TEXTURE AS A DRAMATIC AND HERMENEUTIC DEVICE IN LEONHARD LECHNER’S ST. JOHN PASSION (1593)

Throughout scholarship on the Passion idiom, Lechner’s 1593 setting of the St. John

Passion is often cited as the epitome of the Motet Passion subgenre.1 Although many scholars

point to Lechner’s work as the climax of the Motet Passion, little analysis of the construction of

the work and the compositional devices Lechner employs exists. An examination of Lechner’s

novel incorporation of polyphonic and homophonic textures reveals an attempt to heighten the

listener’s understanding of and interaction with the Passion story, the center of Reformation-era

piety.2 Lechner does not manipulate texture merely to demonstrate his compositional creativity

or prowess; rather, Lechner employs various textures as dramatic and hermeneutic devices. By

musically emphasizing key theological points, Lechner’s dramatization of the Passion story

encourages the common congregant to interact more directly with God, a central tenant of the

Lutheran Reformation.3

Lechner’s Passion Within the Context of the Passion Genre

1 Stephen Rose states, “Lechner’s 1593 Passion (Historia der Passion und Leidens Christi) ensured his

memory as a footnote in genealogies of the genre leading up to Bach.” Stephen Rose, “Werke für besondere Anlässe (Review),” Notes 57, no. 3 (March 2001): 728. For other examples of scholars citing Lechner’s Passion as a quintessential Motet Passion, see: Basil Smallman, The Background of Passion Music: J.S. Bach and His Predecessors, 2nd revised and enlarged ed. (New York: Dover Publications, 1970), 27. Friedrich Blume, Protestant Church Music: A History. (New York: W.W. Norton, 1974), 181. Konrad Ameln, “Leonhard Lechner, Kapellmeister und Komponist, um 1553-1606,” in Lebensbilder aus Schwaben und Franken 7 (1960): 85.

2 Owen Chadwick, The Early Reformation on the Continent (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001): 80-81.

3 “...The laity no longer needed the clergy for salvation, since each Christian was free to find salvation through a direct encounter with God in the Bible. This encounter occurred in two ways: through reading the Bible, and through hearing the Word preached. The latter provided the main slogan of the movement, the demand for the preaching of the ‘pure Word of God.’” R.W. Scribner and C. Scott Dixon, The German Reformation, 2nd ed. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003): 18. Given that the text of Lechner’s Passion is completely Biblical, the music can be viewed as falling into the second category: hearing the Word preached.

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The reading of the Passion texts during Holy Week dates to at least the fourth century,

when John’s account is known to have been read in Jerusalem.4 As Christianity continued to

become established, the practice of reading the Matthew Passion on Palm Sunday, the Luke

Passion on Tuesday of Holy Week, the Mark Passion on Wednesday of Holy Week, and the John

Passion on Good Friday became standardized.5 Multiple readers were eventually used to portray

different characters (the Evangelist, Christ, and the crowd), which gave way to the codification

of Passion recitation tones.6 In early Passion settings, the words of the Evangelist and Christ are

directly derived from the Passion tones, and turba choruses use the Passion tones as cantus

firmi.7 In the mid-sixteenth century, Responsorial Passions, in which changes in character and

mood are expressed by shifting textures and voicings, appeared.8

The Motet Passion is the most developed type of polyphonic setting. Intricately

composed, these works bear more resemblance to through-composed motets than to earlier

Passion settings. For example, Lechner’s Motet Passion differs vastly from the Responsorial

Passions of Orlando di Lassus, Lechner’s lifelong teacher and mentor.9 Lassus’s Passions are

quite sectionalized and rely upon the Passion tones exclusively for the text settings of Christ and

4 Kurt von Fischer, “Die Passion von ihren Anfängen bis ins 16. Jahrhundert,” in Gattungen der Musik in

Einzeldarstellungen: Gedenkschrift Leo Schrade, ed. Wulf Arlt, Ernst Lichtenhahn, Hans Oesch, Max Haas (Bern: Francke, 1973), 577.

