Notice the nifty little fiddle in one hand, and the glass of beer or wine in the other. And I love the way Hans is surrounded by pictures of his carpentry tools. Johann Sebastian could have looked at this picture of his great grandfather with some of the same amusement and wonder that we have. Check out the odd hanging thing with a bell on the end next to the word "Laborios." I suppose it would be one of the tools of his jester trade, just like the other stuff might represent the tools of his other job at court.
The Latin caption calls him a celebrated witty fool, a laughable player (I suppose "fidicen" could be a pun on fiddle), and a hard working man who is unaffected and pius.
10 comments:
Fidicen is a lyre player according to the Latin dictionary online, and the older notion of ridiculous had more to do with entertainment than with ridicule as we might understand it today. The odd implement you mention is probably a wood hole saw for fine work, no pun on your name intended. well, maybe just a liddle....
I knew an organist and choirmaster who built several fine harpsichords in his time, almost all with hand tools. From Hans Bach to today, musicians have been and should remain craftsmen as well, for it teaches patience and builds something over a large span of time, something many students today do not seem to grasp. Discipline remains a virtue.
I love the idea of Hans Bach having been, perhaps, an instrument maker. I do wonder about the strange pointed fiddle, which looks very uncomfortable to play. I still think that bauble is part of the traditional jester hat that was worn by court jesters, those hats have at least three baubles.
Have you ever seen weights used in calculating vertical positioning? Hans Bach was certainly not a court jester, being a rather plain man and worker with his hands. While you might love the idea that he was in some way related to the court, I think the history suggests something more mundane. But we all have our romances, yes?
My information about Hans Bach's job as the Jester in Ursula's court comes from an article by Christoph Wolff, who is a trusted authority on the Bach family. He also translates "Fidicen Ridiculus" as "merry fiddler," which is probably akin to the translation in the first Anonymous comment.
The reference to Hans Bach in Ursula's court seems odd, in spite of the source you mention. Being curious to know more regarding the article you reference, does Wolff cite dates for this court? In the time when city states were at odds with one another, Thuringen and Dresden would have been a bit far afield, and the 1550s and later suggest that Catholic and the new Protestant would also have been a gulf between them. To which Wolff article are you referring? Grove? Certainly Spielmann is a way Bach is known, but the other work to which scholars point suggests to me someone who worked with his hands. Moreover the "jesting" Grove's mentions in this time was related to municipal events in which many participated.
It's a 1984 Yale University Press book called "Johann Sebastian Bach: Life, Times, Influence, and the Christoph Wolf article is called "The Family." There's no date for Hans Bach's work at Ursula's court.
If an appearance at a court by a "Spielmann" amounts to "jesting," were the classical musicians who played at the last inauguration "jesting?" It's funny to think how words, meanings and roles change over time, and how maybe also they don't change that much.
They weren't jesting. They were bow-synching to music that they recorded earlier!
Never heard/read the term, "bow-synching, before. That this is so makes me think far less of the little concert in that big place. Milli Vanilli played big time. Argh! Now that I think of them "bow-synching" I shall think they indeed were jesting.
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