It begins with propulsive, throbbing, motoric figuration in the strings. A moaning swirl of dissonant intertwinings between two oboes unfolds simultaneously above. Soon the bass line leaves its insistent repetitions of a single pitch and initiates a foreboding chromatic descent; withal strings and oboes swell to the movement’s first climax—three shrieks by the chorus, “Herr! Herr! Herr!”—“Lord! Lord! Lord!” These opening moments launch Johann Sebastian Bach’s extraordinary John Passion. They set the tone for what Robert Schumann termed a “daring, forceful and poetic” work, one which John Eliot Gardiner similarly lauds as the “more radical” of Bach’s Passion settings.

On May 18 and 19, Upper Valley Baroque will present two performances of the John Passion. This seminar aspires to help listeners to savor the work. We will consider Bach’s unrelenting innovation in the domains of rhythm, texture, instrumentation, harmony, and drama. We will ponder the theology implicit in both the text and the music. And we will consider the work’s antecedents in early-18th-century northern Europe.