≈ 3 hours · With intermission
Last updated: January 7, 2019
The NAC Orchestra first performed J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in 1972 under the direction of Brian Law, and with Heather Harper, Gabrielle Lavigne, Kenneth Bowen and Antony Ransome as soloists. In 1997, Trevor Pinnock was conductor, as he is again tonight, for the Orchestra’s most recent performance of this work. On that occasion Nancy Argenta, Catherine Robbin, Benjamin Butterfield, Howard Crook, Stephen Varcoe and Brian Bannatyne-Scott sang the solo parts.
Choristers from:
Cantata Singers of Ottawa (CSO)
Capital Chamber Choir (CCC)
Rehearsal Pianists:
Andrew Ager
Sonya Sweeney
SOPRANO
Kristi Aruja CSO
Gwyneth Bergman CSO
Jennifer Berntson CCC
Nadine Dawson CSO
Bonnie Day CSO
Valerie Douglas CSO
Maura Forrest CCC
Deirdre Garcia CSO
Jennie Glassco CCC
Natasha Harwood CSO
Cait Hurcomb CCC
Erin Joyce CCC
Sharon Keenan-Hayes CSO
Lucie Laneville CSO
Sumin Lee CCC
Erica Loughlin CSO
Jessyca Morgan CSO
Colleen Morris CSO
Sophia Nickel CSO
Nicola Oddy CSO
Cathy Patton CSO
Aude Pull CCC
Kristina Roudiy CSO
Hannah Searson CCC
Mackenzie Stone CCC
Anna von Holtzendorff CSO
ALTO
Barbara Ackison CSO
Pat Beckett CCC
Patricia Bilodeau CSO
Trish Brooks CSO
Judy Brush CSO
Heather Buisman CCC
Vickie Classen Iles CSO
Janet Cover CSO
Amy Desrosiers CCC
Ellie Glantz CCC
Mary Gordon CSO
Liz Gray CSO
Carolyn Greve CCC
Pamela Holm CSO
Pein-Pein Huang CSO
Diana James CSO
Eileen Johnson CSO
Grace Mann CSO
Janessa Mann CCC
Jessica McClay CCC
Andi Murphy CSO
Alice Yoch CCC
TENOR
Sascha Adler CCC
Gary Boyd CSO
Gennaro Busa CSO
Cameron Climie CCC
Richard Fujarczuk CSO
Dorian Gerdes CSO
Louis Jacques CCC
Ross Jewell CSO
Karl Mann CSO
Nicholas Piper CCC
Aaron Shenkman CSO
Aidan Shenkman CSO
BASS
Wallace Beaton CSO
Phillip Burness CCC
Kyle Canton CCC
Spencer Cripps CCC
Mark Chester Dumbrique CSO
Michael Hartney CSO
Andrew Hodgson CSO
Greg Huyer CSO
Björn Johansson CSO
Nathan Maclean-Max CCC
Christopher Mallory CCC
J.P. McElhone CSO
Peter Reilly-Roe CSO
Daniel Savoie CSO
Glen Seeds CSO
Mike Vanier CSO
Paul Whiteley CCC
Born in Eisenach, March 21, 1685
Died in Leipzig, July 28, 1750
Of all humankind’s great testimonials to religious faith and devotion, one of the supreme musical manifestations is surely Bach’s Passion According to St. Matthew (the St. Matthew Passion for short). Written in 1729 (or possibly 1727 – scholars still argue the point) and first performed at the Vespers service on Good Friday of that year (April 15), it stands at the summit not only of Bach’s own enormous output, but also of a thousand years of Western music.
Musical dramatizations of the Passion story date back to at least the thirteenth century, the period of the Miracle Plays. The subsequent development of this genre passed through phases involving varying degrees of departure from biblical and liturgical texts and varying degrees of dramatization. Strictly plainsong or chordal settings gradually gave way to polyphonic treatments of at least part of the text, and some of the trappings of Italian opera were also introduced, in particular the orchestra and the use of recitative and aria.
Heinrich Schütz (1585–1672), Bach’s great predecessor in German sacred music, had confined his Passion texts to the Gospel, but subsequent composers in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries expanded the scope of their Passions to include extended passages of lyrical, non-biblical text. Innovation turned to excess, and for a time there was little difference between a Passion-oratorio and an opera save in subject matter. Eventually there was a strong reaction to the frankly sensational treatments, but non-biblical texts were still incorporated. Hence, when Bach turned his attention to the Passion story – with its choruses, arias of non-biblical text, chorales, explicit text painting in the orchestra, and dramatic representations of the Evangelist, Jesus, the crowd and smaller parts – he was not indulging in anything historically innovative. There were, however, two extremely important respects in which the St. Matthew Passion transcended all precedents. These were its length (well over three hours) and its aura of monumentality.
