{"id":3287,"date":"2020-12-30T22:12:01","date_gmt":"2020-12-31T04:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/?page_id=3287"},"modified":"2020-12-30T22:13:06","modified_gmt":"2020-12-31T04:13:06","slug":"st-johns-passion-reviews","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/st-johns-passion-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"St. John&#8217;s Passion Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"3287\" class=\"elementor elementor-3287\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-6d7b252 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"6d7b252\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-510c405\" data-id=\"510c405\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-15881a5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"15881a5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div id=\"article-section-header\"><section><div id=\"article-header\"><div class=\"article-header-title\"><h1 class=\"article-headline\">Opera Review: Oratorio turned opera has powerful moments<\/h1><div class=\"light-grey byline\">Written By:\u00a0<span id=\"noLink\" class=\"ttu\">Lawrance Bernabo, for the News Tribune<\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0<time class=\"timestamp\">Oct 15th 2017 &#8211; 1pm.<\/time><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section><\/div><div id=\"article-section-body\"><div id=\"top-social-share\"><div class=\"addthis_inline_share_toolbox\" data-url=\"https:\/\/www.duluthnewstribune.com\/lifestyle\/4343916-opera-review-oratorio-turned-opera-has-powerful-moments\" data-title=\"Opera Review: Oratorio turned opera has powerful moments | Duluth News Tribune\" data-description=\"Lyric Opera of the North unveiled their transformation of Johann Sebastian Bach's &quot;St. John Passion&quot; from oratorio into opera Saturday night at the Lincoln Park Middle School auditorium. The intimacy and acoustics of the venue served both the sin...\"><div id=\"atstbx\" class=\"at-resp-share-element at-style-responsive addthis-smartlayers addthis-animated at4-show\" role=\"region\" aria-labelledby=\"at-d7d25e7c-100e-4b27-9b7e-c5bac0b99775\"><span id=\"at-d7d25e7c-100e-4b27-9b7e-c5bac0b99775\" class=\"at4-visually-hidden\"><\/span><div class=\"at-share-btn-elements\">\u00a0<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"article-body\"><div class=\"main-body\"><div class=\"p402_premium\"><p>Lyric Opera of the North unveiled their transformation of Johann Sebastian Bach&#8217;s &#8220;St. John Passion&#8221; from oratorio into opera Saturday night at the Lincoln Park Middle School auditorium. The intimacy and acoustics of the venue served both the singers and the musicians, making for a most unique experience.<\/p><div class=\"in-article-container\"><div id=\"in-article\">Conductor Dirk Meyer helmed a 21-piece orchestra, comprised mostly of strings, with a quintet of woodwinds and the organ you tend to think of being a prerequisite for performing Bach.<\/div><\/div><p>An interesting aspect of this production was that chorus master Richard Robbins has the Twin Ports Choral Project downstage as a choir that is involved in the action, as when they badger and berate Pilate into sentencing Jesus to death, while upstage a larger special chorale chorus comments upon the action, bringing the divine perspective to the proceedings.<\/p><p>A quartet of stellar singers made their LOON debuts. Tenor William Ferguson&#8217;s Evangelist functions as the narrator, his clean and crisp voice telling the familiar tale. As Jesus, Jarrett Ott&#8217;s rich baritone resonated throughout the venue, investing everything he sang with an air of majesty, including the powerful moment when Jesus tells Pilate, &#8220;But my kingdom is not here.&#8221;<\/p><div id=\"in-article-2-container\"><div id=\"in-article-2\">Baritone Randall Scarlata&#8217;s Pilate becomes the pivotal character in the second part, especially in an aria that shows the Roman governor is repulsed by the pleasure others are taking in the punishment of Jesus. Alto KrisAnne Weiss&#8217;s best moment comes when the prophecies have been fulfilled and she sings &#8220;Es ist vollbracht!&#8221;<\/div><\/div><p>&#8220;St. John Passion&#8221; is sung in the original German, working from the original text, which is primarily Martin Luther&#8217;s translation of two chapters of the Gospel of John. A translation of the libretto is projected above the stage. The chorales and arias involve a lot of repetition, which gets repeated (a lot), so the screen is often blank.