Conclusions

The music choir (the ‘Musikchor’) was located on the western side of the church, on the stone gallery and between the two rows of columns. It was more than 9 metres wide and almost 10 meters deep. The singers stood at the balustrade, to which lecterns were attached. The organ stood against the west wall, on (possibly ca. 2 m high) pillars. To the left and right two small galleries (side galleries) were placed transversely, which could accommodate up to two times ten instrumentalists. The organ and side galleries were accessible by stairs.

Due to the many wooden interior elements in the Thomaskirche in Bach’s time, the reverberation time must have been lower than today. Measurements and calculations show a reverberation time of slightly less than 2 s. The low tones in particular must have been softer than nowadays. The sound was transparent, and the acoustics offered the possibility of rapid changes in harmony.

Soprano and alto parts in concerted church music were sung either by young schoolboys, or by older (over 18 years old) with falsetto. Adjuvants – students or private pupils of Bach – were often needed as bass and tenor.

Instrumentalists in concert music were town musicians, Thomasschule-pupils and ‘Gesellen’ of the town musicians. Adjuvants – students or private pupils of Bach – were often employed as violinists and traverso players.

There are no indications that Bach allowed ripienists to sing along from the concertists parts, but there are indications to the contrary. It seems plausible that in Bach’s case ripienists were a separately positioned group, as was customary in the 17th century.

From the wording in Bach’s 1730 Memorandum it can be deduced that Bach did not have enough good musicians at his disposal to employ vocal ripienists frequently. He only used them for his very first cantatas in Leipzig, for his passions and for a limited number of cantatas for large ensembles on special occasions. It is possible that Bach used ripienists more often than the fourteen cases in which traces of them have been preserved. This may especially have been the case when the violin and continuo doublets were lost; the same fate may then have befallen any ripieno part as well. The question whether Bach would have worked more often with ripienists, if he had had the right opportunities to do so, cannot be answered. Apparently he applied a number of rules on the basis of which he decided with the necessary flexibility what ripienists would or would not sing.

A probable positioning in the Thomaskirche looked like this: Bach was usually seated in the front centre as conductor at the harpsichord on the Schülerchor. The other continuo instruments were placed around him, in front of the ‘Rückpositiv’ of the organ. The singers stood in the middle or on one side at the desks near the balustrade, with their faces towards the church; when ripienists were singing along, the singers were standing on the left- and righthand side. Upstairs, viewed from the church, the strings were on the left and the wind players on the right in their side galleries. Among others places, there was room for timpani on the organ plateau, near the trumpeters.

The positioning for a large ensemble in the Nikolaikirche was probably as follows: the singers stood at the balustrade of the Schülerchor. Directly behind them Bach sat as conductor at the harpsichord, probably on a raised platform. Together with the singers he occupied the balcony. To the left and behind the harpsichord were the strings; to the right of the harpsichord were the other continuo instruments. At the very back, on one of the steps, stood the oboists and flautists. The trumpeters and the timpanist may have stood on the high passage at the back of the Schülerchor. The organist played at the main organ, which was several metres away from the Schülerchor. In this church a number of singers exceeding eight during the performance of the Music was practically impossible.

In the natural tuning (almost) all intervals were ‘just’. There were differences between the sizes of successive major seconds and between diatonic and chromatic semitones. Leading tones were low. In the 18th century singers and instrumentalists mainly used variants of the natural tuning.

The pure tuning was practically impossible to use on keyboard instruments. The Pythagorean tuning could be used on these, but it had many less pure intervals, and also a number of definitely false ones. Leading tones were high.
In 17th century Germany the meantone tuning was the most common tuning on organs, with slightly lowered fifths, but pure major thirds. Disadvantages were some sharp thirds and an unusable false ‘wolf fifth’ Gis-Dis.
In the 18th century, especially on harpsichords, equal temperament and other ‘well tempered’ tunings came into fashion, published by Andreas Werckmeister and Johann Georg Neidhardt, among others. On organs, however, meantone tuning was still the standard until well into the 18th century, whether or not modified to soften wolfish intervals.

Although apparently Bach preferred a circular (well-tempered) tuning, in his churches he had to deal with organs that were not only in ‘Chorton’, but in all probability also in (possibly modified) meantone tuning.
The result was that a common intonation was problematic. Avoiding off-pitch chords on the organ in keys with flats was sometimes impossible. By limitating the registration during accompaniment to only a Gedackt stop the problems may have been reduced for the ear.

The harpsichord and bass instruments were probably tuned to the organ in meantone temperament by Bach in Leipzig. Singers and players always strove for a just intonation on the bass notes of these instruments. Playing perfectly in tune was therefore not possible, but apparently this was considered acceptable, even by Bach.

Singers derived the articulation from the text and from the affect. Legato suited better with slow and gentle music and with moderate melismas. Melismas in runs (passagios), however, were sung and played lightly and non-legato. Instrumentalists could articulate in the same way by means of fingerings, tongue and stroke techniques. Notes under a bow were played legato; the first ones with some emphasis, the last ones briefly. Cantabile, often desired by composers, probably did not mean legato as such, but articulation similar to that of singers.
When different time signatures or rhythmic patterns occurred
simultaneously in different voices, synchronisation was often necessary, sometimes in the form of overdotting, e.g. in the French overture style.

