PASSION MUSIC

New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 455, 12 March 1948, Page 12

PASSION MUSIC

Y/iT# the approach of Easter, the chief festival of the Christian 2 eee ee ee a

yy. year, we publish this article

by

BESSIE

POLLARD

tracing the

origins and development of Passion music from early plain-song to the masterpieces of Bach,

Y Passion Music to-day we mean a musical setting of the Passion of Jesus Christ. Like the Oratorio, the Passion springs directly from the medieval Mystery Plays, with their simple drematizations of the Gospel stories; it resembles thé Oratorio, but stresses the religious rather than the dramatic content. Passion Music falls into five clearly defined classes: (1) the ChoralPassion, (2) the Motet-Passion, (3) the Scenic-Passion, 4) the Oratorio-Passion, (5) the Passion-Oratorio. Let us glance at the Choral-Passion first. Its origins go far back, to the 4th Century when the Deacon of the Mass recited the Gospel texts, giving extra prominence to the words of Christ by using a distinctive "Gospel" tone. The

12th Century saw the establishment of a more dramatic* quality in the recita-' tions of the text, and its actual sentation was divided between three

"Deacons of the Passion." The first (tenor) took the part of the NarratorEvangelist; the second (the sub-deacon -alto) presented the Disciples’ words and the voice of the people (the crowd scenes, as it were), while the third (the Priest-bass) intoned the words of Christ. ‘The compass allotted to each

voice was a tetrachord only-the "reciting-note" being the highest. The intonation of the Narrator moved up when anticipating the voice of the people, and down for the part of Christ -the texture of the music was pure plain-song. So the Passion continued through the Middle Ages. It is interesting to trace how a work of this intensely moving character reacted, as music progressed, to the potentialities of a Chorus. The MotetPassion and the Scenic-Passion both flourished in the 16th Century. The first-named had a purely polyphonic setting of the text built on a plain-song Canto Fermo ("fixed song"), while the second, the Scenic-Passion, was the form generally chosen by 16th Century German composers. This may be termed the middle way between the Choral and Motet types, in that it used a Chorus for the voice of the people, and a plainsong delivery for the parts of Christ and the Narrator-Evangelist. The 17th Century brings us the Ora-torio-Passion with its four-part Choruses, and the introduction of the Aria and the Chorale. The Recitatives were sustained by an instrumental figured-bass continuo, the Arias and Choruses being accompanied by the full orchestra of the day. The Passion-Oratorio was _ basically an extended Cantata where the Bible text was replaced with a rhyming (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) metrical are and greater use was made of and the Chorale. (Handel, in % "st. John Passion, reinstated the Biblical text.) The Passions of J. S. Bach are paramount in this period; they amalgamate the OratorioPassion and the Passion-Oratorio; .combine Bible text and the Chorale; incorporate the lyrical Aria and the dramatic Chorus, engaging every effect that will harmonise with the Passion’s spiritual content. Bach’s two monumental surviving Passions (according to St, Matthew, and to St. John) are as fresh to-day as they were in the era that saw their first appearances. Perhaps the St. Matthew Passion may be considered the highest peak of attainment; its scoring is immense-soloists, double chorus, |

double orchestra and organ. Ingeniously harmonised Chorales are introduced, as meditative. points in the story, for the congregation. The Narrator is a tenor, and as the words allotted to the various characters come round, these are taken up by singers representing them. There are contemplative Arias allocated to an _ interpolated character, the Daughter of Jerusalem, while the words of Jesus are generally accompanied by strings only, so setting them apart. The Chorus sometimes portrays the crowd, and sometimes. is more or less personified as a sort of meditative corporate body of Christendom. There are magnificent passages representing the cries of the crowd, the earthquake, and the rending of: the veil in the temple-yet the writing is never theatrical or insincere, but always masterly, in perfect taste,