The St. Matthew Passion is laid out on a huge scale, in two parts comprising about seventy numbers: choruses, chorales, arias, ariosos and recitatives. The forces required include two four-part choirs, a boys’ choir (sung here by a mixed children’s choir), two orchestras each consisting of two flutes, two oboes, bassoon, strings, viola da gamba, harpsichord, and organ. Generally, Orchestra I plays with Choir I and Orchestra II with Choir II. Choir I represents the twelve disciples, Choir II the people at large, though for the opening and closing numbers of the Passion they join to represent the entire Christian Church. The choirs also merge for the chorales and the closing of Part I.
Four vocal soloists are required for the arias (soprano, contralto, tenor, bass), and two more carry the roles of the Evangelist (tenor) and Jesus (bass). These latter two sing only in recitative, but a recitative more often akin to arioso (orchestrally accompanied sung narratives but not full-fledged arias) than to the dry recitative of opera. The Evangelist is an objective narrator who relates the events of the Passion story, which covers the period from the Last Supper to the Entombment. His recitative is accompanied by the organ, but Jesus is always accompanied by the strings, which provide a halo-like effect around his words (another element borrowed from Italian opera). The sole exception occurs at Jesus’ final words, just before death, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani?” There are also eleven Soliloquenten, bit parts sung by individual members of the chorus for miscellaneous characters such as Pilate, Judas, Peter, priests, maids, witnesses, etc.
In addition to the Gospel texts, which are drawn from Matthew Chapters 26 and 27 complete (in itself a substantial piece of writing; it takes about twenty minutes to read aloud), there are 28 interpolated pieces set to texts by Henrici. These include twelve solo arias encompassing a great variety of moods and expression, accompanied by the orchestra and often featuring a solo instrument; ten ariosos; two arias with choir; one duet with choir; and three choruses.
Twelve chorales (in addition to those used in the big choral numbers) taken from contemporary German Protestant hymnbooks complete the textual component. All are set to four-part harmony with the melody in the soprano, and serve to portray the tension, feelings and responses of the congregation as a collective body to various events in the Passion story as they unfold. Some of the melodies are used for two or more hymns; one of them is heard five times, and has acquired the sobriquet “the St. Matthew Chorale.” It is not unreasonable to imagine members of Bach’s congregation singing along with the choristers, since these hymns were as well known in eighteenth-century Germany as popular songs are today.
A performance of the complete, uncut St. Matthew Passion takes more than three hours, plus intermission. That’s something of an endurance test for any audience. But imagine yourself back in Leipzig at St. Thomas’ Church on Good Friday in 1729, where Bach’s music was but a part of the Vespers service. The service began about 1:30 in the afternoon with a hymn. Then came Part I of Bach’s Passion, then another hymn, then the sermon (which may have lasted up to an hour), another hymn, Part II of the Passion, a motet, the Good Friday Collect, still another hymn, and finally the Blessing. A truly devout and diligent churchgoer might also have sat through a long morning service as well.
To prepare us for the Passion experience, Bach wrote one of the most majestic, powerfully moving and structurally complex choruses in the history of music. This and the chorus at the other end of the St. Matthew Passion are the mighty pillars that support the immense musical structure. For the opening chorus, Bach employs all the resources at his disposal. The aura of deep solemnity is set in the introductory bars for orchestra (Orchestras I and II combined), where the complex interweaving of melodic strands creates a dense and continuously evolving contrapuntal web. The choral entry in bar 18 – that anguished, fervent expression of communal grief – is given only to Chorus I. The reason Bach withholds Chorus II soon becomes apparent, for he pits it against Chorus I in a dramatic dialogue of question and answer: “See Him!” “Who?” “The Bridegroom” “How?” “So like a Lamb is He,” and so on. This choral dialogue portrays a vivid theatrical event, with crowds moving about in excitement and anticipation. Soaring above all this earthly commotion and suffering, a separate chorus (either sopranos or a boys’ choir), in a different key and to a different rhythm, intones the chorale “O guiltless Lamb of God” with its promise of redemption. The interaction of these three levels – the heavenly choir, the two earthly choirs, and the orchestra supporting the whole vocal edifice – produces an unparalleled richness of sound and an image of impregnable faith.
Following this chorus, Bach unfolds a steady succession of numbers suffused with sublime beauty, deeply-felt intimacy or dramatic excitement. With extraordinary vividness, he gives expression to all the sorrow, pain, terror and wonder of this great Christian drama. The characters are no mere abstractions; they are richly imbued with human, lifelike qualities, characters who interact freely and spontaneously, who portray their deepest thoughts and emotions. As such, the St. Matthew Passion remains one of the most exalted, yet most accessible, monuments of devotional expression.
