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Most Passion dramas, in their final scenes, carefully avoid hints of the events to follow on the third day: the only joy they sometimes convey comes from the dawning realization by the centurion at the crucifixion, that Jesus truly was the Son of God. The libretto published by Barthold Heinrich Brockes (see Thursday’s post<\/a>) ends instead with joyful allusions to the Resurrection and all that it means: how Christ’s victory over death ends our separation from God and is the promise of eternal life after our own death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To achieve this Brockes prescribed, as the final movement, not his own words but three stanzas of the hymn Wenn mein St\u00fcndlein vorhanden ist<\/em> (When the hour of my death is at hand) by Nikolaus Herman (c<\/em>1480-1561), traditionally sung to a melody first published in 1569. The hymn, sung here<\/a> in its basic form, was well known to the eighteenth-century congregations for the Brockes Passion and remained close to people’s hearts; Robert Schumann would later write out a harmonization (here<\/a>), apparently in 1856 when nearing his own death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Retaining the old tune was essential for keeping that connection of familiarity: the various composers who set the Brockes libretto had only to harmonize the melody and add instruments. In Telemann’s case, as performed in this video, the first of the stanzas is sung plainly by soloists, the second by all the singers, accompanied by the orchestra. Made even more splendid with trumpets and horns, the final stanza gloriously ‘open heaven’s door’. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Telemann’s setting was first performed in Holy Week in 1716, in the Barf\u00fc\u00dferkirche, Frankfurt am Main, where he was the city’s director of music. It was revived frequently in the years to follow, in Augsburg, Hamburg and Leipzig, and as far afield as Riga and Stockholm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For more music for Holy Week and Easter, see the series from 2020<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n * * This post, on Easter Day, is in a series for Lent to Easter, 2021<\/a><\/em> * *<\/p>\n\n\n\n The final chorale in Georg Philipp Telemann’s setting of the Brockes Passion, TWV 5:1 (1716), performed on 30 March 2019 by the Apollo Ensemble, in the Oudshoornse church in Alphen aan den Rijn, Holland. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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