FOLLY OF THE CROSS AND HUMAN FOLLY
- on the opening choruses of the
St. Matthew Passion
and the
St. John Passion
-
It is impressive to note the distance, in terms of expressive level, between the two grand introductory choruses of Bach's Passions. Both are very far from the ascetic and speculative Bach of the
Art of Fugue
and the
Musical Offering.
If it is reasonable to maintain that in the works of the cantor of Leipzig's late maturity, the music becomes pure spirit, imperturbable, rarefied contemplation, it is undeniable that at the beginning of the
St. Matthew Passion
and the
St. John Passion
we find two pieces where feeling overflows: two pieces where expression, even if dominated by the creative wisdom of genius, is permeated with pain. Far from 'pure spirit': this music has flesh and blood. Flesh and blood tormented, since we are facing the passion of Our Lord.
This breadth of expressive registers, however, gives us alone the measure—immeasurable—of the art of Johann Sebastian Bach, capable of expressing praise as well as supplication, pain as well as joy or contemplation.
It does not allow us to foresee with how much depth he penetrated the feeling of pain in the two grand choruses
Herr Herr, unser Herrscher
and
Kommt ihr Töchter
which mark respectively the beginning of the
St. John Passion
and the
St. Matthew Passion.
In both pieces we are invited to contemplate the sufferings of the Passion of Jesus and the work of our redemption; but it is radically different the state of mind that emerges from the sung text and, on an autonomous level, from the music.
The
St. Matthew Passion
brings us immediately before the cross, whereas in the
St. John Passion
we find ourselves in Gethsemane; not from a narrative aspect, but as a state of mind.
Opening chorus of the
St. Matthew Passion
Kommt ihr Töchter helft mir klagen,
Sehet – Wen? – den Bräutigam,
Sehet – Wie? – als wie ain Lamm
O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig
Am Stamm des Kreuzes geschlachet,
Sehet – Was? – seht die Geduld,
Allzeit erfunden geduldig,
Wiewhol du wärest verachtet.
Sehet – Wohin? – auf unsre Schuld,
All Sünd hast du getragen,
Sonst müssten wir verzagen.
Sehet ihn aus Liebe und Huld
Holz zum Kreuze selber tragen!
Erbarme dich unser, o Jesu!
Come daughters, weep with me!
Behold... – Who? – The bridegroom
Behold him... – How? – Like a lamb!
A Lamb of God, innocent
died on the wood of the cross,
Behold... – What? – His patience
Always found to be patient
However much he was despised.
Look... – At what? – At our sins
You chose to bear everyone's faults
If you hadn't, we would have to despair.
Behold, for our love, to save us, He,
He Himself bears the weight of a wood made into a cross.
Jesus, have mercy on us!
(in bold “Agnus Dei” in German language by Nicolaus Decius, before 1529. sung by the boy sopranos)
In the
St. Matthew Passion
the choir invites us: «Kommt» ("Come daughters, weep with me!"). The pain is great and we are invited to participate in it: it is to us that the choir addresses itself. The different entries of the various choral sections sound like a continuous, majestic intensification of weeping.
We are invited to weep, to look ("Sehet"). At whom? At what? At the Bridegroom, at his suffering. We are invited, again, to look (again: "Sehet"). At what? At our sins, to meditate on our faults; and the support of the strings here becomes broken, suffering. In its dialogic structure, the choir poses questions and finds answers: painful answers.
Above this progressive realization, the boy sopranos sing the
Agnus Dei
in German: the innocent Lamb of God, his patience, the sins of the world. The majestic polyphony of the choral masses evokes a suffering multitude to which we are invited to join. We are at the foot of the cross together with John and Mary. We are facing the 'folly of the Cross', the mad love that to save us bears the weight of a wood made into a cross; and from the pain it arouses, piety and gratitude are born: "Erbarm dich unser, o Jesu!" ("Jesus, have mercy on us!").
Opening chorus of the
St. John Passion
Herr, Herr, Herr, unser Herrscher,
Dessen Ruhm in allen Landen herrlich ist!
Zeig uns durch deine Passion,
dass du, der wahare Gottessohn,
zu aller Zeit,
auch in der grössten Niedrigkeit,
verrherrlich worden bist.
Lord, Lord, Lord, our sovereign!
Whose fame in every land is glorious!
Show us through Your passion,
that You, true Son of God,
in every time,
even in the greatest debasement,
have been and will be magnificent.
A completely different kind of folly is that which resonates, terrifyingly, in the opening chorus of the
St. John Passion.
Here there is no sense, there are no sins to take upon oneself. We are not under the cross where 'everything is"
'finished'; we are in the black night of Gethsemane: it is the horrific spreading of human madness, of violence against the innocent captured and condemned; it is the hour of fear, «it is the empire of darkness» (Lk 22:53)
I do not believe that any other music has ever been composed where 'fear' resonates as clearly as in this one:
the horror in the face of violence and the nonsense of evil.
In the anguished, incessant figurations of the strings that find no peace, one feels the spasmodic search for 'something'. The woodwinds fail to emit a phrase that can be defined as complete. When the choir then enters, above an orchestra groping in the void: «Herr!» it cries in unison. «Herr, Herr!» (the invocation is triple) «Lord! Lord! Lord!... Show us Lord (Zeig uns) that even in the greatest prostration you are magnificent. Show us that you, true Son of God (…)».
And it is almost as if these voices of the choir are anxiously asking for confirmation: «you,
are
Son of God? Truly?».
This choir does not dialogue, does not find reassuring 'answers', it does not address us but Jesus. In the face of the horror of evil, «Herr!» it screams in unison. Where is the meaning? Where is the meaning of this destructive madness?
No answer. "Only" the madness of love.
The
Johannes Passion
'calls to' the
Matthäus Passion
. To the madness of man, only the madness of the Cross can be offered.
Luca Cavaliere
