פסח3

the passion narratives were separated from each other by the mid-fifth century and became gospellections at mass through­out Holy Week. But even separately they were also sung in the West, along with other scripture, psalms,2 and hymns.

CATHOLIC PASSION MUSIC BEFORE THE

NINETEENTH CENTURY3

Monophonic Passion

The Ordines Romani, the ancient collections of ceremonial directions of the Roman rite that antedate the Caeremoniale Romanum, indicate that the passion narratives were chanted by the single voice of the deacon, who customarily sang the gospel at mass.4 The individual voices of the evangelist and Jesus, and the corporate voices of the disciples, were distin­guished by different pitches of the basic reciting tone. The voice of the evangelist was pitched in the tenor range, and the voice of Jesus was usually a fifth lower, establishing the model that became almost universal later, when the words of the evangelist were sung by a tenor and the words of Jesus by a bass. But at this earlier period the different "speakers" were conveyed by alternate pitches and various melodic punctua­tion formulae for each person or group, sung by the deacon alone.5

Manuscripts of these monophonic passions dating from the ninth century begin to exhibit additional markings, the litterae significativae (significative letters), to designate pitch and dy­namics (tempo and volume). The earliest appearances of these significative letters have been taken as indications that the pas­sion was sung by several voices, a practice for which there is no reliable evidence until the thirteenth century. Nevertheless they do mark a change from a pedagogy to dramaturgy that would eventually lead to the singing of the passion by differ­ent voices representing the dramatis personae of the passion narrative. Manuscripts from the tenth century, for instance,

ROBIN A. LEAVER

display c (= celeriter = quickly) to designate the evangelist. Later the evangelist was ~ndicated by m (~1,edia =tenor voice) or C (= Chron.ista), or, In southern Itahan sources, I or lee (= lectio). The voice of Christ is marked t (= ten.ere or tarde ::: slowly), later transformed into a cross t, or replaced by b (bassa = bass voice) or I (= J = Jesus). The turba (crowd) was indicated either by a (= altus = high voice) or s (sursum = high voice), or later by S (= Synagoga) .6

The earliest datable distribution of the passion narrative among several singers is found in a Dominican manuscript of 1254. A late thirteenth-century Sarum Gradual divides it among five singers, but in the fourteenth and fifteenth centu­ries the widespread practice was to use three. A significant contributory factor in the rise of a heightened dramatic inter­pretation of the passion story7 was the flourishing of medieval monasticism: the Cistercians rooted in the mysticism of suffer­ing as taught by Bernard of Clairvaux; the Franciscans and Dominicans with their intense piety; and the Augustinians, whose spirituality was invigorated by the Brethren of the Common Life and the piety of Thomas aKempis's De lmita­tione Christi.

The chant of the monophonic passions was given its final authorized form by Giovanni Gtiidetti, a pupil of Palestrina and chaplain to Pope Gregory XIII, in Cantus ecclesiastici pas­sionis (Rome, 1586). These plainsong passions were in continu­ous use in Roman Catholicism at mass during Holy Weeks until the reforms of Vatican II effectively displaced Latin, together with the associated chant, by its promotion of ver­nacular forms. The passion narratives are no longer required as gospels at mass throughout Holy Week. The gospel for Palm Sunday remains a passion narrative, but the once invariable St. Matthew Passion has been replaced by a three-year lectionary sequence (A = Matthew; B = Mark; C =Luke). The St. John Passion remains for Good Friday. In American Catholicism these are all commonly spoken rather than sung, though some churches still chant their vernacular forms to the traditional monophonic passion tones.9

PASSJONTIDE MUSIC

Polyphonic Passion

Polyphonic passions did not develop independently but as part of the bro~der concern t~ g~ve a greater prominence to the biblicallecttons at mass, pnnclpally at major festivals such as Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Marian feasts, and so forth.\O Since their subject matter dealt with the crucifixion, the very heart of western Christianity, polyphonic passions received special emphasis, without, however, entirely eclipsing poly­phonic settings of the Christmas and Easter histories. There were two main types of polyphonic passion: (a) the responso­rial passion 11 and (b) the through-composed passion.12

A. RESPONSORIAL PASSION

In the responsorial passion the gospel narrative, that is, the words of the evangelist, is chanted monophonically, while the turba are sung polyphonically by two or more voices. There was some variety of practice. For example, in some responso­rial settings only the words of groups of people, the turba, were treated polyphonically; in others only th~ voices .of the evan­gelist and Christ were sung monophOnIcally, wI~h all other speech being treated polyphonically. From the m.lddle of t~e fourteenth century it was customary for the pa~slon to.be~lO with a polyphonic exordium, the title of the paSSIOn beglOnI~g

. ." .' and later a concluslO

With the words PassLO domuu nostll ... ,

at the end. I h ic

An extremely important two-page treatise on po yp. on . d . t manuscript PasslOnale

settings of the turba IS boun 10 0 a . f h

d f from the middle 0 t e

from Fiissen, south Germany, a mg.. w the three-fifteenth centuryP It offers a full descnptIon of h~. f voice turba are to be created from the thr~e recItIng tones 0

the individual voices of the passion narratIve: . . are divided as followS:

Note first that in a paSSIOn three VOlces

Primo which is the octave above-f'

, . h iddle-e'

Secunda which is the fifth 10 t e m

Tertio,;hich is the octave below-f

,

ROBIN A. LEAVER

And the first is the voice of the Jews or Pilate or Caiaphas . .. ,

the second is the voice of the evangelist or disciples,

the third is the voice of Jesus the Christ and Savior . . ..

Also know that when Jesus or an apostle, Pilate, Caiaphas, or the

maid of Annas, etc., speak, as denoted by the significative let­ters [singlliaris numerus], then it is sung by a single voice. But when it comes to the violent clamor of the fearful and tumul­tuous Jews, then they must continue together and certainly sound together ... .

The voice of the Jews at the cadence must descend a half-step, that is, from f' to e'. The voice of an apostle at the cadence must remain at the fifth, that is, on c'. The voice of the Savior at the cadence at the same time descends a fourth, that is, from f to c.

Thus at the cadence the bass is in concord with the tenor at the octave and with the discant at the tenth, which are perfect sounds fperfectissime vocesV4

The "Fiissener Traktat" epitomizes a long-lasting tradition that influenced not only later Catholic passions but also Lu­theran responsorial passions, especially those attributed to Johann Walter (see further below).

B. ThROUGH-COMPOSED PASSION

Through-composed settings of the passion, the so-called motet passions,15 in which the complete narrative of the pas­sion is set polyphonically, began to appear in the early six­teenth century. As with settings of the turba in early respon­s?ri~l passions, the early through-composed passions were sImIlarly harmonic elaborations of the chant formulae. Later through-composed passions explored a more developed coun­ter~oint in a motet style. One of the earlier passions, formally attnbuted to Obrecht but now usually thought to be the work of Antoine de Longueval, employs an abbreviated text made up from all four passion narratives. This means that it can­not have been intended for the mass during Holy Week. How-

PASSIONTIDE MUSIC

ever, since its three main sections approximate the sequence f the Stations of the Cross, it may well have been sung at ~hese devotions in I:I0ly Week. Later passions that also employ the Longueval text mclude four probably written for use in the court chapel in Prague: one by Jacob Regnart (c. 1590), and three by Jacob Handl (Gallus) (1587),16 whose passion mu­sic was also used by Lutherans. One notable through-com­posed passion, remarkable for its economy and intensity, is William Byrd's St. John Passion for three voices that first ap­peared in the firs~ part of the. composer:s anthology of Catho­lic liturgical mUSIC, Gradualza ac CantlOnes sacrae (London,

1607).

With the development of the oratorio in the later seven­teenth century, the passion story was occasionally treated

more expansively and operatically for performance outside

the regular liturgy, especially in Vienna.17

PROTESTANT PASSION MUSIC BEFORE

THE NINETEENTH CENTURyls

The heart of Martin Luther'S theology and liturgical action is to be found in his understanding of the theology ~f the cross.19 In his sermon of 1519 on the passion of Chnst he

. . th t he who contemplates

wrote: "We say without heSItatIon a

only a quarter of an

God's sufferings for a day, an hour, yes, 1 d'l hour does better than to fast a whole year, pray ~ psa m, ta.I y,

, d es ThIS medIta Ion

yes better than to hear a hundre mass ' . . him a

, . 1 t like baptism, gIVes

changes man's bemg and, amos t d into Luther'S new birth ,,20 The sermon was later incorpora e d d . n

' . k) of 1522 and expan e I

Betbuchlein (Little Prayer Boo . l" d forlayfolk dis­

. l a devotIOna al

1529 to include the Passzona , . th scope of the saI­

. f ummanes e

playing in woodcuts and bfie SfChrist His 1519

. , n the cross 0 '

vahon history that centers 0 d t nding of the crosS,

.' L theran un ers a .

sermon epitomizes the u . . f passion mUSIC de­

. . I' h tradition 0

from WhICh a particular Y flC

veloped.

ROBIN A. LEAVER

The Lutheran Liturgical Context for Passion Music

The observance of Holy Week was much simplified in Lutheran usage. In the Formula missae of 1523 Luther di­rected: "In church we do not want to quench the spirit of the faithful with tedium. Nor is it proper to distinguish Lent, Holy Week, or Good Friday from other days, lest we seem to mock and ridicule Christ with half a mass and one part of the sac­rament [a reference to the Good Friday Missa praesanctifi­cola]."21 Three years later, in the Deutsche Messe (1526), he was more explicit:

Lent, Palm Sunday and Holy Week shall be retained, not to force anyone to fast, but to preserve the passion history and the gospels appointed for that season. This, however, does not include the Lenten veil, throwing of palms, veiling of pictures ... nor chant­ing the four passions,22 nor preaching on the passion for eight hours on Good Friday. Holy Week shall be like any other week save that the passion history be explained every day for an hour throughout the week or on as many days as may be desirable, and that the sacrament be given to everyone who desires it. For among Christians the whole service should center in the word and sac­rament.23

Luther's emphasis was on the passion narrative itself, which was to be the focus for worship and preaching during Holy Week. As the Reformation was established across Germany, various church orders included provisions for the observance of Holy Week, especially Palm Sunday and Good Friday. But there was no uniformity of practice: indeed, some Lutheran church orders made no provisions at all for Holy Week in gen­eral or Good Friday in particular. However, in many areas the St. Matthew Passion was retained as the gospel for Palm Sun­day and the St. John Passion as the gospel for Good Friday, but passion narratives were also heard on other Sundays during Lent. On each of the days of Holy Week, including Good Fri­day, the usual daily vesper service included passion chorales, readings from the passion narratives, and preaching.

The same year that Luther published the Deutsche Messe,

PASSIONTlDE MUSIC 153

Johannes Bugenhagen issued, clearly with Luther's approval,

Die Historia des ley dens vnd der Aufferstehung vnsers Herrn ]hesu Christi [History of the Passion and Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ] (Wittenberg, 1526), a conflation of the narratives from all four Gospels. Thereafter it was frequently included in the church orders of the regional Lutheran churches of Germany, as well as in numerous hymnals. Later other con­flated histories of the birth and ascension of Jesus were also produced. This in turn ~ed to t~e establishment ~f the ~u­theran tradition of musical settmgs of these Chnstologlcal Historia, especially the passion history.24

Responsorial Passion

Luther's primary concern for Lent and Holy Week was therefore the continued use of the traditional Gospels, espe­cially the passion narratives, which should still be chante.d:25 In the Deutsche Messe Luther gave his own version of traditional lectionary tones,26 which were almost c~rtainly used for the singing of the" passion in early Lutheran hturgy. Another solu­tion was to adapt older responsorial settings, based on the old Latin passion tones, to Luther'S German text of the New!es­tament. Of this type are the St. Matthew and St. John PasSIOns attributed to Johann Walter, Luther's musical. collaborator ~~d Kantor in Torgau from c. 1529. The two passlO?s a;~ f?un 10 five of the six so-called Torgau-Walter manuscnpts. Smce the

. b d Luther'S 1522/27 New Testament

German text IS ase on rather than the 1534 German Bible,28 these vernawcullar pas­. h I 1530s when a ter was

sions were probably created 10 t. e ear y Th o-called Gotha establishing himself as Kantor 10 ~orgau. e ~ ts of Latin re­. t ( 1539) like the earher manuscnp

manuscnp c. , b .29 the passion tones of sponsorial passions, gi:es only the tur a, r d from elsewhere. the remaining nar~atlve h~d ~od~ceat:~p~~eliturgical function The same manuscnpt clear y 10 1 h Pass' Ion is described

. . the St Matt ew

of these two passIOns. . I tag" [The Ger­

. f dem Pa menson

as "Die deutsche PassIOn au and the St. John Passion as man Passion for Palm Su~day], f d folgenden Freitag der "Die ander deutsche PassIOn au en

ROBIN A. LEAVER

marterwoche" [The other German Passion for the following Friday in Holy Week]. Although Walter can be considered the probable editor of these passions, he can by no means be designated their com­poser, since they utilize traditional passion tones, and the turba are adaptations of the mid-fifteenth-century "Fussener 'fraktat" passion, by the addition of a' to the three-part f-C'_f'.30 These Walter passions were enormously influential and be­came the primary responsorial passions sung in the Lutheran liturgy from the middle of the sixteenth century until well into the eighteenth century.3l They also served as models for other similar responsorial passions. The three passions of Heinrich Schutz, St. Matthew, St. Luke, and St. Joh n32 (1665-1666; SWV 479-481) and Marco Gioseppe Peranda's St. Mark Passion (1668)33-formerly attributed to Schutz-were the last impor­tant responsorial passions to be composed in Lutheran Ger­many.34 Their austerity underlines their liturgical function in the Dresden court chapel and the solemnity surrounding the observances of Lent and Holy Week. Nevertheless, these pas­sions stand in stark contrast to the more usual Italianate style of music then being performed in the Dresden court chapel at other times during the church year, notably the music of Peranda (his St. Mark Passion is atypical) and Vincenzo Albrici. These a cappella passions also contrast with concerted and figured-bass passions being composed elsewhere in Ger­many at that time, especially in Hamburg, the center for Ger­man opera.

Through-Composed Passion

In 1538 the musician, composer, and publisher Georg Rhau issued his first substantial collection of polyphonic liturgical ~usic for Lutheran use. Significantly, he began not with mu­SIC for Advent, but with passion motets, Selectae harmoniae ~v~tvor vocvm de passione domine (Wittenberg, 1538), under­hmng the theologia crucis focus of Luther's reforms. The first two ~tems .in the set of part-books are Latin passions.35 The first IS deSignated "Passio Domini nostri Jesu Christi secun-

PASSIONTIDE MUSIC

155

dum Marcum," and the second " .. . secundum Matthaeum," although in fact both texts are very similar. The second setting is the Longueval passion (see above), though in Rhau's collec­tion it is attributed to Obrecht, the earliest source to do so. lts appearance in Rhau's Selectae harmoniae ensured its con­tinued use among Lutherans.36 In 1568 Joachim aBurck re­ported, in the preface to his own passion: "the Latin Passion of the famous musician Jakob Obrecht [sic] was composed by a splendid mind and is being sung everywhere."37ltalso served

as the basic model for later through-composed passions in Germany. Settings of the passion in German eventually became the norm. Later through-composed passions include the S1. John Passions of Joachim aBurck (Moller) (Wittenberg 1568)38 and Johann Steuerlein (Erfurt, 1576), and the S1. Matthew Passion of Johann Machold (Erfurt, 1593), which was influenced by aBurck's passion. The high point of this passion genre was reached in the S1. John Passion of Leonhard Lechner, first per­formed in Stuttgart in 1593.39 In this highly characterized and dramatically intense passion there is no hint of the traditional passion tones. In some respects it can be.seen as th~ forerunner

of the dramatic treatment of the paSSIOn narratlve that was characteristic in the later oratorio passion that developed in the second half of the seventeenth century.

Oratorio Passion

The basic characteristics of both the responsoria~ ~nd through-composed passions are the largely unadorned ~lbhcal

ance The oratono pas-

II.f .

narrative and an a cappe a perorm

d of the seventeenth

sion40 that eventually emerge d at teenh . century and flourished during the eighteenth centudry,. ~lf­

, .' ts and the a dl110n

fered by its use of accompanymg mstrumen .

d· . I texts The earhest

of non-biblical reflective, or me ItatIOna . S· 11 't

, p' f Thomas e e, wn ­

known example is the S1. John ass!On 0

ten in Hamburg in 1643. I honie liturgical It was customary for motets and other po yp II t

. . ' struments co a par e

music to be accompamed by vanoUS 10

ROBIN A. LEAVER

(with the voice-parts). One can therefore conceive of the pos­sibility that some of the through-composed, motet-like pas­sions in the stile antico were performed with instrumental ac­companiment, especially in those churches and chapels which customarily employed instruments at other times and seasons of the church year. But this would have been exceptional, be­cause churches that customarily used instruments generally did not do so (apart from the use of the organ) during the penitential seasons of Advent and Lent. Despite this hesita­tion, passions in the new stile con.certato were both written and performed during the seventeenth century.4l But their use was restricted, occurring only in churches in cities where opera was dominant, such as Hamburg, or in court chapels, such as WeiBenfels, where there were fewer restrictions than in ordi­nary parish churches that tended to be more conservative. The introduction of the oratorio passion came late to many city and town churches. For example, the earliest known concerted or oratorio passion to be heard in Leipzig was the St. Mark Passion of Johann Kuhnau, first performed in the New Church on March 26,1721, but at Good Friday vespers rather than at the morning service, at which the Walter St. John Passion con­

tinued to be sung as the gospel.

From the beginning, the Lutheran passion, whatever its

type, had been associated with the chorale because it was sung

within a liturgy that also included the congregational singing

of suitable chorales. It was therefore, perhaps, only a question

of time before chorales were included within the passion as

well as around it. A further factor was the continuing develop­

ment of specific passion chorales within Lutheranism. In the

sixteenth century there were chorales such as Christus, der uns

selig macht (a German version of the thirteenth-century Latin

hymn Patris sapientia, veritas divina, that early Lutheran hym­

nals took over from the German hymnals of the Bohemian

Brethren), and the classic passion hymn 0 Mensch bewein dein

i'

Sande gross, by Sebald Heyden, dating from 1525. During the

seventeenth century there was an intensification in the writing

of passion chorales, largely in reaction to the devastation and

I

suffering of the Thirty Years' War. Such chorales include I

I

1

PASSIONTLDE MUSIC

157

Johann Heermann's Herzliebster Jesu ' (1630), Paul Stock­mann's Jesu Leiden, Pein und Tod (1633), and especially Paul Gerhardt's 0 Haupt voll Blut und Wunden (1656), a transla­tion of the fifth section, Salve, caput cruentatum, of Arnulf von Lowen's thirteenth-century poem on the wounds of the cruci­fied Christ.

These passion chorales led to the development of a specific subgenre of passion music: the chorale passion. Sometimes one chorale was employed throughout the setting of the passion, such as Georg B6hm's St. Luke Passion (1711), which used all fourteen stanzas of Johann Olear ius's 0 Jesu Golles Lamm (1671).42 Georg Philipp Telemann's Danzig St. Matthew Pas­sion (1754), however, includes a sequence of thirty-four stanzas from various passion chorales.43

The development of the oratorio passion after Selle is some­what imperfectly known, since many of the scores are no longer extant; only their libretti or some documentary refer­ences survive.44 As late as the early eighteenth century the de­veloping oratorio passion had still not displaced the earlier responsorial passion: both existed side by side in Lutheran

worship.

The Passions ofJohann Sebastian Bach

Bach's passions45 were written for performance in the lit­.' h h . Leipzig but they were

urgy of the two pnncipal c urc es m , . not intended to replace the Walter responsorial passions, whIch continued to be sung-the St. Matthew Passion for Palm Sun-

d F 'd 46 Bach's pas-

day and the St. John Passion for Goo n a~. sio~s following the pattern established by hIS predecesso~ Joha~n Kuhnau were composed for Good Fri~ay vesp~rs anof

, I t the liturgIcal passIOns

were thus intended to comp emen 't tives da capo

Walter. But Bach's passions included seccdo'tret~~: dim~nsion in . d h I adding a me I a I

anas, choruses, an cora es, . f the unaltered biblical contrast to Walter'S austere versions 0

narrative. .' . had a simple liturgical Good Friday vespers m LeIpzIg

structure: 158

1. Hymn: Do Jesus an den Kreuze stund

2.

Passion, part I

3.

Sermon

4.

Passion, part II

5. Motet: Ecce quomodo moritur (Gallus/Handl)47

6.

Verse and Collect

7.

