florida state university college of music performance practice

ecordings. 217 On both occasions, Baumgartner interviewed numerous performers to gain
anecdotal insight into Bach interpretation. Many intriguing themes emerged from the
interviews that perhaps provide hints on current Bach interpretation. Most German
interpreters are closely affiliated with the Lutheran Church and experience Bach‟s music
regularly in a religious context while many Americans are exposed to Bach‟s music in an
academic setting or through a concert performance. 218 While the European Union is
unifying markets, Baumgartner states there is no one singular “European” Bach
interpretation. 219 Baumgartner attributes the level of awareness to the religious
components in Bach‟s music as one of the most obvious determining factors to different
approaches. 220
In his 2004 doctoral dissertation, Uri Golomb examines ideology and
performance by way of conductors‟ views on Bach‟s music and their interpretation of
Bach‟s B minor Mass. 221 He places conductors‟ interpretation of the B minor Mass into
categories such as Lutheran Bach, Rhetorical Bach, Musician Bach and Neo-Romantic
Bach. Golomb uses a matrix to consider how much intensity 222 performers attribute to
music and second, how it manifests itself into the performance. 223 Thus he feels that
interpreters have four choices available to them when approaching a musical work as
expressed in the following matrix: 224
1. +/+ The music is expressive, and therefore should be performed expressively
2. +/- The music is so expressive that it could or should be performed
inexpressively
3. -/+ The music is not expressive, but should be performed expressively
217
Nicholas Baumgartner, “European Bach Interpretation at the Turn of the Millennium,” Bach: Journal of
the Riemenschneider Bach Institute 33.1 (2002): 1-2.
218
Nicholas Baumgartner, “Currents in Bach Interpretation in Contemporary Germany,” Bach: Journal of
the Riemenschneider Bach Institute 30.2 (1999): 22.
219
Baumgartner, “European Bach Interpretation at the Turn of the Millennium,” 3.
220
Ibid.
221
It could be argued that their image of Bach could influence performance also.
222
Golomb defines Intensity as expression that emerges through musical structure (Absolute
Expressionism) and not as representing specific symbolic meaning (Referential). See Uri Golomb,
“Expression and Meaning in Bach Performance and Reception: An Examination of the B minor Mass on
Record” PhD diss., Kings College, Cambridge University, 2004), 4.
223
Uri Golomb, “Expression and Meaning in Bach Performance and Reception: An Examination of the B
minor Mass on Record” PhD diss., Kings College, Cambridge University, 2004), 25.
224
Ibid.
45