JOHANN  SEBASTIAN  BACH’S  ST  MATTHEW  PASSION

For lovers of choral music all over the world, Bach’s setting of the Passion narrative from St Matthew’s Gospel is one of the landmarks of the entire choral repertoire. Although performances can take place at any time in the year, for many, attending a performance of the work during Lent is an important musical and spiritual experience, as much a part of the preparation for the commemoration of the events of Holy Week or Easter as attending a performance of Messiah or a Carol Service in the days approaching Christmas. Performances of the St Matthew Passion take place in Edinburgh at this time of year, and so it seems appropriate to give readers of The Sign a little background information about the work, which might encourage them to attend a performance of it this year. Indeed, some readers will recall the Good Friday Meditation Service held in St Cuthbert’s in 2002, when we followed the Passion narrative from St Matthew’s Gospel, using the Lutheran translation of the Bible used by Bach, and singing some of the Lutheran chorales which feature in the St Matthew Passion, and which have found a home in many of our hymn books.

Bach is known to have composed three Passion settings – those according to St John, St Matthew, and St Mark, the earliest of these settings being the St John, dating from Bach’s early years in his final post as Cantor at St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig (1724). Of the St Mark Passion, which was probably composed in 1731, only the words survive, although some of the choruses and arias were probably adapted from existing cantatas composed by Bach.

The Saint Matthew Passion was written in 1729 for the Good Friday afternoon service in St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig, the two parts of the Passion being heard before and after the sermon respectively. The story of the Passion is told entirely in the words of St Matthew’s Gospel (Chapter 26, verse 1 to Chapter 27, verse 66). Bach then set, within that text, devotional reflections and comments on the Passion text written by the poet Picander. Traditionally, the narrative is set in recitative form for the Evangelist (tenor), and each of the main characters is represented by a soloist, featuring in the recitatives, and given more reflective and extended arias, which are the musical equivalent of a soliloquy in a Shakespeare play. The choruses again fulfil a reflective role, but also portray the increasing agitation of the crowd: indeed, the increasingly impassioned outbursts of Crucify him provide arguably the most dramatic choral music ever composed. Bach also interpolated, throughout the score, traditional Lutheran chorales, some set within the complexity of the large-scale choruses, and some set simply, in the form familiar to Bach’s listeners, enabling his audience, as is the case in many performances today, to reflect upon the story as it unfolds.

There are many “highpoints” in this work, and readers familiar with it will undoubtedly have their own view of what they are. Certainly, the final recitative and chorus portraying the scene and emotions of those left reflecting at the sepulchre provide, for me at least, possibly the most moving moment in the entire choral repertoire. At the end of every performance I have attended, I have been moved by the music, and by the subject matter, and have found new moments of inspiration of which I had previously been unaware. It is certainly a work which can provide new insight into a familiar story, and which can help to reaffirm one’s faith. I hope that, for some of our readers, Bach’s St Matthew Passion will play an important part in their observation of Lent 2005.

Philip Rossiter

Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder

Und rufen dir im Grabe zu:

Ruhe sanfte, sanfte ruh!

Ruht, ihr ausgesognen Glieder!

Eurer Grab und Leichenstein

Soll dem ängstlichen Gewissen

Ein bequemes Ruhekissen

Und der Seelen Ruhstatt sein.

Höchst vergnügt schlummern da die Augen ein.

Translated as:

“In tears of grief, dear Lord, we leave Thee.

Hearts cry to Thee, O Saviour dear.

Lie Thou softly, softly here.

Rest Thy worn and bruised body.

At the grave, O Jesus blest,

May the sinner, worn with weeping

Comfort find in Thy dear keeping,

And the weary soul find rest.

Sleep in peace, sleep Thou in the Father’s breast.”

                   *************