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Bach, King Frederick and the Jews

Bach Festival's "St. John Passion' and anti-Semitism

In
5 minute read
Glandorf: Giving Bach the benefit of the doubt.
Glandorf: Giving Bach the benefit of the doubt.
Retailers and ad agencies always look for significant events that they can link with a sale. This year is the 300th anniversary of the birth of Frederick the Great, the original King of Prussia. It was for him that the Pennsylvania town and later the King of Prussia Mall were named. Yet I haven't seen any tricentennial celebrations at the shopping center.

Philadelphia's Bach Festival, on the other hand, seized the occasion and used it as the calling card for a weekend of J.S. Bach concerts. The opening program was The Musical Offering, inspired by Frederick and performed by seven talented musicians, some of them using period instruments such as the transverse flute and the oboe da caccia.

Frederick ruled Prussia from 1740 to 1786 and assisted George Washington's army during the American Revolution. He also patronized the arts and played the flute. He built the Berlin State Opera and St. Helwig's Cathedral. And in 1747— three years before Bach died— he gave Bach a musical theme that he had created and asked Bach to compose variations based on it.

The result— The Musical Offering— is a series of canons and fugues, and a four-movement trio sonata (so-called because it features two high-voiced instruments and one low), all based on the royal theme. It culminates in a ricecar, a set of six elaborations.

Einstein loved it

Throughout the Musical Offering, Bach took the king's melody and inverted it, changed its meter, and played it backward and forward, sometimes at the same time with separate instruments. One canon is written like a palindrome: Played forward or backward, it sounds the same. Another canon has one instrument playing at half the speed of another.

It's an ingenious intellectual exercise. No wonder Albert Einstein found pleasure in playing Bach on his violin. It's also good listening, with sprightly dance rhythms and lovely serene sections.

Matthew Glandorf conducted and played harpsichord, Steven Zohn played the flauto traverso (which has holes but no keys), Stephen Bard played oboe and oboe da caccia (which also has no keys and a softer, more mellow sound than its modern counterpart), Julia Marion played bassoon, Eve Miller cello, Rebecca Harris violin and Christof Richter violin and viola.

Currying favor with Pilate

Bach's The Passion According to Saint John, which concluded the weekend, is the first of two surviving compositions by Bach based on Christian gospels. John is shorter and more personal, but Bach's Passion According to Saint Matthew is performed more frequently, perhaps because it's less offensive to Jews.

John the Evangelist, the purported author and a founder of Christianity, was angry with Jews who rejected his new theology. Thus he was motivated to paint Jews in the most unfavorable light and, at the same time, curry favor with the Roman rulers by turning Pontius Pilate into a bit of a hero.

The Jesus in John's text says: "I should not be handed over to the Jews" (although he was one himself), and the Evangelist sings: "Pilate endeavored to set him free...but the Jews cried out: crucify him!"

Why did Bach choose this particular gospel? Did he harbor anti-Jewish bias?

I'm inclined to give Bach the benefit of my doubts. In Bach's time, Christians held only two viewpoints towards Jews: hatred and indifference. Like most Americans' relations with blacks until the 1960s, Bach and his church colleagues had no Jewish friends and never thought much about Jews as people with feelings.

"'Too many Jews'


The books of Mark, Matthew and Luke have many similarities to each other, while John's is unique. Secular scholars say that John's version is less historically accurate than other gospels.

It outdoes the others, however, in its description of Jesus as a divine being walking the earth. John's book recounts Jesus's ministry and the miracles he wrought, and introduces the idea of a Holy Spirit as comforter in times of grief. That message of consolation, I like to think, is what appealed to Bach.

The German-born composer and conductor Lukas Foss, who was Jewish, performed the St. John Passion with a substitution of "the people" or "the mob" in place of "the Jews," which seems to make more sense.

King Frederick himself, who was considered relatively tolerant about religion, nevertheless wrote: "We have too many Jews in the towns. They are needed on the Polish border because in these areas Hebrews alone perform trade. As soon as you get away from the frontier, the Jews become a disadvantage, they form cliques, they deal in contraband and get up to all manner of rascally tricks which are detrimental to Christian burghers and merchants. I have never persecuted anyone from this or any other sect; I think, however, it would be prudent to pay attention so that their numbers do not increase."

Sounds like things that some modern American politicians say about blacks, Hispanics or Muslims. Maybe it's beneficial that the St. John text forces us to think about racial and religious intolerance during this holy season.

Conversational narrator

Glandorf conducted an expressive performance with choir and the Bach Collegium of 13, using period instruments. The choruses dominate the piece. The opening Herr, unser Herrscher ("Lord, Our Ruler") was reverently sung, and the next-to-closing Ruht wohl ("Rest well") created an anguished emotional climax. (Those two hymns used texts from sources outside the Gospel.)

The narrator's recitative can be sung with more forceful authority, but tenor Aaron Sheehan chose to be conversational, ultimately a persuasive tactic. His Evangelist seemed to speak intimately to a small congregation, drawing us in.

Other soloists seemed a bit scholarly, except for soprano Clara Rottsolk, who projected strong feelings in Ich folge ("I follow you"), and tenor Stephen Bradshaw, who sang two impressive arias. (Some people say that the tenor's Erwäge, "Consider," is possibly the most difficult aria Bach ever wrote.)

Another highlight was Es ist volbracht ("It is completed") by viola da gamba and countertenor Benjamin Starr. Baritones Brian Ming Chu and Chris Hodges and mezzo Erika Takacs also were musically excellent.♦


To read a reply by Kile Smith, click here.




What, When, Where

Bach Festival of Philadelphia: The Musical Offering, Eighteen Chorale Preludes, The Passion According to St. John. Choral Arts, Bach Collegium and soloists. Matthew Glandorf, conductor. March 30-April 1, 2012 at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 1625 Locust St. (215) 240-6417 or Choralarts.com/bachfestival.

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