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.
I hate election season. It’s just another version of professional wrestling, only with more name-calling and slightly less chair-throwing. (My apologies to pro. wrestlers for the comparison. I hope you aren’t insulted. Please don’t throw a chair at me.)
American composer Steven Mark Kohn has written a piece which pokes playfully at a politician’s speech. If only the real thing were this enjoyable.
Alas, poor Frederic’s father had intended his son to become a ship’s pilot, but his hard-of-hearing nanny misheard him, and instead indentured him to be a pirate. And to make matters worse, his contract said he was to be indentured until his 21st birthday, as opposed to his 21st year of life. Normally this would not be a problem, but, you see, Frederic was born on February 29th, and so in his 21st year, he was only a bit over 5 birthdays old …
Throw in a few pirate and policeman choruses, a patter song or two, and corny love story, and you’ve got yourself an opry! (As ridiculous as this plot sounds, it’s fairly normal as operas go.)
This 1983 movie version of the Pirates of Penzance is like a bang hangover from the 1970s. However, it captures the spirit perfectly, and I can’t deny that I kind of like the electronic orchestra.
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