Weimarer Passion
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The Weimarer Passion,
Background
Of the five Passion settings
Bach in 1717
The year 1717 proved to be a pivotal one in the life and career of Bach, then Court Organist and Concertmaster to the main Court of
Back at Weimar, his employment situation became more complicated. In 1716, his co-employer Ernest Augustus I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach had married Princess Eleonore Wilhelmine of Anhalt-Köthen (an event that Bach probably participated in and for which he provided music). The new duchess's brother (Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen) may also have attended the event. If that is the case, he would have met Bach then. At any rate, on 5 August 1717, Leopold officially ordered Bach to become his Court Kapellmeister. Around the same time (1717), the relations between the co-rulers in Weimar became even more strained than they had been previously, to the point that Wilhelm Ernst officially forbade his employees to have any relations or communications with the Ernst August's residence Rotes Schloss. Wilhelm Ernst was also looking for a successor to the post of Kapellmeister at his court because the previous holder of the post, Johann Samuel Drese, had died on 1 December 1716. Eventually Drese's son (a less talented candidate) was selected for the post. Possibly because of this perceived snub, and also because of the perceived better circumstances awaiting him in Köthen both financially and in prestige, Bach began more vehemently to request his release from Wilhelm Ernst. He had become so insistent that between 6 November and 2 December, he was imprisoned before final permission was granted. The court secretary's report of the incident relates as follows:[7]
On November 6, [1717], the quondam concertmaster and organist Bach was confined to the County Judge's place of detention for too stubbornly forcing the issue of his dismissal and finally on December 2 was freed from arrest with notice of his unfavourable discharge.
At any rate, during this flurry of activity, Bach had also received a commission from
The work
The text and music of this Weimarer Passion are lost. In recent research, nine movements from this work have been identified because Bach reused them in different functions. These are as follows:
- Chorale fantasia on "O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß", D major, for SATB choir, flauto traverso I/II, oboe I/II, violino I/II, viola, continuo (incl. liuto and organo)
- Aria with Chorale "Himmel reiße, Welt erbebe", F-sharp minor, for bass solo, choral soprano, flauto traverso I/II, continuo
- Aria Zerschmettert mich, ihr Felsen und ihr Hügel, A major, for solo tenor, violino I/II, viola, continuo
- Aria Ach windet euch nicht so, geplagte Seelen, C minor, for solo tenor, oboe I/II, bassono, continuo
- Chorale fantasia on "Christe, du Lamm Gottes" G minor (Coro: S A T B, Flauto traverso I/II, Oboe I/II, Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo
- Chorale "Christus, der uns selig macht", BWV 283 (BC F 31.1), A minor, SATB, flauto traverso I/II, oboe I/II, violino I/II, viola, continuo
- Aria Erbarme dich!, D minor, for tenor, flauto traverso, continuo
- Recitativo Erbarme dich!, B-flat major, for tenor, violino I/II, viola, continuo
- Chorale "Bin ich gleich von dir gewichen", B♭ major, SATB, flauto traverso I/II, oboe I/II, violino I/II, viola, continuo
On 7 February 1723, the fifth movement mentioned above was used again after the sermon as the fourth and final movement of the second trial piece Bach wrote for his application for the post of
In 1725, Bach revived (possibly a last-minute decision) his St John Passion. It is possible that he had in mind a revival of the Weimarer Passion, but realized that it was impossible, especially since the Leipzig liturgy required a Passion setting in two parts framing the sermon. However, this did not stop Bach from reusing material from the Weimar work in this new Passion setting. Of the nine movements mentioned in the above list, Bach would use five of them in the second version of the St John Passion:
- Chorale fantasia "O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß" E♭ major (Coro: S A T B, Flauto traverso I/II, Oboe I/II, Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo), replacing the 1724 original Movement I ("Herr, unser Herrscher", G minor, Coro: S A T B, Oboe I/II, Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo). Movements 2-11 of 1724 work = Movements 2-11 of 1725 work.
- Aria with Chorale "Himmel reiße, Welt erbebe" F♯ minor (Solo: B, Coro: S, Flauto traverso I/II, Continuo)--New Movement 12. Movement 12 of 1724 work = Movement 13 of 1725 work. Movement 13 of 1724 work = replaced by movement below.