<\/p><p>By happenstance I screened the end of &#8220;City Lights&#8221; in class this week. Charlie Chaplin called his film a &#8220;pantomime&#8221; and it strikes me this is precisely the artistic approach stage director Robert Neu has taken with this production. With Chaplin pantomime is high art, and Neu crafts some compelling moments, as when the scourging of Jesus is represented by Ott writhing on the floor, rather than simulating the actual whipping.<\/p><p>When soprano Sarah Lawrence was singing &#8220;Ich folge dir gleichfalls mit freudigen Schritten,&#8221; Neu staged a flashback to when Jesus washed the feet of Peter. While the gravity of that scene did not match the music, it did set up a striking contrast with the next scene, where Peter denies Jesus for the first time.<\/p><p>Tenor Brian Wallin began singing &#8220;Ach, mein Sinn,&#8221; to a prostrate Peter, the scene evolved to having the two holding up Jesus, setting up a pieta-like tableau. Many of the choruses see similar like tableaus, albeit with slow moments matched to the music.<\/p><p>By turning the singers into characters, Neu is able to set up some provocative dualities: Scarlata plays both Peter and Pilate, while Wallin plays both Judas and John. At the crucifixion both Mary the mother of Jesus and Mary Magdalene are present. Then in the wake of the death of Jesus, as the cello becomes Bach&#8217;s instrument of emphasis, duality becomes universality as each sings in turn the next parts of the story.<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-7a16de7\" data-id=\"7a16de7\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6fcc58d elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"6fcc58d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<header class=\"entry-header\"><h1 class=\"entry-title\">REVIEW: Pounding\u00a0<em>St. John Passion<\/em> (Lyric Opera Of The North)<\/h1><div class=\"entry-meta clearfix\"><span class=\"byline\">\u00a0by\u00a0Basil Considine for the Twin Cities Arts Reader <\/span><\/div><div class=\"entry-meta clearfix\"><span class=\"posted-on\"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2017-10-15T11:31:27-05:00\">October 15, 2017<\/time><\/span><\/div><\/header><div class=\"entry-content\"><div class=\"post_image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/twincitiesarts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/LOON-Jesus-1132x509.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/div><div class=\"post_content\"><p><em>Jesus (Jarrett Ott) sprawls on the ground after a savage beating in LOON Opera\u2019s staged production of the<\/em>\u00a0St. John Passion<em>. Illustration by Basil Considine.<\/em><\/p><p>LOON Opera kicked off its 2017-2018 season on Saturday with\u00a0Johann Sebastian Bach\u2019s\u00a0<em>St. John Passion<\/em>. Yes, you read that correctly \u2013 winter isn\u2019t anywhere close to officially here, and\u00a0the Lyric Opera of the North is already doing a paschal oratorio. This semi-staged production\u00a0combines musical direction by Dirk Meyer, stage direction by Robert Neu, a large chorus drawn from the greater Duluth area, and a crack team of soloists including several familiar LOON faces. If anyone in attendance was bothered by the unseasonal programming, they didn\u2019t show any signs of it.<\/p><hr \/><div><h3>Did You Know?<\/h3><p>J.S. Bach\u2019s obituary credits the composer with five\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.catholiceducation.org\/en\/culture\/catholic-contributions\/the-passion-of-jesus-christ.html\">Passion settings<\/a>. Only two have survived to the present day\u00a0in complete form:\u00a0the\u00a0<em>St. Matthew Passion<\/em>\u00a0and the\u00a0<em>St. John Passion<\/em>.<\/p><ul><li>No complete score for Bach\u2019s\u00a0<em>St. Mark Passion<\/em>\u00a0survives, but scholars have used a printed libretto to partly reconstruct the work using other Bach music manuscripts.<\/li><li>A\u00a0<em>St. Luke Passion<\/em>\u00a0from Bach\u2019s music library was originally thought to be by the composer is now thought to have only minor musical additions by Bach.<\/li><li>Of the surviving complete Bach Passions, the\u00a0<em>St. Matthew Passion<\/em>\u00a0is by far the more performed, making LOON\u2019s production of the\u00a0<em>St. John<\/em>\u00a0a noteworthy occurrence.<\/li><\/ul><\/div><hr \/><p>As an oratorio, Bach\u2019s\u00a0<em>St. John Passion<\/em>\u00a0is not normally staged. It is also infamous for putting audiences to sleep, especially on hot spring days in churches with poor air circulation. LOON\u2019s semi-staged production makes a good case for using staging to keep audiences attentive and actively focused on the music by watching the action unfold onstage.