CD 50

Tyrolean Passion Music in Song 1991

In the context of our research on the folk song, we recorded three  responsorial  Passions in South Tyrol. They are the last surviving testimony of a performance of the story of Christ’s Passion in song, an orally  transmitted  tradition once  widely  cultivated  in the Tyrol. The main bearers of this tradition were small groups  of  barely  musically trained singers of the peasant class, who usually belonged to one family and passed on their offi ce from generation to generation. The selection for our 1991 concert of Passion music was the Passion from the town of Gummer, Eggental. As this Passion had not been performed  for  over  twenty years, the recording made in the course of our fi eldwork turned out to involve reconstruction. This  was  sometimes  quite difficult,   mainly   because many of the former singers had already died and the surviving authorities on this music could sometimes remember only parts of the melodies not belonging to their usual roles. The Passion of Gummer is provided here in  the  form  established  by conscientious research. All of the authorities that could still be contacted were consulted, and  second  versions  of  all the recordings were made at intervals in order to clear up possible errors.

Track 8, 1:32
Da sie nun beim Mahle waren

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