Bach: a detailed informative biography
巴赫的一生：莱比锡之歌（四）
By  Michael and Lawrence Sartorius
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莱比锡
1723-1729
」
Leipzig, with a population of 30.000, was the second city of Saxony, the center of the German printing and publishing industries, an important European trading center, and site of a progressive and famous university. It was also one of the foremost centers of German cultural life, with magnificent private dwellings, streets well paved and illuminated at night, a recently opened municipal library, a majestic town hall, and a vibrant social life. Outside its massive town walls were elegant tree-lined promenades and extensive formal gardens. 
有着三万人口的莱比锡是萨克森第二大城市，德国印刷出版业的中心，欧洲重要的贸易枢纽，还是先进而著名的莱比锡大学的所在地。她同时也是首屈一指的德国文化生活之中心，有着精美的私人住宅、平整而有夜间照明的街道、新近开放的市政图书馆、庄严的市政大厅以及活跃的社交生活。高大的城墙之外是雅致的植有行道树的步行大道和广阔而齐整的花园。
The old-established university drew scholars and men of distinction from far and wide, and the famous book trade contributed much to the cultural life of the city. One of Leipzig's most important features was its international commerce. When the Leipzig Trade Fair was in progress, the respectable town was transformed into a show-ground mixing business with pleasure, and was popular with members of the Royal Court of Dresden. Many connections were established between nations on these occasions, and this in turn had a beneficial effect on the civic economy and culture as well as the international variety of its music.
历史悠久的大学吸引着四面八方的学者与名流，著名的书籍交易也为城市的文化生活增光添彩。当莱比锡举行贸易集市时，这座庄严肃穆的城市便摇身一变，成为商贸往来与纵情享乐的秀场，在德累斯顿的王室成员中也大受欢迎。许多国家（nation在此的翻译存疑）之间的交往连结都是借此场合达成的，而这又对国民经济和文化以及音乐的国际化多样性产生了积极影响。
Bach moved to Leipzig on May 22, 1723, where for the remaining 27 years of his life he was to live and work as Cantor, or Directore Chori Musici Lipsiensis - Director of Choir and Music in Leipzig. He would have known the town from previous visits, as he had come, for instance, in December 1717 to test the large new organ (53 stops) in the University Church, the Paulinerkirche, just completed by the Leipzig organ builder Johann Scheibe.
巴赫1723年5月22日迁至莱比锡，在那里他作为合唱团长，或者说莱比锡合唱团及音乐指导，工作并生活了余生的27年。他可能在之前的造访中对这座城市已经有所了解，比如1717年12月他来验收一座新的大型管风琴（拥有53个音栓），这个架位于莱比锡大学的圣保罗教堂的管风琴由莱比锡管风琴建造师约翰·沙伊贝刚刚建成。
 Despite the Leipzig Council's almost disrespectful reticence in appointing him, Bach's arrival was clearly a major event in the musical and social world, and one North German newspaper described it in great detail: "Last Saturday at noon, four carts laden with goods and chattels belonging to the former Capellmeister to the Court of Cöthen arrived in Leipzig and at two in the afternoon, he and his family arrived in two coaches and moved into their newly decorated lodgings in the school building". The Bach family at that time comprised his wife and four children, of eight, nine, twelve and fourteen years of age. May 31, 1723, marked the inaugural ceremony for the new Capellmeister with the customary speeches and anthems, putting an end to six unsettled months for the city in filling the post.
尽管莱比锡市议会对委任巴赫抱着几乎是无礼的不甘心态，他的到来显然是音乐界与社交圈的一大新闻，一份德国北部的报纸极为详尽地描述道：“上周六上午，四驾载着前克滕宫廷乐长巴赫的全部家产的马车到达莱比锡，下午两点，他和家人乘两辆马车抵达这里，并且搬进了学校里新装修的寓所。”这时的巴赫家庭包括他的妻子和四个孩子，分别8岁的约翰·戈特弗里德·伯恩哈德，9岁的CPE巴赫，12岁的长子威廉·弗里德曼和14岁的长女凯瑟琳娜·多萝西娅（译者注：应当还有安娜马德莲娜于当年4月刚刚诞下的女儿Christiana Sophia Henrietta）。1723年5月31日是新上任乐长的就职典礼，按照传统进行了就职演说与圣歌演唱，这为莱比锡城长达六个月找人填缺的不安状态画上句号。
The school of St Thomas was situated on the western wall of the town, not far from the imposing Pleissenburg fortress with its large tower on the south-western corner of the town wall. The school had around 60 boarders, aged between 11 and early 20s, and provided the choirs for at least four city churches. These boarders were mainly from deprived backgrounds and were maintained at the school on a charitable basis, and they also occasionally had to sing outdoors at funerals and in the city streets for alms.
