The New Covenant Atonement

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The Atonement of the New Covenant , title page of the first posthumous edition (around 1900)

The Atonement of the New Covenant is a Passion Oratorio written in 1847 in three parts by Carl Loewe . Wilhelm Telschow's libretto adheres closely to the biblical story of the Passion, mainly based on the Gospel of Matthew and John, with individual additions from the other two Gospels and other biblical books such as the Psalms. The work takes about two hours.

Emergence

Carl Loewe

Carl Loewe, a contemporary of Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , worked for most of his life as the municipal music director in Stettin , where, in addition to organist and cantor service at St. Jakobi , his duties included teaching at the Marienstiftsgymnasium and at the teachers' seminar. He created an extensive compositional oeuvre that encompasses all musical genres from chamber and piano music to symphonies and oratorios to opera. He achieved particular fame and notoriety up to the present day through his ballads, while most of the rest of his work is largely forgotten today. His 17 oratorios form an important contribution to the genre in the 19th century, as they expand the subject area of ​​the oratorio from biblical to legendary material and, through the development of the “male choir oratorio”, open up the oratorio to this then flourishing choir.

In terms of style, however, Loewe is not one of the greatest innovators of its time. Bold harmony sequences, strongly chromatic vocal lines, expansion of the instrumental and vocal line-up and their possibilities of expression and other phenomena that we see today as typical achievements of Romanticism only play a subordinate role in his composition. Ultimately, he remains committed to the thinking inherited from the Baroque period, according to which the music should translate the text as vividly as possible until individual words are represented by musical formulas. "The top priority of Loewe's vocal-compositional work, whether ballad or oratorio, is striving for clarity and comprehensibility." That does not rule out individual advanced musical expressions, namely when the expression of the text requires them.

Loewe's librettist Telschow was also based in Stettin and, like Loewe, dealt with the revival of old German hymns in the 1840s. That's how they got to know each other. The New Covenant Atonement was their first work together. The national press took no notice of the premiere, probably as part of the Good Friday liturgy in 1848. The first printed edition of the score was probably published by FW Gadow & Sohn in Hildburghausen in 1894. The work had its first major successes at the beginning of the 20th century. In the appendix to a text booklet published in 1915, around 80 locations are listed where performances took place, including two cities in North America.

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text

With the “Atonement of the New Covenant”, Loewe follows the tradition that is particularly marked by the well-known works of Georg Friedrich Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach. Numerous parallels can be shown, especially with Bach's passions, which Loewe was very familiar with through repeated performances of his own. Wilhelm Telschow's libretto, for example, adheres closely to the biblical story of the Passion, mainly based on the Gospels of Matthew and John, with individual additions from the other two gospels and other biblical books such as the psalms. The division of the plot into individual scenes thus largely follows the course of Bach's Passions. The use of recitatives , arias , choral movements and chorales with their respective different functions reveals the Bach model. This is how the recitatives tell the story, with individual people speaking directly through different soloists or entire groups of people through choral movements. The arias and other choral movements contain statements that look at and interpret the plot, and the chorales finally enable the congregation to identify with what is happening in the sung prayer. It is possible that these chorales were actually sung along by the community in Loewe's practice.

As with Johann Sebastian Bach, the role of Christ is assigned to the bass soloist. In contrast to Bach, however, Loewe does not use an evangelist as a narrator, but instead each soloist introduces his verbatim words in a reporting, mostly reciting manner. Loewe achieves special tonal colors and a clear implementation of what is narrated because the choir is not always used in full, but rather individual movements are assigned to the male or female choir.

The language of the Bible is not always adopted, but partially simplified. Only the words of Jesus remain untouched in the rain. Telschow also uses uncomplicated, understandable language in the poetic sections.

Orchestral line-up

With regard to the orchestra, the oratorio has come down to us in different versions. In the original, a string-only line-up is envisaged, which is extended by two kettledrums in a choral movement that reports the earthquake after Jesus' death. This is how Loewe achieves a particularly dramatic effect. After Loewe's death, Friedrich Wilhelm Karl added double woodwinds and brass instruments to the line-up, although these did not offer any new musical substance, but merely doubled the string parts. It can be doubted that this version would have corresponded to Loewe's idea, since he was probably thinking of a more simple cast inspired by chamber music. In addition to the versions mentioned, it is also possible to use an organ alone.

structure

An important compositional concern for Loewe was the inner unity of the work. He achieves this on the one hand through a clear structure in three times three scenes, which at least in the first two parts always end with a chorale. In addition, through the use of recurring memory motifs , he creates connections between the individual sentences - a technique that already points to Richard Wagner's leitmotifs . A twist that is sometimes referred to in the literature as the “Last Supper” (two steps down followed by a jump up at a slow pace) plays a special role here, with which Loewe opens the oratorio and which is particularly evident in the first part in movements 7 and 8 and 10 recurs several times in connection with the institution of the sacrament. Loewe's endeavor to create musical connections between the movements becomes even clearer by the fact that he takes up whole sections of the instrumental introduction verbatim or in augmentation in the mentioned movements.

