Andrew Parrott
Bach's chorus: a 'brief yet highly necessary' reappraisal
Andrew Parrott's various Bach
recordings, mostly with his own
Taverncr Consort & Players and for
EMI, include the St John Passion, the
Mass in B minor, the Easter and
Ascension Oratorios, the Magnificat,
Cantatas 4, so, 82 and 202, the
Brandenburg Concertos, the Suites
(Ouvertures) and various sinfonias.
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T™1 xasperated and humiliated by 'unmerited affronts' from a town
Xl/council 'little interested in music',1 Bach sat down in August 1730
to pen a lengthy memorandum, painstakingly explaining the structure
and workings of the musical institution in his charge at Leipzig. This
'Brief yet highly necessary outline' (or Entwurff) begins plainly enough:
'To a duly appointed church musical establishment there belong vocal-
ists and instrumentalists.'2 These vocalists, he continues, are pupils
of the Thomasschule and are 'of four sorts, viz. sopranos, altos, tenors
and basses'. So far, so good—though we should pause to note that the
school provided all voice types, and not just unbroken voices. With
his third sentence Bach proceeds to draw a clear, simple and entirely
conventional distinction between 'concertist' and 'ripienist':
So nun die Chdre derer Kirchen Stiicken recht, wie es sich gebuhret, bestellt
werden sollen, muSen die Vocalisten wiederum in 2erley Sorten eingetheilet
werden, als: Concertisten und Ripienisten. (Entwurff, p.6o)
Now, in order that the choirs for church pieces [= cantatas] should be duly and
properly constituted, the vocalists must be divided further into two sorts, viz.
concertists and ripienists.
But here we need to pause for longer: if we proceed without a secure
grasp of the connotations behind these two fundamental but slightly
unfamiliar terms, we put at risk our whole understanding of the char-
acter and composition of Bach's choir. Certainly, to equate (subcon-
sciously or otherwise) 'concertist' and 'ripienist' with modern 'soloist'
and 'choir-singer' not only misses several vital points but may also set
off whole avalanches of further misunderstanding.
'Bach speaks of three or four [singers] to a part in four-part writing
as ideal': thus runs received wisdom.3 Predictably enough, the proposal
by Joshua Rifkin 'that Bach normally presented his cantatas with con-
certists alone, one reading from each part in the materials', sent shock
waves through the musical profession.4 Could Bach really have in-
tended those great works to be sung by a mere quartet of voices? Initial
interest was intense and some of the discussion spectacularly heated.
Yet 15 years on, scholars and performers alike (with or without vested
interests in particular editions, writings, recordings, choirs, careers, or
reputations) overwhelmingly either ignore these arguments or dismiss
them as self-evidently nonsensical. But has Rifkin really been proved
wrong? And, if not, should the issue really be allowed to disappear
so conveniently from public view? In this article I aim to break the
EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER I 9 9 6 551
 i The first two pages of Bach's Entwurff einer wohlbestallten Kirchen Musk of 23 August 1730 (Leipzig,
Bach-Archiv)

552 EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1 9 9 6

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 EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1996 553
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2 The Thomasschule, Leipzig; drawing by Susette Haupt-
mann (1868) (Museum fur Geschichte der Stadt Leipzig)
apparent impasse by beating a new path through the
thickets of (seemingly) familiar data.
Once the role of the concertist is correctly defined,
we can profitably focus our attention on the role of
the ripienist: how many ripienists did Bach use? and
in what ways did he use them? (While the first of
these questions may at first glance appear to be the
nub of the matter—after all, what we really want to
know is the size of Bach's choir—the second ques-
tion may prove the more revealing.) And—we must
obviously also ask—how often were ripienists avail-
able to Bach anyway?
Having noted that Bach categorized his cantata
singers as either concertists or ripienists, we may im-
mediately make three observations, none of them, as
far as I am aware, in scholarly contention:
• Bach's concertists invariably sang all choruses (in
addition to solo movements).
• Only a handful of Bach's choral works explicitly
requires ripienists.
• Bach's few ripieno parts contain, predominantly,
most of the simpler movements (e.g. chorales and
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stile antico choruses) but only select portions (or
none) of the more florid movements.
Each of these points—and especially the last—will
be elaborated in due course. I shall also argue that
the evidence supports certain other conclusions
concerning ripienists:
• A ripieno group in Bach's time commonly con-
sisted of just one singer per part.
• A ripieno group was very often regarded as op-
tional.
• Ripienists were traditionally placed some distance
away from the concertists.
• In Bach's more florid movements, concertists'
copies could virtually never have been satisfactory
for ripienists to sing from.
I shall concentrate primarily, but not exclusively,
on Bach's Leipzig church music, if only because his
written comments on the use of concertists and rip-
ienists come mainly from his Leipzig years. But to
understand those comments we shall need to think
carefully about their background. Not surprisingly,
no single source provides the simple and unambigu-
ous information we crave, and we must therefore
examine not only Bach's own writings (especially the
Entwurff) and his musical sources (especially sets of
performing parts) but also other relevant archival
material, theoretical writing and iconography. Each
step in the argument must be taken with great cau-
tion, as both unfamiliar concepts and treacherous
terminology (often masked by simplistic transla-
tions) abound. Granted our present understandable
preoccupation with Bach's own compositions, we
also need to be clear about his broader musical
duties at Leipzig and about the differing technical
demands of various types of music sung there.
The Leipzig director musices
It was at the Thomasschule (illus.2), rather than the
Thomaskirche, that Bach held his appointment, so
let us start there. The school differed in several im-
portant respects from, for example, today's Anglican
choir schools, which typically supply trebles (boy
sopranos) for a single choir.
As Rector Gesner wrote in 1733, our ancestors in-
tended the school to be a seminary of music whereby
the singing in all our churches might be provided"
 [my emphasis].5 The school was thus responsible for
four separate choirs, serving five churches: the
Thomaskirche, the Nikolaikirche, the Neue Kirche,
the Petrikirche and the Johanniskirche. (In addition,
Bach had certain musical duties at the university
church, the Paulinerkirche.) The cantor was assisted
by four prefects, 'because I cannot be in all the
churches at the same time',6 and there were also
separate organist's posts at all but the Petrikirche—
none of which posts, incidentally, was held by Bach
himself.
For each of the four choirs, the school supplied
not only sopranos, but also altos, tenors and basses.
Most of the 55 or so pupils were much older than in
modern choir schools: boys were admitted generally
at the age of 13 or 14 (rather than at 8, 9 or 10, as
today) as either sopranos or altos,7 and they might
remain at the school for at least six years and some-
times for as many as ten. (The First Prefect in 1736
was 22 years old.)8 Voices also tended to break signif-
icantly later than today—at over 17, on average9—
with the consequence that good, mature tenors and
basses must often have been in short supply.
Lastly—and perhaps most surprisingly—some of
the best pupils were regularly employed in cantatas
not as singers but as instrumentalists (string play-
ers):10 one First Prefect apparently 'never did any-
thing but play the violin'.11 Instrumental tuition was
not simply an ancillary part of the boys' musical ed-
ucation, as it is today. In fact, Bach's contract as can-
tor at the Thomasschule included the following
clause:
Damit die Kirchen nicht mit unn6thigen Unkosten beleget
werden mogen, die Knaben nicht allein in der Vocal- son-
dern auch in der Instrumental-Music fleifiig unterweisen.12
So that the churches may not face unnecessary expense, to
instruct the boys diligently not only in vocal but also in
instrumental music.
Even though Bach was on occasion evidently able
to draft in some outside help (see below), the sepa-
rate stipends that had enabled his predecessors
Schelle and Kuhnau to make use of a few university
students as singers—'namely, a bass, a tenor, and
even an alto, but also instrumentalists, especially two
violins'—had by 1730 'been withdrawn entirely'.
Moreover, 'the co-operation of the studiosi has dis-
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appeared, too; for who will work or render services
for nothing?'13
Repertory
The choirs under Bach's supervision were responsi-
ble for several distinct categories of vocal music:
• chant and chorales (in unison)
• chorales {a 4)
' motets (usually a 8)
• simple cantatas (with instruments)
• cantatas and other concerted works, predomi-
nantly by Bach (with instruments)
Or, as Bach explains to the town council, the pupils
'have partly to perform [concerted] music, partly to
sing motets and partly chorales' ('theils musiciren,
theils motetten und theils Chorale singen muGen').
The musical and technical demands of these various
repertories were quite distinct; while all the Thomas-
schule boys can be presumed to have been able to
sing a straightforward chorale tune in some fash-
ion,14 only the best were ever required for Bach's own
music. His four choirs were thus precisely graded,
and their very different musical duties carefully de-
fined. The fourth choir (regularly at the Petrikirche,
and occasionally at the Johanniskirche) could con-
sist of those 'who do not understand music but,
rather, can just barely sing a chorale'.15 The third
choir served the Neue Kirche:
als woselbst die Schuler weiter nichts als Motetten und
Chorale zu singen, mit anderer Concert Musique aber nichts
zu thun haben ... (Bach, 1736)''
there the pupils have to sing nothing apart from motets
and chorales, and have nothing to do with other concerted
music ...
(The concerted music heard at the Neue Kirche on
high feasts and at Mass was supplied by a quite sep-
arate musical body, the collegium musicum founded
by Telemann17—see below.) The first and second
choirs alternated between the Thomaskirche and
the Nikolaikirche and performed cantatas (in addi-
tion to chorales and motets)—though the cantatas
for the second choir were much simpler pieces,
sung on feast-days only.'8 Except when these two
groups joined forces, for Good Friday Passion per-
formances and on such occasions as weddings and
EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1996 555
 civic services, Bach's own works were the exclusive
domain of his first choir, which accordingly needed
the best musicians:
zumahlen die musicalischen Kirchen StUcke so im ersteren
Chore gemachet werden, u. meistens von meiner composition
sind, ohngleich schwerer und intricater sind, weder die, so im
anderen [= zweiten] Chore und zwar nur auf die FestTage
musiaret werden, als wo ich mich im choisiren selbiger nach
der capaciti. derer, so es executtren sollen, hauptsichlig
richten mu6. (Bach, 1736)19
above all, because the musical church pieces [= cantatas]
which are done in the first choir, and which are mostly of my
own composition, are incomparably harder and more intri-
cate than those which are performed in the second choir—
and then only on feast-days, when I am obliged to choose the
same [i.e. the cantata] according to the capabilities of those
who are to execute it.
(It is worth noting that, whatever the limitations and
difficulties of his job, Bach claims that he selects the
cantata—at least for his second choir—primarily
'according to the capabilities' of the available per-
formers, rather than, as the received Romantic no-
tion would have it, being forced by circumstance to
tolerate weekly travesties of music beyond their
grasp.)
Even more critical for our present purpose than
the distinction between these two types of cantata is
the difference between cantata (especially Bach's
music) and motet. It must be emphasized that the
motets sung by the Thomasschule's first, second and
third choirs were not the elaborate works by Bach
that we call his 'motets' (most of which were clearly
for funerals, burials or memorial services) but much
simpler stile antico works, probably in Latin and
generally for double choir, evidently with organ con-
tinuo. Motets of this sort, drawn principally if not
exclusively from Erhard Bodenschatz's Florilegium
Portense (a popular collection already more than a
century old),20 had a regular place in the Leipzig
liturgy. The repertory chosen seems to have been
quite limited and unvarying, and, even in the first
choir, responsibility for directing these works cus-
tomarily lay with the prefect.11
Niedt (1717) expressed considerable disdain for
this old-fashioned repertory ('The explanation of
motets I leave to ... Thuringian peasants'),22 while
Scheibe warned against the patronizing attitude of
'many accomplished singers' towards motet perfor-
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mance.23 Whatever his own view of such motets, the
point Bach wished to make to his town council was
that the technical demands of his own concerted
music were significantly greater. In categorizing all
his Thomasschule students by musical ability, he
lists 20 'not yet usable' ('noch nicht zu gebrauch-
ende')
Motetten Singer, so sich noch erstlich mehr perfectioniren
mllfien, um mit der Zeit zur Figural Music gebrauchet wer-
den zu kannen ... (Entwurff, p.64)
motet singers who first have still to perfect themselves
further, so that in time they can be used for figural
[= concerted] music ...
No wonder the cantor was infuriated when in 1736 a
new young rector, ]. A. Ernesti, took it upon himself
to promote a musically 'unproficient'24 senior pupil
to the position of First Prefect. The outcome was the
unseemly spectacle of Bach ejecting the prefect from
the choir-loft on two successive Sundays.25
Although performance of motets by several voices
per part was in principle quite appropriate, as both
Printz (1678)26 and Scheibe (1745)27 make clear, Bach
himself presumably has one-to-a-part performance
in mind when he points out that, with fewer than 12
singers available, 'at least a two-choir motet can be
sung' (see below).28 (A full 12 could not in any case
double all the parts, while even a total of 16 would
allow a maximum of only two per part.)
Concertists and ripienists
When Bach says that there are 'two sorts' of cantata
singers, 'viz. concertists and ripienists', modern pre-
conceptions tempt us to equate the ripienist with
today's choral singer, and the concertist with the
soloist who sings solo movements (and perhaps oc-
casional solo passages within chorus movements)
but does not sing in the 'choir' per se. However, stan-
dard practice in German (and Italian) choirs from
the time of Praetorius—and until well after Bach's
death—was markedly different from ours in at least
this crucial respect: concertists sang not only solos
but choruses.2' Indeed, it is slowly being acknow-
ledged that the earlier concertato 'choral' repertory
was 'essentially music for skilled soloists'.30 In larger
ensembles, the concertist—far from being a soloist
who might (or might not) also 'join in' with a sepa-
rate and self-contained choir, as sometimes happens
 today—was clearly viewed as the principal ensemble
singer of a particular voice-type, in exactly the same
way that an obbligato violinist is (and was) also a
section-leader.31 This idea is by no means new, but its
significance has consistently been underestimated by
scholars and performers alike. The presence of con-
certists within a choir may seem to us to be a mere
historical detail and of no real musical importance—
but only if we assume (mistakenly, I believe) an ever-
present, multi-voiced choir singing throughout all
choruses.
The Entwurff, in informing us that the concertist/
ripienist distinction was essential to Kirchen Stiicken
(that is, cantatas as opposed to motets), tells us little
more than that the concertist counted as a member
of the choir rather than as a supernumerary. But the
voluminous and unequivocal evidence of the surviv-
ing performing materials for Bach's choral works
(including both surviving Passions) confirms that
for him—as perhaps for all German Baroque church
composers—a concertist was normally expected not
only to sing solos but also to sing throughout all
choruses, regardless of whether ripienists were also
present.
Walther's (1732) definition of vocal concertists
as 'a selection of the best singers' ('ein Auszug der
besten Sanger')32 reflects this collective (non-solo-
istic) function; the adjective 'Concertante', he also
tells us,
wird zu alien Recitirenden Stimmen gesetzt, um sie von
denen, so nur im grossen Chor, oder d Capetla singen, zu
unterscheiden.
is applied to all reciting [= solo] voices, in order to distin-
guish them from those that sing only in the large choir or
Capella.
(Note the use of'only', and the implication that the
concertists form a 'small choir'.) The nature of the
concertists' role is also implicit in Walther's defini-
tions of the complementary function of the ripieno
group (or Capella):}}
[Capella] ... denjenigen besondern oder grossen Chor,
welcher in einem musicalischen Stucke nur bifiweilen zur
Verstdrckung mit einftllt
[Capella] ... that special or large choir which in a
musical [= concerted] piece joins in only occasionally as
strengthening.
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[Ripieno] ... diejenigen Stimmen ..., welche nur zur Ausfull-
und VerstaYckung einer Music beygefuget werden.
[Ripieno] ... those voices which are added to an ensemble
only for filling out and strengthening.
Walther's choice of words (besondern, bifiweilen,
VerstHrckung, mit einfallt, Ausfiillung, beygefiiget) un-
ambiguously conveys the ancillary or supplementary
nature of the ripienists' function: in fact, he seems to
fall only a little way short of describing the ripienists
as optional.
And for most choral works a self-contained ri-
pieno group or Capella was indeed optional:
Wenn jede Partie oder Stimme mit einem oder auffs hochste
zweyen Subjectis versehn/die das ihre praestirenjso ist ein
Chor gutt bestellt... komen dergleichen tutti gleich vor/so ist
es genug/wenn die Haupt-Stimmen/ob sie gleich aus eintzeln
Personen bestehen/das ihrige thun. (Scheibel, 1721)34
If each part or voice comprises one or at most two subjecta
who perform its [material], then a choir is well set up ...
[and] when such tuttis do occur, the principal voices—even
with one to a part—[will] suffice.
In other words, the existence of a pool of eight
singers need not imply that all eight will actually sing
even in a tutti section.
The rector of the Ratsgymnasium in Osnabriick
(1750) went further still, advising a cantor
daS er, wenn er ein Tutti in den neuen Musikalien findet,
von jeder Stimme nur einen und zwar den besten nehme. Es
klingt schan, wenn man nur einen Bassisten, Tenoristen,
Altisten und Discantisten hSret; hingegen ist es nichts als ein
Gebldke, wenn alle durcheinander schrein ...35
that if he finds a tutti [i.e. a 'choral' movement] in new
musical material, he should use just one—and of course the
best one—of each voice. It sounds beautiful when one hears
just one bass, tenor, alto and treble; whereas it is nothing but
a bellow if everybody is screaming at everybody else ...
In fact, the very term 'ripienist' need not always
imply a 'choral' singer in the modern sense of one
who shares a vocal line with at least one other singer.
We have already noted Bach's implication in the
Entwurff that ripienists sang one-to-a-part in
motets; autograph rubrics in four Leipzig works of
1726-7 demonstrate his use of the term 'Ripieni' to
denote single voices in non-soloistic roles. Each is a
solo cantata ending with a four-part chorale (in
which instruments double the vocal lines), and
EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1996 557
 3 Wrappers of (left) Ich armer Mensch, BWV55, and (right) Ich will der Kreuzstab gerne tragen, BWV56, with Bach's
performing indications (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, PreuSischer Kulturbesitz, Mus. Ms. Bach P105, P118)

