Series V presents these choral works, organized by genre and tradition. The divisions between series IV, V, and VI are thus fluid and determined primarily by pragmatic decisions. In many ways, C. Petri, St. Nicolai, St. Jacobi, St. Catharinen, and St. The musical requirements included cantatas not only for the main services on Sundays and feast days, but also for vesper services as well as special occasions, mainly installations of pastors and other officials.
The number of such commissions, especially from private individuals, was significantly less than during former times. Similarly, a smaller number of new church cantatas, which for J. Bach and Telemann still clearly formed a central part of their creative work, were used in the services.
Like his brother Wilhelm Friedemann during his time as music director in Halle —64 , C. Bach instead focused on pieces for the high feast days. Otherwise, Bach was content to perform works by other composers. Catharinen and St. Even though only a small portion of the performance repertory, as recorded in NV and the auction catalogues of and , is extant, 3 the surviving material reveals a broad spectrum of procedures.
These include presenting minimally altered works by other composers; mixing borrowed movements by various composers—occasionally with movements by Bach himself—to form pasticcios; and composing completely new works. For performances within and outside of the churches, Bach could generally count on only seven or eight paid church singers; the orchestra formed by the town musicians consisted of approximately fifteen reliable professionals.
For special occasions additional musicians could be added, in which case they had to be paid separately. Transposed organ parts imply one of the four older main churches: in St. Nicolai the organs were tuned a whole step higher than regular pitch; in St. Petri and St. Jacobi the organs were tuned a minor third higher; only the organ in St.
