florida state university college of music performance practice

transition in attaca fashion. Most of the turba choruses in the St. John Passion are simply
notated with C, but there are two in 6/4, one in 3/4 and one in C designated additionally
with the Italian term “allegro.” 382 Sherman, who has analyzed twenty other period
Passions, believes that there is not enough evidence to support the idea that turba
choruses were taken at a faster tempo. Other contemporary settings of the passion
narrative show that if composers were expecting a movement to go faster than ordinary
tempo they would indicate such a desire with a special notational marking. John Butt has
espoused the opinion that many people still falsely associate Italian tempo words with
literal moods rather than tempo indications. However, sources in Baroque Germany
specifically relate Italian tempo words to literally indicate tempo. 383
Based on evidence supplied from the durations of thirty-eight recordings of the St.
John Passion, which would be the result of both tempo and expressive license employed
by the conductor, there can be no conclusive answer regarding if within the twenty-five
years between 1982-2007 recordings have become slower or faster. Graphical
interpretation shows that there is no correlation to time progression of recordings within
the twenty-five years studied with longer temporal durations. Additionally, there is closer
uniformity in duration in the choruses of the St. John Passion, particularly if the choruses
are brief like “Jesum, von Nazareth” and “Nicht diesen, sondern Barrabam.” The chorales
within the St. John Passion show a greater and wider range of variability.
The discrepancy in diverse tempos and durations within the chorales can partly be
attributed to the amount of emphasis the conductor places on the text. Like many topics
of performance practice, there are at least two approaches to chorale text. Some advocate
for a simple straightforward approach that is not exceedingly to sentimental. Walter
Blankenburg and Robin Leaver both discourage emphasizing particular words over
others. 384 This approach is inclined to point out that chorales are at their essence
“congregational” singing thus to belabor over the words distorts their communal
purpose. 385 However, others insist that the intended didactic and moral lessons found in
382 Sherman, “Do the Turbae Movements in Bach‟s Passions Undermine the Idea
of the Tempo Ordinario?”(accessed June 14, 2007).
383 John Butt, “Book review,” Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 140.2 (1990): 265.
384 Fabian, Bach Performance Practice, 1945-1975, 105.
385 Parenthetically, the idea that Bach‟s congregation joined in and sang the chorales is also highly
contested. Most scholars seem to believe that the congregation did not participate in singing the chorales.
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