Johann Sebastian Bach Osteroratorium

1. Sinfonia

2. Adagio

3. Duetto (TB) e Coro Come, hasten and show us, in eager devotion,
the way to the cavern where Jesus has lain.
Laughter and gladness
has banished our sadness,
for our dear Saviour lives again.

4. Recitativo (SATB) O man, thy heart is cold,
why does it now withhold,
the love thy Saviour well deserves?
But Mary Magdalena came.
Yea! put you all to shame,
when she her Saviour sought
her faithful vigil keeping,
with sighs and bitter weeping,
to him the final unction brought,
to man was thus a lesson taught.

5. Aria (S)

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1. Sinfonia

2. Adagio

3. Duetto (TB) e Coro Kommt, eilet und laufet, ihr flüchtigen Füße,
erreichet die Höhle, die Jesum bedeckt!
Lachen und Scherzen
begleitet die Herzen,
denn unser Heil ist auferweckt.

4. Recitativo (SATB) O kalter Männer Sinn!
Wo ist die Liebe hin,
die ihr dem Heiland schuldig seid?
Ein schwaches Weib muss euch beschämen!
Ach! ein betrübtes Grämen
und banges Herzeleid
hat mit gesalz’nen Tränen
und wehmutsvollem Sehnen
ihm eine Salbung zugedacht,
die ihr, wie wir, umsonst gemacht.

5. Aria (S)

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Ulrich Leisinger
Translation: Ulrich Leisinger, John Coombs

“A sacred oratorio [... ] is nothing other than a poem intended to be set to music which presents a certain sacred action or virtue in a dramatic manner.” These words are found in issue 20 of the Critischer Musikus, a weekly magazine about music, by which, between 1737 and 1740, Johann Adolph Scheibe, a student and sometimes rebellious critic of Johann Sebastian Bach, intended to introduce a wider audience to the music of his time. According to Scheibe, “the arrangement of the words consists of biblical sayings, arias, cavatas, recitatives, chorales, or short excerpts from psalms and songs of praise.” Oratorios can be either dramatic, if they include personages, which may be taken either from the bible or be freely invented, with regard to poetic considerations; but at the same time they can also be “poetic and prosaic”, namely

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