Bach Gesellschaft

A page from the Bach-Gesellschaft edition of J.S. Bach's "St. Matthew Passion," BWV 244, as published in 1856.

The Bach-Gesellschaft was a society formed in 1850 for the express purpose of publishing the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach without editorial additions.

Origins of the Bach-Gesellschaft

The founders of the society were Moritz Hauptmann, cantor of St. Thomas' in Leipzig (and thus a successor of Bach); Otto Jahn, author of a noted biography of Mozart; Carl Ferdinand Becker, teacher at the Leipzig Conservatory; and the composer Robert Schumann.^[1]

Publication history

The Bach-Gesellschaft began publishing Bach's works in 1851 with a volume that started with BWV 1, the cantata "Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern."^[2] It completed publication in 1900 with its forty-sixth volume.^[3] However, the edition of The Art of Fugue by Wolfgang Graeser, published in 1926, is sometimes counted as "Volume 47"^[4] and was issued as a supplement to the Bach-Gesellschaft publication by Breitkopf & Härtel, publishers of the original series.^[5] Additionally, Vol. 45, part 1 includes a revised edition ("Neue berichtige Ausgabe")^[6] of the English Suites and French Suites that had previously been published in Vol. 13.

Quality of the edition

The volumes varied somewhat in editorial quality and accuracy; Bach scholar Hans T. David particularly criticized Vol. 31's presentation of The Musical Offering for numerous incorrect readings,^[7] and the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica calls the edition as a whole "of very unequal merit." Britannica both lauds the editing of Wilhelm Rust for the edition and notes a deterioration of standards after his death, including a volume in which "the bass and violin are a bar apart for a whole line" (apparently a reference to sloppy editing).^[8] In his edition of the Goldberg Variations, Ralph Kirkpatrick also calls attention to several "mistakes of the Bachgesellschaft edition" that he has corrected, particularly with regard to the presentation of ornaments.^[9] (It is worth noting that the Bach-Gesellschaft volume containing the Goldbergs was one of the first to be published--Vol. 3, which appeared in 1853.)

However, the Bach-Gesellschaft's volumes were a groundbreaking achievement and contributed greatly to the study of, and appreciation of, Bach's music. They remained the standard edition of Bach's complete works until the publication of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe, begun in 1954 and published by Bärenreiter.^[10]

References

1. ^ Hans T. David & Arthur Mendel, eds. (1998). The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents ((Revised and expanded by Christoph Wolff) ed.). NY: Norton. pp. 503–4. ISBN 0-393-31956-3. 
2. ^ Christoph Wolff; et al. (1983). The New Grove Bach Family. NY: Norton. p. 178. ISBN 0-393-30088-9.  (Worklist for J.S. Bach).
3. ^ Hans T. David & Arthur Mendel, eds. (1998). The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents ((Revised and expanded by Christoph Wolff) ed.). NY: Norton. p. 504. ISBN 0-393-31956-3. 
4. ^ Johann Sebastian Bach (1992). The Art of the Fugue and A Musical Offering. NY: Dover. title page verso and "Publisher's Note" on unnumbered page. ISBN 0-486-27006-8. 
5. ^ Tunnicliffe, Stephen (Spring 2000). "Wolfgang Graeser (1906-28): A forgotten genius". The Musical Times. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3870/is_200004/ai_n8899522/pg_1. Retrieved on 2007-04-27. 
6. ^ Ernst Naumann, ed. (1895). Joh. Seb. Bach's Clavierwerke (Zweiter Band. Neue berichtige Ausgabe. ed.). Leipzig: Herausgegeben von der Bach-Gesellschaft. title page. 
7. ^ Hans T. David (1972). J.S. Bach's Musical Offering. History, Interpretation, and Analysis ((reprint of orig. ed. by G. Schirmer) ed.). NY: Dover Publications. p. 102. ISBN 0-486-22768-5. 
8. ^ "Johann Sebastian Bach". 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica. http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Johann_Sebastian_Bach. 
9. ^ Ralph Kirkpatrick, ed. (1938). J.S. Bach, The "Goldberg" Variations, Piano or Harpsichord. NY: G. Schirmer Inc.. p. 82. ISBN 0-7935-2245-5. 
10. ^ Christoph Wolff; et al. (1983). The New Grove Bach Family. p. 172.  (section of J.S. Bach article re: "Bach Revival").

External links

• Bach Gesellschaft Download Page - the BGA volumes available for download in DJVU format.
• Bach-Gesellschaft Edition - A complete list of volumes with German titles and publication dates.
• Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe at IMSLP - completely sorted, indexed and split in PDF according to BWV index.

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