Performance Practice

Question 1

What is Helmuth Rilling’s famous quote about performance practice?

Answer 1

Summarized? It’s good that we have original instruments and original performance practices, but unfortunate that we have no original listeners.; Melamed, Hearing Bach’s Passions

Question 2

How many singers were likely used for the St. John Passion?

Answer 2

four concertists, four ripienists, and two others for small roles; Melamed, Hearing Bach’s Passions

Question 3

How many singers were likely used for the St. Matthew Passion?

Answer 3

eight plus a few extras for dramatic roles and hymn melodies; Melamed, Hearing Bach’s Passions

Question 4

What are the major differences between Bach’s choirs and modern performers of his work?

Answer 4

His were all male, including boys and adult falsettists, different vocal training, different physiology; Melamed, Hearing Bach’s Passions

Question 5

In relation to the audience, where would the original performers have been?

Answer 5

Standing behind or beside the congregation; Melamed, Hearing Bach’s Passions

Question 6

Liturgically, when would Bach’s passions have been performed?

Answer 6

Vespers on Good Friday; Melamed, Hearing Bach’s Passions

Question 7

What originally happened between parts 1 and 2 of a passion?

Answer 7

Sermon of up to an hour in length; Melamed, Hearing Bach’s Passions

Question 8

What is the definition of a chorus in 18th century concerted music?

Answer 8

A movement where all of the solo singers from other movements sing simultaneously, even if only one on a part; Melamed, Hearing Bach’s Passions

Question 9

What is a ripienist?

Answer 9

A singer (or instrumentalist) who joins the featured performer for reinforcement at specific points, often at the discretion of the director, not the composer; Melamed, Hearing Bach’s Passions

Question 10

What was the role of a concertist singer?

Answer 10

To sing ALL vocal lines, both solo and ensemble; Melamed, Hearing Bach’s Passions

Question 11

What is most noteworthy about the parts for Maid, Pilate, and Servant in Bach’s St. john Passion?

Answer 11

They are separate parts, with all other movements marked tacet; thus, not all available singers sang every chorus, and some singers were designated to sing certain things, but not others.; Melamed, Hearing Bach’s Passions

Question 12

What is significant about arias in the St. Matthew Passion?

Answer 12

They are divided among both choirs, implying two sets of concertists; Melamed, Hearing Bach’s Passions

Question 13

What is a major problem with the “sharing copies” argument?

Answer 13

There are no indications on the concertist’s part where ripienists should join and/or not join. No tutti or solo markings.; Parrott, Essential Bach Choir

Question 14

In the Entwurff, Bach suggests that there be 2-3 singers on a part. Why?

Answer 14

This letter describes his choir from an organizational perspective, not from a performing perspective. These were pools of personnel from which he could pull sufficient singers for any given performance. This is especially important given disease and death among singers.; Parrott, Essential Bach Choir

Question 15

According to Parrott, what was the purpose for the Entwurff?

Answer 15

To highlight the organizational difficulties Bach faced, not to instruct them in musical performance practice.; Parrott, Essential Bach Choir

Question 16

What was the most commonly hired voice part to join the school’s singers?

Answer 16

bass singer (and violinist); Parrott, Essential Bach Choir

Question 17

Describe typical orchestration for a cantata.

Answer 17

There really isn’t one. But a general guideline is 4-pt vocal soloists, usually with ripieno with 5-pt strings (in many combinations); Wolff, World

Question 18

What are the preferred wind instruments in cantatas?

Answer 18

Sackbuts and trombones; Wolff, World

Question 19

What instruments only occasionally occur in cantatas?

Answer 19

recorders, flutes, and oboes; Wolff, World

Question 20

What did CPE Bach say regarding organ and harpsichord?

Answer 20

organ for big movements, harpsichord in more restrained movements (aria/recit); Dreyfus, JAMS Su79

Question 21

What performance indication supports the use of both organ and harpsichord in the cantatas of JS Bach?

Answer 21

tacet indications in organ parts, even in secco recits; Dreyfus, JAMS Su79

Question 22

What might have played during tacet organ sections/movements?

Answer 22

Harpsichord; documentary evidence suggests that there were two, and Bach often played and directed from the harpsichord; Dreyfus, JAMS Su79

Question 23

When else might the harpsichord have played?

Answer 23

Anywhere there are also figures present, along with the organ; Dreyfus, JAMS Su79

Question 24

During what years did Bach experiment with continuo differentiation?

Answer 24

1723-1730, roughly; Dreyfus, JAMS Su79

Question 25

How were issues of balance different in Bach’s time?

Answer 25

Different instruments; unseen performers could move about the loft; 1 Whittaker

Question 26

When were Leipzig cantatas performed?

Answer 26

Either two whole cantatas, one after the gospel and one after the sermon, or a single cantata split into halves in the same places; Durr Cantatas

Question 27

Describe Bach’s ideal organ stop for continuo playing.

Answer 27

8’ gedekt, from wood, not metal; Wolff, World

Question 28

What change did Bach request regarding the bass stops for continuo organ playing?

Answer 28

Replace 8’ trumpet with 16’ fagott so it could be more delicate; Wolff, World

Question 29

Where were most of Bach’s Leipzig cantatas performed?

Answer 29

Almost equally in St. Thomas and St. Nicolai churches; Smithers, Original

Question 30

What is often missing from performance parts?

Answer 30

accidentals, corrections, tempo, solo/tutti, articulations, dynamics, etc.; Smithers, Original

Question 31

What is the purpose of a ritornello in Baroque music?

Answer 31

similar to the exposition of a sonata, it presents the chief musical material in an orderly way; Alwes, CJ 11/00

Question 32

What is the general gist of Alwes’ article on ritornellos?

Answer 32

ritornellos give the conductor a guide to look for repetitive material, making rehearsals more efficient; Alwes, CJ 11/00

Question 33

Which Bach biography remains, according to Stauffer, a tremendous resource for Baroque performance practice?

Answer 33

Johann Sebastian Bach by Philipp Spitta

Butt/Lauffer 211