- Aria "Zerschmettert mich, ihr Felsen und ihr Hügel" A major (Solo: T, Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo)--New Movement 14 (replacing Movement 13 of 1724 work). Movements 14-19 of 1724 work = Movements 15-20 of 1725 work (Movement 20 of 1724 work left out, Movement 19 of 1724 work replaced by new aria [see below])
- Aria "Ach windet euch nicht so, geplagte Seelen" C minor (Solo: T, Oboe I/II, Continuo)--New Movement 20 (replacing Movement 19 of 1724 work). Movements 21-40 of 1724 work = Movements 21- 40 of 1725 work, Movement 40 replaced by new Chorale (see below)
- Chorale fantasia "Christe, du Lamm Gottes" G minor (Coro: S A T B, Flauto traverso I/II, Oboe I/II, Violino I/II, Viola, Continuo)
On 17 November 1726, Bach composed his cantata for the 22nd Sunday after
Between 1728 and 1731, Bach again revived his Quinquagesima cantata Du wahrer Gott und Davids Sohn. This time he set it in C minor and removed the brass parts from the final movements and revised its vocal parts.
Finally, on 29 March 1736, 23 March 1742, and between 1743–1746, Bach revived his St Matthew Passion in a new form. In this version, he replaced the original four-part chorale setting that ends Part I with the chorale fantasia that he used in both the Weimarer Passion and as movement 1 of the 1725 (second) version of the St John Passion. This time, he scored it in E major for 2 choirs, 2 orchestras, 2 organs (and ripieno soprano choir in the 1742 and 1743-6 versions).
Vocal and instrumental forces
The conjectured scoring for the work (based on the scoring of the aforementioned movements that had been reused in other forms) is: tenor and bass soloists, choir SATB, flauto traverso I/II, oboe I/II, violino I/II, viola, basso continuo.[8] There is evidence (in the form of payment records) that the continuo also consisted of one or two lutes. This would therefore be a total of 20 instrumentalists, to which would be added an organist and harpsichordist. Bach would probably be the harpsichordist, as according to the surviving information we have about his conducting position, he often conducted from the harpsichord. However, it is possible that Bach could have led the ensemble from the violin, as with other performances from the Weimar period.[9] For Passion music, there would be no trumpets and timpani. The vocal forces would require 12-16 singers (3-4 per part)
Notes
- ^ Weimarer Passion BWV deest; BC D 1 / Passion
- ^ Wolff 2001, p. 178
- ^ Schabalina, Tatjana. "Texte zur Music" in St. Petersburg - Weitere Funde". Bach-Jahrbuch, vol. 95 (2009). pp. 11-48.
- ^ Schniebes, Gortlieb Friedrich. Verzeichniß des musikalischen Nachlasses des verstorbenen Capellmeisters Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788). Hamburg: Gortlieb Friedrich Schniebes, 1790. p. 81. Retrieved 13 May 2011 from http://www.cpebach.org/cpeb/resources.html Archived 2011-04-14 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Mattheson, Johann. Das Beschützte Orchestre, oder desselben Zweyte Eröffnung Worinn Nicht nur einem würcklichen galant-homme ... sondern auch manchem Musico selbst die alleraufrichtigste und deutlichste Vorstellung musicalischer Wissenschaften ... ertheilet .... Hamburg, Schiller-Verlag, 1717. p. 222. Retrieved 12 May 2011 from the Münchener Digitale Bibliotek website
- ^ actually Louis-Claude Marchand
- ^ David, Mendel & Wolff 1998, p. 80
- ^ Retrieved 17 May 2011 from http://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalWork_work_00001533.
- ^ Wolff 2001, p. 157
References
- Glöckner, Andreas (1995), "Neue Spuren zu Bachs 'Weimarer' Passion", Beiträge zur Bachforschung 1, Hildesheim (in German), pp. 33–46
- David, Hans T.; Mendel, Arthur; Wolff, Christoph (1998), The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents, Norton
- ISBN 0-393-32256-4
External links
- BWV 23b (libretto) Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine at bachdiskographie website
- BWV 23c (libretto) Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine at bachdiskographie website
- BWV 245, second version of 1725 (libretto) Archived 2011-07-25 at the Wayback Machine at bachdiskographie website