Engraved first edition of part I of Clavier Übung, one of the few works published in Bach’s lifetime.

“[This] is of particular interest because this unique exemplar of the original print of 1731 contains two handwritten replacement pages. We don’t know what made the copy defective, but most likely the two pages in question, i.e., the title page and pages 52-53, originally either showed unclear imprints or they were simply missing. It appears that the copy was repaired under Bach’s eyes at his house. He was the self-publisher of the second imprint of the edition of 1731 or a little later (“In Verlegung des Autoris”); the first imprint lists the Leipzig printer and dealer Boetius, who is missing here.  Unfortunately, no clearly discernible watermark is visible on either page. The scribe is also not easily identifiable because he attempted to write as calligraphically as possible in order to match the appearance of the printed music. Nevertheless, on the basis of some major characteristics of his hand I believe the copyist is Johann Ludwig Dietel (1713–1773), student of the St. Thomas School 1727–1735, after which he enrolled as a theology student at the University of Leipzig, and later served a s cantor in Falkenhain, Saxony (information on him in NBA IX/3 (2007), no, 125, p. 121–123). He served as a particularly trustworthy copyist for Bach during his later school years at St. Thomas’s and is one of the principal scribes of the performing materials of the Christmas Oratorio of 1734/35. When Dietel prepared to fix the defective copy he apparently took an intact exemplar as his model. That can be seen especially when comparing the typographical design and organization of the original title page with the handwritten copy and its pencil-drawn lines. Too bad we don’t know what happened to the copy after it left Bach’s house, whether it was a gift by Bach or whether he sold it; there are simply no traces.”--Comments by Bach authority Dr. Christoph Wolff after examining copy.

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