|
FRONT COVER
|
OVERVIEW
|
Dimension: 20.2 x 13.5 x 0.4 cm
|
| TITLE |
The Sacred Choral Music of J. S. Bach, edited
by John Butt. |
| PUBL. DETAILS |
Brewster, Massachusetts: Paraclete Press, 1997. 66p.
Paperback. Price: US$ 11.95 |
| ISBN |
1-55725-197-5 |
| TO ORDER |
Paraclete Press,
P. O. Box 1568, Orleans, MA 02653, USA. Tel: (508) 255-4685; Fax (508)
255-5705; Email: mail@paraclete-press.com |
|
SUMMARY
|
| DESCRIPTION |
a collection of short essays dealing with the issues
relating to performing Bach's sacred vocal works. |
| WORKS COVERED |
BWV 244 (only briefly) |
| READERSHIP |
conductor, singers and organists who are unfamiliar with
the issues of 'historically-informed' performance. |
RESEARCH
CONTRIBUTION |
approach to performance in English language; vocal training
methods |
|
It is often felt that for less experienced singers
Bach’s choral works are the tough nuts to crack. They expect from the performers
not only an enormous technical demand but also the sound understanding
of profound theological expression that are not immediately apparent to
us without undertaking serious musicological pursuit. This is the background
of this book reviewed here. It is a collection of short essays by the members
of Gloriae Dei Cantores, each dealing with a specific aspect of
performing Bach’s sacred vocal works with the aim that the performers will
be able to find ways to equip themselves both performing techniques and
historical knowledge to cope with the enormous demand they are posed. It
is a practical booklet for enthusiastic amateurs written by the people
who went through the same process of learning themselves.
The centre piece is Timberlake’s energetic contribution: it may be of
interest to a conductor who is not only eagerly seeking advice on how to
build a choir that is capable of singing Bach’s vocal works, but also has
little ideas about ‘historically informed’ performance of Bach’s music.
By dividing his discussion into many small sections, namely ‘Training the
Bach Singer’, ‘International Phonetic Alphabet’, ‘Voice Teaching in the
Choral Context’, ‘Pedagogical Resources’, ‘Bach’s Recitativo’, ‘Bel Canto:
what did Bach know and when did he know it?’, and ‘Appoggio: traditional
Italian singing technique’, he tells his readers his personal experience
with these subjects.
Jordan’s contribution on ‘Lutheran Chorale’ basically focuses on St
Matthew Passion. It is very short (5 pp), and he takes references from
a few basic literatures such as Schweitzer and the Bach Reader (1966).
Many of the points he makes are practically orientated, and for this reason,
there are other points which do not come across very well; other classes
of readers would surely find this article too simplistic to do justice
to this important subject.
For readers who are unfamiliar to the religious side of Bach’s creative
activities, Shannon’s engaged narrative style will be a pleasant reading.
However small, an error has to be pointed out: Bach as ‘guest Capellmeister
to the court of Frederick August II of Poland and Lithuania (1736-1750)’
is an inaccurate description.
| "Historical Perspective & Introduction" by John Butt |
| "Some Observations on Singing Bach" by Craig Timberlake |
| "The Lutheran Chorale" by James Jordan |
| "Soli Deo Gloria" by Martin Shannon |
| "Ornamentation" by John Butt |
| "Thoughts on English Translations in Bach's Vocal Works"
by David Chalmers |
| "An Annotated Bibliography of Sources on J. S. Bach"
by David Chalmers |
| "Library Resource Listings" |
|
|
 |
|
quite intimate in style
|
Two short articles by John Butt are by far the most informative and useful
portions of the book; although they are also short, they respectively summarize
the current state of research beautifully. |
This will be the book to read if you are a conductor, who has little clues
as to how to approach Bach’s sacred works, and do not have time to read
more substantial discussions on the topic.
Published on-line on 10 December 2000
