Johannes-Passion

The musical interpretation of the last days of Christ's life is a tradition that began in early Christianity. The first manuscript sources date back to the ninth century. The genre evolved little until the 14th century, mainly with the gradual introduction of the differentiation of roles (the narrator, Christ, etc.). It was through the Lutheran reform at the beginning of the 16th century that it gained its letters of nobility, both by imposing that the text be sung, no longer in Latin, but in German in order to be understandable by all, and above all, under the influence of Italian opera, by developing a much richer polyphonic form, henceforth alternating recitatives, arias and large choral pages. St John Passion, composed in 1723-24 for Leipzig, was the first large-scale work written for this city, where Bach had recently settled and for which he would write a good half of his cantatas as well as the Christmas Oratorio. Even today, this majestic work, which is striking for the beauty of the arias performed by the soloists and the intensity of its choral parts, is considered one of the peaks of the composer's work.

PRODUCTION Théâtre des Champs-Elysées