This Easter-time Berlin presentation was a stunning success and was followed by others. Witness Bach’s spine-tingling masterpiece presented by Bach Musica NZ, star soloists and guests from the Auckland Girls’ Choir. Thus, the score is laid out for Chorus 1 and Orchestra 1, Chorus 2 and Orchestra 2. King’s College presents a new account of one of s acred music ’s greatest masterpieces, the Bach St Matthew Passion, recorded before Sir Stephen Cleobury’s untimely death on 22 November 2019. Highlights to look out for are the alto aria ‘Buss Und Reu’ (‘Penance And Remorse’), one for soprano, ‘Blute Nur, Du Liebes Herz! Stream songs including "St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244: No. 2, Evangelist, Jesus: "Da Jesus Diese Rede Vollendet Hatte"" and more. This new version of the Bach Saint Matthew Passion has a fresh new interpretation of the Passion, as well as Bach's own structuring from the Gospel of Matthew. Twenty years later, in April 2019, it was time once again, as the singers and players gathered in the Concert Hall of the Saitama Arts Theater in Japan. Buy download online. It is the longest and most elaborate of all works by this Baroque master and represents the culmination of his sacred music and, indeed, of Baroque sacred music as a whole. It is even written in two Parts (or two ‘Acts’) with an interval (indeed, for the work’s first performance a sermon was preached between the two Parts) – and that is one reason why its first performance in Leipzig met with decidedly mixed reactions. These led directly to a complete reassessment and revival of interest in all of Bach’s music for, baffling as it seems nowadays, Johann Sebastian Bach had fallen into near obscurity since his death nearly 80 years earlier. Unlike the opera, the best-known type of musical drama, the oratorio does not use costumes, makeup, or musicians who act while they sing. In Bach’s time, St Thomas’s had two organ lofts – the larger of the two accommodating the musicians for Sunday services throughout the year, the smaller loft used for the additional numbers needed for the music at Christmas and Easter. The new pressing from original sources is on 180gm vinyl and, to enhance audio quality, no side exceeds 30 minutes. The story was arranged by Christian Friedrich Henrici, a postal official in the city who wrote verses using the pseudonym of Picander. Two large ensembles play in dialogue, and the score presents a symmetrical structure. Bach with some bite: How 'The St Matthew Passion' went from zero to hero. “His latest recording of Bach’s St Matthew Passion places his work up for comparison with everyone from Furtwängler and Klemperer to Harnoncourt and Gardiner.” Early Music Today “It’s a stunning interpretation of Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Gabrieli Players under Paul McCreesh… (‘Bleed Now, Loving Heart!’); the sublime alto aria with violin obligato ‘Erbame, Dich’ (‘Have Mercy’), a second soprano aria ‘Aus Liebe Will Mein Heiland Sterben’ (‘Out Of Love My Saviour Is Willing To Die’); the blood-curdling moment when the mob calls for Barrabas to be freed and Christ to be crucified’; and the final number in the Passion, the double chorus ‘Wir Setzen Uns Mit Tränen Nieder’ (usually translated as ‘ In Tears Of Grief’). Listen to John Eliot Gardiner’s benchmark recording of Bach’s St Matthew Passion right now. Bach uses it no less than five times in the course of the St Matthew Passion, each time presenting it in a new way, with different words, keys and harmonisations (he also used it – twice – in the Christmas Oratorio and in several cantatas). It is a several-hours-long musical drama that depicts, expands and comments on Chapters 26 and 27 from Matthew’s Gospel, starting with Jesus’s foretelling of the crucifixion and ending with Pilate’s placement of guards at the tomb. Soprano,Alto,Tenor,Bass,Chorus II: "Nun ist der Herr zur Ruh gebracht" with Chorus: "Mein Jesu, gute Nacht" by Edith Mathis & Dame Janet Baker & Peter Schreier & Münchener Bach-Orchester & Karl Richter & Münchener Bach-Chor & Die Regensburger Domspatzen & Georg Ratzinger 2:55 The speeches of various characters – Commentator (soprano), Evangelist (tenor), Christ (bass), Peter (bass), Judas (bass) and so forth – are represented by various solo singers. The St. John Passion. In 1725, two years after he took up his appointment of cantor at St. Thomas’s, he wrote the Passion According To St. John. This was an unorthodox way of presenting religious history and not the kind of thing that the more devout members of the congregation / audience felt was appropriate for a church, the feeling being that the work was too ‘operatic’. In the St Matthew Passion, the strings play a long high chord whenever Jesus sings, setting his singing apart from the other singing like a musical 'halo'. The St. Matthew Passion ( German: Matthäuspassion) is a musical composition written by Johann Sebastian Bach. Rather, the composer restricts himself to creating a drama whose full force comes to expression through the musical delivery. PRESENTED BY: Bach Musica NZ orchestra & chorus, soloists and guests from the Auckland Girls’ Choir. Masaaki Suzuki and his Bach Collegium Japan made their first recording of the St Matthew Passion in March 1999. By great good fortune, two of his singers were Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn. Required fields are marked *. Bach's "St. Matthew Passion" | Markus Rathey and Martin Jean April 7, 2020 ISM Director Martin Jean and Professor Markus Rathey, author of Bach’s Major Vocal Works: Music, Drama Liturgy, discuss Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and more. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion was first performed at St. Thomas Church at the Good Friday vespers service on April 11, 1727. Like operas, though, oratorios do have casts. Bach’s score is, after all, a sacred drama and Gardiner interprets this aspect of the work with lively and colourful conviction… Singing and playing of this calibre deserve to win many friends…’” – Gramophone. The first part concerns Jesus Christ’s betrayal, the Last Supper, and his prayers and arrest in Gethsemane. Bach: St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 / Part Two - No. Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article. The St. Matthew Passion is Bach’s grandest musical composition. A smaller piece than the 1727 St. Matthew, Bach’s St. John Passion was first performed in 1724. Info for Bach: St. Matthew Passion. Saint Peter’s Choir and Bach Collegium Period Orchestra is led from the harpsichord by Dr. Bálint Karosi. Ring in the new year with a Britannica Membership. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Willcocks’s comments still hold good and this superb recording justifies them on purely musical grounds, with noticeably brisk tempi, lending a welcome light and nimble touch to proceedings. Scholars now agree that an early version was first heard two years earlier, a second version in 1729, a further revised version in 1736 and a final one – the one we hear today – in 1742. Johann Sebastian Bach's St Matthew Passion was first heard on Good Friday, 1727. Stream songs including "St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244: No. J.S. Find out more about the best versions, and listen and download your favourites. “What makes Gardiner’s St Matthew Passion stand out in the face of stiff competition is, more than anything, his vivid sense of theatre. For instance, whereas the St John Passion had a mere continuo accompaniment (harpsichord or organ), its successor had an orchestra with Christ’s words accompanied by strings (an effect that has been compared to a halo round the Saviour’s head). The St. Matthew Passion was performed several times during the composer’s life, and a copy of its original manuscript exists in Bach’s own handwriting. In his notes for the original LP set, Sir David justified his deliberate departures from ‘the so-called authentic type of performance’, despite advances in Bach scholarship and a plethora of top-notch period performances. The St. Matthew Passion had its first performance three years later, on April 11, 1727 in Leipzig’s St. Thomas Church, where Bach was cantor. It is a theatrical concept, a drama. Essentially a form of interactive theater, the St. Matthew Passion depicts the final sufferings and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. John Eliot Gardiner’s benchmark recording of Bach’s St Matthew Passion can be bought here. The story for the work was taken mostly from the Gospel According to Matthew , but the actual verses that Bach set to music were provided by several contemporary poets. English language Until 1975, it was held that the first performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion was on Good Friday 1729. West Australian Symphony Orchestra and St George’s Concert Series present a supremely dramatic masterpiece. It calls for two separate orchestras and choirs, which all perform together and separately throughout. St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244, byname of The Passion According to St. Matthew, German byname Matthäus-Passion or Matthäuspassion, Passion music by Johann Sebastian Bach. St Matthew Passion - Bach. Bach’s Passion According to Saint Matthew, BWV 244, much as the great cantor would have performed it in liturgical setting. That same effect happens in several other airs, sometimes with the singers receiving woodwind partners and sometimes viola da gamba and always further support from continuo parts. The results are just full of wonder, and bittersweet joy--perfectly suited to the seasons f Easter and Passover, not to mention the Time of the Coronavirus disease plague in 2020. “The St Matthew Passion could, like so much of Bach’s music, have … A 1732 account of a performance of one of Bach’s Passions captures a Vockerodt-style indictment of Bach’s brand of Passion music. The St. Matthew Passion is one of hundreds of sacred pieces Bach wrote during his long tenure as director of church music and cantor of the school at Thomaskirche. It sets chapters 26 and 27 of the Gospel of Matthew to music, sung in recitative by the various characters portrayed within the text. Explore our guide to Bach’s ‘St Matthew Passion’ widely regarded as one of the greatest masterpieces of classical sacred music. Rita Paczian: Conductor Though this news is disappointing, we look forward to bringing you this inspiring concert in a future season. This monumental St Matthew Passion is hailed as the greatest setting of the Passion story in western music, but surprisingly it was not until almost 100 years after its premiere that Bach’s music got the recognition it deserved. Most prominent of those is the chorus “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden” (“O Sacred Head Now Wounded”), which stands as 54th of the 68 sections. In St. M… Sir John’s approach to the work is as celebrated as his first-class soloists, his great Monteverdi Choir and the splendid English Baroque Soloists. The story for the work was taken mostly from the Gospel According to Matthew, but the actual verses that Bach set to music were provided by several contemporary poets. 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