A fascinating account of Bach’s musical interpretation of the Crucifixion is revealed in a new book published by a University of Aberdeen music scholar.
Dr Jasmin Cameron, a lecturer in Music, has published The Crucifixion in Music, which examines how the Crucifixion is portrayed in music from Baroque to Classical times (1680 – 1800). Dr Cameron cites Johann Sebastian Bach’s Crucifixus setting from the B Minor Mass as a platform for her study.
This unique study of musical settings of the Crucifixus is believed to be the first of its kind in the world and is the first book in Scarecrow Press’s brand new series, Contextual Bach Studies.
Dr Cameron’s milestone publication focuses specifically on the literary text of the Crucifixus from the Credo of the Ordinary of the Roman Catholic Mass. By addressing the diverse language and symbols of music, Dr Cameron follows the Crucifixion through a diverse journey from 17th to 19th century musical styles.
Dr Cameron said her research provided a fuller historical context for Bach’s genius. She said: “By studying the musical representation of the text of the Crucifixion as described in the Roman Catholic Mass, I have explored the way the treatment of the text merges into a recognisable musical tradition that composers can follow, develop, modify, or ignore.
“‘Painting’ the Crucifixion in music is evident in the music of composers before Bach.
“The short section of text that I have examined describes the Crucifixion (Crucifixus etiam pro nobis sub Pontio Pilato, passus et sepultus est, which means He was crucified also for us, under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried) and composers would attempt to mirror the ‘action’ of the text in their music.
“The agony of Crucifixion could be expressed by grating musical intervals that sound harsh to the ear, or by a zig-zag arrangement of notes, commonly recognised as the musical sign of the cross. ‘Et sepultus est’ (and was buried) would often be depicted by descending vocal and/or instrumental lines to express burial.”
Dr Cameron said Bach re-composes his setting of the Crucifixus based on an earlier work. The original work is referred to, in musical terms, as the ‘model’ and the recycled version as the ‘parody’.
“There are differences between the model and the parody – for a start, Bach had to accommodate a new text in a different language – which was German. However, the nature of many changes evident in the parody (Crucifixus) suggest that Bach was aware of an existing Crucifixus tradition and that these alterations were made in keeping with these conventions.
“The addition of four bars of music at the end of the parody presents a most definite descent (‘et sepultus est’), soprano, alto and tenor voices being forced down to the extreme lower limits of their ranges.
“While many scholars have identified and studied these differences between Bach’s model and its parody, no-one has placed the parody in the context of the broader Crucifixus tradition.
”With equal time given to the settings of the Crucifixus by composers before and after Bach’s time (ranging from Vivaldi to Mozart and Haydn), the reader is provided with a fuller historical background for Bach’s talent.”
By combining the beliefs of past musical theorists with those of today, Dr Cameron has reached a common ground among them, providing the ideal basis for further studies of this nature.
Dr Cameron’s book, The Crucifixion in Music: An Analytical Survey of Settings of the Crucifixus between 1680 and 1800, is available by logging on to: http://www.scarecrowpress.com/Catalog/SingleBook.shtml?command=Search&db=^DB/CATALOG.db&eqSKUdata=0810852756