florida state university college of music performance practice

chorales. The two additional supporting singers (Ripienisten) stood on either side of the
Concertist reading from his music. 170 Additionally, Schering supported the use of all-
male (boys/men) choirs 171 and the sole use of organ in accompanying Passion recitatives
of Bach. 172
Schering‟s ideas stood in stark contrast from the practice of presenting Bach‟s choral
works with forces of mammoth proportions as traditionally practiced in the Romantic era.
Regardless of the number of submissions supporting his conclusions (1920, 1922, 1926,
1941) he was largely ignored by many practicing musicians and other scholars who
interpreted the same evidence differently. Many of the discrepancies of opinion came
down to scrutinizing the grammatical syntax of Bach‟s writing. For example, opposing
views claimed that Bach was not satisfied with the number of his choir and wanted “at
least three sopranos” and that Bach always hoped and preferred more. However, as will
be seen in the latter half of the twentieth century, the nagging issue regarding the size of
ensembles in Bach‟s day as well as his own preferred proclivity for their size would not
die. 173 With minority voices refusing to be silent, it continued to stay an issue, although
somewhat in the background until the early 1980s.
A fundamental reference tool in English for any library of Bach research was
published in1945 known as The Bach Reader. Editors Hans T. David and Arthur Mendel
assembled a manageable number of relevant documents concerning Bach, collection of
letters of Bach, references of how Bach was viewed by his contemporaries, as well as
chronicling the early biographical attempts and renewed interest by Romantic Bach
enthusiasts. Revised in 1966 and expanded by Christoph Wolff in 1998, this contribution
to Bach research has been most valuable.
Modern Bach Research
Customarily scholars agree that modern Bach research came into existence around
1950. The year marked the 200 th anniversary of Bach‟s death as well as the centenary
anniversary of the Bach-Gesellschaft organization. This remembrance was not only
170
Parrott, The Essential Bach Choir, 189.
171
For a list of recordings who used an all-male choir for the St. John Passion in the years between 1982-
2007, consult Appendix H.
172
Fabian Somorjay, “Musicology and Performance Practice,” 80.
173
Fabian, Bach Performance Practice, 1945-1975, 85.
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