托马斯学校坐落在城市的西城墙边，不远处就是雄伟的普莱森堡堡垒及其位于城墙西南角的高塔。学校有大约60名寄宿生，年纪介于11岁到20出头，组成了城里至少四座教堂的唱诗班。这些寄宿生大多家境贫寒，基于慈善的考虑被学校收留，他们偶尔还得在葬礼和城市街道这样的室外场合歌唱，以获取施舍。
Bach's apartment in the school was divided between the ground floor and the next two floors. From the window of his study (Componierstube) on the first upper floor of the Thomasschule, Bach would look out west over the town wall, to a magnificent view of the surrounding gardens, fields and meadows, a view about which Goethe later wrote "When I first saw it, I believed I had come to the Elysian Fields". 
巴赫在学校的寓所分属底层与其上的两层。透过位于托马斯学习二层书房的窗户，巴赫可以向西望到城墙之外环绕着的花园、田野与牧场；后来歌德用“当我第一次看到她，我觉得自己已经来到极乐净土”来形容这一壮丽风景。毗邻托马斯学校的是设在城墙上狭窄的圣托马斯城门，由一条越过护城河的小桥通向一条受人喜爱的步道，道旁沿着护城河和普莱瑟河之间的城墙，种植着椴树。
Adjacent to the Thomas Schule was the narrow St Thomas gate (Thomaspförtchen) set in the town wall with a small bridge over the town's moat leading to a popular walk bordered with lime trees which followed the town wall between the moat and the Pleisse river. Along here were some of the eight Leipzig garden Coffee-houses situated outside the town, where much of the musical life of the city took place during the summer. Indeed the city was nicknamed 'Athens on the Pleisse', and offered many attractions for the summer holiday-makers in its well cared-for parks and pleasure gardens beside the river Pleisse and its idyllic surrounding countryside.
这一带有8家地处莱比锡城外花园咖啡屋，夏季里大部分音乐活动在此举行。莱比锡无愧于其“普莱瑟河上的雅典”这一美称：普莱瑟河畔受到精心养护的公园和游乐花园以及环绕着她的田园牧歌式的乡村，为夏季的节庆带来无限魅力。
Though contemporary newspaper reports stated that the incoming Cantor's apartments were "newly renovated", the building itself, dating from 1553, was however, in a somewhat dilapidated condition; discipline was practically non-existent, the staff quarreled among themselves, and the living conditions were unhealthy. Parents were unwilling to send their children to a school where illness amongst the pupils was so prevalent, and consequently, there were only 54 scholars out of a possible 120.
尽管当时的报纸报导声称即将到来的乐监的寓所是“新近翻修过的”，这座始建于1553年的建筑本身却处于某种荒废状态；几乎不存在纪律约束，教职员工相互争吵，居住条件也不卫生。家长不愿把孩子们送到疫病如此流行的学校，结果就是这里本可接纳120个孩子，却只有54名学生。
The Cantor's duties were to organize the music in the four principal churches of Leipzig, and to form choirs for these churches from the pupils of the Thomasschule. He was also to instruct the more musically talented scholars in instrument playing so that they might be available for the church orchestra, and to teach the pupils Latin (which Bach quickly delegated to a junior colleague).
乐监的职责是为莱比锡城的四座主要教堂编排音乐，并组织托马斯学校的学生组成这些教堂的唱诗班。他也为那些音乐才华更加突出的学生提供乐器演奏指导，使他们有加入教堂管弦乐团的可能，还要教学生们拉丁文（巴赫很快把这份差事指派给了一位下属）。
Out of the 54 boys at Bach's disposal for use in the different choirs, he stated, '17 are competent, 20 not yet fully, and 17 incapable'. The best singers were selected to form the choir which sang the Sunday cantata; one week at the Thomaskirche, the other week at the Nikolaikirche. A 'second' choir, of the same size but less ability, would sing at the church without the cantata. The 'third' choir of even less ability at the Petrikirche, the 'fourth' at the Neuekirche.
巴赫曾写道，在可供他挑选组成不同唱诗班的54个男孩中，“17个可以胜任，20个资质不足，17个不合格”。最好的歌手被选入演唱主日（周日）康塔塔的唱诗班，一周在圣托马斯教堂，一周在圣尼古拉教堂。人数相同但能力稍差些的“第二”唱诗班将在教堂演唱非康塔塔曲目。资质更差些“第三”唱诗班在圣彼得里教堂演唱，“第四”则在新教堂。
The orchestra used for the cantatas consisted of up to 20 players. The city had, for a century or more, maintained a Town Band (städtisches Orchester) consisting of four wind players and four string players. It may be assumed by the presence of the near-legendary Gottfried Reicha among them both as wind and string player, and after 1719 their "senior", that they were players of a high standard. Surprisingly perhaps to present-day readers, they were expected to be proficient in the violin, reed, flute and brass families. They were under the control of the Thomaskantor.
