The industrious double reed player who consults Johann Sebastian Bachs: Verke (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hartel, 1851- 99) encounters a strange anomaly in the scoring for the oboe and bassoon in the setting of Cantata 131, "Aus der Tiefe rufe ich, Herr, zu dir" [1707] (Bd. 28), and the bassoon in Cantata 150, "Nach dir, herr, verlanget mich" [c. 1708-09] (Bd. 30). [1] On the surface, it appears that the composer has decided to treat the double reeds as transposing instruments, however, this is not the case. In Cantata 131, the winds are in A minor and the strings and organ (continuo) a tone lower in G minor, while in Cantata 150, the strings and organ are written in the key of B minor, with the bassoon pitched a minor third higher at D minor.

During the Baroque period, players of wind instruments had to match the differing pitch standards of the organs in use in European churches and royal courts. Michael Praetorius (c.1571-1621), writing in 1619 in Theatrum instrumentorium, observed: "Since the ancients were not accustomed to play in concert with all kinds of instruments at the same time, wind instruments were very differently made and intoned by instrument makers, some high and some low." [2] Praetorius' contemporaries, particularly the wind players, had to cope with the vagaries of pitch standards when required to play in ensemble with older organs tuned to different levels.

The variants in pitch are labeled, Kammerton/ Cammerton ("chamber pitch") and Chorton ("church pitch") and are used in connection with the pitch level of a specific organ. On rare occasions, Cornett-ton (referring to a now-obsolete wind instrument) is used. Kammerton was employed in private concerts performed in royal chambers, Chorton, in church. There was no set standard for either pitch, and although Chorton usually referred to a lower pitch level than Kammerton, this was not always true. [3] It is best to use the term that will apply to the locale and organ of the first performance of a composition. For Cantata 131 this means the Blasius-Kirche in Muhlhausen (Chorton), and Cantata 151 (Kammerton), the court at Weimar.

Lyndesay Langwill discussed this topic in "The Double Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution" (1942-43) but came to one erroneous conclusion. Langwill reports that in Cantata 131 the bassoon sounds a tone lower, and a minor third lower in Cantata 150.[4] This is incorrect, the bassoon in Cantata 150 sounded as written, and it was the strings and organ who did the transposing. Bach would have expected the string players to retune their instruments to enable them to read the music at the written pitch of the organ, but sound a minor third higher (matching the bassoon). Since the organ Bach was writing for at Weimar sounded a minor third higher than written, Bach chose to write his string parts to match the keyboard. Therefore, the score appears to have a transposing bassoon line, when in fact, it is the other instruments who were doing the transposing [Example one]. The original performance of the work would have sounded in D minor, the key written for the bassoon. Unfortunately, performances away from the original site create problems. The modern solution is to play the work in B minor, and transpose the bassoon part down a minor third. Naturally, this creates some difficulties since there are several low C's in the score [Example two] which would sound as low A's in a modern performance. The answer would be to either employ a low A extension, or transpose the passages in question up an octave. The former seems to be the best solution. A different situation arises with Cantata 131. Baroque woodwinds, oboes, bassoons and flutes, developed in Paris in the latter part of the 17th century played at a pitch level of A = 4 10 Hz. (standard pitch for the period was A =425 Hz); in effect, these instruments were pitched a step lower, in the key of B-flat, than contemporary stringed instruments. This French style of woodwind instrument was prevalent throughout Europe, including Germany. If the double reed players at Muhlhausen were playing on instruments based on older French models, then their music would have to have been written a step higher than the strings. This is what appears in the scoring to Cantata 131, the winds are in A minor, the rest of the ensemble in G minor [Example three]. However, if the instruments were not of French derivation, then it is possible that the score is an example of Chorton tuning, and the strings and organ were the transposing instruments. In either case, a modern performance of the piece would be in G minor. This transposition down a step for today's oboe and bassoon is no problem since neither part extends down lower than a C (sounding B-flat). After Bach moved to Leipzig in 1723, he switched compositional style, adopting the system developed by Johann Kuhnau (1660-1722). From this time on, Bach treated the woodwinds and strings normally (as C instruments) while the organ was written as a transposing instrument. [5] As an addendum, and not to be confused with the above discussion, is Bach's actual use of a Doppelfagott (contrabassoon) descending to low G in Cantata 31, "Der Himmel lacht, die Erde jubilret" (1715). [6]

Questions (and answers) should be directed to: Ron Bukoff, Music Department, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853.

ENDNOTES

1. 1 would like to thank Eugene Stickley, bassoonist, of Delray Beach, Florida, for bringing this topic to my attention. I would also like to thank William Cowdery of Cornell University who gave me some valuable insights into the subject of Bach and instrumental tuning.

2. The contributions of Praetorius are discussed by: Ll. S. Lloyd, "Pitch, Standard," Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed., Vol. 6 (1954): 794.

3. Lloyd: 795.

4. Lyndesay G. Langwill, "The Double Bassoon: Its Origin and Evolution," Proceedings of the (Royal) Music Association 69th session (1942-1943): 4-5.

5. Guy Oldham, "Cammer-ton," The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 6th ed., Vol. 3 (1980): 652.

6. Langwill: 4.

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