Matthew Passion (Bach)

Monument to I. S. Bach near the Church of St. Thomas in Leipzig

Bach’s Passions, or passions, are works for the choir and orchestra on the gospel theme of the sufferings of Christ , intended for performance on Good Friday in the churches of St. Thomas and St. Nicholas in Leipzig .

It is known that Bach wrote 4 or 5 passions, but only Passion according to Matthew and Passion according to John have completely survived to this day.

Over the years as a cantor, Bach has performed Passions, both his own and other authors, more than twenty times, adapting to the capabilities of Leipzig singers and musicians. They were performed on Friday of the Holy Week, alternately in two churches. The service began at about two in the afternoon, at first the chorales were sung, the first part of The Passion was on. Then, after five hours, the second part was also performed, together with the chorales.

“Passion for Matthew” by I. S. Bach was first performed in the Church of St. Thomas ( German: Thomaskirche ) in Leipzig on Good Friday (April 11), 1727 ^[2] .

By 1736, Bach reworked them, performing again on March 30, 1736, and this time using two organs for instrumentation .

The last time “Matthew Passion” was performed by Bach, apparently in 1749. ^[3]

" Passion " was written by many composers of the late XVII century.

Like other Easter oratorios of the Baroque era, The Passion for Matthew, directed by Bach, conveys the text of chapters 26 and 27 of the Gospel of Matthew in the German translation of Martin Luther in the form of a regular recitative, while the arias , choirs and chorales represent a poetic rethinking of the events outlined in the biblical text, and give an idea of ​​the feelings of the main characters in the form of lyrical monologues.

From the activities of Bach as a cantor in the church of St. Thomas followed two features of his production of The Passion.

Firstly, two choirs were used, as in the motets , which usually began Sunday services.

Secondly, the traditional four-voice chorales were intensively used, both between the Aryans and as choral melodies ( Latin cantus firmus ) in large polyphonic numbers, for example, in “O Mensch, bewein dein 'Sünde groß” in the final chorus of the first part ( the same music is used in Bach’s “Passion for John” ^[4] ) and in the opening chorus “Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir Klagen”, in which “soprano in ripieno ” crowns the huge growing drama of polyphonic and harmonic tension in the performance of choral verses "O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig."

The narrative of the Gospel text is performed by the tenor of the Evangelist in the form of a dry recitative accompanied by a general bass (“basso continuo”).

Soloists play the roles of various characters, also with a recitative: besides Jesus , there are also replicas of Judas , Peter , two high priests , Pontius Pilate , wife of Pilate, two witnesses and two maidservants, although they are not always sung by different soloists.

The same actors also regularly perform arias (with or without choirs).

Two duets are sung by a pair of soloists representing two simultaneously speaking people.

There are also several places with many speakers that are sung by one or two choirs.

Jesus recitatives are distinguished by the fact that they are always accompanied not only by “basso continuo”, but also by a string quartet using long stretched notes, as if shed an unearthly radiance, which creates an effect, often called the “sound halo” of Jesus. Only the last words of Jesus on the Cross , that is: “My God, My God! why did you leave me? ” ( Matthew 27:46 ), they sing without this“ halo ”.

Performers

• Personalized vocal parts: Evangelist (tenor), Jesus (bass), Judas (bass), Peter (bass), Pilate (bass), wife of Pilate (soprano), High Priest (bass), 2 witnesses (alt and tenor), 2 girls (soprano), 2 handmaids (soprano).
• Solo vocal parts: soprano, viola, tenor, bass.
• Two SATB choirs, soprano choir (soprano in ripieno ).
• Orchestra instruments: strings (2 solo violins highlighted), 2 transverse flutes, 2 longitudinal flutes, 2 oboes, oboe d'amur, 2 oboe yes caccia, viola yes gamba.
• Basso continuo (two organs, or organ and harpsichord).

For all soprano parties (soloists and ripienists), Bach used the trebles of boys ^[5] . In modern performance (including the so-called authenticists ), mainly female sopranos are used for solo soprano parts, for the choir part soprano in ripieno - a boys choir.

Composition Plan

The following table shows the classic numbering of BWV and, for comparison, the NBA in the second column (the numbers are not indicated in the autograph). The last column gives the beginning of the text of each issue ( incipit ). B. c. = basso continuo , flute = transverse flute ( German: Traversflöte ).

Different types of shapes are highlighted in the corresponding legend colors. In mixed forms (for example, aria + choral or choir) the line is painted in two colors.

For the first time outside Leipzig, “Passion for Matthew” was only performed on March 11, 1829, when Felix Mendelssohn introduced them to the public in Berlin . The work was performed not in its original form, but as edited by Mendelssohn, who reduced the original and re-instrumented it. The concert was a huge success. Hegel, who attended the concert, later called Bach “a great, true Protestant, a strong and, so to speak, erudite genius, whom we only recently learned to appreciate fully” ^[6] . Mendelssohn’s revival of “Passion for Matthew” contributed to the development of interest in the personality and work of the great composer, especially in his great works.

In subsequent years, Mendelssohn continued to popularize Bach's music and increase the composer's fame. In 1841, Mendelssohn prepared a new version of Matthew’s Passion, where he restored some of the previously seized material. However, even in this edition there are many discrepancies with the original, corresponding to the aesthetics and musical practice of the romantic era. Mendelssohn added dynamic and tempo refinements that were missing from Bach. He disappeared in the XIX century oboe d'amur and oboe da caccia (hunting oboe), he replaced the clarinets. Mendelssohn's recitatives were accompanied by two cellos and double bass. The organ was left only in chorales and some arias. Finally, the famous viola aria "Erbarme dich" Mendelssohn commissioned the soprano.

In 1850, the Bach Society ( German Bach-Gesellschaft ) was founded, the main task of which - the publication of a complete academic collection of Bach's works - was completed by 1900.

In the 20th century, “Passion for Matthew” entered the repertoire of many major conductors. Until the 1980s Performances in a romantic interpretation prevailed - using large choirs and a large symphony orchestra, opera voices. Audio recordings in this style were made by V. Mengelberg (1939), G. Ramin (1941, 1952), V. Furtwängler (1950, 1952, 1954), G. Scherchen (1953), C. Richter (1958, 1971, etc., 5 records in total), O. Klemperer (1961), L. Bernstein (1962), G. von Karayan (1972), H. Rilling (1978, 1994), G. Solti (1987), S. Ozawa (1997) and other

Since the 1980s to this day, the performance of “Passion” in a “historical” manner prevails - original baroque instruments or their reconstruction are used, special performing touches are used on the instruments, as a rule, all tempo is accelerated, “opera” vibrato is completely excluded, orchestras are reduced to the size of a chamber ensemble by 1-2 instrument per party, etc. (for more details see Authentism ). HIP audio recordings under the direction of N. Arnoncourt (1970, 1981, 1985, 2000), F. Herrevege (1984, 1998), J.E. Gardiner (1988), G. Leonhardt (1989), T. Kopman ( 1992, 1995, 2005), D. Fazolis (1995), F. Bruggen (1996), M. Suzuki (1999), S. Koyken (2009), etc.

In 1981 , choreographer John Neumeier put on the ballet performance of the same name to the music of The Passion, in which he himself performed the part of Jesus Christ.

In 2010, conductor Simon Rattle and American opera director Peter Sellars performed a half-stage production of “The Passion for Matthew” with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra ^[7]

• 20. "Ich will bei meinem Jesu wachen"
• 39 ^[8] (in other sources 47). "Erbarme Dich"
• 42. “Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder!”
• 52. "Können Tränen meiner Wangen"
• 60. “Sehet, Jesus hat die Hand”
• 65. “Mache dich, mein Herze, rein”

• Druskin M.S. Passions and Masses of Johann Sebastian Bach. M .: Music, 1976.
• Morozov S.A. Bach. (Biography of I.S. Bach in the ZhZL series), Moscow: Young Guard, 1975. ( Book on www.lib.ru )
• A. Schweizer . Johann Sebastian Bach. M .: Music, 1965 (with notes; book on ldn-knigi.lib.ru ); M .: "Classic-XXI", 2002, ISBN 5-89817-044-8 .
• Eskina N. “Passion for Matthew” by I. S. Bach: sound, word, meaning. - Saarbrücken: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2012 .-- 476 p. ISBN 978-3-8484-0891-7
• Emil Platen, Die Matthäus-Passion von Johann Sebastian Bach . Kassel: dtv / Bärenreiter, 1991; 2. verb. und ergänzte Auflage 1997, ISBN 3-7618-1190-X .
• Gottfried Scholz, Bachs Passionen. Ein musikalischer Werkführer; München: Beck, 2000, ISBN 3-406-43305-7 .
• Günter Jena: Das gehet meiner Seele nah. Die Matthäuspassion von Johann Sebastian Bach , Freiburg: “Herder”, 1999, ISBN 3-451-04794-2 .

• Matthew Passion
• Baroque music

• “Passion for Matthew” , “Art” magazine, No. 16 (376), August 16-31, 2007.
• “Passion for Matthew”, BWV 244 on the website is a portal about Bach.
• Russian libretto “Passion for Matthew” (from the book by M. A. Saponov “Bach's Masterpieces in Russian”, M .: “Classics-XXI”, 2005, ISBN 5-89817-091-X ).
• Another Russian translation of the libretto of “Passion for Matthew” by Bach.
• St. Matthew Passion - commentaries, musical examples, list of recordings, and other information
• BWV244 at JSBach site
• St. Matthew Passion at the Choral Public Domain Main Library (ChoralWiki) - notes, libretto

Hypertext (Flash):

• Full work (Russian)