We are living through some of the darkest, most troubled times with political extremism, warfare, violence against innocent people, hunger and starvation on a scale not experienced in the world since World War Two. The power of great music to enable us to come to terms with the unspeakable horrors of our time could not be better demonstrated by this dramatic retelling, in words and music, of one the world’s great stories – whether you are a Christian, of other faith or none – of human triumph against extreme suffering and sorrow. Bach’s St John Passion is not for the faint hearted.
It tells a story, as in St John’s Gospel, of betrayal, bigotry, human physical and mental suffering and torment, and finally of redemption and triumph, with music of immense power, and at times heart-breaking pathos. It was written in 1724 by a composer at that time still only in his 30s, working not in a glittering royal court chapel or duke’s conservatoire, but with his local church congregation and community in Leipzig. Interspersed between the great arias and recitatives, are magnificent chorales, essentially hymns of the Protestant faith, as resonant and familiar to an audience in Yorkshire today as they were to the those who first heard the work three centuries ago in Leipzig.
The astonishing aspect of this Easter Saturday performance was that this huge and powerful work was delivered with such small forces. A choir of just 12 singers, who all doubled at various points as soloists.