 35474982). Work used for writing the article
    Alberto Basso, Rediscovering Johann Sebastian Bach. Harmonia Mundi, 1997
    Gilles Cantagrel, The Windmill and the River: Air and Variations on Bach, Paris, Éditions Fayard, coll. “The paths of music”, 1998, 664 p. (ISBN 2-213-60128-3, OCLC 467090761, BNF 36709207). Work used for writing the article
    work crowned by the Charles-Cros Academy and the Academy of Fine Arts
    Davitt Moroney & Dennis Collins, Bach, a Life. Éditions Actes Sud, 2000, reissued. 2003, (ISBN 2-742741577)
    Jean Pierre Grivois, Moi JSB, Biography of the composer in the first person. Ed. Héloïse d’Ormesson, 2005
    Martin Petzoldt (trans. from German by Élise and Philippe Lesage, pref. Gilles Cantagrel), This Mars 21, 1745, Jean-Sébastien Bach… [“Ioanni Sebastiano sexagenario. Eine Erzählung um den sechzigsten Geburtstag Johann Sebastian Bachs »], Troinex/Drize, Éditions Papillon Rouge, coll. “7th note”, 2008, 111 p. (ISBN 978-2-940310-33-3 and 2-940310-33-5, OCLC 428250288, BNF 42638503)
    Jean-Luc Delut, Seeker of Eternity Jean-Sébastien Bach L'Harmattan, 2009. (ISBN 978-2-296-07958-8)
    Bertrand Dermoncourt (dir.) and Rinaldo Alessandrini, Tout Bach, Paris, Éditions Robert Laffont, coll. “Books”, 2009, 895 p. (ISBN 978-2-221-10991-5, OCLC 705761285, BNF 42108828). Work used for writing the article
    Marc Leboucher, Bach, Paris, Gallimard, coll. “Folio biographies” (no. 102), 2013, 375 p. (ISBN 978-2-07-044749-7 and 2-07-044749-9, OCLC 993639763, BNF 43628812)
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