St Mark Passion (N. Matthes)

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St Mark Passion (W. N. 18) is a Passion (sacred oratorio), written in baroque style by Nikolaus Matthes (*1981) between April 2019 and April 2020. It describes the passion, death and sepulture of Jesus. It contains the entire text of chapters 14 and 15 of the Gospel of Mark.

The composer uses the libretto written by Christian Friedrich Henrici (Picander),^[1] first used by Johann Sebastian Bach for the Good Friday's service in St. Thomas Church in Leipzig in 1731. Therefore, it is the first integral setting to music of this libretto since Bach in 1731, and the first contemporary one completely following the baroque style.^[2] The piece has been first performed in March 2023 in four Swiss cities, Zurich, Bern, Basel and Lucerne.^[2]