s Johannes-Passion 1725 – Collegium Vocale Gent

Collegium Vocale Gent

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
PHILIPPE HERREWEGHE

14/02/2018 — 19:00
Semperoper | Dresden | BE

Johann Sebastian BACH (1685-1750):
*Johannes-Passion* BWV 245 (1725)

Maximilian Schmitt _tenor – Evangelist_
Krezimir Strazanac _bass – Jesus_
Dorothee Mields _soprano_
Damien Guillon _countertenor_
Robin Tritschler _tenor_
Tobias Berndt _bass_

*Collegium Vocale Gent*
Staatskapelle Dresden
Philippe Herreweghe

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Johannes-Passion 1725

Bach’s _St. John Passion_ was first performed in Leipzig on Good Friday in 1724. Although it fit in the still-new tradition of his predecessor Kuhnau, the shock caused by his emotional rendering of Jesus’ suffering and death must have been unprecedented. Since it lacked the ‘exceptional degree of perfection’ he would achieve with his _St. Matthew Passion_, Bach kept revising the piece, adding and removing choruses and arias, but he always stayed with the Gospel text, convincingly expressing its dramatic potential.