MENDELSSOHN CLUB OF PHILADELPHIA

Alan Harler | Artistic Director Sunday | February 8, 2015

A NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE PHOTOS BY MARK GAMBOL After more than forty years as a “conductor and over a quarter century with Mendelssohn Club, I am honored and humbled to bring this glorious score to Philadelphia for its North American premiere.

–AlAn HArler , A rtistic Dir”ector introDuction

t is not oen that a single concert changes the musical landscape, but it can be said Iwith some justification that Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s landmark presentation of Bach’s monumental St. Matthew Passion on March 11, 1829 did exactly that. e concert had generated intense anticipation and was so enthusiastically received that it had to be repeated twice. Mendelssohn was in a unique position to bring Bach’s sacred masterpiece to life. ree generations of his family had studied Bach, played Bach, collected Bach manuscripts and featured performances of Bach at the musical salons they hosted. Mendelssohn’s own teacher carl Friedrich Zelter revered Bach, and made sure his students were thoroughly grounded in harmonic structure, counterpoint, figured bass and chorale writing. Mendelssohn was not the first to present Bach’s sacred music. Zelter frequently rehearsed Bach with his Sing-Akademie zu Berlin and had given private performances of the St. John Passion and parts of the B-minor Mass, and Gaspare spontini, director of the Berlin Hofoper, had presented the credo from the B-minor Mass at a concert in 1828. But none of these performances fired the public imagination or generated the lasting interest that Mendelssohn’s St. Matthew Passion did. it was due to Mendelssohn’s meticulous preparation, superb musicianship and unique artistic vision that he was able to present Bach, not as a “dry mathematician,” but as a composer of music of profound beauty, deep spirituality, and great drama. e musical landscape would never be the same again.

– Michael Moore

1 Artistic statement

hen we listen to the music of Johann sebastian Bach, we sense his For the past five decades, i have longed to conduct Bach’s St. Matthew Wdeep concern for humanity and his desire that we hold ourselves to the Passion having conducted the st. John Passion and Mass in B Minor highest values. After almost three centuries, audiences all over the world numerous times. Yet, in my long career of teaching and conducting, the still respond strongly to Bach’s humanism and compassion. Working so timing just never aligned with the resources required. A symphonic closely with Bach specialist Koji otsuki reinforced the idea that Felix chorus as large as Mendelssohn club never seemed appropriate to this Mendelssohn also revered Bach’s genius. i decided to travel to oxford work because of the intimate size of the group required in Bach’s original university myself to examine Mendelssohn’s own copy of Bach’s score. the score poses other challenges for a chorus of any size including St. Matthew Passion . the delicate and quite difficult coloratura passages and the Baroque period practices related to instrumentation, vocal affect, etc. All that Although i have been involved in over fifty commissions with changed, however, three years ago, when i heard christoph spering’s Mendelssohn club, i have never experienced such intimacy with a performance of Mendelssohn’s version. Here at last was a St. Matthew contemporary score. studying Mendelssohn’s own handwriting on his Passion that was compatible with the 140 voices of Mendelssohn club score was like inspecting the brushstrokes of a master painter. Did he of Philadelphia. choose pencil rather than in ink because of an underlying uncertainly about changes or was he simply being careful not to destroy the original? this project begs us to examine our founding and our role in Do erased sections reveal that he was struggling with a given passage or Philadelphia’s cultural history and to ask “Are we still relevant?” the phrase? Mendelssohn handled his rare copy with great care, tenderly laying answer is “yes” and this project is a perfect example as to why. our paper over the parts he “cut” so that the original would never be damaged. St. Matthew Passion offers the community many different opportunities to come together and to experience the music—by singing together, by My time in the Bodleian library at oxford provided me with a deeper watching videos of our process, by learning more about both Bach and understanding of what Mendelssohn wanted to achieve with his version of Mendelssohn, and by being swept away by the sheer drama of the the St. Matthew Passion . i now have a more profound appreciation of his Passion and the world-class soloists singing it. Mendelssohn club respect for Bach as a master composer with so much to teach all who chorus is providing a way to experience choral singing, classical music’s came after him. in many ways, Mendelssohn considered himself a student most accessible form, at both the micro and the macro levels, in both of Bach. over a century later, my teacher and mentor, the brilliant Julius passive and participatory ways. Herford, shared his own very deep connection to Bach the composer, and to Bach the man, with me and with all his students—including leonard After more than forty years as a conductor and over a quarter century Bernstein, Margaret Hillis, and robert shaw, among others. As a young with Mendelssohn club, i am honored and humbled to bring this faculty member at indiana university and the Aspen choral institute, glorious score to Philadelphia for its north American premiere. i am i was struck by Herford's reverence for the Bach master—especially genuinely excited to be advised by Maestro Masaaki suzuki, one the considering the historical context of the St. Matthew Passion and world’s foremost specialists and conductors of Bach. All of us are eager Herford's experience as a Jewish man who had to flee nazi Germany. to replicate Felix Mendelssohn’s specific directions by performing this

2 work outside of liturgical practice and by using operatic voices for the Artistic Director Alan Harler joined soloists. obviously, presenting this version of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia provides our chorus with an historic opportunity to speak about our in 1988, and also served for three own founding in 1874. Finally, i am especially proud that our research decades as Laura H. Carnell and public performance will bring new awareness of this important Professor and Chairman of Choral score to audiences and choruses across the world. Music at Temple University’s Boyer College of Music. He has appeared – Alan Harler at the Festival Casals in San Juan Artistic Director, Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia and the Aspen Choral Institute; has conducted master classes and PHOTO BY SHARON TORELLO performances in Taiwan, China and South Africa; and has prepared choruses for the world’s leading conductors. In 2007, Harler received the American choral Directors’ Association elaine Brown Award for lifelong service to choral Music. In 2009, he was honored with Chorus America’s Michael Korn Founder’s Award for Development of the Professional choral Art. Although I have been involved in “ over fifty commissions with Mendelssohn Club, I have never experienced such intimacy with a contemporary score.

” 3 HistorY

he music of J.s. Bach represents the planet earth and the human Mendelssohn did his job extremely well to re-introduce this masterwork Tcivilization—not only figuratively but also literally. Aboard the Voyager to the public of the early romanticism. not only his strong musicianship spacecrafts launched by nAsA in 1977 are the golden records that but also his charisma and personality must have helped in leading the contain three tracks of Bach, along with two tracks of Beethoven and amateur chorus groups just like Mendelssohn club in his Bach performances . one track each of Mozart and stravinsky. We humans think Bach is one Perhaps Mendelssohn recognized in this profound church music Bach’s of the greatest composers ever lived on this planet, and we are very universality—and he tried to expose it to his public as directly as proud to present his works to possible intelligent life forms from other possible in his own way. planetary systems. the St. Matthew Passion is arguably the most powerful and prominent work by the master composer; how could we the golden records on the Voyager probes are the evidence that we not feel privileged, excited and humbled to take on this masterwork? recognize Bach’s universality today. it seems that we are still following Mendelssohn’s footsteps in that respect. then backtracking the footsteps of course it needs to be mentioned that the version we have taken on to see how Mendelssohn cut his way would be just the thing for us to do to is by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy from his 1841 performance in fathom his contributions in music history, and consequently, to get closer leipzig. When Mendelssohn conducted the St. Matthew Passion in the to Bach, arguably the greatest composer who ever lived on this planet. thomaskirche on April 4 (Palm sunday), it was the first time the piece was heard there in leipzig after Bach’s lifetime—91 years had passed – Koji Otsuki since he died there in his thomasschule apartment in 1750. Bach specialist

Mendelssohn’s historic revival performance of the work in 1829 Berlin was a huge success, but it owes its success partially to his alterations of the work. He cut about a third of the original version; what was omitted were mostly choräle and arias with minimal instrumentation. the result Koji Otsuki is a versatile conductor and was that its introspective and meditative character subsided, but instead, performer specializing in the music of the profession of God’s providence through the biblical narrative of the J.S. Bach. A former student of Alan Harler Passion gained some significance, resembling the st. John Passion to and Masaaki Suzuki, he serves as overall some extent. Although some of the omitted movements were brought project consultant and artistic adviser to back in the 1841 leipzig version, this latter version would still surprise the conductor for the project. In addition to the audience that is familiar with Bach’s original today. being a conducting instructor at Temple University, he is also head music librarian However necessary those omissions were to Mendelssohn, we still may and Bach cantata coach at the Marlboro find them to be sacrilegious. But what we should not forget here is the fact Music Festival where he collaborates with that the revival performances were done outside the traditional liturgical world-class musicians. His Bach lectures framework. instead, they were meant for the public that began to accept and master classes have been received religion as emotional experience after the age of enlightenment when the with enthusiasm and are sought-after public’s focus had been on reason over superstition. internationally. He is founding director of the Gamut Bach Ensemble. 4 Bach, Mendelssohn & e Chorale | october 2014 | Program notes

t six in the evening on March 11, 1829, Berlin’s musical wunderkind the idea of a Bach AFelix Mendelssohn sat down at the piano in the Berlin Sing-Akademie’s revival suggests that new hall, raised his baton, and gave the downbeat to what has become Bach had somehow one of the most famous and historically significant concerts of all, the fallen into obscurity, first public performance in nearly a century of Bach’s magnificent which isn’t quite St. Matthew Passion . the performance was two years in the making and accurate. As in his had generated intense public anticipation. the hall was packed with an own lifetime, sebastian audience estimated at 1000 people, including such luminaries as the Bach was mostly King and crown Prince of Prussia, explorer and naturalist Alexander known as a virtuoso von Humboldt, poet Heinrich Heine, and philosopher G. W. F. Hegel; organist and teacher. an equal number of people were turned away at the door. the audience (in the early 19 th century, was entranced by the beauty and dramatic power of the Passion , and the he was invariably called performance ignited a revival of interest in Bach’s music that continues sebastian Bach to J.S. Bach to this day. distinguish him from his five sons who also became musicians.) He was largely represented by his in 1841, Mendelssohn presented a revised and slightly enlarged version keyboard music; his four-volume Keyboard Works had been published of the St. Matthew Passion in the Thomaskirche in leipzig, where it during his lifetime and The Well-Tempered Clavier was widely available had been premiered by Bach. on February 8, Mendelssohn club will in manuscript. Most keyboard players would have studied Bach, but recreate this historic concert, its first hearing in north America. despite his keyboard music’s melodic and harmonic inventiveness, this afternoon’s concert, in Mendelssohn club’s popular Big sing it was considered more like exercises than recital material. Bach’s five format, will set the stage for that performance. You’ll be introduced musician sons did much to keep his musical tradition alive, but again to some of the music from the St. Matthew Passion , learn the role that more through exposing their pupils to his music than performing it in chorale tunes play in its structure (and even sing a few chorales), and see concert. of Bach’s incredible output of sacred vocal music, almost none how Bach influenced Mendelssohn and how Mendelssohn approached was published and very little was widely known. in 1789, for example, Bach’s music. And we’ll trace some of the remarkable story of how an Mozart visited leipzig, where Bach had written most of his sacred 18-year old pianist and composer became convinced that he should music, and the cantor of the Thomasschule surprised him with a present Bach’s masterpiece to the world, a story which includes a family performance of Bach’s double-choir motet Singet dem Herren ein neues with an almost proprietary regard for Bach’s music, a bricklayer who Lied (sing to the lord a new song). Mozart was entranced by the beauty became the most influential musician in Prussia, and an amateur chorus and intricate construction of the piece, which he had not known before, that was considered Berlin’s greatest musical gem despite rarely and he spent the balance of the day poring over Bach manuscripts in appearing in public performance. their collection.

5 Mendelssohn’s own also kept up his musical activities, playing violin in a theater orchestra family was so steeped in and writing choral works which were sometimes performed. When Bach’s music that when Zelter’s father died, he took over the business, but used it to fund his his older sister Fanny musical career. He eventually found a theory teacher in carl Friedrich was born, his mother Fasch, the founder and then-director of the Sing-Akademie . lea exclaimed that she had wonderful fingers Fasch was the son of a more famous (and, sadly, more talented) for Bach fugues! (And composer. He studied with c. P. e. Bach and succeeded him as indeed, she did. Fanny was an harpsichordist at the royal court. He started what would become the Sing-Akademie in 1791. it began as a sort of “singing tea,” where people Felix Mendelssohn accomplished pianist and talented composer in her own right and, at socialized as much as sang. the chorus was drawn mainly from amateur age 13, played Bach’s entire Well-Tempered Clavier from memory at a musicians in the wealthier strata of society as well as a few professional recital.) Felix’s great-aunt sara was a virtuoso harpsichord player who musicians, the only two classes of people who would have had access to studied with Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (the eldest son) and premiered musical training. Mendelssohn’s great-aunt sara had been a member, carl Philipp emanuel Bach’s (the second son) Concerto for Harpsichord as was his father Abraham. Fasch initially rehearsed them mostly with and Piano . Felix’s great-aunt Fanny (for whom his sister was named), his his own music, but began introducing Bach motets after a few years. grandmother Bella and his mother all studied with Johann Philipp there was no thought of public performances; the chorus learned and Kirnberger, sebastian Bach’s most distinguished student, a composer rehearsed music for its members’ own edification and satisfaction. and music theorist who wrote an influential textbook on the art of composition. it was great-aunt Fanny who started hosting musical salons When Fasch recruited his student Zelter into the organization, things showcasing both local and visiting musicians and heavily featuring the began to change. Zelter lobbied for a permanent rehearsal venue and music of sebastian Bach, a tradition carried on by Mendelssohn’s mother succeeded in obtaining space in the Academy of Fine Arts building, and sister in turn. which also gave the chorus its name. Zelter assumed the leadership of the Sing-Akademie when Fasch died in 1800. He added a men’s chorus When Mendelssohn was eight, he and Fanny were sent for composition and an instrumental ensemble, and expanded their repertoire to include and music theory lessons to carl Friedrich Zelter, director of the Handel oratorios as well as more Bach sacred music. the reputation of Sing-Akademie zu Berlin and the city’s most respected musician. Zelter the Sing-Akademie as an outstanding choral ensemble continued to was the son of a master stonemason who owned his own brickworks grow, despite the very few public performances it gave. its rehearsals and acted as a contractor for the wealthy and socially well-connected. were open to the public (Beethoven attended one in 1796), it presented Zelter was drawn to music at an early age, and his father arranged piano some private performances, and it traditionally presented a public Good and violin lessons, but insisted that Zelter learn a trade because the life Friday performance. But under Zelter, the Sing-Akademie largely held to of a professional musician was still precarious at best. Zelter obligingly its charter, to provide “practical study of musical works for the was apprenticed and eventually became a master mason himself, but he edification of the mind.”

