St. Matthew Passion BWV 244, Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

The second piece for us to examine occurs fairly late in the Passion, but at a crucial moment in the story. This is the recitative No. 63a-b for tenor and chorus entitled "Und siehe da." The tenor here represents the Evangelist (Matthew) and acts as narrator. The text from the Bible (Matthew 27, 51-58) is as follows:

And behold, the veil of the temple was ripped in two, from the top to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent. And the graves were opened, and there arose many bodies of the saints which had slept, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying: "Truly this was the Son of God."

This is a very dramatic number; the drama is caused in large part of Bach's combination again of several of the influences described above. The tenor here is the Evangelist (Matthew), drawing on the older Passion tradition of having a single singer represent the Evangelist. Immediately from his first words, the bass line lashes out in a furious series of scalar runs, representing bolts of lightning hurling across the sky and down to the earth below. The bass line "settles" on a rapid tremolo (the rapid repetition of a single pitch), signifying the trembling earth, as the tenor prepares to sing the words "Und die Erde erbete (and the earth did quake)." This tremolo gradually ascends chromatically, signifying both the ongoing tremors and the unsettled feeling the soldiers and other observers certainly must have had at seeing this terrifying sight before them. Here is what the score for this recitative

This recitative ends with the crowd saying, "Truly this was the Son of God." Immediately, the recitative merges with a brief chorus, where the entire chorus represents the multitude of people watching the crucifixion. This itself is another example of word painting. The entire mood, however, has changed, and is surprisingly quiet, reflecting the awe the crowd doubtless felt in this scene. Although it is only 2 measures long, this passage is also more stable, clearly written in the key of A-flat major. While that choice of key might not mean anything, the fact that it is stable is an indication of the certainty of the crowd's statement: truly this was the Son of God.