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Johannes Passion
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The Johannes Passion is a musical composition by Johann Sebastian Bach. During the first winter that Bach worked at Leipzig he composed the St. John Passion. He wrote it for the Good Friday vespers of 1724.
Originally the St. John Passion was meant to be performed for the first time in the St Thomas church in Leipzig, but due to a last-minute change by a music council, the St John Passion was first performed in 1724 in the St Nicholas Church.
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The Johannes Passion is a musical composition by Johann Sebastian Bach. During the first winter that Bach worked at Leipzig he composed the St. John Passion. He wrote it for the Good Friday vespers of 1724.
Originally the St. John Passion was meant to be performed for the first time in the St Thomas church in Leipzig, but due to a last-minute change by a music council, the St John Passion was first performed in 1724 in the St Nicholas Church. Bach quickly agreed to have the concert at St Thomas church, “but pointed out that the booklet was already printed, that there was no room available and that the harpsichord needed some repair, all of which, however, could be attended to at little cost; but he requested that a little additional room be provided in the choir loft of St Nicholas' Church, where he planned to place the musicians needed to perform the music. He also asked that the harpsichord be repaired.” The council agreed and sent a flyer announcing the new location to all the people around Leipzig. Then they made the necessary arrangements regarding the harpsichord and the space that was needed for the choir.
The St. John Passion is presented in many ways. It is constructed out of dramatically presented recitatives, chorales, arioso and aria movements, a few combinations of these forms, and choruses. The St Matthew Passion is usually more familiar to people because Mendelssohn’s 1829 performance of it marked the beginning of much of the public discovery of J.S. Bach. It is longer than the St. John Passion, and researchers have discovered that Bach revised the latter work several times before producing a final version in the 1740s. Alternate numbers that Bach introduced in 1725 but later removed can be found in the appendix to scores of the work, such as that of the Neue Bach Ausgabe (and heard in the recording by Emmanuel Music directed by Craig Smith, cited below).
While writing the St. John Passion, Bach had every intention of retaining the congregational spirit of the worship service. The text for the body of the work is taken from the Gospel of John chapters 18 and 19. To augment these chapters that are summarized in the music, Bach used an elaborate body of commentary consisting of hymns that were often called chorales and arias. He used Martin Luther's translation of the Bible with only slight modifications.
Bach proved that the sacred opera as a musical genre did not have to become shallow in liturgical use by remaining loyal to the cantus firmus and the scriptural word. He did not want anyone to think of the Passion as just a lesser sacred concert. The text for the opening prayer Herr, unser Herrscher, dessen Ruhm as well as the arias, chorales and the penultimate chorus Ruht wohl, ihr heiligen Gebeine come from various other sources. The first part of the score, which makes up about one-third of the entire piece, dramatically takes us through Peter’s walk and his betrayal of Jesus. It is interesting to note also that the two recitative passages, dealing with Peter crying after his betrayal and the temple veil ripping during the crucifixion, do not appear in the Gospel of John, but of Matthew. In the "Passion", one hears Peter deny Jesus three times, and at the third time, John tells us that the cock crew immediately. The "St. John Passion" is by far the most extravagant in line and harmony.
Versions
The St. John Passion was not Bach’s first passion. While he was working as organist in 1708 and Concertmeister in 1714 in Weimar, Bach possibly wrote a Passion, but it is now lost. Sometimes while listening to the St. John Passion today one can sense an older feel to some of the music, and some scholars believe that those portions are the surviving parts of the Weimar Passion. Unlike the St Matthew Passion, to which Bach made very few and insignificant changes, the St John Passion was subject to several major revisions. The original version from 1724 is the one most familiar to us today.
In 1725, Bach replaced the opening and closing choruses and added three arias (BWV 245a-c) while cutting one (Ach Mein Sinn) from the original version. The opening chorus was replaced by O Mensch bewein dein Sünde groß, which was later transposed and reused at the end of part one of the St Matthew Passion. The closing chorale was replaced by a setting of Christe, Du Lamm Gottes, taken from the cantata BWV 23. The three new arias are not known to have been reused.
In the 1730s, Bach revised the St John Passion again, restoring the original opening chorus and final chorale, and removing the three new arias. He also excised the two interpolations from the Gospel of Matthew that appeared in the work, probably due to objections by the ecclesiastical authorities. The first of these he simply removed; he composed a new instrumental sinfonia in lieu of the second. He also inserted an aria to replace the still-missing Ach, Mein sinn. Neither the aria nor the sinfonia have been preserved. Overall, Bach chose to keep the biblical text, and inserted Lutheran hymn verses so that he could return the work to its liturgical substance.