Benediction

8. Hymn: Nun. dallket aile Gott

Bach was. activel~ involved in ~omposing and performing various pasSlOn settmgs for practically the whole of his time in Leipzig. The following list records only those passions com­posed by Bach, or that included music composed by him, and performed during his time in Leipzig:

1724 John Passion (BWV 245), first version

1725 John Passion, second version

1726 Kaiser's St. Mark Passion, including movements

composed by Bach, first performed in Weimar in

1713 or earlier; additional chorales included for

this Leipzig performance48

1727 Matthew Passion (BWV 244), earlier version

1729 Matthew Passion, earlier version (?)

1730 Anonymous Luke Passion (BWV 246), including

at least one movement by Bach

1731 Mark Passion (BWV 247)49

1732? John Passion, third version

1736 Matthew Passion, later version

1739 [Revision of John Passion begun]

1742? Matthew Passion, later version

1745? Anonymous Luke Passion, later version5o

1748? Pasticcio, incorporating the music of Handel and

Keiser51

1749 John Passion, fourth version

The Non-Liturgical Passion Oratorios

Bach's St. John and St. Matthew Passions the former more dramatic and the latter more reflective, are by general consent

PASSlONTIDE MUSIC

159

the most sublime examples of passion mUSl'c Th k

. . . . ey mar the

culmmatlOn of the oratono passion written for f

. . . per ormance wlthm the Lutheran hturgy. But the development f th

. '. 0 e non­liturglcal p~sslOn oratono had already begun before Bach composed hls first p~ssion, a phenomenon that would eventu­ally lead to the demlse of the liturgical oratorio passion. In 1676 the .Hamburg city council decided th~t perfor­mances of passlOns could be given in the five principal cit churches52 during Lent, establishing a practice that continue~ for almost half a century. However, most of the passions that were heard during this period were pastiches of music written by several composers: of the 46 printed libretti of passions per­formed between 1676 and 1721, only 18 were the work of one composer.53 When Georg Philipp Telemann became the musi­cal director of the five principal churches in Hamburg, it was established that he should compose a new passion each year, based on all four Gospels in sequence. Thus between 1722 and 1762 Telemann composed no less than 46 settings, of which only 20 are extant.54 Similarly, Telemann's successor, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, composed 20 passions, based on all four Gos­pels in sequence, between 1769 and 1788.55 Essentially oratorio passions for liturgical use, they too adhered closely to the bib­lical narratives. But there was another tradition of Hamburg passion per­formances. In 1712 an influential passion libretto was written by one of the leading literati in Hamburg, Barthold Heinrich Brockes (Der fiir die Siinde der WeLt gemarterte und sterbende Jesus aus den vierten Evongelisten). It proved to be extremely popular as devotional literature, undergoing more than thirty different editions between 1712 and 1722. The libretto is a po­etic paraphrase of the biblical narrative of the passio? from all four Gospels to which are added poetic stanzas that mtroduce

, z· 56 d

various allegorical figures, such as the daughter of lon an the faithful soul but it makes limited use of chorales. The

, . K . nd the

first composer to set the libretto was Remhold elser, a

. . ' Brockes' home to an

first performance m 1712 was glven m . '

• 57 I erformed agam the fol­

audlence of more than 500. twas P .

rs three other leadmg

lowing year, and over the next five yea

..----------~--~

ROBIN A. LEAVER

composers set the libretto to music: Telemann in 1716 (revised 1722), Handel in either 1715 or 1716, and Mattheson in 1718.58 In 1719 Mattheson probably performed all four of these set­tings in Hamburg cathedr~l and the. St. ~arie-Magdelene church.59 The passion oratOrIO was admitted Into the chUrches, but as an independent musical work and not as part of the lit­

urgy. Until 1761 the Hamburg Drillhaus (the militia drill hall) served also as the primary concert hall for secular concerts and was the venue for performances of oratorios, including, from time to time, passion oratorios. Thus the passion oratorio established an identity outside the ambit of the liturgy and became part of the repertoire of the secular oratorio concert. Telemann's extremely popular passion oratorio, Das selige Erwiigen des Leiden und Sterbens Jesu Christ, was first per­formed in the Drillhaus in 1728; in later years it was per­formed in churches in the Hamburg area.60 Apart from this passion oratorio, however, the year 1728 marked a decline in performances of passion oratorios in the Hamburg churches, a phenomenon Smither links to Mattheson's resignation that year as director of music at the cathedral.61 But there were other factors, such as the growing influence of Pietism, that militated against performances of passion oratorios in churches. Two incidents can be cited. In 1732 Christian Gerber,

a Pietist, published his Historie der Kirchen-Ceremonien in Sachsen (Dresden and Leipzig, 1732) and included the follow­ing report:

The passion story, which had frequently been sung in simple plain chant [Le., the Walter-type responsorial passion], humbly and rev­erently, began to be sung with many kinds of instruments in the most elaborate fashion, occasionally mixing in a little setting of ~ passion chorale which the whole congregation joined in sing­109, and then the mass of instruments fell to again. When in a large town this passion music was done for the first time, with twelve violins, many oboes, bassoons, and other instruments, ~any people were astonished and did not know what to make of It. In the pew of a noble family in church, many ministers and

PASSIONTIDE MUSIC

oble ladies were present, who sang the first passl' h

n. . on c orale out

Of their books With great devotion. But when this th t' .

ea ncal musIc began, all these people were thrown into the greatest bewilder­

ment, looked at each other, and said: "What will come of thO?"

b'l' IS.

f h

An old widow 0 t e no I Ity said: "God save us, my children! It's just as if one were ~t an ope~a comedy." But everyone was genu­inely displeased by It and vOiced complaints against it.62

In Del' Musikalische Patriot (Hamburg, issued in parts from 1728), Mattheson records the following:

On Maunday Thursday, 1731, in the Drillhaus [at a performa"nce of a passion oratorio], at the words of Christ "I thirst," an officer called out loudly, "Me too!" In the Katharinekirche, on the Third Sunday after Easter, Pastor Wolff preached and expounded the question whether it is right to so prostitute the Passion.63

Pietists objected to theatricality in church music, especially the music that expressed the heart of the Christian gospel. They therefore advocated a simplification of worship, which in­cluded the discontinuance of elaborate liturgical forms and their associated music, and the promotion of a simple congre­gational hymnody.64 As the century progressed the Ratio~a~­ists adopted a similar position, but their concern was to elImi­nate archaic elements from worship in favor of "enlightened" simplicity.65 Even in Hamburg, an enlightened city with regard to opera compared with elsewhere in Germany, Telemann ~ad successive problems with regard to performan:es of passIOn oratorios. For example, in 1748 a female opera smger was .pr~­vented from singing in a performance of a passion oratono m

the Michaeliskirche.66 .

I· . I passIOn

By the end of the eighteenth century the Iturglca . an liturgy. PassIOn

L th

had mostly disappeared from the u er

. d t fternoon vespers on

oratorIOS and cantatas could be hear a a . H I Week 67 but more

certain Sundays in Lent and dunng 0 Y , . d' d

. . I bull mgs an

and more they were limited to noneccleSIastlca . S· 'k d .' h the BerlIn mga a ­

performed by choral SOCieties, suc as . ernie (founded in 1791), rather than by church chom.

ROBIN A. LEAVER

The Anglican Tradition

The general European Calvinist Reformation of the six­teenth century eschewed all forms of church music, save for the congregational metrical psalm. Although in later centu­ries the scope of church music expanded in the Reformed churches, there were no settings of the passion.68

In England the singing of the passion continued for a time in the middle of the sixteenth century,69 In the 1549 Prayer Book the St. Matthew Passion was given as the gospel for Palm Sunday, the St. John Passion the gospel for Good Friday, and the St. Luke Passion was divided to become the gospels for Wednesday and Thursday of Holy Week, The lesson rubric in the service of matins specifically dealt with the continued practice of singing the biblicallections: "And (to the end that the people may the better hear) in such places where they do sing, there shall the lessons be sung in a plain tune after the manner of distinct reading: and likewise the epistle and gos­pel."70 Almost certainly, therefore, vernacular passions were sung to Sarum passion tones during the Edwardian years, 1549-1553. But the continued use of plainsong with the ver­nacular was criticized by leading reformers, like John Hooper, bishop of Gloucester,?1 and soon after the accession of Mary, Prayer Book services were prohibited, During the Marian years the Latin passions returned, sung according to the Latin usage of the Sarum rite.72 It is possible that after the accession of Elizabeth I in 1558, and the reissuing of the Prayer Book in 1559, vernacular passions were sung to the Sarum passion tones during Holy Week, but if so, the practice was short-lived, since the general Calvinist ethos of Elizabethan Anglicanism, and the particular rise of Puritanism, militated against the continuance of liturgical chant in the English church, Thus passion music was effectively eliminated from the music of the Anglican church for approaching three hundred years, until after the impact of the nineteenth-century Oxford Movement had been felt.

There was, however, an exception during the eighteenth century. The second part of Handel's Messiah, first performed

PASSIONTfDE MUSIC 163

in the New Music Hall, Dublin, on April 13 1742 ' ,

, 'A W' , , IS effectIVely

PasSiOn musIC. s mton Dean has perce t' 1

, PIve y stated' "The

greatness of Messiah-Handel's only sacred t ' :

, ora ono In the

true sense and therefore untyplcal-derives 0 1

" , , none evel from

its uOlque fUSion of the traditions of Italian ope E I' h

, ra, ng IS an­them, and German paSSIOn, and on the other from th "

" e COinCI­

dence of Handel s personal faith and creative genl'us t

, 0 express, more fully than I~ any other work of art, the deepest aspira­

tions of the Anghcan spirit.'>73 It was nevertheless created

, '1 as

an extra-hturglca oratorio; its early performances were in theatres and opera houses,74 and when it was eventually per­formed in chapels and churches it was as a sacred concert. At a later date movements were incorporated into the worship of the English church, but they functioned liturgically within the Anglican anthem tradition rather than as passion music per se,

PASSION MUSIC IN THE NINETEENTH AND

TWENTIETH CENTURIES

In addition to the ubiquitous Der Tad Jesu by Graun, the first half of the nineteenth century75 saw two other musical ex­positions of the passion composed, published, and widely per­formed: Ludwig van Beethoven'S ChristllS am Oelberge [Christ on the Mount of Olives], written in 1803, revised in 1804, and published in Leipzig in 1811; and Ludwig Spohr's Des Heilands letzte Stunden,76 composed in 1834 and first performed in 1835 at a church concert on Good Friday in Kassel. Both were the subject of some controversy: Beethoven'S oratorio was crit,i­cized for being too dramatic and Spohr's as not dramatic

~~ .

In England Holy Week passion music in the Anghcan church post-da'tes both the Oxford Movement, which led to a .' h' , the Church of England,

reassessment of hturglcal wors Ip 10 and the Bach revival that brought an awareness of the Bach , , f the St. Matthew

paSSIOns. The first Enghsh performance 0 '1854 but Passion took place in the Hanover Square Rooms 10 ,

ROBIN A. LEAVER

the Bach passions did not reach a wide public until they had been published in the enormously popular Novello Octavo se­ries of vocal scores: the St. Matthew Passion in 1871 and the St. John Passion in 1872. That year (1872) John Stainer be­came the organist of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, and under­took lono-overdue reforms of its music. At the age of thirteen

~

.

(1854), Stainer had sung in the first English performance of

Bach's St. Matthew Passion, and had played continuo (harmo­

nium) in other performances of Bach's passions. As part of the

reforms at St. Paul's Cathedral, he naturally introduced regu­

lar performances of the St. Matthew Passion, abridging the

work for a first-time-ever performance within the liturgical

context of the Prayer Book Commination Service-for which

Stainer composed a four-part a cappeLLa setting of Psalm 51

based on a chant-on April 8, 1873, the Tuesday in Holy Week.

Thereafter the annual performance of the abridged Bach St.

Matthew Passion in a service of worship during Holy Week

became a popular tradition at the cathedral, and continued

long after Stainer left St. Paul's (1888). By then his abridged

version of the St. Matthew Passion had been published as a

Novello Octavo vocal score, and it is reported that at the ser­

vice in 1882 around a quarter of the congregation followed the

music from Stainer's edition.77

It was probably this experience of the liturgical use of

Bach's passion music that gave Stainer the impetus to cre­

ate an English genre of passiontide music, that is, a modest

musical setting of a libretto comprising biblical and poetic

texts for soloists, choir, and congregation, as exemplified in his

Crucifixion (1887). Apart from one or two hymn tunes and one

chorus, the music is somewhat mundane and cliche-ridden,

though its popularity gave rise to other similar, quasi-liturgical

works, such as J. H. Maunder'S OLivet to CaLvary (1904) and

Arthur Sornervell's The Passion of Christ (1914).

. !wenti~th-century Germany is characterized by the compo­

sItion of hturgical passions that follow earlier models, such as

Kurt Thomas's St. Matthew Passion (1926) and Hugo Distler'S

ChoraL-Passion (1932),18 both a cappeLLa works. Such liturgical

PASSIONTIDE MUSIC

165

composition, often a cappella, continued into the second h If of the twentieth century.79 a English passion music of this century has tended to foil in the tr~ditio~ of The ~rucifixio~, but generally with grea~; musical mtegnty than IS exemphfied in Stainer'S model.80 A sequence of similar compositions, by such composers as Dick­enson and Sowerby, has appeared in the United States 81 though Lutheran composers have tended to be more strict'ty liturgical in their passions.82 Passions by Randall Thompson and Daniel Pinkham are essentially concert works for full or­chestra, chorus, and soloists.83 Many African-American spirituals are in a sense passion music, in that they express the sufferings of slavery in the light of the sufferings of Christ. In Germany this connection led Paul Ernst Ruppel to compose Crucifixion: Passionsbetrach­tung nach SpirituaLs (1960), a work for speaker, cantor, choir, trombone, and doublebass that is based on African-American spirituals. A similar connection was made between the mar­tyrdom of the civil-rights leader and the martyrdom of Christ in Nicholas Flagello's The Passion of Martin Luther King Ir. (1968), first performed in Washington, D.C., in 1974. Two concert passions have made an extraordinary impact on the second half of the twentieth century: Penderecki's St. Luke Passion and Part's St. John Passion, both employ­ing a Latin libretto and both written by Eastern Europeans­Penderecki, whose background is Catholic, from Poland, a~d Part, whose background is Eastern Orthodox, from Estoma. Krzysztof Penderecki's Passio et mol's Domini nostri Iesu

Christi secundum Lucam was commissioned by West German Radio to celebrate the 700th anniversary of MUnster cathedral and was first performed on March 30, 1966. Altho~gh inspired by the passions of Bach, it is a strikingly. twentle~h-cent.ury work, employing serial technique and mlcrotonahty. It IS a reflection on human suffering in a post-Hiroshima and po~t~ Auschwitz age.84 Arvo Part's Passio Domini nostri ~esu Chrtstl

. . to. strumentl e organo,

secundum Ioannem: pel' sob, coro nus, . h

written in 1982, published in 1985, is very different, thoug

ROBIN A. LEAVER

166

again very much a twentieth-century c?mposition. This sparse, austere, but incredibly powerful settmg of the passion is a minimalist work, constructed from an incredible combination of short thematic fragments. It conveys a chant-like serenity that has struck a responsive chord in many people across the world. Although it is usually performed as a COI1cert work, it really is liturgical music.

CONCLUSION: THE CHALLENGE TODAY

In a passage on scripture in the assembly at worship, Gordon W. Lathrop speaks eloquently about "surrounding the scripture reading with singing."s5 The sung response of the congregation is an essential part of Christian liturgical tradi­tion. Record of the singing of psalms and hymns in response to the passion narratives from the earliest times witnesses to this tradition, as does the specific genre of the chorale pas­sion of later Lutheranism. What Lathrop does not discuss is the singing of scripture itself, a practice that is as old and fun­damental as responsive "singing around the texts."S6 The sing­ing of the word of scripture in the liturgy has a long continuity from the earliest times in both eastern and western traditions, and is rooted in Hebrew liturgical tradition. It was also car­ried over into Protestantism by Luther's insistence on the sung word in worship. Musical settings of the passion can there­fore be considered as a most developed form of the sung word. What Lathrop writes later about concert masses applies equally to concert performances of passion music: "From the Christian point of view, a composed mass in a concert hall, however powerful it may be, is nothing but a few shards left from the meeting-like candles left burning in an empty church-without the people, without the rest of the song the people sing and without the interactions of word and bath and meal."87 Many settings of the passion were written for liturgi­cal use and yet they tend to be heard today only in a con­cert setting. Part of the problem is that since the reforms of Vatican II, the sung response, and only'the sung response of

PASSIONTIDE MUSIC

167

the congregation, has been the focus of mu· . h .

. SIC In t e hturgy

What has been neglected IS the sung word f · .

. . 0 scnpture to

which the hturglcal assembly responds in ap .

propnate song

There is the need therefore to rescue some of the t bl· .

. . mos su IIDe

musical exposltlons of the passion of Christ from th

e concert hall and retur.I1 them. to ~here they were originally intended to be heard-m the hturglcal assembly of the faithful during Holy Week.

EXCURSUS ON ANTI-SEMITIC

TENDENCIES IN PASSION MUSIC

There are two primary problem areas with regard to pas­sion music that can involve an incipient anti-Semitism, one in­ternal, when such music is heard within the community of faith, and the other external, when performances occur in a secular concert hall.

The internal problem with passion music occurs when it is performed with an excess of zeal that is colored by the anti­Semitic mores of the particular Zeitgeist. For example, late medieval society was marred by an intensive anti-Semitism. Thus, in the later thirteenth century, Durandus, in Rationale divinorum of!iciorum, directed that the words of Christ should be sung with a certain sweetness, but that the words of "the impious Jews" should be sung in loud and strident tones.88 Later polyphonic passions exhibit the significant tendency for the lurba to characterize the Jews in a similar way, with the tacit implication that they were to blame for the deat~ of Christ.89 In the course of time, by the seventeenth and elgh­teenth centuries such overt anti-Semitic traits were muted, if not altogether e~cIuded. For example, Andreas Marti a~gu~s that in Heinrich Schiltz's setting of the words of the Jews, Sem Blut komme ilber uns und unsere Kinder" ("His blood be upon us and our children"; Matt. 27:25), in his Matthew Pas­sion of 1669 (SWV 479), the composer intended to suggest th.at

h· . by the blood of Chnst

t IS reference to being covered, as It were, h

• 90 S· ·1 ly any thought t at

IS more salvific than judgmental. Iml ar ,

I

t

168

the Jews, or anyone else, are to be blamed for the death of Jesus is significantly undercut by the chorales in Bach's St. John Passion, which insist that eac~l worshi~er bears the guilt of the crucifixion.91 One example IS the tlurd chorale (BWV 245:11): '''Tis I whom sins encumber, I My misdeeds far out­number I the sands upon the shore; I These sins it was that brought thee I thy misery, and wrought thee I Of martyrdom the awful store.,,92 Again, Johann David Heinichen's Passion­soratorium-which is exactly contemporary with Bach's St. John Passion in that both received their first performances On the same day, April 7, 1724, Bach's in Leipzig and Hei nichen's in Dresden-begins with the aria: "It is not the bonds that ensnare thee, I nor the fetters, that torment thee! I What tortures and oppresses thee, I 0 my Saviour, is I! ,,93 But congregations have not always heard this fundamental herme­neutic and have been conditioned more by inherited preju­dice than enlightened theology, and in consequence, often by default rather than design, have fostered an anti-Semitic stance. Thus the tendency in recent history, when passion music, both historic and contemporary, is performed within

the community of faith, is for the associated preaching and teaching to stress the need to hear the biblical narrative with theological ears: to understand that the drama of the cross declares the culpability of all humanity, that guilt is uni­versal, not particular, and salvation is particular in its univer­sality.

Then there is the persistent external problem of passion music performed in a concert hall rather than in the sanctuary of a church. Here there is no theological framework, no litur­gical context, and certainly no preaching, which in an ecclesi­astical setting interpret and expound its contemporary signifi­cance. This became a particular problem in the medieval period with the development of extra-liturgical passion plays, of which the Oberammergauer Passionsspiei is the most well­known later manifestation. Freed from theological and litur­gical restraint, interpolations and additional glosses of a decid­edly anti-Semitic character were introduced into the biblical narrative. Passion music in a secular setting remains a contem-

PASSIONTIDE MUSIC

porary problem because such music is freq tl .

uen YconSIdered

to be a subset of these extra-liturgical pas . I

. Sion pays, whereas

as thiS essay has attempted to demonstrate ·t h '

. . . . ,las a somewhat

different history. The SUSpICIon persists that . I .

