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55-553: In Protestant Germany the words of the vox Christi are in German: when the vocal work contains a sung Gospel reading, such as in Bach's Passions , the words are taken from Luther's Bible translation , but the words may also be free verse, as for instance in the Brockes Passion . In either case the composition may also contain a setting of an Evangelist 's words, which are traditionally set for

110-600: A pasticcio Passion oratorio possibly compiled by Bach's son-in-law Johann Christoph Altnickol , contains a few movements attributed to Bach, including the arioso for bass BWV 1088 , and Der Gerechte kömmt um (an arrangement of a SSATB motet attributed to Johann Kuhnau ). The pasticcio may have been performed in Leipzig in the late 1740s and/or the early 1750s. Bach performed Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel 's Die leidende und am Creutz sterbende Liebe Jesu on Good Friday of 1734. This Passion oratorio, composed for Gotha in 1720,

165-580: A continuo including organ. The Lenten period did however not allow usage of (festive) brass instruments like trumpets. The vocal forces include SATB choir (or double SATB choir for the St Matthew Passion ) and vocal soloists. In Bach's time none of the vocalists were women: the high voice parts were traditionally sung by treble choristers. The Gospel readings, set as a secco recitative for the Evangelist , complemented with recitatives and turba choruses by

220-491: A few passion-oratorios composed by Carl Heinrich Graun . He performed Graun's Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld sometime in the 1730s-1740s, and even had a copy of the score in his library. The same with his "Great Passion" Kommt her und schaut . Bach also knew of a few passion-oratorios by Georg Philipp Telemann (his friend and Godfather to Carl Philipp Emanuel). In addition to Telemann's Brockes Passion , there

275-443: A highly successful play by its librettist, Gabriele D'Annunzio , a celebrated Italian poet, novelist and dramatist of the day. In some cases, the operatic adaptation has become more famous than the literary text on which it was based, as with Claude Debussy 's Pelléas et Mélisande after a play by Maurice Maeterlinck . The question of which is more important in opera – the music or the words – has been debated over time, and forms

330-411: A lasting collaboration), Auber , Bellini , Donizetti , Rossini and Verdi . The French writers' duo Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy wrote many opera and operetta libretti for the likes of Jacques Offenbach , Jules Massenet and Georges Bizet . Arrigo Boito , who wrote libretti for, among others, Giuseppe Verdi and Amilcare Ponchielli , also composed two operas of his own. The libretto

385-568: A lot of such paraphrasing loosely based on all four Gospel texts of Christ's Passion, was not possible, although Bach returned often to Brockes' text, choosing parts of its poetry as lyrics for commenting arias after recitations of the Gospel text. For this reason Bach's Passions for Leipzig are named after the Evangelist from whose Gospel the Passion text is used. Another characteristic of Bach's Passions are

440-574: A performance in St. Nicolas (with only one organ) was possible. Bach's first Passion presentation, the St John Passion of 1724, led to his first documented conflict with the Leipzig Town Council. Because of the bad state of the organ loft and its instruments (the organ and an harpsichord), Bach did not want to stage his St John Passion in St. Nicolas, despite it being the turn of that church to host

495-445: A subject and developing a sketch of the action in the form of a scenario , as well as revisions that might come about when the work is in production, as with out-of-town tryouts for Broadway musicals, or changes made for a specific local audience. A famous case of the latter is Wagner's 1861 revision of the original 1845 Dresden version of his opera Tannhäuser for Paris. The opera libretto from its inception ( c.  1600 )

550-467: A tenor voice. Apart from a difference in voice type, settings of Jesus' words in recitatives can be further differentiated from surrounding text settings by, for instance, giving them a more arioso character, or setting them accompagnato (while the Evangelist and other characters sing secco ). Jesus Christus ist um unsrer Missetat willen verwundet is a St Mark Passion which originated in Hamburg in

605-502: Is also known after the incipit of its opening chorus, a setting of Paul Gerhardt 's " Ein Lämmlein geht und trägt die Schuld ". Bach arranged one of its arias, "Dein Kreuz, o Bräutgam meiner Seelen", as Bekennen will ich seinen Namen , BWV 200 . This arrangement, dated around 1742–1743, was possibly part of a cantata for the feast of Purification of the Virgin Mary . Bach also knew

