Beiträge zur Geschichte der Bach-Rezeption Band 2
Peter Wollny, "Ein förmlicher Sebastian und Philipp Emanuel Bach-Kultus" Sara Levy und ihr musikalisches Wirken
Early Bach Reception by Mendelssohn Family
In his essay on Sara Levy (1761-1854), Peter Wollny shows that Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's ancestors made a major contribution to the Bach reception of their time. Levy, who hailed from the Itzig family, gave musical soirées that testified to a veritable "Bach cult," as the Berlin Court Kapellmeister Johann Friedrich Reichardt put it. As the central figure of the family activities, Levy was the patroness of the two eldest Bach sons Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp Emanuel, and concertized at the harpsichord with Carl Friedrich Zelter's ensemble and other Berlin orchestral societies. Wollny's description of the life and work of Sara Levy is supplemented by letters and family documents, as well as by a listing of the works by the Bach family which had been collected by the Itzigs.