Bach, Johann Christoph (1642-1703)

the music in the hand of Johann Friedrich Hering, a member of C.P.E. Bach's circle in Berlin and a copyist of his music, written in dark brown ink on up to twenty-three hand-drawn staves per page, scored for violins (2), violas (4). bassoon, trumpets (4, "trombetta"), timpani, two 5-part choruses ("Concertæ" and "Capella"), and basso continuo, the text and titles above the first page of music in another hand ("22 Vocum...I.C. Bach" and "Sonata"), the title-page numbered "No.2"



28 pages, plus title, folio (c.36.5 x 23.5cms), two or possibly three paper-types in all (including the watermarks ICM and R; BERLIN CAMMER[PAPPIER] and GRISEL?), nineteenth-century boards, [Berlin, around 1760], some foxing to first 3 leaves, some wear and chipping to margins,

Christoph Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach. The Learned Musician, (2000), pp.28-29; Daniel Melamed, 'Constructing Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703), in Music & Letters, 80 (1999), pp.345-359;  P. Wollny, 'Ein "musikalischer Veteran Berlins": Der Schreiber Anonymus 300 und seine Bedeutung für die Berliner Bach-Überlieferung', in Jahrbuch des Staatlichen Instituts für Musikforschung Preußischer Kulturbesitz 1995, pp. 80–113;  Die Bach-Quellen der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Katalog, ed. Wolfram Enßlin, ii, pp. 679 (cf. WZ 250) and 686 (cf. WZ 321). 

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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A hitherto undocumented and unknown source of Johann Christoph Bach, one of the favourite composers of Johann Sebastian Bach, the manuscript deriving from the circle of C.P.E. Bach.  

"Es erhub sich ein Streit" is one of Johann Christoph Bach's grandest works, a 'concerto' for two 5-part choruses accompanied by strings and brass, the autograph of which is unknown. Only a few works can be definitely attributed to Johann Christoph: they number no more than thirty and early sources for them are correspondingly scarce. We have no record of any appearing at auction (or for sale elsewhere).  This manuscript is of considerable importance in that Johann Christoph's name is stated unequivocally: other manuscripts attribute the work merely to "J.C. Bach", or his younger brother Johann Michael Bach.  J.S. Bach and C.P.E. Bach were in no doubt of Johann Christoph's authorship, however: "Es erhub sich ein Streit" is singled out for particular praise among his works in C.P.E. Bach's Nekrolog of J.S. Bach (1750, published in 1754), "a church piece composed by him for 22 obbligato voices without the slightest violence to the purest harmony" (see Wolff; and Melamed, p.347, n.8).  It was also a work that both J.S Bach and C.P.E. Bach performed in Leipzig and in Hamburg.

J.S Bach knew Johann Christoph Bach personally: he was his father's first cousin and organist at Eisenach.  J.S. Bach later referred to Christoph as "a profound composer" and both he and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach retained copies of "Es erhub sich ein Streit" in the Alt-Bachisches Archiv, the library of music by J.S. Bach's forebears which he preserved and which was inherited by his son Carl Philipp Emanuel.

We are grateful to Dr. Peter Wollny for identifying the hand of C.P.E. Bach's foremost Berlin copyist, J.F. Hering (1724-1810).   Other copies of "Es erhub sich ein Streit" appear in the Berlin Sing-Akademie collection (now in the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin): SA 276 (titled "Sonata à 22 Vocum. I.C. Bach"), and SA 5166 (the copy from the Alt-Bachisches Archiv, with a title-page annotated by Zelter, but originally ascribed just "C Bach").  The paper used in the present score also appears among the Sing-Akademie manuscripts, including one formerly owned by J.F. Hering, containing J.S. Bach's A minor Violin Concerto BWV 1041 (SA 2639).