The Great Passion: James Runcie

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Almost by accident, Bach, with the help of the librettist Picander, begins to compose a setting of the Passion based on Matthew 27 and 28. It would be unlike anything heard before: a musical version of the story which would compel congregations to engage with the death of Christ. Leipzig, 1726. Eleven-year-old Stefan Silbermann, a humble organ-maker's son, has just lost his mother. Sent to Leipzig to train as a singer in the St Thomas Church choir, he struggles to stay afloat in a school where the teachers are as casually cruel as the students. Bach emerges as an intense, flawed, deeply religious man, and through a poignant exploration of grief and love, Runcie brings his glorious music thrillingly to life. Mail on Sunday The play held true to the scripture (only adding a few changes to show more of the story in a smaller window of time) and was a wonderful way to try and imagine what it might have looked like to be present.

The Grand Passion's plot moves forward gradually, letting the reader sink into the moments the novel depicts—and while in some ways these are ordinary moments, they are also extraordinary moments. The novel takes place in 1727-28 in Leipzig where Johann Sebastian Bach is cantor (essentially music director, conductor, and composer all in one) at a cathedral school. After his mother's death, thirteen-year-old Stefan Silberman is sent to spend a year at the school—a year that will allow his father to mourn privately and is intended to "distract" Stefan from his loss. Life at the school is a misery until Stefan's singing voice draws Bach's attention. After that, life is still a misery in many ways, but Stefan now has a purpose: singing, learning to play the organ, and gradually becoming an extended part of the Bach family. In this moving and fascinating portrait of a rare moment in musical history, Runcie turns a legend into a real man, compellingly unveiling the intricate connection between passion, grief and the greatest art. Careful research and beautiful writing make this a memorable and rewarding read Over the course of almost a year, Stefan will fall in love, engage in rivalry with Stolle for the soprano parts in Bach’s chorales, and learn to stand up for himself with the help of a kind oboist. He will also take part in the debut performance of Bach’s Passion chorale. The kindly, brilliant Bach can seem almost a madman in his demands on his singers, but the sublime result is the climax of the book. When we think of the behaviour of other people,’ he began, ‘we have to remember that almost everyone is frightened of something. It might be a confrontation that we are worried about, a piece of work, a continuing illness or the death of a friend, but we should keep in mind that if nothing lasts in this world then the very thing that we dread the most cannot last either. All things must pass. The moment we have feared approaches. It takes place. Then it becomes the past: and only a memory. So, rather than dreading the moment, perhaps we should look forward to the memory of it instead? We must learn to think beyond our fears. Perhaps you are too young to contemplate this, but one day, I promise, you will understand.’As they prepare for the performance of the Passion, the true meaning of passion comes touchingly through the story. When a tragedy strikes the Bach’s family, Stefan witnesses someone else’s grief and the solace of religion and music. Stefan is told that no matter how deep the grief is, the suffering is not to dwell on it, but to learn and grow from it. You draw a moral lesson from the tragedy, and even when you morn, you still need to carry on with your life. Being an example for all to see is exactly what Passion is about. Much of the first part of the book is excellent. Stefan’s situation and state of mind are humanely and convincingly drawn. The juxtaposition of both the joy and struggle of becoming a real musician with the harshness of much of the rest of life is very effective and James Runcie writes very insightfully about the music itself. There is a touching infatuation by Stefan with one of Bach’s daughters (which may be a play on the book’s title). There were some longeurs in the middle, though; Bach’s sermonising did get a bit much at times and I felt that while Runcie knows a great deal about the cantatas which Bach wrote for each Sunday service and gave a good account of what each set text really meant, they did turn into a bit of a procession. So much so that when we arrived at the sublime Ich Habe Genug, including a moving account of why it was chosen for one of the singers, what should have been a profound moment just felt a bit flat. Bach’s family takes Stefan under their wing. They show him love which he knew from his mother, but was missing from his father. No matter how crowded Bach’s house is, there is always room for love and showing kindness and charity. The love of Bach’s family shines throughout this story.

We may travel through the valley of the shadow of death, but how we live is what matters, don’t you think? We have to make full use of the opportunities and talents that God has given us. Do not forget the Parable of the Talents. It commands us to work. Brilliant ... Readers will be enriched by this novel and its glimpse at genius’ The Times, Historical Fiction of the Month In The Great Passion, James Runcie makes up for this historical vacuum with a bold imagining of the months leading up to the first performance of Bach’s masterpiece. Runcie’s narrator is Stefan Silbermann, a scion of the (real-life) German organ-building family. In 1750, Stefan, now in his late thirties, learns of the death of the Cantor, which leads him to reminisce about the year he spent as a student of the St Thomas Church in his early teens. At the time, still grieving following the death of his mother, bullied by the other schoolboys for his red hair, yet showing great promise as a singer and organist, Stefan is taken in by the cantor and his wife Anna Magdalena, and practically becomes a member of the Bach household. He witnesses at first hand the composer at his work, and unwittingly contributes to the creation of what would become known as the St Matthew Passion. The narrator of James Runcie's The Great Passion is 14-year-old Stefan Silbermann, son of a famous pipe organ craftsman in the town of Freiberg in Germany. The year is 1726; Stefan's mother has just died and his still-grieving father has decided his son would benefit from spending a year at St. Thomas's boarding school in Leipzig, an institution renowned for its music program. It soon becomes apparent that young Stefan is a gifted singer, and he's taken under the wing of the school's music director: Johann Sebastian Bach. The young man spends the next year under Bach's tutelage, culminating in the premiere performance of the composer's masterpiece, the St. Matthew Passion. Considering that J.S. Bach's "St Matthew Passion" is widely regarded as a pillar of the Western musical canon, it may appear surprising that we do not really know much about the composition and first performance of the Passion. We know that Bach wrote it for St Thomas Church, Leipzig, where he served as Kapellmeister or Thomascantor from 1723 to his death. We know that, as with many of the other sacred works, mostly cantatas, that Bach composed for the edification of the Leipzig congregation, the Passion was an artistic collaboration between Bach and Christian Friedrich Henrici, known as Picander, who provided poetic meditations to complement extracts from the Gospel of St Matthew. Most sources agree that the Passion was probably first performed at St Thomas Church, 11 April (Good Friday), 1727 although the year might also have been 1729. We can hazard a guess as to the identity of the musicians who performed for the Cantor – including the oboists Caspar Gleditsch and Gottfried Kornagel who, judging by the difficulty of the oboe parts, were great players indeed. Apart from these bare facts, we do not know much else.I can't speak to the historical accuracy of this novel. I imagine there are sources that Runcie carefully explored, but clearly much of the novel's content is Runcie's creation. Is it "truth"? I don't know. But as an exploration of spirituality, musical inspiration, and coming of age, The Great Passion is remarkable. There are gaps of time into which we sometimes fall, when the pattern of our days is suspended. It happens when there is a birth or a death, an arrival or departure, the moments either side of it becoming forms of descent and recovery, when we do not know quite what to do or how long this bewilderment will last. The Great Passion is a novel revering the life and work of JS Bach, as told by a young boy soprano in Leipzig' - Irish Independent