The St. Mark Passion of Charles Wood

Charles Wood (composer)

Charles Wood was an Irish composer and teacher.Born in Armagh, Ireland, he was the fifth child and third son of Charles Wood Sr. and Jemima Wood. His father was a tenor in the choir of the nearby St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh , and later worked as the Diocesan Registrar of the church...

 is a musical composition written in 1920. The work calls for solo tenor

Tenor

The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...

 (Evangelist), solo baritone

Baritone

Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...

 (Jesus), chorus

Choir

A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...

 and organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

, as well as minor roles for five solo basses (Judas, High Priest, Peter, Pilate, Bystander), a solo treble

Boy soprano

A boy soprano is a young male singer with an unchanged voice in the soprano range. Although a treble, or choirboy, may also be considered to be a boy soprano, the more colloquial term boy soprano is generally only used for boys who sing, perform, or record as soloists, and who may not necessarily...

 (Maid), and a solo treble or alto

Alto

Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...

 (Maid II). It was composed while Wood was employed at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge

Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius" , after its second founder, John Keys, who fashionably latinised the spelling of his name after studying in Italy.- Outline :Gonville and...

 and lasts on average around an hour.

History

Sometime during Eastertide

Eastertide

Eastertide, or the Easter Season, or Paschal Time, is the period of fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost Sunday.It is celebrated as a single joyful feast, indeed as the "great Lord's Day". Each Sunday of the season is treated as a Sunday of Easter, and, after the Sunday of the Resurrection,...

 1920, the Revd Dr Eric Milner-White

Eric Milner-White

Eric Milner-White CBE DSO OGS was a Dean of York in the Church of England; holding this post between 1941 and his death in 1963.-Early life and education:...

, recovering in the Cambridge Nursing Home after an appendicitis

Appendicitis

Appendicitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the appendix. It is classified as a medical emergency and many cases require removal of the inflamed appendix, either by laparotomy or laparoscopy. Untreated, mortality is high, mainly because of the risk of rupture leading to...

 operation, wrote a letter to Charles Wood, asking for him to consider a possible collaboration on a new piece of service music. As Dean

Dean (education)

In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...

 of King's College, Cambridge

King's College, Cambridge

King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....

, he had been asked by the school to provide more Passion

Passion (Christianity)

The Passion is the Christian theological term used for the events and suffering – physical, spiritual, and mental – of Jesus in the hours before and including his trial and execution by crucifixion...

 music for the Easter season. He explains in the letter to Wood: the Passions of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

 would be too unwieldy for their resources, and the Bach cantatas would be theologically inappropriate. John Stainer

John Stainer

Sir John Stainer was an English composer and organist whose music, though not generally much performed today , was very popular during his lifetime...

's The Crucifixion

The Crucifixion (Stainer)

The Crucifixion: A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer is an oratorio composed by John Stainer in 1887. It is scored for a SATB choir and organ, and features solos for bass and tenor....

(1887) had been regularly performed during Passiontide

Passiontide

Passiontide is a name for the last two weeks of Lent, beginning on Passion Sunday and ending on Holy Saturday....

 in Anglican Churches in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, and Milner-White was anxious to provide an alternative to the popular work.

Milner-White's ideas for a Passion cantata

Passion cantata

A Passion cantata is a cantata that takes as its theme the Passion of Jesus Christ, i.e. the hours, days, or weeks leading up to and including his crucifixion. Some of the larger cantatas have been referred to as oratorios.-English:...

 based on the Gospel of Mark

Gospel of Mark

The Gospel According to Mark , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Mark or simply Mark, is the second book of the New Testament. This canonical account of the life of Jesus of Nazareth is one of the three synoptic gospels. It was thought to be an epitome, which accounts for its place as the second...

 divide the Passion into its five traditional parts, termed "Lessons": the Last Supper

Last Supper

The Last Supper is the final meal that, according to Christian belief, Jesus shared with his Twelve Apostles in Jerusalem before his crucifixion. The Last Supper provides the scriptural basis for the Eucharist, also known as "communion" or "the Lord's Supper".The First Epistle to the Corinthians is...

