Payne Teleman and Bach Evidence Borrowing
Payne Teleman and Bach Evidence Borrowing
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted
digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about
JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at
http://about.jstor.org/terms
Riemenschneider Bach Institute is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Bach
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
TELEMANN'S MUSICAL STYLE c. 1709-c . 1730
AND J, S. BACH:
THE EVIDENCE OF BORROWING
Ian Payne
1 For some recent comments on Telemann scholarship see Steven Zohn, "Music Paper at
the Dresden Court and the Chronology of Telemann's Instrumental Music," to be pub-
lished in Proceedings of the International Conference on the History, Function and
Study of Watermarks, Roanoke, VA, October 1996 (working title, forthcoming). Steven
Zohn, in his "The Ensemble Sonatas of Georg Philipp Telemann: Studies in Style, Genre
and Chronology" (diss., Cornell U., 1995), pp. 8-9 and note 17, points out how some
commentators, comparing Telemann with Bach, have dubbed the former superficial and
lacking a personal style. This view was encouraged by comments in Philipp Spitta's
influential biography Johann Sebastian Bach, His Work and Influence on the Music of
Germany, 1685-1750 (Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hrtel), Trans. Clara Bell and J. A. Fuller-
Maitland (R/1951), which, reproduced in the first edition of Grove's Dictionary of Mu-
sic and Musicians , (London, 1 890), were several times reprinted "to the great detriment
of Telemann's reputation in the English-speaking world." More recently, however, Dr.
Martin Ruhnke "has argued persuasively that comparisons between Bach and Telemann
are pointless, given their different musical aesthetics" (Zohn, "The Ensemble Sonatas,"
p. 9 note 17). While supporting Ruhnke's assessment, the present article will, I hope,
show that some comparison is inevitable.
Robert Marshall, "Bach the Progressive: Observations on His Later Works," Musical
Quarterly , LXIII/3 (1976): 313-357. See also Gerhardt Herz, "Der Lombardische
Rhythmus in Bachs Vokalschaffen," Bach-Jahrbuch 64 (1978), eds. Hans-Joachim
Schulze and Christoph Wolff (Leipzig, 1978): 148-180, who suggests that this rhythmic
device, appearing first in Bach's vocal music in 1723, is found in his instrumental works
from 1726 on.
42
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
EVIDENCE OF BORROWING 43
3 See, for example, the two five-part sonatas, TWV 44:5 and
Darmstadt, Hessische Landes- und Hochschule-bibliothek, Mus
as [D-DS], Mus. ms 1042/37 and Mus. ms 1042/15, both co
where the dark five-part textures and (in the latter work) form
rale-like subject are uncannily close in style and mood to Bach
Todesbanden (Easter, c. 1707-1 708), though there is no direct
orchestral suites copied in the mid- 1720s note, too, how styli
mande from TMV 55:C4 (D-DS, Mus. ms 1034/42) and the s
phonic lines in some of the dances from Bach's first orchestr
(BWV 1066, c. 17 13-1 723) though, again, there is no direct mus
4 The austere treatment of the tonic pedal in the opening Gravem
redolent of the opening of Bach's St. Matthew Passion than of T
inspired, galant textures and the harmonic device of simply alte
nant chords over a pedal that is so common in Musique de ta
the "Paris" Quartets of the 1730s. A strikingly similar treatmen
(Gravement, bars 12-13) is found in the Allegro-Adagio of the
Kross V. G (2), second movement, bars 73-74: see Siegfried K
konzert bei Georg Philipp Telemann (Tutzing: Hans Schnei
which also probably dates from Telemann's Eisenach or early
similarity of treatment points to a key feature of the composer'
discussed below, namely, the repetition of material: not only of
within a movement, but also of smaller units in other works, es
key.