their wrappers (see illus.3) bear the following
inscriptions:36
[BWV55] a 4 Voci, 6 vero Tenore Solo e 3 Ripieni
[BWV56] S. A. T. et Basso Cone:
[BWV84] a Soprano Solo e 3 Ripieni
[BWV169] a Alto Solo e 3 Voci Ripieni
In each case a single concertist sings throughout the
work, not just as soloist but evidently also as the only
voice on that part in the chorale, while three ripi-
enists (presumably one-to-a-part, matching the con-
certist) have nothing but the straightforward chorale
setting to sing. In other words, there is—in the mod-
ern sense—no choir at all. Two important inferences
may thus be drawn from Bach's terminology: (1) that
such simple, unspecific designations as 'Voci' or
'S. A. T.' should not be presumed to imply several
voices per part (and in fact here apparently imply
one to a part); (2) that the term 'Ripieni' (which al-
ways indicates a subordinate role) can apparently
also imply single voices (and not necessarily extra
voices doubling others).
Elsewhere in Bach's music, ripienists clearly form
a self-contained group, strengthening the concertists
in choruses (see below). But is there any more reason
here to imagine more than one ripienist per part?
Bach's own specification in the Entwurff of eight
ripienists ('two of each voice-type')37 is, alas, sur-
rounded by ambiguities (see below). And on those
very isolated occasions when we do know for certain
that Bach had more than eight singers at his dis-
posal—for the St John and St Matthew Passions—
the surviving materials38 show unequivocally that the
extra singers were not part of any additional quartet
of ripienists (see below). Certainly, the possibility
of his having used more than two ripienists per part

558 EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1996

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 (in conjunction with a concertist) is very remote, for
a variety of reasons.39 We are thus left with a possible
maximum of just two, and a natural minimum of
one. And—as Scheibel and Bach himself have
shown—a one-per-part ripieno group need in no
way be considered exceptional. Around 1689 there
was just such a group at Arnstadt, where two rela-
tives of Bach's were employed: in addition to the
seven principal singers (SATTTBB—clearly a pool
rather than a fixed line-up for all performances) a
further four (SATB), drawn from the local school,
served 'Zur Capella oder Zum Complimento'.40
Such 'modest' vocal forces were not uncommon, if
we are to believe Fuhrmann (1706):
wenn 2. Sanger zugleich eine Stimme singen (welches man
offt in Capella thun last/damit es desto durchdringender
daselbst klinge) . . . 4 '
if two singers together sing one voice-part (which one often
causes to happen in Capella [passages], so that it sounds the
more penetrating at that point) . . .
Copies
Do surviving performing materials help clarify the
matter further? Before we look at the handful of
works by Bach that explicitly call for ripienists, we
must form a clear picture of his notational practices
in the much larger group of works that do not.
The overwhelming majority of Bach's church
music survives in sets of parts—evidently com-
plete—which have just a single copy for each voice-
part. Thus a tenor part may, for example, contain
recitatives, arias and all choruses. In virtually every
case this means there are four vocal partbooks, and
four only.42 (Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philipp
Emanuel inherited most of this material, a set of
parts typically going to one brother, while the other
got any score and/or duplicate (or ripieno) parts.)
An important product of Rifkin's research is the
conclusion that from Schutz to Mozart vocal
ripienists 'did not read from the same music as ...
concertists'.43 And it is perhaps this one simple ob-
servation that has proved most unnerving to tradi-
tionalists, because of its far-reaching implications: if
a complete set of parts includes no ripieno copies,
performance by just one voice per part is the only
plausible inference.
Scholars tacitly agree that the general lack of
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usic at the
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4 Unfehlbare Engcl-Frcude oder Geistliches Gesang-Huch I Leipzig. 1710), froniispiecc a n d title-page

