![]() ![]() Johann Sebastian Bach is widely regarded the greatest musical genius of all time. I compiled them simply in order to share an ongoing fascination with this unrivaled depiction of Christ’s final sufferings – unrivaled in its poetic and musical scope, its spiritual depth, and its uncanny ability to stir the soul. Based largely on gleanings from other sources (see the end-notes), they’re not especially original. No one but the individual concertgoer can answer that question, but in the interest of piquing the interest of those to whom Bach’s “Great Passion” is a foreign, inaccessible enigma, here are a few thoughts. Matthew Passion, that it has such a wide reach and such tremendous staying power? Has anything else lasted, culturally speaking, from the early eighteenth century to the present? In an age when churches are normally dark and empty, why are crowds still flocking to hear such an overtly religious piece – an age when any song you could ever want can be had with the flick of your finger, via Spotify? Is it really just the music drawing people? Some of these events were so well attended that you had to come several hours early if you wanted a good seat. Peter’s, a church on the Upper East Side, where the audience was invited to sing along with each chorale. We used to go to similar (free) concerts at St. ![]() (Instead, the choir, dressed in street clothes, was arranged on a round stage with the audience around it, to invite maximum participation in the experience.) Each of these performances sold out quickly, despite tickets ranging from $30 to $80 apiece. #WHICH OF THESE MANUSCRIPTS DOES NOT DEPICT MATTHEW SERIES#When my wife and I lived in New York, the Brooklyn Academy of Music was offering a series of special Passion concerts each spring that dispensed with the customary stand-and-sing presentation. Look at any big-city newspaper around Easter, and you’re sure to find a performance advertised somewhere. Leaving the cyber-world for the real, it’s much the same. Endless critical appraisals, from the academic to the heartfelt, including an unlikely appreciation by a London Muslim who says that the work is so “devastating” in its power that even non-Christians can find meaning in it. Discourses on historically accurate performing standards and instrumentation. Announcements for past and future performances from the smallest rural church choirs to the largest halls of New York, Moscow, Johannesburg, Berlin, Tokyo, and Sydney. Google it, and you’ll come up with a staggering number of matches. But this is not just a regional phenomenon. This was especially true at Advent and Christmas, but even more so around Easter, and on into early summer, when the state’s yearly Bach-Wochen (Bach Weeks) draw musicians and music-lovers from around the globe.įor many in this part of Germany, the musical highlight of the year is attending a performance of the composer’s great St. Living for years in Germany, in Bach’s home state of Thuringia, it often struck me how his music was everywhere you looked, whether at churches, in concert halls, or on the radio. ![]()
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