Matthäus-Passion

Good Friday, 1727: in the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, the choir performs the opening chorus «Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir Klagen» («Come, daughters, help me lament»). Thus began the premiere of Johann Sebastian Bach's monumental St. Matthew Passion, his setting of the suffering of Jesus according to the Gospel of Matthew. Today, it seems inconceivable that one of the greatest oeuvres of the Christian West was practically forgotten for the following 100 years. It was not until 1829 that Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy initiated a renaissance of this Passion. Since then, admiration has remained unbroken. 300 years after its premiere, the Interpunkt concert choir and the Tonkunstler-Orchestra under the baton of Reinhard Goebel will breathe new life into this musical soul portrait.