Cast
Marta Mathéu Soprano
Rachel Redmond Soprano
Raffaele Pe Contre-ténor
Matthias Winckhler Baryton
Marc Mauillon Baryton
Choeur d’enfants de Dôle
La Capella Reial de Catalunya
La Concert des Nations
Jordi Savall Direction
Presentation
The summit of Bach’s work, The St Matthew’s Passion, probably created on Good Friday 1727 in St Thomas of Leipzig has haunted the history of music for almost three centuries. Performed several times during Bach’s lifetime, it was the spearhead of the rediscovery of Bach in the 19th century.
The librettist Picander composed 28 scenes based on Matthew’s gospel. Among these scenes and the gospel passages, Bach introduced twelve harmonised chorales and the grand chorale at the end of the first part.
The double choir is one of the main distinctive elements of this Passion. It reinforces the dramatic power of the work, where scenes of action unfold with the Passion’s main characters, but also the crowd as a full witness and actor in the drama. The result obtained by Bach isn’t comparable to other, much more staid German passions of his time. Bach is here closer to a grand oratorio by Handel. We are at the acme of protestant music and baroque rhetoric, with the intensity of the drama made more perceptible than ever.
PROGRAMME
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Saint Matthew Passion
Video
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Video: Bach, Magnificat, Royal Chapel at the Palace of Versailles - Jordi Savall
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