“The Great Passion” by James Runcie:
This book proved to be the right choice to read during Easter. I have always been a great admirer and connoisseur of the work of Johann Sebastian Bach. One could say that his idea on variations even triggered some ideas which led into some of my series in painting and video. So, yes, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
It is historical fiction and at that it is very good. It provides a specific, expansive and convincing evocation of Leipzig in the 1720s, how it felt to live, breathe and die there, how daily life and death took their course, what society’s rules, value systems and believes consisted of. At times it felt a bit romanticized, but this might just be my own Sehnsucht, my nostalgic longing for a time long ago.
On the whole the novel is a great account of grief, loss, love and art. It is also a fictional journey that lets us witness the creation of one of the great masterpieces ever written for the celebration of Easter, “The St Matthew Passion“. With heart, soul and imagination Runcie evokes the design, the struggle, the overall mood and the total commitment to God, that poured into this piece. It is a piece designed to make the death of Jesus feel immediate, not as something that happened in a far away Palestine thousands of years ago in a different society, but as a tale of immediate relevance, straight out of the present. Listeners were meant to come to understand how it would be if Christ would be crucified every day.
It is 1726, Leipzig, Saxony, and young boy Stefan Silbermann, son of the famous organ maker Silbermann, after the tragic death of his mother, is sent by his father to Leipzig to there study music and train as a singer in the St. Thomas Church choir. The grief-stricken, still mourning boy is bullied relentlessly by the other students, for his appearance (he has very red hair), for no other reason as simply being new, and especially for his beautiful voice which they see as a threat to their own status.
His vocal talents are not lost on the attention of Johann Sebastian Bach, the school’s cantor. He takes the boy under his wings and provides shelter, emotional support and education in his own, very numerous and diverse family.
Through Stefan Liebermann’s voice we not only take part in the everyday life of the Bach family but also in the creation of one of the composer’s best-known vocal pieces.
It is a book that captures well the spirit of that time that was imbued with absolute and unwavering faith and trust in God's power and grace for all of His creation. It is not a religious book, though, it is just very good in conveying this all-permeating belief that culminated into one of mankind’s truly great pieces of art.
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