Musical Director's comments on Bach's St Matthew Passion

What makes a piece of music ‘great’? 

We are all taught to venerate certain composers above all others: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven spring to mind.  And, from the quill of such composers, particular works always feature more prominently than any others.  In Bach’s case, the St Matthew Passion is so heralded.  Historically, this work, perhaps more so than any other, came to symbolise Bach’s revival across Europe.  It is remarkable that such music had remained little more than the musical cognoscenti’s best kept secret until a young Mendelssohn famously and bravely revived the work in 1829, following no fewer than two years of rehearsals.  This heralded a great reawakening of public interest in Bach’s music, although the first performance in Britain was not until 1854 under the baton of Sterndale Bennett.

Whereas many of Bach’s compositions were ‘parodies’ in that they routinely consisted of previous works recycled in completely different contexts, the St Matthew Passion was entirely original from the outset.  Following the first performance in 1727, the only subsequent major appropriation (from the second version of the St John Passion) was the monumental chorus which now concludes the first part: ‘O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groβ’ – ‘O man, thy heavy sin lament’.

The Bach family referred to the work as the ‘great Passion’, thus distinguishing it from his other four settings of which only the St John Passion has survived.  In his 2001 biography, Bach: The Learned Musician, Christoff Wolf writes “It could not be more evident that Bach, in 1736, considered this score as his most significant work. He knew full well, from the earliest planning stages, that this composition would be special – indeed, that nothing like it had ever been attempted before.”

Can there be a finer fusion of Bach’s genius?  Every note carries purpose, every phrase is a joy to rehearse, every movement perfectly crafted.  And, O, what movements!  From the fabulously complex texture of the first movement’s great double fugue for double choir and orchestra, woven around the chorale O Lamm Gottes unschuldig - a movement which takes some conductors the best part of 15 minutes to accomplish – to the astonishing beauty and simplicity of the soprano aria Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben, accompanied by a single flute and two oboes, Bach takes us on a dramatic, sacred and musical journey blending compellingly varied music and huge forces in art of the highest order.

I think I am right in saying that our concert, on March 31^st 2012, will be the first complete performance of this wonderful music in St Ives.  That this has taken me over a decade as Musical Director says much about the huge regard I have for this work.  That it has taken St Ives many more years to reach this point is another matter.  We should be both humbled and proud in being given the opportunity to settle such a great score.

St Matthew Passion Cuts

For choir members looking to get ahead of the game, the list of proposed cuts, (Jenkins ed) is as follows:

2-12 inclusive.

21

29 – cut da capo.  Sing through to fine first time and stop.

37, last bar and 4 notes cut,  plus whole of 38.  (Run end of 37 straight into 39 without break.)

52 cut bars 1-15

55

60,61

63 cut one verse (can’t decide which, yet!)

64 cut from bar 6 to 67 bar 1.

69

73 cut from bar 21 to bar 30.

76 cut from bar 8 until end of 76.

At fast Baroque speeds, the whole work would take the best part of 160 minutes plus intervals; these cuts aim to bring that down by 40 minutes, and then we can afford to relax the tempi on a few occasions...!

Future repertoire

It's that time again - time for the music sub-committee to meet to discuss future concerts.  We've held a mini-consultation with members, in that we asked you to tell us what you would like to do.  So far, works suggested by members include:

Mozart:  'Coronation' Mass
Puccini: Messa di Gloria
Mendelssohn: Elijah
Dvorak: Requiem

Obviously, we cannot promise to perform any of the above, but there are some really good suggestions which I am certain will feature in the mix of future concerts we create.  If, anyone has any further good ideas, let me know, either by email, or by response to this post.  The list of past repertoire can be found on a link on the right hand side of this page.

I suppose it would be worth stating, from my own point of view, that there are few works which I'm interested in conducting for a second time.  Hence, any works we haven't performed ever or, at least, for a considerable period, would be high on my target list.  That having been said, we are at a point where, having been directing the music for over 10 years, certain key works of the repertoire may well need to be given a further outing...

Handel: Dixit Dominus & Dettingen Te Deum, February 12th 2011

I never spend too long dwelling on previous concerts.  Each experience is always memorable, invariably for the right reasons, but always in different ways.  I tend to view live performances as ‘snapshots’ in time – great fun at the time, full of incidents but, once finished, we move on to whatever is coming next.  Moreover, how could one adequately and objectively summarise a performance to someone who missed it?  From my perspective, we concentrated well, were organised, well-rehearsed (some said ‘professional’) – to me, these things are really important – we should aim for nothing less; the performance itself was marvellous, thrilling, moving, captivating; however, none of this adequately conveys the emotional and musical journeys we each experienced between 7.30pm and the end of the concert. 

From other perspectives, these works represented two more notches chalked up on the ‘done’ list, two more works heard live in St Ives for the first time; feedback received at the end was superb, both from performers, and audience alike.  Ultimately, however, the aspect I shall most enjoy about this performance was the journey we each experienced from the very first rehearsal in September 2010 right through to the applause at the end of the concert, nearly five months later.  It is especially gratifying that, during that time, we managed to dig deep into the heart of these works and, particularly, to shape a musical performance from Handel’s Dixit Dominus, a work which is very much less accessible than our previous experiences of this great musician – where are the easy, graceful melodies, lucid counterpoint and wonderful musical climaxes of his later oratorios?  This work is very much of a composer in the making, somebody finding a voice, developing a style, somebody still learning how best to exploit each ‘instrument’- including voices!  The music has an earthy quality, some thrilling moments nonetheless, but far less easy to understand than his later works.  That over 90 members of St Ives Choral Society managed to ‘hang-in’ there and, thereby, had an opportunity to experience performing this work in concert is something of which we can all be extremely proud.