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ca. 1733 ca. 1741 1746 1747 1748 1750

The Search for the Portrait that Belonged to Kittel Pages at The Face Of Bach
The Queens College Lecture of March 21, 2001 - Preface, Table of Contents, and Acknowledgements


The Face Of Bach


This remarkable photograph is not a computer generated composite; the original of the Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment, all that remains of the portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach that belonged to his pupil Johann Christian Kittel, is resting gently on the surface of the original of the 1748 Elias Gottlob Haussmann Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach.

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1748 Elias Gottlob Haussmann Portrait, Courtesy of William H. Scheide, Princeton, New Jersey
Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment, ca. 1733, Artist Unknown, Courtesy of the Weydenhammer Descendants
Photograph by Teri Noel Towe
©Teri Noel Towe, 2001, All Rights Reserved


The Search for the Portrait that Belonged to Kittel

The Queens College Lecture of March 21, 2001


Preface, Table of Contents, and Acknowledgements


Preface

In early January, 2001, my old friend and Princeton chum, Rufus Hallmark, the Director of the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College of the City University of New York, and his distinguished colleague, Raymond Erickson, a "newer" old friend, a renowned harpsichordist, and an eminent Bach scholar, suggested over a dinner in the legendary New York bistrot Tout Va Bien, that I make my first public presentation on the portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach that belonged to his pupil Johann Christian Kittel, a portrait that is the subject of a famous and oft repeated anecdote, a portrait that vanished in 1809, at the Aaron Copland School. I eagerly agreed, and the following 14 pages of "html" are the official text of, and contain the illustrations for, that presentation, The Face Of Bach - The Search for the Portrait that Belonged to Kittel, which I made in the LeFrak Concert Hall at Queens College, Flushing, New York, on the 316th anniversary of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Needless to say, as you will soon discover, the 21st of March, 2001, was not only a memorable and exhilarating day for me as an amateur Bach scholar long obsessed by the problems of the Bach iconography but also a joyful milestone for all who revere the composer whom his pedagogical grandson Ernst Ludwig Gerber described as "this First Master of Harmony".

The text and illustrations that follow are the "long version". Were it to be presented as a lecture, it would most likely last as long as a complete and uncut performance of the Passio secundum Matthaeum. However, this long version, of course, is "complete" in a way that the public presentation, which is about the length of one of Rosalyn Tureck's performances of the "Goldberg" Variations, could not, and cannot, be.

In the interests of time and out of a desire to make the text and the supporting illustrations available to the many all over the globe who already have expressed an eager interest in them, I am uploading the html and making it available on line without having inserted all of the citations of authority and footnotes that are normally an essential component of such a scholarly disquisition. Please bear with me, for the citations, footnotes, sources, bibliographies, and related laecunae and minutia will all be added, albeit in dribs and drabs, over the couse of the forthcoming weeks and months, along with additions to an extensive, but presently incomplete, list of the individuals and organizations to whom I am so much beholden for assistance, gudiance, technical support, and myriad other courtesies that have made it so much easier to reach the astonishing destination of this incredible scholarly journey, a scholarly journey that began with an e-mail that I received one year ago today.

Teri Noel Towe
April 2, 2001


The Search for the Portrait that Belonged to Kittel

The Queens College Lecture of March 21, 2001

Table of Contents

While I recommend, of course, that you begin at the beginning and work your way through to the end, those of you who are "impatient" may click on the Page heading of your choice to advance to it directly!

1. An Odyssey Begins
2. The Conundrum of the Missing Portrait
3. Enter the Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment
4. Codifying my Modus Operandi - Part 1
5. Codifying my Modus Operandi - Part 2 - The George Washington Iconography
6. Bach's Skull
7. The 1746 Haussmann Portrait
8. The 1748 Haussmann Portrait
9. Bach's Physiognomical Characteristics
10. A Description of the Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment
11. Why the Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment is an Accurate Depiction of the Face of Johann Sebastian Bach
12. Bach in a Short Perruque? Yes, Bach in a Short Perruque!
13. Why the Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment is what remains of the Portrait of Bach that Belonged to Kittel
14. The History of the Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment and The Questions that Remain to be Answered

Finally, there is an Epilogue page, which I am confident you will find worthy of your attention.


Acknowledgements

I have said from the very beginning that I could not do it alone, that it would be a collaborative effort. I know that I have to have left out somebody, and I am sure that, as time passes, I shall be adding names to this list.

