Saint Peter's Bach Collegium Orchestra and Soloists and the Saint Peter's Choir presents J.S. Bach's St. John Passion BWV 245 for our Good Friday liturgy.
BWV 245 is among the greatest settings of the Passion in the history of music, which underwent several fundamental changes during Bach’s lifetime and does not have a "final" version, approved by the composer as is the case with the St. Matthew Passion. The Passion narrative from the Lutheran Bible and the chorale verses are interspersed with aria texts of varied origins. An unknown editor compiled these in 1724 from several sources of poetry. A few of the aria texts, such as “Ich folge dir gleichfalls mit freudigen Schritten” were probably written by this editor who was particularly inspired by the basic ideas of the fourth Gospel. All-in-all, the varied pasticcio character of the libretto distinguishes the St. John Passion from its companion work the St. Matthew Passion with its text by a single author Picander whom Bach named on the title page of his fair copy.
Saint Peter's performance will be to the "traditional" 1739/1749 with the additional bass aria “Himmel reiße, Welt erbebe," that was also borrowed for Karosi's reconstruction of the St. Mark's Passion, the previous year's performance. The performance will be on period instruments in German, with opportunity for participation with the Chorales, in English, by the congregation.
*Role debut