Spott

It is clear that the conductor of this 1725 work, Ludger Remy, considers this short Passion a revelation, "philosophizing is nothing other than a preparation for death" (de Montaigne). Remy has disinterred it from Stoelzel's lifetime corpus of seven passions and 900(!) cantatas and premiered it here. This passion is based on a once-famous original (non-liturgical) text by the Hamburg poet and burger B. H. Brockes. As its title states, it is strongly, nay graphically, focused on the "Suffering and Death of Jesus." The text emphasizes bloody rites of whipping, thorning, beating, and crucifying, and bloody feelings about the blood sacrifice of Jesus: "my entrails screech on hot coals" (Peter), "rend my flesh, crush my bones…the world is fit for flames" (Judas). The point of this Pietistic text and frightful imagery may have been to so thoroughly terrify the congregation that only Jesus could truly rescue them, for all else collapses in utter betrayal and failure…

By tertius3 (MI United States)

George Frederick Handel (1685-1759), one of the preeminent Baroque composers, was born in Germany, educated in Italy, and spent most of his career in England, making him one of the first genuinely cosmopolitan composers noted, for the elegance, sophistication, and tunefulness of his music. He established his reputation in London as a composer of Italian opera, but after public taste shifted in the 1730s, he turned to English oratorios, the most famous of which is Messiah. Other popular works include Water Music, Royal Fireworks Music, the operas Giulio Cesare and Serse, and the oratorios Israel in Egypt and Judas Maccabeus.