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St Luke Passion (Penderecki)

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The St. Luke Passion (full title: Passio et Mors Domini Nostri Jesu Christi Secundum Lucam, or the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to St. Luke) is a work for chorus and orchestra written in 1966 by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. The work (one of several musical settings of the Passion story, of which Johann Sebastian Bach composed two) contains text from the Gospel of Luke as well as other sources such as the Stabat Mater. Despite the Passion's almost total atonality and use of avant-garde musical techniques, the musical public appreciated the work's stark power and direct emotional impact and the piece was performed several more times soon after its premiere on March 30, 1966.

Musical Content

Compositional techniques

The Passion is almost entirely atonal, except for two major triads which occur once at the end of the Stabat Mater, a cappella, and once at the very end of the work with full choruses, orchestra and organ. It makes very frequent use of tone clusters, often played fortissimo by brass or organ. Occasionally it makes use of twelve-tone serialism, and utilizes the B-A-C-H motive. Many unorthodox techniques are employed for the choruses, including shouting, speaking, giggling and hissing.

Orchestration

The St. Luke Passion is scored for large forces: a narrator (who acts as the Evangelist); soprano, baritone and bass soloists (with the baritone singing the role of Christ and the soprano and bass taking other roles as necessary); three mixed choruses and a boys' choir; organ; and large orchestra without oboes or clarinets but including saxophones and a large percussion section.

Text

The text of the St. Luke Passion is entirely in Latin. The primary source of the text is the Gospel of Luke; however, it contains other sources such as hymns, Psalms and Lamentations.

Sections of text

The Passion is divided into two parts and twenty-seven sections, thirteen in Part One and fourteen in Part II. Their titles are as follows.

Part I

1. O Crux Ave ("O Holy Cross," from the hymn Vexilla Regis prodeunt), chorus and orchestra

2. Et egressus ("And he went out," Garden of Gethsemane), narrator and orchestra

3. Deus Meus ("My God," Christ's prayer at Gethsemane, from Psalm 21), baritone, chorus and orchestra

4. Domine, quis habitat ("Lord, who shall dwell...", from Psalms 14, 4 and 15), soprano and orchestra

5. Adhuc eo loquente ("And yet while he spake," Judas's betrayal of Christ), narrator, baritone, chorus and orchestra

6. Ierusalem ("Jerusalem," from the Lamentation of Jeremiah), chorus and orchestra

7. Ut quid, Domine ("Why, Lord," from Psalm 9), chorus a cappella

8. Comprehendentes autem eum ("Then they took him," Peter's denial of Christ), narrator, soprano, bass, chorus and orchestra

9. Iudica me, Deus ("Give sentence with me, O God," from Psalm 42), bass and orchestra

10. Et viri, qui tenebant illum ("And the men that held Jesus...," mocking of Christ), narrator, baritone, chorus and orchestra

11. Ierusalem (text identical to section 6)

12. Miserere mei, Deus ("Be merciful to me, O God," from Psalm 55), chorus a cappella

13. Et surgens omnis ("And the multitude arose...," Christ's trial before Pilate and death sentence), narrator, baritone, bass, chorus and orchestra

Part II

14. Et in pulverum ("And into the dust," from Psalm 21), chorus and orchestra

15. Et baiulans sibi crucem ("And bearing his cross," the road to Calvary), narrator and orchestra

16. Popule meus ("My people," from the Improperia), chorus and orchestra

17. Ibi crucifixerunt eum ("There they crucified him," the crucifixtion of Christ), narrator and orchestra

18. Crux fidelis ("O faithful cross," from Pange lingua), soprano, chorus and orchestra

19. Iesus autem dicebat ("Then said Jesus," Christ's forgiveness), narrator, baritone and orchestra

20. In pulverum mortis ("Into the dust of death," from Psalm 21), chorus a cappella

21. Et stabat populus ("And the people stood," Christ's mocking on the cross), narrator, chorus and orchestra

22. Unus autem ("And one of them...," the good and bad thieves), narrator, baritone, bass, chorus and orchestra

23. Stabant autem iuxta crucem ("Now there stood by the cross," Jesus addressing his mother and John, from the Gospel of John), narrator, baritone and orchestra

24. Stabat Mater ("The mother stood...," from the Stabat Mater sequence), chorus a cappella

25. Erat autem fere hora sexta ("And it was about the sixth hour," Christ's death account from both Luke and John), narrator, baritone, chorus and orchestra

26. Alla breve (a tempo marking in Italian indicating a quick duple meter), orchestra alone

27. In pulverem mortis...In te, Domine, speravi ("Into the dust of death...In thee, O Lord, I have put my trust" from Psalm 30), soprano, baritone, bass, chorus and orchestra

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