. musIca settmgsof the passIOn have a not-tao-hidden anti-Semitic agenda and

therefore they should only be performed in severel d·t d

. ·f II I . Y e 1 e

verSIOns, 1 at a . t IS a real issue that has to be dealt ·th

. . WI ,

although It IS not a new problem. When Mendelssohn directed the first modern concert performances of Bach's St. Matthew Passion in 1829, many ~ovements were omitted. Significantly, the chorales were retamed, but many of the arias were de­leted, together with other omissions. Michael Marissen has suggested that a primary reason for this action, apart from the necessity of reducing a very long work, was Mendelssohn's Jewish sensibilities, since the cuts include all references to Jews that could be construed as anti-Semitic.94

It is customary today for the two passions of Bach to be performed in their entirety, because such marvelous music de­serves to be heard. But when they, and other passions, are per­formed in a secular concert hall, it is imperative for the pro­moters of these concerts to deal with the perceptions and misperceptions of anti-Semitism in carefully-written pro­gramme notes. They should also, where possible, arrange for pre-concert discussions by ecumenical religious leaders and in­formed musicologists, a practice that has become fairly com­mon in recent years. The modern context of a concert hall is so different from the original conditions within which this mu­sic was first heard that it is necessary to review with members of the audience the nature of the different contexts, then and now, in order for them to be able to understand this music in

a contemporary environment. . . d New works composed in the last decade or so, deslgne to be heard in a nonreligious concert hall, reveal a ten~en~y . t· to a more epIsodiC

to move away from the paSSIOn narra Ives .

·fi ·on is seen as a umver­

approach to the passion. The crUCI XI . . d

. hole as 10 Rlchar

sal tragedy affecting humamty as a w .' t I Via

. d I st entirely IOstrumen a

Robbins's minimalistlc an a mo WI d from the crucis (1994), or James Macmillan's Seven Last or, s

ROBIN A. LEAVER

Cross (1993), which includes echoes of Bach chorales. Oskar Gottlieb Blarr's large-scale Jesus-Passion (1985), for soloists adult and children's choirs, and orchestra, is clearly writte~ from the perspective of the second half of the twentieth cen­tury. The biblical narrative from three of the Gospels is inter­spersed with additional texts that include an Aramaic hymn from the Talmud, medieval and modern Hebrew poetry, and excerpts from Alfred Kittner's Requiem (1943) in which the Dusseldorf poet recalls his experiences in a concentration camp. In the secular arena of a concert hall in a pluralistic society, the suffering of Jesus needs to be seen in connection with the recent suffering of humanity as a whole, as well as with the particularity of the suffering of Jews in this century. In both contexts-internal liturgical passion music within the community of faith and external concert-hall performances in a multi-faith society-it needs to be remembered that Jesus suffered as a Jew.

NOTES

1.

Egeria: Diary ofa Pilgrimage, trans. and ed. George E. Gingras (New York, 1970), p. 112. For the context of Holy Week observances in Jerusalem in the fourth century, see Thomas J. Talley, The Origins ofthe Liturgical Year (New York, 1986), pp. 42-47.

2.

On the psalms associated with the passion in Holy Week in the Tridentine Mass, see William L. Holladay, The Psalms through Three Thousand Years (Minneapolis, 1993), p. 221.

3.

The basic literature includes: Otto Kade Die altere Passions­kO"!Posilion his zum Jahre 1631 (Gutersloh, i893; reprint, Hilde­shelm, 1971); H. M. Adams, "Passion Music before 1724," Music and ~etters 7 (1926): 258-64; Kurt von Fischer, "Zur Geschichte der ~assl.ons-komposition des 16. Jahrhundert in ltalien," Archiv filr Mu­slkwlSs~nschaft 11 (1954): 189-205; Basil Smallman The Background

of PassIon Music' J S. B h' '

. . . ac and HIS Predecessors 2d rev. ed. (New

York 1970)' J ' V'                ,

.' ' ose-IDcente Gonzales, "Die Tradition des liturgischen

P

asslOnSvortrags in Spa ' "(Ph . . ., M

. h 19 men .0. dIssertatIOn, Umverslty of u-n~tc., Z~); Carl Schalk, "Passion," Key Words in Church Music: Deft-

III Ion L:Alsays on C p'     .

oncepts, raCllces, and Movements of Thought m

~--------------......

PASSIONTlDE MUSIC

Church Music (St. Louis, 1978), pp. 300-304; Kurt von F h d

"P . "T    ISC er an

Werner Braun, aSSlOn, he New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London a~d New"York, 1980; hereafter cited as NGD) , 14:276~86; Kur~ vo,~ FIscher, :rh~ Theo~ogia Crucis and the Early LiturgIcal PaSSIOn, Israel Stud,es m MUSicology 3 (1983): 38-43' Kurt von Fischer, "Die Passionsmusik von den Anfangen bis zum 'Ende des 16. lahrhunderts und deren liturgie-und frommigkeitsgeschicht­Iiche Voraussetzungen," Musik und Bildung 19 (1987): 6-10.

4.

Non-Roman rites employed different forms of the passion narratives. For example, in GaIIican, Ambrosian, and southern Italian liturgies the narratives were abbreviated, and the Mozarabic rite pre­scribed an abridgement of a history of the passion, a conDation from all four Gospels.

5.

The passion tone formulae are different from the regular gos­pel tones. Examples of passion tone formulae from eighteen manu­scripts dating from between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries are given in Bruno Stablein, "Die einstimmige lateinische Passion," Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (Kassel, 1949-1986; hereaf­ter cited as MGG) , 10:887-98, esp. 891-94. For the more exotic Span­ish passion tones, see Theodor GolIner, "Unknown Spanish Passion Tones in Sixteenth-Century Hispanic Sources," Journal ofthe Ameri­can Musicological Society 28 (1975): 46-71. The principal passion tones, and their later Lutheran forms, are conveniently summa­rized in Otto Brodde, "Evangelische Choralkunde," Leitllrgia:Hand­buch des evangelischen Gotlesdienst, ed. Karl Ferdinand Muller.and Walter Blankenburg, vol. 4, Die Musik des evangelischen Gollesd,enst

(Kassel, 1961), pp. 534-39.

6. Significative letters can be seen on the leaf of an ~leventh­century setting of the St. Matthew Passion reproduced 10 N~D 14:276, and on a leaf from a tenth-century St. Matthew p~sslOn in MGG 10:887; see Smallman, Background of Passion MUSIC, pp. 123-24, and David Hiley, Western Plainchant: A Handbook (Oxford,

1993), p. 56.       . . h' he en­

7.            Basic literature on the rise of the passIOn play WIt 10 t g ,r . d' K I Young The Drama OJ

eral context of medieval drama mclu es. ar , L' the Medieval Church (Oxford, 1933); Richard B .. D~n~va::h~o~~:~­gical Drama in Medieval Spain (Toronto, 1958), RIC ar . 111 d' 172 86' John Stevens, nor s

Medieval Music (New York, 1978 , pp. ) -. ' d Drama

N rratlve Dance an ,

S

and Music in the Middle Ages: ong, a , K R k'n "Litur­

) 308 71' Susan . an          1 ,

1050-1350 (Cambridge, 1983 , pp. -, . I 2 The Early gical Drama," The New Oxford History of MUSIC, vo. ,

ROBIN A. LEAVER

172

Middle Ages, ed. Richard Crocker and David Hiley (Oxford, 1990), pp. 310-56.

8.

Details of the Holy Week observances are conveniently sum­marized in John Harper, The Forms and Orders of Western Liturgy from the Tenth to the Eighteenth Century (Oxford, 1991), pp. 139-49, and Hiley, Western Plail/chant, pp.32-39.

9.

Hymns, Psalms, Spiritual Canticles (Belmont, Mass., 1974), Nos. 520-522, 529, gives the passion narrative in English with the tra­ditional chant. Although Worship: A Hymnal and Service Book for Roman Catholics, 3rd ed. (Chicago, 1986), Nos. 807-809, and 814, only gives the narratives laid out for dramatic reading, the publisher, G.I.A., also issues a separate edition of the English texts set to the traditional passion tones. There are signs of a return to a sung pas­sion in American Catholic churches during Holy Week.

10.

In addition to already-cited literature, see: Gunther Schmidt, "Grundsatzliche Bemerkungen zur Geschichte der Passionskompo­sition," Archiv fiir Musikwissenschaft 17 (1960): 100-25; Hans Joachim Moser, Die mehrstimmige Vertonung des Evallgeliums (Leipzig, 1931; reprint, 'Hildesheim, 1968); Kurt von Fischer, "Die mehrstimmige und katholische Passion," MGG 10:898-911; Theodor GoUner, Die mehrslimmigell Iiturgischell Lesullgen (Thtzing, 1969), esp.2:129-92.

11.

In older literature it is designated "choral passion," "dra­matic passion," "quasi-dramatic," or "plainsong passion."

12.

In older literature frequently referred to as "motet" passion.

13.

In older literature the treatise is referred to as the "Maihin­ger Fragment"; it is now known as the "Fussener Traktat."

14.

The original Latin, with a German translation, is given in GoUner, Die mehrstimmigen liturgischen Lesungen, 2:131-34.

15.

See Patricia Robertson, "A Critical Survey of the Motet Pas­sion" (Ph.D. dissertation, London University, 1957); Arnold Schmitz, "Zur motettischen Passion des 16. Jahrhunderts," Archiv fur Musik­wissenschaft 16 (1959): 232-45; Smallman, Background of Passion Music, pp. 131-36.

16. See Kade, Die iiltere Passionskomposition, pp. 52-62.

17. The Sepolcro was more common than the passion oratorio;

see Howard E. Smither, A History ofthe Oratorio (Chapel HiII, 1977­1987), 1:366-80.

18. Basic literature, in addition to titles listed in note 3 above, in~ludes: Carl von Winterfeld, Der evangelische Kirchengesang Ltnd sem Verhiiltniss zur Kunst des Tonsatzes, vol. 3 (Leipzig, 1847; re-

PASSIONTIDE MUSIC

Print, Hildesheim, 1966); Rudolf Gerber "Die deutsche P .

, ,, , aSSlOn von Luther bls Bach, Luther-lahrbuch 13 (1931): 131-52; Konrad Ameln and Chr~sthard M~hren~ol~, eds., Handbuch der deutschen evangeli­schell Klrchenmuslk (Gottmgen, 1930-1980); Walter Blankenbur "Die Protestantischen Passion," MGG 10:911-33; Werner Brau!' Die mitteldeutsche Choralpassion im 18. lahrhundert (Berlin, 1960); Friedrich Blume et aI., Protestant Church Music: A History (New York, 1974); Philipp Spitta, "The Passion Music of Johann Sebastian Bach and Heinrich Schutz," trans. and ed. Kenneth E. Miller, The Choral 10umal16, no. 2 (October 1975): 5-9, and no. 3 (November 1975): 10-13; Audrey Ekdahl Davidson, The Quasi-Dramatic St. John Passions from Scandinavia and Their Medieval Background (Kalama­zoo, 1981); Elke Axemacher, "Aus Liebe will mein Heiland Sterben": Untersuchungen zum Wandel des Passionsverstiindnisses imfriihen 18. lahrhundert (Stuttgart, 1984).

19.

See, for example, Alister E. McGrath, Luther's Theology ofthe

CrosS: Martin Luther's Theological Breakthrough (Oxford, 1985).

20.

Luther's Works: American Edition, ed. Jaroslav Pelikan and

Helmut T. Lehman (St. Louis and Philadelphia, 1955-1986; hereafter cited as LW), 42:11.

21. LW 53:24.

22. Kurt von Fischer (NGD 14:281) suggests that the phrase "Vier-Passionen-Singen" refers to the summa Passionis, that is, a har­monized (Latin) narrative from all four Gospels. On the other hand, since Luther was concerned to greatly simplify the observance. of Holy Week it is more likely to be a reference to the Roman ~ractIce of chantin~ the passion narrative from all four Gospels on different days of Holy Week. This would seem borne out by the fact, men­tioned in the text that follows, that Bugenhagen, Luther'S cOl~efia~ue

fl             t d narrative of the crucI Xlonand confessor brought out a con a e

the same year' the Deutsche Messe was issued.

23. LW 53:90.     . ." MGG 6'465-89' Blume,

24. See Walter Blankenburg, "Hlsto~la, . r ' 0 the Oratorio, Protestant Church Music, pp.177_85;Smlther, Hlsto y if

2:3-37. . ' he continuation of the

25.          There is an interest 109 .Wltn.esswt~ttt berg In the sermon . f h . the passion 10 1 en· .

practlce 0 c antlOg 22 1546 after recountlOg preached at Luther's burial, Febru:~ymade the ~omment, "There­the Reformer's last hour, Bugenhag h' ' onsummatum est' and by he [Luther] also sang [ge~ungen] ;s; ther's hands"; Johann commended his spirit into hIS heaven Y a

ROBIN A. LEAVER

174

Buoenhagen A Christian Sermon [Preached} over the Body at th '"

0' • . e ("It­

neral of the Venerable D,: Marlin Lllthel; trans. Kurt. K. Hendel (At­lanta, 1996), p. 43 [emphasis added].

26.

See LW 53:73-78, 84-89.

27.

See Carl Gerhardt, Die Torgaller Walter-Handschriften: Eine SlIIdie zur Qllellenkllnde der Musikgeschichte der deutschen Reforma­tionszeit (Kassel, 1949). Basic literature on Walter's passions includes' Konrad Arueln and Carl Gerhardt, "Johann Walter und die alteste~ deutschen Passionhistorien," Monatsschrift fur Gottesdienst und kirchliche Kunst 44 (1939): 105-19; Lu~wig Finscher, "Ein wenig beachtete QueUe zu Johann Walters PasslOns-Turbae," Die Musikfor­sc/llIllg 11 (1958): 189-95; Blume, Protestant Church Music, pp. 178-80; Walter Blankenburg, Johann Walter: Leben und Werk, ed. Friedheim Brusniak (Tutzing, 1991), pp. 304-9.

28. See Kade, Die iiltere Passionskomposition, p. 164; Werner Braun, ed.,lohanll Walter siimtliche Werke, vol. 4, Deutsche Passion en Ilach Matthiius lind Johannes . . . (Kassel, 1973), p. xvi.

29.

Folios 276v-277r of the Gotha manuscript choirbook are re­produced in facsimile in Smither, History of the Oratorio, 2:6-7.

30.

The addition of a fourth part was not necessarily added by Walter, since in the "Fiissener Traktat" there is a note, entered at a later period, indicating that the turba could be sung in four parts; see GOIlner, Die mehrstimmigen liturgischen Lesungen, 2:136, n. 9.

31.

In Torgau, where the Walter passions probably originated, the St. John Passion was no longer customarily sung on Good Friday. The Torgau visitation records of spring 1580 note the following: "For sun­dry years the German passion has been sung on Good Friday, with polyphonic choral responses. This is now unjustly neglected"; cited in Braun, Johann Walter siimtliche Werke, 4:xv, n. 4.

32.

The Dresden court diary indicates that "the passion, from the Gospel of John, newly-composed by Kapellmeister Heinrich SchUtz, was sung" following the epistle reading of Isaiah 53 and before the serm~n, at the Good Friday morning service in 1665; see Eberhard Sc~mldt, Der Gottesdienst am Kurfurstlichen Hofe zu Dresden: Ein Bel.tra? zur liturgischen Traditionsgeschichte von Johann Walter zu HemTlch Schiltz (Berlin, 1966), p. 207.

33.

The Dresden court diary records that at the morning worship of Good Friday 1668 "the passion from the Gospel of Mark, com­posed by Joseph Peranda" was sung; see E. Schmidt, Der Gottesdienst

am Kurfurstlichen Hofe.

~~------------.....

PASSIONTIDE MUSIC

175

34.

Peranda was actually a Catholic but w . court chapel in Dresden. as servmg the Lutheran

35.

Latin continued to be used in Lutheran h"

. wors IP, SInce Luther made It clear that the Deutsche Messe did not ab t h .

. . roga e t e earlier Formula mlssae, and that Latm should continue in use wh .

d h . . .. ere It was

understoo , t at IS, In cities with universities or towns with Latin schools; see LW 53:62-63.

36.

For example, the Longueval passion appears in the same four Torgau-,:",alter manuscripts with the two Walter passions (see Ger­hardt, Die T~rgauerWalter-Handschriften, pp. 60-61), and was printed numerous times.

37.

Cited in MGG 8:1190; see also Blume, Protestant Church Mu­sic, pp. 180-81, where the date is misprinted as "1528."

38.

Joachim a Burck's passion was widely sung throughout Thu­ringia at the end of the sixteenth century; see NGD 11:439 (entry on Johann Machold).

39.

A book fair advertisement announced that the passion would be published in Nuremberg in 1594; no printed copy is extant but manuscript copies survive.

40.

See John B. Haberlen, "A Critical Survey of the North Ger­man Oratorio Passion to 1700" (D.M.A. dissertation, Georgia State University, Atlanta, 1974); Stanley Anthony Malinowski, "The Ba­roque Oratorio Passion" (Ph.D. dissertation, Cornell University, ith­aca, 1978); Blume, Protestant Church Music, pp. 220-22; Smither, His­tory of the Oratorio, 2:37-41. As with other types of passion, there are problems of definition with regard to the "oratorio" passion. Some would draw a distinction between the early and later types, the earlier being the "concerted" or "oratorical" passion, and the later the "oratorio" passion. Others would divide the lat.er ty?e into t.wo distinct groups: the "oratorio passion," that is, a hturglcal passIOn in a concerted style and the "passion oratorio," that is, an extra­

, " I

liturgical concerted passion. But, as Werner Braun observes, .c as­sification of the 18th-century passion is made difficult by a multitude

of hybrid forms"; NGD 14:284. .'

41. On the role of the orchestra in passion mUSIC, see Smallman,

Background of Passion Music, pp. 103-15. "

42. Only the libretto has survived; see W. Junghans, !ohan~ Sebastian Bach als SchUler der Particularschule zu St. ~lchaehs in Liineburg," Programm des Johanlleums ZlI Liineburg (Luneburg,

1870), p. 40.

ROBIN A. LEAVER

176

43.

Manfred Fechner, "Nachwort," Ge~r? Philipp Telemann: Matthiius-Passion 1754 [facsimil~ of the onglQ~1 manuscript], ed. Eitelfriedrich Thom (Michaelstem, 1986), unpagmated.

44.

For example, some of the later seventeenth-century Hamburg passion libretti probably had music composed by Christoph Bern­hard Dietrich Becker, and Joachim Gerstenburg, whose St. Matthew Passion was reportedly written "a 26," that is, with twenty-six choral, vocal, and instrumental parts; none of the music has survived.

45.

Basic literature in English on the Bach passions includes: Charles S. Terry, 1 S. Bach: The Passions (London, 1928; reprint, Westport, Conn., 1971); Smallman, Background of Passion Music, passim; Paul Steinitz, Bach's Passions (London, 1979); Robin A. Leaver,1 S. Bach As Preacher: His Passions and Music in Worship (St. Louis, 1982), passim; Jaroslav Pelikan, Bach Among the Theologians (Philadelphia, 1986); Paul S. Minear, Death Set to Music: Masterworks by Bach, Brahms, Penderecki, Bernstein (Atlanta, 1987).

46.

Gottfried Vopelius, Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch (Leipzig, 1682), pp. 179 et seq. and 227 et seq., respectively; see Jiirgen Grimm.

Das Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch des Gottfried Vopelius (Leipzig 1682): Untersuchungen zur Kliirung seiner geschichtlichen Stellung (Berlin, 1969), p. 59.

47. In Vopelius's Neu Leipziger Gesangbuch, Handl's motet Ecce

quomodo moritur justus immediately follows the two Walter pas­

sions; see previous note. The continued use of the responsory Ecce

quomodo moritur in Lutheran liturgies of Holy Week was no doubt

influenced by Luther's modified version of it, included in his collec­

tion of funeral pieces, Christliches Geseng, Lateinisch und Deutsch,

zum Begriibnis (Wittenberg, 1542), reprinted in Valentin Bapsfs

Geysllicher Lieder (Leipzig, 1545), and Lukas Lossius's Psalmodia

(Nuremberg, 1553); see Markus Jenny, "Sieben Biblische Begrabnis­

gesange: Ein unbekanntes und uneditiertes Werk Martin Luthers,"

Lutheriana: Zum 500. Geburtstag Martin Luthers von den Mitarbeit­ern der Weimarer Ausgabe, ed. Gerhard Hammer and Karl-Heinz zur MUhlen [== Archiv zur Weimarer Ausgabe der Werke Martin Luthers

5J (Cologne, 1984), pp. 455-74, esp. pp. 458-59, 466.

48. See Andreas Glockner, "Bach and the Passion Music of His

Contemporaries," The Musical Times 116 (1975): 613-16' see also Andreas GlOck "J h. '.

. n~r, 0 ann Sebastian Bachs Auffiihrungen zelt­genosslscher Passlonsmusiken," Bach-Jahrbuch 63 (1977): 75-119.

49. Only the Iibrett d o an some of the music are known.

50. BWV246a;see Yoshitaki Kobayashi, "Zu einem neu entdeck-

PASSIONTIDE MUSIC

ten Autograph Bachs. Choral: Aus der Tiefen," Bach-Jahrbuch 57

(1971): 5-12; see also GlOckner, "Bachs AuffUhrungen," pp. 91­

99, 108.

