A Bach classical crescendo in KZN
Bach’s St John’s Passion is a 300-year-old rendition of a 2 000-year-old story, writes Ida Jooste, a journalist and soprano in the Durban Symphonic Choir
THE story is 2 000 years old. German composer Johann Sebastian Bach’s 300-year-old rendition of St John’s Passion is being presented at St Joseph’s, Mariannhill tomorrow.
But why has this piece endured?
For one, the music is masterful – the familiar chorales, uplifted by Bach’s innovation in harmony, the thrill when orchestra, choir and soloists take turns to lead the melody, driving the story.
But it has also endured because of the nature of the story: humans through the ages form political allegiances and choose one leader over another.
“It’s the story of kings and kingmakers, Pontius Pilate caught in the middle, Roman soldiers ready to follow orders. It’s a story of betrayal and sacrifice and it explores the universal concepts of political differences, and of justice,” says Durban artist Dina Cormick, who describes herself as a visual theologian.
Her life’s work has been about helping us see the relevance today of experiences described in sacred texts. Here we have the dramatic story of Christ’s last weeks on earth.
“The truths, stories and parables of the Bible, the political intrigue of Shakespeare and the lessons we learn in age-old fables endure because they tell universal stories; stories that we deeply relate to.”
One of the greatest musicians of all time, Johan Sebastian Bach, is of his time, says Cormick, but transcends time to express something that is fresh and new – relevant for the politics of even the past week in South Africa.
St John’s Passion is regarded as more “wild”, or raw in emotion than Bach’s better known St Matthew’s Passion. And John the Evangelist’s version of events, written more than 70 years after Christ’s crucifixion, when he had had time to reflect, is regarded as richer in philosophical interpretation than the other apostles’ versions.
The story goes that Bach had been under strict instruction to avoid sounding too operatic – something he seemed to conveniently forget in places. Bach uses the solo arias as opportunities to vary the musical palette. This is where the soloists shine.
“The work is taxing and has not been performed in Durban for more than 20 years,” said Ros Conrad, the Durban Symphonic Choir’s director. “There are complex polyphonic choral settings and rich baroque orchestration”.
We understood this to be code for “it’s going to be hard work, you’re going to hate me, then love me when it comes together”.
It has come together, enhanced by the KZN Philharmonic Orchestra and soloists with global experience, among them Nicholas Nicolaidis, one of the leading exponents in the role of the evangelist in both of Bach’s Passion settings.
His favourite is the St John’s Passion, with its musical intensity.
Aubrey Lodewyk, who sings the part of Jesus, is one of South Africa’s most talented and vocally versatile baritones.
Durban bass singer Richard Salmon is interpreting both the roles of Pontius Pilate and Peter.
The arias are sung by Wayne Mkhize, who has just been accepted at the Guildhall school of music for further studies, and award-winning Vanessa Tait-Jones, who is regularly heard in concert halls in SA and the US.
This work tests the dramatic range of any choir, conductor Naum Rousine tells us. “Here the crowd wants to see blood. ‘Crucify him, we have no king but Caesar!’ and moments later, you are devoted supporters, passionate but pious: ‘O mankind be pure within; love both God and neighbour, live and die without a sin, like your guiltless Saviour.’”
Ros decided we would sing the work in English, not German, “because we want the audience to follow every twist of this dramatic story, a story we all relate to.”
The performance of Bach’s St John’s Passion is on Sunday, April 9 at 2.30pm in St Joseph’s Cathedral, Mariannhill.