6.30 to 8.5
9.15 to 11.15

Margaret Field-Hyde (soprano) Rene Soames (tenor) Kathleen Ferrier (contralto) Arthur Cranmer (bass) Peter Pears (tenor) William Parsons (bass)
BBC Chorus (Chorus-Master, Leslie Woodgate)
Thornton Lofthouse (harpsichord)
BBC Symphony Orchestra (Leader, Paul Beard)
Harry Stubbs (organ)
Conductor: Sir Adrian Boult

To reflect on the history of Bach's St. Matthew Passion is to be deterred for ever from foretelling the fate of a work of art. Inspired by devotional fervour, Bach poured into this the riches of his mighty genius; and it was performed, under his direction, in St. Thomas's Church, Leipzig, on Good Friday, 1729. It was given some half a dozen times in succeeding years, and then completely neglected until 1829, when Mendelssohn, as a young man of twenty, conducted a revival of the work in Berlin.
Why was so magnificent a masterpiece allowed to lie unhonoured and unsung for nearly a hundred years? Because after Bach's death the style favoured by composers changed; his son. Carl Philipp Emanuel, came to the front and established a way of writing that was less elaborate in texture than that of Johann Sebastian (which was regarded as old-fashioned), and more formal in design. It proved fruitful and led to the symphonies and sonatas of the Viennese school. Meanwhile the treasures left by J. S. Bach were rediscovered; we know, for instance, that many of his motets and preludes and fugues were studied with reverent admiration by Mozart and Beethoven. But neither of these masters knew the St. Matthew Passion, since copies of it were not then available.
Mendelssohn's revival, important though it was, marks only the beginning of the gradual recognition of the work as among the most transcendent ever conceived by man. The 1829 performance was sadly incomplete, a good deal of the Evangelist's narration and many of the arias being omitted. In fact, the work was rarely given without cuts, in this country at any rate, until 1930, when Sir Adrian Boult, then conductor of the Bach Choir, began a series of annual complete performances which have been continued in the last few years by Dr. Reginald Jacques.
Sir Adrian has never ceased to urge even small choirs, with however humble resources, to aim at presenting the St. Matthew Passion in its entirety. Only thus, he believes, can the breadth and splendour of the work be fully realised. (Harold Rutland)