Bach: a detailed informative biography
巴赫的一生：人在克滕（四）
By  Michael and Lawrence Sartorius
「
克滕
1717-1723
」
Bach arrived at the small Court of Anhalt-Cöthen to hold the position of Capellmeister, the highest rank given to a musician during the baroque age. His master was the young prince Leopold of Anhalt-Cöthen, barely twenty-five years old, the son of a Calvinist. As the Calvinists were antagonistic to the splendors of the Lutheran liturgy, there was no church music at Cöthen;
巴赫来到安哈尔特-克滕规模较小的宫廷担任乐长，在巴洛克时代这是音乐家能得到的最高头衔。他的雇主是安哈尔特-克滕年轻的君主利奥波德，年仅25岁，加尔文教徒之子。由于加尔文宗抵制路德宗礼拜仪式的过分华丽，在克滕没有宗教音乐；
however, the young Prince's religious beliefs did not bar him from enjoying a cheerful and cultivated style of living complete with secular cantatas and instrumental music featuring the latest styles and fashions. Prince Leopold had already spent three years (1710-13) doing the Grand Tour of Europe, first to Holland and England, through Germany to Italy, returning by way of Vienna. So he would have been thoroughly familiar with the latest European fashions in music.
然而宗教信仰并没有阻碍年轻的亲王享受由风格新潮的世俗康塔塔与器乐表演充实着的活泼而雅致的生活。利奥波德亲王已经在欧洲游历了三年（1710-13），先从荷兰到英国，进过德国进入意大利，返回时则取道维也纳。所以他对最时兴的欧洲音乐很可能早已耳熟能详。
The young Prince stretched the limited budget of his miniature Court to provide an orchestra of eighteen players, all chosen for their high musical standards from all over the country, some from as far afield as Berlin. In fact it was during the Prince's Grand Tour in 1713 that news came to him of a golden opportunity:
年轻的君主从自己小小宫廷的有限预算里挤出了一个十八人乐团的开支，所有成员都是从全国范围内凭高超的音乐水准而被遴选而出的，有些甚至从柏林远途而来。实际上，是在1713年游学途中，利奥波德亲王才从一则消息里发现了天赐良机：
When Wilhelm I of Prussia came to power, he dismissed his father's Court Capelle, and Prince Leopold was able to tempt many of the best musicians from Berlin to Cöthen. He had well-developed musical tastes, having traveled widely, particularly to Italy, where he studied Italian secular music with great interest; he returned from Italy determined to raise the standard of German secular music to an equally high level.
普鲁士的威廉一世开始掌权并遣散了他父亲的宫廷乐队，利奥波德亲王因此得以将许多一流的乐师从柏林引入克滕麾下。他有着良好的音乐品味：他曾游历各国，特别是意大利，在那里他兴味盎然地研习了意大利世俗音乐；从意大利回国后，他便立志将德国的世俗音乐提升到同样高的水平。
Unlike most Princes of his time, he was a player of considerable proficiency on the harpsichord, the violin and the viola da gamba, and contrary to current Court etiquette he played quite freely and informally with his Court musicians, treating them entirely as his equals. He soon became very friendly with his new Capellmeister, having a high regard for him, and would often ask his advice on various matters.Life at Cöthen was informal and easy-going; in this happy atmosphere Bach's days were completely devoted to music. During this period he wrote much of his chamber music; violin concertos, sonatas, keyboard music, etc.
不像当时的其他君主，利奥波德亲王是位相当娴熟的羽管键琴、小提琴与腿式维奥尔琴演奏者，他还一反当时的宫廷礼仪，放下架子和他的宫廷乐师们一起演奏，将他们看作自己的同类。他很快同自己新来的乐长打成一片，对他颇为尊敬，还经常就各种问题向他请教。克滕的生活无拘无束而又轻松悠闲；在这欢快的气氛中，巴赫把时间完全投入到音乐中。他的大部分室内乐，小提琴协奏曲，奏鸣曲，键盘乐等作品都是在这一时期写成的。
When the Prince traveled, Bach and some of the Court musicians (together with instruments, including an ingenious folding-harpsichord) would accompany him on his extensive journeys. Twice they visited Carlsbad, the meeting place of the European aristocracy, in 1718 and in the summer of 1720. It was on returning from this second visit that Bach received a serious shock; his wife, Maria Barbara, whom he had left in perfect health three months earlier, had died and been buried in his absence, leaving four motherless children.
当亲王旅行时，巴赫与其他宫廷乐师（还有乐器，包括一架新颖可折叠羽管键琴）将在漫长的旅途中一路相伴。他们两次造访卡尔斯巴德，一次在1718年，一次在1720年夏天，那里是欧洲贵族聚会的地方。正是在第二次旅行归来时巴赫深受打击：三个月前他离开时仍非常健康的他的妻子玛利亚·芭芭拉，在他离开的时候身亡并且下葬，留下四个丧母的孩子。
Two months later he visited Hamburg and expressed an interest in the newly vacant post of organist in the Jakobskirche. This church contained the famous Arp Schnitger organ with four manuals and sixty stops. However, Bach left Hamburg for Cöthen before the audition, presumably because the conditions there did not suit him.
