The Crucifixion is scored for a SATBchoir and organ, and features solos for bass (or baritone) and tenor.[1] Structurally, it is based on the traditional format of the Passions by Johann Sebastian Bach, with a Biblical narrative interspersed with choruses, solos and hymns reflecting on the Passion story.[2] Stainer intended the piece to be within the scope of most parish church choirs; it includes five hymns for congregational participation.[3]
The text consists of extracts from the King James Bible with poetic material written by W J Sparrow Simpson, the librettist of Stainer's earlier cantataMary Magdalene.[4] The work is dedicated "to my pupil and friend W. Hodge and the choir of Marylebone Church", who first performed it on 24 February 1887, the day after Ash Wednesday. There have been performances in Marylebone Church annually since then.[5]
The work premiered on 24 February 1887 and continues to be performed today.
Some critics have expressed unfavourable opinions of Stainer's Crucifixion. The composer Ernest Walker dismissed the work, writing in 1924 that "Musicians today have no use for The Crucifixion". Edmund Fellowes said: "It suffers primarily from the extreme poverty, not to say triviality, of the musical ideas dealing with a subject which should make the highest demand for dignity of treatment".[7] Kenneth Long said that Stainer had a libretto "which for sheer banality and naïveté would be hard to beat".[8] Stainer himself characterised his work as "rubbish".[9] In his A Short History of English Church Music, Erik Routley traced The Crucifixion as the archetypal work that others imitated, and often diluted.
"Much of the rest of [Stainer's] music and the whole of [his] libretto where it is not quoting scripture, is a caricature of the sensational triviality which, no matter how great the efforts of their latter day defenders, we are bound to attribute to the Victorians. From The Crucifixion you go down into the underworld of Michael Costa, Caleb Simper and J.H. Maunder (the last two of whom prompted Vaughan Williams once to enliven one of his pugnacious comments about all this with the phrase 'composers with ridiculous names': their names are about the one thing these composers couldn't help; other aspects of their activities are less innocent)."[10]
Other critics have viewed Stainer's work more sympathetically. Theologian Louise Joy Lawrence argues that, once the listener has set aside relative cultural views of Victorian "vulgarity", The Crucifixion serves well as a spiritual vehicle for conveying "theology and scripture at its most profound", and the melodies "as tools of glorification for God".[11]
Howard E. Smither describes the piece as "the most important English work on the Passion". He observes that the work is structurally owes much to J.S. Bach's repertoire of Passions, and also notes its popularity for Passiontide church performances throughout the English-speaking world.[2]
Reviewing a recording of The Crucifixion in Gramophone (magazine), musicologist Jeremy Dibble referred to the piece's "rich, chromatic harmony", asserting that any accusations of "saccharine sentimentality" could be allayed by a sincere performance. He singled out the series of hymns for particular praise:[12]
"Much of the mystical spirit of The Crucifixion is derived from its Tractarian heritage and, more to the point, from the treasure-trove of the mid-Victorian hymn repertoire, so characteristic for its colourful, devotional harmonic language. Stainer’s hymns – all winners – are full of such vibrant artistry."
Contribution to hymnody
Stainer's Crucifixion has contributed two popular hymn tunes to the repertoire of Christian hymnody: "Cross of Jesus, Cross of Sorrow" appears in hymnals and the tune is used as the setting for the hymns "Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus" and "There's a Wideness in God's Mercy". The final hymn in The Crucifixion, "For the Love of Jesus" also appears in modern hymnals; the hymn and its tune are both known by the first line, "All for Jesus, All for Jesus".[13][14]
Recordings
The oratorio has been recorded several times; among notable recordings are:
Herald, 2016 the Choir of St. Marylebone Parish Church with Mark Wilde (tenor), Graham Trew (baritone), Thomas Allery (organ), conducted by Gavin Roberts[16]