演奏康塔塔的管弦乐团由20名乐手组成。一个多世纪以来，莱比锡城一直维持着一支由四名管乐手和四名弦乐手构成的市镇乐团。近乎传奇的乐手哥特弗里德·赖歇曾为乐团成员，既演奏弦乐也演奏管乐，并在在1719年后成为团中骨干，由此可以推测该团乐手水平之高。乐队成员被要求精通小提琴，簧管乐器，笛类以及铜管乐器，这可能在今天读者们的意料之外。乐团受托马斯学校乐监领导。
哥特弗里德·赖歇
（译者注：Gottfried Reiche，小号手，巴洛克作曲家，自巴赫到任莱比锡后即成为他的首席小号手直至1734年因中风去世。从巴赫作品中华丽生动的小号声部可以判断赖歇小号技巧之精湛。他的肖像于1727年赖歇六十大寿之际，由莱比锡画家豪斯曼绘制，巴赫最广为人知的肖像亦由此人所绘。画中他一手擎号，另一手拿着的乐曲片段是被称为“Abblassen”的小号曲，究竟是由他本人创作，还是巴赫给他的生辰献礼尚不确定。该曲后来几经改编，广为流传，美国CBS 电视节目《News Sunday Morning》使用该曲作为片头近二十年。）
Bach would certainly have taken steps early on to ensure that the instruments used were in top condition. We know that the stringed instruments used were maintained during the 1730s, and several of them built, by the celebrated Leipzig instrument maker (and Court Lute-maker) J. C. Hoffmann (Hoffmann's instruments are still in possession of and played in the Thomaskirche today). Hoffmann incidentally also built a viola pomposa, a tenor of the violin family, to Bach's orders.
巴赫肯定很早就采取措施以保证乐器在最佳状态下被演奏。我们知道的是在1730年代，著名的莱比锡乐器制造者以及宫廷琉特琴制造者霍夫曼保养并制造了一些当时使用的弦乐器（霍夫曼所制的乐器现在仍属于圣托马斯教堂，时至今日仍被用来演奏）。霍夫曼还意外地受巴赫之命制造了一把五弦中提琴，一种次中音提琴。
Music-making was a popular pastime, and the regular concerts at Zimmerman's Coffee House and other musical venues would indicate that there were no doubt musicians in the town who could be invited to attend in the gallery for church performances. Thus it may be assumed that Bach could count on a fairly professional orchestra. Bach's many arias featuring oboe obbligato attest to the presence of a good oboist among the town's wind players (possibly Reicha himself?). Viola and violin obbligati Bach would normally play himself.
创作音乐在当时是种流行的消遣方式，齐默尔曼咖啡屋的常规音乐会与其他音乐会场都表明城里的音乐家们毫无疑问会被邀请到廊台上参与教堂音乐的演奏。因此，可以假定巴赫能够倚仗一支相当专业的管弦乐团。巴赫许多由双簧管伴奏的咏叹调都证明城中的管乐手里有位双皇冠高手（可能就是赖歇本人？）。中提琴与小提琴伴奏通常由巴赫本人演奏。
 It is highly unlikely that there was either a chamber organ or a harpsichord in the gallery - the main organ being used exclusively. The wealth and complexity of instrumentation in Bach's cantatas is evidence itself that musicianship of a high standard was not hard for him to obtain. His sons and pupils would also have participated, together with visiting musicians happy no doubt to have the honor of performing under the direction of the now famous Herr Bach.
廊台上不太能可能有室内管风琴或羽管键琴，而主管风琴只在特殊场合才被演奏。巴赫康塔塔器乐部分之华丽与复杂本身就证明了他不难得到高水平的音乐演奏者。他的儿子们和学生也将参与其中，与来访的幸运音乐家们在如今知名的巴赫先生的指挥下一同演奏。
In Leipzig there was none of the aristocratic ease of the Court of Cöthen, where Bach could make music as and when he liked; here he had to keep strictly to his duties within the organized life of church and school. Singing classes were held from 9 to 12 am on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On Thursdays the Cantor was free, on Friday he taught in the morning. Rehearsals for the Sunday Cantatas took place on Saturday afternoons.
