George Frideric Handel by Balthasar Denner

The ''Brockes Passion'', or ' (English: ''The Story of Jesus, Suffering and Dying for the Sins of the World''), is a German

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") 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 the t ...

Barthold Heinrich Brockes Barthold Heinrich Brockes (September 22, 1680 – January 16, 1747) was a German poet. He was born in Hamburg and educated at the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums. He studied jurisprudence at Halle, and after extensive travels in Italy, France a ...

, first published in 1712 and seeing 30 or so more editions over the following 15 years. The most famous musical setting of Brockes' text is that by

George Frideric Handel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque music, Baroque composer well known for his opera#Baroque era, operas, oratorios, anthems, concerto grosso, concerti grossi, ...

, HWV 48. The text was also set by

Reinhard Keiser Reinhard Keiser (9 January 1674 – 12 September 1739) was a German opera composer based in Hamburg. He wrote over a hundred operas. Johann Adolf Scheibe (writing in 1745) considered him an equal to Johann Kuhnau, George Frideric Handel and Georg ...

(1712),

Georg Philipp Telemann Georg Philipp Telemann (; – 25 June 1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesh ...

(1716),

Johann Mattheson Johann Mattheson (28 September 1681 – 17 April 1764) was a German composer, singer, writer, lexicographer, diplomat and music theorist. Early life and career The son of a prosperous tax collector, Mattheson received a broad liberal education ...

(1718),

Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel (13 January 1690 in – 27 November 1749 in Gotha) was a prolific German composer of the Baroque era. Stölzel was an accomplished German stylist who wrote a good many of the poetic texts for his vocal works. Biogra ...

(1725),

Johann Friedrich Fasch Johann Friedrich Fasch (15 April 1688 – 5 December 1758) was a German violinist and composer. Much of his music is in the Baroque-Classical transitional style known as galant. Life Fasch was born in the town of Buttelstedt, 11 km north o ...

(1723) and several other composers.

Brockes' text

was an influential German poet who re-worked the traditional form of a Passion

, adding reflective and descriptive poetry, sometimes of a highly-wrought and emotional kind, into the texture of his Passion. The Brockes Passion was much admired and set to music numerous times in

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

Germany, although to other ages and in other countries some of Brockes' poetry has seemed in poor taste. In Brockes' version of a passion, a tenor Evangelist narrates, in

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 repea ...

passages, events from all four Gospels' accounts of Jesus' suffering and death. Persons of the Gospel story (Jesus, Peter, Pilate, and so on) have dialogue passages, also in recitative; a chorus sings passages depicting the declamation of crowds; and poetic texts, sometimes in the form of arias, sometimes that of

chorales A Lutheran chorale is a musical setting of a Lutheran hymn, intended to be sung by a congregation in a German Protestant Church service. The typical four-part setting of a chorale, in which the sopranos (and the congregation) sing the melody al ...

, reflect on the events. Some of the arias are for the persons of the Passion, Jesus himself, Peter, etc., but

Mary the mother of Jesus Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...

also has a singing part, and fictitious "characters", the Daughter of Zion, four solo Believing Souls, and A Chorus of Believing Souls, also observe and comment.

Handel's setting

Since 1712 the German-born Handel had been resident in London. It is not known exactly why or when Handel set the text of the Brockes Passion, already used by numerous other composers, to music, but it is known that the work was performed in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

in 1719. Handel's ''Brockes Passion'' is "an entirely worthy contribution to the repertory of its genre." It is a lengthy and contemplative work for vocal soloists, choir and instrumental ensemble with some passages of great beauty, such as the duet for Mary and her son. The few choruses, perhaps surprisingly in view of Handel's later large scale choral works, are short and perfunctory in comparison with the arias, some of which are in an operatic style, others with simple accompaniment of solo oboe or

obbligato In Western classical music, ''obbligato'' (, also spelled ''obligato'') usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensable in performance. Its opposite is the marking ''ad libitum''. It can also be used, more specifically, to indica ...

violin.

