the story would start with the journey up to a location of Jesus’s crucifixion. one would see Jesus struggling to carry his cross closer to the location where he is being brought to die while the distant outlines of the many crosses of those who died there before become more and more visible as Jesus gets closer. as Jesus arrives he is hammered to the cross and set up next to the two criminals that were alongside him. Jesus would die shortly after having the exact conversation with the two criminals that he had in the bible.
the music for this would convey a mix between anger and dread in the scene moving up to the crucifixion area. anger coming from the crowd surrounding Jesus and dread from the few onlookers that cared for Jesus and felt bad for his suffering. when the crucifixion began the music would fill with sorrow and a hint of curiosity. the sorrow from the people dying all around Jesus on the hill and the onlookers wondering what is going to happen. and finally when Jesus dies the music will change to one conveying shock and awe as the earthquake strikes as Jesus dies shortly followed by music containing dread for those who killed Jesus and realizing that he was in fact the son of God with an undercurrent of hope for those who believed in Jesus.
the theological interpretation of the story very much affects how someone would use music to describe the scenes. some would use joyfully music for the seen as if this was from the perspective of the people Jesus has saved looking back at the story. others would use a depressive tone for those from the perspective of the people that worshiped Jesus being unsure of what Jesus’s death means for their lives.
jesus’s death means salvation for us today but from the perspective of the people back then it either meant nothing because they just saw him as an impersonator king that would only make the Romans cause their people trouble. dread for the people that realized that Jesus was in fact the son of God. we only know about the death of Jesus today because of the scriptures that were recorded and passed down. I would in fact include text that was paraphrased from the bible because some lines might not make as much sense if they were taken directly from the bible or just not fit well in a conversation.