Dear Peter I had a modest five passions to play this year, but must be somewhere around my first hundred in total by now, so with some degree of experience I can tell you a) it is possible to play the chromatics and b) there's lots to do for the rest of the show.
I play St. John on an archlute tuned in g with seven strings on the fingerboard. The only 'problems' are the chromatic bases D, E-flat, E, F, F-sharp in the bass arioso 'Betrachte meine Seele'. For years I tuned course seven, an F, to E and the diapasson E to E-flat. Thereby making it possible to play E-flat (open), E (open), F (first fret) and F-sharp (second fret). Some years ago I changed the tuning into 7=F, 8=E, 9=E-flat, 10=D and down to 14=GG. I found it easier and convenient for continuo in general, so now I have both archlutes (415 and 440) tuned like this all year round. I don't miss my low FF. Other lute players come up with other solutions. I suppose a baroque lute tuning, with or without first string, will work, too. Perhaps there are people that play some of the basses in a higher octave, and there are some that ask the viol to play the bass line. What else do I play apart from all choirs and chorales? Always Betrachte and the following aria Erwäge as well as Ess ist vollbracht and Ich folge dir. Often Von den stricken and Zerfliesse. Occasially other arias (I dread Ach, mein Sinn in F-sharp minor!). Occasioanlly some of the recits. This year in one production I had to do the Jesus parts and the quotations of scripture (Adagios) in the evangelist's part. Sometimes they give the minor parts and Pilatus to the lute. I didn't play many St. Matthews. Once only the obligato lute part of Bach's first version for the Suesses Kreuz aria, great stuff!, but usually general continuo. Some years ago they asked for baroque guitar in the earthquake in the Matthew, and while I was there anyway I could pretty much play whatever else I liked on archlute or baroque guitar. I enjoyed that. David ----- Original Message ----- From: "Peter Martin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Lute list" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 12:10 PM Subject: [LUTE] Bach > Since it's that time of year again, could someone remind me whether it's > actually possible (and if so, how) to play the lute arioso from the St > John > Passion, with all those chromatic bass notes? > > And, since it only lasts two minutes, what does the lutenist do the rest > of > the time? Continuo? Sit in silence? Play/sing another part? > > P > > -- > Peter Martin > Belle Serre > La Caulie > 81100 Castres > France > tel: 0033 5 63 35 68 46 > e: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > web: www.silvius.co.uk > http://absolute81.blogspot.com/ > > -- > > To get on or off this list see list information at > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