6 Zelter’s approach to Bach was a complicated one. He revered the performers, starting with eduard Devrient, another friend from the composer and had acquired a vast collection of Bach manuscripts with Sing-Akademie who was also a soloist at the Berlin opera. they the Sing-Akademie (including ones donated by Abraham and great-aunt eventually assembled a small chorus and instrumental ensemble, sara). He was a highly regarded teacher, and his students (which also mostly Sing-Akademie members. sometime in 1828, Mendelssohn and included future opera composers otto nicolai and Giacomo Meyerbeer) Devrient concluded that they should perform the Passion in public, were thoroughly grounded in Bach’s music, studying harmonic structure, counterpoint, figured bass and chorale writing from Kirnberger’s textbook. He introduced a great deal of Bach’s sacred music to the Sing-Akademie , including the complete St. John Passion and parts of the St. Matthew Passion and B-minor Mass , but he often altered Bach’s music, simplifying rhythmic and harmonic passages, sometimes even making his edits on Bach autograph manuscripts. He reserved Bach’s more intricate music, which he called “the bristly bits,” for private study with his more advanced singers. He strongly opposed presenting Bach’s music in public performance, expecting that the general public could not appreciate the beauty and subtlety of his music. He considered himself a guardian of Bach’s legacy, which could best be served by exposing talented amateur musicians to his works. it was Mendelssohn’s grandmother Bella who undertook the difficult task of extracting Zelter’s manuscript copy of the St. Matthew Passion from his grasp so she could have it copied and presented to her grandson on his fifteenth birthday. Mendelssohn was delighted with Sing-Akademie zu Berlin the score and began an intense study. it may have been his friend Julius schubring who planted the seed for its performance. schubring, then a young divinity student and member of the Sing-Akademie (and later with Mendelssohn conducting and Devrient singing the part of Jesus, librettist for Mendelssohn’s oratorios St. Paul and Elijah ), complained and using the forces of the Sing-Akademie . obtaining Zelter’s consent to Mendelssohn that he found it difficult to think of Bach’s music “as was a major obstacle, but Mendelssohn and Devrient answered his every aught but a dry arithmetical sum.” Mendelssohn immediately fetched his objection and eventually won his grudging acquiescence. Devrient Matthew Passion score and began playing and singing. His sisters and recruited colleagues from the opera as soloists and eduard rietz, schubring joined in, and schubring was entranced by the dramatic Mendelssohn’s violin teacher and former member of the royal chapel power and sweep of the music. Mendelssohn proposed they should meet orchestra, helped recruit instrumentalists. regularly to sing through the Passion , and began recruiting additional

7 set for vocal soloists, double chorus and double orchestra, the St. Matthew Passion was sebastian Bach’s largest and most intricate composition. it was first performed in a Good Friday service on April 11, 1727 at the Thomaskirche in leipzig. it was expanded for a Good Friday performance in 1736 and revised several times again until a final version was produced in 1746. it is not clear if Bach’s congregation in leipzig recognized that they had heard one of the towering achievements in Western music. there are no contemporary accounts of the performance. the town council, to whom Bach was responsible, merely reprimanded him for failure to perform some other task and docked his salary. He wrote, “the authorities are odd and little interested in music,” and when he died, the search committee for his replacement was instructed to look for “a teacher, not a musician.” Bach, however, clearly regarded his Matthew Passion highly. He took great care in preparing the autograph manuscript, drawing in bar lines with a straightedge and using red ink to write the scriptural text and the music of the chorale O Lamm Gottes (o lamb of God), which appears as a cantus firmus in the opening movement of the Passion .

the idea of a historically correct performance of the St. Matthew Passion would have been alien to Mendelssohn. Mendelssohn used the full 150-member Sing-Akademie , while Bach probably used no more than 30 singers, including soloists. there were no oboe d’amore or oboe da caccia players (and no one would even know how to construct an oboe da caccia until the 1970’s!) so Mendelssohn substituted clarinets for the antique instruments. His score contained no figured bass for the recitatives, so he provided his own harmonizations (which turned out to differ from Bach’s in a number of places), and played the continuo himself on the keyboard rather than using the organs that Bach had specified. unaware of many Baroque musical conventions, he added romantic markings for dynamics and shadings which supported the dramatic and emotional content of the music. But the biggest change he made was to cut about one third of the numbers in the Passion . Bach’s Passion text drew from three sources: the scriptural narrative, chorales, and original text written by his librettist Picander (the pen name of the poet christian Friedrich Henrici). Picander’s text consists mostly of reflections on the events of the Passion , and Bach set them as recitatives and arias. the chorales, which were well-known church hymns, served to bring the audience into the story, each one set to a different harmonization to suggest the emotion and feelings of the Passion at that point. Mendelssohn’s idea was to pare down the Passion to its essential dramatic story, and he cut some ten arias and six chorales, in the process reducing the Passion to a more manageable two hours of music. While purists (and there were none in 1829) might be aghast at his changes, his concept was musically sound and captured the essence of Bach’s mighty Passion . it proved revelatory to his audiences, who had never experienced the power and emotional intensity with which Bach had imbued the Matthew Passion . Perhaps more sure of his audience in the 1841 revival at the historic Thomaskirche in leipzig, Mendelssohn restored a chorale and four arias that had been cut in the 1829 performance.

8 chorales are central to the structure of the St. Matthew Passion . became the 6 Organ Sonatas , published in 1845. the Sonata No. 3 , the eight chorales are heard, either standing alone or as part of a larger first to be composed, opens with a maestoso introduction based on the movement, but none more prominently than O Haupt voll Blut und processional Mendelssohn wrote for his sister Fanny’s wedding. it then Wunden , familiar to us as the hymn O Sacred Head, So Wounded . Bach moves to a complex double fugue which is set above the chorale tune set all six verses, and it appears five times during the Passion at key Aus tiefer Noth (out of the depths i cry unto thee) in the pedal. the moments. it may be surprising to know that the melody actually started hymn is Martin luther’s paraphrase of Psalm 130 and appeared in the out as a 17 th century love song by Hans leo Hassler called Mein G’müth first lutheran hymnal in 1524. ist mir verwirret (My feelings are all confused) taken from a collection called Lustgarten (Garden of Delight). the hymn text by Paul Gerhardt Zelter was a close friend of Goethe and had set a number of his poems is based on a medieval poem which addresses all the members of the to music. Goethe was pleased with the settings and proposed to write crucified christ’s body, and was set by Johann crüger to a rhythmically some dramatic ballads specifically as libretti for lieder or cantatas. one simplified version of Hassler’s original tune. such piece was Johanna Sebus . the poem was written in 1809 as a memorial for a seventeen year old girl who had carried her mother to Mendelssohn had embarked on a grand tour of europe immediately safety when floodwaters engulfed their village, and then had been swept after conducting the second performance of the Matthew Passion , and away as she returned to try to rescue a neighbor and her three young he wrote his three-movement cantata O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden in children. Zelter completed his setting the following year. it is a strophic 1830 in Vienna. He selected the first and last verses of the hymn for setting, with narrative solos for baritone, bass and soprano separated by the outer movements of the cantata, set for the chorus. the second shorter choral statements. the english version used here is a metrical, if movement, with a text from an unknown source, is set for bass solo, not entirely convincing, 1853 translation by edgar Alfred Bowring. and Mendelssohn had his friend Devrient’s voice in mind when he composed it. the hymn tune appears as a cantus firmus for the sopranos Mendelssohn was given a copy of the lutheran hymnal while he was in the first movement, is briefly quoted in the second movement, and is in Vienna and was struck by the power and beauty of luther’s own set fairly conventionally in the final movement. Hassler’s unusual chorales. He conceived a project to compose a series of cantatas based melody neither starts nor ends on a root tone, and there is an inherent on the hymns. the cantata Verleih uns Frieden (Grant us peace) was ambiguity which allows the tune to be cast either in a major or a minor written the next year, with Mendelssohn setting luther’s paraphrase key. Mendelssohn delighted in this tonal ambiguity, writing to his of the famous Dona nobis pacem prayer to his own soaring melody. younger sister rebecka that “no one will be able to discern whether it Mendelssohn set only the first verse of the hymn, which is heard first will be in c-minor or e-flat.” with the bass voices, then in a bass-alto duet featuring a beautiful countermelody, and then in four-part harmony, with the last line Mendelssohn was a virtuoso organist as well as pianist. At sixteen, he repeated softly in a double canon. had charmed audiences in Paris with the beauty of Bach preludes (then unknown to them), and his grand tour began in england, where he – Michael Moore played a series of organ recitals, dazzling listeners with both the dexterity and expressivity of his pedal technique. it was an english organist, thomas Attwood, who requested a set of organ voluntaries that © 2014 Mendelssohn club of Philadelphia. All rights reserved.

9 Bach, Mendelssohn & e Chorale | october 2014 | Performance remarks

ood afternoon, and welcome to this Mendelssohn club concert in but he restored some of the cut music for the 1841 performance, and this “oGur Big sing format, where the audience and Mendelssohn club chorus will be the version presented by Mendelssohn club. sit mixed together. the audience will be invited to join in singing some chorales by both Bach and Mendelssohn, because we will be exploring Bach used chorales in some of the larger movements of the Passion , but Bach’s influence on Mendelssohn and, in particular, both composers he also set them individually as well, at strategic moments throughout treatment of the lutheran chorale. it is also a preview of Mendelssohn the Passion . these chorales would have been very familiar to the club’s upcoming north American premiere of one of the most listeners, and they provided an opportunity for a personal reflection significant concerts in history, Mendelssohn’s 1829 presentation of and response to the events of the Passion . Bach tailored chorales to Bach’s magnificent St. Matthew Passion , which had not been heard specific moments in the Passion not only by selecting which verses to in nearly a century. set but also by the harmonization and key of the chorale as well. this can be seen with O Haupt . the first two verses are set just after the scene congregational singing was a very important part of the lutheran in the Passion where Jesus is mocked, hit and spat upon by the soldiers. worship service and luther himself compiled a hymnal in 1524. the the text fits the moment perfectly, and Bach sets the chorale in D minor, texts came from his own translations and paraphrases of scripture, and reflecting suffering, sorrow, and grief, but ends the chorale in F major, the melodies were either original, or based on Gregorian chant, or perhaps reflecting faith and resolve. borrowed from popular songs. such was the case with O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden (O Sacred Head Now Wounded) , whose melody came from the next verse, Erkenne mich , comes earlier in the Passion story, right after a secular love song, Mein G’müth ist mir gewirret , written by Hans leo Jesus predicts Peter’s denial of him, using the words “i will scatter the Hassler in 1601. in 1656, the composer Johann crüger simplified sheep and the shepherd.” the chorale answers with the words “redeem Hassler’s syncopated melody and hymnist Paul Gerhardt provided me, my savior; gather me up, my shepherd.” the chorale ends in what the now familiar O Sacred Head text. should be the comforting key of A major, but it ends on a half cadence. You hear only the penultimate chord of the cadence, e major, but it never Fast forward to 1727, when Bach first presented the St. Matthew Passion actually resolves to A major, which creates a feeling of uncertainty. at the Thomaskirche in leipzig. He uses ten or twelve chorales in the construction of the Passion , but the one heard most frequently is You can see Mendelssohn’s hand most clearly in the final verse, Wenn ich O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden , which appears five separate times and einmal soll scheiden . it is the final chorale of the Passion and comes has become known as the Passion chorale. Fast forward again to 1829, immediately after the death of Jesus. it is an intensely personal text— when a 20-year-old Mendelssohn presents the St. Matthew Passion in “When i must finally depart from this life, do not depart from me.” Berlin. the concert was highly anticipated—more that a thousand Mendelssohn sets this a cappella, something Bach would never have people were turned away at the door—and was wildly successful. done, and marks the dynamic as pianissimo, both of which heighten its Mendelssohn repeated the concert a couple of weeks later, and there was dramatic quality. And he makes one of his rare changes to the music a third performance, but not conducted by Mendelssohn, who had a itself. At the end of the third line of the chorale, the altos have a concert tour of england already scheduled. Mendelssohn did conduct suspension that Bach resolves with a c#, creating a more hopeful the St. Matthew Passion again, in 1841 in leipzig at the Thomaskirche A major chord. Mendelssohn changes the resolution to a c natural, where it had been premiered. Mendelssohn had significantly shortened creating a much darker and more somber A minor chord. the Passion by cutting a number of movements for the 1829 performance,

10 After conducting the second performance of the Passion , Mendelssohn immediately left on what became a two-year european tour. While he was in Vienna in 1830, he was given a lutheran hymnal containing 24 chorales, and he conceived a project to show his love for Bach by writing a set of Bach-like cantatas based on the chorale tunes. in Mendelssohn’s three-movement cantata O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden , you can hear the now-familiar melody in the soprano line in the first movement, floating over some very Bach-like polyphony. in the third movement, it is set in a very traditional four-part harmonization, like crüger might have written. While the middle movement, set for baritone solo, is not based on the chorale tune, you can still hear brief snatches of it. the orchestration is very dark, low strings and bassoons, reflecting the darkness of the chorale text.

You remember that the O Haupt chorale tune was originally a secular, 16 th century German love song. in our last example, we come full circle back to secular music with Paul simon’s An American Tune .

Mendelssohn was a virtuoso organist as well as pianist, and his organ compositions were also influenced by Bach and the chorale. He played Bach for Goethe when he was just a boy, and introduced Bach chorale preludes to French audiences. His Sonata No. 3 in A Major is based on a chorale that Bach set, Aus tiefer Noth . We’ll hear the chorale first in Mendelssohn’s own harmonization. As an organist, Mendelssohn was celebrated for his expressive pedal technique, and in this organ sonata, you will hear the chorale tune in the pedal. You’ll also have the opportunity to hear one of the great organs in the country, Girard college chapel’s magnificent Aeolian-skinner organ. it is one of the last of the late romantic organs and one of the last built by ernest skinner. His original plan was to have the organ pipes in two boxes on either side of the console, but the architect decided to place giant stone columns there instead. the pipes are actually located in the ceiling, and the sound emerges from that large, grilled opening in the ceiling, which produces a quite spectacular effect.

PHOTOS BY SHARON TORELLO 11 the Sing-Akademie in Berlin is a choral ensemble that was founded in We know that Mendelssohn sent copies of the chorale cantatas he was 1791 by carl Friedrich Fasch, and is still in existence today. Fasch was a writing on his european tour back to Zelter and the Sing-Akademie . one composer and harpsichordist who studied with Bach’s son c.P.e. Bach, of them was probably the 1831 cantata Verlieh uns Frieden , one his most and was in turn the teacher of carl Friedrich Zelter, who succeeded beautiful choral compositions. the music is not based on a chorale tune, Fasch as director of the Sing-Akademie . Zelter was a highly regarded but the text is Martin luther’s paraphrase of the famous Da nobis pacem musician and teacher, and taught theory and composition to young (Grant us peace) prayer. like the O Haupt cantata, the accompaniment Felix Mendelssohn as well as his sister Fanny, who was an accomplished here is quite dark, opening with this beautiful, lyrical cello duet that pianist and composer in her own right. the Sing-Akademie was an Mendelssohn had originally intended for larger work for two cellos. amateur chorus that drew most of its membership from the wealthy and socially well-connected upper bourgeoisie, and Mendelssohn’s own We will end this program with two movements from the St. Matthew family was heavily involved. twenty members of the family sang with Passion that are based on chorales. the first is O Mensch bewein , which the Sing-Akademie at various times, including Felix’s father Abraham closes the first part of the two-part Matthew Passion . You remember that and his mother leah. the Passion is set for double chorus and double orchestra, and this movement is one of the few times where both choruses and orchestras the Sing-Akademie was quite unique in its mission to study and perform are used together. We will prepare by first sing Bach’s harmonization of music of the past. this was a new idea in the early 19 th century. Before the chorale, and then we’ll hear Bach’s chorale prelude based on the this time, the demand was always for new music, which is why Bach same chorale tune. You will noticed in the chorales that i have been had to write a new cantata every week. the Sing-Akademie under observing the fermatas that Bach placed at the end of each phrase. there Zelter delved deeply into the music of Bach, partly with the help of the is a lot of discussion about what he intended when he wrote a fermata. Mendelssohn family. Mendelssohn’s mother, grandmother and great they may have just been congregational breaths, but we do know that he aunts had all studied with Bach sons or pupils, they performed Bach’s also used them for expression in the St. John Passion . By Mendelssohn’s music, and they collected Bach manuscripts, many of which were time, they probably meant simply to hold that note, and that is how donated to the Sing-Akademie’s library. i will treat them in the Passion , to get as close to Mendelssohn’s performance practice as possible. Zelter was a good friend of Goethe, and while Zelter was probably a much better teacher than composer, Goethe liked Zelter’s settings of his Before we close with O Lamm Gottes , i just wanted to tell you a little poetry. one such piece is this secular cantata, Johanna Sebus , which was bit about Mendelssohn’s journey to the St. Matthew Passion . it was based on the true story of a young girl who drowned trying to save his grandmother Bella who arranged to have the Sing-Akademie’s villagers from a flood. the music, like the poem, is very melodramatic manuscript copy of the Passion copied so she could give it to Felix for his in that sturm und drang style. interestingly, you can hear some musical 15 th birthday. Mendelssohn was fascinated by this huge, dramatic piece, figures in the cantata that are found in the opening of the St. Matthew he studied it intently and after several years decided to perform it. so Passion . We know that the Sing-Akademie owned two manuscripts of you can imagine the 19-year old Mendelssohn taking his idea to Zelter, the Passion and that Zelter had studied it and even prepared a couple of and asking permission to use the Sing-Akademie , and its orchestra, its movements. and its performance hall to present a work that Zelter thought unperformable! this also presented me with the solution to a problem.