5 The main repositories are identified at the beginning of the note section. All the Tele-
mann works cited are published unless stated otherwise, the majority in the Seveninus
Urtext Telemann Edition [SUTE] ed. Ian Payne. The main objective of the series, pub-
lished by Severinus Press (12 St. Ethelbert Close, Sutton St. Nicholas, Hereford HRI
3BF, UK, http://www.cix.co.uk/ -severinus/"), is to print the best of Telemann's unpub-
lished instrumental ensemble music (see above for sources of TWV numbers); re-editions
are also included, however - especially of certain solo concertos (no TVW listing, but see
Kross, pp. 121-172).
6 See principally J. H. Roberts, "Handel's Borrowings from Telemann: an Inventory," in
Gttinger Hndel Beitrge , I, ed. Hans Joachim Marx (Kassel: Brenreiter, 1984), pp.
147-171.
7 A few vague comparisons are offered by Peter Williams, The Organ Music of J. S.
Bach, Cambridge Studies in Music (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), I,
pp.14, 270-271; II, 181-2; III, 89-90. See especially III, p. 101, where the author, com-
menting on Telemann's statement to Johann Mattheson that he had "dressed up" some
Polish music "in an Italian coat," adds: "It is difficult to imagine J. S. Bach 'dressing up'
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
44 BACH
relationship betwee
cal borrowings as an
sical style, and brie
compositional techn
Telemann.
anything in the style of something else: Telemann's remark smacks of the glibness that is
ineradicable from his music." A fairer assessment would be that, while Bach was content
to compose conventional French-style dances, Telemann was more innovative in that his
Polish-style dances actually preserve the rustic character of Polish folk dances.
The sources for TWV 44:11 are Dresden, Schsische Landes- und Universittsbiblio-
thek Dresden, Musikabteilung [D-Dlb], 2392-Q-14 (score) and 2392-Q-14a (parts). For
another occurrence of the F major subject see, for instance, Vivaldi's version quoted in
E. Selfridge-Field, Venetian Instrumental Music From Gabrieli to Vivaldi (New York:
Dover Publications, 1975; reprint, 1994), p. 259. Another shared fugue subject occurs in
the finale of Telemann's sonata for recorder, oboe, violin and continuo ( TWV 43:G6) and
the second movement of the Sinfonia Concertata by Antonio Caldara (Vienna, ster-
reichische Nationalbibliothek, E.M. 116), whose music Telemann had studied, according
to the autobiography published in Johann Mattheson, Grundlage einer Ehren-Pforte
(Hamburg, 1740; reprint, ed. Max Schneider, Kassel: Brenreiter-Verlag, 1969).
A good example is the two fugue subjects from the overture sections of TWV 55:h4 (for
violin and strings, D-Dlb, 2392-0-15) and TWV 55:g8 (for two violins and basso con-
tinuo, D-Dlb, 2392-0-41): the headmotives are virtually identical, the treatments com-
pletely different.
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
EVIDENCE OF BORROWING 45
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
46 BACH
11 The Darmstadt text of Kross V.E (D-DS, Mus. ms 1033/64) is published in Georg
Philipp Telemann : Musikalische Werke , XXIII, ed. Siegfried Kross (Kassel: Brenreiter,
1989), but an edition taking account of another source (Rostock, Universittsbibliothek
[D-ROu], Mus. Saec. XVII. 18.51.38), recently identified by Steven Zohn, is in prepara-
tion for SUTE.
12 D-ROu, Mus. Saec. XVII. 18.45.16; reconstruction forthcoming in SUTE.
From Telemann's 1740 autobiography (see above, note 8); quoted from Richard
Petzoldt, Georg Philipp Telemann , trans. Horace Fitzpatrick (London: E. Benn, 1974),
pp. 27-28.
