What does NRC think | Bach is holding a mirror to the Netherlands that is becoming increasingly secular

Mature the Matthäus tradition? No, as a meditation soundtrack, Bach’s passion is timeless. Soprano Jo Vincent sighed it after a performance of JS Bachs Matthäus-Passion in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw: « Well, it is again for a year. » Did she suspect how legendary would be: her words were intended for conductor Willem Mengelberg.

In 1850, 94 percent of the Dutch population was Christian. In Mengelberg’s time it was 85 percent. However, there is no contraction where it concerns the Matthäus tradition. A ‘passion-barometer‘This annual versions of Bach’s passion music, reports 204 versions this spring, just more than last year. Seen broader, the passion hunger is even bigger. The Passionthe pop variant broadcast annually by KRO/NCRV, is viewed by more than two million people.

What should a secular country with a full -filling religious masterpiece from the baroque, full of lengthy, saying evangelite texts? Is it like ‘all years again’ and Mariah Carey for Christmas: music that just belongs? Or does the meaning reach deeper?

Historically, a coincidence plays with it. Mengelberg, chef of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, was the founder of ‘de’ between 1899 and 1945 with almost annual versions of the Matthäus between 1899 and 1945 passion tradition. The Bachvereniging started its own family tree with more intimate, authentic versions and has been full for a century. From there, countless smaller traditions were created, often involved in amateur singers and musicians. Family members come to listen to one of those performances, while Cabinet members sit down At the Bach Association.

In Bach’s time there was preaching during the break, we bubbles or networks. We no longer know the Lutheran Bible and the corals. The spicy lyrics of the arias, specially written by the Leipziger Postbode Picander, mostly generate alienation than godliness. Who wishes that his tears may be « pleasant spice » for Jesus, who wants his, « blissful bones » still « penalty and repentance »?

And yet. The context is different, but viewing through liberal glasses, the essence of the passion experience of thousands of Dutch people is not even so far stroked by Bach’s intentions. Lutherans experienced a passion like appeal on their own piety, many Dutch people underwent it as a meditation soundtrack, with fear, betrayal and willingness to sacrifice as universal themes.

That we repeat that ritual annually deepens experience. The notes of Bach’s passions remain the same, the world is changing. The heartbeat with which the Johannes-Passion opens (in G-minor, according to the theory of Bach’s time the most beautiful key, which combines seriousness with sweetness), grabs more now that there is so much unrest in the world. The turbae, excited folk choirs, work differently as a stone’s throw away Gaza-demonstraten stirring. The Aria ‘Aus Liebe’ – Heart of the Matthäus – becomes sharper with his message of love. This way Bach holds a mirror to us every year. As former prime minister Rutte once said: a very valuable tradition.

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