A fascinating account of Bach鈥檚 musical interpretation of the Crucifixion is revealed in a new book published by a 黑料网 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 鈥� 1800). Dr Cameron cites Johann Sebastian Bach鈥檚 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鈥檚 brand new series, Contextual Bach Studies.
Dr Cameron鈥檚 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鈥檚 genius. She said: 鈥淏y 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.
鈥溾�楶ainting鈥� the Crucifixion in music is evident in the music of composers before Bach.
鈥淭he 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 鈥榓ction鈥� of the text in their music.
鈥淭he 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. 鈥楨t sepultus est鈥� (and was buried) would often be depicted by descending vocal and/or instrumental lines to express burial.鈥�
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 鈥榤odel鈥� and the recycled version as the 鈥榩arody鈥�.
鈥淭here are differences between the model and the parody 鈥� for a start, Bach had to accommodate a new text in a different language 鈥� 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.
鈥淭he addition of four bars of music at the end of the parody presents a most definite descent (鈥榚t sepultus est鈥�), soprano, alto and tenor voices being forced down to the extreme lower limits of their ranges.
鈥淲hile many scholars have identified and studied these differences between Bach鈥檚 model and its parody, no-one has placed the parody in the context of the broader Crucifixus tradition.
鈥漌ith equal time given to the settings of the Crucifixus by composers before and after Bach鈥檚 time (ranging from Vivaldi to Mozart and Haydn), the reader is provided with a fuller historical background for Bach鈥檚 talent.鈥�
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鈥檚 book, The Crucifixion in Music: An Analytical Survey of Settings of the Crucifixus between 1680 and 1800, is available by logging on to: