Much has been written about
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (German: joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...
's ensembles (both in size and constituents—both vocal and instrumental) that he used.
In Bach's time referred to more advanced vocal
church music
Church music is a genre of Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn.
History
Early Christian musi ...
, usually accompanied by instrumental forces, such as
his motets,
church cantata
A church cantata or sacred cantata is a cantata intended to be performed during Christian liturgy. The genre was particularly popular in 18th-century Lutheran Germany, with many composers writing an extensive output: Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel ...
s and
passions
''Passions'' is an American television soap opera that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1999, to September 7, 2007, and on DirecTV's The 101 Network from September 17, 2007, to August 7, 2008. Created by screenwriter James E. Reilly and ...
. The vocal and instrumental forces used by Bach for the performance of such music are to a certain extent documented for all the periods of his life. Information about his secular orchestral and choral music is more limited: it mostly involves his period in Köthen, and his involvement with Leipzig's student orchestra, the
Collegium Musicum
The Collegium Musicum was one of several types of musical societies that arose in Germany, German and German-Switzerland, Swiss cities and towns during the Protestant Reformation, Reformation and thrived into the mid-18th century.
Generally, whil ...
performing at
Café Zimmermann
The Café Zimmermann, or , was the coffeehouse of Gottfried Zimmermann in Leipzig which formed the backdrop to the first performances of many of Bach's secular cantatas, e.g. the ''Coffee Cantata'' ('' Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht''), and in ...
.
Before Leipzig
Arnstadt and Mühlhausen
Weimar and Köthen
Leipzig
Figural music
In 1730, Bach wrote a memo (''Entwurff'') to the Leipzig town council regarding musical staffing of the Leipzig churches for which he was responsible.
Vocal forces
In regards to vocal forces, Bach wrote:
[Bach, Johann Sebastian. Kurtzer; iedoch höchstnöthiger Entwurff einer wohlbestallten Kirchen Music; nebst einigem unvorgreiflichen Bedencken von dem Verfall derselben. Leipzig: Johann Sebastian Bach, 23 August 1730. Retrieved on 17 May 2011 from http://www.bach.de/leben/kirchenmusik.html.]
which translates to:
He also lists in a note dating from about the same year (1730) the minimum requirements for the churches mentioned in the ''Entwurff'':
Instrumental forces
Likewise, Bach wrote of the instrumental forces required:
which translates to:
Secular music
By performer and instrument types
Vocalists
Vocal soloists
Choir
Instruments
String section
Winds
Continuo and organ
After 1750
Second half of the 18th century
19th century
20th century
21st century
In the 21st century, several conductors have recorded all or most of Bach's cantatas using choirs with three or four singers per part. For instance,
Philippe Herreweghe
Philippe Maria François Herreweghe, Knight Herreweghe (born 2 May 1947) is a Belgian conductor and choirmaster.
Herreweghe founded La Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale Gent and is renowned as a conductor, with a repertoire ranging from ...
has performed and recorded "Bach ... as he practiced in Leipzig, with three suitable singers per voice group".
[Ellen Segeren. "Voor Herreweghe gaat de tijd dringen: 'Ik wil alleen nog topmuziek'", pp. 61–64 in , summer 2010] Herreweghe sees voices suitable for Bach as "small" voices, voice types with certain characteristics: he names
Peter Kooij and
Dorothee Mields
Dorothee Mields (born 15 April 1971) is a German soprano concert singer of Baroque and contemporary music.
Career
Mields was born in Gelsenkirchen. She studied at the University of the Arts Bremen with Elke Holzmann, Harry van der Kamp and Ga ...
as examples of that voice type.
By contrast, a number of 21st-century Bach conductors have instead accepted
Joshua Rifkin
Joshua Rifkin (born April 22, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist, and musicologist. He is currently a professor of music at Boston University. As a performer, he has recorded music by composers from Antoine Busnois to Silvestre Revueltas; ...
's arguments that most of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
's choral music was performed with only
one singer per voice part.
[Keller, James M. ''Recordings -- Bach: Cantatas by the Bach Ensemble under Joshua Rifkin / Bach: Cantatas by the Kammerchor Stuttgart and Concerto Koln under Frieder Bernius / Bach: Magnificat in D by the Collegium Musicum 90 under Richard Hickox / and Others''. vol. 111. New York: Musical America, 1991. Print. Retrieved 2024-09-09]
References
Sources
* Malcolm Boyd
''Bach''.Oxford University Press, 2006.
{{Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Historically informed performance