两个月后，他造访汉堡并表示有意向申请刚刚空缺的圣雅克教堂的管风琴师一职。该教堂有座著名的由阿尔普·施尼特格尔建造的管风琴，带有四排键盘和六十个音栓。但是巴赫在试奏之前便离开汉堡回到克滕，可能是由于那里的条件并不适合他。
（阿尔普·施尼特：影响深远的北德管风琴建造者，活跃于德国与荷兰，一生修建（重建）了150余座管风琴，将当时流行的多种管风琴的特色融会贯通，成为北德管风琴风格的代表。他还在建造过程中精简费用，使得许多小城镇的教堂也能修建起管风琴。汉堡圣雅克教堂的施尼特管风琴。）
Bach continued with his work at Cöthen. He was asked to compose and perform cantatas for the Prince's birthday and the New Year; two each time, one sacred and one secular. To perform these works there were singers under contract from nearby Courts, and one of these, Anna Magdalena, daughter of J.C. Wilcke, Court and Field-Trumpeter at Weißenfels, attracted Bach's attention with her fine soprano voice. In December 1721, Anna Magdalena and Bach married, she at the age of 20, and he 36.
巴赫继续在克滕供职。他受命在国王生日及新年演奏康塔塔，每次两部，宗教和世俗康塔塔各一部。表演这些作品的有来自其他市镇的签约歌唱者，其中魏森费尔斯的宫廷兼军队小号手维尔克的女儿安娜·马德莲娜用她出色的女高音歌喉引起了巴赫的青睐。1721年12月，他们结婚；这一年，她20岁，他36岁。
Anna Magdalena was very kind to Bach's children, a good housekeeper, and she took a lively interest in his work, often helping him by neatly copying out his manuscripts. In the twenty-eight years of happy marriage that followed, thirteen children were born to the Bach family (though few of them survived through childhood).
安娜·马德莲娜对巴赫的孩子们很和善，她是个好管家，对他的工作充满兴趣，经常帮他精心誊写手稿。此后28年的幸福婚姻里，有13个孩子降生在巴赫家（尽管只有为数不多的孩子活到了成年）。
A week after Bach's wedding, the Prince also married. But for Bach this was to be an unfortunate event, as the new Princess was not in favor of her husband's musical activities and managed, by exerting constant pressure (as Bach wrote in a letter), to 'Make the musical inclination of the said Prince somewhat luke-warm'. Bach also wrote to his old school-friend, Erdmann, 'There I had a gracious Prince as master, who knew music as well as he loved it, and I hoped to remain in his service until the end of my life'.
在巴赫婚礼一周之后，利奥波德亲王也结婚了。但这对巴赫来说是个不幸，因为新王妃对丈夫的音乐活动毫无兴趣，并且通过持续施压（根据巴赫在一封书信所述），设法“让这位亲王对音乐的偏爱变得淡薄”。巴赫还写信给曾经的同窗好友埃德曼，“这里我非常荣幸能有这位亲王作为主人，他了解音乐也热爱音乐，而且我希望能够终身为他效劳。”
But in any case, Bach was now having to consider his growing sons; he wished to give them a good education, and there was no university at Cöthen, nor the cultured atmosphere and facilities of a larger city.So once more, Bach decided to look around for somewhere new. It may perhaps have been these circumstances which led Bach to revive an old invitation to produce what are now known as the Brandenburg Concertos. We know from the opening of this dedication, dated March 24th 1721, that Bach had already met the Margrave of Brandenburg, at which time Bach had been invited to provide some orchestral music.
但无论如何，巴赫现在必须为他渐渐长大的儿子们着想；他希望他们接受良好的教育，而在克滕既没有大学，也没有大城市的文化氛围熏陶。巴赫又一次决定另寻出路。可能正是这些情形让巴赫回应了之前的邀请，写下了现在称作《勃兰登堡协奏曲》的作品。从题献的开头我们得知，1721年3月24日，巴赫面见了勃兰登堡侯爵，并受邀创作一些管弦乐。
"Your Royal Highness; As I had a couple of years ago the pleasure of appearing before Your Royal Highness, by virtue of Your Highness' commands, and as I noticed then that Your Highness took some pleasure in the small talents which Heaven has given me for Music, and as in taking leave of Your Royal Highness, Your Highness deigned to honor me with the command to send Your Highness some pieces of my Composition: I have then in accordance with Your Highness' most gracious orders taken the liberty of rendering my most humble duty to Your Royal Highness with the present Concertos, which I have adapted to several instruments....For the rest, Sire, I beg Your Royal Highness very humbly to have the goodness to continue Your Highness' gracious favor toward me, and to be assured that nothing is so close to my heart as the wish that I may be employed on occasions more worthy of Your Royal Highness and of Your Highness' service....".