56O EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 19 9 6

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 ripieno parts to Bach's compositions is not a mere
accident of survival. It has been argued, though, that
Bach 'would have loved to provide ripieno parts for
every cantata ... had time permitted, and had he had
sufficient copyists at his call'.44 The absence of such
parts, this argument runs, is purely a notational de-
tail: once he had established certain practices, Bach
'no longer had the time—or perhaps the need—to
spell them all out', and in performance his practice
remained consistent—and consistently involved rip-
ienists. This superficially attractive idea is, however,
wholly conjectural, and the onus of proof remains
firmly with its proponents.
Any alternative to Rifkin's position seems to be
based on the almost unquestioned assumption that
in this repertory the sharing of copies by two or even
three singers was commonplace. It will be instructive
to look at some of the evidence that supposedly sup-
ports this assumption. According to Printz (1678),
Der geiibteste Sanger von jeder Stimme sol seine Partem
selbst tragen/und das Stuck/welches der Praefectus andeutet/
fein zeitlich aufschlagen.45
The most experienced singer of each voice-part should carry
his part[-book] himself and promptly turn to the piece
which the prefect indicates.
But this instruction has nothing whatsoever to do
with the elaborate concerted music performed in
church: it is specifically directed at prefects in
charge of street and house singing.46 (At Leipzig,
some concertists were in fact given special dispensa-
tion from such duties.)47 Iconographical evidence is
said to abound but has a habit of dematerializing;
two well-known examples will suffice to illustrate
the problems. The first, a drawing of Thomasschule
boys happily sharing copies, has already been repro-
duced in the pages of Early music (August 1984)
expressly to support the view that the sharing of
copies was customary in Bach's own time.48 But the
subject matter appears, once again, to be street
singing (directed by a prefect), and the illustra-
tion—which in any case is 19th-century49—has not
the slightest relevance to Bach's music. By contrast,
the frontispiece to Unfehlbare Engel-Freude oder
Geistliches Gesang-Buch (Leipzig, 1710) is both perti-
nent and reasonably contemporary (see illus.4).50
In addition to instruments, two—or perhaps
even three—quite separate vocal quartets can be
discerned,51 each singer apparently holding his own
copy and positioned in a manner that would in any
case preclude sharing.
The convention of positioning ripieno groups
some distance away from the concertists—thereby
necessitating the use of additional copies—can be
traced back at least as far as Praetorius (1619):
Und kan also ... aus ... alien ... Concerten, ein jeder nach
seinem gefallen/ ... eine oder zwo Capellen mit 4. Stimmen
herausserziehen/und das jenige/darvor das Wort omnes oder
CTiorws gezeichnet stehet/... uffabsonderlicheBletter/... her-
aus schreiben lassen ... Und derselbe Chorus pro Capella als-
dann zum musiciren an einen absonderlichen ort geordnet
und gestellet werden.52
And so ... anyone can, as he pleases, extract ... from ... all
concertos ... one or two four-voice Capellen and, where the
word omnes or chorus is marked, have the same written out
on separate sheets ... And then in performance this chorus
pro Capella will be set up and positioned in a separate place.
Schiitz (1636) writes in very similar terms:
Aus diesen sechs ConcertatStimmen konnen ferner (wo
das Wort Capella stehet) Sechs andere Stimmen ...
abgeschrieben/ und also noch ein absonderlicher Chor oder
Capella mit angestellet und eingefiihret werden."
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Fleischer, Hamburg 1720
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EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER I996 561

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 From these six concertato voice-parts, six other voice-parts In answer to our earlier question, we must con-
can be copied out additionally (where the word Capella clude that on those occasions when a group of ripi-
stands) ... and thereby another separate choir or Capella can enists did sing in Bach's concerted music, it would
be set up and introduced with them.
probably have consisted of just one singer per part,
In sum, copies may have been shared in some standing some distance away from the concertists.
contexts but evidently not in others. In simple and
familiar repertories (chorales, for example) it would Bach's use of ripienists
have been quite practical; but the idea of ripienists How often can Bach be shown to have availed him-
and concertists sharing (undifferentiated) parts in a self of a ripieno group to reinforce his concertists? In
new cantata by Bach—at around 7.30 a.m. on a Sun- practice, of almost 150 extant original sets of parts to
day morning54 and perhaps by candlelight—is surely choral works by Bach, a mere nine include such
quite another matter. I am not aware of any evidence 'supplementary' ripieno parts; and in the case of the
that suggests such a practice. Certainly in Bach's sumptuous Miihlhausen cantata Gott ist mein Kdnig,
case, solo/tutti markings 'remain notoriously absent BWV71, the ripienists are in any case explicitly op-
... where the assumption of shared parts would seem tional ('se piace': see below). All these works are
most to demand them',55 nor are there any other un- listed in table 1. In even fewer further instances do
ambiguous indications (verbal instructions, divisi scores or concertists' parts imply the possible parti-
writing) that the surviving vocal copies (including cipation of a ripieno group.56
those for ripienists) were ever shared. If we now examine the ways in which Bach uses

Table 1 Works with copies for ripienists

BWV; title First perf. Occasion Brass, timp Ripieno parts

BWV71 1708 Inauguration of town 3 tpt ('ab 18. e se piace 22.')

Gott ist mein Konig Muhlhausen council timp
BWV63 c. 1714/15 Christmas timp added Leipzig 1723
Christen, atzet diesen Tag
BWV76 1723 Trinity II tpt
Die Himmel erzahlen die Ehre Gottes Leipzig
BWV21 ?1713 Trinity III per ogni tempo 3 tpt added Leipzig 1723
Ich hatte viel Bekummernis Halle timp
3 [?4] tromb
BWV 245 1724 Good Friday —
St John Passion Leipzig
BWV 110 1725 Christmas 3 tpt added c.1728-31
Unser Mund sei voll Lachens Leipzig timp
BWV201 1729 [secular dramma per 3 tpt S, A ripieno parts only"
Geschwinde, ihr wirbelnden Winde Leipzig musica] timp
(Der Streit zwischen Phoebus und Pan)
BWV29 1731 Inauguration of town 3 tpt
Wir danken dir, Gott Leipzig council timp
BWV195 c.1730 wedding 3 tpt added c.1742
Dem Gerechten muS das Licht timp
m
" BWV201 has six named characters, producing an unusual SATTBB scoring for the two choruses. As the two vocal B parts move in
octaves and unisons, only the two independent T parts effectively remain undoubled.

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 Ex.i Wir danken dir, Gott, B\W29/ii, bars 1-11
Wir dan
I I
Wir dan ken dir, Gott, wir dan
i i ' i ^ =
ken dir, Gott, wir dan
m ken
J J ^__
Gott, wir dan ken
r ken dir
dir und
his vocal ripienists, we shall find that his own explicit
practice in most of these nine works conspicuously
fails to conform to today's expectations. Only in the
St John Passion and a single cantata (BWV29) do rip-
ienists sing throughout all choruses, to create any-
thing approaching the continuous 'choral' texture
we are now accustomed to. At the other extreme, in
the second of BWV/I'S four choruses the ripienists re-
main totally silent, as they are perhaps also intended
to do in the opening chorus of BWV234.
BWV29 (Wir danken dir, Gott) neatly illustrates the
two main circumstances in which the full participa-
tion of a ripieno group, if available, was entirely nat-
ural. Here the only two choruses are an alia breve
movement and a closing chorale. Not only was
chorale singing part of the ripienist's stock-in-trade,
but the instrumental doubling conventional in such
cantata (and Passion) chorales itself creates a ripieno
effect. The first chorus—more familiar to us in its
later guises as the 'Gratias' and 'Dona nobis pacem'
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Wir dan
Wir dan ken dir,
ken dir, Gott, wir dan
'I
ken
dir
dir
und ver - kun - - [digen]
ver - kun di - gen
of the Mass in B minor, BWV232 (see ex.i)—stretches
only a little Walther's definition of the 'serious style'
of writing known as 'da Capella':
Wobey es denn wohl eine ausgemachte Sache ist, dafi, wenn
viele Vocal- und InstrumentaJ-Stimmen einerley accurat
zusammen heraus bringen sollen, die Composition auch so
beschaffen seyn muGe, damit es fuglich geschehen k6nne.
Diesem nach findet man, dafi gute und gewiegte Meister nur
gantze, halbe, und viertel Tact Noten im alla-breve-7act
brauchen, aber in solchen grosse Kunst und GeschickJichkeit
auf allerhand Art anbringen ... (Walther, 1732)
It is thus an accepted fact, then, that if many voices and
instruments are to perform uniformly accurately together,
the composition must also be designed so that this can hap-
pen properly. Accordingly one finds that good and experi-
enced masters employ only semibreves, minims and crotch-
ets in an alia breve, but dispose them in sundry ways with
such great artistry and skill ...
A corollary of this principle would presumably be
that 'more intricate' music (to use Bach's phrase)
is essentially intended for smaller ensembles. The
EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER I 9 9 6 563
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 second and third choruses of BWV71 seem differenti- Table 2 Some examples of Bach's use of ripienists
ated in just this way: the one (for concertists alone)
with supple counterpoint; the other (with ripienists) Movement Bars Concertists Ripienists
predominantly in stately homophony (see ex.2).
Bvrvji Gott ist mein Kdnig (1708)
Elsewhere the picture is startlingly different, as
even a cursory glance at table 2 will show. Over a 1 1 - 7 © ®
7-13 ©
period of some 30 or more years Bach's consistent
14-15 © ®
practice—with the exceptions already noted—was 16-29 ©
evidently to 'strengthen' his concertists only inter- 29-36 © ®
mittently in the course of a movement. Conse-
3 passim ©
quently, in Bach's most characteristic types of open-
ing chorus—rightly considered the crowning glory 6 passim © ®
of his mature cantatas—we find not a single instance 7 1-32 ©
of continuous doubling. And even if, as may be ob- 33 © ®
jected, these fascinating surviving examples form too 34-5 ©
35-9 © ®
small a sample to be fully representative, it can
40-64 ©
scarcely be denied that they do little to validate 64-76 ©
today's almost invariable practice of singing all 76-88 © ®
choruses 'chorally' from start to finish. 88-96 ©
The schematic plans given in table 2 cannot easily 96 © ®
suggest either the inventiveness with which Bach 97-8 ©
98-102 © ®
deploys his vocal forces or the detailed modifications
to vocal lines that enable ripienists to enter and exit
BWV195 Dem Gerechten mufi das Licht (c.1742 version)
smoothly (see ex.3); but they do convey the central
importance of the concertists in choruses. Very 13-14
14-16 (S only)
broadly speaking, two underlying principles are at
16-18 ®
play. In the elaborate fugal movements with which 18-21 (SA only)
many cantatas open, the first fugal exposition is typ- 22 ®
ically sung by concertists alone (with continuo); the 22-4 (SAT only)
second exposition is then distinguished by the addi- 25
tion of instruments, supported by ripienists. The 25-30
30-40
forward momentum created in these movements by
41-52
the successive orchestral entries is enhanced if the 52-72
vocal forces expand correspondingly. In concerto- 72-83 ©•>•«••>•>>•

