I have studied the setting of Bach chorales, where the big part of the course was about emulating the style.
And then some of Bach’s own fairly common tricks weren’t allowed.
If the melody of a cadence goes from the 5th of the dominant to the root of the tonic, there is no really good voicing for the leading note when a full ending chord is wanted. Often the leading note is taken down to the fifth of the tonic. That voicing is very common in the alto line. In my ears it is a very ugly voicing, especially if the alto line tends to overpowering. Bach often lets the tenor line jump up a fourth from the leading note to the third of the tonic. Even if that voicing isn’t entirely correct either, I like it very much because the thirds of the chords often balance very well this way. But my professor didn’t allow this for mere mortals.
Another Bach trait, which is against the standard voicing rules, is his taking the bass line higher than the tenor line, while it still keeps what could be considered the root of the chord. This leads to wrong inversions. Bach of course knew this, but against common beliefs Bach did not write his chorales for four part SATB choir. He wrote them for such choir accompanied by organ, the latter by default doubling the bass line in the 16' range, which leads to correct chord inversions for the combined ensemble of voices and organ.
The collection of Bach’s chorales I have used in paper form now is available on the web as the 4 top files found via this link:
http://imslp.org/wiki/Chorale_Harmonisa ... _and_Parts
The title reminds us that what we call Bach chorales mostly is a traditional Protestant hymn repertory harmonized by Bach. When I browse through this collection, I wonder whether Bach expected the congregation joining in on the melody. To me the melody often is so high that it takes trained singers to perform it well. Modern editions often take the melody down, but that causes especially the alto and tenor lines to go lower than preferable for these voices.
Long prelude to my main point: the standard brass quintet isn’t an ideal vehicle for playing chorales by Bach (or for that matter any chorales) unless arranged in ways taking some understanding of the nature of chorales.
As recently as this Sunday a big tragedy in a neighbouring country of mine was commemorated big style filling the news also here. One event was the laying of wreaths accompanied by a well playing military brass quintet. But they committed a very common error of allocating S to 1st trumpet, A to 2nd trumpet, T to horn, and doubling B in octaves by trombone and tuba. That is a piling of bad factors:
The alto line often takes the 2nd trumpet to its lowest range, which takes specialist players. They do exist, but the only one coming to the top of my mind isn’t among us anymore: Fred Mills was the piccolo specialist of the 1989 CB incarnation that I heard live. In between he played second Bb trumpet to Ronald Romm. And that in a masterful way letting the listener forget that the purpose of this low playing also was about reflowing some blood to his lips.
The horn is not projecting optimally in a low tenor range. Together with a potentially week alto line the inner voices, which often are very elaborate in Bach’s settings, tend to be drowned. Not so much by the melody.
Rather by the far too strong representation of the bass line. The modern large bore tenor trombone isn’t as strong a bass as the bassbone, but still it is pretty strong. Combined with a large contrabass tuba an octave below the bass line is prone to overpowering unless handled by extremely disciplined players.
For me the ideal brass line-up for chorale playing is a quartet of trumpet plus ATB-trombones. Easily found among orchestral players, less easily in just about any other context.
In the instructions for my own chorale edition I have some suggestions for brass quintets playing from 4 part SATB material. Basically the trombone stays on the tenor line all the time like the tuba stays on the bass line. Whether the tuba shall play in the 8' or in the 16' range mostly depends on the actual instrument. A large contrabass tuba is most likely to work well in the 16' range, whereas a small bass tuba works best in the 8' range unless one of the said crossings of line with the tenor comes up.
For a single chorale verse in between a general quintet repertory, I would let the 1st trumpet player rest, give the melody to the 2nd trumpet and the alto line to the horn. Professional quintets should be able to perform full length chorales from a two stave organ edition. By penciling in directions it should be possible to juggle the trumpets and the horn between the soprano and alto lines in ways allowing for a varied soundscape as well as staggered resting for the 3 players. In between the melody may be doubled in the octave by a piccolo trumpet.
Partially emulating combined organ stops in the 4', 8', and 16' ranges also is possible. Two samples:
The soprano line in 4' range played by a piccolo trumpet and in the 8' range by the horn.
The alto line played in the 8' range by the trombone.
The tenor line played in the 4' range by the a Bb or a C trumpet
The bass line played by the tuba in either the 8' or in the 16' range.
or the maybe closest emulation of a full organ sound
The soprano line in 4' range played by a piccolo trumpet and in the 16' range by the trombone.
The alto line played in the 8' range by the horn.
The tenor line played in the 4' range by the a Bb or a C trumpet.
The bass line played by the tuba in the 16' range.
Each quintet should be able to find several other permutations bringing out the best of its specific potentials.
Klaus