5 Ibid. 6 Ibid., 589. Recitation tones were used to further distinguish between characters. A definitive collection of

Passion tones would eventually be published in Rome in 1586 by Guidetti at the request of Pope Sixtus V; however, churches and composers had been using Passion tones for a long time before this publication. Smallman, 23.

7 Examples of this type of Passion include settings by Johann Walther, Guerrero (St. Matthew and St. John), Victoria (St. Matthew and St. John), Byrd, and Lassus (St. Mark and St. Luke). Smallman, 132.

8 Ibid., 133. 9 Throughout his career, Lechner “showed over and over again his gratitude, veneration, and love for his

teacher Orlando di Lasso, whom he called the ‘one and outstanding unique musician.’” Not only did Lechner speak highly of his teacher, but he also edited two collections of Lassus’s music and arranged works by Lassus for congregational use in Protestant churches. Konrad Ameln, “Leonhard Lechner in His Time,” in Cantors at the Crossroads: Essays on Church Music in Honor of Walter E. Buszin, ed. Johannes Riedel (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1967), 79.

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the Evangelist.10 The words of the Evangelist are shown in italic print and have no pitches; the

use of Passion tones is assumed.11

Lassus sets the Passion text with little dramatic extrapolation, as evidenced by

predominantly homorhythmic and syllabic turba choruses. This straightforward, almost

mundane, setting of the John account demonstrates that Lassus, like many other composers,

“almost never used his Passions as a place for experimentation.”12 Conversely, Lechner’s

Passion unfolds across five continuous movements and weaves the Passion tones into the

polyphonic texture.13 By musically conveying the Passion’s dramatic narrative, Lechner reflects

the emotional value placed on the Passion by early Lutherans and moves far beyond the

limitations of the Catholic Responsorial Passion exemplified by Lassus.

After Lechner’s 1593 setting, two “extremely expressive and dramatic masterworks

[within the Motet Passion subgenre] were produced,” each for six voices, by Johannes Herold

(Graz, 1594) and Christoph Demantius (Freiberg, 1631).14 Aside from these works, the Motet

Passion subgenre quickly declined after Lechner’s setting. Most scholars argue that this decline

was caused by musicians’ eagerness to explore the dramatic potential of techniques such as

10 Lassus’s settings of the St. Matthew and St. John Passions portray different characters through two- and

three-part polyphony, and all turba choruses are set polyphonically for five voices. Jerome Roche, Lassus (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1982), 29.

11 Interestingly, Lassus transposes the Passion tones from being centered on C to G. Nicholas Dean Johnson, “The Influence of the Jesuits on the Passion Music of Orlando di Lasso” (M.A. Thesis, University of Maryland, College Park, 2006), 34.

12 Johnson, 20. 13 Lechner’s incorporation of the Passion tones may reflect his Catholic upbringing. Smallman, 27.

Lechner’s incorporation of Passion tones is beyond the scope of this paper. The reader is encouraged to consult Capelle’s work on the Passion tones in Lechner’s Passion. Irmlind Capelle, “Zur Verwendung des Passionstons in den durchkomponierten Passionen des 16. Jahrhunderts, insbesondere in der Johannes-Passion Leonhard Lechners,” in Festschrift für Arno Forchert (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1986), 61-76.

14 Blume, 182. Although outside this paper’s bounds, Demantius’s portrayal of the Crucifixion’s nails as musical sharp signs is remarkable.

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continuo,15 recitative, and solo writing, which were outside the polyphonic style typified by

Palestrina, Victoria, Lassus, and Byrd.16 However, polyphonic settings of the Passion narrative

are not devoid of expressiveness. Although not as overt as seventeenth- and eighteenth-century

Passion-Oratorios, Lechner’s Passion strongly portrays the dramatic potential of John’s account

and furthermore uses various textures to musically highlight several theologically important

moments.

Lechner’s Use of Texture

By its very nature as a Motet Passion, Lechner’s composition relies heavily upon

polyphonic textures. In several instances, Lechner overlaps musical figures and repeats text to

portray confusion. For example, upon Judas’s betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane, Christ is

approached by chief priests and Pharisees, who are carrying lamps and torches. Christ asks for

whom they are seeking, and the mob replies, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Rather than fleeing or denying

his identity, Christ responds, “I am he.” Stunned by Christ’s forthrightness, the mob falls to the

ground in shock (see Example 1).17 Lechner replicates the mayhem of the scene by overlapping

voices and repeated text. The descending motive, which is tonally imitated in all voices, further

portrays the text: “und fielen zu Boden.”

