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Rifkin discounts this plausibility because titles such as these occur too infrequently in
Bach‟s vocal works for it to be considered a conventional way of designation. Rifkin
proceeds to dissect the Entwurff, the document traditionally used by Schering and others
to support the idea of chamber-sized choirs for Bach performance.
Because there are so few personal documents of Bach, and fewer regarding
detailed facts regarding Leipzig performances, the August 23, 1730, memorandum
written to the Leipzig town officials known as the Entwurff, is not only highly treasured
but also highly contested regarding the interpretation of its contents. Bach chose to title
the correspondence “Short But Most Necessary Draft for a Well-Appointed Church
Music, with Certain Modest Reflections on the Decline of the Same.” 184 Rifkin admits
that taking the two sections of the memorandum (majority of the opening section and the
second half of Section 2) out of context as Schering does, tempts one to draw the same
conclusions that Bach utilized a chamber choir of a dozen, three from each voice part, for
his concerted vocal works. 185
Bach‟s responsibilities as Leipzig‟s music director required he administer the
music of the city‟s four churches, Thomaskirche, Nikolaikirche, Petrikirche and Neue
Kirche. To provide music for each church Bach divided, according to ability, the fifty-
five resident pupils from the Thomasschule (referred to as alumni) and prefects (deputy
conductors), into four distinct choirs as shown below from highest to lowest ability. 186
Choir 1 Sang the major service at Thomaskirche or Nikolaikirche with Bach
himself directing the cantata or concerted music.
Choir 2 Sang the minor service at Thomaskirche or Nikolaikirche and once a year
joined first choir for a performance of a Passion on Good Friday.
Choir 3 Sang at the Neue Kirche
Choir 4 Sang at Petrikirche.
In addition to the alumni, the city supplied Bach with seven salaried
instrumentalists and one apprentice. But as Rifkin points out Bach‟s concerted music
demands more instrumentalists than the eight provided, in which Bach would utilize an
184
Wolff, ed. The New Bach Reader, 145.
185
Joshua Rifkin, “Bach‟s Chorus,” reprinted in Andrew Parrott, The Essential Bach Choir, (Rochester:
The Boydell Press, 2000), 194.
186
Rifkin, “Bach‟s Chorus,” reprinted in Andrew Parrott, The Essential Bach Choir, 193.
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