51.

See GlOckner, "Bachs Auffahrungen," p. 91.

52.

St. Petri, St. Nikolai, St. Michaelis, St. Katharinen, and St.

Jacobi, but not the cathedral, which maintained an independence from the other churches in the city.

53. See Norbert Bolin, "In rechter Ordnung Ierne Jesu: C. Ph. E.

Bach's 'Spinnhaus-Passion' (H 776) Hamburg 1768," Augsburger Jahrbuch far Musikwissenschaft 5 (1988): 67.

54. See Hans Horner, Georg Philipp Telemanns Passionsmusiken:

Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Passionsmusik in Hamburg (Leipzig, 1933).

55.

See Bolin, "In rechter Ordnung," p. 67, n. 12; see also Stephen L. Clark, "c. P. E. Bach and the Tradition of Passion Music in Ham­burg," Early Music 16 (1988): 533-41.

56.

Bach's librettist, Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander), par­

allels this image in the opening chorus of the St. Matthew Passion (BWV 245:1).

57. Smither, History of the Oratorio, 2:111.

58.

Other composers who also set the Brockes passion libretto include: Johann Friedrich Fasch (1723), Gottfried Heinrich StOtzel (1725), Paul Steiniger, Johann Balthasar, Christian Frieslich, and Jacob Schubach (c. 1750).1. S. Bach's librettist incorporated several texts from the Brockes passion into the St. John Passion (BWV 245:7, 19, 20, 24, 32, 34, and partly also in 35 and 39).

59.

Heinz Becker, "Die frUbe Hamburgische Tagespresse als musikgeschichtliche Quelle," Beitriige zur Hamburgischen Musik­Geschichte, ed. Heinrich Husmann (Hamburg, 1956), p. 36.

60.

Richard Petzoldt, Georg Philipp Telemann, trans. Horace Fitzpatrick (London, 1974), pp. 170-71; see also Smither, History of the Oratorio, 3:347-48.

61. Smither, History of the Oratorio, 2:120. .

62. Hans T. David and Arthur Mendel, The Bach Reader: A Life ofJohann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents, 2d. rev. ed. (New York, 1966), p. 229. Older Bach literature links this anecdote .w.ith one of the passions of Bach, but there is no direct evidence; see IbId.,

p.442.

63.

Cited in Bolin, "In rechter Ordnung," p. 68, n. 13.

64.

It was Pietist pressure that led to the suppression of the re­sponsorial passion, with chorales and instrumental interludes, at Ros­

~

..

ROBIN A. LEAVER

kilde cathedral, Denmark, in 1736, and its replacement by a sermon'

Davidson, Quasi-Dramatic St. John Passions from Scandinavia, p. 3. '

65. See Paul Graff, Gesc"~chte der Au/l6sllng der alten gottesdien_ stlichell Formen in der evangelischen Kirche Deutschlands (Gottingen,

1937-1939).

66. Horner, Telemanns Passionsl1lusiken, pp. 49-50. Thirty years earlier Mattheson had regularly used opera singers for his soloists in performances of oratorios in Hamburg cathedral. At first the fe­male sinoers were not allowed to be seen during the performances,

.,

but this prohibition was soon lifted; see Smither, History of the Ora­

torio, 2:117.

67.

In the early 1770s Johann Georg Sulzer defined "oratorio" as: "A spiritual, but completely lyric and short drama, which is per­formed with music, for use in divine service on high days." In 1802 Heinrich Christoph Koch gives a similar definition, and then adds that oratorios "often, however, as with our modern church music in general, depart too much from the noble simplicity that should dis­tinguish our music for divine service and incline too much towards the style of operatic music"; both cited in Smither, History of the Oratorio, 3:337 and 339, respectively.

68.

See WaIter Blankenburg, "Church Music in Reformed Eu­rope," in Blume, Protestant Church Music, pp. 509-90.

69.

The Latin passions were familiar to the populace. Among a number of English passion carols there is one that specifically cites the Latin passion narratives. It is found in a sixteenth-century manu­script (Balliol College, Oxford, MS. 354), and was printed in Christ­mas carolles newely lnprynted (London, c. 1550). Stanza 3 concludes: "Pylate said vnto the Jews, "What say ye?" I Than they cryed with on[e] voys, Crucyfige! [Crucyfige!]"; see Richard Leighton Green, ed. The Early English Carols, 2d. rev. ed. (Oxford, 1977), No. 163.

70.

Cited in F. E. Brightman, The English Rite (London, 1921),

1:136. The same rubric was repeated in the 1552 Prayer Book.

71. See Hooper's letter to Heinrich Bullinger, dated December 27,1549: "In the churches [in London] they always chant the hours and other hymns relating to the Lord's Supper, but in our own lan­guage. And that popery may not be lost, the mass-priests, although they are compelled to discontinue the use of the Latin language, yet mo.st carefully observe the same tone and manner of chanting to which they were heretofore accustomed in the papacy'" Original Let­

tersRlt" h '

. e a lve to t e English Reformation, ed. H. Robinson, Parker So-Ciety 53 (Cambridge, 1847), 1:72.

........

PASSIONTIDE MUSIC

72. Among the English exiles in Frankfurt in 1554-1555 't

... C I ,1 wasd h

reporte. t at . In a~, ledral .chur~hes [in England) they utter their lessons In p~am-song ; A Bneff dlScours off the troubles begonne in Franc~ford In Germany Anno Domini 1554 [1575) (London, 1846), pp. XXIX.

73.

NGD 8:112.

74.

NGD 8:118.

75.

See Melvin A. Wells, "Settings of the Passion Story in the Nineteenth Century" (D. M. A. dissertation, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, 1990); Martin Geck, Deutsche Ora­torien 1800 bis 1840 (Wilhelmshaven, 1971).

76.

In England and America, after its publication by Novello of

London, it was known as Calvary.

77. See Peter Charlton, John Stainer and the Musical Life of Vic­

torian Britain (London, 1984), p. 72.

78.

Distler's Choral-Passion, for five-voice mixed choir and solo­

ists, employs a libretto based on all four Gospels and was inspired by

the passion music of Heinrich Schutz; see Larry Palmer, Hugo Distler

and His Church Music (St. Louis, 1967), pp. 121-26.

79.

Examples include: Ernst Pepping's St. Matthew Passion (1950); Hans Friedrich Micheelsen's St. Matthew (1948), St. Mark (1952) , and St. John Passions (1962); Lothar Graap's St. Mark Pas­sion, with five organ meditations (1974); and Anton Heiler's Pas­sionsmusik for children's choir and organ (1974).

80.

Among the more important examples are: Charles Wood's St. Mark Passion (1921); Sydney H. Nicholson's The Saviour ofthe World (1924); C. Armstrong Gibbs's Behold the Man (1955); Kenneth Leighton's Crucifixus pro nobis (1961); Alan Ridout's St. John Pas­sion (1964); and Francis B. Westbrook's Calvary: A Cantata for Pas­

siontide (1965).

81. Clarence Dickenson, The Redeemer (1935, revised 1953); Leo Sowerby's Forsaken of Man: a Lenten or Good Friday Cantata (1940).

82. Examples include the St. Mark Passions ~f Jan Bende.r (a Dutch-born German citizen on the faculty of Wittenberg Umver­sity, Ohio, at the time) and Ronald A. Nelson (both 1962), Richard Hillert's St. John Passion (1974), and Richard Wienhorst's The Seven

Words of Christ from the Cross (1956). .

83. Randall Thompson's St. Luke Passion (1965) for SOIOl~tS, cho­rus and full orchestra was written to celebrate the 150th anmversary of ;he Boston Handel and Haydn Society. Daniel Pinkham's St. Mark Passion (1966) is similarly a full-scale concert work, written for solo­

a

ROBIN A. LEAVER

180

. d h wl'th brass timpani, percussion, double bass harp

ISts an c orus,' , , and organ accompaniment. .

84. See Minear, Death Set to MUSIC,.pp. 95-1O~. .

85 Gordon W. Lathrop, Holy Thmgs: A Llturglcal Theology (Min~eapolis, 1993), pp. 18-19; see also p. 124.

86.

Ibid., p. 18.

87.

Ibid., pp.112-13.

88.

Durandus, Rationale divinorllm officiorum, ed. John Beletho (Naples, 1859), 506 (Bk. VI, chap. lxviii, ?8): "Ve~ba ve,~o impiissi­morum Iudaeorum damose et cum aspentate VOCIS • • ..

89.

Even Luther, who made harsh references to Jews later in his life, opens his 1519 sermon on the passion of Christ by stating that "singing and ranting" anger against the Jews is not a valid meditation on the sufferings of Christ; see LW 42:7.

90.

The argument is based on a comparison of the passage in question with Schiltz's setting of "Das Blut Jesu Christ .. . machet uns rein von allen Siinden" ("The blood of Jesus Christ . .. cleanses us from all sin"; 1John 1:7) in the Kleine geistliche Concerten of 1636 (SWV 298); see Andreas Marti, "Heil oder Gericht? Das Blut Jesu in zwei Werken von Heinrich Schiltz," Ars et musica in liturgia: Es­says Presented to Casper Honders, ed. Frans Brouwer and Robin A. Leaver (Metuchen, 1994), pp. 145-49. See also Lothar Steiger, " 'Wir haben keinen Konig denn den Kaiser.' Pilatus und die Juden in der Passionsgeschichte nach dem Johannesevangelium mit Bezug auf Heinrich Schiltz und Johann Sebastian Bach: Oder die Frage nach dem Antijudaismus," Musik und Kirche 64 (1994): 264-7l.

91.

The significance of the chorales is not always taken into ac­count in discussions of the treatment of the Jews in the St. John Pas­sion; see Dagmar Hoffmann-Axthelm, "Bach und die 'Perfidia Iudaica': Zur Symmetrie der Juden-Turbae in der Johannes­Passion," Basler Jahrbuch fur historische Musikpraxis 13 (1989): 31­54, and Michael Marissen, Lutheranism, Anti-Judaism, and Bach's St.

John Passion (New York, 1998).

92.

Translated by Daniel Reuning; used with permission.

93.

Translat:d by Lionel Salter in the accompanying booklet to

the CD recordmg by the Musica Antiqua KOIn: Deutsche Gram­maphon Archiv 447092-2.

94. See Michael Marissen, "Religious Aims in Mendelssohn's 1~9Berlin-Singakademie Performances of Bach's St Matthew Pas­sIOn," The Musical Quarterly 77 (1993): 718-26. .

PART 4

A Symbolic Modern Dilemma

•

Should Christians

Celebrate the Passover?

FRANK C. SENN

Since the 1960s some Christians have been participating in a form of the Je~ish Passover seder as part of their Holy Week observances. It IS unclear when this custom began. I have seen copies of Christianized Seders ("Seder" is used here for a sc~ipt, corresponding to the Jewish Haggadah), duplicated by mimeograph, from the late 1960s and early 1970s. In these scripts or "orders" (seder means "order"), it is clear that the seder is designed to be a celebration of the Lord's Supper. In one script, Christ's "words of institution" are inserted at the breaking of the bread at the beginning of the meal and at the third ( eucharistic) cup. I Another does not attempt explicitly to make the Jewish Passover meal a setting for the Lord's Supper, but it terminates. psalms with the Gloria Patrr and adds the Trinitarian invocation3 to the concluding Aaronic benediction.

Toward the end of the 1970s it was apparent that the prac­tice of conducting Passover seders in Christian settings was becoming popular. At the same time, there was greater sensi­tivity to the fact that this is a Jewish observance, not a Gen­tile one. Both the United Methodist Commission on Worship and the Liturgy Training publications of the Roman Cat~o­lic Archdiocese of Chicago published Passover Seders whIch respected the integrity of the Jewish rite and refrai~ed from inserting Christianizing formulas.4 In the same vem, Augs­burg Publishing House published a Passover S~d~r by B~rbara Balzac Thompson, a Jewish convert to Chri~tlaOlty, wh~ch a~­

mitted that "Christians are particularly mterested m thIS

183

184

't I meal because it was during a Passover celebration that

n ua ." h I

Jesus instituted Holy CommunIon ; nevert e ess, she warned,

Christians will want to avoid any tendency to syncretism, that is, mixing the Seder and the Lord's Supper,so that the Seder appears to be a Christian observance. It is a Jewish ritual used to observe the Passover. The Lord's Supper is a Christian sacrament which was instituted by our Lord following a specific Passover obser­vance.s

In spite of the author's warning, this edition of the Passover Seder was published to help Christians understand and ob­serve the Jewish Passover. Why would Christians want to ob­

serve a Jewish rite? As recently as 1994, a Passover Seder was published which is a compromise between Christianizing the seder and simply celebrating a Jewish rite. It claims to be "An Authentic Pass­over Seder," but includes two additions for Christians: the first is an interpretation of the Easter egg in connection with the Baytzah (eating the roasted egg); the second is "A Christian Conclusion to the Seder," called "Agape," which refers to Jesus' institution of the Lord's Supper in the context of a Passover seder, but harmonizes the differing synoptic and Johannine

6

accounts of the institution around the theme of the New Covenant that "we love one another" (John 13:31). It has the participants eat the afikoman (the loaf that is hidden and then found again) during the reading of 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 (St. Paul's.~reat ~aean to love), and drink the fifth cup (the cup for EhJah, whIch was never drunk at the Jewish seder) during

the reading of 1 John 4:7-21.7

. W~at shall we say about these Seders for Christian use?

~lfst, It must be admitted that they are sincere. All of the edi­hons mentioned above h h' . .

d ave soug t to IOcrease ChnstIan un­Mershtan~ing of and respect for the Jewish tradition. The United

et OdiSt publ" . L· IcatlOn was prepared with Jewish consultants.

The Iturgy 11 . . '. R bb' L ralOlOg PubhcatIon Seder was actually edited by hal e.on Klenicki. Barbara Balzac Thompson drew upon

er expenence of grow' . Joseph St II" . 109 up 10 a Conservative Jewish home. a lOger dedIcated his edition to members of Temple

SHOULD CHRISTIANS C ELEBRATE THE PASSOVER?

185

Emanu-El. These Seders are designed to help Christi _

. h d" ans un

derstand Jewls tra Ihon. .

Secondly, some of the Seders for Christian use have contin­ued to stress the Passover context of the institution of the Lord's Supper. Even though it seems that early efforts to cele­brate the Lord's Supper or eucharist8 in the context of a Pass­over seder have waned, introductory material and, in Stallin­ger's case, an actual Haggadah in connection with the "Agape" make reference to the institution of the Lord's Supper. It seems that pastors who lead members of their congregation in a seder (or who invite a rabbi to do so) intend this experience to serve as a background for celebrating Holy Communion (and per­haps serve as a way of loosening up lugubrious western Chris­

tian liturgical celebrations). Thirdly, commentators speak of recovering the biblical con­cept of memorial (zikkaron, anamnesis).9 These commentators recognize the difficulty modern western people have with en­tering into an historical event so as to become contemporary with the event. How can we say, "In every generation let each man or woman consider it as if he or she personally came forth from Egypt... . It was not only our ancestors whom the Holy One redeemed. God saved us along with them"?10 Our princi­pal way of connecting with history has been through dra­matic reenactment. One notices, for example, the popularity in America of living museums, such as Colonial Williamsburg, Greenfield Village, Sturbridge Village, or Plimouth Plantation, in which historical life is reenacted in original settings with period implements and costumes. These replications are high on entertainment value but still serve as ways of connecting people with their heritage. Unfortunately, they combat histori­cal amnesia by promoting nostalgia rather than critical ~ss~ss­

ment. l1 Christian Passover seders are also high on retnevmg historical remembrance through participatory reenactment. The same thing cannot be said abou~ Jewi~h ?bServance: of

the Passover seder for reasons that WIll be mdlcated belo . , . ' t be

In spite of the compilers' noble alms, questIOns mus . raised about the value of the Christian use of the JeWIsh . . h th es .

seder-precisely in connectIOn WIt e aims First , we must

FRANK C. SENN

question the advisability of Christia~s observi~g ~on-Chris_

tian rites and festivals. W~at Jews tlunk ~f ChnstIans trYing

to replicate the holiest JewIsh observance IS best left to Jewish

judgment. Some Jews obviously approve ?f such.u~dertakings

since they have advised and consulted wIth ChnstIans in pre­

paring materials. Others are critical ?f the practice because it

blurs the particularities of the JewIsh and Christian faiths.

A look at the evolution of the Passover seder in judaism will

help to sharpen this question, as will a look at the Quartodeci­

man practice in Asia Minor. Our principal concern about the

Christian celebration of Passover seders is whether misleading

information is being presented about both Jewish and early

Christian practice.

Secondly, we must question whether the Passover context

provides the best way to understand the early Christian eucha­

rist. I2 The discrepancy between the synoptic and Johannine

versions of the institution of the Lord's Supper cannot be

lightly passed over. And the witness of early Christian under­

standings of the eucharist, particularly as the eschatological

feast, must be considered.

Thirdly, we must inquire into the western difficulty with the

biblical and patristic understanding of memorial and question

whether dramatic reenactment is the best form of commemo­

ration.

The Evolution ofthe Passover Seder

We need not analyze deeply the long and complicated his­tory of pesach. For our purposes it is necessary to remember that the festival has evolved through centuries of development a.nd continues to do so today. The origins of the Passover fes­., tIVal are to be found in both nomadic and agricultural rites I (pesach, the spring offering of the lamb from the nomad's flock, and matsot, the cutting of the grain and eating of un­leavened bread) which antedate the time of Israel in Egypt. 13 After Israel's settlement in Palestine the combined festival was historicized and became a comme:Uoration of the Exodus

from Egypt (Exod. 23:14-16). It did not become a national fes-

SHOULD CHRISTlANS CELEBRATE THE PASSOVER?

187

tival, however, until the time of King Josiah's reform, only a few decades before the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusale~ and well after the dissolution of the northern king­dom (2 Kmgs 23:21-22; see also 2 Chronicles 35). This national celebration of liberation was short-lived because of the Baby­lonian exile and the resulting Diaspora. When the exiles re­turned to Palestine, they celebrated the festival again under

Ezra (Ezra 6:19-22). Passover reached its high point in national observance dur­ing the last century of the Second Temple, when Jews suffered under Roman oppression and messianic hope burned brightly. There was great expectation that a Mosaic deliverer or Elijah himself would come at Passover time to lead Israel in a new exodus from Graeco-Roman cultural and .political domina­tion. The ritual of Passover became luxurious, especially the elaborate ceremonies for the sacrifice of the Passover lambs in the Temple. The Hallet psalms were chanted by the Levites while the paschal lambs were slaughtered. The meat was then brought into people's homes and was roasted and eaten as

. d 14

Hallel was sung and the nucleus of a Haggada h was reCIte .

Because these lambs could not be sacrificed outside of the

Temple cult, tens of thousands of pilgrims went up to Jerusa­

lem every year to celebrate Passover. Josephus gives the ex­

traordinary figure of 2,500,000 gathered in Jerusalem for the

Passover (Jewish War VI. 9. 3), on the basis of a count taken by

Cestius in the 60s C.E. On some occasions Jesus of Nazareth

was among these pilgrims. Luke reports that every year Joseph

and Mary of Nazareth went up to Jerusalem to celebra~e the

Passover. This Gospel relates the incident of one partIcular

year when the boy Jesus was twelve years old (Luke 2:41 .ff.).

The ministry of Jesus in the Gospel of John is orgamzed

.' t J rusalem at Passover

around three annual pIlgnmages 0 e . . . t t present only one long

time. The synoptIC Gospels, 10 con ras , . h . . I In the week of hIS deat ,

Journey from Gahlee to Jerusa em. d according to Mark 14:12 ff. (and parallels in Matthew~~e Luke), Jesus formed a chavurah with his disciples to ea t

Passover meal. P changed after

t· n of assoverIt is obvious that the ce e I bra 10

FRANK C. SENN

188

the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 C.E. The ritual sacrifice of the lambs was no longer possible. The course of roasted meat on a bone and a roasted egg became reminders of the Passover sacrifice. The domestic celebration became more important and the "script" for the domestic cele­bration became more formalized with the cessation of the Temple ritual. The Haggadah was elaborately furnished with texts of symbolic meaning and homiletic interpretations.15 The details of this ritual continued to develop, but essentially, the basic content and framework of the Haggadah was established by the time of the Mishnah (200 C.E.) , tractate Pesachim.16 The Passover seder did not reach the form in which it is typically celebrated today until the Middle Ages, and even then there were variations according to geographic provenance. It is still being shaped anew by modern Jews who adapt its contents and message to such twentieth-century events as the Holocaust, the birth of the state of Israel, and the impact of feminism as a liberationist movement. It is precisely this continual evolu­tion of the Passover seder brought about by the adaptation of tradition to contemporary events and concerns that keeps it from being merely a dramatic reenactment of a past event. The

Jew who celebrates the Passover seder does not think that he or she is participating in a dramatic reenactment of the origi­nal Passover and Exodus, even though the seder is laden with symbolic evocations of those events, in the same way that the Christian who celebrates the seder may think that he or she is participating in a dramatic reenactment of the context in which the Lord's Supper was instituted by Jesus.

