Even we thoroughly lapsed Lutherans still think Easter Week is a big deal. In Scandinavia, where no one goes to church, there are scores of performances of Bach's St. Matthew Passion on Good Friday. Takes almost three hours to do. I listen to it each year because according to the "rules" of my people, this is enough to make you a good Lutheran for another year. It is often cited as one of the greatest musical compositions ever written--a statement I totally agree with. Sung it twice when I was in the Bach Society, have seen it done live about 10 times, and have seven versions in my iTunes library. If God is really a Lutheran like I was taught as a child, this ought to get me into heaven ;-)
But if you ever want to know why the Nordics have world-class engineers, are the best at industrial design, and have developed easily the greenest industrialization, remember, these people sing Bach for FUN. A stretch you say? Here's the link. Lutherans believed that statuary was a bad idea for churches so there are few sculptors in Nordic history. Instead, the Lutes decreed that music was the approved art form. This led to complex pipe organs and Bach. Building something that incredibly difficult embedded precision manufacture into the culture of the Protestant North.
So join me in celebrating the music of we Lutes. It is by FAR the best part of our religious practice. Minus Bach, we Lutherans are mostly the harmless oafs described by Garrison Keillor.
This picture of my Swedish-American Lutheran preacher father was taken when I was 3 years old. At one point in his career, he taught the history of Lutheran hymnody in a seminary. His kid sister (my aunt) first sang the Saint Matthew Passion at 13. As someone who didn't learn it until 25, I still think this was an enormous accomplishment.
Here are three of my favorites from the St. Matthew Passion. The opening is a double motet with a dual orchestra AND a soprano line usually sung by a boys choir. (NINE parts total--complex music anyone?) I always think of this as a musical sunrise.
This little number is called "Erbarme dich" The St. Matthew Passion consists of the story told by a tenor evangelist (plus other soloists and even occasionally the choir singing the narrative), chorales which were to be sung by the congration so are "easier" (with Bach, that is relative) and then there are the "sermons" which were Bach's way of emphasizing certain lessons. This aria is one of those lessons. Usually sung by a contralto, this performance is sung by an incredible counter-tenor.
This is the finale. I always thought Bach wanted folks who had sat through a three-hour performance on hard pews to have something to hum on their way out.
Happy Easter folks.