Musically, Bach extols Jesus’ Kingship through writing mostly long note values, strong melodic lines and consonant harmonies.Įs ist vollbracht (It is accomplished), the most famous aria from of the Passion, falls to an alto.
#Ich folge dir gleichfalls trial#
This power is portrayed throughout the Passion story: Jesus does not pray to his Father for his cup of suffering to be lifted from him he is not betrayed by a kiss, but willingly gives himself up it is Pilate that runs back and forth from crowd, and the Pharisees to Jesus in the trial scene while Jesus stays where he is Jesus requires no help carrying the cross to Golgotha and, he does not cry out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”.
#Ich folge dir gleichfalls full#
We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. 14 (part of the famous reading from the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols): Throughout his Gospel, John portrays Jesus almost as more God than man, in all majesty and might. Whilst Jesus has relatively little to say in John’s Gospel, mostly due to his refusal to engage with the charges set before him by Pilate on behalf of the Pharisees, what he does say comes with immense power and grandeur.
Unlike in his Matthew Passion, where string chords accompany Jesus’ recitative, Bach sets Jesus’ declamations (of which there are relatively few) to simple recitative, recitativo secco, like that of the Evangelist. The role of Jesus in the John Passion is an intriguing one. The movement is intensely dramatic and one gets the sense that danger isn’t far away.
These two types of section alternate throughout the movement, with Bach employing moments of word painting, such as depicting the descent of Jesus from Heaven at the Incarnation. The choir picks up the spinning quaver figure from the upper strings before beginning a more fugal section, and the upper string figure transfers to the cellos and double bass at the bottom of the texture. At the same time we are reminded of the eventual outcome of Jesus being nailed to the cross by the harsh, close dissonances in the flutes and oboes, and their angular melodic lines add to the feeling of anguish that largely pervades the chorus.Ī quickly descending chromatic bass line ramps up the tension before the choir first enters with the words Herr, unser Herrscher (Lord, our ruler). From the very get-go the audience, and indeed the performers, are swept along by the pulsating bass and the circling semi-quavers in the upper strings (perhaps evoking the stream which Jesus and his disciples cross at the beginning of the Gospel text) which combine to create the agitated, tense affekt.
The opening chorus of Bach’s St John Passion is one of the most gripping beginnings to any piece of music that I know.
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