The point of this brief historical overview of the Jewish celebration is to show that the Passover seder, as practiced by Jews today, is not the Passover celebration that might have ~een observed by Jesus and his disciples. It would be instruc­tIVe for Christians to experience it, perhaps as guests in Jewish homes and synagogues, but only to understand Judaism as a living tradition. Whatever they observe there can only hint at an understanding of what Jesus did "on the night in which he was betrayed," if indeed he even celebrated a Passover seder

~~-----------­

.......

SHOULD CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE THE PASSOVE

R.?

189

at all. This last disclaimer is occasioned by d'ff .

. I erences In chro­nology III the gospel traditions. But before we turn to that Problem, we should note the attitude of early Ch . t'

. TIS lans to­ward the Je':lsh Passover as exemplified by the Christians of Asia Minor III the second century.

The Witness of the Quartodecimans

There were Christians in antiquity who were rigorous about observing the paschal celebration of Jesus on the 14th of Ni­san: hence they have been called the "Quartodecimans" or fourteenthers. They inhabited primarily the region of Asia Mi­nor. These Christians were not like the "Judaizers" St. Paul wrote against in his Letter to the Galatians. In fact, their con­cern was to celebrate the Passover of Christ as the fulfill­ment of the Passover of the Jews. The Quartodecimans appar­ently kept the night in vigil which lasted until cockcrow, at which point, according to the Epistula Apostolorum, it ended with "my agape and my commemoration" (a reference un­doubtedly to the eucharist). In other words, while the Jews were feasting, these Christians observed a fast (the origins.of the Easter Vigil). When the Jewish feast was ende~ at mid­night (or slightly after), the Christians celebrated their feast-

the eucharist.17 The practice of the Quartodecimans precipitated a contro­. . the date of the annual

versy III the second century concermng . Christian Pasch or Easter. The principal dIsputants, a~cord­ing to Eusebius's EcclesiasticaL History V.23-25, were Blsh~ps Polycarp of Smyrna and polycrates of Ephesus, repre~entmIgd p Anicetus and Victor ,

the church in Asia Minor, an opes h h the Roman

. h h of Rome Even t oug

representlllg the c urc . t t the Council of Sunday observance of Easter finally wbon o~b~ated on the first N· . 325 b h' h Easter was to e ce e

Icea III ,y W IC . f' 18 the Quartodeci-Sunday after the first full mo~n o. sp~mfhe date of Easter in mans made an important contrlbuthlOn 0 tern church even the

Ch h In t e eas '

the Eastern Orthodox urc. ould not take place until after Sunday observance of Easter w

FRANK C. SENN

the Jewish Passover (usually a whole seven-day period), which accounts for the discrepancy to this day between the dates of the western and eastern celebrations of Easter.

There was also a difference in emphasis between the Quar­todeciman Pascha and Easter as it later evolved in other Chris­tian communities. The Roman and other churches celebrated the resurrection of Christ on the first day of the week (as, in­deed, each Sunday or "Lord's Day" was observed as a day of resurrection). This meant that they eventually followed the sy­noptic chronology and separated the death of Christ (Good Friday) from the resurrection of Christ (Easter Day), mark­ing both independently but emphasizing Christ's resurrection. The Quartodeciman celebration emphasized Christ's redemp­tive death. In his Peri Pascha ("Concerning the Passover,"

c. 165), Melito of Sardis even interpreted the Greek verb paschein as "to suffer."19 He assumes in this paschal homily that the entire work of redemption occurred during the night of 14-15 Nisan; not only the crucifixion and glorification of Christ, but also the incarnation.2o This homily views the Chris­tian Pasch as a celebration of everything that was done for our salvation. The Quartodecimans arrived at this conclusion by following the Johannine rather than the synoptic tradition, with its emphasis on the incarnation of the divine Logos and its anti-gnostic sacramentalism.

Was the Last Supper a Passover Seder?

The Johannine passion chronology raises the question whether the Last Supper of Jesus was a Passover meal. If the Last Supper was a Passover meal, as the synoptic Gospels maintain, then everything that followed-the arrest, the hear­ing before the Sanhedrin, the trial before Pontius Pilate, the flogging and execution of Jesus-all had to have occurred on the first full day of the Passover festival itself. Joachim Jere­mias was willing to argue that aU this could have taken place during ~he festival without compromising Jewish custom, be­cause his concern was to establish the Last Supper as a Pass­over seder.21 Mark 14:12 is specific that Jesus dispatched his

SHOULD CHRISTrANS CELEBRATE THE n

c'ASSOVER?

disciples to make arrangements for a Pa ssover seder" th

first day of Unleavened Bread when th P on e

. " ( ,e assover lamb is

sacrificed a chr~nolo~y followed in Matthew 26:17 ff Luke 22:7 ff.). Yet It straInS the imagination t thO k f . an.d

.. . 0 In 0 all thIS

bothersome actiVIty gomg on during a day that . h

. . .. . was so hg tly­

packed WIth responsIbIlIties for the Temple staff.

The Gospel of John, however, is also quite clear that the Last Supper took place "before the festival of the Passover" (John 13.:1). It also ~Iaces the death of Jesus on the Day of PreparatIon, at the time when the lambs were being slaugh­

tered in the Temple. Commentators have long assumed that the synoptic chronology is correct, and that the Gospel of John altered the time sequence to accommodate the symbolism of Jesus, "the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29), being put to death at the same time as the paschal lambs were being slaughtered in the Temple. But theological concerns alone would not be sufficient to affect chronology. Furthermore, the synoptic Gospels had their own theological agendas. In fact, Luke may have emphasized the Passover se­der as the setting of the Last Supper in order to indicate that the Lord's Supper fulfills and supersedes the Passover. This Gospel has Jesus state that he would not eat the Passover until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God, and then he proceeds to celebrate it by taking the first cup and breaking the bread

(Luke 22:14 ff.). . . There have been numerous attempts to reconCIle the dIS­crepancies between the two gospel traditions by app.ealing to special calendars that Jesus might have been followmg (such . n which the 15th

as the solar calendar used by the Essenes I . /W d d ) 22 But

of Nisan always fell on a Thesday evenmg e nes .a~ . ·1· t· n of the confllctmg gos­

these various attempts at reconCI la 10 ..

·d read cntlcal acceptance

pel chronologies have not won WI esp

because of weak supporting evidence. . f ._

themes were m act, m There is no doubt that Passov~r to John.23 Y~t the inclu­c~uded in the Last Supper acc~rdl~~he chronology issue nor Sion of such themes settles neithe s a Passover seder. the question of whether the Last supr~rl~:cenario that Jesus Raymond Brown suggests the more I e

FRANK C. SENN

and his disciples celebrated a meal together in Jerusalem be­

fore the beginning of the Passover, which, because of the prox­

imity of the great feast, had paschal overtones. John does not

relate the institution of the Lord's Supper in this context. It is

possible that the synoptic tradition jumped . to the conclusion

that it was a Passover meal, whereas John mdependently re­

tained the more correct chronological information.24 The net

result of this discrepancy, however, is that we cannot claim with

absolute certainty that the Last Supper was a Passover seder.

In any event, the meal elements which Jesus focused on for

sacramental pu'rposes were not the elements unique to the

Passover such as the roasted lamb and bitter herbs. Rather

, ,

he added his words of interpretation to the broken bread at the start of the meal and the cup of blessing over which the thanksgiving would have been said at the end of the meal.25 These are the elements which would have been common to any meal. Recognizing this fact, the Christian tradition as a whole never even made an effort to use only unleavened bread. In fact, when the western church began to use unleavened wafers in Holy Communion in the ninth century, it was intended to facilitate the reverent handling of the consecrated elements. This was a development that led the Greeks to accuse the Latins of acting "mosaically" and of "eating at the tables of

the Jews.,,26

It remains to be pointed out that, for whatever reasons (per­haps an imperial ban on evening meetings of associations in the second century, necessitating early Sunday morning gath­erings for the eucharist, or perhaps the custom of ending all­night Saturday vigils with the eucharist at dawn on Sunday, or perh~ps some combination of both), Christians continued c~lebratmg the eucharist using only the elements of bread and wme and apart from the context of an actual meal. In fact, already in the earliest account of the Lord's Supper (1 Cor. U), S1. Paul moves in the direction of distinguishing the Lord's Supper from the church's supper ("your own meal"). Thus, the .standard Christian eucharistic celebration which emerged du~m.g the second century did not use the food most charac­

tenstlc of the Pa .

ssover seder; nor was it practiced III the con-

SHOULD CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE THE PASSOVER.?

193 text of an actual meal, as the Passover seder ld h

. wou ave re­

qUIred.

Eucharist and Eschatology

The reason why the context of the Passover meal was not essential to the Lord's Supper is that the sacramental meal was the means of celebrating the presence of the crucified and risen Christ among his faithless disciples, not just a way of re­calling the blissful days of being with Jesus during his earthly ministry. The resurrection was an eschatological event, not something that could happen in history. The presence of the risen and glorified Christ among his failed disciples, by his very presence bestowing the gift of forgiveness and reconcilia­tion , made the eucharistic meal the "Lord's Supper" (kyriakon deipnon, first used in 1 Corinthians 11:20). The celebration of this meal on the first day of the week, observed as the day of resurrection, made that day the "Lord's Day" (kyriake hemera, first used in Revelation [Apocalypse] 1:10).The Lord's Supper on the Lord's Day was more a "foretaste of the feast to come" (the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19:6-7) than a backward-looking historical commemoration of the Last Sup­per of Jesus and his disciples?7

The whole mission and message of Jesus had been charged with eschatological urgency. He proclaimed the kingdom of God and performed signs of healing and exorcism indicative of the presence of God's reign in his ministry and expressive of God's will for the wholeness of the creation (which is also why some of these healings were scandalously performed on the Sabbath). Jesus looked forward to feasting in the kingdo~ of God, and his eating with outcasts and sinners was a reah­zation of the kingdom-feast in which "many shall come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven," while those who thought they should have been included would find themselves excluded (Matt 8'11 ff' Luke 13'29 ff.). The very fact that the meal cele­

..., . . . "on the

bra ted by Jesus with his diSCiples m the upper room " . night in which he was betrayed" is called the "Last Supper m

4

FRANK C. SENN

the Christian tradition is a recognition that there had been many "suppers" during Jesus' n~inistry which served as antici­pations of the banquet of the kmgdom of God.

This "Last Supper" anticipated Jesus' death, which the sy­noptic Gospels viewed as a sacrifice sealing the new covenant. To the Markan words of institution Matthew added, "for the foraiveness of sins" (Matt. 26:28), which was associated with

l:>

the acquittal of the last judgment. The earliest literary aCCOunt of the institution, by Paul, interpreted the meal as a "procla­mation of the Lord's death until he comes" (1 Cor. 11:26). The remembrance of Christ in the eucharistic meal prompted an urgent plea for Christ's coming again (maranatha, "Our Lord, come," 1 Cor. 16:22; Didache 10:6). The crucified Jesus is also the risen Christ and the ascended Lord who will come again as universal Judge and Ruler. Just as Matthew emphasizes the eschatological judgment of acquittal (the forgiveness of sin) as the condition and gift of communion, so Paul warned the Corinthians to eat and drink "worthily" because of the pres­ence of the One who comes again as Judge. He charged that their divisive behavior at the Lord's Supper had already brought

negative judgment upon them ("That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died," 1 Cor. 11:30).

In sum, the eucharistic meal in the early church was not just a historical commemoration of what took place "on the night in which he was betrayed" (although it was historically an­~hored to the sacramental institution of that night); rather, It was the celebration of the presence of the risen One with his wayward disciples, conveying by his very presence in the shared meal the gift of eschatological forgiveness and recon­

ciliation.28

Effective and Affective Memorial

In view of the ~o . h .

regomg, ow do we account for the desIre of some Christia t lb' . I

ns 0 ce e rate the JeWIsh Passover as a ntua ~eans of putting them in closer touch with the historical ... esus? Clearly the P . I

com '" assover seder now observed by JewiS 1 mumties IS not identical with the Passover meal of Jesus'

SHOULD CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE THE PASSOVER?

time. In particular, the sacrificial cult of the Jerusalem 11 I

. . I . empe,

wluch was so cruCIa to the gospel Interpretations of Jesus' death as t~e paschal lamb, no l~n~er exists. We cannot even say with certamty that the euchanstIc rite Jesus commanded his disciples to observe was instituted in the context of an actual Passover seder. Even the witness of the Quartodecimans,who observed Passover eve with a fast and a vigil, did not com­memorate the Last Supper as a Passover feast, but celebrated Jesus' passover froin death to life as a fulfillment of the Pass­over hopes and expectations. St. Paul too proclaimed Christ's Passover as the inauguration of a new way of life. "For Christ, our paschal lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us, therefore, cele­brate the festival, not with the old leaven, the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Cor. 5:7-8). Indeed, I would argue that Paul, the former Pharisee and student of Gamaliel, was doing what the Jews have always done: he was "updating" the meaning of the Pass­over festival to address new circumstances. We might note as well that references to the Last Supper are found only in in­stitution narratives included in later eucharistic prayers, but that some early eucharistic prayers (e.g., Didache 9-~O, a.nd ~he East Syrian Anaphora of Addai and Mari) lack an mstItutlOn narrative altogether. Even the Anaphora of Hippolytus, so

. . . . 't I ks a refer-

influential on current ChnstIan euchanstic n es, ac ence to the formula, "on the night in which he was betrayed"; instead it refers to the one who was "handed over to a d:ath he freely accepted." But the thrust is totally eschatologIcal:

. d h '" rder to destroy death, to

Jesus freely accepted thIS eat III a . break the bonds of the evil one, to crush hell underfoot, to gIve . h h' enant and to show

light to the righteous, to estabhs IS cov , . f

. . .' t' n and celebratIOn 0

forth the resurrection," m antIclpa 10 .

.' th nks and gIV­

which he took the bread and cup, giVIll.g . a h' ' b dyand ing these gifts to his disciples as commuDlon III IS a

b~~~ I

. . th Passover seder he ps

Those who claim that celebratIllg e Jews

. ' ( h s modern western

modern western Chnsttans per ap d' of "me­

b'bl' cal understan Illg

h

as well) better apprehend tel 1 h' The

th heart of t e Issue.

morial" have put their fingers on e

FRANK C. SENN

196

tern mind has difficulty understanding anamnesis as reac-

MS . Id'

tualization. In the classical Graeco-Roman w.0r .VI~W the "really real" is the symbolic; in the western worldvlew It IS the empiri­cal. The classical view of symbol lingered on well into the Mid­dle Ages, but occasioned eucharistic controver~ies in the ninth throuoh the eleventh centuries as it clashed with the more in­digen~us view of "symbol" and "reality," creating irreconcil­able misunderstandings. By the twelfth century people had begun to acquire "a fresh sense of the immediacies of concrete experience, a new attachment to physical actualities," which led to the rise of the natural sciences.3o This new attention to the sensual also played an important role in heightening eucharistic realism during the Middle Ages, prompting devo­tions centered around exposing the host rather than eating it. It is not surprising that in this cultural context, memorial became memesis, imitation or reenactment, or recordatio, rec­ollection achieved through affective means. One thinks of the ways in which biblical events were presented to the faithful during the Middle Ages: in allegorical commentaries on the mass (beginning already with Theodore of Mopsuestia in fourth-century Syria, but reaching a high point during the Carolingian Renaissance, especially in the Expositio Missae of Amalarius of Metz), which in turn prompted a ceremonial that aimed at making the mass a reenactment of the passion of Christ. Biblical events were also portrayed in the pictures in

stained-glass windows, in paintings on the walls of church buildings, in statuary carved in stone, in chancel dramas and mystery plays. In a culture which reenacted in ritual drama the Palm Sunday triumphal procession (e.g., at Salisbury) and the Maundy Thursday footwashing (e.g., at Milan), which found a role for little liturgical music dramas (e.g., Quem pastores at Christmas, Victimae paschali laudes at Easter), and which produc~d passion plays enlisting the participation of whole populatlOns of villages (a tradition that continues in America in "Ii~:n~ ~ativity scenes" and drive-through "Passion dio­ramas ), It IS not surprising that a fondness would develop for

Passover seders in an attempt to come historically close to the Last Supper and to the historical Jesus.

SHOULD CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE THE PASSOVER?

It is also not sur~rising that Christian observance of Pass­

over seders began m the Reformed tradition (although they

have also been o~served in Roman Catholic and Lutheran

parishes). The chief characteristic of Zwinglian/Reformed/

Puritan spirituality has been a historical criticism which at­

tempts to peel away the layers of tradition in order to get at

and therefore be able to experience the original event. The

celebration of the Lord's Supper thus became a reenactment

of the Last Supper, so as to be put in mind of Christ's sacri­

fice for our redemption. The accoutrements and practices of

later liturgical history-altars, candles, gold or silver vessels,

vestments, kneeling for reception of Holy Communion-were

abolished in favor of tables, wooden or pewter vessels, street

clothing for ministers (in this case academic gowns), and sit­

ting "about" or "at" the communion table for the distribu­

tion.3l The whole thrust of the Reformed/Puritan celebra­

tion of the Lord's Supper was to make it as close to what Jesus

did in the upper room as the Reformers' knowledge allowed. This tradition of "historical realism" has flourished in Amer­ica, where it contributed profoundly to the biblicism of the "American religion"-i.e., the quest to discover and do what is in the Bible without the intervening hermeneutical traditions of Jewish sages, church fathers, ecumenical councils, creeds, summas, IIturgles, · . conieSSlOns,' an n . 32

r. d so 0

The whole western Christian tradition since the Middle Ages has operated with an affective rather than an effective understanding of memorial: that is, with a sense .that mak­ing the participant one with the saving event reqUires a ~ra­matic reenactment of the original event which elicits a subJec­tive response from the participant (who experiences the ev~nt anew in the celebration), rather than relying on the creat~ve power of the word and rite to make the celebration one wI~h the saving event. Odo Casel, the celebrated monk .of Mana Laach Abbey in Germany earlier in this century, tried .to re­cover the effective understanding of memorial found m t~e Bible and the church fathers by means of the concept of cultlc

..' ) H ote' "The mystery of

reactualization (Gegenwarttgung. e wr . . . ving act of Chnst m

worship makes present among us the sa

I

•

198 word and rite."33 The saving act is re-presented (not repre_ sented in the sense o~ port:~yal) by performing the rite. So, by taking bread and wme, glvmg thanks over them in remem_ brance of Christ's redemptive a.cts, .and eating and drinking the bread and wine as commUDlon 10 the body and blood of Christ, the redemptive acts of Christ are present with their salutary benefits in the contemporary celebration. This sense of effective memorial requires ritual enactment, but not cult drama. The community of faith does not do what Christ did in the upper room by way of replicating that event; rather it does what Christ commanded it to do in its own time and place, as spelled out in the "rubrics" of the institution narratives (tak­ing, blessing, breaking, giving).

The reformer Martin Luther also strained after a more ef­fective understanding of memorial, although he emphasized the creative and redemptive power of the word of God more than the performance of the rite (although by no means ex­cluding the necessity of performing the rite as instituted and mandated). But against the dramatic spectacle of the Roman mass interpreted allegorically in the Expositiones missae, on the one hand, and the Zwinglian memorial of the Last Supper on the other, both of which in Luther's view cultivated spiri­tualism ("the inward thoughts of the heart"), Luther said that "This memorial requires a sermon."34 For Luther "remem­brance" (Gediichtnis) must be an act of proclamation. The words of scripture, of the sermon, of prayer, as well as the "vis­ible words" of the sacramental rite, elicit the response of faith but do not depend on that response for their .efficacy. John Calvin, like Luther, also had a lively sense of the presence of God in the preaching of the word and believed that one re­ceives Christ through the obedient ritual use of the signs of bread and wine.35

Luther and Calvin, in their theologies of the word of God, come close to the understanding of "the word" (davar) in the Hebrew Bible. Words cause things to happen-the word of God above all. God's word is God's action. "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made ... for God spoke and it came to pass" (Ps. 33:6, 9). God's word goes forth from his mouth and

SHOULD CHRISTlANS CELEBRATE THE PASSOVER?

do~s not return to God empt~; "but it shall accomplish that

which I pur~ose, and prosper 10 the thing for which I sent it"

(lsa.55:11).

