April 5, 1962 There is a real musicological and scale-of-forces problem, as most of you lmow, with our performance next week of Bach's St. John Passion. On page ix of Arthur Mendel's superb preface to his exceptiona!"edition he writes: "Whena symphony orchestra with sixty or more strings takes part in the performance of such a work, all the proportions are My own opinion is changed, and everything must be reconsidered. that such changes are not for the better, and I am convinced that while Bach might have delighted in the resources of the modern symphony orchestra, the music he would have written for it would have been designed to make the best use of those resources: he would not have welcomed the mere multiplication of having h\D'ldreds of performers do what could be done by several dozen. The fresco that covers the wall is not just an enlargement of the tempera painting on the altar panel. Bach's music is as full of eloquent detail as a panel painting., and it is no more improved, to my way of thinking, by performance with multiplied forces than a string quartet played by string orchestra, or a violin and piano sonata It is a delusion of our played by a dozen fiddlers and pianists. time that infinite refinement of detail is not compatible with breadth of conception., and that to be great a thing must be "great big". Even in our large concert halls we do not resort to such distortions; and I think even in such surroundings it should be perfectly possible to readjust one 1 s scale of dynamic values so as to be able to listen to Bach's music performed by such forces as he had in mind." As with our performance two years ago of the St. Matthew Passion, we have only two quasi-justifications. The first is that with the amateur choral society the performance exists in some large measure for the enjoyment, instruction and edification of those who perform it. So long as we already- exist as a ''symphonic" chorus of two h\D'ldred-twenty voices, it would be difficult and not a little unfair to deny 80% of us the opportlD'lity of performing this work. Still, even this has to be an admitted inconsistency between purpose and organization. Certainly we would all agree in principal that musical societies exist for the optimum performance of music, not that music exists for the optimumself-expression of societies. It follows, does it not, that once one has decided to perform a work of the proportions and textures of the St. John Passion one ought to construct and shape his forces to serve the music, notthe opposite. Actually, the only parts of the work which might be 11musicolegally 11 served by our chorus would be the chorales. The opening and closing choruses are grand in design and manner and are not irremedially damaged by a large chorus -- though ev.eu that shoula be not so luge as ours. •But from there on the musical texture and drama.tic situation demand real chamber music forces. Smallest of these forces could be the four soldiers who cast lots for Jesus clothin g in #54; next in order., the Chief Priests of #46 and #50; following these -- but
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still small -- the soldiers of #34 or the accusers of Peter in #17; and finally the "crowd" which shouts "Crucify ~11, ''We have a law ~11, etc. Even these latter choruses -- as also the opening and closing choruses -- were sung in Bach's time by less than 15 or 16 singers, and balanced by an equal number of instruments t Mendel continues
somewhat resignedly:
"Nevertheless, the resources needed for performance of the Bach choral works, with the :exacting demands they make on both singers and instrumentalists, are usually hard to find outside our symphony orchestras, an4 large-scale performances will probably continue to be in the ~jority for a long time to come. Many musicians and writers g.ave jumped to the conclusion that ¡ since the symphony orchestr ~ has five or six times as ma.py strings as Bach had, the woqd-winds must be multiplied in proportion (though as far as I ( kriow no one has suggested 15 trumpets and 5 pairs of kettledrums for the B Minor Mass) • The fact is that music and arithmetic are not so simply connected. Sixty strings can play as softly as ten, and five flutes in unison do not sound five tjjnes as loud as one. 11 Here we find a crumb or two of hope. If sixty strings can play as softly as ten, then two hundred voices may be capable of singing as lightly as thirtythree. If, in the few days remaining to us, we really settle only for lightness of tone and clarity of texture, if we occasionally divide our forces to represent the smaller groups of participants, if we save our congregational tone and weight for the chorales, we may get by without burying the work under an eruptive flood of aural lava and ash. Try, 'come Sunday.
First
come, first
serve. R. S.
Rehearsal
- Performance Schedule for the St. John Passion
Smday
April 8
On stage
3:00 p.m.
Monday
April 9
On stage with orchestra
7:00 p.m.
Wednesday
April 11
On stage orchestra-soloists
7:00 p.m.
Thursday
April 12
Warm-up
7:15 p.m.
Saturday
April
14
TV Blocking : Taped Performance 6:40 p .m.
Sunday
April
15
Warm-up
Performance
Performance
2:00 p.m.