Happy Easter to you Blippers!

Good Friday today and holding close memories of that day in Greece and on the other hand listening here to Bach's St. Matthew Passion what makes me feel like "One foot here and one foot there" 

It's been awhile since I went to a performance of St Matthew Passion by Johan Bach, but it's performed here annually and the newspaper had an article on that today, I'll add its translation here:

" St Matthew Passion unprecedentedly popular in secular Netherlands
Attending a performance of the St Matthew Passion is a regular activity for many Dutch people during the Easter weekend. Nowhere else in the world is the piece performed so often, NPO Classic reports.
The year 2020, before corona broke out, would have been a Passion peak year, with more than 250 planned performances. This is evident from the 'Passion Barometer' of ZINGmagazine. This magazine has been tracking the popularity of the St Matthew Passion and the lesser-known St John Passion for years. "Despite the headwind of recent years," writes editor Monique van den Hoogen, as far as is known, 179 performances are still planned this year 2023.

Little has been left to chance by Johann Sebastian Bach in the St Matthew Passion. For example, the 14 chorales (four-part settings of Protestant melodies) would refer to the name Bach (B=2 + A=1 + C=3 + H=8 = 14). His work contains 68 Gospel texts in the piece, the 14 chorales (referring to his name Bach) and the 27 Gospel texts (or 3x3x3) symbolizing the holy trinity and these texts consist of 729 bars (27x27) and then there are 27 other pieces including the arias (14+27+27=68).

The very first performance of the St Matthew Passion was in 1727 in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. It was not until 1870 that this interpretation of the Passion of Jesus was first performed in the Netherlands. From 1899 it is performed annually in the Concertgebouw. It was only canceled in 1945 and 2021.

The most famous performance in the Netherlands has long been that in Naarden by the Netherlands Bach Society. There the Passion has been performed on Good Friday since 1922, with many dignitaries in the audience. Prime Minister Rutte is also present this year. But also later in the Easter weekend, 'Eli, Eli, lama asabthani?' (My God, why have you left me) can be heard in many concert halls and church buildings in secular Netherlands."

Wishing you a nice Easter weekend Blippers!