Bach's St. John Passion in a contemporary context

Nine years have passed since the "Orlando attack ." The attack on an LGBTQ bar in the US state of Florida on June 12, 2016, left 49 people dead and 53 injured. It was just one of many cases of violence against queer people. Author, director, and dramaturg Thomas Höft tells the story right at the beginning of his "QueerPassion," accompanied by the Art House 17 orchestra on period instruments.

Höft uses Johann Sebastian Bach's famous St. John Passion , the musical depiction of the Passion of Jesus Christ, as his musical basis. However, Höft describes stories of discriminated against and murdered queer people in his libretto. "I also thought, where do I, as a queer man, appear in classical music? Actually, not at all. It was all despised and forbidden," Höft told DW. That was precisely what he wanted to change.

"Arabian Passion" - Bach in Arabic

Bach's St. John Passion also served as a model for Bulgarian musician and musicologist Vladimir Ivanoff. He is concerned with the people living in the Middle East, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, whose suffering through war, displacement, and oppression has a long history. The impetus for his "Arabian Passion" was the 2003 US invasion of Iraq , which had devastating consequences for the civilian population. "And I feel the same way about Gaza now. I've had several music students from the Middle East attend my workshops, and I only sporadically know that they're still alive," Ivanoff told DW.

Ivanoff has left the text and music by Johann Sebastian Bach in its original form, but some of the instruments come from the Arabian Mediterranean. Lebanese singer Fadia El-Hage sings all of Bach's arias in Arabic.

Bach himself was a master of recycling

Both the Arabic and the queer passion are on tour. They will be performed, among other venues, as part of the Bach Festival in Leipzig (June 12-22), which this year has the theme "Transformation." Johann Sebastian Bach composed his famous St. John Passion in Leipzig in 1724 while serving as Cantor of St. Thomas Church.

Bach often rewritten his cantatas himself or had them performed by other ensembles. For example, he later provided secular cantatas with a sacred text, thus placing them in a different context. Musicologists refer to this as a "parody technique." Thomas Höft and Vladimir Ivanoff build on this with their "Passions."

Bridge builder between Occident and Orient

For his "Arabian Passion," Vladimir Ivanoff has recombined pieces from the St. John Passion and Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Instead of an orchestra and choir, his ensemble Sarband also features the jazzy Modern String Quartet. Instruments from the Mediterranean region, such as the short-necked lute (oud), the flute (ney), and the Arabic violin, are also featured. Ivanoff sees himself as a bridge-builder, seeking to connect the West and the East through music.

The mere fact that Christian texts from the St. John Passion are sung in Arabic, and by a woman at that, is a provocation for devout Muslims. This makes it all the more surprising that Vladimir Ivanoff and his ensemble Sarband are equally welcome guests at Western and Arab music festivals.

"Musical Guerrilla"

Since 2003, the Sarband Ensemble has also been touring the Middle East with their Arabian Passion based on Johann Sebastian Bach. They have performed in the Cathedral of Beirut and in Aleppo, Syria. "We also performed the Passion in Damascus at the Alhambra Cinema, a very famous jazz concert hall," Ivanoff says.

They were invited to Abu Dhabi for the Sheikh Zayed Book Award. The Emir had liked their music. It wasn't until shortly before the event that it was discovered that a singer was planned. This was not possible; the ensemble had to play entirely instrumental.

Ivanoff also travels with his ensemble to Hezbollah-held territory. Sometimes, lyrics or titles of Christian and Jewish songs are changed, he says, but he accepts that. "That's our principle: we want to get into the structures at all costs," says Ivanoff. "I see myself as a bit of a musical guerrilla. What we do is effective, and this gentle seduction works incredibly well."

QueerPassion: Mass Execution in the 17th Century

Like Vladimir Ivanoff, Thomas Höft also adheres strictly to Bach's original musically in his QueerPassion, including the sequence of arias, recitatives, and choruses. "In the end, every note is a one-to-one copy of Bach's, only the text is new," says Höft. He alludes not only to the current discrimination against the LGBTQ community, but also to centuries-old cases he encountered during his research.

In 1674, the cathedral in the Dutch city of Utrecht collapsed. Gay men secretly met and celebrated in the ruins. "They were betrayed," Höft says. "Under torture, one of those involved revealed the names of the others." Among them were prominent members of the community. "The whole thing culminated in a pogrom because the Protestant pastors said the collapse of the cathedral was God's punishment for the sodomites." Mass executions of gay men followed. "That's shocking and one of the main stories featured in QueerPassion."

Changing regional choirs

The Passion chorales will be sung by regional choirs from the venues that have ties to the LGBTQ movement. In Leipzig, these are the "Tollkirschen," who usually sing pop songs with choreography, and the women's choir "Fräulein A Capella," which enjoys rehearsing songs from Eastern Europe. Both choirs are rehearsing under the direction of Cornelia Schäfer. Bach's Baroque music is new to them.

The "Tollkirschen" claim to be the only openly gay men's choir in the eastern states of Germany. "We don't want to hide as gays. Terms like 'gay' appear in many of our lyrics," says choir member Dirk Bockelmann. The stories of the persecution of queer people deeply touched the choir members. "Thomas Höft told us the background information during the rehearsal. At times, we were in tears, and the chorales were sung completely differently."

QueerPassion is a European project and will be performed in Vienna (7 June), Leipzig (13 June) and Antwerp (22 August).