“侯爵殿下：数年之前，鄙人得获殊荣，得以奉命拜见殿下，发觉殿下对上天赐予鄙人的微末音乐才能有所赏识，于鄙人辞行之际，殿下俯赐殊荣，命在下作乐数首以奉。鄙人谨奉殿下之仁慈命令，冒昧创作了适于多种乐器之协奏曲，以尽鄙人微末职责……除此之外，鄙人谦卑地乞求殿下继续惠赐垂爱，并向您保证，没有什么能比奉殿下之命侍奉左右更让我称心如愿的了。”
There is some internal evidence in the music itself that Bach was intending to visit Berlin in person for the first performance of these works. There are for example some musicological errors in the scores - hardly something Bach would permit were he seriously dedicating music to a dignitary, particularly with the hope of prospective employment.
在巴赫的音乐中，有某些内在的证据表明他打算亲自前往柏林参与这些作品的首演。比如乐谱中的一些乐理上的错误，若当真要将这些作品献给一位显要人物，特别是期望获得聘用的话，巴赫几乎不可能允许这类错误出现。
The most noteworthy indication however is the missing middle movement of the third concerto. Bach, so his contemporaries frequently noted, would not even permit his performers to put in their own trills and elaborations; he would certainly not have left an entire movement to the whim of some distant performer about whose capabilities Bach knew nothing.
特别值得注意的一点的则是第三首协奏曲中缺失的第二乐章。就像他的同侪经常被注意到的那样，巴赫甚至不会允许他的演奏者们擅自添加颤音或装饰音，自然不会将整个乐章交给他们的灵光一闪，他对这些远在一方的演奏者的水平一无所知。
History shows no record of Bach's having subsequently visited the Margrave at his Brandenburg Court. There could be many reasons for this. The Margrave was not easily accessible as he was more frequently to be found in residence at his estates at Malchow than in Berlin. Moreover the death of Johann Kuhnau, Cantor of the Thomasschule at Leipzig in June 1722 opened the possibility of an appointment for Bach at Leipzig, perhaps more attractive to him than Berlin. Leipzig was situated in familiar territory where he already had many musical and courtly connections; in addition it had a famous university, and the three-times-yearly Trade Fair gave the city a distinctly cosmopolitan atmosphere.
历史没有留下巴赫后续造访侯爵于勃兰登堡宫廷的记录，这有很多原因。侯爵很难接近因为他更常出入位于马尔肖的宅邸而非柏林。此外，1722年6月莱比锡托马斯学校乐监约翰·库瑙的离世给巴赫在莱比锡谋职的可能，这可能比柏林更吸引他。莱比锡属于他所熟悉的地区，他在那里已经建立起音乐上和宫廷里的人脉关系；此外，那里有所知名的大学，一年三度的贸易集市更令这座城市彰显出国际化大都市的气象。
The merits of various candidates to succeed Kuhnau were considered, and the Council eventually nominated Georg Philipp Telemann. However, the authorities at Hamburg would not release Telemann, and so the candidature was left pending. This position of Cantor at Leipzig had been favorably described to Bach, and as the town offered the necessary educational facilities for his sons, he applied for the post. The Council, after trying unsuccessfully to get a certain Christoph Graupner, old boy of the Thomasschule and Capellmeister at Darmstadt, eventually settled for Bach as a reasonable alternative.
市议会考察了约翰·库瑙继任者的众多候选人之特点，最终提名了泰勒曼。然而，（泰勒曼当时所供职的）汉堡当局却不愿放人，因此职位仍然空缺。莱比锡乐监一职的描述对巴赫很有利，而且城里还有儿子们不可或缺的教育资源，巴赫提交了申请。市议会想委任一名托马斯学校的毕业生、达姆施塔特乐长葛劳普纳担任该职，失败之后才终于选定巴赫作为差强人意的替代。
（格奥尔格·菲利普·泰勒曼：巴赫同时代的德国作曲家。曾在莱比锡大学学习法律并组织了学生乐队，成为歌剧音乐指导。移居爱森纳赫时结识巴赫，并成为巴赫次子Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach的教父。在1721年定居汉堡前，曾在莱比锡、艾森纳赫及法兰克福等地多处任职。作为当时最为高产的音乐家之一，他总共创作了2,000多部作品，包括法国风格的器乐、具有德国风格的宗教音乐、几十首受意大利风格影响的作品以及600多部清唱剧等。）
Bach applied for his dismissal at Cöthen, and the Prince, regretting his departure but not wishing to stand in his way, quickly consented.And so Bach left with his family and belongings for Leipzig, where he was to remain for the rest of his life.
巴赫向克滕方面申请离职，亲王虽然为他的离去感到惋惜，却不想挡他的路，很快便应允了这一请求。巴赫就这样拖家带口地前往莱比锡，并在那里度过余生。
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