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Choral Conducting in Baroque Germany

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Choral Conducting in Baroque Germany KENNETH E. MILLER Assoc. Professor of Vocal Music Northeast Missouri State College A Discussion of Kirksville, Missouri Choral Conducting eighteenth centuries. F rom the second quarter of the eighteenth century on. it was no longer common practice for the In Baroque Germany conductor to stand and beat time. It be­ came more and more the practice to con­ duct from the keyboard instrument. beat­ Conducting as it appeared in Ger- rules for general acceptance deserves to ing time only as necessary to keep the many during the baroque era was of two be laughed at.3 performers together. The older method types: (1) the conductor who gave all While it is clear that no uniform was retained only for large performances his time .to that task. and (2) the con- method of direction existed. a conductor which employed a great many partici­ ductor who functioned from his place at was always in charge. Spitta continues by pants. the keyboard. The first type was pre- saying that all styles mentioned by Bahr There were many complaints against dominant during the seventeenth century. .. ... have this in common with the mod­ those who kept their singers together by Such authorities as Praetorius. Scheibe ern practice that throughout the piece the noisy time beating; such criticism was and Mattheson discussed the conductor's time is visibly marked by a person who so widespread as to be found almost any­ plac~ from this point of view; Junker too leads or conducts the rest. "4 This type where. Wolfgang Printz described the ---consldered-the--role-of-the-··eonduetor-and-of-visible-eondueting--was---most--eommon practice of loud tim~b~ati~gbY-;';::Ying clearly labeled him a conductor. not a during the seventeenth and into the early that the noise made by the conductor was performer.! Scheibe wrote ..... the often greater than the volume produced conductor. as a music director and a choir 3Philipp Spitta, JobaruI Sebastian by the singers. Mattheson. too. was heard motivator. is less necessary for a musical Bach, trans. Bell and Fuller-Maitland (3 vols.; New York: Dover Publications, in this protest against excessive noise. It choir. particularly if it is very strong. but Inc., 1961), II, 325. was Mattheson's opinion ..... that a is of greater importance if the choir has 4Ibid. smaller signal. not only with the hand. unmatched voices which are unaccus­ but alone with the eyes. was able to tomed to performing together. "2 straighten out most difficulties without The conductor was of particular val­ a great to do. if only the subordinate ue where the number of performers made performers would allow their eyes to fol­ direction difficult by means other than low their superiors. "5 visible. The practice .of beating time was These protests against the noise made employed for small groups as well. but by the conductor persisted into the eigh­ the role of the conductor may best be teenth century and the conductor more illustrated where multiple choirs were used. In such situations it was the func­ frequently took his place at the keyboard. supporting the performance musically and tion of the conductor to signal the en­ beating time as necessary to maintain a trance of the individual voice part or unity of performance. Mattheson des­ choir. When all voices were to' sing he was to face the choirs and wait for the cribed this trend in his V ollkommene and Spitta observed that proper entrance with upraised hands. Capellmeister . ..... this quiet unobtrusive style of con­ Methods of conducting varied with ducting came to be a famous character­ the individual. Philipp Spitta. in discus­ sing such varied methods at the time of istic of musical performances in Ger­ many ... "6 Bach himself was said to J. S. Bach. quotes from the M usical­ ische Discurse (1719) of Johann Bahr Kenneth E. Miller is Associate Pro­ have preferred to conduct in this manner. fessor of Vocal Music at the Northeast He first used the harpsichord for this who said: Missouri State Teachers College. Dr. purpose. but from " ... 1730 onwards • . one man conducts with the foot. an­ Miller graduated from Manchester Col­ lege, North Manchester, Indiana and he used instead the independent and other with the head. a third with the holds both the Master of Music Educa­ practicable Ruchpositiv organ In the hand. some with both hands. some again tion and the Master of Music (voice) Thomaskirche ... "7 take a roll of paper. and others a stick. degrees from the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He received his German conducting patterns were not Every ordinary director will know how doctorate from Northwestern University independent of those used in other coun- to regulate his method according to place. and has had further study with Sergius time and persons; whoever would gIve Kagen and Julius Herford. His experi­ ence includes professional singing in Chi­ 5Johann Mattheson, Der Vollkommene cago and New York as well as choral Capellmeister, 1739. Faksimile_Nach­ IGeorg Schunemann, Geschicbte des workshop and adjudication assignments. druck hrsg. M. Reimann. (Kassel: Dirigens (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hartel, Dr. Miller had experience as both a high Barenreiter. Verlag, 1954), p. 26. 