Nos. 27-33: Recitative - “All they that see him laugh him to scorn”; Chorus - “He trusted in God”; Recitative - “Thy rebuke hath broken his heart”; Aria - “Behold, and see if there be any sorrow”; Recitative - “He was cut off out of the land of the living”; Aria - “But thou didst not leave his soul in hell”; Chorus - “Lift up your heads, O ye gates”
“All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that he would deliver him: let him deliver him, if he delight in him.”
”Reproach hath broken my heart; and I am full of heaviness: and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.”
”[Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?] Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, [which is done unto me, where with the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger.]”
“He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgressions of my people was he stricken.”
”For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”
”Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.”
As Handel continues through the Passion, he makes several interesting alterations to pronouns and verbs, changing the texts of the prophecies and Psalms to reflect their fulfillment in Christ. For example, “all they that see me laugh me to scorn” is changed to “all they that see him laugh him to scorn”; “hath broken my heart” to “hath broken his heart”; “thou wilt not leave my soul” to “thou didst not leave his soul”, and so on. These changes also subtly shift the narrative from one of a suffering figure crying out to God to an outside observation of Christ’s suffering, death, and triumph over the gates of hell.
A quick succession of very different tonalities underlies this section, thus: B-flat minor-E-flat major, C minor, C minor-B major (!!), E minor-B major-E major, A major, F major. The “crux” of the tonal journey occurs in the recitative “Thy rebuke hath broken his heart”, which moves ingeniously from the flat side to the sharp side of the circle of fifths, from a tonal realm of darkness into light.
I could describe any number of text-painting devices at length, but for the sake of time and space I will focus on the chorus “He trusted in God.” Here the chorus (and remember, by extension the listeners!) take the role of the accusing crowd before the Cross, mocking Jesus as the false Messiah they all thought he was. Handel makes striking use of the bright “ah” vowels in “God” and “delight” to give the impression of derisive laughter. It is a powerful dramatic device, and extremely poignant for the performers.
The placement of this final chorus in the dramatic structure of the oratorio mystified me for a long time, until I realized that Jennens and Handel are using this text to reflect the “harrowing of hell,” Christ’s descent into the realm of the dead to destroy death itself and bring its captives into his kingdom. Handel uses opposing men’s and women’s choruses to create a conversation between the forces of light and darkness. In the end, both choruses combine to state that Jesus is, in fact, the King of glory. If it seems strange to give the forces of evil a role in declaring the lordship of Christ, recall that throughout the Gospel accounts the demons seem to have a much clearer idea of who Jesus is than even his own disciples!