Bach, Johann Sebastian--Johann Andreas Silbermann

“Anmerckungen derer Auf meiner Sächsischen Reysse gesehenen Merckwürdigkeiten Wie ich solche an unterschiedenen Orten meist  nur kurtzlich aufgeschrieben”, A WORKING MANUSCRIPT, documenting his travels throughout Germany in 1741, a round-trip from his home city to Saxony between February and June, with accounts of the organs, organists, organ-makers, composers, artists, singers, works of art, buildings, palaces, churches, castles, church services, meals, food, drink, customs, festivals and funerals, including the long ceremonies following the death of General von Borkh in Berlin, travelling by coach and by boat on rivers; describing encounters with Johann Sebastian Bach (the anecdote from Gottfried Silbermann about playing the organ in Görlitz), Johann Adolf Hasse, Faustina Bordoni, J.G. Pisendel (1687-1755), Gottfried August Homilius (1714-1785), Francesco Maria Cataneo (c.1697-1758), Frederick the Great, Friedrich August II of Saxony, many of the most important organ-builders of the time, including Gottfried Silbermann (1683-1753) and his sons Michael and Abraham, Johann Scheibe (1675-1748), Sebastian Seitz, Johann Gottlieb Tamitius (1671-1769), Gräbner, Engelhard and Joachim Wagner (1690-1749), the sculptor Johann August Nahl the elder (1710-1785); providing detailed descriptions of the towns, villages and cities en route, with especially important sections on Eisenach, Erfurt, Leipzig, Zittau, Görlitz, Freiberg (near Meissen), Dresden,  Berlin and Magdeburg; illustrated with many drawings in pen and ink, pencil and washes, including a folding-out panorama of Freiberg (Meissen), together with annotated engravings of many towns, maps and churches, and a complete itinerary with timings of the journeys,

284 pages, 4to (21.3x17cms), including several inserted leaves, original paginations in ink, with later additional pagination in pencil; 29 contemporary engraved views ad maps (17 double-pages) and other printed newspaper cuttings, trimmed and laid down, most annotated by Silbermann; 1741, with later additions of 1757 and later; early nineteenth-century German half-calf, ownership inscription on fly-leaf, joints worn, spine detached

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THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT ACCOUNT OF MUSICAL LIFE IN GERMANY IN THE MID-EIGHTEENTH CENTURY TO RESURFACE IN MODERN TIMES. Its significance lies not only in its relation to music, musicians and organ building, but in its presentation of a picture of mid Germany in 1741, its great men and women, its sounds, sights, treasures, food and patterns of life. It is entirely unpublished in this form. It is a source that has been scarcely touched and has not apparently been used in any scholarly work on Bach and his heirs or on the Silbermann family.

It is as significant a text as Charles Burney’s The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands and the United Provinces (London, 1771), but earlier, more vivid and more immediate for being written very close to the events portrayed (or in some cases worked up from notes later). From this text we now know the colour schemes of churches long destroyed throughout Germany; we can now imagine hearing the bells of Berlin chiming the quarters (Silbermann explains what music was used). We can experience the clamour of the many soldiers in the garrison town that was Potsdam. We can see the Elector of Saxony at prayer. We can now enter the organ loft of the (now destroyed) Paulinerkirche in Leipzig, one of the churches for which Bach provided music, and meet the craftsman Johann Scheibe, who designed the organ; we can now read an account of Bach’s pupil Homilius playing Bach’s organ in the Nicolaikirche, Leipzig. We can experience the well-lit streets and gardens of Leipzig when Bach was living there. He seems ready to walk into the narrative, but he does not. But we hear of him later in Görlitz.

THESE AND MANY OTHER VIVID ANECDOTES AND ACCOUNTS MAKE THIS DISCOVERY OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE: The significance of this new text will resonate for many years to come and will be reflected not only in music history but in any account of life of this era.

The Silbermann family was the most important family of organ builders and instrument makers in Central Germany in the eighteenth century. Originally from Saxony, a branch moved to Alsace and Johann Andreas, the author of this journal spent his career in Strasbourg. The travels undertaken in the first half of 1741 were to perfect his education by inspecting the organs in Saxony and elsewhere and to meet his uncle Gottfried Silbermann, other members of his family and the great organ builders of his day.