like ritornello forms, on the other hand, ripienists 84-120 ©

join the full orchestra in acting as a foil to the con- 5 21-8 ©
certists' overtly soloistic role. And fugal principle 33-54
and ritornello principle can operate side by side, as 57-76
in the opening chorus of BWV195 (ex.3). In such ways 77-8 ©
Bach uses his ripienists to clarify his musical struc- 79-98
99-110
tures still further, while remaining within the techni-
123-34
cal limitations of his less skilled singers, who for da capo - 99 (as before)
most, if not all, of the time double not only the con-
6 chorale
certists but also the instruments.
Most important of all, these elaborate move- ®~ •»••»••>>• A passage in which the ripieno parts Join one by one
in successive contrapuntal entries. (One vocal line
ments showing Bach's explicit use of ripienists give may be sung by both concertist and ripienist, at the
the overwhelming impression of being, above all, same time as another is sung by a concertist alone.)

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EARLY M U S I C NOVEMBER I996 565
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 for concertists; whether or not a particular ripieno
group is strictly optional, its music mostly dupli-
cates that of the orchestra, and it performs—in line
with the definitions we have encountered above—a
role wholly subordinate to that of the concertists.
Put most simply, the concertists are essential, the
ripienists not. This is the exact reverse of the mod-
ern preconception that chorus writing is obviously
intended for a 'choir', and that soloists have no real
function within such a choir.
Nor are there any good reasons to consider these
nine works compositionally exceptional to Bach's
usual practices. On what basis, therefore, does the
assumption persist that all stylistically comparable

Ex.2 Gott ist mein Konig, BWV71: (a) iii, bars 1-9; (b) vi, bars 3-10
(a)
Fuga

fe
V I \)
Dein Al - ter sei wie dei - ne Ju - gend, und Gott ist mit dir in al-lem, das du

J iJ:
Dein Al - ter sei wie dei-ne )u

Dein Al ter sei wie dei - ne Ju - gend, und Gott ist mit dir in

tust, und Gott ist mit dir in al-lem, in al lem, das du tust, das du

M p^ y^i^TJ
-gend, und Gott ist mit dir in al-lem, das du tust, und Gott ist mit dir in

al - lem, das du tust,

sei wie dei - ne )u gend,

tust,

al - lem, in al - - lem

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 choruses must automatically be in need of such rip-
ieno parts, let alone of undifferentiated doubling of
the vocal lines from start to finish?
The Entwurff
By this stage of the argument, die-hard sceptics will
doubtless feel sorely tested by my studious avoidance
of key passages in Bach's Entwurff. Does the cantor
himself not say (to quote the Bach reader)*7 that 'it
would be still better if ... one could have 4 [rather
than 3] singers on each part and thus could perform
every chorus with 16 persons'?
In short, no, he does not. Regrettably, the Bach
reader's influential but poor translation of the last
clause both reflects and perpetuates a critical mis-
conception. And what we now know should in any
case make us question the conventional reading of
this passage—that Bach needed at least 12 voices
(and wanted 16) for his own music. This is what
Bach writes:
Zu iedweden musicalischen Chor gehoren wenigsten 3
Sopramsten, 3 A/fisten, 3 Tenoristen, und eben so viel
Bafiisten ... (Ml. Wiewohln es noch beBer, wenn der Coetus
so beschaffen wSre, dafi mann zu ieder Stimme 4 subjecta
nehmen, und also ieden Chor mit 16. Persohnen bestellen
k8nte.) (Entwurff, p.6o)
To each musical choir there belong at least three sopranos,
three altos, three tenors, and as many basses ... (>B: Though
it would be even better if the Coetus [= the student body]
were constituted in such a way that one could take four
subjecta for each voice-part and thus set up each choir
with 16 persons.)
That the word Chor, each time it appears here, refers
not to a piece of music but to an ensemble is con-
firmed by the use of the verb bestellen (meaning 'to
set up', 'to order' rather than 'to perform').5* Thus,
far from specifying the number of singers required

Affettuoso e larghetto

Du wol - lest dem Fein - de, dem Fein - de nicht ge - ben, du wol - lest dem

J n
Du wol - lest dem Fein - de, dem Fein - de nicht ge - ben, du wol

p r
Du wol - lest dem
r
Fein
P1 p P 1 ger -
- de, dem Fein - de nicht
5=^
ben,
j V
du
* • 1

L.
r P i) 1 r V V I I ^
h.
P CJTLJ >' b.

Du wol - lest dem Fein - de, dem Fein - de nicht ge - ben, du wol - lest dem

* •

r T p T P PI 1—W
r
Fein - de, dem Fein - de nicht ge - ben die See - le dei - ner Tur - tel - tau ben,

j 1 j j r j 1j
- lest dem Fein - de nicht ge ben die See - le dei - ner Tur - tel - tau - ben,

f C_JP
wol
P
- lest dem Fein - de nicht ge ben die See - le dei ner Tur - tel - tau ben,
I*" L
EgE
Fein - de, dem Fein - de nicht ben die See - le dei ner Tur - tel - tau ben,

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 Ex.3 Dem Gerechten mufi das Licht, Bwvi95/i, bars 13-25. The bracketed notes (marked with an asterisk) are also sung by
the ripieno.

Dem Ge - rech ten, dem Ge - rech- ten, dem Ge - rech- ten mufi das Licht im -

Dem Ge - rech-ten, dem Ge - rech-ten,

Ge - rech - ten, dem Ge - rech

Dem. Ge-rech-ten, dem . Ge-rech -ten,

dem . Ge - rech - ten

dem Ge - rech-ten, dem Ge - rech-ten, dem_

Ge - rech - ten mufi das Licht im

568 EARLY M U S I C NOVEMBER 1996

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 from men Her - zen, und Freu de, Freu de den from

R; dem Ge - rech - ten

J J JJ fee JI ]) i j ' iJJJW J J J J j J J * ^ ^

hen, und Freu

Ge- rech-ten mufi das Licht im

dem . Ge-rech-ten,

24

men Her - zen, den from - men Her Licht

R: dem Ge - rech

rech - ten dem

in choral movements of cantatas performed by his
first choir, Bach is quite simply stating that at least
12 singers should be assigned to each of his first
three choirs (whose musical common ground was
chorales and motets).59
Bach's explicit reason for giving this minimum of
three singers per part is eminently practical:
damit, so etwa einer unpaE wird (wie denn sehr offte
geschieht, und besonders bey itziger Jahres Zeit, da die
recepte, so von dem Schul Medico in die Apothecke ver-
schrieben werden, es ausweisen mOBen) wenigstens eine i
Chdrigte Motette gesungen werden kan. (Entwurff, p.6o)
so that even if one person falls ill (as very often happens, and
particularly at this time of year [late August], as the prescrip-
tions written by the school Medicus for the apothecary must
show) at least a two-choir motet can be sung.
This is hardly the stuff of an artistic manifesto. And,
once again, the context accords central importance
not to the cantata, with its special demands, but to
the more mundane motet.
Clearly, Bach wished to be sure of having 12
singers for each of his first, second and third choirs,
and surely introduced the (unattainably high) figure
of 16 primarily as a negotiating tactic.60 Equally
clearly, even a total of 12 must have been difficult to
achieve. (It is known that there were just ten singers
at the Neue Kirche in 1731.)*1 These choir sizes will all
seem to us puzzlingly modest, if not downright
'minimal'; yet in the context of 18th-century Leipzig
they may even have represented something of an
expansion. New regulations for the Thomasschule,

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 5 Meeting of the Leipzig town council, 1713. The Burgermeister sits at the head of the table with his deputy and the town
clerk; to his left are 11 councillors; to his right two minute-takers. (Museum fur Geschichte der Stadt Leipzig)

issued in 1723 (the year Bach took up office there), habe bestellen muGen: So ist leicht zu erachten was dadurch
show that only 32 of the 55 or so boys were expected dem Vocal Chore ist entgangen. (Entwurff, p.62)
to sing for services, with just eight allocated to each It should further be borne in mind that, as the 2nd violin
of the four choirs: mostly has to be provided by pupils,65 and the viola, cello and
violone always ...: it is thus easy to imagine how the vocal
Dieweil auch ietziger Zcit die Schul-Knaben, welche den
choir is thereby reduced.
Gottcsdienst abwarten, in 4 Cantoreyen eingetheilet, in deren
ieder von dem Cantore ... ihrer acht angcnommen ..." ; As Bach was eager to point out, the problem was
whereas also nowadays the schoolboys who are in attendance obviously even more acute on feast-days, 'on which 1
at divine service are divided into tour Cantoreien, into eachhave to look after the music in both principal
of which eight are admitted ... by the cantor ...
churches at the same time'. 66 Here, then, is Bach's
These regulations were reiterated in 1737 and were own unequivocal word that, when instruments were
twice cited by Bach as authoritative. 6 ' also involved, a full complement of 12 (let alone 16)
Having stated in the Entwurff that there should, pupils was never deployed as a purely 'vocal choir".
instead, be 36 pupils (three choirs of 12), all At the very least, three of his musical boys were
of whom 'must understand music', 64 Bach next 'always' required to play rather than sing; and as
addresses the question of his instrumental needs and many as five to eight boys might be needed to bring
resources. As we have already learnt, whenever con- the string group up to the 11 players specified else-
certed music was performed by the first 'choir' some where in the Entwurff.K Under such circumstances,
portion of the pool of boys served not as singers but and allowing for absence through illness 'as very
as instrumentalists: often happens', Bach's first choir can never have
Femerhin /u gedencken. dal'i da die 2de Violin meistens, die used as many as 12 singers when instruments were
Viola, Violoncello und Ytolon aber alle/.eit ... mil Schulcrn also needed; moreover, the chances of forming a

