A Meditation on the Sacred Passion of the Holy Redeemer

The words selected and written by Rev. William John Sparrow Simpson

Composed for Marylebone Parish Church, Sir John Stainer's "The Crucifixion," was first sung at a series of special Lenten Thursday services on February 24th, 1887, where a choir of boys and men was directed by Stainer, with organ accompaniment by William Hodge. It was repeated at three further services on March 10th, March 24th, and April 8th.

It received its first performance in the United States at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, Baltimore, on Palm Sunday, April 3rd, 1887.

The first presentation of "The Crucifixion" in Moore County, NC, was on Good Friday, April 15, 1927, at Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Southern Pines, under the direction of E. Ellsworth Giles. The work was sung by The Sandhills Sixteen, with an equal number of women singers, in the newly constructed "Parish House," which had opened in March 1927, under the leadership of Rector Alaric J. Drew.

Ninety-seven years would pass before the work was offered again at Emmanuel on March 15, 2024, for a Noontime Bach's Lunch Recital Series program by The Emmanuel Choir, under the direction of Organist & Choirmaster Dr. Homer A. Ferguson III. Once again, the walls of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, the first building constructed in Southern Pines of North Carolina limestone, resonated with the sounds of Stainer's oratorio.

Christian Blackburn was the bass soloist and Aaron Carlyle was the tenor soloist. Choir soloists included Harper Cook, Benny Edwards, Randall Frye, and Jack Neely.

1. Recitative: And they came to a place named Gethsemane
2. The Agony
3. Processional to Calvary
4. Recitative: And when they were come
5. Hymn - The Mystery of the Divine Humiliation
6. Recitative: He made Himself of no reputation
7. The Majesty of the Divine Humiliation
8. Recitative: And as Moses lifted up the serpent
9. Chorus: God so loved the world
10. Hymn - Litany of the Passion
11. Recitative: Jesus said, 'Father forgive them'
12. Duet: So Thou liftest Thy divine petition
13. Hymn - The Mystery of Intercession
14. Recitative: And one of the malefactors
15. Hymn - The Adoration of the Crucified
16. Recitative: When Jesus therefore saw his mother
17. Recitative: Is it nothing to you
18. Chorus: The Appeal of the Crucified
19. Recitative & Chorus: After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished
20. Hymn - For the love of Jesus

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