Lechner’s efforts to portray this scene may first seem to be a moment of comic relief;

however, Christ’s straightforward acknowledgement of his identity has profound theological

implications. Christ’s subsequent arrest and execution are not caused by the actions of Judas, the

priests, Pharisees, Pontius Pilate, crowd, Roman guards, or any others; rather, Christ willingly

chooses his fate, and the crowd’s shock is warranted. By overlapping text and motivic cells,

15 Ameln, “Leonhard Lechner in His Time,” 85. 16 Smallman, 28. Blume, however, canonizes Lechner by commenting, “The master poured his genius for

dramatic characterization into the Passion, thereby creating the absolute climax of the species.” Blume, 181-182. 17 John 18:1-6

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Lechner musically demonstrates the theological significance of Christ’s willingness to suffer for

all humanity. The crowd and more importantly, the congregation, are brought to their knees, both

literally and figuratively, in imagining Christ’s redeeming self-sacrifice.

Similarly, to portray the crowd taunting Christ on the cross by telling him to save

himself,18 Lechner repeats and overlaps text and musical figures (see Example 2). Beginning in

m. 28, the lower three parts move polyphonically and reiterate the text, while the highest voice

fiercely declaims the text. The shrillness of the repeated F5 combined with the syncopations in

mm. 29 and 31 further portray the crowd’s ferocity and the overall chaos of the scene.

In contrast to this use of polyphony, Lechner employs homophony as a dramatic and

hermeneutic device to emphasize the crowd’s oneness of thought. For example, after the Priests

and Pharisees fell to the ground (Example 1), Christ again asks them for whom they are looking;

they answer, “Jesus of Nazareth” in accord (see Example 3). When Christ questions the Priests

and Pharisees the first time, Lechner sets their response polyphonically (mm. 64-67); however,

the second time (Example 3), he uses a homophonic texture to convey their deliberateness and

unified conviction. Lechner’s use of different textures within a short passage demonstrates his

awareness of texture as a compositional device. Not only does he use various textures to enliven

the music, but also to encourage the congregant’s identification with Christ’s suffering. Through

textural manipulation, Lechner draws attention to Christ’s willingness to meet his fate amidst the

mob’s fervent desire to execute him.

18 Mark 15:29-30

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Similarly, when Pilate asks the crowd if he should crucify their “king,” the chief priests

answer, “We have no king but the emperor” (see Example 4).19 Lechner sets this passage

homophonically as a means of showing the crowd’s universal wish to condemn Christ.

In several instances within turba scenes, Lechner likewise uses homophony to portray the crowd

as unanimous in their wish to execute Christ. While some scholars point to these moments in

Passion settings as perpetuating an inherent antisemitism running throughout Christianity, these

unanimous declarations can also be interpreted as reflecting Christ’s rejection by all humanity.

Christ’s ostracism fulfills the prophesy of Isaiah: “He was despised and rejected by others; a man

of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was

despised, and we held him of no account.”20

The Bible and the Passion Story as Central to Early Lutheran Pietism

Martin Luther often referred to Romans 1:17 as the catalyst his reforms:21 “For in it the

righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is

righteous will live by faith.’” The reliance upon grace through faith (rather than works) became

the main tenant of the Lutheran Reformation. Early reformers viewed faith as a spiritual gift

from God, which eliminated the need for priests’ intercessions on the believer’s behalf.22

Scripture, another gift from God, was seen as nourishing this faith.23 Many Lutheran reforms,

such as using the vernacular language, resulted in the common believer having more direct

access to God through Scripture. William Tyndale (c. 1494-1536), who translated most of the

19 John 19:15 20 Isaiah 53:3 21 Patrick Collinson, The Reformation (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2003): 47. 22 Scribner and Dixon, 18. 23 Caspar Schwenckfeld, “A Letter of Caspar Schwenckfeld Concerning the Course of the Word of God,”

in Early Protestant Spirituality, ed. and trans. Scott H. Hendrix (New York: Paulist Press, 2009): 53.

