St. John Passion

The St. John Passion is one of the greatest vocal works of Johann Sebastian Bach's Leipzig years, alongside the double-choir St. Matthew Passion, the Christmas Oratorio, the Magnificat and the Mass in B minor. In contrast to the other oratorio works, however, Bach never gave this composition a final form, but made conceptual changes as well as interventions in detail for each performance.
All previous editions mix the readings of the various source layers and present a form of the work that was never realized in sound during Bach's lifetime. The desire repeatedly expressed by practitioners to perform one of Bach's authentic versions could therefore not be realized without further ado. This source-critical edition fulfills this wish and makes the complete musical text of the second version (1725) performed under Bach's direction accessible for the first time, which deviates most strongly from today's standard version due to several substituted movements, including the opening chorus.