ETHNOMUS 60 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Luther Bible, Blood Libel, Picander
Document Summary
A passion is an oratorio with texts centered around the crucifixion of jesus. The time period covered in the text is from palm sunday to sundown good friday (burial). The resurrection is not part of the lyrical content. Source material is from the four gospels: matthew, mark, luke, john. Bach wrote three in their entirety, and added to a pre-existing work by someone else. Two survive intact: st. matthew passion (matthaus passion, st. john passion (johannes passion) Each went through multiple editions over the years. Bach created a special edition of the st. Matthew, because he sensed it was the major work of his life. St. mark passion was a parody of a number of cantatas, and the text, by picander, survived, but not the music. St. luke passion was borrowed from someone else. One other early passion may have existed, but was cannibalized for the st. john. Edition dates: st. matthew-1727, revised 1736, 1742, st. john-1724, 1725, 1740s.