Another recurring motif (rapid upward movement, partly plucked by the strings) is assigned to the person of Judas . His regret aria No. 19 in the middle of the work takes a special role among the solo parts, if only because of its size, its key (E minor in an environment of B-flat keys) and its dramatic design. The third and most extensive part of the oratorio differs from the two previous ones in that the progression of the plot takes up less space and instead lyrical, contemplative sentences come to the fore. The final chorus represents a rousing increase, which effectively brings the work to a close with Easter jubilation over Christ's victory over death.

Work overview

part number designation Start of text
1a   Introduction. At Bethany at the tomb of Lazarus  
  1 Introduction and quartet Where can i find him?
  2 Chorale Greetings, Prince of Life
1b   Anointing  
  3 Recitative and Arioso Let me anoint your feet
  4th Recitative and trio What is the waste for?
  5 recitative Leave Mary in peace
  6th Chorale O refuge of the poor
1c   Institution of Holy Communion in Jerusalem  
  7th Larghetto with moto  
  8th duet As the Lord told us
  9 Choir of the Apostles Praise you servants
  10 Recitative e Coro Ropes of death
  11 Recitative and chorale For us he breaks with grace
  12 Final chorus of the first part Praise you servants
2a   Captured in the garden of Gethsemane.  
  13 Choir and recitative Up with swords
  14th Chorale When everyone becomes unfaithful
2 B   Christ before Caiaphas in the high priestly palace  
  15th Alto aria Holy night
  16 duet We heard it
  17th Recitative secco And the high priest tore up his little ones
  18th Recitative and choir of the high priests He is guilty of death
  19th aria Woe to me!
  20th Chorale Oh stay with your grace
2c   Christ before Pilate  
  21st Recitative a due  
  22nd Soprano Recitative Let me ask you, O Pilate
  23 Recitative and choir Not this one, but Barrabam
  24 Choir and recitative Let him be crucified
  25th Choir His blood come on us
  26th Alto aria Oh see, who has done everyone good
  27 Recitative tenor On the cross with him
3a   Carrying the cross on the way to the place of the skull  
  28 Tenor solo Oh what a sight
  29 Choir and tenor solo Hear the Simon of Cyrene
  30th Choir of the Daughters of Zion Her unstoppable tears flow
  31 recitative Ye daughters of Jerusalem
3b   Crucifixion on Golgotha  
  32 trio We recently on Tabor Heights
  33 Quartet. Recitative a 4 Jesus of Nazareth
  34 Pilate What I wrote
  35 Choir of the People Who you the temple of God
  36 Recitative and Duet Father forgive them
  37 Chorale See the mother anxious and plaintive
  38 Tempo del Chorale Woman, see, this is your son
  39 Choir Darkness covers the land
  40 Aria and female choir His eye that looked at me
  41 Recitative and chorale Great Prince of Peace
  42 recitative A sponge with vinegar
  43 Choir The temple's curtain
3c   Entombment in the garden of Joseph at Arimathia  
  44 duet I want my own grave
  45 Choir of the Daughters of Zion Once you lay down too
  46 Final choir It is sown perishable

Recordings (selection)

literature

Sheet music editions

Secondary literature

  • Stefan Amzoll : Not a rebel, he was a musician. Sketch about Karl Loewe. In: Ekkehard Ochs u. Lutz Winkler (Ed.): Carl Loewe (1796–1869) . Contributions to life, work and impact (=  Greifswalder contributions to musicology . Volume 6 ). Peter Lang GmbH , Frankfurt am Mail 1998.
  • Reinhold Dusella: Die Oratorien Carl Loewes (=  German Music in the East . Volume 1 ). Gudrun Schröder Verlag, Bonn 1991, 3.11, p. 166-175 .
  • Stephan Lennig : As an introduction . In: Program for the performance in Dresden's Annenkirche on April 16, 2019 . Dresden April 2019, p. 3-6 .

Web links

Digitized

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reinhold Dusella, Die Oratorien Carl Loewes, p. 280
  2. ^ Claudia Seidl: Foreword to the piano reduction . Carus-Verlag, Grafenau May 20, 2018 ( trial score ( vocal score ) [PDF; 19.5 MB ; accessed on June 16, 2019]).
  3. ↑ Reinhold Dusella, Die Oratorien Carl Loewes, p. 171 with reference to Karl Anton