Bach wanted his instrumentalists to express a detailed articulation, which he specified by means of slurs and dots, especially in later years. As a result, different instruments could sometimes articulate similar patterns in different ways.
The extent to which Bach wanted synchronisation remains a matter of debate. The French overtures in cantata choruses have some identical features, such as dotted rhythms, but always different detailed features. Synchronization of quavers after a dotted crotchet with semiquavers was standard; other rhythmic patterns were probably not modified.
Bach’s keyboard and organ style was characterized by contemporaries with words like gebunden (‘tied’) and ‘a flowing lightness’. These terms may very likely have applied to Bach’s vocal works as an overall impression.

Bach wrote out many of his ornaments in standard notes. Apparently he also did this when he wanted longer forefalls, for example. The manner of performance was therefore fairly fixed.
It is clear from a critical review of the musician and composer Bach by Johann Adolph Scheibe in 1737 and from Bach’s answer, given by Johann Abraham Birnbaum, that Bach wrote out (the majority of) his ornaments because he did not want his ‘main melody’ and harmony to be violated by improvising ornaments.

Bach also indicated ornamentation with symbols: graces with a small note (usually a quaver), sharps with a custos-symbol or two small notes, and trills with the letters tr or t.
Generally speaking, each ornamentation symbol will have been performed by one standard way, because Bach’s musicians could not possibly tell from their parts when they should deviate from the standard interpretation. If Bach wanted a different interpretation he could write out the ornamentation.
The standard interpretation of the grace was probably short, unstressed and on the beat; that of the schleifer two short notes on the beat starting a third below the main note (together half the length of the main note at the most) and that of the trill starting on the beat, possibly on the top second, but also possibly on the main note, unless Bach wrote a grace on the top second, or when the previous note was at the same pitch.

Singers had to deal very freely with the rhythmic notation in free recitatives (whether or not accompanied), but not in ariosos. They had to sing as if they were speaking. In cadences they could make simple ornamentations. A moderate tempo was required for an adequate understanding.

Besides the organ, the harpsichord could be used to accompany a recitative at the same time; the latter had to be played ‘full-voiced’, with various forms of arpeggio. Organ accompaniment was soft. According to a widely known convention, the long accompaniment notes in free secco recitative were shortened, approximately to quarter notes; only at a change of harmony was the next chord played. According to some authors, the organist’s left hand could lie on the keys permanently.
The organist played the chords of free accompagnatos also briefly with his right hand. The bass line probably was sustained on the organ, at least after Bach’s death.
In church recitatives the final chords were played in cadences after the singer had sung his last note.

Probably Bach’s free recitatives were sung rather slowly in church. Ariosos, however, could have very different tempos. Bach’s singers were apparently free to determine the note values of the individual syllables.
In free secco recitatives Bach required an accompaniment in short chords by all continuo instrumens. New chords without changes to the bass line were played by the organ and harpsichord in the right hand only.
In free accompagnato recitatives the bass line was probably sustained, but the right hand of the organ was not. Sometimes, however, Bach wrote short accompaniments for all instruments in such recitatives; this appears to be a different method of accompaniment.

The organs in the Thomaskirche and the Nikolaikirche were basically Renaissance organs, only partially adapted to the taste of Bach’s time. They had three manuals (Oberwerk, Rückpositiv and Brustpositiv) and a free pedal; couplers to the pedal were probably absent. The small organ in the Thomaskirche was probably of little significance for Bach’s music. In special cases, perhaps one of the organ positives could be used; the Nikolaikirche and the Thomasschule possessed such instruments.

In principle Bach had the resident organist take care of the accompaniment. He gave no written instructions for the registration of the accompaniment. The registration possibilities for the accompaniment seem to have been greater on the Thomaskirche organ than in the Nikolaikirche. The organ was only rarely silent, and then only in the case of very small ensembles; in such cases it appears that the accompaniment was limited to the harpsichord. Only virtuoso organ solo parts were probably played by Bach himself from his score; other solo parts were played by the organist from the organ part. Only three times did Bach give directions for the choice of manuals and/or stops. During organ solos, the accompaniment was played on the harpsichord, occasionally (also) on a positiv, and sometimes – simultaneously with the solo – on the main organ. In those cases the organist must have played the bass line on the pedal, taking into account that the (presumed) lack of a link to the pedal must have been problematic on both organs.

Bach wanted his organists and harpsichordists to adhere to the rules of the General-Baß-Schulen of his day. The voicing of the predominantly four-part accompaniment was always melodic, but simple, with many transitional notes and ties. The playing style was cantabile, legato rather than staccato. The harpsichord was the only instrument that could accompany ‘full-voiced’, especially in the case of large ensembles and recitatives; arpeggios and broken chords were appropriate, particularly in the slow movements.

