Schutz

• Schutz uses dissonance and harmony to convey the emotional depth of Christ's suffering
• Beginning:

  • Eb - D clash between tenors and altos
  • Harmony in the second chorus with cadences
• Throughout:

  • Only uses words from the bible with a few exceptions
  • Jesus is sung by a bass with melodic lines shaped like an arch, conveying tranquillity and holiness
  • Wide tessitura when the Evangelist sings about Peter's denial of betraying Jesus
  • Tessitura falls in paired notes for a description of Peter weeping
  • Tenor's role as false witnesses sing in canon a major second apart, reflecting the untruthfulness of their statements
• End:

  • Repeating words that break the idea of only using words from the bible used only at times of tension
  • Example: 'My god' repeated three times by Jesus and the Evangelist when Jesus is on the cross, symbolising anguish and tragedy by breaking away from the holy text
• Chorus:

  • When the chorus are disciples, their music is controlled and imitation occurs regularly
  • When they are an angry crowd, their imitation overlaps, sometimes occurring simultaneously
  • In the final chorus, there is significant dissonance: Ab - G clash between bass and alto, reflecting the anguish and tragedy of Jesus' death and Peter's betrayal