St Matthew Passion Gcse

Johann Sebastian Bach composed this piece. This piece is part of the St Matthew Passion, BWV244. It is a musical composition from the Passions written by Bach in 1727. The St Matthew Passion is written for solo voices, double choir and double orchestra. Picander (Christian Friedrich Henrici) is the libretto of this composition. This is a scared music. Only 2 out of 4 or 5 setting of the Passions survived. Bach was a devouted Christian, so he composed it for Good Friday. Gerne will ich mich bequemen (Gladly will I am comfortable) is the title of this piece. The context of the song is based on biblical story and it is in German text. It is in Da capo aria form where A section is repeated. The instrumentation for this aria are 2 violin which intermingle between the melody and a basso continuo. Bach give more variation to the melody by switching its mode from major to minor mode. This alter its emotional significance completely and is used to provide vivid contrast. The idea of a change of mode in a melody implies some harmonic considerations. He exploited harmonic variation to marvelous effect in this piece. This shown in the starting of the piece in G minor in the ritornello section and then it modulates to D minor at bar 25, and it
This is how Bach imply his knowledge into his work. Symbolism, symmetry and mathematical relationships can be found in this piece : whenever there is this word “Kreuz” which mean cross, Bach will always have a sharp in it. The sharp (#) represent + (cross). This is one of the way he uses symbolism. Word painting can be found in this piece in bar 61 “trink” (drink) the melody is going up with chromatic melodies, Bach wanted to portrait the action of drinking. The piece only have 2 dynamic throughout the piece which are : piano and