The Treasure Room

»Can you see anything?« »Yes, wonderful things!«

Lord Carnarvon and Howard Carter at the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, 1922

 

Decorated in dark green, the treasure room is the heart of our museum. Here you will find valuable Bach autographs, sets of parts written under his supervision, rare first prints, and other precious items from our collection. 

Also presented here are exhibits on Bach's private and professional life, duplicates of books from his library, printed libretti of his cantatas, and documents on members of his extended family.

The current exhibition features the motto of this year's Leipzig Bachfest: »Bach We are family!«

 

Johann Sebastian Bach

Cantata: Dearest God, when will I die? BWV 8 (2nd version)

 

 

Bach usually performed his cantatas more than once, often modifying them slightly. This one was first heard on 24 September 1724 and again in the second half of the 1730s. Around 1747, Bach decided to transpose it from E major to D major, and so wrote out a new set of performance parts. The part displayed here is an impressive example of Bach’s later handwriting.

 

Johann Sebastian Bach

Autograph copy (fragment) of the continuo part for Tomaso Albinoni’s Concerto in E minor, Op. 2, No. 2 BWV Anh. 23, c.1710

 

 

Copies like this testify to Bach’s interest in music written by his contemporaries. While working in Weimar, Bach probably copied this out of a printed edition. However, it’s not certain whether he used the Italian first edition of Albinoni’s Sinfonie e Concerti a Cinque, Op. 2, published in 1700, or an edition subsequently printed in Amsterdam.

 

Johann Sebastian Bach

Cantata: We should praise Christ highly, BWV 121

Set of parts for the first performance on 26 December 1724 (Boxing Day)

Soprano, alto, tenor, bass, cornetto, trombones 1–3, oboe d’amore, violins 1 and 2, viola, basso continuo, basso continuo (transposed and figured)

Copyists: Johann Andreas Kuhnau, Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Heinrich Bach, Christian Gottlob Meissner

 

This cantata belongs to Bach’s chorale cantata cycle, which he composed between June 1724 and March 1725. It’s based on a Christmas carol by Martin Luther which, according to the hymnbooks in Bach’s time, could be sung on all three days of Christmas. The identity of the cantata’s librettist is unknown. Most of the parts on display were written out by Johann Andreas Kuhnau. The nephew of Bach’s predecessor in office, Johann Kuhnau was a member of St Thomas’s Boys Choir from 1718 to 1728 and one of Bach’s main copyists. Bach corrected the parts, specified what instruments were to be played, and added the figuring to the continuo part.

 

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart

Wind parts (trumpet, flute, oboe) for an aria from Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s oratorio The Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus

Autograph, 1788

 

 

Mozart performed Bach’s oratorio twice in Count Esterházy’s palace in Vienna in 1788. Simplifying the trumpet part, he adapted the passages originally intended for the trumpet for flute and oboe. Mozart conducted the performances himself. According to the sources, 86 instrumentalists and 30 singers took part. During one of the performances before the assembled nobility, an engraving showing a portrait of Bach was passed through the audience and enthusiastically admired.

 

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Oratorio: The Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus, Wq 240

Libretto by Karl Wilhelm Ramler

Leipzig, 1787

 

 

C.P.E. Bach himself regarded the oratorio as a kind of musical legacy. In terms of its artistic sophistication, its scale and its technical requirements, this composition goes far beyond the ecclesiastical music Bach usually wrote in Hamburg. Its resounding success with audiences in 1778/79 encouraged Bach to have it printed. However, this plan only came to fruition years later when it was published in Leipzig by Breitkopf.

 

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach

Pentecost cantata: This is the day of Jesus’ pain

 

 

Wilhelm Friedemann Bach was the organist and musical director of the Market Church of Our Dear Lady in Halle from 1746 to 1764. During this time, he wrote several sacred vocal works, including this Pentecost cantata on a poem by Johann Friedrich Möhring, the Master of Pages in Zerbst. It begins with a magnificent symphony in three movements.

 

Complete Bach edition owned by Gustav Mahler

Volume containing the Christmas Oratorio, Leipzig 1892–94 (?), with a foreword by Wilhelm Rust

Volume containing orchestral works, Leipzig 1885, with a foreword by Alfred Dörffel

 

 

The Bach Society was founded in 1850 by prominent musicians and composers from Leipzig and abroad with the aim of publishing the first complete edition of Bach’s works. Between 1851 and 1900, a total of 61 volumes were published by Leipzig publishing house Breitkopf & Härtel.

Gustav Mahler probably subscribed to the complete edition during his Leipzig period (1886–88) and acquired the volumes published so far. Four volumes contain handwritten entries, some of them extensive, documenting Mahler’s analytical and artistic understanding of Bach’s music. They provide valuable insights into his interpretations and shed light on numerous aspects of his performance practice.