14 The Dresden source is Mus. 2392-0-35a and 35b. According to Ortrun Landmann,
Die Telemann-Quellen der Schsischen Landesbibliothek (Dresden, 1983), IV, p. 124,
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
EVIDENCE OF BORROWING 47
Bach copied portions of set 35a. See also Hans-Joachim Schulze, "Telemann-Pisendel-
Bach: Zu einem unbekannten Bach-Autograph" in Die Bedeutung Georg Philipp Tele-
manns fr die Entwicklung der europischen Musikkultur im 18. Jahrhundert. Bericht
ber die Internationale Wissenschaftliche Konferenz anlliche der Georg-Philipp-
Telemann-Ehrung der DDR , Magdeburg 12. bis 18. Mrz 1981 (Magdeburg, 1983), II,
pp. 73-7. (It is worth pointing out here that the opening six-part Grave bears some re-
semblance to the opening bars of the Adagio from Albinoni's Sonata in A minor for
violin and continuo, realized by H. N. Gerber, corrected by his teacher J. S. Bach, and
printed in Spitta, Johann Sebastian Bach, III, pp. 394-395.)
15 The Dresden source is Mus. 2392-0-56, and can be dated accurately by the musicians
named in the parts. See M. Fechner, "Bemerkungen zu einigen Dresdener Telemann-
Quellen," Die Bedeutung Georg Philipp Telemanns (above, note 14), II, p. 80. For a
brief discussion of sources and dating see the introduction to my edition in SUTE 43.
(The names are listed in Landmann, Die Telemann-Quellen IV, p. 124, but the accurate
dating is Fechner's.)
The evidence for the transmission of Telemann's orchestral music to Weimar is im-
pressive, and has recently been reviewed in Zohn, (The "Ensemble Sonatas," p. 45 note
30), who points out that J. S. Bach's cousin, Johann Gottfried Walther (1684-1748;
Eisenach town organist), made organ arrangements of Telemann's concertos for violin,
for violin and oboe, and of the fourth movement of the E major overture (TWV 55:E2, D-
DS, Mus. ms. 1034/96) for oboe d'amore and strings. Another firm musical connection
with the Bach family is provided by the careful transcription for keyboard, by J. S.
Bach's eldest brother and first keyboard teacher Johann Christoph Bach (1671-1721) of
Ohrdruf, of Telemann's overture TWV 55:Es4. The transcription {TWV Anh. 32:1) is
preserved in a manuscript known as the "Andreas Bach Book" (Leipzig Stdtische Bib-
liotheken, Musikabteilung, III. 8.4., fols 26-30) copied between c. 1708 and c. 1713 from
a good (possibly autograph) source, since lost, attributed to "Mr. Melante." (See Key-
board Music from the Andreas Bach Book and the Mller Manuscript, ed. R. Hill
(Cambridge, Mass: Harvard Publications in Music 16, 1991), pp. xxi-xxiii and 1 73-
186.) The missing "Melante" exemplar may antedate the two extant complete orchestral
sources (D-DS, Mus. ms. 1034/33 and Schwerin, Mecklenburgishe Landesbibliothek [D-
SW1], Mus. 5399/4, dated c. 1726 and c. 1730 respectively), for it transmits some supe-
rior readings. TWV 55:Es4 appears to be one of Telemann's earliest surviving orchestral
suites - possibly from as early as 1712, the first recorded use by Telemann of the "Mel-
ante" anagram (see Zohn, "Music Paper at the Dresden Court," p. 6, note 15; and my
critical edition in SUTE 78).
17 Bach's autograph parts for Kross 2V. G(l) are D-Dlb, Mus. 2392-0-3 5a; the sug-
gested date is from Schulze, "Telemann-Pisendel-Bach," II, p. 73.
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
48 BACH
Telemann's Sonata in
Partita in E Minor (
18 D-DS, Mus. ins. 1033/91; D-Dlb, Mus. 2392-0-17a and 17b. The suggested dates of
Bach's arrangement are from H.-J. Schulze, "J. S. Bach's Concerto-Arrangements for
Organ: Studies or Commissioned Works?" Organ Yearbook , III (1972), pp. 4-12. There
is evidence that Bach may have arranged another Telemann concerto (?now lost), for an
entry in an Erfurt auction catalogue dated 1810 reads: "Telemann, Concerto appropriato
all'organo di J. S. Bach, f-dur, geschr." (See Kirsten Beiwenger, Johann Sebastian
Bachs Notenbibliothek (Kassel: Brenreiter, 1992), pp. 69, 378-379.)
