	BACH MUSIC DATABASE ORATORIOS & PASSIONS INTRODUCTORY PAGE

BACH MUSIC DATABASE

ORATORIOS & PASSIONS
INTRODUCTORY PAGE

Oratorios & Passions:
Passions In Lutheran Germany a setting of Christ's Passion and Crucifixion was staple fare for the Good Friday services. During his tenure in Leipzig, Bach provided three settings, two of which survive in more than one version (St.Matthew and St.John), and one (St.Mark) is mostly lost, although there have been numerous attempts to reconstruct the work from the fragments that remain. A fourth, (St.Luke) is widely regarded as apocryphal and is not included on the database. For those interested in exploring the background history of the Passion in Lutheran Germany, the study and performance of those by an important influence for Bach, the Dresden Court composer Heinrich Schütz, is an important staging post. The settings by Schütz of the Passion as written according to the Gospels of St. Luke and St.Matthew were significant precursors, and a form of composition that Bach raised to new heights in scale and invention with his own. The most authoritative German edition to use of Bach's Matthäus-Passion and Johannes-Passion is by the publisher Bärenreiter. However, some choirs (certainly in UK) may have easier access to vocal scores published by Peters Edition and use Bärenreiter only for the orchestral material. It should be noted here that the numbering of the movements in Peters corresponds to the Bach-Werke-Verseichnis and differs to that given in Bärenreiter. Oratorios All of the works attributed to Bach's collection of compositions called "Oratorios" are so called because of the need to have an Evangelist to convey the biblical narrative. All, I say, except Bach's various settings under the BWV number 249, 249a or b and so forth, which was not revised finally and called Easter Oratorio until the 1730s. Even after all this, Bach did not require an Evangelist because there is no biblical narrative! The general shape and form of Bach's "oratorios" follow that of the cantata (the only real difference being the inclusion of the Evangelist) and all were written for important Services. Bach's Cantata BWV 11 is known as the Ascension Oratorio and was performed on Ascension Day 19 May 1735 (see Church Cantatas). His "Christmas Oratorio" BWV 248 is really a special set of six individual cantatas for the various feast-days of Christmas and New Year that relates in musical form the story of Christ's birth through to the visit by the three Wise Men. Ideally, it should be performed on the actual feast-days but today it is more commonly presented featuring specific parts e.g. Part 1, 2 and 3 or Part 1,2, 4 and 6, or Parts 1,2 and 3 in the run-up to Christmas and Parts 4,5, and 6 during early January - thus brightening up considerably the gloomy days of winter. Composed for the Christmas and New Year services of 1734-1735, Bach's Christmas Oratorio is perhaps the most stunning example of his use of "parody" because much of the material first sees the light of day in his earlier secular versions e.g. BWV 214 provides much of the material that later appears in Parts 1 and 3, (see Secular Cantatas). No Christmas and New Year is complete without Bach's Christmas Oratorio and in the absence of public performances where you live, playing your favourite interpretation on CD - one part on each of the appropriate feast-days - is a very satisfying alternative. © Margaret Steinitz

Oratorios & Passions:

Passions
In Lutheran Germany a setting of Christ's Passion and Crucifixion was staple fare for the Good Friday services. During his tenure in Leipzig, Bach provided three settings, two of which survive in more than one version (St.Matthew and St.John), and one (St.Mark) is mostly lost, although there have been numerous attempts to reconstruct the work from the fragments that remain. A fourth, (St.Luke) is widely regarded as apocryphal and is not included on the database.

For those interested in exploring the background history of the Passion in Lutheran Germany, the study and performance of those by an important influence for Bach, the Dresden Court composer Heinrich Schütz, is an important staging post. The settings by Schütz of the Passion as written according to the Gospels of St. Luke and St.Matthew were significant precursors, and a form of composition that Bach raised to new heights in scale and invention with his own.

The most authoritative German edition to use of Bach's Matthäus-Passion and Johannes-Passion is by the publisher Bärenreiter. However, some choirs (certainly in UK) may have easier access to vocal scores published by Peters Edition and use Bärenreiter only for the orchestral material. It should be noted here that the numbering of the movements in Peters corresponds to the Bach-Werke-Verseichnis and differs to that given in Bärenreiter.

Oratorios
All of the works attributed to Bach's collection of compositions called "Oratorios" are so called because of the need to have an Evangelist to convey the biblical narrative. All, I say, except Bach's various settings under the BWV number 249, 249a or b and so forth, which was not revised finally and called Easter Oratorio until the 1730s. Even after all this, Bach did not require an Evangelist because there is no biblical narrative!

The general shape and form of Bach's "oratorios" follow that of the cantata (the only real difference being the inclusion of the Evangelist) and all were written for important Services. Bach's Cantata BWV 11 is known as the Ascension Oratorio and was performed on Ascension Day 19 May 1735 (see Church Cantatas). His "Christmas Oratorio" BWV 248 is really a special set of six individual cantatas for the various feast-days of Christmas and New Year that relates in musical form the story of Christ's birth through to the visit by the three Wise Men. Ideally, it should be performed on the actual feast-days but today it is more commonly presented featuring specific parts e.g. Part 1, 2 and 3 or Part 1,2, 4 and 6, or Parts 1,2 and 3 in the run-up to Christmas and Parts 4,5, and 6 during early January - thus brightening up considerably the gloomy days of winter. Composed for the Christmas and New Year services of 1734-1735, Bach's Christmas Oratorio is perhaps the most stunning example of his use of "parody" because much of the material first sees the light of day in his earlier secular versions e.g. BWV 214 provides much of the material that later appears in Parts 1 and 3, (see Secular Cantatas).

No Christmas and New Year is complete without Bach's Christmas Oratorio and in the absence of public performances where you live, playing your favourite interpretation on CD - one part on each of the appropriate feast-days - is a very satisfying alternative.

BACH MUSIC DATABASE

ORATORIOS & PASSIONSINTRODUCTORY PAGE

ORATORIOS & PASSIONS
INTRODUCTORY PAGE