On 1/16/07, Raymond Horton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
So McCreesh's "instinctive feeling" trumps the evidence of Bach's 12 voice choir, plus his preference for a larger one?
What evidence? "Rifkin's pesky idea" deals with that: (taken from http://homepages.kdsi.net/~sherman/oneperpart.html) ************************************************************************** What about Bach's memo to the Leipzig city council, the "Entwurff"? This 1730 letter reads like a call for three or, preferably, four singers per part. It seems to be a straightforward statement of the composer's "ideal," and that's how it was always read by Bach scholars - until Rifkin addressed it. Rifkin, Andrew Parrott, and John Butt have argued that when read with philological care, this document tells us nothing clear about Bach's choral preferences. They point out that the passage about vocal forces refers not to Bach's four-voiced cantatas, but to simpler motets by older composers - motets typically for eight voices, not four. Moreover, they say, the numbers Bach gives refer not to the "starting lineup" (to use Rifkin's favorite baseball analogy) but to the "roster" of team members necessary to staff an entire church-year's worth of singing. The text can even be interpreted as supporting Rifkin's views. It is not strong evidence for Rifkin, of course, nor does he claim it is. But he and others have shown that is is not strong evidence against him. John Butt argues in favor of Rifkin's idea (and contributes more evidence for it) in his "Bach's vocal scoring." Previously, in his Bach: Mass in B Minor (p. 40), he wrote, "although [Rifkin's] view continues to be opposed by some of the most important figures in Bach research, there have been no convincing arguments, based on meticulous source-study, actually to prove him wrong." Jeanne Swack has presented research showing that Telemann used one-per-part scoring in his cantatas. Kerala Snyder, in her 1987 book Buxtehude, shows that this composer - whose performances so captivated the young Bach - normally intended his four-voice choral compositions for soloists. Finally, David Schulenberg's Music of the Baroque (Oxford, 2001) - the leading textbook on the period - endorses Rifkin's viewpoint. He writes: "Although the exact makeup of Bach's vocal forces has been a matter of debate, it appears increasingly likely that most of Bach's vocal works were composed for a 'chorus' comprising a single singer on each part. ************************************************************* That certainly puts to rest your contention that "Joshua Rifkin's arguments of "one-on-a part" Bach choruses were long ago shown to be without merit." Kim Patrick Clow _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
