{"id":46279,"date":"2024-08-19T10:20:53","date_gmt":"2024-08-19T08:20:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/af5749df-6ce7-4087-b050-e5236cf47c6a"},"modified":"2024-08-19T11:07:16","modified_gmt":"2024-08-19T09:07:16","slug":"today-at-the-bbc-proms-a-stunning-bach-masterpiece","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/rss_feed\/today-at-the-bbc-proms-a-stunning-bach-masterpiece\/","title":{"rendered":"Today at the BBC Proms: a stunning Bach masterpiece"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By <\/p>

Published: Monday, 19 August 2024 at 08:20 AM<\/p>

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For Prom 40 today, Monday 19 August, the BBC Proms<\/a><\/strong> are all about Bach<\/a><\/strong>. Yes, this evening’s Prom at the Royal Albert Hall<\/a><\/strong> features a performance of the St John Passion, the great composer’s stunning oratorio from 1724. <\/p>

Head back to www.classical-music.com<\/a><\/strong> every day during the 2024 Proms, for your essential programme notes to each of this year’s Proms. And visit our shiny 2024 BBC Proms guide<\/a> <\/strong>for all the info you need on every single Prom, including repertoire, performers, times, ticket prices and more. <\/strong><\/p>

What’s on at the BBC Proms today?<\/h2>Prom 40 features a full performance of Bach’s magnificent St John Passion<\/a><\/strong>. This was the earlier of two sacred oratorios that Bach composed while working as director of church music in the German city of Leipzig<\/a><\/strong>. The work got its first performance on 7 April 1724.<\/p>
<\/div><\/figure><p>The St John Passion is designed to be performed in two halves, with a sermon typically coming in between. The text or libretto is made up of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-recitative\"><strong>recitatives<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0choruses\u00a0that tell the story of the\u00a0<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Passion_of_Jesus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Passion of Jesus Christ<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(his final days, including arrest and death) as told in the St John\u00a0Gospel. There are also\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Aria\"><strong>arias<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0that reflect on the narrative, as well as chorales that\u00a0use hymn tunes and texts that would have been familiar to congregations in Bach’s day.\u00a0<\/p><p>When compared with his later Passion oratorio, the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/articles\/guide-js-bach-st-matthew-passion-best-recordings\">St Matthew Passion<\/a><\/strong>, this work can be seen as somewhat less refined and more extravagant – as our Bach expert Paul Riley points out, ‘if not operatic, the St John Passon is certainly dramatic (a fine line, almost overstepped at times). <\/p><p>‘Rooted in the past, yet fuelled by vibrant Italian imports such as recitative and the\u00a0<em>da capo<\/em>\u00a0aria, it inaugurated a choral journey that would occupy Bach to the end of his life.’<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Bach - Ach Herr, la\u00df dein lieb Engelein from St John Passion BWV 245 | Netherlands Bach Society\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/apWYzBxtT9M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"\/><\/div><\/figure><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-who-is-performing-at-the-bbc-proms-today\">Who is performing at the BBC Proms today?<\/h2><p>Today’s performance of Bach’s St John Passion is performed by noted Bach performers, the Bach Collegium Japan and conductor Masaaki Suzuki. The many acclaimed Bach recordings by these forces include a cycle of the complete Bach <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/features\/musical-terms\/what-is-a-cantata\">cantatas<\/a><\/strong> that runs to no fewer than 55 CDs! You can find a review of one of their Bach cantatas series <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.classical-music.com\/reviews\/bach-collegium-japan-perform-bach-cantatas-led-masaaki-suzuki\">elsewhere on our site<\/a><\/strong>. <\/p><p>Tonight’s soloists include Benjamin Bruns as St John the Evangelist, Christian Immler as Jesus, and Yusuke Watanabe as Pontius Pilate.<\/p><h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-what-time-does-tonight-s-prom-start-and-how-much-are-tickets\">What time does tonight’s Prom start, and how much are tickets?<\/h2><p>Prom 40 (Bach St John Passion) gets going at 7.30pm, and tickets are priced between \u00a311 and \u00a354.<\/p><p> <\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Published: Monday, 19 August 2024 at 08:20 AM For Prom 40 today, Monday 19 August, the BBC Proms are all about Bach. Yes, this evening’s Prom at the Royal Albert Hall features a performance of the St John Passion, the great composer’s stunning oratorio from 1724. Head back to www.classical-music.com every day during the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":46280,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/today-at-the-bbc-proms-a-stunning-bach-masterpiece.jpg",1200,800,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/today-at-the-bbc-proms-a-stunning-bach-masterpiece-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/today-at-the-bbc-proms-a-stunning-bach-masterpiece-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/today-at-the-bbc-proms-a-stunning-bach-masterpiece-768x512.jpg",768,512,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/today-at-the-bbc-proms-a-stunning-bach-masterpiece-1024x683.jpg",800,534,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/today-at-the-bbc-proms-a-stunning-bach-masterpiece.jpg",1200,800,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2024\/08\/today-at-the-bbc-proms-a-stunning-bach-masterpiece.jpg",1200,800,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Published: Monday, 19 August 2024 at 08:20 AM For Prom 40 today, Monday 19 August, the BBC Proms are all about Bach. Yes, this evening’s Prom at the Royal Albert Hall features a performance of the St John Passion, the great composer’s stunning oratorio from 1724. Head back to www.classical-music.com every day during the…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/46279"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}