<\/p><p>In the pre-performance remarks, Bob Neu described his staging design as abstract. Trying to narratively link the action and personages in each scene would be confusing at best, given the casting of several featured soloists in multiple on-stage roles. Some efforts to distinguish the soloists\u2019 varying roles via costume, lighting, or other means would have been helpful, especially during the many reflective arias. Without such differentiation, one wonders why Judas (Brian Wallin in his first characterization, which lasts for an unclear amount of time) appears to alternately be beating and comforting Jesus (an excellent Jarrett Ott).<\/p><figure id=\"attachment_4733\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-4733\"><a title=\"Part of the opening page of Bach's manuscript for the St. John Passion.\" href=\"https:\/\/twincitiesarts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Passion-MS.jpg\" data-rel=\"lightbox-image-0\" data-rl_title=\"Part of the opening page of Bach's manuscript for the St. John Passion.\" data-rl_caption=\"\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4733\" src=\"https:\/\/twincitiesarts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Passion-MS.jpg\" sizes=\"(max-width: 962px) 100vw, 962px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/twincitiesarts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Passion-MS.jpg 962w, https:\/\/twincitiesarts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Passion-MS-300x108.jpg 300w, https:\/\/twincitiesarts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/Passion-MS-768x277.jpg 768w\" alt=\"\" width=\"962\" height=\"347\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-4733\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Part of the opening page of Bach\u2019s manuscript for the\u00a0<em>St. John Passion<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>On-stage, the eight soloists are backed by 65 singers divided into a full-voiced chorale chorus (drawn from a variety of regional choirs) and a chamber chorus (the Twin Ports Choral Project), with a subset of the chamber chorus serving as actors. Where this staging succeeds best is in maintaining a sense of\u00a0dynamism and forward momentum in the music, and in injecting a zest (hostile and otherwise) into scenes like \u201cLasset uns den nicht zerteilen, sondern darum losen, wes er sein soll\u201d, in which the chamber chorus gleefully tossed Jesus\u2019 garment into the air while singing with equal exuberance. This exuberance was not distracted when featured, but during parts when the chamber chorus was \u201cmerely\u201d singing, the extensive weaving and bobbing of some members grew distracting.<\/p><p>A few intonation issues on opening night aside, the music is pleasant to listen to. The 21-piece orchestra, placed onstage, includes a portative organ and sounded richly in the Lincoln Park Middle School Auditorium. Most of the solo music in this Passion setting is written for men, whose numbers are conserved via multiple on-stage and vocal assignments. (As mentioned above, it would have been helpful to differentiate their roles more.) No breakdown of musical numbers was included \u2013\u00a0a surprising omission, given the\u00a0<em>St. John Passion<\/em>\u2018s overall length, the very divergent versions of the score, and the desire to mark favored selections for later listening.<\/p><p>Tenor William Ferguson plays the Evangelist; his melodious voice carries the recitative and his poignant timing drives forward the central narrative. As Jesus, Jarrett Ott provides much of the pathos of the piece, with adept silent acting and a rich, lyric baritone voice. Relatively little music fell to soprano Sarah Lawrence and mezzo-soprano KrisAnne Weiss, although many beautiful notes were sung in the commenting arias \u201cZerflie\u00dfe, mein Herze, in Fluten der Z\u00e4hren\u201d (\u201cMelt, my heart, in floods of tears\u201d) and \u201cVon den Stricken meiner S\u00fcnden\u201d (\u201cFrom the bonds of my sins\u201d).<\/p><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Opera Review: Oratorio turned opera has powerful moments Written By:\u00a0Lawrance Bernabo, for the News Tribune\u00a0|\u00a0Oct 15th 2017 &#8211; 1pm. \u00a0 Lyric Opera of the North unveiled their transformation of Johann Sebastian Bach&#8217;s &#8220;St. John Passion&#8221; from oratorio into opera Saturday night at the Lincoln Park Middle School auditorium. The intimacy and acoustics of the venue [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3287","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3287"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3291,"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3287\/revisions\/3291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/anngumpperdesign.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}