Passions (Telemann)

A prolific composer, Telemann wrote over 40 Passions for the churches of Hamburg alone, of which 22 have survived according to the present state of research.

Unlike the Passions intended for liturgical performance, they were not closely set to the literal text of the Gospels.

The reduction of narration allowed the expansion of the poetic interpolations (chorales, arias, recitatives, and choruses), especially in the exordium[5] and conclusio.

[6] Often these expanded sections contained a meditatio[7] on aspects of the Last Supper, the Burial, and perhaps even allusions to the Resurrection of Jesus, events not recounted in the narratio.

These Passions were composed in the wake of the great influx of concert oratorios,[8] typified by their avoidance of narratio.

The Telemann Passions were (unlike J. S. Bach's Leipzig Passions) not written for and used in the context of a separate Good Friday Vespers liturgical service, but rather in the regular church services for the five main churches in Hamburg for the Sundays of Lent (except for Oculi Sunday).

[11] and quotes (he states) pages 656–657 of the 4th Vorrath (Volume) of Johann Mattheson's Plus Ultra, ein Stückwerk von neuer und mancherley Art.

Telemann, however, fits the words to the music that he writes, to the extent that many parts of recitatives are either elongated or repeated verbatim.

Telemann himself wrote the text for his second Passion oratorio, Seliges Erwägen des bittern Leidens und Sterbens Jesu Christi ("Blessed Contemplation of the Bitter Suffering and Dying of Jesus Christ", TWV 5:2a, later reworked as TWV 5:2), which was one of the most beloved and frequently performed Passions in eighteenth-century Germany.

), included in a series of performances of all four (at that time) known settings (Reinhard Keiser, Telemann, Georg Friedrich Händel, and Johann Mattheson) over four evenings in 1719, 1722, 1723, and 1730, and 27 March 1739 at the Nikolaikirche Leipzig (under direction of J. S.

);[14] Modern edition (Bärenreiter); Recorded — McGegan 1994 (reissued 1996 & 1999), Jacobs 2009 Note that this list may be incomplete In 1745, due to the mourning period following the death of Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor on 20 January 1745 (the mourning period lasting from 14 February–14 March), the performance schedule was altered in the following way: Western Hemisphere Premiere: E. Miller & C. Grills with the Harvard Early Music Society 2017