Chester Music Society Choir: JS Bach's St John Passion

JS Bach's St John Passion was written during Bach's first year as director of church music in Leipzig and was first performed on April 7, 1724.

The libretto is compiled from recitatives and choruses narrating the Passion of Christ as told in the Gospel of John, with arias reflecting on the action, and chorales using familiar hymn tunes and texts. Compared with the St Matthew Passion, the St John Passion has been described as more extravagant, with an expressive immediacy, at times more unbridled and less 'finished'.

As Easter approaches this sublime work has great significance for the Christian community, but even for non-believers it represents a glorious example of choral and orchestral writing which deserves to be heard by all music lovers. Sung in German