One of the most stunning arias in Bach‘s St. Matthew Passion is without a doubt Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben. This aria comes as a quiet interruption of the most intense part of Jesus’ trial before Pilate. The crowd is screaming for Jesus’ crucifixion, and Pilate, fearing a riot, gives them what they demand. In between two shouts of “crucify him”, comes the aria.
Even more stunning is the bizarre orchestration: flute and soprano dance together on two unique melodies, accompanied by two oboes da caccia (predecessor of the modern English horn) – basically a low-pitched oboe. The oboes, I should mention, are by no means low-pitched instruments, nor are they really well adapted at playing the part Bach wrote for them – a funny, pulsing sort of heartbeat.
Heard alone, the aria is so melancholy it hurts. Heard in context, between two loud shouts of “crucify him!”, it is as if Bach was able to pause time to illuminate a glimmer of love in a time of intense hatred.
Yesterday I praised the beauty of Bach’s Passions. The problem is, those pieces are huge productions, requiring an orchestra (sometimes two), choir (sometime three), and a dozen excellent soloists. That sort of performance takes lots of people, time, and money.
The good news is that beauty can be found in the small as well as the large. Equally moving are Healey Willan‘s very functional musical settings for Tenebrae, a service where light slowly gives way to darkness. Willan sets the traditional responses for the service in a textbook choral style, making it accessible to small choirs and liturgically practical. The effect of the music is perfect – you can feel the weight and gravity of the day pulling on you. As an added bonus, you can hear and understand the text perfectly – something which can easily become lost in the counterpoint of the Bach passions.
As it is the most important week of the year for Christians, it’s no surprise that there is a ton of music out there written for Holy Week.
For me, there is no better music for this week than the St. Matthew Passion of Johann Sebastian Bach. I could easily write a blog post for every single movement in this oratorio; I will restrain myself, however, and just give you a few, and use as few words as possible (there’s so much to say, though!)
“Mache dich, mein Herze, rein” is an aria which is sung in the narrative after Jesus has died, and Joseph of Arimathea has taken his body and put it in his personal tomb. In typical baroque pietist fashion, the flowery poetry of the aria makes a metaphor of giving the personal space of one’s heart over to Christ. The music is a pastorale, drawing up images of Elysian fields, perfect pastures.
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