Akathist of the Passion of Christ
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Liturgical Drama in Bach's St. Matthew Passion
Uri Golomb Liturgical drama in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion Bach’s two surviving Passions are often cited as evidence that he was perfectly capable of producing operatic masterpieces, had he chosen to devote his creative powers to this genre. This view clashes with the notion that church music ought to be calm and measured; indeed, Bach’s contract as Cantor of St. Thomas’s School in Leipzig stipulated: In order to preserve the good order in the churches, [he would] so arrange the music that it shall not last too long, and shall be of such nature as not to make an operatic impression, but rather incite the listeners to devotion. (New Bach Reader, p. 105) One could argue, however, that Bach was never entirely faithful to this pledge, and that in the St. Matthew Passion he came close to violating it entirely. This article explores the fusion of the liturgical and the dramatic in the St. Matthew Passion, viewing the work as the combination of two dramas: the story of Christ’s final hours, and the Christian believer’s response to this story. This is not, of course, the only viable approach to this masterpiece. The St. Matthew Passion is a complex, heterogeneous work, rich in musical and expressive detail yet also displaying an impressive unity across its vast dimensions. This article does not pretend to explore all the work’s aspects; it only provides an overview of one of its distinctive features. 1. The St. Matthew Passion and the Passion genre The Passion is a musical setting of the story of Christ’s arrest, trial and crucifixion, intended as an elaboration of the Gospel reading in the Easter liturgy. -
The Light of the World Matthew 5:14-16
The Light of the World Matthew 5:14-16 You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. - Matthew 5:14-15 Jesus says His followers are the light of the world. This week, find out how you can shine God's amazing light into the world around you. Pray each day to talk to God about what you are learning. Day #2 continued: The Light John 1:6-9 describes Jesus' cousin John the Have you ever thought about the sun? Now Baptist: "A man came who was sent from God. His there's a light! Scientists tell us that the sun is a name was John. He came to give witness about ball of burning gases that is 109 times larger than that light. He gave witness so that all people could the earth! That is like a basketball compared to believe. John himself was not the light. He came the head of a pin. When the sun is shining, it lights only as a witness to the light. The true light that up half of our planet at a time. What does it mean gives light to every man was coming into the world." when Jesus tells us to shine? What does it mean to be a witness? A witness in In the same way, let your light shine in front of a courtroom is one who has seen something and others. -
Introduction
INTRODUCTION During Lent , Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach performed It is difficult to explain why Bach chose to borrow other his first setting of the Passion according to St. John. Had composers’ music rather than always write his own. After he continued the rotation from Georg Philipp Telemann’s performing his first Passion in , a work based in part time, Bach’s first Passion would have been a setting based and almost on the scale of his father’s St. Matthew Passion, on St. John’s Gospel. In Lent , before Bach arrived in BWV , C. P. E. Bach must have become discouraged or Hamburg, Georg Michael Telemann presented his grand- disillusioned with the Hamburg church authorities. Per- father’s St. Luke Passion of . It is not clear why Bach haps one of the pastors told him this work was too long decided to present a St. Matthew Passion in , skip- and elaborate for the services. In December , Bach ping St. John in the sequence. (e entries in Bach’s estate wrote a letter in which he said: “Hamburg is no place for catalogue indicate that he began assembling his Passions a fine musician to stay. (ere is no taste here. Mostly in the year preceding the season of Lent, so that the St. queer stuff and no pleasure in the noble simplicity.” As John Passion is dated –. While the title page of the early as January Bach mentioned that a pair of the libretto to Telemann’s St. John Passion of states “ein- church elders “said politely but pointedly (it was their gerichtet von G. -
Light the World 2020 Prompt Calendar US Version
