Bach's organ works from overseas

Parallel to the latest complete edition of Bach's organ works published by Breitkopf and Härtel (7 of 10 volumes published to date) and the updated editions of the New Bach Edition (NBA) by Bärenreiter, a further edition of the organ works of the Cantor of St. Thomas is being published in the USA. It is edited by George B. Stauffer, Professor of Musicology at Rutgers University and one of America's leading Bach scholars, as General Editor and Christoph Wolff as Consulting Editor. While the lack of a critical report (Peters) or its publication in separate volumes (NBA) was regrettable in the older editions, it is all the more pleasing that all these new editions now have comprehensive commentaries that provide players with valuable background information on the works and their context directly and make editorial decisions more transparent. Breitkopf also provides various Incerta on an enclosed CD-ROM.

The three present volumes from the USA - 15 are planned - are characterized by an extremely comprehensive and detailed preface (unfortunately only in English), which describes the history of the works' creation and their context according to the latest state of research; they also have numerous facsimile pages, some in colour, as well as a complete critical report in the epilogue, which precisely breaks down the current source situation and explains the most diverse readings.

Volume 1 includes the Eight Little Preludes and Fugues BWV 553-560, the Pedal Exercitium and the chorales of the Organ booklets Bach's "pedagogical" works. It is available in two different editions: 1A with a more historical-scholarly focus (e.g. with variants on some chorales), 1B as a practical edition with ornamentation tables, four-part chorale movements or "undecorated" presentation of the colored soprano melodies, which is probably becoming more and more necessary not only in America, but also in this country, as the chorales used are threatening to disappear from liturgical practice and the consciousness of players. In addition to the trio sonatas, volume 7 contains further trio movements (some of which are only available from Breitkopf on the accompanying CD-ROM) and a particularly detailed preface, while volume 8 contains the 3rd part of the Piano exercise.

The musical text itself is clear and concise, also with good turning points, although in the two slightly larger German editions it is somewhat "airier" and printed in larger print with a similar number of pages. A detailed comparison reveals various small differences to older editions, although these are largely the same in the three new editions (they are based on the same sources) or are at least explained in the commentaries if the editors have opted for different readings. The double cadence with mordent on the penultima of the E flat major fugue BWV 552, which is missing in older Bach editions and also notated for the left hand, and whose provenance Stauffer traces back directly to a handwritten corrected printed copy by Bach and which he was the first editor to take into account, can now also be found in the - later published - updated NBA version, for example, but is missing in Breitkopf. The difference in BWV 675 is interesting: Christoph Wolff notated it on three staves for the NBA (with 4' cantus firmus in the pedal), while Stauffer represents the manualiter reading. It will be interesting to see how the editors deal with works of unclear attribution in the subsequent volumes that have not yet been published, for example with regard to a number of individually transmitted chorale preludes, for which Stauffer seems to have planned no fewer than five volumes, which suggests that many of these Incerta are likely to be included in the print. Conclusion: The American Bach Complete Edition completes the panorama of the latest Bach editions with a convincing variant. And as new sources are constantly being discovered, the Bach chapter is probably far from closed!

Johann Sebastian Bach, The Complete Organ Works, ed. George B. Stauffer; Vol. 1 A/B: Pedagogical Works; Vol. 7: Six Trio Sonatas and Micellaneous; Vol. 8: Clavier-Übung III; Wayne Leupold Edition, USA, 48 $ (Vol. 1, 7), 58 $ (Vol. 8).

Comparative editions by Breitkopf & Härtel (Sämtliche Orgelwerke, EB 8801 ff.) and Bärenreiter (Neue Bach-Ausgabe, partly revised)