Thus, ~h~ satisfaction ffi.odern western (especially Ameri­can) Chnstlans have expenenced in celebrations of the Pass­over seder is located in the wider cultural predilection for af­fective religion. The western approach to cultic memorial, also profoundly influenced by the subjectivism of the Enlighten­ment, is rooted in this cultural context. For this reason I see no likelihood of a widespread return to and embracing of the kind of effective memorial found in the Bible and patristic lit­urgy, in the faith and practice of the Reformation (particularly in Luther and Calvin), or in the "mystery theology" of Odo CaseI. But at least in this one case we may say t~at if we are truly interested in a shared experience with Jewish brothers and sisters of the observance of the Pasch, co-opting the seder as a Christian celebration of what Jesus may have done is not the way. We should instead give renewed attention. to the Christian Pasch (the Easter Vigil) with its ProclamatIOn (the Exultet) and long series of readings from the ~ebr~w Bible, so as to arrive at a common experience of our hfe With the God of Israel who is also the Abba of our Lord Jesus

Christ.

Pesach and Pascha: A Shared Experience

What needs to be shared between Jews and Christians, t~ ·bl· I f ·th is our common expen­

bind us together in the bl Ica al , P

G d Th original night of the ass­

ence of the mighty acts of o . e . . d abso­

. 1 f ure terror which reqUire

over in Egypt was a mg 1t 0 P of the eople of Israel. lute obedience and trust on the part. home~, claiming every As the angel of death pas~ed o~er theu the Israelites had to

t

first-born human and am mal III Egy~ , the apotropaic act obey the instructions of Moses to per ~~: door posts of their of painting the blood of the la~~t~ this act their first-born

dwellings; and they had to trust t YJ us had to obey the would be spared. In the same W;y t~Son the cross, and then Father's will by submitting even to ea

4

FRANK C. SENN

entrust himself in death to his heavenly Father. The biblical

narratives read at the Easter Vigil contain elements of destruc­

tion: the destruction of chaos by God's creative word/act; the

destruction of the sinful world by the waters of the flood and

the salvation of Noah and his family and all those animals in

the ark; God's instruction to Abraham to sacrifice his only

son Isaac; the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and the drowning

of Pharaoh's soldiers and horses; Jonah crying from the belly

of the great fish; and Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego

thrown into the fiery furnace for refusing to worship King

Nebuchadnezzar's golden image. A quaint rabbinic gloss on

the Exodus story of the crossing of the sea pictures God re­

buking the angels in heaven for not weeping over the destruc­

tion of the beautiful Egyptians who are God's children too.

The point is that terror and destruction are real and cannot

be easily explained away. We are left in the hands of the living

and true God who can destroy and save.

The Passover of the Jews has been celebrated many times during nights of terror. It has not only been a festival of lib­eration but a festival of fear.37 Jews in medieval Europe were rounded up and killed because of the "blood libel" which charged that they killed Christian children to get blood for making matsah. Also during the Middle Ages the secret Jews of Spain and Portugal (the Marranos) celebrated the Passover according to what they could learn about it from the Latin Bible (and therefore as it was practiced during the time of the kings and prophets of ancient Israel) because they could not get Jewish books. There were secret Passover seders in the Jew­ish ghettoes of Eastern Europe during times of persecution and the Nazi Holocaust. The aspect of Passover as a festival of fear is not learned by non-Jews, including Christians, without

going into Jewish communities as guests to hear the stories of faith since the time of the Jewish-Christian schism at the end of the first century C.E.

Christians share with Jews the terrors of " the Paschal Feast in which the true Lamb is slain, by whose blood the doorposts of the faithful are made holy." Jews and Christians share the

SHOULD CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE THE PASSO ?

VER.

201

dangers of "this night." For "this I'ndeed' th .

. IS e Dlght" i h'

the chIldren of Israel are delivered from E t "n w Ich

" " gyp and led dry-

h h h R d S

shod, t roug tee ea. This is the night l' h' h b

. n w IC , reak­ing the chams of death,.Ch~ist arises from hell in triumph."38 We recall the calendncal Juxtaposition of Passover and Eas­ter. In some years these two festivals occur on the s I

. arne ca en­dar ~ate or lD cl.os~ pro~imity to each other. Dialogue between JeWIsh and ChnstIan faIth communities might follow the sepa­rate celebrations of Pesach and Pascha. The common human experiences of fear and faith can be explored and shared in these discussions. Such dialogue will be aided if the Christian Pasch does not minimize the terrors and dangers of this night, or other terrors and dangers we face in daily life and in historical existence, by explaining away all that is terrible and dangerous. The celebra­tion of the Easter Vigil has its physical dangers. It begins around a bonfire which gives light and warmth, but which also poses a threat should it get out of control. The congrega­tion processes into a church building that has been plunged into darkness as dark as the darkness of a grave or a tomb (even the "exit" lights are turned off). That may be "spooky" enough' but the numerous hand-held candles also constitute a danger 'that would worry local fire depart~ents an~ ?ossibly even violate local safety ordinances. The mght of vIgI.l comes to an end with candidates for baptism being plunged 1O~0 the

waters of baptism, for which some baptismal po~ls ~em1Od us of drowning as well as birthing. The baptismal nte Itsel~ caBs . . E '1 a well as a confeSSion of

for a renunciatIOn of the VI ne as

S "t d proper pre-

faith in God the Father, Son, and Holy pm; a~ '1

. of methodIcal eVI ,wan-

baptismal catechesis names 1Ostances. . h Id Often

. t uffenng 10 t e wor .

ton destruction, and 1Onocen s 't' to God's

f pure OppOSI IOn such suffering is the cons~quenc~ ~ not to be explained away; rule and will. But such evt! and SlD IS d fi Iy as preliminary

. . I d renounce rm

It IS to be faced square Y an . G d

. h' the triune o .

to the confession of fait 10 .' Passover is the Eas­

.' h true Chnsuan .

The POlDt IS that t e h Christian continUity and ter Vigil, and it expresses bot

FRANK C. SENN

discontinuity with the Jewish Passover. Until congregations have learned to observe and celebrate well their own paschal feast, they have no business trying to celebrate someone else's. And even those congregations which do celebrate the Chris­tian Passover well need to reconsider the practice of celebrat­ing the Jewish one, for reasons offered in this essay. On the other hand, a proper celebration of the Christian Passover gives Christians food for sharing in interfaith dialogue, which could lead to affirming our common experience of life under the gracious rule of a faithful and loving God.

NOTES

1.

This practice prompted my earlier article, "The Lord's Sup­per, Not the Passover Seder," Worship 60 (1986): 362-68.

2.

It has been a standard Christian practice to terminate both Old Testament psalms and New Testament canticles with the doxol­ogy, "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen."

3.

"In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

4.

See "A Passover Meal (seder) with Commentary," From Ashes to Fire: Services of Worship for the Seasons of Lent and Eastel; Supplemental Worship Resources 8 (Nashville, 1979), pp.214-30; The Passover CeLebration: A Haggadah for the Sedel; ed. Rabbi Leon Klenicki, introduction by Gabe Huck (The Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and The Liturgy Training Publications of the Archdiocese of Chicago, 1980). The United Methodist Church has been especially sensitive to anti-Semitic expressions in the liturgical tradition by rewriting the infamous Reproaches in the Good Friday Liturgy. The Archdiocese of Chicago, under the leadership of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, has made a special effort to develop fraternal relationships with the Jewish community of metropolitan Chicago.

5. Barbara Balzac Thompson, Passover Seder: Ritual and Menu for an Observance by Christians (Minneapolis, 1984), p. 3.

6. "Synoptic" Gospels refer to the Gospels according to St. Matthew, St. Mark, and St. Luke, which critical studies have shown to "look toward" one another, probably with Mark being a "source"

SHOULD CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE THE PASSOVER?

used by Matthew and Luke. "Johannine" refers to the G I

h· h "     ospe accord­

ing to St. J0 hn, w IC cntJcal studies regard as an I'nd d

. epen ent tra­dition from the synoptic Go.spels not relying on the synoptic sources.

7.

See Joseph M. Stalhnger, Celebrating an Alithentic Passover Seder: A Haggadah for Home and Church (San Jose, 1994).

8.

See Frank C. Senn, "Eucharistic Liturgy, Names for the," in The New Dictionary ofSacramental Worship, ed. Peter Fink (College­ville, 1990), pp. 448-51.

9.

See especially the introductions in the Liturgy Training Pub­

lication Seder and in Stallinger, Celebrating an Authentic Passover Sede/:

10.          The Birnbaum Haggadah, ed. Philip Birnbaum (New York,

1969), p. 94.

./             11. See Michael Karnmen, Mystic Chords of Memory: The Trans-I formation of Tradition in American Cliiture (New York, 1991), pp. I

531 ff.

I

12.          The names "Eucharist," "Lord's Supper," and "Holy Com-

I

munion" are used interchangeably in Christian literature and among

Christian denominations.

13.          See Thierry Maertens, A Feast in Honor of Yahweh (Notre

Dame, 1965), pp. 100 ff. .

i 14. See Hayyim Schauss, Guide to Jewish Holy Days: H,story and

I

Observance (New York, 1938; 1962), especially pp. 48 ff. . (N

15.          See A. Z. Idelsohn,iewish Liturgy and Its Development ew

I

York, 1932; 1960; 1967), pp. 176 ff.. . d . by Herbert Danby

I

16.          See The Mishnah, trans. With I~tro u~tlOn w Translation, ed. d 1933) pp. 136 ff.; or The MIshnah. A Ne

(0            f

x or "     249-57.

Jacob Neusner (New Haven, 1988), ~p: ,f the Liturgical Year (New

17.          See Thomas 1. Talley, The Orzgms OJ

York, 1986), pp. 5 ff. .' I Year (New York,1981), p. 59.

18.         

See Adolf Adam, The LltLlrg,lC; M stery (Staten Island, N.Y.,

19.         

See A. Hamman, The PasC za Y

1969), p. 31. .. ' t the creation of the world o~­20 Following rabbiniC behef tha t'me the Quartodecl­

. . h ear at Passover I , .

curred in the spnng of t e Y , . h' h began with the mcarna­

reaHon w IC        h

mans reasoned that the new c' , . of the year. Hence, t e

.               'n the spnng h

tion of the Word, also began I lebrated originally on t e

V·            . Mary was ce 5 11 !ley

Annunciation to the lfgm . to this day March 2. a

' d hand remams               . 's the

same day as Jesus eat , . lendrical calculation I

d that thiS ca and others have suggeste 204

origin of the date of Christmas, since nine months after March 25 is December 25.

21.

See Joachim Jeremias, The Eucharistic Words ofJesus, trans. Norman Perrin (New York, 1966).

22.

Strongly defended by A. Jaubert, The Date ofthe Last Supper

(Staten Island, N.Y., 1965), but unfavorably received by exegetes, in­cluding Jeremias, Benoit, and Brown.

23.

See P. Benoit, "The Holy Eucharist," Scripture 8 (1956):

24.

Raymond E. Brown, The Anchor Bible: The Gospel according to John XIII-XXI (Garden City, N.J., 1970), p. 556.

25.

The unique sequence of cup-bread-cup in the longer narra­tive in Luke is dealt with in a convincing way in Arthur Voobus, The Prelude to the Lllkan Passion Narrative (Stockholm, 1968).

26.

See Jaroslav Pelikan, The Christian Tradition, vol. 2, The Spirit of Eastern Christendom (600-1700) (Chicago, 1974), pp. 176-79.

27.

See Geoffrey Wainwright, Eucharist and Eschatology (Oxford and New York, 1981), who explicates the meanings of the eucharist as the antepast of heaven, the parousia of Christ, and the realization

97-108.

of the church as the firstfruits of the new creation.

28. See Norman Perrin, Recovering the Teaching of Jesus (New

York, 1967), p. 107.

29.

See the texts of these eucharistic prayers, also calIed "ana­phoras" (from the invitatory "Lift up your hearts/minds") in Prayers of the Eucharist: Early and Reformed, ed. and trans. with commen­taries by R. D. C. Jasper and G. J. Cuming, 3rd ed. (New York, 1987).

30.

See Lynn White, Jr., "Natural Science and Naturalistic Art in

the Middle Ages," in Medieval Religion and Technology: Collected Es­

says (Berkeley, 1978), pp. 27-33.

31. The Westminster Directory for the Pllblique Worship of God

(1644) de:ised these rubrics for posture as a compromise between

Presbytenans Who sat "at" the table passing the elements to one an­

other and the Congregationalists Who sat "about" the table (i.e., in

their pews) and had the elements brought to them by ministers. See

Liturgies of the Western Church, selected and introduced by Bard

Tho~pson (New York and Scarborough, Ontario, 1961), p. 369; dis­

CUSSIon on p. 352.

32. See ~~Old Bloom, The American Religion: The Emergence of the Post-Chris/Ian Nation (New York 1992) 81

33 Od ' ,p.. . . 0 Casel, The Mystery ofChristian Worship and Other Writ­mgs, ed. Burkhard Neunheuser (Westminster, Md., 1962), p. 142.

SHOULD CHRISTIANS CELEBRATE THE PASSOVER? 205

34. See Carl F. Wisloff, The Gift ofCommunion: Luther's Contro­versy with Ro"!,e on Eucha~istic Sacrifice (Minneapolis, 1964), p. 89.

35.

See Bnan A. Gernsh, The Old Protestantism and the New (Chicago, 1982), especially pp. 111 ff.

36.

See Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, vol. 2 (New York, 1965), pp. 81 ff.

37.

See Schauss, Guide to Jewish Holy Days, pp. 57 ff.

38.

From the Exultet of the Easter Vigil. See Lutheran Book of Worship, Ministers Edition (Minneapolis, 1978), p.l44.

Contributors

PAUL F. B~ADS.HAW, an Anglican priest, is professor of liturgy at the UDlversity of Notre Dame and editor-in-chief of Studia Liturgica. Among his recent books are The Search for the Ori­gins of Christian Worship (SPCK/Oxford University Press, I 1992), Two Ways ofPraying (SPCKIAbingdon Press,1995), and I Early Christian Worship: An Introduction to Ideas and Practice

I

(SPCK, 1996).

I

MARTIN F. CONNELL teaches in the School of Theology at Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. He is the author

I

j

of A Parish ~ Introduction to the Liturgical Year (Loyola Press,

1997) and The Guide ofthe Revised Lectionary (Liturgy Train­

ing Publications, 1998).

I

JOSEPH GUTMANN is professor emeritus of art history, Wa~ne

I.

State University, and an ordained rabbi from Hebrew Umo~ College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Cincinnati. Among hIS eighteen books are The Temple ofSolomon, No Graven Images,

lJ . ., Th Dura-Europos Synagogue,

Hebrew Manuscrtpt Pamtmg, e

and The Jewish Life Cycle. He lives in Hunt~ngton Woods,

Michigan, with his wife of forty-five years, Manlyn.

d' d rabbi and professor of

LAWRENCE A. HOFFMAN is an or alOe . h I titute of Re-

I· U· College-JewIS ns

Iturgy at the Hebrew mon. h conization of the ligion, New York. His books mclude IDe

. ·t of Notre arne

Synagogue Service (UD1Ve~SI y.

yond the Text (Indiana umverslty.P~s~binicJudaiSm (Univer­

Blood: Circumcision and Gender In a

sity of Chicago Press, 1995). He is the gen

207

CONTRIBUTORS

208

Ami: My People's Prayer Book (Jewish Lights Publications, 1997-), a projected eight-volume series containing the liturgy of the synagogue and a series of modern commentaries.

MAxWELL E. JOHNSON is an ordained pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Associate Professor of Lit­urgy at the University of Notre Dame. His publications in­clude The Prayers of Sarapion of Thmuis (Rome: Pontifical Oriental Institute, 1995) and Living Wale/; Sealing Spirit: Read­ings on Christian Initiation (The Liturgical Press, 1995).

ROBIN A. LEAVER, an ordained Anglican, is a professor of sa­cred music at Westminster Choir College of Rider University, Princeton, and visiting professor of liturgy at Drew University, Madison, N.J. He has written widely on liturgy and music and is the editor of the series of monographs, Studies in Liturgical Musicology, and coeditor of the series, Drew University Stud­ies in Liturgy. His most recent book (coedited with Joyce A. Zimmerman) is Liturgy and Music: Lifetime Learning (The Liturgical Press, 1998).

FRANK C. SENN is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Lu­theran Church in America. He received his doctorate in litur­gical studies from the University of Notre Dame and has held academic appointments at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and the University of Chicago Divinity School. Pas­tor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Evanston Illinois since

, ,

1990, and past president of the Liturgical Conference and the North American Academy of Liturgy, his works include Chris­tian Worship: Catholic and Evangelical (Fortress Press, 1997) and A Stewardship of the Mysteries (Paulist Press, 1998).

EFRAT ZARREN-ZoHAR is an ordained rabbi from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, New York, and has served since 1993 as Director of Adult Education and Out­reach at the Central Agency for Jewish Education in Miami. She resides in Hollywood, Florida, with her husband, Dr. Zion Zohar, and son, Matan Yitzhak.

Index

Abrahams, Israel, 80, 120-21, 130n. 54

aBurck, Joachim (Moller), 155

Acts of the Apostles, 98,102, 105n. 1

Acts of the Martyrs, use of term "Great Sabbath," 29-30

afikoman (see also matsah): in Christianized seder, 184; derivation of term, 113, 12611. 22; interpretations of, 112-13, 127nn. 22, 29; regula­tions for eating, 111, 118-19

African-American spirituals, 165

Akiba, Rabbi, 76, 85; death of stu­dents linked to the S'jirah, 79-80,81,83, 87, 91n. 31

Akiva, Rabbi, 91n. 35

Alexandrian Christianity, 37, 47, 57,65; origin of forty-day fast seen in, 44-47,49-50, 53n. 35,64

Alexandrian Judaism, 57 Alfasi, 130n. 47

Ambrose, 117

amoraim, 120, 127n. 29; regulations on Passover, 113-15, 116, 126n.9 Amphiloque (bishop of Iconium), 104

anaphoras, 195,203n.29

angels, depicted in medieval liaggadahs,136,140, 141 Anglican Church (Church of En­gland), 162-64 Anicetus (pope), 189

Annunciation, the, 203n. 20

anti-Semitism: in deaths of Pionius and Polycarp,31; medieval, 167,200; tendencies in pas­sion music, 167-70;twenti­eth-century Christian ef­forts to combat, 202n. 4

Apostolic Constitutions, 18, 101

Apostolic Traditions (attributed to Hippolytus), 21, 37, 43, 44­45, 51n. 6

Aramaic language, 123 Armenia, early Christian tradition, 23, 40,42,43,62

arts, 2, 7-8, 10; Haggadah illumina­

tion traditions, 132-43

Ascension, Feast of the, 97-99, 100­

102,103-5 Ashkenazi, 125n. 5; Haggadah illu­mination tradition, 132, 133,

136-40,141-42

Ash Wednesday, 47

Athanasius, 22, 39,

47, 96

atonement, 9-10

Augsburg Publishing House, 183-84

Baal, ritual for, omer linked with,

75,90n.l0

Babli, the, 112, 114, 119-21

Babylonia, ancient, celebratlon 10

honor of victory of Marduk,

92n. 54

.

Babyloman Jews, ,

seder customs, 114-15, 118­19,121,129nn.42,43,47

209

•

INDEX INDEX

Bach, Carl Philipp Emmanuel, 159

Bach, Johann Sebastian, 157-59, 163-64, 165, 168-69, 177nn. 56, 58

Bahr, Gordon J., 126n. 14

Baldovin, John, 38

Balin, Carole, 10

baptism, 8, 42-44, 47-48, 64-67

on Easter, 42-43, 55, 65, 201; Council of Nicea on, 46-47, 48; preparation for, 36, 37, 39-41, 45-46,49-50, 51n.6, 52n.15, 54n. 48

preparation for not associated

with Easter, 57, 59, 61, 64, 95 Bar Kochba rebellion, 91n. 31 Bar Yochai, Rabbi Shimon, 85-86 Baumstark, Anton, 44, 56 Beethoven, Ludwig van, 163 Ben Asher, Jacob, 82 benediction(s): in contemporary

S'jirat Ha'omer ritual, 87; over bread, 116-17, 118, 129n. 43

Bernardin, Joseph Cardinal, 202n. 4

Bible, the (see also New Testament; Old Testament): 1534 Ger­man, 153; medieval illustra­tions, 132; scenes from in Spanish Haggadahs, 140; singing of texts from, 166 (see also music, church)

bikkurim (first fruits), 74

Binding of Isaac, depiction of, 141

Bird's Head liaggadah, 136-37

birkat hamazon (after-dinner Grace), 129n. 47

bitter herbs (maror), 7, 118-19; de­piction in Haggadah illumi­nations, 132, 139,140,142

Blarr, Gottlieb, 170

Block, Abraham, 91n.31

blood, symbolism of, 128n. 32

Boethusians, 77-78, 91n. 22

Bahm, Georg, 157 bonfires, as Lag Ba'omer custom, 84-86

books: medieval illustrations, 132­43; role in Jewish and Chris­tian traditions, 134-35

bows and arrows, playing with, as

Lag Ba'omer custom, 84-85 Bradshaw, Paul F., 1-12, 43, 44, 55 Braun, VVerner,175n. 40 bread, 7, 115-17 (see also lIlalsah)

as element of the eucharist, 192 second offering of S'jirat Ha'omer in form of, 74, 77

as symbol of salvation, 115-17, 123; in the Passover seder, 10, 109-25

Brockes, Barthold Heinrich, 159­

60, 177n.58 Brown, Raymond, 191-92 Bugenhagen, Johannes, 153, 173nn.

