Jesus is Crucified (Nos. 55-60)

This scene starts with the narration of Jesus being led away to be crucified. After the soldiers put his clothes back on him, they pulled from the crowd a man called Simon of Cyrene to carry Jesus’ cross. This fact is the subject of the follow arioso/aria pair for the bass of Coro 1. The arioso text reflects on the suffering of carrying the cross as being “bitter for us” but good for the soul, and the aria verses offer to carry the “sweet cross” knowing that Jesus can help bear our suffering. These two movements feature the viola da gamba. In the arioso, Bach adds short ascending and descending motifs on the flutes on top of the viola’s chords. In the aria, the flutes disappear and only the viola accompanies the voice. The difficult chords and dotted rhythms illustrate the heavy burden of the cross and the faltering steps of Jesus and Simon.

The narration resumes and tells us of their arrival to Golgotha, Jesus’ refusal to drink the vinegar with gall and how the soldiers nailed him to the cross and gambled for his clothes, thus fulfilling a prophecy. It goes on to mention the sign affixed to the top of the cross, and the fact that two thieves were also crucified to Jesus’ right and left.

At this point, the two choirs impersonate the crowds again, singing first imitatively and then coming together to mock Jesus, prompting him to come down from the cross if he indeed is the Son of God. Then the Evangelist mentions the priests and elders also making fun of Jesus, and the choirs take on their personas in a longer, more elaborate choral fantasia which ends in a striking unison as they quote Jesus’ previous words: “Ich bin Gottes Sohn” (“I am the Son of God”).

The next arioso/aria pair is for the alto, and the oboes da caccia make another appearance to accompany the singer. Something remarkable about this pair is how the sonority changes from the arioso to the aria. Initially, the oboes move together and create the image of low-pitched funeral bells tolling on top of a pizzicato bass, as the singer curses Golgotha. The phrase ends on an upward, unresolved tritone, which Bach used often to represent the cross. But then, as the libretto shifts and looks at Jesus’ outstretched arms as an embrace of redemption and mercy, the oboes play off of each other with trilled ascending motifs and cheerful syncopations. The choir joins, repeatedly interpolating question “Wo?” (“Where?”) as homophonic chords.

Matthew 27, 31-44

Jesus Dies on the Cross (Nos. 61-63)

After the pastoral and bright sonority of the alto aria, the Evangelist tells us about the “darkness” that fell “over the whole land” for three hours. Bach sets the word “Finsternis” (“darkness”) to the pitch of F flat! Jesus then cries, in Aramaic, “Eli, Eli, lama asabthani”, which is a quote from Psalm 22. This is the only time in the entire Passion in which Jesus’ words are not accompanied by the “halo” of the strings – a strong illustration of Jesus’ feeling of having been abandoned by God. The Evangelist translates Jesus’ words in reported speech using the same musical phrase, but he takes Jesus’ version in B flat minor (five flats) further into despair – E flat minor, six flats!

The choir (from Coro 1) then delivers the comments of the crowd (“He is calling for Elijah!”). The Evangelist describes how someone gives Jesus vinegar with a sponge, while the crowd (this time Coro 2) says to wait to see if Elijah would come to his help.

The next verse is the Evangelist saying that Jesus gives out a final cry and dies. Following this statement, Bach inserts the final appearance of the Passion Chorale.

The Evangelist then narrates the earthquake, the tearing of the veil in the temple, and the opening of nearby graves, all accompanied by a frantic continuo line in 32nd notes. The narration tells us that the captain and soldiers guarding Jesus were very afraid and, in a magical two bars, the choirs (together) deliver their utterance: “Truly, this was the Son of God”.

As a bridge into the Burial scene, a segment of Evangelist recitative mentions Mary Magdalene and other women that were there, as well as Joseph of Arimathea, to whom Pilate releases Jesus’ body.

Matthew 27, 45-58