Image depicting Pentecost Photo: PhotosForClass
Performed by Anne Loeser (baroque violin), Jane Young (baroque cello), Bethany Angus (harpsichord)
The third Glorious Mystery is Pentecost. In the time of Christ, Pentecost was a major Jewish harvest festival, and pilgrims from all over descended on Jerusalem for the great harvest feast every year. According to The Acts of The Apostles, ten days after The Ascension, Mary, the apostles, and others were celebrating Pentecost when there was a rushing of wind and tongues of flame settled on them. They all began speaking in strange languages. Bystanders thought they were drunk but Peter pointed out to the crowd that this was the arrival on earth of the Holy Spirit, and that everyone should repent of their sins and be baptised. Three thousand people were baptised that day, and Christians believe Pentecost to be the birth day of the Christian religion.
Biber’s Pentecost really is a glorious mystery. It is in D minor, but the violin is tuned to the dominant major, a broken A major chord. The opening sonata alternates quiet awe with affirming declamations, in which you might imagine that the violin is speaking in tongues. A Gavotta follows then a Gigue suggestive of the party spirit of the harvest festival. A concluding Sarabanda takes us back to the wonderment of the Holy Spirit.
Programme note by Gregory Hill.
Producer/engineer: David McCaw
