A SINGER’S GUIDE TO A RHETORICAL PERFORMANCE OF GOTTFRIED AUGUST HOMILIUS’ JOHANNESPASSION (HoWV I.4)

Abstract

The German Protestant church composer and organist, Gottfried August Homilius (1714-1785), is recognized primarily for his sacred compositions written during his time as cantor at the Kreuzkirche and the director of music at the three main churches in Dresden. The forerunner of Homilius research, Uwe Wolf, together with Carus-Verlag, brought forth Gottfried August Homilius: Studien zu Leben und Werk mit Werkverzeichnis (2008) and his thematic catalogue (2014) as products of the public’s renewed interest and research in the composer and his music. Homilius’ oratorio passion, Johannespassion, represents one of the valuable discoveries of this recent revival of Homilius research. While musicologists celebrate such an exciting expansion of the music library of the mid-eighteenth century, a bigger task ensues before us: the equal sharing of joy with the performers. Indeed, the resonance of Homilius’ music in the concert halls and churches beyond the bounds of the research papers and music p