December hen Jesus Christ was born, angels proclaimed, “Peace on earth, 2020 good will to men.” This December, the promise remains the same. WAs we serve others the way Jesus served, we can end 2020 on a hopeful note. Use this calendar for inspiration as you use every day as a new opportunity to #LightTheWorld. Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday GIVING TUESDAY HERO HIGHLIGHT PEACE ON EARTH THE CHRIST CHILD PAY IT BACKWARDS Text “LIGHT” to 71234 to get Give like Jesus did. Make a Who represents Christlike love Help others feel peace as Jesus Jesus’s birth brought hope. Watch Show gratitude like Jesus did. donation to charity, or volunteer to you? Highlight them on social did. Post a picture or video to The Christ Child, screenshot a Think of someone who served daily reminders on your phone. with a local nonprofit and post a media. social media that brings you moment that gives you hope, and you and return the favor. link so others can participate. peace and calm. share why on social media. Sunday Monday 01 02 03 04 05 FAST RELIEF SIGNS OF CHRISTMAS HEALTH CARING WORDS OF LOVE LIGHT THE FAMILY TREE TREATS TIMES TWO SHOP WITH CARE Fast as Jesus did. Go without a Lift others like Jesus did. Decorate Show appreciation for health-care Be mindful of those you love, like Like Jesus, you can honor those Share as Jesus did. Make two Jesus cared for His community. meal or two and donate the cost a neighbor’s door with Christmas workers. Share a post inviting Jesus was. -
7 LAST WORDS of CHRIST a Good Friday Tenebrae Service
7 LAST WORDS OF CHRIST A Good Friday Tenebrae Service ABOUT THIS SERVICE: This service focuses on the Seven Last Words of Christ and is patterned after the ancient office of Tenebrae. The word "Tenebrae" means darkness. The purpose of the service is to impress upon us the terrible reality of sin, which caused our Savior to die for us. The service begins with the stripping of the altar. As Jesus was stripped for crucifixion, so our altar and chancel are laid bare in remembrance of His great suffering. As the service continues, you will hear your Savior speak His last words, which are recorded for us in the four Gospels. Each reading is followed by a brief devotion, silence, prayer, and a hymn. After each of the 7 Words is read, a candle is extinguished, causing the chancel to become increasingly darkened. By this we are reminded of the darkness that covered the earth at the time our Lord’s crucifixion. It also serves as a reminder of the spiritual darkness that would exist had the Light of the world not come. The exit of the Christ Candle, near the close of the service, signifies Christ's death and burial. Then there is a loud noise, symbolizing the closing of the tomb. The Christ Candle will reappear at the Easter Festival Service in celebration of the resurrection. SILENT PRAYER BEFORE WORSHIP: Lord Jesus Christ, as I meditate in this service on Your death for me, let those final sentences which You spoke from the cross impart a personal blessing, that I may both worship in spirit and truth and be moved to sacrifice my whole life as an offering to You. -
Johann Sebastian Bach's St. John Passion from 1725: a Liturgical Interpretation
Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion from 1725: A Liturgical Interpretation MARKUS RATHEY When we listen to Johann Sebastian Bach’s vocal works today, we do this most of the time in a concert. Bach’s passions and his B minor Mass, his cantatas and songs are an integral part of our canon of concert music. Nothing can be said against this practice. The passions and the Mass have been a part of the Western concert repertoire since the 1830s, and there may not have been a “Bach Revival” in the nineteenth century (and no editions of Bach’s works for that matter) without Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s concert performance of the St. Matthew Passion in the Berlin Singakademie in 1829.1 However, the original sitz im leben of both large-scaled works like his passions, and his smaller cantatas, is the liturgy. Most of his vocal works were composed for use during services in the churches of Leipzig. The pieces unfold their meaning in the context of the liturgy. They engage in a complex intertextual relationship with the liturgical texts that frame them, and with the musical (and theological) practices of the liturgical year of which they are a part. The following essay will outline the liturgical context of the second version of the St. John Passion (BWV 245a) Bach performed on Good Friday 1725 in Leipzig. The piece is a revision of the familiar version of the passion Bach had composed the previous year. The 1725 version of the passion was performed by the Yale Schola Cantorum in 2006, and was accompanied by several lectures I gave in New Haven and New York City. -
The Crucifixion: Stainer's Invention of the Anglican Passion
