The St Mark Passion, BWV 247, is a lost Passion setting by Johann Sebastian Bach, first performed in Leipzig on Good Friday, 23 March 1731 and again, in a revised version, in 1744. Though Bach's music is lost, the libretto by Picander is still extant, and from this, the work can to some degree be reconstructed.
History
Unlike Bach's earlier existing passions, the Markus-Passion is probably a parody—it recycles previous works. The St Mark Passion seems to reuse virtually the whole of the Trauer Ode Laß, Fürstin, laß noch einen Strahl, BWV 198,Wilhelm Rust. of Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe,. Bärenreiter, 1873, pp. VIII–IX. along with the two arias from Widerstehe doch der Sünde, BWV 54. In addition, two choruses from the St Mark Passion were reused in the Christmas Oratorio. This leaves only a couple of missing arias, which are taken from other Bach works when reconstructions are attempted. However, since Bach's recitative is lost, most reconstructions use the recitatives composed for a Markus-Passion attributed to Reinhard Keiser, a work which Bach himself performed on at least two occasions, which gives a certain authenticity to things, although it could be viewed as somewhat disrespectful to Keiser's work. However, Keiser's setting starts slightly later than Bach's, which requires a small amount of composition on the part of the reconstructor. Bach's St. Mark Passion was first performed in Leipzig on Good Friday, 23 March 1731. Written under the pseudonym Picander, Christian Friedrich Henrici's libretto survives in a 1732 poetry collection. The Markus-Passion is a modest setting, adding to Mark chapters 14 and 15 only eight free verse arias and 16 hymn stanzas. The chorales assume greater weight owing to their higher proportional use: 16 of the 46 movements are chorales in the St Mark Passion, whereas only 13 of 68 numbers are chorales in the St Matthew Passion. Five of the Markus-Passion texts appear to match the 1727 Trauer Ode, other likely parodies include BWV 54 and BWV 120a. However, no musical material remains for the Gospel texts or turba choruses. Further, we have no knowledge of the keys and orchestration which Bach used. While the libretto specifies which chorale melodies were used, Bach's harmonizations remain uncertain.
BWV 247 contains the text of the entire chapters 14 and 15 of the Gospel of Mark, sung as recitatives, and turba choruses.
Recitatives
Turba choruses
Chorales
Free poetry
Opening and closing choral movements
Arias
Reconstructed versions
Hellmann (1964) – Koch (1999)
completed a reconstruction in 1964 based on parodies and chorale harmonization choices only. The English premiere took place in Oxford, July 1965. A 1976 edition includes additional choruses to be used with a spoken delivery of the gospel text. Carus-Verlag published Hellmann's work with newly composed recitatives and arias by Johannes Koch in 1999. The orchestration for the work matches that of BWV 198. Recordings:
edited a 1997 reconstruction published by Bärenreiter that utilizes BWV 198 and choruses from BWV 204, 216, 120a, and 54. The recitatives and turba choruses are drawn from a St Mark Passion traditionally attributed to Reinhard Keiser, which Bach himself adapted for use in Weimar in 1713. Recording:
A recording of Gomme's reconstruction was made in 1998 by the Choir of Gonville & Caius College and the Cambridge Baroque Camerata, led by Geoffrey Webber. The recording was issued in 1999 by ASV.
Kelber (1998)
In 1998 Rudolf Kelber reconstructed the St Mark Passion as a pasticcio: he completed Bach's fragments using arias from cantatas by Bach, recitatives by Keiser, motives by Telemann and his own additions.
Koopman (1999)
In 1999, Ton Koopman presented a reconstruction that does not utilize BWV 198, but instead draws on Es ist nichts Gesundes an meinem Leibe, BWV 25 and Siehe zu, daß deine Gottesfurcht nicht Heuchelei sei, BWV 179 and his own freely composed recitatives. Recordings conducted by Ton Koopman:
Erato 8573-80221-2
CCDVD 72141
Boysen (2010)
In 2010, harpsichordist and conductor Jörn Boysen made a new version utilizing choruses and arias from BWV 198 and an aria from BWV 54. He composed all missing recitatives, turba choirs and one aria. This version has been performed in the Netherlands and Germany in 2011 and 2012.
Grychtolik (2010)
In 2010, Alexander Ferdinand Grychtolik made a first edition of the late version of the St Mark Passion as a stylistically consistent reconstruction, published by Edition Peters. The text of this unknown later version was discovered in 2009 in Saint Petersburg. In this version, Bach added two arias and he made small changes in Picander's text.
Eichelberger (2015)
In 2015, Organist Freddy Eichelberger offered a second reconstruction of the 1744 version based on the BWV 198 and composed all missing recitatives, turba choirs and some chorals. This version was written in collaboration with the musicologist Laurent Guillo, the editor Sharon Rosner and Itay Jedlin who performed it with Le Concert Étranger at the 2015 Ambronay Festival, concert filmed by French national television.
Wilson-Dickson (2016)
In 2016, composer and conductor Andrew Wilson-Dickson made a new stylistically coherent reconstruction using BWV 198, 7, 54 and 171, and newly composed music for the missing recitatives and turba choruses. The work was premiered by the Welsh Camerata and Welsh Baroque Orchestra at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cardiff, on Good Friday, 2016.
Fischer (2016)
In 2015, church musician Andreas Fischer reconstructed the Markus Passion by parodying only works by Bach. He paid attention to the proximity of text and music and avoided using music from the known passions, so as not to produce a "small" St. Matthew Passion. Ortus published this work in the year 2016.
Koolstra (2017)
In 2017 the Dutch organist and harpsichordist Robert Koolstra made a new reconstruction based on the 1744 booklet and BWV 198, 13, 54 and 55. Robert Koolstra composed the recitatives but he used models from Bach's other passions. He also added a new chorus Keinen hat Gott verlassen: Picander wrote Chorus instead of Choral here in the 1744 booklet. In this version the drama is the most important element. Koolstra firmly believes that St Mark's gospel text and Picander's poetry are intimately connected, and served as sources for one dramatic piece of art. The work was premiered by the Luthers Bach Ensemble in March 2017. The score and parts are available on the IMSLP website.
Savall (2018)
On 30 March 2018, Jordi Savall produced a reconstruction which aired on BBC Radio 3.
