Gottfried August Homilius St. Mark Passion

And so thou goest, Lord Jesus, hence
to suffer death for me,
sinner that I am,
who hath clouded thy joy.
Go on thy way, then, noble treasure!
Weeping and wailing,
my eyes shall yield a flood of tears
to besprinkle thy sorrow.
Caspar Friedrich Nachtenhofer (1624–1685): „So gehst du nun, mein Jesu, hin“, Verse 1
Translations (chorals & arias): Hector Ian Soga

After two days was the feast of the passover, and of unleavened bread: and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might take him by craft, and put him to death. But they said:

Not on the feast day, lest there be an uproar of the people.

And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,

...

So gehst du nun, mein Jesu, hin,
den Tod für mich zu leiden,
für mich, der ich ein Sünder bin,
der dich betrübt in Freuden.
Wohlan, fahr fort, du edler Hort,
mein Augen sollen fließen,
ein Tränensee mit Ach und Weh
dein Leiden zu begießen.
Caspar Friedrich Nachtenhofer (1624–1685): „So gehst du nun, mein Jesu, hin“, Strophe 1

Und nach zween Tagen war Ostern und die Tage der süßen Brot. Und die Hohenpriester und Schriftgelehrten suchten, wie sie ihn mit Listen griffen und töten. Sie sprachen aber:

Ja nicht auf das Fest, dass nicht ein Aufruhr im Volk werde.

Und da er zu Bethanien war, in Simonis, des Aussätzigen, Hause, und saß zu Tische, da kam ein Weib,

...

Uwe Wolf
Translation (abridged): Elizabeth Robinson

PRINCESS may the work of the devout Muse please YOU, | who dedicates it to YOU shyly and reverently, | YOUR great acclaim shall encourage him to greater songs, | if he deserves these, he will sing happily. | YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS’S | most humble servant | Gottfried August Homilius.

With these affected words, typical of the time, Gottfried August Homilius, Kreuzkantor in Dresden, dedicated a copy of his St. Mark Passion to the Prussian princess Anna Amalia, the music lover and composing sister of Frederick the Great.

This dedication by the Dresden Kantor to the Prussian princess was most probably in connection with a Berlin performance of the St. Mark Passion, the precise date of which is not known, which had taken place a few years prior to 1765. Both that performance as well as the dedication are notable in several respects.

In the 1760s, the immensely successful Passion oratorio Der Tod Jesu, composed in 1755 by Carl Heinrich Graun (who was associated with the circle centered around Anna Amalia), was already enjoying its triumphal progress throughout Germany. With the success of Der Tod Jesu Passion oratorios without

...