Chorale has embarked on our preparation of J. S. Bach’s St. John Passion. Our performance doesn’t occur until March 27, so we should have plenty of time to learn and polish it; nonetheless, it is a daunting work, requiring our utmost discipline and commitment. First performed in 1724, it is shorter and more streamlined (just shy of two hours) than Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (three hours), and exists in several versions, evidence that Bach was experimenting with the form in composing this particular work. The later Matthew Passion is more complete and balanced in its presentation of all aspects of the Passion narrative, and exists in an autograph form which is indisputably Bach’s final word on the work. Modern audiences often lack the patience to sit through unabridged performances of the Matthew Passion, and prefer the earlier John Passion for its driving, dramatic energy.
In the Christian tradition, the “Passion” is the narrative, common to the four gospels, recounting Jesus’ suffering, physical and spiritual, between the night of the Last Supper, and his crucifixion, the following afternoon. The word itself is based upon the Latin noun passio: suffering, and shares this root with our word “patience.” Christians commemorate the Passion during Holy Week, which begins on Palm Sunday and ends the following Saturday at midnight. Following a tradition dating back to the 4th century, most Christian denominations read one or more narratives of the Passion during Holy Week, especially on Good Friday. In some denominations, these readings are communal, with one person reading the part of Christ, another reading the descriptive narrative, others reading various smaller characters, and either the choir or the congregation reading the parts of crowds and other bystanders.
First movement. “Parte Prima”
The words began to be intoned (rather than just spoken) at least as early as the 8th century. This chanting of the text may have been freely interpretive in the beginning, but within two hundred years manuscripts began to specify exact notes to be sung. By the 13th century different singers performed specific characters in the narrative (as in the communal readings described above), a practice which became fairly universal by the 15th century, when polyphonic settings of the crowd scenes began to appear also. By the 16th century, Passion settings had evolved into a highly developed genre, with a number of different sub-genres, composed by the prominent composers of the time. Martin Luther disapproved of the genre, writing, “The Passion of Christ should not be acted out in words and pretense, but in real life.” Nonetheless, sung Passion performances were common in Lutheran churches right from the beginning of the Reformation period (1517), in both Latin and German, and by the 17th century had evolved into the “oratorio passion” sub-genre, which included instrumental accompaniment, interpolated texts, other Scripture passages, Latin motets, chorales, arias, and recitatives.
J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew and St. John Passions are the best known of this latter type; but passion composition by no means ended with his death. The form continued to be very popular in Germany throughout the 18th century—Bach’s son, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, composed over twenty settings, himself. Interest in Passion composition waned during the 19th century, but took on new life in the 20th, with major settings by Krzysztof Penderecki, Arvo Pärt, Tan Dun, Osvaldo Golijov, Mark Alburger, and Scott King. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar and Stephen Schwartz’s Godspell contain elements of the traditional passion accounts, as well.
Bruce Tammen’s score. A lifelong companion!