EARLY ML-SIC NOVEMBER 199-6

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 balanced SATB group from those singers who were
not needed as instrumentalists cannot have been
particularly good. If, then, he had chosen to com-
pose in a way that not only called for several voices
per part but also required an equal number of each
voice-type, he would have been exacerbating what
was in any case a considerable logistical and organi-
zational problem.
There was also the question of the boys' sheer
musical ability:
Hiemechst kan nicht unberuhret bleiben, dafi durch
bifiherige reception so vieler untuchtigen und zur music sich
gar nicht schickenden Knaben, die Music nothwendig sich
hat vergeringern und ins abnehmen gerathen muBen.
(Entwurff, p.62)68
Furthermore, it cannot remain unmentioned that, as a result
of the admission hitherto of so many unproficient and
musically quite untalented boys, music has necessarily had to
deteriorate and decline.
Bach pointedly concludes his Entwurff by listing 17
pupils (almost one-third of the student body) whom
he classed as 'unproficient' ('untiichtig').69
Within a few years things were to get worse still,
under the 'progressive' new rector J. A. Ernesti, who
challenged music's central position in the Thomas-
schule's curriculum. 'Do you want to become an ale-
house fiddler as well?', he would demand of any
pupil found practising an instrument.70
Both tone and content of the Entwurff as a whole
make it abundantly clear that Bach's purpose in
detailing the size and composition of his musical
resources as he did was to make the members of the
Leipzig town council aware of the severe organiza-
tional difficulties under which he was labouring. He
may not have relished the task of explaining—in
writing and to non-musicians—the logistical intri-
cacies of the music-making for which he was
responsible, and his memorandum may not be a
model of clarity; but what comes through is his
desire to have 12 (or even 16) 'persons' in each of
his principal choirs specifically in order to discharge
his complex musical obligations more easily and
consistently. If he had simply believed that a bigger
choir was needed to balance the instruments or fill
the acoustical space, or perhaps to praise God more
splendidly, he could surely have found ways of
saying so.
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The beneficia
With the 'astonishing' ('verwunderens-wiirdig')
changes in musical fashions and consequent de-
mands both for an expanded instrumental palette
and for a higher technical standard of performance,
proper support was all the more necessary:71
damit solche subjecta choisiret und bestellet werden ktinnen,
so den itzigen muiicalischen gustum asstquiren, die neilen
Arthen der Music bestreiten, mithin im Stande seyn kttnnen,
dem Compositori und defien Arbeit satisfaction zu geben ...
(Entwurff, p.63)
so that such subjecta can be chosen and appointed as can
assimilate current musical taste, get to grips with the new
types of music [and] thus be in a position to give satisfaction
to the composer and his work ...
With this, Bach begins to wind up his Entwurff.
Der Schlufi ist demnach leicht zu finden, da£ bey cefiirenden
benefidis mir die Kraffte benommen werden, die Music in
befieren Stand zu setzen. (Entwurff, p.63)
The conclusion is accordingly easy to draw, that with the
stopping of the beneficia my power to put the music into bet-
ter condition is removed.
For cantatas, Bach needed both good singers and
good instrumentalists. By definition, the supply of
adequate vocal ripienists would have been easier to
ensure than that of concertists. As Kuhnau (1709)
had earlier observed, the 'student body' ('Schul
Jugend') at the Thomasschule
schickt ... sich ... mehr zu denen Capellstimmen und denen
tutti, alC zum concertiren .. .n
is ... more suited ... to Capella parts and tuttis than to per-
forming concerted music ...
The problem was, of course, by no means unique to
Leipzig; any choir that relied on young singers for all
voices (SATB)—as opposed to a court establish-
ment, for example—would certainly have recog-
nized it. But by Bach's time it had evidently grown
even more acute. It was, of course, partly that there
were too few competent singers in general to ensure
reasonable quality throughout the four choirs; but
equally (or perhaps principally) there were danger-
ously few pupils to whom Bach could entrust his
own exceptionally difficult music.
Occasional 'helpers' from outside the Thomas-
schule included a future son-in-law then in his mid-
twenties:
EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1996 571
 DaS Vorzeiger dieses Herr Johann Christoph Altnickol seit pect that recorded performances of this sort have
Michaelis anno 1745. dem Chow Musico unausgesetzet therefore 'cheated' more than those with large
assistiret, indeme Er bald als Violiste, bald als Violoncelliste,
choruses.)
meistens aber als Vocal-Bassiste sich exhibiret, und also dem
Mangel derer auf der 77ioma5-Schule sich befindenden Bass- That most Baroque instruments are intrinsically
Stimmen (weiln sie wegen alzu fruhzeitigen Abzugs nicht more transparent in sound and quite a bit softer
konnen zur Reiffe kommen) ersetzet; wird hiermit eigen- than their modern counterparts is generally under-
handig bezeuget. Leipzig, den 25. Maji. 1747. stood,77 but at least three other factors make it hard
Joh: Sebast: Bach."
for musicians today to accept that a chorus of just
It is hereby attested with my own hand that the bearer, Mr four young singers might balance an orchestra satis-
Johann Christoph Altnickol, has served in the chorus musicus
continuously since Michaelmas 1745, appearing sometimes as
factorily. First, most Bach performances nowadays
violinist and sometimes as violoncellist, but mostly as vocal use a string group larger than Bach's 11.78 (Even the
bass, and has thus supplied the want of bass voices to be dramma per musica, Vereinigte Zwietracht der wech-
found at the Thomasschule (because they cannot come to selnden Saiten, BWV207—with more original string
maturity as they depart all too soon). Leipzig, 25 May 1747.
Joh. SebasL Bach
Table 3 Some of Bach's helpers
(Such versatility—Altnickol was primarily an organ-
ist—was both commonplace74 and necessary.) For Date Helper Payment Instr/ Source/notes
their troubles the modest sum of 6 thalers was found (thaler) voice
both for Altnickol and, two years before, for another F. G. Wild fl, hps B-D, 1, pp.127-8"
1723-7
bass75 who had appeared 'from time to time' ('etliche
1724 G. F. Wagner student 12 ?vn
mahl'). These payments follow a 14-year gap in 10 ?vn
[1725]
known documentation of this sort; from earlier (and 1726 12 vn
more generous) payments, and from other sources,
1724-8 C. G. Wecker student ?fl+, B-D, i, pp.i29°
further outside 'helpers' can be identified, among voice
whom basses and violinists seem to predominate
1725 J. C. Lipsius student 12 ?B
(see table 3). On at least one occasion Bach was cas- 12 B
1726
tigated by the 'Noble and Most Wise Council of the 1727 12 B
Town' for contravening regulations in bringing in a
1727 B. F. VOlkner student 10 vn
university student to act as stopgap First Prefect;76
nevertheless, he may often have been on the lookout [1728] J. F. Caroli student 12 ?vn
for good local musicians who might be persuaded 1728 C. F. Gerlach 12 ?vn*
(with or without financial reward) to assist him and 1728 E. J. Otto student 12 ?B
the Thomaner boys in the performance of his own 1729 15 ?B
technically demanding church music. (In this con- B-D, ii, pp.253c
1730-34 J. C. Hoffmann student B
nection, the collegium muskum directorship which ?
1731 J. F. Wachsmann student 12
he held, almost continuously, for well over a decade
from 1729 may have kept him in contact with poten- ?1731-7 B. D. Ludewig {student) instr, B-D, i, pp. 141-3"
voice
tially useful outside players.) But there is very little
reason to believe that a simple shortage of numbers 1738-41 J. F. Agricola {student) kbd B-D, iii, p.76
was Bach's main problem or, more particularly, that 1745 J. C. Mittendorff student 6 B see also n.75
he was seeking to swell the size of his (vocal) 'choir'.
1747 J. C. Altnickol (student) 6 B, vn, see also text
vc
Balance
One of the most commonly encountered objections a testimonial
b also organist; ?singer (?A)
to the idea of using one voice per part in choruses is c job application
that a satisfactory balance with an orchestra suppos- For payments to students (all at Leipzig University), see Schulze,
edly cannot be achieved. (And some appear to sus- Studenten als Bachs Heifer'.

