Johann Sebastian Bach

The Passion
according to St Matthew
BWV 244

Brighton Orpheus Choir with the Sinfonia of Arun (leader: Robin Morrish)
and Ruth Rolt (harpsichord), John Burdett (organ)

conducted by Stella Hull

Quality performance

In an atmosphere of warmth and colour, partly created by banners in the centre aisle, and partly by the throng of people crowding in the church of All Saints, Hove, the Brighton Orpheus Choir, under the inspiring baton of Stella Hull, presented Bach's St Matthew Passion.  This is a long, complex work, and it says much for the quality of the performance that the audience was utterly caught up in it throughout.  Choir, orchestra and soloists unfolded the story of Christ's betrayal, trial and crucifixion;  the pace of the work creating music that was mellow, delicate, and dramatic in turn.

Stephen Brown, the Evangelist, sang with great clarity and feeling - a masterly performance.  Geoffrey Moses offered stature to the role of Christ;  his voice was rich.  Nicholas Watts (Peter), Johan Bogren (Judas), soprano Katherine Manley, and mezzo soprano Nicola Stonehouse all sang their parts well, as did the soloists from the choir.

The two orchestras from the Sinfonia of Arun (leaders Penelope Howard and Julian Counsel) produced some delicate and rich accompaniment from the woodwind sections, with John Burdett (organ) and Ruth Rolt (harpsichord).

Both choirs and orchestras gave a great sense of the turmoil of a storm in 'Lightnings and thunders', and a feeling of poignancy in the final chorus.  At the end of the evening one could only marvel at the wealth of gloriously eloquent music conceived and composed by J.S.Bach for this St Matthew Passion.

Anne Rose

soloists
Stephen Brown (Evangelist, tenor)
Geoffrey Moses (Christus, bass)
Katherine Manley (soprano), Nicola Stonehouse (mezzo-soprano), Nathan Vale (tenor), Johan Bogren (baritone)

Notes on the music

St. Matthew Passion

To Hubert Parry Bach’s St. Matthew Passion was simply “the richest and noblest example of sacred music in existence”. Leonard Bernstein considered that “for Bach, nothing could exceed in pity, terror or exultation, the simple story of Christ and the wonder of Man’s relation to it. And it is here in the drama of Christianity that Bach’s dramatic genius burns most brightly”.

It is fitting that it should be performed this evening on the eve of Passion Sunday, beginning as it does the period of Passion-tide: the two weeks approaching Easter. The first performance in its present form was given on Good Friday, 15th April 1729 while Bach was Cantor of Leipzig in Germany, a post he held until his death in 1750. The work then lay in obscurity from which it was rescued by Mendelssohn and revived in 1829 and has taken its rightful place among the greatest works of the choral repertoire ever since. Bach, of course, set text in his native German. However, I feel assured that he, as a Lutheran, would be fully supportive of the work sung in English translation. The Reformed Church believed that the language of worship, to quote Cranmer, should be “understanded of the people”. In this performance we shall be using Neil Jenkins’ recent New Novello Edition.

Bach’s Passion composition was no new departure, but follows the ancient tradition of reciting during Holy Week the betrayal, trial and crucifixion of Christ. The early plainsong renditions grew in the Middle Ages to the custom of three priests singing the Passion story: a tenor singing the narrative, a bass the part of Christ and an alto providing the parts of the crowd. The Renaissance saw the advance of harmony and so four-part choruses were employed for the disciples and other onlookers. With the Reformation came Passions written in German, and by the 17th century Heinrich Schütz adopted aspects of the “new-fangled opera”.  Recitative replaced plainchant and duets and ensembles were introduced, extra reflective words were added and chorales interspersed for the congregation to participate. Bach himself made five Passion settings, but the St. Matthew is the greatest in terms of both complexity of composition and in dramatic power and invention.

The work has three elements. The words of the Gospel are narrated by the Evangelist with other soloists singing the roles of characters in the drama (the part of Christ being the greatest). Two four-part choruses represent at different times the disciples, the Jewish crowd and Roman soldiers. The part of the Evangelist is amazingly expressive, contained as it is within common time and syllabic setting (apart from the few significant exceptions of “crucified”, “crowing” and “bitterly”). The part of Christ is always surrounded by what has become known as a “halo of string sound”. The exception is the final utterance “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” as, taking on His shoulders the sin of the world, Jesus is finally cut off from his Father for Man’s Salvation.

Secondly there are the non-biblical, reflective movements for soloist or chorus with texts by the Leipzig poet, Picander. These are moments of thoughtful, emotional and personal response to the flow of the narrative.  Like a Greek tragedy, the work is framed by two wonderful choruses. The opening Chorus of astounding complexity yet simple dramatic intent establishes the grief-laden atmosphere and pain and suffering of the ensuing work. “Come ye daughters, share my weeping” is sung by the voices in double fugato accompanied by a throbbing, heart-beating orchestra. The second choir questions the first which acclaim the “Bridegroom Christ” who is also the “Lamb of God”. Over the whole rises the German hymn version of the Agnus Dei (“O Lamb of God most holy”) sung by a ninth part from the ripieno Choir. At the moment of Judas’ betrayal Bach’s dramatic ingenuity is unleashed. “Lightnings and thunders” flash between the two choirs and the horror of the “bottomless pit” is exhorted to be opened up in anger. The sublimely gentle final movement takes the dance form of a sarabande, tenderly bidding farewell to the crucified Lord.

Woven into the drama is the third element of the chorales or German hymn tunes, personally selected and expressively harmonised by Bach himself.  Providing moments of participation for the original congregations, they draw the listener in to reflect upon and identify with the drama as it unfolds.

SEH

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Bach was born on 21 March 1685, into a family that over seven generations produced at least 53 prominent musicians. Johann Sebastian received his own first musical instruction from his father, Johann Ambrosius, a town musician. When his father died, he went to live and study with his elder brother, Johann Christoph, an organist. He first earned his living as a chorister, then as a violinist. After a few years he studied the organ with Buxtehude. From 1708, both as an organist and a violinist, he worked at the court of Weimar, and it is there that the first outpouring of composition originates.

Bach moved to Leipzig in 1723 and spent the rest of his life there, as musical director and choirmaster of Saint Thomas's church and church school. 202 out of 295 cantatas he wrote in Leipzig have survived and are still played today. The St. John Passion and the St. Matthew Passion were both written in Leipzig, as was the epic Mass in B Minor.

Bach died on 28 July 1750.  His sight had begun to fail in the last year of his life, and his death came after undergoing an unsuccessful eye operation.  After Bach's death in 1750 he was remembered less as a composer than as an organist and harpsichord player. Consequently, for the next 80 years his music was neglected by the public, although a few musicians admired it, among them Mozart and Beethoven. The real revival of interest in Bach's music occurred in the mid-19th century, when in 1829 the German composer Felix Mendelssohn arranged a performance of the St. Matthew Passion, which did much to awaken popular interest in Bach.

The Bach Gesellschaft, formed in 1850, devoted itself assiduously to finding, editing, and publishing Bach's works. The Bach revival coincided with the flowering of the romantic movement in music, and it has to be said that performance styles were frequently gross distortions of Bach's intentions. In the twentieth century principles of performance that are truer to Bach's era and his music have gradually been established. One of the most interesting Bach scholars was the medical missionary, organist, and musicologist Albert Schweitzer.

A manuscript page from Bach's St. Matthew Passion, from the collection in the library of Leipzig University. The score is handwritten, with comments written in reddish-brown ink.