florida state university college of music performance practice

Most of the conductors in the review decided to perform this chorus in a full
volume. The other consistent element to this chorus is that every conductor executed the
trill in measure 25. Beyond this, several conductors made unique and creative artistic
decisions within this chorus. The one that was explored the most was an apparent
increase in dynamic intensity on the phrase “sondern daß er gesaget habe” (but that he
said) from all other phrases within the movement thus underscoring the insult from the
chief priests on his claim. Two German conductors, Beringer (1997) and Hempfling
(2004), performed this chorus with an added accelerando, indicative of a common
technique used by conductors to add to the dramatic nature of turba choruses.
Two other comments in regards to articulation: first, the majority of the
recordings performed this chorus in a marcato or martellato style. However, Christophers
(1989) and Fasolis (1998) performed this chorus in a legato style. The staccato marks on
the last word, “König,” were rarely performed in a true staccato style, rather more in line
with tenuto articulation.
The tempo/duration results indicate that duration times were closer in proximity
to each other than in other longer choruses and chorales. All three of the fastest
recordings of this movement come from German conductors. Noll (1997) was first with
0:28 followed by Hempfling (2004) and Max (1990) both at 0:29. The slowest recordings
come from German conductor Weyand (1990), American conductor Slowik (1989) and
Austrian conductor Harnoncourt (1993) all at 0:35.
26 In meines Herzens Grunde (Chorale)
This E flat major chorale ponders on the sight of Christ hanging on the cross. Like
the other chorales already explored, conductors either treated this chorale in an objective
manner with uniform tempo, dynamics and releases on fermatas or they used tempo,
dynamics and fermatas to expressively describe the chorale text. Those conductors who
treated this chorale objectively, without variety in dynamics or phrasing, were in the
minority. Many of the conductors began this chorale in a full volume, with less than ten
conductors beginning the movement in a softer dynamic. The most common choice that
conductors made in dynamic variety was to sing the last phrase, “wie du, Herr Christ, so
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