19 The information on Endler in this paragraph is taken from S. Zohn, "The Ensemble
Sonatas," p. 539. Endler's handwriting was first classified in three stages by B. Stewart,
in an unpublished study (1988-1989) conducted with Dr. Oswald Bill of Darmstadt, of
copyists' hands and paper-types in the Darmstadt Telemann Collection.
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
EVIDENCE OF BORROWING 49
Although this work shares an overall mood with some other Tele-
mann and Bach compositions in the same key, it is the second fugai
Allegro that sounds most like J. S. Bach. There Telemann's thematic
material strongly resembles that employed by Bach in the opening Pre-
lude (later called Toccata) of his keyboard Partita VI in E Minor (see
examples 2 a/b).
20 According to the autobiography that Telemann supplied for Mattheson's Grosse Gen-
eral-Ba-Schule (Hamburg, 1731), p. 174, during this period of service to the Franco-
phile Count Erdmann von Promnitz, he procured works by Lully and Campra "and other
good authors" ( Ich wurde des Lulli, Campra, und anderer auten Autoren Arbeit hab-
hafft), and claims to have studied them deeply and with success. There may indeed be
passing references to Lully in his early Trio alla Francese (TWV 42:d 11, transcribed in
Zohn, "The Ensemble Sonatas," pp. 683-698, and discussed in his recent article, "New
Light on Quantz's Advocacy of Telemann's Music," Early Music , XXV (1997): 441-
461: the fugato subject of the opening Gravement and the first two bars of the Menuet
respectively resemble the Overture fugato and the Menuet from Lully's incidental music
to Molire's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1670). One wonders whether von Promnitz's
court enjoyed musical performances of Molire's plays, for the opening phrase of Tele-
mann's overture in E minor (TWV 55:el) from the second "Production" of the Musique
de table (1733) is uncannily similar to that from Marc-Antoine Charpentier's overture to
his incidental music (c. 1695) to Molire's Le Sicilien. I have been unable to trace any
documented German performance of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme ; readers will judge for
themselves whether any of this original French material is so distinctive as to make it a
likely object of Telemann's borrowing, particularly if he had heard it twenty-five years
earlier at Sorau.
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
50 BACH
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
EVIDENCE OF BORROWING 5 1
21 Indeed, this is not the only possible association between Telemann and Bach's E minor
partita: an unusual passage in the latter's Tempo di Gavotta, bars 3-5, may be echoed in
an early Telemann flute sonata, TWV 41:el0 (B-Bc, 15.1 15 Ms. M, pp. 196-201, second
movement, bars 1-4).
22 Manfred Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque Era from Monteverdi to Bach (New York:
W. W. Norton, 1947; London, 1948), pp. 272-273. Many of this author's assessments
(especially that of Telemann) stand in need of revision in the light of recent research.
For Musique de table see above, note 4; the twelve "Paris" Quartets are in Quadri
(Hamburg, 1730; R/Paris, 1736-1737) and Nouveaux Quatuors en six suites (Paris,
1738).