12 i had long wanted to conduct the St. Matthew Passion , but the chorus was too large—Bach had used a much smaller ensemble. But Mendelssohn’s historic performance, which had never been recreated in America, used 158 voices from the Sing-Akademie . And the Sing-Akademie itself was the inspiration for the large choral societies which had sprung up in the 19 th century, including Mendelssohn club.

Getting Zelter’s consent was not the only problem Mendelssohn had to confront. the orchestration called for oboe d’amore and oboe da caccia, neither of which were available in Mendelssohn’s time, so he substituted clarinets. Mendelssohn played continuo on the keyboard, probably a piano (and in fact conducted both the rehearsals and performance from the keyboard, all from memory). Bach’s score was largely unmarked. Musicians of his time would have recognized Affektenlehre , musical conventions and codes that represented feelings or ideas, and would have known the appropriate phrasing and articulation. that knowledge was lost by Mendelssohn’s time, so he carefully marked the score with dynamics and expression to heighten the dramatic content of the music. And although Mendelssohn had the highest regard for Bach’s music, he realized that the three and a half hours of the Matthew Passion might tax his audience, he very carefully inserted a number of cuts in the Passion . By 1841, when he performed the Passion in leipzig, he had a better opinion of his audience and restored a number of those cut sections, which is why we are actually performing the 1841 version.

We close with Kommt, ihr Tochter , the chorus which opens the Passion . there is a question and answer dialog between the two choruses, and floating above this is the O Lamm Gottes chorale, sung by treble voices. Bach would have used the Thomaskirche boys’ choir for the chorale. Mendelssohn certainly had access to a boys’ choir, but he decided not to use it. We don’t know exactly how he did cover the chorale, but in our performance of the Passion , we will use the four principal soloists singing in octaves. But for today’s performance, you the audience will supply that vital role! Good luck!

– Alan Harler PHOTOS BY SHARON TORELLO ” 13 An introduction to the context commentary

onsidering the significance and impact of J.s. Bach’s works in the suppose the paramount question for me in approaching Chistory of Western music, it is inconceivable that he was once IMendelssohn’s revival(s) of the St. Matthew Passion is: whose dismissed as an irrelevant composer shortly after his death. Passion are we hearing? is the composition the timeless certainly he was not forgotten entirely—most of the post-Bach masterpiece of Bach, is it Mendelssohn’s nineteenth-century composers known today, if not all, studied Bach to some extent. vision(s) of reclaiming a lost icon of the Baroque, is it our Many of them worshipped him. However, even c.F. Zelter, who historically blurred vision of both, or is it all of these readings was an important figure in the Bach revival movement, considered combined? like all great musical monuments, part of the Bach’s church music to be obsolete; the writing too complex and significance of the St. Matthew Passion lies in the multiple the texts too unfashionable for the public. some important interpretations it engenders for different generations. For threads in music history are needed to intertwine to bring Bach those who crowded into the Berlin sing-Akademie in 1829 to to the foreground. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s contribution is hear a twenty-year-old prodigy of Jewish descent perform the well documented, but one might wonder how, through his teenage Passion for the first time in a century, even if in an abridged years, he cultivated his passion towards Bach. the work’s score version, the “restoration” of the Matthew Passion was a signal wasn’t published then—why could adolescent Mendelssohn get a event that stirred a collective German musical and lutheran copy of the score without any struggles? How were the public consciousness, and advanced considerably the nascent Bach interests towards the St. Matthew Passion performances raised? revival. For those who crowded into the st. thomas church Grasping what transpired then helps us see the work through in leipzig on Palm sunday 1841 to hear the pre-eminent Mendelssohn’s lens, and allows us to understand the German composer of the age conduct the work again, this Bach-phenomenon in 1829 Berlin in its fascinating context. time in a more complete version, the experience marked a second stage in the revival process. in 1829 Mendelsoshn – Koji Otsuki had overcome considerable opposition to mount the performance, for many of the relatively few musical “connoisseurs” acquainted with Bach’s music viewed it as unpalatable for mass consumption, and Bach’s art as that of a “dry mathematician” who would never appeal to the

14 popular imagination. so Mendelssohn had cut several numbers from the R. Larry Todd is Arts & Sciences score and presented the work in a truncated version. But by 1841, the Bach Professor of Music and former chair revival had advanced considerably. not only was Bach once again being of the Music Department. Among performed frequently in leipzig, the city where he had worked for nearly his books are Mendelssohn: A life three decades, but Mendelssohn was endeavoring to memorialize the in Music (Oxford Univ. Press), composer in a more fitting way. Mendelssohn made a point of featuring named best biography of 2003 by Bach’s music in historical concerts at the Gewandhaus, he gave a grand the Association of American concert of Bach’s organ music in the st. thomas church, the proceeds of Publishers, and described in the which, including those from the 1841 st. Matthew performance, were new York review of Book s as dedicated to funding a sandstone monument to the composer, placed “likely to be the standard biography nearby the church, and dedicated in 1843 (it still survives today). Fast for a long time to come.” A German forwarding to 2015: to hear Mendelssohn’s 1841 version of the Passion translation, which appeared in today is on a deeper level also to revisit or remind ourselves of the last 2008 from Reclam/Carus Verlag as Felix 175 years of the Bach revival, which has taken so many turns in the Mendelssohn Bartholdy: sein leben, Western classical tradition—the launching of the Bach Gesellschaft and seine Musik, was awarded a Deutscher complete editions of the composer’s music, the neo-Baroque movements of Musikeditionspreis. He is a former fellow of the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the revival of the harpsichord the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute (Wanda landowska playing Bach “his way”), Glenn Gould’s recording of and recipient of fellowships from the the Goldberg Variations in the 1960s, “switched-on” Bach, the swingle Guggenheim Foundation and National Humanities Center. His biography of Fanny singers, and all the rest. Bach is now very much a given in the sweep of Hensel, titled Fanny Hensel, the other music history, but it was by no means always so. Mendelssohn played a Mendelssohn, has appeared from Oxford pivotal role in stimulating our awareness and changing perceptions of the University Press and was awarded the thomascantor, and hearing his version of the Passion reminds us of this Nicholas Slonimsky Prize from ASCAP in facet of his genius, as a musicological sleuth, even as it allows us too to New York. He serves as general editor of the reexplore the most familiar, epic work of German musical lutheranism. Master Musician Series for Oxford University Press and the Routledge Studies in Musical – Dr. R. Larry Todd Genres. A graduate of Yale University, where he received his Ph.D., he studied piano at the Yale School of Music and with the late Lilian Kallir. His recording with Nancy Green of the complete cello and piano works of Mendelssohn and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel has recently been released from JRI Recordings.

15 commentary

s a historian, i am fascinated by the contexts in which music is him regularly for several years, and the musical style of the Passion was Aperformed and heard. every music performance, from a rock concert very familiar to them. in the 1800s, the situation was different. While in a large arena, to easy listening music piped into an elevator, takes musicians had always studied works of past masters, it was only place in some social context. one strength of the Mendelssohn club’s gradually in the course of the 19 th century that a canon of musical performance of the version of the St. Matthew Passion conducted by masterpieces including works of the past emerged. therefore, the style Mendelssohn in leipzig in 1841 is that it encourages us to reflect on the of the Passion , with the exception of the chorales, was foreign to most fact that even a great work does not move through history unchanged. listeners. We are actually much more familiar with Baroque music today the 18 th and 19 th century audiences of the Passion also heard the work than were audiences in the 1800s. And what of today’s listening habits? very differently from the way we do today. Many of us hear a work many times via a recording before we hear it live. Performance styles of Baroque music also vary widely. there are i invite you to consider the musical background of the audiences many ways to enjoy music. of the St. Matthew Passion in the 1720s, the 1820s and 1840s, when Mendelssohn revived it, and in your own career as a musician and/or this performance can help us become more aware of those ways. listener. in the 1720s, Bach’s listeners, sitting in their pews, had heard – Dr. Tanya Kevorkian

Tanya Kevorkian is an associate professor of history at Millersville University. She received her PhD from Johns Hopkins University in 1997. Her areas of interest include Baroque music history, the social history of religion, and colonial Pennsylvania. Her first book, Baroque Piety: religion, society, and Music in leipzig, 1650-1750 (2007) was awarded the American Bach Society’s William Scheide prize. Other awards include a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for 2012-2013. She is currently at work on her second book, Music and urban life in Baroque Germany.

16 PrePArAtion e Bach/Mendelssohn St. Matthew Passion by Mendelssohn club of Philadelphia

he substantial work started in 2011 when i looked into the information regarding the Tperformance precedents of the S t. Matthew Passion in the versions by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. i had known already that one of my mentors, Masaaki suzuki, had done it twice. After we gathered preliminary information such as the instrumentation, the size of the ensemble and availability of the performance materials and the score, we started looking into the plausibility and the feasibility. in the fall of 2013, Artistic Director Alan Harler traveled to oxford, uK, to study the surviving original performance materials preserved at the Bodleian library. What he observed there have become our clues as to how young Mendelssohn approached and prepared the masterwork for the historic revival performances. His care not to damage the original version by Bach in the score, and his cautious expressions and markings that do not deviate too much from the way we would approach Bach’s original version today, are something we appreciate and respect. With a renewed inspiration, we moved forward with the planning, recruiting and the grant writing phases. – Koji Otsuki

PHOTO BY MARK GAMBOL

PHOTO BY MARK GAMBOL

n August the Mendelssohn club singers were divided into the two choruses required for the ISt. Matthew Passion. We completed a master rehearsal schedule for chorus rehearsals, as well as orchestra and soloist rehearsals and began rehearsing the choral music. in october two large “frame” choruses and several chorales were performed as part of our BIG SING/Bach, Mendelssohn, and the Chorale concert. in January of 2015 we continued with final chorus rehearsals leading up to our February performance. our pre-eminent soloists arrived in early February for rehearsals with orchestra and chorus. – Alan Harler

17 PerForMAnce

Johann Sebastian Bach / Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy PaSSiONS-MUSiK Nach dem Evangelisten Matthäus

[St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244] Leipzig 1841 Version

Text: Matthew 26:1 – 27:66 • Movement numbering after Neue Bach-Ausgabe Christian Friedrich Henrici (a.k.a. Picander), pub. 1729 • Mendelssohn version numbering (in parentheses) after Bärenreiter score (BA 9088) Selected Chorales • Choral texts in bold print • Omitted texts in the 1841 version in gray print

FiRST PaRT 1. Chorus and Choral [Soprano in ripieno] 2. Recitative [Tenor, Bass]

Kommt, ihr töchter, hel mir klagen, Come, you daughters, help me to lament, Evangelista: Evangelist: sehet – Wen? – den Bräutigam, See – Whom? – the bridegroom, Da Jesus diese rede vollendet hatte, When Jesus had finished this speech, he seht ihn – Wie? – als wie ein lamm! See him – How? – like a lamb! sprach er zu seinen Jüngern: said to his disciples: sehet – Was? – seht die Geduld, See – What? – see his patience, Jesus: Jesus: seht – Wohin? – auf unsre schuld; See – Where? – our guilt; ihr wisset, dass nach zweeen tagen You know that aer two days it will be sehet ihn aus lieb und Huld See how from love and grace ostern wird, und des Menschen Passover, and the son of man will be Holz zum Kreuze selber tragen! He bears the wood of the cross himself! sohn wird überantwortet werden, handed over so that he may be crucified. dass er gekreuziget werde. O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig O Lamb of God, innocent am Stamm des Kreuzes Slaughtered on the beam of the cross, geschlachtet, 3. Choral allzeit erfunden geduldig, Always found to be patient Herzliebster Jesu, Jesus, most dear to my heart, Wiewohl du warest verachtet. No matter how much you was hast du verbrochen, what have you done wrong, were despised. Dass man ein solch scharf Urteil So that such a harsh judgement all Sünd hast du getragen, All our sins you have borne hat gesprochen? is pronounced? Sonst müßten wir verzagen. Otherwise we would have to despair. Was ist die Schuld, in was für What is your guilt, in what sort of Erbarm dich unser, o Jesu! Have mercy on us, O Jesus! Missetaten wrongdoing Bist du geraten? Have you been caught?

18 4a. Recitative [Tenor] 4e. Recitative [Tenor, Bass]

Evangelista: Evangelist: Evangelista: Evangelist: Da versammelten sich die en the chief priests gathered Da das Jesus merkete, sprach er zu When Jesus noticed that, he said to Hohenpriester und schrigelehrten together and the scribes and the elders ihnen: them: und die Ältesten im Volk in dem among the people in the Palace of the Jesus: Jesus: Palast des Hohenpriesters, der da high priest, who was called Caiaphas, Was bekümmert ihr das Weib? sie Why do you trouble the woman? She hieß Kaiphas, und hielten rat, wie sie and they held a Council, how with hat ein gut Werk an mir getan. ihr has done a good deed for me. You Jesum mit listen griffen und töteten. cunning they might seize Jesus and put habet allezeit Armen bei euch, mich have the poor with you always, but sie sprachen aber: him to death. But they said: aber habt ihr nicht allezeit. Da sie you will not always have me. e dies Wasser hat auf meinen leib reason why she poured ointment on 4b. Chorus gegossen, hat sie getan, dass man my body is that she did this because mich begraben wird. Wahrlich, ich I’m going to be buried. Truly, I say to Ja nicht auf das Fest, auf dass nicht Certainly not during the festival, so that sage euch: Wo dies evangelium you: wherever the gospel is preached ein Aufruhr werde im Volk. there is not a riot among the people. geprediget wird in der ganzen Welt, in the whole world, people will also da wird man auch sagen zu ihrem talk in her memory about what she 4c. Recitative [Tenor] Gedächtnis, was sie getan hat. has done. Evangelista: Evangelist: Da nun Jesus war zu Bethanien, im Now when Jesus was at Bethany, in 5. Recitative [alto] Hause simonis des Aussätzigen, trat the house of Simon the leper, there Du lieber Heiland du, zu ihm ein Weib, die hatte ein Glas came to him a woman who had a jar You, dear saviour, you Wenn deine Jünger töricht streiten, mit köstlichem Wasser und goss es with precious ointment and she When your disciples foolishly quarrel Dass dieses fromme Weib auf sein Haupt, da er zu tische saß. poured it on his head, while he sat at Because this good woman Mit salben deinen leib Da das seine Jünger sahen, wurden the table. When his disciples saw this, With salve your body Zum Grabe will bereiten, sie unwillig und sprachen: they became indignant and said: Wants to prepare for the tomb, so lasse mir inzwischen zu, en let me meanwhile Von meiner Augen tränenflüssen With floods of tears from my eyes 4d. Chorus ein Wasser auf dein Haupt zu gießen! Pour water on your head! Wozu dienet dieser unrat? Dieses What is the purpose of such a waste? Wasser hätte mögen teuer verkau is ointment could have been sold at 6. aria [alto] und den Armen gegeben werden. a high price and given to the poor. Buß und reu Penance and remorse Knirscht das sündenherz entzwei, Grind my sinful heart in two, Dass die tropfen meiner Zähren So the drops of my tears Angenehme spezerei, May produce pleasing spices treuer Jesu, dir gebären. for you, faithful Jesus.

19 7. Recitative [Tenor, Bass] 9c. Recitative [Tenor, Bass] (continued)

Evangelista: Evangelist: Evangelista: Evangelist: Da ging hin der Zwölfen einer, mit en one of the twelve, who was called und die Jünger taten, wie ihnen Jesus And the disciples did what Jesus had namen Judas ischarioth, zu den Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests befohlen hatte, und bereiteten das ordered them, and they prepared the Hohenpriestern und sprach: and said: osterlamm. Passover lamb.