The Crucifixion: Stainer’s Invention of the Anglican Passion and Its Subsequent Influence on Descendent Works by Maunder, Somervell, Wood, and Thiman Matthew Hoch Abstract The Anglican Passion is a largely forgotten genre that flourished in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Modeled distinctly after the Lutheran Passion— particularly in its use of congregational hymns that punctuate and comment upon the drama—Anglican Passions also owe much to the rise of hymnody and small parish music-making in England during the latter part of the nineteenth century. John Stainer’s The Crucifixion (1887) is a quintessential example of the genre and the Anglican Passion that is most often performed and recorded. This article traces the origins of the genre and explores lesser-known early twentieth-century Anglican Passions that are direct descendants of Stainer’s work. Four works in particular will be reviewed within this historical context: John Henry Maunder’s Olivet to Calvary (1904), Arthur Somervell’s The Passion of Christ (1914), Charles Wood’s The Passion of Our Lord according to St Mark (1920), and Eric Thiman’s The Last Supper (1930). Examining these works in a sequential order reveals a distinct evolution and decline of the genre over the course of these decades, with Wood’s masterpiece standing as the towering achievement of the Anglican Passion genre in the immediate aftermath of World War I. The article concludes with a call for reappraisal of these underperformed works and their potential use in modern liturgical worship. A Brief History of the Passion Genre from the sung in plainchant, and this practice continued Medieval Era to the Eighteenth Century through the late medieval and early Renaissance eras. -
Editorial Guidelines
CARL PHILIPP EMANUEL BACH he omplete orks Editorial Guidelines The Packard Humanities Institute Cambridge, Massachusetts 2019 Editorial Board Robert D. Levin, Chair Darrell M. Berg, General Editor, Series I Ulrich Leisinger, General Editor, Series IV, V, VI Peter Wollny, General Editor, Series II, III, VII Walter B. Hewlett John B. Howard David W. Packard Uwe Wolf Christoph Wolff † Christopher Hogwood, chair 1999–2014 Editorial Office Paul Corneilson, Managing Editor [email protected] Laura Buch, Editor [email protected] Jason B. Grant, Editor [email protected] M a rk W. K n o l l , Editor [email protected] Lisa DeSiro, Production and Editorial Assistant [email protected] Ruth B. Libbey, Administrator and Editorial Assistant [email protected] 11a Mt. Auburn Street Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone: (617) 876-1310 Fax: (617) 876-0074 Website: www.cpebach.org Updated 2019 Contents Introduction to and Organization of the Edition. 1 A. Prefatory Material. 5 Title Pages . 5 Part Titles . 5 Table of Contents . 5 Order of Pieces . 6 Alternate Versions . 7 Abbreviations . 7 General Preface . 8 Preface to Genres . 8 Introduction . 8 Tables . 8 Facsimile Plates and Illustrations . 9 Captions . 9 Original Dedications and Prefaces . 9 Texts of Vocal Works . 9 B. Style and Terminology in Prose . 10 Titles of Works . 10 Movement Designations . 11 Thematic Catalogues. 11 Geographical Names . 12 Library Names and RISM Sigla . 12 Name Authority. 12 Categories of Works . 13 Varieties of Works . 13 Principal and Secondary Churches of Hamburg . 14 Liturgical Calendar . 14 Keys . 15 Pitch Names and Music Symbols . 15 Dynamics and Terms. 16 Meters and Tempos . -
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Summary of Presentations
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Summary of Presentations “Help Me Fall in Love with God” The philosophy of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program is that even very young children have a religious life. God is present to them in their deepest being and they are capable of developing both a conscious and intimate relationship with God. We provide materials based on age-appropriate Scripture passages and liturgical signs that nurture their relationship with God. The program balances exposure to our liturgy and the richness of our communal sacramental life with reading the Bible. Our program begins with presenting the New Testament to the children because it is the foundation of our faith. The youngest learn about Jesus and the beauty and wonder of the Kingdom of God through carefully chosen Bible verses that foster a deep love for Jesus. As they grow older they are encouraged to think about their personal responsibility to maintain this relationship with God and their social responsibility in the world. The oldest group studies the Old Testament in great detail and continues to deepen their understanding of the liturgy. They plan worship services and begin community service. Each presentation has specific materials designed to draw the child into the Biblical and Liturgical themes. These materials are always available to the children during their work time so they have additional opportunity to absorb the lessons. The following is a summary to the presentations offered for Level I. Classes are structured to offer a time of prayer and song, a time for the “presentation” and a time for individual work by the child. -
The Light of the World