, Gethsemane

Gethsemane

Gethsemane is a garden at the foot of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem most famous as the place where, according to Biblical texts, Jesus and his disciples are said to have prayed the night before Jesus' crucifixion.- Etymology :...

 and Betrayal, the Jewish Trial, the Roman Trial, and the Crucifixion. The intervals between the Lessons he proposes should be filled with either prayer

Prayer

Prayer is a form of religious practice that seeks to activate a volitional rapport to a deity through deliberate practice. Prayer may be either individual or communal and take place in public or in private. It may involve the use of words or song. When language is used, prayer may take the form of...

s and psalms, hymn

Hymn

A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...

s, or interspersed stanzas of the hymn Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle, which is based on the plainchant tune Pange lingua gloriosi.

Wood responded by visiting Milner-White as he convalesced. During their meetings, the two refined the shape the musical setting of the Passion would assume. Wood composed the piece over the course of nine days 1 August to 9 August 1920. It received its first performance Good Friday

Good Friday

Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...

 1921 or 1922 at King's College Chapel.

Text

Wood used the translation of Mark's Gospel from the King James Version of the Bible

King James Version of the Bible

The Authorized Version, commonly known as the King James Version, King James Bible or KJV, is an English translation of the Christian Bible by the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611...

 for use in his St. Mark Passion:

• 1. Last Supper: 14.12b, 16a, 16c, 17-20, 22-26
• 2. Gethsemane and Betrayal: 14.32-46, 50
• 3. Trial before the High Priest: 14.52-55, 60-72
• 4. Trial before Pilate: 15.1-9, 11-20
• 5. The Crucifixion: 15.22-27, 29-37

He adds a short line of text for the tenor and bass chorus parts in measures 44 through 51 of the fourth Lesson ("One, release us.").

Structure

The St. Mark Passion begins with an organ introduction, followed by the four stanzas of the tune Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle. The first Lesson, concluding with Jesus and his disciples processing to the Mount of Olives, is followed by four verses of the hymn The Heavenly Word proceeding forth; the second verse ("By false disciple...") anticipates the coming Lesson of the betrayal.

After Jesus is betrayed by Judas and his disciples flee from the garden of Gethsemane, the choir and congregation sing the hymn Lord, when we bow before thy throne, reflecting on the abandonment of Jesus by his disciples after his seizure by the authorities.

The Jewish priests and elders condemn Jesus to death in the third Lesson. In the concluding section of the Lesson, Peter denies his association with Jesus, ultimately realizes his error in doing so, and weeps in despair; the choir sings the hymn My God, I love thee; not, commenting on Peter's desolation and his recognition of Jesus as Christ.

In the fourth Lesson, the crowd assembled before Pilate calls for Jesus' death by crucifix, ending with another stanza of Sing, my tongue for divided trebles and altos, foreshadowing the Lesson of the Crucifixion ("Faithful Cross! above all other...").

The final Lesson, performed a cappella

A cappella

A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...

 except for a five-measure organ prelude to the Lesson. After the chorus narrates that Jesus "gave up the ghost," the congregation prays in silence for a moment then recites a prayer of confession. The organ and male voices return with the musical material of the third stanza of Sing, my tongue from the opening set to another verse ("Bend thy bough, O Tree of Glory!"). The organ recapitulates a selection of the music from the introduction of the piece, and the choir and congregation close the Passion, once again singing the first verse of Sing, my tongue.

Liturgical use

The first page of Faith Press publications of the St. Mark Passion include instructions from Milner-White for use in a liturgical setting:

Before the Passion begins there should be a short devotion, such as the Lesser Litany and Lord’s Prayer, said by Priest and people in the natural voice.

During the singing of the Passion the people should sit for the first four Gospels [Lessons] and stand for the fifth. They should stand for all the Hymns, except where it is otherwise stated, and join in the verses marked with an asterisk.*

The Precentor in the fifth Gospel should always be, if possible, a Priest.

At the close of the fifth Gospel all present should kneel, and keep silence for a space, and then repeat together in the natural voice the form of the general confession provided.

After the last Hymn the Priests, choir and people should go out as quietly as possible.

Editions by the most recent publisher, Royal School of Church Music

Royal School of Church Music

The largest church music organisation in Britain, the Royal School of Church Music was founded in 1927 by Sir Sydney Nicholson and has 11,000 members worldwide; it was originally named the School of English Church Music. It seeks to enable church music in the present and invest in its future,...

, include the liturgical instructions in the score itself. The publisher also prints separately the text of the Passion, including the hymn texts and prayers for use in worship.