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One piece ( Geduld ) is a continuo aria, requiring no obbligato play-
ing; two ( Gerne will ich mich bequemen and  Können Tränen
meiner Wangen ) use unison obbligatos in which all the violins play
the same line; another ( Blute nur ) uses just three-part strings (the
doubling flutes are apparently a later addition). The most demanding
piece is the aria  Gebt mir meinen Jesum wieder, which uses three-
part strings with an additional solo violin line; the performance of this
piece was complex and is discussed below.
Missing almost entirely are obbligato demands on the woodwind
instruments of Chorus 2. The only exception is the recitative  Mein
Jesus schweigt, which calls only for regular punctuations by oboes on
every beat, the simplest of parts. These instruments do not play in the
paired aria  Geduld that follows; this is a surprise, given Bach s ten-
dency to match the instrumentation of paired recitatives and arias, but
a woodwind obbligato does not appear to have been an option Bach
did not ask this of his Chorus 2 players. It also appears that this lone call
for a woodwind instrument to play independently in the recitative may
have been eliminated in Bach s later performances.
We can contrast the demands on Chorus 2 with those made of
Chorus 1, whose arias include obbligatos for recorder, oboe, two oboes,
two oboes d amore, two oboes da caccia, flute, two flutes, and viola da
gamba, in addition to two bassetto pieces (in which no continuo in-
struments play and a high-range instrument provides a bass line, as in
 Aus Liebe will mein Heiland sterben ). There are no unison string
arias for Chorus 1 all the string pieces call for at least a three-part di-
vision and no continuo arias.
Overall, the movements in which the instruments of Chorus 2 play
independently are designed to make modest and manageable demands:
colla parte doubling of the voices in dialogue arias, and mostly colla parte
playing in choruses either in straightforward call-and-response an-
tiphony with Chorus 1 or in unison with it. The instruments of Cho-
rus 2 play only two short Gospel narrative choruses on their own, again
mostly colla parte with the vocal lines. And in many movements the in-
struments of Chorus 2 serve as doubling ripieno players reinforcing the
instruments of Chorus 1, just as the voices of Chorus 2 reinforce those
of Chorus 1.
This can be heard, for example, in the first number in the St. Mat-
thew Passion. The opening orchestral statement of this movement is
60 Passions in Performance
played by the two instrumental ensembles in unison, with the instru-
ments of Chorus 2 simply doubling those of Chorus 1, except for a few
notes at the very end. When this instrumental material comes back in
the middle and again at the end of the movement (the last time with voices
of both choruses in unison overlaid), the instruments of Chorus 2 once
again join in to mark these important structural points. Otherwise, the
instruments of Chorus 2 remain silent, except for brief dialogue inter-
jections with the voices and a simple plunk-plunk-plunk accompani-
ment in the middle section. Just like the voices, the instruments of
Chorus 2 hold up the simpler end of the dialogue but mostly reinforce
Chorus 1. Their other job providing a second ensemble in the few
short antiphonal Gospel choruses is not at all central. Instrumentally
as well as vocally, Chorus 2 is fundamentally a ripieno group.
Even if we understand Chorus 2 as a ripieno ensemble, the St. Matthew
Passion still appears to require particularly large forces. Given that Bach
performed successive versions of his St. John Passion in 1724 and 1725
and the anonymous Hamburg St. Mark Passion in 1726 all single-
chorus works we might well ask how he suddenly found the resources
to put on the St. Matthew Passion in 1727. The likely answer turns out
to involve issues of the work s origin. The version of the work heard
today is the one documented in Bach s autograph score and original
performing parts from 1736. But the work is older, having been first
performed in 1727 and probably again in 1729. The version heard in
those years differs somewhat from the one we are accustomed to, and
is documented in a score copied by a person in the Bach circle who
presumably had access to Bach s materials.
Perhaps the most striking feature of the earlier version is its use of
only one basso continuo group serving both choruses: voices and in-
struments are divided into two choirs, but both sit atop a single continuo
line. The revised scoring in the 1736 version, with independent continuo
lines for each chorus, emphasizes the independence of the two ensembles
and was significant enough to earn the well-known notation by the
sexton of the St. Thomas Church that the 1736 passion performance
took place  with both organs. A single continuo group sufficed be-
cause the voices and instruments of Chorus 2 serve most of the time as
part of a single big ensemble, mostly doubling Chorus 1 and only oc-
casionally functioning on their own. The addition of a second continuo
line in the 1736 version is a step in the direction of independence of
the two choruses and the crystallization of Chorus 2 s identity as an
independent group.
The Double Chorus in the St. Matthew Passion BWV 244 61
One practical consequence of the use of a single basso continuo line
is that the earlier version of the St. Matthew Passion did not require any
more continuo players than did the St. John Passion. We have already
seen that the vocal forces for the two works are identical, small roles
aside: each calls for eight singers disposed as four concertists and four
ripienists, with additional duties (including arias) required of the ripieno
singers in the St. Matthew Passion. This suggests that perhaps the
St. Matthew Passion did not require so many more musicians after all.
In the absence of performing parts from the 1720s the instrumental re-
quirements are poorly documented, but details in the score of the first
version can help.
Two arias in the work,  Erbarme dich and  Gebt mir meinem [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]