title: On the Circumstantial Context of J. S. Bach’s Canon super Fa Mi BWV 1078
metadata.name: dc.contributor.author
metadata.value: Milka, Anatoly P.
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.accessioned
metadata.value: 2019-07-04T21:19:24Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.available
metadata.value: 2019-07-04T21:19:24Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.issued
metadata.value: 2019-06
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.citation
metadata.value: Milka, Anatoly. “On the Circumstantial Context of J. S. Bach’s Canon super Fa Mi BWV 1078”. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Arts 9, no. 2 (2019): 238–255.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.identifier.other
metadata.value: https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu15.2019.202
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.uri
metadata.value: http://hdl.handle.net/11701/15871
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.description.abstract
metadata.value: As tentatively accepted by most twentieth-century J. S. Bach scholars, the dedicatee of Canon BWV 1078 might be Benjamin Gottlieb Faber, a physician with a musical background and a friend of Bach’s student, copyist, and son-in-law, Johann Christoph Altnickol. The transparent encryption of Faber’s name in the text of the canon is reflected in the sole corresponding reference in Bach’s biography: B. G. Faber was the representative of the absent godfather (J. S. Bach) at the baptism of Johann Sebastian Jr., the son of Bach’s daughter Juliane Friederica and her husband Johann Altnickol. This article substantiates the probability that B. G. Faber was indeed the dedicatee of Canon BWV 1078. I hypothesize that Bach’s deteriorating health in the early autumn of 1748, reflected in the sudden cancellation of his trip to Berlin to be godfather at the baptism of Carl Philipp Emanuel’s son Johann Sebastian Jr., along with sudden changes in Bach’s handwriting, indicate that he had most probably suffered a minor stroke that prevented him from traveling. The juxtaposition of the date of the canon’s composition, with the date of birth of Altnickol’s child, indicates that the announcement of Juliane’s pregnancy and decision to ask B. G. Faber to represent the absent godfather could have taken place close to March 1, 1749, when J. S. Bach dedicated this canon to Faber and, by doing so, expressed his gratitude to his friend.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.language.iso
metadata.value: en
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.publisher
metadata.value: St Petersburg State University
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.relation.ispartofseries
metadata.value: Vestnik of St Petersburg University. Arts;Volume 9; Issue 2
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Johann Sebastian Bach
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Canon BWV 1078
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: dedicatee
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Benjamin Gottlieb Faber
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: J. S. Bach’s handwriting
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: J. S. Bach’s illness
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: acrostic
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: paragram
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.title
metadata.value: On the Circumstantial Context of J. S. Bach’s Canon super Fa Mi BWV 1078
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.type
metadata.value: Article
metadata.lang: en_GB
resources.filename: 238-255.pdf
resources.url: https://dspace.spbu.ru/bitstream/11701/15871/1/238-255.pdf
resources.format: Adobe PDF
resources.size: 1,77 MB