Judas: Judas: und am Abend setzte er sich zu And in the evening he sat at table with Was wollt ihr mir geben? ich will ihn What are you willing to give me? tische mit den Zwölfen. und da sie the twelve, and as they ate, he said: euch verraten. I shall betray him to you. aßen, sprach er:

Evangelista: Evangelist: Jesus: Jesus: und sie boten ihm dreißig And they offered him 30 pieces of Wahrlich, ich sage euch: einer unter Truly I say to you: one among you will silberlinge. und von dem an suchte silver. And from then on he sought euch wird mich verraten. betray me. er Gelegenheit, dass er ihn verriete. an opportunity, so that he might betray him. 9d. Recitative [Tenor]

8. aria [Soprano] Evangelista: Evangelist: und sie wurden sehr betrübt, und And they were very distressed and Blute nur, du liebes Herz! Bleed now, loving heart! huben an, ein jeglicher unter ihnen, began each one among them to say to Ach! ein Kind, das du erzogen, Ah! A child, whom you reared, und sprachen zu ihm: him: Das an deiner Brust gesogen, at sucked at your breast, Droht den Pfleger zu ermorden, Is threatening to murder its guardian 9e. Chorus Denn es ist zur schlange worden. For that child has become a serpent. Herr, bin ich’s? Lord, is it I? 9a. Recitative [Tenor] 10. Choral Evangelista: Evangelist: Aber am ersten tage der süßen Brot On the first day of unleavened bread ich bin’s, ich sollte büßen, I am the one, I should pay for this, traten die Jünger zu Jesu und the disciples came to Jesus and said to an Händen und an Füßen With hands and feet sprachen zu ihm: him: Gebunden in der Höll. Bound in hell. Die Geißeln und die Banden e scourges and the bonds 9b. Chorus Und was du ausgestanden, And what you endured – Das hat verdienet meine Seel. My soul has deserved that. Wo willst du, dass wir dir bereiten, Where do you want us to make das osterlamm zu essen? preparations for you to eat the Passover lamb?

9c. Recitative [Tenor, Bass]

Evangelista: Evangelist: er sprach: He said:

Jesus: Jesus: Gehet hin in die stadt zu einem und Go into the city to a certain man and sprecht zu ihm: »Der Meister lässt dir say to him: “e master wants us to sagen: Meine Zeit ist hier, ich will bei tell you: My time has come, I shall dir die ostern halten mit meinen with you keep the Passover with my Jüngern.« disciples.”

20 11. Recitative [Tenor, Bass i, Bass ii] 12. Recitative [Soprano]

Evangelista: Evangelist: Wiewohl mein Herz in tränen Although my heart swims in tears, er antwortete und sprach: He answered and said: schwimmt, Dass Jesus von mir Abschied nimmt, Since Jesus takes his leave from me, Jesus: Jesus: so macht mich doch sein testament Yet his Testament makes me rejoice: Der mit der Hand mit mir in die e one who dips his hand with me in erfreut: schüssel tauchet, der wird mich the dish, it is he who will betray me. sein Fleisch und Blut, o Kostbarkeit, His own flesh and blood – what verraten. Des Menschen sohn gehet e son of man indeed goes on his expense – zwar dahin, wie von ihm geschrieben way, as it is written of him; But woe to Vermacht er mir in meine Hände. He bequeathes to me in my hands. stehet; doch wehe dem Menschen, the man, through whom the son of Wie er es auf der Welt mit denen seinen Just as in the world towards those who durch welchen des Menschen sohn man will be betrayed! It would be are his own verraten wird! es wäre ihm besser, better for that same man if he had nicht böse können meinen, He can intend no evil, dass derselbige Mensch noch nie never been born. so liebt er sie bis an das ende. So he loves them to the end. geboren wäre.

Evangelista: Evangelist: 13. aria [Soprano] Da antwortete Judas, der ihn verriet, en Judas, who betrayed him, und sprach: answered and said: ich will dir mein Herze schenken, I shall give my heart to you, senke dich, mein Heil, hinein! Come down, my salvation, and bury Judas: Judas: yourself within it! Bin ich’s, rabbi? Is it I, Rabbi? ich will mich in dir versenken; I shall bury myself in you; Evangelista: Evangelist: ist dir gleich die Welt zu klein, If the world is too small for you er sprach zu ihm: Er sprach zu ihm: ei, so sollst du mir allein Ah, then you alone to me shall Mehr als Welt und Himmel sein. Be more than the world and heaven. Jesus: Jesus: Du sagest’s. You are saying it. 14 (12). Recitative [Tenor, Bass] Evangelista: Evangelist: Evangelista: Evangelist: Da sie aber aßen, nahm Jesus das As they were eating, Jesus took the und da sie den lobgesang gesprochen And when they had said the song of Brot, dankete und brach’s und gab’s bread, gave thanks and broke it and hatten, gingen sie hinaus an den praise, they went from there to the den Jüngern und sprach: gave it to his disciples and said: Ölberg. Da sprach Jesus zu ihnen: Mount of Olives. en Jesus said to Jesus: Jesus: them: nehmet, esset, das ist mein leib. Take, eat, this is my body. Jesus: Jesus: Evangelista: Evangelist: in dieser nacht werdet ihr euch alle is night you will all be offended und er nahm den Kelch und dankete, And he took the cup and gave thanks, ärgern an mir. Denn es stehet because of me. For it is written: I shall gab ihnen den und sprach: gave it to them and said: geschrieben: ich werde den Hirten strike the shepherd and the sheep of schlagen, und die schafe der Herde the flock will be scattered. But when I Jesus: Jesus: werden sich zerstreuen. Wenn ich rise again, I shall go from here before trinket alle daraus; das ist mein Blut Drink all of you from this, this is my aber auferstehe, will ich vor euch you into Galilee. des neuen testaments, welches blood of the new Testament, which hingehen in Galiläam. vergossen wird für viele zur will be shed for many for the Vergebung der sünden. ich sage forgiveness of sins. I say to you: from euch: ich werde von nun an nicht now on I will no more drink from this mehr von diesem Gewächs des fruit of the vine until that day, when Weinstocks trinken bis an den tag, I shall drink it new with you in my da ich’s neu trinken werde mit euch father’s kingdom. in meines Vaters reich.

21 15 (13). Choral 18 (15). Recitative [Tenor, Bass]

Erkenne mich, mein Hüter, Recognise me, my guardian, Evangelista: Evangelist: Mein Hirte, nimm mich an! My Shepherd, accept me! Da kam Jesus mit ihnen zu einem en Jesus came with them to a place Von dir, Quell aller Güter, From you, source of all goodness Hofe, der hieß Gethsemane, und called Gethsemane, and said to his ist mir viel Guts getan. Much good has been done for me. sprach zu seinen Jüngern: disciples: Dein Mund hat mich gelabet Your mouth has refreshed me Jesus: Jesus: Mit Milch und süßer Kost, With milk and sweet food, setzet euch hier, bis dass ich dort Sit here, while I go over there and Dein Geist hat mich begabet Your spirit has endowed me hingehe und bete. pray. Mit mancher Himmelslust. With many heavenly delights. Evangelista: Evangelist: 16 (14). Recitative [Tenor, Bass i, Bass ii] und nahm zu sich Petrum und die And he took with him Peter and the zween söhne Zebedäi und fing an zu two sons of Zebedee and he began to Evangelista: Evangelist: trauern und zu zagen. Da sprach grieve and be disheartened. en Jesus Petrus aber antwortete und sprach But Peter answered and said to him: Jesus zu ihnen: said to them: zu ihm: Jesus: Jesus: Petrus: Peter: Meine seele ist betrübt bis an den My soul is distressed even to death, Wenn sie auch alle sich an dir Even if everybody else is offended tod, bleibet hier und wachet mit mir. stay here and keep watch with me. ärgerten, so will ich doch mich because of you, yet I shall never be nimmermehr ärgern. offended. 19 (16). Recitative [Tenor] and Choral [Choir ii] Evangelista: Evangelist: o schmerz! O sorrow! Jesus sprach zu ihm: Jesus said to him: Hier zittert das gequälte Herz; Here trembles his afflicted heart; Jesus: Jesus: Wie sinkt es hin, wie bleicht sein How it sinks down, how pale his face! Wahrlich, ich sage dir: in dieser Truly, I say to you: this night, before Angesicht! nacht, ehe der Hahn krähet, wirst du the cock crows, you will deny me three Was ist die Ursach aller solcher What is the cause of such torments? mich dreimal verleugnen. times. Plagen? Der richter führt ihn vor Gericht. e judge leads him to judgement. Evangelista: Evangelist: Da ist kein trost, kein Helfer nicht. ere is no comfort, no help at all. Petrus sprach zu ihm: Peter said to him: ach! meine Sünden haben dich Ah! my sins have struck you! Petrus: Peter: geschlagen! und wenn ich mit dir sterben müsste , Even if I had to die with you, I shall er leidet alle Höllenqualen, He suffers all the torments of hell, so will ich dich nicht verleugnen. not deny you. er soll vor fremden raub bezahlen. He must pay for the robbery of others. ich, ach Herr Jesu, habe dies I, ah Lord Jesus, have deserved Evangelista: Evangelist: verschuldet, Desgleichen sagten auch alle Jünger. e same said all his disciples. Was du erduldet. What you are suffering. Ach, könnte meine liebe dir, Ah, if only for you my love could, 17. Choral Mein Heil, dein Zittern und dein My salvation, lessen your trembling Zagen and your discouragement ich will hier bei dir stehen; I shall stand here beside you; Vermindern oder helfen tragen, Or help you to bear them, Verachte mich doch nicht! But do not despise me! Wie gerne blieb ich hier! How willingly I would remain here! Von dir will ich nicht gehen, I shall not go from you, Wenn dir dein Herze bricht. When your heart breaks. Wenn dein Herz wird erblassen When your heart becomes pale im letzten Todesstoß, In the last death blow alsdenn will ich dich fassen en I shall embrace you in meinen arm und Schoß. In my arms and bosom.

22 20 (17). aria [Tenor] and Chorus 24 (19). Recitative [Tenor, Bass] ich will bei meinem Jesu wachen, I shall keep watch by my Jesus, Evangelista: Evangelist: Chor II: so schlafen unsre sünden ein. choir ii: en our sins go to sleep. und er kam zu seinen Jüngern und And he came to his disciples and Meinen tod For my death fand sie schlafend und sprach zu ihnen: found them sleeping and said to them: Büßet seine seelennot; Atonement is made by his soul’s distress; Jesus: Jesus: sein trauren machet mich voll His grieving makes me full of joy. Könnet ihr denn nicht eine stunde Could you not keep watch an hour Freuden. mit mir wachen? Wachet und betet, with me? Keep watch and pray, so that Chor II: Drum muss uns sein choir ii: For this reason to us his dass ihr nicht in Anfechtung fallet! you do not fall into temptation! e verdienstlich leiden suffering which benefits us must be Der Geist ist willig, aber das Fleisch spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. recht bitter und doch süße sein. Truly bitter and yet sweet. ist schwach.

Evangelista: Evangelist: 21 (18). Recitative [Tenor, Bass] Zum andernmal ging er hin, betete A second time he went away, prayed Evangelista: Evangelist und sprach: and said: und ging hin ein wenig, fiel nieder And he went forward a little, fell down Jesus: Jesus: auf sein Angesicht und betete und on his face and prayed and said: Mein Vater, ist’s nicht möglich, dass My father, if it is not possible that this sprach: dieser Kelch von mir gehe, ich trinke cup should pass from me, unless I Jesus: Jesus: ihn denn, so geschehe dein Wille. drink it, then your will be done. Mein Vater, ist’s möglich, so gehe My father, if it is possible, let this cup dieser Kelch von mir; doch nicht wie pass from me yet not as I will, but 25 (20). Choral ich will, sondern wie du willt. rather as you will. Was mein Gott will, das g’scheh May what my God wills happen 22. Recitative [Bass] allzeit, always Sein Will, der ist der beste, His will is what is best, Der Heiland fällt vor seinem Vater e saviour falls down before his Zu helfen den’n er ist bereit, For he is ready to help those nieder; father; Die an ihn gläuben feste. Who believe firmly in him. Dadurch erhebt er mich und alle ereby he lis me and everyone Er hil aus Not, der fromme Gott, He helps them in their distress, Von unserm Falle From our fall the righteous God, Hinauf zu Gottes Gnade wieder. Up to God’s grace again Und züchtiget mit Maßen. And chastises in measure. er ist bereit, He is ready Wer Gott vertraut, fest auf ihn baut, e person who trusts God, builds Den Kelch, des todes Bitterkeit zu To drink the cup, the bitterness of firmly on him trinken, death Den will er nicht verlassen. He will not abandon. in welchen sünden dieser Welt e cup in which the sins of this world Gegossen sind und hässlich stinken, are poured and stink hatefully Weil es dem lieben Gott gefällt. Because it pleases dear God.

23. aria [Bass]

Gerne will ich mich bequemen, Willingly I shall bring myself Kreuz und Becher anzunehmen, To accept the cross and cup, trink ich doch dem Heiland nach. I drink as my saviour did. Denn sein Mund, For his mouth, Der mit Milch und Honig fließet, Which flows with milk and honey Hat den Grund Has made the cause und des leidens herbe schmach And bitter taste of suffering Durch den ersten trunk versüßet. Become sweet through first drinking himself.

23 26 (21). Recitative [Tenor, Bass i, Bass ii] 27a (22a). aria (Duet) [Soprano, alto, Choir ii]

Evangelista: Evangelist: so ist mein Jesus nun gefangen. So my Jesus is now captured. und er kam und fand sie aber And he came and found them Chor II: lasst ihn, haltet, bindet nicht! choir ii: Let him go, stop, do not schlafend, und ihre Augen waren voll sleeping, and their eyes were full of bind him! schlafs. und er ließ sie und ging sleep. And he le them and went away Mond und licht Moon and light abermal hin und betete zum again and prayed for a third time and ist vor schmerzen untergangen, have set in sorrow, drittenmal und redete dieselbigen said the same words. en he came to Weil mein Jesus ist gefangen. Since my Jesus is captured. Worte. Da kam er zu seinen Jüngern his disciples and said to them: Chor II: lasst ihn, haltet, bindet nicht! choir ii: Let him go, stop, do not und sprach zu ihnen: bind him! sie führen ihn, er ist gebunden. ey lead him away, he is bound. Jesus: Jesus: Ach! wollt ihr nun schlafen und Ah! Do you want now to sleep and ruhen? siehe, die stunde ist hier, dass rest? See, the hour is here, when the 27b (22b). Chorus des Menschen sohn in der sünder son of man will be given over into the sind Blitze, sind Donner in Wolken Have lightnings, has thunder vanished Hände überantwortet wird. stehet hands of sinners. Arise, let us go; See, verschwunden? in the clouds? auf, lasset uns gehen; siehe, er ist da, here he is, the man who betrays me. eröffne den feurigen Abgrund, o Hölle, Open your fiery abyss, O Hell, der mich verrät. Zertrümmre, verderbe, verschlinge, Smash, destroy, swallow up, dashed to Evangelista: Evangelist: zerschelle pieces und als er noch redete, siehe, da kam And as he was still speaking, see, there Mit plötzlicher Wut With sudden fury Judas, der Zwölfen einer, und mit came Judas, one of the Twelve and Den falschen Verräter, das mördrische e false betrayer, the murderous ihm eine große schar mit schwertern with whom a great crowd with swords Blut! blood! und mit stangen, von den and with clubs from the chief priests Hohenpriestern und Ältesten des and elders of the people. And the 28 (23). Recitative [Tenor, Bass] Volks. und der Verräter hatte ihnen traitor gave them a sign and said: “the ein Zeichen gegeben und gesagt: man I shall kiss, that’s him, seize him!” Evangelista: Evangelist: »Welchen ich küssen werde, der ist’s, And at once he went up to Jesus and und siehe, einer aus denen, die mit And see, one of those who were with den greifet!« und alsbald trat er zu said: Jesu waren, reckete die Hand aus und Jesus, stretched out his hand and Jesu und sprach: schlug des Hohenpriesters Knecht struck a servant of the high priest and und hieb ihm ein ohr ab. cut off one of his ears. en Jesus said Judas: Judas: Da sprach Jesus zu ihm: to him: Gegrüßet seist du, rabbi! Greetings to you, Rabbi! Jesus: Jesus: Evangelista: Evangelist: stecke dein schwert an seinen ort; Put up your sword in its place; for und küssete ihn. Jesus aber sprach And he kissed him. Jesus said to him: denn wer das schwert nimmt, der whoever takes up the sword will perish zu ihm: soll durchs schwert umkommen. by the sword. Or do you think that I Jesus: Jesus: oder meinest du, dass ich nicht could not ask my father to send me Mein Freund, warum bist du kommen? My friend, why have you come? könnte meinen Vater bitten, dass er more than 12 legions of Angels? But mir zuschickte mehr denn zwölf how would the Scripture be fulfilled? It Evangelista: Evangelist: legion engel? Wie würde aber die must go in this way. Da traten sie hinzu und legten die en they came to him and laid hands schri erfüllet? es muss also gehen. Hände an Jesum und griffen ihn. on Jesus and seized him.