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660-501: Is as follows: The first time a concerted Passion in two parts was performed according to this order of service was in 1721, when Johann Kuhnau , Bach's predecessor, was given permission to perform the Passion he had composed in the St. Thomas Church. Four years earlier, Georg Philipp Telemann 's Brockes Passion , TWV 5:1, performed in the New Church , was the first Passion Oratorio that had been staged in Leipzig. A first feature of

715-411: Is evidence that Bach performed the original (Hamburg) version of his '' Seliges Erwägen des Leidens und Sterbens Jesu Christi'' TWV 5:2a between 1732 and 1735. Bach also knew of George Frideric Handel 's setting of the Passion text by Barthold Heinrich Brockes ( Brockes Passion ). This is exemplified by a manuscript copy by Bach and one of his principal copyists dating from 1746 to 1748. Bach

770-588: Is greatly different from the Edna Ferber novel from which it was adapted , uses some of Ferber's original dialogue, notably during the miscegenation scene. And Lionel Bart 's Oliver! uses chunks of dialogue from Charles Dickens 's novel Oliver Twist , although it bills itself as a "free adaptation" of the novel. As the originating language of opera, Italian dominated that genre in Europe (except in France) well through

825-613: Is in the "Nekrolog" regarding the number of Passions composed by Bach. In his 1850 Bach-biography Carl L. Hilgenfeldt attempts to identify all five of the Passions mentioned in the "Nekrolog" and by Forkel. After mentioning the St Matthew , the St John , the St Luke and Picander's libretto of the lost St Mark , Hilgenfeldt mentions a Passion Bach would have composed in 1717, which was the last year Bach

880-539: Is known to have performed this work on Good Friday 1746, and used 7 arias from it in his last Passion-Pasticcio on the Hamburg St. Mark Passion (BNB I/K/2). Bach's Leipzig Passions were performed at Vespers on Good Friday , alternating between the principal churches of St. Thomas (uneven years) and St. Nicholas (even years). The order of service was: A more detailed layout of the Order of Service for Good Friday Vespers

935-419: Is not always written before the music. Some composers, such as Mikhail Glinka , Alexander Serov , Rimsky-Korsakov , Puccini and Mascagni wrote passages of music without text and subsequently had the librettist add words to the vocal melody lines (this has often been the case with American popular song and musicals in the 20th century, as with Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart 's collaboration, although with

990-408: Is the diminutive of the word libro ("book"). Sometimes other-language equivalents are used for libretti in that language, livret for French works, Textbuch for German and libreto for Spanish. A libretto is distinct from a synopsis or scenario of the plot, in that the libretto contains all the words and stage directions, while a synopsis summarizes the plot. Some ballet historians also use

1045-422: The aria " Nessun dorma " from Puccini's Turandot , the final lines in the libretto are "Tramontate, stelle! All'alba, vincerò!" (Fade, you stars! At dawn, I will win!). However, in the score they are sung as "Tramontate, stelle! Tramontate, stelle! All'alba, vincerò! Vincerò! Vincerò!". Because the modern musical tends to be published in two separate but intersecting formats (i.e., the book and lyrics, with all

1100-415: The public domain ) this format is supplemented with melodic excerpts of musical notation for important numbers. Printed scores for operas naturally contain the entire libretto, although there can exist significant differences between the score and the separately printed text. More often than not, this involves the extra repetition of words or phrases from the libretto in the actual score. For example, in

1155-643: The vox Christi may utter either literal words from the Bible which are neither direct quotes of or even attributed to Christ but are presented in the context of the musical work as being made by Christ, or extra-biblical words, for example in a dialogue between the Bridegroom (Christ) and the Bride (the Soul), or in an address to the Bride. In Bach's Weimar cantatas (1714–1716): In Bach's first cantata cycle (1723–1724): Bach uses

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1210-532: The 1717 Passion mentioned by Hilgenfeldt. It appears to have been performed at the court in Gotha on Good Friday 26 March 1717. Bach appears to have recuperated some of its material in later compositions, notably in his St John Passion . In the early 1710s Bach staged Jesus Christus ist um unsrer Missetat willen verwundet , a St Mark Passion, in Weimar. Bach added some of his own chorale settings to that Passion which

