| Essay on the True Manner of Playing the Clavier Erster Teil | Part I |
Commentary (original text in black)
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| 1. Hauptstück. Von der Finger-Setzung | Chapter 1. On fingering |
| ... um dessen beste Finger-Setzung mit aller Gewißheit seinen Schülern zu weisen. | ... in order to show his students the best fingering with all certainty. |
| The 1787 edition of Versuch I has “seinen Schülern zu weisen,” which is unequivocally “to show his students” (plural). The 1753 edition, however, has “seinen Schüler zu weisen,” which could be an archaic usage for “his student” (singular). In modern German “weisen” in the sense of “to show someone something” takes the direct object (accusative) “something” and the indirect object (dative) “someone.” Thus the modern form for the singular would be “seinem Schüler zu weisen.” Grimm, though, acknowledges an earlier usage where the “someone” could also be in the accusative: | |
| ... zwei gebrauchsweisen heben sich von einander ab: weisen mit akk. der person (A 1—3) und weisen mit akk. der sache und dativ der person (B 1 u. 3), die im wesentlichen zusammenfallen mit den hauptbedeutungsrichtungen ‘führen’ (A) und ‘zeigen’ (B). Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm (Leipzig: S. Hirzel Verlag, 1853–1971), s.v. “weisen.” Digitalisierte Fassung im Wörterbuchnetz des Trier Center for Digital Humanities, Version 01/25. |
... two uses stand out from each other: “weisen” with the accusative case for the person (A 1—3) and “weisen” with the accusative case for the thing and the dative case for the person (B 1 and 3), which essentially coincide with the main meanings “to lead” (A) and “to show” (B). |
| It is therefore possible that Bach intended the meaning “to lead his student to the best fingering” in 1753, but then revised it as “to show his students the best fingering” in the later edition. Also possible is that Bach (or his publisher Schwickert) considered “seinen Schüler zu weisen” outmoded or incorrect in 1787 and tacitly changed it. | |
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