florida state university college of music performance practice

its delivery. Interestingly enough, to a large degree there is consistency in the thirty-eight
recordings obtained for this study.
In the expressive realm of dynamics, given the dramatic nature of this chorus it is
not surprising that all of the conductors decided to perform this movement with a forte
dynamic. Most of the conductors did not stray from forte throughout the movement
except in a few instances. In bars thirty-five and thirty-six several selected to vary the
dynamic level with the reiteration of “nicht” (no) by the crowd. For example, conductors
Dombrect (1996) and Beringer (1997) went from soft to forte with each reiteration of
“nicht.” Conversely, Koopman (1993) and Rilling (1996) decreased volume with each
reiteration from forte to piano. Two other conductors, Schreier (1988) and Noll (1997)
performed each “nicht” soft then exploded in volume with the subsequent homophonic
statement “wir hätten dir ihn nicht überantwortet” (we would not have delivered him up
unto thee). 413
All of conductors presented this chorus with a marcato articulation obviously to
render the crowd‟s frenzy. Likewise, in terms of ornamentation, every conductor seemed
to implement the trills where the score explicitly calls for them and additionaly the trills
were consistently executed in the same manner. Admittedly, it was sometimes difficult to
clearly hear each of the six places where Bach wrote specific trills due to the loudness in
dynamic level and contrapuntal thickness.
It seems that tempo is where conductors showed more variance than in other tools
of expression. However, even that was relatively consistent, particularly within the last
decade, throughout the twenty-five year span of studied recordings. German conductors
represented the top three fastest and slowest renderings of this movement with Hempfling
(2004) providing the fastest presentation at 0:53 and Weyand (1990) giving the slowest
performance at 1:11.
16 d Wir dürfen niemand töten (Chorus)
This A minor turba chorus that describes the crowd reminding Pilate that it is
unlawful for them to kill any man is a truncated and transposed adaptation of “Wäre
dieser nicht ein Übeltäter” (NBA 16b). 414 Roehrig points out that Bach added two and a
413 Translations are from Dürr, Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion, 146-147.
414 Roehrig, “The St. John Passion by J.S. Bach in the light of the Neue Bach-Ausgabe edition 1973, 120.
112