florida state university college of music performance practice

18 b Nicht diesen, sondern Barrabam (Chorus)
This brief four bar turba chorus demonstrates the fury of the crowd as they
demand the release of Barrabas, not Jesus. The brevity of this chorus does not provide
much opportunity for unique interpretations. However, a few conductors like Schreier
(1988), Slowik (1989), Max (1990), Cleobury (1996), Güttler (1998) and Max (2006) in
various degrees became increasingly faster which supported the vehemence of the crowd.
While all of the recordings presented a full dynamic to represent the ferocity of
the turba, Schreier (1989), Max (1990) and Fasolis (1998) also added a crescendo within
the four bars to add tension within the movement. As would be expected, the analysis of
the movement duration shows greater consistency within the recordings analyzed with
only 3 seconds separating the fastest recording, German conductor Max (1990) at 0:08
with the slowest, German conductor Schulz (1998) at 0:11.
21 b Sei gegrüßet, lieber Jüdenkönig (Chorus)
This fugal-imitative B flat major chorus derides and jeers Jesus as the “King of the
Jews.” The sparser texture encourages a lightness in the opening chorus entrances from
nearly all of the recordings heard. Several recordings like Schreier (1988), Weyand
(1990), Guttenberg (1991), Corboz (1994), Neumann (1999) and Veldhoven (2004)
became subito forte at the third beat of measure 11. Conductors Guttenberg (1991),
Koopman (1993) and Neumann (1999) crescendo on the quarter note tied to an eighth
note on the word “lieber” in measures 11-13.
All of the recordings heard incorporate the written trill found in the Bass and
Continuo part in measure 12, second beat. In regard to articulation most of the conductors
observed the staccato marks at the end of the movement on the word “König.”
However, Cleobury chooses to treat the last staccato as a tenuto mark holding out the last
syllable of “König.”
When compared to other movements within the St. John Passion, “Sei gegrüßet,
lieber Jüdenkönig” shows only a slight differentiation in tempo choices. All three of the
fastest versions of this movement are from German conductors, Max (1990) at 0:28,
Hempfling (2004) and Güttler (1998), both were also at 0:30. German conductor
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