''Der Tod Jesu'' (''The Death of Jesus'') is an

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

Karl Wilhelm Ramler Karl Wilhelm Ramler (25 February 1725 – 11 April 1798) was a German poet who was the Berlin Cadet School master. Ramler was born in Kolobrzeg, Kolberg. After graduating from the University of Halle, he went to Berlin, where, in 1748, he w ...

. In its setting by

Carl Heinrich Graun Carl Heinrich Graun (7 May 1704 – 8 August 1759) was a German composer and tenor. Along with Johann Adolph Hasse, he is considered to be the most important German composer of Italian opera of his time. Biography Graun was born in Wahrenbrüc ...

in 1755, it was the most often performed

Passion Passion, the Passion or the Passions may refer to: Emotion * Passion (emotion), a very strong feeling about a person or thing * Passions (philosophy), emotional states as used in philosophical discussions * Stoic passions, various forms of emotio ...

of the 18th century in Germany. The poem is part of the '' Empfindsamkeit'' movement of the 1750s. It is the middle of three oratorio texts by Ramler – ''Die Hirten bei der Krippe zu Bethlehem'', ''Der Tod Jesu'', and ''Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt'' – which may have been viewed by Ramler as a libretto cycle, though they were never set as a cycle by any composer. The libretto was intended for Graun but a copy of Ramler's text was somehow received by

Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving works. Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to be ...

who produced his own setting of the oratorio (TWV 5:6) in Hamburg before Graun could perform the premiere in Berlin. Ramler revised his text in 1760. The text is not a full retelling of the

Passion of Christ The Passion (from latin language, Latin , "to suffer, bear, endure") is the short final period before the death of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, described in the four canonical gospels. It is commemorated in Christianity every year during Holy ...

and it does not quote Bible texts. Instead, it presents emotively various aspects of the Passion.

Settings

Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving works. Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to b ...

, Hamburg 1755, TWV 5:6 *

, Berlin 1755 – the best known of the settings; it was performed yearly in many cities in Germany throughout the second half of the 18th century. The Australian premiere of Graun's

passion cantata In Christian music, a Passion is a setting of the Passion of Christ. Liturgically, most Passions were intended to be performed as part of church services in the Holy Week. Passion settings developed from medieval intoned readings of the Gosp ...

took place on

Good Friday Good Friday, also known as Holy Friday, Great Friday, Great and Holy Friday, or Friday of the Passion of the Lord, is a solemn Christian holy day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary (Golgotha). It is observed during ...

2012 in St John's Cathedral in Brisbane with the Badinerie Players and the Brisbane Chamber Choir under Michael O'Loghlin and with Shelli Hulcombe (soprano), Bethany Shepherd (soprano), Gregory Massingham (tenor),

Jason Barry-Smith Jason Barry-Smith (born 12 December 1969) is an Australian operatic baritone, vocal coach, composer, and arranger. He works with organisations such as Opera Queensland, the Queensland Symphony Orchestra, Seven Network, and the Queensland Youth ...

(bass). **

Adolf Friedrich Hesse Adolf Friedrich Hesse (30 August 1809 – 5 August 1863) was a German organist and composer. Life Hesse was born and died in Breslau. He studied in his home town with the organists Friedrich Wilhelm Berner and Ernst Köhler (1799–1847). He wa ...

(1809–1863) composed an Organ Introduction, Op. 84, to Graun's work. *

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (21 June 1732 – 26 January 1795) was a German composer and harpsichordist, the fifth son of Johann Sebastian Bach, sometimes referred to as the "Bückeburg Bach". Born in Leipzig in the Electorate of Saxony, he w ...

, cantata (1769) BR D 2 / Wf XIV:1, based on Ramler's revised version from 1760 *

Joseph Martin Kraus Joseph Martin Kraus (20 June 1756 – 15 December 1792), was a German-Swedish composer in the Classical era who was born in Miltenberg am Main, Holy Roman Empire. He moved to Sweden at age 21, and died at the age of 36 in Stockholm. He has been ...

to his own libretto (1776), in the ''

Sturm und Drang (, ; usually translated as "storm and stress") was a proto-Romanticism, Romantic movement in German literature and Music of Germany, music that occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s. Within the movement, individual subjectivity an ...

'' style * Anna Amalia, Abbess of Quedlinburg, used by

Johann Kirnberger Johann Philipp Kirnberger (also ''Kernberg''; 24 April 1721, Saalfeld – 27 July 1783, Berlin) was a musician, composer (primarily of fugues) and music theorist. He studied the organ with Johann Peter Kellner and Heinrich Nicolaus Gerber, and st ...

as models of

counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...

in his ' (The art of pure musical composition) (1779) *

Christian Ernst Graf Christian Ernst Friedrich Graf (Rudolstadt, 30 June 1723 – The Hague, 17 July 1804) was a Dutch Kapellmeister and composer of German descent. He was Kapellmeister to William V, Prince of Orange William V (Willem Batavus; 8 March 1748 – 9 A ...

(1723–1804, The Hague 1802

Compositional style

Unlike Bach's Passions, Graun's setting does not imbue the

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

soloist with the role of narrator or Evangelist, nor is the

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

cast as

Vox Christi Vox Christi, Latin for Voice of Christ, is a setting of Jesus' words in a vocal work such as a Passion (music), Passion, an Oratorium or a Cantata. Conventionally, for instance in Protestant music of the Baroque era, the vox Christi is set for a Ba ...

. The music is post-Baroque, an italianate ''

galant style The galant style was an 18th-century movement in music, visual arts and literature. In Germany a closely related style was called the '' empfindsamer Stil'' (sensitive style). Another close relative is rococo style. The galant style was drawn in ...

'', and contains little

(notably in the

duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...