An account of all the notable moments in the St. Matthew Passion would fill many pages. Here are just a few of the dozens, perhaps hundreds, that the listener might look forward to:
The first recitative (“Du lieber Heiland du”) for the alto, who, incidentally, gets the lion’s share of the solo numbers, is accompanied throughout by flutes playing an expressive “teardrop” motif.
Flutes also express the time-honoured device of musical sighs of grief in the first soprano aria (“Blute nur”). Later in this aria, at the word “Schlange” (snake), both the soprano and the accompanying bass wind their way through serpentine musical lines.
Underscoring the text of the tenor aria “Ich will bei meinem Jesu wachen” (I will watch with my Jesus), Bach incorporates as its principal melodic material a traditional watchman’s call.
The thunder of the chorus “Sind Blitze, sind Donner” is vividly portrayed by the virtually non-stop rumbling of the bass line.
When Pilate asks the crowd which of the prisoners he should release, Jesus or Barabbas, he expects and hopes for the former. The unexpectedness (to Pilate) and horror (for us) of the crowd’s call for “Barabbas” is transmitted through a wrenching harmonic gearshift that totally defies the expected resolution of the previous chord. The events leading to the Crucifixion now unfold rapidly. The scourging of Jesus is heard in the whiplash effects in the orchestrally accompanied recitative “Erbarm es Gott! Hier steht der Heiland angebunden,” and the weight of the Cross Jesus bears to Golgotha in the bass aria “Komm, süßes Kreuz,” is painfully portrayed in the “dragging” of the lower strings.
After Jesus expires on the Cross, the veil of the temple is rent in two, the earth shakes, and the graves open, all to graphically descriptive effects in the orchestra and nearly hysterical recitative from the Evangelist. Then, in one of the most wondrous passages in the whole St. Matthew Passion, the chorus exclaims that “this truly was the Son of God.” It is a brief moment, but one of sublime beauty and absolutely unforgettable.
And then that final chorus! Flowing alternately between the stern monumentality of C minor and the consoling warmth of E-flat major, all humanity bids the Saviour a loving farewell, bringing to an end both an incomparable musical masterpiece and a timeless, communal act of faith.
Program notes by Robert Markow
Trevor Pinnock is renowned world-wide as a harpsichordist and conductor who pioneered the modern revival of early music performance.
He founded the English Concert in 1972, and remained their Artistic Director until 2003, leading them in groundbreaking period-instrument performances and an extensive contract with Deutsche Grammophon. He now divides his work between conducting, solo and chamber music engagements, and educational projects at the Royal Academy of Music where he is Principal Guest Conductor of the Concert Orchestra.
Pinnock regularly works with the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg. Frequent chamber music partners include flautist Emmanuel Pahud and viola da gamba player Jonathan Manson.
In 2019, he directs Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Royal Academy of Music; the National Arts Centre, where he was Music Director from 1991 to 1996; and in Scotland with the Dunedin Consort. At the Sanssouci Palace, Potsdam, he conducts Frederic Wake-Walker’s production of La Clemenza di Tito, and will tour Messiah with Freiburger Barockorchester.
Trevor Pinnock was made a CBE in 1992 and an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998. He is also a recipient of the Wigmore Medal.
Lydia Teuscher was born in Freiburg, Germany and studied at the Welsh College of Music and Drama, and at the Hochschule für Musik in Mannheim.
Highlights of her 2018–19 season include Mozart’s Mass in C minor with the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, the role of Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra, and Bach’s Mass in B minor with Arcangelo, as well as on tour in North America with Les Violons du Roy.
In opera, she has sung Pamina in Die Zauberflöte at the Salzburg Mozartwoche, Bolshoi and Bayerische Staatsoper; Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro at the Glyndebourne Festival, Dresdner Semperoper and the Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Japan; and Gretel in Hänsel und Gretel for the Glyndebourne Festival, Dresdner Semperoper and Saito Kinen Festival.
Teuscher collaborates regularly with conductors such as René Jacobs, Sir Roger Norrington, Helmuth Rilling and Bernard Labadie, and recent highlights include Schönberg’s Pierrot lunaire with the Ensemble of the Bayerische Staatsoper, Mahler’s Symphony No. 4 with the London Symphony Orchestra, and Handel’s Messiah with the Orchestre National de Lille. She made her debut with the NAC in 2011 and returned in March 2018 to sing Bach’s Mass in G major.
