Hearing Bach's Passions (review)

Abstract

WORKS Hearing Bach's Passions. By Daniel R. Melamed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. [xi, 178 p. ISBN 0-19-516933-6. $24.95.] Index, bibliography, tables. In 1925, in the preface to two short books on J. S. Bach's Passion settings, Charles Sanford Terry wrote: volume and its sequel exceed the requirements of those whose interest in Bach's Passions is confined to the two that survive. I preferred to treat the subject exhaustively because there is no other book on the subject, in English or foreign literature, accessible to the student, whose needs . . . [The Musical Pilgrim] Series serves. (Bach: The Passions, Book I 1723-1725 (The Musical Pilgrim) [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1926], 3). Daniel Melamed's Hearing Bach's Passions, while different in its approach, serves a very similar function and will undoubtedly stand the test of time as well as Terry's work has. In contrast to the problem faced by Terry, there exist an excessive number of books on Bach's Passions. While some have made valuable contributions to the general body of knowledge about the history of the musical Passion and of Bach's Passions in particular, an unnecessarily large number of them provide no more information than Terry did in 1925. Fortunately, Melamed's book belongs to that group of writings on Bach's Passions that are accessible to a general audience while at the same time offering valuable additions to scholarship. Moreover, Melamed constructs a sophisticated response to the many persistent and fiercely guarded myths surrounding the Passion repertory associated with Bach. Melamed states in his preface: all their familiarity, behind Bach's passions are questions and problems caused by our distance from the works in time and context. This book is for people who want to know more about Johann Sebastian Bach's passion settings, about these questions and problems, and about what it means to listen to this music today (p. vi). In the introduction and epilogue Melamed emphasizes that contemporary concert practice varies greatly from that of Bach's time. In the intervening three sections Melamed provides substantial evidence that performing traditions and musical debates over nearly three centuries have altered the way in which Bach's music is heard and understood today. Each of Melamed's chapters begins with a question intended to highlight the central theme to be discussed in the subsequent pages. Often the questions posed center around controversial issues. For instance, the introduction opens with the question: Is it really possible to hear a musical work from the eighteenth century? (p. 3). He adds: To put it another way, when we listen to a Bach passion, is it really the same piece Bach wrote in the early eighteenth century? (p. 3). This question underlies the entire volume. As Melamed observes, the instrumental and vocal forces used in eighteenth-century performances were entirely different from those typically heard today. Likewise, the physical and intellectual contexts in which those works were heard hardly reflects those of today. Finally, the knowledge, experiences, and perspectives of today's audiences are entirely different from that of an individual in Bach's time. Beyond the introduction, Melamed's book is organized into three broad sections. Chapters 1 and 2 form part 1 and consider Performing Forces and Their Significance. The first chapter addresses the issue of the number of singers Bach used in performances of his music. Agreeing with the arguments of Joshua Rifkin and Andrew Parrot, Melamed cites the design of the extant performing parts for the Passions to demonstrate that these were used by only one singer. This argument is founded on the existence of eight primary vocal parts (especially for the St. John Passion). Of these, the four solo (concertist) parts include all the music for a particular voice range (i.e., solo recitatives and arias as well as the chorales and choruses sung by the entire vocal ensemble) while the remaining four (ripienist) parts include only the music for the ensemble numbers. …