On Demand Stream
J. S. Bach
St. John Passion
On Demand from St. Stephen's Cathedral
The concert was live-streamed on Saturday, 27 March 2021 at 8:30pm CET and you can now watch it on demand. Please click on the picture below or directly on the Youtube-Link.
Alternatively, watch the Concert-Video on Youtube.
Every suffering is followed by a resurrection - we are bringing this hope and promise to your living room. Fitting the time of Lent, you will hear J. S. Bach's St. John Passion from St. Stephen's Cathedral as a free livestream in your home.
The project is the first concert financed with donations from the Culture Shelter, a fundraising project to support artists. It is a joint production by the Culture Shelter, the Vienna State Opera, radio klassik Stephansdom, St. Stephen's Cathedral and Kunst & Kultur. At the same time, it is the fourth livestream of Radio Klassik Stephansdom from the series "Vienna Cathedral Concerts in Lockdown". The Vienna State Opera thus presents the young talents of its opera school, who are given the opportunity to showcase their skills.
Lent is always the time of performances of J. S. Bach's world-famous Passions. Although the St. John Passion was composed a few years before the St. Matthew Passion and is today considered Bach's earliest Passion work, it is in no way inferior to Bach's later works in terms of intimacy and intensity.
When the St. John Passion was heard for the first time in Leipzig on Good Friday 1724, the congregation heard a work that was unusual for its time in terms of range, quality, ambition and spiritual depth. Did anyone suspect that centuries later this work by the then newly officiating Thomaskantor would become one of the most important works of musical world literature and one of the most frequently performed works of sacred music?
The work, which consists of two parts and follows the usual structure of the Passion narrative, draws heavily on the text of the Passion narrative in John's Gospel. In both parts, the text includes not only the biblical story, but also chorales, as well as freely composed choruses and arias. Thus, Bach ends this oratorio with Jesus' final words, "It is finished!"
Performers
Opera School of the Vienna State Opera
Stage Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera
Alexander Kaimbacher, evangelist and tenor-arias 1
Marlene Janschütz / Theresa Praxmarer, soprano arias
Lara Kaya Ege, alto-arias
Jakob Weingartner, tenor-arias 2 and Servant
Constantin Müller, bass-arias 1
Tobias Wurm, bass-arias 2 and Jesus
Jakob Krammer, Pilatus and Petrus
Lea Dluhos, Maid
Johannes Mertl, conductor
Rehearsal: Ileana Tonca, Prof. Helga Mayer-Wagner, Marlis Birkner, Uli Bancher, Kerem Sezen, Florian Schwarz, Georg Stanglberger
Programme
J. S. Bach, St. John Passion (Passio secundum Johannem, BWV 245)