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

was influenced by the work in his ''

St John Passion The ''Passio secundum Joannem'' or ''St John Passion'' (german: Johannes-Passion, link=no), BWV 245, is a Passion or oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, the older of the surviving Passions by Bach. It was written during his first year as direc ...

''. In the last decade of his life Bach used seven arias of Handel's ''Brockes Passion'' in a ''St Mark Passion'' pastiche, and even performed it in his own arrangement in 1746.

Recordings

Edda Moser Edda Moser (born 27 October 1938) is a German operatic soprano. She was particularly well known for her interpretations of music by Mozart. Her 1973 recital LP ' received the Grand Prix du Disque. Life and career Moser was born in Berlin, th ...

(soprano),

Maria Stader Maria Stader (November 5, 1911 – April 27, 1999) was a Hungarian-born Swiss lyric soprano, known particularly for her Mozart interpretations. Biography Stader was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, on November 5, 1911, as Maria Molnár. During ...

(soprano), Jerry J. Jennings (tenor),

Ernst Haefliger Ernst Haefliger (6 July 191917 March 2007) was a Swiss tenor. Biography Haefliger was born in Davos, Switzerland, on 6 July 1919 and studied at the Wettinger Seminary and the Zürich Conservatory. Later he became a pupil of Fernando Carpi in G ...

(tenor), Paul Esswood (alto),

Theo Adam Theo Adam (1 August 1926 – 10 January 2019) was a German operatic bass-baritone and bass singer who had an international career in opera, concert and recital from 1949. He was a member of the Staatsoper Dresden for his entire career, and sang ...

(bass-baritone),

Jakob Stämpfli Jakob Stämpfli (23 February 1820 – 15 May 1879) was a Swiss politician and member of the Swiss Federal Council (1854–1863). He was elected to the Federal Council of Switzerland on 6 December 1854, and handed over office on 31 December 1863. ...

(bass),

Schola Cantorum Basiliensis The Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (SCB) is a music academy and research institution located in Basel, Switzerland, that focuses on early music and historically informed performance. Faculty at the school have organized performing ensembles that have ...

, Regensburg Cathedral Choir,

August Wenzinger August Wenzinger (1905–1996) was a prominent cellist, viol player, conductor, teacher, and music scholar from Basel, Switzerland. He was a pioneer of historically informed performance, both as a master of the viola da gamba and as a conductor of ...

(conductor). ArkivMusik 463644, released 1967 *Mária Zádori (soprano), Eva Bártfai-Barta (soprano), Katalin Farkas (soprano), Eva Lax (alto), Péter Baján (countertenor), Tamás Csányi (countertenor), Drew Minter (countertenor), János Bándi (tenor),

Guy de Mey Guy de Mey (born 4 August 1955) is a Belgian tenor from Sint-Niklaas. He studied with Stella Dalberg, Erna Spoorenberg, Peter Pears and Éric Tappy. It all began in 1975 when he won the first prize at the Belgian National Pro Civitate competitio ...

(tenor), Martin Klietmann (tenor), Gunter Burzynski (baritone),

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 h ...

, Hallé State Chorus,

Nicholas McGegan James Nicholas McGegan OBE (born 14 January 1950 in Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, England) is a British harpsichordist, flutist, conductor and early music expert. Biography McGegan received his early education at Nottingham High School. He subs ...

(conductor).

Hungaroton Hungaroton is the oldest record and music publisher company in Hungary. Hungaroton was founded in 1951, when its only competitors in the Hungarian music market were record labels like Melodiya, Supraphon and from other socialist countries. Pre ...

12734/36, released 1995 *Nele Gramß (Daughter of Zion, soprano), Johanna Winkel (Believer, soprano), Elvira Bill (Maria, mezzo-soprano), Jan Thomer (altus, Judas), Markus Brutscher (Evangelist, tenor), James Oxley (Peter, tenor), Michael Dahmen (bass),

Markus Flaig Markus Flaig (born 1971) is a German bass-baritone who has focused on concerts and recordings of sacred music. Career Markus Flaig was born in Horb am Neckar. He studied sacred music and school music, then voice with Beata Heuer-Christen in F ...

