florida state university college of music performance practice

dozen. Since Rifkin‟s presentation, much ink has been spilled in support or opposition to
his thesis. However of late, partially thanks to Andrew Parrott‟s 2000 book, The Essential
Bach Choir that summarizes Rifkin‟s proposals, many scholars are now publicly
supporting Rifkin‟s theory stating that there has been no convincing or credible evidence
to disprove Rifkin‟s argument for Bach‟s minimalist choir.
In 1985, the tercentenary anniversary of Bach‟s birth was celebrated and it
afforded many scholars to assess Bach‟s significance in the modern era, the various
images and interpretations of Bach and the state of Bach scholarship. Helmut Rilling,
who has spent an entire career performing and analyzing the works of Bach suggest three
distinct groups within Bach interpretation. One is the symphonic approach that was
inherited from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and is characterized by large
performing forces and modern instruments. This approach sought to portray Bach as part
of, or the genesis of, a long lineage of great heritage within the German symphonic
tradition. Second are interpreters who seek to historically reconstruct every possible
detail of the original performances of Bach‟s day. Third and last, and the one Rilling
associates himself with, are the church musicians in the Protestant churches. Rilling feels
strongly that Bach‟s chosen vocation, and where the majority of his compositions lie,
indicate that the performer must address the religious dimensions in his works.
The year 2000 marked another anniversary year, this time the 250 th anniversary of
Bach‟s death and the 50 th anniversary of modern Bach research. The years surrounding
this new century and new millennium were inundated with new biographical portraits of
Bach as well as an obsession over various images of Bach. The sudden emergence of
biographies suggest that interest had shifted from Werktrueue often associated with
modernist values to a postmodern attraction to more humanistic aspects of art such as
composers biographies.
Chapter 4 discusses the origins, versions and complex history of the St. John
Passion. It is believed that reenacting the Passion story in the Christian church was begun
around the fourth century. These early attempts presented a single performer recounting
the events surrounding the crucifixion but through time, this developed into a division of
parts with a turba chorus that added to the dramatic nature of the monophonic passion.
Around the fifteenth century, polyphony was introduced to the Passion and soon two
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