Aus Liebe

No this is not a Dutch post. It is in plain English. Aus Liebe is German and means: out of love for.It is the title of an Aria out of a masterpiece I dearly love. This post is an homage to this masterpiece.

At the end of each winter or at the beginning of spring it hits me. Easter is coming and with easter, traditionally one of the most beautiful musical pieces in the world is performed.  The tradition is, that this piece is to be played on Good Friday. This Friday is always starts 3 days before easter and on this day Christian people remember or celebrate the death of Christ. (Yes, some people Celebrate this ).

His sacrifice to humanity as the lamb who is sacrificed in order to redeem humanity of it’s sins. Thereby making right the Fall of man. Before this, a series of events are set in motion and these events are well documented in the first four gospels of the New Testament of the Bible. Mark, John, Luke and Matthew each describe the life of Jezus of Nazareth from their own point of view up until or just after the moment of his death.

Eventually, over time, these four gospels became the pillars of modern day Christianity and are well know to many all over the world.

And this concludes our little session in religious education.

In around 1727-1728 a great composer, by the name of Johan Sebastian Bach together with his favorite writer Christian Friedrich Henrici also known as Picander, took it upon them self to write an Oratorio about the book of Matthew.  Composed for two choirs which was very popular in that time.  Keep in mind that classical music as we know it today was popular music in those days and Bach was a well known composer.

First performed in 1729 on the 15th of April (Good Friday) at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig Germany The Matthäus Passion(St. Matthews passion)became of one of the most famous and greatest masterpieces, if not the greatest of all time.

Now this Bach Fellow was quite the smart guy. Deeply religious as all where in those days. He put a lot of symbolism in the Matthäus. (I Use Matthäus instead of Matthew because of it being the real German name) the piece consists out of 68 musical pieces, 14 chorals ,27 evangelic and 27 other pieces.  the 27  evangelic pieces consist of 729 measures, which is 27 to the power of 2. 27 was very important for Bach. for 3x3x3 (the holy trinity) is 27.  Yes, Bach could not only compose, but was also very good at math.

Ok, so much about the technical stuff.  Being good at math and being able to compose does not make you the composer of the greatest master piece on earth alone.

Close your eyes and imagine, that you are walking into an old cathedral, with excellent acoustics. You can almost hear the whispering of the crowd, on the other side of the room. Gradually the cathedral begins to fill and after everyone is seated.  The doors are closed. Then from the otherside the Choirs and musicians come in and take there place. After the tuning of the instruments leaded by the sound of the oboe. the audience get silent. Then after the last instrument has been tuned. A thundering applause heralds the entrance of the conductor and the soloists. after the soloists are seated in front of the orchestra’s. The conductor bows shortly to the audience and then turns to the orchestra and the choirs.  The Cathedral becomes sillent only a few distant whisperers are heard and an occasional cough here and there. Tension rises as the conductor lifts his arms and the choirs rise from their seats.

Then it starts. The great full sound of the churches pipe organ sounds the first accord.  then the violins, the chellos , the bassoons, and oboes start to join, as they play the introduction. Then the choirs come in ” Kommt, ihr Töchter, hilft mir klagen”, they sing. Come dauhgters wheep with me, it means. a beautiful chorus of  the different vocal types fills the cathedral. All whispers have died out there is a tension in the air which keeps you focused.  Then after the first repetition of the chorus, you notice a tear  is welling up inside of you, Goosebumps put all of the hairs of your arm in an upright position and a shiver runs through your spine.

As the intro progresses you can feel each and single note deep in the essence of your soul. And you are in awe of the greatness of the music. As each note is perfect. Each note you can not only hear but feel.  The  chorus has ended a short pause in the music allows someone to cough. then the Evangelist starts singing with his crystal clear tenor voice. “Da Jesus diese Rede vollendet hatte, sprach er zu seinen Jüngern:” , When Jesus, then, had finished all these sayings, he said to his disciples. Then Jesus in the form of a perfect bas starts to sing: ” Er wisset, daß nach zweien Tagen Ostern wird, und des Menschen Sohn wird überantwortet werden, daß er gekreuziget werde.” , he sings. Ye know well that in two days will be Passover, and the Son of man is then to be handed over, that he be crucifièd.

The story has started.  And as the composition progresses, you can picture the events that unfold during the last days, of the life of Jesus of Nazareth.  the first Climax is reached as Jesus is captured in the gardens of Gethsemane. The choirs sing, “Sind Blitze, sind Donner in Wolken verschwunden”, Hath lightning, hath thunder in clouds fully vanished

the choir  signals the coming  break with, “O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß”, O man, bewail thy sins so great  and you suddenly realize that you have all ready listened to the music for more than an hour. As your synaptics calm down during the short recess of the concert. you walk back to your seat. To prepare for the second part. As the people settle down and the musicians enter again the sound of the audience dies out. The instruments are tuned again and the concert continues.

It goes on in full force immediately, with the choir singing, ” Ach! nun ist mein Jesus hin!”, Ah, now is my Jesus gone!.

And with these words you slip back into the trance you had just left. The great Aria’s such as : Erbarme dich(Have mercy lord)  begin. Then Jesus  is brought before the people of Israel and Pilate asks them if they want the traitor Barabbas or Jesus release. The choir shout in dischord ” BARABAM!” Which chills your bones. Then the great aria’s Erbarme dich, Ich will jesum selbst begraben follow, Including the immensly beautiful  Aus Liebe.  Then Jesus dies and the way the music plays you can feel and see the earthquakes resulting his death. Then all dies down for the final Chorus “Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder”, We lay ourselves with weeping prostrate.  And as this overwhelming chorus is played.  All hearths are silenced. Resulting in the final masterpiece of the concert. The Silence. On the last accord the music dies down and for 10, 20, 30 seconds there is not a sound to be heard in the cathedral as everyone comes out of the trance, or shock the concert has brought forth. There seriously isn’t any sillence like that. It’s the moment the. The thundering choir and then nothing. chilling. Truely a masterpiece.

This is my homage to the greatest musical masterpiece ever created. If you ever get the change, go see or hear for yourself.

Advertisement