Of the utility of the passion for souls in St. Matthew Passion

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24215/18530494e031

Keywords:

St Mattheus Passion, Bach, Descartes, the soul passions, emotions, persuasion

Abstract

In this work we analyze the St Matthew Passion from an emotional angle. The importance of managing emotions in order to persuade is already a classic since Aristotle's Rhetoric. Descartes also deals with passions at the end of his life, linking his mastery to the concept of virtue. This union of the ethical and emotional reveals itself fundamental for the Protestant Reformation. The composer is inspired by this ethical-affective conception when composing poetic comments to the evangelical text. The objective of the St Matthew Passion, within the ecclesiastical sphere, would be to move the listener by immersing him in the drama of the Passion in order to reinforce the Christian faith. The capacity for emotional persuasion transcends, today, the religious framework for which this Passion was created, being able to contribute to the building of a secular moral conscience starting from a linear account (the gospel) glossed with arias and choirs that involve the listener ( believer or not) in the drama. In this article we parallel the definitions and descriptions that Descartes makes of the passions and the musicalization of these by J.S. Bach in the St Matthew Passion.

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References

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Published

2021-12-17

How to Cite

Solores Etxabe, I. (2021). Of the utility of the passion for souls in St. Matthew Passion. Epistemus. Journal of Studies in Music, Cognition & Culture, 9(2), 031. https://doi.org/10.24215/18530494e031

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Section

Artículos originales de investigación