The practicality and desirability of liturgical reconstruction of Bach’s cantatas is therefore minimal and only one attempt on record is familiar to the present writer. This is Paul McCreesh’s Gabrieli Consort and Players in a hypothetical reconstruction of an Epiphany Mass which introduces two cantatas, No.65 Sie werden aus Saba alle kommen and No.180 Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele. The sermon given is a short (abbreviated?) expiation by Martin Luther on the topic of the three kings search for the new-born Jesus, the subject of the Gospel and Cantata No.65. The two-disc Archiv set (4576312) is an interesting experiment and essential listening for anyone interested in gaining at least some insight into the contextual significance of Bach’s cantatas.

Doubtless many in our own more secular age will dismiss the original religious purpose of the cantatas, requiring from them no more than some vague, undefined spiritual quality. Yet the original message remains. If few today are likely to empathise with, say, sentiments of world weariness accompanied by a longing for everlasting life attainable only in physical death (a recurrent topic), it remains my view that any performance that fails clearly to express Bach’s rhetorical intention and didactic message is of little or no value. Whether or not we choose to take that message on board is obviously a matter of personal choice.

The subject of communication leads directly to another question relating to current performance practice—the thorny problem of boys voices. The performance of church music in Bach’s Germany was, of course, solely a male preserve, with both chorus and solo soprano (treble) and alto parts largely sung by boys, although there is evidence that adult falsettists were also used in Lutheran church music. Many today still view this element of Bach’s own performance practice not only desirable but essential; indeed the pioneering integral Teldec recording by Nicholas Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt bravely maintained the policy of employing boy soloists and choristers (with rare exceptions) throughout its course. While there are unquestionably advantages to using boys there are also major difficulties, particularly when it comes to solo arias. As is well-known, a boys treble voice is today liable to break several years earlier than it was in Bach’s time.