It’s 300 years since Bach’s St John Passion was first performed. Benjamin Poore examines its place as the key masterpiece for Lent and Easter.
28 March 2024, The Tablet
Soundtrack to the Crucifixion
Singing the piece is tough, physically and psychologically. One minute you are screaming for blood; the next quietly hymning the horrors of it all.
Bach composed the Johannes-Passion – the St John Passion in English – one year after being appointed as Thomaskantor in Leipzig.
Alamy/GLX Archive
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