April 5, 1962 There is a real musicological and scale-of-forces problem, as most of you lmow, with our performance next week of Bach's St. John Passion. On page ix of Arthur Mendel's superb preface to his exceptiona!"edition he writes: "Whena symphony orchestra with sixty or more strings takes part in the performance of such a work, all the proportions are My own opinion is changed, and everything must be reconsidered. that such changes are not for the better, and I am convinced that while Bach might have delighted in the resources of the modern symphony orchestra, the music he would have written for it would have been designed to make the best use of those resources: he would not have welcomed the mere multiplication of having h\D'ldreds of performers do what could be done by several dozen. The fresco that covers the wall is not just an enlargement of the tempera painting on the altar panel. Bach's music is as full of eloquent detail as a panel painting., and it is no more improved, to my way of thinking, by performance with multiplied forces than a string quartet played by string orchestra, or a violin and piano sonata It is a delusion of our played by a dozen fiddlers and pianists. time that infinite refinement of detail is not compatible with breadth of conception., and that to be great a thing must be "great big". Even in our large concert halls we do not resort to such distortions; and I think even in such surroundings it should be perfectly possible to readjust one 1 s scale of dynamic values so as to be able to listen to Bach's music performed by such forces as he had in mind." As with our performance two years ago of the St. Matthew Passion, we have only two quasi-justifications. The first is that with the amateur choral society the performance exists in some large measure for the enjoyment, instruction and edification of those who perform it. So long as we already- exist as a ''symphonic" chorus of two h\D'ldred-twenty voices, it would be difficult and not a little unfair to deny 80% of us the opportlD'lity of performing this work. Still, even this has to be an admitted inconsistency between purpose and organization. Certainly we would all agree in principal that musical societies exist for the optimum performance of music, not that music exists for the optimumself-expression of societies. It follows, does it not, that once one has decided to perform a work of the proportions and textures of the St. John Passion one ought to construct and shape his forces to serve the music, notthe opposite. Actually, the only parts of the work which might be 11musicolegally 11 served by our chorus would be the chorales. The opening and closing choruses are grand in design and manner and are not irremedially damaged by a large chorus -- though ev.eu that shoula be not so luge as ours. •But from there on the musical texture and drama.tic situation demand real chamber music forces. Smallest of these forces could be the four soldiers who cast lots for Jesus clothin g in #54; next in order., the Chief Priests of #46 and #50; following these -- but
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