St John Passion

St John Passion is among the greatest choral works ever written. It shows Bach's towering imagination at its most intensely dramatic, moving and vivid.

It was first performed in Leipzig on Good Friday 1724 and tells the story, through the evangelist, of Christ's arrest, trial and passion through narrative, interspersed with great choruses, arias and hymns.

Perhaps the biggest joy of the St John Passion is that, for all the ferocity and sorrow of the Good Friday story, it's a truly optimistic work, anticipating the resurrection with music suffused with light and hope.