1265-536: The 1754 obituary written by Johann Friedrich Agricola and the composer's son Carl Philipp Emanuel , Bach wrote "five Passions, of which one is for double chorus". The double chorus one is easily identified as the St Matthew Passion . The St John Passion is the only extant other one that is certainly composed by Bach. The libretto of the St Mark Passion was published in Bach's time, allowing reconstruction based on

1320-652: The 18th century, and even into the next century in Russia, for example, when the Italian opera troupe in Saint Petersburg was challenged by the emerging native Russian repertory. Significant exceptions before 1800 can be found in Purcell 's works, Handel 's first operas, ballad opera and Singspiel of the 18th century, etc. Just as with literature and song, the libretto has its share of problems and challenges with translation . In

1375-546: The Good Friday service. Having announced the plan, sharp communications between Bach and the official bodies of the town ensued, with Bach having announcements printed that the service was going to be held at St. Thomas. Ultimately the Town Council decided to pay for emergency reparations at St. Nicolas, and for a reprint of the announcements where the service was announced for St. Nicolas. Libretto A libretto (From

1430-549: The Italian word libretto , lit.   ' booklet ' ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera , operetta , masque , oratorio , cantata or musical . The term libretto is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as the Mass , requiem and sacred cantata, or the story line of a ballet . The Italian word libretto ( pronounced [liˈbretto] , plural libretti [liˈbretti] )

1485-461: The Lilacs , Carousel used dialogue from Ferenc Molnár 's Liliom , My Fair Lady took most of its dialogue word-for-word from George Bernard Shaw 's Pygmalion , Man of La Mancha was adapted from the 1959 television play I, Don Quixote , which supplied most of the dialogue, and the 1954 musical version of Peter Pan used J. M. Barrie 's dialogue. Even the musical Show Boat , which

1540-553: The Passion was once thought to have been destroyed in the bombing of Dresden in World War II , but the recovered copy seems to show that the work was a parody of music from the so-called Trauer-Ode , Laß, Fürstin, laß noch einen Strahl , BWV 198 , and that some choruses were used also in the Christmas Oratorio . There are several reconstructions of the Passion. In his 1802 Bach-biography Johann Nikolaus Forkel repeats what

1595-480: The Roof has a composer ( Jerry Bock ), a lyricist ( Sheldon Harnick ) and the writer of the "book" ( Joseph Stein ). In rare cases, the composer writes everything except the dance arrangements – music, lyrics and libretto, as Lionel Bart did for Oliver! . Other matters in the process of developing a libretto parallel those of spoken dramas for stage or screen. There are the preliminary steps of selecting or suggesting

1650-809: The Vox Christi in several cantatas of his second cycle (1724–1725): The last four of these were on a libretto by Christiana Mariana von Ziegler From Bach's third cantata cycle (1725–1726): Later additions to the chorale cantata cycle : In one of the other late church cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach : Some basses and baritones are especially known for singing the words of Jesus in Bach's Passions, including: Passions (Bach) As Thomaskantor , Johann Sebastian Bach provided Passion music for Good Friday services in Leipzig . The extant St Matthew Passion and St John Passion are Passion oratorios composed by Bach. According to his " Nekrolog ",

1705-472: The basis of at least two operas, Richard Strauss 's Capriccio and Antonio Salieri 's Prima la musica e poi le parole . Libretti have been made available in several formats, some more nearly complete than others. The text – i.e., the spoken dialogue, song lyrics and stage directions, as applicable – is commonly published separately from the music (such a booklet is usually included with sound recordings of most operas). Sometimes (particularly for operas in

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1760-439: The characters and groups having direct speech in the text, are presented in parts of a few verses, alternating with commenting chorales and/or arias with a free verse text. In most cases the arias are preceded by non-Gospel accompagnato recitatives. Apart from these sections, Bach composed grand choral movements with which to open or close the two parts of his Passions. Schematically, this is the structure of Bach's Passions: Bach

1815-455: The chorales set in four-part harmony that recur often throughout the compositions. These chorales, representing a Lutheran tradition, were highly recognizable, both the text and the melody, by the audience for which he wrote his Passions. It is even surmised Bach intended the audience to participate by singing along with the chorales they knew. Bach's Passions are set for an orchestra with strings, woodwind instruments such as oboes and flutes, and

1870-470: The composer (past or present) of the musical score to an opera or operetta is usually given top billing for the completed work, and the writer of the lyrics relegated to second place or a mere footnote, a notable exception being Gertrude Stein , who received top billing for Four Saints in Three Acts . Another exception was Alberto Franchetti 's 1906 opera La figlia di Iorio which was a close rendering of

