florida state university college of music performance practice

the recording studio, the original performances of Bach and his contemporaries could
sound too amateurish for us to appreciate or desire. 290
Thankfully, the softening of rhetoric from “authentic performance” to
“historically-informed performance” recognizes the fact that there is a limit to how far
one can realize a historical performance. This philosophy encourages the performer to
research the historical implications but remain open to the idea that the performance will
nonetheless be realized in a contemporary context and for a contemporary audience. This
dissertation investigates the choices conductors make in balancing historical choices in a
contemporary context.
Leading back to the initial question: what is known regarding the earliest
performances of the St. John Passion during Bach‟s lifetime? First, the vocal issues will
be examined. Despite the number of vocalists in Bach‟s concerted works there is still a
contentious issue among many; we can at least say that most contemporary performances
of Bach‟s works feature choirs that even the most liberal number of twelve singers
advocated by Arnold Schering and others, far exceed that number. One matter that is not
debated is that Bach‟s vocal resources were boys who sang the soprano and alto parts
while the adult males would sing alto (male falsettists), tenor or bass. Most scholars, as
first demonstrated by Joshua Rifkin and supported by other esteemed scholars like
Andrew Parrott, John Butt and Daniel Melamed, accept the number of singers as eight
that would perform the St. John Passion. While this radical idea challenges many to
redefine the accepted notion of what a choir is, there has been to date no compelling
evidence to challenge Rifkin‟s thesis as first presented in 1981.
To understand these conclusions, and how they relate to the St. John Passion,
scholars reference the 1725 version of the St. John Passion – the version practically in
complete form. The surviving extant materials, viewed with the perspective of Rifkin‟s
findings, afford researchers to deduct a highly plausible performance scenario. As
customary of the day, each vocal part for the principal singers (concertists) of the St. John
Passion includes all of the music written for that particular vocal range. 291 For example,
the copy of the soprano vocal part would include the soprano line for all of the choruses
290 Melamed, “Bach‟s St. John Passion: Can We Really Still Hear the Work,” 237.
291 Melamed, Hearing Bach’s Passions, 24.
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