Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid Read Free Page A

newly developed "piano-forte" ("soft-loud"). The piano had been developed in the first half of the eighteenth century as a modification of the harpsichord. The problem with the harpsichord was that pieces could only be played at a rather uniform loudness-there was no way to strike one note more loudly than its neighbors. The "soft-loud", as its name implies, provided a remedy to this problem. From Italy, where Bartolommeo Cristofori had made the first one, the soft-loud idea had spread widely. Gottfried Silbermann, the foremost German organ builder of the day, was endeavoring to make a "perfect" piano-forte. Undoubtedly King Frederick was the greatest supporter of his efforts-it is said that the King owned as many as fifteen Silbermann pianos!

    Bach

    Frederick was an admirer not only of pianos, but also of an organist and composer by the name of J. S. Bach. This Bach's compositions were somewhat notorious. Some called them "turgid and confused", while others claimed they were incomparable masterpieces.
    But no one disputed Bach's ability to improvise on the organ. In those days, being an organist not only meant being able to play, but also to extemporize, and Bach was known far and wide for his remarkable extemporizations. (For some delightful anecdotes about Bach's extemporization, see The Bach Reader, by H. T. David and A. Mendel.) In 1747, Bach was sixty-two, and his fame, as well as one of his sons, had reached Potsdam: in fact, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach was the Capellmeister (choirmaster) at the court of King Frederick. For years the King had let it be known, through gentle hints to Philipp Emanuel, how

    pleased he would be to have the elder Bach come and pay him a visit; but this wish had never been realized. Frederick was particularly eager for Bach to try out his new Silbermann pianos, which lie (Frederick) correctly foresaw as the great new wave in music.
    It was Frederick's custom to have evening concerts of chamber music in his court.
    Often he himself would be the soloist in a concerto for flute Here we have reproduced a painting of such an evening by the German painter Adolph von Menzel, who, in the 1800's, made a series of paintings illustrating the life of Frederick the Great. At the cembalo is C. P. E. Bach, and the figure furthest to the right is Joachim Quantz, the King's flute master-and the only person allowed to find fault with the King's flute playing. One May evening in 1747, an unexpected guest showed up. Johann Nikolaus Forkel, one of Bach's earliest biographers, tells the story
    as follows:
    One evening, just as lie was getting his flute ready, and his musicians were ssembled, an officer brought him a list of the strangers who had arrived. With his flute in his hand he ran ever the list, but immediately turned to the assembled musicians, and said, with a kind of agitation, "Gentlemen, old Bach is come." The Hute was now laid aside, and old Bach, who had alighted at his son's lodgings, was immediately summoned to the Palace.
    Wilhelm Friedemann, who accompanied his father, told me this story, and I must say that 1 still think with pleasure on the manner in which lie related it. At that time it was the fashion to make rather prolix compliments. The first appearance of J. S. Bach before se great a King, who did not even give him time to change his traveling dress for a black chanter's gown, must necessarily be attended with many apologies. I will net here dwell en these apologies, but merely observe, that in Wilhelm Friedemann's mouth they made a formal Dialogue between the King and the Apologist.
    But what is mere important than this is that the King gave up his Concert for this evening, and invited Bach, then already called the Old Bach, to try his fortepianos, made by Silbermann, which steed in several rooms of the palace. [Forkel here inserts this footnote: "The pianofortes manufactured by Silbermann, of Frevberg, pleased the King se much, that he resolved to buy them all up. He collected fifteen.