24 28 (23). Recitative [Tenor, Bass] (continued) SECOND PaRT 30 (25). aria [alto i, Chorus ii] Evangelista: Evangelist: Zu der stund sprach Jesus zu den At that hour Jesus said to the crowds: Ach! nun ist mein Jesus hin! Ah! Now has my Jesus gone! scharen: Chor II: Wo ist denn dein Freund choir ii: Where then is your friend hingegangen, gone, Jesus: Jesus: o du schönste unter den Weibern? O you most beautiful among women? ihr seid ausgegangen als zu einem You have come out as if I were a ist es möglich, kann ich schauen? Is it possible, can I behold it? Mörder, mit schwerten und mit murderer with swords and clubs to Chor II: Wo hat sich dein Freund choir ii: Where is your friend stangen, mich zu fahen; bin ich doch seize me; yet I sat daily among you hingewandt? turned to? täglich bei euch gesessen und habe and have taught in the temple and you Ach! mein lamm in tigerklauen, Ah! my lamb in tiger’s claws, gelehret im tempel, und ihr habt did not seize me. But all this has Ach! wo ist mein Jesus hin? Ah! where has my Jesus gone? mich nicht gegriffen. Aber das ist happened so the writings of the Chor II: so wollen wir mit dir ihn choir ii: en we shall seek him alles geschehen, dass erfüllet würden prophets may be fulfilled. suchen. with you. die schrien der Propheten. Ach! was soll ich der seele sagen Ah! what shall I say to my soul Evangelista: Evangelist: Wenn sie mich wird ängstlich fragen? When it shall ask me anxiously? Da verließen ihn alle Jünger und en all his disciples abandoned him Ach! wo ist mein Jesus hin? Ah! where has my Jesus gone? flohen. and fled. 31 (26). Recitative [Tenor] 29 (24). Choral Evangelista: Evangelist: O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß, Oh man, bewail your geat sin, Die aber Jesum gegriffen hatten, But those who had seized Jesus led Darum Christus seins Vaters Schoß For this Christ from his father’s bosom führeten ihn zu dem Hohenpriester him to the high priest Caiaphas where Äußert und kam auf Erden; Went forth and came to earth; Kaiphas, dahin die schrigelehrten the scribes and elders had gathered Von einer Jungfrau rein und zart Of a virgin pure and gentle und Ältesten sich versammelt hatten. together. But Peter followed him at a Für uns er hie geboren ward, He was born here for us, Petrus aber folgete ihm nach von ferne distance up to the palace of the high Er wollt der Mittler werden. He was willing to become the mediator. bis in den Palast des Hohenpriesters priest and went inside and sat with Den Toten er das Leben gab To the dead he gave life und ging hinein und satzte sich bei the servants, so that he might see how Und legt darbei all Krankheit ab, And in this way put aside all illness die Knechte,auf dass er sähe, wo es things would turn out. Bis sich die Zeit herdrange, Until it came to the time hinaus wollte. Dass er für uns geopfert würd, at he would be sacrificed for us, Die Hohenpriester aber und Ältesten e chief priests and the elders and Trüg unsrer Sünden schwere Bürd Bear the heavy burden of our sins und der ganze rat suchten falsche the whole council sought false witness Wohl an dem Kreuze lange. For a long time indeed on the cross. Zeugnis wider Jesum, auf dass sie ihn against Jesus to put him to death, and töteten, und fanden keins. they found none.

32. Choral

Mir hat die Welt trüglich gericht’ I have been judged deceitfully by the world Mit Lügen und mit falschem G’dicht, With lies and with false statement Viel Netz und heimlich Stricke. With nets and secret snares. Herr, nimm mein wahr in dieser Lord, guard me in this danger, G’fahr, B’hüt mich für falschen Tücken! Protect me from false deceit!

25 33 (27). Recitative [Tenor i, alto, Tenor ii, Bass] 36a (28a). Recitative [Tenor, Bass i, Bass ii]

Evangelista: Evangelist: Evangelista: Evangelist: und wiewohl viel falsche Zeugen And although many false witnesses und der Hohepriester antwortete And the high priest answered and said herzutraten, funden sie doch keins. came forward, they still found und sprach zu ihm: to him: Zuletzt traten herzu zween falsche nothing . Finally two false witnesses Pontifex: High Priest: Zeugen und sprachen: came forward and said: ich beschwöre dich bei dem I adjure you by the living God, to tell Testis I, II: Witness I, II: lebendigen Gott, dass du uns sagest, us whether you are Christ, the son of er hat gesagt: ich kann den tempel He has said: I can break down God’s ob du seiest christus, der sohn Gottes? God? Gottes abbrechen und in dreien temple and in three days build it Evangelista: Evangelist: tagen denselben bauen. again. Jesus sprach zu ihm: Jesus said to him: Evangelista: Evangelist: Jesus: Jesus: und der Hohepriester stund auf und And the high priest stood up and said Du sagest’s. Doch sage ich euch: Von You have said it. But I say to you: sprach zu ihm: to him: nun an wird’s geschehen, dass ihr From now on it will happen that you Pontifex: High Priest: sehen werdet des Menschen sohn will see the son of man sitting on the Antwortest du nichts zu dem, das Do you answer nothing to what these sitzen zur rechten der Kra right hand of the power and coming diese wider dich zeugen? men testify against you? und kommen in den Wolken des on at the clouds of heaven. Himmels. Evangelista: Evangelist: Aber Jesus schwieg stille. But Jesus remained silent. Evangelista: Evangelist: Da zerriss der Hohepriester seine en the high priest tore his garments 34. Recitative [Tenor] Kleider und sprach: and said: Pontifex: High Priest: Mein Jesus schweigt My Jesus is silent er hat Gott gelästert; was dürfen wir He has blasphemed God. What need Zu falschen lügen stille, At false lies weiter Zeugnis? siehe, itzt habt ihr have we for further witness? See, you um uns damit zu zeigen, To show us in this way seine Gotteslästerung gehöret. Was have heard his blasphemy against Dass sein erbarmens voller Wille at his merciful will dünket euch? God. What do you think? Vor uns zum leiden sei geneigt, Is inclined to suffering for our sake und dass wir in dergleichen Pein And that we in such pain Evangelista: Evangelist: ihm sollen ähnlich sein Should be like him sie antworteten und sprachen: ey answered and said: und in Verfolgung stille schweigen. And in persecution remain silent. 36b (28b). Chorus 35. aria [Tenor] er ist des todes schuldig! He is guilty of death! Geduld! Patience! Wenn mich falsche Zungen stechen. Even if false tongues stab me. 36c (28c). Recitative [Tenor] leid ich wider meine schuld If I should suffer contrary to my guilt schimpf und spott, Abuse and mockery Evangelista: Evangelist: ei, so mag der liebe Gott Oh then may dear God Da speieten sie aus in sein Angesicht en they spat in his face and struck Meines Herzens unschuld rächen. Avenge the innocence of my heart. und schlugen ihn mit Fäusten. him with their fists. But some struck etliche aber schlugen ihn ins him in the face and said: Angesicht und sprachen:

26 36d (28d). Chorus 38b (30b). Chorus

Weissage uns, christe, wer ist’s, der Prophesy to us, Christ, who is it who Wahrlich, du bist auch einer von You really are one of them; your dich schlug? has struck you? denen; denn deine sprache verrät dich. speech gives you away.

37 (29). Choral 38c (30c). Recitative [Tenor, Bass]

Wer hat dich so geschlagen, Who has struck you in this way, Evangelista: Evangelist: Mein Heil, und dich mit Klagen My saviour, and with laments Da hub er an, sich zu verfluchen und en he began to curse and swear an So übel zugericht’? Treated you so badly? zu schwören: oath: Du bist ja nicht ein Sünder You are certainly not a sinner Petrus: Peter: Wie wir und unsre Kinder. Like us and our children; ich kenne des Menschen nicht. I do not know the man. Von Missetaten weißt du nichts. Of wrongdoing you know nothing. Evangelista: Evangelist: 38a (30a). Recitative [Tenor, Soprano, Bass] und alsbald krähete der Hahn. Da And at once the cock crew. en Peter dachte Petrus an die Worte Jesu, da thought of Jesus’s words, when he said Evangelista: Evangelist: er zu ihm sagte: ehe der Hahn to him: Before the cock crows, you will Petrus aber saß draußen im Palast; But Peter sat outside in the Palace; krähen wird, wirst du mich dreimal deny me three times. And he went out und es trat zu ihm eine Magd und and a maid came up to him and said: verleugnen. und ging hinaus und and wept bitterly. sprach: weinete bitterlich. Magd: Maid: und du warest auch mit dem Jesu aus And you also were with Jesus from 39 (31). aria [alto] Galiläa. Galilee. erbarme dich, Have mercy, Evangelista: Evangelist: Mein Gott, um meiner Zähren willen! My God, for the sake of my tears! er leugnete aber vor ihnen allen und But he denied it before them all and schaue hier, Look here, sprach: said: Herz und Auge weint vor dir My heart and eyes weep before you Bitterlich. Bitterly. Petrus: Peter: ich weiß nicht, was du sagest. I don’t know what you’re saying. 40. Choral Evangelista: Evangelist: Als er aber zur tür hinausging, sahe But when he went to the door, another Bin ich gleich von dir gewichen, Although I have strayed from you, ihn eine andere und sprach zu denen, maid saw him and said to those who Stell ich mich doch wieder ein; Yet I turn back once again; die da waren: were there: Hat uns doch dein Sohn verglichen Your son has settled the account for us Durch sein’ angst und Todespein. rough his anguish and death agony. Magd: Maid: ich verleugne nicht die Schuld; I do not deny my guilt; Dieser war auch mit dem Jesu von is man was also with Jesus of aber deine Gnad und Huld But your grace and favour nazareth. Nazareth. ist viel größer als die Sünde, is much greater than the sins Evangelista: Evangelist: Die ich stets in mir befinde. I find constantly in myself. und er leugnete abermal und schwur But he denied it again and swore an dazu: oath to it:

Petrus: Peter: ich kenne des Menschen nicht. I do not know the man.

Evangelista: Evangelist: und über eine kleine Weile traten And aer a short while those who are hinzu, die da stunden, und sprachen standing there came up to him and zu Petro: said to Peter:

27 41a (32a). Recitative [Tenor, Bass] 43 (34). Recitative [Tenor, Bass i, Bass ii]

Evangelista: Evangelist: Evangelista: Evangelist: Des Morgens aber hielten alle In the morning all the chief priests and sie hielten aber einen rat und But they held a Council and bought a Hohepriester und die Ältesten des the elders of the people held a council kauen einen töpfersacker darum potter’s Field for the burial of pilgrims. Volks einen rat über Jesum, dass sie about Jesus, so that they might put zum Begräbnis der Pilger. Daher ist For this reason the same is called the ihn töteten. und banden ihn, him to death. And they bound him, let derselbige Acker genennet der field of blood until this day. In this führeten ihn hin und überantworteten him out and handed him over to the Blutacker bis auf den heutigen tag. way is fulfilled what was said by the ihn dem landpfleger Pontio Pilato. governor Pontius Pilate. When Judas, Da ist erfüllet, das gesagt ist durch prophet Jeremiah when he says: “ey Da das sahe Judas, der ihn verraten who had betrayed him, saw this, that den Propheten Jeremias, da er have taken 30 pieces of silver with hatte, dass er verdammt war zum he was condemned to death, he felt spricht: »sie haben genommen which the one who was sold was paid tode, gereuete es ihn und brachte remorse and brought back the dreißig silberlinge, damit bezahlet for, the man whom they bought from herwieder die dreißig silberlinge 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests ward der Verkaue, welchen sie the children of and they have given the den Hohenpriestern und Ältesten and the elders and said: kauen von den Kindern israel, money for a potter’s field, as the Lord und sprach: und haben sie gegeben um einen has ordered me.” töpfersacker, als mir der Herr Judas: Judas: befohlen hat.« ich habe übel getan, dass ich I have done evil, in that I have unschuldig Blut verraten habe. betrayed innocent blood. Jesus aber stund vor dem But Jesus stood before the governor; landpfleger; und der landpfleger and the governor questioned him and Evangelista: Evangelist: fragte ihn und sprach: said: sie sprachen: ey said: Pilatus: Pilate: 41b (32b). Chorus Bist du der Jüden König? Are you the king of the Jews? Evangelista: Evangelist: Was gehet uns das an? Da siehe du zu! What’s that to do with us? See to it Jesus aber sprach zu ihm: But Jesus said to him: yourself! Jesus: Jesus: 41c (32c). Recitative [Tenor, Bass i, Bass ii] Du sagest’s. You are saying this.

Evangelista: Evangelist: Evangelista: Evangelist: und er warf die silberlinge in den And he threw the silver pieces into the und da er verklagt war von den And when he was accused by the tempel, hub sich davon, ging hin temple, departed, went away and Hohenpriestern und Ältesten chief priests and elders, He answered und erhängete sich selbst. Aber hanged himself. But the chief priests antwortete er nichts. Da sprach nothing. en Pilate said to him: die Hohenpriester nahmen die took the silver pieces and said: Pilatus zu ihm: silberlinge und sprachen: Pilatus: Pilate: Pontifex I, II: High Priest I, II: Hörest du nicht, wie hart sie dich Do you not hear what harsh es taugt nicht, dass wir sie in den It is not proper to put the money in the verklagen? accusations they make against you? Gotteskasten legen, denn es ist Blutgeld. holy Treasury, since it is blood money. Evangelista: Evangelist: und er antwortete ihm nicht auf ein And he answered him not one word, 42 (33). aria [Bass] Wort, also, dass sich auch der so the governor also was greatly landpfleger sehr verwunderte. amazed at him. Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder! Give me back my Jesus! seht, das Geld, den Mörderlohn, See, the money, the wages of murder, Wir euch der verlorne sohn Is thrown by the lost son Zu den Füßen nieder! Down at your feet! Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder! Give me back my Jesus!

28 44. Choral 45a (35a). Recitative [Tenor, Bass, Soprano] and Chorus (continued)

Befiehl du deine Wege Commend your way Pilatus: Pilate: Und was dein Herze kränkt And what troubles your heart Welchen wollt ihr unter diesen Which of these two do you wish me to Der allertreusten Pflege To the most trustworthy care zweeen, den ich euch soll losgeben? release for you? Des, der den Himmel lenkt. Of him who guides the heavens. Evangelista: Evangelist: Der Wolken, Lu und Winden He who to the clouds, air and winds sie sprachen: ey said: Gibt Wege, Lauf und Bahn, Gives their way, course and track, Der wird auch Wege finden, Will also find a way Chor I, II: Choir I, II: Da dein Fuß gehen kann. By which your feet can go. Barrabam! Barabbas!

