Johann Sebastian Bach wrote no work that he called an opera. Perhaps some of his secular cantatas could be called comic operas, but they are pretty short. What about the St. Matthew Passion? Upon its first performance it was criticized for being too operatic. It is certainly great drama.
I am not a Christian. To me the story is one of martyrdom in the face of oppression. It has inspired some truly magnificent music.
It has puzzled me that Bach wrote great works for Good Friday, not so much for Easter. Perhaps it was because he lived in a time when life was dominated more by suffering than today.
I bought my first recording about 1967 when I was teaching mathematics at North Texas State University in Denton TX. This recording was produced by Otto Klemperer. I was in a period of new things in my life. I was in transition from Republican to Democrat. In Dallas I learned of the gay scene.
This recording by Klemperer features Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and Nicolai Gedda.
Much more recently I bought a CD recording. by the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, directed by Rene Jacobs. Still later I bought a CD edition of the Klemperer recording.
I prefer the slower tempo of the Klemperer recording, but then that was my first impression; perhaps I tend to prefer the first version of a musical work that I hear. Nevertheless I am moved by the measured tempo.
Some history
In 1723 Bach had moved from the town of Koethen to Leipzig where he became Kapellmeister of Thomaskirche (St. Thomas Church). He wrote 5 passions, of which 2 survive. In 1724 his St. John Passion appeared. There is a score of a St. Luke Passion but Felix Mendelssohn was convinced it was spurious. A performance of the St. Matthew Passion on 15 April 1929 is definitely known, at Thomaskirche; the work likely was performed there 11 April 1727. The usual score is a revision performed 30 March 1736. There were also later revisions 1742 and after.
The librettist for this Passion was Christian Friedrich Henrici, who had the nom de plume Picander. He is not considered a great writer but he served Bach well in many cantatas and other works.
Bach apparently used music from the St. Matthew Passion in a funeral cantata (1727) for his former patron Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Koethen. Only its text survives.
Bach's contract with his church stipulated that his church music was not to be operatic. The St. Matthew Passion did draw complaints that it was too operatic. Is it operatic? It qualifies as an oratorio but it is not written to be performed as an opera. Technically it is not operatic; it is
a subjective impression that it is.
When Bach died in 1750 the St. Matthew and St. John Passions went to his son Carl Philip Emanuel Bach; the 3 lost passions went to Wilhelm Friedeman Bach, who was notorious for losing his father's manuscripts. For the remainder of the 18th century J. S. Bach's works were neglected; he was considered old-fashioned.
Felix Mendelssohn, at age 20, revived the St. Matthew Passion on 11 March 1829 in Berlin. The performance was enthusiastically received and led to a great revival of interest in Bach. In 1841 he directed another performance at Thomaskirche. In 1850 was founded the Bachgesellschaft (Bach Society) which undertook publishing Bach's complete works.
Some highlights
Music likely speaks best for itself, but here are some suggestions, my impressions.
Do remember that Bach's ensemble music is generally like a conversation between instruments.
There are choruses and recitatives and arias. The biblical passages are sung by the Evangelist as recitative.
Part I is based on Chapter 26 of Matthew.
1) "Kommt, ihr Töchter" "Come you daughters, help us grieve."
This is a dialog between two choirs that sets a mood of great grieving. One chorus asks the other about the event it has seen - the sentence and crucifixion. There is evidence that in Bach's performances one choir was in front of the congregation and the other behind it.
10) "Buss und Reu" "Penance and remorse" alto aria
The flutes impart a bittersweet flavor.
12) "Blute nur, du liebes Herz" "Bleed now, dear heart"
This soprano aria decries the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.
29) "Gerne will ich mich bequemen" "Gladly will I submit myself"
This is a rather slow and deliberate bass aria.
33) "So ist mein Jesus nun gefangen" "So my Jesus is now captured."
A plaintive soprano/alto duet is followed by a vehement double chorus, "Sind Blitze, sind Donner", furious at the betrayal by Judas. "is there no thunder, no lightning?"
35) "O Mensch, bewein' dein Sünde gross" "O humanity, bewail thy great sin" This magnificent chorus (both choirs) concludes Part I. It was once part of the St. John Passion. There is a great call for penitence.
Part II is based on Chapter 27 of Matthew.
36) "Ach nun ist mein Jesus hin" "Now my Jesus is gone" aria: alto and both choirs
61) "Können Tränen meiner Wangen" "Can the tears on my cheeks" alto aria
The strings play a melody of much sorrow.
69) "Ach Golgatha, unselges Golgatha" "Oh Golgotha, unhappy Golgotha." alto aria
The woodwinds bring a bittersweet mood.
70) "Sehet, Jesus hat die Hand" "See, Jesus has his hand stretched out"
The alto goes into dialog with choir 2; the woodwinds continue as before, but there is more ontinuo.
75) "Mache dich, mein Herze, rein" "Make my heart pure" bass aria
The instruments bring a somewhat brighter mood.
78) "Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder" "We sit down in tears"
This final chorus (both choirs) is a little more modest than what concludes Part I. It is nevertheless music well-suited for a burial.
Concluding thoughts
Bach lived in the closing part of the baroque era, when music and other art forms were quite ornate. It was a devout age. The divine right of kings was at a high point - Europe's rulers were claiming religion as a basis of legitimacy. The actual behavior of these rulers , however, was not necessarily exemplary. There had been a Thirty Years' War, 1618-1648, that began as a war between Catholics and Protestants. Spain had tried to exterminate Protestantism from the Netherlands. There was much in this age that could serve to argue for separation of church and state. Rulers used religion as a source of legitimacy but, on the other hand, religion served as a comfort to many.
I have learned much about Christianity from Johann Sebastian Bach, but I have never been a believer. I say he was a good Christian. Perhaps he could afford to be, from a safe position as chief musician in a church, an extraordinarily talented musician in fact. He had to answer to German princes who professed to be Christians. He was surrounded by countless ordinary people who lived miserable lives by today's standards, whose only consolation was religion. Bach has long provided a view into Christianity to me, an outsider.
Bibliography
‘Johann Sebastian Bach: An Introduction to his Life and Works’ (1962), by Russell H. Miles. Prentice-Hall.
‘J. S. Bach’ by Albert Schweitzer (1908). Translated from German by Ernest Newman (1911). Dover.
‘Johann Sebastian Bach' by Philipp Spitta (1880). Translated from German by Clara Bell and J. S. Fuller-Maitland (1885). Dover.
Recordings of the Century: St. Matthew Passion (3 CD) with Peter Piers (evangelist), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Jesus), Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Christa Ludwig, Nicolai Gedda, Walter Berry, Wilfred Brown, John Carol Case, Geraint Evans, Otakar Kraus, Helen Watts. Boys of Hampstead Parish Church Choir, Philharmonia Choir & Orchestra, conducted by Otto Klemperer. First recorded 1961.
Matthaeus-Passion (2 CD) with Werner Gora (evangelist), Johannes Weisser (Jesus), Sunhae Im, Christina Roterberg, Bernarda Fink, Marie-Claude Chappuls, Topi Lehtipuu, Fabio Truempy, Konstantin Wolff, Arttu Kataja. Rias Kammerchor, Staats und Domchor Berlin, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Rene Jacobs. Harmonia Mundi. (2014)
Gospel of Matthew, King James Version.