Johann Sebastian Bach – Magnificat and Christmas Cantata 63 (reconstruction of Bach’s first Christmas at Leipzig) with Dunedin
Consort
- Submitting institution
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University of Glasgow
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 33-09623
- Type
- Q - Digital or visual media
- Publisher
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- Month
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- Year
- 2015
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- These four recordings collectively explore, in as broad a range as possible, the historically likely formats for choruses in 18th-century German, Austrian and English music. All four begin with the premise, evident in virtually all available sources, that the principal soloists formed the core of each ensemble. Therefore, in the Bach Magnificat recording, it begins with the premise that 4-5 soloists sing continually, doubled by ripienists in some of the choral sections of the cantata (as evident in original parts) and doubled in conjectural tuttis in the Magnificat (following Bach’s concertato practice elsewhere). The Christmas Oratorio presents half the work in a soloists-only version; and the other half (with the more festive pieces) with ripieno doubling. A similar division is adopted in the Mozart, the short church requiem using the eight voices documented for the church and the first full performance using the four soloists each supported by three ripienists, following the format that Mozart regularly used for his own performances with the same group several years before. The Samson recording constitutes the boldest experiment, recreating Handel’s standard oratorio chorus (e.g. with the soprano soloists doubled by boys, other soloists by adult singers) but also providing the alternative that Handel seems to have used for the very first performance, namely with the eight soloists singing the choruses alone. In all, then, the choruses in these recordings range from the soloists-only texture, through soloists periodically doubled by ripienists, soloists always doubled by ripienists, soloists doubled by a larger group of ripienists, to the largest texture of all, with soloists doubled by a large number of singers. These recordings also explore other research questions, particularly relating to first or early performances and the contexts in which the music was originally performed.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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