Each and every one of these people and establisments has my deepest gratitude:

Nathan P. Johansen, my incomparable and unsurpassable webmaster, and his associate David Kuhlke
William H. and Gertrude Scheide
Paula M. Morgan
Paula D. Matthews
Judith McCartin
Ellen Riscoe
Rand Mirante
Mina Bryan
Ben Primer
Greg Kitchen
Ken Wagner
Robert Reidy Cullinane
NAndo Santos
Michael V. Cohen, of New York Film Works
Alain Goldrach
Christopher R. Whent
Barbara N. H. Potter, aka Mrs. Keppel
David L. Ganz and Jerrietta R. Hollinger
Rufus Hallmark
Raymond Erickson
Ron Cannava
Wolodymr "Mike" Jowdoszyn
Rick Krahn
Alan Bartow
Nancy Bareis
Ann Dimino
Cynthia Major
Marie Matteo
Claire Brook
Joseph Machlis
Rudolph "Rudd" Procario, M. D.
Spiro K. Balaouras, D. D. S.
Christoph and Barbara Wolff
Rosalyn Tureck
John F. Pfeiffer
John and Anna Deyle Wagner
Jessie Hyland
Elnora Nelson
Lady Diana Moody
Jose and Olga Fernandez
Antonio Garcia
Mary Legutko
Walther R. and Claire Volbach
Fritz Volbach, the Younger
Mordecai and Irma Bauman
Howard and Shirley Cox
Herman Adler
Ingeborg Adler
Denise Restout
Seth B. Winner
Bradley Chase
Michael Ochs, of W. W. Norton
Milton and Elaine Caine
Arthur Loeb and Perry Haberman of the Madison Avenue Bookshop
Frank & Joe's Gallery
Hacker Art Books
Argosy Books, New York
Donald Noel Shaw, Jr.
John McMurray, Jr.
Frank M. Tack
Laura Maioglio of Barbetta Restaurant
Günter Blobel, M. D.
Qais Al-Awqati, M. D.
Prof. and Mrs. Hans-Joachim Schulze
Peter Wollny
Robert Marshall
Joshua Rifkin
Don Franklin
Gregory Butler
Reinhard Szeskus
Tout Va Bien
Stanley and Julie Anne Sadie
Charles L. Booth, Jr.
Joseph Greenspan
Franz Jolowicz
Thomas L. Clear, II
Thomas Newbould Morgan
Alfred Mann
Gerhard Herz
Arthur and Elsa Mendel
Samuel and Carol Baron
Robin Leaver
Paul P. Rotella
Glenn Keplinger
Richard McLeod
Sandy Lehman
Elizabeth Sita
Maureen Elderkin
Matilda Cascio
Eugene Rankin
Esther Duffy
The Hon. Sir George Bellew, C.V.O, F.S.A.
Sharon Staub Doty
Ellis L. Phillips, III
Edwin C. Esleeck
J. Clement Schuler
Philip Charron
J. Peter Spang
Christopher Monkhouse
Edwin C. Esleeck
J. Merrill Knapp
Daniel W. Foster and the Berwyn Chows
Werner and Beate Felix
Don Smithers
Robert A. Koch
Frank L. and Helen C. Boyden
John Rupert Martin
Ruth Oesch
Klaus Peter Richter
Franz Hauser
Thomas and Nicole Müller
Rob Kruijt
Kent D. Dowell
Angelo Romano
Lowell Nesbitt
David Herron
Peter K. K. Thompson
Jules Bemporad, M.D.
Jeanette Wasserstein, Ph. D
Michael Stein, Ph. D
Charlene Weinstein and her associate Natalie Kabasakalian
Sanford N. Katz
Lawrence Vogelman

Ramsey C. El-Assal

And, last but definitely not least, my parents, my brothers, and the Weydenhammer Descendants, all of whom would agree, I am sure, that they never know what I will come up with next! {:-{)}

Thanks to all of you for having helped to make a long held dream come true!

Teri


Links Pages and Bibliography Pages will be added and expanded as and when a hectic schedule permits. Please be patient!

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Please click on 1092-18A-0100v.jpg  Loading 35034 bytes to return to the Index Page at The Face Of Bach.

Please click on abdyjsb2.jpg to visit the Johann Sebastian Bach Index Page at Teri Noel Towe's Homepages.

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TheFaceOfBach@aol.com


Copyright, Teri Noel Towe, 2000 , 2002
Unless otherwise credited, all images of the Weydenhammer Portrait:  Copyright, The Weydenhammer Descendants, 2000
All Rights Reserved

The Face Of Bach
Remains Profoundly Grateful to
The Rainbow Flag Civic Center

For Providing the Cyberspace for The Face Of Bach
For the First Eight Years of Its Existence.
Thank you, Nathan P. Johansen!
The Face Of Bach
Now Is Profoundly Grateful to
The Bach Cantatas Website

For Providing The Face Of Bach
With a New Home.
Thank you, Aryeh Oron!


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ca. 1733 ca. 1741 1746 1747 1748 1750



 

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