On the Fifth Day A Guide to Hearing the St. Matthew Passion over Five Days Tim Smith digitalbach.com/matthew The focal point of todayʼs listening is the centurionʼs confession: Truly this was the Son of God. For many people, Bachʼs unforgettable setting of these words is the highest experience of the St. Matthew Passion. If you have not heard it before, it will surprise you and touch you. Watch for this! The two choirs and two orchestras of the centurionʼs voice make the stem of a cross, with the Evangelistʼs part making its transverse beam. Bach then places himself at the foot of that cross by writing a bass line of fourteen pitches his number which is the sum of B+A+C+H (with A=1, B=2, etc.). When you arrive there, Bachʼs cross will materialize on the computer screen. The Evangelist will approach the cross by telling of the centurionʼs fear in the darkness and the earthquake. When the centurion has finished singing his confession, the Evangelist will step away from the cross while telling of the women who watched these things from afar. The picture that Bach paints in this amazing passage is both musical and graphic. At its highest level, this music represents Bachʼs personal belief as well as that of every Christian. But it also shows the creativity of his musical rhetoric, which is about changing the mind and will by appeal to the heart. Today we donʼt think of music this way, but Bachʼs contemporaries believed that the persuasive powers of speech applied equally to music. They had a well-developed concept of musical rhetoric with many methods. One was called the locus notationis, where music notation reinforced, visually, the message of the tones themselves. If the centurionʼs confession is the heart of Matthewʼs Passion, it is also Bachʼs heart, since he places himself there, at the foot of the cross. In the history of art there are many parallels for what Bach has done this putting of the artist into his own creation. In liturgical art, the practice of authorial inclusion mirrors the work of God, who entered himself into his creation in the person of Jesus Christ. Liturgical art, as such, is incarnational and sacramental, with self-identification of the artistʼs person in the material form of the art work itself. Bach has done this musically, and on the next page youʼll see how Robert Herrick did this in words. Then, on the page after that, you will see how Matthias Grünewald accomplished a similar thing in the Isenheim Altarpiece.
This Cross-Tree here Doth Jesus bear, Who sweetened first The Death accursed. HERE all things ready are, make haste, make haste away; For, long this work will be, and very short this day. Why then, go on to act: here's wonders to be done, Before the last least sand of Thy ninth hour be run; Or ere dark clouds do dull, or dead the mid- day's sun. Act when Thou wilt, Blood will be spilt; Pure balm, that shall Bring health to all. Why then, begin To pour first in Some drops of wine, In stead of brine, To search the wound, So long unsound: And, when that's done, Let oil, next, run, To cure the sore Sin made before. And O! dear Christ, E'en as Thou did'st, Look down, and see Us weep for Thee. And tho' (love knows) Thy dreadful woes We cannot ease; Yet do Thou please, Who mercy art, T' accept each heart, That gladly would Help, if it could. Meanwhile, let me, Beneath this Tree, This honor have, To make my grave. - Robert Herrick Before telling you about Robert Herrick (1591-1674), please read the last sentence of his cross poem starting four lines from the bottom. Do you see how he has done the same thing as Bach? Herrick was a lyrical poet whose writing turned more to themes of faith later in life. The first sentence of his poem ends this way: Who Sweetened First / The Death accursed. This expresses the same thought as the last chorale of the Matthew Passion. That chorale is heard immediately after Jesus dies, and it speaks of our own deaths. 2.
Matthias Grünewald was born two centuries before Bach. Like the composer, he had a conservative attitude, which he demonstrated by resisting the revival of classical forms so as to retain the more realistic style of the late medieval period. Today he is known for the altarpiece that he painted for the St. Anthony Monastery in Isenheim. It has three panels that could be displayed variously for different services in the Church year. During Holy Week, the monks would reveal the following panel with its representation of the crucifixion. Crucifixion panel of the Isenheim Altarpiece public domain courtesy of the Yorck Project The work of these monks was to care for victims of the plague and of St. Anthonyʼs fire, a skin disease caused by the contamination of a pathogenic fungus in rye used to make bread. This caused nerve spasms and eruptions of pox that turned black or gangrenous, often requiring the amputation of limbs. Grünewald represented the crucified Lord with this very disease. Today we view the Isenheim altarpiece as art, but it came into being as part of the patientsʼ healing. Stanley Meisler writes: The monks... tried to bolster the faith of the sick by reminding them that Christ... had suffered even greater torments. Grünewald's altarpiece played an important mystical and psychological role in the Isenheim treatment program. 1 1 Smithsonian Magazine, September 1999. 3.
For the people in the St. Thomas Church on Good Friday of 1727, remembering Christʼs passion had the same purpose as Grünewaldʼs altarpiece. It still means that to many people today. This meaning is beautifully explained in Isaiah 53. There is no beauty in him, nor comeliness: and we have seen him, and there was no sightliness, that we should be desirous of him: Despised, and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with infirmity: and his look was, as it were, hidden and despised, whereupon we esteemed him not. Surely he hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows: and we have thought him as it were a leper, and as one struck by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way: and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was offered because it was his own will, and he opened not his mouth: he shall be led as a sheep to the slaughter, and shall be dumb as a lamb before his shearer, and he shall not open his mouth. Isaiah 53: 2b-7 (Douay-Rheims) Notice the reference in the Isaiah passage to becoming as it were a leper, as one struck by God and afflicted. This is why, in Grünewald altarpiece, Jesus is portrayed as one afflicted with plague or leprosy, diseases both that make one undesirable and outcast. Herrickʼs poem has a similar thought in its phrase: To cure the sore sin made before. On the next page you will see the outline for todayʼs hearing. This is the final narrative, the summit of Golgotha, the completion of Jesusʼ work, after which Johnʼs Gospel relates his last word from the cross: It is finished. As Bach nears the end of his Passion there remains one task, to urge people to respond in faith. This is heard in the final aria, Mache dich mein Herze, rein. Make now my heart pure, I will bury Jesus himself therein. For he will henceforth in me, Forever and ever Have his sweet rest. World, now leave me, Jesus come in! This is one of Bachʼs most beautiful of compositions, and it encapsulates the message of this great work. It represents the achieved result of Bachʼs plan to resolve the will by appealing to the heart. Its message is quite like that of Herrickʼs line: Yet do Thou please / Who mercy art / To accept each heart / That gladly would / Help, if it could. When the heart is clean and pure, when the will is resolved, all that remains is to let Jesus have his rest therein. Bach does this in the last two choruses: Now is the Lord laid to rest, and We now sit down in tears / and call to you in 4.