Evangelista: Evangelist: 45a (35a). Recitative [Tenor, Bass, Soprano] and Chorus Pilatus sprach zu ihnen: Pilate said to them:

Evangelista: Evangelist: Pilatus: Pilate: Auf das Fest aber hatte der At the festival the governor had a Was soll ich denn machen mit Jesu, What should I do with Jesusof whom landpfleger Gewohnheit, dem Volk custom of releasing to the people a von dem gesagt wird, er sei christus? it is said that he is the Christ? einen Gefangenen loszugeben, prisoner, whomever they wished. At welchen sie wollten. er hatte aber zu that time he, had a prisoner one who Evangelista: Evangelist: der Zeit einen Gefangenen, einen stood out among the rest and was sie sprachen alle: ey all said: sonderlichen vor andern, der hieß called Barabbas. And when they were Barrabas. und da sie versammlet gathered together, Pilate said to them: 45b (35b). Chorus waren, sprach Pilatus zu ihnen: lass ihn kreuzigen! Let him be crucified! Pilatus: Pilate: Welchen wollet ihr, dass ich euch Which one do you want me to release 46. Choral losgebe? Barrabam oder Jesum, von for you? Barabbas or Jesus, of whom it dem gesaget wird, er sei christus? is said, he is Christ? Wie wunderbarlich ist doch diese How amazing is this punishment! Evangelista: Evangelist: Strafe! Denn er wusste wohl, dass sie ihn aus For he knew well that they had Der gute Hirte leidet für die Schafe, e good Shepherd suffers for his neid überantwortet hatten. handed him over through envy. sheep, Die Schuld bezahlt der Herre, e Lord, the one who is just, pays und da er auf dem richtstuhl saß, And as he was sitting of the judgement der Gerecht, the penalty schickete sein Weib zu ihm und ließ seat, his wife sent word to him and Für seine Knechte. For his servants. ihm sagen: said:

Uxor Pilati: Pilate’s Wife: 47 (36). Recitative [Tenor, Bass] Habe du nichts zu schaffen mit Have nothing to do with this just that Evangelista: Evangelist: diesem Gerechten; ich habe heute man; I have today suffered much in a Der landpfleger sagte: e governor said: viel erlitten im traseinetwegen! dream for his sake! Pilatus: Pilate: Evangelista: Evangelist: Was hat er denn Übels getan? What evil has he done? Aber die Hohenpriester und die But the chief priests and the elders Ältesten überredeten das Volk, dass persuaded the people that they should sie um Barrabam bitten sollten und ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus. Jesum umbrächten. Da antwortete en the governor answered and said nun der landpfleger und sprach zu to them: ihnen:

29 48 (37). Recitative [Soprano] 50d (39d). Chorus er hat uns allen wohlgetan, He has done good to all of us: sein Blut komme über uns und unsre His blood be upon us and our Den Blinden gab er das Gesicht, To the blind he gave sight Kinder. children. Die lahmen macht er gehend, e lame he made able to walk er sagt uns seines Vaters Wort, He told to us his father’s word 50e (39e). Recitative [Tenor] er trieb die teufel fort, He drove out the devils, Betrübte hat er aufgericht’, He raised up those who are distressed, Evangelista: Evangelist: er nahm die sünder auf und an. He received and accepted sinners Da gab er ihnen Barrabam los; en he released Barabbas for them; sonst hat mein Jesus nichts getan. Nothing else has my Jesus done. aber Jesum ließ er geißeln und but Jesus he had scourged and handed überantwortete ihn, dass er him over to be crucified. 49 (38). aria [Soprano] gekreuziget würde.

Aus liebe, Out of love, 51 (40). Recitative [alto] Aus liebe will mein Heiland sterben, Out of love my saviour is willing to die, Von einer sünde weiß er nichts. Of any sin he knows nothing erbarm es Gott! Have mercy, God! Dass das ewige Verderben So that eternal ruin Hier steht der Heiland angebunden. Here stands the saviour, bound, und die strafe des Gerichts And the punishment of judgement o Geißelung, o schläg, o Wunden! O scourging,o blows, o wounds! nicht auf meiner seele bliebe. May not remain upon my soul. ihr Henker, haltet ein! You executioners, stop! erweichet euch Are you not soened by 50a (39a). Recitative [Tenor] Der seelen schmerz, e soul’s agony, Der Anblick solches Jammers nicht? e sight of such misery? Evangelista: Evangelist: Ach ja! ihr habt ein Herz, Ah yes! You have a heart sie schrieen aber noch mehr und But they cried all the more and said: Das muss der Martersäule gleich at must be like the post used for torture sprachen: und noch viel härter sein. And even far harder still erbarmt euch, haltet ein! Have mercy, stop! 50b (39b). Chorus 52. aria [alto] lass ihn kreuzigen! Let him be crucified! Können tränen meiner Wangen If the tears on my cheeks can 50c (39c). Recitative [Tenor, Bass] nichts erlangen Achieve nothing, o, so nehmt mein Herz hinein! O then take my heart! Evangelista: Evangelist: Aber lasst es bei den Fluten, But let it for the streams, Da aber Pilatus sahe, dass er nichts But when Pilate saw that he was Wenn die Wunden milde bluten, As the wounds gently bleed schaffete, sondern dass ein viel achieving nothing. But instead the Auch die opferschale sein! Also be the sacrificial cup! größer Getümmel ward, nahm er commotion was becoming greater, he Wasser und wusch die Hände vor took water has washed his hands in 53a (41a). Recitative [Tenor] dem Volk und sprach: front of the people and said: Evangelista: Evangelist: Pilatus: Pilate: Da nahmen die Kriegsknechte des en the soldiers of the governor took ich bin unschuldig an dem Blut I am innocent of the blood of this just landpflegers Jesum zu sich in das Jesus into the hall and gathered the dieses Gerechten, sehet ihr zu. man. See to it yourselves. richthaus und sammleten über ihn whole band around him and they Evangelista: Evangelist: die ganze schar und zogen ihn aus stripped him and put on him a purple Da antwortete das ganze Volk und en the whole people answered and und legeten ihm einen Purpurmantel cloak and plaited a crown of thorns sprach: said: an und flochten eine dornene Krone and set it on his head and a reed in his und satzten sie auf sein Haupt und right hand and bowed their knees ein rohr in seine rechte Hand und before and mocked him and said: beugeten die Knie vor ihm und spotteten ihn und sprachen: 30 53b (41b). Chorus 56. Recitative [Bass]

Gegrüßet seist du Jüdenkönig! Hail to you King of the Jews! Ja freilich will in uns das Fleisch und Certainly indeed in us our flesh and Blut blood 53c (41c). Recitative [Tenor] Zum Kreuz gezwungen sein; Has to be compelled to the cross; Je mehr es unsrer seele gut, e better it is for our soul. Evangelista: Evangelist: Je herber geht es ein. e more bitter it is for us. und speieten ihn an und nahmen das And they spat on him and took the reed rohr und schlugen damit sein Haupt. and with it struck him on the head. 57. aria [Bass]

54 (42). Choral Komm, süßes Kreuz, so will ich sagen, Come sweet cross – this is what I will say, Mein Jesu, gib es immer her! My Jesus , give it always to me! O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden, O head full of blood and wounds, Wird mir mein leiden einst zu schwer, If my suffering at any time becomes Voll Schmerz und voller Hohn, Full of sorrow and full of scorn, too heavy, O Haupt, zu Spott gebunden O head bound in mockery so hilfst du mir es selber tragen. en you yourself helped me to bear it. Mit einer Dornenkron, With a crown of thorns, O Haupt, sonst schön gekrönet O head once beautifully adorned 58a (44a). Recitative [Tenor] Mit höchster Ehr und Zier, With greatest honour and adornment, Jetzt aber so verhöhnet, But now most shamefully mistreated, Evangelista: Evangelist: Gegrüßet seist du mir! Let me greet you! und da sie an die stätte kamen mit And when they came to a place named namen Golgatha, das ist Golgotha, which translated is “Place of Du edles angesichte, You noble face verdeutschet schädelstätt, gaben sie Skulls”, they gave him vinegar to drink Dafür sonst schrickt und scheut Before which at other times shrinks ihm essig zu trinken mit Gallen mixed with gall; and when he tasted and shies away vermischet; und da er’s schmeckete, it, he would not drink. en they Das große Weltgewichte, e great weight of the world, wollte er’s nicht trinken. Da sie ihn crucified him, and divided up his Wie bist du so bespei How are you spat upon, aber gekreuziget hatten, teilten sie clothing and drew lots for it, so that Wie bist du so erbleichet! How pale you are! seine Kleider und wurfen das los what is said by the prophets would be Wer hat dein augenlicht, By whom has the light of your eye darum, auf dass erfüllet würde, das filled: “ey have divided by close Dem sonst kein Licht nicht gleichet, To which at other times no light can gesagt ist durch den Propheten: »sie amongst themselves and for my be compared, haben meine Kleider unter sich garment they have cast lots.” And they So schändlich zugericht’? Been so shamefully treated? geteilet, und über mein Gewand sat there and kept guard. And over haben sie das los geworfen.« und sie his head they fixed the reason for his 55 (43). Recitative [Tenor] saßen allda und hüteten sein. und death written out, namely: “is is oben zu seinen Häupten heeten sie Jesus, King of the Jews.” Evangelista: Evangelist: die ursach seines todes beschrieben, und da sie ihn verspottet hatten, And when they had mocked him, they nämlich: »Dies ist Jesus, der Jüden zogen sie ihm den Mantel aus und took off the cloak and put his own König.« zogen ihm seine Kleider an und clothes on him and led him out to be führeten ihn hin, dass sie ihn crucified. And as they went along they und da wurden zween Mörder mit And two murderers were crucified kreuzigten. und indem sie found a man from Cyrene who was ihm gekreuziget, einer zur rechten with him, one on his right and one hinausgingen, fanden sie einen called Simon,whom they compelled to und einer zur linken. Die aber on his le. But those who passed by Menschen von Kyrene mit namen carry his cross. vorübergingen, lästerten ihn und reviled himand shook their heads simon; den zwangen sie, dass er ihm schüttelten ihre Köpfe und sprachen: and said: sein Kreuz trug.

31 58b (44b). Chorus 60. aria [alto, Choir ii]

Der du den tempel Gottes zerbrichst You who destroy God’s temple and sehet, Jesus hat die Hand, See Jesus had stretched out his hands und bauest ihn in dreien tagen, hilf build it in three days, help yourself! uns zu fassen, ausgespannt To embrace us, dir selber! Bist du Gottes sohn, so If you are God’s son, then come down Kommt! – Wohin? – in Jesu Armen Come! – where? – in Jesus’s arms steig herab vom Kreuz! from the cross! sucht erlösung, nehmt erbarmen, Seek redemption, receive mercy suchet! – Wo? – in Jesu Armen. Seek! – where? – in Jesus’s arms. 58c (44c). Recitative [Tenor] lebet, sterbet, ruhet hier, Live, die, rest here, ihr verlass’nen Küchlein ihr, You forsaken chicks, Evangelista: Evangelist: Bleibet – Wo? – in Jesu Armen. Remain – where? – in Jesus’s arms. Desgleichen auch die Hohenpriester In the same way the chief priests also spotteten sein, samt den derided him together with the scribes 61a (46a). Recitative [Tenor, Bass] schrigelehrten und Ältesten and elders and said: und sprachen: Evangelista: Evangelist: und von der sechsten stunde an war And from the sixth hour there was 58d (44d). Chorus eine Finsternis über das ganze land darknes over the whole land until the bis zu der neunten stunde. und um ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Andern hat er geholfen und kann He helped others and he cannot help die neunte stunde schriee Jesus laut Jesus cried aloud and said: sich selber nicht helfen. ist er der himself. If he is the king of Israel, then und sprach: König israel, so steige er nun vom let him now come down from the Jesus: Jesus: Kreuz, so wollen wir ihm glauben. cross, and we will believe in him. He eli, eli, lama asabthani? Eli, Eli, lama asabthani? er hat Gott vertrauet, der erlöse ihn trusted in God, let him deliver him, if nun, lüstet’s ihn; denn er hat gesagt: he delights in him; For he said: I am Evangelista: Evangelist: ich bin Gottes sohn. God’s son. Das ist: »Mein Gott, mein Gott, at is: “my God, my God, why have warum hast du mich verlassen?« you forsaken me?” But some, who were 58e (44e). Recitative [Tenor] etliche aber, die da stunden, da sie standing there, when they heard this das höreten, sprachen sie: said: Evangelista: Evangelist: Desgleichen schmäheten ihn auch In the same way also the murderers, 61b (46b). Chorus die Mörder, die mit ihm gekreuziget who crucified with him, reviled him. waren. Der rufet den elias! He is calling on Elias!

59 (45). Recitative [alto] 61c (46c). Recitative [Tenor]

Ach Golgatha, unselges Golgatha! Ah Golgotha, accursed Golgotha! Evangelista: Evangelist: Der Herr der Herrlichkeit muss e Lord of glory must shamefully und bald lief einer unter ihnen, And one of them quickly ran, took a schimpflich hier verderben, perish here, nahm einen schwamm und füllete sponge and dipped it in vinegar, and Der segen und das Heil der Welt e blessing and salvation of the world ihn mit essig, und steckete ihn auf put it on a reed and gave it to him to Wird als ein Fluch ans Kreuz gestellt. Is put on the cross as a curse. ein rohr, und tränkete ihn. Die drink. But the others said: Der schöpfer Himmels und der erden. From the creator of the heaven and andern aber sprachen: the earth soll erd und lu entzogen werden. e Earth and the air will be taken 61d (46d). Chorus away Die unschuld muss hier schuldig e innocent must here die as guilty, Halt! lass sehen, ob elias komme und Wait! Let’s see if Elias comes and helps sterben, ihm helfe? him? Das gehet meiner seele nah; at touches my soul deeply; Ach Golgatha, unselges Golgatha! Ah Golgotha, accursed Golgotha!

32 61e (46e). Recitative [Tenor] 63c (48c). Recitative [Tenor]

Evangelista: Evangelist: Evangelista: Evangelist: Aber Jesus schriee abermal laut und But Jesus again gave a loud cry and und es waren viel Weiber da, die von And there were many women who verschied. le this life. ferne zusahen, die da waren looked on from a distance, who had nachgefolget aus Galiläa und hatten followed him from Galilee and had 62 (47). Choral ihm gedienet, unter welchen war served his among whom were Mary Maria Magdalena und Maria, die Magdalene and Mary the mother of Wenn ich einmal soll scheiden, When I one day must depart from here Mutter Jacobi und Joses, und die James and Joses, and the mother of the So scheide nicht von mir, en do not depart from me, Mutter der Kinder Zebedäi. children of Zebedee. Wenn ich den Tod soll leiden, When I must suffer death Am Abend aber kam ein reicher But in the evening came a rich man So tritt du dann herfür! en step forward next to me! Mann von Arimathia, der hieß from Arimathea, who was called Wenn mir am allerbängsten When most full of fear Joseph, welcher auch ein Jünger Jesu Joseph and who also was a disciple of Wird um das Herze sein I am in my heart, war, der ging zu Pilato und bat ihn Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked him So reiß mich aus den Ängsten en snatch me from my fears um den leichnam Jesu. Da befahl for Jesus’s corpse. en Pilate gave Kra deiner angst und Pein! By the strength of your agony Pilatus, man sollte ihm ihn geben. orders that should be given to him. and pain!

64 (49). Recitative [Bass] 63a (48a). Recitative [Tenor] Am Abend, da es kühle war, In the evening, when it was cool, Evangelista: Evangelist: Ward Adams Fallen offenbar; e fall of Adam was manifest; und siehe da, der Vorhang im And see, the veil in the temple was Am Abend drücket ihn der Heiland In the evening the saviour presses tempel zerriss in zwei stück von torn into two pieces from the top to nieder. down on him. oben an bis unten aus. und die erde the bottom. And the earth quaked, Am Abend kam die taube wieder In the evening the dove returned erbebete, und die Felsen zerrissen, and the rocks split, and the graves und trug ein Ölblatt in dem Munde. And carried an olive branch in und die Gräber taten sich auf, und were opened, and there rose up many its mouth. standen auf viel leiber der Heiligen, bodies of holy people who were o schöne Zeit! o Abendstunde! O beautiful time! O evening hour! die da schliefen, und gingen aus den sleeping there, and they went from the Der Friedensschluss ist nun mit Gott The peace treaty with God is now made Gräbern nach seiner Auferstehung graves aer their rising and came into gemacht, und kamen in die heilige stadt the holy city and appeared to many. Denn Jesus hat sein Kreuz vollbracht. For Jesus has brought to fulfilment und erschienen vielen. his cross. Aber der Hauptmann und die bei But the captain and those who were sein leichnam kömmt zur ruh. His corpse comes to rest. ihm waren und bewahreten Jesum, with him and were guarding Jesus, Ach! liebe seele, bitte du, Ah! Dear soul, pray, da sie sahen das erdbeben und was when they saw the earthquake and Geh, lasse dir den toten Jesum Go, let them give you the dead Jesus, da geschah, erschraken sie sehr und what had happened, they were very schenken, sprachen: afraid and said: o heilsames, o köstlichs Angedenken! O salutary, o precious remembrance!

