Hearing the "T�ne eines Passionsliedes" in J. S. Bach's "Christmas Oratorio": The Nineteenth-Century Critical Reception of BWV 248

Abstract

Hearing the "Töne eines Passionsliedes" in J. S. Bach's Chrìstmas Oratorio : The Nineteenth-Century Critical Reception of BWV 248 Carolyn Carrier-McClimon OnisSebastianDecemberconsideredBach's17,the1857,ChristmasfirstthefullBerlinOratoriopublicSing-,performanceBWVAkademie248,sinceofgaveJohannBach'swhat isconsideredthefirstfullpublicperformanceofJohann SebastianBach'sChristmasOratorio,BWV248,sinceBach's time.1Itwasthesecondconcertoftheseason'ssubscriptionseries underthedirectionofEduardGrell,wholedatotalof194singers and45instrumentalistsafter16hoursofrehearsaloverfivedays.2 'WhetherornottheorganizationperformedpartsoftheworkearlierinProbenis unclear;therearenoreferencesineitherGeorgSchünemannorMartinBlumner's historiesoftheSing-Akademiethatpre-daterehearsalsleadingtothe1857 performance.InSusanneOschmann'saccountofthatperformance,however,she notesthatitwasthefirsttimetheworkhadbeenperformed"musiziert,"implying previousperformanceswithoutorchestra,perhapswithpianoaccompaniment instead.AndreasGlöcknersimilarlystatesthatthemovementsoftheoratorio performedbytheSing-Akademiein1830areunknown,implyinganearlier engagementwiththework.SusanneOschmann,"DieBach-PflegederSingAkademien :'SinnlichesErgötzen*oder'SchöneKunst',"inBachunddieNachwelt,eds. MichaelHeinemannandHans-JoachimHinrichsen(Germany:Laaber,1997),312; AndreasGlöckner,"'IchhabedenaltenBachenwiederlebendiggemacht,abererhat michweidlichschwitzenlassen':CarlFriedrichZelterunddieBach-Auffuhrungen derSing-AkademiezuBerlin,"in"Zugroß,unrreichbar":Bach-ReņptionimZeitalter MendelssohnsundSchumanns,eds.AnselmHartinger,ChristophWolff,andPeter Wollny(Wiesbaden:Breitkopf,2007),354. ^heperformingforcesincluded76sopranos,61altos,24tenors,33basses,8first violins,6secondviolins,6violas,6cellos,4doublebasses,2flutes,2oboes,3 clarinets(presumablytocovertheabsentoboesdacacciaandd'amore),2bassoons,2 horns,3trumpets,andtimpani.Otherinterestingmattersofperformancepractice includeGrell'sallegeddecisiontoperformoratoriosingeneralahalfsteplowerthan written.HehadrecentlypurchasedthetuningforkusedbyCarlHeinrichGraunat theoriginalTodJesuperformanceanddeterminedthatheandhisSing-Akademiehad BACH:JournaloftheRiemenschneiderBachInstituteofBaldwinWallaceUniversity Reception of the Christmas Oratorio 35 This performance came several years after the acquisition o original score and performing parts by the Sing-Akademie's curr director Carl Friedrich Zelter, and several years more after the v parts were initially copied around 1 830 to be used in conjunction Bach's originals during rehearsal and performance.3 Though original purpose of the Sing- Akademie was not public performa after Mendelssohn's historic offering of Bach's St. Matthew Passi March 11, 1829, the group began presenting more public con including oratorios by Handel, works by contemporary comp and, significandy, other large Bach works like the St. John Passion excerpts from the B-Minor Mass.4 Indeed, Mendelssohn's wate performance of the St. Matthew Passion established the Sing- Akad as a leader of authentic Bach performance. One must wonder wh subsequent directors of the group did not pursue the Chris been performing old music too high. This likely accounts for the presence parts written one half step lower (the opening movement in D-flat major!). W Bollert, ed., Sing-Akademie %u Bertin : Festschrift ņtm 175 Jährigen bestehen Rembrandt Verlag, 1966), 82; Gottfried Eberle, "'Zu neuer, fr Lebensthatigkeiť: Grell ergreift das Ruder (1853-1874)," in 200 Jahre Sing-Aka tu Berlin: "Ein Kunstverein ßr die heilige Musik " (Berlin: Nicolai, 1991), 160. 3The original sources for the Christmas Oratorio were given in 1 81 4 to Zelter by Poelchau, who had acquired them from the estate of C. P. E. Bach. The add voice parts are believed to have been copied from and kept together with original performing parts since Zelter acquired them and are identified as part ms. Bach Stí 12. The copying is dated to approximately 1830-1832 based on the type and watermark of the parts. Walter Blankenburg and Alfred Dürr, Weihn Oratorium: Kritischer Bericht, Johann Sebastian Bach: Neue Ausgabe Sämtlicher Werke S II, vol. 6 (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1962), 161; Paul Kast, Die Bach-Sammlung Kata Register: Katalog und Register herausgegeben von der Staatsbibliothek vp Berlin-Preu Kulturbesit^ (Munich: K. G. Saur, 2003), 125; Ulrich Leisinger, "The Bach Collec in The Archive of the Sing-Akademie %u Bertin: Catalogue , ed. Axel Fischer (Be Gruyter, 2010), 40-41; Georg Schünemann, Die Singakademie %u Berlin: 179 (Regensburg: G. Bosse, 1941), 70-71. As of 1 81 6, the stated purpose in the first paragraph of the Sing-Akademie's sta was still the "practical study of musical works for the edification of its membe only "seldom" public performance. Further, it is, as Martin Blumner, former director of the Sing-Akademie and assistant music director during the time o Christmas Oratorio performance, explained, often difficult to distinguish b public performances and more private Proben, , which were often open to the Allowing slight room for error of exclusion, a list of performances believe public since the 1829 St. Matthew Passion is listed in Appendix A, Table 1. Applegate, Bach in Berlin: Nation and Culture in Mendelssohn's Revival of the St. M Passion (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2005), 192. 36 Bach Oratorio , another performance for ne Potential explanati reception of the w presented both ae solved. In the wak writer of spiritually compositional style thetical to the mus to the musical style Passion music, and t as being imbued wit expressed in Bach's part-writing...