1918), p. 154. scbool and college teacher before assum- 6Spitta, II, 327. 2Ibid. ing his present position. 7Ibid., II, 331. 26 THE CHORAL JOURNAl. tries; they were particularly influenced by the Italians. Patterns varied· accord­ ing to the particular influence and there was little agreement concerning the ex­ The act patterns to be used. A series which was used at the close of the baroque era has been passed on to us by Marpurg in GYM NFA his Anleitung zum praktischen Musik ueberhaupt (1763) and his Anleitung U zum Clavierspielen (1765).8 His pat­ terns. some of which follow. are a col­ By W. O. ROBERTS lection from Italian. French and German sources. 1 <. JJ- The Gymanta Ganu is probably the 4- finest instance of community singing. al­ I though it can hardly be called just that. J.-- .. _--I---'. "Ganu" means singing. and "Gymanfa" means festival. Actually the Welsh peo­ ple interpret the Gymanfa as a "gather­ WM. O. ROBERTS .I .I. ing to sing to the Lord." and the W elsh­ !If :cr y Director of the "Gymanfa Ganu" at men did this with great joy and as fre­ 7:30 on March 12 at the ACDA Conven­ tion at Philadelphia is William O. Rob­ 1·1 II. '·1 I'· quently as possible. erts, director of Music Education in the There were four important factors that Vi/ilkes-Barre, Pa., City Schools. He has D' studied at Susquehanna University, Mus. 1·1 ,. ··1 I' I" I. contributed to the great success of the B; Penn State University, B.S. in Music "lZI yrr. ::2JIt singing festivals among the Welsh. First: Education; Harvard and New York Uni­ '. ,. versity, M.A. they love to sing. "He cannot help it." ,For the past ten years has been ··1 said one writer. speaking of the Welsh­ director of the Orpheus Choral Society in ,0, man. "This is his mode of expression. Wilkes-Barre and is active in the work 1·1 ~. of the Music Educators National Con­ 1. When the heart is too full for words. ference. He has been president of the when his emotions are deeply stirred. he Pennsylvania MEA and is past-president of the Eastern Division of M.E.N.C. invariably bursts into song. and almost without exception. it is a hymn that he and. although the meiodic lines are sings." strong, the real lustre of the hymns re­ The majority of these patterns are Secondly: the text was most import­ sults from the important harmonies and quite difficult to execute and. therefore. ant. The congregation under the direc­ progressions of the inner voices. they have not survived; however. the tion of the director of would delve into Most of the great Welsh hymns have basis for our modern duple and triple the meaning of the hymn. There was a been written during the last seventy-five patterns may also be seen in these ex­ great desire to communicate. and when years since the Great Revival in Wales. amples. this communication became really effec­ When a new hymn was written it was 8Schunemann, pp. 148-49. tive it was known as HWYL. The near­ distributed to the little chapels through­ est interpretation of the word is "wind out the countryside where the parts were which moves sails." When the proper learned. Then on a given Sunday af­ ACDA Activities Hwyl was expressed in a hymn it "moved ternoon the whole shire would gather in on its own." This is the distinguishing the Gymanfa Ganu. The custom was In Oklahoma element in Welsh congregational singing. continued in America by the Welsh who Oklahoma State Chairman Clarence this great religious fervor. migrated here in the early nineteen - hun­ E. Garder writes of recent ACDA ac­ Thirdly. the quality of the hymns is dreds to work in the slate quarries and tivities in that state. of such excellence they never become tir­ the hard and soft coal fields. Most February 7th a Question-Answer ses­ ing. The "figured bass" in most of the hymn-tunes were named after a particu­ sion was held with Dr. Elwood Keister \Velsh hymns would challenge the best lar town in Wales (very often the home­ in the Student Union Ballroom of Okla­ of any denomination including the Ger­ town of the composer) such as Abery­ homa University during All-State Music man chorale. The Welsh language has a stwyth. Sandon or Wrexham (home-town Festival at 4 p.m. Dr.
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