22, 25

Byrd, VVilliam, 151

Byzantine Christian tradition, 37,

42, 53n. 35

Cairo Genizah, 132 Calvin, John, 198-99 Calvinism, 162 candles, use during Easter vigil, 201 Canonical Epistle (Peter of Alexan­

dria), 44-45 Canons of Hippolytu$, 44-45, 96 Casel, Odo, 197-98, 199 catechumens, 8, 39,44, 48, 52n.15,

105n. 10; pre-paschal prepa­ration, 36, 37, 40, 45-46, 48-50

Chag Hakatzir (Feast of Reaping),

73 chag hamatzot (Passover), 110 Chag Hashavuot (Feast of VVeeks),

73-74 Chama bar Chanina, Rabbi, 26

chanting of the passion narratives, in liturgy: Catholic, 147-48, 150, 173n. 22; Protestant, 153, 173n. 25, 178n. 71

charoset, 128n. 32, 141 Chasidic Jews, 85 Chavasse, Antoine, 22-23, 28, 40,

41, 52n. 15, 63 children, 3, 84-85 chorales, inclusion in passions, 156­

57, 168-70, 180n.91 choral passion. See polyphonic pas­sions, responsorial Choral-Passion (Distler), 164, 179n. 78 Christianity (see also individual de­nominations and topics):

shared experiences with Judaism, 199-202 Christians, as illustrators of

Haggadahs, 133 Christmas, 149, 204n. 12 Chromatius of Aquileia (bishop).

101

chronology: as approach to the Great Sabbath in Christian tradition, 29-32; as approach to periods of time related to

Lent, 60-62 Chrysostom, John, 23, 48, 67, 101 Church of England (Anglican

Church), 162-64

cleansing from impurity, in Jewish tradition, 25-26, 27, 34n. 25, 41,55, 60, 61, 63, 66

climate, importance for S'jiral Ha'omer, 72-76

commemoration, post-Constantian liturgy focused on, 36-37 . Common Prayer, Book of (Angh­can), 162,164, 178n.70

concert performances of Catholic masses, 166 of passion music, 159-60, 161, 162-63, 165-66; anti-Semitic

tendencies in, 167, 168-70

Congregationalists, 204n. 31

Connell, Martin, 10, 94-106

Conservative Judaism, S'jirat Ha'omer ritual, 88-89 Coquin, R.-G., 44,46, 56 1 Corinthians: 5:7-8, 66, 127n.31,

195;16:8, 105n. 1; 11 on the Last Supper, 115-16, 127n. 31, 128n.32,192, 193, 194; 13:1-13 read during Chris­tianized seder, 184

corpse-uncleanliness, in Jewish tra­dition, 25-26, 27

counting period, S'jiral Ha'omer as a, 73-75, 76-78, 81; contem­porary ritual, 87-89; Lag Ba'omer as thirty-third day of, 82-87

covenant, 28-29 craft guilds, medieval, closed to Jews, 133 crops, in biblical Israel, significance of oilier for, 72-75 cross, the, Lutheran theology of, 151

crowd. See wrba

crucifixion. See Passion of Christ

cultic reactualization (Gegenwiir­

tigllllg), 197-99

Cup of Elijah, 125n. 5, 184 Cyril of Alexandria, 96 Cyril of Jerusalem (bishop), 38, 40,

67

Dalmais, I. H., 27 Dalman, Gustav, 87 Darmstadt Passover Haggadah,

137-38,139 Daube, David, 126n. 22 Days of the Counting of the Orner.

See S'jirat Ha'omer dead, the (see also mourning): con­

dead, the, (contillued) nected with harvest time, 80, 91n. 35 Dean, Winton, 163 deliverance (see also salvation): matsah as symbol of,109-10, 123-25; paschal lamb as sym­bol of, 115; petition related to in the Lord's Prayer, 117 Derenburg, Joseph, 87 desacrilization, rite of, 74 Deuteronomy 16:9-10,71,73-74,

900. 19 Delllsche Messe (Luther),152, 153, 173n.22,175n. 35 Diaspora, following the Babylo­nian exile, 187 Dickenson, Clarence, 165, 179n. 81

Didascafia Apostolorum, 38

Distler, Hugo, 164, 179n. 78

Diversarum hereseon fiber (Filas­trius),101-2

Dix, Gregory, 37, 38

Dominica (in) mediana, 22, 39

dramatic passion. See polyphonic

passions, responsorial

dramatic reenactment, as means

for connecting with history,

185, 197-98

Dura-Europos synagogue, 135-36

Durandus, 167

Easter, 66-68, 95-96, 103, 149 baptism (see baptism, on Easter) date for, 22-23, 24, 27, 189-90, 201; Nicene decision on, 46 preparation for,36-38 (see also Lent) symbolic shaping of time and meaning, 1-11 Eastern Christianity, 37, 42, 47, 53n. 35; date of Easter for 189-90; Good Friday passion narratives, 146-47,I71n.4

•

INDEX

Easter vigil, 4-5; as the Christian Passover, 199-200, 201-2 Ecclesiastical History (Socrates), 21,38-40, 41 , 42, 47 ecology, context of S'/irat Ha'omer, 72-76 Edward VI (king, England), 162 Egeria (Etheria): accounts of Lent, 21-22,47-48, 103,146;ac­counts of Pentecost, 97-99, 100, 101, 105n. 10 eggs, symbolism of, 142 Egypt, 57, 96-97, 132, 199-200 (see also Alexandrian Christian­ity); deliverance from (see Exodus, the) Elbogen, Ismar, 35n. 41 Eleazar, Rabbi, 75-76 Elijah, coming of, 19, 125, 184, 187 Elizabeth I (queen, England), 162 Elvira, Council of, 101 English language, use of: in Angli­can liturgy, 178n. 71; in pas­sion narrative for Holy Week masses, 148, 172n. 9; in twentieth-century passion music, 165, 179nn. 80, 81 Epiphany, 42-43, 60, 64-65, 149 Episcopalians, 54n. 47

Epistula Apostolorum, 189

Eroa Michael Haggadah, 138 eschatology, in Christianity, 36, 38, 95, 117, 193-94 eschatology, in Judaism: messian­ism, 11, 85, 187; significance in medieval Haggadah illus­trations, 136, 141-42 eucharist, 192, 203n. 12 (see also Last Supper) celebration of,195, 203n. 31 (see also mass[es]); as culmina­tion of baptism, 60, 66-67; early Christian, 186; mean­ings of, 204n. 27; parallel

INDEX

between seder and for Hoffman, 65-67 Eusebius, 31, 189 evangelist, voice of in sung pas­sions, 147-49 Exodus, Book of, 24, 58, 73-74 12, 95, 110 12:1-20,28, 41; as feature of Shabbat Hachodesh, 17, 24­25, 27, 28, 41 illustrations from in Spanish Haggadahs, 140 Exodus, the, 88-89, 200; Haggadah illustrations depicting, 136, 140;matsah as historical recollection of, 112, 115, 122; the seder as commemora­tion of, 186-88

Expositiones missae, 196, 198

Ezekiel 36:23-36, 28-29,41

fasting, in Christian tradition,101­2, 189 not permitted during fifty-day Pentecost season, 94-95,96, 98, 100, 101 pre-paschal, 21-23,27-29, 36,37­38, 47, 49-50, 54n. 48 (see also Lent); forty-day custom, 44-49, 58; three-week cus­tom, 22-23, 28-29, 36,39-40, 55-58, 61-62 fasting, in Jewish tradition, 9, 23, 114 Feast of Reaping (Chag Hakatzir), 73 Feast of Weeks (Clzag Hashavllot), 73-74 (see also Shavuot) Filastrius of Brescia (bishop), 101-2 Finkelstein, Louis, 78 Fischer, Kurt von, 173n. 22 fish, symbolism of, 142 Flagello, Nicholas, 165 folk character and humor, in me­

dieval Haggadah illustra­tions,139 folk traditions, medieval, for S'firat Ha'omer, 71-72 Formulae missae (Luther),152, 175n.35 forty, references to (see also fast­ing;Lent):significance,22, 58-59, 64 "Four Questions," in the Haggadah, 121 four sons, Haggadah illustrations of, 137, 144n. 7 Fox, Robin Lane, 30-31 fresco painting, Greco-Roman,135 Frishman, Elyse, 89

Fiissener Traktat (Maihillger Frag­mellt; Passiollale),149-50,

154,172n.13,174n. 30

Galatians, Letter to the, 189 Garden of Eden,symbolism of bread in,l16-17 Gaster, Theodor, 80,85,87 Gediichtllis (remembrance), for Luther, 198 Gegemviirtigung (cuItic reactualiza­tion), 197-99 Genesis, Book of, illustrations from in Spanish Haggadahs, 140 Gennadius of Marseilles, 99 Geonim 75-82, 91n. 31,113-14, 129n. 47 (see also Rabbis, the) Georgian Lectionary, 40, 62 Gerber, Christian, 160-61 Gerhardt, Paul, 157 . ' Germany: Haggadah illummatlon tradition, 132, 133, 136-39; passion music, 151-63, 164­65,179nn. 78,79 Gerstenburg, Joachim, 176n. 44 ghettos, of Eastern Europe, 200

Ginsberg, H. Louis, 73, 90n. 20 Gloria Parri, 183, 202n. 2 Gold Haggadah, 139-40 Goldschmidt, Daniel, 119, BOn. 53 Good Friday, 5, 28, 47, 96, 190; in

the Eastern church, 46,146­47; Protestant observance of,

152-53, 157, 162;Reproach~

202n. 4; vespers, 157-58 Gospels (see also John, Gospel of) link between the Passover ma(­sal! and pesaell, 116

synoptic, 187, 190, 202n. 6 (see also Luke; Mark; Matthew); accounts of the Lord's Supper, 184, 190-91; Last Supper seen as a seder, 116, 127n. 31, 185, 190-91

Gotha manuscript choirbook, 153, 174n.29

Great Sabbath: in Christian tradi­tion, 8-9, 18, 29-32, 60; in Jewish tradition (SI!abba( lIagadoO,6, 8-9, 17-20, 23,

29-32 Great Week, 36-37, 46, 56 Greco-Roman world, 187; festive

meals, 113, 1300. 52; lost illus­trated Jewish manuscripts unlikely, 134-36

Greenberg, Rabbi Irving, 89 Gregory Nazianzus, 43 Gregory of Nyassa, 101 Gregory XIII (pope), 148 Grimme, Hubert, 92n. 54 Guidetti, Giovanni, 148 Gutmann, Joseph, 10, 132-45

lIa/tarah,15-17,19-20,23

Haggadah(s), 2, 5, 18, 112, 125n. 5,

187 (see also ha laehma anyaj seder); illuminated manuscripts, 10, 132-43; twentieth-century Christian­ized forms, 5, 183-86

INDEX

Hai Gaon, 81-82, 110

haircuts: prohibition against during S'jira( lIa'omer, 78, 82, 92n. 40; received by boys during I!illllla festival, 85-86

ha lac/lin a allya ("Behold the bread of affliction"), 111, BOn. 54, 141, 142; interpreta­tions of, 119-22, 124, 130n. 52

lIal/el, 18, 187 hamo(si (benediction over bread), 116-17 Handel, George Frederick, 160, 162-63 Handl, Jacob (Gallus), 151, 158,

176n. 47 Hareuveni, Nogah, 73, 74-75 Harvest, feast of. See Shavuot harvest season, 80 (see also S'jira(

lIa'omer) lIavdalalt ceremony, 142 Hayarchi, Abraham, 83, 86 lIebdol7lada (in) m edialla, 22, 39 lIeilands letzte Stunden, Des (Cal­

vary) (Spohr), 163, 179n. 76 Heinichen, Johann David, 168 Henrici, Christian Friedrich (Pican­

der), 177no. 56, 58 "Hillel sandwich" (koreklt), 111, 118-19, 123, 129n. 47

hillula, 85-86

Hippolytus of Rome, 21, 37, 43, 44­45, 51n. 6, 63, 95, 195 lIistoria Eeclesiastiea (Socrates), 21 , 38-40, 41,42, 47 historicism, 104, 197; Dix's theory of, 37, 38

lIistorie der Kirehen-Ceremonien in Saehsen (Gerber), 160-61 Hoffman, Lawrence A., 1-12, 15­35,41-42,55-68,109-31 Holocaust, the, 200; influence on the Passover seder, 188 Holy Communion. See eucharist; Last Supper

INDEX

Holy Saturday, pre-paschal fast on, 47

Holy Spirit, sending of, 95, 97-98, 100, 103 (see also Pentecost)

Holy Thursday, 48, 56, 96

Holy Week, 4, 36-38, 152-53 (see also music, church, for Holy Week); Protestant obser­vance of, 152-53, 154, 162, 173n. 22; twentieth-century Christian participation in form of seder as part of, 183-86

Homilies on Leviticus (Origen), 44­45 Hooper, John (bishop of

Gloucester), 162, 178n. 71 Hosea, Book of, 16,28,75 human development, parallel with

seen in the S'jirat Ha'omer,

89

Huna, Rav, 119-21

illustrations: Haggadah, 10, 132-43; medieval Christian books, 132-34, 144n. 7

incarnation, 190, 203n. 20

Irenaeus of Lyons, 31, 95

Israel: as Land under Roman

sphere of influence, 81; as state, influence on the Pass­over seder, 188

Italy, medieval

Christianity, 97, 99-100, 104

Judaism: Haggadah illumina­

tions, 132, 140-41, 142;

Shabbat Hagadol, 17

Jellinek, A., 18 Jeremias, Joachim, 190 Jerome, St., 22, 39, 102, 117 Jerusalem, in early Christianity, 97­

99 (see also Egeria); Lenten period, 38, 47-48, 55, 65, 103 Jerusalem, significance in Judaism,

215

125 (see also Temple, the); depicted in the Bird's Head Haggadah, 136-37; pilgrim­ages to, 73-74, 187

Jesus, to,104, 187,199-200 (see also Ascension;Passion of ~hrist; resurrection);bap­tism of,42,56, 61,64-65; forty days fast in the wilder­ness, 37, 45,49-50, 56-57, 59, 61,64,67;incarnation 190 203n. 20;as the Passo~er, 60, 64; Pionius and Polycarp seen as imitating death of, 31-32;voice of in mono­phonic passions, 147-48 Joel ben Simeon, 138-39 John, Gospel of, 104,187,202n. 6 account of the Lord's Supper, 184, 190-93 date of the crucifixion, 128n. 31, 190 passion narrative (18-19) (see also St. John Passion); role in Holy Week liturgy, 146-47 readings from during last three weeks of Lent, 39-40, 52n. 15, 53n.35 references to the Great Sab­bath, 8-9, 18,20,29-30,31­

32, 60 Johnson, Maxwell, 8, 36-54, 55-68 John the Baptist, 64-65 Josephus, 91n.27, 113, 122,134,187 Joshua, Rabbi (Rabbi Simon), 75,

124

Jounel, p., 27

Jubilees, calendar of, 91n. 22

Judah, Rabbi, 76

Judah, Rav, 113-14 .

Judaism (see also individual.topICS): shared experiences With Christianity, 199-202; sin~­iog of words of scripture 10 liturgical tradition, 166;

----~-.,~--------------........

216 INDEX INDEX

Judaism (contillued) unique customs depicted in illustrated Haggadah manu­

scripts, 141-43 ]lIdenstern (Sabbath lamp), 142 Justin Martyr, 19, 27

Kabbalists, on the S'firah, 88

Kaddish, 117 Kairuwan Jewry, BOn. 47 Keisler, Reinhold, 159

KiddllSh, 121-22

Kittner, Alfred, 170 Klein, Isaac, 88-89 Klenicki, Rabbi Leon, 184 Koch, Heinrich Christoph, 178n. 67 korekh ("Hillel sandwich"), 111,

118-19, 123, 129n. 47 Kuhnau,Johann, 156, 157

Lag Ba'omer, 71-72, 82-87, 92nn. 41,51,54; determination of date for, 83-84

Lages, Mario Ferreira, 28, 40, 55, 63, 65 lamb, paschal (pesach)

consumption at the seder, 111, 113-14, 118-19,122-23, 129n. 47;matsah as replacement for, 110, 114-16, 117-18, 122-23

sacrifice in the Temple, 186-87, 195

taking and slaughtering, 121, 187-88; relationship to the Great Sabbath, 18,24,29

lamb, paschal, Jesus as, 95-96, 128n. 31

Last (Lord's) Supper, 115-16, 123, 128n.32,184,190-94,203n. 12 (see also eucharist); cele­bration of as affective or ef­fective memorial, 197-99,

204n. 31; seen in the synop­

tic Gospels as a seder, 116, 127n. 31, 185, 190-91; twenti­eth-century Christian cele­bration of seder seen as cele­bration of, 183-85, 188

Lathrop, Gordon w.,166

Latin language, use of: in Lutheran worship, 154-55, 175n. 35; in passion music, 165-66, 178nn. 69, 71

Lazarus Saturday, 37,42,46,47

Leach, Edmund, 7

leaven of sin, cleaning one's self from, 55, 61, 63

Leaver, Robin, 10, 146-80

Lechner, Leonhard, 155, 175n. 39

lectionaries, Christian, 23, 40, 53n. 35, 153; Georgian and Arme­nian, 23, 28, 40, 62; on read­ings for last three weeks of Lent, 39-40, 41, 52n. 15

lectionaries, Jewish, 5, 8, 15-20, 28, 41

Lemuria (Roman festival) , 80

Lent, 4, 8, 152, 154, 159-60 length of time for, 21-23, 27-29, 36,46-47; forty-day custom, 22, 36-38, 39, 44-50, 56-62, 63-64, 67; three-week cus­tom, 22-23, 28-29, 36, 38-44, 50, 55-58, 63-68 "micareme," Lag Ba'omer com­pared to, 87 origins, 21-23, 27-29, 36-50; Hoffman-Johnson dialogue on, 55-68; Jewish, 15,20, 41-42

Leo I (the Great) (pope), 43, 48, 52n. 15 Levi, Rabbi, 26,111 Levine, Sandy (Kinneret Shiryon), 89 Levi-Strauss, Claude, 7 Leviticus 23:10-21, 71, 74, 76-77, 81

Lightfoot, 1. B., 30 liminal events, number forty ap­

plied to, 58-59 literalism, in use of language, 59 Longueval, Antoine de, 150-51,

155, 175n.36 Lord's Prayer, symbolism of bread

in, 117 Lord's Supper. See Last Supper Lowen, Arnulf von, 157 Luke, Gospel of, 16, 187; Lord's

Prayer, 117; passion narra­tive (22-23),146-47,191, 204n. 25 (see also St. Luke Passion)

Luria, Isaac, 92n. 51 Luther, Martin, 151-54, 166, 173n. 25, 180n. 89, 198-99 Lutherans, 54n. 47, 197; passion mu­sic, 151-63, 165, 166, 179n. 82

Macmillan, James, 169-70

Maiilinger Fragment. See Fiissener

Traktat

Mainlonides, Moses, 88,123 Malachi 3:4-24, 17, 19-20, 23 manna, Lag Ba'omer seen as cele­

bration of, 92n. 54

Marissen, Michael, 169

Mark, Gospel of, 46; Mar Saba

Clementine Fragment, 46,

53n. 35; passion narrative (14-15), 19, 127n.31, 128n.

