rss...Bach could be viewed as a musical cul-de-sac within the history of the eighteenth century itself: he did little to extend the musical vocabulary of his age, and his music hardly served as a basis for that of the succeeding generation. Yet what has made him a summit for many is his apparent ability to transcend historical contingency, somehow to stop the clock of outward progress and to rearrange and recreate the world as he knew it. - John Butt
2009, June 23
BWV 324 Meine Seele erhebet den Herren
Four different version?
BWV 324, "Meine Seele erhebet den Herren" is a four part treatment of the Magnificat, based on an old plain chant. Each of my four editions have a different version of measures six, seven and eight. This is because there are eleven verses, each of which has a diffent number of syllables in the words of these measures. In the manner of plain chant, these words are sung as if spoken, on the pitch indicated, without a beat, or metric division. So the version of these measures will depend on which verse is being sung.
