St Luke Passion (Penderecki) Explained

St Luke Passion
Composer:	Krzysztof Penderecki
Image Upright:	1.3
Full Title:	Latin: Passio et mors Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Lucam
Translation:	Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to St Luke
Language:	Latin

The St Luke Passion (full title: Passio et mors Domini nostri Jesu Christi secundum Lucam, or the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to St Luke) is a work for chorus and orchestra written in 1966 by Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki. He composed the work to commemorate a millennium of Polish Christianity following the baptism and conversion of Polish duke Mieszko I in 966 AD. Penderecki's setting is one of several musical settings of the Passion story and contains text from the Gospel of Luke as well as other sources such as the Stabat Mater. Despite the Passion's almost total atonality and use of avant-garde musical techniques, the musical public appreciated the work's stark power and direct emotional impact and the piece was performed several more times soon after its premiere on 30 March 1966.

Musical content

Compositional techniques

The Passion is almost entirely atonal, except for two major triads which occur once at the end of the Stabat Mater, a cappella, and once, an E major triad, at the very end of the work with full choruses, orchestra and organ. It makes very frequent use of tone clusters, often played fortissimo by brass or organ. The contrapuntal equivalent of tone clusters is micropolyphony, which is one approach to texture that occurs in this piece .

Occasionally, Penderecki employs twelve-tone serialism, and utilizes the B-A-C-H motif. Moreover, David Wordsworth believes that the B-A-C-H motif unites the entire work . The principal tone row, Cantus Firmus I, is C–D–F–E–E–F–G–G–B–B–A–C. The tone row of Cantus Firmus II is E–E–F–F–D–C–G–A–B–A–C–B. The chorus makes use of many extended techniques, including shouting, speaking, giggling and hissing.

Orchestration

The St Luke Passion is scored for large forces: a narrator (who acts as the Evangelist); soprano, baritone and bass soloists (with the baritone singing the role of Christ and the soprano and bass taking other roles as necessary); three mixed choruses and a boys' choir; and a large orchestra consisting of:

Woodwinds

4 flutes (2 doubling piccolos, 1 doubling alto flute)

1 bass clarinet in B

2 alto saxophones

3 bassoons

1 contrabassoon

Brass

6 horns in F

4 trumpets in B

4 trombones

1 tuba

Percussion

timpani (4 drums)

2 bongos

whip

raganella

4 cymbals

2 tam-tams

2 gongs

Keyboards

Strings

24 violins (12 Violin I's, 12 Violin II's)

10 violas

10 violoncellos

8 double basses

Text

The text of the St Luke Passion is entirely in Latin. The primary source of the text is the Gospel of Luke; however, it contains other sources such as hymns, Psalms and Lamentations.

Sections of text

The Passion is divided into two parts and twenty-seven sections, thirteen in Part I and fourteen in Part II. Their titles are as follows.

Part I

O Crux Ave ("O Holy Cross," from the hymn Vexilla Regis prodeunt), chorus and orchestra
Et egressus ibat ("And he went out," Garden of Gethsemane), narrator, baritone and orchestra
Deus Meus ("My God," Christ's prayer at Gethsemane, from Psalm 21), baritone, chorus and orchestra
Domine, quis habitat ("Lord, who shall dwell...", from Psalms 14, 4 and 15), soprano and orchestra
Adhuc eo loquente ("And yet while he spake," Judas's betrayal of Christ), narrator, baritone, chorus and orchestra
Ierusalem ("Jerusalem," from the Lamentation of Jeremiah), chorus and orchestra
Ut quid, Domine ("Why, Lord," from Psalm 9), chorus a cappella
Comprehendentes autem eum ("Then they took him," Peter's denial of Christ), narrator, soprano, bass, chorus and orchestra
Iudica me, Deus ("Give sentence with me, O God," from Psalm 42), bass and orchestra
Et viri, qui tenebant illum ("And the men that held Jesus...," mocking of Christ), narrator, baritone, chorus and orchestra
Ierusalem (text identical to section 6)
Miserere mei, Deus ("Be merciful to me, O God," from Psalm 55), chorus a cappella
Et surgens omnis ("And the multitude arose...," Christ's trial before Pilate and death sentence), narrator, baritone, bass, chorus and orchestra

Part II

Et in pulverem ("And into the dust," from Psalm 21), chorus and orchestra
Et baiulans sibi crucem ("And bearing his cross," the road to Calvary), narrator and orchestra
Popule meus ("My people," from the Improperia), chorus and orchestra
Ibi crucifixerunt eum ("There they crucified him," the crucifixion of Christ), narrator and orchestra
Crux fidelis ("O faithful cross," from Pange lingua gloriosi proelium certaminis), soprano, chorus and orchestra
Iesus autem dicebat ("Then said Jesus," Christ's forgiveness), narrator, baritone and orchestra
In pulverem mortis ("Into the dust of death," from Psalm 21), chorus a cappella
Et stabat populus ("And the people stood," Christ's mocking on the cross), narrator, chorus and orchestra
Unus autem ("And one of them...," the good and bad thieves), narrator, baritone, bass, chorus and orchestra
Stabant autem iuxta crucem ("Now there stood by the cross," Jesus addressing his mother and John, from the Gospel of John), narrator, baritone and orchestra
Stabat Mater ("The mother stood...," from the Stabat Mater sequence), chorus a cappella
Erat autem fere hora sexta ("And it was about the sixth hour," Christ's death account from both Luke and John), narrator, baritone, chorus and orchestra
Alla breve (a tempo marking in Italian indicating a quick duple meter), orchestra alone
In pulverem mortis... In te, Domine, speravi ("Into the dust of death...In thee, O Lord, I have put my trust" from Psalm 30), soprano, baritone, bass, chorus and orchestra