Pamphlet Nr. 63 for 09.04. / 10.04. / 11.04.2010
by Karl Böhmer (Translation: Richard Evidon)
As the congregation streamed into St. Thomas's, Leipzig for Vespers on Good Friday of 1727, their expectations were high. It had only been six years since the city of trade fairs had adopted the practice - later than other Lutheran centres - of adorning Good Friday Vespers with a "musicked Passion". Only on this day in the church year could one hear a full-length oratorio, not simply sacred histories in cantata form, integrated into the service, as Bach's Ascension Oratorio and the six parts of his Christmas Oratorio would be included somewhat later. The Thomaskantor had the opportunity ex officio on this day alone to direct a long oratorio, one "constructed of both poetry and prose", as the Leipzig music theorist Johann Adolph Scheibe described it in 1737 in his Critische Musikus: "This construction may seem more epic than dramatic. However, because the part of the Evangelist, who in these pieces has the task of providing continuity, is marked throughout with expressive emphasis ... I regard even this construction as being more dramatic than epic."
With his initial attempt at a Passion setting, based on the Gospel of St. John, the new Thomaskantor and music director had fulfilled to sweeping effect the expectations held for this new genre. The congregation of St. Thomas's had to wait a year, until 1725, to hear the work, because 1724 was the turn of St. Nicholas's, which had priority for presenting the Passion music in even-numbered years. Bach complied grudgingly with this rule, which meant having to jam his performing forces together in the Nikolaikirche's narrow organ loft. The spacious west loft of the Thomaskirche offered quite different possibilities, and he was firmly determined to exploit them.
Although the modifications of the St. John Passion for performance at St. Thomas's in 1725 already show an increase in scale, they barely hint at what Bach would impose on Leipzig churchgoers two years later in the form of his St. Matthew Passion. On admission to the church or "by purchase in advance", one could acquire the libretto, and from even a cursory perusal of it one could not fail to notice that the Gospel narration was missing. So many contemplative sections had been inserted into the telling of the story that there was no longer enough space to print the whole text. There are only brief indications of the relevant scenes in the Passion story. The Leipzigers would also immediately notice that this Passion did not begin as usual with the arrest of Jesus, but much earlier: with Christ's announcement of his suffering and his anointing in Bethany. For devout Lutherans this meant two things above all: the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper and the Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane were now part and parcel of the Passion setting. Bach also set the complete story of Judas, from the betrayal to the bitter consequence of his suicide.
This arrangement resulted in a shifting of weight in the established course of Good Friday Vespers: before the sermon one no longer heard roughly a half hour of music but nearly one and a half; afterwards, nearly two. The first part is dedicated to the events of Maundy Thursday, the second to those of Good Friday. The temporal dimensions of the new work alone far exceeded anything encountered heretofore.
A second circumstance is likely to have struck the Leipzigers: the most important meditations on the Passion in the libretto came in the dialogue between the "Daughter of Zion" and the "Believers". The opening chorus in the original libretto reads: "The Daughter of Zion and the Believers. - Aria - Z.: Come, ye Daughters, help me grieve, / Behold! Bel.: Whom? Z.: The Bridegroom. / Behold him; Bel.: How? Z.: Just like a lamb." The pious Lutherans of Bach's time immediately grasped the theological context: the Daughter of Zion was the allegorical embodiment of Christ's bride, derived from the "Song of Songs" and other relevant Old Testament texts. In the Passion he becomes the lamb that silently lets itself be led to the slaughter and sacrificed for our sins as the Israelites sacrificed lambs before the exodus from Egypt to protect themselves from God's wrath. Whereas the Bridegroom patiently bears his suffering, carrying the Cross himself to Golgotha "out of love and grace", we are obliged to recognise our guilt and show contrition. To reinforce these theological connections, the individual lines of the chorale "O Lamm Gottes unschuldig" (Lamb of God) are interpolated into the text.
The most important moments in the St. Matthew Passion are emphasised by large-scale dialogue involving double chorus: Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane is depicted by the tenor recitative "O Schmerz" with the choral strophe "Was ist die Ursach aller solcher Plagen" and by the tenor aria "Ich will bei meinem Jesu wachen" with the chorus of Believers "So schlafen unsre Sünden ein"; his arrest is illustrated by the work's only duet, with choral interjections, and the ensuing furious double chorus "Sind Blitze, sind Donner in Wolken verschwunden?"; the beginning of Part II is set off by the alto aria "Ach, nun ist mein Jesus hin" with insertions from the Song of Songs "Wo ist denn dein Freund hingegangen?"; and, finally, the Crucifixion is denoted by the harrowing recitative "Ach Golgatha, unselges Golgatha" and the alto aria "Sehet, Jesus hat die Hand". This penultimate aria of the Passion is a response to the opening chorus: it heralds the message of redemption even before Christ's suffering is over. Thus the question-answer pattern recurs at this point: "Z.: Come! Bel.: Where? Z.: In Jesus' arms / seek redemption, find mercy. / Seek! Bel.: Where? Z.: In Jesus' arms."
No other 18th-century Passion setting brings the human being Jesus of Nazareth so palpably near us as this work, especially in Gethsemane. We experience him approaching his death on the Cross, step by step, and his disciples accompanying this event with an increasing sense of helplessness. The words of the Saviour, suffused with a nimbus of string tone out of which the Passion's dark colours emerge, are the heart of the work. His announcement of his impending suffering, the institution of the Eucharist, submission to the Father's will and the intentionally precipitated arrest allow us to recognise the man and the son of God as he follows his inevitable, courageously accepted path: "Sehet ihn aus Lieb und Huld Holz zum Kreuze selber tragen" / "Behold him, out of love and grace, bear the wood that forms his cross," as described in the opening chorus. His partners in dialogue are the disciples: opposing, questioning, for a long time witnessing the sacred events without comprehending, as is evident at once in the scene at Bethany. In Part II, on the other hand, the Saviour is silent - like the lamb being led to slaughter - and only speaks again, without string halo, in the devastating outburst "Eli, Eli lama asabthani". In the intervening scenes, we see individuals being confronted with his suffering and reacting with the human frailties we all share.
