St John Passion

John Butt conducts Bach's earliest surviving passion. An intense musical drama in which the eternal and mortal collide as the raw, human tragedy of Jesus' death plays out against the backdrop of divine history.

With its powerful crowd scenes and expressive arias, Bach’s St John Passion draws us into the burning heart of the crucifixion story. Bach skillfully manipulates time, making us not simply witnesses to the unfolding events but complicit in them. At times urgency drives the narrative forward, at others time stretches and distorts. In the final hours of Jesus’ life, time slows almost to stillness, leaving us suspended, as if marooned within eternity itself.

"St John’s Gospel is very attuned to the notion of God’s eternal time, contrasting with our own local time. It gives us the sense that these events have already happened, are happening now, and will happen again.” - John Butt

First performed in 1724 for the Good Friday vespers in Leipzig, the St John Passion would have resonated with the hardships of Leipzig in Bach’s day. As we return to these events, we may recognise the same patterns unfolding in our own world: suffering, injustice, and the uneasy sense that this story is not finished—that it continues to repeat, generation after generation.

Performers:
Hilary Cronin soprano
Helen Charlston mezzo-soprano
Hugo Hymas tenor
Nick Pritchard Evangelist (tenor)
Florian Störtz bass-baritone
Choir of the Age of Enlightenment
John Butt conductor
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Programme:
JS BACH St John Passion