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 copies than for any church piece (three for violin I,
etc.)—has just the usual four vocal copies.)79 Sec-
ond, Bach's sopranos and (boy) altos were signifi-
cantly older than their counterparts today (see
above). Much thinking about the liturgical music of
the past is unconsciously coloured by the quintes-
sentially 'ethereal', soft-edged, floated tones of An-
glican choirboys, yet such sounds are unlikely to
have been cultivated in 18th-century Germany.
(Bach several times commends particular voices as
'strong' or 'quite strong'.)80 Third, current natural-
trumpet playing—under the influence of the mod-
ern orchestral trumpet—is still commonly much
more forceful than it should (or need) be:
an Instrument formerly practis'd in y* rough Consorts of y1
Field but now instructed in gentler Notes, it has learnt to
accompany -f softest Flutes [= recorders] and can join with
the most charming Voices ... (Keller, 1699)"
(Especially in its clarino register, the natural trumpet
can be a magically delicate instrument; problems of
Ex.4 Actus tragicus: Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste Zeit, Bwvio6/iid ('Es ist der alte Bund'), bars 180-85
ISO Andante
su, Herr
A I
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balance between recorder and trumpet in the Second
Brandenburg Concerto, BWV1047, are substantially
of our own making.)81 Finally, we should note that
performances at higher pitches than Bach intended
almost inevitably make exaggerated demands on our
singers.
Questions of vocal/instrumental balance already
present themselves in two of Bach's earliest works. In
the Actus tragicus (?17O7), Gottes Zeit ist die allerbeste
Zeit, BWVIO6, sheer practicality suggests that a 'choir'
in the modern sense has no place. Here the 'orches-
tra' comprises just five instruments (two recorders,
two gambas and organ)83—a funereally muted, deli-
cate 'chamber' ensemble. Florid, 'soloistic' vocal
lines within the choruses confirm the impression
that any ripieno group would prove a mere encum-
brance (see ex.4).
By contrast, another Miihlhausen cantata (1708),
Gott ist mein Konig, BWV71, employs a large orchestra
of a fairly familiar kind, with three trumpets and
Je - su!
EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1996 573
 timpani; its largely autograph performing materials
include the usual set of four vocal parts for con-
certists—with a further four for ripienists, deployed
in a variety of ways as shown in table 2. Bach's clear
(if old-fashioned) designation of the whole cantata
(with its 14 independent instrumental parts) as 'ab
18. e se piace 22.>84 indicates that the four ripieno
voices are optional, and that the work may therefore
be performed—trumpets and all—with just four
singers. (This interpretation is confirmed by the
contemporary set of printed parts, which simply has
no ripieno copies at all.)
It seems virtually certain, then, that right from the
start of his career Bach was accustomed to write for a
one-per-part chorus. Four (good) voices, especially
when positioned correctly,85 were evidently consid-
ered perfectly capable of achieving a satisfactory bal-
ance with even a large instrumental group. If we also
accept86 that the choruses of the Weimar hunting
cantata Was mir behagt, ist nur die muntre Jagd!,
BWV208—with its two horns and oboe band—are
intended for just the four characters (Diana, Pales,
Endymion and Pan), we must surely pause to con-
sider whether or not the Weimar church cantatas
might function in exactly the same way.87 In any
event, during Bach's time at Weimar the ducal
chapel never had more than eight singers.88
Were conditions and musical fashions really so
very different a decade later at Leipzig? In the early
part of the century the collegium musicum which
provided elaborate music at the Neue Kirche was
said to have had a membership of'perhaps 40'; how
precise a figure this is meant to be and how fre-
quently the entire group performed at once may be
open to debate, but the 'Singechor' within it con-
sisted explicitly of just four singers.89
Some large-scale works
Each Good Friday in Leipzig, and on just a few other
occasions in the year (such as weddings and civic
ceremonies), Bach appears to have been in a position
to combine the resources of his first and second
choirs.90 Accordingly, the presence of vocal ripieno
parts among the performing materials of the St John
Passion, BWV245, is not unexpected.91 (However, the
musical skills of the second choir were almost cer-
tainly more limited.)
574 EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1996
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With its two choirs and two orchestras the St
Matthew Passion, BWV244, is without question a
special case, and its instrumental requirements make
it fairly clear that more players than usual were avail-
able to Bach. But there is no reason to imagine that,
individually, either of the orchestras would have
been larger than usual; nor, of course, should we
expect either of the choirs to have been larger than
usual. The evidence of the surviving performing ma-
terials of the St Matthew Passion is fairly unequivo-
cal. The 'Soprano in Ripieno' part (with its two sim-
ple chorale melodies) and the nine small solo roles
are distributed across four self-contained copies, in
which all other movements are marked 'tacet'. Aside
from these, only eight singers in toto were needed—
just as, most probably, in the St John Passion and in
those cantatas for which ripienists were demonstra-
bly available. The essential difference would have
been in the distribution of the eight singers: as four
concertists doubled by four ripienists in the St John,
and as two groups of four concertists in the St
Matthew (see table 4). And, of course, when the two
groups of concertists in the St Matthew combine in
four-part writing—not only in all the chorales but at
several points during double-chorus movements—
the effect is of a familiarly 'choral' sound (albeit pro-
duced by just two voices per part, with some instru-
mental doublings).
The Mass in B minor, BWV232, which in all proba-
bility never received a complete performance in
Bach's lifetime, is even more obviously a special case.
Yet absolutely nothing in the music itself implies
vocal performing forces in any way different from
those discussed above. And as the idea of one-to-a-
part choral singing has for far too long been almost
exclusively associated with this one piece, I shall con-
fine myself to two observations. First, the sheer scale
and exceptional variety of its choral writing, along
with the need for eight voices in the Osanna, render
the B Minor Mass an apt candidate for the selective
addition, on Bach's own principles, of ripieno
parts.91 (It cannot be assumed, though, that the same
is necessarily true of other large-scale works; surpris-
ingly, perhaps, the nature of the choral writing in the
Magnificat, BWV243, for example, does not seem
to lend itself at all easily to such treatment.) Second,
the familiar objection of implausible demands on
 Table 4 Parts used in two Passion performances several details in the Entwurff begin to fall into place.
While the statutory eight boys would have given the
St John Passion (1725) cantor no room whatsoever for manoeuvre in either
motets or cantatas, 12 would have ensured the
S A
singing of a motet and would also have provided a
reasonable pool of cantata performers, say:
• a good SATB quartet
• five string players
• three reserve singers/instrumentalists
Most or all would probably have sung the chant and
St Matthew Passion (1736) congregational chorales, too. (The hypothetical 16
CHOIR I CHOIR II boys would naturally have given Bach more options,
A T B S A T including the possibility of an additional SATB
© €) (S) © © © quartet, and would almost certainly have reduced
Evang. Jesus any need for outside help.) Given these limited and
variable resources, it would surely have been quite
B B
natural for Bach to choose to write his 'difficult'
® O O ('schwer') and 'intricate' vocal music not for all the
Soprano Ancil.iy Judas/ Petrus/ boys of his first choir but primarily and predomi-
in Ripieno Ancil.i/ Pontif.l Pontif.
Uxor Pilati [=Caiaphas]/ nantly for a very select handful. All those cantatas in
Pontif.l/ which the chorus sings nothing more than a simple
Pilatus
concluding chorale may suggest strategic planning
(Q) concertist's part (g) ripienist's part of exactly this sort.93
{_) additional part In short, if Bach considered 16 optimal, 12 was
" lost copy fragmentary copy evidently the size of the performing pool or 'choir'—
with or without occasional outside assistance—that
Source: Rifkin, 'Bach's chorus: a preliminary report', pp.748-9
he considered appropriate to his circumstances. My
guess is that he may have thought of these 12 in
concertists' stamina overlooks the simple but incon- roughly the following terms:
trovertible fact that the concertists must sing
chorales & chant: 12 singers
throughout, whether they are doubled or not.
motets: 8 singers + 4 reserves
(Doubtless such doubling will be regarded by some
cantatas: 4 concertists + 8 others, serving variously
singers as supportive and by others as confining,
as string players (especially viola, cello and
while to some it will make little difference.)
violone), reserve (or additional) concer-
Conclusions tists, and ripieno singers
It should be clear enough where all this leads. The While a larger pool of pupils (16) would in itself have
conventional image of Bach's choir—rarely thought been no guarantee of higher musical standards, it
through, and generally considered to be almost be- would have given Bach both greater security (against
yond discussion—rests in practice on a series of absences) and greater flexibility (in the selection and
questionable assumptions and on a suspect reading deployment of his forces, including the increased
of Bach's Entwurff. If for a moment we dare to think possibility of a vocal ripieno group).
the unthinkable and accept that in many Lutheran This picture, unlike the conventional one, also
churches and chapels a cantata choir (as opposed to proves wholly compatible both with the very con-
one appropriate merely for chorales and motets) siderable evidence of the surviving performing
might essentially consist of just four good singers, materials and with the richly documented musical

EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1996 575

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 ft IJ I fe^gi

rrfr#^
*>.»*.'-r< ^
^SS
^3==2I
sffcri
^ J

6 From the autograph tenor partbook of the Missa, BWV 232 1 (the Kyrie and Gloria of what is now
known as the Mass in B minor). For the singer reading from this part, no distinction is made between
'solo' and 'choral' performance at the transition from the duet 'Domine Deus' to the chorus 'Qui tollis'
(end of second stave). (Dresden, Sachsische Landesbibliothek, Mus. 2405 D21)

576 EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1 9 9 6

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 traditions to which Bach belonged. If viewed against 'ideal' 12- (or 16-) strong Bach choir singing contin-
the backdrop of a Handelian oratorio choir or its uously throughout each and every chorus.
19th-century successor, the amateur choral society, It is hard to resist the conclusion that the general
these findings will of course appear extraordinary, musical public has received disturbingly poor pro-
but in the context of Lutheran music-making from fessional guidance throughout the whole 'debate'.
Praetorius onwards, they are unexceptional.94 Only Surely it is now time to abandon traditional choral
in the sheer quality of his music does Bach prove protectionism and, instead, to explore the new pos-
utterly exceptional. sibilities that smaller vocal ensembles throw open.
Unless contradictory new evidence surfaces or Such exploration demands not only performances
substantial and coherent new counter-arguments that rise to the challenge of bringing unfamiliar ideas
are presented, Rifkin's thesis deserves to be regarded to life, but also scholarship—and criticism—of a
as beyond reasonable doubt. The burden of proof more open-minded and more penetrating nature
lies squarely with those who hold to the notion of an than we have seen over the last 15 years.
77ii5 article began as a programme note the editors evidently did not see fit other recent writings by Rifkin, see also
for a performance of Bach's St Matthew to modify in any way Ellen Harris's nn.87 and 91, below.) That Rifkin,
Passion which I directed at the 1995 conventional one-clause summary. regrettably, has not yet brought this
Ansbach Bachwoche, and I am indebted work together in book form is obvi-
to the festival's director, Hans Georg 4 Rifkin's researches (and Robert ously not for want of interest or com-
Schdfer, for the opportunity to put an Marshall's initial response) first saw mitment on his part; his articles so far
unconventional view of Bach to the prac- the light of day at the Boston meeting are only the tip of an iceberg of data
tical test ofperformance. I am also grate- of the American Musicological Society and argument.
ful to various friends and colleagues, in 1981, and in the pages of the monthly
5 Boyd, Bach, p.154.
especially Aloysia Assenbaum, John Butt, High fidelity; the latter articles were
John Holloway, Richard D. P. Jones, later republished, in revised form. See 6 B-D, i, p.96.
Michael Lowe, Pippa Thynne, Emily J. Rifkin, 'Bach's chorus: a preliminary 7 B-D, i, pp.131,134; see also J. Butt,
Van Evera, Eric Van Tassel and, not report', Musical times, cxxiii (Nov Music education and the art of per-
least, Joshua Rifkin. 1982), pp.747-54 (revised as 'Bachs formance in the German Baroque
Chor: ein vorliufige Bericht', Basler (Cambridge, 1994), pp.31,197.
Jahrbuchfiir historische Musikpraxis, ix
1 Bach-Dokumente [hereafter B-D], i: (1985), pp.141-55); R. L. Marshall, 8 B-D, i, p.65.
Schriftstiicke von der Hand Johann 'Bach's chorus: a preliminary reply to 9 S. Daw, 'German Lutheran choirs
Sebastian Backs, ed. W. Neumann and Joshua Rifkin', Musical times, cxxiv of Bach's time: their constitution, per-
H.-J. Schulze (Kassel etc., 1963), pp.74, (Jan 1983), pp.19-22; J. Rifkin, 'Bach's formance practice and repertoire',
677 (translation in M. Boyd, Bach, chorus: a response to Robert Marshall', Organists' review, Apr 1973, pp.13-15.
Master Musicians (London, 2/1990), Musical times, cxxiv (Mar 1983), The biographies of Schein and Schiitz
pp.153, ui). pp.161—2;'"... wobey aber die Sing- imply that Schein's voice broke at 17
stimmen hinlanglich besetzt seyn and Schutz's at well over 20. According
2 'Zu einer wohlbestellten Kirchen miiSen ...": zum Credo der h-Moll- to B^nigne de Bacilly, voices ordinarily
Music gehdren Vocalisten und Instru- Messe in der Auffuhrung Carl Philipp broke between the ages of 15 and 20
mentisten': Bach, 'Kurtzer, iedoch Emanuel Bachs', Basler Jahrbuchfiir (Bacilly, Remarques curieuses sur Van
hdchstnOthiger Entwurff einer historische Musikpraxis, ix (1985), de bien chanter (Paris, 1668), pp.36, 81).
wohlbestallten Kirchen Music', cited pp.157-72; review of facsimiles of the A. M. de Mirampole (c.1700) advised
hereafter as Entwurff, with page- Mass in B minor, BWV232, Notes, xliv French parents to send their sons to
reference to B-D, i. For a meticulous (1987-8), pp.787-98; 'Bach's chorus: Germany 'to retard the age of puberty
linguistic analysis of the Entwurff, see some red herrings', Journal ofmusico- by the rigours of the climate' (Daw,
U. Siegele, 'Bachs Endzweck einer logical research, xiv (1994), pp.223-34 p.14). M. H. Fuhrmann remarks that
regulierten und Entwurf einer wohl- (with a reply by G. Stauffer); 'Some altos became tenors when they passed
bestaUten Kirchenmusik', Festschrift questions of performance in Bach's the age of 18 (Musikalischer-Trichter
Georg von Dadelsen zum 60. Geburtstag, Trauerode', Bach studies 2, ed. D. (Frankfurt an der Spree, 1706), p.136,
ed. T. Kohlhase and V. Scherliess Melamed (Cambridge, 1995), pp.119- cited in G. Webber, North German
(Neuhausen-Stuttgart, 1978), pp.315-51. 53; 'Bach's choral ideal', Bach perspec- church music in the age ofBuxtehude
tives, ed. R. Stinson (Lincoln, NB, (Oxford, 1996), p.178). C. F. Schemelli
3 Performance practice: music after
1995); 'Weimar, Leipzig, solo, tutti: the seems to have entered the Thomas-
1600, The New Grove Handbooks, ed.
voices in Bach's "Ich hatte viel Bekiim- schule as a 17-year-old soprano (B-D, i,
H. M. Brown and S. Sadie (London,
mernis"', elsewhere in this issue. (For p.154). However, Johann Friedrich
1989), p.114: despite Rifkin's work,

