Biblical stint
Sir: In the course of his article in your issue of 11 August entitled 'Biblical Stint,' your music cor- respondent Mr Charles Reid made a passing refer- ence to the translation from the German text of Bach's St John Passion made by Peter Pears and Imogen Hoist. This disparaging sentence is likely to have created the impression in some minds that the translation has no merits worth recording and one especially glaring fault.
It is not clear from his article whether Mr Reid had studied the translation. I have recently been doing so; and while I concede that there are some 'misplaced verbal stresses,' these are more than made up for by a faithfulness to the spirit and letter of Bath's texts in the arias and chorales, and close attention to his phrasing in the choruses; and by the use of simple, unpretentious English in achieving these two aims. In these respects I con- sider that the translation is altogether superior to the one used in the Novello edition of the vocal score, which is the one used regularly by choral societies in performances of the work.
It is to be hoped that the recent performance of the new translation at the Promenade Concert re- viewed by Mr Reid will have helped to bring it to the notice of the musical public.
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