A unique vocal colour and commanding stage presence are the hallmarks of performances by mezzo-soprano Allyson McHardy. She made her debut with the NAC Orchestra in 2005 and most recently appeared at the NAC in 2017, singing in Mozart’s Requiem in May and the opera Louis Riel in June. Hailed by Joshua Kosman of the San Francisco Chronicle as “a singer of enormous imagination and versatility,” she has appeared with the Paris Opera, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Chicago Symphony, Glyndebourne Festival, San Francisco Opera and the Boston Symphony. Kent Nagano, Johannes Debus, Seiji Ozawa, Bernard Labadie and Ludovic Morlot are among the conductors with whom she has collaborated in such works as L’enfant et les sortilèges, La clemenza di Tito and Das Rheingold.
The Ontario native’s current season includes performances with the Philadelphia Opera, Toronto Symphony, Opéra de Québec, Opera Atelier, Calgary Philharmonic and Symphony Nova Scotia. Recent highlights include the Ryan/Steele Afghanistan Requiem with the Toronto Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and Smeton in Anna Bolena for the Canadian Opera Company. Her discography includes Handel’s Orlando, Caldara’s La conversione di Clodoveo, Ré di Francia, Bellini’s Norma and Harry Somers’ Serinette.
Born in Lucerne, Switzerland, Mauro Peter received his musical training at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Fenna Kügel-Seifried, and in Helmut Deutsch’s Lied class. In 2012, he was the winner of the Robert Schumann Competition in Zwickau and, in the same year, he made his debut as a lieder recitalist at the Schubertiade in Hohenems and Schwarzenberg. Many recitals have followed since then, in the most distinguished concert halls and opera houses.
During the 2018–19 season, Mauro Peter will be back at Opera Zürich where he appears in a ballet production of Schubert’s Winterreise as well as in Mozart’s La Finta giardiniera. He will also sing the title role of Weber’s Oberon at the Theater an der Wien. Recitals will bring him to the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Munich, and Mozart Week in Salzburg. On the concert platform he can be heard in Handel’s Messiah in Barcelona, as well as in Mozart’s Coronation Mass at the Teatro alla Scala. This evening’s concert marks his debut with the NAC Orchestra.
Among his recordings are Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin released on the Wigmore Hall Live label in 2015. Fall 2016 saw a new solo album of lieder by Robert Schumann released on the SONY label.
French-Canadian bass-baritone Philippe Sly returns to the Paris Opera for his first perfor-mances of Leporello in a new production of Don Giovanni in the 2018–19 season. He will be heard in Handel’s Messiah with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin and with the Handel & Haydn Society conducted by Bernard Labadie. In recital, he performs Winterreise with pianist Michael McMahon in Montreal, Vancouver and San Francisco. He will also be seen in special performances with Le Chimera Project of Schubert’s Winterreise arranged for Klezmer quartet.
Recent appearances include Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Opéra de Lyon in Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and Jephtha at the Paris Opera, and a staged version by Romeo Castellucci of Bach’s St Matthew Passion conducted by Kent Nagano. Having been a chorister with music director Matthew Larkin at St. Matthew’s Anglican Church in the Glebe, he returned to Ottawa in 2013 to debut as a soloist with the NAC Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah.
Recently, he was awarded “Concert of the Year” in Romantic, Post-Romantic and Impressionist Music at the 16th Annual Ceremony of the Prix Opus in Quebec. His solo recordings are available on Analekta Records.
“The gifted young bass-baritone Douglas Williams” (The New York Times) combines a “formidable stage presence” (Seattle Times) with “a bass voice of splendid solidity” (Music Web International), making him one of the most appealing singing actors of his generation. He has collaborated with leading conductors including Sir Simon Rattle, Nicholas McGegan, Helmuth Rilling and Sir Neville Marriner, in such prestigious venues as Lincoln Center, Stuttgart’s Mozart-Saal, and the Frankfurt Alte Oper. He is a sought-after interpreter of Monteverdi, Handel, Bach and Mozart, in addition to music of the romantic and modern eras.
Recent operatic highlights include the role of Sciarrone in Tosca with the Berlin Philharmoniker at the Baden-Baden Festspielhaus and his debut as Figaro with the Milwaukee Symphony in a new production by Robin Guarino. Recent appearances on the concert stage include the American premiere of Scarlatti’s La gloria di primavera at Carnegie Hall with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, and baroque programs with Les Talens Lyriques in Paris, Versailles and Oslo. This is his first time appearing with the NAC Orchestra.
Williams’ recording of Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux Enfers with Boston Early Music Festival won the 2015 GRAMMY® Award for Best Opera Recording.
