This prompted me to pick up the score and try the run. It *is* tough, especially with the wee wee rest he gives you before it. Until I sussed it, I managed it about 3 times out of six, and I think the solution is to be very careful about the kind of breathing one does between the phrases earlier, though if the conductor has a really slow idea of how this should go you're sunk! For what it's worth, it seems to work if I allow the jaw to relax and sing it very easily - note that the recorders drop out for the last measure, reducing one kind of tension, if rather throwing the spotlight on the singer even more, so at least there will be less of a temptation to force the tone to compete with the instruments. This is a run which will mecilessly expose deleterious tension or oversinging. I have little doubt that Bach intended it not only to be sung without a breath, but as an opportunity for a fine singer to really show off his mastery of breath control. That the text means "he has filled" presumably gave him the idea of illustrating this fullness, and I suppose the vocal line exceeding the length of the recorder obbligati must be an illustration of overflowing, just as earlier (m.15) the same device may illustrate the opposite. I also wonder if Bach secretly cherished the idea of writing opera, like Handel and their friendly rival Telemann, and paid close attention to audience reaction to such attention-getting devices? john
At 09:44 AM 7/6/01 -0400, you wrote: ...> >Would that Herr Bach had been so kind, when writing that fiendish run in >the "Esurientes" from his MAGNIFICAT, ...>KM
John Blyth Baritono robusto e lirico Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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