This manuscript of Silbermann’s journey (hereafter, "the Journal") would appear to be unrecorded and unknown. It is related to the working papers discovered and published by Marc Schaefer, known as the Silbermann Archive  (Das Silbermann-Archiv: Der handschriftliche Nachlass des Orgelmachers Johann Andreas Silberman (1712-1783) (Winterthur, 1994) ("the Archive").  Though the same size as these 8 volumes, the present manuscript it is not part of the Archive and is not documented by Schaefer. The Silbermann Archive comprises 8 volumes, seven of which are in a private collection in the Paris region; the eighth is in Strasbourg. Volume II of the Archive has the title: “Anmerkungen einiger ausser dem Elsass stehenden Orgeln davon ich viele gesehen oder aus erhaltenen Nachrichten bisher verzeichnet habe”. This contains descriptions of organs all over Europe, many of which Silbermann inspected himself; others are from printed accounts by Burney. The accounts there are mostly listings of organ registrations with little effort at narrative. The Journal has many such registrations, but in abbreviated form. It is primarily a narrative of the tour round Germany.

Several of the organs described in Volume II of the Archive are also listed in the Journal. The descriptions of the Paulinerkirche,  Leipzig and the Petri-Paulkirche, Görlitz,  contain similarities in both accounts (see below), though they are not identical. Silbermann’s Journal contains more general descriptions of organs in Saxony than appear in the Archive. The long descriptions of Freiberg and Zittau and much else are not in the Archive. The Journal is an account of the trip to Saxony and comprises mostly new material, but it is connected and does overlap with the Archive, volume 2. This is made clear from a note on the title of the Journal, which states that details of the organs are found elsewhere. (“...Was die Hie und wider gesehenen Orgeln betrifft. So habe die Dispositionen derselben hier nicht beygesezt. Sonder zu meinen Orgelsachen gethan." Silbermann means the second volume of the Archive. But even this is not accurate: the Journal contains a mass of information about all the organs Silbermann saw in Saxony.

The Journal is composed as if for revision and publication. On most of the leaves a large margin is left for additions, alterations, footnotes and occasionally, drawings. There are two styles of writing here: a rough and rather untidy draft of certain passages, evidently made while on the trip; other sections are in a neat hand and in darker ink. These are obviously more polished versions of Silbermann’s original diaries. Sometime these passages contain material added much later, such as the information supplied about the siege and destruction of Zittau in 1757. Occasionally there is additional material from the 1770s. The writing has a strong narrative flow: timings and datings are punctiliously entered and the work as a whole reads mostly as a contemporary diary account.

There is a variety of paper used. The passages in a neater hand are all on a similar type of paper which suggests they were written at the same time, on Silbermann’s return to Strasbourg and possibly several years later. There is clear evidence that Silbermann gathered this material together and possibly intended it for publication. The detailed itinerary at the end was evidently added during these preparations. In the early nineteenth century the collection of papers was bound together with a new title-page in the hand of a later owner, Carl Silbermann, whose ownership inscription on the inside of the outer cover is dated “Strasburg Jan: 1813”. “Manuscript von Johann Andreas Silbermann Seelig zu Strasburg geb. 26 Juni 1712 gest: 11 Febr: 1783”

Silbermann’s original title is somewhat misleading. The account is not confined to Saxony, but covers his travels from Strasbourg via Frankfurt, Hesse, Thuringia, Saxony, Berlin and back. Saxony was the aim of the visit and contains the largest part of the account, but there is much of interest before he crossed into and left the land of his ancestors.

The journey began on 21 February. The account begins with a prefatory opening added a little later than the rest of the manuscript:

…Nachdem ich mir schon längstens eine Reysse in Sachsen zu thun vorgenommen, solche aber von einer Zeit Zur andren aufschieben müssen Wegen beständiger vielen bestellten Arbeit. So habe mich demungeacht endlich entschlossen ein Paar Monat daran zu Wenden, und alles so viel mir diese Kurtze Zeit erlauben Wird, gleichsam auf der post zu besehen. Bin deroselben Dienstags d. 21 Februarii 1741 morgens frühe in Compagnie Hn Nahlen des Bildhauers mit der Durchlaufes PostKutsche von hier abgereysst…

 

Silbermann’s fellow traveller was the sculptor and stuccist Johann August Nahl, who accompanied him for part of the way. The writer was later joined by others, such as his cousin Michael Silbermann, when he reached Saxony. The two journeyed by coach and by boat and travelled north east giving accounts of the sights of Rastatt, Heidelberg, Auerbach, Darmstadt and Frankfurt (as well as many places in between), where he visited the churches and the Römerplatz and inspected the new organ in the Barfüsserkirche, a building pulled down in 1786 (“…die Neue Orgel stehet, welche Braungelb vergoldet ist…”).

