Abstract
This PhD dissertation explores poverty and abundance in Bach’s life and sacred cantatas and inquires how he himself might have handled the tension between the material and spiritual aspects. Although his career was increasingly lucrative, Bach did not amass significant wealth. In 1730, he complained about his unstable salary in
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his famous letter to Georg Erdmann, requesting help to “seek his fortune” elsewhere. My research confirms some of his grievances through an assessment of his sources of salary in Leipzig, which indeed fluctuated. Nevertheless, he remained in Leipzig for 27 years and there is no evidence that he pursued employment elsewhere. Bach concurrently worked independently especially while in Leipzig through guest performances, organ examinations, publishing his own works, teaching privately, and directing the collegium musicum. His fees for these services likewise increased throughout his lifetime. Furthermore, Leipzig was an ideal location for the pursuit of these activities thanks to its book fairs, publishing houses, collegium musicum, and university. My research shows that it was financially advantageous for him to remain in Leipzig, for it was there that he found his ‘fortune’ in freelance activity. Bach’s theological approach to poverty and abundance is illuminated through a study of Lutheran theologians represented in his library, his personal copy of the Calov Bible, and the libretti of his sacred cantatas. In contrast to the temporal nature and potential dangers of earthly wealth, Jesus is defined as the soul’s only treasure in Bach’s sacred cantatas. Concepts such as the possibility of material wealth drawing one’s heart away from God and the greater value of spiritual treasures are consistent with Lutheran teaching. However, the negative nature of material wealth is especially emphasized in Bach’s cantatas, perhaps reflecting the Pietistic teaching of the time that stressed the deceit of earthly goods and worldliness. In Bach’s Christmas cantatas, the text turns to the poverty of Christ and how his physical suffering bestows eternal salvation and heavenly treasures upon those who believe (2 Corinthians 8:9). Three of Bach’s cantatas are based on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus from Luke 16:19-31. In selected sermons on this passage, Lutheran theologians focused on the heart attitudes of unbelief and greed as the downfall of the rich man. An analysis of cantata BWV 75 illuminates the contrast of material and spiritual poverty and abundance. According to his own Lutheran confession, Bach would have claimed the spiritual riches made possible through the poverty of Christ. Perhaps his emphasis on the danger of wealth was a reaction to his frustrations around money in real life and an indirect rebuke of those in Leipzig who were being stingy. Furthermore, his handling of money on earth could reflect the value of a Lutheran work ethic while he concurrently anticipated the spiritual abundance that would await him in heaven. While his material estate would eventually fade away, Bach’s music would leave a rich legacy that would extend to all corners of the world, and his faith would reward him with treasures in heaven.
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