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Bach’s St.John Passion – Salisbury Musical Society
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The St John Passion was written during Bach’s first year as director of church music in Leipzig and first performed on Good Friday 1724. Bach’s new employers had stipulated that he should ‘so arrange the music that it shall not last too long, and shall be of such a nature as not to make an operatic impression, but rather to incite the listener to devotion’. The work falls in two halves and consists of recitatives and choruses narrating the Passion of Christ, as told in the Gospel According to St John, as well as arias reflecting on the action, and chorales using words and tunes familiar to the congregation. The St John Passion was long seen as a poor relation to the later and better-known St Matthew. In recent years, however, its popularity has grown, as both performers and audiences have come to recognise its dramatic power and intense pathos. Tickets £20.00, £15, £12 and £8 from the Playhouse Box Office (01722 320333), at the door or online
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