Johann Sebastian Bach

Biography

Johann Sebastian Bach, described by Dolge as 'that titan of the organ,' is credited with pushing the early piano toward improvement. Dissatisfied with the clavichord and harpsichord favored by his contemporaries, Bach felt the piano needed to become 'something stronger, more positive and powerful.' When Gottfried Silbermann showed him early pianos, Bach condemned them in unmeasured terms, wounding the artisan's pride and spurring him to build a better instrument capable of winning Bach's approval. Bach later played and praised Silbermann's improved pianos at the New Palace in Potsdam in the presence of Frederick the Great, an event Dolge calls the first testimonial ever given by a musician to a piano maker. Dolge also credits Bach with a kind of foresight, writing his immortal compositions for an instrument still in its infancy as though anticipating its ultimate development. A portrait of Bach accompanies this account. Johann Sebastian Bach is named among the virtuosos — alongside Emanuel Bach — who exploited the clavichord's unique expressive capability. By using a trembling pressure of the finger on the key while holding notes, he was able to produce charming and captivating effects that emphasized the player's musical intention, something not possible on the harpsichord or early pianoforte. The text also groups him with Mozart and Beethoven as masters who preferred the clavichord's sensitive touch to the more powerful but less expressive harpsichord and early pianoforte. Johann Sebastian Bach appears in Dolge's account of Gottfried Silbermann's early career: Bach condemned Silbermann's own original piano design in unmeasured terms, prompting Silbermann to copy Christofori's pianoforte instead. Bach was later induced to endorse this Christofori copy, which Silbermann then sold to Frederick the Great. Johann Sebastian Bach is mentioned in connection with Gottfried Silbermann's earliest pianoforte, which he condemned as too difficult to play because of its heavy, hard touch, although he praised the quality of tone the hammer action produced.

Highlights

• Praised as a virtuoso who produced charming, captivating effects on the clavichord through trembling pressure of the finger on the key.
• Named among the masters (with Mozart and Beethoven) who preferred the clavichord to the harpsichord and early pianoforte.
• Condemned Silbermann's first pianoforte as too hard to play, while praising the tone the hammer action produced
• Condemned Gottfried Silbermann's original piano design
• Later endorsed Silbermann's copy of the Christofori pianoforte
• Condemned Silbermann's early pianos, spurring Silbermann to improve them
• Gave the first testimonial to a piano maker by playing and praising the improved Silbermann pianos at the New Palace, Potsdam, before Frederick the Great
• His compositions for the still-infant piano showed, in Dolge's words, 'divine inspiration' about the instrument's future

Source

Alfred Dolge, Pianos and Their Makers, Vol. I (1911), p. 45.

Public domain.