Dear David and Vocalisters:
You wrote:
>I am not a Bach expert either, but isn't the Bach Gesellschaft supposed to
>be the purest edition? Here is a link to Amazon.com's listing of that
>edition of the Magnificat. I think it costs $11.00
The Neue Bach-Ausgabe has superceded the Bach Gesellschaft and
corrects many of the extraneous markings and errors in the
Gesellschaft. The Neue Bach-Ausgabe was many years in the producing
and is usually available in most university libraries. In fact, it
is the subscription of the libraries such as these to new editions
that make possible their research and publication. Thus we have Neue
Mozart-Ausgabe, Neue Schubert-Ausgabe, etc. That is, New Collected
Works of (Composer).
Bach provided no tempo markings; there was no common system to
accurately mark tempos. The metronome was not invented until
Beethoven's time. Markings such as adagio, grave, etc. are, at best,
very general and it is my understanding that Bach provided few of
these. Most of the decisions about tempo are provided by a study of
the score and the text and their meanings. Even recordings are not
always evidence of good score analysis and often represent the whims
or desires of the conductors.
If you want recordings the reflect the Lutheran theological attitudes
which were expressed by J. S. Bach I would recommend the recording of
Bach by Helmuth Rilling. Rilling comes from a long line of Lutheran
theologians and has a better understanding the the spiritual concepts
that were prevalent in Bach's part of Germany.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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