, no. 17) or

fugal In classical music, a fugue (, from Latin ''fuga'', meaning "flight" or "escape""Fugue, ''n''." ''The Concise Oxford English Dictionary'', eleventh edition, revised, ed. Catherine Soanes and Angus Stevenson (Oxford and New York: Oxford Universit ...

movements (chorus no. 14 is a double fugue). Instead, it gives prominence to melody and voice. All

aria In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

s are

da capo aria The da capo aria () is a musical form for arias that was prevalent in the Baroque era. It is sung by a soloist with the accompaniment of instruments, often a small orchestra. The da capo aria is very common in the musical genres of opera and orato ...

s with stylistic borrowings from

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

arias. Grauner's

recitative Recitative (, also known by its Italian name recitativo () is a style of delivery (much used in operas, oratorios, and cantatas) in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms and delivery of ordinary speech. Recitative does not repeat lines ...

settings are highly expressive, culminating in the moving simplicity of the bass's recitative no. 23 on the

death of Jesus The crucifixion of Jesus was the death of Jesus by being nailed to a cross.The instrument of crucifixion is taken to be an upright wooden beam to which was added a transverse wooden beam, thus forming a "cruciform" or T-shaped structure. ...

, "" (He is no more!). The last chorus starts quite powerfully, but then ebbs away into a mystical silence.

Movements

Graun's settings consists of 25

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

: ;Part 1 #

Chorale A chorale is the name of several related musical forms originating in the music genre of the Lutheran chorale: * Hymn tune of a Lutheran hymn (e.g. the melody of " Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme"), or a tune in a similar format (e.g. one o ...

– Du, dessen Augen flossen #Chorus – Sein Odem ist schwach #Accompanied recitative (

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

) – Gethsemane! Gethsemane! #Aria (soprano) – Du Held, auf den die Köcher #Chorale – Wen hab' ich sonst als Dich allein #Recitative (soprano) – Ach mein Immanuel! #Aria (soprano) – Ein Gebet um neue Stärke #Recitative (

) – Nun klingen Waffen #Aria (tenor) – Ihr weichgeschaffnen Seelen #Chorus – Unsre Seele ist gebeuget #Chorale – Ich will von meiner Missetat #Recitative (

) – Jerusalem, voll Mordlust #Aria (bass) – So stehet ein Berg Gottes #Chorus – Christus hat uns ein Vorbild gelassen ;Part 2 #

Chorale – Ich werde Dir zu Ehren alles wagen

#Recitative (soprano) – Da stehet der traurige, verhängnisvolle Pfahl #

Duet A duet (italian language, Italian: ''duo'') is a musical composition for two Performing arts, performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a har ...

(sopranos) – Feinde, die ihr mich betrübt #Recitative (soprano) – Wer ist der Heilige, zum Muster uns verliehn #Aria (soprano) – Singt dem göttlichen Propheten #Chorus – Freuet euch alle ihr Frommen #Chorale – Wie herrlich ist die neue Welt #Recitative (bass) – Auf einmal fällt der aufgehaltne Schmerz #Accompanied recitative (bass) – Es steigen Seraphim #Chorale with bass solo – Ihr Augen, weint! #Chorus – Hier liegen wir gerührte Sünder A performance takes about hours.

Selected recordings

* Telemann ** Ex Tempore, Le Mercure Galant. conductor . René Gailly ** Telemann Chamber Orchestra, conductor

Ludger Rémy Ludger Rémy (4 February 1949 – 21 June 2017) was a German harpsichordist, conductor and musicologist. Biography Born in Kalkar, Ludger Rémy studied the harpsichord in Freiburg im Breisgau and continued his studies with Kenneth Gilbert in Par ...

. cpo * Graun **

Capella Savaria The Capella Savaria is a Hungarian ensemble that perform chamber music on original instruments (and instruments based on original designs). Established in 1981, in Szombathely, they most often perform music from the 17th and 18th centuries, and ...

, conductor Pál Németh. HM Quintana **

La Petite Bande La Petite Bande is a Belgium-based ensemble specialising in music of the Baroque and Classical eras played on period instruments. They are particularly known for their recordings of works by Corelli, Rameau, Handel, Bach, Haydn, and Mozart. Hi ...

, conductor

Sigiswald Kuijken Sigiswald Kuijken (; born 16 February 1944) is a Belgian violinist, violist, and conductor known for playing on period and original instruments. Biography Kuijken was born in Dilbeek, near Brussels. He was a member of the Alarius Ensemble o ...

Hyperion Records Hyperion Records is a British classical music record label. It was independent until February 2023, when it was acquired by the Universal Music Group. Under Universal, Hyperion is one of the three main classical record labels, alongside Decca a ...

2003''Der Tod Jesu''
at Hyperion Recors, with extensive details ** Das Kleine Konzert, conductor

Hermann Max Hermann Max (born 1941 in Goslar) is a German choral conductor. In 1977, he founded the Jugendkantorei Dormagen, which in 1985 became the basis of the Rheinische Kantorei and Das Kleine Konzert. In 1992, he founded the Knechtsteden Early Music ...

, cpo 2009 * Kraus – with ''Kom! din herdestaf att bära'', Philharmonia Chor Stuttgart,

Stuttgarter Kammerorchester The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra (Stuttgarter Kammerorchester) is a German chamber orchestra based in Stuttgart. Its principal concert venue is the . History Karl Münchinger founded the orchestra in 1945, and served as its chief conductor until ...

, Helmut Wolf.

Carus-Verlag Carus-Verlag is a German music publisher founded in 1972 and based in Stuttgart. Carus was founded by choral conductor Günter Graulich and his wife Waltraud with an emphasis on choral repertoire. the catalogue includes more than 26,000 works ...

1997

References

External links