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8 J. S. Bach: Magni¤cat in D Major, BWV 243 We have been given fewer details regarding Bach’s writing of his great Magni¤cat than of the composition of Messiah. Bach was installed in his post as cantor at Leipzig in the summer of 1723; it appears that he wrote this Magni¤cat for his ¤rst Christmas season at the Thomaskirche. That original performance was scored in E-®at major, however, and it was some time later that he transposed it into the key in which most of us know it now. There was another unique aspect of that 1723 version.Martin Luther himself had authorized the continued use of this particular canticle—and in Latin, too—in the churches which joined his Reformation; it had become common practice however, for musicians to interpolate short, carol-like songs—in the vernacular—into settings of the Magni¤cat. Thus we ¤nd single voices inserting phrases of these German songs (rather like troping) into the Latin canticle.Bach chooses to do something rather more elaborate: after the second movement of his Magni¤cat, the aria “Et exsultavit spiritus meus,”he interpolates a four-voice setting of “Vom Himmel hoch,” in which the sopranos sustain the chorale tune on half-notes, while the rest of the voices sing imitative counterpoint. Similarly, after the bass soloist sings “Quia fecit mihi magna,” Bach adds a four-part setting (for sopranos I and II, altos, and tenors) of the text “Freut euch und jubiliert.” Two movements later, after “Fecit potentiam,” the master—having thus inserted two choruses in the vernacular—interpolates a ¤ve-voice setting (rather homophonic, this time) of the angels’ hymn “Gloria in excelsis deo”, and he follows the aria “Esurientes implevit bonis” with another Latin addition, a soprano-bass duet on the text “Virga Jesse ®oruit.” (His biographer, Spitta, reports that there was a small organ installed “above the ‘high choir,’ so that it was opposite to the great organ” in the Thomaskirche, and that this instrument was used only for festival services. He speculates that the Leipzigers’ love for antiphonal singing on such occasions spurred Bach to add the four Germanand -Latin interpolations, and that they were performed by a separate vocal ensemble , supported only by that small organ and a few instrumentalists—since the tiny upper loft would have permitted at most a few musicians; further, that the absence of any such facility in the Nikolaikirche would have precluded Bach’s using these addenda at that site. It is Spitta’s judgment, also, that geographical separation explains the fact that these four movements do not appear in proper order among the other twelve in the score.)1 1. Philipp Spitta, Johann Sebastian Bach, vol. II, pp. 369–374. An extensive discussion of the interpolation texts is included there. While we cannot be certain why Bach transposed the original version into D Major, we can regard that key as more comfortable for his trumpets, and a happier choice for the brightness of the opening movement and the ¤nale. Choosing Performance Forces Bach speci¤es what is for him a rather large orchestra (the so-called “festival orchestra”) for the Magni¤cat: three trumpets in D, two ®utes, two oboes, timpani, and basso continuo. All are used for the opening “Magni¤cat,” the “Fecit potentiam” and “Gloria Patri” movements; varied combinations support the other arias and choruses. Since this work, unlike Messiah, was intended for liturgical use, it is clear that a Baroque organ—or a larger instrument voiced for a Bach performance— should be used for the basso continuo. You may consider using harpsichord in place of the organ during the arias, however; we discussed these options in detail in chapter 6.2 We know that the choir Bach used at Thomaskirche would have been less than thirty—and perhaps half that number. You may choose (working in a modern auditorium, for example) to employ a larger vocal ensemble; bear the prototype in mind, however, and consider how your body of singers affects the style of the work. The size of your choir will in®uence the size of the your string forces, of course.3 Be cautious that your choir does not overpower the instrumental body (or vice versa, for that matter). What you probably want the audience to hear is a piquant blend of voices, strings, continuo, and (sometimes) winds; this is the nature of Baroque timbre. It is possible to edit into the chorus movements the use...

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