Sankt-Bach-Passion (Saint Bach Passion) is an oratorio composed by Mauricio Kagel in 1985 for the tricentenary of the birth of Johann Sebastian Bach. It follows the model of Bach's Passions, but the topic is not biblical, rather refers to Bach's biography. The text includes documents such as Bach's letters to patrons, and excerpts from contemporary biographies. The work is an extended oratorio for soloists, choir, and orchestra. It was premiered in Berlin in 1985, conducted by the composer, and recorded shortly afterwards by the same performers.
History
Mauricio Kagel received the commission for Sankt-Bach-Passion in 1981.[1] He conceived a work which follows the model of Bach's Passions, but referring to Bach's biography, which is told in contemporary texts, such as his letters to patrons, and excerpts from biographies. Kagel set the text as an oratorio for soloists (mezzosoprano, tenor, and baritone), a narrator, children's choir and choir, organ and orchestra, taking aspects of structure and scoring from Bach's St John Passion.[1][2] Kagel commented: "No one believes in God any more, but everyone believes in Bach".[2] The music contains no quotations or parodies of Bach's music. Compared to Bach's Passion, reflection in arias and chorales is less extended. A reviewer compared the work's seriousness to late works by Hanns Eisler and to Hindemith's Mathis der Maler, and summarized "This is a respectful, even reverent, tribute from one composer to a great predecessor".[3]
In 2002, Paul Griffiths compared recordings of four Passions modeled after Bach's works, commissioned for another Bach-Year in 2000 by the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart: Osvaldo Golijov's Pasión Según San Marcos, Sofia Gubaidulina's St. John Passion, Wolfgang Rihm's Deus Passus, and Tan Dun's Water Passion After St. Matthew. He called Kagel's work "the most intelligent attempt hitherto at a new Passion – and, indeed, the most moving", because Kagel "changed the game by making Bach himself the suffering protagonist."[6]
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