I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD DATE WEEK OVERVIEW KEY VERSE August 22 & 23 2 of 7 John 8:12-30 John 8:12 To appreciate the words of Jesus in chapter 8, we must understand the context. In chapter 7 the Jewish people were celebrating one of their week-long feasts, the Feast of Tabernacles. One of the most jubilant feasts, it is filled with both celebration and remembrance, honoring God’s provision and protection for the people of Israel during their 40 years wandering in the wilderness. For seven days of the feast, people live in temporary tent structures as they did in the wilderness during the time of Moses. The Lord Himself was present with the Israelites in the desert, in a tented temple called the Tabernacle. The feast also celebrates His presence as He tabernacles (dwells) with us. 1 The Feast of Tabernacles takes place during the early fall in the harvest season. Harvest was another cause for celebration; honoring the Lord’s provisions through their crops. Though this was a celebratory time for the people, it was a challenging time for Jesus. It was during this festival that the opposition began to grow and intensify towards Him and His ministry. However, this did not distract Jesus from His message. He used several observed rituals as teachable moments to talk about “living water” in chapter 7 and “light” in chapter 8. Continued on page 15 > SETTING THE STAGE LESSON OUTLINE THINGS TO KNOW 1. I Am • The Feast of Tabernacles was also known as the 2. -
Suffering and Social Conscience in the Passion Genre from JS Bach's
Messiahs and Pariahs: Suffering and Social Conscience in the Passion Genre from J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (1727) to David Lang’s the little match girl passion (2007) Johann Jacob Van Niekerk A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts University of Washington 2014 Reading Committee: Giselle Wyers, Chair Geoffrey Boers Shannon Dudley Program Authorized to Offer Degree: School of Music ©Copyright 2014 Johann Jacob Van Niekerk University of Washington Abstract Messiahs and Pariahs: Suffering and Social Conscience in the Passion Genre from J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (1727) to David Lang’s the little match girl passion (2007) Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Giselle Wyers Associate Professor of Choral Music and Voice The themes of suffering and social conscience permeate the history of the sung passion genre: composers have strived for centuries to depict Christ’s suffering and the injustice of his final days. During the past eighty years, the definition of the genre has expanded to include secular protagonists, veiled and not-so-veiled socio- political commentary and increased discussion of suffering and social conscience as socially relevant themes. This dissertation primarily investigates David Lang’s Pulitzer award winning the little match girl passion, premiered in 2007. David Lang’s setting of Danish author and poet Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Match Girl” interspersed with text from the chorales of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (1727) has since been performed by several ensembles in the United States and abroad, where it has evoked emotionally visceral reactions from audiences and critics alike. -
The Meaning and Message of the Beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) Ranko Stefanovic Andrews University
The Meaning and Message of the Beatitudes in the Sermon On the Mount (Matthew 5-7) Ranko Stefanovic Andrews University The Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew 5-7 is probably one of the best known of Jesus’ teachings recorded in the Gospels. This is the first of the five discourses in Matthew that Jesus delivered on an unnamed mount that has traditionally been located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee near Capernaum, which is today marked by the Church of the Beatitudes. New Testament scholarship has treated the Sermon on the Mount as a collection of short sayings spoken by the historical Jesus on different occasions, which Matthew, in this view, redactionally put into one sermon.1 A similar version of the Sermon is found in Luke 6:20-49, known as the Sermon on the Plain, which has been commonly regarded as a Lucan variant of the same discourse. 2 The position taken in this paper is, first of all, that the Matthean and Lucan versions are two different sermons with similar content delivered by Jesus on two different occasions. 3 Secondly, it seems almost certain that the two discourses are summaries of much longer ones, each with a different emphasis, spiritual and physical respectively. Whatever position one takes, it appears that the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew is not just a collection of randomly selected pieces; the discourse displays one coherent literary theme. The Sermon is introduced with the Beatitudes, which are concluded with a couplet of short metaphoric parables on salt and light.