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Born: 1721 - Breslau (Wroclaw), Silesia, Germany
Died: unknown (after 1783 - Winzig, near Breslau, Silesia, Germany) |
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Benjamin Gottlieb Faber served from 1740 to 1743 as chorister (alto), together with Johann Gottfried Fulde (B-36) and Johann Christoph Altnickol (A-52), at the Marien-Magdalenen-Kirche in Breslau. All three moved to Leipzig in 1743 and become part of J.S. Bach’s circle. Their professional paths then split: B.G. Faber studied medicine at (enrolled on April 30, 1744), J.G. Fulde studied theology, and J.C. Altnickol studied music. B.G. Faber obtained his Baccalaureate degree in medicine and licentiate on September 6, 1749. From 1753 to 1783, he worked as a city, later as district physician in Winzig (near Breslau).
As tentatively accepted by most 20th-century J.S. Bach scholars, the dedicatee of Canon super Fa mi, à 7 post tempus musicum BWV 1078 might be Benjamin Gottlieb Faber. The transparent encryption of Faber's name in the text of the canon is reflected in the sole corresponding reference in J.S. Bach's biography: B.G. Faber was the representative of the absent godfather (J.S. Bach) at the baptism of Johann Sebastian Jr., the son of J.S. Bach's daughter Juliane Friederica and her husband Johann Christoph Altnickol on October 6, 1749, in Naumburg. Anatoly Milka2 hypothesizes that J.S. Bach's deteriorating health in the early autumn of 1748, reflected in the sudden cancellation of his trip to Berlin to be godfather at the baptism of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's son Johann Sebastian Jr., along with sudden changes in J.S. Bach's handwriting, indicate that he had most probably suffered a minor stroke that prevented him from traveling. The juxtaposition of the date of the canon's composition, with the date of birth of J.C. Altnickol's child, indicates that the announcement of Juliane’s pregnancy and decision to ask B.G. Faber to represent the absent godfather could have taken place close to March 1, 1749, when J.S. Bach dedicated this canon to B.G. Faber and, by doing so, expressed his gratitude to his friend. Like J.G. Fulde, who became the dedicatee of the so-called Fulde canon BWV 1077 (October 15, 1747, Leipzig), B.G. Faber had at least a similar musical background, which made it possible for J.S. Bach to express his appreciation for Faber in his usual medium, even in such a sophisticated one as a puzzle canon, in which he united their names and immortalized Benjamin Gottlieb Faber's name next to his own and somewhat equalized their names in a metaphorical paragram of life. This stengthens the assumption that B.G. Faber, being both a physician and a musician, possessed sufficient education to read and appreciate a precious message encrypted in the canon. It also means that B.G. Faber could have previously been J.S. Bach's pupil.
References: Koska: B-37; GND: 12148582X |
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Sources 1: Dok I, Nr. 177; Dok II, Nr. 587; Dok III, N I (177); Dok V, N I (177); NBA VIII/1 Krit. Bericht, S. 35f.; BJ 1967, S. 90–92 (H.-J. Schulze); BJ 2003, S. 259–265 (B. Wiermann) |
