The ''Calov Bible'' is a three-volume 17th-century

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...

that contains German translations and commentary by

Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...

and additional commentary by Wittenberg theology professor

Abraham Calovius Abraham Calovius (also Abraham Calov or Abraham Kalau; 16 April 161225 February 1686) was a Lutheran theologian, and was one of the champions of Lutheran orthodoxy in the 17th century. Biography He was born in Mohrungen (Morąg), Ducal Prussia ...

Connection with J. S. Bach

The ''Calov Bible'' was made famous with the discovery of a long-lost copy that had once belonged to the composer

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

. At the time of his death, the inventory of Bach's library specified ownership of ' ("Writings of Calovius"). It was not known until the 20th century what these writings were. In June 1934 a Lutheran pastor, Christian G. Riedel, was attending a convention of the

Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod (LCMS), also known as the Missouri Synod, is a traditional, confessional Lutheran denomination in the United States. With 1.8 million members, it is the second-largest Lutheran body in the United States. The LC ...

Frankenmuth, Michigan Frankenmuth is a city in Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,944 at the 2010 census. The city is surrounded by Frankenmuth Township. Bronner's Christmas Wonderland, which bills itself as "the World's Largest Christma ...

. While a guest in the home of his cousin, Leonard Reichle, Riedel was shown a volume of the Bible in which he recognized Bach's signature on the title page. Reichle subsequently located the other two volumes in his attic, relating that his family had purchased them in the 1830s, in Philadelphia. In October 1938, Reichle donated the three volumes to the

Concordia Seminary Concordia Seminary is a Lutheran seminary in Clayton, Missouri. The institution's primary mission is to train pastors, deaconesses, missionaries, chaplains, and church leaders for the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod (LCMS). Founded in 1839, t ...

Library in St. Louis, Missouri. Only after the upheavals of World War II, however, did this Bible become known to Bach scholarship. At the end of the year 2017 a facsimile reprint of Bach's Bible was published by the Dutch publisher Van Wijnen of Franeker, in close co-operation with the owners, Concordia Seminary Library. The ''Calov Bible'' is in three volumes, each signed on its main title page by J. S. Bach, who followed his signature with the date, 1733. The volumes contain 348 underlinings, marks of emphasis, and marginalia in Bach's hand, an attribution that has been proven by handwriting analysis and chemical analysis of the ink. In many instances Bach was correcting typographical or grammatical errors. Three of Bach's more important annotations are in proximity to the following passages.

References

{{Reflist

External links

*Bach marginalia in ''Calov Bible'' contextualized in an analysis of the Fugue No. 18 in G-sharp minor,

BWV The (BWV; ; ) is a catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990. An abbreviated version of that second edition, known as BWV2a ...

887, from Book II of ''

The Well-Tempered Clavier ''The Well-Tempered Clavier'', BWV 846–893, consists of two sets of preludes and fugues in all 24 major and minor keys for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach. In the composer's time, ''clavier'', meaning keyboard, referred to a variety of in ...

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*Dr. Thomas Rossin - short video on the history of the Calov Bible: http://exultate.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Bach-Bible-History.mp4 *Information on the facsimile reprint of Bach's Calov Bible on www.bachbible.com. 17th-century books Bible translations into German Johann Sebastian Bach 1934 in Michigan