Some musician friends of mine traveled to Germany this past summer to visit relatives. While they were there, they were given a stack of old sheet music that had been found in the attic of an elderly great-aunt. They’ve been working their way through it, and recently found this
They thought this was very strange because the music is identical with this well-known piece
The version we are familiar with has the title “Sheep May Safely Graze”, but the old sheet music has a title in German that translates “Lambs May Safely Laze”. On the back of the page shown are some handwritten notes in German. My friends know some German and haven’t completely figured it out, but they said it is in verse form and seems to be lyrics. The verses describe an idyllic pastoral scene with a lamb relaxing in the spring grass-- and the verses go into great detail telling how charming, dainty and utterly delightful the lamb is.
In addition to the mysterious verses, there is also a handwritten inscription on the front
My friends are going to take this sheet music to the local university to have a music historian take a look at it. I thought you guys might be interested in this odd discovery!
I’d translate it more poetically as something like:
Sheep may safely graze beneath
The careful shepherd’s watchful eye.
Where rulers rule with gentle hand,
There’s peace and calm throughout the land,
Which brings our countries joy.
It sounds like someone reworked the pastoral theme with new lyrics fixated on the sheep. I really don’t want to know any more about where that might be going …
My friends took the sheet music to a music historian at the local university today. He was very excited by their find. He said it relates to a very little-known period of Bach’s life-- the time between the death of his first wife and the marriage to his second. Apparently during this time Bach was involved with a mysterious woman known only as the Duchess d’Agneau. The professor showed my friends a copy of a painting that had been done during that time.
When the professor read the poem on the back of the sheet music, he said it was rich with erotic imagery, and that it was plain that the Duchess had been a great encouragement to Bach and probably had helped him regain his creativity after the death of his wife.
I can’t help but notice that the Dutchess bears a certain resemblance to someone here. Lambchop, could the mysterious duchess have been an ancestress of yours??
Oh, my! I’m sorry I missed this earlier. Was at my piano lesson.
Ah, yes! The Duchess! <ahem!> Of course, she’s an . . . ancestress . . . of mine, as you put it. A truly fascinating creature!
Lovely painting, isn’t it? It’s such a good job! That has to be my favorite of her dresses, too. The sleeves were lovely! Got into everything, but lovely. As she said. She was famous for saying that, in fact. “These sleeves just get into everything!”
