Passion/Palm Sunday: Musical settings of the Passion
April 13, 2014
This week we begin our observance of Holy Week and the
Triduum with the festive and solemn worship of Passion/Palm Sunday. One of the central activities on Sunday is
the reading of the account of the Passion from the Gospel of Matthew. In our practice, we read the gospel in a
responsorial manner, so that the individual characters of the story are given
voice by different readers. The gathered
congregation reads the part of the crowd, so that we in a real sense own the
words “Crucify him!”
This active engagement with the text reflects a
centuries-old tradition of setting the Passion story musically. The best known musical settings are the two Passions by John Sebastian Bach. These two masterpieces are the pinnacle of
the tradition, in which the actual story is given exegesis (fleshed out with
commentary) by the addition of arias, chorales, and instrumental
accompaniment. Yet, these two settings
also maintain some of the primary elements of the tradition: separating the characters by voice part (the
high-voiced tenor sings the part of the Evangelist, or narrator, which the
low-voiced bass sings the part of Jesus) and portraying the crowd portions polyphonically (or in four-part harmony). One notable attribute, that may be particular
to Bach, or at least a Baroque practice, is the accompaniment of the voice of
Jesus by a shimmering string chorus.
Curiously, one source cites Martin Luther as critical of the
dramatic recitation of the Passion, with his admonition being "the Passion of
Christ should not be acted out in words and pretense, but in real life." I haven’t had the time to do my homework, so
this may or may not be truly attributable to him. But, if so, his dislike of the theatrical
aspect of the Passion tradition presents a curious juxtaposition: an activity that Luther did not favor
eventually yielded one of the most dramatic and lengthy versions of the
practice (the St. Matthew Passion lasts
nearly three hours) created by the most revered “Lutheran” composer, Bach.
The tradition includes many wonderful settings of the
Passion by composers other than Bach. A
few that you might choose from this week:
16th century (short)
Tomas Luis de Victoria:
Passion according to Saint John
youtube (in English): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HSOBILgYAA
17th century
Heinrich Schütz:
Three Passions (John, Matthew, Luke) youtube
(Luke, in German):
20th century (anguished)
Krzysztof Penderecki:
Passion according to Saint Luke youtube:
20th century (stunningly
beautiful)
Arvo Pärt: Passio youtube:
No comments:
Post a Comment