32,146-47, 190-91,194 (see

also St. Mark Passion)

maror. See bitter herbs

marriage, prohibition of: during

harvest season in ancient Rome, 80-81; during S'firat Ha'omer, 78-81 , 83

Mar Saba Clemelltille Fragmelll, 46,

53n.35

Marti, Andreas, 167

Martimort, A. G., 27

martyrdom: feasts as baptismal oc­casions,43; of Pionius and Polycarp, 9, 29-32

Mary I (queen, England), 162

mass(es), Catholic, 149, 196, 198 (see also eucharist); concert performances, 166; Holy Week, 147-52

matsah (see also ajikoman):depic­tion in Haggadah illumina­tions, 132, 140, 141,142; Hillel's custom for eating, 111, 118-19,123, 129n.47; Passover regulations on, 110­11,117-19, 125n. 7, 126n. 9, 129n. 42; as replacement for pesaell, 110,114-16,117-18, 122-23; as symbol of salva­tion, 10, 109-25 Mattheson,Johann, 160-61,178n.66 Matthew, Gospel of: Lord's Prayer, 117;passion narrative (26­27),19,146-47,191,194 (see also St. Matthew Passion) Maximus of Thrin, 99-100 May Day ceremony, Lag Ba'omer as a, 85 meals:festive Greco-Roman,113, 130n. 52; shared by Christ with others, 193-94 (see also Last Supper) meat, symbolism of, 142 (see also lamb, paschal) Melito of Sardis, 190 Melloh, John, 4

memorial: biblical concept of

(anamnesis; zikkaron), 1~5,

196; effect ive and affective, 194-99; as memesis or recor­dalio, 196

Mendelssohn, Felix, 169 Messiah (Handel), 162-63 messianism, in Judaism, 11, 85, 141­

42, 187

218

"micareme," Lag Ba'omer com­pared to, 87 Middle Ages, 80, 196 Christianity during, 2, 20, 104. 148 first discussions of the Great Sabbath, 17-18, 19

Judaism during, 6. 8-9. 71-72, 85; anti-Semitism, 167,200; Haggadah illumination tradi­tions, 132-43

Mid-Pentecost, Feast of, 103-4 ntidrash, 28-29, 59, 79, 116-17 Mihaly, Eugene, 116-17, 126n. 1O Mishnah, 17, 120, 124, 188; interpre­

tation of ajikoman, 127nn. 22, 29; Passover regulations, 112, 113-14, 121-22, 126n. 9; on Shabbac Parah and Shabbat Hachodesh, 24-26,

28, 35n.41 Missale Romanum, Thdentine, 52n.

15 monasticism, medieval, 96, 132,148 monophonic passions, 147-48 Morgenstern, Julian, 92n. 54 Moses, 58; Haggadah illustrations

depicting, 135-36

motets, 155-56; through-composed passions, 149, 150-51, 172n. 12

motsi (benediction over bread), 116-17, 118, 129n. 43

mourning: Lenten practices re­laxed on "micareme," 87; S'jirac Ha'omer associated with, 78-84, 87

music, church, 10, 162

for Holy Week, 146-70; anti-Se­mitic tendencies in, 167-70; nineteenth-and twentieth­century, 163-67, 169-70; pre­nineteenth-century, 151-63

MUSlims, 86, 132 Musurillo, Herbert, 31

INDEX

mystics: Christian, 148; Jewish, 85, 88, 92n. 51, 120

narrative (storytelling), as ritual, 3-8

Natronai Gaon, 79, 81

New Testament (see also Gospels; individual books by name): Luther's German text, use in responsorial passions, 153; readings from as part of Christianized seder, 184; on revelry as part of the seder, 113; translation from Greek into Latin, 102

"Next year in Jerusalem," 125 Nicea, Council of, 38, 49, 55, 101, 189; origin of forty-day fast before Easter, 44, 46, 48, 56, 64

North Africa, early Christianity in, 43,55-56, 63,67 Numbers, Book of, 74; 19:1-22, 17, 24,25, 28, 41

Obrecht, Jacob, 150-51, 155

Octave of Easter, 103

Offer, Joseph, 16

Old Testament, 91n. 27 (see also in­dividual books by name); ac­counts of interval between Passover and Shavuot, 71; bread as symbol of salvation in, 116-17; medieval illustra­tions, 132, 140; Pentateuchal readings for Sabbath and holy days, 15-17,26-27

orner. See S'firat Ha'omer

oratorio passion, 155-57, 172n.17, 175n.40, 176n. 44, 178n. 67; non-liturgical, 151, 156. 158­61

oratorios, definitions, 178n. 67

Ordines Romani, 147

Origen. 44-45, 65. 95

INDEX

Orthodox Judaism, S'firat Ha 'omer ritual, 88-89 Oxford Movement, 162, 163

Palestinian Jews, 15, 55, 57. 61; Passover seder customs, 114­

15. 118-19, 121, 129nn. 42.

43, 47 Palestinian Talmud, 26, 127n. 22 Palm Sunday, 37, 46, 47, 96,142.

148,196; Protestant obser­

vance of ,1 52-53. 157,162

Papa, Rav. 129n. 43

Part, Arvo, 165

Pascha, 27 (see also Easter; Pass­

over); preparation for, 36, 55, 57-58 (see also fasting; Lent) Passionale. See Fiissener Traktat

Passion of Christ. 49, 151

crucifixion. 149. 168; date of,

128n. 31,190, 191

music for liturgy of. 146-70; anti-Semitic tendencies in, 167-70; nineteenth-and twentieth-century. 163-67, 169-70; pre-nineteenth­century, 147-63

non-liturgical music, 151. 156, 158-61,165-66. 179n. 83 passion oratorio. See oratorio pas­

sion passion plays. 148, 168-69, 196 passion tone formulae (music),147­

48, 171n. 5 Passover, 27-29, 34n. 25,66-68. 199­201 (see also Haggadah; seder) Easter vigil as the true Chris­tian, 199-200, 201-2 illustrated in medieval

Haggadahs, 136 linking with Shavuot, 74-78 preparation for, 5-6, 8-9, 20;

relevance for early Chris­tians, 27-28. 41-42, 59-60

..........

219

as sacred time.1-H, 24-25. 27,

190, 201 (see also S'firat Ha'omer) Shabbac Hagadol as Sabbath preceding, 17,29,31 Paul, St., 64-65, 189. 195 (see also Corinthians; Romans)

Penderecki, Krzysztof, 165

penitence, 9-10,17,48

Pentecost, in Christian tradition, 10, 101

as fifty-day period in early Christianit y (qllinqlla­gesima). 94-99,102, 105n. 10; Feast of Mid-Pentecost, 103­4; transition to single day, 97-100,105

as a single day, 102-3, 103; fourth-and fifth-century transition to, 97-100, 105; as Jewish feast of Shavuot in the New Testament, 94. 105n. 1

Pentecost, in Jewish tradition. See

Shavuot

Peranda, Marco Gioseppe. 154,

174n. 33.175n.34

Peri Pasclw (Melito). 190

pesach. See lamb, paschal (pesac/t)

Peter Chrysologus (bishop of

Ravenna). 104

Peter of Alexandria. 44-45

Pharisees, 71 , 77-78

Philo. 91n. 27

Phinebas, Rabbi. 76

Pierce, Joanne, 2, 4

Pietism. 160-61, 177n. 64 ..

pilgrimages, in Christian tradItIOn, 99 pilgrimages. in Jewish tradition. 86;

to Jerusalem,73-74,187; to. tomb of Shimon Bar Yochal, 85-86, 92n.51

Pinkham, Daniel, 165. 179n.83

pionius, 9,20,29-32. 60

¥

220 INDEX INDEX

piYYlltim, recitation of, 125, 141

plainsong passions, 148, 162, 179n. 72 (see also polyphonic pas­sions, responsorial) Polycarp (bishop of Smyrna), 9, 20, 29-32, 60,189 Polycrates (bishop of Ephesus), 189 polyphonic passions, 149-51, 155­56, 167; responsorial, 148-50, 153-54, 157, 162, 172n. 11 , 177n.64, 179n. 72; through­composed, 149, 150-51, 154­55, 172n. 12 polytheism, 74-75, 90n. 10 poor, the, Ira lac/lina anya seen as invitation to, 119-22, BOn. 52 prayer( s), 2, 73 Presbyterians, 204n. 31 printing press, effect on illustrated Haggadah manuscripts, 142­43 prophet-derived Sabbath names, 16-17, 19-20 Protestantism, 54n. 47,166, 202n. 4; celebration of the Lord's Supper, 197-99, 204n. 31; Christianized Passover seders, 183-86, 197; passion music, 151-65, 166, 179n. 82; Reformation, 152, 162, 199 p'rusah, customs for eating, 118, 129n.43 Psalters, medieval illustrations, 132, 140 Purim, celebration of, 30

Quadragesima (Tessarakoste),44,

47,50 Quartodecimans, 186, 189-90, 195, 203n. 20

quasi-dramatic passion, 149-50, 172n.11 (see also polyphonic passions, responsorial)

quinquagesima. See Pentecost, in

Christian tradition

Rabbis, the, 19, 75-78, 113-14, 122 (see also Geonim)

Rashi (Shlomo Yitzhaqi), 26, 82

redemption, 142 (see also salva­tion); wine as symbol [or, 128n.32 Reformation, Protestant, 152,162, 199

Reformed churches, 162, 197

Reform Judaism, practice of count­ing the omer abandoned by, 88

Regan, Patrick, 48

remembrance (see also memorial): for Luther (Gedachtllis), 198; as post-Constantian lit­urgy focus, 36-37

resurrection of Christ, 18, 193-94; focus on during fifty-day Pentecost season, 95, 97-98, 104

revelry, afterdinner, afikomal! inter­preted as, 112-14, 127n. 22

Rhau, Georg, 154-55

risi1onim, 129n. 42

Roman Catholic Church: Christian­ized Passover seders, 183, 184,197; passion music, 147­51 ; Stations of the Cross, 54n.47,151

Romans 6, reinterpretation of bap­tism, 43, 49,64-65

Rome, ancient, 80-81, 85, 92n. 40 (see also Greco-Roman world); as center of primi­tive Christianity, 22, 47, 55­56,63,67

Rosh Hashanah, and the "Sabbath of 'Return,' "16-17 Ruppel, Paul Ernst, 165

sabbath (shabbal), 15-17, 19-20

biblical meaning, 77; in Levi­ticus 23:10-12,76-77, 90nn. 19,20 "Sabbath of 'Return: "16-17

Sabbath of the (red) heifer (Shabbat Parah), 17,20, 24-29 Sabbath of "This Month" (Shabbat Hachodesh) , 17, 20,24-29 Sadducees, 77-78 salvation, in Christianity, 109, 116­17; symbols for, 115-16, 127n.29 salvation, in Judaism, 109,116-17 (see also deliverance); matsal! as symbol of, 10, 109­25, 126n. 10 Samaritans, 77 Samuel the prophet (third cen­tury), 85-86, 112,114-15 Sarajevo Haggadah, 140 Schocken Haggadah, 140-41 "Scholars Festival," 84-87 (see also Lag Ba'omer) Schlitz, Heinrich,154, 167,174n. 32, 179n.78,180n.90 Second Council of Braga (572 C.E.), 41, 62 seder, 6, 186-89 (see also Haggadah) bread as symbol of salvation in, 10, 109-25 Christian adoption of as a Christian event, 10, 183-86, 196-97; alternative to, 199­202 context of not essential to the Lord's Supper, 193-94 depiction of in illuminated Haggadahs, 132-33, 137-38, 141-42

the Last Supper as in the synop­tic Gospels, 116, 127n. 31 , 185, 190-91

parallel between eucharist and for Hoffman, 65-67 twentieth-century celebration of, 188-89,194-95 Sefardic (Sephardic) Jews, 80, 82­

221

85, 110,141; Haggadah illu­mination tradition, 132, 133, 135,139-40, 141

SeIer Hachinllkh (anon.), 88 SeIer Matelt Moshe, 18

Selle, Thomas, 155, 157

Senn, Frank, 10, 183-205

Sephardic Jews. See Sefardic Jews

Septuagint: illustrated scrolls, possi­bility of, 134; on meaning of shabbat in Leviticus 23, 77 Seven Last Words, devotion of,54n. 47 Severus of Antioch, 104

S'firat Ha'omer (oilier; S'firah), 9­

10, 71-89; in biblical pe­riod, 72-75; contemporary practices, 87-89; date for be­ginning of, 90n. 19; Lag Ba'omer customs, 82-87; from post-biblical through geonic period, 75-78; prohibi­tions for period, 78-82

Shabbat Hachodesh (Sabbath of "This Month"), 17, 20, 24-29 Shabbat Hagadol (Great Sabbath), 6,8-9, 17-20, 23, 29-32

shabbat kodesh, 19-20 sllabbatot, use to refer to "weeks," 9On.19 Silabbat Parall (Sabbath of the [red] heifer),17, 20, 24-29

Shavuot (Feast of Weeks), 73-74, 78, 91n. 27 (see also count­ing period); New Testament "Pentecost" as designation for, 94, 105n. 1; S'firat Ha'omer as link between Passover and, 9-10, 71-89

Sherira Gaon, 110, 129n. 47

Silibbolell Haleket, 18,l1~

sll.lemall.customsforeatmg.118.

129n. 43

Silberman, Lou, 54, 92n. 40

222

Siricius (pope), 39, 43

Socrates (fifth-century historian), 21,38-40, 41,42,47,55-56, 59.62, 63-64

Sowerby, Leo, 165, 179n. 81

Spain, early Christianity in, 41, 43, 62, 65, 101

Spain, Jews in: customs, 80, 82, 83­84, 141; Haggadah ilium ina­tion tradition, 132, 133, 135, 139-40, 141

spirituals, African-American, 165 Spohr, Ludwig, 163, 179n. 76 SI. John Passion, 148, 152, 162

music, 151, 153-54, 155, 157, 165, 174nn. 31, 32; of 1. S. Bach, 158-59, 164, 168, 177n. 58, 180n. 91

SI. Luke Passion, 148, 162; music, 154, 157, 165 St. Mark Passion, 148; music, 154, 156, 158, 174n. 33 St. Matthew Passion, 148, 152, 162

music, 153-54, 155, 157, 164, 176n. 44; anti-Semitism seen in, 167-68; of 1. S. Bach, 158­59, 163-64,177n.56

SI. Paul's Cathedral (London), 164 Stainer, John, 164-65

Stallinger, Joseph, 184-85 Stations of the Cross, 54n. 47, 151 Stein, Sigmund, BOn. 52 Stevenson, Kenneth, 4

storytelling (narrative), as ritual, 3-8 Sulzer, Johann Georg, 178n. 67 Sunday(s) (see also Easter; Palm Sunday): celebration of the

Lord's Supper on, 193-94; fifty-day Pentecost modeled on,99-1oo

sunset, working after, prohibited during S'jirat Ha'orner. 78 81-82 ' ,

•

INDEX

symbolism, 2, 7-10, 59,196

for salvation: for Christianity, 115-16,127n. 31; matsal!. as in the seder, 10, 109-25, 126n. 1O

synagogue: recitation of Haggadah

in depicted in Spanish

Haggadabs, 141; ritual, tbe

orner transformed into, 87-89

synoptic gospels (see also Matthew;

Mark; Luke): accounts of

Jesus' baptism, 64-65

Syria, early Christian tradition, 37,

42, 65, 104

Taft, Robert, S.1., 38

Talley, Thomas, 8, 37-38, 98-99,

203n. 20; on Lenten tradi­tions, 21-22, 40, 41-46, 50,

53n.35,56-57, 63

Talmud(s), 17, 19, 26, 87-88, 127n.

22, 170; the pesacll linked

with the Passover matsah,

114-15, 116

tannaitic Judaism, 120-21, 124;

Passover regulations, Ill,

113-15, 126n. 9

Tarfon, Rabbi, 128n. 32

Targum, 135

Telemann, Georg Philipp, 157, 159,

160, 161

Temple, the, 187

destruction of, 122, 187; effect

on celebration of Passover,

187-88; effect on ritual of

bringing the omer, 71, 87

pilgrimage to during S'jiral

Ha'omer, 71, 73-74,75

sacrifice of the paschal lamb,

186-87,195

Ten Commandments, Revelation of, 88-89; Shavuot seen as date of, 78, 91n. 27

Tertullian, 31, 36, 43, 63, 95

Of

}:

I

INDEX

Tessarakoste (Quadragesil17a),44,

47, 50

Thirty Years' War, passion chorales written as reaction to, 156­57

"This is my body" (see also Last Supper): Paul's use of bread as salvational symbol,115-16

Thompson, Barbara Balzac, 183-84 Thompson, Randall, 165,179n. 83 Tigay, Jeffrey H., 90n. 19 time

chronology: as approach to the Great Sabbath in Christian tradition, 29-32; as approach to periods of time related to Lent, 60-62

sacred, 1-11 (see also individual sacred days and periods by name)

tones, musical, for voices singing the Passion,147-48,153-54, 162, 171n. 5

Torah, 91n. 27 (see also Old Testa­ment); Pentateuchal readings for Sabbath and holy days, 15-17, 26-27; scrolls, proces­sion with to gravesites of Bar Yochai and Samuel the

prophet, 85-86

Torgau-Walter manuscripts, of Lutheran responsorial pas­sions, 150, 153-54, 174nn. 30,

31,175n.36 Tosafot, 17-18 Tosefta, 26. 28, 120; on Passover, 112_13, 115,122,127n.29 triduum, 6, 96 . Trinitarian invocation, included III Christianized seder, 183, 202n. 3 Ii" (law code), 82, 110 turba (crowd), voice of: in n~ono­phonic passions, 148; III poly­

-

phonic passions, 149, 153-54, 167, 174n. 30 Thrin, churches of, fifth-century, 97, 99-100 Turner, Victor, 7 typology: as approach to the Great Sabbath in Christian tradi­tion, 29-32; as approach to relationship between Pass­

over and Lent,61-62,63-68; as approach to use of term "forty," 59-60, 64

United Methodist Church, 183, 184, 202n.4 unitive mode of liturgical celebra­tion,4

Van de Paverd, Frans,48 Vatican II (Second Vatican Coun­cil), 148,166-67 vespers, during Lent, 152, 157-58, 161 Victor I (pope),27, 189

Wainwright, Geoffrey, 204n.27 Walter,Johann,150, 153-54, 157, 174nn.30,31.175n.36,176n. 47 Washington Haggadah,138-39 .ne 7' as element of the eucha-

Wi , ,

rist, 192; regulations on drinking of at seder, 112-13, 128n. 32; symbolism of, 128n.

32

Ya'ari, Avraham,8S Yerushalmi, the, Il2-13, 120; on the Passover seder, 112, \14­

15, 119, 126n.13,1~n. 32

h ben Nuri RabbI, 91 n. 35,

Yoc anan '

112

Yom Kippur, 9, 16-17, 123 60

Yuval, Israel, 2, 9, 20, 23, 29,

224

Zarren-Zohar, Efrat, 10, 71-93 Zeitlin, Solomon, 8-9, 18-20, 23, 126n.1O zekher, rabbinic use of as symbolic, 128n.32 Zerachiah Halevi, Rabbi, 83

D'S)'~" ,,. "..,1".

fl",a·nm rmn ,,.,~~

'-:;" " :'

, '~ '-" '

,.. ... .... ..

0"1' .

~. .. .,

Zion, daughter of, image of in pas­sion librettos, 159, 177n. 56 zoocephalic figures, in medieval

Haggadah illuminations, 137 Zunz, Leopold, 18 Zwinglian spirituality, 197, 198

;

1999 .

Pa

Passove :ti ely the most important fe tivals t e feasts have developed i1 quit! ,. " . . .1232nQ.O~~~L....., ... J-Iur~ ... d endentlyof one another . other. Followln t e pattern set in earlier volumes in this series, volumes 5 and 6 bring toget er a group of distinguished Jewish and Christian scholars to explore the history of the two celebrations, paying particular attention to similarities and connections between them as well as to differences and contrasts. They not only present a convenient summary of current historical thought but also open up new perspectives on the evolution of these annual observances. _;..

Volume 5, Passover and Easter; Origin and History to Modern Times, focuses especially on the origins and early development ej' the feasts arId on the ways that established practices have changed in recer';: vears. Volur, e 6, Passover and Easter: The Symbolic Structuring ofSacred Sea OilS, focuses en the contexts in which they occur-the periods of preparation fe,r the feasts i,j' the respective calendars and their connection to Shavuot/Pcn'ecost-as Vi<". 11 as to their traditional expression in art and music. At the sa" ,,,; time, the eS5\,lys raise some fundamental questions about the future. Have t':,x lern human beings so lost the sense of sacred time in their lives, for instal)::e, that these great feasts can never again be what they once were for former generations of believers? And what about recent attempts by some Christians to enter into their heritage by celebrating a Jewish Seder as part of their annual Holy Week and Easter services?·

Specialists and general readers alike will find much to interest and challenge

them within these two additions to this highly regarded series in the world of

liturgical scholarship.

PAUL F. BRADSHAW is Professor of Liturgy at the University of Notre Dame.

. !

LAWRENCE A. HOFFMAN is Professor of Liturgy at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.

They are co-editors of The Making ofJewish and Christian Worship (I\.Il'lrtfe-9f!lf'I'tf~"":""""'. Press, 1991), The Changing Face ofJewish and Christian Worship in No ' "h Americ (Notre Dame Press, 1991), and Life Cycles in Jewish and Christian Wo hip W

Dame Press, 1995).

University of Notre Dame Press

Notre Dame, Indiana 46556

Jacket design: Juanita Dix, j.d. Design