He took the “Extra Post” to Vacha, spending some time in Fulda, examining the organs, including one completed by the manufacturer Hoffmann from Würzburg. He also visited Schloss Friedenstein. He reached Eisenach, Bach’s birthplace, and the home of a branch of his family, on 28 February (for some reason this stop is omitted from the itinerary at the end of the narrative) and he visited the Wartburg. He encountered the Rector Professor Schäfer, meeting Sebastian Seitz, the organ manufacturer who he reveals was an apprentice (“Schreiner Gesell”) of Gottfried Silbermann. Seitz demonstrated the organ in the Schlosskirche, which had recently been renovated. Silbermann expresses dissatisfaction (“…entsetzlich…”) with the instrument. He states that the church is now called St George’s. It was the place where Bach was baptized and the organ, even in the composer’s youth, had often been in an extremely bad state of repair.

Silbermann was in Gotha by 1 March, where he spent a long time examining the splendours of the Margaretenkirche. Erfurt was next and he gives a long account of the organ in St Mary’s and the bells of the church with its inscription “Die grosse Susanna/ treibt den Teufel von danna”.

After Weimar, which he also describes, he reached Leipzig, the city of Johann Sebastian Bach. He stayed there between 6 and 10th March and provides a most important description of the churches, music and organs in the city, as well as the streets and the prominent buildings and gardens. He stayed in several locations, but at least one night with Herr Rosenzweig, a keeper of stables and was in company with Herr Stöber and Hr Hannenberg, visiting the gardens of the Apel and Bose families outside the walls. The town-house of the Boses is now the home of the Bach-Archiv and is directly opposite where the Bach’s lived in the Thomaskirche. Through the agency of Dr Polycarp Friedrich Schacher or his brother Quirin Gottfried, he gained access to the Nikolaikirche and the Paulinerkirche (the university church), both places where Bach worked. He met Gottfried August Homilius, the composer and pupil of Bach, who demonstrated the organ in the Nikolai. They both had an encounter with Johann Scheibe, the irascible organ builder and had to resort to trickery and duplicity to convince him to reveal his secrets at the Paulinerkirche. The ruse worked and Silbermann reveals what was shown him by the formerly cantankerous but now compliant organ builder. They also visit his workshop and see the instruments he is currently working on. These insights into the life of Leipzig are completely unknown.

 

…[Mittwoch] 8 Mertz Besahe ich vor der Statt die Bohsenschen und Apelischen Garden. Darinnen ist eine saubere Collonade Zuvor nur von Holtz. Die meisten Aleeen von Obstbäumen, und eine grosse Quantitat von Statuen, ich asse in Compagnie Herrn Stöbers und Hrn Henneberges. Bey Hrn Stallmeister Zu nacht.

Herr Docter Schacher machte mir Gelegenheit die Orgeln in der Niclaus Kirche und Pauliner Kirch zu sehen. Er schückte einen Studiosum mit uns Nahmens Emilius Welcher sehr wohl spielte. Zuerst giengen wir in die Niclaus Kirche, es war da ein alt Werk aber Klünge nicht übel ja wohl besser ...[als] viele Neue die ich nachgehends gehört. nachdem giengen Wir gegen der Pauliner Kirch zu Hrn Schaibe dem Orgelmacher als dem Meister dieses Werks. Hr Emilius ersuchte Ihn sehr höfflich Ihm den gefallen zu erweisen und sein Werk sehen zu Machen. Wie ungerne Er aber daran gieng hörte ich Haussen vor dem Zimmer mit grösster ungedult, endlich Kamen Sie doch miteinander. Zuvor aber bathe mich Hr Emilius um Gotteswillen mich nicht zu erkennen zu geben wer ich Wäre, ich musste deroselben einen andren Nahmen annehmen, ich excusirte mich gegen dem Orgelmacher dass er meinethalben mühe hat, sagte Ihm anbey dass ein Guter Freund von mir ein Buch von der Music Will in Truck ausgehen lassen, und Zugleich einen Anhang Von denen Dispositionen der berühmtesten Orgeln in Teutschland daranhangen, und Weil ich eben hiehergereist, so hat er mich ersuchet ihnen Zugleich die Disposition dieses werkes als welches Ihnen vor allen andren ist gerühmet Worden mit Zubringen Wie ich dan ohnlängst in Frankforth davon vieles habe rühmen hören; Darauf Wurde Hr. Seibe [sic] zimlich freundlich, als wir in die Kirch auf die Orgel Kamen so zoge Herr Scheibe die Register selbsten, ohngeacht er ein  starker Mann zu seyn. schiene so hatte Er doch alle Force  anzuwenden dieselbe heraus zu bringen Was vor einem Fehler ich solches zuschreibe, sagte mir gleich im Weggehen Hr Emilius das die Orgel damit behafftet ist. Ich hörte sie durch alle Register und stünde auf dem Seitenaltare da mir Hr Scheibe jederzeit explicirte was dieses oder jenes vor ein Register ist, Wan Er Sie Zuvor gezogen hatte. aber ich auch ans Clavir gienge sagte Hr Emilius geheim zu mir: Finger und Füsse thun nur wehe von der gewalt die ich brauchen muss…

