Subsequent versions were, with few exceptions, not true Passions in the liturgical sense as Bach understood it, and paved the way for the oratorio. Bach’s masterpiece rounded off in some respects the very long list of Passions in the history of music.

He achieved the fullest possible sound by adding a third chorus and enhanced the variety of the recitative. In the years between his St John Passion (1723-24) and St Matthew Passion (1727), Bach had continuously enriched his musical experience and brought a number of innovations to his second major Passion.

It’s a novel approach that worked brilliantly in the scene where Judas betrays Jesus and orders him arrested, the dancers showed wide-ranging emotions through their physical gestures and facial expressions, some as shocked witnesses in a frenzied dance, some as armed. Matthew Passion with young dancers of the Hamburg Ballet, who were instructed to improvise and react to the specific words and passages in the music. In the early 18 th century, a tradition of performing a major choral work on Good Friday based on the Passion of Christ became widespread in Germany. In the March 12 opening night at LA Opera, we saw a re-choreographed St. Sung in German with French and English subtitles Florian Boesch bass-baritone (The Christ)Ĭollegium Vocale Gent Orchestra and Choir

St matthew passion la opera