Of the seven types of violone discussed, five cannot have been used by Bach in Leipzig. On his arrival there he found large instruments, which still exist. From some of their characteristics it can be deduced that they were probably reverted into double basses at a later stage, but were originally G-violones. They could play all the notes Bach prescribed, unlike four-string double basses tuned in fourths. Because the range of Bach’s violone extends in depth to C, the G-violones must have been played in 8′ level; probably the organ provided the 16′ sound, if desired. Therefore the lowest string for the notes G1 – B1, which was difficult to play and sounding poor, was not needed. Probably it was missing: this type of violone was called five- or six-stringed. The advantage of the violone over the violoncelli that also played was its fuller sound in depth. Perhaps Bach had a double bass in E1 (Violono grosso) at the end of his life, but there is little evidence of this. After Bach’s death G-violones were mostly replaced by, or converted into double basses in Germany.

Bach wrote few parts that were assigned to the violone; normally a violonist played along from a continuo part. Special violone parts were generally only necessary for a special reason, like differentiation. In a number of scores of works for large scale, the appearance of differentiation in the continuo bar shows that a violone played along. Presumably Bach liked to use a violone whenever he had a suitable player at his disposal; according to the memorandum, this was always a Thomasschule pupil. If there was no suitable player, Bach may have been satisfied with only violoncelli.

In Leipzig Bach rarely wrote viola da gamba parts in his church music. Possibly a seven-string bass viol in A1 was always used, but in the first years in Leipzig a six-string bass viol in D may also have been used, whose lowest string sometimes had to be tuned to C. Only once, in the Trauerode BWV 198, did Bach prescribe two viols. He treated the viol mainly as a solo instrument in mourning music; he rarely had the viola da gamba player play along with the continuo, and then exclusively when the instrument was already assigned an obligatory part.

The divergent construction of violas and bows in Bach’s time is comparable to that of violins. It is possible that in Bach’s time two violas were always available in both main churches. In 1729 a new viola was acquired for both churches from Johann Christian Hoffmann; one of these instruments still exists, albeit in a shortened and modified form. Bach always had two pupils from the Thomasschule play the viola together from one part. In Bach’s cantatas and passions, a full chromatic range of up to d2 is required, but higher notes, up to g2, are also occasionally found. Solo viola parts are rare, and were probably played by a city musician who usually played the violin. Bach rarely required double stops.

Bach only prescribed the flauto piccolo twice; in a third cantata he probably replaced the instrument before the first performance. Three differently sized flutes, all of them playing at the higher octave, were probably used as Bach’s flauto piccolo: in f2, in d2 and in g2). Bach replaced these instruments with a different instrument at every reperformance.

The traversos in Bach’s time usually had d1 as the lowest tone. They consisted of three or four parts, were conically bored and had a valve to open the lowest hole for the dis1. Bach prescribed this instrument mainly in the first half of the second year of cantatas, prescribing all chromatic tones from d1 to g3. During the first years in Leipzig the flute parts were probably played by university students. Bach used the traverso in all sorts of ways, mostly as an obligatory instrument in arias and choruses. In addition, he repeatedly had traversos play along with other instrumental parts in unison or the higher octavo.

Although Bach explicitly prescribed a Tromba da Tirarsi (slide trumpet) only four times, it is likely that his first trumpeter used this instrument when the trumpet part was notated on sounding pitch, and made little allowance for notes unplayable on the natural trumpet, especially in the octave from c1. The slide trumpet seems to have been used only when Bach explicitly prescribed trumpet parts in the work in question. Because the entire instrument may have had to be shifted around a tube on the mouthpiece, virtuoso playing was not possible, and the slide trumpet was used mainly in chorales and movements with a tempo that was not too fast. In Bach’s surviving church music, 43 such movements can be identified, including 29 chorales. The tromba da tirarsi may also have been used as a clarino trumpet in at least three arias in B flat; in two of the works in question Bach noted the term “da tirarsi” on the score or trumpet part.

Special features of timpani in Bach’s time are the sticks with wooden disc-shaped heads, and the presence of resonance cups at the bottom of the instruments; these increased the purity of tone through additional resonance. In combination with mostly three trumpets, timpani in Bach’s church music in Leipzig were notated in c and G; they had to be tuned with the tuning screws always in the requested key of C or D (Kammerton). In combination with two horns in the key of G they were notated and tuned in d and G. The right hand timpani was probably always the largest.
Bach’s timpani were probably played by pupils of the Stadtpfeiffer. Presumably little improvisation was required of the timpanist, as Bach wrote out the ornamentation precisely. It is unclear whether rolls on the final tones were undesirable or a matter of course.

Trombones were not substantially different in construction in Bach’s day than in the seventeenth century. The instruments, which were built at different keys, had then gone out of fashion; they were still in Chorton. The notation was sounding in different C keys. By 1705, a complete set consisting of a soprano, alto, tenor and bass trombone had been purchased for the Thomaskirche. Bach usually prescribed this complete set of instruments playing simultaneously, although he often replaced the soprano trombone with a cornetto. Presumably the trombones were played by the city musicians. Almost always they played colla parte along with the vocal voices, especially in choruses in ‘stile antico’.