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
52 BACH
non-autograph, post-
one hand, given the n
minor and D-minor c
Major piece belongs
other hand, Christop
design and extent of
tos "maturity of wri
nificantly from its c
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
EVIDENCE OF BORROWING 53
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
54 BACH
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
EVIDENCE OF BORROWING 55
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
56 BACH
27 Telemann's ritornelli
tition of material to be
(ABACA) in the finale o
rondos of Bach and other
28 See, for example, the
George Allen & Unwin
debted" to the Violin
Vivaldi (1678-1741): in f
three-note triadic figure a
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
EVIDENCE OF BORROWING 57
29 See, for instance, in the field of concerto style, the Albinoni-like first movement of the
ripieno sonata, TWV 43:G9, the forceful Vivaldian all'unisono ritornello theme from the
first movement of the concerto in E minor for flute and violin (Kross Fl.V.e), his mas-
terly absorption of the same Venetian master's thematic and harmonic style, and his
orchestral sounds and textures in the sparkling D Major Concerto for two flutes, violin
and cello (Kross 2 Fl. V. Ve. D). The respective sources are: D-DS, Mus. ms. 1042/4; D-
DS, Mus. ms. 1033/21, D-SWl, Mus. 5400/7, D-ROu, Mus. Saec. XVII. 18.14.15; and
D-DS, Mus. ms. 1033/15.
For the source, see above, note 12. For a note on the discovery, see Ian Payne, 'New
Light on Telemann and Bach: Double Measures," The Musical Times , 139 (Winter
1998): 44-45; for a detailed study see Steven Zohn and Ian Payne, "Bach, Telemann, and
the Process of Transformative Imitation in BWV 1056/2 (156/1)," forthcoming.
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
58 BACH
owing to the action of acidic ink on thin paper. But Kross was wrong to
state in his catalogue that the bass part is lacking (Ba fehlt):3X two
fragmentary pages survive, transmitting large portions of the basso
continuo, although some material is lost and much of what does survive
is barely legible. As examples 6a and 6b make very clear, the first two
complete bars of Telemann's opening Andante are virtually identical in
melody, harmony and texture with those of the middle movement of the
F Minor concerto (BWV 1056).
Example 6b, Bach, Harpsichord Concerto in F minor (BWV 1056)/II, bars 1-3
(Original key, A-flat major transposed by the author into G major
for comparison with Ex. 6a).
31 Kross, p. 127.
32 See Zohn and Payne, "Telemann and the Slow Concerto Movement."
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
EVIDENCE OF BORROWING 59
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
60 BACH
Telemann's music
borrowing, where a
or similar harmony.
subtle thematic rela
certos and orchestr
(2)) and ripieno con
the first two movem
last movements of t
featuring a prominen
Example 7, Telemann,
I, bars 102; (b) III, bar
Telemann, Violin Co
(Other parts are
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
EVIDENCE OF BORROWING 6 1
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
62 BACH
movements are untypical of the composer. This is true; but Telemann did write such
movements, of which the finale of TWV 43:B2, quoted in ex. 9a, is a perfect example.
43 Two examples are cited above, notes 4 and 37. Further examples of reworked material,
all sharing the same key, are in the following pairs of early works: bass progression,
cadence figure and violin figuration in TWV 43: A4 (SUTE 49), last movement, bars 10-
15, and Kross V.A (SUTE 31), last movement, bars 69-74; similar modulatory sequence
in A and G in TWV 55:h3 (SUTE 77), overture, bars 4-9 and TWV 55:h4 (SUTE 56),
overture, bars 4-10; abrupt modulatory sequences using seventh chords in TWV 43:G12
(SUTE 21), third movement, bars 9-13, and TWV 55:G1 (SUTE 80), overture, bars 57-
63. Two examples in different keys are: sequential contrapuntal treatments of melody
and bass in TWV 55:G7 (SUTE 81), overture, 34-39 and TWV 55:e4 (SUTE 76),
overture, bars 38-43; abrupt modulations using third inversion seventh chords in TWV
55:G1 (SUTE 80), overture, bars 9-1 1 and TWV 55:a2 {Suite in A minor, ed. H. Bttner,
Edition Eulenburg, 882 [London, n.d.], p. 13), overture, bars 163-165.
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
EVIDENCE OF BORROWING 63
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms
64 BACH
ABBREVIATIONS
This content downloaded from 84.152.81.77 on Mon, 20 Feb 2017 02:12:11 UTC
All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms