florida state university college of music performance practice

American Performances in the Nineteenth Century
After many years of saving his money a young Fred Wolle left in 1884 to study
organ with Joseph Rheinberger in Munich. 321 The timing of his year-and-a-half long visit
could not have been better since he was able to witness the 1885 bicentenary celebration
of the birth of Bach. 322 During the spring of that same year, Wolle attended a concert in
Munich of the St. John Passion with soloists from the Royal Munich Opera Company.
The performance greatly influenced Wolle who, on his return to the United States, began
to make plans to perform the work.
After clearly thinking through his plans, Wolle realized it was not prudent to
begin a newly formed choir, referred to in those days as the Bethlehem Choral Union,
with such a demanding work. Therefore, he went about building the choir‟s musical
ability and concert repertoire. Following a performance of the Messiah, Wolle began
rehearsing the St. John Passion for about four months. On June 5, 1888, the 115 member
Bethlehem Choral Union became distinguished as the first choir to perform the St. John
Passion in its entirety. 323 Robin Leaver surmises that the orchestra was made up of only
strings with the wind obbligato parts found in the arias, being supplied by the organ
which Wolle himself would play. 324 Evidence suggests that the piano accompanied the
majority of the work, particularly the choruses and possibly replaced the lute and
harpsichord in the bass arioso “Betrachte, meine Seel.” 325
Therefore, based on the evidence of the American debut, the St. John Passion
featured performing forces that were not typical of the day but were chosen and based on
pragmatic decisions. Whereas most performances in the nineteenth century featured an
augmented orchestra with a large wind instrument representation, Wolle‟s performance
played with minimal string support. The small string complement perhaps was not by
choice but rather was a decision based on the difficulty in securing other instrumental
parts from London. 326 Since reviews specifically mention Wolle‟s conducting with a
baton it is also safe to say that, on the choruses only, string and piano would accompany.
321
Leaver, “The Revival of the St. John Passion,” 17.
322
Ibid.
323
Leaver, “The Revival of the St. John Passion,” 17.
324
Leaver, “The Revival of the St. John Passion,” 26.
325 Ibid.
326 Ibid.
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