在莱比锡可没有克滕宫廷那种贵族式的悠闲，令巴赫能凭自己的喜好和时间安排来创造音乐；这里巴赫得恪尽职守地组织教堂和学校的活动。声乐课在周一到周三的上午9至12点。周四他可以休息，周五早上要教课。周六下午是周日康塔塔的排练时间。
The Sunday services began at 7a.m, with a motet, hymns, and an organ voluntary. The cantata, usually lasting about 20 minutes, preceded the hour-long sermon, or if the cantata was in two parts, it came before and after the sermon. The main service finished at about mid-day, after which there followed a communion service.
主日礼拜从早上7点开始，伴有经文歌，圣咏和一首管风琴都走。上演的康塔塔通常为20分钟左右，之后是一小时左右的布道；如果康塔塔有两部分，则分别在布道前后上演。主要的礼拜仪式答曰在中午结束，紧接着的是圣餐礼。
There were also week-day services for Bach to superintend at the four churches, also in one of the ancient hospitals and in a 'house of correction'. Although these services were simple and required only a few hymns, the Cantor had to organize a group of about nine singers to work on a rota system. Apart from this, he had to attend and compose music for funerals and various other occasions. Bach also took a lively interest in the divine services at the University church, the Paulinerkirche. 
巴赫还要管理四个教堂、一所老式医院和一家“教养院”的工作日礼拜仪式。尽管这些仪式都很简单，只需一些圣咏合唱，巴赫还是组织了一支九名歌手的小队轮流排班献唱。除此之外，他还得出席葬礼等各种其他仪式并为之作曲。巴赫还对大学的圣保禄教堂的礼拜仪式兴致勃勃。
It was only after he had conducted eleven services up till Christmas 1725, that he discovered that the Cantor of Leipzig was no longer officially director of music in the University church, this position being given to the moderately talented organist of the Nikolaikirche. A long dispute between Bach and the authorities arose over this, and it was only after he had appealed to the Elector of Saxony at Dresden that a compromise was reached.
他在这所大学教堂里指挥了11场礼拜，直到1725年的圣诞节前他才发现大学教堂正式的音乐指导并不是他莱比锡乐监，这一职位被指派给了圣尼古拉教堂资质平平的管风琴师。巴赫为此与当权者争执不休，直到他向德累斯顿的萨克森选帝侯申诉之后，莱比锡议会才肯让步。
Bach nonetheless performed his duties as required, pursuing during these early years his long-held objective of providing a complete set of cantatas for every Sunday corresponding to the liturgical year. This self-imposed task was largely completed during his first 5 years, after which he produced cantatas with less regularity.
尽管如此，巴赫还是坚持按照要求履行自己的职责，在这前几年里追随着自己秉持已久的目标，创作一套可以配合整年教会仪式在主日礼拜上演奏的康塔塔。在前五年里他基本完成了这项自愿承担的任务，此后他的康塔塔创作就不再如此有规律了。
It may sometimes appear to listeners enjoying Bach's cantatas today, that some of the arias are - well - perhaps a little less imaginative than might be expected from such a great master. That this is in fact the case may be explained by recalling the educational customs of Bach's time. Much stress was placed on "learning by doing" - by copying or transcribing works of the masters, by copying part-scores for performances, by working out continuo parts... and by composing simpler recitatives and arias for performance. 
可能有时对于今天欣赏巴赫康塔塔的听众来说，一些咏叹调似乎比期待中出自如此大师之手的作品稍稍欠缺了一点想象力。回想一下巴赫时代的教育习惯，这就可能得到解释了。被着重强调的是“在干中学”——在抄写和改写大师作品中学习，在誊写声部谱中学习，在写低音通奏声部中学习……在为演出创作比较简单的宣叙调和咏叹调中学习。
It should also be recalled that any duties enumerated as part of a titular position were to be fulfilled, but not necessarily by the incumbent personally. Bach's position for example required him to provide instruction in Latin, which he did by delegation. Delegation was an accepted means of fulfilling obligations, and was also seen as means of instructing the more gifted pupils.
我们还要想到，头衔之下列举的任何职责都需要被执行，但去执行的不一定是在职者本人。比如巴赫的职位要求他提供拉丁文指导，而他把这项差事派给了别人。委派是一种被认可的履行责任的方式，而且也被视为指导更具天赋的学生的一种手段。
While Bach did in fact delegate the composition of some recitatives and arias to his pupils, he would always set the tone by composing an opening chorus reflecting the scriptural theme of the week. In the case of more important occasions he would compose the entire cantata himself. The listener can usually be sure of Bach's personal authorship of a particular aria or recitative when it bears Bach's "signature" - accompaniment scored for strings, rather than simple figured bass.
