Passion cantata facts for kids
A Passion cantata is a cantata. The cantata takes its theme from the Passion of Jesus Christ, in other words his suffering until his death at the cross. Larger cantatas with this theme are known as oratorios.
Today, most of them are performed in the week before Easter.
History
The reading of the Passion from one of the Gospels during Holy Week dates back at least to the 4th century and is described by Egeria. In the 5th century Pope Leo the Great specified that the gospel of Matthew be used on Palm Sunday and the following Wednesday and that of John on Good Friday; by the 10th century Luke replaced Matthew on Wednesday and Mark was added on Tuesday.
The passion began to be intoned (rather than just spoken) in the Middle Ages, at least as early at the 8th century. 9th-century manuscripts have "litterae significativae" indicating interpretive chant, and later manuscript begin to specify exact notes to be sung. By the 13th century different singers were used for different characters in the narrative, a practice which became fairly universal by the 15th century, when polyphonic settings of the turba passages began to appear also (Turba, while literally meaning "crowd," is used in this case to mean any passage in which more than one speaker speaks simultaneously). The formula of the present Graduale Romanum was the most widespread, with Christ singing in the lowest register and Synagogus (denoting not only the high priest but all characters besides Christ) singing higher than the evangelist/narrator. In Spain a Toledan tone with the evangelist's part recto tono (on a monotone) was used in Castile and a Saragossan tone with a bass evangelist and a florid tenor Christus was used in much of Aragon, where the Roman tone also had a foothold in Valencia.
In the later 15th century a number of new styles began to emerge:
- 'Responsorial Passions in which the narration is chanted but the turba parts and sometimes Christ's words are set polyphonically.
- Through-composed Passions, also called motet Passions, in which all text is set polyphonically. The earliest extant example of this type is sometimes attributed to Jacob Obrecht .
- Summa Passionis settings, drawing on all four Gospels. These were never incorporated into the liturgy of the church use but circulated widely nonetheless. The Seven Last Words (a text later set by Haydn and Théodore Dubois) are included in this category.
Famous Passion cantatas
English
In the English repertoire, the two classics are The Crucifixion (1887) by Sir John Stainer and Olivet to Calvary (1904) by John Henry Maunder. Other works include Sir Arthur Somervell's The Passion of Christ (1914), Charles Wood's St. Mark Passion (1921) and Eric Thiman's "The Last Supper" (1930).
German
The most famous Passion cantatas are probably the two composed by Johann Sebastian Bach: the St John Passion (1724) and the St Matthew Passion (1727). A t first it was believed, St Luke Passion (1730) was also written by him. Now it is thought that he simply rearranged an earlier work.
Latin
One notable work in Latin is Arvo Pärt's Passio Domini Nostri Jesu Christi secundum Joannem (The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to John) of 1982.
See also
In Spanish: Pasión (música) para niños
