Good Friday Concert

The Music Club's Good Friday Concert, given last night in the Fogg Museum Courtyard, was superbly planned to express the spirit and significance of the religious season. The principal work was the oratorio The Seven Words of Christ on the Cross by Heinrich Schuetz, a German composer who lived a century before Bach. The opening and closing choral ensembles are an exhortation to think upon the Seven Words on this anniversary of the Crucifixion as a means of sharing the anguish of Christ. The body of the oratorio is part of the passion given in narrative and dramatic form by five soloists. After the Seven Words--"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"--found in Matthew and Mark, we hear the less enigmatic pronouncement from Luke, "Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!" The music reaches its most sublime level at the end of the narrative portion, ". . . and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit." The influence of the Italian Baroque (for Schuctz studied under Gabrieli) is slightly evident in some striking contrapuntal effects in the ensembles; but the pervading spirit of the work is that of German pictism. In Schuctz a restrained and masterful technique is put to the service of a fervent spirit and the result is overwhelming.

With Bach's Cantata No. 15 we were transported two days ahead to Easter Sunday. Trumpet, tympani fanfares and the gay laughter of one of the vocal ensembles are typical of this buoyant celebration of the Resurrection.

The concert opened with Cimarosa Oboc Concerto. Robert Freemen played it with a sublety of phrasing and sweetness of tone of the highest order. The Orchestra, whose playing throughout the evening was solid, failed occasionally to match his sensitivity.

Soprano Jean Lunn, who in addition to singing in the Schuetz and Bach performed a solo cantata by Tunder, was in wonderful form. I have never more admired the agility of her voice and the intelligence of her musicianship. Robert Gartside created a striking effect with his accomplished tenor but he could have shown more restraint is the ensembles. The other soloists, Anne Talbot, Robert Simon, and Bernard Barbeau, were of equally high caliber.