Bach - St John Passion - Lasset uns den nicht zerteilen

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750):
LASSET UNS DEN NICHT ZERTEILEN

Chorus from the St. John Passion.

The handwriting is by Johann Nathanael Bammler, who was prefect in the Thomanerchor Leipzig and an assistant to Bach in the late 1740s.

The St. John Passion was composed in the beginning of 1724 and had its first performance on Good Friday the same year (April 7). The original score by Bach is now lost. In the late 1730s, Bach began writing a new fair copy of the score. But he broke off his writing in the middle of the 10th movement (the recitative "Derselbige Jünger"). It is known that a planned passion performance in 1739 was cancelled by the church authorities in Leipzig, because Bach had not in due time seeked their approval of the passion text. Possibly this incident explains why he did not complete the score at that time. In 1749, in connection with a new performance of the St. John Passion, the score was finally completed by Bammler. Bach then reviewed the score and corrected various mistakes.

Lasset uns den nicht zerteilen, sondern darum losen, wes er sein soll.

Let us not tear it, but cast lots whose it should be.

The autograph score by Bammler can be found here (Satz 27):
http://www.bach-digital.de/receive/BachDigitalSource_source_00000846

The Monteverdi Choir
The English Baroque Soloists
Conducted by John Eliot Gardiner

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[dressOviedo]

I'm afraid "Derselbige Jünger" is the 14th movement, my friend, not the 10th.

[stigekalder]

@dressOviedo

We are both right :-)

Breitkopf and possibly other older editions have it as #14,

but the new Bach Edition (Bärenreiter Urtext) have it as #10.

[rvaughanwilliams1988]

how did a human being make this ... ?

[simaomainz]

Thank for posting the original score in the video... great idea!

[caras720514]

@laudrupli Hi! It's a special kind of fugue, wich combines elements from fugue and canon: permutation fugue. Greetings!

[laudrupli]

Is this a canon or a fugue?

[fevvers]

How do you know that Bach was a human being?

[luigievangelisti]

Grande Monteverdi Choir,Grande Gardiner,Grandissimo Bach!