1925-549: The composer. In some 17th-century operas still being performed, the name of the librettist was not even recorded. As the printing of libretti for sale at performances became more common, these records often survive better than music left in manuscript. But even in late 18th century London, reviews rarely mentioned the name of the librettist, as Lorenzo Da Ponte lamented in his memoirs. By the 20th century some librettists became recognised as part of famous collaborations, as with Gilbert and Sullivan or Rodgers and Hammerstein . Today

1980-409: The context of a modern English-language musical theatre piece, the libretto is considered to encompass both the book of the work (i.e., the spoken dialogue) and the sung lyrics. Libretti for operas, oratorios and cantatas in the 17th and 18th centuries were generally written by someone other than the composer, often a well-known poet. Pietro Trapassi , known as Metastasio (1698–1782) was one of

2035-511: The first decade of the 18th century. Johann Sebastian Bach 's first staging of this Passion music was in Weimar c. 1712. Its vox Christi bass appears in secco and accompagnato recitatives, and in an arioso on the Gospel words "Eli, eli, lama asabthani". In his Brockes Passion George Frideric Handel set Jesus' words for bass in recitatives, ariosos and arias . The Evangelist's recitatives are set for tenor. In Bach's extant Passion compositions

2090-521: The later team of Rodgers and Hammerstein the lyrics were generally written first, which was Rodgers' preferred modus operandi). Some composers wrote their own libretti. Richard Wagner is perhaps most famous in this regard, with his transformations of Germanic legends and events into epic subjects for his operas and music dramas. Hector Berlioz , too, wrote the libretti for two of his best-known works, La damnation de Faust and Les Troyens . Alban Berg adapted Georg Büchner 's play Woyzeck for

2145-424: The libretto of Wozzeck . Sometimes the libretto is written in close collaboration with the composer; this can involve adaptation, as was the case with Rimsky-Korsakov and his librettist Vladimir Belsky , or an entirely original work. In the case of musicals, the music, the lyrics and the "book" (i.e., the spoken dialogue and the stage directions) may each have its own author. Thus, a musical such as Fiddler on

2200-402: The lyrics of the arias , duets , trios and choruses written in verse. The libretto of a musical, on the other hand, is almost always written in prose (except for the song lyrics). The libretto of a musical, if the musical is adapted from a play (or even a novel), may even borrow their source's original dialogue liberally – much as Oklahoma! used dialogue from Lynn Riggs 's Green Grow

2255-413: The most highly regarded librettists in Europe. His libretti were set many times by many different composers. Another noted 18th-century librettist was Lorenzo Da Ponte . He wrote the libretti for three of Mozart 's greatest operas, and for many other composers as well. Eugène Scribe was one of the most prolific librettists of the 19th century, providing the words for works by Meyerbeer (with whom he had

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2310-442: The old Betty Grable – Don Ameche – Carmen Miranda vehicles, are largely unaffected, but this practice is especially misleading in translations of musicals like Show Boat , The Wizard of Oz , My Fair Lady or Carousel , in which the lyrics to the songs and the spoken text are often or always closely integrated, and the lyrics serve to further the plot. Availability of printed or projected translations today makes singing in

2365-471: The original language more practical, although one cannot discount the desire to hear a sung drama in one's own language. The Spanish words libretista (playwright, script writer or screenwriter) and libreto (script or screen play), which are used in the Hispanic TV and cinema industry, derived their meanings from the original operatic sense. Librettists have historically received less prominent credit than

2420-629: The past (and even today), foreign musical stage works with spoken dialogue, especially comedies, were sometimes performed with the sung portions in the original language and the spoken dialogue in the vernacular. The effects of leaving lyrics untranslated depend on the piece. A man like Louis Durdilly would translate the whole libretto, dialogues and airs, into French: Così fan tutte became Ainsi font toutes, ou la Fidélité des femmes , and instead of Ferrando singing "Un' aura amorosa" French-speaking audiences were treated to Fernand singing "Ma belle est fidèle autant qu'elle est belle". Many musicals, such as

2475-457: The pieces Bach is known to have parodied for its composition, while the extant St Luke Passion likely contains little or no music composed by Bach. Which Bach compositions, apart from the known ones, may have been meant in the obituary remains uncertain. The St John Passion is shorter and has simpler orchestration than the St Matthew Passion . The St John Passion has been described as more realistic, faster paced and more anguished than

