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2 - Bach's Passions and the textures of time

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 February 2010

John Butt
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow
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Summary

First impressions

A large proportion of Bach's congregation would have attended the premiere of the John Passion in 1724, together with its modified revival in 1725, and perhaps also the premiere of the Matthew Passion in 1727. On each occasion an organ prelude would have prepared the forthcoming Passion, setting something of the appropriate mood and – most important – establishing tonalities to enable the instrumentalists to tune. Perhaps one would have turned to the opening poetic text of the printed libretto in order to prepare for the basic character and mood of each Passion. In 1725, the opening text would have been the first verse of the chorale ‘O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß’, a well-known Passiontide chorale that would have engendered a suitable state of penitence. But in the original (and indeed subsequent) performances of the John Passion, the librettist compiled a composite text beginning with lines from Psalm 8, addressing the Lord ‘whose praise is glorious in all the lands’. The B-section text (now contemporary poetry) refers directly to the Passion, but again in a tone of universal triumph (‘Show us through your Passion that you, the true Son of God, at all times, even in the greatest abasement, have been glorified’). As many recent authors have noted, the notion of Jesus' glorification through abasement is common in biblical commentaries of Bach's time and in his possession.

Type
Chapter
Information
Bach's Dialogue with Modernity
Perspectives on the Passions
, pp. 97 - 145
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2010

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