florida state university college of music performance practice

Many broad questions have emerged as a result of preliminary investigation that will
be explored throughout this research. Of particular interest is the reception history of the
St. John Passion and what can be attributed as a catalyst for the sudden increase of
recordings in the past twenty-five years. Available recordings will be analyzed in this
case study to determine if particular trends develop in relation to performing forces,
tempo, dynamics, ornamentation, articulation and rhythm. Additional consideration is
explored regarding the multiple versions available for performance to a conductor of the
St. John Passion and how conductors manage this choice. When pertinent, conductors
who have had the luxury of recording the work multiple times within the designated
twenty-five years will be examined to determine consistencies or inconsistencies in
artistic decisions made in initial and subsequent performances.
A defense for studying performance
Even though the idea that studying performance is apodictic, it is perhaps instructive
to make such self-evident values known for the sake of ontology. Israeli-born and
Cambridge-trained musicologist Uri Golomb states succinctly, “the experience of music
is inseparable from performance.” 3 If the experience of music is contingent upon
performance it must be affirmed what is classified as a performance. Nicholas Cook
asserts that both process and product are implicit in music and their active relationship
with each other identifies “performance in the Western art tradition.” 4 In universal terms,
musical performance is the process where musical ideas are actualized (product) and
conveyed to a listener. 5 The implications of such a generalized definition suggest that a
performance can be both realized “live” or through a recording.
3 Uri Golomb, “Expression and Meaning in Bach Performance and Reception: An Examination of the B
minor Mass on Record,” (PhD diss., Cambridge University, 2004), 1.
4 Nicholas Cook, “Between Process and Product: Music and/as Performance,” Music Theory Online 7.2
(April 2001), http://mto.societymusictheory.org/issues/mto.01.7.2/mto/01.7.2.cook.html (accessed
September 8, 2007).
5 Encyclopædia Britannica, 2007, s.v. “music performance.” Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9110118 (accessed September 8, 2007).
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