(Jesus, bass), Collegium Cartusianum, Kölner Kammerchor, Peter Neumann (conductor).

Carus Marcus Aurelius Carus (c. 222 – July or August 283) was Roman emperor from 282 to 283. During his short reign, Carus fought the Germanic tribes and Sarmatians along the Danube frontier with success. He died while campaigning against th ...

83.428/00, released 2010 *

Johannette Zomer Johannette Zomer is a Dutch classical concert and opera soprano. Career After having worked as a microbiology technician, Johannette Zomer shifted gears in 1990 and studied voice at the Sweelinck Conservatory Amsterdam in Amsterdam with Charle ...

(soprano), Ana Maria Labin (soprano), Sebastian Kohlhepp (tenor), Rupert Charlesworth (tenor), Tobias Berndt (baritone),

David Erler David Erler (born 1981) is a German countertenor, a male classical singer in the alto vocal range, specialising in Baroque music. Career Erler was born in Auerbach (Vogtland). He attended the musical gymnasium ''Clara-Wieck-Gymnasium'' in ...

(countertenor), NDR Chor - Bart Van Reyn (chorus master), FestspielOrchester Gottingen,

Laurence Cummings Laurence Cummings (born 1968, Birmingham) is a British harpsichordist, organist, and conductor. He is currently music director of the Academy of Ancient Music. Biography Cummings was educated at Solihull School, Christ Church, Oxford and th ...

(direction). Accent ACC26411, released 2019 *Robert Murray (tenor), Cody Quattlebaum (bass-baritone),

Elizabeth Watts Elizabeth Watts (born 1979) is an English operatic soprano. Watts was born in Norwich and attended Norwich High School for Girls. She studied archaeology at Sheffield University and graduated with first class honours. Beginning in 2002, she stu ...

(soprano), Ruby Hughes (soprano),

Tim Mead Tim Mead (born 1981) is an English countertenor. Life and career Tim Mead was born in Chelmsford, Essex and began singing as a treble in the choir of Chelmsford Cathedral. He was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford and the ...

(countertenor), Gwilym Bowen (tenor), Nicky Spence (tenor) -

Academy of Ancient Music The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) is a British period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after an 18th-century organisation of the same name (originally the A ...

Richard Egarr Richard Egarr (born 7 August 1963) is a British conductor and keyboard player. Biography Born in Lincoln, Egarr received his early musical training as a choirboy at York Minster and at Chetham's School of Music. He was an organ scholar at Clar ...

. AAM Records AAM007, released 2019. *

Sandrine Piau Sandrine Piau (born 5 June 1965) is a French soprano. She is particularly renowned in Baroque music although also excels in Romantic and modernist art songs. She has the versatility to perform works from Vivaldi, Handel, Mozart to Schumann, Debus ...

(soprano), Stuart Jackson (tenor), Konstantin Krimmel (baritone), Arcangelo, Solisten des Vocal Consort, Jonathan Cohen (dir.). Alpha-Classics LPHA 644 Recorded: 2019, October 9–13; St. Jude's Church, London, England. © 2020 Alpha Classics / Outhere Music France • 2020 Arcangelo & Alpha Classics / Outhere Music France.

References

External links

*
Score
of ''Brockes Passion'' (ed.

Friedrich Chrysander Karl Franz Friedrich Chrysander (8 July 1826 – 3 September 1901) was a German music historian, critic and publisher, whose edition of the works of George Frideric Handel and authoritative writings on many other composers established him as a pion ...

, Leipzig 1863)
German text
of ''Brockes Passion'' as set by Handel

o
Bach Cantatas Website
{{Authority control Oratorios by George Frideric Handel German-language oratorios Oratorios based on the Bible 1712 compositions 1716 compositions Passion settings