Repertoire
BACH: St. John Passion, BWV 245
Artists
The Evangelist: Simon Bode, tenor
Jesus: Thomas Stimmel, bass
Laila Salome Fischer, soprano
Terry Wey, countertenor
Dávid Szigetvári, tenor
Konstantin Wolff, bass
La Capella Reial de Catalunya
Lluís Vilamajó, preparation of the vocal ensemble
Le Concert des Nations
Manfredo Kraemer, concertmaster
Jordi Savall, conductor
Program
This season, Jordi Savall presents the oldest of the two Passions preserved in their entirety: the St. John Passion.Although only two are preserved in their entirety, Bach wrote at least five Passions. Last season, Jordi Savall offered the best known of these, the St. Matthew Passion, the work that marked the resurrection of Bach’s music following Mendelssohn’s revival of it in 1829. This season presents the oldest of the two Passions preserved in their entirety: the St. John Passion. The St. John text is notably different in character to the St. Mark text, and so too is Bach’s musical translation: the narration is shorter and more direct. It premiered in 1724 in the church of St. Nicholas in Leipzig, with an extraordinary musical display. However, the score is always at the service of the word, which is the central element of the work. In fact, the Evangelist and Jesus have a very different sound universe with regard to accompaniment. In particularly outstanding pieces, Bach also brought unusual sounds into the orchestra, such as the viola da gamba and the lute, in addition to the usual rhetorical expressiveness in the construction of the melodies and harmonies of the musician-poet, as he was referred to by Albert Schweitzer.