J. S. Bach and the Status of Genre: Problems of Style in the G-Minor Sonata BWV 1029

Abstract

In reading about J. S. Bach's style in the literature of music history, one is struck by two recurring linguistic tropes.' The first is cast largely in the heroic mode and sees Bach as a godlike creator. Here Bach's miraculous works resound in a beatific harmony and an air of mystery suffuses the objects of description. This 55 manner recalls Philipp Spitta's Bach, who serves to regenerate the spirit of the German nation. The second trope, more common today, is proud of its circumspection. Although prepared to sprinkle occasional doses of reverence, it dislikes metaphysics in its daily work. In fact, this trope expresses a preference for the language of chemistry. Hence its penchant for properties, elements, analysis, synthesis, balance and equilibrium-terms that pervade the study of style in contemporary musicology. Today one mocks the first trope as excessively metaphorical. Yet to its credit, it projects Bach as an active persona hovering above his contemporaries. To accomplish this, however, Bach is divorced from his time and even said to anticipate Beethoven and Brahms. The second trope feels embarrassed by this brand of historiography, so that it tends to emphasize the similarities between the composer and his musical environment. Accordingly, neatly ordered elements outside Bach's works-French style, ritornello form, the style galant, Lutheran theology-are isolated and tagged inside. One then concludesalways using the passive voice-that Bach was influenced by Vivaldi,