On St. Matthew's Passion, Chorale 72

The last eight parts of the Passion have a strange and separate role from the previous ones in which Jesus was actually crucified. Bach has just described a great array of emotions during the crucifixion. In 54, we see the vulgarity of the crowd, led by Pilates, as they call out for Barbaras to be released and Christ to be murdered. After this, we see several instances of the people tormenting and mocking Christ, in 62, 67, and 68 and between these there is a general confusion from the recitatives. Those same people who call out for Jesus' death call out for his blood to fall upon them and their children, and the tormenters' words are alternated with prayers. In 71, there is even more irony in the conversation between the aria and the chorus. The aria calls out to the chorus telling them to look to Jesus for redemption and salvation, as if their problems will be solved by going to give Jesus a hug. But he's not just standing there giving out hugs, what they are pointing at is his outstretched body as it is nailed to the cross, just hours before he is to die.

Recitative 71 continues the confusion of earlier parts to Jesus' actual death, but it also provides the moment that Jesus dies, or "yields up the ghost." This moment is so important because, just as Jesus' death is supposed to absolve men of their sins and allow them into the Heavenly Kingdom, so its occurrence in the music ends the confusion and doubt of his followers. And, for those that were not followers, they now believe out of fear and take precautions regarding his prophecies. But this idea of peace does not enter in 71, but 72, which is what I would like to focus on.

Listening to the piece, 72 immediately strikes one as a calm in the midst of the storm of Jesus' death. There is an eerie serenity here that halts all of the calamity from before. It is neither joyous nor grievous in the way that the other chorals have been, but it introduces a kind of hopefulness in death. The singer calls out to Jesus, asking him to not leave him in his hour of death but to release from its pains through Jesus' own pains. Now that Jesus has died, the fear of death changes for the choral- they still fear its pain, but they now believe that Jesus will be able to relieve it for them. Number 72 is beautiful in its hopefulness, but strange in that the hope they are given by the death of their savior is some kind of relief in their own deaths. This idea singularly changes the tone from 72 to the end of the Passion.

The eeriness in this piece is partly due to its contrapuntal structure. The Chorus begins very softly, and sounds almost empty. It is begun in A minor, giving it a mournful tone. The voices sound sparse and meek, though they are both singing together at all times. Another thing that is strange here is that the flute, oboe, and violin all return for the chorus though they have been missing for various parts before. The violin has been associated with the words of Jesus; whenever he speaks the violins are present, but in 71, as he cries his last words, the violins are absent. In 72, they return with the flute and oboe- the instruments come together as the voices do, but the movement of the piece sounds bare. It is written as counterpoint, as I said, but the voices seem more simply written than usual. The two parts never stray too far from each other; even when moving contrarily, but when they do, they are quick to return. The bass moves, for the most part, parallel to the soprano as the alto and tenor also move simultaneously, but with a little more variation than between the soprano and bass. This gives the choral a unified sound, and it remains quite until the second phrase, "Wenn ich den Tod soll leiden,..." through which it grows slowly louder and louder. After the repeat, however, the song is at its loudest. Also, this (measure 6) is when the song is at its loudest, and remains at this level through the next two fermatas.

The fermatas themselves are interesting in the words that they emphasize, especially in the first 4 measures. In measure 2, the word scheiden, or separate, is held while the notes in each part are actually coming closer together and then after the fermata they move apart and then together again when scheide is repeated. In measures 6 and 8, the fermatas emphasize the pain of the singers' hearts, as the repeated measure two emphasized the word leiden, or suffering. But the pains of the singers discussing their own deaths, as well as the uncomfortable feeling of the minor key are ended with the mention of Jesus' pain and anxiety. In measure 10, the singers ask Jesus to release them from their own anguish, angsten, through his own angst und pein.

Besides the two fermatas accenting the pains of the chorus and the pains of Jesus, they are given a different feel from the earlier words that were emphasized because in measure 10 the chorus switches to a G major, and then in 12, on the last fermata, to E major. Whereas their earlier cries of death and woe were made to sound more miserable by the minor key, they are made less harsh by the switch to major keys in the final 3 measures. Even though they are discussing the woes of death, their song turns to major because Jesus' death has freed them from some sort of eternal damnation, so that even in their time of death they have hope and comfort. But, one of the factors from earlier in the song does not leave here despite the change to major and forgiveness of the chorus' sins.

In the first two lines, the chorus is asking the Lord not to leave their sides, and the chorus keeps its frail, praying tone by the softness of the voices and the steadiness of the parts' movements. But after the repeat, when they have grown bolder the delicacy of their voices is not so clear, but the strangeness of the sound is picked up by the introduction of accidentals. There are only three accidentals in the first two phrases, but after the repeat there are suddenly several per measure. Thus, even though their voices are louder and seem more confident, they are still unsettled by the frequent accidentals so that neither their movements nor keys are entirely clear at any moment. It would make sense for the accidentals to end with the change to major, but they do not. Perhaps they are kept to remind the audience of the feelings of death and pain, but the major is introduced to contrast these, or soften their effects, by Jesus' death.

This piece ends in the same strange style that the rest of the song held- that mixture of being uneasy, demanding, painful, and resolved at various times. The very last word is pain, still in E major, but with a suspension as the alto moves from the D to the C a quarter note later than it should against the soprano's E. The dissonance of the minor 2^nd is touched only for a short time, and then we are quickly taken back to the third. The dissonance does not last, but it adds a final shot of discomfort, of pain, one might say, to the salvation that Christ has given through his own pain.

All of these things in the musical text are important, only to the extent that they help one understand why the music "feels" or sounds the way that it does. It is not merely and individual dissonance created by an accidental, but it is the combination and movement of every dissonance, every part, and every chord that gives the feelings evoked by this chorus specifically. We may compare it to the very first chorus in terms of the melody and parts, but these things merely help us recognize it. It is all of these other things, along with its placement, that give it its distinct feel and significance that make it initially appreciated it so much.