the tomb: / rest gently, gently rest. How like the final chorus is Herrickʼs line: And O! dear Christ, even as Thou didʼst look down and see us weep for Thee. Bible text Picander poetry Chorale Matthew 27:33-44 They come to Golgotha and give Jesus vinegar with gall to drink, which he refuses. They nail him to the cross, cast lots for his clothes, and tack above his head the charge of his death: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Two murderers are crucified with him, one on each side. Passersby revile and mock him, along with the priests, scribes, elders, and the two murderers: He helped others, but canʼt help himself He trusted in God, let God deliver him. Matthew 27:45-50 Darkness covers the land for three hours, then Jesus cries, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Bystanders think that he is calling for Elias and wait to see if Elias will save him. But then Jesus cries loudly once more, and dies. Matthew 27:51-58 The curtain of the temple is torn in two, the earth quakes, rocks split, the tombs open up, and some of the saints rise from the dead and appear to many. Seeing this, the centurion and his soldiers say, Truly, this man was Godʼs Son. Several women who had followed Jesus from Galilee watch all of this from a distance. In the evening, a rich man named Joseph, from Arimathea, petitions Pilate for the body of Jesus, and it is so ordered. Matthew 27:59-66 Joseph wraps Jesusʼ body in a clean linen cloth, lays him in the new tomb, rolls a great stone before the door, and departs. Mary Magdalene and the other Mary sit down across from the tomb. On the next day priests and Pharisees ask Pilate to place a guard over the tomb for three days to prevent the disciples from stealing Jesusʼ body. Pilate orders this, and they secure the tomb with guards, placing a seal on the stone. Alto: Oh, Golgotha, unholy Golgotha! The Lord of Glory must here be shamefully defiled this pierces close to my soul; Oh, Golgotha! Alto: Behold, Jesus has reached out his hand to touch us come to Jesusʼ arms, seek redemption, receive mercy. Bass: In the evening when it became cool, Adamʼs fall was revealed In the evening, O lovely time! O Evening hour! The pact of peace is now made with God, for Jesus has completed he cross. Bass: My heart, make yourself pure, I will bury Jesus himself therein. For he shall henceforth in me, forever and ever have his sweet rest. World, go out, let Jesus in! Bass: Now the Lord is laid to rest. Choirs: My Jesus, Good Night! Tenor: The toil is over, which our sins caused him. Choir: My Jesus, Good Night! Concluding Chorus: We now sit down in tears and call to you in the tomb; rest gently, gently rest When I one day shall depart, do not depart from me; when I shall suffer death, you then step forward. 5.
The other people in Grünewaldʼs altarpiece The figure to the right of the lamb is John the Baptist, returned to life so that he may point once more to Christ. Above the elbow of his right arm is the inscription: Illum oportet crescere, me autem minui ( He must increase, but I must decrease ). Opposite the Baptist we see the other John, who in his Gospel calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. He is the only one of the Twelve to stand at the foot of the cross, and Grünewald paints him in support of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Mary Magdalene is there too, with her pleading and distraught hands lifted to the Lord and clasped. Before her is an alabaster jar of perfume, which is the traditional way of painting Magdalene. Early in Jesusʼ ministry she heard that he was at the house of Simon the Pharisee. Uninvited, she went there to see Jesus, where she began to weep for him. When her tears began to drop on Jesusʼ feet, she wiped them with her long flowing hair, and kissed them, and poured her perfume on them. Simon the Pharisee was indignant, huffing that if Jesus was really a prophet, he would have known what a sinner she was, and would not have allowed her to touch him. Jesus responded by telling Simon of two men forgiven of a debt. Oneʼs debt was more than the otherʼs. They both love the one who paid their debt. Then Jesus asked of Simon: Which man will love him more? This story is told in Luke 7:36-39, and it is different from the similar account involving Mary of Bethany at the beginning of the St. Matthew Passion. In the panel to the far left is St. Sebastian, a Roman martyr who died in the great persecution of Christians under the reign of Diocletian. Sebastian survived being tied to a post and shot with arrows, but was later clubbed to death. His place in the panel is secured by his being the patron saint of people with the plague. To the far right is St. Anthony the Great, to whom the Isenheim monastery was devoted. He was a fourth-century Copt, which refers to Christians in Egypt. Anthony is the patron saint of people with infectious diseases of the skin. Upholding the altarpiece is a wooden sarcophagus, on which Grünewald painted Jesus being laid to rest by Joseph of Arimathea, Mary his mother, and Nicodemus. This scene too is part of todayʼs listening in the St. Matthew Passion. 6.