Some of the above information, together with details of the registration of the Pauliner organ is also in Vol. 2 of the Archive. But there is a great deal of information here, relating to the people he met, the buildings and gardens he saw and the instruments he examined which is only in the Journal.

On leaving Leipzig, Johann Andreas passed through Grimma and Colditz, giving short accounts of those delightful towns. On his arrival in Freiberg, a city he describes in great detail with illustrations and drawings, including a fold-out panorama with the main buildings identified by Silbermann, he discovered that his uncle was in fact in Zittau building the organ in the Johanniskirche. He nevertheless spent some time in the town acquainting himself with the two major churches, the Mariendom and the Petrikirche, both with organs by Gottfried Silbermann, the latter completed only in 1735. None of this material is found in the Archive. He had coffee and several other meetings with the organist of the Petrikirche, Johann Christoph Erselius (1703-1772). He describes the organ there and visits his uncle’s workshop. Erselius performed for him on both of the Silbermann organs.

OF GREAT IMPORTANCE IS JOHANN ANDREAS'S ACCOUNT, ADDED ON A SEPARATE LEAF, OF A SUNDAY SERVICE AT THE PETRIKIRCHE IN FREIBERG ("Ambt Predigt in Freyberg”), describing the singing and prayers, the contribution of the congregation, where the Cantor stood, how Communion was distributed and the ringing of the church bells. This is vital information for our knowledge of Lenten Lutheran practice in the time of Bach.

Um 8 Uhr gieng ich in die Peters Kirch da ich eine schöne Orgel von meinem Hrn Vettern hörete als sie aus war suchte ich Herrn Kraussen, und kam zum allerersten in das Hauss worinnen mein Seel Vetter das Schreiner Handwerk gelernet hat...Er führte mich in den Dohm , und liess mich die von meinem Herrn Vettern gemachte Orgel sehen und höhren Welche Er anno 17 gantz neu gemacht...War ich in der Peterskirch. Um 7 Uhr leutet man…und wird Gesungen biss 8 Uhr…Fast jederman hat eine Hand Biebel bey sich...

Because the imperative was to meet his uncle, Johann Andreas only spent a night in Dresden, but still making time to see the old organs in the Kreuz and Frauenkirche, describing the “delicate” architecture of the latter. Then it was off to Zittau via Bautzen. This was a most important part of the journey. On arriving in the city they made their way to the Johanniskirche, but his uncle was not there, but they found him at his lodgings. He describes in detail his time with his uncle, discussing his work and examines the organ in the Johanniskirche. This instrument was destroyed along with the church in the siege and fire of 1757. Zittau was important for the young Johann Andreas and he illustrated the city with drawings in his journal. He spent many days there, meeting the organ-builder Tamitius, also working with Gottfried

...Wir giengen aber erst in die Johannis Kirche als worinnen Wir ein kostbar Werk welches er in der arbeit hatte antraffen.. Er war aber nicht da, deroselben giengen Wir so gleich nach dem Wayssenhaus…

