St. John Passion A Zeneakadémia saját szervezésű programja

When Johann Sebastian Bach was appointed director of music in Leipzig he set out on an ambitious undertaking. Although his contract did not require him to present his own cantata every Sunday and feast day, Bach still decided to write five years’ worth of cantatas joined by passions (from a musical aspect these are nothing other than extended cantatas), composed for the Easter period in accordance with then Lutheran practice. As far as we know, Bach composed five passions in his lifetime, but only two have survived: the first is the St John Passion (1724), which was reworked on numerous occasions over succeeding decades. György Vashegyi, a key figure in Hungary’s period instrument performance practice, and his ensembles, the Purcell Chorus (25 years old this year) and Orfeo Orchestra, perform the original version.