{"id":796,"date":"2018-11-08T19:33:46","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T19:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=796"},"modified":"2018-11-22T20:08:47","modified_gmt":"2018-11-22T20:08:47","slug":"review-st-matthew-passion-in-the-priory-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/11\/08\/review-st-matthew-passion-in-the-priory-church\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: ST MATTHEW PASSION IN THE PRIORY CHURCH"},"content":{"rendered":"

Contributed by Martin Widden<\/span><\/p>\n

The composer J S Bach was very skilled at reusing pieces he had composed for other purposes, a practice he often adopted to enable him to meet the many tight deadlines he was set by his employers. But the St Matthew Passion is unusual among Bach’s major sacred works in having been composed as a whole, rather than being put together or adapted from music he had on the shelf. A devout Christian, Bach evidently regarded the composition of this work as a highly important matter in his life – it is tightly structured, and we are told that the manuscript is much more neatly finished than those for most of his works.<\/span><\/p>\n

In these relatively faithless times, it fortunately isn’t necessary to be a Christian to appreciate the wonders of this work. The Passion is an account of the events leading up to the crucifixion of Christ, a tale that includes capture, denial, betrayal, and appeal to the instincts of the crowd (as we know, they preferred Barabbas, a known crook, to Jesus, and Pilate washed his hands of their decision). It is a dramatic story, and Bach’s treatment of it exploits the dramatic potential of the story to the full.<\/span><\/p>\n

The University’s 2018-19 international concert season opened with a performance of the St Matthew Passion by English Touring Opera, presented in Lancaster Priory Church. The principal soloists sang their parts from memory, without books or copies. They were thus able to move around the church engaging the audience with eye contact. As a member of the audience, it was sometimes a little unnerving to be addressed from a distance of only a metre or two by a powerful singer, especially if you weren’t quite expecting it, but the dramatic effect was very strong, and to have the piece performed by an opera company seemed completely appropriate.<\/span><\/p>\n

The story is told by the Evangelist. This is a big part – very reasonably, it was shared among several singers – and as they sang in German, it was useful to have surtitles on screens at the front of the church. The part of Christ is always accompanied by sustained strings, representing his halo remarkably effectively. The chorus was formed of local singers. Putting all this together is a considerable logistical triumph, since there is little time for rehearsal with everyone present, but no hitches were detectable on the night.<\/span><\/p>\n

English Touring Opera are performing the St Matthew Passion at some eleven locations around the country. To witness and be part of one of these performances was a great experience: we were fortunate that one of them was given here in Lancaster.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Contributed by Martin Widden The composer J S Bach was very skilled at reusing pieces he had composed for other purposes, a practice he often adopted to enable him to meet the many tight deadlines he was set by his … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[412,408,63,410,413],"class_list":["post-796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-english-touring-opera","tag-issue-182","tag-martin-widden","tag-review","tag-st-matthew-the-passion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-cQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1104,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/12\/13\/widdens-review-can-music-comment-on-a-political-situation\/","url_meta":{"origin":796,"position":0},"title":"WIDDEN’S REVIEW – CAN MUSIC COMMENT ON A POLITICAL SITUATION?","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"December 13 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Contributed by Martin Widden Some music is composed to celebrate a person - probably the best known example is Beethoven's Eroica symphony, composed in honour of Napoleon, although Beethoven later withdrew the dedication in disgust at Napoleon's declaring himself emperor; some portray an actual event, such as Verdi's opera The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "contributed article"","block_context":{"text":"contributed article","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/contributed-article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":462,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/15\/martin-widden-red-pilling-the-music-industry-one-concert-at-a-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":796,"position":1},"title":"MARTIN WIDDEN: \u2018RED PILLING THE MUSIC INDUSTRY, ONE CONCERT AT A TIME\u2019","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 15 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Review: Kathryn Stott It is often asserted that the sound of a violin improves in a period when it is being played quite intensively. And not only the violin - similar claims are made for other stringed instruments. Such claims are widely believed by musicians, but although careful scientific tests\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "contributed article"","block_context":{"text":"contributed article","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/contributed-article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":337,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/02\/15\/martin-widden-the-man-the-musicians-fear\/","url_meta":{"origin":796,"position":2},"title":"MARTIN WIDDEN: ‘THE MAN THE MUSICIANS FEAR’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 15 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Review: Xue Fei Yang plays classical guitar In her solo recital in the Great Hall on 8 February, the Chinese guitar virtuoso Xue Fei Yang chose a programme that gave her ample scope to demonstrate a wide range of techniques of playing the instrument. The earliest composition on the programme\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "review"","block_context":{"text":"review","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":117,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/10\/26\/concert-review-the-brodsky-quartet\/","url_meta":{"origin":796,"position":3},"title":"CONCERT REVIEW: THE BRODSKY QUARTET","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"October 26 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Martin Widden It was once the convention that a concert would begin with a work by a composer from early times; the programme would then move chronologically through pieces by successively more recent composers. A concert by a string quartet might open with a quartet by Haydn (1732-1809), the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "contributed article"","block_context":{"text":"contributed article","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/contributed-article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":157,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/11\/09\/martin-widden-he-pulls-no-punches-and-tells-it-like-it-is\/","url_meta":{"origin":796,"position":4},"title":"MARTIN WIDDEN: ‘HE PULLS NO PUNCHES, AND TELLS IT LIKE IT IS’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 9 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Review: Scarlatti and Cage in the Great Hall Domenico Scarlatti (born Naples in 1685, and so an exact contemporary of J S Bach) wrote over 500 sonatas for harpsichord, nearly all of them short and in just one movement of simple AABB form - two halves, each of them repeated.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "contributed article"","block_context":{"text":"contributed article","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/contributed-article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1228,"url":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/03\/27\/widdens-review-concert-for-refugee-crisis\/","url_meta":{"origin":796,"position":5},"title":"WIDDEN’S REVIEW – CONCERT FOR REFUGEE CRISIS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 27 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Contributed by Martin Widden Prompted by the refugee crisis across the Mediterranean, the programme for the recital given on 5th March by the twelve-strong a capella choir Stile Antico was focused on John Dowland's set of pavans for voice and lute, Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares. 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