The focus of this ROH webpage centers around choral music for the Lenten Season. While focus will be on J.S. Bach’s music, comparison and contrast will include several other composers, perhaps especially with G.F. Handel.
An attempt will be made to provide lyrics in English for Bach’s works, and in some cases the English lyrics will be provided from a separate webpage.
Here is a webpage providing English translations of Bach choral works:
Bach wrote two extensive works on the passion of Jesus Christ, one based on the text found in the Gospel of Matthew, and the other in John. The focus here is on John. There are two “versions” provided; one without lyrics appearing on the screen, and the other with ONLY lyrics, without the musicians visible:
St. John Passion (J. S. Bach) – Crouch End Festival Chorus/David Temple (with text)
And hrre is one of the earliest Bach Cantatas, also dealing with Christ’s passion:
Bach – Cantata Christ lag in Todesbanden BWV 4 – Jacobs | Netherlands Bach Society
And here is a webpage where discussion of Bach’s choral compositions is undertaken:
Texts and Historically-Informed Translations for the Music of Johann Sebastian Bach
Before we leave Bach, he at least ONCE step out of a “Lutheran” worldview, and composed his own version of the Roman Catholic Mass.
Bach – Mass in B minor, BWV 232
Bach vs. Handel Concerning Lenten Choral Works
The “comparison” between Bach and Handel (both born in 1685) focuses on how each treats the two major areas of special importance: Christmas and Lent; Christ’s birth, and his death and resurrection. The major difference is that Handel in “Messiah” exclusively used Biblical text, organized by his friend Charles Jennens, whereas in his St. Matthew and St. John Passions, Bach used some texts directly from the written Word, but also added text to further “describe” the sense of what was going on. This is especially seen in his use of chorales within the “Passions” (as well as elsewhere). Now, that raises several questions for Herr Bach. “Who composed the text of the chorales?”, and who composed the notes and rhythm?”. Bach? Or a friend? Martin Luther? No problem for Handel. His friend in a way “did a lot of the heavy lifting” in terms of the scriptures to be included in Messiah.
Finally on this comparison, we must be reminded that Bach composed the “Christmas Oratorio” (BWV248) comprised of six Cantatas, each generally 30 minutes or so in length. So, in terms of sheer notes on the page, and length of individual areas and chorales, one might posit that Bach produced more “output” for Christmas and Lent.
Other Classical Sacred Choral Music In Addition to Bach and Handel.
(Just citing a few) Additional composers dealing with sacred choral works, and dealing at least in part with the Passion of Jesus Christ.
God So Loved the World – John Stainer (1840 – 1901)
And clearly the Stabat Mater compositions are focused on Christ’s mother, Mary, essentially part of Roman Catholic liturgy.
Francis Poulenc: STABAT MATER [complete version]
Rossini: Stabat Mater ∙ hr-Sinfonieorchester ∙ Solisten ∙ MDR Rundfunkchor ∙ Andrés Orozco-Estrada
Part 2
Part 2 of this webpage moves beyond choral music for passion week and identifies sacred choral music from a variety of sources. Of course, we are now not in either English nor German, but have moved in many cases to Latin as the language of many, over several centuries.
Verdi – Quattro pezzi sacri | Christian Thielemann | Chor und Symphonieorcheser des BR
Here are the titles of the four pieces:
Ave Maria (No.1)
Stabat Mater (No.2)
Laudi alla Vergine Maria (No.3)
Te Deum (No.4)
And here are the English lyrics for these pieces.
There are thousands more pieces that could be added here,
Part 3
The final sub-topic in this webpage deals with Choral works dealing with death. There are too many to reference here. Thus only two will be listed.
First, just staying with Verdi, his version:
Verdi: Messa da Requiem at la Scala: Barenboim, Kaufmann
And finally, the NON-Latin Requiem by Brahms
Here is the translation into English.
There are many more. Ok, here’s one more:
Maurice Duruflé – Requiem, Op. 9
Extra
Now, for EXTRA CREDIT, a webpage from personal experience, but dealing with Sacred choral music, the Latin Mass, as rendered by Beethoven. In this case, the chorus was prepared by a former student of mine.
And should you are really free of all care, here’s some additional information about that student, and related topics from the past.