EARLY M U S I C NOVEMBER 1 9 9 6 577

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 Agricola writes that a man's voice
'normally lowers' in about his 14th
year ('Introduction to the art of singing'
by Johann Friedrich Agricola, ed. and
trans. J. C. Baird (Cambridge, 1995),
P-72)-
10 Entwurff, p.62. At Arnstadt, c.i689,
all but two of the 11 singers doubled
as string players: M. Schiffher, 'Die
Arnstadter Hofkapelle—regionales
Zentrum der Musikpflege im histori-
schen und zeitgenSssischen Umfeld des
jungen Bach', Beitrdge zur Bach-
Forschung, vi (Leipzig, 1987), pp.37-53,
esp. p.47.
11 'Der Vorige Prctfectus Nagel hat
nie was anders gethan, als die Violinc
gestrichen': B-D, ii, Fremdschriftliche
und bedruckte Dokumente zur Lebens-
gcschichte Johann Sebastian Bachs
1685—1750, ed. W. Neumann and H.-J.
Schulze (Kassel, etc., 1969), p.275.
12 B-D, i, p.177.
13 Entwurff, pp.62-3.
14 See B-D, i, p.177, clause 5.
15 'so keine music verstehen, sondern
nur nothdOrfftig einen Choral singen
kttnnen': Entwurff, p.6o.
16 B-D, i, pp.87-8.
17 The reminiscences of G. H. Stcilzel,
cited in J. Mattheson, Grundlage finer
EhrenpforU (Hamburg, 1740), p.118.
18 G. Stiller, Johann Sebastian Bach
and liturgical life in Leipzig, trans.
H. J. A. Bauman, D. F. Poellet and
H. C. Oswald, ed. R. A. Leaver (St
Louis, 1984), pp.74-95 (trans, of Johann
Sebastian Bach und das Leipziger gottes-
dienstliche Lcben seiner Zeit (Kassel etc.,
1970)).
19 B-D, i, p.88.
20 i, 1603/1618; ii, 1621.
21 B-D, i, p.90 (19 Aug 1736); B-D, ii,
p.274 (13 Sept 1736).
22 F. Niedt, Die musicalische Hand-
leitung, drifter Theil (Hamburg, 1717)
(The musical guide, trans. P. L. Poulin
and I. C. Taylor (Oxford, 1989)), cited
in D. Melamed, Johann Sebastian Bach
and the German motet (Cambridge,
1995). P-ioo.
23 J. A. Scheibe, Der critische Musikus,
(Leipzig, 2/1745), P185, cited in
Melamed, Bach and the German motet,
pp.2U.
578 EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER I 9 9 6
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24 Bach variously uses the words
'nicht geschickt' (B-D, i, p.87),
'Ungeschicklichkeit' (B-D, i, p.88),
'incapacity' (B-D, i, p.88), 'unruchtig'
(B-D, i, pp.85, 95)-
25 B-D, ii, p.272.
26 'Wann ihrer etliche eine Stimme
singen/wie in Vollstimmigen Motet ten
oder Capell-Stimmen zu geschehen
pfleget..." ('when several of them sing
one voice-part, as customarily happens
in full-voiced motets or Capella parts
...'): W. C. Printz, Musica modulatoria
vocalis (Schweidnitz, 1678), cited in
Butt, Music education, p . m . See also
Webber, North German church music,
p.177.
27 'Und man muR dahero auch die
Motetten, wo es moglich ist, sehr stark
von Sangern besetzen ...'; for motets,
'es mufi auch jedwede Stimme mehr
verschiedenemal besetzet seyn':
Scheibe, Der critische Musikus (2/1745),
pp.182,185, cited in Melamed, Bach and
the German motet, pp.210, 212.
28 Entwurff, p.6o.
29 M. Praetorius, Syntagma musicum,
iii (Wolfenbilttel, 1619), pp.126 [recte
106], 196 etc.; G. J. Vogler, Betracht-
ungen der Mannheimer Tonschule, iii/i
(Mannheim, 1780), p.125 (cited in
G. Wagner, 'Die Chorbesetzung bei
J. S. Bach und ihre Vorgeschichte:
Anmerkungen zur "hinlanglichen"
Besetzung im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert',
Archiv fur Musikwissenschaft, xliii
(1986), p.297 n.58). According to G. F.
Wolf, 'Konzertist... bedeutet denjeni-
gen Singer oder Spieler welcher theils
die Stellen und ganzen Stiicke, welche
allein gesungen oder gespielt werden,
vortragt, theils fur die Ausfuhrung
der ganzen Stimme sorgen mu6'
('Concertist... means that singer or
player who, on the one hand, executes
the sections and entire pieces which
are sung or played alone and [who], on
the other hand, is responsible for the
whole voice-part'): Wolf, Kurzgefasstes
musikalisches Lexicon (Halle, 1787),
p.110, cited in Butt, Music education,
p.215, n.13.
30 Butt, Music education, p.110; see
also Webber, North German church
music, p.176.
31 The term 'Ripieni' also appears in
connection with instrumental
ensembles (Boyd, Bach, p.66; cf. B-D, i,
P-239)-
32 J. G. Walther, Musikalisches Lextkon
(Leipzig, 1732).
33 Similarly, Agricola comments that
although 'the Ripieno voice is not
capable of all the refinement of solo
singing', 'The loudness or softness,
especially on long and serious notes,
must be observed even by those who
sing the supporting voices in choirs'
('Introduction', trans. Baird, p.169).
34 G. E. Scheibel, Zufdllige Gedancken
von der Kirchen-Music (Frankfurt and
Leipzig, 1721), pp.54-5 (quoted Butt,
Music education, p.112). See also
Webber, North German church
music, pp.103-4.
35 F. Bosken, Musikgeschichte der Stadt
OsnabrUck (Regensburg, 1937), p.143.
36 Rifkin first drew attention to this
group of cantatas in his talk at the 1981
meeting of the American Musicological
Society in Boston.
37 Having first distinguished between
concertist and ripienist, Bach then
specifies four (or more) concertists:
'Derer Concertisten sind ordinaire 4;
auch wohl 5, 6, 7 bifi 8; so mann nem-
lich per Choros musiaren will.' ('There
are ordinarily four concertists, [and
there may be] also five, six, seven [and]
up to eight—if, that is, one wishes to
perform music per choros [i.e. with a
double chorus]': for detailed discussion
of this somewhat obscure passage in
the Entwurff (p.6o), see Rifkin, 'Bach's
choral ideal'.) Bach continues, 'Derer
Ripienisten mQfien wenigstens auch
achte seyn, nemlich zu ieder Stimme
zwey.' ('At all events, there must also
be eight ripienists, that is, two of each
voice-type.') Again, Bach's require-
ments for an appropriate pool of
singers do not necessarily translate
directly to any individual cantata per-
formance: there is surely an implica-
tion that each concertist would be
matched not by two ripienists but by
one.
38 Rifkin, 'Bach's chorus: a prelimi-
nary report", table III, p.749.
39 The passage quoted in n.37 above
concerns 'choirs for cantatas'—that is,
both first and second choirs—and
could indicate not that each choir
should include 'at least eight' ripienists,
 but that the student body as a whole
should contain that number for use in
the first two choirs. In addition, Bach's
strategic intentions in the Entwurff, the
singers' instrumental duties and
absences, the musical requirements of
particular cantatas must all be taken
into consideration. Certainly, to infer
from this passage a single vocal choir
of about 16 ('up to eight' concertists
plus 'at least' eight ripienists) singing
cantata choruses would, in the context
of the Entwurff, be wildly optimistic.
40 Schiffner, 'Die Arnstadter
Hofkapelle', pp.46-7.
41 Fuhrmann, Musikalischer-Trichter,
pp.77—8, cited in Butt, Music education,
p.212. On the size of ripieno groups, see
also Webber, North German church
music, pp.176—7.
42 L. Dreyfus, Bach's continuo group:
players and practices in his vocal works
(Cambridge, MA, 1987), pp.183-207,
gives a useful table.
43 Rifkin, 'Bach's chorus: some red
herrings', p.223. Rifkin's findings were
primarily the result of a meticulous
analysis of the surviving performing
materials of Bach's church music. Yet,
as John Butt has correctly pointed out,
Rifkin's critics 'tend to discount his
examination of the original parts with-
out even attempting to address the very
convincing arguments he has devel-
oped from their internal coherences'
(Butt, Music education, p.208, n.55).
44 Marshall, 'Bach's chorus: a prelimi-
nary reply', p.22.
45 Printz, Musica modulatoria vocalis,
pp.5-6, cited in Butt, Music education,
p.m.
46 Equally irrelevant to our present
purposes is a 1723 Thomasschule
rubric—echoing an earlier one from
1634 (in Latin), and probably concern-
ing chant or chorales sung from a
single choirbook—which requires that
pupils 'So lange auf ihren Bancken
stille sitzen, bis sie zu denen Pulten
geruffen werden, so dann aber sich
dergestalt vor dieselbe stellen, damit
ein jeder den aufgelegten Text sehen,
und keiner den andern im Singen hin-
dern moge' ('Remain quietly seated on
their benches until they are called to
the desks, but then position themselves
in front of them in such a way that
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each can see the text that has been put
out [?selected], and no one can inter-
fere with anyone else's singing'): fac-
simile in Die Thomasschule Leipzig zur
Zeitjohann Sebastian Bachs: Ordnun-
gen und Cesetze 1634,1723,1733, ed.
H.-J. Schulze (Leipzig, 1987), 1723, p.72
(see Rifkin, 'Bach's chorus: some red
