This piece stems from Bach's Muelhausen period (1707) when the convention was still to play church music at organ pitch (~A465). Yet this perfromance is at chamber pitch, which is a whole step lower than organ pitch. As a result, the basses have to (try) to sing a Great C @A415. In Leipzig, where the convention play church music at chamber pitch, Bach would have transposed this piece up a whole step, to A minor.
@wcbroccoli Interesting point- do you have a citation for this? I'd love to know the source for that. I've read something about this in an article on Bach's continuo group, but I don't recall the source anymore. Thanks!
great!
absolutelyspotlessta 1 month ago
Magnificent musical message! Thank you for posting! :)
TripleMirror 6 months ago
This piece stems from Bach's Muelhausen period (1707) when the convention was still to play church music at organ pitch (~A465). Yet this perfromance is at chamber pitch, which is a whole step lower than organ pitch. As a result, the basses have to (try) to sing a Great C @A415. In Leipzig, where the convention play church music at chamber pitch, Bach would have transposed this piece up a whole step, to A minor.
wcbroccoli 7 months ago 2
@wcbroccoli Interesting point- do you have a citation for this? I'd love to know the source for that. I've read something about this in an article on Bach's continuo group, but I don't recall the source anymore. Thanks!
Cantormatis 3 months ago
@wcbroccoli Implying good basses can't sing low C's....
AkhmedSync 2 months ago
Good work! I am a fan of Herreweghe's interpretations. Thank you for uploading.
MrBathiani 7 months ago