We can infer, because the Passion has no parts for trumpets, kettledrums, or second violas, that Bach had in mind an orchestra composed of no more than 15 to 17 musicians. In 1749, he reverted more or less to the original of 1724, making only slight changes to the orchestration, most notably replacing the by-then almost obsolete violas d'amore with muted violins. Also, Bach’s orchestra for this piece would have been very delicate in nature because he called for many gamba strings.
In the summer of 1815, Bach's Passions began to be studied once again. Parts of the St. John Passion were being rehearsed and the St Matthew Passion was soon to follow. Fred Wolle, with his Choral Union of 1888 at the Moravian town of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, was the first to allow a performance of the St. John Passion in the Americas. This spurred a revival of Bach’s choral music in the New World.
Popular sections
- opening chorus: Herr, unser Herrscher ... (Lord, our master, whose glory fills the whole earth, show us by your Passion that you, the true eternal Son of God, triumph even in the deepest humiliation. Listen: ). There is an orchestral intonation of 36 bars before the imploding entrance of the chorus. Each of these bars is a single stress of lower tones, weakening till the end of the bar. These bass beats are accompanied by the remaining instruments of higher tunes, by legato singing the prospective theme. The last six bars of the orchestral intro produce a robust crescendo, arriving to shouting forte initial three bars of the chorus, where the chorus joins to the long sequence of deep stresses by Herr, Herr, Herr. Soon, after the first portion of the theme, comes the triple Herr, Herr, Herr again, but this time, at the end of the bars, as a contra answer for the corresponding orchestral deep stesses at the beginning of the bars. Just before the composer's ideas could dry out, the full beginning is repeated. But this time our illusion is, as if we heard 36 Herrs.
“Herr, unser Herrscher” and “O Mensch bewein” are very different in character. “O Mensch bewein’” is full of torment in it’s text. It is a serenely majestic piece of music. “Herr, unser Herrscher” sounds as if it has chains of dissonance between the two oboes and the turmoil of the roiling sixteenth notes in the strings. Especially when they invade the bass it is full of anguish and therefore it characterizes the St. John Passion more so.
- commenting arias: The first part of the St. John Passion includes three commenting arias. There is an alto aria called “Von den Stricken meiner Sünden.” (From the tangle of my transgressions) This includes an intertwined oboe line that brings back many characteristics of the opening chorus. Another aria is an enchanting flute and soprano duet, “Ich folgge dir gleichfalls.” In this piece the verbs “ziehen” (to pull) and “schieben” (to push) stimulate Bach’s delight in musical illustration. And the third aria is a passionate tenor solo that is accompanied by all the instruments. This piece is called “Ach mein Sinn” (O my soul)
- the death of Jesus: Es ist vollbracht! ... (It is accomplished; what comfort for suffering human souls! I can see the end of the noght of sorrow. The hero from Judah ends his victorious fight. It is accomplished! Listen: ). The central part is essentially a viola da gamba solo and an alto aria. The theme is introduced by a single viola da gamba gently accompanied in a usual basso continuo setting. Then comes the solo vocal interpretation. There is a habit — at least in Hungary —, that if the performance is in a church with living congregational live, then the performance is suspended just after this section, in order to pray the Pater Noster together.
- closing chorale: Ach Herr, lass dein lieb Engelein ... (O Lord, send your cherubs in my last hour to bear my soul away to Abraham's bosom; ... Listen: ). This chorale — with alternative lyrics — is still in regular use in the congregations, see the score of the Evangelical-Lutheran Church in Hungary. The beginning of the theme is a descending sequence, but in overall the theme is full of emotion as well. Singing this chorale standalone does not sound a closing chorale, except if it is sung at the end of a real ceremony.
Criticism
The text Bach set to music has been criticized as anti-Semitic. This accusation is closely connected to a wider controversy regarding the tone of the Christian New Testament's Gospel of John with regards to Judaism. Sometimes it will arouse protest from people. To counter this, Lukas Foss after coming to America in 1937 as a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, changed the text from “Juden” to “Leute”(People). This caused many of the protests to stop. Michael Marissen's Lutheranism, Anti-Judaism, and Bach's "St. John's Passion" examines the controversy in balanced detail. He concludes that Bach's St John Passion and St Matthew Passion contain fewer statements derogatory toward Jews than many other contemporary musical settings of the Passion.The St. John Passion does not always give blame to the Jews in a negative way. In fact, the different commenting arias and hymns seem to shift the blame for the death of Jesus to the congregation of Christians also. Defenders of Bach also point out that his works must be considered in their historical context.
Further reading
- Michael Marissen, Lutheranism, Anti-Judaism, and Bach's "St. John's Passion." NY: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-511471-X
- Alfred Dürr, Johann Sebastian Bach, St. John Passion: Genesis, Transmission, and Meaning, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 0198162405.
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