Now and forever. These words literally ring true when it comes to Bach's passions, in which the composer truly employs every technique of dramatic timing known from opera and theatrical works. Speeding up actual time, the Evangelist narrates the events, while the nearly operatic dramaturgical scenes, in which the chorus symbolising the crowds of the period take the main role, play out in real time. Halting time periodically are the soloists, who comment on the events and depict the emotions of contemporary believers. Portrayed in the work alongside these is the timelessness, or more precisely, the current present, which shows a reflection of the work's present-day listeners. Thus sung, the chorales embody both eternalness and the finest experience of communal gathering.
Along with the operatic dramaturgy inherent in the work, the production also brings to life the events of the passion visually. In addition to the characters in the plot being personified in the arias and the Nyíregyháza Cantemus Mixed Choir representing the crowd on stage, the Budapest Academic Choral Society also sings out the chorales, elevated to the level of timelessness, from a position amidst the audience.
It is no coincidence that Bach's St. John Passion is one of the most popular oratorios in music history. The production aims to endow its listeners with the excitement of an opera performance, the limitless dimensions of Bach's dramatic expressive power and the most sublime experience of humanism.
