Reg,
I was in a church choir in which we rehearsed 3 new pieces a week and
performed 2 new pieces a week. Our rehearsals were on Tuesdays, but the new
pieces were usually performed *not* on the following Sunday, but on one a
couple of weeks later. A rehearsal was about two hours during which we
would work on maybe 6 or 7 pieces. I think Bach had more rehearsal time
than this. We also had boys - and girls - in our choir who took part in, as
I recall, all but the most demanding repertoire, and we performed a wide
variety of music from Handel to Holst.
Now astute readers would notice that if you rehearse 3 new pieces and
perform only two of them you are going to wind up with a superfluity. The
extra pieces were for festival and concert occasions, and when I joined the
choir they were in the process of making an LP - this was in the early
eighties when everyone was starting to make their own LPs just as now
everyone can have their own CDs.
Bach's choir only had one style of music, frequently only of one composer
who was writing specifically for them. They were Bach specialists, just
like the 3 brothers in Germany who only play Bach's trumpet parts and are
thus engaged all over the country (I wonder if they till are?). john
At 09:21 AM 7/6/00 +1000, you wrote:
...>JSBach had barely a week to teach his young and fairly
>uncooperative boys the cantata or what-ever for the following
>Sunday, and it's been a puzzle how he managed it each week?
>Especially in view of its complexity.
> It seems that he had two specific details he
>regarded as essential. One was absolutely perfect rhythm
>and the other was the boys hitting the pitch dead centre.
>Any advance on this?
>Regards Reg.
John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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