Andrew McAnerney, artistic director
Cantata Singers of Ottawa (CSO) is known across Canada as a versatile and skilled choral ensemble. The choir has performed at the NAC every year since the opening in 1969. It performed in Golden slumbers kiss your eyes… on the recent NAC Orchestra recording New Worlds.
Now in its 55th season, the choir presents an annual concert series with repertoire ranging from classical to contemporary, from Canada and around the world. Following its March 9 concert, Bach Cantatas by Candlelight, the CSO season concludes on May 26, 2019 with an all‑Bruckner program accompanied by an orchestra of brass and woodwinds. The symphonic Mass in E minor (1882 version) will be the centrepiece.
Andrew McAnerney, Artistic Director of CSO, is also Director of the Men and Boys Choir at Christ Church Cathedral, and Artistic Director of the Studio de musique ancienne de Montréal. A music graduate of Oxford University, he recently made his conducting debut with the NAC Orchestra in a performance of the Monteverdi Vespers with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. He has also appeared as a guest conductor with Arion Baroque Orchestra, Elora Singers, Ensemble Caprice and La Rose des Vents.
Jamie Loback, artistic director
The Capital Chamber Choir was formed in 2009 with a focus on contemporary and Canadian choral music. The choir consists of 35 members and attracts a diverse and dedicated audience. The ensemble has been praised for its skill, energy, vocal blend, and commitment to performing new and challenging music.
The Capital Chamber Choir released its debut album, The Delight of Paradise, in April 2017. In July 2018, they completed a tour to St. John’s, Newfoundland, where they performed at PODIUM, the national convention of Choral Canada.
The choir’s 2018–2019 season began with A Baltic Celebration in October and will conclude in June with a performance of Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles. Throughout the season, the choir collaborates with the NAC Orchestra.
Jamie Loback became the Capital Chamber Choir’s Artistic Director in 2012. A graduate of the University of Ottawa’s School of Music, he has served as Music Director at St. Joseph’s Parish since 2005 and conducts several choirs in Ottawa, including the Ottawa Regional Youth Choir and the Ottawa Children’s Choir (Chamber and Boys’ Choirs).
Choristers from:
Cantata Singers of Ottawa (CSO)
Capital Chamber Choir (CCC)
Rehearsal Pianists:
Andrew Ager
Sonya Sweeney
SOPRANO
Kristi Aruja CSO
Gwyneth Bergman CSO
Jennifer Berntson CCC
Nadine Dawson CSO
Bonnie Day CSO
Valerie Douglas CSO
Maura Forrest CCC
Deirdre Garcia CSO
Jennie Glassco CCC
Natasha Harwood CSO
Cait Hurcomb CCC
Erin Joyce CCC
Sharon Keenan-Hayes CSO
Lucie Laneville CSO
Sumin Lee CCC
Erica Loughlin CSO
Jessyca Morgan CSO
Colleen Morris CSO
Sophia Nickel CSO
Nicola Oddy CSO
Cathy Patton CSO
Aude Pull CCC
Kristina Roudiy CSO
Hannah Searson CCC
Mackenzie Stone CCC
Anna von Holtzendorff CSO
ALTO
Barbara Ackison CSO
Pat Beckett CCC
Patricia Bilodeau CSO
Trish Brooks CSO
Judy Brush CSO
Heather Buisman CCC
Vickie Classen Iles CSO
Janet Cover CSO
Amy Desrosiers CCC
Ellie Glantz CCC
Mary Gordon CSO
Liz Gray CSO
Carolyn Greve CCC
Pamela Holm CSO
Pein-Pein Huang CSO
Diana James CSO
Eileen Johnson CSO
Grace Mann CSO
Janessa Mann CCC
Jessica McClay CCC
Andi Murphy CSO
Alice Yoch CCC
TENOR
Sascha Adler CCC
Gary Boyd CSO
Gennaro Busa CSO
Cameron Climie CCC
Richard Fujarczuk CSO
Dorian Gerdes CSO
Louis Jacques CCC
Ross Jewell CSO
Karl Mann CSO
Nicholas Piper CCC
Aaron Shenkman CSO
Aidan Shenkman CSO
BASS
Wallace Beaton CSO
Phillip Burness CCC
Kyle Canton CCC
Spencer Cripps CCC
Mark Chester Dumbrique CSO
Michael Hartney CSO
Andrew Hodgson CSO
Greg Huyer CSO
Björn Johansson CSO
Nathan Maclean-Max CCC
Christopher Mallory CCC
J.P. McElhone CSO
Peter Reilly-Roe CSO
Daniel Savoie CSO
Glen Seeds CSO
Mike Vanier CSO
Paul Whiteley CCC