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Bible into English and was eventually executed, wrote: “If our hearts were taught the

appointment made between God and us in Christ’s blood when we were baptized, we would have

the key to open the scripture and light to see and perceive the true meaning of it, and the

scripture would be easy to understand.”24 Thus, a commitment to understanding the Bible and an

advocacy for greater access to Scripture were central to early Lutheran pietism.

For early Lutherans, understanding the Biblical Passion accounts was of upmost

importance. Even before the Lutheran Reformation, the believer partaking in Christ’s suffering

and anguish had long been an element of German piety.25 Christ’s sacrifice was viewed as the

source of grace and redemption.26 Far from morbid, the devotional focus on Christ’s death

enlivened the believer’s hope and trust in God. The popular German preacher Geiler von

Kaysersberg (1445-1510), an early reformer within the Catholic church, wrote “...but put all

your hope and trust in the suffering, death and merit of our dear Lord Jesus Christ. For all our

righteousness is false and like a stained, filthy rag in the eyes of God.”27 Although early

Lutherans centered their faith on Christ’s death, their commitment to the Bible prevented them

from exaggerating the Passion story into a mythological tale (unlike the pietism of the Middle

Ages).28 However, Lechner’s highly dramatic Passion demonstrates the value Lutherans placed

on the Passion as a devotional exercise. Lechner’s exclusively Biblical Passion setting not only

24 William Tyndale, “Prologue to the Exposition of the First Epistle of St. John,” in Early Protestant

Spirituality, ed. and trans. Scott H. Hendrix (New York: Paulist Press, 2009): 73. 25 Chadwick, 80-81. 26 Berndt Hamm, The Reformation of Faith in the Context of Late Medieval Theology and Piety, ed. Robert

J. Bast (Leiden: Brill, 2004), 15. 27 Translation: Hamm, 81. “Sunder all din hoffnung und vertrüwen setz in das lyden / sterben und verdienst

unsers lieben herren Jesu Christi. Wann alle unser gerechtikeiten falsch sind und vor der angesicht gottes als eyn befleckt, unrein tůch.” Geiler von Kaysersberg, “Sterbe-ABC” in Sämtliche Werke, vol. 1, ed. Gerhard Bauer (Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1989), 107.17-20 (19th Rule).

28 Scribner and Dixon, 81.

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fulfills the Lutheran commitment to Scripture alone, but also promotes “the believer’s existential

participation in Christ’s suffering.”29

Conclusion

Lechner’s 1593 setting of the John Passion is often argued to be the apex of the Motet

Passion; however, reasons for Lechner’s work being cited so often are rarely stated. An

examination of Lechner’s manipulation of polyphonic and homophonic textures reveals a deep

concern not only for the portrayal of the dramatic narrative, but also an attempt to musically

emphasize theological points to bring the believer closer to God. In chaotic turba scenes,

Lechner portrays confusion by overlapping voices and musical figures and repeating text.

Conversely, Lechner employs homophonic textures to convey the turba’s consensus and more

broadly, the universal brokenness of humanity. Lechner’s dramatic portrayal of the Passion

narrative encourages the listener to identify with Christ’s suffering, a main component of early

Lutheran piety. Although Lechner’s Passion may not be as dramatic as the Passion-Oratorios of

the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, it pushed the bounds of expression within the

polyphonic framework. Lechner’s innovative use of texture demonstrates an attempt to better

convey the dramatic and theological meaning of the Passion story.

29 Hamm, 15.

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Example 1. Lechner, St. John Passion, First Part, mm. 80-84.30

Example 2. Lechner, St. John Passion, Fourth Part, mm. 24-39.31

30 Leonhard Lechner, Leonhard Lechner Werke, band 12, ed. Konrad Ameln (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1960), 6-

7. 31 Ibid., 34.

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Example 3. Lechner, St. John Passion, First Part, mm. 91-93.32

Example 4. Lechner, St. John Passion, Third Part, mm. 60-67.33

32 Ibid., 7. 33 Ibid., 29.

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