Vocalist.org archive


From:  John Alexander Blyth <BLYTHE@B...>
John Alexander Blyth <BLYTHE@B...>
Date:  Thu Jul 5, 2001  5:46 pm
Subject:  Bach again, was: about breathing, recitals, & voice size


Lovely post, Karen, I just want to point our that, as a choirboy, and as
someone who worked with choirs and soloists on most days of his life, Bach
may well have known something or other about the voice. And so I would be
inclined to believe that there is something quintessentially vocal about
Bach's music, particularily if you compare any solo aria's vocal material
with the material given to the obbligato instruments and to the ripieno
instruments. I would suggest my favourite BWV 82, in which the first aria
has similar, but not identical runs in both the oboe and the voice, and in
which the ostensibly instrumental character of the last aria's vocal part
is nevertheless written with a keen appreciation of both the needs and the
possibilities of the human voice. I think it would be fairer to ascribe to
Bach a belief that the trained human voice was as capable of executing many
of the standard melodic devices as other instruments, *in addition to* its
peerless legato, messa di voce and other primarily vocal attributes. I've
little doubt that he rehearsed the singers himself, both soloists and
choristers. john


At 10:04 AM 7/5/01 -0400, you wrote:
...>
>I like to rail at Bach occasionally for the fact that he didn't write for
>singers at all, he wrote for bowed instruments, and just happened to
>assign singers to those bowed instrumental parts in his music. Given this,
>we have to add the understanding of physiological possibility (and
>IMpossibility) that Bach apparently lacked. We need to bring the HUMANITY
>to his gorgeous but often transcendant music. ...
>KM

John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada

emusic.com