The Passion, a musical Drama

Johann Sebastian Bach could have composed operas, but he was never interested. In his youth we know he travelled to Hamburg, which was then the lyric capital of Germany. There, he encountered the highly respected opera composer Reinhard Keiser, whose music in recent times is being recouped. We know that Bach went to his performances, he also slipped in as an observer of a community which was so distant from his own. Neither what he heard, nor what he saw, encouraged him to take part in this world. So, he returned home to take his place in history as the only composer of the 1685 generation who never wrote operas.

Nonetheless, Bach’s cantatas oratorios and Passions are works of tremendous dramatic impact, calculated to leave a long-lasting impression on the spirit of the listener. In the same way as opera. If the religious content is an obstacle to this monumental piece, think of the St Matthew Passion as the opera Bach never composed.

From beginning to end a sense of drama pulsates in the piece as it agitates, surprises and touches the listener. Performed by specialists such as the ensemble Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen, heirs of the grand British tradition of a meticulous historically informed and aesthetic approach, the drama of the Passion of Christ will leave no one indifferent.

Programme
Johann Sebastian Bach, St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244