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Johann Wilhelm Koch (Kantor, Copyist, Bach's Pupil?) |
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Born: January 31, 1704 - Buttelstedt, about 10 km north of Weimar, Thuringia, Germany
Died: November 8, 1745 - Ronneburg, Thuringia, Germany |
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Johann Wilhelm Koch was a Gerrman musician, singer, Kantor and schoolmaster. He was probably a pupil of Johann Tobias Krebs, Sr. (A-4) in Buttelstedt. He attended the Gymnasums in Frankenhausen and Weimar. Around 1719-1721 he sang as treble in the Hofkapelle Weimar; and from 1721 to 1723 he was concertist and music director at the Gymnasium in Lübeck. He studied at Universität Jena (enrolled on April 27, 1725). From 1731 he was Kantor at Ronneburg. He studied privately with J.S. Bach in Leipzig between 1738 and 1741. J.S. Bach was godfather to J.W. Koch's daughter Johanna Helena Sophia, who was batised on September 12, 1739 (she lived less than a year), but he did not attend the ceremony as he was detained to Altenburg for the inauguration of the new organ at court. Letters to J.W. Koch from Johann Elias Bach [39] from January 10, 1739 and August 11, 1739 [38] (BDok ii, Nos 434, 438 & 455) bear witness to the close relations betwen J.W. Koch and J.S. Bach at this time. In a ltter from Septermber 28, 1739, J.S. Bach himself invited J.W. Koch and his wife to attend a performance of the Collegium musicum in Leipzig. In 1741 J.S. Bach returned a number of canons with notes on their resolution to J.W. Koch, friend of the family and godfather to one of J.S. Bach's daughters. The accompanying letter written by J.S. Bach's nephew and then secretary, J.E. Bach thanks J.W. Koch for sending the pieces and goes on to say "There is no magic (Hexerei) involved her, as he [Bach] put it, and he has written comment on the large ones".
Löffler's assessment (1949/1950) that J.W. Koch "um seiner auffälligen Beziehungen zu Seb. Bach als dessen Schüler und Freund anzusprechen" (for his striking relationship with Seb. Bach was to be addressed as his pupil and friend), was soon put into perspective by him (1953) in such a way that he "wohl mehr als persönlicher Freund denn als Schüler Bachs zu gelten" (must be regarded more as a personal friend than as a pupil of Bach). It can be demonstrated that J.S. Bach took over the baptism sponsorship of a child by J.W. Koch, loaned him several of his cantatas and corresponded with him (via his private secretary Johann Elias Bach (B-32)). However, there is no evidence of a pupil relationship. Rather, J.W. Koch may have made friends with J.E. Bach during their studies in Jena and established contact with J.S. Bach through them.
References: Koska: C-13; GND: 13390637X; Bach Digital: 00003164 |
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Works of Bach he copied [Manuscript No. in Bach Digital / Work / Performance date] |
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D-B Mus.ms. Bach St 64: BWV 97: cover title [1734; later shift (supplements in organ part: later 1730s; third-transposed organ part: around 1740-1747)] |
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Sources:
1. Oxford Composer Companions J.S. Bach (Editor: Malcolm Boyd, OUP, 1999)
2. The Bach Reader, edited by Hans T. David & Arthur Mendel (Revised edition, London, J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., 1966)
3. fine-print footnotes in the Bach-Dokumente
4. Bernd Koska: Bachs Privatschüler in Bach-Jahrbuch 2019, English translation by Aryeh Oron (May 2020)
5. Bach Digital Website (April 2019)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (June 2014, May 2020); Thomas Braatz (January 2011) |
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Links to other Sites |
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Kantor Koch - Homepage der Stadt Ronneburg / Thüringen [German]
Koch, Johann Wilhelm (Bach Digital) |
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Bibliography |
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Sources 4: Löffler 1929/31, Nr. 43; Löffler 1936, S. 117f.; BJ 1949/50, S. 104f. (H. Löffler); Löffler 1953, Nr. 59; Dok II, Nr. 434, 438, 448, 454, 455, 475, 484, 510; Dok V, Nr. B 308a, B 540a; LBB 3 (E. Odrich/P. Wollny); BJ 2003, S. 100–110 (M. Maul, P. Wollny); NBA IX/3, Nr. 180
Literature 5: Maul/Wollny, Quellenkundliches zu Bach-Aufführungen zwischen 1720 und 1760, BJ 2003, S. 97–141.
References 5: NBA I/28.1; II/4; IV/4; IX/3; Suppl.; Dok I, II, V |
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