Good evening everyone, I hope you’re all well and are staying safe in this awful weather! A brief one for you all in advance of our final rehearsal this term of the Bach this coming Wednesday, thanks for reading.
What we did – Wednesday 18th September
Following on from last week’s big session on symmetrical structures (chiasmus) in Bach’s mature choral works, specifically the ‘Herzstueck‘ (you can read about this in last week’s post), we looked at the other chiasmus in the piece, which draws our attention to Es is Vollbracht (“It is finished”) – the climax of the John Passion. It’s a monumental moment, and the movements which build to, and surround, it are particularly important.
- We began with Nos. 26 (p157) and 27b (p159), our prepatory Chorale and Chorus, which further where we are in the story and build up to the climactic moment of Jesus’s death.
- Then we worked on the surrounding Chorales, Nos. 28 (p170) and 32 (p178) which form the symmetrical structure for the climax of the work.
- We finished by working through the end of the first part of the passion, Nos. 11 (p52), 12b (p54) and 14 (p64) – a combination of Chorales and ‘Turba Choruses’ where we interrupt the narrative.
To catch up: If you missed this rehearsal, please look at Nos. 28 & 32 in particular and notice their similarities, forming the symmetry of the section.
What we’ll do – Wednesday 25th September
Our final rehearsal on the Bach until 2025, so we’ll tie up all the loose ends. We’ll begin with the start of the second part, Nos. 15 (p66), 16b (p69), 16d (p76) and 17 (p84), which depict Jesus being taken away (you’ll remember that we end the first part on Peter reflecting his denial of Jesus, just after he was arrested).
We’ll finish with a bit more work on the first movement of the piece, strengthening that incredible opening.
If you’ve missed any of the Bach rehearsals this term, you can see what we’ve done (and what you should catch up on) in the Rehearsal Schedule below.+
Marked Scores
The marked score will be provided over Christmas, in time for the Spring rehearsals, but below is a link to the unmarked score for anyone who would like to use it on their tablets. As the edition is still in copyright, and this page is open to the public, the document is password protected. Annabel will be sending round an email shortly with the password to view it. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for understanding.
Learning Guides
We’ll be providing plenty of resources for the Spring term to help you with learning the piece, including lots of language pronunciation guides for the German (we’ll also be organising some language coaching for the choir too)!
In the meantime, I’ve found a pronunciation guide for the chorales, as well as some note-learning via John Fletcher Music and Choralia, which you can check out free of charge below.
– Chorale Pronunciation Guide HERE.
– Choralia HERE.
– John Fletcher Music HERE.
Listening Guides
As always I try to provide good recordings for you to listen to to help with the learning.
The recommended recording on Spotify HERE. For those who don’t use Spotify, this is the recording by John Eliot Gardiner and The Monteverdi Choir (2011).
The recommended live performance is on YouTube HERE.
Of course, the other recording that’s worth listening to is the BBC Prom, where it was performed this year. It’s available on BBC Sounds HERE.
Future Events
Just one thing for you this week – our friends Chris Windass and members of the Adderbury Ensemble have some concerts coming up that they’ve asked me to share, including one on THURSDAY 26th September at St Mary’s Church! Do go along and support these incredible musicians – the Britten in particular is amazing – and remember to say “Hi” when you see them!
This Week’s listening
As I mentioned, please do listen to Es ist Vollbracht from the St John Passion. You can check out the recording we were talking about by Barnaby Smith (Voces8 founder and countertenor) HERE.
See you all on Wednesday 25th September
– Ben