当巴赫确实将一些宣叙调与咏叹调的作曲任务委派给他的学生们时，他总会创作一首体现当周读经主题的开场大合唱为整部作品奠定基调 。而在一些更为重要的场合他则会亲自为整部康塔塔作曲。当一首咏叹调或宣叙调带有巴赫的“签名”，即由弦乐而非简单的低音通奏作为伴奏，听者通常可以确认这是巴赫本人所作。
奥古斯特二世
（译者注：奥古斯特二世以其身体强健被称为“萨克森的海格力士”、“铁手”。他与妻子克莉丝汀1693年缔结的政治联姻并不幸福，奥古斯特认为妻子无趣而克莉丝汀为丈夫的不忠行为而伤心。1696年他们的儿子，后来继任的波兰国王奥古斯特三世降生。1697年奥古斯特二世改信罗马天主教而成为波兰-立陶宛公国国王，笃信路德宗的克莉丝汀并未随夫前往波兰参加加冕仪式，此后的30年里也从未踏上波兰国土，而是在萨克森度过余生。她因此被称为“萨克森的神龛，即Sachsens Betsäule）
One particularly special performance of a work by Bach was recorded in some detail: the cantata known as the Trauerode, BWV 198.In 1697, the Elector Augustus of Saxony assumed the Polish crown, a step that obliged him to adopt the Roman Catholic faith. His wife, Christiane Eberhardine, preferred her Lutheranism to her husband, however, so she renounced the throne and lived apart from him until her death on September 6th, 1727, an event which was deeply mourned in strongly Lutheran Saxony. 
有一部极为特殊的巴赫作品的演出被较为细致地记录了下来：被称为《挽歌》（Trauerode）的康塔塔，《王后啊返照回光》（Laß, Fürstin, lass noch einen Strahl，BWV198）。1697年，萨克森选帝侯奥古斯都加冕成为波兰国王，他因此必须改信罗马天主教。然而他的妻子克莉丝汀为了自己的路德宗信仰离开了丈夫，她放弃王后之位，夫妻分居直至1727年9月6日去世。
克莉丝汀
Two weeks later, one Hans von Kirchbach, a nobleman student at the University of Leipzig, proposed to organize a memorial service in the Paulinerkirche during which he would deliver a valedictory address. Von Kirchbach commissioned a sometime librettist of Bach's, Johann Christoph Gottsched, to write verses for a mourning ode, and Bach to set these verses to music. A difficulty arose, however, because of the fact that Von Kirchbach's choice of composer ignored the director of music at the University Church, Herr Görner, who as Bach's protocol senior would ordinarily have supplied the music for a University function of this sort. Görner protested, and Kirchbach was required to pay him twelve thalers in compensation.
她的离世让笃信路德宗的萨克森地区深切哀悼。两周之后，莱比锡大学一名出身贵族的学生汉斯·冯·基辛巴赫提议在圣保禄教堂组织一场悼念礼拜，他将在仪式上致告别演讲。基辛巴赫委托曾经当过巴赫词作者的约翰·克里斯朵夫·戈特谢德为挽歌撰写歌词，而让巴赫为这些歌词谱曲。然而，基辛巴赫选派作曲家时无视了大学教堂音乐指导格纳大人，他的名位高于巴赫，大学里这种性质的音乐通常由他作曲提供。格纳提出抗议，而基辛巴赫被要求支付12塔勒的赔偿金。
 Bach was then granted permission to compose the Ode, albeit with a reprimand that he was not thereafter "to assume the right to compose music for academic festivals." The permission came on October 12th, but Bach must have had Gottsched's text a few days before. In any case, the score was finished on the15th, just two days before the performance. A great catafalque bearing the Queen's emblems stood in the center of the crowded church, and the service began with the ringing of all the bells of the city. Kirchbach delivered his oration after the second chorus. According to the program, the Ode was "set by Herr Bach in the Italian style." Herr Bach conducted the performance from a harpsichord, among the musicians in the gallery.
这样，巴赫就被批准创作这首挽歌，尽管被训斥到他此后不能“自诩有权为学校的节庆活动作曲”。许可在10月12日被批准下来，但巴赫肯定早在数日前就拿到了戈特谢德的词作。不管怎样，谱曲在15日完成，距正式演出仅两天时间。带有皇后纹章的巨大灵柩停放在拥挤的教堂中心，城市里所有的钟声一齐鸣响，为礼拜仪式拉开序幕。Kirchbach在第二首大合唱后发表了演讲。根据安排，这首挽歌“由巴赫先生用意大利风格写成”。在廊台上的乐手中，巴赫先生弹着羽管键琴指挥了整场演出。
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