I asked: >Is there evidence of Bach's dismay at the performances of his cantatas?
Jim Stimson answers: > There's a letter from Bach to the Leipzig city council mentioning the > shortcomings of the forces at hand and requesting additional resources. The 1730 Entwurff is indeed a well-known document these days, since it is Exhibit A for both sides in the debate about whether Bach intended his cantatas to be sung one to a part. But it's hard to conclude from reading it that Bach's music was performed badly. His complaints are mostly about the numbers of performers available. When he complains, for example, that too many of the boys he had at the school in 1730 (being the school principal was part of his job) are untalented or unready, he then says that he doesn't use them in the church services. We should keep in mind a few things. First, Leipzig was a major city, and the "local musicians" were no more likely to be mediocre there than anywhere else. Some of them, like the trumpeter Gottfried Reiche, were famous virtuosi. Second, to suggest that Bach wrote his very challenging music for performers who were not up to performing it is to suggest that he wasn't very bright or successful. I don't think he would have lasted 27 years as Cantor of St. Thomas cranking out bad performances, no matter how good the music was. He was a practical musician. He may have written Cantata 51 for a "schoolboy" (who was probably 16 or 17) but the kid must have had serious chops. Finally, and most importantly, Bach was in charge of music at three different churches. This involved overseeing the choice of music and getting musicians and singers assigned and rehearsed and ready to perform, but he didn't have to compose the music for all three services (or indeed, any of them, necessarily) and he obviously couldn't direct the music at more than one of them. So if he were short of good performers, which church got shortchanged? Thomaskirche, where he was directing his own music? Or one of the other two? HP
