florida state university college of music performance practice

have the advantage of presenting Bach in the context for which it was originally written –
the church. 198 Rilling‟s view of Bach‟s self-image is rather simplistic: over the course of
Bach‟s life, he consciously chose to spend the majority of it carrying out responsibilities
for the church. The breadth and scope and of his talent certainly could have provided him
opportunity to work exclusively in a court as a Kapellmeister. 199 For Rilling, Bach‟s
conscious choice of vocation, and where the majority of his compositional energies lie,
provides enough convincing evidence that a performer cannot blindly approach Bach‟s
music without addressing its inherent religious dimensions.
In the year 1999, just shy of the new century, John Butt explores the recordings of
Bach‟s Brandenburg Concertors, Goldberg Variations and the final volume of cantatas
since 1980 and notes a relaxation, liberalization, and diversification to the dogmatic,
chaste and strict ideology that characterized performances that claimed various titles such
as “early music,” “authentic” or “historical performance.” 200 Butt recounts how early in
the movement many found the tone of the strings as strident and edgy but as time has
gone by this has gently softened to include more resonance, due to a new generation of
interpretive players. 201 In addition, early recordings of the HIP movement were
characterized by dry and detached articulations. However Butt considers that this has
been transformed into longer note lengths and subtler articulations. 202
Bach in the Twenty-First Century
The survey of consequential events in Bach scholarship and interpretation in the
twentieth century is staggering. It is difficult to comprehend that the twenty-first century
could yield as much advancement in Bach research. However, the year 2000 served as
not only the beginning of a new century and a new millennium, but also produced several
books, including two additional Bach biographies from German-born musicologists
Christoph Wolff and Martin Geck, that assisted to commemorate the 250 th anniversary of
Bach‟s death. John Butt postulates that perhaps the renewed interest in biographical
198 Rilling, “Bach‟s Significance,” 5.
199 Rilling, “Bach‟s Significance,” 6.
200 John Butt, “Bach Recordings since 1980,” p. 191 in Bach Perspectives: The Music of J.S. Bach Analysis
and Interpretation, David Schulenberg, ed. 181-198.
201 Butt, “Bach Recordings since 1980,” 182.
202 Butt, “Bach Recordings since 1980,” 183.
41