During the 17th and
18th centuries many Passions were written
by German composers. Until the first
half of the 18th century these were
in the main oratorio Passions, based
on the Biblical account of the suffering,
and death of Jesus, often with additional
free texts - arias and chorales. The
Gospels according to Matthew and John
were popular choices. In the first half
of the 18th century a new genre emerged:
the so-called Passion oratorio. This
was mostly a combination of a paraphrase
of and contemplation on the story of
the Passion. Passion oratorios were
usually performed outside the church,
in the form of a concert, but during
the second half of the century they
became a part of religious services
as well. Some composers wrote Passion
music of both genres, Telemann and Gottfried
August Homilius amongst them.
The most famous Passion
oratorio in Germany was Carl Heinrich
Graun's 'Der Tod Jesu'. The text was
written by the poet Carl Wilhelm Ramler,
and was also used by Telemann. This
text strongly reflects the spirit of
the Enlightenment, and as a result is
rather moralistic. Jesus is an example
of absolute virtue, and mankind should
follow in his footsteps. The Homilius
oratorio certainly bears the traces
of the Enlightenment too, but the difference
between this work's text and Ramler's
'Der Tod Jesu' can hardly be overlooked.
In Ramler's work the element of personal
sin – Jesus suffering in the sinner's
place – is pushed to one side to make
way for an expression of the wish to
follow Jesus' example. That is certainly
not the case in Homilius's oratorio,
the text of which was written Ernst
August Buschmann, who from 1759 to 1775
was pastor in Löbnitz, near Leipzig.
The title and the the first line of
the opening chorus are indications of
its content: "A little lamb goes bearing
the guilt of the world and its children.
It goes patiently atoning for the sins
of all sinners." It is the first stanza
of a well-known Passion hymn by Paul
Gerhardt (1607-1676). The oratorio contains
five choruses and two ariosos where
passages from the Bible are quoted.
These all refer to sin and the hope
for redemption, which is underlined
by the texts of the chorales. In regard
to content, this oratorio is closer
to Bach's Passions than to 'Der Tod
The recitatives are
either accompanied, in particular the
most dramatic ones, or secco: with basso
continuo only. Features of these recitatives
are the shifting perspective, their
tone of commitment and their sometimes
very dramatic character. The recitative
"Die Mörder kommen schon" in the
first part shows this very clearly.
It describes how Judas and his henchmen
are coming to capture Jesus. The singer
(tenor) first asks: "Ah! disciples,
will you go on sleeping?" and urges
them "wake, wake, and all of you, pray".
Then he returns to reporting what happens:
"In bonds he is led to his judges."
He then leaves his neutral stance to
say: "Here sits the band of venerable
elders, and each of them is a miscreant
who hates Jesus Christ". Then he addresses
Peter: "Ah, Peter, you who wanted to
die with him, feeble man, now betraying
the duty that you should be doing, do
you know not Jesus?" Some recitatives
are very dramatic, like the beginning
of "Seht, wie Jerusalem sich wider ihn
empöret!" (See how Jerusalem rages
against him!) (part 1) or "Zerreiße,
Golgatha" (Break asunder, Golgotha,
and earth, tremble) (part 2).
It was quite usual
in Passions of both genres to give arias
to Jesus. Although the aria doesn't
refer to him, it is clear from the text
that in "Ich bete, zürnet nicht"
Jesus is speaking: "I pray, do not rage,
I am the man of sorrows". The tenor
aria "Nun wird, mein Gott, dein Donner
fassen" makes no specific reference
to Peter, but it is obvious that he
is speaking, right after his denial
of Jesus: "Now will your thunderbolt,
God, strike me, for I have denied you".
It is typical, though, that into this
aria a chorus is integrated in which
the believers say "We fall before you,
Jesus, what we have done". This way
they acknowledge they are not better
than Peter and have done the same as
he. There is not much difference between
the content of this aria and chorus
and Bach's St Matthew Passion ("Erbarme
Homilius very effectively
translates the text into music. In particular
the orchestra is used to express the
content of the arias. In the B section
of the aria "Wie tödlich schrecken
die Gerichte" the held notes in the
wind lament the impending death of Jesus
("Earth, quake! end your fearful lament
up to Heaven!"). Ascending figures depict
the joy of the redemption through Jesus'
death in "Nun sterb ich Sünder
nicht": "Now, I, a sinner, shall not
die, the Father will grant pardon".
The aria "Umgürtet mit Gerechtigkeit"
is very warlike: "Girded with righteousness,
the hero now rushes into mighty combat,
death must flee, and hell must shiver".
Fast repeated figures express terror,
wrath and thunder in "Bewaffne dich,
Mächtger": "Arm yourself, mighty
one, with terror and wrath, command
the thunder with the voice of destruction".
This aria strongly reminds me of the
opening chorus of a cantata by Homilius
('Verwundrung, Mitleid, Furcht und Schrecken').
In the second part the bass, acting
as 'vox Dei', sings an arioso on the
words of Isaiah 43, v24: "Thou hast
made me to serve with thy sins, thou
hast wearied me with thine iniquities".
The singer is accompanied here by the
low strings and the bassoons, a most
eloquent expression of the content.
In the choruses homophony
dominates, but Homilius shows he is
able to write in polyphonic style as
well: the last line of "Daran ist erschienen
die Liebe Gottes" and the second section
of "Israel, hoffe auf den Herrn" (Psalm
130, vv7-8) are fugues. After all Homilius
was a pupil of Bach.
The general tenor of
the oratorio is well expressed in the
closing chorus (with alto solo): "Here
hangs the sacrifice for man's sins,
the blood of the great Peacemaker is
flowing! Now can the Christian soul
receive the comfort of having Christ
as his Saviour."
This is the first recording
ever of this oratorio, and I am very
impressed by its quality. The more I
hear of Homilius's sacred music, the
more I lean towards the view that he
must be considered one of the very best
composers of religious music in Germany
of the generation of the sons of Bach.
No wonder that his compositions were
widely performed in Germany and beyond.
And I am very happy that there is something
like a 'Homilius renaissance' going
on, as the cover of this disc states.
I am also very impressed
by the performance. The soloists give
a splendid account of themselves and
express the content of arias and recitatives
very well. The voice of Hans Christoph
Begemann does not however appeal to
me, and it's a shame that there is a
slight tremolo in his voice. But on
the whole this does not detract unduly
from the value this recording. The Basler
Madrigalisten give immaculate performances
of the choruses and the chorales. The
orchestra is not that well-known yet
must be one of the best baroque orchestras
around, as is impressively demonstrated
in this recording.
This recording goes straight to the
top of my list of records of the year.
Johan van Veen