J. S. Bach's earliest autographs (2006)

It was front-page news in 2006 when the discovery of a manuscript was announced, in the library of Duchess Anna-Amalia of Weimar, of organ tablature in the hand of the young Johann Sebastian Bach dating from the year 1700. This is the oldest manuscript of Bach to be found by May 2007 and contains five works -- two lengthy and difficult chorale fantasias by Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Adam Reincken, and three pieces by Johann Pachelbel, two of which are wholly new to the repertoire. In making these shorthand copies for his ... Read More

It was front-page news in 2006 when the discovery of a manuscript was announced, in the library of Duchess Anna-Amalia of Weimar, of organ tablature in the hand of the young Johann Sebastian Bach dating from the year 1700. This is the oldest manuscript of Bach to be found by May 2007 and contains five works -- two lengthy and difficult chorale fantasias by Dietrich Buxtehude and Johann Adam Reincken, and three pieces by Johann Pachelbel, two of which are wholly new to the repertoire. In making these shorthand copies for his own use, Bach usefully notes in the manuscript that the pieces are "copied from Georg Böhm" -- while there was little doubt that Bach had some kind of contact with the great organist of Lüneberg, this is the first documented evidence of any such connection. Carus Verlag, publisher of the Bach Archiv Edition, did not allow any time to waste getting out the first recording of these discoveries, J.S. Bach's früheste Notenhandschriften (J.S. Bach's Earliest Autographs) played on an Arp... Read Less