They celebrated Easter in Zittau (3rd April) and then went to Görlitz where they were shown the Casparini organ at the church of St Peter and Paul. The Silbermann organ was demonstrated by the organist David Nicolai. Silbermann gives a very detailed description of this instrument and includes a drawing of the church. J.S.Bach tried this organ out at sometime before this, and Silbermann relays the anecdote of his uncle about Bach’s visit. This story is known (with Andreas Silbermann as the source), but the account in the Bach-Dokumente (II.486) differs from the present manuscript. The source for the published document is not the present manuscript and is taken from the draft in the Archive:

...Es sind 3 Clavire die aber auch jedes vor sich nicht zu trücken sind, ich trückte einige Claves hinab, sie waren aber so hart und zähe und fielen dazu noch so tief hinab, dass ich nichts darauf hätte spielen können. Der alter berühmte Herr Bach von Leipzig hat diesem Werck nicht unrecht gethan, als er davon mit meinem Herrn Vetter discurirte, und es eine PferdsOrgel hiesse, weilen es eine Rossmässige Arbeit ist droben zu spielen... [Bach-Dokumente and Schäfer]

 ...Als ich nur etliche Claves hinab getrückt, so fande ich gleich dass der berühmte Herr Bach von Leipzig diesem Werck nicht unrecht gethan, als er davon mit meinen Hrn Vettern discurirte, und sie eine Pferds=Orgel hiess...[Journal]

 Silbermann returned to Zittau and left there on 1 May. This time he was able to devote himself to Dresden and he explored the art galleries and palaces, giving a detailed description of all the Naturalien Kammer, the Meissen porcelain, the picture galleries and the Grünes Gewölbe, to which he was allowed access with the assistance of the violinist and composer Pisendel. He gives a room-by-room description of this wonder. Most important, is his meeting with Johann Adolf Hasse and his wife the great singer Faustina Bordoni. He attends a performance of Hasse directing the church service at Pentecost and gives a detailed description of the music and performers, including by a castrato. He also became acquainted with the local instrument-maker, Gräber.

...Durch H Pissendel den ConcertMeister bekame ich gelegenheit ins sogenante Grüne gewölbe zu kommen...Machte ich dem Hrn Kapellmesiter Hassen eine visite, er liess mich neben seiner Frau die berühmte Fausstina auf ein Canabe sitzen. Sie ist eine Venetianerin, und hat daselbst den Hassen geheurathet. Welcher wen ich mich recht besinne von Hamburg ist. beyde bekommen monathlich vom König 500 Thl, macht jährlich 6000Thlr, Sie reystet ja zu Weilen nach Venedig und schleppet mit dahin was sie kan...Pfingst…21 May Morgens um 8 Uhr gieng ich aufs Schloss, und sahe den Hof in galla. Um 9 uhr gieng der gottesdienst in der HofCapelle an. So bald der König in dieselbe kam. Fieng der lermen mit Pauken und Trompetten an, und sogleich wurde vom Kapellmeister Haasen die Musique auf geführt, es war dieselbe ungemein besetzt und bestände das gantze Orchestra aus 70 Personen. Es war das gantze Amt hindurch Musique, und vortrefflich anzuhören Wegen der besondren accuratesse und schönen Composition, einer von denen Kastraten liesse sich ganz vornemblich biss ins g höhren. Unter der Verwandlung spielte der Virtuoso Cataneo ganz allein ohne accompagnement ein Solo auf der Violin...

The main interest in the later part of the journal of the visits to the Luther shrines in Wittenberg, which are fully described, and the trip to Berlin and Potsdam. He describes the treasures there in the galleries, the musical performances at the Queen’s concerts, attends the Anatomical exhibition and attends the funeral of General von Borkh, at which he sees Frederick the Great. He examines the organs in the Parish and Garnison churches in Berlin with the organ-builders Engelhard (who studied with Arp Schnitger in Hamburg) and Joachim Wagner, a pupil of Gottfried Silbermann, and the designer of 8 organs in Berlin, including the Garnisonkirche and the Marienkirche, as well as 4 in Potsdam. Silbermann describes the mechanical clock in some detail and evokes the chiming of the quarter-hours in the main square in Berlin, where soldiers are everywhere. He goes back and forth  between Potsdam and Berlin and gives an early account of the lime trees in what is now Unter den Linden. He also transcribes menus for Mittagessen in Berlin.

The return home is via Brandenburg and Magdeburg, where there is a detailed description of the 1604 organ by Campenio. The last detailed description is of the church of St Elizabeth in Marburg. He returned home to Strasbourg at the end of June 1741.

We would like to acknowledge the kind assistance of Dr Manuel Bärwald.