In Bach ad Infinitum on Thursday 27th and Friday 28 March, we will broadcast in 2 parts the new reconstruction by Alexander Grychtolik of the Passion-oratorio by J.S. Bach. This reconstruction was recently recorded on CD by Il Gardellino, also conducted by Alexander Grychtolik.
Our correspondent Jörg Hübert informed us about a new reconstruction by Alexander Grychtolik. His reconstruction of the Markus Passion is well-known (NB: with only existing music by Bach, so different from the reconstruction by Nikolaus Matthes). Now he has made a new reconstruction. It concerns what is known as the Passion-oratorio BWV Appendix III, 169.
No musical setting of this passion by Johann Sebastian Bach has been preserved and it is not even documented. In 1725, Picander published his ‘Collection of illuminating thoughts about and around ordinary Sundays and holidays’, printed in Leipzig. It also contains the libretto for a Passion Oratorio entitled “Constructive Thoughts on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday about the Suffering Jesus”. Bach and Picander knew each other and worked together. It is therefore very likely that Bach also knew the text of the Passion Oratorio. Picander eventually used six parts of this poem in the St. Matthew Passion, written in 1727.
We will broadcast Picander’s Passion Oratorio in two parts in Bach ad Infinitum on 27th and 28th March 2025. Jörg Hubert did the composition.
Alexander Grychtolik recorded the CD with Il Gardellino, with: Miriam Feuersinger and Jana Pieters, soprano; William Shelton, alto; Daniel Johannsen, tenor and Timo Wang and Jonathan Sells, bass. Reconstruction and artistic direction by Alexander Grychtolik.
Broadcasts in Bach ad Infinitum:
- Grychtolik’s Passionsoratorium deel 1: Thursday 27th March 2025, 13.00 – 14.00 uur
- Grychtolik’s Passionsoratorium deel 2: Friday 28th March 2025, 13.00 – 14.00 uur
- Repeats: exactly one week later