63b (48b). Chorus 65 (50). aria [Bass]

Wahrlich dieser ist Gottes sohn is man really was the son of God. Mache dich, mein Herze, rein, Make yourself pure, my heart gewesen. ich will Jesum selbst begraben, I want to bury Jesus himself within me, Denn er soll nunmehr in mir For he now within me Für und für Forever seine süße ruhe haben. Shall have his sweet rest. Welt, geh aus, lass Jesum ein! World, depart from my heart, let Jesus enter!

33 66a (51a). Recitative [Tenor] 67 (52). Recitative [Bass, Tenor, alto, Soprano, Choir ii]

Evangelista: Evangelist: Basso: Bass: und Joseph nahm den leib und And Joseph took the body and nun ist der Herr zur ruh gebracht. Now is the Lord brought to peace. wickelte ihn in ein rein leinwand wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and Chor II: Mein Jesu, gute nacht! choir ii: My Jesus, goodnight! und legte ihn in sein eigen neu Grab, laid it in his own new grave which had Tenore: Tenor: welches er hatte lassen in einen Fels been carved for him in a rock, and he Die Müh ist aus, die unsre sünden e trouble is over, which our sins hauen, und wälzete einen großen rolled a great stone in front of the door ihm gemacht. caused for him. stein vor die tür des Grabes und of the grave and went away. But Mary Chor II: Mein Jesu, gute nacht! choir ii: My Jesus, goodnight! ging davon. es war aber allda Maria Magdalen and the other Marys were Magdalena und die andere Maria, there and they sat opposite the grave. Alto: Alto: die satzten sich gegen das Grab. o selige Gebeine, O sacred limbs, seht, wie ich euch mit Buß und reu See how I weep for you with penance Des andern tages, der da folget On the next day, the one that followed beweine, and remorse nach dem rüsttage, kamen die the day of rest, the chief priests and dass euch mein Fall in solche not at my fall has brought you into such Hohenpriester und Pharisäer Pharisees came together to Pilate and gebracht! distress! sämtlich zu Pilato und sprachen: said: Chor II: Mein Jesu, gute nacht! choir ii: My Jesus, goodnight!

66b (51b). Chorus Soprano: Soprano: Habt lebenslang As long as life lasts Herr, wir haben gedacht, dass dieser Lord, we have remembered that this Vor euer leiden tausend Dank Have a thousand thanks for your Verführer sprach, da er noch lebete: deceiver said, while he was still alive: suffering ich will nach dreien tagen wieder I shall rise again aer three days. Dass ihr mein seelenheil so wert For having valued so highly the auferstehen. Darum befiehl, dass erefore give orders that the tomb geacht’. salvation of my soul. man das Grab verwahre bis an den should be guarded until the third day Chor II: Mein Jesu, gute nacht! choir ii: My Jesus, goodnight! dritten tag, auf dass nicht seine Jünger so that his disciples do not comes body kommen und stehlen ihn und sagen and say to the people: “He has risen 68 (53). Chorus zu dem Volk: er ist auferstanden von from the dead, and the last deception den toten, und werde der letzte would be worse than the first!” Wir sitzen uns mit tranen nieder We sit down with tears Betrug ärger denn der erste! und rufen di rim grabe zu And call to you in your tomb ruhe sane, sane ruh! Rest gently, gently rest, 66c (51c). Recitative [Tenor, Bass] ruht, ihr ausgesognen Glieder! Rest, exhausted limbs. euer Grab und leichenstein Your grave and tombstone Evangelista: Evangelist: soll dem ängstlichen Gewissen For our anguished conscience shall be Pilatus sprach zu ihnen: Pilate said to them: ein bequemes ruhekissen A pillow that gives peace and comfort und der seelen ruhstatt sein. And the place where our souls find rest Pilatus: Pilate: Höchst vergnügt schlummern da die With the greatest content there our Da habt ihr die Hüter; gehet hin und You have guards of your own; go away Augen ein. eyes will close in sleep. verwahret’s, wie ihr’s wisset! and keep watch as best you can!

Evangelista: Evangelist: sie gingen hin und verwahreten das ey went away and kept watch over Grab mit Hütern und versiegelten the grave with guards and sealed the den stein. stone.

English Translation by Francis Browne (December 2008) Contribution for the Bach Cantatas Website (http://www.bach-cantatas.com/)

34 Mendelssohn club of Philadelphia chamber orchestra of Philadelphia

endelssohn club of Philadelphia, one of America’s oldest musical ensembles, is founding resident company of the Kimmel Mperforming in its 141 st consecutive season. it began in 1874 as an eight-voice male Acenter for the Performing Arts, the chamber chorus founded by William Wallace Gilchrist, one of the most important musical orchestra of Philadelphia is a 33-member figures in nineteenth century Philadelphia. the chorus rapidly expanded, and was professional ensemble led by Music Director able to provide more than three hundred singers for the 1916 American premiere of Dirk Brossé. the chamber orchestra, founded Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with the Philadelphia orchestra under the direction of in 1964, has a well-established reputation for leopold stokowski. since then, Mendelssohn club has earned a prestigious reputation distinguished performances of repertoire from the by giving the first performance outside the soviet union of shostakovich’s Thirteenth Baroque period through the twenty-first century. Symphony and the Philadelphia premieres of Brahms’ German Requiem , Prokofiev’s Ivan the Terrible , scriabin’s First Symphony , Bartók’s Cantata Profana , and the full the orchestra’s development was motivated in part orchestral version of Britten’s War Requiem , among many others. by the desire to provide performance opportunities to young professional musicians emerging from the under the dynamic leadership of Artistic Director Alan Harler, the 140-voice Mendelssohn curtis institute of Music and other regional training club is known for its professional productions of choral/orchestral programs, as well as programs but also by a desire to make substantial performances in guest engagements with prominent area orchestras. Harler’s programs contribution to the city and region’s cultural life. combine new or rarely heard works with more traditional works in order to enhance the in addition to presenting its own productions, the presentation of each and to provide the audience with a familiar context for the new orchestra started to develop an entrepreneurial experience. Dedicated to the ongoing vitality of the choral art, Mendelssohn club and approach by seeking other performance opportunities Alan Harler have made a significant commitment to the commissioning of new choral among the region’s new music, focusing on regional music, and have commissioned and premiered fifty-five new works since 1990. this composers. in total, the organization has commissioned commitment has earned Mendelssohn club two AscAP/chorus America Awards for and premiered over seventy new works. Adventurous Programming. Mendelssohn club has also been honored with an award from the Philadelphia commission on Human relations for “bringing the community together the chamber orchestra has performed with such in song” through Harler’s multicultural concert programming. internationally acclaimed guest artists as Plácido Domingo, luciano Pavarotti, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mendelssohn club also explores interdisciplinary concert presentations and, in May Mstislav rostropovich, issac stern, rudolph serkin, 2005, presented the Philadelphia premiere of richard einhorn’s 1994 cantata Voices of the eroica trio, Jean-Pierre rampal, the romeros Light with the 1928 silent film masterpiece by carl Dreyer, The Passion of Joan of Arc . Guitar Quartet, Julie Andrews, Bernadette Peters, the november 2006 co-production of Carmina Burana with the leah stein Dance Ben Folds, elvis costello, sylvia Mcnair, steven company was the first dance collaboration in Mendelssohn club’s recent history. isserlis, Joseph silverstein, ransom Wilson, Gerard this collaboration continued in 2009 with battle hymns , with a score by David lang schwarz, Jahja ling and nadja salerno-sonnenberg, and a choreography for the full chorus and nine professional dancers, and last season’s among others. the ensemble travels regularly, immersive multimedia presentation Anthracite Fields , with a score by Julia Wolfe, having toured the united states, europe, and israel. choreography for the full chorus, and scenography and projection by Jeff sugg.

35 Mendelssohn club chorus

SOPRaNO aLTO TENOR BaSS

Joan Dwyer Aspan erin swanson Brenda B. Bary, Ph.D. Andrew Beck David G. Alpern Jessica Beebe Alice McKillip Jennifer Beattie stephen Bennett stephen F. Barsky elizabeth Benjamin thornburgh shahara M. Benson Matthew G. Borkowski evan Birnholz Barbara Berry rebecca thornburgh sonja c. Bontrager Frank cassel Jean Bernard cerin rachelle e. Brisson sallie Van Merkensteijn linda D. carpenter Kyle connor John curtis caitlin Butler Kathryn Wadsworth christine chaapel Mark Davidson tom elkinton rachel castro-Diephouse laura Yavru-sakuk Katie conklin Josh Dearing timothy erdmann lillie Ann claitt erin M. Donovan Joshua edwards Donald Gilchrist Judy Ann curtis robin eaton nathan P. Gibney steven Glasser Ana del Puerto ellie elkinton Brad Gragilla Dwayne Grannum lauren eliza Darkes emily erb Josh Hartman Donald Hunt Jean Dowdall carol everett William J. Horan Alexander irvine roberta Fischer sara Gao nicandro iannacci Philip H. Jones lindsay Jackson Karen H. Gildea robert laird Gabor Kari emily Grace Kane Anne F. Gold John P. leonard Jon Kochavi Julianna Kelley emily Guendelsberger John H. luttenberger, iii John Kohlhas lynn Kirby Katherine Haas simon Mosbah changho lee Alexandra lastowski Jennifer Hay Daniel s. ojserkis Martin levitas Megan lee Amber nicole Johnson Ben Perkins Michael Moore carolyn linarello Bobbie Konover Mark Pinzur Matt nabinger Jennifer loux Deborah l. laird Bob rodgers larry Passmore ilene Meyers Miller Allison levine nathanael russell Bob ranando sybille V. Pierre susan M. lin roy schmidt cleveland rea Gabrielle rinkus Priscilla lo Joseph scholl James scarborough-Kirk roberta l. rote Florence Moyer John e. spitko, Jr. Joel sheffield Julia richie sammin Maggie nice Jared susco Daniel simpson Margaret c. satell Margaret oravetz evan B. towle thomas D. sutton lee scarborough-Kirk Kelly seymour regis William Wagner, iV ryan tibbetts lizzy schwartz Jennifer sheffield cory o’niell Walker richard J. tolsma linda Anne shashoua Maria sisto AJ Walker christina King smith Jean l. sugars Austen Wilson linda W. spitko rebecca c. test Jane uptegrove 36 Alan Harler

lan Harler became Mendelssohn club’s twelfth Music Nostri Jesu Christi Secundum Joannem . Maestro Harler ADirector in 1988 and was named Artistic Director in has prepared choruses for many of the country’s 2009. Maestro Harler served for three decades as laura leading conductors, including riccardo Muti, Klaus H. carnell Professor and chair-man of choral Music at tennstedt, charles Dutoit, Zubin Mehta, rafael temple university’s esther Boyer college of Music. He Frühbeck de Burgos, lorin Maazel, David robertson, has appeared at the Festival casals in san Juan, Puerto and Wolfgang sawallisch. rico and the Aspen choral institute, and has given master classes and conducted performances in taiwan, in 2004, Alan Harler received the emanuel Kardon china and south Africa. He currently serves as a Foundation Award for “contributing to the vitality conducting Mentor with the conductors Guild, and excellence of the Philadelphia arts community.” making himself available for consultation with young in 2007, Harler received the elaine Brown Award for PHOTO BY SHARON TORELLO conductors internationally. lifelong service to choral Music, given by the American choral Directors’ Association. in 2009, Alan Harler is a strong advocate for new American he was honored with chorus America’s prestigious music. He was founder and director of the contemporary Michael Korn Founder’s Award for Development of the Vocal ensemble of indiana. During his tenure with Professional choral Art, and the Musical Fund society Mendelssohn club, he has commissioned and of Philadelphia’s Honorary lifetime Membership premiered 55 new compositions including such major for a Distinguished contribution to the Musical life works as David lang’s battle hymns (2009), Jennifer of Philadelphia. Higdon’s On the Death of the Righteous (2008), Andrea clearfield’s The Golem Psalms (2006), James Primosch’s Fire-Memory/River-Memory (1998), roberto sierra’s Lux æterna (1996), charles Fussell’s Specimen Days (1992) and robert Moran’s Requiem: Chant du Cygne (1990). He conducted Mendelssohn club in a critically acclaimed recording of the Moran requiem for Argo/london records in 1994. in 2012, innova records released Metamorphosis , a cD featuring the Higdon, Primosch, and clearfield commissions for large chorus and orchestra. With the temple university concert choir, he presented many Philadelphia premieres, including Moran’s Hagoromo , Alfred schnittke’s Requiem , and Arvo Pärt’s Passio Domini

37 Michael stairs

ichael stairs was born in Milo, Maine and vividly riccardo Muti appointed stairs to do the organ work Mremembers loving the sound of a pipe organ at the two for the Philadelphia orchestra in 1985. He has since services per sunday at his father’s church in Gardiner. been a featured soloist with this ensemble in various Against his father’s wishes, he began studying piano in locations ranging from new York’s carnegie Hall to Presque isle at age ten but paid for the first year of tokyo’s suntory Hall. Maestros christoph eschenbach lessons by picking potatoes vigorously. After high and charles Dutoit featured Michael in several concerts school in erie, Pennsylvania, he went on to on Verizon Hall’s Dobson organ, the largest mechanical- Westminster choir college in Princeton, new Jersey. action concert hall pipe organ in north America. He there he accompanied the 300-voice symphonic choir has been a member of the Allen Artists program for under the batons of great conductors such as leopold several years. stokowski and leonard Bernstein. He studied organ PHOTO BY SHARON TORELLO with George Markey and Alexander Mccurdy and Michael will be soloist three times this season with the improvisation with Alec Wyton. He then went on to Philadelphia orchestra. His most recent album from earn the coveted Artist’s Diploma from the curtis Girard college’s magnificent Æolian organ is titled institute of Music, studying organ with Alexander Sacred and Profane . it is a double cD produced Mccurdy and piano with Vladimir sokoloff. through his new company with partners rudy lucente and Douglas Backman: stentor Music services. Michael retired in June 2012 from twenty-five years of teaching upper school Music at the Haverford school, where he was awarded the first Grace and Mahlon Buck chair in the Performing Arts. under his direction, the Glee club and small vocal ensemble, the notables, have toured twelve overseas countries. stairs retired in January of 2008 as organist/choirmaster at Bryn Mawr’s church of the redeemer after serving twenty-five years in that post. He has now returned as organist emeritus under the leadership of Dr. Michael Diorio. Michael serves on the boards of the Friends of the Wanamaker organ, the Garrigues Foundation, and the Presser Foundation where he chairs the Advancement committee.