2530-647: The reflective and resigned St. Matthew Passion . The St John Passion , BWV 245 is the first Passion Bach composed during his tenure as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, a tenure that started after the Easter season of 1723. Apart from the German translation of parts of the Gospel of St John and several Lutheran chorales , it used text of the Brockes Passion for its arias. The Passion was performed on Good Friday of 1724, 1725, 1730 and 1749. The double chorus St Matthew Passion , BWV 244

2585-545: The structure of the Passions Bach wrote for Leipzig follows from the order of service: the Passions needed to be in two parts, for performance before and after the sermon. A second structural feature specific for Leipzig is the recitation of the unaltered Gospel text, as in Leipzig it was not allowed to paraphrase the Gospel in Passion presentations: for this reason an unaltered setting of the Brockes Passion , which contained

2640-653: The vox Christi bass combines with an Evangelist 's tenor voice. The Evangelist narrates the story in the Gospel's exact words in recitative secco. In the St John Passion the words of Jesus are set as recitatives secco leaning toward arioso. In the St Matthew Passion they are in accompanied recitative, that is they are additionally highlighted by an accompaniment of strings and basso continuo . The Vox Christi also appears in Bach's Christmas Oratorio , and in his Ascension Oratorio . In Bach's church cantatas

2695-467: The word libretto to refer to the 15- to 40-page books which were on sale to 19th century ballet audiences in Paris and contained a very detailed description of the ballet's story, scene by scene. The relationship of the librettist (that is, the writer of a libretto) to the composer in the creation of a musical work has varied over the centuries, as have the sources and the writing techniques employed. In

2750-438: Was Thomaskantor in Leipzig from late May 1723 until his death in 1750. The Passion music he programmed for the Good Friday services is largely documented. The St Matthew Passion , with its double choir and orchestra, was most likely written for the St. Thomas Church while it had two organ lofts, although Bach later also produced a version where the continuo instrument of the second choir was a harpsichord (instead of organ), so that

2805-522: Was composed on a libretto by Picander for Good Friday of 1727 and/or 1729. After revision the Passion was performed again in 1736 and 1742. Bach's copy of an anonymous St Luke Passion , BWV 246, was published in the Bach Gesellschaft Complete Works (vol. xlv/2) but is regarded as spurious, with the possible exception of the introduction to the second half. Bach wrote the St Mark Passion , BWV 247 for 1731. Picander's libretto for

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2860-494: Was employed in Weimar. Thus the "fifth" Passion possibly refers to Passion music Bach composed before his tenure as Thomaskantor in Leipzig, parts of which may have been recuperated in his extant Passions. It may also refer to one of the Passion oratorio pasticcios Bach was involved in and/or to a setting of Picander 's Erbauliche Gedanken auf den Grünen Donnerstag und Charfreitag über den Leidenden Jesum , published in 1725. Weimarer Passion , BWV deest, BC D 1, refers to

2915-558: Was probably composed by Gottfried Keiser (older attributions of the original work are to Reinhard Keiser , Gottfried's son, and later to Friedrich Nicolaus Brauns ). This Weimar version is known as BC 5a. He staged a new version of this St Mark Passion pasticcio , BC 5b, in Leipzig in 1726, and finally, expanded with some arias from Handel 's Brockes Passion , again in the last years of his life ( BNB I/K/2). The Passion text included in Picander's Sammlung Erbaulicher Gedanken

2970-559: Was published around the time (or shortly before) Bach started his collaboration with this librettist. Bach used six parts of this Passion libretto in his St Matthew Passion , but there is no indication he set anything else of this libretto. As such the Passion libretto was classified among the works spuriously attributed to Bach in the Anhang (Appendix) of the Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis , as BWV Anh. 169. Wer ist der, so von Edom kömmt ,

3025-489: Was written in verse, and this continued well into the 19th century, although genres of musical theatre with spoken dialogue have typically alternated verse in the musical numbers with spoken prose. Since the late 19th century some opera composers have written music to prose or free verse libretti. Much of the recitatives of George Gershwin 's opera Porgy and Bess , for instance, are merely DuBose and Dorothy Heyward 's play Porgy set to music as written – in prose – with

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