Christ Episcopal Church
Faith at the Opera: Passions
28 July, 2013
Passions is an entirely new production, combining Pergolesi’s baroque Stabat Mater
(1736) and David Lang’s postminimalist the little match girl passion (2007). Both are
meditations on suffering and redemption, with particular reference to Christ’s passion in
the Gospels.
Luke 2:34-35
And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is set for the fall and
rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a sword will pierce through your
own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed."
John 19:25-27
But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas,
and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near,
he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your
mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.
Plot: The Stabat Mater is a thirteenth century sequence hymn meditating on the Blessed
Virgin Mary’s experience of the suffering of Christ
 Fixes attention on the Virgin Mary’s internal anguish—not a narrative of the
unfolding sufferings of Christ, as in the Gospels
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Cuius animam gementem,
contristatam et dolentem
pertransivit gladius.
Through her heart, His sorrow sharing,
all His bitter anguish bearing,
now at length the sword has passed.
The hymns intends to draw the listener into the action, stirring up the same feelings
of sorrow and gratitude
Fac, ut ardeat cor meum
in amando Christum Deum
ut sibi complaceam.
Make me feel as thou hast felt;
make my soul to glow and melt
with the love of Christ my Lord
Virgo virginum praeclara,
mihi iam non sis amara,
et plagas recolere.
Virgin of all virgins blest!,
Listen to my fond request:
let me share thy grief divine;
The listener is also moved to penitence, recognizing that Christ suffers for the
listener’s sins
Tui Nati vulnerati,
tam dignati pro me pati,
poenas mecum divide
Let me share with thee His pain,
who for all my sins was slain,
who for me in torments died.
Fac me tecum pie flere,
crucifixo condolere,
donec ego vixero.
Let me mingle tears with thee,
mourning Him who mourned for me,
all the days that I may live:
The hymn closes with a plea to Christ and the Virgin Mary for strong faith and
assistance in the hour of the listener’s own death.
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Flammis ne urar succensus,
per te, Virgo, sim defenses
in die iudicii.
Be to me, O Virgin, nigh,
lest in flames I burn and die,
in His awful Judgment Day.
Christe, cum sit hinc exire,
da per Matrem me venire
ad palmam victoriae.
Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence,
be Thy Mother my defense,
be Thy Cross my victory;
Designed for liturgical use—as penitential introduction to the Gospel reading—
preparing the worshipper to receive the story with receptive faith.
Liturgical use suppressed by Council of Trent (16th cent), but survives as devotional
poem, esp. in association with the Stations of the Cross
the little match girl passion: based on a fairy tale of Hans Christian Anderson. Heavily
indebted to J. S. Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion (1727): an oratorio that intersperses a direct
recitation of the passion narrative with chorales and arias, which recount emotional
engagement with the story.
 A beautiful, impoverished girl sells no matches on New Year’s Eve
 Afraid to go home, she sits and lights her matches in turn to keep warm
 She has a series of three visions, culminating in an appearance of her beloved
grandmother, with whom she ascends to heaven
 Her body is found by onlookers, who do fail to understand the transcendent power
of her death.
 The interspersed arias ask the reason for her death, express penitential sorrow at
her sufferings, desire to suffer in her place, and ask for her presence at the listener’s
own death.
Penance and remorse
Tear my sinful heart in two
My teardrops
May they fall like rain down upon your poor face
May they fall down like rain
My teardrops
Here, daughter, here I am
I should be bound as you were bound
All that I deserve is
What you have endured
 Her death is identified directly with Christ’s, in her final sufferings (Matt. 27:45)
In the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour she
cried out: Eli, eli.
Spiritual Themes
Redemptive Suffering: in both pieces, the protagonist suffers innocently, taking upon
himself/herself the sins of the listener
 The suffering brings freedom and healing: not meaningless for the protagonist or
the listener
 The listener’s response is a desire to suffer emotionally in communion with the
communion with the sufferings of the protagonist—in sorrow for one’s sins and
in gratitude for one’s redemption.

This emotional engagement deepens the listener’s faith and brings an inner
transformation (conversion)
“Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's
afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church,” Col. 1:24
“But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has
been crucified to me, and I to the world…Henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear on my body
the marks of Jesus.” Gal. 6:14, 17
Fac me plagis vulnerari,
Wounded with His every wound,
fac me Cruce inebriari,
steep my soul till it hath swooned,
et cruore Filii.
in His very Blood away;
Do you think the Gospel writers mean to invite this kind of engagement with Christ’s
sufferings in the way they describe His death?
How has meditation on the sufferings of Christ been important in deepening your faith?
Are you troubled by the suggestion that the sufferings of Christ are not really complete until
we have responded to them with our own suffering love?
Christ-figures: in both pieces, the suffering of another (Mary, the Little Match Girl) is
directly related to Christ’s suffering
 Both figures become agents who have the ability to share the fruits of Christ’s
passion, appeal is made to them for help and companionship
 Part of a wider tradition of viewing Christ’s death as the fulfillment of innocent
suffering (e.g. Is. 53 and Wisdom 2)
What light do these associations throw on the sufferings of these Christ-figures and of Christ
Himself?
What dangers do such close associations reveal?
Christ’s death and our death: both pieces conclude with an appeal for the innocent
sufferer to be a companion with us in our own death.
 Christ had companions in his own death. The recording of their names show that
they had an honored status
 Wider Biblical theme of deathbed as a scene of fellowship and mutual love: e.g. the
final blessings of Jacob in Gen. 48 & 49
 Important in a Christian vision of the necessity of struggling by faith until the end:
we go on to a better place, but still need companionship in the passing
 Loneliness of death is a significant factor in our age, when the dying process is
treated more clinically: Hospice a response to this.
When it is time for me to go
Don’t go from me
When it is time for me to leave
Don’t leave me
When it is time for me to die
Stay with me
When I am most scared
Stay with me
Do you want to die surrounded by those you love? Why?
Do you pray for help in the hour of your death?