Unione Musicale presents a concert that carries the weight of a milestone event: the performance of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion, BWV 245, marking 300 years since its premiere during the Vespers of Good Friday in 1724 at the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig.
The St. John Passion is a cornerstone of sacred music. Based on key episodes from the Gospel text – the arrest of Jesus, the crowd’s participation in his condemnation, the crucifixion, death, and burial – it is a monumental score conceived for double choir and double orchestra. These ensembles create a spatial counterpoint: a “musical machine” with few precedents in history, allowing the Kantor to achieve an emotional temperature almost theatrical, unprecedented for its time.
Bach revised the score multiple times, making modifications and additions compared to the initial version. The rendition we will hear performed by the Soloists, Choir, and Orchestra of Accademia Maghini conducted by Luca Guglielmi is a reconstruction of the third version, completed by Bach between 1728-1730-1732.