herrings', pp.224-5). In the singing of a
motet, of course, there would be not
one book but eight (for eight, or possi-
bly more, singers). What this passage
does not refer to is concerted music, as
context and terminology make clear.
47 Rifkin, 'Bach's choral ideal'; and
B-D, ii, p.335.
48 M. Boyd, 'Bach's chorus' (letter),
Early music, xii (1984), p.431.
49 As Rifkin points out in a response:
Early music, xii (1984), p.591.
50 This is the only depiction of a choir
of any kind included in the approxi-
mately 350 illustrations in B-D, iv, Bild-
dokumente zur Lebensgeschichte Johann
Sebastian Bachs, ed. W. Neumann
(Leipzig, 1978).
51 As suggested in A. Schenng,
Musikgeschtchte Leipzigs, ii (Leipzig,
1926), pp.153-4-
52 Syntagma musicum, iii, pp.134-5
[recte 114-15]; see also p.131 [recte 111]
(quoted in Butt, Music education,
p.109).
53 Preface to Musicalische Exequien
(Dresden, 1636); compare prefaces to
Psalmen Davids (Dresden, 1619) and
Symphoniaesacrae, iii (Dresden, 1650).
See also Rifkin, 'Bach's chorus: some
red herrings', p.226.
54 Boyd, Bach, pp.120-21.
55 Rifkin, 'Bach's chorus: some red
herrings', p.227.
56 BWV22, 24, 75,191 and 234: Rifkin,
'Bach's chorus: a response to Robert
Marshall'. See also Bach's autograph
score (1716) of the motetto Auf Gott
hoffe ich by J. C. Schmidt for'S. A. T. et
B. e 4 Ripie:' (Melamed, Bach and the
German motet, p.22) and his autograph
tide-page (c.1740) to a score of Bas-
sani's Acroama missale for 'Quatuor
Voces in Concerto/et/Quatuor in Rip-
ieno' (B-D, i, p.238).
57 The Bach reader, a life of Johann
Sebastian Bach in letters and documents,
ed. H. T. David and A. Mendel (New
EARLY MUSIC
York, rev. edn 1966), p . m .
58 As pointed out in Siegele, 'Bachs
Endzweck ..."
59 These numbers are confirmed in
another document, B-D, i, p.250; see
also B-D, ii, p.192. According to
Scheibe (Der critische Musikus, 2nd
edn, issue no.16,1 Oct 1737), 'Ein voll-
standiger Singechor, der so wohl zum
Theater, als zur Kirche und zur Kam-
mer zu gebrauchen ist, kann aus nicht
weniger, als aus acht Personen beste-
hen. Diese theile ich folgendermaSen
ein. Erstlich zweene Diskantisten,
zweene Altisten, zweene Tenoristen,
und ein hoher Bafiist, oder so genannte
Baritonist, und endlich ein defer
BaSist. Diese acht Personen aber
muSen alle geschickte Leute seyn.
Da aber annoch die Chore wilrden
auszuftillen seyn, so konnte man an
Hbfen gar fuglich die Capellknaben,
in StSdten aber einige Schulknaben,
darzu anfuhren.' ('A complete choir of
singers, for use both in the theatre and
in church and chamber, cannot consist
of fewer than eight persons. These I
break down in the following way: first,
a pair of sopranos, a pair of altos, a pair
of tenors, and a high bass or so-called
baritone and finally a low bass. But
these eight persons must all be skilled
people. However, as the choruses
would still need to be filled out, at
court one could quite easily add the
chapel boys, in town some school-
boys.')
60 If Bach had realistically hoped to
be allowed 16 singers each for the first
three choirs, the student body of 55
would have left the fourth choir with-
out enough voices of even minimal
competence.
61 Two each of soprano, alto and
tenor, plus four basses: Rifkin, 'Bachs
Chor', p.149, and 'Bach's chorus: some
red herrings', p.229.
62 Cited in Rifkin, 'Bach's chorus: a
preliminary report', p.750.
63 B-D, i, pp.99,105; see also B-D, ii,
p.269.
64 'so Musicam verstehen mflSen'
(Entwurff, p.6o); others ('so keine
music verstehen') were needed for the
fourth choir.
65 I.e. in addition to players from the
town musicians (three 'KunstGeiger',
NOVEMBER 1996 579
 four 'StadtPfeifer', and one appren-
tice): Entwurff, p.fii.
66 'als an welchen [ich] in denen
beeden HauptKirchen die Music
zugleich besorgen muB': Entwurff,
p.62.
67 As Siegele has shown ('Bach's
Endzweck ...', pp.334-5), the implied
disposition of strings is 3-3-2-2-1
where there is one viola part, and
2-2-2-2-2-1 where the violas are in
two parts.
68 Under the terms of Bach's 1723
contract, boys without musical talent
and/or training would not be admitted
to the school: B-D, i, p.177. A century
earlier, Seth Calvisius 'found that
the boys he had accepted on musical
grounds were turned down by the
rector' (Butt, Music education, p.30).
69 Entwurff, p.64.
70 J. F. Kohler, Historia scholarum
Lipsiensium (1776), cited in Boyd, Bach,
p.154. On Emesti, see the section on
'Repertory' above.
71 'Da nun ... die Kunst lim sehr viel
gestiegen ..." ('As ... the art [of music]
has now risen greatly ...') etc.:
Entwurff, p.63.
72 Cited in P. Spitta, Johann Sebastian
Bach, ii (Leipzig, 1880), p.859.
73 B-D, i, p.148-9.
74 Cf. also B-D, i, pp.48,147; and B-D,
ii, pp.407, 452.
75 The student J. C. Mittendorff (July
1745): H.-J. Schulze, 'Studenten als
Bachs Heifer bei der Leipziger Kirchen-
musik', Bach-Jahrbuch, Ixx (1984),
pp.45-52.
76 B-D, i, pp.99-100.
77 Notwithstanding some of the argu-
ments put forward by W. Kroesbergen
and J. Wentz, 'Sonority in the 18th
century, unpoco piuforteV, Early
music, xxii (1994), pp.482-95.
78 Entwurff, pp.60-61.
79 Rifkin, 'Some questions of perfor-
mance in Bach's Trauerode', p.127.
80 'eine (ziemlich) starcke Stimme':
B-D, i, pp.131,134.
81 G. Keller, dedication to The English
Princess: see E. Tarr, The trumpet
(London, 1988), p.135. See also Caspar
Hentzschel, quoted in P. Downey, 'On
58O EARLY MUSIC NOVEMBER 1996
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sounding the trumpet and beating the
drum in 17th-century England', Early
music, xxiv (1996), p.275 and n.47.
82 J. S. Petri advised a trumpeter thus:
'Er thut am besten, wenn er den
Musikdirector bittet, ihm sein piano
oder forte bey jeder Note vor zu
schreiben.' ('It is best for him to ask
the musical director to write in his
piano or forte for him, against each
note.'): Petri, Anleitungzurpraktischen
Musik (Lauban, 1767; R/Leipzig, 1782),
p.46, cited in Butt, Music education,
pp.103, 2 °6-
83 No further continuo seems to have
been intended.
84 The autograph manuscript page
bearing this inscription is reproduced
in Early music, xvii (1989), p.7, where it
is mislabelled 'BWVV'. See Praetorius,
Syntagma musicum, iii, p.196, for an
explanation of such terminology.
Rifkin ('Bach's chorus: a response to
Robert Marshall', p.162) discusses a
similar inscription ('a 16 a 21') in
Sebastian Knupfer's 'Machet die Tore
weit'. See also Webber, North German
church music, pp.104-5, where the
performing forces of Johann Philipp
Fortsch's 'Ich vergeSe was dahinten ist'
('a 10,15 et 20.') are listed.
85 'Die SSnger mussen allenthalben
voran stehen': Mattheson, Der voll-
kommene Capellmeister (Hamburg,
1739). P-484-
86 As, for example, do Boyd (Bach,
p.115) and W. Neumann (Handbuch
der Kantaten Johann Sebastian Bachs
(Leipzig, 4/1971), p.224).
87 The danger of making assumptions
about balance is illustrated in H.-J.
Schulze, 'Johann Sebastian Bach's
orchestra: some unanswered ques-
tions', Early music, xvii (1989), pp.3—15:
the cover of that very issue happens to
show an ensemble of just the kind that
'does not seem logical' to Schulze on
p.9. See also J. Rifkin, 'More (and less)
on Bach's orchestra', Performance prac-
tice review, iv (Spring 1991), pp.5-13.
88 B-D, ii, pp.48, 55, 62-3.
89 'sehr starck besetzt ... In alien
bestunds wohl aus 40. Personen':
Stolzel (Mattheson, Grundlage einer
Ehrenpforte, pp.117-18), recalling the
collegium under Melchior Hoffmann
(1707-10). All four singers were univer-
sity students. See also Rifkin, 'Bach's
chorus: some red herrings', pp.227—9,
for a discussion of the significance (or
otherwise) of the number 40 and of the
evidence of J. M. Gesner (1738) and
J. C. Tromer (1745).
90 A. Schering, Bachs Leipziger
Kirchenmusik, cited in Rifkin, 'Bach's
chorus: a preliminary report', p.751.
91 For more on the St John Passion,
see J. Rifkin, T h e violins in Bach's St.
John Passion', Critica musica: essays in
honor of Paul Brainard, ed. J. Knowles
(forthcoming).
92 Such a selective application is
demonstrated in my 1984 recording of
the Mass with the Taverner Consort
and Players (EMI 7 47293 8).
93 Boyd (Bach, pp.u8,125) all but
admits as much.
94 Kerala Snyder finds it an
'inescapable' conclusion that Buxte-
hude too'intended the majority of his
works for four voices not for chorus
but for an ensemble of soloists': Buxte-
hude (New York, 1987), p.366.
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 JEAN-MARC FUZEAU

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