Rediscovered and Lost Works of J.S. Bach

[Robert Newman]

1/5

It’s an amazing fact but researchers say only around half of J.S. Bach's music has survived to the present day (!) - the rest having been lost in the years following his death in 1750 when his mountain of musical manuscripts were bequeathed to his family and later widely scattered. This thread will introduce this fascinating subject. Especially because there have been a number of wonderful discoveries in recent years and every chance others will be made in the near future.

Here to start the ball rolling is a brilliant, hugely fun and almost completely unknown Sinfonia in D Major for orchestra by Bach, now officially listed as BWV 1045, but little recorded so far. In it the violins scramble for joy in rustic fashion with bassoons playing their part with oboes. And trumpets. A hugely entertaining and wonderful piece that may have been intended as an introduction for a now lost cantata or even a movement from an unknown orchestral suite. Tremendous energy here.

Time to dance when I hear this !!!! Viva maestro Bach !!!

J.S. Bach
Sinfonia in D Major
BWV 1045 (c.1730 ?)

http://www.mediafire.com/?nytdzgymnmw

 

[Robert Newman]

2/5


According to various researchers the various ancestors of J.S. Bach died out in the 19th century. Or, so it was believed. But in the mid-20th century dogged researcher William Scheide discovered that some of the line of Wilhelm Friedrich Bach (1759-1845) grandson of J.S. (who eventually received some of the Bach manuscripts many years later) had survived and his children, having moved to Russia at one point, came eventually to live in the USA. Music researcher Christoph Wolff actually managed to speak to one of this same family (an elderly lady) who amazingly confirmed there were some Bach papers and momentos still in her possession. A meeting was arranged. But the old lady died before that meeting could ever take place. The papers and momentos she refered to have since disappeared.

But other lines of manuscript enquiry in Europe were more successful. At this time of writing it is estimated that at least 130 Bach cantatas once existed in addition to those we know, these not having been seen or heard since the mid-18th century.

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[Robert Newman]

3/5


A lost musical score by German composer J.S. Bach was found a few years ago in Japan. The 1728 composition, a wedding cantata numbered today as Cantata BWV ''216," was found among papers of Japanese pianist Chieko Hara, who died in Japan in 2001 aged 86.

The work, written for the wedding of a daughter of a German customs official, had been missing for 80 years. Professors at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo say they may release copies for future performances. The eight-page handwritten composition contains soprano and alto parts with notes and lyrics written in German, Professor Tadashi Isoyama said. It is not clear how Hara obtained the manuscript - its last known owner was a descendant of German composer Felix Mendelssohn.

However, researchers believe Hara may have obtained it from her husband - Spanish cellist Gaspar Cassado, who knew Mendelssohn's descendant. "This is invaluable material that will lead to greater understanding of Bach," Professor Isoyama told French news agency AFP.

This cantata had its modern day debut in the Small Hall of Suntory Hall in Tokyo, one of the world's most prestigious venues for classical music, alongside two of Bach's secular cantatas BWV202 and BWV210.

"Japan is full of Bach lovers;" said Rifkin, who has been directing the Ensemble Bach Concertino Osaka in western Japan for five years. "He is at home here."

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[Robert Newman]

J.S. Bach
Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D Minor
3rd Movement
BWV 1052R
Soloist - Isabelle Faust
Bach Collegium Stuttgart
Conductor - Helmuth Rilling
Hannsler Bach Edition (Volume 138)

This work is familiar to music lovers as a concerto for keyboard and orchestra. But it was originally written as a violin concerto. Here’s the third movement in that original/reconstructed form from the wonderful complete Bach series of Hannsler.

http://www.mediafire.com/?jmn2ujkmnn2

 

[Robert Newman]

Only a century ago the Cello Suites of Johann Sebastian Bach, now universally regarded as the pinnacle of the instrument's repertoire, were all but unknown. Their rehabilitation is almost entirely due to one man - Pablo Casals. When, in 1889, at the age of 13, he first discovered a copy of these suites in a small music shop in Barcelona, Spain, he said: "I did not even know they existed, nor even did my teacher, and no one had ever spoken to me about them. It was the great revelation of my life."

Before Casals, these suites were regarded (when they were regarded at all) as little more than technical exercises. Casals studied this music for no less than 12 years in private before beginning to play them in their entirety in public.

Here's part of the 1st Suite -

J.S. Bach
Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major
BWV 1007/1-3
(1st to 3rd Movements)
Soloist -Yo-yo Ma

1. Prelude

2. Allemande

3. Courante

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=DwHpDOWhkGk

I will post soon on Casal's own recording of the same work.

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