38 susanna Phillips

labama-born soprano susanna Phillips, recipient of in recital, Phillips was joined by bass-baritone eric owens Athe Metropolitan opera’s 2010 Beverly sills Artist at chicago’s symphony center for a program of Award, continues to establish herself as one of today’s schubert lieder. chamber music engagements included most sought-after singing actors and recitalists. the performances with Paul neubauer and Anne Marie 2013-14 season saw Phillips return to the Metropolitan McDermott in a trio concert tour that culminates at opera for a sixth consecutive season. starring roles Boston’s Gardner Museum. with the company include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, under the baton of returning music director James in 2012-13, Phillips sang Donna Anna in Don Giovanni levine, rosalinde in a new staging of strauss’s Die at the Met and returned to carnegie Hall for a special Fledermaus as part of the annual new Year’s eve gala, concert performance as stella in Previn’s A Streetcar and Musetta in La bohème, a reprise of the role in Named Desire opposite renée Fleming—a role she went which she made her house debut in 2008. on to perform, to rave reviews, at lyric opera of chicago. other operatic highlights included her return Phillips’ 2013-14 orchestral engagements included to santa Fe opera as the countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Fauré’s Requiem with charles Dutoit and the san and a concert production of Idomeneo at the ravinia Francisco symphony orchestra as well as with the Festival. orchestral appearances included collaborations Philadelphia orchestra where it shared the program with the symphony orchestras of Baltimore, Alabama, with Villa-lobos’s Bachianas brasileiras No. 5 with and st. louis, and with the oratorio society of new Alain Altinoglu. Phillips also joined the st. louis York. the soprano made her solo recital debut at symphony to sing ellen orford in a concert performance carnegie’s Weill recital Hall with pianist Myra Huang. of Peter Grimes, under David robertson, at carnegie Hall on Britten’s 100 th birthday and in st louis. in 2011-12, Phillips sang Musetta at the Met; sang the other orchestral engagements included Beethoven’s title role of Lucia di Lammermoor at chicago’s lyric Ninth Symphony with the Milwaukee symphony opera and the Minnesota opera; and made her and Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 with the european debut as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Jacksonville symphony. Gran teatro del liceu Barcelona. in concert, she appeared with the st. louis symphony, orchestra of st. luke’s, and santa Fe concert Association, while the release of Paysages, her first solo album on Bridge records, was hailed as “sumptuous and elegantly sung” (san Francisco chronicle).

continued

39 susanna Phillips

Highlights of Phillips’s previous seasons include numerous additional in August 2011, Phillips was featured at the opening night of the Mostly Metropolitan opera appearances: as Pamina in Julie taymor’s celebrated Mozart Festival, which aired live on PBs’s live From lincoln center. she production of The Magic Flute, Musetta in La bohème (both in new York was a resident artist at the 2010 and 2011 Marlboro Music Festivals, was and on tour in Japan), and she was a featured artist in the Met’s summer part of Marilyn Horne Foundation Gala at carnegie Hall, made her recital series in central Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park. she made her new York solo recital debut at lincoln center’s Alice tully Hall, and has santa Fe opera debut as Pamina, and subsequently performed a trio of appeared at the Kennedy center in Washington, Dc (under the auspices other Mozart roles there: Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, countess Almaviva of the Vocal Arts society). Her ever-expanding concert repertoire has in Figaro, and Donna elvira in Don Giovanni. Phillips made two been showcased with many prestigious organizations: she performed appearances with Boston lyric opera and three with opera with the royal stockholm Philharmonic under Alan Gilbert; sung in Birmingham. she portrayed Adina in lyric’s L’elisir d’amore, and, Mozart’s Mass in C minor with the chicago symphony; and taken part as a participant in the company’s ryan opera center, sang the female in Beethoven’s Mass in C major and Choral Fantasy at carnegie Hall leads in Roméo et Juliette and Die Fledermaus. Phillips made her with Kent tritle and the oratorio society of new York. Phillips has Minnesota opera debut in the notoriously challenging role of elmira sung Dvorák’s Stabat Mater with the santa Fe symphony, Brahms’s in tim Albery’s production of reinhard Keiser’s The Fortunes of Ein deutsches Requiem with the santa Barbara symphony, and Wolf’s King Croesus, and later sang euridice there opposite David Daniels in Spanisches Liederbuch at carnegie’s Weill recital Hall. other recent Orfeo ed Euridice . Phillips has also played Mozart’s countess with the concert and oratorio engagements include Carmina Burana, Beethoven’s Dallas opera and Donna Anna with the Fort Worth opera Festival. Ninth Symphony, Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, the Fauré and Mozart requiems, and Handel’s Messiah. she made her carnegie Hall debut with skitch Henderson, rob Fisher, and the new York Pops. Following her Baltimore symphony orchestra debut under Marin Alsop, the Baltimore sun proclaimed: “she’s the real deal.”

40 Marietta simpson

arietta simpson, whose deeply expressive, richly other highlights include Maria in Porgy and Bess in a Mbeautiful voice has made her one of the most return to lyric opera of chicago; Hindemith’s “When sought-after mezzo-sopranos today, has sung with Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed” with cathedral major orchestras throughout the united states, under choral society of Washington Dc; Verdi’s Requiem many of the world’s greatest conductors, including the with Mendelssohn club of Philadelphia; Bach’s Cantata late robert shaw in her carnegie Hall debut in 1988 No. 78 and Christmas Oratorio, both with Baldwin- as soloist in Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody with the Atlanta Wallace Bach Festival; as soloist with the Philadelphia symphony orchestra. orchestra in an evening of opera arias and spirituals; Verdi’s Requiem in a return to nashville symphony; a in season 2012-13 Marietta simpson sang as Queenie recital with chamber Music society of Philadelphia; an in Showboat with Houston Grand opera, as soloist in evening of spirituals and gospel songs, and Beethoven’s Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 with louisiana Philharmonic Missa Solemnis, both with singing city in Philadelphia; orchestra under carlos-Miguel Prieto, and in Verdi’s Requiem and Donald Mccollough’s Let My Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with chamber orchestra People Go, both with the Master chorale of Washington; of Philadelphia. Her 2011-12 season included singing Maria in Porgy and Bess for Washington national as soloist in Messiah with the united states naval opera, opera Birmingham, los Angeles opera and Academy, and in Bruckner’s Te Deum and tippett’s opera Pacific; the role of Dominga de Adviento in the A Child of Our Time, both with collegiate chorale. world premiere of Peter eotvos’s opera, Love and Other recent highlights featured her performances as soloist Demons, with Glyndebourne Festival opera; and in Messiah at Washington national cathedral, also Messiah with both the Baltimore symphony orchestra Bethel’s First AMe church; in Beethoven’s Missa and nashville symphony orchestra. Solemnis with richmond symphony; in tippett’s A Child of Our Time with utah symphony; Mahler’s As a concert artist, Marietta simpson made her Rückert Lieder with the Memphis symphony new York Philharmonic debut under Kurt Masur in orchestra; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Mendelssohn’s Elijah, followed by performances of columbus symphony orchestra; Verdi’s Requiem Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Symphony No. 9, and with the louisville orchestra; Messiah with cincinnati Bach’s St. John Passion, also under Masur. she sang in symphony orchestra, also Detroit symphony; carnegie Hall’s commemoration of the 250 th anniversary Mendelssohn’s “Die Erste Walpurgisnacht” and Bach’s of Messiah, and performed Beethoven’s Symphony St. Matthew Passion , both with Alabama symphony; an No. 9 with the new Jersey symphony orchestra, under appearance in recital at the Kennedy center; as soloist Zdenek Macal, for the inauguration of the new Jersey in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Boston Performing Arts center in newark. Both events were symphony orchestra at tanglewood under Kurt Masur; nationally televised. she toured in Poland, and in “summertime songs with the Philadelphia continued orchestra” at Mann center for the Performing Arts.

41 Marietta simpson

Germany and russia with Helmuth rilling and the stuttgart on the operatic stage, Ms. simpson made her debut at lyric opera of Bachakadamie orchestra and chorus, and has sung at the Prague and chicago singing the role of Addie in Marc Blitzstein’s opera Regina, a Brno Festivals, as well as many festivals in the united states, including role which she later reprised at both the Kennedy center and Bard Grant Park, ojai, and at the Mann Music center. summerscape Festival; and her debut at the royal opera House, covent Garden in trevor nunn’s production of Porgy and Bess, which Among Ms. simpson’s concert highlights are her performances of was filmed for British television. she has also toured europe with Handel’s Messiah with the Philadelphia orchestra, Milwaukee lorin Maazel and the Pittsburgh symphony in concert performances symphony orchestra under nicholas McGegan, and with lyric opera of Porgy and Bess. she was a member of the Houston opera studio for of chicago; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the chicago symphony several seasons, has sung roles with Mobile and Minnesota operas, and orchestra under Daniel Barenboim; and szymanowski’s Stabat Mater in new York city opera. a debut with the Vienna Philharmonic, conducted by sir simon rattle, which she also reprised under rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic. Ms. simpson can be seen on Video Artists international’s complete she has also sung Mozart’s Requiem with st. louis symphony under version of Handel’s Messiah with robert shaw and the Atlanta symphony David robertson; elgar’s Sea Pictures with louisville orchestra under orchestra, shown seasonally on PBs television. she has recorded raymond leppard; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Phoenix Vivaldi’s Gloria, Bach’s Magnificat, schubert Masses No. 2 and No. 6, symphony under Michael christie; Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde Beethoven’s Mass in C, Bach’s B Minor Mass, Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass, with Greater Pensacola symphony; and the world premiere of a new Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, and both Dvořák’s and szymanowski’s Stabat work entitled The Thread, composed by J. Mark scearce to text by Mater on the telarc label, also with robert shaw and the Atlanta toni Morrison, with nashville chamber orchestra. symphony orchestra. she can be heard on the eMi recording of Porgy and Bess, conducted by sir simon rattle; and on the Grammy Award-winning recording of William Bolcom’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, with leonard slatkin conducting, on the naxos label.

42 Yusuke Fujii

apanese tenor Yusuke Fujii has established himself His reputation as a professional vocalist, with solid Jas one of the leading tenors in oratorio repertoire in technique and a clear voice, has kept him busy with Japan, and is rapidly expanding his international career, numerous recording projects and international tours especially through a decade-long relationship with with Bach collegium Japan (BcJ), directed by Masaaki Bach collegium Japan—one of the most celebrated suzuki, the foremost Bach expert of our time. His period instrument ensembles worldwide. solo appearances with BcJ include Handel’s Israel in Egypt (2007) and Mendelssohn’s St. Paul (2012) Born and raised in oita, Japan, Yusuke began his voice oratorio productions. training at the age of 14 with Kanako togawa, and earned his doctorate from tokyo university of the Arts Mr. Fujii has also explored operatic roles and recitals. in 2011, studying along the way with recognized His recent opera appearances include the role of teachers such as Kazuya edagawa, Kan-ichi suzuki, Luciano in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea chieko teratani, olga Warla-Kolo, Makoto okuda, (the new national theater production, 2009). Giving and Brian Parsons. two solo recitals in 2013, he continues to strive for informed, insightful and sentimental performances of the cornerstone of his career has been sacred vocal art song. His current research interest is the Lieder works that require stylistic sensitivity and extensive by schumann. knowledge in performance practice; however, his repertoire is not limited to early music. He frequently performs oratorio and passion works such as J.s. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Passions , Handel’s Messiah , Haydn’s The Creation , Mozart’s Requiem , and Dvorak’s Stabat Mater . His recent solo works also include schumann’s oratorio The Pilgrimage of the Rose and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. He has collaborated with conductors Kotaro sato, Kenichiro Kobayashi, Jun-ichi Hirokami, and rolf Beck, and with orchestras such as Japan Philharmonic orchestra, Kanagawa Philharmonic orchestra and orchestra ensemble Kanazawa.

43 eric owens

ass-baritone eric owens has a unique reputation as an esteemed interpreter of classic works and a champion Bof new music. equally at home in orchestral, recital and opera performances, owens brings his powerful poise, expansive voice and instinctive acting faculties to stages around the world.

owens began his 2013-2014 season in Berlin, performing Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Berliner Philharmoniker and sir simon rattle. After mentoring the next generation of opera stars at the American singers’ opera Project at the Kennedy center with friend and collaborator renée Fleming, owens appeared as sarastro in Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan opera. He makes another role debut as Vodnik in Rusalka at lyric opera chicago at the start of 2014. in the spring, owens joined what director Peter sellars called his “dream cast” in the canadian opera company’s production of Handel’s Hercules as the title role alongside Alice coote, David Daniels, and richard croft. 2013-14 also saw a duo recital with soprano susanna Phillips presented by the chicago symphony orchestra.

PHOTO BY DARIO ACOSTA throughout that season, owens L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the english national opera. He sang bowed as Alberich in the Deutsche collatinus in a highly acclaimed christopher Alden production of opera Berlin Ring Cycle. that summer, owens performed in the Wiener Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at Glimmerglass opera. staatsoper Ring Cycle. owens has created an uncommon niche for himself A former member of the Houston Grand opera studio, owens has sung in the ever-growing body of contemporary opera works through his sarastro, Mephistopheles in Faust, Frère laurent, Angelotti in Tosca, determined tackling of new and challenging roles. He received great and Aristotle onassis in the world premiere of Jackie O (available on critical acclaim for portraying the title role in the world premiere of elliot the Argo label) with that company. owens is featured on two telarc Goldenthal’s Grendel with the los Angeles opera, and again at the lincoln recordings with the Atlanta symphony: Mozart’s Requiem and scenes center Festival, in a production directed and designed by Julie taymor. from strauss’ Elektra and Die Frau ohne Schatten, both conducted by owens also enjoys a close association with John Adams, for whom he Donald runnicles. He is featured on the nonesuch records release of performed the role of General leslie Groves in the world premiere of A Flowering Tree. owens has been recognized with multiple honors, Doctor Atomic at the san Francisco opera, and of the storyteller in the including the 2003 Marian Anderson Award, a 1999 AriA award, and world premiere of A Flowering Tree at Peter sellars’s new crowned second prize in the Plácido Domingo operalia competition, the Hope Festival in Vienna and later with the los Angeles Philharmonic. Metropolitan opera national council Auditions and the luciano Doctor Atomic was later recorded and received the 2012 Grammy for Pavarotti international Voice competition. Best opera recording. owens made his Boston symphony orchestra A native of Philadelphia, owens began his musical training as a pianist debut under the baton of David robertson in Adams’s nativity at the age of six, followed by formal oboe study at age eleven under oratorio El Niño. lloyd shorter of the Delaware symphony and louis rosenblatt of the owens’s career operatic highlights include his san Francisco opera Philadelphia orchestra. He studied voice while an undergraduate at debut in Otello conducted by Donald runnicles; his royal opera, temple university, and then as a graduate student at the curtis institute covent Garden, debut in Norma; Aida at Houston Grand opera; of Music. He currently studies with Armen Boyajian. He serves on the Rigoletto, Il Trovatore and La Bohème at los Angeles opera; Die Board of trustees of both the national Foundation for Advancement in Zauberflöte for his Paris opera (Bastille) debut; and Ariodante and the Arts and Astral Artistic services.

44 PHOTOS BY SHARON TORELLO ART BY FELIX MENDELSSOHN creDits

Project Consultants & Artistic Advisers for the St. Matthew Passion project | Hiromi Hoshino | Koji otsuki | Masaaki suzuki

STaFF PERFORMaNCE BOaRD OF HONORaRy MUSiC LiBRaRiaNS PRODUCTiON DiRECTORS aDViSORy COUNCiL Alan Harler carolyn linarello Artistic Director elena Grace smith charlotte e. sibley George G. smith iii sallie van Merkensteijn Production Manager Chair ryan tibbetts SiNGER DiRECTORy Assistant Conductor Katie ringwood eleanor M. elkinton CHORUS rebekah church Vice-Chair MaNaGEMENT PRODUCTiON Donald st. Pierre Stage Managers COUNCiL Composer-in-Residence, Michael B. schaedle Mark Davidson Rehearsal Accompanist Andrew thompson Secretary carolyn linarello Lighting Designer Chorus President SiNGER DiRECTORy Amanda schkeeper Matthew M. schreck PHOTOGRaPHy Executive Director reese revak Treasurer Mark Pinzur Supertitles Vice-President lauren linarello sharon torello Dr. Jeffrey M. cornelius Marketing Manager and rich tolsma Productions Florence t. Gardner elizabeth Benjamin STRUCTURaL Photography Videography landon Y. Jones Secretary Kendra e. lawton DESiGNER Michael stiles Weston sound Martin levitas Martin levitas Development Associate Audio-visual Singer Delegate John Kohlhas carolyn linarello and Executive Assistant Recording Engineers Frank cassel Bradford J. sandler BOOK DESiGN edward Mcnally carol F. spinelli robin eaton PR Specialist SyMPOSiUM David B. thornburgh Karen Gildea Kit reeve PaNELiSTS caroline H. West nathan russell KiMco graphics Designer Alan Harler Alan Harler PROGRaM EDiTOR Dr. tanya Kevorkian ex officio rebecca thornburgh Koji otsuki Michael Moore Production Manager Dr. r. larry todd Amanda schkeeper Dr. steven Zohn ex officio sharon torello BRaiLLE PROGRaMS Michael stiles John H. luttenberger, iii Production Assistants Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia Alan Harler PO Box 59522 PERSONNEL Koji otsuki ryan tibbetts Philadelphia, PA 19102 MaNaGER Advisors 215.735.9922 Bobbie Konover www.mcchorus.org

SMP.MCCHORUS.ORG WWW.YOUTUBE/USER/MENDELSSOHNCLUB SMP.MCCHORUS.ORG

Major support provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage